Aria felt very strange. The others were practically professionals at this, and here she was, the one odd duck out. She wasn't really sure what she should be doing right now. Honey was making some last minute calibrations on her purse, Wasabi was tightening up the blades on his suit. Fred was…well, Fred was doing whatever it was he usually did. Aria didn't attempt to understand his antics. Hiro was trying to stuff Baymax into his suit, swearing under his breath with the effort. And Gogo was paced back and forth across the garage, tossing Aria hostile glances now and then. She knew Gogo partially blamed Aria for this, but she had no idea what to say to that. She just had to weather the angry glares.
"Aria, make sure Gogo's disks are calibrated correctly," Hiro instructed without looking up. Swallowing hard, Aria wasn't sure Gogo would let her even look at her disks, let alone touch them or recalibrate them.
"They're fine," Gogo retorted, turning away to continue pacing. "I know how to do things on my own, believe it or not."
"You know that's not what I meant," Hiro started, but seemed to think better of it, and shut himself up. It wasn't worth it right now.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Fred remarked from inside his suit, his voice muffled. Aria turned her wide eyes to him, shrugging, as if to say 'And what can I do about that?' "Hey, relax, you're the only one of us with actual super powers. If anyone's gonna make it out of a fight alive, it'd be you."
"Freddie," Honey said. "I don't think your pep talk is very encouraging."
"C'mon, before we all get any more anxious," Hiro said, finally squeezing Baymax into his chest-plate and slipping on his helmet.
"Hold up. How are we gonna find this guy?" Wasabi interjected, sheathing his plasma blades. "He's a pissed off, unstable magnet who's capable of kidnapping people from an armed prison cell. This doesn't sound like the kinda guy you can track down and sneak up on."
"Baymax was able to scan him, the night he dropped in," Hiro said. "We'll find him just like we found Callaghan. Put your helmet on," he added, as he walked up to Aria. Before she could comply, though, he took it from her hands, and placed it gingerly over her head. "Nervous?"
"Yeah," she admitted, and it felt like the butterflies in her stomach were trying to escape through her throat.
"Don't be. We have your back." He patted the top of her helmet, and then turned to the others. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be!" Fred shouted, bounding past Hiro and jumping up and out of the alleyway. Aria was sure he'd meant that to sound encouraging, but it only made her feel more nervous. Honey followed close after, using some one of the specially designed chemical concoction to bounce her way up to the nearest rooftop.
"Nobody uses the stairs anymore?" Wasabi grumbled, grabbing hold of one of Baymax's shoulders, foot planted steadily in the robot's palm. Gogo hoisted herself up onto Baymax's back alongside Hiro.
"Need a boost?" Hiro asked, but Aria shook her head. She could do this. Something inside her needed to prove to herself that she could overcome her nerves and not be a burden. The last thing she wanted to be was a burden. As Baymax took off to follow Honey up to the rooftops, Aria closed her eyes, coming to a halt in the middle of the driveway. With her palms facing the ground, she closed her eyes, and concentrated hard. It was a little difficult, working through her anxiousness and foreboding about the upcoming altercation, but once she silenced the chatter in her brain, it became easier to utilize the radiation she could feel coursing evenly through her body. After that, it was a simple matter of exerting more pressure downwards, and repelling herself upwards. She was a little too focused actually, and she ended up throwing herself upwards too hard.
"Graceful," Fred remarked, as Aria landed in a pile of limbs on the rooftop.
"Freddie!" Honey chided. Hiro wasn't paying attention, though; as Aria straightened up, she was startled to see a map spring up on the display in her helmet. She guessed it must've been what Baymax was seeing, as the map was covered in little green man symbols as he swept the cityscape.
"Match detected," Baymax chirped, as one of the symbols popped up red. There he was. That was Ome.
"He's on the North End," Hiro said, nodding, as the display disappeared. "Alright, let's do this."
"See ya on the other side," Gogo remarked, hopping from Baymax's back. She was off like a rocket as soon as her blades hit the rooftop, leaping from building to building like a flea. Honey took her place on Baymax's back, as he promptly lifted off again. Without hesitating another moment, Aria pushed herself up, and took off running. As soon as she came to the edge of the rooftop, she let herself dive, building momentum, before rolling and straightening out at street level. She dodged cars for a bit, before gaining altitude, until she was level with Baymax.
"I thought we might have to go back for you," Hiro remarked, to which Aria rolled her eyes.
"Me? Never," she said, gaining a bit of confidence. Pushing herself forward, she outpaced Baymax.
