Chapter Summary: Tadashi and Baymax return to the warehouse, though they didn't count on Tadashi's friends showing up unexpectedly.
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 and its characters.
As Tadashi downs his breakfast, Baymax came downstairs to see him since Tadashi didn't return like he promised earlier.
"Your mood seem to be elevated though not so much, but it's an improvement," Baymax observed after scanning his creator. "I advise not to eat your food too quickly to prevent indigestion, bloating, and flatulence."
Tadashi's face went red but he started chewing his food slowly at Baymax's suggestion. His eyes traveled down the newspaper to read some news; he read how a couple of employees of Krei Tech Industries went missing two days ago when they went home together after work. Tadashi stared at the name 'Krei', and he remembered the long-nosed entrepreneur who tried to buy Hiro's microbots at the showcase. Feeling mild annoyed, he remembered how Krei almost tried to walk off with a single microbot if Tadashi hadn't spoke up and stop him. It was also the very same microbot that wasn't stolen with the rest by that man in the Kabuki mask. Tadashi recalled how Professor Callaghan didn't seem to like him and told him how Krei would "ignore sound science and cut corners to get where he was today", thus giving Tadashi a reason why he wouldn't manufacture caregiver bots with Krei Tech.
Tadashi finished his meal and washed it down with orange juice. The news of Krei's missing employees were pushed out of his head as he focused on other important things.
"You ready for another round of karate practice, Baymax?" Tadashi asked as he cleared away the dishes.
"If it would help you stabilize your emotional distress, I am ready," Baymax replied.
Tadashi smiled. Just then he heard his cellphone ringing upstairs. "Wait right here, buddy."
The inventor hurried upstairs and picked up his cellphone. He recognized the Godzilla scream ringtone. Reluctantly, he turned it on and begin to speak.
"Hey, Fred," he said. It felt so weird to speak to the college mascot after screaming at him to leave his home yesterday.
"Tadashi, thank goodness you picked up!" Fred said, he sound relieved to hear Tadashi's voice. "It's been a while since we talked, right? Sorry for not coming by last night when you contacted me. Something came up, and-"
"Fred, will you please cut to the chase and tell me why you're calling me?" Tadashi snapped, his irritation returned though it wasn't as bad last time.
"Okay, okay. Did you see my blog recently? It's been all over Nicotube! Apparently, someone dressed up like a sentai and beat up some guys over at Red Sakura alley after breaking up a botfighting ring. Someone had filmed the fight and it's gotten over thousands of views overnight!"
Tadashi immediately turned on his computer and checked online. Fred is right, someone had used a phone camera to film his and Baymax's fight against those punks. The video quality and audio is terrible but he was glad nobody would at least recognize his and Baymax's faces and voices. He was almost worried that people might use the video to recognize him. He had to admit, he felt a little pleased that he was considered a hero. He scanned down to read some comments of some "eyewitnesses" who claimed they've seen "Big Heroman" doing some corny sentai poses and shouting off moves in addition to kicking "butts" and saving a kid.
"I never did such a thing," Tadashi mumbled. Where are people getting this idea...?
"Never did what?" Fred asked. Tadashi's heart skipped a beat, his friend is still on the line!
"Oh, nothing! I was talking to... my cat."
"You talk to your cat? Man, you're weird."
"Oh, and wearing underwear for four days straight isn't?" Tadashi asked, smirking.
"It's called recycling. But, Tadashi, aren't you excited! We have a real superhero in the city! How cool is that?!"
"Yeah, it does sound amazing..."
"I hope I can meet Big Heroman and get his autograph. Do you think he would be okay if I let him sign my underwear?"
Tadashi blushed and shivered in disgust. "You're just looking for another excuse not to do your laundry!"
"You caught me, man," Fred laughed. "Seriously, Tadashi-A REAL SUPERHERO." Fred is starting to sound like he's having a hero crush; the last time Tadashi heard Fred sound like this, he was rambling non-stop about some comic superheroine named Fusion Girl and it annoyed the others to the point they avoid mentioning her name or the comic series she starred in if he's around.
"Well, if you like him so much, why don't you just marry him?"
Fred laughed sarcastically on his end. "Hilarious. Hey, since today is Saturday, you wanna hang out? I don't think the other could join us cuz I'm pretty they had their part-time jobs to go to. It'll just be the two of us, but it's going to be fun! Whaddaya say, Tadashi?"
