Safe in Brother's Wings Chapter 51: Wingbeats Against Bars, a DuckTales + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 51, everybody! And oh boy it's about to get REAL—

Also I want to thank everyone for their reviews they were precisely what I was hoping for. XD

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 final episodes and…disappointing, soft™ but not the big high notes that Seasons 1 and 2 went out on. As I said before, send all salt to Disney corporate every nastygram they get that represents fifteen people who couldn't be bothered so WRITE TO THEM.

If the bars Dr. Amara use on the group seem familiar, Momakase used similar bars in the episode "Fan Friction," where Overdrive Mode was also introduced. Kind of a reason Hiro doesn't want to go too far into it his brother will never let him hear the end of this. XD Also Mrs. Kowalski is an OC who always ends up in these fics as a background character she's very well-travelled.

And can't resist having yet another quote from one of the big inspirations for the fic, Homeward Bound. And another to Jurassic Park, Skulduggery Pleasant and the 1998 Godzilla movie feel sorry for 'Kase now she's getting it in stereo. XD And the biometric scanners were shown off during the Season 2 premiere episode "Internabout," with Sublevel Nine being revealed in "Prey Date."

And then bounce back a tiny bit in time only because we're catching up with some bird-kids. :D Bonus for having references to Guardians of Ga'Hoole and Kim Possible—the same guys who did Kim Possible did Big Hero 6 I might have missed on the Smarty Mart but I am NOT missing a reference to HenchCo. XD

And of course Della is the oldest she's the adult in canon. Followed by Lena, who is fifteen compared to the other kids' preteen ages in canon. And uh…my opinion every time Chris shows up in the show is that Dr. Amara made herself a genetically engineered boy toy and I have literally seen nothing to counteract this.

Also, probably important: the kids are crawling around in a lot smaller duct than Tadashi and 'Kase were, which means it can't hold the weight at weak points like the bigger one can. And yes, fewer points to spread weight on means more pressure on the remaining points. Birds do like to chew on fabric our Moluccan Cockatoo loves to chew on the scarves we put on her. And layers are definitely important and leather with silk lining does stop most things stay safe out west in that cold friends.

Angelwings2002, thanks for the review! Thank you! And AAAAAAH! Yes, the fine feathered friends! And oh yes THAT SCENE—ah, get your number and sword ready, we're getting into the hand-throwing section. Yes to getting the rest of the team and yes to the movie night. And thank you! :D

Hexyah, thanks for the review! Me neither. :O Writing it was interesting because it was write sentence, stare at sentence with hand to mouth, get up and walk around house, sit down, write another sentence, repeat. Yes it's an excellent film and very quotable. :D

SilverPhoenix, thanks for the review! *inhales* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Everyone spun at the new voice, Tadashi on his feet and pushing Hiro behind him—

All of them flinching as the lights came on, temporarily blinded by the fluorescent lighting.

"Now isn't this nice," Liv Amara said from a high scaffolding. "All my missing experiments come home at last. And look at that—Hiro Hamada. So you're the leader of Big Hero Six it's so convenient when two of my enemies end up being the same person that just cuts down on all the fuss."

Hiro grimaced, tugged his helmet back on—stupid stupid stupid—

"Back off," Tadashi growled—actually growled, tail lashing—

"Aw, so cute," Liv Amara teased, smiling at him. "Don't think I didn't do some reading—Tadashi Hamada, right? If I had known that earlier I would have had a welcoming party waiting for you."

"Right. Nox, honey, cover your eyes," the blue bird-lady said, waving a clawed hand at him. "There's about to be a killing."

"It's over, Liv," Hiro called—all else failed, bluffing probably worked. "The cops are on their way, everyone already knows—"

Liv held up a hand. "Please, you didn't involve the police—not with the way the police chief feels about you. And if he did show up, I can just say you broke into my labs—which you did—and oh how convenient, I can tell him precisely who you are! Everyone wins—well, everyone who matters."

Ice in his chest—dangit he should have thought this through—

"And what about me?" Tadashi challenged. "What's your plan there? You're going to have a hard enough time explaining experimenting on people before we get to the part where I'm his brother—pretty sure that makes his presence justified."

"Oh don't you know hon? Monsters don't have families."

Tadashi stiffened—

Hiro wasn't sure what to make of both himself and the bird-lady grabbing handfuls of his wing-feathers, but at least he stopped after the first step.

"See what I mean?" she asked, gesturing a little. "I guess my main mistake was leaving enough sensibility in you for free will, but that is why we test."

