Chapter 19

Karmi hated Hiro Hamada. She hated him with a burning passion. The nerve of that kid. While she'd seen his microbots at the fateful open house and found them impressive, she knew his type. Genius wiz kid who knows everything, can never be wrong, yada yada yada. So when her first meeting with the new Dean of Students Professor Granville had been more about Hiro than about her, she'd been annoyed. She'd been asked to "hang out" with him for a week to help him integrate into SFIT. He didn't need to integrate into SFIT, thank you very much. He had a pack of built-in friends and a robot all curtesy of his (albeit unfortunately dead) brother. Despite the tragedy of that situation, Hiro had so many great things fall into his lap and hadn't needed to work for any of them. Karmi had worked hard since day negative one at SFIT and how many friends did she have to show for it? None. But she'd long since come to the conclusion that friends were unnecessary. Distractions at best, obstacles at worst.

She had her viruses, and the achievement of being the youngest student ever admitted into the school at the ripe old age of 15. But just a little bit past her 16th birthday, she'd been beaten out by a 14-year-old brat that didn't know when to get a haircut. So, when they'd first met, she'd been understandably standoffish. Not that Granville noticed; Karmi had been the model of politeness and serenity while the dean had been around. And so after a rough first week together, a bitter rivalry ensued. They still had each other's numbers and sent one another embarrassing photos of them taken at inopportune times, or test scores to brag about. They got on each other's last nerves time and time again, especially when Hiro started poking his nose into places it didn't belong. The utterly outlandish idea that Liv Amara and Sycorax were conducting illegal genetic experiments and turning monsters loose on the city was absurd. Absurd!

Genius Boy was just jealous that Karmi finally had something he didn't, an internship at a prestigious company. But soon enough, he found a way to get even there too and started at Krei Tech, but instead of being angry, Karmi found the situation hilarious. Especially when she caught Hiro and his pet robot on the way back from the dry cleaners with Krei's outlandish cow suit. It was almost cute how much he cared about being better than her. Almost. But then a few things started to happen. First, they ended up spending more quality time together. Well, if by quality time you mean running away from a rampaging genetically modified billionaire. But Karmi slowly started to see a different side to Hiro she hadn't noticed before. He cared a lot. About people, about the city, everything. Hiro had asked her to check on Orso Knox not to make himself better than her, but because for whatever reason, he cared. From then on, she realized that his hair-brained idea that the head of Sycorax was evil was rooted in a place of trying to help rather than being jealous of Karmi's success. He was still wrong of course, but she at least understood where he was coming from.

Similarly, she saw him actively try to help others when Globby came to SFIT one day. Somehow Big Hero 6 had selected Honey Lemon as a chief chemist in the city and asked her to help cure the Globby guy of his… globby-ness. And with Karmi's help, the two women had been successful. Honey Lemon had taken the girl under her wing, and she had to admit, she liked the idea of hanging around the group more often. Just as long as Hiro was kept at the opposite end of the group, preferably where she couldn't see him. But he'd genuinely been concerned about the one-time supervillain. It was… oddly touching. Touching in a "at least this dweeb has one redeeming factor" kind of way. Finally though, it happened. The rivalry that had existed for a semester and a half was finally broken down and a truce was called. Liv Amara had asked Karmi to assist with a special project and running out of ideas but wanting to prove herself, Karmi had reluctantly gone to Hiro for help.

Over the course of several hours the two had managed to solve their problem, each impressing the other with their own special skills in their respective fields. Karmi's understanding of biology was unmatched, but without Hiro's robotic skills, the project would've been a failure. And for hours they'd worked in peace without calling each other a single name or getting into a petty argument. In her excitement, she'd even hugged him, much to both their embarrassment. Considering the afternoon she'd had and the success of the project, Karmi was starting to reconsider her no-friends rule. Honey Lemon was nice, if maybe a little much for her at times, and Hiro wasn't totally completely awful after all. Maybe she'd been the one in need of adjusting to SFIT instead of Hiro. Good thing that Granville put them together then. Wait.

