Decisions
Virginia ignored the messages from his armor with a practiced ease as he raced down the busy road, leaping over cars. All he had intended to do was have a nice, polite conversation with Alistair Krei about the masked man and a few other things that had happened in his companies past that mas have set a super villain after him. He hadn’t expected the masked man, referring to himself as Yokai, to attack Krei’s office in broad daylight.
Krei hadn’t been happy when Virginia grabbed him and tossed him out a window just ahead of a wave of spikes meant to impale. Virginia was, in turn, impressed with how quickly Krei’s security team responded and had their boss secured in an armored car and set out.
That was the cause of the high speed chase he currently was on. Virginia really, really, hated high speed chases.
His shock gauntlets crackled to life as he kicked up and spun, disabling the wave of micro-bots that threatened to crash down on him. He was trapped in the same situation that he had been in at the shipping yard, he couldn’t stop Yokai without lethal countermeasures while protecting Krei’s vehicle. His security team was good, but not super villain good.
Apparently good help was hard to find.
Making a snap decision, Virginia kicked his speed mod on, outpacing the attacking wave, and leapt onto Krei’s car. As the speed mod shut down, Virginia’s mag-boots turned on, locking him in place.
“Stop firing, it’s Agent V.” Virginia kept his eyes locked on Yokai as the car swerved through traffic, “You’re going to turn right at the next light, then make another right into the nearest alley you can drive down. Minimize civilian involvement.”
“How did you get this channel?” Krei demanded.
“I scanned for it.” Virginia’s voice was deadpan.
Right before the light, Yokai launched two new larger bots armed with lasers and resistant to his shock gauntlets. They weren’t, however, sturdy enough to survive one of his punches and he threw one back at Yokai while tossing the other into the car, warning Krei to leave it alone.
He was going to have to study this new element.
Once they were in the alley, and Yokai closing in on them, Virginia activated one of his older armor procedures. Two long rails extended from his forearms and up past his fists and rapidly began crackling with electricity. As the charge began to build, Virginia pulled one of the bullets Krei’s men shot into his armor and tossed it up between the rails. The bullet shard snapped into place as the magnetic field took hold, holding it between the two rails. Virginia’s HUD filled with calculations as the targeting system took over and the charge popped up in the upper right corner.
He hadn’t wanted to do this, but he needed to end this chase on his terms. The charge made it to non-lethal levels, responding to the built in limiters, and Virginia fired.
The micro-bots flared in all directions before retreating around Yokai and carrying him off rapidly. Virginia disengaged his boots as the car slowed to a stop, pulling the new bot from the shattered back window.
“Was that a railgun?” Krei, ever the businessman, as he climbed out of the car.
Virginia activated his scanner, recording as much information about the new robot as he could. He would destroy it later.
“Mr. Krei, now would be a good time to tell me everything.” Virginia’s voice was cold and hollow as he rounded on the businessman.
He knew it was coming, even as he finished setting the self-repair protocols on his armor dock for both his armor and suit. He ignored the first few calls, he was busy applying the Paste and wrapping his arms, ribs, and legs. Then cleaning up a nosebleed took him from the next one, and he actually felt bad missing that one.
“You need to answer your phone!”
Virginia blinked, tapping his glasses to activate his comm, “Hiro?”
“Yes! Why aren’t you answering your phone!?”
“You hacked my private channel. Why?”
“That’s not important!” Hiro’s voice took a petulant tone, “You were supposed to answer your phone!”
“ETA 15 minutes.” Virginia stated, concentrating on his speech, and cut the channel before Hiro could protest.
He had to clean another nosebleed before he left.
Cass knew something was wrong the moment Virginia walked up the stairs instead of coming in the window. She still couldn’t hear him, but the way he sat down at the bar in the kitchen was very telling.
“The boys were worried.” Cass handed him an apple, “You were all over the news.”
“Unavoidable. Alistair Krei is a public figure.” Virginia ate the apple in two bites and accepted the second one Cass handed him.
“I see.” Cass nodded slowly, processing what she was being told, “Will you be okay?”
“Yes.”
“You’re bleeding.” She kept her voice level, knowing the boys were waiting on her signal to rush down.
