The Story's All Off

Tadashi was going crazy. In a short span of time he found out he'd died, come back to life (apparently as a result of some kind of time travel) and lost his brother. To say that he was having a difficult time dealing with it all was an understatement. Aunt Cass didn't appear to be doing any better and to top it all off, his friends were behaving rather strangely.

Reporting the kidnapping had been an administrative nightmare. Phone calls to the police, filing an official report, providing descriptions, interviews with everyone in Hiro's life and lots of anxious waiting. All fairly standard until the police found out Tadashi was officially dead. The fact that he had returned on the day Hiro had disappeared made him prime suspect number one. Having no memories to fill the three year gap did not help his case.

Coming back from the dead, provided its own unique challenges. Tadashi had no identification which for all intents and purposes meant he did not exist. He didn't have access to a bank account or a driver's licence which effectively limited his independent mobility. The fact that he was being watched by police officers, aside of course. The process of reinstating him into the land of the living was a bureaucratic nightmare filled with DNA tests, paperwork, psychological examinations, more paperwork, sworn statements, even more paperwork and a whole pile of red tape he didn't really have time to deal with. That time was better spent searching for Hiro.

"Grubs up." Fred marched into the garage carrying a plate of steaming hot food.

Tadashi was holed up in the garage, working on Baymax. Honey Lemon, Gogo and Fred and informed him that Baymax was with Hiro when he disappeared which meant he was their best lead in the search for the missing boy. Unfortunately, he'd been damaged. The damage to Baymax filled Tadashi with dread. If Baymax was damaged when Hiro was kidnapped, that led to the possibility that Hiro…

Tadashi refused to let that train of thought go any further. Such thoughts were not conducive to the goal at hand and would not help him find his brother. He needed to focus on fixing the Medical Bot and then he'd take it from there.

"Yo, Tadashi. You need to eat." Fred placed the plate down onto an empty space in Tadashi's work space.

"I'm not hungry." Tadashi responded, tightening a screw to hold Baymax's hardrive in place.

"Starving yourself is not going to help you find Hiro." Fred's tone was gentle but his actions were not. He grabbed hold of the screw driver and placed it down behind him, just outside of Tadashi's reach.

"Fred, I don't have time for this right now." Tadashi snapped reaching for the screwdriver.

"Make time." Fred crossed his arms and glared at Tadashi. "You'll be no good to Hiro is you don't take care of yourself. I know it's a difficult concept for the Hamada brain to comprehend but punishing yourself for something you have no control over is not going to solve anything. You need to eat and you need to sleep."

"Hiro's been gone for nearly two weeks!" Tadashi raised his voice, the reaction completely out of character for him and highly indicative of the stress he was under. "How am I supposed to take time to eat and sleep when every minute he's gone raises the probability that he's dead?!"

"If his kidnappers were planning to kill him, chances are he'd be dead within the first twenty- four hours." Fred pointed out.

Tadashi paled.

Fred's eyes went wide as he registered what he'd just said. "Hey Tadashi. I'm not saying he's dead, man. Hiro is smart and he knows how to take care of himself. I'm sure he's doing everything he can to stay alive and come back to us." Fred's words came out in a rush as he tried to smooth over his mistake.

Tadashi looked away and ran a hand over his face in stress. "I don't know what to believe, Fred." He admitted, absently playing with a bracelet clipped around his left wrist. He didn't recognize the piece of jewelry. He'd never been one to wear any and had no idea where this particular piece had come from or why he was wearing it. He'd discovered it, clipped to his wrist, shortly after finding out Hiro had been kidnapped. It was a strange piece, made of five dark grey arches that clipped into one another to form a perfect circle around his wrist. Each piece was marked with a logo, a solid block with lines extending out from each edge. Two of the lines connected to another line forming a design he was unfamiliar with. He'd contemplated removing it but something in him was reluctant to do so. "Everything is just so… How am I supposed to deal with it all? Is this even really happening?" He glanced up to meet Fred's gaze.

Fred offered Tadashi a sad smile, placing a hand onto his shoulder in silent support and understanding.

"What was Hiro doing at Krei Tech?" Tadashi asked, suddenly breaking the moment of silence that had settled between them.

Fred jumped, startled by the question. "He… uh…" Fred looked away unable to look Tadashi in the eye as he desperately tried to find a believable lie. He didn't like lying to Tadashi but telling him the truth was not exactly an option. "He was going to speak to Alistair Krei about working for him after he graduated."

"Hiro was thinking of working for Alistair Krei? Even though Callaghan told us he's not to be trusted?" Tadashi exclaimed in disbelief. He suspected Fred wasn't being entirely honest with him but couldn't think of any reason for it.

"It's not that surprising considering Callaghan didn't exactly prove himself to be a reliable subjective judge of character when it comes to Alistair Krei." Fred pointed out.

Tadashi frowned, mind racing as he tried to put disparate pieces together. It felt like trying to make sense of a large jigsaw puzzle when most of the pieces were still missing. The last memory he had of Callaghan was that of rushing in to a burning building, to rescue him. "I've been meaning to ask. What happened to Callaghan?"

