A/N: Alright! Welcome back to this week's chapter! We are in fact continuing on with the reunion arc and the Hydra chase. Also in this chapter, a wary and savvy reader can spot another one of my beloved fandoms. Again this chapter was one of my favorites to write.
Please check out my profile (it's sparse, I know) to find the 8tracks playlist for The Scientist. Some of the songs are pretty predictable such as "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark" and "Immortals" but each song kind of corresponds to either a certain character or scene in the story. I had a lot of fun putting the playlist together. I seriously can't believe how easy it was to make.
One last note before I let you guys go. The June session of Camp NaNo is coming up. I have some editing plans but I'm also looking for prompt/one shot ideas to write Fanfiction for so if you guys have certain scenes you'd like to see please let me know. For example: scenes written from other character's viewpoints, missing moments (the stuff that I wasn't able to fit into a real chapter), post story stuff, pre story stuff. You know, that sort of thing. I know the story probably won't be finished by then but I love writing in this little universe!
Previously:
"What… the… Hell!" spat Hiro Hamada. Both he and Vera's attention snapped back to the teenager. Vera went razor rigid in his grasp. "What the Hell just happened?"
"And who the Hell are you guys?" demanded Hiro. He lowered his fire extinguisher a hair. Chiune took that as a positive sign. However, the rest of the Big Hero 6 crew were already advancing towards them, coming together in an impressive show of intimidation.
Vera threw his arm off from her and stepped forward to meet Big Hero 6 head on. Well at least she no longer seemed borderline hysterical. She pulled her cover story credentials from inside her suit jacket's pockets. "I wasn't lying when I said I was from S.H.I.E.L.D." she informed them crisply.
"Would one of you two possibly care to tell me why you're here?" Hiro growled. He took a threatening step towards Vera. Immediately he jumped forwards to tell the kid to back off but Vera stepped up to the challenge with confidence that he wasn't so certain she should have at the moment.
"Gladly Mr. Hamada, but you and your friends are going to have to come with my partner and I." she told them simply.
"Uh, yeah and we would want to do that why?" snorted the girl in the yellow armor. She raised one of her discs in the air for show. His eyes nearly bugged out of his skull when he saw the discs. That was the airspeed resistant technology he'd seen and the girl looked like she'd weaponized it. It was just as incredible as he pictured it to be.
"The other guys just tried to tell us that and we definitely weren't on board with it then either." the big guy with the lasers said, he pointed towards the hall with his awesome glowing laser sword for added emphasis.
"One evil secret organization taken out by another evil secret organization just to simply have us all to themselves." the kaiju hero said with suspicion that went to a whole new level. He gave them both a shifty look. He drew back slightly and stared at the kaiju hero in mild discomfort. At least the guy couldn't see his scars.
"What's the difference between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. Both of you have tracked us down for some purpose." the chemist heroine pointed out in a critical and analytical tone that knocked the discomfort right out of him and made him wince.
"Counter offer," Hiro Hamada said as he sat his fire extinguisher on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest. The only word in the English language that he could come up with to describe the look on the kid's face was cocky. "You tell us where Robert Callaghan is hiding and why exactly you've been looking for us. Oh! And we aren't going anywhere with you."
Vera flashed a feral grin at Hiro Hamada. "So you can be direct. Your flirting tactics need some serious tweaking… jail bait."
Hiro Hamada blanched at the term 'jail bait' as all his friends did their best not to snigger behind his back. Some were more successful than others. However, he wondered just how hard the kaiju hero was even trying. It would have been funny, Vera calling him on his blatantly obvious flirtation skills, if the situation had been just a hair different. However, seeing as Hydra was still in the building it probably wasn't the best idea for Vera to be antagonizing someone at the moment. Hiro Hamada went red in the face right to the tips of his ears. He lifted his finger threateningly and started to say something but suddenly a loud bang echoed through the halls.
Vera jumped and twisted around to the door. Chiune was fairly certain that he was the only one who saw the color drain out of her face this time and her hands shake subtly. "They're coming back." she whispered. Then she regained control abruptly. Vera whipped around, determination blazing in her eyes. "They're coming back. You want your answers, you have to come with us. We can explain everything. You just have to trust us."
