Chapter 16: Syndicate
As the sun shone in through the high-placed windows, Robert Callaghan stood before a bank of pay phones, a black telephone receiver held up to his ear and an anxious look on his face.
"Abigail, please…." Robert whispered into the phone.
"Dad, I meant what I said the last time we talked," Abigail's voice came from over the phone, "I can't keep doing this."
"Abby, you're all I have left," Robert pleaded, "I can't lose you."
"You should have thought of that before, Dad," Abigail replied sadly.
"Abby….there has to be something I can do," Robert said desperately.
"Maybe you could try standing your ground for once in your life?" Abigail suggested, a note of bitterness in her voice, before the line went dead.
Robert stood stunned for a moment before slowly lowering the receiver and placing it back in its cradle, a lost look in his eye. Turning away from the phone bank, Robert was surprised to find Yama looming behind him.
"Get some bad news?" Yama questioned, his eyebrow quirked and his tone amicable.
"I don't really see how that's any of your business," Robert replied standoffishly.
"Just trying to be friendly," Yama stated with a shrug.
"Well, I'm not looking to make friends," Robert said firmly before moving to walk around the large man, but was stopped cold as Yama placed a hand against Robert's chest.
"Neither am I," Yama replied, "I'm just here to give you a message."
"A message?" Robert echoed as he looked up at Yama wearily.
"From our mutual acquaintance," Yama explained, "You didn't forget about him, did you?"
At this, Robert's back stiffened as a cold chill ran down his spine.
"I'm going to tell you what I told him," Robert said, his voice low and dangerous, "I'm not interested."
"Oh come on, don't be like that," Yama replied, his voice full of mock hurt, "After all, the next time you call your little girl, you don't want it to be someone like me who picks up, do you?"
In response, Robert's eyes went wide as the blood drained out of his face.
"I didn't think so," Yama observed with a smug smirk.
"What do you want?" Robert demanded.
"I want you to be ready tonight," Yama answered, his voice low.
"Why?" Robert questioned, his brow furrowing, "What's happening tonight?"
"You'll know it when you see it," Yama replied, "Just be ready."
Robert stared up at Yama for a moment before reluctantly nodding his head.
"That's what I liked to see," Yama said as he took his hand off Robert's chest and patted the older man on the shoulder before he began walking away, "See you tonight, friend."
As Yama left, Robert watched him go as a storm of worry and fear churned in his chest, swirling around a dense core of shame.
Later,
"So wait, you're telling me that Metro Man faked his own death?" Wasabi questioned, a look of clear confusion on his face, "And he did it so that he could become a singer?"
"If I'm lying, I'm dying!" Violet replied from her position in the armchair that Fred had set up in the group's shared laboratory, observing most of the gathered members of Big Hero 9 who were scattered around the room looking at her, the lab empty except for them, "My dad heard it straight from the horse's mouth."
"That's so messed up," Hiro said, shaking his head as he sat on a metal stool nearby, "Like, how could the world's greatest superhero just pull something like that?"
"I don't know," Violet answered with a sad expression, "My dad was pretty upset about it."
"I can understand why," Fred commented as he leaned against the armchair with his arms crossed, "From what I've read, your dad and Metro Man were pretty close. The only way something like that could be worse is if Frozone stabbed him in the back."
"At least I know Uncle Lucius would never do anything like that," Violet observed.
"How did you find out about this?" Riley questioned from where she sat perched on the edge of one of the lab tables.
"Megamind told us," Violet explained.
"That makes sense," Tip commented from her spot next to Riley, "He is the one who is supposed to have killed him."
"Why was your dad talking to Megamind though?" Honey inquired from her position near the back of the group, her phone in her hands.
"Well, that's probably one of those things that I'm not supposed to tell you," Violet answered, a look of chagrin on her face.
"Oh, come on, Freshman," Go Go groaned in exasperation, "You can't keep jerking us around like this."
"Yeah, you've already told us this much, why can't you tell us more?" Hiro pressed.
"Ugh, this is why I would never make it as a government agent," Violet commented with a sigh as she pulled her hair against her neck.
