Teammates

Tadashi walked out of the training room. Stanley made him do three rounds against the robots that day, each one harder than the last. The suit Jane made him was in tatters, his muscles were sore, and several brown spots were littered across his body. He figured those were what bruises looked like on his fiery skin. He didn't want to learn how to fight, he wants to return to normal. He wants to go home and let his family know he's not dead, that he's alive and more or less okay. But he's not about to give up now.

"Very good Mr. Hamada." Stanley said, Nova and White Tiger in tow, meeting him in the hall outside the training hall, "You're a quick study. The three of you should get to know one another, since you'll be teammates. Get changed, by the time you finish dinner will be ready."

"Yes Sir." All three responded and headed off towards the living quarters.


Tadashi sat at a table in the cafeteria. Across from him were Christopher Parr and May Ramirez, Nova and White Tiger respectively. In front of him was a bowl of something on fire. Glancing at the plates of spaghetti in front of his teammates he couldn't help but be a little jealous. He wanted regular food, people food. This was just another reminder that he wasn't a person anymore.

"Sooo," May spoke up, breaking him from his thoughts, "Who wants to go first?" Neither boy said anything. "Ugh, fine. I'll go first. My name is May Ramirez, I'm seventeen. I'm from Georgia. I'm a triplet. My sisters are April and June. We live with our grandmother, Lucille. I got the White Tiger amulet from my aunt. It chose me for some reason, I haven't figured out why yet. Mr. Lieber got in touch with me a few days later and offered to train me. Can't think of anything else important, so who's next?"

"Christopher Parr. Fifteen, two sisters. Older one is Ellie, younger one is Jenny. From a small town in Florida where nothing ever happens. Powers come from my helmet, which fell into the woods near my house one night. I saw the flash and went to look and found the helmet. Put it on and after a brief trip to the moon I figured out enough to get home and Mr. Lieber contacted me about a week and a half later. Your turn Tadashi."

"My name is Tadashi Hamada I'm nineteen. I live, or lived, with my Aunt Cass and my little brother, Hiro. I'm a student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, or I used to be. There was a fire, I went in to try and save my professor only to find he was stealing my brother's Microbots. He attacked me when I called out to him tried to drop a support beam on me. I manage to jump out of the way and he knocked me into some machines. Next thing I know I wake up here, like this."

"Sounds like your professor is seriously messed up." Chris commented.

"So that's what happened to you." May said.

"You didn't know?"

"No, after Mr. Lieber pulled you out of the fire Jane took you straight to the med ward." May answered.

"Wait, Mr. Lieber pulled me out of the fire?"

"Yeah, he didn't tell you?" Chris asked.

"Did they catch your professor?" May asked.

"I doubt it. He has the Microbots, the police probably won't be able to do much to stop him."

"These Microbots sound dangerous," May stated, "why would your brother make such a dangerous weapon?"
"They weren't supposed to be weapons. They were supposed to be used to help people."

"If your professor is still out there, with these Microbots, he's incredibly dangerous. Maybe the three of us should try to stop him." Chris suggested.

"Are you serious?" May objected, "We're all rookies."

"But we have powers!" Chris argued, "Would you rather the police, or some innocent people, get hurt by the nut job?"

"Well, no but… What do you think, Tadashi?"

"I don't want anyone to get hurt, and with Callaghan running around there's no telling what he'll do, and he's already proven he's willing to kill, and while I agree we could use more training I think we should at least try. At the very least we should be able to slow down his plans."

"So we're doing this? We're going to sneak into June's lab, take the teleportal to San Fransokyo and try to catch a super villain with only two weeks of training?"

"We can't let him hurt anyone," Tadashi stated, "Even if we just slow down his plans, we can use the extra time to get stronger and take him down for good.

"If we're seriously going to do this," May said, "Lets do it as a team. Its probably the only way we'll win anyway."


"They do know the cafeteria has surveillance cameras, right?" Jane asked, watching the video feed with Stanley and Heathcliff in her lab. "Are we just going to let them sneak out?"

"They're working together as a team." Stanley replied, "I think this will be a good bonding exercise for them. They know to keep hidden. And it's unlikely they'll actually find something. Now let them find the lab empty. Once they leave we'll go keep an eye on them."


Sunfire, Nova, and White Tiger emerged from the teleportation portal behind a warehouse near the docks. Once they were all out of the swirling green and blue vortex it collapsed in on itself and vanished. Sticking to the shadows, the three of them made their way through the alleyways of San Fransokyo. They had one destination in mind, San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Being stealthy as they could with a flying boy who glowed bright blue, a young man made of fire, and a young woman in a skin tight white suit could, they made their way to the school.

"The school should still be shut down from the fire." Sunfire said, "But we should be careful, just in case. There's really no telling if someone is here or not."

