Note: Made some content changes to increase emotional tension and flow. There will be a second chapter.

ooooo

11:23 PM

Port of San Fransokyo – Warehouse District

The armor piercing rocket exploded, erupting in a shockwave that threw half the team to the ground like rag dolls, filling the air with flames and red hot shrapnel. Despite the deafening noise, they could hear the wretched screech of metal and snap of carbon fiber plates followed by the squeal of scrambled electronics.

"Oh n….zzzzrt."

With a pathetic, whimpering sputter of static, the robot fell; the cherry red armor disgorging a rapidly burning deflated balloon and a twisted mechanical skeleton.

"Baymax!"

Hiro Yamada's panicked shout snapped the team out of stunned silence as the leering, oversized glasses-wearing pink cat head of the San Fransoyko anarchist Professor Genki let loose a shrill, cackling laugh, tossing aside the M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon like empty soda can.

"Murder time, fun time!" Up until now, Genki's voice had been unnervingly playful. Having drawn first blood with Baymax, the cat monster's gleeful shout was cold and bloodcurdling. The air was immediately filled with a flurry of fuzzy octopus plushes as the twisted mascot hurled the incendiary toys into the air towards Hiro's charge at the downed health care companion.

As always, Gogo was the first to react. "Hardballs, now!" Honey Lemon nodded once, her normally cheerful features grim but lit strangely by the pink spheres she pressed into the speedster's hands as she darted by.

"Cover me!" The yellow blur shot forward in an eyeblink as the rest of the team leapt into action against the small army of animatronic animals in Genki's twisted Ethical Reality Climax set.

The cat-in-a-lab-coat mascot suit was actually high tech battle armor that rivalled anything Big Hero 6 had to offer. The man inside? If there was one, he had long since succumbed to what Fred described as a "complete looney rooney kookypants breakdown". This explained why the wobbly headed monster had been kidnapping people and running through his televised deathtraps filled with homicidal Freddy Fazbear Pizza mascots.

The pink wall of fast-drying foam that gave the chemballs their distinctive name shot from the ground like a mythical beanstalk, blocking the fiery plush grenades from their small purple target as Gogo's wheels ground to a stop. The sparks kicked up, lighting her helmeted face and her expression of concern.

"Idiot! You know better than to…!" Gogo's voice was cut off by the rattling detonation of a Genki-gas grenade tossed a few hundred meters away at Fredzilla's flaming maw. Although not much taller than Hiro, she instinctively covered him, presenting all four wheels as shields to provide as much protection as she could. Robot bear bits battered her wheels as she hunkered down. "Baymax! Is he..?"

Gogo's face was obscured by her helmet's reflection of the battle around her, but it was blank. Emotions were difficult for her to show, but easy to understand. She knew Hiro couldn't lose Baymax. Not now, not only a year after the accident, and definitely not at the hands of some random guy in a robot cat suit with authority issues.

"Please, please, please, please…"

Hiro's voice was tiny, barely using any breath as he stabbed at the ruined Baymax's expansion slot deployer. While they had not fared too poorly against Genki, the shock of Baymax's explosion was definitely a morale killer. She was strong, jaded, and prepared to help Hiro tough out his loss in the field if she had to. Hiro falling into a catatonic stupor would be crushing. Grieving could come later. Gogo's lips pressed into a hard line.

The look on his face was like a beacon as he lifted his head to meet Gogo's gaze.

She let out a relieved sigh, fogging her helmet slightly. His broad smile reminded her of a kid that got the last toy at the toy store as he tucked the green card into his wrist pocket.

"He's okay!" The young inventor's voice crowed over the commlink in his suit to the rest of the team, a rallying cry.

"Great! Now how about helping the rest of us survive!?" Wasabi shouted, his plasma blades deflecting Professor Genki's rapid-fire Shining Destructo Finger attacks. The cat monster's finger poke stabs drove the big man back with each deadly jab.

Gogo smirked at Hiro as she straightened up, grabbing the boy into a piggyback ride. Her gum snapped. "C'mon, knucklehead. Let's go push in that cat's litter."

Back into the fray they rode, Fredzilla's righteous flames drying the premature tears on Hiro's face as they shot past to light Honey Lemon's concussion bombs, knocking Professor Genki back ears over tail.

Things were looking up.

oo00oo

12:13AM

Port of San Fransokyo - Professor Genki's Ethical Reality Climax Studio

Professor Genki turned out to be an elaborate robot. After Fred had burned off the furry exterior, Honey had scrambled its brain with magnetic flakes and Wasabi had (accidentally) opened it up from crotch to sternum, Hiro had picked through it to find that it was being controlled remotely. Luckily, its hold on the animatronic pizza mascot militia had died the moment Gogo smashed her foot into the Genkibot's processor cavity.

"I got no strings to hold me down…" Fred had muttered in a creepy, singsong voice as the rattletrap army fell to the floor.

Wasabi slapped him on the back of the head.

Honey's face immediately took on a worried look as she glanced back at the miserable wreck that was Baymax. "Hiro," the name rolled off her tongue, "Sweetie, are you sure he's okay?"

"Yeah," smiled the prodigy weakly, holding up the memory card. "He's fine. Just gonna have to fix him ASAP."

Of course it had been Wasabi that remembered scheduling. "Aren't you going with your Aunt Cass to Chicago soon? We're gonna need Baymax right away. The real Professor Genki is probably still out there."

"Hmm."

The boy genius' face scrunched in contemplation, hand covering his mouth for a moment in thought. Eyes scanned the concerned, tired, dirty, but ultimately relieved look on his friend's faces as the sounds of police sirens filled the air.

Gogo's gum popped.

"I'll think of something," said Hiro.

oo00oo

3:58AM

Gogo's Apartment

The fight with Professor Genki had been physically draining. It had been emotionally taxing too, what with Baymax's accident. She'd be loath to admit either of those things. Gogo had crashed out the moment her head hit the pillow at the studio she had rented out on her meager messenger salary.

Three hours later, her doorbell was going off, the sound a pneumatic drill passing through her ear canal.

