hey guys! here is part seven...the hamada bros are being SO heroic in this chapter, i really hope you like it! everyone please read and review...

i had so much fun writing this! hopefully there will be one or two more parts...

thank you silvie for always reviewing, i hope you liked parts 5 and 6!

everyone please please please read this and review i want to know how i did

thanks y'all!

peace out

—HIRO—

The weight of the rubble presses down on me, and all I can think about is the hurricane, how it destroyed the café. My home fell in, pain shot through my body, and everything felt hopeless.

What's happening? I don't understand. There isn't another hurricane—I hope.

I struggle weakly, trying to pull myself out of the wreckage. My head breaks the surface after only a few moments, and I can tell that, thankfully, only the ceiling has fallen in. I'm lying on the floor of our room, half-covered by boards and shingles.

Coughing, I manage to drag myself free of the rubble, and I gasp at the jolt of pain that shoots through my ribs. There's probably a huge bruise on my side. At least I didn't get knocked out, though—that could be bad, since my concussion only healed a few weeks ago.

"Aunt Cass?" I rasp. "Honey? Baymax?"

"Hiro!" comes Aunt Cass's voice, though I don't think she heard me. "Hiro, are you up there? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" I call back. "Let me see if I can get down—"

I pull myself to my feet and stumble over to what I think are the stairs. I'm so glad I was the only one up here—I hope nobody else got hurt.

Wait a second—

Tadashi!

He was out visiting our parents' graves—how close was he to whatever explosion that was? I really hope he's—

My foot bumps against something soft, and I look down to see what it is.

My heart almost stops.

It's Mochi.

Heart pounding, I bend over and gently pick up my cat. He's completely limp, his fur stained with dust.

"Mochi?" I whisper, stroking his soft ears. "Come on, wake up…"

I don't know how to check a cat's pulse, but I place my fingers against Mochi's neck and feel around. I think I can feel something under the skin, just barely…

He'd better not be dead, or I might die. Mochi always helped and comforted me when I was little—when Tadashi wasn't around. One time when I was six, I was tinkering in the garage and climbed onto my desk to grab the capacitors that Tadashi hid on top of the shelf. I fell and broke my ankle pretty bad, and I couldn't get up. Tadashi was at school, and Aunt Cass was really busy in the café, so she didn't hear me crying. But Mochi noticed, and he went into the café and meowed pitifully at Aunt Cass until she finally followed him into the garage and found me. I probably would have been there for at least a few more hours if Mochi hadn't helped me—I'd be so sad if he died.

Cradling the cat against my chest, I limp—I might have jarred my bad hip or something—down the stairs, struggling not to trip on any of the pieces of debris. I enter the café to find Baymax, Aunt Cass, and Honey standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by shattered glass that must be from the windows getting blown out.

"Hiro!" Aunt Cass bursts out, launching herself forward and flinging her arms around me. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I gasp, my side throbbing. "Just a little bruised."

Aunt Cass steps back and starts brushing the dust off my clothes. "Hopefully that's all it is—but you're filthy! And—" She finally notices the limp cat in my arms. "Mochi! What happened?"

"I—I don't know," I stammer. "I just found him in the wreckage—I'm sorry, I should have…"

"No, Hiro, it's okay. At least we're all alive," Aunt Cass assures me. "I'm fine, Honey's fine, the baby is fine—" She cuts herself off. "Tadashi!"

"Baymax and I can go look for him," I decide. "Right, big guy?"

"We can, but I will scan you first. Scan complete. My scan shows that you have sustained bruising on your right side, and your weaker hip has also been bruised. However, these are not serious injuries, and they will heal within two weeks. You may come with me to search for Tadashi."

"Great—let's go."

I turn to Aunt Cass. "Do you want us to take Mochi to the vet?"

"It's okay, I'll do it. I'm the only one that can force him into that cat carrier," she says with a halfhearted smile. "We'll be fine, Hiro. Be safe. Go find your brother."

I give her a quick hug, then head out the door with Baymax. I have to find Tadashi. I have to know if he's okay.

Baymax and I stumble through the wreckage of the buildings around the hospital, calling out for Tadashi. Man, I hope there aren't a lot of other people trapped under all of this. Almost all of the buildings in the city are still standing, but there are several around the hospital that are either huge piles of rubble or partially damaged, like the café.

"Can you scan for him?" I pant after several minutes of searching.

Baymax nods. "I will scan for Tadashi. Scan complete. He is approximately five hundred feet in a northeastern direction. My scanner indicates that Tadashi is alive and conscious, although he has sustained minor injuries."

I start limping over the debris again, heading in the direction I think is northeast. Tadashi is alive. He has to be okay. My ribs ache, but I keep going, calling out for him. I have to help my brother.

Then, finally, I hear his voice. "Hiro?"

Tadashi's voice seems a little shaky, but he sounds more scared than hurt. I move as fast as I can over the piles of rubble, trying not to twist my ankles or trip. I'll probably end up doing both of those things, but whatever.

