Anyway, I'm still sick, still not getting better, still not getting worse. Your well wishes are appreciated. Chapter title comes from " You'll be in my Heart" from Tarzan.
Chapter 14: For One So Small
"Shouldn't you be in class?" a librarian asked Hiro as he pulled another book off of one of the shelves. Hiro shrugged.
"I don't go to Berkobe High," he said, meaning the high school across the street from the largest library in the East Bay, a five storey building in pale green. He hunched his shoulders, and glanced at the card where he'd scribbled call numbers for a set of DVDs.
"Oh. Well—sometimes students forget that lunch does end. Sorry, but with the backpack, I figured—anyway, can I help you find anything?" She reminded Hiro of his Aunt Cass, though they looked very different. It was something about her eyes, and the way she changed topic easily, shifting from concerned to relaxed. Hiro shrugged again.
"I've got it," he said, turning quickly. It was more conversation than he wanted to have with anyone, with his face still slightly blotchy from crying. He found the rest of the things on his list, grateful that Berkobe's library system had self-checkout. Baymax had waited for him outside the library, watching a flock of sparrows peck at crumbs left by high school students. His bag full of books and DVDs slung over one shoulder, Hiro led the way to the Shattuck Street BART station, digging out his ticket. The security decided again, thankfully, that Baymax didn't need a ticket, and then helpfully informed the pair of them that next time, they could just use the elevator and spare everyone the hassle of going down the tiny, cramped escalator.
Baymax was quiet on the train ride back to San Fransokyo—or rather, Hiro didn't hear anything he had to say, between the earplugs and the book he balanced on his lap, going over glossy pictures of suits of armor and weapons. It was still early afternoon when they reached home, entering the garage from the back alley in hopes of avoiding the crowd and bustle of the café. The library and BART station had been quite enough social interaction for one day. Or the week, really.
The basement was a mess, the same it had been the last time he'd been there, still working on the microbots. A thin layer of dust, very faint, almost unnoticed, lay along the tops of the desk and shelves. A cardigan still hung over the back of the couch/easy chair Fred had found. Hiro swallowed hard, coughing suddenly, trying to think about what had to come now.
We have to stop this. Me and Baymax. We need to catch that guy, and make sure he—he doesn't hurt anyone else. Ever again.
"I need to scan you," Hiro told Baymax.
"I am confused. You are not equipped with scanners, and I am not in need of a diagnosis." Baymax's voice was level, but tilted up in the end, questioning. Hiro cracked a smile, lifting a hand-held scanner.
"I need to get an idea of how you can move, and you need some serious upgrades. We need to catch the man in the mask."
"Will apprehending him improve your emotional state?"
"Absolutely," Hiro nodded, turning to the computer and flicking it on, sorting through data the scanner had picked up. He scooted along in the office chair to another station, inserting the first blank computer chip he could find, one in cherry red. Baymax followed along as Hiro darted from computer to computer to the 3d printer to the scanner, shifting images from one to the other. His backpack lay empty on the ground, the stack of books and DVDs easily accessible, the lopsided bouquet of plastic flowers propped beside them.
"Knock-knock!" Fred announced, entering the Nerd Lab with large take-out bags. Weary sets of eyes turned on him, and Go Go managed a smile at the smell of hot grease.
"Oh, thank goodness. I need calories, pronto," she said, rifling through the bag Fred handed her. Fred grinned, then turned to present Wasabi and Honey Lemon with their own dinners.
"I figured you'd be busy with projects, so I picked stuff up for you," he said, but the smile was strained.
"Gracias," Honey Lemon muttered, freeing her hair from its tight bun. "I'm starving. Maybe I should have started with something different. I just can't get this right."
"You don't have to get it right, right now," Wasabi said, accepting his own food with a careful glance. "It's only the first write-up." He opened the bag. "Fred, what is this?"
"Barbeque. I think it might be yak. You never know, it's the Thursday Special." Fred sat heavily in his chair.
"I…see." Wasabi looked slightly ill and put the bag on the desk.
Fred removed his hat, running a hand through his hair. "I saw Hiro today," he said.
At that, Go Go, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon all jolted, turning their full attention to their English Major friend.
"How is he? He won't answer the phone," Honey Lemon asked. "Is he…?"
Fred shifted. "Not so good. I was at the cemetery, I didn't think I'd see anyone there, but…well, I wanted to, you know, talk to…anyway. Hiro was there, and I tried to talk to him, see how he was, but he just bolted. He had Baymax with him, but, I dunno. I'm just worried. Aunt Cass said he's not doing so great."
