The sun was shining. Birds were singing! There was a general mood of happiness, lazily drifting through the streets of downtown San Fransokyo.
And Aria was a mess.
She's only brought so much stuff with her. One backpack, that was all. Of course Aunt Cass let her use their washer and dryer, but there was only so many times you could wear the same three shirts. 'Note to self,' she thought, as she put on her last new, clean shirt, 'bring bigger suitcases when you run away.'
But it wasn't just the clothes issue. Her hair was not cooperating that morning, and she had heavy purple bags under her eyes from being up all night with Hiro, testing out the prototype chanellors. All in all, she wasn't feeling too good that day. Too bad she was going with Hiro to his school to hang out with the gang.
"You'll love the lab," Hiro said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up onto the trolley behind him, just as it started to move.
"Yes, a bunch of people just dying to write a dissertation paper on me," she quipped sarcastically, "My dream come true."
"You sound just like me when Tadashi first brought me to SFIT. You'll see, it's pretty cool."
"You weren't always so interested in robotics?" She held onto one of the support poles of the trolley, seeing as all the seats were filled up, for dear life. She wasn't real good with things like balance, and she was afraid she'd be tossed off the jerky vehicle at any moment. Hiro, on the other hand, was holding on nonchalantly, pretty much casually hanging off the side of the trolley car.
"Oh, no, I was always interested in robotics," he corrected, "just not college. I didn't really have a direction after high school. I was convinced I was too smart for traditional education, so I didn't have many long-term goals. Tadashi changed all that, the first time he showed me the lab." He smiled, remembering how desperate he'd been to get into the robotics program. That seemed like so long ago; it had really only been five years.
"Huh; so maybe if I see it, I'll spontaneously become a genius, and be interested in robotics as well." She gave him a wry little smile, and he just laughed.
"Maybe." He shot another one of his crooked smiles at her, and she nearly lost her grip and tumbled off the trolley. Damn boy and his damn good looks.
"Uh…so, what are you working on now? At the lab, I mean?" she said, trying to act casual as she could feel a blush creep up on her.
"It's…haha, well, there's a lot." He shook his head, eyes glazing over slightly as he thought about the myriad projects he was working on. "I guess my main focus is Baymax. I've been working on upgrading him, patching through new procedures. I've expanded on his AI recently, too. But I've really been focusing on mass production and replicating his programming. I've also got this idea underway, for a sort of selective, wireless processor hookup."
"And, a selective wireless processor hookup would be…?" Aria asked, barely able to keep up.
"It'll be easier to show you once we get to the lab. You'll see," he said, turning just as the trolley rounded a corner, bringing SFIT into view on the horizon.
"Aria, Hiro!" Wasabi was the first to greet them as the pair walked through the heavy double doors, leaning back in his chair at the computer desk. "Late as usual, I see?"
"Aria's here!?" Honey shouted, peeking out of her station, her earphones still in and her voice several decibels too loud. Her eyes lit up once she saw the two of them, and rushed forward, encasing Aria in a much-too-sudden hug. "Aria! Oh, I'm so excited you decided to come visit us!"
"Honey Lemon! Keep it down!" Hiro laughed, grimacing as she shouted. He reached forward and yanked lightly on the cord to her earbuds, pulling them out of her ears. "You've really got to remember when you've got these things in!"
"Whoops! Sorry, I'm just so happy to see you guys!" She looped an arm through Aria's, and started to drag her along. "C'mon, Fred'll be happy to see you too!" Aria felt like recoiling, but her long-suppressed, under-developed social ability dictated that she should just go along with it. She just wasn't used to this much attention, from anyone.
Hiro hung back as Aria was towed along behind Honey Lemon, smiling as she shot him a frenzied glance. He realized she must have been way out of her element at the moment, but he was happy his friends liked her. They were a pretty good judge of character, he'd found over the years.
Well, most of his friends.
Gogo walked up and stood beside him, and almost unreadable expression on her face. It wasn't happiness, that was for sure.
"So, she tagged along?" she finally asked, looking at Hiro sideways.
