A/N: Thanks so much for the follows and reviews! ^-^

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I do not own any Big Hero 6 characters

Hiro crept down the stairs, the aged wood creaking with each step. In his mind, he was executing a sophisticated prison break.

"Hurry," Tadashi said, keeping his voice low.

"I'm going, I'm going. Sheesh," Hiro muttered.

He opened the front door, holding his breath as it made a squeal. This house was ancient and not conducive to escape plans.

Standing on the pavement, Hiro peered at the window to Cass' bedroom. The light was on.

Tadashi popped their aunt's trunk and lifted his scooter out.

"Don't start it here," Hiro said, alarmed. "What if she hears us?"

"She won't. Put this on." Tadashi placed the white helmet with the green stripe in Hiro's grasp.

The teen obeyed, although not without complaint. "This messes up my hair," he grumbled, fastening the strap.

"Well, it's either that or a cracked skull, and you need that, so..." Tadashi replied with a hint of snark. He took his seat on the vehicle.

Hiro occupied the remaining spot behind Tadashi and hooked his arms around his neck.

"Ready?" Tadashi revved the engine.

"Let's go." Hiro took another glance up and saw Mochi's furry little face in Aunt Cass' window.

"Do you think Mochi is a spy?" Hiro asked, as if he were inquiring about the weather. He flashed the peace sign at the cat.

Tadashi pulled away from the curb. "What?" On a list of random things Hiro had ever said, this was definitely up there.

"It makes sense," Hiro insisted. "He's always around, watching me. And the looks he gives me are creepy. Like he's judging me."

Tadashi snickered. "Yeah, that's called being a cat. They all do that."

"Also, Mochi appeared at our door two weeks after the school moved me to fifth grade. I was six. Obviously, some agency found out about me and my super brain and needed a way to monitor me. They're just waiting until I turn eighteen so they can recruit me." He leaned forward, resting his chin on Tadashi's shoulder. "There's probably a chip in him somewhere, recording my every move."

A sigh escaped from Tadashi's lips that was equal parts incredulous and amused.

Hiro laughed. Even without him saying a word, he could read Tadashi's mind.

My brother, everyone. Child prodigy and all-around genius who also thinks that our family pet is a secret operative for the government. Unbelievable.

-o-

San Fransokyo was a unique mix of old and new. Victorian row homes lined the rolling hills that was characteristic of the city. Cable cars clanged their rusty bells as they traveled back and forth on the tracks, picking up and dropping off passengers wherever they needed. Mom-and-pop shops occupied most of the space in the heart of downtown. There was antique charm around every corner, yet you didn't have to go far to see the modern touches that made the place where the Hamada boys grew up, special. Skyscrapers were present at every intersection and glittering billboards lit up the night sky. A monorail stretched the entire length of the metropolis, providing transportation to places where the trolleys couldn't go.

The city was something of a juxtaposition, but everything melded together all the same, creating an atmosphere that was unlike any other.

"Where is this place, anyway?" Tadashi asked over the buzzing traffic.

"Takeshita Street," Hiro said. "Make a left."

The turn was coming up, but Tadashi had plans of his own. He veered to the right. Sorry, bro.

Hiro gasped. "Where are you going? The bot fight is that way!"

They sailed through a pair of stone columns, and two spotlights directed at an enormous concrete slab illuminated the sign.

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology

"Why are we at your nerd school?" he demanded.

Tadashi didn't react and hopped off the scooter in front of the robotics wing.

"Gotta grab something." He signaled for Hiro to follow.

"Is this gonna take long?" Hiro whined, once inside, dragging his feet down the tiled halls.

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "Relax, you big baby. We'll be in and out. Besides, you haven't seen my lab."

"Oh... great."

Tadashi held the door for Hiro, letting him to go first.

For approaching nine o' clock on a Saturday, the place was a flurry of activity. Drills whirred and eager chatter floated through the room. There was something in the excited buzz of the students all tinkering with their machines that piqued his interest. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad detour after all.

"Heads up!" a girl's voice shouted as a yellow blur whizzed by, nearly running Hiro down.

A bike came to a stop a few yards away and the rider got off, hanging it up on a steel rack.

Hiro approached the piece of machinery and examined it up close. This was no ordinary bike.

"Whoa..."

He put his hand between the wheel and the frame. There was nothing physically attaching the two parts, only magnetic force.

"Who are you?"

Hiro backed away. The rider was standing there, her face obscured by a polished motorcycle helmet.

"Um..."

Tadashi came up behind him. "GoGo, this is my brother, Hiro."

