hello friends!

here is chapter seven! i hope you enjoy it! it was so fun to write!

this installment of resistance is gonna be quite a bit longer than the last two! after shattered sun is over, i'll have one more installment, and then resistance will be DONE!

I hope you're enjoying this story! Please read and review so I know how it's going!

thanks everyone!

peace out!

—HIRO—

The rest of Echo comes back at around three in the morning, exhausted and a little banged up but thankfully not badly hurt—and they even managed to get away from the North Koreans without giving away the location of our base.

"I don't think anyone chased us," Honey breathes, her hand still shaking as she winds it through her hair. "We won't have to move camps."

"Awesome," Meg replies, smiling. "Thanks, you guys, for…for rescuing me and Hiro from that prison. We couldn't have gotten out of there without you, so…yeah."

"We should do something for Aunt Cass," I mumble. "She tried to save us."

"Your aunt?" Liv asks. "What happened?"

I can't seem to make my voice work anymore, so Meg tells everyone. "Cass was there in the prison with us. She wanted to help us escape, but she…she was killed. She stopped Jeong from shooting me. I wish we could bury her, but the North Koreans probably already did it. Still, we should hold some kind of funeral for her."

"We'll put something together," Tadashi promises. "Hiro, wanna help me?"

"Sure," I whisper. "Could we do it now?"

"I don't see why not," Meg decides. "Tadashi, what do we need for a funeral?"

"Some kind of table, a cloth, some flowers…" Tadashi trails off. "It would be nice to have a picture, but those were all in the Lucky Cat." His voice trembles. "And we don't have incense, either. That's usually what we use for funerals—that and candles. But we don't have those, either." He's putting on a brave face, trying to go about the funeral preparations without letting anyone see his grief—but I can tell it's tearing my brother apart.

"I can print some kind of candles," I whisper. "And we could just use sticks for the incense—I know it's not how we normally do funerals, but…"

"But it is all you have," Momokase finishes. "And that is perfectly acceptable. I am certain your aunt would have been happy with less."

I give her a faint smile, then pick up my 3D printer and carry it to the hollow I used the other day. Setting the printer on the floor of the hollow, I sit down beside it and pull a roll of polymethyl methacrylate filament out of its storage drawer. I don't usually print with wax, but I thought it'd be good to have some filament of just about every kind I can possess just in case.

Setting the print design to a simple candle and inserting some string into the probes for the wicks, I press the start button and watch as the printer starts to configure three small candles. I hope these work—Aunt Cass deserves the best memorial service we can offer.

The candles are done in only a few minutes, and I pick them up and examine them, deciding I'm satisfied with them. After a moment's thought, I decide to print a small bowl to put the incense in. Maybe I could print it to look like wood—that'll look nice with our improvised incense sticks.

About ten minutes later, the bowl is also finished, and I head back up the slope to where Tadashi has draped a piece of gray cloth over a stone, which forms a sort of step with the rocks above it. Placed on it are several sprigs of white and yellow wildflowers, and a few smooth sticks lay in the center of the makeshift altar, ready to be used as incense.

I gently set the bowl down on the stone, then pick up the sticks and place them inside it. Next, I position two candles on one side of the bowl and one on the other, then step back and admire the effect. It's as good an altar as we're gonna get.

"Fred, would you light the candles?" Tadashi asks. "You're the only one with fire."

"'Course, man," Fred agrees, reaching out and touching a candle with his claw-tip—probably the gentlest gesture I've ever seen from him. The candle sputters to life, and then Fred lights the others. After that, Tadashi and I both step forward and light the incense with the candles, careful not to let the sticks catch entirely on fire. Finally, Tadashi pulls up a picture of Aunt Cass on his phone and places it on the shelf of rock just above the altar, completing the setup. Then he begins to speak.

"Aunt Cass was an incredible woman," Tadashi whispers, his voice quavering. "She always took care of Hiro and I—always made sure we didn't feel alone or forgotten. She was the best guardian we could've asked for. She lived a heroic life and died a heroic death—we may call ourselves heroes, and we are, but Aunt Cass was the true hero in this war. She never stopped trying to help us, no matter what, and she was willing to give her life for Hiro and Megan. If she were here, I know she'd be proud of us for all we've done—and for all we're going to do. We owe it to Aunt Cass to end this war and bring peace to San Fransokyo, because that's what she wanted for all of us. She died for that peace, and it's our job to make sure that she didn't die in vain. But for now—" Tadashi's voice cracks. "We should honor her life and pay our respects. We may not have her body to bury, but we will always carry her in our hearts and remember the sacrifice she made. We owe her at least that much."

