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

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!mafia au

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

[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.]

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[to that? that Callaghan can only offer a sharp, humorless laugh, reaching for Hiro's shoulder]

She might be a bit disappointed, but- you're not numb, Hiro, and I hope you never become that way. I don't know how I can undo this, because until I do, I couldn't bear to look at her.

I hate to say it, but as long as you hate it...you're no monster. It's when it becomes easy that you need to look at yourself.

[he squeezes that shoulder, then starts to get up]

I'll get you some water.

[ Like hell Hiro believes that. Certainly not while the wound is still fresh and the blood hasn't even dried on his armor yet. But maybe he'll get there someday. ]

Water, sure. Water sounds good.

[ Mostly because he doesn't know what to say to the rest. ]

... I need to get home soon. The sun's almost up.

[ And it's going to take way too long to get back on foot - it'll be well into morning by the time he gets back. ]

[It's not okay. It's so far from okay and he's lost and doesn't have a map anymore without Callaghan here and he can barely stand being touched and --

His throat feels thick when he swallows down his tears.]

What- What can I do to help you?

[ Nothing, he wants to say, but he senses that will have the opposite effect. ]

... Talk to me more? Tell me everything you can. If you want, I mean. You don't have to.

[ He remembers too late not to phrase it as a command. Hopefully that softens it enough. ]

[maybe.

but ironically, that just will lead Callaghan to be even further convinced. he returns with the water soon enough, handing it over to Hiro] I'll finish getting this off while you drink it. Slowly. [because he knows that if Hiro downs it too quickly, he may very well be sick again.

when he returns, though, he's changed, and has the armor in another bag. he's probably going to get a shower before going to sleep- he's tired, but not about to pass out on his feet.

not like Hiro seems.]

...do yourself a favor and see Baymax, first thing.

[ He forces himself to take the glass in slow little sips. Even so, his stomach churns dangerously; he leans back over the basket a few times before it settles properly.

Maybe he doesn't look better, exactly, but he doesn't look worse. And the water has refreshed him a little. He'll make it home and that's all that matters at this point. With the glass finally emptied, he sets it down and reaches out for Callaghan's bag with the same hand. ]

As soon as I check on my brother. Sure.

[no progress is better than negative progress. Callaghan holds out his arm to transfer the armor, but he doesn't let go. not at first.]

Your brother needs you.

[he waits a moment for that to sink in]

Realizing he needed to not be alone kept me going, when I had my more...selfish...thoughts.

[and he leaves it at that, releasing his grip]

[ Hiro flinches a little at that. Like he didn't know already that Callaghan knew what he'd been considering. That was obvious already. But it still smarts a little, and he bows his head. His brother needs him. He'll cling to that, at least, and use it to force himself to go forward. ]

... I know. I won't leave him.

[ He takes the bag, gripping the handles hard. ]

Don't be like me and be selfish anyway, either. [his voice is wry and self-mocking, but he means it, damn it.] Tadashi's more perceptive than I could give him credit for, and he needs to help people.

[let him help you, is what Callaghan's trying to say here. he's not telling Hiro to tell Tadashi what went on, but there has to be some way that he can let his brother share the burden, something...

Robert sighs, then waves his hand]

You've had enough of my 'wisdom' tonight. The rest, you'll have to figure out, and I hope you have more luck than I have.

[ Let his brother help him? How? He can't without telling him, and telling him ... no. He can't do that without spilling everything about his superhero antics. And he's certain that doing that would just hurt his brother worse. Better to bear it alone. ]

I'll see what I can do. [ So, that's a no. ] ... Thank you, though.

[ He means it. For the advice if not ... everything else. ]

[His breath hitches at that - tell him everything? He closes his eyes, slowly clutches at the back of his brother's hoodie, tries to think. Everything about... what? The voice that comes out is tired, fragile.]

What do you want to know about?

[Ask: and ye shall receive.]

[ He thinks for a moment. This is something he'll have to ease his brother through in stages, probably; he's too tired to think through it properly now, though. ]

What you went through. What happened. ... But not tonight.

[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.]

[ 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... ]

[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.]

[ 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.

[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?

[ One holds himself a bit stiffer on account of the armor, but otherwise they're the same. Down to the faint winces when he moves in a way that agitates an old wound - which all match up with the armor scars too. And that lichtenberg figure Hiro showed his brother once? Blaming it on an accident in the lab? Matches up with an electric scorch mark on his armor, clearly from a Tadashi-designed weapon. Presumably he has more that fit just as perfectly.

