Big Hero 6: Flight for Freedom
Chapter 1: Happenings
'It's been such a long time coming
I thought you'd understand
I'm so far ahead of the lines
You've be drawing in the sand'
Pendulum - 'Showdown' (2008)
Buildings huddled in the cold winter night, their windows blinking and twinkling warmly, glass structures stretching high into the dark, overcast sky. Dancing around them, the little buoyant turbine blimps dipped and dived in the chill wind, bringing the painted fish on their bodies to life in bright, neon-lit glory. The choppy waters of San Fransokyo's Golden Gate leapt and jumped at the feet of the huge, iron bridge, a heavy fog swirling in from the Pacific beyond. Sleet threatened from the bellies of the heavy, black clouds.
The icy, rushing wind carried the sounds of scuffling and shouting far from their sources, hidden deep in the city's back streets. The echoing of hurried, splashing footsteps galloped up the unforgiving, windowless sides of the more squat, dirty, concrete structures, fire escapes grasping out at two hooded figures as they sprinted by, their ill-gotten gains held tightly under their black jackets.
The duo cast frantic glances back over their shoulders, sure that they'd thrown those so-called superheroes off their tails. Needless to say, they were wrong.
A figure clad in cherry-red armour dropped from the sky before them, slamming into the concrete and sending them skidding to a halt before him. The wings on his back snapped in and folded, the jet thrusters on his back and boots humming quietly to a halt as he rose to his full, imposing height and lifted an arm, fist pointed straight at them, dangerous, threatening.
"This doesn't have to hurt," He told them sternly, his voice deep, silky. The thieves, however, backed away, clutching their loot tightly against their bodies.
"Back off, Red. Y'ain't gonna hurt us," one man growled.
Red shrugged. "I don't want to, but I will."
The other hooded figure looked to her partner and pulled a face. "C'mon, Mac, he got us. We can't do nothin' now."
She let the stolen goods fall from underneath her jacket, lifting her hands above her head and beckoning for her friend, Mac, to do the same. Behind them, appearing as the man followed in his companion's example, the rest of the Big Hero 6 appeared, halting one by one from their frantic sprint through the alleys, passing triumphant looks between one another.
Suddenly, like a silent message had passed between the pair, the two criminals abandoned the dumped goods and fled like rabbits, bolting as if they'd been burned down a narrow side street. Their laughter and footsteps carried away into the night air around them.
Red growled with fury, then turned to his team. "Blaize-"
"You got it." The girl in yellow nodded before her teammate even had to ask. She jumped forwards, slamming the rims of her disc-skates into the concrete and forcing herself into motion. Blaize glided around the corner, already gaining speed, the straight alley beyond giving her ample opportunity to increase it further.
The wheels the young woman used looked impossible - they were held to her long boots with nothing more than the power of electromagnetism, the lack of a physical connection reducing resistance and allowing for more speed. Reaching down, she pulled another, smaller disc from the body of her skate wheel, hurling it with almighty force at the two escaping thieves and slamming one of them hard into the ground. The red glow of the disc rim came flying back towards her, and the hero raised her hand up to it, catching it with the same magnetic field as with those on her boots.
Undeterred as his companion crashed into the concrete behind him, Mac continued his bid for freedom, hoping that if he ran far enough, the Big Hero 6 might well just give up. He held on to this hope right up until Red dropped from the sky in front of him again, lifted his fist just like before and, just as he'd warned, the young man fired his weapon.
A net burst forth from a tube slot on the hero's wrist, unfolding as it was catapulted through the air and wrapping itself tightly around the villain he was attempting to capture. The force of the blow as the hard fibres hit him, however, threw Mac several feet backwards into a heap on the floor.
Red winced instinctively, lifting his hand to his helmet and pressing his microphone closer to his mouth. "Uh, Glitch? A little too much power on the net cannon, I think," He muttered into the microphone.
"Yeah, I'll get on that," a young voice replied sheepishly. The tiny indigo figure seemed to have anticipated the slight technological malfunction.
As the tall young superhero towered over him, Mac bared his teeth, almost trying to shake him off as Red leaned down and hauled him to his feet.
"Got anything to say for yourself?" The red hero asked as he unwound the net from the captured thief.
"I ain't got nothin' t' say t' you, kid," Mac replied, his voice a low growl. It was obvious the man was hurting, red wheals and bruises blooming under his skin.
"Huh," Red sniffed, almost disappointed, wrapping his arm around the older man's shoulder as they began to walk towards the main road. "That's a shame. I coulda got you a soda or something."
"Red, we've got a problem," a voice buzzed in his ear nervously.
"Chem? What's going on?" Red's brows knitted anxiously as he halted to listen in. Mac wore an unreadable expression as he watched on.
"You... might wanna see this," the chemist replied.
Blaize widened her stance instinctively as the shadows around her began to move. She shot a nervous glance behind her, to the mouth of the alleyway where Red had frozen, his captured criminal still in his grasp, then rolled slowly backwards.
"Red..." She called warningly, heart fluttering in her chest.
"Look, the cops can't be far behind us. Let's get these two out where they can be picked up and then we can sort out whatever's got Chem worried."
Blaize growled, keeping her eyes nervously on the shadows. She was lucky that her catch was out cold on the floor at her feet: She had a feeling they'd need to move quickly. "Red!"
"I know, I know, just gimme a sec," He muttered, snapping handcuffs onto Mac's wrists and pushing him closer to the friendly glow of the street lamps beyond the alley entrance. He wasn't getting it.
"You don't have a sec!" Blaize snarled furiously, completely in awe of how oblivious her friend could be
Finally, Red turned, and he started as he saw what exactly had startled his teammate.