She lurched to her feet, rubbing her eyes. They burned with fatigue. Gogo wiped drool from her face back of her hand and coughed up a gob of something into a tissue. Allergies. Ugh. Bare feet padded over to the door, grabbing a wrench along the way because you could never be too careful. She turned the knob and pushed the door open with her shoulder, ready to take off her unwanted visitor's head if necessary.

Hiro's beaming face stared up at her again. Gogo grunted, dropping the wrench on the stand by the door. She looked down at the box of Baymax in the rusty old wagon behind the prodigy. The blank mask of her face shifted into a frown.

Fingers absently popped a fresh piece of gum into her mouth. She chewed five times. Slow, deliberate chews. A bubble inflated, obscuring part of her face as her gaze flicked to Hiro. The coconut-hair doormat under her bare feet made her itch. The chilly wet San Fansokyo air blew through her thin, rumpled t-shirt and ratty old shorts. It was worse because she lived on the second floor of an older building – cool breezes turned into terrible bone chilling winds in the span of a few feet.

She heard her alarm clock tick over another hour. It was 4:00AM. Her eyes narrowed at Hiro, emphasizing their dark circles.

"Please?"

The bubble popped.

"Puh-leeeze?"

Big doe eyes pled up at the engineering student, but found no purchase in the inscrutable young woman's tired stare. She jerked her thumb at herself. "Mechanical engineering. Industrial design."

Her finger pointed almost accusatorily at Hiro. "Robotics and software engineering."

The thumb jerked back. "Immensely tired. Why are you even out at this hour?" Arms folded as she shifted her weight to one leg.

"It was the only time I could sneak out of the house. Look, all I'm asking is that you help machine and assemble some of Baymax's parts while I'm out of town this week." The boy raised his hands over his head, pressing them together as if to pray for forgiveness. "Besides, didn't you help Tadashi with some of his design specs?"

Tadashi. The name neutralized the frown on her face. Eyes closed, and she rubbed her temple with her hand as she motioned with her head for Hiro to come in. "Fine. Watch your step. Place's a mess."

Gogo Tomago was many things. Smart. Strong. Fearless. Motivational. Loyal. But tidy? Hiro gingerly stepped away from picked-clean Chinese food containers and around the plastic housing of a dozen incomplete prototypes fabricated for Gogo's school projects. The air in her place was stale, and smelled of old food and motor oil.

"You'd think with all your design stuff, you could at least fabricate up a broom. Wow. That's something I never thought I'd say to anyone else." The statement caught a glare. He winced.

The décor didn't help, either. Girly Gogo was not. Lamps were salvaged from junkyards or were mechanic's droplights hung from the ceiling. Her coffee table was a metal plate welded to a defunct motorcycle engine block – a joke gift from Fred during his "prop comedy" phase when he found out that Gogo was an "industrial design" major. Standing out from the mess was her highly sophisticated material fabrication workbench, where she was working on her midterm project of a self-balancing, unbreakable sports bottle.

"Anyway. Thanks, Gogo, I…"

The woman gave a sharp, short hiss, interrupting the boy. "Wagon there," she instructed, which sounded more like a demand. The boy obediently trundled over to the free space next to some athletic training equipment and weights. "Look. I know you're busy and I'm really sorry to put this on you, so I really apprec…"

Hiro's face turned red as Gogo absentmindedly kicked off her shorts to change into a pair of rumpled jeans salvaged from the apartment floor. She didn't say anything if she noticed – she probably didn't care. Modesty took time. He was like a dumb baby brother anyway.

Arms slipped into the sleeves of a heavy jacket. "Whatever. I'll look at it tomorrow. Let's get you home."

"I can get home by myself," Hiro groused, his embarrassment evaporating as he folded his arms with an indignant look on his face. "I'm not a kid, Gogo. I'm practically your team leader."

"Kid," Gogo said pointedly, "Your idea of a cocktail still involves pieces of fruit and you do a happy dance when someone buys you candy. Until both those things change, I am the boss of you in all matters that don't involve supervillains. "

Her tone was acid, although the spite in her words didn't reach her tired eyes. "C'mon, stupid, before Cass grounds you until you're thirty." A chilled hand grabbed the boy by the collar, tugging him towards the door.

Hiro smirked. "You sound just like Tadashi sometimes."

She peered at Hiro from the corner of her eye. Her gum popped.

oo00oo

9:06AM

Gogo's Apartment

Her eye opened and was immediately assaulted by the searing glow of the big 9:06AM on her alarm clock. Some things were perfectly efficient no matter how futuristic the rest of the world got, and one of those things was the garish, ugly clock radio from the ancient 1980's that had come with the room.

Her eye closed. Thank goodness she remembered to turn off the alarm when she came back home from dropping off Hiro. He had nodded off during the trip despite her dizzying bike speeds. He was used to it now, darting in and out of traffic. Thankfully, the road had been relatively clear at 4:00AM, and they had managed to sneak him back into bed before Cass was any the wiser.

Gogo had decided to reward herself by sleeping in. She rolled over, pulling the covers up so that only the top of her head peeked out to block out the light of the encroaching sun. Eyes screwed tightly and she inhaled deep, watching the static dance in the darkness. The exhalation brought a sense of peace. She was warm and cozy.

The doorbell went off, a thousand angry metal hornets in her cranium.

"Blergh," the engineering student responded to the urgency of the world around her.

Honey Lemon had survived a lot of explosions in her modest lifespan, but nearly fell off the balcony when the front door flew open and a horrible dark eyed troll woman bellowed "WHAT!?" at her from the pointblank distance of two feet from her face. The sunny smile on her face faltered into a wide eyed grimace. A bag containing a pastry and a coffee cup was thrust forward as a peace offering.

"…I can come back later?" A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she lowered to head to see Gogo's eyes. Windows to the soul, her abuela had called them. Honey Lemon always felt that her abeula knew best, and it was in her best interest to look in the window to see who was home: her best friend, or a bunny murderer.

Small hands snatched the bag and cup from Honey's hands. A sniff. Black Colombian Roast. A favorite. The small woman pressed the cup to her lips, letting the aroma peel away the layers of anger like sandblasting an onion. The withering glare in her eyes sputtered to a smolder, then a dull, emotionless stare. Pupils drifted up lazily to look at Honey. "Nah. You can stay. Thanks."