Oh, Granville you sly dog…

Karmi could only smirk at the realization as she happily waltzed into Liv's office at Sycorax. But that happy attitude soon went away when she saw the look on Liv's face and Chris came toward her with some kind of device. The pain she felt when it bit into her skin wasn't that bad, but she knew she had to get out. Her boss and her boss's assistant had just attacked her. Hiro had been right all along, but Karmi was too blinded by her rivalry with Hiro to see his points. She'd escaped back to SFIT and called him, not knowing what else to do and he'd come to her rescue not long after. At that moment she couldn't have loved anyone more. But the moment was short lived, and the memories of what happened afterword became fuzzy. All she really remembered was agonizing pain and a few blurry images of a terrified Hiro. And after that, she awoke in the hospital. A man in a policeman's uniform stood over her, his face vaguely familiar from the news. He wasn't paying attention to her, instead quietly talking to someone on the phone. She tried to say something but all that came out was a sputtering cough. The officer quickly hung up and got her a drink of water that was sitting on the cabinet next to her. She eagerly drank it as he began talking.

"Miss, my name is Chief Diego Cruz. You're safe now, there was an incident at Sycorax. You're an intern there, right?"

Karmi nodded slowly in response.

"We have reason to believe that your boss turned you into a monster by illegally inserting a chip into you against your will. Do you remember this?"

"Sorta…" she managed to croak out.

"Well, don't worry. You're safe, and that's all that matters. I'm going to stay here and watch over you for the time being."

Karmi nodded but her mind was burning with questions. She remembered Liv attacking her, and Hiro trying to rescue her at SFIT, but after that nothing was really registering. "Hiro..?"

"No, Big Hero 6 didn't save you. They were too busy across town cleaning up one of their other messes."

Karmi shook her head, her point having not gotten across. "No… Hiro… Hamada. Where's… my friend?"

Cruz raised an eyebrow. "You know Hiro Hamada?"

Karmi nodded. Cruz nodded and continued. "He's fine. We didn't know that you two actually knew one another, we just thought that Liv, or Diane, or whoever she is just used you to kidnap him. We're still working on putting some puzzle pieces together. But if you want to know who to thank, it looks like to me that he's the one who saved you."

Karmi let it sink in that Hiro had been the one to save her. Despite how awful they'd treated one another for months, he'd saved her. This was weighing so heavily on her mind that she almost missed what Cruz said next.

"Your parents are on their way. Once the doctors clear you, they're going to take you home. You won't have to worry about any of this mess the city is in right now. Consider yourself lucky."

She didn't though. Her parents were going to take her home. She didn't live in San Fransokyo full time, only being there for school. She lived hours away in another city entirely. Her parents were going to take her away from everything that really mattered to her, and now, everyone.

While she was happy to see her parents the next morning, she didn't appreciate the abrupt departure. She didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone, her mom just packed up her things at SFIT while her dad got her checked out of the hospital. And after the long long car ride back home, Karmi collapsed into her bed and finally allowed herself to cry over everything that had happened. She agreed she probably needed some time away, but her parents had pulled her out of school entirely, and the pained discussion during the car trip made it sound like they might not let her return to SFIT at all. And while "grounded" was usually a term given as a form of punishment, her parents had essentially done just that. She was forced to stay home until further notice, not even being allowed contact with the outside world via her phone or laptop.

It took her a week to convince her parents to give her access back to the laptop, and she poured her anxious energy into finally updating her Big Hero 6 fanfiction. Lab Lady officially debuted, instantly becoming popular. She was appreciative of everyone's support but seeing the username that Honey Lemon had told her was secretly Hiro's like the chapter update warmed her heart. Without anything else to do, she poured herself into her fanfiction as her only real outlet. She even got adventurous and watched a few online tutorials on how to do animation, and she started a web series spin-off of her fanfiction. Despite trying to stay in contact with the group, Karmi had found it hard. Her parents didn't really let her check the news for updates on San Fransokyo and limited her message time with her few friends at SFIT. Hiro said he understood in the brief messages they'd shared back and forth and explained that the second half of the semester had been really busy for him as well.

