It had been so long since Aria had dusted off her suit and worn it. Glancing at herself in the mirror in her dorm room, she was glad her roommate Rachel was out with friends tonight; it would be hard enough sneaking out of the dorm in this ridiculous outfit without her hanging around! She decided to wait to put on the actual armor, instead shoving the pieces into a duffel bag and slinging it over her shoulder. The boots would also have to go in the bag; bright orange wasn't exactly inconspicuous, after all. Slipping on some tennis shoes and a zip-up hoodie over the black under-suit, it looked pretty much like she was just wearing leggings under a sweater. Good and inconspicuous. Well, except for the weirdly bulky duffel bag. But hey, this was as good as it was getting.
It felt as though a weight had been lifted from Aria's shoulders after she'd spoken with Hiro yesterday. Even though he still seemed to be acting weird, at least he wasn't actively avoiding her anymore. It would be good to get out with the team, she thought. They all needed this. And she hadn't seen Fred or Gogo in forever it felt like!
Locking her dorm behind her, she made her way through her residence hall and down two flights of stairs. Waving awkwardly at the two girls sitting at the front desk, she stepped out into the cool evening air, and took a deep breath. 5 o'clock, the perfect twilight hour. Not too hot, not too cold, not too bright, not too dark. A small smile crept up on her, and she started on her way across campus. That is, until she was stopped by an unexpected and rather unwelcome appearance.
"Ari!" The stupid nickname cut through the calm air like a knife, and Aria flinched; she remembered that voice. Turning slowly with a somewhat awkward smile plastered across her face, she saw Finn veer from his path to walk up to her, waving.
"Oh…hey Finn," she said, not particularly wanting to get caught up talking to this guy. He beamed when she returned his greeting, though.
"Long time no see," he said, pushing his hair back out of his face. He looked like he'd just been out running, which was probably true. "Haven't crossed paths during our schedules."
"Yeah, I guess so," she said, tapping her toes absently on the concrete path.
"That's a shame, but hey, maybe next quarter, right? Lookin' forward to that lab time!"
"…Right." Aria pulled her phone from her pocket, conspicuously checking the time. Finn did not seem to catch the hint.
"So where are you headed off to?" He asked, and Aria really wished he hadn't. Now she'd have to come up with something to say, and she was such a bad liar!
"Er…uh, the gym," she said, thinking quickly. That was a good excuse, after all, she was in leggings and carrying a duffle bag. This is how people who actually worked out and didn't watch hour upon hour of Netflix series dressed, right?
"Oh, damn, I just got back from my workout," Finn said, frowning slightly. "You shoulda texted me, I woulda liked a workout buddy! You still have my number from orientation, right?" Uh oh, this was backfiring!
"Oh, darn, that's too bad," she said, laughing nervously. She started inching away from him, the fake smile still on her face. "I'll be sure to hit you up next time." As if.
"You do that!" This seemed to placate him, and as Aria waved at him, he let her go without a fight. She breathed a sigh of relief when he turned to walk away, and she did the same, picking her pace up a considerable amount.
Catching the trolley at the last minute, Aria held onto the rail with one hand, shifting her bag with the other. Now that that obstacle was out of her way, she could relax again. Just an easy night of recon with her friends and her boyfriend. For the first time in a while, she felt rather happy with herself. This was good. This was definitely good.
Hopping off at the correct intersection, Aria waved to Cass through the front window, just as Hiro's Aunt was turning the sign out front to 'closed'. The older woman waved back, happy to see Aria coming around again, and pointed behind her, signaling Hiro was out back. Nodding, Aria rounded the building's corner, and found herself in the Hamada's back driveway. The garage door was standing open, and inside, Gogo and Honey Lemon were helping Fred, who had somehow gotten himself stuck weirdly in his suit. Hiro didn't seem to be in the garage, but Wasabi was standing off to the side, speaking to someone on his phone.
"Hey guys," Aria chirped, happy to see them outside of school, and immediately Honey Lemon twirled around, encasing her in a hug as soon as she was within arm's reach.
"Aria!" she sang, as Gogo managed to shove Fred's arm where it needed to go, before turning and nodding at the younger girl.
