Hello readers, I'm officially back at college now, and classes have started in full swing. It's quite nice being back, actually. Just being here makes me feel productive in some way haha.

But I think now we are coming up to the final arc in this little story of mine, the climax if you will. This is where things will change for our group even more, but I won't spoil the surprise by telling you how it happens. You're just going to have to keep reading to find out ;)

As always, I'd like to say thank you for the follows and faves you have given not only to this story, but to me as well. It makes me so happy to know that even though this story went in a different direction than I originally planned, you guys are still enjoying it nonetheless. So thank you :)

Now on to chapter ten!

Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney and Marvel.

When Hiro woke up the next morning, the first thing he did was reach out towards his desk to check his phone. After several seconds of haphazard searching, he finally found it and picked it up. Blinking blearily at the screen, he saw that he had received a text earlier that morning, and smiled when he saw who it was.

Good morning :)

Swiping his thumb, Hiro then saw that the text had come in around 7:45 am. Why, in the name of all things holy, was his girlfriend getting up that early on a school vacation day? Sitting up in bed, Hiro decided to find out.

Good morning :) You got up early?

Her response was almost instantaneous.

Yeah, I went for a jog. Do you have any idea what time it is?

Looking over at his clock, Hiro then realized that it had just gone ten. He was surprised, actually – on vacation days (and when Aunt Cass would let him), he usually slept until noon.

He texted back quickly.

Yes, time to go back to sleep!

Nooo you'll be up all night!

Hiro laughed.

You clearly underestimate my sleeping abilities.

A minute passed before he got another response.

Come on, sleeping beauty. Do I have to get over there and wake you up myself?

Now that wasn't a bad idea…

If I'm really sleeping beauty, then I believe the answer is yes ;)

Maiye didn't miss a beat.

Fine, I was planning on swinging by today anyways, if that's alright with you.

Hiro found himself grinning impishly.

You already know my answer :)

Ok, give me half an hour. Or longer depending on Yumi's temperament.

I thought she was with your stepmom today?

Nope, that's tomorrow when Heather goes to the elementary school.

While Maiye's dad was the police chief of San Fransokyo, her stepmother worked as a music teacher for the nearby elementary and junior high schools in the area. On some days, when Yumi didn't have daycare, Heather would take the toddler to school with her. She had attempted to take Maiye as well one day, but after all the third graders complained about her less-than-ideal singing voice, Maiye decided to stick with computing.

Sure, Hiro texted back. See you soon :) 3

See you soon :) xoxo

Hiro wouldn't lie, his heart did a little flip when he laid eyes on Maiye's last text message, particularly the ending part. They hadn't been dating for very long, but Hiro already knew that he had very strong feelings towards her. And since she'd said yes to being his girlfriend, clearly she felt the same way about him.

He quickly showered and got dressed, before skipping down the stairs to have breakfast. Grabbing a pop-tart from the cabinet, he bit into it as he went to the café to say hello to Aunt Cass.

"Hi sweetie." Aunt Cass smiled when she saw her nephew. "Nice to see you're finally awake. Have you made any plans for today?"

"Maiye's coming over soon with her sister." said Hiro.

"Are their parents working today?"

"Yep."

"Then that's very sweet of her." said Aunt Cass. "Let me know if you guys decide to go anyplace."

"I will!" Hiro gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Love you!"

"Love you too."

Going out to the garage, Hiro decided to do a bit of work on Baymax before Maiye and her little sister arrived.

"Morning buddy!" he said brightly as he walked in. "Hope you're ready for some upgrades!"

No response. There usually wasn't at first.

"Owwwww!" Hiro yelled jokingly. "I'm hurt! Could use some help over here!"

Still no response. Now this was odd.

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "Baymax?"

Nothing, zero, nada. Now Hiro was starting to worry.

"Baymax?" He called throughout the garage. "You here?"

Silence.

"This isn't funny, man."

No answer.

"BAYMAX!"

Absolutely nothing.

This was weird, Hiro thought, very weird. Normally by now, Baymax would have inflated and given some funny answer to Hiro's questions. If he wasn't in the garage, then where was he?

