"Your Princess is in Another Castle."
Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 belongs to Disney. Original characters are mine.
Time: This takes place after "Fred the Fugitive" and before "Legacies," so Megan is aware of Big Hero 6's identities and Hiro has had the conversation with Chief Cruz about Cruz's late father.
Rated T for language and risqué humor. There are mentions of self-harm and suicide, but the actual acts are not shown.
For Erica Vera, formerly Erica Vera-Cruz, life was normal. Though normal was…relative, in San Fransokyo. Especially lately. She didn't gamble personally, but her coworkers loved to bet on which supervillain would show up next. Half of Krei Tech, where she worked in the Legal Department, had bet on Sparkles. Despite the fact that Krei Tech was severely dysfunctional and evil, she liked her coworkers and the long hours were almost bearable with their laughter and jokes.
However, today was going to be downright abnormal. For starters, she woke up with a massive headache. And a hazy memory. This isn't good…
She tried to process the last things she remembered: coming home to her apartment, setting her purse on the table in the entryway, locking the door behind her.
She remembered taking out her cell phone and calling her daughter Megan. After saying hi, she had proposed going to the ballet: "My coworker Rosa had an emergency, so she gave me two tickets to see Coppelia…" She happily recalled the excitement she felt at possibly getting to spend some quality time with her daughter, since getting to see Megan was a rare treat. Her ex guarded Megan like a bulldog.
Then a sharp pain in the neck, vaguely realizing her phone was falling to the ground, and then…nothing.
"Uh oh," she said, looking down at herself. She was dressed in her wedding dress and white pumps. After the divorce, she had taken the boxed dress with her. Her wavy dark hair was still mostly in the bun she kept it in work, but several strands had come loose. This has to be some sort of vicious prank. Or a dream.
Erica leaned against the headboard of the bed she had woken up in. It was awkward moving in the dress, which was floor length and hugged her curves.
Around each wrist was a metal bracelet. She turned her wrists over, expecting to see a clasp. There was none. They were very tight, fitting almost flush with her wrist. There were no solder lines either. The Krei Tech logo had been engraved on each one. She remembered Research and Development had been tasked with finding a way to reduce the number of jailbreaks and one project had been the development of wristbands containing miniature syrettes filled with sedatives. The wristbands were equipped with a GPS and if it detected movement outside the prison, the sedative would be injected.
The room had solid concrete gray walls. There were no windows, but there was plenty of soft light provided by sconces mounted on the walls. There seemed to be a small kitchenette on the far wall, with a stove/oven combination, a counter, and a refrigerator. An open door to the immediate right led to a small bathroom. The left led to a sitting area with a plasma TV and plush-looking recliners.
She checked her immediate surroundings next. There was a large nightstand next to the bed on which rested a tablet and a stack of catalogs and local restaurant take-out menus. She poked at the tablet screen. The only application on the tablet seemed to for video conferencing, so she clicked the icon.
"My queen awakes!" The speaker had on a full-face helmet, so his face was hidden. At least, Erica assumed it was a male from the build. There were glowing lights on the helmet. Even those were somewhat hard to see, as the speaker was wearing a deep purple cloak that shaded his features. The voice was deep, like those synthesized distorted voices in spy movies.
"What are you talking about?" Erica asked. "Who are you?"
The man bowed slightly. "Hardcore, high score, Hardlight."
"Wait…" Erica remembered a certain news story about an emerging supervillain who managed to abduct the Chief of Police. "You're the villain who kidnapped my ex husband!"
"Indeed I did, for all the disappointment Big Hero 6 gave me," Hardlight complained.
"Why have you kidnapped me?" Erica hoped her voice sounded serious. Hoped being the key word.
The mask hid Hardlight's expression but the distortion in his voice barely hid his seeming confusion. "Kidnapped is such a loaded word. I'd like to think I am making your dreams come true, just as I've made video game constructs a reality."
"What do you know about my dreams?" Erica demanded.
"Haven't you ever wanted more than just being a paper pusher and a civil servant's wife?" Hardlight asked.
"Not really, no," Erica answered.
"Oh…! Are you still carrying a torch for that noob Chief Snooze?" There was a hint of worry in the voice.
"Noob?" Erica repeated. "Did you mean to say boob? I guess Diego kind of is a boob. But why bring him up? If you're trying to get his attention by holding me hostage, he doesn't care about me anymore."
"I have no interest in that NPC. But do you? I am here to grant your wishes. If you want, I can make him love you again. Max out his affection stat." Hardlight made a few hologram hearts.
Erica shook her head. "You can't. No one can force a heart."
"Fortunately, Chief Snooze is a simple guy. I could convince him…" His voice was sing-songy but there was an undercurrent of something sinister in it. Erica knew instinctively he was smirking under that helmet.
