"Don't make me make my Buster Units wipe that grin off your face, you insolent boy," Kronicle seethed, only making Hiro's grin even wider. The large androids stood idly by, unfazed by the episode unraveling in front of them.
The incredibly old kook didn't know just exactly how ridiculous he sounded in the middle of the routine monologue about his villainous "master" plans. It was as if he were trying to desperately relive the glory days but humorously failed at setting the necessary dark mood. And the androids, Buster Units as Kronicle called them, looked less intimidating than their size would've suggested. Hiro could have easily broken their hold on his arms, but he still needed intel to collect.
"Boy?" Hiro smirked, raising an eyebrow, "For the record, I actually turned 21 just a few months ago. I think young, handsome man is the term you're looking for."
Kronicle grumbled in annoyance, fumbling with his machine's controls with shaking hands. The multiple mechanical rings surrounding Hiro from above slowly spun and moved across the ceiling like stars on the celestial sky, overlapping each other with ease.
Hiro had to admit that it was definitely fun as hell poking fun at this old man. Evil as the guy may be- or how much he claimed to be anyway- it was almost refreshing from dealing with the younger and more… intimidating villains of San Fransokyo and Los Anjosaka. He certainly didn't have this much fun with the Fujitas and Ragnorok.
"I'm up in the air ducts, Hiro," GoGo's voice came to his earpiece, "Twenty yards away. ETA 60 seconds. Baymax is right by the south wall waiting for your signal."
"Roger," Hiro said under his breath, though he didn't entirely see the reason to be so subtle since Kronicle's hearing was two steps below full blown deaf.
"You're still a boy," Kronicle said, his spit lightly spraying his control panel, "and a mighty disrespectful one at that since you keep interrupting me with that young smug attitude of yours."
"Alright, I'm listening, Doc," Hiro said, slightly rolling his eyes and grinning even more.
Kronicle only stared at him through the dark, oversized goggles that blocked his eyes. Damn, the old man's prescription must be through the roof since his goggle's lenses were as thick as an armored Baymax, Hiro thought. He looked like a bug with crazy strands of hair on his balding head.
"As I was saying," Kronicle said after clearing his throat, "With my power and technology- my Tempus- I'm able to harness different wavelengths of energy to do my bidding. With that, I can also manipulate biological entities to accelerate their growth."
Hiro raised an eyebrow. As impressive as it may have seemed, it sounded more of craziness coming from someone as senile as this old man.
"I started my work back when I was thirty," Kronicle continued, "And with no one to test with due to my need of secrecy for my precious endeavors, I decided to test it on myself."
"Let me guess," Hiro cut in, looking up as well and observing the many rings and gears gliding above them, "You couldn't sufficiently control it due to the unstable nature of your Tempus so you ended up inflicting some serious damage on yourself."
"Precisely," Kronicle said, nodding like a teacher who was satisfied upon seeing his student understand his teaching, "But it was more a fast forward than actual damage, per se."
"Hm, seems like you fast forwarded a liiiitle too much then since you pretty much lost all your hair."
"Ha, good one," Gogo sneered in his earpiece.
"Silence!" Kronicle bellowed, but then suddenly broke down into a coughing fit pounding his chest to relieve himself.
"Anyway," the old man continued, oblivious to Hiro trying to hold in his laughter, "Before you rudely interrupted me again… My technology can also send you to a faraway dimension where you have absolutely no chance of interfering with my plans any further."
Hiro subtly looked above, noticing hints of GoGo's yellow armor through the narrow openings of the air vent. He looked to the Tempus's south wall and saw Baymax's silhouette behind the wall through his visor's vision. He couldn't clearly see their either of faces, but Hiro certainly knew that they were ready to pounce at his signal. They'd been listening to Kronicle's scatter-brained monologue for the last fifteen minutes. Too long.
"No, not yet. Hold your positions, guys," Hiro murmured to his friends.
"Some faraway place, huh?" Hiro then said, yawning, "Well, I hope it's Hawaii because I could really use a break from all this boring crime fighting."
"Oh ho," Kronicle chuckled darkly, "I haven't even gotten to the best part, yet. I've been working to expand my Tempus's warp for the last three years and I've yet to test it out on a living subject. Would you do me the honors, boy?"
"Sure," Hiro said sarcastically, "Why not? I've got nothing better to do anyway."
The old man grunted in reply, seemingly tired of trying to argue with him.
"Time and space," Kronicle said, sighing and looking up at the flowing cosmos on the ceiling of the Tempus in admiration, "Such peculiar things. Distinct and yet the same."
He gently curled his gloved fingers over the handle on his control panel and gave Hiro one last maniacal smile.
"Goodbye, boy."
Kronicle pulled the lever, suddenly opening one of the Tempus's rings from above and making the readings on Hiro's visor go haywire. It was then he realized that whatever Kronicle was trying to do with the Tempus was interfering with his Core, and any interference that penetrated through its shell was ill boding.
