'Killer view!'
'Yeah you're right, if I wasn't afraid of heights I would probably love this. But I'm afraid of heights so I don't love this!'
Rena was going to shake her head but she didn't dare move for fear of plummeting to her death. She was wedged in between Gogo and Hiro, the plasma in her gloves sticking her insecurely to the robot's back. Tadashi was flying unsteadily just below them, determined to catch anyone if they fell. Rena didn't know how to break it to him that it would probably just end in both of them spinning downwards towards the icy depths of the ocean. She clung to Baymax a little tighter as she thought about this.
'Almost there!' Hiro yelled over the wind. Rena looked up slightly and saw that he was right. Slowly, the little island was looming closer and closer. A few minutes later, they were descending back down to the ground and she prised herself off Baymax as she jumped down, grateful for the solid floor that her feet met. They stood for a minute, surveying the surroundings.
'This was a bad idea.' Wasabi said nervously, 'look at the signs! That one has a skull face! A SKULL FACE!' Hiro, ignoring him, began to walk towards the building and the rest of them followed cautiously.
'Are you people not seeing this?! Quarantine! That literally says quarantine, are you not aware of what that means?!'
'Quarantine - the act of isolating something in order to prevent sickness and, in some cases, death.' Baymax offered helpfully.
'Did you guys here that?' Wasabi hissed, agitated at their lack of concern.
'Shut UP!' Hiro snapped over his shoulder, 'I hear something.'
Rena stopped at these words, and Fred slammed into her back. She stumbled, arms windmilling madly in an attempt to not send herself crashing to the floor. Gogo grabbed her arm and hauled her up.
'For gods sake Fred!' Rena yelled, 'watch where you're going in that thing!'
'Sorry!' He mumbled through his monster head.
'Oh my god pipe DOWN!' Hiro barked. She opened her mouth to retort but snapped it shut at the look on his face. She instead decided on making a very rude hand gesture behind his back. Gogo sniggered.
'THERE!' Fred bellowed and they turned and pelted this mysterious organism with their gear, leaving the air smelling rank and smoky. Rena spluttered, her eyes watering as she struggled to make sense of the scene. She fumbled around and clapped her hand on Hiro's shoulder as the smoke subdued. A pigeon was stood in the carnage, blinking at them curiously.
'Good job guys.' She joked sarcastically, 'really terrifying individual we just took down. The masked man stands no chance now.'
'Well,' Honey offered hesitantly, 'at least we know our gear works!'
Hiro shook his head and took the lead once more. They walked for a couple more minutes, surveying the outside of the building. After deciding that there was no door to get in, they stepped back as Wasabi roughly cut a hole in the wall in front of them. Rena flinched at the loud sound the concrete made as it smacked into the floor. Surely the masked man knew they were there, they'd made so much racket. Hiro stepped into the building, carefully tiptoeing down the creepy hallway. He motioned for them to follow, and they all scrambled in the building after him. Rena sped up slightly until she was in line with Hiro, Baymax just behind them. She could pretend that this was because she was being sweet and protective or whatever, but the truth was that she wanted to get as far away from Fred as possible. The same Fred who was now singing a theme song.
'Kill me now.' She muttered as Fred's out of tune voice filled the corridor.
'Fred's angels! Duh duh duh, Fred's angels! Harnessing the power of the sun with the ancient amulet they found in the attic! Uh uh uh. The amulet is green! Uh uh uh. It's probably an emerald-'
Rena whirled around and yelled 'SHUT UP!' at exactly the same time as Gogo, Wasabi and Hiro.
'Seriously buddy.' Said Wasabi, 'I will laser hand you in the face!'
'Okay but that would be pretty cool. Imagine if-'
'Guys! I think you should see this.' Rena looked back at Honey, who was stood in the doorway of a room that she hadn't previously noticed. She turned back and followed everyone else in after Honey. Hiro immediately ran up to a monitor some distance away, and everyone else followed quickly. Rena hung back a bit, suddenly paranoid that someone was watching them in the huge room.
'Hey guys!' She called, and a few heads turned. 'You stay up there! I'll keep watch!'
