A/N: Welcome back guys! Um, a few quick notes. First of all, my song catch/quote comes from the wonderful mashup put together by Shannon Godwin on Youtube. It's called "Centuries of Immortals" and seeing as how I came to view "Immortals" as Hiro's theme song and "Centuries" as Vera's I thought it only fitting for the mashup to be featured in today's chapter. Especially considering as how I had it playing on repeat the entire time I wrote this chapter initially.

Speaking of writing, once more we delve into the realm of AU stuff here concerning the fire at the convention center and who set it. Again, I take some liberties. I know that it was heavily implied and meant to be taken by the audience that Callaghan set the fire. However, to fit with my AU and plot, I had to tweak it. I'm backing it up with the fact that Callaghan never actually confirms or denies it when Hiro accuses him of setting the fire. Also there is a bit of cliched "Villain Motive Speech" in this chapter. Believe it or not, it actually looks much better than when I first wrote it. I'm still not one hundred percent happy with it though but oh well.

Last note... well... I'll put it at the end of the chapter.

You're a cherry blossom, you're about to bloom.

You look so pretty but you're gone so soon,

(I try to picture me without you but I can't)

- Centuries of Immortals a mash up by Shannon Godwin

He looked down at the timer on his watch. About fifteen minutes was all he had left. Fifteen minutes to get to the plane, get Vera out of it, and get away again. Baymax's thrust capacity was holding steady at nearly a hundred percent and Hiro was carefully monitoring Baymax's power levels as well. However, the plane was still too far out of reach. Hiro grit his teeth. "Baymax, take us higher!" Hiro called over the wind. If they increased the altitude, they'd close the distance between them and the plane quicker. Fifteen minutes and counting.

X X X

There was a muffled sound over his head. It sounded vaguely like someone was arguing. It definitely wasn't doing his probable head injury any favors. Tadashi groaned and tried to sit up. "He's coming around!" yelled someone over the top off his head. Their voice was loud. Too loud.

Of course when he tried to tell whoever it was this, all that came out was another pained groan. "Easy man, don't push yourself." another voice said. It sounded like Wasabi. Yeah, definitely Wasabi's.

Hands and arms helped him as he struggled to sit up. His back was stiff and there was weird groggy, dizzy feeling that swam in front of his eyes every time he tried to focus. After a couple of blinks, the fuzzy shapes in front of him became people who were staring at him in concern. "You alright Hamada?" GoGo asked warily as her hands floated hesitantly by his shoulder, just in case he tipped sideways. At this point in time, that was a very likely possibility.

"Yeah," he said, not entirely sure. He had a funny taste in his mouth that nearly made him gag. "What hit me and can I hit them back?"

There was a collective but weak laugh from Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred, and GoGo. "Guys, I really think we should get out of here." Honey Lemon urged. She sounded nervous but he couldn't place why. That and he couldn't quite remember what had put him on the ground in the first place.

He hadn't taken a knock out hit from one of the footsoldiers had he? No. That didn't sound right. He distinctly remembered doling out the knock out blow to one of them. Then what had happened? He massaged the back of his neck as he struggled to remember. The last thing he recalled was discovering the bomb with Vera on the plane and Vera saying that... Oh God!

"Vera!" he yelled as he scrambled to his feet. He knocked Fred and GoGo away from him the process. However, as he stood, another bout of dizziness hit him like a freight train. Tadashi swayed on his feet, clutching his head.

"Woah!" Fred said as he latched on to his arm and kept him upright. "Take it easy."

"You don't understand!" yelled Tadashi as he whipped around to stare. The plane was gone. No where in sight. "The bomb is on the plane. Vera was going to... oh God!"

His knees shook underneath him as he stared out over where the sky met the bay. He could still make out the jetstream from Krei's jet. It was too late. She was gone. Vera was flying away to certain death. She was gone. That's when he realized that the mother of pearl bracelet he'd bought for Vera a few days ago was around his wrist. It felt like an iron weight on him. She'd left him with it as her parting gift to him. As something to remember her by. His hand fell limply to his side. "Tadashi," Honey Lemon said softly as she reached out and touched his arm gently.

He turned to look at her numbly. That's when he realized Big Hero 6 was missing one teenaged genius and a healthcare companion robot. Ice filled his veins as he scanned the tar mat. "Where's Hiro and Baymax?" he asked, dread coursing through him.

