Hello again! Next chapter time now that I'm back from my holiday. I know this probably seems a bit slow, but I promise, the next chapter is where it ramps up. I just have to set the scene first. Enjoy! :)

- ST


Two: The Raven

'Hiro! Time to get up, you'll be late!'

Aunt Cass' voice broke into the subconscious of the tiny genius and with a jolt he woke, only to fall out of bed and hit the floor with a muffled 'ow'.

Hiro heard Baymax inflate and groaned. No, he couldn't deal with his over-literal, smothery robot when he was running on four hours of sleep. 'I'm alright, Baymax, just surprised myself.'

'You have fallen.'

'Gosh, big guy, as if I didn't know that.' Hiro drawled, sarcasm lacing his voice.

'On a scale of-'

'Not now, Baymax. I'm alright, really.'

'Are you certain?'

'Yes, buddy. Very. Now help me get my stuff together and then get in your backpack.'

Twenty minutes later, Hiro had raced out the door after scarfing a quick breakfast, collecting his lunch and a last hug from Aunt Cass, and had stopped just shy of missing the tram. The weekend was finally over, and though yesterday had been hard he was determined that today, he was going to have a good day. He shifted Baymax's pack to a more comfortable position, wincing as his shoulder twinged. Upgrading the robot's charging station to make it more portable had been a small stroke of genius, if he did say so himself. Now he could take his friend everywhere without having a very conspicuous – not to mention very curious – giant marshmallow trailing behind him. It had caused some… interesting… situations beforehand.

SFIT came in sight, and he leapt nimbly onto the sidewalk. He still had some time before Advanced Logic Programming II, so he decided to visit the lab and drop Baymax off. Maybe some of his friends would be there, working on their projects. Fred would almost certainly be present, unless his mascot skills were required.

His guess was correct, as not only did he find Fred – dozing in his chair with a comic book on top of his face – but also Wasabi, who was tidying Gogo's workspace. 'You know she'll kill you if she catches you doing that, and I'm not scraping your twisted blob of a carcass of the floor when she's done.'

'But look at this! She has no concept of order! The wrenches are mixed in with the screwdrivers, and is that soy sauce? Next thing you know, there will be stains on her textbooks! STAINS!'

Hiro shook his head, smiling as Wasabi continued to rant, and wondered why the laser engineer only ever seemed to intrude into Gogo's space to clean. Maybe because hers was the messiest. Apart from Fred's little corner, of course, but Wasabi went there as little as possible. Hiro didn't blame him – the mascot's space often looked as if a comics store and a pizza shop had been caught in a tumble-dryer with a leaking lint filter. Very unhygienic.

Entering his own lab, he placed Baymax's charging station in its corner, unlocking the expansion circuit. 'Ow.'

'Hello, Hiro. What are you working on today?'

'Well, in the hour I've got before class, I thought we could maybe fix that busted servo in your arm. Otherwise you'll look really funny when you try to wave at people.

'That would be wise. I do not wish to appear strange.'

Hiro was about to comment, but thought better of it, and spent some time trying to hold back a smile.


'So, Kage, you… "picked up"… Yama, as instructed?'

'I am confident there will be no missing persons reports for some time. He is feared and respected, but not well-liked.'

'Ah, the curse of the bot-fighting champ. Do you have your next target?'

'I have.'

'…You think it's about time to go for the boy, don't'cha?'

'Yes.'

'Pick your moment wisely, Kage. This time in partic'lar, we can't have any suspicions of kidnapping. He's just got to disappear.'

'Perhaps… interfering in the boy's… extracurricular activities would be the best way.'

'This is why I like you. Pick the opportune moment, pal, but for now just keep an eye on him. We can't risk some bunch of losers gettin' the reward that we deserve.'


Advanced Logic Programming II was the only class Hiro had that morning, so he headed back to the lab as soon as it was finished. Honey Lemon waved hello from her mixing bench, where she was making something that looked suspiciously volatile. New chem-ball mix – I'm just testing, she mouthed, and Hiro gave her a thumbs-up as he passed through Gogo's now-pristine workspace. Oh boy. Is Wasabi gonna be in trouble, or is Wasabi gonna be in trouble?

An almighty screech of fury reached Hiro's ears as he went to open the door of his lab, and he looked back to see Gogo surveying her desk before storming towards Wasabi's lab. Oh yeah. He's in trouble, alright.

He entered the room, thinking about the new project he was going to start, and stopped stock-still as he caught sight of his robot friend – a Sharpie in his vinyl hand – looking at his reflection in the metallic surface of a 3D printer. Sensor's alerting him to Hiro's presence, Baymax turned to reveal a large black mustache drawn under his optical cameras. 'I have been told that a mustache can be a sign of sophistication. I am not sure that it suits me.'

Hiro blinked slowly, his mouth gaping open at the rather preposterous sentence he'd just heard.

The hilarity began to bubble in his throat, and this time he couldn't hold it back. Baymax watched curiously as the boy rolled around on the floor, roaring with laughter until he had to gasp for breath.

Maybe having a good day wasn't so hard after all.