'Okay!' Hiro yelled back down and she nodded, turning her attention back on the door and the hallway beyond the mysterious room. She could hear the sounds of a video being played in the background, and the distinctive sounds of Krei's awful voice. Huh, so they were right. Go figure. She leant against the wall, relaxing slightly. She stayed like that for a few minutes, soaking up the brief peacefulness before chaos ensued when the masked man eventually found them. Maybe this was why it took her a minute to register the fact that there were now shadows moving across the walls. She looked up quickly, the masked man was heading towards her friends, none of whom had noticed. She legged it, running towards them waving her arms and trying to get their attention and not the attention of the man swiftly approaching them. Skidding to a halt, she suddenly remembered the built in ear-piece that Hiro had installed in the inside of all their helmets.
'Behind you!' She hissed into the small microphone, and she just saw them turn as the masked man sent a huge block of concrete spinning towards them. With a colossal bang, it collided with her friends and crushed them.
'NO!' She screamed, running as fast as she could towards where her friends were lying under a huge pile of rocks. Diving into the edge of the pile, she began to desperately pull away rocks and toss them over her shoulder. Despite her panic, a rational voice spoke in the back of her mind as she desperately clawed through the rubble. No, they weren't dead. She knew they were alive, they had to be. However, she became less and less certain as the seconds ticked by. She sucked in a deep breath and sat back on her knees, letting the tears fall freely down her face. Oh god, maybe they were dead. Maybe they had all truly left her, alone. The last of the Hamada's - the last of the group of friends that took up the best seats in the dining hall. How could she be so careless, so-
She screamed in shock and agony as something burst up out of the rubble, sending her sprawling down the stairs that led up to the small platform. She landed roughly on the ground, next to a large red object that she vaguely recognised. She pulled herself to her feet and stumbled towards it, recognising it as Baymax's robotic fist. She sat and stared at it for a second, the metal appearing blurry behind her tears when she was suddenly pulled to her feet. Tadashi had ran down the stairs as fast as he could when he had seen her collapsed on the floor. He took one look at her test-stained face and bombarded her with questions.
'What's wrong? I heard you scream, does anywhere hurt? Do we need to go? Are you concussed? Are-'
'I'm fine oh my GOD I thought-' she spluttered, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled away quickly, before grabbing Hiro who was stood next to her and hugging him as well. He squirmed away after a couple of seconds, moaning about how he 'wasn't a hugger.'
'3 seconds ago I thought you were dead. Let me have this one.'
'Okay I get the situation, really I do.' Gogo interrupted from the side, 'but if we don't go NOW this guy is gonna get away.'
'It's fine, I'm fine. Just don't go getting crushed again and we don't have a problem!' She laughed, her voice perhaps a little too high-pitched. Clearing her throat loudly, she pointed towards the huge doorway at the back of the room through which the villain had escaped whilst she was pre-occupied.
'He went that way.'
They all sprung into action, Gogo racing ahead of them. Hiro clambered onto Baymax quickly. When he reached the top, he stretched out his hand and pulled Rena up to sit alongside him. Tadashi and Fred bounded ahead, with Honey shortly behind them. Wasabi was left alone as Baymax shot after them.
'GUYS!' He screeched, running after them. 'What's the PLAN?'
'Get the mask!' Hiro yelled over his shoulder.
'To be fair!' Rena said, turning to look at him, 'is there a proper plan?'
'That IS a proper plan!' He exclaimed.
She shrugged and flicked her wrist towards the ceiling. She saluted him ironically before gliding up out of her position on the robot's back. She sent more plasma shooting up to the ceiling and clung there on all fours, surveying the scene below her. That guy sure did have a lot of microbots. She watched in horror as the bots send Fred spinning through the air until he crashed into the floor, doing the same with Wasabi a few seconds later. Gogo went after him, successfully slicing through a wall of microbots before he flung her to the side. She collided with the wall and crumpled on the floor with a sickening crash. Heart hammering, she quietly crept along the ceiling as her friends got tossed about like rag dolls. 'Wow.' She muttered to herself as she watched Honey Lemon sliding across the floor before collapsing on top of Gogo's unconscious form. 'We are bad at this.' She stopped when she was directly above the masked man. She would have to drop soon, the blood was rushing to her head rather fast and she already felt horribly lightheaded.
Tadashi flew around the man, crashing through his tower of microbots. The villain was falling, but not for long before his bots caught him midair. He whirled around, pointing at Tadashi as he did so. He was pinned roughly to the wall, and Rena winced at the angle that his arm was bent at as he struggled against the bots. Brilliant. The only people left in the battle were a 14 year old kid, a robotic nurse and her. She tensed slightly, counting to three in her head.
