Chapter Title : Inferno and Ashes

Summary :

They made a pretty great team, overall. (Part 3 of 3)

Author's Note:

Here's the long awaited part 3! :) I tried my best to make it as good as possible (even trying out a new formatting style), so I hope you guys enjoy~

Dedication:

To Warrior Nun because you were great! and Forest Sentry Koneji because you kept me inspired and made this chapter awesome :)

Hiro woke up to the sound of pencil on paper and familiar taps of a laptop's keyboard.

He kept his eyes shut, the sun seemingly too bright and he was snuggled up to comfortable warmth. Hiro buried his head deeper into the sound of reassuring heartbeat, wanting to get away from the damn, blinding sunlight.

A chuckle.

"Morning, knucklehead."

"I'm not awake," Hiro mumbled back sleepily, "You're imagining it, nerd."

There was an amused snort at that. Tadashi ruffled his little brother's hair before typing something quick on his laptop.

Hiro sighed contently. It didn't matter if his brother was occupied with whatever he's doing on the laptop as long as Hiro gets to snuggle and continue sleeping.

.

.

.

The sound of more typing.

Okay fine, Hiro grumbled to himself inwardly, feeling his brain whirling in curiosity instead of going back to sleep as he had hoped. "... What are you working on?"

"I thought you were asleep?"

"I'm awake, the sun is shining, the birds are singing," Hiro said flatly, pushing himself up and draping himself over Tadashi's lap, "Are you going to tell me what the hell got you so interested now?"

"Language," Tadashi chided. He adjusted his laptop screen to face Hiro, "I'm working on my suit."

Hiro froze.

"Hey," Tadashi's gentle voice interrupted before his thoughts went too far, "Hey, Hiro, look at me."

Hiro complied, tilting his head upwards and meeting his brother's warm eyes.

"I know you don't want me running into danger again," Tadashi threaded a hand through Hiro's hair, trying to calm his younger brother's erratic breathing. Hiro looked ready to hyperventilate at moment's notice. "I know you don't want me to fight."

Hiro's eyes were wide with fear, glazed over with flicker of flames burning far too intense in the past. He seemed to look past Tadashi's shoulder, seeing a ghost of something else.

("It was his mistake!")

"I really-" Hiro's voice hitched. His eyes darted back to meet Tadashi's for reassurance, "I really don't want you fight."

Tadashi let out a soothing hum. "...which is why I'm not."

.

.

.

"Wh- what?"

Tadashi leaned down closer to Hiro's face. The shadows couldn't cover the light in the older Hamada's eyes, gleaming with the burning desire to protect. "I can't stop you from fighting," Tadashi remarked softly, "But I'm not letting you do this on your own."

Hiro sucked in a breath. "You just said you won't fight."

"There are more than just soldiers in a war zone, buddy," Tadashi chuckled, pulling back and flicking Hiro's nose. "That reminds me, I haven't talked to you about turning my nurse bot into a fighting bot yet."

"That's not the point!" Hiro spluttered, slightly indignant at the attempt to change topic. "I don't get it! What do you mean by not fighting?"

Tadashi opened his mouth to answer, only for him to get cut off by a loud growl from Hiro's stomache.

.

.

.

Hiro turned bright red as Tadashi started laughing. "Stop laughing!" he pelted his older brother with smacks. "I didn't get to eat dinner yesterday!"

Tadashi's stomach chose that time to start growling too.

It was Tadashi's turn to turn red as Hiro chortled, laughter ringing in the air.

"Oh shut it you," the older Hamada closed his laptop with a huff, "Let's get something to eat first, then I'll tell you of my idea."

Tadashi eventually chucked a pillow at Hiro when his younger brother wouldn't stop laughing.

"So you'll be a nurse."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

The two of them had moved to the garage for privacy to have their discussion. Tadashi looked up from where he was adjusting some stuff on his white armor, to his younger brother perched on top of their work table.

"A nurse," Hiro repeated.

"I prefer the term combat medic."

"Why a nurse?"

"Combat medic," Tadashi huffed, "Someone had to make sure you guys don't get hurt on the field." There was a brief flash of fear in Tadashi's eyes, the memory of black ashes falling like snow on Hiro's cheek.

His younger brother looked down, biting the bottom of his lip.

"Hiro?"

"You'll..." Hiro took a deep breath, "You will still be out there. In danger." The younger Hamada looked distraught, remembering the consequences of the last dangerous choice his older brother made.

Tadashi had no one but himself to blame for the broken trust.

"I'm not going to leave you," Tadashi's eyes softened, "Give me another chance, Hiro. We can do this like how we used to do things, together."

Hiro couldn't look up, couldn't look into his older brother's eyes. He knew when he had lost an argument.

After all, Tadashi had presented a fairly reasonable role, one that kept him in the back and 'safe' all while allowing him to keep an eye on Hiro.

The fear in him wanted him to remain stubborn against the idea, but after his outburst yesterday coupled with a goodnight sleep, Hiro felt calmer than he did in a long time.

("He would never do something like running into the fire to leave you alone," Honey's words soothed him in his head. )

Did he trust Tadashi?

With his life.

Hiro looked up. "I guess we can try," he said with a slight tremble in his voice.

"Thank you, Hiro," Tadashi gave him a brilliant smile, reaching out to ruffle his hair, "I really appreciate it."

Hiro leaned into Tadashi's hand, relishing the touch. He could feel the bubble of doubt welling in the back of his mind, threatening to overwhelm his decisi-

"Tadashi! Hiro!"

Both of them jumped a good meter in the air at the sound of Aunt Cass' voice.

"We have to hide this!" Tadashi whispered frantically, gesturing at his unfinished suit. The majestic white seemed to mock them with it's visibility.

"Where!? " Hiro hissed back.

"Anywhere!"

They scrambled to find hiding places, anywhere where the equipment could be placed out of sight.

"You could have worked neater!"

"Amazing advice coming from you Hiro. "

The bigger, less-likely-to-fall-apart parts were placed under the table, hidden in the corner. Smaller parts were chucked inside the cupboard. Hiro threw the remaining into their empty 3D printer.

"That should be all of -WHOA!"

Hiro promptly slipped on a piece of paper, falling backwards into the 3D printer. Tadashi reached out for his younger brother, only to trip on his rolling chair and promptly land with all the grace that Baymax possessed.

Aunt Cass chose that moment to look in.

.

.

.

"Hi Aunt Cass," the two of the chorused.

She gave them an amused look, one eyebrow raised. Her older nephew was on the floor, looking very much like he had fallen hard while her younger nephew was somehow stuck in their 3D printer, legs kicking comically in his attempt to free himself.

"I obviously interrupted something."

Tadashi shared a look with Hiro before trying to explain. "It's not what it looks like, Aunt Cass. We were, uh, practicing - "

"Taekwondo!" Hiro chirped in.

"Taekwondo," Tadashi repeated doubtfully, "Cause...Hiro needed practice?"

