Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6. Big Hero 6 is property of Disney animation studios.
Author's Note: This idea just sorta came to me after watching "Big Problem". I wondered what would happen if Obake had decided to show his evil mug at some point after Liv Amara ignired Hiro and Baymax in favor of Karmi and her nano receptors. The way I see it, if Obake had gotten to Hiro in that state, he might try anything. Maybe even try to manipulate him. Hope you readers like. Leave a review.
A Sympathetic Ear
Today, the group was working in the lab trying to figure which of Boss Awesome's old enemies could possibly be the monster that attacked Fred the night before. So far, they had no matches. And then Gogo and Wasabi came into the room saying Grandville looked out of character, meaning she was overly happy.
"Straighten up the lab! We have a visitor coming!" Grandville cheerfully said as she started cleaning up. She went back to her usual composure and pointed at Fred as she added, "And you might want to hide him somewhere."
Fred was so focused on trying figure out the plural form of nemesis that he did not quite hear the dean.
While Granville cleaned Honey Lemon's glasses, Honey Lemon herself asked, "So, who's the visitor?"
"Liv Amara," Granville answered as she put the glasses back on the girl. Everyone just gave tbe dean blank stares, annoying her. "Liv Amara!"
"Wait. Liv Amara Liv Amara? Founder of Sycorax?" Gogo asked, finally realizing who Granville was talking about.
"Only, like, one of the words Gogo used meant anything to me," Wasabi said, still confused.
"Liv Amara is twenty three and runs her own biotech company," Gogo explained, clearly impressed. "In other words, totally hardcore."
Gogo blew a bubble with her gum, only for Grandville to pop the bubble and then remove her gum with tweezers.
"Totally hardcore, indeed," Grandville explained as she put the gum in a box she was carrying. She started putting all of the files in the same box as she continued, "And she's donated funds for SFIT's new biotech building. There's going to be a dedication ceremony later this week."
"Oh! So that's what the big tent outside is for," said Fred after Grandville gave him the box. He then frowned and moaned in disappointment.
Honey Lemon put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Oh. You thought the circus was coming to town, didn't you?"
"Yeah," Fred sadly replied.
Grandville then started coming Hiro's hair straight as she further explained, "And Amara's heard about Baymax. She'd like to meet him and you."
One might say Hiro was pleasantly surprised. One might also say he was excited. A self-made billionaire was coming to meet him and Baymax! If this worked out, he could honor Tadashi's memory and make Baymax units available to the public! Tadashi did want Baymax to help people, this might be the stepping stone for that!
"Ooh! Goals!" Wasabi cheered and happily fist bumped Hiro. And then Hiro's hair went back to the way it was before.
Suddenly, everyone heard helicopter propellers outside. Grandville smiled and said, "There she is now! Look intelligent."
Grandville started walking out of the lab to greet Liv Amara outside. Along the way, Grandville did not notice that Karmi had just rushed past her with a box in her hands and huve smile on her face.
"I just saw Liv Amara's helicopter land, and I had to come over and meet her! She is my idol and I love her! Is she here?!" Karmi asked excitedly, talking really fast paced.
Everyone stared at her until Baymax broke the awkward silence. "You should breathe now," he said.
Hiro gave a smirk as he said, "Karmi, she's here to see me."
Karmi held her smile as she said, "And will be very pleasantly surprised by me."
'This girl is so full of herself,' Hiro thought.
Everyone heard the door open and Grandville walked in, followed by a beautiful young blonde woman with hazel eyes wearing a red dress.
"Students, Liv Amara," Grandville introduced as she gestured to the woman.
"Oh, Grace, you can just call me Liv," the woman said to Professor Grandville.
"Grace?" Wasabi and Honey Lemon asked in confusion.
Grandville led Liv over to Hiro and Baymax and said, "Liv, this is Hiro Hamada."
"Which means this little guy is Baymax," Liv jokingly said as she looked Baymax in the face.
In response, Baymax blinked and said, "I am relatively large in stature."
Liv pressed her face into Baymax's chest and was able to get a good look at his skeleton. After seeing the skeleton, she looked back at Hiro with a smile.
"So, tell me about him," Liv kindly said.