"Come on, guys, lay off her," Fred said with a warning tone.
"Ooo, watch out guys," Go Go teased, putting her hands up in mock surrender, "Here comes Violet's knight in shining armor."
Fred's face flushed with embarrassment as the others chuckled at this, though it abated somewhat as Violet looked up at him and smiled.
"Look, you're right, it's probably about time I tell you what's going on," Violet said with an apologetic tone, "You guys deserve to know, even if the AVL gets mad at me for telling you."
"Um, guys," Honey spoke up, drawing everyone's attention towards her as she looked down at her phone with a concerned expression, "I think that's going to have to wait."
"Is there a problem?" Baymax questioned.
"Yeah," Honey replied as she looked up, her expression turning haunted, "There's a jailbreak happening at the county jail."
"What!?" Hiro questioned in shock as he leapt to his feet.
"You don't think-" Riley began to say with a worried tone as she stood as well.
"We have to assume so," Hiro replied before he began running towards the door, "Come on!"
There was a moment where none of the others reacted, watching Hiro rush out of the lab in stunned surprise. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the others hustled after him, Riley grabbing Baymax's hand and pulling the slow-moving android behind her.
"Fred!" Violet exclaimed as she hopped out of the armchair and grabbed the young man's shoulder, stopping him and turning him to face her, "What's going on!? Why's everyone freaking out!?"
"The county jail is where they're keeping Robert Callaghan!" Fred replied breathlessly, "It's where they're holding Yokai!"
A look of shocked understanding plastered on her features, Violet quickly shoved Fred on the shoulder, urging the young man out of the lab as she followed behind him, scooping her backpack up off the ground as she ran.
As he rushed down the hallway, Hiro pulled his phone out of his pocket and began inputting commands into it.
"You sure this is a good time to be sending a text?" Go Go questioned as she caught up with Hiro.
"I'm not," Hiro replied as he finished and put his phone away, "I'm calling in our equipment."
"What!?" Go Go questioned in surprise, "How are you doing that?"
"Me and Fred's dad worked on a delivery system over the weekend," Hiro explained with a smirk, "It'll meet us at the van."
Reaching the end of the hall, Hiro slammed open the pair of double doors that sat there and the group piled out of the building into the parking lot. Skidding to a halt next to Wasabi's van, Hiro turned his attention skyward, prompting the others to do so as well. For a moment, no one saw anything, with even the stars in the sky drowned out by San Fransokyo's light pollution.
"There!" Riley called as she pointed at a spot in the sky. Turning their attention towards the spot, the others were able to see eight dots of bluish light approaching them, growing bigger and brighter by the second.
A moment later, the lights, which had morphed into shapes, came to a stop above the group's heads before lowering themselves to the ground. As they landed before them, the group was able to see that the objects were grey, box-shaped robots that stood roughly as tall as Baymax with blue-hued engines on their bottoms. Each of the robots sported a symbol on their fronts, consisting of a blue microbot, a recreation of Baymax's face in red, a yellow illustration of one of Go Go's mag-lev discs, a green symbol resembling one of Wasabi's plasma blades, a pink chemball, a white outline of a fox's head, and what appeared to be a grey colored steering wheel.
"Whoa," Violet said, her tone impressed, "Very cool."
Stepping up to the robot sporting the microbot symbol, Hiro stood in front of it as a panel near the top opened to reveal a camera.
"Scanning now," an electronic voice stated, before pausing as the robot made a whirring noise, "Subject identified. Subject: Excelsior. How may this unit assist you?"
"Begin armament procedures," Hiro ordered as he took off his sweatshirt and tossed it aside.
"Acknowledged," the robot answered, "Armament procedures commencing."
A moment later, the front of the robot opened up, revealing Hiro's equipment, as four spindly arms extended from the sides. Working quickly, the robot began putting Hiro's gear on him as the boy stood with his arms held out to his sides.
Seeing this, the rest of the group stepped up to their respective robots and began going through similar processes.
"Alright, very cool," Violet added before she sheepishly hooked a thumb over her shoulder, "I'm going to duck behind one of these cars and change while you guys do that."
As Violet slunk away, Tip looked at her robot in confusion.