One. Hiro circled the guy, trying to decide the best way to attack him.
Two. She was starting to become dizzy from watching her brother desperately circle the room, trying to come up with a plan. She saw the man raise a hand, about to strike him with a wave of microbots.
THREE!
She dropped, flying through the air momentarily before shooting out a wave of sticky plasma which attached to the man's back. He whirled around at this contact, and she jerked through the air. He stopped, and she took this to her advantage. She activated the plasma in her boots and pulled herself towards him. She ducked under his arm as he swung at her, finding that she was able to safely move across the scarily high tower of microbots thanks to her shoes. Blindly, she swung through the air and made contact with his chest. He fell backwards slightly, the microbots catching him as he took a step or two back. It was then that Rena realised she couldn't take the mask off him here in the air, or they would both fall, maybe even to their deaths. She took a deep breath and turned on her heel, running down the huge mountain of microbots. She was slipping and sliding over them as they moved beneath her feet. She expected to be flipped up into the air, or to be thrown aside like her many friends but she was surprised to find that that wasn't the case. She was aware of the man following her, gliding down on an effortless wave of microbots instead of tripping and stumbling down the heaving mass as she was. Vaguely aware of her companions yelling at her, she kept running. When she had halved the distance between herself and the ground, she chanced a quick glance over her shoulder. He was just behind her. Perfect.
She skidded to a halt and turned quickly, lunging towards the villain. He recoiled in surprise and she seized his wrist, clinging on tight. He swung at her, and she ducked but not early enough. His fist collided with her helmet and the glass shattered. She yelled out as shards of glass went showering in her face, some piercing her skin and remaining stuck there. However, there was so much adrenaline pumping through her system that she didn't even notice. She took advantage of her sudden low position, and brought her head up sharply to his chin. He gave a muffled yell of surprise as her helmet came into harsh contact with his head, falling backwards slightly once more. The microbots caught him again as he went flailing backwards and Rena let out a yell of frustration. She lunged for his mask, and her fingers just grasped at the edge before he pushed her back roughly. She stuck her arms out as she fell backwards, the plasma in her gloves being the only thing that kept her stuck there.
'A little help please!' She gasped desperately into her microphone, rolling out the way just in time as he sent a well aimed kick towards her head. She quickly pulled herself to a feet, swaying unsteadily under the constantly moving mass of the microbots. She shrieked as there was a large boom to her left, and whirled around just in time to watch Tadashi's fake leg flying through the air towards her. She threw herself on the ground, desperately clinging to the endlessly moving wave of microbots. She knew the villain had missed the attack as well, for he had advanced on her in mere seconds. He pulled her to her feet with a tight grip on her upper arm, and she didn't duck in time for yet another swing towards her now unprotected face. She howled in agony as she could feel her mouth filling up with blood. She spat at his feet, before wrenching her arm out of his grip and turning away from him. Suddenly, Fred had appeared at her side, bounding up and landing beside her on the mountain of microbots. However, he did not have the advantage of her boots. He let out a roar, sending flames towards the masked man before he fell backwards, rolling down the hill of microbots.
'FRED!' Rena screamed as she watched him tumbling out of view. The villain took advantage of these few seconds of vulnerability, and he pushed her roughly from behind. For a second, she was falling but she managed to dig her feet in quickly, plasma sticking her to the microbots before she suffered from the same fate as Fred. She blew her hair out of her face and stared him down. She realised then how much height they had gained, and realised that in order for her to safely obtain the mask she needed to get him closer to the ground. Suddenly, an idea hit her and she was shouting at him.
'Come on!' She called, waving her arms at him, 'come at me! I DARE you!'
He stared at her for a second, before swooping down on her. However, this time she was ready. She ducked his first attack and spun around, taking his momentary unsteadiness to her advantage. She lunged forwards, crashing into him. He shouted out, clinging onto her as they rolled down the microbots. She knew it was vital to keep him from using them against her, so she kicked out and hit him as much as she physically could. After a minute or so of this painful, weird looking rolling she took her opportunity. She kicked him roughly, and used the couple of seconds that he was weakened to pull the mask roughly from his head, lobbing it over her shoulder as hard as she could. Instantaneously, she was showered with microbots as they all came crashing down on top of them. She let out a muffled yell before she was suffocating, desperately climbing through the endless bots that were pouring down on top of her. She couldn't breath, couldn't see.
