hey! here's part three...i thot this was gonna be the last part of this story. but it drew me in and now i've got an idea of how i want it to go after this. i'm so excited!

thanks to silvie for reviewing, i hope this story is all you wanted it to be

peace out!

When I open my eyes, I wonder if I've gone blind. I can't see a thing. But then my eyes start to adjust and I can see that I'm lying on the floor of what looks like some kind of lab, with beakers and Bunsen burners everywhere.

I try to sit up, but I'm dazed and disoriented from whatever tranquilizer that was, so I just collapse back to the floor. Instead, I try to figure out exactly where I am and what's going on.

I'm pretty sure I'm in the closet. I can see a faint rectangle of light high overhead, which I conclude must be the cupboard door. The murderer is nowhere to be seen, and I know that's a bad thing.

The question of where the murderer is is solved when I hear footsteps. I struggle to my feet and lean against the wall for support, clutching my injured shoulder. Why did the murderer inject me there? It really hurts.

As I struggle to stay upright, the black-clothed figure emerges from the shadows. I suck in a breath and try to make eye contact. Of course, her face is covered by the ski mask, so I can't really see her eyes. But whatever.

"Hello, Hiro," she says, and her voice sounds familiar. Too familiar.

"Who are you?" I burst out. "Why are you doing this? Why did you give my brother a sickness that's gonna kill him? Why did you kidnap me?"

"I plan to kill you too, Hiro. Just more slowly than the others. Your body will be found in a few days. Then it's your brother's turn. You can't escape me, Hiro, and you know it." Her voice is scary—it does sound familiar, but like she's modified it somehow.

"Who are you?" I ask, almost begging. "Just tell me!"

"Not yet, Hiro. Not yet."

She pulls out a syringe. "Now. I have a trade to offer you, and I think you'll accept it. This is the cure to COVID-19. When injected with it, your brother will recover in just a few minutes." She holds up another syringe. "This is a stronger, completely lethal dose of the coronavirus. If injected with it, your brother will die instantly."

I nod suspiciously. "What's the trade?"

"Simple. You agree to help me carry out the rest of my plan, and I inject Tadashi with the cure. You disagree, and I inject him with the virus."

This is already the hardest decision I've ever had to make. Tadashi is dying and he needs a cure. But I can't just join a murderer on her mission to kill my friends.

"Can I…have some time? To think about it?" I ask, trying not to show how scared I am. Or that I'm formulating a plan.

She holds up both syringes, bringing them so close to my face I almost pull away. "I would give you time. But your brother doesn't have that much left, so I suggest you choose quickly."

The murderer turns her back. I edge sideways toward the lit Bunsen burner, noting the highly flammable rubbing alcohol next to it. I have to distract the murderer, make her keep talking.

"Who are you?" I ask again. "I need to know who you are before I agree to help you."

She sighs. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this. But I suppose you have a right to know."

The murderer reaches up and pulls off her mask.

I gasp, clapping my hands over my mouth. Oh. Oh my gosh. I can't believe this is happening. There must be some mistake.

The murderer is none other than Honey Lemon.

Who is supposed to be dead.

"Why?" I ask, my voice cracking. "I thought they were your friends."

"They were. But Tadashi cared about them, too. And I couldn't have that. He shouldn't care about anyone else."

I stare at her in disbelief. "But…they were just his friends! You didn't have to kill them! And how are you alive?"

Honey waves a hand dismissively. "The body in the closet was a wax figure. Oldest trick in the book. Ever read The Westing Game?"

I nod. "Of course. I can't—I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner." And I can't. I'm mentally beating myself up now.

"He loved you," I manage to choke out, still sidling toward the table with the chemicals on it. "He cared about you. And now he's going to die because of you. Do you really want to live with that, Honey?"

"I can deal with it," Honey snarls. "Tadashi never cared. He obviously loves you more than me. He would give up the world for you. And for me? No. Tadashi wouldn't do anything for me."

"Honey, he would. I know he would." I finally reach the table and quietly push over the bottle of rubbing alcohol, covering the tabletop with flammable liquid.

Honey's voice is tortured. "Tadashi didn't care about me, Hiro! What is your decision?"

I take a deep breath. "Never."

Then I lunge forward, grab the cure syringe out of her hand, and knock over the Bunsen burner.

The whole lab explodes into flames, and Honey lets out a shriek. I'm screaming, too, realizing that I don't know where the exit is. I dash through the fire, trying to find a way out, clutching the cure to my chest.

Suddenly, a massive explosion rips the air apart. I let out a tiny shriek as the explosion throws me into a wall and I hit the ground hard. I must not have realized there were other chemicals on the table.