No one could look him in the eye. "Where's Hiro and Baymax?" he asked again, desperately.

It was Wasabi who looked up at the direction of the plane's jetstream. "No," he whispered. "No, no, no, no! He didn't!"

"He took off before we could stop him." GoGo told him.

"He's going to try and get Vera off the plane before the bomb goes off." Honey Lemon added.

This time, Tadashi's knees did give out. Fred gave a startled cry as he struggled to keep Tadashi upright. Wasabi rushed forward to help him. Tadashi fought the violent urge to be sick. No! Not Hiro too. Not his brother! Not after they'd found each other again. Not ever. No! This couldn't be happening. "Tadashi!" snapped GoGo.

Mechanically, he looked up at her. Judging by the look on her face she'd been trying to get his attention for a little bit. "Listen to us Tadashi," GoGo said emphatically, "Baymax won't let anything happen to Hiro. And if anyone can save Vera, it would be Hiro."

"We have to trust him." Honey Lemon insisted with a bright smile that was evident that not even she believed what they were saying.

"Dude, Hiro's totally got this!" Fred agreed enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. "He's got loads of experience at swooping in at the last minute to rescue people."

Fred was nodding with an assuredness only he could come by. For some reason, Tadashi found himself nodding right along with Fred. It was at a slower pace, sure, but he was nodding. Not because he agreed with Fred but because at this moment in time it was the only shred of hope he could cling to. And he grabbed on to it with both hands and a white knuckled grip. Not Vera and Hiro. Not both of them. He couldn't lose them both.

"I hate to be the one to remind everyone of this but Hiro told us to get out of here. We've got a whole lot of trouble coming our way." Wasabi said as he cast an anxious glance around them.

"Right, let's go." GoGo gave a curt nod. Tadashi allowed Fred to take him by the arm and half pull, half drag him in the direction everyone else had turned for. He didn't want to leave. The rational and logical side of him knew that it was the smartest decision. To get away when they had the chance. However, his mind was screaming bloody murder at him. Don't leave. Wait for Hiro. Wait for Vera. Wait for them to come back and if they didn't… another wave of nausea hit him full force. Fred tugged again at his arm and said something encouraging to him but Tadashi didn't really register what it was.

Then something else pierced through the fog in his head. A dull, familiar vibration that rose around them in the air. He could feel it in his shoes, up his legs, and through his arms and back. Fred froze in place as he watched the tiny pebbles on the tar mat bounce up and down. GoGo had stopped too and was glaring at her wheels in confusion as they trembled underneath her. "What the…" she growled.

"Oh no!" gasped Honey Lemon as she jumped back a step.

Fred's hand tightened around his arm. Wasabi's jaw fell slack and his eyes went wide. GoGo and Honey Lemon could only stare. Tadashi raised his eyes to the sky, where everyone else was looking. A thick cloud of black spread through the sky in front of them. Tiny, silver helicopter wings beat the air, blowing dirt and sending vibrations up around them. In the middle of the cloud was Dr. Robert Callaghan, Supervillain Yokai. His black clothes melded with the black of the hive drones and the only really perceptible feature was the red and white kabuki mask he wore. He didn't know whether to let the nausea take over and let himself be sick or he should start spew angry curses. Both of them felt equally appropriate at the moment.

"What are those things?" Wasabi wondered quietly as his voice shook.

"You know how I told you guys about the hive drones?" Tadashi mumbled under his breath. Cold dread flushed through his body, taking the place of his nausea. Everyone turned to give him a sideways glance from the corner of their eyes while trying to keep Callaghan in their sights. Tadashi swallowed the hard lump that had formed in his throat. He gave a curt nod towards the hive drones. "That would be them."

"You always did the coolest work." Fred laughed nervously. However, Fred pulled up the hood of his costume. There was a whirring sound as Wasabi fired up his laser swords. GoGo raised one of her discs into the air. Honey Lemon held three chemical orbs in each hand.

Then, Callaghan descended on them.

Hive drones rushed towards them, their dangerously sharp wing blades angled towards them and their sharp barbs pointed at them. Before Tadashi could raise his arms to block his face, Fred had jumped in front of him. A stream of fire took out the first batch that rushed them. Wasabi leapt forward and swung his blades around to shear as many drones in half as he could in one sweep.

