AN: To those of you who are turned off by Alistar's character (because I know that there are some.) this chapter is the only one that will be focusing on this character, all remaining chapters will be starring our heroes... uhh, I never know how to end these so...
Here we go!
Alistar stared at his drink with tear filled eyes, ignoring the flashing blue and red lights streaming in through the window to his left. He'd tried to pull the curtains but even then the flashing police sirens defiantly bent around the cloth to blind him. The middle aged man sat in the dark room of his house contemplating how events had gone the way they had, all of his intentions had been pure, so why did such evil spawn from them?
"…So much death…" he murmured before bringing the copper colored drink to his lips and chugging the last of the liquid. He knew he had to finish the drink now else he may not get a chance to as he listened to the police at his solid oak front door. They thumped their fists against the wood calling out his name as they no doubt prepared to break it down; they had the warrants to do so.
The Billionaire leaned back in his recliner chair staring at the expensive furniture filling his luxurious living room and wondered when he'd ever be allowed back. Surely his sentence wouldn't be unreasonably long and thus leaving his possessions to rot. He also questioned how terrible Prison would be and how it would ultimately affect him once he was released. Was it truly as trialing as movies depicted them? The rest of his thoughts would have to wait as a heavy smashing noise emerged from the front door, startling Alistar.
"…Well crap… looks like they're finally going to start breaking it down…" whispered the Billionaire as there was no one else to hear him. He'd already dismissed the all of his servants and housekeepers in anticipation of this event.
He quickly and quietly rose from his chair making his way to the stairs. He'd decided that he wanted to see his bedroom for the last time in what would undoubtedly be years to come. As he reached the final step he heard the front door finally give way and come slamming down against the hard wood floor, no doubt leaving a nasty dent against the flooring from the hard metal knob. Alistar momentarily winced before calmly continuing towards his bedroom down the hall and to the left. He knew his home was large and would take the police officers a long time to find him. He slipped into the room and quickly shut the door behind him, muffling the sound of thundering footsteps rushing up the stairs.
How many police officers have come to arrest me? He wondered in confusion. Surely they didn't think he'd put up some sort of fight, or at least not enough of one to warrant this many Cops!
"Oh." He said stupidly as he reminded himself as to why they were here in the first place "It makes sense now." He murmured before gently laying down onto the well made sheets of his king size bed, his eyes red and tired.
He rubbed them briefly before hearing the sound of several feet come thumping down the hall towards his bedroom, stopping by each room before flooding in and searching its contents. It was only a matter of time before they reached his.
"Sounds like their storming the dressing room…" Alistar said exhausted as he let his eyes close, apathetic about his capture. For a brief moment the Billionaire thought about rushing over to his large wardrobe and attempting to hide, but decided against it as it would be cowardice and pointless.
Besides… you probably deserve this… he thought darkly as he heard his door swished open and a large overweight man came wobbling in, waving his gun haphazardly as he shouted "Get off the bed and on the ground now!"
Rather than complying, Alistar simply sighed and whispered to himself "…How did it come to this?"
-Four months Earlier-
With heavy feet he stepped onto the podium, thoughts of the previous attempt fresh in his mind as he prepared to address the small audience standing patiently on the cold wood floor below. He leaned in close to the microphone before casually taking it from the stand and holding it to his mouth.
With confidence and a welcoming smile Alistar said "Hello my loyal Co-Workers, I hope that you all have been waiting as patiently as I for this day to come." From the crowd filling the small meeting room he saw several heads nod "And as you all know, this had originally been a failed experiment. So it honors me that each and every one of you decided to volunteer and help me recreate what surely will become one of the greatest advancements for mankind." He paused and looked about the eight faces that filled the room. Without proper funding and workers the recreation of their failed project had taken more than three entire years to accomplish, even with nearly all the data necessary. Over that time their group had slowly drained away, several leaving due to frustration from the lack of tools and resources along with the fact that Alistar refused on taking short cuts this time around which made the process all the longer. The man standing at the podium had used his own savings to fuel this technological leap which had reduced his Billionaire status to a mere Millionaire, but he didn't mind. He knew that he had more money than most could ever hope for and that he would most likely make most of it back from his still thriving company, even if they had refused to provide for the recreation of this project.