"Nah, it was Tadashi. He's the one who needed the practice, got to keep those muscles ripping and girls swooning -"

"Definitely Hiro because I'm not the one in the printer right now-"

"Hello pot, meet kettle. You're on the floor too, you nerd-"

"Boys, enough," Aunt Cass choked back her laughter, "If those are your arguments then the two of you obviously need more practice."

"Was there something you need us for, Aunt Cass?" Tadashi took the chance to change the topic.

"Well, it's lunch," A few giggles still escaped her but Aunt Cass looked like she managed to stop from outright laughing, "There's donuts for today's treat. I sprinkled some extra chocolate on yours, Hiro."

"Alright," Tadashi replied. In the background, Hiro added an semi-enthusiastic "Yay!"

Aunt Cass gave them one last smile before leaving the two boys on their own.

.

.

.

"My Taekwondo is perfectly fine, I'll have you know."

"Says the one who landed butt first into the 3D printer."

Hiro decided there and then that it had been a good idea that he had not told Tadashi just how Baymax and him had met after the 'funeral'. His brother will never, ever stop teasing him if he knew.

The younger Hamada kicked his feet again to try and get out but he seemed to have a penchant for being horribly stuck in tiny spaces together with other objects. It's really amazing how he had not yet mastered the art of getting out of tight spaces by himself.

After a few more tries, Hiro chose to glare up at a very amused Tadashi.

"You could make yourself useful and help me," the younger one huffed.

Tadashi let out a bark of laughter before reaching in and pulling Hiro out from his trap. "It's ridiculously funny, knucklehead."

"Har har, world's funniest joke right here," Hiro brushed away dirt on himself, "So what do we do now?"

"Join Aunt Cass for lunch," Tadashi replied. Then he quirked a smile. "After that, help with my suit?"

Hiro hesitated.

('Tadashi will be alright.' He could hear Baymax echo in his head. 'It will be alright.')

He trusted Tadashi.

"Okay," Hiro mumbled reluctantly, only to let out an ungraceful yelp when Tadashi suddenly scooped him up for a big hug.

"It will be worth it, promise," Tadashi grinned. "It will be great, we'll make something awesome! Hamada brothers reaching for the stars!"

"As long as you don't leave me behind," Hiro smiled back weakly. His older brother's enthusiasm was catching on despite the fear. "Can you put me down now?"

"Nope!"

"What!?"

"I'm going to carry you like this into the cafe!"

"Wait Tadashi, no!"

Outside the garage, Aunt Cass grinned.

Suddenly, it hadn't mattered that Hiro had sulked and Tadashi had moped for the last three days. She could understand Hiro's fear, the fear of letting any of her boys go into danger again.

Cass also knew that they were old enough to make their own decisions. All she could do was hope for the best and support them in any way she could.

Hearing Hiro scream at his brother to put him down and not be carried like a baby earned an ungraceful snort from her. She had to be blind to not notice that Hiro had enjoyed being doted on ever since Tadashi came back. Cuddles, hugs and trailing like a lost puppy, it's like looking back at when Hiro's younger and Tadashi first went off to school.

"Come on Mochi," Aunt Cass gestured to the cat by her side, hurrying to the cafe, "We have donuts to serve."

It wouldn't do for them to catch her eavesdropping, superhero secrets and all.

The Nerd Gang was more than happy to help when they found out the two brothers had come to a compromise of sorts.

"Finally," Gogo said flatly.

"We're so glad for you two!" Honey squealed, glee in her voice as always.

"So where do we start?" Wasabi, always the planner.

"Well," Fred could barely contain his excitement, already looking ready to burst, "Every superhero needs their suit!"

Tadashi grinned, "And that's where we are going to start."

A day later and they were in the Hamada brothers' garage, all their suits spread out on the work table. Plans and data were all around, arranged in a neat manner for work.

"Helps with brainstorming and gives us opportunities to add new things," Fred had answered when asked why did everyone had to bring their suit.

"You're so showing off," Wasabi had muttered under his breath.

"Guys, we're here to help Tadashi on his suit, alright?" Honey chirped in. She looked over the suits, only to realize something seemed off. "..where's Hiro's?"

.

.

.

"There."

The team turned to see where Gogo was looking, her flat tone indicating how unamused she was.

Tadashi turned towards them with a slightly confused expression but when he finally realized what they were looking for, his expression immediately became a little sheepish. In his hands was Hiro's suit with a change that was quickly obvious; the legs area were fully covered now. By his side was Hiro's helmet, hooked up to a computer with Baymax's chip, lines of code visible on the screen.

.

.

.

"Ah," Honey broke the silence with a too-amused tone, "We forgot about his brother complex."

The team groaned as Tadashi spluttered.

"I don't have a brother complex, damnit! I'm just slightly worried!"

None of his friends believed him.

It was later that night when Hiro mustered enough courage to help Tadashi with his suit. Their friends were long gone and Tadashi was off to buy some groceries; hey, no one would complain if he sneaked in an extra feature here or two, right?

Especially if they could save Tadashi's life.

He turned on the lights in the garage and was satisfied to find it void of people, but not of parts scattered around from that day's work.

Time to get to work.

And that's when he saw his modified suit.

When the team came back to finish Tadashi's suit the next day, they were surprised by Hiro being the first one to be there and already working on his older brother's suit. Tadashi was by his side, looking absolutely exasperated.

"We are not adding laser beams!"

"If you get to change my suit for safety, so do I!"

"Laser beams are not safety features!"

The team wisely chose to go pick up some smoothies and to come back an hour later.

"It's not going to hurt," Honey said in a voice that sounded like she's trying to convince herself.

"Oh no Hamada," Gogo's smirk looked far too sadistic, "You better know how to run."

And immediately Tadashi's mind ran a hundred miles per minute trying to calculate how fast he could run. After all, Fred's initial idea of 'Tadashi Training 101' consisted a part where the two ladies were supposed to use their respective weapons on him, just so he could learn how to dodge.

Gogo's absolutely gleeful look was making Tadashi doubt Fred's lesson plan.

"Gogo!" Honey sounded mortified. "Be nice, this is Tadashi's first time!" She played with some of her chemballs, giving a reassuring smile at Tadashi. "Don't worry, no explosives until third week!"

Tadashi heard the familiar voice of his brother's chortle. No doubt Hiro was finding this amazingly hilarious. The older Hamada couldn't help but to quirk a smile; Hiro was still reluctant to fully participate in the process of involving Tadashi with the team, so the chortle was a good sign even if it was at his expense.

"Concentrate!"

The smile was immediately knocked off his face when one of Gogo's training discs hit him square on his stomach.

His little brother's chortle turned to full-blown laughter.

Hiro wouldn't stop laughing.

"Y-you," the younger Hamada wheezed, "You got hit by all of them."

"I didn't!" Tadashi replied with a rightfully indignant tone. He was pretty sure he dodged a good amount of them, even if it felt like he got hit more than he dodged.

"No way bro, I was at the sidelines. I'm pretty sure you got hit by all of them."

"Of course you'd keep count, won't you? You little nerdling!" Tadashi turned around and swept Hiro off his feet, earning a surprised yelp from the smaller boy.

"Put me down!" came the protests. Hiro's eyes widened when he felt where Tadashi's aiming for. "No, don't you dare, don't you-!"