GoGo and Honey Lemon stood back to back a little farther away from him. GoGo's discs split the mass of drones in half, into smaller but still formidable formations. Some drones went down but the ones that didn't exploded into pink dust as Honey Lemon's chemical orbs hit them and released rapid embrittlement compound. Bits and pieces of the hive drones hit the ground around them. There were still so many of them though.

Tadashi tried to push away the numbness in his mind and struggled to find a way to help his friends. However, as he was looking around, that's when he spotted Callaghan's movements. He was still suspended in the air by the hive drones but was typing furiously into the computer on his wrist. Two groups of drones broke away from the main formation, rising high into the air above them. His eyes went wide when he realized what was happen. Tadashi let loose a curse before calling out, "Look out! He's flanking us!"

He was just seconds too late. The hive drones crashed into them on both sides as well as rushed them from the front. There was a scream of shock, surprise, and pain as the hive drones crashed into them. GoGo was the first to go down when the hive drones swept her wheels out from under her and bore down on her. All she could do was cover her head to try and protect herself. Honey Lemon and Wasabi went down next within seconds of each other, too quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught. A huge wave crashed into the side of Fred and knocked him sideways straight into Tadashi. For the second time in less than a week, he felt the hive drones cutting into his skin and his ears ringing from the force the air was moving at. He grit his teeth against the pain. Damn it! There wasn't anything he could do!

Then suddenly the roar around them dulled. The vibration slowed and drones no longer stung. What he did hear, though, was the cocking of a gun over the top of his head. Cut and bleeding, Tadashi looked up. "Hello Scientist." Williams sneered down at him. "I didn't get a chance to say anything to you last night. You left so quickly."

"Williams." Tadashi snarled, trying not to grind his teeth together. There were three other men behind him hovering over GoGo, Wasabi, and Fred. Callaghan was now on the ground and acting as the fourth man, hanging over the top of Honey Lemon. The hive drones all hovered in the sky, waiting for commands.

"Your friends seem to be down two team members and you seem to missing your half-witted Agent friend. Where as we seem to be missing our bomb and bait. Why don't you tell us where they're at."

"Your bomb is gone." he hissed. He stared Williams down, meeting his cold and dead eyes unflinchingly. Williams shoved the gun up against his temple in response.

"Where is the bomb?" Williams all but growled like the dog he was.

"It flew away," answered Tadashi, "along with your fantastic plan to blow up witnesses and fake the deaths of Big Hero 6."

Pain exploded across the side of his head. "Tadashi!" cried his friends as he fell sideways on to the ground, holding the side of his head.

Idly, he wondered if he'd programmed a CAT scan as one of the ten thousand medical procedures that Baymax could perform because after as many times he'd been hit in the head today he was going to need one. "I suppose that your Agent friend is the one flying the plane?"

Tadashi bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood to keep himself from saying anything. It must have played on his face though. The way Williams lips twisted into a sick knowing smirk made his stomach churn. "And where is Mr. Hamada and his robot?"

Tadashi didn't need to respond. He didn't even get a chance to respond. Williams put it together in his own head and as soon as he did, the smirk fell from his face. "Callaghan!" he barked, turning towards him, "Go after him and bring him back."

Callaghan, for the first time Tadashi realized, wasn't looking at Williams. In fact, he was only just barely paying attention to Honey Lemon despite the fact he was supposed to be guarding her. Dr. Callaghan was instead staring directly at him. There was a mixture of confusion and concern on his face. Tadashi glared at him icily. How could someone so brilliant, so prolific, really throw his lot in with a bunch of murderers and torturers? This was supposed to be the pioneer of robotics, not some Supervillain with a desire for revenge. "Callaghan! Go get Hiro Hamada."

Callaghan jerked his eyes away from Tadashi as if he'd been startled. It took him a moment to fully register what he was being told to do. He scowled at Williams. "I'd never be able to catch him. Hiro is long gone." Callaghan told him simply.

Williams muttered something venomous under his breath about stupid kids and their damn heroics these days. Then he turned to look at Tadashi with a cold hatred. "I guess that means you'll have to do. Hope you enjoyed your year long vacation Scientist."

