hello, my friends!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I'M SO EXCITED I GET TO WRITE THE BATTLE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER I'M SERIOUSLY FREAKING OUT YOU GUYS
*ahem*
awesome
(name that quote)
you guys we're getting so close! just two or three more chapters and resistance will be DONE!
warning for this chapter: death, not described all that much, really not too sad...
thanks so much my friends! I think, after this is done, I'll be posting a short credits/timeline/bloopers note so you can hear all the details of Resistance and all the work that was put into it! Seriously read it because it won't be just credits, I'll list deleted scenes and where i got all the titles and things that happen after the series is over. I'm so excited, you guys!
thanks for everything!
peace out!
—PROFESSOR CALLAGHAN—
He lands silently on the roof of KreiTech, diverting several tendrils of microbots to remove one of the panels above the Amphitheater. As soon as he verifies that the room is the correct one, he lowers the portal inside and replaces the panel, looking around the room to make sure no one is there.
He approaches the thermonuclear bomb, sitting on its pedestal, Korean characters inscribed at the base. He isn't fluent in Korean, but he's learned a little in training to be a spy for Chasu Jeong, and he is fairly certain the inscription translates to king of bombs. A fitting name for a weapon that could potentially obliterate the entire United States of America.
The Amphitheater is even more intimidating in person then it is on camera, filled with the uttermost reaches of the universe and weapons that can destroy it. It is time to end this, stop the war for good. And he is the only one who can do it.
All is silent as he presses the button to start the portal up, and then the only sound is the soft humming of the fire as it prepares to suck the bombs apart. He directs Silent Sparrow toward the thermonuclear bomb, wanting to rip it apart first.
The portal begins to tear small pieces of metal off the bomb, and then shrapnel is flying through the air, the bomb falling apart as the portal's soft whirring turns into a deafening roar. He gets behind an atomic bomb and starts to push it into the portal's path as well, watching as the debris disappears into oblivion.
Firebombs, grenades, torpedoes—all of them are sucked into the vortex of Silent Sparrow. It takes a while, but eventually, the whole thermonuclear bomb has disintegrated, and so have most of the atomic bombs. About five more to go, and then San Fransokyo will be out of danger. There are still hundreds of grenades and firebombs on the shelves, though—he'll have to make sure to get them out as soon as the larger missiles are gone. Still, the Amphitheater is now almost empty.
But then, just as the final atomic bomb is sucked into the portal, the door to the Amphitheater is kicked open.
He spins around, his gaze meeting that of two North Koreans'. They stare at him with shocked faces, and then one of them pulls out a rifle and aims it at him.
This is it. This is the end.
He dodges the bullet, letting it fire into the portal, and stretches tendrils of microbots up to the shelves to pull the firebombs down. Missile after missile soars into Silent Sparrow, and all he leaves behind are several grenades and a single firebomb.
He squeezes his eyes shut and thinks of Abigail, of her smiling face, and of Elinor, his wife, lost to flames just like the ones that engulfed SFIT and fanned his fury nearly a year before.
They are close, waiting to welcome him on the other side.
As North Korean guards rush into the room, he pulls the remaining grenades and firebomb to him, knowing what he has to do. Yes, he's terrified—more scared than he's ever been in his life—but this is the right thing, and a deep sense of calm radiates through him as he pulls the pin of one of the grenades.
He drops the other missiles and launches the grenade into the air, watching as it sails in a wide arc through the starry atmosphere of the Amphitheater. Several North Koreans let out shouts of rage and fear, but he pays them no heed. He leaps toward Silent Sparrow, sinking into the portal just as the grenade explodes, setting off its fellows and the firebomb.
He is aware of a flash of bright colors—the inside of the portal, probably—and then fire, spreading far and fast as Silent Sparrow explodes, torn apart by the firebomb and grenades.
