A/N: Working on this between other things (wheeee). An idea of the current goings-on here, in the middle of painting and gluing together barn decorations, painting my Megabot for my Hiro cosplay (which I'll be sporting for all of the 4-H Fair next weekend, wheee!), working on resumes, and starting work on my Rosy Higgins' Spiderman cosplay. Much painting this weekend/week. My work schedule is crazy for the first four days of this week, then Fair for three days, then back to work, then away for vacation.

Joy.

Also, big thanks to Savannah Silverstone for helping out with the Japanese in both this and The Antidote to Everything! I've adjusted previous chapters to add in her corrections. Hopefully this makes the reading a bit smoother.

And to those worried about the eventual rating increase, it'll not come until chapter 10+, maybe even later, depending how I space the chapters out. I'll be warning when/why the rating will be upped, mostly for darker themes ('cause kidnapping ain't dark enough).

Also also, angry Hamadas ahead. Ye have been warned.

Hey, you always seem to catch me when I'm lying

About the stupidest of things

Okay, stay there while I stab you in the back with the words

I never, never, never should have taken this so far

Tony glared between the two Asian-Americans. "Are we seriously back to Japanese?!"

Tadashi ignored him. "Wha—How—What're you doing here!?"

The younger Hamada got even angrier. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?! YOU DIED!"

The billionaire glanced at Tadashi, part nervous and part curious. "…He's a zombie?" After all, he'd seen enough the past few years to believe zombies were possible. Avengers got up to some weird stuff.

Tadashi chuckled nervously. "Ah, n—not exactly…."

"Sure, sure, let the truth get in the way of a great story," Peter grumbled.

Bruce stepped between the brothers, trying to calm the whole group. Even with the Hulk still out of commission, none of them needed to get riled up. "How about you each explain, one at a time?" Then, he glanced up at Tony. "Actually, maybe we all should. Then we may be able to find a connection as to why we were all brought here."

"Ego-boy can go first," Peter stated, thumbing at Tony.

The billionaire rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fine. I was out partying, and apparently someone slipped something into my drink, and while I was still fuzzy, there was someone who came to help me into the car, and I thought it was Pepper 'cause she always ruins my fun, but it wasn't, and then I passed out and woke up with this guy leaning over me." He pointed back at Peter, nose wrinkled.

Peter grinned snarkily. "He thought I was his girlfriend for a while."

"So… how'd you end up here?" Tadashi asked, trying to get off the, obviously for Tony, sore subject.

The fellow college student lowered his head, no longer smug. "I'm too damned nice, that's how. Jerk had a recording of a lady screaming, played it in a dark alley…."

"Then beamed him over the head when he went to 'help'," Tony added.

"You really are a yarou," Hiro huffed.

Tadashi tried to stifle a snort, calling back, "Maa maa, Hiro. Mo ii."

Hiro ignored his brother, though, turning to Bruce. "How'd you get here?"

"Ah, I was grabbed by a couple of goons who were then killed by their boss before he tranq'd me. Apparently whatever he used to knock me out also knocked out the Big Guy."

"Yeah, lucky us," Tadashi sighed.

"…And you are…?" Peter asked, realizing they had yet to get a name from either of the Asian-Americans.

"Tadashi Hamada," the student-come-coma-patient replied. "Was in a coma for… well, awhile, but—obviously—woke up eventually. Of course, that wasn't before our friend got to me…."

Hiro spun on his brother again. "Does Aunt Cass even know you're alive?! Why did we not know?! Where were you all this time!?"

Peter blinked at the hissing boy. "Geez, what part of 'coma' do you not—?"

Tadashi held up a hand. "It's fine." He turned, meeting Hiro's gaze. "Moushiwake arimasen, otouto. Cass might know I'm still alive, but, well… I was taken before she'd've been able to reach the hospital…."

"Wh—Why didn't she tell me?" the teen demanded, wrapping his arms around himself and subtly starting to shake. "Why would she k—keep that from me?"

"…Well, you were speaking Japanese…. Did you leave home for something?"

"Jii-san and Baa-san invited me. I had only just arrived when—" Hiro cut himself off, glancing away and obviously hiding something. "Um, yeah."

Tadashi scowled, recognizing the signs. "When what, Hiro?"

"Wh—When he snatched me."

