AN: My apologies for the slow updates, many thanks for any who are still following!
I've also realized I have not done Aunt Cass POV here yet (or Honey Lemon's, for that matter). This must be remedied! Plus, here's a quote that fits Aunt Cass so well. Please enjoy!
Chapter 12
"Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can't cry it away or eat it away or starve it away or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. It's just there, and you have to survive it. You have to endure it. You have to live through it and love it and move on and be better for it and run as far as you can in the direction of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your own desire to heal." ~ Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Thingscenery
The more Aunt Cass looked at the overall damage, the more she had to remind herself of what she still had. She really had her doubts about the Lucky Cat at this point. It was hard to believe the café was twelve years old this year, and that the house had seen so much transformation in that time. It was eleven years ago when her life completely changed, and her two nephews came into her keep. The house and the café came as her promise to them to provide some sort of sense of normalcy, and that much needed want for a grounded family. She knew her brother-in-law's lifestyle of globe trotting to wherever their services were needed was something that could not be controlled. That was one of the unspoken complaints of missionary work, for doctors and nurses alike. But knowing what a complete family unit felt like for their young boys came hard. Their dad tried to make the most of it when they all were together though. She gave him credit for that.
Aunt Cass did what she could trying to fill their parents shoes. She had so many doubts of her own abilities at first, as the reasons for the loss of her nephews' parents became harder to explain. How long could she keep explaining the 'why' to them, if the gentle made-up stories didn't work anymore? As a coping mechanism, she finally thought up different forms of positive distractions to help them move forward. Her two nephews needed for her to be strong and to guide them, to have that no-nonsense attitude combined with positive reinforcement.
The idea of painting the attic to make that room more their own was anything short of an adventure. They both turned out to be very clever, helpful boys for their young age. Tadashi wanted to do it all, but she had to compromise with asking him to help with the lower parts, as well as keeping Hiro from painting the floor, while she worked on the upper parts and the ceilings.
The three of them ended up painting everything in that house with the craziest combination of colors to brighten it up, including some parts of the garage. It would bring in happy spirits and make their parents laugh, she made them believe. This was their new home, no more tiny apartments anymore. The boys had grown up here, they helped make this place into what it was today. These memories of Tadashi's influence became one of the things that helped keep her spirits up when she missed him. Especially recently, when faced with the depressing thoughts about what to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, this wasn't the first time she had to figure something out for the holidays after experiencing a personal loss.
Then the earthquake hit.
Aunt Cass wasn't going to lie, the damage looked very extensive. Far worse even than the Hamada brothers at their creative best when their inventions had rocked the place, quite literally. The last thing she wanted was to lose everything, but that was her anxiety talking again. The others reassured her the damages could be salvageable. Replaced. Hopefully the insurance would cover the cost of much of the damage. But the memories from her nephew's work most likely would be lost.
The broken heirloom dishes and like gifts from their Japanese relatives, and the pictures that got damaged, all of those were even harder to mend. Even in this day and age of everything digital, Aunt Cass still preferred to cling on to things that were still real, palatable. Those were just 'things' though, she bitterly reminded herself with a sigh. She was most relieved that Hiro was okay, even though he did look very much shaken up by everything that had happened.
Aunt Cass tried to reassure herself again that the floors upstairs appeared to look okay, but she still worried if it was a good idea to have all three of them on the top floor, for fear of a collapse.
"Your blood pressure has been rising, Aunt Cass," Bay max interrupted her stream of thoughts. He was helping her set shelves back up, move heavy things back into place, and pick up stock that fell in the café's kitchen, pantry, and walk-in cooler. "Why are you becoming distressed?"
"Oh Baymax, I'm just worried… there's so much to consider," the brunette sighed. Then there was Baymax. He also had those little unmistakable Tadashi-isms about him that made it clear to her how Hiro latched onto the robot so completely.
"Does experiencing the destructive effects of nature also make you feel distress?"
"Yes, very much so," Aunt Cass agreed with his assessment. She gripped her clipboard, pausing from reviewing her usable inventory against her damaged goods. There were still a couple dozen good eggs left. The rest of the broken ones they had cleaned up yesterday. The baked goods from yesterday didn't have a chance. She ended up offering them as refreshments to the first responders, her staff, and Fred before seeing them off. But these raw, perishable items would need to be cooked and eaten soon, for fear that she could not keep them properly refrigerated any longer. Already she was wondering what to make for lunch from all of this. And yet, the robot was still studying her.
"It's because earthquakes take away the feeling of security," Aunt Cass finally explained to the billowy nurse-bot.
"Is it like a personal loss?" his response sounded more like he was connecting this with previous input again.
"You could say that, yes… depending on how bad the damage is to the house," she had raised her finger tips to her chin briefly in thought. The brunette sighed, watching his simple expression before turning back to the inventory. A part of her felt silly that she was talking to a robot, and yet, she also found it rather cathartic.
"Will you feel better after the damage is assessed?"
"I may," the weary aunt seemed to appreciate the robot's thoughtfulness about her own state of mind though. "It is the 'not knowing' that makes me so worried."
Baymax remained silent, turning to look around the room. But he then turned one step more back in her direction before asking a new question.
"Why do people hurt each other?"
Aunt Cass stopped what she was counting, taken by surprise by this next question. Baymax is a robot, right? Why is he asking so many questions like a curious five year old now? It almost felt like she was talking to Tadashi and Hiro when they were younger. And yet, she was in some sense. Tadashi's programming fueled the nurse-bot's knowledge with everything her nephew knew and loved, along with what their parents had strived to do.
At least this question wasn't nearly as difficult as that time she had to explain to her nephews why people die, but it still required a moment of thought. More so, it left her wondering what exactly the healthcare robot was referring to. Her first thoughts settled on Mr. Callaghan, and then Hiro's actions in response to what really happened at SFIT. It was something she did not forget so easily after Honey Lemon had confided in her how Hiro was overcome with a fit of lethal rage. Her nephew had a harder time getting over this loss, more so than the first time.
On the other hand, she also heard more recent news that the superhero team had been investigating the looting yesterday. This detail was much too vague to make a call from also. "Why do you ask, Baymax?"
"It is not sound judgement, if they want to feel better."
Yes, that is true. She felt relief that Baymax understood this much. Because that's the kind of advice she had told the boys when they were younger, especially Tadashi. It was sage advice her mother used to tell her and her sister when they were growing up. Be kind to someone instead, and their thankful smile will make you feel better.