As the world goes dark and KreiTech begins to fall in, reduced to rubble and ashes, he knows he has completed his mission. North Korea can't threaten anyone with their missiles anymore, can't lay waste to America. He has accomplished all he was sent here to do.
Darkness falls, but then light takes over, and he hears voices whispering in golden mist, saying, Robert.
And then Abigail and Elinor are with him, and so are all the others lost in the war—Grace Granville, Fred Frederickson, GoGo Tomago, Cass Hamada. They're all here, ready to welcome him home.
He does not so much hear the words as feel them, but even so, they send a warm, blissful sense of peace through him.
You are forgiven.
His legacy is complete.
—RIKU—
—Obake—
"Impossible!" Riku raged, slamming his fist into the desk. "What do you mean, there has been a perimeter breach? I specifically insisted that you keep out anyone even resembling Big Hero 6!"
"I—I don't know what's happened, sir!" cried the soldier, his voice shaking. "We heard a sound from the Amphitheater and decided to investigate, and he was just there—he has some kind of portal, and it's—sir, it's destroying the bombs! The thermonuclear bomb is already gone!"
"Are the atomic bombs still intact?" Riku demanded, suddenly trembling all over.
"No, sir—everything's gone—he's pulled the pin of a grenade!"
"Disarm him! Neutralize the grenade!" Riku screamed, hitting the desk again and again. He couldn't remember ever being this furious and terrified at the same time.
But then the sound of an explosion echoed from the comm link, and Riku realized that he could hear it here, too, not only from the connection. Something massive had exploded, not just a grenade.
"Come in!" he shouted to the soldier, but all he heard was static.
Riku, shaking with adrenaline and fear, flung open the door to his base and sprinted out into the subway tunnels, heading for the manhole. He had to see what was going on—had to make sure that Big Hero 6 hadn't just taken out his largest reserve of soldiers and weapons.
He climbed the ladder as fast as he could, throwing aside the manhole cover and bursting out onto the street. A few streets away, a massive cloud of dust and fire towered over the spot where KreiTech should be.
Where his base should be…
Don't let it be true, Riku thought desperately. Please, don't let it be true…
He ran across the broken, rubble-strewn streets, heading for KreiTech. When he finally reached the base, exhausted and gasping for air, he saw nothing but wreckage and fire, embers and ash still drifting through the air.
"No," Riku whispered, scrambling onto the pile of rubble, pulling up his shirt to shield his airway from the smoke as he stumbled toward the center of the pile, where the glittering shards of the walls of the Amphitheater lay.
"No—no, no, no—" Riku dropped to his knees beside a broken fragment of carbon fiber: black, shot through with veins of royal blue, and emblazoned with a weakly flickering, simplistic emblem of a phoenix.
"Big Hero 6!" Riku howled, slamming his fists into the wreckage, ignoring the sharp edges that scraped his hands. "You will regret this!"
There was only one thing left to do now.
The robots were ready, and he still had guards stationed elsewhere, as well as North Korea's fighter jets. He still had enough weaponry to mount an attack on Big Hero 6.
And it had to happen soon.
Riku stood up and walked slowly back to the subway tunnels, knowing what he had to do. He didn't know how he would fare with only his robots and a handful of infantry, but there was no time like now to attack. It was his last chance. His last hope.
Rinah's last hope.
Riku stepped into his base, sending the projector up aboveground, along with the speakers. He put his headset on, tilted the microphone down toward his mouth, readied himself for the greatest challenge of his life, and began to speak.
—MEGAN—
This time, we don't watch the mission—after all, the executions were pretty traumatic. We're only listening, the comm link turned on so we can hear if the portal is working.
For several minutes, all I can hear is the roar of Silent Sparrow sucking bombs into it, and my spirits lift—it's working. But then come shouts and gunshots, and I realize that Professor Callaghan has been found.
And then an explosion bursts through the comm link, first a small one, and I hope against hope that the thermonuclear bomb hasn't just been set off—that wouldn't just be bad, that would be absolutely catastrophic. If the thermonuclear bomb went off, we'd be vaporized.