Tadashi knew that wasn't the whole story, but it was likely as much as he'd get at this point. "It's all right, Hiro." Then, he blinked. "Wait a sec, where's Baymax? You'd said—"

Hiro's eyes went wide. "Baymax!" He jumped up and started towards the door he'd been brought in through, but wobbled unsteadily. "Wh—Whoa…." He rubbed at his head, wincing. "Man, hit my head harder than I thought…."

Tadashi chuckled. "Knucklehead."

"Uh, hate to break up the family reunion," Peter interrupted, "but… what's the plan now?"

Hiro was being steadied by Bruce when he answered. "We need to find Baymax. He can get us outta here."

"No offense, but… if he couldn't prevent your being brought here, what makes you think he'd be any help getting you out?"

The teen gave a slight wince, knowing Tadashi wasn't going to be happy. "I, uh, made a few upgrades so he's, um, equipped for situations like this…."

Sure enough, Tadashi's eyes locked onto Hiro's immediately. "Define 'upgrades', otouto."

Hiro chuckled nervously. "Oh, y'know, just the—the usual…."

"Actually, I don't," Tadashi huffed, giving his brother an annoyed look. "I designed him to be a healthcare robot, not some—some—"

"Metal martial artist?" Peter offered.

"H—He still is!" Hiro argued. "Just, y'know, added somebattlebottechniquestohim."

Tadashi facepalmed. "Great. Just great." He glanced at his brother. "At least tell me you didn't disengage his protection protocol!"

"Of course not!" Hiro yelped, lying through his teeth but hoping it'd been long enough that Tadashi couldn't recognize the signs. "You know I wouldn't do something like that! It'd go against everything that makes Baymax Baymax!"

"You better not have," the elder grumbled. "He was made to help people, not hurt them."

"He didn't."

If the phrasing made any of them suspicious, no one showed it. Instead, Tadashi just sighed, rubbing at his face. "Good, 'cause he can hold his own, even without any of your added techniques."

"Wait." Hiro's eyes narrowed on his brother. "You added self-defense to his healthcare matrix?! Then why did he have no clue how to punch or kick down that door when—?" Hiro's eyes went wide as he realized what he was saying and slapped his hands over his mouth.

Tadashi glared over at his brother, suspicious once more. "I can see we need to have a little talk, knucklehead, but… kicking down a door is a bit more offensive than simple self-defense. As I've told you a million times, martial arts are for emergencies, nothing else!"

"It was an emergency!"

"Brought on by whom?"

Hiro huffed. "A mix of people, really. Mostly Baymax, partly me, and partly Ca—er, Yokai."

Peter blinked. "Yokai?"

"Are we back to Japanese again, 'cause that's really not fair to us English speakers," Tony complained.

Bruce elbowed the billionaire.

"Uh, yeah, Yokai. Fred named him."

Tadashi chuckled. "Should've known…."

"…Fred?"

"A friend of mine," Tadashi answered Bruce. "He's the SFIT mascot."

"He gave nicknames to everyone in the nerd squad. Wasabi, Gogo, Honey Lemon…. Actually, why didn't you get one, nii-san?"

The elder brother gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, given I was sorta the doc in the group…."

"Ah, yeah, yelling 'medic' too often wouldn't exactly be kosher," Peter realized with a snicker.

"Precisely."

"Okay, now that that's all explained—" Tony was cut off by the doors Hiro had been heading towards suddenly swinging open. "…Well, that's a bit ominous…."

"You first, ego-boy," Peter stated, waving towards the doors.

Tony scowled back. "You are not a nice kid."

"I don't think any of us should be going through doors that open on their own," Bruce offered.

"Our cells opened on their own," Tony pointed out.

"…Okay, any more doors that open on their own."

"I'm not sure if we have much choice," Tadashi stated. "After all, our host obviously has something planned, so… who's to say staying here's any safer than venturing out?"

The cell doors suddenly swung closed, a wall sliding down in front of the door at the far end of the hall and slowly started advancing towards them.

Hiro's eyes went wide, hands shaking slightly. He was focused entirely on the advancing wall, obviously terrified as his claustrophobia kicked back into gear. "Okay, yeah, this isn't good, wegottago!"

"How'd I guess," Tadashi sighed, grabbing his brother by the arm and turning for the open door. "Let's go!"