"Sometimes, when someone is hurting… they want others to know it by hurting them in return. And even though we think this will justify the pain, it doesn't. It's always better to find out how to help others instead."
"What if the person is not distressed when they want to hurt others?" he asked next, blinking and nodding his head.
The questions just kept coming, and Aunt Cass found this one even harder to answer. She was going to have to dig deeper. "Who is this person?"
"They were people in a group called a gang," Baymax answered freely. "They wanted to hurt us, when we began to apprehend them."
"Oh.. oh, right," Aunt Cass nodded, setting down the clipboard and rubbing her forehead.
Yes, good.. he was talking about yesterday. They were fighting gangs then… wait, when did that become the new norm? She was sure to have a whole lot more gray hairs by the new year at this rate.
No... forget the psychobabble, the nurse-bot could also be trying to tell her something. "Did Hiro and the others get hurt?" the guardian asked him instead, her worry intensifying again. Hiro seemed okay, in that she did not see anything very concerning, but he was getting better at hiding things. She did notice how sore Fred looked when he moved though.
"I am sorry, I am not permitted to disclose that information."
And that means 'yes'. Of course, there were Hiro's refinements to the programming that she also had to contend with. "Oh, right. I see... I'll ask him then," Aunt Cass patted Baymax on the arm as she moved past him.
"I still do not know - why do gang people want to hurt others?" he waddled slightly after her.
The change on words did help make the answer come easier for her this time. "Well, from what I understand, gang members do it for money and power."
"Is money and power why they chose to be a bad person?
"Sometimes. Other times, people are just naturally.. attracted to what is evil. They actually prefer it."
Baymax tilted his head. "Humans become who they are, by what they choose to enjoy?"
"Often times, yes… it's what makes humanity unique. And it's also why rules are set to teach the differences between right and wrong," Aunt Cass wanted to make that point understood. She turned her head when she heard someone at the front door, knocking.
"Oh, it's Wasabi and Honey Lemon!" she walked more quickly to the door to unlock it for them. Honey Lemon was in a walking boot, knee brace, and leaned against Wasabi while he carried one of her crutches. "This is a surprise. Come on in!"
"I had to come and help," Honey Lemon explained to the café owner.
"Oh goodness, you didn't have too!" Aunt Cass immediately felt bad after seeing her injuries.
"Honey insisted I bring her," Wasabi added. "She was not going to stop texting me until I did!"
"How are you?" Honey Lemon still managed to gingerly walk over Aunt Cass and give her a hug. "This must have been so scary! The restaurant I was working at just completely collapsed on us."
"Yes, it looks bad here, but I'm hoping it'll be fine," Aunt Cass patted her shoulder, but still held onto the tall girl for support. "Thank you, sweetie. But, you really need to take it easy for yourself!"
"Oh, I'm trying too, Auntie Cass… I was just going stir crazy just sitting around, worrying about you guys," Honey confessed.
"The others still here?" Wasabi wondered, glancing around. He handed the crutch back to Honey, motioning for her to use it too.
"They're upstairs," the short brunette sighed, glancing upward. "I'm worried if all of you should go up too. Not sure how sound the floors are there."
"I can scan the structures for any weak spots," Baymax informed her, as if on queue.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, Hiro has added programming for search and rescue missions."
"You can?" Aunt Cass stepped up to him. If that was the case, she may not need Hiro to clear everything away from all the walls. "Oh, this is wonderful… it'll save me from so much worry!"
"I will scan the upper structures for any damage now," Baymax proceeded toward the stairs to go up to the second floor living area.
"If there is damage, you may still need to clear that area," Wasabi offered, looking upwards to where Baymax went.
"Yes, but at least it will keep me from paying an additional inspection charge," Aunt Cass reasoned with them. She had to also wonder why Hiro did not tell her Baymax could do this. "Then I can put more into the repairs."
The three upstairs had gone into idle chit-chat, with the occasional instruction of what goes into where. Most of it was loose items that fell from the shelves by the side with Hiro's desk, his dirty laundry, clean laundry that was supposed to be put away, and the rest was just moving the dresser and chests away from the wall with the windows there. It hadn't been as bad of an experience as he feared it to be, so far.
Well, apart from having to explain why he got suddenly quiet when they came across a handful of sweatshirts, including his old navy hoodie, in a box. Hiro told them that a couple months ago, he found that they had little GPS trackers attached under the clothing tags on them. He noticed them after going through all the files and apps on his brother's tablet when looking for stuff in regards to Baymax. The younger discovered that one of the apps was a GPS tracking app. He also saw one blip still active in it, and it came from his favorite navy hoodie. That was when he fully understood, and soon did a more thorough inspection of his other clothes. Surprisingly, the new SFIT hoodie he wore now did not have one.
Gogo just shook her head, slowly. The others did not know about that detail, but it did explain why some nights Tadashi left the lab in a rush. Fred just rolled with it, naturally, and told Hiro he was just really that popular if everyone liked tracking his whereabouts. Yep, Tadashi was that hardcore about making sure he didn't get in over his head with the bot-fighting.
"This is also why it's sooo important to recycle, reuse, and reduce, little buddy," Fred teased the younger Hamada, just to change the subject when he came across yet another stray set of boxers.
"No it isn't!" GoGo audibly groaned.
Hiro had a comeback that most of his clothes were hand-me-down's anyway, but the sound of Honey Lemon's and Wasabi's voices coming up the stairs stopped his train of thought.
"Whoa, guess who's here!" Fred chimed in.
"Hey guys!" Honey Lemon waved. Again, she was getting a piggyback ride from Wasabi as he carried her up the stairs. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking… but I wanted to come over and help too."
The other two left the talking to Hiro at this point, as they looked back to him. He rubbed his neck, realizing how much they were also worried about him and his place.
Was this what it was like to have real friends? "Wow… yeah, thank you."
Wasabi knelt to let the tall blonde slide down, then held onto her arm while she attempted to stand. "It's okay. You got a lot to do here… and it'll be so much easier with some help," Honey Lemon told Hiro. Just the way she glanced around the attic reminded him that they hadn't really been up here after Tadashi was gone.
Hiro knew exactly what she meant too. Yes, they didn't know Tadashi as long as he did, they could only fathom what it was like for the both of them to grow up together in this house, this room. But his brother had become a good friend to all of them, so this was the least that they could do to share the burden.
