**A.N.: I enjoyed writing this chapter, but I ended up moving a lot of it to 33 because it jumped all over the place. Thanks for the reviews and your patience. Enjoy!**

"Check again," Hiro demanded as he paced around the garage area, exhaustion that had built up over days only fueling his angry steps as he shook with directionless energy. He was ready to go out and tear the city apart to find his brother, but he didn't even know where to start. If he searched the wrong places first, he could miss him and risk losing him if he wasn't fast enough. But if this took too much longer…

"Hiro." Baymax acknowledged with something that sounded like weariness. "No changes have been made as to Tadashi's current location. I will inform you-"

"Check. Again." Hiro's teeth gritted together as he rounded on the robot, and if it weren't for the others gathered, he might have let out some of the fire that he could feel growing in his core. So far only Fred knew about that little detail, and he didn't have time to give everyone else a rundown. It would have to wait.

"Hiro, stop." Gogo frowned over at him from where she'd perched on the arm of the couch. She'd been the second to arrive, only beaten by Honey Lemon, who'd been just around the corner. "He can't do anything more right now. You need to file a report with the police, and-"

Shaking his head, Hiro resumed his pacing. "No. That'd cause too many problems. Besides—" he threw himself down on the couch in frustration, but quickly stood again, not wanting to sit even for a moment. "If he's somewhere Baymax can't find, he's probably somewhere they can't go. Plus, they'd tell us not to get involved and that is not an option."

The team exchanged concerned looks, and Fred in particular was worried about Hiro's more volatile state, knowing it wouldn't take much to trigger a reaction. This was, unbelievably, calmer than he'd been earlier, when Hiro'd practically shrieked over the phone in panic. They all had gathered after a series of frantic calls and text messages to make sure Tadashi hadn't somehow made his way to one of them. But of course he hadn't. That would have been too easy.

"Hiro, they can't help if they don't know there's a problem." Wasabi rested his hand on Hiro's shoulder, only to be shrugged off harshly. After the phone call, Wasabi had never been more glad for a class letting out early. However, now that he was there, he was met with a Hiro blinded by rage, unwilling to do what seemed to him the logical next step, and it unsettled him. He hadn't seen him this riled up since Callaghan's actions had come to light.

Fred nodded in agreement, leaning on the back of a chair. "Yeah, man. I can get people to look, but the police can do a lot more than we can by ourselves, and-"

"And if they figure out what he is?" Hiro shot back, staring him down.

"It's not likely they would." Fred crossed his arms, not backing down. "Anyway, is the chance they find out more important than finding him at all?"

Hiro stood stunned for a moment, not having expected that from Fred, before cursing and turning away.

"Fine," Hiro spat. "We'll have them look. I'll just monitor their frequencies and try to get there first if they somehow get their incompetency under control and find him."

Wasabi and Honey Lemon traded looks, disliking Hiro's approach to using the law enforcement, but not wanting to bring it up when he was this angry, lest he turn his ire on the group. Again.

"And you have no idea where he might be?" Gogo flipped her helmet in her hands, ready to head out at a second's notice. "No one you've pissed off lately?"

"No? Maybe?" Hiro pulled at his hair in frustration. "Do you think I'd be here if I had even the slightest idea? He could be anywhere-"

He stopped pacing abruptly, face morphing in rage to an outright snarl. "He wouldn't."

The others glanced at each other in confusion, even as Hiro headed for the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Wasabi stepped in his path, stopping him with a hand on his chest, nearly recoiling when Hiro growled in anger. "Care to clue us in?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hiro felt his anger kindle fire in his chest again. Good, I'll need it. "I should never have let Callaghan know he was back."

"Hold on." Gogo joined them and Hiro suddenly got the feeling of being caged in. "Why would he even-"

"Does it matter?" Hiro was ready to shove Wasabi to the side and charge out, certain he could move him with this excess of energy. "If he's crazy enough to do what he's already done, what's to stop him?"

"But why? He has his daughter again, why risk that?" Gogo held up her hands in exasperation.

"I don't-" Hiro scrambled for a reason, trying to fit the pieces together. "Tadashi's a witness, maybe he wanted to get rid of him…"

Gogo sighed, shaking her head. "He's already been declared innocent, they can't charge him again, Hiro."

"Well then I don't know, revenge then!" Hiro sidestepped to move past Wasabi, but was prevented from leaving. "He could have gotten out scott-free if Tadashi hadn't gone in after- I don't care why he did it!"

"But Hiro, how would he?" Honey Lemon approached him gently, setting a hand on his back. "I'm all for finding who took Tadashi, but that would be too small a time window, he had no good reason, and-" She cut him off before he could try to jump in again. "Tadashi could and would defend himself. He's burned him before."