There was a scathing remark on the tip of his tongue. "You guys are insane if you think we're ever going to help you." spat GoGo as she glared over at Williams.

"I guess we'll have to see about that. As I told Mr. Hamada last night, you really don't have much of a say in the matter." sneered Williams. He looked at the men who were looming over them. "Get them on their feet. The transport should be here any moment now."

The men with guns reached down and yanked their captives up roughly under the arm. Only Callaghan was mildly gentle in pulling Honey Lemon to her feet but that was all relative though. Williams jerked his gun upwards in a silent command for Tadashi to stand. He clenched his jaw but did as he was told. He wasn't nearly as dizzy as he had been even though Williams had pistol whipped him. Tadashi raised his hands into the air as he continued to meet Williams gaze. Something burned in the pit of his stomach. There was nothing he wanted to do more than haul off and deck Williams in the face. He didn't think that would end well though, for anybody in the group. Instead he lashed out verbally. "You might be able to make me disappear again but if you think that you'll be able to wipe Big Hero 6 off the radar, you're sadly mistaken." Tadashi informed Williams in an even tone that surprised him.

Williams gave him a mirthless smile, "Yes, thanks to you and that stupid S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. We'll think of something though. The thing about Superhero work is that any manner of accident can befall a poor hero. Getting blown up is just one of them. The important thing is that everyone, excluding Hiro Hamada and his robot, is here just as we planned. A bit too early we were afraid, seeing as how you could have flown the coop, but we somehow managed to make it work. Besides, now we don't have to worry about how much time we have before the bomb blows. Perhaps we ought to thank you for that."

His heart clenched. How much time before the bomb went off? He turned to look over his shoulder behind him. There was no hint of the plane nor the red swatch of Baymax's armor. It was like his blood turned to ice water, chilling him slowly from the core out. Tadashi didn't doubt that Williams knew exactly how much time was left on the bomb's timer. How much time Vera had left to live. How much time Hiro had to save her. He couldn't breath. It took every ounce of his being to drag air into his lungs and push it out again.

"How long have you people been planning this?" Wasabi asked incredulously as he stared past his own crony at Williams.

"A long time," Williams said dismissively.

"At least three years if not longer." Tadashi bit out. Williams raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. Tadashi bit back a snort. "What like it was some sort of secret? You guys were in that convention center. You guys were ready to pull me out of it which means that someone had to plan the fire way in advanced. "Though I am curious... at what point did you start working with Hydra Callaghan? Was it before or after you faked your death?"

"Less than a week ago." answered Callaghan quietly.

"Sure! Of course you did." Tadashi told Callaghan scathingly.

"I never set that fire." Callaghan insisted vehemently. "I've done many horrible things but I swear that fire was already burning when I went took your brother's microbots."

"It's true." Williams said unaffectedly. "Hydra set that fire. SFIT, MIT, Havard, and so on and so forth are breeding grounds for great ideas and brilliant minds. Hydra likes to its finger on the pulse, so to speak, and keep a sharp look out for up and coming talent..."

"Hiro," something clicked in Tadashi's mind. His stomach flipped over on itself. "You were after Hiro."

"Yes, we were after your brother. At first we were just at that convention hall ready to burn it to the ground if we saw something we liked. When we saw Hiro Hamada's presentation, I changed my mind. Fourteen years old and already building tech like that. It was incredible. So we tweaked our plan. There were some risks involved but the potential pay off was better than the damage of failing."

"What risks?" Honey Lemon asked tersely, her hand twisting around the strap of her bag.

"Well, we couldn't be sure that the kid would actually give us a chance to take him but when one of our contacts saw him toss that neurotransmitter off to the side after his demonstration. I thought for sure he'd go running back in to save all his hard work. Things didn't quite go as planned though…"

The nausea was steadily creeping back into Tadashi's throat. Hydra had always been after Hiro. There was a miniscule comfort though that his capture had put Williams's and Hydra's plans on hold. "You got me instead."

Williams nodded sharply. For someone whose plan hadn't gone smoothly, he seemed pretty okay about it. "Our contact had told me that the good doctor over there had been making a habit of photocopying students' work in an attempt at some sort of revenge fantasy."

