Chapter 6
"Hiro, you're going to be late for school!" Aunt Cass yelled up the stairs. Hiro groaned and covered his face with his pillow. He and the team had been up half the night looking for Noodle Burger Boy, only to come up empty. Hiro had to sneak himself and Baymax back in way later than he would have liked, the stupid mascot just had to go missing on a school night. Wasabi and Fred had stayed out when everyone else went to bed. Hiro checked his phone, noticing that the two had just given up an hour or so before. There was also a message from Karmi.
Karmi, 6:23 AM: Hey, want to hang out and work on my glove later?
On a normal day, Hiro would be glad to hang out with his friend, but with a potentially lethal burger bot running amok, it felt wrong to relax and hang out. Without a better excuse he could think of, Hiro responded, agreeing to meet her in her lab later that afternoon after classes were over. Without any leads, it was probably best to leave the search for the police anyway since they could cover more ground.
Hiro got out of bed and got dressed, finally coming down the stairs to the café where Cass had a bowl of cereal waiting on him. Go Go sat at the table, the only one out of the friend group to stop by now that most of them were out of school. Hiro sat down and began eating. Go Go didn't bother asking him how he slept, she probably slept just as well as he did. Cass came by and poured Go Go another glass of orange juice, noticing the dour demeanor between the two of them.
"You two alright?" she asked, concerned.
"Rough night," Go Go answered first. "We were up half the night on the group chat consoling Honey Lemon about the job interview that got ruined. Wifi went off in the middle of it."
That wasn't a total lie. At about one AM, exhaustion had finally broken Honey Lemon and she freaked out over the job interview she'd sacrificed to vainly search for Noodle. Everyone was testy and mad, but not at each other, at the situation. Even Baymax hadn't been able to offer any words of encouragement.
"Oh, poor dear. Tell her she can stop by at lunch and I'll whip up something special to cheer her up."
"Thanks, she'll appreciate that." Go Go managed to smile at Cass, who walked away to deal with other customers.
"No leads yet?" Hiro asked between spoonfuls of cereal.
"None. That walking scrap heap really gave us the slip. He must have another hide-out we don't know about." Go Go checked her phone again, but there hadn't been any new updates.
"If he does, there's someone that might know where."
"And I don't want you talking to her. Honey Lemon can do it, she'll need the distraction today."
"Except Trina won't talk to her. Or you. Or Wasabi, or Fred. She'll only talk to me. I'll go during my lunch break."
"There's no way you can get across town on your lunch break."
"I'll use break-a-leg bot. Hopefully she'll be forthcoming."
"I doubt it, but if you want to try it, knock yourself out. You need a ride to school?"
"I'll take my scooter; besides, Aunt Cass would never allow me on your motorcycle."
"She wouldn't let you on the back of a flying robot either," Go Go smirked as she stood up.
"Fair enough," Hiro retorted. Go Go ruffled his hair and turned to leave. Hiro slurped down the rest of the milk and ran upstairs, grabbing his backpack and activating Baymax in his charging port.
"C'mon, pal. Time to go to school."
Honey Lemon grumbled awake as her phone buzzed. After the last few hours, she wanted to just crawl up into a ball and sleep for a week. She checked the screen, displaying a missed call and who had called. It was the company she blew the interview with. Probably calling to tell her she didn't get the job. She put it back on the small nightstand next to her bed under the stairs and looked at the clock on the wall. It was past noon, she'd slept in. Lethargically, Honey dragged herself out of bed only to collapse on the small couch that made up Go Go's small living room. She felt around for the remote and flipped the TV on. Bluff Dunder appeared on the screen, mid-sentence in a news story.
"-and in another strange occurrence, Richardson's Rare Comics was broken into early this morning. The unknown thief only made off with one item, but we do not know what it was at this time."
The newscast cut to an interview shot of Richardson Mole in front of his comic shop, a broken window and police tape surrounding the building evident in the background.
"The item that was stolen was one-of-a-kind, and incredibly valuable, and also not mine. I was holding onto it for some friends. My lawyer has advised me at this time not say anything more as the case is ongoing, and so I can't be held liable for any potential property damage in the near future."