The others nodded, and Hiro was about ready to explode.

"Do you even care?!" Hiro shouted, shoulders shaking.

"Of course we do." Fred asserted, slightly worried Hiro was going to lose it, and if the others didn't know… "Hiro, calm do-"

"I am calm!"

Fred took a step back, but Hiro's exclamation was thankfully fire free. Hiro wasn't done, however.

"You guys are ignoring our only lead!" Hiro raged. "If it's not him we still have to search everywhere."

"Hiro, that's impossible," Gogo pointed out. "I'll be right behind you in the search, but who says he's even in San Fransokyo anymore?"

Hiro glared down at her, even as he realized she could be right. "Well, the longer we wait the further away he could get!"

He turned to Wasabi, mentally demanding he get out of the way. His first priority had to be Tadashi, and he'd deal with consequences later. There'd be time to think later. He could deal with the fallout and anyone who tried to take his brother from him again later. Now was time for action.

"Find your suits and meet me back here as fast as you can," Hiro ordered. "We're heading out as soon as I file with the police. Callaghan's place first."

"Hiro, no." Wasabi refused to budge. "If we go after Callaghan, we'd better have more than just a hunch. If we just barge into his home, he could legally have us arrested-"

"Who cares?" Hiro shook with fury. "I've been in a holding cell before, it's not that bad, and they can't do anything more-"

"They can," Gogo pointed out, realizing Wasabi was on the right track, "if there's a history of harassment or a threat to someone's life."

"Well, they'll change their minds when we reveal he was keeping a kidnapped child there," Hiro ground out.

"Assuming he did do it, would he be stupid enough to keep him at his home?" Gogo shook her head. "The only thing that'd accomplish is tipping him off and assuring we never got him back."

"So we just, what, let him get away with it? Again?"

Gogo rested her helmet on her hip, frowning at Hiro. "No. That we do not do. You go to the police, file a report, start a legal investigation, and if it's him, he won't be able to slip through the cracks again. If we do this right, we win. I'm all for taking action, but if what happened five years ago repeats, I will not. Be. Happy."

"Fine." Hiro knew he wasn't going to win this one, and Gogo was right. If evidence were to be discarded because of their methods of attainment again there'd be nothing to stop Hiro from going for Callaghan's throat. "We'll do it your way."

Wasabi hesitated, but moved aside, allowing Hiro passage. Before Hiro could go much further, a voice interrupted him.

"Who could even touch him when he's like that?" Honey Lemon muttered, gaze fixed on the ground, lost in her thoughts.

"I don't know." Hiro didn't care about the 'how' though. He stalked past Wasabi towards the door. "But they'll wish they'd never been born."

A rush of dizziness had Jadoku sitting before he'd even thought to, limbs shaking as he supported himself against the false wall that separated him from the tiled room on the other side. The pricking sensation still hadn't faded from his arm, despite the hours that had passed and the single, tiny scale that shielded the site. He hated needles, more so when he wasn't the one controlling them. He shook his head, quickly regretting it and leaning his forehead against the cool glass. This was fine, it would pass. It wasn't like he had to go anywhere soon.

"I'd've thought you'd be anywhere but here," Himitsu commented, walking up beside him and tapping on the glass that separated him and Jadoku from the room beyond. He crouched down to sit next to him, taking in his weary countenance.

Jadoku twitched in a miniscule shrug, remaining silent and keeping his gaze fixed through the one-way glass. The past couple of days underground had been surreal, cut off from the rest of the world as if it didn't exist. Outside of a few… mandatory procedures, he'd been left to his own devices… mostly. He tugged absentmindedly at the black cuff on his right wrist, seeing the small green light for a moment before it was concealed again. Useful, but deadly… wasn't everything around here?

Still, it hadn't been too bad down here, and it had been relatively easy to find the things he needed, with and without help. If it weren't for the pain still itching at the crook of his arm, nothing would feel real. He could almost pretend none of this was happening.

But it was. This place had taken him a couple of days to find, and while there was no easy way into the room that he had seen, not that he'd been super concerned with finding one, this viewing room would do. If he could assure with his own eyes that the kid wasn't being hurt… maybe he could learn to live with this.

"Maybe not such a surprise, actually." Himitsu leaned against the partition, undeterred by the lack of response as he studied Jadoku's expression. "I get yer worried, but ya didn't hurt 'im. Nothing serious, anyhow. A pinprick's hardly gonna—"

"It could have killed him." Jadoku cut him off, but his gaze didn't waver, as if looking away would allow them to… do whatever they wanted with the kid.

