Chapter 40, everybody! And I think in my writing up on this I might be getting close to having it entirely written out…might bump it up to posting twice a week once that happens but in the meantime know that we have updates clean into the new year—and to this fic's first anniversary. :D

Continuing blanket disclaimer: I still have not finished Season Two. We're flying blind, boys. And again, a good chunk of these chapters were written before I had been able to bring myself to watch "Countdown to Catastrophe"…and in other news, yes I'm still in denial of the end of "Countdown to Catastrophe" don't at me. D:

Okay, so part of this chapter was another chunk that was written ahead of everything else—did it after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was on the TV, I think, and I was picturing Tadashi in Newt's place during the Niffler scene. XD In other news, Louie DEFINITELY has some thieving genes in him. Also those cops have the same energy as the two I met at the one comic-con I went to where I asked them if they were real cops. Response: "I am, he's just dressed as one." Other cop: "Hey!"

In other news…when I wrote that bit we were NOT in the middle of a quarantine that turned all major cities into ghost towns. Personally, I was thinking more of the Spider-Man 2 video game on GameCube—Mom has watched me play it a few times and always commented on how empty it is compared to the real New York (unless it's Sunday). Well now it's accurate. X'D

Also it's never nailed down just how old Tadashi is, just that he's a minimum of eighteen (since at the beginning of the movie he's incarcerated with the rest of the bot-fighters instead of with Hiro). Theoretically, if we take "Legacies" into account, he's old enough to get a degree, so early twenties…this fic, however, does NOT take "Legacies" into account so…18-20, I think.

Angelwings2002, thanks for the review! AHHHH THANK YOU! :D Yes and yes—AND YES! OBAKASE IS FANON! XD Maybe—I'm sure someone in Sycorax has been playing fast and loose with DNA. That's a good point—Baymax, nerd us about birbs. Thanks again—and good! Keep that number close. :D

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

Ducktales © 2017 Disney

Louie was not liking this place one bit, not at all.

For one, it smelled. All of it. For another, there was too much noise and light and movement HOW were they supposed to find 'Dashi in this HOW.

But he had to at least pretend that yes they could find 'Dashi in this awful maze that wasn't canyon or forest or anything they had ever encountered with ground that was hurting to their feet and too much noise and light and movement and those things had no feathers no wings no tail what is this place—had to pretend because it was getting much-much-much too much for Huey, who was molting in fear almost—

Louie could bait Nox or Lena or Webby or Della or Dewey, could tease that they were being wet-hatchling and cajole them into continuing on. Not Huey—Huey needed reassurance, needed to be told that everything was good-okay-good needed hug and groom and it's all right…hadn't really recovered from the bad-place and the pain of being only.

Neither had Louie, to tell the truth.

But right now that wasn't the important thing—right now the important thing was finding 'Dashi in this mess think-think-think 'Dashi liked walking over flying for some unknown reason WHY but there were too many new smells to parse through but he had to try had to think this place was HUGE why hadn't he asked Grump about where they had been he wasn't even certain if Grump would have told them why didn't he at least try

Because he hadn't expected being attacked. 'Dashi had kept them good-safe-good for so long that the fear of her finding them and hurting them had faded to background noise.

That fear was overwhelming now, beating down on him making his wings heavy making him want to curl up and weep and cry and shriek for flock-flight-HELP—but he couldn't afford to do that, he had to be strong for Huey had to keep scraping and scrabbling for idea for plan for scheme for trick for SOMETHING—

Kept going, away from loud buffeting noises and lights, found darker quieter part of strange-huge-thing—touched down, snuggled against each other, focusing on catching breath and calming heartbeat, trembling and wilfed down to nothing, squeaking with fear and worry—

Want 'Dashi, Huey squeaked, sniffling.

Me too, Louie admitted, hugging Huey close, focusing on making his breathing even hoping Huey would follow suit—calm-calm-calm panicking ruined scheme ruined trick ruined plan calm-calm-calm think—

Big-scary-thing was big was scary was confusing but 'Dashi didn't think like they did didn't approach things like they did 'Dashi had had to be shown how to scratch at bark at rock to keep nails healthy but 'Dashi had seemed to know about things knew how to handle things knew what was safe and good and what was no don't touch—'Dashi wasn't overwhelmingly curious like they were, more concerned with keeping them safe over anything else.