"Wait, I don't have any gear besides the van," Tip said as she gestured at the robot as it scanned her, "What is even in there?"
At this, the front of the robot opened, causing Oh to come tumbling out, the Boov laying dazed on the pavement, his normal purple skin completely green in color.
"Well, ask a stupid question…." Tip said with a sigh before she helped Oh back to his feet.
A few minutes later, and the group were standing fully dressed, taking a moment to look over their delivered equipment as the robots rocketed back into the sky.
"Alright, is everyone ready?" Hiro questioned as he climbed onto Baymax's back.
Earning nods from everyone else, a look of determination settled onto Hiro's face.
"Then let's go put an end to this," Hiro said firmly.
Earlier,
As night fell over the prison, a pair of guards made their way through one of the blocks of cells, chatting amiably. Suddenly, the ground around them started to shake, causing the two guards to let out panicked yelps as they looked around with wide eyes. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped, leaving no sign of its passing besides the dust drifting down from the ceiling.
"Whoa!" one of the guards exclaimed, "Was that an earthquake?"
"Nah," Yama's voice replied from the cell right next to the guards, "That was my cue."
"Your what?" one of the guards questioned as they turned their attentions towards Yama's cell.
Yama was currently sitting on his bunk, located near the back of his cell. As the guards watched, Yama put his hand in his mouth and seemed to search around for something.
"Inmate, what the hell are you doing?" one of the guards questioned as they approached the door to the cell, only to stop as Yama let out a grunt of pain and ripped one of his teeth out of his jaw.
"Jesus Christ," one of the guards whispered in disgust, "What the hell did you do that for?"
Yama, for his part, rolled his now sore jaw as he held the tooth up in front of his face. Looking at the tooth, Yama saw it was hollow, with the inside contain a small gel pod filled with a purple liquid. Gingerly grabbing the pod with the fingers of his other hand, Yama held it up for the confused guards to see as he tossed away the false tooth.
"Down the hatch," Yama said with a smug grin before opening his mouth and tossing the gel pod in, swallowing it in a single gulp.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, as the baffled guards looked at the still smug Yama. Then, all of a sudden, a look of agony crossed Yama's face as he clutched his chest and doubled over in pain.
"Aaargh!" Yama called, his voice echoing through the cell block, as he rolled off his bed and fell onto his hands and knees, "Graaaggh!"
"Christ, I think he just poisoned himself!" one of the guards yelled as he stepped towards the cell door and began rummaging around for the correct key, "Call a med team down here!"
"I don't think it's a med team we're gonna need," the other guard said, his voice full of fear as he placed a hand on the other man's shoulder.
Confused, the guard paused in his search for his keys before he lifted his gaze to look at his friend. Seeing the other man staring wide-eyed and pale-faced into Yama's cell, the guard slowly turned his gaze there as well, a feeling of dread welling up in his chest.
Yama had shifted his weight, now doubled over while sitting on his knees. The first thing the guard noticed was that Yama's skin had taken on a strange, purple hue. Then, with his hands clenched into fists, Yama began slamming them against the floor, grunting in rage and pain as he did. Every blow seemed stronger than the last, until with a mighty roar, Yama brought his fists down hard on the floor, creating cracks in the concrete that spiderwebbed across his cell and into the hall beyond. Then, with a sickening cracking sound, Yama's shoulders began to shift underneath his skin, growing larger and broader, ripping a tear down the back of his orange jumpsuit in the process.
"Oh my God," one of the guards whispered in terror, staring at the transforming Yama like a deer caught in the headlights.
"C-Contol!" the other guard shouted, grabbing hold of his walkie-talkie with a shaking hand, "C-Control, come in! Sound the alarm! O-One of the inmates….one of the inmates in Cell Block D….he's….he's…."
The guard's voice trailed off as he stared at Yama, whose monstrous bulk now barely fit in his cell. As the guards watched in terror, Yama lifted his head and glared at them with black, shark-like eyes, an inhuman growl rumbling deep in his chest.
"He's changing," the guard finished, his voice nothing but a whisper.