He sits down, a single tear slipping down his cheek. Honey stands up to say a few words, then Krei does too. Soon, everyone has spoken but me.

I kneel in front of the altar and reach into my pocket, retrieving the broken pieces of the locks from our cells. I don't know why I grabbed them—I don't even remember when I put them in my pocket—but I think they're a fitting tribute to Aunt Cass.

"Aunt Cass loved us more than anything," I whisper. "She tried so hard to get back to us, and she was so close to doing it. I feel so bad that she didn't make it to freedom, but—" My voice breaks as I place the broken pieces of metal on the altar. "She made it to heaven. I know that with all my heart. These locks from the prison symbolize the fact that she is free, more than any of us, and I know she's happy now."

My throat closes up, and I will myself not to let the burning tears starting in my eyes to fall as the candles burn lower and lower until the sun starts to rise.

Several hours later, I find myself curled on the cold, hard stone. It takes me a few moments to realize that I'm not in the prison anymore, and I'm relieved beyond belief to discover that I am indeed in the hollow, uncomfortable though it may be.

Light streams through the trees, and I blearily check the time on my phone to see that it's nearly noon. Despite this, almost everyone is still asleep, except Krei, who's on watch. I can see why everyone is tired—we stayed up nearly all night with the funeral service and the escape.

Exhausted, I lay my head back down on the rock, not even caring that I have no pillow. Honestly, I'm just glad I have a place to sleep at all—that's what this war has reduced me to.

As I lay curled up on the stone, gradually drifting out of sleep, it comes to my attention that I desperately need a shower. I've changed clothes a few times—we wash them in the river—but I honestly don't remember the last time I actually cleaned myself up. If I'm not careful, I'm going to reach Fred level when it comes to personal hygiene. Where could I take a shower, or at least dunk myself in the water?

"Krei?" I whisper, standing up. "I'm gonna go for a—um—walk. Just tell the others not to worry about me, okay?"

"Sure thing, intern," he replies. "Comm if you need anything."

I gather up my fresh set of clothes and venture down the outcrop, circling its base to look for some kind of pool with a reasonable level of privacy. I don't find one, but what I do find is even better.

Near the bottom of the rocks, a small stream flows over a ledge to form a waterfall, with an opening in the rocks behind it. There are even some more rocks partially concealing the little falls—as much privacy as I'm gonna get out in the woods.

Making absolutely certain that no one is watching me, I strip and hurriedly take a sorta-shower, then redress as fast as humanly possible. Hurrying back up the rocks, I discover that everyone else is quickly waking up.

"Where'd you go, Hiro?" Meg yawns as I skid back into the hollow. "And why is your hair wet?"

"I really wanted a shower," I tell her. "I found this little waterfall down the rocks on the other side—it works pretty well, but it's really cold. It does have some level of privacy, though, so that's a plus."

"Show me the shower," Meg says immediately. "I need one. Badly. I feel disgusting."

"You don't look disgusting, if that's any comfort," I reply, smiling. "But I'd probably recommend a shower for everyone here. I don't know if we've taken one since the Lucky Cat."

A pang of sorrow shoots through my chest, and I struggle not to let it show on my face as I think of my home, broken and burned and utterly destroyed. I hope we can rebuild it after the war is over.

Thankfully, Meg doesn't seem to notice, and she practically flings herself down the rocks to get to the falls. I caution everyone else not to go down there, thinking that we might need to rig up some kind of curtain if we're gonna keep sending everyone down there for showers.

For the next several hours, I print graphene in my secluded printing hollow. I've accumulated a pretty big stack of the stuff—there's probably almost enough to line the inside of the portal now. I think I'm ready to start printing Silent Sparrow.

I retrieve the blueprints from a crevice in the rock and spread them out on the stone, placing small rocks on the corners to keep them from rolling up. My printer is small, so it'll take a while to print the whole portal, but I think I can do it. It'll probably take a week or longer, though—I'd prefer to have two or three other printers working at the same time. Unfortunately, though, I've only got this one, so I'll have to make it work.

I slide the blueprints into a slot at the top of the printer and watch as the design comes up on the screen. Zooming in, I select one small piece of the portal and examine the required materials. Carbon fiber, wiring, electroreceptors—and, of course, graphene. I place all the materials into the printer's port and press start.

The probes start to configure the small section of printer, and I can already tell it'll take at least a few hours to finish. Still, I watch the probes flash through the printer, entranced. I love watching my projects print, and this is probably one of the coolest ones I've ever done.

I sit there for about fifteen minutes, watching the printing, until I hear Meg's voice calling from the top of the outcrop. "Guys! Meeting! Now!"

