CHAPTER 5

Hiro's hand rested on the door handle to Karmi's lab. He was hesitating, postponing the inevitable question he had to ask of her. Can you help us? It was simple, but there were so many implications Hiro could hardly keep track of them all. He stood in the hallway, rehearsing what he would say in his mind. Hi Karmi, sorry to bother you again-

Just then, he felt the handle being pulled out from under him. The door swung open cheerfully, and Karmi stood in front of him, grinning.

"Hey, Genius Boy. I thought you'd never come."

Hiro stammered in surprise. "H-how'd you know I was outside?"

"I heard a faint pattering on the handle," she shrugged. "That was you, right?"

"Oh…" Hiro realised that he had been tapping his fingers against the metal in nervousness. "Heh."

Karmi opened the door as wide as her smile, gesturing for him to come in. "We've only got around an hour before we have to hand in our project, so don't distract me too much," she joked. She plonked herself on the nearest roller chair and pushed herself across the floor to her desk. The wheels rumbled swiftly on the tiles.

There were no unoccupied chairs around, so Hiro perched himself nervously on top of the empty desk beside hers.

"Karmi," he said, legs dangling. She looked up. "Karmi, I… I need to ask you something."

"It better be more important than this special assignment," she said, but she gave him her full attention anyway.

Hiro scratched the nape of his neck and looked around. Margo and Vicky were poring over something together in the other corner of the room- they wouldn't hear. He took a breath. "There's a villain at SFIM."

"A what?" breathed Karmi. He knew that this was not news to her. She was surprised because Captain Cutie had told her the same thing.

"A villain," he repeated, filtering in his mind what Hiro knew from what Captain Cutie knew. "I'm not sure of the details, but I heard from Big Hero 6 that someone here is covertly using a device that requires mass amounts of energy. Do you, maybe, know anything about that?"

He noticed that Karmi was slowly backing away in her chair.

"H-how do you know Big Hero 6?" she asked tentatively.

Hiro opened his mouth, then closed it. He should have thought of how to answer this question…

"Uh, I'm friends with them! Ever since they saved me from Orso Knox."

She stopped backing away. "Friends with all of them?"

Hiro wondered whether being friends with Captain Cutie would be seen as a positive. Probably not, he decided, so he blurted out random other names. "Friends with Flame Jumper and Speed Queen."

"Oh."

Hiro started tapping his foot on the table leg. "So… did you notice anything?"

Karmi took a breath in- how much would he tell Big Hero 6? If he told them she knew something, they might make her get involved. "Yes," she decided, rolling the chair back next to Hiro. "But you have to promise not to tell them. I don't want to have to go away again."

Hiro realised this was the only way. "I promise," he said, the consequences of keeping it a secret racing through his mind. "But just know that if, somehow, you do leave, I promise not to wait seven months between visits. Cross my heart and hope to die"

She smiled. "Don't say that- if I have to spend the rest of my life without seeing you, I'll probably hope to die," she joked. The only reason it was a joke, though, was because she trusted Hiro enough that she didn't consider the scenario where he broke his promise.

Karmi took a strand of hair and twisted it lightly around her finger, thinking. "Well, you know that boy in the checkered shirt? The one I asked for a hairband earlier?"

Hiro snorted a laugh.

"Well, I don't know his name but he's a physics major- and he's been staying on campus even later than we have this past week. If that helps. He could be working on something big? Or it could just be an assignment."

"Right," nodded Hiro, making a mental note. "What about your assignment?"

"Our assignment? Wait, you don't think we're secretly the villains, do you? Because if we are, I assure you we have no knowledge of our grand plan."

Hiro had not thought this, but he was curious. "What exactly are you guys even doing?"

Karmi's knee began tapping rapidly against the table leg. It accidentally hit his foot and she grimaced. "Cloning green algae," she said, meeting his eyes. Then she rolled away on the tiles to the paper bin near the door and threw in a scrunched-up page.

It was then that Hiro lit up, a smile crawling up his face that did not go unnoticed by her.

But before he could say anything, Margo read the look on his face (apparently she had been eavesdropping on the latter part of their conversation as well).

"Ooh, I know what you're thinking- Roller chair derby!" she declared, rushing over to Vicky's chair. At the same time, Hiro ran to Karmi and pushed her chair without warning out the lab door.

She squealed. "Hiro!" She was relieved to be steering clear of what had been a rather intense conversation.

Vicky, meanwhile was mostly concentrating on hanging on for dear life. "Slow down!" she cried, the loudest Hiro had ever heard her speak.

Hiro quickly locked the door behind him with a click. "That should buy us some time," he grinned down to Karmi as he positioned their vehicle at the starting line marked by a potted plant. Then he leaned down to whisper in her ear, trying to make things light-hearted between them again. "Remember- hold on tight."