He cut himself off with his own laughter, Tadashi's fingers tickling him mercilessly.

"T-that's-" more giggles, "that's not fair!"

"Pretty fair!" The older Hamada put Hiro down on his bed. His eyes widened in surprise when Hiro promptly sat up and aimed at Tadashi's belly.

"My turn!"

And that's how the next hour passed, both of them trying to outdo each other's tickle attacks. Tadashi might be bigger and stronger but Hiro took advantage of his tiny figure and darted around like a squirrel.

It was like when they were younger all over again, with no care for the world.

Only Hiro and Tadashi.

The tickling ended when both were too exhausted to continue, the two of them lying on Tadashi's bed with small chuckles still running through their bodies.

"Doesn't change that you got hit by all of them..." Hiro yawned. His eyes were gradually closing and he dozed off by the time he finished his sentence.

"Good night," Tadashi murmured back fondly, brushing a strand of hair from Hiro's face. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep, missing the faint ping that sounded on Hiro's computer.

It wasn't important.

"The last thing you need is a weapon," Fred started with all the seriousness he could muster, "You'll definitely need a sword. Swords are cool!"

"I'm going to agree with Fred," Came Wasabi's surprising agreement, "Not because it's cool per say but because we all simultanously, and when I mean simultanously I meant everyone, agreed on making sure you have a decent weapon to defend yourself with."

"A sword?" Tadashi disbelief was still clear, "I don't even know how to use a sword!"

"You do know how to use a katana though," Hiro piped out quietly from a corner.

The three of them turned their attention towards their youngest member. Hiro kicked his legs against the table he was sitting on, uncomfortable with the three stares.

.

.

.

"You don't mind me having a weapon," Tadashi breathed out.

"You mean I want you to be able to defend yourself," Hiro mumbled, a flicker of doubt across his face.

Behind them, Fred seemed to have accept the new fact with refreshed vigor. He began planning, roping in Wasabi with his elaborate ideas of Tadashi's new weapon.

Tadashi chose not to focus on them, instead staring at Hiro, trying to read his younger brother's mood.

Hiro squirmed under his brother's questioning gaze, a faint blush across his cheeks. His legs were kicking harder now and he wouldn't meet Tadashi's eyes. Emotions flit across his face; Hiro couldn't seem to decide on whether to object to his own idea or be interested in it.

He looked exactly like when he was ten years old, trying so hard to be cool and not show interest in the lame robotics his brother was about to make a career of.

"Alright," Tadashi barely held back from putting on a wide smile, "I'll go with a katana."

How Fred got the connections with a proper swordsmith remains a mystery that only the secretly-rich teen could answer.

The end result was a sight to behold. Long and elegant, with Wasabi's signature and personal addition of laser to the edge that could be activated whenever needed. The handle was white with red and purple crisscrossed as accent colors. Hiro had personally added a magnetic grip.

The moment it was ready, they picked the first free weekend they have to let the older Hamada try it out.

Tadashi wielded the weapon with grace, aiming for the three training dummies in front of him. The lasers made it easy to slice through them and when he was done, the training dummies were in two pieces each.

The Nerd Gang crowded around Tadashi, congratulating him.

"Perfect!" Honey squealed.

"Not yet," Hiro murmured quietly, leaving the room.

Two weeks later, Tadashi woke up to a barely-stopping-himself-from-bubbling-in-excitement Hiro standing by the side of his bed, trying too hard to look like he's trying to wake his brother up in the most non-excited way possible.

"You're hiding something."

"I'm not!" Hiro sounded affronted, "Well, I mean yes, since it was sort of a surprise. It's a good surprise!" The last part was added hastily when Tadashi's expression turned wary. The last time he had woken up to a Hiro type surprise it had involved Mochi, rocket boots and an entire sleepless night.

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look, Tadashi. It's nothing dangerous this time."

"You said that the last time you created Megabot," Tadashi sighed. He climbed out of bed, grabbing a towel. "Let me have some time to shower and prepare myself for your terror."

Hiro's only reaction was a snort as Tadashi closed the bathroom door behind him.

"I haven't seen Hiro bubbling like that since the last time he revealed Baymax's armour."

Tadashi gave a weak smile at Honey Lemon. The thought of Hiro being happy when he was 'dead' was a great relief even when the idea was on something dangerous.

.

.

.

Oh, who was he trying to convince? Tadashi couldn't help his inward sighing.

Honey, to her credit, placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder coupled with a warm smile.

"Show us what you have, little man!" Fred looked as excited as Hiro was, bouncing in the same excited energy as the younger Hamada.

Hiro's face was flushed from excitement, cheeks glowing with a rosy hue. It made him looked like the age he was, still a child. He caught Tadashi's eyes and flashed him a cheeky grin.

"Baymax," the younger Hamada motioned the nurse bot to come over.

There was a package covered in white cloth in Baymax's hands.

"Allow me to show you all-" Hiro pulled the cloth away dramatically, "my newest creation, a hover board!"

The hover board was a thing of beauty. It was sleek white with certain parts tastefully outlined in striking reds and thin purples. It's a little wider than an average skateboard but it wasn't particularly any longer.

Hiro took it from Baymax's hands, practically bouncing over to the group to show them the new equipment. "So what do you guys think?"

"Wicked!" Fred called out. Beside him, Gogo let out a mumble of agreement.

Tadashi brushed his hand over the hover board, marveling his brother's beautiful handicraft. "Seems a little dangerous."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "I don't want to hear that from someone who made a hover cart before," he sniped back. The memory made both of them grin, even if it had ended with both of them chewed out by Aunt Cass and getting grounded for a week.

"You don't need it though, since you go around on Baymax anyway."

"Who said it was for me?" Hiro twirled the hover board. He stopped the twirling abruptly, red climbing up his cheeks. "It's-uh," the younger Hamada hesitated, "...it's for you. For joining the team." A fiercer blush ran up his face. "I-it's not for you to go running into danger though! You use it to escape, you hear me?"

The older Hamada could only stare at the offered gift.

"...For me," Tadashi looked at the hover board with a new light in his eyes. There was a warm feeling in his chest; it reminded him of that time so long ago when 4 year old Hiro came back from school and declared that he had chose to write about Tadashi in his essay regarding 'My hero'.

It's a gift.

It's a gift that invited him to join Hiro's current world, to be a team again, a gift that extended his trust.

Tadashi felt like the happiest man in the entire world right now.

"Well, are you going to stand there and just stare at it?" Hiro huffed, still trying to suppress his embarrassment. He put on a smirk, reaching out to pull Tadashi's hand. "Come on you nerd, let's get you on this."

'No' didn't even crossed Tadashi's mind.

Hiro laughed harder than he should when he saw Tadashi fell for the ninth time in a row.

"I've got this," Tadashi grumbled lightly. He'll master using Hiro's hover board if that's the last thing he will do. He refused to disappoint his little brother again. "It's just like surfing, isn't it?"

"Be careful!" Honey called out from the sidelines.

"I can do this," Tadashi muttered. Stand on top of it, balance himself. It should be simple in theory but balancing was harder in practice.

