(A/N) Well…you've waited for it. And now…you shall have it.
Love Don't Die Easy
Chapter 9: Please Don't Die
Hiro wasn't as surprised as all that when Baymax tracked Callaghan back to Akuma Island. It was where everything had gone down, after all. There was some sort of poetic justice in bringing Krei here to die, whether or not Hiro actually believed he deserved to die. It started here. Now it was going to end here.
"Of course it would be this damn place again," GoGo snarled as she hopped off of Baymax.
"Pretty sure Fred would have something to say about it…if he was here," Wasabi said, expression falling at the thought of their friend.
"I would advise against proceeding with this mission," Baymax told them. "You all have injuries that need tending to. It would be dangerous to continue as you are."
"We know, Baymax," Hiro said as he dismounted, wincing in pain when he landed. Apart from being concussed, he knew all this fighting had done his ribs no favors. "That's why I want you to go and get Rosie. If Fred and Honey Lemon can spare her, bring her here. I'm pretty sure we'll need her by the time this is over," he said, eyes briefly sweeping over the compound for any signs of trouble.
"If that is what you want, then I will bring Suri here. Please exercise caution until I return," Baymax advised before blasting off.
GoGo laughed quietly as she watched the nurse bot rocket into the distance. "So what? Does that mean we're allowed to be totally reckless once he gets back?"
"Not that you're ever anything but reckless," Wasabi ribbed easily, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Not that you'd have it any other way," she teased back, smiling as she glanced up at him out of the corner of her eyes. They both knew it well may be their last chance to joke.
"That's true. So even if you do try your best to get yourself killed in there, I'm going to do everything I can to get you back to Honey Lemon."
"Thanks, man," she returned quietly, and that was the end of it. When Hiro headed into the abandoned building, they both fell into step behind him.
"So what're you thinking, little man?" Wasabi asked him.
"Nothing, really," Hiro answered, not looking back at them. "We just need to find them. Tadashi's hurt…and there aren't that many microbots left."
"Yeah, but he doesn't need more than one to do damage," GoGo reminded them bitterly.
"True enough," Hiro admitted dispassionately. "But he's still hurt. You had a good crack at him and he took a bad hit in that portal. We'll just have to hope we can use that to our advantage…and that Callaghan'll be distracted enough by Abigail to be off his game."
"So no plan then?" Wasabi clarified as they moved through the musty darkness.
"None whatsoever," Hiro said with a sad smile. "We'll just have to see what exactly we're dealing with."
"Well…guess we've made due with less than that these last couple days," Wasabi said with a shrug. There was no point in worrying anymore. They had come here to do what they had to do, not what they should be doing, and he had a nasty feeling that was going to be their lives from now on…
…if there even was a 'from now on' after tonight.
XxX
The first thing Abigail became aware of was the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out. For the longest time, it seemed to be all she consisted of – that simple, almost wave-like motion, in and out, ebb and flow.
The next thing to enter her sphere of awareness was her father's voice.
"Abigail? Abby?" he called to her, gentle voice reaching to her through the haze of her sleep-addled mind. "Can you hear me?"
"Dad?" she called back, still unable to open her eyes, unable to move.
"It's all right, honey. Everything's going to be all right now." Then she felt a hand run along the side of her face.
"Where…where am I?" she finally got herself to ask. "What happened? The test…where's Ruby?"
"That was a long time ago, Abigail."
"Long…time…what?" she mumbled in confusion as her eyelids finally blinked open. When she looked up to see her father kneeling over her, she was shocked to see how much older he looked. Not just in body – there was something different in his eyes. Something was gone, or something was added. She couldn't tell, and it frightened her. When she tried to reach up a hand to touch his face, she found she had no control over her own body. "Dad…what happened to me? Why can't I move?"
"Abby…this may shock you a little, but you've been asleep for eight years," he explained.
"Eight years?" she repeated in shock.
"Yes. There are bound to be some adverse side effects on your body."
"What…why…what happened? Where's Ruby?" she repeated, struggling to look behind him.
"Silent Sparrow failed…cataclysmically. The portal destroyed itself. You were lost. For eight years…we thought you were dead, Abby," her father said, taking her limp hands in his and kissing both of them.
"Dad…where's Ruby?" she repeated, feeling a chord of pain strike in her heart, even though she didn't know why yet. If it had really been eight years – had Ruby moved on? Maybe met someone new? If that was the case, she had to know. It would be painful, but she had to know.