Tadashi wanted to say yes; a part of him longed to spend a long afternoon with his friend and hang out in karaoke boxes or have private parties like they always did before the showcase incident. He really missed those days. And despite how odd Fred appeared and acted, and isn't student who is brilliant in any scientific field, Tadashi really enjoyed his company. A small part of him wanted to tell Fred that he's "Big Heroman", and maybe ask him to help him catch the masked man. But something pulled him back and he felt empty all over.
No, I can't put his life or anyone else in danger to help me. This is my business, so I'll be the one to take care of this.
"I'm going to say no on this one, Fred. I'm... I'm occupied with something else."
He heard silence over at the other end before Fred finally spoke up. "Alright, I'll come by tomorrow. If that's alright with you-" Tadashi didn't wait for him to finish. He hung up and changed out of his bed clothes in silence. When he came down, Baymax is waiting for him.
"You look distracted, what seems to be the trouble?" the robot asked.
"Oh, nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking," Tadashi replied, trying to smile. "Anyways, we got some training to do."
Down in the garage, Tadashi and Baymax continued practicing karate and sparring each other in their upgraded suits. While their patrol last night was a success, the inventor thinks he and Baymax could do better and he was glad the two of them didn't return to the warehouse last night since the two still need a lot of practice and Tadashi believes he could add a few adjustments to his suit. After looking up some videos of ninjas fighting, Tadashi gets an idea of using retractable metal cables which can be stored and shot out from his gauntlets and they can be highly versatile in battle. With them, he would be able to perform considerable feats of acrobatics, easily maneuvering around locations which could not be reached by normal human means.
It took him a few hours to make the cables but several more to practice them; he had to learn to make sure they the cable hooks hit and grab hold tight onto the target without falling off. Any whiplashes from the cables snapping back could have left some scars on his body if he didn't wear his armor. Though he was determined to become stronger for the sake of catching the masked man and stop him for defiling Hiro's memory by using the microbots.
The entire garage was a mess when the sun is starting to set in the afternoon, but Tadashi has now learn to swing and maneuver around the garage quickly and smoothly like a ninja, using his feet and legs to support himself against the walls and to protect him from the impact. Baymax, his armor removed, watched him while he sweep the floor full covered in dust from the wooden and cinder blocks he practiced on.
"You are moving way too faster and higher," the caregiver bot said. "Please exercise caution, Tadashi, or you will run the risk of bodily harm."
At that moment, Tadashi's cable finally gave out and he gave a scream as he fell. Luckily, Baymax was there to catch him with his balloon-like vinyl arms. Tadashi was panting and sweating heavily from the workout, but he was thrilled of how successful his experiment worked.
"Thanks for catching me," Tadashi smiled as he got down from Baymax's arms. He gulped down a glass of cool water before flopping on a nearby swivel chair. "You know, Baymax... since you scan people from a good distance, I might need you to scan the masked man next time we meet him. Can you do that for me, buddy?"
"I am programmed to assess everyone's health-care needs," Baymax stated.
"Great! Your readings might give us clues to his real identity," Tadashi nodded. He cracked his knuckles and wiped the sweat from his brow. "We're ready to catch the guy. We'll leave after Aunt Cass goes to bed. In the mean time, better return to your charging station and get your batteries full."
Relaxing, Tadashi began to idly check out other scrapped invention designs Hiro has in his computer files. After checking the dates when they've been made, apparently they were made during Hiro's leisure breaks when building the microbots. Does this kid ever built anything other than robots? He thought, shaking his head. However, some creations did caught his eye and they seemed more advanced compared to the normal battle bots used for average botfighting.
He found one robot design with electro-magnetic disc wheels used to increase speed, velocity and agility; the same discs can also be used as dangerous weapons capable of causing quite a lot of damage once flung to a specific target. Once the target is hit (if at all) the discs magnetically return to the suit, enabling instant reuse.
Another design shows a robot with laser-induced plasma blades which can be retracted in the forearms; Tadashi guessed this robot would use its razor sharp blades to slice through most, if not all, its opponents with relative ease.
A third design pops up and it shows a robot that appeared to have a mini chemical lab inside full of advanced polyethylene shells. There's a special remote controller that comes with this robot with a touch screen encoded with the periodic table. The syringes inside the robot inject the chosen chemicals into the "chem-capsules" before shooting them out from the robot's body; the concoctions include hardening foam to halt movement, cushioning foam to break falls, ice to freeze enemies, and smokescreens for camouflage.