Feeling ticklish and laughing, she coiled inwards on reflex, curling into a ball on her chair. She lifted her chin to look up at him. Hiro gazed down at her face from above in the bright hallway light. The same as ever yet somehow more beautiful. He had heard it said that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but he never thought that fondness was an ache like the one he was feeling right now. The pull was like a hook in his stomach, just behind his navel, and he didn't notice he was leaning down until their faces were an inch from each other. He realised her eyes were still open, but she wasn't backing away.

And then he stopped.

Because what was he doing? He had asked for her help to save the city. And after he told the team, the villain would wreak havoc and she would be taken away. It would be his fault, entirely, yet here he was, trying to play with her heart. Suddenly he felt guilty. If she was just going to go away again, it wouldn't be fair to either her or him to treat her like this. To treat her like he actually cared, when all he was going to do was save was the city.

But right now that goal seemed so small.

Just then, he heard the click of a door unlocking and he jerked up to stand. Karmi's head whipped towards the noise as Margo rolled Vicky out.

"Finally found the key on Vicky's desk," Margo was saying. And then she saw their startled faces. "You two look like I walked in on you kissing or something," she laughed.

Karmi started opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. When neither replied, Margo's jaw dropped. "Wait- actually?!" Both teens shook their heads frantically in response.

Fortunately, Karmi, being the better liar of the two, was first to formulate the words. "No way! We were just talking about a serious subject."

Margo placed her hands on her hips. "Sure. Which is?"

"Um- my brother's death!" Hiro said immediately. Sympathy was always the way to go in situations like this. He let his face fall.

Karmi played along. "Yeah, his brother died about two years ago during a fire at our school. It was… tragic."

The diversion worked. "Oh no! Hiro, that must have been terrible for you," said Margo.

Vicky grimaced sadly. "I'm sorry, that must have been hard."

Hiro rubbed his neck, being sincere now. "That's ok guys. It's… it's been a while. I still miss him, I mean, it's not like I'm ever going to stop. But ever since I joined SFIT and made some new friends, it's been… it's been easier." He smiled weakly.

But then his face changed like the wind. "Roller-chair-derby-race-to-the-other-side. Ready-go!" he said as fast as he could. Even Karmi was surprised when he started pushing her as fast as his legs could go across the tiles. She let out a small squeal of excitement as they sped along. She heard Margo behind them calling out, "Hey! I thought there was going to be a 'set'!" and running to catch up. They were still far ahead, and the finish line- the end of the hallway- was right there…

Suddenly, the world tumbled. Karmi felt a jolt as the chair tripped over something that sent it falling on top of her. It bumped her elbow painfully as she knocked her chin and knees against the tiles. "Ugh!" Almost immediately, though, the weight was lifted off her.

She slumped flat on the floor like a fed-up starfish. "Hmph, Hiro that was way too fast." By this time, her other friends had caught up and the three were crouching beside her. They asked if she was alright, and Karmi thanked Hiro for lifting the chair so quickly. "Nice reflexes, for a nerd," she told him.

Hiro had never got two compliments in one go from her before.

Vicky and Margo helped her to her feet. Then she saw Hiro, now sitting where she had fallen, with the white charging cable strewn right in the middle of the path like a trip rope. He was grimacing and clutching his ankle. He saw her looking at him in concern and smiled it off, then started ranting. "We tripped over this invisible cable here! Like, who puts a white cable on white tiles? And why is anyone even at school, using their laptop at nine in the night?!"

"We were at school, using our laptops a minute ago," Margo pointed out as she gripped his hand and lifted him, while still supporting Karmi. "In you go, the injured go in the middle." She let him hop beside Karmi in their four-person support team, and they all put their arms around each other.

Despite their help, Hiro couldn't help showing off. "We won though," he smirked.

"You fell. You were disqualified," said Margo.

"Then my bruises were for nothing?" Karmi retorted.

Hiro looked to his right and saw that Karmi had indeed been bruised heavily. Her knees and chin were turning a bright red, possibly from the speed of the crash and the weight of the chair combined. He could imagine how much it must sting.

"I'm really sorry," he said.

Karmi shook her head, smiling at him. "No no, Genius Boy, I should thank you. Because that was really fun. Was it worth it? Mm, I'm still deciding. But it was definitely fun."

Hiro smiled back, still a little guilty though. And then, just to mess with her, he moved his hand from around her shoulder to near her neck, and tapped his fingers on it quickly.

This had exactly the response he was expecting- again Karmi coiled in on herself and squealed. "Hiro! I'm ticklish! Margo, Vicky, any of you want to take my place? I can't be next to him if I'm going to get tricked like this."

"Nope! Injured in the middle," Margo said with the barest glint in her eye. "Anyway, let's get back to the lab."

