AN: Yes, another update! My apologies for another long wait. If it's any reassurance, I do promise to finish this despite the time it takes to make new updates.
That aside, here we are with this next installment of Indomitable Force. Not as long as the others, but I'm sure you'll still enjoy!
Chapter 14
"Fire is life, not just destruction."
— Sun Warrior philosophy from Avatar: TLA
The sounds of combat filled the subway platform as more blows were dealt between the tall Geisha on roller blades and Hiro. Blood oozed from his nose after he failed to block a swipe to his face. Even though his legs felt like lead, he spun to kick at another girl. That was when a flash of fire crossed his line of vision.
"Catch, Raiden-boy," someone tossed him his pair of electro-magnetized gloves. Without wasting any more time, the battle-weary teen put them on. More balls of fire flew past him to hit two of the women, lighting their clothes on fire. While the two were distracted with putting out the flames, a dark figure closed in with more flame-packed kicks and punches like that of an master fire bender.
Hiro had helped by sending out two electro-charged blasts to shock the third one until she collapsed.
"Leave him alone!" the shadowy silhouette shouted, grabbing the ball and chain from one of them. "You got what you want!"
"Ta..Tadashi?" The voice was so haunting. Hiro tried to make out anything recognizable about this fire-welding person. He stumbled upon himself and fell down. Then a couple wide arcs of flame came from the dark form's kicks, followed with another onslaught of fire. With their hair and clothes completely ablaze, the group of Japanese women retreated hastily as they shrieked in agony.
Hiro felt so weak now and it took all his strength to sit up. He couldn't see that shadow that sounded like his brother anymore. Maybe it was because everything was dark and hard to make out. And everything hurt all over, he closed his eyes in surrender.
"Hiro..."
The younger Hamada tried to open his eyes to see where his brother was again. "You.. came back.."
"I never really left, bonehead. Now, I want you to wake up."
"I.. am..."
"No, you gotta wake up."
Hiro was gradually becoming more aware of how much pain he was in, so much it was confusing him even more.
"You really need to find help, otouto..." the voice was barely audible now.
"Tada-nii... wait," Hiro wheezed, fearful that he was all alone again. He tasted the salty, iron taste of blood in his mouth. The coldness of the hard, gritty cement that he was laying face-down on seemed to exaggerate his misery. He opened his eyes, but it was dimly lit and hard to make out. Where did his brother go?
Never mind that… where was he?
He realized his arm was hanging over a ledge. Then the whine and rumble of something was growing louder. This caused him to make a stronger effort to move, to see where he was. Then the noise swept by him suddenly, the brightly lit subway cars flew past him just a couple feet away. Hiro sat up on the narrow ledge in the subway tunnel, squeezing his eyes shut as he pressed his back against the wall. The lights from the cars, and the mix of hot and cold stinky air blowing by him made him feel more panicked and queasy.
His head throbbed, his face and lip felt swollen. His left arm below the elbow just ached horribly, as did his shoulder where he got stabbed. The teen clutched his aching arm against himself and tried to breathe more deeply to calm down, except his ribs hurt a lot too. It was then he realized he didn't have his gloves anymore. His knuckles hurt and both hands felt weird. But, his brother.. what happened to him? Tadashi sounded so real… his last words, he heard him so clearly.
Hiro swallowed back the lump in his throat, confused about what was real and what wasn't. He longed for Tadashi's help, because it was hard to decide what he needed to do next. The younger Hamada felt so sick to his stomach now, so cold, and so very scared. The platform also looked so far away when he glanced over in that direction. How did he get way over here anyway? More importantly, why was it so hard to think?
Before getting up, he noticed something in his right hand. The teen uncurled his stiff, sticky fingers to find a bloody throwing knife digging into his palm. Disgusted, he threw the blade out onto the tracks and closed his bleeding hand. Keeping his fists closed, he struggled to get up and lean against the wall. His head started to spin after a few steps and he had to stop because he felt like throwing up.
"He's got a pulse. That's good at least."
"Oh god, he looks bad..."
"Hey, hey… can you wake up," he felt someone grip his shoulder gently.
Hiro responded to the feminine voices finally, willing himself to open his eyelids. He winced now from the sharp edges of the stairs cutting into his side. It took him a moment, but he remembered making it as far to the stairway next to the platform before stopping to rest. He also swallowed again in an effort to get the unpleasant taste of puke out of his mouth. The teen pushed himself up, blinking in attempt to clear his blurry vision. Hiro could not understand why, but he suddenly felt fearful of the two women.
"It's okay, little man.. what happened?" the woman with dark skin and curly hair gripped his shoulders to help him sit up more. "Can I call your parents?"
"No.. parents…" he muttered, wondering who these women were anyway. He squinted at them, not recognizing much, but something kept bugging him to not trust anyone.
"Are you.. homeless?"
"No..."
"Is there anyone we can call for you?"
"I'm going to call 911." Her friend added, hovering over them. "He needs help."
"No.. no 911..." Hiro managed to protest, shaking his head. He did understand that calling 911 would get the authorities involved, and for some reason now, he just did not want that. "No.. ambulance... either."
"Then who..? I can call them for you."
Hiro stared at her phone after she knelt down by him, ready to dial something. He still wasn't sure if he should tell her anything that personal yet. The look she had on her soft brown face was that of genuine kindness and concern.
"Not sure…" he knitted his brows, trying to think. "Who.. are you?"
"S' okay, take your time, honey. You must have been through a lot," the kind woman sat by him on the stairs. "I'm Amaya. We're nursing students on our way back home, when I saw you here."