"So says she whose name is a fake and works for a secret organization whose only been trying to find us for the last few years." Hiro Hamada said tersely.
Vera smirked. "The name's Vera kid. As for S.H.I.E.L.D., we didn't point guns at your friends' or your head the first time we met."
"You know," the chemist heroine said, "she has a point."
The rest of Big Hero 6 wasn't as convinced. He could tell that by the dubious expressions they wore. Another loud bang emanated from the hall followed by voices. He couldn't be absolutely sure but one of them sounded like Williams. "I hate to be that guy but whatever you guys want to do, we kinda need to do it fast." he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the concerning sounds.
Hiro Hamada looked between he and Vera, his jaw clenched tightly. He gave a huff and glared at Vera. "You will explain what's going on to us." he told her.
"Of course," she started but the voices came into clarity suddenly.
"They're still inside Hamada's lab sir." some Hydra footsoldier called from down the hall.
"Time to go!" Vera growled.
"Not without Baymax." Hiro replied in a tone that was clearly meant to say "not up for debate."
"Chiune, help him out." Vera told him as Hiro Hamada turned for a red suitcase in the back of the room. By the time he got to the downed robot, Hiro was throwing the suitcase down on the ground and had it opened to reveal an intricate charging port.
"Supercapacitor cell batteries, nice." he whistled. He couldn't help himself as he stared down at the work. It was too awesome not to be appreciated. Maybe when this was all said and done, he and Hiro Hamada could sit down and talk robotics. The kid obviously knew what he was doing. He didn't miss the smirk that Hiro gave as he began to pack the personal healthcare companion robot into it's charging station. Though he'd be lying if he said that the kid obviously wasn't thrilled with the way that he immediately butted in. The way Hiro shoved his hands out of the way multiple times was enough to clue him into that fact.
Between the two of them, they somehow managed to wrangle the massive amount of vinyl into a somewhat orderly stack around the collapsed metal skeleton quickly. The chemist heroine and the girl in the yellow armor were at the door. "Here they come!" cried the chemist heroine as she threw an orb down the hall.
There was a small explosion followed by some shouting. The girl in the yellow armor threw one of her discs. "Try and get a sneak attack on us this time!" she yelled challengingly.
Of course it was met by bullets. The big guy raised his laser swords, seriously how cool was that, and the bullet sliced into harmless pieces. "I really think we should go now!" the big guy said as another shot went off, too close to his head for him to block.
He held the charging port's side panels together as Hiro Hamada snapped the top of it into place. Hiro fumbled for a pair of straps that were on the side and he immediately reached over to help him. "I've got it. I've got it." he snapped, whipping the charging station on to his back like it was nothing before turning towards the door, "Let's get out of here. Where to?"
"Out of the building and on to the street would be a good place to start." Vera called over her shoulder. He looked over at her in confusion. She was standing at the desk, currently shoving something into the inside pocket of her suit jacket.
"Vera what are you doing? Get over here and let's go." he yelled.
"Coming," snapped Vera as she hurried to the door, jumping over the fragments of glass on the ground and wincing as she landed on her feet again. She gave a little limp as she hobbled to the door and waved everyone out of the room.
"Shoes! Shoes! Grab your shoes Vera." he balked at her, realizing she was still barefoot. He started to turn back to grab her shoes for her. She shot him an incredulous look as the kaiju hero jumped past her, pulling his hood back on.
"Leave them!" she shook her head.
"But," he started.
"Running in heels? Are you insane? Yeah freakin' right." she snorted as she latched on to his arm and pulled him into the hallway. Another gunshot rang out. Vera twisted and started to throw her hand out behind them but then stopped. He'd seen her pull that move only once successfully, a year ago when escaping Hydra. Not once since then had she ever been able to throw a shield up. A pained look spread across her face as she curled her hand into a fist and dropped it to her side. "Everybody run for it, now!" she demanded.
"Oh trust us, we are." yelled the big guy over his shoulder. Vera shoved Chiune hard in the back to get him moving. He stumbled forward but caught himself. Vera matched his pace as they fled down the halls of SFIT.
"After them!" snapped Williams's aggravated voice from behind them. Footsteps chased after them. He turned to look. Sure enough, Williams and his men were chasing after them. Another gunshot whistled past them. He ducked down, pushing Vera's head down as well, trying to make them smaller targets as several more shots rang out.