"Wait! What?" sputtered Wasabi as there was a collective gasp from the rest of Big Hero 6

"We weren't counting on him actively stealing Hamada's microbots though. Nor were we counting on you running in after him. Hell, we could have gotten both of you had the building not blown so quickly seeing as how he started to chase after you. Shit happens, though, as the phrase goes and our plan didn't quite pan out."

"Must have been so difficult." growled Tadashi.

"Everything worked out well in the end. We knew about you of course and your own abilities so we took the opportunity presented. You ended up being quite the asset until that stupid S.H.I.E.L.D. agent came along and gave you a pair and a back bone."

"And when we got away, I left a gaping hole in your research team that you decided to fill with my little brother." spat Tadashi.

A sick smirk spread over Williams's face. "Second chances and all."

"Dude," whispered Fred in disgust as he looked around at the men. "That's messed up."

"How does it make you feel to know that you're being taken advantage of for a change?" GoGo hissed at Callaghan. Callaghan sent an icy glare at Williams for a second.

"Our deal still holds?" Callaghan asked dryly. "You get what you want..."

"And then you get to take the hive drones with you to raze Krei and his company to the ground. Hell, you can even tag along with us afterwards to make sure your old favorite here is happy." Williams sneered in response before looking over at Tadashi, "Well, as happy as he could be anyways. Isn't that right Scientist?"

"You know how GoGo said earlier that you were insane for thinking that we'll cooperate. I'm gonna second that comment you foul piece of garbage." Tadashi said threateningly. There had to be something he could do. Someway to get them out of this situation. It looked like, however, that his friends seemed to have something in mind.

Tadashi caught Honey Lemon exchanging subtle looks with Fred, Wasabi, and GoGo. She was the only one without a gun pressed against the temple of her head and a weapon in easy range. Not to mention the fact that Dr. Callaghan was once more paying more attention to him, shooting him sympathetic looks, rather than Honey Lemon. Her fingers twitched over the keyboard of her purse and he forcefully pulled his eyes away to keep from giving her away. Instead he looked at the nondescript van that was pulling around on to the tar mat in front of them. Apparently, the transport Williams had been talking about had arrived. Tadashi had no idea what was going through Honey Lemon's mind but whatever it was, he really hoped it worked.

The driver jumped out to slide open the van's side doors to reveal a Hellish inside of silver chains and shackles, Honey Lemon's fingers moved towards the keyboard with lightning speed. However quick her reflexes were, she wasn't able to hit more than two buttons in her combination before the huge boom of an explosion far behind them.

X X X

Ten minutes until the bomb blew and Hiro and Baymax were directly overhead of Krei's private jet. Ten minutes. They could do this. Someway, somehow, they could save Vera. As Vera had said, the plane was a safe distance over the Pacific Ocean. The water was dark blue and shimmering far underneath them. "Alright Baymax, now or never!" Hiro yelled.

Baymax rolled over in a barrel roll causing Hiro's stomach to fly into his throat. On a good day it would have been a thrilling feeling. Today, though, was not a good day and it only made him want to puke. Baymax's maneuver put them in line with plane's cabin. He could just make out Vera's outline through the tinted windshield of the plane.

Hiro lifted his hand from the magnetic port on Baymax's armor and touched the radio relay button on his helmet. Radio frequencies appeared on his visor and he could hear static as he rapidly flipped through channels, desperately trying to find the right one. He picked up on the closest signal. "Vera! Are you there? Come in Vera!" he said desperately as he craned his head around to look through the windshield.

"Hiro?" Vera's voice answered him. Her utter confusion was clear in her voice. He saw Vera raise her hand and touch the headset that was over her ears. "Hiro is that you? How do you have this frequency?"

"Oh, well y'know, just looked for the closest one to where I was at. Fairly easy even if you aren't a super genius given that I'm flying parallel to you at the moment." he said lightly.

"WHAT!" squawked Vera. Her response was so loud that it caused feedback in his communication's link. He winced in pain but watched as Vera snapped around to look at him through the windshield. Vera let loose a string of curses that were rather impressive and, again, loud enough to cause feedback.

Hiro raised his hand to wave at her. "Can you please not scream? You're kinda causing feedback and it's too loud for my delicate little ears. That and Tadashi wouldn't approve of your language. You're talking to virgin ears."

