Welcome back! I know I have been putting this off for a while, but we have finally made it- the reunion chapter! Admission time: I'm scared that I really messed up the characters in this, I wasn't very sure how to make all of them react to Tadashi being alive.
Thanks again for all my amazing reviewers, and hope you guys enjoy this!
"Da... Dashi?"
"Hiro..." Tadashi tried to sit up as best he could without pulling out any of the tubes or needles. The team gasped as they saw the friend and brother (respectively both biological and figurative) whom they thought was long gone, awake in front of their own eyes. Every single one of them felt an ice-like grip on their heart, as the only thing they felt was the blood rushing around near their ears and temples.
Every single human one of them, that is.
"Tadashi is here. Hello Tadashi!" Baymax waddled over to Tadashi, pleased to his creator alive, and also pleased that his sensors are accurate and functional- but primarily that he was alive.
Baymax's movement unfroze Hiro from his stupor and he ran toward his older, decidedly not dead, brother only to be caught in the robot's balloon-like arms. "Tadashi is still in a very fragile state. Any sudden movement might disrupt his recovery, or possibly harm him more."
Hiro nodded, and the robot gently let him down so he could go forward and envelope his brother in a hug that he had missed for the past eight months. "Hiro... Baymax... Guys..."
The rest of the team moved forward to, as close to Tadashi as they could without disturbing the brotherly moment. Tadashi looked up at them from Hiro's messy hair and smiled softly at them. "Hi,"
"Tadashi... how?" Hiro looked up, his face streamed with tears that had soaked his brother's hospital shirt.
"I really don't know buddy. The last thing I remember is the fire, and then waking up here, like an hour ago?'
"You were brought in on the day of the SFIT fire, as SF Memorial was at full capacity already," everyone turned to the new addition in the room, as the doctor they had just pushed aside came in smiling at his young patient whom he had only hoped would recover soon. "We tried our best to find out who you were, but there was no identification or anything on you,"
"From what we learnt it was a public event at the school that day, so we didn't know if you were even officially related to the school. You fell into a coma before you reached, and frankly we had no idea when you would ever wake up, but anyway, welcome back kid."
The team nodded and thanked the doctor, who then left to give them space, telling them to go and talk to him about the details when they felt up to it.
"Woah... Well that's some story dude," Fred was the first to fully snap out of it and come to (almost) normal senses.
Well it's not like you guys have been living a perfectly normal life these past few months either. But Tadashi decided to hold judgement till the time seemed right. Now was for rejoicing in the reunion, not interrogation sessions.
"Yeah, I had no idea guys. I'm so, so sorry Hiro," He looked down at his little brother instead, whose crying only intensified after hearing his brother say his name, something the younger Hamada thought would never happen again except in Baymax's videos.
Tears were streaming down the faces of the rest of the team, even Go Go not attempting to hold a brave front this time. Baymax noticed this, of course he did. "The readings I am getting from all of you indicate high levels of strong emotions. The best treatments for this includes physical contact and contact with friends and family. Which I see we all have here now," he piped up.
Tadashi couldn't help smiling at his robot, "Wow big guy, you're really doing this aren't you?"
"I also know karat-"
"Carotid!" Hiro jumped up despite his tears, "he also knows carotid... stuff." He shot a quick glance at the rest to back him up.
"Mmhmm."
"Yeah."
"Yeap."
"Totally."
"I meant to say kara-"
"CAROTID."
"But Hiro, the circulatory system was one of the first things Tadashi programmed in me," the robot was confused why the others didn't want him to let his creator know about his latest updates.
"Yes Hiro, the circulatory system was one of the first things I programmed in Baymax," Tadashi repeated, hoping to get them to open up about the origin of Big Hero 6.
"Yeah well you know, medical advancements and all," Go Go tried to brush it off, giving her friend an uncharacteristically sheepish smile.
"What could possibly have advanced so much about an artery?"
"Uhmmm stuff?" Wasabi supported her. "I dunno man, we're in robotics remember?"
"OH MY GOD WE HAVE TO TELL AUNT CASS!" They had to, no doubt about it, but Tadashi couldn't help noticing that the timing was also very convenient.
"Why didn't she come with you?"
"Uh... Road trip?"
"In the middle of the semester?"
"More like a quick sky trip really, got Heathcliff to prepare the family chopper," Fred's voice pitched up at the end, finishing almost as a question.
"Wait, who got the what?"
