Chapter Seventy: Teams

Cass couldn't help but feel worried when Loki contacted her about Hiro's most recent bout of whatever it was. He'd gone radio silent long enough that she'd started to get antsy. And even though Loki's words did give her some comfort, they also worried her in other ways. Hiro couldn't keep going on if these things didn't stop.

And then Loki contacted her again to let them know their most recent theory and their plans to hopefully catch the culprits in the act of stealing a ton of money from the Federal Reserve. She couldn't help but feel her heart pound painfully in her chest, knowing everything could go horribly wrong. "Please tell me you'll keep an eye on my nephew," she pleaded, feeling the edges of panic trying to claw its way into her brain.

"I'll do everything within my power to keep him safe," Loki promised, sounding not only earnest but somehow compassionate and like he was making a solemn promise with her.

A few tears tried to leak out of the corners of Cass's eyes and she quickly wiped them away, resisting the urge to sniffle. "I don't want to lose either of you," she confessed. "So please, make sure nothing bad happens to you too."

A somewhat light yet emotional laugh came back over the line before Loki cleared his throat. "I shall do my best," he assured. "We'll make sure everyone returns."

It was probably the best she could ask for, knowing there was absolutely no way to completely guarantee it would happen. But she felt a sense of ease fill her at his words. He would look out for all of them, every last member of Hiro's team. Everything would be okay. She had to believe that.

"As much as I know you'd like me to stay on the line, I do need to go," Loki reminded, breaking a breathless silence. "I will try to keep you informed. But don't forget you can listen in as well."

The reminder gave her a slight pang, knowing she'd only hear bits and pieces of what was going on. "Okay," she said in a small voice, her chest tight. "Be careful."

"I will," Loki promised and then the line disconnected.

Straightening a bit, Cass turned to her companion, Wasabi. "That was Loki," she explained unnecessarily. "They think they've figured out what's going on and are going to take care of it."

Wasabi nodded, not daring to make a sound. One, his chest still felt tight, and, two, he wasn't sure if there was anything he could say. Nodding seemed the best course of action. In an act of solidarity, he did place one hand, painfully, on Cass's shoulder, quickly removing it as he realized he'd chosen her injured shoulder simply because she'd turned that side towards him in a bid to hide tears.

Cass smiled in understanding, choosing not to comment as she winced at the touch. "Now we wait."

"Yeah," Wasabi finally said, his voice thick. "Now we wait."


With most of the officers and detectives out at the various bomb sites, Ella found she was more than a little bored. She'd run through every piece of evidence they'd given her at least twice, or more. If only someone could bring her something new, she might not feel completely useless, even if she knew it wasn't true.

The tech released a heavy sigh as she flipped through one of several notebooks that used to belong to Rachel Amesbury. Some of the bomb schematics the deceased had created were crude in nature, obviously early work compared to the diagrams further in. those ones showed a finesse that was almost scary.

Okay, who was she kidding? Those bombs were downright frightening and her colleagues were out there trying to find who knew how many of them were planted in three different locations. Ella felt more than glad to be where she was, boredom and all.

Ella stretched, sliding off her stool. As fascinating as the notebooks were, a girl had to eat. She removed her gloves and tossed them into the trash can. Her stomach rumbled a bit, reminding her she'd missed lunch. Why couldn't these things happen at more convenient times?

On her way out of the lab, Ella almost ran into an officer who looked more than a little lost. "Oh, hey," she stated, not sure if she recognized the man or not. "Did you need something?"

The officer looked up from a memo he was reading. "Uh, I was looking for personnel."

"New here?" Ella asked, helpful-mode automatically kicking in. "Personnel is upstairs and to the left of the elevator." She pointed out the general location with a wave of her hand.

The man nodded. "Yeah. Thanks." He looked at his paper once more and then up to where Ella had pointed. After another moment, he folded the sheet and stuffed it into his pocket. "Thanks," he said as he made as if to head towards the elevator.

A funny smile crossed Ella's face. "No problem." Well, at least she could still give directions, she mused, shrugging off the encounter. Instead, she headed to the break room and her bagged lunch.

The moment Ella moved out of sight, the officer reversed his course. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, he slipped into the small lab.


