A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with another update. Sorry in advance. This is a bit of slow chapter. The next chapter will be better. Hiro and company are really the stars of this chapter I think since most of the plot action happens with them. It's going to be like that for the next chapter too but things are going to pick up from here on out as everyone will be in San Fransokyo and we will be chasing Callaghan and Hydra.
Also a few side notes! I've figured out how long this fiction will be chapter wise. 20 chapters plus an epilogue. I'm going to keep updates on Saturday. They just seem to work out better for me. If ever I don't update on Saturday then it's probably because I'm working and didn't quite have time to put the finishing touches on the chapter (Author's comments and responses to reviews and whatnot). Also if you want to follow me on Tumblr (fieryartemisproductions), I tend to do a lot of updates on where I'm at with writing, editing, and posting. Look under the tag #adventuresinwriting or just drop me a line in my askbox.
Please enjoy today's chapter and thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed!
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. In doing so he angled himself closer to Vera but made sure not to disturb her. She was currently asleep with her head pressed against the airplane's window. The woman across the aisle was staring at him. She'd been staring at him ever since he and Vera had shown up at the airplane's boarding gate. Of course it had to be his luck that she was seated close to him. Of course she seemed to have the same fascination with him as a spectator at some kind of freak show. What was he? The bearded lady?
Simultaneously, he pulled the collar on his blazer up and his ball cap down over his face. The majority of his scars were facing away from prying eyes, towards Vera and the window, but even with that and the adjustments to his clothes it didn't feel like it was enough. Subconsciously, he brushed his good hand over the opposite side of his face, covering the scars he had there. His scarred hand clenched around the armrest of his seat.
"Hey, are you okay?" Vera asked him softly as she touched his scarred hand on the armrest.
He jumped in surprise, startled. "I thought you were asleep." he admitted, rubbing his jaw.
"No, I wasn't." she told him. She raised an eyebrow at him. Then she looked over his shoulder. He saw her eyes narrow at the woman across the aisle. Vera cleared her throat harshly and drew the woman's attention to herself. It was almost crazy just how quickly the woman found something more interesting than him. Vera looked back at him, face softening. "I think you spend so much time worrying about my scars that you forget about your own." Vera murmured giving his hand a squeeze.
He shrugged. "Everyone I talk to and hang out with make it easy to forget that I have…" his voice trailed off as he gestured to the side of his face in elaboration.
"It's Travis and I, and Coulson and his team that sees you on a regular basis." supplied Vera. "You've never been this far from the apartment before."
"I know." he sighed, "I just didn't think that, well, that so many people would stare."
Vera looked at him sympathetically. She probably understood what it felt like to be stared at. He knew that with her post traumatic stress disorder she often felt like people were watching her like a bug underneath a microscope. Even when she wasn't showing visible signs of her anxiety. He was the last person that would ever try to compare his scars against Vera's. They were like apples and oranges in many respects, but wow! The damage the fire had done to him was always out in the world for all to see and he hated it. That one fact alone was enough to make him want to crawl back into his small hole. Why had he thought going to San Fransokyo was going to be a good idea?
"I know it will only get worse in San Fransokyo." he mumbled. There were lots of people to stare at him in a giant city.
"If anyone says anything," Vera whispered in his ear, "I'll kick their ass for you."
He burst out laughing, trying to cover his mouth with his hand. Several people turned to look at him in confusion. "Sorry," he muttered as his face started to turn red.
Vera had a devious smile on her face but nonetheless was pleased with herself for making him laugh. She settled back into her seat, crossing her legs and folding her arms over her chest. Vera twisted her head to the side to look at him. "Do you want to go over the plan again?" she offered. She made sure to keep her voice low so that those sitting around them wouldn't hear what she was saying. "Focusing on something else takes your mind off of what you're trying to avoid."
"That I understand imouto," he told her rolling his eyes, "but what is your fascination with talking about the same plan we've been over six or seven times already."
"You're the one who rambles on and on about different designs and theories all the time. I can't tell you how many times I've had to hear about your plan for that fire search and rescue robot." she replied, also rolling her eyes.
"Alright, sure. Fine, whatever." he told her waving his hand dismissively. The woman across the aisle was back to staring at him. He could feel her eyes on his back.
Vera shrugged in her seat. "Alright, we're going directly to San Fransokyo while the field agents are starting in Crescent City at Pelican Bay."
"Again, so glad we don't have to go there." he said under his breath. The idea of hanging around a supermaximum security prison didn't sound beneficial to his health. Vera only nodded in agreement.
"We're both going to start at Callaghan and then work our way into our respective roles. I'm going to get inside Callaghan's head. You're going to see if you can find any basis for Big Hero 6's technology in his work."
"There should be at least some connection. Robert Callaghan's work is foundational for a lot of robotics. However, I really feel like that I'm going to end up at San Fransokyo's Institute of Technology talking to more current pioneers."
