Chapter 48, everybody! And yes we reference the theme song again I got to these chapters and went I have not yet referenced the Ducktales theme what's wrong with me?
Moving on…y'all brace yourselves, this is a long one.
Anywho—also a big fat reference to Homeward Bound in this chapter, since that's one of the big inspirations for the fic. They took Tadashi to the pound. D:
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 all the way past this fic's first anniversary. :D
Continuing blanket disclaimer: I still have not finished Season Two. We're flying blind, boys. And again, I am still in denial of the end of "Countdown to Catastrophe" don't at me this is how I cope, okay? D:
Back to the chapter itself…I said there was a big reference to Homeward Bound, but 'Kase is also quoting the secretary from Liar, Liar in that scene. Speaking of that scene—Tadashi's cage number is the production code for the episode "Big Problem," where we're first introduced to Sycorax and everything that entails, while the code to unlock it is the date it was first released: September 15, 2018.
Once again, Tenku is Japanese for firmament, air, or ether, and felt fitting since it seems similar to Tengu, which are mythological Japanese bird-people. As for the rest of the things we can see on the plaza—that's all referencing California's multiple heritages from Japanese to Native American to Spanish. Yes, Zorro is based in California just ask the Antonio Banderas movies. Meantime…yes in one Blackfoot legend Thunder steals people's eyes. :O
As for the story in Literature class Hiro read…that's based on the one I read in a college Literature class, "Cloak of Anarchy" by Larry Niven—apparently in that story all the freeways (at least in LA) got converted to greenery parks. So with that in mind, Tenku Plaza is an old overpass that was converted to an art park when a better route was plotted out.
Also I'm pretty sure Felony Carl knows the identities of Big Hero Six in canon I'm pretty sure everybody but Police Chief Cruz knows Big Hero Six's identities in canon I'm begging you kids please stop taking notes from Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera.
Moving on—remember Della breaking her leg? Greenstick fractures are, according to the Mayo Clinic, where a bone bends and cracks instead of completely breaking, and is common in children under ten years of age. Mild ones can be confused with sprains, but Della's was more severe, which is how the boys knew she broke her leg.
In other news, I'm pretty sure that every time I type "so what's the plan, then," I hear it in Mac's voice from Chicken Run, no matter who says it. Occupational hazard. And wilfing, as I've said before, comes from The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series please read it it's awesome. :D
Also, not sure if people are still required to turn their cell phones off in movie theaters (know they changed the wording to please silence your phones in past years) but for plot tension let's say yes. Fly Away Home is a good movie, by the way, definitely give it a watch. And Tadashi's referencing the first Jurassic Park movie. He and I could not resist. :D
Angelwings2002, thanks for the review! Ah thankies—'Kase is fun to write for and we're going to be seeing a lot more of her this chapter too. :D Yeees glad to read that you were on the edge of your seat and that I got those two in character I am really excited now that we're getting to the climax area so I'm glad to hear you're excited too. :D Ah, thank you you make me blush. XD
Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney
Ducktales © 2017 Disney
Getting into Sycorax was terrifying in and of itself.
Fortunately, 'Kase still had all the memories and skills of a sushi-making thief, and was able to evade the guards and the security cameras and slip in.
Unfortunately, once she was in she realized she had not thought through this particular part.
Skim up high near the ceilings, sticking to the rafters, leaping from perch to perch and trying to scent where Tadashi was—no way to know for sure, the whole place stunk of monster funk and her—
Finally noticed a guy in a lab coat leaving a room that had growls echoing from it—
"Hello!" she chirped—landed on him when he looked up.
The door had slid shut again by the time she knocked him out, but he had one of those little card keys—scan it, drag him in, shove him in the nearest locker. Eat it, you nerd.
Flinch into the shadows at the snarls she heard—
Felt her ears flatten when she was able to translate a little of it into something intelligible. But of course, why should she understand a bunch of whale-monsters?
