Ever since the service dedicated to Tadashi Hamada and Robert Callaghan, things have been quiet around town. Max was still too sad to begin her enrollment at SFIT. Still, Ken still had to teach and he trusted her enough to stay home while he was gone. That is, until Max got a message on her phone. She received a digital invitation to join Hiro Hamada.
Since Dr. Grant worked late that night, Max decided to head off on her own to the Lucky Cat Café before he could return. She stopped at the front door when she noticed it opening and other teens walked out. It was Gogo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred.
"Oh, hey, guys." Max said.
"Hi. Max, right?" Gogo asked.
"Yeah. We met briefly at the memorial." Max said. "I take it you all got invitations from Hiro too."
"Yeah." Wasabi said. "Strangely enough, he's not home. He's sending us his current location right now. He's at the docks."
"The docks?" Max asked. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would he want us to meet at the docks?"
"I don't know." Honey Lemon answered. "He might be behaving strangely as a way of coping with what happened."
"Or it could be a side effect of a superpower that's coming out." Fred said earning the glares from his peers. "Yeah, that first one sounds more plausible."
"Well, we could all possibly squeeze into my car if you still want to check up on him." Wasabi said.
Hiro Hamada has had a very crazy day. After he discovered that someone stole his microbots, he and his robotic companion, Baymax, have decided to apprehend the thief who could only be described as a man in black wearing a kabuki mask. After downloading data on martial arts and imprinting them into Baymax, Hiro has tracked the kabuki man to the docks. Once the two of them made it there, however, they hid themselves seeing him with a circular piece of machinery with a bird emblem imprinted on its side. It was carried by a pillar of microbots before being set down on the dock.
After confirming what he saw, Hiro turned to Baymax. "You ready?"
"Of course." Baymax replied.
"Great. On my mark. In three… two…" Hiro was interrupted by a flash of headlights coming his way. The car was shut off and the SFIT students walked out of it.
"Hiro? What are you doing here?" Wasabi asked.
"Me?" Hiro asked in a panic. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Didn't you send us invitations to meet with you?" Max asked.
Hiro slapped his own face. "No. That was Baymax."
"Baymax?" Honey Lemon asked. "Tadashi's project?"
"Why is he wearing some kind of titanium underwear?" Gogo asked.
"I also know karate." Baymax added.
"Good for you." Max said.
Baymax looked at Max and tilted his head. "Young lady, are you aware of some sort of irregularity in your body?"
Max widened her eyes and brushed it off. "Don't change the subject! Hiro, why did Baymax summon us here?"
"No reason, really!" Hiro excused.
"Being around friends and loved ones will help with Hiro's problems." Baymax said. "Who would like to go first?"
"Ooh, me!" Fred cheered jumping in the middle of the crowd. "All right. My name is Fred, and it's been two weeks since my last… GREAT PLANET OF ZEPULON! WHAT IS THAT?"
Fred pointed up at the masked man who hovered above the group. He used the microbots to pick up a metal crate and prepare to throw it.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Max shouted.
The masked man tossed the crate making Wasabi scream, but Baymax caught it before engaging with the microbot swarm.
"Hiro, we need to leave right now!" Gogo shouted dragging Hiro into Wasabi's car. Everyone else followed.
"What? Why?" Hiro asked. "Baymax can take him!"
He was wrong. Just as he said that, Baymax was thrown right to the roof of the car sticking his own butt through it.
"Oh, no." Baymax commented.
Yokai reemerged riding on a wave of microbots just as Wasabi turned his car and drove on in a panic. Yokai followed.
"That evil cape and mask." Fred said observing Yokai. "We're under attack from a supervillain! How cool is that? I mean, it's scary, but how cool?"
"Hiro, what's going on?" Max asked.
"That guy back there," Hiro explained, "He stole my microbots! He started the fire! I don't know who he is!"
"Why is he trying to kill us?" Gogo asked.
"It's classic supervillain!" Fred explained. "We've seen too much!"
"Now, let's not jump to conclusions." Honey Lemon said. "We don't know he's trying to kill us." She was proven wrong when she saw Yokai using the microbots to throw a car at them. Thankfully, it missed. "HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!"