Then there was nothing left for the guards to do but scream as Yama tore through the cell door and fell upon them.
Gunfire and alarm klaxons echoed through the hallways of the prison as Robert Callaghan sat alone in his cell, staring at the door with wide eyes.
Suddenly, a guard ran by, a shotgun clutched in his hands and a bulletproof vest secured to his torso. A few moments later, Robert heard a scream of terror before the form of the guard went flying by in the opposite direction, landing somewhere further down the hall with a sickening thud.
His heart hammering in his chest, Robert struggled to keep his breathing in check as the sound of heavy footsteps approached his cell. They stopped just out of view before a hand, giant and monstrous, reached down and grasped the door to his cell, ripping it off with ease and tossing it contemptuously down the hall.
"Out," a demonically deep voice demanded, prompting Robert to rise to his shaking feet and cautiously creep out of his cell.
Looking up as he stepped over the jagged remains of the cell door, Robert found the thing that had once been Yama glaring down at him with pitiless black eyes, now easily standing ten feet tall. His skin was now a dark shade of purple, and his black hair had grown long and spikey, looking almost like a protective shell as it spilled down his back. Yama's facical features had turned more beastial, with an upturned, almost porcine nose, and a jutting jaw from which grew sharp teeth, including a matching pair of tusk-like incisors that grew well past his lips. His shirt had been completely torn away, revealing his massive shoulders and thick slabs of muscle on his chest. His bulging arms were almost comically long, hanging down to his knees, with his fingernails having been replaced by sharp, black claws. His legs were relatively small compared to the rest of him, though they were still impressively muscular, and his bare toes ended in the same black claws. Somehow, his pants still clung to his waist, the transformation having turned them into a pair of ragged orange shorts.
"Friend," Yama greeted with a sharp toothed grin.
"W-What do we do now?" Robert questioned, his throat feeling suddenly and horribly dry.
"Come," Yama answered, before gesturing for Robert to follow him with a jerk of his head.
With that, Yama began trudging back the way he had come, prompting Robert to follow, the older man having to hustle to keep up with the monster's longer strides. As they made their way through the prison, Robert looked around in horror at the broken walls and men that Yama had left in his wake.
Reaching the prison's long, central hall, Yama let out a monstrous roar before he charged at the building's front entrance, smashing through the pair of heavy metal doors with shocking ease. Stumbling after him through the rubble, Robert found himself in the prison's large courtyard, which was nothing more than an empty stretch of gravel and asphalt stretching between the prison and the chainlink fence topped with barbed wire that surrounded it. Standing between them and the fence was a group of a dozen or so guards dressed in body armor with shotguns and rifles at the ready. As the spotlights mounted on the nearby guard towers focused on them, Robert saw visible looks of fear pass over the guards' faces as they caught sight of Yama's monstrous form.
"Stay where you are!" a bullhorn-amplified voice ordered, "If you attempt to escape, you will be fired upon!"
In response, Yama let out a monstrous roar before charging at the guards, loose gravel kicking up with every thunderous step. Letting out cries of alarm, the guards opened fire, but the bullets pinged harmlessly off of Yama's purple hide as he continued charging. Then, just as Yama was about to fall upon the panicked guards, a loud thrum shook the air before a pulse wave slammed into the monster. The blast knocked Yama backwards, his clawed feet digging into the ground as he skidded to a halt.
Blinking in surprise, Robert looked in the direction the blast came from in time to see the Big Hero 9 fly over the fence and descend on the courtyard.
"That's far enough, Callaghan!" Excelsior shouted as Big Guy landed hard, kicking up gravel in the process. At the same time, the van descended until it was hovering just off the ground, allowing Ultraviolet and the rest of Big Hero 9 to pile out and form a line between Yama and the guards with Big Guy and Excelsior.
"Whoa," Ultraviolet muttered as Yama shook his head and snarled at the heroes, "Who's his friend?"
"Oh my God," Kaiju whispered in shock, "I think that's Yama."
"Yama!?" Torque questioned in surprise, "What the hell happened to him!?"
"We'll worry about that later!" Excelsior replied, "Right now, we need to take him down!"
