The trip back to the Ito Ishioka lab felt a lot longer than it had the last time he'd gone there earlier that morning. Maybe it was because Tadashi knew a lot more was at stake this time around. Things were getting more than a little confusing and he wanted answers.
Parking his moped, Tadashi raced up the stairs to his lab, forgoing the elevator. The thing had been acting up lately and he didn't want to risk getting stuck between floors.
He was a little out of breath by the time he slid the card key and opened the lab door, but it was worth it. He hadn't had a good run in a while and the endorphins from doing it helped clear his head just a little. After all, he had to keep a calm head if he was going to do things right.
A flick of a switch turned the lights on, sending inviting warmth into the room the darkness had seemed to take away. That also helped. For some odd reason, he felt darkness was cold, though he wasn't sure why. It had never bothered him before.
The program Tadashi wanted was stored on the holographic computer so he booted up the system. While waiting, he searched through his cabinets for an empty data chip, the one with the largest capacity he could find. He also located some cables he knew he'd need to hook Baymax up to the computer in the garage, once he'd installed the program there.
With the computer on, Tadashi inserted the data chip into the appropriate port and began copying the necessary programs. Since there was a lot of data, it would take a while so he settled down to wait. He tried to think of anything else he might need to fix the problem, then decided it would be wise to make a copy of the master program for Baymax's healthcare protocols, just in case he had to do a complete reinstall. It wasn't optimal, but a possibility.
While looking for another data chip, the strangest sound filled the air. Tadashi looked up from the drawer he'd been searching in, only to see blue light pulsating in the middle of the room. This was shortly followed by the appearance of a blue box that looked like an old-fashioned phone booth mixed with a large crate. And across the top was painted the words "Police Public Call Box".
Not sure what was going on, Tadashi closed the drawer by pushing against it with his back. It was always possible that whoever this box belonged to was the person messing with his robot, and, in turn, with Hiro. He grabbed the first thing that came to hand in case he needed to defend himself, which happened to be part of a failed frame for another project.
As soon as the noise subsided, and the light stopped flashing, the door to the blue box opened just a crack. Tadashi tensed, ready to use the length of metal as a club if necessary.
Two people exited through the door, entering the lab. One was male and had brown hair that was almost as messy as Hiro's, only nowhere near as long. The other was female, with long blond hair.
"Please tell me this is going to work this time," the blond said to her companion as she glanced at his face. "I don't know how many more times I can handle doing this."
The man nodded as he rubbed at his nose, pushing up a pair of glasses. "Hopefully this will be the last," he replied, probably trying to reassure her.
Tadashi decided he'd waited long enough. They obviously hadn't seen him or they'd have said something, though he couldn't be sure about that. They did seem rather intent on conversing with each other instead of looking around though. He took a step forward, metal rod at the ready. "I want to know who you are and what you're doing in my lab right now."
Almost absently, the man turned to face Tadashi, a mild look of surprise on his face as he noticed the improvised weapon in his hand. But then he smiled. "Well now, if that isn't handy!" he said, addressing his companion with a big smile. "Looks like we won't have to wait this time around."
"I asked who you are and what you're doing here," Tadashi said, his voice firm, his expression echoing the tone of his voice. There was decidedly something odd about this pair and how they'd appeared in his lab. There had to be some kind of trick to it. And if there was a trick, that meant they were potentially dangerous. He had to know.
The man cleared his throat. "Yes. Well, I suppose it's only natural for you to have questions," he replied as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "If a strange man with a blue box appeared in my lab, I know I would. But try not to be alarmed. I'm the Doctor and I'm here to help."
.......................
Honey Lemon looked at the clock, wondering what was taking Tadashi so long. She knew he had to go to his lab and get a few things, but he hadn't been very specific about how long it would take. And his aunt was still busy with the cafe downstairs. She paced the floor in front of Hiro's bed, wondering if she shouldn't go downstairs.
Just as she began to head towards the landing, Hiro began to mumble in his sleep. It wasn't the typical kind of sleep-talk, sounding more like a nightmare. Hesitantly, Honey moved towards the bed to see Hiro start tossing and turning as he moaned.