"Oh… wait," Hiro suddenly thought to roll his computer chair over for Honey Lemon to sit on.
Aunt Cass also came up the stairs with more news, but she stayed in the stair well with Baymax close behind her. "Good news… the load bearing frame of the house is still solid. You won't need to clear out all the walls, just this wall here. But still clear away things from around the windows, because they need to be checked," she called out to them.
"Yes, Baymax scanned the whole frikin' house," Wasabi finally explained.
Fred raised an eyebrow, stifling a laugh. "He can do that?"
"The Lucky Cat needs healthcare too," GoGo stated sarcastically, before popping her gum.
"Okay, so I'm using Baymax as a beta for my other project this semester," Hiro quickly explained that, before changing topics. "But since you guys are here… might as well finish picking up this place."
"Righteo!" Fred stooped down to pick up a couple of Hiro's toy robots, and pretended they were fighting each other on their way back up to the shelf.
"Must be doing okay, since you're here," GoGo looked to Honey Lemon.
"I'm still sore, but yeah, I'll be okay," the chemist turned the chair to look over to Hiro. "Hey Hiro, I really do appreciate that you came yesterday to help. All you guys."
"Gotta do what we gotta do… we're a team, right?" Hiro smiled weakly, rubbing his arm nervously. "Sorry that we couldn't stay with you at the hospital though."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Hiro. Once the troublemakers left, it was really pretty dull," she shrugged.
"It was?" Wasabi found that surprising, all things considering.
"Yeah, apart from the surge of other people coming in for care."
Hiro looked around again and grabbed an empty box from his bed to drop on the floor. "Just put whatever that fell to the floor there. I'll put them back up later."
"You sure?" Wasabi looked at him. Of course, putting mismatched, unlike things in the same box would bother him.
"Yup."
"All this, over here, is his stuff anyway," Gogo leaned in to whisper to the physicist. It was more of that sense of knowing how much neater Tadashi was in comparison also. Even though the earthquake had knocked many things off the elder Hamada's shelves, the aftermath wasn't nearly as messy looking as Hiro's area. They were careful to not discuss why all of Tadashi's belongings were still there.
The group fell silent again for a few long minutes, with only Fred's humming as background noise as they picked up and placed things either in boxes, or to other areas of the room that was declared safe. The wall with two windows under his desk had to be fully cleared without a doubt. The patio door area was cleared from earlier, but the three other big bay windows were what his aunt wanted cleared. Two of these, their beds were in front of them.
"I guess everything's okay at your place?" Hiro asked Wasabi as he worked.
"It's alright. A big mess, but everything's chill."
"We'll just go to your place next to clean up!" Fred boldly suggested.
"No.. that's just fine! It's not that bad," the big guy was quick to refute.
"Your loss," GoGo teased him, knowing full well why he didn't want their help.
He just sighed. Wasabi straightened up to look around, mostly in search of a distraction. "So, the beds. Would you like me to push them away from the windows, little man?"
A good distraction it was, as it left Hiro thinking for a second or three before responding. His bed, yes, obviously. But his brother's bed? It no longer served its purpose anymore, and it was the one thing that bothered him the most about that side of the room. However… that what-if still nagged at him. He finally exhaled, realizing he was holding his breath and that the others were all now looking at him in That Way again. "Just move mine. Tadashi's… we can take it out."
"Yeah… okay," Wasabi nodded, a little more solemnly. He walked over to push Hiro's bed back, before asking for further instruction for the next steps.
"How do you want to do this?" Wasabi looked over to the younger Hamada.
"Probably need to pick up the stuff that fell there first, then move the mattresses downstairs," Hiro suggested. "I'll ask Aunt Cass what she wants to do."
"Gotcha," Wasabi nodded, before he and Hiro walked in that direction.
Honey Lemon was listening and decided to roll over on the chair toward that side of the attic to help. "I'll hand these books to you, to put on the shelves," she offered to Hiro.
"Actually… we can box up some of this too," he turned to look for another box. "Like the books, and other random stuff."
Wasabi stepped in carefully around the fallen items to check the shelves, to make sure the latches that held them to the walls were still okay. "Oh, whoa.. surfboard," he flinched slightly when the big board fell out from the space between the shelf and the wall.
"Um yeah, you can take that out too," Hiro smiled nervously. "Hadn't used that in a couple years."
"You guys surfed too?"
"Had," Hiro repeated himself. "It was a thing Aunt Cass had us try. Tadashi liked it more than I did."
"Wasn't that when Aunt Cass was dating a pro-surfer?" Honey Lemon finally asked.
"Yes, yes it was," Hiro wrinkled his nose, taking more books from her to put into a box. "That guy wasn't excited about the idea of settling down though."
"Probably for the better," she mused.
Wasabi pulled down some big boxes that had not fallen from the top shelves, and set them on the bed. He then looked in one sliding drawer, confirming his suspicions about its contents.
"S'kay to leave the clothes there though," Hiro spoke up when he saw his unsure expression.
"Well, y'know, I'm just going to leave the rest of this for you," Wasabi stepped back, agreeing that would be a good idea. Mostly just to avoid possibly coming across something he did not want to know about. He rustled Hiro's hair in a good natured way while he slid past him to the bigger area of the attic.
"Yeah… sorry if it's getting.. awkward," Hiro decided to be truthful with them about that.
"It's okay, Hiro," Honey Lemon had stood up momentarily, just to put an arm around his shoulders. "It's something that needs to be done."
"I know…" he whispered, then turned back toward the bed to pick up and move one of the boxes toward the middle of the room. It wasn't the first time he heard that, and that it was part of the healing process.
"That window area is cleared out," GoGo caught his attention, as she thumbed back to the corner bay window in the shared lounging area. "You need help here?"
"Yeah," Hiro looked back to look at his brother's shelving unit. "Just move some of the stuff off the bed, so we can get the mattresses out."
And as they did so, Fred paused when he saw the contents in one box. "Whoa, are these CD's? Totally classic, man. Does he also have cassette tapes too?"
"Um yeah. Not sure if there were cassettes too.. but those used to be our parents'."
"Your parents, like as in… their music collection?" Fred rose an eyebrow, especially after finding an old CD Walkman player inside, sans batteries. "And Tadashi also listened to them?"
