Alternative Care

Chapter 9

One arm shot out towards Go Go, and the other, still covered in the ice of the freeze ball, flew towards Honey. Go Go dodged, then sped off on her boots' Mag Lev disks. Honey Lemon threw down an orange ball which caused a rubbery sphere to expand instantly. The ice-covered arm bounced off from the makeshift shield, and she breathed out in relief.

Nearby, sounds of metallic clashes rang out from Hiro and the others who fended off attacks from the manipulated workers. Wasabi had extinguished his plasma blades to avoid a potentially fatal blow to his attacker. He blocked the man's attacks with his armored forearms, then briefly noticed the familiar robot attacking the girls. Now there's something I can slice.

"Honey Lemon! Trade with me!" he called out and ran from his attacker to join her.

He looked over his shoulder in a panic to keep track of the man who charged after him. He heard a whirring sound, and suddenly a disk from Go Go struck the man in midair and sent him down to the floor. After a moment, the armored man rose to his feet and turned to her, unscathed.

She ignored him and instead tossed a disk at the menacing robot that closed in on Honey and Wasabi, and circled around it in a distraction maneuver. Honey Lemon heeded Wasabi's call, and threw a sticky ball at the man who'd started to charge again. The ball burst into a magenta glob of a taffy-like substance that held the armored man in place.

Meanwhile, Baymax had his arms wrapped around another cybernetic enhanced attacker, and struggled to keep the man from moving. "I will not cause you harm. Please hold still," he requested of the man politely. He noticed Honey Lemon, who ran towards them with a ball cocked back.

"Toss him in the air and I'll trap him!" she yelled and lobbed the ball.

Baymax, unable to hold the man any longer, tossed the man skyward, ready to dash forward and catch him if need be. The ball exploded into an adhesive glob that tangled the man as he flailed in midair. He dropped to the floor, cushioned by the impact of the rubbery substance.

A short ways off, the biggest armored man landed punches and knee strikes on Fred, who reeled but stayed on his feet. The man reared back briefly for a kick, but with a grunt of exertion, Fred quickly pushed him with a dual monster claw palm strike. Fred looked around and noted two magenta globs that held armored workers, and hopped agilely behind his attacker. He grabbed the armored man from behind in a bear hug, and struggled to prevent him from breaking free.

"HL, over here!" Fred called loudly.

She turned, spotted them, and tossed a ball their way. Fred released the man, pushed him towards the ball, and leaped away. The ball exploded into adhesive taffy, and pinned the man to the floor as he landed.

Siu had made his way to the exit, protected by his robot from any potential attacks. "This was a good test run, but I've got to oversee shipment of my product. See ya!" he announced and dashed out the exit. Go Go sped towards him and threw a disk, but a reinforced metal shutter dropped down over the doorway and it bounced off.

"Oh great," she grumbled, retrieved the disk, and tried to slice through the steel to no effect.

"Be right there," Wasabi said as he glanced from the robot to her and back. He sliced through a powerful tentacle arm that swung towards him with his plasma blades. Fred bounded up and landed onthe robot's body with his armored feet, and drove it into the floor with a crash.

Across the room, Hiro, protected by Baymax, had managed to dodge a powerful strike from the last CuraTech worker. The armored man was blindsided by another ball tossed by Honey Lemon. It burst over him and firmly stuck him in place where he stood.

"Good one, Honey Lemon! Let's join the others," Hiro called out, and noted all four workers were held captive. Baymax flew towards her and reached an arm downward.

"Thanks!" she replied and caught her breath.

She grabbed Baymax's outstretched hand when he was close enough to get a quick ride with Hiro to the others fighting the robot. Baymax slowed to a hover and released Honey Lemon's hand, and she dropped a short distance to land. Two of the robot's arms were swinging wildly at the heroes, but Baymax shot a powerful rocket fist at one. It connected with a resounding metallic crash, passed right through the arm, and split it in half.

Wasabi moved to slice the last remaining arm, but the robot dodged with a burst of speed. Without warning, it shot its arm at Fred,who'd leaped sideways to dodge. But the claw end struck and latched onto the front of his suit, and covered the circular mouth opening. A small sound went off, audible only to Fred in the chaos.

"Gah!" he called out, shocked, suspended in the air, and unable to break free.

"Freddy!" Honey Lemon yelled in alarm, her eyes wide.

"Raagh!" Wasabi shouted, and sliced off the robot's arm before it could dodge.

Go Go finally had a clear shot, and threw a disk into the machine's red eye-like sensors at the front of its body. The disk impacted and lodged into the robot's metal body, which caused it to short circuit and halt its movement. Wasabi sliced the face, retrieved Go Go's disk, and rushed to the others who were gathered around Fred. The usually talkative joker of the group silently lay on the floor.

Hiro hopped off Baymax and was struggled to stay calm. "B-Baymax!" he cried in concern.

He didn't even need to to finish. Baymax was already poised over Fred, scanned him, and moved to remove the first piece of his armor. Wasabi looked mutely to Go Go who'd noticed him approach. He handed over her disk, which she accepted. They shared a sad look, then gazed at Fred.

A/N: Any thoughts?  Hope you enjoyed it.

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