Chapter 6
"We're going to have to split up, before we get to the hospital." Hiro spoke to GoGo through the comm-link.
GoGo just gave him a curious look.
"If Baymax is in hot water, that would make us look bad as a superhero team," Hiro explained. He was also a little worried about possibly affecting their existing police records for the worse, if the cops really were involved.
"No," GoGo didn't agree with that. "If we mess up as a team, we take the blame together, as a team."
"I know... but it's still something I should take care of." Again, there were other reasons he didn't want to go into then and there. Hiro looked back briefly to the other civilians as well. "You and Wasabi need to take care of them... anyway."
"So you are assuming he's being held at the hospital?" GoGo noticed he did not say anything about the police station.
"Yeah," Hiro confirmed. "So... best to split up."
"And then what?" Wasabi chimed in on his comm-link.
"Regroup." Hiro stated simply. He was quiet for a couple more steps before asking. "How bad is Honey Lemon?"
"Hard to tell at this point." Wasabi admitted. "She's in a lot of pain though,"
They fell silent again, thinking about everything at hand. The day was barely half over, and there was still so much to do.
With his reammates waitibg in the waiting area of the crowded and overwhelmed ER bay of the hospital, Hiro went over to reception desk, still dressed in his armored blue supersuit and helmet.
"Did you have a big, red robot come here some time ago?" he asked the blonde woman behind the counter.
She gave him a long affirming look that indicated she knew what he was talking about, before responding. He didn't have to explain that he was trying to play the part of a superhero. That was plenty obvious. "Can you please remove your helmet, so I know who I am talking to."
Hiro sighed. There was, however, a reason why he did not take off his helmet already. So he just pushed a button to make his visor disappear.
"My red robot, where is he?" The Japanese-American teen asked again, while making a conscious effort to keep his mouth closed when not talking. He was all too aware the gap in his front teeth was another unique feature that could give away his identity.
The woman seemed to be studying his slightly obscured eyes from under the long strands of hair that stuck out from the helmet. "Your robot is being held in one of our offices in the back," she gestured behind her. "May I ask your name first, young man?"
Hiro fought to keep his patience as he quickly thought of an impromptu alias. Megazot or Nerd Boy just wouldn't fly, really. "Sansho Ebisan," he told her, while appearing as sincere as possible. Fortunately, she seemly didn't catch on that he said his name was 'Mr. Pepper Shrimp'.
"Sansho," she addressed him, "I am not sure what was going on, but I do want to advise you to not leave your robot unsupervised at a place like this again. We did not realize he was a robot until later."
Hiro nodded, already getting a sense of where this was headed. "Yes, I know."
"It was good for him to help bring in two injured patients, but things became intense when his hands began to glow." The woman explained.
"Those were his defibrillators! Baymax is a healthcare robot." He responded sharply.
"I see, Sansho," she pursed her lips. "However... Baymax.. should have been in a more secure location before using them. A crowded waiting room is not a good place."
She paused before adding the last bit of information. "Our security offers had to taser your robot, as he was not responding to our requests to stop."
"They... What?!" Hiro leaned in on the counter in surprise, suddenly being hit with a surge of emotion.
"I'm sorry, it was for the safety of everyone," she stood up to show him where to go. "During city-wide emergencies like this, we do not take chances."
"Why?" The rising anger began to consume him, making it harder for him to reason sensibly. "He was just trying to help you guys!"
Noticing the unfavorable change in his behavior, the receptionist beckoned a guard who approached them. Hiro clenched his shaking hands as he looked up at the guard. No words had to be exchanged, fortunately. He might have just lost his self-control otherwise.
"This way," the guard said, not relaxing his demeanor at all.
Hiro followed, cursing at them for what happened. He hoped the healthcare robot's circuits weren't completely fried. The teen also didn't like how edgy he had gotten, and forced himself to take another deep breath to calm down. The guard opened a door to a small storage room. He stayed by the entrance as the boy in blue entered.
Hiro saw a half deflated vinyl Baymax sitting against the wall, trying to balance his rocket fist on some armor pieces. The rest of his red armor was sitting in various stacks around the room, accompanied with empty bandage boxes and draped with old patient gowns. These 'creations' apparently we're the result of his glitching processor.
"Are you okay?" Hiro asked Baymax, out of habit. The robot blinked once at him, setting down his rocket fist.
"Hello Hiro. I can make-y th-thr-threeeee of me... we ha-ave aaaewll the piieeeces!" he gestured to his armor towers.
This looked bad. But just to check, he had to ask once more. Hiro held up three of his fingers of his bulky black and blue glove. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Wh-what is ro-r-wron-ong.. with your ha-hand?" The robot tilted his head, looking oddly at Hiro.
He's definitely toast. Now what...
Hiro paced around in the large closet, rubbing his neck in thought. He was still mad, but now it was a different kind of mad. More like disgust and various shades of frustration.
Gotta take him back to the lab to run diagnostics... provided that the lab is intact, and still open. And someone can get us there.