"Also, this is completely subjectionable from a former Superhero, but…"
"Some of those current pioneers could also be the team we're looking for. Yes, you've said that. Multiple times in fact."
"All I'm saying is that you put the right kind of people with the right kind of abilities, add in the right kind of scenario and you have a strong possibility for a particular outcome."
"Tell me," he said teasingly, "what science and research is that based on again?"
Vera snorted, "Remind me to tell you about how I actually managed to become a Superhero when I didn't actually want to be one in the future."
"Do you really think that you're going to be able to predict Callaghan's actions?" he asked skeptically.
"It depends. That's why I have to talk to those he knew and see how he used to live. At the very least I may be able to get a good enough feel for him to tell Coulson whether or not Callaghan will cooperate with Hydra or if he'll break and try to follow his own agenda. A lot of it is subjective to Hydra's plans."
Vera's voice dropped off. He watched as her face went blank. "Vera," he said as soothingly as he could manage.
Then she shook her head. "We won't know that until the field agents can get us the intel so we just have to make do."
"Coulson said that we only have to be in San Fransokyo long enough to gather our data and give our reports then its back to New York. Every step of the way we're going to be watched by S.H.I.E.L.D. There is no radio silence. We have subdermal tracers that have been tested in the remotest parts of the world. They aren't going to lose track of you like they did last time." he told her.
Vera turned to look out the window again. "Us…" she amended, "They won't lose track of us. I heard the same spiel you did from Coulson. Doesn't mean that…"
Again her voice trailed off but he was able to fill in the blanks. She was scared. Perhaps that was why she wanted to keep going over the plan. She wanted it ingrained in her memory so that she knew how to react. It was how she coped he realized. Something inside of him understood that too. There was something reassuring in knowing exactly what was going to happen. However, he'd been a scientist long enough to know that anything rarely went the way it was planned. He'd never breathe a word of that to Vera though.
"So what things do you want to see while we're there?" he asked brightly trying to change the conversation and distract her.
Vera turned to look at him once more. Again her eyebrow was raised. "This isn't a vacation Chiune. We're supposed to be working."
"Has anyone ever told you that you really aren't much fun." he pointed out.
"Yes, you and Travis both have a tendency to do that." she told him, unimpressed.
"Come on, just humor me. Say we can go anywhere in San Fransokyo. Say we get a couple hours to ourselves without having to worry about Superheroes, Supervillains, and evil organizations. What would you like to do?"
Vera sat back and thought. "San Fransokyo Tower. The tallest radio tower in the country. I want to see the view from there. What about you and please don't say the SFIT library."
"I've heard Fisherman's Wharf is the place to go for fresh seafood."
"I wanna see a bot fight." she said suddenly.
He whipped around to glare at her. Again her face had the broad, mischievous grin on it. "Those are illegal Vera." he told her crisply.
"No, just betting on them." she informed him primly. There was an unspoken 'I would know, I'm a law student' attached to it somewhere. His face didn't move from its deep deadpan scowl. "I bet you could come up with a bot that would crush them all." she added with another grin.
"You are unbelievable sometimes. You know that." he grumbled.
"Oh relax grumpy pants. I'm just kidding." shrugged Vera. "Mostly."
"I'm just gonna sit over here and pretend I don't know you."
Vera only laughed. She would find the entire thing funny. He checked his watch. There was still another hour and a half before they landed. This trip was going to be a long one in more ways than one.
X X X
Honey Lemon handed him a cup of tea before turning to her own much and squeezing liberal amounts of honey and lemon into her own. No wonder Fred had given her that nickname. Seriously! Her tea probably didn't even taste remotely like black tea anymore. Hiro watched her mash her tea bag against the side of her mug nervously. He looked around Fred's bedroom. Everyone was looking at him with various degrees of masked worry.
GoGo was perched on the back of Fred's couch, smacking her gum and easily looking the most calm about the situation. Just a front though. GoGo was typically pretty good at hiding her emotions. Wasabi on the other hand kept twisting the ring on his finger as he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was watching Hiro like a hawk. He was also vaguely aware that Baymax's little red light, the one that alerted him to when the robot was running a scan and the one that Hiro had installed mainly so that he would know if he were being scanned, kept going off. Continually, he might add. As for Fred, he was currently sifting through a mountain of comic books on the floor.
"I'm telling you guys!" he said with absolute conviction, "Callaghan is coming back here. For sure!"
"We have no proof of that Fred." Honey Lemon said emphatically, still grinding her tea bag into the side of her cup.
"It's common knowledge!" Fred insisted, "Supervillains always come back to get revenge on the Superheroes that locked them up in the first place!"