Damn. She'd really underestimated the sheer amount of microbots this scumbag had made.
Time froze as Tadashi Hamada watched his little sister throw the mask over her shoulder and disappear under the microbots that Krei had made. He felt himself falling suddenly, landing in a heap a few feet below where the microbots had just been suspending him. He crashed to the ground, the sudden impact bringing him back to reality. He lifted his head slowly, ears ringing. Dragging himself to his feet, he made his way over to the colossal pile of microbots, knowing that his sister was buried beneath them. He gave a strangled yell, before diving headfirst into the pile and almost swimming through them as he struggled to find his sister.
'RENA!' He screamed as he dug his hands into the bots, throwing great fistfuls over his shoulder as he sank further in. Gogo, Hiro, Honey and Wasabi were behind him, scrabbling in the pile themselves. Fred lay unconscious in the corner, Baymax helping him. He had gotten about halfway through the mountain of bots, beginning to loose hope when someone burst out of the microbots. He held his breath, but no. It was Krei. His back was to Tadashi, and he was up and running towards the mask before Tadashi even got a chance to move towards him.
'GUYS!' He screeched, pointing in the direction of Krei, who was swiftly moving away from him. He could barely move, held in place by the microbots despite them being still.
'STAY THERE AND FIND HER!' Yelled Hiro as he raced after him, Honey and Wasabi hot on his heels. Tadashi didn't need telling twice, he tore his eyes away from the scene as Gogo launched herself at Krei as well. He quickly made his way over to where Krei emerged from the pile, knowing that his sister would be close by. He was only looking for about 30 seconds when he saw a bright flash of orange out the corner of his eye. He lunged towards her, yelling out as he sank further into the pile. He sunk his arm in, scrabbling around for a second before he grasped her arm and pulled her out, sending microbots cascading in waves around them. She was barely conscious, and covered in blood.
'Dashi?' She murmered sleepily as he pulled her arm around his shoulder and hoisted her onto her feet. He was reminded painfully of the first few days after he had gotten out of hospital as he dragged her across the room to where Baymax was tending to Fred.
'Yep, yep it's me.' He grunted as he turned to face her. He almost dropped her when he realised just how covered in blood she was. Picking up his pace slightly, he pulled her along a little faster.
'Baymax!' He called as they came closer, 'help!'
Baymax turned and waddled over to them, he picked up Rena with ease and walked over to the wall, where he placed her gently.
'She will be okay.' He said cordially, scanning her. 'She appears to be a little dazed and her wounds need to be seen to, but there is nothing worrying about her injuries.'
Tadashi breathed a sigh of relief. 'Okay. Take good care of her buddy.'
He strode over to Fred and grasped his hand, pulling him to his feet.
'You alright?' He asked as they broke into a run, heading towards the shouting of the battle that was now taking place.
'Hell yeah dude!' Fred answered excitedly, pulling on the head of his costume. 'This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me!'
Tadashi shook his head, grinning at his friend. He picked up speed slightly as they neared the scene. Krei still had his back to them, and the mask was in his hand. He quickly pulled it on, microbots surging towards them as Tadashi and Fred skidded to a stop next to their friends. He stared in horror as Krei shoved his mask back on his head, Hiro diving at him as Wasabi sliced through the endless waves of microbots pelting at them.
'Keep him distracted!' Yelled Gogo, throwing a disc at a tower of the bots, slicing it cleanly in half. Tadashi spun around as everything descended into chaos. Fred was leaping about the place, yelling insults at Krei to keep him from pinning them to walls or hurling them across the room. Honey and Wasabi were stood back to back, him slicing the air and the microbots as they came at him and her frantically typing in her purse and sending chemical balls to the microbots, so every now and then an explosion would ring out across the rooom.
'TADASHI!' Hiro shouted, clinging onto Krei's back, trying to prise the mask off of his face. 'DON'T STAND THERE LIKE A USELESS LUMP! DO SOMETHING!'
