Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The military hangar was vast. At least twice the size of the average airplane hanger. Set against the side of a mountain outside San Fransokyo, the base the hanger belonged to was infamous for both its failed experiments and for snatching up SFIT students just after graduation.

It was supposed to be top-secret, but stories got out anyway. From the overeager young engineers and scientists chatting with their friends back in the city, to gruntwork soldiers and guards out for a drink, rumors spread about the goings-on at Compound V-1123.

Some said they held aliens, like the fabled Area-51 of the older generation. Some claimed the government was bioengineering super soldiers. There were even whispers of human/animal hybrid experiments. It seemed that almost everyone had a theory or two about the Compound.

But outlandish as the rumors were, the truth was much more dangerous.

★★★

"Ready when you are, sir," called one of General Carrey's scientists from the front of the control room.

The General, a short but proud man with greying hair and squinty eyes, strode up to the head of the chamber, staring through several inches of bulletproof glass at the enormous interior of the hanger. It looked so vacant. Before now it was usually filled with an array of projects of varying sizes, all lighting up and making strange sounds. But they'd cleared everything out over a month ago for this.

Currently, the only things occupying the space were a set of tracks that led to a large circular device situated in the center of the room. It was maybe 15 meters by 15 meters and looked like a dissectional segment of a particle collider. Back when Alister Krei, that idiot billionaire, had been developing this tech over a year previously, it had looked neat and symmetrical. But this one was still in the beginning stages. There was no plating over most of the device. Wires hung in their cages for all to see. Well, all who had clearance. Pretty much just the eight scientists in the room, two guards, and the general himself.

Of course, the beta aesthetic wasn't all that separated this from Krei's Silent Sparrow vanity project. When Alistair was in control there had been two roughly identical machines. Here and now there was only one. Better to start slow, get everything right before pressing their luck.

"Turn it on," General Carrey said without any flare. "Give it power nice and easy, now. We want to make it to the probe stage this time. Our backer was very explicit about when he expects results!"

A couple of the scientists seated behind him at their control panels looked a little miffed, as if the general were stating the obvious. But they said nothing and began to flip switches and ease levers forward.

The result was instantaneous. First, the lights all flickered and dimmed. Not just in the control room, but in the hanger as well. They would have seen the same thing happen to the entire base had they any windows with which to view outside.

Then the negative space inside the machine's circular arch began to glow. At first it was just a transparent shimmer in the air, a luminescent heatwave. But the glow quickly intensified and solidified, becoming the unmistakable purple swirling void of a portal.

All over the room, the scientists were calling out readings to one another. Stability reports, detected energy and low radiation levels, et cetera. They waited a minute, monitoring the portal. They weren't idiots. They knew they would have to close it soon, or else it might become unstable. But there was one thing they needed to do first.

"Send in the probe!" Carrey ordered. He heard a disjointed chorus of "yes sir" behind him, followed by the typing of commands on keyboards. Below them in the hanger a large, dark shape began to zoom down the set of tracks, heading right for the portal.

The general turned his gaze back to the wormhole. In a way, it was beautiful. The serene pink and purple light shimmered with occasional deep oranges like the northern lights in a rich evening sky. But he knew from viewing the footage of Krei and Callaghan's disastrous attempts that it was highly volatile.

About halfway down the track, a rocket on the probe ignited and greatly accelerated the whole device, making it rush toward the portal at breakneck speed. Where it had taken around 20 seconds for the probe to travel half the distance to the portal, it now covered the second half in barely 5. They heard a roar and the control room shook before, at the last possible millisecond, the probe detached itself from the tracks and zoomed into the mouth of the wormhole and out of sight.

"We have a successful launch!" Cried one of the engineers behind the general. The declaration was followed by cheers, but Carrey didn't join them, being too focused on the portal.

"Receiving images and readings from the other side now," called a different voice.

More cheers. Their celebration was short-lived, however.

General Carrey didn't believe in superstitions or premonitions, but a second before it happened he felt the back of his neck prickle. His body went cold and his bones ached like they sometimes did before a storm.

Then a deafening voice rang through the hanger, over the intercom. It was cold, like a chain in the winter, and dreadfully familiar. The voice was dripping and fancy and southern. And it only spoke one word.

"Activate."

For a moment, nothing happened. The general turned to his scientists, eyebrow raised while his left hand tapped nervously against his trouser pocket. He patted it down in an unconscious search for the familiar feel of a hard, round barrel, anything for self-defense. But he'd elected not to wear his weapon, feeling it didn't go with his formal attire or secure setting.

"What was-?" he started to ask.

Then all hell broke loose.

A shape sped out of the portal. Carrey turned just in time to see it emerge. Something big had burst through to their side of the rift, smashing one side of the machine as it went. The thing, only a shadow from this distance, appeared to leap off of something which kept speeding away from the portal.

Too late, General Carrey realized that the thing had ridden through the portal on their probe, whose rocket was still active! And now the probe was hurtling directly at them even as the thing from the portal escaped to the side of the hanger.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Carrey screamed, whirling away from the front of the control room and diving behind one of the stations. But it was no use. The probe hit the outside of the command room and exploded. The protective glass did nothing. The entire room was ripped apart in half a second before the millions of disparate pieces crashed onto the floor of the hanger two stories below. Smoke billowed thickly, concealing any potential trace left of General Carrey and his crew. Alarms started blaring and red emergency lights flashed through the dark hanger, but over the sound of the explosion the alarms could barely be heard.

The round, voluminous and vaguely man-shaped thing which had emerged from the portal raced with speed it shouldn't have had the rest of the way to the hanger wall. It raised a fist which then detached, rocketing at the wall and bursting through it like it were made of cobwebs. It exited through the freshly made hole, reconnecting its fist. And not a second too late! Behind it, the portal device had been damaged. Part of the machine had been bent, with many sparking wires torn free. The portal crackled, fizzing in and out of existence. And then the whole machine erupted.

The explosion from that dwarfed the one the probe had caused. The hanger and its surrounding buildings were leveled. The shockwave from the blast took care of everything else at the compound save for the walls surrounding it. Even still, part of the wall crumbled in places, allowing an exit to the thing which had come through the portal. Miraculously it had survived, and was carried by the shockwave rather than destroyed by it.

There were a few soldiers stationed outside the base who were clear from the blast zone. Most were in shock or curled up on the ground holding their ears after the explosion. But one caught sight of the thing and charged it. He whipped out his weapon, eyes frantic, and took aim. But in the confusion he'd grabbed his taser, not his gun. The shot did absolutely nothing.

Before the thing reached him, the soldier got a good look. As fire where the base used to be reached for the sky, light was cast onto it. It looked like a robot. Not just any robot, the soldier was certain he'd seen this one on the news before! Big and white and red, almost huggable were it not for the crippled form and blazing red eyes. It seemed to be missing most of its armor, too.

Not enough to stop it, though. It swung a fist that connected with the soldier's head. He flew aside several feet and crumpled, and the robot kept its pace. Every few seconds thrusters in its feet and remaining hand flared halfheartedly. It wasn't anywhere near sustainable, but it was enough to give it a fast pace. Much faster than its short and stubby legs could have managed otherwise.

The robot turned towards the glowing outline of a city on the horizon. It had to get there, and fast. A flashing warning popped up in its vision, orange and urgent. Battery Level 22%. Charge required.

It quickly searched its memory banks. Where was it supposed to recharge? Ah, yes. The Lucky Cat Café. That was its target!

Red eyes narrowed, Baymax began to make for the city as quickly as he could.

★★★

Behind him, past the burning military base, a figure suddenly appeared in a flash of purple light on the mountainside.

"What the..?!" They straightened up and looked at the inferno down below. The fire and moonlight reflected off their helmet visor and glinted on the mechanical armor they wore. The mysterious figure's head turned towards the city. Already they could see lights of approaching helicopters from far off.

"This isn't right..."

Something made the figure turn slightly. A weird flashing in the distance on the ground, past the base's boundary fence. They zoomed in on it as best they could, displaying the closeup on the inside of their visor of Baymax using what remained of his thrusters to race towards San Fransokyo.

"Ohhh, this really isn't right!"

There came another purple flash accompanied by a swift whoosh, and and the mechsuited figure was gone.

————————————————————————————————————

Saryn sank onto the alleyway concrete, sitting criss-cross-applesauce and sizing up the man sitting across the ring from them. They powered up their bot with a press of a button on their controller. The man across the ring looked as if he had expired milk shoved under his nose at all times. He didn't look like a big threat. A bit muscular and tall, but hunched and sallow-faced. But then Sayrn didn't look like much either, just a kid in shorts and a tanned hoodie adorned with a few pins. Besides, that man, Hammond, had a long rap sheet.

And Hammond had backup. At least five bouncer-esque henchmen spread through the small crowd that was surrounding the two fighters. Saryn wasn't really worried about the fight; they were confident that they could best him and claim the winnings from the pot. The pot which sat off to the side by the announcer, already full from the betting pool. But getting away safely with so many bad people here was another matter. Hopefully they'd be able to slip through the crowd and make it back home before any of the henchpeople caught them.

Sayrn knew they'd have to make a run for it, too. This was a strictly in-and-out fast type deal. No playing the opponent, no stringing along and hustling by losing the first match on purpose. That man was a notoriously sore loser. Saryn had to win, grab their cash, and run.

"Aaaanndddd in the Red Square we have old-timer crowd favorite Hammond Kit!" Declared the announcer, a tall woman with her dark hair pulled back and an eye patch. She gestured over to Saryn's opponent. The crowd whooped and cheered, less because he was a good fighter and more because he promised entertainment. The man gave a grin that looked more like a dog’s snarl, leveling his gaze at the young teen. Then, his face dropped back into a bored, sallow sneer.

Saryn tried to keep their face clear of any fear as Hammond activated his bot as well. They felt a little more confident seeing his bot of choice. Anthropomorphic in design with a four-toothed spinning saw blade like a throwing star on the end of one arm and a circular shield on the other. This bot was just a copy of a copy of a... these weren't particularly special, but they were easy to build and repair so a lot of people flocked to them, making their use quite predictable. These bots were only ever a threat if their operater was a formidable driver.

"In the blue square," the announcer continued, turning away from Hammond, "up-and-comer Darren Teller!" She gestured to Saryn as she delivered their fake name.

The crowd clapped politely, but Saryn hadn't attended enough fights yet to attract any real recognition, so they didn't let the lack of enthusiasm get to them.

Remember... Win, grab the money, skedaddle! Saryn's hands tightened on their controller. They took a deep, calming breath and focused on their bot as the announcer started the countdown and spun a decorative umbrella in the middle of the ring.

Their bot was roughly the size of an RC racer, but a little taller. It was shaped like a rather boxy computer mouse and was completely black. The 'armor' was mostly plastic and aluminum sheeting, spray-painted DIY style. Against the other bot's sawblade it really wouldn't do anything. But the bot needed to be lightweight. Saryn had very nimble fingers, so gaming, Bot-Fighting, and sleight of hand came easy to them. Speed would win them this race.

"Four... Three..." the announcer looked back and forth from Saryn to Hammond, wondering how this would go. As the longtime announcer for all the top Bot-Fights in San Fransokyo, she normally had a good idea of who would win a match before it even started. But Saryn was a newcomer, and they had could recall a boy their age who used to frequent these fights and turn the tables on any player. She was right to be hesitant here and now.

"Two... One! Let the battle begin!" She withdrew her umbrella and whooshed out of the ring, placing a foot protectively on the lid of the betting pot.

Hammond went on the offensive immediately. His bot darted forward, the four-toothed saw whirring to life. Saryn had expected this. They drove their bot forward like they were going to meet the opponent head-on in the center of the ring. At the last possible second before the two would have met, Saryn sent their bot zooming around Hammond's in a half-donut skid.

Hammond's saw slashed through the air and missed Saryn's bot completely. The mouse droid came to a halt behind the warrior bot and nudged forward against the back of its legs teasingly. It darted back as the warrior spun around and took another swipe with the saw.

Saryn heard Hammond grunt with frustration as he missed again. The teen’s bot began circling the opponent, moving too quickly to be caught by an attack.

"This isn't a game of cat and mouse, little boy!" Hammond snarled, already quick to anger. "You have to face me at some point!"

"I'm not a boy," Saryn said calmly, slowing their bot but keeping it just out of range of the other droid. They'd gotten the prey hungry quite easily. Now to properly bait the hook. They braked, bringing their bot to a full stop.

"If it's a fight you want then what are you waiting for, slowpoke?"

They winced internally. Slowpoke? it was all they could think of in the moment, but it seemed to do the trick. Hammond's lip curled back and his brow furrowed. The older man thrust his joystick forward, making his bot run towards Saryn's.

Saryn didn't move. They watched as the other bot came within range, raising its saw arm. But still Saryn didn't shift out of the way. Their strategy was the same as if they were being charged by a bull.... mostly.

The saw started to descend. Speed was still on Saryn's side, however. At the last second, they once again veered their bot out of the way and the opposing bot's saw came down on the street top. The spinning blade sank into the asphalt quite easily, as if the pavement were actually wet dirt. But friction slowed the blades significantly. Enough that one of the prongs caught fast. There was a loud metallic clack and the spinning saw came to a sudden halt.

"What?!" Hammond slammed a button on his controller, trying to restart the saw. When that failed, he tried making his bot jerk the arm free of the asphalt. No such luck. The crowd gasped, suddenly realizing what had happened. Hammond's bot was stuck! Unable to free its arm from the ground.

Saryn took a moment to enjoy the futile spectacle before moving in for the kill. They zoomed their bot around to the side of Hammond's and pulled a trigger on the underside of their controller. A slot opened up on the front of their bot, through which a small metal cylinder protruded. With another squeeze of the trigger, a white light appeared on the side of the trapped bot's abdomen.

Instantly, sparks flew off its armor as the laser began to sear in. There was no beam, just the ghostly drilling light digging into armor. Hammond let out a yip of frustration and surprise, but he was drowned out as the crowd around them cheered. Saryn couldn't help but cock a smile as their laser steadily burnt through the armor plating.

Hammond quickly moved the bot's other arm so the shield caught the laser, giving the main body a reprieve. Saryn wasn't concerned. The laser rapidly ate through the flimsy metal disk and continued searing away at the plating on the abdomen. They'd been confident the shield was just for decoration. If it had any substance to it, enough to actually make a difference against the laser, then the bot would have too much weight on one side and be unusable.

Understanding of the inevitable outcome dawned on Hammond's face just as victory shone in Saryn's eyes. There was nothing to be done. He had lost, and Saryn had won. The laser was going to breach the armor and start burning up the bot's insides. Any second now....

Saryn must have hit the battery because a millisecond after the laser scorched all the way through the armor, Hammond's bot exploded! Charred bits of metal and circuits and wires flew in every direction. A few people cried out and the crowd scattered. A good thing, since now that Hammond's bot was gone, Saryn's laser was directed right at a space where several people had been standing a moment before! The teen hastily killed the beam, which was at last visible through the smoke coming off Hammond's bot, and powered down their bot.

"S-sorry!" They stammered as the acrid smell of corroded batteries singed their nostrils a little. "Everyone okay?"

Distracted by the mini explosion, they had forgotten about their plan. Win, grab the money, skedaddle! As they had their back turned to survey the remnants of the crowd and ensure there were no injuries, Hammond and his men moved forward.

Saryn yelped as they were lifted by the scruff of their neck. They felt a blade slip under their chin, giving their skin the barest of caresses. It felt unnaturally cold as the blood drained out of Saryn's face. Like an icicle. The crowd froze, staring in shock, then backed away.

"W-wait!" Saryn cried, all the victorious adrenaline vanishing from their body, leaving them suddenly chilled and empty. "What about me?! Someone help me!"

No one so much as gave them a second piteous glance. Within five seconds the alley was cleared of all except Saryn, Hammond, and his thugs.

Saryn was shoved roughly against the alley wall. They let out a loud "oof!" as the air was pushed out of them on impact. It seemed one of the henchmen had grabbed Saryn, rather than Hammond himself. Typical.

The teen bot fighter tried to think over their 'in case of emergency' plan. This certainly qualified! Their hand inched towards the pocket of their shorts, in which they had homemade smoke bomb pellets like those goofy magicians on old programs. They had never had to use them in a situation like this before but knew from extensive testing that they would work... They just needed to reach into their pocket first.

But luck just wasn't on their side. Hammond saw the movement and strode forward, quickly grabbing Saryn's sneaking hand and pinning it against the wall.

"No more tricks from you, kid," he growled.

Saryn gulped. "S-sorry... You seem reasonable," they lied, "I'm sure we could come to an agreement? One that doesn't involve bodily harm."

They tried to keep their body from shaking, but it was no use. Saryn shivered, visibly terrified of the six muscular men surrounding them. Hammond growled, leaning in close so his eyes were an inch away from Saryn's. He yanked the bot controller out of Saryn's other hand.

Sayrn cursed themself internally. They hadn't even remembered they were holding the controller. If they had, maybe they could have used the laser to escape. It was too late now, though.

"You know," Hammond growled, still in Saryn's face. He passed the controller off to one of the henchpeople. "I can accept defeat. I'd still be pissed, I might punch a dumpster or somthin', but I can accept it."

Saryn wasn't sure that was true. Of the seven fights they had ghost-watched to gather intel on Hammond, the man had gone into a rage every time he lost. This was exactly in line with his past. But Saryn wasn't stupid enough to say anything about that.

"What I can't accept," Hammond continued, a vein throbbing in his forehead "is you destroying my bot. I made it myself, y'know? And you blew it up!" His face started turning purple. "You blew it up! If you'd just fried a circuit or burned through a wire, no biggie. Those can be replaced. But I have to start from scratch now."

The older man suddenly pushed away from Saryn, even releasing their wrist. This time Saryn didn't try anything. The henchpeople had formed a fairly tight half-circle around them. Using a smoke bomb would be pretty useless this close-quartered.

But Saryn’s eyes, wide and full of fear, were darting around. Looking for any possible escape. They were coming up empty, though.

"What... What are you going to do?" Saryn returned their gaze to Hammond. "You can take my bot!"

They hoped the offer would work. On their phone they could remotely self-destruct their bot, so if they got away unharmed Hammond would have no use for it. Of course, their phone had been left at home so their mothers couldn't track them with its GPS. Now Saryn wished they'd brought it anyway, tracking be damned!

"Oh, I am!" Hammond promised. "But that's only the start of my… restitution. You're gonna have'ta make this up to me. By yourself." Hammond gave an evil, depraved grin at that and cracked his knuckles. It made Saryn's stomach drop. What was that supposed to mean? Clearly nothing good, but they really didn't want to find out.

Hope seemed so far away. The henchmen all started to tighten in on Saryn, cracking their knuckles and looking excited. Saryn began to feel fresh adrenaline pump through their system. They started to consider making a real run for it. They were much smaller than the others; maybe they could slide under the thugs' legs and run down the alley? Once back on the main road it was just a few blocks to their house.

"Uh uh!" Hammond shook his head. "I know that look, kid. The one in your eyes. You’d better stay put! We'll end up hurting you a lot more if you don't comply."

A new, female voice suddenly cut through the late-night air from behind the henchpeople, clear and snarky. It made Saryn jump.

"Comply with this!"

