Chapter Summary: Tadashi arrives at Akuma Island while Hiro and his friends learn of Abigail's true goal.
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 and its characters.
At Fred's mansion, the team had changed from their superhero suits into their normal clothes and they sat on chairs in the backyard where they used to train. The four of them were exhausted from battle but they're still pondering for the next plan.
"We get to Akuma Island, apprehend Abigail and save Mr. Krei," Honey said, trying to sound optimistic. "It's very simple, right?"
"I can get Heathcliff to take us to there on the family helicopter," Fred suggested.
"What's the point?" Gogo said gloomily while she sat farther away from them. Ever since the battle at Krei Tech, she's been avoiding everyone's gazes. "Even if we go confront her, we end up losing and she escapes."
"We can't let her get away, and hurt Krei," Wasabi protested. "We signed up for this team to stop her."
"We failed, Wasabi," Gogo corrected him as she looked down at her helmet in her hands. She stared at the faint reflection on her visor, and she saw how tired she looked. "We couldn't help Tadashi and our tech is getting dull and low on power. This is a dead end for us…"
Then she threw her helmet aside in frustration. Wasabi and Honey's faces fell and they looked down to the ground. Fred, however, was determined to keep this team going. He unexpectedly grabbed Gogo by her legs before carrying her over his shoulder; then he started dancing around, swinging Gogo's body much to everyone's shock.
"Um… W-what are you doing, Freddie?" Honey asked, her face flushed in embarrassment.
"He's gone nuts, that's what he's doing," Wasabi muttered, eyes wide.
"This is what I did to Tadashi on his seventy-fifth test!" Fred replied. He was grinning like a lunatic.
"Put me down or I'll hit you!" Gogo screamed at the fanboy.
"Hey, Tadashi said the exact same thing," Fred laughed as he finally set Gogo down. Keeping his tone lighthearted, he continued, "Look… Tadashi never gave up working on Baymax despite how many times he wanted to throw in the towel. He saw how important his robot would be, and we saw proof when Baymax was part of our team. He even saved us from drowning."
Then his expression became serious.
"And even if Tadashi… gave up on this team, we're not giving up on our promise to him," he said. "We became Big Hero 6 to catch Abigail so we can bring Hiro to justice. No matter how long it takes, we will finish the job. There are no dead ends."
His friends exchanged warm looks as they began to smile again. For the first time, they completely appreciated Fred despite not being intelligent as them. And they finally understood why Tadashi allowed him into their group.
Gogo picked up her helmet and popped a new bubblegum into her mouth. A new determination sparked inside her.
"Alright, team," she said. "We have a plan to get to Akuma Island, but we need get our weapons fixed before we do that."
"I know where Tadashi kept some of the tools in the garage," Wasabi said. "It's a good thing he showed us how he made our stuff…"
Honey was alerted by her cellphone ringing and she picked it up.
"Hellooo, this is Honey~!" she announced in her sugary tone.
Then her expression suddenly switched from calm to surprise, and her hand covered her mouth. This went unnoticed by her friends who are curious about the call.
"What was that all about?" Wasabi asked her after she turned off her cellphone.
"It's Tadashi's aunt," she said slowly as she removed her glasses as though she couldn't believe what she just heard. "She said… Hiro is alive."
It has been so long since Krei stepped into Akuma Island. The whole laboratory where Silent Sparrow was being tested became badly damaged; the ceiling had caved in, leaving a gaping hole. The walls were cracked, and chunks of concrete and broken metal were scattered everywhere. The entire lab almost remained the same the last time he saw it, except for the new portal that he had not seen before. The cloudy vortex in the middle of the ring was humming ominously and the portal was powered up by two electrical generators standing on the sides.
Krei was trapped to a wall by iron rods near the ceiling. Akumax is standing nearby, not moving or doing anything at all other than just guarding Krei and the portal. He's now wearing a new helmet over his head that was made by Abigail.
"Hey, um… Could you let me go for a sec, I need to use the bathroom really bad," Krei tried to reason with the robot for the fourth time.
"I've scanned you. You're in no urgent hurry to relieve your bladder," Akumax spoke in distorted, calm voice.
"Wait, you can talk?!" Krei cried. He was still upset this his lie didn't fool the robot, but he was more outraged to hear that Akumax is capable of speech since the latter was usually silent. "You've been letting me talk all by myself ever since you stuck me up here!"