"Maybe we should go to the Dean?" Vicky suggested. "The sick bay isn't open, and she must have a first aid kit around somewhere. To treat those," she nodded at Karmi's, well- everything.

"Hup! Let's go," declared Margo, and the eight-footed race contestants soldiered on back down the hallway. They had just hobbled to the top of the stairs, when they heard someone cursing loudly behind them.

"No! Someone removed my charger! My presentation wasn't saved!"

They looked around to see the guy with the man bun and checkered shirt attaching the cable back to his laptop. "Whoever did this… they ruined my semester mark!" he cried to them, the only ones in the vicinity.

Simultaneously, they turned and hastily hobbled away.

Margo and Vicky helped the two teens down the stairs (Neither of the two were teens- Vicky was twenty, though she still caught herself thinking she was younger. And Margo was twenty-four, having applied for entry several times before being accepted.)

They limped collectively through empty lobby. Hang on, thought Hiro, my friends were just here… He wondered where they were, and whether Baymax was with them.

Vicky pointed out an open frosted glass door on the right, with a plaque labelled 'Professor McGucket'. Margo forgot to knock before pushing it open.

Inside, a tall, dark-skinned man was slipping out of a brown leather jacket, facing a disorderly desk. He turned to face them, surprised at the intrusion at such a late hour.

"Ladies," he said, as his students piled in to the not-nearly-large-enough office, "and… boy I have never seen before," he added as Hiro squeezed in. "What are you doing here?" He laid his jacket on the back of his chair, sat down and rolled it into a corner so there was more space.

"Uhhh…" Hiro began, his eyes darting around. He was trying to think of a way to ask for band aids without actually telling him how they had acquired the bruises in the first place.

Thankfully, Karmi came to the rescue. He knew that covering up misbehaviour had, historically, not been his strong point.

She cut in. "Professor, we got into a bit of a scrape upstairs with the roller chairs," (which was technically true, Hiro thought), "and Hiro here and I tripped over a cable on the ground. Do you maybe have a first aid kit?"

"Ah," said the Dean. "Although…" he raised his eyebrows thoughtfully, "Why apply bandages when you could have the most cutting-edge technology in first-aid? No one's ever tried these out before..." His eyes glinted with the excitement of a child trying out a new toy, as he reached into one of the drawers under the desk. "Nope, not here…" he murmured while rummaging. Eventually he extracted a briefcase-sized cardboard box with a white label. "Here it is!"

Hiro noticed Karmi eyeing the box suspiciously. And who could blame her, after the incident with Liv Amara and the extra-dermal nano-receptors… And regardless of whether they could trust him, any new treatment came with risks.

He bumped her arm in a way that he hoped told her, 'Don't worry, I'll ask him.'

But apparently Karmi had misinterpreted the bump to mean something along the lines of, 'Go on, ask him', because she spoke up.

"What is it?"

Professor McGucket opened the case like a pizza box, revealing collections of what looked like large white band aids, individually enclosed in air-tight plastic. They were strapped with velcro on a bed of black foam.

"My ex-husband invented these, but it was my job to all the official paperwork and testing, so I still have them. They are… well, I don't really have a name for them yet, but they're basically band aids made of human skin tissue." He smiled at the surprised look on Hiro's face- the only non-biotech major in the room. "Don't worry, it was taken from a consenting dead person and 3D printed." Then he laughed. "It's not as bad as you think- people have dead peoples' organs transplanted into them all the time.

"They've been tested on animals already-" (Vicky grimaced) "-and on humans without injuries- namely myself." He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a white bandage. "So it won't do anything bad to you, but it will likely do some good. The tissue lets the wound heal faster."

Assuming that the two teens were as excited about the prospect as he was, he ripped the plastic off one, gesturing for Hiro to come forward.

"Why are they white?" he asked curiously. "If they're human skin?"

"No melanin," the Professor answered shortly, still gesturing. Hiro reached out his hand to take one-

And then he remembered.

He realised that he was slight wary of the professor- if anyone else had offered him groundbreaking tech he would have welcomed it with open arms (and whatever other body part he had injured). There was someone at SFIM who had caused a city-wide blackout, presumably using the electricity for a project. And it was likely the same person had stolen Krei's Creator…

And that person could be- probably not but it could be- Professor McGucket. He had just come back from somewhere, he was taking off his coat when they came in…

Hiro withdrew his hand.

"Professor, I- I don't think my Aunt would be ok with me taking untested treatment, you know?"

"Oh." The Dean looked put-out. "Oh, that's fine. I'll just get out the regular old band aids then, I guess…"

"No," Karmi said abruptly. The Professor stopped closing the case. "No, I'll take it."

