It had been a few days since Granville gave Hiro access to his brother's lab. He was still shocked the dean did that but it was nice working in said lab, It helped him adjust to school in a comforting way. Right now he was wearing a virtual reality headset and doing the opposite of work.
"Woah, cool!" Virtual reality was showing him the ocean, he held out his hand to a virtual fish that got close to him.
"Mr. Hamada?" He was so focused on the screen that he didn't notice Granville entering the lab.
"Mr. Hamada!" A shark appeared, snapping at him. He blinked in confusion until realizing that it was Granville's voice speaking from said shark and quickly took off the headset to see the dean staring down at him.
"Follow please!" He complied.
"Uh, Professor Granville." Hiro started stuttering.. "I was just uh, taking a little break. You know, studies show all work and no-"
"Do not play me." Granville glared, unamused with his antics.
Hiro stopped that train of thought. "Fair enough, so what's up?" I hope it's not about grades.
"I would imagine being a fourteen year old surrounded by college students presents certain… social and emotional challenges." Hiro could only frown. He had his friends here so it's not like he was alone, Ari would occasionally visit the labs and keep him company while he worked, and there were some of his classmates like David who were nice to hang with.
"No, n-not really." He eventually spoke up. "But hey, I'm sure whatever you have in mind is gonna show me just how wrong I am."
He followed the dean into another lab that was darkly lit. As they walked in he felt a chill up his spine at the sight of vials being filled with strange liquids. At the end of the room was something or rather someone at work. To his surprise? She was not much older than him.
"Mr. Hamada, meet Karmi." Granville introduced.
Hiro flinched a little when Karmi turned around, in his defense she had giant needles in her arms and he couldn't even see her eyes with those large cloudy goggles. But quick as a whip she put the needles and goggles away and turned on the light.
"Hiro!" Karmi's reddish-brown eyes gleamed with something as she walked over. "When Professor G asked me to connect with you, I thought this was gonna be super great! And it is so great! The greatest!"
He was a little unnerved by her sudden enthusiasm. "Uh, h-hello." And took a couple steps back as he waved.
Granville could only smile at their interactions. "Karmi was the youngest student ever admitted into San Fransokyo Tech." She explained to Hiro.
"Until you!"
"So she knows what you are going through." He tilted his head in confusion.
"Oh, I-I'm going through something? That's news to me."
"Now you know, here's what we're going to do."
Hiro raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"You." Granville nudged him towards Karmi.
"So super!" Who was still staring at him with a grinning expression.
"I want you to 'hang' with Karmi, I think you can learn something from her socialization experiences." Hiro internally groaned. I have no time for a play date!
"Um, sure. I could probably do Thursday morning-"
"Every day! All week! Keep a journal, I want a full report by Friday!" She stated. Hiro felt his jaw almost drop to the ground. Are you kidding me right now?
He did not ask for this, he really did not.
"Bye Professor G!" Karmi waved as the dean left them alone. "So fun to have a new friend!" But once Granville was out of sight, she turned to Hiro with a cold sneer.
"Here's the deal, stay out of my face. Stay out of my space." She pushed him away.
He shot her this look of confusion at the sudden switch in behavior. "Uh, what happened to hanging?"
Karmi glared back at him. "Of course you'd ask that. You think you're some special white blood cell- She poked him in the chest to emphasize her point. "But you're nothing but a common red blood cell!" Then stomped back to her lab table.
He could only stare at her, dumbfounded. "Wh-what?" What just happened?
"Shark attack!" He turned around to see Fred had gotten ahold of his virtual reality headset and ran like a headless chicken, tripping on the floor due to the chord.
"I'm going to check on him." Hiro excused himself to see if the comic fan was injured or not. "You alright Fred?"
Fred got up. "Yeah, except I almost got eaten by a shark!" Hiro could only shake his head.
"Can you put the headset back Fred?"
"Oh right, sure!" Fred picked up the headset from the ground and went to bring it back to his lab. With that out of the way Hiro reluctantly went back over to Karmi.
