Check 13 - You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible

Hiro had sort of dozed off on the sofa while the others were having dinner. He woke in his borrowed room, lying on top of the bed, who knew how long later. With a groan, he rolled to a sitting position, feeling much like he usually did after a reactive reintegration episode, except he knew that wasn't what had happened. For whatever reason, he'd somehow been able to tap into his aunt's memories and take a look around before being kicked out again.

Part of him had the temerity to wonder if this was how Loki had felt after their first outing in Hiro's mind. Of course, during that incident, Loki had poked around some of Hiro's more private memories and the teen had basically forcefully evicted him. He somehow doubted his aunt had done the same to him. She might not even know what had happened, or been aware that he'd been able to somehow slip into that memory at all. For that matter, he wasn't even sure how he'd done it, let alone known that he could.

But now that he was more or less awake again, his stomach had asserted its need for sustenance. No one had bothered to wake him for food. He supposed that was more because they'd been told to let him sleep. Well, one lollipop from Baymax had not been enough and, by golly, he was going to find something else to eat even if he had to crawl all over the mansion to do it. His stomach demanded an offering and probably wouldn't shut up until it got one.

Legs more than a little shaky, Hiro slid off the mattress, thankful Baymax seemed to appear out of nowhere to steady him. "On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Oh yeah. He'd somehow managed to block the sensations, that or the painkillers that butler had given him were more than the typical over the counter kind. Maybe he'd just been able to not feel it while thinking about it, but now that he thought about it, everything hurt, his head, his back, his hips, arms, legs. Everything. "Could be better," he hissed, not wanting to assign a number to it.

"Would you like me to carry you?" Baymax offered but Hiro waved that aside. "You do not appear in the best condition to wander around."

Hiro shook his head as much as the pain would allow. Definitely some whiplash, he decided. And he could feel every bruise along his back and backside. His head throbbed where he'd knocked it against the tree. Thankfully he'd had his helmet on at the time or it would have been a lot worse. As things stood, he'd be slower than usual for a while, which sucked. "I got this."

Knowing all too well how stubborn the teen could be, Baymax waddled after his charge as he made his way to the door. He wasn't entirely sure where the teen was going but decided it best to not leave him alone.

It didn't take much to get into the corridor, but the whole place was huge and Hiro found he had to either rely on Baymax or the wall for support. He chose to go with the wall, his faithful companion following behind him, just in case. He supposed he looked like a drunk invalid but didn't care. He'd made up his mind and it was going to stay made up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

The unexpected question startled Hiro so badly his knees actually gave out and he went down with a gasp. Thankfully he was right by the wall so it was more like sliding, but the sudden jarring didn't do him any favors, the painkillers he'd had before decidedly wearing off. "Ow."

Daisuke stood off to one side, watching him. Hiro could feel his gaze on the back of his neck but didn't dare turn his head to confirm this. The man's tone had stopped him in his tracks and his heart had skipped a few beats in the process. His brain was still trying to reboot after the burst of white light had exploded behind his eyes.

"Hiro's blood sugar levels are still low," Baymax supplied. Of course he'd know. It was also hard to miss the growl of his stomach as it tried to eat itself.

Perhaps realizing the truth of the matter, Daisuke sighed and approached Hiro, not bothering to offer help so much as give it as he supported the teen by grabbing the outside of his shoulders and hauling him back to his feet. "You could have called for someone to help you," he admonished.

Despite his gentle assistance, the pressure didn't help matters and Hiro had to suck in his breath. "Didn't want to bother anyone."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Daisuke glance upward as if asking the heavens for patience. He got that look a lot from Aunt Cass. "Fine." Before Hiro could react to that, however, Daisuke picked him up in a manner similar to when he'd rescued him from the fire and headed down the hallway.

Ahead, one of several staff members noticed them approaching. "Prepare a meal for one, with plenty of protein," Daisuke ordered. The man gave a short bow and hurried on his way the moment they passed him.

"I can walk!" Hiro protested.