When May rolled around, Karmi was surprised to see that Hiro would be accepting a degree at graduation, but then she read closer. He'd be accepting an honorary degree for Tadashi, as he would've graduated with the rest of his friends had it not been for the fire. Despite her parents being reluctant, they finally allowed her to watch the graduation ceremony stream. Honey Lemon, Go Go, and Wasabi all walked, and Karmi even smiled at some of the bio tech majors she'd recognized in the group. Finally, Hiro took the stage and delivered a perfect speech to honor his late brother. Karmi smiled ear to ear as she listened, so proud of how far he'd come in the time they'd known each other. When the speech was over, Granville handed Hiro the honorary degree for Tadashi and the graduates threw their hats up in the air. Somehow Baymax had found his way to the center of the aisle and boy and robot hugged it out as the stream ended. Karmi wound back the livestream and let her monitor rest on the sight of Tadashi's robot and brother hugging and she leaned into her hand, sighing lovingly at the sight.

WHOA.

Lovingly?!

Where had that come from? No, she didn't… there wasn't any way that… Karmi shook her head to clear her thoughts, not wanting to entertain the idea of having a crush on Hiro. She liked him now, sure. She was glad they were friends, especially after everything that had happened, but… That wouldn't work, would it? Besides, it was well documented that her one and only love was the leader of Big Hero 6. She closed out of the graduation stream and brought up her concept doodles for Captain Cutie's chibi look, focusing on that instead. THAT was who she liked. He was a man… she assumed. At the very least her age. And he was brave. He cared a lot for the city, and for his friends. But… she didn't really know him. What she did know about him was what she'd seen on the news and what character quirks she'd given him for her fanfiction. Was he really a hopeless romantic underneath the armor? What color were his eyes? The visor distorted enough of his features that she couldn't totally make out what he looked like exactly. The same went for the rest of the team as well, except maybe Flame Jumper who was covered head to toe in a suit. She'd met all of Big Hero 6 on multiple occasions now, but… she didn't really know any of them. Many of her fans were envious that she'd met them, and that also helped with her popularity online, but having met them and really knowing who they were turned out to be two completely different things.

Karmi opened the camera roll on her phone and scrolled up a ways. She found the first close-up picture she'd ever taken of Captain Cutie, after he'd saved her from a falling lamppost during High Voltage's debut week. His shocked expression had been her background for weeks, and she'd spent hours staring at it, trying to decipher the person underneath. She swiped, moving to the next image. This one was of Hiro covered in gunk after something in Honey Lemon's chem lab had exploded. She'd spent hours looking at this image too. Laughing at it. It still brought a smirk to her face, Hiro's reaction to the chemical reaction was humorous no matter their relationship now.

Err… status. Or friendship. They didn't have a relationship. But as Karmi looked at the image longer, she realized something. Those same qualities she'd attributed to Captain Cutie that had generated her crush in the first place could also be attributed to Hiro as well. They were all buried underneath an occasionally arrogant and snarky demeanor, but Hiro was very brave. He'd risked his life to save hers, Orso Knox's, hers AGAIN from Di Amara (that wasn't a headache that would go away anytime soon. Evil clone, WHAT?). And his little crusade to uncover what was going on at Sycorax had been very noble. He cared about the city and everyone in it, especially his friends. She knew there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for any of them, and that now included her. Karmi quickly began flipping back and forth between the photo of Captain Cutie and the one of Hiro. And as she did, she came to a realization. Captain Cutie was a great guy, obviously. He was a superhero. But she didn't know him. And because of the whole secret identity and constantly saving the day thing, it was unlikely that he'd ever have time for a real relationship. She'd help him if he ever asked, but having feelings for him was like having feelings for a celebrity. You could crush on them, sure, but you couldn't (or at least shouldn't) obsess over them. And Karmi had obsessed over him. Hiro, though. Hiro she knew. Their friendship was new, they'd spent too much time at one another's throats, but she knew who he was and what made him tick, and Karmi couldn't help but really admire that. And in that moment, she silently cursed herself because she knew.

