man your battle stations, we'll have you dead pretty soon

[tadeadshi]

[Panic had run straight through his core when he knew someone had found their safe house. It'd been the best one yet, they had managed to stay there for months now, but it really was too good to last. They still had so much to find and clean up, he wasn't ready. He grabs his bag, the one he kept packed for if they had to run fast, and made for the door but stopped just outside.

It was them. It was the Six, they'd found him and Callaghan. He's not sure how, Callaghan's mods to his collar had jammed their trackers so... It must be something else they used. But if they're here then they could help. They could take over this mess, and he could go home.

Maybe.

Tadashi's throat's gone dry with the dirt and dust kicked up from their landing and scuffle with Callaghan off to the side and he stands watching, swallowing the lump in his throat. Callaghan, that's right, he-- He'd done so much to get them out, he couldn't let the guy just be taken back to prison, he'd be killed from the inside --

He makes a run towards the group, waving and trying to call out but any sound he makes drowned by the shouting.]

Comments

[microbrobotics]

[ There's so much shouting going on here. Apparently the Six know this guy - recognize him as an old enemy, given how aggressive the smallest one is towards them. From the way the others fan out around him, he must be their leader. Somehow it's not the ridiculously huge guy in back, who is also the one being the most compassionate about this whole thing. The others seem torn, but not as obviously agitated as the one in indigo. He seems furious - furious - that it was Callaghan. Of course it would be Callaghan behind all the tech giving them trouble. Who else would it be. He has to stalk off away from the rest of the group to keep from hitting the professor in the face. Two years later and his rage threatens to consume him if he lets it burrow too deeply into his psyche.

So when he turns back towards the safehouse, it's as much to get his head clear as it is to check it for extra evidence. He doesn't expect anyone to be here. Doesn't even see Tadashi until he's nearly on top of him, when the wave finally catches his eye. Between the armor and his own growth spurts, he cuts a taller figure than Tadashi would recognize. Fully-powered armor, just like everyone else's, except he doesn't have a weapon to call his own. Instead, he has limited flight; enough to push off from Baymax if necessary to let the bot fight. It's all kinds of battle-scarred as well, with scoring all along his helmet and up one side in particular. A nasty fall not too long ago. Scorch marks from emps and blast weaponry. All things that Tadashi should recognize as projects that he and Callaghan were working on. Surely by now it was obvious who these weapons were being used on, but in case Tadashi hadn't realized...

The armored figure stops cold when he sees Tadashi. He's still a little shorter than the older Hamada, even in armor, so he has to look up just a little to get a good look. He must be dreaming. Or hallucinating, or - or maybe this is some cruel trick of Callghan's. Why else would he see his brother standing here in the ruins of Callghan's safehouse? When he finally speaks, the words come out through a voice distortion box, making them lower and more gravely than they really should have been. So instead of the stunned, tearful wonder that they ought to have, his words sound borderline aggressive. Accusatory. ]

Tadashi Hamada?

[tadeadshi]

[Tadashi knows they'd be furious at Callaghan - he'd told the brother that they were the ones to stop him before. It makes sense. What he doesn't expect is to see the results of his work splattered across the entire group. He can see the battle scars and wear and tear across everyone even at this distance, and as the leader gets closer, he can visualize every weapon used against every mark of his armor and each one is its own punch to the heart.

He never wanted to hurt anyone with his work. And the last two years of making weapons is staring him in the face confirming his name.

Tadashi stands there, dumbfounded and skinnier than he should be from malnutrition and covered in scars from the neck down, his shirt thankfully hiding the worst from his collar and looking like he's about to cry. He wipes at his eye - clearly just dust in the air irritating his eyes - before nodding. Of course they'd know his name. Even he'd heard the news coverage of his own death two years ago, who wouldn't recognize him at this point? His voice is choked, though if it's from the debris or emotion, it's hard to tell.]

Y-yeah. Yeah, and you're - the. The Big Hero Six, right?

