Someone Has To Help

[Mickey Mouse]

NPC Story featuring Hiro Hamada & Baymax.

“Baymax! Rocket fist!”

The thrusters lining the connection between Baymax’s giant, red-armored fist and the rest of his arm whirred to life. With a quick, airy blasting noise, the appendage burst forth, zooming through the thick air of the Cevanti wastes and smashing into the ‘rib cage’ of the wild Zoid bearing down on a hapless hunter. From their patrol post, Hiro Hamada and Baymax had watched as the Zoid ripped this dude from his mech and sent him scrambling to the ground; he was clearly out of his depth.

Hiro and Baymax, however, were all too experienced defusing conflict out here. They’d spent the better part of the last year sneaking out of the Markov in the dead of night, working tirelessly to make sure hunters who had no idea what they’d gotten themselves into made it back alive instead of turning into chow for the Zoids — or worse, the Akata.

“A bit different from Kraw, huh?” the teen genius smirked as his robot companion touched down just in front of their damsel. The hunter nodded, and watched as Baymax’s wayward fist returned to the robot and locked back into place. When a giant hand reached out to help him up, he had no choice but to grab on.

Within seconds, Hiro’s gaze shifted up to the sky as Baymax lifted him and their unsuspecting rescue up, up, and away from the overgrown wastes. The moon smiled down at them as they sped back toward Markov, Baymax cradling the would-be hunter in his arms and Hiro smiling beneath his violet helmet, feeling pretty damn satisfied about another job well done… about another life saved.

How many would it take to make the sinking feeling in his stomach finally go away?

***​

Tadashi.

Hiro’s eyes snapped open and he shot up out of his bed. His white t-shirt rustled as his chest heaved up and down, up and down, up and down. His brother’s face often popped up in his dreams, and tonight was no different — except that somehow, it was. He felt a sense of dread washing over him that grew exponentially as the images of Tadashi grew clearer in his mind.

He looked ahead, at the corkboard on the wall across from his bed. He’d managed to snag it from a dumpster outside of one of Markov’s better schools, and now it hung loosely from the wall of the abandoned flat he and Baymax had been squatting in. Today it looked starkly different than it had when he’d first found it, lined with bright, racing red string connecting ostensibly related clues to each other, photographs and documents pinned in an arrangement that nobody comprehended except Hiro. There, in the center, was Tadashi’s face, smiling underneath his Cytokine Industries baseball cap.

In just a few days, it’d be the one-year anniversary of his brother’s death. A few days after that, it’d be his fifteenth birthday.

This isn’t exactly how I imagined spending my childhood, big brother.

Over in the corner of the rundown studio, Baymax remained folded up in his charging container, situated between the wall and his makeshift work station. Robot parts were beginning to pile up on the desk, and Hiro made a mental note he’d have to do a little tidying later. The applications of the different tech were various — a gravity disruptor that was a work in progress, some sketches and haphazardly organized nuts and bolts for what he was calling Baymax’s “Overdrive Mode.” A look at the robot’s battery counter noted he’d only charged up to about fifty percent; slightly alarmed, Hiro snatched up his watch from the bedside table to check the time.

‘6:37am.’ The boy genius let out a heavy sigh. So he’d only been asleep for a little over four hours. Night patrol had truly gone a little late tonight — but at least they’d managed to rescue a few unfortunate almost-victims from the dangerous machines of the Wastes. He glanced outside the window above his bed; light already was beginning to creep in. The sunrise must’ve been beautiful and vibrant, because he could see streaks of orange mixing with the normal whites and yellows. Beautiful, to be sure, but fuck, he’d probably never get back to sleep.

He heaved himself out of bed, tossing his boxer shorts and t-shirt into the cardboard box that serves as his laundry basket as he snuck ever-so-quietly to the bathroom and immersed himself in a scalding hot shower. Hot water was the best way to wake up after a long night, especially when accompanied by a rousing shampoo.

He reached for the bottle — which, yes, he’d nabbed from the corner store without paying thanks to an excellent distraction by his huggable robot companion — but his fingers just barely missed it, and instead it slipped off the shelf and slammed right into Hiro’s big toe.

“Ow!” he shouted, reaching down and grabbing for his foot. Outside the bathroom door, he heard the familiar sounds of Baymax inflating.

“Hiro,” the robot’s soothing voice called from just beyond the doorway, “I was alerted to your need for medical attention when you said ‘ow.’ On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

“Solid zero, Baymax, I’m fine,” Hiro called back. He scrunched his face, gently placing his throbbing foot back on the floor of the shower.

“Hiro,” Baymax said again, as if he hadn’t heard the boy’s response.

“I’m fine, Baymax—”

“Hiro, there is a… fire… next door.”

Hiro burst from the shower, almost forgetting about the pain in his toe. He wrapped a towel around his waist and clambered up onto his bed, standing on his top toes to look out the window. As it turned out, the orange flickers of light were not indicative of a beautiful sunrise — they were indicative of a raging inferno engulfing the large tower across the street.

“Shit,” Hiro muttered.

“Hiro, that language is… unadvisable in polite circles—”

“Suit up, Baymax,” the teen genius interrupted, turning back to his robot partner. “Someone has to help.”

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Screams erupted from the burning tower. Those lucky enough to be on the lower floors flooded out of the front entrance, spilling into the streets a cacophony of ‘helps’ and flailing arms. At the higher elevations, faces peered through the smoke out of the windows. From the street it was hard to decipher their expressions, though passersby could be sure of one thing: nobody was optimistic about those faces’ survival odds.

Across the street, a heavily-armored Baymax, Hiro magnetized to his back, burst through the hole in the roof of their makeshift base of operations, wings spread. He soared over the heads of the concerned citizens and launched upward toward the building’s upper stories. As they zoomed past, Hiro could hear the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ rising up from below them.

“Take us in there, Baymax!” Hiro shouted, pointing towards a section of the tower that seemed as-of-yet untouched by the flames.

“Hiro,” the robot whirred in response, “my scans indicate the heat index inside this building is reaching worrisome levels. I am concerned how your body will react inside your armor.”

“Not to worry, buddy,” Hiro smirked beneath his helmet, clicking a button on his wristband. Icy air immediately filled the entirety of his suit, covering him from head to toe. Baymax, seemingly satisfied with this solution, reared back and launched a kick with both feet towards the building’s windows.

The pair landed with a thud inside what looked to be a biological lab. Hiro slid off Baymax’s back. “Scan for survivors.”

“Hi! Me! I’m a survivor,” a girl’s voice called out. Hiro’s eyes shot toward the source, watching as a dark-haired girl shot up from behind a desk, hands in the air. He quirked an eyebrow — she couldn’t be much older than himself. What was she doing inside a professional bio lab?

“Uh, hello there, miss,” the boy genius said as the girl rushed toward them. She threw herself at Hiro, embracing him in a tight hug that made him blush. “Is anyone else up here or just you?”

“No — everyone else made it into the stairwell before the fire reached us,” the girl replied, breaking away.

“Why’d you get left behind?”

“Are you here to rescue me or interrogate me?” the young biologist sassed, crossing her arms. “Or maybe die in this fire with me?”

“Fire can be… dangerous,” Baymax said, earning another sarcastic glare from the girl, “I will scan you for injuries now.”

Hiro held up his hands, moving between Baymax and their would-be rescue. “Uh, that’s okay, Baymax,” he smiled back at the girl. “Save first, scan later!”

The girl let out an annoyed scoff that transformed into a screech as Baymax scooped her up into his arms. Hiro clambered onto his robot companion’s back, magnetizing himself in just as a squad of at least six mechs burst through the ceiling. The girl yelped again, and Hiro’s eyes grew wide.

