Marvel owns the X-men, while Walt Disney owns Big Hero 6. No profit is to be made from this work.
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To anyone who might have been standing in the alley at the time, not that there was anyone, the first thing they would have noticed in one dark corner would have been a shimmer of a mirage as seen on a hot day. Had they blinked they would have heard a noise they could only describe as a Bamf as the very air was forced out of the way to make room for something else. Only then they would have noticed four people standing where before that blink of the eye there had been none.
"Okay, where the heck are we..." Equal parts a Femme Fatale and a Southern Belle, Rogue choked on everything else she had been saying the moment she got an eye full of Hank, who as a matter of fact was out of uniform.
"Hey Remy, why are you covering my eyes?" Just because she was used to being treated like a kid, mostly because she wasn't yet even fourteen, it didn't mean Jubilee liked it.
"Petite, trust Remy on this, you don need to see what we be seeing. Chere, would you loan Henry my coat?"
Stunned, shocked, and speechless, Hank was busy trying to pull up his minimalist uniform of, well, rather much a Speedo. The mutant, whose aptly chosen codename was Beast, found himself now a man once more whose frame no longer supported his drawers (which made for a poor entrance as they fell to his ankles). Blushing from his embarrassment and thankful that Jubilee hadn't been facing him a moment before, he gladly accepted the offered trench coat...even if it painted him a tad much like a flasher looking for a cheap thrill.
"I can smell trash, are we in an alley? Cuz after a world where the Savage Land was the norm I need me a shower." Suffering Remy still hiding her eyes, Jubilee ran the heel of her high tops against what she thought felt like good ol' asphalt.
"We sure as heck are sweetpea, but that ain't the half of it." Blushing just as bright as Hank, Rogue couldn't stop from gawking at her once blue, furry friend.
"I believe I'm decent Remy, I must thank you for your hasty saving of our young Jubilation's innocence."
Turning to find out just what the heck was going on, however normally verbose Jubilee might be she was speechless at seeing Hank.
"I have a hypothesis I would like to check, might you try and charge something Remy?" Hank asked in his usually genial tone, it took much to make him angry after all (and like peer of his, most wouldn't want to see him angry).
With his playing cards in his trench coat, Remy crouched for a bottle cap he noticed in amongst the trash of the alley. Holding it between his foremost two fingers, try as he might to will his power to work it would not. Flicking the cap with unerring aim at a dumpster, he gave a shrug.
"Does this mean our powers don't work on this world?" Jubilee asked with a puzzled wrinkle of her brow.
No sooner had Jubilee announced his hypothesis did Hank look to Rogue with a sympathetic smile. If she had been shocked before, now she could hardly believe what she was hearing. Tentatively she stripped a glove away and reached out to Remy who encouraged her with a flirtatious smile. To feel his rough stubble against her bare hand, to trace her thumb down his jaw to his lips, it was all too much for Rogue to believe as she started to cry.
Brushing a finger against her cheek to catch one tear, Remy leaned in without any hesitation to kiss her. Slow and gentle at first as they tiptoed through their inhibitions, their long denied passion engulfing them in inflamed heat as they pulled another into a hungry embrace.
"Whoa, usually I'd say get a room, but damn...go Roguey!" Jubilee cheered as she watched the lovers surrender to another, "Wait a minute Hank, does this mean you're naked under that coat?!"
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"San Fransokyo? Weird." Staring at the sights of the familiar mingled together, Jubilee had been both to San Francisco and Tokyo alike, but never anything like this.
"Perhaps in this world it was a blending of Empires that gave this city it's history, the Japanese and Spanish?" Hank mused as he read the headlines of a corner newspaper box.
"Man, you do this every world, try to figure out just what did or didn't happen to skew things sideways! I don't know about you but after we get you some clothes I want to play tourist and have a genuine vacation. I mean what has it been? Months of crazy ass words filled with modern day Great Depressions, Dinosaurs, Ice Ages, and even a zombie apocalypse that was so not cool!"
"I'm with Jubes. And you know I gotta say this Hank, but for Remy and me this is a damned fine world to take a break on." Rogue added with a ruffle of Jubilee's hair.