"Look who dressed down," she said sarcastically, indicating Aria's 'incognito' suit.
"Har har," she teased back, Setting her duffel bag down when Honey released her, and unzipping it. "Didn't really want to waltz through campus in bright orange armor."
"If I could wear my suit 100% of the time, I totally would," Fred interjected, using the claw on his suit's glove to scratch at his ear.
"It already smells like you wear it 100% of the time," Gogo smirked. Pulling her sweater off and stepping out of her tennis shoes, Aria proceeded to pull piece after piece of her armor out, attaching it to her under suit one piece at a time, until finally she had stepped into her boots, and was ready to go. Tucking her helmet under her arm, she looked around once again.
"So, where's Hiro and Baymax?" she asked.
"He went inside a while ago to get something," Honey answered, picking off a loose thread from her skirt. "I guess I didn't notice how long he's been taking." Aria's eyebrows wrinkled together at this, but before she could ask a follow up question, Wasabi could be heard quickly saying goodbye to whoever he was talking to, and then groaning loudly after he'd hung up. Honey Lemon looked rather worried.
"Everything okay?" Gogo asked as their friend rejoined the group, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly.
"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing, just stupid crap with the bank," he sighed, taking his headset from a nearby desk and positioning it across his face. "Okay, where is that boy? I need to punch some bad guys to take my mind off things!" Gogo jabbed her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the house, and Wasabi rolled his eyes. "I'll go find him." Retreating back into the house, all three girls exchanged a look once Wasabi was gone.
"What's that about?" Aria asked, and when both she and Gogo looked to their friend, Honey just threw her hands up in exasperation.
"I don't even know," she lamented, "Wasabi's been acting so weird lately! Always on his phone, always grumpy. I try to get him to tell me what's wrong, but he just brushes me off." Aria felt bad for her friend, Honey Lemon looked distraught over Wasabi's quizzical behavior. "I guess it has to do with the bank, which is understandable," she continued, "but I still don't know why he won't tell me anything."
"Men," Gogo said, rolling her eyes.
"Hiro's been weird lately too," Aria put in, looking back and forth between the two. "We kinda had a fight, but he seemed to hold a grudge over it for way too long. I dunno, maybe it's a full moon or something, but they're all acting kind of weird." By all, she meant all the guys, and that included her new 'acquaintance' Finn and his annoying antics, though neither Gogo nor Honey knew about that.
"Yeah, he has been dodgy lately," Honey said, tapping her chin. "But, it can't be because of a little lover's quarrel. You two have fought before, right?" Aria went a little pink at that, and laughed nervously.
"Ah, well…not really," she admitted, surprising even herself with it. It was hard to believe they'd never even had a small spat before. But she guessed long-distance was like that. "It was right after the welcome home party, and it wasn't really a proper fight. But me and him sort of avoided each other for a long time. I only just apologized to him yesterday."
"What?" Gogo scoffed, crossing her arms. "Don't apologize to that idiot," she said, "he's been distant because of the break in. He's been backing up all his research twice over lately, that's why he's not been easy to get a hold of. Besides. It probably was his fault you two had a fight. You know how stubborn he is." Aria smiled sideways at Gogo, shaking her head. Gogo was a pretty good ally to have on your side, she thought.
"Well, hopefully it's behind us now," she said, inspecting her helmet. "And hopefully the guys will stop acting so weird." It was just then that there was a crash behind the three of them. Spinning around, they were greeted by the sight of Fred flat on his back in the garage, a swivel chair overturned beside him, it's wheels still spinning.
"Fred, you idiot, what were you doing?" Gogo said, walking over to him and peering down at him. His hood was tipped back as he lay there, and he had a dazed look on his face.
"I was tired of listening to girly gossip," he said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "I wasn't doing anything!"
"Were you standing on the swivel chair?" Honey asked disapprovingly.
"…Maybe."
"Fred!" Honey bent down to help their friend to his feet just as Wasabi, Baymax and Hiro emerged from the house, the later looking a bit disheveled, like he'd just woken up. Aria wondered if that was actually true, if maybe he'd fallen asleep inside while they were waiting on him.