Hiro looked at her incredulously. Of course, she had no idea there was a supervillain running around the school, but surely her experience would have taught her not to trust people like him.

"I need to see how this works," she said.

Smiling once more, Professor McGucket patted the only chair beside him and she sat down. He took out a tube of what looked like dark green toothpaste from the case- "Protective layer"- and gave it to Karmi to smear on the bruises on her chin and knees. She applied the bandages.

"How long does it take to heal?" she asked.

"Mmm, one day, give or take."

"Cool!" Karmi got off her chair and thanked the Professor. "Hiro, are you sure you don't want it? I can already feel the skin of growing softly- it tickles."

Inwardly, Hiro was crossing his fingers that nothing would happen to Karmi because of this decision. However, he maintained a chill exterior in case this Professor actually was the one behind all this (and not the receptionist or Di), so that he wouldn't suspect that he suspected him. If that made sense.

"Nah, I'm good. I've got a healthcare robot around here somewhere. He'll take care of my ankle."

The Professor nodded. Then he looked up abruptly, remembering something. "Oh, Karmi, Margo, Vicky, how's your special assignment coming along?" he asked.

Karmi stood with her mouth open for a second, unsure of how to break the news that no, they would not be finished by today, despite having been given more than four months, when Margo jumped in.

"Actually, is it possible for us to get an extension?" They had been knuckling down ever since Karmi arrived- her passion was such a great motivator- and she didn't regret one bit of the fun they had been having that evening.

The Dean looked at her with wide eyes. "An- an extension?" he repeated, blinking. "But- but-" He inhaled, trying to calm his evident nerves. "But it was due today! You guys are such hard workers, and I really need it done by 10 pm. Do you think you can do that?"

The trio exchanged glances. It was technically feasible, if they didn't take any breaks from now until then.

Then Karmi, the most hard-working and determined of them all, countered. She looked at him beseechingly. "But Professor, my friend came here to visit me after seven months…" She glanced at him. "And he's more important than this work."

Hiro felt his face warming, and a smile came helplessly to his lips.

Then, surprisingly, the Professor's voice rose to a shout. He clutched the dark curls on top of his head. "Dang it, Karmi! You can see him tomorrow. But this. Can't. Wait." He looked at them like they had betrayed him.

Hiro noticed Karmi's shoulders hunch with guilt. Vicky was biting her lip concernedly.

"But sir, a one-day extension shouldn't hurt," ventured Margo.

"Oh? You'd be surprised," the Professor chuckled darkly to the floor. He waved them away with one hand.

"Now go. You've got some groundbreaking work to do, girls."

"Damn," whispered Margo when they were out of earshot. "I mean, I knew that guy had some issues, but damn."

"You knew he had issues?" asked Karmi, surprised. "I thought he was a paragon of hard work."

Margo snorted. "You would. You never realised your old boss- who was that? Liv Amara?- was a control freak either."

"Di Amara," Karmi grumbled. She did not contest the point. But their professor, though a bit zealous, was a far cry from being a city-conquering clone. She whipped around to face Hiro, suddenly remembering something that had happened back at SFIT.

Hiro started. "Woah, what's up?"

"Hiro." She looked at him intensely, and they stopped walking. "I'm really sorry. For not believing you when you tried to tell me that Liv was not what she seemed."

"Ohh. Nah, don't be- I was a jerk for assuming it without proof. I probably sounded like that conspiracy meme guy."

"But you weren't a jerk!" she insisted. "Though I can't decide whether you just had to prove yourself right, or were trying to protect me."

"Definitely the first one," Hiro said shamelessly.

"Either way, you were right, and in the end I had to ask you for help anyway- to put yourself in danger for something that was my fault!"

Hiro looked at her sceptically. "What if I didn't turn out to be right though? I mean I had like a 50-50 chance. I'm the one who should be sorry, especially for accusing you along with her."

They looked at each other for a moment, weighing up who was right. Then they smiled. Karmi, because for a few moments Hiro was no longer his cocky self. Hiro, because Karmi had no idea he was actually Captain Cutie, a guy whose job it was to rescue everyone anyway.

"Let's get up to the lab," said Karmi. "We've still got the project. And Hiro, if we have to apologise to each other every time we mess up, we'll never have time to be friends."

"But you started-"

"Sh." She smiled, leading Margo and Vicky up to their lab. Hiro stayed on the staircase.

She grimaced through a crack in the door. "I'm sorry Hiro, really. But it's not just the grades- this tech could help a lot of people."

And then she closed it behind her.

Hiro found himself staring at the door. He shook his head, then glanced down at his watch.

9:40

"Shit." He had twenty minutes until the receptionist's meeting with Di. Twenty minutes to find out what they were up to before they did it. Twenty minutes to hopefully stop whatever it was, or if not, get Karmi the heck out of there.