Fred ran to his computer and pressed a key. “Don’t you guys get it? The man in the mask, our Yokai, is none other than”—the group gathered around as Fred hit another key—“high-tech tycoon Alistair Krei!”
“What?” Hiro said.
Fred nodded. “Think about it. Krei wanted your microbots, and you said no. Rules don’t apply to a man like Krei!”
Hiro sighed. He was going to need more evidence than a guess from Fred in order to believe that the richest man in the world was also a crazed criminal. “There’s no way. The guy’s kind of high-profile.”
“Then who was the guy in the mask?” Honey asked.
Hiro didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know anything about him.” He looked over to Baymax, who suddenly displayed Yokai’s vital signs on his chest screen.
“His blood type is AB negative. Cholesterol levels elevated. Blood pressure one thirty—” Baymax said.
“Baymax, you scanned him?” Hiro asked, unable to contain his excitement.
The robot nodded. “I am programmed to assess everyone’s health-care needs.”
Hiro jumped up. “I can use the data from your scan to find him!”
Go Go was skeptical. She snapped her gum. “You’d have to scan everyone in San Fransokyo—that might take...forever. “
Hiro sighed. He knew she was right. He began to pace. “No, no, no, no. There’s always a work-around.” With his fingers, he tapped his head, trying to force an idea to come. And then he saw one of Fred’s toys.
“I’ll scan the whole city at the same time. I just have to upgrade Baymax’s sensor.”
He looked from Baymax to his friends. “Actually, I need to upgrade all of you if we’re gonna catch this guy,” Hiro said, ready to head back to his garage.
Wasabi said, “Upgrade us? No, what are you talking about? We can’t go against that guy. We’re nerds!”
Honey approached the subject more calmly. “Hiro, of course we want to help, but he has all those microbots, and we’re just...we’re just us.”
“No,” he said, “you can be way more.” Hiro looked up at the superhero art in Fred’s room, and his mind swam with ideas. Yeah, Hiro thought, way better upgrades!
Fred said, “Can you feel it? Our origin story begins!” He was giddy with delight. “We’re gonna be superheroes!”
Hiro and the group gathered up the projects they had made at SFIT and brought them to Hiro’s garage.
“We’re never going to catch this guy unless we can take out the microbots. So we need to level the playing field,” Hiro said.
He looked at Go Go’s bike, Wasabi’s laser, Honey’s chemical concoctions, and Fred’s Kaiju costume. “Yep,” Hiro said. “We can work with this.”
Hiro had them all stand in front of the garage door. “Arms up,” he directed before running a scanner over them. “The neural transmitter must be in his mask. We get the mask and he can’t control the bots. Game over.”
Hiro rolled his chair to his computer workstation. Baymax watched over him as he worked late into the night. Hiro had six screens going in order to modify and design all the new gear. The 3-D printer was working overtime printing out sleek armor for everyone. Each member of the team worked hard, dismantling and redesigning their tech. Hiro worked with everyone on the improvements.
When they were done, Hiro and his friends took their tech out to Fred’s estate, where they could refine their new skills. Within the walls of the private garden, Fred set the mood by placing a Kabuki mask on Heathcliff.
Then they all suited up. They looked like they belonged in Fred’s collection of superhero action figures.
Honey was thrilled with her new pink body armor. She thought it complemented her blue eyes. Then she looked at her shiny new chem purse. “Oh, I love it! I love it! I love it!” she said. Suddenly, a pink chem-ball popped out and Honey caught it.
“Give it a try,” Hiro said, so she tossed it at Heathcliff. The butler was instantly covered in sticky pink goo. Honey clapped her hands.
Go Go was wowed by her new gear, too. Her yellow mag-lev wheels were modified into discs to fit her feet instead of her bike. This gave her the hyperspeed she’d always dreamed of as she skated along. There were also yellow discs on her arms, which were powerful weapons that could be thrown to cut through anything in her path.
“Got to say, I like it!” Go Go said.
“Take it slow,” Hiro warned.