Alistar's smile did not waver as he said "Our names will be regarded as the most revolutionary scientists since the inventor Thomas Nakamatsu. Our creation will render obsolete that of aircraft and vehicles and once tested and made secure, I have no doubt that it will become the number one used transportation method in the world." He saw several smiles light up on his Co-worker's faces as he said this. For the three years leading up to this point the small group had relished in the idea of leaving a mark on the world, being a historical figure responsible for the most impressive piece of technology for no doubt centuries.
Alistar recalled in that moment Hiro Hamada and his widely successful microbots, the only other piece of technology that could possibly compare to his invention. Though he wasn't a competitive man, he still felt some pride in knowing that his invention would blow that of the teenage boy's out of the water. He chuckled for a moment at his immaturity, comparing himself to a child was something he was not proud of all in all but to be perfectly honest he was fine with the one sided rivalry. Over the past three years the young teen ager had done more than most men and women in their lifetimes, both in the public eye and behind the scenes. This had provoked a sense of respect from Alistar of which he'd never been able to duplicate for anyone else other than the other members of Big Hero 6, whom he urged to come to him if ever they needed his assistance. Their intervention against Robert Callaghan's deranged attack had saved his life along with that of the Abigail Callaghan, an employee he made sure to pay heavily after her near death experience. From that day on he swore that he'd never reveal the six college student's identities and do his best to help cover whenever their actions got on the News.
It impressed him that the group had managed to continue their little operation against crime for so long, not to mention being so successful as well. Most of the police force held high regards for the team as during their reign crime rate had dropped over 40%, a number the task force had never been able to duplicate. For awhile Alistar had felt of use to the team as they had needed funding for resources expended when on their missions.
This soon changed however once Hiro recalibrated his Microbots for safer uses, dimming the capabilities so that it took an entire team of at least three to work the building material along with installing separate IP addresses for each set of Microbots. This made certain that misuse of the technology never happened again as each set of Microbots required a different team to control them and as such, one man could never control the flood of Microbots Robert Callaghan had once controlled. This safety precaution was further enhanced as Alistar remembered working together with Hiro on developing a disruptive electromagnetic wave that, if used improperly, would shut down both the Microbots and the headsets controlling them.
The purchase of this extraordinary building resource skyrocketed near days after Hiro figured out how to set up a business, making Hiro one of the youngest millionaires in the world after global distribution started. Alistar recalled the stressed young boy asking for advice for running such a large business and Mr. Krie being more than happy to help.
He smiled warmly remembering the time spent in collaboration with the young child. Over their short time span together the genius young man had taught him and his skilled scientists so much that, when he refused their offer to join them, it felt absolutely devastating. Alistar and his team soon recovered however as they set their sights on this little project, though calling it 'little' was a BIG understatement.
Continuing with his speech Mr. Krie said "I'd like to keep this short as I assume that everyone in this room is anxious to get onto the final test, so I'll wrap things up quick." He took a quick glance at the ready and waiting volunteer, he was a strong young man who'd only recently volunteered and qualified to enter the portal. Alistar felt pity for the young man just out of College as he'd seemed so keen on entering the portal and becoming the third person alive to venture into the teleportation device.
He turned to the man and said in a solemn tone "I apologize young sir, but you will not be needed for the test. Do not worry though; you will still be receiving the same income as had you completed the test. I will also compensate for the training and studies you had to endure for this. Though you are still welcomed to come observe the test along with the rest of the team if you'd like." He returned his attention to the rest of the group and watched as several confused faces took questioning glances at him.
One stepped forward and said "But sir, he's the only option we have for the experiment, without him we can't go on with the test."
Alistar sighed as he prepared to accept the obligations soon to be forced onto him from his next statement "In most cases I would agree with you, but as we got closer and closer to the completion date I kept recalling the last time we attempted this. I keep remembering the failure and near loss of life that occurred with Abigail Callaghan. I don't want to risk anyone's life this time, and as such I've decided to volunteer myself for this experiment."
