AN: This chapter was a tough one to write… I'll be honest! I am a landlocked Midwesterner, so my real life knowledge of earthquakes only comes from the big ones that make the news (disaster movies don't count, 'cause they have this gross way of exaggerating stuff!). Again, my thoughts and prayers go out to those in Nepal, for their loss and their victories as well.
Chapter 5
"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." ~ Psalm 56:3
"Wait, if the power is out in this area, how is that wire hot?" Wasabi stood there staring at the sparking wires in the rubble.
"Their backup generators must still be on," Hiro told them, after also overhearing the nearby group of people who did get out of the restaurant.
"Just move to a different place!" GoGo growled at the swordsman, her impatience showing again.
Hiro stepped up instead to use the electromagnetic pulsars in the palms of his gloves to blast the offending structures back. The force did cause the sparks to glow brighter each time. But it was working, and after another palm blast, he was seeing an opening. At the same time, a hot explosion erupted out toward Hiro. Thankfully, his reflexes were just as fast as he squeezed his fingertips hard into his palms, making fists, which activated his protective magnetic shield.
The young leader didn't hear exactly what the others were saying at that point, he just heard them yelling as Baymax dragged him back some ways. His heart was pounding from the sudden adrenaline rush, and he could only stare in shock for a few long seconds as he sat on the roadside rubble.
How could I be so stupid? I'm going to end up like my brother!
Without my super-suit, or Baymax, I would be... He clenched his jaw, realizing again the fragility of his short mortal existence. He still remained motionless, watching the others coldly.
Baymax decided to go with the next best action of using his rocket fist from some distance, to knock open a larger hole for them to gain access. Despite Wasabi's concerns about the fist knocking into someone inside, GoGo refuted that the explosion Hiro caused would have already warned them to stay back.
Once clear, Baymax motioned to the others to go inside. He turned back to Hiro to help him back to his feet. "Your neurotransmitter levels are erratic, and you are exhibiting symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, again. Are you able to proceed, Hiro?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine!" he lied, "I can do this." He pushed by Baymax just to keep the robot from fussing over him now. Sometimes he regretted including mental health information to Baymax's database, even if it was to stop the occasional false diagnosis of puberty. The teen in blue readjusted his helmet before following after Wasabi and GoGo.
"Hey, we're here to get you out. Is there anyone needing immediate assistance?" Wasabi cautiously climbed over the boards and crumbled masonry, trying to make out anyone in the flickering light of the dining area.
"Oh thank god, Wa- ah, Big Hero 6 is here!" Honey's voice spoke up, albeit weakly. Now came the tough part, the team had to act like they didn't know her in order to protect each other's identities. "It hurts to move, some of the supports fell on us..."
"Don't worry about moving," Wasabi interjected, briefly looking back to the others for the next plan of action.
"Help Baymax, Wasabi," Hiro finally spoke up. "GoGo and I will get the others out."
Baymax was now operating off the additional program chip for an emergency responder that Hiro had integrated into his set. With his scanner and sensors, the red robot was taking in readings of the area, the structures and air quality, to see if they were in danger because of the environment. The ceiling was unstable without the supports holding it up. He also scanned the structure from the fallen supports and interior brick wall that fell on four conscious people to one side in the front. There were still heavy levels of natural gas in the air, and the water was rising again too. He concluded that they had to work quickly, but carefully.
"I'll cut this down to size, so it's easier to move," Wasabi told Baymax as the two promptly moved over to the heavy wooden beam first. He briefly touched Honey's shoulder to give her some reassurance before he activated his blades.
Baymax also saw in his scans the type of injuries they had, but refrained from reporting them this time as to not cause panic. But as they worked, another hard aftershock caused more plaster, roof tiles, and splintered wood come down.
"Activate your shields, Baymax!" Hiro shouted to him as he brought up his own, which was only big enough for himself and one other. GoGo followed suit by grabbing the two people with her to get under a large table she propped up.
That tremor was enough to cause the rest of the roof to collapse on top of everyone, exposing them to the open sky. From the magnetic ports on the red robot's back emitted a large, rectangular magnetic force field that also helped shield most of the trapped people from the falling ceiling.
Hiro held his shield over his head as to accommodate the taller man with him. They both ended up crouching down when the weight of the ceiling debris came down on them.
Don't freak out... stay calm.
"Help me, Tada-nii," Hiro mouthed the words for reassurance. His arms started to shake from having to hold up one end of a heavy joist plank that landed on his shield.
Breathe. Focus. Breathe. Hiro squeezed his eyes shut as he drew in another breath.
No one spoke or moved for a few long seconds more after the shaking stopped and the dust began to settle. Then Hiro finally dropped the heavy plank with a splash into the water.
"Wow... Okay, I guess that helped with clearing the gas out of the air," Wasabi commented nervously as he slowly straightened up and pushed aside some boards and drywall around him. Baymax's shield wasn't able to include him, so the larger man had to use his own body to shield Honey Lemon from further injury from any falling tiles. She looked up too, relieved that he and the others seemed to be holding up.
"You okay?" Hiro thought to ask the older gentleman he was with.
"Yes. A bit shaken, but thank you." He nodded, dusting himself off. "I'm the restaurant's manager. I want to tell you how much I appreciate all your help, sir."
"No problem," the boy in blue responded, appearing distracted now as he looked around for an easy way out of the soupy mess of debris and floodwater. "There's a tsunami coming, so we gotta get out fast."
Picking up on Hiro's queues, GoGo took aim with her yellow disks to clear another opening for them to pass through more quickly.
"Fly them out as soon as you can," Hiro advised Baymax, regarding the injured people. The water was rising faster, reaching their waists now.