Standing up, I leave the printer to its work and make my way to the top of the rocks. Everyone is gathering in the main hollow, standing in a circle with Megan at the center. I slide in next to Tadashi and wait for the last people to arrive.

When we're all here, Megan begins.

"I have a super important announcement to make," she declares. "In the past few days, the members of Vortex have helped Echo kind of a lot." She nods toward Momokase and Wasabi. "You guys were amazing in both of the attacks, and we really appreciate you risking your lives to try and help us. I've decided I want everyone in Vortex back, especially Dad. So I propose a peace summit—we need to meet Vortex sometime soon and ask them to join forces with us."

Meg's gaze suddenly flicks to the ground. "I know I haven't been the greatest leader. Sometimes I jump into things without thinking, and sometimes I get mad without a lot of reason. And I definitely haven't made the best decisions—I burned down SFIT, and I led us right into Karmi's trap without even considering the possibility that it was a trick. That's not the kind of thing a leader does. So I'm opening the position of leader to anyone who wants it—we'll even vote on it. I shouldn't have made myself leader—I should've volunteered and thought about your guys' opinions. If you don't want me to be leader anymore, just say so and I'll step down."

Everyone is silent for a moment, and then Tadashi speaks. "Why would we do that?"

Meg stares at him, and he continues. "You're smart and brave and willing to do anything for us, Meg. I don't think any of us could be a better leader than you are."

There's a general murmur of assent, and Meg smiles. "You really want me to keep doing this?"

"Of course," I tell her. "We wouldn't want anyone but you."

"Then I'll set up a peace summit with Vortex," Meg declares. "Momokase, Wasabi, do either of you have a way to get a message to Karmi? Tell her I want to meet her out in the open, where she can see we won't attack Vortex. The street near SFAI might be a good idea."

"I will contact her," Momokase volunteers. "She has been sending me death threats anyway—it will be relieving to finally have something to respond to them with. So far, I have been telling her that I could kill her much faster than she could kill me, but perhaps she will take a little more kindly to your proposition."

Meg laughs. "Okay, sounds good. Let's say we'll meet at sunset tomorrow on Main Street, right outside SFAI. We'll all go invisible, just in case there's North Koreans, and then if it's safe, we'll take off stealth mode. And we won't attack Vortex—but we're not going unarmed. Hiro, could you print some kind of darts like Liv's? I wanna add them to my suit."

"You guys need me to print everything," I sigh. "But yeah, okay. Those should only take a few minutes. Do you want the same chemicals?"

"I'll talk to Honey about those," Meg tells me. "They've gotta be a little…different. Anyway—everyone, you should probably practice with your weapons. I want to make peace with Vortex, but if we're attacked—by them or by North Koreans—we need to be ready. Um—fall out!"

Everyone disperses, and I head back down the rocks to the printer, realizing that I'll need to wait a few hours before it's done with the piece of Silent Sparrow. To pass the time, I find a wide expanse of rock and mark targets on it, then practice firing my magnet disks at them. The next thing I try is throwing my graphene blade—I'm not super great with it long-range, but after several tries, I think my aim has improved a little.

Next, I decide to practice flying between the trees, in case I have to dodge some kind of projectiles in future battles. I nearly kill myself several times by running into trees—and one time, the rocks—but I finally start to grasp an understanding of basic evasive maneuvers after about half an hour.

Finally, the printer beeps, and I realize that the Silent Sparrow segment must be done. I rush over to the printer and carefully take out the large chunk of carbon fiber and graphene, turning it over in my hands and examining every inch of it. It's a big segment—nearly as large as the printer—but it's insanely light. Even so, it's still strong, as it's reinforced with graphene.

I brush my fingers over the smooth, graphene-covered inside of the segment, and it flares to life, glowing blue just like the old portal. The light shoots up into the trees, so bright that it outshines even the vibrant blue sky.

"Wow," I breathe as the light sputters out. "It works."

I freeze as I hear footsteps coming through the trees and raise my gauntlet, ready to fire sonic waves at the intruder, but it's only Tadashi. He steps into the clearing at the base of the outcrop, staring at the Silent Sparrow segment in my hands.

"That was really cool," Tadashi breathes, coming closer and examining the chunk of carbon fiber. "It's gonna be awesome when it's finished."

"Thanks," I say, rubbing the back of my neck. "Should be done in a week—I hope. That's if everyone stops asking me to print other things."

"Don't worry, I won't make you print anything for me," Tadashi laughs. Then his face grows serious. "Hiro, I wanted to ask you something. I understand if you don't feel like answering, but I wanna help you."

