Chapter Seventy One: Change of Plans

(another shortish one, I know, but my creative juices just aren't flowing as much as I'd like with all this COVID-19 stuff going on. Updates may be slower again.)

Things surely couldn't get any worse, Tony thought as JARVIS alerted him to yet another bomb in the area. He relayed the location to the ground teams and was about to fly off to another grid with the AI called for his immediate attention. "What is it, JARVIS?" the man asked, feeling a bit irritated.

"Sir, I've just received word from Hiro of another vision," the AI replied, ignoring the tone.

Tony refrained from trying to rub at his brow, even though sweat trickled down his face. The helmet was in the way and he wasn't about to remove it. "Oh joy. Now what?"

"According to what I can understand, it would appear that there are individuals from the terrorist group who have infiltrated the police force and are setting bombs in areas already cleared. Apparently they wish to keep us occupied."

Lips pursed as the superhero took in this new bit of information. If there were indeed people in the ranks who shouldn't be there, that posed a serious problem for them. The question was why. The answer, of course, was as obvious as what JARVIS said: to keep them busy. But that posed the dilemma of not knowing why. "Is he sure?" he finally asked, trying to process through all of the angles.

"Quite."

A sigh escaped Tony's lips. "Alert Harkness and that detective so they can spread the word as they see fit. Keep it discreet, in case someone else is trying to listen in on our frequency."

"I have already scanned those using our specific channel," JARVIS informed. "Outside of the Big Heroes, I do not detect anyone else using it."

At least there was that, Tony thought. But that now meant he, and anyone Jack and Chloe felt they could for sure trust, had to go looking for whoever was sabotaging their chances of getting out of this alive. "Hiro didn't happen to know how many, did he?"

"Unfortunately, no," JARVIS said, confirming his fears.

The billionaire had to resist the urge to chew on the inside of his lip as he mulled this over. Nothing ever turned out to be easy, though that made the battle all the more sweet when they won. Except it usually ended up meaning they lost more along the way, which almost negated the sweet feeling of victory. Okay, who was he fooling? There generally wasn't any sweet feeling of victory until well past the whole debacle, when they could sit back and laugh about what had happened. That did beg to question, though, what were Hiro and his team doing during all of this?


The last thing Chloe Decker expected to hear was a request to go to a private channel on her radio by a male voice she didn't know. She'd felt incredibly tempted to not do as requested but was now glad she had. She noted Jack, out of the corner of her eye, seemed to be switching frequencies as well and could only hope it meant he was getting the same message.

"Are you sure?" she asked the AI, mentally trying to connect him with Tony. If what the thing had told her was correct, the billionaire was trying to find imposters setting off bombs under the guise of being either bomb squad or cops trying to get rid of them. Either way, it didn't bode well.

The answer she got back was more than enough to make her blood run cold. Apparently the super hero had already uncovered one person in the act of trying to plant a bomb, making it all the more real. "I can't believe it," she said, her legs feeling a bit weak. She looked around at the various officers around her, wondering how many of them were imposters. Obviously the ones she knew couldn't be any, but there were a lot of unfamiliar faces in the group, any of which could be an inside man or woman.

Jack looked up and met her eyes with a look that she translated to mean he'd gotten the same information. Tapping one of the higher ranking officers on the shoulder, the man said a few words before heading her direction. "I guess you just got word."

Chloe nodded."Not sure how he came to that conclusion though," she admitted as she shoved her crutch under the nearest table. The thing was more than annoying. And with an added brace, she doubted she'd need it for much longer.

"My guess?" Jack hazarded, taking an empty chair and pulling it over. "Hiro had another one of those episodes and passed the word on. From what I hear, he's still holed up at Tony's place."

At least there was that, Chloe decided with relief. As long as she knew where he was, it made her job a little easier. She gave a brief nod at the theory, neither wanting to confirm or deny it. "Either way, sounds like whoever came up with it was right. Mr. Stark says he's already captured one saboteur."

Running a hand through his hair, Jack had to agree. "But that leaves the two of us to figure out what to do about the sports center and Hollywood. Since we don't exactly know who all we can trust, we're going to have to go coordinate efforts in person. I'm just not sure if you're up to it." He eyed her still injured leg, not missing the crutch she'd tried to hide.

"Just let me worry about my job and you worry about yours," Chloe retorted, more than a little stung at the notion she might not be up to the task. She stood with some energy, instantly regretted it as her thigh pinged in protest, but quickly schooled her face. "I don't think this is something we can just leave to the regular uniforms."

She was right and he knew it but it didn't keep Jack from worrying. Yes, she'd spurned his advances, but he was, all in all, a decent guy. "I'd feel better if you took a few people with you that you know you can trust."

"I already have a few in mind," Chloe assured him. She switched channels on her radio, quickly calling out a few names, asking them to meet her at a location not too far from command central. "So, which one do you want to tackle?" She gave Jack a look of challenge, willing him to take the easier of the two locations.


The moment they headed to the back of the Reserve Building, Hiro knew something was wrong. While they'd tried to come up with a plan of attack, a second vehicle had joined the first. Luckily, the others had thought to hide while whoever was in the van got out and entered the building.

GoGo looked at Hiro as he joined them. "About time you got here," she hissed, not aware of the conversation he'd had with Loki. "Looks like we got more people to deal with. We saw about six or so people get out and go inside so I think it's safe to say they've just upped the number of people we have to take out."

