Hi everyone. I know a lot of readers are starting to crack a little under this pandemic. I just want to remind you that you can still find ways to have fun even while social distancing from one another.
Ever since Cyborg-Girl had given Hiro her email address the two of them had formed a strong friendship. The boy even would go as far as saying she was his best friend.
Hiro found himself looking forward to their private chats and pubic ones with his other friends after his physical therapy. The last two and a half weeks had been a roller coaster ride. While he was still not where he should be, he was happy that the treatments on his scars were starting to work.
Dr. Pipton had suggested using a medicated lotion to not only moisturize the skin but to help keep the skin from tearing when he moved. This was helping with his pain management.
His ribs had finally healed all the way so it didn't hurt as much to breathe or move. His peach fuzz had started to become thick locks of hair again.
His doctors were still monitoring his broken leg and nanite activity. He was not thrilled though he had to talk to a therapist about his mental health. Dr. Pipton had recommended it after his chat with Hiro.
It didn't help that Tadashi had talked with Aunt Cass about Hiro's belief that he had gained technopathy thanks to his neural transmitter. She was conflicted by the news. Like Tadashi, she believed Hiro when he said this happened. At the same time, she needed proof for herself.
So, aside from having to talk about his feelings, he also had to talk about his "supposed" abilities to the therapist. Honestly, it would be easier to endure if Aunt Cass hadn't insisted on attending the sessions with Hiro.
Hiro was sitting in his bed performing a simple strength exercise. He using two cans of fruit as weights and lifting them up and down. It was a great way for seniors and people with weak muscles to gain strength.
"Hey, Baymax. What are my nanites doing right now?" the teenager asked as the health care companion monitored him.
"According to my scan, your nanites have divided into two groups. Some of them are assisting your muscles by merging with the stem cells to increase the productivity in healing the damage to the muscles."
Hiro nodded in understanding. "What about the second group?"
Your other nanites are still working in your dermis cells in an attempt to fix more of the damaged skin and minimize the scarring. They appear to be almost finished."
"So in theory, would they return to healing my leg?"
"Possibly. Your nanites seem to work on the principle of triage. They heal the most damage first, then move onto the secondary injuries, and finish healing minor wounds.
I suspect once all injuries are healed your nanites will return to their normal activity of monitoring your health."
"I can't wait for that to happen."
There was a chime on his smartphone indicating he had received a new email. He opened it and read the message before letting out a whoop of delight.
Hearing his brother let out a whoop of delight, Tadashi hurried up the stairs. "Hey, Hiro, what's got you so excited?"
"Listen to this! Dear HeroP7, we have been talking for weeks now. I asked my father about meeting you in real life since we both live in the same city. He agreed to it!
Can you get permission to come to meet me in the real world? My father said he would love to meet a member of your family so they could be assured nothing bad will happen. That we're all legit.
Please send your reply ASAP!"
Hiro looked at his brother with puppy dog eyes. "Tadashi please say yes. I really want to meet her."
Tadashi wanted to say yes, yet he knew, he couldn't. "I'm not sure that is a good idea. After all, people can be anyone on the Internet."
Hiro's eyes were full of hurt. "You think she's a predator?"
"We don't even know for sure if the person you're talking to is a girl. You only know this person through a chatroom. I know your physical therapist gave you the link.
Think about how many other people have been given the same link. Adults also have access to the page."
"There are administrators who monitor the chatrooms making sure that everyone is assigned an appropriate age group. There are safety protocols to keep us safe," Hiro pointed out.
Tadashi reminded Hiro there had been protocols to keep footage from his surgery from being leaked out only for it to happen anyways. "Just yesterday, you had to have Baymax remove the most obnoxious and obese eleven-year-old rich kid from our home because he broke into our house."
That incident had been to close. He was lucky that Baymax's combat chip and primary patient protocols had worked together to identify Richards Mole as a threat to Hiro's health.
"According to Fred's mom, that kid shouldn't be a problem anymore."