The mechs landed with a thump on the floor, causing bits of it to start to cave in, and within moments began aggressively spraying the flames with huge water cannons hooked to the underside of their gauntlets. One of the mechs glanced over its shoulder, catching Baymax and his two human passengers in its sights. “What are you doing, citizen? This zone isn’t safe!” his handler called, turning and aiming his water cannon for the giant red-armored bot. He released a powerful stream of water aimed directly for Baymax’s chest, smashing the robot back and through another window into the open air.

“Oh no,” Baymax droned.

Baymax’s thrusters fired up. The trio hovered in the air as the offending mech approached the hole in the window.

“The fuck is going on here?” the pilot called. “You some sort of vigilante? You know the Pilot’s Guild don’t take kindly to vigilantes, kid.”

“Maybe you should’ve let the police handle this one,” the girl muttered.

“Are you grateful or not?!” Hiro yelled. “Baymax — rocket fist!”

The robot’s fist exploded from its wrist, singing the girl’s sweater ever so slightly. She yelped a bit as the rocket-powered fist bump crashed into the chest of the mech, knocking it off its feet.

“Oh, nice, and now you’re fighting the police!”

“Shut up!!”

The rocket fist locked back into place and Hiro, Baymax, and the young biologist watched as the downed mech picked itself back up then turned back to the rest of the squad. At the sound of his voice, the five or six others stopped trying to put out the fire and gave him their attention.

“Forget pretending to save this place, blow it to hell and then after this unauthorized bot!”

Both of the humans’ eyes went wide at the command, watching as the other mechs switched off their water cannons and then began to launch missiles into key structural points of the building. From down below, Hiro knew, it would be impossible to tell that the rescue mechs had been responsible for the building’s doom, but he could see it clearly, and he couldn’t believe his fucking eyes.

Missiles collided with the concrete supports, and the top of the tower began to crumble before the eyes of the trio. The leader — or at least Hiro figures he was the leader — turned back to the vigilantes-turned-witnessed with a big scowl on his face. At least the part of his face Hiro could see through the windshield.

“After them!!”

“Baymax, go!!”

 

[Ridley]

The missiles the ‘bots used may have been fierce weapons, but they were far from the mecha’s only blasts. The accompanying lasers were technically brighter, but produced far less collateral and thus, less attention when there was a collapsing building nearby.

The skyscrapers around the area were the saving grace, as the massive city-scape made cover. Baymax found himself jetting through the sky with impressive speed, even as the mechs gave chase. The City’s height outstripped the cruising altitude of the mechs chasing them, it seemed, giving them equal parts maze and Protection.
Less collateral, of course, only referred to the explosive power of the missiles, and not the care of the men behind it, as the buildings underneath the group were peppered with scars and cuts from the lasers burning glare.

“Baymax, could you turn thrusters to full power?”

“I’m running low on power from the patrol, Hiro.”

“Uhh, guys, not to interrupt you in the middle of your, ah hah, brilliant rescue, but...”

“Oh come on, will you lay-...oh!”

Evidently, these security mecha had more than a few extra speeds - that or their new enemy had managed to call in back-up, as a pair of mechs zipped between a pair of office buildings through a crack just large enough to let them through. One of the ‘Bots shoulder struck a nearby window, leaving a sizable break in the glass. The hydrangea flying out the window passed without fanfare as the mecha confronted the heroes in the sky.

The Mechs opened fire with a hail of bullets. Subsonic rounds popped off as the sounds were drowned out by the wind in the upper sky area.

“Why don’t we just dive down into the crowds! If the public knows what’s going on, they can’t just be shooting in the middle of Cevanti-” The biologist yelled as Baymax went into full evasive mode, his advanced AI giving him the extra bit of edge to stay a hair’s breadth ahead of the pilot’s gunnery skills.

“Too risky! They probably have official certification, even if it’s phony!” Hiro would yell. “Plus, I’m not risking a missile hitting the public.”

“Oh, just me. My hero.”

“If you could stow the attitude for a second, and let me explain that - Incoming!”

The rest of the Mobile armor caught up in a fanfare of jets, and the Squad leader had a scowl showing from behind his windshield - likely on purpose - as the group opened fire from multiple angles.

“Baymax, Dodge!”

“I can’t!”

The Shots made contact, and an explosion of dust and heat quickly roared into the sky, as the weapons made contact…

“...Did we die? Is this what death feels like?... pretty tame.” Came from within the cloud, as the mechs hovered backwards.

“No, I’m pretty sure we’d have felt the holes for at least a couple seconds before expiring.” the biologist quipped back, as suddenly visibility came back to the world, revealing… A giant, rainbow-colored star, surrounding the pair.

“Mwahahahaha! Tremble, mortals, at the feet of your savior! The mighty god of Hyperdeath, and the soon-to-be premier hero of Cevanti.” a childish voice rang out.

As the rainbow energy dissipated, a small figure hovered in the air. It wore a blue hoodie, with a pair of fairly ordinary jeans, and it’s face was hidden underneath a rainbow scarf, which did little to disguise his other features. Baby blue eyes and a pompous, arms-crossed posture with chest puffed out, a pair of small horns, white fur and the unmistakable look of…

Hiro blinked. “Is… that a goat?”

“I-wha-you-Boss monster, thank you very much!” The Small child yelled from above, a shade of pink somehow making it past the thick layer of fur. “I’m here to rescue you!”

“And already you’ve been shown up. How’s it feel, mr. hero?”

Hiro went to say something in retort, before realizing that their erstwhile savior wasn’t exactly paying close attention to what the other mechs were doing, and their new savior was quickly grabbed up in one of the mech’s clutches.

“I-hey-getoffme.”

“Hey boss, this is one of those magical things, right? How much of a paycheck do you think we can squeeze out of him.”

“Idiot! We’re already on mission!” The Leading mech yelled. “Just eliminate the little troublemaker.”

“...Fine, got it. Screw me for trying to have a financial plan, I guess.” The mech added, as the goat-child struggled.

“As soon as I get free to use my magic, I’m going to blow that stupid thing up with the chaos buster-”

“You know what? You’re right, that does sound scary.” A thick italian voice stated from inside the cockpit. “So how about I just squeeze ya till ya pop, and then I never have to worry about it aga-”

The screech of metal as the slam of a rocketing fist screeched through the air cut the italiano off, the mech immediately jetting in the opposite direction as the Struggling dreemurr fell with the arm from his grasp.

“-Yeah, I stand corrected. You two are in the lead, somehow.” The biologist added, even as Baymax quickly caught the falling goat.

“Are you injured in any way?” Baymax’s ever-calm voice asked at the stunned goat-child, who’s face quickly changed from fear and confusion to a cocky look.

“Nothing can hurt the god of hyperdeath-ouch! Tummy hurts when I yell!” The god of hyperdeath whined as tears streamed in his eyes.

Unfortunately, the group had found themselves slammed as the sergeant’s mech caught up, slamming into the group at once and sending them flowing through the air.

“Sorry, kids, playtime’s over!!” The grizzled voice from within the cockpit yelled, as Baymax’s arms were pinned to his front, squishing the biologist and the Boss monster alike.

“Baymax!” Hiro yelled, throwing a punch straight for the mecha as he stood atop Baymax’s back… only for a hidden port to open up on the mech behind him.

“Dying while choking on exhaust… probably not a fun way to go, But hey, I think you earned it, kid” The mecha pilot added with a savage grin, blasting the genius with a Blast of hot air that sent him off his feet and falling to the street below.

“Baymaaaaaaax!” The Genius yelled, trying to flip his magnetic gloves on as best he could… the technology wasn’t responding? What was going…

The groove of a bullet trail in one of his gloves. Seems this had been a lot closer of a rescue than he’d noticed. Normally, it’d have only taken him a few seconds to do a patch-job, but in mid-air, that wasn’t happening. Which meant.

