Aria picked at a snag in the catsuit of her armor. She was sitting next to Honey Lemon, who was tapping away at her phone. Gogo was murmuring something to Wasabi as she secured her helmet over her head, and Fred was trying his hardest to attract one of the various metal objects from around the workshop.
"Your regulator doesn't work like that," Gogo piped up, rolling her eyes at him. He continued to try, though.
"I won't stop trying until I have my superpowers, damnit!" he said. Aria looked on numbly. She was happy Hiro's idea was going to make fighting Ome easier, but she was still on edge. Ome was ridiculously powerful, she wasn't sure if he was going to pull anything out of his sleeve to muss up their plan. She really just wanted this to end, so everyone could go back to being happy, and she wouldn't feel so responsible for the stress she was causing.
"Uh oh." Looking back at Honey Lemon, Aria peeked over her shoulder at the phone. Honey was scrolling through an article from earlier this morning. "Ome's in the news again. He trashed an independent lab this morning. No one was hurt, but the place is totaled." She held it up for the others to see.
"What was the name of the lab?" Aria asked, suddenly anxious. Scrolling through a bit more, Honey's eyebrows scrunched together.
"Uh, it looks like it was Rechiard Tech inc. Why?" The others looked up to see Aria go white.
"That's the lab that serviced the trials," she said quietly, going through every scenario in her mind. It really could only mean one thing. "Ome can't destroy the scientists who did this, so he's just striking out at the institutions now." Gogo leaned forward, putting a hand on Aria's shoulder.
"Where else was involved with the trials?" she asked gravely, and Aria swallowed hard.
"One other lab. And the San Fransokyo Hospital." Gogo leaned away, crossing her arms. Wasabi and Honey exchanged worried glances.
"We don't have any time to lose, then." Grabbing Fred by the arm and motioning to Baymax, who was already suited up, she started towards the alleyway. "We've got to go now."
"Leaving without me?" Stepping out into the garage wearing his suit was none other than Hiro. But as soon as he appeared everyone was on their feet protesting it. Hiro felt a little cornered.
"Are you crazy?" Wasabi asked. "You can't fight! Dude, you SHOULD be in bed!"
"Hiro, your ribs are broken." Gogo walked up and plucked his helmet off his head. "Like any of us is gonna let you fight in this condition. Look." She poked him in the chest, not even very hard, and he winced. "Ome's not going to go easy on you because you're already injured."
"Look, I'm wearing armor, I'm fine." Recovering from the poke quickly, he tried to edge around Gogo towards Baymax. "Besides, with these regulators, Ome won't be much of a threat anyway. And I'll be with Baymax. He won't let anything bad happen."
"Hiro," Aria said, finally speaking up. "I know you want to help, but, you really should stay here." He gave her a surprised look; he'd counted on Aria at least backing him up. "You could get hurt worse. I…er, none of us want that."
"Look, I know you guys are all worried about me but seriously, I'll be-"
"Hiro." Hearing Baymax speak up, Hiro stopped midsentence. The robot waddled forward. "It is highly inadvisable for you to enter into a combat zone. Blunt force damage to your chest could result in a punctured lung, or worse." He scanned Hiro as he spoke, taking note of the high level of stress hormones in his brain; he did a very good job of hiding it, but just being up and about, he was dealing with a lot of pain.
"…Well, what if something goes wrong with the regulators?" he asked, grasping at straws now. The last thing he wanted to do was be left behind. He'd be completely helpless, just waiting to see if they came back alive, or… "I've gatta be there in case something breaks, or malfunctions." He shot helpless glances all around, and the others shared their own worried looks. Wasabi was still shaking his head, but Honey Lemon and Gogo seemed to be sharing a silent conversation. Fred was…well, Fred was hidden in his suit, so Aria couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"You stay with Baymax," Gogo finally said, stabbing a finger at Hiro. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. And leave the hand to hand to us." Her eyes were narrowed slightly, but Hiro knew it wasn't meant with hostility, this was just the way she expressed concern for her friends. Nodding, he grinned.
"Definitely," he promised, though in the back of his head, he knew there was no way he'd let them do all the work. If he was going, he was putting in a full effort, even if Gogo bitched him out afterwards. Turning to look at Aria in triumph, his grin fell slightly at the look she wore. It certainly wasn't happy. "Why the long face?" he asked, walking up beside her and slipping his helmet back on.
