Hey y'all! Here's your next chapter, this one shot is turning out to be a little longer than I thought. I might end up posting a Part Four. Still violent, but nothing bloody or gruesome. Please review!

Reviews:

Thank you to silverfox02029 for reviewing!

silverfox02029: I'm glad you like the story! That's true, most fan fictions are written in past tense. I like to use present tense because I like the suspense you can build when even the narrators don't know what's going to happen next. I like capturing their thoughts and emotions in the moment, rather than after.

Please review if you have any questions or suggestions! I will take one shot requests if there is one you want to read. Enjoy!

TADASHI

A tendril of microbots wraps around my mouth, preventing me from retorting. Callaghan pulls the gag away from Hiro's mouth and crashes a fist into his jaw.

Hiro stumbles back, and Callaghan catches him before he can lose his balance. He shoves Hiro to his knees, and Hiro groans in pain.

Callaghan grabs Hiro's hair and pulls, causing Hiro to whimper in pain. "Last chance, Tadashi. Help me, or I will hurt your baby brother. It's that simple."

Hiro shakes his head frantically, begging me with his eyes to refuse. But I can't. I can't let Callaghan keep hurting him.

"Well, Tadashi? What is your answer?"

I take a deep breath and start to nod.

"Tadashi, no!" Hiro yells, then cries out as Callaghan yanks on his hair. "Don't—don't do it—"

Callaghan shoves the back of Hiro's head, forcing his face toward the ground. "Answer me, Tadashi. Yes or no."

"Tadashi, no," Hiro insists, struggling to look up with Callaghan forcing his head down. "I don't care what he does to me. Please don't do it. Not even for me."

The end of his sentence is abruptly cut off as Callaghan kicks him in the gut. Hiro doubles over in pain, gasping for air. "Tadashi—"

Callaghan kicks him again, and Hiro cries out.

"I am losing patience, Mr. Hamada," Callaghan says coolly. "What is your final answer?"

He pulls on Hiro's hair, slowly increasing the pain, and Hiro whimpers in agony. I want to close my eyes, but I can't let him see how much Hiro's pain hurts me.

I breathe in slowly, then release it all at once, and shake my head.

"Very well."

He grabs Hiro's hair and jerks him to his feet. Hiro winces as he does but refuses to open his mouth.

Callaghan runs his hands along Hiro's ribs, pressing until Hiro whimpers. I flinch at the sound of my little brother in pain, but Hiro is strong. As much as my big-brother instincts don't believe it, he can handle this.

I think.

Callaghan crashes a fist into Hiro's chest, knocking him to the ground. Hiro cries out and I turn my head, telling myself that if I don't see it, I can pretend it's not happening. But it does no good—the microbots force me to watch anyway.

Callaghan pins Hiro to the ground, kneeling on his chest, and Hiro's cries of pain echo in my ears as blow after blow comes down on his already injured ribs. I want to close my eyes, but it's like watching a car accident—I don't want to watch but I can't look away.

Hiro's voice rises to a scream, and the ability to breathe abandons me. Callaghan doesn't stop. If anything, his blows only come down harder. Hiro screams in pain with each hit, and I hear myself yelling too, begging Callaghan to stop, because I can't take it anymore, I can't stand that he's hurting my baby brother so badly, but nothing happens, Hiro's screams just go on and on and on—

It all stops so suddenly that I think something horrible must have happened. I've gone deaf. Hiro unconscious. Hiro dead. Maybe I'm dead. It would almost be preferable to this.

The world slowly comes back into focus. Hiro is lying on the ground with Callaghan's knee on his chest, whimpering in agony. His bonds are gone, which I don't remember happening, but Callaghan must have done it at some point, probably to expose more of Hiro's injured ribs. I can't see any new injuries on Hiro, but his face is twisted with pain, tears running into his hair.

Callaghan stands up, yanks Hiro to his feet, and beckons to the microbots holding me. They sweep forward, bringing me with them.

"I hope you learned your lesson, Tadashi," he says, a mocking smile dancing on his lips. "I control you. Do you understand me?"