"I'm forced to agree. Frankly given our random hopping across the multiverse, perhaps this world might offer me a chance to properly investigate what went wrong with this ahem, time travel device that has cast us so far from home." Adjusting the strap of what looked a bit larger than a Smart Watch, Hank gave the screen a polish and looked to the readings. "Frankly it could use a recharge, too many hasty jumps has nearly depleted its battery."
Bouncing about with a bubbly cheer, Jubilee offered Rogue a high five and a hug. Smiling at his compatriots, Hank did his best to appear casual with all the attention they were garnering from the locals. From Rogue's and Remy's outfits to his own state of questionable dress, quite a few disapproving looks were cast their way with a few worrying ones for Jubilee herself.
"But first and before anything else, pants!" Hank added, it was rather drafty under Remy's duster.
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Racing through the streets of San Fransokyo, Hiro ran with Wasabi at his back and GoGo only a distant blur of yellow ahead of them. As much as he missed riding Baymax for a hot pursuit, helping the hurt was the reason his brother had designed him so he was better put to use on scene until the paramedics arrived.
"Sign, sign, really big sign!" Hiro yelped.
"Hit the deck!" Rushing to the lead, Wasabi struck down the street marquee with the furious slashing of his plasma blades that left the now smaller chunks tumbling into traffic.
"Whoa ho ho dudes! That was rad!"
"Fred!?"
Bounding and bouncing into the chase, Fred scooped Hiro up with a joyful holler before his next giant leap. Screaming for his life as he clung to Fred, Hiro cracked open an eye as the tickle in his tummy told that gravity had lost track of them for the moment. Blinking in a wide eyed disbelief that reminded him of Baymax's first test flight, it was a moment where the fear was forgotten in favour of the sheer thrill to soar through the sky.
"There she is!" Hiro pointed, catching sight of GoGo chasing after a new breed of criminal with a penchant for robbing banks.
Seedy as Bot Fighting was, after their debut as heros a new breed of criminal had risen throughout San Fransokyo, putting their tried and tested tech to use in a new illicit enterprise that the police were woefully ill-equipped to handle.
"Hang on little dude!" Fred roared, scoring a landing that even the worst Olympic judge would have reluctantly given a ten to.
Ricocheting off a building to vault down a new street, they soared towards Gogo who darted around the thief dressed in his armour of modified battle bot tech. But all Hiro could see was the girl held as a hostage, a girl who looked no older than himself. It wasn't rage that ran through his veins but fear, a fear that filled him with a need to save her. Fast as she was, GoGo was hard pressed to duck and dodge the rapid fire buzz saw blades the thief flung with complete negligence for the bystanders caught up in the skirmish, trapped hiding behind cars or ducked into doorways for cover.
"We have to stop this!"
"How?!" Fred didn't sound so much scared as much as he was eager for a plan of action.
Glancing at his newly added HUD that let play the tactician to his team, in it Hiro saw the answer to defeating this villain. The counter that measured his distance from Baymax raced towards zero, and if there was one thing he knew about Baymax, it was that he couldn't leave until the patient had been satisfied with their care. It was time for the team to get back together and do what they did best, put their brains together to save the day.
"GoGo, keep him focussed on you! Honey! Get the crowd some cover, something sticky that can take a hit from a buzz saw! Fred? Catch Wasabi and cut this guy off so he can't get away!"
"What are you going to do Hiro?!" Fred asked at the height of his arc.
Smiling as he jumped clear, Hiro was going to trust Baymax to catch him.
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One minute Jubilee was super happy to find out her cash was on par with the locals, wanting nothing more than some street meat and a can of coke to wash it down with after her stay in a world where the Dinosaurs reigned supreme, the next she was watching Remy, Rogue and Hank shrink in the distance. Her chest hurt as she struggled, but try as she might she couldn't get free from whatever was holding her.
That was about ten minutes ago, and now she was way stoked to find out that this world at least had some Heros to step up to the loser dude holding her hostage.
"Seriously?! How many kinds of messed up are you?! Throwing fricking saw blades into a crowd like a B List Bad Guy that Spidey wouldn't work up a sweat to beat!"
"Shut up!"
"Oh my god, even your speakers suck! What did jack those outta? A Gremlin?"
Running her mouth was her specialty, a tried and tested tactic of getting the big bad villain so pissed he'd make a mistake, then it was clean up in Aisle Whoop Ass for the heros. Usually she'd be on that side, but as much as she might be afraid of cutting loose with her powers, right about now she would kill to dish out a paf pumped up by how pissed she was.