"Do you have a death wish or something kid?" snapped Vera. Wow! She was beyond angry. That much was obvious. "The bomb is going to go off any minute now and you're flying parallel to me!"

"In about nine minutes and eight seconds." he gave her the exact time.

"Turn around and go back... now!" she demanded.

"No!" he yelled back fiercely. This time he was the one who caused the feedback. He winced again as it hit his own ears. "I'm not letting you die!"

"You and Chiune are definitely brothers. Only two people from the same gene pool would be this stubborn." snorted Vera, "I give you time to get yourself, your brother, and the rest of your team away and this is how you use it? At the rate you're going, you're going to be caught up in the blast. Is that what you want to happen?"

"Three years ago, I watched Tadashi run into a burning building. I thought he died. I mourned him. I was so grief stricken that I nearly killed someone for revenge! What you're doing... you can't imagine the pain that you'll be subjecting Tadashi to."

"And you think that by joining me in this suicide mission will make it easier on him? Hiro, he can't lose you too."

"He can't lose either one of us." Hiro countered.

There was silence over the radio. Then he heard, "Turn back Hiro. Before it's too late."

"No!" Hiro said quickly. He couldn't give up. At this point it wasn't an option. Vera didn't say anything. He glanced down at his watch again. Less than four minutes and counting. He felt lead slip into his heart. No, at this point, if Vera didn't do anything they were both dead. He licked his lips to moisten them before speaking again. "There has to be another way!"

"There isn't." Vera told him firmly. Hiro caught another look at his watch. It had just flipped to six minutes. "Hiro, please... just go."

Her voice sounded so faint over the radio. Hiro grit his teeth. It couldn't end like this. "Hiro, there is not much time left." Baymax pointed out and he didn't doubt that Baymax would turn around to save his life without permission. It was in his coding after all.

"I know, I know," he growled. "Just give me a few more seconds."

He stared up through the plane's windshield. It was as though he could feel Vera's eyes on him, watching and waiting. "Listen to me Vera. There is another way. There is always another way. I just need you to think for a half second and help me. You're smart. I can tell that just by the way you speak. That crazy Sherlock deduction mumbo jumbo you pulled with Fred last night proves it too. Between the two of us, we can find another way. We just need to think of a new angle."

There was absolute dead silence on the radio. Hiro's heart pounded against his ribcage. This was it. Vera was giving up. Baymax was going to turn around and haul them out of range. Vera was going to die. Oh God! What was he going to tell Tadashi? Then a quiet laugh came through the radio. "Your brother once said that to me." Vera told him in a very, very different tone. Hiro held his breath. They were down to less than five minutes. "How close can you get to the door?""

What are you thinking?" Hiro questioned her.

"The plane should be far enough away now. Krei has some pretty nice autopilot software that I can flip on to hold the course. With the plane flying by itself, it will leave me free to exit the situation." Vera said. He could hear the gears starting to turn in her mind as she sorted out all the particulars.

"Baymax and I come in close so that way when the door opens, I reach over and grab you." Hiro caught on to the idea.

"You pull me on to that robot of yours and we get out of dodge." finished Vera.

"Think you can do that Baymax?" he asked.

"I believe so." answered Baymax.

"Excellent. Hurry up Vera, we don't have much time." Hiro called into the radio. He looked down at his watch and cringed. No they didn't have much time at all. They were closing in on three minutes.

"Get yourselves into position but don't fly too close to the door. I've still got to get it open and the stairs might hit you."

"Be careful." Hiro and Baymax called at the same time. However, it was too late. Vera tore the headset from her head and jumped up. Hiro grit his teeth, trying to ignore how badly his heart was racing, and let Baymax maneuver them into position. They dropped back in line with the door, ready and waiting.

The plane's door came open. At first it was just a small crack between the frame of the plane and the door itself. Then the rushing air caught it. Hiro cursed in surprise, his eyes going wide, as the door was torn from the plane and Baymax had to drop several feet downwards to avoid it at a split moment. The door hit the plane's wing with a horrendous sound that he could hear even over the torrent of wind, before skittering off towards the ocean below. A new rock settled into his stomach. Well, Vera had said that it might hit them.

