Baymax was curious. “Will apprehending the man in the mask improve your emotional state?”
“Absolutely.”
Hiro created a full set of armor for Baymax using his 3-D printer. Then he downloaded karate moves onto a red computer chip. He opened Baymax’s access panel. A green computer chip was already inside, with something written on it: TADASHI HAMADA.
Hiro stopped. Tadashi, he thought. Is this what Tadashi would do?
Hiro put the red computer chip next to Tadashi’s green one, then closed the panel. Baymax began downloading the new data.
Baymax could now perform fighting moves. He was also protected by armor! Baymax practiced some karate.
“Side kick!” Hiro shouted. Baymax kicked a board in half. They were ready to face the masked man!
That night, Baymax and Hiro returned to the old warehouse. It was empty.
Hiro looked at the microbot he’d brought with him. It began rattling so hard in its dish that the lid flew off. The microbot was free! It zipped through the air and disappeared in the fog over the ocean.
Moments later, a large swarm of microbots emerged from the fog. They carried a huge metal piece of some unknown machine—and the masked man! Hiro was scared. What is this guy up to?
The man rode on top of the swarm of microbots. The power and size of the microbots all working together was frightening.
Hiro and Baymax hid behind a large metal shipping container. The bright glow of headlights surprised Hiro. Then the light went out. Go Go, Honey, Wasabi, and Fred jumped out of a car! They had followed Hiro to the warehouse after Baymax had contacted them.
“No!” Hiro hissed. He waved at them to go away. He didn’t want the masked man to see them. “Get out of here! Go!”
But it was too late. The man turned and saw the group. He quickly made the microbots throw a giant shipping container at the friends!
Baymax moved in front of the box and stopped it from falling on the group. He saved them!
Go Go shoved Hiro into the car with Wasabi, Fred, and Honey. A group of microbots slammed into Baymax! They flung him through the air and he landed hard on the car’s roof.
“Hiro. Explanation. Now,” Go Go ordered as Wasabi drove as fast as he could.
Hiro told them about the man in the mask. “He stole my microbots. He started the fire!”
Suddenly, Wasabi braked.
“Why did we stop?” Go Go yelled.
Wasabi pointed at the traffic signal and started to explain, “The light’s red!”
“There are no red lights in a car chase!” Go Go screamed.
Go Go pushed Wasabi out of the way and started driving. The car zipped along the streets at top speed.
The masked man had the microbots make a ramp in front of the car. Go Go raced to the top—and their car ran off the real road and into the ocean.
The man with the mask watched the car sink. Then he left, riding on a wave of microbots.
The car was now completely underwater. The friends tried to get out.
Baymax quickly took off his armor and grabbed all five of them. He filled with air and floated everyone to the surface. Baymax had saved them again! As they got back on land, no one spoke about what would have happened if the robot hadn’t been there.
Hiro looked around, still feeling a little scared. “We should get out of here.”
“I know a place!” Fred said.
The cold, wet group walked through the streets. Fred said his house was close by. But it wasn’t a house, it was a mansion!
“Welcome to mi casa!” Fred shouted. “That’s French for ‘front door’!” He grinned.
The door opened and a butler greeted Fred and his friends with a small bow. “Welcome home, Master Frederick!”
Fred led his surprised friends through the big home to his bedroom. It was filled with posters from comic books and life-sized superhero suits.
Baymax gave everyone medical attention. They talked about what had happened.
“Does this symbol mean anything to you guys?” Hiro held up a picture he had drawn. It looked like a bird. Hiro had seen it on the big piece of machinery the microbots were carrying. No one knew what it was.
“Apprehending the man in the mask will improve Hiro’s emotional state,” Baymax said.
Fred agreed. He also decided that the villain needed a name, so he called him Yokai, the Japanese word for “bad guy.” Then he sat down at his computer. “I have a theory,” he said. He pulled up the image of...Alistair Krei!
“Think about it,” Fred explained. “Krei wanted your microbots, and you said no. Rules don’t apply to a man like Krei. If he doesn’t get what he wants, he just takes it.”