Wasabi nodded. "None of us are, are we? But, Hiro. I wish there was something…" he trailed off. "I've been talking to that councilor, the one Professor Yoshida mentioned. But I don't think it's, y'know. Helping much."
Go Go nodded, swiping hair out of her eyes as she stared at her barbeque bowl. "Yeah. I know." She reached out a hand for a moment, then drew back, staring at her food again.
"We need to go see Hiro. Soon." Honey Lemon said, standing. "I know he's been ignoring us, but-if it were any of us, if it were me, and my little sister—Tadashi'd be taking care of her." She looked at her work station, the failed piles of singed goo and wadded up papers. "Maybe that's the best way to honor him." The smile she offered was sad, her eyebrows knit together.
There was a chorus of nods.
"Operation Zinnia," Fred said after a moment.
"Excuse me?" Go Go asked, throwing away her trash.
"It needs a name. Can't call it "Operation, look after Hiro." He'll get suspicious. Operation Zinnia." He took in the blank looks. "I wrote a paper on floral symbolism last semester, so what? Zinnias, they're a type of flower, they mean "in honor of absent friends." So, that's what we should call this."
"It doesn't need a code name, Freddy." Honey Lemon rolled her eyes.
"Of course it does!"
"No, Fred," three voices returned, edged with exasperation, but acceptance.
"Hiro?" Aunt Cass called up the stairs. No answer. The sun was setting, painting the kitchen walls orange and gold, and she looked around, puzzled. He really should have been home by now. Something downstairs crashed, and Aunt Cass started. She took the steps three at a time, and found Hiro in the center of the garage, Baymax beside him. Around them, computer screens hummed.
"There you are, I was worried."
Hiro blinked, his eyes darting to the bits of armor he'd finished and to a computer screen that still showed stills from karate movies. "I've been down here. With Baymax."
"Everything is fine, Aunt Cass." Baymax assured her. The woman let out a sigh of relief.
"Ok. Well, I'm going to—go. Now. I'll be back around ten, unless the traffic's bad, but I've got my phone, call if you need anything. I mean it." She tried to smile.
"Where are you going?" Baymax asked, tilting his head.
Hiro shook his head. "Same place as us, earlier."
Aunt Cass nodded as the robot blinked. "Anyway. There's some casserole from John and his family up the street in the fridge, or Mrs. Matsuda brought over some chocolate covered gummy bears." She crossed the room, then hugged her nephew tightly.
"I love you, Hiro, sweetie," she said.
"Love you too, Aunt Cass," Hiro muttered into her shoulder. She released him and turned to the stairs, then returned.
"Last hug."
The sun was sinking into the waves, playing off the fogbank that rolled in like clockwork, swooping in from the ocean in an avalanche. Aunt Cass fought to keep her mind on the road as she turned onto the Bay Bridge. Across the water, as the sky grew darker and the sun faded, light shone on the windows in every house along the west face of the Berkobe-Oakdaiba hills, orange as flames.
Hiro hesitated for a moment, seeing Baymax's acess port open, his eyes locked on the green chip that Tadashi had labled. After a moment, he slid the red chip, marked with a skull and filled with fighting moves, next to it. Baymax blinked slowly, analyzing the new data.
"Well?" asked Hiro
"I fail to see how Karate will make me a better healthcare companion."
"Your job is to keep me healthy, right? Protect me? You need to be able to fight for that." Hiro pointed out.
"I still have some concerns." Baymax said as Hiro helped him into the next-to-last of the pieces of samurai-inspired armor. "I am meant to be non-threatening. This armor may give people the wrong idea."
"Or, it might give them the right one. That they shouldn't, y'know, mess with us. Now, let's see what you've got." Hiro held up a board scavenged from a shipping crate someone had left in the alley. "Punch this." Baymax did, shattering the wood.
"Good, now, try, uh, hammer fist." Baymax complied, and Hiro worked through the list of moves he'd compiled.
"Good, that was great!" Hiro said as Baymax smashed through a cinderblock. Baymax said nothing, only looked at Hiro, waiting.
"Um, ok, one more, I think." Hiro said. "Back kick."
He remembered learning that one, when Tadashi had tried to teach him the Karate Aunt Cass had taught him. He'd never quite gotten the hang of it. Baymax did, instantly, and Hiro smiled, but bit his lip, gazing around the room that was his lab. Their lab. The cardigan on the couch. Everything feels like him. Hiro caught his breath, shaking his head to clear it.
"Hiro?" Baymax said, worried. "Your neurotransmitter levels are dropping. Recommended treatments include: contact with loved ones. I am contacting Aunt Cass." Aunt Cass's image flashed on his chest.
"No! No, she needs this, it's her one day, to just—remember." Hiro shook his head. Baymax considered this, then another series of images, familiar faces, appeared.
