Chapter 49, everybody! And OH SNAP THIS ONE AND THE NEXT ONE—

Real talk I was writing these two up late at night in October and there were moments when I had to get up and walk about the house I have been EXCITED about posting these prepare yourselves.

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: Did watch the new episode though and…not a fan. :\

Also not a fan of the fact that Disney has apparently decided to can the BH6 series too send all salt to Disney corporate for every nastygram they get that represents fifteen people who couldn't be bothered so WRITE TO THEM.

Back to the chapter itself…chapter title this week comes from Fall Out Boy's song "Immortals," from the Big Hero 6 movie. Good stuff. :D

Canonically, Baymax's scanner is indeed tripped up by Sycorax's building. Also canon: the group getting picked off real easy by Momakase when they split up to cover more ground. Pretty sure they were in teams then, too. And I agree with Fred he makes a better Shaggy. XD

And yes, Dr. Amara got funding from the Fredricksons so it makes sense that they were invited to a fundraising and of course Fred would draw that correlation. Meantime, the wine joke is in reference to being eight-sixed, which ironically is slang for having the booze cut off or being kicked out of a bar. Also send help the villains are self-aware. :O

Moving on…originally I was going to have the issue at the café be solved off-screen but I realized I was robbing Aunt Cass of her moment to shine and this was a crime I was not willing to commit. Pretty sure the dude was genetically modified though so...he lasted two minutes instead of one.

In other news Hiro's out here asking the hard questions. And the end of this chapter WRECKED ME I want you all to know this.

Angelwings2002, thanks for the review! Ahh, thank you! And yes! The fine feathered friends reunite! :D

Hexyah, thanks for the review! Ah, a reviewer of good taste. :D I wasn't actually certain if they existed in real life but looking at pictures they are very nice. Ah, thank you I'm glad you think so like Carl said it hit me right in the heart but in a good way so I'm glad you feel the same. :D And that last sentence is a whole mood and a half right there, ngl.

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

Ducktales © 2017 Disney

As Hiro expected, they had to split up soon after sneaking into Sycorax. Also expected: Baymax's scanners couldn't cover very much ground in here, even with Hiro beefing it up. Comms would probably fail too.

"Are we sure this is such a good idea?" Wasabi asked, peering down the long hall. "I mean, last time we split up we got nabbed super easy."

"Yeah, but we have experience now! Take notes, little bird-dude," Fred said to Nox.

Nox didn't respond, Nox had been still and small and quiet ever since they went into Sycorax, ears flat and eyes constantly scanning, whimpering quietly deep in his throat and not doing much for Hiro's nerves.

"We'll still stay in teams," Hiro offered, sidling a little away from Nox to better address everyone and suppressing a sigh when Nox moved to stay plastered against him. "Split up two by two so someone's always watching someone's back."

"So we Scooby-Doo it—I can dig it," Fred said, hugging Wasabi. "Wasabi, dude, I think you might actually be Fred in this I mean I know I'm Fred but I think I fit Shaggy better."

"Fred, focus," Gogo ordered. "Hiro, you have more experience in here—where do we go?"

Where indeed. Think, consider the last time he was in here—

"Professor Knox was being held in Sublevel Nine," he said. "That would be a good place to start."

"And Dr. Amara's office is up near the top of the building," Fred offered. "Went with Mom when she was invited over for the whole fundraising thing, totally like Die Hard only we didn't have Bruce Willis. And, you know, no one died or got shot."

"We still have the problem of contacting each other once we find what we're looking for," Gogo pointed out.

"I actually got this one!" Fred exclaimed, sticking his hand out of his suit's mouth. "Low-tech time!"

"Not sure that walkie-talkies would work any better, but they're worth a shot," Hiro decided, accepting one that Wasabi handed up to him.

"Excellent!" Fred said, giving them a thumbs-up before pulling his arm back in. "Our channel is seven—I was thinking maybe six, but then I figured that'd be too obvious, y'know?"

Hiro rolled his eyes, patted Baymax on the shoulder. "Okay then…good luck everybody."