"Heroes," Yama spat as he glared at the group before him, "Crush you."
"Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?" Driver questioned from over the van's loudspeaker, "Because there are more of us then there are of you."
At that, as if on cue, the ground beneath their feet suddenly began to shake, causing the heroes to let out cries of surprise as they fought to keep their balance.
"Wrong," Yama retorted, unperturbed by the shaking as a shark-like smile spread across his face.
A moment later, something burst from the ground behind Yama and Robert, the older man whipping around to look at it in surprise while his monstrous companion remained unphased. The object was cylindrical in shape and was roughly as long as a subway car, constructed from thick plates of metal colored brown from caked on layers of dirt. The vehicle moved about on tank treads that ran most of its length and sported a large, conical drill on its front that was slowing to a stop as the vehicle emerged from the ground.
As the heroes looked at the drill vehicle in shock, a panel opened at the top, allowing a small platform to rise into view. On the platform stood a middle-aged man with Caucasian features. He had a stocky build and stood at a dwarfish height, his flat nose and prominent front teeth making him resemble a mole. He was dressed in brown overalls over a dun colored shirt, with black work boots on his feet and grey, three-fingered metal gauntlets on his hands. A miner's helmet with a built in light sat on his head, pulled so low that it hid his eyes, while a black cape hung from his shoulders.
"The Underminer," Ultraviolet and Kaiju whispered in surprised unison.
"It is I, the Underminer!" the short man confirmed, his voice deep and rough, "And I have traveled here in my drill tank to deliver to you your doom!"
With that, a large door on the side of the drill tank opened up, folding outward to form a ramp to the ground. Once it was finished opening, seven figures emerged from the drill tank.
One was a middle-aged mountain of a man of Latino descent, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. He wore a navy blue wrestling unitard that left much of his hairy chest and thick arms uncovered. A matching pair of wrestling boots covered his feet, and his face was obscured by a red luchador's mask marked with a black star, though it did allow for his mane of black hair to spill down to his shoulders. A red cape was draped around his shoulder, and a gold necklace sporting a medallion marked with an "M" hung around his neck.
"El Macho," Kaiju said with hushed, reverent tones.
Next to him was another middle-aged man, with Caucasian features and a tall, lanky build. He wore a black, long-sleeve t-shirt and white, high-waisted pants with black leather shoes on his feet. A black beret sat on top of his head, covering his short, brunette hair, while his face was covered in greasepaint in a coloration most people would associate with mimes. A pair of bandoliers criss-crossed over his chest, to which a number of spherical red devices were secured.
"Bomb Voyage," Kaiju observed.
The third figure was another middle-aged man with a Caucasian complexion and slim build. He wore an all purple, leather outfit, cut in a style that hadn't been popular in decades, with broad shoulder pads and an open front that showed off the white t-shirt he wore underneath. His black hair looked like the mutant offspring between a high top and a mullet, and his upper lip was covered with a thick mustache. He wore white sneakers on his feet and fingerless gloves on his hands, with what appeared to be a teal keytar strapped to his back. His attention was currently focused on the Rubix cube in his hands as he absentmindedly chewed some gum.
"Balthazar Bratt," Kaiju said with mounting astonishment.
The fourth figure was a woman only slightly older than most of the heroes, with Caucasian features and an athletic build. She wore a simple, black tank top that left her stomach bare along with a matching pair of tight pants. Her long black hair spilled down to the small of her back, and a lime green, serpentine tattoo wound its way around her arms, stomach and neck. A pair of thick black boots covered her feet, the bottoms of which glowed the same shade of green as her tattoo as she glided instead of walked down the ramp.
"Rollergrrl," Kaiju identified.
The fifth figure was a woman as well, with Caucasian features and a slim build. She wore a white leotard with long black gloves and thigh-high boots. A yellow belt was wrapped around her waist, secured with a buckle that resembled a white and yellow eyeball. A black cape lined with yellow was wrapped around her shoulders, secured with a clasp identical to her belt buckle. Her long red hair spilled down to her shoulders while her eyes were obscured by a large pair of white glasses with opaque, yellow lenses.