Go ahead and buy yourself a drink

'Cause you know you're deserving of it

Go ahead and cry yourself to sleep

And think how you hate me so bad

Black Widow was not one to get worried easily. She didn't do worry, or panic, or anxiety.

But when a heavy hitter like the Hulk just vanished into thin air closely followed by a public entity like Iron Man, even Black Widow had to change her tune.

"Clint, we have an issue."

Hawkeye, AKA Clint Barton, glanced up at the former-KGB. "What's gone wrong this time? Please tell me it's not another brainwashing thing, 'cause I'm seriously done with that shit."

"It's not."

Clint blinked. If Natasha wasn't specifying, it had to be bad. "What's happened?"

"Tony and Bruce are both MIA."

"…Where and when?"

"For Tony, some local bar a few days ago, for Bruce, who knows, nearly a week back."

"And we're just hearing now?"

"Pepper called a few minutes ago about Tony, I've been looking for Bruce for a couple days now. I thought he might just be under the radar, but after the call…."

"Right. Let's call in the others."

I could write about a thousand songs to impress you

But I wouldn't want to do that

I could make you feel the queen of the world but I won't

'Cause you're full of imperfections

Wasabi blinked at Honey. "W—Wait, first the mix-up at the hospital, now this?"

"I smell a conspiracy here…." Fred mumbled.

"You always smell a conspiracy," Gogo complained, rolling her eyes.

"Hate to say it, but… this time he may be right."

"Yeah—wait, what?" Fred asked, confused. No one ever just believed him, it usually took some crazy thing actually happening to get this kind of agreement.

Wasabi gave a nervous smile. "The way things have been going on with us over the last few months? Certainly wouldn't be that far out…."

"So, what, someone managed to snatch Tadashi and Hiro within hours of each other and thousands of miles apart?!" Gogo snapped. "Do you realize how insane that sounds?"

"About as insane as a child prodigy and his friends becoming veritable superheroes without the need of Bruce Wayne's finances?" Wasabi snarked back.

The girl smirked. "We had close enough with Freddy."

Wasabi rolled his eyes and Fred chuckled, but Gogo sighed.

"Still, how would someone even be able to kidnap them both within just a few hours?"

"Someone who's a lot more connected than Callaghan," Wasabi mumbled.

"What, Krei?" Gogo rolled her eyes. "If we didn't know Tadashi was alive, I doubt he would!"

"Krei wouldn't be this devious," Fred mentioned.

"Okay, so who?!"

Wasabi sighed. "Whoever they are, I would not want to be a target myself."

"We need Garcia!" Fred exclaimed.

Gogo slapped him. "She's not real, dumbass!"

Fred rubbed his head. "Geez, calm down! Just because I reference a character does not mean I think they exist!"

Both of his friends gave him disbelieving looks.

"…All the time…."

Honey wandered over, biting her lip. "Guys, we've got a problem outside."

"What's up?" Wasabi asked, eager for a change of topic.

"Someone broke into the bar across the street."

The others glanced between Honey and Cass, who was still sobbing softly to herself in a corner. "…Looks like we've got a job," Wasabi mumbled, "but I'm not sure we should leave her alone…."

Honey nodded. "I'll stay with her."

"Thanks."

"Don't blow anything up!" Fred exclaimed.

Honey rolled her eyes but waved them off.

And this is coming from a third perspective

All I'm saying is you need to be selective

This is coming from a gentleman

With your needs in mind, I've got his on the side

The group of kidnapped young men panted, all leaning against the door or walls, having just barely made it through before the door slammed shut on them. Hiro had seemed to relax almost immediately upon arriving in the new room, given it was a much larger area than the small hallway of cells, and because of a certain red box he could see at the other end of the room. "Baymax!" he exclaimed happily.

Tony followed his gaze, gaping at the piece of unimpressive tech. "…Really? That's what you wanted so damn bad? It's a freaking box!"

"You've never gotten a surprise, have you?" Peter chuckled.

"I'm usually the one giving them."

Hiro rolled his eyes at the whole exchange, yelling out, "Ow!"

Bruce turned to him quickly, trying to check his eyes once more. "Is it your head agai—?"

A hissing noise came from the box as a large, white robot inflated itself. Tadashi couldn't help but grin, nudging Hiro. "I see you haven't modified everything."