I was going home too… Hiro rubbed his temples, knowing that much. He still needed time to try and think about what to do. If he did call someone, who would he call? He didn't want to call Aunt Cass, mostly just to protect her identity. But the very thought of telling her about how he got beat up scared him worse than the gangsters. Not that GoGo would be any better. However, just trying to think of anyone's phone number also became difficult.
"We could take you to the hospital if you're not sure," Amaya asked him, still very much worried about his condition .
"Are you sure you don't want us to call 911?"
Hiro shook his head and sighed. If he didn't say something, they may end up deciding for him. They didn't act very suspicious though, and they did wear colorful scrubs and carried book bags. Hopefully they weren't with the people trying to hurt him. Yama's gang did get what they wanted… what more did they need?
He sighed, finally giving in. The teen slowly called out a set of numbers for her to dial, and waited for his friend to pick up. It was very likely the strange number was not recognized, because the call was not answered.
"Call again," Hiro whispered hoarsely.
The phone rang just as long, but it was finally answered by a slightly annoyed voice.
Since his hands were bloody, Hiro made no effort to take the phone from her. She realized this and held it close to his mouth for him to talk.
"Hey, hello? Hellooo?" Fred's voice asked again.
"It's me, Hiro..."
"Hiro? Wait… why are you calling from this number?"
He was silent for a moment, just trying to find the words to explain this. Really, why was it so hard to talk and think? His voice sounded congested from the swelling in his nasal cavity too. "I.. I got mugged. I—"
"What? Are you okay?"
"No… It's bad—"
"Do the others know?"
"No. I couldn't. Baymax.. was stolen," Hiro started to sound worse, as he tried to control his emotions. "I need to.. to go to.. the hospital."
"Okay… god.. um, yeah, I can." It sounded like he was moving around through doors at that point. "Wait, so... where are you?"
"A subway station.. downtown.." he really could not remember the station's name. Fortunately, Amaya noticed his struggle and took over the conversation to explain where they are. She also explained to Fred that they will be at street level, and will stay with Hiro until he got there.
"Hiro's your name, right? We're going to take you up to the street," she gently held his right arm to help him to his feet. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah… but.. dizzy," he still felt awkward about this, even though it was a blessing to have the stranger's help. He was so used to being the hero, it felt weird now to be the victim. That wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this.
"We'll go slow," Amaya reassured him, while her friend followed behind because he insisted on staying close to the handrail. "You feel really hot too… that's not good."
"Figures..." he guessed that was because he was also sick to begin with. Hiro didn't say anything more, apart from silently hoping Fred would not take long.
There was a bench at a bus stop near the station that the girls took Hiro too. A few long minutes passed before they noticed a sleek black Mercedes-Benz sports car pull up to the curb. Hiro had serious doubts until he saw Fred pop out from the driver's side. He decided his brain was playing tricks again, cause it usually was Heathcliff driving the classic Rolls Royce.
"Hiro, buddy! Oh man.. I got here as fast I as I could," Fred practically slid across the top of the hood to get over to the younger Hamada on the sidewalk.
Hiro totally felt what Fred said merited a sassy response, but he really wasn't up for saying much now. All that he could do was give his friend a really confused look.
"My Dad's," the lanky redhead opened the passenger side door for Hiro. "Long story… but, um.. get in, we'll talk later."
Hiro complied, albeit slowly, as he sat down on the dark grey leather seat inside.
"Thank you as well, my gracious ladies!" Fred smiled boldly as he bowed to the two women, before hurrying back over to his side.
Hiro sat hunched forward, his arms folded and pressed against his body. Another wave of nausea hit him again from everything happening all at once. Fred went back around to slide in behind the wheel.
"How bad is it?" he looked over to him, greatly concerned.
"Bad," Hiro whimpered. "Sorry if... I mess up your car."
"Don't worry.. about… it," Fred started, but then Hiro suddenly moved to open the door just in time to puke outside. "So, um.. yeah, whenever you're ready, buddy."
After getting to the Emergency Room, it did not take long for them to get Hiro in quickly to be seen. Fred ended up doing the paperwork for his friend since he still felt off, not to mention just not being able to remember very much, let alone write. He also had a thousand questions about what happened to him, but Hiro just did not have the spirit to explain everything. The most the short genius could say was that he got beat up by a bunch of thugs while waiting for a subway train.
Unfortunately, things got even more tricky when they asked about the availability of Hiro's parents. This quickly changed to the discussion of any consenting legal guardians in order for them to get permission for full medical treatment. Something of which Hiro was really getting tired of hearing about now. Fred, however, could not pass for as such because he was one year shy of being twenty-one, nor could he prove that he was also one of Hiro's appointed guardians.
So Fred ended up calling Aunt Cass for Hiro, since he suddenly looked too sick, or upset, or both, to be able to do so himself. Fortunately, for the younger Hamada, it went right to her voicemail.
Regardless, the hospital staff admitted Hiro right away to a room as he waited for her to call back. His high fever, signs indicating a concussion, and bleeding injuries were serious enough to merit immediate care. Changing into the gown was a nuisance, but he took it in stride. Fred had a hard time keeping his face straight when one of the staff asked about Hiro's level of pain on a scale from one to ten. However, the IV bag procedure became a whole other matter that the staff had to address differently when Hiro resisted them. They reassured him repeatedly that this was the best way to administer the pain reliever, fever reducer, and anti-nausea medicine since he was throwing up a lot.