"Please don't get hurt worse," she pleaded quietly, the microphone in her headset shut off, so only Hiro could hear. "Having to see you all broken was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. And yes, I'm including getting magnetized in that scope." She looked up through her lashes at him, mouth drawn into a thin line. Hiro was startled by the intensity of that look; Aria was usually pretty carefree, if not a little anxious. That's what he liked so much about her. But this, this was another level. More so than what the others said, this hit home. Hard.
"I promise," he said solemnly. "I won't get hurt. You have to trust me." He leaned down, the forehead of his helmet bumping against hers.
"You know I do."
Ome stood outside the sterile building. This wing had just been built last year. It was very modern, very chic. Fit into the layout of the surrounding neighborhood nicely.
Too bad it had to go.
"Hello!" the receptionist chirped, as Ome stepped through the sliding doors into the lobby. "I can sign you in right here if you're here for treatments. If you're just visiting a patient, Tammy can take you at the check-in down the hall." Ome stood quietly for a moment, just staring at the woman. Her chipper smile faltered as he continued to stand still, not saying anything, and her eyes shifted around awkwardly. "Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked, and Ome nodded.
"You're quite pretty," the man said, appraising her looks. This comment caused her to stiffen. "It would be a shame if you died. So I suggest you leave. Now."
"What? I don't-" she started, alarmed by what he'd said, but before she could finish, Ome snapped his fingers, and the sliding doors behind burst from their hinges. They were blown out backwards into the parking lot.
"Out. NOW!" There was no more hesitation. The receptionist, and everyone else who'd witnessed it ran like the devil was chasing them, and Ome cracked a smile. "This inside doesn't look nearly as nice as the outside," he mused, walking the halls. "Leave it to me to get picky about hospitals. Oh well. I suppose it's time for a little redecorating." As he passed a nurse pushing a cart full of instruments, the cart tipped, sending it's contents flying. With a simple flick of his hand, the cart flew from the ground, nearly hitting the nurse, and lodged itself into the tiles of the ceiling.
The chaos rippled from there. Trailing his hand along the wall, he could feel the steel gerters behind the plaster. Closing his hand into the fist, an ungodly creaking and groaning was heard from inside the wall, and when he pulled his fist back, the crushed metal was pulled through the drywall. Overhead, more creaking could be heard, as well as screams and incessant blipping of equipment, as the second floor became destabilized by the damaged load-bearing wall.
Passing a wall sign, he glanced at it, smiling. 'Oncology', it read. He was in the right place. He continued down the hall, looking for another gerter to dislodge, when an even louder groaning of construction materials could be heard. Turning quickly, he was greeted by Baymax, holding up the sagging ceiling, and those standing on the floor above it.
"What!?" he gasped, but had to dodge quickly, as one of Gogo's disks whizzed past his head.
"We gave you the chance to stop this," Aria said, stepping around the corner. "But we're not so forgiving now. You're going to get someone killed, Ome."
"You think that's not my intention?" he said, his mouth curling up into a snarl. "I shouldn't killed you when I had you in my grasp."
"I'm afraid that's not gonna happen today." Wasabi and Honey Lemon came to stand behind her, followed by Gogo, who held her arm up to catch her returning disk.
"Honey, you help Hiro and Baymax evacuate the building," Gogo said. Honey nodded quickly, and then dashed off.
"I beat you before, and I'll do it again," Ome said through gritted teeth. "No stupid kids are gonna get between me and my revenge!" Pulling a nearby cart off the ground, Ome flung it at Aria, who easily deflected it.
"Gogo, now!" Aria called, jumping forward towards Ome, as her teammate sped from behind her. The disk she threw was nowhere near hitting him, but as he laughed, the magnetic disk looped back around and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Get him out of here!" Aria heard Wasabi say, as he sidestepped around Ome, deeper into the corridors to help evacuation.
"On it!" Channeling all of her focus, Aria brought her foot down on the ground, propelling Ome up into the air. Grabbing hold magnetically, she flung him out of the corridor and into the lobby, where he landed flat on his back. Following him, Aria shoved back against the pulses he was throwing off, knocking him back out of the doors as he tried to stand. "You thought we'd just let you hurt innocent people, Ome?"
"I thought you'd be easier to kill," he said, scrambling up. "But I always liked a challenge." He thrust his arm forward, trying to grab hold of Gogo's armor, to crash her into Aria, but neither girl budged from the ground. He was shocked, and hesitated, before trying it again. Nothing happened. "What did you do?" he asked quietly. Both girls smirked at each other.