"Abigail," he started with a long sigh, "I'm truly sorry to have to tell you this…but Ruby's dead."
For a moment, it didn't sink in. The agony of that truth was lodged within her heart like a tiny poisonous barb that hadn't yet done its work. But then that poison bloomed and the anguish burst from her heart and spread to the rest of her, racing through her veins.
"No," she whispered, the shock and anguish nearly strangling her as tears sprang to her eyes. Eight years of dreaming only to wake to this? She would've rather remained asleep. She would've rather died herself than wake to a world in which Ruby no longer existed. "No!"
Over the sounds of her sobs, she heard another sound, and when she realized it was distinct from her own keening cry, she finally managed to gather enough strength to turn her head and look past her father – only to see that the muffled sounds were coming from her boss, bound and gagged at the opposite end of the room. He was guarded by a man she thought looked familiar, but she couldn't discern why.
"A- Alistair?" she mumbled in confusion. What was going on here?
"I hate to have to tell you this now, Abby…but did you know this man killed Tomeo and Marie Hamada?" her father asked, turning to glare at the CEO.
"What?" she whispered in shock, though she now realized why Alistair's guard seemed so familiar. He reminded her of Tomeo, only he was much younger than her father's friend – who had now been dead for eleven years instead of the mere three it had been when she'd entered the gateway. Alistair shook his head violently at the accusation, though, eyes wide with fear as he attempted to cry out through the gag in his mouth.
"He didn't raise a hand to them himself, of course, but what I do know for certain is that the concept behind Silent Sparrow was Tomeo's. Knowing what a goldmine such technology would be in military contracts, and knowing that Tomeo would never leave Lee Corp, Krei had him murdered for the designs. His wife, and nearly his two young sons, were just collateral damage," her father snarled quietly, looking at Alistair with hate in his eyes.
"Wait," Abigail interrupted, finally beginning to make the connection when her father brought up Tomeo's sons. "Tadashi?" she whispered in shock.
The young man didn't respond to her, but she knew it was the truth. She recognized him now, and it was this, more than anything else, that made her feel the years that had passed. Tadashi Hamada had still been a boy the last time she'd seen him, but the person standing before her now was a man – a man hardened by pain and suffering, a far cry from the bright, happy boy she'd known.
"Yes. He's been helping to avenge his parents' murder. I meant to see Krei in the electric chair for what he did…but then I lost you."
It was the word 'avenge' that sounded a warning bell in her head. Her father didn't say things like that – not when he thought she could hear him, anyway. Now he was talking about murder and punishment like he doled them out at the drop of a hat. In these eight years she'd been gone, what had happened to the man who'd raised her? With every detail of his plan to bring her former employer to justice, Abigail found herself growing more and more horrified.
"I don't ask you to forgive me the things I've done, Abby. I don't even ask for your understanding. I know I don't deserve it. I can't let the last eight years be for nothing. I'm sorry, but I just can't do that," he said coldly as he slipped a knife from his belt.
"Dad," she whispered, feeling more tears squeeze their way from her eyes. "What happened to you?"
"My girl," her father said, voice heavy and eyes dark with the weight of his guilt, hatred, and sorrow. "My little girl…I'm dead. I died the day you went into that machine. Now I'm just putting down the monster Robert Callaghan left behind," he finished, turning toward Krei with the knife held at the ready. The CEO began to scream in earnest, struggling futilely against the cuffs that held him.
"Don't do it, Callaghan," a new voice suddenly entered the conversation. Abigail shifted her head to look beyond the three men and into the semi-darkness of whatever chamber they were in. Three figures emerged dressed in some sort of armor. "Why do you keep trying when you know it's over?" the shortest of the three asked.
Her father let out a long and bitter laugh at this, not looking at the three figures as he spoke. "Because this is all I have left. You wouldn't understand."
"You can't do this. Krei needs to stand trial. What if you're wrong? What if the person who's really responsible goes free because of what you're doing?"
"That's impossible. All who were involved are dead now. All but him," her father said as he glared down at Krei. "You will not interfere. Yokai…destroy them."
XxX
"Rosie…did you know about GoGo and I?"