"So." Hiro turned to Karmi. "What are you doing?"
"Checking on my viruses." She huffed. "Couldn't you tell?"
Hiro ignored that comment, and merely looked around the lab as she was looking at a petri dish via microscope, notebook in her hands. "Observing mutated virus, day 57." She narrated. Hiro was playing with the mechanical arm in her lab but stopped when it tried grabbing him. "Looking good A1-004!"
Hiro flashed her a weird look. "You uh… you talk to the virus?" He questioned as she was writing something down.
She narrowed her eyes. "That was a private conversation! But yes, A1-004 is a dear friend. As are-" Karmi then pointed to the other sticker decorated petri dishes on her lab table. "R69-5, L4-382, and 95-414, who I'm still getting to know."
Her affectionate gestures to the petri dishes creeped him out. "Okay… sure." Hiro scooted away.
"Oh you think talking to viruses is weird?" She glared, pointing her pen at him. "You, the kid who talks to a mechanical snowman." He had to admit the snowman comment was a little funny but still, not cool. "At least my dangerous microscopic organisms are actually alive."
"Viruses don't count as organisms, they aren't alive." Hiro pointed out, Karmi huffed in response. "Alright, no judgement. Can we just move on? I need to put something in the journal for Granville." As much as he was loathing this assignment the dean gave him, he didn't want to fail.
Karmi could care less. "Not my problem, just make me look good because I want this to be a wonderful experience for you!" Granville had walked back into the lab so Karmi switched back to a happy fake persona.
Hiro stared at Granville, then back at Karmi. "Oh, you are good..." He muttered under his breath.
"Karmi, take Mr. Hamada to lunch at the dining hall." Granville told Karmi, a fond smile on her face for some reason. "My treat."
"So super!" The biotech major lied through her teeth. Hiro flashed her a deadpan look.
"Get acquainted you two, have fun." Granville told them as she left once more. "Mandatory fun!"
"Super great idea! On it!" Hiro continued to roll his eyes at Karmi's acting as she went to put her viruses away. "I'm sorry A1-004, I know we were gonna do a DNA-extraction over lunch but you're just gonna have to incubate a little longer." She put the virus away with a smile. "Let's go Genius Boy." She huffed at him, walking out of the lab to go to the cafeteria.
"And Granville thinks I need socialization help?" Hiro grumbled to himself as he followed.
As Hiro followed Karmi in awkward silence, angrily thinking what the heck Granville was thinking to make him spend time with such an irritating girl, he felt his phone chime. He checked it and to his happiness, it was Ari.
Ari: Hey Hiro! I'm visiting for lunch today : ) but I forgot to bring my lunch as I was halfway there on the bus lol so you might have to buy me lunch
He chuckled at the text. Oh Ari… At least she wasn't being hard on herself as she was a few days ago.
Hiro: Sure, try not to make it a habit. I have a budget!
Ari: Thanks Hiro! : D
When getting to the cafeteria, Hiro continued to follow Karmi until they got to a table that was away from where he usually sits. Ari's not gonna know where I am when she gets here. Better send her a message.
Hiro: Btw I'm sitting somewhere else today, I'm sitting close to where the food is though
Ari: Weird but okay!
"Hey, who are you texting?" Hiro looked up from his phone and noticed Karmi staring at him in curiosity. On her plate was a bowl of cashew chicken and rice, a carton of milk, and a fruity drink of a flavor he didn't know.
"Ari." Hiro stated.
Karmi rolled her eyes. "I have no idea who that is."
"She sometimes comes over to school and we have lunch together."
"Oh." He went back to eating his packed lunch. "Is she your girlfriend?"
The comment made him choke on his sandwich. Karmi looked concerned and took a few steps as if she was about to run for help, but he managed to cough it down. "Gross! No!" The idea of him and Ari… You know what I don't even want to entertain that idea.
Ironically, that was the moment the sweater girl herself hopped on over to their table.
"Hey Hiro!" Ari happily greeted him. "Made a new friend?" She noticed the biotech major.