The surprised gasps and shocked faces filling the room generated mild astonishment from . Was it so out of his character to do something selflessly? From his statement the same woman who'd stepped up before said "But sir, you've not had the proper training to proceed with this test, you don't qualify."
Alistar simply smiled at her observation and said "On the contrary Maria, though it was in secrecy I have done a bit of training to simulate the lack of gravity within the teleportation device. I am well versed and prepared for its effects."
The woman paused for a few moments thinking it over before simply nodding and stepping back into the group, motioning for him to continue.
"Well, then. Without further a due let's move on to the testing rooms!... Just give me a few minutes to get my suit on." As he spoke his last words he carefully replaced the mic and stepped off the podium. He along with the rest of the surprised group quickly exited out of the wood double doors and out into the main hall. This was when Alistar separated from the group as his changing room was opposite to that of the testing room, giving him some time away from his peers to prepare himself for the task ahead.
-fifteen minutes later-
He'd purposely taken a long time to get dressed in the safety white suit similar to what Abigail had worn along with the man he'd just recently dismissed. His usually brisk walk down the hallway and into the brightly lit control room was slowed to a trudging march of which he knew a tortoise would out pace.
Doubt and uncertainty plagued his mind as he finished the preparations and finally opened the door revealing the same eight people wearing their dignified suits and lab coats waiting for him. Even the man he'd dismissed was still here to watch the experiment. He smiled to each and every one of them as he walked passed and entered the first door leading to the air tight spacious room clad in steel containing the two portals, side by side much like how the previous ones had been set up. The second took a few seconds longer to open as the various locks quickly undid themselves to let in this lone character. The reason for these extra precautions spawned from the previous failed trial which had resulted in the walls and part of the roof being torn away. With the reinforced steel laced with titanium coating the walls there was almost no chance of this happening again… that was of course, in the minimal chance that something did go wrong.
Alistar pushed this thought out of his head as he cleared the second door and took the short flight of stairs down to the small shuttle where two technicians were doing their final checkups on the machinery. After a big thumbs up from the female who'd been previously inspecting the top latch of the opening, Alistar smiled and carefully entered the device, buckling himself in with the numerous safety straps littering the small cockpit. He watched as the metallic door slowly closed on top of him, giving him a small yet cozy space to get comfortable within. Due to the airtight security Mr. Krei was unable to hear anything from the outside, even the footsteps of the two technicians as they made their way up the stairs and into the safety of the control room which had also been reinforced even if the room was reminiscent of the previous one.
Alistar immediately found the headset attached to a latch in front of him and put them on, hearing his lead scientist Maria as he did so "Can you hear me Mr. Krei?"
"Yes Maria, I can hear you just fine. Are there any anomalies?"
He heard the woman repeat the question to the man to the right of her who he could see out of the window of his shuttle. The man's well trained eyes scanned his screen carefully before turning back to Maria and saying something illegible to Alistar's eyes. He heard Maria's voice then fill his ears as she said "All's clear sir. Are you sure you want to do this? No one would blame you if you decided you wanted our trained substitute to go instead."
From this comment the man glanced back at the room far above him and saw his Co-workers all pressed up against the glass like children, smiling and motioning in approval with big thumbs up. Alistar chuckled at his employees' immaturity and said with a smile "I'm sure Maria, but I appreciate the concern. Let's proceed with the test."
He heard the woman shout out several orders to her co-workers and felt as his shuttle was slowly rotated so that he was now facing the currently inactive portal. A distance of 20 meters separating him from the portal as he watched in nervous anticipation. Slowly he saw purple energy begin to spark within the circular device before lighting up completely with brilliant purple and pink swirling light. Alistar turned to watch the second machine as it was also activated, generating a light hum from the amount of energy being poured into the two portals.
