Hello once again my lovely readers! I hope you are all having a good Father's Day. Here's another chapter for you all to enjoy. We are getting down to the wire for this chapter of the story to end. I'm getting excited.
Enjoy! And keep a look out for future posts! XD
Rapunzel stood shivering in the cold even through the thick coat she brought with her and with the large dragon wrapping one of his wings around her. She smiled up at him and petted his taloned wing. "Thanks. It does help." She looked back at the direction of the blizzard and wrung her hands nervously as they waited for some sort of signal from the rescue party but there was still no sign of life. "Do you think they are okay?"
Cloudjumper bent down and gently nudged her in the back to give her some sort of comfort, the girl responded with a smile and a scratch on the top of his head. "I know, I know. They are strong, tough, warriors. They will be alright and they will be successful."
The dragon snapped his head up, his ears jutting straight up as he listened intently. He gently pushed Rapunzel down further behind the small bank and he looked towards the blizzard cautiously. "What is it? What do you hear?" Rapunzel asked. She then felt a tug on her hair in response and she yelped in surprise, grabbing a hold of it and pulling back. "I think they're out!" she exclaimed excitedly.
But it wasn't her friends and her heart fell slightly. It was a few strangers that had grasped onto her hair and were using it as a guide out of the blizzard. Rapunzel froze, her eyes widening in surprise and fright. She ducked down and laid in the snow, her heart racing a mile a minute. "What do we do? Are they freed prisoners or are they guards looking for us? Did I just get us caught?"
Cloudjumper peeked back over to see what the people were doing and they seemed more confused than anything but he didn't want to risk them being foes. He crouched down again and positioned himself over Rapunzel, acting as a shield if he needed too. His ears twitched when he heard them yelling as if they were trying to get someone's attention but he didn't bother to look up and neither did Rapunzel.
She clutched the sides of her hair as she listened to the people yelling. Rapunzel was grateful the blizzard had buried a lot of her hair in the snow and it seemed like the people didn't think to keep pulling on it to find the end. She bit her lip as she contemplated on showing herself in case they were freed prisoners but she didn't know how to explain the dragon. I think we rushed into this a little too quickly.
The dragon shifted enough for her to see the sky and noticed that it was starting to get dark and still no signal from the rest of the group. The sound of cries from the people were getting louder and louder as if they were approaching her and she tried to bury herself deeper into the snow but a loud roar finally gave her the courage to look over the bank. "Hiccup?! Toothless?!" she called out quietly.
Her friends still weren't there but out of the corner of her eye and just off the edge of the blizzard, she swore she saw a creature flying away. She nudged the dragon and pointed, "Is that another dragon? Were they actually successful?"
"Not as successful as you think, my Flower."
Rapunzel straightened her back so quickly she was certain she pulled a muscle. Her heart began to race and her breathing increased as she slowly turned around to see Gothel standing a few feet from her. Cloudjumper sensed her anxiety and positioned himself above her and snarled at the woman.
"I will not go back with you," Rapunzel said sternly. Her hands clenched into fists to steady her nerves. "I will never go with you. My friends found my family and now I know the truth. You can't trick me anymore."
Gothel began to chuckle as she waved her hand around. "My dear, what makes you think they are telling you the truth?"
"I just know."
"Even if they are, they won't be coming back for you," Gothel smirked as she took a step forward. "Your parents may have moved on, your friends now at the mercy of us, and that Rider will no longer be a nuisance once I send him on a wild goose chase. Admit it, Flower, I'm your only family." She held her arms out for Rapunzel to run into, a sickening grin on her face.
Rapunzel hesitated for a moment, doubt seeping into her mind. What if her parents did move on? Would they want her back after all these years? She shook her head and glared at Gothel. "No! Even if my parents have moved on, I have my friends and my cousins. I don't need you like you need me!"
Gothel's face fell and contorted into something unnatural and it scared Rapunzel. "You ungrateful brat," the dark haired woman spat as she marched forward. "You will come with me whether you like it - OW!" She grasped her hand and looked at Rapunzel in surprise.
"I said, no!" Rapunzel confidently repeated. In front of her, her hair floated around her like several arms ready to strike the woman again if she tried to reach towards her. Gothel disappeared and materialized closer to Rapunzel but the blonde reacted quicker and whipped a lock of hair at her, forcing the woman to materialize somewhere else.