"Why do you ask?" Suri returned absently as she continued to monitor Fred. Baymax had transferred his scans to her pad before they'd left, so she knew exactly what was wrong, but there wasn't much she could do without the proper equipment. The suit had kept the blow from killing him outright, but he'd suffered a fracture to the back of his skull and the resulting impact had caused a mild contusion in his brain. These injuries could heal on their own, though. The troubling part was the potential for an increase in intracranial pressure. Baymax had reported a slight increase, but without him here, she couldn't monitor how it might be progressing. All she could really do was keep him still until help arrived.
"Well…Wasabi said something, and I guess…I just wanted to know if we were as obvious as you and Tadashi were," she said, smiling weakly from where she was lying against a large chunk of broken concrete.
Suri laughed quietly as she moved back to the other blonde to check the bandages on her shoulder. She'd cleaned and closed the wound. In his attempt to penetrate above Honey Lemon's armor, Tadashi had actually avoided piercing her lung. The only internal damage was some muscle damage and a nick to her scapula where the microbot had exited. She was going to pull through just fine. Now it was just a matter of keeping the wound clean and keeping her calm.
"If Tadashi and I were as obvious as you and GoGo, I may just have to die of embarrassment."
"Heh…I guess we're all a little oblivious," the chemist said, her small laugh turning into a wince of pain.
"Hey, what did I tell you? Just keep still. You're going to be fine. Those days of being oblivious are over now."
"Right," Honey Lemon said, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths. "They're coming back. Of course they're coming back."
"Hey, what…what's going on?" Fred's disoriented voice suddenly broke into the conversation. "What happened?"
"Freddie!" Honey Lemon called out, immediately discouraged from moving by the pain in her shoulder.
"Don't move," Suri warned as she moved back over to him.
"Rosie?" he mumbled stupidly, eyes unfocused as she checked him over. "What happened?"
"You were severely injured in the fight with Tadashi. Heathcliff's on his way, but I need you to keep still until then. We don't want to risk further injury."
"Whoa," Fred continued to mumble, a slight grin moving across his face. "Not to…make light of a nasty situation or anything, but…that is severely cool.
Suri shook her head in amusement as she continued her examination. "You would find being beaten to within an inch of your life cool. What am I going to do with you?"
Before any of them could say anything more, though, the sounds of a helicopter came from overhead. The moment the chopper was on the ground, Heathcliff was getting out, moving quickly toward them.
"Are you sure we can't take them to a hospital?" Suri shouted over the noise of the copter. Sirens were also beginning to sound in the distance.
"That will not be necessary," the butler explained as he easily lifted Honey Lemon in his arms, being careful to keep her shoulder immobile. "Master Lee's medical facilities should be quite sufficient."
Once Heathcliff had gotten Honey Lemon secure on the chopper, he brought out a stretcher, which he and Suri secured Fred to in order to move him onto the copter. Suri was just about to climb in with them when Baymax suddenly landed next to the chopper.
"Suri," the robot called to her. "Hiro has requested that I bring you to Akuma Island. Can you come?"
When Suri looked to Heathcliff, he nodded. "Go. The others may need your help. I am capable of taking care of Frederick and Honey Lemon until you return."
"Right," she said, quickly moving toward Baymax while the copter took off. "What's wrong? Is anyone hurt?"
"No more than they already were, but Hiro believed you might be needed. Climb on my back and I will take you to them."
Suri hesitated only a moment before climbing on. Unlike Hiro, she couldn't harness herself to Baymax's armor and unlike the others, she had no armor at all. This was not going to be pleasant, but if she was needed, she was needed. There was no other choice.
"Please hold on tightly. You are not harnessed and a fall would most certainly prove fatal."
"Yeah, I got it. Just go. I'm ready," she said, holding as tightly as she could and snapping her eyes shut as Baymax took off.
Suri could feel the wind biting against her exposed skin as they shot through the sky. Not daring to look down, she just held on and prayed.
I'm coming, you guys. Just hold on. You'd better not be dead.
XxX
Yokai knew he wasn't operating at full capacity, but he also knew that his opponents weren't either. When the man and the woman came at him to attack, he immediately went after the woman, taking several strategic jabs at the places he knew she was injured. She went down easily enough, but not before delivering a jab of her own to the wound she'd left in his shoulder. Yokai snarled in pain as he retreated, but still with a note of satisfaction when the woman did not rise. One target incapacitated. Coming back at her, he drew his katana to finish her.
Something's wrong.
