Meet the Robinsons: Stuck in the Past

Seventeen: Hoax

Hiro's POV

After being here for a week, I've become utterly restless.  Nothing would appeal to me more than to get Tadashi out of here and to the group, and I've already devised an escape plan, but the man is stubborn as a horse. He wants me to get to know the place here, but what is there to know? This place is the same as the last lair I took down. His unorthodox laboratory, the minions who follow him without a second thought, one of them is even a robot, like Trina. I can't help but scoff at the idea of how similar the two places are.

Needless to say, I've been hiding in Tadashi's room avoiding everyone here and being just as stubborn as my brother, trying to convince him of what kind of person he's been associating himself with. Clearly, it hasn't been working. I can't help but think about what I was up to before he died — or rather disappeared now that I know he's not. He had pulled me out of that, so I guess it's my turn to pull him out.

Knock knock knock. Three raps on the door pull me out of my reverie, and I turn my head towards the door as it opens, revealing the second to last person I want to see. "Hey Lug Nut, I hear you think we're all the baddest of the bad," she says, hopping over and leaning over me. I just stare at her for a second from the bed, trying to figure out what she's thinking.

"You haven't really been able to prove me wrong yet, have you?" I ask, blocking her off. She raises an eyebrow at my sarcasm.

"Well you don't really know me either, do ya birdbrain?" She sits at the foot of my bed, stuffing her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. "In fact, I bet you have no idea what we're really doing here, or why everyone here wants to help the one person you seem to despise with all your heart."

I think carefully about what I want to say next. Do I despise Obake? Not really. But he tried to destroy all of San Fransokyo, and even when I tried to get him help he declined. The last time he kidnapped me he wanted me to follow him like the rest of his dogs and I sure am not about to do that now. "I just figured he's got you all brainwashed like the rest of his lackeys." After raising an eyebrow at me, the girl laughs, and though it's a rather obnoxious laugh, it causes me to raise an eyebrow at her, doing everything I can to keep myself from laughing.

"Alright, birdbrain, let's go. It's about time we showed you what's really going on here." Without waiting for permission, she grabs my hand and a blue light flashes, the feeling of falling out of place settling in my stomach only to disappear as fasts as it came, and next thing I know, I'm outside the room. In fact, we only moved ten paces from the room, but how I got from the bed to here is a mystery to me.

"Hey, look who decided to join us!" Another girl cheers, and soon everyone cheers, causing me to look around the room. It's the main room, the one with the computers and the robot boy staring at the screens, but everyone else, excluding Obake, is surrounding a table, each with different tools working on separate projects. Tadashi is at the head of the group, smiling at me as the others continue their work, Vanellope slowly tugging me over to the table.

"Alright, guys, five dollars from each of you! I told you I could get him out of his shell." Everyone starts digging their pockets, someone chuckling at the end of the table.

"Come on, using your glitch is totally cheating," she sighs, forking the five bucks over anyway.

"Never said it was off the table, did we Penny?" Vanellope states cheekily, gladly taking the five dollars from the girl. "Alright, Hiro! Let me introduce you. This is Penny," Vanellope starts from the left, pointing at a red haired girl.

"Tip," the girl next to her introduces herself, standing up and holding her hand out. I shake it hesitantly, a little nervous about the sudden introduction. "Call me Tip."

"Then, you know Tadashi, and last but not least, Void!"  Looking at the tall girl, the first thing I notice is the super suit and the blue hair. 

"Are you...?"

"Hi!" Void starts, excitedly shaking my hand.  "I'm Void, and yes, this is my time.  I've been helping everyone here adjust to this place."

"She's basically our informant," Penny states, pausing on her project.  Giving up on the device, whatever it is, she tosses the tools and the unfinished product on the table, only to study me closely.  "You know, I never thought you of all people would be working with the people who took us from our homes to this place."

"What are you-"

"Penny!" Tip hisses, tapping her on the shoulder.  "Be nice."  Silence falls upon the group as they all look at me, and I just fold my arms, not liking the attention.

In a situation like this, I'd normally let Tadashi do the talking for me.  Looking over at him I can see he's just about to do just that.  But it's been a long time since I've had him to help me, and I'm not about to back down.  "What are you talking about?  My friends didn't bring you here."  They all stare at me silently, either disbelief in their eyes or annoyance.  "There was a malfunction in the machine, it couldn't have been on purpose and we've spent our entire time here trying to fix that mistake."

"Is it really taking an entire month to fix a simple malfunction?"  The sound of Obake's voice startles me, and I turn to him, raising an eyebrow at his question.  Obake stands just far enough out of reach, a hand resting on the crook of his elbow and the other hand holding his chin as he looks at me thoughtfully.  "You even have blueprints."  I stay silent, unsure of how to respond.  "Let me see if I can understand.  The only person we know of who can understand the instrument used to time travel is the son of the machine's inventor, correct?"  I nod, folding my arms.  "I have to assume he's tested it plenty of times before letting his own son play with it recklessly, so this, 'malfunction,' as you call it, could not be a calculation error in the mechanics or the system." 

Again, I nod.  Where is Obake going with this?  "And if it really had malfunctioned when he attempted to travel, the boy would have disintegrated in the timeline along with the machine."  Realization slaps me across the face as I check my facts.  Aken is right.  If it malfunctioned when Wilbur tried to travel through time, why wouldn't it malfunction in the time he was currently in, and instead take him to the past?  And how would it affect random people from different times instead of just the places in the time he was in and the time he was going to?

"I see you are starting to understand. But that's not all either, young pupil. Most of us here have been taken from a time when we are supposed to die. I was about to drown."

"My car malfunctioned, and it was about to blow," Tip sighs, wrapping her arms around Penny as she thought about her time.

"Burning building," Penny says, interlacing her fingers with Tip's. I look at Tadashi, remembering the night he was supposed to die. But then I think about me. I wasn't about to die. In fact, when I went through the portal, I was healthy as a horse and there wasn't a serious threat. Unless...

"This doesn't make any sense. None. Of this." I sit down in the nearest chair, and start thinking of every scenario I could. How can this happen? This can't all be a coincidence.

"So, if I heard everything right," Void starts after a long silence. "What does this mean? And why 1964 of all times?"

"Indeed," Obake grins at Void before eyeing me. "Why 1964?" Dread sits in the pit of my stomach as I realize.

I've been played by the only two people I could trust.