BH6 Series AU-Ish Thing

[microbrobotics]

[ Liv Amara is lying. He can feel it in his gut, darnit, and he isn't going to let something like a false positive sway him from that. Because like heck Mr. Sparkles is behind the city suddenly filling up with monsters. That guy couldn't bio-tech his way out of a paper bag.

So when Baymax picks up a massive power surge from Sycorax while they're out on patrol, Hiro already knows what he has to do. Sneak in. Alone. Could he get help from the others? Probably, but they're (rightfully) a little bit skeptical of both Hiro's assumptions and his tendency to suggest sneaking in undercover, especially when his rivalry with Karmi is involved. Which - okay, fine, yes, it would be great to show up Liv's mentor as being a massive fraud, but it's not why he's here today.

He doesn't quite convince her to help him sneak in. That would have been smarter, probably, but it's much faster to have Baymax distract her while Hiro swipes her keycard. That gets him past the initial security and into the parts of the facility he's bypassed before. A few wires pulled here, a console override there, and he's descending deep into the facility. Past sublevel 9, down ... well, he's not sure which level he's on? The elevator indicates sublevel 10, but it's such a long drop past 9 that he's wondering exactly how big this level is. And what the hell even needs to be down this far into the ground.

When the elevator finally comes to a halt, Hiro carefully creeps out into the underground vault. It's almost completely dark down here, save for the occasional flicker from a distant panel. The ceiling is somewhere high overhead - he can't see it, though whether that's from distance or darkness, he can't tell. ]

Baymax? I made it in.

[ Static answers him. The portable scanner he brought still works, but he's so far underground that he can't get a strong enough signal to contact Baymax. Or anyone else. If there's a monster down here ... He swallows nervously, trying not to think about it. He can hide if he has to, right? There's a forest of cylinders down here. Some filled with liquid, some filled with god knows what else, but more than a few of them are empty. He could hide in one of those, right? Totally safe. Yep. Definitely a great idea coming down here ... ]

Keep it together, Hiro. You've got this. Amara's up to something, and I'm gonna find out what it is.

[ His scanner still detects an energy surge coming from the opposite side of the vault. Something hot and volatile? It isn't clear on what the energy is, just that it's massive. And that it matches what he scanned the other day. Whatever it is, he's going to come face to face with it real soon. ]

Comments

[tadeadshi]

Good!

[It's what he manages to call out before Hiro's out of earshot. And then flops back onto the bed again.

Eventually Baymax does waddle his way up. And Tadashi's whole expression lightens to something easier. His big marshmallow invention... Baymax gives a little wave and his usual greeting, how good it is to see Tadashi again.

He explains this is going to be a private scan. No one is allowed to see the results except himself, no one else can access the files. It only takes a second and Tadashi's old voice recognition to get a private partition set up in that old disk and the scan...

Well. It tells Tadashi everything he already knew, and some smaller, newer things. Enough to give him some things to think about. He's left sitting on the bed, the scan closed and he waits.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro waits. And waits a little longer, and does his very very best to be patient. You're killing him, bro! Between the curiosity and everything he is not super jazzed on the whole. No fair pulling the trust card when ...

When he doesn't trust Liv Amara. Hmm. While Tad is doing his thing, Hiro just casually runs a little hacking program at Liv's database. Let's see if she has data on his brother.

With that settled, he heads back upstairs. ]

All done?

[tadeadshi]

Yeah. It, uh. Wasn't anything new. Still a clean bill of health, even with the additions.

[Haha fire. Right, the only addition. But he smiles gently at Hiro, Pulls his legs up to cross them on the bed.]

So. Tell me everything.

[microbrobotics]

[ Uh huh, sure. But Hiro flops into his beanbag chair nearby, willing to pretend normalcy. He'll be in Liv's files soon enough. ]

Okay. Well - I guess it started with Callaghan -

[ And he starts going through the whole story, at least the start. The first fight against Callaghan. Finding his daughter. He ghosts over the more painful parts - his depression, his anger issues - focusing on the superheroics. What they'd accomplished. ]

[tadeadshi]

[And Tadashi sits, listening with rapt attention. His brother - his LITTLE BROTHER - is the leader of Big Hero 6!! There's genuine pride and excitement in his eyes, between helping Callaghan's daughter and their further accomplishments.

By the time he finishes, Tadashi is on the edge of his seat.]

How did I end up with the coolest little brother ever?

[microbrobotics]

[ This ... was what he wanted, wasn't it? Ever since getting into this superhero business. More than anything, he wanted Tadashi's pride in him. He wanted his brother to see he'd done good.

And he'd given up on that ever happening, but now ... his cheeks flushed a bit as he tried to play it off, but there was no real way to hide that he was pleased. ]

Amazingly good luck?

[tadeadshi]

I guess so.

[It'd be nice if he had some luck. Besides the whole 'being found alive' thing.]

Still, I'm. Really proud of you, Hiro. You guys are doing good work.

[microbrobotics]

Yeah? I mean, we try. Mostly works out.

[ Mostly. His face falls a bit as he remembers Obake's manipulations. ]

I mean, I've screwed up a few times, but I think we've done okay.

[tadeadshi]

[He fixes Hiro with his best Big Brother Understands looks.]

Hiro, when have any of us not screwed up a few times?

[microbrobotics]

You've screwed up a ton, it's true.

[ A beat. ]

Buuuuut I'm guessing you never helped an asshole make a star in the harbor?

[tadeadshi]

Can't say I have?

I haven't really... Been doing anything. Just... A lot of testing.

[microbrobotics]

... What kind of testing?

[ A quick glance to his leg. ]

Did she hurt you?

[tadeadshi]

Oh - No, she didn't hurt me. Just a lot of testing to see how I was recovering. And then when we realized what I could do, just.. Testing how that worked. How hot could I make it, how long could I keep it going, that kind of thing.

[microbrobotics]

... Yeah? So - uh, what's that mean? You've got superpowers now?

[ He keeps looking for a patch on Tadashi's neck, or some other trick. ]

[tadeadshi]

[There's no patch or anything. But the skin grafts can only do so much, bits of scarring where they had done their best over the larger scars.]

I... Guess? I mean, you saw. Just...It's weird, right?

[microbrobotics]

[ Yeah he's distracted by that, thanks. Looking at those scars, trying not to imagine burns instead. ]

Weird? No way. Fred's going to immediately freak out and try to get powers too.

[tadeadshi]

I wouldn't recommend it. You guys have been doing just fine from the sounds of it.

[microbrobotics]

Dude, it's Fred. He's not gonna listen to you.

[tadeadshi]

Then maybe he just shouldn't know?

[Is this a new thought? Or was he roundabout getting them to this so he can keep this a secret?]

[microbrobotics]

Pretty sure he's gonna notice fire coming out of your hands. If you show him.

[ But fine, fine. He won't tell. ]

[tadeadshi]

Then I guess I won't show him.

Just us, all right?

[microbrobotics]

... Fine. Just us. But you're gonna have to bribe me.

[tadeadshi]

[He crosses his arms at that.]

All right, what's your cost, little man?

[microbrobotics]

Show me some firepower, dude.

[ A pause. ]

If it doesn't hurt.

[tadeadshi]

[A little chuckle.]

It doesn't hurt.

[He'll take a breath and raise one hand, getting a small bit of flame up. Easy and warm.]