Go Go pinwheeled her arms a bit, then found her balance and zoomed around the hedges. She grabbed a garden hose and coiled it around Heathcliff, immobilizing the butler in a flash.
Hiro smiled and put the head of a Kaiju suit on Fred to complete his armor.
“Whoa! This is awesome!” Fred said. He bent his knees and felt himself bounce. Then he took a giant leap, shouting, “Super-jump!”
“And there’s one more thing,” Hiro said while a flame jetted from Fred’s Kaiju jaws.
“I breathe fire!” Fred shouted. He blasted a ring of fire onto the grass around Heathcliff, who seemed to barely notice. Fred was so happy, he nearly cried. “This is the best day of my life,” he told Hiro.
In another part of the garden, wearing his green armor, Wasabi was trying to get comfortable with his new gloves. They were equipped with high-powered retractable lasers that could slice through anything.
Wasabi was terrified of them.
He held them away from his body as he approached a decorative marble pillar. He closed his eyes, and with a single swipe, sliced the pillar in two. He opened his eyes and smiled. “Whoa! Laser hands!”
Hiro smiled. “Guys, I’d like to introduce...Baymax: Mark 2.”
The friends stared up at the huge robot in awe.
Hiro had designed Baymax’s bright red body armor in a way that amplified his stature and strength. With a purple ribbed midsection that allowed him to bend, he made a powerful impression.
“Ah. He’s glorious!” Fred exclaimed.
Then Honey gathered everyone around Baymax for a quick selfie.
Hiro smiled. “Show ’em what you got, buddy.”
They stared at Baymax, but the big robot didn’t seem to understand.
“The fist!” Hiro said to him. “Show them the fist.”
Baymax reached out for a fist bump. “Bata-lata...”
“No, not that,” Hiro said. “You know? The thing...the other thing.”
Baymax held out his arm and his giant red fist shot out like a rocket. It destroyed a huge flowerpot, then smashed through the garden wall.
“Whoa!” was all the team could say.
“My hand is gone.” Baymax stared at the wisps of smoke where his hand used to be. Just then, the fist returned to Baymax’s arm. “It is back,” he said.
“Rocket fist make Freddie so happy!” Fred squealed.
Hiro nodded. “That’s only one of his new upgrades. Baymax, wings!” Baymax’s fixed carbon-fiber wings deployed.
“No way,” Fred said, dropping his jaw.
“Thrusters,” Hiro directed.
“I fail to see how flying makes me a better health-care companion,” Baymax said.
“I fail to see how you fail to see that it’s awesome.” Hiro climbed on Baymax’s back. He locked on to Baymax with magnetic knee pads and gloves that were part of his own black-and-purple armor. And his helmet allowed him to communicate with all the members of the team. “Full thrust!”
Baymax and Hiro took off, but Baymax seemed to have trouble rising into the air. They hit the ground, nearly clobbering the team.
As Baymax and Hiro took off again, the group held its breath. This time Baymax was a little steadier.
Hiro realized they all needed time to sharpen their new skills. And he was right. With some practice, Fred was jumping and shooting flames at targets with absolute precision. Out on
Fred’s tennis court, Wasabi began knocking tennis balls out of the air with ease—and they were perfectly sliced in two. Go Go was throwing her discs with lightning speed and control. Honey had mastered the art of launching the chem-balls so that they always hit their mark.
And eventually, Baymax flew through the air like a pro with Hiro on his back. So Hiro decided it was time to really crank it up. He rocketed Baymax over the city, barrel-rolled and banked sharply left, then right, weaving through a tunnel, over and under neon signs. They flew past a high-rise that reflected their own image back at them. It was incredible. Hiro couldn’t help yelling, “Yeah!”
Baymax told him, “Your neurotransmitter levels are rising steadily.”
“Which means what?” Hiro asked.
“The treatment is working,” Baymax explained. Hiro could feel it, too. For the first time since Tadashi’s death, he was happy.
In order to optimize Baymax’s scan range, he and Hiro flew up to the top of a tall wind turbine that overlooked the city.
