Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6. Amara now owns "Bessie"...or what's left of it.
Disclaimer #2: Spoilers will be below. So will be Go Go and her brand of tough love.
Chapter 7 – Not Out Of The Woods
He hadn't wished his gut was right.
Hiro was in the garage, his overhead magnifying lamp peering down onto the wooden desk in front of him. Lying beneath it was the trans-dermal patch that they had pulled off of Ned Ludd.
He had studied the patterns.
Tested the circuitry.
There was no mistaking it now.
"The purposes are different, and the tech is reworked slightly..." Hiro said to himself. "But it's almost a complete match."
"What is?"
Hiro almost jumped out of his seat, the wheely chair creaking and groaning on his re-entry. "Go Go! What are you still doing here. I thought you went home?"
"Nope. Checking up on you." The Korean came fully around the garage door, still nursing a slight limp. "As soon as we got back from dropping off Ned at the woods, you ducked into the garage and haven't come out. And that was twenty minutes ago. As soon as you saw that patch on the bridge, it looked like you saw a ghost."
"How's your leg?"
She glanced down at it, a few bandages now wrapped around her ankle. "Fine. Still a little wonky, but Baymax scanned it when I was inside resting. It's only a sprain. I just need to take it easy for a little bit.
Hiro turned back towards his workbench. "You? Take it easy?"
"I don't really have a choice this time. I could go on patrol like this, but I'd rather not risk it." Go Go came up on his left. "But stop changing the subject. What's wrong?"
He waved to the small disc on the bench, Go Go grabbing the magnifying lamp. "Looking at the patch Mochi got off of Ned. Deactivated it and started analyzing the inner workings."
"And?"
"...It's very similar to before."
"Huh?" Go Go leaned back, her face confused. "To what?"
She watched as Hiro got up from his chair and made his way over to the corner, grabbing his armored purple glove from below his white board. He pressed a button on top of the glove, and a small object came out of the center.
"This."
Go Go peered at his fingers and saw an identical disc to the one from earlier in the day. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yeah." Hiro walked back over to the desk and sat them beside each other. "Karmi's nanoreceptor. One of the ones that she used on Orso Knox when he wrecked the gala."
She looked through the glass again and whistled. "Wow. They looked a little too similar."
Hiro tapped the desk with his finger. "Yeah, they're almost completely the same. You know, except one's meant to numb pain and sedate and the other turns a person into a monster with giant claws and fangs."
Go Go leaned up against the back wall, crossing her arms. "And should I ask why you have one of Karmi's nanoreceptors in your possession?"
Hiro sighed and wheeled over to his 3-D display. Waving his fingers around, he brought up some sketches of what appeared to be a shirt with detachable sleeves. He twirled the display as he started to explain. "Karmi and I were working on a project together."
"Is it called 'being in the same room for more than a minute together without arguing'?"
"No...that was the prototype name, though."
He spread his arms out wide, projecting his screen throughout all of the walls. Equations and data flashed all around them as he brought the model of the shirt over to his classmate. "Go Go...meet the Medi-Dex."
Go Go walked around the display, picking apart certain areas of the model. "Hypodermic delivery system...medical numbing agent algorithms...iron bioleaching transfers...all priority-powered by the subject's own biological processes. Holy cow, Hiro. This is impressive stuff."
"Yeah...it is."
"Did you come up with this idea before or after you threw Karmi up in the air?"
Hiro narrowed his eyes at her. "If you must know...after." He pressed his palms together, the data now shrinking back onto the screen. "We came up with the idea after I shorted out the Nano-Dex. Overtaxed it and hurt my back muscles. She had one of these with her, and she..." He trailed off, trying to hold onto that feeling he had received from it.
"Took care of you?" Go Go asked, not attempting to hide her smile.
"Yeah, I guess." He slumped back into his chair. "We were making good progress on it. Granville was actually able to secure a clinical trial for us overseas. And then...stuff happened."
"Like?"
"Oh, I don't know. Her yelling at me for absolutely no reason when I was trying to help, her being stupid about us trying to get away from Orso Knox, her thinking she's the highest and mightiest out of everyone..."
"Are you reading from a list?"
Hiro looked up, slowly lowering the note that he had made on his phone. "Noooo."