"Either way little brother, there are too many dangerous people out there who would take advantage of you. You'll have to postpone meeting up until Aunt Cass and your doctors agree to this."
"Fine. Doesn't mean I have to like it."
Seeing his little brother unhappy twisted Tadashi's poor heart. There had to be something he could do to make this up to Hiro. "I have an idea. The gang and I are going to the movies tomorrow night to see "Kentucky Kaiju". Why don't you come with us?"
"Hasn't Fred already seen that movie over a dozen times?"
Tadashi nodded and then announced he would go clear it with Aunt Cass. He hurried down the stairs not noticing his little brother was about to say something.
I wish he would stop talking for me when I can speak for myself. He asked Baymax to come up with an aerobics exercise he could do while emailed his friend back.
Trina read Hiro's reply and smacked her hand against her desk. She let out a groan and started to massage it. "I can't let Hiro's brother interfere with our plans to meet. Time to talk about Plan A with Father."
The next day was another therapy session for Hiro. After getting another ultrasound treatment for his scars, they were working on his upper body strength. With five-pound weights in each hand, the teenager started lifting them.
"Up straight, go wide on the sides, and then curl them up. Up straight, go wide to the sides, and then curl them up."
He heard someone giggling nearby and maneuvered his wheelchair around to see an auburn haired girl about his age on the bench near him. "What's so funny?"
She laughed and replied, "I haven't heard anyone repeat that mantra in some time. I guess it is helping you."
Hiro blushed a little before clearing his throat. "I haven't seen you before. Are you new?"
"Nah. I come here about twice a week just not on the days you're here I think. My dad and I have plans for tomorrow that couldn't be rescheduled so I came in today instead of coming tomorrow.
Where are my manners? I'm Trina. Trina Akens."
She held out her left hand and he shook it. "I'm Hiro. Hiro Hamada."
Trina looked at him weirdly, but not in a way indicating she was looking for any hardware. Instead, she seemed to be pondering his name. "Hiro? That's an unusual name. You wouldn't happen to be HeroP7?"
Cautiously, he asked why would she asked that. Trina explained that she was Cyborg-Girl in the chatroom and had been hoping to meet him at physical therapy.
The teenager grinned. "You can't be Cyborg-Girl," he teased. "You don't look like a cyborg."
Trina tapped him on the nose. "Remember, looks can be deceiving." She then picked up her own five-pound weight and started lifting it with her right arm. "So, what does your therapist have you working on today?"
"Upper body strengthening exercises. I lost a lot of strength I gained after they removed my hardware and I've finally reached where I was before the surgery."
"Well, I'm strengthening my right arm." She showed him her two arms and he could see the difference.
Trina then walked a few feet and back showing her awkward gait. She then leaned in close enough for him to see the scar line on her face.
Hiro moved back in his chair and bumped into a bench. "Sorry, I don't like it when someone gets too close."
Trina told him it was fine and the fault was hers. "My father and I have difficulty with personal space."
The two resumed their exercises and their goals. "Besides orthopedic physical therapy, I'm also doing cardiovascular exercises to strengthen my heart."
Hiro's eyebrows went up. "You don't look like you have a heart problem."
Trina looked down at the ground sadly. "I was born with a perfect heart. It was after the accident my heart started having problems." Lifting her head she muttered she didn't want to talk about it right now.
About this time Baymax came over. "Hiro, Dr. Pipton wants you to work on your range of motion exercises with him. He believes you need to start working on your right leg while the left one still heals."
Hiro ducked his head and started counting the number of mats near him. Couldn't Baymax see he was talking to someone and waited until he was alone to fetch him?
Trina was also annoyed by Baymax's presence. It complicated her plans with Hiro. "It's fine Hiro. I have to go do some therapy for my heart. I'll talk to you later."
She walked a few steps then looked behind at Hiro. "Oh! I just remembered a new scenario I came up with. A behemoth is attacking the city because an evil wizard is controlling him through a talisman.
The magicians sworn to protect the city have tried everything they could to stop it, but none of their powers are helping. What should they do?"
