Hiro was sat in the garage, his head in his hands and his elbows propped up on his desk. He was half-asleep. The computer screen was lighting up his face, its progress bar only halfway across. Baymax's helmet was hooked up to it, every now and then it would make a beeping noise that would wake him up enough not to pass out right there. He'd dropped it down the stairs in his hurry to get everything prepared, and now it was broken. His plan was to get everything prepared and go look for them in their superhero gear. However, it was proving difficult. Gogo was at work, as was Honey Lemon. Wasabi was babysitting his younger cousin. Fred was not answering any of Hiro's texts.

Hiro got the indication that they thought he was being dramatic. He understood, but at the same time he was angry at them for not taking him seriously. Gogo had promised that they'd find them, but after searching the school and surrounding areas for an hour she had left to go to work. Within half an hour, the rest of them had left him alone in the snow. He knew that something was going on, but he couldn't think for the life of him what. Or, maybe he was just losing his mind and they were at a party or something.

It had been five hours since Rena and Tadashi disappeared. Five hours since Hiro had seen Caine for the first time since he tried to kill him. For all he knew, Rena and Tadashi were dead.

He was just dozing off again when his laptop pinged with an email alert. He moved his hand onto the mouse and opened a new tab. The email was addressed to him, but he couldn't recognise the address. There was no subject line, and no message. The only thing attached was a video link.

'Probably just a virus.' He muttered to himself, almost clicking off it. However, curiosity got the better of him and he clicked the 'play' icon in the bottom left hand corner.

For a second, it didn't register what the video was actually of. The camera was aimed at a dirty wall; clearly handheld as it was shaking slightly. He could hear laughing in the background. At first, he thought it was some kind of unfunny prank that brought him unpleasantly back to high school. Then the camera turned and focused on a girl in a chair. A man was stood over her, smirking and with his arms folded. Hiro squinted at the image, recognising both figures. He'd definitely seen the man at a botfight before, but he couldn't quite place his finger on the girl. That was, until she lifted her head and the penny dropped.

'Holy shit!' He exclaimed loudly to the empty room. He stood up so fast he saw stars. His foot caught on the chair and he went crashing to the floor, the sounds of Rena still playing on the computer. His heart was racing and he quickly clamped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block them out. Okay. So he was right. He knew it! Fuck.

'Hiro, what seems to be the problem?' Baymax had come to life and waddled over to him.

The video had stopped and Hiro leapt to his feet. 'Baymax! Right okay... We need... We need...' He faltered. He needed to act - fast. What he did next was crucial. 'I need... DAMNIT!' He kicked the table so hard his eyes watered.

'Hiro, my scan detects that you are feeling angry. I can recommend-'

'SHUT UP!' He yelled, 'I need more TIME!'

He closed the email and looked at the process of the robot's helmet. 54% complete. He needed it to work, there was no way he was going in there without Baymax's superhero gear. Besides, he needed the helmet to work in order to scan for Rena's location. He turned away from the computer and tugged at his hair, trying to form a plan in his head. Rena might already be dead. And Tadashi... Why wasn't he in the video? This was his fault. All of this was his fault. He didn't know the full story, but he knew enough that this had something to do with botfighting. It had to! Why else would that guy be at SFIT?

As much as he hated the idea of bringing anyone else into it, he knew there was no way in hell that he could do any of this alone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and frantically scrolled down, clicking call on the first number he saw.

'This had better be quick. I told you that I'm at work!'

'Rena and Tadashi still haven't come home-'

Gogo sighed, 'Hiro, I-'

'No. Shut up and listen to me.'

'Wh-'

'They're in danger.'

'Hiro-'

'YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!' He was yelling now. Screaming at the top of his lungs, in fact. Thank god Aunt Cass was at her friend's house. 'They're in danger! They're gonna get killed and it's... and it's my fault! I've killed them! I've fucking killed them! There's this... this video...'

'Calm down. What video? Hiro...what video are you talking about?'

He was hyperventilating. Tears were streaming down his face and he couldn't get another word out. The realisation was beginning to sink in and he felt a wave of nausea so intense the room was spinning. The phone dropped out of his hand and landed on the floor with a dull thud he barely registered.

His eyes drifted back over to the monitor. 57% complete. Baymax was watching him curiously. 'Hiro, are you alright?'

'No...no... I don't...' He gasped, one hand on his chest and the other pulling at his hair. He could feel his heart hammering frantically. Fast enough that it felt like it was going to explode. 'Baymax...'

He squeezed his eyes tight shut, his mind working overtime to form some kind of plan. All he had to do was wait until the helmet had finished. What if it didn't work though? What if Baymax couldn't locate Rena? What is she's dead by the time he gets there? Where's Tadashi? Are they even in San Fransokyo?