Glancing around, Hiro began looking for the boxy red form that was Baymax when he wasn't currently active. His battery was full after Hiro charged him yesterday, so there hadn't been any reason to bring him up to his room last night. Besides, even if he was there, Hiro would have seen him this morning.

Maybe he had moved on his own during the night? He could have heard someone cry out on the street and gone to help them? It wasn't the first time it had happened. Hiro remembered an incident in the SFIT labs when a fellow student had cut their finger, and Baymax had wandered off to help them. But even then, he had come straight back to Hiro's lab afterwards. Hiro hadn't even known about it until the person came up to him later and thanked him.

And anyways, the garage was always locked at night…

Going towards his desk, Hiro then spotted the worn green blanket that normally covered Baymax at night still in its usual place, only the shape underneath it was clearly not that of a resting healthcare robot. When Hiro pulled the blanket back, however, he gasped aloud when he saw what it was instead:

A lone, solitary pair of roller skates.

Twenty minutes later, a couple members of the San Fransokyo police department, better known as the SFPD, were running a small investigation out of Hiro's garage, led by none other than the police chief himself and Maiye's father, Phillip Barton. As soon as Maiye and her sister had shown up and saw what happened, she agreed with Hiro that a missing Baymax and a pair of roller skates that weren't his were definitely something to be suspicious about. Whipping out her cell phone, she called the number usually reserved for emergencies, and the police had arrived within minutes.

"And you are positive that this was where you left your robot last night?" said one of the officers questioning Hiro.

"Yes." The young genius had said through clenched teeth. "I've searched my entire house, no one at SFIT has seen him, and I can't get his tracking device to work, no matter how hard I try. I've told you this twice already!"

"Officer," Aunt Cass interjected. "We appreciate what you're doing for us, we really do. But for now, I think it's best that my nephew not answer any more of your questions."

As the officer walked away, Aunt Cass leaned over and placed a comforting hand on Hiro's shoulder.

"It's going to be okay, sweetheart," she said. "We'll find him. I'm sure this is all just one big misunderstanding. Maybe he just wandered off someplace and lost power."

"If that were the case," said Hiro. "I'd still be able to find him."

A moment later, Maiye walked over to where Hiro was standing, balancing Yumi in one arm. She was accompanied by her father, who himself wore a grim expression on his usually passive face.

"We tried looking for his tracking device like you told us." he said to Hiro. "But unfortunately, we're having no luck. Since you said that it works even when your robot's battery is low, I think it's safe to assume that whoever took Baymax didn't want him to be found."

"Any idea who might have taken him?" asked Aunt Cass.

"Judging by the roller skates we found at the scene," frowned Phillip. "Yes. I just called one of my guys a minute ago, and he confirmed that the Fujitas broke out of their prison cell last night." He reached out and placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Although he appreciated the chief's apology, deep down, Hiro really wished he hadn't just said that. If he was apologizing now, then that meant he and the others had already made up their minds. That they were already thinking the worst. That right at that moment, while they were speaking, Baymax could be… could be…

Hiro couldn't bring himself to finish the thought as he slowly collapsed onto his desk chair behind him, tears blurring his vision as he placed his head in his hands. He hadn't allowed himself to cry since Tadashi's death, which was the last time he had truly lost someone he loved. This couldn't be happening… There was no way, after everything they had been through, that he could lose Baymax like this again. It wasn't as simple as just building him a new body or uploading a backup chip. Even if Hiro did that, the new Baymax wouldn't have the same healthcare chip as he did before, the one Tadashi made for him. Even if Hiro did make him again, it wouldn't be like the first time. He wouldn't be the same Baymax, the one his brother had put so much of his heart and soul into, the one he'd worked so hard on, the one he'd so desperately wanted to change the world with.

It was like losing Tadashi all over again.

All around him, the others all did what they could to offer comfort. The police chief kept a hand on his shoulder, Aunt Cass stroked his hair with a motherly touch, and Maiye wrapped one arm around his form and pressed a light kiss to his temple. Even Yumi reached out a tiny, chubby hand in his direction.

Hiro felt none of it.

"Your blood pressure is elevated, and you appear to be distressed. Would you like to pause your activity for a moment in order to calm down?"