Honey smiled, any apprehension floating away like vapor. "Okay! Hiro texted me and told me you were taking care of Baymax for a bit, so I thought I'd stop by and bring you breakfast and make sure you were okay."

"Mm." Gogo's effectively nonverbal response was supplemented by a slight smile as she led her friend inside, kicking a clean path to the overstuffed yellow beanbag chair that Honey had bought her as a housewarming gift. Honey settled down into it as Gogo padded over to the wagon filled with robot parts parked next to her weight set.

"Poor Baymax – always the biggest target," Honey sighed as she produced a bag of sunflower seeds to snack on. "Still, that's a lot more left than I thought there'd be after that horrible explosion."

Gogo bit back a short laugh. "The sad part is that I've known you long enough to tell the difference between good and horrible explosions," she said as she kneeled to poke at the parts. "But you're right. Lightweight alloys, high tensile polymers, modular design for easy disassembly and replacement… Marshmallow can take a heck of a beating. Tadashi did good work." She glanced at her friend, who gave her a warm smile.

oo00oo

10:28AM

Two Years Ago

SFIT Campus – Main Hall

Holy crap she was tall.

The girl that would be Honey Lemon towered over almost everyone in the lab, especially with those platforms she wore on her feet. The stranger was talking to Tadashi, subconsciously crouching to make up the height difference. Gogo couldn't hear any words, but could see the big gestures, the animated features. She was happy. Too happy for any two people. She watched from across the room for a moment through the transparent holographic display, assessing as she manipulated the design on her screen.

After a moment, Honey pranced away like a deer on those shoes of hers. Gogo popped her gum.

"She's cute," piped Gogo, sauntering up as he lifted a box of plastic cubes to be fed into the lab extruders. "D'ja ask her out?"

Tadashi chuckled. "Saw the new girl, huh? Talk about five gallons of optimism in a two gallon jug." She matched his ambling pace, shoving her hands in her jeans pockets.

"Seems like your type, Mr. Glass-Half-Full." Pop went the gum.

He shifted the box under one arm to muss her hair. She scowled, batting his hand away. "Nah. Besides – too busy with my final project. She could probably use a friend, though. You know how clique-y and subdued everyone can be here, especially with pretty people."

A snort. "That's just what I thought this morning. 'Gee, I'd really love to play second fiddle to someone so cheerful she could cause everyone to break out into an impromptu musical number.'"

"Don't be so negative."

"I'm sorry, did we just meet?" She held out her hand for an introductory shake. Tadashi rolled his eyes and put down the box at the 3d printer intake hopper.

"Do it as a favor to me then. This place can be tough, what with all the mean, anti-social biker chicks running around campus. Besides, you owe me for working out the airflow and resistance calcs on that bike of yours."

"Fine. I'm gonna hate her though." Pop.

"That's what you said about Fred and Wasabi."

"I actually hate them, too. Just less than I hate the rest of the world."

"How about me, then?"

Gogo rolled her eyes, blowing a big bubble before walking away. She heard him laugh just in earshot. She popped her gum.

oo00oo

The cool glass nanofiber suspension rod under her fingers brought her out of the memory. Gogo's face softened slightly. Any words her friends used to describe the man were nothing compared to what she could read in his craftsmanship. Others felt and recalled emotions. Gogo could touch his meticulousness and efficiency in Baymax's skeletal structure, see the warmth and strength of character in the robot's design philosophy.

She sighed almost imperceptibly. Tadashi had been their best friend. It took a lot for her to admit she had a best friend. While she loved her team, there was always an impenetrable wall of anger and sarcasm against the world at large that kept getting in the way. Tadashi had been… different. With him, she never felt the urge to beat him until the stupidity stopped. He had always been so calm and deliberate, but never seemed to waste her time.

Gogo stood up. Words were dumb. Feelings were hard. The punk girl turned to face her friend, settled into the giant vinyl sun colored beanbag like a radiant Disney princess. Gogo's eyes looked mildly upset and confused; she couldn't figure out what was bothering her.

The blonde chemist leaned forward, a gentle sad smile on her delicate features. "I miss him, too."

"Mm." Gogo nodded. To others, a vague expression. To Honey, a heartfelt assent. "At least he left something behind worthwhile. Did you bring your car? I want to take bubblebutt here down to SFIT and get started."

"Thought you might! It's right outside!" Honey's words were bright again as she watched Gogo shuffle to the bathroom to clean up a bit and stuff some sundries in her day pack. It was going to be a long day of assembly and disassembly and manufacturing. Even with SFIT's best, Baymax was a precision machine.

"Wasabi around? Gonna need help calibrating stuff."

Honey tidied up by folding the seed husks in a tissue. "I think he'll be around later, yes. He's probably going to want to use an acid scrub for all those burned in grease stains on his armor." The tissue was tucked away into her cardigan pocket for proper disposal later. Truth be told, Honey had a tough time figuring out if anything in Gogo's apartment was a trash bin or a parts receptacle.

"Huh. Okay." She shook the uneasy feelings away. Time to work. Honey's face brightened instantly as she followed Gogo out the front door, already nattering away at her latest attempts at making gluten-free, dairy free pizza with Wasabi's latest batch of organic tomatoes.

oo00oo

11:16AM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

Honey had helped Gogo cart in Baymax's remains and had kept her company until Wasabi arrived to assist in machine calibration. The impeccable physics major had taken his usual time, fussing and complaining over the person that had utilized the equipment last.

"All I'm saying," Wasabi grumbled, "Is that it's not hard to set everything back to zero when you're done. You can't leave equipment pressurized, people!"

"S'funny," Gogo replied with a pop of her gum. "You always seem pressurized." Honey giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand.

Wasabi hit the reset button on the 3D printer and let out an exasperated moan. "And you! Always gotta get the last word in, don't you!?"

"Yep." Pop.