Fred's eyes went wide and he gave a brilliant impersonation of a deer caught in headlights. "W… W.. Why…" Fred cleared his throat. "Why do you ask?" Fred asked, nervously.

Tadashi watched him in silence, waiting.

"Ok, here's the thing." Fred crumbled beneath the pressure, shoulders slumping. "Callaghan didn't die in the fire. He's actually the one that set it."

Shock coursed through Tadashi at the revelation. It wasn't possible. There was no way Callaghan; the world renowned scientist; the brilliant gentle man that Tadashi respected so much; could have done something like that. "Callaghan would never do something like that! Did they even investigate it properly?!" Tadashi demanded in anger, unwilling to believe it could be true.

"Don't shoot the messenger." Fred retorted raising his arms in submission. "Initially, everyone thought he'd died with you in the fire but that theory was blown out of the water when he came back and tried to use Hiro's micro-bots to get revenge on Alistair Krei for killing his daughter. You should have seen it. The fight scenes were Awesome! It was like they'd come straight out a comic book!" Fred couldn't help but bounce in excitement when he recollected their first adventure.

Tadashi stared at Fred in disbelief. "Alistair Krei killed Callaghan's daughter? How? Why?"

"Picture this." Fred posed waving an arm in the air as he prepared to launch into the tale, completely in his element. "It was a classic comic book plot. Alistair Krei and Callaghan were working on a top secret project called silent sparrow. They were trying to invent some kind of teleportation device and Callaghan's daughter was their first human test subject. Something went wrong after she entered the portal and she was lost in an alternate dimention. Callaghan thought she was dead. Hir… Big Hero 6," Fred hastily covered his slip, "pulled her out just as Callaghan was trying to exact is revenge upon Alistair Krei. Thus the villain was foiled and the damsel was rescued." He told the story with dramatic flair adding one last piece of information in afterthought. "Oh and Alistair Krei managed to survive too."

"Does Callaghan have anything to do with the swarm of micro-bots that attacked Krei Tech and took Hiro and the other guy?" Tadashi asked, pieces of the picture seeming to come together in his mind. Since Tadashi had seen the news report detailing the attack on Krei Tech and the subsequent kidnapping that followed, Fred and the gang had told Tadashi that Hiro had been kidnapped along with the leader of Big Hero implying that it had been a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seeing as micro-bots were involved, Tadashi wasn't so sure that was the case.

Fred shook his head, sadly. "We thought of that. Wasabi called correctional services and they say Callaghan's still in jail which brings us back to square one."

"Or does it?" Tadashi asked, tapping a finger against his bottom lip. Suddenly energized, he booted Hiro's PC, fingers flying across the keyboard. "Perhaps, we just need to look at this from a new angle. Who has Callaghan been in contact with?"

"Oh, I get it, man." Fred leaned in to watch, scanning through the results of Tadashi's searches. "This could all be a conspiracy!"

Unbelievable! Tadashi glanced at Fred before looking back at the screen, shaking his head. Some things never changed. Tadashi's repairs to Baymax were momentarily placed on hold…

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

A/N: See story cover for an image of the design on Tadashi's bracelet XD. I don't usually do this but I've seriously found the theme song for this story. I know it's a little cliche as it's basically a rendition of immortals but seriously listen to the lyrics of this one... it our classic Big Hero 6 song with a twist. I think this version is even more powerful than the original and the original is freakin awesome! Google: Centuries / Immortals MASHUP! (Sam Tsui & KHS)

Jazziboon: I'm so glad you like both the concept and the writing style. I've been stressing about that recently ;D

RazzlePazzleDooDot: You seriously made me smile. Thanks for that. I'm glad the writing style makes you happy. I worry about it sometimes as I have given up on stories that I thought had an interesting plotline simply because the writing style put me off. I'm also glad you like both Hiro's and Tadashi's perspectives. I was sure about switching between the two but feel that this story needs glimpses into what's going on with Hiro and what he's thinking. You probably won't see much from Fred's perspective as this story actually belongs to Hiro and Tadashi but I feel Fred adds an interesting perspective so I hope to be able to sneak him in now and then.

Rizard13: I was browsing through the archive today and I did see a description detailing that Tadashi was back after three years. The scientist and its sequel if that helps? I see that your mind works a lot like mine XD. You're taking the same path I did when I tried to decide what Hiro would be working on. Aunt Cass hasn't dropped anymore dishes yet but I will be making no promises regarding the safety of the rest of her crockery. As for what happened to Hiro, they shocked him again using the ankle monitor. His mind, unable to process it clearly, automatically began to relive the showcase fire.

Ern Estine 13624: XD. I have so much more planned. It does take a while to really build the story and the first few chapters were the initial threads of a larger picture.

Daydream wonders: Thanks for the review :D. I hope I can keep you on your toes.

Alexissenpai: Going by your reaction I'm assuming you're enjoying this! I shall try to continue the regular bi-weekly updates.

shooting2stars: Yeah the guy is pretty scary. More so because he likes to pretend to be 'civilized'.