(A/N) As always, sorry for such a long absence. The physical world, she calleth. For anyone out there still reading, I surely hope you enjoy this fresh batch of torture.

Warnings: Attempted rape.

Love Don't Die Easy

Chapter 5: My Sutures

As Rosie had told Hiro, she let the rest of the gang in to see him just as soon as she'd removed the breathing tubes – a massively unpleasant experience that he'd just as soon forget, thank you very much – and just like he'd expected, they were none too eager to let him see the footage they'd recovered from Akuma Island.

"Really, Hiro, I don't see what there's left to figure out," Wasabi said in response to his request. "I'd say it's pretty obvious at this point that Krei's the one behind all this. Silent Sparrow was his project and he's definitely got the resources to do…whatever it is he did to Tadashi."

"That's just it. I'm not so sure," Hiro responded as he tapped away on the laptop Rosie had leant him.

"And what makes you say that?" GoGo asked.

"The commands that Tadashi gave Baymax…the programmer override and the erasure codes…how would Krei know about those?" he pressed, doing his best not to remember the moment he spoke of. "He's a businessman, not a roboticist."

"Uh, the dude's some kinda billionaire mastermind. Pretty sure he's got guys workin' for him," Fred argued.

"No…I don't think so," Hiro muttered to himself as he continued to work. "It wasn't standard coding. If…if Tadashi doesn't remember me…or any of us…I seriously doubt he remembers Baymax's backdoor codes. To know that those exist…that would take somebody at my level…or Professor Callaghan."

"But…Hiro…Professor Callaghan's dead," Honey Lemon pointed out.

"So was Tadashi…until forty-eight hours ago," Hiro shot back. "I'm not saying it's Callaghan. For all we know, he really is dead. I just don't think it's Krei. Something's not washing here. Right. Look at this," he said, spinning the laptop to face the others.

"'Krei Tech Under Attack'," Wasabi read the headline of the article Hiro had pulled up.

"That's right. It was all over the news. Several prominent Krei Tech employees have been found murdered over the last week. The most recent was Ruby Krei, Alistair's cousin," Rosie said. "The media's been mum about it, but I've been hearing things from the morgue. It looks like…"

"Like what?" GoGo pressed when the med student was unable to continue.

"Like these murders were committed with some sort of blade," she finished, a look of pain working its way across her face.

"So…so you think Tadashi might be behind those murders?" Honey Lemon asked, eyes wide with horror.

"I'd say there's a definite possibility," Hiro said, keeping his emotions in check as he turned the laptop back in his direction to keep on working. "If Krei really is behind this, it'd be a little weird for him to send his new mercenary after his own people."

"Oh, God," Cass whispered as she leaned against the far wall of the room.

"So what are you thinking?" GoGo asked.

"I'm thinking I'm gonna get into Krei Tech's servers. See if we can't learn anything else about Project Silent Sparrow."

"You can do that?" Fred asked, clearly trying not to geek out.

"Sure. That's easy. Only the fail kid geniuses go for breaking into corporations' secure systems these days. I'm not even-" Hiro's voice immediately broke off when he noticed he was receiving an email. Someone was sending a video message – someone inside Krei Tech's system.

Hesitating for only a moment, Hiro opened the video file. He was greeted by a solemn-looking woman with strawberry blonde hair and deep green eyes.

"Hello. Whoever you are, if you're receiving this message, it means I'm no longer alive."

"Whoa, message from beyond the grave," Fred whispered.

"My name is Ruby Krei, and I programmed this message to send if someone should ever come seeking information on Project Silent Sparrow, and if that's what you're looking for, I don't suppose I have to tell you what happened. How Alistair's pet project failed…cataclysmically…and Abigail Callaghan was lost as a result."

"Callaghan," Hiro repeated slowly. "She…the pilot must have been related to Professor Callaghan somehow."

Ruby looked away from the camera for a moment, eyes blinking rapidly as they brightened with tears. Then she took a deep breath and turned her focus back to her unknown audience.

"The government shut down the project, had it sealed…but that wasn't the reason Alistair let go of it so easily. That was because…he knew what it did to me…to lose Abby. My cousin can be an ass sometimes, but he's not completely heartless. You see…Abby and I, we…Abby Callaghan was the love of my life," she said sadly, holding her hand up to the camera. A silver ring with a simple diamond graced her ring finger.

