Chapter 3: The Everwraith

The Expo took place in Tadashi Hall, a brand new exposition hall that Hiro named in honor of his brother Tadashi. This was the first Expo to take place in Tadashi Hall, and there were currently thousands of young potential students sharing their inventions to become a part of the Technological Institute. These inventions were mind boggling, from hover conversions for land vehicles, to therapeutic smart blocks and teleporters. Hiro eyed a lot of new talent that he would gladly recommend to the Dean, and a smile crept across his face. Tadashi would be proud to see all these people putting passion into their work.

So far, he and his team each had their own booths presenting their own inventions to give students an idea of what they can develop. Hiro was happy to see many interested people ask him questions about the Technological Institute, and his Hero Watches were attracting businessmen hoping to profit off of them, as well as the inventions of the other team members. Hiro and his team kindly refused each offer though, stating excuses like they weren't ready yet or those they don't wish to profit off anything.

"Um, why exactly are we refusing anything?" GoGo asked, "I mean, how are we supposed to help people with our inventions if we won't let people use them."

"Dude!" Fred said as he came up in his school mascot outfit, "What if these guys don't plan on using our inventions for good. What if they want them to be weapons, or worse… they're villains!" Wasabi put his hand on his forehead.

"Fred, just because a wealthy entrepreneur wants to buy one of our inventions doesn't make him a villain!" he said annoyed.

"Oh come on!" Fred argued, "You know how these things turn out!"

"Yeah," GoGo said, "In comic books!"

"I don't know," Honey Lemon said twiddling her fingers, "Hiro what do you think?" Hiro didn't respond.

"Hiro?" Hiro wasn't even paying attention. He was staring at a booth across the hall from him, which was run by a girl of her age. She too looked like a Japanese-American, like Hiro, and had long flowing black hair over her shoulders. She wore a yellow hooded sweatshirt and green and orange visors over her eyes. And she was beautiful. Hiro didn't realize that he was staring at her for so long.

"Hiro?" GoGo said, "Hiro? Hey! Earth to Hiro!" As she said that, she smacked Hiro on the back of his head.

"Ow!" Hiro said rubbing the back of his head, "What?"

"You were acting a little weird," Wasabi said, "Like you were in another planet or something."

"I was?" Hiro said confused and slightly embarrassed. He then saw the girl again and blushed.

"Well… tha's weird," he said awkwardly, "Uh, excuse me for a minute." He then stepped out of his booth and walked to the other one, much to his friends' confusion. He stepped up to the girl, who was busy with her project, a horizontal hollow cylinder of a metal that looked like silver. He cleared his throat, which caught the attention of the girl.

"Oh, hi," the girl said, "It's Hiro right? Hiro Hamada?" Hiro just blinked in surprise.

"How-How did you know?" he asked nervously.

"I read about your brother, Tadashi," the girl said, "How he gave his life to help someone and that you built this Hall for him. He seemed like a nice guy." Hiro smiled nervously. It was nice to know that she thought his brother was a hero.

"Thanks, uh…" Hiro said, but realized that he didn't ask her name.

"Oh, it's Mariko," she said, "Mariko Yashida." She then extended her hand, which Hiro shook, nervously.

"Nice to meet you Mariko," Hiro said, before awkwardly clearing his throat, "Uh, what are you working on?" Mariko turned to the Silver cylinder and smiled.

"I'd like to present to you, Tachy Silver," she said as she tapped on her tablet. The silver suddenly began to glow a bright purple, while humming began to sound.

"It is made of a special alloy of silver and vibranium, capable of absorbing tachyon energy to increase it's strength and durability. It can replace iron as a permanently strong material, and it doesn't tarnish." Hiro was intrigued at this invention. He never heard of metals that can absorb tachyon energy.

"That is amazing!" Hiro said intrigued, "I hope you don't mind if I ask, but how old are you?" Mariko smiled and lifter her visor, revealing sparkling blue eyes.

"I'm 14," she said. Hiro was surprised.

"Huh," he said, "You know I was 14 when I got accepted to the Technological Institute." Mariko widened her eyes in excitement.

"Do you mean I could follow in your footsteps?" she asked. Hiro smiled and shrugged.

"Who knows?" he said. Suddenly, an announcement blared on the speakers.

"Next up, Amiko Kobayashi." There was a small applause as people gathered by the stage, where a teenage girl, slightly older than Hiro, stepped forward with a large mechanical cylinder with a glowing green ball in the middle. Mariko was excited and rushed to the stage, and Hiro followed her.

"All right Amiko!" she said confidently as she clapped her hands. Hiro raised an eyebrow.

"You know her?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah," Mariko said, "She's my sister, or rather an adopted sister." Hiro nodded in understanding and watched Amiko present, much more confidently than Hiro when he first presented.

"Hello, everyone," Amiko said, "As you know, my name is Amiko Kobayashi, and I'm a computer programmer with a grand idea. Imagine if you could connect to the Internet from a tree." The audience snickered, to which Amiko rolled her eyes.

"I know, hard to picture," she said, "But it is possible, because all around us is an invisible, untapped energy called tachyon energy, which we can use to achieve this idea. How? With this!" She indicated her cylinder-shaped machine.