[microbrobotics]

[ So skinny. And the scars, and ... Something goes rigid in the armored figure's shoulders as its occupant stares up at his brother's injuries in mixed joy and agony. His brother is alive, but hurt in so many more ways than he can bear to see right now. It's a damn good thing his faceplate is one way; it hides the sudden well of tears springing to his eyes. He reaches up an arm instinctively to wipe them away and clunks himself in the helmet instead. Right. Armored. Stupid armor.

He wanted so badly for his brother to see the good they'd been doing as the Six; he never dreamed it would happen like this. ]

That's what the media calls us.

[ Again, the distortion hides the emotion in his voice. Inside the helmet, his voice is wobbling, close to tears; outside, it just comes out as a dry, garbled kind of sarcasm. God. He wants so badly to take his faceplate down right here and now - but if he does that, he and all of his friends are dead. And Tadashi too. But even that isn't enough to keep him from lunging forward abruptly and throwing his arms around his brother. ]

[tadeadshi]

What-

[Something in him stirs, overriding whatever natural actions he might have taken for something as simple as a hug. Instead, Tadashi stiffens completely, his breath hitching. He doesn't know this person, they moved too fast, the armor is hard oh god oh god-

After a long suffering second, he carefully gets a hand on the hero's elbow, trying to ease him away as casually and inoffensively as possible.]

I-i'm sorry, I- uh. I'm not really good at, I mean I don't know what's happening right now.

[microbrobotics]

[ That shouldn't cut him straight to the core as badly as it does, especially when he's in armor and his brother is clearly traumatized - but it hurts anyway. All of a sudden he just wants to be done with this stupid thing. Just wants to be home, safe, with his brother there ... He'd thought he was over this, but somehow seeing your dead brother alive and not-so-well is enough to shatter pretty much all the neat little barriers he'd had built up.

Right. First priority: get his brother home. He frankly doesn't care what happens to Callaghan at this point - they can always track the guy down again if they have to. Reluctantly, he tears his eyes away from Tadashi and back towards the rest of the six. An order over the radio (inaudible to Tadashi) before he turns back. ]

You're coming with me.

set before-ish the majority of the above ALSO RHO LMK IF THIS DOESN'T WORK

[pushtheboundaries]

[he's gotten complacent.

the fact that they've been able to 'settle' here as opposed to move from place to place, the fact that there's been no sign of danger from either set of adversaries has led him to actually thinking of it as 'home' instead of a temporary shelter, and as such, when it comes under attack...

he defends it viciously.

the fact that it's against colorful armor as opposed to the darker drab that the mob prefers doesn't matter; Callaghan dons his own (a flexible kevlar-like polymer, he and Tadashi had designed some prototypes for the mob but it wasn't until they'd gotten out that they really had a chance to explore it; combine certain experiences with mending his own [and own's] clothing growing up and he's managed to line his coat with it, among a few other pieces) and goes out to face them and buy time for Tadashi to get the most important items out and away.

the Six aren't quite in a mood to let him buy time. to be fair, he's being extremely hostile to them, and while at first one could assume this is all some misunderstanding, it gets ugly, quickly.

it's probably a good thing the fight doesn't last very long, because then Tadashi would learn that Callaghan's not going easy on them just because they're the 'good guys'; while he's never been outright aggressive towards them (a few of his plans have even relied on their usefulness, key word 'use'), this is not a pleasant thing to watch. his intent doesn't seem to be to kill or maim, but one can almost see the thoughts running through his head that if you can't dodge that, then you deserve to lose that arm and the like...

and his tools of choice?

well, once 'Yokai' had 'joined' the mob, the microbots were rather easy to reproduce and recover. he's gotten better with them over the years, and there's no portal to suck them all in to this time.]

