Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned and operated by Disney Animation. Basemax is owned and operated by Big Hero 6.

Chapter 4 – No Escape

The emergency morning meeting of Big Hero 6 was coming to a conclusion. The Cock-a-Noodle-Doo breakfast burgers had been thoroughly vanquished (mostly by Fred), and a good amount of the actual meeting was spent warning Fred about choking himself (mostly by Go Go). But all joking aside, and even with the possible tension with the police reaching new heights, they decided that the best way to spend the morning was to work on their secret base.

Or...let Roddy Blair work on it while trying to reel Fred in.

"I'm just saying! We have a tank over there; why can't we just extend it into a lazy river?"

Wasabi shook his head. "Fred, get the idea of a lazy river out of your mind. The ocean is literally right outside; go swim in that."

"Yeah, but there's not any ambiance out there! Plus, the police could spot me and try to arrest me again."

"Boys." Go Go stepped in between them, hands up on their shoulders. "Stop arguing in front of the hired help."

"Nah, I love this!" Roddy shouted out from his mountain of blueprints. "You would not believe the arguments I saw Boss Awesome have. They were mostly with me...but it was still exciting!"

Fred peered at him, his attention diverted away from Wasabi. "But was it ever about lazy rivers?"

"Nope. Mostly wardrobes and grappling hooks and what-not."

"...I'm listening."

Hiro shook his head from his seat at the conference, taking a sip from his drink. It was too early in the morning for this. Well, it was too early in the morning for anything, but it wasn't like his night was better either.

He had put on a brave face for Fred and what he had gone through with the police and Chief Cruz, but inside he was all over the place. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep that night, mostly because he kept thinking about how close he was to getting found out. How close everyone was. They had escaped with their identities intact again, but it was by the thinnest of margins.

He had given his friends the slimmest of details when he had gotten back to the mainland. He hadn't mentioned anything that Chief Cruz had said to him about his father. It felt like a secret he had to keep; sharing it with everyone would just be in poor taste.

And he didn't dare say anything about what the elder Cruz had said about Megan liking him. He wasn't sure if his brain would be able to-

"Hiro, back me up here!"

He pulled his head up to see everyone staring at him. "Um...sorry, Fred. I wasn't paying attention."

"Ugh! Come on!" Fred waved his arms over his head. "I guess I'll just start at the beginning." He opened his mouth to go again only for a hand to clap over it.

"Freddie," Honey Lemon said gingerly, "I think we're all getting a little tired. Even Baymax is getting close to low on power."

"Mangos!"

"Or...he's there now."

"Yeah, we've been here all morning." Wasabi let out a yawn. "I think we should try to head back home and maybe take a nap for a bit."

Roddy swept up all of his plans in one motion. "Yeah, you're working me overtime, and it's not even the end of the week! I'll have to get back to you on the giant vending machine next time I'm here. In the meantime, let me show you lot the security measures set up for the front entrance."

"Please don't tell me you listened to Fred and put in lasers and chainsaws."

"Nah, little lady. Lasers are expensive. I went with a more...ergonomic route."

"That doesn't sound suspicious at all." Go Go got up from her seat. "I'm in. Wasabi, you coming with us?"

Her ears heard the vacuum before she saw it. She turned her head to see her friend pushing one around, leaning under the table to extend its reach. "Are...you vacuuming the headquarters?"

"Um, yeah. Obviously." He bent back up, the hose in his hand. "Clearly someone has to keep this place spick and span!"

"It's. A. Headquarters." Go Go crossed her arms. "It's going to get a little dirty."

"Not while I'm around."

Go Go didn't follow up with that, instead turning and walking to the doorway. "I'm going to go see these new gadgets that Roddy's on about. Coming, Fred?"

"Absolutely!"

Fred practically bound to the door, quickly followed by Honey Lemon with a sheepish grin. "Coming, Hiro?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine."

Seeing her knowing nod made him feel a little better. Honey Lemon always seemed to know when to say something to him and when to let him be. Too bad living with her for a year didn't instill the same thing in Go Go.

Hiro was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the vacuum cut out. The plastic cup was lifted off the table and instantly put back down on a coaster appearing out of nowhere.

"Since when do we have coasters?" Hiro asked absentmindedly, noting the big red number six on it.

"Since some people decided to use the conference table as a fast food counter."

He took another sip in response. Wasabi chuckled and put the vacuum back up in its standing position. "So...you want to talk about what's bugging you?"

"Huh? Nothing's bugging me."