Glance around, flash up to several supporting beams that ran above general notice and security cameras, start pacing down it, looking in the cages that smacked too familiar for comfort—so much like her old prison it hurt, made her want to turn tail and flee—no. No she had to find Tadashi first—how many times could she use that little card before it sent up a red flag?
Also not helping was the fact that the monsters in the cages noticed her. One did, alerted the others, started up a whole barking litany that she understood maybe a quarter of.
"Great," she muttered, snorting through her beak at one. "Catcalls." Keep going—
Stop at a familiar ball of fiery feathers, curled up tight and not reacting—
"Hey!" she barked. "So what are you in for?"
Wings twitched, head shot up, spun to look—
"'Kase?" Tadashi asked, stunned—"'Kase! I told you to run away!"
"I never listen to men," she said, lofting down to him. "So how are you anyway? Am I too early? I can drive around the block again."
The monster in the cage to the left snickered at that—she ignored it in favor of Tadashi.
Who, in turn, was being very Tadashi right now. "Are the kids okay?"
"The kids are with Carl, they're fine," she said, turning the card over before sliding it through the keypad. Please enter code flashed across it. "Hrm."
Tadashi noticed it too. "There's gotta be something—it has to be something that makes sense, or whoever would need to have the codes on them at all times—"
"I just knocked the one dude out," 'Kase said, ignoring the monster bouncing up and down excitedly and saying something about wear on keypads—these all looked too new for that to be a thing. "Maybe he had a clipboard?"
"You mean you didn't rifle through his pockets?"
"Har har—stay here."
Tadashi flopped his arms to the side. "Where exactly am I supposed to go?"
She ignored him, and the monster huffing got a point, bounded back for the locker, opened it—the guy was starting to stir inside—and yes he had clipboard.
"Hi!" she said brightly, taking the clipboard. "Need this—g'night!" Sock him again and close the door.
"Remember how I said you were a bad influence on the kids?" Tadashi asked her when she came back.
"Oh hush before I leave you here," she said, going through the clipboard—looked at the number stenciled next to Tadashi's cage, found the code that went with 420B-121, punched in 091518—huffed when it said timed out: please swipe card again.
"Ugh this is so stupid," she muttered, repeating the process—the door slid open this time—
Got tackled in a hug, heartily returned it, hugging him tight and breathing in his scent, reassuring herself that yes, he was here, she had him.
Now to get back out.
"Hey," she muttered. "You can let go now."
"You are so stupid," he muttered back, voice thick. "What are you doing coming and getting me?"
"Being your friend, idiot," she said, finally pulling away. "And while we're on the topic of stupid: which of us dove in front of the bad guys and then stuck around to try and punch said bad guys?"
"At least I went down swinging?"
"You punched the pavement harder than you did anything else." Focused on ignoring the one monster sitting in its cage and sniffling, scrubbing at its muzzle and sounding like it was saying don't look at me I need a tissue—also important, tuning out all these others yelling for them to let me out too! She didn't come here to save all of them.
Tadashi had different plans.
"Oh no you don't," she said, grabbing his arm and tugging him. "I came in here to rescue you—let those Big Hero kids take care of these guys."
Tadashi's expression said that wasn't sitting right with him—she groaned when he planted himself more firmly.
"Letting all these guys out would give us a blind, right?" he asked. "Because then Sycorax would have bigger problems?"
Their monster was nodding frantically at that—she ignored it. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but these things could eat us—it's the same sort of monster that landed on the cop car and was in the sewer!"
Tadashi fidgeted—
They both looked over at one scratching at its cage, looking at them plaintively.
She didn't need that look in his eyes when they looked back at each other.
"Someone has to help," he told her sternly.
Give him a stern look back. "We don't have the time to put in every single code."
He grimaced at that—
"What?" she asked, watching him with concern when he blinked rapidly, like an idea had bonked him on the head. "What is it?"