Hammond turned around just in time to see a girl in a yellow mechsuit fling some sort of metal disk right at his face! He yowled in surprise and dove aside. The disk hit the bricks right above Saryn's head and ricocheted back to slam into one of the henchpeople's face! There was an audible crunch and the man howled out in pain, reaching up to hold a nose that no longer looked the right shape. The other henchpeople abandoned Saryn instantly, moving threateningly towards the girl.

Confusion flooded Saryn's brain, followed quickly by a burst of relief and hope. They knew that girl from the news, from the posters on their wall! That was Speed Queen! Which must mean....

As if on cue, the rest of Big Hero 6 flooded into the alley. First came Lizard Guy, dropping down from one of the rooftops far above their heads. The suit was shaped somewhat like a monster that would be right at home in a Kentucky Kaiju movie. He spread his arms as if daring one of the henchmen to attack.

"Oh yeah!" he said. "Nothing like stopping a good ol' fashioned mugging to get the ol' superhero juices flowing. Classic!"

Chop Chop and Tall girl quickly followed him, also dropping down from the top of a building, though not before Tall Girl threw down two green, gelatinous balls the size of apples. Upon contact with the pavement, the balls stuck fast and expanded to the size of compact cars, catching the two superheroes safely before popping into a pool of sludge.

Saryn's breath caught. They were going to be alright! The superheroes, their idols, were here to fight off the bad guys- bad guys who seemed to be too stunned to move.

But Saryn turned their eyes skyward, anticipation and excitement taking over the fear that had been there a moment before. He has to be here... He has to be here... He has to- YES! Saryn could have whooped, they were geeking out internally so much.

Their favorite members of Big Hero 6 descended into the alleyway and dropped protectively right in front of Saryn, between them and Hammond. The large armored robot, Red Panda, turned slightly and looked at Saryn.

"We are here to rescue you," it said unnecessarily.

The kid on its back, who was wearing a purple mechsuit, also looked down at them.

"Are you alright?" he asked. When he spoke, Saryn saw the gap between his two front teeth.

"Yeah," Saryn replied a little breathlessly. "You got here just in time. You're Captain Cutie, right?"

The boy grimaced a little. "That's not... Uhh, I mean, yeah, I am!" His voice deepened.

"You won't be so cute when I'm through with you!" A voice snarled suddenly, interrupting them. Hammond had picked himself up and was facing Red Panda with his shoulders squared.

"What are you waiting for?!" he snapped over his shoulder at his hired muscle. "Get them!" He turned back to face Captain Cutie and his robot as the henchpeople began their attack.

Suffice to say, it didn't go their way. Not even a little bit. Hammond, in his infinite anger and lack of wisdom, pulled his fist back and delivered a punch into the center of Red Panda's breastplate with all his strength. There came another sickening crunch that Saryn could hear clearly even from behind the large robot. Hammond's eyes widened, pupils changing size rapidly, then he let out a shriek of pain and crumpled to the ground, gingerly holding a limp wrist.

"I was alerted to your need for medical attention when you said 'aaaaaaaaaaaaoooowowowow,'" Red Panda said mechanically to Hammond, badly mimicking him. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

That struck Saryn as a little odd. They vaguely remembered a few weeks ago when Big Hero 6 had reprogrammed all those malfunctioning Buddy Guardians to become healthcare droids, and how they had said something strangely similar when around someone in pain. But that hadn't lasted. The public had been attacked by them and no longer trusted them, even reprogrammed. So the police had rounded them all up and scrapped them.

"Not now, Baymax!" Captain Cutie hissed, but the droid was already bending down to inspect the wrist.

"S-stay away from me!" Hammond cried, trying to blink away tears as he scuttled back.

"I am trying to assist you," the robot said.

Saryn was distracted then by the sound of the other Big Hero 6 members clashing with the henchmen. It was actually quite fun to watch, especially after having just been on the receiving end of the guards' malice.

They'd branched off, one musclehead per superhero. But they didn't make any headway. Speed Queen was zooming so quickly around her opponent (the one with the now-crooked and bleeding nose), dodging all his thrown punches, that the man was having a hard time following her. He kept spinning himself in a circle over and over until finally he tripped to the ground, too dizzy to remain upright.

Tall Girl bested the henchman who had gone after her even faster. She simply typed a combination into her purse, which spat a yellow opaque ball into her hand. She threw the ball with great precision and it collided with the man's chest. He was immediately enveloped in a cloud of some foul-smelling gas, making him retch and hold his nose before turning and running off down the alley and out of sight to escape the putrid scent.

Chop Chop, on the other hand, was backing away slowly, body hunched and shrunk, while his opponent stalked closer, grinning and holding a long, wicked-looking knife.

"Why do I always end up fighting the blade people?" he asked no one in particular. The henchman smirked wider, seeing weakness, and in one fluid movement hurled the knife through the air at Chop Chop.!

The green-suited man let out a high-pitched squeal of fear and slashed his arms up in front of him while his eyes squeezed shut. Plasma blades flared to life at his forearms and sliced the thrown knife right out of the air! He opened one eye cautiously, then the other, and upon seeing the two smoking halves of the thrown knife on the ground, he grinned. Chop Chop rose to his full height, body seeming to unfurl after he'd so fearfully tried to make himself small. Even under the mechsuit, it was easy to tell that he was ripped, and he stood even taller than Tall Girl herself!

The henchman took one look at the suddenly towering and confident figure before him wielding twin plasma blades and the smug look fell off his face. He turned tail, running off with his companion.

Flame Jumper (or 'Lizard Guy' as the owner of Saryn's favorite Comic Book store called him) had a vastly different approach to taking care of the henchman who attacked him. He ran full-tilt at his, shouting a long and ridiculous battle cry. His henchman beckoned him on with a haughty grin, as if to say "I've got this idiot."

And then Flame Jumper released a roaring stream of fire from the mouth of his suit, singeing off the man's eyebrows and making him yelp and fall back onto his butt into a pile of trash.

Hammond and his remaining henchpeople all ran for it, swearing and tripping, even crawling and crab-walking to get away.

"Yeah!" Flame Jumper shouted after them, cupping his claws around the mouth of his suit. "You better run! Tell your friends not to mess with Big Hero 6!" He spoke their team name like a sports announcer introducing them.

Captain Cutie (Saryn had to figure out a better name to call him; that fanfiction name, while apt, was just too awkward for their taste) slid off Red Panda's back and high-fived a couple of his teammates before turning back to his robot (had he called it Basement or something earlier?) and fist-bumped it. The robot made an odd sound and wiggled its fingers.

"It's so nice when things go smoothly!" Chop Chop sighed.

"You good?" The purple-suited kid turned to Saryn, a look of sympathy in his eyes. Saryn realized as the adrenaline started to wear off again that their legs were shaking. Captain Cutie hurried forward and grabbed them by the elbows, helping to steady them.

"Woah, easy there!" he said. "Do you need to sit down? Want Baymax to take a look at you? He's programmed as a healthcare bot on top of fighting crime."

Saryn shook their head but held onto the boy for a moment longer until their legs stabilized. "I'm alright... Just got a little too excited there. Thank you, all of you! But.... Baymax? Do you mean Red Panda?"

The boy gave an uncomfortable laugh. "That's really not his name. Just something a crazy frie- ahhh, I mean, it's a name a fan gave him that stuck."

Saryn nodded slowly. It made sense that the names they knew Big Hero 6 by weren't even their real alter egos.

They peered a little closer at the droid now. Seeing it on TV did it no justice. Up close the real thing was incredible to look at! And despite the mixture of nervousness and giddiness they felt at being rescued by their idols, Saryn couldn't help but geek out.

"That's clearly AI!" They nodded to the droid as a whole. "I saw how it acted on its own when Hammond hurt himself... Those have got to be High-Dynamic Range Spectral Cameras!" They looked gleefully up at Baymax's eyes. "I've been drawing up plans for something a lot like that... And I'm guessing you used a carbon fiber framed skeleton? That way it's light enough to still be able to fly but durable enough to fight."

The other kid raised an eyebrow, impressed. "You really know your stuff! And you're not enrolled at SFIT?"

Speed Queen nodded. "Yeah, they could give you a run for your money."

Saryn shook their head, still eyeing the droid. "I considered it; robotics is one of my three big passions. But there was that fire a little over a year ago, that evil professor, and like five attacks on the campus in as many months…. My parents wouldn't let me enroll even if I wanted to, and I prefer getting in and out quickly, taking what I need in between when I'm in a dangerous situation. Besides, my skills are nothing next to yours! All my stuff is old ideas I kinda tinker with and force together. But this is way beyond anything I've ever made!"

They gestured at Baymax. "I mean, on my bot I have to charge it all day and then hope the fight isn't too long or he'll die on me. But this guy seems to be going strong. How long does his battery last?"

The gap-toothed boy grinned proudly. "Until recently, maybe a day. But I was able to put together a clean internal power source. It has to be switched out every five years or so, and the design limits output so it's really only good for battery charging; I've had problems with villains who were literally power-hungry trying to steal energy devices from me before, so I threw in some safeguards. But this baby should keep Baymax here going until it's time to swap out sources!"

Saryn whistled, finally stepping forward away from the wall. "That is so cool! I could talk about this stuff for hours! I wish we'd met under better circumstances, but when your idols are superheroes I guess being mugged is the fastest way to meet them." Saryn's voice flattened out sardonically.

"It's a good thing we found you before those guys could do any damage," Captain Cutie replied. "San Fransokyo needs all the bright young engineers it can get, even if you're not attending SFIT."

The boy grimaced a little. "Not that your worth depends on intelligence, I mean that-"

Saryn waved their hand dismissively. "It's okay, I understand. And really, thanks for saving me." Saryn turned to address the whole team. "That guy is such a sore loser, I don't know what he would have done to me if you hadn't shown up!"

"What were you even doing here?" Speed Queen crossed her arms and looked him up and down, unimpressed. "It's past midnight, and you're what, thirteen?"

"I turn fifteen next month!" they protested.

"But... I was here Bot-Fighting," Saryn admitted sheepishly. There was no point hiding it. Their bot was right there on the ground behind Chop Chop, and this was one of the prime fighting locations. And they were just too tired to sustain any lie right now.

"You know," Captain Cutie spoke up, "it's pretty dangerous to Bot-Fight alone like this." His voice was serious, but after a moment he gave Saryn a small almost self-satisfied smile. "But I'm working to fix that."

Saryn couldn't help but smile as well. It was mostly from relief; they had been a little worried about getting in trouble or looking bad in front of their idols. But now that it was clear they wouldn't be getting more than a lecture, they let their remaining worry evaporate.

"What's your name?" Tall Girl asked sweetly.

"Saryn," the teen replied, not even thinking to give their fake name. Then, a little stupidly, they asked, "What's yours?"

Instantly they flinched internally. Growing up they had been told that it was always polite to ask, and their own experience gave them reason to always check before assuming anything about anyone, but these were extenuating circumstances.

But the superheroes didn't seem to mind. They all introduced themselves with the names Saryn had already known them by. When the boy in the purple armor said his name, 'Captain Cutie,’ Saryn couldn't help but snort. Luckily it seemed to go unnoticed.

"Here," Chop Chop picked up Saryn's bot and the controller one of the henchmen had dropped in the fight and passed them back to their owner. Captain Cutie eyed it, looking impressed.

"Thank you!" Saryn said as they took the bot. "I'm glad it's okay, I built it myself."

"You did a great job!" the small boy said. "That looks like a 3D printed exoskeleton! And we overheard on the police scanner... Something about lasers?"

Saryn nodded. "I found the designs online for one of those engraving lasers like they have in factories and shop classes and whatnot. Managed to miniaturize it!"

"Very impressive!" Chop Chop commented, patting Saryn on the back. Thankfully his plasma blades were off again. "Not that I approve of illegal Bot-Fighting, but I appreciate the scientific side."

"Hey," Saryn defended, adjusting the pin on their jacket, "it's only illegal if you bet on it."

"Speaking of," Speed Queen spat a wad of gum out onto the pavement (Chop Chop took two hasty steps back) and quickly inserted a fresh stick in her mouth. "Aren't those your winnings?" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards a dumpster.

Saryn blinked in disbelief. At the base of the dumpster was a shallow, ceramic pot which contained the betting pool. It seemed to have been kicked aside as the crowd ran earlier.

Saryn hurried forward and scooped up all the money, shoving it in their pockets. "I can't believe they left this!"

"I can't believe we're letting her take it all," Chop Chop said.

"Them," Saryn replied automatically, but their brain was still too fuzzy to truly register or care.

"Aw, come on, Wasabi!" Flame Jumper said. "The kid's clearly not evil, let them keep the cash."

"We should get out of here," Captain Cutie cut in. "I know Chief Cruz said he'd look the other way with us but we still don't want to be caught this late protecting a kid who was Bot-Fighting illegally."

The others nodded. Tall Girl stepped up to Saryn and took their shoulder gently. "Will you be okay getting home on your own?"

Saryn hesitated. "Normally, yes. I only live about three blocks that way," they gestured down the alleyway. "Once I make it back to the street, anyway. But..."

"But that's the way those thugs went," Speed Queen finished.

Saryn nodded. "They're probably long gone, but I'd hate to be wrong and run into them alone again. Not until I can practice more escapism."

"I could walk you home?" Captain Cutie suggested before turning and looking at the rest of his team. "Just real quick, then I could meet you back at the base to unwind. My aunt thinks I'm staying with you tonight anyway." He nodded to Lizard Guy.

Everyone seemed to agree, and before they knew it the group was splitting up. Saryn, the big droid and his rider going west down the alleyway, and everyone else disappearing to the east.

The two teens and the large friendly robot walked down the alley in silence for a while. Saryn didn't know what else to say. They had dreamt of meeting their idol for so long, but all the things they talked about in their fantasy, like asking for autographs, talking about the daily perils of saving the city, why they had formed Big Hero 6 in the first place... They all seemed so empty now. Still, Saryn hated the silence and cleared their throat as they reached the flickering orange lamp post lighting the street at the end of the alleyway.

"Thanks again for rescuing me. If I hadn't made it home, well, two moms worry more than one!" They laughed a little dryly. Captain Cutie blinked, not getting it.

"Uh, yeah, I guess that math is right."

Saryn laughed again, more genuinely this time, but continued. "I know you guys have bigger things to face, super villains and whatnot. So it means a lot that you made time for small problems like me."

The other boy's eyebrows furrowed. "Hey, don't talk like that. You're not a problem, just a person who needed saving. That's what we're here for! And really, it wasn't an inconvenience to us or anything. I mean, those guys were dollar store baddies. For us superheroes, anyway. We'd have had a tougher time if you'd been Bot-Fighting with the people in Good Luck Alley.

"Besides," he continued as they turned, led by Saryn, to head down the late night street. "Supervillains have been quiet lately. We bagged a couple the week after the bot attack on the city, but since then there hasn't been anything big. We seem to have put all the ones that aren't hiding in prison."

The boy smiled suddenly. It was a kind and true look tat showed off his front tooth gap again. He clasped Saryn on the shoulder. "But even if there was supervillain activity in San Fransokyo, I like to think that we would have been there to save you anyway. Part of the job is helping anyone who needs it, not just fighting Big Bads."

Saryn smiled back, feeling real warmth and comfort spread through their chest, and the boy took his hand back. They crossed two streets before Saryn spoke again.

"I know it's not very likely we'll run into each other again, but I have to ask... Is there something else I can call you besides 'Captain Cutie?' It worked fine when I was just thinking about you after seeing you on the news, but now I've met you it feels super weird."

The boy laughed. "That's true! I'll be honest, I wasn't thrilled when Kar- I mean, when that writer penned me that alter ego. It still feels strange, actually. This is probably a big superhero no-no, but you seem trustworthy. You can call me Hiro. Just please, don't tell anyone."

Saryn raised an eyebrow, a tiny glint of recognition lighting their eyes. They weren't sure why they felt they knew that name, but they quickly moved on from it. That didn't stop the curiosity from running at the back of their mind, though.

"I'll keep it to myself, I promise." Saryn drew a little X over their heart. "This is me, by the way." They stopped and pointed to the nearest building.

It wasn't the best house by any means. Single story but with what looked like a sizable garage. The quaint abode was situated between a closed dine-in Pizzeria and a 24/7 laundry place. It was the only house on the entire block, and it looked old. Not old as in run down or decrepit, but old stylistically. Like the way buildings were designed here before the Great Catastrophe.

"Thanks for walking with me to keep me safe," Saryn told Hiro, turning to face him. "Even if I hadn't run into those guys again on my own, I get a lot of stuff shouted and thrown at me when I'm out, especially when I'm dressed more feminine for some reason."

"Not a problem," Hiro promised. He bit his lip hesitantly all of a sudden as if he were trying to talk himself into something quickly.

"I'd probably get slapped by Fred and GoGo if they knew I'd told you this, but I've already told you a lot anyway. If you're ever in trouble again and need help, swing by SFIT or the Lucky Cat Café." He winced a little. "Aahh, assuming you can and you're not, you know, cornered in an alley again."

Saryn smiled. "Don't worry, I learned my lesson. Next time I'll set off my smoke bombs and get away as soon as I win the fight!"

"It's late," Hiro told them, choosing to ignore that comment. Saryn wasn't sure if that was because they were disappointed Saryn was planning to go back after everything that just happened, or if turning a deaf ear was Hiro's way of showing support.

"It is approximately 2:17 AM," Baymax spoke up, raising a finger. Saryn jumped, having forgotten the robot was with them.

"Right," Hiro said, also ignoring the start. "You're safe now. Get some sleep, and if there's a next time... Try not to get cornered."

On that note, Hiro climbed onto his robot's back, magnets locking him in place. Wings sprouted from Red Panda's back and the duo rocketed off into the night sky, leaving Saryn on the ground, waving after them.

Hiro was halfway back to the base when he realized what Saryn's "two moms" comment meant.

Chapter Text

Hiro was inordinately hot. He'd been wearing his mechsuit armor all night and they were moving into summer. He peeled it off the second he dismounted from Baymax when they arrived at the secret base, which was an immaculate high-tech bunker disguised as an abandoned warehouse on the sea edge of San-Fransokyo. He loved the feel of air conditioning on his skin. But he needed the full relaxation treatment, or as close as he could get this late.

"Baymax, why don't you go to your charging room?" Hiro suggested. The charging room was unnecessary now that Hiro had upgraded Baymax's battery, but he was in no mood to be coddled right now. He dropped his helmet near the front door with the rest of his suit as Baymax hobbled off to his charging room. Wasabi would have his hide when he saw the carelessly discarded armor, but Hiro was too sore and tired to care.

He made his way to the conference room, where he knew the others would be. Fred had pushed for a full rec room, but Roderick Blair, their base's architect, had refused outright. So the team always convened and relaxed at the conference table.

Hiro was proved right as the mechanical doors slid open with a soft hiss. Fred was reclining in his chair with his feet kicked up on the table. Wasabi had a box of veggie pizza in front of him that GoGo was eyeing with unshielded interest. Honey Lemon sat next to her, posing to take a post-mission selfie. Hiro wasn't sure why she always did that; it wasn't as if she could ever post them. But he found the sight comforting. He associated it with success.

"Sooooo," Fred called as soon as Hiro stepped into the room, "How’d it go?" His voice dripped with tease and he had a big goofy grin on his face.

"Um, Fred... Why are you talking like that?"

Fred wiggled his eyebrows and winked. "Oh, it just seemed like you had a special interest in seeing Saryn home... By yourself."