"Hiro." Wasabi wheeled the vacuum into the nearest cubbyhole, the automatic door swooshing shut. "I may not have Honey Lemon's sixth sense about feelings, or Go Go's...creepy way of knowing everything, but I can tell when something's up."

Hiro stared at him. It was true that he and Wasabi didn't interact on a one-to-one basis as much as Go Go, Honey Lemon, or even Fred. Heck, for the longest time, he thought that the Applied Physics major was purposefully ignoring him. But that changed when Granville teamed them up for the space debris project. Through the twists and turns of their working styles, he had gotten to know him a little better.

Or at least enough to know that he was very obsessive when it came to cleanliness.

But he was still his friend nevertheless. So what the heck? Everyone else knew about his problems. Why not him?

"Chief Cruz mentioned something to me when we were both in Muirahara Woods."

"About Big Hero 6?"

"Well, yes. He did say a lot about that. He mentioned a few other things as well. And one of them was about...Megan."

Wasabi sat down in his chair.

"Chief Cruz had mentioned that she...likes me. And when I asked him about it, he wouldn't say anything else about it. It just makes me confused."

"Hiro, that's a part of growing up. You get older, and people are going to start paying attention to you in ways that you aren't used to."

"Nah, that's not really what's bothering me. Or...entirely."

Wasabi leaned back his chair as Hiro continued his train of thought. "I just don't need that on top of everything else right now. Being hunted down by the police, not talking to Karmi, schoolwork piling up-"

"Wait. Back up one bullet point. What about Karmi?"

Hiro drummed his fingers on the table. "She's been busy with a bunch of stuff, so I haven't been able to talk to her for about...three weeks now? No video chat, not even any messages. And I know it makes me seem like a little lost puppy dog, but talking to her, even if it was for a little bit, made me happier. And I haven't had that for a while."

"I don't understand," Wasabi said. "What does that have to do with Megan?"

"Because of what Cruz told to me. The more I hang out with her, the more I feel like I'm..."

The silence hung in the air too long for Hiro's liking. If he had looked up at that particular moment, he would have seen Wasabi staring at him with a concerned look on his face.

"Cheating on Karmi?"

Hiro nodded slightly. "Sounds like the stupidest thing you've ever heard, right?"

"No. We're friends with Fred. We hear him say stupid things every day. This doesn't come close."

Wasabi leaned forward a little bit in his chair. "Hiro, this is going to sound mean, and I don't want it to come off that way. But...you know you're allowed to talk to more than one girl at once, right?"

Hiro slouched down even more. "I do. I talk to Go Go and Honey Lemon all the time."

"To be fair, they're not really girls. They're women."

They went back to being quiet, Hiro tapping the cup onto the coaster. Wasabi took the opportunity to pull a handkerchief out of his pocket and started to polish the table.

"Do you like her?"

"Megan?" He threw his arms out. "I don't know. She's nice to hang out with. But ever since we fought Sirque, she's been acting different. I don't know how to explain it. It's like she spent all of her time on Big Hero 6 and finding out who we are, and now that she's done that...I guess normal me isn't that exciting to be around."

Wasabi was now thoroughly confused. "But you just said Chief Cruz said she likes you."

"Does she though? Or does she like knowing that I'm a part of Big Hero 6?"

"That's a fair question. You could just ask her."

"Oh yeah." Hiro crossed his arms. "That sounds like a great idea."

He heard Wasabi put more pressure into his swipes, no doubt getting the last remaining smudges out of the table. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. He should have just kept his mouth shut.

"Do you like Karmi?"

He wasn't expecting that. Or maybe he should have. Either way, he looked away, his blush creeping up again.

"See, I ask you about one of them and you give me a pretty good explanation of things. I ask about the other one...and nothing. That pretty much sums things up." Wasabi leaned back to admire the sheen of the table. "But Hiro, you don't have to have anything figured out now. You and Karmi will be OK. I'm sure she's thinking about you right now."

"Yeah," Hiro mumbled. "Thinking about something to throw at me, no doubt."

Wasabi chuckled as he got up from his chair. Hiro watched him walk over to his armor case, perhaps wanting to get a head start on cleaning that as well.

His eyes wandered off to the corner, the column tank of water rippling lazily inside.

"How do you do it?"

Wasabi stopped, turning his head back toward him. "Do what?"

"Do what you do...with Aspen."

He tucked his handkerchief back into his pocket. He clearly wasn't expecting her to be brought up; the look on his face made that clear.

"How do you two handle not being around each other?"

"Hiro..."