Which meant that for 'Dashi to come here, 'Dashi had to have a reason.

No-good bad poison was not a good reason, Louie felt, glaring at the box Huey refused to put down. There had to be reason though, 'Dashi thought things through talked things through had been convinced they'd be back in a couple of day which was from one sleep to the next—think—

But no matter how much he clawed and ripped at the thought at what he knew what he had what he knew about 'Dashi and this place—no matter how much he tried he couldn't figure out reasoning couldn't figure out why why-why-why would 'Dashi come here—

Maybe Louie had made mistake. Maybe 'Dashi hadn't come here, maybe 'Dashi was somewhere else entirely and he was risking Huey risking himself coming here—

Tense at the sound of one of those monsters, the one in the rain the kind that they had slept in a dead one once the kind that was all over this strange-place—the sort of low grumbling that suggested slow hunting-tracking-sneaking—

Shove at Huey, hissing go-go-go—slip away down a corner, out into open which was good because sky but bad because it could rush them—look around, ears perked senses straining—hiss to run that way because the bad-thing was the other way—

Huey hustled, not looking back wilfed down to nothing—Louie ran after him, glancing everywhere worrying bad-place bad-place not as bad as THE bad-place but bad-no good-bad—

Skid to a halt as something caught his eye—look—

SHINY.


Tadashi was very much not liking how things were going.

Let's start with losing Nox and not being able to track him down, with the knowledge that he was possibly injured and definitely scared. Couple that with being pursued by Sycorax goons, that monster that attacked them in the sewers, 'Kase getting her wings cut by her thieving original (now there was a rare sentence)—

And the fact that he was certain they were past their due-date now, that everyone would be making their way to the bay where it was more exposed—they were going to have to go back, but the idea of abandoning Nox made him sick.

But 'Kase was slowed down too, hence them sneaking around at ground level—it was probably worth going back, maybe getting Brittany's help—maybe Nox was there and he was panicking over nothing.

That was 'Kase's opinion as well—but then again, she was ready to abandon San Fransokyo after the whale-monster come to think of it so was he what the eff was that even.

Hence why Tadashi was okay with working their way back to the bay after a few fruitless hours.

"We can still look," he justified as they picked their way along, sticking to the quieter side alleys and streets—also, bird-feet were not suited to walking on concrete and asphalt he just wanted to get that out there.

"And here I thought we were going to the movies and a five-star restaurant," 'Kase muttered, sticking close and looking everywhere, occasionally tentatively flapping her wings.

"Maybe later." Eye her flapping again. "And when we get to a wider street we can try flying again. Or, you know, try for a roof again."

"Good luck," she said. "Cities are always crowded—except maybe Sundays. And we already saw what a mess being on a fire escape is."

Meaning him getting his talons caught in the grating and having to work himself free—bonus points for the one guy getting ready to come out, bottle of beer in hand, before spotting him, looking at the bottle, then back at him.

"Now see, I thought I took that well."

"Telling the guy yo what's up isn't taking it well."

"Hey it worked." Mostly because the guy went straight back in, shut the window, locked it, and pulled the blinds for good measure.

'Kase huffed in response, stiffened as they neared the end of the alley.

"It's okay—I'll check, and then we'll get out of here," he assured her.

"'Dashi wait—something doesn't feel right."

No it didn't, not with how empty the street looked, but the sooner they got out and regrouped with the others, the better.

"Two minutes, okay? Two minutes," he said, slipping out of the alley to examine the street, trying to put his feet down like Nox had showed him—

Stomach twisted at that thought—if anything had happened to him—

Crash—tinkle—crish.

Tadashi froze at the sound, looked—didn't see anyone down the street…carefully made his way down, listening carefully….

He wasn't entirely certain what made him look in the window of the jewelry store, but he did—

To see Louie standing there, jewelry draped all over him, stock-still and watching him out of the corner of his eye with an expression that very clearly said oh please keep moving.