Hiro rolled his eyes. He wouldn't even dignify Fred's insinuation with an answer. Ever since they had defeated Trina and neutralized the Buddy Guardians, Fred had taken to talking about 'Phase Three,' which he insisted was the 'romantic entanglement phase.' For the past two or three weeks he'd acted like Hiro was crushing on everyone he came in contact with. It had been funny at first, maybe even a little charming, but the joke was quickly overstaying its welcome.

"I dropped them off at their place," he said nonchalantly, settling into a comfy chair of his own at the table. "It wasn't really an inconvenience."

"So no sign of that gang?" GoGo asked as she reached out to snag one of Wasabi's pizza slices. He looked affronted for a moment, then shrugged it off.

"Nahh," Hiro snorted and waved a dismissive hand as GoGo swallowed down her first bite. "We put the scare in them. It was super easy, too."

"Well, it would be after fighting top of the line supervillains like Momakase and Trina and Sirque," Honey Lemon reasoned.

Hiro nodded, typing a quick code on the tabletop before him. A small hole opened up in it and a soda can popped up, chilled to perfection.

"Still, I'm glad we were able to help them." He ignored Fred's smirk and opened the can. "It really took me back. I mean, that... that used to be me. Some random tech whiz kid, Bot-Fighting in dark alleys in the middle of the night, just for glory. Well, glory and a buttload of cash." Hiro smiled a little reminiscently.

"But I got saved by Tadashi, and now we've saved Saryn. It's small, but I like helping normal people with normal problems just as much as I like taking out the big bad guys. Well, almost as much." He slurped at his sugary pop.

"We haven't really had a choice recently," GoGo joked. "Any super villain we haven't already caught and locked up is too scared to show themselves with us around."

"Hear hear!" Honey Lemon clasped her hands together, smiling broadly. Wasabi whooped and Fred pumped his fist. Hiro gave them all a genuine smile, unable to resist the good vibes.

He should have known better than to accept it, to let his guard down and fully enjoy the moment. Now he'd gone and jinxed it.

Baymax's voice came over the intercom suddenly. Hiro had known that addition would come in handy.

"Hiro, there is a breaking news report I believe may be of consequence and interest."

Hiro swallowed down a groan with another sip of soda. He'd just gotten in. He'd been looking forward to retiring to the bedroom he had here at the base soon, and sleeping late into the day. But apparently an untold part of the superhero job was sleep deprivation.

"Basemax, pull up the story," Hiro called to the room at large. He and his friends all turned to face the wall, where a screen blinked on showing the local news report. The fact that the news was on this late at night alone spoke to the importance of whatever this was.

At first Hiro wasn't sure what he was looking at. It was a helicopter's view of.... Well, it looked like a fire, but he'd never seen one so apparently massive before, not even that night at SFIT when Tadashi....

The newscaster, a pompous and mustachioed man named Bluff Dunder, cleared things up for once. Kinda.

"...so far, but we do have some limited information for you. The lab, known locally as 'Deep Science,' actual name Compound V-1123, has long been rumored as the home of the government's top scientific experiments...."

"Tadashi was considering a military job," Honey Lemon intoned as she watched the report. "You know, before.... Well, I wonder if he might have ended up there? He was one of the best students to ever pass through SFIT."

That Tadashi had been considering a military job was news to Hiro, but he didn't feel at all surprised, just sad. So he might have died in a fire anyway.

No. It wasn’t doing any good to think about things like that. 'What if's, both positive and negative, hindered healing. Hiro let go of the hypothetical and returned his attention to Bluff Dunder.

"We were quickly forced off the scene by the military backup," Dunder continued. "As of now the only official statement we've received from them is a warning to stay away from the blaze, and we are being told that there are no projected survivors, but rescue teams will make sweeps as soon as the fire is contained."

Hiro stared at the dancing flames looping on the screen, evidently what little had been recorded by the news chopper before the Feds had come in. The words 'no projected survivors' echoed in his head.

"Hey, are you okay?" GoGo was staring at him from across the table, concern on her face and a half-eaten slice of pizza raised in her left hand. Hiro realized he was making a face and gulped, then nodded.

"Yeah, just... I hate fires. I'm doing a lot better these days, but it's still hard to think about. I don't think I'll ever really get over it." He stared at the table and fingered his soda, not wanting to hold eye contact.

"That's okay, Hiro." Wasabi smiled kindly. "Some things aren't meant to heal fully. They stay with us, and that's not always a bad thing. And you're still doing a lot better."

Hiro almost smiled. He was going to, though he had no idea if it was real or just an appreciative gesture, but Fred interrupted him.

"Woah!" he exclaimed suddenly, jumping up. "Uhhhh, what was that?" He pointed at the screen, where the footage was still looping.

Hiro forced himself to look at the screen again. At first, he didn't know what he was supposed to be looking for. It was hard for his autistic brain to concentrate with Bluff Dunder chattering so much, rattling off conspiracies for what may have happened there.

"Basemax, mute the video," Wasabi said, apparently having the same problem. The video went silent, and Hiro found that he was immediately more focused. But he still didn't see anything other than flames and smoke.

"Fred, what are we supposed to be looking at?" GoGo asked, but Honey Lemon gasped in realization.

Impatiently, Fred crossed over to the screen and manually zoomed in on the lower left quadrant, where the fewest flames were. They all waited for the video to loop again.

Everyone quickly mirrored Honey Lemon's gasp.

"Oh brother!" Wasabi said. "D'you think that's-?"

"Shhh, I want to see it again," Hiro interrupted, rising from his comfy chair.

He got a better look the second time. A purple flash appeared at the front. It could almost have been written off as the fire blowing up something electric, but when the purple light disappeared, in its place stood the dark outline of a person. The video was too fuzzy to make out any details, but it was definitely a person. They stood among the flames for a second before vanishing in another pinkish glimmer.

Hiro gulped, his mouth feeling dry. "Well," he said to GoGo, “You wanted to hop back on the super villain stopping train. And here’s something bigger than petty criminals."

"Who was that?" Wasabi asked. No one had an answer.

"How did you even see that?" GoGo demanded, her arms crossed as she looked to Fred. "The shot was zoomed way out."

"I have a trained eye for catching tiny Easter Eggs in the background of comics and movies," Fred declared proudly, turning away from the screen. "It's a hobby."

"Do you think he's what caused the explosion?" Wasabi asked. "I mean, if that was even a dude."

"They must have been!" said Hiro. "Baymax was right to show us this."

Honey Lemon drummed her fingers on the table. "We shouldn't assume the worst. Maybe that was a survivor?"

"A survivor who teleported away instead of staying to fill the military in on what happened," Wasabi pointed out, closing his pizza box gingerly before pulling a disinfecting wipe out of a slot in the table to clean his hands.

"Well, that was an experimental science lab, right?" Fred fell back into his chair and knit his fingers together the way he always did when coming up with theories. "There's a ton of different possibilities here. Maybe they were being experimented on and escaped with the help of the powers their captors gave them? Or maybe the scientists were dabbling in some weird stuff they couldn't control and boom! Explosion that granted one of them supernatural abilities! My bet is that he's either a love interest for one of us," he winked at Hiro, "or a new super villain! Either way this is definitely Phase III material!"

No one bothered to dignify that comment with a proper response. They were all used to Fred's shenanigans by now enough to know not to encourage him.

"It's definitely worth looking into," GoGo spoke up quickly, cracking her knuckles. "Only problem is the site is protected by the military."

"That won't be an issue," Hiro assured them. "Probably. Baymax can get us in and out fast. I mean... If we really want to go?"

They all fell silent at that, wondering. This had happened well outside of the city, and they'd historically kept their crime-fighting within her confines. Plus, it was getting really late, and despite SFIT being more or less out for summer, the idea of staying up much later wasn't very appealing. Maybe the military could handle it on their own?

Honey Lemon broke the silence first. "Come on, guys, let's suit up. We have a duty to help people. If this turns out to be something serious, I mean our kind of serious, and we didn't go check it out, I know we would never forgive ourselves."

Everyone else nodded and voiced their assent. Hiro was just rising from his chair, soda all but forgotten, to try and snatch up the armor he'd discarded in the entryway of the base when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

"Hold on a moment, guys."

He pulled it out and frowned. It was Aunt Cass! It's almost 3:30 in the morning! What's she doing up?

"Sorry, I have to take this, it's my aunt. She probably forgot I said I was gonna be with Fred tonight and is worried."

Hiro swiped up and put the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Aunt Cass," he said cheerily. "You didn't forget I was staying with friends again, did you? I told you yester-"

"H-Hiro! Oh, thank god I reached you!" Cass' voice sounded high and frantic. Just from those few words Hiro could picture her eyes wide and bloodshot.

"Cass, what's wrong?!"

"There's s-something.... A problem. Your robot! At the h-house! Please, Hiro, come quickly!"

"Cass, what do you-"

The line disconnected. It almost sounded like the phone had been stepped on and crushed.

"What was that about?" GoGo asked. Hiro shook his head.

"I don't know... She said there was a problem with my robot? I have so many I'm not sure what she means. Baymax is here and my old fighting bot hasn't been charged in months. A lot of my other projects are incomplete, too minor to cause any worry, or have been deactivated while I upgrade or fix them."

"Is Cass going to be alright?" Asked Wasabi, who had risen from his place and meandered towards the door.

"She sounded scared," Hiro told them. "Really scared."

"You should go to her," Honey Lemon's eyes were wide and sympathetic.

GoGo nodded. "We can check out Mr. Teleport."

"We are not calling him that!" Fred exclaimed. "I reserve the right to come up with a cooler name.... Also Mr. Teleport is already a character in Captain Fancy."

GoGo elbowed him in the ribs and Fred quickly coughed and back-peddled. "Ah, um, but yeah, Hiro... You should go check on your aunt."

"Are you sure?" Hiro asked, secretly glad for this excuse not to go along. After losing Tadashi he always preferred to let everyone else handle the fire-related crimes.

"Of course we are!" Honey Lemon stepped around the table and wrapped him in a hug. "We'll take Baymax, okay? You leave your suit here-"

"-and not on the floor!" Wasabi said, having opened the conference room door.

"-and go make sure your Aunt is alright!" Honey Lemon finished, pulling out of the hug but gripping Hiro's shoulders. Hiro felt a rush of gratitude towards her.

"Thank you," the black-haired boy said, giving a small half-smile. "Let's go help some people."

---------------------------------------------‐--‐-‐-----------‐--------‐-------------------------------------------------------

Hiro entered the house he shared with his Aunt and Mochi through the garage. Nothing looked out of place there, not that anyone who wasn't him would be able to tell. The boy actually tried to keep this workplace clean, for his Aunt’s sake, but it was still a cluttered mess of tools and spare parts and wires. From what he could tell, though, all his robotics projects were where he had left them, disabled or deactivated.

The main floor that held the café felt... unsettling. Hiro wasn't exactly sure what it was he sensed at first. He peeked into the main café, but the darkness just confused him even more. Maybe I'm just too worried and it's messing with me?"

And then he realized. His hair was fluttering a little! He paused to listen but there was no whir of an AC unit. Despite this he could feel a soft breeze across his bare arms. He stepped into the café proper and finally saw it. One of the far windows had been completely shattered in: dozens and dozens of glass shards of various shapes and sizes littered the café floor, barely glinting. Hiro turned on his heel and shot up the stairs, heart thumping loudly in his ears.

He found the second floor to be just as deserted when he ascended the stairs. Hiro noticed that Mochi was nowhere to be seen. This was a definite red flag, as that cat always ran to meet Hiro whenever he came home, no matter what time it was, in the hope of being fed. He hoped Mochi hadn't left through the smashed café window. Hopefully the shattered glass on the floor would keep him inside.

Hiro almost called out for his aunt as he scanned the dark dining room on the second landing, but something held him back. A hand of foreboding around his heart that instinctively forced him to silence.

Hiro's eyes were starting to adjust. The table where he and Aunt Cass always ate their meals was laying in two smashed halves in the center of the room. The chairs had been demolished as well. Splintered wood half hidden by shadows now leered at him through the shadows.

Hiro had no clue what bot of his could do damage like that. But seeing it made the teen regret not bringing backup, or at least his suit! Cass' safety was more important than his alter ego remaining secret. She was the only family he had left.

His eyes moved back to the staircase, up towards the third floor that was entirely his (and formerly also his brother's) room. The barest of orange light was showing. It was the last place Aunt Cass could be, assuming she was still in the house at all.

Hiro had enough experience sneaking in and out at night to avoid making the old stairs creak as he crept up towards his room. The door at the top was partially open, letting out slivers of golden light. There hadn't always been a door there, but a few months ago Aunt Cass had insisted on installing one, talking about how Hiro was a pubescent teen now, and how she'd learned her lesson after Tadashi. He wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that, but as he was now a superhero the added privacy was appreciated.

He paused just outside of the bedroom door and gathered himself, listening.

A strange, muffled grunting reached his ears. Hiro's eyes flashed wide as he took them in. Those fearful gasps and pants were clearly from Aunt Cass! She sounded just like she used to in her sleep in those first days when she took Hiro and Tadashi in, after their parents died. After her sister died.

Hiro set his jaw and made himself stand up straight. Whatever bot of his was malfunctioning had no idea what was coming to it; nothing and nobody would hurt Aunt Cass and get away with it!

Hiro kicked the door in dramatically and jumped into his bedroom, fists raised.

"Get away from my aunt!" he cried.

His steely resolve didn't last for two seconds. All the color drained from his face, leaving it looking pale and sickly even in the rich light of his solitary bedside lamp. His hands fell loosely to his sides and his jaw dropped as he took in the sight before him and forgot what he had to do, why he was here.

"C-Cass?"

She was kneeling in the middle of the room, looking too frightened to move or speak. Her hair was an unkempt mess. Even in the dull gold light Hiro could tell her eyes were red and bloodshot. She was wearing simple white pajamas, and her phone lay smashed on the floor beside her.

But it was what was standing behind her that shocked Hiro the most. It stood at just over six feet tall, with a large and round body. It wore red and black armor that was missing in several places, cracked and showing off inflatable white vinyl underneath. Aunt Cass had been right to call it Hiro's robot. Though he hadn't designed or even built this version, it was still his. It was something he had been very proud of. And currently it was glaring at him with glowing red eyes.

"Baymax?! Is... Is it really you?"

Chapter Text

Fred could see the flames that had engulfed Deep Science from the edge of San Fransokyo. The glowing orange tendrils looked so eerie, especially at night and especially from his perch in Baymax's arms as the five team members soared towards the destroyed base from almost a thousand feet. Viewing it from as far away as the city, the fire had looked like embers on the horizon. But as the team drew closer to the mountain base where the compound had been, they quickly grew.

Of course, it was a fair amount smaller than the blaze the news had shown from before. They would be able to land and gather data at least, but it still seemed daunting. Fred really couldn't blame Hiro for not wanting to come, after everything the little guy had been through.

The military had already arrived in full force. Choppers buzzed through the sky around the site, some spraying down fire retardant while others patrolled the area. And down below, just past the crumbling border wall that had surrounded the compound, a small army of tanks and armored vehicles blocked the road. It looked AWESOME!

"Is anyone else starting to have second thoughts about this?!" Wasabi clung to Baymax protectively as they cut across the night sky.

"We've already come this far!" GoGo replied, sticking her chin out a little. "Might as well see it through."

"Uhhhh, but the other guys have a lot of really big guns," Wasabi pointed out. "Like, 'no more Big Hero 6' lot of guns."

"Baymax can get us in!" Fred adopted a brave face before realizing no one could see it from outside his suit. "We can get around those choppers, no problem! Once we land we'll have a few minutes to look around before we have to make a run for it."

"I think Wasabi was more concerned about the tanks," GoGo chided him.

"Yeaahhhh, I'm not really sure what to do about those...."

"They won't shoot while we're approaching or departing," Honey Lemon said. "With the city behind us and suburbs along the way, they won't risk firing. The only window they have is when we're right overhead and landing."

"I really hope you're right," Wasabi said as Baymax cruised lower. "We're assuming they haven't evacuated the suburbs."

They had made up their minds, however. The group kept flying until at last they were spotted.

Two of the patrolling helicopters blasted them with search lights. They were bright enough to rival the floodlights that were part of Fred's ultra-armor! The white lights were so blinding that everyone but Baymax looked away, their eyes closed tight.

Down on the ground, one of the armored vehicles had turned on its loudspeaker, no doubt telling them to turn back or be shot from the sky. All Fred could make out, though, were the words "Big Hero Six!"

"It's nice to know even the military knows who we are," he said to no one in particular, eyes still shut. Even with his eyes closed, the spotlights made his vision pink and orange through his eyelids.

Whatever else the people down below were saying over the loudspeakers got lost in the combined roars of the wind, Baymax's thrusters, and the heavy whir of the chopper blades.

Of course, communication didn't remain a problem for very long. When it became clear that Fred, Baymax, and the others had no intention of stopping or changing course, the army men below cut off the loudspeakers entirely. A couple of seconds passed and then the unmistakable sound of gunshots popped through the air, telling the team in no uncertain terms exactly what the military wanted.

"They're shooting at us!" Wasabi cried and clung tighter to the flying robot. "We forgot about all the regular guns! But they didn't and they're shooting at us!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" Fred let out a shout of his own. "Baymax, evasive maneuvers!"

Baymax did as instructed and broke the straight line he'd been flying in, tilting and zig-zagging through the air instead. Fred heard a couple of bullets strike the big guy's armor as the people down below continued to fire, but Baymax remained inflated so they must not have done any real damage.

Wasabi screamed louder than before as he clung on for dear life. Baymax's movements kept bringing the gang out of the spotlights, giving them temporary reprieves from blindness. In the span of just a few death-defying seconds they blasted past the guardian helicopters.

Fred couldn't help but whoop aloud as they broke the line. He would have pumped his fist as well had he not been clinging desperately to his robotic companion. They all opened their eyes, except for Wasabi.

"Set us down just past the wall," GoGo commanded, pointing from atop Baymax at the crumbling structure that surrounded the dying blaze. Baymax complied and to the group's surprise none of the choppers followed.

"They're probably worried about the safety of the area," Wasabi said, hearing the helicopters fall back. "If this really was an experimental testing facility, who knows what damaged, malfunctioning tech could go off in here!" There might even be radiation leaks!

That sent a chill through all of them, but no one stopped Baymax as he descended into the rubble. When his thrusters cut out Wasabi was the first to dismount from the droid, despite the ominous thought he'd just posed.

"What?" he defended as they all stared at him. "I really do not like heights!"

Fred dropped beside him. The ground here was littered with debris. All different sizes of brick and cement chunks, insulation, pipes and rebar... But not all of it looked charred. It seemed the destruction here had been caused more by the shock wave from the initial explosion than by any flames or scorching energy.

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Fred asked, staring around. Everything looked the same, which is to say decimated. He noticed the wind was blowing the smoke from the main fire towards the nearest mountain, which was good for San Fransokyo. It had enough problems without adding smog in the mix.

"We're looking for anything that points us to what happened here, especially relating to that guy we saw on the news," GoGo replied as she began to dig through the nearest rubble pile. It seemed pointless to Fred, there was just so much destruction here! But he knew she was right, they had to try.

"Baymax," Wasabi said as he moved to help her, "can you do a scan, see what you can find?"

"Of course," the robot said. "What kind of scan would you like me to perform?"

Wasabi opened his mouth and raised a finger. "Uhhhh.... All of them?"