Five hours later, Tadashi had to call it quits because his entire body was hurting and the sun was going down the horizon.

That didn't stop him from continuing every single day after.

"This is the 76th test," Hiro drawled out in a flat tone.

Tadashi fell down in front of him.

"I nearly got it, one more try," the older Hamada's enthusiasm was still as undying as the first day, "Have faith in me, Hiro!"

"I do have faith," Hiro pouted slightly, "I'm also rather hungry, if you don't mind."

Tadashi let out breathless laughter. "Don't be like that," he flailed his hand around slightly to keep his balance on the hover board -

- and he didn't fall over.

Hiro's jaw dropped. "You did it!" he let out an excited hiss, "Tadashi, you did it!"

"It worked!" Tadashi's eyes were wide, "It worked! Oh, this is amazing! See Hiro, what did I tell you? It worked!"

The hover board moved slightly but Tadashi had practiced enough to instinctively compensate for the slight off-balance.

"Oh, wait till the team sees you!" Hiro laughed, "Oh my god it really worked!"

Tadashi moved the hover board around a little more, doing turns and quick little movements. Hiro marveled over the control his older brother seemed to have picked up after getting his balance right.

He missed the smirk that graced Tadashi's face.

The next thing Hiro knew, he was pulled up to the hover board.

"Dashi!" Hiro yelped in panic, arms immediately going around Tadashi's waist for balance. He liked flying, he really did but not without the assurance of his magnetic holds!

"Hang on tight!" Tadashi laughed. He lowered his body and they went in circles, going faster and faster and

Tadashi's hand was holding on to Hiro's tightly

and Hiro found himself laughing along, instinctively knowing that Tadashi will never let him go. The wind whipped around them in a frenzy and they couldn't see anything with the speed they were going, circles and circles and eventually Tadashi tripped, sending both of them rolling over to the nearby bush.

"HAMADA! BOTH OF YOU! WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING?"

Gogo's roar rang through the portion of Fred's garden that they had chose to be the practice spot.

The two brothers looked up. Both of them were tangled in the bush, Hiro on top because the older Hamada had cushioned his fall at the very last minute.

Tadashi, despite the yell and the leaves stuck to his hair, threw a grin at Hiro.

Hiro grinned back.

They had been at the top of the world and Hiro could never be happier to have Tadashi by his side.

A few weeks later, everything went to hell.

Of course it had to happen on Akuma Island.

"Oh no."

"Oh no indeed," Hiro echoed Baymax, "What the hell are we looking at?"

"Language," Tadashi chided beside him. Hiro couldn't help but roll his eyes at that.

"Tentacle monster of sorts," Fred decided to answer, "It's also black, slimy and looked a little dangerous."

"A little," Gogo's tone was highly sarcastic, "Fred, it's taller than the Ishioka Lab."

"At least it's smaller than the entire campus!" Honey said amiably, "That's something, right?"

"Uh guys," Wasabi's voice was a pitch higher than his usual, "Rather than deciding on it's size, can we please get to planning how to get rid of it?"

Tadashi was faintly surprised by how naturally all their friends turned to look at Hiro. His little brother was biting the lower part of his lip lightly, thinking hard about the situation.

"We need more information on this creature," Hiro started, "We'll also need to find a way to contain it, stop it from leaving the island. Gogo, Fred." He turned to face the two. "Can we count on the two of you for containment?"

He's betting on Gogo's speed and Fred's ability to cause high damage from a distance to keep things from spiraling out of control. Gogo nodded curtly, picking up on the plan immediately while Fred agreed happily.

"Honey, Wasabi," Hiro glanced at the monster for a bit before looking at them, "We need data. Help with the containment but your priority would be to observe what makes this creature ticks."

He trusted Honey's keen observation skills and Wasabi's talent in details. "Anything would do. How it moves, how it's alive and most importantly, how to stop it."

"What about me?"

Hiro paused at Tadashi's voice. He opened his mouth to say something but no sound came out.

His brother was standing in front of him in his gleaming white suit with red and purple, majestic and strong and Hiro thought that he should be more trusting of his brother's hard work. The suit would protect his brother but hard as he might, Hiro could not suppress the image of fire, red splashing across the white suit, failing at the most important moment.

"My sensors are detecting signs of life."

Hiro snapped his mouth shut and chose to look at Baymax. Their armored companion was looking at across the huge room they were in towards another smaller room of some sort. The dark tentacles were slowly inching closer and closer to said room as though as it knew that there's life in there as well.

'Control Room,' the younger Hamada realized belatedly, 'Of course.' Because a monster like this wouldn't just came out of nowhere without someone behind this thing.

"I can go there," Tadashi volunteered, "It's not far and with my hover board I could -"

"No!"

The team paused at Hiro's loud, negative made a small noise of understanding.

Hiro sucked in a deep breath to regain his composure. His eyebrows were furrowed, face set in a determined look. "I mean, I'll do it. I can get there faster anyway on Baymax rather than your hover board."

Now it's Tadashi's turn to frown, briefly glancing at said room. The tentacles were so close that they looked like they were about to smother the control room and crush it to a thousand pieces.

A deep kind of fear crawled up his chest, threatening to choke his heart. He opened his mouth to protest and

Gogo stepped in between them with her arms crossed.

"Listen," she spoke in a no-nonsense tone, "Listen the two of you. Both of you go there together and find out who it is and both of you make sure to come back." There was a fierce glint in her eyes, "Understand?"

"Yes Gogo," the two Hamadas answered in unison, not daring to say anything else.

"Good," Gogo turned away, "Let's start now."

Only Honey caught the flash of worry in Gogo's eyes.

When the two of them got to the control room, they noticed that one corner was already swathed in dark tentacles.

"We don't have much time," Hiro muttered, leaping off Baymax's back and heading straight for the closest entrance he could spot. The faster they could do this the faster he could get Tadashi away from here.

Behind him, his older brother turned on his sensors. "To your right, Hiro," he directed easily and sure enough they soon spotted a man hiding away beneath a table.

He was average-looking with balding problem, grey hair lining the faded brown of his hair. He was wearing a lab coat and they could see the glasses' handles on his ears despite his face being hidden away for now.

Hiro couldn't help the hesitation in his steps. The last time they found a man in this accursed island that's not part of their team, that man turned out to be their enemy.

('Give me the mask, Hiro.')

Tadashi had no such hesitation. Of course he wouldn't, not when the team had still been skirting around the Callaghan issue.

Hiro's hand darted out to catch Tadashi's when his older brother moved past him to get to the man. Tadashi paused, slight confusion on his face before he squeezed Hiro's hand in a reassuring grip. Slowly, the older Hamada pulled Hiro along with him to go check on the the man they had came for.

"Sir?"

The man shrieked, cutting off Tadashi from saying anything else. He looked up, only then realizing that Tadashi was a person, not the monstrosity outside.

"What? How?" the man spluttered, "No, it doesn't matter, you guys must get out of here. It's not safe!"

Hiro's grip tightened, the teen biting back the need to say 'No shit'. Tadashi must have guessed his thoughts because the older Hamada had shot him a look, one that said he wouldn't appreciate snark at this current moment.