“No!” The Hamada yelled as the ground started coming closer and closer…

“Wow. I cannot leave him alone for five seconds, can I?” A surprisingly calm and… surprisingly young voice rang.

“W-who-”

“Easy there. I’m just here to give you a second chance at these first impressions. He’s a pretty big fan, you know.”

What Hiro turned to see, grasping his shoulder, was not the usual expectation. Clasping directly onto his shoulder was a kid that was probably in their pre-teens. Shoulder-length brown hair, rosy cheeks, and a smile that seemed to speak of a joke only they were a part of.

And as far as hero outfits go…The hoodie and jeans weren’t a new thing, but it’s definitely the first time Hiro’d seen gum boots be part of one.


“So, how about we go impress Rei together, huh?”

And with that statement, Hiro suddenly realized he… wasn’t falling anymore. He was on top of Baymax again.

“How did you-” Hiro started to say, before realizing the sergeant was saying the same thing.

“Chara! Where were you?”

“Aww, did you miss me, Rei?” the auburn-haired teleporter added… even as he threw what seemed to be a kitchen knife directly into the exhaust port of the sergeant’s mech, the Open hole still exposed, and the mecha pilot going pale.

“I needed a few seconds to do some hero things…” Chara added, holding up a pot. “Do you think mom likes Hydrangeas?”

“Mom’s okay with Hydrangeas, but dad loves hydrangeas!” Asriel yelled excitedly, even as a small explosion and the sound of an engine stalling rang in the distance. Chara smoothly checked his knife as he sat cross-legged on Baymax’s back, seemingly undeterred by the speeds they were going at.

“Did you just-” Hiro started.

“Beat the boss? Nah. I think I’ve seen that style of mech before. This is more like a stalling maneuver. Plus there’s all these other mechs…”

Lasers blasted past the group even as Chara stated this. “Just itching to shoot at us, ya know? I’m not so tactless as to steal all the thunder. We’ve bought ourself maybe half a minute, tops. Unless you think you know a way we can just hide and sneak off…”

“Couldn’t you teleport us? Like you did before.”

Chara put a hand to their chest, thumping a hand on their white shirt. “Teleport? I can’t even fly. How am I supposed to do this.”

“You just brought us back onto baymax!”

“That was a shortcut.”

“How was that a shortcut?!”

“Well, by virtue of not being the long way-”

“That’s not funny! This is a serious-”

“-And I’m serious when I say that’s not how this works! Shortcuts are still pretty limited for me. I’m not a genie.“

“Then who the heck are you two.”

“Well, I’m the great Togore the forgotten, my secret name to hide my identity… but Chara is also acceptable.”

“And I am the God of Hyperdeath, as said before-”

“But I like to call him Rei~” Chara added with the blowing of a raspberry.

“Charaaaaa! At least tell them it’s Asriel!”

“BUt weren’t you going on about how important it was you hide your name?”

“Ulp!”

“Anyways, I hope my little brother’s been a bit more of a hindrance than a help-” Chara added, before a laser lanced a neat hole in his mitten, right between where his fingers would be.

“...Rei, could you?”

“Wha-oh, right! Chaos buster!”

“That was real?”

In answer, Asriel leaped through the air, and a large, white blaster manifested in his hand, filled with rainbow energy. It only took a second for it to lance out, taking part of the wing off of one of the chasing mechs as the other rocketed over to give assistance.

“...Well, I like to think it has more going for it than big-foot, at least.” Chara added with a grin, before planting his feet. “Now let’s save the rest of the introductions ‘till after the firefight, huh?"

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Hiro didn’t like sharing space on Baymax’s back with their two new curious companions.

As Baymax dodged and weaved through the skies of Markov, Asriel bopped around, firing off the occasional ‘chaos buster’ blast and taking out mech after mech. Hiro’s face contorted into a scowl as the goat-child bounced around, and the constant movement knocked the healthcare robot off his alignment just enough to tilt one of his crimson-red rings directly into the path of an incoming missile.

“I have been hit,” Baymax droned as smoke began to rise from the place he’d been struck.

“Shit,” Hiro cursed. The quintet suddenly felt their entire course shift downward and to the left, and from down below, he heard the shrill screams of the biologist ring out as they began to plummet.

She’s so right, Hiro sighed to himself, some rescue this is.

Smoke billowing behind them, Baymax and his riders sank past the heavy walls separating Markov from the dangerous wastes of Cevanti, speeding toward the ground at a rapid pace. “Outside the city?!” the only girl in their newly-formed crew shouted. Hiro sighed, choosing not to reply for fear of being further berated.

“Okay, so, there’s nothing you can do to stop us from crashing?” he pleaded, turning to the weird child-like creatures that had attached themselves to he and his robot companion.

Asriel nervously adjusted his rainbow bandana and looked at Chara. The more human-looking boy gave a sad, defeated shrug.

“Great, then hang on tight,” Hiro said, lowering his visor and gripping on tight to Baymax’s shoulders. He scanned the horizon for suitable landing spots and finally caught sight of an abandoned-looking hangar bay just up ahead. “There, Baymax—” he pointed, “think we can stick the landing in there?”

Baymax’s mechanics whirred as his sensors zeroed in on the gaping entrance to the bay. “I will try,” he said, sounding characteristically cheery.

The four organic passengers all let out screams of varying volumes as they zoomed into the depths of the hangar bay.

***​

Hiro tucked his helmet under his arm as he stood at the hangar’s entrance, watching to see if any mechs had dared follow them out into the wastes. After a minute or so of nothing, he contented himself with the idea that they hadn’t.

Government mechs didn’t often venture past Markov’s walls; after all, if the people in power cared at all about what happened in the wastes, then there wouldn’t have been any need for Hiro and Baymax to intervene in the first place. Then Tadashi never would’ve died doing… whatever he was doing, for… whoever he’d been doing it for. No — the ruling class of Cevanti had long since given up on the untamed parts of the world, content to hole up inside the walls of their city. Were they just cowards? Or was something else going on?

Hiro had been born and raised inside Markov. It shattered his notions of the city’s potential when word came of Tadashi’s death. For so long, he’d seen the potential woven into the very fabric of the city’s industry, dreaming one day of working with a corporation like Cytokine to push the boundaries of robotics further than anyone on the planet had ever dreamed. Maybe, he thought, he’d take his skills on the road — travel off-world to some other planet in the Crossroads, or other planets plural. Maybe some that were less fortunate than Cevanti was, that didn’t have access to the tech they did. Planets where his skills could change and maybe even save lives.

He was starting to realize that maybe the other planets weren’t the ones in trouble — or maybe they were, but that Cevanti was more in trouble than he’d first seen. And so his goals had refocused, because after all: someone had to help.

“Hey, angsty boy!”

Hiro turned around to see the young biologist girl standing with her arms crossed. “Yeah?”

“Listen, that rescue kinda sucked and all,” she snarked, and Hiro’s cheeks flushed red with fury, “but you literally can’t leave me alone with those weirdos. That’s a fate worse than death. Plus your robot is starting to sound, uh… kinda strange.”

Hiro glanced behind her at Baymax. He’d taken the healthcare bot out of his armor, so now Asriel and Chara were poking and prodding and rolling on his pudgy, vinyl outer-layer. Baymax, for his part, seemed to be playing along, slurring out something that sounded like “you — goat boy! Love goats.”

A small smile crossed the boy genius’s face.

“Something funny to you, kid?” the girl quirked an eyebrow.

“His battery’s low,” Hiro placed a hand on his hip. “And it’s Hiro, by the way. Hiro Hamada.”