Even though the secondary location wasn't more than a few miles away from their original one, Lucifer and his group hadn't made the best of time. Firs, they'd been stopped by an officer holding the line around the far side of the college campus where they'd started. And then they'd had a few issues with getting everyone situated in the devil's car. By the time they'd arrived at the sports arena, Baymax had contacted them, asking them to meet him and Hiro at a completely different location.

Lucifer looked down at the gas gauge, realizing it was getting low. He silently cursed at himself for forgetting to fill the tank. They'd have enough to get there, but might not have enough to go anywhere else. More than a little frustrated, he called up Maze to let her know of the change in plans, and to request she bring a spare can of gas. He wasn't sure she'd bring the gasoline though. The demon wasn't always predictable.

After a bit more finagling, Lucifer had the car heading in the appropriate direction while Honey Lemon tried to get more details from Baymax. Apparently Hiro was otherwise occupied.

"Now what exactly is going on?" the devil asked as he navigated the deserted streets. As much as he liked a good bout of chaos, he preferred to be in the know, or orchestrating it.

Honey nodded at something Baymax said before turning to face the others. She'd claimed the front passenger seat. "Hiro thinks all of these bombings are one big smokescreen to hide the culprit's true intentions," she summarized. "He thinks these people actually intend to rob the Federal Reserve while everyone else is distracted with other things."

If the theory held true, it might actually work, Lucifer conceded. "Keep all emergency responders occupied while they send in another group to claim the prize. Not a bad plan."

GoGo popped a gum bubble, her visor currently up since everyone there already knew her identity. "So, why kill Rachel?" she wondered, playing the devil's advocate.

"My guess?" Fred spoke up, his hood thrown back so he could feel the wind on his face, "she did something they didn't like."

The wheels spun in Lucifer's head as he recalled the incident, along with his and Chloe's jaunt to interview the Bookie. "You just might be on to something'he admitted as he slowed to make a turn. It certainly coincided with earlier theories. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say it was because she was winning." He had to remember these children weren't privy to the same information he was.

Kally frowned as she thought about that. "Why would you say that?" it wasn't that she wanted to defend the girl, but she wasn't sure she connected the same dots he had.

"They were taking bets on the fights," Lucifer explained as he checked the rear view mirror, more out of habit than necessity. "The odds of either you or Hiro winning were quite dismal. Anyone betting on it stood to make a tidy profit."

"Sounds like motive to me," Fred agreed, nodding sagely. "Maybe it was that dude you guys found earlier. You know, the one you guys found on the same day Hiro saw the bombing at that one place?"

GoGo groaned. "There've been so many it isn't even funny."

"Hold on a moment," Lucifer protested, almost driving up onto the curb in surprise. "Just how did you find out about that other murder?"

The Big Heroes exchanged almost guilty looked before remembering all the chaos and stories shared while being holed up at the station prior to moving to Tony's place. "We have a police scanner," Fred hedged, not sure if he should tell the devil how they had Baymax keeping tabs on the police frequencies, or how they'd gotten their intel from Hiro as well. The Devil might not care, but one of the officers he worked with probably would.

Lucifer could tell from the look on Fred's face that he wasn't entirely telling the truth, but decided not to press the issue. It was all semantics at this point anyway. Instead, he set his thoughts on the theory at hand. It was obvious that the two were connected somehow. Who was to say they weren't spot on with their guess?

"Were we supposed to meet them in front or back? GoGo spoke up, breaking the silence as they approached their destination.

Honey glanced towards the building in question as they drove past it, looking for the entrance to the parking lot. "He didn't say."

The answer became obvious as Lucifer finally found the driveway to the parking lot. The iconic duo in red and purple landed near the main entrance, far enough away from the building to not trip any alarms. The devil pulled up next to the boy and his robot, turning off the engine.

Kally looked around in confusion. "Where's Loki?" she finally asked when she couldn't immediately see him.

A shimmer, almost like a heat haze, appeared next to the armor-clad robot and Loki appeared in his iconic battle leather. "Someone call for a god?" he smirked.

"Okay, Fred said, sidling close, "I gotta know how you did that." He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet like a kid at Christmas. "Was it some kind of invisibility spray? Or maybe a stealth suit? You gotta tell me!"

"I would if you'd let me," Loki stated with more than a little irony in his tone. "But if you must really know, I merely created an illusion by bending the light around me. I could see you but you couldn't see me."

Fred's jaw hung slack, despite the idiotic grin on his face. "That is so cool."

