Grieve Me

For Hiro.

(Father God, I come before you and I surrender this story to You. I pray, Father, that You will take this story and do what You want. Don't let me make an idol out of this. If you say drop it again, then give me strength to obey and drop it. Thank You for the talent and pleasure to write and for the love You pour graciously out on us. In Jesus holy and blessed name, amen.)

'It's official', I thought to myself. 'We are going to jail.'

The gang and I stood at the foot of a mansion in some rich neighborhood. Our friend, Fred, led us here. He stood at the thick oak doors, hand raised to knock as if this wasn't trespassing on some rich man's lawn. A snobbish rich man's lawn at that! Who, most likely, will enjoy suing us out of our scholarships and family's inheritance.

"Um, where are we?" honey asked. We held hands the whole way here so I felt her shaking from being soaked to the bone.

Fred tilted his head, before understanding our friend's question. "Mi casa, tu casa!" He stated, proudly presenting the place as if he owned it. "That's french."

No, fred.

It's not.
It's really not.

Gogo started chewing him out until a butler opened the door and addressed him. "Heatcliff, my man!" It looked unreal watching Fred fist bumped the butler but it became even more unreal as we spotted a picture of Fred with his parents. It was nicely framed along with others in the hallway Heatcliff led us down. He looked so tamed in a suite, neat hair, and straight look. Oddly enough, his dad looked like Stan Lee, the Marvel franchise creator.

"He really lives here?" I wasn't trying to be rude. It's just...shocking. I mean, Fred's the man that keeps his underwear on for a week straight!

"I thought he lived somewhere under a bridge." We all thought that Gogo. We just never said anything.

Heatcliff led us to a room farther from the rest - it was the room our loveable slacker treasured the most. It was also disturbing. Fred had many figurines of his beloved comic book characters, some even taller than me with a note stating "Fred's: Do not touch!"

But what would remain burned into my cranium and go on to haunt my dreams for future years is the painting that hung high on the wall by the giant television Fred had. In that nightmare of art, Fred was portrayed unnaturally buff and mostly naked, sitting on a white tiger with bat wings.

I shudder, wishing that I never saw that. I could have lived life never knowing that even existed in the first place.

Releasing honey's hand, I went to the table at the side of the room. There was paper and some pens. Taking one of each, I sat and began drawing out an image of a bird. It was a logo of some sort, something I'd seen from the device the masked man carried...before chasing us off.

As I drew, baymax came up from behind and leaned over me. His heating pads kicked in, warming my body from the icy waters. After him, everyone followed, leaning on him for warmth, thus putting more weight on me.

"What's that supposed to be?" Fred pointed at the drawing.

"A logo of some sort. It's just something I spotted from the masked man; I'm hoping it's a clue that will lead me to getting my brother back." Oh no! I slipped up, big time.

"What do you mean by that?" Everyone lept off Baymax in a second.

"Getting Hiro?!"

"You mean those psychos took him!?"

"So that's why they attacked us! We know too much!"

They mob rushed me.

It was too late to back track. They heard me loud and clear. Mentally kicking myself, I searched for something to appease them. Yanking my hair slightly, I nodded resentfully, telling them what has been going on for the past few weeks, carefully I omitted any information of Hiro being a bot. 

"I thought maybe it was just a dream - he was sleepwalking - but when he never showed up to walk home today, it worried me. All I found was his bag and now that THIS happened," I gestured to this crazy night. "Hiro wasn't lying about the man but because of me...he's been kidnapped."

My brother's been kidnapped and engineered to destroy.

Looking at the drawing, I sighed. "How am I going to get him back?" I wasn't used to this: Feeling out of control. The past ten years were in my hands. I called the shots, made the plans and it went smoothly. It's not fair that a speck in time is all it takes for life to pull the rug out from under me, throwing everything into chaos.

My mind kept racing, trying to figure out how to put the pieces back together. "How do I fix this?" I didn't realize I was speaking aloud.

"By catching yokai and his shadow!" We stared at Fred like he was crazy.

"Yokai?" I inquired.

"His shadow?" Honey finished.

Enthusiastically, Fred whooped. "That's the masked man's and his sidekick! Catchy names, right?" I wasn't in the mood for Fred's dramatics but there was no choice as he got out his comics. One by one, he began handing them to us, each copy highlighted some billionaire with a super villain alter ego.

Seeing Gogo literally ready to strangle the otaku, I saved him. "Are you saying this yokai is some sort of rich man?"

"Duh and I bet I know who is under the mask!" Grabbing the remote control. He switched the tele on to the news. Alistair Krei smiled at us. He was happily announcing the date of the grande opening to his new and improved facilities in downtown sanfrantokyo.

Wasabi shook his head. "And why would a man like Alistair Krei be roaming the streets as some super villian?"

"Think about it! Yokai had Hiro's microbots - the very invention Alistair wanted badly! He was also the only one who conveniently wasn't around when the fire took place."

It makes sense. "Alistair's too boastful though. He's almost always in the spotlight." Too many eyes are on him for criminal activity.

"And why take Hiro and what about the sidekick?"

"Hiro seen too much. Tadashi said so himself: Hiro found the man's lair where he massed produced his work. And the sidekick could be another invention Alistair stole and rewired to aid him with his plans." In a second, a look of revelation bloomed over his features. "Or maybe the sidekick is Hiro, brainwashed by Alistair!"

Since when have Fred been this observant?! Seeing my dear friend too close to my secret, I pushed this conversation the other way. "Hiro can't lift humongous crates, Fred!" Feigning a deep sigh, I added, "Maybe it is Alistair, maybe not, whoever they are - they have Hiro!"

Gogo demanded "So what do we do?" I stood up, ready to just leave the room and this mansion. My friends shouldn't have to deal with this. Just as I was about to leave, I caught my reflection in the glass that held Fred's figurines. I noticed that each of my friends heads fit the bodies of the figures - making them look like superheroes.

It brought to mind, Hiro's ideas. He made costumes revolving around the gang's inventions - each design perfected their life's work. 

It hit me.
Hiro needed people. 

His plans wouldn't work unless he had a team.

However, the question that remained would be could I keep them from finding the truth? Internally, I fought over this decision but...there's no other choice. I'll have to deal with that issue when I get there. "Take down yokai."

"How?" My friends asked. "We're just students!"

I shook my head. "We are more than students. Don't you see? We can make a difference. Please. I can't do this without you guys - for my brother?" I felt helpless begging them. It was nothing compared to waiting for their answer.

Well...Fred didn't make me wait long. He was in without me asking. Wasabi, Gogo, and Honey shared a silent conversation with their eyes before answering me. "Tadashi's right. Hiro's our friend. I think we should do this for him."

Truly, it touched me that I wouldn't have to do this alone. Hiro was going to be ok. We're going to get him back. He would be happy, seeing how loyal our friends were. How they would put their lives on the line for him. God, my brother would have loved this moment.

Gratefully, we hugged each other as well as Baymax, whose long arms squished us. He felt like a marshmellow. Letting go, we cheered, "For Hiro!"