Hey guys long time not talk, here it is the first chapter of the rewrite to Finding Hiro,
A big thanks to SkatingDJ for not only being the beta reader but also my co-author on this story, you made this story have so much more meaning and I hope everyone enjoys themselves as we dive back into this world.

Disclaimer: I don't own any thing!

THE PENTHOUSE

Another day, another dollar.

Just as his dad always said.

Hiro sat happily at a work desk, tinkering at his Megabot while wistfully pouring a third bag of gummy-bears into his otherwise ordinary cup of frozen yogurt. Hiro heard a faint yawn escape his father as he turned around and let out a snicker.

"Getting tired, old man?"

His dad, who sat beside him, gave a mere chuckle and a knock on the shoulder. "Hardly," he said with a sigh, readjusting himself, "just trying to understand how my son can eat so many gummy-bears in one sitting."

Hiro only grinned and shoved an enormous bite of frozen yogurt and gummy-bears into his mouth and swallowed it with a giggle; his father watching in amusement.

Hiro's father, Robert, cocked his head to the side, motioning his son towards the grand table where papers and blueprints lay waiting to be due.

Hiro knew the drill. 'Father and Son' days always ended like this; sitting together in the parlor, mulling over Robert's business. However, Hiro didn't mind viewing over his father's work in the least bit. As a matter of fact, he considered it a highlight of the day. He would even go as far as to call it an honor. Robert was rather reserved about his work, but Hiro did his research and learned that his father was a well respected genius for his technological accomplishments all throughout San Fransokyo. He had a secure job as a professor at SFIT that Hiro may have accompanied him on a rare occasion or two. Robert was also a founding creator of The Laws of Robotics. The man practically ran San Fransokyo with an iron fist with the amount of work and plans that construction workers and businessmen ran by him.

This brilliance was passed down to Hiro through vigorous home-schooled tutoring.

And Hiro was forever grateful.

Hiro's eyes scanned over the papers that lay before him with a fierce intensity. Shuffling through some blueprints with one hand, Hiro found a specific sheet as held it up to eye level and flashed his iconic, tooth-gaped smirk at his dad.

"Hey dad, these guys should seriously consider in investing in an improved stabilizer." Hiro hummed as he waves the print around carelessly, "Also, if you could urge them to fix the wiring, it would prevent overheating and be more stable."

With no response, Hiro glanced at his dad who wore a smile of pride upon his face.

"What?" Hiro said sheepishly as he bashfully looked away.

Robert leaned over and playfully tousled Hiro's hair. "Oh, just admiring my genius son."

"Dad!" Hiro sarcastically griped as he made a weak attempt to adjust his hair.

The two of them continued like this for quite some time, bantering the evening away, until a notification alerted Hiro of its presence.

Hiro didn't get many notifications because he didn't have many friends or participate on any social media. So, with piqued interest, Hiro examined his phone to find that Stan (his only friend as a matter of fact) had sent him an urgent message. Reading the text, Hiro almost fell out of his seat with jubilant excitement.

Seeing his son's enthralled expression, Robert returned his attention back to Hiro. "Something good?" He questioned.

Hiro mindlessly got up from his seat and went to fetch his hoodie and Megabot while still staring at his phone screen. "It's Stan," he relays, "apparently, there's a last minute bot fight and Yama will be there..."

Hiro's pacing slows as he realizes this means sacrificing 'Father and Son' time; he always hates disappointing his father.

"...If I want it." Hiro adds. He tries not to sound pleading.

Robert lets out a drawled sigh and raises an eyebrow at his son, making Hiro bite his lip and cower back to return his hoodie and bot.

But Hiro is stopped in his tracks when Robert speaks, "If you hear the cops, run."

Hiro's eyes light up as he rushes towards his dad and gives him a bear hug.

"Phone charged?" Robert asked, receiving a firm nod from Hiro.

