59Chapter 67, everybody! Next chapter is the last, hope you all enjoyed this ride despite the Emotional Damage. ^^;
Yes Obake is quoting Shifu from the end of Kung-Fu Panda and the actor who played Blackbeard in his role in the Dwayne Johnson Hercules movie; also once again Edge of Tomorrow and possibly Baby Daddy. Meantime Tadashi is quoting Bicentennial Man and Fred is quoting the Back to the Future trilogy. And yes I'm glad that God knows my thoughts too because sometimes *gestures at knotted ball in my brain*
If you've been following me on Tumblr you've seen the hand thing on it earlier this year. XD Moving on…why was Mayor Saito a Season 3 thing she really should have been involved with the police arc and Diego really should have had more of a motivation beyond singing killed my grandma—no wait wrong one.
Juxshoa, thanks for the review! YES it was when writing as well but it's almost over! ToT/
Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney
So Tadashi had apparently installed a guard mode into Baymax and Cass had employed him to protect the Lucky Cat that night. Not that she thought something would happen but…okay fine she totally thought something would happen and she wasn't putting up with it hence her sleeping with a frying pan that night and calling Diego first thing that morning.
"Please tell me you got some sleep," Diego groused when he answered.
"Some," she said. "Please tell me that loser is still locked up."
"He's locked up, I intend to throw the book and possibly my desk at him, you're fine," Diego told her. "I have questions about the state I found him in, but other than that, case closed."
"Now wait you can't drop something like that and then leave me hanging."
"Some note pinned to the stuff keeping him pinned to the docks, saying what he was planning on doing with that big…star thing and how these 'Big Heroes' stopped him. Oh good grief if this is the start of vigilantes—"
"So how much sleep did you get?"
"Not enough," Diego groused. "Like maybe five minutes."
"Then maybe you get some sleep," Cass said. "And you're sure he's not going to escape or anything."
"Right now all he's doing is staring at the floor, I got some guys monitoring him and SWAT outside in case that Momakase lady swings by and tries to spring him. You're fine, Cass."
"You're the one I'm coming after first if you're wrong."
And on that happy note and assorted pleasantries, she snuck upstairs to check on the boys. Three empty beds—
There in the corner. Sitting with their backs to the wall, curled up tight against each other like the day had been just as harrowing as she had imagined and they needed that comfort. Mince over quietly, kneel down…gently reach over and shake the knee of the middle boy.
"Hey," she said when he blearily locked onto her. "It's okay. It's over."
He blinked at her several times, like he wasn't fully processing this. "Cass?"
"Yeah," she said, smiling at him. "It's me, and that guy is so not getting out of jail. Also on the off chance he does, I'm totally ready to take him down." Squeeze his knee a little, hoping the pressure would help ground him. "It's okay. We're here, you're here. You don't have to worry about it anymore." Smile at him as she got up. "I'm going to go make breakfast."
Head downstairs, open the blinds and curtains, sun the color and position it was supposed to be—
Things would work out now. She was sure of that.
Warm, tired, uncomfortable, like he had slept in his chair again—
"Hey."
Had blinked blearily at Cass, trying to process her presence there—how? Why? What—
Stare at her as she left, trying to process…gingerly extend one leg, then the other, take stock of himself…victim of another Hamada sandwich, but….
Hiro groaned, stirring—gasped, sat upright, looking—
Tackled him in a hug, jostling Tadashi awake in the process. "You're here you're alive!"
He was—still here, still looking as he had as a teenager. Not dead, somehow. Maybe.
"Unless we failed and we're all dead," he croaked, throat achy from his breakdown last night. Tadashi's response was to yank a hair from Obake's head. "HEY!"
"Did that hurt?" Tadashi asked.
"Yes."
"Then you're not dead," Tadashi decided, levering himself up. "Sorry to disappoint you."
Was he disappointed? Take stock of himself, stare at his hands, shaking a little…alive, looking as he had when he was a teenager still. Wasn't sure what he expected, but what did he know? He was supposed to be dead by now. Was dead, in the original whatever.
Wasn't now.
"So…now what?" Hiro asked him.
"I…don't know," Obake admitted. "I never made it this far, before—I don't know what happens after this."
Tadashi looked him up and down, considering…startled him by leaning down and offering a hand up.
"Welcome to the human condition," Tadashi declared, shaking his hand before hauling him upright. "Now let's get some breakfast."
The café wasn't exactly crowded that Saturday, not after what the news was billing as a Countdown to Catastrophe—which meant the group pointed out to him after Cass had given the boys and himself their respective favorite breakfasts was pretty obvious.
"Ah," Obake noised—wondered if anyone would notice him diving through the plate glass.
"Sit," Gogo ordered. He did so, sitting between Tadashi and Hiro and wondering if maybe this was the punishment part of the whole thing—was glad the Recipient of his moment of silence was Omnipotent because he knew he was having a hard time untangling the knotted ball his thoughts were this morning.
Awkward silence for a few long beats after everyone started eating—Obake was honestly betting on Fred or Hiro breaking first, was surprised when Wasabi did instead.
"Will somebody please say something!?" Wasabi demanded finally. "This is really awkward here."
"Obake agreed to be Silco for Halloween," Hiro announced.
"Since when?" Obake asked him.
"You owe me," Hiro told him, eyes narrowed.
Oi. "Fair enough."
"Also you're helping me make the stuff we discussed, no takebacks."
"Anything else?"
"I'll think of something."
"Seriously?" Wasabi asked. "Nothing about the great big ball of awkward there."
