Chapter 11, everybody! Let's see how round 1 turned out….
Baymax balking at breaking the door goes against the movie but jives well with the series, where Baymax did point out that breaking the door down to catch a thief wasn't an improvement. And he is going for a Sunday stroll, since that's the day the fic is on.
The Authverlord, thanks for the review! YES! NO!
Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney
The streets were dark, slick, and foggy as they ran through the night, back to the warehouses.
Hiro's breath was hitching, and occasionally he had to pause for both himself and Obake, wheezing harder. Baymax suggested stopping, or taking a more sedate pace—they waved him off each time. They'd lost enough time getting ready for the confrontation, now they had a bad guy to nail.
It was frustrating, trying to navigate the same path at night—they'd occasionally have silent arguments over which direction they needed to go, frequently fell onto Baymax to tell them how they had gone before—
Hiro's heart was thrumming in his chest when he once again beheld the warehouse, dimly lit by distant street lights. Try to focus on his breathing, glance at Obake—
Obake had that look, the one he had during bot-fighting—nodded sternly, strode across the open concrete, light cool breeze making the overgrown weeds surrush. Hiro gulped, flexed his hands—sweaty palms—looked at Baymax.
"Come on, Baymax," he said, jerking his head—ran after Obake, breath catching in his throat—the slap of his sneakers on the wet concrete sounded so loud, drowned out the distant city noises—
Skid to a halt, nod at Obake before pointing the door out to Baymax. "Break it."
Baymax blinked at him. "That would be: destruction of property. Also: unnecessary, as the door is unlocked."
Hiro couldn't help the look he exchanged with Obake, flopping his arm down as he did so. "Fine, just ignore the whole dramatic entrance—get ready, Baymax," he ordered instead—grabbed the one handle, motioned for Obake to grab the other—three two one yank—
"Get him Baymax!"
Baymax assumed a battle pose—
Slipped out of it a moment later. "There is no one here."
"What?" Peek around the door—
Gone.
Everything was gone, no tarp no barrels no setup—it was like nothing had ever happened here.
No no no they had made a mistake or something he couldn't be gone—they had taken too long, that had to be it—took too long and gave the guy plenty of time to get away.
"Th-this is the right place, isn't it?" Hiro asked, digging in his pockets for the petri dish.
"It is," Baymax said—Hiro yanked the petri dish out, looked—
"Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere," Baymax announced, as they watched the microbot rattle against the glass.
"Right," Hiro said, sagging in relief before looking around—wave for them to follow. "Let's go."
The knowledge that the microbot thief was on the run increased his speed and decreased his hesitance—this guy was on the move now, they had to run him down, before he got away, before—
Hggkh!
Hiro panicked at being yanked back by his hoodie, spun around as he was lifted bodily off the ground—
Realized that Baymax had pulled him away from the edge of the pier he had almost run straight off of, so intent as he was on the microbot.
"It is unadvised to go swimming for: one hour, after eating," Baymax said, planting Hiro on the dock next to him before putting Obake down. Obake, for his part, looked like he was nursing a stitch in his side.
"Sorry," Hiro said, looking back at the microbot. Rattling so hard he could hear it over the waves in the bay—look in the direction it was aiming for…out over the water.
"What could be out there?" he wondered—sure he had designed his microbots to be waterproof too, but—
The microbot yanked out of his hand, shooting away into the fog.
"Hey!" Hiro yelped—Obake caught him when he tried to snatch it back, already way past too late—
Squinted at a shape moving in the blackness of the bay, no lights to discern anything in the fog—
Oh no.
Didn't need much incentive to start running, didn't even need Obake tugging on his arm—did hit the brakes and run back to tug Baymax along—the armor increased his speed, but Baymax was still going like this was a Sunday stroll—Obake tugged, he pushed, got Baymax behind a shipping container—peeked back out to see—
The man in the kabuki mask, held aloft by the microbots, surging out of the bay and onto the docks—the man looked back, gestured—lame, his neurotransmitter didn't need—
Blink when the microbots hauled something else out of the bay—a huge chunk of curving metal, looking like part of something bigger, with a red decal on the side, a stylized bird in a circle. What—what could that even—
Jump when Obake tapped on his arm—shook his head, turned to Baymax. "Get ready Baymax—we're going to take that guy down—"
Jump back against the container when they were suddenly bathed in blinding white light, Obake grabbing his shoulders—no—nonononono they were caught they were sunk they were dead they were—
"Hiro?"
Okay, this might actually be worse.
"What?" he gasped, when he realized what he was looking at—when he realized it was a car that Tadashi's friends were piling out of "No no no what are you guys doing here?"