"Um, no. Diego's about as easy to convince as a brick wall and he'd definitely not want to listen to anything you have to say on account of you kidnapping him and wreaking havoc in his city. But that doesn't matter because…" Erica took a deep breath. "I don't want to reconcile with him. I hate him."
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," Hardlight answered.
"I'm sure you've noticed the wristbands you're wearing. I improved on Krei Tech's technology. If you leave this room, you will receive a fatal dose of poison. I'll prove it."
Erica felt a pinprick on her right wrist. Seconds later, a sharp pain slammed up her arm. She clutched her arm with her free hand, gasping.
"That was just a small dose." Hardlight held up a small remote control. "If you were to receive the full dose, you'd have an hour to take the antidote. Except that hour would be horribly painful, so I wouldn't try it."
"Okay, okay," Erica said. "No leaving this room." Never seeing Megan or Dad again. Tears sprang to her eyes.
"Does the prospect of living here really make you that miserable?" Hardlight asked.
"Of course it does," Erica said, sniffling.
"Would a cabin in the woods be more to your liking? A penthouse suite?"
"You're missing the point," Erica said. "Not being stalked would make me feel better." She wiped her tears away with her hand.
"Again with the negative labels," Hardlight said. "Stalking makes me sound like some sort of depraved predator."
"How is this not stalking?" Erica sputtered. "You knew where I live, you stole my wedding dress, dressed me while I was unconscious…" She blushed. "Why me?"
"In you, I have found a kindred spirit. I know what it's like to be unloved and underappreciated. You were tossed aside by your husband and he's too much of a dumbass to realize what he's lost. He left you, took custody of your daughter because he cheated in family court. Isn't that just unfair…?!"
"Divorce is messy," Erica said. "And maybe Diego did play dirty in our custody battle, but that's my problem. Not yours."
"What has Chief Snooze ever done for you?!"
"Gave me my precious daughter, supported me through college and law school while he was on a civil servant's salary…" Erica began.
"But at what cost? You don't have to suffer anymore! I mean, the love nest does look a little drab right now, but I left you those catalogs so you could pick the decorations. And I haven't gotten your ring yet because I needed your size and I wasn't sure if you'd choose me or Chief Snooze. But it will be worthy of your lovely hand. I'll treat you like the queen you were meant to be." Hardlight made a solid hologram of a tiara.
"I don't want this…" Erica replied.
"Are you worried about the financials? I have a job. It's miserable, but it pays very well. I could easily support you even without the gains from my supervillain exploits."
"I'm happy supporting myself, thank you," Erica said.
There was a sudden crash from above. Clouds of pulverized concrete filled the room.
Six figures in candy-colored suits of armor with black accents were visible once the dust settled.
Who hadn't seen the news reports? Of the seemingly endless battle with the forces of evil and downright weirdness across San Fransokyo?
"Big Hero 6!" Erica cried in delight. She smirked as she turned to the tablet. "Big Hero 6 is here! They're going to save me."
"Are you certain?" Hardlight replied mockingly.
"Give it up," a large blue lizard…thing said. "You're outnumbered 5 to one!"
"Wouldn't that be six to one?" asked a tall lady in pink armor and carrying a brightly colored purse. "Since there's one of him, and six of us, and six times one is six…?"
"Well, math was never my best subject," the lizard answered. "I figured one gets canceled out…"
Erica checked the tablet again. The video feed of Hardlight was gone, replaced by a blank screen. "So did he run away?"
"Yeah, he probably ran crying," the lizard said. "You okay, Ms. Vera?"
"How do you know my name? How did you know I was missing?" Erica asked.
"Your daughter," said the tall lady. "She thought it was weird you just cut off on the phone without saying goodbye, so she went to your apartment to check on you."
"Called us when things looked suspicious," added a shorter, thin woman in yellow and black armor.
"Now let's just get out through the hole we just made…" said a well-built man in green armor. He looked up at the hole. It had been filled in with a glowing magenta substance. "Oh, come on!"
"Hmm…we can't go back the way we came," said a short member in purple armor. "We're going to need another approach to get out of here."
"Wait," Erica said. "If I leave this room, these bracelets will poison me."
The last member, a mountain who stood head and shoulders above the rest in bright red armor, ran some sort of scanner over the bracelets. "I detect a lethal amount of neurotoxin in each bracelet."
Since names didn't seem to be forthcoming, Erica decided to just call them by their armor colors. Green was looking at the bracelets. "I could cut through these easily, but I don't trust my hands not to shake. I could cut her…"
"If you're worried about cuts, ship has sailed," Erica said.