Once everyone finished with their preparations and left him alone, Fred helped Hiro situate icepacks on his face, head, and ribs. The teen finally let out a defeated sigh, staring up at the ceiling. "I hate hospitals…"
"Hang in there, buddy," Fred leaned on the railing of the bed, hoping to reassure Hiro after all that. He didn't really know a whole lot about the little guy before, but times like these spoke volumes. Hiro was able to get surprisingly frangry for someone in his condition. Of course, he had also noticed how much more open Hiro was around him, or GoGo, than he was with the others. "You wanna watch some TV?"
His pale-faced, exhausted friend just shrugged, not changing the sullen expression on his face.
"Oh yeah… Aunt Cass called back."
Then Hiro suddenly looked alarmed, trying to sit up as a couple ice packs fell down from his face.
"Don't worry, I didn't answer… since it was when you were cussing out the nurses about 'no needles', " Fred smiled slightly, just from his reaction. He located the remote hanging from the bed railing. "She sent a text that she's on her way."
"Great…" Hiro worked his sore jaw for a moment, then finally asked another question. "Where's Heathcliff?"
"Oh, my dad let him have a break to visit his relatives over the weekend. His flight got carried over… so not back yet. My dad had to attend to some business matter too."
"Didn't know you.. can drive," he added, closing his eyes.
"Heh, yeah. But I only if I have to. I put off enough emissions as is," the fanboy sat back in the chair as he flipped through the channels on the TV in search of any quality cartoons. He decided to let Hiro rest and let the medicines kick in before asking any more questions, like how to get Baymax back. Fred settled on some bizarre science fiction space show that they watched in silence for awhile.
"Freddy?" Hiro broke the silence, squinting against the bright lights. "Thank you.. for bringing me here… and staying."
"Anytime, brah. Anytime," he patted Hiro on the arm.
Hiro pressed his eyes closed again, swallowing. His face wrinkled up for a moment like he was trying to concentrate. Fred did hope he was going to be okay, since the hospital people got real worried about how bad Hiro's concussion might be. That condition would literally be like Hiro's kryptonite, since his crazy smarts was his superpower.
"I think I saw my brother," the younger Hamada whispered. "He was throwing fire… like Zuko."
"Really?" Fred just raised an eyebrow, completely not expecting to hear that news. Okay, time to really start worrying about the little Hamada's brain bruises. "Did he… talk to you?"
"Yeah…"
"And he had… actual fire bending powers?"
"Yeah... I know," Hiro must be finally realizing just how crazy this sounded. "I… just remember being surrounded, but I.. I don't remember all what happened, really. I mean.. I know they took Baymax.. he wasn't.. activating."
Hiro rubbed his aching arm then pulled up more of the blankets to his chest. "I fought back as much as I could, but I.. I couldn't keep up… Tadashi didn't stay."
"Sorry 'bout that, little dude," Fred nodded, still not too sure what to say in response about his brother. He did ask his dad earlier over the weekend about any conspiracy theories about the incident at SFIT's convention hall. His Dad just said he'll get back with him on that later, in such a way that Fred couldn't tell what he thought.
But this, this was a reality check. A sign telling him he had to seize his dad's offer to help the team. As much as he wanted to believe it, the cold, hard truth was that they weren't like real superheroes with special powers. They were still just a bunch of geeks in science-powered supersuits. Hiro got hurt like this because he did not have his suit, and his own natural ability was not yet enough.
This reminded Fred how one time Hiro told him about his idea to redesign all their suits, using nanobot tech to compact the supersuit armor into a device, such as a watch, so that they could wear all times. Unfortunately, that idea required additional time and money to accomplish, none of which that Hiro had at the moment.
"Want me to alert the others so we can start looking for our robot buddy?" Fred still asked him.
Hiro just shook his head no. He raised his broken arm up to sweep aside his hair out of habit but stopped himself because that action hurt too much to do. "Yama hates my guts, so he stole Baymax to get even… I just needed money for Baymax, and.. Big Hero 6. Now I feel… really stupid."
Fred touched his arm again, getting Hiro's attention. "Y'know… there's something I've been thinking about over the weekend – especially since my dad got to meet you guys. It just makes sense now if I help you out more with funding Big Hero 6. My Dad's already wanting to help. So... what do you say, buddy?"
Hiro shook his head 'no' again, "I-I'm not sure, yet… I don't want you to feel obliged..."
"It's no problem really, Hiro. My Dad can help us with a lot. In fact, his 007 car scanned you for tracking devices, and it came up negative. So they didn't—"
"Aww, no…no, no.." Hiro suddenly groaned, burying his face into an ice pack.
"Um, what?" Fred started to worry if this was just too much for Hiro to take in.
"No… you're okay.. " he looked up to explain. "I just remembered.. I was borrowing GoGo's laptop. It was in my backpack, which they also stole."
"Oh…" Fred understood his dilemma, and it was a really big dilemma . "Oooh… noo. That's not good."
The defeated prodigy sighed, putting the ice pack back on the side of his face.
"Oh god, sweetie!" Aunt Cass rushed into the room, and was right beside her nephew before he could react. "How bad is it?"
Hiro really could not find the words to answer her at that moment. Her hands were on his shoulders then lightly holding his face as she looked him over.
"I'm so sorry about this! You really must feel horrible!" she gushed as she motioned him to move away the ice pack on his face so she could see the swelling and bruises.
"I'm sorry.. too.. Auntie," Hiro finally whimpered. The emotions from the whole ordeal suddenly welled up from inside. She gently pulled him closer for a hug until he was able to calm down.