Despite her bad mood and grogginess, Honey couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the situation. Mole was not a friend of the team, but it was strange that only one item had been stolen from his store. According to Fred, there were several high-end collectables that were worth some money, but nothing that expensive was kept there. Honey muted the TV as Bluff returned to talk about pigeons or something and picked up her phone, dialing Fred's number. It rang for a moment and then went to voicemail. She hung up and tried again. This time someone picked up, but it wasn't Fred.
"Greetings, this is Mini-Max! I'm afraid Fred is not able to come to the phone right now, as he is currently asleep on the floor. Can I take a message?"
"Mini-Max, it's Honey Lemon. Can you wake Freddy up for me please? It's important."
"I will attempt to rouse him, Ms. Lemon. One moment."
On the other end, she could hear Mini-Max's tiny servos working and the faint sound of Fred snoring. After a moment, Fred let out a panicked squeal and Mini-Max informed him of his phone call. Shuffling indicated that Fred was picking up the phone.
"Hello?" Fred yawned.
"Freddy, are you alright? What was that squeal?"
"Oh, that was me. Mini-Max woke me up by putting one of my dirty socks in my face. It's a month old at least."
Honey Lemon did her best not to gag and regained her composure. "Freddy, I was just watching the news, someone broke into Mole's comic shop last night."
"Haha, yes! What'd they take? Everything?"
"Freddy, that's not very nice!"
"Please, Honey Lemon, the little troll has enough money in his own name to refill the stock on his shelves three or four times over. Even if someone did clean out the place, it'd just be a minor annoyance for him. So, what did they take?"
"They didn't say on the news, just that it was something that was one-of-a-kind. What does Mole have that's one-of-a-kind?"
"Well, he has Captain Fancy issue number 188, but he transferred that to his private safe at home after the Hardlight fiasco. Something about too many supervillains trying to tear up his store. So other than that, I don't know what. Unless…"
"Unless what, Freddy?"
"He doesn't have something that's one-of-a-kind there, but we do!"
"You don't think…"
"I do. I'll head over there right now. Can you meet me?"
"I'll be there as soon as I can!"
Honey hung up the phone and grabber her clothes, getting ready to change. If the thief had stolen what she and Fred thought had been stolen, then things were potentially about to get electric.
Hiro stuffed the last piece of pizza into his mouth as he closed the doors to his private lab on campus. He looked at Baymax, who was sitting in Hiro's chair wearing the Captain Cutie helmet and controlling something with a wireless video game controller. Baymax looked up at Hiro walked in.
"Hiro, I have just arrived at Prison Max."
"Thanks, Baymax."
Hiro removed the helmet from his robot and put it on himself, taking the controller and sitting down once Baymax vacated the chair. Hiro had built a drone version of himself back when he'd been too sick to fight a mercenary group known as the Mad Jacks. It had come in handy on a number of occasions since, allowing Hiro to be in two places at once. At Prison Max, the drone landed at the front gate and walked up to the scanner. Hiro presented his face… or rather the drone's video screen showing his face… to the scanner. Prison Max scanned it and opened the front gate.
"Welcome to Prison Max, Big Hero 01."
The drone walked in past the main gate and headed straight for the main cellblock. The automatic doors let it in, and the villains inside immediately took notice. Hardlight glared behind his glasses, Cobra stared it down. Di Amara just smiled. Hiro finally came to the cell he was looking for, staring in at the bodiless form of Trina. The android head looked Hiro up and down.
"You look different, Hamada. Do something different with your armor?"
"I don't have time for games, Trina. I'm here to talk."
"Isn't that what we're doing?"
"I have a question, please just answer it."
"What's in it for me?" Trina smirked.
"An update on your 'brother'." Trina's face became more neutral at that, trying not to give away her emotions.
"Fine then. Ask away."
"Noodle Burger Boy has gone rogue again. His power switch is off, he doesn't have a programming chip in him, yet he's still operating." Trina raised an eyebrow at that. "He's crazy and he might hurt someone. We need to find him, are there any other secret bases or hideouts you two had that we don't know about?"
