By the time Tadashi's stipulated three days were over, Hiro had completed both his and Baymax's suits. If his older brother noticed anything though, he didn't say much about it. In fact, Hiro rather thought he'd been home a lot less lately.
When Tadashi returned late for the fourth night in a row, Hiro couldn't help but be curious. He watched his brother hang up his helmet and goggles as he sat on his bed and tossed a ball into the air over and over again. "What've you been up to?"
Almost guiltily, Tadashi started as he turned to face the room. "Hiro! Don't do that!" he admonished. "You almost gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry," the boy apologized. "That still doesn't answer my question." He sat up, setting the ball to one side. "You're not usually out this late."
Tadashi crossed the room to his side as he took off his hat and fumbled in the dresser for his pajamas. "I'm working on something with one of my professors," he replied. "But don't even bother asking what. I don't have permission to talk about it yet."
That made Hiro even more curious, but he knew asking anything else would shut his brother down faster than a failing motherboard. He decided to change gears. "Any news about the project thief?"
Shaking his head, the older Hamada came back around the dividing screen, already wearing his night clothes. "Unfortunately, no. The police think someone just wanted to strip them for parts."
So much for that, Hiro sighed. Not that anyone could get anything useful from his destroyed microbots. "That's too bad. I was hoping they'd found something."
Turning off the light on his side of the room, Tadashi ventured far enough to ruffle Hiro's hair. "Try not to worry too much about it," he advised. "Besides, it's getting late. You should head to bed before Aunt Cass comes up to check on us."
Aunt Cass had checked in on Hiro as often as was possible over the past few days. Not that anything had happened to cause alarm. But Hiro knew Tadashi was right. He didn't want Aunt Cass coming up to check on him. Not tonight.
"Good night," Hiro called to his brother as he switched off his lamp. All he had to do was wait until his brother fell asleep, then he could sneak down to the garage where Baymax was waiting. Assuming Aunt Cass didn't stay up too late either.
...............................................
In the end, Hiro had to wait for over an hour before the telltale sounds of Tadashi's snoring had evened out. Figuring his brother had finally drifted into a deep sleep, he flung off the covers and quickly headed for the stairs.
Being as quiet as he could, Hiro crept downstairs to the garage. Thankfully, the light to his aunt's room was off, indicating she'd gone to bed as well. Sometimes she stayed up late watching old-school horror movies with Mochi. He paused only long enough to grab a high powered flashlight from the hall closet, hoping his aunt really was asleep and not just reading or something.
Once inside the garage, he called Baymax out of the far corner where he'd hidden in full armor. It would have taken too long to put it on after the others had gone to bed, the boy had reasoned. And, luckily, there was a niche big enough for the robot to hide in should someone come down to investigate.
Carefully, Hiro attached his own bits of armor, then secured his helmet in place. "You ready?" he asked the healthcare bot as he made some final adjustments.
"I am ready," Baymax confirmed and moved to open the garage door, ducking under the frame because his suit gave him several more feet to his original height.
Hiro closed the tilting door with a tug on the rope intended for that exact purpose. It wouldn't do to leave the room open to potential looters. Then he circled around to the robot's back to climb on. "First, I want to check out the warehouse," he instructed as he made doubly sure he had the heavy duty flashlight secured to his belt. He'd need that for later.
Baymax activated his thrusters and they were soon on their way to the warehouse district. With the robot's enhanced boosters, they were there in no time at all.
They landed near the alley leading to the open front. From there, they moved cautiously forward. As had happened several lifetimes ago, Baymax kicked open the doors of the warehouse in question with a shower of splintered wood. But if Hiro was hoping to find anything there, he was sadly mistaken. Just to be safe, he had the robot scan the area, with no results.
"Strike one," he sighed, not sure if he was really disappointed or just mildly surprised. "Guess that means we head to the next stop, Akuma Island."
........................................
Hiro had never traveled to the island at night. The last time he'd been there was almost at twilight, with the sun's light barely visible in the background. It made him doubly glad for Baymax's night vision and the added function on his own helmet.
Things were eerily quiet as they landed just outside the door Wasabi had cut through in the first time line. Having anticipated the possibility of having to do that again, Hiro had brought along a few tools, but they weren't necessary. Someone had already broken the bolt on the door and it hung open like a gaping mouth of some creature waiting to eat them.