"For the ten thousandth time, no!" snapped Kyoko. "Now shut up!"

"Didn't you hear it earlier?" smirked Ren. "It 'cannot deactivate until you are satisfied with your care.'"

"Fine! I am satisfied with my – YEEEEOOOOOWWWCH!"

She let out a shriek and yanked her hand back from Baymax's internal skeleton, which was now exposed through the opening in the vinyl material that Ren had cut earlier.

"Damn it!"

"I regret that I am unable to help you," said Baymax. "But my current deflated state and the restraints you have placed on me are inhibiting my movements."

Ren laughed. "That's the idea, pal." She turned towards Kyoko. "Having fun yet?"

"Oh, piss off." Kyoko glared in response. "You're not helping."

"No," Ren shrugged. "I'm babysitting Aimi to make sure she doesn't have another fit."

Kyoko scowled. "That's not gonna happen and you know it." Turning her head, she spotted Aimi sitting nearby, calm and collected as the normal girl she pretended to be, writing something in a small journal. Upon closer inspection, Kyoko saw nothing but columns upon columns of Mrs. Aimi Hamada's marching up and down the page.

In response, Ren merely laughed. "Looks can be deceiving." She pointed towards Baymax. "Like our friend here. Who knew there was so much hidden potential in that squishy body of his?"

"My 'squishy body' was designed to give me a nonthreatening, huggable design." said Baymax. "May I ask why you're trying to undermine that?"

"That's for us to know," grinned Kyoko. "And for you never to find out."

"You are aware that you took me from Hiro's garage without his express permission or consent." continued the robot. "An action, of which, is illegal. Adding this to all your previous criminal offenses, the three of you could each receive a prison sentence ranging anywhere from five to ten year-"

"Oh my god," Ren rolled her eyes. "Can someone please just shut him up?"

"Found it!" Taking hold of a wire, Kyoko looked up towards Ren and smiled a diabolical smile.

"Please don't touch that." Baymax requested calmly. "Interfering with that wire will undermine my artificial intelligence data and render me unable tooooooo…"

His speech trailed off and ended just as Kyoko snipped the wire in question and proudly held it up for Ren to see.

"Sorry," she smirked over Baymax's now limp and lifeless form. "Didn't quite catch that."

"About time you shut him up!" said Ren. "Maybe now we can finally get some peace and quiet around here!"

"Whatever." Kyoko stood up and dusted herself off. "At least now we'll have an empty form to take to Yama." She let out a small chuckle. "He can take it from here."

A few hours later, the entirety of Big Hero 6, minus one very prominent member, were gathered in the living room at Maiye's house. Upon hearing about what happened to Baymax, the rest of the team had immediately rushed over to offer their support and try and help find him. After about an hour though, the police still weren't having any luck, so Maiye's father suggested that they all go back to Maiye's house to relax and await further updates.

Thus, there they were, scattered around Maiye's small living room, trying their best to keep themselves occupied. On the coffee table, a simple board game had been set up to play, which was what Honey, Gogo, and Fred found themselves doing that afternoon. They were accompanied by Yumi, who, being two years old, was more interested in trying to eat the pieces than play with them.

Just as she was about to put another one into her mouth, Fred happened to look over at the right moment and immediately spoke up.

"Woah there," he said, moving the little girl's hand away. "You probably shouldn't try to eat those, kid. They're not good for you."

Yumi blinked at him for a moment, processing his words, before placing the game piece back on the table and promptly lying down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Shrugging his shoulders, Fred turned around and went back to the game.

From nearby, Wasabi had settled himself down in the armchair, flipping through an old knitting magazine containing pattern tutorials. When this was all over, he told himself, once they found Baymax, he was going to knit that robot the nicest and most comfy sweater he possibly could. Even if it took all year.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Aunt Cass had been given free reign of the place, and now, with the supervision of Maiye's stepmom, was peering into cupboards and opening drawers. Since she had closed her café for the day, Heather had told Aunt Cass she could do all the baking she wanted in their kitchen. "Someone might as well." she'd said.

That someone was usually Maiye. Despite years of lessons from her mother, Heather had never quite managed to grasp the basics of cooking. It was just as well, though. Cooking was something that both Phillip and his daughter enjoyed, and since that was the case, Heather didn't mind one bit.

