They said that the fruitcake in Camden was to die for, but all Karmi tasted was dried fruit and walnuts.

Maybe I should've gotten a croissant. But no, she had to get a fruitcake from the hotel's cafe as the apple trees on the Dalmatian Plantation were making her crave the stuff.

Which was why she was still nibbling on the dessert half an hour after her family got back from their trip, leaving her alone in the Thunderbolt Lodge.

Well.. technically not alone alone, as there were other people enjoying their lunches, but Baymax had taken the twins to the park and her parents were visiting some winery, and that left their family dogs who obviously were hanging with the Dalmatian family so she had no one to talk to.

Not that Karmi blamed Domino for wanting to hang with his long-lost family for as much as he could before they left. I wonder if he wants to stay with them… She had asked her mother that at one point. Sure, the twins adored the pup and would miss him so but Karmi couldn't separate him from his family in good conciseness.

"There's no need for that, Domino can chat with his family over voice call or text, it's not like he'll never see them again." Molly had answered. Karmi would've preferred giving Domino the option, but maybe her mother had that talk with the Dalmatian family's parents during their breakfast at a local cafe, so she didn't push it.

"Someone looks like they're trying to reach another plane of existence." A familiar bright voice caused Karmi to look up, and see that one of her Camden buddies was now sitting across from her.

"Just thinking." She forced another bite of fruitcake down her throat, it tasted like ash this time. "Do you think my dog would be happier with the Dalmatian family?"

Kirby raised an eyebrow. "Where is this coming from?"

"It's just that… he has a lot more freedom in Camden than he has back home." Karmi explained, Domino couldn't casually wander around the neighborhood or a dog-catcher would snatch him up. "I mean if I was in his shoes… I'd do anything to be able to be myself, free and able to do whatever I want."

She might've worded that wrong, based on how Kirby's stare darkened. "Not that I'm sheltered or anything, but my parents are just really overprotective of me, especially my mom! She used to freak out if I got injured as a kid."

"Relax, I know a thing or two about overprotective parents." Kirby reassured her. "My mom used to be really strict when I was a little kid, but not since my aunt's been around."

The curious scientist in Karmi felt that there was more to the story than the jock was saying. "Wanna talk about it?"

"So funny story, I'm named after my aunt, but her last name is Blake, um so my mom thought she was dead by the time I was born and named me after her but then she came back… really awkward affair." Kirby gestured, clearly indicating they didn't want to share the gritty details. Not that Karmi didn't blame them, since Kirby implied their aunt had partaken in villainous activities. "But everything's fine now! I got a really cool aunt, got more creative freedom, and nothing dramatic happened!"

Karmi sighed. "Wish that could happen with me, ever since I took my break from SFIT, they're still trying to convince me to take college classes somewhere else."

"What's wrong with SFIT?" Kirby stole a bit of her fruitcake and popped it in their mouth, not that the biotech major cared, she wasn't hungry anymore.

"It's in San Fransokyo and San Fransokyo is 'dangerous.'" Karmi gestured with air quotes. "Also there's this dumb speculation that bad things happen to teen geniuses at SFIT."

"Y'know speculation is usually based on fact." Kirby pointed out.

Karmi didn't even fight the urge to roll her eyes. "It happened two decades ago! Apparently the teen genius before me almost blew himself up! Let me tell you, being the youngest kid at SFIT at the time was awkward considering that piece of history!"

The jock shrugged. "Well, guess that speculation wasn't totally from paranoia since something bad must've happened to you at SFIT."

Karmi froze, her stomach churned and her neck ached, Kirby's eyes widened seeing her reaction. "Sorry I-" They gripped their knuckles. "Sorry, was just being my nosy self again."

"You looked up what happened in San Fransokyo, didn't you?" Karmi looked back at them. She did wonder if she should tell Kirby or Eleanor about what happened, since they were trustworthy friends.

But in her heart, she knew she couldn't tell them the true extent of Sycorax… of what still haunted her nightmares.

