Oh no… Ari winced, realizing her brother had arrived at the dance. She was so excited to see her friend again that she nearly forgot about him.

Her phone then chimed. "One sec." She excused herself to check it, and groaned. Seeing that Hiro panicked and set a sos text in the superhero chat. Ari didn't bother to read the other's responses.

She just grumbled. Great, now my friend's gonna go to jail again!

"Ari?" Juniper poked her shoulder. "You okay?"

"O-oh, I'm fine, June." Ari chuckled. "It's just my brother's here and…"

That was the wrong thing to say since her eyes lit up in excitement. "Your brother's here?! Can I meet him?"

"Uhhh…" That was the last thing she wanted. "Why?"

"Well, you talk about him a few times." Her friend explained. "He sounds pretty cool, it'd be nice to meet him I guess."

June that is the last thing you'll think if you found out what my brother does for a living. Ari sweatdropped.

"I mean it's fine if you don't want to, I understand, considering the crime-dancing history..." Oh no, now she sounded sad.

"Okay, fine!" Ari gave in. "I'll introduce you to my brother."

Juniper beamed. "Yay!"

"Is that okay, Barb?" She turned to the woman, who nodded.

"That's fine with me."

"C'mon." Ari grabbed her friend's hand. "Let's go see Hiro." She had to admit, it felt a little satisfying since Hiro did sour her mood.

Hiro felt a slight sigh of relief when seeing his sister come over. Then the panicked returned once realizing she was dragging Juniper along. Noooo! Why!

"Heyyy, Hiro!" He avoided eye contact with Ari as she came over. "Great to see you!"

Maybe if I look away the problem will disappear. It didn't.

"Hi Ari!" Megan waved. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Juniper." She gestured to the blonde. "I kind of ran into her before you two showed up."

"Uh, hi." Juniper gave a nervous wave. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too! I'm Megan!" Megan waved back. "I love your dress."

"Aww, thanks!" She blushed. "Your dress is really pretty too."

"Thanks!"

Hiro cleared his throat. "Excuse me, I need to have a word with my sister." Without waiting for a reply, he dragged Ari out of the gym.

"He's a little jumpy today." Megan noted.

"Really?" Juniper raised an eyebrow. "He seemed fine, I expected him to be taller." When faced with the reporter's confused expression, she clarified. "Ari talks about her brother a lot with me, and since he's the older one, I thought he'd also be taller."

Megan couldn't help the snort that escaped her mouth.

Glare…

"Um, are you mad at me?" Ari asked Hiro, who kept glaring. "You are, aren't you?"

"Gee, what made you think that?!" Hiro snapped. "The fact that you promised to not look for High Voltage-"

"Hiro."

"And then I see you at the dance with your stupid crush-"

"Hiro."

"And then to make things worse you drag her over to me and Megan, which could easily go wrong when the team gets here-"

"Hiro!"

He stopped. "I did keep my promise, I didn't expect High Voltage at the dance either!" Ari told him. "There's a bit more to the story than you know, and I'm not gonna do anything when the others get here but please… please let me enjoy the dance with someone I care about." She sighed. "Promise you won't cause problems?"

"But Ari…" Hiro weakly protested.

"I kept my promise."

She had a point, even if he hated it. "Fine." He crossed his arms. "But I'm not gonna like it, at all."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Back with the other two, they were still chatting away. "So, what brings you to this dance?" Megan questioned. "Are you one of the students or did you get an invite?"

"Something like that." Juniper chuckled. "I heard about this dance from some people and…" She awkwardly looked away. "Might've mentioned my friend attended here, and that's how I got an invite."

"I see." The reporter hummed. "So you came to visit your friend?"

"Yeah, she had been talking about how nervous she was about this dance, and it's the least I could do after all she's done for me." Juniper admitted. "I would've lost my mind a while ago if I hadn't had her friendship."