It turned out that the North End was not a whole lot more than construction sites. There were a few sparse condominium buildings, but as of yet, the North End looked wholey unfinished. 'A good place to hide,' Aria thought, weaving through several stories of steel beams, only to come to a stop at the top, setting her feet down on the top bar. Baymax stopped not far off.
"Figures he'd pick a place with a ton of metal," Hiro said through the microphones, looking around. Baymax was scanning similarly, his arm raising slowly to point.
"My scanners indicate the patient is 250 feet North-northeast, basement level," he said. Following his line of site, Aria spied a half-finished apartment building.
"Let's get to it," Gogo said, sliding down the side of the unfinished building they stood atop. Aria had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. But Hiro nodded encouragingly, and she figured, what was the worst that could happen? They'd get chased off?
Ome didn't wait until the team was on him, though. He appeared on one of the still-exposed mid-levels before Gogo could get to him.
"Stay back!" Aria called over the microphone. "Don't charge him, Gogo, it won't work!"
"I don't tell you how to fight!" she snarked back, but just as Aria leapt from her perch, speeding closer, Gogo was dragged off course with a simple sweep of Ome's arm. She nearly collided with the side of a building on this new, forced trajectory.
"Ome!" Aria called out, getting closer. "We aren't here to fight!"
"Wait, we aren't?" she heard Wasabi ask through the headset. She came to a stop several yards away from Ome, setting her feet down in midair as if she was standing on solid ground, level with Ome on the fifth floor.
"Aria's right," Hiro said, as Baymax came to hover close by. "This doesn't have to be a huge battle. We aren't enemies-"
"If you aren't with me," Ome spoke, shouting over the wind, "then you're against me. And I can't have anyone against me; that's why I had to take these two into custody." Motioning behind him with a grandiose gesture, two figures came into view, held up by what appeared to be sentient steel cables. Neither figure was conscious. "These two were most certainly against me. But…not for long."
"He must've kidnapped the other scientist that headed the trials," Honey gasped, and Aria's fists clenched. She could understand blaming the scientists, she could understand being angry at them. But this wasn't the way! They were just people; people who'd made mistakes, but people none the less.
"But I'm a generous man," Ome continued, holding the team in terse silence. "I'll give you a choice. You can stay and oppose me all you want, but I promise you, I will put you down if you do. Or you can turn around and forget you ever heard of a man named Rino Ome."
"As if!" Fred sneered.
"And for Aria, my potential little prodigy," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I give you the option of joining me. I see you haven't abandoned those toys yet, which is a shame, really. I can feel so much power surging through you! If only you'd give me a chance to help you unlock it…" The way he said it made Aria's skin crawl, and she sneered.
"Let them go, now," Hiro commanded, "Or so help me, I'll wring the radiation out of your bones!"
"I'd like to see you try!" With that, and a flick of Ome's wrist, Gogo was dragged by her feet from where she'd fallen after colliding with the building, into the air, and tossed like a ragdoll. She hit Aria hard in the side, sending both girls crashing to the Earth from 5 stories up. Baymax would have leapt to the rescue, had he not been dragged by his armor towards Ome.
"Don't let go!" Aria shrieked, taking hold of Gogo's arm, trying to orient herself right-side-up. It was difficult with the second person's worth of added weight, but Aria was only just able to keep them from smashing to the ground at full force. Their landing was still rather hard, though.
"Are you guys okay!?" Honey called through the headset, and Aria groaned.
"We're fine," Gogo growled, getting up immediately, and taking off towards where Ome had ripped Hiro from Baymax's back, all without laying a single hand on him. Scrambling to her feet, Aria took off, stepping up higher into the air with each stride, reaching for Hiro.
"Gotcha!" she gasped, colliding with him and holding on tight, halting his downward momentum. They hung in the air for a moment, before the combined weight started to drag Aria down.
"Let me go!" Hiro commanded, "I'll make the landing! Go get the hostages!"
"Right!" She let him go, and watched as he hit hard, but rolled with the impact. They weren't too high up, just about a story, and as soon as she saw that he was already, she took off towards where Ome was lazily flicking his hand back and forth, halting any forward progress by the team.
"Given any more thought to my proposition?" Ome asked, amusement in his voice, as she approached. He was actually having fun! She worked hard to suppress a snarl, and when he flicked his hand towards her, she dug deep and kept her focus. She could feel the magnetic force that kept her aloft shift around her, like a wave through the water, but she didn't do more than falter, and used the pause he took to look shocked to collide with him, sending him flying.
"I'd rather die than go with you," she spat, relishing the shocked look he wore. She turned to the scientists, still suspended by steel cable serpents, and attempted to tear the metal away from them. But Ome was trying his hardest to keep her from freeing his hostages, all while still easily keeping the others at bay.