Tadashi stared, dumbstruck; some of the jewelry slipped and slid off of Louie as he watched. "Louie what—"

That triggered it—Louie bounced away further into the store, scattering jewelry everywhere and chattering—Tadashi slapped his hands on the window. "Louie NO! How did you even get in there—" spot the door ajar, barrel in. "Louie get back here—"

Oh this was just great.


Oh this was just great.

Tadashi had wandered off in one direction, against her better judgment—'Kase was still looking everywhere, on edge—something was wrong, parts of the city didn't just get empty. She didn't care what time it was, there should have been someone out here—

And then she heard a familiar, tentative chirp.

"Hey!" she gasped, waving a wing in Tadashi's direction. "Tadashi—'Dashi—come on, say it again—"

Another chirp, this one with a bit more force, a bit more hope in it—enough for her to hear 'Kase buried in it—enough to snap her attention in the direction it came from—bound forward—

"Nox!" she yelped, skidding to a halt in front of an alley—

It wasn't Nox.

"Huey!?" she squawked, spotting the little red-clad bird-boy. "What are you doing here!?"

An answer to that question was going to take a while—Huey was busy babbling, arms wrapped firmly around a very familiar-looking box, wings half-unfolded and twitching as he squawked and cawed and held the box up—'Kase took it, heart sinking; yes, this was the box of gene cleansers that Grump had flown off with.

"Huey," she repeated. "What. Happened."

Huey was sobbing now as he tried to explain—she got bits and snatches, Grump and bad and no-good bad and attack and flee—something had happened in the woods and everyone was scattered and Huey was terrified because he wanted 'Dashi and the bad-people had found them because 'Dashi wasn't there

"Hey," she said quietly, kneeling, transferring the box to one arm so she could use the other to hug Huey close. "Hey—shh, it's okay, I'm here."

Huey clung to her, curling up against her chest, keening starting to snarl into the sobs—whatever happened had been terrifying to the little bird-boy—had to have been something worse than the bear or the cougar for this reaction.

And please, tell her she had misheard him—please tell her she hadn't just heard him say that everyone had scattered after being attacked

Adjust her hold on both Huey and the box, stood, rubbing the bottom of her beak on Huey's head. "Hey, hey, shh, it's okay—we're going to go see 'Dashi now, okay? 'Dashi's right over—"

She looked down the street where Tadashi had been—gone. Oh no….

Worse, Huey had stopped sobbing, was hiccupping now and looking at her with wet eyes. "D-dashi? Okay? Yes?"

"Uh…yeah. Just—give me a minute," she said, jogging down the street as fast as she could—she was certain bird feet could sprint, but if they could, she hadn't discovered just how yet.

"Tadashi!" she hissed, stopping at the first alley and peering down. No—next one—"'Dashi!"

Crash-tinkle-CRASH!

She froze, looking down the street—that had sounded close.

"'Dashi?" Huey asked, starting to squirm a little.

"Yeah hold on—Tadashi, please be you," she muttered, carefully pacing down the street towards the noise—

"'Kase, help!"

Okay, definitely Tadashi—sprint the rest of the way, skid to a halt in front of the store with all the noise—

"Tadashi, what are you doing in a jewelry store?" she had to ask, spotting the teen in question scrambling around inside.

"Don't ask me how but Louie's in here I need help he keeps slipping by me—gotcha!"

Not quite, if Tadashi's muted cursing and Louie's loud squawking was anything to go by—from what she could get, Louie had thoroughly been distracted by the shiny jewelry and was trying to take it all for himself.

"Good Louie, go for the big carats!" 'Kase called.

"DON'T HELP HIM, HELP ME!"

"'Dashi!" Huey cheered, pointing, suddenly chirping and chirruping and making generally happy noises, all laced through with absolute relief—soon as he spotted Tadashi, and Huey was convinced that everything was good and right with the world again.

And then she had to tighten her grip, as Huey had spotted some of the jewelry too and immediately started squawking SHINY-SHINY-SHINY, pawing madly trying to get to it.

"Hey, I get it, really," she said, clonking him on the head a little with the bottom of her beak—salty wet smells were increasing—glance around—San Fransokyo's infamous fog rolling in—

And less than two parking spaces away: a police cruiser, police already out and leaning on the doors, eyeing her.