She reached out a hand to touch his arm, hoping that small amount of contact would bring him out of whatever dream he was in. But it didn't. Instead, she felt skin that was far too hot to be normal. She glanced over at Baymax's case, debating with herself. Tadashi had told her not to activate the robot. She wasn't sure why. But if Tadashi said not to, there had to be a good reason.
"No," Hiro said as he rolled to one side, pulling the quilt with him. He was sweating enough to make his hair damp. And his breathing came in short huffs of exertion.
"Hiro?" Honey called out, not sure what to do in this situation. "Can you hear me?"
But Hiro didn't respond to her voice. Instead, he continued to groan, occasionally mumbling something she couldn't understand. And he wouldn't stop moving, even when she moved to restrain him. This continued for several minutes, with Honey trying to wake the boy without any success.
Just as she was about to go call for help, Hiro sat up, his eyes wide open. "Tadashi! Tadashi!" he called out frantically. "No!" Tears rolled down his face and the Latino student couldn't find it in herself to abandon him for even a moment.
Not sure what else to do, Honey Lemon moved onto the bed and took Hiro into her arms, holding him as tightly as she could, despite his continued attempts to flail around. "It's okay!" she hushed, hoping her voice would soothe him back to complacency. "It's okay, Hiro! Tadashi's coming. He'll be here soon!" She just hoped she was telling the truth.
................................
Tadashi stared at the two obvious foreigners in his lab. The metal rod in his hand hung uselessly in front of him simply because he wasn't sure how else to react. He wasn't a violent person by nature, and, so far, the two strangers hadn't made any threatening moves.
"You're Tadashi, right?" The one who'd called himself the Doctor asked. "Tadashi Hamada? You have a little brother named Hiro?" He held out his hand in a placating gesture as he took a step or two closer to the college student.
The question seemed to shake Tadashi back into the present. "How do you know my name?"
The Doctor paused as he held his other hand out in a placating manner, almost as if he wasn't sure how the college student would respond. "I'm not going to hurt you. As I said, I came to help you. Well, to help you and your brother, actually. You see, things have gotten into rather a mess and I'm doing my level best to try and fix things, but I can't do that without your help. So why don't you put that pole down and we can talk."
Hand wavering, Tadashi lowered the metal rod and set it down on a workbench. If worse came to worse, he did have his karate to fall back on. He didn't want to, but he could use it.
"That's a lad," the Doctor encouraged. "Now, you might want to find somewhere to sit down because what I'm about to tell you is not going to be pleasant."
Still wishing to maintain some semblance of control over the whole situation, Tadashi chose to stand, backing up just a little more to press his back firmly against the drawers behind him. "What do you need to tell me? I don't have a lot of time. I need to get back to my brother. He's sick."
The Doctor nodded. "Oh I know. And believe me when I say I've tried to keep this from happening, several times, in fact. But he is one stubborn boy."
Tadashi couldn't help but let out an almost bitter laugh. "I know." The energy seemed to drain from him, making him wish he had sought out something to sit on. "What did you mean by several times? And keep what from happening? Hiro getting sick?"
But the Doctor shook his head as he moved his hands back into the pockets of his long brown coat. "Everything," he answered. "I think this is the third or fourth time I've attempted to stop it from happening. I'm not honestly sure, though. But this is the first time I've arrived immediately after things didn't end up happening as they should. As for the other times, well, I arrived either too early or too late. Let's hope I arrived right on time this time."
Tadashi shook his head. "You're not making any sense." He glanced over to the computer as it announced the completion of the file transfer.
The Doctor let out a heavy sigh. "I guess there's no easy way to do this, and we're not exactly flush with time, so I'm just going to have out with it." He squared his shoulders as he stared intently at the older Hamada, everything about him spoke of a level of seriousness that brooked no arguments.
"Tadashi Hamada, at exactly nine fifty seven pm this very night, after your brother was accepted into the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, you were supposed to hear the sound of a fire alarm and go to investigate. Upon reaching the scene of the fire, you were supposed to go into the building to try and help anyone who might still be inside. You were supposed to die in that fire. But, because your brother did not follow the original course of events, this was prevented from happening. You lived."
Mouth hanging open, Tadashi couldn't help but look at the man as if he were crazy. "Hiro didn't go to the showcase tonight because he's not feeling well and I told him to stay home," he countered. "There's no way any of what you said could be true. Besides, how could my not dying in a fire be a bad thing?" But even though he'd said that, flashes of memory filtered into his mind, Hiro telling him he had to go to the showcase to stop him, to save him. It couldn't be coincidence, could it?