“Karmi,” the girl scowled, holding out a hand. Hiro tentatively shook it, and for a moment he thought he caught Karmi’s eyes scan him just a little too much in his violet battle armor. His face scrunched. Ew.

Quickly, the pair of teens shook off any weird hormones that might’ve popped up in their brief interaction and hurried over towards a rolling around Baymax who now had Chara and Asriel scooped up.

“Your robot is weird,” Chara said as he caught sight of Hiro, wriggling out of Baymax’s grasp.

“Come back, come back, playtime!” the healthcare bot begged, but the human-looking boy ignored him.

“He’s low on battery,” Hiro shrugged, scratching the back of his head. “Actually, that’s what I came here to talk about. If we’re gonna be here for a while, we need to sneak back into the city and get his charging dock from the place I was staying. I imagine security’s probably on the look out for it as we speak, so we’d better hurry.” The responses came almost all at once.

“If we’re going to be here for a while?”

“You humans never think ahead.”

“I’m in!”

Asriel rolled out of Baymax’s arms with a smile on his little goat-like features. “Let’s go get his charger!”

Hiro smiled. “Nice, at least someone’s on board,” he nodded. “Karmi, you stay here with Baymax — it’s safer. We can talk about why the hell the mech guards wanted to destroy your lab when we get back, but for now, Rei, Chara, you’re with me. Back into the city.”

“Didn’t we literally just escape from there?” Karmi protested, but the boys paid her no mind.

Asriel and Chara began to prep for the not-short walk back to Markov’s walls as Hiro removes his purple armor, until he was dressed only in his black joggers and Chucks and white undershirt. In a nearby office, he found a huge bomber jacket that swallowed his whole frame, and tried it on in an effort to combat the elements of Cevanti’s wastes; when he re-emerged, Karmi stifled a laugh. Hiro grunted.

“Yeah, we should pick up some of my clothes while we’re there.”

 

[Ridley]

Asriel was happy to keep moving, skipping along the pavement of the street as they kept walking.

“Now, Asriel, remember, don’t put your mask on right now. They might recognize you.” Chara would say quietly, as the trio walked, with Chara’s hands in their pockets - the location of their hidden rainbow scarf.

Asriel quickly nodded, before looking to Hiro. “so, uhm, mr. normal friend who we don’t talk to a lot, I’ve actually watched some videos Chara has given me, about your, uhm, cool saving things, and I was just thinking that I have a lot of things I’d like to offer your team if you thought that, uhm, I was qualified-”

“Rei.” Chara’s voice chipperly noted.

“Yeah?”

“We should probably not be talking about that right now with things as they are.” Chara would add. “Noises can be heard. And your cute voice is hard to mistake for anyone else.”

Asriel found a few pitches higher as he whine “Charaaaa, not in front of-”

“Ahh-ah-ah-ah.” Chara would say, putting up a hand, before putting a finger to his chin. “...Come to think of it, is that the legendary taco stand over there?”

WIth a simple motion of his gloved hand, Chara gestured towards the famous “Only Taco stand in Atlas.”. Within Cevanti, it was somewhat of a legend, with a reputation for incredibly high-quality tacos… and many rumors of a dark underworld of taco-based competition, where elite warriors quietly kept an iron-clad monopoly of taco restaurants. No one knew what an Atlas was, but it was clear that they intended to be the only taco-stand atlas knew, and even non-stand restaurants were sure to keep tacos off their menu within a five-mile radius. The enforcers were known for brutality, and not even the police wished to deal with them.

Despite this, they didn’t actually seem to remotely monopolize on the opportunity, instead having competitive prices and high-quality ingredients. While many would argue the militarization was unnecessary given these facts, no one wanted to talk to the mysterious taco stand owner to their face and tell them that.

Still, Asriel’s face lit up. “It is! Oh, but dad wouldn’t let us eat that-”

“Well, Dad’s not here right now, is he? Hiro, you want anything?” Chara would say.

“I-er-uh-”

“Come on, it seems like this might be a long day, and we gotta eat. This isn’t some cartoon where no one gets hungry and all. Relax.” Chara would add with a lazy grin.

“...I, uhm, Guess I’ll just go for something spicy.”

“Got it! I’ll order the bestest Taco you’ve ever had, with my incredible powers of taco-ordering! Mwahahahaha!” Asriel yelled cheerfully, running off.

“...Shouldn’t he have gotten your order?” Hiro asked, as they kept walking.

“Nah. He knows exactly what I like about this time of night.”

“...This time of night?”

“We’re very close.” Chara would explain with a grin, before taking out a pink, rubber ball.

“So, Hiro, let’s talk about something while he’s over there.”

“Shouldn’t we wait-”

“His legs want to go and we are walking at a leisurely pace. Trust me, this is a good way to give him some time to move fast. Plus, the taco stand is very quick. Everything’s usually pre-cooked and regularly rotated.”

“...o… kay. So what kind of… stuff, do you usually do?” Hiro finally stated awkwardly, seeming like he was groping for something appropriate in conversation to ask.

“Oh, usually my time’s spent Gardening, practicing magic, and taking Care of my little brother.”

Hiro’s expression seemed a little more thoughtful at that, but Chara didn’t give him much time to think about that, as they gave a shrug and a smile.

“So anyways, just wanted to make sure you knew something while Rei’s away.”

Hiro’s eyes glanced over with suspicion, as Chara put their hands in their pockets.

“Rei’s what one calls a ‘monster’ - the race, that is. Actually, he’s a boss monster. S’why he’s so powerful.”

Hiro looked immediately over to Asriel down the street, who was currently happily humming with a mechanical butterfly - one of the smallest and least harmful kind of zoids - sitting happily on his nose.

“...I know, silly name for a nice species, right? But it was given to them by humans, and it stuck.”

“...Oh.”

“Point is… Monsters are sensitive to a lot, especially from people they personally respect or admire.”

“So he’s not going to take insults well. Got it.”

“No, I mean, literally. An angry slap from you could cause more harm to him than a missile from one of those mechanical bozos.” Chara added with a more serious look, something that made Hiro wrench back.

“Seriously?! So if I…”

“Yep. Monsters are big masses of emotionally charged magic. They’re hurt more by the feelings behind the attack than the words.”

“I… Okay, I’ll be sure to be careful.” Hiro said, though a suspicious look came to him.

“...what?”

“So if he’s that fragile to things, should you really be bringing him hero-ing?”

Chara smiled, before shaking their head. “Honestly? Probably not. But Asriel… he knows he has the power to help people. And he wants more than anything to be a hero. Even if it’s dangerous… how could I deny my little brother following a dream that pure? So… I stick around, make sure he stays safe, and do everything I can to make sure he has a good future.”

The words seemed to resonate with Hiro, as Chara looked over, and the genius boy looked away for a moment before adding “...If that’s how things are, I’ll make sure he stays safe too. You’re safe with me and Baymax.”

Chara gave a slow nod. “As long as you get it, dude.”

“You too, man.”

And at that, Chara’s eyes widened in surprise, before their mouth stretched wide in a grin.

“...Did I say something wrong?”

“I’m a girl.” Chara added, a giant grin on her face.

“Well, I wasn’t - really- I didn’t mean to offend-”

“And with that, Chara suddenly put a hand around Hiro’s shoulder, leaning in, before adding in a suddenly sensual tone

“No no, it’s okay, honestly. Hard to tell in these clothes. I’m sure if you came out with me for dinner sometime, though, I could show you exactly how much of a woman I can be-”

No sooner had the words left Chara’s mouth than a puff of smoke replaced Hiro, heading back to the Goat-boy.

For her part, she simply stared for a second, before doubling over in laughter.

------

Hiro found himself standing in front of the taco stand with a befuddled goat-kid standing in front of him, handing him a wrapped taco wordlessly.