"Uh—heheh, hi," she tried. "Uh, Tadashi? 'Dashi!" No dice, he was still trying to catch Louie—"Uh…wonderful weather we're having, isn't it?"

Neither cop looked impressed, and 'Kase was under the impression the only reasons she hadn't been arrested or shot yet was 1) she herself was not doing anything that could be construed as illegal, and 2) they probably couldn't figure out just what she was up to with a full-body feather suit. Ah, if you only knew….

A sharp snapping thud made her look up—Tadashi had chased Louie up to the top of a folded ladder, which had fallen on the windowpane, which was now starting to crack—

'Kase glanced at the cops before taking a couple of steps backwards—just in time for the window to break and the ladder to fall almost precisely where she had been standing. Louie tried to make a break for it—

Tadashi finally caught him by his tail, getting flesh and bone instead of feathers—Louie squawked at the tug on his tail, squawked worse when Tadashi hauled him up, worse when he told Louie that he was getting the mother of all time-outs—

"Tadashi!" 'Kase barked.

"What!?" he barked back—caught sight of the officers in his peripheral vision, froze. Yes, she wasn't doing anything questionable (although Huey was trying to get a hold of one of the pieces of jewelry within reach), but Tadashi had just crashed out of a jewelry store, and he and Louie both were coated in the gems and precious metals.

Tadashi, for his part, at least tried to play it off—point a finger of the hand still with a death-grip on Louie's tail. "They went that way, officers."

The two cops exchanged glances.

"I'm calling it in," one decided, ducking into the cruiser.

"I've had weirder Tuesdays," the other sighed.

Okay, she was going to have to hear this one—beak already open when her ear twitched—something deep within twanging danger-danger-danger-run-flee-GO-NOW before she could even fully process the sound—

Huey and Louie heard it too, recognized it, if the way they suddenly froze, silent and wilfed down to nothing, was any indication.

"Yeah dispatch we have a—"

What they had she didn't hear—bodily flinch back as something heavy made the front of the cruiser buckle—mind flash-screaming recognition of the monster that had done so, the same sort they had seen in the drain pipes earlier—

It was definitely serious, considering it had Tadashi swearing floridly in front of the kids.

"RUN!" he managed finally, getting his feet under him and traction going, hugging Louie tight to his chest—

'Kase took off after him, ears flinching flat at the sound of gunshots—like that was going to stop that thing—

"'Dashi!" she screamed. "I need my wings free!" She needed that like she needed air—every fiber of her being was screaming at her to get airborne, safety was only a few wingbeats away why were you still on the ground!?

Tadashi glanced behind—she shoved the box forward—scrabbling claws caught it—

"Huey, hang on!" she gasped, freeing up both wings, crouching down, jumping up, powering down hard—hard flaps, hard flaps, not as fast as she needed them to be, not as much air—stupid stupid stupid she ever saw her original again and 'Kase was going to give her more than a busted nose—

More wingbeats—Tadashi was up in the air, fear once again giving him the impetus to get it right quickly—shooting up faster, he still had his full winglength, spinning to see what was going on but she couldn't stop yet everything was still screaming at her to get higher had to get higher had to get away—

And then she was high enough—some sense that told her she was high enough off the ground, like a built-in altimeter—bank, even out, wings still pumping—drat it all, less lift and more weight but she couldn't exactly ask Huey to let go—

"Up here!" Tadashi called—she looked to see him angling up to the ridge of a building, seemingly put there just for pigeons to sit on, or maybe to be fancy—she didn't care, it was high and hopefully safe from some weird whale-looking monster—

Land, sag from the exhaustion that adrenaline and fear left behind…ignore that corner of her mind saying that yes this was a good cliff high above danger yes good yes—that little corner that sounded like the kids and translated for her most times was much too busy chittering about how high equals safe and she'd really rather have it shut up right about now.

"Okay," Tadashi breathed. "Okay. You," he said, getting a firm hold on Louie. "What were you even doing in there you guys weren't even supposed to be heading down the river yet."