"Um, Hyper spectral cameras, carbon Fiber skeleton..." Hiro began to explain.
"I can see that," Liv said, interrupting Hiro. "But what led you to create him."
"Oh...umm... I actually didn't invent him," Hiro admitted. "My brother did."
"Oh," Liv replied, her smile fading. "Well, great meeting you." And then she started to walk away. Apparently not interested anymore.
"B-but the upgrades are all me!" Hiro said as he ran after Liv. "And I invented..."
Before he could continue, Liv was stopped by Karmi, who was standing in front of her.
"Excuse me, Miss Amara. I'm Karmi. Let me introduce you to the extradermal nano-receptors," Karmi said as she opened the box and show Liv a round sticker like object. "Tiny, painless, no needles."
Liv looked at the item in fascination as she said, "An iontophoretic delivery system? And it works?"
"Yes," Karmi happily said. "I ran three runs of trials. The last trial was very promising."
"Karmi, this is incredible," Liv said. And then she got an idea. "How would you like to come with us to see the new biotech building?"
"Uh is artemisinic acid the world's most effective anti-malarial compound?" Karmi asked as a way to say yes. And then both she and Liv started laughing it up.
This was a big shock for Hiro. This woman had originally come to see him and Baymax, and now she wants to bond with Karmi? And is laughing at her joke? After the two left, Hiro ran up to Grandville before she joined them.
"Professor Grandville, you said she was here to see me!" Hiro said.
"She was, but Karmi wowed her," Grandville simply said.
"Karmi basically invented a sticker," Hiro angrily said as he held up one of the nano-receptors.
"Green isn't a good color on you, Mr. Hamada," Grandville said with an amused smile before leaving.
Hiro stood where he was and glared at the dean, ignoring the fact that Fred just took the nano-receptor he was holding.
"Hiro is not wearing green," Baymax pointed out.
Gogo smiled in amusement and clarified, "She means he's jealous of Karmi."
Hiro continued to glare angrily, while Fred put a nano-receptor on the back of his hand. As a result his body went limp and fell to the floor with a thud. What the team did not know was that someone was watching the whole scene through the security camera. And that someone was Obake.
In his lair, Obake watched how Liv Amara arrived at SFIT and met Hiro and Baymax. She seemed interested until hearing that Hiro's brother was the one who originally made Baymax. And then she met the girl who writes herself as Hiro's girlfriend in her fan fiction and was more interested in her project. Obake was particularly drawn to Hiro's reactions to each part. Hiro appeared to be angry at the fact that he was dismissed in favor of the girl he clearly can not stand. He also noticed that Grandville and Gogo seemed to find his jealousy humorous, further irritating the boy.
"Looks like someone's having a bad day, and his friends and teacher aren't much help," Obake thought out loud. He smiled evilly as he said, "I think what you really need is a little sympathy."
During the evening, Hiro was not only feel jealous and angry, he was also embarrassed. He tried to wow Liv Amara with his own biotech project, but he failed to notice that he had built a big thermometer. And he just showed it to her and Karmi in the middle of the dining hall.
In his anger and frustration, Hiro kicked a discarded soda can really hard. He watched as the can went flying into a bush before letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Rough day?" A male voice asked.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not sure you'd understand," Hiro said in a frustrated tone.
"Actually, I understand more than you think, Hiro," said the man, catching Hiro off guard. He looked at who he was talking to and was shocked to see Obake!
"Who-who are you? And how do you know my name?!" Hiro asked as he took a step back, trying to hide his fear while looking for an escape route.
"You already know my name, my boy," Obake calmly said as he took a step forward. "And I have my ways of learning your identity; both of them. But we're not here to talk about that. We're talking about you, and what has you so upset."
"Why do you care?" Hiro coldly asked.
"Someone needs to," said Obake. "Your friends don't seem to. I mean, you're clearly upset, but where are they? Why aren't they helping you?"
"They're busy," Hiro simply said. "Monster hunt. I know, it sounds crazy."
"Believe it or not, I've heard my share of crazy stories," said Obake, shrugging his shoulders. "Now, since I'm here, how about you let out your frustrations? I'm listening."
"Why should I tell you anything?" Hiro asked and then started walking away. "All you'll do is try use anything I say against me. You should leave. I may not have my gear, but I can make enough noise so someone will hear me and remove you from campus."
