Ari ended up wandering by the docks, her brother's words kept echoing in her mind.
"It's about them, they're terrible people!"
"Maybe they weren't purposefully abusive but they didn't treat you right!"
"All you're doing is just making yourself miserable."
She frowned. "I'm not miserable…" Everything was fine, she was happy.
Right?
She had her family, her friends, but yet her mind kept her anchored to the past.
"Brain, why must you do this to me?" Ari groaned. She just wanted to move on, but noooo- her brother had to bring up her dead parents and call them terrible! Nerve of Hiro! They're not bad people, they just made bad choices!
Did that make them bad then?
"Arg!" She felt like tugging her hair. "Emotions suck!"
"I hope you don't start talking to yourself as a habit." Ari whipped her head around as Rachel walked up to her, Katie in her arms.
The blue was looking at her in curiosity. "What happened?"
"Argument with my brother." Ari sighed, she could tell Rachel and Katie, right? They're always honest with me. "He… he said some stuff about my parents, made me mad."
"Oh." Rachel's green gaze darkened. "What did he say about your parents?"
"They're my parents, I'm supposed to love them." Ari replied. "But Hiro thinks they were bad to me and I don't wanna hate them since they're g-"
"Gone?" Katie gestured with a paw. "Take it from someone who lost her parents, mine sucked and I don't feel bad about hating them."
"Katie!" Rachel hissed.
"What? They always saw me as the runt of the litter." She shrugged. "I only really miss my brother and sisters."
Ari didn't know the feline had siblings. "I'm sorry you lost them."
"Meh." Katie glanced away. "I'll feel better when the monster that killed them is behind jail."
"Speaking of siblings." Rachel cleared her throat. "Ari, I don't think your brother meant that out of malice, he was just worried about you."
The scruffy brunette had a point, but Ari hated it. "He didn't have to call them terrible parents!"
"Well, why did he say that?"
"He thinks that they punished me too harshly." She explained. "Maybe they went overboard sometimes, but he had no right to accuse them of being terrible parents!"
Katie thought otherwise. "I mean I can see he has a point." Words could not describe the glare Ari sent towards the blue.
"I think it's up to you to decide how to feel about them." Rachel explained. "Maybe wait until you remember more about them, that's the best advice I can give."
"Thanks Rach." The sweater girl sighed. "I think it'd be easier if I didn't get these weird dreams about this one guy."
Rachel's eyes widened. "What guy?"
"This guy named Rowan, I don't know him, but he feels familiar…" Ari murmured. "Do you recognize that name?"
Her friend hesitated for a moment, eyes glancing to the ocean. "Not really, but I think it's good you're remembering."
"Sometimes I'd prefer to forget, nowadays I remember bad stuff." Ari rubbed the back of her head. "But maybe it'll help me figure out how I got amnesia in the first place." Or how I got to San Fransokyo even.
Rachel's expression was neutral. "Well, I hope you get good memories of your parents, it certainly helps me remember my brother."
Ari blinked, Rachel never mentioned her late brother, not even his name! Not that she blamed the scruffy brunette, it was hard for Hiro to talk about Tadashi after-all.
Curiosity got the better of her. "What was he like?"
Katie bristled, glaring at Ari. "Hey, don't talk about-"
"It's fine Katie, I brought him up." Rachel waved her down. "Well, he was pretty funny, a little bit crazy about Pokemon and dogs."
"He used to watch hours and hours of dog videos." Katie twitched her whiskers. "He was that obsessed!"
Rachel giggled. "Yeah, he also wanted to get into politics, wanted to make a change." She looked at the ocean, the waves gently lapping against the docs. "He wanted to make the world a better place… too bad the crueler parts of this world got to him first."
Ari didn't push the issue, but something nostalgic stirred in her as Rachel talked about her brother. Did I ever meet him? She wondered. Is Rowan her late brother? Ari then shook her head. No, that can't be it.
Rachel would've recognized her when they first met if she was her brother's old friend.
"You should be getting home." The scruffy brunette pointed up to the setting sky.
"Oh, you're right!" Ari exclaimed, then looked down. "I just don't want to face Hiro."
Katie flicked an ear. "Why? I'm sure he's worried for you."
Ari winced as she remembered their tense argument. "I… said some really awful things during that fight."