Hiro didn’t believe Krei was the thief. But he didn’t have any idea how to find out who was.
Just then, Baymax started listing Yokai’s stats: “His blood type is AB negative. Cholesterol levels elevated. Blood pressure one thirty—”
“Baymax, you scanned him?” Hiro asked. “I can use the data from your scan to find him!”
“This is a job for the police. We’re nerds!” Wasabi protested.
Hiro shook his head. “I tried the police,” he said. “Trust me, I’m on my own.”
“No, you’re not. We’re with you!” Go Go said. If Yokai was responsible for Tadashi’s death, then Hiro’s friends wanted to find him, too, and bring him to justice.
“Tadashi was my brother,” Hiro said. “This is my fight.”
But his friends insisted.
“Those who suffer a loss require the support of friends and loved ones,” Baymax told Hiro. “Perhaps they would benefit from some upgrades.”
Baymax pointed at a poster of comic-book heroes on Fred’s wall. They could be like the heroes in the poster. They could all fight Yokai together.
“Can you feel it?” Fred asked. “Our origin story begins!”
They were a team now.
The six friends got to work. Hiro worked with all of their tech to make new super suits for everyone. When they were finished, they took the gear out into Fred’s garden to practice.
Honey got a colorful purse with an amazing built-in chemistry kit. It was cute—and dangerous. “I love it! I love it!” she shouted.
Hiro pointed to Fred’s butler, Heathcliff. Heathcliff pulled a Kabuki mask over his face. Honey threw chem-balls at him. The chem-balls covered Heathcliff in goo.
Go Go was upgraded with discs that were like wheels for her hands and feet. “Whoa!” she shouted. She moved her arms and legs to keep her balance. Then she took off. She grabbed a hose and skated circles around Heathcliff. The hose wrapped around him, holding him in place.
Hiro presented Fred with a suit that looked like a Japanese monster known as a Kaiju. “Super-jump!” Fred shouted. The elastic suit bounced him high into the air. “And I breathe fire!” He jumped even higher, and a circle of grass surrounding Heathcliff caught on fire.
Wasabi got laser gloves. “Whoa!” he said. He practiced cutting the mansion’s decorative pillars, which then fell harmlessly to the ground.
Baymax got new armor, powerful rocket fists, wings, and thrusters for his feet!
Hiro made a suit for himself, too. His armor had powerful magnets in the hands and knees so he could hang on to Baymax when they flew.
“Show ’em what you got, buddy,” Hiro said to Baymax.
Baymax’s rocket fist launched from his arm and punched through a wall, then immediately returned to its original position.
Everyone was impressed. “Rocket fist make Freddie so happy!” Fred said.
“Baymax, wings!” Hiro shouted.
Wings extended from Baymax’s back. Hiro climbed onto the robot. The first time they tried to take off, they fell to the ground. Baymax really needed to practice flying. “Let’s just take this slow,” Hiro said as they
rose into the air. But Baymax flew super fast—faster than Hiro had ever gone in his life.
“Up, up, up! Thrust!” Hiro screamed as they soared through the air. They were still unsteady, but Hiro loved it.
Baymax scanned Hiro when they stopped. “Your dopamine levels are rising.”
“Which means what?” Hiro asked.
“Your treatment is working,” Baymax replied. Hiro was feeling better. He was feeling great!
They flew back into the air. This time, they went faster and higher.
At the end of the day, the team was ready.
Hiro had also given Baymax a more powerful sensor. Baymax scanned the city and found Yokai. The masked man was just off the coast of San Fransokyo. Baymax flew the friends to Akuma Island. It was dark and creepy.
“The patient is somewhere in that structure,” Baymax said. He pointed at a steel door to the biggest building on the island.
Wasabi cut through the door with his laser gloves.
The team sneaked inside. “With little to no chance of survival, they enter the belly of the beast,” Fred whispered dramatically. He was living his comic-book dream.