"That doesn't bode well," Hiro gulped, wondering if they'd run into anyone or not. "Baymax, can you detect anyone around?"
Baymax looked into the open maw of the doorway. "This structure is interfering with my sensor," he informed.
Hiro almost smacked himself for having forgotten that detail. The walls were likely lined with lead, which would definitely cause problems. He pulled out the flashlight and turned it on. "Okay, let's just take a quick look inside, see if anyone's messed with things. You remember our primary objective?"
Baymax followed the boy as he moved inside. "Our primary objective is to secure the portal," he stated as he held one hand in the air, finger pointing up.
"Exactly." Hiro continued cautiously forward. Part of him wished he'd stayed on Baymax's back, but he wasn't about to complain. He wasn't really a fighter, just a genius with way too much time on his hands. But part of him felt he'd at least feel a little better about the whole situation if he'd stayed docked on Baymax's back. That way they could make a hasty exit if necessary.
Without realizing it, he began to hum the song Fred had made up the last time they were there. He stopped the moment he realized what he was doing, going silent. A dull ache filled his chest, almost winding him and he had to take a moment to catch his breath, pausing in the corridor.
Baymax paused the moment he realized Hiro wasn't moving. A quick scan indicated the boy was under emotional distress. "It will be alright," he reassured, correctly guessing at the cause.
Hiro licked his lips, his flashlight wavering. "Yeah. I just didn't expect for it to keep hurting this much. It shouldn't hurt like this. Not after all this time. Maybe I am doing something wrong."
The robot blinked at that, then turned to face a sliding door. "This is the entrance we used to reach the portal chamber," he reminded.
Pushing back the desire to cry, Hiro slid the door open. Upon initial inspection, the room looked much the same. The second portal lay in all its ruined splendor. The tracks were in the same state of disarray. And next to it...
Hiro went down to his knees with a dull thud. His eyes went wide in shock as he stared. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't possible. But it was. The portal was gone.
.......................................
Hiro didn't know how long he sat there, staring into space, mouth hanging open in shock. It wasn't fair. After all his hard work... After all he'd been through... Things were still not working out.
Baymax surveyed the room. "It would appear we came too late," he observed.
"You think?" Hiro slowly got back to his feet and turned to the control room to his left. Slowly, like someone who was at the end of their strength, he made his way up the stairs. He had to hold to the railing to keep the dizzy feeling growing at the back of his head from overwhelming him and toppling him back down.
More devastation waited inside the control room. Someone had removed several control panels from the front area. The only station left intact was the giant monitor at the back.
Almost hopefully, Hiro made his way to the screen and instructed the computer to rewind the tape. When he pushed play, he only saw the same footage from his original timeline. He fast-forwarded just to be sure. If the cameras had recorded anything after that, the data had been erased, along with any clue as to who had scavenged the failed experiment.
Hiro slammed his fists against the console. "No! It was supposed to be here! I was going to fix it! Now what am I supposed to do?"
Baymax reached his arms around the small boy. "You will think of something," he said. "For now, I suggest returning home and getting rest."
Head downcast, Hiro moved away from Baymax's arms and headed back to the platform in front of the destroyed portal. If he tried, he could imagine his friends fighting off Yokai as they tried to stop him from taking the last segment of the machine. Had Yokai beaten him there? Or had someone else scavenged the place before he'd had a chance? It didn't really matter. The portal was gone. And there was nothing he could do about it.
Besides, the event he was remembering had turned into a huge disaster. His friends had been injured, royally trounced by both the microbots and a berserker Baymax. Again, something that was his fault. Why did he keep making so many mistakes?
The ache in Hiro's chest tightened. Why had so many things gone wrong? And why did they keep going wrong? Why couldn't he do anything right? Even having Tadashi back was starting to feel wrong.
...........................................
The flight back to the Lucky Cat Café was a quiet one. Hiro didn't feel much like talking. Baymax was willing to let him remain silent.
As soon as they arrived back home, Hiro almost mechanically stripped Baymax of his armor, stowing it out of sight. He then proceeded to change back into his pajamas, stowing his gear alongside Baymax's. He wasn't sure if he'd ever use it again. What was the point anyway?
When he stumbled going up the stairs, Baymax gently took him in his arms and carried him the rest of the way up to his room. Once there, he put the boy to bed, then went to his charging station to wait for the morning.