"Yes!" He shouted before Karmi could speak. "This is Karmi, I'm going to go buy you your lunch don't go anywhere!'' And he rushed off, leaving the two of them alone.
Ari stared in confusion. "Huh. He was not that active this morning."
"I've seen you before." Karmi realized. "I noticed you in the cafeteria one day and you waved at me." Ari gave her a quizzical look for a few moments, then recognized her.
"Oh! You were the pretty student that was scribbling something and surrounded by books!" Ari exclaimed.
"Pretty?" The biotech major blushed red. "Surprised you remember me. after you waved Sara Ferns dragged you off somewhere like she usually does."
"Yeah I was looking for Hiro that day." Ari told her, going into a bit of detail about her concerns before pausing. "Does Sara do that a lot?"
"Mhmm." Karmi nodded. "I see her drag her brother and Mikan somewhere all the time."
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'her brother and Mikan?'" Ari frowned. "Mikan is Sara's sibling too."
"Yeah, but they always call her 'semi-adopted' so I feel like she's not."
"Semi-adopted?"
"Well-"
"Ari I got your lunch!" Hiro showed up back at the table and unintentionally interrupted Karmi. He placed a tray that had a burger with fries on the side and a cup of soda.
"Thanks Hiro!" Ari smiled, happy to spend lunch with two friends instead of one!
Except… as the rest of the lunch continued Ari noticed that Hiro and Karmi were giving each other funny looks. And when she got up to get some napkins she came back to the two of them arguing, but both of them stopped when seeing her come back like a child caught red-handed stealing cookies. She didn't talk to either of them for the rest of the meal.
That's weird… Ari lamented as she ate her fries. Guess they don't get along…
So much for having a new friend then.
Mikan Ferns adds Hiro Hamada and 6 others to "Ferns and Nerds"
Mikan Ferns: Hi welcome to Chilis
Sara Ferns: Mika I cannot believe you start a group chat with that
Fredilicous24: Lol good one XD
Ariel Rosemary: What is this?
Wasabi: ^^^
Mikan Ferns: I thought it would be nice to start a group chat with my sibs and you nerds!
Hiro Hamada: How did you get our contact information?
Honey Lemon: Mikan asked me! I'm excited about the idea of a group chat with all of you!
Gogo: There goes my notifs, and Fred, what is your username?
Fredilicous24: Jeez Gogo it's for fun! A cool group chat can't be cool if everyone has boring usernames!
Ariel Rosemary: Oooh I want a cool username!
Mikan Ferns: As admin of this chat I give thee a username
Mikan Ferns changes Ariel Rosemary to TheLittleMermaid
Sara Ferns: PFFFFFFTTTT XD LOL
TheLittleMermaid: And I take it back…
Later during night patrol...
"What is Karmi's problem?!" Hiro paced back and forth on the skyscraper's rooftop, reflecting over the afternoon. It was bearable when Ari showed up but when she left for five seconds it went sour, and everyone had spent the rest of lunch giving each other the cold shoulder.
"Without a thorough scanning, I am unable to determine if she suffers from any health anomalies." Baymax pointed out.
"I think it's just her freaking personality."
"Are you really not getting this?" He looked up as Gogo's voice buzzed from the comms, she skated down from a billboard sign over to them. "Karmi doesn't have friends. The only thing she had going for her? Being the youngest genius at the school. Now? That's your thing, you took her thing."
Hiro felt frustrated at that "explanation." A thing? He didn't think being the youngest genius at the school was a thing to take in the first place!
"I-I don't want it to be my thing!" He stammered. "I have my own thing!"
Baymax's voice distracted him from his thoughts. "My scanner is picking up a disturbance, nine blocks to the west."
"And there's my thing now!" He gestured, hopping onto the robot's back. "C'mon, let's go."
Gogo smirked. "Don't have to tell me twice 'Genius Boy.'"
"Heyyy!" He cried in offense as she jumped on and Baymax took off.
Nearby said disturbance ironically was Ari and David, walking down the road. The latter had offered the former to go out for a bite at Noodle Burger, which ended up being a fun hangout to learn more about each other. Now they were just walking home since it was late for the younger teen.