I struggle to my feet, ignoring the pain in my head, shoulder, and chest—I'll have to check if anything's broken later. I continue searching for an exit, and I gasp in relief when I see a door. The gasp causes me to inhale a lot of smoke and ash, which doesn't help my asthma. I descend into a violent coughing fit and barely manage to drag myself out the door.

Gasping for air, I stumble down the stairs toward Tadashi's room. I have to get him the cure or he'll die.

I fling Tadashi's door open and dash over to his bed. "Tadashi, wake up, you've got to wake up—"

"Wha…wha's goin' on, Hiro…"

"I'm sorry, this is gonna hurt, but I need to inject you with this—"

Tadashi focuses his dark-shadowed eyes on me. "You need to what?" His voice is so weak and hoarse I can't believe he can talk.

"I've got a cure for COVID, Dashi, there's no time to explain it—the murderer is coming—"

I raise the syringe, but Tadashi holds up a hand. "Let me do it…I'm the one who's gonna be a doctor…you need…you need a vein…" He coughs weakly. "Let me do it, Hiro."

Silently, I hand Dashi the syringe. He sits halfway up, grabs his arm, and gently pushes the plunger down.

"We'll see if that worked," Tadashi rasps. "Now, did you say there was a murderer after you?"

TADASHI

I feel better already—and it's been like thirty seconds since I took the cure. But it'll be a while before I can get out of bed. And besides, there's a murderer coming. That's not good.

Hiro pulls me out of bed, grabbing my oxygen tank and looping my arm around his shoulders. "We've gotta get out of here, Dashi—the murderer, she's coming—"

"Wait," I rasp. "Where's…where's Aunt Cass?" I've just realized she is nowhere in the room.

Hiro gasps. "I don't know!"

Suddenly, I hear pounding footsteps coming down the hallway. Hiro's eyes widen and his face goes white. "Hide!"

He shoves me behind the bed, ignoring my yelp of protest, and stands protectively in front of the door, blocking it.

"Hey!" Hiro yells, his voice shaking slightly. "I'm here! And I used the cure, so you're not getting it back!"

And both sets of footsteps pound away down the hall.

I pull myself up on the bed, noticing the return of strength I haven't had since before I got sick. This cure is fast-acting—so fast that I pull the oxygen tubes out of my nose and can breathe normally. Then I gently pull out my IV and hastily wrap my arm in gauze.

I still don't really feel like running, but I have to. I have to save Hiro. I start up the stairs, then realize I have no idea which way my baby brother went.

Then I hear faint, distant screams. They resonate from far above me—the roof.

I bolt toward the elevator and frantically press the Roof Access button. The elevator seems to take an eternity to get to the roof, and when it finally opens, I rush across the building. At the edge of the roof, I can see two figures, the smaller one curled into a tiny ball under the tall, slender one, who wields a knife.

"Hiro!" I yell, my voice almost lost in the violent wind. "Don't touch him!"

The murderer turns around, holding up her knife, which is stained with blood. "I already have."

I don't even register this statement. I'm too busy watching my world crumble to pieces.

Honey is the murderer.

My sweet, beautiful, kind girlfriend is a murderer.

And she's about to kill my baby brother.

"Let me kill you, Tadashi," Honey whispers. "I'll let Hiro live—provided he joins me in my cause. Or we could reverse it—you can live and he will die. Or you can try to fight me, in which case you will both die tragic, painful deaths."

"Take me," I say immediately. "Let Hiro go. Let him live his own life and he'll never bother you again. You can kill me. Just don't hurt him." Tears are pricking at the back of my eyes. "Please, Honey…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Hiro struggling to his feet, his face bloody and death-white.

"You really thought I'd do it? You're so gullible."

"Please…"

"Never."

Honey turns around and plunges her knife into Hiro's side.

Hiro screams in agony as Honey withdraws the knife, and my baby brother collapses to the ground. I let out a guttural scream and tackle my girlfriend, wrestling her away from Hiro.

"Run!" I screech at Hiro. "Get out of here!"

But Hiro can't move. He lies on his uninjured side, his breath coming in sharp, pained gasps. He's dying.

My baby brother is dying.

I'm still locked in a fistfight with Honey, though the knife has thankfully been lost over the side of the building. But she's still really good at this—I'm quickly losing the battle. I can already tell I'm going to have a black eye later, and my ribs ache. I completely forgot I bruised them in the moped crash, it's been such a long week.

Honey punches me in the jaw, and I almost fall right over the side of the building. But instead, Honey's eyes widen and she grabs my shirt, trying to save me from falling.

Her grip isn't enough. Both of us go over the side.

I scream as I plummet toward the ground. But I don't get all the way there—one of my flailing hands catches the edge of the roof. I hear Honey scream as she falls, then a horrible, sickening thud. That's really not good. But I need to get to Hiro.