Hiro thought about it for a few seconds. "Well if magic isn't working, then they should use their wits to take control of the talisman and send the monster back where it came from before destroying it."
Trina thanked him and headed over to the area for cardiovascular physical therapy. Hiro sighed and then followed Baymax to learn his new range of motion exercise.
Later on around sunset, Hiro was looking forward to spending time with his brother and friends at the movies. He could sit in the big open space reserved for people in wheelchairs without having to look around for a place to sit.
He suddenly frowned as they took a turn towards the docks. "Where are we going Tadashi? This isn't the way to the movie theater."
"Fred said he had quote, "The most magnificent, humongous, out of this world surprise" he wanted to show us."
Hiro could only imagine what a crazy and comic-loving fan, would consider worthy of that title. Soon they arrived at the docks and saw the others, except Fred, waiting by Wasabi's new car.
Hiro was out of the van as fast as his wheelchair could take him and waved at his friends. "Hey everyone! It's been a while hasn't it?"
"It's wonderful to see you, Hiro. I'm glad that you're here to see Freddie's big reveal."
"I bet it's something crazy."
"No to mention messy. Ugh."
At that moment, the sound of loud footsteps was heard as the dock shook. Shipping containers rattled and Hiro almost fell out of his wheelchair if it wasn't for Baymax keeping him in.
Out of the bay water, a giant version of the Kentucky Kaiju emerged. Upon seeing it Wasabi fainted from fear. Honey Lemon's face was frozen in shock while Go-Go's was smiling.
Tadashi stood in front of Hiro ready to protect him. The Kentucky Kaiju moved towards the dock and then stopped. Its three eyes popped open and he saw Fred waving his hands around.
"Check it out! Isn't this the best surprise in your life?" Fred was wiggling around in anticipation to hear the responses.
"What in the world did you do Fred?" Go-Go shouted upwards.
Fred didn't respond right away. Instead, he jumped out of the cockpit into the kaiju's hand, which lowered him onto the dock. The lanky millionaire sauntered over.
"My dear Go-Go, I bought the original prop from the movie, but it was too small to have fun with. Instead, I made an accurate size version of it using parts from a crane."
The others all rolled their eyes. Of course, Fred would spend millions of dollars to build a fully functional kaiju robot for himself. Hiro motored over to get a better look at the robot.
It was an impressive piece of technology. The hydraulics in each leg must have been custom made to support the weight of this robot. "I wonder how high it can jump."
The conversation drifted away as the teenager concentrated and opened his mind to the kaiju robot. "Can you hear me?" he whispered.
One of the robot's fingers appeared to move an inch although that could wishful thinking. Hiro focused on the robot's tail and thought about just having the tip of the tail swish back and force.
Wheeling into a better position, he waited to see if the kaiju robot would do what he asked. He felt his neural transmitter heat up slightly and for the first time felt his body, in lack of a better term, prepare him for battle.
The tip of the tail swished. Smirking, Hiro reached out again. This time he was going to move a single toe.
"Hiro, watch out!" Tadashi yelled seeing his brother close to the end of the dock. Startled, his brother pulled the joys stick back. He was heading straight for the side of the dock!
Baymax shifted into a higher gear and was able to grab ahold of the wheelchair before it fell and brought the teenager back to his brother and friends.
Tadashi was holding his cap in his hands and twisting it in half. As soon as his little brother was close enough, he rushed over and gave him a huge hug. "Don't scare me like that little brother! You shouldn't have been on the dock."
"I just wanted to get a closer look Tadashi. It's an amazing piece of tech."
"You bet it is! I'm going to show you all the special features I talked about right now!" He reached into his pocket for the remote control and found it missing. "Hey, did one of you take my remote control?"
"I sure did mister!" an annoying voice called out. The group turned their attention from Hiro back to the robotic kaiju. To their shock Noodle-Burger Boy was inside the cockpit!
"I'm taking my toy to go. Bye!" he waved goodbye and for good measure fired burger patties at the group forcing them to take cover.