Megan felt her heart warm up at the sincerity of the sentence. Wow, I didn't know Ari was such a lifesaver, I've really been taking her friendship for granted, haven't I? "That's so sweet of you!"

Juniper awkwardly turned her head away to hide her blush. "Thanks."

"We're back!" Ari exclaimed, making them both pause. "How are you both?"

"Great." Megan smiled. "Your friend is pretty great."

"Aww thanks! You're pretty great too!"

Hiro rolled his eyes. "That's sweet to hear you're both getting along." Ari smiled. "Though I kind of want to try the buffet table, want me to grab you guys something?"

To their surprise, Juniper shook her head. "No thanks, I really don't want to eat anything."

"You're not hungry?" She raised an eyebrow.

"My teeth hurt and I don't want to make them ache worse."

Megan flashed a look of concern. "Sorry to hear."

"It's fine." Juniper told her. "It doesn't hurt a lot but it really aches."

"Huh." Ari shrugged. "I guess Megan and I will check out the buffet table."

Hiro flashed her a look. "Wait, what?"

"We'll be back soon!" And before he could protest, Ari and Megan headed over to the buffet table. Leaving him alone with Juniper.

They were in awkward silence for a few seconds. "So." Juniper began. "Ari told me about you."

Hiro grumbled. "Of course she did."

"She says that you saved her life."

He didn't expect that. "She did?"

Juniper nodded. "Yeah, Ari said that you helped her out of a really bad situation. You're a really good person since you probably didn't know her at all during that time."

No, I didn't. Hiro was a little surprised by the compliment, but he'd take it. "Thanks, I guess."

"You really need to keep a close eye on her now."

"What?" He gave her a look.

"She got threatened, that woman said if Mama and I didn't do what she asked she'd end up like Knox." Juniper turned to him and the look in her eyes scared him. She was desperate and afraid. "I've said too much, but please keep your sister safe."

"Uh…" Hiro had no idea how to reply. What is she even talking about?!

"I'm sorry this is coming out of nowhere, but… Ari's my friend, I don't want her to get hurt."

"Wh-"

"We're back!" Ari cut him off, she had a paper cup in her hands. "I know you're not hungry, but do you want apple juice?" She handed the cup to Juniper.

"Oh, thanks Ari."

"What were you guys talking about?" Megan asked him.

"Nothing too important." He lied. In the corner of his eye he saw the crime dancer shoot him a relieved look. Thank you. She mouthed.

You're welcome. He mouthed back when Megan and Ari weren't looking.

He didn't know what she meant by "her" or his sister being threatened, but Hiro noted that no matter how irritating Juniper was, she did care about Ari.

"Hi Rach!" Ari had headed back to the buffet table to grab some snacks, and bumped into a familiar brunette.

"Nice to see you Ari." She took a sip of water from a cup. Rachel was wearing her usual green dress and wiggly hand purse.

"Is Katie in your bag again?"

"Yep!" The blue furred feline popped out of the bag.

Rachel gently patted her head down. "Surprised to see you here, I didn't think parties were your thing, too many people."

"Ha-ha, just because I'm not good at social skills doesn't make me a wallflower." Ari rolled her eyes. "I should say the same to you."

For some reason, the scruffy brunette blushed. "W-well I was invited! One of my classmates asked if I was attending and they wanted to hang out with me, I couldn't say no to her if I tried."

She raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

"Nothing, I said nothing!" Rachel squeaked. "It's not a date!"

"Umm, I never asked?"

Katie spoke up. "Yeah, like Briar would go out with you, she's too busy with her head in the clouds."

"Katie, that's mean! She's really nice, I just don't know how to talk to her!"

For a moment, Ari felt bad for her friend, she knew that feeling, and then the blue wiggled her paws out of the purse and pointed across the dance floor.

"Who's the girl you're clinging to?"

Ari knew she was referring to Juniper, and sweatdropped. "Um… my friend?"

"Nuh-uh. It's your little crush."