Kirby's nod was what sealed the deal. "Well yeah, my aunt read the news about these sightings of weird snakes attacking people, some new villain who talks like a GamingLive streamer, and about this whole monster crisis…" Their voice trailed off. "You were in the city during that, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I was." Karmi slowly nodded. "I was doing an internship at Sycorax at the time, and it turns out that the person behind the monster crisis was an imposter claiming to be my boss…" For a moment, she thought about telling Kirby what really happened in that office, of how she struggled as that chip dug into her neck and turned her into a monstrous puppet controlled by cruel strings.

But she couldn't. "Let's just leave at that, okay?"

Thankfully as perceptive as Kirby was, they didn't push it, nor connect the dots. "Yeah that's fine, sorry for making you relive that."

"I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk about what happened aloud." Karmi told them. "I thought if I just ignored it really hard, it wouldn't bother me, my parents didn't like talking about it, so I didn't either." But all that did was make it worse. "So thanks for listening."

Talking about it though… acknowledging that pain and suffering she was put through and trying to move past made it better in some way, as if telling herself that it was over now, and she could move on.

"No problem, I guess." Kirby chuckled. "Er, if it helps, I won't tell Ellie."

"Yeah please don't, especially since a certain Elizabeth got involved in that whole mess."

They winced. "Yeesh."

Speaking of the animal whisperer, Karmi hoped he was doing alright since finding out that piece of family history. "Tell me about it, I'm just glad it's over."

"Same and I didn't go through that whole crisis." Kirby sighed. "Man, hearing that makes you really awesome, surviving an encounter from a supervillain."

"I wouldn't call it surviving…" Karmi weakly argued.

But Kirby continued. "I mean it! You lived to tell the tale, that's more than some people can say when it comes to dealing with supervillains, my aunt wasn't that kind of villain, but she's told me a few names I should be really careful around should I ever meet those kinds of people."

"Well, at least if I ever feel comfortable telling the whole story, it would make a pretty good book." Not that Karmi needed more writing on her plate, she already had her fanfics to worry about, but maybe she'd write a short story or two in-between saving lives with her career.

"That's the spirit!" Kirby grinned. "And hey, don't worry too much about Dom, if you're worried about how he'll feel when you guys head back home, you can always talk to him about it."

Now that Karmi thought about it, she probably could've done that instead of wondering what was on the pup's mind. "Right, I'll be sure to do that."

"Sounds like a plan, now do you wanna continue eating stale fruitcake or do you wanna get something tastier?"

Teen Dorks Squad group chat:

Ari: Has anyone played Pokemon B/W before?

Karms: Nope

Meg: I have

June: Kind of? What part are you stuck on

Ari: The fourth gym I have failed like 7 times now

Hiro: I told you to get a ground type

Ari: SHE HAS TWO ELOGA

Hiro: EMOGAH

June: omg its emolga

Hiro: I never played gen 5 okay?!

Meg: uh get a rock type?

Ari: I dont want to :C

Meg: It's good for a flying type gym tho!

Karms: what about electric types?

Ari: the gym is electric

Karms: ohhhhhh

Hiro: wow sis

Hiro: I guess you could say

Ari: dont u dare

Hiro: you

Hiro: get SHOCKED easily

June: pffft

Meg: Hiro you might wanna start running

Hiro: Why wofujsaijkdsjuijsiasjdsaj

Ari: I WILL END YOJDDJUSSUJUJDSJU

Rach: Imagine being stuck on the 4th gym in BW, can't relate

Meg: sure you can't…

"It turned to night in San Fransokyo, the only light being from the busy street lights." Karmi was muttering as she narrated through her current chapter draft. "Lab Lady looked over to Captain Cutie, wondering what was on his mind, he had to be thinking of his capture from the evil imposter."

