Chapter 62, everybody! Time for that Obake and Trina confrontation….

So in working on this chapter I want to announce that emotions are hard and a lot of things came to a head thanks to canon and AU shenanigans—also got to a certain point, got stuck with okay now how do they get out of this only for Tadashi to go don't worry I got this. Which, okay, that worked. Gogo's quoting Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls, by the way, while Hiro's quoting the Ultimate Spider-Man comic and OG!Obake is quoting the Jim Carrey Grinch. Also apologies to those living in Chicago and DC you've suffered enough.

Juxshoa, thanks for the review, and congrats on being the fiftieth one! Ahaha, I was wondering if you knew about Trina's whole canon thing—this'll definitely be intense!

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

Hiro stared, unable to process this—that Obake had found him, that he had even bothered to get out of the garage after a week of pretending he didn't exist—

"Wow, jealous much?" Trina said, sidling to the side to better block Obake's view. "Let me guess, you're the loser friend I've heard so much about."

Obake didn't seem impressed by that jab, even as Hiro winced—okay so the reason he hadn't been picturing the two meeting was because it was about as awkward as he could have imagined—

"Get away from her, Hiro," Obake ordered, still glaring at Trina—jostled him out of his own thoughts with that command.

"Excuse me?" Hiro demanded. "No," he said, stepping out from behind Trina to jab angrily at Obake. "No you don't get to just show up after a week of acting like a stuck-up jerk to tell me what to do!"

"It's the bot-fight robberies, isn't it?" Obake asked, still focused on Trina even as he addressed Hiro. "Someone's been reprogramming robots so you decided to stick your nose in."

"You'd know that if you ever paid attention," Hiro countered. "What—"

"It's her, Hiro."

Blink. "What?"

"Trina's the one behind the robberies."

"Uh, rude," Trina said, arms crossed. "And kinda rich coming from you of all people—I mean, you are using these people."

Obake did twitch at that, like that hit harder than he would have liked—Hiro stepped forward, deciding to press the advantage. "Trina has been helping me—you know, the thing you were supposed to be doing? You're supposed to be my friend and instead you act like this cold distant jerk!"

Another twitch, attention flicking to Hiro before returning to Trina. "And for the alternative you choose her? Kind of rich, considering she's using you too."

"She is not!" Hiro yelled, neck pinking and fists balled. "Trina's been great—"

"She's a robot, Hiro."

Obake might as well have punched him for how that drove the wind out of him and derailed his train of thought. "What?"

"She's a robot," Obake repeated. "A very well-done robot, but a robot nonetheless."

"Wow," Trina drawled. "Call me a space alien, that'd be more believable."

"That's stupid," Hiro said flatly. "That is so stupid—what is this, you think I can't have friends outside of you so you make this—this stupid accusation!? You know what? Trina's right, you are a jerk!" Hiro barked, jabbing a finger at Obake as he stalked past him to the outside door—angrily shook him off when he tried to grab his arm. "NO—get off me, you do not get to touch me you don't even get to be my friend anymore because friends aren't supposed to be mean to each other and you've literally been nothing but—Trina, let's go."

"You're not going anywhere," Obake said.

"Uh, yes, we totally are," Trina said, waving him off as she moved to follow Hiro.

"And you're not the boss of anybody," Hiro shot. "Trina, tell him."

"Yes, Trina, tell him," Obake ordered, glaring as she slowed to a halt, staring at him in consternation. "The truth, Trina."

"She doesn't have to tell you anything," Hiro spat. "Come on, Trina—Trina?" Blink at her hesitating, like she had been compelled to do something and couldn't figure out how that happened…finally grimaced at him, shrugging apologetically with her fingers laced.

"So…for the record I do like you, Hiro," she started.

Now it was Hiro's turn to stare in consternation. "Wait…he was telling the truth!? You—why—"

"To use you," Obake said. "To get you into an untenable position, ensnared by her quote-unquote 'father.' It was all, at best, a ruse."

"Now see, that's where you're wrong," she said, jabbing a finger at him. "Hiro's not the target here—you are."

Hiro and Obake both stared blankly at her—

Flinched away when the outside door was blasted apart.

"Well howdy and hello, misters!"

"Also good news," Trina said to Hiro. "The robot uprising is going to have burgers."

So as it turned out, Tadashi hadn't microchipped Hiro; he was tracking his phone. Which, fair.

Tadashi was also willing to engage in a pincer movement, which had Obake pointing out where he should go while he, Obake, blocked their forward path and trapped them in the back offices—plenty of time to confront and disable Trina, unless he missed his guess he would still have her respond to voice commands, and he, the Obake of this current Twilight Zone episode, didn't sound all that different than he had before. Had to focus on putting the verbal screws to her—wasn't expecting the sharp lashes Hiro's accusations gave—

Wasn't expecting Trina's declaration. What—

Also on the list of things he wasn't expecting: Noodle Burger Boy coming to Trina's aid.

