Author's notes: Thank you so much for the kind follows, favourites and reviews! While things are still building up, I hope readers will continue to stay as the tension escalates. Do R and R and once again, thank you.
"What if that's Tadashi's evil twin brother?" Fred theorises wildly, resting on the couch with a blanket draped over him. "Maybe Hiro had another older brother he never knew about!"
GoGo, who's currently polishing her discs, looks like she's about to hurl the thing at him. Honey Lemon hands her a mug of hot chocolate (with two pumps of bubblegum syrup) and GoGo dully puts down her weapons. Despite her stoic facade, she's tired out from the battle earlier. Wasabi takes over for her and argues with Fred, while sipping at his cup of tea daintily. Nobody points out that his hands are still trembling. Or that GoGo needs sleep because she's been up early training. Or that Honey Lemon looks like she might cry at any moment and that Fred's laughter and theories sound just a little bit strained. So when Hiro surfaces from the room, clutching his aching head, everyone heaves a quiet sigh of relief.
"Are you feeling better?" Honey Lemon asks gently, as she offers him a warm drink as well. Hiro nods, even though he's not, and downs the tea in big gulps. His head is pounding, his throat is parched and when he's done, Hiro realises everyone is looking at him.
"What?" Hiro asks, trying to maintain an oblivious facade. But he knows better, and they do to. Hiro's just been caught in a life-and-death battle, only to discover that his supposedly deceased brother is behind all of it. Hiro can tell that they're trying to gauge his reaction now, and he is secretly relieved that he's chosen to leave Baymax in the room, because he doesn't need the nursing-bot to ask him how he feels.
"I don't know what to think or do," Hiro finally admits. "Heck, I don't even know if that's Tadashi or not. I mean, it definitely looked like him..." He trails off, but everyone knows what he's thinking. If that masked man really is Tadashi, why would he be trying to kill them?
"Something obviously happened in the fire," GoGo mutters, popping her bubblegum at intervals more common than usual. "Maybe he lost his memory." That seems plausible, and everyone nods absent-mindedly.
"And he mentioned a 'him' – when he accused me of lying," Hiro mumbles, unwilling to recall the hostility of their exchange. "I wonder who he was talking about." The crushing weight of the mystery is starting to elevate slowly from his shoulders. It doesn't exactly go, he thinks, just like how Tadashi's death is never that far from his mind. But the exhaustion ebbs and heaves, gradually but surely, allowing him space to breathe and think.
Hiro hasn't realised just how much he has come to depend on his friends when a few months ago, it was only Tadashi and he. The two of them (plus Aunt Cass, on occasion) against the world. He stares quietly at GoGo, Honey Lemon, Fred and Wasabi, who're still deep in thought. They, along with Baymax, don't exactly replace Tadashi. But they make the gaping hole in his heart a lot smaller.
"Krei?" Honey Lemon volunteers timidly, pulling Hiro away from his sentimental musing. "Maybe he was talking about Krei?"
Fred immediately abandons his wanton theories regarding Tadashi's evil twin. "That's it!" He crows, three-parts excitement and one-part anxiety. "Krei! He's manipulating our amnesiac Tadashi! That's so evil and c–!" The words die in his throat when he sees Hiro's expression. "I mean, cool in a sad, bad, super-villain way."
"What's our next move?" GoGo interrupts with a harsh glare, before Fred can dig himself an even deeper grave than the one she has prepared for him. Everyone turns to Hiro again, and the weight of their stares land squarely on his shoulders.
"We rest and fix our weapons," Hiro begins, running through a mental list on the required materials and processes. "Baymax..." he hesitates. "Baymax's tracker was damaged in the fight, so it'll take me a while to fix it. We'll rest and recuperate for the night." The gang nods their assent, before breaking up into their respective activities. Honey Lemon and Wasabi head to the bathroom for a shower, GoGo decides to power-nap in one of the quieter rooms, and Fred goes back to his comic book collection in order to distract and relax himself. Hiro gives them a distracted half-grin as they wander off, before shuffling back to his room. Baymax is waiting inside, expressionless and patient. His charger has been deposited at a corner in the room, and Hiro's fingers fumble to set it up.
"My trackers are fully functioning, Hiro," Baymax supplies helpfully, as he waddles up to the tousled-haired kid. "We can–"
"We won't."
Hiro's snap is sharp, and it fills the room in an empty and lonely echo. "I mean, we, I, I don't want to know who that person is if it isn't– isn't Tadashi," he's talking too fast because the fact that Tadashi has tried to kill him – tried to kill all of them – is starting to embed itself in his brain. Hiro feels torn, and it is starting to show. If that person really was Tadashi, what happened to him? Why did he try to kill them and who was he operating under? And if that person wasn't Tadashi... why was the resemblance so uncanny?
One week ago, the only thing Hiro Hamada ever wanted was for his older brother to still be alive. Now, he's not so sure, and the fact that he might not want Tadashi to be alive, to be here by his side, feels like an ugly, pointed betrayal to their brotherhood.
Hiro closes his eyes. He can still see his brother's face before the fire. ("Callaghan's in there, someone has to help." And he can still remember those stupid and heroic words he said just before he ended up disappearing forever). The neat dark hair hidden beneath the iconic San Fransokyo cap. The warm brown eyes he claims he inherited from their mother. They're nothing like the man behind the mask earlier – so full of bitterness and anguish – and even as Hiro fights to stop the horrible thought in his mind, the words are still whispered, and the effect is as loud as a scream.
