Chapter 25, everybody! Yes we made it finally we're in San Fransokyo! :D Which is much cleaner and better-kept than San Francisco can we trade cities?
Lots of opportunities for references to the show my time has come. *dramatic pose* Also kind of picture Nox diving in front of Grump with the same musical sting of Zazu diving in front of Simba in the elephant graveyard of The Lion King. Also for a fun reference: the lot number for the gene cleansers is the date I put this story from a catch-all document to its own dedicated document—7/29/2019. :) Had been working on it for most of that month (the earliest thing I can trace to it is a Tumblr post I made shortly after starting it on July 13th of that year), but considering when I first started it was about thirty pages in two days, having it in its own document in less than a month makes sense.
Again, the gene cleansers are based on the ones from Spectacular Spider-Man, and while those are yellow I also picture them as being that same golden color as the medicine from the movie Balto. Love that movie. :D
Also…Y'ALL REMEMBER THE REST OF THE CAST OF BIG HERO SIX, RIGHT!?
Angelwings2002, thanks for the review! Yeah, Tadashi should have realized this too. Oh wait that's a good point—they probably saw Grump leave and figured if Nox wasn't with them he'd be with Tadashi. ^^; Yes…straight-laced good-brother Tadashi going on a heist Hiro will never let him live this down….YES! Me too! And thank you, I'll do my best! :D
Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney
Ducktales © 2017 Disney
San Fransokyo, in Tadashi's humble opinion, had always been an absolutely gorgeous city—a clever mix of Asian and Western styles in the buildings, gleaming lights, clean streets—other cities may have had dirt and grime, but San Fransokyo had long enjoyed the benefits of its scientific population, who in turn made all sorts of ways for the city to stay clean and glistening and bright; not to mention the general mindset that kept the place taken care of, with brushed sidewalks and clean windows. Oh, and let's not get started on the food—delicious food, again a point where East met West, and the best of the best came from the Lucky Cat Café.
Okay, maybe he was a little biased on that last one.
But fond memories, of zipping through this place on his moped, speeding through the streets with Hiro hanging on tight, cheering and begging for him to go faster, even though he was flirting with speeding tickets—memories that felt much too real to be implanted. For the first time since that awful idea occurred to him, Tadashi felt as if there was nothing to worry about—that this time tomorrow, he'd be home, hugging his family tight, eating the best cooking in the world—introducing everyone to everyone. After the couple months they just had, they'd eat Aunt Cass out of house and home, probably.
But he felt great—he felt a hundred percent better—it was just a matter of putting it all into perspective.
And speaking of perspective, he had never actually seen San Fransokyo from this angle before.
They were flying as high as they could manage, above most brownstones but not even a third of the way up most skyscrapers, turbines still high above them—people and cars were colorful dots below for the most part, some elevated portions bringing them closer. It was a unique perspective, dizzying to look upon, and he was filing away ideas on how to return to this altitude without feathered wings to use later—firstly, to let Hiro see it.
Secondly, because he wanted to see more of it later. Mostly because right now, he was constantly checking Nox and adjusting to keep him from diving down. As it were, he was honestly surprised they weren't attracting a ton of attention with the way Nox kept squawking and shrieking, constantly pointing and looking at Tadashi and going 'Dashi! 'Dashi!
"Nice, isn't it?" Tadashi asked him. "You just wait—Noodle Burger, the movies, SFIT—" Maybe he needed a bit more time for that one. "My Aunt Cass's cooking—and you're going to love my brother Hiro. Hey! Whatever he tells you, bot-fighting is not a good activity, okay?"
"Okay! Okay!" Nox cheered, flapping up—Grump, behind him, looked weirdly amused, as though someone had said something awkward or annoying that was still entertaining somehow.
"Don't give me that look, Grump—back me up here."
Grump ignored him, became very interested in the bay as they flew nearer, now angling over warehouses.
"That's San Fransokyo Bay," Tadashi told Nox, continuing to play tour guide. "And that's the Bay Bridge—it's nice that we can see it, I'd hate to be trying to fly in fog right now."
"We lucked out, I'm guessing," 'Kase said, angling low and scanning the streets and warehouses—they were getting close, they had to be getting close—
Tadashi waggled a wing at Nox, also staring at the bay now. "So, what do you think?"
"Bad," Nox said, pointing at the bay. "Bad-bad no good bad—"
"What?" Tadashi asked, looking at the bay—he didn't see anything to prompt that sort of reaction. "No, it's supposed to look like that. Oh hey, see right there? That's Alcatraz—it used to be a prison, so that might fit the no good bad bit—and that smaller one there, that's Akuma Island—wow, it looks like someone took a bite out of it."