"It's true though," the blond spoke up as she moved to stand by the Doctor. "I've watched you and your brother die several times now. Neither time happened as it was supposed to. And believe me when I say it wasn't pretty."
Tadashi's mouth couldn't have dropped open any further as he focused on the girl with disbelief. "You saw us both die several times? That's not possible."
Both strangers looked dead serious though, without an ounce of insanity between them. "I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "I'm so sorry but you probably don't remember because each time history failed to repeat itself, as it should, things reset, giving your brother another chance to fix things. The problem is that he remembers. And that's part of what's making him so ill."
Tadashi stepped forward, waving a hand to silence them. "A chance to fix what? My brother hasn't broken anything! Sure he can be reckless and not think things through, but he hasn't done anything like what you're hinting at!"
"It wasn't on purpose," the woman said defensively. "He was dying, so he made a wish, the only real desire he's had since your death in the original time line. And because he helped a very powerful species, he was granted the opportunity to see what would happen if he changed history, his history."
The Doctor took one hand out of his pocket as he moved closer to the older Hamada. "Allow me to explain. You see, what most people don't realize is that time isn't one long line. No, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff. It interconnects in a giant tangle of events. While some of those events are completely changeable, others are not. Those fixed events in time are there for a reason. If one of them is tampered with, it throws the entire universe out of sync. Futures that were supposed to happen are completely erased. People who were supposed to live end up dying. And people who are supposed to," he paused to swallow the lump in his throat, "die, end up living instead. The very fabric of the universe begins to unravel."
Tadashi couldn't help but put a hand to his temple as a headache began to form. "I don't understand. Are you trying to tell me that my death is a fixed event in time? That I was supposed to die tonight in a fire? You're telling me that the dreams my brother has had aren't just dreams but memories of things that should have happened but didn't?" It sounded crazy. There way it could be true.
With a nod, the Doctor confirmed what he'd already gathered. "Yes. Well, mostly. He's also dreaming about his failed attempts. As I said, part of the problem is that he remembers each time he tried to 'fix" things. The dreams that don't exactly wake him at night in a state of mental anguish are memories of his failed attempts to save your life. What most people don't realize is that the human brain wasn't meant to process that kind of information. Humans weren't meant to continually relive a segment of time, over and over, even with changes between.
"What your brother is suffering from is an overlapping of different layers of time stored inside his brain. As smart as he is, he wasn't meant to handle that kind of strain. And it's burning him up from the inside out. He hasn't seemed to realize just yet that by continually trying to save your life, he's ruining his own. If you live, he can never do the things he's supposed to do to save countless billions of people's lives. And he will never be free from the cycle of trying."
"I don't believe you," Tadashi said as he stumbled towards the closest chair. "I can't believe you. I've always known my little brother was someone special, but I can't believe he won't achieve his full potential unless I die. I can't believe he's tried countless times to keep me alive. I just can't. My brother is sick and I need to find out why. I'm going to do that by fixing the robot I made for him and then everything will be fine."
"Tadashi," the woman spoke up, holding out a hand. "Your brother is sick because he knows, somewhere deep down inside his heart, that he has to let you go. He knows that. He just doesn't want to accept it yet. And it's killing him."
The college student stood to go to his computer, ejecting the data chip from the access port. Maybe if he pretended none of this was happening it would all go away. "I can't accept that," he said as he leaned against the computer desk. "It's just not possible. The only way you could possibly know any of that is if-"
"We could travel in time?" the Doctor finished for him.
Tadashi spun around again, taking a moment to calm himself. The way the man had known what he was going to say was uncanny. "Exactly. And there's no way anyone could possibly do that."
The expression on the Doctor's face was thoughtful but almost pensive at the same time, a dangerous kind of glint in his eyes. "Oh yes there is," he said quietly. "And I can prove it to you by showing you the future Hiro is supposed to have, the one he's meant to have."
With that, the Doctor strode forward to take Tadashi by the hand, leading him inside the blue box before he could protest. The blond followed behind them as she closed the door. An almost high pitched whine filled the room as the light on top of the box began to pulse, then the box disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with.