"So, Ari." David spoke up, his hands gripping his white cane as he carefully followed. "Do you like San Fransokyo so far?"
"Yeah, it's a colorful place." Ari chirped. "Hey uh… do you know anyone named Karmi at your school?"
"Karmi Khan?" David raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, she majors in Biotech like Mika. Keeps to herself, Sara and I used to invite her to our study groups but she kept declining so we gave up."
"Really?" The sweater girl frowned in confusion. "She was so friendly to me during lunch."
"Yeah she's usually more chatty to kids." David explained to her. "Mika is the only one of us who still tries to reach out to her, though I think that just made her more distant."
"Huh, she did mention at lunch that Mikan was different than your sister." Ari recalled. "Something about being 'semi-adopted.'"
David winced. "Well, she's not wrong. Mika stays at our house when she's not at her dad's."
"Her dad?" Ari tilted her head. "I thought Mikan was adopted by Sara's uncle and aunt like you."
"Yeah, it's a long complicated story that can't be told by a walk." He shrugged. "Just accept this response for now and maybe I'll tell you the rest one day."
"Alright." They both continued to walk in silence, until both of them heard the sound of… music? "What's that? It sounds like some funky pop song… and there's a crowd?" It was downtown and she could hear someone blasting music down the street as people cheered.
"I think I hear some of my classmates." David frowned. "Maybe we shouldn't go!"
She huffed. "I'm going!"
"Ari wait!" Ari ran with David on her heels, she managed to lose him by squeezing in front of the crowd. Greeting her eyes despite the blinding light was something intriguing and downright amazing that pulled her in. An electric orb floating above the street, shooting out lightning to brighten up the city. Two people were dancing near their orbs, their backs away from the crowd, the music strongest near them. The crowd cheered, and Ari cheered alongside them as she listened to the beats and enjoyed the show.
Turn up! Who's got the power?
Turn up! Turn up the power!
We've got dance power!
The dancers face the crowd and Ari could get a better look at them. They both were blonde women with cocoa brown eyes, with outfits that had the same energy as an 80's dance video Cass showed her one time. The older woman had a more heftier build than the younger one, her hair was lighter blonde with a pink streak sticking up all over the place. She wore a purple and black outfit with pink leg warmers. The younger girl was more slender and taller, her hair was a darker blonde with a purple streak. She wore a pink and black outfit with purple leg warmers, both of the dancers had grey and blue gauntlets on their wrists. The electricity from the orb seemed to connect to both of them.
"Okay Juniper!" The older woman danced as she spoke to the younger girl. "Practice is over, I want you to show me you have 'it'!"
"Oh you know I have 'it." Juniper smirked, also dancing as she spoke. "Cuz I'm about to bring it!" As she tapped the ground there was an electrical surge in her steps.
Electricity! Surge through me!
Spotlights shine on my behind!
Spotlights shined on the older woman, then Juniper, and then the spotlights shined on both of them as they dance.
Who's got the power? Hey!
We've got dance power!
Electricity danced on their fingertips, it struck the nearby ATMs. The older woman blew electric kisses at the light that shut them off.
Who's got the power?
We've got dance power!
Juniper seemed to notice that Ari had been keeping direct eye contact at her as she danced. She stared back, smirking, and then grabbed Ari's hand, pulling her into the dance. Ari had no idea how to respond so she just went along with the movements. Juniper spun and Ari flung onto the other side of the street, she clapped as the rest of the crowd chuckled and cheered.
Who's got the power?
Hey! We've got dance power-
Megawatt amplifier,
I'm a real live wire.
Whoo!
The money from the ATMs flew out of the machine, with both dancers continuing their routine as the machines exploded and created a blue smoke.
Circuit breaker, (uh huh)
Head shaker (uh huh)
No faker
Money taker uh-huh!
As the two dancers collected the fallen money from the ATM machines, Ari looked up and saw a familiar red robot in the sky and landing on the ground. On top of the red robot were familiar purple and yellow armored superheroes.