“Are… you okay?” Hiro asked, before looking down to the Goat-boy’s pocket. The buzz of a cell-phone kept droning, on and on.

“Y-yeah, just… I need to get that.”

“Oh… kay?” Hiro asked, lifting a hand slowly.

It only took a moment for Asriel to take the phone out of his pocket, nearly dropping the cute pink cell-phone - bedazzled with skulls and flowers - before opening it up and answering.

“H-h-hi Dad.”

“Asriel! How are you doin, my boy!” A warm, soft voice bubbled out of the phone, deep and yet welcoming, like the voice one would imagine from a plus-sized teddy bear.

“Oh, y-you know. Me and Chara are uhm, hanging with friends.”

“Did you meet that Hiro boy you were talking about before?”

“Oh, I, uhm- yeah, he uhhh, autographed my jacket and everything and then we didn’t keep hanging out. You know, we just… had a normal conversation. And then didn’t do hero stuff.”

“Well, you can’t expect a hero to be doing hero things all the time, Asriel. Besides, it’s probably better you’re not around something so dangerous.”

“Yeah. so me and Chara have just been spending time not doing hero stuff. We spent the whole last eight hours just… you know, doing no heroics.”

“Well, I’d believe you normally asriel, and I’m glad you’re being so keen to make sure your good ol’ dad feels you’re safe, but you really don’t have to emphasize it so much. If I didn’t know just how good of a child you are, I’d be worried you were lying.”

“O-oh, really? But I lie like never of the time!” Asriel added, before giving a nervous laugh.

“...Asriel, are you really okay? Where is Chara right now? It’s odd that he hasn’t said anything yet-”

In a flash, Chara seemed to just appear behind Asriel, quickly snatching the phone from Asriel with the smuggest grin on her face.

“Hey, Dad! Okay, so I told Rei you’d be alright with it, but it looks like he still hasn’t told you, huh?”

“...Told me what?!” the question echoed through, anger quickly changing the sound on the other end from ‘teddy bear’ into just ‘bear’.

“So I know mom said nothing spicy, but we passed by the taco stand on our way and, y’know, had to go get some.”

“...Oh! Well, I don’t approve of you disobeying your mother… but I’m glad you told me. It’s not so big a problem that we need to be lying, honestly. We’ll just… make sure tomorrow’s dinner is a bit more healthy, okay? Your mother doesn’t have to know…”

“Of course, dad. I’ll drop one off on the table sometime tonight.”

“...When you head back home?”

“Actually, As here got a special favor.”

“Really?!”

“Well, it’s a secret, but we met that hero we were talking about earlier.”

“Oh dear….”

“And Rei’s made friends! They’ve been hitting it off! So we’re thinking about doing a sleepover!”

“Well, I don’t know the boy’s parents…”

“I’ll get ‘em to call ya later, but honestly, don’t worry about it. We’re big kids. Asriel’s been practicing his magic, and you know I don’t let him out of my sight for a second.”

“Well… Yes, I suppose that’s true. And I’ve always been able to trust you to take care of your brother, Chara. Quite a bit more than I should have had to, for a child…”

“Daaaadd! If you get sappy, I’ll put sneezing powder in your taco! You know I’ll do it!”

A full-bellied chuckle echoed through the phone, as Chara flashed a thumbs-up to the silent Hiro and Asriel.

“Alright, you kids have fun! Be safe, alright Chara! I love you.”

Chara’s smug grin broke for a second, eyes dilating as the words hit her, before her shoulders slacked, a much smaller, more fragile smile hitting Chara as the Kid finally lost the air of mystery, and gave a very soft “I Love you too, dad.” Chara added, their voice almost breaking on the words. “We’ll see you soon.”

“Of course! You and Asriel should have fun.”

“We will!” Asriel happily exclaimed.

And with that, the phone was hung up with a quick snap.

“...Well then, let’s go do the important lab stuff, huh, Hiro?” Chara asked, the mask of the cocky trickster re-adorned. Still, there seemed to be a hint of anxiety hidden behind it, this time. “Seems like we’ve got the night free.”

 

[Mickey Mouse]

The taco stand was, luckily, not a long walk from the abandoned flat Hiro Hamada and Baymax had been making their home in. Hiro’s postured straightened noticeably as they approached the street, and Chara turned to him, persistent in her apparent mission to make every bit of this adventure so awkward.

“What’s up?” she asked, not subtly, and between her words and something he caught out of the corner of his eye, Hiro stopped in his tracks. He made a slightly gibberish noise before ducking into an alleyway nearby and beckoning his two companions to follow him.

“Chara, he’s acting weird,” Asriel muttered, loud enough for Hiro to hear.

“You’re a goat person!” Hiro half-whispered, half-shouted. Rei furrowed his brow, but it seemed to be more out of confusion than out of any offense at Hiro’s words or tone. As if he didn’t understand why being a goat person might strike Hiro’s distinctly human sensibilities as a little bit strange.

Behind Chara and Asriel, the thing Hiro thought he’d seen revealed itself. The hulking shape of the police mech proved the boy genius’ fear correct, and his whole face seemed to melt under the weight of anxiety that washed over him. Chara noted his drooping features and seemed like she was about to say something when his arm flew up, pointing behind them. The siblings both looked over their shoulders simultaneously and caught sight of the mech before Chara pushed both of the boys further into the alleyway.

“Shit, I was really hoping they’d be gone,” Hiro panicked, running his hands through his messy black hair.

“Psh, we can take ‘em,” Rei puffed out his chest confidently, opening a palm and conjuring a whirling orb of flaming embers. Hiro’s eyes went wide.

Shit, shit, shit!

What was he going to do? He had just… expected that the cops would have gotten out of here by the time they’d walked back from the wastes, but it seemed that for some reason, they’d taken a particular interest in Hiro’s work. And the young boy wasn’t really in the mood or in a position to get himself involved in a firefight right about now, no sir -- without Baymax or his power suit, he would be pretty much useless in any sort of combat situation.

Wait a second… was that what they were after? His power suit was an impressive piece of work that he himself had designed, but Baymax… Tadashi’d built Baymax, and though Hiro had a basic idea of what went into creating the bot, the coding was totally outside of his purview. He’d become an expert at coding Baymax for combat, but what made Baymax, Baymax? Not exactly his cup of boba.

So he supposed they were after the bot, then, and failing that -- the boy genius that could lead them right to him. He couldn’t bear the idea of risking Baymax’s safety and not knowing if he was going to get him back.

Nevertheless, having Baymax in the first place wasn’t going to mean anything if he couldn’t charge him, and as it was, Baymax’s charger was still sitting at the foot of his bed inside that abandoned flat. Urgency filling up his blood vessels, he pushed past Chara and Asriel, ignoring a “hey!” from the human-looking girl, and peeked out of the alleyway to scope out the situation. It looked like there were only two mechs left patrolling the surrounding streets, at least out in the open; maybe they’d gotten tired of waiting for him, and decided their resources would be better used elsewhere? Markov was a big city, and it wasn’t like it was without its problems; how many police mechs could the government spare to hunt down an outlawed boy genius, anyway?

“Okay,” Hiro resolved, deciding the best course of action was to risk it, “so here’s the deal. Baymax’s charger is in that building.” He pointed in the direction of his flat, and he could see Chara’s expression visibly harden ever-so-slightly. She seemed to be pretty relaxed, all things considered, but nevertheless she’d put on her focus face. Hiro had to admit: he liked that.

“I’m probably the only person who knows how to unhook that shit, so I’ve gotta go in there,” he explained, “but I’m gonna need a distraction. You guys think you can handle something like that?”

The flame hovering above Asriel’s hand grew in size. He looked at his sister, who met his gaze, and then they both looked at Hiro.