They watched as the giant kaiju robot started heading from the bay towards the bridge as it swung its arms around preparing to attack.
"We've got to do something," Honey Lemon exclaimed. "We can't let people get hurt because of us."
"Technically, this is Fred's mess," Go-Go pointed out. Tadashi gave her a look and she settled down. "Come on, the armor is in the back of Wasabi's car."
Hiro raised an eyebrow in disbelief. They didn't have a delivery system set up for bringing the armor to them? How had they not been caught with the armor just laying around?
Before Hiro could ask his questions he found himself in the back of the van and being belted into place. "Tadashi! What are you doing? Let me go!" He tried to push his brother's hands away only to find himself being restrained by Baymax's big hug.
"Calm down Hiro. We're doing this to keep you safe." He patted Hiro's head much to the boy's annoyance. It was a distraction, however, because he felt something soft yet firm, being placed around his wrists preventing him from using the joystick.
Tadashi had put his hands into soft restraints to keep him from unbuckling himself and leaving the van! "Tadashi, let me go please!"
"Hiro, this is for your safety. I can't bring you with me and you can't make it home by yourself. I need you to stay here where it's safe. Your past actions indicate you won't stay out of danger, so I have to take extra measures."
Baymax drove the car into a warehouse owned by Fred's family and parked it. After making sure Hiro was safe they both left for the bridge to stop Noodle-Burger Boy before he hurt anyone.
It didn't cross Tadashi's mind that he had just hurt the one person who mattered most to him.
Inside that van, Hiro struggled to get himself free. He pulled as hard as he could, but the restraints wouldn't give. He reached for the buckle, but couldn't get far enough to undo it.
He began to panic and he fought even harder to get free. "No, I won't be a prisoner again. I won't!" With a rush of adrenaline, he broke free of the restraints and wasted no time in getting unbuckled.
Slamming his hand on the ramp release button he rolled out as fast as he could breathing heavily. "How dare Tadashi lock me up like that? That is not how you treat your brother no matter what the circumstances!"
The sensation of his nanites prepping his body increased as he headed outside to see how the battle was going.
The robot kaiju's left arm was tangled in the suspension cables. He had to squint, but he could make out a pink, yellow, and green dot on the bridge. In the sky, he saw Baymax flying around the robot's head.
Tadashi was using one of his robots to act like hooks as he scaled the creature to make his way to the cockpit. Meanwhile, Fred was trying to keep Noodle-Burger Boy from using the flamethrower in the kaiju's mouth, by creating a controlled burn.
The robot kaiju is too big to stop with their powers. Even if they do make it into the cockpit, Noodle-Burger Boy is waiting to attack and his condiments could cause a short if the drip into the circuits.
The only way to safely stop this thing is to shut it down without anyone being in the area. The middle of the bay would be a perfect place to shut it down and sink to the seafloor.
Hiro eyed the robot and focused his mind. He felt the increased temperature around his head and chose to ignore it. His body felt energized as he pictured the cockpit in his mind.
"Hear my voice. Listen to me," he whispered to himself. The transmitter sent out a signal and a connection was formed between the giant robot and Hiro's mind.
The world seemed to fade away as his vision was replaced by seeing the circuits and electrical pathways that controlled the robot. He knew instantly what each pathway controlled.
His mind focused on the pathway to the left limb. He commanded it to stop moving around and to stand still.
Out in the bay, BH6 wondered what Noodle-Burger Boy was doing with the giant robot. Tadashi was almost to the right shoulder when the arm moved. He held on tight.
"What in the world is going on up there?" he asked himself. "Baymax, report. What do you see happening?"
"The robotic kaiju is untangling the suspension cables around its left arm with precision. The bridge is steady."
Honey Lemon chimed in. "It's freed its arm and taking a few steps back. Freddie, Dashi watch out!"
Tadashi felt the claw tips pluck him off the robot. He dangled high in the air before he was placed down on the bridge with Fred.