"Baymax called?" Gogo said, like she dearly wanted to comment that it was obvious and what is this even.
"Wait what?"
"You requested a reminder," Baymax said. "Connecting with: friends, and loved ones—"
Oh crud. "Uh, yeah—just—let's do that later, you guys need to get out of here—"
"Hiro, no, don't push us away," Honey Lemon said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah, man!" Fred agreed. "Let it out!"
"Starting with what are we doing out here in the middle of the night?" Wasabi asked, gesturing at their surroundings.
"And why is Baymax wearing carbon-fiber underpants?" Gogo added.
"I also know karate," Baymax offered.
"Great. Now I have more questions."
"Can we not have them here, please?" Hiro begged, glancing at Obake, peeking around the container. "Because there was kind of this thing—"
Honey Lemon and Wasabi exchanged glances. "Hiro," she said slowly. "What, exactly, are you doing out here?"
"And who is this?" Gogo added, when Obake ran over to Hiro and started shoving him away.
"Oh right, intro," Fred said, stopping them. "This is Obake—he's cool. Don't give him volleyballs."
"I knew he ran into Fred," Wasabi muttered, shaking his head.
"Uh!" Hiro managed. "Can we just—"
"Group conversation is an excellent therapy technique," Baymax continued. "Would anyone like to start the sharing process?"
"Ooh me!" Fred said, raising his hand. "My name is Fred, and it has been thirty days since my last—HOLY MOTHER OF MEGAZON!"
Which was about when Hiro realized just why Obake had been trying to dislodge him: the man in the kabuki mask had discovered them.
"Uh, is anyone else seeing this?" Fred asked.
Idly, he had to give this guy some drama credit—lifting the container they were hiding behind certainly made an impression—stop focusing on that this guy wants to kill you get Baymax after him—
Wince at a flash—
Realized that Honey Lemon had her phone out.
The man in the kabuki mask realized this too—slammed the container down at them—
Hiro was curled up into a ball, eyes closed—realized he wasn't dead thanks to Wasabi screaming and the fact that he still smelled seawater. Mostly the latter, it wouldn't have surprised him to know they were standing outside the Pearly Gates with Wasabi still screaming…wait, did you get a transition period where you were alerted, or was it just wham, hi there?
Better yet: how were they not dead?
Open his eyes, look—
Baymax had stopped the container, heaved it away. "Is everyone unharmed?"
Yes, but that would change if they didn't do something. "Get him, Baymax!"
"Better idea: run!" Gogo yelled, sprinting away—something that Obake agreed with, considering Hiro found himself being hauled away by the skinny kid. Manage to get some traction under him—Obake yanked the passenger-side door on Wasabi's car open, flung Hiro in, dove in after him as the others piled in.
"Okay, please start now," Wasabi hissed under his breath, singsong and panicky as he glanced out the windshield.
"Who is this guy?" Gogo asked.
"I don't care enough to stay and find out, how's that!?"
"Ugh—stop!" Hiro said, trying to avoid getting jabbed by the seat belt buckle. "And will you guys chill? Baymax can handle that guy—"
Which was about when they heard a hard impact—looked—
Flinched as one as Baymax hit the top of Wasabi's car, hard enough to dent it. Look—
The man in the kabuki mask was advancing on a wall of microbots.
"Uh…yeah no buh-bye," Wasabi said, throwing the car into reverse.
Hiro caught himself on the front dash, was pulled back into the seat and finally buckled in by Obake, who proceeded to hang on for dear life—Hiro had a perfect view of the wave of microbots surging for them, right until one strand arrowed for them—
Baymax struck back, the force spinning the car around—Wasabi shifted to drive, gears grinding, and took off.
"Someone explain this now!" Gogo demanded. "Who is this guy, why does he have your microbots, Hiro?"
Fred was the one to answer. "Black coat, mask—we're totally dealing with a supervillain, people! This is so cool! I mean, totally dangerous considering he's trying to kill us, but SO COOL!"
"We don't know that he's trying to kill us," Honey Lemon tried.
"Yeah!" Wasabi said, sounding a shade below hysteria. "This could all be a wild misunderstand—"
"CAR!" Fred yelped—Hiro twisted in his seat—heard Baymax go oh no—
A car crashed right behind them, just narrowly missing the back bumper.
"He's trying to kill us!" Honey Lemon shrieked.
"Why is he trying to kill us!?" Wasabi asked, firmly in hysteria now.
"Classic supervillain behavior!" Fred put in. "We've seen too much!"