Rachel just gave her a look. "Are you kidding me?"

"I just happened to bump into her, I didn't invite her."

She huffed. "You know, I'm too tired to complain."

Ari gave a sigh of relief, then yelped as the feeling of a hand gripped her shoulder.

"Hi Ari!" Oh, it was just Juniper. "I got done talking to your brother and Megan, apparently it's his first dance too so I felt really bad bothering him. It was nice meeting Megan though, she's nice!"

"Yes." Rachel nodded, giving the blonde a curious look. "Yes, she is. You must be Juniper, I believe you've run into Katie once or twice." She gestured to the cat in her purse.

The blonde then squealed seeing the blue. "Hi Katie! It's so nice seeing you again."

"Mrow!"

"Oh for crying out loud…" Ari facepalmed. Katie jumped out of the purse and nuzzled Juniper.

"Huh." Rachel hummed. "Katie seems to like you."

"I guess." Her friend shrugged. "She's really sweet."

Ari coughed.

"Well, I didn't expect that." She shrugged. "Are you both having a fun time at the dance?"

"Yep!" Juniper nodded.

"A little." Ari shrugged. "I'm tired." And dreading when the others get here…

"Okay." Rachel picked up her plate which had a lot of sweets, and chicken. "I'm going back to my table, nice seeing you."

"Bye." They both waved as she and Katie left the buffet table.

"That was your friend Rachel, right?" Juniper noted. "She looked a little familiar, but I think it's because she's Katie's owner."

Ari raised an eyebrow. "Small world, then again her cat is famous."

"Why wouldn't she be? Cats are obviously the rulers of the internet."

Later...

"Look Mama, I'm a normal girl now!"

"Smile, baby!"

"Glad you two are having fun but June please stop spinning me." Ari was hanging with Juniper at the back of the gym and Barb was taking photos. She was starting to get a little dizzy from all the dancing.

"Sorry." Juniper chuckled.

"It's fine." She would've said something else, but the words died on her lips when seeing a red armored superhero fly in from the back door, and the rest of Big Hero 6 followed.

"Party's over." Fred addressed the two crime dancers. "You're coming with us."

"Wow, look!" Janice exclaimed, pointing to the back of the gym. "It's-"

"Big Hero 6!" The rest of the students chorused.

"I'm not doing anything wrong." Barb told them. "Just enjoying the dance."

"A high school dance? Little weird." Wasabi questioned.

A groan came from Juniper. "Are you kidding me right now?" She turned to Ari, and quickly picked her up and placed her to where Hiro and Megan were. "Stay right there, I don't want you to get in trouble with the superheroes again."

Ari looked like she was about to protest, but Hiro kept her rooted. "I'll make sure she does."

"Thanks." Juniper gave him a small smile, and rejoined her mama as the superheroes looked like they were about to throw hands.

Megan looked at the team, and then to the crime-dancers. "Wait, is that-"

"Big Hero 6? Yeah. Well, at least I think it is." Both of them gave Hiro a weird look. Way to be subtle Hiro. Ari rolled her eyes.

"Leave us alone!" They turned their attention back to Juniper, who was clearly ticked at the team. "We're not bothering anybody."

"That's true." Honey Lemon noted. "But you did break out of jail and go on a crime spree."

"That's in the past." Barb told her.

"We're reformed!"

Gogo just gave them a skeptical look. "Uh-huh. Right."

"Oh, don't believe us?" Barb shot a bolt of electricity at the lights, dimming the gym and leaving a spotlight on her.

Ari blinked as the woman started to sing. "There comes a time. When a life of crime." Barb sang. "Dancin' is left behind!"
Baymax also blinked.

"Oh, well Mama's made up her mind!" Barb started walking to the other spotlight where Juniper was.

"We're making a change." She spun her daughter across the gym and walked up to two passerby students. "I got a feeling, it's gonna be strange not stealing your money!" She tossed a wad of cash in the air and students crowded around it to try and grab the bills.