"Yeah," Hiro answered slowly, wondering now where the fan-boy was going with this. At that point, Hiro just remembered how upset Tadashi used to be about the death of their parents when they were kids. Aunt Cass gave his brother the music as something to help soothe them. Tadashi didn't listen to them anymore by the time they were in high school. Or at least, Hiro wasn't aware of it.
"Oh man, he's totally like the Star Lord! You know, the head man for the Galaxy of the Guardians? He was also very, VERY fond of his late mom's mixed tapes!"
"Seriously, Fred?" Wasabi gave him an unsettled look of disbelief.
"Sorry, buddy, we hadn't listened to those in years," Hiro sighed, decidedly breaking the news to the hopeless fanboy. That was his answer, to through off the others. He realized maybe Fred also was telling him in his clever, subtle way that his brother was taken by aliens. Not a great idea either, because that made less sense than Tadashi being Callaghan's evil accomplice.
The redhead was still shuffling through some of the CD cases to see what artists were there, regardless. "Wow… David Bowie, Eagles, Aerosmith, Queen, classic U2… there's some good stuff here! You have anything we can play these on?"
"Uh.. there was my old all-in-one Dell over there, but it's not working very well after taking a nosedive off my desk." Hiro looked over to the monitor computer now sitting on the floor that had visible damage to one of its corners. "Wait, I thought you didn't like old music."
"Depends on what it is!" Fred sat on the floor by the box. He had pulled out the CD Walkman and held it up, as if to suggest nonverbally that could work. "The cheesy 80's rock is so hit and miss. Man… what was that one?"
Hiro just rose an eyebrow, somewhat apprehensive, because he feared what would come next.
"Taaaake me on! Take on me, I'll be gooone!" Fred belted out the chorus from that one A-ha song, in true karaoke fashion.
"Are you done? Or do I need to make you a knuckle sandwich?" the speed queen sassed in reply.
"So, are we going to do this or not?" Wasabi thumbed back to the bed that now had its comforter and sheets pulled off of it.
"Yes, right," Hiro looked at the mattresses in thought. "So… GoGo and I take the mattress, and you and Fred get the boxspring? Just cause that looks heavier."
"Sure."
As soon as Hiro and GoGo lifted the mattress vertical and made a step forward, they were stopped by the abrupt commentary coming from the others.
"I was wondering when we were going to come across those," Wasabi shook his head.
Hiro was in lead with the mattress, so after he was able to set it down was he able to see what the fuss was about. And then he was quickly regretting it. At least it explained why Honey Lemon was turning a bit red in the face.
Trying to keep his face as straight as possible, Fred swooped in to collect the handful of skin magazines, then presented them to Hiro. "Keepsakes."
What the… gross! Hiro feigned an uneasy smile, taking the magazines from the red-head. It wasn't the idea of the naughty material in itself that didn't appeal to him, it was the fact his brother used them.. for whatever means he did not want to think about right now. Nope, not going to happen, and the younger Hamada dropped them in the box they designated for trash on his way back to the front of the mattress. Alive or not, he highly doubted his brother would actually miss those.
"I hope you were joking," Hiro heard Wasabi ask Fred as he and GoGo started with the mattress down the stairs. He also thought he heard Honey Lemon giggle.
Once they completed the task of moving Tadashi's old bed, and witnessing Aunt Cass's moment of astonishment for doing so, she presented them a lunch of egg sandwiches, deviled eggs, and a few peeled hard boiled eggs with Baymax style eyes. Just because.
"Yum, protein power!" They took the plates of food upstairs so they could also talk about their next plan while they finished up.
"So, what's up with all the gangs that you ran into yesterday?" Honey finally asked, looking more in Hiro's and Fred's direction. She had been texting with Gogo and Wasabi the previous night to find out more of the details, but they hadn't been saying too much.
"They're on to us, as Big Hero 6," Hiro said, in between bites of his sandwich.
"Apparently, they were from Yama's gang… and they hadn't forgotten the wonderful time they got to spend in jail, courtesy of the Hamada brothers," GoGo decided to be creative in how she explained the scenario that was discussed earlier.
"Which means…" Wasabi looked from her to Hiro.
"They know who I am, now," he finished the physicist's thought.
The others were silent for a beat, letting that news sink in for Wasabi and Honey Lemon.
Wasabi held his eye contact on the younger Hamada, pointing at him with his finger as he leaned forward. "Just you. They only know about you, correct?"
"Yes… I think," Hiro winced, suddenly not feeling so sure. He had used the main reasoning of the earlier times when he used to bot fight as the explanation for the current uprising. "I mean, I'm the only one who they have a problem with… since I also messed up their betting pool, by winning when I shouldn't."
"However... by association, Big Hero 6 now is involved," GoGo concluded.
"So, what do you have in mind?" Honey Lemon wondered.
"Stake out their territory and find out what's really going on," Hiro said. "We're going to a bot fight."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight."
"It makes sense, really," Hiro further justified this plan. "They just cleaned up with all the places they looted. So there's going to be a lot more at stake. But all we are doing, is just watching. Checking to see who is working for Yama now… things like that."
"But how? We can't just waltz in, either way," Wasabi could not wait any longer to ask.
"Under cover, of course!" Fred chimed in with his usual animated style, a deviled egg in each hand. "We can totally moonlight like secret agents. You guys only saw half of the limitless possibilities available to us in that other room in my house!"
At that, GoGo stepped over to whisper something to Honey Lemon. She stole a glance toward Hiro and smiled with a giggle, as the speed queen nodded slowly. He already knew.
"I was never in agreement with that!" Hiro quickly refuted.
"It's the only way they will not easily recognize you, genius," GoGo crossed her arms.
Wasabi could only imagine what this was about as he overheard the cryptic conversation.
"My little sister is only 12, but her clothes look like his size!" Honey was already visibly caught up with new ideas on how to dress up the team genius, as a girl.
"If not, I might have something he can wear too," GoGo thought, with a devious grin.
"He's going to be so cute!" Honey squeed softly.
Hiro paced nervously a little again, then stopped to counter with GoGo. Even if this idea came as a second level, twisted form punishment for going to the bot fights again. "You're going as a guy, GoGo… since you think that one Fujita girl saw you too."
"If that's what you want," GoGo rolled her eyes to annoy him. It made no difference to her, really.
"All of us can't go though," Hiro continued, "Just to be less obvious. And because of the injuries."