“We got this,” they said in unison.

Hiro smirked. His shit-eating grin was one of his trademarks.

“Good. Just don’t tell your dad, ‘cause this might get a little heroic.”

 

[Ridley]

For Chara Dreemurr, the world was right. The sun was shining, Her brother was smiling, and her day was scheduled to involve casual mayhem.

The teenaged girl gave a sidelong smile to the retreating form of Hiro, before she nodded to her brother.

“...So, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Chara asked with a grin.

“Impromptu concert!” Asriel yelled excitedly, sparkles in his eyes

Chara blinked a few times, before putting a finger to her chin. “...I wasn’t, but actually, that’s a decent idea.”

----


The day was dim, the skies relatively nice but mildly cloudy. People went on with their lives looking disinterested, busy, ready to work. Traffic was moving relatively smoothly, though most of it nowadays had really switched to the air, at least in this district. The whole area seemed a little bit grungy and there was a certain malaise that came with the clouds over the area.

By contrast, the little goat that scooted towards the middle of the road stood out amongst the road, with his blue hoodie and the rainbow covering across half of his face. Even so, he was practically unnoticed as he skipped up - until a beautiful, star-shaped pillar of golden light filled the pavement of the street, causing cars to stop - at least as much as a goat-kid in the middle of it did - and people to turn their heads.

Chara watched happily, thumbing away at her guitar as she walked towards the center of the street, smiling as she watched her brother jump a good six feet in the air.

“Markov! Are you ready!” Asriel yelled with all the excitement and enthusiasm only a kid hopped up on sugar and justice could offer.

...and then turned to Chara. “...Are… are we?”

Chara smiled and nodded in response, as she pointed towards the sudden audience. “...fireworks like we practice, Rei..” she added, still thumbing the guitar strings. “And then an amplifier.

Asriel nodded, and within seconds stars were fired into the air, each exploding in brilliant, multi-colored conflagrations that left people shocked. While some were angry at the interruption of the daily grind, quite a few were just surprised and excited at this improv’ed concert. For the ones that weren’t…


Well, tires weren’t people, so Chara doubted Asriel’d care too much about a few slashes she’d subtly left here and there with a twist of magic.

Still, people looking up at the fireworks gave Chara enough time to do her own job, and within seconds the empty street was suddenly filled with an upraised wooden platform with a star motif painted on it, the band name “Dreeming hearts”, emblazoned in bright letters on the front of the stage, and Spotlights blazing pictures of Stars into the sky.

Chara thought she heard the flittering of mechs in the distance, but with a smile, realized they could only really observe if they didn’t wanna make a public scene. The regular police…? Well, she’d be able to focus on them when they came in. They were doing something illegal, after all - here’s to hoping these guys tried to bring them in by the book to keep that public favor.

“What are we playing first, Rei?”

“Hopes and dreams five!” Asriel yelled. “We gotta amplify it so we keep people watching, right?”

Chara looked at Asriel with a groan as she saw her little brother’s game and gave him a glare. “Absolutely not!”

“Why?”

“I’m not singing that loud!”

“But why? You’ve got such a lovely singing Voice, Ch-Togore!” Asriel corrected himself, pink showing at the name slip.

“No I don’t! And no one needs to know that anyways!”

“Togore, pleeeease! We really need to help him out, and you know I’m right! It’ll keep them looking at us!”

Chara groaned. Asriel was giving her the puppy dog eyes, and she knew she couldn’t resist. Just like she knew this was another way for her brother to trick her into singing for him again. For such a sweet, straightforward kid he could be surprisingly manipulative when he wanted to be.

Ugh.

“Fine. But Hiro owes me!” Chara snaps.

She chose not to add in the tiny fact that Hiro was absolutely not someone she wanted to hear her singing voice… hopefully the amplifiers didn’t carry that far. The thought brought a tinge of pink to her cheeks, and she took a deep breath as she let it go, and placed one hard foot on the stage, confidence returning to her face as she pulled the microphone off the stand and watched as Asriel got onto his magically glowing keyboard - his starthesizer - to provide the instrumentation.

“Markov! We are Dreeming hearts!” Chara yelled, as people ‘ooh’d’ and ‘aaah’d.’. On Asriel’s direction, several magic lights streamed up, and as Chara had planned, the Ribbon launchers went off just as she took position.

“You’re busy people, so let’s not waste time! 3,2,1, go!”

“No, I’m not giving up. No I’m not letting go. And it’s so dark outside…”

Chara smiled, as Asriel shot a few conflagrations around her.

“I’m gonna make it gloooow~”

Chara stamped her feet a few times, stepping forward as she continued. “You can’t just run away. I know it’s not too laaaate!”

The Crowd ooh’ed and awwed as she continued, stepping off the platform, and continuing.. On the air. “I know it’s not too late! I don’t care what they saaay!”

The Dreemurr looked up to see what looked like snipers getting into position with some distress….


And then looked down to see something far more distressing: TV cameras. Well… they’d cross that bridge when they came to it when it come to consequences, for now, Chara’s focus went up. If they wanted a show, she’d give ‘em one.


“I’ll keep on reaching for my hopes - and - dreams.”

Chara reached forward, hand held to her chest, and a subtle burst of telekinesis sent the snipers corner crumbling, the officer’s rifle sent into the abyss as he scrambled to get back on the roof and avoid falling.

“Locked away. Racing towards - the light of day!”

A few more officers stood forward, moving towards the rest of the crowd… before being spun around on several star-shaped discs underneath their feet, as Chara continued. “Can’t we stop, this pointless war!” Chara continued, throwing her hands out as she held the note… and a bunch of magazines filled with rubber bullets coincidentally fell out of a few officer’s chambers.

“Can’t we stop, this pointless war? Go back to how - it was befooooore!” Chara finished, backflipping right before her walk forward brough her too close to the crowd, and taking Asriel’s hands in her own. The crowd cheered, and the Applause came in full swing as they clapped with the music, everyone hooting and cheering for the young musicians as they gave a smile to eachother. Most of the police were starting to clear out, with those interested in fighting waiting for their opportunity to come.

“You’re killing it out there, Chara! I told you your singing voice was wonderful!” Asriel added with a big smile showing through his protective identity scarf.

Chara gave a smile back. “And who wrote those lyrics, Rei? You’re doing like three quarters of the work here. But hey, they’re not gonna shoot us till we’re done now. Let’s focus on the song and finish strong!”

Asriel grinned. “I’ve got just the idea! Something I was working on if Hiro or someone falls down again like last time.”

Chara blinked, as Asriel looked in his eyes. What did he…


The answer became apparent as the ground started to become distant - a giant star appearing underneath the two.

“As… since when could you do something so big-” Chara started, before getting cut off with a grin and an impish look, as Asriel sang:

“No, I’m not giving up. No I’m not letting gooo! And it’s so dark outside! I’m gonna make it glooow”

Chara looked in Asriel’s eyes as their platform changed colors, and a bit of water coincidentally managed to fall from them in a surprise drizzle.

Chara looked to the younger goat and gave a smile, retaking her place in the song.

“You can’t just run away! I know it’s not too late! We don’t care what they say! I’ll keep on reaching for my-”

“-Hopes and dreams!” Both of them finished, Red magic mixing with the stars now and causing the stage platform to float behind them, leaving the people below ‘ooh’ing and ‘ahhh’ing… even as subtly tiled magic left behind a dance floor.

Many of the Cevantians sniffed and snooted, but others were more than happy to take it as an opportunity to dance.

The star took it’s glow as they finished up.

“Locked away! Reaching toward the light of daaa~aaay! Can’t we stop this pointless war! Back to how it was befoooore!”

