Chapter Summary: Tadashi makes a choice after realizing his failures as a supposed "hero".

Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 and its characters.

Earlier In the Day.

Tadashi unexpectedly kissed her. Gogo was so flabbergasted that she pulled away before the kiss can deepen further.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, nearly spitting out her bubblegum.

The room became cold all of a sudden. Tadashi stared at her like a confused child.

"I... I'm kissing you because I liked you," he confessed. He lowered his gaze to avoid her eyes. "Look, I know this crazy and messed up right now, but I've been thinking about you so much for a while now. And... I really want to be with you."

He rubbed his neck weakly. He thought kissing her seemed like a good idea earlier, but now everything went so wrong.

"When you told me how I inspire you, I thought that maybe... you liked me," he said softly.

Gogo stared at him, dumbfounded. He wished she could say something to break this awkward silence.

"Oh, Tadashi," she sighed regretfully. "I'm so sorry, but... when I said those things, I didn't mean it like in a romantic sense. You're an amazing guy, but... I can't see myself with you."

Tadashi felt as though he was body was ripped to pieces and his heart stopped beating. He felt empty all over. Is he feeling disappointment or sadness?

"I'm sorry too," he said. He puts on a painful smile. "Shucks, I guess I acted rashly on this silly crush. I don't know what I was expecting to happen..."

"Tadashi," Gogo placed a hand on his shoulder and got him to look at her. "You are my friend and I'm really sorry to hurt you like this. But it wouldn't be fair to take advantage of your feelings at your current emotional state. Just... don't take this personally, okay? I care for you."

"I understand," he said sadly. He felt as though his heart was ready to collapse at any moment and he wanted to hold Gogo so badly, yet he also wants to respect her wishes even if he had to suffer in silence. "Don't worry about me. I'll get over this."

Gogo wasn't sure if Tadashi's being honest with himself but she doesn't feel like staying at his room anymore. She can't give him any false hopes. She excused herself and left so quickly she didn't see Tadashi reaching out a longing hand for her.

Tadashi stayed where he was and he continued feel as though his heart is being squeezed painfully. He tried to tell himself that his feelings for Gogo was merely infatuation and should accept the rejection.

But this shouldn't hurt this much.

Trying to find something to clear his mind, he walked slowly downstairs to the kitchen to get himself a snack or a drink-whatever to make him forget Gogo's words. He was about to pull out a carton of milk when he heard his aunt behind him.

"Tadashi, we need to talk," she said suddenly.

He turned to see Cass standing in front of him and she's wearing a familiar, troubled expression on her face. It reminded him of the night she picked him and Hiro up from jail.

"Aunt Cass, who's watching the cafe?" he asked.

"Never mind that, I want to talk you about those strange papers that were posted on your walls in your room," she said firmly. "And I found your costume in the garage."

Tadashi groaned; this was the very last thing he wanted to avoid, his aunt discovering his secret and trying to stop him.

"When did you find out-"

"Earlier this morning when you didn't come home last night," Aunt Cass continued on. Her chest was heaving and she was on the verge of tears. "Tadashi, is this what have you been doing? Acting like a superhero and chasing criminals-this is not you at all! You're still a young man who's supposed to go to college with his friends!"

"Auntie, please understand..." Tadashi began but he was interrupted.

"No! I don't understand!" she cried angrily. "How could you do something so dangerous! You could have gotten killed! What were you thinking, you knucklehead!"

"I'm doing this because I want to protect the city!" Tadashi shouted in desperation.

"So what? I don't care what happens to it! I raised and took care of you and Hiro for ten years!" Cass ranted. "I promised your parents on their funeral I'd look after you both. But I failed Hiro... If something happened to you, I don't know what I would do."

Tears trickle down her face. She looks like a mess now.

"Even though I'm not your mother, you're still my boy," she whimpered, her shoulders shaking.

Tadashi pulled her into a comforting hug and rubbed her back.

"I know," he said softly. He felt so horrible for worrying his aunt like this, but a part of him wanted to continue his superhero job. Yet... after what everything that happened last night and earlier with his conversation with Gogo, he's not so sure if he's worthy being called a hero.

Cass hastily wiped her eyes and sniffled. "I know you still want to help people," she said, looking at him with a tiny smile. "But please don't overdo it. At least for me."

