Author's Note: Just wanted to respond to a few reviews before we get started.
PhoenixFantastic: Honey Lemon was talking about Fred, not Tadashi. Just so no one said anything. She did suggest using drugs in Issue 188 to erase Karmi's memory in the event that she did find out about Hiro's secret ID, that's where I got the idea from.
Superavenger212: I won't say anything about them reuniting or not. Part of the story is dealing with the fact that they can't interact with each other for a while. It hasn't even been a day in the story, yet.
Superkola: Tadashi's name most likely can, I can't be certain. Part of my research was talking to a therapist about this (I had one in college) and he was more than willing to offer up suggestions on how this would affect Hiro's day-to-day life. I looked up information on how to cope with panic attacks and Hiro can potentially prevent one from happening. The trigger varies from person to person depending on what caused it. Hiro's trigger, for example, is any mention of Tadashi. Can he fight it off? In time. Part of it is therapy, another part is reducing his anxiety around Tadashi in some way.
Monsterjavidm: Aw! Thank you. :) I typically don't do Hurt/Comfort fics.
Jettmanas: (Regarding PM) Forgot that announcement chapters weren't allowed. I just wanted to let you all know that I wasn't able to post like I said I would.
"And so, with the city's only defenders cut in half, Big Hero…er…3 knew that they were the only thing standing in the way between life and death for all," Honey Lemon stood tall later in the evening, one foot standing over the ledge, claiming the rooftop her own, her gaze stretching out over the nightlife, "Knowing that whatever life would throw at them, the heroes would always come out on top."
"Honey Lemon, leave the narrating to Fred."
"I thought you hated Fred's narrating," Honey Lemon blinked and stared at Go Go, perched several feet away from her.
"I do, I just don't want to hear any narrating," Go Go said dryly.
"Alright," Honey Lemon sighed, slumping in defeat. She looked over her shoulder and called out, "Anything on your side, Wasabi?"
"Huh?" Wasabi lowered the binoculars he was using and looked back.
"I said, DID YOU SEE ANYTHING ON YOUR END?" Honey Lemon shouted.
"No," Wasabi shook his head, "No sign of Globby."
Go Go looked up front again and stared out into the distance, following cars driving through the noisy roads until they were nothing but small lights in the distance before repeating the process again. She would have rather separated so everyone could have covered more ground, but Go Go just couldn't bring herself to suggest that. Neither did Honey Lemon and Wasabi, it seemed, since they never brought up the notion, either.
It's just Globby, we can worry about him later, another part of her brain spoke up, It's been a long day for everyone, do you really think you have the energy to do night patrol on top of everything that's happened?
Globby's after that eye for a reason. We know what he's capable of and
She was brought out of her pondering when Honey Lemon cried out:
"Mugging, ten o'clock!"
Honey Lemon tapped at her purse quickly and pop! came out a pink Chem-ball. Something to do with her time. Perfect.
She dropped the ball in front of her and stood on the mass, letting her weight make the pink substance descend. Moments later, she is on the ground and watched Go Go and Wasabi slide down the makeshift slide before following Go Go down an alleyway just in time to someone raise a knife to their intended victim.
He was around Hiro's age.
Go Go didn't bother looking at the muggers, didn't want to register what their faces looked like, because all she could see was a kid being threatened. A child.
All alone.
Right in the middle of an experience that they shouldn't have been in to begin with.
Without thinking, she lunged forward, slugging someone in the face. They were threatening a child.
BAM! Go Go spun on the spot and tripped, thankful that her helmet absorbed the blow, Wasabi could be heard snarling and ramming into someone else. Go Go picked herself up, remembering the look of fright on the boy's face. She clenched her fist and winced, realizing that it was the same fist that collided into one of the mugger's face. Tiny, fragile bones wrapped together by flesh and blood and sinew colliding into a mass of larger, harder collection of bone wrapped together in flesh and blood and teeth and eyes at a high speed. Of course, it would have hurt.
It was worth the throbbing pain in her hand as long as the kid wasn't –
"Stop the fighting or I gut the kid!"
There it is…
The one holding the kid and the knife close to the kid's neck went from looking intimidating to frightened when the orange Chem-ball hits them in the face. Followed by one of Go Go's discs, aimed at the forehead. They fall. The knife falls. The kid trips and scampers over to where Go Go was. The look of fear, the tears threatening to spill over.
…sitting on the top of the stairs, tuning out the sounds of mourning and remorse. Not responding when asked to come down…
Tadashi's alive.
Go Go leapt onto the one who tried to knife to boy and punched them in the face with her other hand.
Tadashi's alive.
An arm snakes onto her front, but Go Go rammed her head against their head, again thankful for her helmet when the thud! comes.
That isn't funny, Fred.
The boy that was Hiro's age tries saying something, but Honey Lemon doesn't hear and begins to throttle the one who just threatened him.
TADASHI'S ALIVE!