"Pretty sure Baymax could handle that guy!" Hiro put in—ugh, this evening had gone sideways way too quickly—
Wasabi looked in the rearview mirror. "Uh yeah, I don't think so—hogeez!"
Hiro's hands hit the dash again, considering there were two kids squashed into one seat and that left him with a seatbelt across his waist instead of his chest—wait, why did they stop there was a maniac after them!
Gogo shared this opinion. "WHY are we stopped!?"
"The light's red!" Wasabi protested.
"THERE ARE NO. RED LIGHTS. IN A CAR CHASE!"
The light turned green, Wasabi took off—with a much more abbreviated lead—dodge another car thrown at them—
"Did you just turn on your blinker?" Gogo demanded.
"You have to signal when you change lanes!" Wasabi told her—Hiro had the impression he was clinging to driving safety to keep from falling all the way into total white-out hysteria. "It's the law!"
Gogo looked done enough to stop the car and take on Mr. Kabuki-Mask by herself. "That's. IT."
The next thing Hiro knew, Gogo had shoved Wasabi's seat back, was sitting in his lap, gum stuck to his dash, hands on the wheel—
And then they were going much much faster than he had previously thought possible.
Hiro was grateful for the seatbelt now, could understand and was currently imitating Obake's holding on for dear life pose—Gogo was taking turns hard enough to send Fred plastering against the window, surging forward with a roar of engine and squeal of tire, cutting sharp turns down alleys and sailing over the tops of hills like the brakes were just a suggestion who needs them—
And still the villain pursued them.
Gogo glanced in the rearview mirror, saw this—stood on the gas more than she had been—
Hiro had a moment to panic along with the rest of them when they realized she planned to jump the tracks with a train on its way—
The microbots ripped the side door off before being blasted to smithereens by the train.
Obake yelped at having the side of the car suddenly vanish—grabbed at the passenger handle on the rollbar—Hiro nearly crawled into the backseat—
Now had a perfect view of the man in the kabuki mask, keeping pace with them on the other side of the tracks, just waiting for a chance to get past the train—
Gogo swung a hard left, away from the train tracks—Hiro twisted around to see the man use the microbots to surge up and over the framework surrounding the tracks—
One of the rear wheels suddenly blew.
Everyone was shrieking and holding on for dear life as Gogo struggled to hold it steady—was suddenly caught up in a stream of microbots, surging into a tunnel of blackness with only a dim light at the end as their hope—
"We're not gonna make it," Wasabi squeaked as Gogo pushed the car to its limit and past.
"We're gonna make it," Honey Lemon insisted, focused as they all were on the end—mostly because looking to the sides, at the microbots surging and clattering like a living thing, was too terrifying.
"We're not gonna make it."
"We're gonna make it!"
"We're not gonna make it!"
The end of the tunnel closed—
And then suddenly they were bursting out of it, car landing hard enough on the ground that Hiro heard something break beneath them—
And then they were skidding sideways, Gogo on the brake and turning hard—Hiro had a grand view of the tide of microbots out the passenger side—
And then the car was airborne again—
And then they were hitting the water hard.
He covered his mouth and nose against his panic, trying to seal the air in—had a good view of the man in the kabuki mask watching them sink for a moment before he slithered away, form fading the further they sank—felt hands scrabbling at the seat belt, lifted his arms as he looked down—tried the seatbelt himself when Obake's hands slipped again—stuck—
Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention—Baymax's armor, drifting down—
And then Baymax was cutting them free of the seat belts, small laser slicing through, hugging them all close before inflating and floating up—Hiro hung on tight, one hand still focused with keeping the precious life-giving air in his lungs…but it was burning now…he had to inhale soon—
They broke the surface—he wasn't the only one who sucked in a desperate gulp of air—bobbed there, hanging onto Baymax for dear life. A few more gasps, getting oxygen back to his lungs, brain, body—look—
The man in the kabuki mask was gone.
Honey Lemon slipped, hauled herself up to point at Wasabi. "I TOLD you we'd make it!"
Wasabi had other concerns. "My car…."
"Your insurance will cover that, right?" Gogo asked.
"My insurance thank you for mentioning the one thing that makes this night worse do you know what this'll do to my premium!?"
"Your body temperatures are: low," Baymax announced, alerting Hiro to the fact that his shaking wasn't just from leftover adrenaline burning off. "And I will need to tend to your injuries."
Everyone looked at each other—looked at the docks—back at each other like Baymax was somehow the safe spot in a game of tag.
"What if that guy comes back?" Honey Lemon asked, voicing everyone's concern.
Fred, surprisingly, was the one to gain a determined expression.
"I know a place."