"Um, we probably should've thought about this sooner but where is everyone else?" asked the chemist heroine as she turned to lob an orb behind them. It sailed over their shoulders and exploded on to the ground. There were a few shouts of surprise as one or two of the footsoldiers slipped in the sticky yellow goop that coated the floor.
"Knocked unconscious." he answered quickly. "Probably before you even got here I'd wager. They'll probably wake up in an hour or two after Hydra's cleared out of here."
"We need to help them!" the chemist heroine insisted.
"It's us Williams's after. They'll leave them alone as long as we don't give them a reason to use them." Vera assured her.
They rounded a corner so fast that Hiro Hamada's feet nearly slipped out from underneath of him to send him to the ground. The big guy immediately grabbed him under the arm and hauled Hiro back to his feet. At about the same time Chiune cleared the corner, a bullet gouged out a section of the wall. "On a scale of one to ten," he asked looking at Vera, "how pissed do you think Coulson will be with us?"
"We just engaged Hydra," Vera replied back with an upraised eyebrow, "I don't think a scale to ten begins to cover it."
"Door!" Hiro Hamada yelled as the building's front doors came into view. Hiro and the big guy threw themselves against the doors and held them open as everyone rushed through them. One determined footsoldier tried throw himself out the doors, lunging for the back of Chiune's stolen military jacket. However, Hiro Hamada chose that particular moment to slam the door shut in the man's face. The footsoldier yelped in pain and collapsed to his knees while holding his bleeding nose. Hiro Hamada let go of the door and jumped down the steps. Vera ran down the stairs and stopped in front the street, turning quickly and looking for something.
"Chiune! Where's the car?" she yelled at him as she apparently looked for the car.
"Uh, what car?" he asked in confusion as he came to stand beside her.
"You didn't bring a car?" demanded Vera in wide eyed shock, her voice rising an octave.
"Hey you two?" the big guy called to them as he shot a wary look at the door. Big Hero 6 fanned out behind them, getting ready to go another round with Williams and his men. Vera wasn't paying attention to them. She jerked and waved her hands through the air frantically.
"You didn't bring a car!" she yelled. "How'd you get here?"
"I took a cab!" he answered. Vera's jaw dropped in shock and she shook her head in disbelief. He threw his arms out. "I'm sorry Vera but when you said that you needed me to see something I didn't think that I'd be orchestrating an impromptu rescue mission when I got here."
Vera stared at him, blinking. Her face was slowly starting to crumple into panic. "What if you hotwire a car?" he suggested desperately as he noticed a van, parked on the street beside them.
"Hotwire a car!" she repeated. He winced at her shrill voice. "What the Hell makes you think that I know how to hotwire a car?"
"I don't know?" he yanked the cap off his head to rake his hand through his hair in frustration. "You were a super secret agent slash hero. I just thought that maybe you were trained to do stuff like that!"
"Trained? Trained? You want to know what my field agent training entailed? Fury sent me on a mission with Romanoff and told her to show me the ropes. We were supposed to investigate something in sunny, beachy Rio de Janeiro. Showing me the ropes consisted of us somehow ending up in some small town in Wales, cold and covered in mud and slime dressed in skirts and tights. I dressed for Rio but ended up in Wales. Wales, Chiune! Wales!"
"Move!" the girl in the yellow armor snapped at them as she forced her way through them and to the van. She ripped her helmet off and used one of her discs to break the glass in the front driver's side window. She had the door open in moments and was underneath the dash immediately. The van roared to life. The girl hit the button to unlock the doors. "One hotwired car at your disposal. I'll drive."
The big guy hopped into the front passenger seat as the kaiju hero and the chemist heroine threw themselves into rear most bench. He and Hiro Hamada pulled themselves into middle bench with Vera sandwhiched in between them. "Drive GoGo!" Hiro yelled.
Before Hiro even had the van's door shut, the girl in yellow armor had the van in gear and was tearing away from the curb. Both his and Vera's heads slammed back against the head rests as they took off. "This should totally get them off our tails!" the kaiju hero exclaimed.