IT'S GREAT

[microbrobotics]

[ No portal, against an experienced enemy - it's no wonder the Six are having trouble at first. In fact they're all fighting in the same mode as they did during the previous fight: trying to take out as many bots as they can, as fast as they can. But without a portal to remove the downed bots from the field, Cal can easily scoop them back up and add them straight back into their horde. There's Wasabi, just about fighting himself into a corner keeping them at bay. Honey Lemon throwing up bursts of chemicals left and right, Gogo smashing through them with her disks, Fred melting what he can with their fire ... And Baymax of course, karate-chopping his way all over the place. There's errors and hiccups but no one is losing an arm at least. All of them fighting to meet Callaghan's rising tide of bots. And all of them have benefitted from the tech arms race that began with Tadashi and has been continuing ever since. Cal can likely recognize some of the tech being thrown back in his face - items that were reverse-engineered and then improved after they were first used on the six. Clearly Hiro's been doing a lot of work here.

In fact ... wait, where is Hiro? Normally he'd be perched on Baymax's back in all this, but their tiny leader is nowhere to be seen. Not with the main group, not with Baymax ... He's off to one side from the rest, hands out and fingers moving as if across an invisible keyboard. In fact he's manipulating something inside his HUD, with sensors in his gloves picking up his movements and letting him input information directly in addition to the neuro-transmitter band already built in. By the time he's noticeable, however, it's too late. The next wave that Cal sends out veers weirdly just as it was about to knock into Honey. The next blow stops entirely ...

And then the entire mass of microbots suddenly pull back towards Hiro as if drawn there by a magnetic forces. Callaghan can't control them any more - Hiro's hacked in with his own transmitter. And the rest of the team was using their old tactics specifically to buy their leader enough time to pull it off. After all, they don't really need the bots to be pulled into a portal. They just need their old adversary to not have them any more. ]

[pushtheboundaries]

[they really, really should know better. they should have improved. should have a /plan/ by now, they're /better/ than this, Callaghan is practically disgusted by their sloppiness, did they come here half asleep? what were they thinking, really? he punts one up in to the air, doesn't bother turning to watch Baymax catch them, wondering just what the hell is going on-

-and just as his eyes fall upon Hiro, he's starting to suspect. there's a moment of faltering realization, and then he's throwing the microbots forwards, because this better not be what he thinks

it

is

and what was a strike turns in to practically surrendering his best weapon. Callaghan can certainly be forgiven for the faltering steps he takes as the microbots fly from about him, abandoning him as though he held the repulsive magnetic force to their innate power.

he'd be impressed, if he weren't now being entirely defensive and trying to dodge the chemical bomb thrown in his direction. this does, however, put him directly in the path of another disc, hitting him in the mask- and isn't that a moment of deja vu? - and there's Wasabi running for him with all the presence of a quarterback.

Callaghan does the first thing he can think of.

he turns and dives for cover, reaching in to his coat for one of his emergency plans.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Even after two years, Hiro is still furious with the man who killed his older brother. No, even angrier now, since it's obvious that Callaghan must have been involved in all that ridiculous tech they've been fighting. His team has taken bruises and broken bones due to those weapons. Hell, he nearly died when an emp disabled Baymax and sent Hiro falling fifty feet to the ground below. If not for his experimental flight suit, he likely wouldn't have survived that one. He's lucky he got out of it with a shattered arm.

So no, Hiro doesn't wait to see what Callaghan will pull out next. He's got all the microbots on his side now, and after fighting Cal for the first time? He sure does have some ideas on how to use them. Poetic revenge fantasies, even. The first torrent slides out alarmingly fast, aiming for Callaghan's legs as Hiro himself follows after. His patterns are more geometric, more fluid, moving in complex interchangeable arcs with no physical tells from Hiro himself. He really should have made microbots his weapon; he's damned efficient with them, that's for sure. If the first strike won't hit, then there's another where that came from. And another, from the other side. It'll box Callaghan in swiftly if he doesn't come up with something fast.