"Ms. Vera? Your hands?" Purple asked. He examined one of the bracelets using the tablet from the table. "There is an electronic lock, but it's asking for a password. And the needles are rigged to depress after three incorrect attempts. Three numbers. I hacked into the system and turned off the GPS trigger, but the password's more complicated to crack."
"Let's get her out of here first," Pink said.
"So these bracelets were from Krei Tech?" Yellow asked. "Maybe they can remove them."
"Rosa Redgrave's the project head on these," Erica explained. "But the ones she showed me had more obvious locks. The police are hoping to put one on each of the high flight risk prisoners. If they manage to get out of prison, they'll be injected with a potent sedative to stop them in their tracks. And they're rigged to go off if the wearer tries to tamper with them or remove them."
"I'm not sure I'm okay with that," Pink said.
"Do you know anything about why Hardlight was after you?" asked Purple.
"The wedding dress isn't a dead giveaway?" Yellow sounded sarcastic.
"Maybe there's a connection between her and who he really is," Green said. "Except we don't have any clues on Hardlight's identity."
"He knocked me out at my apartment," Erica said. "Stole my old wedding dress and dressed me in it." She fought the bile rising in her throat. "Maybe he left DNA."
Red ran the scanner over Erica. "I do not detect any DNA besides Vera, Erica's."
"He probably handled the dress wearing gloves," Yellow said.
"With that giant metal one?" Green observed. "Awfully dexterous."
Purple sighed. "Should have known he wouldn't make it easy for us. I know he's the same player in Mind Smith Turbo II, but I called the programmers to ask for his IP to trace him that way. No luck."
"They wouldn't release that kind of information without a subpoena," Erica said.
"We should get out of here," Purple said. "Ms. Vera, can you cover your ears. This is going to be loud."
Erica did so. Red fired his apparently-detachable fist at the far wall, which shattered with a crash and left a large hole in the concrete wall. She then gingerly followed the rest as they climbed through the hole.
"Oh ho ho!" Blue Lizard seemed delighted upon seeing the entire top story of what seemed to originally be a factory or warehouse. The floor was…lava. Actual lava, though dark pink in tone. Platforms of varying heights spanned the area. Some were stationery, others moved back and forth or up and down. "Can't go wrong with classic platforming." He ran to the edge of the lava and held his hand…paw…whatever toward it. "It's even hot like lava! Good thing my suit is heat-resistant." He eagerly started crossing the platforms, jumping higher than Erica expected.
Yellow shrugged and began crossing in earnest. She reached the end of the obstacle course by using wheels attached to her shoes.
"Ms. Vera?" Pink asked. "I can help you." She threw down mysterious balls that formed a bridge of ice to the next platform.
"Won't you slip in those shoes?" Erica asked.
"The soles are slip-proof," Pink replied, extending her hand.
"Okay," Erica said. It seemed better than jumping, since her wedding dress' skirt was very form-fitting and thus hard to jump in. The skirt did fan out near the bottom allowing her to walk. She took Pink's hand and they crossed the ice bridge. A few times she slipped, but Pink would catch her and help her rebalance.
Finally, they made it to where Yellow was waiting.
Erica kneeled to catch her breath. I was kidding myself if I thought I was in any kind of shape. She looked back. Blue Lizard joined them on the end platform, Green was still timing his jumps to cross and Purple was guiding Red across.
"So you were married to Chief Cruz?" Pink asked. "Can you tell us more about that?"
"Is this really the right time?" Yellow asked sourly.
"Well, maybe not," said Pink. "But if I didn't try to make some conversation, we'd be sitting here in awkward silence."
"And no one wants awkward silence," added Blue Lizard. "I should know. I've accidentally caused a few."
"It's fine," Erica said, trying to give Yellow a reassuring smile. "We met in high school. Started dating when we were fifteen. We usually went to movies on dates, or we would stay home and watch movies on the couch." Erica felt a small wave of nostalgia remembering how her father would insist on watching R-rated material with her until she was sixteen and how Diego learned that the hard way.
"So where are you going?" Ricardo, Erica's father, asked.
"Actually, I thought it would be nice if Diego and I stayed here and watched a movie," Erica answered cheerfully.
"Oh, that's nice," Ricardo said, thumbing through his magazine. "Which one?"
Three minutes later…
Diego sat forlornly on the couch between Erica and Ricardo as the movie started to play. "Why didn't you tell me he was so strict about the R rating?!"
"Hush," Ricardo said, shoving the bowl of popcorn into Diego's lap.
It had been a bit embarrassing since Ricardo insisted "Eyes closed tight!" at the sex scene. Which wasn't even that explicit…!
"So why is my ex-husband after you?" Erica asked once everyone was across. "I know part of the reason is because he's a textbook closed-off alpha male, but he nearly burst a blood vessel on the news."