"Krei blew part of it up," 'Kase called back. "Something about getting rid of his old projects or something like that."
"He blew—okay, Nox?" Tadashi said, looking at the bird-boy in question. "When we get back to normal and go about our day-to-day lives, you might run into someone named Alister Krei—try to avoid him."
Nox gave a confused fwee, tipping his head—looked back at Grump when the griffin rumbled something, dipping his head as he did so.
"'Kase, please tell me Grump is agreeing with me," Tadashi called.
"He said that Krei is an idiot who doesn't wear ties because he can't tie them and doesn't even have the brains to run a vending machine, let alone a company," she said, now flying up and down the streets—Tadashi angled up and started banking to watch. "Along with a lot of other statements about his intelligence that I don't have the patience to repeat."
"Wow," Tadashi noised, looking at Grump. "None of that had better been things you shouldn't be saying in front of kids."
Grump snorted at him, looked back at the bay—started flying that way, backwinged when Nox dove in front of him, flaring his wings.
"No," Nox said sternly. "No bad-bad no-good bad—"
Grump growled, started to angle around—Nox dove in front of him again, screeching this time.
"Nox, here!" Tadashi barked, waving—he didn't know what got into the little bird-boy, but he'd rather avoid Grump batting him out of the sky, if it was all the same to him.
"Hey, I think I got it!" 'Kase called, distracting all three of them. Tadashi angled around, saw her flapping in front of a DNA logo—followed her around the side of the building to see Sycorax stenciled across the brick.
"Yes!" Tadashi cheered. "Is this the only Sycorax one?"
"The only one I've seen," she reported, winging up to the roof. "Now let's hope their security sucks."
Tadashi touched down next to her, nerves jangling—Grump landed next to a skylight, Nox landing next to Tadashi and whistling in a questioning tone.
"Okay, Nox, remember what I told you," Tadashi told him as they followed 'Kase to the skylight.
"'Dashi," Nox said, hooking his fingers in Tadashi's hoodie.
"Okay yes I did say that—you stay with Grump while 'Kase and I go shopping, okay?"
"Shopping," 'Kase repeated, tapping the glass cautiously. "Cute."
"'Dashi no 'Dashi stay 'Dashi—" Nox started, tone insistent.
"Hey—hey. It's not going to be that long, okay? Five minutes," Tadashi said, both hands on Nox's shoulders—and then one over his mouth when he sucked in a breath. "Sit with Grump, count it as your time-out, okay? Then we can fly some more, okay?"
Nox whimpered, expression crumpling.
"Hey, it's okay," Tadashi said, hugging him close as 'Kase told Grump to help her lift something. "It's okay—it's going to be real quick, okay? Real quick and then we'll be on our way, okay?"
"No," Nox whimpered, hissing when 'Kase and Grump succeeded in getting the skylight open. "No-no-no bad no-good bad—"
"Only if we take too long, and you don't have to go in, okay?" Tadashi asked, putting his hands on Nox's shoulders again. "Stay here with Grump, okay?"
"No 'Dashi—"
Tadashi held up a finger, pointed it at Nox. "You. Stay. Put. Here," he stressed. "Next to Grump. Sit on him if you have to," he added, looking at Grump, who huffed and looked away. "We will be right back. Then we can do flying, okay? Lots of flying. And some really good food for once."
Nox perked up a little at that, chirped and whistled as Tadashi planted him next to Grump. Turn to 'Kase, who looked amused—
"Ladies first," he offered, gesturing to the skylight.
"You're too kind," she said sardonically, slipping inside. Tadashi looked in, saw her flare her wings a couple of times before touching down in a crouch…okay, he could do this….
His landing wasn't nearly as graceful, but at least he didn't break anything on impact.
"You're a lousy thief, I'll have you know," 'Kase informed him.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Tadashi groaned, struggling to his feet. Look up to see Nox and Grump peering down through the skylight. "Stay there, okay? Stay!"
"I'll give you two minutes before he's down here after you," 'Kase said.
"I don't think so," Tadashi said, looking around. "Nox didn't seem to like it here."
"Three then," she said, shrugging before looking around as well—and sniffing, oddly enough. "It's got a smell I recognize—maybe that's his problem."
"I'm sorry, there's a smell?"
She tapped her beak. "Oh come on, 'Dashi, don't tell me you can't smell anything."
He humored her, sniffing the air. "I don't know—there's something, but it's probably warehouse or mildew."
"It's neither. It's definitely something I smelled at the labs before. I'm surprised you don't smell it."
