The Galaxian Pirate attacks had gotten frequent in the last week, first from Bruce and his ripped off inventions, to Flare and her brother robbing various places, not to mention Lonna being included in that category. It had been exhausting dealing with them plus the regular batch of criminals, but it paid off as Hiro relished the first free morning he had all week.
"Ah, nothing like a good game of Mind Smith with a chocolate milkshake to start the day." Hiro relaxed into his seat as he focused on clearing through one of the game dungeon's alongside his party.
Ari, who was catching up on some math homework, shot him a glare. "Easy for you to say."
"Well maybe if you didn't spend all your time reading fanfiction, you'd have time off today as well!"
"Okay true but do you have to brag?!"
"Fair, I guess I'll go back to drinking this delicious cold milkshake-"
Fred groaned. He just wanted to eat his marshmallow sandwich in peace, thank you very much. "Must you guys do this?"
Both siblings gave him sheepish looks. "Sorry Fred." They chorused.
"Ari, would you like help with your graphs homework?" Baymax offered.
She nodded. "Yes please."
Shortly after Baymax helped her finish the remaining problems she was stuck on, Diego entered the cafe. "Cruz alert." Hiro whispered to the others.
They watched as Diego used a breath freshener, slicked back his hair, and knocked on the counter.
"Diego!" Cass greeted him with a smile. "The usual?"
"Yeah! Uh, thanks Cass." He took one of the cat pattern mugs. "Place looks great."
She got one of the brews. "Thanks! I figured you were coming in so I made a fresh pot with your name on it."
While the adults conversed, Ari and Hiro gestured at the scene in mild disgust. "Do you hear that? She said 'the usual.'" Ari stuck out her tongue.
"I did and I wish I didn't." Hiro scowled.
Diego noticed the two and as he approached the nearby table, their expressions switched to fake cheeriness. "Hey, kids!" He shot them a wave.
"Morning." Hiro waved back, his tone neutral.
Cass walked out of the counter and served muffins to the kid's table before chatting more with the police chief. "Saw the news report today and wanted to say my congratulations."
"What news?" Fred perked up.
"Crime has gone down a lot! Which is a big relief." Cass explained. "I was worried the cafe was gonna get robbed again."
Both siblings winced at the memory. "Crime is exactly 27.4% lower than the crime reports of the previous 2 weeks." Baymax reported.
"Well, it would be lower if it wasn't for Big Hero 6." Diego mumbled into his mug, pretending that he was actually drinking his coffee.
Ari instantly noticed that and spoke up before Hiro could gesture for her to not start anything. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well if they were less active, then there'd be less villains." He explained. "Superheroes attract supervillains, no heroes, no villains."
Everyone in earshot gave the chief of police the most dumbfounded expression known to mankind. Even Baymax narrowed his eyes a little at the statement. "That is not logical." He stated.
"Uh anyways-" Hiro nudged the robot, trying to save face. "Hope things keep going well, amiright?"
Diego seemed to ignore Baymax's comment because his next reply was chipper as ever. "You know Hiro, if you're really interested in crime fighting, I could give you and Cassie a tour of the station-"
"I've/he's seen it." Cass and Hiro chorused.
Ari snickered as she knew both of them were referencing Hiro's old bot-fighting days. Man I really should ask Fred some of the stories about that time.
Speaking of Fred, he was trying his best to tune out Diego and focus on his marshmallow sandwich. "I bet there's some food parlor out there that makes a living out of marshmallow sandwiches."
"Fred, you're mixing marshmallows with bread, that's gross." Ari argued.
"Hey I don't judge you for your excessive chocolate consuming habits, don't judge me for my taste in food."
She huffed. "Baymax, back me up here!"
"There is a food company known as Sun Tart that specializes in making dessert-culinary tarts and baked dishes, including sandwiches made mostly out of marshmallow-"
"Ah-ha!" Fred gestured to Baymax's screen, showcasing the company logo and their products.
The defeated Ari slumped back into her seat. "I have been betrayed by my own family."
Superhero Squad group chat:
Captain Cutie: Everytime Cruz speaks and says nonsense I lose literal days of my lifespan
Ariel: Same
Flame Jumper: Good news though! I hired a contractor for our clubhouse!
Speed Queen: Why are we calling it a clubhouse
Flame Jumper: In case this group chat is compromised I suggest we use nn's for stuff as a just in case
Chop Chop: That is some paranoia
Flame Jumper: It was Hiro's idea
Captain Cutie: It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you : D
Chem Girl: Hiro I think you should speak to Baymax
Red Panda: Hello
Red Panda: Do not worry, Hiro is merely making a joke : )
Captain Cutie: BAYMAX WHY MUST YOU TURN AGAINST ME
Ariel: He has become too powerful
Red Panda: Yes
Ariel: JDIASIJSJIZXCIJIJXJIZJIS
Captain Cutie: AHSUASUSHUAUSAHUAUSA
Chem Girl:
Speed Queen:
Chop Chop:
Flame Jumper:
Chop Chop: I think we should add calm room to "list of things for our secret base-"
Thank goodness Baymax helped me with my science homework before I had to go, otherwise I'd have gotten points off. Ari sighed with relief as she handed in her science paper on her way out.
Normally it was not like her to procrastinate on homework, but Baymax guessed that because she was so stressed, it made working on school extra difficult this week.
On her way to her next class, she passed Megan by the library. The reporter eyed her cooly before walking past her with quicker movesteps.
Ari flinched, then felt a heavy weight from her reaction. Don't act surprised, it's your fault for snapping at Megan in the first place.
There had been a few instances where Ari would try to approach Megan to apologize, but either she backed out from her anxiety, or when she got the rare bout of courage to approach, Megan would immediately leave with a glare.
"Still being given the cold shoulder?" Chad walked up to her.
Ari nodded. "I deserve it, but that doesn't mean it hurts."
The older boy pouted his lips. "Hey, no need to insult yourself. Maybe you should ask a friend to mediate to help you both talk it out."
"What's mediate?" Ari tilted head in confusion.
"Oh! It's a term used for someone that intervenes in a dispute and tries to help solve the problem." Chad explained. "We practice that a lot in speech class."
That sounds like a good idea. She realized that this "meditate" stuff could probably solve the tension she caused between her and Megan. Maybe I could ask Baymax to help out, he's good at that kind of stuff. "Thanks Chad, you're the best!"
He blushed. "Aw gee, thanks."
They parted ways and Ari went with a skip in her step, hopeful that she'd be able to fix things with Megan soon.
When Ari got home later to tell Hiro the good news, she saw him glued to his phone and Mochi pacing around his bed, which was worrisome since the calico only did that if either of them were stressed. "What the- I call hacks! This is a load of-" Hiro was rambling at his mobile device.
Baymax titled his head as he noticed Ari enter. "Hello Ari, Hiro is showing me another one of his video games." The healthcare companion explained. "But I do not think it is very relaxing as Hiro reacted with stress and anger when losing a short player versus player match-"
"Please stop narrating my life story in front of my little sister." Hiro groaned.
