Chapter Summary: Ishioka presents his invention. Karasu and his subordinates attack the showcase. Hiro and his friends quickly leaped into action.
Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 and its characters belong to Disney. Any non-canon characters, however, are mine.
Chapter 6
"… And here's Dr. Daichi Ishioka." The speaker ended and moved aside. The crowed clapped politely as the eponymous founder and owner of Ishioka Industries stepped up to the wooden podium, with cameras are focused on him.
Hiro cursed his poor seating arrangement; the tall people in front of him blocked him from barely seeing what is happening on the stage.
"Hiro, why don't you sit next to Yasuo?" Wasabi pointed to an empty sit next to Ishioka's son. That seat would helped Hiro see the stage better and he would have a closer viewing, but the genius was reluctant.
"I don't know, I don't want to disturb him," he said.
"Oh, come on, he knows you and your dad are acquaintances," Fred encouraged him. "He won't mind."
Hiro recalled how Yasuo had acted distant to him earlier and he wasn't sure if the latter would warmly allow him to sit next to him. But since there was nowhere else to sit closer, he moved up from his seat. Baymax followed him. Hiro slowly approached Yasuo, who had just opened a palmtop PC and is staring at the screen instead at the stage for some odd reason. Hiro noticed the palmtop is covered in faded strawberry, rabbit, and robot stickers. That's oddly charming, he bemused.
"Um," Hiro called out nervously. Yasuo looked up from his computer, eyes wide in comprehension as though he was caught doing something bad. Hiro pointed to the empty next to him. "Is this seat taken?"
Yasuo blinked before shaking his head. Then without a word, he went back to his small computer. Hiro sat down and continued watching the showcase.
On the stage, Dr. Ishioka cleared his throat while looking intensely at the audience.
"Why don't we just skip ahead to our main attraction instead?" he joked lightly. A few people tittered. "I'll try to keep it brief. My grandfather Ito Ishioka was a prominent inventor and researcher, as well as a military contractor for the Allied forces…"
While Ishioka talked, Hiro heard a tiny beeping noise next him. He looked over to Yasuo again and saw the boy pulled out a blue darumabot from his bag.
"Is that a robot?" Hiro asked him, lowering his voice.
"Mmhmm," Yasuo mumbled as he set the darumabot down on the floor. "Th-they were built in Japan so I brought a few here to San Fransokyo… They were originally t-toys but I made some adjustments to them. This one is named Luna."
Yasuo pressed a couple of keys on his computer. The darumabot eyes opened and it blinked at Hiro inquisitively. It began to roll away before it knocked right into Baymax's suitcase.
"Excuse me for being in your way," Baymax politely apologized to the smaller robot. Luna beeped angrily at him and then rolled off.
"Where is it going?" Hiro asked, stretching his neck to follow the small robot.
"Look at my screen and you'll see," answered Yasuo.
Hiro's eyes fell over at the palmtop and was awed to see a clear live video of the showcase. Apparently, the darumbot is recording it up front and sends the footage to Yasuo's computer. With these devices, Yasuo could see where his robot is and control its actions.
"That's really cool!" he exclaimed. Yasuo nodded wordlessly. His eyes were glued to the screen.
A thought hit Hiro… It reminded him how Yama using similar techniques with his battlebots and already he's more determined to find the villain's location. He just needed the one of the battlebots' AI brain chip that could help him find Yama but the robots themselves came with a self-destruct mechanism that melts their data chips before Hiro and his friends can lay a hand on them. Hiro is growing more frustrated but he's not giving up.
Hiro's thoughts returned back to the showcase and he watched it on Yasuo's computer screen. His hand accidentally brushed against Yasuo's hand. Like an electrical current prickling their skin, the two boys drew their hands back.
"Sorry!" they stammered in unison. Deep blush bloom across Yasuo's face, and he hurriedly sat two seats away from Hiro before continuing watching the showcase through his computer as though nothing had happened. However, Hiro rubbed his hand after it touched Yasuo's skin and he couldn't help but feel annoyed by the other boy's inconsistent and withdrawn behavior.