Tadashi thought for the longest time and his face was devoid of emotion. However, he slowly returned the smile.

"Okay, Auntie."

Currently.

"Disband Big Hero 6?" Honey repeated, her hand touching the side of her mouth. She wasn't the only one shocked at this news.

"But why?!" Fred demanded. He looked as though Tadashi had smacked him in the face. "Didn't we start this team to become superheroes?"

"No, I started this team because all of you volunteered to help me catch a masked criminal," Tadashi corrected him.

"But we haven't even apprehended Abigail yet," Wasabi protested. "You're just going to let her go free?"

Tadashi didn't answer. He just walked over to one of the bins and opened the lid so he could look at the microbots inside. This brief moment reminded him on the day he and his brother fistbump over Hiro's success building his invention before they head off to the showcase.

Gogo tried to get his attention; she look irritated for some reason. "Listen, Tadashi!" she snapped. She wondered if Tadashi's reasoning might have something to do with what happened in his bedroom... "If you have any shallow reasons for disbanding this team, I swear-"

"It has nothing to do with what you're thinking, Gogo!" Tadashi shot back. He frowned but he kept his head as possible. He looked back at the others, who are still waiting for his explanation. "The reason why I chose this... is because I'm tired trying to fight and protect something that's beyond my capabilities and limits. And I've made too many losses and I don't know how long I can keep this up."

He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"But I'm not ready to give up this team yet," he said. "I still need to catch Abigail. And after I'm done with that, I'm retiring from the superhero business for good."

"Hey, man." Fred went over and playfully punched his arm. "I'm cool with it."

Honey placed a gentle hand on Tadashi's shoulder, who accepted it warmly.

"Even if we stop being Big Hero 6, we won't stop being your friends, Tadashi," she told him.

"Yeah, same here," Wasabi said, nodding. He was glad that Tadashi didn't blow up on them and is acting rationally.

Gogo placed her hips on her waist and looked at him. "So, any ideas about where to find Abigail?" she asked.

"I was thinking we should get some information from her accomplice," Tadashi said. "Krei's secretary."

"I can't believe she's working with Professor Callaghan's daughter when the professor hated Krei," Wasabi said, shaking his head in disbelief. "What's even her motive?"

Fred was about to say something but Wasabi stopped him.

"Taking over the world isn't a motive," he said.

Fred then closed his mouth. He looked disappointed.

Honey nudged Tadashi's arm before taking a photo out from her purse which she and the others found at the old Krei Tech lab. "Tadashi, there's something you should see," she said nervously as she hand it over to him.

Tadashi stared at the photo for a long time. His face went pale and his hands shook while his brain tried to process the image he absorbed. The photo shows a picture of Baymax-wearing what appears to be broken red armor in his lower half of his body, and a red gauntlet in one of his arms. He appears to be deactivated and lying on the floor that seemed to be taken place back at the old Krei Tech lab.

Tadashi is confused why his robot is in the facility; as far as he could remember, he and Baymax had never been to that place before, and the inventor never made that kind of armor for Baymax as well. He finally found his voice while he tried to keep himself calm.

"Why does Krei have Baymax?" he demanded quietly.

"We don't know, Tadashi," Gogo said. "For all we know, this is probably not your Baymax at all. It could have been a different robot based on your robot's design. Maybe Krei build it-"

"That's impossible," Tadashi interrupted her. "All of documentation and schematics for building Baymax are backed up in my lab at SFIT, along with the programming. They were protected by a password only I would know."

He felt rage bubbling inside him. It was bad enough that he was irritated when Krei tried to steal Hiro's microbot in the showcase, but seeing his robot in Krei's lab had pushed him over the edge.

"Looks like I have some questions to ask Mr. Krei," he said in a dangerous tone. First, he wants to know why he has a robot like Baymax; second, the location of his secretary since he will need her to tell him about Abigail's whereabouts.

Wasabi seems to read Tadashi's thoughts. "Whoa, hold up. We can't just waltz up to Krei..."

"And why not? Just how many more people should I allow to steal me and my brother's stuff?" Tadashi snapped.