"We will be awesome enough that we won't NEED luck!" Mini-Max declared, before swooping after Fred and Wasabi. Honey Lemon and Gogo gave him one last look, went down a different path—Baymax turned, started walking down the last hall available—

Nox made a sort of hhh! noise shortly after they started, Hiro hearing it moments after—glance around at the repeating wooshing noise—

The bank of windows they were passing sealed shut, metal shutters clanging into place, a metal door slamming shut behind them.

"Oh no," Baymax noised.

"Yeah," Hiro sighed. "Come on, we've gotta hurry—they know we're here."


Oh yes they did.

"Let's see, how shall we play this?" she asked, swirling her tea before sipping it. "Mmm, actually get the champagne—or the wine this feels like a wine moment."

"Genetic strain thirty-seven or forty-eight?" Chris asked.

"Mmm, surprise me," she said, handing the empty teacup to him. "Now, do we call the police and accuse them of trespassing…." Maybe not—there was a chance the police chief would want to investigate thanks to that busybody daughter of his. Better to just take care of this quietly.

"So," she said, accepting the glass Chris handed her. "I'm thinking we've got some new test subjects."

"At least five," he said. "The little blue one and the big red one are robots, according to Karmi's fanfiction."

"So sad, another good thing lost to poor decisions." Sip the wine. "Ooh, I like this one—which is it?"

"Eighty-six—I found the number appropriately ironic."

Very, considering Big Hero Six was about to be Big Hero Nix. "Well we can always use the robots as toys for our new experiments," she decided. "And I know I've got plenty of new ones I want to try." Start scanning through her files. "Let's see, we're already locked in, so…let's have them alone with the monster, shall we?"

"Which one?"

"Oh we have options," she said, watching as they split up—opened up a couple of new windows to keep track of them, pull up her file. "Hmm…not High Voltage, we'd have to flood the floor, and not the Mayoi, they're not useful at the size they need to be in here." Pause on a new acquisition. "Oh, this works."

"Very nice," he said as she woke the new experiment up and sent it on its way—of course he felt that way, that was his entire reason for being. "Ah, we do have a whole room full who'd happily hunt them down…."

"Ah, right—and take care of those two annoyances to boot." Send the order. "As for this one—"

Pause when she realized there were two little brats clinging to the red one like ticks.

"Well well well, thank you kindly," she said, sipping her wine. "Might not be of any use to me, but that's one less little monster running the street."

"And that explains why they're here," Chris observed.

"Indeed." Drain her glass, hand it to him. "You take care of some of the finagling down here, get everything running again, and get back to my office—I have a few pests to greet."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked her as she scooped her tablet up. "Dramatically greeting your arch-nemesis before they're in a cage is a little dangerous."

"Oh, honey," she said, patting his cheek. "They already are in a cage—they just don't know it yet."


Cass's ears were peeled for the telltale jingle of her door, hoping it was Cruz—

Felt her blood freeze when she realized it wasn't.

"Oh hi!" she greeted, trying for chipper as she brought her pan with her, already mourning the battered shrimp within. "Sorry, we just closed—was gonna finish these guys up and lock the door—"

"Aw, you can spare a second for me, can't you?" the guy asked. "I just wanted a cup of coffee, honest."

Narrow her eyes at him, look him up and down—dressed in black with a tiny green logo on his chest, right above where a chest pocket would be. "That's it?" she asked.

"Definitely looking for a cup of coffee."

She made a pensive noise, put the pan down, moved to the coffee machine, filled up a styrofoam mug. "It'll have to be to go—"

Gasp when he grabbed her wrist. "And you'll be coming with me too."

"No let me go—"

"Listen, lady, this'll go much easier if you don't—EYOW!"

Good Mochi good boy—had his teeth and claws sunk into the guy's leg, let her scramble closer to her target—

Made her flare hot when he kicked Mochi away—

The guy was definitely unprepared for a frying pan full of hot oil to the face. Went down screaming—

She went down on him, still whaling.