He ignored Yasuo and he decided to keep his eyes on the stage instead as Dr. Ishioka continued his brief speech.
"… After helping building several research facilities in San Fransokyo," he went on, "he moved to Japan and started his new family there. He was the one who raised me and pushed me into his following his footsteps. He believed we can always push the boundaries of science robotics, and his dream is often quoted as a motto at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. And that's why the robotics program and the SFIT showcase is created, to welcome up-and-coming talented geniuses who have what it takes to improve humanity and a better future. And I will continue to uphold my grandfather's legacy."
The audience clapped for him and even Hiro himself felt inspired by the scientist's speech. Ishioka was inspired to become an inventor like his grandfather and later found a company to manufacture robots and other state-of-the-art creations to help people. It was something he and Tadashi had always aspired to do together. In a prophetic-like vision that came to him, Hiro imagined again working alongside Ishioka and the two of them as the world's greatest inventors. It was too much for him, he could feel his head spinning from excitement.
Meanwhile, Honey Lemon and the others watched in amusement at Hiro's star-struck expression.
"Aww, look at that," she pointed out. "I haven't seen him drop his mouth like that since he first arrived at the nerd lab."
"I can't wait for him to announce his wedding to Ishioka," Fred chortled.
Gogo and Wasabi exchanged warm glances. "Getting him to attend this showcase was a good idea," she said happily.
"He's been down in the dumps lately," Wasabi nodded. "He really needed the fixer-upper."
A screen was pulled up to the stage and when it was lit on, it showed the name of Ishioka's invention: Hologram Rescue Robots. The scientist removed the cloth to reveal a tall androgynous android—a humanoid robot—wearing a pair of hi-tech spandex gloves. Hiro noticed how despite the robot's body is stiff and mechanical in shape and design, the head and face is resembles like a real human. Its hair was nearly solid white which gave it a more soft-looking appearance. The android's eyes were closed, it hasn't been activated yet.
"Everyone, meet Tsuya," Ishioka announced. "He is a new robot designed for the purpose of rescuing survivors from urban disasters, mining accidents, and even hostage situations. Tsuya is the first and only rescue robot who'll be commissioned to Krei Tech in a couple of weeks, where more robots like him will be developed and manufactured. He'll be in good hands hopefully."
The audience laughed. Krei, who is sitting up in the front row with his assistant, rolled his eyes but he was smiling.
Ishioka pressed a button the on the back of the android's neck to activate him. Tsuya's eyes widen, revealing electric blue eyes. He slowly scanned around the room and observing the audience inquisitively. Hiro edged forward to get a closer look; he had never seen a real android outside of movies.
Tsuya stepped forward and bowed politely at the audience.
"Hello, I'm Tsuya," he greeted. His voice sounded rather electronic but his mannerisms were like that of a child. "Dr. Ishioka created me."
"Tsuya," Ishioka began speaking to him. "How many people can you count in this room?"
The android's eyes flashed. "Seventy-nine."
Ishioka brushed aside the side of Tsuya's head to reveal a round metal pad on the spot where his ear should be.
"And can you tell us what the person sitting on number M-27 the last row is saying?" Ishioka asked.
At the last row, Hiro turned his head to see his friends checking the number on their seats.
"Hey, this is my seat!" Fred whispered to his teammates.
"Hey, this is my seat," Tsuya repeated the words out loud in the stage.
"No way." Hiro stared dumbfounded.
"Tsuya can locate people who are trapped under debris and can hear the faintest cry for help. My previous rescue robots had trouble working through rough terrain and rubble and were constantly getting stuck or broken," Ishioka explained to the crowd. "So, I kept on trying to find ways to improve them and for three years, I was able to create a robot using a tech based on an old invention I created when I was a boy."
Ishioka turned to his android and ordered him to lift up his arms. The screen behind them showed the Tsuya's gloves has small, metallic studs on the fingers which linked up to a glowing circle on the palm.