"I am contacting your friends."
"No, not them either!" Hiro snapped. Baymax looked at him, unmoving. Hiro ran a hand through his hair, sighing. The printer let out a chirp, and Hiro grabbed the last piece, a helmet. Using a step-stool, he fit it into place, then leaped down, grinning.
"You look sick," he said.
"I am a robot. I cannot be ill."
"Nah, it's an expression," Hiro said, wondering if he should have Baymax download a guide to slang. No, probably not. He shook his head, then held out his hand. "Fist bump."
"Fist bump: is not in my fighting database."
"No, no, it's not fighting, it's like, a high five, it's something you do when you're excited, ok? Like this." Hiro demonstrated, waiting for Baymax to mimic each step, which went well until the health care robot interpreted "really cool explosion noises" as " Batalalal."
"We'll work on that," Hiro said. "C'mon. If we hurry, maybe we can be back before Aunt Cass."
As the two raced down the alleyway, neither noticed a car pulling up to the café, then leaving it behind, following them.
The warehouse was empty. Hiro stared around him, confusion turning the air in his lungs into ice. "It was here, it was, I swear. There was a curtained of section, and barrels, and—and all." He looked to Baymax, who motioned with the petri dish.
"Your tiny robot wants to go elsewhere."
"Great, let's find out where." Hiro said, taking the lead. He was running out of breath, and his feet hurt, as they rounded yet another corner. The ground under him changed, but Hiro focused only on the tug of the microbot, right up until something grabbed him by the collar, yanking him back. Hiro gulped, looking, and saw that Baymax had the hood of his hoodie firmly in hand. As Hiro pulled away, he saw why—he'd nearly run off the pier.
"Thanks." He whispered, peering at the microbot. It was moving toward the bay, frantically hammering against the glass. Hiro lifted the dish to eye level, trying to see if there was any other hint, but then the microbot slammed particularly hard against its prison, dislodging the lid. Hiro bit back a curse as the tiny black robot vanished into the fog, and a much larger shape began to appear.
"Quick," Hiro said, hardly daring to breath, yanking on Baymax's arm and pulling him behind the first shelter he could find, a stack of shipping containers. "Ok, as soon as he's on land, time to test those upgrades."
"I do not think-" Baymax started, but was cut off by the sudden bright gleam of headlights.
Hiro raised his arm, shielding his face. He heard doors open and slam closed, and risked a look. Wasabi stood there, and Go Go, Honey Lemon, and Fred, all with worried looks on their faces.
"What?" Hiro asked, his voice a whisper. " What are you—no, you need to go, now!"
"Hiro, what on earth are you doing here?" Go Go demanded.
Hiro glared at Baymax, who had clearly messaged the others anyway. Hiro had a panicked thought—what if Baymax had also contacted Aunt Cass? It had to be nearly eleven, he'd be grounded forever—but that came second. The man in the mask was close, what if he found them?
"You need to get out of here!" Hiro pleaded, but Wasabi folded his arms.
"Is that Baymax?" the black man asked.
"In carbon-fiber underpants?" Go Go raised an eyebrow.
"Armor. And I also know Karate," Baymax said helpfully
"Look, I'll explain later, but right now you. Need. To. Go." Hiro held up both hands, looking over his shoulder.
"No." Honey Lemon's voice was firm. "Please don't push us away. We are your friends, Hiro. We want to help you."
"Fine, but not now, later, not here," Hiro tried again, suddenly aware of how silent the docks were and how loud his heart was beating.
Honey Lemon moved forward to give Hiro a hug when Fred looked up and screeched, "Holy Mother of Megazod!" as a shipping container came crashing down., thrown by the man in the Kabuki mask, standing on a dark pillar that seemed to almost breath. Hiro thought he screamed; he knew Wasabi screamed as they tried to run and duck at the same time. Baymax caught the metal box, hefting it out of the way.
"Go," the robot said at the top of his vocal range, which was still fairly quiet. Go Go grabbed Hiro, dragging him with her as Honey Lemon snapped a photo on her smartphone. Wasabi threw himself into his van's front seat, wrenching the key.
"Am I the only one seeing this?" Fred asked in wonder. The Microbot swarm lifted another container, Baymax shifted his stance.
"Let go of me!" Hiro shouted. "Baymax can handle this!"
There was a thud as Baymax hit the van's roof, shattering the sunroof. Wasabi winced, still driving as quickly as he dared on slick streets.
"Hiro, explanation, NOW." Go Go's voice cut through Hiro's shock.
"The man in the mask, he—he set the fire, he stole my Microbots, Baymax and I have to stop him, but we don't know who he is!"