"'Kase—that guy you were hoping for…what, exactly, did he do for a living?"
Really? Seriously? NOW they were having this conversation? "I'm pretty sure he was a supervillain and therefore didn't have a day job," she said, doing her best to keep the bless your little pea brain tone out of her voice.
"No no no—I mean, what did he do?" Tadashi stressed. "Did he work with computers?"
"The best," she said—that much she remembered. Watch as he dug in his pockets—
Pulled out a purple computer chip with a snarling red monster decal on it.
"What kind of work?" he asked her.
She couldn't help the slow smile starting to pull at her beak—snapped around, whistled sharp to stop the barking and howling and other noise. "When we let you out, NONE OF YOU EAT US!"
"Guess that answers that question," Tadashi said, plugging the chip in. "Let's boogie."
The sun was sinking beneath the horizon by the time Big Hero Six arrived at the suspended park of Tenku Plaza, Hiro leading the small phalanx of bird-kids in the air over trying to get them all into Wasabi's car. Nox was clinging to his back, chirping and cheering and cheeping at the others flying close behind, the other three bird-kids vocalizing back, Baymax having to keep to their pace. Well, to Webby and Lena's—Violet kept buzzing circles around them, and he was pretty sure he would have remembered her being this fast before.
"Whatever we fed you, remind me not to give it to you again," he told the little bird-girl.
"No," Violet said, pausing long enough to blow a raspberry at him before circling around again and buzzing down to Wasabi's car.
"Dude, honest, from this angle it's like—I'm getting Fly Away Home vibes," Fred said, bouncing along the rooftops. "Oh hi little dudette," he greeted when Violet buzzed him. "Do I smell better?"
"Fweh," was barely audible on Fred's comm, and then Violet was up and buzzing around Baymax again.
"Hello," Baymax greeted, waving at her. Blinked and looked down, started angling accordingly. "We have now arrived at: Tenku Plaza."
Tenku Plaza was an elevated section, kind of like an overpass converted into greenery that kind of reminded Hiro of a story he had to read for Literature class once. The gardens were well-tended, the mosaic tiles were kept swept, the murals portrayed a nice mix of stories from Japanese fables to Spanish holdings of the area to Californian's stint as a singular republic to Native American tales (and even one featuring Zorro, for some reason). They touched down between the murals depicting the Japanese Tengu and the Native American Thunderbird, Hiro averting his eyes from the Blackfoot [KW1] mural depicting the Raven helping to steal back eyes from Thunder—that one always freaked him out.
In doing so though, he spotted Carl's sparkly motorcycle—as did the bird-kids, who immediately angled there over landing near Hiro—Nox yipped, jumped off Baymax and ran after them, Hiro following shortly—
By the time he got there, there was a tangle of bird-kids hugging each other.
"Well, that's…eight, I guess," Hiro said, rubbing the back of his neck—faintly, over the squawking of the bird-kids, he could hear Wasabi pull up.
"It hits me right here, but in a good way," Felony Carl said, patting his chest. "Hey Hiro."
"Hey," Hiro returned—flinched at the way all eight of the bird-kids immediately stopped, looking sharply at him. Sigh, sag, knew what was coming. "Go on then—OOF!"
Curl up, sorry that he couldn't cover his ears better through his helmet, brace himself against the cheering of 'Dashi-Hiro! 'Dashi-Hiro! until he could feel the bird-kids being peeled off and himself dragged to safety.
"So that was dramatic," Globby said. "Hey, Carl—are you okay?"
"Been better," Carl said.
"Felony Carl has suffered: no injury," Baymax announced. Blinked at Hiro. "You have also suffered no injury."
"Yay for me," Hiro muttered—grimaced when another bird-kid latched onto him.
"What about this one?" Honey Lemon asked, adjusting her hold on the one she had to show its leg in a splint.
Baymax looked at it. "The: tibia, has suffered a greenstick fracture several weeks ago. It is approximately ninety-eight percent healed."
