~`~ When the world is falling apart around you, find your center, stay the course, keep hope alive. ~`~
I.
"Your neurotransmitter levels are very high, Hiro." Baymax commented as his small friend laid along the length of his body, head down below his own and both his feet propped up on his rotund belly. Hiro let out a contented breath, laying out his arms.
"I've never been this happy in ever, buddy."
They swirled around in the steamy water together.
"I am a good friend?"
Hiro looked up into his eyes, smiling. Baymax blinked down into his.
"You're my best friend, Baymax." The teen poked his egg-shaped face.
...
"I want this place destroyed." Hua Yu spoke into his communicator to the various robots around him. Twenty dark red, almost black-suited battle machines flew up behind their slimmer, matching-suited leader. "Everything you see is to be blown apart," he hissed. "To pieces. Blast the trees, level the temples, darken the water."
"I want Hiro Hamada retrieved and in one piece, Zhizi."
Hua wrinkled his nose in detestment behind his shielded face.
"You are my sole-remaining relative whom I am entrusting to retrieve my heir."
"HEIR?!"
"DON'T-," Shou shrieked, his nephew screamed and caught his thigh as the current shot up to his waist. "Disappoint me, child. Your internal organs will be next should you fail me." The communicator clicked off and Hua winced as he tapped his head.
"Scan, then capture and retrieve to me Hiro Hamada unharmed. Let's move."
Hua positioned himself in mid-air and led his small strike force down. The man said and thought nothing of his wife and children; whom he'd all but forgotten anyways.
...
Back in San Fransoyko...
GoGo laid looking up at neon-colored stars on her ceiling, she remembered better days when her and Tadashi would look up at the actual stars. Sometimes, after all the students had gone to bed, after their friends and even Fred had retired for the night, GoGo would find Tadashi standing on the small bridge to their classes. She'd walk up to him, place a hand on his shoulder, and... GoGo eyes flashed open wide.
She gasped a little and it took a moment for vision to adjust to the glowing plastic of pink and purple. Her breath came out in a small exhale and she turned to look at her phone. There was something suddenly wrong with not telling him, she realized.
I have to call him. I have to let Hiro know.
She was about to place her hand on it when it rang with an alert.
...
The robot's chest blipped with an alert and he put it on mute for the first time ever.
Baymax carried a bundled, sleeping Hiro up the rocky path. Somewhere between have belly-flopping contests with his reluctant friend, and trying to think of how he would be the successor to his uncle's temple after he learned more, Hiro had dozed off. The robot was almost to the top of the pass where his suit laid when the whole rock structure was struck with a seismic rumble. Hiro snapped awake and stumbled out of Baymax's arms just in time for him to be pulled close as a shard of rock fell.
The whole ceiling began to shake and crack.
"Hiro, we must get above ground."
"Come on," the teen said as he pulled his friend up. "We gotta get your-,"
There was a loud explosion as the once smooth rock descended and piled in front of the two, blocking their exit except for a space just big enough for one of them. Hiro was sure Baymax was going to insist he go through it when the robot took his hand and pulled him away just as the fissure reached overhead. Rocks plummented fast.
It was no surprise when Hiro took the lead and pulled Baymax back to the water.
"What'd we do? We're trapped!" Somewhere someone told him to use his big brain.
Another told him to close his eyes and feel where the rocks-,
"Hiro, there is a higher opening overhead." Baymax pointed to the other side of the water. The two rushed around and over to the exit's base. "I will push you up to it."
He did so.
"And I will pull you up into it," Hiro yanked Baymax up before he could negate him.
The robot managed to find an embedded rock to help out with this anyways and the two friends narrowly escaped an entire cavern collapse. Hiro gawked for all of three seconds before Baymax tugged on his arm and they used his glowing eyes to guide them down another shaking passage. They had nowhere else to go now but deeper into the dark earth. Hiro and Baymax had no idea what was going on to cause this.
And no idea if they would get out alive.
...
"What's happening?!" Hasaki ran out to see what was causing this.
There were no signals or alerts as there was no technology except for the lower lab.