Fred more or less conceded earlier it was better to not go, since he wasn't sure of his knee. Honey Lemon was a given. "We have to think up something for Wasabi, just so his dreads aren't so obvious."
"I am going?"
"Yes, as back-up," Hiro confirmed. "Since l decided to not bring Baymax."
"Um, okay," Wasabi now looked ever more uneasy.
"Don't worry… you'll still be a guy. A really tough looking gangster guy," Fred slapped his shoulder.
"I do hope you can pull that off," GoGo teased the neat-freak physicist.
"The only time we'll be using Baymax is to find out where the Fujita are," the young leader added. "He did scan her in the mall yesterday, so we can find her again by having him do another fly-by before we head out."
"Wait, who are the Fujita, exactly?" Wasabi still was not feeling comfortable about all this.
"Three women. They're Yama's Elite, and when they are around… he means business," GoGo was first to explain.
"As in: they are not as easy to knock around like the other guys," Fred smacked his fist into his hand, to drive home that point.
"What are we doing if they are there?"
"Just verifying."
"And possibly tracking, if I can find something that we can tag them with, inconspicuously," the agent wanna-be rubbed his hands together.
"This is really a high stakes operation, so we have to be completely sure about the situation before we get more involved," GoGo looked at all of them with utmost seriousness. Hiro nodded in agreement.
The three took a bus downtown, one of the few bus lines that made an effort to be operational. They did not sit in the same seats either, and appeared to not acknowledge each other on the bus, just in case.
The Gothic Japanese girl blankly stared out the window at the darkened streets brightened by the neon signs. Her dark eyes were framed with smoky plum eyeshadow, and her thin lips were dark with a plum red lipstick. The goth had long dark hair with neon green highlights throughout, pulled back into a couple of looped pigtails. She looked uncomfortable as she sat in the bus seat, trying to keep her knees held together. The tall boots that were laced up to her knees also had platform soles with five inch high heels. Plus the slight girl wore a leather jacket and dark red ruffled skirt with black and white banded tights, but just trying to sit naturally was not easy.
The young Asian man nearby, with his hair tied back in a man-bun, pulled up the hood on his dark green sweet shirt to ignore the girl's awkward posture. With a sigh, he leaned forward on his elbows to pretend he was looking at his cell phone. He gently rubbed at the short bristles of his goatee on his chin, a subtle way to make sure the manicured fibers stayed in place.
In the back of the bus, a larger African American with a scowl on his face, sat with his arms crossed. He was also by himself in the back seat area, as no one else on the bus felt they would be safe sitting next to him. His clothes were grungy, and consisted of a grey sweatshirt, a black down jacket, and worn jeans. He also wore a faded red knit hat covering his hair. The uncleanliness of his outfit had made it so much easier for him to feel as grumpy as he looked.
Finally, the bus came to a stop near the intersection of their destination. The gothic girl exited from the front door by the driver, while the young man stepped off the door in the back of the bus. The bigger man in back was going to wait until the next stop before he got off.
The fight rings are always in a different location every time, just to keep the authorities from catching on. This time, it was in an abandoned opera theater building that had quite a bit of visible earthquake damage from the outside. The girl looked back once to the other one walking a few feet behind, before carefully stepping around the rubble and bending down under the remnants of the doorway.
The air was thick and musty, but faint sounds of the audience's jeers and the resounding echo of metal clashing with metal became audible the further they walked down the dark hallway. Lights shown from a doorway on the left, that lead into a grand auditorium. Plaster and ceiling tiles littered the vacant seats and aisle ways of the theater. However, the crowds were mostly concentrated around the stage below.
It was a Big Bot Battle this time, when they caught glimpses of the robots heads well above the crowd that surrounded the make-shift ring. With the advances in technology for robotics, and the competition between this city and their rivaling cities in the Silicon Valley and Japan itself, the Big Bot Battles (aka the BBB's) were gaining in popularity. The stakes were much higher too, as the minimum amount to get in the pool was five hundred dollars. These, however, were like the minor rookie league bot fights in comparison to the high-class pro fights like the Worldwide Robot Boxing (WRB).
The BBB's simply were insane to watch, let alone partake in. Needless to say, the disguised bot-fighter had been to a handful of these matches earlier, just barely winning them. And tonight, the atmosphere felt heavy with the added earthquake theme. Many more people were mingling with the crowd, looking to make sales from the drugs, liquor, and other items they looted earlier. She was careful to move closer to the ring to avoid those hustlers.
For a moment, watching the match made the Japanese goth forget the awkwardness of her outfit. She was quick to recognize one of the robots in this match. The menacing red one was called Red Hot, and liked to use blow torch guns as its weapon of choice. The other robot it was up against looked new. Its arms turned into sledgehammer pile drivers. Obviously, it went by the name Sledgehammer. Along with the creative use of their weapons, the robots used a mix of martial arts, kicks, and boxing maneuvers as they fought.
"Hey m'lady, are you 'in' tonight?" a dark skinned hustler nudged her arm, trying to look as warm and inviting as possible. He apparently had noticed her arrival, as not too many girls come by themselves to these kind of fights, just to watch.
"I.. no... not now. I'm just meeting up with someone," she tried to strain her voice to sound more alto. The goth also made use of the resurging fad that had been common in ancient Japan for geisha. They had blackened their teeth to keep their smile modest, but she did it to make her tell-tale tooth gap less noticeable in the dim lighting. She also hoped her answer was enough for him to leave her alone.
"Alrighty then. So, come see me when you want in on the action. The next match is gonna be rocking it!, y'know! Slip me a little dough, and in you go," his eyes sparkled with his charms, and not giving in to her hint to leave her alone.
The goth nodded politely while fingering the front edge of her black leather jacket in a subtle attempt to pull it more closed. She knew the guy was also fishing around for money-hungry onlookers willing to lay it all down on their favorite pick. This was the other way Yama got the money to line his pockets from these fights, and why he preferred to keep the outcome in his control. Of course, declining the offer might cause the ring hustler to red-flag her as trouble, so she had come prepared.
"Who's up next?" she couldn't help but wonder now.
"Oh… Quake Master vs the Monkey King," he flashed a smile again, showing his gold tooth. The ring hustler didn't need to supply any further background upon seeing the acknowledgement in her eyes.