Abigail, meanwhile, is busy at the control room in a tower overlooking the lab floor. Tapping away keyboards and making sure the portal is stabilized and has enough power to stay activated. Now all she had to do is wait until it is ready…
She climbed down a decrepit metal stairway from the control room and walked over to where Krei is. "How's it hanging, Alistair?" she asked, smirking at her own joke.
Abigail, what are you planning exactly?" Krei demanded in a panic tone. "Don't you realize why we shut down Silent Sparrow? Our portals were too dangerous."
"Yet, we went ahead to experiment on them despite the warnings," Abigail scoffed. She stared longingly into the portal. "You said it yourself that we wanted to do things beyond the possible."
"Are you planning to throw me in there?" Krei asked.
He's beginning to wonder if Abigail is planning to trap Krei inside the portal to make him feel and understand her pain. The thought of being alone and floating in somewhere beyond terrifies him.
However, Abigail shook her head. "This portal isn't for you," she said. "I already planned for Akumax to break every piece of bone in your body. And let you suffer a slow painful death alone in this island."
Krei wildly turned to the robot, who said nothing but stare at the CEO.
"Better cherish your remaining life, Alistair," Abigail smiled darkly. "When the time is right, I will finally get what I want."
Tadashi's friends hurried over to the garage of the Lucky Cat café as soon Honey recounted the news Aunt Cass told her. As soon as they arrived, they found Aunt Cass with Hiro standing in the room. Hiro had changed into drier clothes and he was excited to meet the gang.
"Hiro! You're alive!" the four shouted in overjoyed unison.
They all ran to the young genius, each of them hugging him and ruffling his hair.
"I couldn't believe it! We thought you were dead!" Wasabi said, smiling.
"Are you an apparition, little guy?" Fred demanded, his eyes went wide and tried to see if his hand can pass though Hiro's body. "Did you have some unfinished business?"
"I'm not a ghost," Hiro chuckled. He could feel his heart swell with joy now that he's around with familiar people again.
Honey placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hiro, all of us missed you so bad ever since that fire in the showcase," she told him. "Especially Tadashi."
"Tadashi... he didn't die in the fire like Abigail told me," Hiro quietly said. He tried to appear happy but for some reason, he sounded discouraged.
Gogo crossed her arms in disgust. "So, Abigail held you captive all this time and lied to us that you've died after you helped her build more microbots," she said.
Cass wrapped an around her nephew's shoulder, keeping him close to her. "That woman didn't hurt you, did she?" she asked.
"Well, she almost killed me this morning-" Hiro started but he was interrupted when his everyone shouted and gasped in shock. "It was scary, but Candace here saved me!"
At these words, he waved a hand towards Krei's secretary, who was sitting on the red couch. Hiro's friends moved into fighting stances though they felt rather stupid for not noticing her earlier.
"What is she doing here?" Fred demanded. "She's working for Abigail!"
"Not anymore. She betrayed me and tried to get me killed since I'm no longer useful to her," Krei's secretary said, standing up. She approached the group. "Since I'm not loyal to her anymore, I will explain to you what she had been doing."
Then she removed a USB from her pocket and had Hiro connect it to his computer. Honey took out the picture of showing the other Baymax at the old Krei Tech lab.
"We found this days ago," Honey said to Krei's secretary. "Maybe you can give us answers about Krei has another Baymax."
"Alistair didn't build him. It came through the same portal when he rescued Abigail," Krei's secretary replied much to the confusion of the others. She watch a video popped up on Hiro's computer screen. "This footage would show you Abigail's true goal. This is just a copy of the original footage which was found inside a video projector from the other Baymax. I must warn you… it's rather interesting."
Meanwhile, Tadashi finally arrived at Akuma Island. It was a long journey and he was worried that he didn't have enough microbots to take him this far. Fortunately, he reached the island with no problems. He saw an abandoned military-type building with warning signs on the fences that the entire site is quarantined.
Tadashi looked around for an entrance into the facility when he was startled by a snapping sound.
He instantly spun around and unleashed a microbot spear at whoever, whatever, it is behind him. He then found the source of the noise: it was a pigeon. The microbots had missed it by a few inches. The bird stared back at Tadashi, pooped in fright, before flying off.
"Just a stupid bird," Tadashi grumbled, rolling his eyes. "He's lucky that he's not Abigail."
He approached a large steel door with no lock. With the microbots, he carefully broke and remove the door without making too much noise. He peeked in and saw a stairwell that led into the blackness.
