477While You Were Gone, Chapter 27
A/N: If you've made it this far - thanks! I'm continually floored that people are still reading this. If you recently followed/favorited, thanks for the little push to get this chapter up. I was aiming to finish the story before posting anything else, but with all the heavy things going on in the world, I figured you guys should at least be left with a chapter with a better stopping point than the last one. Hope you are all healthy and safe.
Recap: Tadashi is not all better, physically or otherwise. Hiro is still trying to fix that (with varying success), but he's just decided to ask his brother to help out with a BH6 mess...so we'll see how that goes.
It's still dark when Tadashi's alarm goes off, dragging him out of sleep. He reluctantly searches for his phone on the windowsill, but something's not right. It's dark and he's still groggy from medication: it has to be too early. He's usually awake before his alarm even goes off. Did he mis-set it? The phone continues to chime, and Tadashi eventually knocks it to the floor, mentally groaning as he gathers the willpower to reach down and retrieve it.
It's not the alarm, he finally realizes as he stares at the phone for a long moment. Someone is calling. He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, then blinks several times, trying to wake himself up a little more. Hiro is calling.
Wait, Hiro's not home? He leans forward to see past the partition into his brother's side of the room, but the phone's continued ringing jerks him to the realization that maybe he should just answer it.
"Hello?" Tadashi hears himself saying as he rubs his eyes. He wonders why he didn't start with Hiro, where are you? or Hiro, what time is it? Really - what time is it? He pulls the phone away from his ear to check: almost one. Late for him. Not so late for Hiro.
"Tadashi? Are you there?!" Hiro's voice screeches from the phone.
Oh, right. He lifts the phone back to his ear. "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry. I took a new medication tonight and it's…"
"Never mind," Hiro interrupts, impatient. Rude, Tadashi catches himself thinking. He calls late at night and now he's interrupting… Hiro's voice cuts in again. "I need a little help."
The urgency in his brother's voice startles Tadashi into being somewhat more awake, although it's a struggle to stay focused on the conversation when his body and brain are begging him to lie back down. He rolls away from the edge of the bed and lets his head sink back into the pillow. It feels more comfortable than usual. He can listen with his eyes closed, right?
"Tadashi!"
Has he responded yet? Maybe not. "What?" Tadashi finally asks.
"I said I need your help!" Hiro repeats, more harried this time. "I need you to shut down Krei Tech's security system."
"You're joking, right?" Tadashi fights a yawn. What's all the fuss about? Maybe this is a dream. If Hiro needs to get into Krei Tech, he can just go when the building is open to the public…
"Tadashi, I'm serious!" Hiro yells through the phone, and Tadashi thinks he hears shouting in the background and...and...some kind of metallic clattering, followed by a sickening crunch and more yelling. What is that?!
And then it dawns on him - they're on a mission. Get up, bonehead! his mind orders, and he shoves himself up on his elbow, slowly kicking away the blankets. "Sorry. I'm awake now. What do you need?" The urgency of the situation and the associated concern start to cut through his sleepiness, but as he gets up he still feels somewhat dead on his feet. And lightheaded - definitely lightheaded. Prescription antihistamines are no joke.
"Shut. Down. Security." Hiro repeats gratingly.
"How?" Tadashi's at the landing now, not sure if he should go to Hiro's computer or downstairs or...what the heck is going on?! Are they in danger? They have to be. How much? How long has this been going on? "Is anyone hurt?" he demands, and he can hear the rising concern in his own voice.
"No, everyone's still okay."
"Then what are you thinking?!" Tadashi finds himself questioning. If Hiro were here he'd be tempted to swat him. "Get out of there!"
"Yeah, that's kind of the problem," Hiro responds, taking a moment to yell something about behind you! before assuring him once again that everyone is fine. Tadashi has a hard time believing it. Damn - he's slacked off. He used to have great tabs on Hiro, used to be ready to pull him out of all sorts of stupid situations - and now he just sleeps. What kind of older brother does that? He should probably be even more watchful now than he was before. He gets to Hiro's computer and his hands feel shaky as he pulls up screens and types in the passcodes Hiro rattles off.