"It is a lot to take in," Honey Lemon agreed.
"Personally I'd like to focus on what to do now that we have debuted as superheroes," Fred said, gesturing a little with his drink. "By the way, my dudes, you owe me the hand thing."
Gogo reached over with the apparent intent to slap Fred—Honey Lemon intercepted with a high-five.
"Smooth," Tadashi observed.
"Very," Fred agreed. "So my dude now what? I mean technically originally that was probably the end of our phase one so what happens now?"
It took Obake a few painful beats to realize Fred was addressing him. "I'm sorry, I'm dead now and can answer no more questions."
Baymax blinked at him. "You are not dead."
"Fred knows what I mean."
Fred considered it, pointed outside a little, back at him. "Oh right. Oh well, we'll just wing it—we're totally good at that."
"No we are not, that's a one and done thing. Right?" Wasabi asked, looking around at them. "Please tell me I'm not the only one against the whole idea." Obake raised a finger. "Okay no offense but right now you don't count I'm still processing you."
"Fair," Obake conceded, glancing at Hiro, who made a face and rolled his eyes. Yes, that was about his feelings on the matter as well.
Tadashi actually looked pensive.
"You're not serious," Gogo said to him.
"I mean we could help a lot of people," Tadashi pointed out.
"I'm suiting up again over your dead body."
"That is why you did it to begin with," Obake said.
"You shut up I'm still mad at you." Which, again, fair.
"My dudes we can't not be superheroes," Fred insisted. "The problem is you guys just aren't thinking fourth-dimensionally."
"No, I'm just thinking of what happens when the adrenaline wears off," Wasabi said flatly. "And I'm still processing the awkward here everything's weird now."
"I mean I know I'd like some more time to process all this," Honey Lemon said. "There's…an awful lot of it."
Dead, awkward silence.
"What if we went to see Kentucky Kaiju Extended Edition again and then started working on our Halloween costumes?" Fred offered.
"That'd work," Tadashi said.
"Also I want the shark gun," Hiro said.
"That won't."
"I need authenticity, Tadashi."
Tune out the brothers' arguing and the awkward looks he was still getting, more focused on untangling everything inside…he wasn't dead. He wasn't excommunicated, which honestly he had been expecting. He was just…here. Living. Existing. No plan, no scheme, no ideas for moving forward. He…really didn't know what to do with himself now.
Start when Hiro elbowed him. "We're totally making the shark gun," he insisted.
Had to fight to keep his expression neutral. "No, we're not, because we're not supposed to be discussing this sort of thing where certain people can hear."
"Okay, both of you, no loopholes," Tadashi said. "And you, no being a bad influence."
"That reminds me, I've decided that yes Karmi is my nemesis," Hiro announced, taking a bite of toast.
"Oh Hiro I'm so proud," Obake said, smirking—smirk didn't fade when Tadashi slapped him upside the head.
"No, that falls under the umbrella of bad influence," Tadashi said.
"See, this is why we totally need to be superheroes," Fred said. "It helps with the redemption arcs and the balancing of the karma."
Honey Lemon intercepted Gogo again as Wasabi massaged his temples, but some of that tangle was starting to come undone. Yes, he had no idea where to go from here, yes he was still like this…but perhaps he didn't have to figure it out on his own anymore.
Welcome to the human condition.
He could live with that.
Police Chief Diego Cruz had had an exhausting night and no, having to meet up with Mayor Saito on top of it did not help.
"What I want to know is why this got to the point it did," she demanded, looking at him over her desk like he was some kid called to the principal's office.
"We didn't know where he was or what he was planning," Diego said, glancing at the TV on the wall that, muted, was showing the mug shot of the man who had done all this.
"And yet I understand you had the police force looking for him well beforehand?"
"Yes, because he was wanted for questioning in a child abuse case," Diego said—pity people would probably notice two broken knees at this point. "Creating a star to destroy the city wasn't on the rap sheet. Matter of fact, that's not even on the books." It was going to have to go down as attempted murder, which wouldn't earn him as much time, unfortunately.
"And then I understand the police weren't the ones to apprehend him?"
"We brought him in," Diego said stiffly, hating the thought of the colorful cast of clowns that had taken off as the police rolled in—this wasn't going to bode well, he could feel it. "He's in jail. If the back end of the justice system doesn't fail us, that's where he's going to stay."
She didn't acknowledge the backhand. "This makes the second such arrest this year, where you've arrested someone based on extenuating circumstances."
Callaghan, she meant. "I wasn't here for the first one," he pointed out. "And I hope you aren't proposing that we let these people go."
"I'm pointing out that there are weaknesses their lawyers will exploit," she said coolly. "And that will reflect poorly on the both of us."
He managed to bite his tongue before asking is it an election year already, swallowed that and settled on something more palatable. "They're not getting out. There's far too much to assign to them for a judge to justify allowing them out on bail. If I have to, I can bring people in to identify them as risks to society. That guy has known liaisons with a thief and a blackmailer," he added, pointing at the screen—looked over when she arched an eyebrow to see Bluff Dunder. "You know who I mean."
"I do," she said, leaning back in her chair, looking like she was winding up for a dismissal. "But I also need you to know you're on thin ice. Something like this happens again, I want certainty. Whoever threatens our fair city next, I want to be able to throw them in a hole no lawyer can dig them back out of. Do we understand each other?"
Translation: if they ever do get out, if anything happens, I'm putting your head on the chopping block. Nod…resolve that as soon as he got back to the precinct, he was putting a bolo out on those costumed characters.
"Inescapably, ma'am."