Ari had to place both her hands to her mouth to muffle the burst of laughter. "You really should play something more relaxing, like Pokemon!"
"Says the girl that didn't know what Pokemon was two months ago." He snarked. "Dare you to name one from the newer gen."
"Scor-"
"That isn't a starter or one that falls into the various generational tropes."
"Uh… Dapple?"
Hiro didn't even try to hide his laughter. "Oh my god you are awful!" He was lying on the floor in absolute hysterics at this point.
"Shut up! There's like eight-hundred and they all have weird names!" She tossed a pillow at him.
Her brother just continued to cackle like a madman.
Later that afternoon…
"I am not paid enough for this."
"Me neither dude." Hiro was helping Ian again in Buddy Guard production since to his surprise, Diego was buying some for the SFPD. He still had to talk to Krei about that, but Judy reassured him that Krei-Tech's Buddy Guards wouldn't interfere with Big Hero 6, so he took her word for it.
"Well it beats working on force-field tech." Ian muttered. "Krei keeps pestering me on that."
Hiro winced in sympathy. "Ouch." They were mostly done with their work after a few hours so they were taking a small break, the robotics genius was playing on his phone. "Uhg, not this guy again."
"What guy?" Ian raised an eyebrow.
"Some guy named Hardlight, he beat me once in a 1v1 match in Mind Smith and now he's in this 2v2-" Hiro paled as his character got destroyed in three hits. "How is he doing this?!"
For some reason, Ian looked amused. "You know, back in my day, there was this old story about the Legend 27 and-"
"Oh my god, that is a dead meme, you sound like an old man."
"Silence whippersnapper and do your meme culture homework-"
Steven opening the door cut off the conversation. "Hi guys, just checking on what you're doing." He beamed at them.
"We're great-"
"We're fine." Ian cut Hiro off. "Did you come to actually see our progress or to yell at us some more."
There was a pause. "Excuse me? Did you forget to drop your attitude on your way in?" Steven frowned.
"O-Oh well you don't exactly have the b-best track record." Ian stammered.
"Guys-" Hiro tried to speak up but was cut off again.
Steven huffed and crossed his arms. "Well maybe if you didn't drag out your work ethnic, I wouldn't need to have to remind you so many times."
"Stay out of my business, you're not my boss."
"I might as well be!"
Hiro just buried his head into his jacket and groaned. Guess I'm not going with the gang to meet the contractor today.
Crows cawed as they flew down from the old factory roof. A few fledgelings cocked their heads to where the gang was sitting, but quickly went back to digging for worms or abandoned food to snack on.
"I feel bad my brother couldn't be here." Ari commented as she straightened the important papers in her hands. "He's good at talking stuff."
"Don't worry kiddo, the rest of us can handle that." Gogo reassured her. They were wearing their casual outfits instead of their gear while standing outside the factory. Fred initially insisted on wearing their gear, but the majority vetoed it.
"So, who's this Rodderick Blair guy?" Wasabi asked.
Fred beamed. "Oh he's the coolest! He designed my dad's secret lair and also does some other contractor work for other superheroes! I'm so excited to meet him, I bet he's on his way from dodging some of our enemies and going to test us to see if we're worthy!"
Just as he said that, a red truck drove into the lot. It was a beater that had a lot of rusted scars and the creaky door swung open. A hefty-sized man in stained blue overalls exited the vehicle. He had a large brown tool belt that had multiple hammers and other items attached to it.
There were also brown boots and gloves the size of his large hands. His beard and hair were an orange-red color that was starting to grey a little, but his hair was partially covered by his "R" letter cap. He had a green shirt, blue eyes, and a relaxed expression in his face as he faced the gang.
"Sorry I'm late!" He chuckled. "Traffic was busting my chops."
Honey Lemon raised a hand. "Are you the Rodderick we're supposed to be meeting?"
Another chuckle came from him. "Haven't heard someone call me that in awhile! You can just call me Roddy Blair, King of Lairs."
The door of his truck loudly squeaked, Fred winced at the sound. "I thought he'd be cooler." He muttered under his breath, but loud enough for Gogo to overhear. She glared daggers at him and he sagged his shoulders.
Luckily, Roddy didn't hear his comment. "So! Which of you is Frederick?"
"Fred." The comic fan corrected, then blinked. "Wait, how do you know me?"
"Me and your dad Derek go way back, we still keep in touch." Roddy explained. "He told me about you." He then rambled for a bit about Boss Awesome's heroics before turning back to Fred. "Though your team names are a bit too meta and on the fly, then again it's hard to come up with a handle these days, amiright?"
"In our defense we didn't pick our codenames but enjoyed the fact we didn't have to come up with any, like you said." Gogo pointed out.
"Yeah, at least I didn't end up being called Tall Girl." Honey Lemon chuckled, turning to Ari. "Thanks again for that."
The bandana girl beamed. "You're welcome!"
At that moment, Roddy noticed her. "Huh, I thought your leader was a guy."
"Nope! I'm his sister though." Ari lifted up the papers in her hand and handed them to him. "Hiro couldn't make it, so I came to deliver the stuff he had for you."
"Which consists of requirements for the base and other contract info." Fred added. "Not to mention your pay rate, which is on me so-"
Roddy pocketed the papers in an instant. "We can finish the technical junk later, I'd like to get a look at the ol' place." He gently knocked on the doors. "Secret bases don't build themselves."
As they followed Roddy inside, the contractor instantly noticed the purple tent on the second level of the factory. "What's with the tent?" He gestured.
"I knew I was forgetting something!" Fred realized he neglected to mention Globby to Roddy or even tell him that they had a fellow vigilante staying over at their base.
Honey Lemon shot Roddy an awkward smile. "Well one of our friends got labeled a fugitive, so he's staying over and-"
Speaking of the glob monster, Globby himself dropped from the roof, startling everyone. "Hey guys!" He turned to Roddy. "Who's this?"
"The guy we hired to make our base an actual base." Gogo explained.
"Oh, cool!"
Roddy didn't even bat an eye after Globby's sudden appearance. "Well, I'll be sure to add some living quarters since you have guests staying overnight."
"That would be great, beats sleeping in a tent!" Globby beamed.
Later that night…
"He was so grumpy, I thought he'd be really awesome but he's not." Fred was complaining about Roddy on the car ride home.
They had stayed at their HQ for a few more hours as Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon worked out more details with Roddy while everyone else played Uno, including Fred who wanted to minimize his interaction with the contractor.
"There there, Fred." Ari patted his shoulder in a Baymax-esce imitation.
"And this is why they say to never meet your heroes." Gogo told him.
Honey Lemon tried lightening the mood. "Well maybe you just need to know Roddy better! I mean it took awhile for us to all be friends, so maybe you just need time to get used to the real Roddy and not the vision you built up in your head."