What had she been thinking? Bringing up Hiro's parents… the robotics genius didn't remember his, but their aunt clearly missed the two and she was going to be furious hearing what Ari said.
"Ah." Rachel blinked. "Well, you can't ignore it forever."
"I know." Ari pinched the bridge of her nose. "I guess I should apologize to Hiro."
"That's probably the best."
Rachel had a point, she couldn't hide from her problems after-all. "Guess I better go home." As she glanced back to her friends before going home, both Rachel and Katie waved.
Ari waved back, then headed back to the cafe.
After she left, Katie turned to Rachel. "You should have told her-"
Rachel turned her head towards the blue on her shoulder so quickly Katie almost fell off. "Like that would've made things better! Do you think Ari would still talk to me if I told her then and now?!"
Katie winced. "Well giving her no answers doesn't help. You know how those people treated her."
"Yeah, and seeing her go through that pain all over again is not helpful." Rachel sighed. "Just let her slowly take it in, and then I'll ask Mom and Dad if it's okay to tell her the truth at last."
The reason they hadn't was for Ari's health in the first place, but maybe it was going to hurt the sweater girl more the longer they held it off. "Well, whatever happens. I'm still here." Katie nuzzled her. "Let's go home, I'm sure Sarah wouldn't miss that ice cream pint in the freezer."
"Don't give me ideas!"
"I'm not hearing a no…"
"If we get caught, I'm blaming you."
"I can live with that!"
Meanwhile, as the sun setted and night rose, Muirahara Woods was still chattering with all sorts of critters. An owl hooted as Chris darted through the forest, carrying a box full of honeycombs.
"This is the darn spot." Last time he was in this location was his failed attempt to remove the eavesdropper.
He recalled the pain from his battle wounds afterwards. Stupid bear, but this time I'll get the drop on it. Sniffing the air confirmed the location, he placed the box down and hopped into the trees.
Out of the bushes, a grizzly padded out, smelling the honey and desiring a sweet treat. As he hopped onto its back, it tried shaking him off. "Easy! Easy… I'm not going to hurt you." This time. "I just need a little skosh of fur." He bit into the bear's neck which got it to throw him across the clearing.
Not wanting a fight, the bear padded off, while Chris smirked as he had some of its fur in his teeth.
"Gotcha."
He carefully brought the sample back to Liv, she placed the fur on a scanner and got to work. While Chris stood to the side, he felt an extra hair in his mouth, and plucked it out. Least I don't have to do that again. Bad enough dealing with canine fur.
"Almost done." A picture of a bear was on her screen, she pressed a few more buttons. "There."
A red light descended on Bessie, and the chamber doors closed as there was a flashing red light. For a few moments Sycorax was powered off, but the power came back on as the chamber turned green.
Both of them looked up as a hulking figure exited it. A bear twice as it's counterparts, but the difference was instead of fur, it had Bessie's rock for its body.
"It's perfect." He awed at the sight.
Liv agreed with him, Bessie was going to solve their hero problem once and for all. "Goodbye, Big Hero 6."
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: You ever feel like you have no best friend?
David Ferns: I am right next to you
Fredzilla: That's cold
Sara Ferns: Meh, I mean I like y'all but will you kill a person for me
Hiro Hamada: Yes
Wasabi: NO
Honey Lemon: I don't wanna know who you want dead
Gogo: Better not be someone in here
Sara Ferns: It's not!
Sara Ferns: I'm just saying… if I need a hitman
Fredzilla: I know a guy
Honey Lemon: O.O
Fredzilla: He's not a hitman.
Hiro Hamada: I don't wanna know
David Ferns: WHY are you guys talking about this
David Ferns: Why can't we talk about normal things for once in the group chat?
Gogo: lol what's normal
"I hope you're hungry! I came up with a new recipe today and I think you two really gonna like it." Ari was seated by the dinner table, trying her best to not look at Hiro as Cass brought two bowls over. "Acai and salami bowl!"
Both teens winced. "Oh…" Hiro scrunched his nose.
Cass didn't notice their disgust. "I know what you're thinking. Do those two things go together? And my answer is yes!" She stirred Hiro's bowl. "The sweetness of the berries mixes with the funk of salami to create a full-bodied flavor!"
"Does this have pork?" Ari asked, poking the food with a fork.