Squinting into the distance to do a double take, it almost looked like Iron Man was coming to save the day. It was kind of hard to see with how she was being jolted about as the big bad kept trying to hit the cool chick racing circles around him, but if there was one thing she could guess, she was about to be saved by a literal Fist of Justice that was getting bigger as it got closer.
"Et Mocket Fust." Jubilee mumbled, trying to keep her smug smirk in check as she braced for what was to come.
"What?!" Her robosuited captor screamed in his rage.
"I said...Eat Rocket Fist!"
All her bravado was forgotten as the impact reached her to jar every bone, muscle and fibre of her being. Expecting a nasty case of road rash as she tumbled to the pavement, she was caught in a blur of yellow. Cracking open an eye, her saviour looked nonplussed as she blew a bright pink bubble.
"I dig your outfit." Jubilee croaked with a whimper of pain.
"Hang tight kid, we'll get you checked out once we take this guy down to size."
Squeaking and squealing as her heroine raced behind the bright blue globs of...globby stuff, Jubilee was plopped down on one of the surprisingly comfortable, if sort of sticky, things. Struggling against the flypaper grip, she squirmed her way up to peek past and watch the fight.
While they might not be the Avengers, there was a haphazard teamwork to see as they covered one another, tearing the big bad down to size.
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"Honey! Feet!"
"Got it!"
Fluttering her fingers over the touchpad of her combat purse, Honey Lemon threw the chemical cocktails at the massive feet of the towering armoured bank robber. Yelping as his ire fell on her, a blast of flame harried him from even thinking to attack. Giving Fred a thumbs up, Honey ducked for cover behind the blue globs she had littered the street in to find a man crouched there holding tightly to his leather duster.
"Hi! Don't be afraid, we're here to save you." Honey promised, reassuring the bystanders of their safety was something Baymax always talked about in their scuffles.
"So I've seen, you've already done a wonderful job saving my young compatriot from this brute who had taken her hostage."
"Aw, thank you!"
"Might I ask after this purse of yours?" He was too polite and well spoken for Honey not to blush at his every compliment and question.
"It's my mini-lab, I just type in the formula here...I'm a huge chemistry nerd by the way, and out comes..." Tapping away the formula for a bouncy, pink cocktail, a little ball popped out for her to show off with an enthused grin that matched the absolute glee in her eyes.
"Fascinating." Her curiously dressed gentleman exclaimed.
"Ooo, actually this just gave me an idea. Excuse me, I have to get back to saving you."
"Absolutely my dear lady, might I say how kind it is of you to do so."
Blushing again, Honey rushed back into the fray with her brainstorm brimming. It was time to let Hiro in on his part of her plan to put an end to this fight.
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"Alright Baymax, full thrust!"
Honey Lemon's plan was brilliant in it's simplicity, all it needed was one good knock to set it off. Flying in at full speed with his fist poised for a strike, Baymax looked like a classic comic book hero from Fred's immense collection. Speaking of which...
"This is gonna be so awesome!" Fred cheered over the com, seen as an ever growing bouncy beast doing his best to keep the bank robber distracted.
Slamming fist first into the hardened armour, Hiro felt enough of the impact through Baymax's shock absorbers to imagine just how bad it must have been for whoever was piloting the enormous battle bot. By the time Bay flipped about to fly back and land with everyone else, the robber was a blur of armour bouncing from one pink glob to the next, firmly anchored as he was at the feet to the pavement to look like the classic inflatable punching bag clown.
"Oh gross, I think he was just sick in there...I just might be sick myself." Wasabi winced, horrified to even imagine the mess.
"Scan complete. The patient is suffering from disorientation and nausea, I suggest a Dimenhydrinate tablet, commonly marketed as Dramamine or Gravol."
"Honey?" Hiro asked, feeling green himself just looking at the hypnotic motion of the now beaten robber.
Typing away a new formula into her purse, Honey tossed a yellow ball at the closest bouncy pink glob. Instantly it changed to catch the robber in a sticky splash that hardened instantly, suitably cementing the better part of his battle armour to the street. In the quiet that had fallen upon the battleground, the distant sound of sirens and blasts of horns heralded the arrival of the police and the local fire department.