"Well that's good—yes hi," Honey Lemon said, when the bird-kid screamed in her face.
Webby bounced up and down, waving her hands before pointing. "Della," she said, indicating the one Honey Lemon had. "Huey. Dewey. Louie." This with pointing at the other three. Look at the bird-kids. "'Dashi-Hiro. Bhh-mhh. 'Zabi. Gogo. Aiko. Fwah."
"My dudes I am loving the naming theme," Fred said, waving—Dewey screamed at him and tackled him. "Dude, tackle-hugs are not nice—"
"Wait," Globby said, looking around. "Where's—"
"She went in already," Carl said, gesturing. "I tried telling her to wait."
"Who?" Hiro asked.
"'Kase—bird-person, but older."
"There was something familiar about her, I just can't put my finger on it," Globby said, rubbing where his chin would be if he weren't coated in pink gelatin.
"Uh," Wasabi noised. "So I'm going to ask a question, and I don't want you to take it the wrong way, but—"
"I'm pretty sure I still have fingers."
"Okay yeah that was the question."
Globby waved him off. "Trust me, you haven't asked anything I haven't already asked myself. Turning into a monster changes a man."
"Not really," Carl told him.
But speaking of monsters…the reason they were here. Look across the railing, across the bay….
Everyone fell silent as they looked at the gleaming monolith that was Sycorax.
"So…what's the plan, then?" Globby asked.
Hiro swallowed hard, turned to the bird-kids.
"You all stay here with Globby and Carl," he ordered. "Stay. The rest of us are going in."
"No," Webby said, hooking a hand in Hiro's belt. "No stay you stay—"
"I can't," he told her, unhooking her hand and holding her at arms-length. "Someone has to help. Stay."
Several of the bird-kids had wilfed down to nothing—the little red-clad one peeped, held up a box—
Gogo took it. "What is this?"
Baymax blinked at it. "The chemical composition suggests: gene cleansers."
"Good thing or bad thing?" Globby asked.
"Well, it would have been nice when we were trying to get you back to normal," Honey Lemon said—looked at Lena tugging on her skirt and shaking her head.
"No bad no-good bad," Webby said, pointing at the box. "Bad-bad-bad—"
"We can't take it with us now anyway," Gogo said, putting it in Wasabi's car before closing the door. Wasabi locked it, pocketed the keys—looked blankly at the bird-kids when several of them imitated the little chirp-chirp that said the doors locked.
"Okay," Hiro said, looking at Globby and Carl. "So…."
"Keep an eye on the bird-kids while you storm the bad guys' place?" Globby asked.
"Uh, yeah—I mean—"
"We can handle it," Carl assured him.
"No no no," the little red-clad one chirped, going to Wasabi's car and pawing against the side. Wasabi opened it, watched blankly as the little bird-kid grabbed the box and trotted back over to the other bird-kids.
"Oh…kay," Wasabi noised, closing his car again. "Okay then…let's do it."
"Right," Hiro said, climbing back up on Baymax—waved the bird-kids that tried to follow him off. "No, you stay."
"Yeah no," Globby said, herding the bird-kids back over. "Come over here and sit with Uncle Carl."
Hiro decided not to comment, patted Baymax on the shoulder once everyone who was supposed to be hanging on was doing so. "We'll be back."
"We'll be here as backup if you need it!"
"Good luck," Carl offered, cradling several of the bird-kids.
Yeah—they were going to need it.
No no no no this was BAD 'Dashi-Hiro was leaving again and yes he was with his flock his flight but this was still leaving and that was bad—
But they were also going to rescue 'Dashi and the others, which was good, and 'Kase was going to rescue the others, which was good, it was just that Webby didn't like being left behind she wanted to go and help she wanted to FIGHT—
Della and Dewey agreed, they needed to go over there and help—
"Let's not," big-no-feather-Carl said, picking first Dewey then Della then Webby up and putting them one by one into small nest-thing that smelled faintly of the huffling monsters that liked to wander around city.
