AutumnXd
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CHAPTER 8
🕑 Added 2025-06-17 15:38:54 +0000 UTC"Tadashi, give me a hand!" Ward called out, his voice slightly strained from the weight of the tall oxygen cylinder.
"Oh, right! Coming!" Tadashi heard the call, ruffled his brother's hair, and jogged over. "Testing the heat resistance now?" he asked, expertly helping Ward position the heavy tank.
"Yep. Honey's synthesized a chemical accelerant that burns at an incredibly high temperature. Perfect for a trial by fire," Ward explained, clapping the dust from his hands.
At that moment, Tadashi's younger brother, Hiro, ran over, his eyes wide and fixed on Ward. "You... you built him? Firebrand?"
"I did," Ward nodded, turning to Tadashi. "This is your brother?"
"Yeah, this is Hiro," Tadashi said, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "He's a bot-fighting enthusiast. I brought him here today to hopefully get some things through his thick skull."
"I like bot fighting too," Ward said, an eyebrow raised at Hiro. "Firebrand's original design was for the Atom-Smasher league." Hiro's eyes lit up. "But after seeing what your brother's working on," Ward continued, nodding towards the lab, "I thought making rescue bots was a better use of the tech. So, I changed the programming." He cracked the valve on the oxygen tank while Honey Lemon made final adjustments to the nozzle of her large, custom-built spray gun.
"No way!" Hiro blurted out, his excitement overriding any sense of politeness. "He's perfect for combat! The armor, the articulation... you could revolutionize the sport! It's a creation that could replace human pilots entirely!"
"You might be right," Ward conceded with a small smile. "But I think I'd prefer my creations to help people. Firebrand can walk into a collapsing, burning building that no firefighter could survive. In the future, I want to build more like him." He pointed to the robot, which had been piloted over by Wasabi.
Wasabi, ever the perfectionist, looked ecstatic. He handed the control bracelet to Ward. "Your robot is incredible! The response time is practically zero. How did you do it?"
"Reinforced the sensor signals and minimized the cross-section of the actuator circuits," Ward explained, strapping the bracelet on. "Thinner wire means faster current transfer. And the image-following system I designed is exceptionally good at capturing and replicating controlled movements." He backed away, taking up a position. "Honey Lemon, are you calibrated?"
"Ready!" she chirped. "What temperature?"
"Four hundred degrees Celsius," Ward commanded. "The average temperature of a room ten minutes into a house fire."
"You got it!" Honey Lemon braced herself and aimed the nozzle at Firebrand. With a deep whoosh, a torrent of brilliant orange flame erupted, roaring like a caged beast. Night had fallen, and the sudden, violent light painted the faces of the onlookers in stark shades of red and orange.
Everyone stared, mesmerized, as the flames engulfed the robot. Firebrand reacted instantly. Internal temperature sensors triggered the cooling system, and a low hum emanated from within its chest. Simultaneously, the matte-black cloak on its back snapped rigid, then curled forward, wrapping the entire machine in a protective, heat-proof shell. The fire washed over the cloak to no effect.
Ward took a few steps forward, and Firebrand, still sheathed in fire, matched him step for step. The flamethrower raged for a full five minutes.
"Okay, Lemon, that's good!" Ward shouted.
The flames died as quickly as they had begun, leaving Firebrand glowing cherry-red in the dark. A hiss of steam erupted from vents at its joints as the cooling system worked overtime, and jets of water sprayed over its own chassis to cool the exterior plating. When the steam cleared, Ward stepped forward with a thermal scanner and swept it over the robot's frame. The display read forty-two degrees.
"Perfect," he murmured. "Cool to the touch. No risk of contact burns to a survivor."
"But it's not ready for field use," a new voice said, calm and authoritative. "More experiments are needed."
The group turned. A middle-aged man in a long white lab coat, with a kind but weary face, was walking toward them.
"Professor Callaghan!" Tadashi and the others greeted him respectfully.
"This is the finished product you've been working on, Ward?" Callaghan said, circling Firebrand. "It looks more like a fighting robot than a rescue unit."
