Aria followed sheepishly behind Hiro as he stalked down the hall towards the elevator. She kept opening her mouth to say something, but always came up short. Besides, Hiro didn't really look like he was in any mood to listen.
"…You're mad at me too?" she asked quietly, peeking sideways at him as the elevator doors shut, enclosing the two of them. Hiro didn't look at her, but his eyebrows knitted together. He'd appeared to have been on her side, he defended her, but now he was angry? He seemed like a pretty simple guy, but this had Aria confused.
"Yes. No. …I don't know," he finally said, running a hand through his hair and tipping his head back. He let out a sigh, and glanced at Aria. She couldn't help but feel small as he looked down at her. "I get why you lied, I do, it's just…you can understand, right? Why I don't like being lied to? Ad right to my face, no less!" He threw his hands up, before turning, and leaning his forehead against the wall of the elevator. They hadn't yet begun to move, and Aria gingerly reached out to press the 'Ground' floor button. Hiro didn't look up until the carriage jerked to life.
"I'm sorry," was all she could say. She really was. She hadn't meant for this to come out like this, and she knew it was going to drive a stake inbetween Hiro and the rest of the gang. Somewhere deep inside of her was a little bit happy that he and Gogo seemed to be on totally different wavelengths, but she suppressed that thought for now.
"It's okay," he sighed, standing straight again, and shoving his hands in his pockets. "We all do…drastic things, when we're desperate. I can understand that." He had a somewhat far-away look in his eye as he said this, and she wondered what he meant by that. She didn't ask, of course. She was in no position to be asking probing questions like that.
"So…what now?" she asked, feeling smaller than ever. She wanted to stay, and continue to practice with the regulator and channellers, but if Hiro wanted her gone, then she'd go. He looked quizzically at her.
"What do you mean?" he replied, quirking up an eyebrow.
"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, should I go?"
"What? Just when we finished developing the channellors? No, no, I want you to stay!" His expression swung to worry, and Aria's heart fluttered, if only briefly. "I mean, that is, if you want to. If you'd rather go, I'm not gonna stop you, but…I'd really like to help you the best I can. And it won't be the best unless you've got complete control over this thing." Gosh, he was so earnest. 'Damn hormones,' Aria thought, her heart beating up into her throat. You would have thought he'd presented her with a ring, threaded onto the stem of a rose for how hard her heart was pumping! But maybe it wasn't just that she harbored the teensiest crush on Hiro; she was devastatingly relieved that he wasn't going to make her leave! She felt like her chest could burst from relief, and all she wanted to do was hug him! And before she could stop herself, that's just what she did.
"I want to stay," she breathed, not trusting her voice not to crack. "Thank you, Hiro. It means a lot that you'd stick with me, even after I lied." Hiro was a little shocked by this outburst; Aria didn't strike him as the type to freely hand out hugs like this, but he rolled with it, and wrapped his arms around her as well.
"Hey, what're friends for?" he said, and the two broke apart as the elevator doors whooshed open. He motioned for her to follow, and he lead her out of the main building lobby and down the flight of stairs to the campus walkway. "The others will come around, some sooner than others. Don't worry. Just don't lie anymore. We want the truth, Aria, even if it's difficult to say."
"I promise," she said, and she meant it. "No more lies, no more keeping things from you guys." Over his shoulder, Hiro smiled at her, and she just about melted, for more reasons than just one. 'He really is a gem', she thought.
"Okay, Baymax, scan her." Hiro stood with his arms crossed, opposite Aria, who was just pulling on the channeller gloves. Baymax's optical camera's flitted briefly over her body, and just like that, the scan was done.
"Scan complete. Low white blood cell count and compromised immune system detected. Mutations on the molecular level suggest remissive cancer." He was basically repeating the last scan he'd done of her. "My sensors detect unusually high levels of magnetic radiation."
Okay. Baymax, just keep monitoring the radiation. Keep an eye on her brain, too." Hiro nodded to Aria, holding up a small metal statue; it was a waving good-luck cat. How fitting. "Concentrate, Aria. Channel the radiation. Concentrate on the statue." He coached her as she stood, planting her feet firmly on the ground. With her regulator on, nothing else in the room was flying towards her, but she lifted her hand, palm out, towards the cat. She could do this. She could do this. Hiro was right here, and if anything went wrong, he'd fix it. She could do this.
Her fingers twitched slightly as she concentrated, eyes narrowing towards her target. She didn't know exactly what she was supposed to be thinking, maybe 'fly, statue!' or 'come here, metal!' or something like that, but all she could really focus on was the image of the trinket, and imagining it flying towards her. 'Oh, please work!' she thought.