"Okay, we can handle this," Globby said. "And if worst comes to worst we can be backup—oh wait how many kids was there supposed to be—okay we had four, and then they brought four, so…."
"Eight."
Webby crawled back out of the small nest-thing and padded over to Lena as she stared across bay at the bad-place—and it was the bad-place it felt like her—whistled sadly and hugged her, trying not to tremble.
Lena hugged her back, chittering no like-no…too close to the bad-place, where 'Dashi was being held where the others were being held all at the mercy of her—
Ear twitched at the sound of no-feather-Globby starting to sound frantic in his quiet counting.
"Are we sure it was eight?" no-feather-Globby asked big-no-feather-Carl finally. "Because I keep counting seven."
She looked over, looked around—
Nox!
Attention immediately snapped back across bay, where 'Dashi-Hiro and his flock his flight had gone—of course Nox would go with them, even if it was to the bad-place—going there meant 'Dashi, and Nox would fight her a hundred times over if it meant being back with 'Dashi 'Dashi was good and safe and older-brother and good—
She would too, come to think of it.
What doing-you? Lena chirped, as Webby started walking purposefully towards clear-spot for launching.
"'Dashi," she declared, looking back as she pointed at the bad-place.
"Uh, no," no-feather-Globby said, going slip and squish and getting in front of them, arms wide and face stern. "No you're staying right here and waiting for Big Hero Six to get back trust me they can do it."
No.
No Webby was tired of stay and wait and no she wanted 'Dashi and she was going to go get 'Dashi.
Della agreed, leaping out of small nest-thing and shrieking how nothing could stop her, Dewey echoing her cry and bounding a different way—determined faces were on everybody and within short moments they were all darting this way and that making the no-feathers dizzy and ducking under brush and slipping away—
"HA!" no-feather-Globby barked, diving in front of them before they could reach edge of cliff. "No—no going over there that place is bad news."
"No!" Lena squawked, paws curled angrily.
Big-no-feather-Carl kneeled close to them. "Why do you need to go over there?"
"'Dashi," Webby told him, pointing at the bad-place. "'Dashi good want hiir want-want-want—"
Big-no-feather-Carl had an expression like the olders got sometimes, that said I understand. "They're going to go get him back, though—it's safer for you here."
"Yes," she agreed—but safe was not always good, good was being with all flock all flight and if they were not all here then they were not all safe and she wanted everyone to be safe and if she had to fight to get that then so be it.
"No," Lena said—
Dodged around no-feather-Globby and flew away.
"Oh great," no-feather-Globby said, flapping arms that slapped with smack and squish against his sides—twitched in surprise when Louie climbed up to launch after Lena. "And where are you going?"
'Dashi, Louie said with determination on his face. Getting 'Dashi-tired of not-trying.
Webby blinked as Louie followed Lena, blinked at his statement—Louie had never been one for fighting, had given up long before they had in the bad-place and just accepted their fate—
Della and Dewey cheered, launched into the air after Louie, Violet whistling and going BUZZ and following—Huey blinked at her, still hugging the box of no-good bad poison—
Webby looked back at big-no-feather-Carl, still with the I understand face—
Leaped up on him and hugged neck tight, rubbing her face against clothes and purring reassurance—she had only known these no-feathers for short-short time, but they were good were nice were just worried like 'Dashi would worry—
But she had to do this. She, too, had grown tired of waiting for bad-fate—'Dashi was in trouble, so they would go and rescue him.
"Be careful," big-no-feather-Carl said, patting her on the back.
"Yes," she said, letting go and slipping back off him. Huey chirped, put box down and put arms up—hugged too, purring—dropped down, grabbed box, followed Webby as she flapped hard after the others.
You-join us-yes? Lena chirped when she came close, tone vaguely sarcastic like 'Kase would do.