Hiro couldn’t stop thinking of their amazing flight. “Wow. That was...that was...”
“Sick,” Baymax finished his sentence.
Hiro looked at him in surprise. “It is just an expression,” Baymax said.
The boy couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, that’s right, buddy.”
The view from the top of the wind turbine was stunning. They could see the whole city and even parts beyond the bay that surrounded it. Hiro sighed at the beauty. “I am never taking a bus again.”
Baymax turned to Hiro and blinked. “Your emotional state has improved.”
Hiro frowned, surprised by the comment.
“I can deactivate if you say you are satisfied with your care.”
“What? No, I don’t want you to deactivate!” Hiro exclaimed. “We still have to find that guy. So fire up that super sensor.”
New lenses dropped over Baymax’s eyes. He scanned the entire city, gathering readings on hundreds of thousands of people and eliminating those that didn’t match Yokai’s profile. “Functionality improved. One thousand percent increase in range,” Baymax said. “But there is no match in San Fransokyo.”
Hiro was disappointed for a moment, then—
“I have found a match on that island.” Baymax pointed to the bay. Hiro looked up at Baymax’s digital medical readout. It was blinking match.
“Akuma Island!” Hiro exclaimed.
That night, they all jumped on Baymax’s back. He deployed his red carbon-fiber wings. He wasn’t used to the weight of the whole team on his back and wobbled a bit as he took off.
“Killer view,” Go Go commented, as if she spent every day skimming the water of the bay on the back of a robot.
“Yeah,” Wasabi agreed, his voice wavering slightly. “If I wasn’t terrified of heights, I’d probably love this. But I’m terrified of heights, so I don’t love it.”
Fred was his usual overeager self. “I can’t believe this. We’re going to bring an evildoer to justice! In cool outfits! I mean, we’re superheroes!”
His statement made Wasabi frown. “We’re not superheroes,” he corrected Fred. “We’re nerds.”
Flying only inches above the water, they got closer to Akuma Island. Hiro found an empty stretch of land. “There, Baymax. Take us in.”
The robot turned and landed near a group of military-type buildings.
“Awesome!” Fred said. “Our first landing as a team!”
Everyone scrambled to their feet. “Guys, come on,” Hiro called, leading them toward a concrete bunker.
But Wasabi was staring at a sign on a nearby fence. “Quarantine? Do you know what ‘quarantine’ means?” he asked in a trembling voice.
Baymax turned and said, “Quarantine: Enforced isolation to prevent the spread of contamination.”
Wasabi rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. “I know what it means!” he shouted. “Tell them!”
They ignored Wasabi and approached a large steel door. “Be ready,” Hiro whispered. “He could be anywhere.”
Just then, a twig snapped behind them!
Instantly, they spun around and unleashed their weapons. Honey threw a dozen chem-balls, while Fred shot a huge breath of fire. Go Go threw one of her discs, and Hiro ducked out of the way. Wasabi windmilled his laser blades, and Baymax struck a karate pose.
“Did I get it?” Wasabi cried.
As the smoke cleared, the team looked into the haze and saw a seagull staring back at them. It shook its head and flew off into the night.
“Well, there goes the element of surprise,” Go Go said, picking up the discs she’d thrown.
“Well, at least we know our gear works,” Honey declared as Baymax reached over to extinguish a fire on Hiro’s helmet with his fingers.
Wasabi stepped up and cut through the door with his laser blades. The team hesitated for a moment. They knew once they stepped inside, the game was on. They peeked in and saw a stairwell that led down into blackness.
Sticking close together, the team crept down the stairwell.
Fred chose that time to begin singing. “Six intrepid friends led by Fred, their leader. Fred. Fred’s Angels. Uh-uh-uh. Fred’s Angels. Uh-uh-uh. Harnessing the power of the sun with the ancient amulet they found in the attic. Uh-uh-uh. The amulet is green. Uh-uh-uh. It’s probably an emerald. Uh-uh-uh—”
Wasabi silenced him with a look. “Fred, I will laser-hand you in the face!”
