Two Simple Problems

Hiro stumbled as he was pushed into a room, fighting the disorientation that threatened to overwhelm him. He was tired, dizzy and sick. They'd punished him for his act of rebellion. They'd deprived him of food, warmth and rest. Time had lost all meaning to him. He no longer knew whether it was night or day, never mind how long he'd been captive. Something had to give.

Hiro had given in.

Unable to resist any longer, Hiro agreed to help them. His captors hadn't provided any real opportunity to escape and Hiro needed a new angle. He also needed to regain his strength and figured the best way to do that was to give in to his captors demands and re-evaluate the situation at a later stage.

Hiro glanced around the room, carefully memorizing everything he saw. The new room was larger than his cell. Not surprising if he really thought about it but he'd gotten used to the cramped space and the larger room felt overwhelmingly spacious. It was clearly a high tech lab and contained a multitude of tools, most of which he recognized. A large PC console took up the space directly across from the door they had used to enter. A darkened glass panel was located directly behind it. The familiar layout reminded him of the control room used for project silent sparrow. That's where the similarity ended.

A large 3D printer took up the right hand side of the room. He'd never seen one that large and it took him a moment to recognize what it was. He was convinced it was probably the largest one in existence. The left hand side of the room contained another door but it was not the door that really captured Hiro's attention. Located beside it was a small pile of micro-bots.

"So…" Hiro licked dry lips. He hated how tired and dead his voice sounded but didn't have the energy to do anything about it. "What's this great project you need me to assist with?"

The tall skinny man; that Hiro had met when he first woke up in this hell hole; stepped into view. His captors weren't exactly forthcoming with names, so Hiro had mentally nick named him Inquisitor for obvious reasons. He wasn't exactly in any state to be creative.

Having noticed the direction of Hiro's gaze, Inquisitor picked up one of the micro-bots off of the pile, threw it up into the air and caught it a few times before tossing it towards Hiro. Hiro instinctively caught it. "Not quite as sophisticated as the batch you made but they get the job done."

Hiro opened his hand to inspect the bot. It was not nearly as small as the ones he'd made. In fact, he estimated it to be at least four times larger. Hiro flipped open one of the panels. The finishing touches on the bot were not nearly as smooth as his had been and the circuitry was not nearly as comprehensive.

"We never did figure out how you managed to synchronize them to a neurotransmitter so we had to resort to hard coding the behavior we wanted into them. Makes them less adaptable but the general concept remains sound. It's a lot harder to fight off hundreds to thousands of small devices than it is to fight off one large one." Inquisitor snatched the bot away from Hiro. Closing the panel Hiro had opened, he tossed it back into the pile. "This batch is programmed to electrocute you should you approach the door without me or one of your other bodyguards." Inquisitor informed him.

Hiro scowled at the micro-bots. "I can't help you recreate my micro-bots. I threw away all my research after my brother died and don't remember the design anymore." Hiro's words were hollow, the lie slipping easily past his lips. He'd never forget the micro-bots or what their creation had cost him and the thought of even attempting to create another batch made him sick to the stomach.

"Oh, no my boy. We're not trying to recreate your micro-bots. Our dreams are far larger than those of a mere teenage boy." The insult the Inquisitor threw at him missed its mark entirely. Hiro was just grateful that he would not have to relive that project and the memories it was bound to bring to the fore. "We're working on time travel, or more specifically a time portal."

"Time portal?" Hiro's breath caught in the back of his throat at the mention of time travel. He'd give anything to go back and change… wait, that wasn't right. There were certain things that were meant to be left alone as messing with them would disrupt the natural order of things which would result in chaos and with chaos came destruction. Time was one of those things.

"Technically we're not trying to travel back in time." Inquisitor explained. "We're trying to transport objects from the past into the present."

"You're the reason those things have been appearing in San Fansokyo!" Hiro exclaimed a few pieces of the puzzle clicking into place. "The showcase building and the world war submarine!"

Inquisitor gave him a mock bow. "Guilty as charged." He looked entirely too pleased with himself.

"If you've already managed to do that, what do you need me for?" Hiro demanded, mind reeling at the implications. The rumors had been true. Things really had appeared from the past. Someone was messing with time!

"The success we've had, though monumental is rather; how shall I put this; flawed." Inquisitor made his way over towards the PC console, flicking a few switches to turn the machine on. The glass panel was illuminated as the machine began to run through its boot sequence. "We don't actually have control over what comes through the portal which is rather problematic. It's no use being able to bring things back from the past when we cannot control what we want to bring through. We tried to address this issue by sending people into the portal so they could return with the objects we were targeting but have encountered yet another problem."

Hiro held his breath when Inquisitor paused for dramatic effect. "The portal doesn't allow living things through. Everyone that's tried to cross into it has died. That's where you come in. You successfully integrated the complex bio-mechanics of the brain with robotics. That neurotransmitter of yours was the real scientific breakthrough. Add to that the fact that you also entered another portal and managed to come back out alive… You're a smart kid, I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this."

"I'm not the only one that came out alive." Hiro pointed out.

"Abigail Callaghan doesn't recall anything about the encounter." Inquisitor responded to Hiro's unspoken train of thought. "She was unconscious the entire time and only made it out because of you."

"You want me to enter the time portal?" The possibility filled him with dread. If the time portal really was as unstable as Inquisitor implied, Hiro wasn't sure he'd survive the attempt.

"Of course not." Inquisitor scoffed in derision. "Maybe you're not so smart after all. We have far better use of your skills. If we wanted to kill you, we'd have done that at Krei Tech. We want you to solve the two simple problems holding us back. Firstly, we'd like you to figure out how we can control both the time and the location the portal links to. Then, we want you to figure out how to transport people through the portal… without killing them."

Two, simple, problems? Nothing about this equation was simple. They might as well be asking him to part all the oceans in the world using nothing more than a teaspoon. Hiro was doomed.

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

A/N: Here you go! A Bonus Midweek Update! Please send Hiro hugs. He really needs them. Better yet, send him escape plans XD.

Alexissenpai: Hope this chapter satisfied your need to another peek into Hiro's point of view XD. I also enjoy kidnapped Hiro only his point of view is going to get more complicated now.

Rizard13: I totally agree with you. I also feel Hiro would want to honor Tadashi which is what made it so hard to come up with something since it needs to be a bit of Hiro and a bit of Tadashi. I hope my choice does not disappoint! I will try bring in a few moments from Fred's point of view as I am enjoying writing him but it's not his story so they are likely to be few and far between. As for finding out about Big Hero 6 - That's always an interesting scene to write and I can't wait for you guys to read my take on it!

Ern Estine 13624: Hope you enjoy the bonus midweek update then XD

Rosycat: Thanks. That really means a lot to me.

Dreamer: This is one of the chapters that should be giving you a more solid idea as to what is going on. I wear leather gloves as I ride in them. Rubber is not a conductor as far as I know too.