"If you say so…"
Wasabi would've chimed into the conversation but he was too busy focusing on the road. It was dark out and there were plenty of people and cars out tonight since there were a lot of shows being produced this week.
He blinked once, and could've sworn someone was in front of the car. The wind blew past the street, and the figure's cloak lifted up to reveal a dark-red suit with bright neon colors in some places. Everyone on the street paused and turned to the figure. "Uh, are you guys seeing this?"
"Let me check." Fred gave himself a pinch. "Ow! Uh yeah I still see that."
The figure turned around, the gang got a good look at his mask, it had one glowing pink eye and smaller dark pink markings. His left arm, which was covered by a large grey glove, began to power up. He clapped his gloves and a circle with symbols appeared out of thin air.
Ari took out her phone and started recording. "Oh my gosh I bet this is one of those street performers! I didn't know they also happened at night."
"Uch, gross. I hate street magic." Gogo grumbled.
The figure started clicking the symbols and summoned blocky bat creatures in the same pink light as the symbol circle. "There we go." His voice sounded robotic.
"Are we supposed to clap now?" Wasabi only got one clap in before Gogo smacked his shoulder, shooting him a glare.
"Now, let's play!" He cackled, suddenly siccing his bat creatures onto everyone on the street. Screams rang out as people ran away from the bats, one brave person tried smacking a bat with her cane. A bat knocked down a traffic pole that was beginning to fall in the direction of the gang.
"Look out!" Honey Lemon pointed and Wasabi quickly hit reverse on the car. "Should I call Skymax-?"
"Aren't you guys supposed to be laying low?" Ari frowned. She still had her phone out recording for some reason.
"Uch, good point." Gogo crossed her arms as the crazy performer started blasting random buildings with a holographic sword. It wasn't long after until they heard police sirens.
"I hope the police can handle this." Honey Lemon murmured.
One last police car pulled in and Chief Diego Cruz exited from it. "You! Put the weapon down!"
The performer dropped it but then it reformed in his other hand, he cackled at the police chief.
"Oh that's clever." Officer Flynn mumbled.
"I'm warning you!" Diego clicked a button to summon the Buddy Guards. They appeared and laser-eyed the bat creatures out of existence before trying to capture the performer in a net. He sliced the net with his sword and then the Buddy Guards.
The officers outside the cars flinched, and reconsidered if their tasers would do anything. "Ha! Points for effort!" He cackled. "But not a lot!"
"Who are you?" Diego demanded.
The performer lowered his cloak, showing his entire mask. "Hardcore, high score, I am… Hardlight!"
The officers blinked. "Did he just call himself Card Flight?" One of them questioned.
"Game master. Weapons builder. Under-appreciated genius!" He summoned a hover disk and flew up. "Hardlight!"
Elio, who was luckily in the driver's seat, facepalmed. "Oh brother, not another Mr. Sparkles..."
"I take offense to that!"
"Wannabe supervillain, I thought we moved past this." Diego sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay I'm nipping this in the bud, let's go."
"No way! I need a sweet IRL challenge." Hardlight protested. While he was focused on the chief, Detective Kato tried tossing another net, but Hardlight also sliced that one too with a shard attack.
"Dangit, that was my last one." Kato grumbled.
"Yeah, we're a little underleveled for this one." Elio joked, earning a groan from his co-worker.
Hardlight either didn't hear or care about their banter as he continued to monologue at Diego. "Oh I really wanted to meet Big Hero 6 today and face a real boss. Not mine XP versus cops!" He groaned. "Uhg this random encounter is KO'd, you're boring me chief!"
"Come back down here and I'll find a way to entertain you!"
He cackled. "Pass! NPCs aren't worth my time." Hardlight then finally turned to the rest of the police. "Oh, but while I've got your attention, might as well monologue my master plan. I'm going to steal the infamous Golden Diamond! Tomorrow night at the museum!"
"And you're announcing it." Diego scoffed.
"It's an invitation! Not for you Chief Side Character." Several officers glared as Hardlight floated closer. "Or your trash mob officers-"
"Hey!" Elio protested.
"It's for the real players, Big Hero 6!"
Something in Diego's eyes darkened at the mention of the superheroes, not that Hardlight noticed. "So do me a solid and pass that onto the actual competitors, okay?" Hardlight's claws tapped Diego's chin and then he started flying away.
"After him!" Diego ordered, getting back into the police car and the officers drove after the performer.
The gang stared at the empty street, wondering what had just happened. "So… not a street magician." Wasabi commented.
Honey Lemon shot him a deadpan glare.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Fredzilla: New super villain just dropped
Sara Ferns: UHHHHHHHHHG WHY
Sienna Kline: Is this one related to the greyscale fashion disasters?
Hiro Hamada: *wheeze*
Wasabi: Thankfully no
Mikan Ferns: My sibs just sighed with relief rn
TheLittleMermaid: Hiro can I show them the video
Hiro Hamada: The edited version
TheLittleMermaid: Duh
TheLittleMermaid: hardlight,vid
Rachel Rosemary: You were there?!
TheLittleMermaid: In the safety of Wasabi's car
Gogo: I can tell this is edited since our voices are deleted in some parts
Hiro Hamada: Yeah Ari sent me the video first and I edited it so people she shares it with aren't bothered with raw footage
Mikan Ferns: OH MY GOD THIS GUY IS HILARIOUS HSHFHSCDHSHDHS
Sienna Kline: He sounds pretty rude
Mikan Ferns: Yeah he is but when he's not you gotta admit he's hilarious
David Ferns: this guy sounds like he lives and breathes video games
Rachel Rosemary: I showed Mom and Dad the footage btw
TheLittleMermaid: WHY
Rachel Rosemary: Dad wants to send this to bh6. He says that this live footage could help them gain info about Hardlight
Rachel Rosemary: Also he wants to send a copy of it to the police detectives so they can analyze his movements
TheLittleMermaid: uh okay sure
Fredzilla: I can send the footage to the superheroes no problemo!
Sienna Kline: You still have that superhero hotline?
Fredzilla: Ye!
Rachel Rosemary: Dad said Chief Cruz was really mad at Hardlight for basically calling him a side character
Mikan Ferns: He is one
TheLittleMermaid: He keeps flirting w/ Aunt Cass : (
Mikan Ferns: I dare you to call him that to his face
TheLittleMermaid: I think I will
Hiro Hamada: NO AND NO
"So, did you guys come up with anything?" Ari whispered to Hiro. Her brother had gotten back from the secret headquarters and both of them were sitting in the cafe.
He nodded. "Yeah, we've got an idea on how to tackle this guy."
"Good, good." Ari then frowned. "Uh, what's this gold diamond thing that Hardlight was talking about?"
"I can answer that!" Both siblings yelped in surprise as Rachel materialized over to their table.
"How are you so sneaky?!" Hiro exclaimed.
The scruffy brunette smirked. "Aww, thanks."
Katie, who was on her shoulder, spoke up. "Oh, the Golden Diamond is this fancy name they gave to a diamond that was found."