"Well excuse me for being late when they were handing out the super senses," Tadashi said, ignoring her amused snort. "Let's just—find the gene cleansers, okay? We're looking for lot number 7292019."
They split, him checking one side, her checking the other, pausing frequently to make sure it was just their claws takking on the floor and that they didn't have company—
Grump rumbled something, prompting him to turn—
And nearly choke himself upon realizing he wasn't alone.
"I can't tell," Tadashi called. "Was it two minutes or three?"
"You must have company," 'Kase guessed.
"I do. Nox…."
"'Dashi," Nox noised, hugging him. "Dashi-Dashi-Dashi—"
"Don't 'Dashi me—I told you to stay with Grump."
"'Dashi yes 'Dashi hiiir Dashi-Dashi-Dashi—"
"All right, fine—but you are getting the mother of time-outs when we get back," he said, pointing at Nox—and then covering his mouth before he could do more than suck in a breath. "And no tantrums right now, okay? We've got to be quiet, okay? Can you be quiet?"
"Shh," Nox noised, when Tadashi finally moved his hand. "Shh 'Dashi—"
"Okay good—now remember, quiet," Tadashi whispered, keeping a grip on one of Nox's hands as he continued to move through the warehouse, wincing at the occasional click of his claws—Nox, surprisingly, wasn't making a noise, not even the clack of claws on concrete.
"How are you doing that anyway?" Tadashi asked him, pointing at his feet.
"'Dashi," Nox whispered, lifting a foot and flexing his toes. "'Dashi yes 'Dashi shh 'Dashi—"
"Like this," Tadashi said quietly, pointing at his feet.
Nox looked. "No 'Dashi no shh up no—" Tadashi tried lifting his toes, pulling the claws up—"Yes 'Dashi good yes shh—"
"Well this is going to be fun to try to walk with," Tadashi muttered, scanning the boxes—they had to be getting close, there were only so many shelves—
His heart nearly stuttered to a halt when he saw the lot number he was looking for—speed through the rest, scanning the tags—they were close they were close they were close—
"Haaa," he breathed, chest suddenly too tight as he finally found the box he was looking for—the box—"'Kase!" he squeaked—try again—"'Kase!" Let go of Nox to pull the box out—"'Kase!"
"'Dashi shh!" Nox hissed—ah right.
"I'm trying to get 'Kase, okay?" he said to Nox, glancing around—the box wasn't as big as he thought it would be—only the size of a shoebox—put it down, work to get into it—heard takking—looked up to see 'Kase running up the aisle.
"What? What?" she all but squawked.
"I think we found it," Tadashi said, finally getting his nails in, finally able to lever the lid open—
Vials clinked, golden liquid within, separated by wooden partitions—gently pull one out to see the needle, to see that all it required was a stab like an epi-pen, push down on the end—
"This is it," Tadashi breathed, giddiness sliding through him. "This is it—this is it this is what we've been looking for this is what gets us back to normal!" Put the vial back in before he broke it, hands shaking—the temptation to use one now, to just run back to his family—quaking as he put the lid back on—"This is it—this is what fixes us." Couldn't help the hopeful look at 'Kase. "No more bird legs no more tails no more feathers no more wings just normal."
She was grinning, hands gripping her knees—she was shaking too—
Glanced up, expression falling. "Um…."
Tadashi's attention snapped around, braced for it to be a guard or something—
Nox was staring at him, stock still, feathers plastered to his skin, jaw trembling—absolute paralyzing horror. What—
"Nox," he started—
"No," Nox breathed, taking a skittering step backwards. "No no no no no—" Tadashi managed to catch his arm before he could bolt—"NO! 'Dashi NO no bad no-good BAD NO—"
Tadashi had a moment—a moment to wonder what on earth had prompted this behavior—saw Nox's terrified eyes flick at the box. Look, back at Nox—
It clicked then. "Oh. Oh Nox…."
"No no no no no no no—"
Tadashi managed to tug him close in a hug, a tight one, ignoring Nox trying to push away. "Nox, no—it's okay, it's okay—I wouldn't do something that hurts you, okay?"
Nox pushed again—finally collapsed against him, sobbing. Of course—of course Nox would see no problem with the way things were—none of the kids would. As far as they were all concerned, having wings and a tail and feathers was normal.
"We have a problem," he declared, glancing at 'Kase.
She shrugged, stepped forward and plucked up the box—glared at Nox when he screeched at her. "Oh you hush—we came all this way, we're taking something."
