A/N: Hey... sorry for posting this so late! I had exams, a science competition and stuff. Also I was trying to figure out this story, because, believe me or not, I'm still working on a clear plotline. This fic is probably going to become more complicated at some point.

Chapter Four

Hiro's POV

Just breathe, Hiro told himself as he stood onstage, grinning nervously, in the middle of presenting his microbots to some of the greatest scientific minds in the world. People who had made history with their inventions, listening to him speak: Professor Gary King, inventor of telepathical headsets; Dr. Marissa Tong, known for her groundbreaking work on cancer cures...

Cornelius Robinson.

Founder of Robinson Industries, pure genius, invented about a million inventions: the Memory Scanner, the Dissembler, the Transmogrifier, bubble transportation, etc. There were even rumours that he had built a time machine, which he had not confirmed nor denied in public. Regardless, Mr. Robinson had only been twelve when his inventions started making waves. He'd graduated college when he was around Hiro's age, started to establish Robinson Industries... and now Hiro was standing on the building's 72nd floor, giving his presentation to his - and Tadashi's - hero.

It was crazy and amazing and scary all at the same time.

He absolutely could not fumble this.

'It doesn't look like much,' Hiro continued after a deep breath, the words rolling off his mental script. 'but when it links up with the rest of its pals...'

He trailed off, hearing the squeals of surprise from the audience as chittering rivers of microbots flowed onstage, assembling into a giant vibrating block, and Hiro relaxed a little. So far, so good. He'd given this presentation about a million times already. He'd be fine.

'Things get a little more interesting.'

He grinned again, more confident when he saw the intrigued faces of the audience.

'The microbots,' Hiro went on, 'are controlled by this neurotransmitter. I think what I want them to do -' Hiro imagined a large hand, waving at the audience, and immediately the microbots shuffled into shape, amidst gasps of awe - 'and they do it!'

!

Hiro tried to ignore that for now. 'The applications for this tech are limitless!' he pressed on, firmly keeping his presentation under control. 'Construction!' The microbots wove around, building the tower. 'What used to take teams of people working by hand for months, or years, can now be accomplished by one person!'

More gasps from the audience as Hiro appeared at the top of the tower as it finished building. And then cheers from the SFIT table where the rest of the Big Hero 6 were sitting. 'HIRO! HIRO! HIRO!' Aunt Cass was smiling ear to ear at the Big Hero 6's table, cheering his name with them. Baymax 'eyes' were turned in a way that made him look like he was smiling.

And the applause. From everyone as far as he could see.

So far Hiro's presentation had been flawless, exciting, amazing, after all. A really good one, maybe even among the best. Hiro savoured that thought for a while. Next, another part to awe the audience.

'And that's just the beginning!' Hiro announced, purposely walking in a careless way on the top of the tiny tower, 'How about...' A foot dangling over thin air. The audience gasping as he just walked out...

...And was caught by a black wave of microbots.

'Teleportation!' Hiro shouted over the other waves - waves of applause, of cheers - every single person in the room was watching him now. If he remembered correctly, none of the other presentations had gotten such a good response. He'd seen people pretty much sleep through some of them, even. He must've done something right. It felt good. Really good. Except a small, annoying part of him that felt wary of all this nice feeling, but he squashed it down. He could listen to it later.

'Microbots can move anything, anywhere, with ease,' Hiro said, and the microbots lifted him up onto the ceiling, again to much positive reactions that Hiro received quite happily. 'If you can think it, the microbots can do it!'

It was a long ride from the each end of the grand hall; and the ceiling was quite high, but Hiro didn't mind. He rode on the wave of microbots, waving to people upside-down, who snapped photos of him, smiled, clapped... Maybe, Hiro reasoned, he could do something a little more special. It wasn't in the script, but it would work. He'd tried it, well, once or twice, but it'd worked then...

Maneuvering his way back to the front of the room, Hiro said loudly, 'In fact, I'll prove that right now with a special trick I've been working on!' Hushed anticipation from the audience, air buzzing with excitement. This would be a piece of cake.

The microbots tossed him into the air. He felt like he was flying for a second.. then was caught by a wave of them before he hit the ground.

The audience was roaring.

One more time, then.

Again, Hiro felt himself being thrown, high, high into the air, and tried for a spin. it worked, before he landed back down safely.

Again, Hiro thought, revelling in the attention. One last time.

The microbots threw him into the air again, much higher than before... Flying, flying... The crowd was shouting his name...

Then, there was a yell, almost a scream, that deviated from the crowd.

'LOOK OUT!'

What? Hiro thought lazily as he fell back down, commanding the microbots to break his fall... Then, a slight sense of surprise when there was no shuffle. No chitter.

He looked down.

No microbots in sight.

No microbots to break his fall.

What - Hiro tried to twist around, panic growing like a snowball in his stomach. And he was gaining momentum now- faster and faster-

There were no more cheers. Only screams -

He saw people running over, but before they came -

THUNK.

Hiro's vision turned completely white as pain screamed through his entire left side, where he'd landed. And pure agony running through his arm, which was... somewhere here? He couldn't really feel it...