Go Go walked over to the teen as she shook her head. "Hiro, when are you going to tell her-"
"I have. Multiple times. We always have these...moments where I think we can actually be normal. And then we argue again about stupid things."
"That's...not what I meant."
Hiro turned his head to see Go Go holding up Karmi's nanoreceptor between her fingers.
"Oh."
"I was going to say when are you telling her about someone copying her work to make people into monsters," she smirked. "But since you started it, I'll butt in."
Hiro silently tried to push his chair away from the table, but Go Go caught him in the ankle. "Oh, you're not going anywhere."
The teen genius wrestled her leg out of her grasp. "I don't want to talk about this." He got up and made his way to the door inside…
And then was yanked back by his hood on his sweatshirt.
"Hey!"
"Hiro."
He stopped his struggling to see Karmi's nanoreceptor right in front of his face. Right behind that was Go Go, her eyes sternly staring back at him.
"Someone is using her tech to hurt people. We got lucky today, but we have no idea what's going to happen down the road. You know that Karmi would never use her inventions to purposefully hurt people. She wants to help them. She need to know...and you need to tell her."
"Go Go-"
Her face got even closer. "Hiro, do you think we're stupid? Do you think that your friends can't see what's going on between the two of you? Yes, you fight. Yes, you argue. A lot. But once you two pull your heads of your butts, you two are a great team. You guys found Orso Knox. That was stupid, but you guys found and cured him. You couldn't have done that without each other.
"And this (she waved back at the screen with the Medi-Dex on it) is only the tip of the iceberg. You guys have so much in common, it's actually kind of weird."
"Go Go, I don't hate her," Hiro interrupted. "If that's what you're going to ask next."
"No, I know you don't hate her." Her face was now an inch away from his.
"You like her."
Hiro's eyes widened as he backed away from her, his back knocking into the workbench. "I..."
His one letter response was apparently not enough to satiate Go Go. "Hiro, I'm not Honey Lemon. I'm not going to coddle you and tell you that you need to search your feelings to know it to be true or whatever. That might work if she talks to Karmi, but it won't work here. I see the way you look at her when you two talk. I saw what happened at the bowling alley, during that last frame. It's not rocket science, no matter how much you want to make it that."
"Fine. Tell you what." Hiro rolled up his sleeves and pointed at her. "I'll tell her how I feel about her...when you tell Robbie how you feel about him."
Go Go narrowed her eyes, and for a fleeting moment, Hiro thought he had crossed the line. However, the only thing he received back was a shrug. "'K. I mean I already did."
"...What?" he said flatly.
Well, this backfired spectacularly.
The smile returned to her face, a little amused at his blank expression. "Hiro, I'm not an expert at being in a relationship. It's weird for me. But when you guys left after the sticker party, Robbie and I...we came to an understanding. I know where he stands with me...and he knows where I stand with him. Once you get that down, everything else is just water off your back."
Go Go lightly pushed the nanoreceptor into Hiro's chest. "So I'm going to ask you this before I leave. Do you know where you stand with her, and do you know where she stands with you?"
"I..." He searched his brain for an answer, but nothing came up. "I don't know."
She started walking out toward the street, a hand on the garage door frame. "Well, you better figure that out. For your sake and hers. Tell her. About the tech...and you." Her head turned back toward him. "Because if you don't tell her...I will. And I'm not going to be subtle and take her to the roof to say it."
Go Go walked off into the night, Hiro still standing in the middle of the garage. He looked down into his palm to see Karmi's tech still sitting there. He closed his fingers around it, making up his mind.
He was going to tell her…
About the tech. Definitely about the tech. But first things first.
"I have to find out if she has this place bugged," Hiro muttered to himself.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just like Chapter 5, you see one of the gang talk to a young teen genius about feelings and whatnot.
Unlike Chapter 5, someone's being a little less...nuanced.
This is purposefully a callback to that chapter. Honey Lemon is nurturing, motherly, and willing to listen. Go Go...is not. She's direct, confrontational, and won't stop until she says what she needs to be said. Both styles work...in their own way.
Now, if only Hiro and Karmi would actually come together and talk to each other like adults...but I have a funny feeling that "Something Fluffy" is not going to be that time. I smell another big argument, and probably the next chapter idea.
Read and review, if you like. Until tomorrow, everyone.