"Honey invited her, remember?" he said, and Goo rolled her eyes.
"Right, right. How could I forget?"
"Why are you so annoyed with Aria? She's barely said two words to you." Hiro turned to his long-time friend and shot her a strange look. He couldn't help but feel a little personally hurt by Gogo's apparent rejection of Aria; he got along well with Aria, so seeing Gogo act so hostile towards her made him just a bit defensive of his new friend.
"I'm not annoyed with her," she said, motioning to where Fred had just toppled Aria in a hug, "It's just…I don't like the situation. Something's fishy. I can feel it, something's off about this whole thing."
"What's off, exactly?"
"I don't know." She pursed her lips, eyes narrowing slightly. "But I'm gonna find out."
"Look, can' you just try to be nicer?" Hiro turned to face Gogo as he walked backwards towards where Aria was being helped up by Wasabi. "If you just let your wall down, you'd see that she's actually really sweet. The two of you would get along great, if you'd just let yourself relax."
"Look, Hiro, I won't tell you what to do, and you don't tell me what to do, okay?" She turned away from him, making her way back to her station. Hiro sighed, running his hand through his hair tiredly, before walking up to the others. Gogo could be so difficult sometimes.
"Aria, c'mon," he said, motioning her to follow him. "I wanna show you the processor hookup I was talking about."
"Okay!" She was all too happy to follow him and escape the over-exuberance of Honey and Fred. She liked them just fine, but they could be overwhelming at times. "Don't leave me alone with them!" she whispered when they were out of earshot, and Hiro let out a laugh.
"You'll get used to them, I promise!" Unlocking his office, which had once been Tadashi's, he let her in. "Here, check it out! Ow!" He hadn't been hurt, but as soon as he said 'ow', several small red cubes around the room blinked to life, and all at once, three replicas of Baymax started to inflate. The first to fully inflate stepped forward, and in Baymax's voice, started to speak.
"Hello. I am Baymax Alpha, your personal healthcare provider. I was alerted that you were in need of care when you said…'ow'." Hiro smiled sideways at Aria.
"Go ahead and scan me, Alpha," he said, and stood still as the replica did so.
"My scan shows no signs of injury. It did reveal that your hydration levels are low." As soon as he said this, the replica closest to Hiro's desk immediately responded, picking up a water bottle sitting on the surface. He handed it to 'Alpha', who then handed it to Hiro. "Water is the best source of hydration. It is recommended that you consume 92 oz of water per day for optimum hydration."
"Thank you, Alpha, Beta," He nodded to both robots. "Delta, could you scan my friend? She might be dehydrated as well."
"Oh, no, I don't think I need-" As Aria tried to protest, the third replica quickly scanned her, and she narrowed her eyes at Hiro. He just grinned.
"Scan complete. My scan shows minimal dehydration, but also elevated neurotransmitter and blood pressure levels. I recommend half-dose aspirin." As he said this, just like before, Beta began rummaging through the drawers of the desk. He eventually came up with a small white bottle.
"Half-dose aspirin can commonly be bought over the counter." He said, walking up to hand it to her.
"Thanks guys," Hiro said. "We are satisfied with our care." As the three large white robots returned to their charging blocks and deflated, Aria tried to make sense of what she'd just seen. "So? What do you think?"
"So…they're all hooked up together, then?" she asked. "As soon as one of them thinks something, the other can go do it?"
"Yeah, something like that. But it wouldn't just be them. Each unit could potentially hook up with any other units in a designated area. They can already communicate pretty flawlessly with humans, so I figured they need to communicate flawlessly with each other as well, without actually having to give commands." He was grinning so proudly, that Aria couldn't help but smile back. And why wouldn't she? This was really amazing technology.
"This is really great, Hiro," she said, "I can't believe just one person could develop that kind of thing!"
"Well, it's not really just me." He walked over to his desk, and picked up a framed picture. "Tadashi laid the groundwork. I'm just following his idea." Looking over his shoulder, Aria caught a glimpse of the picture; him and Tadashi, significantly younger. Both of them looked so carefree. Hiro still looked rather carefree, but it wasn't exactly the same. There was a bit of an edge to his expression now.