"Not so hot now that you can't toss us around?" Gogo asked, popping her gum.
"We've just evened the playing field." Gogo was the first to attack, crashing into Ome at blinding speed, carrying him backwards, and slamming him against a nearby car's hood. Almost lazily, Aria bent the metal of the hood around Ome, overcoming his effort to resist and tear the metal apart.
"Top floor's clear," Fred announced, landing beside Gogo, from where he'd jumped from the third floor.
"So's ground level," Honey said through the headset, just as Wasabi emerged from the building.
"You've lost the fight, Ome," Aria said, walking up to him as he struggled. "But we can still help you. We can take away this burden. All you have to do is stop fighting against us."
"A burden?" he asked quietly, ceasing his struggles. He looked up at Aria, his eyes wide in a way that didn't sit right with her. "You think my power burdens me? Oh, my dear sweet girl." He started chuckling. She could feel his power pushing back against hers, and while she thought she was able to hold him, she was wrong. He was starting to overpower her ability to keep him in place. "The only thing that's burdening me…is you."
"Everyone's out," Aria heard Hiro say over the headset, just as Ome threw his arms out, untwisting the metal around him. Standing and advancing, his eyes flickered to the rest of the team. Smirking, he didn't even have to move a muscle; the shockwave that rolled off of him sent the others flying, regulators be damned.
"What," Aria gasped, only just barely able to stay on her feet. "No, you can't….the regulators-" She was cut off, as Ome sped forward, taking hold of her neck with both hands.
"How many times do I have to tell you, you stupid girl?" he snarled, picking her up, her feet dangling off the ground as she struggled to breath. "Technology is no match for my raw power. I tried to warn you. I tried to get you to abandon these little toys. But you wouldn't listen. And now, I have to kill you. It's only logical, I hope you understand." Releasing her neck, Aria gasped for breath, but didn't fall to the ground. He was holding her up, suspended, one hand on each side of her head, inches from either ear. Her eyes grew wide as she realized what he was about to do. "And this time, you'll stay dead."
There was nothing on Earth that could describe it. It was like some unfelt pressure, boring down on either side of her face. Her mouth opened, but her voicebox wasn't working, and no scream came out. Her eyes squeezed shut, and every other sound was drowned out by an unrelenting, horrible roar in her ears. Putting her hands on the side of her head didn't relieve the pain, and the more Ome concentrated, the worse it felt. She was sure her head was going to be squished by this weird pressure. In her last few seconds of consciousness, as her helmet started to crack and break around her head from the magnetic pressure, she wondered if this was how the scientist Ome had killed felt.
Hiro raced down the stairs, ignoring the pain radiating from his chest each time his foot hit a new step. This was no time to double over. Everyone was out of the building, and he and Baymax were the last two left.
"Baymax, c'mon!" he shouted, terrified by the creaking the entire building was making. Pulling out gerters, it seemed, was not great for the structural integrity of a building. Baymax was still in the first floor hallway, holding up the sagging ceiling. "We havta go, buddy!"
"This building may collapse if I let it go," Baymax chirped, but Hiro had already climbed up onto his back.
"We have to let it go, Baymax. Everyone's out, it doesn't matter if it collapses." Baymax nodded, his wings popping out at the same moment he let go. The two sped out of the lobby as several internal walls collapsed on themselves, bringing the middle of the building down.
Unfortunately, the sight Hiro was greeted with outside was not any better than inside. He'd arrived just as the others were blown back by Ome's shockwave. He too was knocked off his feet, stars popping in front of his eyes as he landed. He groaned as he heard Aria gasp in disbelief through the headset.
"No, you can't….the regulators-" but she was cut off. Trying to right himself with some difficulty, his eyes grew wide as Ome picked up the fragile-looking girl, squeezing her neck and cutting off her airflow.
"Aria!" he wheezed. His chest was on fire, but he didn't care. He tried to rush towards the two living magnets, but was held at bay by Ome's forces. He was helpless as Ome held her up, and proceeded to give her the same treatment as the first scientist. "Baymax! Do something!" he shouted, but his robot was similarly helpless. "Aria, fight it!" he called through the headset. "I know you can! Fight it off! Don't let him-"
Everyone was silent as her helmet shattered. It served as a visual metaphor for what Ome had done to her. Her body was lax in his grip, and when he let her go, she slumped to the ground amid the broken carbon fiber and plexiglass. As Hiro looked on in horror, he could see her face. She looked relaxed, like she might've just been sleeping.
But he knew she wasn't.