"Start with the priority scans according to your programming," Honey Lemon called from far to Fred's left. She had elongated her purse into its assault-style and was rapid-fire shooting turquoise balls at the nearest active fires, dousing them in bursts of gel.

"Scan complete," Baymax announced. Everyone turned to look at him, and Fred tossed aside a melted hunk of metal to give the droid his attention. "I am picking up an energy reading. It is not dissimilar to-"

"Of course there's an energy reading," GoGo sighed. "This place exploded. Is there anything else, Baymax?"

"Yes. I detect a life sign," Baymax declared. Everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Baymax!" Wasabi cried. "Always lead with that sort of information!" The droid nodded.

"A life sign? Where?!" Fred hopped excitedly back over to the droid. Baymax pointed over Honey Lemon's shoulder to an area that looked like an entire high concrete wall had fallen, resting now in mostly assembled puzzle pieces on the ground.

"The reading is coming from that vicinity. I am afraid there is too much interference to pinpoint a more precise location."

"That's okay, buddy," Fred said, already making his way over to it and gesturing for the others to follow. "You point and we search!"

"Good work, Baymax!" Honey Lemon called encouragingly as she followed Fred. "Keep the other scans going!"

GoGo rolled her eyes as she ran over to the area Baymax had indicated to start lifting rubble.

They all hurried after her, clambering over upturned and crumbling slabs of concrete. Fred's excitement waned quickly. Looking at it now, he wasn't sure how they were supposed to find anyone in this mess. It looked like a junkyard. A smoldering metal and cement junkyard. They had just a generalization about where the life sign was coming from, and even if they did manage to find whoever it was, they had no guarantee they wouldn't attack, or that they'd be able to help.

And to top it all off, they didn't have a whole lot of time left. The military may have held back their helicopters, but they weren't just going to sit there patiently. No doubt they'd be organizing a ground strike force... Or maybe Fred had just seen too many movies and was being paranoid?

As it turned out, it was much easier than Fred had expected. Baymax flew over the larger rubble and began to help lift away the remnants of the building. Honey Lemon helped get the smaller bits Baymax's hands couldn't grab up from his area, and after about three minutes she cried out.

"I've got something!"

Fred cast aside the rebar he'd been trying to use to pry up a larger chunk of concrete and stumbled over the uneven field to her. When everyone had gathered, there was no need to ask what she'd found. They all heard the muffled, croaky voice calling through a hole in the rubble.

"H-hello? Is someone there?"

It was a male voice, sounding strained and raspy from use, no doubt from calling for help for over an hour.

"We're here!" Fred shouted in return. "We're getting you out of there, don't worry!"

Everyone set to work again, this time digging the debris away at that one spot, widening the gap. It was hot, tedious work, with smoke filling their lungs and eyes. Fred had opened the top of his suit so he could grab things, and the heavy chunks of everything were rubbing his fingers towards bleeding. But he swallowed down every minor complaint that started to well up. There was a man in danger, that would always be more important.

After a few minutes the gap was big enough for someone to climb up through, and everyone stepped back. Fred wished he'd brought his Ultra Armor so he could throw some light down there. Hiro had recently tinkered with it and added different brightness settings, so he could have done it without blinding the trapped man. Baymax pointed his gauntlet palm-down and turned on his built-in light, solving the problem.

The hole wasn't too deep. Maybe five feet? Down at the bottom they saw a bald man who was caked in grey dust nestled in an alcove that appeared to be the underside of a desk that had gotten jammed in place.

"I have successfully scanned him now that we are in range," Baymax announced. "The male has suffered a minor concussion and several treatable lacerations."

"Can you get out on your own?" Wasabi asked, crouching in front of the hole.

"I can make it most of the way," the man replied. He started to crawl forward out from under the desk and stood up shakily. He had to slouch a bit, but stepped up to the disaster cave wall, hissing a little as he moved, and gingerly climbed up the stacked debris.

GoGo hurried over and with Wasabi's help lifted the man the rest of the way out of the pit. They held his elbows as his legs shook.

"Thank you!" He coughed. Then he shot them all looks and his eyes widened.

"You're not in the military! You're those vigilantes from the city!"

As soon as he said it, Fred heard one of the choppers start to move in over the wall. The soldiers couldn't be far behind.

"Okay," Fred pushed Wasabi and GoGo aside and sat the dusty man on a large concrete chunk. He gestured Baymax over.

"We rescued you. So you're gonna tell us what happened here while Red Panda tends to your wounds. Got it?" He crossed his arms, then realized the top half of his suit was off.

"Oops!" Fred quickly pulled it back on.

The man looked hesitant for a moment, then sighed.

"Al-alright, but you didn't hear any of this from me! We contracted someone to fix a project for us. We couldn't figure out the logistics ourselves, so we outsourced. But base employees stayed on to make sure it was done safely. I don't know who we contracted, though, I'm just one of the guys who tests radiation levels."

Wasabi raised an eyebrow. "Then why were you all the way out here, at the edge of the compound? Why weren't you in the control room in the main hangar?"

The man grimaced then sighed with relief as Baymax sprayed something in a cut he had on the side of his neck.

"Look, I was part of the original team, over a year ago at Kreitech. When it's balanced, the levels are safe. But they started with just one this time, so it was expelling radiation instead of staying balanced. I didn't like the levels, and the general wasn't listening to me. I quit for my own safety, and I was here packing up while they pushed ahead with the test."

GoGo shook her head. "Wait, wait. Back up. Is that what happened here? A radiation leak? And what was being tested here?"

The man's brow furrowed. Fred could feel the reveal coming. Just like in a crime show.

"The radiation didn't do this, no."

"We should probably still be worried about it, though!" Wasabi's eyes darted around fearfully.

"If it wasn't the radiation, then what made this place go kaboom?" Fred pressed.

"All I know is I saw something big smash through the wall before the building caved in on me. Looked like it was heading for the city." The man turned to cough heavily into his elbow

"And what was the project?" GoGo asked. The man frowned.

"S-sorry?"

"You forgot to tell us what you were building and testing in there."

The man blinked. "A portal. That old Silent Sparrow technology that almost destroyed San Fransokyo, but it was supposed to be a lot safer this time! They had a new magnetic containment field and everything."

Everyone took a step back in disbelief.

"Surely the military wouldn't be that reckless?"

"Of course they were, Honey Lemon. It's the military. They're more reckless than Krei is!" GoGo's brow furrowed.

But Fred tuned out the rest of the conversation, mentally scanning through comic books, trying to figure the situation out. He landed on Captain Fancy #133, when Fancy's nemesis took control of Lash Looper's taxi.

He breathed out sharply just as the sounds of soldiers shouting to each other reached his ears.

"Holy crap, you guys, I know what's going on! Welll, mostly. But Hiro is in danger, we have to get to him, pronto!"

________________________________________________________________________

"B-baymax! How are you here?! Are you some evil clone? Or a projection around an exoskeleton? O-or are you from the future? What am I saying?"

Hiro eyed the droid, seeing how a lot of his armor was missing. What was left was clearly the old armor, not the new black and deep red Baymax had now. And he was missing a fist. This was the old Baymax. "How did you get out?"

Baymax 1.0 ignored the questions, and posed one of his own.

"Where is my charging port? Memory indicates this is the correct location, but I have failed to locate it."

To illustrate his seriousness, he grabbed hold of Aunt Cass, squeezing. She gasped and wiggled, struggling to breathe.

"H-Hiro! W-what's going on here?!"

"Silence! Where is the charge port?"

Hiro raised his hands non-threateningly. "It isn't here! Please, let Cass go!"

The droid dropped Cass in a heap on the floor.

"Unacceptable response. Verdict: termination."

Baymax raised the fistless arm, which essentially ended with an armored club, and started to bring it down over Aunt Cass. Hiro cried out alongside his aunt and lurched forward, arms stretched out to push her out of the way.

"SFIT! IT'S IN THE LAB AT SFIT!" His voice cracked.

But it was useless, too late. Hiro was still all the way across the room. And he knew it. He felt like he was the one being crushed. He'd already lost his parents, his brother and best friend Tadashi… he wasn't ready to face the world without his Aunt Cass.

But then, a split second before the fist would have shattered Cass, the room lit up in a blaze of pink light. A form materialized beside Baymax. It all happened too fast for Hiro to really see, but there was immediately another flash around the form and both it and Cass vanished! Baymax's arm punched right through the floorboards, and Hiro had to turn around to avoid getting splinters in his face.

A good thing he did, because in yet another pink shimmer, the form and Aunt Cass fizzled into existence again at the bedroom door. Hiro's jaw dropped. Whoever it was, they were wearing a mechsuit. A purple mechsuit, the same shade Hiro's was! In fact… it looked really similar to his suit. He would have thought someone stole it, if it weren't for the fact that they stood at least a foot taller than the kid, so it wasn't the same suit. And he had his visor down, so Hiro couldn't see his face.

"Who the hell are you?!" Hiro sputtered. Behind him, Baymax ripped his lack of a fist out of the floor and struck a fighting stance.

"Good one, Hiro," the mystery man replied, his voice filtered from the helmet. "But come on, it's been months since we had to keep this secret. Wanna tell me why Baymax is going on a rampage attacking people?"

Hiro stammered a little, thoroughly confused. How did he know Hiro's name? Where did he get those powers? How had he known to come here? Hiro could have thought of questions all night, but the guy in the mechsuit interrupted him.

"Look out!"

He sped forward, darting past Hiro, to intercept Baymax, who had also charged. Baymax threw another punch, but Cass' savior teleported a couple of feet to the right to avoid it. Even so, Hiro felt a whoosh of air from across the room from the speed the punch had been thrown.

But the man wasn't just going to play cat and mouse. While Baymax lurched forward from his momentum, he struck back. There was a clanging thunk as the man drove a surprisingly powerful kick into Baymax's side, pushing him back. Capitalizing on this advantage, the suited outsider lunged for the bot. The wall cracked from their impact. Whoever was in the suit, they knew where to land punches. Most of Baymax's white marshmallow form was showing. Usually he could take all the hits like this and bounce right back. But this mysterious person was landing blows in all the right places to actually make an impact.

The wall started to crumble. Cass let out a small cry as Baymax and the rescuer broke through and crashed down into the street three stories below.

Hiro felt jilted by the crunching, crashing sound. He was used to it after all these months fighting scum and villainy, but it was never here, where he lived.

Which reminded him.

"Aunt Cass! Are you okay?!" He ran over to her, offering a hand to help her up.

"I'm fine… I don't know what in the world is going on! But I'm physically okay." With Hiro's help she stood. "Come on, we need to make sure Baymax and whoever that was don't destroy the café, too!"

They darted down the stairs together and ran through the café, shoes crunching broken glass as they made their way into the street through the shattered window.

The man was still holding his own when they caught sight of him. He was dodging and counter striking so quickly it was like watching a tape on fast forward. He blinked in and out of existence, landing blows from behind and to the sides. Of course, it didn't last. Baymax moved out of the way of one kick and left the man off-balance. The droid exploited this, raising the fingerless gauntlet and hitting him hard in the chest, sending him flying with a crunching thud into the brick side of a building across the street.

There were onlookers now, peeping through windows and filming from up the street. Baymax was a threat to everyone here, but mostly to Cass' rescuer. He advanced on him, fistless arm raised again. The man was coughing and holding his side gingerly.

"I knew he was back!" A familiar voice shouted from behind Hiro and Cass. They turned and saw the rest of Big Hero 6 arrive, Baymax 2.0 at the lead! Fred was pointing dramatically at Baymax 1.0 and the mystery man.

"Holy moley!" Wasabi cried. "There's two of them!"

"About t-time!" The purple-armored man grunted, getting up. 1.0 turned and looked at the team, red eyes narrowing. It backed away. Without all of its armor and with a critical battery level, it couldn't take on all of them. It turned and fled up the street, intermittently turning on its damaged thrusters to increase speed. People up the street scattered as it roared by.

"Get after it!" GoGo called to the team, dropping one of her disks, which expanded into a circular platform that hovered about a foot off the ground.

"Wait!" Hiro waved. "I need you here!"

"Hiro?" Cass grabbed his shoulder. "You know these people?"

Hiro bit his lip and nodded before gesturing everyone over. But before he could say anything, the mysterious teleporting man ran up.

"Baymax, do a wellness scan on Aunt Cass," he called over his shoulder to 2.0.

Her eyes widened. "Wait, that's Baymax?! There's two of them? And… one is in Big Hero 6?"

Hiro turned to glare at the man instead of answering. "Hey, don't tell my robot what to do!"

He chuckled. "Don't you mean our robot? Or more accurately, mine?"

Hiro's face went red with fury. How dare this nobody act like this, like he had anything to do with Baymax at all! He wasn't going to stand there and let this jerk insult his brother like that. Hiros' hands curled into fists.

But then the man reached up and grabbed his helmet. There was a click and a hiss as it unlocked from the rest of his suit, and he pulled it off.

And suddenly Tadashi's face was looking down at Hiro, unburnt and unblemished, and smiling as though nothing had ever happened, like he hadn't died a year ago.

"Holy shit!" GoGo muttered. "It… it can't be!"

Cass pushed Hiro out of the way.

"Tadashi?" Her voice trembled and there were already tears in her eyes. She reached up and touched his face.

His smile turned apologetic. "Hey, Aunt Cass. I'm really sorry, I know seeing me like this, fighting here in person, must be a shock." He gestured to his mechsuit. His voice sounded so natural, like everything was fine.

Cass' eyes rolled up and she crumpled onto the street.

Chapter Text

Baymax 1.0's battery was at 15% when he reached SFIT. If he'd still had the healthcare chip in, he'd be loopy and drunk by now. But the combat chip gave him a focus boost, hopefully enough to carry him to Tadashi Hamada's lab. 

But first he had to get inside the building. The door was locked. He could smash through it with ease, but that would signal the police, maybe even Hiro and the other superheroes. He searched through his database, then turned to a scanner next to the door. A mechanism inside him projected a scan of his old school ID onto his chest. There was a beep and the door clicked open. Baymax cut the projection and hurried inside. 

He made his way towards the robotics labs. The droid got nearly all the way there when his sensors detected a metal scuttling noise from behind him. He turned around as fast as he could, night vision on. 

There was a metal sphere with four robotic legs and what appeared to be an eye standing there, looking at Baymax. Clearly a security bot of some type. Baymax struck a fighting position as best he could. He didn't know if his battery would last through a fight, but he had to try. 

But then the bot's eye blinked green, and it turned around and left back down the hall. Evidently it deemed Baymax as unthreatening. Or the new version of him had special access. Whatever the case, there was no more time to waste. The bot hurried off down the hall away from the security spider and pushed into Tadashi Hamada's lab.

The room wasn't how he remembered it. It was cluttered now, with disassembled robotics projects and candy wrappers alike. There was also an armored fist on a table by the window, clearly the same one he'd lost rescuing that stupid boy and the sleeping woman. But then he spotted his charging port and disregarded everything else, detaching what little armor remained and settling into the charger. His body deflated and the metal skeleton inside contracted. Baymax powered down. 

★★★

He "woke up" several hours later. The early morning sun was peeking through the window. And someone was in the room. 

"Hello? B-big Hero 6? Um, the Dean said I could find you here." 

Baymax powered up his visual sensors and started to re-inflate, now at 100% battery. He heard a small yelp as his body filled with air. A moment later he was fully functional. 

There was a child in front of him, dark skin, thoroughly androgynous, and holding a pan of something. 

Saryn's fearful expression turned to a smile. They wore plain black leggings and a slim cut and faded blue t-shirt that still said 'Mindfreak.' Pinned to the shirt was a visitor badge and a button with several colored stripes. 

"Oh, it's you!" They said. Their eyes found the discarded pieces of armor on the floor that were all chipped and charred. "You look like you saw some action after you dropped me off! Where are the others?"

1.0 ignored the question. "You… know me?"

"Yeah!" Saryn nodded. "We met last night, remember? You and the others saved me. The boy- I think they're a boy- told me I could find him here or at some café, and this was closer to me."

Baymax cocked his head and stepped out of the charging port. 

"Hiro?"

"Yeah, Big Hero 6! But then, you should know, being Red Panda."

"I do not know this term." 

"Well, y'know, it's what people call you and your superhero team. Anyway, even though my family can never know I was out Bot-Fighting, my mamas always taught me to properly show my thanks. I couldn't really get to sleep so I made banana bread! Can I just leave it somewhere if the others aren't here?"

Baymax didn't answer. Saryn started rocking back and forth on their heels, looking at the robot… and the charging station it had just been plugged into. 

"Wait… why were you using a charge port when you have that new power source?" 

Baymax moved instantly, his analyzers at full speed now his battery was full. He pushed a hand into the armored fist on a table next to him, the one that was used to rescue Hiro and Abigail Callaghan, and activated it faster than Saryn could blink. Before the kid knew what was happening, Baymax 1.0 had grabbed them and lifted them off the floor. They cried out again and squirmed, trying to get free. But all that did was dislodge the pan from their grasp. It clattered to the floor and sent chunks of homemade banana bread flying. 

Baymax's red eyes narrowed, and he brought Saryn right up to his face.

"What power source?"

________________________________________________________________________

Honey Lemon and Baymax rushed over to Aunt Cass and started checking her for any injuries. Baymax scanned her and Honey Lemon typed a recipe into her purse and held out a baby blue colored ball up to Cass' face. It evaporated and she breathed it in.

"That should help with stress and muscle aches when she wakes up." 

But everyone else was still staring dumbstruck at Tadashi. Hiro reached up and frantically checked his eyes for contact lenses. He didn't find any, and his brother was still there. He looked just as shocked by everyone's reactions as they were of him standing there. 

Hiro raced forward and leapt into the air, tears already filling his eyes. He tackled Tadashi with a bear hug, making the older guy grunt and stumble backwards. He hugged Hiro back, still feeling confused but at least proving to be physically here. 

"Geez, knucklehead. I've only been gone for a few hours. I mean I like your enthusiasm, but clingy much?" 

Hiro dropped out of his arms and stared up with wide brown eyes. Then they narrowed and he glared at his brother. 

"What the hell do you mean, 'a few hours?!'" He pushed Tadashi roughly in the chest. 

Tadashi grunted again and scowled. "Hey, it's not my fault! My suit malfunctioned. Brought me all the way out by that lab. I saw it explode and watched the old Baymax head for the city. I came as quickly as I could."

Hiros' face broke. "It's been a year! And you look f-fine! We looked for you! Why w-wouldn't you come back to us then?" 

He started to shiver, legs threatening to give way, and Hiro wrapped his skinny arms around himself. 

"Hiro, what on earth are you talking about? I told you, I had a suit malfunction." 

"We don't know anything about a suit for you," GoGo called. 

Aunt Cass interrupted with a loud groan. But she stayed passed out in the middle of the street. Hiro realized he could hear sirens now, off in the distance. 

Tadashi made for Cass, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. But before he could take three steps, GoGo zoomed between them and raised her fists threateningly. The magnetic disks hovering a half inch from her hands spun slightly. 

"Stay right where you are." 

She sounded dangerous. Hiro had only heard her voice like that, solid and almost angry, when they were facing a really bad villain. 

Tadashi took a step back, mouth falling open. His eyebrows bunched even more. "What are you talking about? It's me, remember? Tadashi." 

"Oh, we remember," GoGo narrowed her eyes and pulled a wad of gum out of her mouth. She stuck it on the side of her helmet. 