After a long, long time, his vision started clearing a little. He saw blurry figures above his eyes, and so much chatter. Did he like noise just before this happened? Maybe, maybe not - Oh, nevermind. Thinking this much was giving him a headache. He didn't need another source of pain right now -

He winced. Someone had just pulled up his shirt at the side. 'Hey,' he said, meaning to sound annoyed, but he barely got it out before he decided that it was better to just keep quiet and try to breathe. He tried looking closer, as his vision cleared a little more. It was Baymax who was standing at his side, spouting some medical knowledge, while Aunt Cass and the rest of the Big Hero 6 listened. They looked pretty worried. And there was another figure, one in a lab coat and blond hair that stood up straight. Cornelius Robinson. Now that was strange. Did he really get an internship here already -

No. He got invited to a gala right? His memory started flooding back. He did the microbot presentation, and he'd felt proud. He'd decided to do his special trick -

Oh.

Oh.

Oh no.

He'd just, very effectively, done the one thing he told himself not to do, i.e. fumbled his presentation. In front of the brightest scientific minds in the world, and one of them was looking at him now.

Hiro sat straight up, ignoring the sharp, white-hot flash of pain accompanying the gesture.

'Hiro, sit back this instant - '

'Hiro, you're hurt - '

'Kid - Hiro, listen to your friends, please - '

Hiro's mind was swimming, but he somehow formed words.

'Um- need bathroom,' he rambled, getting up as quickly as possible, and when someone put a hand on his shoulder to pull him down, he let out a hiss of pain - just enough to make the person let go, and he moved as quickly as possible through the crowd to the doors. Surprisingly, no one stopped him - perhaps they were too shocked.

He didn't complain.

He went on, half-running (if you could call it that) and half-hobbling towards the elevator, then used his OK hand to press the down button. The lift arrived in a second - just before the whole gang burst through the doors.

'Hiro, you need to - '

The lift doors closed. Hiro pressed some random number, then collapsed to the ground, eyes closed.

Amongst that cloud of pain was a single, embarassing memory looping through his mind: him soaring high in the air, hearing that piercing scream, looking down expecting nothing, realising the microbots had malfunctioned and ran off somewhere, tried calling them back to no avail, then fell and fell and fell, hard, onto the floor. In front of every single person he had ever only wanted to impress.

He'd failed.

He also realised that his face was all wet. He was crying.

Of all the times to fumble a presentation - to become overconfident - you chose today?! A day that could make or break your future, and you decide it's the perfect time to goof off.

Now look what happened.

What will everyone say?

What would Tadashi say?

I'm disgusted with myself.

The lift doors gave a pleasant chime. Hiro opened his eyes a crack, seeing a boy in a pretty expensive looking suit looking down at him, looking concerned. He was talking to someone on a phone while simultaneously entering the lift, avoiding stepping on Hiro. 'I found him, Dad,' he was saying, 'he looks like he's in pretty bad shape.' A pause. 'Yeah, OK, bye.'

He pressed a button and Hiro hissed again as the lift shot downwards.

'Yeah, about that...' the kid said, bending down, looking straight at him, and also looking slightly uncomfortable. There was an awkward pause. 'Um, you should probably get to medbay soon,' he said, finally. Hiro sensed that the boy had more to say, but judging by how the boy's eyes were glancing over Hiro's arm, he guessed the kid decided that it wasn't really the time. In any case, Hiro's mind wasn't done yet.

I can't believe you. You've just ruined any chance of getting an internship at Robinson Industries for yourself. And how about the Big Hero 6? How about Aunt Cass? Didn't even think about them, did you now?

So you're going to let the Big Hero 6 just face all the danger in the city themselves? What if someone needs an upgrade? What if some new villain just decides to bounce in and you're not there to help?

And Aunt Cass will have to work overtime to help pay for hospital charges. And she'll have to take care of you. She doesn't even have much time for herself normally. You know she could've just left you in an orphanage when you were a kid, right? She took you in. And this is how you repay her?

For a genius, you really are a complete idiot.

The other kid broke the silence again. 'Hey,' he started, somewhat awkwardly. 'So you're kinda speaking out loud and all - '

Hiro's mind gave an annoyed twinge.

' - and I didn't really want to tell you this right now, but it isn't really your fault.' The kid paused - perhaps for effect - and continued, 'There was this person all in black, and he or she was sneaking about right when you were in the air - I don't know how but that person would be in one place for a sec and appear somewhere else in another - probably a Super - but then he or she just stood right next to your microbots and then disappeared - and the whole pile disappeared.'

They reached the floor, and the kid kept the doors open as someone loaded Hiro onto a stretcher.

So someone did it? No matter. You were still the one cocky enough to try the trick out. And if you hadn't...

Hiro decided, at that moment, to just succumb to the edges of darkness around his vision. He'd had enough disappointment for a single night.

That didn't mean it was over.

A/N: I don't know anything about medical stuff, but I'm pretty sure there's no way you could walk with a badly bruised side and broken arm after falling from such a height. Also I don't think Hiro could've stayed conscious for so long... Well, I wrote it anyway. ~ DragonWasser