It took several attempts and being snapped several times by the young girl's hair for Gothel to get the memo that Rapunzel wasn't going to be easy to take, especially with the dragon nearby. "Just wait, darling. Your friends will abandon you and you will run back to me with open arms." She then vanished into thin air as Rapunzel kept her defenses up for a few more seconds.
"I seriously doubt that," she whispered once she was satisfied that Gothel wasn't trying to trick her. She looked over the snowbank to see that the blizzard was no longer there and that the frozen land in front of them was littering with people trying to figure out where to go. "It looks like they were all successful!" she clapped in excitement. "These poor people are freed prisoners! I need to help them."
She was about to bound over the bank when Cloudjumper held her back and crouched down, nodding towards the shore to explain his action. The two watched as large ships approached the shore, a loud announcement in several languages repeatedly, telling the people to keep calm and that help was on the way. Rapunzel squealed in joy for her friend's success and hugged Cloudjumper's neck. "They did it! This mission was a success!"
"Not exactly," Fishlegs said as he leaped over the bank.
Rapunzel saw that he was out of breath and seemed on edge. "What happened?" Her curiosity mingled with fear when she saw Ruff and Tuff carrying Merida over the bank and slid down into the snow in exhaustion, the redhead's body shaking uncontrollably. "What happened?!" she repeated more vigorously.
"Unpleasant dude," Ruff sighed.
"Completely deranged, even by our standards," Tuff pointed back and forth between himself and his sister. "He did something to Arrow Girl's head."
Rapunzel knelt down and helped sit Merida back up. "How can I help?"
Merida shook her head. "Ye can't. Just get me to the sleigh, please."
The blonde nodded as she led her friend to the sleigh and placed the emergency blanket over her and watched helplessly as she curled in on herself underneath it. She walked back over to the others and placed a hand on Ruff's shoulder. "Are you guys ok?"
"Yeah," Ruff nodded. "It got crazy in there but we're good."
"Where's Jack?"
"He's still inside," Tuff informed. "He saw Pitch starting to form near us so he shoved her into our arms and told us to run as he led the creepy sand guy away." Rapunzel looked over the bank as she bit her thumb nail nervously at the news.
"I'm sure he'll be out soon," Fishlegs added. "He seemed to know what he was doing."
"Who knew what they were doing?" North asked as he leaped over the bank and landed behind the group.
"We sure as heck didn't," Bunny added as he bounded over as well, followed by Sandy and Tooth. "We thought we'd take them by surprise but they had the upper hand. Those bloody dingos flipped the script on us."
"Jack," Rapunzel said frightfully. "They said he led Pitch away from them to let the other escape but he hasn't come out yet. Neither have Hiccup and his group."
"Part of it is here," Snotlout spoke up behind them. They turned around to see him on the back of a dragon along with Toothless. "Astrid was right behind me but once those Snow Wraiths were freed and the storm cleared, I didn't see her. She isn't here?"
"Nope," Fishlegs shook his head. "What you see is what you get."
"Oh no," Tooth gasped. She placed a comforting hand on North's shoulder as he bowed his head in concentration. "Can you hear them?"
He nodded as he looked towards the entrance, the sinking sun making it harder and harder for them to see it at their location. "They both seem to be panicking but very much alive. Jack seems to be at peace. Let's give them all a few minutes. With the authorities preparing to venture into the caverns, I'm sure they'll be alright."
Toothless bounded over to Cloudjumper and began to speak to him in what Rapunzel could only describe as worried grunt, gurgles, and clicking. She walked over to Tooth and motioned towards the sleigh. "I think Merida is going to need your help. Something happened to her and she says that I can't help. I've never seen her like this." With a smile and nod from the young lady, Tooth flew over to the curled up redhead. Rapunzel walked over to the bank and watched the entrance intently, hoping to see some movement.
The sun finally went down, the world darkening so quickly but the twinkle of the stars shone brightly. Not brightly enough to allow her to see the entrance, though. She could see the silhouettes of the ships at the coast and the occasional flash from an officer's flashlight as he or she walked around.
Rapunzel wasn't sure if the stars that flickered in front of her were her mind playing tricks as she was getting tired or if there was actually movement. She rubbed her eyes and looked closer at the night sky and grinned. "There's someone up there!" she exclaimed as she tapped on Bunny's shoulder and pointed.