Vera stood in the doorway. Her hand was twisted in some kind of rope that she must have had looped over something inside the plane and was clinging to it for dear life. Her hair was whipping around her face so violently that he doubted she could see anything. She ran her hand through it to push it over her shoulder and down wind. Then she flashed a brilliant smile.

"Baymax, get in as close as you can." Hiro told him. "We can't risk missing her and having her fall. There isn't enough time to catch her."

"A more likely scenario would be that Vera would be knocked into the wing of the plane. At a force such as the one we are currently experiencing she would have severe bodily trauma." Baymax corrected him, not sparing any details.

"All the more reason not to miss." mumbled Hiro as he tried to banish the sudden image of the door hitting the wing and the sound it had created.

Baymax pulled himself in close, or as close he could, to the plane. His long wings kept him from pulling in right up close to the plane. There was at least seven feet with nothing in between them but open air. Hiro disengaged the magnets on his hands from Baymax's armor and stretched his arm out towards Vera. Though his growth spurt had been more than generous to him at the age of fifteen, his arms were nowhere long enough to reach Vera on his own. Desperately, he pushed the limits of his body and leaned his torso out into the open space. Vera reached out with her free hand, struggling to meet him in the middle. Her grip was white knuckle around the rope as she tried to grab for him. Her teeth and jaw were clenched together. She took a risk and used the rope as a safety net in order to extend her reach by leaning out of the doorway. Her foot slipped from the plane and she cried out as she nearly fell. His heart leapt into his throat. Only her white knuckle grip saved her. "Come on," Hiro whispered under his breath, craning his arm towards her.

Vera regained her footing and tried again, her body nearly at a forty-five degree angle. Her fingers found his and he grabbed hold in a death grip. "Let go! I've got you!" he cried.

An imperceptible moment passed. The hand that was twisted around the rope loosened and then let go. For a heart stopping second, Vera was airborne and dangling in the air over the ocean. Then with all his strength Hiro yanked her up and on to Baymax, her body slamming into his armor hard. Pride flushed through him. He'd done it! They'd done it! Vera was safe!

Pinning her body underneath his as he slammed his magnetic holds back into place, he called down to Baymax, "Get us out of here!"

Baymax twisted away from the plane with another barrel roll and shot up into the sky, over above the plane at full speed. A sudden beep cut through his radio link as the timer on his watch hit zero and they were still so close. "Oh crap." breathed Vera.

Hiro's eyes went wide and adrenaline slowed the seconds after into an eternity. Heat exploded underneath them and metal screeched. Air was displaced and shrapnel careened through air around them as flames leapt upwards. Vera twisted in his arms to look down, one hand clamping down hard on his arm with one hand and casting the other over the side of Baymax. "Please!" she breathed in horror.

Part of the plane's wing was spiraling up straight towards them and the flames rose up to meet them. Sorry Tadashi, he thought as the reality of his failure crashed down on him and threatened to strangle him. He bowed his head into Baymax, guess I was too late.

A rush of scorching hot air hit them as time sped up again...

A/N: (continued from top) I'm sorry! This isn't the last chapter. Don't leave me!

Sneak Peek at Next Week's Chapter:

"Crumbling"

"This is your idea of fixing the world then? Helping a group of murderers and watching people die? If you hadn't been so Hell bent on revenge, maybe this world wouldn't have needed your 'fixing.'" Tadashi screamed.

X X X

"That's enough!" snapped Callaghan as the hive drones buzzed in the air.

Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed!

Silver-09: There is always time for breakfast. As far as the plan for Krei and the bomb, I imagine that the plan was to hand cuff him the plane and then just leave him there after Hydra had Big Hero 6 safely away. Oh, and Travis wishes he could take a month long tour of the Nine Realms lol. I imagine that he'd spend most of that in Asgard. As far as the Avengers go, Travis has a slightly scary hero worship of Captain Steve Rogers.

UntitledJoy: The past couple of chapters have been longer but a lot of the "length" comes from the responses to reviews. Sometimes I have 15-20 to reply to. That "stupid, self-sacrificing, self-destructive martyrs" line was one of my favorites too. I worked on for a little while. I kept coming back to it to perfect it just because it was my favorite. As far as a Black Widow/Vera short that could be a lot of fun. I imagine, though, if asked about teaching Vera to drive like a maniac Romanoff would just give a blank face look and say she has no idea what you could possibly be talking about.