Meanwhile, Hiro's mind is racing. His mouth goes dry for a moment - he's caught off guard by the vulnerability in his brother's request. Now whatever story he was thinking of just flies right out of his head. ]

It's - it's a costume. You know, Fred's this huge geek, but I can't say no to him, and there's a convention soon, so ... so I spend way too much time on it, I know ...

[ It starts off weak and gets weaker, even in his own ears. ]

[A convention. With a ton of people around for one, and adding a costume group to it on top of that... No. That can't be right.

He looks back down to the armor, unable to pinpoint every weapon used. Things he design. Things he made with his own hands. Things used to attack his little brother, the same he was doing all this to protect.

He slowly shakes his head. No, little brother, he doesn't believe that.]

Hiro...

[He looks back to him again, strained and pained and so, so worried when he gets up. Sets the armor down on the bed and steps closer to him, looking him over. His eyes eventually fall on that bad arm. 'Gravity' One had said. 'Falling out of a tree' Hiro said. Tadashi carefully takes it in his hands and pulls back the sleeve to look at the scars again.]

[ Hiro tries to flinch away, but it's too late - Tadashi's got his arm now and that sleeve is coming up. Before now, he'd always been cautious not to show his brother the extent of his injuries. Making sure Baymax was in the way when he changed, or doing it in the bathroom downstairs.

All for naught. It's immediately clear that this was a nasty fall; not just from the surgery scars, but by the way his bones never really healed correctly, even with surgery and therapy. His shoulder was shattered, his forearm twisted badly and put back together imperfectly. And pins everywhere, not visible but clearly lurking beneath the surgery scars. Is it possible that he sustained this falling out of a tree? Maybe. If he fell at just the right angle. If he were running, maybe, because there's evidence of sideways velocity having been involved as well. Not just a straight fall.

Hard to do when you're supposedly falling straight down. All too easy when you're thrown from a moving robot. ]

L-let go of me.

[ He struggles, gently, trying to pull back. ]

[At the words and movement, Tadashi immediately lets go. Takes a step back even. His brother doesn't want to be touched, understood. Not a request, not a suggestion, but an out right order. But he can't do anything about the barely concealed pain in his expression. He knows it now. Tadashi knows he hurt his brother, however indirectly. He did this to his brother.

He staggers back another step, the realization hitting him hard as he sits back in Hiro's bed.]

[ The exact thing Hiro wanted to avoid in all this mess: for Tadashi to realize what he was inadvertently responsible for. And now his brother knows. He couldn't keep his brother safe from this one, simple thing ...

He shoves the sleeve back down, bowing his head. He can't bear to look at Tadashi. Can't bear to face him now, can't even lie to his face anymore. ]

I fell out of a tree. The big tree, the one in the middle of campus. I told you how dumb it was.

[ Gravity. ]

I--

I did this.

[His voice is quiet and hurt and he's thinking to every thing he's made, everything that could have and probably was used against Hiro, everything that's hurt him. He covers his mouth as he mentally checks off each one.

And then something else hits him: Hiro knows. Hiro, as One, knows what happened.

Reviewed the security footage.

Hiro not only knows, but s a w.

For the first time in ages, he feels sick. Sick and disgusted and no idea what he should do, but he can't stand being in his own skin for the first time since those first few months in that place. Now he can't look his brother in the face either; he needs to move but if he stands he's sure he'll be sick but he has to move]

[ Tadashi's words hit Hiro like a physical blow. He flinches, hard, and then ... Then what? It's over, isn't it? His brother knows. There's no lie in the world that will convince him otherwise now.

Now he has to make sure that the information doesn't break him. Shift gears, control what damage he can now. If this is what breaks his brother, after everything else they've gone through and the progress made so far ... That thought forces him to look up again, to look into his brother's expression.

It's worse than he thought. Tadashi looks physically ill, like he's realized something else on top of the obvious guilt for shattering Hiro's arm. It's not much of a leap to go from the arm to the rest of the weapons; Hiro can only assume that's what his brother is thinking of. He doesn't make the connection to the security tapes just yet. What does he say? Can he say anything that won't hurt?

He swallows, hard, and moves in front of his brother. Gets down on his knees in front of him, a mirror of Tadashi's own position when he first arrived home. Then, slowly but surely, he reaches for Tadashi's hand. ]

It's not your fault. You didn't - they're the ones who used the weapons.

[He almost doesn't notice his brother so close. Almost doesn't realize he's reaching until Hiro's hand is on top of his. Then he's jerking away, climbing back into the bed to go around and off. Not daring to take his eyes off him now.

Definitely nauseous.

Definitely going to be sick but he has to fight it down.]

N-no, I- Hiro. I did, I made them, and you-- you saw.

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

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