"Mezzmerella," Kaiju said in surprise, "And….I actually don't know who the last two are."
At this, the heroes turned their attention towards the two figures who were at the middle of the group. Phantasma walked with her hands clasped behind her back, her green eyes focused on nothing in particular. Next to her was a relatively short figure dressed in a black bodysuit identical to her own. He wore a long, black cloak with the hood pulled up, obscuring most of his features, though there was a glowing red light in the spot where his left eye would be, and the lower half of his face was obscured by a mask from which a pair of tubes slithered out, wrapping around his arms and leading to something that had been strapped to his back, though the object was obscured by his cloak. His most obvious feature though was the large, metal arm that hung where his right arm should be.
"This is bad," Ultraviolet whispered, her eyes wide, "This is really bad."
Before any of the Big Hero 9 could ask her what she meant, the shorter man cleared his voice, the electronic buzzing catching all of their attentions.
"Good evening," the short man greeted, his voice electronic and grating, "I imagine this is all something of a surprise for you."
"Who are you?" Excelsior demanded.
"Well, I'd like to believe that most of my associates' reputations precede them," the short man replied before gesturing towards Yama with his metal hand, "Though our newest addition is Mr.-"
"Oni," Yama interrupted, causing the short man to regard him for a moment.
"Oni," the short man agreed, "It does have a nice ring to it. Nevertheless, this is my assistant, Phantasma."
Phantasma made no reaction as the short man motioned towards her before placing his metal hand to his chest.
"And you can call me Enigma," he finished, and the heroes could practically hear the smile in his voice.
"What is this, some kind of secret supervillain syndicate?" Kaiju demanded.
"Syndicate would be the best word to describe us, I suppose," Enigma acquiesced with a nod.
"What do you want?" Kitsune questioned.
"Why, this is a recruitment mission," Enigma explained as he gestured towards Callaghan.
"You are not leaving here with him!" Excelsior declared, pointing an accusatory finger at Enigma as he did.
"Oh, I assure you, I am," Enigma replied before glancing over his shoulder, "Underminer."
Chuckling, Underminer pushed a button on one of his gauntlets, causing a panel to open up on the top of his drill tank before something was shot out. The object arced through the air before slamming into the ground right next to Robert, causing the man to stumble back in surprise. As Robert collected himself, he watched as the object, a long cylinder of some kind, opened up, causing hundreds of tiny black robots to tumble out.
"Microbots!?" Kitsune whispered in shock.
As Robert stared at the pile of microbots in shock, Phantasma walked up to him, pulling an object out of her jacket and holding it out to him. Looking at the object, Robert saw that it was a white kabuki mask detailed with red markings. The mask's band was made of metal and seemed to be some kind of electronic.
"Callaghan!" Excelsior shouted, grabbing Robert's attention, "Don't!"
"Come on, Professor," Enigma spoke up, causing Robert to turn his attention towards him, "You can't tell me that part of you doesn't want some revenge against the people who ruined your life."
Robert stared at Enigma in surprise for a moment before slowly lowering his gaze to the mask. He looked at it for a quiet moment before his expression turned hard. Taking the mask from Phantasma, Robert placed it over his head, cover his face. A moment later, the pile of microbots stirred to life, moving as a swarm with jerky, unnatural movements until they were gathered around Robert's feet.
"You should walk away," Yokai warned as the microbots formed a column beneath him, raising him off the ground.
"No way!" Excelsior shouted back defiantly, "Even with even sides, we're still taking you all down."
"You think these are even sides?" Enigma questioned before letting out a harsh, electronic laugh. As he laughed, all the other villains except Phantasma and Yokai joined in, sending chills down the heroes' spines.
"Look at them," Enigma said, gesturing at the Big Hero 9 while looking at the rest of the Syndicate, "So sure of themselves, these heroes of tomorrow."
Sighing, Enigma shook his head and looked back at the heroes, his glowing red eye locking gazes with Excelsior.
"Tear them apart."
A/N: So this is a chapter I've been waiting awhile to write, and I had a blast getting to finally introduce our villains. Hope you all enjoyed it too! As always, feedback and critiques are always welcome, so please review! Later!