They found a control room with a bank of video screens on one wall. Hiro saw the familiar bird image on a monitor. It was just like the one he had seen on the metal piece the microbots had been carrying. We must be close! Hiro thought.
Hiro touched a computer key and a video turned on. It showed Krei making a presentation.
“I present Project Silent Sparrow,” Krei announced. “Teleportation: the transport of matter instantaneously through space. Not science fiction anymore. Science fact!”
Krei turned to a girl sitting in the pilot’s seat of a small pod. “Ready to go for a ride, Abigail?”
She gave him a thumbs-up.
Krei smiled. The technicians began their work. A large, circular portal filled with swirling energy opened. Then a technician pointed to a computer monitor. Krei stopped smiling. He seemed to be thinking that something wasn’t quite right. Evidently, he decided to take the chance anyway.
The pod launched into the portal. KA-BOOM! The portal mechanism broke apart, but not before the pod had disappeared inside it!
“The pilot is gone!” one of the technicians shouted.
The group of friends watched in horror. Then the video ended.
“He’s stealing his machine back!” Hiro said. He realized that the microbots gave Yokai the power to find and move the heavy metal parts that made up the portal. “And he’s using my microbots to do it. Fred, you were right. It’s Krei.”
“Oh, no,” Baymax said, turning his head.
Yokai was standing right behind them with a group of microbots!
The six heroes jumped into action. “Get the mask!” Hiro shouted. He knew that Yokai was controlling the microbots with it.
They battled Yokai. But the microbots made Yokai strong. He lashed out at them with the swarm of bots.
Honey threw a chem-ball at Yokai. But it missed, making ice on the floor. Go Go slipped on the ice as she raced toward Yokai and knocked Honey down. Wasabi knocked away the microbots in the air with his laser gloves, but then he realized the bots were holding his legs in place. The team kept getting in one another’s way and was no closer to stopping Yokai. They needed to work together.
Finally, Baymax and Hiro flew close to Yokai. Baymax was pushed back by the microbots, but Hiro jumped forward and knocked Yokai’s mask off.
“It’s over, Krei!” Hiro shouted to the back of Yokai’s head.
Yokai turned.
Yokai was not Krei. It was Professor Callaghan!
Hiro was stunned. “But...but the explosion. You died.”
“No,” Callaghan replied. “Your microbots kept me safe.”
“But—Tadashi...you just let him die?” Hiro’s voice got louder. “He went in there to save you!”
“That was his mistake!” Callaghan yelled back.
Hiro was overcome with anger. He stared at the professor. Then he turned to Baymax. “Destroy him.”
Baymax couldn’t do it. “Hiro, this is not what—”
Hiro opened Baymax’s panel. He pulled out Tadashi’s green computer chip, removing the programming that directed him to help people. “Do it, Baymax. Destroy him,” Hiro ordered.
Baymax lifted his rocket-blasting fist and attacked Callaghan.
“Get the nurse chip back into Baymax, now!” Go Go shouted to the others.
Hiro’s friends loved him. And they missed Tadashi. But they could not let him destroy Professor Callaghan. They had to stop Baymax! Fred, Wasabi, Honey, and Go Go kept trying to grab the robot, but Baymax pushed them away. Honey was finally able to jam the green chip back inside him.
Baymax stopped fighting, and Callaghan moved quickly. He put on his mask. The microbots pushed Callaghan and the last piece of the portal out a hole in the roof!
Hiro was angry with his friends. “How could you do that? I had him!”
“Hey, what you just did—we never signed up for that,” Wasabi told him.
Hiro couldn’t believe that his friends had held him back. The professor was a bad man. “Baymax, find Callaghan.”
“My enhanced scanner has been damaged,” the robot reported.
“AH!” Hiro yelled. He jumped onto Baymax’s back. “Fly!” he shouted. They flew away, leaving the rest of the team stranded on the island.
At home, Hiro went to his computer. He quickly fixed Baymax’s super sensor. Baymax watched from his charging station.
“Your blood pressure is elevated,” Baymax reported. “You appear to be distressed.”