"Don't worry, I made it with you in mind." Cass took a spoonful and pointed it to Hiro. He winced, not wanting to be near the weird smelling meal.
"Oh, I bet it does."
"Go ahead, taste it!" Reluctantly, he took a bite, it was amazing how he managed to hide his disgust. "Well? What do you think?"
Hiro groaned and swallowed. "It's, um, tasty."
Buzz. Their aunt looked at Baymax. "Oh, what was that?"
"Nothing!" Buzz. "Baymax just has a glitch!" Buzz. "Been doing it all day."
"Smooth." Ari mumbled to him, even Mochi wasn't buying it Hiro!
Cass faced him. "Oh, well can you fix it?"
"Yeah, totally! In fact I'll go do that right now!" He got up and dragged Baymax up the stairs. "Come on, Baymax!"
"What about your salami berry bowl?"
"I'll finish it later!" Buzz.
"And then he doesn't." Ari rolled her eyes.
Cass sighed. "You haven't even touched yours."
"I'm not hungry." Buzz. "Oh come on!" She shouted up the stairs.
"Sorry!" Hiro called back at her.
"Is something wrong?" Cass raised an eyebrow. "Hiro told me you two had gotten into a fight."
Of course he did, I hurt his feelings. "He said something about my parents." Ari mumbled. "I said some really bad things and I feel awful about it but don't know how to apologize."
"Oh." She took a seat next to her. "Y'know, the day we adopted you, Detective Rosemary talked with me for a long time. He wanted to make sure you were happy with us. And, he told me that if you ever felt conflicted about your parents, that it was okay, and it's okay if you need help to talk about it."
"You mean like seeing a therapist?" Ari raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah!" Cass nodded. "It's okay to see one, I saw one after my brother and sister-in-law passed, and Hiro and I both saw one after Tadashi…"
"I lost my brother, it's not the same as losing a parent, but he was still family I lost."
Ari flinched at that memory. "I…" She wanted to tell Cass what she said, she was so mean to her brother, who just wanted to help her, Ari felt like someone had to punish her for those awful things she said.
But she couldn't find the words. "Does therapy make it better?"
"It doesn't make all the hurt go away, but it helps you cope with it." Cass patted her on the shoulder.
"Thanks Aunt Cass." Ari smiled. Feeling better, she decided to take a bite of her food. "Huh…" She chewed it for a bit before swallowing. "Tastes fine, dunno why Hiro didn't finish it."
Cass decided to take a bite herself, and have a spoonful of Hiro's leftovers, she spat the spoon out in disgust. "Uhg! I can't believe you two like this!"
Ari giggled with amusement.
"-in general." As Ari walked up the stairs, she started to hear Hiro and Baymax. "But sometimes, in certain situations, people lie so others don't get hurt."
"But lying tends to hurt people emotionally."
"It's complicated." Yeah. She thought back to when they kept her in the dark about their secret identities, which was for good reason. Though I just kept forgetting to tell them about the water powers… I wonder if they could've helped Hiro in the ba- stop thinking about it!
"Ari?" Hiro noticed her, she flinched. "Ari…"
"Goodnight Hiro." She replied, tucking herself into bed and shut her eyes, too scared to look at him.
"Ari is still upset at you."
"Yeah, I shouldn't have said that." Hiro rubbed the back of her head. "I'm sorry for pushing the issue, I just wanted to help, but I went about it badly."
Why was he apologizing? Ari was the one who started yelling at him! "No, I'm sorry!" She stood up. "For saying that about your parents!"
Hiro stared back at her. "Not gonna lie, that hurt sis." She winced. "But I shouldn't have pushed you as hard as I did."
"You were just trying to help, I overreacted." She mumbled. "It's all my fault."
Buzz. They both turned at Baymax. "There is no one truly at fault." He explained. "Both of you had apologized for the argument, there is no need to blame either side."
"Baymax has a point." Hiro gestured. "We can talk about it more in the morning, if you still feel bad."
Ari honestly didn't want to bring up that argument ever again. "No it's fine… so are we good?"
"We're good."
She didn't even need to check Baymax to know her brother was telling the truth, before she went back to her bed, Ari walked over and wrapped Hiro in a tight hug. "I love you Hiro."