A bullet shattered one of the side mirrors. He twisted around and felt his heart sink into his chest. A big black SUV pulled up next to Williams and his men. Sitting in the driver's seat was an angry looking footsoldier with a black eye in a white undershirt. Chiune grimaced. He didn't need three guesses to figure out that was the footsoldier who he'd taken his disguise from. Williams, who was now sporting two black eyes and a nose dripping with blood from being smashed in the face with a fire extinguisher, jumped into the SUV. His men followed without hesitation.
"Don't be so certain." he muttered under his breath as he shook his head.
"Fred sometimes I swear you are just trying to jinx us!" snapped the big guy, rounding on the kaiju hero. The eye on the kaiju hero's hood flipped open to reveal his sheepish expression.
The girl in the yellow armor gave a wordless snarl as she whipped the van around the corner and slamming them all hard to the side. Vera ended up in his lap with Hiro Hamada's face buried in her back. "Can you lose them?" Vera asked as she wiggled her way out from under Hiro.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" the girl snapped back. The van flew forward through an intersection. Horns screamed and brakes screeched as other cars narrowly avoided hitting them.
"Take the back alleys GoGo." Hiro Hamada told her as he sat forward, grasping the backs of the front seats. The girl complied but there were more horns and brakes as the Hydra vehicle came around the corner as well. His head bashed the back of the front seat and nearly dragged the scarf off his face.
"I never want to hear you complain about my driving or my moped again. I will be extracting your promise from you as soon as we get out of this tin can and back to the safe house." he told Vera as he massaged his nose.
Vera turned to him with a dry grin. "It's absolutely adorable that you think I will be a functioning individual later tonight. I plan on spending the rest of the night in a drug induced stupor."
That's when he noticed just how badly Vera was shaking. She was constantly turning the bracelet on her wrist as if she were praying on a rosary. It was like she couldn't even bear to keep her hands still. He bit his tongue. How stupid could he be? He had no clue how Vera was still functioning at the moment. The man who had tortured and broken her was feet behind them, chasing them down. He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, trying to infuse every bit of his support into it. "I won't let anything happen to you." he whispered in her ear.
Vera shot him a deadly look. "I won't go back. I won't!" she hissed.
The girl in yellow armor ran over something. The van bobbed up and down violently and a sound he could only classify as not very good exploded from behind them. He twisted around and looked out the rear window. The SUV was perilously close, swerving to avoid the trash can that they'd run over. "This feels like really bad deja vu." the chemist heroine commented before uttering something in Spanish under her breath.
"What is with these guys?" growled the girl as she looked back at the SUV through her rearview mirror. "They just won't quit!"
Another hard turn threw him against the window. He tried to brace himself but the assault rifle that he'd thrown over his back when he'd stolen the disguise dug into his back painfully. He twisted around and pulled it off of his back. Vera gasped and looked down at the gun in his lap. "Is this thing loaded?" she asked him pulling it off of his lap.
"I don't know. I just grabbed it when I…" he started but Vera was already checking to see if the assault rifle was loaded. Judging by the look on her face, it was indeed loaded.
"You had a loaded gun the entire time and you didn't say anything?" she cried.
"How was I supposed to know if it was loaded or not? I'm the robot boy, remember?"
Vera clearly wasn't listening anymore. "You! With the lasers! Cut the top of van off." demanded Vera.
"Woah! What?" sputtered the big guy. He twisted around to look at her with wide eyes. He wasn't the only one. Hiro Hamada, the kaiju hero, and the chemist heroine were all staring at her in shock. "You can't be serious!" the big guy yelled.
"Trust me," groaned Chiune, "she is very serious."
"NOW!" yelled Vera.
"Okay, okay," the big guy said placatingly. "I would just like to point out that this is not safe in the least bit!"
"Just do it!" Vera snapped. The big guy slipped out of his seat and activated his lasers. An awful screech grated on their ears as the roof on the van sheared off. A gust of wind exploded on to their faces as the big guy shoved the metal back. He grabbed the scarf around his face to keep it from flying off.
"Vera, what's your plan?" he yelled as Vera started to stand up in the moving car. Vera didn't answer him. He saw the look on her face. Her teeth were grit together and her face was pale and drawn. "Vera, please tell me you have a plan."
"What is she doing?" Hiro Hamada asked as he ducked out of Vera's way as she turned towards the back of the van. The kaiju hero and the chemist heroine continued to stare at her.
