HIRO WOKE up in the morning and reached out, fumbling for his alarm. He opened his eyes and realized that he had not fully accustomed to the fact that he was not in his room anymore.
He got out of bed and walked around the room quietly to avoid waking Aunt Cass. He grabbed his clothes from the wardrobe and smacked his head against the door.
"Ah … o-,"
Hiro covered his mouth to avoid saying 'ow'. He looked around and Baymax was in his travel case on the floor of the wardrobe. Other than awaking Aunt Cass, his activation at this moment would lead to the destruction of the wardrobe. He zipped his suitcase and entered the bathroom.
The bathroom was small and dirtier than it looked the night before. Seeing this made him worry about his house now.
The café was the only thing that had burnt, but he worried about there being more than one bomb in the house. As he began to dress up, he considered the possibility of a burglary since he realized they had forgotten to lock the house.
He finished dressing and looked around the room again. There was no way he would bath in the shabby place. He washed his face and left the bathroom.
HIRO WALKED to SFIT and it was more of a trek than it would be from his house. He detoured and stopped by his house to lock up and realized that he was getting late. He started running and arrived completely exhausted. He looked at his watch and it was 7: 30. He sighed angrily and entered the premises, thinking about how stupid he was for running when he had an hour left.
He walked up to Ito Ishioka Robotics when he felt someone suddenly grab him. GoGo hugged Hiro, let go and punched him in the arm.
"Hey, what was that for?" Hiro asked.
"Don't do that to me, Hiro," GoGo said, "You had me worried,"
Honey Lemon hugged him from behind and held him very tightly.
"Oh, Hiro we were so scared!" Honey Lemon wailed, "We thought you were gonna die!"
"Yeah, but I'm still alive," Hiro said, straining, "For now,"
"Yeah, next time you're in trouble, you should call us," Fred said.
"Sorry, it slipped my mind," Hiro said, straining, "Just like the breath slipping outta me right now,"
Honey Lemon let go of him and turned to see his friends around him.
"What happened? We heard there was a fire at the Café," GoGo said.
"The Crimson Phantom attacked us," Hiro said.
"Is Aunt Cass okay?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Not really," Hiro said, "She lost all the furniture in the café and we don't know how much survived in the fire. We just packed up and went to a motel in case the house was attacked again,"
"Well, don't worry, bro," Fred said, "Mi casa e su casa, that's French for 'you can stay at my place till this blows over',"
"It's not, but that's sweet," Honey Lemon said.
"Thanks," Hiro said.
"What're we gonna do about this guy? He has to be stopped," GoGo said.
"The police said they'll investigate, so we'll just have to wait," Hiro said.
"Yeah, but he's still out there," GoGo said, "He attacked me and now he's attacked you; just who else is gonna be next?"
"She's right, man; we don't know his actual motives, but we do know he's out to get us," Wasabi said.
"Maybe let's talk to Dr. Cello, he's been looking in on the case so maybe he's got something," Honey Lemon asked.
"Sure," Hiro said.
The guys entered the building.
DR. CELLO STOOD in the 'Nerd Lab' and supervised a team of experts that were cleaning up the lab, doing a forensic sweep and were fixing equipment. Some students stood outside the lab, murmuring worriedly. The guys walked up to them.
"What's going on?" Hiro asked.
"I don't know," One student responded.
"Someone said the lab was attacked," Another responded.
"What?" Hiro exclaimed.
Hiro squeezed through the crowd of students and headed to the door. He tried to open and it was locked.
"You can't come in yet," Dr. Cello said from inside the room.
"It's us, Dr. Cello," Hiro said.
"Oh, come in," Dr. Cello said.
Dr. Cello opened the door and the guys entered, to the dismay of some students who glared at them. The guys looked around in horror as most of their work was burnt. GoGo turned to her workstation and saw her burnt maglev bike.
"Oh, come on!" GoGo exclaimed angrily, "I just rebuilt that,"
"Who did this?" Hiro asked Dr. Cello.
"The Crimson Phantom," Dr. Cello said.
"Yeah, he's definitely after us," Wasabi said.
"When did this happen?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Last night," Dr. Cello said, "I caught him in he act and we fought,"
"I'm guessing you lost," GoGo said, judging from the bandages on his face.
"Yeah, he's pretty tough," Dr. Cello said.
Fred looked around.
"What's his endgame? What does he get from all of this?" Fred asked, "Did anyone get in trouble with someone?"
"Yeah, I got in trouble with a masked ninja psycho tech genius," Wasabi said sarcastically,"
Dr. Cello furrowed his brow, lost in deep thought. GoGo looked at him inquisitively.
