Captivity

A low hum filtered through the darkness, persistently tugging at his senses, demanding that he seek out its source. He slowly drifted back towards consciousness, shrugging off the deep exhaustion that sought to keep him captive. Pain, stark sterile scents and bright light rushed in, pulling a gasp from his lips as he opened his eyes. Memory followed soon after, providing clues as to what had happened. A black sea of micro-bots, a crumbling building, freefall followed by intense pain.

Hiro carefully moved his fingers and arms, taking stock. His body ached but everything appeared to be functional and there was nothing to indicate he might be bleeding. Ignoring the aches coursing through his muscles, he sat up. He was on a narrow hard bed in a cold bright room. A toilet was installed at the foot of the bed. The rest of the room was empty.

Biting his lip, Hiro slid off the bed, bare feet connecting with the cold ground. That's when he realized his armor had been removed. He was clothed in a simple pair of jeans and a bright red T-shirt. His feet were bare and his shoes were nowhere to be seen. He shivered, rubbing his hands over his bare arms. He was beginning to miss his hoodies.

Ignoring the cold he made his way over towards the door and began to inspect it, looking for any signs of weakness. There were none. The door was tightly sealed against the exit it protected. It fit so well that Hiro suspected he could potentially run out of oxygen if not for the air-conditioner that was clearly blowing cool air into the room.

Wait a minute…

Where there was an air conditioner there would be tech. He looked up searching for the source of the cool air only to lose hope when he finally spotted it. The air-conditioner was installed in the ceiling, far too high for him to even hope to reach it. Beside it was a camera. Who built ceilings two stories up anyway?

Out of options, he returned to the bed. He sunk down onto the hard surface, drew his legs up towards his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees, glaring at the offending door. He settled down to wait. Someone was bound to come for him sooner or later.

Tick…

Tick…

Tick…

He was just starting to drift off when he realized he had been absently fiddling with something attached to his ankle. Frowning, he pulled up the denim of left leg. It appeared to be an ankle monitor. Hiro immediately began to inspect it trying to figure out if there was some way he could remove and perhaps take advantage of it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Hiro glanced up, startled. He had been so preoccupied with the device attached to his ankle that he hadn't even heard the door to his prison slide open. A tall, slim man stood in the doorway, two bodyguards standing silently behind him, blocking access to the door. "It's programmed to electrocute you if it's tampered with in any way. The voltage it delivers is the same as that delivered by the micro-bots that brought you here. Now, I'm sure that is not an experience you'd want to repeat now is it?"

A shiver coursed through Hiro. The man before him was ruthless. He was entirely too calm when delivering the threat, cool blue eyes cold as ice. Hiro moved his hands away from the device. "What do you want with me?" He demanded, hiding his fear and uncertainty behind false bravado.

"Tsk, tsk. You might want to be a little more polite seeing as I literally hold your life in my hands." The man reprimanded him. "Who would have thought that the leader of Big Hero 6 could be Hiro Hamada? Kid genius and inventor of the micro-bot. Useful little things, I must say. Such a pity that you never picked the project up again after they were destroyed but that is neither here nor there. We are working on a top secret, shall we say, project over here and have need of someone with your particular… skills."

"What makes you think I'd agree to help you?!" Hiro snapped standing up. The body guards tensed in reaction, watching his every move.

The slim man was unfazed. "Oh but you will." He sounded bored. "We have many methods of, let's call it, persuasion at our disposal. We know everything about you. Who you are, where you were born, who your parents were, where you live – the Lucky Cat is such a quaint little place, don't you agree? It's run by a lovely woman. I wonder what would happen to her if something were to happen to that café? Or better yet, how you would feel if something were to happen to her."

The fear, he had been trying to hide rose up from deep within him, threatening to choke him but he refused to give in to it. It was what they wanted. They were manipulating him in an attempt to control him. "Aunt Cass can take care of herself." Hiro retorted cockily bluffing for all he was worth. Aunt Cass was strong. She'd proven that many times and she had the rest of his team at her side. She was as safe as she could possibly be. Hiro had to believe that.

The man laughed, the sound cold, harsh and cruel. "That, my boy, remains to be seen."

"She has the rest of my team!" Hiro retorted. "They will protect her. We've fought the micro-bots before and won. They can do it again. You only managed to capture me because the rest of the team was not there with me."

"Oh, but all of that went exactly according to plan. You were our goal all along. We've been playing this game longer than you've been alive and we know how to play our cards right. Far better than a bot fighting kid genius with a hero complex. You're so easy to manipulate. Just like your brother, so desperate to leave your mark by helping others."

Anger and deep seated grief, coursed through him, burning, drowning and consuming him. How dare they sully the memory of his brother by ridiculing the code that Tadashi had lived by, the core belief that he had given his life to protect. Tadashi's selflessness was the very definition of good and these men were belittling it. Snarling in rage, Hiro threw himself at the man, hands outstretched in a bid to grab his throat. He wanted to choke him, to hurt him, to force him to retract those words.

He only managed two steps before collapsing to the ground, lips once more parted around a silent scream. Fire coursed through his veins, burning, biting and engulfing him once more, conjuring nightmares of a burning building.

The showcase building was burning, engulfed by surging hot flames that seared his skin even as he stood a safe distance away. Helplessness and desolation coursed through him with the realization that he was alone, unable to save the one person that defined his very world. The building exploded throwing him up into the air and then he was engulfed by darkness once more.

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

Rizard13: Maybe three is a lucky number :D. I didn't know there were several other stories that also had Tadashi be missing for three years. Didn't come up in the fiction I read. Thanks for sharing. I picked three years because I wanted Hiro to have grown up but at the same time I wanted him to still be studying. I want to bring his final year project into the story later. I figured about three years would need to pass to have him in his final year, working on his final year project seeing as most University courses are between three and four years long. Your donation is greatly appreciated. Your name will be engraved on the dish that your donation helps to purchase and you will forever me immortalized in the Hamada household :D

Ern Estine 13624: Glad you're enjoying it :D

shooting2stars: Tadashi's bank account would be non-existent as he was listed as dead! It's yet another thing Tadashi has to deal with and briefly makes an appearance as an issue in a later chapter XD.

Dreamer: I've taken to opening the gate using gloves though the current still makes it through the gloves... not as badly so its an improvement. Aunt Cass doesn't know about the Hero gig. I don't think she'd let Hiro continue if she did. He might be missing an ear or two after she finds out. I am trying to link things together as the story grows. I have a Wasabi answer floating about in my head as to what is going on but I think it's going to take some time to interlink. I hope it makes a little bit of sense when it becomes clear. I suspect you will be able to have fairly accurate theories soon :)