"Vera!" Chiune called after her.
"I'm going to make them stop chasing us." hissed Vera as stumbled again. She climbed up on the bench between he and Hiro and stood. "Brace me."
"You aren't going to try and shoot those men in the SUV?" Hiro demanded. He shot him a worried look. Unfortunately, he had no real answer for Hiro Hamada. All he could do was trust Vera and God help him because he definitely did. Vera was moving, standing up on the bench, and pulling herself through the hole in the top of the car.
"Vera," he yelled, anxiously.
From somewhere above him, Vera raised the assault rifle to shoot. The girl in the yellow armor swerved to avoid something on the road and Vera was knocked into the jagged corner of the hole. If she noticed it, Vera gave no indication. She raised the gun again. He and Hiro Hamada locked eyes. Without a word of communication they both latched on to Vera, Hiro Hamada taking hold of her legs while he pressed his own hands against her back. Chiune looked up at Vera. From his angle the only thing he could make out clearly was the thin set of her mouth as she stared down the sight of the rifle. "Hydra can have my corpse." he heard her spit in disgust.
The gunshot sounded like a crack of thunder over the top of his head. He cringed into the back of Vera's legs. The force of the gunshot drove Vera backwards but between he and Hiro, the pair managed to keep her upright. Another shot rang out. This time the thunder was coupled with a loud pop and hiss. "You hit their tire!" cried the chemist heroine, clapping her hands together in excitement.
"That was so awesome!" yelled the kaiju hero as he pumped his hand through the air, "Can you do it again?"
Metal met metal as Williams's SUV forcibly swerved into a pole. He looked up to late from Vera's legs to see the impact but saw as Williams and several of the footsoldiers picked their faces out of the deployed airbags. Sirens went off as the girl in the yellow armor kept driving. Vera dropped back into the van, tossing the assault rifle on the ground at her feet. "You alright?" he asked her as he laid his hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah," Vera mumbled weakly. "Everyone else?"
There was a chorus of 'yeahs' and 'we're fines' from around the car. "I'm just trying to figure out how you know how to aim and shoot an assault rifle but not hotwire a car." Hiro Hamada smirked at her.
"Eh aheh aheh." muttered Vera, "You're a real riot you know that junior robot boy."
"Hey!" whined Chiune, "I thought I was robot boy?"
"He's junior robot boy.' Vera jerked her thumb over at Hiro. They both shot her a confused look. "I'll explain later. Is there anywhere out of the way that you can pull off into? We need to ditch the car. Both Hydra and the police are going to be looking for this van."
"I know a place," the girl in yellow armor said as she slowed down and started to turn down another quiet, steep side street. The girl pulled to a stop behind a dumpster. "Here's our stop. Everyone out."
On her command, they all stumbled out of the car. Hiro Hamada offered his hand to the chemist heroine to help her out of the van before offering his hand to Vera. As he followed her, Chiune realized that his hands were shaking a little. However, he couldn't help but breathe a huge sigh of relief. They'd made it away from Hydra again. "Everyone got everything they need out of the van?" Vera asked.
"Yeah,"
"I think so."
"Uh huh,"
Hiro Hamada touched the red charging port that he was wearing on his back to make sure it was safe as the rest of Big Hero 6 chorused their answers. "Good...now torch it."
"Wait a minute!" shouted the big guy.
"We can't let them find the van." Vera said rounding on him. "Torch it."
"Leave this to me!" the kaiju hero said as he stepped up, cracking his knuckles in his suit. "Get ready to be astounded."
Fire erupted from the kaiju hero's suit. He guessed that there was a mounted flamethrower inside the kaiju hero's suit. Everyone took a step back and covered their eyes. "I really hope that van's owner has some decent insurance on that thing." the big guy sighed as he wiped his face.
Hiro Hamada turned to Vera, crossing his arms over his chest, and said, "Now, I think you owe us an explanation."
"I think we should keep moving." he countered. He was desperately trying to think of some way to keep Vera occupied now that he was certain that her adrenaline would be tapering off. He was scared to death to think about how she would react after their second narrow escape from Hydra. "We have a safe house uptown." he suggested as he moved to take off the scarf around his neck.