"I think you should leave this to Krei's security team," Tadashi forces out, trying to steady the cursor enough to click before his racing heart can beat any faster. If it goes too fast, he'll pass out, right? Who's going to do this if he passes out? What happens to them then? You won't pass out, he reminds himself. It's just fight or flight. Deep breath - take a deep breath. Out loud, he addresses Hiro again. "I've never hacked anything."
"Yeah right!" Hiro exclaims, like he can't believe what he's hearing. "Someone disabled my accounts on multiple bot fight sites. How did that happen?"
Tadashi doesn't reply, because even if it was him, it didn't matter. Hiro had those accounts restored within 24 hours, site admins none the wiser. Instead of arguing with his brother, he chooses to focus on what he's doing. It feels a little surreal, sifting through content bridged over from the Krei Tech system. This isn't really happening, is it? Maybe it's some weird whacked out dream. Can his medicine cause hallucinations? He probably should have read about the side effects...
"Why are you even there?" Tadashi manages to ask, bringing up the security application on Hiro's computer.
"Intruder at the main campus," Hiro tells him, and Tadashi hears more scuffling in the background. "Whoever it was messed with security and now all Krei's bots are trying to apprehend us."
"Mr. Krei shouldn't be calling you to deal with break-ins," Tadashi can't help commenting, but he continues exploring anyway. "He should have the resources to handle this himself."
"I wouldn't be calling you if his security team had this figured out," Hiro grates out. Tadashi's shoulders tense as he hears a sudden clunk - did someone just get knocked out? - but he hears his brother call Good one, Baymax! to the robot. Hiro's voice is more relaxed as he returns to the call, "Besides, I kind of owe it to him. He named a building after you."
"Tell him he can have it back," Tadashi responds without hesitation, annoyed at this whole situation. Tadashi Hamada Hall is just...weird. Who names a campus building after a student? Several other SFIT students have actually died before graduating and there aren't any buildings named after them.
"He might have also made a big fat donation towards your very expensive hospital bills," Hiro adds.
Tadashi hears his own frustrated exhalation, but he follows the remainder of Hiro's instructions. Breathe. Focus, he keeps telling himself, trying to ignore the background noise on the call, the hazy feeling in his head, and the continued uneasiness coursing through his veins. Between unfamiliar Krei Tech territory and the questionable blackhole of options on Hiro's computer, there's a lot to sort out. He thinks about pointing out again that he's a coder, not a hacker - but he swallows it down and pokes at different options until things start to fall open.
"Here we go…"
Honey Lemon fingers the buttons on her chem purse, racking her brain for less common formulations to use. The drawn out battle is depleting the purse's stores - and there's not much she can do to defend or attack without it. She has a split-second reprieve as acid eats away at one bot's casing and she swings her head in Hiro's direction. She can hear his calm but urgent instructions over their comm system, but she can't hear any of Tadashi's replies. From what she understands, their friend has agreed to help - or to try, at least.
She desperately wants him to figure it out, and not just because things aren't going well. She's been concerned about Tadashi for a while now - he's not himself. Honey misses his usual excitement and curiosity for figuring things out and the determination that usually goes with it. If he can't fix this, she's not sure he'll try again. And beyond that - if he can't help them, how will it affect their friendship? It's something she doesn't want to think about, but it still gnaws at her under the surface.
She bites her lip, refocusing on the skirmish happening around her. They're all doing what they can. Do your best, she tells herself, and wishes she could tell him.