"Baymax! GoGo!" Hiro bellowed, wasting no more time, "Now!"
"Eh-?!" Kronicle said in confusion, but before he could gather his wits, the south wall of the Tempus burst open and slices of the ceiling fell into a crashing heap.
"Baymax, GoGo- don't let Kronicle escape!" Hiro yelled.
"Got it!" GoGo replied, landing atop one of the Buster Units and slicing off its arm with her disc.
Hiro sprang into action, breaking free from the Buster Units' hold with a swift flip backwards to twist their arms beyond capacity. He immediately pushed back away out of the ring's reach before he was sucked into the wild golden tunnel along them.
The place's magnetic field was fluctuating so madly that Hiro's sensors couldn't keep up with accurate readings. But as he frantically tried to make sense of the data, he quickly noticed that it wasn't just the magnetic readings going insane. Temperature. Gravity. Oxygen and nitrogen levels. Atmospheric pressure.
"What the hell-"
Suddenly a large piece of debris flew towards him, his reflexes barely fast enough to dodge the concrete.
"Whoa! Too close," Hiro breathed. He turned to see more Buster Units charging his direction and more coming out of the Tempus's entrances and exits.
"We have to shut that ring down ASAP, guys," Hiro said, dodging a swing by an android and returning it with a strong kick, "Without someone to control it, its radius is just going to get bigger and bigger until it consumes this entire place- maybe more. My readings are off the charts."
"Mine too; I can't make any sense of it. But how are we going to turn the thing off?" GoGo inquired. Her hands were busy in combat alongside Baymax against more heavily armored Buster Units entering the battle.
"We have to override Kronicle's operating system," Hiro replied, "His control panel's at the center of the Tempus. Baymax, let's test out your new chip, yeah buddy? I need you to get up there and manually connect to the system to deactivate it."
"Yes, Hiro," Baymax replied, activating his thrusters to fly but was stopped by a huge wave of Buster Units that suddenly latched onto him like anchors.
"They won't stop coming!" GoGo said in annoyance as she breezed past a row of androids and slicing them in half, "Jeez, how many dumb bots does this old guy have?"
"I don't know, GoGo," Hiro said, "Why don't you ask him because he's at your 4 o'clock about to escape!"
GoGo quickly glanced over her shoulder and saw that, indeed, Kronicle was making a sorry run for it towards the north exit. GoGo growled in frustration and beheaded three androids with a swift throw of her disc before throwing it just right in front of Kronicle's nose, catching him by surprise. The old man fell backwards onto his bottom.
"Hold it right there, you old geezer," GoGo threatened, "You're not going anywhere."
Kronicle laughed darkly into another coughing fit, "I may not be, but your insolent brat of a friend is about to."
"What?" GoGo turned around in time to see Hiro being knocked into the ring's radius by a powerful punch to the chest by a Buster Unit. His body flew towards the gate but luckily grabbed onto a portruding pole from the ceiling's debris in the nick of time.
"Hiro!" GoGo called out, quickly skating her way through debris and violently pushing through androids towards him. Her legs moved faster at the sight of his grip about to let go.
"Ugh!" Hiro grunted, realizing he wasn't able to hold on any longer. That last blow to the chest had caught him off guard and didn't give him enough wits to get a good hold to keep him from being consumed by the ring. His fingers slipped.
"No!" GoGo yelled, jumping and reaching out for him as she latched onto the bar in his place. Hiro desperately grabbed on to her arm before the pull of the gate could take him out of her reach.
"Baymax! Close the gate, bud!" Hiro bellowed.
Sensing Hiro's and GoGo's neuro levels escalating, Baymax blasted through the androids piling atop of him and immediately reactivated his thrusters to quickly make his way to the Tempus's central computer. He landed with a large thud as his heavy feet made contact with the floor and thrust his armored fingers into the control panel, hardwiring himself to Kronicle's computer as quickly as he could.
"Preparing necessary parameters," Baymax said, his eyes glowing blue as he read the system's million codes, "Executing system override. Initiating decryption."
"Hiro, I can't hold on much longer! The pull's too strong!" GoGo forced through gritted teeth. The expression on her face made the pain in her arms look too much to bear. Hiro noticed her hand slowly starting to slip from the pole as his did.
"Come on, come on," Hiro breathed. His hold on GoGo's arm was also beginning to loosen. Their time was almost out.
"Override at 50%," Baymax said, "Override at 62%... 78%... 86%... 94%... 99%."
"Baymax-!" Hiro called out, but it was too late.
GoGo's grip on the pole suddenly gave way, their bodies flying through the portal and the gate closing right behind them.
"100%."
"Hiro."
"….Hey."
"Wake up."