Once her husband had called her with the situation, Heather had taken the rest of the day off work and immediately came home to be with her children. A forty-something Chinese-American woman, she had lived in San Fransokyo her entire life, but had never seen anything like what her stepdaughter apparently saw on a regular basis.

Even now, Heather kept turning her head around to glance at the dismayed group in the living room, her eyes continually falling on the sofa where Maiye now sat with the young man who had lost his robot. Her arm was resting around his form and she was holding his hand, while he in turn had settled his head on her shoulder, silently staring into his lap.

His aunt came over to her a minute later, and, in a quiet voice, asked,

"Have you heard anything new?"

Heather shook her head in response. "Not a word."

Looking over towards her nephew, Hiro's aunt sighed. "I wish I knew how to help him." she said. "But I've got to be honest, I'm really out of my element here."

"You and me both." said Heather. "The last time I was ever involved in superhero life was when I was four years old, and it was my father. All I remember is that he went out one day to save the city and never came home afterwards. Since then, I vowed I would never be involved in that world again – until I was." She paused, looking over towards her stepdaughter once more.

"I worry for her safety." Heather continued quietly. "Every time she goes out. She's such a smart girl, so very loved, and she has such a bright future ahead of her… And I worry that some madman with a robot is going to take all that away."

"I feel the same way about Hiro." said Aunt Cass. "When I finally found out what he and his friends were up to, I wasn't sure what to say. My first instinct was to freak out and tell him he shouldn't do it anymore." She laughed humorlessly. "But I know that's not practical. Not when there are so many people out there who need his help. So instead, I just sit tight and pray every time the team get a call."

"Even now," she continued. "What happened with Baymax has me worried sick, not only about him, but about Hiro too. I just keep thinking… what if it hadn't been Baymax they took that night? They were in our house, they had the opportunity… what if they had taken my nephew instead?"

Aunt Cass's voice finally broke on the last part, and all the tears she had been holding back finally flowed free. Leaning forward, Heather embraced her fellow motherly figure in a gentle hug.

"Let's be thankful they didn't." she told her.

Sniffing softly, Aunt Cass nodded. When she pulled back, she reached upwards and wiped at her eyes, remaining more than aware of the fact that Hiro and the others were still nearby. The last thing she wanted was for her little boy to see her crying on his behalf.

Suddenly, the heavy silence was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone, causing everyone to jump. It took Hiro a moment to realize that the call was coming in on his cell phone. Pulling it from his pocket, he squinted his eyes at the screen.

"I don't recognize the number."

"Answer it anyways." said Maiye. "And put it on speaker so we can hear it."

Nodding, Hiro did as she said and set the phone down on the coffee table in front of him. "Hello?" he asked. Once he heard the caller's response on the other end, his blood immediately ran cold.

"Long time no see, Zero."

Now that you've read this, I can finally tell you my personal description of the entire chapter: drama, drama, and more drama. So much that I wound up changing one of the genres of this story to reflect it (I really wish this website would let you have more than two genres for a story).

But yeah! Baymax has been kidnapped now, and who knows what the villains are planning to do to him! (Well, I know, but I'm the author, so that's kind of a given). And of course, I'm leaving you guys on a cliffhanger until I post the next chapter. Again.

Hopefully it will be out sooner rather than later though. I've already started writing it as of this one being posted. I'm still not quite sure what the schedule of updates is going to be for this story. I had been aiming for twice a month on specific dates, but with my being back at college, I'm not sure if that's going to happen :P But I'll be finishing this story, don't you worry.

I know I mentioned this in the last chapter's author's note, but this story has it's own tumblr blog now with several cool features. There's a character page with extra information, an "official" playlist of songs, and basically me talking about future plans for this story. The link is on my bio page here, so if you want to check it out, please do :) (I'm being serious actually, please check it out. I only have one follower there and it's my real-life friend who felt bad for me lol).

As always, reviews are appreciated so that I may know for certain what you guys are thinking about this story. Good? Bad? Needs improvement? Let me know so I can respond accordingly :)

Hope things are going well for you all,

Liz