It had only been a couple months prior that the team had found themselves entrenched in the happenings of Fathom Blue Incorporated, overseen by Captain Matthews, who turned out to be a not-so caring "father". His daughter, Aspen, was right in the middle of it, having been experimented on by him for much of her life. In the end, Big Hero 6 was able to save the day, rescue Aspen from the clutches of her captives, and even gained a new water-controlling ally to boot.

And in the case of Wasabi, gain something a little bit more than an ally. Someone that he had grown to care for a lot. Someone who he enjoyed getting to know...

Someone who now took up the habit of buying new DVDs and putting them in the wrong alphabetical spot.

Of course, Aspen had only told Hiro that. And he wasn't looking to tell Wasabi any time soon.

Wasabi sighed. "Hiro, I don't even know what we have right now. She's just trying to get her life back together, and I'm helping her as best I can. If it means I talk to her on the phone while she's traveling around, I'll do that. If it means I sit down with her for a meal while she makes fun of us for losing to all of the girls in bowling..."

Hiro smirked.

"I'll do that too. I'm not going to lie to you. It's really weird having someone in your life like that when you went twenty-one years without it. But...every time I talk to her, I try to take a little something from it. And I build on that. You probably do the same thing with Karmi. Do that with Megan. Who knows where it'll go?"

"But-"

"Hiro. You are fourteen. Stop trying to figure out girls. You'll never do it. No one will."

He had to laugh at that. And so did Wasabi.

"When all of this is over and Cruz is done with his hunt for us, you'll have time to think about both Karmi and Megan. From what you've told me about Megan and from what I've seen, she seems like a good person. And we all know how you feel about Karmi. You're lucky, Hiro. When I was your age, I didn't have any friends." Wasabi stared at the armor in its case. "I was the weird kid with the weird hair and the weird obsession with cleanliness. And while I'm pretty much still that same person, everyone sees me and accepts me for that. Even Aspen."

He turned back around to face him. "Hiro, you'll figure things out. It just might take a while. But all you need to do is just...be there for them. That's all they need."

Hiro nodded to himself, taking all of the words in. "Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Wasabi."

"Don't mention it."

The boy genius rubbed his temple. He could already feel the onset of a headache. "I just can't escape it. The worry. The overthinking. No matter what I do, it's always just there."

"That's where getting an actual good amount of sleep helps. And I'm sure Baymax would tell you that..." Wasabi glanced over at the robot, whose head was turning the entirety of the way around on its own. "If he was working properly."

The entrance to the conference room whooshed open, and the smell of singed hair wafted inside.

"Ergonomic lasers are still lasers, Fred!"

"To be fair, I didn't know what that word meant."

The three walked inside, Go Go's hair looking a little worse for wear. Wasabi recoiled back from them. "Everything OK, Go Go?"

"No. Clearly not." The Korean patted the top of her head. "Remind me to get Roddy to remove half of the defenses outside."

"Where is he now?" Hiro asked.

"He left. Said something about having another gig." Honey Lemon stared as a smoke plume rose up from Go Go's hair. "Although I think he just wanted to get away from Go Go."

She growled as she tapped a few button on the doorpad. "I'm going home. I have to fix my hair...and take a very long nap. Are we done here?"

Hiro pushed his chair in. "Yeah, I'm ready to go home. Now I'm hungry again. Maybe we can stop by Joe's and get some fries."

"Now you're speaking my language, Hiro!" Fred yelled, rubbing his hands together. "Onward! To the Wasabimobile!"

"No matter how many times you say it, it won't stick, Fred!" Wasabi yelled after him, but he was already gone.

The rest of the team made their way out the door. Go Go was the last to hit the door, still smoking (mentally and literally) about the traps. But a moment later, she realized that there was one person missing.

"Wasabi?"

She turned back toward the room to see him wistfully looking at his surroundings. Confused, she raised her voice. "Wasabi!"

"Huh?"

"You coming or what?"

Wasabi's eyes continued to take everything in as he reached into his pocket. "You know what? I think I'm going to stay here for a bit. Work on a few things. You guys can go ahead."

He pulled out his keys and tossed them to a bewildered Go Go, who caught them in her open palm. She twirled them around her finger and smirked at him. "You're letting me drive your car?"

"No," he said simply. "I'm giving you the keys to give to Honey Lemon so that she can drive my car. I know better than to let you drive."

"Yeah, I'm totally going to give her the keys." She walked out of the door and around the corner, yelling back at him. "This is me giving the keys to her so that she can drive home."

"If there's a scratch on my car when I get back, I'll know!" was the response.

Too late. She was already gone.

Wasabi walked back to the center of the room. It always seemed to surprise him that this was his life now. Instead of school and worrying about graduating, he was a superhero flying around the city and fighting crime. But he had learned to live with it by now.