"Never thought you were a diamond cat." Ari quipped.
"Dad told us about the charity donation, my friend Briar's family gave it to the museum after buying it off of another family overseas." Rachel explained. "Y'know how some diamonds are yellow? Well this diamond was so saturated that it almost looked like it was made of gold, hence the nickname."
Both teens nodded in understanding. "Wonder why Hardlight would want it then? Maybe he's going to give it to some buyer for a lot of cash." Ari theorized.
"I think he only said that because he wants to defeat Big Hero 6, then he'll start doing bad stuff in the city." Hiro argued.
Rachel sighed. "Well whatever reason, this guy isn't going to get a footing here, bad enough we have the Galaxian Pirates, now this guy." She crossed her arms. "Least he seems more goofy than evil, so I don't think he'll team up with them."
"Thanks Rach, now I know what's gonna be in my dreams tonight." Ari complained.
Katie couldn't help but snicker at the bandana girl's comment.
Later that night…
Wasabi lowered the binoculars. "No sign of Hardlight."
"For now." Hiro pointed out. They were atop the Noodle Burger across the museum, the SFPD had already set up watch outside. "No sign of Detective Rosemary either." He mumbled to his frustration. If Diego went after us, it would've been nice seeing one member of the police on our side.
"You gonna be okay, Hiro?" Fred tapped his shoulder with a claw. "I mean we can come up with another plan-"
"I'll be fine!" Hiro reassured him. Their plan was for him to yank Hardlight's glove, the power for his force field tech, and smash it. "Gogo, are you ready?"
She nodded, raising one of her disks, they had something special planned for the gamer villain.
"Chem Girl?" Hiro turned to Honey Lemon.
She conjured a chem ball, grinning. "Oooh I've never tried one of these outside before!"
"Nope, just in our apartment." Gogo deadpanned as her girlfriend dropped the chem ball and it started producing thick fog. The wind rolled it to the museum, making it hazy and unclear for the police, which gave the superheroes the perfect opportunity to sneak into the museum.
Despite the announced threat, the museum still had the Golden Diamond on display. "Guess they thought the police would be able to catch Hardlight." Wasabi commented, gesturing to the gem.
"Maybe they swapped it out with a fake?" Honey Lemon suggested.
Gogo agreed with that idea. "Makes sense."
"It's so shiny!" Fred squealed, the others gestured for him to be quiet, lest they accidentally alert the police.
They got into various positions by the diamond. "Shiny or not, we have to keep our eyes peeled." Hiro told him. "Hardlight could appear from an-"
"Anywhere!" The robotics genius almost fell off of Baymax as the gamer villain flew from out of the floor. "Finally, a real opponent! Our battle will be glorious!"
"Did he just quote a meme at us?" Wasabi frowned.
"Yes, he did." They all looked at Baymax. "Captain Cutie has updated me on various meme cultures."
Hardlight snickered. "Wow, I didn't actually think your name was Captain Cutie. It sounds like you're supposed to be a superhero in a baby cartoon!"
Hiro blushed. "Shut up! Just give up Hardlight, you're not adding this diamond to your achievement list!"
"Oh calm down, this is just the opening cinematic. Let's build the hype a little!"
"What language are they speaking?" Gogo whispered to Honey Lemon.
"English, they're just using video game terms." Honey Lemon explained. "My little cousin wants to be a gamer, you pick up a few things."
Hardlight summoned his sword. "Did you guys bring any special weapons?"
Hiro and Gogo exchanged grins. "You'll find out." The engineer stated.
"Just what I expected from fellow players!" Hardlight declared. "Let's hit start!" Instantly, he shot lasers at the gang.
They managed to dodge but the blasts produced thick smoke. Gogo skated around the blasts trying to get close but one laser struck her. "Aaah!" She went flying, Honey Lemon quickly turned and tossed a chem ball onto the ground, which softened her fall. "Thanks Chem Girl."
"No problem." Honey Lemon tossed her blocks of goop at Hardlight, he easily sliced them in half. He didn't get a chance to fire something back as Wasabi shot laser blasts at him. Hardlight groaned in pain as his back got hit but then he raised his hover disk high enough to be out of range.
"Super jump!" Fred leapt high enough but got struck by the sword. "Falling downnn-" He smacked into a wall. The paintings attached to the wall shook, Gogo quickly skated over to catch them and placed them safely next to the wall.
Hardlight flew to Baymax. "Rocket fist!" Hiro ordered. The rocket fist smacked down the hover disk but also smashed the roof of the window. "Oops…"
As the gamer villain was down, Gogo sped over. "Now's our chance!" She tossed one of her disks in the air, it split in half and formed into a net, trapping Hardlight.
Despite being caught, he laughed. "Ha! I came prepared for that move-" He tried conjuring his sword but the net zapped him. "Ow! That wasn't in the guidebook!"
"Nope, we came up with that just so we can stun you long enough." Gogo told him. Just as Hiro climbed off of Baymax and readied his glove to yank Hardlight's off-
Fwip! A net struck Hiro and tied him up. "Captain!" They shouted as the doors slammed open.
Flashlights lit up the dark museum as Chief Cruz and the police arrived. "Hardlight, Big Hero 6, surrender!"
You have got to be- "We're trying to help you!" Hiro shouted as the Buddy Guards came invisible and started chasing his friends.
"The force doesn't need your help." Diego spat.
Wasabi was able to slice down the Buddy Guards chasing him and free Hiro, but by the time the robotics genius was free from the net trapping him, Hardlight managed to get out of his net due to the Buddy Guards accidentally zapping him free. The gamer villain easily cut down any robots on his way, and he sliced the container holding the Golden Diamond.
"No!" Wasabi shouted.
Fred glared at the police. "The force was anything but help, you guys had one job!"
Even Hardlight shared their opinion as he put the diamond back where he found it. "Uhg, this felt like a tutorial instead of a real fight. There weren't even any cool easter eggs!" He pointed his sword at the police. "You NPCs are becoming more of an annoyance than a letdown!"
Diego blinked. "NPC? You keep saying that, what does it even mean?"
"Non-player character, obviously." Hiro explained.
Hardlight summoned his hover disk and destroyed all the Buddy Guards. "Okay, Big Hero 6, you're terrible at treasure quests, so let's try another type of questline." He turned to Diego, one flick of his sword and suddenly a holographic cage appeared around the chief. "How about saving a princess?"
"Chief Cruz!" Flynn shouted. She tried zapping the bars down with her taser, but it had no effect.
The cage went flying and attached itself under Hardlight's hover disk. "Let me go!" Diego shouted.
Hardlight snickered at the threat. "I think you do kind of need their help, noob!" Then he turned to the heroes. "Let's try this again. Same time tomorrow challengers, Night Market Square!" He flew around the museum before disappearing into the night, taking the chief of police with him.
Between the wreckage in the museum and the destroyed Buddy Guards, neither Big Hero 6 nor the police knew what to say.