"Umm..." The- Purple… might be easier to call them by their colors Ari. She thought to herself as he glanced at his teammate and then back at the dancers. "I'm not sure what's going on here? But you're going to have to give the money back!"
"I'm a STAR!" Juniper exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air while the other dancer continued to collect money from the ATM. "You don't interrupt a star when she's leaving it all on the stage!"
Purple merely raised an eyebrow. "Uh… and you are?"
Both dancers backflipped onto the street.
"I'm Barb,"
"I'm Juniper!"
"And together we are High Voltage!" They struck a pose, team name formed from the energy orb, and even the funky pop music Ari liked was singing their name as well.
"Electricity may cause severe burns." Red warned them.
"I've got this." Yellow skated towards the dancers.
High Voltage!
Barb snapped her fingers as she danced, each snap bringing forth a wave of electricity. Both dancers tap dance electrical blasts at the speeding Yellow, she dodged most but a lucky hit sent her flying.
"Aaaaah!" Ari winced as some debris was created from the hard crash. Both Red and Purple looked as their teammate crashed and burned.
"Juniper!" Barb turned to her daughter. "I need more flair in those backflips and more sparkle in that smile!"
"On it!" Juniper did a fancy backflip and clapped her hands together as she landed. Creating a ball of electricity and throwing it at Red's chest.
We've got dance power!
Red was shaking from the electrical blast and even Purple fell off of him.
"Oh no..." Red's wings activated and he started to fly away with Purple chasing his runaway teammate.
"Okay we need to power these two freaks down." Yellow threw one of her disks at High Voltage.
"Juniper, electric this!" Barb formed an electric fence with her gauntlets.
"Oh yeah, let's go!" Juniper completed the fence and they both use it to backfire the disk at Yellow.
"2 5 7 8!" That isn't even the correct saying! Ari huffed but she was too entranced by the show to comment aloud.
The disk struck Yellow and she fell to the ground, her teammates still scattered.
High Voltage!
"Juniper! Juniper!" The crowd cheered for the dancers, or rather just Juniper as they continued collecting money.
"And Barb!" Barb pointed out, glancing at the audience as she collected money. The sweater girl started cheering both of their names after that comment.
"I love you Juniper!" Someone from the audience exclaimed. It was a boy in an SFIT shirt, David in the crowd was borderline growling in anger at him for his comment. Why though?
"She's robbing an ATM!" Purple also snapped at the guy, rewarding him with a bolt to the sides via Barb.
"No! We're telling a story through dance!" She retorted, Juniper cutely swung the duffle bags in a purple car. The orb flew into the car engine and powered it up. Barb and Juniper backflipped in the car and departed from the scene.
We've got dance power!
"We love you all!" Juniper yelled to the crowd while they drove away, the crowd cheering a goodbye as they went.
"Uhg!" Yellow groaned, Purple is staring at the direction High Voltage drove away as Red still spun in the air.
It wasn't until after the superheroes flew away to lick their wounds that Ari processed what she witnessed. She watched two crime-dancers perform a show, rob an ATM, zap Big Hero 6 who saved her life, and drove away from the scene of the crime. It should've been bad but she… enjoyed watching it? It looked fun, the funky pop music was still playing in her head, and she liked it when pretty Juniper pulled her into the dance-
Hold on a second...
Where did that thought come from?
Okay time for some explanations
The texting thing is just a nice little transition in-between scenes and it's fun to write, will do my best to not go overboard (I end up going overboard. no regrets!)
Karmi's last name hasn't been revealed (yet) so I'm dubbing thee surname "Khan", it's a popular choice I've seen and it fits her n.n... if/when her surname is revealed I'll change it to that
I'm writing in High Voltage's musical stings every time it happens you can't stop me I will get it stuck in your head : )
*exhale* now that's outta the way this was one of my chapters to write, Karmi shows up, my favorite villains show up, everything is fun to watch! What's the deal with Ari at the end? Well... you may guess it but if not the answer will be soon enough