"Depends. Have you checked the abandoned warehouse by the docks?"
"We checked all the abandoned warehouses by the docks."
"Hmm. Noodle Burger factory?"
"One of the first places we checked."
"Krei Tech?"
"Krei's security didn't ping us, but we checked anyway. Not there."
"Father's old lab."
"You mean what's left of it?" Trina glared at him for that one. "Yeah, we did. Nothing."
"Well, then I'm sorry to tell you this, but then I have no idea where he is either. Now let me ask you something. What are you going to do when you find him?"
"Destroy him."
"Good."
Hiro couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face when Trina said that. "So much for love between siblings, then."
"Oh, trust me, being destroyed is a much better fate than whatever you can call my life right now. I have to sit in here and stare at that sorry excuse for a villain all day every day, and thanks to the power cable attached to my neck, I can't power down at all."
Hiro turned to look at Callaghan who was watching the conversation with mild interest. He turned back to look at Trina and he almost wish he hadn't. Her eyes might have been artificial, but there was a clear fire behind them that raged with an unimaginable intensity.
"So, I hope you destroy him. I hope you crush his microchips and throw his motherboard in acid. Because from what you've told me, Noodle is as alive as I am and there are things far more frightening than death, Hamada."
"Overdramatic much?"
"No, overdramatic would be me describing what I'd ever do to you if I got out of here."
"Thankfully, that won't happen. We're done here."
Hiro turned and began walking away. Baron Von Steamer, now in a bright orange jumpsuit, stood up and glared at Hiro as he walked by his cell.
"She might not say what she'll do if she gets out, but I will!" he growled. "I will bring Big Hero 6 to their knees and make them watch as I destroy San Fransokyo!"
Hardlight stood up as well, glaring at Hiro. "Not if I get to them first!"
Cobra simply bared her teeth as Hiro walked by, almost to the door.
"You know what I would do…" Di started. Hiro paused, knowing what she was about to say, but unable to stop himself from hearing it. "I'd find Karmi and turn her into something even worse than last time, just so you can watch as your little friend actually finishes the job and rips you to shreds."
Hiro didn't say anything and kept going, finally leaving the prison behind and jetting up into the air. Hiro removed his helmet and set down the remote control, signaling Sky Max to pick up the drone and store it until it was needed later. He placed his head in his hands, trying to center himself in the here-and-now of his private lab as opposed to Prison Max.
"Hiro, are you alright?"
"No, Baymax, I'm not. But I will be once we find Noodle Burger Boy."
Fred leapt down from the rooftop onto the street in front of Mole's comic shop. The police and news crews had left, leaving Mole and Nega Globby to clean up the broken glass of the window. Honey Lemon slid in next to him from an ice slide coming down from another rooftop, melting it with another chem ball once she was on the ground.
"Remember Freddy, we have to be professional."
"I can be professional…" he muttered in his costume.
The two heroes crossed the street, getting the attention of Nega Globby. "Richardson, we've got company."
"More news cameras?" Mole stuck his head out the front door, spotting Fred and Honey Lemon. "Oh, Big Hero 6, welcome back, nice to see you again."
"I wish this was a social call citizen," Fred began, talking slightly deeper to disguise his voice. "But we saw the report on the news. We've come to check that the item you've been keeping for us is still here."
Richardson smiled nervously, tapping his fingers together. "Well… funny story. That was sorta the one and only item the thief stole."
"Do you know who did it?" Honey asked.
"No clue, we got here this morning to find the mess and the security cameras had been blasted before the thief entered the store. Sorry, guys."
Honey sighed but kept a smile on her face. "It's alright, it's not your fault. We're sorry about the damage to your store."
"I'll be fine, I recently purchased supervillain liability insurance. Can't be too careful these days."
"No, you cannot. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to find the missing item. Good day, citizen. Nega Globby."
Fred and Honey Lemon turned and left. Honey's phone vibrated again, but she quickly cancelled the incoming call, not wanting to hear it. When they were across the street and out of earshot, Fred groaned.