"So can he do it?" Wasabi yells at Hiro. He slices into another bot, wondering where in the world its main control system is. It doesn't seem to matter what part of the stupid things he chops up or off, they reconfigure and keep going. This is bad, but he also knows that somewhere in the building, a bunch of intruders are up to something. They could be getting up to murder - literally, he supposes - with no interference whatsoever. Oh man...he really doesn't want to find a dead body. Really, really doesn't want to.
Potential corpses aside, he's torn over the fact that they've asked Tadashi for help. It doesn't seem right to put that kind of pressure on someone who's already been through as much as his friend has. He shouldn't have to deal with this. Honestly, sometimes Wasabi feels bad for making him deal with their superhero antics at all.
"He's working on it!" Hiro answers Wasabi, but GoGo's not going to bank on Tadashi. She flings a mag disc at a bot and manages to stun it long enough to repeatedly smash that same disc against its taser mechanism. It's easier to rely on herself, to rely on the people near her - she knows what they're capable of. Tadashi's too unpredictable right now. In order to give this fight her best shot, she needs to assume he's not going to come through for them.
He's smart. He probably has a decent grip on what he's doing. Calling him wasn't pointless.
She shoves the thoughts away, attacking the bot with even more fervor.
If you set low expectations, you can't be disappointed.
Fred's expectations, in contrast, are optimistically high. Of course Tadashi will figure this out - how could it happen any differently? He pounces on a bot, enjoying the satisfying crunch of its casing as it cracks. Tadashi will figure this out, realize that this stuff is frickin' amazing, and then - BIG HERO 7: The Phoenix Rises!
Seriously - it's about time. It's been about time for quite awhile now. They've all been through a lot. After all the ups and downs of Tadashi's death, return, and recovery, it only seems right that they finally become a solid unit again. He's studied plot diagrams - resolution has to occur at some point.
And it could totally be a sweet comic book. For reals. He can picture the cover art already: massive flames swirling around a mysterious figure materializing from a pile of ash, and everyone else in dark profile, and Fredzilla will be winking like ahahaha, you just wait for this one kiddos... He just needs an artist, and a nondisclosure contract, and probably some kind of specialized printing press…
Hiro's not sure how he manages it: fighting security bots, directing Baymax, keeping track of his entire team, AND holding a somewhat calm conversation with his older brother. Maybe he was made for this. Yes, he decides. He was definitely made for this.
"Is he any closer?" Honey Lemon yells. Hiro can hear the exhaustion and desperation in her voice even while she flings a foaming chem ball into a bot's exposed wiring. His team is getting banged up.
I don't know, Hiro thinks. He can hear the faint sounds of Tadashi typing and clicking in his earpiece. "It takes time," he says out loud. Time we don't have. He takes Tadashi's suggestion and has Baymax override his defibrillator mechanism to shock a bot. "Just keep doing what you're doing."
And so they do, over and over and over. Hiro debates whether to have Baymax shock another bot: it's effective, but his battery power takes a significant hit. He'll be at less than 20% after this.
"Anything change?" Tadashi's voice comes suddenly, tentatively hopeful.
Hiro glances around him. Nothing seems different: his friends are still struggling and the security bots are just as relentless as before. Seriously, how many of those things is this building equipped with? Why aren't they easier to beat?
Hiro wishes he could say yes. He wishes the bots would all just die and clatter to the ground. He's exhausted. His team is exhausted. He wants to go home. "No," Hiro forces himself to say. "Everything's the same."
Tadashi catches himself before cursing out loud - everything he's attempted to do has had no effect. He feels like he's racing against a clock, but he doesn't know the intricacies of this program, exactly how it operates, or how it's already been tampered with. He's attempted to restore the original settings. He's tried to find and disable just the security bot applications. All his commands bounce back. Nothing is working.
It's almost paralyzing - knowing that Hiro and his friends are in very real danger and not being able to do anything effective. He can think of half a dozen other things to try, but there's no guarantee they'll work and they're all going to take time and they don't have time and…
"Tadashi?" Hiro sounds hesitant and...and desperate? Scared? "Anything?"