But Daisuke didn't slow down. "I somehow doubt that," he said instead. He reached the elevator, which opened for him. Baymax was not far behind them, having to waddle a bit faster to keep up.

The doors slid closed and the lift began to move, taking them down to the main level. Once more, the doors opened and Daisuke strode through like a man on a mission, Hiro offering mild protests before giving up. He thought he caught a hint of a smirk as he looked up for half a second but averted his eyes. This was embarrassing.

Before he knew it, Daisuke had placed Hiro in his usual chair at the table before sitting across from him, elbows resting on the surface, hands clasped. "Mind telling me what was going through your head?"

Hiro sighed. "I was hungry."

Daisuke might have rolled his eyes. Hiro didn't want to look up. "That was obvious, but not what I meant. I was talking about earlier. You never told me why you left the mansion after strict orders not to. You might as well explain while we wait."

Well, that wasn't exactly what he'd expected but he supposed it wasn't at the same time. He'd dodged answering that earlier but couldn't indefinitely. "Can I get some painkillers first?"

Perhaps noting the level of pain the teen was in, Daisuke signaled to someone near the door. Hiro could only hope that meant he'd requested the medication be brought.

Hiro sucked in as much air as he dared before slowly letting it out. Baymax remained silent behind him, slightly off to one side. And Daisuke was looking intently at him in a way that reminded him of an interrogation. Well, he was technically a cop, the teen supposed, so, in a way, it made sense. But there was something else there beneath the veneer of investigator that made him think that he wasn't just asking for the sake of getting to the bottom of things. So, after a few more seconds to choose his words, he tried to explain without going into too much detail.

The story was interrupted when the butler brought the much appreciated pills that Hiro downed in one swallow with the water provided. Shortly after that, a plate of food was brought in. At that point, he didn't care what it was so long as it was food and so started eating while Daisuke digested what he'd just told him.

"A dream that wasn't a dream," the man mused. "Interesting." He leaned back against the chair, chin cupped in one hand. "I take it this isn't the first time this has happened."

He was too tired to deny it and so didn't. "No, not the first time. It's been happening off and on more lately, though."

Now they were getting somewhere. Maybe the teen's guard was down due to exhaustion, or maybe he just felt the situation warranted letting some of his cards show. Either way, Daisuke appreciated it. "And when did that start?"

Hiro appeared to rack his brains. Daisuke could see him resisting the urge to ruffle his hair, probably because of the damage inflicted earlier. The teen turned slightly to look at Baymax.

The robot tilted his head. "I believe these occurrences began shortly after you broke your ribs," he supplied helpfully.

Daisuke mentally searched through the information he'd gathered, wishing he'd not left his glasses upstairs when leaving his room. He hadn't thought he'd need them. He couldn't recall any mention of broken ribs in any reports though, and that bothered him. Surely, with such an injury, there would be something.

"Oh, right," Hiro spoke up, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "So at least a year now, probably longer." He deposited the food into his mouth and chewed, stopping any further comments for the moment.

Just how much had his younger cousin been through, Daisuke wondered. Apparently a lot more than was on record. Chances were good it had something to do with the strange armor both he and Baymax had been wearing when he found them near the shrine fire. He'd have to see if HEUSC could identify it later.

"And does Aunt Cass know about these occurrences?"

Hiro didn't even look up hearing Daisuke refer to their mutual relation by her proper title. Daisuke couldn't help but feel that interesting. But then he recalled even Baymax calling the woman by that title, so maybe it wasn't that odd to the teen. For all he knew, even Hiro's friends referred to her as aunt.

There was another exchange of glances with Baymax before Hiro answered. That and another healthy bite of food. "She knows about most of them," he admitted. "At least the more recent ones. We came to an agreement that I'd keep her in the loop more."

Well, that answered a few questions. Daisuke steepled his fingers together, elbows back on the table. "But not today's incident."