The robot started walking to the center of the bay and its eyes went dark showing it had been turned off. As it began to sink, Noodle-Burger Boy smashed through the glass and jumped.
Something invisible caught him and he zoomed away before they could track him. As they watched the robot go under the same thing was all on their minds. What had just happened?
Back on the docks, Hiro felt the connection breaking off and his body started to relax, the nanites returning to their previous duties. Blinking his eyes, he found himself in the real world again.
"Whoa, what a rush! I actually did it! I can't wait to tell Tadashi…" Remembering what his brother had done to him Hiro was conflicted about what to do next.
I don't have any proof of what I did and after what he did to me, does he even have the right to know what happened?
Clenching his fist and narrowing his eyes he decided Tadashi did not have the right to know what happened In fact, he shouldn't have even told him about his first technopathy incident in the first place.
Three days passed and Trina was in the basement with her father. Obake was working on something on his worktable while Noodle-Burger Boy kept an eye on the city for anything useful.
Trina looked down at the biomechanical device her father was working on. "Are you sure this will work? There's a big difference from testing it on lab animals and putting it in me."
Obake's face glowed as he gave his daughter a reassuring grin. "I've been working on this for nearly three years now. I'm positive this will work."
He put the device and tiny tools down and briefly embraced his daughter. "I'm not going to let any harm come to you, Trina. Soon, you won't have to worry about your heart troubles anymore."
Trina hoped her father was right. She trusted him with her life, (literally), but she knew from experience his experiments and inventions could have deadly consequences.
Wanting to take her mind off her medical issues she told him about her latest group chat. "Hiro told the group about how he was forcefully restrained by his own brother during a "criminal disaster" a few days ago."
An evil grin appeared on Obake's face. "Did he now? That must have upset the boy very much."
His daughter nodded. She remembered how it took every group member to calm Hiro down before he did something he regretted. "The trust he recently rebuilt with his brother is starting to crack again."
She bent down and grabbed a tablet out of her bag. She had a video she wanted to show him.
In the video, they saw Hiro in the bedroom working on the computer. One eye was looking at a book about how the immune system worked in the brain, while the other was focused on the screen typing up several new codes.
At first glance, Obake didn't understand why Trina wanted him to see the video. She paused the video and zoomed in on the exposed neural transmitter. There was a faint aura around it and it seemed the electronics in the boy's room were activating without any remotes or switches being flicked.
"This is fascinating. This evidence supports our theory about biological link helping to form wireless links with all sorts of machinery. We need more in-depth data if we're to understand how biology and technology work together."
Trina smirked and pulled out a stuffed toy she had stolen from a prize counter at a local arcade. It was a mini plushy of Baymax in his armor. She cuddled it for a few seconds before explaining her plan to her father.
She was going to redesign the plushy into a little robot spy for her leaving her father plenty of time for him to gather what he needed for his grand plans for the city.
"Wonderful idea daughter! We're much closer to bringing the boy to our side."
At the Lucky Cat Café, Hiro was trying to talk to his aunt. There was a lull in customers and he was hoping to talk to her more about what Tadashi did to him. "Aunt Cass, can we please talk?"
Aunt Cass had been taking advantage of the lull to check her stock so she could place her order of supplies for delivery. She was only half-listening to Hiro. "What do you need to talk about Hiro?"
"Tadashi's treatment of me remember? Aunt Cass, he used restraints on me!"
Aunt Cass lost her place in counting the recyclable coffee cups thanks to Hiro's shouting. She sighed and looked over her shoulder at her youngest nephew. "Don't you think you're exaggerating a little? All he did was strap you in tight with the seatbelts to keep you safe."
Hiro's eyebrow right eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Tadashi had called Aunt Cass before picking up Hiro from the docks. As far as Aunt Cass knew, Tadashi had double buckled his brother into his seat as they sped away from the docks after Fred's big surprise had been stolen.
"He used soft restraints on me to restrict my movements," Hiro insisted. "He treated me like I was a dangerous criminal."