"Seriously?" Gogo questioned.

"We did our time, well, mostly." Barb and Juniper waved their hands in a dancing motion. "We're gonna shine. Look closely, over here!"

"Mama!"

"Not now, Juniper, this is Mama's solo."

She jumped on one of the tables. "I gave you everything I could, through a larcenous childhood!"

Juniper smiled a bit at the lyrics.

"But now it's understood we're gonna go good-" Barb fell off the table and two students lifted her up as they walked to the middle of the gym. "We're gonna go good. We're gonna go good!"

Wasabi clapped along to the beat, and froze when Gogo glared at him. "Sorry. It's catchy!"

"A change of heart and a change of pace. A fresh new start, gonna show our face, in public!" Somehow Barb was singing on top of Baymax and the students cheered as she slid back to the gym floor.

"We're makin' a change. We're gonna go straight!" Juniper looked at the cheering students and smiled at the acceptance. "No more staying out late." She joined her mother in the middle of the gym. "So before you judge us, wait!"

Barb held out a hand for pause to the superheroes who looked ready to pounce. "Big finish!"

"We're gonna go good, good, good. We're gonna go good, good, good." Barb and Juniper did a dance routine, and four students helped lift both of them up.

"We're gonna be great! Great!"

Ari cheered with the students, but felt a bit nervous at how sharp their smiles were.

"We are great!" They zapped some of the lights, which sprinkled down to the floor as the students cheered.

"Woo-hoo!"

"Yeah that sounded great!"

"Yay I believe in you!"

Hiro and Megan just gave each other looks, neither of them sure how to respond.

"Well, that happened." Rachel commented to Ari. "I didn't know Barb had such a lovely singing voice."

"Neither did I." Ari shrugged. "I guess that's where Juniper gets it from."

Katie snickered with amusement, but when she turned to see the dancers her fur puffed up. "Katie?" Rachel questioned, then turned to see what the blue saw and paled.

"Um… Ari?"

"What?" She turned, and then let out a horrified shriek. Several other students did the same, as well as Big Hero 6.

The students that were lifting High Voltage up noticed and gasped with horror, dropping the females and scurrying back into the crowd.

"What's happening?" Juniper questioned, pain and confusion on her face.

She looked over to her friends, Rachel and Megan had looks of horror and sympathy, Katie's blue fur was puffed from shock and she was looking away in shame, Ari's reaction hurt her worst, her friend was hiding behind her brother and her face screamed nothing but disgust. "Why don't they love us?" She and her mother made eye contact, and realized what the problem was.

"Your face!" Both of them had somehow turned into half-eel creatures, pale skin turned into blue scales, long blonde hair turned into sharp fins, their eyes shrunken a pale yellow with black markings around the eyes, and their clothes were torn around the arms and legs.

Electricity crackled around Barb as she gasped. "No, no, no!"

Juniper screamed, going into a panic as she couldn't control the bolts. "Mama, do something!" Her voice was hysterical.

The student body got out of dodge and ran out of the gym like the Lion King wildebeest stampede. Ari would've joined them but she felt Rachel tug her and dragged her to hide at one of the tables. "Rach!" She hissed.

"We might be able to figure out clues if we stick around." Rachel hissed back, Katie was on her shoulder stretching up to watch. "Also, I thought she was your friend."
She was right, but the fear of eels was overwhelming with those sharp fangs and gross scaly claws and- Ari slapped herself. Get a grip!

"Are you seeing this?" Megan questioned, her reaction was much more calmer, but still shocked as her classmates.

"We should go." Hiro gestured for them to run.

To his shock, she hesitated. "But what about Juniper? She needs help."

"I'm sure the superheroes can settle this." Hiro started pushing her to the door. "But you can't help if you get caught in collateral fire."