The android projected a light-blue hologram screen from its hands. The crowd didn't seemed impressed but then something incredible happened next; the screen formed a several columns which Ishioka stepped onto without falling through them!
"These holograms are made of light," Ishioka explains as he stands on top of the highest column looking down at the audience below, "photons so greatly compressed that they were held together by their own gravitational fields, and it can be used to create solid light constructs." He smiled as the crowd, relishing their full attention on him. He then stepped off from the column; everyone thought he was about to fall but the holograms formed into a huge ball which caught him. Ishioka floated back down on the stage and once he's safe, the hologram disappeared.
"My solid light holograms can lift and carry heavy objects, and become barriers that can withstand heavy damages. You want to protect people from being crushed or being blown apart from explosions? Tsuya and the holograms can do it!"
The audience burst into applause. Hiro and his friends clapped the loudest. Unaware to everyone, a silent figure uncloaked himself from the shadows in the back of the auditorium. Karasu had been watching the show the entire time, waiting for the moment to strike.
Suddenly, the screen began to static. A murmur rose from the crowd when they see it playing a video of a terrifying figure wearing a dark clothes and a samurai-like helmet. His face was hidden behind a white Kabuki mask with brown markings and sharp teeth decorations, giving him an appearance of a demon. As he began to spoke, his voice was heard on the speaker to the audience's uneasiness.
"Hello, citizens of San Fransokyo," he spoke. His voice is deep and smooth without a hint of emotion, adding another layer of chilliness to his appearance. "It's been twenty-two years since I've made a public appearance. Some of you may have not heard of me, but I know there are those who recognized me. I had many names, but I am more known as Mukuro, leader of the Shiragiku."
Hiro looked over to his friends, who were as confused as he is. Several older guests' faces pale in fear when they realized who he is, and some began to shriek.
"Listen well," Mukuro demanded and the whole room fell into deathly silence. Outside the auditorium, Mukuro's footage is also being played on video screens throughout the exhibition building where everyone can hear and see it. "For too long, you citizens depend so much on technology, you make ignorant decisions and cut corners to further develop them in the name of science, or even covet other genius' ideas and crediting them as your own… and then making it accessible for those who can afford them and eventually throw them away when they're no longer useful. 'Pushing the boundaries of robotics'… is just an illusion when greed is actually its true motivation. Shiragiku shall take San Fransokyo's advanced technology inventions and put them in better and use them to burn and raze the city to the ground."
On the stage, Ishioka was quiet and he was dripping with sweat, but he stared intensely at the video screen. He hands clenched into tight fists.
Mukuro added, "Once the city is in ashes, I will create a new era where progress of science and technology will not be hindered by human flaws. And as for those half-witted riff-raffs known as Big Hero 6…" Hiro and his friends were listening, glaring quietly at Mukuro. "… Their days will soon be over."
Then the screen went dead. On Karasu's signal, several people, scattered in the audience, quietly donned on a black-and-white Kabuki mask and pulled out taser sticks…
Without warning, baseball bombs were flung and dropped on the floor, releasing huge clouds of smoke that soon filled the entire room. Everyone from the audience screamed. In their state of panic, they jumped from their seats and tried to find the exit but they were being attacked by Kabuki mask-wearing mooks. Some who reached the doors found out they were locked in. Back on the stage, Ishioka was knocked over by a group of five men wearing dark clothes that seemed like a mix between a ninja costume and a baseball player uniform. One is shuffling baseball cards, another tossing a baseball in his hands, and the last three dangerously wielding bats.
"Hey, aren't they the San Fransokyo Ninjas?" Fred demanded, recognizing them as a popular baseball team.
The San Fransokyo Ninjas, or SanFran Ninjas for short, scattered throughout the auditorium. One of them swung a baseball at his comrade, who then hit it with a bat. The ball flew across the room until it hit a wall. It exploded on contact.