"Gorgeous aesthetics are a great way to grab the attention of survivors in a disorienting, smoke-filled environment," Ward countered smoothly.
"A valid point," Callaghan conceded. "It's good research. But you'll need to run simulations with the fire department, gather real-world data, before a machine like this could ever be deployed."
"Of course, Professor. Those arrangements are Fred's department," Ward said, gesturing to their friend, who, at some point, had put his dinosaur mascot head back on.
"Hi, Professor Callaghan!" Fred's voice echoed from within the costume as he waved a plush, three-fingered claw.
Callaghan gave Fred a withering look, clearly unimpressed with the wealthy benefactor, and turned his attention back to Ward. "So, what's next for you? Are you continuing to improve this model?"
This was the moment Aidan had been waiting for. He adopted a thoughtful, far-off expression. "...Actually, Professor, I was planning to move into space-time mechanics. I heard Professor Granville's team is making advances in that area. I was hoping to join them for my next project."
"Space technology…" Callaghan's expression suddenly became heavy, his eyes clouded with a distant, painful memory.
"Yes," Ward continued, his voice full of feigned, boyish wonder. "I'm fascinated by spatial transmission. If that technology could be realized, it would usher in a new era for humanity."
Callaghan was silent for a long moment, his gaze lost. The students watched, unsure of what to say. Finally, he looked at Ward, a new, intense light in his eyes. "I… also have some research in that field. From a while ago. If you want to learn, you can come to me."
"Really, Professor? Thank you!" Ward said, his face a perfect picture of grateful surprise. Internally, he smiled. The bait was taken.
He knew exactly why Callaghan had changed his mind. In their previous conversations, Aidan had subtly "theorized" about the nature of unstable portals. The theory of temporal relativity suggests that within the chaotic energy of a collapsing portal, he had mused, spacetime doesn't behave linearly. From an external perspective, years could pass, but from within... time might be frozen. She might still be in there, Professor. Trapped in a single moment. That seed of impossible hope, that his daughter Abigail might not be dead, had just taken root.
"That's great, Ward! We can study together!" Tadashi said, overjoyed for his friend.
"Yeah," Ward nodded, his primary objective now one step closer. He turned his attention to Hiro, who had been watching the entire exchange with wide eyes. "So, you were just saving your brother from trouble?"
Tadashi shrugged helplessly. "He keeps getting himself into messes. I'm trying to get him to join SFIT, put his genius to good use."
"You should build a fighting robot," Hiro insisted, looking at Ward. "A real one!"
"Maybe Fred would be willing to fund that," Ward said casually. "But you're looking at a year at least before the market is mature enough for a public league." He glanced at Hiro's backpack. "You shouldn't be old enough to participate in the current bot fights, though."
In the elevator ride back up to the lab, Ward's casual comment hung in the air. "So it's the underground circuit, right?" he asked, his tone conversational.
Hiro looked down, embarrassed. His brother sighed.
"He's brilliant, Ward," Tadashi said, trying to cover for Hiro's guilt. "He just needs to apply it."
"Oh? Can I see your robot?" Ward asked Hiro.
Hiro, with a flash of pride, pulled a small, black bot from his bag. It was made of six interconnected pieces.
"A magnetic bearing servo system," Ward observed, turning it over in his palm. "Clever." He handed it back. "Professor Callaghan's invention. The old man who just invited me to work with him. It's interesting… but the tech here is at the forefront of the world. Imagine what you could build."
Ward's casual dismissal hit Hiro harder than any lecture could have. He fell silent, looking at his small robot with new, uncertain eyes.
The elevator doors opened. "I'm going to see the Professor," Ward said, nodding to them. "You guys have fun."
Hiro silently followed Tadashi into the lab, his earlier excitement gone, replaced by a sense of deep, humbling inadequacy. He watched as his brother gave him the grand tour, pointing out Gogo's bike and Wasabi's lasers. But Hiro's mind was stuck on Ward's words. Then, Tadashi led him to his personal station.
"And this," Tadashi said with a flourish, "is what I've been working on."
With a soft hiss, a large, white, inflatable robot emerged from a charging station, and under Hiro's curious, astonished gaze, Baymax took his first look at the new world.