No. Shou wouldn't have done this! This temple was sacred. Even with all the evil he had commited, Hasaki's older brother would never have-, Pinpoints of lit-up eyes in the sky flashed about, crashing and knocking into his only home. Hasaki felt himself freeze as he watched the entrance to his family's legacy crumble before him. A few moves would have safely removed him from the point of fall, but Hasaki could not.
He could not fanthom this depth of betrayal.
Something that glowed yellow flashed from nowhere and pushed him aside as the pieces of gold and mahogany fell. Three more figures appeared and raced over to ask if there were more people inside; they didn't try to put a stop to the invaders but instead two of them worked to make sure all the falling debris was cast aside.
"Just... just my daughter," Hasaki gasped in realization. "And my grandsons!"
"I'll go," A pink-glowing girl said and raced inside.
"No," The one who had saved Hasaki's life grabbed her arm. "I'll go."
"GUYS!" The third one, one that glowed green and fought the debris, appeared.
"Hiro and Baymax are inside!" The fourth one, a darker blue warned them.
Hasaki was utterly immobilized.
"Taku," he whispered, horrified. The yellow-glowing girl turned toward him.
"No, Hiro." she quietly corrected him as she and the pink-glowing girl raced in.
The man watched in the darkness until one of the younger men got him to safety.
Like so many years ago, like so many times since, Hasaki Hamada did nothing.
Could do nothing.
...
"It is a car."
At first Hiro thought Baymax needed to be charged, but then there it was. A small, blue VW Beetle, one that hadn't been moved in a while, sat parked just at the top of a rise in the upper cavern. Hiro and Baymax looked at each other, then headed over. Upon reaching the driver's side, the two friends discovered the keys were in the ignition. Hiro watched Baymax trundle over and lift the open hood to peer into it. Though Hiro was a robotics expert, cars were never really his speciality. But Hiro did know to look for one vital thing from when he used to siphon a certain moped...
"It's got gas!" The boy exclaimed.
The cavern shook violently again and Baymax wrapped his arms around him.
"I will attempt to construct a grid simulation of this labyrinth and drive you safely to the surface. You will need to tell me of objects behind me as I dually navigate."
"And then what? We could reach a dead end."
"I have my license." Baymax tilted his head and said just as the ground shifted.
"Since when does the State of California give licenses to robots?!"
Baymax opened the front door and gently pulled Hiro over so he could get inside.
"There is no time to show you my virtual driver's license I received online."
"Assuring!" Hiro fought uselessly against his careful hands.
"You will need to run for higher ground as soon as I have cleared all obstacles."
The robot of course left himself out. Everything shook.
"You must get inside." He tried to push Hiro into the car.
"No!" The teen faced Baymax and climbed back out. "There's no. way. I'm letting you leave me." he suddenly got an idea as the rocky pathway ceased shaking. Hiro eyed the keys and jerked them out of the ignition. "Come with me," he yanked the surprised robot along and unlocked the trunk. The entire back was empty. "Get in."
"Hiro, I must drive you to safety."
"No, I'm driving you to safety." Hiro shoved Baymax in with all his strength.
If a robot could look shocked, Baymax certainly did. "Hiro, you must listen to-,"
"No, Baymax, it's not going down like this. I almost lost you a second time and I'm not taking that risk again. Now pipe down and get in." He gave another huge push.
Though a tight fit, Baymax went in successfully this time.
The earth now settled for a deeper, steadier rumble as Hiro slammed down hard on the trunk and headed for the driver's seat. Baymax's stream of muffled protests that Hiro wasn't old enough to drive fell on deaf ears until a loud thudding started.
"You stay in there and let me save! I'm doing this for your own good."
"Hiro, that was not me." Baymax told him.
Eyes widening, Hiro quickly got in and adjusted everything around him. He laughed nervously to himself. " 'Can't drive,' " The teen jeered. He started the VW up on his first attempt and started backing the car out, then up a new eastern path that went up the rocky cavern. Hiro was more then a little pleased with himself and he had to wonder why he didn't just do this before; driving in his own machine, all by himself.
A dark, moving wall rose before him.