"This is Everwraith," she said, "A generator designed to tap into tachyon energy. This generator is designed to work in this hall, but one larger generator could work all across San Fransokyo. How does it work?" She then showed her hands, covered in black gloves.

"With these Tachy Gloves, all you have to do is tap and open the information database. This thing can work on anything. From the floor…" As she said this, she reached down and tapped on the floor. When she raised her hand, a giant holographic model of the San Fransokyo bridge rose, causing the audience to gasp in amazement.

"To a plant…" She then tapped a plant, which caused holographic balloons to pop up, each filled with a few information on the weather and humidity levels.

"Even your own skin," she said. She tapped on her arm, which caused a hologram to pop up with her heart rate and blood pressure.

"From entertainment, to construction, or healthcare and emergency services, the Everwraith is the device that will help you to connect to the world in a new way. Thank you." She then bowed, and the room erupted in applause. Mariko ran up and hugged Amiko, who just got off the stage. As the crowd cleared out, Hiro noticed his friend approach him, with Fred carrying two pieces of paper.

"What are those?" Hiro asked. Fred smiled.

"Dad picked Amiko, but I managed to convince him to add one more person to his enrollment list." Hiro widened his eyes in excitement and turned to Mariko, who had just finished hugging Amiko.

"Oh, Amiko this is Hiro Hamada," she said.

"Hey Hiro," Amiko said with a smile and a handshake, "I heard so much about you."

"Glad to meet you," Hiro said, "These are my friends, Fred, GoGo, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi."

"Oh same ol', same ol'. What's up with you?" Amiko said with a smirk. Wasabi groaned.

"That's not funny," he said annoyed.

"That was awesome!" Fred said laughing.

"Anyway," Hiro said, "I really enjoyed your presentation. In fact, it also caught the eye of a certain Dean." He held up the letters, both of them acceptance letters from the Technological Institute.

"Congratulations Amiko!" Hiro said, "And you too Mariko!" Amiko looked shock and surprised, but Mariko just cheered. She hugged Amiko tightly and to Hiro's embarrassment, pulled Hiro into a group hug. After a period of hugging, Mariko took her letter and gazed at it amazed. Amiko was about to grab her letter, but then she noticed something. The Everwraith was starting to glow even bigger, which caused Amiko to look nervous.

"Uh, that's not supposed to happen," Amiko said nervously. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck out of the Everwraith machine and hit a metal exoskeleton, designed for physical training. The exoskeleton shook for a bit, and then it's eyes turned green. It then leaped out and started attacking people.

"That's really not supposed to happen!" Amiko said worryingly. Another lightning bolt shot out and caused another machine to jump out and control another machine. More and more lightning bolts came out from the Everwraith, turning more machines into killer machines.

"I have to stop this!" Amiko said frantically as she rushed to the Everwraith, "Get Mariko out of here!"

"What?" Mariko said shocked, "No! I'm not leaving you!"

"Mariko, go!" Amiko said fearfully. Hiro turned to his teammates and nodded his head, indicating that it's Hero Time. Once the teammates got the hint, they rushed off to get into their suits, while Hiro turned and grabbed Mariko's arm.

"Come on," he said urgently, "We have to go!"

"No! Wait!" Mariko protested as she tried to free herself. But Hiro pulled her through the chaos of the killer machines and outside of the hall, where the rest of the s have successfully made it out.

"Hiro!" Mariko said in tears, "Amiko's still inside!"

"I know!" Hiro said, "Stay here! I'm going to get her out!" He then rushed back inside the hall, leaving Mariko worried and confused. Once he was inside, he pressed on his Hero Watch, which suited him up and also summoned Baymax in his battle form.

"Come on buddy!" Baymax cried as he hopped on Baymax's back. Instantly, Baymax began defensive maneuvers, using his karate programming to subdue the machines as they tried to make it to Amiko. Fortunately the rest of the team was around to help. GoGo used her detachable wheels as frisbees against the machines, Honey Lemons sticky traps kept machines from moving all over the place, Wasabi sliced some machines with his plasma blades, while Fred cleverly used a piece of sheet metal as a weapon, cautious not to use his flaming breath to make the situation worse. Hiro and Baymax eventually reached Amiko, who was still frantically turning knobs and pushing buttons on the Everwraith to get it to stop.

"Amiko!" Hiro cried out, "We need to get out of here!"

"No!" Amiko replied back, "I can stop this! I know it!" Suddenly, the Everwraith shot several lightning bolts out, which all hit Amiko. Amiko screamed in pain as she was electrocuted by the Everwraith.

"AMIKO!" Hiro cried out in shock. The Everwraith suddenly began to grow even brighter.

"Lethal shockwave imminent," Baymax said, "Must suggest retreating." Hiro didn't want to, hoping there was still time to save Amiko. But he knew that it was too late, there was going to be a shockwave that could be lethal.

"Everyone fall back!" he cried out as Baymax turned and flew out of the hall. The other's managed to fall suit, just as the Everwraith machine blew up, releasing a shockwave that spread across the entire room. The team barely made it out as the final windows shattered, but the Hall still held together.

Hiro could still hear Amiko's cries of pain as sirens blared from a distance.