It was dark. The last thing he remembered was being violently sucked into one of the rings of Kronicle's Tempus. The sight of gold waves and the overwhelming feeling of falling through infinite space then being engulfed in a light so bright that it was utterly disorienting were still at the tips of his fingers. The adrenaline felt fresh pumping through his veins, like all that had just happened a second ago.
"Hey! Hiro, come on jerk. Wake the hell up."
"Huh?" Hiro's eyes suddenly shot open, seeing GoGo leaning over him with a worried frown. Yes, it did just happen a second ago. He abruptly was brought back down to reality.
"You alright?" GoGo asked, tugging him up with one arm, "You knocked out for a moment there."
"Yeah, I'm fine," he groaned, nodding and feeling soreness overcoming his body as he stood. He looked around as he tried to regain his composure and orientation.
Core at 42% integrity, his visor said. Great. That punch to the chest really did take a toll… luckily more to his Core than his bones. But with that low of power, he wouldn't be able to reinforce his suit.
"How's your Core?"
"Fine," GoGo replied, tapping her back, "Thanks to you since you broke my fall."
"Right…" Hiro groaned. No wonder he was more sore than he'd expected, "Mine's damaged a bit; I need to fix it as soon as I can-"
He then briefly paused, suddenly aware of their surroundings. They were clearly no longer at Kronicle's base nor in the tunnel of gold.
"Where the heck are we anyway?"
They were in a large room, equipped with tools and apparatuses in designated areas. Workplaces. One section of the room was full of various bottles of all colors and sizes arranged erratically on shelves with glass equipment. Another was neat and tidy, nothing out of place looking like it'd been recently cleaned. On the other hand, one far side of the room lay in an incredible mess with food containers and magazines scattered all around a couch.
"We're back at our old lab?" GoGo said, eyes in an alert glare. Her gaze darted from one side of the large space to another as if expecting something to take them by surprise from nowhere.
"Yeah… it looks like it," Hiro said quietly, "No way."
It was far beyond odd; it'd been four years since they graduated from the university- and he clearly remembered the bittersweet move of his belongings… and Tadashi's out of their separate lab. But how and why in the world were their things still there, exactly how they'd been four years ago? Even Wasabi's tools were still arranged with perfect precision on his workspace, accurately within their white borders.
"My bike is still hanging here," GoGo said, spinning the wheel with flick of the wrist, "I got rid of this old thing ages ago."
She moved towards her metal drawers, hurriedly opening and closing as she browsed through her apparent belongings. Old blueprints, unfinished designs and equations, multiple half finished packs of gum… everything was so familiar yet felt so distant. What made it even more peculiar was that there was no dust and her machinery felt warm as if they'd just recently been used.
Hiro followed after her after taking another 360 turn to let the weird nostalgia sink in. He caught sight of the cart full of GoGo's defected wheels and discs.
"Wow, I haven't seen these in years," he commented as he hoisted one from the pile and observed it.
"Seriously. Ever since you developed our Cores that can generate energized crystals, I hadn't needed to make my discs or wheels out of metal anymore," GoGo added, picking up another and slowly eyeing its details.
0003, the serial number on the disc read. GoGo reactivated her Core and materialized the disc on her foremarm.
0546.
"Yeah… I definitely got rid of all this outdated stuff ages ago," GoGo murmured, throwing it back into the cart, "even before the rest of the gang and I met you. How in the hell-?"
"Wait," Hiro said as he grabbed his partner's shoulder. The realization suddenly hit him like a brick wall.
"What?"
"No, it's definitely possible…" Hiro mumbled to himself as his mind frantically tried to grasp and make sense of it.
"Huh? What's possible?" GoGo asked, now alert from the change of his demeanor.
"GoGo, Kronicle's technology is similar to what Krei's experiments were back then, right?" Hiro said quickly.
"Uh yeah, you said so yourself during our briefing for this mission. What about it?"
"Look around you," Hiro said, excitedly gesturing to their surroundings, "What if… what if instead of Kronicle's tech sending us to a different dimension, it sent us back in ti-"
"Um…" a young man's voice sounded, seeming surprised and confused at the same time, "Not to sound rude, but who are you guys and what are you doing in here?"
Hiro turned around, completely freezing when he recognized whom the young man was. He heard GoGo beside him suck in a sharp breath.
"T…Ta-Tadashi?"
o-O-o-O-o
Dang, I haven't posted fanfiction in so long that it's almost like I have to relearn how to write again LOL… which is probably the case. Anyway, I just rewatched Big Hero 6 earlier and it seriously made me want to pick this fanfic again that I abandoned months ago. I've got big plans for this yayayayay.
Also, I did some art for this fic back in March, which can be found on deviantART under my username medatelle. I've been meaning to flesh out the designs, but we'll see if I'll have time to do that and also do the rest of the gang's as well.
If you liked this first chapter, please drop a review, favorite, or alert because that's what really gets a writer going! I really appreciate it. (Tbh whether I continue this depends on the feedback I get)
Thanks so much for reading! Till next time~