2On Channel 7, a newscast with Bluff Dunder appears: "According to an anonymous source, the legendary businessman Alistair Krei of Krei Tech has been accused on several accounts not excluding fraud, negligence to safety protocols and black market sales. Here with us is Borelay Love trying to get a statement from Krei."
A woman from Madripoor appears with a mic, chasing down Krei walking towards his building. "Mister Krei, can you tell us, are the allegations true?"
"I'm busy. I'm very busy trying to get this sorted, don't worry." He closes the doors in the cameraman's face.
Hiro turns the newsfeed off. It wasn't a denial. It'd at the very least keep Krei busy. He'd worry about his own company before Callaghan.
Abigail's living room, sitting in an orange chair is Callaghan, freshly released from prison and back in his red button up and tan cardigan vest with a pillow on his side, creme with black diamonds. On his lap is the newspaper, there's so much to catch up on but he's in no hurry to find it all out. The sun splits through the windows onto his face, he's free, he's happy.
"You shouldn't be the one supporting me, honey. I'm your pop and I finally get the chance to be again." He grumbles.
"But Dad, you're not going to be able to get a job, unless you want to be scooping ice cream for the rest of your life." His daughter yells from the kitchen.
Ding. Dong.
Callaghan gets up to answer the door. "I'd gladly scoops a thousand ice cream cones if it was for you."
At the doorstep is a blue handwritten letter. He picks it up.
'Meet At The Eye.'
"A meeting?"
A cable car makes a curve as Callaghan walks up to the observatory. At the entrance is an eye shaped window. He opens the door-
His former students.
"Seems you've had a great hand in releasing me and I wouldn't even be surprised if you were the one that crook, Krei, in jail. But asking for this meeting tells me there's more to it. Perhaps a scientific answer?" He folds his hands.
Everyone makes way for Hiro. They'd gladly take on any battle but this was one he had to fight on his own. Hiro's eyes are downcast, somewhat embarrassed and nervous and whatever else Baymax could diagnose. But it's just that, his familiar squeak of moving mechanisms, that thrusts him back into action. Hiro steps forth, claiming his actions.
"You did a lot of things. But you did it for the ones you loved. I almost walked that path, I lost someone that I'll never get back because of you but you lost someone. I brought her back and I'd do it again. There's someone else out there who's lost someone and I might be able to bring them back, but I can't do it alone. I need your help."
Hiro gives a stern look, holding out his hand. A handshake: An offer equivalent to a peace treaty.
"Believe me, I'm honored but you must be pretty desperate to ask me for help. Can you even trust me?"
"You've kept our secret. That's gotta count for something."
"Very well." Callaghan joins hands, wrapping both of his around Hiro's. "I don't know what it is you want me to do but I'll try to help in any way I can."
"You want me to what-?!" He shifts his torso back.
"I need your knowledge on Silent Sparrow."
"I'm not going back to jail. Are you insane?" He rests down in an open chair, hand combing his hair. He didn't think Hiro would go that far.
Hiro stands over top of him. No longer the fourteen year old he used to be. "It'll be different this time. You have us."
"I appreciate your optimism but even if you were working with the police. There's no guarantee that-"
Hiro gives a defiant look, crossing his arms and sitting on the arm of a seat.
"I've spent all that time regretting what I did, blocking myself off from science so it doesn't happen again."
"To be fair, science wasn't to blame, you were."
Callaghan smiles. He's right, he could never deny his first love even if he tried. He spent all that time teaching kids about science and robotics, he couldn't do that, science can help just as much as it could help. In front of him was living proof.
"I can't lie to my daughter." He doubles down.
"No, no, I understand." Hiro says. All that worked up courage for nothing. Really he's no better than Abigail. He wanted to get Callaghan out of jail to meet his own needs, sure it was to save someone else but was that all? Once he got parole, the first thing he did was rope him back into the action. There's so much that he does as a hero that sometimes he misses the big picture, it's always fast fast fast but not everybody wants it that way, they don't all want to be dragged along.
Not everyone wants to be a hero.
He was foolish for thinking that Callaghan was just waiting for the opportunity, that he was doing him a favor by asking him to help. Maybe he felt like he'd make up for what he did in some other way, there was no way of knowing.
But without him...the whole project would collapse.
"So I won't. I can't abandon her again so I hope you realize that I'm not going to get caught, okay?" Callaghan gives a sly look.
"You mean you'll do it!?" Hiro perks up.
"I don't care to come back to science. I don't care to be a hero, but I don't want to see you get hurt while doing it...that would be on me. If I can prevent that from happening then I will."
From there they get to work brainstorming.
"Have you heard of the copy?" Hiro asks.
"Oh, I've heard about them."
"Them? So yours wasn't the original?" Hiro plays it up, just in case he decides to drop the subject like Krei.
"No, I reworked it."
"So, do you have the original documents?"
"I don't have the source, the government seized that back when Silent Sparrow was originally shut down." He says disappointedly. Hiro lets out a cold sigh. "But, I was one of the few that read it and still remember it." He continues. This means that they won't be able to replace or get rid of him, Hiro was right.