Bird-lady looked at Tadashi. "Okay my turn."

Hiro wasn't sure what to make of Tadashi having to catch the bird-lady by her waist to keep her from launching at Liv Amara.

"And at least you weren't a total disappointment, at the end of the day," Liv said to her. "But I'm getting tired of monologuing and I do have other things to address." Wave a hand—

They jumped as a cage dropped down, slamming into place, bars glowing.

"You kids stay right there," Liv said, beaming at them as she turned away. "I have to go finish dealing with my other guests, but rest assured I'll be back for you shortly—I'll send some associates down to take care of you in the meantime."

Hiro felt that Baymax's earlier oh no was very fitting here—waited until Liv disappeared through a door before sagging, relaxing from his bristling.

"Well, the good news," Hiro sighed. "She's probably off to investigate the rest of the team getting in." Tap at the bars, wince at the little sparks that jumped off them. "The bad news is my first idea for getting out of here would involve Overdrive Mode, and that drains Baymax's batteries—he'd be useless afterwards."

"Can I just say I'm still having a hard time processing the fact that you, my robotics project, and all my friends decided to just—become superheroes," Tadashi said, finally letting bird-lady go. "I mean I get Fred, Fred probably either spearheaded this or was a hundred percent backup, but did no one else question this?"

"We kind of had good reasons!"

"We're looking at being dissected and that's what you're hung up on," the blue bird-lady said drily, dusting herself off before pacing away, tapping her claws against the bars. "I don't suppose anyone thought to bring a knife."

"No I left mine in my other suit," Tadashi told her, equally dry.

Hiro twitched, the reason the bird-lady was maddeningly familiar suddenly smacking him in the head—what—she—well he knew she had, if Lena was a mix between—

"You have not been travelling cross-country with a clone of Momakase," he said to Tadashi.

"Oh look at that he is a boy genius," the blue bird-lady said. "Before you answer him, ask how he knows who she is."

"After having met the original Momakase, I feel like I don't want to know the answer," Tadashi said.

"Met—when did you meet the original!?" Hiro demanded.

In response, the bird-lady spread her arms, showing her wings—a good length of feather was cut off of each one. "There was an altercation."

"Going back to you meeting her," Tadashi said, pointing at Hiro. "And apparently Aunt Cass did too what did everyone decide to don costumes while I was gone!?"

"Not everyone," Hiro said. "At least, I can't say for sure about Mrs. Kowalski. Also, don't tell Aunt Cass, she doesn't know about the superhero thing."

"Hiro—"

"Don't Hiro me you don't—you don't get to scold me for this when you were the reason we started it!"

He regretted snapping that out—Tadashi looked like he was already starting to counter when what he said sank in, subsided and looked elsewhere, ears flat and yes that was weird but—

Higher reasoning wanted to insist that this wasn't really Tadashi, that this was another trick by another miserable excuse for a human being. This was as much Tadashi as Nox was Obake.

Except…

Except no. Everything—the way he talked and moved and reacted to everything he had said had reacted to Baymax—everything inside him was screaming that this was really Tadashi Hamada, was really his brother….

"I'm sorry—I wanted to make sure—"

"I don't care—I'm just glad you're back."

That hadn't been a lie—him being here—even if he wasn't the real Tadashi Hamada….

"Uh, hi," the Momakase-clone said, mincing and leaning over. "Can we have the family drama later? On the list of things I'd rather not do today, being recaptured by her is really topping the list—at this point it is the list."

Right, bigger problems—shake his head, focus. "Overdrive Mode might be our only choice," Hiro sighed. "That'll have Baymax out but maybe—"

"Hold it," Tadashi said. "What's this overdrive mode stuff?"

"Well…there's this…okay let's just skip that part of the story Overdrive Mode is like supercharged Baymax that busts through everything but that drains his batteries so then we're left with drunk Baymax and since I have you here WHY did you program that into him?"

"I remember it being funny at the time," Tadashi told him. "And there's got to be other options. Baymax?"

"Scanning," Baymax said, looking around. "The: bars, are powered by a box on the side. Disabling the box would allow for escape. Also, there are heat signatures moving nearby."

"So Overdrive Mode is out because that would attract too much attention, and with Liv's associates close that'd be one teammate down that we need," Hiro decided. "But we can work with the box, I think—"

Something crashed to the floor nearby.

"Or maybe we're lucky?" he tried, glancing up with everyone else, trying to see where the thing had come from—

A small pale head poked out from an overhead duct.

"Hi! I'm Webby!"