"This is why I worry.. you're all I have!" she just had to say that as another grim reminder about his own mortality. His aunt leaned back to push aside his matted bangs from his dirty, tear stained face. "Gosh… what happened, sweetie? I thought you were studying, not… superhero-ing! And what happened to your armored suit?"
"It. It wasn't anything superhero related… I fell asleep on the subway... 'cause of my cold. Didn't wake up until I was downtown.. where I got mugged on the subway platform," Hiro sniffled, looking down at his blood-stained hands.
Fred just nodded, intervening to cut Hiro some slack. "Yeah, some ladies found him, and they called me.. to pick him up."
"Wait, who beat you up? Was it the gangs all of you were fighting the other day?" His aunt looked him square in the eyes, her hands on both shoulders.
Hiro just worked his mouth, looking unsure again. Whether he was using his Jedi mind tricks on her that time, it was hard to tell. "I.. I don't know. But, how did you know.. about the gangs..?"
"Baymax told me what you were up against earlier," Aunt Cass explained. "Where is he now?"
Hiro hesitated for a second, but his eyes did not waiver as he lied. "I left him back at the lab."
"Why didn't you call me sooner?" Aunt Cass was quick to ask next.
"I.. they stole my stuff. And.. I didn't want to give your number to strangers," Hiro responded softly, as if to try to appease her with his tone.
"I don't mean to get upset.. I just... I can't believe this!" Aunt Cass straightened up a little. "But we need to report this to the authorities. It's getting too dangerous! I don't want you and your friends to deal with those gangs anymore. Especially as superheroes!"
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his eyes shifting from hers to his hands again. This was not good news for either of them.
His aunt sighed again. Then turned around to look for something over by the sink. "You are such a mess. Here…" Aunt Cass got up to wet some paper towels at the sink, then grabbed some dry ones too. She sat back down next to her nephew to clean him up.
"Ow… careful," Hiro whined, shying away a little when she dabbed at the abrasion on his forehead. "Can't they do that..?"
"I'm surprised they haven't yet."
"They needed permission first…"
"For this? This should just be basic first aid!"
Hiro winced as she cleaned up more of his face. "I also need x-rays—"
"Yes, I was told that, and possibly CAT scans for your head and chest," Aunt Cass paused, looking at his hand that was holding a wad of gauze. Her gaze shifted to his shoulder were she noticed a spot where some blood was coming through the gauze under his gown. "And stitches. Where did you get stabbed?"
"Don't.. worry about it, Aunt Cass…" he gently pushed her hands away before she was able to look at his shoulder.
Fred had wondered if Hiro's aunt also didn't know about the stitches Baymax gave him a few days ago from the gunshot incident. The stab wound was in the shoulder above that injury, so that could explain his uneasy nature.
He looked back to the TV show again, trying to not gawk at their catty arguments too much. The man child didn't remember being nearly as fussy when he was a teenager, but maybe that was because his parents weren't nearly as overbearing. Not that Aunt Cass was overbearing, she was pretty cool… well, as long as she wasn't upset. However, being told that they couldn't do anymore superhero work sounded kind of serious. Heathcliff, on the other hand, was pretty easy to work with, no matter the situation they got into.
"I don't know…" Aunt Cass was showing more of her impatience again, mostly toward the hospital staff. "I'm going to find someone about this. They should have gotten my paperwork by now."
That time, Hiro didn't try to stop her, and audibly sighed after she left. "I really miss Baymax…"
Fred nodded, then looked at him suddenly. "Oh snap… was this the hospital that you guys went to after the earthquake?"
"Doesn't really matter now.." he shook his head.
"Feeling better?" Fred asked, apparently not going to dwell on that thought. He folded his arms on top of the bed rail again to look at Hiro. "You don't have that 'gonna spew' look anymore."
Hiro twisted his face, "I don't have anything left to spew…."
Fred was about to say something in return, but his phone rang. He pulled it out to answer, but stopped when he noticed it was GoGo. The majority of the time when she called him, it was just to get a hold of Hiro. Then the look he got from Hiro reaffirmed his decision to not answer. "Was GoGo expecting to meet up with you?"
Hiro couldn't remember at that moment, shaking his head. "Uhm.. what time.. is it?"
"Uh.. almost 11 o'clock."
".… Really?"
Fred's phone started making more noises that indicated her text alerts soon after. "Oh yeah… she's hot for me now," the hopeless fanboy teased Hiro as he looked over the messages.
"What'd she say?"
"She's… wondering where you are cause you're not responding to her texts. And if you still need help with your project.. she's free now," he looked over to Hiro. Then just to mess with him, only because it was just that obvious, he made up something else. "And… that GoGo really misses you, and wonders when you can go out on a da—"
"What? She didn't!" Hiro knocked an icepack to the floor trying to reach for his phone. "Lemme see!"
"Nooo..." Fred held it away from him.
"Dude. Please!"
"Seriously, bud…. GoGo is asking when she can hook up with you," Fred turned his chair away from Hiro, looking at the texts. The kid genius must be crushing on her hard to get this worked up.
"Then just let me reply, Fred!" Hiro was practically leaning over the bed railing, no longer caring if his gown and IVs were getting all messed up.
"I thought your hands were 'broken'," Fred looked over his shoulder to his wanna-be brother, raising an eyebrow.
"She can't know about the lap—"
There was a knock on the door before it opened, and a nurse came in with Aunt Cass following behind. They had stopped talking at the moment that Hiro quickly sat back to adjust his gown before covering himself back up with the blankets. And of course, his argument with Fred abruptly ended as well.
Hello, nurse! Fred smirked, pocketing his phone.