"Freddie, look out!" Honey screamed. Someone wearing a Kabuki mask tried to attack Fred. Wasabi and Gogo managed to take him down.
"We got to help these people!" Gogo told her friends.
"We can't risk our identities being seeing! We don't have our suits!" Wasabi shouted.
"Ta-da!" Fred pulled off the Kabuki mask of from the random mook who tried to hurt him. He placed it over his face, giving his team an idea.
Krei was about to find his partner Ishioka but his assistant pulled him to the ground when a baseball came flying almost hit his head. The same baseball struck Professor Lebur right on his face and it exploded. His face and upper body were burning in pain as well covered in soot.
In the middle of the foggy smoke and people screaming and running, either attacked or frightened by unknown masked intruders, Hiro quickly got up from his seat and tried to find Baymax.
"Baymax!" he called out to the nursebot.
Another voice cried out. "Luna!"
Hiro recognized it as Yasuo's. He looked around saw him trying to find his own robot, which was rolling and maneuvering through turned over chairs and people running. As soon Yasuo picked up his darumabot, someone bumped into him and he crashed to the floor. His bag opened and several books and pill bottles flew out. Yasuo was on all fours and he started wheezing, his hand clutched tight to his chest. He noticed his inhaler lying a few feet away from him after it has fallen from his bag. He reached for it but a guest accidentally kicked it away. Yasuo fell on his side, clutching his chest in pain.
Hiro went to retrieve the inhaler and then hurried over to Yasuo. Another Kabuki-masked mook jumped in front of him and Hiro was immediately brought back to the first time he saw another masked man in a warehouse…
Acting quickly, Hiro sent a roundhouse kicked to the mook and fell backwards, knocked out. He quickly kneeled next to Yasuo and gave him the inhaler.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned. He placed a hand on Yasuo's back to comfort him.
Yasuo took deep breaths from his inhaler and he began to breathe normal again, though he was still weak. He nodded at Hiro to let him know he's okay.
"Alright, you have to get away from here," Hiro told him urgently. "Go find your dad or Krei's assistant, and stick close to them."
Hiro helped the other boy up and after Yasuo disappeared from Hiro's sight with his belongings back in his bag. At that moment, Baymax's red suitcase wheeled into view.
"Hiro, I heard you required my assistance," he said.
"We gotta help these people!" Hiro told him. He opened his bag and pulled out his helmet from inside it. "Time to test out our new upgrades, buddy."
Baymax inflated again but this time, the suitcase began to build itself around his body, shaping into an armored suit. He is now ready to battle. Hiro hurriedly removed his blazer and shirt, revealing his black suit with purple pads on his shoulders and wrists. With a click of a hidden activator on his wrist and the pads extended, also forming into a carbon-armor on his chest and arms. Hiro was glad to make this tech collapsible and easy to carry around on him on all times.
Back the rest of the Big Hero 6 gang, each of them put on a Kabuki mask after snatching them from fallen mooks. The rest who are not defeated were distracted and confused them for their allies so it gave the heroes an easier time taking them down.
"We don't need our weapons for this one!" Wasabi shouted as he slammed his elbow to a masked mook with his elbow.
The SanFran Ninja with the baseball cards threw one of his cards at the team. It flew in a straight line and sliced his arm, drawing blood. Wasabi recoiled in pain. Gogo, in furious retaliation, grabbed one of the fallen taser sticks and ran towards the Ninja in lightning speed. She missed every sharp cards he threw at her and struck him in the abdomen. The electrocuted Ninja twitched before falling over.
Honey stared at Wasabi's wound in horror. "Are you gonna be okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I should consider myself lucky," he groaned.
A SanFran Ninja pitcher began flinging his baseball bombs to the ceiling now, cause debris to fall everywhere. Baymax appeared and used his body and strength to protect bystanders before they get crushed.
"Way to go, Baymax!" Fred whooped.
Baymax then used his rocket fist to blast the entrance doors open for the trapped guests to flee.