Just from the young bot-fighter's previous experience, she knew both robots were owned by members in Yama's gang. The Monkey King, however, was now Yama's favorite. It actually was more like the robotic equivalent of King Kong, and build to withstand a beating. He was also very good at giving one hell of a beat down. Everyone would probably pick that one to win, just because it was so obvious that the Monkey King could hold his own against the smaller competitor.
She has seen this before though, how Yama likes to play with everyone's perceptions. Betting was not really her choice, and not because it was illegal. It just didn't feel as satisfying as actually winning the money from a good fight. But she felt she had to do something to get rid of this guy. "$500 on Quake Master," she stated.
"Awww… y' sure, sweets?" the man clicked his tongue in surprise as he typed in the data.
"Yes, I'm sure. My friend's probably betting on the other one," she smiled briefly. Her suspicions about the match possibly being rigged were confirmed from his prompt.
"What's your name, love?" he smiled a little too warmly while typing in the rest.
"Hinata," she took a step back. The flirtatious way the hustler kept looking at her was so uncomfortable. It was bad enough noticing how much the guy would steal glance or three at her fake chest, which had been a stuffed bra underneath her tight black shirt. The hustler finally left her side though, looking for easier game.
"$500? Really!?" A tiny voice resonated inside her mouth, from her back molars by her inner ear. She and her distant comrade had dental comm-link devices inside their mouths to keep all three of them in on their conversations.
"Chill," Hinata spoke quietly, without moving her lips. "Not betting will RF me."
Toshi appeared right behind her, clapping an arm around her shoulders. She jumped a little in alarm from that action. "Losing the bet… just as bad," he leaned in to whisper into her ear.
"I had a feeling," she looked sidelong to him once she got over her shock of his sudden shoulder clap. Toshi looked over to the last round as it wrapped up, sighing audibly. Hinata could tell from her friend's expression that this level of bot fight was something very new to him. Toshi had that look which hovered between being concerned an amazed by the whole thing.
"When did you start coming to these? I thought the 'bots were… smaller," Toshi finally asked.
Hinata decided to not respond to his question. The slender goth spotted a make-shift plywood board posting the robots that have fought against the reigning champions, and survived to fight for another day. The goth paused after seeing Mega-Z in the list, and silently wondered how much Toshi noticed. "The next match are both Yama's… but the Monkey King is his fav."
The crowds cheers and jeers picked up as the next match got ready to go up. Quake Master became visible, and stood barely six feet tall. He was primarily a shiny dark silver, with glowing blue and neon green lighting under the dark pieces of armor. Its feet from below the knee joints looked like pile drivers, and then on its chest were a few circles across the chest area.
"Have you seen them yet?" a different masculine voice resonated in broadcast in their mouths, almost as if to get them back on track.
"No," Hinata knew who he was referring to. She had quietly hoped that the other Fujita girls would be seen at some point during the night. The ring announcer with the eye patch, she was there. She didn't fully realize before that one was also a Fujita. Really, she hardly looked like the other girl from the mall. The ring MC was more rough around the edges, giving Hinata the impression she was maybe one of Yama 's 'ladies'. Well, she was, in a different way, but she wasn't the one they sought.
The crowd thinned away more around Quake Master's controller now. Hinata wanted to know for sure who was manning both bots this time. The young bot fighter noticed that Yama sometimes did not show up as the controller, and would send others to be in charge of his bots instead. She figured it was a protective measure, so that in the event of another police bust, Yama would be able to stay out of it. For Quake Master, a slightly burly thug had guided the bot to the ring, but he and the bot just stood there as if on stand by while the Monkey King came bounding in.
The compact, black robot's frame looked and moved much like a gorilla on all four limbs. Monkey King's controller took the crowd by surprise, as many began to boo in both English and Japanese about Yama not representing the fight. The goth recognized the young man as the one that was with the girl in the mall yesterday. Then the ring MC announced him as Yama's son, Kenochi, but quickly dubbed him as 'Little Yama'. The sneer he gave her showed that he was just as cocky.
"Becoming a family affair now," Toshi's voice echoed sarcastically.
Hinata just snorted. Despite the imposing appearance of the robots, the skill of their human counterpart ultimately determined how well they fought. Some of the crowd got restless, fearing that the match was going to be a bust. She also had to admit, this was the first one she was at with Yama's son being one of the competitors. Which further fueled her suspicions that Yama did have something up his sleeve.
Quake Master continued to stand motionless at his side of the ring, while the Monkey King put on his little show of kicks and flips. She began to hear whispers around him too, of people growing restless in anticipation of the match.
"Are you ready to ruuuumble?!" the MC continued to taunt her audience, with that overused catch phrase. "Let's show Little Yama here what we've got for him toooonight!"
Quake Master jumped to life, jumping up to execute a flying spin kick before landing again on the stage in a low crouch. Dust came up from the wooden slats on the stage floor were the ring was marked off.
"Who's ready for another shaker, baby?" a new female voice echoed, before Quake Master's actual controller walked into view. She was a Japanese lady who wore a modernized geisha dress with a shorter hem that stopped above her knee. Her hair was long and straight, and she wore it down with the exception of a couple embellishments to keep the hair away from her face. She also had a simple mic hooked from her right ear. The new contender did not get an introduction, as she decided to let her robot speak with its own actions.
Hinata looked at the new face with some suspicion, trying to figure her out. She did not hold anything in his hands to control her robot, however. Nor did she make any fighting motion for the robot to copy. With the grace of a martial arts master, the glowing steel grey robot stepped forward with a power packed sidekick and landed firm to snap out a double knife hand block to impress the crowd. The two robotic contenders straightened up, then faced each other to begin.
"This is a fight to the finiiiish!" this time the announcer held out a large, ornate folding fan, to wave between the two. "Hajime!"
"It's her," Hinata finally breathed, trying to not just stare directly at Quake Master's controller for too much longer. It was the dragon tattoos that she finally spotted on her thighs that made it certain. "It's her… and how is she—"
Those embellishments in her hair…. no, how did she get a hold of that tech? It was refined, because at first glance, the women's hair band definitely looked just like that. A hairband. Somehow, they had built a neurotransmitter device similar to what he had made. Or gotten the designs from Callaghan, and/or SFIT, somehow.
"Great… mystery girl is also a Bot fighter. Can we go now?" the other masculine voice wondered, the tinny voice echoing slightly in her head.
"No… not yet," Hinata whispered. "After the fights over." Only because it might backfire even more if they left, and they also owed money. But she still doubted that would happen. That, and the more she watched, the more she had that sneaking feeling they staged all this in case she would come.