"YOU! DON'T! COME! IN! MY! CAFÉ!" she bellowed, punctuating each word with another swing. "AND! YOU! DON'T! TOUCH! MY! CAT!" Keep swinging, barely hearing more footsteps over the clanging of steel—

"Woah woah CASS! Chill!" Hands grabbed her wrists—she twisted to fight back—

Dropped the pan when she recognized Diego Cruz.

Police Chief Diego Cruz.

"Diego!" she squeaked. "Uh…remember when we were younger, and you totally swore you'd help me hide a body if something went wrong?"

Cruz grimaced at the guy groaning and whimpering on her floor. "Uh, Cass…yeah no." Tug her away from the guy, toe him—"I'm nailing you for attempted kidnapping, you know that right?"

The guy might have tried to whimper and point, but cast iron and hot oil really impaired that ability.

Cruz's radio crackled. "Cruz—everything all right in there?"

He grabbed it, angled it so he could talk into it better as he hugged Cass. "Uh, yeah, sort of—send the medics in here, one guy got banged up." Glance at her. "Think he slipped and took a frying pan down with him."

She slapped him lightly on the chest, hugged him back, glad he was squeezing a little tighter because it quieted her shaking a bit—

"Are you okay?" he asked finally, pulling away from her a little as the medics came in. "He didn't get the chance to do anything, did he?"

"Just grabbed me," she said, looking down at her shaking hands—her wrist was starting to bruise and she had gotten some splatter from the hot oil on the backs of her hands. "Let me just—rinse that off—"

"You do that, and then we get you out of here and to the ambulance—I want someone to check you over and you need to get out of here anyway; this place is a crime scene now." Narrow his eyes at an officer that followed the medics in. "Secure the area, and don't eat the evidence."

"No promises," the officer said, eyeing the cake under a clear cloche.

"I'm coming, I'm okay," she said, drying her shaking hands as he gently tugged her away. "Mochi—here boy—"

"Mrow," Mochi noised, leaping up into her arms and still bristling at the guy that had broken in.

"It's okay, Mochi," she told him, stroking him. "We'll have Baymax—" Oh no. Look at Cruz. "Hiro—did you find him—"

"Not yet," he said, rubbing her arm as he led her outside and to a nearby ambulance—the white van was hidden by several police cars with flashing lights. "I've got guys checking all the movie theaters and arcades right now, and then we're fanning out from there."

Oh boy—stomach dip when it occurred to her where he could be. "Um…you…haven't checked Good Luck Alley yet, have you?"

Part of his expression dipped into disapproving dad mode. "No, not yet—you get checked over, I'll see about that."

"Okay," she said, letting herself get sat down. "You—that was a phase of his—he was into bot-fighting—"

"Cass, it's okay," he said, squeezing her shoulder—smiled at her. "And hey—do me a favor: wait to cash in on that until after I'm not in law enforcement?"

Smile weakly at him. "Okay, but you know I can't wait around for you forever."

Diego laughed, went over to several more cops, pointing and gesturing and probably sending some units to Good Luck Alley, where Hiro hopefully wasn't.

Oh Hiro please be safe wherever you are, she begged fervently.


Okay, so if you asked Hiro this wasn't going too well.

They had angled back deeper into the building once it became clear they weren't leaving, Hiro debating on how they'd bust back out—he was thinking either friendly Knox-type monster or Baymax's overdrive mode, and if they went with the latter then they were definitely going to leave that for last.

In the meantime, though.

"Baymax, can you scan for anything in here?" he asked.

"Scanning," Baymax asked. "There are several life forms within range."

"And what's the range?"

Baymax blinked. "Roughly: five hundred feet." Look up. "Two hundred feet."

So he was right, being in the building impacted his scanning ability.

Nox perked at this declaration, though. "'Dashi?"

Baymax blinked again. "Scanning for: Tadashi."

"No—listen, we still have to find Karmi," Hiro insisted. "Bird-people have big claws, she has nothing—Baymax," he groaned, when Baymax picked a turning and waddled down it.

"'Dashi," Nox insisted.