Before Hiro can take another step, he is pulled back by his hood and a wad of cash is waved in front of his face. With a sly grin, Hiro takes the money and rushes out of the penthouse, calling one last goodbye to his father before locking the door behind him, "You're the best dad ever!

SAN FRANSOKYO – BACK ALLEYS

Pumping his arms, Hiro's feet beat the concrete as he weaves in between people during San Fransokyo's latest hour. Hiro never exercises, so he quickly runs out of breath and steadies himself into a fast pace once he ducks into an alleyway that is a sure route to tonight's bot fight.

Looking back, Hiro can still catch glimpses of the vibrant, neon lights that decorate the city. Unlike most of his peers, Hiro preferred to stay cooped indoors and tinker away at machinery and technology. It was always just him, his father, and his work up in the luxurious penthouse, and Hiro liked it that way. Everything else was just background noise, unnecessary indulgences that deprived Hiro of a bright future.

Of course, gummy-bears and bot fights were an exception.

After all, no force on Earth could separate Hiro and his delicious, multi-colored, artificially-flavored gummies. Secondly, his dad invented bot fights, of course he was going to be a star player!

To be honest, bot fighting was the one thing his father let him do on his own. Even so, he only let Hiro begin participating until a couple years ago, even though Hiro had begged his dad to let him play well before he reached double digits. His dad even had the gall to install trackers in his clothes and legitimately thought Hiro wasn't smart enough to find them and reprogram them. Hiro's gotten away with it ever since.

Not like he needed them, why couldn't his dad trust him to go out on his own to just bot fight?

Delving deeper into his thoughts, Hiro's face formed into a snarl.

Sure, bot fighting behind the scenes of San Fransokyo was more than sketchy business and Hiro could end up getting very hurt. Hiro could see the logic in that. Robert was also a very technical and thorough man, always one to think things through, and at this point it would be safe to assume he had a habit of over-thinking things. Similar to any good parent, Hiro understood that his father's over-protectiveness was rooted from his compassion and love. It was just that Hiro felt that being tracked without consent was a touch creepy.

Nonetheless, Hiro wasn't dumb.

There was something more to it than just helicopter parenting.

Every once in a while, Hiro would catch his father passing sorrowful, anguished looks at him. Hiro was always too embarrassed to ask what those were, but he was forever curious.

One day, Hiro made a foolish mistake about asking why his father always insisted having him home-schooled and prohibited interaction with other kids. It was a strict rule that Hiro was to never leave the extravagant penthouse that was his father's home without permission. If Hiro was, on a rare day, allowed to go out, he must tell in detail where he was going to his father who was the final judgment call. He was also to keep his father updated at all times. Most importantly, he was to never strive too far out of bounds from his home.

To say the least, Robert's answer was always well prepared and calculated. In other words, it sounded rehearsed.

Usually, it sounded something along the lines of this:

"C'mon kiddo, you've got your old man to teach you! I'm only the smartest man in the city, but perhaps I'm not smart enough for the likes of you..."

Being young at the time, Hiro had jumped to cater to his father's grief, but now it just seemed out of place. Since when did his father ever pull a guilt card? Weren't those only used when parent's had nothing valid to support their otherwise convincing argument? Also, going out and seeing the world and having experiences made people brighter to the possibilities that the world had in stow for him. Wouldn't that make him smarter? Sure, his father was the best teacher around and the penthouse was great and all, but Hiro started to feel like a prisoner.

Originally, Hiro felt blessed when he stumbled across Stan, who was stunned when Hiro was so insistent on becoming friends. It was later revealed that Hiro found it disappointing that he happened to befriend a little fish in a sea of more impressive ones, but he had to take what he could get. It was hardly Stan's fault, Hiro had a difficult time knowing how to treat and be a friend, so he always confronted Stan with unintentional disdain and superiority.

The whole ordeal was extraordinarily out of place, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Hiro could also carry on a riveting conversation about how much his dad loathed the Big Hero 6; the notorious superhero team that went viral just a few years ago. Nobody knew of their origins and their motives, and they have been the buzz of San Fransokyo ever since. It was an interesting nitpick about his father that Hiro observed over the years.