They watched as a two legged dragon landed not far from the sleigh and two figures jumped down. "You guys are safe!" Tooth cried. She flew at them and engulfed Hiccup and Astrid in a tight group hug. "We were getting worried."
"We're fine," Hiccup smiled. He and Astrid were tackled by the Night Fury who licked them aggressively. "Yes, yes, yes, Toothless, I know. I was scared too. Astrid saved me."
"What happened?" Bunny asked.
Astrid sat up and tried to wipe away the dragon drool from her face and torso, getting a nervous apology from Hiccup. "I heard Toothless roar and I turned around to see Toothless' tail was roped up but no Hiccup. I told Snotlout to grab Toothless and go and I would find him. Alvin had shot several bolas at them and one hit Hiccup and he tumbled down a different tunnel. When I finally caught up with them, Alvin was running with Hiccup to who knows where."
"He wanted to take me to his boss," Hiccup added. "Alvin seemed to think that I could control dragons," he scoffed as he rolled his eyes and scratched Toothless' head. "Why Pitch would want someone who could control dragons, I don't know."
"Crazy thought," Fishlegs piped up. "But maybe Pitch isn't the boss. The leader of the Phantom Reapers, yes, but not the boss. Maybe he's working for someone."
"Way to make this whole situation worse, Fishface!" Snotlout pouted.
"The lad may have a point," Bunny nodded.
"A point we will have to come back to," North stated. "We're still waiting for Jack to rejoin us."
"That may not happen anytime soon," Tuff chimed in.
"Why not?" Rapunzel asked.
"The military people have entered the cavern," Ruff pointed out. The others looked over the bank to see that dozens of armed men and women began to descend into the ground. "If he's still in there, they will find him and there's no way we can get in there to save him before the government gets a hold of him."
Everyone looked at each other as they all silently contemplated if they could somehow re-enter without getting caught. They were lucky once, would they be lucky again? With a sigh, North stood up and headed towards the sleigh. "Everyone get in, we're leaving."
"No. No!" Rapunzel objected. "We have to wait for Jack!"
"I understand you're upset but we need to regroup and get our bearings," North explained as he put a hand on her shoulder. "If we're lucky, the agents will just see Jack as the missing boy and return him home. If we're not, we need to observe our enemies carefully and come up with a better plan than just flying in blindly. That was our mistake this time round." He closed his eyes and sighed in defeat. "We were too confident and too blinded by the opportunity to see we were going in over our heads. We will get him back. I promise."
Everyone shuffled disparagingly towards their modes of transportation. Snotlout decided to ride Hookfang back to the school, giving Merida more space in the sleigh to lie down, while Astrid mounted Stormfly once again. The trip back home was quiet and gloomy.
Stan couldn't believe the news on the TV. He was ecstatic, though he didn't show it, and his body released the tension he hadn't realized he was holding for the last several days. "Ford! Come look at this!"
His brother ran into the room in a panic. "What? What is it? Are those mares back?"
"Nope. Better." He pointed to the TV as the broadcast continued.
"Celebrations are happening all over the world as those taken, by what experts are dubbing 'Grain Stallions', have been located and rescued. The culprits behind the Stallions have yet to be caught but their base has been located in Greenland and authorities from almost every country have been sent to investigate the strange caverns below.
For now, the world has let out a collective cry of joy for the return of their loved ones and anxiously wait for justice to be delivered. Up next, mysterious creatures seen by several eyewitnesses in the Netherlands and Russia. Giant hoax or are there really dragons? Stay tuned for more."
Stan turned off the TV and turned to his brother. "That was resolved faster than I thought."
"It may only be the beginning," Ford shook his head. "I'm glad they were found but we won't know for weeks if everyone has been recovered. This could be a distraction for another attack."
"You really know how to rain on someone's parade," Stan grumbled as he crossed his arms. "But I agree. Something feels off and too perfect about all this."
"Like a calm before the storm."
"I suggest that we prepare for said storm."
Ford smiled and presented a small device in his hand. "Already preparing."
He felt like someone was playing whack-a-mole with his head, the pain only getting worse as he opened his eyes letting light wash away the darkness. Jack shook his head in hopes it would help lessen the pain but it didn't and now, he felt sick. His whole body felt numb and sore, especially his shoulders and wrists, but he mainly focused on the pain in his head. He tried to move his hand to massage his temple but he couldn't move his arms.