"Oh, no," Honey Lemon whispered.

"She asked me to marry her…the night before it happened. Even now, all these years later, I'm still wearing this ring. If I have any say in it, I'll be buried with it, y'know, when my body finally gets the memo. I died that day," she said, her gaze briefly drifting off into the distance, but then she shook her head and looked back to the camera once again.

"I'm sorry. I'm getting off track here. I tried to go on after her death. What happened was awful, but it was nobody's fault. Abby's father wouldn't let it go, though. Robert, he…he kept insisting it was Alistair's fault, and much as I also wanted to blame him…wanted to blame someone…I knew it wasn't his fault. And Robert just wouldn't stop, and when I wouldn't side with him, he said I wasn't worthy of Abby…that I'd never really loved her. I kept telling him to get help, but he wouldn't listen. I think I may be the only one who ever saw just how close to gone he was, and when he died in the fire at the SFIT showcase, I thought that would be the end of it, but it looks like I was wrong.

"People have been murdered…scientists who had key roles in the project. I'm afraid I might be next, and who would have reason to kill us but Robert Callaghan. I wouldn't blame him. After all, it was my design that failed in the end. I wasn't smart enough…wasn't good enough. I'm the one who failed to keep her safe, and I probably deserve whatever fate's coming my way. I can't go to the police with this. I've really got no proof he's alive, nothing but a gut feeling. The reason I'm sending this out is – and this is the truly crazy part – I think Abby might still be alive."

"Whoa," Hiro breathed in amazement.

"I know it sounds crazy. The best people have been over the numbers and with the amount of force the containment breach was generating, it would have torn everything to shreds, but I've been over and over my own numbers and there's no way that pod should have failed. If there's a way to cross back to that place, I think Abby might still be out there…trapped. I'm hoping I'll get the chance to test my theory on my own, but I'm also afraid my time might be running short. I've attached my designs to this message. If someone out there's intelligent enough to get into these databanks, I'm praying you'll prove me right. Please, look at the numbers. If I really am crazy, you can go back to your life, but…if there's even the slightest chance Abby might still be alive, please…save her."

With that, the video feed cut off, leaving the room in shocked silence for several moments.

"So it is Callaghan who's behind this," GoGo said quietly, a slight hint of anger entering her voice. "He's the one who did this to Tadashi."

"But…she said she didn't have any proof Callaghan was still alive," Wasabi pointed out.

"You heard her, though. Who else has a motive like his?" Fred asked. "We were wrong before. This is a revenge story."

"Ruby was guilt-ridden," Honey Lemon said, her own eyes bright with unshed tears. "She may have even been paranoid at the end."

"It makes sense," Hiro said, still staring at the computer screen, "but the only way we can prove Ruby Krei right is if we find Callaghan. Even if it isn't him, the only way we've got any chance of finding the person who did this to Tadashi is to get Baymax up and running again."

"But how do we do that if Tadashi erased his programming?" GoGo asked.

"There should be a backup in Tadashi's lab. I can get it for you if you like," Rosie told them.

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold up a sec'!" Cass snarled as she rejoined the conversation. "You can't possibly think I'm going to let you knuckleheads go out there again. You almost got yourselves killed last time! What if you're not so lucky the next time around? Huh?! What then?"

Hiro sighed heavily before looking up to meet his aunt's wild gaze. "Aunt Cass, you can try to stop me, you can forbid me to put the armor on again, but I think you and I both know that's not gonna do any good. My brother needs me…and I'm not gonna let him down again."

"But why does it have to be you?" Cass demanded, tears streaming down her face as she moved toward the hospital bed, gently cupping Hiro's cheek in her hand. "You're fourteen years old. You shouldn't have to handle this. I'm the adult here. I'm supposed to protect you."

"I get that, but I'm the only one who can handle this. I made those microbots, and that's why this happened to Tadashi. With them he's practically unstoppable. This is my fault. I'm responsible, so I'm the one who's gotta make it right."

"But you're hurt," she argued weakly, even though he could see she was starting to understand.

"Well, if Rosie did her job right, I should be on my feet again pretty quick. I'll go easy, and if I get roughed up again, she can patch me up."

"That I can," Rosie said, nodding her agreement, though she did throw Hiro a warning look, reminding him of the conversation they'd had earlier.

