Disclaimer: Big Hero 6: The Series is owned by Disney Animation, and Robbie Reyes is owned by Marvel. Canelo's Auto and Body is owned by...Canelo.

Clearly.

Chapter 7 – Job Security

Santa Cruz wasn't the place where Robbie Reyes wanted to live.

He wanted someplace cooler. Like Los Angeles. Or Kyotoakland. Maybe Osakeley.

But when his grandfather moved to San Fransokyo to open up his flower shop, he had stayed behind. Why? He wasn't really sure. Maybe the rebel in him wanted to prove to everyone he could make it on his own.

Besides, his grandfather could take care of himself. Mostly.

And he had a good job.

"Reyes!"

...One that had occasional difficulties attached to it.

Robbie scooted the mechanic seat out from under the car he was suppose to be working on. Right above him was the red face of his boss. "What's up, Canelo?"

"I don't pay you to daydream, Reyes. I told Frank his car would be ready by two."

"Just putting the rest of the nuts back on. Don't blow your gasket."

The man looked like that was exactly what he wanted to do, his face sweating profusely. "Are you back-talking me, Reyes?"

"No," he replied. "I'm literally telling you what I'm doing."

Canelo pulled out a clipboard, checking something off. "Danny's going to bring in his ride at four. Stupid idiot tried to impress some chick at the wharf and went into the ocean. What guys do for women these days..."

Robbie didn't dare say anything to him as he walked away. He was already on thin ice after the last absence he had with Canelo. Spending the better part of a week being overtaken by the spirit of your dead uncle was even worse. He'd take Canelo's attitude over that any day.

"Never thought you would sit there and take that, kid. Better teach him a lesson..."

"Shut up."

"What was that, Reyes!?"

Apparently Canelo wasn't as far out of earshot as he thought.

"I said I'm almost done!"

The man grumbled and walked off. Robbie wiped the sweat off of his brow, his fingers brushing the scars on his forehead. Even after a month they hadn't gone away.

He had to ignore Canelo and finish this up. Turning to his right, he saw his co-worker underneath his own car. Reaching out a hand, he called out to him.

"Hey, Ramón. Pass me your socket wrench, would you?"

He made no motion toward it immediately, only choosing to stare at Robbie over his glasses. The brand new hire had just gotten out of jail a few weeks ago and Canelo had hired him. He overheard from Canelo that he had done time for some for some super nasty stuff, and the other mechanics, normally rough themselves, stayed clear of him. Even now, he and Robbie were the only two working; the rest were outside yakking to each other without a care in the world.

"Or...I'll just get mine from the wall."

The wrench slid across the floor, smacking into the wheel of his seat. Robbie had to move his head so that the handle didn't hit his face. Rubbing the dust out of his eye, he looked back at Ramón, a cheeky smirk hiding in the dark.

"Sorry, chavalito. Slipped."

Robbie grabbed the wrench as he tried to keep his temper down. Being the young one out of a group of old guys was tiring enough, but with everything that had happened in the summer, it was infinitely more difficult.

"See those eyes, Robbie?"

He couldn't help but turn back again. Ramon was looking at the inside of one of the tires, but he could make out his eyes: cold, emotionless, and uncaring.

"Eyes of a killer. Thought you were trying to take thosekinds of guys out of the picture?"

That's what he had been doing. For the past few weeks, he had been cleaning up the streets as his demonic counterpart. He had gained a considerable amount of fame with the local kids, but not a lot of sympathy with the police force. Eli wasn't particularly happy either; he wanted to take things too far. But Robbie wouldn't do that. He had sworn himself to justice, not killing.

"Hey, chica! How you doin'?"

Robbie groaned. Great, more catcalling from his coworkers. There wasn't a day that went by that didn't happen.

"Whistle like that at me one more time and I'm going to close your lips shut with your F-clamp . ¿Comprendes?"

Hold on...

All of a sudden, he got yanked out from under his car. Another person came into view, but it wasn't Canelo.

"Hey."

She was a whole lot prettier than him.

"Hey, yourself." Go Go's purple bang hung over her eye as she bent down to his level. "You ready to go?"

He had almost forgotten that she was coming. His mood brightening considerably, he pulled himself up to a sitting position. "Yeah. Give me a sec."

"What is going on out here? This ain't no barbershop, people, so stop yappin'!"

Canelo had come out of his office ready to yell at some more people. Upon seeing Go Go, however, he stopped in his tracks to stare her down.

"You again."

"Yeah." Go Go stood up along with Robbie. "Me. Problem?"