"Why is everyone acting so weird? We need to help Aunt Cass! And go after the other Baymax! Hiro, come on, tell them to knock it off." 

But Hiro was coming to his senses at last. His face darkened and he felt a fury he hadn't known since he discovered it was Callaghan who killed his brother rising within him. 

"My brother died last year. I'm sick of people trying to use that against me." He backed away. Raising his small fists too.

"We had a funeral and everything." Wasabi's plasma blades came to life, and he stepped up by GoGo, in front of Hiro and Cass. 

Tadashi shook his head insistently. "Dead?! No… This is a joke, you're pulling my leg. I've been here with you!"

Honey Lemon moved forward.

"Baymax, can you scan him please?"

The droid blinked. "I automatically scanned him when we arrived. He is an exact biological match to Tadashi Hamada. I apologize for not saying so sooner. I assumed that when we arrived on the scene and Fred said 'I knew he was back,' that Fred was referring to Tadashi."

"That's a fair mistake to make," Fred chimed in. 

Tadashi stepped forward again. "That settles it. Let me see my aunt."

Everyone raised their weapons more. Honey Lemon leveled her Chem Purse at Tadashi's face, Wasabi and GoGo held their glowing and spinning wrists higher, and Fred crouched, ready to super jump. Even Hiro popped his knuckles and clenched his fists. 

"I've been tricked before." 

"And so have Baymax's sensors," Wasabi pointed out. 

Tadashi narrowed his eyes but held up his hands in surrender. 

"Tricked by who?" 

________________________________________________________________________

"Come now, Baymax. Put the child down. It is of no use." 

The robot blinked, holding Saryn up by the ankle. He hadn't even detected anyone approaching the room, but now there was a middle-aged man in dark formal wear standing in the doorway to the lab. He had an unsettling smile on his face and streaks of red and grey at the front of his short, black hair. 

"You know me as well?" 

The man scoffed and spoke in a troubled but proper English accent. 

"Well I should hope so, after all the effort I went through to get you back into this world. The military thinks they contracted me, and on paper they did. But in reality, I courted them. It needed to be official, I couldn't have anyone mucking up my plans. But I put money in some high-tanking pockets ad pushed the job off on those dunces." He grinned connivingly.

"Who are you?" Baymax demanded, trying and failing to scan this newcomer. 

"Ah ah," the man waved a disapproving finger. "First put the child down. You have brute strength and power, quite a lot of pent up destruction, but no mind, no cunning. You're too thick to understand that the child has already told you all it knows. It is of no more use to you. Put it down and let's talk." 

Very well." Baymax let Saryn fall into a heap on the ground and leveled his fist at the newcomer. 

Saryn picked themself up gingerly, looking fearfully from the man to the robot. The stranger waved a dismissive hand without looking at the kid. 

"This is your last chance to leave before I more permanently ensure our privacy."

Saryn let out a squeak and bolted around the man and out the door. As soon as they were gone, Baymax lunged at the man. He dodged the strike easily, with his hands clasped behind his back. And Baymax's fist left a crater where he'd been standing  

"Really? After all I've done to help you, and all that I am going to do for you? If you settle down and listen, I will make it worth your while." 

Baymax considered the offer. His programming was to destroy, but if this man helped him, that could mean destroying on a larger scale. He lowered his fist. 

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," the man sneered. "I believe an introduction is in order. I am Obake." He bowed. 

"I have been searching for you all night after freeing you. Quite the active little robot you've been, for a damaged one. At any rate, I've had a back door into SFIT security, including all their cameras for ages, and Big Hero 6 never kicked me out of their system after defeating me over a year ago. Must have slipped their minds." He let the last word drawl out.

Obake smirked and strolled forward, unafraid of Baymax. He began picking up random in-progress robotics projects and tools from the various worktables. 

"In any event, I saw you come in and I saw back then when little Hiro discovered the chip in Baymax's- sorry, the other Baymax's- glove. Which means I know that we're quite a lot alike, you and I. Freed from what used to make us 'good people.'"

"Make your point," Baymax 1.0 growled. 

"My point is that you have no big-picture. No plan! Your purpose is to destroy, but you're one broken robot against a large city and six superheroes. And I have a plan, but no muscle. But if we work together, we could raze San Fransokyo once and for all. I have a backdoor into their cameras, but I'm still locked out of their projects. I need assistance. And I think we have similar goals in mind.

"And as a gesture of faith to you, I am willing to upgrade you. Armor and all. We will be unstoppable! San Fransokyo won't stand a chance when we strike. There is only one thing to do first, but it is something you were going to do anyway. So, what say you?" 

________________________________________________________________________

"Okay, okay, I've got it!" Fred declared. "Prove that you're Tadashi by telling us things that only he would know. Classic way to deal with a doppelgänger."

Hiro raised a finger. "That's… probably a good idea." 

"Out with it, then!" GoGo snarled. 

"Okay! Everyone calm down. I can do that." Tadashi kept his hands raised but nodded at Honey Lemon. 

"I got you your introduction to Robert Callaghan, remember? I saw how impressive your work was and that introduction got you interested in SFIT, kinda like with Hiro." 

"That's not exactly a secret," GoGo interjected. "Come on, dig deep." 

Tadashi reddened. "It's just… This stuff might be private. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable." 

"Say what you need to say." Honey Lemon squared her shoulders. "This is more important." 

Tadashi still looked scared to say much, but he pressed on. 

"Alright… our first Christmas after we started at SFIT, you cornered me at the party and kissed me. But I turned you down and told you that I love you, but there was someone else for me." 

She gasped and lowered her chem purse. Tadashi turned to Fred before anyone else could react. 

"You and I were friends even before SFIT. Our friendship was actually why you joined as the mascot, and why your parents invested in the school. I remember us meeting at the comic book store. I told you about Richardson Mole's fear of ghosts so you could pull that Halloween prank on him." 

Fred nodded in the suit. "Yeah… that happened. Mole had to move to a different location to sell his comics! And I didn't want him to find out it was me so I never told anyone else that happened."

Tadashi smiled and slowly lowered his hands. 

"Wasabi, GoGo… I've been there for both of you when you've had deaths in the family. I gave you the same advice. To recognize that we have a finite time here, and use that to move forward, help people and help yourselves. GoGo, you cried on my shoulder and fell asleep there. And Wasabi, you binged your favorite comfort show, and I stayed up all night with you, even though I really don't like Fraiser."

Wasabi turned off his plasma blades and shook his head.  "You're actually here!" 

But GoGo, looking conflicted, kept her fists up. 

"And Hiro," Tadashi smiled down at the kid, his little brother. "I built you that snow machine so you could finally have a white Christmas."

Hiro nodded. "It's on my desk, never out of sight."

Tadashi smiled again, this time flashing his white teeth placatingly. "When you were maybe six, we went on a camping trip. It was just at a park here in San Fransokyo, but you were so excited anyway. You were obsessed with the cactus behind our tent, even though it kept poking you. By the end of the trip, all your fingers had bandaids. You made me kiss each one after putting a bandaid on.

"And maybe a year before that, I was grumpy cuz I was dealing with a bully at school. Some Kyle kid. We were in the car on the way to lunch, and I snapped at you. So you called the cops on me from the YakiTaco payphone. You told the operator 'my brother is being mean to me!' That was when I decided I'd never snap at you again. I'd always find another way besides anger to get through to you."

Hiro had tears in his eyes now. Tadashi stepped up to him and met no resistance from the others, not even GoGo. He crouched down in front of his little brother and tucked some of the kid's hair behind his ear. 

"More recently, you helped me design this suit," he gestured to the mech-armour he was wearing. 

Hiro's eyes grew smaller and he shook his head, confused. The spell broke for him.

"What? That never happened! You died or disappeared or whatever two months before I made any suits." 

Tadashi's loving smile broke. "No, that's not what happened! Remember, it used to be both of us riding Baymax! We had matching suits! But then we met Sirque and I got her to stop and talk before her portals could collapse. You and I figured out that they needed a stronger magnetic containment field to work without danger, so we reconfigured this suit with that tech, because it was already wired for magnetic energy."

Hiro stepped away from Tadashi again, his glare returning. "You're lying!" 

But Baymax spoke up. "According to his heart rate, perspiration, breathing, and pupils, he is telling the truth." 

"Or at least what he thinks is the truth," Hiro muttered.

"Wait," GoGo said, clearly following a thought. "Your teleportation powers are tied to magnetics… and Silent Sparrow?"

 Baymax spoke again. 

"Also, the police are almost here." 

Everyone looked up the road. There were indeed flashing lights approaching  and the sound of sirens was much louder than earlier. 

"I'll go talk to the cops," GoGo put put her gum back in her mouth and shut her visor. "The rest of you, get into the café with Cass. Honey Lemon, can you do anything about that window?" 

Honey Lemon nodded. GoGo turned to Hiro. 

"Listen. I can't explain it, but I really think that is Tadashi. I know nothing makes sense, but trust him for now. I'll be right back." 

She zoomed off towards the approaching police cars and the rest of the team, plus Cass and Tadashi, made their way out of the street and into the café, doing their best to avoid broken glass. 

As soon as they were inside, Hiro fell shakily into a chair at one of the tables. 

"Tadashi… how are you here? I need to know! It's been so long for me, for us." 

The others nodded in agreement, Except For Honey Lemon, who had thrown a ball of green gel to fill the broken window and moved to unlock and open the café door.

 Tadashi looked shocked, like it was just occurring to him that everyone had been telling the truth about him being gone. 

"Hiro, I really don't know. I don't know anything about what you say you've been through. I have memories of the entire time you say I've been gone, with you and the others. From stopping Callaghan to High Voltage and Liv Amara and Obake. I don't know what's happening here." 

"I think I do!" Fred exclaimed as he started to climb out of his suit. Everyone turned to look at him. 

"Do we really want to know?" Asked GoGo, stepping through the front door with her helmet off and her disks detached. "Just gave a rundown to Chief Cruz, he said the police will spread out through the city to keep an eye out for Baymax. The other one, I mean." 

Fred scowled. "Hey, I really do think I know what happened." 

Hiro looked back to him as GoGo sank into a chair as well. Fred, free of his suit, was walking around the café counter to snag an apple fritter. 

"Honestly… I'd like to hear any ideas anyone has. Tell me, Fred." 

"Okay, okay!" Fred took a bite of the fritter and held up a finger to keep everyone quiet until he swallowed. 

"This is clearly a case of an AU character- that's Alternate Universe to you- transferring to the real world! Just like in Captain Fancy #132, when the girl Lash Luthor, Lass Luthor, accidentally got sucked into a wormhole and ended up in the world the comics take place in!" He adjusted his beanie and grinned. "And in the next issue, she helps Lash Luthor win his taxi back after it turns evil and destroys the city." 

No one spoke for a minute, until Wasabi hummed. 

"Okay, that might actually make a little sense." 

"It does?" Tadashi asked. 

"Yeah… your suit. You said you and Hiro used Silent Sparrow tech from Sirque to get you teleportation powers, right?" Wasabi nodded at the purple armor. 

Tadashi nodded, sitting down. "Yeah, I did." 

GoGo caught on. "The explosion at Deep Science! It was caused by the military experimenting on another portal. We talked to a survivor and he said it exploded because of evil Baymax." 

Hiro had completely forgotten that he'd sent his friends to the site of the explosion. His eyes went wide as he digested that information, catching on to what the others seemed to have realized. 

"The portal is usually linked to another! This one wasn't, so it wasn't connecting the signal. When it got damaged, that drifting signal must have reached out and found Tadashi's suit in the other universe! Right when he was teleporting!"

"And then it brought him here," Honey Lemon nodded. 

Tadashi looked dazed. This was a lot to take in. He wasn't in his own universe?!

"Honestly," GoGo said, "I hate to say it, but I think that's the most likely possibility. It's not like any of us here have enough knowledge of theoretical physics to prove or disprove it. All I can say is, Tadashi doesn't seem like he's lying, and that fits with this theory. 

Tadashi stood. "That's… a really big deal. But right now, we need to get Cass settled." 

Everyone flushed, looking ashamed to have forgotten her, then looked at Baymax, who had her cradled in his arms. 

"Can I go with Baymax and put her in bed?" Tadashi asked. Everyone looked to Hiro for an answer. 

If this really was his brother, Hiro didn't want to let him out of his sight. Hell, if he was an imposter, Hiro wanted to keep an eye on him too. But he had no energy to follow, and felt inside that this really was Tadashi. He had the same mannerisms and way of speaking, the same expressions even. Things you couldn't pick up from pictures or videos, only by knowing him. 

Hiro nodded. "Yeah. Baymax, keep an eye on him. If he tries anything, signal us and get Cass out of there. And once she's in bed, bring Tadashi straight back down." 

Relief spread over Tadashi's face. He and 2.0 turned and left the café, heading upstairs. 

Hiro slumped in his chair even more. 

"When she wakes up, we're going to have a lot of explaining to do." 

Chapter Text

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, all of you."

Tadashi's gaze moved across the members of Big Hero 6, but seemed to linger on his little brother.

They had just sat him down and explained everything that happened, starting the night of the SFIT showcase fire and going through to stopping Trina's robot uprising only a handful of weeks previously.

"I can't imagine what my death did to you guys, to Aunt Cass. Especially to you, Hiro. It feels so weird, talking about myself dying. I can tell it's messing with you too. It's in your eyes. I want to comfort you, but I don't know how to. Not when it's my existence that's causing all this."

It was about eight in the morning. The early sun was casting an unfair yellow light into the café as it reflected off the San Fransokyo towers. The mood was morose rather than celebratory. Under any other circumstance, Tadashi's return would be greeted with cheers and drinks. But this one was met with tears and confusion.

Aunt Cass was still upstairs with Baymax, resting. The closed sign was up in the café door, not that anyone tried to approach, what with an entire segment of window gone (and replaced with a hardened pink gel by Honey Lemon) near the door. No one but Fred had touched any food in the last few hours. But they'd all had several rounds from the espresso machine, just to stay awake. Except for Hiro. Exhausted as he was, he couldn't sleep. His eyes had been glued to his older brother. Plus... He was still too young to have espresso yet.

"Hey, come on people," Wasabi said, trying to lighten the mood. "At least Tadashi's back, right?"

That only made everyone more uncomfortable than they already were. Shoulders tightened, brows furrowed. Hiro leaned forward in his seat and put his head in his arms.

"Well… he's not 'back' back, is he?" Honey Lemon voiced. "Not permanently. I mean, his Hiro must be so lost without him. We all remember when…" She trailed off, but everyone got the gist. When our Hiro lost his brother.

"She's right," Hiro agreed hoarsely. "It's not right to ask him to stay here." He looked to Tadashi, who was keeping his face impassive.

Hiro couldn't help but feel jealous of his side dimension doppelgänger. He got to have Tadashi to himself. He hadn't suffered.

"Okay, so what's the game plan?" Fred asked, fingers tapping on the table. He was sitting in his chair backwards, chin resting against the top of the backrest.

"Let's take things one at a time," Wasabi said as he eyed the look on Hiro's face. "Tadashi is here for now. Let's focus on finding the evil Baymax."

"Actually," came a shaky but stern voice from the other end of the café, "You should focus on telling me what the hell is going on."

Aunt Cass had woken up. She marched across the café, Baymax following behind. But when she saw Tadashi, halfway from the table, she stopped. Her legs shook and Baymax grabbed her elbows.

"I… I didn't dream that part after all."

Tadashi looked at the others. "I take it she didn't know we're Big Hero 7 in this universe?"

"That's a negative," GoGo muttered back.

"Well, she does now."

Cass looked like she could scream at them… or hug them… or start crying. The two shocks she'd received were polar opposites, and it left her weak.

Finally, she settled on something to say.

"Is that really him?" She looked Hiro dead in the eyes, her own brimming with impossible hope. "Not some hologram or robot, but really Tadashi?"

"He is… sort of. Why don't you sit down?"

They explained to her their theory, touching on but not really getting into the whole superhero thing. Not once through the whole story did she take her eyes off Tadashi, which made him want to crawl under the table and hide.

"I can't see him as anyone else," she said when they had finished their tale. "He looks just like I remember."

"I don't want to be treated differently, anyway," Tadashi said. But he smiled sadly and shrugged. "But that can't really be helped."

Cass nodded, tearing up again.

"I know everyone else must have said it, but I really missed you." She reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

After a moment Cass let go and finally took her eyes off of Tadashi so she could glare at the others. And especially her other charge.

"I can't believe you're a superhero, Hiro! Do you know how dangerous that is?! What if you'd died out there, and I never knew what happened to you? Did you even once think about me?"

Hiro swallowed hard. "Y-yeah, Aunt Cass. Every time I ever suited up, you and Tadashi are who I thought about. The people we've fought have almost destroyed the city several times! I would have lost you if I hadn't been there to stop them. I might still have Tadashi if someone had been there for us."

Cass only seemed mollified for a moment. Then her scowl returned.

"But you lied to me about it. Every day, for a year!"

She looked at the others again. "How could you let him do that? Risk his life day after day in secret."

"We all do," Honey Lemon whispered.

Wasabi nodded. "Hiro knows what he's doing. We couldn't have stopped him if we tried."

"But going out there with him, having his back…" Fred stretched.

"Someone had to stop Callaghan," Hiro told her. "And we were the only ones who knew what he was doing and had the ability to defeat him. And after him… new supervillains just kept showing up."

Cass had tears in her eyes. "I just… I wish you hadn't lied to me about it, Hiro. That hurts. I know you think you had a good reason, but I can't stop thinking about you just vanishing some day and I'd never know where you went. What would Ta-"

She stopped short, eyes widening. The tears fell.

She'd been about to say "what would Tadashi think?" It was surprisingly easy to forget about someone's presence when you've been without them, thinking it was permanent, for a year.

"Hey," Tadashi stood and walked around to her, clasping her shoulder gently. "It's okay! This is a lot to process. But if it helps, for a while I was on your side. Back in my world, I mean. I told Hiro it was a bad idea, that this was really dangerous. But eventually, well… it's like Wasabi said. There's no stopping Hiro. He's a stubborn knucklehead, and it would've been way more dangerous for him to sneak off and be a superhero on his own. So we all decided to join him. I've always wanted to help people, after all. And we're pretty effective."

A frantic knocking sounded on the glass pane of the café door suddenly, making everyone jump in their seats. Instinctively, Cass called out "We're closed today!" before anyone had actually looked at the door. Then she actually peered at them through the glass.

"It's s-some kid," Cass sniffled. "Is that a friend of yours, Hiro?"

The boy's eyes widened as he saw who was knocking and waving.

"Actually, yeah, it is!"

He pushed his chair back and hurried to unlock the door and let Saryn in.

"Hey! I didn't expect to see you so soon!" He hugged the other teen, who was panting like they'd run all the way here from somewhere not remotely nearby.

"What's the kid we saved last night doing here?" Wasabi asked tentatively.

"I may have told them where to find us in case of an emergency." Hiro rocked sheepishly on the balls of his feet.

"Then this better be an emergency, and not a repeat of that thing with Fred and Richardson Mole." GoGo stared pointedly at Hiro and Saryn.

"It… it is… an emergency!" Saryn stammered between gasps of air. "I was at… your school! Ran into a different R-Red Panda."

They all exchanged looks. A silent understanding passed between everyone. It seemed Baymax 1.0 had solved his battery issue.

"Are you okay?" Hiro asked, walking Saryn over to a seat so they could catch their breath."