Looking at his hand in confusion, he saw a large metal shackle around his wrist and a chain leading to an icy wall next to him and when he looked at his other hand, he saw the same thing but in the opposite direction. His arms were strung up sideways and when he tried pulling at them, the chains were pulled so tightly there was no room for movement. Jack tried to stand up to center his gravity for a better attempt but he couldn't find the ground. He looked down and saw that his ankles were also shackled and chained to the floor, his feet just inches away from the ground.
Jack began to panic. He tried pulling on the chains on his arms and legs but it only caused greater pain to his wrists and shoulders. He stopped struggling when he heard a pop from one of his shoulders and he was afraid that he dislocated it. Taking a deep breath, he instead focused on his abilities to freeze the chains so that he could break them but nothing happened. He gawked at one of his shackles in confusion but tried again.
"There's no point," a deep, gravely voice said. "Those chains are designed to suppress one's abilities. You, my boy, are nothing but a mere teenage human."
Jack tried to look in the direction of the voice but it came from behind him and he couldn't turn his head around far enough to see him. He tried to respond but found that his words came through as muffled grunts. Moving his mouth around, he felt a cloth rubbing against his skin.
"No point in trying to speak either," the man said. He seemed to be closer to Jack, an idea that made him shiver. "I can't have you screaming and giving away your location to your 'would be' rescuers."
Jack's face contorted into confusion as the man finally came into his view. His heart began to beat wildly at the terrifying man looking up at him. Even raised off the ground, Jack was no more than a few inches above his eyeline. This huge man carried what looked like a large fishing spear and with every step was brought dangerously close to Jack's face. The man looked at him with cold, dark green eyes, as if he was trying to see into his very soul, his mouth cracking into a small smirk as Jack tried to look away.
"Your friends brought the world authorities to my doorstep hoping to find answers to my first attack," he continued to explain. "Foolish. They delivered you right to my door and in an attempt to save your sister, walked right in of your own free will."
Jack struggled against his restraints at the mention of his sister. The way the man talked seemed like if Jack had found Emma, he would be looking at a lifeless body and that terrified him.
"Stop struggling, boy," he commanded as he lifted the spear up to throat, pressing in just enough for Jack to fear for his own life. "That's better. Not watch as your hope of escape slowly fades away."
Jack looked at the ice wall in front of him, not seeing anything at first but then noticed what seemed like faint movements of light shining through the ice. He then barely saw dark figures going back and forth in front of him and realized people were just on the other side of the wall.
"Even if I lowered my spear and let you thrash about, they wouldn't hear you," the man continued to say quietly. "Even if they did, your chains would echo throughout the tunnels sending them on a wild goose chase. I had my dragons block off several of the tunnels to trick them into thinking there isn't more than just the dungeons. By the time they got remotely close to you, your location would have changed and you would no longer be here."
The boy continued to watch the figures on the other side move as dread slowly started to creep into his heart and soul. He was trapped and for the time being, there wasn't any way out and now there seemed to be the possibility that he would be moved! Things really took a turn for the worst.
"Very soon, you will help me finish my plans to conquer the world," the man said as he lowered the spear. "Your ability concentrated through my contraption will allow me to strike fear in the hearts of any country and if they don't comply, well, I always have my dragons," the man chuckled.
Jack mumbled against his gag as the man began to walk away. He stopped and looked at him for a second and smiled devilishly. "You want to know why, don't you? It's not any concern of yours. All you need to know is that you are my tool and you will help me become ruler over humans and mutants."
The man then continued to walk away, letting Jack hang there and watch the people on the other side completely miss him. He tried in vain to scream and jingle the chains but the man was right, the figures didn't hear him and he helplessly watched as they completely disappeared from his sight.
This was not good.
Elinor busied herself with menial tasks to try and distract her mind from worrying about Merida and the outburst she had with her mother. She walked around the Globe Room, slowly and quietly as she wrote on her notepad the list of things she needed to do and things she had finished, but her mind kept circling back and forth between Merida and her mother.
"You're mumbling," Gobber noted.
She shook her head in disagreement. "I don't mumble."
"Yes you do. You do it when you're worried or frustrated. Even Fergus confirmed it so there really is no denying," he said as he walked over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and directed her to sit down. "Just relax and calm down. You'll exhaust yourself and when they get back, you won't be any good to them."