The picture she drew for the scene was still in the sketch stage, which was annoying. She managed to nail down the background and pose, but sketching Captain Cutie during the scene was hard, for some reason she kept drawing someone else…

Someone with scruffy black hair, brown eyes usually filled with determination, and a goofy smile he shared during her peaceful moments with Hiro-

Now is not the time to think about him. Karmi told herself. You have to finish this scene, it's the last one for this chapter!

She started up her narration again. "'Are you alright, Captain Cutie?' Lab Lady asked him with worry."

The image was pictured in her head, her superhero persona was staring at her hero, but when Captain Cutie turned, all she saw was-

"Hiro turned back- darnit!" She cursed. "Not again…" Having trouble writing Captain Cutie was bad enough, but now she was starting to see Hiro in his place.

Why? Why was her brain doing this? "No one told me writer's block had the symptom of getting your friends involved…"

Why did she keep getting Captain Cutie mixed up with Hiro of all people? She thought back to her superhero crush. "Now that I think about it… he kind of reminds me of Hiro a little."

It was funny thinking like that, when not that long ago the two of them were bitter rivals that competed over everything in class, but they both had that fiery determination in their eyes.

Sure, she had never seen her crush with his helm down, but his eyes did look like they had the same color as Hiro's…

Okay, maybe I'm thinking about this too hard. Sure, her friend was reminding her of the superhero, but no way they were connected at all!

…Right?

But maybe they were a little… "Maybe Captain Cutie is his long-lost-twin…?" Karmi wondered, then shook her head. "No that's stupid, Hiro would've told me if he had a missing twin, maybe it's his cousin, Hiro said his cousin looks like him."

Wait, that was stupid too. "His cousin doesn't even live in San Fransokyo!" She facepalmed. "Maybe they're friends? No, that can't be it."

She would've known if Hiro was buddies with the superhero, she had often gone on the internet to investigate all the photos people took of Big Hero 6, and not once did Hiro show up next to Captain Cutie.

The only time she heard of Hiro near Big Hero 6 had been the Bridgeton school dance.

As much as it was awkward thinking about Bridgeton, for many, many reasons, it was the piece that filled the puzzle.

Back in San Fransokyo, Megan had talked about what happened a little.

"When everyone started running out, in all the chaos I lost sight of Hiro." The reporter had explained over donuts. "That was the scariest part, I almost thought something bad happened, I ended up staying behind until I saw him coming out of the school, with Ari."

"Did any of Big Hero 6 follow them?" Karmi had asked, confused why the superheroes didn't escort the two to safety at the time.

Megan had shaken her head. "No, no I didn't."

"Not even Captain Cutie?"

"He wasn't there."

He wasn't there.

Why wasn't he there?

It felt like the answer was on the tip of her tongue, but Karmi was just out of reach from finding it out.

It's weird, Captain Cutie always saves the day. You'd think he'd be with the rest of the team at Bridgeton, but he wasn't. "He was even there when-" Her eyes widened in realization. "But I didn't recognize him."

She remembered, when she was hiding at SFIT to avoid her, she had called Hiro in a panic, then waited for help, like for one of Big Hero 6 to show up.

But that didn't happen, Hiro had shown up himself, like a hero arriving to save the day like Captain Cutie himself.

Because he was Captain Cutie.

"That explains why he wasn't at Bridgeton because Hiro was in the crowd!" She exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, Hiro is Captain Cutie."

Her friend and rival was also the superhero she had a really big crush on. It felt like she was having a strange fever dream, but when Karmi pinched her arms, she was still standing in front of her computer, the draft of her fanfiction still in front of her.

Oh gosh. She wrote fanfiction of Hiro. And wrote herself being romantically shipped with him!

That was not gonna help her question how she felt about the robotics genius.

"This is insane, this is insane." Karmi muttered, placing her hands to her head.

If someone had told the biotech major last semester that Hiro Hamada was the leader of Big Hero 6, she would've said they had too much to drink.

