HiroHamada

Hiro returned from his patrol feeling drained. They’d stopped a few attempted robberies and a burglary, which meant that he was running on fumes at three in the morning. Baymax, too, could use a recharge. His low battery behavior very similar to a drunk, Baymax weaved around the tables at the Lucky Cat Cafe.

It was quiet at home, which was a relief. He always worried that one night, Aunt Cass would be waiting up for him. He made his way up the stairs and avoided any creaking ones. The house felt still, almost unnaturally so, but Hiro chalked it up to his exhaustion. Behind him, Baymax swayed as he ascended the steps.

Baymax was slurring his words and commenting on something, but Hiro was too tired to worry about it now. Instead, he dragged himself into his room and, after making sure Baymax was on his dock, flung himself onto his bed. He’d shower later. Just the thought was too much.

Yawning, Hiro was asleep a minute after his head hit the pillow.

---

Hiro awoke to an absence of sound. Perplexed, because his aunt was usually knocking on his door and entreating him to join her downstairs for breakfast, he sat upright. Baymax remained on his charger, though he was fully charged. Hiro glanced over at his clock--ten a.m. Aunt Cass should have awoken him long before now. She always accused him of being a lay-about when he slept in.

Maybe Aunt Cass had decided to leave him alone after being unable to wake him and had decided to head down to the cafe instead. Shrugging, Hiro took a shower, dressed, and headed downstairs. Baymax shuffled along behind him.

The cafe was dark and the stove cold. Frowning, he turned toward Baymax.

“Where’s Aunt Cass?” he asked.

Baymax hesitated, which made Hiro’s heart fly into his throat. Usually, the only time the robot hesitated was to deliver bad news.

“She’s not still asleep, is she?” Hiro asked, incredulous.

“She is not,” Baymax said. “Hiro, there is something you should know.”

“If she’s not asleep and she’s not here, maybe she went out,” he reasoned. Baymax shook his head.

“Aside from you and Mochi, there are no signs of life in the house,” Baymax said. “But there is a faint heat signature. Aunt Cass has not left.”

“If she hasn’t left and you’re not sensing her...are you feeling okay, Baymax?”

“I am fine,” Baymax said, but he sounded subdued. “There is something we need to discuss.”

“After I find Aunt Cass.”

Maybe Hiro was ascribing human emotions to a robot. Shrugging it off, Hiro charged back up the stairs and knocked on Aunt Cass’s door. It swung open at his touch.

“Aunt Cass?” he called. The sunlight streamed in through the window and Hiro’s heart dropped into his stomach. His gorge rose and he was vaguely aware of Baymax at his back and Mochi meowing in distress beside him. Distantly, Hiro thought, So, Mochi hasn’t been fed yet this morning either.

It was odd the thoughts that ran through one’s mind when faced with the unthinkable. Even now, Hiro’s mind refused to put the pieces together. Instead, he saw his aunt in flashes that wouldn’t form a coherent whole.

Her hair was splayed across the pillow and her throat was slashed. There were bruises on her wrists and down pillow feathers from a knife or dagger attack. The sheets had fallen to the floor and she was in her nightgown. Absurdly, the next thought he had was that she must be cold with the window open and only dressed in her nightgown.

But of course she wasn’t. She’d never feel cold again. She’d never feel anything again.

Hiro’s throat was tight and bile burned. Without a word, he turned from the room, darted to the bathroom, and dry heaved. He hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday, having forgotten to eat dinner and having missed breakfast. Nonetheless, the experience was unpleasant.

“You should not go back in there, Hiro,” Baymax warned as he offered Hiro a towel to wipe his face and a cold glass of water.

“I have to.”

“No, you do not.”

Again, his mind flashed on what he’d seen and then, belatedly, he realized that he’d seen something else too. He’d been too focused on his aunt’s condition to recognize it when his eyes had landed upon it. Someone had left a note pinned to the pillows.

His stomach still threatening to rebel, he pushed past Baymax and back into his aunt’s room. Grabbing the note, he rushed back to his room and collapsed onto the bed.