"Okay," I reply, my inner defenses already going up. "Should we sit down?"

"Sure," Tadashi agrees, walking over to the rocks and climbing up until he finds a suitable spot. I follow him and sit down, trying to anticipate what he's going to say and think of suitable responses.

"Hiro," Tadashi whispers, "what happened in the prison? You said something about a pain simulation. Did Jeong try to get information from you and Meg? Did—" His voice shakes. "Did she torture you, Hiro?"

"I—I don't wanna talk about it," I mumble, staring at the rocks. My hand unconsciously drifts up to my shoulder where the transdermal patch was, and I wince at the memory of the pain. "But I didn't tell her anything, Tadashi. Only that I was the leader of Big Hero 6—and that's not gonna make her want me any less. I'm already an escaped prisoner. Twice over."

"I'm glad you didn't give anything away," Tadashi whispers. "But I'm so sorry, Hiro. I can't imagine what it must have felt like."

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into an embrace. I don't even have to hug him back—I just let him hold me, the way Baymax used to do. It's the kind of embrace that doesn't need a second half.

"Thanks," I murmur as Tadashi pulls away. "Don't worry about me, Dashi. I promise I'm okay."

Tadashi smiles, but it's a sad one. He stands up, putting a hand on my shoulder, and then ascends the rocks, disappearing from view a few moments later.

I climb back up to the printer, trying to shake off the remaining emotions from the conversation, and begin printing several copies of Liv's tranq darts. I wonder what on earth Meg needs these for—maybe she's just paranoid. I would be. Scratch that—I am.

After printing several red-and-black darts, I start the printing on another segment of Silent Sparrow and leave the printer to work. While carrying the darts up the rocks, I discover Meg practicing her aim on a tree and tap her shoulder.

I'm very nearly knocked unconscious by a flying magnet disk. As it soars past my head, I yelp and fling myself to the ground, scraping my elbows. The disk hits the tree behind me with a thunk and I cautiously look up.

"Oh—it's you," Meg says with a sheepish smile, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet. "Sorry, I was just practicing. What's up?"

"It's fine," I tell her, making sure my elbows aren't bleeding—they're not—and then handing her the darts. "I just wanted to let you know—the darts are finished. What chemicals are you gonna put in them? Personally, I'd like to see a dart that freezes Karmi in a block of ice."

Meg laughs, but it sounds a little forced. "You'll see, Hiro. I'll show you when they're ready."

And she turns and hurries up the slope, leaving me to wonder what, exactly, these darts I've just created are gonna do.

To be honest, I'm kinda scared.

—MEGAN—

"Are you crazy?" Honey gasps. "You want me to make you a poison?!"

"Um…yes?" I mumble, twining my fingers together nervously. "Just in case?"

"I can't do that!" Honey exclaims. "I don't want to kill anyone in this war!"

"That's kinda the point, Honey, it's war."

"Still!"

I sigh. "You're right. I'm sorry. Maybe…maybe you could just make me some tranquilizer darts? Like Liv's?"

Honey gives me a weak smile. "I can do that. Sorry, Megan, I've just been really on edge lately." Her hand moves to her stomach, and I remember the baby.

"It's okay," I tell her as she fills the darts with a tranquilizer mixture. "Thanks."

I slip the darts into my pocket and retreat to my training spot, deciding to practice my aim some more—and not just with my magnet disks. I also need to practice throwing darts. Upon doing so, I discover that I'm actually a pretty dead-on shot.

That'll make this a lot easier.

Night falls, and I insist on taking the first watch. It takes everyone at least an hour to fall asleep, and even then, I'm not entirely sure that everyone is totally passed out. I'm the most worried about Hiro—he's a pretty light sleeper.

As soon as I'm certain that everyone is safely asleep, I get up off my rock and creep along the edge of the hollow until I reach Honey. Kneeling down, I pull out a tranquilizer dart and hold it poised above her arm—her human arm, not her bionic one.

Should I really be doing this?

If I want to right the wrong done to Hiro, then yes. I absolutely should. Normally I would never do it, but…

I take a deep breath and stab the dart into Honey's arm.

She does wake up for a moment, but the tranquilizer almost immediately takes effect, and she lapses back into sleep. I hope she doesn't remember this in the morning.

Once Honey is unconscious, I lift up her bionic arm and study the small screen on the side, scanning the periodic table. After a few moments, I find the tiny square that says Cl and press it, pulling the one empty dart out of my pocket and allowing the liquid that squirts out of Honey's finger to fill the tiny space.