"Ya didn't." Himitsu shrugged. "And so long's he's here, he'll be fine. No worse off than you."

Jadoku had his doubts. Since he'd found this place, the kid had been mostly unconscious, lying in what looked like a hospital bed, but with… more. He couldn't tell half of the things the machines were meant to do, and with nurses and assistants flittering around constantly, there was no single task to try and figure out. It all seemed excessive. But even if what Himitsu said were true…

"And when he's passed on?" Jadoku was aware this entire mess was still unfinished, and so long as the kid remained here, he was stuck too. However, if the alternative meant throwing the kid to the wolves, it wasn't that bad down here. Just as long as he didn't try to leave. Or attack somebody.

"Not our problem then." Himitsu stretched, folding his arms in front of himself.

Jadoku knew better than to argue, and his attention shifted when Tadashi stirred, prompting a nurse to attend to him. She added something to a small bag above his bed, and after a few moments he stilled again.

"Why does he keep waking up?" Jadoku wondered aloud. This hadn't been the first time since he'd started watching, and he knew it wouldn't be the last.

Himitsu turned, looking through the window with curiosity, as if trying to understand a puzzle. "That's the interestin' bit. What do you know about how anesthesia works?"

Jadoku shook his head. Anything medically related was almost completely foreign to him.

Unperturbed, Himitsu continued. "Well, his body is 'fixing' it, in simple terms." He moved so that he was fully facing the other room, eyebrows furrowed in interest. "Blood samples show he's adaptin' to whatever he's given, and nothin' previously used works again."

"Nothing?" Jadoku eyed the bag the nurse had messed with. "And that's… not normal?"

"Nope." Himitsu frowned, turning to Jadoku again. "And yeah, nothing. Not even you."

"Me?" Jadoku stared in shock. How could they know that? Unless… that's what it was for. They'd certainly have enough.

"Yeah, at least not in the same doses." He hummed, tapping against the glass absentmindedly. "How else d'you think we've kept him out this long? But soon e'en your blood won't be enough."

Himitsu sighed after a moment, talking to fill the silence. "We can't hold him like this much longer, but it should do. We'll drop him off after the final possible dose, and then it's little Yama's problem."

"You're going to kill him." Jadoku felt panic stir inside of him; this wasn't something to play around with. The images from a couple days ago were still fresh on his mind, echoing on top of what he could see.

"First off, not me." Himitsu pointed at Jadoku, before relaxing the gesture and lifting another finger. "Second, they won't. He's too valuable. We might need him again someday. For now, we've got a couple days, tops."

Right.

That.

Jadoku still didn't understand all of the details, but from what little he'd been able to gather through observation, this kid… wasn't normal either. It was a fresh punch in the gut for there to finally be someone who might have understood, just for it to turn out like this. But what did it really matter? It was just a kid. They couldn't help each other even if they wanted to. It could have turned out worse, at least. They were both still alive…

"You're sure?" Jadoku inclined his head, uncertain when Himitsu's word had become something to even partially trust. It wasn't like there was anyone else he could ask, though.

"Positive. They're still only usin' a fraction of the amount they could use, but he's goin' down slower and slower each time." Himitsu stood, scuffing his shoe on the floor. "Like I said, we ain't got long."

Humming, Jadoku leaned his chin on his knee, watching the other room. He'd stay here until hunger forced him to move, and maybe next time he could try to bring something, at least until it was time to pass the kid off.

"Oi." Himitsu was still standing there, digging through his pocket. Jadoku found it surprising he hadn't left yet. "'fore I forget. We found this on the kid, but it was already dead. Not that it'd have worked down here anyway…"

When Himitsu held up a phone, Jadoku found a strange relief in the fact it was a machine that's battery was dead, not… anything else that could have applied to. He wasn't surprised a five year old had a phone like that, but the thought still didn't sit well with him.

"Already pulled any useful information offa it, and it was your steal." Himitsu turned the phone over in his hands. "Wonderin' if you'd want me to repurpose it."

"And that would…" Jadoku trailed off, wanting Himitsu to answer through completion.

"Well, it'd give me a project. I'm kinda bored cooped up here, even with all there is." Himitsu grinned, shrugging. "And a plus'd be you'd stop using that abomination ya call a phone."

Jadoku bristled. "It works just fine."

"Sure, sure." Himitsu laughed. "I'll mess with it anyway, lemme know if ya change yer mind."

"What, so it can be rigged to electrocute me if I step out of line too?" Jadoku muttered, glaring at his wrist.

Himitsu glanced away. "Just a precaution. Not even its main purpose, ya know."

