Hiro knew how important this mission was, yet in spite of that he found himself enjoying it. Granted that this was his first trip outside of San Fransokio (not counting the time he and his friends walked through a portal to a bygone era to testify on the behalf of Julian Hines, and since they only saw the inside of a large room in an even larger castle he didn't count that.) Of course Aunt Cass had talked about them going on a trip as a family someday, visiting someplace like Mammoth Studios Florida, but before they could set up any kind of schedule or budget for such a thing their lives were shattered by the death of Hiro's brother Tadashi. Now Hiro surmised that Aunt Cass would bring it up again someday, and to get their lives back to some semblance of normal Hiro would agree to it (as far as he knew he might even enjoy it.) However, this was no mere trip to a theme park at the other end of the country: Hiro and his friends were in a whole 'nother country!
Even without having traveled anywhere else (that he could recall, he was really young when he and Tadashi lost their parents) Hiro knew that San Fransokio was more technologically advanced than most of the rest of the world, rivaling both Silicon Valley and Japan, so seeing how rustic Columbia was in comparison didn't surprise him. What did make him take notice, what made this mission more like the class trip their professor Ben Parker used as their cover (and made it far more enjoyable to boot) was the exotic culture of this place:the architecture, the locals' dress, the fresh air carrying the scents of various exotic spices. Even how the wilderness encroached on the smaller villas, it all gave him the impression he was visiting another world moreso than any other experience he's had to date (save for when he and Baymax went in the portal to rescue Ms Callaghan, which was more like his journey into outer space during the Chitauri invasion he realized now that he had that experience for comparison.)
As a harsh fragrance wafted in through the open window, likely from one of the drug plantations they were cautioned that they would likely have to pass by on their way to their destination, Hiro's mind went back to the mission that had brought all of them here.
A few days ago the Colombian government contacted Mr Parker through their NSA liaison, requesting the assistance of Sp/ /dr. As Peni was already a member of Big Hero 6 (which Hiro was considering changing the name as her addition made them seven) the others insisted on going along. It took some begging his Aunt Cass for her permission for him go on this "class trip", largely because it was very last minute, but after promising to keep his grades up and to send her pictures Hiro got her to agree and they were on their way.
When the local authorities met them upon their arrival Hiro and the others learned that many of them spoke some English. However, Mr Parker assured the Jefe de Policia (Police Chief) that he spoke fluent Spanish (and surprisingly so did Fred), and thanks to the translators Hiro developed and that Penny and her uncle refined and produced for everyone the rest of them had no problems following along with the briefing.
According to the report there is a area in their highlands that for the last three generations has been unofficially designated no-man's land: no expeditions by land or air have successful nor has any attempt to survey the area been able to reveal what's there the locals in the vicinity largely believe the area is either protected or cursed by the gods, so most tour guides turn their prospective clients down the moment they hear where they are going. The few who don't either do so after one or two trips into the area or else scam their clients by taking their money up front then abandoning them the moment they get to the edge of the zone.
Then, a few weeks ago, whatever was blocking their surveillance of the area just stopped for no discernible reason, and rather than being the untamed wilderness they had assumed it was everyone was shocked to discover a decent sized town thriving there.
It was maybe a day or two before the interference was again blocking their surveillance was operational again, leaving everyone wondering just what they had seen, but the hornet nests had already been agitated. Virtually every Colombian drug lord with any power had men swarming the area, likely fearing a rival setting up shop on their turf, while the authorities mobilized with forces they could muster to investigate what was going on under their noses.
When all of their efforts proved to be fruitless, and the growing number of turf war conflicts was making any further attempts to investigate too costly, they called in Mr Parker and Sp/ /dr to uncover what they could not. The government's gravest concern was that some cartel had been entrenched in that virtual fortress that they hadn't been able to penetrate in over 50 years, or even that one of the cartels they knew of would be able to find their way in first and either kill or enslave everyone there when they took it over. Either way they didn't want one of those troublesome groups digging into someplace they couldn't be dug out of, but they agreed to hold off on taking any action until they could see what intelligence Mr Parker and Sp/ /dr (and the rest of Big Hero 6) were able to bring back.