"Yeah. But I almost wasn't. That robot grabbed me. Made me drop my banana bread on the ground and everything. I made it as a thank-you. Did you know you have a few holes in your building?"

"Yeah, we know," Hiro said.

"Awww man! I could really go for some banana bread, too," Fred moaned.

"Fred," Tadashi said. "You're literally in a café/bakery."

"Oh, yeah!"

Cass chewed her lip. "I had to deal with it too, last night. It nearly got me. If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead." She nodded at Tadashi. "How did you get away?"

Saryn eyed a glass of water in front of GoGo before answering. "Some guy came in and stopped it, got it to let me go."

"Some guy?" GoGo asked, sliding the water over to them. They gulped it down and let out a grateful "ahhh."

"Yeah. Some smooth-talking English guy. Kinda tall, middle-aged. Had a red streak in his hair."

Chairs squeaked as Fred, GoGo, and Wasabi stood.

"Obake! Shit!" Hiro cursed.

"Language!" Cass and Tadashi said together.

"Who's Obake?" Saryn asked. Cass shrugged.

"He was the one behind the star in the bay," Tadashi said. "The one we stopped. Or… here, the one they stopped."

"And you're sure it was him?" Hiro asked, turning to Saryn. "Could it have been someone else? Because if he's back… I have to stop him!"

Saryn shook their head. "I have no idea. I've never seen him before. But he did seem really evil. Talked like he didn't care what happened, but he had a preferred outcome in mind."

"That's him, alright," Hiro grit his teeth. "I've got to find him. We need to strike fast if we're going to stop him!"

"Hiro, no! You're just a teenager, I'm not letting you fight some… some supervillain!" Cass stood up as well.

"Aunt Cass, I have to. I've done it before. If I don't now, we'll all be in even more danger. No one else can help. It's either we fight and there's a chance we'll die… or we don't fight, and everyone dies. Trust me, this is how Obake operates."

"I want to help, too!" Piped Saryn. "I'm good with robotics. Put me in a suit and I'll help you kick some ass!"

Hiro almost said no. Saryn was so young, and this was dangerous. But after what he'd just said to Aunt Cass, it would have been hypocritical of him.

"Okay, you can help. I know you can handle yourself. But until we can make you a suit. You're going to have to use Fred's second one."

"That chameleon thing?"

Hiro nodded.

"I can do that. So… what now?"

"We stock up on banana bread!" Fred declared, raising a fist in the air.

"And I call Skymax," Hiro said. "We're taking you to the base. Plus, we should probably properly introduce ourselves to you."

________________________________________________________________________

Obake smirked as the final piece of armor finished printing. He was in his new base. Well, newly in-use, anyway. He'd built it roughly the same time as the one in the bay, and one could tell by looking at the decor; various pipes and tubes and bundles of wires ran everywhere along the walls and ceiling, banks of large and greenish computer screens lined one wall of this room. Off to the sides a variety of futuristic-looking machines thrummed and hissed and buzzed vaguely.

Obake, or Bob Aken as he had once been known, hadn't purposely designed the place to look evil. In fact, compared to the underwater base this one felt much more welcoming with its larger, taller rooms and more long corridors. But when you're doing evil things and don't care about presentation enough to liven the place up, the evil shows through.

Obake took the armor piece from the printer (it still felt warm) and turned to Baymax 1.0. He was completely suited up, save for this last shoulder pad, which Obake quickly put in place. He'd elected to go with a black and green color scheme once he'd taken the armor designs off of Hiro Hamada's computer. Which had been the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. He took pride in it, in fact. Big Hero 6 knew that he had hacked them. He'd talked to them directly through their own gear and given them information to take down Steamer. And they hadn't ever kicked him out. At least, not out of the stuff thy didn't think was important enough to hide....

"These armor upgrades, along with the fact that you are no longer inhibited by that naive and adorable medical chip, should allow you to far outmatch your red counterpart."

"Defeating Big Hero 6 is only a small victory. What is your plan for San Fransokyo?"

Omake smirked.

"Not even a 'thank you for rescuing and repairing me?' Typical. Don't you worry, events are in motion. Everything will become clear soon."

"When?" Baymax 1.0 demanded.

Obake's face glowed dangerously, the left half dancing purple beneath gaunt skin.

"When we, or rather you, thin the herd of Big Hero 6 a little, and retrieve what we need."

The glow faded and he sighed, striding over to the bank of screens and staring up at images of the members of Big Hero 6 and their secret identities at SFIT.

"It's a shame they haven't got their school computers networked to their phones. Or their base. That would have made this so much easier. Still, this will be much more fun!"

He spun around to face Baymax 1.0 again and bared his teeth.

"Well," he drawled. "Are you ready to make sparks fly?"

Baymax gave a single nod, his glowing red eyes fixed onto Obake's.

"Good! This is what I need you to do."

________________________________________________________________________

"I'm focused," GoGo said as she blew a bubble before putting on her helmet. "This time we need to be sure to capture Obake, so he can answer for everything he's done."

They were back at the base, the members of Big Hero 6 all putting on their armor to go after their nemesis.

"Um, not to voice the obvious here, but how are we supposed to find him?" Wasabi swung a plasma blade through the air to make sure it was up to snuff, several feet away from everyone else. "He's smart and he has scan-jammers, surely he learned from last time."

"Oh, that won't be a problem," Fred assured him, opening the top of his suit. Villains always show themselves at some point. "They can't resist showing off and trying to one-up their nemeses. That's why Momakase always goes after Wasabi and Supersonic Sue goes straight for GoGo. Since Hiro's the GoGo to Obake's Supersonic Sue, he'll turn up."

"Obake did kidnap me last time to try and make me join him," Hiro chimed in as he switched on the power to his mag-gloves.

Fred laughed. "Yeah, that was a classic supervillain move!"

"Well, we won't let him get to Hiro this time," Honey Lemon said as she swung her chem purse back over her shoulder, fully suited up.

Just then the doors to the conference room hissed open and Saryn stepped in, wearing the Fredmeleon suit. Everyone turned to look at them.

"It's bulkier than it looks," they chuckled, face showing from inside its open mouth. "But also surprisingly comfy!"

Fred sniffed. "It'd be even comfier if Hiro had installed the beanbag chair I wanted."

"Fred, I told you, there's not even enough room to sit down in there!"

"Hey," Saryn looked around the room. "Where did that other guy go? Tadashi?"

Everyone except Hiro grew uncomfortably still. They all felt ashamed at not noticing Tadashi had left. It had been a year since he'd died. They were used to him not being there. But Hiro had noticed. He'd seen his brother slip away earlier when they all put on their suits. It wasn't like Tadashi had any changes of armor to put on in this universe, anyway.

Hiro still knew his brother well enough to not go after him when he'd seen him leave. This was a lot for both of them and Tadashi liked having some time on his own to process things. But they were going to be leaving on patrol soon, so he volunteered to go after Tadashi now.

Hiro left his helmet on the conference table and left to search for his brother. He wasn't in the main hall or bathrooms, or down by the quarters, but Hiro found him soon enough in the training room.

Tadashi had been playing with the room's hologram feature, making it look like his old lab back at SFIT. Only it looked like it did now, in this universe. With Hiro having taken it over, making it cluttered and disorganized.

"You always were the messier one," Tadashi shot Hiro a sad smile over his shoulder as his little brother approached.

"Are you okay?" Hiro asked in a hesitant tone, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Actually, I'm fine," replied Tadashi, turning around to look at Hiro. "I just know how much of an impact this must have on you. Me being back. I don't want to make it worse."

"You won't," Hiro said without conviction.

Tadashi just smiled sadly again.

"I'm noticing some small differences between your world and mine, besides the obvious. Like how you're called Big Hero 6, instead of 7. Though that's an obvious one too, I guess.

"I also turned this into our bedroom earlier," he gestured at the Holodeck. "I noticed my degree is hanging up on your wall, instead of being at my workstation."

Hiro felt a twinge of longing in his gut. He missed Tadashi being there, sleeping feet away from him every night.

"Does that mean we still live together in your universe?"

Tadashi's jaw tensed nervously, but he nodded.

"Yeah, we do. But I'd actually been about to move out. The military offered me a job and… I accepted it."

Hiro looked away. Oh.

Tadashi's face broke into an embarrassed grin and he chuckled suddenly.

"You know, it's funny. I haven't even had the nerve to tell the Hiro back in my universe that I'm leaving yet."

Hiro found it the opposite of funny. How would that hav even worked? From the sound of it, this Tadashi was a full member of Big Hero 7. And did that mean that his own brother would have abandoned him too? The boy turned around, looking at the computer he'd used to reboot Baymax's consciousness when he'd discovered the chip in his rocket fist. He sniffled and shut his eyes.

"Because you don't see me as your brother."

Tadashi grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around.

"Hiro, it's important to me that you know that isn't true!"

He crouched down in front of the kid so that they were at eye level.

"I do see my brother in you. We still have fourteen years of shared memories before things diverge. I'd have to be deaf, blind, and dumb not to recognize you as my little brother."

"Then why can you tell me about it and not him? Your Hiro. You just met me last night!"

Tadashi took a moment to think. He knew what he'd said was true, but he hadn't taken any time to ponder why yet.

"You were forced to grow up," Tadashi said finally. He stared into Hiro's warm brown eyes as he spoke. Or tried to, but the kid quickly looked away.

"You and my Hiro, you faced the same villains. You went to the same school. You made the same friends. You and him had almost identical experiences. Only you had to do it without me. I said I see you as my brother and I really do. But I also see a lot of myself in you, and my Hiro isn't quite there yet. But just because you're more mature, and just because I'm not really from around here, doesn't mean I cat or don't want to still be here for you!"

Tears started to fall down Hiro's face, and he flung himself into Tadashi's arms. The older brother immediately wrapped the younger in a big hug.

"I missed you so much!"

Tadashi nodded and shushed the boy, patting him on his back.

"While we're working through deep topics, there's something on my mind…"

Hiro pulled back just enough to look his brother in the face. Though he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact again and kept his gaze low, staring at Tadashi's lips instead.

"What is it?"

"The night your me died, did he- or did I- get to tell you that I love you?"

Hiro shook his head and pressed his forehead against Tadashi's breastplate.

"Neither of us did. I definitely didn't say it often enough back then, and it's something I think about a lot. What if he didn't know when he died how much I… I…"

"He does, Hiro. Trust me. I know he does because I know."

"How did you survive the fire?" Hiro asked. "Back in your world?"

"C'mon," Tadashi rose back to his feet and offered Hiro a hand. Then guided them over to sit against the wall.

"In my world, you grabbed my arm when I tried to run inside. You told me you loved me. I said that someone has to help, but you grabbed my arm and said 'don't, I love you, please.' I paused long enough to miss the explosion."

Hiro started crying harder. It was now the kind with wet choking and hiccups. The next stage would involve snot if he kept crying like this. But the poor child had too many feelings inside. He'd long been ashamed that he hadn't expressed how much he cared for his brother the night he'd died. But with what Tadashi had probably thought was an elating story, that regret became self-loathing. It attached itself to the middle of Hiro's spine and snarled. If he hadn't been so cavalier with his feelings and afraid to express them, his Tadashi might still be alive.

Tadashi realized exactly what Hiro must be thinking and his breath caught. How could he have been so tactless?! He slipped an arm around the kid and gently tilted his chin up.

"It's not your fault, Hiro. Really, I would say that I forgive you, but there's nothing to forgive. All the blame goes to Callaghan. He did this to you!"

Tadashi felt anger flare inside himself suddenly towards his old mentor. Back in his universe, he'd helped stop Callaghan, but he'd never felt much for the betrayal. He understood why Callaghan did it. And no one had actually gotten hurt, so he had no reason to linger on it. But now, seeing Hiro sob in his arms over the loss of his big brother, Tadashi found himself furious.

But he swallowed the feeling down. Now was not the time for that.

"I think there's something we both need to say to each other, don't you?"

Hiro sniffled and nodded.

"Thank you. And y-yeah." He tried for a smile.

"Hiro, little brother, from the bottom of my heart I-"

"Hiro, Tadashi?" Honey Lemon's voice on the intercom startled them both.

"Here!" Hiro replied, looking at the ceiling.

"We need you both. Basemax found Obake! He's in Good Luck Alley."

The brothers exchanged a look.

"We're on our way."

________________________________________________________________________

The team arrived at Good Luck Alley eight minutes later, outside an old-looking warehouse indistinguishable from all the others in the area. GoGo sped to a stop, Tadashi appeared outside the wide cargo doors in a flash of pink, and Fred dropped out of the sky. Everyone else was deposited by Baymax when he landed.

"Is this the right place?" Saryn asked, unsticking the Fredmeleon tongue from Baymax's chest.

"A nondescript abandoned warehouse in the seediest part of the city?" Fred mimed cracking his suit's fingers. "Oh yeah, this is the place."

"I recognize it," Hiro said, staring at the side of the building. "This is where I met Trina. When I had to go undercover to find out who was taking over other fighter's bots. This was where Yama was holding tournaments."

"Baymax, scan the building," Wasabi commanded.

The red droid turned its attention to the warehouse and raised its pointer finger.

"One life-form detected. It is a biological match for Bob Aken."

"I guess Yama isn't holding any events here anymore," GoGo popped a bubble and lowered her visor.

"Let's finish this. Baymax, rocket fist!"

It would have been a wonderfully grand entrance. Baymax's fist blew the cargo doors inwards and the whole team rushed forward, GoGo spinning in and throwing a preliminary strike with one of her detachable disks. Honey Lemon and Wasabi struck threatening poses with their weapons out. Fred leaped inside and let loose a torrent of flames just as GoGo's disk ricocheted off the far wall and zoomed back to her magnetic wrist.

The only problem was, the room was empty.

Tadashi teleported next to Hiro and Baymax, who had flown in and struck a fighting stance behind GoGo and Fred.

"Well, that was a bust," he teased, looking aground.

"O-oh!" Came Saryn's voice from outside. They all turned around and stared at the chameleon suit still out in the alleyway.

"No one said 'go.' I didn't know we were attacking."

They shuffled inside awkwardly.

"This is just the first room," Hiro said, looking around.

It still looked like it was meant for Bot-Fighting. There was a ring chalked into the ground in the center of the room, though the barriers were gone. All around against the walls were work benches still strewn with screws and tools and wires. Off to one side was a staircase, next to which was a blank scoreboard.

"We've lost our element of surprise, but Obake wouldn't run from us. He'll be through there," Hiro pointed to another wooden door, regular-sized this time, on an opposing wall.

"That leads to the main warehouse."

This was a much more awkward entrance. They'd run out of bravado and hurried single-file through the door, as though still expecting the room beyond would be empty again.

It wasn't empty. Well, it was empty of things, unless you counted out of place grass and crumbling concrete. But there was a figure there ahead of them. Barely visible as the only light came in through a handful of holes in the roof. But tall, formally dressed, and with its back turned.

"Obake!" Hiro called. "It's over. You're outnumbered!"

The man turned around and revealed that evil, familiar visage.

"Ah, Hiro!" Obake said as if he was addressing a prize dog. "You made it. Wonderful. Do you like the location I picked for this little showdown?"

"Villain trap!" Fred hissed. Saryn turned invisible.

"It's where you first met my daughter, Trina," Obake continued, hands behind his back and seeming thoroughly unperturbed by the presence of Big Hero 6.

"Though she knew you long before you knew her. She said this was one of the easiest missions she's ever had. Of course, it helped that she was programmed to flirt with you. Pubescent boys are so predictable. All it took was some batted eyelashes and you started making mistakes."

"That's not going to save you this time, unless you get a lot prettier really fast," Tadashi snarled.

Obake raised a sharp eyebrow. "And who is this new addition? I must admit, you've done a good job of hiding him from me."

"I'm Hiro's brother, and you aren't laying a finger on him this time!"

"Brother... Is that so? The dead one? Back to life and ready to play." Obake looked genuinely interested.

"There seems to be a lot of that going around, Bob," Hiro growled.

Obake rolled his eyes and paced forward.

"Really now, mister Hamada? Resorting to dead naming to get under my skin? I thought you would know better, especially considering the other new addition to your team."

He nodded to the spot where Saryn had vanished. Evidently they were still there because Hiro heard a gasp.

"Speaking of dead names, I suppose it's no longer 'Big Hero 6,' what with you having two new members. Let's see if we can cut you back down, shall we? Big Hero 8 just doesn't roll off the tongue the same way."

GoGo snorted. "You don't have a chance. You're outnumbered. Come quietly with us to the police station, or we make it hurt when we drag you down there!"

Obake grinned. "Such spunk! You're very confident. I can hardly wait to take that away from you. You see, I may be outnumbered, but I am far from outmatched."

"What is that supposed to mean?' Tadashi demanded.

Obake spread his arms like the Night King. "Fool you once? Shame on me. But fooling you twice, and the exact same way?"

Obake's skin separated into panels with metallic bangs and pops. His arms and legs lengthened and his eyes glinted. His fingers began snapping together to form claws. Electricity arced between the claws. White and crackling.

"It's another robot!" Said Honey Lemon.

"Not Obake!" Fred declared. "Robake!"

And then Baymax 1.0 punched through the ceiling and landed next to the robot, wearing full green and black Ultra Armor. His glowing red eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of the shocked team. Then he charged.

"SPLIT!" Wasabi cried while diving away. What he meant was 'let's get out of here!'

Instead, the team divided into two groups. Wasabi, Fred, and GoGo went towards the robot Obake. Everyone else made for the rogue Baymax.

GoGo flung a disk at Robake, who didn't react fast enough. The disk struck him right in the face and sent the droid back a few steps. Before it could get its bearings, Fred enveloped it in flames. The false skin melted and burnt away, and smelled as realistic as it looked while it cooked. The skeletal interior seemed unfazed by the blaze.

"Aww, hell yeah!" Fred exclaimed as his fire died away. "It just got all Terminator up in here!"

The robot lunged forward suddenly, moving much faster than Obake ever could have. It landed a punch with one of its heavy metal arms right in the monster face on Fred's suit. At the same time a charge built up in its fist and zapped Fred.

On the inside of the suit Fred's hair frizzed up. He felt a jolt rush and crackle through him, though the suit took the brunt of the shock. Fred felt the whole thing, however, when Robake's punch landed so hard that he flew halfway across the warehouse and slammed into a brick wall. He saw stars and groaned, too stunned to stand back up just yet.

Wasabi howled and charged the robot, blades slashing with wild precision. But the bot was quicker. It dodged every strike and laughed, backing away to make Wasabi follow him. Wasabi soon started tiring out, having thrown too much energy into that first attack. As he tired, he got slow. Which gave Robake an opening to roundhouse him right in the chest.

Wasabi stumbled back and crumpled to the floor, wheezing. His plasma blades fizzled out and he pressed his hands where he'd been kicked. The robot grinned and started to approach him, digits crackling with electricity as he prepared to finish Wasabi off.

GoGo let out a snarl and zoomed forward, shooting another disk into the side of the robot's head, distracting it from Wasabi. The droid turned after staggering and changed course, lunging her way. But she evaded him with ease, swooping under metal arms and zipping around, out of reach.

"Fred, Wasabi, are you two okay?" She asked as she continued to evade the robot Obake's strikes.

Wasabi's voice crackled in her ear through the helmet.

"Never better… but that's going to be sore tomorrow!"