Karmi had a crush on Hiro Hamada.

And that's why she found herself nervously walking to his private lab. Since their initial meeting, both had had birthdays. Hiro being 15 and Karmi being 17, and with that advancement in age came some maturing. The last few weeks with Hiro had been great. They'd been easy. They'd hung out together countless times, ate lunch together almost every day (sometimes one or both of them would be too busy), and they texted constantly. He'd helped her with her new and improved nano-glove, she'd given him some pointers on how to mentor Rishi (a lot of it boiled down to do the opposite of what Karmi had done to Hiro when they'd first met), and overall, they'd come to a great understanding and stable point in their relati… friendship. But Karmi felt like they might be ready to go further. The day before an email had appeared in her school inbox, an opportunity she couldn't refuse. And Hiro's response to her next question would potentially solidify everything. She reached his lab and knocked, nervously rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Come in!" she heard after a moment. Karmi walked in to find Hiro tinkering with something mechanical with a textbook open next to him. Baymax hovered nearby in case of a medical emergency.

"Hey, Hiro!" she greeted warmly. "What's going on?"

"Just working on some homework. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much, I was just wondering about something. So, uh…" Was it warm in there? Did Hiro have the heat cranked on? Why was her face so warm? Thankfully Hiro didn't seem to notice. "We got an email yesterday, and it said that the Blackhole Dance is going to be next Saturday. And I was wondering if you'd maybeliketogotogether?"

"Next Saturday… that's into September. I'll have to check my calendar but yeah, that sounds like fun. I'd love to go."

Karmi did her best not to explode in front of Hiro so she just smiled big and nodded. "Great! Awesome! Well, I have to go and work on… uh, homework. So I'll talk to you later."

"Do you need help with your robotics elective?"

"Not tonight, maybe tomorrow."

"Ok. I'll text you later."

"Cooool. Uh… see ya." Karmi quickly waved and turned around to exit, scooting through the doors as quick as possible.

"Goodbye, Karmi." Baymax said right as the doors closed behind her. She waited until she'd walked all the way over to the bio building and sealed herself into her lab, quickly activating the soundproofing before closing her eyes, tilting her head back, and thrusting her arms upward whilst screaming:

"YES!"

Hiro looked over the calendar for September up on Basemax's large screen. Everyone's regular schedules were already laid out, so now it was time to assign night patrol times. With August ending soon, Hiro felt this would be a good time to help ease the two new recruits into their roles as backup and soon to be replacement members on the team. Hiro looked over to Abigail who was scrolling through her phone to check her hours.

"Abigail, how does Thursdays sound for night patrol?" he asked her.

"Um… fine, I think. But it's not solo, right?"

"No, you'll be paired up."

"Ok, good. Then yeah, Thursdays will work." Abigail activated her own holographic keyboard next to her spot on the table and penciled in her codename on Thursdays for the night patrol calendar. "Who wants to go with me?"

"I will." Fred volunteered. "I need Saturdays this month off, I'm DJing the Blackhole dance."

"I can take Saturdays." Wasabi offered. Hiro snapped his fingers, remembering his conversation with Karmi earlier in the evening.

"I need Saturdays off, too. I'm going as well."

"You're DJing the dance too?" Go Go asked, an eyebrow raised.

"No, I'm going to the dance."

"With who?"

"Karmi." Hiro went back to looking through the roster, but the silence of a pen dropping caused Hiro to realize that most of the room was now staring at him. Honey Lemon had a giant smile on her face and was clutching her cheeks as a faint squeal came out of her mouth. Fred and Wasabi smiled at one another knowingly as Abigail and Go Go just smirked at him. Hiro looked at them in confusion and then over to Globby, who looked just as confused as he was.