Wasabi kept driving tryingto get away from the villain that was chasing them. Suddenly, he stopped at an intersection.
"Did you seriously just stop?" Gogo asked.
"The light's red!" Wasabi said pointing at the stoplight.
"THERE ARE NO RED LIGHTS IN A CAR CHASE!" Gogo shouted.
Thankfully, it was only a second before the light turned green. Wasabi continued his drive while Yokai was still within their sight. One of the car doors popped off and Hiro almost fell out, but Baymax caught him, put him back in the seat, and buckled him up.
"Seatbelts must be worn at all times." Baymax said. "Buckle up."
"This guy's good!" Max shouted. "It's like he knows where we're going to turn before we do it!"
Gogo noticed a flashing light and growled. "I know why! WASABI, ARE YOU TURNING YOUR BLINKER ON?!"
"YOU HAVE TO INDICATE YOUR TURN! IT'S THE LAW!"
"That's it!" Gogo said taking out her gum and putting it on the dashboard. She quickly adjusted Wasabi's seat sending him backwards while she took his place. With her in charge, the car moved much faster and rougher. They almost collided with a train, but Gogo managed to get them through by a split second.
After finishing his work at the university, Ken Grant was on his way home. It was a casual drive for the most part. However, he was caught off guard when the kids drove past right in front of him followed by Yokai on his wave of microbots. Ken widened his eyes staring at what he just saw.
Max turned back to see Yokai pick up a large pickup trick with the microbots. He thrusted it forward and Max knew that even though Gogo was moving fast, the truck would crush them. So she did what she had to do.
Out of instinct, Max reached out her arm and pointed it at the incoming truck. Her skin began to hiss steam and it shifted until a black device poked out of her hand with blue lines. The end of the device began to light up blue and she blasted a light shot out of her arm. It flew up and when it hit the truck, it blew into a hundred pieces. Of course, the others teens saw her do that.
"HOW'D YOU DO THAT?!" Hiro shouted.
"I'LL EXPLAIN LATER!" Max shouted. "JUST KEEP DRIVING!"
Yokai suddenly formed a wall of microbots in front of the car leading them to a destination he wanted. Max blasted her newly discovered laser cannon again, but it wasn't enough. Eventually, the car flew out and landed into the ocean water nearby. The car sank quickly and everyone saw Yokai escape. Thankfully, Baymax removed his body armor and carried everyone back up to the surface. Everyone coughed relieving themselves in oxygen.
Their relief was cut short when a flashlight lit up from the street. They looked and saw Max's dad holding the light. He had on a disappointed look pointing his flashlight at Max's laser cannon. Max quickly compacted the weapon back in her arm and her hand looked normal again, but the damage was done.
"Dad, I can explain." Max said nervously, but Ken raised his hand to stop her.
"Everyone, out of the water!" Ken ordered.
Without any argument, the students climbed up the wall and stood up to dry. Ken beckoned Max away from the others where they could talk privately, or so he thought. The others slowly took a step forward to better hear the conversation.
"I can't believe you just revealed yourself!" Ken shouted.
"Dad, I didn't have a choice!" Max defended. "That man in the mask tried to kill us!"
"I get it, but this is really compromising!" Ken argued. "And now, we've got five witnesses; six counting that giant marshmallow man! I just wanna…" He huffed and picked up a brick he found. He tossed it over and it flew a few feet over the heads of the other students. "I could've killed you!"
"How?" Hiro asked. "That was a terrible throw."
"Look, kids," Ken said, "You all need to go home and forget this whole night ever happened!"
"Forget?" Wasabi asked. "Teach, maybe you haven't noticed, but some guy in a kabuki mask just chased us all over San Fransokyo!"
"He stole Hiro's microbots!" Honey Lemon added.
"And now, Max has some kind of laser in her arm!" Gogo shouted. "What's going on?"
Ken roughly brushed his hair with both his hands taking a very long breath. He exhaled slowly and took a good look at them.
"Fine. Fine. You win." Ken said. "I don't know about that masked man, but I can at least tell you about Max. Just… not here. We need to talk somewhere more privately."
That's when an idea lit up in Fred's mind. "I know just the place."
Author's Note: Next time, we get Max's origins revealed. Any and all comments are welcome.