Monkey King started off strong, bounding on to Quake Master's back to pummel at the blocky robot's bucket head. Quake Master could not pull off the pesky robot, and so did the next best thing he could. The steely robot jumped and twisted just so that he could squash the robot against the floor. The wood of the stage itself cracked from the force, also stunning the gorilla bot. It took a couple long seconds before Monkey King rose, but he was more than angered. Naturally, Quake Master had to be a showboat and raise the roof while waiting. The monkey bot screamed with renewed determination as he ran with a flying side kick into Quake Masters back.
The blocky robot stumbled to his knees, but turned sharply while rising up to counter that. He threw a sidekick followed with a pile driver packed back kick to pummel the smaller opponent. Upon spinning back around to face the Monkey King, the quick robot used a double palm blast, fueled with electro-magnets, to throw his opponent back out of bounds.
"That.. looks familiar…"
"Yeah..." The electro-magnetic palm blast was what he built first into his supersuit. Hinata felt more of that unsettling sinking feeling as Toshi curtly stared at her in response. She decided to edge through the crowd, away from him, to get a better spot close to Quake Master's side of the ring. He could understand how they picked up on his technical ideas, since the tech the robots possess is not copyrighted. If the competitors have the savvy ingenuity to reverse engineer their own similar tech, there was nothing really stopping that. Hence the reason why Hinata decided to upgrade Megabot to something different. While he had used the electro-magnetic blasters before, the neurotransmitter method was something he had no longer attempted due to its association with Yokai.
She squinted her eyes in thought, wondering the how and why they got it. If course, Hinata had the advanced AI with a martial arts directory for Mega Z, so a controller was not necessary. Maybe they could not get that figured out, and adapted the neurotransmitter concept instead? It just left her wondering how they got it.
The crowd's cheers suddenly increased when the Monkey King rose from the floor after one of his detached arms reconnected back into the socket. Then he grabbed his other arm and slapped it upside the Quake Master's face to stun the approaching robot long enough for the monkey bot to reattach his other arm.
All by the means of magnetic servos, of course. All of Monkey King's limbs were held on this way, Hinata imagined. That made for some frustrating times for the Quake Master, since pulling off the monkey bot's extremities did nothing to slow him down.
It looked like the Monkey King was making headway after his rough start, but then when he got too close to Quake Masters chest, emblazoned with more inset electro magnets, the monkey bot found himself caught up by the strong magnetic attraction. He was stuck to his opponent, their faces only inches apart. Trying to push away did not work, and nether did trying to butt heads or prying at each others optics. Apparently, the powerful bot had enough playtime with his prey. Quake Master wrapped his arms around the resisting monkey bot, and began to squeeze hard. The Monkey King practically screamed in contempt from system failure, in having its circuit boards and internal processors compressed and broken.
Now silenced, the crumpled shape was released from the victory chest to fall to the floor, finished.
"Eat that, Little Yama. That is how the Fujita rock the hooouse!" the Ring announcer stepped up, to declare the winner. "Give it all up for the Quake Mastaaaaah!"
The crowd erupted, awash with all kinds of emotions.
"Now, go!" The voice echoed in Hinata's head. "Do not stop to collect … just go!"
Hinata complied without argument this time, since things might get more crazy afterwards. Already he could tell from the nature of this match, they must have figured her team would be watching it. Somehow. She kept her gaze down, doing her best to slip slide through the pushing and shoving crowd to leave without attracting attention.
Once the three had regrouped back at the bus top by Wasabi's apartment, they finally dropped their cover.
"Hot damn… what did I just see back there?" Wasabi exclaimed, once they were all inside his place. Of course, he immediately peeled off the most disgusting sweat shirt he wore.
"Exactly, how did they a hold of your tech?" Gogo looked at the femme Hiro.
"They didn't!" Hiro looked up from pulling off the god-awful, high-heeled boots from his aching feet. Sheepish was the best way to describe the look on his face. "I think… they knew I was going to find them tonight. Like that was their way of saying 'Gotcha'. Because… even though it's normal for bot fighters to reverse engineer ideas from other fighters, I never saw all my inventions happen at the same time like that before!"
GoGo just made a sound of disgust.
"So, now what?"
"I have to think this out... now that we know who we are dealing with," Hiro sighed. He pulled the wig from his head, frowning at it in thought. The way that one Fujita fought showed that she knew her stuff, unlike the other thugs who were lucky to get by with their weapons. "Just… get me some make-up remover first."
GoGo just laughed, still looking quite serious. "The eyeshadow's rather becoming."
"No. Just… no!" He furrowed his thinned brows.
Sweat trickled down his brow, stinging his eyes briefly, as he tried once again to think of yet another angle to attack. Hiro step-slided to the right to dodge a sweep to his head, then countered with a few rapid punches to the chest plate. His first punch didn't land hard enough, the rest were evaded. His opponent turned away from him, then came back hard. This maneuver caused him to knock knees with the other one, inadvertently blocking their attacks. His opponent attempted to tag him with a few hits of her own. That left him free to counter her with a roundhouse kick followed with a high axe kick toward the head. Hiro had caught his attacker off guard with that maneuver, but her reaction time was faster and he still wasn't able to nail her squarely.
She taunted him, as they paused for a moment, circling each other. Then she slid in and pushed against him, getting so close he couldn't kick or punch in that split second of time. This only angered him more, because he did not like feeling outsmarted and slow. Then she faked him out, appearing throw a roundhouse kick at his side, but very quickly she snapped her foot high at his head. He was barely able to dodge that, and while it did not make hard contact, she had touched his headgear lightly. No points though.
Hiro grimaced, trying to catch his breath and mentally push himself despite his discomfort. He stepped forward with his own fake motion before switching feet to attack with a double roundhouse combo. One kick landed, barely registering again. The young hero tried to punch, but she shoved into him again so he couldn't. He pushed back, then turned behind to execute a flying back kick to push her further away as he yelled. Any type of spinning kicks were more points, if he had the power and coordination to successfully perform them. Except he wasn't powerful enough yet.
Before Hiro could get both feet back on the mat to jump away, his attacker pummeled him with a series of roundhouse kicks followed with more punches to his chest plate, signaling a buzzer to chirp.
