Alternative Care

Chapter 4

Once outside and onto the grassy quad area, the robot's invisibility wore off and its appearance was finally revealed. A dark metallic grey, it was somewhat crab-like, used four tentacled arms to move, and had red eye-like sensors on the front of its body. Hiro climbed onto Baymax's back and magnetically attached his gloves and boots to the connection points swiftly.

"Get him, Baymax!" he commanded his friend. Baymax's back thrusters fired up and he shot off after the now surprisingly quick enemy. Go Go sped up alongside Baymax and Hiro in pursuit as well. A few people around that evening looked on in surprise at the chase.

Suddenly, two tentacle arms shot back from the robot, which forced Go Go to dodge. Baymax blocked the attack directed his way with his massive armored forearm. Hiro, Baymax, and Go Go were then surprised by the sound of a metallic 'clank', then the sight of a steel bungee cable attached to the mysterious robot.

"Come back here, you!" Clover shouted as she retracted the cable to reel herself in closer to her target. The robot simply increased its speed, which caused her to flail behind wildly. "Whoa!" she yelled in panic while she tried to fight for control.

She carefully retracted the cable a bit to draw nearer to the robot until she could put a gloved hand on the back of it. With her other hand, she slapped a small device onto its steel surface. The next moment, a tentacled arm shot out towards her. She gasped and released the magnetically attached end of her bungee, in an attempt to avoid the powerful strike.

A giant metal fist flew just above her from behind and smashed through the metal tentacle at the last moment, which ripped the telescopic arm section from its body. It fell to the grass, and sparked with electricity. When Honey caught up, she swiftly doused a small flame on the grass with a blue chemical freeze ball that burst into ice.

Clover had flown up higher than expected, spun about, and wasn't able to activate her jet pack. Alex and Sam, however, had flown in to catch her via their own jet packs.

"Super Jump!" a voice rang out enthusiastically.

Sam and Alex were startled by a blue and gold monster that bounded in from above them to catch Clover.

"Yaaa!" Clover cried in fright at the sight of three bulging eyes and the gaping mouth of 'Fredzilla'.

"Clover!" shouted Sam, who swung a lavender bottle of perfume out of her backpack in a flash. When the creature landed, she sprayed his legs with a mist that condensed into ice, which held him in place. Clover jumped from his arms to the ground with an exhale.

"Huh?" Fred wondered in surprise at the sudden ice that immobilized him, then quickly used his claws to chip away at the ice.

Now at the edge of campus, Hiro, Baymax, and Go Go pursued the robot onto the street that led to a main road. The robot crab-walked quickly around vehicles in mild traffic. It reached an intersection with a red stoplight, but skittered with miraculous precision around cross-traffic without a hitch.

Hiro's mind worked swiftly, and he thought for a moment of his late brother. Then realized--

"Baymax, carry Go Go!" he called over the com.

She looked hesitant, confident of her ability, but reached her arms up. Baymax scooped her up and flew over the vehicles below. Hiro sighed in relief. He didn't want to risk another tragedy this year.

The enemy robot re-cloaked itself, dashed under a large truck, attached itself to its undercarriage, and hummed quietly. The wind whistled past Baymax, still in pursuit, and he blinked in surprise.

"Hiro, I can no longer detect the target," he related calmly.

"It can do that too?" Hiro said, and studied various vehicles moving about. He growled in annoyance. Another expo, another stolen experiment. "Let's keep looking," he ordered.