Detective Kato was the one who spoke first. "Our deepest apologies, Big Hero 6, we didn't realize the Buddy Guards would target you instead of Hardlight."
"Your chief hates us, we should've seen that coming." Hiro shrugged it off. "He can't arrest us, but he can definitely make things harder for us."
"Honestly he should be able to arrest you punks." One officer mumbled under his breath, causing everyone to glare at him, he then sulked his shoulders in shame.
Honey Lemon shot them a sympathetic smile. "Well, we'll do our best to save your chief, just don't send the Buddy Guards after us." She pointed to the net Hardlight was caught in, the net that the Buddy Guards carelessly destroyed. "He got away because we fought each other instead of working together."
"Chem Girl is right everyone." Kato turned to the officers. "Opinions may vary, but we both want to protect the city." He nodded at Hiro. "We'll come up with something tomorrow, see you at Night Market Square."
The heroes got atop of Baymax. "Goodbye." The robot waved as they flew off. Once they were flying back to their headquarters, Hiro felt a weight in his chest.
"Megan's going to freak out when she finds out what happened to her dad." Despite his hatred of the chief of police for various reasons, he didn't hate him enough to warrant a supervillain kidnapping. "What if she blames me for it?"
"Technically she'd blame Captain Cutie, which would be awkward since you are Captain Cutie so It'd be a yes-and-no answer!" Fred tried cheering him up but failed miserably.
Gogo groaned. "Not helping Fred."
"Sorry."
"Look Hiro, Megan's not that kind of person, from what I know of her." Gogo told him. "I'm not close with her as you and Fred are, but her reasons for finding us out aren't the same as her dad, so she's not going to pin the blame on Big Hero 6."
Hiro still looked down at his gloves. "Well maybe I blame myself."
"Hiro…" The group murmured in sympathy. He felt Honey Lemon pulling him into a hug, but he didn't react to the comforting embrace, instead he felt a cold silence in his chest as the feelings of guilt swirled around tonight's failure.
The silence continued for the rest of the flight.
Teen Dorks Squad group chat:
Karms: And that's why I will never look at corgis the same way ever again
June: Wow. That sounds like a lot
Karms: I know.
Meg: Guys I
Meg: ijustdfoundoutthat
Meg: jdisjijxxjiijxz
June: ?
Hiro: Had to take her phone, sorry.
June: What happened?!
Ari: Hardlight kidnapped her dad and he's holding him hostage until tomorrow to rematch Big Hero 6
Karms: 1. Who the heck is hard light
Karms: 2. Omg Megan I'm so sorry
Meg: I'm
Meg: I feel like its my fault
Rach: No it's not!
June: It's not!
Meg: The officer that came to bring me to the cafe told me what happened
Meg: He
Meg: He attacked Big Hero 6 and Hardlight escaped bc of it
Rach: That was on him, not you
Rach: We're not our parents, we make our own choices.
Ari: Okay now you're just quoting a movie
Rach: : P
June: You're at the cafe? I'm omw
Meg: No you don't have to
Hiro: Actually do bc it'd help
Hiro: We can have a sleepover : D
Rach: Can I come too?
Ari: sure
Ari: Do NOT bring Katie
Rachel: "Meanie" -Katie (but only for you)
Karms: aw : (
Baymax: I can call on video so you can also participate in the sleepover
Karms: I'm good, ty tho. Today was a long day
Hiro: You can say that again.
"I made some brownies for you all to share." Cass handed the teens a plate of fresh brownies for them to enjoy. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything, alright?"
"Thanks Aunt Cass." Hiro smiled. "We'll be fine."
She smiled back. "Try not to stay up too late, but I won't blame you if you can't sleep." She went back downstairs, Hiro noticing the expression of dread on her face as she went out of sight. Something tells me Aunt Cass is gonna stress-eat cookies, not that I don't blame her, but still.
Since Diego was kidnapped, Megan had to stay over at the cafe as Cass was listed to be her legal guardian in case anything happened to the chief of police. "I'm sure it'll just be one night." Ari tried lifting the mood. "I mean since when have the villains actually caused permanent damage?"
"Diane Amara." Rachel instantly replied.
"Obake." Hiro added.
"The pirates who have really terrible taste in fashion." Juniper chimed in.
Ari deflated. "Okay so that might've been the wrong thing to say-"
"Not as if you'd care if anything happened to my dad." Silence went through the room at Megan's words. They all stared at her with various looks of "yikes" until she realized what she implied. "I'm sorry Ari I-"
"I deserved that." She looked away.
"No you don't I-" Megan stammered. "No one deserves to be talked to like that."
The bandana girl shook her head. "I should be saying sorry for what I said to you the other day. I was angry at your dad and I took it out on you."
"It's okay now, I forgive you."
There was still a tense feeling in the air, it was so thick you could slice it with a knife. "Megan, I detect that something is on your mind." Baymax broke the thickening tension. "Would talking about it make you feel better?"
Megan rubbed her arm. "Honestly I'm just so scared that I'm gonna lose my dad, I don't want to lose another parent again."
"Megan…" Ari stared at her with tears in her eyes.
"You don't have to say anything else if you don't want to." Juniper reassured her.
The reporter shook her head. "No, I want to." Megan sighed. "I'm scared that my dad's gonna leave like how my mom left us."
"Did your mom…?" Hiro trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.
Megan frowned. "No, she just left when my parents got a divorce."
Everyone winced. "Yikes." Rachel hissed.
While everyone looked upset and shocked at the news, Juniper was furious. "What kind of-?" She growled. "What's wrong with that lady?! Why did she do that to you and your dad?!"
"I don't know." Megan mumbled, staring at her knees. "She was really mean to me and Dad when they started divorcing though."
As Juniper took one of her hands to comfort her, Baymax asked a question. "Divorce can be a stressful period for two people, perhaps that is the cause of her aggressive behavior." The healthcare companion guessed.
"Well, it doesn't matter, she left without a word once everything wrapped up." Megan grumbled. "I haven't seen her since I was six… and I know my dad wouldn't leave me like my mom did, but I don't want to think about someone else taking him away."
If Hiro didn't feel guilty about Hardlight getting away and capturing Diego, he felt even more guilty now. "I'm sorry…" He whispered. It was loud enough for Ari to hear and she nuzzled his shoulder.
"I'm sorry you went through all that Megan." Juniper gave the reporter a bear-crushing hug. "Your mom sucks for leaving."
Megan nodded. "I know."
"Your dad getting kidnapped brought up those old memories, huh?" Rachel noticed.
"I'm starting to see why people say you inherited Dad's detective skills." Ari told her sister before turning her attention back to Megan. "Look, I'm not your dad's biggest fan, but I can tell he loves you a lot and he'd never willingly abandon you."
Hiro nodded in agreement. "And if the worst happens, you always have a place at the Lucky Cat."
"And my house too!" Juniper exclaimed.
A grin then appeared on Ari's face. "Wow June, you'd think to wait a little longer before living in the same house as your girlfriend, hmm?" She raised an eyebrow.