Damn... The frustrated boy was quick to block the rest of the punches, before stepping forward with an elbow sweep to her headgear. She dodged that one barely, but this time countered it with a surprise uppercut punch to her chin which had knocked her off balance ever so slightly. The buzzer chirped in his favor, and he gritted down on his mouth guard in victory. Any strike to the head that did not cause injury did merit more points, giving him that much needed advantage.
However, his victory was extremely fleeting before GoGo came at him with a barrage of skipping front and double roundhouse kicks to his chest targets, putting her one point ahead again.
Hiro did his best to retaliate with a tornado kick, followed with a front crescent kick to drive her back, but all that ended up being for show as he did not make solid contact.
Unfortunately, Wasabi shouted times up, just as GoGo blocked and then caught one of Hiro's punches. This time she held his arm to give him a strong kick to his rib-cage, opposite of the side that had the stitches. That hit did not count though since she had pinned him and it was after the call.
"One point deduction!" Wasabi reprimanded GoGo, finding that move uncalled for.
"He hit me in the face, hard!" she growled back through her mouth guard at the larger man.
"You didn't need to add insult to injury!"
She just glared at him, before turning back to face Hiro.
Hiro did not acknowledge her right away while he gasped for air. His windpipe burned as he tried to slow his ragged breathing just enough to actually catch his breath. His pained expression, however, came more from the disappointment of being one point off from actually and finally beating the quick and fast Black Belt. The deduction meant nothing to him… the bottom line was what he himself did in the time he had. His biggest concern was more in knowing that if he couldn't beat her, then how could he hold his own against Yama's elite?
Before finishing, Hiro at least remembered to also face GoGo and give her his respects for the match. The look she gave him wasn't any more encouraging as she set her sore jaw and popped the joints in her neck.
She led with the bow, not saying anything more as he reluctantly followed suit a beat after. Hiro stepped off the matt, glancing once at her, before spitting out his mouth piece and pulling off his sparring headgear.
Since GoGo in theory won that round, she was paired with Wasabi next. Hiro didn't argue since he needed the break. The speed queen popped out her mouthpiece to chug more water, wiping the sweat beading at her brow. She pointed to Wasabi, still upset from the last match. "Just remember this, there are no rules in a street fight!"
"Seriously dude, you almost had her. That was amazing!" Fred cheered their youngest teammate.
"Yeah, good job, Hiro!" Honey added as well. Since she could not participate, she watched the stop-watch to time the matches.
"Not good enough," Hiro whispered, before he finally took his eyes off of GoGo and turned toward the benches along the walls of the small work out room in Fred's house. He was still struggling to breath, wincing from the burn in his lungs from exerting himself so hard. The teen grabbed his water bottle to take a gulp of the cool liquid to help alleviate that feeling.
"Hey, what's going on?" Fred then leaned into him, whispering.
"Didn't like my technique," Hiro just shook his head, glancing once more at Gogo sparring with Wasabi. She wasn't happy with the way he aimed for her head more, but he didn't want to talk about it now. He knew why. A part of him also forgot who he was fighting.
"Obviously," Fred mused. "'Cause now she's totally taking it out on Wasabi."
"Are you okay?" Honey touched Hiro's arm. She was even more concerned about his pained, shallow breathing, however.
"Hurts to breathe," he finally admitted. The young genius really must have over exerted himself that time, bringing on a bout of exercise-induced asthma. This happened to him a couple times before during their training sessions, so she knew what he meant.
Honey Lemon handed the stopwatch to Fred, and encouraged Hiro to slide over to her. "Keep taking in deep breaths, okay?" she rubbed his back, then put a small cold, damp towel on his neck.
The younger Hamada set his other water bottle on the floor so he could rub his face. He looked up again to watch the match, trying to calm down. Wasabi's style used more precise and powerful kicks, combined with effective blocks. Hiro noticed Wasabi took more time strategizing his attacks. He and GoGo would bounce, almost like he was stalling, but whenever she made a move, more times than not he was more than ready and dodged her advances. His attacks came hard, fast, and accurate, since he had just as much martial arts experience. In comparison to his teammates, GoGo and Wasabi were the only two Hiro had not won a match with. Fred and Honey Lemon really did not have much actual martial arts experience before, so their matches often had been with each other, and with Hiro, until they did feel more comfortable taking on their more experienced friends.
Wasabi called a brief time-out to shake off the sharp pain that resulted when his knee collided with the knee of the kick boxing champion. He would always stop himself, but she came full force like a MMA fighter.
Getting herself back into check, GoGo knelt down by Wasabi to quickly check his knee. Since he was wearing shorts, she could not see any bruising or swelling yet. "You'll live," she straightened up. "Finish this now. Ice it later."
"Hai, hajime!" The remaining twenty seconds flew by, with it also being a close match. GoGo won, despite Wasabi's protests.
Until Hiro's house was repaired enough to be deemed safe, they had no choice but to meet at Fred's house for all their training sessions. Today was a combo of both traditional and superhero styles, since the earthquake and the Thanksgiving holiday threw off their schedule. The difference between the two types of practice was also as different as night and day. When they trained with their supersuits, the suits either gave them new powers, or amplified what they had, making them so much more powerful against each other.
With his suit on, Hiro was able to deflect GoGo's metallic disks, Honey Lemon's chemicals, and Fred's flames with his magnetic shields. Wasabi's blades were still something of a challenge though since the big guy was able to maneuver around his shield. As he had found out before, Wasabi was calculating and quick. If the attack wasn't straight on, it somehow got through.
"Okay," Hiro noted the completion of the Tae Kwon Do sparring matches. "Let's suit up."
"Doing better?" Honey Lemon still asked him. She still sat on the bench, as she wasn't going to take her chances either way.
"Yeah, thanks," Hiro smiled weakly. Maybe this time, he would do better. The younger Hamada sighed, fidgeting with his water bottle as Gogo quickly dissappeared to get changed. He was going to have to say something to her, first.
AN:
Wow... my longest chapter yet… yey! I hope it was well worth the wait!
So… I finally read this BH6 Essential Guide book that said Tadashi DID sew trackers into Hiro hoodies. That's for reals? Really? Blah… I thought it was a head canon. But I guess that makes sense, since Hiro doesn't carry a phone.
On another note…. I was also a fan of the Real Steel movie. A lot. Totally had to incorporate some of the big bot atmosphere from that movie's bot fights into this fic also. ^^
Thanks again!
