Chapter 4: When forever Ends
"Come on Gogo," Hiro sighed watching his friend as she darted through another string of obstacles. Her ankles were still slightly wobbly on the semi-rough terrain. "You can do this," He chanted into the mic that connected all of the group.
"Hiro," The female sighed annoyed as she slid to a stop to glare up at the boy clad in purple. "I got this. Quit pressuring me." She snapped and popped her knuckles before working her way back to the beginning of the course. Hiro sighed heavily before turning his mic off and turned to watch the others. He had yet to tell them what Brady had explained to him the day before, but he wanted to make sure that they understood what they were against. So instead of the clean and pristine courses he usually tried to provide them with, he gave them a more grounded course. Throwing dirt, and grit, and plants on the ground where ever he could.
"Alright," He sighed standing up to look at Honey Lemon and Fred who were giddily bouncing about their own obstacle courses. Wasabi was sitting happily to the side practicing his accuracy by slicing through the falling leaves. The african american male looked up and waved softly.
"Guess I'll go work on flight patterns with Baymax," He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully as he looked up at his ever present companion. Baymax buzzed lightly as he recorded the group working through their routines. Hiro would watch them later and find out just where they were going wrong in their high kicks, how many more degrees they needed to turn in order to hit a target, how much pressure they need to apply to destroy said target. They were getting much better, that was for sure. But there was still something nagging at the back of Hiro's mind.
Honey chewed her lip lightly as she watched the youngest Hamada climb upon their friendly robot. Something about him had been off lately; he'd been harsher in their training, commanding that they get better. Sure, the Anniversary was tomorrow, but that didn't give Hiro the right to be so tense with them. The blonde girl looked at her friends trying her best to hint with her eyes. Unfortunately, they were all caught up in their own training plans.
Hiro sighed heavily watching the city from the wind turbines. It had been so peaceful since he and the team had taken over the police's job. Felons had taken to hiding in the deep breaths of the city, and major crime had slacked off majorly. Still, Hiro couldn't figure out what exactly was so bad about this new gang. He had yet to have any kind of a run in, and with the information coming to him from the underground bot fights he'd recently taken akin to, Hiro was beginning to doubt that there was really anything he was needed for.
At least, that was, until he was shoved from the turbine and sent into a spiraling freefall. Hiro's eyes widened as he called out for his health care bot. If he were to fall itno the water from this height, it would easily mean death for him. Time seemed to slow as he attempted to right himself, flipping and sending himself into a spiraling tumble.
"Baymax!" He yelled through the microphone, thinking perhaps his bot hadn't heard him without it. Still, his bot didn't fly down to get him. His heart pounded violently in his chest as he watched the water with every uncomfortable twist of his body. "Baymax, anytime bu-" He hissed in pain as something grabbed his ankle in a tight bond, efficiently jerking the bone from its socket.
"Shouldn't have left yourself so open, Purple." The voice was familiar, but distorted by a voice module. Hiro glared up at his savior, and probably murderer at the same time. The man was masked similar to Callaghan, but there was a joking demeanor about his body language. His chest was wide, and muscled, but what stood out the most to Hiro was the small pink scars that stuck out just from under the man's cloak.
"I can't be on the clock all the time," Hiro scoffed as he glared at the man that held him at least twenty five feet above the water. If he was let go now, he wouldn't die, but it would certianly be a more painful expereince than he wanted.
"No, but if you expect your team to be on all the time, then you should have the same expectations for yourself." The voice boomed heavily in his helmet. Hiro understood, then, just why Baymax had not heard him. This strange person had invaded the radio wave and singled him out, had cut off his only connection to his friends. "Hey," The man looked down at him playfully, kicking the thrusters on his boots to full power, lifting the young Hamada up higher above the water. "Can you swim?" Hiro's eyes widened in momentary terror as he watched the bay below him get further and further away.
"Don't," He whispered shakily staring at the water beneath him.
"Hiro!" Voices broke through the disruptive wave, seemingly sending a sharp pain through his captor. "Hiro, where are you? Baymax came back after he lost connection with you!" It was Honey Lemon's voice.
"Honey, The bay!" Hiro hissed before the grip on his ankle was lost and he was once again plummeting to the watery depths.
"Shi..." The transmission was cut. Honey heavily as she imagined just what was going on. They were on Akuma Island, it was in the middle of the bay. She looked at the group and quickly formatted a chemical equation to release a bouncy substance and she climbed on using its bouyancy to launch herself into the air.
"Hiro!" She whimpered heavily spinning in circles trying to find which way her friend was. "Hiro Hamada!" She cried out heavily twisting once more in a jump before spotting something falling towards the bay. The blonde's heart froze in her chest as another figure launched itself towards the water in an attempt to catch the irst. "There!" She pointed before climbing off chemical carefully and rushing over to Baymax. "He's over by the turbines!" She pointed quickly and watched as the friendly robot launched himself towards his charge.