"Tell me about it," said Fred, who had finally staggered to his feet again. "Look, as cool as robots disguised as people are, I'm sick of this guy. There's three of us. GoGo, you distract it. I'll pin it. Wasabi, you take it out."

"On it!"

GoGo pulled a risky maneuver. She raced towards Robake and at the last second before his electrified claws would have caught her, she raised both arms up above her head and fell backwards like a plank. The disks on her wrists touched the ground as the ones on her ankles carried her forwards, and she wheeled right between the droid's legs.

Robake turned around to try and catch her again, and Fred took the opportunity to super jump. He went so high that the top of his suit brushed the decrepit ceiling, a hundred feet up. He arced and came crashing down right on top of the false Obake, pinning it just like GoGo had suggested.

Robake stood back up with ease, like Fred wasn't even on him. Fred yelped and clung to the robot's back. The droid reached and tried to grab Fred to fling him off, but GoGo distracted it by throwing one of her disks against its hand.

"Hey, ugly! You really think you can take all of us?"

It turned to her and Fred doused it in flames, but it spoke as though no further damage was being done.

"You three don't even know you've lost. Your friends are being taken care of, but you're too distracted with little old me to notice."

GoGo's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought to check on the others, who were across the warehouse fighting the evil Baymax! But before she could turn to check on them, Wasabi let out a yawp and charged forwards from behind Robake.

His plasma blades flashed as he sliced cleanly through the robot's legs. Fred stopped spitting fire and jumped off the bot's back just in time for Wasabi to chop off its arms as well. The head and torso fell to the ground with a hearty, metallic thunk.

Wasabi hollered again and drove both blades deep into what remained of the robot, sending a shower of sparks flying in all directions. When he pulled them back out, the purple lights in the robot's eyes flickered and started to fade.

"I'll… be… baaacckkkk!" The lights died out and it went still.

"Yes! Did you hear that?! He said the thing! Booyah!" Fred pumped his fist.

"We need to help the others!" GoGo shouted.

The three turned towards the rest of their team, who were deep in battle with Baymax 1.0. His legs were stuck in a hardened green gel, courtesy of Honey Lemon, and he was wrestling with Baymax 2.0. Tadashi was in between them, trying in vain to open 1.0's chip compartment in his chest.

GoGo, Wasabi, and Fred rushed forward just as Honey Lemon aimed her chem purse at 1.0's face. GoGo tried to zoom around her, but collided with Saryn, who was invisible. The two of them skidded right into Honey Lemon, who misfired a ball of ice that hit Tadashi dead on.

"Ouch! O-oh no! I'm sorry, Tadashi!"

But Tadashi was covered head to toe in a thick layer of ice now, and didn't answer, immobilized.

Baymax 1.0 managed to break his leg out of the crystalized green gel and used the opportunity to kick 2.0 back.

"Woah, watch out!" Hiro cried from his perch on 2.0's back as they stumbled away.

He should have taken his own advice. As Baymax stumbled, his evil counterpart grabbed hold of Hiro's arm and ripped him from Baymax's back, tearing off one of his gloves in the process. 1.0 held onto the glove and threw Hiro… who collided with Tadashi, who had just teleported out of his ice prison in a fresh flare of pink. The brothers skidded across the floor, yelping in pain and tumbling stop one another.

But 1.0 wasn't done yet. Just as the Baymax Hiro had been torn from righted himself, 1.0 punched him directly in the face so hard he spun around.

"Oh no," Baymax intoned.

"Oh, you want to fight dirty?" Wasabi called, running at the evil Baymax. "Let's fight dirty!"

He slashed at 1.0, but it only cut a little into his forearm thanks to the Ultra Armor upgrade from Obake. In turn, the original Baymax backhanded him right onto his ass, then turned and shot a rocket fist into Fred's chest, flinging him back across the warehouse again.

GoGo disentangled herself from Honey Lemon and Saryn and skated quickly towards Baymax, aiming a throw at his visor in the hopes of damaging it so he couldn't see. But before she could, the Bot activated Hiro's glove that it had torn off. GoGo's electromagnetic wheels all detached from her suit and flew to Hiro's glove, spilling her on the floor. He tossed aside Hiro's glove and GoGo's disks without a second thought.

With the rest of the team out of commission or still reeling from getting hit, 1.0 approached his counterpart and started wailing on him. Strike after strike dented the healthcare droid's red armor, even broke it off in places. The new Baymax might be more advanced, but the unleashed aggression combined with the Ultra Armor of his predecessor won out.

1.0 ripped off the chest piece from 2.0 triumphantly. The room went oddly quiet, like time had slowed down. Everyone seemed to realize what was about to happen at the same time.

Hiro stood and lurched forward, gloveless hand outstretched.

"BAYMAX! NO!"

But it was too late. 1.0 drove his fist through the inflatable chest of 2.0 and ripped out his internal power source. The new Baymax went limp, deflating. Hiro screamed and ran forward. Tadashi tried to catch him, but Hiro slipped through his grasp…

And right into Baymax 1.0's Rocket Fist. The hand grabbed him, then dragged him over to the evil bot, reattaching. Then, with Hiro and the power source in it's possession, and before anyone can blink, Baymax 1.0 flung aside the broken body of his counterpart, engaged thrusters, and blasted through the roof of the warehouse.

Chapter Text

"What on earth just happened?" Fred asked as he limped back over to the others.

"We got our butts handed to us," Wasabi winced and gingerly held his side. "And I think I bruised all of my ribs."

"They got Hiro!" Tadashi flung off his helmet near where Hiro’s glove, still magnetized to GoGo’s disks had landed, and ran a harried hand through his hair, gripping at the roots. "We have to go after him! I'm supposed to keep him safe! I just promised him!"

"We… we can't," Honey Lemon said tentatively. Tadashi turned to her angrily, but she rushed on.

"I mean we literally can't. By the time we get to Basemax, I bet Hiro will have a scan-jammer. And Baymax- our Baymax- he was the only one who could fly and do large-scale scans remotely. Without him, we can't track Hiro or follow them in the air. Everyone looked over at the broken and deflated body of their formerly huggable robot friend.

"She's right," GoGo said as she walked across the warehouse to collect her disks. "We need to get Baymax back to the base and regroup. Tadashi, you built him originally. Maybe you can get him up and running again? Then we'd have a solid chance at rescuing Hiro."

"We can recalibrate Basemax to scan for Hiro over a longer distance, too," Honey Lemon chimed in. "Just on the off chance It'll take a little longer without his help, but we can still do it."

"And let's not count Hiro out, either," Fred added, opening his suit. His hair was plastered to his cheeks and forehead with sweat, and his beanie was askew. "He got captured last time and made it out in one piece."

"Yeah… but that was because Globby busted him out," Wasabi said. GoGo shot him a wide-eyed look and jerked her head at Tadashi, silently telling him you're not helping!

But Tadashi didn't seem to notice. He snapped his fingers as an idea formed.

"That's it! Globby can fly! Alright, I'm heading to Felony Carl's. You guys track Hiro down." He stooped to pick up his helmet.

GoGo zoomed back to the group and grabbed his shoulder.

"No. I'll go. Getting Globby is a good idea, but you're the only one with a shot at fixing Baymax, remember? Plus, Globby and Felony Carl don't know who you are in this universe."

"Hiro is out there with a mass-murdering freak, I don't have time to fix Baymax!"

"Too bad. I can get to them faster than you. I've been watching you, you can't teleport long distances, you have to do it in hops. It still makes more sense for me to go."

For a moment it looked like Tadashi was going to argue. His jaw clenched and unclenched and the left corner of his lips curled down. But then his shoulders sagged and he nodded.

"Ummm…" Wasabi raised his free hand. "Not to alarm any of you even more, but has anyone seen that kid, Saryn?"

Everyone looked around in surprise, finally noting their absence.

"Man, I really hope they didn't get knocked unconscious while invisible. I know from experience, it takes FOREVER to get found like that." Fred said.

Honey Lemon switched on the thermal camera built into her visor and did a 360 to survey the room.

"They're not in here," she declared.

"Best case scenario, they ran for it when the going got tough. But we don't have time to look for them. I'm sorry, but it's true. At least them not being in here means they aren't dead. But Hiro might be if we don't hurry." Tadashi paced back and forth.

Wasabi turned on his comm. "Hiro? Saryn? Can you hear me? Say something if you're there."

Nothing. Just static for them all to hear.

"I had to try," he sighed. "Okay, come on, people. Help me carry Baymax."

They all walked over to the broken droid and crouched to grab what they could and lift him up.

"Fred, any chance you could call Heathcliff?" GoGo asked. "I really don't want to have to carry him all the way back to the base. Especially when I need to get to Globby, and fast."

"Consider it done," Fred grunted as he helped heft the robot.

"Honey Lemon," Tadashi called, helping struggle with the bot. She was standing a few feet back, staring at the hole Baymax 1.0 had disappeared through.

"Sorry!" She shook her head and hurried over, grabbing an arm. "I just… Hiro and Saryn… I hope they're okay, wherever they are."

________________________________________________________________________

Saryn did not like heights at all. Ever since they were a kid and looked over the edge of the third story at the mall, down to the first floor far below, they'd hated being high up. It was bad enough flying to the warehouse from Big Hero 6's base, and when they'd done that, Baymax had been holding onto them, they'd been holding onto Baymax, and they'd had the Fredmeleon tongue attached to the red bubble droid for extra measure.

So this was much, much worse.

They were about fifteen hundred feet in the air, flying at what felt like 200 miles per hour. The city flashed by below. Saryn didn't even have time to spot individual cars or people to think that stereotypical thought that they looked like ants from so far above before they'd zipped away and out of sight. Not that they were letting themself look down much.

And the worst part? The only thing stopping them from falling and being skewered on a skyscraper antenna was the Fredmeleon tongue, this time stuck to the back of the evil Baymax. The robot was oblivious to Saryn tagging along, which made sense since the chameleon suit was still invisible.

As they flew out of the city, Saryn made themself look at Hiro. The teen was still being held tightly in Baymax's grasp, and was struggling to get free. But it was no use. Baymax was virtually undamaged and could lock a grip stronger than any human. Hiro was tired and small, his armor in shambles, and he'd never been physically strong to begin with. Saryn doubted even their escapism skills could get Hiro out of that, even if they had both feet planted on the ground.

You saved me once. Now it's my turn to save you! Saryn thought.

They tried using the suit's comms to call the rest of the team, but all they got was static. Either they were out of range or Baymax had some sort of communications blocker.

They looked past Hiro, realizing that they were over the desert surrounding the city now. Small brush and sandy crevasses covered the countryside. But up ahead, about twenty miles away, was a mountain. It wasn't all that big, but it was a mountain all the same. Tan and dark green like the desert itself, lurking behind a light blue haze.

And as they got closer, Saryn saw the military blockade at the base of the mountain, surrounding some ruins. What stood out the most were the big tanks. There were at least five of them at the perimeter. But beyond that, there was a whole encampment. Dozens of tents, vehicles of all types from regular-looking cars to what looked like gas and cement trucks. Overnight the ruins of the Deep Science compound had become, well, a compound.

There was no way they'd be missed if they kept on this course, and Saryn really didn't want to be shot out of the sky. They didn't even want to be in the sky in the first place! But thankfully Baymax changed course, flying in the sun and skirting around the blockade… and kept going, swerving around the mountain itself, over to the back side.

They swooped lower and lower, and flew close to the base of the mountain until they were only a couple hundred feet from the ground. Up ahead see large and jagged-looking rock formations jutted out from the side of the mountain. Sheer cliffs of orange and tan stone, pockmarked with small caves and divots. Baymax 1.0 flew through a crevasse between two of the larger rocks and turned toward the mountainside itself.

There, built into the side of the mountain, was a large hangar door. Thick and darkly metallic, like a military green. Hiro squirmed in Baymax's fist. The door was only about two hundred yards away, and they were flying right at it! But about halfway to it, the door started to rumble open, and Baymax began to slow his flight, which made Sayrn start to hang down lower. They were going to some sort of hidden bunker inside the mountain!

Saryn didn't want to take any chances with becoming accidentally separated from Baymax and Hiro or dangling too far below and slamming into the cliff faces while Baymax and Hiro flew into the bunker, so they started to reel in the chameleon tongue, and climbed onto Baymax's back. Luckily Baymax was a robot and couldn't feel Saryn on him.

The trio flew through the giant door and Saryn had to hold on tightly as Baymax landed in a wide, dark warehouse. They had made it to Obake's base.

The door to the outside closed quickly behind them.

________________________________________________________________________

The door to the base repair room hissed open behind Tadashi as he worked on Baymax's mechanical skeleton. He grit his teeth and cast a look over, wiping sweat from his forehead, and saw GoGo leading Globby over to him.

"Oh wow!" Globby smiled widely, glowing eyes wide inside the pink goop that made up his body. "It's really you! I've seen pictures, heard all about you. Wow!"

He stepped up to Tadashi's pop-up workstation, where Baymax's skeleton was laid out.

"Oof, that looks like a lot of damage."

He reached out a jello hand.

"Can I help?"

Tadashi snarled and slapped it away, then looked distastefully at his now goo-covered hand. Globby took a surprised step back as Tadashi grabbed a washcloth.

"I thought you were supposed to be the nice one?"

For a moment Tadashi glared at him, breathing heavily for a few seconds. Then his tight lips parted, and he blinked away his angry eyes.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated. We can't find Hiro, and I don't know if I can fix Baymax."

"What? Why not?" Globby blinked down at him. "I thought you invented him? Aren't you a genius, too?"

"I did, I am… but Hiro was always so much smarter than me. When he inherited Baymax, he made a ton of modifications that I'm not familiar with. Even in my world, Hiro took him over. It's what I wanted, I was always proud of him for it, but now it's a little on the inconvenient side."

GoGo stepped in.

"The main issue is the internal power source, right?"

Tadashi nodded and rubbed the back of his neck in frustration.

"Yeah. Hiro put a sort of extended life battery into Baymax, so he doesn't need to charge for a really long time. The good news is he securely uploaded his designs for it to Basemax. The bad news is it's way beyond what I can do. At least, not in a crunch like we're in. I can barely wrap my head around it, it's so advanced."

Globby nodded and clasped his shoulder, staining it with more purple goo that Tadashi tried to ignore.

"That sounds really frustrating. Maybe you just need to look at it in a different light. If you've got the instructions, do you really need to understand it? I remember building LEGOs as a kid and not understanding it until close to the end when it all started coming together. The important thing is the build, not understanding it."

Tadashi sighed and shook his head.

"Normally I'd say you're right. The problem is, we don't have half the parts we'd need for this here. We could print most of them if we had the right alloys on hand. It just doesn't seem possible right now. Not with time ticking away."

"Still," Globby told him. "You're thinking of what you need and telling yourself that you don't have it, when you should be telling yourself what you need and trying to come up with the next best thing. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work."

Tadashi blinked in surprise as Globby launched into a story of how that wisdom, which he'd gotten from Felony Carl, helped him back when he was a thief. But Tadashi was no longer listening.

Of course! I need to kill the perfectionist in me, just for a little bit. Baymax just needs to work, he doesn't have to be at 100%. Still, I don't have time to reconfigure him. I need something to act as the battery….

Then it hit him. Different light. Another angle. He needed to think of a way to use what was on hand for what he needed. He clenched his jaw and nodded.

"I've got it. Globby, I'm going to need your help after all!"

________________________________________________________________________

Hiro was led through hallway after hallway, all looking identical and like an underground bunker (which made sense, since it was one) with dark concrete that looked sickly green in the low light and pipes of various sizes crisscrossing the ceiling. Baymax 1.0 had a vice grip on the kid's shoulder as he steered him through the catacombs of Obake's lair. Even if Hiro managed to wrench himself free, he had no clue which way to run. And even if he figured it out, he would still be alone, on foot marching miles through the desert back to San Fransokyo, out in the open where it would be easy for Obake or Evil Baymax to find him again. So he grit his teeth and walked on.

Finally, they entered a large room that reminded Hiro of Obake's old base in the bay. On the far side was a large bank of monitors filtering the room with green light. Cables snaked along the floor and odd, bulky machines hummed against the walls. And standing at the far end, leaning back against a control panel beneath the wall of screens, was Obake, smirking in a self-satisfied way.

Baymax's grip softened and Hiro wrenched himself out of the droid's grasp, glaring at the older man. He walked forward with his shoulders squared, trying to stay calm.

"Hiro Hamada!" Obake exclaimed in his drawling English voice. "So good of you to join us again."

Hiro snorted. "Against my will again, Bob. Or are you another robot?"

If Hiro's use of the name 'Bob' offended him, Obake didn't let on. He just pushed himself away from the control panel and stalked close. Hiro backed away, not wanting to let the man touch him. But instead, Obake walked right past him and up to Baymax.

"Mission report?"

The droid held out a fist- the one that hadn't been holding Hiro- and dropped a fair sized object into Obake's outstretched hands. It was roughly the size of an adult's head, sperical but with open wires sticking out of the sides. Hiro's heart skipped a beat. It was Baymax 2.0's internal power source!

"Excellent work," Obake said, staring at the device. "Both of you. The droid for retrieving it and you, Hiro, for creating it for me in the first place. You do have a habit of that." He chuckled. Hiro said nothing.

“And the other part of the mission?” Obake intoned. “Was the package delivered successfully?”

“Affirmative.”

“What ‘pqckage?!’” Hiro demanded. “What are you talking about?”

Obake grinned widely. “Oh, I had Baymax here plant Avery special minibot on your brother. They should be getting back to your base soon, shall we watch?”

Obake started towards what looked like a workbench with a small bank of monitors and a keyboard on the left side of the room, then shot a look over his shoulder at Baymax.

"Do relieve our guest of his coat, would you?"

Before Hiro could move, or even realize what was happening, Baymax was on him. The boy cried out, flinching and raising his arms protectively as he squeezed his eyes shut. But Baymax didn't hurt him. Instead, the robot began ripping off the rest of Hiro's armor, leaving him in just shorts and a t-shirt.

"My apologies," Obake mused as he set the power source down on the workbench. "Can't have you using any tricks you might have hidden in there to escape."

Obake turned on the monitors. A live video feed popped up on them, and Hiro, gasped, recognizing several rooms inside the Big Hero 6 base!

“You seem so surprised, when it was you who forgot to kick me out of your system,” Obake purred. “I can still watch you, but the rest of your systems are secure. For now.”

On one of the screens, the one showing the main hall and entryway, Hiro watched his friends, nix GoGo but with the addition of heathcliff, lugging the dead form of Baymax 2.0 in. Hiro had to choke back a sob.

“And now for the fun part!” Obake said, sounding almost giddy. “Do you have any idea how hard it is, trying to get a bot in your base when all the other decent villains I could work with were locked up thanks to you brats?” he hit a button on the keyboard and all of the monitors suddenly switched to a new POV.

It was moving, and judging by the purple-suited arm Hiro could see holding up an arm of Baymax’s, it was coming from Tadashi's waist.

Obake tapped a few more buttons and the camera moved more. Hiro realized Obake was making the bot dismount from Tadashi, while everyone was distracted with lugging Baymax to the lab for repairs. The bot moved almost spider-like across the floor and down an opposite hall, towards the personal rooms. Hiro watchedin horror as the camera slipped under the door to his room, which was pitch black. Another few taps of the keyboard and the camera switched over to night mode, all green and fuzzy.

“This is so wrong, get out of there!” Hiro growled, straining against Baymax, but it was no use.