"Okay grab him," Trina ordered, jabbing a finger at Obake.

"One special order, coming up!" Noodle Burger Boy cheered—leap—

Obake managed to roll away, wasn't able to evade the next hit—

"Hey stop!" Hiro squawked, running forward—got splattered with ketchup for his trouble. "Ew no—" Round on Trina. "Why are you doing this!?"

"Look it's not personal," Trina told him, hands up defensively. "Besides you don't like him, remember?"

"That doesn't mean I want to see him hurt and kidnapped!" Hiro railed—ah, if only the fast-food mascot wasn't using him as a xylophone, Obake would be rather touched.

"And now to deliver the order!" Noodle Burger Boy cheered, reaching to heft Obake up—

Was kicked into the other room by Tadashi booting him hard enough that he landed on his flat head and went skidding.

"Oh I can't wait to hear this one explained," Tadashi said, taking the state of the room in.

"Grab Hiro, explain later," Obake wheezed, struggling up.

"No," Hiro said, dancing away from Tadashi and rounding on Trina. "You. Explain."

"What do you think?" Trina asked her little worm-robot, currently perched on her shoulder. "Should we?" Robot shook its head. "Yeah that was my thought."

"No," Hiro repeated. "Because you can't expect me to believe his stupid accusation."

"Anyone feel like cluing me in?" Tadashi asked, hauling Obake upright.

"Trina," Obake managed, ribs still too sore to facilitate breathing, let alone talking.

"Oh come on I was starting to like you," Tadashi said to Trina.

"Yeah, well," Trina said, shrugging as her robot hopped off. "There's still a way out of this."

Which was when a slew of robots came surging in, circling them and posing menacingly.

"Trina!" Hiro squawked.

"I didn't say it'd be for everybody," she clarified. "You let me take scrawny guy, and that's it, we all go home happy."

"No," Hiro said, fists balled. "No we're not doing this—" Looked around—this was a lot more robots than Obake recalled her gaining control of last time. "Look whatever's going on—whatever it is your dad's making you do—we can fix this, just stop!"

"And then what?" Trina asked. "We all join hands and sing kumbaya? Look it's not like I'm asking you to give up something you like—you're really telling me you're okay with everything he's been putting you through?"

Hiro's hesitation spoke plenty on the matter, and by the time he looked like he had something to counter with one of the robots grabbed Obake's leg and yanked and then they all had bigger problems. One or two robots? They could counter that Tadashi could kick them and they could run—a whole seething sea of battle-bots, some of which were the higher-tier vicious ones? It'd be better to curl up into a ball and hope for the best.

Except the best wasn't an option if he gave up—struggle, keep flinging robots away as Tadashi scrambled for an old chair and started swinging—Hiro grabbed a pipe and hit the nearest one, kept swinging—

Trina took the pipe away from him. "Nuh-uh—I put in a good word for you, don't screw this up."

"Don't screw this up you are ATTACKING my FAMILY!" Hiro yelled, leaping at her with the intent of tackling her to the ground—Trina took the hit, picked him up by the scruff of the neck, tossed him at Noodle Burger Boy.

"Hiro!" Obake squawked, heard Tadashi echo it—saw him leap over a cluster of robots, swinging for Noodle Burger Boy—

Trina grabbed the chair, yanked, causing Tadashi to splay flat on his back—swung down, Hiro screaming—

"Trina STOP!" Obake fairly shrieked, panic seizing his heart—

The pipe skidded to a halt inches from Tadashi's curled-up body.

"Stop this, call the robots back," Obake ordered, not daring to feel relief just yet—Trina was seething, glaring at him and evidently trying to figure out how he was doing this—

"Mmm, don't think so," Noodle Burger Boy said, tipping his head and catching Hiro before he could slide off—oog, don't tell him, he hadn't been reprogrammed to follow his orders just yet. "Well I'm off—got an order to deliver!"

"NO!" Obake and Tadashi yelped—

Noodle Burger Boy skidded to a halt when his exit was blocked.

"Got your message," Gogo said, surveying the room. "So where do you want me to start?"

"Eh," Tadashi noised, looking around—when had he called her? "Wherever you feel like?"

"Right then." Swung up a baseball bat. "Batter up!"

The robots didn't last long after that, and by the time the gears stopped flying Trina and Noodle Burger Boy were gone, Tadashi hugging Hiro tightly after yanking him free from the fast-food mascot's grasp—

And Obake, once again in a ruin of his own making.

Tadashi had evidently called Gogo when he realized they were going into Good Luck Alley, had felt that they needed backup. Gogo had grabbed a baseball bat and skated over, and while Obake couldn't deny they had needed the save, he wished Gogo didn't follow them back to the Lucky Cat—the walk was already awkward enough without her and Tadashi talking. Or rather, her talking and Tadashi making uncomfortable small talk.

Trina existed in this timeline, dimension, whatever—and instead of being made to target Hiro, she was supposed to nab him, Obake, and had enlisted Noodle Burger Boy's assistance. That was bad enough.