The school was second nature to him. So was the superheroing.

But the girl that was now on his mind? That was still new. But that was part of the reason he decided to stay behind.

"Basemax?"

"Wasabi recognized." The main screen lit up to show the eyes of the computer.

"Can you connect to my phone remotely?"

"I can. Please place your device on the conference table."

Wasabi did so, and several data points connected to the cell, the top of the table brimming with the new data.

"Call Aspen Matthews."

"Calling Aspen Matthews..."

He turned to the screen as the call connected. Aspen's profile picture came up as well. It was her holding a bowling ball in front of her, the cerulean of the ball diminished by the blue in her eyes as she stared down the lane, her tongue slightly sticking out as she concentrated on hitting the pins.

Of course, she hadn't noticed him take the picture at the time. It wasn't until they got back to his apartment and she had looked through his phone to relive the night that she saw the photo. She had a good laugh at it...and then she took a picture of him in the shower as revenge.

Good thing no one would ever see that picture.

"Hello there, Mr. Wasabi."

Wasabi had failed to notice that the call had gone through, but what he had noticed was that the girl was laying on a beach somewhere, judging by the sand, blue sky, and sun shining in the background.

Spoiler warning. That's also not what he noticed first.

"Aspen, what are you wearing?"

"What? This?" She pulled up the thin strap off of her shoulder. "It's called a bathing suit. It's a wonderful invention that people wear when they want to go swimming at the beach. You should try it sometime."

"I know. You bought me one, remember? But mine's not as…revealing as yours."

Aspen smiled as she panned the camera down the beach chair to the rest of her body. It was true that she wasn't leaving much to the imagination; the black high-cut shorts and dark blue low-cut bikini top were proof of that. Not that he really minded.

"Where are you calling me from? Did you redo your apartment or something?"

Wasabi was jolted back into reality by her question. "Oh. We have a secret base now."

"Wait, hold up!" Aspen leaned into the phone, her eyes widened. "When were you going to tell me this?"

"I don't know. It all came together rather suddenly. We needed a base to hide out because we're fugitives now."

"I heard about all of that. Cruz, right?" She frowned. "That must be rough. You guys have done so much for San Fransokyo, and he makes you guys into enemies just like that? Do you know why?"

"Not yet, but we'll figure it out."

"If anyone can, you guys can."

Wasabi clicked a few buttons on the center console, and Aspen's interest was immediately piqued. "So secret base, huh? Have any cool things in it like a juice bar or sushi buffet?"

He laughed. "You've been listening to Fred, haven't you?"

"Hey, those are things I would want to have."

Wasabi extended the camera so that she could see more of the inside. "This is just the conference room. The plan is to outfit this place with everything we need so that we don't have to go anywhere else. Communications, our spare costumes, the works. Meeting at Fred's is just too problematic at this point."

"That sounds amazing, but I have a question." She pointed to something behind him. "What's up with that tank in the back? Building an aquarium for relaxation purposes?"

Wasabi looked at the column of water. "No. That's for...something else."

"Oh?"

"It's for you."

Aspen stared at him. It was one of the few times that she didn't have a clever retort ready for him.

"I was thinking...and I haven't brought this up with anyone but Hiro yet, but..." Wasabi turned back around to her. "If things go south, and we can't do our job because we're arrested or jailed or something worse, all of the villains that we've been fighting are going to come out of the woodwork. If there's no one to stop them, then they'll take over the city. We need someone to be able to protect San Fransokyo. And...if that means recruiting other people to take our place, then that's what we need to do."

Aspen blinked once. "Wasabi, are you saying what I think you're saying?

Wasabi pressed a final button on the console. "Basemax, are you ready?"

"Ready for voice authorization."

"Aspen, can you say your name into the phone for me?"

"O...K." She put her mouth to the mic. "Aspen Matthews."

The base A.I. glowed for a minute, and then responded. "Recognized. Designation BH6-07. Welcome, Aspen Matthews."

Her eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Wait, hold on. Does this mean..."

"Yeah, it does." Wasabi smiled as Aspen's profile showed up on the screen. "This means you're officially a member of Big Hero 6 now. And you even have your own entrance from the ocean so that you don't have to come through the front door. That's what that is for (pointing to the tube of water). We're working on hollowing out a place for the sub underneath. We just have to not dig too much to ensure the structural integrity of the-"

Loud sniffling overtook his explanation. He looked up to see Aspen's eyes starting to water. "Are you OK?"