Once the debriefing was done Hiro and his friends changed into the local civilian attire Mr Parker provided. While Mr Parker assured them that he had bought the clothes from legitimate local stores Hiro had the impression that they looked like the worst kind of tourists, especially with Sp/ /dr configured to resemble a wheeled set of matched luggage. Unfortunately Baymax didn't have that kind of ability to transform, and even if they had brought him in tucked into his charging dock he would have still had drawn to them more uncomfortable stares than they were already going to have to deal with. Fortunately the camouflage system Hiro had worked into, Baymax's armor rendered him virtually invisible so long as he was airborne. It was somewhat less effective when he was on the ground and someone was looking right at him, but Mr Parker was impressed enough that he asked to look at Hiro's specs to potentially improve Sp/ /dr's design.
Still Hiro wished that he could become invisible right now. They had managed cross the border to the "no man's land" without incident, which left Hiro wondering what had left the locals so spooked. Still, as Hiro had predicted, the moment they had entered the town he felt the weight of the stares of everyone they encountered. Of course it made sense to him that in a village that had been isolated for as long as this one had supposedly been that everyone would know everyone and that any strangers would be treated with suspicion, and it couldn't be any clearer than they were not from around here what with Peni towing her "luggage" behind her. However, what Hiro saw in their eyes went beyond mere distrust of strangers and was more along the lines of fear, specifically fear of them. This didn't make much sense to Hiro as they were just a bunch of young people with a decidedly older male chaperone and none of them were armed (at least visibly, as Mr Parker had helped them to upgrade their equipment to more easily concealed nanotech). This made Hiro think that misgivings the Colombian authorities had might not have been unfounded, that a drug cartel might have assumed control of this village, and that the kingpin of that group may have warned the villagers of dire consequences should they be found guilty of aiding any trespassers.
Suddenly, without any preamble that Hiro noticed, all of the villagers turned to enter the building nearest them and shut the door, hurrying while trying to look like they were hurrying. Go Go, who had been tense since they had entered the village asked in a low, soft tone, "Where did everyone go?"
Wasabi, who had been just as anxious as the rest of them, put on a fake-looking smile and let out a weak laugh as he suggested, "Maybe they caught of one of Fred's farts and took cover."
Despite his tension Fred still managed to sound indignant as he said, "Hey! I haven't farted... recently!"
Hiro turned around and was about to tell them to knock it off, but before he could utter a word Hiro froze when he saw Peni looking at her arm, whose skin was erupting in goosebumps and whose fine hairs were standing on end, as she said, "Um, guys?"
"Incoming!!" Honey Lemon cried out as she pointed skyward, but after seeing Penni's reaction Hiro was already on high alert. So after he turned back around he was the first after Honey Lemon to see the huge boulder rapidly hurtling their way. Hiro wasn't sure if Peni had called out to him with her mind or if he was reacting to what he detected through their shared connection, but Sp/ /dr was dropping the luggage guise and changing back into his robot mode, though Hiro had already come to the conclusion that the boulder would hit before Sp/ /dr could do anything about it. However, while Baymax was carrying the bulk of his microbots Hiro did have a good amount of them in the main compartment of his backpack. It wouldn't be enough to do any damage to the boulder, but Hiro hoped he could at least deflect it away from his friends and the inhabited dwellings.
Just as Hiro felt the microbots in his pack be stirred by his neural transmitter the boulder exploded into shards and dust right in front of them. When he was safely able to see again the blurry image before him pretty much told him who dealt with the boulder, and his supposition was proven correct when Baymax canceled his camouflage just as the rocket fist docked back to his arm. Baymax then turned his head towards Hiro and said, "Sorry for breaking from stealth protocol, but with the boulder's size, mass and velocity it would have caused grevious injuries and possibly death if it was left unattended to."
"That's okay, buddy," Hiro assured him, "You did good."
Apparently whoever had an issue with the presence of Hiro and his friends in this town wasn't through yet, as a bunch of vines with rather large exotic flowers swarmed them from all sides. As they had been activated in the previous attack Hiro's microbots automatically formed a protective cocoon around him. Just him, however, as the others were left to fend for themselves against the aggressive plants, something that Hiro was going to have to tweak in the next revision of his creation, but it gave him the breathing room to activate the deployment of his nanotech armor as his forming visor let him see what was going on.
"What is this!?" Go Go cried out as she struggled against the constricting vines.
"Drosera Rotundifolia, otherwise known Sundew," Baymax reported matter-of-factly, not struggling against the plants binding him probably because he didn't view them as a threat, "but this behavior is unusual for this genus as they feed off the insects they draw..."
"Not exactly what we were worried abou... oh forget it!" Wasabi complained loudly just before he activated his plasma wrist blades, which he insisted on their ability to get activated separately from his armor as part of its redesign. As he proceeded to free the others together with Hiro and Sp/ /dr, his own armor activating mid-fight, Wasabi cut down the Sundew trying to restrain him again as he said, "After surviving fights with aliens, mercenaries and criminals from every walk of life I'll be damned if I get taken down by a damn plant!"