"Sir, we're here to help," Hiro said, instead, "Do you happen to know what that thing is?"

"You can stop it?" The older man seemed to launch himself at Hiro, "You have to understand, I didn't mean for this to happen! All I wanted was to get her back! I still need her, Marys still need her!"

"What-? I don't, Dashi help-!"

Tadashi smoothly put himself between the freaked out man and his frazzled younger brother. Hiro glanced at the panicked man apprehensively from behind Tadashi, dignity being the only thing keeping him from fully hiding behind Tadashi and letting him deal with all this alone.

"Sir," the older Hamada's voice was firm, "Calm down, take a deep breath." He waited for the man to do so, glancing behind himself to see Hiro doing the same.

Outside, he briefly saw a flash of fire and heard the sharp slicing sound of Gogo's wheels.

They have no time.

"Sir..." Tadashi's eyes caught the name tag sewn on the man's lab jacket, "Dr. Iosama? We are running out of time. We need to get out of here."

"GUYS LOOK OUT!"

Honey's shrill scream was accompanied with a shadow looming over them, blocking the lights from the control room window. Tadashi's eyes widened, the man in front of him whimpered, Hiro lunged forward and

the tentacle came down upon them, crushing the control room to pile of rubble.

.

.

.

There was a loud, squishy sound as a rocket fist punched through the tentacle with ease. From behind, Baymax flew up and reattached his fist before hovering in the air.

The team let out a collective sigh of relief when they spotted the three passengers on their armored companion's back.

"Does that thing have a weakness?" Hiro questioned the professor, "How do we get it back into the portal?"

From above they could see clearly that more and more tentacles spawning out of the portal, spilling out like the nightmare they were.

"W-we could turn off the power," Dr. Iosama stuttered, eyes wide. He held on to Baymax's wing with a death grip. "But it's back in the control room and the tentacles had already covered it earlier so that's impossible."

Hiro resisted the urge to dramatically sigh.

"There must be another solution," Tadashi murmured, eyes sweeping the battlefield below them. He could see Wasabi's laser hands cutting through a tentacle, but it regenerated almost as fast as it was sliced off. "Come on, from another angle..."

That seemed to spark an idea in Dr. Iosama. "You could destroy the generators that keep the portals running!"

The two brothers looked at him for more explanation.

"Three generators," Dr. Iosama said, "There, there and there. Taking out two should automatically start the portals' in-built emergency shut down, but don't take out the third one! The lack of power will make it unstable too fast and cause an explosion."

"Simple enough," Hiro urged Baymax to land, nudging the extra passengers down, "I'll do it. I can direct Baymax and the rocket fist should be enough power to take the generators out. The two of you should head for safety -"

"Hiro."

Hiro snapped his mouth shut.

Tadashi had a hand on his arm, desperation glinting in those eyes.

Hiro realized with a start that he knows only too well how it was like to be in Tadashi's position right now. After all, he had felt the same thing only a few moments ago, didn't he?

"I'm sorry," the younger Hamada blurted out.

Tadashi looked fairly startled by the apology.

"For not trusting you earlier, Tadashi. I'm sorry." Hiro repeated, looking down and biting his lip for a moment, before reaching up and taking off his helmet. He faced his older brother with a determined light in his eyes.

"I'll be right back," Hiro promised, patting Baymax's shoulder, "I have Baymax. Isn't that right, buddy?"

"I'll keep him safe Tadashi," Baymax didn't even blink. Tadashi thought he could hear the unspoken vow.

The older Hamada reluctantly released his hold.

.

.

.

Hiro leaned forward and pulled him into a hug.

"Last hug!" Tadashi could hear Hiro murmured into his ear forcefully through his helmet, "until I'm back, of course. Thank you for trusting me, nii-chan."

Tadashi tightened the hug, squeezing his eyes. He let Hiro go slowly, watched as his little brother climbed up Baymax's back and placed his helmet back on. Then the two of them were off, flying fast and towards a goal.

He waited for a bit before turning to Dr. Iosama.

"Come on," Tadashi hoped his voice didn't tremble. His hover board hummed to life. "Let's get you out of here."

They flew as high as they could, reaching merely a few meters below the ceiling. From here, Hiro and Baymax could see the entire battlefield, the entire fight.

There was Gogo, zooming through the tentacles and slicing them as they get in her way. Right behind her was Fred, breathing fire and smashing whatever that was left with a metal pole he picked up from somewhere.

Wasabi slashed one of the tentacles barely about to hit Honey from behind. In return, the chirpy girl froze three extra limbs that had wanted to hit Wasabi's back in retaliation.

Hiro couldn't help but smile. Their team had grown so much, in so much sync with each other. Tadashi...was part of the team now, too.

Now was also not the time to be all mushy over that.

Hiro flicked open the display on his glove, typing in something quick. The display immediately showed him three highlighted objects.

The generators.

"Alright Baymax, let's go for the corner one first."

Baymax gave an affirmative, diving downwards. As they got closer to the ground flying became a tad more dangerous with the flailing tentacles and general chaos.

"Heads up!"

Hiro ducked as one of Gogo's sharp wheels came flying just above him, destroying a limb that had nearly knocked him off. Briefly, he could see the telltale sharp green color of Wasabi's laser nearby.

"Be careful!" The older man called out before running back into the fray after Gogo.

"I will!" Hiro steered Baymax and spotted an opening, "Now, Baymax! Rocket Fist!"

It was a clear shot and the fist destroyed the first generator with a small explosion. The portal frame sparked a bit, the glowing lights around it dimming slightly.

The creature they were fighting seemed to take note of this. It had been rather silent all this while but now it let out a furious shriek, startling everyone in the vicinity.

"Dude," Fred's voice rang over the comm lines, "Where even is the mouth on this thing?"

Hiro didn't hear the answer as he needed to swerve upwards sharply, a tentacle flung to his direction with much force. It seemed like the monster was done flailing about; it had picked a proper target at last and it's Hiro, who had done something threatening and therefor must be eliminated first.

Seemingly never ending number of tentacles flailing about randomly had been pretty scary and dangerous.

Seemingly never ending number of tentacles with a direct intention of killing you were fairly terrifying.

'I need to destroy the second one fast,' Hiro realized. Baymax dived suddenly to avoid a tentacle and Hiro barely heard his friends screaming his name as the wind knocked out of his thoughts.

"Hiro -!"

Something hit Hiro from the back.

He felt himself getting flung off Baymax's back, felt himself fall to the ground with a painful thump. He musn't have fell from very high because he didn't feel like he broke any bones, but it still hurt like hell when he pushed himself up. He lost his helmet, Hiro realized belatedly when a tentacle swung somewhere above him and he could feel the force of the wind.

Hiro looked up in time to see the tentacle flinging Baymax's far away, the robot smashing against the rubble on the other side of the room.

"BAYMAX!" he screamed.

Probably a bad idea.

The curious side of him really wanted to know how this monster could hear him, but the terrified side of him widened his eyes at the sight of a tentacle raised high, poised to smashed him to bits.