Baymax's biggest concern was on his patients that had received many deep wounds from the broken furniture underneath, and now risking greater infection from the polluted seawater flooding in. But he understood that they first needed to get out of the unstable environment to higher ground before administering treatment. The young man in chef's clothing had the worse injuries to his leg, and a bleeding laceration to his stomach. He would have to be carried. The lady sou chef also sustained a hip injury and her a couple ribs had small fractures. He would have to take two trips.
Fortunately, the third person, a waitress, only sustained a broken arm and she followed after Wasabi as he carried out Honey Lemon on his back. Her knee and ankle also hurt too much to bear weight.
"Keep going!" GoGo followed up the rear with Hiro as they scrambled up the rubble in an effort to get to higher land.
The waves of water began to surge in faster, making their proximity to the docks still too close. The team and the restaurant staff still needed to pause for a moment on the street to regroup.
Knowing she could not run, Baymax strongly advised the injured chef to climb on his back, so he could transport her while he carried the now unconscious man in his arms.
"Hiro, I need to take them to a hospital, immediately," the healthcare robot told him.
"Okay. Just let me know where you went, Baymax. We'll catch... up.." Hiro acknowledged his request, but the red robot had already rocketed off before the teen finished talking.
"This way," GoGo pointed up an alley that didn't have too much rubble blocking their path. She had given up on using her foot disks, and repositioned them higher on her calves so she could also run on foot. This certainly had to be their first unfortunate kind of parkour course that they had to endure on their trek to higher ground.
The people from the restaurant had no choice but to also stay with the superhero team, feeling it was the safer decision for all of them to stay together. Other groups of people who had not vacated the city by vehicle yet were also making the trek to the higher levels of the city. After a few blocks of uphill travel, they stopped just to catch their breaths.
"We need to find a hospital," Wasabi said in between breaths, shifting Honey Lemon's weight up so she wasn't slipping. She was mindfully holding her tongue, in her effort of playing the one of hapless damsels in distress. But they could tell this was getting awkward for her.
"Did Baymax report in yet?" GoGo asked Hiro.
He shook his head no.
"There should be one not too far from here," one of the staff from the restaurant suggested. "Community West?"
Hiro turned away, pacing, as he paged his healthcare robot. He was certainly he had to have arrived to his destination now. "Baymax, where are you?"
"Community West. Assisting patients. Please leave message." Came the short, busy-signal type of response.
"Wait... you know Baymax just went to a hospital, by himself, right?" GoGo suddenly looked very worried, taking Hiro further aside from the others. "Has he.. ever been to a hospital before?"
Hiro made a face, indicating that he hadn't. "That was on my 'to do' list?"
Gogo just gave him a peeved look. "We really have to hurry."
They turned back to the others, confirming it was Community West. "Hey, you guys are welcome to come too. They probably have phones and information to help you get in touch with your families." GoGo added.
"'Kay, let's go."
They had walked at a brisk pace for several more minutes along the street in the direction of the hospital. With the exception of the occasional checkup on those with injuries, they traveled in silence.
Hiro continued to pray that Baymax did not make like an unsupervised child in a candy store at the hospital. Would he recognize the doctors and nurses for who they are, and not try to undermine their positions? Or would he become like an overly helpful medical student that actually made matters worse for everyone else? This was something he never really experimented with before, to see how Baymax would behave.
"Hiro, I am in.. ja-a-il," Baymax's distorted voice suddenly came in over his comm-link. Or, yes, he could simply just blow a fuse from it all. He knew that Baymax was on the charger before all this, so it could not be possible for his batteries to be drained already.
Slag. Hiro kept his pace, trying to not look royally disturbed by this new realization.
"What was that?" GoGo grabbed him by the arm again.
Slag squared.
Hiro thought maybe she overheard the broadcast come from his helmet. "Um, nothing," the teen felt now was not a good time to discuss this - especially in front of the civilians. He did notice Wasabi also pause to turn to look back at him, in a worried way, as they walked.
"That did not sound like 'nothing'," she whispered angrily, using her comm-link to talk to Hiro, "I heard Baymax say he was in jail, thru my comm-link."
"Why is that my fault?!" Hiro wondered why she was suddenly angry at him. "He left before I could say anything to him!"
"Your programming, your responsibility," GoGo huffed.
"He's not programmed to cause trouble!" it was a weak argument but that was all that Hiro could say. Yes, obviously something about the new programming might have conflicted with the code somewhere, but how could it be so bad he would get arrested?
"Baymax... What happened?" Hiro finally asked over the comm-link. "What did you do?"
"So-o-O ma-any pEE-pull... who-O need por-rr-table ah-ass.. ca-are."
Hiro made another face. "Where are you?"
"Wheeeere are... you, Hiiiiro? What is tsuuu-na- na-mi? Are you swi-swi-swim-ming?"
"Baymax...seriously, buddy. Where. Are. You?"
"Plee-Aase wait 3-zero miin-min-nutes.. Be foorr swim-ming!"
"I am fine. We're coming… just, stay there. Don't do anything."
Hiro groaned. This was futile. He noticed another increasingly worried look from Wasabi. The malfunctioning robot was still broadcasting this to the three of them. Four, actually, since Honey Lemon could hear Wasabi's comm-link.
They still had to get to the hospital first, regardless. Hiro flipped open a cover on his left glove to check a small computer screen he had synced with Baymax, to track his location that way. It was harder, as the read out was often not accurate. But at least he could tell his robot was not at the police station.
AN: Alas, another super short chapter. Hopefully it'll go faster after this. My brain, in all its greatness, kept on thinking up events way ahead of this one, and not this one. Which in the long run may be good - faster updates when I get to those parts. Hah! (hopefully)
Thank you for reading and reviewing, everyone!