PerrythePlatypusGirl: Don't panic. I repeat, don't panic. Just stay sitting. Please don't leave.

FireandIce128: Welcome to the story and sorry that you came in at such a dramatic time. Thank you for all your lovely compliments!

jaymzNshed: Hi there! And welcome! I'm so glad that you're enjoying the story so far and thank you for giving it a chance. I know that not many people like OCs and stories with OCs for a variety of different reasons. I was so hesitant to post it simply because that fact. However, when I first got the idea I just had to put it on paper. I never thought that it would turn into what it is now though. :)

Tony18: You were right about there being a wide range of emotions to go through. They were probably the hardest thing to write in these upcoming chapters. Writing emotions is something so complex because you can have so many of them turning in your head at once and Tadashi is definitely feeling many of them. You are right though when you say that he has Hydra as an immediate distraction. As far as Hiro and Vera went, that was definitely one of my favorite scenes. Hiro has made his peace, or at least accepted that Vera is important in Tadashi's life. Tadashi is most definitely their uniting factor. They'd do anything for him.

ColorQuill: Meghan Trainor could definitely fit the ringtone that Hiro put on Tadashi's phone lol and as for driving style I would definitely choose GoGo over Vera's driving. I think GoGo has more experience which is why she doesn't need to ram a car through a fence. I enjoy the action sequences with Tadashi but I'm thinking that there are a couple of action sequences I might have to revisit from Hiro's point of view. I kinda have the headcanon that while Tadashi is the martial artist fighter, using calculated moves, Hiro is more of the bruiser. I can see the kid putting weights in his gloves to make his hits harder as well as using his own body weight to knock others off balance. Gosh! I really need to explore that more.

SeeSea19: I hope that the chapter was everything you were hoping it would be. There's still a few big moments left to go.

Butterscotch 12: Lol, I think only you're one of few who actually gets it. My family and real life friends all kind of think my obsession with this movie is a bit weird but that's the way I am with most things that I like.

DaydreamDepartment: Nope, no Dark Knight Rises plot twist. I do like that sort of plot device though, used sparingly of course. I'm glad the whole "can't evacuate" thing came across too because that's such an important part of the plot. Sometimes I freak myself out over whether or not certain details are coming across as I mean them too. The last thing I want to do is confuse people or make them doubt the "plausibility" of a story. I'm already asking them to suspend their belief pretty far given that it's a story about Superheroes.

Espe Kuroba: I'm so glad you liked the exchange between Hiro and Vera. Their relationship is one of my favorites. In Vera's defense, the idea isn't so much as flawed. It's the execution of said idea that is problematic and stupid. Though as she said, with the time that they were given, this was probably the only real choice. The thing about heroes and what makes them heroes is the fact that they are willing to make the hard choices that no one else wants to make. Vera doesn't really want to die. In her mind she has a lot left to live for but she also thinks that her one life isn't worth more than the lives of many. Heroes make sacrifices, sometimes even the ultimate one.

CrazyFeralVigilanteDragonLady: Please don't nope out just yet. There's still a lot going to happen! Don't leave! please...

SanctuaryInMusic: Hiro and Tadashi's shared hero complex is probably one of the most compelling reasons why I love the two of them as characters. Hiro looked up to his brother so much and I think it's only natural that he would emulate him as closely as possible which is why we see him make the decision to go into the portal to nowhere at the end of the movie. And yes, that was a "Top of the World" reference. There were originally a few other song lyric references in the story but I cut and rewrote them because they sounded so cheesy. I'm glad I was able to make this one work.

Ember Neutron: Well... um... you weren't wrong. The story isn't over yet though so please stick with me just a little longer.

lilnightmare17: One updated as requested!

bukalay: Tadashi himself is kind of a weapon I think. Or at least the way I've written him. He's a black belt in karate and I know I would run the other way if someone with a black belt in karate came after me. I suppose though that I can find Tadashi something to use against Hydra though ;) As far as Black Widow or the Cap making an appearance, sadly they do not. Might have to write a spin off in which Tadashi interacts with them. I think he'd get along really well with Bruce Banner.

Aprotny: You're excitement is flattering! I'm glad people besides myself are excited about this story. That's what really keeps me going some weeks when editing and rewriting is really dragging me down.