He could fall back and use his garage too, but all of his best tech was at SFIT. The young genius set his jaw as he looked at Baymax, who was currently counting the fingers on his rocket fist.
"This... le-eddul.. Pig-E! He .. had rooow... toooasted.. bEef!" The failing robot picked up the thumb on his armored fist, then let the whole thing drop to the floor with a thud. He visibly was beginning to slow down too.
Hiro sighed and kneeled down to face Baymax. It was time to end this so he could get him out of there. "Baymax, I am satisfied with your care."
Baymax looked at him for a long moment, clearly not complying. "Yo-you... are not.. my p-pay shunt. Where.. is my... pay sh-shunt?"
Hiro closed his eyes for a second as a new reality kicked in. Never mind safety protocol, the hospital staff had to force Baymax to leave a critically injured patient so that they could quickly move the man into a care unit.
"He's in good hands now, Baymax. The doctors now are taking care of him." Hiro hoped that would be enough to cease and desist his unsatisfied programming. Deep down, he also hoped the cook was still alive, and actually in good care now. He had no way to know for sure.
"I'm sorry they tazed you, when you were just trying to help," he added, more solemnly as the younger Hamada looked down at the floor.
"Is my ..pay shunt stable-ze-eyed?"
Hiro looked back up and worked his mouth, before making up an answer. "Yes. He's okay now."
"Wot izzz taay zzzz-ed..."
"It's like... beibg electrocuted. Now you're damaged. I'm gonna have to run diagnostics on you, Baymax," Hiro started, only to be distracted by some orders coming over the guard's walkie talkie, as he was still standing by the door. Apparently there was another disturbance up front that needed attention.
Hiro felt a hundred times more relieved after the guard left, only because he felt like he didn't have to think twice about everything he said, just in case the guard was taking notes. He pulled off his bulky gloves so he could access Baymax's panel. The younger Hamada had discovered that his older brother did design a "kill switch" for Baymax when he was rebuilding him, which made sound sense, all things considered. However, Hiro hadn't told the others on the team about it, yet. Part of him was afraid of what would happen if that knowledge fell into the wrong hands. All more of a reason why he also included his voice recognition and fingerprints to authenticate the override, for shutting down the healthcare robot.
"Hey Hiro," GoGo's voice on the comm-link stilted his thoughts. "Could use your help up front!"
"Great..." Hiro sighed audibly. He knew all too well why.
"Hiro Hamada," the engineering student spoke into his wrist, pushing his finger tips on the touch screen. Once he transmitted the silent signal, the vinyl form abruptly deflated and collapsed.
"Be there in a sec!" Hiro called over his com-link.
Unfortunately, he didn't have Baymax's recharging platform to make packing him up happen quickly. The transformative pack-ability feature of the armor only worked if the platform was there, which it was not. So the young leader quickly nested together what he could of Baymax in a neat pile before jogging up the hallway.
From what Wasabi could tell, a group of gang members decided to mob the place and stir up some trouble. One red-haired guy was complaining about the wait they had, just to be able to use a phone. Another Japanese member, who actually had a flesh wound on his head, was arguing about how long he had to wait. The muscular built man with tattoos was stressing the fact that he was bleeding all over the place, as the guard held him tight against the wall.
Because of that, the rest of the gang decided to protest by destroying some of the tables, lamps, and even a chair in the waiting room with some well-aimed kicks and punches.
Wasabi wasted no time grappling with one of the punks, and hitched the Japanese man's arms behind his back. The strong nerdlab hero stood behind him with his arms locked in the man's elbows to hold him still.
Likewise, even though GoGo had stashed her disks outside, she had no problem incapacitating another one of the brutes before his actions hurt someone. Facing the blonde muscle man, she had grabbed his left arm and shoulder and literally swept him off his feet. Since he fell on his side, the yellow speedster kicked him in the gut, causing him to roll onto his stomach. While she still had a tight grip on his wrist, GoGo angled his arm behind his back in such a painful position, causing him to cry like a baby in his surrender.
One of the paramedic guys also jumped in to help with a couple other gang members when Hiro entered the scene.
A fist fight erupted between the paramedic and another larger angry gang member. The red-headed gang member threw a punch that knocked the paramedic off guard. Blood started to drip from the tech's nose, but before he could celebrate that victory, Hiro grabbed his attention.
"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" the young hero looked up at the muscle bound punk. A big emphasis on looking up, because Hiro also happened to notice a great deal of nose hairs in the angry man's flared nostrils.
"You? A chisana boy?" He laughed, spitting on the floor between them.
The teen's heart was pounding, as he briefly wondered what the hell was he doing risking his very life like this. Actually, he just wanted to take his frustration out on somebody.
"Yeah, 'cause no one else could see that your fly is down!" Hiro taunted the man, pointing down to the zipper. It was a total bluff, but an effective one.
"What did you say?" The punk abruptly grabbed Hiro's pliable armored shirt to lift him up to eye level.
"Gotcha?" That grab was the action Hiro hoped for, and he kicked the man hard in the groin. As the man buckled over, the young leader was then able to grip the wrist that had grabbed his chest plate and twisted it over his head and into such a painful angle, the punk had no choice but to stay bent over. Then for added measure, the boy kneed the man in the jaw with his hard magnet kneepad to completely bring him down to the floor.