The last robot design seems rather interesting. It reminded him of the dragon-bots he saw last night, thought it appears more kaiju-like in appearance. Its exoskeleton enables robot to jump incredibly high, and it contains a flamethrower installed in its mouth. The body is also flame-resistant and is equipped with claws.
Tadashi was so impressed with all these creations and a small part of him wished Hiro was still around so he could tell him how talented he was to come up with these inventions. Even the inventor couldn't think up something this creative and he began to feel jealous of his brother...
It was strange but Tadashi realized that these four designs reminded him of his college friends and their specialties. Maybe Hiro was inspired by them? he thought. He did introduce his brother to his friends on his first visit to SFIT, and Hiro has taken interest in them. Tadashi found himself wistfully remembering the months his friends often came by the Hamada household a couple of times for pizza lunches, and to check up on whatever Hiro is doing. All five of them encouraged the obsessed kid to continue his invention, and even provide him tips on how to save his schematics and progresses of his showcase project. To see Hiro enjoying the college group's company gave Tadashi so much happiness since Hiro rarely made friends because he was often a loner due to his high intelligence.
His stomach suddenly began to make a loud growl and Tadashi realized it was almost dinner time. He decided to take a quick shower first so his aunt won't ask questions why he's covered in dust and sweat.
Tadashi just covered the armor suits with a tarp when Aunt Cass walked into the garage. "Tadashi-"
"Aunt Cass!" Tadashi yelled, and moved in front to hide the bulky tarp so she wouldn't notice it. He puts on a forced cheerful smile. "I didn't know you'll be coming here!"
"I just wanted to see how's my college man doing," she said as she playfully punched his arm. "I haven't seen you all day. Have you been working on some school homework."
"Oh! Yes, I am," the inventor nodded quickly. "I've been very busy..."
Just then, Baymax rose from his red suitcase and approached the two. He looked down at Aunt Cass and waved at her. "Hello, I am Baymax. I am Tadashi's personal healthcare companion."
Aunt Cass' eyes went wide and approached the balloon robot in awe. While she was checking it out, Tadashi used this opportunity to slide the bulky tarp near the corner so his aunt wouldn't see it.
"Is this a robot, Tadashi?" she asked curiously.
"Yup, I built him at SFIT," Tadashi replied, trying to sound casual. "His name is Baymax, he's a caregiver robot."
"This is so incredible!" Aunt Cass said, grinning. "He reminds me of giant marshmallow, ohhh he's so adorable~!" Then she paused. "What does he mean when he said he's your personal healthcare companion?"
Before Tadashi can reply, Baymas spoke up. "I am helping Tadashi recovering personal loss and improvement of his emotional state state."
"Baymax, shush!" Tadashi mouthed Baymax to be quiet behind his aunt; he didn't want Baymax to reveal his plans to catch some dangerous criminal who was responsible for the fire and theft of Hiro's microbots. However, Cass didn't seem to notice her nephew behind her and she looked saddened. But she gave the robot a grateful smile.
"Well... Don't give up on him, Baymax. He definitely needs someone like you," she said softly and then turning around, a bright smile on her face. "So, I better start up those chicken wings, they can't cook themselves!" Before she leaves, she gave Tadashi another hug.
Tadashi watches her walk out of the garage and a small guilt began eating him inside. She doesn't know what her remaining nephew is planning to do, and Tadashi is determined to survive his encounter with the masked man. Aunt Cass lost so many of her family before she raised him and Hiro, and he doesn't want to see her unhappy again.
After dinner was finished and when Cass went to bed early, Tadashi and Baymax don their suits and quietly sneaked out. The two made their way back to the warehouse, never noticing that a car was following them with every step of the way. After what it seemed like forever, Tadashi finally found the dark, abandoned alleyway that leads straight to the warehouse and saw the building up ahead.
Tadashi and Baymax stood outside the warehouse. The robotics student was shivering a little. He was getting so scared, he wanted to turn back. But he had to move forward for Hiro's sake.
"Your heart rate has increased," said Baymax.
"Sshhh," Tadashi whispered as he checked the rusty irons holding the door closed. "Okay, time to use those upgrades."
Then they heard a car approaching and were suddenly drowned in bright light. Frozen in place, Tadashi tried to see who caught them when the driver turned off the headlights. To his shock, Tadashi saw his four friends stepping out of a van and Wasabi is the driver.