It was slow. At first, she didn't even notice it. But slowly, she began to feel a weird sort of pressure in her fingertips. It was like the glove was contracting against her hand, but that wasn't it. She didn't know exactly what was causing it, but it wasn't long before the feeling was spreading across her palm, and up over her wrist and forearm. She opened her mouth in surprise, shocked at the sensation, but before any noise could escape her lips, the waving cat began to shuffle in Hiro's palm. It rattled slightly, until finally, it lifted from his hand, and flew about halfway between the two of them.
The weird pressure feeling disappeared in an instant, though, and as soon as it did, the cat fell to the ground, right in the middle of where Hiro and Aria stood. Both sets of eyes were trained on it, and when they looked up to meet each other, Hiro broke into a smile.
"Look who just moved metal with her mind!" he said jokingly, and Aria just stood open-mouthed. This was crazy, she had done that!? It had actually worked!? She didn't know whether to feel excited or scared or shocked or what, but she was feeling something! She let out a short, shocked laugh, and then looked at her hands.
"I can hardly believe it!" she said quietly. "I did that…"
"Yeah you did! We'll need more practice, but…this is gonna be great!" He walked up, holding his fist out. Before Aria could fist-bump him back, though, Baymax beat her to the punch.
"Ba la la la," he said, his hand rebounding off of Hiro's in his signature move. They were still for a moment, and then, Aria was the first to break into laughter, closely followed by Hiro. "I do not see what is humorous," Baymax said, which only caused the laughter to grow.
"Oh man!...Haha, okay, back to work!" Hiro wiped a tear from his eye and looked back to Baymax. "Okay buddy, what were the readings you took?"
"My scanners were unable to accurately measure the magnetic fluxuations," he said. "Approximate readings show that radiation seemed to concentrate in the prefrontal cortex of the braid, before shifting to the extremities."
"Just like I thought," Hiro replied.
"What does that mean?" Aria asked.
"The regulator was doing it's job, concentrating and containing the magnetic radiation in your brain. But once the channellers are introduced, they can basically sort of co-pilot the radiation, channeling it into whatever part of the body they're attached to." He motioned to her feet. "If you had boots, it'd channel it through your feet. A whole suit, and it'd use your whole body as a channel." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down, obviously referencing the suit he'd designed for her and shown her the day before. Aria rolled her eyes.
"I'm still thinking about it," she said, "though after today, I don't think the others would be too thrilled to have me on the team."
"Forget them!" Hiro said, flopping down into the nearest swivel chair and grinning up at her. "I want you on the team! And as team leader, what I say goes."
"How very dictatorial of you," she said sarcastically, though her insides were dancing. 'He wants me on the team! He wants me!' she thought. He smirked.
"I see myself more as, 'President for Life'. Anyway. We should probably deal with the others sooner than later, yeah?" He plucked his phone from his pocket. He was about to text the others, to come over so they could all talk, and he could show off Aria's semi-mastery of her magnetism, when he paused, taking in Aria's apprehensive expression. "C'mon. It'll be okay. I'm here. I'm all the back up you'll need." He smiled that crooked smile of his. "Trust me."
"…Okay." She rubbed her arm tensely as he texted, biting her lower lip. She was unsure, but she did trust Hiro. If he said it would be kay…then she'd just have to believe it.
"Aria, are you okay?" Honey Lemon and Wasabi showed up first, and Honey, caring as always, laid a hand gingerly on Aria's shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm fine. A little…shaken up, you know. But I'm okay." She smiled, which was returned by Honey. She was glad she was so nice; if Gogo had shown up first, Aria might have keeled over from anxiety right there. With Honey and Hiro in her corner, she was a little more able to face her rival. Again, Honey Lemon hugged her, but it was more reassuring this time, and Aria hugged back.
"It's a lot to take in. We didn't really know what to say." Wasabi stepped up next to Honey as the two girls separated, and shrugged.
"Gogo seemed to be voicing what everyone was thinking," he said, somewhat apologetically, "but in the wrong way. You know we don't feel that hostile towards you, right?"
"Yeah, I figured. I knew Gogo wasn't very fond of me, and that's why she was so…abrasive." Hiro was standing behind her a bit. He had been ready to jump in at her defense if he'd needed to, but it didn't look like Wasabi and Honey were on a war path.
"You did lie to us, though," Honey pointed out mildly. "We wouldn't have turned you away if you'd just told us the truth in the first place, Aria."
"We're not monsters. We're…well, we're super-heroes! It's kind of our thing, you know? Help those in need, and what-not?" Aria smiled up at the two, thankful that they were being so understanding.