Baymax turned his head a little. "Tadashi is: here."

Those three words felt like a punch to the stomach. "Wh-what?"

"Tadashi is: here."

No—yes, but maybe—no—if it was Tadashi, it was a clone, could wait—there were people who were in more danger—

Are you thinking that because you're viewing the clones as less than human? he asked himself, glancing at Nox, ears perked and looking eagerly over Baymax's shoulder. Would you be asking this if you thought it was just normal people in danger? Are they less than because they came into this world differently?

Clenched his fists, struggling to organize himself, to brace himself for the inevitable shock….

Gust out a breath of air. "Find him, Baymax."

Baymax blinked, looked forward. "Finding: Tadashi." Waddled away, Nox bouncing a little, Hiro feeling that impatience himself—what if—what if—it couldn't be the real Tadashi Hamada he was dead had died in the SFIT fire—

You thought Callaghan did too—how'd that one turn out?

Grit his teeth—no—no—it still wasn't possible—

So many people lifted off the streets, so many John Does lifted out of hospitals—

Tadashi would have tried to contact them before now, would have called, would have done something

Flinch, gasp at a touch to his arm—looked over sharply at Nox looking at him in concern, sidling over to press his side tight along Hiro's—

Want 'Dashi.

It wouldn't be like he could rock into a store and buy a new phone—and if—if he had tried to call or contact Hiro before—

Staring at the thing in front of him, a sick feeling roiling in his stomach, icy snakes shredding his guts apart as the truth started ripping through his critically malfunctioning brain—

"Y-yhh—you're not Tadashi," he managed to choke out finally.

The specter's face twisting, the San Fransokyo Ninjas logo on his hat morphing into a snarling one-eyed monster—

"Clever boy."

Hiro wouldn't believe it—couldn't believe it, the evidence was all right there—

What if they had cloned Tadashi?

A stranger with Tadashi's face, with some of his mannerisms but none of him in there, so focused on finding him only to realize there was nothing there—

Force his breathing to be even, knowing he was edging dangerously close to hyperventilation—Baymax would stop and insist on checking him and they didn't have time for that just—just brace yourself, you're about to come face to face with the shock of your life and—

Baymax stopped, looked some sliding bay doors up and down—huge, metal, taller than he was—looked at a button on the side and pressed it—

The doors slid open, inside dark and echoing but for the bit of light revealed by the opening, their shadows clear cut on the concrete floor—it looked like a giant dark monster with three heads, Hiro inanely struck by how Nox's ears made his silhouette similar to Hiro's with his helmet on—

Faintly, faintly, heard gasps and scrabbling—

Baymax lifted an arm, pointed. "Tadashi is: over there."

Hiro froze, all blood abandoning his head, his body, leaving ice in its wake—stiff, eyes raking the blackness Baymax was pointing at—

Nox had no such reservations.

Hiro barely had time to register the excited shriek before Nox launched himself off Baymax's shoulder, galloping across the concrete on all fours, shrieking 'DASHI!—vanished into the dark, hit something hard from the sounds of it—

Barely heard above the ringing shriek a disbelieving Nox!? followed by the OOOF of getting slammed into and knocked to the floor—ringing in his ears and Nox's wailing wanting to drown the voice out but unable to—

"What are you DOING here how'd you find me huh?"

A voice he thought he'd never hear again.

He slipped off Baymax's back, was around him, legs stiff, body trembling—

"Hiro," Baymax said, looking at him—wave him off—could—could barely see—but there, shapes—hands shaking why was he shaking so badly? Throat dry, swallow hard—

"Hhh—'Dashi?"

He had barely been able to wrench that past his throat closing in on itself, was enough to make the shapes in the dark freeze—couldn't breathe, suddenly couldn't breathe with his helmet on, it was too tight and choking him—tug it off, chest starting to heave—no, it wasn't, it couldn't—it wasn't—he knew better—

But part of him was begging to be wrong.

"T-Tadashi?" he squeaked finally, not daring to hope.

Silence, long silence—nerves starting to break like brittle piano wire—

"Hey, little brother."