Another SanFran Ninja batter hit another baseball bomb, redirecting it to the ceiling above the stage. It blew a hole and the sky can be seen. Karasu dashed through the confusion and chaos and leaped into the stage. He quickly deactivated a perplexed Tsuya and wrapped a thick rope around the android's body.
"It's time to go," he gave out an order to the Shiragiku members are listening him on a communicator.
He then shot a cable wire to the edge of the hole, he was about to lift himself up while carrying his target over his shoulder when someone tackled him to the floor. He dropped Tsuya and glared at Hiro who stood defiantly in front him.
"You must be the leader of Big Hero 6," Karasu sneered at him as he slowly approached the teenaged boy. "I was expecting someone taller. More competent."
"I'm good enough for you," Hiro smirked. "What do I call you?"
"Karasu. Commander to the San Fransokyo Ninjas of Shiragiku... And Mukuro's most loyal lieutenant."
He shot a punch forward but Hiro blocked it. The latter threw a high kick but Karasu dodged it, grabbed Hiro's leg, and threw him down. Hiro jumped back up and used his electromagnetic gloves to push Karasu backwards. Then he reversed the force to pull Karasu back to him. With a spinning kick, Hiro sent Karasu to the floor of the stage.
Karasu's stagehand headgear fell off. Hiro saw Karasu's lower half of his face is covered in mask that is connected to his clothes. His upper half face now exposed, Karasu appeared to be a young man with black hair and dark markings under his eyes. Hiro caught a glimpse of old burnt scars on Karasu's skin.
Mukuro's lieutenant looked up to see that the masked mooks have all been defeated and the rest of Big Hero 6 are trying to fight the SanFran Ninjas.
"Leave them!" he snarled at his subordinates. He climbed back on his feet and glared coldly at Hiro. In a blink of the eye, he suddenly disappeared.
Hiro tried to process what just happened when he felt a powerful kick on the back of his head. Soon, he was being thrown around and beaten up by an invisible enemy. A small part of him was secretly impressed how an invisibility cloaking device had been created and being appropriately used by a ninja-themed enemy.
Hiro was then tossed off the stage and crashed hard into the front row seats. He then fell onto the floor like a ragdoll and when he tried to move, his entire body stung with pain. He heard his teammates called out his name.
He opened his eyes and the SanFran Ninjas pulling the rescue robot Tsayu, Dr. Ishioka's latest invention, up to the hole in the ceiling with them so they can make their escape. Karasu was the last to go but he decided to not to retrieve his headgear. He gave a weakened Hiro one last look as he used his cable wires to pull himself up to the hole.
"So, this is the strength of the leader of Big Hero 6?" he commented. "You are unfit to fight Mukuro. If you are as clever as Yama told us, you'd stay away from Shiragiku."
Hiro couldn't believe his own ears. Somehow, Yama is involved with these mysterious attackers. However, Hiro had no further time to dwell on this, he can't let Karasu escape.
"Baymax, shoot him down!" Hiro cried.
The nursebot could only stared at the fleeing Karasu. "My programming prevents me from harming another human being," he told him. Hiro swore, he has forgotten Baymax's anti-harm coding.
"Use your wings to fly and catch him then!"
"Hiro, you have not installed my wings and thrusters into my armor yet."
Karasu laughed at Big Hero 6's failure to catch him and then climbed into the roof of the exhibition hall. In a few moments, he and the San Fransokyo Ninjas disappeared.
Big Hero 6 quickly left the auditorium before the police or anyone else arrived to see them. As they sneaked out the exhibition hall through the back, they saw injured people, Dr. Ishioka and Professor Lebur among them, being treated by paramedics. Krei appeared distressed, especially since Tsuya was supposed to be commissioned to his company has been taken away. Yasuo is sitting on the grass, slowly breathing through his inhaler again while his darumabot lay lifelessly on his lap.
Hiro and his friends realized a mysterious and formidable threat had arrived to their city, and for the first time since Callaghan's stint as a supervillain... they were afraid and uncertain of their next plans.
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