"Dammit! Dammit!" Cass hissed as she pulled him into a hug, crushing him gently against her chest. "I know why…but why?" she whispered.

"Because Tadashi needs me. I've gotta help," Hiro answered. "I'm not gonna just leave him like this."

"He's not gonna be alone, Cass. We'll be out there with him," GoGo said. "We're all gonna help, too."

"That's right. We'll get Baymax and Tadashi back," Honey Lemon declared.

"All right, all of you get in here before I change my mind," Cass demanded, waving them all in for a group hug. There were still tears on her face, but there was now a pained smile there, as well.

The other four would-be heroes moved in around Cass and Hiro, joining in on the hug. Rosie stood back, watching with a small smile of her own, feeling it wasn't really her place to intrude on the moment. They were all so caught up in the little hug, they didn't notice her slipping quietly out of the room.

XxX

Suri hadn't been to the robotics building since before Tadashi's death. The two of them had spent long hours in his lab coming up with necessary procedures and behaviors that

Baymax would need in order to function well. It was also the place Suri would sneak glances at Tadashi while he was working, the only time he wouldn't notice the way she stared. The idea of returning to the place where they'd spent such happy, busy hours had always been both painful and relieving to her, so she'd expected a jumble of emotions on entering the lab.

What she hadn't expected was to find the lab in complete shambles.

The window had been smashed and Tadashi's beloved workspace had been utterly trashed. Cabinets and furniture had been overturned and torn apart. Papers had been ripped up and strewn about. Worst of all, all of his computer equipment had been destroyed. Everything had been smashed to bits.

"No!" Suri cried out in despair as she rushed to the destroyed main terminal, falling to her knees among the broken computer parts. "No, no, no, no, no." All of Tadashi's work, everything that had been his, it had all been destroyed. She might have gone right on despairing had she not heard a subtle shift of fabric from behind her.

Suri spun around as she shot to her feet, coming face to face with the man in the kabuki mask. Yokai.

"Tadashi?" she whispered, unable to help taking a step forward in spite of her fear. In spite of all logic, everything she knew, and everything about this situation, she couldn't crush the hope that had been born in her heart. "Is it…really you?"

The masked figure stood still for a moment, just staring at her, but then he slipped off the mask and the face she knew was before her – scarred and ragged, but alive, returned from death against all odds.

"Suri," he said softly as he moved slowly toward her. "Your name is Suri."

"That's right," she whispered, hardly daring to hope. "Do you remember me?"

Looking back on it, she didn't know why she let herself fall for it. Maybe she'd grieved for too long, missed him too much, needed him too much. Whatever the case may have been, when he backed her against the wall, she didn't resist. She could only gaze into his eyes as he reached out to touch her face.

Please…let this be real. Let him be alive. It's been so hard without him.

"Tadashi…please…don't be dead," she pleaded quietly as he ran a thumb along her bottom lip. Then he was leaning into her…pressing his lips against hers…and she was lost. When he plunged the small tanto blade into her side, he held her lips captive with his own, muffling her scream of pain with his own mouth.

"The wound isn't fatal," he murmured in her ear once she'd fallen silent, using her pain and shock to pin her wrists to the wall above her head. The tanto he left in her side. "I think you know that. I won't make him kill you, not right away. I want them to see what he's going to do to you…to know that he can do the unthinkable even to someone he once cared for. Maybe then they'll have the sense to stay out of my way."

"T- Tadashi," she whispered, confused and in pain. She was sure that if he weren't pinning her to the wall, she wouldn't be able to stand on her own. At first, she didn't understand why he was referring to himself in the third, but then it gelled…as if he were speaking for someone else. "C…Callaghan?"

"I suppose it wouldn't have been that hard to figure out. Yes. Tadashi is serving as my voice at the moment," he said, face completely blank as he pulled back from her. "You love him…don't you. Everyone but him could see that, and everyone but you could see how he cared for you."

"What?" she whispered in shock.

"Yes. He loved you, too. Did you know that? It took some…persuasion…but our Tadashi has shared such secrets with me. It was you he thought of in the dark, and your name on his lips when he touched himself. He even did it right here in his lab, after you'd gone home one night…when he thought he was alone."