She removed her helmet and surveyed the younger Hamada for a moment. Hiro noted her jet-black, choppy hair streaked with purple. It was actually kind of cool, he thought.

A pink bubble formed at her mouth and popped. "Welcome to the nerd lab," she said. Her voice was dry.

"I've never seen electromag suspension on a bike before," Hiro said.

GoGo manually rotated the pedals, causing the wheels to spin. "Zero resistance, faster bike," she explained. "But-" she yanked on the wheel, separating it from the rest of the bike. "-not fast enough." With a flick of her wrist, it landed in the garbage bin, among so many other rejects. "Yet."

She then turned on her heel and marched to the other side of the room.

With the abrupt end to the conversation, Hiro moved on to the neighboring station, where a boy in a green sweater was working.

He must have gotten too close because the boy held out a white-gloved hand, stopping Hiro in his tracks.

"Whoa, whoa! Do not move! Behind the line, please."

Hiro took a half-step back, minding the striped tape on the floor that acted as a barrier.

"Hey, Wasabi," Tadashi said. "This is my brother, Hiro."

Wasabi smiled and adjusted his safety goggles. "Hello, Hiro. Prepare to be amazed."

He took an apple from his desk and tossed it at him. "Catch."

But he didn't have to. The apple somehow went from one whole piece to dozens of wafer-thin slices, all in a matter of seconds.

Hiro plucked one out of the air. "Wow." His reaction was genuine. How did he do that?

The physics student turned a dial, revealing hundreds of lasers, thinner than a strand of hair.

"Laser-induced plasma?"

"With a little magnetic confinement for ultra precision," Wasabi added with a proud grin.

He was now inspecting his worktable, making sure all his tools were in order.

Hiro picked up a magnifying glass, holding it up to his eye. "I could find anything in this mess."

"Ah-ah," Wasabi took it out of his hand and replaced it back in its nook. "I have a system. There's a place for everything, and everything in its place."

"Need this!" GoGo dashed over and grabbed a wrench.

Wasabi's eyes went wide, the fragile equilibrium of his space now disturbed. "You can't do that!" he cried, chasing after her. "This is anarchy!"

Hiro shot Tadashi a look but received only a chuckle. Everyone here had their little quirks and distinct personalities, but that's what made it interesting.

"'Scuse me! Coming through! Sorry!"

A girl with straight, golden hair appeared from around the corner, rolling what looked like a wrecking ball ahead of her. She saw Tadashi first.

"Tadashi! You're back!" Then she spotted Hiro. Her mouth dropped.

"Oh, my gosh! You must be Hiro! I've heard so much about you!" She was shouting now, and Hiro realized she was listening to music through her headphones.

Pulling the wires from her ears, she grabbed Hiro in a tight hug and kissed his cheeks. A rosy hue spread across his face.

She then dragged Hiro over to her chemistry station. "C'mere, c'mere, c'mere!"

The ball she brought in got raised up on a platform.

"That's a whole lot of tungsten carbide," Hiro said, intrigued as to what she was going to do with it.

"Four hundred pounds of it! You're gonna love this."

She made her way down the table, all the while naming off the ingredients she was using.

"A dash of perchloric acid, a smidge of cobalt, and a hint of hydrogen peroxide." The chemist grabbed a blowtorch and fired it up. "Superheated to five hundred Kelvin, and..."

Taking the mixture, the girl sprayed the entire ball in a fine, pink mist. She danced around it, ensuring to cover every inch. For the final step, she pulled a lever on the wall, which delivered a bolt of electricity to the experiment. It looked like a giant gumball.

"Tada!" she exclaimed. "Pretty great, huh?"

"So... pink," Hiro agreed.

"And here's the best pa-art," she sing-songed, her green eyes sparkling.

Using the tip of her finger, she touched the sphere; it disintegrated, instantly filling the room with pink dust.

Hiro couldn't believe his eyes. Not a trace of the original material was left. "Whoa."

"I know, right?" She removed her glasses, the lenses coated in the powder, along with the rest of her outfit. "Chemical-metal embrittlement!"

"Not bad, Honey Lemon," Tadashi said, joining Hiro at his side.

Hiro cocked an eyebrow. Now this was just strange. "Honey Lemon? GoGo... Wasabi..."

"I spilled wasabi on my shirt one time, people! One. Time!"

Honey giggled at Wasabi's miffed tone.

Tadashi laid a hand on Hiro's shoulder. "You'll have to talk to Fred. He's the one who came up with the nicknames."

"Who's Fred?"