"Uh-oh"
"Wow thanks Fred," Hiro muttered from Tadashi's shirt.
"Alright that's it guys," Tadashi pulled himself away from his younger brother's hug. "Hiro, I... you- all of you", he turned to the whole group as he pointed to the TV which was still showing the aftermath of the bank robbery, "better explain what the HELL is going on,"
"I have just contacted Aunt Cass," Baymax broke the awkward silence in the room. "I also know karate," He added smugly.
Tadashi whipped his head from the bot to his brother Okay shouldn't have done that so fast, but a headache is more than worth knowing the full truth. "Hiro…"
"I- "
"Hiro," Aunt Cass's deadly chilling voice came over Baymax's speakers as he connected her video call to them. "I told you that you will be in huge trouble if I have to go see you in the hospital young man, and the first news I get is Baymax calling from San Antohama General?"
"It's not us Aunt Cass, it's… you just really need to see this," Hiro pushed Baymax such that his cameras focused on Tadashi's face.
The older boy was momentarily blindsided. What was the protocol for your first video call to your Aunt who thinks you have been dead the past eight months? "Hi… hi Aunt Cass. I'm not really sure of everything yet but... looks like I'm alive?"
"… What." Her freshly brewed pot of coffee clattered to the ground, but none of that mattered anymore. The team watched wordlessly as she chased all the customers out of the cafe and sat down at the nearest booth, gripping the table with all her strength. "Tadashi?"
Her older nephew, her alive older nephew, turned the corner of his mouth in a shy smile, as he mussed his little brother's hair, and Baymax zoomed out his cameras to show the whole team, predicting that seeing all of them would make her believe what she was seeing more easily.
"Tadashi, I… how?"
"Humans really need better ways to express shock," Baymax noted, then blinked at the team's dumbstruck expressions, "It's just something I am adding to my healthcare database."
"We'll explain everything as much as we can Aunt Cass, but I think it's best if you come here first. Do you want me to send Baymax to get you?"
"Baymax?"
"Yes, Tadashi. Hiro has designed special rocket thrusters in my armour, as well as electromagnetic catches for him to-"
"Nahh actually I'm sure Heathcliff wouldn't mind bringing you up here, right Fred?" Honey interjected before the blabber-mouth robot said too much too fast. Fred eagerly affirmed her and made a big show of calling Heathcliff, but Tadashi had already latched on to what Baymax said.
"I might be barely out of a coma, but I need to know exactly what is happening here. Since when do you have a 'family chopper' Fred, and why would you ever need to form Big Hero 6?"
"Uhm hi? Hello! I also need to know exactly what is happening here. Tadashi how are you alive." An ignored Aunt Cass reminded the kids of her presence through Baymax.
"Tadashi was brought here after he survived the fire, but was in a coma for the past eight months so he could not contact us. Aunt Cass, you should take up Fred's offer of a ride here in in helicopter. We will update Tadashi on what we have been doing in the meantime," Baymax seemed to be the only voice of reason in the room, "Also if you would please, bring along my charging port. I do not think my batteries can sustain a continuous video call as well as tending for Tadashi for so long."
After hearing Aunt Cass's muttered agreement to the proposal, Baymax turned his full attention to his creator and first ever patient. A surface scan revealed the obvious burn scarring on the right side of his face as well as his right arm, but it did not seem to be causing Tadashi any serious physical discomfort. What worried the healthcare bot more was Tadashi's slightly degenerated muscle mass and strength. Discomforting though not uncommon in coma patients, Baymax knew it was nothing he and a little physical therapy couldn't help with. The robot repeated this to the team, ending off with a "Other than that, you look sick."
Tadashi's look of relief and pride in his robot changed to an expressionless shock as the rest of the team face palmed.
"It's just an expression," Baymax shrugged.
Hiro gave a small, awkward laugh and patted the robot's arm, "We really need to work on your situational awareness buddy,"
"I am aware of the situation. I am just trying to show Tadashi all the new things you have taught me, especially since the fight with Call-"
"CalTech! The fight with CalTech at the... uhm annual robotics competition... thing,"
"Why do you keep interrupting me, Hiro? Do you not want your brother to be updated on what happened during his absence?"
Tadashi nodded at the robot, "I'm still waiting for the explanation on Big Hero 6, remember?"
"I don't know, maybe we shouldn't overwhelm you today," Honey tried to postpone the story-telling as best she could, only to be beaten by Baymax again.