"Ah ah ah," he chided, getting close and taking a swing at Aria. "Not before the main event, you don't!"
"Let 'em go!" she shrieked, jumping just out of his reach. And to her surprise, he did release one of the men, the older one, whom she recognized as the lead scientist on the human trials panel. She'd met him several times in the past. But as he levitated the man above his head, a dark grin spread across his features, and Aria's stomach dropped.
"You're about to see what true power can do, Aria, my dear!" he shouted, before lifting, and slamming his foot back on the concrete floor of the unfinished level. Another shockwave hit Aria, one she was not prepared for, and she was thrown backwards, nearly over the edge of the building. Stepping up, as if climbing a spiral staircase, Ome climbed to the level he held the man at, suspended in midair, and grasped either side of the scientist's head. "It's only fair that, since he gave me such a 'gift', I return the favor, no?" he asked, wearing that psychotic grin of his. Aria was on her feet once more, but almost as soon as she was, the third and most powerful shockwave yet slammed into her, and the others, knocking Baymax and Hiro out of the sky, and knocking Aria completely over the edge.
"Hiro!" she heard Wasabi screech on the headset, but she couldn't turn to see what had happened, she was hanging off the side of the building by the gutter, trying to regain her focus and catch herself. She could hear Ome cackling somewhere above her, and the pulses of radiation she felt were getting stronger and more erratic. She didn't know what he was doing to that scientist, but if he didn't stop soon, he'd-
"OME!" She was too late. She'd only just scrabbled up the side of the ledge and pulled herself up in time to see the lead scientist fall lifelessly to the concrete below. He hit with a sickening thud. "NO!" There was little hope for the man's survival, but she ran to him anyway, ignoring the shocked look Ome wore. "What did you do!?" she shrieked, sliding to her knees, taking the dead man's head in her hands, cradling it.
"…I hadn't anticipated expiration," Ome said quietly, which only enraged Aria further.
"Bastard!" Launching upwards, she grabbed him around the waist, dragging him down as she fell. The two of them twisted in midair, Aria trying to hold his head down, ready for the impact. He deserved to die, for what he did! He'd taken this mistake and done everything wrong, he'd become a monster! But she wasn't strong enough, his hands closed around her neck, and he threw her away, both of them hitting the ground hard, though not fatally so.
"It wasn't what I anticipated," he groaned, getting to his feet quickly, backing away. "But it's what he deserved! For what he did! He did this to himself!" His eyes, overly wide, zeroed in on Aria. "And you're just as bad! Filthy traitor!"
"Aria, get out of there!" Hiro shouted, but it was too late. She was dragged upwards by her armor, and no amount of struggling or focus was helping her; the power surging off of Ome was too great. Whatever he was doing, it was rendering Aria useless.
"Let me go!" she gasped, as she was dragged higher. The grin returned to Ome's face.
"Gladly." There was no time to react. It was immediate and devastating; she was launched backwards, the force knocking the wind out of her. She wasn't sure what she was going to collide with, but she had no power to stop herself. She at least hoped her helmet would keep her head skull from cracking against whatever she hit.
She didn't end up hitting anything, though. In her disorientation, Hiro and Baymax had sped to try and catch her as she was on her direct collision course with the steel beams of a nearby construction project. Shielded from the brunt of the impact with Baymax between her and the steel, Aria only suffered mild whiplash. What she didn't realize was that Hiro was the one that got caught between the robot and the steel skeleton.
Ome had begun to retreat, dragging Dr. Hattingsfeild along with him to God only knew where. But Big Hero 6 was powerless to stop him; bruised and battered, it was all they could do to collapse in exhaustion, watching through sour expressions as Ome escaped.
"Hiro, Aria!" Honey gasped, as the three of them, boy, girl, and robot, tumbled to the ground. Aria pushed herself up on her elbows, dazed and sore, as Honey Lemon stooped beside them. "Oh my God, Hiro! Hiro, say something!"
"What-?" Twisting, Aria saw Hiro slump from Baymax's back, apparently limp with unconsciousness.
"He's out cold," Gogo said, shoving her way through, propping him up in her arms. "We gatta get him outta here, now!" The display on his helmet was cracked severely, one of the antennae on the side snapped clean off. As Baymax righted himself, he picked the limp boy up in his arms solemnly.
"He needs immediate medical attention," he announced, looking around. "We must get him to the nearest hospital." Aria watched helplessly as he was hoisted up. This was her fault. This was all her fault. She hadn't been able to keep focus and stop Ome. She'd let him get away. She was the reason Hiro was hurt so badly. And all she wanted to do right now was curl up and cry, but her insides were far too numb.
They had failed. And not only was Hiro injured, but now, someone was dead.