"Nox," Tadashi said, wracking his brain for some idea to get him to stop, to get him to see, to be okay with this. "Nox, there's—there's nothing wrong with what I just said—there's tons of people who don't have feathers or wings or anything like that, but they get along fine—" High keening, this wasn't helping. "I'm not going to make you do something that'll hurt you—you know that, right?"
More hiccupping, more sobbing—it took several painstakingly long moments before Nox was anything even remotely resembling calm; Tadashi had to settle for not crying as hard as he had been.
"It's okay," he repeated, hugging him tight. "I'm not going to make you do something that'd hurt you, okay? You know that, right?"
Nox made several noises that Tadashi couldn't make heads or tails of—glance at 'Kase, who shrugged.
"Hey, Nox," Tadashi tried, knowing at least one thing that would get Nox's mind off of things. "What do you say to going flying, huh? Fly back to the others and tell them everything you saw."
More hiccupping, but it was starting to slow down, be punctuated by other noises….
"Yes?" Nox coughed finally. "Yes fly yes?"
"Yes," Tadashi gusted in relief, pulling back enough to rest his forehead against Nox's. "Yes, we're going flying, how's that?"
"'Dashi," Nox said thickly, still looking wounded—it'd take a bit for him to forget the idea of losing his wings. "'Dashi yes 'Dashi."
"Good boy. Come on, let's get up and out of—"
Something made him freeze, halfway up—could sense 'Kase tense behind him, saw Nox's ears shoot up, saw him spin—
Footsteps.
"Okay," he hissed. "Time to go." But where? Up to the skylight? They'd be practical targets doing that. Look to 'Kase, hoping she had an idea—
She gestured at him, pointed, motioned for him to follow—he did so, keeping an arm and wing wrapped around Nox, some disconnected part hating that it was taking almost no effort to do so, that moving his wing like that was almost second nature now—
'Kase peered around a corner…handed the gene cleansers back to him.
"No," Nox half-hissed, half-whimpered as he took them—Tadashi winced, knowing why she had handed them to him; she needed her arms to fly.
"'Kase just needed me to hold something," he whispered to Nox. "Now shh."
Nox nodded, trembling so hard that some tufts of down drifted loose—'Kase slipped around the corner, Tadashi stooped to collect the down, knowing full well that it could potentially be used to make another Nox—
Something whizzed above his head, clanked against the next aisle—look up sharp—
Nox shrieked, body twisting as Tadashi picked out the item on the floor, registered it as a tranquilizer dart.
"RUN!"
It was a bellow that had ripped out of him before he could fully process it—grab Nox, haul, dodge around the next aisle as another dart hissed by—
A guy at the next aisle hollered—shot a laser blast at them—the skylight—forget any other exit his panicked mind was screaming SKY-SKY-SKY the air was safe sky was safe FLY NOW!
"Nox!" he gasped, spotting the skylight, flung the boy in the air—"Skylight—Grump—NOW!"
Nox was screaming a pure note of sheer terror, wings beating out of sync, limbs flailing—went sprawling on the floor, scrambling to get upright, to run—Tadashi flailed, shooing him up into the air—grab something off of the shelves, throw it back at the guy aiming at them—
He wasn't sure what exactly was in that, but it exploded quite impressively, several multicolored clouds gusting away—
"Guys! Up here, quick!"
Look up to see 'Kase powering up, managing to slip through the skylight—Nox beating his wings frantically—
Tadashi grabbed another vial of something important-looking, launched straight up, desperation and fear giving him extra impetus into the air—scan the rows, spot the other guy, throw the vial at him—Nox was out of the skylight—
And then he was slipping through, screaming for them to not stop, KEEP GOING!—
And then the sky was alive with dark—things—darting in and out—he wasn't sure if it was plain old security drones, people in jetpacks, or mutated monsters—all he knew was that his mind was screaming that they had to get out NOW that Nox and the others were in danger he was in danger they had come too far to be taken down like this now—
Grump roared—he spotted the griffin diving—yelled at Nox to dive after him, through the moment of clear air—something came too close to 'Kase, but she spun, kicking it hard—
Still too many—they'd be taken down without ever presenting a counter—
Which meant he had to come up with a better plan.
"Grump!" Tadashi yelled—shoved the box at the startled griffin when he looked over. "Get this out of here! 'Kase!" Spin—that guy was definitely a guy in a jetpack, who was now definitely a guy going down with a broken nose. "Everyone! Out of here, back to the others!" Felt something way too close to his back—dove sideways, looking—
Saw 'Kase with her back talons dug into another security guy, taking him down.
"And let you have all the fun?" she asked, looking ultimately fierce in that moment. "GRUMP! YOU HEARD HIM, OUT OF HERE!"