"Gogo, did you punch Fred out again?" Wasabi asked, observing the scene before them.
"He doesn't need my help hurting himself," she said dismissively, reaching for her helmet and securing it on her head. Aria laughed at that, as Hiro came to stand beside her.
"Hey," she said, somewhat hesitantly. He bent down to kiss her forehead, almost automatically. "You look like you just got up from a nap."
"I wish," he said, conveniently yawning just then.
"Find what you needed?" she asked, and he glanced sideways at her.
"Huh?"
"In the house? Honey said you were looking for something."
"Oh, right, right." Brushing his fingers through his shaggy hair, he pulled his helmet on, switching on the communicator as he did. "Yeah, everything's good." He was being rather curt again, which was starting to irritate Aria, but she decided that Hiro was probably tired from worrying all the time, and she would just have to swallow that irritation for now and get over it. Besides. They were about to all go out together as a team again! She shouldn't be hung up on Hiro's weirdness right now. Slipping her own helmet on, Aria was greeted with the distantly familiar digital display in front of her eyes.
"Baymax, why don't you tell 'em the plan," Hiro asked over the communicator, and just like that, a map of San Fransokyo popped up in front of her, several sections of the city lit up in either red, yellow or green.
"Green areas indicate commercial and residential zones, low risk zones or zones Hiro and I have already assessed," Baymax told them, his usual calming voice coming over her helmet's speakers. 'Already assessed?' she thought, wondering how many times Hiro and Baymax had done this, just the two of them. Maybe that's why he was so tired and distant? "Yellow areas indicate mid to high risk zones, including several of the historic neighborhoods, the bay area, and less developed neighborhoods. Red areas indicate immediate risk zones, industrial areas, and current unfollowed leads."
"And what exactly is it we're looking for in these zones?" Gogo asked.
"Any suspicious or illegal activity that may lead to information on any stolen tech or data from the break in of SFIT earlier this year."
"Every lead we've checked out so far has either gone cold or come up with a dead end," Hiro interjected, crossing his arms. "It either means the tech and data aren't circulating the city, or they're so far underground that simple surveillance and recon can't come up with anything."
"And these red spots, the leads you haven't checked out yet?" Honey Lemon asked. "What about them?"
"There's one that's looking like it might lead somewhere," he said, "but I don't have high hopes."
"Hey, that's what we specialize in," Wasabi said, "hopeless cases!"
"Yeah, let's go!" Fred all but shouted into the communicator, and before anyone could stop him, he launched himself up and out of the driveway, landing on a nearby rooftop. Hiro sighed heavily.
"Just give him the direction on his display so he knows where he's going," Hiro asked Baymax, before climbing onto the android's back. "Just keep your eyes peeled everyone. Any little thing could help."
"Got it." Gogo was the next to go, speeding off down the allyway. Nodding at the others, Aria studied the map on her display, before taking off herself. It was easy enough to climb to a respectable altitude with her powers, setting herself down on a low skyscraper's rooftop. Following her directions, she sprinted off in the direction of the closest red zone. Whenever she reached the edge of one rooftop, she continued on running, her feet setting down in midair like there was some invisible walkway between roofs.
It was a strange sensation, using her powers like this again. She hadn't been this airborn in so long, but it was oddly satisfying. Like stretching out your legs after being seated for a long time, or uncurling yourself after a nap. She was a tad bit rusty, sure, but even after not having done this in over a year, she still had great control over it. She was pretty much remastered it after only a few minutes of practice.
The zone she'd been told to assess per Baymax's instructions was a partially demolished neighborhood on the west end. The old freeway overpass, long-since disused and forgotten, loomed over the short-stack buildings, crumbling with age. Keeping high, she avoided the unsavory characters below, while still being able to eavesdrop on any and all illicit conversations remotely via her helmet's enhanced surveillance capabilities. She'd already tuned into several conversations, and they were either run of the mill illegal, drug dealing or the like, or were creepily innocuous. Nothing so far that was bringing up any red flags.
"I think I've got something," Gogo could be heard whispering over the communicator. The mini-map in the corner of Aria's display showed the blip that represented Gogo's location about 15 blocks east of her.