"Nope. Just wondering what all the noise was for."

"I'm going to lunch, Canelo. Frank's car is done." Robbie threw his rag onto his workbench. "I'll be back in a hour."

"An hour? What're you doing? Painting the Taj Mahal? We got other cars to work on!"

Go Go pointed over her shoulder at the gaggle of people with her thumb. "It's not like you don't have six other people here to work on them. Their arms broken or something?"

Canelo looked like he wanted to retort, but thought better of it. "Whatever. Just don't bum out on me again, Reyes. Time's a wastin'..."

"Glad to see that he's just as much of a idiot as before."

"He's not that bad, Go Go. You just have to get to know him."

"I really don't want to."

Robbie and Go Go were at the wharf, enjoying the sun as the tourists made their way around them. It wasn't every day that Robbie got to enjoy a fresh meal, and the enchiladas that Go Go had brought hit the spot just right.

"Tell Honey Lemon thanks for the food."

"I don't understand why you don't just go to the grocery store. You could probably make this if you wanted."

"Nah, I don't have the touch." Robbie smacked his lips. "Everything I do ends up burnt. Gabe used to complain about it all the time."

"How's he doing? I thought you were on your way to getting custody of him."

Robbie put his fork down slowly. "It's...complicated. Things are just moving way too slowly for me."

"Shocking. The guy who moves at a hundred miles an hour hates being slow. Typical."

A year ago, he wouldn't have even been in this situation. But ever since meeting Go Go by chance, his life had become much more eventful. Meeting her friends, taking part in a race that ended up with his bonding with Eli, becoming her boyfriend...it was all crazy. Seeing Big Hero 6 on the news fighting corporations and archer vigilantes was bad enough; knowing that Go Go was among those doing the fighting made it even worse.

But she took it all in stride. As much as she talked about it like it didn't bother her, she knew that it bothered him. He was still new to the "team", having been inducted into the ranks with Aspen (Wasabi's girlfriend) and Peni (Hiro's cousin). He hadn't been called in to assist yet.

Yet.

"You OK?"

Robbie's attention had been on his inner monologue and not on the Korean, so he shook his head to get the cobwebs out. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Eli giving you trouble?"

"Every second of every day."

The sarcasm didn't work on her, because she scooted her chair even closer to him. "We'll get him out, Robbie. I told you I would."

"Girl doesn't know how this works, does it?"

Robbie ignored him. Go Go being there helped, but she couldn't be around him all of the time. Just had to tough it out.

"What's been going on with you? You know, besides all of your...hobbies."

Go Go raised her eyebrow at him. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

He twirled his finger around, gesturing to the crowd around him.

"Better than nothing, I guess."

"Your secret base trying to kill you and your liquid gangster guy making an evil double don't count as nothing."

"On the scale of weird, those don't even crack the top ten of the past year, but anyways..." Go Go took a drink out of her water. "It's been going. I had another interview with the Future Foundation."

"That weird group out of Neo York?"

"Yeah. One of the alumni from SFIT runs it. Reed Richards. We talked a couple of days ago. It went..."

Robbie leaned forward, waiting for her continuation.

"Well...it went."

"I admire your enthusiasm, Ms. Tanaka. We here at the Future Foundation always appreciate individuals that take their forward thinking and apply it to the goals and objectives that we want to have. The future that we strive for is not as far out as many people think, and we must make sure that the populace is prepared for all eventualities..."

Go Go had not spoken a single word since she connected to the Vroom room with Dr. Richards.

And that was twenty minutes ago.

Not that she minded. It was too early in the morning, and she had her earphones in so that Honey Lemon wouldn't hear the conversation. She had done her best to make herself look presentable, but it wasn't going to matter because Dr. Richards...

Wouldn't.

Shut.

Up.

"Our applicants are among the brightest and the best, so I'm sure you are honored that I picked yours amongst the many people who wanted to join our ranks. Our goal is to spread ourselves around the globe, so that there wouldn't be any need for a central headquarters. I was actually considering moving to San Fransokyo, but my wife is so attached to Neo York. You understand..."

No. She didn't. She also didn't understand how he couldn't take a hint. Granville had warned her that he could be a little long-winded, but this was pushing it.

"Reed!"

The man looked off to his left out of screen. "Yes, dear?"

"Are you boring the brains out of your applicants again? Get to the point!"

"But she loves it. Don't you, Ms. Tanaka?"

Go Go's head snapped back upward. "Totally."

"See? She loves it."