Robert never gave a proper explanation as to why he had such a negative preference for the band, coming short with answers such as, "They steal humanity's independence, we cannot depend on these "superheroes" to constantly save us from our problems," or, "These idiots are just goading for attention, they don't even know what they're getting themselves into. They're just feeding the cycle of the world needing more villains!"

However, Robert never elaborated any more than that, which was rather odd since he was such an articulate man. Those responses were incredibly shallow and dense for a man of his stature and it puzzled Hiro, who was – on the other hand – infatuated by the Big Hero 6. What fourteen year old didn't admire a group of real life, crime fighting superheroes?

Hiro was smart, but his dad was smarter. Robert had his quirks and rules, but if Hiro wanted to live up to his expectations, he would have to tolerate them.

"'It's a small price to pay for the intelligence that I'm gifting you, Hiro.'" Hiro grumbled to himself in a mockingly pompous, deep tone while he scuffed his shoes as he walked, growing more sour by the minute.

"Come again?"

Hiro's heart skipped a beat as his fist went flying towards the source of the voice. He was never one to throw punches before attempting to talk things out, but it was not wise to frighten somebody who was born with the reflexes of a cat.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Stan?" Hiro said, startled, violently shaking his punching hand, "what the heck are you doing here?"

The boy, Stan, whined as he massaged his cheek. "I wanted to go see a bot fight tonight, any harm in that?"

Hiro snorted. "Apparently, yes."

The smirk on Hiro faded as he looked at Stan, baffled by his appearance. The boy had grown considerably taller since the last time Hiro saw them when they were just turning into teenagers. Stan was relatively the same age as Hiro, but he was a good four inches taller and a bit thicker to boot. It made Hiro feel oddly inadequate and uncomfortable.

Stan was his right hand man for bot fights, as he informed Hiro on the latest gossip and kept him up to date on the schedule. Due to Hiro's home-bound lifestyle, he never got to see Stan much (or go out in general). In addition, Stan was unable to travel this late at night without his parents getting suspicious, so he too was refrained to his school, hometown friends, and activities (which was more than what Hiro could say for himself). Stan was a good guy, but Hiro always kept him at arm's length, not fully depending on him and entrusting him with undivided loyalty. It's not that Stan didn't deserve that, it was that Hiro didn't know exactly how to give another person that devotion.

To be honest, Hiro wouldn't trust anyone, except for his father.

Shaking his head, Hiro swiveled on his heels and continued walking towards where the fight was located. "Come on," he called with a nonchalant wave, Stan following obediently in tow.

As they got closer to the fight location, roars of drunken laughter and the stench of ground, molten metal and liquor slithered through the air.

"You didn't tell me it was going to be this busy," Hiro chastised with a disapproving scowl as he struggled to squirm through the large, sweaty bodies that were the unruly bot fighters.

Stan gagged and suppressed a sneer. "Well, you didn't tell me how bad this place was gonna reek! Dude, this isn't safe, these people could break our necks like a twig–"

"You're welcome to turn back." Hiro snapped.

Stan gritted his teeth and trudged onward, clamping his hand over the lower half of his face.

The novice match-ups were already in full swing.

Hiro was a legend among the fighters and had no need to be threatened by the competition at this early stage. With his shoulders pressed back and his hair confidently swept to the side, Hiro boldly maneuvered his way towards the meat of the action with Stan timidly at his heels. Those who managed to lay eyes upon Hiro parted for him like the Red Sea, smart enough to not challenge him, fearing his title and reputation.

Hiro caught Charlotte's (the Ringleader) attention as she jotted down his name on the match-up list, slotting him with some poor soul before the next team. It didn't make a difference to her, she knew Hiro always put on a show and made quick work (not to mention cash) from the rookies.