“It isn’t uncommon.” Virginia wiped the blood from his nose away with a napkin, “They’re creeping down the stairs.”
“Are you ready for them?”
“I will be okay.” Virginia threw away the remains of the apple and turned the chair around.
“Boys, come down.” She paused, then added, “Nicely please.”
Tadashi was first down the stairs, carrying a red box in his arms. Hiro followed, his nose buried in the screen from Virginia’s armor.
News reports, Virginia noted as Tadashi pulled out a tablet of his own and typed a series of commands into it. Hiro put the screen away as Baymax inflated.
“Boys!” Cass hissed.
“We need to make sure he’s okay!” Tadashi insisted, the collar of his shirt firmly in his mouth.
Hiro nodded, hijacking his brother’s tablet and setting Baymax to scan Virginia.
“Hello Virginia.” Baymax greeted, “I am going to scan you now. How would you rate your pain?”
“Zero, I am experiencing no pain.” Virginia stated, “And there is no need to scan me. My injuries are already healing.”
Both brother’s whined in protests, but a finger from Virginia silenced them.
“I am satisfied with my care.”
“Virginia!” Tadashi furiously attempted to counter the shutdown procedure, “Let us help you!”
Virginia rose to his feet and scooped both boys up at the same time, loosening his grip when they yelped.
“I am fine. I merely need to rest. Being here would be easier than in my base.” Virginia tilted his head, “You sounded worried.”
“We were worried.” Hiro mumbled, wriggling so that he was comfortable in Virginia’s arms, “You led a chase through the city.”
Virginia’s smile looked forced, “It is Tuesday.”
Cass watched, half amused and half disbelieving, as Virginia talked the boys down from the panic they had worked themselves into. She had to be impressed, not because he was calming them down, but because he was doing it while being in an odd mood himself. The boys didn’t consciously notice it, they would later, but how he talked was more mechanical than usual and that was a dead giveaway
But he wasn’t hurting them, she knew he wouldn’t intentionally, and that’s all that mattered. With that in mind, she declined to join them for their movie and simply fetched Tadashi’s bear and Hiro’s pacifier and left them on the couch. She had a TV in her room and she doubted that they would appreciate the monster movies in their mindset.
She did sneak out there hours later to take a picture of the three of them asleep on the couch. Virginia in the middle sandwiched between the boys; Tadashi with his legs over the arm and head on the older man’s lap, and Hiro curled in a ball and pressed close.
She had no idea how they could fall asleep like that. It must be youth.
Hiro and Tadashi were plotting.
To be more specific, Hiro was plotting and Tadashi was attempting to calm his brother’s ideas.
They had run off to Tadashi’s lab under the pretense that Tadashi needed Hiro’s help with his project. It had been a bit of a struggle to get out the door, Virginia making them get dressed, and changed in Hiro’s case, while Aunt Cass had shoved some semblance of breakfast down their throats. The only reason they ate was because Virginia gave his word that he would be there when they got back barring a emergency that would require Agent V.
“We can help him!” Hiro insisted, “We have all the material, just none of the drive!”
“Hiro, we can’t just manufacture costumes and gadgets and become superheroes.” Tadashi countered, “That takes training we don’t have!”
“Yes, yes. It’ll get us killed. Like running into a burning building.”
“Or chasing a superhero into a shipping yard at night.” Tadashi shot back, feeling bad when Hiro winced a bit.
“He’s done so much for us.” Hiro stated, “We need to pay him back somehow.”
“We can’t endanger our lives though. It’s a bad idea.”
The brother’s stared at each other for a few moments and Tadashi sighed.
“You’re going to do it anyway aren’t you?” Hiro nodded, his face showing hints of red, “The I guess I’ll have to do it with you just to make sure you don’t get hurt.”
“Yes!” Hiro cheered, “I already have some ideas of what to do. For you, I was thinking…”
The door slid open with a bang and both boys froze, praying Virginia hadn’t found them. They let out the breath they had been holding when they saw it was Fred, standing there with his jaw open, and the rest of Tadashi’s friends behind him.
“Hey Fred.” Tadashi took a step in front of Hiro, “What’s up?”
