Chapter Twelve

When Masashi awakes all he can see is nothing but darkness. For a fraction of a moment, he fears he had been blinded by Ackerman somehow. Panicked he sits up, only to groan when he feels an aching pain in his head.

Just wonderful: Chained up like I'm some damsel in distress

The lights soon flicker on, making him squint as he glares at Ackerman now entering the room. Taking off his kabuki mask, still dressed in black smiling with an unrelenting cruelty at his captive.

"So," he drawls "Our young hero finally awakes…" He moves his eyes down to his mechanical arm frowning in fake sympathy. "Oh dear. What happened to your arm?"

Masashi all but growls at him. "You know damn well what happened…son of a-." A resounding slap echoes around the room. A bruise instantly graces Masashi's face as he tries holding back a whimper.

Alex leans in close to him. Licking his lips. "You made a big mistake, Masashi. You, your precious Tadashi, Callaghan…even that fool Krei. You've all crossed me. And I don't like to be crossed." He takes out a knife, making Masashi's chest rise up and down. The knife draws closer and closer to his shoulder before Ackerman digs it through his shirt and cutting the skin a shallow, but painful cut.

He pants heavily feeling the blood trickle down the front of his shirt, moaning at the sickening metallic scent.

Masashi swallows as Ackerman draws closer towards him, whispering in his ear and caressing the left side of his scarred face from the fire. "And now…I'm going to humiliate you."

The younger male grits his teeth feeling his neck kissed up and down. Surprised he can even move his leg, he lifts up and kicks Ackerman in the stomach earning a grunt of surprise from the former professor. A snarl escapes his lips and gives Masashi a good blow to the stomach in return. Pleased to see him double over coughing. "Little brat," he hisses "Your 'punishment' will increase ten-fold now because you refuse to cooperate."

He straightens himself then, realizing he must keep his composure somewhat in check and save some of his punishments for Tadashi…and maybe Callaghan to. "Now. If you excuse me, I have some other matters to get ready for."

When he had finally left, Masashi gathers himself back up slamming his fist against the wall in anger and frustration. Damn it! If he thinks I'm going to let him just keep me in here…he's got another thing coming

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Fred's mansion was impressive to say the least. Tadashi and Hiro had no idea their blond haired, comic book obsessed friend actually inherited a place like this. But the only thing on their minds at the current was how the hell they were supposed to get Masashi back from Ackerman.

"I thought you were a hobo…" Gogo replied while glancing around at some of the portraits.

"Nope, this place technically belongs to my folks-" Fred explains, pointing to a younger picture of him, well-dressed and two people behind him who appeared to be his parents. "But their taking an extended vay-cay on the family island. We should go sometime. Frolic."

"How about we think about that AFTER we get Masashi back?" Tadashi muttered, actually getting creeped out by some of the paintings. He felt as if they were staring at him. Hiro seemed to feel the same for he was looking anywhere else but them.

"Okay, okay chill," the blond haired male slapped a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get your boyfriend back dude. No worries!"

"He's not my boyfr-." But Tadashi paused when they all, including Hiro stare with looks such as 'Uh huh' and 'Yeah. Right. 'Not your boyfriend' type of expression. He rolls his own eyes in return and mutters something incoherent under his breath, only to steal one glance at a certain picture of a man. "Hey…Hiro? Uh does this guy look familiar to you?"

"I don't know." Hiro whispers, realizing they're falling behind and motions Tadashi to hurry up. Super hero memorabilia was littered about everywhere. Action figures, models even a portrait of a odder than usual Fred.

"If I wasn't almost killed by a former teacher in a Kabuki mask… THIS would be the weirdest thing I ever saw." Wasabi shakes his head.

"My brain hates my eyes for seeing this." Gogo muttered.

Hiro rushes over to some of the figurines. "Let's see. I've got that one, that one, Aunt Cass tossed that out…No way! You got Thor's autograph?!"

"I was in New Yorea for a while." Fred shrugged one shoulder.

"Lucky." Hiro muttered, pressing his face up against the glass only to be pulled away by Tadashi.

"Hiro don't be rude." Although, as much as Tadashi wasn't a comic book person himself he had to admit the Thor movies were awesome to watch. And Masashi…always managed to make him watch at least one.

Baymax waddled over to Hiro scanning him. "Your body temperature is still low." He noted. Hiro grunts as response but is surprised when Baymax pulls him in an embrace warming him and Tadashi up instantly making the brothers sigh with comfort.

"Oh that's nice… It's like spooning a marshmallow." Fred said, leaning on Baymax.

"So warm…" Honey hugged Baymax nuzzling him a little.

"Oh yeah…"

"Good robot…" Once Baymax had heated all of them, Gogo took a spot on the couch frowning thoughtfully at the Hamada brothers.

"Tadashi…Hiro. Are you guys for sure it's Ackerman?"

"Nothing. Else. Makes. Sense." Hiro emphasized. "Right Tadashi?"

"He tried to murder Masashi and me that night and…I saw him almost…do 'things' to Masashi."

Wasabi cringes just at the thought but feeling more anger and disgust combined. "So… Our robotics teacher is an insane creep…" Wasabi murmured.