Wasabi rolled his eyes as he toweled off his hands in the lab sink. No sense in spreading germs on the machines. The sound of the sink masked Gogo's softly padding feet, so he practically jumped when he felt something warm and wet on the back of his neck.

"Thanks for the assist," Gogo said, hand drawing back from where the mashed wad of stale gum sat on Wasabi's neck. "I owe you an organic soy chai tea dairy free latte."

"Augh!"

"…Gogo," chided Honey as she strode over like an indignant forest sprite to aide an ailing bear. "Was that really necessary?" Wasabi glared at Gogo as Honey wrapped up the gum and handed Wasabi a pack of disinfectant baby wipes she kept in her purse.

The biker girl shrugged, tapping her chest with her fist before tossing off her lazy two finger salute. "Dunno. Don't care. Peace out. Got a personal health care companion to care back to health."

"She's such a jerk sometimes," Wasabi muttered, wiping the back of his neck as he left the room, Honey in tow.

"She was feeling a little melancholy this morning. I think she's just deflecting again."

"Pff. Like she has any feelings past angry and schadenfreude." Wasabi knew what he said wasn't true the moment it came out of his mouth. He was upset, but not upset enough to follow the line of thought Honey was leading him to. "Working on Baymax getting to her a little?"

"I think so," Honey sighed. "You know that Tadashi was the only person that could talk to her for more than ten minutes without stepping on a land mine." Honey's fingers fiddled with the buttons on her cardigan. They looked like tiny bees and provided a convenient distraction as the bubbly girl's thoughts cooled to more serious matters.

Wasabi smirked. "You mean aside from you? Shouldn't you be in a forest, singing at chipmunks or something?"

The tall girl giggled. "It's still hit and miss for me, you know. Or did you forget that time she dumped on me when I spazzed out over the Sev'ral Timez reunion tour coming to town?"

"Girl you got me ackin' so cray cray!" Wasabi responded, imitating the stilted motions of a choreographed boy band dance.

"CRAY CRAY!" Honey Lemon's Creggy G.'s impression was spot on.

"You tell me that you won't be my baby!"

They both began to laugh, trailing off to an easy quiet moment before Wasabi piped up.

"Maybe I've been hanging out with Fred too much, but don't they look like clones to you?"

"Don't you start with me too, Wasabi," Honey Lemon said, narrowing her eyes, a smile playing on her lips.

Gogo rolled her eyes and closed the glass door behind them. She cracked her knuckles. Time to go to work.

oo00oo

2:41PM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

Holographic projections of Baymax's specs lined the walls, showing exactly where replacement parts were needed. Gogo's hair was pulled back in what could only generously be called a ponytail, her baggy SFIT t-shirt hanging off shoulder, revealing a yellow sports bra underneath. With her bike shorts and sneakers, she looked more like she should be headed to or from a gym or a run rather than puttering around a lab.

Wasabi and Honey had made a futile attempt at getting her to go to lunch, and Gogo was definitely regretting turning them down. Her stomach gurgled angrily at her, and her mood was worsening as it always did when she got hungry. Progress was slow. Most of the time, Baymax's damage could be easily repaired because of how modular he was. A new vinyl envelope and an actuator solved 80% of his problems. The warhead that had blown the loveable pillow man apart had been specially built for anti-tank use. What hadn't been vaporized had been peppered with metallic shrapnel and gotten caught in any number of bushings, pistons and actuators.

She sighed, tossing herself in a rolling chair. Poring over specifications had caused a wave of nostalgia. The long nights working in the lab doing aerodynamics calculations for her racing bike, hearing Tadashi talk to himself like a loon while he worked on Baymax's early designs.

oo00oo

1:42AM

A year ago.

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 7

She stood in the doorway, a steaming cup of chai tea in her hand. Tadashi's numerous drawings covered the wall. Tacked to corkboard – old fashioned. Tadashi was very old school. She sipped from her cup slowly, as inscrutable as ever.

"What'cha doin', Grampa?"

Tadashi turned to look at her, a tired smile accented by raccoon eyes. "Just my thesis project. It needs to be perfect."

Her single 'heh' was muffled by the cup. "I can relate." Her footsteps were soft. Late night work made noise louder. Hurt the brain. Tadashi's head looked like it hurt enough as it was.

The woman glanced over the designs on the wall. She recalled Tadashi's concerns. "Healthcare Companion", meant it should be a utility robot –durable, sturdy with a pleasing aesthetic design. She pulled one of the drawings from the corkboard and made a face. "Is this supposed to be a nurse or Megatron?"

Tadashi groaned, slumping in his seat. "I know, I know. I blame gender bias and big media. I think "robot", and see Mazinger Z…"

"Nerd."

"Voltron."

"Neeeerd."

"Gundam."

"Nuh-herd."

Tadashi frowned and tossed a sketchpad at Gogo, who nabbed it out of the air without a moment's thought. Quick hands pulled the pencil from behind her ear as she flipped to an empty page.

"Gotta think like a woman, Tadashi. What's comforting? Soft. Round. Egg-shaped." She presented him with a hasty scribble of an oval with little black dot eyes and fat hands and feet.

"Looks like Domo-Kun has been hitting the dessert tray a little hard." An impish smirk played on his features as he looked up at her nigh-emotionless face. He could tell that she wanted to laugh from the spark in her eye. He smiled wider.

She snorted, shoving the base of his rolling chair. Tadashi rolled into his work bench, where it stopped with a bang. "Ow. Okay, okay, quit it. Thanks, tamago-onna."

"What's that?" Gogo's eyebrow raised as she took the gum out from the side of her cup, blowing a large bubble.

"Egg girl."

The bubble popped. "Ugh. Don't let Fred hear that."

Tadashi grinned. She scowled.

oo00oo

5:41PM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

"Yo, Tomago!"

Fred's lazy voice shook her from her reverie. She looked over at her work. Progress was still slow. Baymax's parts had been meticulously spread out over the workroom floor in a way that would do Wasabi proud. Gogo had scoured, cleaned, and inspected every bolt and seam for debris. The problem with precision machinery was that it was just that – precision. Excessive blemishing or damage would quickly become a problem. The machining process for the non-metallic materials had already begun. The fabricators hummed perfectly thanks to Wasabi's calibrations. It was only a matter of time before she could get started on reassembly of the skeleton.