Already, faces were looming towards her from the gloom, female faces heavy with dark makeup and tattoos, framed with messy hair died bright, vibrant colours and highlighted with black. Only one Fujita rolled out into the light, a tall, muscular woman with a collar of tribal patterns reaching up her throat and behind her ears. The clothes she wore were tattered and torn, roller skates scratched and scuffed by years of use. She lifted a clawed hand to the earpiece she wore, pressing it in as she spoke in a deadly growl.
"We found 'im, boss."
A few seconds of stalemate passed between the two girls as the Fujita listened to her instructions, her mouth curling into such a viciously cruel grin that a stone settled in the stomachs of the two heroes she faced.
"The boss wants to speak with you," The woman smirked, flashing her teeth at Red in a grin devoid of all humour. "We can escort you, if you like,"
The man was about to reply when, once again, Chem's fearful voice chirped through his mic. "Red, we need your help!"
"I'm kinda busy," He replied shortly, torn between the situations. "What's going on?"
"It's your brother..."
Red's heart stopped. Glitch. There was no way he was going to just sit here while his brother was in trouble. The Fujita shifted her weight to one hip, still waiting on his answer. Thoughtfully, the leader chewed over his words, before he curtly replied, "What's to stop us just running away? You can't catch us."
The woman shrugged as Blaize turned to stare incredulously. "Hm, guess you got me there."
Red frowned. It seemed too easy. Not that he was about to question it. "Let's go," He muttered, turning his shoulder to the band of bristling girls.
The woman in yellow shook her head knowingly, then straightened up, firing a quick, two-fingered salute in the direction of the small band of Fujitas as she blew a sickly pink gum bubble and burst it with her teeth.
"Catch you later," She nodded, spinning on her wheel rims and following as Red's boots fired once again into life.
"Sooner than you think," Came the reply, and the hero couldn't help but notice the nasty smirk that lingered on the woman's face. As much as she didn't want to, she had to ignore it; Glitch was much more important now than some cryptic threat.
Red wasted no time thundering down the street, past where the two thieves were slumped against each other, awaiting the police, and back to where the rest of the team had remained. But as he skidded to a halt, Blaize frozen beside him at the head of the alleyway, the taunts of the lone Fujita woman became all too real.
Their other three teammates were surrounded by a hoarde of skater girls, all brandishing their assortment of deadly weapons and taunting the superheroes. There must have been about twenty or more. And there, at the head of the group, their sixth, smallest member was dangling, helpless, from the grip of possibly the tallest woman Red had ever seen. Glitch's legs thrashed vehemently as he struggled to try to free himself, a fierce snarl twisting his young features beneath his indigo helmet. Red was suddenly hit by the stupidity of letting his fifteen-year-old kid brother onto the team, as useful as he could be.
He went to take a step forward, but a quick hand clasped around his upper arm stopped him momentarily.
"Don't do anything stupid," Blaize warned him, her eyes betraying the nerves she wouldn't show.
Red turned back with a sharp nod and met the waiting gaze of the tallest Fujita, who smirked as he strolled forwards through the gap her followers made through their midst, raising his gloved hands slowly above his head. He didn't even look at his little brother as the boy tried to give him a sheepish wave and crooked, gap-toothed grin, kept his eyes solely on the woman sneering before him.
"Well, you got us. Good job," The young hero's face was blank, his eyes like stone. "So now what?"
"Now? Now, you're coming with us," the leading lady smirked, the piercings along her eyebrow twitching with triumph. Red let his hands fall against the top of his helmet.
Glitch took the opportunity to kick out once again, his steel-capped toe connecting somewhere in the region of the woman's ribs. She gave a snort of anger, and the girl beside her raised a warning finger, the pink-and-blue updo atop her head quivering with suppressed anger.
"Oi! You do that again n' I'll break your ankle!" The girl couldn't have been much older than Glitch herself, but her voice already sounded hoarse and laced with the clagging smoke of cigarettes. The boy raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Easy, Neko. The kid knows the deal," Her boss murmured, silencing the younger girl.
Red cast a glance between them, then back at his team. Chem gave a nod so small it was almost unnoticeable. "So," the team leader began loudly, "You obviously know who we are, but I don't think we've had the pleasure..."
The tall woman gave a sickly grin. "I'm Suki, and these are my Fujitas, the fastest, baddest girls on the block. In the whole city, in fact."
"The bes' criminals on two skates," Neko added proudly. Her leader nodded.
"Well then, Suki, I must ask you to let go of my teammate." Red spoke so smoothly and calmly, smiling with every word, as though he'd done this all before. "Whatever he's done to offend you, I'm sure we can talk it out like civilized people."
"I've got a better idea," The woman countered viciously. "How 'bout we fight it out instead?"
The hero widened his stance instinctively, heart skipping a beat as the Fujita's grin turned to a leer. "What, you and all your friends against the six of us? Seems a little unfair to me."
Suki stroked her broad chin with short, malicious fingers, the joints of which were clad in garish, antique brass knuckledusters. Her pierced, painted eyebrow rose above her narrowed, accusing eyes. For a second, Red was convinced she was actually thinking about it.
"Well, you want your little squirt back, you'll have to fight me for him. Team on team, or one on one. Your choice."
Glitch baulked at his brother's thoughtful look, thrashing again, but to no avail. "Red, no! Don't be an idiot!"
The older boy blocked him out completely, staring his foe right between the eyes. "One on one? Sounds good to me."
The youngest boy's hand met his helmet visor with a despairing clunk.
The wait is over. It's finally here! The story was planned to the album 'In Silico' by Pendulum, and if you don't know it already, you're really missing out. It's old, but it's great! Also, don't forget to review, I really appreciate it, and spread the word! There's a new story on the block!