Baymax had been flung too far.

Checkmate.

The tentacle descended with all the fury of the monster. Hiro threw up his arms defensively and squeezed his eyes in sheer panic-

-only to hear the creature letting out a furious, pained scream.

There was no blow, nothing smashing him into smithereens.

Hiro cracked open an eye.

Tadashi stood in front of him, laser katana raised high. The metallic part of the blade caught the light in the room, glinting off the weapon.

A similarly fierce glint was reflected on his brother's eyes.

Beside them, a severed tentacle flopped pathetically before going still.

Hiro gaped at the size of it.

"Hiro, are you alright?"

And then there was Tadashi, holding on to his shoulders and checking him for any drastic injuries. Hiro could only close his mouth and nodded numbly.

Tadashi sighed in relief.

"You guys need to get out of there," Wasabi's voice came through his brother's helmet, "This creature is furious; I don't think we can contained it any longer."

"Okay," Tadashi scooped Hiro up before starting up his hover board.

"We need to destroy the second generator!" Hiro blurted out, "It's so close! I could still get to it and then the creature will be sucked back into the portal!"

"You are not going back in there," Tadashi answered back stubbornly, "That had been a very close shave, Hiro."

Hiro shook his head in equal stubbornness. "We're that close to stopping it, we're not leaving now!"

"Baymax," Tadashi said, instead of arguing back, "Rocket Fist."

Hiro gawked for the second time that day as Baymax's rocket fist swerved through the air above them and hit the second generator the same time Tadashi launched off, headng towards the exit. The rest of the team was already heading towards the same direction, ways ahead of them.

"I..." the younger Hamada looked up at his brother, "Y-you know Baymax's battle commands?"

"Hey, I created him," Tadashi huffed in mock hurt, "Of course I would keep up with his commands and protocols. Then there's always you yelling it around quite often, bonehead. "

They were both interrupted by another loud, painful sounding shriek.

It was easy to see why. With the destruction of the second generator, the portal had began sucking the creature back to it's original world. The creature's tentacles lashed out wildly as it tried to get a good grip on something but the rest of the gang had done well; there were too little tentacles to be use to hold on to anything.

What they didn't anticipate was for one of the remaining tentacles to lash out and smash the last generator.

.

.

.

"Shit," Hiro muttered. Tadashi agreed.

It was an immediate affect. The portal frame, which lights had been slowly dimming, suddenly began to glow red and flashed warning signals. The creature let out a dying wail.

The portal was going to explode and they weren't out of there yet.

"Shit," this time it was Tadashi who said it as the portal's pull became greater than what the hover board could handle. Hiro briefly bemoaned their fate in his head when a shadow loomed over them and grabbed hold.

"Baymax!" Hiro could not be happier than to see his friend right now.

"Please hold on tight," The robot said calmly, pushing his thrusters to the maximum.

They were so, so close to the exit, the portal's pull getting stronger and stronger. The brothers could see the rest of the team holding on to the door frame, watching the two of them with panicked looks.

They're not going to make it, Hiro realized, not even with Baymax. Tadashi looked like he realized it too, the desperation entering his brother's eyes.

Then Fred did the impossible.

He took one of Honey's chemballs and smashed it between his suit and the floor. A tough, sticky substance appeared and

Fred dived forward with his hands reaching out

and grabbed hold of Baymax. The sticky substance acted like a recoiling spring; it pulled them back so hard that Fred, Baymax, Tadashi and Hiro was chucked onto the corridor wall outside the exit.

The moment they went through the exit Honey threw more chemballs to the ground, covering the exit with a solid, light blue substance. Her timing was excellent; half a second later the portal's explosion rocked the place.

Everyone fell forward but the building's reinforced steel walls held on.

Honey's chemical wall cracked, leaving a diagonal gash over the smooth, solid light blue substance but otherwise letting nothing through.

.

.

.

"...think it's over?"

Nobody said anything else for a few more seconds as though as they were afraid it was going to jinx them.

Then Fred let out a happy cheer, jumping up and immediately being pulled down by the sticky chemical still stuck between his suit and the floor. Honey shook her head in fond exasperation, fingers already tapping the nullifier for the strong, sticky substance she had given Fred.

Gogo was beside Dr. Iosama, the distress in her eyes replaced with a kind of softness. Wasabi was letting out weak laughter, relief spread on his face. Dr. Iosama himself was being checked upon by Baymax, the man seemingly unnerved by the robot's size.

Hiro turned his gaze to look at his brother.

Tadashi was laughing at Fred, the costumed teen refusing to stay still for Honey to apply the nullifier. There was a trace of hysterical relief in his rich laughter and Hiro found that he was bursting out into relieved chuckles as well.

Everyone was safe.

Everyone was fine.

That's all he could ask for.

"I have a daughter."

They were in Fred's private helicopter and Hiro was about to nod off, curled up on Tadashi's lap when Dr Iosama finally said something to break the comfortable silence.

Immediately, the team perked up for the story.

Dr. Iosama pushed back his glasses, looking out of the helicopter window with a faraway look in his eyes. "She's 14 years old this year," a fond smile graced his lips, "Her name is Marys. Marys Iosama. She means everything to me."

Tadashi made a soft sound of understanding. Hiro felt the arms around him tightened just a bit.

"My wife passed away when Marys was 10," Dr. Iosama's smile dropped, "I miss her, I know Marys misses her too. Marys...she..." the professor bit his lip for a bit, "She comes home with these bruises, you know? Children can be so cruel to those who are different from them. I hear Marys crying in her room, from time to time."

Honey, who was sitting beside the professor, placed a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner. Fred looked unusually serious, a type of fury in his eyes.

Gogo wasn't showing any particular emotion but by the way she crossed her arms, it was easy to tell that she wasn't pleased. Wasabi looked away, unable to say anything.

Hiro hid his face away. The story had hit a little too close to home and Hiro could feel it pulling up bad memories.

He also knew Tadashi was seeing red right about now.

"My wife," Dr. Iosama's smile was sad and tired, "she always knew what to say to make Marys feel better. I...I can't do this without her. All I know is science, all I know is to understand science. Marys deserved better, she deserved her mother."

Silence filled the atmosphere for a bit.

Hiro squeezed Tadashi's arm to calm him down.

"But how did you get access to the portal?" Gogo finally piped up. There was no cruelty in her tone, only curiosity.

"Project Silent Sparrow," Dr. Iosama let out a chuckle. The team sans Tadashi jumped at the familiar name, "If I recalled correctly, the first case your team handled, isn't that right? The Callaghan case."

It was fortunate Hiro still had his face hidden cause otherwise all of them would see how pale he had become. Tadashi must have sensed something was wrong because he began to draw circles on Hiro's back to soothe him.

(Even when they hadn't told Tadashi anything, keep putting it off, keep saying later, later only for it to be never)

Dr. Iosama didn't seem to sense anything amiss. "That portal was a similar portal to the final result of Project Silent Sparrow, except that when we turned it on, it leads to a different place." He looked thoughtful. "It had been remarkable, even as a failure. That portal leads to another world."

"Impossible," Wasabi whispered from one side.