The room around Hiro is noisy: metal scraping on metal, scuffling and yelling. When he listens for his brother's response though, there's only silence.
Hiro sucks in a deep breath, pivoting on his heel to avoid an oncoming bot. It still scrapes against his armor, and he instinctively raises his arms in case it doubles back. "Tadashi?!" he repeats, not even caring that he sounds screechy.
When Tadashi finally answers, Hiro thinks his brother sounds unsettled. It makes him feel sick, because Tadashi is supposed to know what to do in situations like this. He always knows what to do when Hiro's in trouble. He always comes through. Except now.
"Um…" - a few audible clicks - "There's an option for system shut down."
"Use it!" Hiro answers, even as Baymax leans in to shield him. If there's an easy answer, why didn't Tadashi use it? How long has he been sitting on this? "Shut it all down!"
"I don't trust it," Tadashi warns him, hesitant. Hiro can picture his brother lingering over the deciding keystroke. He wants to be there so that he can reach past him and pound it down. "Krei's team isn't using it, so it could be compromised too. It seems too easy, maybe they put it there to…"
"It's fine," Hiro forces out, ducking to avoid the returning bot just as Baymax pins it between his hands. Across the room, Fred jumps between Honey and another, taking taser hits with his bulky suit. He hears GoGo yelling something about luring the bots to a corner and bombing them with Honey's purse, and Wasabi asking if that will even work, because the purse is depleted and Fred's out of fire power, and...
"Just do it, Tadashi!" Hiro orders. Pleads. He's not sure anymore.
"I don't know what it will do to you guys!"
"It's better than doing nothing!"
The effect isn't instant, but Hiro still doesn't expect everything to go black as quickly as it does. The bot drops to the ground with a clatter, a sound echoed around the room as several others also drop. The room erupts in chaos: Hiro can see Baymax's perplexed look in the glow from his still charged palms. Everyone's scrambling, confused and asking questions, yelling that they can't see…
"I have not administered the shock," Baymax comments, blinking down at the bot on the floor.
"Did that work?" Tadashi asks in a rush. He doesn't sound happy.
"Yeah," Hiro breathes, almost giddy as relief floods him. He grabs Baymax's arm, kind of wishing it was his brother's, and pulls the robot into a side hug. "Yeah, it did. Can you get the lights turned back on?"
Tadashi cannot turn the lights back on, because he's apparently shut down more than just the security system. He's shut down the entire building.
"Well," Wasabi says, remarkably optimistic, "It worked."
"Of course it worked!" Fred chimes in, draping an arm over Wasabi's shoulders. "I told you guys, I think this was a pivotal moment."
Maybe, Hiro supposes - but based on his interaction with Tadashi, it might not be a good pivotal moment.
"He made a copy of the security stuff first, right?" GoGo asks. She's irritated, but Hiro figures it probably has less to do with Tadashi and more to do with the fact that she's still trying to find a missing disc by the light of Baymax in power saving mode.
"Did you make a copy of anything?" Hiro asks hesitantly. Tadashi already seems upset enough about having to use a risky option instead of editing or temporarily disabling the program himself.
"Yes," his brother answers, annoyed. His voice remains terse when he speaks again. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Hiro catches himself nodding, even though Tadashi can't see him.
"You're all safe?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good. I'm going to bed."
Cass lays in bed, staring at the ceiling as she listens to movement in the kitchen: a cupboard door opening, water running, irregular pacing. She knows Tadashi is up again. Should she get up to check on him or not? It's late. It's so, so late and selfishly, she really wants to sleep. She needs to work tomorrow. Tadashi doesn't. He can sleep in if he's tired.
She rolls over and pushes herself onto her elbows, resting her face in her hands for a moment. The movement disturbs Mochi, and he meows in protest. Tadashi's fine, she tells herself. He's probably restless or uncomfortable or anxious, but he's fine.
But what if he's not?