The waves of heat and anger and confusion coming off of Hiro, stalking beside him with dried ketchup flaking off with each step, was a hundred times worse.

"So that sucked," Gogo said as they reached the end of the story and the door of the Lucky Cat.

"Well…yeah," Tadashi said, shooting a quick look at Hiro, who wasn't looking at or talking to anybody. "Listen, do me a favor—"

"There were no police in that warehouse, we take this to our graves."

"You know what that's close enough," Tadashi said. "See you later, Gogo."

"Oh hey you're back how was—what happened?" Cass asked the moment they were back inside.

"Ah," Tadashi noised, glancing at Hiro. "I think the start of the robot uprising? Noodle Burger Boy went postal."

"I mean that could just be from working in fast food," Cass said, putting the trays down and running over to Hiro to look him over. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Hiro muttered, still not looking at anybody.

Cass didn't look convinced at that, exchanged concerned looks with Tadashi. "Well…go upstairs and get cleaned up, okay? The ketchup look isn't working for you," she tried—winced when that didn't dent his sour attitude at all.

"Also you," Tadashi said to Obake as Hiro stormed upstairs. "That robot stomped on you like you were a bug—"

"I've had worse," Obake said, heading after Hiro and ignoring Tadashi and Cass's expressions. Round the bend in the stairs, saw Hiro at the top. "Hiro—"

Had to duck the picture frame Hiro pitched at him.

"NO—no you don't get to talk to me!" Hiro railed, fury and anguish raging through him. "You couldn't be bothered with me for WEEKS and then you get mad the one time you decide to look and I'm not there!? I—that was something GOOD I had and you RUINED IT."

Flinch back at that, at the vitriol aimed at him—

At the boy looking at him with horror, disgust and anger—

"Hiro, no," he tried. "I was trying to—"

"I DON'T CARE! I hate you! Stay away from me!"

"Hey, hey! What's with the yelling!?" Cass demanded, rounding the corner in time to see Hiro stalk off. Turned to look at Obake against the wall. "What happened?"

What happened was that he had lost everything he thought he had wanted. First fame and glory, then family and belonging.

There was no reason to factor in his own survival now.

"Nothing I didn't deserve," he sighed finally.

Momakase came back to her apartment to see the place flooded with inert robots, including a fast-food mascot of all things—finally picked him out of the mess, busy working on his latest project at the desk.

"Let me guess, finally decided to ground her?" she teased.

He really had to debate if glowering at her was worth the energy it would take, decided against it. "The lair is almost fixed, I'll be out of your hair soon enough."

"Honestly I'd settle for you picking up after yourself," she said, kicking one of the robots away.

"Cute. Also, I'd recommend either coming with me or finding another state to be in come next week."

"Are you inviting me to move in with you?"

Oi. "I'm saying the project is almost complete," he told her. "Come this time next week, there won't be a San Fransokyo. Whether you choose to be the ash or the phoenix is up to you."

"You're not seriously proposing destroying a city," she said. "And this city? When there's cities like Chicago and DC to wipe out? Or would that be doing people too many favors."

"If you're quite done."

He could see her giving him an evaluating look out of the corner of his eye, saw her shrug and leave the room. Well. He had given her fair warning, it was up to her whether she heeded it or not.

Grumble at the memory video he was playing back—a week was being generous, if he were honest with himself. He needed to amplify the energy to generate enough to feed the star until it became self-sustaining, and the energy orb's output wasn't cutting it by his simulations. He'd have to rebuild his old project, and not that he was being daft enough to hesitate at this crucial juncture, but…okay he was being daft enough to hesitate at this crucial juncture he wasn't in a hurry to blow himself up again. Look over the sea of robots, briefly debating on the merits of Trina's idiotic robot uprising scheme…no. Not when that little brat was still out there and willing to snafu his scheming.

Look over the videos again, freeze one frame and put it to the side as the rest played…still an impossibility. Still something that shouldn't be here.

Still something that needed to be eliminated.

But how? Watch the video as he debated—hoping he'd be wiped out with the rest of the city was a thin hope indeed, he needed to be taken care of in a way where he was absolutely certain the brat was dead. Eventually one of his drones would slip by him and cause problems, or he'd track down where his lair was and sneak in and sabotage it—would it be worth it to lure him in and destroy the lair, set himself back a year or two just to be rid of the little thorn in his side? Probably not, there had to be a better way to get to him….

Blink as he watched the boy interact with the one who had turned Trina's head, this Hiro kid. She had assessed him right, he was quite brilliant, reminded him a tad of a younger, less cynical him….

And it was very, very obvious that the thorn in his side cared for him. And with the wedge driven between them right now…he could work with this.

Trina had provided him with a name, phone number and address—the Lucky Cat Café, same as where that little brat was frequenting—attending SFIT, even, youngest ever, beating himself out by about eighteen months. Very clever—perhaps he could talk him around to his side, before it was all over.

Before that, however…before that, he could be used.