"Uh... uh... Bay... Baymax! It's dark. There's no lit torches down here."
"Turn the end of the left toggle sticking out of your wheel column, Hiro."
He did so and saw smoke rising. Frightened, the teen drove straight through it and felt the car jostle. His head barely missed the roof and he found the unobstructive road ahead to mean he was in the free and clear. Besides, things rising meant the top was definitely close-by. Hiro took a deep breath and smiled to himself, assured.
"Well, Maxie, seems like everyone was wrong about me. I can handle any-,"
Hiro saw that he'd been re-routed to the rumbling cavern and now a steaming bed of magma was gradually rising to the surface. The warm, glowing orange detailed the befuddled lines working their way along Hiro's face just as he felt and heard a big thump out on the trunk, the roof rocking a little with something moving along it, then the inevitable side-to-side jerk as something entered the seat beside him. A big, white hand reached over, buckled Hiro up, and then gently pressed his knee down to stop them only three feet from the edge. Baymax turned to the teenager.
"Hiro, I believe I may have a solution."
"Yes?"
"I will climb onto the back of the car, then you will need to place the vechile into reverse. Afterwards, you will need to accelerate the gasoline and we will get out."
"Baymax..." Hiro doubted.
The robot touched his shoulder. "It is the only way I can think to save you."
Heated light sweltered inside the car and highlighted Hiro's heavy look.
"All right," he conceded.
...
12:40 AM...
Aunt Cass and Dian Yu accelerated down the mountain paths. The younger woman bared her teeth and gripped onto the side door's upper handle as Cassandra bore the old, tech-outfitted Vega down the steep roads towards the Yu-Hamada Temple that roiled over in smoke, darkening the skies. Dian felt apprehension now. Not for the eruption; her father was surely out, but for getting the chance to see him now.
Dian hadn't seen the man in ten years.
When Cassandra saw how nervous she was, recalling how she'd told her everything she knew, the woman took Dian's hand. Startled, she looked up. Cass smiled at her tentatively. Even Hasaki's daughter wasn't exactly sure where she'd been for a little over a decade. She shook her head and returned her hands to the steering wheel of her nephews' experiment, wondering if she had to have air clearance to fly this car.
...
"Hiro, remember to secure your surgical mask tightly across your face."
The teen felt the heat, but hoped urgently not the burn, as he followed instructions from Baymax in how to drive uphill backwards. Nerves aside, and like most things involving tech, driving came naturally to Hiro. He understood everything the first time and didn't need to be reminded afterwards as Baymax got into position. It was, however, terrifying now to be in the driver's seat. Baymax's soft, clear and unauthoriative voice guided him just as effectively and reassuringly as if he were-
The ground exploded.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Somehow the charcoal-colored stone remainded.
"Uh..."
"Hiro, accelerate."
The teen gritted his teeth over having his thoughts interrupted.
Another near-explosion brought Hiro to the present and he lightly tapped down on the gas like he'd been instructed to. They cruised down in the VW before Baymax told Hiro to apply more pressure. Hiro saw the opening and imagined wings on him.
A purposely-deflated Baymax cocked his head from the back, "Did you remember to fasten your-,?" The two "flew" over the bright, orange magma and immediately fell into it. Hiro tried stirring away as the liquid fire came into a full-tilt view, as if he were watching the world's best Hi-Def TV; Reality started to filter from his mind.
There was a loud, gassy hiss and a cloud of volcanic smoke thrust the car up into the air with a big shudder of it's frame. Hiro remembered that the fumes would go up as well and so he looked that way. Darkness. Everywhere. Baymax told him the smoke was noxious, recited the symptoms: Coughing, headaches, lack of energy...
Something about a mask. What mask? Hiro didn't need to hide from anything.
The robot's deflated body caught the rising vog and the pair were lifted out into the dimly-lit night. Hiro felt his mind slipping as he lay back against the seat. His entire head swam as it sounded like Baymax was telling him what was happening and for him to not take deep breaths. Hiro tried to reach out to him, to apologize, to plead for help in a weak voice. The blackness enveloped him before Baymax could come.
To be continued...