"Wait, where's the girl?"
"I put her over there." Pointing off to one glob, GoGo zipped over only to find out the girl was gone.
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"Man, I wanted to thank them. It's not ever day I'm the one to get saved, well except by you guys." Jubilee grumbled.
"Well it ain't like we got any ID on us for when the cops showed up, and they're just as likely to cart Hank off with them for being buck ass naked."
As much as she wanted to mouth off to Rogue, she was right and Jubilee knew it. Wincing from too deep a breath, Hank figured she might have bruised her ribs after her run in with the dweeb who kidnapped her, which totally sucked.
"It seems the directions our good Samaritan was so kind enough to give were spot on, a thrift shop just where they said it would be. Until we can replenish our war chest as it were, I suppose a frugal shopping trip would be the best."
Catching looks for all the wrong reasons, Jubilee was the only one dressed at all normal out of them. Rogue was getting all the kind of wrong attention in her catsuit, while Remy could probably pull off anything and make it look sexy. Just the same jeans and a shirt instead of his Thieves Guild body armour would help him blend in a bit better.
"Cool, can I have some cash to get a bite? There's a ramen cart over there and I'm starving!"
"Of course, we shouldn't be too long so just wait for us. I think we could all use something to eat after that last world."
"Sweet, a twenty, and I already know...bring back the change."
Try as she might to appear grumpy as Remy ruffled her hair, it was enough to bring out a stubborn smile. They were her family, and she was glad she'd been there with Remy and Rogue when Hank had gotten to tinkering with that stupid time jumper thing that caused this whole mess. Every time she thought of Hank having to make this trek alone left her feeling immensely lonely, so she was glad to be along for the ride as there was no way he wouldn't get them back home.
"Hey Roguey! Don't forget to get a bikini, and snag me something to swim in, you know my size!" Jubilee shouted after her friends, grinning at Remy as he perked up from imagining his lady love in a tiny little two piece.
Skipping up to the ramen cart to grab a stool, she ordered up a bowl with shrimp and felt herself nearly drooling from the aroma of the soup boiling away in a big pot. By the time her bowl was set down for her, she was ravenous but remembered her manners with a quick arigato in respect to all the ramen shop etiquette Wolvie had taught her.
"I'll have what she's having."
Checking out the newcomer, the first thing Jubilee noticed that he was pretty cute and totally around her age, major bonus points. The second thing she noticed was the giant marshmallow man following him.
"...uh, what's that?" Pointing with her chopsticks at the very hard to miss...whatever it was, in her experience cute always didn't mean harmless...or so Lockheed had taught her, Kitty's sort of but not quite actually a pet dragon.
"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."
"My who what now?" Slurping up a noddle, Jubilee looked to the cute boy for an explanation to just what the heck was going on.
"He's a robot, and also my friend. My brother programmed him with an insane amount of medical knowledge so Baymax could help people."
"That's...pretty cool actually. How does he work?"
"Well..." Cute boy started to say until he got cut off by Baymax, the walking talking marshmallow robot.
"Scan complete. You have numerous epidermal abrasions, contusions, and bruised ribs. I also detect moderate malnutrition..."
"...you try eating Remy's dino gumbo." Jubilee muttered, slurping noisily at her soup.
"Malnutrition?"
Staring down into her bowl to avoid her cute boy looking straight up worried and confused, Jubilee hadn't forgotten what it was like to be hungry and having no money because the days payout putting on a show had been crap. But those days were behind her, she had a home now with friends that felt like family, it was just...worlds away, but she wasn't alone. Pecking at her boiled egg, she wanted to tell him the real reason she was hungry but then she'd sound freaking crazy.
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Trust Baymax to scan someone in the middle of a fight, that was just the bot he was...just the friend he was. Finding the girl hadn't been that hard, finding an alley to land in, well that was harder due to the stink. Stripping out of his Hero's get up so he could get to packing up everything that made Baymax his version 2.0 self, Fred was a genius to think up the idea for armour that folded into a briefcase. Trusting his little battle bot to guard it all, Hiro rushed out into the street to see the girl he'd been trying to save sitting at a ramen cart.
That was an introduction that felt like it'd been a lifetime ago after Baymax so clinically read out all the injuries the girl had picked up after being taken hostage, and something else that he couldn't even imagine...