"What's happening?" Hiro asked, his blip on the other side of the city.
"It's two guys, one of 'em's talking about some kind of meet up," she said, her voice almost too quiet to hear. "Like, I dunno, a showcase or something. There's a lot of 'interest', he says, a lot of buyers will be there."
"Keep on him, Hiro commanded, "try to figure out where and when, and don't lose him!"
"Not a problem."
"Aria, Wasabi, you two are closest, follow Gogo for backup." Nodding to herself, Aria followed his instructions, chancing her direction and speeding off towards Gogo's location. Wasabi arrived there first, but she wasn't far behind him, and she could see the two peering over the edge of a high-sitting fire escape at the little meeting going on below. When Gogo noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned and saw Aria approaching, and held a finger to her lips. They had to be silent to avoid being spotted.
"…Just bring the stuff Fage gave you. You know Boss's gonna be there," the two below them could be heard saying over Aria's surveillance comm.
"All this sellin' and resellin' and buy-backin' is real fishy," the other said, the smaller of the two men. "Can't she just keep it if she wants to sell it and buy it back?"
"Man, you're too stupid to understand what Boss wants. You and Fage are both morons."
"Don't let Fage hear you sayin' that…" The two of them began walking further into the maze of alleyways below, and just like that, Gogo was swinging herself up from the fire escape to the rooftop, Wasabi scrabbling up after her. Aria followed, letting herself lose a little altitude to follow the two men closer.
"Hiro, you and Baymax need to get over here!" Aria heard Gogo hiss into the communicator. "Baymax needs to get a scan on these guys."
"We're coming as fast as possible," he replied, sounding frazzled again. "Just stay on 'em!"
"Aria, get closer and see if you can keep them from disappearing inside a building," Gogo said, to which Aria dutifully obeyed. Staying several yards away, Aria set her feet down on the street behind them, and kept close, still listening in on their conversation.
"…And what about this plan Fage keeps babblin' on about?" the smaller man asked, "keeps sayin' Boss and him gonna start phase two or whatever soon." This earned a slap across the back of the head from the taller man, who paused in the middle of the dark alley.
"Don't fuckin' talk about that!" he snarled, his voice still hushed. "You don't know nothin'! Don't talk about shit you know nothin' about!"
"Alright, alright, damn!" Continuing on, Aria peeked around the next corner, and momentarily panicked when she saw the two approach what appeared to be a solid steel door. It was situated behind a dumpster and several propped up ply boards, and Aria wouldn't have even seen it if the two hadn't stopped in front of it and pushed the boards out of the way. The larger man took out a key and shoved it into what looked like an industrial lock.
"They're gonna be untrackable in there!" Aria heard Wasabi fret over the communicator, and thinking fast, Aria stuck her hand out, and focused on the metal in the lock's mechanism. Holding it static, the man found that his key refused to turn in the lock, and yanked it back out.
"Dumb ass key," he mumbled, jamming it back in and turning more forcefully. Aria felt the mechanism strain against her control of it, and she found herself concentrating desperately to keep it from turning. But from this distance, such a small target was difficult to control, and the man was able to finally wrench the key into position and unlock the heavy steel door. "Finally!" he laughed, throwing the door open, and the two of them filed in, closing and locking it behind them.
"Damn it!" Gogo swore, and Aria peered upwards, to where she and Wasabi were leaning over the edge of the building.
"I'm sorry," Aria apologized, "I couldn't keep the lock from turning."
"What's happening?" Hiro asked, his blip now only a few blocks away.
"The two of them disappeared inside one of these buildings," Gogo answered, her and Wasabi climbing down the fire escape. Finally coming out into the open, Aria cautiously approached the door, inspecting it. Just as Baymax and Hiro arrived and touched down in the alley, she placed her hand on the cool steel, and tried to get a feeling of how thick it was.
"What is this building?" Hiro asked, climbing from Baymax's back.
"Looks like just some old apartment building," Gogo answered. The room beyond the door wasn't metal, it was concrete and wood, but Aria could definitely feel the pull of other, larger metal structures beyond it.
"I think this is a parking garage," she said, placing her other hand on the surface. "I'm pretty sure there's cars in there."