Hiro elbowed him back. "I'm still working on it."

By this point, Baymax had fully inflated and was blinking as he looked around. "I appear to be underground." He scanned the room, adding, "And I am not alo—" His eyes zeroed in on the youngest, and he immediately wobbled over and scooped Hiro up in a bear hug. "Hiro!"

The youngest chuckled, patting Baymax's arm. "Hey, buddy. I'm glad you're okay."

"I am also glad to see you are unhurt." Baymax dropped his hold, allowing Hiro to slide back to the floor, as he blinked at the others. "Tadashi… is… here?"

Tadashi gave his creation a slight grin. "Nice to see you again, big guy."

"A giant marshmallow," Tony huffed. "All this over a giant marshmallow."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Your favorite robots are named Dum-E, Butterfingers, and U. For good reasons. Quit it."

Hiro glanced over Baymax, trying to spot any tears or issues that could impede his abilities. "Baymax, are you fully operational? Did that guy do anything to your coding or mess with your design?"

"I appear to be in working order," the robot replied, moving various parts to test them. "But there is a slight… malfunction in my visual programming."

Peter blinked. "You… don't think—"

Tadashi sighed and nodded. "Baymax might be our host's way of keeping an eye on us."

Hiro huffed. "If I had a screwdriver, I could fix that in seconds…. Dammit."

"Language," Tadashi admonished. Both Hiro and Tony rolled their eyes at him.

"Something tells me it wouldn't be that simple," Peter prompted.

The elder Hamada sighed. "He's right, Hiro. If someone's knowledgeable enough to do something like this to Baymax, he or she would be sure to put it somewhere practically inaccessible."

"He," Hiro absently corrected, still checking over Baymax.

"…What?" Bruce asked in reply, sharing a confused look with the others.

"The person who took us was a guy."

Peter cast a nervous glance at the teen. "Exactly how do you know so much about this… person?"

"I was awake when he tried to kidnap me, remember? Like I said earlier, he threatened me with a knife, and—and he had a gun…."

Tadashi's eyes went wide, and he rushed to his brother, checking him over for injuries while muttering about "should have checked earlier" and "why didn't I think to look?"

"Dashi, leggo!" Hiro cried, trying to pull free of his overzealous brother. "You think I would've hid a gunshot? Seriously?"

"You once hid the fact that a group of bullies shoved you down a flight of stairs. I'm not taking any chances."

Hiro rolled his eyes, but Peter seemed to catch on to what the youngest hadn't said. "…He doesn't like witnesses, huh?"

The younger Hamada flinched, and Tadashi held him by his shoulders, studying his face for a moment before his eyes went wide. "…What happened?"

"It—It was a—a warning to me. I'd tried—tried fighting him off," Hiro mumbled, fiddling with his fingers. "And I yelled for help, and she was just passing by and only turned that way 'cause of me, and he—he—"

"He killed her," Tadashi finished, pulling his brother in tight for a hug. "I'm sory you had to see that, otouto."

Hiro shrugged, not looking anyone in the eyes. "Not like I haven't seen worse, like, say, my older brother running into a burning building seconds before it blows up."

It was Tadashi's turn to wince now. "…Right…."

The group felt the stress from the two Hamadas threaten to overwhelm them, and Tony diffused it the only way he could.

"Alright, so as much as I love a good family reunion, maybe we could take this on the road?" He thumbed over his shoulder towards the far door, which was looming open. He glanced at Bruce. "Any luck with the big guy?"

Bruce shook his head. "Still out."

"Damn."

Peter whistled. "Whatever he gave you must've been something to keep him docile for this long."

"Whoever set this up has to either have a chemist helping them or is knowledgable enough themselves in chemistry…."

None of them particularly wanted to think on that.

Peter gestured towards the door. "Bigheads first," he teased, glancing at Tony.

"…Y'know, I'm really starting to dislike you, kid."

Go ahead and buy yourself a drink

'Cause you know you're deserving of it

Go ahead and cry yourself to sleep

And think how you hate me so bad

A/N: Shorter chapter since I've got too much going on right now. Back around the 10th or 11th, hopefully.

Thank you guys so much for the reviews, too. I read every single one and they've helped me get through the past few weeks, I'm just really terrible at remembering to respond to them (especially when I get them at work and can't respond immediately upon reading them).