The rather attractive lady nurse quickly introduced herself, and then prepared the items needed to start on the stitches.
"They're still not ready for the X-rays," Aunt Cass added, looking over to her Hamada. "And they also want you to stay for at least 24 hours for observation due to your injuries."
"Wow…" Fred frowned.
Hiro had scrunched his face in further disappointment. He probably would have face-palmed if he could have. Since Aunt Cass appeared further engaged with discussion about what she was going to do, Hiro leaned over to whisper to Fred. "Just… text GoGo that I 'm really sick… I'll tell her what happened.. later."
"Okay. So… um, want me to hold your hand this time?" Fred nodded him in response, then shifted his gaze to the nurse standing on the other side, prepping an assortment of needles. Yeah, the needle fear thing the young genius had was something he was not going to let slide so easily either. Because it was needles, not something truly life threatening like a super villain throwing a thousand microbots at you, or buildings collapsing from a fire or an earthquake.
Hiro looked over to the nurse, and as expected, cringed. "Oh no.. no, no, no!" he said to no one in particular, leaning away from her
"Oh sweetie, it'll be okay," Aunt Cass stepped over to sit on the bed next to her nephew so she could pull him close for some encouragement. "You can do this."
"Why are there so many?" Hiro still resisted the idea, but not his aunt's comforting arms this time.
"I am starting on his hand, since the doctor wants to check his shoulder injury," the brunette explained the plan to Aunt Cass first, before talking more to Hiro. "We will also need to give you a tetanus shot. But first, this one is just some local anesthesia for your hand so you don't feel the stitches, okay?"
It took Hiro a moment, but he finally stretched out his hand for her. For added distraction, the nurse started asking him random ice breaker questions to find out what he liked. That, somehow, got Fred talking more instead. So maybe he was unintentionally flirting with her, but what else could he do? She was funny and kind of cute.
As if sensing his flirtatious boredom, Aunt Cass told him he was free to go home now that she was there. After some thought, he agreed that he might as well. There was still this paper he had to finish up.
That of course reminded Hiro he would be missing his English Lit class again, and that his memory chip with his paper and his robotics project was in his backpack. Fred reminded him that Hiro had emailed him a draft for him to check, but that wasn't the problem. Hiro also had backups of his project back at the lab as well. The unspoken concern was if the data fell into the wrong hands. Hiro didn't clearly state that problem because he didn't want to set off Aunt Cass again, but Fred caught his drift. Then the two also had to come up with reasons why it was okay that Aunt Cass didn't need to go to the lab to bring things over for Hiro.
Every few hours thereafter brought something different. It ranged from a series of high tech imagery, to waiting, to more tests, and finally treatments. Hiro was finally taken to one of the regular rooms in the children's wing for further observations for the rest of the day. Possibly the most annoying part was being awakened every couple of hours to make sure he was still able to talk and walk to the bathroom okay.
Once Aunt Cass felt more at ease that things were more stable, she left to get a few things from home, such as a clean set of clothes for Hiro to change into later, the laptop, and anything else to pass the afternoon. Her café was not yet ready to open, but this did set her back a day for opening it by the end of the week. She tried to not say anything about that to Hiro just yet, since he was also worried about falling behind during finals week.
The window shades were drawn to block out the bright late morning sunlight. Hiro had said that the bright lights were making his head hurt more, but he also just wanted it darker so he could sleep. He seemed pretty tired now too, so she had her doubts he would actually get much work done there. Hiro really wanted her to bring the laptop so he also could talk with his friends about something. For some reason, her nephew refused to just call them using the phone in his room, or even her own cell.
"Hey sweetie," she placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature, then gripped his shoulder to wake him. It looked like he had dozed off watching something on TV. He had pulled the blankets up around himself, his knees drawn in close. There was also the blue cast on his left arm and IVs trailing from his right arm, with a couple other wires monitoring heart rate.
"I brought back your other favorite hoodie. Not sure if you can get it on, but I can drape it over your shoulders for now."
He was complaining about being cold too, with the skimpy gown he still had to wear. Aunt Cass already took home his other blood stained clothes, but his blue SFIT hoodie looked unsalvageable. She was afraid she would have to get him another.
Her nephew just blinked, looking at her for a moment as if trying to remember where he was before sleep took over.
"How do you feel?" her hand was still on his shoulder. "Do you want anything to eat?"
"Not hungry," he was able to whisper, after licking his dry lips. The most he had the desire to eat so far was Jello. It was a reassuring revelation, to some degree, that the majority of his discomfort was caused from a determined flu virus. What they could see so far from the CAT scans was that his concussion wasn't as bad as feared.
Aunt Cass offered an insulated cup filled with ice water and a straw for him to drink some of anyway. Hiro did, reluctantly, while she pulled out his well-worn, navy hoodie and wrapped him up in it. "I have my laptop also."
"Thanks," Hiro attempted to slide the arm with a cast into the sleeve, only to make his own discovery that really wasn't going to work. He sighed and pulled the hood up over his head instead.
"I'm going to run down to get a sandwich from their cafeteria. Are you sure you don't want anything?" Aunt Cass asked him again. She also remembered to take her laptop out and set it on his rolling bedside table, trailing out the cord to plug it in.
"I'm fine," Hiro told her automatically, opening up the computer.
Aunt Cass straightened up and gave him a doubtful look, not believing that statement. He was looking listless again, and that worried her. "Please let me know if you need anything, okay?"
Hiro just nodded, his attentions more on the laptop now.