"Yes," Webby chirped back, glancing behind—could see the two friendly no-feathers standing on cliff, illuminated by lights-that-weren't-fire—looked back at the giant thing that was the bad-place glowing sickly green in the dark. Angle around carefully, chirping and chirruping plan—
Louie was the first one to point and dive down, landing close near the side of cliff that was bad-place, picking at something as the rest landed in half-circle around him.
This-in-yes, Louie explained, picking at small round things at the corners of a bigger squarish thing—Webby chirped in interest, picked at the other side, found that if you stuck claw in and turned just so, the round things would come out—
First one clattered to the ground to be snatched up, then another, then another, then another—
And then squarish thing fell to the ground too.
Lena and Dewey dragged it sideways, all of them peering into long dark tunnel that was low and tight and enclosed and not safe and no good no with breeze smelling strongly of the bad-place blowing into their faces—
But 'Dashi was in there. 'Kase was in there. Beth and Sue and Sashi and Brittany and Mei and Harry and Drew and Taylor and Trisha and Grump—
Deep breath, crawl in, keeping low and putting paws just so in shh-quiet—small chirp to tell the others to follow—
They were going to get their flock their flight back.
Globby watched the bird-kids fly away, looked at Felony Carl. "Is this such a good idea?"
"I don't really know," Carl said. "But sometimes you have to go with your gut."
Your gut. Yeah, great idea. Like his gut had really helped him a lot in years past—
A sinking, hollow, cold feeling in the area where his stomach probably still was, listening as his boss outlined his plans for San Fransokyo—he was expecting like…a hostile takeover or something…nothing like this—
Had debated and fretted, knowing if he did this he'd be throwing his lot in with the good guys, would be nuked same as the rest of the city—
But if he didn't do it, the city would be destroyed. His friend Carl would be destroyed. Everything he ever cared about—gone.
And could he really live with himself, making that decision?
It was surprisingly easy and made his stomach clench less to slip through a crack in the door the little boy-hero had just bounced off of—much easier than making that decision, but getting there once he committed.
"Hey there! Need a hand?"
Sigh at that memory, realizing that yes, Carl had a point—consider. "Maybe we should be closer? So we can hear if something goes wrong?"
"I like that plan," Carl said, already heading for his bike. "Come on."
Motoring across the Bay Bridge and taking the turnoff leading to Sycorax, Globby had the sneaking suspicion that yeah, this was the right thing.
If only because it felt surprisingly similar to helping Hiro escape and Big Hero Six save the day.
Cass Hamada had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, the kind that usually preceded stress-eating.
She couldn't put her finger on it, just knew that something was wrong. Flick through the news, glance out the café windows as the last couple of patrons left—
That white van—it was still sitting there, had been sitting there for a while now, on the side street with a perfect view into the café.
Hesitate, debating—closing the blinds would mean they knew she knew they were watching…what was she even thinking? Who were they? Some nebulous threat—come on, be real, vans like that were all over the city! Probably delivering something.
Except delivery vans didn't sit there for ages. And with the stories of people getting snatched—
Frantically dial Hiro, got his voicemail—dial his friends, got the same response, dial his school to hear that he had left earlier, dial the Fredricksons to be assured by Mrs. Fredrickson that the kids were fine they might be in the movies and have to have their cell phones turned off I know Frederick wanted to see that Kentucky Kaiju movie again—
That didn't make her feel better.
Unbidden, her mind went to the last time she couldn't get a hold of Hiro, just a few months ago—tried calling him multiple times during that whole event, what the news called a countdown to catastrophe—she had been frantic, calling everyone she could in-between cooking up a storm and stress-eating—had tackled Hiro in relief and refused to let go of him—had checked on him multiple times before going to bed—
Had not been surprised when he crawled into bed with her that night, hugging him hugging her, telling him it was okay—
It had almost not been okay at all.
And now she had that same sinking feeling and couldn't shake it, and she suspected that white van had something to do with it.
