Wasabi and Fred met Tadashi and Baymax in the hall. They hurried to find Hiro and the girls. Fred gasped when they walked into the room where Hiro'd been kept.
"It's exactly what I imagined an evil genius's lab would look like," Fred murmured. At first glance, he didn't even notice Hiro and the girls amid the half-finished suits and other inventions. Tadashi and Baymax on the other hand made straight for the small figure cradled in GoGo's arms. Tadashi didn't even glance around the lab. He hovered over Hiro and GoGo, unsure what to do.
"I think he looks worse than he is," GoGo soothed. "Looks like he's got a concussion and a lot of bruises." Tadashi swallowed hard. Hiro was a mess. His face was swollen and bruised. There was dried blood on his face from a split lip and broken nose.
"Hiro's injuries are nonlife threatening," Baymax added. "I recommend taking him home for treatment." Tadashi nodded.
"I'll call the police to pick up Hack and his lackey. We can take care of Hiro at the café. Meet you guys there?" Tadashi suggested. The others nodded. Wasabi tossed Tadashi a cellphone.
"Took it off the guard. Might as well not leave anymore info about us for the police than we have to," Wasabi shrugged. He, Fred, and the girls took off. Baymax scooped Hiro up gently. Tadashi dialed 911.
"Listen closely," Tadashi ordered the operator. "Hack is currently unconscious and handcuffed in an upstairs room at the following location…"
Tadashi almost crashed twice on his way back to the Lucky Cat. He'd been running on adrenaline and sheer willpower. With Hiro safely in Baymax's arms, the pain and exhaustion hit Tadashi like a ton of bricks. Every sound and light felt like a pick axe being driven into his skull. Just keeping his eyes open was a struggle. Focusing on flying was almost impossible. By some miracle, he made it to the café and managed to stagger in the front door. There was no way they could hide Hiro's injuries from Aunt Cass and she'd be helpful, so why bother even trying to sneak around?
Cass and Risa were sitting at a table together. They both looked up when the front door opened. Risa stared open mouthed at Tadashi in his armor. Baymax ducked through the door and all Cass saw was the body in his arms. She knocked her chair over in a rush to reach him. "Hiro has sustained nonlife threatening injuries," Baymax informed her.
"Take him upstairs. I'll get more first aid supplies," Cass ordered. She was off in a flash, leaving Baymax to follow her orders. Baymax headed for the stairs. Tadashi sagged against the wall and closed his eyes. Cass hadn't even been fazed by the armor.
"Tadashi?" Risa asked. He forced his eyes open. She was standing beside him. Her face was full of sympathy and concern. "Are you okay?"
"No," Tadashi muttered.
"Can I help?" Risa asked. Tadashi blinked in surprise behind his helmet. Risa was soaking wet. He could see the bandage on her arm and she looked little better than he felt. Stress had taken its toll on her. She had every right to walk away and leave this crazy mess to its owners. Most people would have. Instead she was offering to help. That impressed Tadashi. He hadn't though she was that type of person.
"Can you help me upstairs?" Tadashi asked. Risa nodded. With Tadashi leaning heavily on Risa, the pair staggered up the staircase. Cass had Hiro lying on the couch. She and Baymax were already at work. Risa helped Tadashi to a chair at the kitchen table. He collapsed into it gratefully. Tadashi pulled his helmet off and rubbed his temples. The world was a blur of light and sound. He could hear people talking, but none of it made sense. The words were nothing more than sounds. The pain in his head had changed from spikes to a constant, numbing ache. Tadashi rested his head on the table. The cool wood felt good against his forehead. Risa watched Cass and Baymax work on Hiro. They set and splinted his broken wrist. Baymax bandaged Hiro's cuts while Cass made ice packs.
"He looks bad, but he's going to be fine," Cass said, scurrying passed Risa. Risa wasn't totally sure who Cass was reassuring. Risa turned back to Tadashi, saw him face down on the table, and felt her heart skip a beat.
"Something's wrong with Tadashi," Risa hissed. Baymax looked up from where he was tending Hiro. Risa ran back to Tadashi's side and gently shook his shoulder. Baymax just stared at Tadashi. Tadashi didn't respond to Risa's touch and she started to panic.