The blonde's face instantly went red. "Wait Ari no I didn't mean it like that-"
"Sure you did."
"We haven't even kissed yet!"
"I've seen you guys smooth before."
"On the lip Ari, not on the lip." Despite feeling second-hand embarrassment, Megan couldn't help but laugh.
And laugh, and laugh until more tears ran down her face. "Guys I think we broke Megan." Rachel commented. "Aunt Cass is going to kill us."
"I'm- I'm- give me a moment guys." Megan stammered. "Thanks, for listening to me talk, it's not really easy to talk about that time of my life."
Juniper nodded, knowing how she felt in terms of past trauma. "Well, you can always talk to me about it, alright?"
"Alright." Megan then took one of the brownies on the plate.
Which started a chain reaction. "Aw I forgot Aunt Cass made brownies." Ari took two while everyone else took one. "They're not as warm now."
"You could always go downstairs and put them in the microwave…" Hiro suggested.
"I'm too tired to do that."
"Would you like me to carry you downstairs?" Baymax offered, which caused everyone else to snicker again.
Ari just buried her face into her pillow. "Baymax why…"
It wasn't long after that until everyone fell asleep. Baymax was the only one using his "bed" so to speak, the others were on the floor, asleep by piles of blankets and pillows.
Everyone except Megan, who watched everyone else quickly fall asleep, but even though her eyes ached and her body weighed heavily on her sleeping bag, her mind kept racing with nerves.
I hope Dad's sleeping okay wherever Hardlight took him to. She couldn't sleep, worried sick about her dad. Really don't want to think about what could happen to him, captured under a supervillain we know nothing about.
Something tapped her on the shoulder. "Can't sleep?" Megan turned to her left and saw her girlfriend was still up, staring at her with concern in her cocoa brown eyes.
"Not really." She whispered to Juniper. "You?"
"I can't sleep knowing you're in distress." A blush appeared on the reporter's face, but it was too dark for her to think Juniper would notice. "Sorry, was that too cheesy?" Or maybe not.
Megan shook her head. "Just worried about my dad."
Her girlfriend nodded, then held her hand out. "C'mere."
Confused but curious, Megan moved a little closer to the blonde, once she was at arm's length, Juniper wrapped her arms around her torso and pulled her close.
They were now literally inches apart, Megan felt her face flare up even more as she was resting against her girlfriend's chest, and her arms holding her snug and tight. "Better?" Juniper smiled at her, sending feelings of warmth and safety over Megan.
There was only one answer. "Yes, better." Between the warm comforting feeling of embracing her girlfriend, and the quiet darkness around them, Megan found herself able to sleep after-all.
It didn't take very long for night to quickly fall over the city. After the morning's shenanigans, which involved Juniper chasing Ari around the Lucky Cat for sending a picture of Megan and Juniper cuddling to the dancer's mom.
Hiro and his sister spent the entire day cheering up Megan with a self-care day. The only times he left the cafe was for working on a strategy against Hardlight at their base, and right now as he was flying on Baymax with the gang on their way to defeat the gamer villain and rescue Chief Diego Cruz.
"Let's hope that the electro-net can work twice in a row." Gogo adjusted one of her disks as they flew through the sky.
Hiro shrugged. "I wouldn't rely on that, he seems like Noodle Burger Boy, memorizing our techniques."
"Hiro why, now I have the mental image of Hardlight speaking in his noodle voice." Wasabi groaned, clinging onto Baymax's back like a koala.
"Do you have any ideas on how to deal with him?" Gogo turned to Hiro, curious since their last plan for Hardlight got ruined.
He only grinned. "Let's just say Roddy gave me some advice."
"Look kid, this is only complicated because you're playing the other guys' game. He's better at his game, play yours instead."
"Isn't this the same game?"
"Look, let's take your buddy Fred for example. He wants everything in the base zero g's and bounce-house candyland for some reason, that's his game, not mine."
Baymax had managed to translate the message for him. "Are you saying that Hiro should capitalize on his strengths?"
"Yes! I love this guy!"
"So I think that we should be fine as long as I'm able to get close to Hardlight, and do what I like to call a pro-gamer move." They all gave him deadpan looks. "Hey, appreciate the pun!"
"Guys!" They looked over to Honey Lemon, who was skating through the city on chem boots, as she pointed over yonder. "I think we found Hardlight."
Upon looking where she pointed, they found a giant red tower glowing brightly in front of the city, looking straight out of a villain's base in a video game. The tower hummed as the blocks around it kept moving and seemed to make it keep changing shape.
"Woah." They all gasped. Baymax circled the tower a few times, until they headed down to the only entrance to the tower.
Once on the ground, Hiro noticed the police barricade keeping out a crowd of citizens. "Oh, that's not good." He instantly felt concern for the crowd, being this close to the strange building.
An officer walked up to them. "Hey, we've just been keeping the place on watch." It was Detective Rosemary, their favorite member on the force.
"What's going on?" Gogo asked him.
"Yeah and why is there a bunch of people outside, that's dangerous!" Fred chimed in.
Elio awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, the presence of the tower has been messing up traffic, and it's really bright so people can't sleep, and everyone's kind of cranky so they want to storm Hardlight's base themselves."
"Have you tried going inside?" Wasabi looked at the entrance of the tower, the stairs leading up to a pentagon-shaped door.
"Detective Kato tried sending a few teams in, but everytime Hardlight would call us 'NPCs' and 'you're not permitted to go inside this raid' and he'd kick us out with his mob army." The superheroes gasped. "No one got seriously hurt! But we haven't sent anyone in after that because of the crowd."
"Let us in and show that loudmouth what happens when you mess with our schedules!" One voice from the crowd rang out, despite the police telling everyone to stay calm and let them and Big Hero 6 handle the situation.
Gogo groaned, she walked up to an officer speaking into a megaphone. She gestured for him to hand it, he shrugged and handed it over. Gogo took the megaphone and turned it on at high volume. "EVERYONE QUIET DOWN AND LISTEN!"
Instantly, the crowd fell silent. "I know you're angry because this is causing a huge disturbance, but we're going to fix it. What we need you guys to do is step away from the tower we know nothing about and calm down. Hardlight has a hostage and we don't want anything to happen to him if things get out of hand, is that clear?"
The crowd grumbled some bit but they all nodded. "Good, I appreciate you all wanting to help, but we don't want anyone else to get hurt." She handed the megaphone back to the stunned officer and walked back to her friends, who also had equally stunned faces. "What?"
"I love you." Honey Lemon blurted out.
Elio cleared his throat. "Uh, so is there anything else or can you guys go in and rescue Chief Cruz?"
That got the gang to snap back into reality. "Uh right, make sure that he doesn't try to escape." Hiro ordered.
The detective nodded. "Roger that Captain Cutie!"
"Y'know, most people just call me Captain…"
The inside of the tower included a lot of stairs, and spotlights, which was also the same bright red color as the outside.