Now? She was probably going to die of embarrassment considering she talked about her Big Hero 6 fanfiction with Hiro and his sister! Man no wonder he was acting weird when I started posting my story…

Now she felt bad for snapping at him during that, he wasn't acting weird because he was a hater, but because it was weird that a classmate he didn't get along with was writing shipping fanfiction about him!

"Okay, calm down Karmi, stressing about this isn't going to help." She should probably talk about this with someone… which was impossible because Hiro would kill her if he found out she told someone about his secret identity!

That was one rule you never crossed with superheroes, never reveal their secret identity, even in her fanfiction she didn't make up a fake backstory for Captain Cutie, or the other members of Big Hero 6. "Wait a second, if Hiro's a member of Big Hero 6…"

Does that mean that the rest of his friends were the rest of the team? Heck did Ari know her brother's secret?

Maybe not, Hiro wouldn't want to put his little sister in danger after Akuma Island, knowing his identity could get her into trouble.

If the rest of the gang were members of Big Hero 6, then that meant there was at least one person she could talk to about her newfound discovery.

Ring-Ring-Ring

Luckily, the phone was answered quickly. "Hey Karmi!" Honey Lemon's bubbly and sweet voice was on the other line. "It's good to hear you, how has Camden been?"

"It's been relaxing." She admitted. "Hey um, I need to ask you something important."

"Anything!"

"Hiro is Captain Cutie, isn't he?"

Silence, complete silence answered her question. Karmi could tell that on the other line, Honey Lemon was quietly debating what to say. "How did you…?" The chemist settled on asking.

"Managed to put two and two together, I guess a part of me picked up on the signs when I was under her control, but it took awhile for it to sink in."

After-all, she had only started suspecting things after that incident.

"Oh." Honey Lemon muttered, not sure how to respond to that particular statement. "Okay, I'll admit it, Hiro is Captain Cutie."

Hearing it confirmed was a relief, yet Karmi still felt a sense of unease in her chest. "Well, that makes all the fanfiction I wrote about you guys really awkward." At least Fred enjoyed all the stories people made of the superheroes. "Sorry for almost giving you the name Tall Girl."

That got a giggle out of Honey Lemon. "Oh it's fine! Honestly we all thought it was really flattering that someone wrote fanfiction of us."

"Really?" She doubted that considering Hiro's first impression, but recently he started leaving thoughtful comments on her works, which was really sweet of him.

"Yeah, the drawings you added were really cute too."

Karmi was glad that she wasn't video-calling the chemist or she would've seen her blushing a very deep shade of red. "T-Thanks."

"It's just awkward because you have a crush on Hiro, right?"

And now that blush was a shade she didn't know existed. "What?! No I don't!"

The biotech major could just tell Honey Lemon was smiling on the other line. "Well you two do message each other a lot!"

Despite her current situation of dying from sheer embarrassment, Karmi remembered why she had called Honey Lemon in the first place. "That's why I wanted to call you, I don't know how to feel about Hiro!"

"Ohhhhh." Honey Lemon realized. "Because of the fanfics?"

Karmi groaned. "Yes. How am I supposed to look Hiro in the eye when I come back to San Fransokyo?" She probably would've taken the news of him being Captain Cutie much smoother if it wasn't for the fact she had a big crush on the superhero.

"It's okay, he'll understand."

Honey Lemon's support was nice, but it wasn't making her feel better. "Thanks, but it's not helping how I feel." Karmi sighed. "Sure, we didn't get along at first, but I'll admit, he kind of grew on me a little."

"Awwww-"

Karmi glared at the phone, huffing. "Sorry, continue." The chemist nervously chuckled.

"And he's been a really good friend, when he's not being an arrogant jerk." She admitted. "I… wasn't sure how to feel about him at that point, we both talked about it a little and decided to just stay as friends, but then this happened it's just… uhhg!" Why were emotions so difficult?

"Well, I think it's good you two talked about it and remained as friends." Honey Lemon told her. "Worst part about crushing on a good friend is that you're worried about losing that friendship if it doesn't work out."