"She wouldn't hurt me like that-"

"Less talking, more moving!" But they got separated in the stampede. He stayed behind, and ran back to go help his friends.

"Look at us." Juniper stared at her hands- no, claws with horror. "We're freaks!"

"Calm down, honey." Bless her mother as Barb tried to comfort the panicking girl. "It's not that bad."

"It kind of is!" Wasabi pointed out.

That was a big mistake, both of them glared and electricity crackled at their claws.

"Should not have said that…"

Barb shot a bolt that he blocked with his plasma blades, but it burned. "Oh! Hot, hot, hot!" He yelled.

"I'm so over these two." Gogo leapt over him and threw a disc at High Voltage. Barb deflected it and Juniper shot a bolt that sent her flying into the air. She then fired another bolt that would've been agony were it not for Baymax catching her. Gogo smiled at her rescuer.

"I have got you." Baymax told her.
"Look out!" Hiro exclaimed as High Voltage shot more bolts at them.

Honey Lemon ducked a few bolts and ran to the other side of the gym. "Guys, get behind me!" She told the group. Once the team did the command, she got a chem ball and created a sort of armor around her that was shaped like a bunny. It formed at the best time as it blocked two bolts fired at the team. "I told you I love gummy bunnies!"

Barb and Juniper got the smart idea of combining their electricity together and shot the combined bolts at Honey Lemon; it was so strong that Baymax had to help her stay up.

"Wow. They really levelled up." Fred exclaimed. "Phase two!"

"Knucklehead, this is a very bad time to bring that up." Gogo elbowed him. "Tell me you have an idea." She gestured to Hiro, who poked his head from behind the bunny armor.

"What's the matter, Big Hero 6?" Barb taunted the superheroes. "Scared?" The bolt she shot at Honey Lemon started to melt the armor.

She groaned in pain. "I don't know how long I can hold them off." She told the group. "They're too powerful." She gasped as another bolt got shot at her.

"And disturbing." Wasabi winced.

Hiro stared at the melting armor, he had to think fast. "Fred." He whispered. "Ready to use those new powers you were talking about?"

"Oh, yeah. So ready. Chameleo-flage." He flickered invisible. "Just something I'm working on. We can talk about it later, whether I say it or not. It's up to you guys." He then crawled away from the shield, the villains, not sensing his invisible presence, continued attacking Honey Lemon.

"I really missed this." Barb grinned

"So did I!" Juniper cackled. "I feel more powerful than ever. Who cares if we look like fish?" She kicked a ball of electricity at the bunny armor which was the finishing blow, Honey Lemon got knocked into the superheroes and they were stunned on the ground.

"Why'd we wanna give this up for normal lives?" Barb questioned, as if she didn't sing a number about wanting to be better, as if she had a complete change of heart.

As if she and her daughter were acting nothing like themselves.

"I don't know, I'm having so much fun!" Juniper channeled a bolt, grinning maniacally as she prepared to finish off the superheroes.

But before anyone could react, something crashed into her, which caused the bolt to fly out of her arms and slam into the wall.

Hiro gasped with horror recognizing the someone who tackled Juniper. "Sis?"

"Noooo…" Rachel hissed. "What is she doing?" She didn't notice Ari slip from her watch, she was too busy watching the fight, a little disturbed at how vicious High Voltage had become. "She's gonna get killed!"

"Well, at least it'll be a cool way to go." Katie shrugged, but she got knocked over by her angry friend.

"Ari…?" Juniper froze, seeing the girl stand up and stand in front of Big Hero 6 in a protective manner.

"You said you were gonna stop doing crime, that you wanted to be good now." Ari began, her voice full of anger and fear. "This is NOT being better June!"

"You-"

"I don't know what happened or why you did this to yourself, but I'm not okay with you trying to kill Big Hero 6!"

Juniper's shocked expression turned furious. "You think I wanted to become this?" She gestured to herself. "This fish person?"