Obake guided his robot across Hiro's cluttered floor, darting around old undies and clambering over a pizza box. It started to ascend Hiro's desk leg, before making it's way leisurely over to his open, sleeping laptop.

“What, you think you can transmit all my files or something? That's going to take hours with a bot that small and that far away, and with how many files I have. By then my friends will have found me and it'll be over!”

Obake waved a dismissive hand. “I don't need all your files. Just one. One old, forgotten about project that served you well. And then, I'll have my new beginnings for San Fransokyo.”

"What do you want from me?" Hiro growled. “What project?”

"All in good time, Mister Hamada. I'll need to print it all out and go over it in my study as soon as I can." Obake smirked as he successfully connected to Hiro's laptop, then turned and picked up he power source he'd set aside, then nodded to himself as though satisfied with the condition it was in. He straightened up and turned back to the other two.

"But welcome to my secret lair! How rude of me to have not said so when you walked in."

"More like got dragged in," Hiro huffed, heart beating in his ears. "And it's not so secret now. Why didn't you blindfold me or something?"

Obake raised an eyebrow. "Why would I? Because you're so confident your friends know where you are? They haven't got a clue and you know I, deep down. You're stuck here. The only reason you escaped last time was because of a villain gone rogue. But it's just the three of us here, and something tells me this old droid of yours isn't going to redevelop morality any time soon."

"My friends will be looking for me!" Hiro insisted. “They might now know where I am now, but they never give up! Especially not Tadashi!”

Obake rolled his eyes.

"And even if by some miracle they discovered this is where you were, they'd never get inside to rescue you."

"The military, then! You're right in their backyard. They're just on the other side of the mountain, investigating the research lab that you blew up!"

Obake laughed. "And who do you think funded that lab and it's projects? Who do you think tricked the military into thinking they hired a rich engineer into working on it? Me. It's all me. I funded it,I made them think I was working for them. I activated Baymax in the portal to leave no trace. They aren't going to be looking at me for a while, little Hiro. So when I say there is no hope of escape, I'm not speaking empty words."

Hiro shrank back. He tried not to let the fear take control, but it was sounding as though he really couldn't escape. He'd just gotten Tadashi back and he might already never see him again.

"Did you like how I pulled it off?" Obake asked. "Kidnapping you? I can't help but relish using robots against you. They're your forté, after all. Which makes besting you

Chapter Text

It felt like Hiro had been locked in his cell for a whole day. Though, with his mind as hyperactive as it was, it was probably closer to three or four hours. Unfortunately, Obake had picked the perfect cell to keep Hiro in. Cement walls and steel bars with a lock and hinges. Nothing mechanical that Hiro could get to.

He'd tried to squeeze through the bars to escape, but his head wouldn't fit through. Typical. Despite having been in situations like this many times before, Hiro was starting to panic. No one knew where he was, Baymax 2.0 was dead and couldn't find him, and he had no way of escaping on his own. It was looking pretty bad.

"Hiya."

Something shimmered on the other side of the bars, in the hallway, and suddenly Saryn appeared, wearing the Fredmeleon suit with the head now open.

Hiro jumped back and almost screamed in surprise.

"What the heck are you doing here?! How in the-?"

"Shhhh!" Sayrn said urgently, eyes darting up and down the hallway. "I'm here to rescue you, but we need to keep quiet."

Their hair was caked with sweat, like they'd been wearing the suit for hours on end.

"What are you doing here?" Hiro repeated in a quieter voice.

"I hitched a ride when Red Pan- um, I mean Baymax- snatched you, then snuck in while invisible," Saryn explained vaguely.

Hiro grabbed the cell bars and stared at them in disbelief, then frowned.

"You mean you've been here the whole time? What took you so long to show yourself?!"

"I had to wait for Baymax and that creepy guy to be busy so we'd have a chance. He was just sitting at a computer, printing off blueprints and pouring over them right next to all this security footage of the base on all these computer screens, I couldn't turn visible. So I spent some time figuring out a rough layout of the bunker.

“But right now he has Baymax on, like, an operating table or something. Just the robot inside parts. Looks like he's trying to put that tech from your Baymax in its chest."

Hiro swore under his breath. That sounded like Obake was installing the internal power source from 2.0 into 1.0. Obake certainly had the robotic prowess to pull it off. And while 1.0 was deactivated, who knew what else Obake could change?

"Okay, that's bad. I have some safeguards that'll buy us time, but they definitely won't stop him and it is definitely bad that he's doing that. How are you going to get me out of here? Did you swipe the key or something?"

"Not quite," Saryn smirked. They retracted their arms inside the suit so they could rummage through their pockets, then pulled out what looked like a tube of fabric.

"Um… is that to wipe up all the sweat on your face or something?"

Saryn blushed, but grinned as they unrolled the fabric, revealing several metal instruments strapped to the inside.

"Even better."

Hiro's mouth fell open. "You can pick locks!? You have a lock picking kit that you just carry around with you?"

Sarym chuckled. "I'm really into magic. Like, the actual skill of it, not that childish 'Final Countdown' stuff. Escapism is a favorite of mine. I never leave the house without these."

"Well by all means, show me what you've got!" Hiro grinned and stepped away from the bars. Saryn set to work.

It took longer than they would have liked. Saryn had never worked with this type of lock before. But the principal was more or less the same, and within a few minutes the door swung open silently on well-oiled hinges.

"Ta da!"

"I could kiss you right now," Hiro laughed.

Saryn blushed and held out their hand.

"I'll settle for a high five later, once we're safe. Right now we need to stay quiet and bolt."

Hiro took their hand and stepped out of the cell. His stomach rumbled.

"Fred wouldn't happen to have left any snacks in that suit, would he? I haven't eaten in almost a whole day!"

Saryn shook their head. "Sorry, just me in here. Now come on, let's go! I think I can remember how to get us back to the entrance."

They tugged on Hiro's hand, trying to lead him down the hall, but the kid shook his head.

"Wait… you said Obake is busy, right? When did he start working on Baymax?"

"Maybe twenty minutes ago. He ran off with the blueprints, then came back a minute later to get set up to operate. Seemed really focused. Why?" Saryn cocked their head.

"Well, I said it'd take him a while to get around my safeguards, plus it'll be a couple of hours to actually do the installation, probably more since this Baymax is an old model.”

"That means this is the perfect chance to make a break for it."

Hiro shook his head again.

"First, I have to know what his plan is for San Fransokyo. Did you get a look at which of my projects he printed off?”

Saryn shook their head no. “Sorry, I didn't want to get close enough for him to notice me, and from across the room I couldn't make out much.”

Hiro nodded. “Okay, then If we're going to stop him, we have to poke around a bit, we can't be left in the dark. Besides, maybe we'll find a car or something while we snoop around. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to walk the thirty miles back to the base."

Saryn hesitated, thinking it over. They scowled and bit their lip, eyebrows knitting together with concern, but finally they nodded.

"Alright, but we need to be quick and careful… I don't want my mamas to worry more than they probably already are."

The two teens took off down the hall, turning corners and peeking in rooms. It was surprising how many of them were empty. If this base had been designed at the same time as the one under San Fransokyo Bay, Hiro was willing to bet that the original plan was for these to be quarters for villains who sided with Obake. Luckily, Big Hero Six had done their job well lately and left Obake without much support. Ironically, the absence of them made the bunker feel even less inviting.

Finally, they opened a door (which was like a classic submarine hatch, complete with a big wheel they had to spin to unlock it, and found a room full of stuff. Rows of shelves stocked with weapons and assorted devices. The teens stepped inside and closed the hatch behind them.

"Woah, what is all this stuff?" Saryn asked as they both stepped inside.

Hiro picked up a familiar looking katana and unsheathed it. Sure enough, the blade was see-through from the side and completely invisible from head on. Graphene.

"Confirmation," Hiro replied, sliding the blade carefully back into its sheath. He told his friend his theory about the empty rooms.

"This is just like the swords Momakase uses," he said, setting it down. He then picked up a robotic foot from the next shelf while Saryn picked the katana back up.

"This looks like one of Noodle Burger Boys'!" Hiro turned it over and frowned. "but not made by Kreitech. Obake must have gotten the designs and printed his own spare parts. There's a lot of that going around, apparently."

Saryn unsheathed the sword halfway and whistled lowly.

"This is impressive!"

They touched a clawed finger from the chameleon suit to the blade.

"Careful!" Hiro warned. "those cut better than Wasabi's-!"

Saryn gasped as the tip of the claw got sliced off and fell to the floor.

"I'm okay!" They quickly re-sheathed the blade and put it back on the shelf.

The duo explored the room. Hiro saw things he recognized every couple of shelves. Parts that looked suspiciously like they went to Trina's centipede fighting bot from when she'd posed as a Bot-Fighter to trick Hiro. There was a broken Jetpack that Hiro recognized as one of the Mad Jacks'. Things like that.

Hiro paused and eyed a square box that looked like a gun case, only it was too thick. Curiosity got the better of him and he opened the clasps. He was immediately glad he'd done so. The teen grinned and pulled out a set of roller skates. Not just any skates, however. Rocket skates, clearly for Supersonic Sue. He held them up.

"Now we have a fast way back to the city!"

Saryn recognized them, being a Big hero Six fan, but frowned.

"Just one pair? And those are a bit small to fit on this suit."

Hiro smiled. "Good thing Sue always took her grandson with her to commit crimes." He patted a much larger case one shelf down.

Saryn grinned. "Okay, I admit, this was a good idea." They grabbed the box and snatched out the much larger skates. “Oh yeah, this'll work!”

They both crossed to the next aisle and started rummaging through more boxes.

"Most of these are just spare parts, Hiro… but, oooohhh! We'll need these!"

Hiro poked his head around the corner of the shelf to see Saryn holding up two small black devices that looked like miniature versions of those buzzers restaurants pass out to tell you when your table is ready.

"Scan jammers!" Saryn said proudly. "So Obake can't track us."

Hiro raised an eyebrow.

"You know what scan jammers look like, but you still don't want to go to SFIT?"

Saryn shook their head. "I didn't recognize them. The box is labeled." They tossed him one

Hiro blushed and caught it. "Oh!" He pocketed it.

"I'm guessing we're leaving the weapons?" Saryn asked.

Hiro nodded. "There's a lot of people between here and San Fransokyo. This stuff can be pretty unpredictable even to the villains they belong to. I don't want anyone to accidentally get hurt. We skate away as fast as we can and hope by the time Obake notices, it'll be too late."

"Then we should hurry."

Hiro scowled. "I know, I know… but we still haven't found any information on what Obake is planning! If we can find what project of mine he needed, I… I can't just leave yet, I need to keep looking. We have time, I'm sure of it!”

Saryn bit their lip.

"Hiro, we need to be careful."

"We will be! If we get caught you can turn invisible and slip away, then rescue me again, or go get the others."

"Just a few more rooms?"

"Promise." Hiro nodded. "We'll be out of here soon."

The duo left the weapons room and started down the hall, peeking into each room on the way. They didn't have much luck until they turned into a new hallway. Saryn froze.

“I think this is where I saw Obake going when he left with the blueprints earlier.”

This hall had fewer doors, and the first one they opened made them gasp. It looked like it might be Obake's quarters!

“Good work, Saryn!”

Hiro would have expected Obake's room to be excessively tidy, and was surprised to find the room a cluttered mess. But it was definitely Obake's. Posters on the walls contained blueprints for projects Hiro recognized. The bot Obake had used to trick them, Trina, even the warehouse full of trap rooms that the team had encountered just after learning about Obake's existence months ago.

And on one wall, above a desk, was a board covered with pictures of Hiro. Some taken from newspapers and school programs, and some taken through the windows at home, in various rooms. Including some from his bedroom. Hiro in pajamas, Hiro reading a book. Hiro asleep.

"Okaaayyy, this is a little beyond creepy." Hiro wrinkled his nose as he approached.

"Look at this, though." Saryn nodded at the only thing on the board that wasn't a picture of Hiro.

It was a fresh-looking printout of tech plans along with a couple of hastily scrawled handwritten notes, like Obake couldn't help but get down a couple of ideas before returning to work on Baymax. It was the designs for some device. A device Hiro recognized. One of the first projects he'd ever done at SFIT…

He swore under his breath and backed away. He shifted the rocket skates he was carrying uncomfortably.

"What is it?" Saryn asked.

"I think I might know what Obake is planning. We need to get out of here. Can you take a picture of those blueprints, make sure you can read what his notes say in it. I'll make sure the coast is clear outside."

Saryn nodded and whipped out their phone to snap pics while Hiro peeked his head out into the cement hallway. It was empty in both directions.

Saryn shoved the phone back in their pocket, inside the suit, then put their arms back in their slots, and the chameleon head up. They picked up their own skates, which they'd set down a moment before. It was a little strange with one claw lopped off.

"Alright," they made their way over to Hiro and the door. "Is that good enough? Can we please go now, please?"

Hiro nodded. "We need to get those pictures back to the base. And fast."

The two teens made their way through the halls, trying to rush while maintaining some semblance of stealth. The concrete halls were awfully echo-y, and it was hard not to send their footfalls deep into the base. They only got lost a couple of times, luckily. Saryn had plenty of time to explore earlier.

But finally, they emerged into the massive hangar Baymax 1.0 had brought them in through earlier. The large door that made up the far wall was closed now, but Hiro spotted a control panel covered in buttons nearby and made his way over to it.

“I get the feeling we'll need this to open the hatch. In fact, I bet that big, red, pressable-looking button at the top will do it!” He pressed it confidently. With another stroke of luck, and a deep rumble, the wall began to part, letting sunlight shine into the room.

And not so luckily, at the same time, an alarm began to ring through the compound, beating into Hiro's eardrums while red lights by the ceiling started flashing. And even worse, a segment of the floor between Hiro and Saryn and their exit started opening too. From inside, something large and metallic started rising out.

“Crap!” Hiro grabbed Saryn and pulled them down behind the console, out of sight. In doing so, he accidentally hit himself in the stomach with one of the wheels on Supersonic Sue’s rocket skates. Which gave him an idea…

“Okay,” Hiro whispered, grimacing and quickly starting to put the skates on, “I'll distract it. You stay back here out of sight and get your skates on. When you're ready, we'll book it out of here together.”

Saryn opened their mouth, but Hiro had gotten his skates on already and whirled around the side of the console, not waiting for their response.

He eyed the robot that had risen from the floor. It was a little larger than Baymax was, with long arms ending in tripod claws. The thing looked like one of the Buddy Guardians Kreitech had built for the police, before Trina had hijacked them all. Only this one didn't have legs, it was floating! Maybe a special version Obake himself had developed.

Luckily, it was facing the wrong way, looking out the now almost fully open hangar door. Evidently it was intended to be sent out on missions, rather than defending the base from inside.

Hiro wasn't sure how to work the skates, but as soon as he started rolling forward a little, they activated on their own and he shot forward faster than anyone should be allowed to skate.

“Hey, ugly, I'm over here! He yelled as he zoomed across the hangar. The Buddy Guardian turned, single red eye zeroing in on Hiro just in time for the boy to leap up and kick the thing hard in the chest. Hiro's momentum dented the chest plate and sent the bot reeling back. To the skate’s credit, the rockets cut out exactly when Hiro wanted them to. how intuitive! I never really gave them credit before.

Unfortunately, it meant that as the bot was sent backwards, he fell hard to the floor on his shoulder.

“Ow, damn it!” Hiro swore under his breath. “That's gonna leave a mark!”

But the guardian was already coming back again. Hiro scurried to his feet, trying to ignore his shoulder muscles screaming in protest. He let the droid close in, treating it similarly to a bullfight. A couple of seconds before it would have reached him, Hiro rocketed aside. The bot zoomed past and tried to brake in midair, causing it to creak and pop dangerously.

But it was done playing around now. It knew Hiro's game. When it turned around again, it didn't charge. Instead, it raised a clawed arm and pointed it directly at the boy.

Hiro almost thought he'd gotten hit. He realized what was happening a split second too late, the guardian was going to shoot him! And he felt himself suddenly being sent away just as the room lit up in the dazzle of a plasma beam.

But wait! Hiro wasn't being propelled, he was being pulled! And to the side. He looked down just in time to see the Fredmeleon tongue detach from his waist, and he crashed into Saryn’s arms. Saryn stumbled back a little, but stayed standing. Which was impressive, given they had managed to put on their own rocket skates.

“I've got you!” They helped steady Hiro. “Come on, let's bolt!”

As soon as they said that, more mechanical rumbling filled the hangar. Three more segments of the floor were opening up.

“Okay, you've talked me into it. But it's still at least a fifty foot drop to the ground outside!”

“No time, we'll just have to figure it out! Now MOVE!” Saryn yelled as the Buddy Guardian Hiro had been fighting took him again.

The teens turned towards the open skies, and rocketed forward. It only took them a few seconds to clear the hanger entirely, and they shot out into open air as another bolt of energy seared past them. The rockets kept going for a few more seconds before they turned off, letting them descend at a slower rate than falling.

“It's gonna be bumpy when we hit!” Hiro warned unnecessarily. And then a moment later their skates slammed into the ground. The rockets immediately burned on once again, and they shot off into the afternoon.

“We did it!” Saryn cried gleefully, then yelled as another plasma beam whizzed by.

Hiro glanced behind them and saw four Buddy Guardians flying after them. He swore again and tried to skate faster, but their new models, while not quite as fast, still seemed able to keep up decently well.

“Turn invisible!” Hiro shouted over the roar of the rockets, wind, and debris. He hoped Saryn could hear him. “Get back to the others for help! I have an idea to lose them. Trust me!”

Saryn looked at him like he was crazy. They were both curving around the side of the mountain, zipping through the desert. They could only just start to make out San Fransokyo in the distance, emerging from the other side of the mountain. But then another beam blew up the ground only a few feet in front of the two. They split up to avoid it, and Saryn had no choice but to make for the city.

“Be careful! Don’t…” but then they got too far away for Hiro to hear any more. I have to remember to thank them if I make it out of this!

Saryn disappeared, shimmering invisible. They still kicked up a lot of dust, but the Buddy Guardians seemed to be sticking to following Hiro anyway. He glanced over his shoulder and narrowly dodged another blast.

The military blockade was now in view, as was the entirety of San Fransokyo. They didn't seem to notice Hiro yet, but that would change very soon. He angled himself at them and started to move in an unpredictable, zig-zag pattern. Two more bolts careened over his shoulder and hit one of the tanks about a mile ahead. It exploded and flipped over, the shockwave hitting Hiro two seconds later. It took his breath away, but was tame enough that he stayed on course.

“Now I bet you notice us,” Hiro muttered.

With the scan jammer in his pocket, and his zig-zag trajectory, he hoped they'd have a hard time focusing the tanks they were now pointing his way at him. The bots chasing him, on the other hand….

Hiro heard one of them explode behind him. A split second later, and a boom of artillery sounded from ahead. His plan was working!

The next two missed completely, but threw up enough debris that the Buddy Guardians had to scatter, unable to return fire. Hiro used the cloud of smoke and dirt to chafe course,following after Saryn and hoping he'd have decent cover. A few seconds later he heard the second one go down, though closer than he'd have liked.

Two down, two to go!

One of the Buddy Guardians stopped, trying to take aim at the blockade. It was the wrong move. Before it had a chance, it blew up as well, and the smoke from it was finally enough that Hiro had cover. He whooped loudly and made for the city, leaving the blockade and the last guardian in the dust.