"Ok, I'm lost." Globby said after a moment.

"Yeah, I am too. Someone, explain."

"Hiro…" Go Go began, sitting forward slightly. "Do you know what the Blackhole dance is?"

"It's uh… a dance?"

"It's more than just a dance."

"The Blackhole dance started back before the Great Catastrophe." Wasabi began to explain. "It started as a simple get-together, but after a few decades, it was a memorial event to honor the founder of SFIT. After time, however, so much went into putting it on that there was no feasible way to do it every year."

"So then it started happening every two years!" Honey Lemon continued on for Wasabi. "But the plan backfired, so then even MORE time and energy went into putting it on. So much so that it started to suck everything on campus toward it like-"

"A blackhole, ok, I get it." Hiro interrupted. "So it's a really big dance. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is, Captain Cutie…" Abigail teased. Hiro really regretted sharing a list of aliases and codenames with the new recruits now. "…that people go to it on their own or in groups. But at least when I was hanging around SFIT while my dad taught there, the Blackhole dance was the social event of the semester for couples on campus. Even bigger than Valentine's Day."

"So, Hiro, if Karmi asked you and only you, then it means…" Go Go didn't finish so Hiro could piece the final puzzle together himself. Hiro quickly took the hint and his eyes went wide in realization. Globby just laughed at the reaction and patted Hiro on the back.

"Looks like our little boss man has got himself a girlfriend!"

Baymax raised an inquisitive finger. "Hiro, I thought you said that beginning a customary courting process with Karmi could be dangerous or distracting despite your mutual attraction."

"Oh, mutual, hmm?" Wasabi teased. Hiro's face went as red as his shirt, and Go Go couldn't take it anymore, completely losing it and falling out of her chair.

"No, no, this can't be right." Hiro stammered. "Maybe she wants us all to go as a group and just hasn't asked everyone yet."

"Can't Hiro. I'm DJing." Fred said, clearing himself.

"I've got patrol on Saturdays." Wasabi said.

"Coincidentally, so do I." Go Go said as she penciled in her name on the holoboard.

"She doesn't know me." Abigail said, obviously excluding her. Hiro looked to Globby in a final attempt to salvage his pride.

"I think I'd stand out. Sorry, kid." Globby chuckled. Honey Lemon got a worried look on her face and drummed her fingers on the table before deciding to ask her question.

"Hiro, do you want to go with her?"

"I… yes, I'd love to, but…" Hiro stood up out of his chair and started pacing, raking his hands through his hair nervously.

"What's the matter?" Go Go asked. "You know she likes you. She told you!"

"She didn't tell me me, she told superhero me! Besides, it's like I told Baymax, with everything going on, she could be a distraction, or it could put her in danger."

Go Go lifted a finger in the air. "Counterpoint one: there's no way she can be more distracting than she already is. You two text constantly, and unless we're on a mission, you're always sneaking texts to her, and don't lie, I know you've even been doing it during this meeting."

Hiro blushed and slid his phone off the table, putting it back into his shorts pocket. Go Go held up a second finger. "Counterpoint two: Karmi is already in danger. Di Amara and Trina are on the loose, and there's lots of villains out there that know what a brainiac she is. Any one of them could use her for leverage against you or us, Di has done so once already, so if anything, you being around her more probably just makes her safer."

Hiro grumbled, seeing the logic behind her point. Go Go held up another finger in the air. "And counterpoint three: you need a little happiness in your life, Hiro."

This took everyone in the room off guard. Wasabi's jaw dropped as Fred stared at her incredulously. "Wait, a sincere emotional statement? Ok, who are you and what have you done with Go Go?"

"Hush, nit-wit." Go Go said, waving him off and leaning forward on the table before sighing. "Look, you know that I more than anyone know what its like to push too hard. I've been doing better in the last week than I have in a month because you and Baymax told me to slow down. And you do just as much if not more than I do. Life can't be a constant cycle of work work work. You need to have an outlet to unwind, and do you know when I see you look the most relaxed with the biggest smile on your face?"