Her aunt did call his bluff, because he felt pretty sick to his stomach now, as well as feeling dizzy again. Hiro hadn't felt that way a couple hours earlier and now he began to suspect it might have been from some kind of pills they had him take. He still struggled to get used to the dull aches in his arm and chest from the broken bones too.
Going back to sleep tempted him strongly, but he had something he really wanted Fred to check out. The one thing he didn't let Aunt Cass know was that it was GoGo's laptop that was in his back pack. All of this was way too serious to just heed her request to let the police handle it. He started to wonder if there were any clues left behind at the subway platform. Hopefully that was something Fred could do by himself. Aunt Cass also held her word by calling this in, so he had no idea how seriously the police would act on it. The other concern was just where he could find Yama's gang and his elite. GoGo might know more on that… once he broke the news to her.
Hiro opted for a video chat with Fred again, just because he still wasn't up for typing.
"Hey buddy! Looking a little better," Fred remarked, probably noticing his bandages and hoodie. His friend was back home again from what he saw in the background.
Hiro shrugged. "I still feel like crap though…"
"Ooo… can I draw something on your cast?"
The young genius smiled briefly, before getting to business. He only had so much time before Aunt Cass got back. "Sure... but I wonder if you can do something else."
"Oh yes… what is my next mission?" Fred pointed his fingers together in anticipation.
"Go back to the subway station I was at last night, and look around for any clues.. or if my stuff is anywhere. Starting to wonder if they just tossed my backpack," Hiro explained, keeping his voice low.
"Sure thing, Hero."
"Aunt Cass did call the police… so just look and act natural. Just in case they are looking around there too. No supersuit, okay, Freddy?" he added.
"Okay... practice the art of invisibility. No problemo," Fred nodded, pursing his lips and looking determined.
"Thanks…"
"Did you tell the others what happened?"
"Not yet. I'm going to talk to Gogo next," Hiro sighed, really not looking forward to that. He took a moment to think while tapping on the table in thought. "I'm not sure how we going to look for Baymax, but.. I don't want to waste too much time. They could be dismantling him into something.. far more.. dangerous..."
He had trailed off, the reality finally hitting him now that his senses were returning. His last horrific dream was much more than a nightmare, it was a premonition.
"Um, you okay?" Fred did notice his change in expression.
He rubbed his temple with his right hand, trying to dismiss his apprehension. Hiro hadn't really told the others about the extent of that nightmare from earlier, just GoGo. "It's just… I had this dream last week, about Baymax.. as a killing machine."
"Yeah… but you've had dreams like that, right?""
"This one was different… Baymax had rapid fire guns with armor piercing bullets…" he sat back, closing his eyes as he spoke the last words, "He was.. shooting at me... until I couldn't breath…"
"Ugh," Fred just made a face.
Hiro nodded, opening his eyes but his gaze was to the ceiling. "Really need to think this one through."
"Yeah…"
They were silent for a long second, only because Hiro was trying to think of anything else important to say. "Might get to go home sooner, in the afternoon.. instead of at night."
"Hey, that's good news," Fred leaned back a little to show him an exaggerated close-up of his thumbs up. "You might be part Wolverine after all!"
"Shya… I am so done with this!" Hiro held up his right hand with the IV tubes hanging down from it.
"For real!" Fred agreed with a nod. "I guess Aunt Cass is not there?"
Hiro nodded. "She went down to get some lunch."
"Aunt C let you live! Huzzah!" the fan boy cheered.
Hiro rolled his eyes. "Let me know what you find out... I might be home later."
"Right."
"Oh... Aunt Cass is going to get me a phone too. For emergency situations." Long story short, his aunt took away all his cellphone privileges about a year ago when the over confident genius tinkered a little too much with his last phone, otherwise adversely affecting Aunt Cass's cell phone bills.
"Ooo… excellent!" Fred gave him a thumbs up, but then suddenly looked sad. "I guess this means every one won't be calling me anymore."
"I'll still call you," Hiro tried, and then realized just how awkward that sounded.
Fred just smiled, waiving his hand to indicate that was okay. "Are you gonna get it today?"
"Doubtful," he snorted. "But if I do, I could try to contact Baymax with—"
Hiro's eyes darted to the left, noticing the door push open before Aunt Cass came inside.
"Hey sweetie!
"Hi, Aunt Cass," Hiro responded, glancing briefly back to the computer screen for Fred to figure it out.
"Who are you talking to?" she walked over to him, her hands also full with a bag of opened chips and a white take-out container. The instant she saw who it was, Fred readily greeted her with a wave. "How are you, Fred?"
"Doing good!" The fan boy grinned in the most exaggerated way. "I'm going to let you guys go for now. But if you need anything else, you know who to call, okay buddy?"
"See yah," he was relieved Fred took the cue to end the video chat there. Not that he didn't want her to eavesdrop, he just felt it was better for Fred to get going on his assignment.
"I brought along more Jello for you," she set the white container and a plastic spoon in front of him next to the laptop.
"Thanks…" Except Hiro literally felt his stomach lurch in protest. It was getting harder to for him to hide his queasiness at this point. "But.. I… really don't feel good."
Naturally, she was all over his face again checking to see if he had a fever. "Do you have a headache?"
Hiro shook his head no, grimacing slightly. His whole head just felt weird, but he didn't want to make an issue about that. "Just feel like puking."
"Oh, that's not good," Aunt Cass clicked her tongue. "Try to get more sleep. Your school work can wait. But.. let me have someone check on you."
"I still need to talk to GoGo about my project," Hiro protested weakly.