Unfortunately for Tadashi, Akumax was alerted by an intruder. Even both Abigail and Krei heard the faint noise from the testing lab.
"Take care whoever it was," Abigail ordered the robot.
Tadashi crept down the stairwell until he came to a long, narrow hall. He was forced to move by foot though he made the microbots, buzzing and clicking, travel behind him. He heard a sound and he looked up ahead; a door opened and he readied himself to attack but then more microbots came up to him, linking up to the rest. Now he's walking in a sea of black nanobots but he kept going further.
He entered the opened door where the microbots came out and he came into a room full of twenty empty barrels. The machine back at the warehouse that was used to create the microbots was sitting in the corner, deactivated.
"I guess since Abigail didn't have the neurotransmitter anymore, these microbots are useless for her," he said to himself.
He scanned across the room and saw another door up ahead. It was open ajar. Burning with curiosity, he made his over and peeked inside.
It was a small lab full of multiple 3D printers. There was a table full of tools and surround it are parts what appeared to be armor pieces. Tadashi noticed a computer with a wide video screen was on.
Remembering the last time he investigated a place before he was caught, he closed and locked the door behind him, leaving him and good amount of microbots inside. Then he removed his helmet and placed it on the desk near the computer.
He checked some files on the computer and found blueprints to build and upgrade a giant robot. He then found a model of Baymax much to his shock.
"Baymax…" he whispered. He became enraged at the thought of someone tampering with his invention.
Tadashi found a video file that piqued his interest. Thinking it might be a copy of the failed Silent Sparrow project, he tried to delete it but he accidentally opened it. The footage began to play and he heard a familiar voice that almost gave him a heart attack.
"H-hey, Baymax. I didn't know you were still… active," Hiro said on the video screen. Hiro appeared to be sitting on his bed in his room.
The nursebot's voice was heard, "I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the trouble?"
Hiro looked a little embarrassed as though he wanted to get away from Baymax. "Oh, I just stubbed my toe a little. I'm fine…"
Tadashi stared at the video screen and he could feel his heart hurt with longing and deep sadness. His brother is alive, and he's interacting with Baymax. But how is this possible? Tadashi thought, confused. I never introduced these two again after Hiro visited my school…
The video skipped and played different scenes where Hiro is clearly mourning for his brother, who appeared to have died in the fire, and trying to build up a similar superhero team with the gang to catch the masked man.
Wait, if Hiro is alive and I'm the one who's dead… Tadashi thought wildly, scratching his head to find the answer. This doesn't make sense! How would Baymax record all this, if he's with me all this time?
Despite what he thinks, he continued watching the video and he felt so happy and desperate to see his little brother's face again. He couldn't help but place his hand on the screen, hoping he could reach out to Hiro…
Suddenly, the video switch to a scene where Hiro and his friends finally cornered the masked man. Tadashi assumed it was Abigail they've defeated, but to his horror heard Professor Callaghan's voice.
"Tadashi…" he heard Hiro whimper. "You just let him die…"
"Give me the mask, Hiro," Callaghan said while Baymax's camera moves over to where Hiro and the professor are.
"He went in there to save you!"
"That was his mistake!"
At that moment, all of Tadashi's rage, hatred, and resentment returned. His fists tightened so much, he had to control himself from punching something.
So, that's what his professor think of him… Tadashi looked up to him like a grandfather who gave him advice on his projects and even encouraged him to finish them, but the man saw the inventor as a nuisance. Tadashi couldn't believe he risked his life to save a complete monster…
He saw Hiro ordering Baymax to destroy Callaghan before he began to remove his nurse chip. However the video froze and it switched to the aftermath. It appeared that Callaghan had escaped and Hiro was yelling at his friends for interfering.
And he began to grow furious at his own friends too. He remembered how they held him back when he tried to attack Abigail.
"I guess they never gave a damn about me at all," he hissed before shutting off the computer. He had seen enough.
Back in the garage at the Lucky Cat café, everyone stared when they saw the footage playing. It showed Hiro, for some reason he's wearing a similar superhero suit, ordered Baymax to destroy Callaghan who tried to flee.
Hiro's friends watched when they saw themselves trying to stop Baymax and getting flung aside. The video finally ended before Baymax can shoot a rocket fist at Callaghan.
The whole garage fell silent as everyone tried to process what they just saw. Hiro shuddered uncomfortably at the thought of him trying to murder someone in cold blood. He saw the pale expressions on his friends' faces. He wondered if they see him as some sort of monster.