"Looking for you," 'Kase translated, after about a minute of both Louie and Huey squawking, squeaking, and chittering. Ah, she'd have to say it. "Tadashi…they say the camp was attacked."

Tadashi froze, the feathers she could see plastering against his skin, some part of him registering what she was saying even as the greater part denied it—looked at the box he had automatically put aside in favor of focusing on Louie—recognized said box.

"What—what happened? What do you mean attacked? Is everyone okay?"

It was a lot to ask of a pair of kids, but they did their best—'Kase slowly translated, stomach feeling like someone was twisting iron rebar inside of it.

Tadashi looked like throwing up over the side of the building was a good option right about now.

"We don't know that," she interrupted, before he could open his mouth. "We don't know that us being there would have made a difference—Grump was there, and he rolled a cougar, remember?"

Tadashi nodded, but she could see it—crushed on the inside, probably repeatedly thinking I failed I failed everyone I should have been there—

She was certain because that was running through her mind too.

But there was no point—no point in thinking of how this could have gone better, it hadn't and the main focus needed to be on how to make it better.

Louie kept shooting glances at Huey—Huey waved a hand, nodded—Louie looked downcast, whistled sorry before speaking again.

'Kase felt her ears twitch at what he had to say.

"What?" Tadashi asked, noticing her movement—voice cracking with an edge of hope.

"The girls," she said. "Webby, Violet and Lena—they left before it all started, before Grump came back—he says they left to try and find us."

Tadashi looked like he couldn't decide whether or not that was good news—good news because they might not have been captured; bad news because where were they now?

Huey collapsed against her, rubbed his face against her shoulder, warbling and murmuring exhaustion from terror and worry—the kids didn't have a buffer between them and that annoying bird-voiced corner of their mind, that part was front and center and Huey was probably convinced that with her and Tadashi here and them up high that he was safe and now was a good time to take a nap.

Louie looked like he wanted to do the same thing, was hesitant, arms crossed and beak chattering—

Tadashi solved the problem by scooping him into his lap and hugging him close.

"Hey—hey it's all right, you found us, you're safe," Tadashi murmured, eyes saying what he left off—for now. "It's okay—it's okay."

"Dah-shiiii," Louie wailed, muffled from having his face buried in Tadashi's hoodie, whole body shaking—Tadashi squished against the window, shot a glance to make sure no one was looking out, hugged him close, trying to position himself so Louie wasn't exposed. Glance up at 'Kase—

She wished he wouldn't look at her like that—she was more than willing to let him be the de facto leader—if you wanted to get technical, he was older than her. He was the one in charge, the one she trusted to come up with a plan.

But he was also a teen, with barely a concept of adulthood—if he was in his twenties she'd be surprised—everything was crushing and terrifying right now, and he wanted desperately to look at someone else, find someone older who'd tell him that everything would be okay.

Except it was just them, and she was trying very hard to keep the terrified shaking to a minimum.

"We'll think of something," she assured him, not sure how. "You'll come up with something, figure out something with that big brain of yours, get us out of this mess. You're good for that." Could see some of that light in his eyes dimming—"Hey—no, you stay with me—you can figure this out—you've got that little brother who needs you, remember? You can't quit now, we're so close."

Tadashi took a deep breath, shuddering and rattling against the despair frosting his insides—

Exhaled, eyes closed—she could just picture him mentally telling himself to shape up—corners of his mouth twitched; must have thought of something funny.

"Okay," he breathed. "Okay." A little stronger. "Okay." Back to his old self. "Okay, Louie, Huey—do you know for certain if anyone was snatched? How many made it out?"

"Huey's asleep," she told him.

Tadashi sighed, nodded, looked at Louie—Louie blinked up at him, exhausted from an overflow of emotion, gave a sad whistle.

"I know," Tadashi said, massaging Louie's head—the little bird-boy started to relax some. "I know, but the more you can tell us, the better we'll be able to help."

More hesitation on Louie's part—he probably thought he was still in trouble, or that everything bad that had happened was lying in wait for him—rub his face against Tadashi's hoodie—she spotted something sparkling caught in his own little green hoodie. Reach over, pluck it out—

"Here, Louie," she said, handing it to him. "Maybe this makes it better?"