"Is there another way in?" Wasabi asked, but Aria realized they wouldn't need another way in. Putting her hand over the large, industrial lock, she internally tinkered with the mechanism, and finally heard the tell-tale click of it unlocking. The others fell silent as she grinned back at them.
"This way's fine with me," she said, reaching for the handle, and gingerly easing the door open. The room on the other side of the door was dark, but quiet; the two men must have been out of earshot of the door by then.
"This doesn't seem like the best idea," Wasabi said, putting his hand on Aria's shoulder. "You don't know what's on the other side, you don't know if those guys are armed, you just don't know." Gogo said nothing, but Aria thought she saw a subtle head nod. She hesitated; Wasabi was prone to needless worrying and fretting, but if Gogo also thought it was a bad idea, then it probably was.
But one of them didn't particularly care what the others thought about the safety of the situation. Hiro brushed past Aria, somewhat rudely nudging her aside, and he slipped through the cracked door into the darkness beyond. As he did so, he pressed something on the outside of his helmet, and Aria heard a faint mechanical blip; he must've turned on the night vision capabilities.
"Hiro, wait," she whispered, grabbing for his sleeve, but missing. She stumbled into the dark after him, scrambling to find the same button on her own helmet. It had been so long since she'd been in uniform, though, that she couldn't remember which switch it was, and found herself bumbling with the controls on her helmet in the dark. She was afraid to call out to him again, for fear of alerting the men they were following, but she really couldn't see a thing! "Hiro," she breathed, stumbling further into the dark.
There was a few more moments of tense, dark silence, before Aria finally found the correct switch. Feeling relieved, she switched night vision on, and immediately, the configuration of the display in front of her eyes changed, and she was able to see once more. Though, in that same moment, it suddenly dawned on her that the silence enveloping her was more than just eerie; it was wrong. Shouldn't she have been hearing the two men's conversations from inside the garage? Or, at least any footsteps? Just as the scene in front of her illuminated, she was greeted by the answer to that strange query.
"Hiro!" she gasped, her spine going rigid. The boy that stood not ten feet from her froze as they both heard the ominous click of the safety of a gun being removed. The taller of the two men they'd trailed stood behind him, having snuck up on Hiro, while the shorter was not far off, partially obscured by several parked cars. Several feet behind her, Aria was aware of the steel door being nudged open as inconspicuously as possible.
"It's real cute that you thought we didn't know you were following us," the man with the gun said. Hiro was still, but Aria noticed his hands clench slightly. Another click echoed strangely in the parking garage, and Aria's eyes flickered to the smaller man and his gun. He kept swinging his weapon between the two of them, as if he couldn't decide who was a bigger threat, the stringy boy or the boyish girl. He seemed to finally settle on Aria.
"How'd you get in the door?" The smaller man demanded. He was turned to Aria, so she assumed he was asking her. "Fage don't let just anyone have the keys!"
"Hey, shuddup," the taller man shouted, nudging the gun forward, tapping Hiro on the back of the neck. He flinched slightly at this. "I'm asking the questions. Or…lack of questions." He paused, before muttering several swears. "It doesn't matter! I don't make a habit of killin' kids, but the last thing any of us needs is nosy types like you!" Aria could feel the tension on the taller man's trigger, and without moving, so as not to startle the other, jumpier man into shooting his own gun, she focused in on that trigger, and held it firm. Just like before, such a precise manipulation was proving difficult, but this time, it was much more important that Aria keep her focus.
So, it didn't really help when one of Gogo's disks came flying right beside her ear, nearly hitting her. The little yellow disk collided with the man's wrist, causing his gun to go flying. In the same instant, the smaller man fired, but with Hiro out of immediate danger, Aria was able to turn and deflect the bullet with a sweeping gesture. There was a bang and a hiss as the deflected bullet hit one of the cars, and a car alarm started to go off. Looking back to Hiro and the taller man, she saw the latter scrambling for his gun, and Hiro scrambling away.
"Baymax!" he called, and the armor-clad android burst through the unlocked door.