"Dammit," the man snapped, coming after him before he'd had a chance to finish the woman off. Yokai resisted the temptation to raise a weapon against the larger opponent, as he knew those plasma blades could decimate any weapon he could bring against him. Instead he led him in a circle around the destroyed portal chamber, keeping him distracted with small streams of the few microbots that remained to him.
"I don't wanna hurt you, Tadashi. Don't make me," the man warned him.
Tadashi.
"Don't call me that!" Yokai snarled before he could stop himself.
"What? Tadashi? That's your name, man! Don't you remember?!"
"No!" he shouted in defiance before leaping and flipping over the man's head. Before his target realized what had happened, Yokai had spun about and jammed one of his daggers into the housing on the man's left arm, instantly shorting out the plasma blade. In nearly the same motion, he removed the blade and slashed it across the target's side, sending him to his knees with a cry of pain. It didn't take much for him to destroy the other plasma housing.
With the plasma blades neutralized, Yokai easily pinned the man to the wall with his small swarm of microbots.
"Get out of this if you can," he challenged, sneering as he switched out the dagger for his katana.
This isn't right.
"Tadashi, stop!" the boy suddenly ordered. When Yokai looked up from his intended victim, he saw the boy standing on top of a pile of twisted metal. "Leave them alone. I'm the one you want."
"Hiro, no! Don't-" the man started, but was soon interrupted when the small swarm covered his mouth.
"It's okay, Wasabi. It's okay," the boy, Hiro, said, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on Yokai.
Hiro.
"Maybe you didn't hear me before, but my name is not Tadashi," he said as he began to circle the boy.
No.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Tadashi, but it is your name. It's the only name you've got," Hiro said firmly, eyes following him as he moved. Without breaking that contact, he slowly removed his helmet, letting it drop to the floor.
"You're making this too easy, boy," he warned him.
"We'll see."
Wait. Don't do this!
Without further ado, Yokai sprang at his target, ready to run him through. Hiro was ready for him, though. Whenever Yokai moved to take a stab at him, he moved out of the way.
"Coward!" he snarled after several minutes of this. "Fight back!"
"I'm not gonna fight you, Tadashi," Hiro said calmly. "You're my big brother."
"Then that's your mistake!" he snapped. "I will kill you."
No, please! Please don't kill him!
"I'm pretty sure you will," Hiro said, still strangely calm. When Yokai raised his sword for another blow, the boy suddenly leaped clear, then rolled away, climbing to his feet several yards away. "In fact, I'm afraid that might be the only way to bring you back."
"Then you're even crazier than I am," Yokai declared, turning wildly about in order to get his sights on the boy.
"Tadashi…if it's what you want…go ahead and run me through," Hiro invited, arms held wild in an open gesture. "I won't run. I won't try to stop you. If it's for you…if it's so you can live…I don't mind dying." He had a theory. If Tadashi had been snapped out of it when he'd been in mortal danger, then maybe – just maybe – there was a way to snap him out of it for good.
For a moment, Yokai just stood staring at his target, sword held at the ready, prepared to strike whenever he made the move to make it so.
But then that moment devolved into minutes and Yokai slowly began to laugh – and as he laughed, his eyes widened in horror and fear.
What…what is this?
And those minutes continued to tick away, reality slowly unraveling around him as he began to shake, laughs gradually turning into sobs as tears poured down his face.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God!
No! You can't lose it now! You have to complete the mission. It's what you are for!
No! It's Hiro! I can't kill him! I'd rather die than kill him!
It's too late for that. You gave up that choice a long time ago. Kill him now! Just end it!
"Tadashi?"
"Don't look at me like that," he repeated without thought. Along with the voices in his own head, he could hear Hiro, Wasabi shouting, struggling to get free, GoGo trying to call out to Hiro, all reaching out, urging him not to die.
KILL HIM!
NO! I'D RATHER BE DEAD!
"Please," he begged quietly through the tears. "Someone help me."
This isn't real.
"Tadashi-"
He asked for death. Now give it to him.
"As you wish," Yokai hissed, eyes zeroing in on his target as his conditioning snapped back into place. Time almost seemed to move slower as he sprang across the distance to the boy.
A moment was all it took. Hiro didn't scream; he only gasped quietly. He didn't exactly feel pain as the cold steel pierced him. In fact, he felt a strange sort of detachment as the katana slid through his body. Upon piercing his suit, the blade first punctured his skin. Then it passed through the layers of fat and muscle beneath that. Next to be perforated was his liver, which the sword ran solidly through before exiting out his back, completely impaling him. He didn't know how long he just stared at the katana protruding from his body before slowly following it up to the face of its owner.