Aunt Cass looked at him with a sigh. She located the nurse button above his bed and pushed it. "Go ahead then."
The younger Hamada sighed, not happy that she called a nurse to check on him. That might mean not leaving early now. He was really getting fed up with all of this, and doing his best to not worry about just what those punks were doing to Baymax.
Trying to refocus, he stared at the icons on the laptop for a moment. This time he opted for a FacePage messenger program because Aunt Case was there. He still wasn't ready to let GoGo see him in the hospital like this. With part of a cast around one hand, and gauze tightly wrapping the other, his typing speed wasn't very fast either.
[Hamada2] Hey GoGo
[Zoomin] Hiro! What happened ?
[Hamada2] Puking my guts out
[Zoomin] It got that bad?
[Hamada2] Yeah
[Hamada2] Aunt Cass wont let me go in cuz I was sick
[Zoomin] That sux
[Hamada2] Absolutely
[Zoomin] You're coming in tomorrow, right?
[Hamada2] Actually…. could u bring Geronimo here today
[Zoomin] And I am going to have him piggy back on my bike…?
[Hamada2] No… he packs up like Baymax
[Zoomin] How does he do that?
[Hamada2] He should b in alt mode
[Zoomin] Which is…?
[Hamada2] A grey box… u will see in my lab
[Zoomin] And … how am I going to get inside your lab?
Hiro stopped to consider the possibly of GoGo getting Geronimo to activate from her voice command outside the lab door, but decided he better not try that this time.
[Hamada2] Yeah come visit me … ltr at the cafe
[Zoomin] When?
[Hamada2] I txt u … Aunt Cass is taking me to dr now
[Zoomin] You owe me for this
[Hamada2] Thanks
[Zoomin] :P
[Hamada2] Got other stuff to talk about too
[Zoomin] About your project?
A nurse came in then, asking openly if everything was okay. Aunt Cass went over to the elderly nurse to explain what he had told her. Hiro sighed, knowing he would have to wrap this up.
[Hamada2] Just lots of stuff
[Zoomin] Stuff?
He eyed the nurse, walking over to him to check the machines he was hooked up to. Hiro felt all this, the more serious matter about what happened to him and her laptop, would be best explained in person with her later.
[Hamada2] Yea.. gtg
[Zoomin] Alright, we'll talk then
[Hamada2] Bye
As predicted, the nurse came back with the blood pressure cuff and a few other instruments to check his symptoms again.
She nodded and then stepped aside with Aunt Cass to reassure her again that he appeared fine. He couldn't hear everything, but he caught the words alluding that his problem might have been a side effect from the pain reliever. Hopefully that meant he didn't have to stay longer.
That conversation was cut short when a police officer in full uniform stepped into the room, with another hospital staff.
Oh gosh, why now? Hiro narrowed his eyes, trying to contain his utmost displeasure. He slowly closed the laptop, then pushed the table aside. Then the teen tugged on his hood to pull it around him more before crossing his arms. This wasn't doing anything to help his sick feeling either. The nurse also left them alone at that time.
After the usual introductions, the officer, whom of which Hiro was fortunate enough to have not met before, briefly explained the purpose of his meeting with them. The last time he remembered being interviewed by the police was after Professor Callaghan had been brought in, and they also knew who he was as Hiro Hamada.
Whether she was doing this to irk him or not, his aunt pulled the hood back off his head. "Show your respect, let him see you," she told him, under her breath.
Like he needs to see my black eye and stitches to be convinced to find a backpack. Hiro sighed, trying to not fidget with the IV tubes under his left hand while his arms were folded.
"Just remember, Hiro, these questions are to help us find the individuals who attacked you," the young offer explained, pulling out a tablet and stylus to write down his responses.
Hiro sighed, not trusting that reasoning. As far as he could tell, there obviously was no one else there to witness what happened during the fight. All this could as well just be speculation, plus he could easily play the amnesia card and they would believe it.
"What did you have in your possession when you got on the subway?"
"My backpack." Does this have to be a question?
"Just your backpack?"
"Yes, sir."
"What was in your backpack?"
"My laptop, data chips for my projects, some lab journals… proprietary information like that," Hiro tried to sound very serious just to give importance for his stuff. He was not going to say anything about Baymax being stolen, in order to stick to the story he told Aunt Cass.
"Did they take it, forcefully?"
"Yes," Hiro responded, really trying to not look annoyed by these elementary kind of questions.
"Who threw the first punch?"
Hiro knitted his brows, not answering that obvious question.
"Okay.. how much did you fight back?"
He still did not like that kind of question, and wondered what the police had on file about him. How much did Callaghan tell them about their battles earlier anyway? The one thing he honestly didn't remember was just how the fight ended. "They kept trying to restrain me.. I had too, out of defense."
"Did they have weapons?" he was busy tapping and typing everything Hiro explained.
"Um… yes."
"Do you remember what they had?"
"Knives.. swords," Hiro held up his wrapped hand. He vaguely remembered their fold-out fans being made up of knives, and a ball and chain, but that felt like too much information now. "Don't really remember exactly…"
"Okay, that's fine. This is the most important question: Can you describe the people who attacked you?" the police officer stopped his note-taking to ask the teen.
Hiro fell silent again. He knew, but if he did tell the police, just how could they apprehend these kind of gangsters? Yama's gang demonstrated hoe slick they were, and would without a doubt do what they could to turn the tables on him. How many were there, he was not sure at this point. They dashed in and out of the shadows from all angles.
"It's okay if you cannot talk about them now. Take your time… any information you provide will help us find who attacked you," the police offer made an effort to sound sincere.