He chuckled, hugging back. "Love you too Ari."
Next evening at SFIT…
Hiro kept stirring his food, his mind on his current dilemma. Why didn't Baymax buzz when Liv lied? Did she somehow know he had a lie detector and answered his question to throw him off the track? No, maybe not. Was she just a really good liar? He didn't know and it drove him nuts!
"Hiro, you are not eating." Baymax noticed. "Do you have gastrointestinal issues?"
"No, I'm fine." He lifted a spoon. "Aunt Cass just gave me a leftover salami bowl for lunch." Why did his aunt have to do that to him? He was supposed to be going home right now, but they always had the food court open after school for the students that lived in dorms or needed an extra meal.
Gogo walked up to their table with a plate of her own food. "What are you eating? And why?"
"Don't ask."
"How'd it go with Liv?" She started drinking her can of soda.
"According to Baymax's lie detector, she isn't the one making the monsters." Gogo nearly spat out her soda, but swallowed it down.
"Really?"
He rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, but it doesn't make sense." Hiro placed his hands to his chest. "Evidence aside, my gut is telling me she's behind all this. Not to mention what she said to my sister, and what her 'Chris-sistant' said to Wasabi."
"Hmm." Gogo nodded in agreement, while she wasn't too into the theory as Hiro was, she did notice what kind of effect the woman and her assistant had on their little circle of friends.
"There has to be something I'm missing." He could figure it out by himself, right?
Meanwhile, the engineer swallowed a spoonful of rice. "Well, I'm sure you and your gut will work this out."
Buzz.
He stared at her. "Did you just- did Gogo just lie?"
"No." Baymax told him. "According to my database, Gogo has never lied."
"It was my phone." She pulled it out. "There's a monster robbing the San Fransokyo Trust."
Hiro's eyes widened. "As in the city's gold reserve?"
"Yeah."
"A monster? Gold? This has to be Liv."
"Ultra armor. Let's go." They got up and ran out of the food court, it took awhile for Baymax to catch up though.
One geared up, Baymax was flying to the San Fransokyo Trust, everyone on the robot's back or clinging to his arms. Fred being Fred, provided music. "Big Hero 6, in ultra armor. Gonna fight a big scary monster!"
"Must you sing?" Wasabi questioned.
"Do we know which monster it is?" Honey Lemon asked Gogo.
"No clue." She shrugged.
"High Voltage again?" Fred suggested. "Maybe Orso Knox? Ooh, perhaps Momakase! Haven't seen her in awhile."
"I'd prefer anything but Sparkles-" Hiro paused. "Knox isn't even a monster anymore!"
"I think he could still turn!" Fred exclaimed. "Maybe he has a chip on his arm or something."
"Chipped?" They all looked at Fred.
"Yeah, we all saw the glowing lines around High Voltage and Momakase, it's where the chip that turned them is!" He noticed their gawking stares. "What?"
"That information would've been helpful a while ago!" Gogo pointed out.
"Sorry."
They got to the bank and saw a giant green rock bear. "Woah! A totally new rock monster!" Fred was the only one who reacted enthusiastically. "It's so-"
"Big." Wasabi flinched, as it was twice the size of a regular bear.
"Awesome!" The bear started breaking the vault door.
"Guys, protect the vault!" Hiro commanded. "We can't let it get that gold." They took their positions, Gogo striked first by throwing a disk.
It bounced off, the bear growled and charged at her, but Baymax grabbed it before it could. Didn't last long as it threw Baymax over, then Fred roared fire, which had no effect.
"Ack!" Fred screamed as he was tossed like a ragdoll, were it not for the ultra-armor there would be bruises, but he was stuck.
...Until the bear let go of it's prey and noticed Wasabi charging, plasma blades blazing. The bear roared a green laser at him, he slid to the ground, feeling a little funny and tired.
He whimpered as the bear extended a claw, but his plasma blades didn't reactivate and they sparked. "Guys, help! I'm out of power!"
"Gotcha!" Gogo came to his rescue before the bear swung it's paw down.
"Thank you." He squeaked as she went after the bear, she, Honey Lemon, and Fred attacked but it had little effect.
"A rock monster knocking out our tech, like…" Hiro realized. "Bessie! Guys, it's a Bessie monster!"
"Yeah, my gear's totally dead." Wasabi noted.