"Malnutrition?" Hiro could have been rocket punched to the stomach for how much it hurt to see her look down at her ramen like it was the first real meal she had enjoyed in days.
"I'm Hiro, Hiro Hamada." Aunt Cass was always going on about introducing himself properly.
"Jubilee..."
She looked like she was expecting him to laugh at her name, but all he could do was smile and think of his friends who all went by the nicknames Fred dreamed up.
"Can I get this for you?"
Slurping up the last of her of ramen, Jubilee set the bowl down with an arigato and the chopsticks laid across the rim. But as she sat there sipping her glass of water, Hiro caught her peeking at him with a mix of indecision and stubborn pride in her eyes, looking like she wanted to say no but couldn't.
"It's not what you think." Jubilee whispered with her lips tightly pinched, picking at a stain on the counter.
"I...I don't think anything. I...just wanted to buy a cute girl dinner." Hiro stammered, dreading that any second now Baymax would diagnose everything wrong with him as puberty.
And Jubilee was cute, more than cute actually, so to see her looking upset was the exact opposite of what he had hoped for. All Hiro wanted to do was smack his head off the counter until his brain came up with a solution...
"Hiro!"
...but then his friends found him.
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"Now why ain't I surprised ta find you loitering around the books? Lookin' good by the way, Hank." Rogue remarked as she leaned up at one of the shelves filled with secondhand books.
"I've found a few that are quite illuminating, including one that tells the history of San Fransokyo. It would seem after the 1906 Earthquake that Japanese immigrants helped with the rebuilding of the city, which resulted in the blending of cultures and a change of name from the San Francisco we know."
"That's great Hank, but can ya get yer nose outta a book for two shakes of a lambs tail to tell me what ya think of these? I need a man's opinion." Rogue asked after a peek over her shoulder to make sure Remy was still busy in the changing rooms, holding up two similar bikinis, one for herself and Jubilee.
"I believe you will look stunning, and Jubilation undoubtably have the young men smitten. One can only hope there is a lifeguard available for the hearts you set aflutter."
"Ain't you just a sweet talker," Rushing up to give Hank a quick peck on the cheek, all the affectionate little touches she'd been denied for so long were there for her to enjoy. "I'm gonna go pay and see about gettin' a bite to eat with our lil troublemaker, I'll see you boys when you're done here."
Chuckling as he was left alone, Hank added a few more books to his basket to then take a wander through the assorted cast off electronics. Expecting to see old discmans, perhaps even a tape deck or two, vcrs and dvd players, Hank marvelled at some of the things he found, if just for the price tag. Picking up what he thought was a toy, it was far too weighty and complex to be for a child. Turning it over, the quality of the actuators were remarkable.
"You don't look like any of the usual scrappers I see in here." An older lady said as she stocked the shelves from her trolley.
"I'm a bit of a tourist actually, might I ask what you meant by scrapper?"
Heading on over, the lady had a critical look at the rather robotlike toy that had caught Hank's eye.
"Yep, just as I thought. A battle bot. We usually get a steady trickle of them in, mostly parents thinking it was just some toy their kid outgrew or left behind when they went off to college. A lot of scrappers come on in here lookin' for diamonds in the rough, but mostly they just tear them down for parts to sell at meets."
"So, this is a robot meant for...?"
"Bot fighting, which isn't illegal per say, but betting on the fight sure is. The grey gets mixed in with the black and white, so getting caught at a bot fight, betting or not, is a quick way to get tossed in the clink."
"That would be an unfortunate development to be caught up in something like that on my, ahem, vacation."
"Well, if I was you, which I'm not, but if I were and I was looking for a few easy bucks so I could enjoy the sights, I'd buy these guys here before anyone else can. I got a couple more on my cart if you want 'em. As much as the cops might not like it, a bot fighter meet ain't illegal, and it's a good place to test your metal against the folks that do it just for fun."
"If they're worth money to the right individual, why do you have them priced as toys?"
Squinting up at Hank like she was really seeing him for the first time, the old gal cracked a wizened smile with a sparkle in her eyes. "Mostly it's for the kids, for all the trouble they can get into with bot fighting, at least they're using their head to learn something. That and I don't want them sitting on the shelf too long, I don't need my shop drawing the wrong kind of crowd."