Elinor sighed in defeat, knowing that he was right. "I'm sorry, Gobber. I just- It's just been- I don't know what to do," she stammered.
The door opened and Kristoff poked his head in. "Is it alright if we came in?" he asked.
"We?" Elinor asked. He opened the door a bit wider to show Anna shyly standing behind him as she waved at them. "Yes. You can both come in."
Kristoff motioned with his head for her to go in and then followed behind. "Ms. Carver said that the protection spell for the school is almost done and will be up and running within the hour."
"That's good to hear," Elinor sighed in relief.
"See?" Gobber lightly smacked her shoulder. "Good news. All your fretting is for nothing."
"Any news from the others?" Anna asked quietly.
"No my dear," Elinor shook her head. She watched as the girl began to wring her hands nervously, fear filling her eyes. "But I'm sure we will soon. There were a lot of people that needed to be rescued."
"Exactly," Kristoff nodded as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "They'll be back with the rescued people and dragons. That will be fun right? You could help me when they get here. I can't take care of hundreds of new animals by myself."
"Really?" Anna asked. "You want my help?" He nodded at her and she smiled in excitement.
A ping on a nearby tablet drew Elinor's attention away from two teens. She opened it and clicked on the news notification, a jovial gasp leaving her lips. "They did it!" she cried. She showed the others the news footage of ships approaching thousands of people on an icy landscape, each waving vigorously as if they were afraid the ships wouldn't see them.
"They should be coming home soon!" Anna jumped for joy and then flung herself into Kristoff's arms and gave him a big hug. A surprised minute later, he returned it happily.
"I told you," Gobber beamed. "Nothing to worry about."
The group waited a few more hours for the others to return but those hours felt like centuries to them. When they finally heard the sleigh from a distance, they all ran down to the landing platform to greet them. They were surprised to see two additional dragons land next to Hiccup and Toothless and the large four-winged dragon.
"Who are these lovely creatures?" Kristoff asked as he approached them.
Hiccup leapt off of Toothless and stopped Kristoff in his tracks. "No, no, no. Not so quickly. They have been abused and we're lucky Astrid and Snotlout were able to connect with them." He grabbed Kristoff's arm and gently pulled him towards the two legged dragon. "This is Stormfly. She's the most reasonable of the two."
Elinor watched as Hiccup spoke to the dragon and instructed Kristoff to hold his hand out gently. The dragon looked at the blond boy cautiously, looking between Hiccup and Kristoff as if deciding whether or not to trust them, ultimately deciding that she could and placing her snout in Kristoff's hand. Hiccup then brought Kristoff over to the other dragon, introducing him as Hookfang, but this dragon wasn't nearly as accepting as the other. It took a bit of coaxing from Hiccup for it to trust Kristoff but eventually that dragon also accepted Kristoff's extended hand.
Kristoff motioned for Anna, who was in a tight embrace with Rapunzel, to approach and the entire process was repeated. Once done, he waved at the dragons to follow him. "Come on you four. There is food waiting for you guys in the stables. Anna and I will get you all cleaned up after you eat." He paused and turned to Hiccup as he pointed to the larger dragon. "I don't think I got his name."
Hiccup looked at Toothless. "His name is Cloudjumper. I can't believe I didn't ask for it sooner."
"We were all in a rush," Astrid stated as she walked up next to him.
Kristoff and Anna led the dragons and the freed reindeer back to the stables as the group solemnly began to congregate. "We're glad that you're all okay," Elinor smiled, their depressed expressions making her anxious about the success of the mission.
"I see that you were successful," Gobber smiled, apparently not picking up on their strange behavior.
"One step forward, two steps back," Bunny gritted.
"What do you mean?" Elinor asked, her heart racing at the implication. She had noticed that there was a certain redhead missing from the group.
"We lost Jack," Tuff stated matter of factly.
"What!" Elinor and Gobber exclaimed together.
"Yep," Ruff nodded. "He went to direct Pitch in another direction after he gave us Merida. He never came out after that."
"Merida! Where is she?"
North walked her over to the sleigh and pointed to the young girl curled in on herself. "We're not sure what happened," he explained. "The twins said that there was a young man that was on top of her as she screamed. Tooth has been working on trying to help her out the entire trip back."