"Stop it," Suri hissed as she turned away, unable to look into Tadashi's unfeeling eyes as he spoke these words. "That's private. You have no right-"

"Nothing is private to me. Tadashi is mine. Any part of him that may have belonged to you is gone. Tell me, Suri…what have you spoken to the darkness? Where have those strong, sure surgeon's hands ventured in their quest to dream of his touch?" the former professor asked her through Tadashi's voice as the living weapon slipped a hand between her legs, keeping her wrists pinned with the other.

"Stop…please, stop," she begged, her chest seizing up with terror as he rubbed her through the cloth of her slacks. "Tadashi…it's me."

"He was going to tell you, you know. He made a promise to himself. He was going to meet your flight from New Cairo and ask you to have dinner with him, and we all know how that story goes – marriage, children, a happy ending…the perfect life – except when it isn't how the story goes. My wife was a nurse. Did you know that? We met in college, too. The roboticist and the med student. I saw so much of us in the two of you. Whether or not you believe me, I'm doing you a favor in not letting that story go the same way again."

"You…you're crazy!" she choked out, tears beginning to pour down her face as that hand continued to touch her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she had no hope of reconciling this – the fierceness with which she'd ached for her friend's touch and the horror of what was now happening.

"At this point…probably, but I really just can't care anymore. If I did that, I'd have to kill myself for the things I've done. Tadashi would, too, I think. That's why I've done it this way, erased him so thoroughly. Wouldn't it be kinder to let him sleep, not to wake him to the things he's done…what he's about to do?"

"What are you going to do?" she whispered, even though she knew. She had to have Callaghan say it. There was no way she was going to allow the blame for her pain to fall on Tadashi's head.

"I've given him orders to rape you. He'll begin as soon as I've finished dictating, and if there's anything I can say for my Yokai…he is not gentle. You may survive long enough for the others to find you, but then with that injury, I very much doubt it. They'll see what he's capable of and they'll know there's no reclaiming him."

"If you really believe that…then you've forgotten what it's like to love someone," Suri said, voice hitching briefly in pain. "We won't let you…do this to him."

"After all this time…maybe I have forgotten, and if you'll forgive me the cliché, it seems to me I've already done it. Yokai will bring my vengeance down on Alistair Krei, and there's nothing any of you can do about it. The robot's secret will die with you."

"What are you talking about?" Suri asked, but there was no response. Tadashi's mouth snapped shut and his cold brown eyes stared unfeelingly down at her as the hand that had been fondling her reached up to tear open her slacks.

"Tadashi…please…don't do this," she pleaded with tears streaming down her face, forcing herself to look into those eyes. There was nothing, not even the tiniest hint of recognition as he started to force the black fabric down her legs. This was really going to happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. No matter how much she struggled, he would still be stronger than her.

"We're friends, Tadashi. We worked together. I…you can't…oh, God!" she shrieked in agony when he twisted the dagger still embedded in her side. She screamed, but no one came. There was no one to hear, not this late at night. She was alone…alone with something out of a nightmare. She couldn't help but tremble in fear when she felt his breath hot against her neck. But then, when he reached to undo his own pants, she felt his grip on her hands loosen for a moment. Just a moment…

Realizing it might be her only chance to get away, she twisted a hand free of his grasp and reached for the only weapon she had – the tanto still in her body. A small arc of crimson followed the blade through the air as she brought it up, slashing at Tadashi's face.

Tadashi snarled in pain as the blade bit deep, slashing from the bridge of his nose down to just below his right ear, bisecting the recent scar. He stumbled back several feet, clutching at the wound as Suri crawled away, gripping the tanto tightly against her chest.

The pain didn't keep Tadashi distracted for long, though. Before Suri had managed to crawl to the door, he was pinning her down again, forcing her slacks the rest of the way off. Then he wrenched the tanto from her grasp, tossing it away. When he lowered his face to hers, blood seeped from the fresh wound down onto her cheek, mixing with her tears. Sobs choked her throat as he pressed his body down harshly against hers.

"Tadashi…please…no."

"Tadashi!" a new voice suddenly shouted. Both looked up to see GoGo standing in the doorway, brandishing the discarded tanto. "Get away from her!"

Tadashi said nothing. He just stood and quickly put himself back in order before drawing his katana, dropping into a challenging stance.

"Help her," GoGo said to the two who stood behind her as she and Tadashi began to circle each other. Fred and Honey Lemon quickly moved in to pull Suri to the far side of the lab. Fumbling clumsily with her lab coat, she pulled it closed in an attempt to cover herself.