Another head popped in, a tuft of blonde hair cascading down the border of the screen. "Reed, the amount of times you've driven prospective employees to sleep is probably as high as your IQ. Wrap it up before the poor girl dozes off."

"Very well."

"We set up another interview next week, at a time where I can actually caffeinate."

"He sounds really smart."

"He is. But dude can't take a hint to save his life. But the money's really good, and I wouldn't have to move. Double plus."

They had finished their food and started walking down the wharf, taking note of the shops along the beach. Robbie had taken off his jacket and wrapped it around his waist. Go Go was not as fazed to the heat as she finished recalling her story.

"So you think you'll take it if they offer you a job?"

"Not sure. I want to keep my options open."

"What about the others? You said before that they had interviews too."

"Oh yeah." Go Go leaned down over a jewelry case to look at some necklaces. "Wasabi had an interview with some government organization last week."

"And you can probably guess how that went."

Wasabi sat at his computer, waiting for the woman on the other end to respond. He had spent the better part of fifteen minutes waiting for her to show up. He had double-checked and triple-checked the time. He had cleaned his living room.

Twice.

He even wore his best collared shirt, one that had been bought for him by Aspen. She said the blue really brought out his eyes, which made no sense to him at the time because his eyes were brown. But he had complied.

And it did look nice.

His recollection of the clothing store got pushed to the side as another person showed up on the screen. Her hair was short and bright green, a pair of sunglasses hanging over her eyes. Her black and green jacket had the color turned up, partially hiding her neck. She looked like she meant business, and Wasabi wasn't going to be the one to get on her bad side.

"I'm going to be frank with you, Mr. Calloway..."

She took off her glasses, and he was met with a pair of green eyes that seemed to stare into his soul.

"I get a lot of people who think that they're the best. They come into the government thinking that they're all high and mighty. And then they get here and they wimp out in six months. I'm not looking for a person who wants a job, Mr. Calloway. I'm looking for someone who wants a career."

Wasabi was too afraid to even blink.

"So are you the former or the latter?"

He didn't respond.

"Am I wasting my time here, Mr. Calloway?"

"No, Ms. Brand. You're not." Wasabi finally found his voice. "You'll find that I'm highly qualified-"

"I don't mean any offense, but everyoneis highly qualified. But I have looked at your resume." She waved her paper on the screen. "Degree in Applied Physics, creator of multiple space-themed projects for ISA. You even headed a team at SFIT on baryonic dark matter. It's passable. I will give you that. Your recommendation came to me from your professor. And as you have probably figured out by now..."

She leaned in closer to the camera.

"When Grace Granville gives you a recommendation, you pay attention to it."

Wasabi started sweating profusely.

"I am not looking for a employee, Mr. Calloway. I'm looking for a commitment. We only hire the best, and we hire for the long haul. Are you up for the challenge?"

"I am, ma'am."

"Good. Exactly what I wanted to hear." Brand gave him a small smile. "Now...how do you feel about going to space?"

"How does he feel about going to space?"

Go Go looked him over her ice cream cone.

"Right. I forgot this is Wasabi we're talking about."

"He can barely handle things with two feet on the ground. I can't imagine what would happen if those feet were floating in the air." She wrapped her napkin around the cone a bit tighter. "Plus, I think Aspen would kill him."

"What about Honey Lemon?"

"What about her?"

"Oh my gosh, it's such an honor and a privilege to be able to talk to you, Doctor Rappaccini! Your work on biological toxins and causaions is the stuff of legends! I really enjoyed your dissertation at the University of Padua on ionized radiation toxicity and its effect on humans! As someone who studied with a lot of chemicals and their reactions toward each other, I must say that possibly working with you would be a thrill of a lifetime!"

"Ms. Rodriguez."

The woman held both of her hands up to the screen.

"I appreciate your...boisterous enthusiasm, but I'm going to need you to take it down at least three notches."

"Sorry!" Honey Lemon exclaimed. "I just adore the work that you do, and I can't believe you actually reached out to me. Tell me, what is it like living in Italy? Is the food great? Are the people beautiful?"

The Latina gasped loudly.

"Is there a special someone in your life!?"

The woman looked both left and right, perhaps looking for a quick exit.

"A college student getting to work with a really successful scientist woman who works on really sketchy things? Where have I heard that before?"

"Yeah, I was suspicious, too. But all of the research I did came up with nothing nefarious. Dr. Rappaccini is legit."

Go Go watched the clouds above as they walked back to her bike, her face getting more worried.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, though."

"You're worried about her," Robbie said.