He grits his teeth, reining in the temptation - still hot in his mind, despite everything - to harm the professor. But like hell he's going to let this guy hurt his friends either. When he speaks, his voice is low and distorted by the vocal modulator attached to his suit. ]

Give it up, Callaghan.

[pushtheboundaries]

[it's funny that Hiro's mind wanders to the EMP- because Callaghan's improved on the design. it's a prototype, it's nowhere near stable, but it might be enough to get him out of this jam and then...running?

and abandoning the microbots. great. but considering they're being used against him right now, tripping him to the ground as black walls come up and surround him- the mask still on his face renders it difficult to read him, but his body language certainly looks stressed. panicked? close, but he's at least pulling out the switch, thumbing off the safety, looking up through the microbots towards the direction of that modulated voice...

...and all he can do, at first, is make a short 'hnh' of amusement]

Sorry to disappoint.

[beep. he can feel the buzz through his transmitter as the EMP flares out, but he's got no idea of the range or duration...]

After. alla that.

[tadeadshi]

[That. That was good talk. A long talk that he's sure lasted a lot longer than he should have and he's pretty sure it's two in the morning but. He feels better knowing Callaghan is safe and not going to prison immediately and there's a game plan in place to finish taking out their tech from third party merchants and whatever's left of the mafia that has them. The conversation had come to a close and Tadashi pushed the button like One had told him.

Only now he was at a loss. He wasn't really ready to go home and face family, but he couldn't really stay here either, wherever 'here' is. He still haven't gotten any idea where in town he is. He got on Six and road quietly for a while but once they get to the taller skyscraper bits of downtown, he leans over, a part of him trembling at the thought of asking for ... Well. Anything really.]

Hey- I-i'm sorry, can we pull over? Just- sit somewhere, up here?

[microbrobotics]

[ "One" has been awful quiet all through this, speaking only as much as was necessary to get Tadashi on the robot. Listening to every word the two of them said, watching their body language via Baymax ... He gets it now. Callaghan was Tadashi's rock through that whole horrible experience, and Tadashi cares for him. And now, at least in this state, Cal's the closest one to his brother. He has no doubt that his brother still loves him, of course, but after seeing the relative ease between Cal and Tadashi, and then comparing that to their own strained conversations so far ...

He's been very, very quiet indeed. In fact, it takes him a moment to realize his brother's talking to him, and then another one to parse what he's saying. Sit somewhere? Sure, why not. He's not sure he wants to go home just yet anyway. He tilts his faceplate towards Tadashi in a faint nod. ]

You afraid of heights?

[ Obviously not, if he's comfortable on top of "Six" here, but the location he has in mind is awful high up. A quick adjustment to Baymax's flight arc, and then they're zooming for one of the koi power generators floating above the city. ]

[tadeadshi]

[He shakes his head, even if the answer's obvious. But then he sees where One is aiming for and it makes him breathless. He'd always wanted to see one of these things up close, but they only ever came down for repairs (no one but mechanics working on them could get close) or if they were irreparably damaged, then what was the point? But sitting on one way up here...

His feet touch down on the generator and he's in awe. With the stillness (sort of) and the lights of the city below, it's breathtaking. Perfect spot to just. Sit and clear his head and get his thoughts back together. ]

Guessing this is a favorite spot?

[microbrobotics]

[ One picked one of the biggest ones - plenty of space up here, with no risk of accidentally rolling off the side. Good thing too, since Six's weight makes the generator dip just a bit. Otherwise, though, it's as smooth and safe as anywhere else. With a faint click from his armored feet landing against the metal, he detaches himself from the robot carefully. Sure is a nice view, with nothing but the whirr of the turbine below them to disturb the quiet city far below.

He'd always wanted to bring his brother up here. He just never pictured it happening quite like this. ]

... Six and I came up here, first time we were testing out his flight armor.

[tadeadshi]

It's a good spot.

[He nods, quietly deciding that to himself. He'll have to find his own way to come up here sometime on his own. Not waiting another minute, he finds a place to sit and keep watching out over the city.