Brown eyes. His first memory was of brown eyes. But instead of warmth and love, in these eyes he saw only horror.
"T- Tadashi," he whispered, trying to reach up to touch his brother's face, but unable to bring his hand more than halfway up.
At first, Tadashi wasn't fully aware of what had happened. All he could see was Hiro's face, wincing slightly in pain, but then an easy smile spread across his face. Only when Hiro couldn't raise his hand did Tadashi look down and see the blade that had impaled him – the blade he was still holding.
"Oh, God. Oh, God! Oh, God!" he cried out. There was a katana in his baby brother's body. He needed to remove it.
"DON'T PULL THE SWORD OUT!" a new voice suddenly screamed. Too shocked to do much more than stand there, Tadashi didn't see Suri and Baymax running across the chamber. He just saw blood seeping out around the blade, slowly staining the floor red.
"Tadashi," Hiro whimpered, resting his thick-gloved hand on his. "It's all right."
"Hiro?" he whispered.
You did this. You're a monster!
"NOOOO!" Tadashi shrieked in horror as he tore the sword from Hiro's body. Once he'd started screaming, he couldn't stop. He screamed for all the times he hadn't been able to since the night of the fire, screamed his pain and anguish and guilt to the world. He screamed until his throat was raw and he had no voice. He was barely aware of Suri lowering Hiro to the ground. In order to cope with the shock, his world narrowed to the feel of the hilt of the katana still in his hand.
Callaghan.
"Oh, that's unfortunate," the former professor said callously as they watched the events unfold. "You were probably counting on them for a rescue weren't you. Well, I've got news for you, Alistair. No one's going to save you this time," he snarled, seizing Krei's collar and lifting him up before slamming his head back against the pipe he was cuffed to. The man tried to talk, but nothing was getting through the gag except his pitiful screams.
"Dad…please don't-" Abigail tried to protest, but she was too weak to do much more than that.
"You can't imagine how long I've waited to see that look in your eyes," Callaghan said, taking a step back to take it all in. "Just pure, utter terror. I want you to know what Tomeo felt in his last moments…what Abigail must have felt when that portal failed. You're going to die in fear and agony. Then you'll go straight to Hell," he growled, drawing his dagger back for the final strike – but what happened next, even he could not have foreseen.
His blade pierced flesh, then muscle and bone, but it wasn't Krei that he'd stabbed.
It was Abigail.
Waiting until the last possible moment, she'd gathered up all of her strength and thrown herself between him and her former employer. Abigail was now collapsed against the CEO with his knife sticking out of her shoulder
"Abby," he breathed in shock.
Oh, God.
"I couldn't- let you do it," she groaned before passing out cold.
Callaghan had no idea what he might have done at that point. Whatever the case, he needn't have worried about it. The next thing he became aware of was another blade – this one protruding from his chest, right where his heart used to beat up until five seconds ago.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Tadashi standing there, face pale and eyes wide, just on the verge of falling completely into madness.
"You," the incensed boy whispered, voice hoarse from shrieking. "You did this to me. You hurt Suri…and you tried to kill Hiro…and you used my hands to do it! You BASTARD!"
"Yes. Yes, I did," he said softly, having no more answer than that. "I'm sorry. I'm quite certain I will suffer for what I've done to you…but no suffering could be worse than what I've already endured. I'm sorry," he repeated. "Thank you."
When Callaghan fell from the end of his sword, unmistakably dead, Tadashi slowly collapsed to his knees. Then he raised the katana above his head, fully intending to follow his master and maker. He wasn't going to suffer this hell one moment longer.
However, as his gaze travelled along the silvery, blood-spattered length of the weapon that had killed so many, another hand wrapped around his – smaller, but with more strength and conviction than he could ever dream of.
"Don't you dare hurt anyone else with that sword," GoGo hissed in his ear as she knelt beside him, forcing him to lower the weapon. "Including yourself."
Tadashi had no idea how long they knelt like that, but in the end he did release his grip on the katana. GoGo slowly pulled him into her arms and he buried his face in her chest and sobbed, sobbed for all the times he'd dared not ever since carrying his baby brother from their parents' burning car. He wept until he was completely empty, and then he slept, clinging to his best friend like she was the last solid thing in the world.
XxX
(A/N) *glancing side to side* So…that meet with anyone's expectations?