It's not a thermonuclear bomb, but suddenly, a massive explosion echoes through the city, and Basemax rocks violently, throwing everyone to the floor. I'm the first to scramble up, pressing my comm link and shouting, "Professor! Professor, are you there?"
"What happened?" Hiro gasps, pushing himself up.
"I don't know, but it didn't sound good!"
"Everyone outside!" Dad bellows. "We have to see what's happening!"
We all heed his advice, rushing out to the front of Basemax to discover a positively enormous cloud of ashy smoke and dust, edged with glowing fire, rising over the city.
"KreiTech," Liv breathes.
"He blew it up," Krei whispers. "The bombs are gone. The North Koreans are probably dead, too."
"Do you think Obake was in there?" Tadashi asks, his voice trembling.
"Personally, I hope so," Wasabi mutters, slipping his hand into Honey's. "That'd solve a lot of our problems. Maybe even all of our problems."
"There's no way Callaghan made it out," Hiro whispers, his voice trembling, and I put my arm around him, realizing as I do so that he's shaking. "Not with an explosion that big."
We stand there for a few minutes, staring at the giant cloud of dust and fire, and then a blaze of purple light splits the night sky, illuminating the ash drifting through the air. Tadashi and Wasabi both yelp, and Hiro stiffens next to me. Still trying to process everything that's happening, I take my boyfriend's hand in mine, squeezing it tightly as the light forms into a recognizable shape.
Obake's face.
"Big Hero 6," his voice thunders, somehow magnified so the entire city can hear it. "You have crossed me for the last time, and now I want my revenge. I want my city. I challenge you to a final battle in the center of San Fransokyo, which will determine the outcome of this war. You can take my invitation and fight, or you can peacefully surrender the city and swear never to oppose me again. Heroes, you have three days. I will give you that long to prepare, to gather your weapons, and then we will meet at dawn on the fourth day. You can decide whether to fight or surrender. Once you tell me of your decision, it will be binding."
I stare up at Obake's face, twisted in fury, as he glares down at us.
"Three days, Big Hero 6. Three days."
And then the light goes out, and we're left looking at nothing but the endless, sparkling sky.
"Three days?" Dad whispers. "That's all he'll give us?"
"If we have faith," I tell him, "three days will be enough."
No one sleeps for the rest of the night. Hiro is obsessively printing weapons—throwing stars, graphene blades, heat rays. When morning comes, I tell him he'd better go to sleep or I'll knock him out, but he just keeps printing, churning out so many shurikens I don't know if even Momokase will be able to fit them all in her armor.
By noon, I've been outfitted with a new graphene blade, to replace the one Jeong took in the prison, and several tranquilizer darts. Hiro promises me that he's working on the heat ray and that I'll have it in a few hours. I tell him to go to bed, and he refuses, but a few minutes later, Hiro is passed out at the table, his dark hair falling into his face. I smile and go to help the others with weapons training.
While Hiro is asleep, Wasabi takes control of the 3D printer, strengthening his plasma blades and finishing the last upgrades on Krei's Buddy Guards. Liv and Krei engage in a sparring match of lasers and paralysis compounds, and Momokase practices hitting targets with her throwing stars. Tadashi throws a few himself, probably wanting to get as much practice as possible with different weapons. He then starts obsessively running through his medical supplies, verifying over and over again that he has at least twelve tubes of bacitracin and the proper amount of suturing kits. Dad blasts apart target after target with his graphene bullets, and Honey sticks them back together with her chem balls.
As for me, all I can think to do right now is go out on the beach and pray. I've never prayed this hard in my life—I kneel on the sand for at least an hour, desperately begging God that we'll all make it through this. We may have depleted Obake's arsenal and infantry, but I'm scared that he still has enough power to take us out. There is a very high chance of death in this battle, much higher than I'd like.