"Tadashi's neurotransmitter levers are high. He will be able to cope with the emotions of the story as long as you are with him to provide physical-"
"Reassurance and contact with friends and family," the team dryly repeated one of Baymax's signature phrases. It was at times like these that they wished the robot wasn't made to be so sensitive to humans, although for most times it proved to be an invaluable skill.
"Alright, this is going to hurt, so I'll just rip it off like a Band-Aid," Go Go took charge, realizing that avoidance was not going to help anyone anytime soon.
"But Tadashi is not wearing a Band-Aid,"
If Go Go had the laser-induced plasma power instead, she would have sliced that robot in half, but instead just gritted her teeth and continued. "Okay, so basically a few months before the showcase, Callaghan's daughter was involved in a teleportation trial at Krei Tech that failed horribly and left her trapped in another dimension." Tadashi seemed to be following along fairly calmly so she continued as fast as possible.
"Aaand so when he saw Hiro's microbots he felt he could use them to steal the portal from Krei to try and reactivate it to get her back, so he set the fire to make it seem like an accident, stole the microbots, terrorized the city for a while and almost killed us with a shipping container. So then Hiro came up with the idea of adapting our projects into our super powers and long story short we managed to catch him and also save Abigail and now we do sort of contract stuff where we help the cops if and when they need us."
And that was when Tadashi cracked. "What?" His voice was barely above a whisper as he tried to process everything he had just heard. The professor whom he had admired so much, who he had risked his life to save was behind everything? Had tried to kill Hiro and the his friends? He was why this whole... all of this happened?
"Tadashi, your heart rate is rising steadily, almost beyond healthy levels, and you are indicating signs of stress. Please take deep breaths and try to calm down." Baymax worried for him, but there was nothing that the robot could really do except pat him on the head gently, just as with Hiro all those months ago.
"Ca...Callaghan?"
"Trust us dude, we were pretty shocked too,"
"Especially when he didn't care about you at all," Hiro's small voice filled the room. "And I thought I lost Baymax forever too."
"I... Baymax?" The anger Tadashi felt boiling inside him turned to confusion and worry as he glanced at the bot beside him, which seemed to be in pretty good shape.
"Hiro and I went into the portal to save Callaghan's daughter, but it was closing soon and my armour was too damaged to fly us out. So I used my rocket fist to push Hiro and her out, but gave him my primary chip so that he could rebuild me when he found it. And he did." Baymax smiled at the two brothers.
"Okay when you say from your first person it's kind of weird," Wasabi quipped, "But yeah, so basically the body is Baymax II but the head and heart is still the one you made, buddy," he smiled at his long-lost friend.
Tadashi felt his head spinning from all the information he had to process. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed them for the entire story so soon. "Guys, I-"
"Tadashi, your brain activity is very high, and you are experiencing a high level of emotional stress. I strongly advise you to rest. Would you like me to administer a calming medication to help you sleep better?
Hiro smiled at his brother, "You should sleep Dashi, we'll all be here when you wake up, Aunt Cass too. Right now just rest well so you can come back home soon okay?" Tadashi nodded and gave Baymax the permission to administer the medicine, the effects of which he started feeling almost immediately. The last thing he registered was Fred announcing that Heathcliff had picked up Aunt Cass, and Hiro climbing into his bed- what the younger brother had always done when he wanted reassurance and comfort on trying days.
Next Chapter:
"I am better than AAALLLL of youuu!"
"Wait what?" Tadashi woke up to the team frantically trying to hold down Baymax and shut the robot up.
"Low battery," Baymax hunched over to Tadashi, "I am healthcare, your personal Baymax... healthcare... scan complete WHEEEE,"
"TADASHI! Oh Tadashi, oh my god you're alive I cannot believe this," Aunt Cass burst into the room, and went over to envelop her two nephews in a hug. Two nephews, everything finally felt so right again.
"You are cleared to go home young man, just follow up at SF Memorial for your physicals, and you will be all good."
OKAY, that was easily one of the hardest chapters I have ever written. Again, I am so sorry that I messed up the characterisation, but I really didn't know how to express everything, and how they would react to a shock of *this* scale.
Please do feedback how I have done, I'm really nervous about this chapter...
The next chapter will probably just be a slightly shorter, happier filler with more fluff to help us all through is heavy one so I hope you guys don't mind!
I love all of you!