Hiro released his breath, sagging against the chair. Apparently the pain meds had started to kick in because he didn't wince as much. "No, not today. It happened so suddenly, I felt like I needed to act on it immediately. Usually, I'll text her when something like that comes up, but it didn't even cross my mind."

Daisuke's lips pressed together. There was likely more to it, more than even Hiro could recall at the moment, but it was something. "And what about in the other room. You said something about it not being as fun as you'd thought it would be. What did you mean by that?"

Like a deer in headlights, Hiro's eyes widened as he froze. Apparently the experience was more outside the norm than Daisuke had thought. That or there was something the teen didn't want to divulge. Interesting.

Baymax placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder, as if to anchor him. It didn't take his glasses to notice the increased respirations. Apparently he'd touched on something more traumatic than he'd first thought.

"Not again," Hiro uttered, swallowing hard, looking more than a little ill.

Daisuke thrust his chair back as he stood; Hiro's body sagging like a marionette whose string has been cut. Only, this time, he wasn't on a soft couch with something on either side to catch him.

"I have got you," Baymax stated before Daisuke could do something as drastic as lunging across the tabletop. His mind momentarily flashed back to lunch and how he'd barely managed to get Cass out of the line of fire of that dart.

Instead of jumping over the table, Daisuke made his way around it in quick fashion, arriving at Hiro's exposed side. Baymax had stationed himself on the teen's left, leaving the right for Daisuke. Instinctively, he took Hiro's wrist and felt for a pulse, despite Baymax not saying anything to cause alarm. A sense of relief filled him, feeling it strong and steady underneath his fingers.

"Another occurrence?" Daisuke asked, looking at Baymax's down-turned face. The robot was likely monitoring the situation closely.

Hyper-spectral camera lenses opening and closing in what could only be a blink, Baymax didn't bother moving to answer. "Energy readings would indicate this as a possibility."

So HEUSC's data wasn't faulty, Kambe mused. That was good to know. "Does Hiro's energy always fluctuate when something like this happens?"

"It does," Baymax confirmed. "However, the amount of fluctuation appears to depend on what kind of occurrence and the strength of the incident."

That was an interesting thought. Just that alone told Daisuke that there were different intensities, though what made the difference was no clearer to him than what who or what was trying to attack his household. "I hope they don't all affect him the same way as they did earlier."

Baymax apparently decided to look up at that, giving him what could only be called a curious look, if the robot could actually hold any expression. "They do not. I believe his most recent reaction was due to an energy overload that rebounded, energizing Aunt Cass instead. Considering prior instances, it makes sense."

Another tidbit of information. Interesting. At least there was some kind of pattern to all this, even if he couldn't see it or all the pieces. Yet. That was somewhat reassuring, to be sure. The next question was how long this instance would take and did he need to take any precautionary measures in the meantime.

What could only be called a slight spasm, because Daisuke wouldn't have felt it if he wasn't right next to him, keeping tabs on his pulse, occurred and Hiro opened his eyes. Again, there was that slight hint of golden color in his eyes before the teen blinked. Being closer this time than he had been before and, perhaps paying more attention this time, Daisuke noticed more detail. During that briefest of moments, he also thought he saw a reflection of the galaxy in his eyes before the image was replaced with dark brown and black.

Hiro's whole body shook once, like a shiver had run down the entire length of his body, before looking up. "How long was that one?"

Before Daisuke could answer, Baymax was there. "This episode lasted approximately two minutes and twelve seconds."

"Coulda been worse," the teen laughed humorlessly. He seemed to notice where he was, and that there was a half-finished plate still in front of him.

Daisuke had released Hiro's wrist the moment he noticed the teen's eyes open. He now took a step back and contemplated things. "What happened this time?" He wasn't sure what kind of answer that would illicit but was curious. He might have caught him off guard, which might increase his chances of letting something else slip out.

A bemused smile spread across Hiro's face, perhaps realizing Daisuke's game. "A decent memory, in comparison. Not mine though."

Kambe's face crinkled a bit, brows drowning together. "I don't understand," he admitted.