Elinor climbed into the sleigh and gingerly lifted her daughter into her lap, caressing her face. Her eyes were shut tightly as the eyes under the lids darted around wildly, her whole body felt tense in Elinor's arms, something she only felt when Merida had a nightmare when she was little. "Merida, my sweet lass, I'm here. You're safe."
Merida slowly opened her eyes and looked at her face. Elinor was shocked to see the fear emanating from the bright blue eyes and her heart panged when tears began to warp the irises. "Mummy?" Merida cried weakly.
Elinor lost all composure, tears falling from her eyes as she embraced her daughter in a tight hug. She didn't know what to think. What happened to her precious girl for her to react like this? Who did this to her? Why? What could she do to make it better?
Those questions could be answered later. For now, she resolved to sit there and cradle her eldest child in her arms until she felt better. She didn't even hear the rest leave the area as the two sat there, softly crying into each other's arms.
Drago sat on his throne looking over the people gathered in the large room. His hand gripped and released the spear as he was trying to keep his cool in light of the events of the last few hours. "Report!"
Alvin approached him and bowed slightly. "All prisoners have been freed along with a few hundred dragons but the supplies, machinery, and major components have remained. We are still on schedule."
"On schedule?!" Dagur shouted. His right cheek had a large bandage on it, blood slowly seeping through the layers of cotton, and several bruises on his face. "We have lost the people to make more Nightmares! We are now BEHIND schedule!"
"Not really," Pitch corrected as he materialized into view. "I was able to get us ahead of the numbers we needed the short time those prisoners were here. We should have more than enough mares to attack again and in the meantime, I will continue to harvest like I did before the first attack."
Drago nodded to himself. That was good information and it calmed him down ever so slightly but the issue was still that they were still discovered and they had lost their initial advantage.
"We have the ice boy," Mord'u pointed out.
"True," Alvin nodded. "That is one major key component that we have obtained. So, it's not nearly as bad as it could have been."
"Lord Shen messaged us too," Gothel spoke up. "He said that weapons are ready and machines have been smuggled into the correct locations."
"Very good," Drago grinned. "Phase Two is almost ready." The room went into an awkward silence as he tried to figure out why there was something off about the room. Once it clicked, he clenched his fist as he asked, "Where is Elsa and Eret?"
The room filled with murmurs as they looked around and shrugged in naivety. No one noticed their absence until now and they feared what Drago may do to them if there wasn't an answer soon.
"They escaped," a voice echoed through the air.
"WHAT!?" Drago screamed.
The owner of the voice entered into the room, the light hitting his thin but muscular body. "They escaped during the chaos of the prisoner's rescue. They are long gone for now."
"How would you know this, Grimmel?" Drago sneered as he lunged at the older man, his spear only centimeters away from his throat. "Unless you let them escape."
Grimmel wasn't phased by the weapon at his throat. Instead, he smacked it aside and took a set forward. "They are not necessary. They may cause a bit of trouble later, but nothing that we can't handle."
"I could kill them for you like I did the Hamada boy," Bill's voice echoed into the chamber. "Let's make another deal and I'll get them out of your hair."
"No!" Drago snapped. "I want to kill them myself. I have a threat to follow through on."
"We can worry about that later," Grimmel remarked as he pulled out a small tablet. "I have found what we were looking for."
Drago looked at the picture on the screen, his eyes widening in awe. A smile began to creep across his face and he continued to stare. "A Bewilderbeast!"
"That's right," Grimmel smirked. "It's still young and waiting for you to control it. Once we have it under our control, the boy will be obsolete and we can kill him."
Drago chuckled to himself as his plans began to fall into perfect place. Not even the Guardians, their mutant students, or any military would be able to stop him. He would soon be in control of everyone and everything. "Once the investigators are completely out of sight, hook the boy up and begin Phase Two. In the meantime, begin to move everyone and everything into our backup location. Once the Guardians see the coast is clear, they will try to free the boy but find nothing except empty caverns."
The order was sent and the caverns and tunnels began to fill with the sounds of men busying themselves with moving everything. Drago turned back to Grimmel and looked at the photo on the screen again, confidence and excitement surging through his body seeing his reality within his grasp.
He stared out the window at the night lit city, unable to sleep. He hadn't been able to sleep very well since his brother died but now he couldn't stop thinking about those mares. He had heard on the news that those taken had been returned but it didn't improve his mood.