He held up a comic book for emphasis before chucking it at those who were sitting on the couch. Wasabi caught it. "Fred this is the real world. Not some comic book adventure." he reminded him.
"He's coming for us!" Fred continued. Then he paused and tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Or Krei. Could be Krei too seeing as how he was never charged for anything that happened."
"I'm more interested in how he got out in the first place." GoGo said, redirecting the conversation. "Has anybody looked into that yet?"
"No data has been published on the subject." Baymax informed them, trying to be helpful. Hiro had had his doubts when upgrading Baymax's artificial intelligence to learn and adapt even quicker in everyday interactions but there were some moments when he was glad he had. This was one of those moments.
"Has anyone tried, I don't know," Hiro waved his hands through the air, "to find it themselves?"
"Cyber invasion and hacking into private computers is a federal crime, punishable by both time in jail and a monetary fine." Baymax added.
Nope! Nevermind, this was one of the times that Hiro slightly regretted upgrading Baymax's A.I. Hiro gave a sigh. "Listen, I don't know how Callaghan got out but he did. I don't know if he's coming here to confront us or to try and kill Krei again. What I do know is that we need to find him and put him back in prison."
"But if we don't even know where to find him…" Honey Lemon started.
Hiro slammed his cup down on the table. Hot tea spilled everywhere. It burned his hand but he didn't care. Hiro looked up at his friends with cold fury in his eyes. "Tadashi died because of him. He would've killed every single one of us to get what he wanted. He would've killed hundreds of innocent people that didn't even know him to get back at Krei. We can't let him get away with escaping just because we don't know where to find him." he snapped angrily. "We found him once, we can find him again."
"Where should we start then?" GoGo asked him. It wasn't a desperate plea for him to calm down or to 'think rationally.' She was genuinely trying to support him just as she had the first time he'd suggested going after Yokai those few years back.
Hiro raked his hand through his hair. Where did they start? Frustration gripped him. He could solve physics equations that would make even the most pedigreed doctorates cry. He could design Supersuits for every one of his friends that incorporated their own unique strengths and technologies. He could even go out and save San Fransokyo late Wednesday night and still be able to get up and function through his eight a.m. class on Thursday morning. How come he couldn't figure out how to even begin looking for Callaghan? It wasn't like the last time he'd gone after him where Baymax had scanned the entire city. What was Hiro supposed to do? Scan the entire state? The country? He didn't even have a scanner that was big enough! If he was so much as to attempt to scan for Callaghan he'd need access to, like, a satellite or something!
Wait! That was it!
"Krei." he said looking up at everyone else.
"I'm not sure if I follow you dude." Wasabi said shaking his head.
"We're going to scan for Callaghan. Like Baymax did last time. We have his stats and we can find him the same way. Krei has access to one of the largest communications satellites. If we set up some sort of perimeter…"
"Narrow down the search field into something more manageable…" GoGo picked up immediately on his train of thought. She was nodding along with him.
"It's only been, like, a day or something right! He can't have gone too far." Fred added with a big goofy grin on his face. He was now listening with rapt attention with his comic books forgotten for the moment.
Hiro continued, "and then wire the scan operation down through the satellite we can cover a wider range. We collect the data and…"
"Find at least a hundred people who fit the same basic description of Callaghan." pointed out Wasabi. Hiro glared at him. Wasabi winced and waved his hands through the air. "You scanned a single city last time dude. One city, fewer candidates. Larger area, more candidates."
"He is right. There is a high probability that many people in such a range share the same physiological markers." said Baymax.
Hiro grit his teeth. He clenched his hands into fists. He hadn't thought of that but it made sense. "I don't know where else to start. It's the best I've got right now." he shot back, trying but failing to keep the anger out of his voice.
"It's a good place to start Hiro," Honey Lemon said encouragingly. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Every question asked has to have research done in order to facilitate the scientific method. Once we have our baseline data we can form a hypothesis...chose from multiple candidates who would be the most likely to fit and investigate them. Eliminate the dead ends, form new hypotheses, and eventually find Callaghan."
"That could take ages!" exclaimed Wasabi.
"You're right," grumbled Hiro as he raked his hand through his hair some more. "Scanning isn't enough."
"There's going to be tip hotlines." GoGo said simply and drew everyone's attention on to her. She shrugged. "You don't break out of a supermaximum prison without causing a stir. People are going to be looking for him. I bet there will be sightings of him everywhere and people bragging about how they saw the escaped Supervillain."
"Who brags about that kind of thing?" groaned Wasabi.
There was a click-click-clicking noise from both Honey Lemon and Fred. "Thirty google webpages under 'Yokai Sightings!'" smiled Honey Lemon as she held her phone out for all to see.
"I've just set up my own blog page devoted to it. Anonymous of course." Fred announced as he flashed his touchscreen tablet to the rest of the room.
Wasabi let out a loud groan and buried his face in his hands. "You guys are crazy."