The man in the mask directed the Microbot swarm, and Hiro thought quickly, ordering Baymax to block the attack. The impact spun the car, and Wasabi let out a yelp as he changed gears.
"Left! Hard Left!" Go Go shouted from her seat as navigator. Fred pressed his face up against the back window.
"Oh, man, guys, it's a super villain! A real life super villain! How cool is that? I mean, how cool if he wasn't trying to, you know, kill us."
"We don't know he's trying to—"Honey started, correcting herself as a full car came crashing down behind them. "María Madre de Dios, he's trying to kill us." She crossed herself as the car suddenly screeched to a halt.
"Why are we stopped, what's wrong?" Go Go asked, leaning over in the dark to peer at the dashboard.
"The light's red!" Wasabi pointed with one huge hand.
"There are no red lights in a car chase! Drive!" Go Go shrieked in his ear as the light shifted. Wasabi drove, hardly watching where he was going, only listening to Go Go's directions as they wove through dockside alleyways and the streets that snaked up away.
The Man in the mask cut them off every time.
"Did you just put your blinker on?" Go Go demanded, her face flushed with adrenalin.
"You have to signal your turns, it's the law!" Wasabi shouted back.
"That's it, move over." Go Go pressed the release that slide wasabi's seat back and squeezed in, gripping the wheel as tightly as she'd ever head handlebars. "Hang on tight!"
From the groaning of metal, Baymax seemed to be doing just that, and the others clung to seatbelts, chicken-bars, and each other. Hiro tried to press forward, leaning on the door, just as a hand made of microbots ripped it off, grabbing at his hoodie. Hiro cried out in alarm, but Baymax chopped down at the microbots, and Hiro fell back inside the car. A second later, and Baymax was buckling the seatbelt.
"Falling out of the vehicle would be detrimental to your health."
Go Go made another sharp turn, eyeing the Bush Street tunnel up ahead and the man in the mask closing in in the rearview mirror.
"Ok, this is gonna get interesting," she called.
"Define 'interesting'," Wasabi's eyes were like serving platters, wide with terror.
"Oh God Oh God, We're all gonna die," Go Go snarked. "Woman up."
"Ooh, Firefly reference. Cool." Fred managed as Go Go used a parked car to launch Wasabi's battered van up to the street above the tunnel. She shifted gears again, aiming down the hill, then pulling into one of her favorite alley shortcuts. A fire escape scraped the remaining door on the passenger side, and Hiro saw a piece of Baymax's armor fall off, knocked loose.
"Why is he trying to kill us?" Honey Lemon demanded, looking over her shoulder at the back window, which was starting to resemble a spider's web. The man in the mask was still on their tail, the Microbots swirling under and around him, lashing out.
"We've seen too much!" Fred declared dramatically. "He wants to silence us for good!"
"Not on my watch," Go Go seethed, swerving to avoid the probing grasp of the microbots reaching for the gap by the missing door. She locked eyes with the mask, and felt ice along her spine, but forced herself to push the fear down and away.
"We've got to lose him!" Wasabi panted.
"Yeah," Go go said, seeing her chance as a train barricade—real train, not BART or a trolley—began to come down ahead of them. She pressed the pedal to the floor, willing one more burst of speed from Wasabi's poor, abused van. The little car came through, nearly missing getting the back bumper clipped. Go Go continued to drive towards the Bridge, away from the city, sighing in relief when she risjed a look behind her and saw nothing.
That was when a tidal wave of microbots broadsided them, forming a funnel, getting tighter and closer as Go Go drove.
"We aren't gonna make it!" someone shouted, though Hiro wasn't certain who, as the opening at the end of the tunnel closed in.
"Were gonna make it!" Go Go snapped, leaning forward and holding her breath as if that alone could help. The others followed her lead, Honey clinging to a necklace, Hiro holding tight to Baymax's armor free hand.
They burst free of the cone of darkness, scattering microbots everywhere, but only had seconds to relax before Baymax uttered a soft, "Oh no," and the van plunged into the dark murk of the San Fransokyo Bay.
Well, I hope you liked that. See, action! I said there'd be action soon. I hope you liked it. Action is not my strongest suit, so…yeah.
Notes for this are fairly simple, I only really have two: First, the Berkeley library really is 5 storeys and it's fantastic. I practically lived there during high school. Second: At sunset in SF, it really does look like the Berkeley-Oakland hills are on fire, the way the light reflects on the windows.
The end of this chapter can be blamed on my friend Kitari and also on my roommate. I was going to end at a slightly later part, but this is more painful, and I apparently save money on groceries by feeding on your hearts and tears. ~shrug~
See you next week, please leave a review :D