“What’s up?” Fred asked incredulously, “What’s up? Dude, you were about to become superheroes and not even tell me about it! That’s like, my lifelong dream!”
“I want no part in this.” Wasabi stated, folding his arms, “It’s crazy. And you’re crazy for thinking it’s a good idea.”
“It’s to help a friend!” Hiro poked his head around Tadashi, grateful his pacifier was shoved in a pocket in Tadashi’s bag, “And it’s not crazy if we do it right!”
“Hiro, shut up.” Tadashi growled, pushing Hiro back behind him.
But the damage was already done.
“You KNOW a superhero!”
“We can’t tell you that.” Tadashi knew it was hopeless at this point, but it didn’t stop him from trying.
“So you do! Awesome!” Fred cheered, “We are so making this a team! It’s our origin story!”
“We? Fred, I didn’t agree to this.” Wasabi pointed out, “I expressly said that I wanted nothing to do with it.”
“It’s dangerous.” Honey Lemon agreed, “But more dangerous is you go alone.”
Gogo popped her gum, “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take us with you.”
Hiro buried his face in Tadashi’s shirt to hide the giggle. Tadashi rolled his eyes and groaned, it was like an avalanche: no control once it got going.
“I’m outvoted here aren’t I?” Wasabi sighed.
“Yep.” Fred nodded, “Totally our origin story.”
Tadashi turned and crouched down to talk to his brother, pulling the smaller Hamada brother’s shorts up to cover the pull-up.
“We are going to get in so much trouble.” He half growled, half whined as he adjusted Hiro’s pants.
“Probably.”
“We need to not do this Hiro.”
“Rule 6.”
“I hate rule 6.” Tadashi grumbled as he rose to his feet, “Let’s get to work then.”
Virginia was going to be so mad.
In hindsight, Hiro acknowledged that coming into the field for the first time with half tested prototypes might be a terrible idea. Not that everything didn’t work as planned, he had been worried about Honey’s box and Wasabi’s blades, but he could feel the minor glitches as he zoomed around on Tadashi’s back.
He would also admit, and only to his brother or Virginia, he was terrified and possibly a little wet.
But they were losing the fight against Yokai, the masked man outthinking them at every turn.
“Hiro, use that big brain of yours and think of something!” Tadashi growled out as he strafed to the side and launched one of his rocket-fists.
It was a distraction and nothing more, it was a losing battle.
Why, Hiro thought to himself, did he think he could take on someone who could take on Agent V?
“Focus Hiro!” Tadashi reminded him, rolling to the side.
He couldn’t. He couldn’t think of any solution, all he could see was those black waves trying to crush him.
Hiro was frozen.
That’s when an explosion echoed from above them and Agent V, with his visor glowing red instead of the normal blue, crashed into the ground amidst the falling debris. Hiro stared in awe as the more experienced hero burst into action, dodging around the waves and landing a massive punch on Yokai.
Then he turned to the assembled six new heroes, “Get out of here.”
Hiro flinched at the hollow, mechanical tone. Tadashi had been right: they were in so much trouble.
“NOW!”
As they bolted for the doors, Yokai rose to his feet on a wave of micro-bots to block their way. His mask was cracked down the middle, revealing the cold eyes of Professor Callaghan. Hiro swore that, under his brother’s armored suit, he could feel his brother tense up. The very man he nearly died saving was here and trying to kill them.
“Tadashi….” Hiro warned as his brother’s stance shifted and the thrusters began to whine aa they charged.
“Get out, NOW!”
Virginia’s shout was punctuated with a flying I-beam, that stole Callaghan’s attention from blocking the door. When Hiro heard the crackling of electricity, he ordered the retreat through everyone’s communicators.
“We have to leave!”
“But Callaghan!” Tadashi growled, the only voice of dissent in the group.
“V will handle that!” Hiro cut him off, “We need to go now!”
“Idiots. All of you. You lack the training and the experience to go out and attempt what you just did.”
The most unnerving part, Tadashi noted to himself, was how Virginia managed to stay calm while angrily ranting. It was like hearing some read a list of every wrongdoing you had ever done and make you feel just as guilty for jaywalking as getting arrested.