Once again, Aunt Cass lost her place as she counted the coffee cups. "That is pure nonsense, Hiro. Neither Tadashi or Baymax, have access to that particular device."
She knelt to Hiro's level looking at him in concern. "You have an appointment later today with Dr. Jean-Pierre. You and I can talk more about this then. Right now, I need to focus on taking inventory of my stocks, okay?"
Hiro pushed down his bitterness and anger, simply nodding his head and heading back into their apartment.
Aunt Cass watched him go despondently. She wished she could help her nephew right now, but she had to prioritize her business right now. The Frederickson family had offered to help her with her business, but they had already done too much by covering the medical costs for Hiro.
No, she needed to take care of her business by herself. She had started it up by herself, and bygone, she could keep it running by herself.
Once again, Hiro found himself alone in the garage with Mochi. The fat cat jumped up and pressed on his lap until he was cozy enough to lay down to nap. His purring sound like a car engine.
"At least you don't judge me and actually listen to what I have to say Mochi. I wish others did that. A shiver went down the teen's spine as he recalled how helpless he felt went he was restrained.
"Curse muscle memory! I wish my body didn't remember what happened to me," Hiro muttered. Thinking that working on a new invention would take his mind off of what was going on, he headed to the computer.
I have two hours until my appointment so what can I come up with until then? Maybe I can create a new armor design to fill in a gap between my previous suits.
Bringing up the other suit designs he studied each of them and checked what he had originally designed them for. His brother had assumed that the armor had only been for police and medics, but that wasn't the whole truth.
He had designed each suit to fulfill a role on a rescue team. Like, Tadashi, Hiro had wanted to help anyone in need so he had taken his friends' projects and personality into account when he had designed them.
He had originally designed Honey Lemon's suit for firefighters. The design had been fireproof and the visor section that functioned as her glasses were originally supposed to help cut through the smoke to find people.
Her chemical purse was perfectly designed to keep all the chemicals from reacting to outside heat and cold. The chemballs had a very tight seal design so they only worked after they were thrown.
That would help put out the fires without directly interfering with a firefighter's ability to move around.
Fred's suit was designed for specialist situations. The kaiju design had been used because of the boy's comic obsession. The suit could be redesigned to serve multiple purposes when rescue workers didn't have what they needed for the job.
Wasabi's outfit was actually designed for the Engineer Core. While not perceived as part of a regular rescue team, most rescues couldn't be done without an engineer on standby. Either to help shut off power, explain the logistics of structures, and other details.
The plasma blades could be used with precision to help safely enter or exit dangerous places. With a little engineering, the plasma could also provide emergency power wherever it was needed.
Go-Go's outfit had been designed for police work. Speed for pursuits, maglev abilities to handle hostage situations, even her weapons could be used to disarm suspects before someone made the call to open fire.
Tadashi and Baymax designs had been for air support and EMT work. Everything about their suits was self-explanatory.
So what kind of armor would be needed to fill in a gap? All emergency responders were filled and he didn't know anything about rescue so he couldn't design something for that.
Perhaps the armor should be designed for back up? No, anyone in the armor already would have managed to partially or fully finish a rescue. Maybe a new hazmat suit? Possibly, but not one he wanted to pursue right now.
Maybe he should think about what kind of power he wanted for the armor? Magnets came in handy in numerous situations. Maybe they could form a barrier around an area? It was something to look into.
Hiro was so absorbed by his design he didn't notice the time passing until Aunt Cass called out to him and told him it was time for his therapy session. He jumped and Mochi claws dug in drawing a tiny bit of blood.
After getting his cut cleaned up, Aunt Cass and him, headed to the therapist's office. The office was painted light blue and the chairs were comfortable to sit in.
The session had been going on for ten minutes now and Hiro hadn't had a chance to speak because Aunt Cass was telling the therapist about their earlier conversation instead of letting Hiro talk for himself.
"I'm worried about Hiro's comprehension abilities. He keeps insisting his brother did more than restrained him during an emergency."
"That's because he did Aunt Cass!"
