The Rubber Band Theory

Chapter 8: Akuma

     Baymax's visor lit up, the light cutting through the darkness under the rubble. Hiro looked through the dusty air at his friends as they coughed. Five faces looked back, eyes wide behind their visors. Baymax shifted and pushed the concrete above them higher so that they had more room to move. Hiro stood up, his voice still croaky from the dust.

     "Baymax, get us out of here."

     Honey Lemon, Go Go, Wasabi, and Fred stood too, allowing Hiro a better look at them. They were all fine. Hiro froze. There were only six people. Where was Tadashi?

     Baymax's rocket fist punched through the rubble penning them in, scattering the rock everywhere. They were free, but Hiro's blood was cold.

     Yokai turned at the sound, his microbots coiling around the last piece of the left portal. Standing in the rubble were six bright figures, all staring at him and looking ready for a fight.

     "Go for the transmitter," Hiro started, looking around frantically. "Behind his mask!"

     Yokai rolled his body like he was rolling his eyes a thousand times over before sending another stream of microbots to throw more concrete. Baymax tried to catch it but the force knocked him back, scattering the others like bowling pins. Hiro couldn't help but notice the severe lack of shielding.

     'Tadashi!' Hiro called out in his mind, desperation and fear lacing his mental voice. He was met with silence.

     Hiro scrambled after Baymax, climbing over the new mountain of stone in his path. The others took the moment to gather back up before charging Yokai. Hiro wasn't paying attention, tuning out their voices.

     As Fred was knocked away from Yokai, Hiro finally reached the robot, already rising from the rubble. "Baymax, where's Tadashi?" His nerves were at an all-time high, and Hiro could feel his mind pulling at the stone around them.

     Baymax scanned the room before settling his eyes towards a section of rubble that had been next to where they emerged from. Without hesitation, Hiro let go of the rubble he'd been messing with and concentrated his effort on unearthing that spot. With Baymax's help it only took about ten seconds.

     In the meantime, Go Go had managed to land a hit on Yokai, prompting him to drop from his perch and pursue her. Honey Lemon waited in the shadows for an opportunity to strike.

     Hiro threw another rock from the pile, spotting a tuft of black hair. 'Tadashi!'

     Hiro kept pulling at the rubble, freeing his brother's back. Baymax heaved the last big piece and freed his legs and feet. Hiro scrambled forward, touching his brother hesitantly. He looked up at Baymax as he finished a scan.

     "Tadashi does not seem to have suffered any injuries, but I detected a large spike in brain activity in the moment before we were buried."

     Reassured that he wouldn't break him further, Hiro rolled Tadashi over onto his back, peering into his face. His eyes were closed and he was breathing softly, but it only did so much to calm him down. A small part of Hiro's mind thanked every god he knew of that the armor had been sturdy enough to protect him. 'Tadashi?'

     Down below, Go Go hit Honey Lemon with one of her disks as a chem-ball was thrown. The floor iced and Go Go wiped out, crashing into Honey Lemon. Wasabi distracted Yokai, only to be thrown into Fred. The two flew across the room and joined the growing pile of their friends.

     Hiro carefully set his brother down. There wasn't anything else he could do, and his friends still needed his help.

     Yokai was about to drop the hammer on the others when Hiro and Baymax flew over his head, nearly snatching the mask right off of his face. Now turning to face the only real threat left, Yokai tried to knock them from the sky. Baymax dodged spike after spike and put on a new burst of speed. A huge block of microbots finally did the trick, but Hiro kept falling towards Yokai. The boy landed on him, knocking them both down a flight of stairs. The microbots deactivated and showered the others as they tried to get up off of the ice. Hiro recovered first and saw the mask lying on the ground between him and Yokai. He snatched it up, watching the man with wide eyes as he started to stir on the floor, his back to him. Hiro slowly got up, his friends moving to the railing above to get a good look.