Vera's hand shot up and clenched around his outstretched hand, tightly. He looked down at her in confusion. She shook her head and mouthed 'wait.' He raised his eyebrow at her. It was getting kind of warm under the scarf. Not to mention the fact that he didn't think being in a Hydra uniform would be good for Vera's mental health. It had to be some kind of trigger to her, he was certain. That and it wouldn't be too far off the mark to say that Hydra probably had some sort of GPS tracking unit inside the uniform.
"No, that's too far." Hiro Hamada said frowning. He hiked the straps of the charging port higher up on to his shoulders. "Not only that but I can almost guarantee that you don't have the right tools to fix Baymax. My Aunt's cafe isn't far from here."
He bit his tongue. He could almost guarantee that he did in fact own the tools that Hiro Hamada needed to fix his personal healthcare companion robot. Not to mention he had the detailed plans sitting in the inside pocket of the military fatigues along with the rest of Big Hero 6's research. However, now didn't seem to be the appropriate time to hang that over their heads. Instead he said, "Right then, let's get going then. The more distance we put between Hydra the better."
Once more, Vera's hand shot out and latched on to his wrist. "We need to talk." she said seriously, and so deadly quietly that it immediately set him on edge.
"Vera, what is it?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, we need to talk about the fact that you look really familiar Miss Delle." the kaiju hero said as he pushed his way between the two of them. He pulled his hood off and got in Vera's face to give her a scrutinizing look. Vera shot him a look. "Name's Fred by the way. People call me Fredzilla."
"My name isn't Delle. I thought we established this, Fred." she told him in a short voice.
"Have we met before? Maybe doing volunteer work. Done anything with the food pantry? Habitats for Families? Brothers from Other Mothers?" kaiju hero Fred asked her in rapid fire succession without giving her time to answer.
"Freddie." the chemist heroine called to him with a bit of nervous laugh. Hiro Hamada was staring at the sky in clear exasperation while the big guy and the girl in yellow armor had their faces buried in the palms of their hands.
"I really don't think here and now is the time to have this conversation." Chiune pointed out as he held up his hands in a placating sort of gesture meant for Vera. He could see her patience already wearing thin. "Is he, uh, always like this?"
"More or less," shrugged Hiro Hamada as he massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
"It's just that you seem extraordinarily familiar." Fred insisted as he began to circle around Vera as if seeing her from behind would make a difference.
"No I have not volunteered with any of those groups." Vera informed him as she massaged the bridge of her nose.
"You sure? Because I swear I've seen you before." continued Fred.
"Have you ever been to New York City or Ohio?" snapped Vera.
"No but..."
"Then I am pretty sure that you and I have never met." Vera told him firmly. She successfully brushed him off but Fred seemed unphased. He continued to look at her curiously. However, Chiune decided not to pay it a whole lot more attention as none of Fred's friends seemed to dwell on it.
He looked over at Vera and saw that she was suddenly serious again. Serious and looking right at him. "Does this have anything to do with why you asked me if I knew Tadashi Hamada?" he asked her.
Vera nodded, neck stiff. Hiro Hamada jumped forward angrily. "What did you tell him about Tadashi?" he snapped as he jabbed his finger towards her.
"Hey!" he snapped at Hiro as he jumped forward to stand in front of Vera defensively. Vera threw her hand up and stopped him midstride though. Her jaw was tight and she was biting her lip. The rest of Big Hero 6 had come to the defense of Hiro Hamada. As they closed ranks around him, Chiune felt his hand curl tight into a fist. Once more Vera's hand was on his chest and held him back.
"Don't or you'll really regret it." It wasn't a threat. Her voice was so low though that it jarred him. He unclenched his hand.
"What is going on?" he asked her.
"This…" Vera said as she pulled a framed picture from the inside pocket of her suit jacket, "is what I wanted to show you back at SFIT. This is why I asked you to come in the first place."
"Hey!" growled Hiro Hamada as he lunged forward for the picture. "You stole that from my lab! That's my picture, now give it back!"
Vera easily sidestepped Hiro and pressed the picture into his chest. He barely had time to keep it from falling to the ground, let alone keep Big Hero 6 from yelling at Vera. Angry shouting filled the tiny street as the group of Superheroes all took turns lashing out at Vera verbally. Hiro Hamada was the loudest. However, right as he went to back Vera up, his eyes landed on the photo.