"Maybe!" Ari snapped. "You lied to me, and wouldn't tell me why you and Barb went on a crime spree after saying you wouldn't do it anymore!"

"I already told you I-"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

She gasped. "You think I'm lying?"

Ari's gaze darkened. "Yes." But then instantly regretted it. "I mean I-"

"I can't believe you." Juniper sighed. "You looked me in the eye and said you believe me and now you're changing your tune-" she froze. "You're afraid of me."

Ari shivered. "No I'm not!" She protested, the lie clear in her voice.

Her friend frowned. "You're shivering, of course you'd be afraid." Juniper clenched her jaw, the sharp fangs bared. "Are you that afraid of eels, afraid of me?"

"No!" She felt her heart grow heavy with terror. "S-Stop it Juniper..."

But the person in front of her wasn't the friendly and kind Juniper she knew, who was growling menacingly and her yellow eyes were full of malice. "What made you think you can boss me around?"

Ari cowered at her glare, but then noticed something on her neck. Glowing orange veins that seemed to be beeping, her curiosity got the better of her. "June, what is that on your neck?"

She reached to touch it, and that was a big mistake as her fingers barely brushed the slimy and scaled neck of her friend.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Juniper snarled, swiping her hand away. Too angry to pay attention and her sharp claws struck Ari's right eye.

Ari screamed in pain, stumbling down. She placed a hand to her eye, and felt something warm and sticky drop down her face. Blood…

The anger Juniper had faded when seeing her bleed, she looked down at her claws to see Ari's blood stained on them. "Oh no…" gasping with horror once realizing what she did. "Ari, I'm so sorry, I-" She tried to comfort her friend but Ari screamed and crawled away.

"Get away from me you monster! I never should've trusted you!" All she saw was a monster out for blood, her worst fear trying to get closer. "Get back you disgusting eel!"
Juniper froze at the words, deeply wounded by how much hate was in them. Before she could react, a tongue struck out from the shadows, wrapping her and Barb up.

"Gotcha!" Fred flickered visible.

"Ari." Hiro walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. "It's okay, I'm not gonna let them hurt you. They're caught now."

The teen turned mutant growled, but then she looked up. "Not quite." Her voice was full of bitterness as she kicked a bolt of electricity at the sprinklers.

"Look out!" Honey Lemon exclaimed as water started pouring from the sprinkles, Fred gasped.

"Nice try, through!" Juniper taunted as she and Barb started to generate electricity, which climbed up the chameleon's tongue.

"No, no, no, no!" Fred tried to tug the tongue off but he was hit with several painful volts that loosened the grip on High Voltage as they slipped.

He shook his head to shake off the pain, but gawked as the two slithered out of the gym, ooze dripping from their scales as they made their grand escape. "Total eel move!" He exclaimed after they left.

"It actually was." Wasabi blinked. While they weren't looking, a blue blur ran out and her friend chased after her.

Gogo grumbled. "Some kind of electric eel mutation. Fine. Yes. Fred was right. Let's move on."

"Ari, are you alright?" Baymax looked down at the girl who was still in Hiro's arms.

"She… attacked me." Ari stared at the blood that dripped from her eye and on Hiro's gauntlets. "June clawed me. Just like that."

"I know." Hiro hugged her. "But I don't think she did it with malice."

"How do you know that?"

"Because… she didn't act like herself after she mutated."

"Hiro has a point." Fred added. "I suspect they hold back when fighting us, to try and not kill us. But this time I think they were trying to kill us."

"Oh my god." Ari gasped. "Someone mutated High Voltage, Juniper told me that someone forced her and Barb to go on a crime spree and I didn't believe her and I called her a monster oh god-"

"Hey, hey, hey." Gogo placed a comforting arm on her. "You had to confront your traumatizing fear of eels, your reaction was justified." She gave glare at where the mutated dancers left. "I'm gonna have a few words with your 'friend' for clawing you like that-"

"Leiko, not helping." Honey Lemon scolded her.