"Should've known Mole wouldn't be able to hang onto the energy orb. We should've transferred that thing to Base Max once we had the place up and running."
"We can't worry about the past, Freddy. We need to focus on now. Who would want to steal High Voltage's energy orb?"
"You mean besides High Voltage?"
"They've been doing so well, though. It seems like they're really trying to turn over a new leaf."
"Well, we should probably check on them anyway. Who knows, maybe they had a dancing duo rivalry with a father and son team, and they stole the orb now that the girls are out of the game."
"Anything is possible at this point. I know where they're apartment is, come on." Honey's phone vibrated again. She yanked it out of her purse and declined the call, stuffing it back in angrily.
"Problem there?"
"It's the company I was interviewing for. They're probably just calling to tell me I didn't get the job, and I don't want to hear it right now. I'll wait until all of this has blown over, now let's go."
Honey Lemon led Fred across town closer to where she and Go Go lived. Barb and Juniper or "High Voltage" as they'd been known as villains, had been an electrifying mother-daughter dance duo team that early on had given Big Hero 6 a run for their money. After a couple arrests, they'd called it quits on being a supervillain team and tried to go straight, but Di Amara got to them first and turned them into electric eel human hybrid abominations. When Di's monster factory had been shut down, the judge had been lenient on the two since they hadn't volunteered for the transformation process like Momakase or Mr. Sparkles had. Instead of facing more jail time, they'd been given a community service sentence and a place to live while they repaid their debt to society. And so that's where Fred and Honey Lemon found themselves.
A ratty block of apartment buildings with graffitied walls matched the address that Honey had, and after a quick check for the apartment number, Fred was knocking on the door. Muffled footsteps sounded through the walls as the undoing of locks and latches signaled the door was about to open. Finally, the door swung open and Barb's face quickly turned to one of shock at the sight of the costumed heroes. Fred and Honey were almost as equally surprised, as Barb was in a simple grey track suit with her hair down as opposed to the flashy dancing costume they were used to seeing her in.
"Um… can I help you?" Barb asked the heroes after a moment.
"Hi, sorry to bother you," Honey answered nervously. "We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions?"
"Sure, come on in," Barb said defeatedly. She opened the door wider to allow the two to enter the apartment, showcasing an ankle monitor on one of her legs. The apartment wasn't much, a small kitchen connected to a living room that then led into two small bedrooms and a bathroom. The walls were an old faded beige color, probably having been painted a couple decades prior. Some ratty furniture and a small TV made up the extent of whatever furnishings that could make the place any semblance of comfortable. One of the doors to a bedroom opened and Juniper walked out, wearing a set of flannel pajamas and a bathrobe.
"Mama, who was at the… oh." She stared at the heroes for a moment before Fred waved enthusiastically.
"They're here to ask us some questions, sweetie." Barb said as she took a seat on the couch.
"We'll try to be quick. So, this morning a comic shop was broken into, and you can probably guess which one."
"Someone stole our orb?" Barb asked, interrupting Honey Lemon.
"Yes, someone did. We just wanted to clear you guys off the list and make sure it wasn't you."
"Well, it wasn't," Juniper huffed, crossing her arms. "We can't go anywhere without our probation officer and if we tried, we've got these ankle monitors on us."
Juniper lifted her leg up, showcasing an identical ankle monitor to her mother's. Barb nodded. "Exactly. Check with the police, they'd have logs of our whereabouts. We're done with the villain game, I don't even want to see that orb again for as long as I live."
"We understand, thank you for cooperating. So… other than being on house arrest, how are you guys doing?" Honey tried to flash a sincere smile, but it unfortunately came off as a little forced. Barb sighed.
"You don't have to pander to us, we don't deserve your sympathy."
"That's not true, you just made a few mistakes that's all. What was your dream before the villain thing?" Honey sat down on the couch next to Barb as the woman thought.
"Well, I was an electrical engineer. That's how I came up with the design for that orb. I was good at it too, but my real passion was always dance."