"Tadashi!" Honey called out to him.
"Wait, what are you guys doing here?!" Tadashi yelled. He turned to Baymax but the robot said, "I didn't contact them just like what you told me to."
"Baymax, is that you?" Wasabi asked as he and the others came closer.
"No, get out of here! You're not safe here!" Tadashi tried to push them away. They had no idea what danger they were walking into and the longer they stay here, the sooner the masked man will find them.
"Baymax, why is Tadashi wearing carbon-fiber underpants?" Gogo asked the robot.
"He's trying to catch a criminal," Baymax replied.
"Criminal?" Gogo turned to the inventor and stared into him with a raised eyebrow. "I knew there was something familiar about the mysterious guy who interrupted the botfighting ring from the Nicotube video."
"You knew it was me?" Tadashi was shocked. "What gave it away?"
Gogo stuck a thumb at Baymax's direction. "Honestly. How many robots do you ever see this round and big in San Fransokyo?" she asked.
"I also know karate," Baymax stated as he swing his arms.
Fred leaned closer to Tadashi, his jawdropped and he was making low panting noises. He look starstrucked. "Tadashi, you're Big Heroman...?"
"Yes, sorry for not letting you know earlier, but you can't stay-" Tadashi was then interrupted.
"Can you sign my underwear?"
"Tadashi," Wasabi began. "What's going on, man?"
"This is what have you been doing, Tadashi?" Gogo said. "You and Baymax dressing up like heroes and taking down petty crooks?"
"It's none of your business what I do!" Tadashi hissed. He took a deep breath. "Look, you guys need to go-"
"No," Honey said firmly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't... don't push us away,Tadashi. We're here for you."
Tadashi stammered in frustration but then Baymax interrupted him.
"Those who suffer a loss require support from friends and loved ones," Baymax spoke to the entire group. "Who would like to share their feelings first?"
Fred immediately raised a hand and stepped forward. "Ooh, I'll go! My name is Fred, and it's been thirty days since my last-" he was stopped when Tadashi screamed.
"Enough!"
Everyone became quiet and stared at Tadashi with concerned expressions. The latter breathed heavily before removing his helmet so he can look at them clearly.
"Guys, you cannot be here," he said to the four. "I have to do something that's really important, and it's going to be dangerous."
"Well, you're not going anywhere without us," Gogo told him.
Tadashi glared at her. "Yes. I am."
Thinking quickly, his gauntlet shot a cable above their heads and stuck into a wall near an open window. He flew up into the air and jumped inside the window with ease. He ignored his friends' shouts and moved down the rickety stairs as fast and silent as he can.
He peered into the dark warehouse and it seemed more foreboding and quiet than it was in the daylight. Tadashi pulled out the petri dish containing the single microbot and noticed it was shaking before it fell silent. The masked man is somewhere inside.
Heart pounding wildly, he pocketed the petri dish and retraced his steps and found the area where the oil drums holding the microbots. To Tadashi's horror, hundreds of oil drums filled with microbots appeared before his eyes. It seemed the masked man has found ways to fixed the machine inside the tarp tent. He found the wall full of mysterious papers again and decide to read some information that might be useful. He found another name, "Akuma Island" and a pictures of what to be various scientists. He immediately recognized two of them, since he saw their pictures and names on the newspaper this morning: they were the two Krei Tech employees who were confirmed to be missing.
"What's going on here?" he wondered out loud.
He then heard a loud crash. It sounded like someone had smashed the front door open. He turned around and saw Baymax and his friends rushing into the warehouse. Baymax must have punched down the door.
"There you are, you idiot! What have you been thinking?" Gogo demanded. She looked ready to strangle him.
"Hey, doing that stunt with the cable would have hurt you!" Wasabi said.
"Baymax, you let them inside?!" Tadashi shouted at his robot who seemed unfazed by this. "Your job is to make sure they won't be endangered!"
"You left me behind as well," Baymax reminded him. "I cannot abandon my patient-"
"Holy mother of Megazon!" Fred suddenly screamed.
A low, angry buzz and metallic clicking rose behind them. Everyone turned to see the thousands of microbots slowly rising out from the oil drums in a menacing swarm. Everyone stared in frozen horror, except for Honey; she slowly pulled out her camera and took a photo. The flash seemed to alert the microbots and threw an empty oil drum at them. Wasabi screamed like a little girl and braced himself for the blow. However, Baymax quickly caught the oil drum and tossed it aside. The microbots began throwing more oil drums at the group, though Baymax keep catching them and hitting them to protect the other.