Hiro sighed as he thought about Tadashi, knowing that his brother wouldn't want him to be sad and to move on but he just couldn't. He felt like a huge part of him was now missing and even knowing that Baymax was there didn't do much to fill the gaping hole in his soul.
Something caught his eye over at the abandoned factory that he could see from his second story window. He looked at the clock to see it was three in the morning, way too early for anyone to be up and about, let alone by an abandoned factory.
He quietly got up and snuck out of the house and headed in that direction. What am I doing? Tadashi would call me a knucklehead if he was here. He shook off that thought, not really caring that this could get him killed but something in his gut told me that he needed to check it out; that if it was something bad, he could help more people by warning the authorities.
Hiro peeked around a metal trash can and watched as a few masked men backed a large moving truck into the factory. It stayed parked for a few minutes and then the group climbed in and drove off, locking the factory door behind them. Not suspicious at all.
The boy approached the door and pulled on the chain as if it would just magically unlock itself, but it didn't and he looked around for another way to get in. He found a window on the second floor and he started to climb his way up towards it.
"What are you doing?"
Hiro yelped and lost his footing, falling off the building. He squeezed his eyes to prepare for impact but he landed on what felt like a giant balloon. Hiro slowly opened his eyes to see the robotic face of Baymax looking down at him. "Baymax. You scared me. I almost had a heart attack."
The robot scanned the boy. "I see no indications of a heart attack. You are healthy and your heart is strong. However, your adrenaline has spiked."
"Yeah no kidding," Hiro nodded sarcastically. "Because you scared me!"
"You were participating in an activity that could have seriously injured you. With the lack of proper lighting and safety gear, the probability of being injured is increased. May I ask why you would participate in such an activity?"
"I saw some strange activity," Hiro explained as he began to climb again. "Something tells me it's important."
"I can not stop you from continuing but I will join you to provide additional safety." Baymax then lifted Hiro off the wall and placed him on his shoulders. "You should be able to reach the window safely now."
Hiro did find it was easier to reach the window and climb in now standing on the robot's shoulders. Once in, he turned around and offered a hand down for Baymax, though he did have to wait for him to deflate to get through the window and inflate once inside.
The two cautiously worked their way down stairs, in case they left guards behind, stopping when they saw a giant device covered in a large cloth. They approached it slowly, looking for any trip wires or alarms that they may set off but nothing seemed to be triggered.
Hiro lifted the cloth and stared at the contraption. His eyes went wide with terror and began to back away from it in fear. "I knew it," he whispered. "This was bad." He began to fumble through his different pockets to try and find his phone, his eyes never leaving the device.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Baymax asked. "You seem to be in distress."
"Scan it and find a way to deactivate it," he panicked. He finally found his phone and shakily began to dial the numbers on the card he found in his other pocket. After a ring, the call was answered.
"Yo, this is Fred. What can I do you for?"
"Fred! I am freaking out right now!" Hiro shrieked quietly.
"Whoa, little man!" Fred said. "Take a chill pill and bring it down a notch. What's going on?"
Hiro fiddled with his phone for a brief second and then began to talk again. "I sent you a picture. I found this when I saw some uncool guys enter this abandoned factory nearby."
"What are you doing in an abandoned factory?"
"Don't worry, Baymax is with me," Hiro assured. "Nevermind me, is that what I think it is?"
"What is what?" Fred asked.
"The picture!" Hiro cried through gritted teeth.
"Oh. Give me a minute." Hiro waited for what felt like an eternity as he continued to look at the device Baymax was working on disabling before Fred spoke again. "Looks like a super villain weapon! What does it do?"
"I-I was hoping you'd confirm it for me," Hiro stuttered. "Aren't you familiar with this stuff?"
"Nope, little man. Just a science enthusiast," Fred corrected. "Let me send it to the others and see what they say." Hiro listened to Fred scatting his own music on the other line while sending it to the others. When the line went quiet, Hiro's heart began to race. "Dude," Fred spoke in a tone way too serious for him. "You need to get out of there now. What's the address? We're coming to pick you up. GoGo is calling the police as we speak."
"Am I correct?" Hiro asked. "Is it designed to-"
"Yes!" Fred cut him off. "Now get out of there! You shouldn't be anywhere near that thing!"
Things are heating up again! Whoo! Poor Jack. :( Let me know what you think! XD