"This guy, right here!"

Hiro spun around and came face-to-face with two bulging lizard eyes. He yelped in surprise.

"Oh, no, no. Don't worry. This is not my real face and body," came a voice from inside the reptilian getup.

An arm extended from the lizard's mouth and shook Hiro's hand. The head portion of the costume fell back, revealing the boy. His sandy hair spilled out from underneath a turquoise cable-knit beanie with a kaiju stitched on the front.

"Name's Fred," he introduced with a friendly smile. "School mascot by day..." he twirled a cardboard sign with the school's seal. "But by night... I am also a school mascot."

Hiro chuckled. "What's your major?"

"Oh, I'm not a student," Fred replied, sinking into a tattered purple armchair by the wall. "But I am a major science enthusiast."

He retrieved a comic that was trapped between the cushions and held it up so Hiro could see. A green dragon-like monster was on the cover, rampaging a city, spouting flames from its mouth onto terrorized civilians.

"I've been trying to get Honey to make me a formula that will turn me into a fire-breathing lizard at will, but she says that's 'not science.'"

"It's really not..." Honey said, coming over to stand by the chair. Her lab coat was off and her outfit was now clean of any dust.

"And I guess that shrink ray I asked Wasabi for is 'not science' either," Fred added, irked.

Wasabi sighed. "Nope."

"Well, what about an invisible sandwich? Like, you're eating, but everyone just thinks you're crazy."

"Please stop," Wasabi begged.

"Hiro."

At the mention of his name, Hiro turned and saw Tadashi across the room. With a bob of the head, Tadashi called him over.

Fred continued to ramble off potential inventions as Hiro slipped away from the group and trailed his brother into his personal room.

"So..." he said, glancing around. "Am I finally going to get to see that secret project of yours?"

"Yep. I actually just finished today," Tadashi admitted.

"Are you serious? Where is it?"

"I'll show you." Leaning over his desk, Tadashi grabbed a roll of duct tape and tore a piece off.

"Duct tape?" Hiro sucked in a breath. "Hate to break it to you, bro, but that already exists."

Tadashi pulled up the sleeve of Hiro's hoodie and flattened the tape sticky-side down on his arm.

"Whoa. What are you-" Hiro started.

Too late. Tadashi yanked the tape away in one fluid motion, leaving a bright red mark on Hiro's skin.

"Ow! Dude!" Hiro cried, rubbing the stinging bruise.

Beep. Beep.

The rest of his tirade dissipated as the little red box under the window that he paid little mind to hummed and opened on its own accord.

Hissing filled the air as a white, puffy figure inflated to life.

Hiro was stunned into silence. Moving a chair to the side that was obstructing its path, the white blob with arms and legs and a tiny oval head waddled over, pausing just inches away from the teen.

"This is what I've been working on," Tadashi said.

"Hello." The figure greeted Hiro with a small circular wave. "I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion."

"A nurse robot?" he asked.

"I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said, 'ow,'" Baymax continued. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

A screen with ten smiley faces, expressions ranging from elated to absolute despair, lit up on Baymax's chest.

"Physical... or emotional?" Hiro narrowed his eyes at his brother.

Tadashi stuck out his bottom lip and blinked. Puppy face.

"I will scan you now." Baymax bowed his head and then lifted it. "Scan complete. You have sustained no serious injuries; however, I have detected a slight epidermal abrasion on your right forearm. I suggest an antibacterial spray."

"What's in the spray exactly?" Hiro questioned, testing the robot's knowledge.

"The primary ingredient is bacitracin," Baymax reported. A second screen displaying the molecular composition popped up.

"Ah." Hiro clicked his tongue. "That's a shame. I'm actually allergic to that, so..."

"You are not allergic to bacitracin," Baymax refuted. "However, my scan shows a mild allergy to peanuts."

"Huh." Hiro extended his arm so Baymax could apply the treatment. He glanced at Tadashi. "You've done some serious coding on this thing."

"Programmed him with over ten thousand medical procedures," Tadashi said. He tapped a circular port on Baymax's chest and it opened, revealing a green chip labeled with his name. "This chip is what makes Baymax, Baymax."

Hiro reached up and slid it back in. He circled the robot and poked his shiny outer shell. "Vinyl?"

"I was going for a non-threatening, 'huggable' design," explained Tadashi.

Making it around to the front, Hiro mused, "Looks like a walking marshmallow. No offense." His comment was directed at Baymax.

"I am a robot. I cannot be offended," Baymax stated.

Hiro then stood on his toes to get a better look at Baymax's face. "Hyperspectral cameras?"