A pillar of light encapsulated the two as the magic coalesced, the reflection creating beautiful lights like fireflies in the now misty air around everyone, and the music was the only thing louder than the crowd below, cheering the duo on.

Asriel smiled. “Close to the end of the song. We run right after, right?”

Chara grinned. “Yep!”

Asriel’s smile broadened. “Good! We’ll be outta here in no time!” The goat added, before a sad look crossed his features. “...Chara, remember what you said about the lyrics? Before, I mean? ‘Only you could write lyrics like this, Rei’”

Chara looked to her brother in confusion. “...yeah?” She asked, as worry crossed her. She hadn’t actually hurt his feelings, right? That was banter. The dorky part of her brother that could actually write stuff down like that with a straight face was her favorite part of Asriel, and she’d fight like a lion to keep it going.

“...I promise we’ll get to the point you can too again. I’ll make sure of it. It’s my biggest duty as a hero!”

Chara blinked, stepping back at the sudden genuine emotion. She wasn’t ready for it. She wasn’t even sure if she could accept it. But she was happy, all the same.

There was retorts she’d said before. Things she’d snapped back. ‘Not while we’re living with humans’, or ‘that part of me doesn’t exist anymore.’. But she also remembered the look on Asriel’s face after each of those retorts. And she knew that not once had they ever made him look less determined.

So instead, she wiped another bit of unexpected water condensation from her eye. “...It’s gonna be real hard for me to do magic while I can’t see, Rei.”

Asriel’s response was just a giggling snort, and even as the star below them exploded in a burst of light, giving them the perfect cover to get the HFIL out of here, Chara suddenly felt invincible, with her brother by her side.

 

[Mickey Mouse]

As Chara and Rei ran off to cause a distraction, Hiro slipped into the dark alleyways of Markov. He’d been here long enough, making his way on his own, that he knew exactly the perfect way to break into his flat without causing too much of a stir.

Since Tadashi’s death, he and Baymax had been on the wrong side of the law all too often. The powers-that-be in Cevanti’s capital -- and, well, only -- city didn’t take too kindly to his independent research, or to he and Baymax's insistent lobbying against going out and hunting for wild Zoids. Though they couldn’t legally restrict the pair from anything, they certainly had gone out of their way to make life difficult for the boy and the bot. Catching them on even the most minor offenses and trying to get them off the streets and into a Markov prison.

Truth be told, there was no love lost between Hiro Hamada and the city, which is why the pair’s impromptu exit with Karmi, Chara, and Rei seemed so fortuitous.

Maybe, Hiro thought, this is finally our moment to get out for good.

The Wastes of Cevanti were a wild place, to be sure, but somehow, Hiro wondered if that open wilderness offered the promise of a new life for him and his robot companion. It wouldn’t be easy -- living outside civilization never was. But, hell; the Wastes had been a civilization at one point. That’s why they were called the Wastes. You couldn’t just be ‘wastes’ of nothing, something had to be there to be wasted. Maybe he, Baymax, Karmi, Chara, and Rei could start something new out there. He still wasn’t too sure how to feel about the goat boy and his weirdo sister, but in the span of a few hours they’d already shown more interest in being there for him and helping him solve his problems than anyone else since Tadashi died.

Within a few minutes, he’d made it to the door of his flat, slid his key in, and pushed his way inside. The sight he was met with was not incredibly comforting -- it looked as if the whole place had been ransacked in his absence. He scowled; whatever the guards were looking for, they weren’t going to find it. As if he was dumb enough to keep his important files anywhere but on his person.

Baymax’s charging station was still exactly where he’d left it at the foot of his bed. He quickly grabbed it and stuffed it in his backpack. The next obvious step was to get out of here as fast as possible so Chara and Rei wouldn’t be exposing themselves for too long, but…

Tadashi.

There, on his bedside table, was the only photograph he had left of him and his dearly departed older brother. Set against the dreary backdrop of one of Markov’s busier districts, it wasn’t exactly the perfect, happy photo he would’ve wanted, but Tadashi’s smile shone past the gloom. Tadashi’s knuckle firmly dug into Hiro’s thick black hair, a half-smirk, half-scowl adorning the boy genius’s face.

He remembered this day like it was yesterday. They’d just gone to get some boba a few streets over, and sat on the sidewalk, slurping it up under the overbearing light and heat of the sun. Tadashi had been poking fun at him about something he wished he could remember, and capped the teasing off with a noogie to the noggin. In the moment, he’d been ever-so-slightly irritated by his brother’s careless attitude, especially when it seemed like the city around them might be on the verge of collapse at any moment. Hiro always knew he and Tadashi weren’t in a good situation, but his brother had tried his best to ignore that… or at least seem like he was ignoring it.

Now, he wished more than ever he could have Tadashi’s good-natured, fun-loving, reckless spirit along with him. Sure, Hiro himself had enough recklessness to make up for his absence, but lately, things had seemed particularly dire. Hell, even the thought of starting a new life out in the Wastes seemed pretty dire. Maybe another planet altogether… ?

His thoughts were interrupted by the blaring sounds of music bursting through the boarded up windows of his flat. He quirked an eyebrow, and walked over to the windows, yanking one of the boards off and peering through. Outside, a stage of sorts seemed to have appeared, and he spotted… Chara and Rei… performing on it?

He blushed and stifled a chuckle. Chara’s singing voice was… good, and Rei seemed to be pretty talented too, but this hadn’t exactly been what he’d expected when he asked for a distraction. On the contrary, it was wild and ridiculous, fun, and…

His heart sank and swelled at the same time.

It reminds me of Tadashi.

For a few minutes, he simply stood at the window, watching Chara and Asriel do their thing. They jammed, and Hiro jammed too, unable to keep himself from tapping his foot. The song was rocking, and new memories mingled with his old ones of Tadashi, bringing a true, genuine smile to his face. He let out a sigh, and with it, his inhibitions left him too, and he found himself dancing in the empty, now abandoned, flat that had for so long served as he and Baymax’s home.

Soon, they would be off.

Soon, they would find something totally new.

***

Outside the flat, Chara and Rei were far from the only people Hiro found on the streets of Markov.

Minutes after the concert ended, the whole block had been flooded with activity, so much so that it took the young boy altogether too long to find his magical friends (a phrase he, with his science-loving brain, had yet to fully wrap his brain around).

“What -- is -- going -- on?” he asked, exasperated, as he finally reached the pair.

Chara glanced around nervously, but she seemed a little embarrassed. Rei spoke up. “We don’t know! We were trying to get out and then -- this!”

Hiro tried his best to crane his neck to get a better perspective, but being so short, that proved to be quite the difficult task. Worried people hurried through the streets, muttering about something coming though the boy and his accomplices were having trouble putting together the various sentence fragments that reached their ears. For several moments, they existed in this web of confusion, until finally, out of seemingly nowhere, Karmi and Baymax burst through the crowd.

“Karmi?!” Hiro yelled. “What are you doing here?”

He unzipped his backpack and quickly threw the wireless charger to the ground, allowing Baymax to step on it as Karmi looked up at him, Chara, and Rei, a look of sheer panic on her face. “Hiro -- we had to get back,” she muttered, “there’s… I can’t even describe it, but there’s a whole army on their way to Markov. If we’d waited any longer, they would’ve gotten us.”

Hiro staggered back, then pushed forward and leapt up onto Baymax’s shoulder. The robot, still a little drunk from his low battery, haphazardly held the young boy up on his shoulders. Hiro glanced around for some sign of… well, anything, when suddenly he heard it.

A great, shrill scream.

The force of it sent him flying backwards off Baymax. The robot held out his hands and let Hiro’s small body fall into them. “I have caught you.”

“Baymax, we -- we gotta go,” Hiro panted, sliding out of the healthcare assistant’s grip and to the ground. “We gotta go.”