Stretching my other hand out, I somehow manage to pull myself back up onto the roof and scramble over to Hiro, pulling his tiny, limp body into my arms.

"Hiro," I whisper, stroking his hair. "I'm going to take you to the doctors. They'll know what to do for you." I gently pull up his shirt and gasp when I see the wound in his rib cage. It's quite obviously a sucking chest wound, which is bleeding a heck of a lot.

"D-dashi…" Hiro says weakly. "I-I'm sorry…"

I stand up, still cradling Hiro. "You don't need to be sorry—you saved my life. And now I'm going to save yours."

Looking down at my baby brother, I realize that there are several cuts on his cheek and jaw where Honey's knife must have nicked him. Hiro's face and arms are smokestained, which doesn't make sense since I didn't think there was a fire anywhere. I'll have to ask him about that. His shoulder also feels hot and swollen, and there's a bruise on his forehead. I'm not sure how he got all these injuries, but I know I have to get them treated first.

The elevator doors close just after I step inside, and we start to descend very slowly. I keep pressing the ground floor button, willing it to go faster. Finally, the elevator stops and I rush out, yelling for a doctor to help Hiro. Two nurses, a man and a woman, run out of the emergency room with a stretcher and carry Hiro in.

I sit in the waiting room for what must be hours, my head in my hands. I realize that my eye is swelling up where Honey punched me, my chin has a cut running across it, and my ribs and chest are both covered in bruising. And there's a scrape on my knee that I didn't know was there. But it stings now, so that's not fun.

The door to the waiting room opens and a young intern steps out, holding a clipboard. "Mr. Hamada? They're done with Hiro's surgery." He points up the stairs. "He's up on the third floor if you want to go see him. Oh, and the doctors wanted to let you know—they found your aunt. She said the murderer had come after her when she left your room, but she ran and hid—she's okay. They're both okay."

"Thank you," I whisper, and then I bolt up the stairs, barely hearing the call of "Room 323!" behind me. I reach the top of the stairs and skid down the hallway, almost falling over. When I reach room 323, I fling open the door and step inside. "Hiro?"

"Hey, Dashi," Hiro says weakly. "I'm not dead."

"I can see that."

I can tell Hiro's not dead, of course, but he looks pretty terrible. The cuts on his face have been taped up and the smokestains are gone, but there are dark circles under my brother's eyes that suggest exhaustion. Oxygen tubes have been placed in Hiro's airway, and he's hooked up to that, an IV, a clip on his finger, and a heart monitor. To top it all off, Hiro's arm is in a sling, immobilized against his chest.

I disregard all of this and wrap Hiro in a bear hug, as much as I can while he's in a hospital bed. "How're you doing, buddy?"

"I'm okay," Hiro mumbles into my chest. "Just a little sore."

"You're not okay," Aunt Cass's voice says from behind me. I startle and whirl around—I didn't realize she was there.

"Hey, Tadashi," Aunt Cass laughs. "Hiro, you are not okay. Don't you remember what the doctor said?"

Hiro nods sheepishly.

"Pneumothorax, minor lacerations, minor burns, sprained shoulder, and exhaustion," Aunt Cass rattles off.

"See? I'm fine," Hiro insists, giving a weak half-smile. "Besides, I already forgot what a pneumothorax is."

"It's a sucking chest wound that penetrates the lung," I tell him. "Did they stitch it up?"

Hiro nods and pulls up his hospital gown, showing me the bandage taped over the wound in his rib cage. "The doctors said my lung got punctured and two of my ribs are broken. Eighteen stitches. So that's fun."

My heart breaks. "I'm so sorry, Hiro. I should have protected you better—"

Hiro cuts me off. "You had COVID! And it was my fault—I didn't have to go looking for the murderer. And also you tackled Honey after she stabbed me—by the way, did she hurt you?"

"Not bad," I respond. "Just a little bruised—better than I'd expect, given that I was fighting a—a murderer." My voice trembles a little. I still can't believe Honey is the murderer.

And yet something doesn't feel right. Somehow I believe she's innocent, despite having seen her attempt to kill Hiro with my own eyes.

Suddenly, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and discover a text from Honey.

honeybee: I need your help

I text back immediately.

teddybear3000: with what? I'm not gonna help you. you tried to kill hiro. give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you in to the cops rn

ps: how are you alive?

honeybee: no time to explain. I need you to find baymax's chips. I left them in the secret lab

teddybear3000: THE SECRET WHAT

honeybee: the secret lab, you idiot! it's in the room hiro found the bodies in…the cupboards have a secret button. inside there's a compartment in the wall, and the chips are in there.

teddybear3000: okay…why do I need these chips?

honeybee: you need to make a new baymax…an upgraded one. and there's some data on the chips you need to see. that wasn't me that tried to kill hiro. and I still love you, dashi.

trust me.

please.