She was fantastically tired for some reason, and a shooting pain behind her left eye wasn't helping her cope with Fred's cheerful face as he bounded into the room like Tigger.

"Hey, they said that you were staying late to work on Baymax, so I thought I'd come by and see how you were doing… and check it: Instant ramen!" Two hands thrust themselves into a ratty green backpack, producing two foam cups containing dried noodles.

"More money than God and I get freeze dried noodles. Be still my beating heart." Surprise immediately shifted to sarcasm. Gogo instantly felt irritated with herself for having said it, but Fred was just that kind of person.

"Nothing but the best, right?" Fred called over his shoulder as he slouched over to the lab sink and filled the cups with tap water.

A deep inhalation, then a long sigh as she forced the rising urge to be alone with her thoughts away to at least attempt social interaction with Fred. No matter what verbal abuse she hurled at the man, he always seemed to shrug it off. Besides, he had brought food, and the audible gargling sounds her body was making overrode any sense of irritation she was feeling as the salty broth smell from the lab microwave wafted through the hall.

"Thanks," her voice was quiet as he handed her a cup before tucking into his own, sitting down backwards on a chair.

"No prob. So how's it going? Gonna give Baymax some kinda super upgrade? Wheels like yours? Or dude… how about a ramjet?" Fred's earnest face almost made Gogo want to smack him again, but her desire to eat and curiosity won out.

"First off, no. Baymax… Baymax just needs to stay the way he is. Second, how the heck do you know what a ramjet is? And if you say it's like a flying bumper car, I will make you eat that funky-smelling hat."

The grubby backpack produced yet another surprise in the form of a battered old Unpopular Mechanics magazine. "Ramjets – The Future of Aircraft. June 1989." Gogo's eyes slowly locked with Fred's, whose enthusiastic noodle slurping became slowly less enthusiastic.

"It was just an idea, man!"

Gogo squeezed her eyes shut. "Fred… okay, look. This isn't your fault, but I'm stupid tired and I'm in a terrible mood. I haven't been able to get anything done. Thanks for the food. I mean it… but I really need some quiet time."

He had expected a punch, or a shove, or some kind of verbal attack. "Why are you so stupid?" was a common question. This was a little less expected. Fear turned to concern as he put his food aside. "Okay, yeah. No worries. Call if you need anything though."

"Yeah," Gogo said, managing a very weak smile. "Thanks, Fred."

He patted her shoulder as he got up to leave. "I'd say to not work too late, but let's face it, that's not gonna happen. So I brought you this." The bag of surprises produced one last thing: a memory foam pillow. Gogo took it, squeezing it with her hands out of instinct only to watch the depressions slowly return to their original shape.

"You can keep it. Heathcliff said we got too many for the rumpus room."

"Keep this up and I might upgrade you from ignoramus to just stupidly annoying," Gogo replied, shaking her head. Fred grinned.

"Take care, Eggo."

Gogo's plastic spoon clattered off the door as Fred ran away.

oo00oo

8:22PM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

Putting together the pieces was Gogo's favorite part about her choice in majors. There was a sensation of supreme satisfaction when everything fit into a seamless mechanism and worked perfectly. She was not getting that feeling.

"Hiro you little turd! You deviated from the design!" An ultralight aluminum femur flew across the room into a garbage can. This Baymax didn't match the specs from the original, so some of the parts didn't fit. Hiro had forgotten to give her the updated calculations. This of course drove Gogo completely crackers.

Parts were off by half a millimeter. Gears didn't mesh, wires wouldn't reach and couplings failed to couple. It was miserable. Baymax's half-completed skeletal form hung from the robotics scaffolding. The mushroom-like head was attached to a spinal column, with his right arm hanging loosely at one side. His round, corndog-shaped fingers dangled limply making him look like a seriously creepy alien corpse.

She lay her head on Fred's pillow, staring at Baymax. It had only been one day, but not having the giant inflatable nursemaid around had been kind of strange. The last time she had seen him in this assembly state was when Hiro was remaking him from scratch. She groaned at the thought, closing her eyes. The brothers were a lot alike, but Tadashi had years of experience on the kid.

oo00oo

3:46PM

A Year and a Half Ago

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 7

"Looks like it's coming along," Gogo walked around the half-finished robot hanging from the ceiling in Lab 7 as Tadashi inspected the cold-weld on Baymax's left forearm. "I saw you running the leg and gyro tests last week, though. Is it supposed to walk like a baby with a full diaper?"

"You're the one that suggested the egg design, Tomago," the young man replied absently, that infuriatingly confident half smile crossing his face. "When's the last time you saw anything egg-shaped run a triathalon?" Gogo beaned him on the back of the head with a hex nut. "Ow!"

"Stop calling me that."

"Baymax online. Please state the nature of the medical emergency." The eyes of the alien skeleton bolted to the ceiling harness lit up, immediately scanning the area for injuries.

"Your creator is a putz," Gogo responded to the robot out of reflex.

"'Putz' is not a medical condition listed in my database."

"It should be."

"Stop helping, Gogo. You're not allowed to help anymore." She shoved him playfully away from the robot in retaliation. "Oh, it's on now."

Tadashi swooped in and grabbed under her arms in a practiced motion. Gogo swallowed a yelp of surprise and reacted instantly. Instead of shaking her upside down like his little brother, Tadashi got an elbow ground into his low back. The pair collapsed into a heap on the floor, the surprisingly heavy Gogo kneeling on the small of his back.

"You appear to have sustained minor contusions," Baymax announced, swinging on the harness to get a better look at the scene. "You also appear to be encumbered by an unidentified female assailant. Shall I call for assistance?"

"I don't like being picked up," Gogo's flat tone brokered no discussion.

"Noted. No thanks, Baymax. I'm good."

She helped him up from the floor. His hands were surprisingly calloused – probably from all the knuckle-busting from tuning his robots and tooling in the garage. "Sorry. Reflex."

"Yeah… so did you stop by here just to make fun of my robot and beat me up, or did you need something?"