Hiro, GoGo, and Honey Lemon were already hanging over Fred's shoulder staring at his handiwork. "Oh!" gasped Honey Lemon, "'Stop the Scourge of San Fransokyo, Yokai.' I like that!"
"I know, catchy right! It's an alliteration. Rolls off the tongue like a marshmallow." Fred smiled broadly. "I'll have to work on updating the artwork and stuff but I think I should have it operational by tomorrow morning. I'll throw it out in a few online gaming forums that I like to frequent to get traffic."
"Do not put it in the Star Trek roleplaying forum!" Wasabi said menacingly as he shifted over on the couch to watch Fred's progress. "I don't want to see a bunch of crazy story threads about Big Hero 6 teaming up with Spock and Kirk to stop Yokai. I'm tired of being shipped with Bones."
Hiro bit his lip to keep from laughing. It wasn't exactly the time to laugh. There was something incredibly reassuring about the way his friends rallied around him. Hiro pushed himself to his feet, pulling his phone out as he went. Honey Lemon sat up straighter when he started to turn away from them. "Hiro, where are you going?"
"Calling Krei. I want to get that scan started as soon as possible. He can prep the computers while I'm on my way there."
"It's way too late Hiro." GoGo told him, checking her watch. "He isn't going to be there. No one is."
Wasabi nodded in agreement. "It can wait a few more hours until morning."
"Besides we all go into work tomorrow there anyways so..." Honey Lemon added.
"Yeah we can totally meet Krei all together first thing in the morning." Fred told him. "Besides I'm tellin' ya that Callaghan is coming here."
"The probability of there being any major change in the matter of a few hours is unlikely Hiro." Baymax informed him.
Hiro gave a sigh and hit the lock button on his phone. They were right. It was too late to do anything at the moment. There was no way that Krei was going to wake up in the dead of night, go down to his office building to let them in, and fire up his servers. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and rejoined the others. He could've sworn he heard Honey Lemon sigh in relief as he settled himself into position behind Fred to watch his progress on the blog page he was setting up for them. Then there was the fact that Wasabi visibly seemed to relax. Hiro didn't think that they were worried about him going off the deep end again and trying act as judge, jury, and executioner once they found Callaghan once more. That phase had long since passed. No it was probably the fact that, deep down, he knew that as long as Callaghan was still alive and somewhere free in the world while Tadashi laid in ashes on the Earth, he would never have peace. Callaghan could never be allowed to walk freely. Not while Hiro still had breath in his body.
Thanks again to all who added this story to their favorites and alerts.
Special thanks to those who reviewed!
Vera (anon reviewer): Aw! Thanks friend! Digging the name by the way ;)
Falcrow-42: Yep! I update every week. Thank you for following!
Nobody (anon reviewer): Thank you! Just thank you for your wonderful review! When I first got the idea, it just kind of consumed my life. The plot really captivated me too. Thanks for giving my story a chance!
Silver-09: I am but a humble writer who enjoys the craft. Glad you're enjoying the rollercoaster. There will be more twists and turns before everything is said and done so make sure your seatbelt is fastened!
BananaGodis: Your wish is my command! One update for you!
Someone like you (anon reviewer): I'm glad you like Vera's character. She's one of my favorites to write!
reader (anon reviewer): I'm glad you're enjoying the story!
hiro hamada (anon reviewer): Thanks for your support!
InsanityIsClarity: Woah! Capslock shouting lol! Glad you're enjoying the story so much! Thanks for all your support!
AK47reloaded: All your questions will be answered in due time and I hope it will all be worth the wait!
Fantasy-Mania31: Thank you so much. I watched your art slideshow by the way. You're very talented!
Ember Neutron: The reunion will be dramatic to say the least. That scene was actually one of my favorites to write and I was really happy with how it came out!
UntitledJoy: Thank you for your support! It makes me unbelievably happy that people are enjoying this story as much as I did writing it! :)
ThatGirlWhoWantsToBeAwesome: Yep! Things will definitely start rolling once everyone is in San Fransokyo. That's where all the parties will converge and the rock starts rolling so to speak!
MagicWriterK: Yeah, there's a bit of deja vu now that I look at it. The rage Hiro feels is understandable; however, he's seventeen now. Three years have passed (or around about) since the events of the movie. He's grown a lot both as a Superhero and as a person. He recognizes that there are right ways to handle things and wrong ways to handle things and going off the deep end with Callaghan is the wrong way to handle the situation. Recognizing these things is not only part of becoming a better person but a is a part of growing up. Plus I think he had a lot of great role models in his life to help him shape his character. Tadashi's memory is an ever present presence in his life and Hiro thinks a lot about how his brother would handle something. However, he also has his Aunt, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon, GoGo, and Baymax to help guide him when things got difficult.