"Oh yeah, I forgot... size really doesn't matter," Hiro told the guy, as he also kept the man's arm twisted painfully behind his back. He grabbed the other hand and brought them together, pressing his knee pad into the man's spine. That was GoGo's signature technique that he learned, and he knew why she liked it. It was so satisfying when it worked.
Hiro smiled behind his visor as he realized the extent of his victory. Of course, the man quickly began to wrest himself out if Hiro's hold in protest. He was big enough he could practically stand up with Hiro still on his back if he could get his feet under him. Hiro had to make sure that didn't happen.
One hand did get free and the man tried to roll to one side, but the teen stepped on that arm with his foot. If the punk tried anything else, Hiro was in position now to kick him in the face.
Fortunately, reinforcements actually arrived as a few police officers came in to take care of the situation before he had too. Hiro and GoGo were among the ones the officers approached first, since they looked like they were struggling the most.
"Who are you?" The officer asked Hiro as he took custody of the burly gang member in handcuffs. Apparently he must have heard of him before, from the way he looked at the costumed boy.
"Big Hero 6," Hiro kept the answer simple. "We just wanted to help you guys out."
"Well... thanks," he grunted, before turning his attention fully back on the gang members.
As the police officers corralled the troublesome group out of the ER,s waiting area, Hiro joined with the other two.
"Way to go, little man," Wasabi gave Hiro a thumbs up, impressed by the take down earlier. "Is Baymax here?"
"Yeah," Hiro glanced back toward the reception area. He didn't feel like going into the all the colorful details at that moment though. "Left him back in the room they put him in."
The young leader looked around again, deciding what action to take next. He noticed Honey Lemon was sitting in a back corner of the waiting room with her ankle propped up on a small table. She was also supplied with ice packs and an IV drip, as all the rooms were currently full.
"What about Honey Lemon?" The young leader looked at the two.
"The hospital staff was going to mark off part of the waiting room into a makeshift clinic. But then that gang came in." Wasabi started to explain.
Hiro just sighed at that. His lingering regret about Baymax being out of commission still hung over his head.
"She was able to get ahold of her family too. Parents will be by soon," GoGo added, glancing to Hiro.
"You need to check in?" She asked as she held out her cell phone to the younger Hamada.
"Yeah," he took it, only to hesitate a moment afterwards. "Baymax needs some repairs, so... we're gonna need a ride."
Hiro thought he heard Wasabi say 'Yes' under his breath when he said that. "But, um... I'm still not going to take my helmet off in here. I recognized a couple of those guys." The boy nodded in the direction of the group being escorted outside.
"From where?" GoGo wondered.
"Bot fights." He turned his gaze downward, also not wanting to delve deeper into that topic."I'll be in a storage room where they put Baymax. He's deactivated right now."
"What happened to him?" GoGo prompted again.
"He got tazed," his voiced sounded a little pained at that point.
"Really? Damn."
"How did that happen?" Wasabi narrowed his brow in concern.
"They freaked out when he started up his defibrillators. Which are in his palms... like Ironman's palm blasters."
"I guess that's why he originally had that non-threatening, huggable design." GoGo crossed her arms, looking at Hiro.
"Shut up," he grumbled, looking down at her phone in his hand. He needed another change of topic, really. "Actually, can you guys keep Honey Lemon company... while I call?"
"Yeah, sure," Wasabi nodded.
"Thanks."
Hiro first thought about calling Aunt Cass, but then he wondered how she would handle all the news. He sighed, pushing one of the numbers GoGo had on speed dial. He leaned against the doorframe of the storage room, listening to the dial tone.
"Yo, hello!" Fred answered.
"Hey, it's Hiro," he responded, his voice hushed when he spoke his name.
"Alright! Are you guys okay? Heard about the tsunami. The water's gone back down now."
"We got out okay, and made it to the hospital. Honey Lemon's hurt and Baymax is messed up."
"Need a ride?" Fred asked before Hiro had the chance.
"Can you? I dunno if Aunt Cass's truck is okay."
"I can find out. Okay to call you back on GoGo's phone?"
"Yeah," Hiro rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, and if you can find it, bring Baymax's recharge base. The one I upgraded."
"Sure thing, buddy!"
AN: I have concluded… Hiro's temperament at times can be fun to play with. ;p
EchidnaPower – Baymax in a hospital is like a bull in a china factory. Or something. Hah. Actually, the original Baymax might not have been so problematic. It's all the tweakage Hiro's been doing that might have changed Baymax's once friendly nursebot appearance.
AwesomeWriter2013 – I do love how Hiro and GoGo interact. Very snarky at times… yes, they are. Both have tempers and strong wills, so yes.. I also promise, there will be more butting of heads later.
Thank you for hanging in there. My schedule has been getting switched around every few weeks, making things interesting for me. Moving on up in responsibilities too! Fun and scary at the same time. *eyeshift* ^^;
