Chapter 38, everybody! Back on the laptop for now but the big computer will not win this battle of wills. X|
Moving on to the boys' problems…Hiro is not taking Karmi besting him lying down. In other news, sharks can sense electric impulses in fish so yeah that's something Hiro can work with (nerves running on something resembling electricity). Also Obake is against Granville learning about him, and the return of the Invisibility Cloak! :D
In other news, Hiro and Obake, in addition to Spy Kids 2 and Harry Potter, are referencing Dharma and Greg, specifically the episode "Much Ado During Nothing"—well it's set in San Fran, stands to reason there's a BH6 version. X'D With that in mind, Fred's quoting the episode "Shower the People you Love with Love." And the Kim Possible episode "Monkey Fist Strikes."
Also looked up what's usually used for garnish—kale. Having nibbled on it before, I'm surprised it's actually edible (but then again, I prefer my kale cooked). And from experience, if there's a gala or an art showing at a campus college, students will show up for the free food. Regarding Fred: read recently that some people will taste a soapy taste when they eat cilantro, which might explain his antagonistic relationship with that particular herb.
Juxshoa, thanks for the review! Hiro is all for using blunt instruments against Karmi. Metaphorically, of course. X'D
Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney
Hiro knuckled down on his project the next couple of days, determined to show Karmi up and prove Fred's assessment of 'inventor's block' wrong. There was no way he was going down like this, he was totally fine, he just needed to find a different angle, he was very insistent on this.
Hence why his room was now scattered with books from the library and Obake was roped into helping him.
"Here," Obake said, putting an open book on the already-crowded desk. "This looks promising."
Hiro read through it. "Electric impulses, circulatory system…yeah we can work on this," he muttered, flipping to a fresh page in his notebook and jotting the new information down.
"Hey, you guys need to get dressed," Tadashi said, coming in with his prom suit in a bag. "The gala's tonight, remember?"
"UGH," Hiro wailed. "I wanted to get this done before then!"
"Well unless you can get it done in the next couple hours, it's not happening tonight. Come on, man, get dressed."
"No I'm not going."
"Yes you are, Granville told you to. Obake."
"I'm not going either," Obake said.
"No wait if I have to go so do you," Hiro said.
"I don't attend, remember?"
"Yeah we're working on that," Tadashi said, tugging his partition closed. "Been drumming you up to Granville—"
"You've been what!?"
"I think she's peeved because she didn't get the set so now she's motivated."
Oh if she was peeved it wasn't because of that—ice splintered across his innards at the thought of what Granville must be thinking at hearing about someone using the handle that he had been using for years—
"So Granville isn't that scary," Hiro told him, apparently mistranslating his expression.
Oh you sweet summer child. "I have my reasons for not going, which some people apparently don't respect," Obake said, spitting that last bit in Tadashi's direction.
"Oh come on, just bite the bullet and do it," Tadashi said.
"No, Tadashi."
Hiro considered this, glancing between him and the partition—smiled, holding up a finger before reaching and tugging a new book out. Showed it to him so he could read the title—Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone—before flipping through it, holding it back out to him as he tapped two words: invisibility cloak.
"Ah," Obake noised quietly. That would be a nice way to investigate the gala and try to feel out what Granville suspected without her ever knowing…and he knew just where Cass had stored it. Give him a thumb's up—paused, considering, tapped on his scan jammer before writing something down.
I have an idea.
Okay so Hiro wasn't too terribly sold on this gala, the only reason he finally agreed to come was to try pitching his project to Dr. Amara again, if it was up to him he wouldn't even be here.
Well…okay so there was one other thing that made this a bit more sufferable.
"Hero to Ghost, Hero to Ghost," Hiro said into his watch—which, by the way, was steadily starting to resemble the watch from Spy Kids 2 in his estimation. "Have infiltrated the gala, over. What's your position, over?"
"Physically, about ten feet from you. Mentally? Deeply wondering about you, as per usual."
Hiro waited for a few long moments before clearing his throat, another few before sighing. "You're supposed to say over when you're done—seriously, have you never seen a spy movie? Over."
"Hiro, it was funny the first couple of times, now it's over." Long pause, sigh. "Over."
"Look, if we're going to have spy watches we have to use the proper lingo. Now, ready for Operation Remora? Over."