"Here we go." Alistar said under his breath as the pod he sat in suddenly shifted, moving along the tracks leading up to the portal ahead of him. In a brief and sudden movement Alistar was launched forward into the portal with enough kinetic energy to no doubt send him back through the other end. The moment he passed through the energy field, Alistar activated the rocket boosters he'd installed in secrecy on the nose of his shuttle, slowing his propulsion to a mere drift as he moved along the gravity lacking void. He stared in awe through both his helmet and the clear glass replica acting as the top of the pod.
He could see the second portal directly in front of him and in mere seconds heard Maria's worried voice say "Alistar!? He should have passed through the second portal by now. Alistar!? ALISTAR!?
The young millionaire released a small chuckle at her concern "I'm fine. Just taking a small detour while I'm here."
"WHAT?" Was the confused scientist's only response as Alistar grabbed hold of the control panel in front of him and activated the right thruster in the back of the shuttle and the left one in the front, another installation to the pod he'd had done in secrecy. The shuttle whipped to the right before Alistar ceased the front thruster and activated the left rear, propelling the pod farther into the void instead of through the portal as was planned. As he did this he heard his lead scientist shout out "What are you doing? We don't know what extended periods of time in the void will do to a person!"
Alistar shook off her concern and said "I'm well protected in this hunk of metal aren't I? Besides didn't Abigail Callaghan survive for weeks within this same void? I think I can manage a few more minutes than we'd planned… or at least survive for just enough time so that I can repay a favor…"
"What are you talking about?" asked the confused woman.
Alistar squinted as he tried to see past the numerous cement chunks obscuring his vision, he recognized his own logo floating around in the abyss as that too had been pulled in that last time a portal had been opened. After a few seconds of silence the millionaire finally decided to answer "That young man Hiro lost his ally Baymax during his team's fight to save both me and Abigail from Robert's rage. I feel it's only fitting that I return his lost friend as a way to say thank you."
"I think you've helped him enough in the past ! I mean you did make his business successful did you not?"
Alistar chuckled at her response before saying "Yes Maria, I did. But I don't feel that it was a sincere 'thank you' as I also benefited from promoting his business with my own. Don't you recall the significant growth our company saw once we'd officially incorporated Microtech as an allied company?"
He heard a tired sigh on the other end of the headset before she said "Fine then… I guess I can't change your mind, but don't stay in there too long. If you can't find that Baymax of his then don't waste your time searching any longer."
A wicked grinned spread Alistar's lips as he said " Well speak of the Devil…" just as he'd swerved around a glacier sized chunk of concrete he saw the limp deflated form of Baymax floating still as his body had no doubt run out of power long ago. He inched closer and closer to the inactive robot before the nose of his pod was a mere few inches away from the large creature's arm. He reached over and hit a few keys on the control panel initiating the hidden mechanical clamps placed just below the craft so they'd be less visible. He'd been planning on this detour for months and as such a few adjustments had to be done to the shuttle originally designed to simply shoot in through one portal and out through the next.
The clamps slowly extended until Baymax's frozen-like arm came close enough to grasp and the clamps immediately chomped down on the arm. Alistar made sure that the clamps had a secure grasp on the limb as he wiggled the pod side to side to test the hold. The clamps held firm as Baymax's body was shaken gently from his action before the millionaire decided to finally turn around and head back to the dual portals. He used his front and back thrusters to spin around, applying just a small amount more power to compensate for Baymax's weight.
From his headset he heard " , we need you back now. The portals are consuming a ridiculous amount of energy and we fear our generators may not be able to hold."
Alistar nodded even though he knew no one was present to see the motion "I understand. I've found Hiro's machine and am coming back now."
"Well hurry." Said the obviously annoyed woman on the other end. As the leader second only to , she no doubt felt betrayed due to being left in the dark about this plan. Alistar knew that there would probably be repercussions, but he was willing to take them if he were allowed to finally repay his life debt.