Hiro didn't answer, so Honey Lemon asked in his stead. "When, Go Go?"

"When the three of us have lunch together every day. I was against the whole dating thing at first, but after seeing you two together for the past month, you've broken me down. I'm in for this boat ride now."

"You're on board the ship, Go Go." Fred corrected.

"Whatever! The point is, you make each other happy. So go to that dance and make each other happy. It's an improvement over listening to you two complain about one another constantly at least."

Hiro sighed and slumped back into his chair. "You're right. But there's one problem with this."

"What's that?"

"The secret identities." Hiro said. The room got quiet again as Hiro's point sank in. "If we go to this dance and Karmi and I officially become… more… then I won't be able to keep my secret identity hidden forever. And when she figures me out, she figures the rest of you out. Except maybe Abigail."

The room was silent for a solid minute as everyone thought. Baymax didn't say anything because he still didn't quite understand the concept of a secret, so he stayed out of the conversation. But it was clear everyone else had to think it over. Most everyone that had discovered their identities had done it on their own. This would really be the first time they'd be revealing themselves not in a moment of urgency. Finally, it was Wasabi who spoke up first.

"A lot of people know who we are already. Is one more really going to matter?"

"Not to me." Fred said.

"And it's not like she's a total stranger…" Honey Lemon mused. "I trust her to keep the secret."

"I don't have a secret identity!" Globby said cheerfully. Abigail laughed and then put her two cents in.

"After all this talk, I really need to meet this girl. She sounds fun."

"Well, if everyone else is on board, then so am I." Go Go said finally. "You just might want to rip the bandaid off as soon as possible. She idolized you as Captain Cutie, it's going to be a shock when she finds out."

"Honestly though, how hasn't she found out yet?" Wasabi questioned. "Like… we don't hide our faces that much."

"Do I need to go over Captain Fancy 188 again?" Fred asked. Everyone laughed, Fred's comics being more accurate than they'd like being a well-established running joke at this point. Hiro sighed, excitement building in his chest for the first time. Or was that nervousness?

"Thanks, guys. I'll try not to screw this up."

"You better not, Genius Boy." Go Go said, earning another laugh from the team.

As the night wore on, San Fransokyo settled in for a peaceful evening. But the problem with darkness is that there's usually something lurking inside it. Case and point: a lone welder inside an abandoned subway station. Dirtied coveralls protected the user from the flashes of burning metal as he made final modifications to his gear. Hung up on a hook stabbed into the wall was a cybernetic helmet with a matching black and maroon cape. The former Krei employee turned supervillain shut off the welder and lifted up the blast shield, observing the cooling metal of his gauntlet. He'd just doubled the power output, which meant it was unlikely that Big Hero 6 could stop him now.

Somewhere, something rustled in the inky blackness of the old subway tunnels, catching Ian's attention. His eyes narrowed behind his rectangular glasses, trying to catch sight of anything. These tunnels were long deserted, not even rats travelled them. And they weren't so unstable as to have debris randomly fall from the ceiling. Ian slowly put his hand into the glove, flicking the switch on the inside to power it on. Just as he was about to raise it, two extended arms reached out through the darkness and grabbed him, yanking the gauntlet out of his reach and pinning him to the wall. A single glowing green eye made its way through the darkness and into the light, revealing Trina.

"Sorry about that. Can't be too careful."

"Oh, Robo-Girl." Ian said grumpily. "You here to take out the competition?"

"On the contrary. I have an offer for you."

"Really? What kind of offer?"

"The kind that gets us both revenge on Big Hero 6." Trina smiled at him evilly and slowly let him down, her extend-arms returning to her sides back at normal length. Ian stood up and dusted himself off, eyebrow raised in curiosity but lips slowly turning upward.

"I'm listening."