"Yet we made it," Dr. Iosama let out a hearty chuckle, "It was the highlight of my career that's for sure but as scientists, our research funding was limited to our sponsors and Krei didn't want another world. The risk and cost at that time wasn't considered very beneficial so the project was temporarily shelved. We meant to come back to it sometime in the future, but after the tragedy of Project Silent Sparrow, everything was to be abandoned."

A tired, regretful sigh escaped Dr. Iosama. "Perhaps, like Project Silent Sparrow it was meant to be forgotten, a power that man shouldn't have tried to touch. I thought...I thought that if I tweaked it just right...maybe I could have..."

"Found a world where your wife was still alive," Hiro finished for him in a whisper. The teen looked up and faced the professor with a haunted look in his eyes, a sense of kinship.

(Because there were nights when he dreamed of rainbow swirls and remembered Abigail beneath the cold glass and walked through the portal into his brother's arms)

Dr. Iosama returned that look with his own bitter smile.

The rest of the journey was deathly silent after that.

When Marys Iosama answered the doorbell, she had not expected to see Big Hero 6.

"Daddy!"

She had also not expected her dad, who had been missing for the whole day.

"Marys," Dr. Iosama's voice was warm and fond, before looking a little sheepish, "Please invite the rest of our guests in, would you? Let's not talk at the front door."

And that's when Marys realized that the superheroes of San Fransokyo looked battered. Her dad was also similarly battered, his lab coat torn in several places.

Several things clicked in her head at once.

To her credit, Marys didn't passed out or anything similar. Instead, she placed a shaky smile on her face and said, "Welcome into our humble abode."

Marys served them all ginseng herbal tea and sat down for the story.

The team awkwardly allowed Hiro to tell it, with Tadashi supportively narrating some parts, Honey with comforting words and Fred with various sound effects.

"I see," Marys fingers tightened around the handle of her mug. She didn't looked particularly upset, only very, very sad.

She placed down her mug.

"My dad was very sad when my mom passed on," Marys put on a weak smile, "I don't think he ever recovered from it, not fully anyway. He tries so very hard."

"It is partially my fault," she continued without missing a beat, "If I had not come home crying, maybe it would be okay, maybe it wouldn't. We'll never know."

Marys gave them a small smile. "But now it's alright, I think. I-I've found a friend and I've a important goal now. I'll grow up tough and take care of him so my dad wouldn't succumb to this kind of pressure again, that much I can promise."

There was a kind of gleam in her eyes that Hiro recognized and Marys Iosama stood before bowing down low.

"I am formally asking the team to not report my dad to the authorities."

Hiro remembered that she's only 14 and remembered growing up the same way she did. He remembered how it was like to face the world and finally take responsibility.

"Okay," he agreed without much hesitation.

Hiro also remembered that if they turned in Dr Iosama, Marys would be left all alone and he would never, ever wish that on anyone.

"Yes, understood, no, no one was harmed. No one saw what happened either. Yes, okay, bye."

"What did Krei say?" Tadashi looked up from applying some salve on Hiro. There was a kind of dislike in Tadashi's voice but he didn't say anything else.

"He agreed to keep things under wraps for this one," Hiro chucked the phone aside and stretched, only to wince when that hurt his aching body. "It's pretty easy this time round since nobody else saw it happening."

Tadashi made a small noise of agreement, applying the last of the soothing salve before putting the container aside.

The team was back in Fred's house after leaving Dr. Iosama's place. It was late and most of them was ready to go home; they were just unpacking and changing out of their suits.

Hiro and Tadashi got a room to themselves with Baymax charging at one corner. One of the reasons why the team didn't just fly back to mainland with Baymax was because Hiro wasn't sure if his battery would last.

Now the younger Hamada was just kicking his feet on the bed while Tadashi fussed all over him.

"You're all patched up," his older brother said good-naturedly, lightly flicking Hiro on the nose as he stood up. Hiro let out a dramatic, fake yelp.

Tadashi rolled his eyes.

Hiro pretended to flop on the bed.

"Oh you dramatic cat," the older Hamada chuckled, "Let me change my clothes and we can go back home. Sleep sounds great right now."

Hiro sat up to see his brother taking off his shirt and his breath hitched.

Solar flare scars spread out over Tadashi's back like the glorious sun

but

the image of fire was replaced with the majestic white of his older brother's suit, Tadashi holding up his katana reflecting the light with a vengeful gleam in his eyes

and Hiro found himself calming down.

Tadashi was alive and strong as though as there were no fire.

Hiro reached out and brushed his hands over the scars.

He barely registered Tadashi flinching in surprise. The scars felt smooth, little bumps here and elaborate webs that seemed to draw the story of that night.

"Hiro?"

Hiro was surprised to find that he wasn't afraid of the scars anymore.

How could he, when he had such a glorious image of his brother looking like a majestic guardian?

"You know," his hand fell away from the scars. Hiro looked up at Tadashi with a tentative smile. "I think...we made a pretty darn good team."

.

.

.

Tadashi pulled Hiro up and into a hug.

"Yeah," he mumbled to his little brother's hair, "I think we do."

(Hiro could see fire and see his brother with a blade in his hand and for the first time in many nights he did not scream)

"Hey Hiro?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to tell Aunt Cass?"

Hiro's only answer was muffled laughter.

Headcanons and Notes::
- After Tadashi and Hiro finish trying to outmanevour each other by implementing safety features, they took the competition to another level by seeing who could upgrade everyone else's suit better. Honey and Wasbi wasn't too unhappy about it, Fred was a little disappointed it wasn't anything flashy while Gogo was a little pissed off by the fact that they tampered the suit without her knowledge and permission (thus her rather sadistic streak in her training Tadashi)

- Aunt Cass knows *laughs evilly*

- The part where the team was training Tadashi was written with Immortals playing in the background. It was meant to capture the same feel as the movie. I hope it worked :D

- The hover board gift was a turning point for Hiro. He opposed the idea of Tadashi joining from the very beginning and have come to accept and chose to look at it from another angle, how to keep him safe rather than out of it.

- For Tadashi and the hover board: Mastering the hover board was a lot like mastering a bike. Once you get the balance right the rest comes easier after that. Also this scene pays homage to Tadashi's determination, specifically when he was building Baymax (Hiro gets the chance to count the number of failures this round XD)

- I feel like Hiro's inclined to shorten Tadashi's name in moments when he became panicked or in fast paced situations.

- Tadashi's hover board has magnetic holds for his feet, a lot like his katana. This was so he didn't need to worry about his foothold while hovering.

- While Tadashi's a careful when it concerns Hiro, he's still only a teen just turned adult. He has his moments when he acts reckless like Hiro, he just needed to be responsible most of the time.

- The bit where Tadashi dragged Hiro in circles with a hover board was a little bit from my childhood (not the hover board, of course). When I was younger, I used to clasp one hand to my sibling's hand, face opposite directions (a bit like a rotor fan arrangement) and start running while not letting each other go. Put enough tension and speed and it really felt like you're flying while hanging on for dear life.