"We could tell," Fred piped up. "Even while kicking our butts your dance moves were spec-tacular."
"Thanks. Juniper was basically dancing out of the crib, she had a raw talent, and I knew she could go far. So, one day I quit my job and told her that we were going to be stars, but no one wanted a mother-daughter dance duo, so we wound up here and without any money, but we had the orb. You saw what we could do to ATMs and whatnot, and at first the people loved us. Guess we just got a little greedy."
"What about you, Juniper?"
"I want to keep dancing. Maybe get into the San Fransokyo dance troupe or something one day. But they only take the best of the best, and I'm just a criminal."
"Former criminal!" Honey Lemon corrected. "I'll tell you what, I have some contacts at the San Fransokyo Art Institute, and they have a great dance program. When the judge says your community service is over with, I'll put in a few calls. I'm sure they'd love to have you, and dancers that graduate from SFAI get into places all over the world."
"You mean it?" Juniper stood on her tiptoes, unable to contain her excitement.
"Of course! And as for you, Barb, that energy orb has always been amazing. Krei Tech might want to hire someone like you, with a letter of recommendation from us saying that you've reformed from villainy."
"You'd really do that for us?" Barb asked, uncertain.
"Everyone deserves a second chance, and you can't let the past define who you want to be going forward or what you want to do."
"Thank you, dear." Barb quickly wrapped Honey Lemon into a hug. After an awkward moment or two, she let go. "Sorry, guess I got caught up in the moment."
"Hey, we've gone from you guys punching and kicking us now to hugging, that's an improvement. In the meantime, take this." Honey reached into her purse and gave Barb a card for Globby's villains anonymous. "I'm sure the judge would allow you guys to attend meetings."
"We'll look into it, thank you." Honey stood up and walked with Fred toward the door.
"Nice seeing you guys again!" Fred said as he tried to open the door with his lizard hands. The doorknob proved to be too small though and Honey quickly stepped in to open it for him. Honey went to step into the hall and looked back momentarily.
"And really quick, you guys don't have any idea who would want to steal your orb, do you?"
"No, sorry."
Honey Lemon nodded and the two heroes left the apartment. They began walking down the street, thinking about their options.
"You were really great in there, Honey Lemon."
"Thanks, Freddy."
"I especially liked what you said about the past and facing the future and stuff. Really poetic and can be used in several different situations." Fred elbowed Honey as they walked. She didn't respond so he did so again. "Like say maybe when a company calls about your job interview."
Honey Lemon stopped walking, her face briefly turning red. She smiled sheepishly at Fred. "I guess you're right. So, I failed one job interview, I can't let that stop me. I need to face them and move on."
"There's the Honey Lemon I know!"
"Next time they call, I'll answer." Honey's phone buzzed in her pocket. Fred and Honey looked at one another in shock. What were the odds of that?
"Well answer it!" Fred yelled as Honey fumbled for the device. She finally hit the accept call button and held it up to her ear, brushing her hair out of the way.
"Hello?"
"Hello, we've been trying to reach you about your interview last night."
"Yes, sorry, lots of things happened and I got busy."
"Well, despite the brevity of the conversation, we've reached a verdict. You have the job if you want it."
"I understand, I… wait, what?!"
"You got the job. We asked you about if you had your priorities straight, and potentially sacrificing a job to help others in need sounds like you have them in the right order. We'd love to have someone like that working for us in our chemical science department."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!"
Honey quickly went over a few details with the executive on the other end and then hung up, turning to Fred with tears welling up in her eyes.
"I got the job." She whispered.
"You got the job?!"
"I got the job!" Fred picked up Honey in a big lizard costume hug and spun her around as they laughed and celebrated. Finally, he put her down.
"So, when do you start?"
"A month and a half. It's in another state, so that'll give me time to look for a place to live and pack up and…" Honey and Fred came to the same realization at the same moment.
"Another state?" he asked glumly.
"Uh… yeah. I… have to move."
Silence befell the two of them. For the first time since forming, the friend group was going to split up. For the two friends, it felt as if the world around them was falling apart.
And moments later, the world around them literally did fall apart.