“I’m fine!” Hiro yelled. He stood up and touched the panel on Baymax’s chest. The panel didn’t open!
“Wha—?” Hiro was confused. He wanted to remove Baymax’s green computer chip.
“Will terminating Callaghan improve your emotional state?” Baymax asked.
“Yes! No....I don’t know.”
Baymax refused to open his panel. “Is this what Tadashi would have wanted?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Hiro said. “Tadashi is gone.”
“Tadashi is here,” Baymax stated.
“No! He’s not here,” Hiro said.
“Tadashi is here,” Baymax said.
Suddenly, Hiro heard Tadashi’s voice. Baymax was playing a video of Tadashi that was stored in his memory.
“This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is the first test of my robotics project.”
But the test was a mess. Different clips showed Tadashi trying over and over.
Until finally Tadashi said, “Okay. Eighty-fourth test. What do you say, big guy?”
Tadashi reached forward and pressed a button. His face lit up with joy. “It works! HE WORKS! AH! Ah, yes! This is amazing!” Tadashi spun in his chair. He pumped his fist in the air. “Wait till my brother sees you!”
Hiro stood still and watched. A moment passed. A tear ran down his cheek.
Tadashi had made a nurse bot. He wanted to heal people. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.
“Tadashi had to help,” Hiro whispered. He understood now.
Just then, Hiro noticed that his friends were in the room—Fred, Wasabi, Honey, and Go Go.
“Guys, I’m...I’m—” Hiro said.
Go Go hugged Hiro. “We’re going to catch Callaghan,” she said.
“But maybe don’t leave your team stranded on a spooky island next time?” Wasabi said, and Go Go nodded.
Hiro felt awful. “Oh, man.”
“It’s cool.” Fred smiled. “Heathcliff picked us up in the family chopper.”
Honey held up a video chip from the island. “We found something you should see.”
The friends gathered around Hiro’s computer. They watched the first section of the video, which showed what had taken p
lace before Krei’s teleportation demonstration. Krei, Callaghan, and Abigail were all together.
Hiro looked closely at Abigail. He saw callaghan on her helmet. “The pilot was Callaghan’s daughter. Callaghan blames Krei.”
Fred stared at the video. “This is a revenge story.”
Everything made sense now. Callaghan was the enemy. He had caused the fire at San Fransokyo Tech. He had stolen Hiro’s microbots and created more. He had used the neural transmitter fitted into his Kabuki mask to control them. Callaghan had used the microbots to move pieces of the portal from Krei’s lab on the island.
Hiro guessed that Callaghan was headed to the grand opening of the new Krei Tech campus in San Fransokyo.
Meanwhile, Callaghan confronted Alistair Krei at the campus.
“You took everything from me when you sent Abigail into that machine!” Callaghan shouted.
Krei couldn’t believe it. Callaghan was using the microbots to put the pieces of the portal back together. He wanted Krei to watch as he turned on the faulty portal. Once it was on, it would suck everything Krei had worked for inside and destroy it. Then he would send Krei into the portal, too.
The team got there just as Callaghan sent his microbots to capture Krei.
“Professor Callaghan!” Hiro yelled. “Let him go! Is this what Abigail would have wanted?” He knew how the professor felt. “This won’t change anything. Trust me, I know.”
Callaghan didn’t listen. He wanted to destroy Krei!
The team jumped into action.
“Go for the mask!” Hiro yelled.
The team used all their powers, but they were losing.
“Listen up. Use those big brains of yours to think your way out. There are no dead ends!” Hiro told his friends.
He wanted them to work together. As a team, they were stronger than Callaghan and the microbots.
He told Fred to create smoke so they could hide from Callaghan, who was at the top of a tower of microbots. Wasabi slashed the microbots with his laser gloves, keeping the swarm unfocused. Go Go threw her discs to make cracks in the tower of bots that held up Callaghan. Honey threw a chem-ball to deepen the cracks that Go Go had created. Together they knocked Callaghan to the ground and saved Krei from his enemy.
Hiro to the Rescue! Page 2