"Are you sure you're up to this?" White Tiger asked, "Nova and I could go check it out if you don't feel up to it."

"I'm okay." Tadashi answered, "I need to do this. I need to know why he did this to me."

"Alright, if you say so."

Once they set foot on the campus they made sure to avoid as many open area as they could, and Sunfire told them to keep their eyes peeled for any people who might be around. They eventually made their way to the remains of the once proud building. It was a mere shadow of its former glory, what little still stood was burnt and broken. Sunfire's heart raced at the sight of the showcase hall. If Callaghan hadn't hit him into those machines and chemicals he would be dead right now. But if Callaghan hadn't started the fire in the first place then none of this would be happening right now.

"Wow, this place is a mess." Nova commented, "It looks like they've been clearing it out though."

"Yeah…" Tadashi whispered, "If we're going to find anything on Callaghan it won't be here."

"Then where do we look?" White Tiger asked.

"If he's anywhere its probably in one of the abandoned warehouses near the docks." Sunfire answered, "No one ever goes to them. We should check those."

The three of them of them made their way back to the shadows and alleyways. After a close call with an older woman dressed way to inappropriately for someone her age they made it to the wharf just in time to see a masked man using the Microbots to try to crush a white minivan. The van manage to break free only to crash into the ocean.

"Nova get the people in the van!" Sunfire ordered, "White Tiger we'll get Callaghan!"

Nova shot past the masked man towards the water, but just as he was about to go under he stopped. He could not go any farther. Looking back he found his legs covered in Microbots. The Microbots pulled him back towards the dock and slammed him into Sunfire and White Tiger. Winded, all three forced themselves to their feet just as the masked man appeared in front of them. They took their fighting stances and the masked man readied the Microbots.

"Why are you doing this Callaghan?" Sunfire asked, "You used to be a good man!"

In response to the fiery young man's question Callaghan wrapped the Microbots around him and his two teammates faster than they could react. He went face to face with the fiery young man, studying him. Using some Microbots he ripped off the mask his captive was wearing to see who this kid was who know his identity. He was shocked to find a face covered with swirling orange-white skin and fiery hair, and a face that looked familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"Who are you boy?" Callaghan spat, "How do you know who I am."
"My name is Sunfire," came the answer, "And lets just say you wronged me really bad."

"I see." Callaghan said, after a moment, "How did you get like this, Mr. Hamada?" Sunfire's eyes widened. "Your reaction confirms it. I don't know how you became a fiery demon but your aunt will be devastated when she learns she just lost her second nephew."

"What?" Sunfire asked, barely above a whisper.

"That's right your little brother and friends were in that van, no doubt drowned by now."

"There's no one in the van!" came Nova's voice from above the water. Callaghan's head snapped to see the boy floating there. He turned his head to where he was sure he just had him held captive seconds ago, only to find no one there.

"There are five people and a giant marshmallow walking away over there." White Tiger shouted from a nearby roof top. Callaghan growled, wondering when and how they broke free from his grasp, only to get punched in the face.

"You tried to kill me!" Sunfire snarled, a pile of partially melted Microbots near his feet. "You tried to kill my brother!"

Callaghan growled again, he clearly underestimated these people. He won't be making that mistake again. Using the Microbots he backed away and picked up a large shipping container and threw it at the trio, who had now regrouped. His eyes widened when the glowing boy caught it and threw it back at him. He knocked it aside and had to throw himself back to avoid the claws of the girl in white. Bringing up a wall of Microbots he blocked the stream of fire that his former student threw at him. Weighing his options, Callaghan decided it would be best to retreat. Forming a sphere around himself he quickly dove into the ocean.

"I'll go after him." Nova said.

"No." Sunfire objected, "You can't face him alone. We should go back. We'll train and get stronger, and next time, he won't get away."

"A very wise decision Sunfire."

"Mr. Lieber!" all three said in unison.

"And Jane!" Jane added, as she sucked up the broken Microbots with some kind of high tech vacuum.

"I have to admit, you three surprised me with how well you worked together to take on Callaghan." Stanley praised, "But you should have told me you were going to sneak out, I would have let you go. And Sunfire, don't worry about your friends and brother, I sent Heathcliff to take care of them."

"And you took out a good number of these Microbots." Jane said, "This should set him back a while. Nova, if you would be so kind as to put that shipping container back where it goes."

"So, we won this time?" Sunfire asked.

"You won this time." Stanley answered, smiling.


That's it for chapter four. April and June are named after Daisy Duck's other two nieces, while Lucille is named after Lucille from Meet The Robinsons. Ellie is named after Ellie Mae from the Rescuers and Jenny is named after Jennifer "Jenny" Foxworthy from Oliver & Company. None of them will be appearing in this story.