He brushed past them and walked out the garage. Wasabi and Honey immediately tried to follow him, leaving the others behind. Gogo groaned in frustration, wringing her hands.

"That... that big, hardheaded dummy!" she growled. "He's going to land himself in jail if he tries to do anything to Krei!"

"Um, is it bad timing to ask what you've been doing all day after finding Tadashi?" Fred nervously asked. Gogo shot him daggers. "H-Hey, I was curious, since you didn't join us at SFIT later on!"

"Tadashi and I talked in his room, I left afterwards, and I just hung around in the SFIT library to avoid people," she replied indifferently. She was looking away from Fred for some odd reason, and there was a strange look in her face. Fred noticed it and he quickly deduced Gogo isn't telling him the entire truth.

"Did you guys... do something?" he pressed on. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Don't be silly."

"Aha, so you and Tadashi DID do something!" Fred's lips formed a wide grin. "Knew he would have the hots for you. I saw the way he looked at you a couple of times during our training..."

Suddenly, Gogo reached a hand out and slapped it over Fred's mouth to keep him quiet. The school mascot noticed how grim and serious her expression is.

"Just. Don't," she warned him. Chewing her gum slowly, she removed her hand from Fred's mouth and went over to sit on a nearby swivel chair. "Let's say Tadashi and I are not an official thing if that's what you're thinking. It's complicated."

Fred chuckled a bit and sat on the desk nearby. "That's a bummer, you two are so alike in ways."

"You seemed rather interested in this topic," Gogo commented.

"Tadashi's my biggest pal, I'm supposed to be concerned of his nonexistent love life," Fred replied. Then he began to blush a little and there was an air of melancholy in his tone. "Though it wasn't that nonexistent before..."

Gogo remembered all those strange comments and behavior Fred made whenever he's around Tadashi, and realization dawned upon her.

"Wait... you two... dated before?" she asked, her jaw dropped. It's starting to make sense; no guy would compliment Fred's questionable underwear recycling by calling it "both disgusting and awesome", except Tadashi-especially on that day of the showcase. She thought the inventor was just humoring the school mascot, but she realized his encouragement might have held a different depth.

Fred flustered. "It was one time only! Lasted only two weeks and it was kept as a secret from the school and everybody else!"

"Yeah, imagine how everybody would react seeing the brilliant robotics genius dating the smelly school mascot," Gogo said sarcastically.

"I'm not that smelly..." Fred mumbled.

Gogo became quiet. This news was so unexpected, it almost rivaled her surprised when she learned Fred is secretly wealthy.

"So, why did it end, if you don't mind me asking?" Gogo inquired.

"Let's say it was a fling and it wasn't serious like Tadashi expected. We ended it on a good note and we're better as friends, anyway," Fred answered, shrugging. He then looked doubtful. "Still, I sometimes secretly wished I could hold him again like I used to. When you're in his arms, you feel like you're safe."

Gogo gave him a tiny smirk. "Hey, maybe it's not too late to try again. Besides, I think he would have a better luck in happiness with someone else rather than me."

"But I like someone else too!" Fred groaned, now thinking of Honey. "Maybe I could go for a threeway relationship...?"

Then they saw Tadashi, Wasabi, and Honey returning. Tadashi is holding the broken half of the Kabuki mask.

"Oh, changed your mind?" she asked.

"These two stopped me," Tadashi said, motioning towards Honey and Wasabi beside him. "I might have overreacted a little..."

"That's an understatement," Wasabi said.

Tadashi continued, "I'm not going to kill Krei! I just want to ask him questions."

"That can be deal with some other time," Wasabi told him. "The more important issue is getting his secretary to give us the location of Abigail."

Tadashi then placed the broken Kabuki mask on the table. He sat down and carefully removed the neurotransmitter with a few tools.

"What are you doing, Tadashi?" Honey asked while she and others crowd around him. "Wasabi and I saw you getting the mask from your room."

"I'm going to transfer the neurotransmitter to my helmet," the inventor replied without looking up. "I'm going to be use it to control the microbots, and they will help us catch Abigail."

"Good idea!" Fred exclaimed. "We got ourselves a formidable on our side. Not to mention, Abigail doesn't have any other weapons to use against us."

"She still can use explosives," Wasabi reminded him, thinking of how the woman almost buried them with her bombs.