"Something else happened, didn't it?" GoGo said.
"What?" Dr. Cello said, snapping out of it.
"Come on, Stephen; I know that look. Spill it," GoGo said.
"He said that I'd become weak and that he didn't want to kill me," Dr. Cello said.
"Why would he say you've become weak? You know him or something?" Honey Lemon asked.
"No, I don't," Dr. Cello said, "…, but I think I've heard his voice somewhere,"
"From the Order?" Hiro asked.
"The what?" GoGo asked.
"It's where I trained?" Hiro said to GoGo in a hushed tone.
"Maybe; I'm not sure, but it frightens me," Dr. Cello said, "This man knows too much about us and now he's making his move,"
"That's what we came here for," Hiro said, "We wanted to find out if you've got anything on the police investigation,"
"No, nothing," Dr. Cello said, "But, I've decided to look through their archives. Come with me,"
The guys followed Dr. Cello out of the lab and the experts inside closed the door, preventing the students from entering.
Dr. CELLO SAT at his computer, hacking into police archives. The guys sat, waiting for him to find something and Honey Lemon was unnerved.
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Honey Lemon asked, "What if the cops track us?"
"Oh, they could track us if any of you did it, but they won't find me," Dr. Cello said.
Dr. Cello continued keyboarding.
"Can you believe they killed off Jon?" Dr. Cello asked.
"I know, right? Thought they'd kill him in an epic war or something," Wasabi said.
"And that scene with Cerci," GoGo said.
The guys shuddered.
"Well, it's cool that they killed Stannis," Hiro said.
"You should stop watching that show," GoGo said.
"Shouldn't I say that to you too?" Hiro asked.
"I should say that to both of you," Wasabi said.
"How come you watch it? Didn't think you'd handle it," GoGo said.
"Ah, well," Wasabi said with a shrug.
"Still gonna have to wait a whole year," Honey Lemon said.
GoGo groaned and sat back.
"So, you find anything yet?" Hiro asked.
"Nothing much, but – ooh, hang on," Dr. Cello said as something caught his eye.
"What is it?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Someone else has hacked into the archives," Dr. Cello said.
"Was it him?" Hiro asked.
"Probably," Dr. Cello said.
"Can you trace it?" GoGo asked.
Dr. Cello did some keyboarding.
"No, can't put a trace on it," Dr. Cello said.
"So, what's in the visitors log," Hiro asked.
Dr. Cello did some digging in the SFPD archives.
"Oh, this is interesting," Dr. Cello said, "Apparently there was a huge breakout the night of the blackout,"
"How? There was no news of it," Honey Lemon asked.
GoGo thought hard and remembered something.
"It makes some sense," GoGo said, "There were lots of ex-cons rioting in the streets. Remember what Mr. Osamu said?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember," Honey Lemon said, "Poor man,"
"If there was a huge breakout, why was there no news of it?" Hiro asked.
"I don't know, but something's fishy," Dr. Cello said, "Apparently the prison cells opened at 6:30pm, a few minutes before the blackout started,"
"Which means someone released them," Hiro said.
"What would someone get out of releasing a bunch of criminals," Honey Lemon said.
"This doesn't add up," Wasabi said.
Something else caught Dr. Cello's eye.
"Check this out," Dr. Cello said.
The guys walked up to Dr. Cello's computer.
"What is it?" Hiro asked.
"It may not be a big deal, but the night of the blackout, a scientist from Capsule Corp came to visit an inmate," Dr. Cello said.
"Who?" Hiro asked.
LUCAS SAT at his computer, checking through the SFPD archives and looked at the visitors' log. On the night of the blackout, an hour before it happened, a scientist from Capsule Corp visited Robert Callaghan.
"What the hell?" Lucas said to himself.
The log indicated that the scientist had brought Robert a gift and talked to him for ten minutes before leaving the prison.
FRED STEPPED back from the PC, wondering what to make of their discovery.
"Why would someone from Capsule Corp visit Robert Callaghan?" Hiro asked.
"This is weird," Honey Lemon said.
Fred paced around and looked at the TV that Dr. Cello forgot to turn off.
"Well –," Dr. Cello tried to say when Fred interrupted him.
"Look at this," Fred said.
The guys turned to the TV and Fred turned up the volume.
"After a series of attacks from a masked vigilante, now comes a robbery of unmatched proportions," An anchorwoman said.
"Yeah, hours ago, a heavily guarded offshore Krei Tech Labs Testing Facility suffered a burglary in which a gateway of a matter transporter was stolen. Police baffled as there were no signs of forced entry and surveillance feeds show no evidence of the theft, but scientists working there discovered that the gateway was missing," An anchorman said.
