AN: Hey guys it's NerdAlert8910 comin at ya with another chapter. I'm so glad this chapter was already halfway done by the time I uploaded chapter 6. So this one should be especially emotional, so have your hankies at the ready and prepare to cry, here's number 7. I do not own big hero 6, inside out, or frozen. But I door love them very much.
Chapter7: A good night to almost die!
Elsa watched as Maelstrom levitated down into an old warehouse building, she looked around to see if there were any defenses or security. She crept silently toward the building, she had done her best all day to follow him. She saw that the door had a padlock in the dusk light, she grabbed the lock and froze it until it broke in half.
"Thank you ice powers." She whispered to herself, as she opened the door she took a deep breath. She snuck through the dark damp corridors, the piping above her head dripping an unknown substance. It wreaked of filth and kerosene, making it hard to breath the deeper she went.
Then she heard a voice. "R0-S3! What happened today? Defeat is unacceptable, I can't have my main player immobilized during the first battle against the 6!" The small robot looked up at her creator, and then to her master. "I apologize sir, I was unable to aid Master during combat."
The elder man kicked the small bot, eliciting a screech from her as she fell to the ground. Elsa felt sorry for the little droid, but she didn't want to blow her cover so she stayed silent. R0-S3's left eye was cracked and dislodged, she stood again at attention.
"The next slip up means you will be dismantled, are we clear?" Elsa knew Maelstrom was weak and his tech was damaged, but only one gauntlet was out of commission. If she stayed quiet she could shoot his other node and take them in, but if she was too slow she would be caught.
She decided to risk it but just in case of the worse case scenario, she texted her exact location to Honey lemon. It read: Here is my last know location, followed Maelstrom if you don't hear from me in an hour call the police. She then turned off her phone and stood and fired.
Hiro sat at the side of Jill's hospital bed, she was hooked up to an I.V. and she had tubes in her nose to help her breath. The soft beeping of her heart monitor being the only sound in the room, Hiro felt horrible. His aunt and Mr. Anderson were on their way now, and so was Riley… what was he going to say to her?
The doctor and Baymax told him that she'd probably never walk again, or ice skate for that matter. He didn't know who it would crush more Jill, her husband or Riley? The ice was their life, from what Riley told him.
He went to the next room where Fred was, he had a concussion and was still unconscious. Honey was laying her head on the bed sobbing, her hands gripping Fred's in sorrow. Hiro placed his hand on her back, Honey wiped her face and picked up her discarded glasses. "Oh Hiro! It's my fault this all happened."
She sobbed again, still clinging to Fred. "Freddy was shooting fire at him, he became panicked as if the flames were going to swallow him. So I started working on a gel formula to counteract his manipulator nodes, but I didn't take cover so he grabbed me with his power. Fred he- he stopped so he didn't hurt me and then- then he threw a giant car at Fred and he wouldn't *sniff* he wouldn't get up!"
She broke down crying again, holding on to Fred like if she let go her would disappear. Hiro hugged her, and whispered. "You really care for him… don't you?" Honey closed her tearful eyes, her lips pressed together. She nodded. Hiro squeezed her. "We're gonna get this guy, just you wait."
Hiro left the young woman to cry over the man she secretly loved, going over to Gogo's room. Gogo was worse off than Fred, she had battled the hardest and took most of the hits. She had a similar setup to Jill, Wasabi sitting in the chair next to her bed.
He had his head in his hands, he couldn't bare to look at her. Hiro sat in a chair across from him, resting his elbows on his knees. "Hey man." Wasabi responded with a mear. "Hey." Wasabi asked quietly. "How's Fred?" Hiro cleared his throat, and shifted in his chair.
"Ok, but he has a concussion… Look dude I'm sorry I wasn't there, and there's nothing more you could have done." He patted the larger man on the shoulder. "You did well and because of that, she's alive. So don't go beating yourself up, that's what the bad guys are for."
Wasabi smiled at his light humor. "You know Baymax says Tadashi is here." And he put his hand on his chest. "But I think he's actually here." And then put his hand on her shoulder, Hiro smiled at this. "Yeah your girlfriend told me that too."