“I shall alert the authorities,” Baymax informed him. Hiro nodded, dazed. Baymax’s words faded into the background as he read the note, which was stained in Aunt Cass’s blood.

“Attention, Big Hero 6---

“I know your true identities and I know the people you care about. I won’t stop until I’ve brought you all low.

“Greetings, Hiro Hamada. It might not be quite as explosive as Tadashi’s death, but I like to think I have a certain flair for the dramatic too.”

Hiro’s mind went blank. He needed to call the others and talk to them. He couldn’t face this alone. Distantly, he heard sirens; those must’ve been the police Baymax had called. His robot shuffled back into the room and Hiro looked up at him.

Hiro knew he should be angry or horrified. Instead, he was sick to his stomach. He didn’t want to dry heave again; that had been unpleasant the first time around. The hollowness in him that had existed since Tadashi’s death threatened to envelop him again. Most of the time, he could ignore it. Now, it was a yawning gap and he feared that he might fall in.

“Do you want me to contact Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi, and Fred?” Baymax asked.

“No,” Hiro said in a flat tone that he didn’t recognize. Part of him wanted to sleep and wake up to discover the nightmare was over. Aunt Cass would be in the kitchen making breakfast and she’d come up here to scold him for sleeping in. And everything would be normal.

“You should not deal with this alone,” Baymax said.

“No, I guess I shouldn’t,” Hiro said in that same odd voice that felt alien to him. He didn’t want to talk to them, though. He’d gone to them before, because they’d known Tadashi best and because he’d needed to use SFIT’s labs. They might have started off as Tadashi’s friends, but they were his friends now too.

Baymax was right that he ought to talk to them. He just couldn’t bring himself to do so.

“Hiro?” Baymax asked, concerned. He heard knocking downstairs and, in a daze, slid off his bed to face the police. It was like reliving Tadashi’s death, except this time, this had been personal. He had brought this upon Aunt Cass.

Hiro’s stomach clenched again. He knew that it wasn’t his fault what a deranged madman did and he doubted that said person had left any DNA behind--Baymax would probably have already detected it if they had. Nonetheless, Aunt Cass had been targeted because of him. That hurt more than it should.

He headed downstairs and opened the door for the cops. He’d have to keep the note to himself, lest the whole police force know his secret. Unfortunately, the note was their only piece of evidence. It would have to be up to Big Hero 6 to crack the case before it was too late. The others had a right to know the danger that they and their families were in, as well. Come to think of it, he only knew about Fred’s family. As far as he knew, Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon didn’t have any loved ones, at least none in San Fransokyo.

He hoped that was the case. The fewer people that were in danger, the better.

Though the police pulled him aside to talk to him, he was barely aware of what he was saying. He didn’t know what time Aunt Cass had gone to bed or when the attack had occurred. Their coroner would probably have a more specific time. Hiro wasn’t in trouble, per se, but they would need to check that he had a solid alibi. Baymax could probably place him elsewhere at the time in question...once they figured out when that was.

The police said something about having a human vouch for Hiro too and he nodded weakly, already feeling overwhelmed. Having another human vouch for him would mean telling his friends what had happened. He was reluctant to do that, because it would make it real. The last thing he wanted was for this nightmare to become reality.

“Hiro?” Baymax said.

“I know, I know. Just give me a minute,” Hiro said. The problem was that he didn’t know anything anymore. Who knew their secret identities? Couldn’t they have gotten the point across without attacking Aunt Cass?

There’d been so much blood...he was just processing that now…

The police had seated Hiro around a table and Baymax stood beside him. It ought to feel like moral support, but Hiro felt empty inside. That hollowness was eating at him. He wished that he had a target for his misery, but, bereft of one, he just felt dull and useless. What good was it being a superhero if you couldn’t protect the people you cared about?

---

Watching from through the Lucky Cat Cafe’s window, the killer smiled to himself and walked away with a spring in his step. He came in and joined the other police officers. After all, he was just doing his day job. He even offered Hiro a sympathetic smile, though his eyes were cold and empty.

Empty and hollow, as Hiro would be soon enough.