That's when it hit Karmi. "I think that's what I'm scared of." She realized. "That Hiro might stop being friends with me since I found out his secret, like I still really like Captain Cutie, but he's also Hiro, and I like Hiro as a friend and it's so complicated!"

"Maybe you just need time for it to sink in, and then when you get back, you could talk to Hiro about it." The chemist suggested. "You're not gonna know all the answers immediately."

She had a point. "Yeah, you're right. Guess I panicked."

"No worries, I would've done the same." Honey Lemon reassured her. "You can always call me if you need help with anything!"

"Thanks, and uh, can you do me a favor?" Karmi nervously fiddled with a lock of her hair. "Don't tell Hiro that I know he's Captain Cutie, I kind of want to have that conversation with him in person."

Some things couldn't be said merely over the phone.

"Don't worry I won't." Honey Lemon replied. "As long as you don't tell anyone our secret."

"Like you have to ask, that's a big superhero code, right?"

"Right! You and Freddie really know all the important superhero secrets, it's hard for me to keep track of all of them!"

"That's what happens when you spend weeks studying everything about superheroes before you write fanfiction about them."

Karmi decided to get some fresh air, some time spent in Regents Park would be fine, right?

Surprisingly it was, but the park was boringly quiet without hearing the happy sounds of dalmatian puppies having the time of their lives. Weird, they're usually here at this time.

Maybe they were having a day off? That has to be it, I mean they probably don't go to the park every single day. Karmi reasoned, still, it would've been nice to see some of her friends.

Mostly Dawkins, she and Dylan didn't really interact and Dolly was still adjusting to her presence, not that she blamed the older siblings considering what their human experiences had been.

"Grrrr!" Speaking of the devil, Karmi noticed that the inventing pup himself had just entered the park, holding an alien plushie.

He doesn't look well. Dawkins had bags under his eyes, his fur was unbrushed, and there was this sort of exhausted vibe around him. "Hey Dawkins?" She decided to approach. "Are you-?"

Immediately, Dawkins whirred his head, and Karmi saw his eyes were red. "Ruff ruff ruff!" He growled.

"I can tell you're upset about something, but I can't understand your barks." She reminded him, blinking in surprise at his outburst.

Dawkins flattened his ears, bowing his head in apology as he realized he had snapped at her. "It's okay, do you wanna talk about what's wrong? Or at least type it?"
He nodded, pulling his phone out from his toolbelt, and instantly Karmi got a ping.

Dawkins: I'm on strike until my brother shows me some respect for doing my fair share of housework and other services my siblings don't provide but I do!

"I see." She knew that the pup often overworked himself, looks like today was the boiling point. "Well, I'm just here taking a break from my own work, wanna come join me?"

He perked up, nodding with vigor. "Arf!"

It looked like Karmi wasn't the only one having quite the day today.

Dawkins found relaxing quite strange, if he was completely honest.

It felt like he wasn't doing anything productive by lying around or not working.

"Taking a break is just letting your mind rest for a bit so it's not overworked." Deepak told him once, during the times Dafydd tried getting him to relax.

He hoped Dafydd would be okay with machine repairs today, the worry was itching the back of his mind, but he wasn't going to go back to the house unless Dylan and Dolly were actually going to respect him.

"Going on strike is more nerve wracking than I expected." He barked at his plushie, Princess Positron. "But it's nice having some free time to myself, I never have that!"

"Did you say something?" Karmi looked up from her phone. Dawkins gestured to his plush. "Oh, are you having an interesting chat with…?" He went to type on his phone. "Princess Positron, that's a nice name, is she from a TV show?"

Dawkins nodded. "Yes! She's from this cartoon called Otherworldly Sciences, it's my favorite show, even if it's directed for younger pups."

Despite Karmi not understanding his words, she got the idea of what he was trying to say. "Neat, y'know I actually have a stuffed friend myself, I named him Mr. Varicella Zoster, though I didn't bring him for the trip, I was too scared to lose him."