"Shit, it's those punks in the armor!" the smaller man said, already weaving his through the cars. With dim street-lamp-light streaming into the garage through the open steel door, Hiro lunged towards Baymax, ready to swing himself up onto the robot's back. But out of the corner of her eye, Aria saw the tall man finally reach his weapon. Before she could rip the gun from his hands, he fired at Hiro.
"Hiro!" Aria heard Gogo shout at him in warning, but there was no way for him to move out of the way in time. Aria barely had the time to divert the bullet's course; she was magnetic, but damn do bullets move fast. It's flight path curved just in time, missing Hiro by inches, and imbedded itself into another nearby car. Whipping back around, Aria yanked the gun from the assailant's hand, and slammed it as hard as she could into the opposite wall.
There was a long moment of stillness. No one moved, no one dared to breath. Looking at Hiro, Aria could see his eyes were wide behind his helmet. She felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest.
The moment was shattered, however, as the second car hit by a bullet started belching out smoke. She must've hit the radiator. There several loud popping noises, and all four of the gang standing beside it, minus Baymax of course, jumped as the hood was forced open by the pressure of the steam being expelled. Aria stumbled away from the boiling hot steam before it could fry her under her armor, and ended up with her back to Baymax, beside a sputtering Gogo. And, in the confusion of the sudden automobile meltdown, the taller man was able to make his escape.
"Baymax! C'mon!" she heard Hiro shout, punctuating each word with a cough.
"My sensors appear to be over heated by the environmental temperatures," Baymax said, blinking behind his helmet. "I will need to return to ambient temperatures for my sensors to function properly."
"What!?" Aria couldn't take it anymore, and relented, making her way back out into the alley way. She yanked her helmet off and let it clatter to the ground, and leaned down with her hands on her knees, sucking in clean, cool night air. Gogo and Wasabi followed suit.
"Are you guys…alright?" she gasped, steam and smoke still pouring out of the open door. Hiro was through before the others could answer, and in a much more violent fashion than Aria, tanked his helmet off and threw it on the ground.
"What the hell was that!?" he asked, rounding on his three comrades, as Baymax shuffled his way out into the open. Aria was startled by his outburst, and for the moment, could say nothing. She straightened up, a hand still pressed to her chest as he continued. "You just had to hit another car, didn't you?" This was flung directly at Aria, and again she flinched. Why was he mad at her?
"Whoa, whoa," Wasabi said, reaching out to put a hand on Hiro's shoulder, but the younger boy shoved him away. "She just saved your life!"
"We all kinda did," Gogo said, crossing her arms.
"You let them get away!" Hiro replied, throwing his arm out towards the smoke rising from the doorway. "You could have done anything with that bullet! You're a god damn magnet, and you choose to hit a car!?"
"How dare you!" Aria snapped back. He'd pushed too far, and had just crossed a line. "I'm not just some stupid magnet, you ass, I saved your life! Wasabi told you not to go in there and if it wasn't for me and Gogo, you'd have one hell of a hole in your head right now!" Even with her shorter stature, she was staring Hiro down with the same ferocity he was throwing at her, two fold. But his scowl didn't crumble. He didn't slump and apologize. He exhaled through his nose, not unlike the stubborn-ass bull he was acting like right now, and turned from the three of them.
"The first good lead I see in months, MONTHS! And you three screw it up!" Baymax was looking between them all back and forth, as if watching a tennis match. "THIS is why I never invited you all to come along before," he snarled, glaring at Aria as he climbed onto Baymax's back.
"Hiro, stop!" Aria shouted, but it was no use. He and Baymax had once again taken off. And without him, the alley grew quiet. "…what a child," she muttered.
"He does this a lot," Gogo said, cocking an eyebrow at the younger girl.
"Yeah, he left us on a quarantined Island once," Wasabi added, nodding. Gogo walked over to where Hiro had thrown his helmet, and picked it up; the display was badly cracked.
"What an idiot," she laughed, though there was no humor behind it. She glanced at Aria, giving her a somewhat pitying look. "…He's just angry right now. He didn't really mean any of it." She knew Gogo was referring to the magnet comment, but Aria just looked away instead of replying. She didn't really want to talk about it anymore.
"Let's just go home."