"I bet he'd be proud, though." Hiro looked up at Aria, his smile growing.
"Yeah. I hope."
The 'moment' that was currently happening between them was shattered, though, when the door to Hiro's office was unexpectedly thrown open. Fred stood in the doorway, a somewhat peculiar expression on his face.
"Dudes!" he said, "You gatta come see this!"
"What?" Hiro asked, glancing at Aria, before following him. Fred led them out through the lab, towards Fred' corner, where he usually hung around while the others were working. Although, corner may have been the wrong word; perhaps 'pit' was more appropriate? A TV screen sat against the far wall, DVD cases for various superhero movies littered around the base, and the gang was huddled around the screen. It wasn't until Fred shoved his way through, letting Aria and Hiro see what everyone was watching, did Aria's face begin to fall.
"Aria's on TV!" Fred announced. On the screen, a reporter was speaking in front of a live video feed of several men, who looked like doctors and researchers, being led out of a hospital in handcuffs. Those men looked all too familiar to Aria.
"…illegal biomedical cover up of human trials." The reporter was saying, as she listed the men's offences. "As of now, records for only two patients who underwent the dangerous medical experimentation could be found." As she spoke, two pictures flashed on the screen, one of Aria, which had been taken at the hospital, and the other of an unknown man. The picture had been taken at Aria's sickest, so her cheeks and eyes were sunken, but there was no mistaking it; that was Aria. "But both patients are missing. If anyone has any information regarding these patients, who's records only indicated them as 'Tsukino' and 'Ome', please call your local police immediately.
Slowly, each pair of eyes in front of the TV turned to Aria, who had gone pale white. There was a prolonged silence, before Gogo finally broke and stabbed a finger at her.
"I knew it!" she said, scowling. "I knew something was up with this!"
"Gogo-" Honey started, but was immediately shushed.
"You've got the entire city of Los AngelOsaka looking for you?"
"I…I, uh…" Aria didn't really know what she was supposed to say. Her throat felt like it was closing up, and her eyes darted from face to face, assessing their expressions. Almost everyone looked utterly confused, besides Gogo. Hers was nothing but vitriol.
"Aria?" She turned, as Hiro shook his head, eyes wide. "What's going on? I thought…I thought you aid your parents knew where you were?"
"…They don't," she finally said, looking at the ground. "I ran away. I had to! There was no other way-"
"So, you lied to us," Gogo interrupted. "Who the hell even are you?"
"My name IS Aria," she asserted, daring to look Gogo in the eyes, "and I WAS magnetized in an experimental cancer treatment! But you don't understand; after things started going wrong, they didn't want my family going to the media! They didn't want this getting out! They paid us to keep quiet, and my parents…they were happy to take the money and tell me to chin up and deal with it." Her lower lips started to quiver. "But I can't! I needed help! Hiro and you guys were the only ones I knew could help me!"
"Why should we believe any of that!?" Gogo had leaned down, face close to Aria's, and the younger woman began to back away. She was no match for Gogo's intensity.
But Hiro was.
"Back off!" he said, stepping in front of Aria, to go nose-to-nose with Gogo. The shorter of the two looked taken aback, flinching backwards.
"Hiro, she-"
"-She needs our help, Gogo. You saw the report. Are you just gonna turn your back on someone, when you're one of the only people that could do something to help them?" His expression was stern, but neither would back down, not completely.
"I told you I knew something was up!" she hissed.
"And I'm telling you now; I don't care." Aria stood, trying to suppress her shakiness, though it was hardly working. She hadn't wanted this; she'd just wanted to get unmagnetized! She hadn't wanted to pit anyone against each other! Breaking away from their staring match, Hiro turned around, and took Aria's wrist. "C'mon. Let's go. We'll talk more when we get back to the café." She allowed Hiro to lead her away, feeling sheepish, unhappy, embarrassed, and helpless. The others were cemented in place, and just watched them go.