"So, what's the plan?" GoGo asked, following the question up with a loud pop of her gum. She had one hand on her lip, a disinterested look on her face as usual.

Reminded of why they were all there, all eyes turned to Hiro, who looked in serious need of a nap. The teen gave a nod to the group in general. He still felt off but chose to push past it. They had work to do.

After another slightly uncomfortable moment, the teen began to speak. "Looks like my theory was right. I had Baymax scan the area as we flew over. There's what looks to be a SWAT van parked in the back, maybe two. And Baymax detected at least five or six people as they exited the vehicle."

"Are you sure?" Lucifer asked, his eyes mirroring his inner confusion. "No one should be there except basic security. SWAT shouldn't be here at all."

GoGo switched her weight to the other hip. "Totally using disguises. Figures."

This didn't bode well, Kally decided. "So how do we know which ones are the bad guys and which aren't?

"Easy," Fred replied before anyone else could. "The bad ones are the ones most likely trying to kill you."

Lucifer nodded. "They've probably already incapacitated any guards left inside."

Hiro nodded in agreement. "With all of the police busy elsewhere, and the area evacuated, it's the perfect time to grab a ton of cash and run."

"How do we handle this?" Honey wondered. "I don't mean to put a damper on things, but there aren't that many of us. And we can't be sure there are no more than the six people in there."

She made a good point and Hiro had to acknowledge it. "I think our best bet is to split into teams and sweep the building one area at a time. I think it safe to say they don't plan on using the main entrance for their getaway so we can start from the back and make our way to the front."

"If we wait for Maze to show up, we can split into three teams of three," Lucifer pointed out. "She should be here in moment now." He took a few steps away from the group as a souped up sports car squealed into the parking lot. "Speak of the devil…."

Realizing not everyone had been introduced to his demon bartender, Lucifer quickly made the necessary introductions as she joined them. "We were just about to split into teams," he explained for her benefit.

Maze eyed those gathered as she fingered one of her many knives. "Sounds like fun. Which group am I in?"

Not sure what to make of this new player, Kally eyed her warily. There was something almost primal about her that she couldn't put a finger on. It almost felt like to ends of a magnet fighting against each other, with her being one magnet and Maze the other. If something where to disrupt the delicate balance, things likely wouldn't end well.

"Obviously Honey Lemon and I should be part of one team," Fred spoke up. "Between my taser tail and her chem balls, we work well together." He sent a silent apology to GoGo, knowing it meant she'd have to team up with at least one of their guests if they were to keep things even.

Loki stepped forward. "I'd like to stay paired with Hiro and Baymax, if no one minds," he stated. Giving the other Big Heroes a look, they all agreed.

"I'll stick with Kally," GoGo offered in a nonchalant tone. "That way we can split the powerhouses." She had a feeling both Maze and Lucifer could handle themselves, which would only strengthen any team they were on. It didn't hurt that Maze was kind of showing off her toys. The adrenaline junky found her blood pumping a bit to work with someone so skilled.

The demon sheathed her visible blade. "Fine with me." She sauntered over to stand next to GoGo. "I like the idea of an all girl group." She gave Kally and the adrenaline jerky a mischievous grin.

Figures, Kally thought but she wasn't about to back out or protest. "That works," she said instead, hoping it would.

"I believe that puts me with Fred and Honey Lemon," Lucifer observed. "Excellent." He rubbed his hands together. "Now that that's all decided, perhaps we should get a move on, shall we?" He indicated, with a gesture, that the others should precede him. Everyone fell in line with their respective teams as they headed towards the back entrance.

Loki held Hiro back, letting the others pass them as he looked critically at the teen. "I just need to make sure you're up to this," he said in a serious tone. "There's no shame if you're not."

Resolve filled the teen's eyes and he nodded curtly. "I'm good. But if that changes, I'll let you know. Besides, Baymax will bench me if he thinks I can't handle it."

The Asgardian prince looked up at the red-clad robot. "I'll try to keep you both safe, but Hiro should remain your priority. If things should go badly, make sure he makes it out safely."

Baymax blinked slowly as he leaned towards one side. "Of course. Hiro is my patient. I will not let any harm come to him."

Loki gave Hiro a knowing look. "And don't think you can fool me with any shenanigans. I'll be watching." That said, he moved to catch up with the others.