Adding a few broken down battle bots to his basket, all for the price of a fancy cup of coffee, Hank gave the woman a respectful bow as he headed off to pay. It seemed fate had smiled on him and his friends, woefully low funds as they were. Yet beneath it all, Hank felt a little giddy at the prospect of tearing down the unfamiliar tech if just to see how it worked.
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"Hey Jubes, I hope you like this one!"
Wondering just what Rogue was talking about, Jubilee turned to see her flashing a bikini that...while yes, she totally dug it...was the worst moment to be showing it around. Jumping from her stool to charge at Rogue, Jubilee glanced back at Hiro to catch him staring. And here she was thinking her first impression couldn't get any worse after that stupid robot of his started budding his nose into her business...not that he had a nose, or a mouth...or even ears.
"Rogue, put that away!" Jubilee snapped.
"Well ain't ya even gonna hold it against ya for an inkling of how you'll look in it? Here's mine, kinda close right?"
Great, and now Hiro's guy friends were probably picturing Rogue in her bikini. Snatching hers, Jubilee folded it up and stuffed the top and bottom into either of her jacket pockets.
"Hiro, your hormonal levels have increased. Diagnosis: arousal, common in pubescent males."
"Baymax!" Hiro shrieked, staring up at his bot in sheer and complete horror.
Try as she might not to smile, Jubilee couldn't help but crack a grin at Hiro now that she wasn't the only one getting embarrassed by her friends.
"So who are your friends sweetpea?"
"Rogue, guys. Guys, Rogue. That's GoGo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and...Fred. They're the ones who saved me, but I'm guessing you could probably figure that out." She didn't think there was any point introducing Hiro or Baymax after just what had happened.
"She knows!? How did you figure it out? Do you have secret mind reading powers? Wait, wait, what am I thinking right now?" Fred asked in all seriousness.
"...I'm guessing he was the guy in the big lizard costume?" Jubilee asked.
"Don't mind Fred, he's the comic book geek to us nerds." Wasabi said, trying to find a polite way to explain Fred.
"How did ya find us?" None the least bit worried since Jubilee had been looking plenty friendly with them up until she had embarrassed the poor girl, Rogue just had to satisfy her own curiosity.
"Turns out the marshmallow is some kind of robot nurse, he kinda scanned me. He even gave me a little first aid while you guys were shopping...along with healthy eating guide since he's saying I'm malnourished. Speaking of eating, Hiro invited us to his Aunt Cass's Cafe for their victory party."
"Woo hoo! Aunt Cass's Atomic Chicken Wings! One day I'll eat enough of them to really breath fire out of my mouth!" Fred cheered.
"No, no. We're having none of that again after what you did to the lab washroom the last time you tried it! And like we told you, just because Aunt Cass calls them Atomic doesn't mean they're actually radioactive!" Wasabi shrieked.
"He's right Fred," Honey Lemon admitted with a sympathetic smile, "I had to concoct a new cleaning solution after that, which...was kind of fun actually. Oh you should have seen how well it worked!"
"Well I ain't one to turn down a bite to eat, why don't I go gather up the boys?" Heading back on into the thrift shop, Rogue threw Jubilee a wink in parting.
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"It's my gentleman!" Honey cheered on seeing Hank.
"My dear lady, might I say you are even more beautiful than I remember. I take you're done saving the day for today?"
Snapping her gum, GoGo eyed up the newcomers. It was easy to see that the guy Rogue had on her arm was her boyfriend, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. Blowing a bubble as she looked at the guy Honey was chatting with, she looked back to Jubilee. There was a story to them, that was for sure, but right now she had only one question she wanted an answer to.
"So, why did you run?"
GoGo wanted to like Jubilee, first impression or not she reminded her a lot of herself when she was younger. Offering a chunk of Hubba Bubba to smooth things over, the way Jubilee melted in bliss from something a simple as bubblegum was just another question piling up with the rest.
"You in some sort of trouble?"
"We're just a little lost." Jubilee mumbled, blowing a big bubble so she wouldn't have to say more.
Blowing a bubble herself, GoGo looked off to where Hiro was trying to not look like he was watching her and Jubilee but failing miserably. There were times he really looked too much like Tadashi and this was one of them, all it'd take would be a few more years and a haircut to really see the resemblance.