The teen let out an almost silent groan. The best laid plans of mice and men. He turned to Baymax. "Hey, buddy, you manage to download that floor plan yet?" While they'd snuck around the building, he'd had the AI use Jack's codes to unlock some highly classified information in the hopes he'd find what they needed to make everything work.

Baymax nodded and all nine of them drew away from the line of sight of the loading docks. "The ground level is a mix of office space at the front, a conference area in the middle, with some storage, and the counting house and warehouse in the back," he informed as an outline of the building projected onto his stomach. The loading dock leads directly into the counting house where the money is exchanged."

The image changed, at least from the inside parts, leaving the outline the same. "The second floor consists of more offices and storage areas," the robot continued. "This is where the computers housing information on banks and other money related information is contained."

"Makes sense," Fred interrupted, taking on his best thoughtful stance, one hand on chin, weight back on one foot as he leaned away. "So that means the actual vaults are in the sublevel."

Baymax nodded as the image changed to show the lowest level. "That is correct. A small underground parking area is situated to the right of our current position for employees."

"I think we need a change of plans," Hiro admitted as he looked at the robot's belly. He then glanced over at Lucifer and Loki, who stood nearby. "If you were going to rob a Federal Reserve, how would you do it?"

A smile crossed Lucifer's lips, his eyes glinting. "I'd go for the vaults, securing them through manipulation."

"Meanwhile," Loki cut in, "I would have a second team secure the rest of the building while myself, and perhaps a select few, cornered the facility director."

Gum popped as GoGo gave him an inscrutable look. "Why the director?"

It was a fair question and Loki acquiesced with a bit of a sideways nod. "If the information stored on the second floor is what I think it is, as a thief, I would want that most of all. Such digital vaults usually hold banking account numbers, passwords, stock exchange information, and similar. With that information, it would be easy to hold any bank hostage, or even topple the economy."

Honey Lemon's eyes went wide at that, partially wondering if he'd given it much thought before or just come up with it now. "That gives us a wide area to cover. I was hoping we'd only have to deal with the ground floor."

Catching onto what Loki and Lucifer had said, Hiro nodded. "It makes sense. Have the first team secure the counting house, obtaining in badges or passwords they need to get to the more secure areas. The second team comes in and corners the person in charge to get into the digital vault. Meanwhile, the third team just goes throw and gets rid of anyone else left in the building. They probably already have the cameras on loop."

"Guess that means the current plan isn't going to work," Kally said under her breath, trying to calculate how it would all work out.

Ideas ran around in Hiro's head as he tried to figure out the best way to handle the situation. Regardless of the unusual additions to their team, he was still technically the leader. But at least they knew they'd picked the right place. He could feel the eyes of all looking at him, and even saw Maze playing with one of her knives out of the corner of his eye. It was during times like this that he really wished people didn't look to him for all of the answers.

Once things got going, chances were good they'd all do whatever needed to be done, but, in the interim, they needed a plan. A better plan than the one they had. And with so many hostiles, it certainly made things difficult. "Where would you expect the most experienced people to be in a situation like this?" he asked, now looking at Lucifer. For some odd reason he thought the man might now.

But it was Maze who answered his inquiry. "My guess, they'll have the strongest players in the actual counting house and vault area while the weaker ones sweep the building. Chances are good there aren't any actual guards in the office areas, but they can't let them trigger a lockdown so they'll go in quickly and strike fast. They won't expect anyone to come in the front doors and interrupt things."

Lucifer nodded. "Especially not with the evacuation in effect. They probably won't expect anyone coming in from the outside."

Hiro nodded as he took in everything they'd said. He still didn't feel up to his usual strength, which could cause problems in the long run. Chances were good it would be best to try and stay out of the line of fire as much as possible. The other groups, on the other hand, were more than equipped to handle some serious carnage if necessary. Well, to be fair, Loki could probably hold his own, but the man had already promised to do his best to keep Hiro safe.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," the teen stated, coming to a decision. "GoGo and her group are going to go in through the back as originally planned. All three of you are probably the best we've got at stealth so that should provide the best possibility of our getting in there without anyone the wiser."

Maze gave a bit of a predatory smile at this announcement before glancing at her chosen companions. "I think we can manage that," she assured with half a purr.

"Honey Lemon, Lucifer, and Fred," Hiro continued, "you guys head back around the front and cut off anyone sent there to clear out the staff. Use whatever means necessary to stop them. Just don't kill them." He gave Lucifer a pointed look. "Remember, we don't take life."

Lucifer looked like he might protest but didn't as Loki elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "We'll certainly do our best," he agreed.

"And what about our team?" Loki wondered, sure he knew where this was going.

Hiro gave him a confident, yet mischievous, smile. "We're going in through the second floor and cutting off the person trying to steal the banking data. Out of all of us, I think I have the best chance of interrupting any downloads in progress." He tapped his helmet as a reminder of his affinity with technology.

GoGo flipped her visor into place. "Sounds good. Now let's go before they finish up and make things ten times more difficult by trying to get away."

The teen leader almost felt like they needed to let out some kind of cheer before breaking into their respective groups but ignored the notion. Instead, he climbed back onto Baymax's back, signaling for Loki to join him. "Just do your best to be safe and stop the bad guys without getting killed."

With their new plan in place, the respective teams headed out once more. While Baymax jettisoned back into the air and Honey and her team heading around back the way they'd come, GoGo and her crew all but slithered back to the loading dock.