More than anything he just looks tired, looking out like this.]

Feels like a good place to think.

[microbrobotics]

[ The Six don't let Callaghan sit idle. Not only because he's obviously bored - and they are, in fact, nice enough to try and keep him from hating his life in that capacity - but because there's work to be done. HIro in particular has been relentless in driving the team to burn them out once base at a time, but the rest don't argue. They've seen Tadashi. Most of them have seen the tapes, too. They know what drives him to do this.

... They aren't with him when he shows up quietly at Cal's door in the dead of the night, though. Not even Baymax is there; the bot has been carefully placed on marshmallow babysitting duty. Just Hiro, already armored in a design that Callaghan's never seen before. A dark mesh instead of his usual indigo, shot through with circuitry that indicates some kind of technological trick, if not some kind of outright weapon. One has always been an intimidating figure in his armor - purposely so, after they started fighting and realized the value in it - but this is something else entirely. He knocks, politely, but it's clear from his rigid shoulders and loosely combative stance that he's not taking no for an answer tonight. They're going out. Whether Callaghan agrees or not.

Even accounting for the modulation, his voice is especially hoarse tonight. ]

You awake?

[pushtheboundaries]

[either the hint worked, or they already had things for him to do - either way, he's not complaining. he focuses on the tasks and projects given to him with a professional diligence, giving just about all anyone could ask for.

but there's something missing. he's restless, subtly distracted; this is not enough. and yet what can he do?

he may be fully cooperative, but part of him feels like a prisoner again. that part of him that had come to savor the freedom that came with being on the run... it was stressful, it was horrid at times, but at least he was free.

he's trying to sleep when the knock comes, but months of an erratic sleep schedule combined with the necessity of sleeping lIghtly has him wake quickly. ]

Just- just a minute -

[and in short order he's grabbed a robe and is opening the door, only to start a bit at the visage. that's...different. ]

...One?

[microbrobotics]

[ If not for the glint of his faceplate, he would be nearly invisible in the darkness; even that is muted, coated in a matte finish that doesn't reflect much light. And the fact that One's here alone, with none of his other friends ... If he wanted to dispose of Callaghan, this certainly would be the opportune time.

But that's not what he's here for. ]

Suit up. I'll route the details to your HUD once you're ready.

[ No "please," no pleasantries. One's persona has always been terse compared to Hiro himself, but this is especially bare bones. Something else on his mind. ]

[pushtheboundaries]

[honestly? that's not Callaghan's first thought. underlying the feeling of prisoner is the understanding that if they wanted him dead, he'd already be dead. there's been opportunities, and-

-well, no. if certain information was found, then cover or no cover...

he blinks at the order, taken aback.]

'Suit up'? In what?

[microbrobotics]

[ He holds up something. A pile of what looks like clothes (though a glance at the material reveals it to be the same tough stuff as One's own) with a helmet on top. Wordlessly, he offers it to Callaghan. Compared to how they started this whole mess ... it's a hell of a lot of trust. But then again, for what One's about to ask here, he has to trust Callaghan. There's no other choice.

And what he's after? It's worth the risk of doing it this way. If he lets the rest of the Six help him, this won't go down the way he wants it to. The way it needs to go. ]

Put it on.

[tadeadshi]

[Not that his brother staying busy isn't normal; he's noticed it since he got back Hiro keeps stranger hours than he did himself when he was at SFIT. But Hiro had at least made sure to be around in the mornings. And this morning he isn't. Tadashi expects maybe he just fell asleep at the lab, no big deal. After several weeks, Tadashi's at least started to feel a little more at home. Which means picking and poking through some of his old things.

And maybe a few of Hiro's old things too. For nostalgia's sake, really. And taking some of Hiro's things from his corner of the room back to his brother's. it's when he digs around to make space under the bed that he stops. Because that's... Odd. An old box but new things in it, indigo and black with hints of red and damage. He sits on the edge of his brother's bed, looking this. One piece of armor over. Knowing it well by now, as well as the scars on it.]

