Hiro's Helmet POV
"Today is May 18th, 1964," Wilbur starts, looking at the camera. "The doctor finally took out my stitches, so that's new. I've been searching everyday, using Hiro's AI system to look for his bio signature, but there's no such luck. It's been over three weeks since he's disappeared, and I keep looking for anything he might have done to help us find him, but there's... there's nothing." Wilbur runs his hands through messy hair, the exhaustion on his features evident as he sighs. "It's my job to bring him back home to you guys, but how am I supposed to do that if I can't even find him to begin with?" The boy mutters, closing his eyes to think. "The only thing I can think of is to get help from someone who can look at this with fresh eyes. The question is who?" The boy opens his eyes, looking at the camera one last time. "This is Wilbur Robinson, checking out for the day." The boy presses a button to pause the recording, but I continue recording anyway, my AI system telling me that Hiro would want to see as much as he can. Wilbur leans back, his eyes closing once more as he pinches the bridge of his nose.
BEEP BEEP BEEP. Wilbur groans as he looks at the phone, reading the alert for a museum theft. That's when Visi announces herself from the back of the room, clearing her throat. "Don't worry about the alert. Dash is on it." Wilbur only nods, opening his eyes and furrowing his eyebrows at her.
"How long have you been there?" He asks, folding his arms. The girl before him stiffens, only to copy Wilbur's movements and fold her arms as well.
"Long enough. You've been cooped up in here for so long I think you forgot something important." She walks over to him, holding out a hand. After a long and silent moment, Wilbur places his hand in hers, almost reluctantly and she pulls him up, forcing the poor boy out of the chair and standing in front of her. "What's your family motto?"
"Keep moving forward?" He answers, more like a question.
"And what does Hiro do every time he gets stuck on an invention?" Wilbur falls silent, probably thinking about the past two months and how well he'd gotten to know their missing teammate. How many times have they fallen short on their tech advancements only to try again?
"Look for a new angle." Visi grins at her partner, clearly happy that he knew the answer, and Wilbur turns to look at the camera again. The spark in his eyes can tell even an AI like me that he has a plan forming in his head. "We have a villain to catch." It's only when they leave the room that the camera stops recording, sending me to sleep mode.
———
With the camera recording again I exit sleep mode, watching as Violet sits down in Hiro's chair, for some reason nervous as can be. What is there to be nervous about? There's no one in the room to tell her what she's doing wrong. "Hi, Hiro's friends, family, anyone who might be watching this. I'm Violet Parr, one of Hiro's teammates here in 1964. Today is May 19th, and Wilbur asked me to take care of today's log. He's been busy working with the Time Machine." Violet sighs, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees as she fidgets with her hands, looking down at them.
"I don't even know where to begin. There's so much I could tell you, and frankly, I don't know what all you already know." She looks up at the camera, only to chuckle to herself. "And it's not like you can tell me, this isn't a two way conversation." Looking around the room, it's almost as if Violet is looking for something.
"I'm going to start with Hiro, he's probably the one you want to hear about." She inches forward, as if the conversation is about to turn secretive. "I'm sure he told you about the group of people who got stuck here. When he and Wilbur first came here, they weren't the only ones. Wilbur and I had tried to get everyone back to their homes, and though we thought we succeeded, there were a good twenty or thirty people still stuck, including Hiro and Wilbur. Imagine my surprise when I saw Jean of Arc amongst the crowd of people outside the crash site. Anyway, while we were searching for clues to find Hiro yesterday, we found a lead. Though most of the people are being protected by the government, some of them fell through the cracks and formed their own group.
"Whoever these people are, they've been trying to build their own time machine, and Wilbur thinks that Hiro's nemesis is leading the group, at the least manipulating it. We have no proof for this though, except that robot kid from the bank robbery a while back." Violet leans back, no longer so close to the camera. "That kid talked about returning to his father, and Hiro told us afterward about this... burger robot," Violet pauses, as if struggling to explain it. "The burger robot was hacked and programmed to call this Obake guy 'father,' and— wait, you're Hiro's friends, you already know this." Violet facepalms, groaning.
Standing up and moving behind the chair, Violet sighs. "I wish Hiro were here to tell me more stories. To me, they sound like a fantasy. It's hard to think of the future he's from as real." The girl looks at the camera to continue. "Wilbur has been racing to fix the machine, especially with the news of another party trying to build one. If they beat him to it, then the invention of the time machine is placed in the sixties, and it's an invention taken away from his father. I guess you could say it's a paradox. A dangerous one."
The exhaustion in Violet's voice could be heard, but she doesn't stop. "My theory out of all of this is that if this group is trying to make another time machine, then they're going to need more than one mad scientist and Hiro is the best inventor I know. I just hope they don't convince him to work for them. He's become one of my best friends." The girl sits back down, giving the camera a soft smile as she reaches for the button.
"Hiro, if you ever get the chance to watch this, know that I would never say this to your face, but you're the most important member of this team, and maybe even more important back home. We're trying our best to get the machine working so we can get you and everyone else home, but I have a hunch we can't do this without you." Violet sighs, straightening up. "This is Invisigirl, signing out for the day." She stops recording, and I return to sleep mode.
———
Recording starts up again, and I leave sleep mode to scan a new room. It's a new camera, new hardware, but it's still the same system. "Hey guys," a familiar voice whispers. The camera moves from staring at a ceiling to a cluttered room, the bunk beds not made and boxes everywhere, broken machine parts scattered about the room. Right in front of me, is Hiro Hamada himself. "It's May 20th, and I promise it's me. I don't have a lot of time, and I don't know when they'll be back, but I was able to look at the messages you have been sending to my team back in my time." A commotion starts outside the room, causing Hiro to look out and away from the camera. "If you get this message, Wilbur, Violet, be careful. The time machine wasn't a malfunction, it was a sabatoge. There is something here that is bigger than any one of us, and it wanted to bring us all together. Don't worry about me, I will contact you if I'm in danger, but I'm doing some undercover work here. They're trying to create a time machine, Wilbur, but that's not what they're making at all. Whatever you do, you have to stop them! Lives are at stake."
"Hiro, you in there?" A girl asks, the voice muffled.
"A-a little busy!" Hiro yells, standing up. Then he bends down. "Recorder, send all video files to Sea-Max." Then he shuts off the system, and I start uploading the video to Sea-Max.
YOU ARE READING
Meet the Robinsons: Stuck in the Past
FanfictionYou've seen the movie where Lewis gets stuck in the future, but what happens when Wilbur finds himself decades into the past, before his father was even born? Without his father to help him get back to his time, he has to put his faith into a compl...