"L-look, I would never," he stammered. "Especially you guys…"
"Hiro, we're not blaming you!" Fred said, realizing what the young boy is thinking. "We're as confused as you are!"
"That… is the scariest thing I've seen in my whole life," Wasabi muttered.
"Is that even the same Hiro on the video?" Gogo asked. "And why is Callaghan alive? I thought he was dead!"
Aunt Cass held her nephew tight protectively and she glared at Krei's secretary as though it was her fault for scaring Hiro.
"You better give us an explanation for this!" she growled.
Krei's secretary sighed and adjusted her glasses. "The boy Hiro Hamada you see in the video is both the same and different one from this Hiro right here."
"… I don't get it," Fred said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll get straight to the point," the woman said. She took a deep breath. "Abigail build a portal that would lead her to an alternate dimension so she could reunite with her father."
Tadashi coldly placed his helmet with the neurotransmitter back on his head. As soon he left the room, he saw a rocket fist flying towards him and he tried to dodge it. The blow hit the wall behind him and knocked him down.
He quickly got back up on his feet but then he saw a giant robot throwing the empty trash bins at him. Tadashi dodged them and moved around the room on top of the microbots. Akumax kept firing his rocket fists at the young man, but missed him. Tadashi then used the microbots to grab the robot and smashed him hard against the wall easily. The microbots pin the struggling robot down.
"Thought you could ambush me that easily, huh?" Tadashi sneered as he stepped furiously on top of the robot. "Did Abigail made you? You look like a walking piece of junk."
Without warning, Akumax punched Tadashi off from him and the inventor went flying backwards. His helmet was knocked off from his head. Tadashi tried to get up but his chest was ready to split open in pain.
Akumax loomed over him and raised his fist. He was about to launch another rocket fist when it scanned Tadashi's face. The robot seemed to hold itself before lowering his weapon. Even his eyes glowed less red.
Tadashi was confused why the robot stopped but while it was distracted, he crawled over and picked up his helmet. Before he could put it back on, he heard the robot speak.
"Tadashi."
He stopped and spun around. He knew that voice.
"Baymax!" Tadashi gasped.
The huge robot blinked and nodded. "Hello, Tadashi."
Tadashi cautiously walked over to his robot and touched his chest armor. He found the access port and opened it. There was only one chip inside, and it looked like the red chip he used to upload fighting skills into Baymax's programming. His own green nurse chip is missing, but he doesn't care about it. His robot had recognized him without the chip.
He took out the chip and closed the port. He looked up to his robot and could feel his tears forming.
"Baymax… you knew who I was?" Tadashi asked. He wondered Baymax mistaken him as an enemy since he was wearing his helmet which concealed his face.
"Of course, you created me," Baymax replied, his voice becoming clearer and calmer. Even his eyes returned back to normal without the fighting chip inside him.
"Then, can you still do your medical procedures? Or do anything that's you?" Tadashi inquired, knowing that his special chip is what created Baymax's personality.
"I am unable to access and update my caregiving matrix," Baymax said. "I am still able to function on my old personality. I am sorry for causing distress towards you."
"Wait, if you can still act like you, then why were you all psycho before…" Tadashi said.
"It must have been the fighting database installed in my programming," Baymax said. "I was forced to obey Abigail's orders since she had Hiro activated me."
Tadashi heard his brother's name. "Wait, you saw Hiro?" he cried. "Then, do you know where he is?"
Baymax became quiet for a moment. "I apologize Tadashi. Hiro was my primary caregiver, but Abigail ordered me to eliminate him," he said. "It was not my intention…"
Tadashi dropped his helmet and the fighting chip. They landed on the ground near his feet. He slowly walked away from Baymax and leaned against the wall. Just to hear that Abigail had Baymax kill his brother shattered him completely. He burst into tears and collapsed on his knees.
Baymax walked over to his robot and could only place a comforting hand on top of inventor's head. Tadashi continued crying for several minutes.
When he was done, he got up and dried his eyes.
"Baymax…" he began, his tone lifeless and bitter. "It's not your fault. You would never hurt Hiro. … Abigail's the one who's responsible."
"Tadashi, I am curious," Baymax said. "I was informed by Hiro that you've died in a fire. I guess he was mistaken."
"N-no, I didn't die," Tadashi said, shaking his head. Then he remembered the video he saw on the computer. "Wait… did you actually meet Professor Callaghan?"