"Then where are we building this?"
"I was kind of hoping you would help us figure that out." Hiro says with a tinge of embarrassment.
"Stars." "A ship? You have a ship, don't you Fred?"
"Yes sir."
"Would that work though?" Hiro asks, concerned.
"But it wouldn't be grounded, or stable."
"Right." Callaghan gets cut off.
"Are you the right guy or-" Gogo questions.
"Listen, we use the ship to move the parts to build on the sea floor, it's far enough away, it's- What? Did I say something wrong?" Callaghan forces his words out so nobody else can interrupt.
Everyone slumps back, feeling like they've already heard this. Callaghan half shrugs, unsure of what their problem is.
"How would a mountain do?" Hiro contemplates.
"Sure, you got one of those too?" Callaghan looks at Fred.
They head out the doors for Hiro to point to the horizon and across the water, Muirahara Woods.
"Sure, it might disrupt a few trees but I think that's better than a few buildings." Callaghan comments.
They head to the woods to scope things out. A lot has happened in Muirahara Woods already, strange lights, noises, and disturbances wouldn't be out of the ordinary, plus they had a literal cover-up, the trees. Tall thick evergreens and pine, bushes lining the dirt paths, there were even electrical currents that still ran out to there from one of Krei's pet projects.
"So, how many portals? Is there an enter and exit door or is it just a revolving door?" Fred asks.
"We used two to balance it out, the amount of force going into one is the amount of force coming out of the other. Magnetic." He sticks two baby sized circular magnets together. "But we've proved that one could technically work both ways." Back when Hiro saved Abigail. Callaghan must've thought it was like the original source's counterpart, once something goes in, it doesn't come out, it's a one way ticket, trying the same thing on Krei.
"Sirque could also open hers inside the-" Hiro realizes there's no real name for it. "Aether?" He looks back to Callaghan for approval.
"Sure, we'll go with that." He responds, he himself hasn't officially dubbed it anything yet. "If she could reduce wind and force, it would be possible for instant portals. However, your friend left behind evidence, correct?"
"Yeah...that's actually how we beat her." Fred points out the coincidence.
"We didn't beat her. She escaped...and got caught...by the police." Hiro explains between breaths. As much as he'd like to take credit for it, she was one of the few they didn't succeed with.
"Well, there you go. Portability comes at a price. You lose the pieces, you lose your way home." Too much of a risk.
"We need suits." They're not exactly equipped for space travel...yet. That was on the list. Callaghan scratches the back of his head, knowing what that must mean.
Back at Abigail's house:
"Abigail, what kind of fabric do you use for your suits?"
"Nylon, spandex, cooling tubes." She lists off like the back of her hand, she could probably tell you how many stitches were in them too but she suppresses her knowledge.
"Does that make it air resistant?" Callaghan curls his lip with curiosity.
"If we want resistance, sometimes we use aramid, depending on what type of tests we're doing. Why?" She could ramble about it for days but she knows that with every question, comes a motive.
"I can't take an interest in my daughter's work?" He says casually, going back to his book.
Back at the woods, they've prepared their own mini facility to work in, hopefully not too conspicuous.
Hiro prepares a presentation on a white board. "There won't be communication to the outside world, that's just how it's going to be, we know too little. Last time, Baymax detected a pulse, I intend to do that again but this time, all of us. We'll have receptive gear. If we don't find him this time, it's fine, it's ground covered." Thanks in no small part to Callaghan's 'research', Hiro has a solid standing with the suits but they need a supplier.
"So, how are we making these suits?" Gogo asks.
"SFiT, duh. Like we always do." Fred says before giving it any thought.
"I'm not allowed within five hundred feet of a school." Callaghan says, arms crossing in his rolling chair.
If only they had done this before Hiro graduated, then he could make the supplies at the school. It's true that Fred was still the mascot but he'd be a little too suspicious to take an interest in taking science materials home now. There had to be some other way.
Then it hits him.
"Hiro!" Judy says, greeting him inside Krei Tech.
"After some poor remarks Mr. Krei was asked to step down, he'll be in custody once the trial hits in a few months. But I'm left in charge now.
She peers back at him, leading him into the office. "I'm guessing you had something to do with it." He's static, unsure if she'll call security. He doesn't understand, he left no traces.
"No need to admit it. Just know that I'm grateful. I've had evidence stacked against him for quite some time but was just waiting for the right opportunity." She defiantly sits on what used to be Krei's desk. The name plaque is already gone.
"So, you could take over." Hiro concludes.
She looks down, snickering. Not a denial. "By the way, it's not Krei Tech anymore, it's Kite Tech. We make use of 3 of the 4 letters. The official rebranding is next week." She hands him a new business card.
'Kite Tech: It's for everyone.'
"If you ever need anything, I'm in your debt."
"That's part of why I'm here. I need access to the Silent Sparrow documents."
She tilts her head. "For what?"
