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]

[ Even awkward brother hugs are so, so much better than none. His brother has a long recovery ahead of him - but he's here with Hiro all along? And Hiro gets to see it? He doesn't care. A broken brother still isn't dead. And considering what Hiro's found out about Yama's mafia just from fighting them ... Maybe his brother did pretty well after all. At least he's not missing any limbs.

He leans lightly against his brother afterwards, keeping enough of his weight off Tadashi so that he can move back and have his space back, if he wants. He probably shouldn't do this while his brother is still so delicate, but he can't help it. It's so good to be able to feel his brother there physically present. ]

Were - were you hurt? You've got ...

[ He avoids mentioning the collar, instead looking down at some of the bruises on Tadashi's arms. ]

[tadeadshi]

[Tadashi looks at Hiro when he asks, then follows his eyes to his own arms. Bruised and scarred and just not very happy looking arms, really. He carefully folds his arms, rubbing at them nervously.]

Some of it's from the fire, I don't - [gulp] Don't remember much of it.

[Remembers the heat, the sparks. Sees the flames as clear as day, hears the crackling, himself coughing and shout for Callaghan. Could almost just make out his figure there a few feet away and something dark at his feet and then a whump all around him before it went black.]

The rest of it's just - [Abuse, fighting, beaten, falls, scrapes, -teach you to be insubordinate- ] Long two years, is all. It's fine.

[microbrobotics]

[ Obviously not, he wants to say, but not only does he not want to make his brother talk about awful things when he's clearly gone through trauma ... he's not sure how to tell his brother that he recognizes the difference between the occasional bruise and signs of consistent, painful scarring. Lived the difference, seen it in the rest of the Six too. None of them have come through the last two years unscathed.

Gently, very gently, he puts one hand on Tadashi's arm. ]

Where were you? ... Why couldn't you come home?

[ Doesn't even ask "didn't" there. ]

[tadeadshi]

[His skin twitches on its own at the touch, but he carefully, so so carefully, puts his own hand over Hiro's.

He can't exactly tell him everything. Can't even tell him who he was with or what he was doing. Best to go with the truths he knows he can tell.]

Don't really know where I was. Just... Couldn't get out. Not without help.

[microbrobotics]

[ Story of their lives right now, isn't it? Both of them cutting huge swaths out of the story, or outright lying in Hiro's case. The difference is that Hiro can see those holes easily, whereas Tadashi is still in the dark. It feels strange and wrong, knowing that his brother isn't telling him everything. And knowing too much about what's been left out... ]

The Six helped you. And ... someone else?

[ He's still not convinced Tadashi doesn't have Stockholm's, but he needs to find out the truth about what Callaghan was doing. ]

[tadeadshi]

[He nods. Still doesn't think he should call him by name; Hiro wasn't there during those encounters, wasn't there when the Six eventually caught up with them. His brother just doesn't know, probably only considers Callaghan as the villain who set the fire and was taken to prison after everything else he'd done.]

Someone else. He was brought in to work with me, but. But neither of us wanted to do any of it, so we worked together. Got away.

[He rubs his free hand down his face, looking at everywhere in front of him that isn't Hiro.]

We were trying to fix things before I came back.

[microbrobotics]

[ Well. His brother sure isn't wrong. Hiro still blames Callaghan for everything, and not without cause. Yama just happens to be the bigger jerk in this situation. And Callaghan did surrender, if only after threatening their secret identities and (obliquely) their lives.

It's that last sentence that catches Hiro's attention most of all. Is that why Tadashi and Callaghan were nowhere near the usual mob headquarters? Why Tadashi hadn't returned home yet? He still bristles at the reminder that he had to come rescue his own brother when Callaghan had him safe and sound. ]

Fix things? Why couldn't you do that from here?

[tadeadshi]

[Something threatens to crumble beneath him at that question; he'd thought about it so much, had wondered about it but ultimately decided it was best not to risk his family's lives until they were done. The hand over Hiro's tightens and he swallows back the lump forming in his throat.]

It wasn't safe to come back here. Not yet. There was a lot of stuff out there we had to get back.

[Had to go get their own tech back so it couldn't just be replicated. Had to make sure any schematics and blueprints were mysteriously destroyed.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro bows his head a little at that. The selfish part of him wants to scream you could have done that from home, I would have helped you - but he can see where Tadashi's coming from, at least. He already keeps so much from Aunt Cass in the name of keeping what's left of his family safe. ]

Is it still out there? You're not - you're not going back out, are you?