He presses on Hiro's ribs, and Hiro whimpers in pain. I nod slowly, willing to do almost anything to make him stop.

Almost.

Tears stream down Hiro's face. Callaghan smiles slightly and shoves Hiro away from him.

Hiro falls to his knees, doubled over and clutching his ribs. The microbots release me and I scramble toward my little brother. I am going to kill Callaghan for what he did to Hiro.

"Hiro!" I gasp. "Hiro, are you…are you…"

"I'm fine," Hiro says faintly. "I'm okay…"

"You're not okay."

Before I can get anything else out, the microbots wrap around my chest, pulling me away from Hiro. Another tendril of bots grabs Hiro and yanks him away.

The microbots deposit us in a cage some ten feet off the ground and Callaghan sweeps out of the room. I wait for the door to slam before freaking out over Hiro.

But when I turn to him, Hiro looks away, his hands covering his face.

"Hiro?" I ask softly.

Hiro's only response is a small sob. I can think of nothing else to do, so I pull him into my lap and stroke his hair, the way Kaa-san used to when we were little.

"What's wrong?" I ask softly.

Hiro whimpers in pain. "It hurts," he says quietly. "I wasn't going to cry in front of him."

"It's okay," I whisper. "I'm here."

I'm here.

I'm here.

HIRO

We are getting out of here.

I have several plans, but there's one in particular I like. One that involves revenge on Callaghan as well as escape. I've told Tadashi about it and he thinks it's hilarious.

The next time Callaghan comes into the room with the cage, Tadashi informs him that he needs to go.

"Go where?" Callaghan asks lazily.

"To go."

Callaghan sighs. "There's a bucket up there."

I wondered what that was for.

Tadashi does his thing, and as soon as he's done, he sloshes the bucket's contents all over Callaghan. Right in the face.

Callaghan yells at him, threatens both of us if we pull a stunt like that again, but I'm laughing too hard to care. He storms out of the room, muttering about showers and insolent teenagers.

Now is our chance. I slip through the bars and drop to the floor, biting back a cry of pain as my ankle collapses under me. I get to my feet and test it gingerly. I can walk on it if I have to. But if we have to make a break for it, I'm dead.

"Hiro?" Tadashi whisper-shouts from above. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I manage. "Try not to land as bad as I did."

"Shouldn't be hard."

I glare at him, then turn toward the doors. I know where Callaghan keeps the keys, so if I can just get out of this room, I can get to it.

I limp toward the doors and type in the code I've seen Callaghan enter a thousand times. 8-2-1-3-2. I don't know what they mean, but it must be something important.

Instead of opening automatically like they normally do, the doors stay stubbornly closed. I type in the code again, but the keypad only flashes red, locking me in.

A low hissing sound comes from behind me, and I turn at the same moment the microbots seize my ankle and yank me off my feet. I yelp as I hit the ground, but that's all I get out before the microbots wrap around my mouth. They drag me back toward the cage, where Tadashi is held by the microbots too. His expression contains a hint of fear but is mostly anger.

I don't see Callaghan anywhere, but he must be controlling the microbots from somewhere. And he must be able to see us, since he knew exactly when I tried to escape.

The thought sends a chill down my spine. He's watching us.

"Hiro!" Tadashi gasps as the microbots slink away. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I insist. "What about you?"

"They didn't do anything to me. What happened when you jumped?"

"Oh." I glance down at my throbbing left ankle. "It's not bad. Just a sprain, I think."

"Are you okay?"

"Mm-hm."

"Does it hurt?"

"No," I lie.

"It's okay to cry, Hiro."

"I'm not crying!"

"Want some gummy bears?"

I stare at him. "You have gummy bears?"

"No. I just wondered if you wanted them. Do you?"

"…yes."

I did it.

Exactly seven days after I was kidnapped, I finish building a wireless radio that can hopefully contact the rest of our friends. If we can just pull in some backup, I think we can escape.