Beginners had a tendency to believe that they were hot stuff and acted like grandiose know-it-alls, so Hiro casually slipped into his cunning yet innocent child act before the first round. It was the most effective of all his strategies, and easily the most fun if executed with utmost style, which Hiro was proud to admit that he delivered.

"Good luck!" Stan whispered as he slowly melted back into the crowd of fans.

A huff escaped the corner of Hiro's upturned lip. "Don't need it."

After introductions were settled, Hiro proceeded to dominate and destroy his opponents with precision and grace. Word got around that the legendary Megabot was taking stage tonight and more fighters flooded the back alley arena. Hiro's fingers flew with ease over his controller as he proceeded to leap through the ranks, receiving more cheers and riches as the night progressed.

By the time Hiro got to Yama, the teenage boy's hype had somewhat waned, even though the crowd was roaring so loud that all of San Fransokyo could hear. It may have been the climax everyone was waiting for, but for Hiro, it was nothing more than an encore, an epilogue to another successful and uneventful night. Once again, Yama didn't stand a chance against the teenage prodigy who scooped up his spoils by the end of it all with a slight lackluster dissatisfaction.

"Dude!" Stan called out as he ran to Hiro who was struggling to fit all his money into his pockets. "I haven't seen you play in so long, you totally rocked!"

"Thanks," Hiro replied blandly.

Suddenly, a chorus of panicked shouts and shrill screams echoed through the air and a blinding light of red and blue shined down the alleyway.

"What's happening?" Stan yelled, being pushed backwards by the stampede of fighters.

Hiro glared at the source and his eyes formed into slits with annoyance. "It's the cops."

Stan began to sputter in fear, "The cops? Oh man, we're so dead, but, I mean, we're kids! There's no way they're gonna actually arrest us... they won't see us –"

A single glance at Stan and Hiro knew that he was the only one who was going to make the effort in not getting them arrested.

"For Pete's sake, Stan! Can it and keep up!" Hiro hissed as he snatched Stan's arm and bolted with the crowd who scattered in different directions like mice.

Hiro turned down a corridor that was a guaranteed escape; a barbed fence which led to the back of a run-down restaurant. Gaining momentum, Hiro tucked himself and slid underneath a jagged hole in the fence. He picked himself up and continued sprinting, the wind blowing past him tasting like sweet victory–

"Hiro, help!"

Skidding to a halt, Hiro whirled around to find Stan positively stuck in the hole of the fence. Looking up, Hiro could see the flashing lights and the sound of sirens approaching.

Having no true friendship with Stan, Hiro was more than tempted to just leave him. However, when push comes to shove, it would certainly be safer if Stan made it out of this situation not behind bars. For one, Stan was unknowingly handling Hiro's dirty work. With Stan researching all the latest on illegal bot fights, it let Hiro and his father stay clean of any investigating (even if Robert was the one who invented bot fighting in the first place). Another fact was that Hiro was almost positive that Stan wouldn't be able to handle the pressure if persecuted by the police. If Stan were to be interrogated, he would surely cave and Hiro would be next on the fed's target list.

So, because of Stan's weak will, Hiro went back.

Hiro tried to desperately yank on Stan's arms, but it only proved to intensify Stan's rather painful predicament. The cut in the fence managed to let Hiro squeeze by with a scrape or two, but since Stan was a larger boy, he had a rough time just getting his torso through.

"Climb the fence!" Hiro barked, noticing that the policemen were now beginning to search on foot.

"There's barbed wire at the top!"

"Take off your shirt and use it to protect your hands or something! Suck it up, Stan! Come on, we gotta move!"

Stan wriggled back out and tugged off his shirt and started to clumsily scale up the fence at a less than desirable pace.

Hiro hastily tapped the ground, "Climb faster, let's go!" He urged, waving his arms.

"Hey, you two! Hands up where I can see them!"

Scared out of his wits, Stan promptly collapsed back onto the floor and raised his shaking arms in surrender.

Hiro let out an exasperated groan and raised his arms as well, rolling his eyes. Dad's gonna kill me...

"This is all your fault."