"Tadashi," the much smaller woman started warningly as they continued to circle, "we've been friends since middle school. Don't think that doesn't mean anything to me, but I swear, if you touch her again, I'll take both your hands off."

GoGo kept her cool, in spite of the fact that she knew she didn't stand much chance against a katana with one little bitty tanto. She'd had her fair share of street and knife fights and she knew the odds weren't in her favor this time, but she sure as fuck wasn't going to let Tadashi hurt the woman he'd been head over heals for for the last year. She'd just have to stay alive until a better opportunity presented itself.

Still Tadashi didn't respond to anything she said. He just continued to circle, assessing. He wasn't like the back alley punks who would try to intimidate her. He was cold and calculating. This was unlike the handful of times she'd sparred with him before. Robert Callaghan had made Tadashi Hamada a killer.

When Tadashi finally came at her with the sword, she nimbly sidestepped the attack, quickly redirecting the force of his next blow with a guard from the tanto. She wasn't able to play the dodge game long before he caught up with her, though. When she didn't move fast enough, his swipe caught her shoulder, causing her to grunt in pain as she went down.

"GoGo!" Honey Lemon cried out.

The moment she hit the ground, GoGo rolled to the side, avoiding Tadashi's next strike. She wasn't able to move into position to block fast enough, though, and his next swing knocked the tanto from her grip. His next swipe may well have taken her head off if a purple and red blur hadn't chosen that exact moment to smash headlong into the mercenary.

"Tadashi, stop!" Hiro shouted as he tackled his brother to the floor.

"Hiro, no! What are you doing?" Suri cried out, trying to move toward her patient, but Fred held her back as the two brothers fought. Wasabi was only moments behind in his own gear, but before he could interfere, Tadashi flipped the kabuki mask back into place and a swarm of microbots burst through the broken window, completely surrounding the two Hamadas and sweeping them straight out into the open air.

"HIRO!"

XxX

Hiro hadn't even waited for Aunt Cass to forbid him to go when Wasabi had received the call from Honey Lemon that Tadashi was in the robotics lab. Before either of them could tell him not to go, he'd been out of the ward and into the supply closet where the others had stashed their gear. He didn't really remember putting his armor on, or running to Tadashi's lab, but then he found himself standing in the doorway watching his brother about to kill his best friend. He hadn't thought. He'd acted, throwing himself at Tadashi, despite his injuries. He fought on through the sudden snap of pain in his ribs, grappling desperately with his brother. He couldn't let him kill anyone else. He just couldn't! He hardly even noticed when they were swept out the window.

He continued to fight with Tadashi, mindless of where the microbots carried them. He fought until Tadashi delivered a particularly harsh blow to his damaged ribcage, leaving him screaming in mindless agony. Using the distraction to his advantage, Tadashi pinned him to an alley wall with the microbots. Hiro tried to fight back, but even uninjured, he knew he'd be no match for the swarm of bots.

"Tadashi," he called out weakly to the masked figure standing before him. "Come on, man. It's me. Hiro. It's your brother. Don't you know me?"

Tadashi didn't respond this time. He just raised the mask and stood staring at him. Hiro let his head droop in despair, hanging limply in the microbots' grasp.

"Dammit. Dammit! Why don't you know me?" he whispered, feeling tears slide down his face. The pain in his body was awful, but it had no hope of matching the pain in his heart. What Baymax had done was minor, a graze, but having Tadashi look right at him and not know him – that was mortal.

"Yokai no longer recognizes friend or enemy," a horribly familiar voice announced as its owner entered the alley. "He recognizes targets. He is a weapon to be used at his creator's will, and a weapon cannot feel. It cannot love. Tadashi is gone from you. You would do best to go on believing he died in the fire that night. Your brother is dead, Hiro. Forget about him."

Hiro slowly drew his head up to look at the man he'd once respected and admired, looked up to, maybe even hoped to be like someday. He hadn't changed much since Hiro had last seen him, only now he was dressed in a similar outfit to Tadashi's, and whatever pretense at humanity had once been in his eyes was now gone. As he gazed into the former professor's cold eyes, Hiro Hamada felt a spark of pure rage ignite in his heart.

"Callaghan."

XxX