"This is what I mean. Hiro, you can't just make up…"
"GET OUT OF MY THERAPY SESSION!"
Aunt Cass looked like she had been struck. How dare her nephew talk to her like that! She was doing her best to help him and now he thought he had the right to yell at her?
Before she could respond, Dr. Jean-Pierre cleared his throat. "Ms. Cass? May I talk to you outside my office for a minute please?"
Aunt Cass grabbed her purse and stepped out of the office. Once outside she didn't get a chance to speak before Dr. Jean-Pierre held up his hand.
"Ms. Cass, I'm going to ask you to sit out from Hiro's therapy sessions from now on." Before she could protest he continued. "Your nephew is old enough to make the choice if he wants you to stay with him during these sessions.
Despite his rudeness, he is well in his right to ask you to leave. As his therapist, I have to do what I think is best to help my patient. I feel Hiro would be more open to me if he didn't feel like you're undermining him."
"I'm not undermining him! I was just expressing my concerns," Aunt Cass protested.
With raised eyes, Dr. Jean-Pierre reminded her she had been taking charge of the appointment and not letting Hiro talk for the first ten minutes. The gentle rebuke made her flush.
Appropriately chastised, she went to the waiting room while the therapist returned to his session with his patient.
Hiro was twiddling his fingers and his eyes were downcast at the floor. "I shouldn't have yelled at Aunt Cass like that."
"While you could have done better speaking, your message was not unclear. You felt as if your aunt wasn't listening to you and that you wanted to be heard," Dr. Jean-Pierre remarked.
He settled back down in the chair and picked up his notepad and pen. "Why don't you start at the beginning again. What happened and how did it make you feel?"
Hiro told the therapist about the edited version of the story sticking mostly to Tadashi's script except when it came to the restraints. His disbelief his brother would use soft restraints because he didn't trust Hiro to stay put in the van as they drove away.
"He made me feel like a prisoner. I panicked and struggled to get out only entangling myself more. Even after I was released, I couldn't look at him."
"That's very understandable. Have you ever felt like a prisoner before and panicked?"
Hiro nodded and explained the incident right before his surgery. He also mentioned how he had nightmares about what people had told him about his kidnapping.
"My body remembers, not my mind. My injuries are healing physically. Mentally, I still feel as if I never woke from my coma."
"That's a normal feeling for patients who have been in comas. Relationships, activities, even things that once had sentimental value change. The world moved on and you're the one playing catch up while everyone else acts normal."
Hiro retorted that his family and friends were treating him anything, but normal. His brother and aunt seemed busier than ever. They had hardly spent any time as a family.
Even when they did, it didn't last long. Tadashi had made a bit of effort to spend more time with him. Still, the majority of the time he saw his brother was either when he picked him up from physical therapy or doing his nightly check on his nanites.
"Even Baymax is distant lately. He's a sentient AI robot who designated me as his primary patient. He's been helping Tadashi and our friends complete a semester-end project at SFIT, so he's not with me every day now.
Is it strange to admit I feel abandoned by Baymax? I've never had many friends and he was one of my firsts. Tadashi's friends became my friends, but now I'm wondering if that was true.
I don't feel as connected to them as I do with my friends from the chat room. I even met one of them in the real world. Her name is Trina Akens and she goes to the same physical therapy place, but her sessions are usually on days I'm not there.
I felt an instant connection when we first met. She didn't look at me as if I was a freak or an experiment. She saw me. I want to spend more time with her. You know, to get to know her better. Tadashi is against the idea and he wouldn't even let me discuss it with Aunt Cass!
During Hiro's rant, Dr. Jean-Pierre was taking notes. It was obvious that his patient felt alone and disconnect from the world. That the family was being too protective in some areas.
Right now, Hiro needed all the support he could get if he was to deal with his emotional trauma. He would have a word with Ms. Cass and hopefully, something could be set up for Hiro and his new friend to spend some time together.
After all, traumas are easier to heal from if you have someone you love by your side and this new girl might fil the void in the teenager's life.