Fred shrank back.
“Shhh,” Hiro said as they entered a huge concrete testing lab. “Any sign of him, Baymax?” He looked at Baymax’s scanner. The signal had disappeared.
“This structure is interfering with my sensor,” Baymax said, still trying to get a reading.
“Oh, great,“ Wasabi said anxiously. “The robot’s broken.”
“Guys, you might want to see this...” Honey said.
Everyone was on high alert as they scanned the lab. The place appeared to have been badly damaged. The ceiling had caved in, leaving a gaping hole. The walls were cracked, and chunks of concrete were scattered everywhere.
Two large circular structures that vaguely resembled portals of some sort dominated the room. One was intact but half dismantled. The other seemed to have been completely blown up.
“What do you think they are, genius?” Go Go asked Hiro.
“I’m not sure. But look,” Hiro replied, pointing to a bird symbol on one of them. It was the same one Hiro had seen on the metal piece Yokai was transporting across the bay.
Then Honey said, “Hiro.” She was pointing to a flickering light. It was coming from a control room in a tower overlooking the lab floor.
Yokai must be up there, Hiro thought.
The team climbed a decrepit metal stairway, ready for battle. But when they burst into the control room, they found it abandoned.
The flickering light was coming from a bank of video screens. The biggest screen showed the graphic image of a bird. silent sparrow was printed underneath it.
Hiro walked over to the computer and hit a key. An image of Alistair Krei appeared.
“Krei...” Hiro said, a little shocked.
The paused video began to play. It showed Alistair Krei standing in the lab when it was sleek and new. A small audience that included military officials was listening as Krei said, “We were asked to do the impossible. And that’s what we did. We’ve reinvented the very concept of transportation.”
Krei gave his audience a broad smile and pointed to two large circular structures—the same ones the team had found in the lab. “Friends, I present Project Silent Sparrow.” He nodded to the control booth, and the two structures powered up with a hum.
Krei took the hat of one of the generals. “May I?” he asked. But before the general could answer, Krei tossed the hat into the closest circular portal. In less than a second,
it flew out of the other portal.
“Whoa! A magic hat!” Fred said.
“No,” Hiro said, impressed with what Krei had done. “Teleportation. Those circles are portals.”
On the video, Krei handed the general his hat. “Teleportation: the transport of matter instantaneously through space. Not science fiction anymore,” Krei said. The guests burst into applause.
Next, Krei led his audience up to the control room. “Now, we didn’t spend billions of dollars to teleport hats.” His guests nodded and laughed nervously as Krei motioned to a video monitor. “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re here to witness history.”
Krei spoke into a microphone. The image of a young woman flashed onto the screen. “Ready to go for a ride, Abigail?” he asked.
The pilot gave a thumbs-up. “We’ve invited all these people; might as well give them a show,” she said as she climbed into a flight pod set up to enter one of the portals.
Krei turned to his guests. “The first human teleportation in history, courtesy of Krei Tech Industries,” he said with a flourish, and the countdown began.
Hiro and the team watched the video as the flight pod’s engines fired up. The portal was humming. A computer-generated voice echoed through the lab: “T-minus thirty seconds to launch.”
“All systems go for pod launch,” Krei said.
A technician suddenly said, “Sir, we’ve picked up a slight irregularity in the field harmonics.”
“Huh,” Krei said, looking at the readout on the screen.
One of the generals stepped forward. “Mr. Krei, is there a problem?”
“No, no, problem,” Krei said with a wave of his hand. “It’s well within the parameters. Let’s move forward,” he said to the technician.
“Five, four, three, two...one,” the voice said. “Pod engaged.” And the pod shot into the first portal, but the moment it entered, alarms screamed.
“We’ve lost all contact with the pilot!” a technician yelled. When the second portal exploded, Krei’s audience scrambled out of the way.
“Oh, no,” Honey said as they all watched the technicians panic. They understood that the pilot now had no way of exiting the portal.
Big Hero Six Page 5