Tadashi comes into view as I crest the top of a pile of wreckage, and I half-climb, half-fall down it to get to him. Upon reaching my big brother, Dashi throws his arms around me and strokes my hair.

"Are you okay?" Tadashi whispers frantically. "Did the café collapse? How are Aunt Cass and Honey?"

"I'm fine," I mumble into his chest. "So's everyone else—well, Aunt Cass is going to take Mochi to the vet, but I think we're all okay. What about you?"

Tadashi finally releases me, and I step back, gasping for air. My brother has a really strong grip.

"I think I'm okay," Tadashi tells me, checking himself over. I can see a few small scratches on his face and arms, but nothing looks worse than that. Still, I turn to Baymax and say, "Scan him."

Baymax blinks. "Scan complete. My scan shows that Tadashi has sustained several small epidermal abrasions and a laceration on the skin over his patella. I will bandage these, and he will recover quickly."

I look down at Tadashi's jeans, and I can see they're ripped across the knee, with blood soaking through them. I glare accusingly at Tadashi, and he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, Hiro. I didn't want to worry you."

Baymax rolls up Dashi's pants and wraps gauze around the bloody gash on his knee, then rubs bacitracin on his scrapes. He scans me again, making sure I haven't hurt myself running all over the piles of rubble, and gives me a couple of ibuprofen capsules for my bruises.

"We need to find everyone who was in the collapse," Tadashi says determinedly. "I hope nobody died—all the hospital patients—"

I don't have the heart to tell him that it's very likely that no one in the hospital survived. But Baymax saves me from that, instead saying, "Your desire to help is admirable, Tadashi. But that is a job for the authorities and first responders. You are a superhero. Your job is to find who did it and bring them to justice."

"But—" Tadashi protests.

Baymax interrupts. "My scan shows that Obake has left the hospital. He is on his way to the ruins of your parents' lab."

"What?!" I exclaim. "Why?"

Baymax holds up a hand, silencing me. "There is more."

The robot blinks slowly.

"He is accompanied by Professor Robert Callaghan."

Before I know it, Tadashi and I are on Baymax's back—fully armored—flying over the city to our parents' old lab, where Obake and Callaghan are. I'm still trying to process this, though—Professor Callaghan? What's going on? I know he broke out of prison when the hurricane destroyed the building, but…did he help break Obake out? Did he collapse the hospital?

The Callaghan I knew, even though he was driven mad with rage and grief, would never blow up a hospital, never kill innocent patients. He with all his faults would never do that. I somehow don't think he's in his right mind if he's helping Obake—we have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Man, I'm turning into Tadashi. He's supposed to be the one who sees the good in everyone, who always tries to help.

Of course, that doesn't mean I can't do that too.

Maybe it's a good thing to see the good in everyone.

We touch down outside the ruins, and I can see Obake and Callaghan sifting through the debris. Both are dressed in all black. They seem like they're looking for something, though I'm not sure what.

"Professor Callaghan, Obake," Tadashi says politely as we climb off Baymax. "What brings you here?" He sounds calm, but I can tell that he's scared and furious beneath the surface. They just blew up a hospital and Dashi has no idea what's going on. He's terrified, and probably learning that he can't actually trust everyone to be human and make good decisions.

"Ah, Tadashi." Obake smiles coldly. "I believe the answer is obvious. We are simply…looking for something."

"And that is?"

"Your parents' blueprints for the energy amplifier—what did you think? Though a real prototype may be more useful, I am certain it was the thing that destroyed the lab in the first place, so there is little chance of finding it. I'm sorry, boys, I know it may be shocking—but yes, your parents were attempting to create an energy amplifier."

Tadashi's eyes are so wide I think they'll pop out of his head if they get any bigger. Mine probably look the same.

What?

Our parents' project, which they devoted so much time and energy to, which could make or break their careers as scientists, which eventually ended their lives, but which they still believed would change the world, was…

The energy amplifier?

I almost killed the entire population of San Fransokyo, almost became a murderer, almost let Obake win—all with that. And my parents…they were just as bad as me.

Just as bad as Obake.

No, they couldn't have been. They weren't trying to hurt anyone, they were trying to change the world.

But what price would that have come at? What were they willing to do for it? Were they prepared to make sacrifices for the greater good?

Was I?

Obake has noticed me having an existential crisis, rubbing my temples furiously, and he laughs softly. "Yes, Hiro. You followed the path your parents took—but you succeeded. They failed. That is why you are so much more important, so much more needed to me. And I want that. I want you, Hiro. And it will not work to say no to me anymore."

"Stop trying to get in his head!" Tadashi bursts out. "He's not going to help you and that's that—when will you learn?"

"Just do it, Hiro," says Callaghan, speaking for the first time. "We can reclaim everything we have lost if we work with him. My daughter almost died, Baymax almost died, you almost died because of what Alistair Krei did. But with Obake, we can make the city what we've always wanted it to be. What it should be—not Krei's tech empire."