Bessie then started playing with Fred like a toy again. "I think it-she's part bear." Gogo frowned.
"Sounds about right." Fred slurred. "Also… halp!"
Honey Lemon lassoed Bessie's arm with a chem lasso. "Leave him alone!" But it backfired as after letting go of Fred, Bessie janked the chemist so close she could feel Bessie's hot breath.
She managed to get loose and dodge one breath attack, but got hit by the other. "Oh no!" Bessie chased after her. "Definitely part bear!"
"Hang on, Honey!" Gogo skated to her rescue, allowing her to escape but then she got hit, crashing into the others. With her prey defeated, Bessie lumbered towards the vault.
Hiro and Baymax were the last two standing. "If you want the gold, you're gonna have to go through us." The robotics genius declared.
Bessie roared, trying to blast them but Baymax dodged, they collided. Then, a breath attack hit Hiro, he felt the exhaustion climb through him. "No!" He cried as Baymax got flung into the vault door.
"I have been hit…" He slurred.
"Baymax!" Bessie huffed and reached for the door, then roared as a rocket fist hit her on the chin and she was flung onto the ceiling.
Hiro gasped. "Ha! Baymax!" He ran to him. "How did you do that? I thought you were hit!"
"I lied." Baymax turned to him.
He blinked. "What?"
"So that you would not get hurt."
"Thanks buddy." They fist-bumped, but then saw Bessie snarling. This time her attack hit, Hiro felt himself collapse under the blinding light.
By the time it faded, clouds entered his vision. "Huh?" He saw a Bessie shaped hole in the vault wall.
"Hiro, are you okay?" Honey Lemon lifted him up, he was too exhausted to get up.
"Yeah." He wasn't injured. "But Bessie got away."
"With the gold." Gogo frowned.
"Liv got what she wanted after-all."
Superhero Squad group chat:
Flame Jumper: Is it just me or did Bessie's breath attack make me sleepy
Speed Queen: Not just you.
Captain Cutie: Yeah I'm so tired, and so is Baymax
Ariel: Bessie?
Speed Queen: Bessie is a rock bear monster now. Don't ask
Ariel: I'm? I am confusion?
Chop Chop: Same.
Chem Girl: Thanks for driving us home Wasabi
Chop Chop: No problem.
Captain Cutie: Night guys, I'm about to conk out
Ariel: You're not even here?
Captain Cutie: Ha! You fell for it!
Speed Queen: Low blow
Captain Cutie: Ari?
Flame Jumper: Lol she gone
His aunt tucked him in since he was too tired, Ari was already asleep. "Night Hiro, sweet dreams."
"Thanks, Aunt Cass." He yawned. "Sweet dreams."
"Wish I knew what you did all day to make you so tired."
"School." Buzz.
"Hmm." She looked over to Baymax in his charging station. "You better fix that glitch." Then went downstairs.
Hiro managed to find the energy to hobble over to Baymax. "Aunt Cass is right. Fixing your glitch, turning you into a lie detector wasn't my best idea." He pulled the chip out, and placed it on his desk, at least he turned his watch into one if need be, wasn't as accurate, but still.
"No matter what Liv says, I know she's behind the monsters." He saw the warning signs himself back during sub-level nine.
"The real question is why?" Why would she turn villains into monsters? For profit, control, she got a kick out of it? Whatever the reason, he would find out.
And stop her, no matter what it takes.
As for Liv herself, she yet again entered the large chamber, the lights turning on as she walked up to it.
"Good news, I got the gold." She didn't know if the person inside could hear her, but she still talked to her anyway. Chris understood why she was doing this, and went along, but he wasn't like her, he at least had other things in life if she couldn't succeed.
This… this was all she had left, helping her. "I promised you I'd do whatever it takes…" she remembered making that vow months ago, back when she entered the chamber and saying their final goodbyes, it wouldn't be final anymore as she wiped away the glass.
Revealing a woman who looked exactly the same as her.
"Liv."
AN: And thaaaat's Lie Detector! Hope you guys enjoyed the end!
Next time will be another multi-chaptered original chapter (like Mikan's Werewolf but 3 parts instead of 2), and I'm really excited to share it with you guys.
But until then here's the QOTW: What do you think Rachel's hiding from Ari?