She wiped her tears away and laughed. "I'm sorry. I'm just...most girls want their guys to give them diamonds or expensive clothes. You got me into the most exclusive club in San Fransokyo. I'm honored."

"I even got you a chair and everything." One of the hovering chairs came over to his side, the symbol from her necklace etched into the back. "You know, for important meetings and all that."

"A chair? That's awesome! I get to sit at the big boy table now!"

Wasabi lightly pushed the chair away and returned to the keyboard. "Now we just need to get one made for Peni. She's been busy with getting ready for school, though. Maybe I'll have Hiro call her."

"Who in the world is Peni?"

"Oh yeah. You weren't here for that." Wasabi pushed a file upward to her phone. "Do you remember a few weeks ago when there were two giant monsters fighting in the city?"

"Totally! It was like a movie! I'm jealous I wasn't there for that!"

Wasabi stared at her.

"I mean...'Go, team!'?"

He rolled his eyes, smirking slightly. "Anyway, she helped us in that battle. She's Hiro's genius cousin."

"Hold on," Aspen interrupted. "There's more of them?"

"I know, right? Apparently it runs in the family. But she'll be eight and S.P.I.D.E.R. will be nine."

"Which number are you?"

Wasabi peeked into the system. "Hiro put me as six."

"Awww, we're right next to each other. How quaint."

He closed the program and stepped away. "I should let you go. I have to make sure that my car is still intact. And let you get back to...your work."

"You mean my tan?" Aspen laughed as she laid back. "I know what it looks like, but I've been running around so much between London and the Pacific Coast for the past few weeks talking to every single executive under the sun. I just needed to take a day for myself."

"What are you working on, anyway? When I asked you at Karmi's going-away party, you were all secretive about it."

Aspen looked down, and Wasabi thought he had said the wrong thing. "I mean, you don't have to tell me. I was just curious."

"I want to tell you. And I will eventually." She looked away for a split second. "But I don't want to give anyone the details, get everyone excited, and then nothing comes out of it."

"Fair enough." Wasabi plucked his phone off of the table. "I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Wasabi, wait."

He stopped with his finger over the red button and looked up at the screen. Aspen had placed her phone in front of her as she laid down in her chair, probably balancing it in a spot that made Wasabi blush just by thinking about it. And she knew it too, if the wide grin on her face was any indication.

"Thank you for making me a part of the team. I promise I'll do the best I can."

"I know you will."

"It's funny." Aspen's eyes pierced through his, even through the screen. "We hadn't talked in a while. I kind of thought you had gotten tired of me. Or just forgot about me."

Wasabi stayed silent for a second. He still wasn't really good at expressing his feelings, especially with someone who wore them on her sleeve every day. His were sewn underneath his skin. But that didn't mean a little bit couldn't bleed out every now and again.

"I could never forget you, Aspen."

The marine biologist let out a small chuckle.

"You wouldn't let me."

Now it was a full-blown laugh.

"I can't escape you."

Wasabi's finger ran on the outer edge of the phone.

"And I don't want to."

"...Did you get that out of a fortune cookie or something?"

"No!" Wasabi responded. "I'm trying to tell you how I feel. I know I...don't do it often enough."

Aspen shook her head, her phone jiggling around accordingly. "Well, I appreciate it. It was very thoughtful of you. I'll have to give you a big ol' hug next time I'm there."

"You give me a big hug every time you're here."

"Well, it will be biggerer than all of the ones before."

The two shared a second of silence before Aspen moved her phone up to her face. "I'll let you go rescue your car. Thank you for calling me. I'll talk to you later."

"OK. Bye, Aspen."

She put her hand over her face, blowing a kiss to him before ending the call.

Wasabi felt the blush go on his cheeks. Yup, still wasn't used to all of this. And in normal circumstances, he would run and hide from all of this. But as she put Basemax on standby and headed out, he was quite sure about one thing.

He wasn't going to try to escape any more.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who have read Fathom, you'll know Aspen to be a very smart, capable, and completely overbearing presence. I kind of wanted to reel that back a little bit with this, because now she's sharing that spotlight with Doreen. Also, having your entire life thrown upside down tends to change your outlook a little bit.

Hiro and Wasabi don't get enough one-on-one. Hiro gets a lot of it with the others, but not with him. I'm still very miffed that Wasabi still hasn't gotten a lot of the character development that people like Go Go and Fred have. Maybe "Fear Not" will change that. Who knows?

For the people that are wondering who Peni is, and why she's now in the fold, you should go read Along Came The S.P.I.D.E.R., which will hopefully answer some of your questions. I will attempt to get that story finished soon, because I don't want to go into the finale without that being done.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.