"And he acted like he simply 'disappeared'." Honey commented tears forming in the back of her eyes. "So…he did try to kill you. And now he's got Masashi in his grasp."

"And we haven't told the police this?" Gogo inquired.

"We had!" The brothers sighed. "But the police thought we were all nutcases. They didn't believe us at all."

"Then... What are we gonna do?" Honey asked softly wiping at her eyes. Now is not the time for tears.

Tadashi shakes his head and stands up pacing back and forth. "I don't know…I really don't know. He seems to find us more than we find him. I don't even know where he's hiding."

"He is 5"9, blood type is O positive." Baymax commented.

They looked to him. "Baymax… You scanned him?"

"I scan everyone to provide the best healthcare possible."

"... Then we can use this." Hiro grinned as he jumped up. "You can scan everyone and find him!"

"Hiro… That would take forever." Gogo said rolling her eyes.

Tadashi took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair gripping it while looking over at a robot figurine in a glass case. Neatly polished. "Upgrading his scanner might do the trick. What'd you think little bro?"

"Right… We'll have to make changes… Heighten the sensor…" He looks up at the group's reflections, looking back covering the heads of the figurines. An infamous 'Hiro Hamada Grin' crosses his face as he eyes his brother and the others eyeing them up and down. "In fact. I think I need to upgrade all of you."

Tadashi winces at that all too familiar grin. That was the grin how old man Tanaka referred Hiro as 'The Little Devil of San Fransokyo' when he was just five years of age. "Hiro. I know that smirk of yours...you're planning what I think you're planning. Aren't you?"

"Upgrade us how!?"

"Hiro… We're just…" Honey trailed off.

"We're nerds!" Wasabi threw his hands in the air. "We don't know how to be vigilantes! We're just…"

"We're just us." Gogo says softly.

Hiro shook his head. "No… We gotta shake things up… We gotta look for a new angle."

Fred leaps up from his seat. "Oh hoh: I like where this is going!"

Hiro looked at a poster as everyone followed his gaze.

"WE'RE GONNA BE SUPERHEROES!"

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"Arms up!" Hiro called as he scanned the group.

Tadashi was leaning beside the computer as Hiro pulled up a render of the kabuki mask he had drawn previously before showing where the neurotransmitter had to be. "The transmitter is in the mask likely," he stated. "We find the transmitters, he can't control the bots. Game over!"

"So all we have to do is get his mask?" Tadashi asked with a grin. That actually sounded simple.

The task of coming up powers for each of their friends was proven to be a simple task. Getting rid of the bike gave Gogo some special skates with unstoppable speed. Using Honey Lemon's experiments gave her a mini lab she could carry around and they could prove deadly if she so wanted them to be. Wasabi's lasers were used as blades.

Now the only people left to 'upgrade' were Tadashi, Baymax and…Fred.

"What do we do for a guy who's just… The mascot?" Hiro whispered as he sketched on his tablet.

"…Kaiju!" Tadashi exclaims.

"Kaiju!"

Before long Fred had his suit testing it out. "Super jump! SUPER JUMP!" He lept into the air as he activated the flame thrower. "I BREATHE FIRE!"

"…Maybe we should've thought harder on this." Tadashi commented, doing his best to not laugh as Fred ran around in his new advanced lizard costume.

"I know right?" Hiro chuckled as they fist bumped. "This is awesome."

The team looked on as Tadashi and Hiro try coming up with suits and weapons of their own. Muttering all the while.

"Red maybe?"

"Purple. And nothing that's matching. That's NEVER going to happen."

"But similar suit modeling wouldn't hurt."

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Once Tadashi placed his helmet over his head, he can't help but looks at himself in a mirror. Although they wore similar armor it was also different. While Hiro's was completely purple and black with a tint of red, Tadashi's was red and black with light grey accents. The only real similarity was how they had been built.

"C'mon you guys gotta see this!" Hiro grinned, Tadashi chuckling softly at his brother's excitement. "Meet…" He began.

"Baymax 2.0!" They both shouted, showing a new and 'improved' Baymax completely decked out in red and purple armor.

He did a small wave. "Hello-" The robot had lost his focus as a butterfly lands on his finger and he goes to follow it.

Hiro halted him. "Hey big guy, focus alright?" He said holding up a fist. "C'mon show 'em the fist."

Baymax held up his fist but instead it was a 'fist bump'. "... Ba-la-la-la."

"No not that! The thing, the other thing!" Hiro said.

Baymax nodded seeming to understand before flames started to appear on his fist before it jetted off tearing a hole in the garden wall and taking out a statue.

The team's jaws dropped. "Oh… My… Gosh."

Fred clapped bouncing in place. "Rocket fists… Make Freddy so happy!"

After some minutes later the rockets in question activated as Baymax hovered unsteady. "I fail to see how flying makes me a better healthcare companion."

"And I fail, to see how you fail to see that it's AWESOME!" Hiro smirked. "Fly!"

Baymax topples over. But then he soon takes off into the air as Hiro lets out a rather un-manly scream. "BAYYYYYMAX!"