"But are you really okay using Hiro's invention?" Honey asked again.

Tadashi thought of his brother and sighed. "Hiro would have wanted me to use them."

Gogo walked over to him and touched his other shoulder. "At least they won't be misused by someone else," she said.

Tadashi reluctantly nodded and remained quiet. The others watched him placed the neurotransmitter into his red helmet. Then Tadashi took a deep breathe and donned on his helemt.

Suddenly, all the the plastic bins began to shake violently. The microbots rose out and began to move in wild, fluid motions. They crawled all around the garage, zipped around the group's fit and formed a tall, column in the middle of the garage. With a single thought, Tadashi used his mind to make the microbots form into another structure-a giant hand like Hiro had made at the exhibition hall. Then Tadashi had the microbots formed into a Godzilla-like structure and made it let out a silent roar.

"Whoa, so cool!" Fred screamed with delight.

"I had my doubts of using the same weapon that almost killed us," Wasabi said, nodding with agreement. "But I guess this isn't a bad idea."

Tadashi removed his helmet and the microbots collapsed into a pile. He was grinning.

"Now we can catch Abigail and bring my brother to justice," Tadashi said. He thought of his aunt and how he promised her that he wouldn't worry her again. Although, it would be a shame to disband Big Hero 6, especially since he has the tech that could be useful to stop criminals...

"Before we do that, Tadashi, you have to promise us one thing," Wasabi said seriously. "You have to promise that once we find Abigail... you cannot kill her."

Tadashi's face darkened and he narrowed his eyes. "And why not? She killed my brother and destroyed Baymax... Besides, you have a little sibling yourself, Wasabi. Supposed she tried to go after her-"

"Don't bring my sister into this," Wasabi warned him. "I know you're upset about what she said about Hiro that night... but we didn't sign up for what you tried to did to her."

I never asked you guys to kill her, Tadashi thought coldly, feeling so dead and empty inside as soon he remembered that night. I would have done the deed myself without getting anyone to do it for me. It was personal. He almost had Abigail, why did his friends had to stop him? If he had killed Abigail, then Baymax wouldn't be...

He stopped and forced his regrets off his head. Just thinking about it won't change the past. However, he will not make the same mistake again.

"It won't happen again," Tadashi muttered, looking away.

Wasabi looked relieved. However, he assumed Tadashi was agreeing with him.

Tadashi and the others returned the mircobots back inside their bin. The group then decided to split up and leave but they planned to meet up later tonight before they go to find Krei's secretary. Tadashi noticed how oddly close Gogo and Wasabi walked next to each other when they left the garage, and he figured out why Gogo rejected him.

So, she just liked someone else, he thought bitterly. Unbelievable... I should've known...

He left the garage as well and went upstairs to his home. He saw his aunt, after closing the cafe for the day, sitting on her chair watching the news on TV. The reporter was talking about a mysterious triple murder where two men, nicknamed the "Banzai Brothers", and a male college student who were all found dead in the back alley of a restaurant. According to the police, the three men have been electrocuted and suffered bruises on their bodies as though someone had brutally beaten them up.

"What is this world coming to," Aunt Cass sighed as she stroke the top of Mochi's head, who was curled up on her lap.

Tadashi watched the news a little longer before climbing up the stairs to his room. If someone had seen him, they would have noticed a dark, satisfied smile on his face.

Tadashi flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. Memories run throughout his head; the night he lost Hiro to the fire, Baymax exploding before his eyes, Gogo rejecting his kiss, his aunt crying, the terrified screams of the men he killed in cold blood... Just what is he exactly fighting for? No matter how much he tried to do something good or fix something, it blows up on his face. As each day passes, he finds himself cursing his bad luck and everyone else around him since nothing goes right for him. He wondered what would his brother Hiro think of him now, seeing how Tadashi had failed to save him in time. His chest tightened but he forced himself to numb the pain.

"I guess I don't have what it takes to be a hero," he muttered to himself. He looked over to Hiro's memorial picture at his bedside table and took it. He stared at his brother's face for a long time and he came to a grim decision.

He then tore the photograph of Hiro in two and threw it to the floor.

"So be it then," he said in a dead tone.

Leave some reviews~