Grump snarled, dove away—
"NOX!" Tadashi hollered, breaking away from his next heartstopping skirmish, scenting singed feathers from a security drone's lasers. "NOX, RUN! REMEMBER WHAT I SAID!"
"'DASHI!" Nox screamed, flailing away from more dark security guys-drones-what-have-you—Tadashi didn't know what they were, didn't care what they were, all he cared about right now was the fact that these goons were attacking a kid were attacking HIS kid that he had promised to keep safe—
The smaller drones were easily scattered by his dive bomb, bigger security goon flailing now with him on the guy's back, claws digging in as he tried to find a way to stun him—a punch, a chokehold, something—
"NOX, RUN! Just run! I'll find you, okay? I'LL FIND YOU!" Tadashi bellowed, throwing his weight back—
During the dizzying fall, he did indeed manage to glimpse Nox doing as he said, fleeing with a terrified shriek—saw several security drones pursuing him—
And then his attention was preoccupied with the security guy driving punishing elbow blows into his ribs, making the bones creak, driving the wind out of him—his wings were flailing and not getting any air—had to disengage, had to save himself from this death plummet—
Couldn't let the other guy go splat either.
One punishing punch to the head, driving his own claws into his fist and drawing blood—but the guy stopped flailing, gave Tadashi the chance to angle out of the barrel roll, fling his wings open—send them skidding along the ground, Tadashi rolling several more feet before momentum finally ceased.
"Ow," he muttered, gingerly pulling his wings in, trying to force himself upright before his body agreed with the action—everything ached, feathers felt bent, the wind had been driven out of him and hadn't come back yet—put a hand on the pavement to shove himself up, felt slick blood pooling—
But distantly echoing, he heard Nox screaming.
Shove himself upright, grinding his teeth—no—he didn't come all this way to lose anyone now—not like this, not when they were so close—
'Kase streaked overhead, screaming what sounded like a war cry, throwing her feet out, grasping a security drone, spinning and flinging it at a guy chasing after her, diving to avoid more drones, causing them to crash into each other—she was good, but she was outnumbered.
He had to help—he had to help her, and he had to find Nox—
The intense need of the moment burnt through any hesitation or other block—like when Violet had been in danger, like when any of the kids had been in danger—knowing that someone was in trouble and he had the ability to help—well, he had dove headfirst into stupid situations before, to save someone.
This was not like SFIT though—these were people he knew and cared about, that he knew for a fact depended on him deeply—there was no time for trying to get into the air.
He realized this right as he slammed into the first guy and saw 'Kase's stunned expression.
"Where did you come from?" she demanded.
"Later—Nox?" he heaved, diving to avoid a security drone's lasers.
"Elsewhere—we need to lead these goons away first—follow me!"
Dive after her, world narrowed down to just them and the danger following—wingbeats altering between stronger and fake-faltering—they couldn't lose them just yet—they had to make sure they were led far away from Nox, that they weren't following Grump back to the others—
'Kase suddenly swerved left, Tadashi following—flinched, eyes and ears closing at the sudden assault of light and noise—out of the warehouse district, towards the populated parts of San Fransokyo—
"What are you doing!?" he demanded, glancing behind. "We can't lead them towards people!"
"Lots of moving objects means they'll lose us!" she shot back. "Now time to disappear! Go!"
She angled up and one way, he angled down and another, cursing under his breath—this wasn't a proper alternative, people could get hurt like this—he needed a way to ditch these guys, some way to do this without endangering someone else—
Hiro could be down there—or Aunt Cass—or Honey Lemon or Gogo or anyone I care about—I need a different alternative—
Angle again, swooping above and away from the drones with a twist, diving back towards the warehouse district—he'd figure something else out there, where a crashing drone wouldn't hit someone, where a stray laser wouldn't—felt the feathers on the back of his neck stand on end, dove right before the lasers arced through where he had been flying—too low, too close to people—had to get out of here, had to find something that would help—
"Super jump!"
Tadashi barely had time to register the blue thing leaping up, dove to avoid it, twisted around to see just what it was—whatever it was, it was shooting fire at the drones—face forward, wings already moving for a power stroke, more than willing to take that save—
Had to roll out of the way as a yellow discus arced towards him, power up as something yellow zipped under him—look to see it coming back around, catching the yellow disk and getting ready to throw another one—out of here, out of here—straight up—flap, flap harder—
Flared his wings, snapping him to a sudden stop in order to avoid running into the thing in the air angling for him—big, red, robotic, coming right for him—
This was going to end very, very badly.