He gave her another smile. How did he manage to stay so easygoing? She shook her head. "Just thought I'd see what you were up to before meeting up with Doug."

"Doug Ramsey?" Tadashi looked a little surprised.

"Yeah. Don't you have a programming class with him?"

"He's got a knack for it, I'll admit," a pause. Tadashi had an uncertain look on his face. Weird. Tadashi was almost always confident. "He's kind of a nerd's nerd. Surprised you'd go out with him."

"Eh," she shrugged. "Nothing else to do. He's not ugly and he's paying." A pause, and a wicked half smile crossed her face. "Why? You jealous?" She nudged him with her elbow.

"Cut it out! No, just… try not to break him. We all actually kinda like him. Besides, he's helping me run diagnostics on Baymax's database/execution protocols. He's no good to me dead. No disintegrations."

"Mmm. Well, no promises, Lord Vader," Gogo replied, almost laughing as she stepped out the door, voices of Tadashi and Baymax fading in the distance.

"She is quite rude."

"That she is, Baymax."

She smiled. The gum popped.

oo00oo

1:42AM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

She woke up with a start. Nodding off had not been part of the plan. Gogo stretched her back. The pillow had been comfortable, the slouching not so much. Her back popped, the sound like tiny firecrackers going off. She blew her nose on a takeout napkin tossed it at a trash can and sat back to assess the situation.

Eyes stared blearily at Baymax, fingers drumming on the desk. "Where would that munchkin put the new specs?"

Her fingers tapped something plastic. A glance down. A familiar happy face sticker stared back up from the background of green plastic. Hiro had given her Baymax's memory card.

Maybe Baymax could help. It was worth a shot. She was fairly sure all of his electronic components were fully functional – most of the issue had been mechanical damage. It only took a moment or two to provide an external power source, pop open his access hatch and load the card.

The motors to inflate the missing vinyl envelope kicked to life, and Baymax's camera irises shuttered open and closed. "..oooo." A pause.

"Hello. I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion. Good evening Gogo. I appear to be," a pause, "at 35% physical capacity. I am also at… 90% processing capacity."

"That'll happen when you eat an anti-tank rocket. Baymax, do you have all of your current physical specs? I mean the ones that match all of Hiro's work on you."

"Yes."

"Great," Gogo rubbed her eyes. Finally, something was going right. "Can you upload them to a local server so I can finish repairing you?"

"Of course, Gogo. Please place a physical terminal within reach of my right hand."

The tired speedster looked at the heavy casing of the computer under the desk and its 5 meter distance from the closest point that the harness could swing, and groaned. "Ugh. I wish Tadashi was here."

Her eyes opened wide as she realized what she said. She wasn't one to live in the past. Gogo wasn't like her friends. She wasn't emotional – it came with the territory. When you lived at full speed, you come to accept loss as part of life. Tadashi's death had hit her as hard as it could possibly have, but life was for the living. Gogo had to keep going – for herself, for her friends. It was that driving force that helped her friends move along, to give Hiro that sense of purpose and the will to form the team. Everyone relied on her in the field. Looking back, second guessing… she didn't. She couldn't. Her heart quickened as she immediately began to beat down her feelings.

A futile effort when Baymax made his announcement: "Tadashi is here."

The color drained from Gogo's face, and she stared at Baymax. "W-what?"

Baymax's chest projector worked just fine as it beamed the young man's smiling countenance onto the far wall. "Tracking test," Tadashi's voice emitted from Baymax's speakers. "Follow the pen buddy." Target boxes tracked the pen as he moved it across Baymax's field of vision.

She groaned. "Baymax, you jerk." Her head fell to the pillow again, staring at the animated image of her old lab neighbor. Gogo felt numb looking at the images, cracking a smile only when Tadashi dropped the pen after a loud explosion went off in the background. She could hear Honey Lemon's tinny voice in the background shouting 'Sorry!'.

"You were always such a dork. I don't even know why I talked to you. Always gave you a hard time, too. Your creator was a pushover, Baymax," Gogo announced, amusement in her voice. "The loser always let me walk all over him for some reason." She kneeled down under the workstation to see what it would take to pull the heavy computer closer to Baymax.

"Tadashi was quite fond of you."

The table nearly turned over as Gogo smashed her head into the workstation. "Ow! What!?"

"You appear to have suffered a minor contusion to the top of your head. On a scale of…"

"Shut up about that. What did you say about Tadashi?"

"Tadashi was quite fond of you."

"Explain." Gogo stood up, folding her arms. Her eyes were hard, lips set into a straight line. Gogo's gaze would have wilted all but the stoutest of people. Baymax, however, was immune to such things.

"I observed your interactions on no less than eighty five separate occasions during my development. While data was limited and inconclusive during early testing, I have solid records for at least sixty four interactions. During this time, I noted an increase in Tadashi's heart rate and norepinephrine levels in more than ninety percent of your interactions, and an increase of dopamine levels and dilated pupils in eighty three percent of your interactions."

She blinked. "Wait, what? No, no. We were friends," Gogo's voice was rushed, strained. "Best friends."

"During those interactions, I noted similar reactions from you. Out of the sixty four recorded interactions, you exhibited increased heartrate and neurotransmitter levels in eighty eight percent of your interactions. I also noted that nearly half of your interactions contained physical contact, with fifty two percent of the contact being initiated by you."

She took a breath, licking her lips. Confused. Nervous for some reason. "He never said anything." It was a weak statement, tinged with anger. She walked over to the image of Tadashi frozen on the wall. "You said you had sixty four recorded interactions? Let me see them."

"You appear to be angry. This conversation appears to have upset your emotional state. You have requested potentially confidential information. I am afraid I…"

"Baymax. Let. Me. See. Them." Her voice could solidify hydrogen.

"Will watching these interactions improve your emotional state?"

"I don't know," she responded honestly, the fatigue creeping into her voice. "I'm... I'm tired, Baymax. I have allergies, and I haven't slept. I thought working on you would be a good distraction, but I've been… I don't know. Feeling stuff lately. I'm not super awesome at feelings."