Well joke's on you, buddy, she thought angrily, dialing a fresh number. I've got connections.
The phone picked up. "San Fransokyo Police Department."
"Hi, can I talk to Police Chief Diego Cruz, please?" she asked. "Tell him it's Cass Hamada." Start stress-eating a donut while she waited, keeping an eye on that van and oh this was GOOD—pace around the house and make sure the doors were locked, grab a frying pan to have it handy—
"Hey, Cass!" Cruz said, finally getting on the line. "I'm sorry about last time—"
"It's okay," she assured him quickly. "That's…actually kind of why I called? There's this white van parked on the hill watching my café and it's been there for hours, it feels like."
"That does sound suspect," he muttered—heard him talk to someone else. "I'll send a few cars over, maybe the bomb squad to check the van over."
"I'd really appreciate it, Diego, thanks."
"No problem." Hesitate—"I'll come over too—sit with you while that's getting squared away, maybe catch up some more."
"That'd—I'd like that, thanks," she said, leaning against the counter.
"Good—we'll be over there in a few minutes, Cass, don't worry."
"I'm—okay I'm a little worried but…you or Megan haven't heard from Hiro, have you? I can't get him on his cell."
Silence. "Do you want me to send out a few cars to look for him?"
"I—" Did she? Or did she want someone telling her she was overreacting? Mrs. Fredrickson hadn't quite told her that, just offered an alternative to her fretting—
But Hiro was the only family she had left, and something deep inside was telling her he was in danger.
"Yes please," she said finally. "Only—you know, if he's fine don't make a big deal out of it."
"Send out the SWAT team, got it," Cruz said jokingly. "Hey, he can have the same sort of story Megan has—I'll tell you about it when I come over, okay?"
"Okay—see you in a few minutes!" she said, hanging up—considered the windows, her frying pan, before deciding to start cooking.
If worst came to worst, a hot frying pan full of oil would stop a person a lot better than just cold cast iron.
Sycorax was surprisingly intimidating up-close and in the dark.
Activate one of the little tools he had machined up for the occasion as Baymax touched down, pointing it at the various cameras in the loading area in the back—there were several white vans scattered around the area, a couple backed up into an open loading bay. Very suspect.
But also their best way in.
"Okay," he said, pulling out more of the camera jammers as the others hopped off Baymax—well, Wasabi sort of fell off and hugged the ground, but close enough. "Everyone know the plan?"
"Get in, get out, don't get caught," Gogo said.
"Be excellent supers and fight crime!" Fred exclaimed.
"Be careful and get Karmi and the bird-people out," Honey Lemon offered.
"'Dashi."
"Yeah I'm wanting to verify that guy for myself," Wasabi said, dusting himself off as he stood—
About a second later everyone realized the who, what, where, and why of that one word.
"No!" Hiro barked, leaning over Baymax's shoulder to see Nox clinging to his chest. "No! Bad bird-kid! This is dangerous!"
"This rescue mission is for seasoned professionals only!" Mini-Max agreed.
"'Dashi," Nox insisted. "'Dashi yes 'Dashi—"
"How did you two miss him?" Gogo asked, gesturing at Fred and Wasabi. "You were down there with him!"
"Hey, I had my eyes closed you know how I am about the heights!" Wasabi protested.
"And my peripheral vision isn't like, the totally best in the suit," Fred offered. "Also I was busy getting in the zone, you know…but this is good, I think we're close to step five which is tag-alongs so…."
It looked like it was taking all of Gogo's self-control not to throttle Fred right now. "We cannot take a kid on a heist."
Hiro narrowed his eyes at Honey Lemon and Wasabi glancing at him, looked at Gogo. "Oh, we upgraded to heist now? I thought we were calling it a rescue mission and being done with it."
"I wish," Gogo muttered, rubbing her face. Hiro felt that on a deep personal level.