"Wow, talk about a color scheme." Honey Lemon mumbled.
"Welcome to the raid!" Hardlight dramatically narrated from above. "I have to tell you, I redesigned this tower like eight times since yesterday-"
"Eight times?!" Fred exclaimed, he wanted to ask how Hardlight got the time to redesign a giant red tower eight times without anyone noticing but Gogo gestured for him to stop talking.
"Aw, do you guys not like this design? I was going to make it something like Crimson Tower from Battlecats but it just didn't fit my aesthetic." While rambling, Hiro noticed their hostage, Diego, locked in a red cage on the top floor.
"Let Chief Cruz go and we'll go easy on you!" He pointed upwards.
Hardlight cackled. "Oh, I'm not falling for that trick, I wasn't created yesterday players!"
Hiro grumbled. "Hard way it is then." He tapped Baymax and the robot flew upwards but knocked into a red wall that formed just as they reached the second floor. "What the?!"
"You didn't think you could fly through the floors now, could you?" Hardlight summoned boxes showing that they had three floors to go, and all of them were locked up. "No bonus points for that, Big Hero 6!" He used his summoning circle to create a few bat mobs.
"Y'know, this is starting to remind me of that tower from this game I played as a kid, Witches 101-"
"Flame Jumper save the game references for later." Gogo held out her disks as the bats chased Hiro and Baymax and a few small armless creatures formed on the floor. She tossed one of her disks and it sliced through it like butter.
Wasabi and Fred took the other two, which also went down easy. Then a rocket fist from Baymax destroyed all the bat creatures. That's when a larger bat creature was summoned, and another rocket fist couldn't take it down.
"Ice attack!" Fred tried blasting it with an ice beam but it didn't do much either and it gripped him with its talons. "Oh no, halp!"
Gogo turned to Honey Lemon. "Can you give me a boost?"
The chemist nodded, already making the chem balls. "On it!" Gogo leapt as Honey Lemon tossed the chem balls down onto the ground, creating a bouncy substance that sent Gogo flying and she hit the large bat with her electro-net.
It screamed from the shocks and let Fred go. "Aaaaaah!" He managed to luckily fall on the bouncy substance. "Oh." Baymax used one more rocket fist and that destroyed the large bat creature. A red key formed in its place and the wall blocking the second floor went down.
"Level 1 has been completed! Onto Level 2, which will be your doom!" Hardlight cackled.
"Bet it took him all night to come up with that one." Hiro muttered under his breath as they ran to the second floor. This time he didn't try flying up to the top since he could already see the barrier.
Hardlight created a different mob to stop them, these ones were long with stubby arms. "Oh I hate these guys in Mind Smith, their scream attack hurts my ears." Fred complained.
"They have a what?" Wasabi turned to him, puzzled. Fred didn't have to answer as one of the creatures opened its mouth and produced an ear-splitting wail attack. They all covered their ears in pain, especially the comic fan who had the most sensitive hearing.
Gogo tried slicing one with her disks, but it did very little. "Chop Chop, lasers!"
"Right!" He was able to hear her through the comms and fired up his laser blasts which whittled the creatures down. Gogo then sliced them all clean by using her own hover disk to finish them off.
Fred leapt onto the top stairs as a big version of the stubby arm creatures formed. He cackled like a maniac as he used his fire-ice breath to knock it down to the others. They finished off the mini-boss with a barrage of all of their attacks.
"Level 2 has been completed! Onto Level 3, where I will-" Hardlight got cut off by Baymax flying up and throwing a rocket fist at him. "Hey! You can't interrupt the narrator!"
"In some cases, you can." Hiro quipped back as Hardlight tried attacking his sword and got stopped by Baymax.
While distracted, Fred leapt up and brought Wasabi to the cage, as he tried using his plasma dagger to cut Diego free. "Heights cannot hurt me, heights cannot hurt me, heights cannot hurt me-" He repeated the mantra over and over while cutting the bars.
Hardlight apparently had super-hearing of his own as he turned around. "Come on, this isn't even nightmare mode!" One square blast knocked Wasabi and Fred down.
"Falling can hurt me, falling can hurt me-!" He screamed. Honey Lemon quickly tossed chem balls to break his fall, but their next opponent beat her to the punch.
The Level 3 boss was a giant four-legged creature that swallowed him.
"What?! This is so not cool!" Wasabi complained.
Fred leapt onto the mob's shoulder. "Spit him out!" He kicked it as Honey Lemon used her bazooka and shot a barrage of shots. It did too little damage as it tried stepping on the chemist but her girlfriend managed to push her out of the way.
Fred leapt off of its back as he roared fire at it. Then it kept kicking them into oblivion as their attacks did too little.
Hiro wasn't having much fun either, as every time Baymax tried a rocket fist or he used his magnets, Hardlight's shields would negate the attack.
They manage to dodge the barrage of shields but one super-power attack from Hardlight's sword trapped them in place the same time as the large mob trapped his friends with its feet.
"Way to whiff the big boss battle players! Guess you aren't so good after-all." Hardlight tsked. "Time to end this!"
"I agree." Hiro smirked, noticing how close Hardlight was to someone. "Chief Cruz, catch!" He tossed his glove over to Diego.
Hardlight didn't even get to turn around fast enough as Diego already had the glove on and activated. "Gotcha." He grinned as the magnet yanked Hardlight's grey glove off and he snapped it in half.
The cage powered down, letting him free, it also started destroying the rest of the tower as there was nothing to keep it in place.
As everyone started falling once the floor went too, Baymax flew and picked everyone up. Honey Lemon tossed a chem ball to soften Hardlight's fall and keep him stuck as his red tower disintegrated.
Back on ground level, the police had the gamer villain surrounded. "You cheated!" Hardlight pointed to Hiro. "The police chief isn't supposed to be a player, he's an NPC!"
"In your game, but not in mine." He replied.
He lifted a claw to complain some more but sighed. "Fair enough, you win." He chuckled. "But that was just my first life."
"What does that even-" Gogo didn't get the chance to finish as a bright light enveloped the square, as it faded, Hardlight was gone. "What the f-"
"Speed Queen." Honey Lemon hissed, she pointed to the crowd who were cheering at the destruction of the red tower.
Gogo winced. "Sorry."
"So, now that that's done." Hiro turned to Diego. "Can I please have my glove back?"
The chief of police turned red and looked like he was about to throw an insult but Elio cut him off. "Done!" He yanked the glove off of Diego and tossed it to Hiro. "Thanks for all the help, bummer we couldn't catch that guy."
"Well, at least no one got seriously hurt." Hiro nodded. "That's the important part."
"True."
Diego tried saying something again but Elio turned and faced him. "Chief Cruz, make sure to thank Big Hero 6 for saving you, especially since you were responsible for letting Hardlight escape last time, eh?" He whispered to the chief, then pointed to the crowd. "I don't think the citizens would be happy seeing you insult their beloved heroes right now."
If looks could kill, Elio would be a pile of ash. "Thanks." Diego grumbled to the superheroes.