"I worry about everyone. But the thought of Honey Lemon moving away to Italy and getting roped into something bad..."

She sniffed.

"I already think about her arm being shot by an arrow too much. Anything worse and I'd never forgive myself."

Robbie had been a bystander that night when Honey Lemon arrived home after her confrontation with who the team thought had been Kate. In actuality, it was Bullseye, the former crime boss that had haunted Kate over the next few years. The team took him down in the end, but he couldn't shrug off Go Go's look when Honey Lemon had fallen into the room, her arm dripping in blood...

His hand instinctively looked for hers, intertwining their fingers together.

"She can take care of herself, Go Go."

She looked down at their hands, perhaps not believing that was actually happening. But she kept them together as he looked up at him. "I know. Still doesn't put me at ease."

"And I thought Honey Lemon was the team mom. You're giving her a run for her money."

"Don't even joke like that."

Having arrived at her cycle, Go Go picked up her helmet, but it still seemed like something was up. Robbie didn't have to wait long for the question, though.

"Why do you still work at Canelo's?"

"Hmm?"

"You could work somewhere else. Or just not work at all. You have the money. Why stay there?"

Robbie hadn't really thought about that a lot. The money, put into a joint account, was won by Go Go during the Hell Race. He didn't feel comfortable digging into it, so he had mostly kept it in the bank. The two of them had used a little to get Gabe a new wheelchair, but the rest was still there.

"Have you at least looked at apartments? Some place that's not a loft above a garage?"

"Now you're sounding like my grandfather."

Go Go stared at him, not amused. Robbie smirked as he searched his brain for an answer. "I've been at Canelo's for years. I'm comfortable with it. I know you don't like him, but he does treat me fairly. He could have fired me at any time, really, but he keeps me on the crew. I'll eventually have to move on, just...not yet."

He leaned into her bike, crossing his arms. "As for moving, I am actually working on that. But Gabe's going into his sophomore year in high school, and I don't want to leave him alone in a city for school, and I don't want to pull him out to put him somewhere else. I have to play this sort of long game with everything."

"...Wow."

"What?"

Go Go smiled at Robbie. "That was actually a well-thought out answer. I'm proud of you."

"Hey, I've been known to do that sometimes."

"Yeah. Sometimes." She threw her leg over the seat. "I bet you also don't want to give up your adoring fanbase...Mr. Ghost Rider."

Robbie's eyes widened.

"You don't think we're paying attention to what you've been doing here? Baymax monitors the news channels, including the ones here. Sounds like Big Hero 6 aren't the only heroes around making a difference."

"I do what I can."

"Hmm." Go Go patted the seat behind her. "C'mon, La Leyenda. I have to get you back to Canelo."

That night...

Go Go's jokes aside, being with her had brought a sense of calm that had been missing for a while. The ever-approaching sense of doom seemed to go away whenever he thought about her. He knew that she cared, and she knew he did as well.

It was just unfamiliar territory. As was everything else.

They had arrived back at Canelo's just in time for him to start ranting about one of the other guys getting a car stuck on one of the lifts. That's when Go Go smartly decided to make her exit, but not before giving him a goodbye kiss on the cheek. The other mechanics were too busy trying to get the hydraulics working again to even notice.

Except for one.

Robbie was in the back room, getting ready to head out to see Gabe. His head was in his locker, so he didn't hear the person approaching him.

"That your girl?"

He pushed the door closed to see Ramón at his own locker, giving him a weird look. Robbie followed his gaze at the two pictures on the inside near the vent: one of Gabe in the park in his new wheelchair, and Go Go folding her arms, almost as if to dare him to take the picture.

"Yeah."

"You treat her right?"

Robbie blinked twice. "Of course."

Ramón shut his locker and threw his backpack over his shoulder. "Good. Not as much of a boy as I thought." He turned and headed out the open garage doors. "Night, chavalito."

"Night, Ramón."

That was the most amount of words he had ever said to the young Latino. At any rate, he'd take it. Maybe he could get through a day without getting something thrown at him now...

"Reyes!"

Robbie growled under his breath. "What now, Canelo? I gotta get out of here."

The man came out from the office, a slip of paper in his hand. "I need a part from the junkyard. It's for a customer."

"And you can't do it?"

"C'mon, Reyes! You know it like the back of your hand. It'll take you two minutes, tops!"

"Grr. Fine." Robbie grabbed the paper out of his grasp. "But I'm only doing this because I'm a nice guy."