Hiro was also annoyed by the fact that Nox didn't even blink at being glared at.
"Rrrgh fine," he gusted—pointed at Nox. "But you behave yourself, stick with Baymax, no funny business. Got it?"
"Yes," Nox chirped, crawling over Baymax's shoulder to cling on his back next to Hiro, pressed annoyingly close. Sigh, slide off, ignoring his indignant squawk to hand the camera jammers to the others.
"I'm guessing at some point we might have to split up," he said. "You can either press this button to futz all cameras in the area or point and click, but with our luck once they start noticing cameras going out they'll investigate—be quick and stay on the comms for as long as you can." Knowing this building, their connections would probably break in short order.
Gogo nodded, patted him on the back. "Be careful."
"Everyone be careful," Honey Lemon stressed.
"Before we do," Fred declared—put the paw of his costume out. "To the power of six!"
Everyone followed suit. "To the power of six!"
Pump their hands, nod to each other—Hiro clambered back onto Baymax as they went into the garage.
Time to be a hero—time to save Karmi, his family, free the bird-people, and shut Liv Amara down.
No pressure.
Chris was busy getting his mistress a nice cup of relaxing tea, froze at his phone buzzing. Looked at it—
Grimaced, grabbed the tea and ran for her office as fast as he could without spilling it.
"Um, hi," he said, ducking in. "I brought you some nice chamomile tea with a slice of that delicious blueberry scone from the Lucky Cat."
"Wonderful, she muttered, taking the tea without looking at him. "And I suppose that'll be a loss—I liked those scones."
"It will be," he said, wincing a little. "You seem…distressed."
"It's just that good help is so hard to find these days!" she griped, gesturing at the giant tank she had been glaring at. Inside, one of the monsterfied members of High Voltage slipped through some of the genetically altered kelp before once again disappearing from view.
"Ah—"
"You don't count," she told him. "Well, you do count, but you only count because I made you that way." Bite into the scone. "Ugh, Karmi going like that shouldn't put me in this foul a mood—oh, this is so good."
"Uh, yeah," he said. "Remember that good mood you were in? I need you to hold onto that for just a teeny bit longer—"
"What happened."
He winced at the flat tone. "Ah…someone's breaking in?"
"UGH—don't tell me, Big Hero Six?"
"Ah, no," he said, handing her his phone before pressing the appropriate buttons on her computer. "But the answer may please you."
It did—another bird-person, back to the roost.
"Yes, that does," she confirmed. "Let's see, do we let those monsters out to have some fun, or just lock them in?"
"Locking them in seems more economic," he advised. "And then you can have the Hamada boy watch his brother get torn apart live and in color—really drive the message home."
"Ooh, I like the way you think," she said, squishing his cheeks. "Let's just lock those doors real quick, shall we?" Start typing at her computer—
Red blared across it—access denied.
"What?" she gasped. "Excuse you this is my company!"
"Ah…the computer can't hear you," he reminded her.
"You shush this makes me feel better," she said, typing out something different—
A maddeningly familiar logo blared on the screen—his logo, somehow.
"Wha—how—" Slam her fist on the table. "That last time—he must have—"
"Uh," Chris noised, watching the security camera, seeing the other Hamada brat glaring at the camera before going back to whatever he was doing—
Her screen blanked out before printing out, in big bold letters: access denied, and…you didn't say the magic word! Ah-ah-ah, you didn't say the magic word! Repeating infinitely and ad nauseum, filling the screen before she finally turned it off, leaning forward and steaming for a moment.
"Chris, honey," she said, standing up. "We're going to the computer bank on Sublevel Three, firstly, and then we're going to pluck those two like the turkeys they are."
"You may want the rest of your tea first," he offered.
"I'll have tea on the way," she snapped, heading for the door—paused at a new alert. "Now what?"
Chris checked the security feed. "Ah…your favorite: Big Hero Six."
Scowl at that. "Lock the building down."
"With pleasure."