[tadeadshi]

No.

[That at least gets an immediate shake of his head. Far as he's concerned, the Six can take over the rest of the clean up now. He's home, finally, after almost three years, he doesn't want to leave. Something he's learned in all this time is how to be selfish, and right now he just -

He just wants to stay home.]

No, I'm not going back out there. I think they - the Six - got enough when they found me they can probably find the rest.

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro's shoulders slump in relief. Oh thank god. He's not sure his heart could take a Tadashi who wants to throw himself straight back out there, with Cal and the mafia and everything else ready to snatch him away again. Hiro will sleep better too knowing that his brother is here and safe.

He nods, finally. Gratefully. ]

They probably do. And - and I want you here too. Just stay and be safe.

[tadeadshi]

[Tadashi nods at that - another command he can follow. A habit he'll have to keep trying to break, but for now it's one he can agree with fully. He thumbs along Hiro's knuckles before easing himself away. He desperately needs his space again, but it's his brother and he doesn't go too far. Just scoots an inch or two away on the bed, reaches to idly pick up and bite on some bacon he'd passed up.]

So- So tell me about you? I probably missed a lot, how're you?

[Anything to keep from talking about himself, but also to help him feel normal for a little while, until Hiro inevitably has to leave or he has to face Aunt Cass and go through this song and dance of "you're alive! where were you! why didn't you come home! what happened to you!" all over again.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Right. Give him space. He leans back into his chair and moves to clean off his part of the breakfast tray. He ... ate most of the leftovers, sorry Tadashi. Between the superheroing and puberty, he's eating absolutely everything. ]

Me? I dunno where to start, I guess. [ School? School is safe. ] I took over your old lab.

[tadeadshi]

[It's fine, all he wants is this one piece of bacon, it'll take him a while to eat it.]

Yeah? It's-- it was the best lab space on that floor. Best light.

[microbrobotics]

Right? I guess they don't normally give that room to first year students, but they made an exception for me. I kind of got a late start, so ...

[tadeadshi]

... They usually reserved it for upper classmen or students with high scored projects.

[Like Baymax.]

Had to work hard to get it, I bet.

[microbrobotics]

'course I did. I built the microbots. And I've been doing a lot of things since then. Prosthetic limbs, mostly.

[ And powered exoskeletons. ]

[tadeadshi]

Really?

[He sounds hopeful at that. His brother making prosthetic limbs? Sign him up for that newsletter.]

Tell me about them? They've got to be amazing if you're making them.

[microbrobotics]

[ A bit of that good ol' lopsided grin. Hiro still loves to show off, okay. And he hasn't even gotten to do it in front of his brother yet. ]

Well, duh. I'm making them so that they interface directly with a neuro-cranial transmitter. And I did some extensive sensor work, so the prototypes I have almost feel the same as real limbs. Almost makes me wish I were missing something.

[ It had been close, with that arm. He'd sure considered the possibility for a while there... ]

[tadeadshi]

Hiro, that's--

[His mind flashes to the things he'd had to design and make, the kind of hurt they likely caused. And then to his little brother working on things that could repair the damage.]

That's amazing.

[microbrobotics]

[ What an uncanny coincidence, huh? He ducks his head, flushing just a bit. Brother approval. ]

I had to live up to you, bro.

[tadeadshi]

I--

[Ow.

Ow.

That hurts him, right in the heart. After the things he's done, had to do, the levels he's stooped to... There wasn't much to live 'up' to, only ways to go down for him. He never wanted Hiro anywhere near following those footsteps.

His jaw tightens and he goes to wipe his eye, still got some sleep crusties in the corner obviously, he's not about to break down on his brother. Maybe when he leaves. But not at this moment, he'll fight it off.]

Doing great at it. Passed me somewhere I think.

[microbrobotics]

[ He'd meant it as a compliment, of course; he doesn't expect the near tears in his brother's eyes. But - maybe he should have expected it? Tadashi had been forced to make weapons, something he can't picture his brother wanting to do ever. Damn it. He definitely said the wrong thing, then. ]

No way. You built Baymax. And - and I found your messages too.

[tadeadshi]

My messages?

[He didn't leave any messages did he? He can't remember, it feels like a lifetime ago.]

Which ones?

[microbrobotics]

Your recordings? The ones you made while you were making him?