"Earlier, it was a memory from the day my parents died," Hiro admitted. "This one was from much earlier. I think Aunt Cass was a teenager, maybe about my age. Looked like she was at the villa here, or somewhere similar. I recognized her from some family pictures back home."

Wait. Was he saying what Daisuke thought he was saying? "You saw Aunt Cass's memories?"

Hiro had taken that opportunity to stuff his mouth full of food. It was probably on the cold side, but he looked like he needed it. "I think?"

Okay, this was heading even more into a realm Daisuke wasn't sure he wanted to venture too far into. It was like trying to capture lightning in a bottle. It was technically possible, but at what cost? Scientifically, there were the changes in energy, indicating a change of something else he couldn't put his finger on. But that didn't happen to normal people, not on the level he'd observed here. No, there was something almost supernatural about it. Unless Hiro was somehow the object of some of those "top secret" government experiments he'd heard about.

Given Hiro's association with at least some of the Avengers, a missing month of time the year before, anything was possible. Whatever had caused this ability certainly hadn't happened prior to the teen reaching puberty, so that was also a possibility. But, if there was some kind of natural mutation in the mix, wouldn't he have heard something about it? After all, he technically shared at least some DNA, and he doubted it was just genius level smarts. No, this went way beyond that. Just what had happened to Hiro Hamada to make this possible?

While Daisuke had been ruminating on this, Hiro took the opportunity to clean off his plate. He looked around as if expecting to see something that wasn't there before pushing his chair away from the table. "I should probably get back to bed," he stated. "I don't know what time it is but I'm sure Aunt Cass will worry if I don't get enough sleep."

If the teen hadn't had one hand on the table, he probably would have fallen over. As things stood, he'd turned towards the side where Daisuke stood and so Daisuke put out a hand as if to steady him. He didn't quite touch him though, but remained ready if his legs should buckle, which looked to be a possibility. "These… episodes really take a lot out of you, don't they?"

Hiro gave a funny expression. "It's hit or miss. Sometimes it's like my body has turned into jelly. Other times, I'm just really tired. On the rare occasion, I actually feel pretty energized. I haven't felt a complete and total puddle of goo coming out of one for months, though, so that's something. And I don't get the splitting headaches as much."

Those were all indications that the teen was still getting used to whatever it was that caused these events, Daisuke thought. So, if this was some kind of mutation, either natural or forced, chances were good it was relatively recent. It didn't negate the possibility of something happening during that missing month while he'd been in New York, but it didn't confirm that whatever it was had happened then either. It could have occurred earlier as well. Either way, Daisuke felt certain something had to have changed to make this possible. He'd have HEUSC run the numbers later. But, now that things had settled down, he felt more able to sleep himself.

"Would you like me to carry you?" Baymax inquired, having moved the chair further out of the way so that Hiro was leaning fully against the top of the table. Despite the gangly nature of the teen, Daisuke observed some measure of definition to his muscles, indicating he wasn't as soft as he'd thought him to be. He was at least somewhat physically active, even if his overall structure hid the fact.

Taking in a lungful of air, Hiro seemed to contemplate that. Chances were good he was evaluating his stubbornness against his physical ability at the moment. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Probably better. I don't think I can manage the distance while I recover. Never had so many in such a short amount of time before. Might be a new record."

Baymax didn't wait for him to change his mind as he scooped the teen up into his vinyl arms, prompting Daisuke to back up a few steps to give them room. "I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know if any other such incidents occur. I have a feeling we'll talk about them again soon, in which case I'll want more details."

If he'd thought that would get some kind of response from Hiro, he was disappointed. That or he was just as used to playing it cool and collected as Daisuke was. That took some serious training.

"For sure." The teen gave a sort of half-hearted wave as Baymax turned and left the room, carrying his cousin away.

"HEUSC, search and compile all data pertaining to anything remotely resembling what just happened. I want to know exactly what we're dealing with here," Daisuke ordered. "Have the report ready for me in the morning. I'm going to bed."

"As you wish, sir."