Her heart pounded against her chest. Heat flushed around her face.
YOU BASTARD!
Go Go punched the mugger again, putting weight onto his neck with one arm, using her free arm to hit him again.
HOW COULD YOU LEAVE US?!
And again.
YOU'RE SORRY?!
And again.
WHY DID YOU DO IT?!
And again.
WHY?!
And again.
That kid. That could have been Hiro…
BAM!
That could have been Hiro!
POW!
Panicked eyes, the name uttered in his presence.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep!
"That's enough!" A strong pair of arms wrapped around her torso and lifting her off the ground. Her hands stinging, her breath coming out in pants.
Go Go blinked. What was she doing? She looked down on the ground and gasped, trying to remember how many times she had punched the mugger. She looked around and saw that the boy had run off. She shuddered, wondering how it was from his perception, from being ambushed to witnessing someone on the news go on a rampage.
"I-I'm sorry," Go Go stammered, "I don't know what came over me…"
"Are you…" Honey Lemon paused, her voice taking on a more hesitant tone, "Are you still up for night patrol?"
"Globby's out there and he might be looking for –"
"We can't do anything if you're not one-hundred percent invested," Honey Lemon continued.
"Are you?" Go Go threw the question back. Go Go flinched and looked down, "What if you do something like I just did? Except there's no one there to stop you?"
Honey Lemon sighed, "This was a bad idea. Let's just…go home for now. Let the police handle the crooks."
"Do I get a say in this?" Wasabi spoke up. When the girls looked at him, he sighed, "Wherever Globby is, he isn't just gonna swoop around the city. He might be looking for it in places he'd expect us to put it."
"Makes sense," Go Go muttered quietly.
"Where is the eye now?" Wasabi asked.
Honey Lemon's eyes widened, "The apartment!"
Go Go looked at her with wide eyes, "He could be there, now!"
"Or maybe the…" Wasabi groaned, "Why didn't we stay at the Lucky Cat Café, again?"
(0-0)
When the pizza came, it felt piping hot like it was just taken out of the oven. There were three boxes delivered, each topped with peperoni.
My favorite, Tadashi thought, though it didn't really delight him. The last time he had pizza was when Hiro was still working on his microbots for the Expo. Just something to give Hiro a reason to stop working a little while and relax. And he could feel the tension leave that night, everyone laughing and getting along. Fred's imitation of an ostrich still made Tadashi chuckle.
At one point, he was giving Hiro a piggyback ride. He hadn't done that for his brother since he was around ten. Around the time that they stopped hugging each other so much and developed the Fist Bump…and when Hiro started to hate going to school.
Tadashi wondered if he was going to keep on having depressing thoughts all day.
It was the last time they were all together just for fun.
Fred piled on three or four slices onto the paper plate that the butler, Heathcliff, handed to him. Tadashi could barely even get one on his plate at all. When he took a small bite, he was surprised how much it felt like ash in his mouth.
Ash…
Fire licking – no – ravaging everything in its path. He was surrounded by pillars of flame, his heart pounding against his chest as he tried to look for an escape. Then, he heard the explosion and knew nothing else…
"Hey, dude, you feeling alright?" Fred was looking at him with concern, about a foot from his face.
"I don't feel so good…" Tadashi mumbled as he stood up, tumbling out of the room and into the hallway. He couldn't find it in him to blame the greasy pizza, he couldn't find it in him to blame the smell, he couldn't even find it in him to blame the painting.
His hands clenched at his sides and acid rose out from his throat and out of his mouth.
Tadashi opened his eyes. Was this what death was like? It felt warm and smoldering…His stomach felt icy-cold. What if he wasn't where he had half-hoped existed? Was this Hell? No, Hell didn't have sirens in the background or charred remains.
Tadashi blinked and looked down at himself, unharmed and well. He felt the wind brushing against the top of his head and realized that he didn't have his hat with him. He blinked again, trying to figure out what was happening. He could recognize the SFIT sign from a distance, but he started noticing that he was surrounded by police tape, cautioning passersby to stay clear of the area.
No.
He touched the ground, his heart pounding like a piston…
"TADASHI!" He could hear Fred in the hallway, calling for the Heathcliff guy. Tadashi became aware of the acidic smell underneath him, the taste on his mouth.
"Dude, lean on me, let's get you to the bathroom," One of Tadashi's arms was over Fred's shoulders, his legs feeling wobbly.
This wasn't how he had envisioned his day going. Not one bit.
(0-0)
Author's Note: I am so sorry for missing my promised date for posting, this fic is tricky to write at times. Next update will hopefully be in the next 2 weeks, on a Friday. I will do my best to hit that timeframe.
Honey Lemon was originally meant to give the beatdown, but I thought that it would have made more sense with Go Go since she had the spotlight on how she was handling the surprise herself.
Big Hero 6: The Series is finally in the U.S. Awesome! Check it out and don't forget to review this, please!