It was like looking at a far off object through a thick wall of fog at first. Everything was blurred around the edges and only a few distinct shapes visible. Except there was only one shape in this picture that made him feel that way. Then, as if he had blinked a few times and in all honesty he probably had, the edges became crisp and the shape came back into focus. One shape, one person, in this photograph had his undivided and rapt attention. "This is me…" he whispered in shock.
He brushed his hand across the picture of the tall boy standing behind the rest of the group, the one with the baseball cap and goofy grin. Then he touched his own face, dragging the scarf down away from his nose and mouth in the process, just to be sure that what he was seeing actually meshed with what he knew and felt. He didn't hear the collective gasp from those around him. He didn't notice the way every single one of the Superheroes' faces went slack jawed on the spot. "Imouto, this is me… without my scars."
"Ay dios mio!" whispered someone in front of him.
"Tada...Tadashi?" the broken voice of Hiro Hamada snapped through his haze.
Sneak Peek at Next Week's Chapter:
"Homecoming"
"I'm sorry," he whispered into the side of the kid head. And God above, he really was sorry.
X X X
"Wait until Aunt Cass finds out you're alive. Your ass is so grounded." Hiro snickered.
He raised his eyebrow at Hiro. "I'm in my twenties. How can I get grounded?"
X X X
"Wow! You guys mean to tell me that I actually know something in the seedy underbelly world of San Fransokyo before you do? I'm in shock!" Aunt Cass teased.
Special thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed!
Tony18: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and thank you so much for your compliments. They mean a lot! Vera basically became a cornered animal in the last chapter. Fight or flight instinct was basically screaming at her to do something, anything, to get away from Williams and she wasn't really in her right mind. Yes, she probably registered that what she was doing was dangerous and stupid but at that point she really didn't care. You were definitely right when you said that Vera probably thought she had nothing left to lose.
Falcrow-42: *Happy fangirl noises right beside you* So happy you enjoyed the last chapter.
Espe Kuroba: No, nothing horrible happened in the last chapter. No one was shot or died. Edge of your seat is good. At least from a writer's standpoint lol. I'm sorry for the sudden drop off and forced wait for the entire reunion. It really was too long to put it into one chapter.
DaydreamDepartment: You know I never considered having Hiro and Chiune/Tadashi fight it out but given the fact that Hiro thought Vera might have been in danger it realistically could have happened. Hiro might not really like Vera but he has a noble streak that is just as big as his brother's. As far as Callaghan, we haven't seen the last of him but I won't say in what capacity.
UntitledJoy: Halfway through but still a lot of story to get through. Glad you enjoyed the plot twist with Hydra. It was actually one of the first twists I came up with I believe and was so much fun to write. In fact, I started writing from Hiro's point of view and found myself unable to stop. His point of view was supposed to end after Baymax was shot but I couldn't break it off.
Sabeloid: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break anyone. Please bear with me. The reunion was too long for one chapter!
lilnightmare17: Thank you so much for your support. I'm still just blown away that people actually read this. It was seriously just a little plot bunny.
sarafine-ecleips: He is close. He is so close. I didn't want to throw it all into one chapter though because I was afraid rushing things. It's a little hard to imagine Hiro going through the realization with Hydra and Williams in the room.
Ember Neutron: The short answer is yes. Hiro and co. did in fact recognize Chiune as Tadashi. Chiune/Tadashi on the other hand...
bukalay: I think the microbots are a huge source of pain for Hiro. I think in his mind he has a hard time associating them with anything other than Tadashi's death and the pain/destruction that Callaghan used them for. That's why he basically scrapped the project and turned to work on Baymax instead. I have a feeling though that there were people in his life that were disappointed that he chose to abandon his work on the microbots but they respected his decision. I think those same people do still have hope that he might come back to the microbots when he's ready.
Lei' Raeyna: There are three chapters to the reunion arc. The next chapter being, obviously, the last one. I can't even begin to tell you just how much I loved the way this arc came out as a whole.
APTX4869-Kaito: I hate to say it but there are more parts coming up that are going to screw with feels and the ability to even. I just reread the next chapter and I made myself start crying. In other words, I'm right there with you with the lack of ability to even.