"Did you say someone forced High Voltage to do all the recent crimes?" Hiro asked, when his sister nodded, he sighed. "I think the reason was because whoever forced them threatened you."

Ari looked up in horror. "What?"

"Yeah, when you and Megan left for the buffet table, Juniper told me that if she and Barb didn't do what this 'she' said, then you'd end up like Knox." Hiro frowned. "But I guess that happened to High Voltage instead."

"Someone threatened me." Her eyes widened. "There's someone out there, doing all these mutations."

"First Orso Knox, then Momakase, and now High Voltage." Honey Lemon gasped. "There's no way this is a coincidence." She took a small tube, and collected a sample of ooze for further study.

"Is your eye gonna be alright?" Wasabi asked.

"Ari's eye was not blinded." Baymax explained. "However, it is a deep scratch, and it will scar. It must be treated before there is an infection." He kneeled and rinsed the blood with a saline solution. "Please keep blinking and wear sunglasses over your eyes. Do not rub your eye or touch anything with it."

"This might help." Honey Lemon produced a few bandage wrappings from her purse. "I keep them incase of any injuries." She wrapped it over Ari's injured eye. "Does that feel better?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "How long until my eye heals?"

"Perhaps it will take three or more days since the scratch is deep." Baymax explained.

"Oh, joy."

Hiro then yelped. "What is it?" Ari asked him.
"Megan!"

The students were still screaming as they ran out of the school. Megan stayed behind to look for her missing friends, she turned around to see Hiro, and Ari was leaning on his shoulder. "Hiro! Ari!" She ran up to them, and gasped seeing the wrapping on the latter. "Your eye! What happened?"

"High Voltage happened." Ari sniffled.

"She got scratched by Juniper." Hiro explained. "Big Hero 6 managed to drive them off, and one of them tended her injury."

The reporter's eyes widened in horror but she shook it off. "Are you okay?" Megan asked his sister, but she snapped.

"No! My friend got turned into a freaky eel monster and I could've done something! She was probably being controlled and I blew up at her!" Ari cried out, a grip on her shoulder made her relax. "Sorry, Megan."

"I'm just glad you're okay." She hugged the two. "Both of you."

The hug ended at the sound of sirens, a police car screeched to the side and a man ran out of the car. "Megan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Dad." She gave him a hug.

"Uh, 'dad?'" Hiro questioned.

"He's Chief Diego Cruz." Ari explained. "Megan's dad, we met him at the aquarium."

"Oh."

Diego was shooting orders to his officers. "Get statements! Make sure all the students got out safely, and find out where those villains could've gone."

"So." Hiro walked up to Megan. "When you said your dad had the police force looking for you, you-"

"He ordered it." She replied. "He's the new chief of police." Megan turned around. "Dad, everything's okay. Big Hero 6 was here."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Superheroes."

Hiro and Ari frowned. "Guess he's not a fan." The latter mumbled, shooting him a dirty look.

"Are you two alright?" Detective Rosemary walked up to the kids, he instantly turned his attention to Ari when seeing the bandage. "Sweetie, are you okay?!"

"It's fine." Ari sighed. "I'm not blind in it-" She froze. "Wait. Where's Rachel?"

"What do you mean 'where's Rachel?" Hiro frowned.

"She was the one who got me to stay behind, and she was behind the buffet tables."

Hiro instantly paled, but Rachel's dad had a more verbal reaction. "She did what?!"

"I'm right here!" The group turned to see Rachel running up to them, Katie in her arms. "Katie tripped and got her leg bruised." She gestured to the bleeding cut on her leg.

Ari noticed her brother's internal panic and spoke up. "When was that?"

"Shortly after High Voltage slipped away." Rachel gestured. "Sorry we didn't stick around to see if you were okay."

The reporter gave her a look. "Now is not the time to make jokes."