Deep, longsuffering sigh, like Obake was having to debate on whether or not this was as cool as it obviously was. "Ready. Over," he added at Hiro's throat-clearing.
"Great—I'll scope out the inside and fill you in, over." Felt much improved when he walked in the tent, examining everything before making his rounds around the whole tent, slowing down when he got to the buffet. Hmm, obviously not catered by Aunt Cass, but she had a different catering job tonight so there was that (at least, she said it was a catering job, could just as easily be the underground cooking competition again).
Although Alister Krei hanging around the buffet was definitely questionable.
"Mr. Krei?" Hiro asked, pressing the button on his spy watch behind his back so Obake could listen in. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, you," Krei said. "For the record, I'm still mad at you and that little friend of yours."
"I'm guessing asking how the Buddy Guards are selling isn't going to fly. You know you owe us royalties on that, right?"
"I do not, that was in the contract and as I was informed contracts signed by minors are not legally binding," Krei said, waving him off. "Besides, I am trying to get a business partnership with someone who is actually worthwhile."
"Like who?"
"Liv Amara—if she'll answer my calls," Krei grumbled. "Thinking she's better than everyone else—can't stand that woman—"
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll permit me to introduce the woman of the hour, without whom our new bio-tech lab wouldn't exist, and whom said lab will be named after," Granville said, projecting from the tent opening. "Dr. Liv Amara!"
"Excuse me, schmoozing time," Krei said, hustling off.
"Oh…kay, that was…weird," Hiro decided—put the watch to his face. "Did you get any of that? Over—yiiee!"
"Oh hush," Obake's voice sounded from right next to him, hand disappearing back under the invisibility cloak. "So I'm guessing that Dr. Amara has at least some sense for brushing him off."
"Yeah," Hiro said, watching Krei fawn all over someone he didn't like. "I don't think I understand adults just yet."
"Adults don't either," Obake told him. "I'm also going to say Krei's problem is running into himself, basically."
Hiro made a face at that. "You can't make sweeping generalizations about all tech CEOs."
"Hiro, the only reason you have any inclination towards working with her is because she's working with Tadashi. Trust me, she's in the same mold as Krei—she just hasn't given you a bigger reason to dislike her yet beyond the few petty ones."
"What petty ones?"
"Passing you over for Karmi, for starters—speaking of, here she comes."
Hiro grimaced, focused on the shrimp cocktails and did his best to ignore Karmi sidling up next to him with an ineffably smug grin on her face. "So, about our bet—"
"I didn't provide verbal confirmation, it doesn't count," Hiro said quickly.
"You need verbal confirmation?"
"Yes, absolutely." Wave her off. "Besides, aren't you too busy just fawning all over Dr. Amara? What, did she figure out how to turn lead into gold?" he asked, repeating Obake's hissed comment.
"Careful, Hiro, your jealousy is showing."
"Oh please—I am so not jealous of you."
"Denial—classic," she said, flicking her hair. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm expected at Dr. Amara's table—we're discussing me being her personal intern starting next year."
"Her what!? Ow!" he yelped—spun around to glare at nothing, foot aching—
Spun back around at the sound of a phone taking a picture.
"So I wasn't actually expecting you to react so hard you hurt yourself," she said, sounding amused. "Anyway, pretty sure I got what I came for. Ta!"
Hiro didn't really say anything that wasn't Angrish for the next several seconds—was stopped from throwing a handful of shrimp after her by Obake.
"We really need to work on your nemesis skills," Obake decided.
"No, we don't," Hiro said, dropping the shrimp back on the platter. "Because if we go the nemesis route, then I'm going to end up tying her to the trolley tracks, and that's just cliché."
"It is," Obake agreed. "You know, Krei is blowing up his lab on Akuma Island—we can tie her up there, and then all evidence goes sayonara."
"Krei's blowing up his lab? Why?"
"I'm sure there's some reason—maybe to stop people from picking it over, trying to find some scrap of tech they can reverse-engineer." A shimmer in the air that might have been Obake gesturing a little. "The lab was secure because no one knew about it—now that it's been all over the news, it's no longer secure. He has bodies to hide, and getting rid of an abandoned, condemned lab is the place to do it."
"So now I have more questions," Hiro said—looked over as Tadashi and his friends came in, Fred beelining to the buffet. "Hi Fred."