"WEBBY!?" came from at least three different sources—no no no what was she doing here—

"'DASHI!" she shrieked, diving down, wings flaring a couple of times before landing, skidding along the floor before slipping through the bars and tackling Tadashi in a hug. "Dashi-Dashi-Dashi—"

"I'm happy to see you too but how—" Tadashi started—was tackled by another small shape—"Violet!?"

"Dssh-shii!" she cheered, hugging tight.

"So who do I blame for the Ducktales names?" Hiro asked—the Momakase clone pointed at Tadashi. "I should have known."

"You hush I'd like to hear you do better." Tadashi shot back.

"At least you did the good one," Hiro said, glancing at Lena, who was still outside the bars and bouncing and whistling with concern—Lena, who was a mix of Momakase and—

"Lena!" Hiro said, redirecting her attention—pointed at the box. "Can you rip that thing open? It's what's keeping us inside."

Lena looked at the box, growled—jumped up, hanging off of it, angled herself better so she could slip her nails in the cover and start tugging.

"'Dashi-Hiro!" Webby cheered, now tackling Hiro in a hug. "'Dashi-Hiro yes 'Dashi—"

"Don't yes me what happened to staying outside none of you listen I want you to know that."

"Finally someone feels my pain," Tadashi muttered.

"I suppose they make you miss your brother more?"

"Actually, compared to you, thirteen bird-kids is a vacation."

"Hey. You big—you know you've got feathers I can pull right now right?"

"Girls, sic 'im."

"No," Violet said, resting her beak on his shoulder.

"No," the Momakase clone said—not to them, to Lena. "Do the sides, Lena—the sides—loosen that a bit, then go back to the top—put your weight into it already."

Lena shrieked in frustration—

Webby slipped back out, wincing at the sparks arcing from the bars—jumped up, wrapped her arms around Lena's waist, threw her weight back with her—

They fell back with the covering.

"Great!" Hiro barked. "Now, there's some wires that you—"

Webby made the same sort of shriek that Nox had upon spotting the chandelier, leaped up, grabbed big fistfuls of wires and yanked—

The glow of the bars died, the corners unlatched, and Baymax was able to push a side open.

"Or, you know, do that," Hiro decided, sidling out, Tadashi and the Momakase clone following—

Tadashi got flattened by the girls tackling him, squeaking and crying in relief like Nox had.

"Yes it's nice to see you too—girls—girls Tadashi can't breathe," Tadashi squawked, freeing up a hand to wave for help.

"'Bet you don't look at birds the same way again,'" Hiro told him, trying to keep from smirking at his situation and failing miserably.

"Ugh boy now there's two of them," the Momakase-clone muttered sourly.

"You spent all this time travelling with someone who doesn't understand references," Hiro said to Tadashi. "You poor thing."

"It's been rough," Tadashi agreed, apparently resigned to his current fate.

"Oh hush you had Sashi," the Momakase-clone snapped.

"Who?" Hiro asked, as Tadashi sat up sharply. "Wait I think Webby mentioned a Sashi—"

"Yeah," Tadashi said. "We were travelling with more than a few people—"

Both Hamada brothers looked at Baymax.

"Scanning now," Baymax announced, looking around. Looked back at them. "I am encountering a scanning error. The: building, is blocking my scanners."

"Great," Tadashi muttered.

Hiro made a face at that. "She might still be keeping them in Sublevel Nine—it's where she kept—or, wait, she knows people know about that now…."

Tadashi was giving him a look reminiscent of his best you went bot-fighting AGAIN!? looks. "Explain to me why you're talking about this place like you've been here before."

"Eh…a couple of times? First time was sort of a SFIT field trip, second time I sorta hacked down to—wait! Wait that's why Baymax's scanner isn't working! The whole building is wired up with biometric scanners! It'd be interfering with his own and—"

"And?" Tadashi prompted when he cut off.

"And uh…she'd be able to tell where we are at any given time…okay so in retrospect we could have done this better—"

"In retrospect Hiro—"

"What?" he asked, gesturing defensively. "The important thing is, since we know what it is we can turn it off—where's a console we can use hold on—"

"Hold on, he says—you get back here."

"So this is what you've been so desperate to get back to," the Momakase-clone said, following. "Gotta say, so far it's been worth the price of admission."

"'Kase you're not helping."

"Can you not?" Hiro asked, gesturing as he looked the keypad over. "I know what I'm doing."

"By your own admission less than five minutes ago, you don't," she observed.

"You're not helping."

"Okay now I can see the relationship," the Momakase-clone said.