"Tadashi also had difficulty expressing his feelings."

A snort. "Please. He was practically Asian Mr. Rogers."

The scene on the wall changed. Gogo saw herself walk into the lab in the image, and her brow furrowed.

oo00oo

6:09PM

A Year and a Half Ago

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

The equations on the screen were long and convoluted, but Tadashi seemed composed and diligent, scribbling on a notepad as he worked them out. He heard the door open, saw the reflection of the person entering, but didn't respond immediately. Baymax – just a head and a CPU, sat on his desk.

"Tad."

(Medical readouts overlaid on the image demonstrated a slightly faster heart rate as UNIDENTFIED FEMALE approached.)

Tadashi tied his sweater around his neck, and turned, giving his best Locust Valley Lockjaw. "Eyeeees?"

Gogo's eyes sparked with amusement, an actual laugh threatening to escape her lips as she walked towards him, slapping a folder against his chest. "Results from that physics exam. Nice job, ace."

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"Watch it. Still haven't decided if I hate you yet," she gave him a half smile. "Nice volleyball." She poked at the head with a finger.

"That volleyball is my senior project," Tadashi said, grabbing her finger gently and pushing it away.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE's heart rate increased by 25%. Thermal scans showed a mild increase in temperature. Dilated pupils.)

"Could you not give it irreparable brain damage?" He turned back to the screen to keep working on the equations.

"Given who's making him? I'd say 'too late'."

"I am Baymax, your fully automated health care provider," the head stated flatly. Gogo's face washed to neutral.

"Might wanna do something about your buddy's catchphrase. Sounds like he wants to abduct me and stick me with a probe." She leaned on one of his shoulders, peering over at the equations.

"Sounds like your last five dates."

"Big talk from Captain Celibacy." Her gum popped next to his ear, her breath blowing past his cheek.

(Tadashi's pupils dilated. Temperature increase.)

"Okay, so again, did you come here to do anything other than to give me test results and make fun of my social life?"

"Nah. That was pretty much it. I'd hang out here longer, but I'm going out tonight."

"Who is it this time? Madison? Rex?"

(Activation of Tadashi's brain's dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and right-ventral pre-frontal cortex, causing slight pain and muscle tightening in the chest.)

"Terry. He just got a new bike."

(Further tightening in Tadashi's chest. Eye tracking suggests high levels of interest in Tadashi's response from UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE. Digital readout demonstrates prolonged delay in verbal response.)

"Huh. Well, have fun. Don't stay out too late – final for applied chem is on Wednesday."

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE's brain activity registering as pain and muscle tightening in the chest.)

"Okay, well, see you around old man."

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE no longer in range. Tadashi's chest pain lessened, but persistent.)

She left. Tadashi sighed softly.

"You are in pain."

"What?" Baymax's eyes stared, unblinking at Tadashi.

"You are in pain."

"No, I'm not," Tadashi said tiredly. He rubbed his temples. Sounded like it was time to recalibrate the sensor matrix.

"I am sensing pain and tightness in the chest continuing from your interaction with UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE."

(Cheeks flushed. Low neurotransmitter levels.)

Tadashi bowed his head, running his fingers through his hair. "Geez. I guess I made your sensors too strong if you can see that."

"Are my readings inaccurate?" The prototype voice was harsh, grating, but still had the undertone of the gentle care that Baymax would come to be known for.

He sighed again. "No. Yes. No. I don't know, Baymax. Remind me to make a full counseling package for you at some point." Tadashi's eyes turned towards the door where Gogo had left. "I guess I do have kind of a thing for her," he said conversationally, heavy lidded eyes and relaxed posture attempting to compensate anxiety and jealousy.

(Neurotransmitter levels rising. Conclusion: Discussion of uncomfortable events or emotions can be an effective treatment strategy.)

"I like Gogo a lot. She's smart, driven, funny..."

(Testosterone levels rising.)

"...and she looks amazing. Her face, her eyes... Geez those eyes. And all that biking's one a lot of good things for the rest of her. Gotta love a girl with a tight, toned..."

Baymax blinked audibly, the cameras whirring. Tadashi composed himself, clearing his throat.

He laughed, turning back to his work. "Wouldn't work out, though. She's moving all the time – impatient, rude… she'd get bored with me in fifteen minutes. She calls me "old man" for a reason. Besides, there's an army of guys lined up to go out with her. What we have is pretty special, Baymax. Means a lot to have someone you can just be yourself with. Saying anything could seriously mess that up, you know?"

A sad smile.

"Its better we just stay friends."

(Further chest tightening.)

He reached over to find the off switch on the back of Baymax's alpha head. "It's not like she'd ever feel the same way anyhow," Tadashi said softly, the smile fading from his features as Baymax's camera went dark.

oo00oo

1:47AM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

It was late. That's why her eyes hurt. The allergies were making her eyes water, too.

So Tadashi had a little thing for her once upon a time. Clearly he had made the conscious decision to just be friends. Like Tadashi had said - she liked to move a lot. Dating was fun, exciting. Tadashi had been boring.

Comfortable. Safe. Warm.

Her heart was pounding. She swallowed, her throat raspy. Maybe she was getting sick. She folded her arms in front of her, face hard as the tears welling in her eyes trickled down her face. Gogo covered her mouth, almost afraid to speak.

"That's an isolated incident," she said hoarsely, taking a deep breath to keep her shuddering heart under control, "He said himself that he gave up." Her tone was almost challenging. Conflict was easy to control. Gogo stoked the fires of her temper to burn away the pain and uncertainty as her eyes flashed defiance at Baymax.

There was a long pause between Gogo's declaration and Baymax's response. "It was not."

"Prove it."

Another long pause.

"Are you cer..."

"Prove it." The voice was sharp enough to carve ice.

Baymax complied.

oo00oo

12:22PM

A Little Over a Year Ago

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 7

"Gogo."

"Tad."

"I need your help."

"I'm skeptical. This is my skeptical voice."

"Ha ha," Tadashi snarked, "I'll just need you for like fifteen minutes."