It takes me forty minutes to get a signal. Fifteen minutes is actually trying to coax the internet into working; the rest is laying on the floor of the cage and screaming in frustration. I get incredibly angry at the internet sometimes.

Finally I yell in triumph, not irritation, as the radio connects to Wi-Fi. It startles Tadashi and and he jumps, banging his head on the ceiling of the cage.

"Thanks a lot," he mutters.

"You're welcome," I tell him.

"Ever heard of sarcasm, Hiro?"

"Doesn't ring a bell. But I finished!"

His eyes widen. "You…what?"

"I finished the radio! We can call in the others and escape!"

A grin slowly spreads across Tadashi's face. "You are a genius."

"I know."

I quietly type in Honey Lemon's number, thinking she'll be the most likely to pick up. This should appear as a call for them, but I'm not sure.

After a moment, Honey's voice comes over the radio. "Hello?"

"Honey!" Tadashi whisper-shouts. "Can you hear me?"

"Tadashi?"

"Shh. He might hear you."

"Who?" Honey asks, quieter now.

Tadashi lowers his voice even further and whispers, "Professor Callaghan."

Honey gasps. Tadashi shushes her gently.

"Is Hiro with you?" she whispers.

"I'm here," I say softly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lie. "Just a little banged up."

"That's good. By the way, Tadashi, since you left, we've been continuing the projects."

I raise an eyebrow. "What projects?"

"I found some sketches in your room after you were kidnapped," Tadashi explains, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Some kind of super suits? I tried to build them, but I only got three done—yours, mine, and Baymax."

"Do they work?"

He grins sheepishly. "Not exactly."

"How much stuff did you blow up?"

"Just the garage?"

I groan. Honey giggles on the other end before she turns back to serious. "Can you send us coordinates? We can be there in ten minutes if we leave now."

"I don't have coordinates," Tadashi says, "but we're in a secret lab under the old KreiTech building on Sparrow's Island?"

Silence.

"Good enough," Honey says. "Now if we can just—"

The sound of footsteps turns my head and I shush Honey. She falls silent, and for a few moments, everyone holds their breath.

"He's coming," I breathe. "We have to go."

"Goodbye," Honey whispers.

"We'll see you soon," I tell her.

I hope.

"I love you," Tadashi whispers into the radio. "Ghost hug."

"Ghost hug," Honey echoes before the call cuts off.

The door shuts on the other end of the room. Both of us turn to see Callaghan standing by the door, his arms crossed.

"Escaping again, are we, boys?"

Tadashi and I exchange glances.

"How much did you hear?" Tadashi asks, his voice hoarse.

"Everything I needed to." Callaghan takes the remote from his pocket and lowers the cage. "And I can promise you that even if your friends make it in, they won't make it out."

The cage door swings open. Callaghan grabs my arm, yanks me out, and locks the door again. I gasp as pain flares in my ribs, but a sharp slap to the face quiets me.

"I can't have you getting away from me, Hiro," Callaghan says coldly. "You are too valuable for that."

I try not to breathe too deeply, my bruised ribs still aching. I don't want him to see me in pain. I'll look weak.

I am not weak.

"You will learn to respect me," Callaghan hisses in my ear. "I think all you need is some…discipline."

He presses on my ribs, and I gasp. Callaghan laughs softly. "I'm sure you need as much discipline as your brother does, Tadashi. But in your case, I believe watching me punish Hiro would be enough, wouldn't it?"

Tadashi's eyes are wide, his face pale. He looks scared.

"Please," Tadashi says softly. "Don't hurt him."

"Oh, I won't. No worse than he already is, at least."

Callaghan adds to the pressure on my ribs, and I fail to hold back a whimper of pain. Tadashi squeezes his eyes shut.

"You're a good big brother, Tadashi, I'll give you that. You'd do anything for him. Wouldn't you."

It's not a question.

Tadashi doesn't move. Doesn't answer.

"I'm giving you another chance. You help me, and you don't have to watch Hiro scream for the next hour. Deal?"

Tadashi's face is drained of all color. He nods slowly.

"Good."