He really, really, wanted to chew on his shirt. But between the armor and his friends, he couldn’t get away with it.
“If I hadn’t shown up when I did, do you know what would have happened? All of you would have died and nobody would have been able to find your bodies. Yokai is more than willing to kill you, innocents or heroes. You saw the battle we had the other day throughout the city, do you know how many were injured?”
“Sixty five injured.” Wasabi spoke up, “And three dead.”
“And this stunt would have added six more casualties to that list.”
“We’re adults. We can choose to do this.” Gogo spoke up, staring Virginia down.
Tadashi was impressed at how she didn’t flinch when Virginia’s gaze bored into her, his armor flaring up in response to his anger.
“Yes, you are eighteen.” Virginia nodded, “legal adults who can choose to put on armor and save the day. But you’re also capable of being tried as an adult for endangering a minor.”
Everybody froze and Tadashi spotted Hiro curling in on himself on his spot on Virginia’s ratty couch.
“You five adults took one thirteen year old boy, a minor, into a life or death situation. That is jail time.” His gaze landed on Tadashi, “You would lose Hiro to the system in a heartbeat.”
“We just wanted to help!” Hiro finally shouted, tossing his helmet across the room, “That’s all we wanted to do! You were losing each time you confronted Yokai, you needed an edge. So I thought, what if we suited up and helped you? Me and Tadashi could be that edge. Then they joined in and we couldn’t—”
“Pick it up.” Virginia cut him off, jabbing a armored finger at Hiro’s discarded helmet.
“What?”
“Pick your helmet up. Rule one is always take care of your equipment.”
Hiro scrambled under Virginia’s glare and quickly retrieved his helmet. Virginia ran his hand through his hair, tugging at the green strands.
“I can’t stop you and I can’t abandon you. He knows everything about you, having had access to all your personal records when he was your teacher. This means that the only option I have is to make sure you’re truly ready for this. Be back here tomorrow morning by 10am. And be prepared for the fight of your lives. Dismissed.”
Everyone made their way out slowly, contemplating what was going to happen tomorrow.
“Not you two.”
Hiro and Tadashi froze and Tadashi had no idea why he expected to get away with just that slap on the wrist.
Both brothers were in tears when Virginia hung up the phone, Cass having simultaneously tore them a new one and expressed her relief that they were okay. Virginia had plenty more he could say, he had a hundred things easily off the top of his head, but he recognized that the two boys were too far gone for what he had to say to do any good. Instead, after helping them take their armor off, he placed them far from each other and facing the wall.
Then he took his time taking his own armor off, the ritualistic action setting his mind at ease. A tiny hit of frustration set in as he placed the pieces in the cradle to be repaired, he just finished making all those cosmetic repairs this morning. For the sake of practicing social norms, he pulled on a pair of ratty sweatpants and sat down.
“Come here, both of you.”
They shuffled their way over, Tadashi’s shirt already damp and Hiro’s thumb was firmly in place.
“I’m not going to go over this again. I’ve said my piece, your Aunt has said her’s. Anything else gets said tomorrow. But understand one thing: You will never, ever, pull a stunt like this again. If you want to help me, you come to me and tell me, not run off half-cocked with a bad idea. If it does happen again,” Virginia’s eyes glinted like rough emeralds, “I will ruin you and your futures, no matter how bright you are. Understood?”
Both boy’s nodded.
“Good. Now lay down and get some sleep, you have a long day tomorrow.”
Tadashi shuffled a bit and Hiro shook his head.
“What’s the matter?”
“Don’t want to be alone.” Tadashi mumbled, shifting from foot to foot.
“I’ll be here Tadashi, but my couch won’t fit me and you two. Go lay down.” Tadashi shuffled off and Virginia looked at Hiro, “You’re wet aren’t you?”
Hiro nodded and tugged at his shorts, “Leaked.”
“Alright, I don’t have pants for you but we can at least get you cleaned up. Come on.”
He didn’t tell them that he wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, not that he needed more than three hours every two weeks. He was going to spend all night upgrading their suits for tomorrow. Hiro did great for a beginner but there were so many holes.
Hiro, for example, didn’t have enough armor to protect himself.