The woman stood from her workstation and stretched. She grimaced as her back popped and cracked in protest. "I'm getting a standing desk," she announced to nobody in particular as Tadashi put his hands on her shoulders. Muscles tensed involuntarily as he guided her to his section of the lab. She could feel the heat and strength of his hands through her SFIT tee. His long-legged pace forcing her to half trot or stumble.

"Okay, so I had to strip Baymax down a little in order to fit the design aesthetic we talked about, but now I have to make do with minimal tools," Tadashi said as he held the door open, pushing her into a circle on the floor.

"Not liking the circle, Tad." Arms folded. Gum popped.

"You'll like it in a minute, trust me." Tadashi slipped his hands into telemetric gloves that left his fingers bare. "Okay Baymax. Keep your sensors on and get ready to receive data."

The head had evolved into a head with a spinal cord and two long, gorilla-like arms. A plastic barrel covered his chest and spinal column - a placeholder structure to keep him protected. As Tadashi raised his hands, so did Baymax.

Gogo felt his hands on her neck, placing a gentle but firm pressure on her overly-tight trapezius muscles. She couldn't suppress the soft, pleased groan that escaped her lips. His hands worked their way across her neck and shoulder blades to the small of her back. "Tadashi, when I become rich and famous, I am totally hiring you as my houseboy." There was no helping the press back into his hands like a cat being stroked as her heavy-lidded eyes closed.

"Acupressure," was the response, his face locked in concentration at getting the pressure points right. "I figure if he can't have a full suite of medical tools, this was the next best thing."

"I am detecting a heightened level of serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin in Ms. Tomago. I am also detecting similar..."

"Thank you, Baymax!" Tadashi said, face flushing slightly as he saw Fred and Wasabi out of the corner of his eye grinning and giving him a thumbs up. Tadashi grimaced, waving a hand to shoo them away. Baymax copied the gesture.

"Mmm?" Gogo was only vaguely paying attention, enjoying the feel of the knots in her tired shoulders being worked away. "Whatever. Circle's my new favorite thing. I might actually decide I don't hate you." Lids lifted slightly as she gazed at him lazily from the corner of her eye.

"Yeah?" Tadashi's heart skipped a beat.

"Mmhmmn." A shrill beep went off, and Gogo's eyes went wide as lifted her arm to look at the PDA on her wrist. "I gotta run." The warm skin under Tadashi's hands was replaced by cool air as she stepped forward. "Sorry, don't want to be late for my CAD reservation."

The short woman bustled out the door, shooting past Wasabi and Fred. "Murtaugh. Riggs." She nodded to the both of them before disappearing out of the lab entirely.

"That looked cozy," Wasabi said with a smirk as he stepped in with a paper sack. "Bagel sandwich from your aunt's shop. You and the biker chick got a thing going on you wanna tell us about?"

"C'mon guys. Me and Gogo? That'd be one invention nobody could get to work. Besides, isn't she going out with Terry now?"

"McGuiness? That was like for a whole five minutes," Fred drawled as he picked up Baymax's hand and tried to thumb wrestle it. "I'm pretty sure she's a free agent now. Doesn't take ESP to see that you're totes wanting some of that. Want me to say something, bro?"

Tadashi groaned. "Okay, this is gonna sound lame, but it's not like that. We're friends. That's it. Full stop."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you were smelling her hair like a creep about ten seconds ago," Wasabi said, leaning on a wall. For once, he was glad he wasn't the one being tweaked. It was actually sort of fun to see the normally calm Tadashi kind of shaken. "Seriously, what's the worse that can happen? She says no?"

"I'm not screwing things up with my best friend over an infatuation." He took off the gloves, laying the on the counter. His hands were still warm. "No matter how badly I want to."

"Okay man, but you know what they say. 'You never lose by loving. You only lose by holding back."

Wasabi and Tadashi stared at Fred.

"What, I can't say smart stuff too?"

oo00oo

1:55AM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

"Play another."

A pause.

"Play another."

Her chest hurt. Her breath was coming in rapid gasps. She sniffled, and wiped her nose with a napkin.

Baymax played.

oo00oo

3:58AM

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology – Lab 6

She was crying. It was an unusual sensation to her. Her throat was dry, and the tears stung badly. Her hand covered her mouth. Eyes screwed shut as she desperately tried to swallow the rising tide of emotion. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to die. She hated herself for not saying anything, hated him for not saying anything. She felt warm inside for having caught the eye of one of the sweetest people she had ever met. She felt cold – the reality that she'd never know what it was like to have been with him filling her with a bitter chill.

"I am sorry that I caused you emotional distress."

"This isn't fair."

Baymax stared at her.

"Why did every... why didn't he tell me?" Her voice cracked. She bit her lower lip. Tears kept streaming, annoying her, angering her, weakening her as she stood before Baymax.

"T-tadashi is here, right?" She placed a hand on Baymax's chest, over the expansion port that contained the memory card.

"Yes."

Gogo nodded, and smiled softly, looking at Baymax's featureless but oddly warm face.

"Tell him that… I would've gone out with him if he asked."

Baymax paused. "Based on heuristic evidence, I am sure that this information would have caused Tadashi to experience: joy."

"I wanted to."

"Based on heuristic evidence, I am sure that this information would have caused Tadashi to experience: joy."

"I thought… I thought he was adorable. I liked when we talked… when we joked around. He was the only one that seemed to get me. My heart always jumped whenever he touched my hand… ugh. I sound like a schoolgirl."

"Based on heuristic evidence, Tadashi greatly enjoyed your company and physical contact."

She smiled. A real smile. Warm, sad. Her hand clutched at Baymax's expansion port, holding tightly as she pressed her head against the projector in Baymax's chest. It was hot, almost uncomfortable. Eyes squeezed tightly again, trying to wring out the rest of the tears, but they kept coming.

"It's not fair. I would have stayed any of those times if only he had said something. It's not fair."

A pause. "You are here now."

"…yeah."

"Tadashi is here." Baymax's hand patted Gogo on the back gently.

The only thing she could do was the thing she never let herself do, but the one thing she had to do.

"I made up my mind. I hate you so much," she lied.

The tears didn't stop.