Hiro shot a glance at her, saw Tadashi already giving her his worked-up big-brother look—focused on cracking the keypad open, rewiring it so the door would slide open—

It did so to reveal a huge whale-monster in the vein of Professor Knox.

Hiro stared, aware that everyone else had gone stock-still and staring, Baymax going oh no—managed a weak grin and nervous laugh as he pressed the button.

"Sorry," he managed. "Wrong floor."

Looked at the others once the door slid back shut. "Let's not go that way."

"Wow, look at that," the Momakase-clone said. "He really is a boy genius."

Both Hamada brothers glared at her. "Not. Helping."

They chirped and cheeped quietly, organizing themselves while being shh-quiet, making sure they didn't alert her her scent was everywhere all over the bad-place and making them wilf tight no—

Della swallowed hard, chirruped for them to be strong—she was oldest of the hatchlings, she thought, maybe—Huey, Dewey, and Louie were definitely younger Webby and Violet were definitely younger—

Lena maybe, Lena was sharing Della's caution but more so, Lena was fretting and trying to see everywhere at once, feathers wilfed tight, tail curled tight against her haunches that's where everyone's tails were no one liked this this was no-good bad no—

Huff, hum quietly—Huey and Louie pressed tight to her haunches being careful of broken-leg that she hated-hated-hated it had been broken-leg forever and ever and ever—

Huff again when they came to place where small-cramped-tiny tunnel split.

Warble softly, wonder which way to go—Violet sniffed, went one way, Huey wondered about other way, Webby followed Violet—

Dewey suggested split up, they would cover more ground and they knew how to escape this time they wouldn't be captured again—

Lena padded after Webby and Violet, hissing no good-bad-no, which Dewey took as a sign to take third way, Della hesitating before following him, Louie and Huey hissing but going other way.

They padded along, Dewey softly singing their praises, Della providing base tune, soft warbles that bolstered their spirits in this awful stinking no-good place—

Stop at a place where light shined up, Dewey circling carefully and sniffing—

Della felt shiver go up spine and along skin under feathers when she realized that her flock-flight-mate was under them.

They were in agreement that he was her flock-flight-mate pretended to be father he was always right on her heels and eager to please her always pretended affection but gave them same evil look she had—

Shiver—perk her ears.

"Go on, go on—shoo—ugh, there's experiments that listen better than you people."

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to ask nicely," a bad-flock bad-flight said—

Bad-flock-flight-mate pointed thing at bad-flock-flight, something that went ffft! and made bad-flock-flight collapse.

"You two, drag eh…you know what I don't care who he was just drag him to a holding cell," Bad-flock-flight-mate said, waving his paw. "The rest of you, get ready to clean some other messes up, and please, use some smarts for once."

She and Dewey held breath until his pawsteps faded, glanced at each other nervously—

"Jerk," different bad-flock-flight said, sliding noises accompanying that.

"Don't let him hear you say that," other bad-flock-flight said. "Or do you want to end up like Larry there?"

"I'm just saying, HenchCo's union branch really needs to start fielding these people better."

Huff—noises faded—they exchanged glances, nodded, Della following Dewey—

She had been keeping bad-leg up, had been going on three legs, which might have been what went wrong. Maybe it was both their weights together—she didn't know.

What she did know was that beneath them broke and fell away, both of them plummeting with SQUAWK and alarm and no-no-no—flap, flare wings, go angling away to skid on ground—

Dewey yelped, scrambling—dark paw snatched—

Paw snatched her too, around her neck, lifted her up—

"Oh look at this," bad-flock-flight said, shaking Dewey a little, squeezing his neck and causing him to paw frantically, gasping. "Hey, isn't this like that group we bagged in the woods?"

"These are the ones that got away from us," other bad-flock-flight said, squeezing her neck as she tried to flail free. "Look at this, someone put a hat on it." Tug her hat off NO—

No—no no no this was the bad-place all over again she swore she'd never go back, not again—

Della remembered getting out of the bad-place, remembered being snatched up and taken away—

They had all clustered together tight, wilfed down to nothing, terrified of what had just happened—this was new, this wasn't the bad-place, but this was scary and different and they weren't sure about any of this—the three that would be named Huey, Dewey, and Louie she had her wings around, hugging tight, warbling—it felt good to have others pressed in under wing and hugged tight felt safe felt good—warbled a little, trying to find something that sounded like song sounded good felt right—

"Hey—hey."