Letting go was both disconcerting and depending on where we land, might hurt quite a bit :P Still worth every memory though. (I'm very very close to my sibling :) )

I was inspired to put this bit in as a tribute to 'Top of the World' except as a happier reflection. Also I watched the animators behind the scenes talk about BH6 and how the directors had called them in a room during the brainstorming session and ask them to tell a story of their lives with their siblings (most of the major animators that worked on BH6 had a younger sibling). This is a tribute to them as well (and to every older sibling out there that loves their younger with all their heart)

- Ishioka lab was the lab where the Nerd Gang works in.

- Krei was the one who informed the BH6 gang about the monster in Akuma Island. Ever since the Callaghan incident, he kept a monthly surveillance on the island despite being able to wrap everything under the rug. My headcanon was that Akuma Island was a research island for experimental technologies by Krei Tech so it didnt't only hold a singular experiment, possibly several of them.

Also, as was standard with most experimental areas, the room where they found their current monster was super similar to the room where the portal was from the movie. Standard quality and all.

- Hiro hiding behind Tadashi after being frazzled by Dr Iosama's outburst was a nod to the pigeon part of the movie where he dived behind Baymax instinctively.

- Hiro's use of display embedded in his gloves was actually canon. It was drawn that he could open the display and hook wires from it to whatever problems he needs to solve through. (source : The Art of Big Hero 6) This was elaborated a little bit more in the DS Game.

- Originally I wanted to tie in the bank robbery/bombing cases from the first few chapters for this finale wrap up (cause it's only fitting) but after thinking it through (and I thought a lot for that one, I had like 5 different scenarios) it just couldn't work. I felt like the robbery/bombing one, though not elaborated upon, was already wrapped up pretty nicely and it's not too bad to introduce a new case. Think of the robbery/bombing one as a minor case (eg. something interesting but not super elaborated upon, much like the botfighting in the first part of the movie).

To be fair to those who were curious of what I was thinking when I chose robbery/bombing, I actually had this elaborate scenario on an underground religious movement attempting to bomb a major part of the town. Then I thought it was kind of uncomfortable to write (and the details would make the story lose that innocent, Disney feel that comes with the movie).

I tried to incorporate it back in and that's when (like what I wrote in one of the comments) it became an elaborate scenario on turf wars and gang fights, much like in the beginnings of BH6's concept art (the one with Yama as main villain). At that very moment, I understand why it was taken out of the movie; it's too dark as well, too complicated and would detract from the main theme of the movie. So yeah, those are my lines of reasoning. Apologies to those who expected more from that case.

- Tentacle monster idea didn't just come out of nowhere. I drew inspiration from one of their deleted scenes in which this monster (called Entity) originally was suppose to appear as main antagonist and yes, it's from an alternate universe (Abigail was scientist/researcher for the deleted scene). The idea of cutting off the power to suck Entity back into the portal was from the deleted scenes as well (In the scenes themselves, they were supposed to shut down the portal gradually for it to be safe but in their panic they were forced to shut down forcefully and that caused an explosion)

- Tadashi chose to upgrade a particular sensor in his helmet that was similar to Baymax's in term of power and scanning for life. After all he's to seek out injured people and get them away from the field.

- Tadashi read up on all the battle protocols that Hiro had installed on Baymax. It's for emergency situations of course. Boy did he sigh a lot when he was reading it through.

- Dr. Iosama and Marys Iosama were minor but canon characters to the Big Hero 6 comics (I also finally got my hands on them and managed to read through the major chapter)Dr. Iosama was a well-known scientist and Marys was his brilliant, intelligent daughter (also Hiro's love interest but that's not relevant to this story)

I want to stick as close to canon materials as I can but I played around with these two. I'm pulling off what the Disney writers did; grab canon material and spin my own interpretation on them. They might come back for future chapters :D

- Regarding romance and love interest, I will make it clear here. There will be ZERO ROMANCE in this story because my target for this story was family, humor and more life day to day thing. I want to stick close to the movie feel as much as I can get. I want to make it feel like it's something Disney could put on screen. The closest thing I'd do for romance here would be to pay homage to any previous relationship (Like Honey kissing Hiro on the cheek because she's his love interest too in the comics) The most you'll see of Marys would be her as a very good friend (she has her own kind of brilliance).

I have my own ships of course (I'm a shipper at heart, really) but none would be appearing in this story at all.

- Couldn't find a way to fit this into the story without it throwing the flow but Dr. Iosama was inspired to restart the portal that Entity came through about half a month after Callaghan's case, give or take. Several reasons for this, one being that seeing the portal working reminded him of the project and it inspired him because it still worked. At that time Dr. Iosama was at a low point, thinking of himself as a worthless father and the only thing he could do right was with his science so he chose to resort to this.

As for how he managed to work on the portal so fast without the microbots; the thing was the portal that the Entity came through was never destroyed in the first place. The military general only asked for the island to be shut down but not for it to be destroyed (so yes that means other experiments on that island were probably still intact). My take on it was that even with Krei's surveillance, the top secret projects worked on there meant Krei could only have a handful of people working to keep an eye on that island and like the shrewd businessman he was, he would probably go with camera surveillance, monthly basis because of cost and privacy issues. A brilliant scientist like Dr Iosama would know exactly how to get pass that, especially since the surveillance was very bias to Project Silent Sparrow. (To be fair the surveillance was what caught the strange activity in the end)

-The ping that the brothers ignored (and eventually forgot to check on) that night was something disturbing the surveillance in Akuma Island :) Hiro hacked into the cameras too; that island was really a sore spot for him.

- This was not included in the story because like above, it destroyed the flow of storytelling so here it is :D The friend Marys found was actually Abigail Callaghan. Abigail met her while the girl was crying and comforted her and became friends. They got along very well because they could relate to each other a lot (only daughter to a single father and said fathers tried so hard). Abigail was comforted by someone who would not judge her for her father's crimes (because to Marys, Abigail was a life saver) and Marys herself begun to be very inspired by Abigail.

What Marys meant as life goals was that she would try to graduate and go into Tesuka Advanced Science Institute where Abigail had took up a teaching position (Abigail didn't go back to San Fransokyo Institute of Technology so she could have a fresh start). Having a goal could really change a person and in this case, it's Marys life.

- The idea that Dr. Iosama wanted to tweak the portal to find a possible alternate universe where his loved one was alive was both a nod and a shout out to every fanfic in this fandom that had Hiro doing the same (trying to find a universe where Tadashi is alive) The most prominent fic I can think of (and absolutely love) was Across the Universe by The Birds and Bees.

- When they got back, Tadashi and Hiro told Aunt Cass they got carried away doing a project. Aunt Cass just shoved them a bowl of hot soup for supper and send them off to bed. Then the two of them got grounded for the next two days.

Author's note :

So I hope you guys enjoyed that. :)

Also, I have started a here : ( www * * com [slash] latiwings) for my fanfictions because my family is going through tough times in my country's economy problem. You don't have to participate, but do please at least check it out? (I spent a while setting up the pages so just go admire my formatting at least? XD)

Thank you for all the support as always.

Also this is not the end for HCA. The team haven't told Tadashi yet, oops.