She pulls on her bathrobe and drags herself into the kitchen. Her nephew leans against the kitchen counter, waiting for the kettle to heat. "It's really late," she points out tiredly, stealing a glance at the tea he's chosen to make sure it doesn't have caffeine. She tilts her head to look at him. "You shouldn't be awake."
"I just need to unwind a little," Tadashi volunteers. His voice is tight. "I'll go back to bed after this."
Cass wishes she could stick a handi-vac inside his head and suck out whatever thoughts are keeping him up. Tadashi has always been constantly thinking, brainstorming, busy - both her nephews are like that. She wishes there was a way to switch that off though, at least until things are going better. So far the change in meds hasn't done the trick. Maybe in another week or two.
"You wanna talk about it?" She reaches up to get a second mug from the cupboard, then switches off the range when the kettle begins to boil.
"Not really," he answers, shaking his head slightly. Cass isn't very happy with that response, and Tadashi must notice, because he attempts a somewhat forced smile. "Aunt Cass, you can go back to bed. I don't want to keep you up. I'm okay."
"If you were okay, you wouldn't be up in the middle of the night," Cass points out. That earns her an acquiescent shrug, at least. She pours hot water into both mugs and walks with her nephew into the living room. They each take a place on the couch, sitting with each other and their own thoughts.
It feels oddly familiar. She remembers scattered late evenings in the early months after his parents died, sitting on this same couch. She tried to fill up the hollow spaces they left with activities and conversations, but grieving isn't fast, and often Tadashi just wanted time and quiet and silent company.
Cass holds her mug, letting the heat warm her hands as she waits for it to cool enough to drink. Maybe this is a sort of grieving too. Tadashi has lost a lot, and only gotten so much back. She reaches to rub his shoulder. "Give it time."
"Give it time."
His aunt's comment forces Tadashi's thoughts to reroute. Aunt Cass thinks this situation centers around how he's processing his injuries. It only makes sense. She has no idea that he's trying to evaluate an impromptu high-stress intervention to get his brother and friends out of a bind. That he's still picking apart his brain trying to find a different, better solution. Seriously - she doesn't even know Hiro's not at home.
But his burns and their impact on his life eat up a lot of his attention and energy, so it's not impossible to focus on what she's said. Rationally, time should help - with his recovery and maybe with Hiro's insane superhero business as well. For a moment, he lets himself wonder what things could be like in another year or two. Maybe he'll be better than he is now. Maybe he'll be used to this. Maybe he'll -
He doesn't have time though. He's trying - in school, in therapy, at home, but then things like tonight happen and he's just not ready for them.
aunt cass is awake
Hiro stares at the text for a moment, trying to decide on a course of action as he sheds his armor in the garage. He can get through a whole superhero scenario, but apparently lying to his aunt is like...like his secret weakness or something.
"Hiro?" he hears Aunt Cass's surprised voice as he's coming up the stairs. He peeks into the living room where he sees his aunt and brother both sitting on the couch in their pajamas. Tadashi gives him a questioning look, jaw clenched, but Hiro's pretty sure he's got this.
"I was just out in the garage," Hiro tries to say suavely, but his own yawn interrupts him. He doesn't have to specify how long, right? He grabs a snack and joins his family, taking the open spot between them. "Why are you up?" he asks Tadashi, genuinely critical and curious. He thought his brother was going to bed.
"Too much on my mind." Tadashi's voice is dismissive, and he takes a long drink of tea right after answering. Hiro knows it's supposed to be a vague response, but he can't help feeling guilty. He got his brother up, and Tadashi probably does have a lot on his mind now.
"Sorry." The word spills out of Hiro's mouth before he can think too hard about it.
Tadashi stares at him for a moment - thinking, buying time maybe, because Aunt Cass is also looking at him, at both of them. "It's not your fault," Tadashi says, rolling his shoulders like he's trying to get rid of an ache. "It's a tradeoff for still being here, I guess."