"That's understandable."

The conversation paused as Dawkins noticed a familiar fox approach. "Hey Dawkins, didn't expect you here." Fergus greeted him.

"Oh I'm just y'know… chillaxing." He nervously chuckled. "I'm not very good at it yet though." It just felt really awkward sitting on the park bench, oh Dawkins tried to focus on enjoying nature, but it was hard.

"Need some help?" Big Fee twitched her whiskers.

"Please."

Fergus looked at Karmi. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna borrow Dawkins for a bit!"

The biotech major blinked, trying to process what he said. "Er… are you asking if Dawkins can come along?" The fox nodded. "I mean sure, I'm not his owner, it was nice having his company though." She gave the inventor a little wave. "Hope your strike goes well buddy."

"Thanks!" Dawkins perked up, waving back as he followed the Canal Crew out of the park.

Sid was staring at him curiously. "Hey Dawkins, do you ever think you'd get a human?"

He blinked at the squirrel. "Hmm?"

"You're buddy-buddy with that other human, and you know what they say… one thing it's sharing the same space and next think you know there's a leash slapped onto your collar-"

"Hey I'm friends with Ellie and he hasn't tried putting a leash on me." Fergus interrupted, giving Sid a look.

But the question made Dawkins thing, he had no problems with humans, but when it came to getting one as a pet, it was a sensitive subject for his family.

Last time his siblings tried getting human pets, Dolly started acting not like herself, and Dizzy and Dee Dee almost left the family. "I don't think I'd ever get a human, I don't wanna leave my family." As much as they drove him nuts, Dawkins still loved them.

"What would you do if you had one though?" Big Fee asked him.

He smiled, thinking of his friend. "I'd like to think we'd get along."

Friendship Circle group chat:

Dylan D: everyone HAS ANYONE SEEN DAWKINS?!

Kirby G: Is he missing?!

Eleanor M: I haven't! But I'll ask Fergus!

Dylan D: He left and the house is in chaos and idk what to do nothing is working AAAAAAAAASDJSJDJSJDSJJ

Dolly D: Sry had to take his phone.

Baymax 2: Dylan, you appear to be highly stressed, do you need assistance?

Dolly D: We need Dawkins

Karmi K: was this before or after he went on strike

Dolly D:

Dylan D:

Kirby G: wat

Eleanor M: Hey so I found Dawkins, he's not answering his phone bc he said "I'm on strike for decent psychic conditions and I'm not going back until I get them" what did you DO?!

Dolly D: we were asking for help making signs since we're helping our parents going on strike

Karmi K: I'll come over to help, Dawkins deserves a day off since you two keep overworking him to death

Dylan D: Hey we don't do that!

Eleanor M: He says you left him in charge for like… 10 hours before demanding more work out of him…

Kirby G: I'm not getting involved

Eleanor M: Yeah me neither Dawkins sounds pretty mad at you guys,,, I'd rather not meddle

Dolly D: Fair

Dylan D: 3:

The second Karmi arrived at the Dalmatian house, she could already hear the rattle of a machine malfunctioning. Oh dear…

She knocked on the door. "Dylan? Dolly? Anyone home?"

Beep!

The door opened but it was neither of the two top dogs, she recognized the dog at the door as Diesel. "Hey bud, what's going on?"

He made a face, pointing down the hall, the biotech major leaned in and she saw a hose spewing kibble onto the floor.

"Oh dear…" And she could see bubbles made of toothpaste crawling down the stairs. Man, Dawkins is really important if him being gone for a bit is causing all this chaos.

His push over the edge must've been slowly building, like a volcano taking years until eruption and then spewing out all that anger and frustration.

"I'll see what I can do to help." She told Diesel. "But I think the best thing is for your big siblings to talk it out with Dawkins."

"Yip!" Diesel nodded, then sprinted into the house like he was going to fetch Dylan or Dolly.