The newscasters continued speaking as footage from the refurbished Silent Sparrow Testing Facility.
Dr. Cello frowned and got up from his seat.
"What the hell?" Dr. Cello said.
"Okay, can somebody connect some dots, man, 'cuz I can't think up a villain plot in this," Fred said.
"I made a petition and the law was enacted, banning any matter transportation experiments in Amersia," Dr. Cello said, "Why are they still carrying out Project Silent Sparrow?"
"Rules don't apply to a man like Krei," Fred said.
"Do you think it was him?" Hiro asked.
"No, theft isn't his style," Dr. Cello said.
"Yeah, and we thought he was only after criminals, but he attacked cops," GoGo said, "You can't assume anything with that guy,"
Another news report began and Dr. Cello turned to the TV.
"Well, looks like it's not over yet," Dr. Cello said.
LUCAS NEEDED to go and investigate Capsule Corp and even if it meant going to another state to do so, so be it. He packed his bags, took a cab, and was on his way to the airport.
His phone beeped and he checked it. It was a burglary alert from his old house.
"Turn around!" Lucas yelled.
"You sure?" The driver said.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Lucas said.
"Okay," The driver said, unsure of what Lucas was doing.
The driver turned around and took He back to his house. He hastily got out of the cab and returned to his apartment, nearly leaving his bags behind.
DR. CELLO, Hiro, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi and GoGo watched the news report and were baffled.
"We've just received word that the Silent Sparrow gateway has been found right in the suburbs across the bay. Joe, what do you make of this?" The anchorwoman said.
"I have no idea; I'm speechless. Whoever pulled off this crime must be some kinda Houdini or something," The anchorman said.
Footage came onscreen of the backyard of a small house in which the massive gateway stood. Police vehicles were amassing around it.
"Well, look at this, it appears a weird coincidence has occurred. We've just received word that this house is only a few blocks from a house that had exploded just days ago during a gang war that the Big Hero 6 had averted," The anchorwoman said.
"What are the odds?" The anchorman said.
The news report continued and the guys were confused.
"What the hell is this?" Hiro asked.
"Crimson Phantom's getting pretty sloppy," GoGo said.
"If by sloppy, you mean confusing the hell outta all of us, then yeah, he is," Dash said.
The guys got startled as Dash stood beside them eating popcorn.
"Dash! It's been so long!"Honey Lemon squealed as she hugged him.
"Yeah, we could use your help on this case," GoGo said.
"Well, it's gonna be even longer," Dash said as he looked at his watch, "My break's about over. Guess I wasn't fast enough,"
"It's not fair, we never get to hang out anymore," Honey Lemon said, pouting cutely.
"Yeah, sorry, there's nothing I can do about it," Dash said.
Honey Lemon sighed.
"Promise," Dash said and he pecked her, "I'll make it up to you, okay?"
"'Kay," Honey Lemon said with a giggle.
Dash ran off and Hiro groaned.
"Great! What now?" Hiro said exasperatedly, "How're we gonna get anything done without Dash?"
"We can't wait for him to get a day off at work," Dr. Cello said, "We're going to find out what's going on,"
Dr. Cello walked back to his computer.
"How?" Hiro asked.
Dr. Cello started searching through the police archives.
"I'm gonna find the address of the house that blew up during the gang war and we'll find the house where the gateway's popped up," Dr. Cello said.
"How's that gonna help us find the Crimson Phantom?" Fred asked.
"Come on, this has to be connected to him," Dr. Cello said, "All this starts happening and then –,"
Dr. Cello frowned and stopped typing.
"What is it?" GoGo asked.
"The house that blew up belonged to Dave Callaghan," Dr. Cello said.
"What the hell?" Fred said.
"Who's he?" Hiro asked.
"Robert Callaghan's son," Dr. Cello said.
"So, the Crimson Phantom's after Robert Callaghan? Why?" GoGo asked, "Then what does stealing the Silent Sparrow gateway got to do with it?"
"I don't know, but we need to find out," Dr. Cello said.
Dr. Cello typed on his keyboard and waved his phone by the CPU. Dr. Cello's phone beeped.
"I've found the address of the house where the gateway popped up," Dr. Cello said.
"Okay, let's suit up," Hiro said.
The guys left the lab.
SEVERAL POLICE vehicles parked around a house along with news vans and helicopters in the air. The police closed off the area and redirected traffic.
The Crimson Phantom stood in an alley across from where the police were.
As always, Follow, Favourite and Review and Await the Awesomeness as we dive deeper into the universe. Thanks for reading.