Maybe it's the way his brother says it, or the fact that they've just been through a stressful situation together, but Hiro lets himself lean against Tadashi. He tries to pull his brother into a hug. Oh man - the tears threatening to come. "I'm really glad you're here."
Aunt Cass turns so she's facing them both, her feet pulled up onto the couch. She props her chin on the back of her hand, stifling a yawn. "I'm so thankful you two have each other," she says warmly, and Hiro feels a gentle pat on his back when she gets up. "Get some sleep soon though, okay? I swear you boys are half nocturnal…"
Tadashi shifts out of Hiro's hug, watching as his aunt shuffles towards her room. "Relax," he says tiredly. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Good," Hiro responds, but he looks offended at being shoved away. Tadashi almost rests a hand on his shoulder - but he's too exhausted and irritable. He wants to sleep, but his mind is still churning over obscure options and potential code and how long would it take to finally get that program to cooperate? How many tries would it take? When would he finally find the right solution - the best solution? He doesn't know enough, he doesn't work fast enough, he's out of practice, he isn't -
"Thanks for helping. Really."
Tadashi lets his eyes slide to Hiro. His brother is sitting cross-legged on the couch, facing him, almost the way Aunt Cass was just a moment ago. Hiro must be tired too. His hair sticks up at odd angles, his face has lost most of its color, and in Tadashi's estimation, he could really use a shower.
Tadashi stares at him a moment longer before finally replying. "Using the shut down probably defeated the whole point of you being there."
"It's okay," Hiro responds, unperturbed. He shrugs and reaches into his bag of cheese puffs. Unbelievable - he's almost been beat up by security bots and he's eating cheese puffs.
What part of this is even remotely okay? Seriously - Hiro and their friends got cornered and he got forced into a bad option and whoever broke in got away. Nothing has gone right. Nothing has been going right for a while.
"It is not okay, Hiro."
Hiro stays quiet. Tadashi is in a horrible mood, and he's not bothering to disguise it. Hiro knows his brother was afraid the shut down option would have drawbacks. And it probably did: They didn't catch anyone. Krei Tech is compromised. Wasabi had to cut through a couple doors. Those repercussions are tangled up with the effects of the hacked security system though. At this point, it's impossible to say what led to what.
"What would you have done if you hadn't called me?" Tadashi suddenly demands.
"I don't know." Hiro shrugs, hoping a mellow response will calm his brother down. "Tried to shut down security myself?" He almost rolls his eyes, helping himself to another cheese puff. "Or maybe I would have gotten tased to death, but you shut everything down so that didn't happen. Okay?"
Tadashi ignores most of what he's said. He keeps his voice down, but his whispers are harsh. "And if you were in my place, how would you shut down security?"
"I'd use the shut down option too," Hiro answers, maybe a little too readily.
Tadashi sees right through that one. "Yeah, I don't believe that."
"Fine! I'd have to look at it!" Hiro is frustrated now, because he just wants Tadashi to give this up. He knows they could pick this apart all night, but it's not worth it. There are more important things. Like people. Like their friends.
"It doesn't matter, okay?" Tadashi can see the exasperation in Hiro's features shift into something else, something exhausted and upset. "It didn't have to be perfect. It just had to work. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, okay?"
He gets it - he really does. He didn't want anyone getting hurt either. And yet - there had to be a better solution, he had to be better, there had -
"It was bad, Tadashi," Hiro implores, the words wobbling just a little as they escape.
Tadashi looks at Hiro again. His younger brother doesn't elaborate, but it washes over him: the situation was desperate. His mind wasn't overreacting - it really was that bad. Someone was going to get hurt. Something had to happen.
Everything considered: the nuances of the program, the time crunch, his own limitations - maybe it was the best decision. Not the best possible solution, but the best one available.
Tadashi hears his own tired sigh as he lets Hiro back into a hug.
"Okay."