"You know what, I don't even have to ask."
"I also need a supplier." He tenses up.
"You know how many unnamed projects there were being funded just because they were Krei's friends? Go ahead."
"Thank...you." He didn't expect it to go that easy. She gets a call on her phone.
"Yeah, uh-huh." She replies to the phone conversation. Meanwhile, she hands Hiro a reflective access card.
Since Callaghan couldn't visit Krei-wait no, Kite Tech, the team sets up their own personal shipping service where they make the supplies they need and carry it outside to Baymax to fly off with and deliver to the woods where Callaghan would be waiting to receive.
"We'll need a new name. Silent Sparrow carries a negative connotation." Hiro wiggling a marker above his head.
"Another bird? Thrush Eterna!" Fred suggests.
"That one might already be in use." Wasabi dilates.
"Carbon Canary." Honey seems sure of.
"Does it really need a name?" Gogo asks.
"Allegro Duck" Wasabi joins.
"No no, it's gotta have alliteration." Fred corrects him.
"Curtain Cardinal!" Someone screams.
"Whispering Wren!" Someone shouts.
"Azure Archimedes." Callaghan suggests. They all look to him. "Let's forget the birds."
Callaghan sits on an old log, holding a can of soda. Ahead of him, everyone struggles to build the arc of the portal. "It feels like a college field trip." Callaghan remarks. They're struggling but they're all happy and working together.
Wasabi and Gogo try to balance one of the arches, wobbling back and forth.
Hiro joins Callaghan on the makeshift bench. "I took Abigail on a field trip once, that year was to the Museum of Flight." He makes a whooshing motion with his hand. "It was before your brother started going and I said 'Abigail! Stay close.' because everyone is obviously older than her and I don't want her getting lost but even so there's so many kids to keep track of that she got away from me."
Baymax waddles over and puts a hand on it to steady it. Gogo steps away. Wasabi lets go and the weight comes crushing down on Baymax but Wasabi quickly returns to catch it, pushing with his back.
"I searched all over for her. Had the staff searching, the students searching but you know where she was? I found her in the cockpit of one of the planes, she couldn't have turned it on, it was decommissioned." He waves off. "How she managed to get in there, I don't know, but before I pulled her out, I'll never forget what she said, she stopped me and said 'I think I figured it out.' and I said 'What?' 'How to spin.' That's how she decided she wanted to be a pilot. I couldn't believe it. She came to that conclusion on her own."
The sunset breaking through the wall of trees makes Hiro realize how late it really is, today went by fast. 'This is what it could've been like.' He thinks to himself, hiding his hands under his knees.
Gogo comes back with a rope, pointing to the top. Both her and Honey tug from opposite ends to keep it steady.
"Lucky Krei keeps copies of everything." Hiro suggests.
"Yeah, to rip off other people's inventions. Getting rid of me wasn't a coincidence, he wanted to hide something that I knew about." Callaghan says, referring to his reaction in court. He never feared for his life, he feared for his brand and what he would be responsible for. To him, it was best to bury old failures but to Callaghan, failures just scratched the surface, you could improve on failure...at least, he'd hoped.
"You know I could've broken out. Thought about it. I saw every opportunity but I don't think Abigail would've approved. She's not a kid anymore; Her naivete wore off." Callaghan continues. Hiro looks at him, a large glare in his eyes. "Guess that excluded you though." He chuckles, taking one last sip of his drink.
"Have you thought how if this guy doesn't end up being there, there's really no reason to this. We would've made a scientific revelation but couldn't tell anybody about it." Callaghan looks to the sky, it really is the limit.
"No, it'd be a waste." Hiro stands up. "But a risk worth taking. Can't say we didn't try." He looks back with a smirk. He walks off to join the others, with Callaghan soon following.
"Someone's going to have to stay here to activate the portal then reactivate it. We don't want it open longer than it has to be." Hiro looks back at Callaghan.
"How will he know to reactivate it? If time flows differently in there than it does out here and we can't have communication." Gogo points out. Hiro thumbs his chin.
"We never got communication figured out, that's part of what went wrong with Abigail." Callaghan groans. He won't allow himself to make that mistake again.
"We reverse the polarity. That's how he'll know." A negative magnetic charge to a positive one would allow the portal itself to adjust in order to counter it. Callaghan would just have to keep an eye out for a change.
"What if we're not capable?" Wasabi asks delicately.
"Then I open it anyway. I will come find you." Callaghan assures them.
Over time, they finish the portal and are ready for the first run.
"Activate it." Hiro says. Callaghan pulls down the lever, pushes it back up and then back down. Three separate mechanisms like it's a gear-shift to a car.
The portal opens, swirly blue streaks blur into each other.
Everyone presses a button on their gear, igniting neon wire and flashlights.
"Guys?" Callaghan says. Hiro's boots start lifting him off the ground so he activates his magnets, soothing back to the floor. The idea brings him back to his last gift to the school before finally looking back.
"Good luck." Callaghan finishes.
They all look to the portal and walk in.