He came to his senses, hurling himself at Krei. He threw himself onto the floor, sliding to Krei as he took his legs out from beneath him. He folded forwards, Hiro springing forwards as though playing a weird game of leap frog. Tadashi pinned him to the ground, sitting on top of him and twisting his arms behind his back. Hiro ran forwards, about to take the mask off for a second time when Krei jerked out from beneath Tadashi, throwing him off balance. He landed on the floor next to him, and watched as Krei stood in front of Hiro, seemingly not noticing that he was there. Panting hard, Tadashi advanced on him. Krei stepped backwards and crashed into Hiro, who fell on the ground as Krei landed on top of him. They grappled for a second, before disappearing down a flight of stairs that that Tadashi hadn't even realised was there. It was a few seconds before the microbots came crashing down for the second time, and Tadashi and the rest ran to the railings, clinging to the side and watching as Hiro grabbed the mask, pulling himself to his feet. Tadashi's brotherly instinct kicked in, and he wanted to rush down there and shove him out of harms way. But something else told him to stay rooted to where he was. He leant over the barrier, heart hammering as Krei got to his feet, head bowed down low.
'It's over Krei.' Hiro's voice echoed in the now silent room.
The guy lifted his head and Tadashi sat on the floor in shock. How? It couldn't be?
'Professor Callaghan?' Hiro's voice was a lot more shaky now.
Tadashi felt as though he'd been winded. Professor Callaghan. The closest thing to a father he'd had since he was 8, the kindest and most understanding man he'd ever met. The man he abandoned his family for in order to save. Stood there, alive. He shut his eyes, pressing his palms to his eyes until he could see spots of colour dance across his vision. His mind was reeling. How could Callaghan do this?
'But you died!' Hiro said, sounding tearful. Tadashi raised his head to watch the scene unfolding before him.
'No - I had your microbots!' Callaghan snarled, sounding very out of character as he stretched out his arm. 'Give me the mask Hiro!'
'But.. but Tadashi! He went in there to save you!' Tadashi wanted to cry at the sadness in his little brothers voice. 'He.. he nearly died! He lost a leg! Because he ran in there to save your life!'
Callaghan paused momentarily, looking over Hiro's shoulder. Tadashi turned and saw Baymax flying towards them. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion but decided to ignore the strange reason why he'd left his position, deciding to instead focus on the traitor standing before him.
'Well that was his mistake!' Callaghan snapped angrily. Tadashi flinched at the harshness of his tone, tears prickling in his eyes. Regret flooded him, and he felt so small, so ashamed as he stood there. Wow, he really did almost abandon his tiny, broken family for a professor who didn't even care about him. Tears were falling freely down his face as he stared at Callaghan's uncharacteristically stony face. Hiro turned back to look at him, and Tadashi saw anger distort his features as he saw his elder brother crying. Baymax landed beside Hiro, who immediately punched open his access port.
'Baymax. Destroy.'
'Hiro, I have been programmed to heal the sick and injured-'
'Oh yeah? Not anymore.' He pulled out his healthcare chip and tossed it to the floor, Tadashi watched in horror as his carefully programmed healthcare chip was sent spinning across the floor.
'No!' He choked, 'Hiro! Stop!'
It was too late, Baymax's eyes were red and set upon his target. Without thinking, Tadashi vaulted over the railings and was running towards his brother. He pushed him out the way, terrified of what Baymax would accidentally do to him in this state. Callaghan looked panicked as the robot raised his huge fist, ready to shoot it at him. Tadashi slung himself at Baymax, hanging onto his arm in an attempt to stop him murdering Callaghan in front of him. Baymax shook him off easily, and he was thrown to the floor carelessly by his own invention. Fred, Wasabi and Gogo were upon the robot within seconds. Fred tried to push Baymax away, but instead ended up being thrown at the wall for the second time in a few short minutes. Tadashi stumbled towards his project numbly as Baymax tossed his friends aside without thinking. He was sobbing horribly, not daring to think about the very real chance that Baymax may actually kill someone. Out of the corner of his eye, he was aware of Callaghan escaping. He'd grabbed the mask from Hiro, and was now using his microbots to escape. Tadashi howled in a combination of misery and anger as he watched Baymax fire his fist towards him, narrowly missing Callaghan by inches. Honey Lemon shouted his name, and he turned just in time to catch the flash of green that was whistling through the air towards him. He caught it, and rushed over to Baymax to put it back in, panic mounting inside him as he watched the robot raise his fist again. His shaking fingers slotted it back into place with a satisfying click, and Baymax lowered his fist as Callaghan disappeared out of view.