"You...don't like Hiro do you? I mean aren't you a little old for him?" Squinting up at her to ask a couple questions her own, Jubilee snapped her gum in time to GoGo.
"Don't worry pipsqueak, he's all yours," GoGo said with a dismissive shrug that put Jubilee on the defensive, sputtering and stammering as she tried to think up a comeback, "He just reminds me of his big brother."
"Oh," Looking just as deflated as her bubblegum, Jubilee looked from GoGo to Hiro and back, "...he's dead, isn't he?"
And that was a question GoGo couldn't bring herself to ask, how a girl Hiro's age knew to pick the right question out of the sad regret in her voice when she spoke of Tadashi. Pulling Jubilee to her side, GoGo stood there with her leaning up against Wasabi's car to watch their friends all getting along together. Her gut told her that they were just two sides of the same coin, so that was enough for her as she gave Jubilee a shove towards Hiro.
"Hey!" Jubilee yelled as she stumbled.
"Woman up."
Rolling her eyes at the kid's stink eye, Jubilee was way too young to even bother batting a lash at as GoGo held her in her disinterested gaze, slowly blowing a bubble with a look of complete boredom. Lucky for her the bubble hid her faint smirk as Jubilee stalked off to Hiro. She might have missed her chance with Tadashi, thinking she had all the time in the world to woman up herself, but GoGo wasn't about to let his baby brother miss his shot at his first girlfriend, even if it only lasted a week at best.
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"...thanks for the ramen." Jubilee mumbled as she walked up to Hiro.
"Thanks, uh, I mean you're welcome. Wait, didn't Fred pick up the bill?"
"Lizard dude?" Jubilee asked, looking back to the guy who in her opinion had stoner written all over him.
"Please don't encourage him." Hiro pleaded, even if he was the worst offender after making Fred a fire breathing monster suit.
"You got some cool friends."
"Thanks." He really did, all thanks to Tadashi and his nerd lab.
Trying to think of something to say, he'd never had an awkward silence with a girl before. Mostly because, well, all the girls he knew were way too old for him. Too smart for his own good, he cut his teeth on robotics with his bot fighting, the youngest contender hustling the hustlers. All until Tadashi challenged him to do something with that big brain of his...
"Whoa..."
Too bad for him, while they could take the boy out of the bot fight, they couldn't take the bot fighter out of the boy. Rushing up to the guy talking to Honey, Hiro snatched the bot that had been dangling from his bag.
"What's that?" Jubilee asked, leaning in way too close to Hiro.
"Uh," Hiro sputtered as he noticed how warm she felt against his shoulder, "You, you don't know about bot fighting?"
"Oh! Bot Fighting? Pfft, of course I do! I mean who doesn't, right?" Jubilee said with a forced laugh until she noticed he wasn't buying what she was selling, "Should I?"
"You paid how much for this?!" He didn't mean to ignore Jubilee, but he just couldn't help but ask because it was too unreal to believe.
"All in total for the few bots I found thanks to some courteous and insightful assistance, three dollars." Hank replied, busy as he was talking to Honey.
"Whoa dude, don't have a heart attack." Jubilee warned as she saw Hiro go pale.
"My hands are equipped with defibrillators."
Shrieking with Jubilee as Baymax snuck up on them, Hiro jumped clear as she ducked behind Hank and Honey. But as Hiro looked at Baymax, he couldn't help but think the robot would have been smiling if he could, because Baymax had just played it straight deadpan with no defibrillators to be seen.
"Humour makes me a better healthcare companion."
"Yeah, okay buddy. We just have to work on your delivery." Hiro admitted with a laugh as he got up.
"So...Atomic Chicken Wings?" Jubilee prodded, shoving her shoulder against Hiro.
"Uh, yeah. Hey guys! Lets head to my Aunt's!" Peeking sidelong at Jubilee, an idea struck him as he counted seatbelts against everyone, knowing Wasabi was a stickler for the rules of the road, "It's not far if you want to walk..."
"Sure."
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Trailing in behind all his friends, new and old alike, Hiro was a step into following after them up to Aunt Cass's place above the Café when he fell short because his hoodie was suddenly choking him.
"Uh, hi Aunt Cass." Hiro said, giving a nervous chuckle as he realized how she was watching Jubilee jog up the stairs with Honey and GoGo.