"Uh-huh," Tadashi confirmed.

"Titanium skeleton?" Hiro gasped, his face pushed into Baymax's translucent casing.

"Carbon-fiber," Tadashi corrected.

"Right. Even lighter."

Hiro backed up.

"You have been a good boy," Baymax cooed. "Have a lollipop."

Hiro lit up. "Sweet!"

"I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care."

Sticking the candy in his mouth, Hiro grinned. "Well, then I am satisfied with my care."

"He's going to help a lot of people," Tadashi said, as Baymax shuffled to his charging station and deflated.

In a rare moment of seriousness, Hiro touched his brother's arm. "Baymax is really awesome. Seriously. I'm, like, speechless. And you know that doesn't happen to me very often."

All the time Hiro spent wondering what Tadashi could possibly be building, never did he imagine it would be something like this. It was a spectacular feat, and even with all his intellect, Hiro could never see himself accomplishing such a thing. But this was Tadashi he was talking about; he should have known better than to think it would be anything less than life-changing.

"Thanks, Hiro," he said, his gaze not leaving Baymax's luggage. "That means a lot, especially from you."

Hiro wanted to ask him exactly what he meant by that, but they were interrupted by the voice of an older man from the door.

"Burning the midnight oil, Mr. Hamada?"

"Professor Callaghan." Tadashi steered Hiro in front of him. "This is my brother, Hiro."

The man had graying hair and donned an olive sweater vest over a steel blue collared shirt.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, son," he said with a firm handshake. "Your brother speaks of you often."

"Really?" he looked at Tadashi, who smiled.

"Yes. He tells me that you're quite the bot-fighter. When my daughter was your age, that's all she wanted to do. May I?" Callaghan gestured to Megabot.

Hiro nodded and handed it over.

Callaghan stepped out into the hallway and Hiro followed, watching him inspect his pride and joy.

"Hmm... magnetic-bearing servos," Callaghan murmured.

"Pretty cool, right? Would you like me to tell you how I put it together?" Hiro asked, not wasting the chance to show off, even just a little.

"Hey, genius." Tadashi's voice came from behind the opaque wall. He knocked and the glass became transparent. "He invented them."

Hiro's jaw went slack, the realization of who he was talking to hitting him like a ton of bricks. "You're... Robert Callaghan. As in, Callaghan's Laws of Robotics?" He squirmed, suddenly feeling diffident.

In the field of technology, Callaghan was king. His name inevitably came up in all conversations regarding the newest cutting-edge in mechatronics.

"That's right," Callaghan said, returning Megabot. "Have you ever considered joining us here at SFIT? There is certainly a place for you, and your age wouldn't be an issue."

Shutting off the lights and closing the door to his room, Tadashi answered for him. "I don't know, he's pretty serious about his bot-fighting."

Hiro knew Tadashi was teasing, but Callaghan's offer was tempting. "Sorta serious," he countered.

Tadashi guided him along to the elevators to go down to the main floor.

"Well, with a bot like yours, winning must come easy. But, if easy is what you're looking for, then our program isn't for you. We push the boundaries of robotics here. Our students go on to shape the future."

The professor gave Tadashi a knowing look.

The two in the elevator, Callaghan pressed the button to send them to the lobby. "It was nice to meet you, Hiro. Good luck with your bot-fights."

Outside the lab, Hiro was pacing the steps. He heard Tadashi say something about hurrying if he wanted to make the fight, but it didn't register. His mind was racing.

"I have to go here," he said, his tone resolute. "I-if I don't go to this nerd school, I am going to lose my mind!"

Hiro looked at Tadashi stationed on his moped on the pavement.

"How do I get in?"

-o-

When they got home, Tadashi stapled a flyer to the wall above Hiro's desk; his golden ticket to SFIT.

"Every year, the school holds a showcase in which people from all over bring their latest and best inventions for exhibition. You build something that blows Callaghan away, you're in," Tadashi said. "But, it's gotta be great."

It sounded simple, and Hiro was just cocky enough to take on the challenge. The showcase was in August, giving him just under four months to create his best work yet.

He cracked his knuckles and rolled up to his desk. "Trust me, it will be."

A/N: I hope you all liked it! Please R&R! Sorry I haven't updated in so long; the holidays are crazy. I hope you all had a Happy New Year! Updates might continue to be spaced out because I am taking a winter class starting Monday (2.5 weeks of hell) and I also have another class in between that. If I don't update in a while, just know that I haven't forgotten about this story and please stick with me! I love and appreciate all of you :)