"Indeed. Hiro wanted to avenge you by terminating Callaghan," Baymax replied. "It went against my programming."
Tadashi scratched his head. "This doesn't make sense. Callaghan should have died, but he was alive in your recording. Where was Abigail in all this?"
"Abigail was in hypersleep inside her pod when Hiro and I rescued her from the portal. I stayed behind so I can get Hiro and her to safety. I made Hiro deactivated me-"
"Wait, what are you talking about?!" Tadashi shouted. He was getting more confused, but then it slowly dawned on him. He decided to test something that only Baymax would know. If this Baymax is even the same one as his… "Baymax, what was the name of the kid we rescued from the Banzai Brothers?"
"I have no clue, Tadashi," Baymax said. "We did no such thing."
Tadashi finally realized the missing pieces, why the photograph showed another Baymax at the old Krei Tech lab, and the strange video clips…
"Baymax," Tadashi slowly spoke, "I think you came from another dimension."
"I came to the same conclusion since Hiro acted odd when he activated me," Baymax agreed. "And I discovered Abigail made another portal somewhere in this building. She must be waiting for my return to see if I took 'care' of you like she ordered. I don't see how destroying you is taking care of you."
Tadashi felt sick to see his robot being turned into a mindless fighting machine but he was happy to reunite with Baymax again, even though this is not his same robot. He remembered why he came to Akuma Island for and he resumed his mission.
Abigail was getting impatient and suspicious that Akumax had not returned.
"Guard the portal, Alistair," she said as left control room.
"Don't worry, I'll stick around," Krei said sarcastically while he's still trapped to the wall.
Before Abigail can talk back, she saw the microbots burst into the room. Riding on top of it is a figure in dark clothing and a helmet. She was paralyzed in her spot but before she can reach for her bombs inside her coat, the microbots wrapped themselves around her and prevented her to escape.
"You! How dare you steal my microbots!" she snarled at the intruder as she was lifted towards him.
Tadashi pulled up his dark visor so he can glare at her.
"I think you meant my brother's microbots," he corrected her in a dark tone. He was delighted to see Abigail terrified. "And now that I finally have you, Abigail… I wanted some answers and you're going to tell me everything."
"Okay, this is crazy," Gogo commented after Krei's secretary revealed Abigail's true plan. "Do you expect us to believe that an alternate dimension from ours exist, and Abigail build a portal so she can reunite with her dad?"
"Alistair Krei said instant teleportation was science fiction, but he made it into a reality," Krei's secretary said. "It would explain the existence of the second Baymax when it was retrieved when Abigail was rescued."
"This is all too much to take," Wasabi said.
"It makes sense," Honey said. "The second Baymax from the video came from the alternate dimension where Callaghan didn't die, and Abigail wanted to go to that dimension after destroying Krei."
"Krei!" Fred shouted. "We forgot about him! We have until tonight to go to Akuma Island and rescue him!"
"And we still need to catch Abigail," Gogo said. "And we're not going to let her escape into the portal."
"We need to get our weapons in top shape by then," Wasabi reminded the team.
"I'll help you with that, I've been forced to make weapons for that lady when she kidnapped me," Hiro said when he stepped forward. "In return, you guys have to take me with you to Akuma Island."
"Not on your life, young man!" Aunt Cass shouted, grabbing his arms. "You were missing for weeks and nearly died because of that psycho lady and her father!"
"But I'm responsible for helping her, Aunt Cass!" Hiro protested.
"I don't want to lose you again!" Cass cried.
"Hiro, listen to your aunt…" Honey begged. "We can't endanger your life. Tadashi wouldn't want that."
However, Hiro was too stubborn. "Tadashi wouldn't want me to stand by and watch people get hurt," he said. He looked deeply into his aunt's worried eyes and touched her face. "Aunt Cass… you've done a great job raising this guy for ten years. I wouldn't ask for a better parent. But please, let me go… Someone has to help."
Hiro felt strange for echoing his brother's last words to him, but he's doing the right thing. Aunt Cass gulped and removed her grip from her nephew.
"Just promise me, all four of you!" she turned sharply to Hiro's friends. "Don't let anything happen to him!"
"We promised," Gogo nodded. Honey gave Fred her cellphone, and he started calling for his butler to bring over their suits and tech.
Hiro cracked up his knuckles. So little time left and he has a lot of work to do.
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