I find myself staring into space for several long seconds. Something about what Callaghan says seems…off. He placed a lot of emphasis on Krei and didn't talk about Obake's goal all that much. It seems like maybe…

"Obake didn't tell you everything, did he?" I ask, facing Callaghan now. "He told you that you were going to get revenge on Krei for everything he put us through, told you that only Krei would be harmed, told you that no one was going to get hurt—didn't he?"

"Yes—isn't that what we're doing?" Callaghan asks, sounding confused. "Trying to get him out of the way so we can make San Fransokyo what it needs to be, righting the wrong?"

"No, Callaghan. Obake is using you. He has other plans, and people did get hurt. And if I'm right…you don't remember."

"Well done, Hiro," Obake drawls. "You've guessed it. I'm sure it wasn't hard—not for you, at least. Your dim-witted brother, perhaps so." He ignores Tadashi's indignant "Hey!" and then continues. "But you know exactly what's going on—which is why I need you with me or nowhere at all."

Obake pulls something out of his pocket and places it over his face—a kabuki mask. Just like the one Professor Callaghan used, only black and green instead of red and white.

"Robert," he whispers, "destroy."

And Callaghan's eyes go blank. He pulls his mask out of his pocket, puts it on, and microbots pour out of the rubble, coming in from all sides.

Dang. I really should've seen that coming…

I sprint back over to Baymax and leap on, shouting for Tadashi to do the same. He does, and we blast into the sky, trying to smash the microbots—but Callaghan has so many of them.

Soaring around in the sky, dodging tendrils of microbots, I realize that Obake is still sifting through the ruins, obviously still looking for the blueprints. The microbots will only keep us busy—they're more of a distraction, but I'm pretty sure they're still trying to destroy us. The tiny robots have formed themselves into saber-like projectiles, which I'm sure could spear me through the chest and kill me as easily as breathing.

Baymax flips, spins, rolls, does everything he can to dodge the microbots. He's trying to smash the robots with his fist, but there are so many of them, and it's all he can do to keep us out of the way.

Then it happens—Obake gives a triumphant shout, and he holds up several folded, burned papers. The blueprints.

The secret to destroying the city is in a supervillain's hands.

At that moment, a tendril of microbots hits Baymax right in the chest, and I let out a scream as I'm thrown off his back. I hear Tadashi yell as he falls, then a crack and a thump as he hits the debris.

I slam into a pile of plywood and glass, and I yelp as my back hits the boards and the sharp edges of the glass slice into my skin, all over my body. I hope none of the cuts are too deep—I really don't need any more stitches. I realize that the visor on my helmet has shattered, resulting in more cuts on my face and a useless helmet. I pull it off, then my gloves too so I can use my hands.

My vision blurry and spinning, I stumble to my feet, gasping and clutching my ribs. Dang that hurts. I should have gotten Baymax to bandage them or something—but whatever. I'm not letting that stop me.

I make my way as quickly as I can across the debris that used to be my parents' lab, trying to get to Obake. He sees me, obviously, and even under the kabuki mask, I can tell he's smiling.

"Give…those…back," I rasp, trying to sound strong but coming across as more of ow my ribs hurt and I'm not in the mood to defeat you right now. "Seriously…if you try anything…"

"Then you'll what, sneeze on me? You're hardly in a condition to be defeating me at the moment, Hiro. Wouldn't it better to just come with me? I could help you, treat your wounds, let your brother go. It will all work out in the end. This is for the greater good, I promise you that."

"No," I whisper. "People are going to get hurt, and it's not just gonna be me. It's going to be everyone in this city. Everyone is going to die because of you—how could you live with that?"

"I can very much live with that, Hiro. You forget that I have no moral compass—but no matter. Is no your final answer?"

"Always."

"So be it, then." Obake turns to Callaghan, and past him, I can see Tadashi still struggling to stand. He's bleeding copiously from his knee—I guess the cut was reopened, and there are cuts all over his face and arms. Beside Dashi is Baymax—speared through the chest and completely dead.

We're all out of firepower.

We've lost.

But even this thought is thrust out of my mind when Obake calls, "Robert—bring out the reinforcements."

Callaghan gives a slow nod, and a sight I hoped I'd never see again greets me from two hundred feet away.

Thousands of microbots fly out of nowhere, carrying a massive silver circle of metal. In it glows a ring of blue light.

Obake wasn't lying.

Project Silent Sparrow is still here.

And it's going to destroy us all.

I run over to Tadashi, screaming at him that we need to get out of here. But instead of running, he grabs me and pulls me to his chest, giving me a kiss on the forehead like our mom used to do.

"Be strong for me, Hiro," he whispers, then releases me. "Keep fighting. Don't let him win. Hiro—" Tadashi's voice is shaking. "Never give up."

Then Dashi runs over to Obake and blasts him with electricity, winding the energy around the villain's chest—and his own. Then I realize what Tadashi is going to do, and terror shoots through my body.

"Tadashi, no!" I scream, and I run forward.

But Tadashi has already leaped into the portal, dragging Obake with him, and the last thing I see is my brother's huge blast of electricity erupting out of the portal, and I'm flying, and all I can think is this is the end as the sky is torn apart by wind and fire.