When I'm finished, I screw the cap back onto the dart and slip it into my pocket, then return to my seat on the rock, staring out into the dark forest like nothing ever happened.

The next day dawns rainy and overcast, and I realize with wry amusement that there will be no sunset today—just pink-tinted clouds and sparkling rain. Still beautiful, but not the vibrant color that was supposed to be the backdrop of our peace summit.

Once everyone else has awakened, I call a meeting, but I can think of nothing to do except talk about the summit.

"Don't do anything stupid," I caution the others. "Normally I'm all in favor of that kind of stuff, but it would not be good if we made Karmi mad. The whole idea is to get Vortex to join with us, and if she doesn't want to…well, then, this war is gonna be a whole lot harder than it already is. So nobody speak out of turn or draw any weapons, unless Vortex or North Korea attacks. Come armed, but don't let Karmi see. Krei, keep your Buddy Guards invisible, and Momokase, don't take out your blades. The rest of you have pretty inconspicuous weapons, but still—keep them hidden and don't fire them. Sound good?"

Everyone nods, and I look up into the rain as it drips down through the trees. "We leave at sunset. Be ready."

The rest of the day is mostly more weapons training and Hiro printing more of Silent Sparrow. After he sits by his printer for several hours, I make him get up and come with me to practice shooting at trees. By the time we leave Muirahara Woods, it'll be totally covered in scorch marks and chemicals.

"I hope this peace summit works," Hiro whispers after we've blasted trees for a while. "I don't want to fight Vortex anymore."

"I know it'll work," I tell him. "It has to."

Hiro smiles. "I hope you're right."

After what must be several more hours of training, printing, and nervously checking the time, I conclude that it must be about sunset. Gathering the team in the hollow, I announce, "It's time. We should probably head out now—and seriously, guys, be careful. I don't want to provoke Karmi. Come on, let's fly."

We take off and soar over the trees toward SFAI. The whole way, my stomach is clenched in nervousness and the dart gun in my pocket feels heavier than an anvil. What if the peace summit fails?

When we draw close to SFAI, I can see the members of Vortex standing on the street, Karmi at their head. When I land, something in my chest twinges as I see Dad standing behind her, looking rather downcast.

I hear a gasp from behind me as Callaghan lands. "Abigail!"

In the ranks of Vortex, a young woman with dark hair jerks her head up. "Dad?"

Apparently, this is Callaghan's daughter. Beside me, Hiro's eyes widen. I wonder if he knows her.

Karmi steps forward, her chin lifted haughtily. "Cruz."

"Chen," I reply. "We're here to discuss the union of our factions. What do you think about joining Echo and Vortex into one resistance movement that can more effectively fight North Korea? I would be—" I swallow. "—happy to share the post of leader with you."

I really wouldn't be, and Karmi knows that.

"Let me handle it, Cruz," she laughs. "You're what, fifteen? I don't believe you're well suited to leading such a large movement—look at everything that's happened recently with you in charge."

"Everything that's happened," I hiss through gritted teeth, "was your fault."

Karmi smirks. "I won't claim credit for all of it. North Korea was certainly helpful in getting you and Hamada out of the way—though I wish they'd been able to keep you longer."

"Well, they weren't," I snap, and behind me, I hear the very soft shhk of Momokase unsheathing a blade. I hope it's only barely out—I don't want to provoke Karmi into attacking us.

"Agree to joint leadership," I tell Karmi, "or we can't unite. And I want peace—we can't fight North Korea until we're not fighting each other. If we can't handle our differences, Chen, at least let us put them aside until after the war's over. Right now the most important thing is America."

"I will only consent to you stepping down," Karmi snarls. "We both know I am a more capable leader."

"Yes, but I'm more attractive, wouldn't you agree?"

I hear several stifled laughs behind me, and even one from Dad.

"That is also debatable," Karmi hisses, "but what is not is the fact that I can lead this resistance to the heights of greatness. All you've led them to is the forest—hardly an adequate base."

"I think not," I reply. "We have a shower and everything. Just agree to the joint position, and we can save our country, Chen. Isn't that what you want?"

"No, it isn't," she snaps. "I want my resistance, and you're not going to take it away from me. I will be the leader, or you will die. Vortex is ready to attack on my command."

I pretend to cower. "Fine—you can be the leader. Just—promise not to hurt us."

Karmi smiles nastily. "We'll see." She stretches out her hand, and I walk forward and shake it, staring deep into her narrowed, dark brown eyes. I can't let this woman be the leader of the resistance—she'd lead them into unnecessary bloodshed.

And that was never my plan.

Quick as lightning, I pull out the dart gun and fire the poison dart into Karmi's chest.