Karmi took a deep breath, and picked up the pump, the same pump that had fired a weapon of kibble at her the first time she was in the Dalmatian household. How time flies… She mused.

"Okay, let's see what's causing this to go haywire." She followed the pump to the machine it was plugged into, there was smoke whirring inside the device. "I'm not a mechanic, but something tells me that something important broke in there."

As if the machine was teasing her, it spat out another round of kibble. "Okay I'm emptying this thing." No need for it to continue staining the floors, letting all of that food go to waste.

It was easier said than done, she didn't know how to power the machine down so Karmi had to quickly scoop out kibble back into a large bag as it kept spewing the stuff out. Cleaning up is going to be painful… She realized.

Sure it wasn't her house, but she wanted to help out, and that included helping clean up the messes that the malfunctioning machines made. "What's the best way to clear out kibble?" That's when she recalled how she got most of the kibble out of her hair when the pump attacked her with it.

"Hey pups!" She called out. "Do any of you wanna help me clean up the delicious kibble on the floor?" What was it that got pups running? "It'd be like an early lunch!"

Bark-Bark-Bark-Bark!

Immediately, a stampede of pups came running into the hall, chomping on the kibble on the floor.

Two older pups scrambled out of the crowd, Dylan and Dolly, who both gave her a look. "What? At least none of your food will get wasted, it's a win-win scenario!"

Dolly made a "you got us there" gesture, then glanced at the door. "Are you going to see Dawkins?" The biotech major raised an eyebrow.

Both pups nodded, but Karmi noticed that Dylan looked annoyed at the whole situation. "This might be none of my business… but I think you two should be nicer to your little brother."

Dylan glared at her, while Dolly bowed her head, knowing that she had a point.

"Like he's told me a little about you two shoving some of your chores onto him, and it's really stressing him out." Karmi explained. Would Dawkins be annoyed that she told his older siblings this information? Probably, but she was starting to worry about his mental health.

"He can't do his work of repairing the machines if you keep making him take over watching over the rest of the pups, you have a lot of siblings, and it's hard for one pup to do, I don't even know how the two of you manage to keep track of dozens of pups!" Both older siblings dropped their ears. "And it's hard for even me to look after my little siblings, so what I'm trying to say is you should give him some slack."

Dolly nodded, nudging her brother, Dylan grumbled something but he nodded as well. "Okay, I'll try to keep damage control until you get back."

Both siblings looked relieved as they exited to go fetch Dawkins. Once they were gone, Karmi turned back to the rest of the pups, who were finishing chomping down the spilled kibble. "Hey, who wants to have a contest on who can clean up the mess upstairs the fastest?"

Several tails wagged up in excitement, either from the idea of competing or from the energy they got from eating all that kibble.

"I mean she had a point Dyl, we've been throwing our chores at Dawkins recently." Dolly stated as the two were searching for their missing brother. "Remember when you went to that party of Clarissa's and you made Dawkins take over for setting up dinner?"

Dylan grumbled, he didn't like thinking about that party, Clarissa just used it to humiliate him! But it was funny when he got to turn the tables on her afterwards. "Grr, it's just, does she have to nose into our personal lives so much?!"

"I think that ship sailed when Domino joined the family." Dolly shrugged. "She's just worried about Dawkins."

"Mhmm…"

Dolly sighed, her brother could be really dense sometimes. "Even Dafydd notices you're a little hard on Dawkins, yeah he's the only one who can fix the machines, but he needs free time like the rest of us."

"Oh don't go all noble, you throw your chores onto him too!" Dylan pointed out. "Like when you ditched an afternoon's worth of dish cleaning to go hang with Summer!"

Dolly blushed in embarrassment. "Hey, she was visiting town, I had to spend time with her!"

But he had a point… neither of them had been a good older sibling to Dawkins as of late, it was surprising he didn't go on strike sooner.