By the time I come back inside, Hiro has woken up and is furiously adding purple plasma blades to his gauntlets. I think he wants to equip everyone with as many weapons as physically possible, just in case some are disabled.
Realizing I should probably be practicing, I head into the training room to work on aiming my tranquilizer darts. I discovered a while ago that I'm a great shot, so this shouldn't be too hard—although shooting darts from the fingers of my gloves is a little different than shooting them out of a gun.
After about twenty minutes, I've pretty much mastered the art of throwing darts. Soon after, Hiro comes rushing in with a pen tucked behind his ear and engine grease smudged across his cheek. He shoves some kind of gunlike thing into my hands, explaining, "It's the heat ray! You can practice with it, just strap it to your arm guard—sorry, gotta go, bye!"
And Hiro dashes away again, evidently wanting to continue work on some other weapon. I smile and strap the heat ray to my arm guard, pointing it at one of the targets in the practice room, and then press the button on the top to fire it.
Immediately, what appears to be a stream of pure light shoots from the heat ray, streaking across the room and hitting the target with such force it burns a hole in it and knocks it over.
"Wow," I murmur, holding up the heat ray to examine it. "Impressive, Hiro."
I don't want to destroy any more targets—well, it would be kinda fun, but then no one else would have any targets to use—so I just stand the current one back up and try to fire at the hole in the center. I manage to hit it pretty often, getting one bullseye after another. This heat ray will be really good for hitting things that aren't people.
After experimenting a little more, I discover a dial on the side of the heat ray that appears to lessen the temperature. Turning it all the way down, I perform a rather dumb experiment—I stick my hand in front of the heat ray. Thankfully, now it's simply a wash of warm air. Maybe I could turn it up enough to distract North Koreans, but not kill them. I don't ever want to kill anyone again.
Suddenly, Dad enters the room wearing his armor, and I only barely stop myself from firing on him.
"Dad!" I complain. "Could you knock?"
"Sorry," he apologizes, crossing the room and putting his hands on my shoulders. "How're you feeling, Megan?"
I shrug. "Okay, I guess. Nervous. But I think we stand a chance. We have to take the city back, Dad, and I think we can do it if we all work together. Besides, there's no other option. We have to do this."
Dad smiles faintly. "Look at my little girl—the leader of the resistance. I can't believe how much you've grown up, Meg. This war has changed you a lot, and it's changed me, too. It's changed all of us."
"We're stronger now," I agree, the scar on my palm suddenly tingling. "I'm glad you're here to fight with us, Dad."
"I wouldn't want to fight with anyone else," he says, then wraps me in a hug. I return the embrace, suddenly wondering if it'll be one of the last times I do it. The threat of death is very real now, more than it's ever been before.
Dad releases me, and then we do target practice together for a while. Both of us are pretty good shots, but we still practice for an inordinate amount of time.
When night falls, Tadashi bakes more frozen pizza for us, and I realize while we eat dinner that we still haven't held any kind of funeral for Professor Callaghan. But we don't have any time to do something like that—we have to keep preparing for the battle. We'll have to do a memorial service after the battle is over, and it might have to be for even more people—we could very easily lose some of the resistance. I don't want to believe it, but it could happen.
Hiro falls asleep at the table again, having barely touched his pizza. He's obviously exhausted from so much 3D printing, and Tadashi scoops him up and carries him to bed. I try to sleep, too, but there's no way I could get any rest while Obake's threat hangs over us.
I end up going out onto the beach again, something everyone seems to be doing lately. Dropping to my knees, I beg God to help us to finish everything in time, and for protection during the battle.
Looking up at the endless stars, I feel so small, so vulnerable, so insignificant in this sprawling universe. Too small to make much of a difference.
But I need to make a difference, or everyone I love could die. I have to be a good leader—no, more than that. I have to be a great leader. And this is going to be the greatest test of leadership I've ever had to face—I have to lead the resistance into battle, knowing full well that not all of us will make it back alive.