"Hey!" an angry yet very feminine voice called out, its owner stepping into view as she continued, "That's my damn plant!" The woman who appeared was beautiful. There was no better way to describe her, she was an exotic beauty that made even her own flowers look more radiant. Even her dress, which looked like someone made the mistake of wearing the expensive-looking dark-blue number to Mardi Gras (or Carnivál, as was more likely here) where they got hit by a number of different colored paint bombs, even that looked stunning on her. Of course Hiro's appreciation of this woman's beauty did nothing to lessen his feelings for Tomago, which were as strong as ever. In spite of her occasional outbursts of jealousy since Peni joined as a (currently) unofficial member, which Hiro was smart enough to not bring up as they were still in the awkward "not a date" phase of their relationship, despite those slight difficulties Hiro still cared about Go Go very much. Of course if Hiro had never met Go Go before this woman... he still would not have made a move on this woman. Not only was she obviously too old for him despite not looking old, but he could tell that she was out of his league. Besides, Hiro felt a dangerous edge from her that he felt would have scared off Syndrome, so he opted to observe her from a safe distance the way he might the Mona Lisa in a museum or a cheetah in the wild.
So it was for many reasons that Hiro did his best to avoid staring at this woman as he put his hands up placatingly and said, "I think that there's been some misunderstanding here. We didn't come to cause any trouble and are here to help."
"Sure you are. ¿Do you take us for Niñas ingenuas?" the woman asked animatedly, her agitation making it a challenge for the real-time translator to keep up though Hiro saw on his HUD that she said something about naive children, "¡Bruno warned us that you were coming, about the disaster you would bring on our village, so if you know what's best for you you'll piérdase!"
Hiro didn't even really need the translation to understand that they were being told to leave, but he couldn't bring himself to turn his back on these people and leave them to their fate. It didn't seem like the translator was having an issue with what he was saying as this woman seemed to understand him. The problem was that whatever this Bruno said had made her extremely wary of them and Hiro didn't know exactly how to overcome that barrier. Clearing his throat Hiro tried again, "Look, maybe if we could speak with this Bruno we could clear..."
This set off the woman as she became impossibly more aggressive than before as vines with wicked thorns erupted from the ground and pointed menacingly their way as she growled, "¡You cabrones must be delusional to think that we'll let you anywhere near Tio Bruno!"
Again the woman's agitation made it a challenge for the audible translator to keep up, but before he could check out the HUD for the transition a couple more women stepped into view. The first was nearly a head taller than the previous woman, and even without her hefting in one hand a boulder even larger than the one Baymax had destroyed Hiro could tell that she was strong, like she could take Baymax on in arm wrestling and possibly even win.
The other newcomer was, in a way, even more intriguing to Hiro than the other two. Smaller than the other women standing before them and looking to be around his or Go Go's age this girl was neither physically imposing nor aggressive looking. And while she wasn't exactly homely in appearance she wasn't exactly a great beauty like the one who first confronted them, though Hiro found some nerdy appeal in her big round glasses and her wavy, frizzy hair. However, what caught Hiro's attention was the set of this lady's eyes which told him that there was some steel in her, that she had been though something either terrible and/or traumatic and had come out of it even stronger, something that Hiro could relate to. Out of the three women Hiro felt like the youngest should not be underestimated or taken lightly.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself Hiro said, "Look, I understand that you have no reason to trust us, so is there any way for us to speak with your authorities or maybe someone in charge here?"
Both the strong woman and the plant lady looked at the youngest one, who looked somewhat uncomfortable as she stepped forward and said, "That... would be me."
Despite telling himself to not underestimate her Hiro still was taken aback, though it was Wasabi that gave his doubts voice as he said in disbelief, "You!?"
The young woman looked to stee0l herself against the sound of criticism in Wasabi's voice as she said in a clear, commanding tone, "Yes, I am Mirabel of the family Madrigal, and these are my older sisters Isabella and Luisa. ¡Our Encanto, which you have intruded upon, has protected us for the past three generations, and in the name of our Abuela y Abuelo we will not let it fall now!" At her pronouncement Mirabel's sisters drew closer to her, their muscles tensing and their gazes looked like they were almost daring Hiro and his friends to do something while Mirabel's warned them against it as she said, "If you want to get to Bruno you're going to have to get through us."