Would it have been better... if Tadashi stayed dead?
"Hiro?"
Hiro looks up. Baymax only has one expression – which technically counts as none at all seeing as that one expression is emotionless. But even he can tell that the robot is genuinely concerned. So Hiro forces those thoughts away and puts on a tired smile. "I'm fine. All of us need rest – including you. We'll patch up and proceed once we're ready."
But in his mind, he thinks "We'll never be ready". Because no amount of training and upgrading of weapons and armour and whatsoever will prepare anyone for facing Tadashi Hamada.
Hiro delays for as long as he can. He triple checks the weapons, runs training courses for the repaired armours, and briefs them through the battle plans so thoroughly that everyone knows he's stalling. Even Fred.
"Hiro?" Unexpectedly, it is Honey Lemon that interrupts him mid-explanation. When everyone turns to look at her, she takes a deep breath and marches on. "I know you're worried and afraid, but we have to do it. We have to do this before he starts hurting more people. It's now or never."
She is uncharacteristically serious, and, for a while, Hiro remembers that he isn't the only one reeling from the revelation that Tadashi is alive. Everyone is. Everyone here had – has – been a part of Tadashi's life, and while Hiro has known him the longest, being his younger brother, everyone here has admired, respected and loved Tadashi just the same.
"Yea. You're right." So Hiro strengthens his resolve, clenches his heart, and prepares Baymax's scanner. It is now or never.
"Bay–" Suddenly, there is an explosion that tears the words right out of his mouth.
Hiro can hear concrete cracking and glass smashing just outside the room. He starts to shout orders, but there is another explosion soon after, and he can feel the floor vibrate below his feet before Baymax almost crashes into him and robs his breath away. As everyone starts looking around in confusion, reaching for their weapons, Fred prepares to jump through the window to witness the commotion outside. Hiro's about to tell him to be careful when the third explosion occurs. It's the loudest so far and sounds too close – just outside the room, in fact – and Hiro is still getting to his feet when one of the room's walls crumbles into debris. Someone is thrown inside.
It's Tadashi.
Dressed in dark – but still, everyday – clothes, and without the mask and black trench coat, Tadashi looks normal. Except for the somewhat distracting flesh burns on the left side of his face, and the fact that he just entered the room through a crumbling wall, Hiro can almost block out the screaming disarray around them and pretend that everything is normal again.
But it's not. A large part of the room has already been demolished, smoke is streaming in from whatever wreck there is outside, and there's a badly beaten up Tadashi on the carpet floor. Everyone stares at the limp figure for a split, silent second before bursting into action.
"Fred, GoGo, go out there and check if there's anyone. But be careful." Fred and GoGo nod swiftly, and Hiro watches as they dive out of the room into the smoking commotion. He feels a twinge of worry, but there are more pressing matters at hand.
"Honey, I need you to check on Tadashi's injuries and bring over the first-aid kit. Wasabi, get the first aid–" Hiro breaks off when Tadashi starts to stir. Baymax waddles to him before Hiro can make him stop, his expression unchanging despite the discord around him.
"His pulse is slightly erratic but he is alive. Patient suffers from various bruises on his torso and–" Baymax is cut off when Tadashi crawls up, takes one look at him and screams.
"WHAT ARE YOU?!"
The silence is as deafening as his outburst.
Baymax blinks, twice. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. On a scale of ten–" A light shines through his breast plate brightly to indicate said scale. "How much would you rate your–"
Tadashi punches him. Hiro almost laughs at his brother's incredulous expression when his fist bounces back from Baymax's body and armour with surprising force. Almost.
"Tadashi...?" Hiro croaks, trying to maintain whatever level-headedness he has left. He decides not to ask why he doesn't remember Baymax, his own creation. "Why are you here? What happened?"
Tadashi's head snaps up at his voice, while Hiro gulps. When their eyes finally meet, something within them seems to flicker. But it's gone in a moment, and Tadashi frowns. "You're that kid who took my mask," he snarls harshly.
"I'm–" Hiro wants to correct him. "I'm your brother." But he hesitates. "Never mind. What happened after I took your mask? Why are you here?"
Tadashi's glare intensifies and Hiro feels his breath hitching. He steps back unconsciously, feeling Honey Lemon reaching for one of her smoke bombs just in case. "Don't hurt him," he wants to say. "Don't hurt my older brother."
"I failed." Tadashi finally spits out, the fury evident in every syllable. "I let you take my mask and I failed to kill your friends. So he got angry. He got angry and he took over the mask and he tried to kill me. All because of you." His eyes are horribly cold, and Hiro starts to tremble under the suffocating blankness of his gaze.
"H– he?" Honey Lemon squeaks. Hiro breaks from his trance and clenches his fists to stop the shivering. He realises that in his confusion, he has forgotten to pose one of the most important questions. Who is – was, he amends, (he hopes) – Tadashi operating under?
"Is it Krei?" Tadashi's eyes shift Honey Lemon now. There is no recognition in his look, only a vacant and slightly curious nonchalance. Seeing this, Honey gathers the courage to press on. "Were you operating under Krei when you attacked us?" There is an unvoiced question in her words – "And are you still doing so now?"
"Krei?" Tadashi narrows his eyes. "What are you talking about? I mean Callaghan."