"A life for a life I suppose." He murmured under his breath as he tried to imagine what he would have to do to restore the robot before him. He couldn't just return Baymax in this condition as the robot was nearly fallen apart in the void, no doubt from the numerous rocks and slabs of concrete it had to have bumped into during the time it was neglected. Looking upon it now Alistar realized he had a lot of work ahead of him as the remainder of Baymax's suit had fallen off due to him deflating along with his white buoyant skin being torn to shreds from the debris. The millionaire took a closer look at the hole in the soft exterior and found a shiny metallic skeleton from within; it seemed that hardly any damage had been done to the far more important interior.
Alistar took a deep breath in relief at this discovery. He dreaded having to repair the interior of the robot as no doubt he and his team would struggle trying to duplicate the genius behind the work. There was still the soft white material to replace, but he knew that he'd be able to take a sample from what remained and figure out what it was from that.
"Probably some sort of stretchy rubber-like cloth…" he said under his breath as he thought it over. The thought of the suit then came over him as he envisioned the long process of rebuilding the android's battle suit from scratch. Of course he could just return the Baymax once his energy source was replenished and soft skin material replaced, but that would still leave the task of reassembling the android's armor up to Hiro, and Alistar didn't want his treat to the boy to be more homework as he undoubtedly had enough on his plate.
As he neared the glimmering portal he finally began to question the strange coloration surrounding him. He pondered why the void had any sort of color at all as while its name implied it, it was in fact a void of nothingness. He studied the shining light streaming through the two portals before attributing the coloration to the light being sent through the device; no doubt the bright shining light being sent though had a strange reaction with the void's discoloration. His theory was strengthened as while he approached the two nearly side by side portals the light around him seemed to grow brighter and brighter.
Finally he was just in front of the exit portal and heard Maria's voice say "We don't have much time left Alistar, speed it up."
"I know." Was the millionaire's only response as he initiated the rear thrusters at 100% and launched himself through the swirling purple and pink light and out into the bright fluorescent lights of the lab.
Moments after he felt his shuttle scrape across the steel floor with Baymax being flung atop he heard a deafening amount of cheers from his headset, forcing him to fling the device from his ears or risk eardrum damage. Looking up through the long window surrounding the control room he saw the team chest bumping and hugging each other in happiness, their experiment had finally worked! Not a single problem!
Alistar also joined into the cheer as he shouted in joy "WOOOO HOOO!" and raised his arms in triumph though they hit the roof of the pod hard. The Millionaire winced before rubbing his now sore fingers and trigging the door above him to open and climb out of the machine. He took a quick glance back towards the portals to see that they'd both been safely shut down without a hitch.
Turning back to the control booth above he saw nearly all of the scientists streaming out of the room and down the short staircase to greet him, the entire group wooing as they did so. The only one to remain was Maria as she stared down with a smile, words visibly coming out of her mouth directed at the microphone in front of her. In response the millionaire immediately reached back into the cockpit and snatched the headset from the seat, putting the device on he heard the last moments of her sentence.
"- made it."
"Sorry," he said embarrassed "I didn't catch that. What'd you say?"
He saw the woman roll her eyes before repeating her sentence into the microphone "I said good job Mr. Krei, you've done the impossible, you've made it."
His smiled widened at her words "Thank you Maria, I couldn't have done it without you." he watched her grin at him before the group of childish scientists finally reached him and enveloped him in a gigantic bear hug. Alistar laughed as he tried to pull himself out of the display of affection but soon succumbed to their immaturity and returned the hug, doing his best to wrap his arms around as many as possible .
Their cheer was deafening as they celebrated their success, Alistar also joined into this roar of approval though with all the shouting voices his was hardly noticed.
We did it! He thought as the group carried him off and away from the teleportation devices.
-three months later-
Alistar stood on the strong white tile floor admiring his work. The robot before him was nothing like what he'd pulled out of the void months ago. It stood tall and proud with dark blue armor sitting on its firm shoulders, its eyes dim as Alistar wanted Hiro to be the first person the robot would see once it was reactivated.
Maria walked up to his right and said "What do you think? You think we can finally present it to him?"
Alistar took a few seconds to think over his decision before nodding and saying "He'll probably tweak it in some fashion, but with all the work we've put into his first Baymax, I don't doubt that it'll rejoin as one of the best members of their squad."