Jadoku didn't respond. The other uses had been explained by a rather terrified looking man after he'd been given it, but it was clear the main purpose was just that. The man had been glancing at the cuff as if to assure himself the entire time he'd spoken, and had stayed more than an arm's length away. The others had been just as reluctant to approach him unless absolutely necessary. Just what did they think he was going to do?

"Oh, right, reason I came." Himitsu hadn't just remembered, but now was as good a time as any to bring it up. "Taishou's sent for ya. He's workin' on something, but he'll at least be here today, so ya need to stop by. Technically supposed to take you once I found ya, but…" Himitsu shrugged.

Clenching his fists and hearing the scales slide against each other, Jadoku tensed, feeling his heartrate pick up and distantly knowing it was being recorded. He'd avoided going thus far, and things had been fine. For the most part. This place was so vast that avoiding certain places had been simple, and quite frankly the few people he'd come across had steered clear, though not all had appeared frightened when they'd done so. If he had to guess, Jadoku would assume those in particular were just following orders, which was… odd, to say the least.

He breathed out shakily, the head rush from unintentionally holding his breath only adding to the lingering dizziness and not making anything easier. Jadoku supposed he'd have to go eventually, but did it really need to be so soon?

"C'mon, up ya get." Himitsu offered a hand down to him, bringing his attention back to him.

Jadoku stared blankly at the proffered hand. Had Himitsu already forgotten? He didn't have his gloves anymore, not that anything down here would require it, but he hated it, and kept his hands in his pockets whenever he could, current circumstance aside. What was so hard about getting the gloves back to him after the inspection? Apparently everything, but he didn't want to bring it up and give them cause to think of him as 'subverting their authority' or something. He still wasn't sure where he stood.

Either way, Himitsu must not have noticed. The room was dim enough to excuse it, and without a lot of light to reflect, the scales could have almost been seen as black. After a moment, Jadoku's morbid curiosity got the better of him and he reached up and accepted the hand, waiting for him to recoil.

Himitsu simply tightened his grip, easily pulling Jadoku to his feet, steadying him until the head rush passed. The black spots in his vision and the confusion mixed to create unsteady footing, but after a second the room stopped spinning. Jadoku looked up at Himitsu, trying to figure him out. What was he playing at?

Himitsu nodded towards the door, heading out and clearly expecting Jadoku to follow. "C'mon, we've kept him waitin' long enough."

Saturday morning, Hiro marched up to a door, pounding on the wood with enough force to shake it in its frame.

He'd filed with the police days ago, but while they'd said they'd post alerts to have people keep an eye out for him, they'd need to wait to do anything more drastic until it was clear this was anything more than a child taking a wrong turn on the way somewhere. In the time it had taken for them to decide it was serious, Hiro had already scoured a quarter of the city with Baymax… as well as he could without causing 'trouble.' The sun set and rose and set again, and there was no sign of Tadashi anywhere.

Thanksgiving had been a somber occasion, only a formality and a chance to let Aunt Cass know what had happened. It was the first full meal Hiro had allowed himself to sit down to eat since he'd started, and he had taken off just as soon as he could. Aunt Cass, only just able to walk again (though this was viewed as some form of miracle by her physical therapists) was hit with how little she could do to help, even this second time her oldest nephew needed her. All she could do was watch Hiro drive himself into the ground in his search, the café closed for the time being for a 'family emergency'.

The team joined him when possible, but try as they might, they simply couldn't drop everything to aid with the search. The only exception was Fred, who would tag along whenever he could catch Hiro, but was always swiftly informed to go search elsewhere, that they didn't need two people searching in the same place. They were glad that Hiro had Baymax with him at all times, to keep him relatively safe or at least aware of his physical limits. They were wrong.

Hiro no longer needed Baymax to zip around the city. Previously, he had designed boots that, along with built-in shin guards he knew he needed, had flight capabilities. Over the years, he'd developed prototypes for himself as a side project, creating boots and a wing pack that fit in well with his old design. If Baymax could do it, why not him? It had been just for fun at the time, as Hiro hadn't needed them once the team was disbanded, but now was as good a time as any to test them out for real.

In between searches, Hiro spent much of his time at the police station, attempting to convince the police to look into Callaghan. Time and again they asked for something concrete to base a warrant on, and just as Gogo had predicted, his reasoning was ignored. Friday morning had resulted in a seemingly positive response, but twenty four hours later had Hiro convinced they'd only said they'd look into it to get him out of the station. That had been the final straw.

Hiro'd shot off a text to the group, alerting them to the change in plans, and headed straight for Callaghan's. He knew that time was of the essence, and if the police weren't going to help, he'd do things himself.