The others, meanwhile, grabbed Tadashi and forcefully pulled him along to prevent him from getting hurt. They ran out of the warehouse and piled inside the van much to Tadashi's protest.
"Let me go! Baymax and I can handle this!" Tadashi shouted.
They heard a faint THUMP and Baymax's body suddenly crashed through the wall of the warehouse and landed on the roof of Wasabi's car.
"Oh no," Baymax said.
"Baymax, are you alright?" Tadashi asked.
"My scanners have been mildly damaged, I was unable to scan him. I apologize."
Tadashi swore.
Then a figure wearing a Kabuki mask and a black trench coat appeared at the hole made by Baymax's body. He was supported by the microbots and he looked dangerous. On cue, Wasabi floored it and the van zoomed away with masked man and the microbots right behind it. Gogo narrowed her eyes and turned to Tadashi.
"Tadashi. Explain. Now!" she demanded.
"He stole Hiro's microbots, he started the fire!" Tadashi said, trying to keep his cool. "I don't know him, but I had to catch him!"
"I don't know about you- but he's trying to catch us!" Wasabi shouted as he tried to drive through the narrow streets.
"Hard left!" Gogo shouted, and they turned a corner with tires squealing. Microbots stream toward them as the masked man tries to catch up with them.
Fred stare at him from the backseat. "A mask and a black suit... We're under attack from a super villain, people! I mean, how cool is that?!" he grinned excitedly.
"This isn't a comic book story, Fred!" Tadashi cried.
"Oh, you dressing up a sentai to take him down is?" Gogo snorted. Then the car jolted into a stop. She turned to Wasabi, nearly speechless. "Why have we stopped?"
"The light's red!" Wasabi exclaimed.
Tadashi groaned while he listened to Gogo screaming at Wasabi about how they are no red lights in a car chase. They started moving again and they whipped into another street. Tadashi was surprised to see that there are no police cars around at this late hour, or nobody else awake to see this strange but scary incident.
Wasabi leaned out from the car window, looked toward the masked man and yelled, "Hey, why are you trying to kill us?!"
"We saw too much! It's classic villain stuff!" Fred replied.
Honey tried to keep everyone calm with a nervous smile. "Let's not jump to conclusions, we don't know if he's trying to kill us!"
At that moment, the masked man threw a car at them and either Wasabi was quick enough to maneuver out of the way, or the man had a poor aim. Either way, the car missed them. Gogo couldn't take another second. She took out her gum and stuck it into Tadashi's helmet much to his surprise.
"Hold this," she told him in a furious tone.
She pushed back Wasabi's seat and slide into his lap. She grabbed the wheel and slammed the gas pedal with her foot. The car hurtled forward.
Tadashi took Gogo's seat in the front. "Guys, we have to lose him quick! He's gaining on us!" he yelled.
Gogo nodded and whipped the van through the streets with expert ease, keeping her cool. Tadashi glanced out the window and saw the masked man. His heart was beating rapidly and was shaking with fear and anger. He was so close... Images of the fire and the explosion flashed before Tadashi's eyes. That man was responsible for Hiro and Callaghan's deaths.
He killed my brother! Tadashi thought as rage began to fill up inside his chest. I have to destroy him!
Without thinking, Tadashi kicked down the passenger's door.
"Tadashi, what are you doing?!" Honey screamed worriedly.
"Stop the car, now! I have to stop him!" he yelled in response. He was about to use the cable to jump out when Baymax grabbed him by the back and pushed him back into the seat. "Baymax-?!"
"Tadashi, don't," Baymax said. Then he buckled up Tadashi in his seat. "Seat belts save lives," he added in a cheery tone.
"Are you crazy? He's trying to kill us!" Wasabi scolded Tadashi, but the latter didn't seem to listen to him.
Suddenly the masked man and the microbots disappeared. For a moment, everyone thought he has given up. Then they found themselves moving up a ramp made of microbots. The ramp turned into a tunnel and it was closing in on them. Gogo zoomed faster towards the exit as everyone else braced. Tadashi looked around and for one moment, he saw Hiro sitting between Fred and Honey in the backseat.
The van broke through the microbots and it fell nosefirst into the waters of the bay. The masked man watched it sink and disappear. Then he and the microbots retreated into the darkness.
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