Detective Rosemary agreed with her. "You two shouldn't have stayed behind in the first place, or have gotten involved." He turned to Ari, frowning. "But I'm glad you're safe."

"Define 'safe.'" Katie grumbled. "Ari got clawed in the face by her stupid crush! Talk about sick irony."

Ari whimpered, and the teens gave the cat a glare. "Let's just get you two home." Detective Rosemary led Rachel and Katie away from the scene and to safety.

"Wait, you had a crush on Juniper?" Megan turned to Ari, who reluctantly nodded. "I'm not gonna make fun of you but yikes, that's rough buddy."

"Yeah, it is." She sighed. "Goes along with the guilt."

"Not your fault." Hiro told her. "Chief Cruz?"

"Hm?" Diego turned to him, as he was beginning to dial a number.

"Why do you hate superheroes?" It was starting to bug him.

"You mean the vigilantes?" Diego questioned. "No city with a skilled police force needs them. A problem I plan to correct."

His eyes widened and he frowned, Ari and Megan shared the same response. "Jerk, I'd like to see him try to manage a star crisis." His sister mumbled, she was quickly shushed by Megan. Hiro didn't blame her for that.

This might be a problem later on… Chief Cruz was going to be a future headache as Fred warned them about in comics, but also he was her friend's dad which made it extra awkward. He'd have to bring it up with the comic plan but for now, they had bigger fish to fry.

In a dark location, Liv smiled. Today had been successful, not only in running the company without lifting a pinky, but her investments had gone well. She had been rereading an article that came out the day after her team had sent a "rescue" to the warehouse of her picking that was easy to set up as something probably caused by that missing gang member that had been reported by the news.

Sycorax Rescues Missing Aquarium Eels! The headline read, it did help boost their image, so it wasn't a hindrance letting AC and DC go.

Besides, she already had better eels to use. Liv turned around to grin at the tank. The two eels were blue in color, one mint-green, the other cerulean. They were around the size of humans, with clawed hands and sharp fangs, their yellow eyes showed nothing but emptiness thanks to her.

And Liv Amara smirked at the two eels that were once Barb and Juniper, for they were now mindless creatures that barely carried a sliver of their humanity. Not that they needed it anymore, after what message she got from the chief of police as he knew she was "concerned" about the monsters and reported what happened at Bridgeton.

It didn't matter, they'd be put to better use serving her.

AN: And that's the end of Something's Fishy

Favorite part writing this: Barb's singing, I LOVED that song in the episode

Least Favorite part writing this: literally everything that happened when HV mutated. Like seriously, it scarred Ari for life, literally

Yeah speaking of that... Ari getting clawed in the face is something that was always going to happen, originally it was going to happen during COM but then I was like "nah when else am I gonna have a good opportunity," and her being a trainwreck will help me write her more into the bg for this arc

Ari's still gonna have spotlight, but she's not going to be as involved in the plot as she was for this ep... yeah it wasn't fun writing her confrontation with a half-mutated Juniper, who's also scarred for life at this point.

Also speaking of plot there's Snooze- I mean Cruz... yeah he'll have some added spotlight for this arc but he gets his main antagonist rights revoked in this universe. Megan gets more spotlight tho, she needs it more than he does.

Speaking of Megan btw...

If you guys go thru my tumblr or just know me, you might know I'm a big shipper between Megan and Juniper, no spoilers if they get together in HOF, but I at least wanted to write them meeting at the dance.

And in any case, on like the 17th I'm going on vacation to Disney and will be back on July 3rd. So no updates during that time period! Enjoy this break to reread the previous installment or check out other bh6 fics (like Baymaksu on AO3 and fanfic. net), and be sure to leave a comment with all your feels, I'd like to have a nice cup of reader tear's while I'm chillaxing in the happiest place on earth

QOTW: Thoughts about the ending and the confrontation scene with Ari and Juniper + Ari's reaction? Was it what you predicted? Tell me all your feelings!