[microbrobotics]

[ The colors alone would be distinctive enough, but those marks ... there's no faking the scars left by a gunshot or a sufficiently high-powered taser. Not when those marks line up exactly with what One wears, right down to the hairline cracks from more mundane impacts. The chestplate in particular shows signs of repainting; the arm piece that goes with it is peculiarly cracked and resealed with some sort of polymer, while still keeping the cracks themselves quite visually obvious. An impact from a fall - one that, if asked, One simply blamed on "gravity" during one of their excursions to the turbines. It just can't be anyone else's armor. And the odds of it being some kind of costume, with that perfect level of detail ...

Meanwhile, Hiro is drop dead exhausted and making his way home on foot. Otherwise he'd be here before dawn as per usual; this time, though, he's achingly slow in trying to get home. Everything hurts, most of all the hollow hole in his chest his heart ought to be. He's had to pull over a few times already to cry in an alleyway; once he gets home, he has to have his mask perfect. For the sake of his brother and his aunt both. Callaghan told him to let his brother help, but Hiro can't see how that's a possibility. Not without knowing everything ...

When he's most of the way home, he gets a text on his phone from Baymax: Your absence is noted. Please respond. Makes an irritated noise at it, clicks it off. He'll just tell his aunt that he got called out for a test for his prosthetic project or something late and he overslept. As exhausted as he is, he doesn't even think that his brother might be the one who noticed he was gone. He just nips around the side of the restaurant, taking his usual precautions to stay out of surveillance range (although with the mafia mostly dismantled, who's looking?) as he scales the outside of the building. Winces, curses as he grabs a handhold and puts all of his weight on his bad arm. But he's tired and he just wants to fall into bed and sleep for the rest of the day, dammit. So he doesn't even notice his brother sitting on his bed with the armor until he's at the window, both hands on the sill.

And then he freezes. Oh no. Oh no no no what is he going to say now. He can't even get down off the sill without hurting himself, but he sure as hell can't just come inside. Maybe his brother hasn't seen him yet... ]

[tadeadshi]

[Tadashi's running fingers along each crack, every skid mark, every sign of damage on the armor and it's hard to miss the slow, painful realization in his eyes as he starts putting the pieces together. Constantly out. His brother's exhaustion, how sore he always seems to be.

He feels something at the window and it's not for a minute before he slowly turns his head to look and there his brother is. And Hiro looks so afraid but Tadashi's the one that should be afraid, isn't it? He found something he wasn't supposed to, knows this now. He fixes Hiro with an unsure, nervous expression, fingers clutched tight against the armor.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Too late, then. His brother's seen him - and more importantly, his brother knows. So that's it. One mistake, one late night and it's all crashing down around his ears. What is he going to say? What is Tadashi going to say after realizing that Hiro's been lying to him all this time?

If not for the pain building in his left arm, he might have been tempted to drop down and run. Go back to SFIT, let his brother think he hallucinated seeing Hiro at the window. But ... no, that's an ugly thought anyway. His brother doesn't deserve that. Slowly, achingly slowly, he shoves the window up just enough to squeeze inside. Awkwardly pulls himself through with his good arm, then swings his legs over to stand up. There's nothing aggressive in his stance at all, no sign that he's angry or upset with his brother. Just worried and terrified and exhausted above everything.

He swallows around the lump in his throat. Can he lie his way out of this? He has to try. ]

I can explain that.

[tadeadshi]

[He's not mad. Okay, there's a start. But now what?

Tadashi watches him get in, now with a keener eye to Hiro's movements, trying to mentally match them up with injuries against this armor, how he's seen One move the times he's sat with him, all of it...

And it all definitely matches up. He should've seen it before. He mentally kicks himself for having not noticed it sooner, he should have. But he looks back down to the armor, then back to Hiro.]

Could you? Please?