"My scans show Tadashi is suffering from sleep deprivation and sensory overload. He will recover with rest," Baymax diagnosed. Risa frowned. Cass reappeared with several ice packs.
"Is it from wearing the suit?" Cass asked.
"Yes, heavy use of the neuralcranial transmitter puts strain on the brain causing severe migraines nausea," Baymax explained.
"So that's why he doesn't just wear a more normal looking version of the suit around all the time," Cass muttered. "What do I need to do for Tadashi?" Cass asked Baymax.
"I will take him upstairs after I finish treating Hiro," Baymax said. Cass nodded. The bell tied to the door of the café rang.
"Will you go see who it is?" Cass asked Risa. The girl nodded and headed back downstairs. She came face to face with the rest of the heroes.
"Wow," Risa murmured. "You guys look awesome." GoGo rolled her eyes. Fred stood a little straighter.
"Are Tadashi and Hiro…?" Honey started.
"Upstairs. Cass and Baymax are patching Hiro up and Tadashi's passed out at the kitchen table. Baymax says he's okay," Risa explained. The others nodded and headed for the stairs.
"How's Cass taking the whole superhero thing?" GoGo asked as she passed Risa.
"She really doesn't seem surprised," Risa shrugged. She followed the others upstairs. They all pulled up chairs around the table. Risa hung back. She wasn't sure how she fit into this group. Tadashi hadn't been pleased to say the least about her finding out their secret and she had a feeling he'd only turned to her out of desperation. The others were all pulling off their helmets and watching Baymax work on Hiro. Honey noticed Risa leaning against the wall and motioned for the pink haired girl to pull up a chair. Risa hesitated, but took a seat next to Honey. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Baymax left Cass to finish bandaging Hiro's more minor scrapes and clean the dried blood off his face. The robot turned his attention to Tadashi next. Risa watched in fascination as Baymax scooped up Tadashi and carried him up to the loft. "Baymax is amazing," Risa said.
"Yeah," GoGo nodded.
"What do you expect from geniuses like Tadashi and Hiro?" Fred teased. He was half out of his kaiju costume. The head sat on the floor beside his chair and his arms were out on the table out of the suit. Cass flopped into the chair Tadashi had left. Baymax reappeared.
"I will treat you now," the robot announced. Honey let him treat the burn on her arm. Fred still wouldn't look at the damage his suit had done. Cass waited until all of their scrapes and bruises had been taken care of before turning on the heroes.
"You have a lot of explaining to do," Cass said. She fixed each one in turn with what Hiro referred to as her angry aunt stare. "Start with tonight. I have a pretty good idea of how you all ended up looking like comic book characters. I want to know why Hiro looks like he got hit by a car," Cass added. The five costumed college students glanced at each other. Risa just shrugged. She was essentially as out of the loop as Cass.
"Well it started when I heard someone was attacking the grid on the radio," Fred started. "It sounded like the sort of thing we should and could handle so I called the others," he explained. "When we got there I ran in headfirst and Hack's virus infected my suit."
"All of our suits," Honey added. "Hack shut us all down and laughed."
"He made my suit attack you guys. I burned Honey. I thought I was going to kill one of you," Fred admitted. He stared at his hands.
"It's not your fault Freddy," Honey insisted.
"He could have just as easily turned Baymax against us," Wasabi added. The gang shuddered at the thought.
"Anyway, we got our butts kicked," GoGo said, bringing the discussion back on topic. "Fred was attacking us, Tadashi couldn't walk, and Baymax was spazzing out on the floor. Hack took Hiro because he wanted him to build robots or something," GoGo continued. "We made it back here to the garage and Risa told us how to debug the suits. Baymax's scanner was damaged so we had to go kidnap…" she stopped and her eyes widened. "Is he still in the garage?!" GoGo asked turning to the others.
"Umm…" Wasabi winced. "Maybe we should go check."
"What? Who's in the garage?" Cass demanded. Wasabi and GoGo were already making a break for the stairs.
"We sort of kidnapped Callahagn from prison to fix Baymax's scanner because Tadashi couldn't do it," Fred shrugged.
"Nerve damage?" Risa asked. Fred nodded. Cass stood up and headed for the stairs.
"Uh Oh," Fred mumbled. He and Risa hurried after her.