Look up, trembling—one of the olders, the one belonging to the new voice, body tone saying okay-worry-okay-you safe you—patting her gently on back, patting her head, stroking—blink wet eyes, see the one that would be Nox blinking back from under fire-crackle wing, clinging tight and making bereft whistle….

She freed up a paw to grasp at this older, this one that thrummed safe-safe-safe—he caught her paw, squeezed it a little—not hard-squeeze, but in a way that said here.

"Come on, kids," he said, herding them close over to others—to large group of others that deep inside told her was flock was flight—

Into a cave eventually that felt like the bad-place but wasn't, the scent was all wrong but the light felt similar, hiss weakly at it—

Less weakly when the olders found and gave food.

This was good was right she knew—olders took care of younglings gave food and shelter and care everything that she didn't—they stuffed themselves silly, groomed each other, pawing the smell of the bad-place out, collapsing in tired heaps….

The safe-good-safe older, that she eventually knew was 'Dashi, gently shook her awake a little while later.

"Okay little lady, your turn," he said brightly, scooping her up—she had to blink at the thing on his head, the green thing on his chest that separated her from his feathers. "Okay I got…I don't think we got your name."

Yawn, squeak, fiddle with string coming out of the green thing.

"I…don't think any of them talk," the one that was Sashi said.

"Um…okay, so…placeholder names," 'Dashi decided, putting her down next to others she shreed and hugged them glad that before hadn't been dream had been real they were all here away from the bad-place. "Um…okay, this is…Huey, Dewey, Louie," he said, pointing at the three. "Because they look close enough, that works as placeholder triplet names, right?"

"We're going with Ducktales names? Is one going to be Scrooge? I vote the grumpy griffin."

"Ha ha. Um…Webby, Lena, Violet. And…you," he said, looking at her. "How about…Della."

"Oh we're going with the reboot."

"The reboot is better. So, what do you say, Della?"

She blinked at him, understanding that he was talking to her but not in the way that she talked to her—he seemed to be actually wanting a response, a sign she understood. Whistle, chirp—

"Atsa girl. Come on, over here, Sue's done up some clothes for you—what, you like my hat?" he asked, when she batted at it. "Um…I guess we can see about you getting one—come on, over here—"

She had not liked pulling on clothes, had chafed and squawked at it, sulked as 'Dashi carried her around and pointed at things—

Whistled when a thing caught her eye.

"What, this?" 'Dashi asked, picking the thing up. "You like this? It'd squash your ears but…hold on." Fuss with it, pull it on her head, tug ears through holes—she squirmed and squawked, scratched to get ears right when he finished. "Hey, it is Della! Little aeronaut—hey hold on."

She had cheered and squawked at getting soft-thing around her neck, that she could rub her beak against and nibble on, half-listened as 'Dashi asked Sashi about leather-coat—

"I mean yeah," Sashi said, tugging on more clothes. "Extra layers is a smart idea, and leather'd stop most elements—"

"Perfect—come on, Della, we need to find you a little coat—"

And then tugging the coat ON her that was no good no—fluff her wings again as he led her over to—

Her.

Hiss, surprised, try to back away—'Dashi caught her. "No no, it's okay—that's you, see? Like that's me right there," he said, tapping the other 'Dashi who tapped back. "It's called a mirror, that's our reflections. See? Don't you look nice?"

Approach the other Della with caution, tap on what felt like glass was prison—press herself tight against 'Dashi no—

"Hey hey, it's okay—it's okay it's just you. See? Actual Della Duck, only with a different beak. Nothing can stop Della, right?"

He seemed so sure and certain—she chittered, trying to imitate—

"That's it, good girl." Pat her on the head—"Nothing can stop Della!"

And nothing would—not broken-leg, not rain, not mud, not monsters, and certainly not someone trying to take her back to the bad-place and certainly not someone who had STOLEN HER HAT.

Scream, throat aching from forcing the sound past the grip on her neck—kick, flail, claws scoring hits—one let go, startled—Dewey flashed free—make sure to hit ground with good leg, launch herself at the startled no-feather that had her hat the one 'Dashi gave her 'Dashi said nothing could stop Della and NOTHING WOULD STOP HER.

Hit—claw, rend, slam her hat into the no-feather's face, tug it on and scramble away on three paws, fourth broken and useless and held up off the ground, flapping hard—push off, get airborne just as the monsters slammed into the ground behind, get up high—

Shriek how nothing could stop Della when she was high enough, glaring down at these no-feathers in a rage.

She would never go back to the bad-place, she would never be put back in a cage.

Nothing would ever stop her ever again.