The Nightmare Crown

Chapter 7: Industrial

The next morning, Alistair Krei got a surprise to see Hiro at the door of his building. He came down to the door in his pyjamas, bathrobe and bunny slippers that resembled a familiar bunny cop from Zootropolis, and opened the door. He was surprised to see Hiro.

"What are you doing here, Hiro?" he asked. "I came to tell you that we have found the person that you have sent out to the mountains." Hiro told him.

Alistair Krei was confused. "Wait... what? What are you on about, Hiro? I do not recall sending anyone out to the mountains." He said.

Now it was Hiro's turn to look confused. "You said you sent someone out to the mountains yesterday. You came over Fred's mansion and told me to save her." I couldn't have." Alistair said. "I was showering at the time. I could never have sent anyone out."

"...and that's what he told me." Hiro explained to his friends and Callaghan back at Fred's manor.

"He does not recall sending my daughter to the mountains?!" Callaghan said, shocked and a bit angry.

"It's so odd." Honey said. "How could he not recall sending someone out and then tell us yesterday?"

"It's possible Alistair Krei knows more than what he's letting on." Wasabi said.

"Do you think he could be trying to remake his own brother's experiment?" Hiro asked. "If so, he'd need a lab to operate it in." GoGo said.

'Of course.' Hiro thought. He turned to his friends. "Guys, think. If you were a scientist who wanted to open a new lab in the city, where would you build it?"

"I would build it somewhere in the industrial district." Honey said. "Getting permission to run experiments anywhere else would not be easy."

"Good start." Hiro said. "We should check it out."

When they suited up, the team and Callaghan headed to the industrial district of San Fransokyo. And Wasabi did not seem to like it at all, because of how dirty it looked.

"Where is this lab?" Honey asked Hiro. "Someone like Krei would have to make it a secret lab, so it wouldn't be seen." Hiro said. "But I can't see a secret lab." Fred said. "Of course, Fred." GoGo said sarcastically. "If you knew where it was, it wouldn't be secret, would it?"

Ignoring the comment, Hiro & the team and Callaghan searched for the lab. Soon, the team discovered a strange door in an old building. "Where does it go?" Fred asked. "Only one way to find out." Hiro said. He cautiously opened the door, and stepped inside, followed by his friends, Baymax, and Callaghan.

In the room, they saw nothing but a strange elevator door. Out of curiosity, they entered it. Suddenly, the elevator moved down, and played the classic theme music to Thomas & Friends as the lift went down.

"Worst elevator music ever." GoGo deadpanned.

Soon, it stopped in some brightly lit room, full of monitors and lab equipment. "Wow!" Fred said. "This lab is bigger than the one at the institute!"

At that moment, something caught Wasabi's eye. "Hey, look!" He said. "That looks like 101 Dalmatians!"

And sure enough, it was; right on the scene when the Baduns crashed into Cruella De Vil's car. Then the scene played in reverse. The team stared at it.

"Amazing!" Fred said. "Of course it is!" a voice said; a voice that sounded like Marion from Thomas & Friends.

They saw the voice came from a woman that looked like the young Dr. Lucille Krunklehorn from Meet the Robinsons. "It's my new crash playback screen! I can play back any crash as epic as this one." "That is amazing, Miss... ummm...." Hiro said, asking the woman what her name was. "Oh where are my manners?" the woman said. "My name is Sharon. Sharon Scalin."

"I see you've met my wife/assistant." said a voice; this time a male one. It came from a man resembling Dr Brad Scott from the Wreck-It Ralph film, wearing clothes that resembled the adult Lewis' clothes, except the sweater was black, and the pants were green. He had just entered the lab. "Who are you?" GoGo asked.

The man smiled. "My name's Antonio Scalin." He was introduced to the team & Callaghan quite quickly.

"Do you know anything about portal technology?" Honey asked.

"Of course!" Sharon said. "I remember that we worked on a portal experiment for someone called Ford Pines. I knew who he was, because he had six fingers on his hands. And he came from a country town on Oregon called Gravity Falls."

"That's nothing." Antonio said. "I was born with six toes on my feet. See for yourself." He took off one of his shoes and socks, then lifted up his foot, and the team saw that his foot had an extra toe on it.

"That is awesome!" Fred said excitedly.

"And real disturbing." GoGo said.

"Mr... um, Antonio, can I talk?" Hiro asked Antonio, who was putting his shoe and sock back on. We went to see a person called Gregor Fiddleford."

Sharon and Antonio fell silent.

"Gregor? You mean Gregor Fiddleford?" Sharon asked. "Yes." GoGo said. "I remember him!" Sharon said. "We went to a place called Third Street School together!"

"He was such a good friend!" Antonio said. "What happened to him?"

"He turned into a yeti." Fred said.

Antonio & Sharon stared blankly at Fred, then the team. "Is he mad, or is it me?" Sharon asked Hiro, who just shrugged.

"Well, Miss Scalin," Honey said. "A man called Langstrom Krei is trying to remake some of Gregor's old research."

"What is that?" Antonio asked. "Something called The Crown of Nightmares." Fred said bluntly.

Antonio & Sharon's eyes popped as wide as dinner plates. "Your heart rates are rising. You must be worried." Baymax said.

"We know about the crown." Antonio said seriously. "You do?" Wasabi asked. "Oh yes! We worked with Langstrom Krei on that project!" Sharon said. "Is there anything you and your husband know about the crown?" Hiro asked.

"Only that someone as evil as Langstrom Krei shouldn't have it." Sharon said. "But," Antonio added, "assuming he is wanting to remake the experiment, he'd need to make both parts."

Now the team's eyes popped as wide as dinner plates.

"There's two parts to the crown?" Hiro asked.

"This is getting weirder by the minute." GoGo said to no-one in particular.

"Quite." Antonio said. "The crown is important, but it is powered by a very rare crystal."

"A rare crystal?" Callaghan asked. "Yes." Sharon said. "If Langstrom does want to manufacture something like that, he'd need a lot of raw resources."

"And a lot of money." Fred added.

"If you can find out anything that might tie Langstrom Krei to raw resources and/or powerful technology, we might just be able to help you out." Antonio said.

"Fair enough." Wasabi said.

"We'll look for anything strange, and when we find anything out, we'll let you know." Hiro said as the team and Callaghan left.

Outside the lab, Fred was impressed. "I wonder what I'd look like with 6 fingers and 6 toes." He said.

Ignoring the comment, Wasabi stared at the buildings of the industrial district. "Where could anything strange be?" he asked Hiro. "Guys, I think we'd better split up. Be ready for anything." With that, the team separated, searching different parts of the industrial district.

Unbeknownst to him, a disguised Langstrom Krei had been watching from an alleyway. "Let's hope you ARE ready, Hiro Hamada." He said. Then, he turned to 2 strange people. "Take care of them. And If you have to destroy the industrial district in the process... so be it."

The 2 people left. Langstrom grinned evilly. "Soon, Hiro, you will be nothing but history..."