I can still do a better job finding them… we know how they think, Hiro reflected, stealing a glance from the officer. He rubbed his neck as he tried to piece something together to say.
"They were women…" the Hamada looked to the officer. Realizing how lame that sounded, he finished the thought to justify that statement. "And maybe some guys."
"They all knew how to fight.. and looked Asian. I don't remember much else.." Because it was very likely he really did get beat up and left for dead by a bunch of women, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
"How many were there?"
"Like... a few. They were moving around too much."
"Was there anything that stood out? What did their clothes and hair look like?"
Hiro shook his head no, this time trying to not fidget. GoGo told him he did that when he was under pressure, or trying to hide something.
"Anything about body built, or height? Were they bigger than you?"
Hiro shook his head while looking down at his hands. He decided he was through with this and didn't want to say anymore. He felt sick, and he really just wanted to go back to sleep to escape that feeling.
"Nothing more you can think of?"
"No," he shook his head again, really hoping the officer was done.
"Excuse me, sir," Aunt Cass stepped closer to the officer since she also sensed he was wrapping up with his questions.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"How much do you know about my nephew?"
"On his record?" the officer sought clarification.
"If not just recently. Are you aware he likes to be a superhero?" the brunette put a hand on her hip, gesturing with the other as she spoke.
"Aunt Cass..!" Hiro tried to grab her attention, not wanting her to tell him about that. But she blatantly ignored him.
"He was the one helping you guys on the day of the earthquake, and he had confronted gangs who were looting the stores."
"He was with the big, red robot?" the officer nodded, his interest clearly piqued at this point.
"Aunt Cass, nooo!"
She barely gave the younger Hamada any acknowledgement, and then just nodded toward the door. "Can we step outside for a moment?"
He could not believe she was going to ignore his wishes and tell that officer everything about his secret superhero identity. That can't happen in this way!
Hiro really did not want to get up, but he had to find out if he could hear was she was saying. After pulling his hood back up over his head, unclipping his heart monitor, and sliding off the same side of the bed as the IV bags, the injured teen made his way over to the door with his IV stand to eavesdrop.
Ducking a little under the window at the door, he knelt close to the door in an effort to hear more clearly their words. As he had feared, Aunt Cass explained her concerns that the gangs they confronted on that day if the earthquake could be connected to this attack. The officer seemed amused by the reality of how young Hiro was to be doing that level of crime fighting. Then she had to add that he knew a lot more about things than any of them could imagine.
There was more random chit chat about him, and then the officer finally wrapped of the conversation with reassurances that they will take this information he collected to narrow down some suspects. Of course there was the obligatory advisory that they may not find the people in question or the stolen items right away, but they would do what they can.
Suddenly aware of the need to move away from the door before Aunt Cass noticed him, Hiro in all his gracefulness managed to trip himself up on one of the metal 'legs' on the IV stands. The IV stand didn't get knocked over, but he lost his balance. Fortunately, he managed to roll backwards semi-judo style as to not traumatize his arm in a cast. That motion still aggravated his tender ribs though.
"Oh no, Hiro sweetie!" Aunt Cash blurted out when she saw him go down after coming through the door. "Are you okay?"
"Just.. trying to go to the bathroom," Hiro groaned while she helped him back to his feet. "Tripped."
"Let me help you over there," she kept her arm under his shoulder while they walked the rest of the way over.
"…thanks."
After closing the door and situating his unwelcome IV friend, he just collapsed in front of the toilet. The light was so bright in there, and the fall didn't help him either. He finally gave in, dry heaving a couple times into the porcelain bowl until he heard Aunt Cass push open the door.
His worried aunt knelt down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him close. "It'll be okay," she whispered.
Hiro surrendered into her arms, squeezing his eyes shut. She swept aside some of his bangs from his now sweaty face, and then stroked his hair to help him relax.
"You shouldn't have told him I was a superhero…" he whispered, his eyes still shut.
"I don't want you to be a superhero right now," Aunt Cass spoke softly to him. "I just want my nephew, my Hiro Hamada. Let the police do what they do best."
He swallowed back a lump of emotion welling up in his throat and tried to keep his calm. At least she didn't seem to know that this gang unrest came from all the way back to his first encounter, when he and his brother were caught together with that first bust on Yama's gang. "How long until this drug wears off?" Hiro asked instead, not moving or opening his eyes yet.
"I think she said 2 or 3 more hours."
"Nnh…"
"Let's get you back in bed to get more sleep… I will ask for a different pain killer," Aunt Cass began helping him back up to his feet.
"Do I still get to go home this afternoon?"
"I think so," she tried to sound positive. "Oh, do you still have to 'go'?"
"Um… yeah," he sounded a little more modest.
"By yourself?" Aunt Cass didn't let go of him yet.
"Yeah," he nodded, making the motion he would sit down.
"I'll be out here, okay sweetie?"
AN:
I am still excited for the new BH6 series. A part of me is wondering if that show will have similar type of adventures... dealing with normal life as a college kid while also still doing the superhero gig. I am curious that they would have more relationship building and backstory to all the characters. Or how the movie rumor about Tadashi as Sunfire fits into thus cartoon series (which hasn't really alluded to anything about Tadashi). Not that it matters… ;p
Part of me hopes it would be like Ironman Adventures, or the Avatar cartoons. Or… after just seeing this new series on Netflix... Voltron: Legendary Defender. Oh yeah, that would be totally rocking it if the show had that kind of great animation and profound characterization!
Thank you again for hanging with me! The next few chapters will finally start wrapping everything up.