"Hiro my dude did Obake flake?" Fred asked.
"Obake's busy being his namesake," Hiro said. "How's monster-hunting going?"
"So I am very impressed with our new monster-friend, he's just totally hiding but at the same time, you know, the Buzzmaxes can't be everywhere at once, so—"
"We're not calling them Buzzmaxes."
"Dude," Fred said, eyes wide.
"Obake's haunting you," Hiro teased.
"My dude that was very spooky," Fred said, looking around. "Ooh, shrimp cocktail—classic."
"What's with the tote bag?" Gogo asked, coming over as Fred samples some of the offerings.
"I'm…kinda hoping to get a chance to pitch the remora to Dr. Amara again," Hiro admitted.
"I don't think she's going to go for it," Gogo said. "She gives me the impression she came here for a few specific reasons, and now that she's done she's done. Sorry Hiro."
Okay there was no point getting worked up about this—deep breath, let it out. "Okay, fine. I'm over it. Free food?"
Fred spat something back onto his plate. "Ew, nasty! Dudes don't eat the green stuff."
"You…mean the garnish?" Wasabi asked, pointing at the leaves ruffling around the dishes.
"Those are actually edible," Honey Lemon said.
"No they're not," Fred said, wiping his tongue on a napkin.
"Scanning," Baymax said, examining the table. "The: garnish, is kale, which is high in: fiber, iron, calcium, antioxidants, and vitamins A and K. It is perfectly safe to eat the: garnish."
"Not that—THAT," Fred said, jabbing a finger at a dish. "It has cilantro in it!"
"So how's everything going?" Tadashi asked, coming over. "Anything good on the free food table?"
"It has CILANTRO."
"Ah," Tadashi said, evidently having to take a beat to process this. Looked like he was doing a quick headcount. "Did Obake flake?"
"We're not at liberty to discuss that," Hiro offered.
"Hiro."
"Scanning," Baymax announced. "Obake: is not here."
"See?" Hiro asked, gesturing.
"Hiro: my scanners are not picking you up either. I have concerns."
"Do what?" Tadashi asked—tugged Baymax's head down to peer into his cameras before giving Hiro a suspicious look.
"Now what did I do to deserve that look?" Hiro demanded—blinked at Fred when he poked him. "Uh, Fred? What are you doing?"
"Oh—I figured you had like, did a holographic projection thing," Fred said. "So my next guess is like, hardlight projections."
Tadashi grabbed Hiro's wrist, feeling for a pulse—turned it over when he noticed the spy watch. "Hiro."
"What?" Hiro demanded—quickly switched to hey when Tadashi slipped the spy watch off.
"How about now, Baymax?" Tadashi asked.
"Scanning," Baymax said. "Hiro: you are in good health, although your blood pressure is currently: elevated."
"Yeah I'm just a little peeved that Tadashi stole my watch gimme," Hiro said, grabbing for the spy watch again.
Tadashi held it out of his reach as he examined it. "Why does this look like the watch Obake wears?"
"Tadashi, I'm going to have to ask you to give that back to Hiro," Obake said through the watch, startling Tadashi into dropping it. Hiro snatched at it—caught it, looked it over before breathing a sigh of relief at it not being damaged.
"Dude!" Fred exclaimed. "Spy watch!"
"YES—thank you, Fred," Hiro said, tugging the watch back on.
"A spy watch?" Wasabi asked, concerned.
"Let me guess, it does everything except tell you what time it is," Tadashi said.
"It tells time," Obake said irritably.
"So it's not made by the OSS."
"It's the Obake Secret Stuff," Hiro said. "Unfortunately, you know too much."
"For the record, I'm good at keeping secrets," Fred offered.
"Like the fact that you're rich?" Gogo asked.
"My dear Gogo, that wasn't a secret—it just was something that never came up in conversation."
Gogo looked like she wanted to counter—was cut off by Tadashi's phone beeping. "Expecting a call?"
"No, that's the alert on the Buzzmaxes," Tadashi said.
"Buzzmaxes?" Honey Lemon echoed.
"They spotted the monster?" Fred asked excitedly, latching onto Tadashi.
"Oh please no," Wasabi groaned.
Tadashi, meanwhile, seemed eminently confused. "They've spotted the monster and Orso Knox—practically in the same spot and…heading here?"
Which was when everything went sideways.