“Gotta go where?!” Rei shouted, reaching out and grabbing Hiro by the wrist.

Oh. The others. The screams had been so loud and overwhelming it had almost blocked out everyone else for the boy genius. Something had to be done, someone…

Someone has to help.

“Karmi, get somewhere safe,” Hiro directed, and the young biologist replied, quickly scurrying back in the direction of the flats Hiro and Baymax had been squatting in for so long. “Chara, Rei -- I’m going to try and help defend the city. Meet me there if you want.”

“Defend the city from what, Hiro?!” Chara shouted, finally speaking up as Hiro grabbed Baymax and yanked him off the charger.

As he stuffed the charger back in his backpack, he looked up at the demon girl. “I don’t know, Chara,” he sighed, “but it’s something big.”

He turned, grabbing Baymax by the hand, and rushed toward the nearby crowd of people.

“Hiro -- ” Chara called out.

“Chara,” Hiro called back, spinning around on his heel. He gazed for just a second at the young girl’s eyes, and once again his lips curled into that shit-eating smirk. “Your singing was really good.”

The girl blushed, and was immobilized by her own emotions for just long enough for Hiro and Baymax to plunge into the crowd.

They’d meet again soon.

 

[Ridley]

The blush that sank in on Chara's face left her red as a ripe tomato, as the realization of Hiro's impetuous little flirt hit her.

The snickering from Asriel didn't help.

"Shut up! I don't like him!" The girl snapped, before the realization of what she'd said slipped out, the blush grew redder, and Asriel fell to the ground from laughing too hard at the growling Dreemurr.

The brief, lovely moment of Joviality was cut short by the sound of "you have - one - new Voice mail" - coming from Chara's phone.

The eldest Dreemurr Child carefully opened the phone, hoping not to hear that the two were in trouble - mom didn't usually watch TV, nor did dad, so they should be safe, right?

Neither were ready for what came through the phone, as Toriel's lovely voice came through.

"M-my... my children, I'm..."

The woman both Dreemurr children knew was their mom from the first syllable hiccuped and sobbed, for just a second before continuing.

"...I'm not in at the moment. S-someone h-had to evacuate the schoolchildren, a-and I was th-the only one, b-but your father has s-stated he's coming to get you t-two." The woman on the other end of the phone added. "J-just... stay safe, until... until he gets there. I know you are... w-wonderful children, b-but I worry..."

Chara stopped the voicemail, and the laughter died as the reality of the situation hit the two of them, even as they saw alerts, news, and the realization that the zoids had been unleashed.

"...Let's go, Chara."

"...Yeah." Chara said, looking towards the center of the city, near to safety, just as Asriel turned and moved in the opposite direction.

A shocked expression was mirrored as they both took a couple steps, before turning around.

"Chara-"

"Asriel-"

"This is what we trained for. This is why we're heros! What are you doing?"

"Asriel, this is way bigger than some mechs! We have to get back to our parents, and-"

"Like heckle", we do!" Asriel shouted.

"Asriel, I'm serious! we could get hurt! they could get hurt looking for us! What kinda kids would we be-"

Asriel's eyes widened as his hands balled into fluffy fists.

"Chara, you said that didn't matter before!" The goat bleated, and the Elder Dreemurr's throat found a large frog in it suddenly.

Hey, Chara? I really do wanna be a hero, but... do you think we'll worry mom? And dad?"

"listen, Rei, it's... really good you're looking out for them, but you can't always be the perfect kid, right? I heard mom was quite the rebel in her time."

"No." the little goat gasped in the confines of their room, finishing up his rainbow colored bandana It wasn't for him, of course, it was for Chara.

"Yep. and you know... I think they need to figure out at some point that you're not just a child to coddle, right? I mean, I get it... you are adorable." Chara added with a grin over her own needles, only about a third of the way through Asriel's matching bandana. The older sister might have been better than As at a lot of things, but Knitting was definitely something Asriel had inherited a knack for.

"Charaaaaaaa!"

"C'mon Rei, like I can resist teasing you! I need to hunt for those brotherly 'Baa-a-a-a"s I get when you get flustered and try to pronounce something with a b"

"That's an a-baa-a-aminable practice-Darn you, you made me do it again, you teasy teaser!"

"...But seriously, Rei. We both know you want to be a hero, and if we're heros together... what could stop us?""

The memory of the moment flashed through Chara as she realized the situation, and she knew that Asriel was right... but it didn't matter right now, as the screams had started and the world started growing dark, the Dome activating around them.

"It's different right now?"

"Oh, is it because things got more dangerous?" Asriel demanded, a glare in his eyes as tears started streaming.

"...It's not that. Asriel, listen to me!" Chara added. "Right now, everyone here has a chance to get killed! Me, you, mom, Dad-"

"And I'm just expected not to help because it's hard!" Asriel snapped. "What kind of heroes are we supposed to be Then?!"

"The difference is I can't protect you for certain if you run off and do something stupid-"

The words were a mistake thrown from anger and even as the letters tumbled out of Chara's stupid face she wished she could just grab all of them back and pull them back into her stupid mouth, but the damage on Asriel's face devastated Chara's own heart.

"Y-you..." The younger Dreemurr sniffled, tears streaming fully down his face. "Chara, in the end, you were just... coddling me, too?"

Chara's eyes widened as she reached out a hand, only for Asriel to push it away.

"Asriel, Rei, please, wait, I didn't mean it like that, I didn't-"

Asriel's face had a glare as he turned aside, not meeting Chara's eyes as he walked a few steps, then ran a few as his sister tried to catch up.

"No! If you refuse to believe in me, I'll-"

The young boss monsters throat caught, as he continued. "I'll do it myself. I'll prove to everyone I can save people. And I'll make sure I save as many people as I can from getting hurt! Even if I have to do it on my own!"

"Asriel-" the girl tried more emphatically. Even if he was mad, the elder sister had no intention of letting him go out into this deathtrap, but even as she went to grab his shoulder, her brother snapped his fingers... and she found herself pushed back by a large star that knocked her off her feet.

"Asriel!"

Her brother didn't answer, except to jump from the ground in a cascade of stars, zipping through the air and leaving the younger dreemurr coughing on dust as she growled, fear and anger rising in equal amounts as her brother leaped off into danger.

"Fine! We are doing this the hard way then!" The girl snapped, her voice growing rougher as she reached into the 'code' of the universe, looking for Asriel's configuration. She never thought she'd need to teleport just to track her own brother down, but she was dragging him back however she had to...

Only, as she looked through for that familiar code she had bookmarked, she found something amiss. Certainty turned to confusion, as the 1's and 0's she was looking for were not found. Gone. Elsewhere. That confusion turned to panic, as she double checked, and triple checked. She'd been doing this since she was 8. There was no way she'd fuck it up right now! This didn't make sense. Unless...

Could Asriel have... magically blocked her? She... didn't know he could do that. Had he kept it secret just for this moment? had he really not... trusted her to always have his...

But then again, she hadn't, had she?

"A... asriel..." Chara muttered, the feelings of anger and irritation and self-righteousness all disappeared. they were popped like a balloon as the realization hit her. Her brother had zoomed off into an inferno, and she wasn't there for him right now. she couldn't defend him from trouble. she didn't even know if he was in any, right now.

"Asriel,I'm.... I'm sorry - I didn't mean it that - I didn't mean it that way..." The mage's voice came out weak, far weaker than it had ever sounded in years. "Please come back..."

The girls legs collapsed as the tears started coming full force. "...I can't... I just can't lose you... You're everything to me, so please... please come back to me."

But the pleas were heard by no one, as the people of Markov started going into full panic mode, and Chara took the moment to put her face in her hands as she cried into them.