Louie glanced at what she was offering him—perked up, whistling, immediately distracted by the shiny—she had to laugh at Tadashi's consternated expression as Louie snatched the bracelet away.

"Seriously?" he demanded.

"Hey, it helps," she told him. "And besides, I can get behind getting excited over shiny stuff."

"You're such a bad influence," Tadashi said, maybe some amusement making its way through the crushing emotions. "Louie—Louie do you know if anyone else made it out?"

Louie gave a few soft whistles, tried to nibble on the bracelet—Tadashi stopped him, repeating what he told Nox numerous times—hug the bracelet close and point away, soft caarks punctuating his chirps.

"Dewey and Della," she told Tadashi. "They were going to wait for a little bit, see if anyone else made it out—on that little sandbar we stopped on?"

Tadashi sagged—that still left five kids too small to fly, two teens, and two adults—maybe Grump, even—left them all unaccounted for, with the last sight the kids had gotten of them being them attacked, fire everywhere, and people trying to catch them.

A shiver ripped through her—she edged closer to Tadashi, glancing out in the hopes of seeing something against the fog—the bird-corner and human-corner of her brain were in agreement on wanting to be closer to someone right now. Tadashi shuffled closer too, until their knees were touching and the breeze wasn't so bad.

"If you say this is your fault I'm going to throw you off the ledge," she told him, when he sucked in a breath.

Tadashi looked down at Louie, now asleep against his chest, looked up at her. "You'd endanger a child?"

"You'd throw him to safety first."

"All right, fine, I'll keep my flogging to myself," he said, trying to keep his expression controlled—but she could see the deep, sharp ache, like someone was rubbing salty broken glass into him from the inside out. First Nox, now the rest—they should have—

"What?" he asked, peering at her in concern. "What is it?"

She bit back another coughing laugh. "I just—it's stupid."

"What is?"

Shook her head, lower it. "I was…I was just thinking we should have never come here." Flick a glance at him, saw his expression—had to continue. "I mean, everything leading up to this—sure a lot happened, but we were able to handle it. The bear, the cougar, the broken leg, Violet in the river—we handled it. It's—like, as soon as we laid eyes on this place things fell apart. The weirdness in Muirahara Woods, losing Nox, getting attacked by monsters, and now this—" Curl her fingers tightly around her nares, eyes squinching shut—she was not having a breakdown, she was not. "I just—I want to go back to like a week ago. I hate—I hate feeling like this place is a pox."

Silence—moisture was leaking out of her eyes against her will—yet more of an indication that she was nothing like her original. Her original wouldn't dare cry in front of someone.

She felt a hand on her wrist, thumb gently rubbing the back of her hand—move to her shoulder, tug—

She was more than willing to curl up next to him, a wing draped over her back and tugging her close, arm around her, her head against his shoulder—there was something just…safe, about having someone else's wing separating you from the rest of the world, something warm and comforting about being half-hidden away like this.

"Is this the part where I give you a hard time if you say sorry?" Tadashi asked, when she opened her beak.

She coughed a laugh at that. "Okay fine, I deserve that one."

"Maybe," Tadashi said, sounding briefly amused before hugging her tightly, chin resting on her head.

"We're going to get through this," he assured her, rubbing her arm. "We're going to get through this—we're going to find Nox, we're going to find the others—if I have to storm Sycorax myself I will. I will make this work, I will do everything in my power and pray for what I can't do—I will drive you insane because I'm going to say it again, someone has to help." Pause. "And in this case, it'll be us and Divine intervention."

She coughed again. "Well, when you put it that way…."

Tadashi hugged her tight again.

"We'll make it," he said, heart beating solidly in his chest, tempered by the panic he no doubt felt. "We can fix this."

Relaxing into him, hugging Huey to her chest, feeling Louie shift a little, murmuring—right now she could believe that.

They would make things right. And maybe it wouldn't be in the solitary way of fighting tooth and nail like her original did—her original that cut her feathers just for the challenge of it.

Maybe it was time to start being glad she was her own self, to be accepting of that.

And maybe it was time to realize she had something worth fighting for.