"So? Who is she?" Aunt Cass whispered with a brilliant smile as she followed Jubilee up the stairs.
"...a girl I met."
"Oh, my little Hiro's brought home his first girl!"
"Aunt Cass!" She was worse than Baymax.
"Aunt Cass nothing! What's her name? Wait, don't tell me. I'll come up with some extra special treats along with a platter of wings and that hot sauce Fred can't get enough of, and then you can introduce me to this new girl friend of yours." Aunt Cass rambled, "Oh she's just so cute! Go, go! Shoo, don't you keep her waiting! You can tell me all about how you met later."
Cringing as he noticed all the regulars grinning at him, some amused and others offering him their sympathy, Hiro took his chance to escape before Aunt Cass could embarrass him any further. It wasn't like he hadn't brought home girls before, he'd done it plenty of times, Honey and GoGo were girls after all, well, kinda more ladies, where Jubilee was undoubtedly a girl. She was pretty, cute, sort of stubborn, and when he looked right she had this vulnerable side she tried to hide that made her look so soft and warm.
Rubbing his shoulder as he remembered her warmth, Hiro jogged up the stairs to catch up with all his friends. About ready to tell them to expect wings in twenty, the best and brightest brains he knew were busy watching Baymax's belly like the television as it played the impossible, flashing equations and atomic structures that were...yeah, impossible.
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"Scan complete."
Seconds ago Honey had asked about his watch, which actually wasn't a watch but instead futuristic if not alien technology meant for time travel. To his surprise, delight, and a tad bit of dread, Hank watched technical wire frames, undiscovered atomic elements, and rather good equations flash across the belly of Baymax. If he had been curious about the robot before, now he was absolutely smitten.
"I, I, I...don't recognize any of these elements and I memorized the periodic table when I was six!" Honey gasped, looking from Baymax to Hank for an answer.
"Most are synthetic, not so much manmade as much as they were made by an, ahem, intellect further advanced then ourselves." Hank just couldn't lie to those imploring, beautiful eyes that lit up from a conversation about ionic bonds.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. When you say intellect, do you mean aliens?" Fred asked in all sober seriousness.
"Perhaps, or perhaps from a possible future some tens of thousands of years ahead of us."
If there was one thing Hank was starting to understand, it was that Fred had in him a vast ability to accept the fantastic as fact, so to see him speechless was every bit as unsettling for him as his friends.
"So what does that make you?" GoGo asked, doing the unthinkable as she tossed her gum into a trash can.
"Lost?" Jubilee offered, finding her feet interesting.
"My understanding was that this device was meant to travel time, unfortunately when I thought to run a diagnostic it accidentally activated in a manner not as intended. Rather than through time, it was through space we travelled, the space between worlds."
"You're from another universe?!" Wasabi cried as he was finally able to tear himself free from everything that played across Baymax's belly.
"I confess it might be hard to believe, but I assure you it is the truth. After everything you've done for us in our brief acquaintance of one another, it is the least we owe you now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag."
And in the dark pit of his stomach, Hank felt a touch ill at how self serving he was being in that admission. Mere nerds these were not but geniuses in their own right, and just perhaps they could help him in finding a way home for him and his friends.
"Baymax?" Hiro asked from the stairs, surprising everyone by his arrival.
"Heart rate, respiratory functions, and neutral transmitter levels indicate he is not lying, and he shows no symptoms associated with mental illness."
"Thanks, so we're not lying and we're not crazy? Awesome. You got a shower I can use since that's all over with?" Jubilee muttered.
"I got it Hiro." GoGo said as she jumped to her feet to show Jubilee the way.
Offering Rogue a smile as she also joined GoGo and the youngest of them, Hank settled down in a chair only to feel a delicate touch upon his arm. Turning to see Miss Honey Lemon looking on him with a sympathy he didn't think he deserved, Hank took her hand in his with his eyes full of the apology he owed her.
"Might I introduce myself properly my dear lady? Dr. Henry McCoy at your service, and if I might be a braggart I would admit to being a renowned geneticist in my world, while here I find myself a simple vagabond."
"Does that mean you're familiar with organic chemistry?" Honey asked with abated breath.
"Certainly my dear, I could drone on for hours."
"Please do, I never get bored from organic chemistry, it's just so, well...organic."
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