'Hiro-' Baymax hugged him from behind him, surrounding the teen in vinyl. Hiro shoved at his arm to push him off, but he was no match for Baymax. Slowly, he turned a soft red as he grew warmer.

Hiro patted his arm affectionately. He had to admit it, it was working. The panic lifted just enough so that it no longer felt as though he'd just run a marathon. 'We're running out of time.'

'Hiro, would you like me to contact your friends?'

'Wait-'

'Your friends have been contacted.'

'Nice to see some things don't change.'


Rena was dying.

Sure, it was happening slowly. But this was the one thing that she knew for certain. Within hours, she would be dead.

At some point, she'd given up trying to fight it. Eventually, she'd just sat limp and let them hit her. What good would it be trying to fight it? She knew she was letting them win. That's what they wanted to happen. But honestly? Rena didn't care. Her body was slowly shutting down and she didn't give two shits.

After a couple of hours, Caine had come in. For a second, Rena thought she was saved. But then he just looked at her and walked straight out the door. Later, she learnt that he was working for them. He hadn't come to save her. Maybe he had come to laugh at her. Taunt her. She was expecting him to come back and deliver the final blow.

Actually, when she thought about it, seeing Caine was probably around the time that she gave up. It hurt. She thought they were friends! Sure, he was a bit of a prick. But so was she. And she'd grown to love him, as she thought he had for her.

Everything was shit. Nobody could be relied upon to do anything right. Why even bother trying to stay alive? At this point, who cared if she lived or died? Caine had betrayed her. Tadashi had betrayed her and brought her to the place that would lead to her death. Hiro had gone behind her back and gone botfighting. Clara had kissed her then moved away to France without a word since.

She was in the corner of the room in a heap, her back pressed against the damp wall. The muscled guy had missed when he had swung at her with a baseball bat, instead smacking the chair and reducing it to a pile of splinters. They'd laughed it off and instead just kicked her to the corner of the room, probably knowing that she didn't have the motivation nor the energy to move. She barely had the strength to move the chair leg that was digging uncomfortably into her side.

'You're not giving up this easily are you? After everything we've been through?'

Rena's eyes flew open to see Hiro crouched next to her. He had a small smile on his face, as though this was an everyday occurrence. 'Come on, Hamada. You're better than this.'

'You're not... you're not real... are you?' Rena rasped.

Hiro shook his head, 'a figment of your own imagination. Duh. Now come on. Get up.'

'I literally can't.'

'Yes you can.'

'Hiro!' She coughed, spitting out another mouthful of blood. 'I can't!'

'I'm in your head. You're disagreeing with yourself. A sign of madness, I reckon.'

Rena didn't reply. She closed her eyes again and tried to block him out. Of course her own brain would do this against her.

'He's right.'

'Fuck off Tadashi.'

Tadashi was next to Hiro, also peering down at her with some mild interest. 'You're not gonna die, are you? Shit Rena, you need to fight this.'

'Fight WHAT exactly? I can't just... decide when to live.'

'You've given up,' Hiro said, 'you can't do that.'

'Why?'

'Because you told me that there's always something to live for. And there is.'

'...Shut... Up.'

'Rena, you can get yourself out of this. You're strong.' Tadashi encouraged.

'You brought me here!'

'Which means he's in danger.'

Her two brothers had disappeared, instead it was Gogo. 'They're in danger.'

'They're roped into this, somehow.' Honey Lemon added.

'You can save them.' Said Wasabi.

'Rena! Be your own superhero!' Fred exclaimed.

Rena sighed. By the time she had opened her mouth to reply, the apparitions of her friends had vanished. Instead, Clara was stood above her. 'This isn't the Rena I know.'

She scoffed, then winced at the sudden movement. 'The Rena you knew is dead.'

'I know you. This isn't you. You can pull through this.'

'I don't think I can. I don't think I want to.'

'Okay then. Don't do it for you, do it for them. Your friends are right - they're both in danger.'

'Why should I care? I'm only here because of them?'

'Maybe. But you do care. You love them and you care a lot more than you care to admit. You can't die and leave them Rena, you just can't.'

'I think I can.'

'You're disagreeing with yourself again. Remember... I'm only in your head...'

And then she disappeared.

Rena's nose and ribs were broken. Her left eye was blackened and swollen. She was missing two teeth. Her head was aching and she felt terribly ill. She was pretty sure her wrist was sprained. Half her body was covered in bruises and cuts.

And yet, from somewhere, she found the strength to sit up. Because those weird apparitions were right. Damnit, they were right. Hiro and Tadashi were in terrible, terrible danger. She didn't dare think about what would happen to them if she died. Similarly, she didn't want to think about what would happen if one of them died. If they died now, she would never forgive herself. Ever.

'For fucks sake,' she muttered to herself, 'they better had appreciate this.'

And, with tears streaming down her face and many curses and cries of mingled pain and fury, she rose to her feet.