"Someone like Professor Grandville? You really think she's going to care? She had no sympathy when you were ignored in favor of that awful Karmi girl," Obake said, taking Hiro by surprise. "All she did was accuse you of being jealous; in fact, she joked about it."
"How... did you know that?" Hiro asked. "Were you spying on me and my friends?!"
"Does that really matter right now?" Obake nonchalantly asked as he walked closer to Hiro. "And can you really call them friends right now? I mean, that Gogo girl looked amused by the accusation that you're jealous."
Hiro let that sink in. In his mind, Obake was actually making some good points. Would it really have killed his friends to have a little sympathy when they saw that he was upset? And he had a good reason to be upset. Liv Amara came to see him, but then Karmi came along and suddenly, it was all about her and her stickers.
"Miss Amara was here to see me, not her," Hiro said sadly. "She heard about Baymax and was interested in meeting both of us. But immediately after hearing that he was originally created by my brother, she just brushed me off! And then Karmi comes along with her stupid stickers and she acts like they're the coolest thing since sliced bread! It's not fair!"
"Sounds to me like you're more angry at Miss Amara than jealous of Karmi," Obake simply said. "Not that blame you. You wanted to honor your brother's memory by presenting one of his projects, and yet she prefers to get chummy with an egotist."
"Now that I think about it, I guess you're not wrong," said Hiro.
"Hey!" A female voice shouted. He and Hiro looked and saw Gogo glaring at Obake. "Get away from him, Obake!"
"Oh, hello, Gogo," Obake said with a smile. "You're looking lovely today."
"Flattery doesn't work on me!" Gogo shouted as she stormed over. She grabbed Hiro and pulled him away from Obake as she said, "I don't know what you're up to. But you better get out if here if you know what's good for you."
"Gogo!" Hiro shouted. "I was fine!"
"No, no. It's alright. I need to go anyway," said Obake. He placed a card in Hiro's hand and said, "But remember, Hiro, if you ever want to talk, I'll listen."
"That's nice of you to offer. But I don't think he'll need you," said Gogo, pushing Hiro behind her. "He has us."
"So I see," Obake said in amusement before walking away.
After he was gone, Gogo looked down at Hiro and asked, "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"
"No," said Hiro. "We only talked."
"Good," said Gogo, relieved. She looked puzzled and wondered, "What was he doing here anyway?"
"Not sure his main reason. All we talked about was what happened with Amara," said Hiro. And then he remembered what Obake said. "Did you... Think it was funny?"
"What?" Gogo asked, confused by the question.
"When Amara ignored me and focused on Karmi," Hiro clarified. "Did you think that was funny?"
"What? No," said Gogo, surprised that he thought that. "Why would I think that? Did Obake tell you I did?"
"No. But during the talk, I remembered when you told Baymax that 'green isn't a good color on me' meant I was jealous. I remembered you sounded a little amused," Hiro said, a little miffed. He slightly lied, but he doubted Gogo needed to hear that he might be spying on them. "Were you?"
"No," said Gogo. And then she confessed, "Okay, I thought the look on your face looked a little funny. But that was it. I mean, I've never seen you jealous before."
"Seriously? I got brushed off and you just focused on how funny my face looked?!" Hiro asked, starting to get angry.
"Hiro, calm down," Gogo said in defense. "Look, I'm sorry. And believe me when I tell you I wasn't any happier about what happened than you were."
"You really weren't?" Hiro asked, calming down.
"No," said Gogo. "I know I said she was totally hardcore, but that doesn't mean I like how she brushed off my friend."
"Thanks, Gogo. I'm glad to hear that," Hiro said with a smile.
"No problem, kid," said Gogo. She punched him in the arm and said, "Now get home before your aunt freaks out."
"Okay," said Hiro, and then he started leaving for home.
On the way home, Hiro reached into his pocket and pulled out the card with Obake's contact information. He debated whether or not to keep it. On the one hand, he had fought Obake and his goons many times and he was an enemy. But on the other hand, Obake did listen to him when he was upset. He listened, while his friends and Grandville just said he was jealous. He made his decision, he kept the card. Maybe it would be worth talking to him again.