Wasabi got super embarrassed, and started fidgeting with his sweater. "So you heard her shout that huh?" Hiro laughed and looked at Gogo. "Actually I already knew beforehand, Gogo was mortified I wasn't sure if she was gonna kill me or cry. But I told her that it wasn't my place to ruin the surprise."
Wasabi sighed and looked at her, she seemed so delicate which was not like her at all. Hiro got up and started to walk out, but stopped at the door. "You know that she's not going to blame you, if anything she'll blame herself. So you need to be there for her."
"Hiro!" Aunt Cass ran up to him and squeezed him, he gasped for air. "Aunt Cass, I can't breath." She let go of him, apologizing for being too rough. She went on checking on him, asking him a million questions. But he was focused on the girl down the hall.
Riley stood just outside the door, looking at her bedridden mom. So broken and fragile, hooked up to so many machines. How could this happen, she had just talked to her this morning. Her dad was crouched next to his poor wife, saying things like 'it was his fault!' over and over.
Riley sat in a chair in the hall, and just silently cried. Hiro and Baymax walked up to her, she knew they were there but didn't show it. Hiro did what felt right, he gave her a hug. And so did Baymax, gently rubbing her arm.
"We'll get him." Hiro said to her. "We'll get Maelstrom, you can be sure of that." Then he left to find Aunt Cass, Baymax stood over her. "It is alright to cry." He said, Riley stopped and looked up at him.
"What?" She asked. "Crying is a natural response to pain, but you will be alright." Baymax hugged her and then waddled off to find Hiro, Riley thought on his words for a few seconds.
'It's okay to cry, crying is a natural response to pain. my big buddy number 5 told me that.'
Her eyes widened, she looked down the hallway at Hiro, Baymax, and Honey lemon. "It was them!" Number 1, Number 5 and Number 6!
The bullet hung midair in front of the glowing gravitational manipulator node, Elsa stood as still as she could. The bullet dropped to the floor, clattering and rolling under Maelstrom's cloak. He turned to her, looking more intimidating than he had ever been to her.
Elsa fired again this time aiming for the head, but the bullet stopped short an inch away from his mask. The gauntlet glowed brighter, and the bullet began to turn into dust. He raised his hand and she found that she couldn't move.
"Well, well! Who do we have here? Officer Arendelle? So nice of you to join us. Pardon Maelstrom's uncivilized behavior, but you did shoot at him." The old man walked up to her, grabbing her face roughly.
"R0-S3! Fix the hydraulics on Maelstrom's leg, and replace that broken GMN." The small bot set to work, while he put Elsa in a chair and tied her up. Elsa saw the small bot working on a robotic leg, Maelstrom's leg.
So he's a machine, she thought to herself. Maelstrom continued to stare at her, as if he was trying to burrow into her mind. "You have been a problem officer Arendelle, and I think it's time you closed your last case." Elsa got an idea, she pulled at the chains.
"Go ahead and kill me, shoot me, crush me with your tech… Just not the river. If you have a single decent bone in your body, you just kill me quickly." The man smiled. "Maelstrom, are your PX47 reserves full?" Maelstrom nodded. "Don't lie to me, you know what the punishment is for lying."
Maelstrom nodded again, and slipped on the new GMN'S. The doctor began to leave the room, kicking R0-S3 on his way out. "Master, I fear for Maelstrom's heath." She said, picking herself back up. The doctor stopped.
"Explain." He said hatefully, she composed herself and spoke. "Master sustained several injuries that I have yet to treat, please let me accompany him just to make sure he's alright." The man sighed, and shook his head.
"Sometimes I regret making you empathetic, very well you may accompany Maelstrom. But if you make one mistake, I shall dismantle you just like the others." He turned to Maelstrom.
"As for you take Miss Arendelle to San Fransokyo's Golden Gate Bridge, to the very top, and I hurl her into the river." He laughed and started towards the door, saying over his shoulder. "Oh by the way, make sure she is conscious when you drop her."
Elsa started to scream about how horrible he was, she was lucky all of those acting classes were paying off.
On their way home Riley hadn't spoke a word, and what could she say. She had just had her first kiss with the boy she liked, her mom was probably never going to walk again, and it turns out that the boy she liked is actually a superhero. Bill was quiet too, he was thinking of Jill.
