Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 is owned by Disney Animation. Ghostbusters is apparently also owned by them.

Disclaimer #2: I won't warn about spoilers again, but I will warn you if you were coming into this chapter looking for fluff...this ain't it.

Chapter 8 – Blinded By The Fight

A knock rang out in the empty laboratory, coming from the closed door.

"Karmi?"

No answer came from within.

"C'mon, Karmi. You can't ignore me forever."

Nothing.

"...OK, maybe you can, but I need to talk to you."

After a couple second of silence, the sounds of wires sparking came from outside. The door slid open to reveal Hiro, quickly screwing back in the control panel covering.

"Just to let you know, you made me do this."

He took a few steps into her lab, noticing the lights were off and everything was packed away. "All right...maybe you weren't actually ignoring me."

"What are you doing?"

Hiro turned to address the new arrival, scratching the back of his head. "Hey. Um...your door was unlocked. Sorry."

Karmi leaned back to look at her door panel. She raised an eyebrow at it as she pressed a random button. "I locked it before I left."

"Well, you know...these things can be faulty sometimes."

No longer interested in how he got in, Karmi walked into the room and set her backpack on the counter. "What do you want, Genius Boy? I have stuff I need to work on."

"I just wanted to say thanks."

"...For what?"

"For helping us out with the Mayoi." Hiro counted out on his fingers. "For not throwing me out when I came to you for help. For...saving the city with Big Hero 6."

Karmi turned and leaned on the counter, a smirk on her face. "Aaaand?"

"...And what?"

"For Liv being totally awesome! Did you see her out there?" She stared off into space, her hands clenched. "Isn't she great?"

Hiro grimaced. "Yeah. She's...something."

"Ugh." Karmi started to take some books out of her backpack. "Don't tell me you're still on that paranoid tangent about her being evil or something. You saw that short guy controlling the Mayoi? He was the one behind everything. Now that we know that, Big Hero 6 can catch him and the attacks will stop."

"I...don't think Mr. Sparkles is behind those attacks."

"Oh, is that what his name is? Seems kind of weird."

"Look," Hiro started. "Something is still off with this whole thing. After we-uhhh...Big Hero 6 herded everyone into the street, he just happens to show up? And then you and Liv Amara just happened to bring a serum that cured them?"

"We didn't just happen to have it," Karmi retorted. "Liv got me after that Mayoi broke out of the lab. She said she had a solution to the problem and had me load her car with the tech."

Hiro stared at her in disbelief. "And you don't think it's a coincidence that she's has that kind of tech lying around? Built specifically just for purposes like this?"

"Get to the point, Genius Boy."

He had to tread carefully now. "She may not be evil...but she definitely knows more than she's letting on. If we can just dig a little deeper-"

"No."

Hiro watched as she wheeled around to face him. "I am done playing Spy with you. The last time we did that, we almost got eaten by Orso Knox. I almost got fired. And you almost got hurt. I am not going through that again."

"Didn't know you cared so much about me, Karmi," Hiro said, a sly grin on his face.

Karmi let a sigh out through her nose. "I don't. But I'll admit; I was a willing participant in your little detective journey. If you had gotten hurt on my watch..."

She let the sentence hang in the air, confusing Hiro. "You what?"

"Never mind." Karmi walked over to her back counter and grabbed a couple of beakers.

Hiro didn't know where to go from here. He clearly wasn't getting through to her. Not that he was really surprising, but he at least thought she could see through his reasoning.

He didn't want to have to do this, but now he had no other choice.

"Karmi."

She didn't look up, but she at least stopped fiddling with her lab equipment. "What?"

"You can't honestly think that an ex-game show host, with no medical or technical experience, would be capable of executing all of these monster attacks around the city. He wouldn't have the brains or money. There's only one person who could do that. And we both know who that would be."

He reached into his pocket, his fingers locking around the dermal patch. "I'm...going to show you something. And you're probably not going to like it, but I need to do this." He started to bring his arm up...

And was promptly stopped by Karmi, her hand around his wrist.

"Hiro."

He looked up into her eyes, which were filled with...sadness? Anger? Both?

"Stop."

Karmi didn't let go of his arm as she continued. "I know that you are worried. Everyone in the city is worried. But when are you going to learn that Sycorax is here to help? You saw what happened yesterday. At Sycorax, we-"

Hiro wrestled his arm out of her grasp. He was angry now, and not for the reason he thought he would be. "You keep saying 'we'. What happened to 'you'?"

She recoiled back a little bit.

"You made the cure for Orso Knox. You were the one who helped me get down to him. You were the one I went to when we needed help with the Mayoi. Not Sycorax, not Liv Amara. You. Because I know how good you are. And now you're being...brainwashed by her."

Karmi stiffened her stance, not answering.

"I'm going to find out what's happening at Sycorax. Because whatever she's up to, she's using you to do it. And if she gets her way, she's going to toss you aside like one of her stupid experiments. And I don't-"

SMACK!

The hand came out of nowhere, making contact with his cheek. The sheer force of the slap caused Hiro to stumble back and collide with the corner counter. Regaining his senses, he looked up to see Karmi, shaking with anger and her left hand raised.

"Get out."

"Karmi, I-"

The front of his hoodie got yanked forward, and Hiro found himself face to face with his classmate. Her eyes, normally very appealing to subtly look at, were now filled with fury, threatening to shoot lasers right through his head.

"Get. Out."

She let his sweatshirt go, and Hiro didn't look back as he hurried his way out of the door. As it closed behind him, Karmi stood in the same spot, uncontrollably trembling. Her hand, as if it had a mind of its own, reached for the nearest beaker and chucked it as hard as she could at the nearest wall. The glass shattered against it, sending shards all around the lab.

Drained of energy, Karmi fell to her knees. She didn't care about anything anymore. Not the work. Not the glass. Not the cut on her cheek that was now dripping blood.

All she could do was cry.

Hiro did not stop walking until he got back to the lab. His head was still ringing, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do now was get out of there.

He threw open the doors and sped his way over to his stuff, sitting next to Fred's chair. Thankfully, he, Go Go, and Baymax were on patrol, so it was only two people that he had to dodge.

"Hiro?"

So much for that.

Hiro didn't even acknowledge her voice. He swung his backpack over his shoulder as he tried to escape.

Her hand came down on his shoulder, gently turning him around.

"Let me see."

Hiro looked down at the floor as Honey Lemon's fingers touched his cheek, recoiling slightly from it still stinging.

"Wasabi! Grab me an ice pack."

"I'm fine."

"You're not." Honey Lemon took the pack from Wasabi's hand and gently pressed it against his skin. "Come here."

She lead Hiro back to the chair and sat him down. "Keep that on. I'm going to go talk to Karmi."

He didn't even want to begin to think about how she knew that it was her, but he didn't care. "Honey Lemon, stop. Just leave her alone."

"But Hiro-"

"Wasabi, just drop it, OK?" He slumped his shoulders and pushed the ice pack harder on his face.

His friends glanced at each other, not sure what to do. But Hiro already had his mind made up, water now running down his arm. He just hoped they couldn't see his tears mixing with it.

"Leave her alone...just like I should have."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This might be a little...extreme compared to other chapters and stories I've done, but I'm hoping that the next episode will be a filler one so that this will give some time to stew.

Look, it can't all be sunshine and rainbows in Hiro/Karmi land. In fact, if I just made everything work out in the same story, it would get a little boring. A little drama never hurt anyone. And I think we're going to see it in the show before this two-week run is out.

And besides...there's always room for making up later.

Read and review, if you like. Until tomorrow, everyone.