"What's going on?!" Gogo skated over to her friend; sparks flying as she turnde to slow herself down. Honey looked at Gogo and shrugged softly, worry all but flowing from her eyes. She didn't know much herself, just that Baymax had arrived in a flurry of fuzzy confusion. When asked, he said that his motehrboard had been temporarily fried, and in a red light attempt to get away from it, he flew to the nearest safe place where he justified there would be help.
"Baymax got fried, and...we have to do something!" Honey trembled before coming up with another chemical equation that would solidify when coming into contact with oxygen and she threw it down forming a bridge as fast as she could type. "Hiro!" She called as the friendly health care bot traveled back towards the small panicing group.
Wasabi rushed forward to help Baymax lay his patient down. "How is he Baymax?" Wasabi whispered softly as he pillowed Hiro's head in his lap.
"My scanners are currently offline," Baymax hummed worriedly. "Performing necessary reboots to get them back up and running. Estimated waiting time is two minutes." Wasabi looked at his purple clad friend and slowly pulled the helmet off. There were a few minor bruises scattered across Hiro's face, but nothing major. What threw Wasabi for a loop was that Hiro's eyes were open, as if he were in a concious state, but he wasn't responding to any poking or proding.
Gogo watched the youngest Hamada from a distance. She hated the fact that he seemed to be targeted the most of the group. As much as she tried to convince herself it was because he was their leader, and in a sense, the most dangerous to their advesaries, she was pretty sure it was just because he was Hiro. Tadashi had always claimed that trouble had been attracted to him like a magnet, and it would find him anywhere.
Over the past few years, she was certainly starting to see the truth in the statement. The whole group thought that it was just Callaghan; that once he was gone their life would be peaceful, except for the random burgurlary here and there. Yet, it seemed, time and time again trouble would find the group, and would range in the altitude of danger. The young korean was sure that the stress of making sure Hiro was okay was giving her grey hairs. How did Aunt Cass do it?
"Scan complete," The soft robotic voice broke through the silence. "Hiro is currently in a mild state of shock, and it seems that his tallus has a slight fracture." The robot buzzed as he eased his way down to sitting beside his friend. "I need to stablize his foot, until he can see an orthopedic specialist for a cast."
Wasabi groaned lightly as Baymax applied a small stint and wrapped Hiro's leg in tight gauze and tape. "Aunt Cass is going to murder us."
Aunt Cass tapped her foot agitatedly as she paced the hospital hallway. Baymax had informed her, upon her arrival, that his patient was not in a critical state, but would not explain just how her nephew ended up in the state. She reached into her oversized purse and pulled out a candy bar that she had stashed away a few days ago. "He's going to make me obese and grey before I'm fourty!" She huffed collapsing into the chair next to Gogo to focus more on opening the wrapper with shakey hands.
"Aunt Cass," Gogo sighed softly reaching over and placing a secure hand on the older woman's wrist. "He's fine. It was seriously an accident. He was messing around on my roller blades and got caught on a ramp when he fell. If anything, I think you'd be happy that its a normal teen like injury." The group had decided it would be best not to tell Aunt Cass of the new mysterious Yokai. It would send her into another panicy spiral of anxiety, and she still hadn't fully recovered from the other. "As for you being obese, you lost so much weight with the last villain that, believe me, you could use the candy bar." She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.
Honey slide in on the other side and wrapped her graceful arms around Cass' shoulders lightly squeezing. "He's fine, really." She smiled warmly and Cass sighed softly relaxing just the slightest. Hiro was all she had left, and she'd be damned if she was going to let him slip through her fingers just like his brother had.
"Cassandra Hamada?" The voice spoke clear and concise as a man in a white coat lead out a hobbling Hiro. His glasses were crooked on his face, and it looked as if he'd just recently been in a fight. Hiro, however, looked smug as sin with a lollipop in his mouth.
Aunt Cass stood up a scolding on the tip of her tongue as they approached; Hiro with black boot instead of a cast, thankfully.
"He's free to go home, but keep him in bed for the next week or so. He needs to give his leg time to recuperate." He placed a shakey, almost wary hand on the boy's shoulder before stepping away and clearing his throat. "I'd also like for you to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't daydream more than normal. There was a mild case of shock involved when he came in, and I'd like to make sure that it doesn't return." The doctor sighed heavily before shaking his head and muttering something under his breath before turning and quickly walking away.
"Hiro Hamada," Cass sighed softly jerking her nephew into a crippling hug. "You are so grounded for life! Scaring me like that!" Hiro groaned heavily, it was like this every time his Aunt took him home from the hospital. It was her way of showing him just how worried she was.