The rest of Big Hero 6 can't know that I'm more terrified than I've ever been in my life, or they'll lose hope that we can win this war. I need to be brave for them, act like there is nothing that can stop us.
"Please," I whisper to the heavens, wondering if God is even listening. "Keep us safe. Protect us. Don't—" My voice cracks. "Don't let me lose anyone else."
I don't know how long I kneel on the sand, listening to the gentle motion of the waves, but I realize as the sky starts to lighten that I should probably go back inside and try to get some sleep. Standing up, I walk slowly back to Basemax and climb into bed, still running through a prayer over and over again.
Don't let them die.
The next day, Hiro starts work on the giant FlexiRex, crafting a neural transmitter for someone to control it—but also installing programming so it can move by itself if we're all too busy. So far it's looking pretty cool—black and red with a phoenix emblazoned on its chest, equipped with graphene blades, laser eyes, and even some kind of epic mechanism that lets it shoot fire from its mouth. I think Fred would be proud.
I get to test the FlexiRex out with the neural transmitter, and it is awesome—so easy to maneuver, and actually quite destructive. Hiro cautions all of us to only use it on weapons, not actual people, "because that would be inhumane."
Soon, Hiro has finished most of the upgrades, even reinforcing Honey's prosthetic with titanium and graphene and upgrading the fingertips to be able to shoot blinding light. Wasabi's plasma blades have been strengthened with graphene, and Hiro has added plasma blades to his own gauntlets. Tadashi can now shoot electricity from his gauntlets' fingertips, as well as the larger bolts from his palms, and the same update has been made to Krei's lasers. Everyone's wings have been reinforced with graphene, too, so it'll be harder for us to get shot down.
When Hiro finally finishes the upgrades, he slumps down in his chair at the main table, staring out into space with dark circles under his eyes. His face still has some kind of engine grease on it and several of his fingertips are bandaged, probably burned by his soldering iron.
"Hiro," I whisper, dragging my chair over to him, "you're working too hard. You've gotta get some more rest—you're exhausted, and you'll be no help in the battle if you don't sleep. Seriously, you're gonna work yourself to death. Besides, you're done now, right?"
"I'm done with everything everyone asked me for, yeah," Hiro mumbles. "But I need to do more—we need all the weapons we can get. If Obake is still willing to launch an attack after Callaghan destroyed KreiTech, then he must have some kind of weapons we don't know about. And he's probably still got some infantry and fighter jets. Meg, I'm scared we won't be able to beat him if I don't come up with more weapons."
"I feel like a walking armory," I tell him. "I don't think we can hold any more weapons, Hiro. You've done a great job, but now you have to rest. We've got everything we need."
"But what if someone gets hurt?" Hiro whispers. "Because I didn't give them enough protection?"
"Hiro, this is war," I say firmly, putting my hands on his shoulders. "People are gonna get hurt whether you do anything or not, and even when it does happen, it's not gonna be your fault. You've given everything you could to Big Hero 6, and soon it'll help us win this war. I believe in you, and I know you're gonna carry us through this."
"No, Meg," Hiro says softly, giving me a faint smile. "You are."
"We'll do it together. Now go to bed."
Hiro reluctantly traipses into the bedroom and is asleep the second he climbs into bed. Hopefully he sleeps for at least a few hours—I don't want him to be exhausted when the battle starts, and he's building up a lot of sleep debt.
The second day seems to pass even more quickly than the first, with me alternating between obsessive training and pacing around the beach. The tension in the whole of Basemax is palpable—everyone is either sitting around doing nothing or training to the point that they nearly collapse from exhaustion. Tadashi has started stress eating—never a good sign—and Krei joins him after a while. Wasabi is organizing everything in Basemax over and over again, freaking out whenever someone moves something, and Dad is really on edge, prone to aiming his graphene bullets at anyone who so much as taps him on the shoulder. Momokase is probably the most dangerous right now—she's throwing her graphene blades at every wall in the vicinity. We are, quite obviously, not taking the stress well.