They found their little brother in the park, taking a nap with Fergus looking out for him. Dylan sighed with relief, his good friend would've kept an eye on Dawkins to make sure he was safe. "Fergus!" He padded up to him.

The fox rubbed his eyes. "Hey Dyl." He yawned. "You here to see Dawkins?"

Dylan nodded his head. "Yes! The house is a mess and we need his help!"

"We're really sorry for pushing so hard, we'll listen to whatever he wants." Dolly added. Desperation in her tone. "We really need his help!"

As if she said magic words, Dawkins opened his eyes and hopped up. "You really need my help?!" He perked up.

"Yes!" Both of them exclaimed.

He flicked an ear. "And it's not a trick to just get me back to pupsitting for you two?"

"No, no tricks! I swear on my space collection I'm being honest, Dawkins!" Dylan placed a paw to his chest. "We shouldn't have pushed so many responsibilities on you."

"We only did that because you're one of the few sibs we trust to help with chores, but we overdid it." Dolly added. "We'll listen to what demands you have, just please help us fix the house."

Dawkins was smirking. "Alright! I'll come back." They both beamed. "On one conduction…"

Later…

Dafydd glanced over to her brother. "How'd Dylan and Dolly get you to come back?" She was keeping an eye on Princess Positron for him.

"They have to learn some basic info on how to handle machines, since they both can't handle one day without me, I'd hate to see what'd happen if I got sick!" Dawkins explained. He turned back to Dylan, who was holding a screwdriver. "Chop chop, Dylan!" After so many times of being told to 'chop chop' for his older brother, he looked satisfied to finally turn the tables.

His sister didn't mind, she was just glad both her littermates were getting along again. "I find it funny how both of them exaggerated how extensive the damage was." Dawkins chuckled.

"Oh, they weren't kidding, the house was a mess." Dafydd gestured. "But then Domino's human came over and she helped out, even made it a contest to see who could clean up the mess the toothbrush machine made of things."

Dawkins hummed. "Really? Well, that was nice of Karmi to do."

Dafydd wagged her tail. "She's a nice human! Not like that Hunter jerk, kind of funny since she can't understand us like he did."

"I wouldn't say that." Sure Hunter could hear what they were saying, but he didn't try to understand or get to know them.

Even if Karmi couldn't understand when he spoke, she at least tried to listen to what he was trying to tell her. "But yeah, she's a nice human."

Speaking of the devil, Karmi had her purse in hand as she was about to leave. "Well since things seem to be good here, I'll be heading back to the hotel."

But as she reached for the doorknob, the sound of yipping made her pause. "Wait!" Dylan and Dolly scrambled to her.

"Before you go… we wanna say thanks for helping out." Dolly bowed her head. "It'd probably take us all night to fix the house if you didn't show up."

"Yeah, and helping us fix our relationship with Dawkins." Dylan added.

Karmi blinked, then smiled. "Oh uh, no problem guys, I was just glad to be able to help." She reached down to give both of them a friendly pat on the head, then finally exited the house.

There was a surge of pride in her chest, that bubbled above the still-remaining feelings of conflict and confusion.

Helping the Dalmatian family had helped keep her mind off of Hiro, off of Big Hero 6, at least for a little while.

She still wasn't sure what she'd say to Hiro about his secret identity, but until then, Karmi knew what she wanted to do.

She wanted to help people like how he and the rest of Big Hero 6 helped her and the city she loved.

Karmi knew, at that moment, she was going to learn how to be a superhero.

So she could help her friend like how he helped her in her darkest moment.

AN: This chapter covers the episode "Dawkins Strikes Back" which is one of my favorite 101 ds episodes, but besides that, it's also when Karmi figures out who Captain Cutie is.

I have a feeling she'd be smart enough to figure it out eventually, but yeah that will be something she talks about to Hiro when she comes back to San Fransokyo so look forward to that!

Thank you for reading, be sure to check out Fallen Power next week, which takes place the same time as this fic!