He was ready to knock again when Abigail answered the door, a concerned look on her face. Before she could even ask, Hiro stepped forward, looking down at her and demanding:

"Where is he?"

"Wh-" Confusion colored her expression, and Hiro nearly pushed past her to get inside. "Hiro, wait, what are you-"

"Where is he!?" Hiro shouted, out of patience and out of time.

"Excuse me?" Confusion faded and bloomed into anger. Abigail had noticed some of the quips and hateful remarks Hiro had made towards her father over the years, and while she'd be the first to admit the man wasn't perfect, this was getting out of hand. "My father isn't in right now, and even if he-"

"Stop lying, there's no way you aren't in on this," Hiro snarled, waiting for the others to arrive before he would force his way in. Or perhaps that was a mistake, and Callaghan was already escaping. "And I'm sure you know all about what really happened five years ago, so if you don't show me where my brother is right now, you'll be in the same boat as him."

"My father is innocent!" Abigail had had enough of this. "I don't know where your brother is, but if you do not leave this instant I will call the police and have you arrested for trespassing and harassment!"

"Real likely, you-" Hiro was cut off when he felt a hand on his arm, and he whirled around ready to attack. He could feel his fire building, all it would take was a spark.

Gogo was glaring up at him, helmet in hand. "Hiro. Come with me. Now."

"But-" Hiro turned back towards the house, only to have the door slammed in his face, the lock echoing as the deadbolt was thrown. He stepped forward, hoping that the door would give to a little firepower. He wasn't keen on burning down the house while Tadashi was still inside.

"Hiro Hamada, if you don't get on the bike right now, so help me-"

Hiro threw up his hands. "What, so they can just drive off into the sunset, happy as can be that they won again?"

"Hiro." Gogo was beyond done with this. "That's not what's going on here, and if you'd take a second to use that brain of yours, you'd know that!"

"No! Am I the only one who sees this?" Hiro stormed over to the bike, knowing that short of ripping the house to pieces, he probably wouldn't find anything now. "First you guys, then the police-"

"You just made their jobs harder, Hiro!" Gogo followed after him, not willing to turn her back on him in case he did something foolish. Again. "You can't just act like this, if I hadn't stopped you-" Gogo glanced around, noticing something was off.

"Hiro, where's Baymax?" She fixed him with a pointed look.

Hiro huffed, pulling out his phone to check. "Searching the North Waterfront."

"He's supposed to be with you, that's the only reason we haven't stopped you before. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that if none of you were going to do anything-"

"Hiro, you told us yesterday that the police were beginning their investigation, and now you just-" Gogo broke off with a noise of frustration. "They can't do their job when you act like this."

"No! This is just like the first time!" Hiro's fury put a red haze over everything, he could barely form thoughts into words instead of just screaming. "They have done nothing! They have found nothing!"

"You tearing through the city didn't turn up anything either, Hiro," Gogo pointed out, shoving a spare helmet at Hiro. She just needed to get him back to the café, none of this was accomplishing anything.

Hiro gaped at her, floundering for words for a moment. Didn't she understand? "Well, at least I'm trying."

"At what cost?" Gogo shook her head, snapping her own helmet back into place. "Nothing good will come of this. You're just lucky it was Abigail who answered."

Scoffing at Gogo's words, because wasn't it just convenient Callaghan was 'out' when he came to call, Hiro finally joined Gogo on the motorbike. Baymax could search for now, and he'd just sneak out later to rejoin him. Maybe it would be good to get a little food during this forced break.

"I'm going to find him, no matter what it takes."

Gogo nodded, not in agreement, but in confirmation. She knew that's exactly what he would do. That's what scared her.

Early the next morning, Hiro bolted awake, cursing himself for having fallen asleep. He'd wasted so much time. Tugging on the boots that were admittedly far more bulky than the sneakers he was used to moving in, Hiro reconnected his comm-link to Baymax.

"Status update," Hiro commanded as he reattached his gauntlets and reached for the pack to slip over his shoulders.

"One moment, Hiro. Activating full-scan now."

Hiro buckled the pack into place, making sure all the straps were tight so that it wouldn't come loose during flight, waiting for Baymax to scan the city. A full scan drained too much battery if used continuously, especially in the long-term as they had been doing. It wasn't long before Baymax spoke again.

"Hiro. I have a reading."

**A.N.: Well, would you look at that. Hiro's got a target. But where oh where is it?

Now that fanfiction's fixed the responding to reviews function, I'll be quicker about it if you send any in, and I love to hear what you have to say.