"He has a deep wound in his heart," Purple quickly said.
"Of course," Erica said quietly. Everything goes back to the night his father died. "It's classic sublimation. You're very perceptive, Purple."
"Purple?" Purple repeated in a stammering tone. He turned to look at her, then quickly turned his head away.
"Um, is there a reason you won't look directly at me?" Erica asked.
Yellow elbowed Purple. "She's old enough to be your mother…"
"I'm old but I'm not that old…" Erica replied. She sighed. "Forget it."
"It's totally a Mrs. Robinson thing, isn't it?" Blue Lizard asked.
"I wish I could intercede for you," Erica said. "But he never listened to me when we were married. I doubt he'll listen to me now."
"Are we ready to move forward?" Purple asked. Just beyond the platform was an open door that led to what looked like the building's original concrete stairwell.
"Too bad," Blue Lizard said. "I kind of expected him to incorporate some kind of loading screen. Would have really tied this whole dungeon together." The members of Big Hero 6 started down the staircase, Yellow going first but stowing her wheels. Erica was in the middle, presumably to guard her from a rear attack. Or maybe just to catch her if she pitched forward.
"I'm sorry for my ex's persecution of you," Erica said. "He does indeed have deep psychological trauma, but he doesn't feel comfortable about psychiatrists. I remember, about six months after I had Megan, I was feeling depressed all the time, I had no energy, and my muscles ached. I thought I was developing postpartum depression. My husband didn't want me to see a psychiatrist and advised me to just get more sleep."
"What, was he afraid of the bill?" Green asked. "Mine makes easily seven hundred an hour." The others stared blankly at him. "What?"
"Unfortunately, Diego comes from a society that thinks asking for help is a sign of weakness," Erica said. "We lived in Palau Alto, which is tiny compared to San Fransokyo. Though doctors are bound by confidentiality, Diego was afraid that someone would see me coming and going to the psychiatrist's office. And that would get back to his coworkers, who would spread rumors about him. He did allow me to see my primary care doctor. Fortunately, it turned out to be just postpartum thyroiditis. The hypothyroidism went away after a year with treatment."
"You could have died," Yellow said acerbically.
"She is correct. Hypothyroidism, if left untreated, can lead to myxedema coma and death…" Red said in his flat albeit weirdly cheerful monotone.
Erica sighed, thinking about that fight.
Erica was laying on her side of the bed. Her hair was a frizzled, greasy mess and her nightgown was rumpled. "Something's wrong with me. Maybe I should consult a psychiatrist."
Cruz was standing beside the bed, buttoning his uniform shirt. "Psychiatrist? That's Latin for 'fake healer.'"
"Greek roots, not Latin," Erica corrected. "You did get the second root right."
Cruz snorted. "Can't you ever compliment me? Just because you paid attention in Latin class…"
"Too depressed…" Erica moaned. "But too tired to cry."
"Look, if you go to the Emergency Room, the doctor is just going to tell you to get more rest. It's plain and simple exhaustion," Cruz said. "Caring for a baby is exhausting and sleep depriving. I've been needing coffee to stay awake at work, and you know how much I hate coffee. And you're balancing caring for Megan with going to one of the toughest law schools in the country. It doesn't take a doctor to see how you could feel so overwhelmed."
"It could be postpartum depression."
Cruz frowned. "No one likes a hypochondriac."
"Maybe you would benefit from psychiatric help too. You have nightmares about the night your father died. You talk in your sleep. I know you feel guilty because you really wanted to see that movie, even though your mother told you it was dangerous with all the supervillains running loose…"
"Stop!" Cruz said. "How dare you say it was my fault! It was Boss Awesome's fault!"
"I wasn't saying it was your fault," Erica answered. "But I think you feel guilty, especially since your mother blamed you."
"She never said it was my fault…" Cruz interjected.
"But she was cold to you after your father died. And I think you internalized that hostility. And the more you try to bury those feelings, the more they'll build up and eventually burst forth."
"I don't think emotions act like dams," Cruz answered dryly. "But fine. Make your doctor's appointment. But no psych consult."
As if on cue, the baby monitor went off. Megan was wailing.
"Let me go check up on her," Cruz said, leaving the room.
Erica sighed and picked up her cell phone, then called her doctor and set an appointment for the end of the week. She placed her phone back on the nightstand.
Cruz came in with the infant Megan, who cooed and held her arms out.
Erica took Megan, moved to a sitting position, and held her close.
"I took a vacation day," Cruz said.
"Are you sure?" Erica asked.
"Nothing bad ever really happens here," Cruz said. "The rest of the force can handle it. I need my girls to be at their happiest. Also, Megan spat up on my last clean shirt." He lay down on his side of the bed. "We'll get through this, I promise."
To be continued