"I know that now. I'm sorry. I was panicked and scared, and didn't know what to do or expect. But I promise, no more lies. I'm done with that." Honey exchanged another one of those peculiar looks with Wasabi, before they both nodded. They seemed to be running on the same brain wavelength.
"We forgive you. Gogo's not gonna be so easy to convince."
"That's why I'm hovering," Hiro said, causing Honey to laugh. "She needs to step back and look at the bigger picture here, and if she won't do it by choice, well, I'm here to make her see reason. Plus also…this is kinda my house." The three of them chuckled, and devolved into hushed mutterings about Gogo and her flare up earlier, and Aria just observed. They were such good friends. That little something in the back of her brain briefly wished she could stay indefinitely and become part of their friends group as well. But she knew she couldn't be here much longer. She'd have to go back eventually.
"Where's Fred?" Hiro asked, breaking Aria out of her daydreaming. Wasabi shrugged.
"He texted Honey saying he'd be along a little later, but he didn't say why," he said, and Honey nodded, backing him up. A puzzled look crossed Hiro's face, but it didn't last long; a motorcycle engine could be heard cutting off outside the garage. "There she is," Wasabi muttered, apprehensive of what was about to take place. Hiro lifted the garage door, and Aria watched as Gogo stepped off her bike, pulling her helmet off her head.
"Gogo," Hiro said, as a greeting, but also a warning. The girl did not wear a pleasant look on her face.
"Yeah, yeah. I only came because Honey called and begged me too. I'm still pissed." She shot a glare at Aria, who physically shrunk back into the garage.
"Well, whatever the reason, we gatta talk," he said. She pushed past Hiro, and came to stand just inside the garage. "Listen, we've all forgiven Aria for lying; it was a mistake, she admits it. She was scared, and she wasn't making great decisions. We all know that, and forgive her. Why are you still so angry about it?"
"I knew there was something off about the situation, and you didn't listen," she spat, "And then when you had your proof that I was right, you still didn't listen! How thick are you, Hiro? She's a liar!" She stabbed a finger at her. "You of all people shouldn't be able to trust a liar!"
"Don't say that!" Hiro's brow furrowed, but he tried to take his expression back to merely 'concerned'. "Gogo, you forgave me! After what I did to Baymax, what I almost did to Callighan, you forgave me! How is this any different?" Gogo opened her mouth, about to spit more vitriol, but she was stopped in her tracks; her insult died in her throat. He was right, and she couldn't argue that. She had forgiven him, for worse. And perhaps she was being a bit unreasonable.
But Gogo was nothing if not proud. Closing her mouth and scowling, and glared at him a second longer, before breaking gaze, and looking towards Aria, who looked like she was trying to blend in with the wall.
"Fine. I forgive you," she said, though it was clipped, and not very forgiving-sounding at all. But Aria nodded just the same, swallowing hard. Even if Gogo didn't mean it, it was still something, that she was just saying it. That was something, and Aria could live with it.
"That wasn't so hard," Hiro said, nudging her with his elbow, but Gogo just turned away.
"Whatever. Are we done here? I'm leaving." Honey tried to protest as Gogo stalked back out towards her bike, but Wasabi held his arm out to stop her, and shook his head.
"Not worth it," he said, and Honey nodded. But Gogo was stopped, however, when a vehicle drove up and blocked the alleyway exit. A very long vehicle, actually.
"A limo?" Aria asked, and as if to answer her question, out of the back stepped Fred, to her vast confusement.
"Hey dudes, sorry I'm late!" he called, nodding towards the front of the vehicle. "Around the block, Heathcliff, thanks!" Gogo rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Fred. What's up, what was keeping you?" Hiro asked as his friend approached. Aria noticed a tablet under one of Fred's arms, and he pulled it out, tapping the screen a few times.
"Sorry, but something I saw on that report was bugging me, so I had to go home and do a little research." He motioned the rest of the gang to come closer, and held his tablet out for them to see. "Those pictures they showed, of Aria and that other dude, I wanted to know who he was. Maybe he's just as magnetized, and needs help, you know? We are heroes after all!"
"What did the report say his name was? Home? Cone?" Honey walked up, eyes scanning the small screen.
"Ome," Fred supplied, scrolling through the websites he had book-marked. "Here's his pictures on the Los AngelOsaka Times website. He's missing as well, so I did a bit of digging, but nothing came up. Since Aria was keeping some stuff from us, I figured we'd better ask her if she knew anything." And just like that, all eyes were on Aria again. A deep blush spread across her face.
"Tell us everything," Hiro said, but there was no malice or mocking in his tone. He honestly just wanted to know what she knew. And that put her a bit at ease. Taking a deep breath, she spoke.