The Rubber Band Theory

Chapter 9: Shifting Gravity

     They flew back to the Hamada garage from Akuma Island. It took a little bit to track down Tadashi's hoverboard among the wreckage of the portal room, but once they did it was smooth sailing. Baymax flew slower this time, since Tadashi still wasn't in good enough condition to use the hoverboard himself. Instead, Tadashi and Hiro traded gloves so that the older brother could anchor himself on Baymax's back and Hiro could control the hoverboard. Hiro made a few jokes about keeping his new ride for himself and tried out a few simple tricks in the air as they flew over the city.

     Now that they knew who Yokai was and could assume his end goal was taking Alistair Krei down, Fred took it upon himself to slueth his way to Callaghan's next move. It didn't take long. Hiro was only ten minutes into making quick repairs when Fred told them about the Krei Tech campus dedication the next day. As comforting as it was to know Callaghan's next move would be in a little over fourteen hours, it was also a little too close for comfort.

     Hiro assured them that most of the damage to their armor was cosmetic and immediately prioritized fixing everything that was more important. They weren't too worried about that. No, the group was concerned about Tadashi. Fourteen hours was not a long time when it came to recovering from what Fred dubbed 'neural burnout.' It had only been an hour since the battle had ended and Tadashi's pain was down to a self-diagnosed six, but there was no guarantee that he'd be stable after the pain faded. Hiro cited his own experience with it, noting that he'd still had troubles with fast motions for about a day and a half afterwards. Definitely not a great sign for hoping he'd be ready to continue the fight in the morning.

     It was all especially worrying because they knew that they wouldn't be able to keep him from the fight. There was no way in hell that they could stop him from coming, and he would not tolerate being benched. While Tadashi was generally reasonable and easygoing, he asserted that this was more important than him. He was going, whether they liked it or not.

     In return, the team demanded some ground rules. While he was uniquely qualified for close combat and blitz tactics, neither were good for someone who should be keeping their movements limited. Tadashi was asked to keep his distance from the main fight, providing help via shielding or by sending out his hoverboard to fight for him. Callaghan spent so much time on his microbot towers that no one expected his martial arts would help them anyway. Tadashi reluctantly agreed to those terms but asserted that if the situation was critical he'd be in the thick of it in a second.

     They were a little worried about Callaghan using his powers. They had no concrete evidence that he truly had powers, other than a scan from Baymax, anyway. Tadashi pointed out that he hadn't used them at all during their other encounters and that he'd only used them on the island when he was in immediate mortal peril. There was a chance that he'd only used his abilities instinctively, that he hadn't been practicing them like Tadashi and Hiro had. If it was true, it gave them an edge.

     Everyone went home before long to get some rest. The dedication wasn't until early afternoon, but they all intended to get as much sleep as possible and get there a little early. Hiro repaired what he could and made small modifications here and there before going to bed himself. When morning came, the Nerd Crew gathered in the Lucky Cat Cafe for a team breakfast, and then they suited up. They flew out and set up a position on top of a tall building with a good view of the new Krei Tech campus and waited.

     At two on the dot, they watched Krei walk onto a small black stage in the middle of the building's sweeping wings. Wasabi noted that he thought the zen garden in the lawn was a nice touch, trying to lighten the mood. Krei introduced himself over the PA and started to introduce the new building.