Night comes a lot more quickly than I'd like it to, and though I manage to stay inside this time, I don't get more than two hours of sleep. How could I, with the overwhelming sense of impending doom?
The next morning, I leap out of bed and run to the training room, needing to get some energy out. I've practically blasted it apart by the time I sink down against the wall, panting and wiping the sweat off my forehead.
I'm not good enough. Yeah, I'm a good shot, and I'm maybe too brave for my own good, but I'll never be what my country needs me to be—a strong, calm warrior who leads her armies into battle without the slightest degree of hesitation. I'm just a kid—a headstrong teenage girl who is a lot more terrified and traumatized than she's willing to admit. I have no idea what I'm doing.
But what I do know is this: if we don't fight, we give up our city. We give up our nation. We might even give up the world. We're the only ones who stand a chance of stopping Obake, even if that chance is so slim the odds are a million to one we'll be killed in the process. And I'm absolutely certain that God is on our side.
We'll just have to risk it.
That night finds me sitting on the beach again, praying and crying and shaking with fear. I don't know what's wrong with me—I'm just so scared. I've never been this terrified before, not even during Obake's first attempted takeover of San Fransokyo or during the robot revolution. Never in any life-and-death situation have I been more hopeless, more afraid.
I wipe the tears away from my eyes just as soft footsteps walk across the sand behind me, and I turn to see Hiro, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
"Hey, Meg," he whispers, stopping next to me. "Is it okay if I join you?"
"Yeah," I mumble, ducking my head and trying to rub the salty residue of tears off my cheek as Hiro sits down.
"Are you scared?" Hiro asks quietly, looking up at the stars.
"Terrified," I admit, edging a little closer to him. "I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, and I'm scared I'll lose more people. That I'll lose you."
"I'm scared, too," Hiro breathes, his worried gaze flicking to me. "I've given everyone all the weapons I can think of, but I don't know if it's enough. I couldn't live with myself if I lost you or Tadashi. I'd tell you I'll be careful, but I don't know if I can. This is war, after all."
"I don't expect you to be careful," I whisper. "I want you to be brave. I want you to fight as hard as you can for our country, and even if we lose each other, we can't give up. We have to keep fighting, even if it kills us."
Hiro smiles faintly. "You've gotten a lot more poetic since this war started."
I nudge his shoulder gently. "So have you. You know, you're cute when you're all worried."
Hiro blushes, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wish I wasn't worried."
"You'd be stupid if you weren't worried. Just try and breathe. Focus on, I don't know, the stars."
"Are you my therapist now?"
I laugh a little. "I guess so. But you've kinda been my therapist for this whole war."
"We're all gonna need therapy when the war's over," Hiro sighs. "That's if we make it."
"We have to make it, Hiro," I say firmly. "It'll be hard, but I need you to live to have therapy—because traumatized you is a lot better than dead you."
"I'll try," Hiro promises. "But you've gotta try, too. No throwing yourself in front of bullets for anyone."
"That might be hard—especially if it's you," I admit. "But whatever. Yeah, I'll try not to take any bullets or anything. But if it's the only way to save someone—Hiro, I'm the leader. I live to take risks for the rest of you."
"Please, Meg, just be careful," Hiro begs, countless stars reflected in the deep brown pools of his eyes. "Please."
"I promise you, Hiro, I'll do everything I can," I vow, pressing my scarred palm to his cheek. His hand clasps gently around my wrist, and then I lean in, pressing my lips to Hiro's, knowing full well that this may be one of the last precious moments we share with each other.
"I love you," I whisper.
"I love you too, Meg."
We sit there for a long time, watching the stars as they brighten and then fade, and for the first time in days, I feel peace.
Everything's going to be okay.
And if not now, then one day.
We just have to make our final stand first.