How would she maneuver through the house in a wheelchair? She couldn't even get up the front steps! They would either have to modify the house, or move again. Either way, they didn't have the money.
"HA! I told you that robot was familiar, time to pay for the your end of the bargain." Anger shouted to Disgust from across the room, she had her face buried in her hands. "Yeah! Great you won! At mom's expense!" her mascara was running down her face, and she wasn't the only one affected by this.
Joy had locked herself in her room and hadn't come out since, Fear was in the corner currently hyperventilating. I also affected Anger but he didn't show it, and the one who hadn't cried was Sadness.
She seemed to have an air of maturity around her, as she worked the controls to make Riley feel more confused and hurt than full blown tears. "Anger! Rub it in her face later, it's not the time for that." She said calmly over her shoulder.
"Anger I think we need some subtle frustration, but nothing more or I'll get the bucket!" Anger took the controls and charged up the frustration meter to subtle, meanwhile Sadness went over and grabbed the phone.
"Hello? Get me the imagination department please, yes I can hold." She stood the twirling the phone cord around her finger, humming a small tune. "Hello? Yes this is Sadness, I would like to place an order for an imaginary friend.
Elsa was thrashing around trying to make it look convincing, she could barely move as is. They had all made it to San Fransokyo Golden Gate Bridge, they began to levitate up to the top of one of the support beam.
Once there Maelstrom held her over the edge, starring at her lifeless and cold like the wind up there. "Master he is no longer here! Wake up! Please don't do this!" He little bot pleaded, pulling at his gi.
"Go ahead!" Elsa snarled at him. "It's in your programing, your nothing but a slave." Maelstrom pulled her back onto the platform, and reared back his arm to send her flying into the river. Elsa braced for impact, closing her eyes.
But nothing happened, she could not longer feel his grip on her movement. She looked up to see Maelstrom had stumbled back, hands clutching his head and writhing in pain.
He for the first time made a sound, it was a primal guttural shout as he ripped off the tubes attached to his face. Black liquid poured out onto the bridge, he was breathing hard and fast. R0-S3 walked up and gently touched his back, Maelstrom let out a painful cry.
Elsa was confused, he received that injury hours ago and yet it looked like now he was only just starting to feel it. His mask looked up at her, it tilted in confusion.
"Elsa?" He asked quietly, Elsa's eyes widened. There was blood where he had fallen, this was no robot. This was a person, who was being held and controlled against his will!
Honey sat down at the prison visitation chairs, waiting for her old professor to come. Robert Callaghan was lead in by a security guard, sitting him down at the terminal. He picked up the phone,and smiled. "Honey lemon, you always visit me and for that I thank you, but visiting me this late is a bit unusual. What's going on?"
"Well professor-" He put his hand up. "Stop right there, I've told you this, it's Robert, I'm no longer your supervisor or professor." She continued. "There is a new villain in town, he calls himself Maelstrom."
A tear slid down her cheek. "He beat us pretty badly today, Gogo and Freddy are both in the hospital. The thing is he uses GMN's, and Tadashi was working on making a large pair big enough to pick up a building."
Callaghan nodded listening intently, she looked at him concerned. "The nodes he's using match the description and design of Tadashi's, he said that he had something big for the showcase but was gonna wait till the second day so he didn't overshadow Hiro."
She paused looking very sad. "I believe that Tadashi succeeded, but I need to know what happened to them. Sir was there anyone else there after you set the fire?"
Callaghan got a disappointed look on his face, rubbing the restlessness out of his eyes. "Honey lemon, I admitted and accepted all charges, including the murder charge. But I fought the Arson charge, because I didn't start that fire."
Honey was speechless, she didn't understand. "I saw an opportunity to vanish and get revenge on Krei, and I took it. And I accept that Tadashi's death was my fault, but I didn't start the fire."
AN: Hey everybody, that was a ride huh? I cried writing it, and Callaghan didn't set the fire? Sayith what?! And Riley now knows who Hiro really is, how will this affect her? Find out in the next thrilling episode that's not going to be months late, of Maelstrom!