Maria's brown eyes suddenly widened as she connected the dots, upon her realization and she keeled over laughing. Alistar shot her a confused look before asking "What's so funny?"
"You want to join their team!" she said as a bit of her short black hair fell into her mouth, forcing her to inelegantly spit out the strand of hair with a bit of saliva coating it.
The millionaire immediately turned back to face the robot as a bright red blush flooded his cheeks "That's ridiculous."
"Is it?" she asked Maria as she recomposed herself and said "You're constantly making mention of them along with telling me how much admiration you have for their cause. Now you've even recreated a member for their team. You want to join them so bad you're making them team members!"
Alistar scowled before retorting "I simply want to repay my debt, that is all. I do admire them, but that in no way means I want to join them… perhaps I'd like to assist them from time to time but that is all."
"Uhuh, sure." Replied the amused scientist in a sarcastic tone. She saw that he wasn't going to respond and stepped up to also observe the robot they'd rebuilt together. She was the only one that Alistar could have turned to as she was the only person he'd revealed the identities of Big Hero 6 to. Since then she had made sure to never slip up around anyone about her knowledge of the team.
Rather than harp on her accusation, Alistar decided to recall all the hard work and labor that had gone into the construction of the suit. He'd made sure to duplicate what he'd seen Baymax do before such as the rocket punch technique and flight, but later on he decided on including a few of his own ideas. One of which had been to program Baymax's fists with a paralyzing electromagnetic field, able to stun enemies with a simple touch. Alistar knew that this ability would come in handy when combined with the launch able fists as no longer would criminals be able to flee, or at least, not for long. As he programmed this into the new suit reflecting the current Baymax, he soon realized that power would be a serious problem for the robot as it could only spend so much. He decided to solve this problem by placing an external battery on the back of the suit, able to power all devices covering the new armor for near a month if used sparingly.
The next installment he'd taken the liberty to attach had been original inspired by his assistant Maria. He recalled being in the break room with her and she foolishly attempted to cook, something she'd never done particularly well. The resulting smoke rising from the stove caused the woman to cough madly from inhaling the retched fumes inspiring Alistar to install sleeping gas in the shoulder pads of Baymax's suit. The robot before him stood taller than any man on Earth and as such it made sense to place them there so that the sleep inducing particles would fall on all before his tower stature. Mr. Krei also decided to program the headset with targeting capabilities so that the small canon holding the powder would be able to be launched from a distance and not interfere with the other members of Big Hero 6 if they were near Baymax at the time.
He'd included a few other tools into the suit, but the most significant one was that the lasers he'd installed in each tip of Baymax's fingers. He seen before the hulking figure plow through structures like they were nothing, but if a time came when a substance had to be cut through delicately, what would the robot do?
Looking it over now, Alistar realized how obsolete Hiro's current Baymax would become in comparison. The creation before him was just as strong as Hiro's along with being equipped with what he assumed was far superior armor judging by how easily the original had been destroyed from within the void. He'd done some testing and found the perfect balance between weight and strength between metals as no longer would concrete or nearly any substance put even a dent in the robot's suit.
The millionaire's competitive side flared up for a brief moment as he realized he'd triumphed over the boy once again in comparison of robots. Of course the man knew that Hiro would surely improve his current Baymax to compensate for its short comings and as such the team would be improved twice fold.
Alistar smiled at his work, he was finally righting his wrongs and making up for his selfish ways in the past.
No more mistakes. He thought with confidence.
AN:
Hello my fine readers! This is my second fan fiction over all and I hope that you approve as this is more or less a test to see if I should continue. Please review no matter if it's negative or positive as I accept either with open arms, and if you're familiar with my other fan fiction then you know that I always make sure to reply to each and every review either through the next chapter or PM.
I also understand that a few may be questioning why I decided to start this story off by focusing entirely on Alistar's actions, but I assure you that this will be the only chapter dedicated to this character. This piece was crucial to the rest of the story and I promise to introduce the main characters in the next chapter.
See ya next time!