"You are welcome." Baymax waved, they all got onto his back and took off into the night.
The chief of police didn't pay attention to the cheers of the crowd, not noticing the citizens thanking the force and Big Hero 6, all he saw was that his police force was too dependent on a group of vigilantes they knew nothing about.
"Sir, are you alright?" Detective Kato asked him. "Did Hardlight do anything to you?"
"No." Diego glared at the sky. "Big Hero 6 thinks they can win my favor by saving me, but that changes nothing."
Detective Kato winced. "But sir, they-"
"I don't want to hear it, detective."
Elio overheard and glared at the chief, fury in his emerald eyes. "I don't know what you got against superheroes, but they saved your life, they helped us keep the crowd calm and they risked their lives as much as they risked ours, you better take a chill pill or so help me I'll-"
"DAD!" The detective was cut off as a girl from the crowd wormed her way through the police barricade and ran up to Diego, who instantly beamed.
"Megan!" He hugged his daughter.
"I was so worried about you!" She cried. "Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine Megan, no supervillain is going to take me down." He reassured her, but winced as she was hugging rather tightly. "Uh, mind giving me some breathing room?"
She stepped back, still sniffling. "Sorry, I was just so worried that I wouldn't see you again and-"
"Shh, it's okay Megan, I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
Kato sniffled at the scene. "Okay, who's chopping onions in here?"
"I dunno, that sushi villain?" Flynn was also sniffling.
Elio would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling teary-eyed either. Something in the crowd caught his eye, and he noticed both of his daughters were in the crowd. Instantly he felt concerned realizing they were so close to a potential friend, but calmed down once realizing that they must've been keeping their friend company while her dad was still kidnapped.
That's when he noticed their other friend in the crowd, who's eyes were directed at Megan as she nervously fiddled with her blonde hair. Not surprised, considering they're rather close.
He had a few pieces of evidence to suggest that they were more than friends, but it was none of his business and as long as they were happy, he wasn't going to be a snitch. If they are together though, I hope Diego gets his act together before he finds out.
If he doesn't… I don't think he's gonna have any wholesome moments with his daughter in the future.
Superhero Squad group chat:
Ariel: Hey guys, did you get back to HQ safely? I hope Diego didn't say anything mean to you : (
Captain Cutie: He tried but Detective Rosemary kept cutting him off lmaooo
Speed Queen: This is why he's our favorite member of the police
Ariel: Detective Dad is the best : D
Captain Cutie: We're doing some stuff at HQ so I'll be late seeing you, you're still at the cafe, right?
Ariel:
Captain Cutie: you're still at the cafe, RIGHT?!
Ariel:
Ariel: We got front row tickets to seeing you guys save the day
Chop Chop: ARI
Red Panda: Ari, that was unsafe
Chem Girl: ARIEL
Speed Queen: DANGIT ARI
Ariel: This is slander : (
Captain Cutie: omg Megan could see your phone!
Ariel: She's too busy hugging her dad
Ariel: Rach is waving to dad and June is too busy paying attention to her gf
Ariel: She was *really* worried about her and insisted we keep Megan company
Captain Cutie: Okay you get a pass
Ariel: : D
Flame Jumper: Oh that reminds me
Flame Jumper added Rodderick Blair to the chat
Flame Jumper changed Rodderick Blair to Roddy
Chop Chop: Fred how and why
Roddy: I agree why am I here
Flame Jumper: Because!
Sora: Oh someone new on chat?
Roddy:
Roddy: Who are you
Ariel: JIEWAJSIDDSJIJIZJIZXJDIZ I AM I NTEARS
Captain Cutie: Roddy this is Sora, a fellow hero that helped us a while back
Captain Cutie: Sora this is Roddy, he's helping us make our HQ a HQ!
Sora: Cool!
Roddy: Thanks
Captain Cutie: room,jpeg
Sora: : O
Ariel: omg it's a conference room!
Captain Cutie: Fred can you add Basemax?
Flame Jumper: Ye!
Flame Jumper added Basemax to the chat
Ariel: : O new robot friend!
Sora: : O
Basemax: Hello, I am Basemax
Basemax: I am an Artificial Intelligence designed to help maintain Big Hero 6's secret headquarters as well as manage the supervillain database and alert them of any activities going on in the city as soon as possible
Basemax: I am also honored to be allowed into your group chat : )
Roddy: I don't think I programmed you to use smileys
Basemax: : )
Roddy: Flame Jumper
Flame Jumper: No regrets!
Hardlight grumbled in frustration as he hovered around the city, being cautious not to get caught, he managed to fix his force field glove and was now watching the city atop one of the wind turbines. "Uhg, I spend all that time prepping for my big debut and the heroes ruin it by bringing that buzzkill of a chief into the mix!" He was so excited to get to do some real action and show what he was capable of.
"Yes, they tend to do that, wouldn't you agree Ian Mathews?" He yelped, as he heard a woman's voice.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" He demanded.
"Oh, I know a lot of things." An orange eye from the shadows stared at him, before emerging into the light, revealing a woman with dirty-blond hair and a lightning scar around her blind eye. "I know that you have a lot of talent, talent that fools like Alistair Krei don't notice."
Ian perked a little. "You don't have to hide yourself, take off your mask and let me see your true face." She smiled. "Can't be worse than what I've got.
He complied, taking off the mask. "I've heard of you, you're the villain who disguised as a nurse and took advantage of the shadow monsters, they said you were gone for good."
"Well, for a time being I was." She toyed with a lock of her hair. "I would've gone back to my group sooner, but then I saw you had Big Hero 6's attention, so I watched." She grinned, showing sharp fangs that weren't there before. "Where did you keep that police chief?"
"Oh just an old warehouse, the usual." Ian shrugged. "So, did you come to me for a reason?"
"Let's just say in your terms, I'd like to recruit you into my group." An eerie grin formed on her face, showing nothing but wickedness. "And I have the perfect test mission with your name on it."
"Well with an offer like that, how can I say no?" He wanted to show Big Hero 6- no, the whole city what he was capable of. They shook hands, the grin got wider. "What's the mission?"
Voltrax's face said it all. "Something along the lines of revenge."
AN: And that was Hardlight! Hope you guys enjoyed!
And uh... Voltrax is back... uh ohs, she's back everyone run for yo life
Some notes
-I took out the line of Hardlight saying "Chief Snooze" bc a good friend of mine informed me about the problematic implications it has
-Very excited to get to writing Roddy and Basemax!
-And I wanted to focus on Megan's reaction to her dad being kidnapped by a supervillain bc the show NEVER touched on that which? wasted potential there?! It could be SO good to focus on that considering it was kind of her dad's fault bc he targeted Big Hero 6 instead of Hardlight (THE SUPERVILLAIN. WHAT ARE YOU DOING DIEGO), and it resulted in him being kidnapped
Thank you all for reading, be sure to check out Karmi's Camden Adventure next week, which takes place the same time as this fic!