It only took him thirty seconds to find what he was looking for: an intake valve and a fuse from an old station wagon. He knew that Canelo kept the B-body cars on the far side of the yard, but he was in such a hurry to get out of there that he made the trip in record time.

"Don't even know why he keeps all of these. We'll never need all of these parts." Robbie grunted as he tried to yank the fuse out of the box. "Everything now is all fancy and crap..."

With a mighty tug, he managed to get the fuse. Now for the valve. He sat up to try to get under the car...and his eyes landed on something else entirely.

It was by itself, as if all of the other cars were afraid to go near it. The body was jet black, practically hiding even with the street lamps above. Part of the engine was exposed through the window in the hood. The tires were a little wider and thicker than what he was used to with an old car like this. The grill, the mirrors, the hubcaps...all of them were still shining like they were brand new.

And it was like the car was sizing him up too...

"Reyes! You get lost or something?"

"No," he mumbled as Canelo came up to them. His attention was still on the car. "Here. I got the parts."

"Good. I'll let Cochrane know that we can get him in and out quick."

Robbie nodded, his finger now running over the hood of the car.

"Problem, Reyes?"

"This car." He turned to face his boss. "What's up with it?"

Canelo was now staring at him in a way that Robbie had never seen before. It was like he didn't want to tell him. But a moment later, the man opened his mouth.

"Some guy bummed it off on me. Back when I first opened up shop many years ago. I could have given him triple what he was asking for based off the condition. But he took his money and left. Never saw him again." He glanced down at the hood. "Shame, too. Never could get it to run. Had to push it into the yard because it was clogging up the entrance."

Robbie bent down to look at the grille. "What year is it? 1970?"

"'69." Canelo pointed to the center. "They stopped making divided grilled for Chargers in '70. Dude got some leather front seats from the Special Edition and put it in this one. Made some other modifications too, but I haven't looked at this thing in years."

"I bet I can get it to run."

"Hm?"

The Latino stood back up and turned toward Canelo. "Give me a crack at it. I can fix it up."

Canelo snorted at him. "Kid, it's been decades since they've made parts for this make and model. You'd have to retool the entire thing. It would be a lost cause."

"Then you wouldn't care if I ruined it, then. One less car to worry about, right?"

The two stared at each other, as if sizing each other up. Finally, Canelo let out a hearty laugh.

"Bahaha! Reyes, if you can get this thing up and purring..."

He turned on the spot and started walking back toward the office.

"I'll roll out the red carpet and help you push it out myself." He waved his arm forward. "Now, c'mon. I ain't got all day."

Robbie took one last look at the car. The shine was still weirding him out, and the more he looked at it, the more he couldn't shake the fact that it seemed very familiar.

But it didn't make any sense. He had never seen it before. He lowered his head to look at the side mirror...

And his alter ego's skull stared right back at him.

He threw his body back, now completely flummoxed. He stumbled back and finally tore his eyes away from the car, making his way towards his cycle.

"Like what you see, kid?"

Robbie closed his eyes, trying to ignore Eli's laugh in his head.

"Trust me, Robbie. There's plenty more where that came from."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Holy Marvel references, Batman.

Err.

Marvel Batman.

Moon Knight?

Anyway.

As I mentioned on Twitter, I haven't written anything Robbie-centric since Highway To Hell from last year. That wasn't really by design; I do want to get him more involved in terms of the team. The other side is that I want to set up his second mainline story for the future.

Which, as you guys have probably figured out, involves the Hell Charger.

This chapter is a bit shorter than some of the other ones, but I wanted to get this out before the new episodes drop, so here we are. Either way, it came out better than I was expecting.

I don't want to give too much away about the story in the works, especially because it's going to be so far out (plus I have other stories to get out first, like Doreen's)...but we all know I can't resist myself.

Avid Ghost Rider fans have probably noticed that I've aged up both Robbie and Gabe to be of college- and high school-aged, respectively. There is a reason for that.

Because I want Gabe to be a little bit more part of the action.

You may also have noticed that I've mentioned other Ghost Riders in my stories. Danny and Frank, both customers of Canelo's. Both Ghost Riders (formerly and of the Cosmic-variety). We already had Johnny show up as Go Go's ride-along buddy for the Hell Race. I even had to dig deep for Kenshiro Cochrane, Ghost Rider 2099.

Now, who have we not mentioned yet?

The story will involve two Ghost Riders, two speedsters, and someone running counter to them that will have them all Quake-ing in their boots.

I even have a working title for it. Vengeance.

...I'm totally not good at being subtle, am I?

Can't wait for the new episodes to start back up. Read and review, if you like. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen.