Well, I'm back. Sorry it took so long to upload this, but Year 12 really took my motivation to write out of me. Adding that I was sitting on an unfinished version of this chapter for a while as well really didn't help things, as it made it a bit harder to get back into the swing of it. But, it's finally done and we can continue on with this tale. Obvious warning, some may seem a bit OOC, but considering what happened in the last chapter you can probably understand why. Now, without further ado, please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Big Hero 6 franchise. That is the property of Disney and Marvel.

Chapter 3 – The Morning After

BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!

With a groan, Hiro woke up from his slumber, his hand lazily slapping down onto his digital alarm clock and turning off the alarm. He tiredly rolled over from his front onto his back, before sitting up and stretching his arms into the air. After hearing a small crack in his arms and shoulders, the robotics prodigy let out a sleepy yawn and dropped his arms, looking drowsily around his room as his brain tried to get out of its slumbered state.

"Good morning, Hiro. How did you sleep?" a robotic voice asked from nearby.

"Fine … Wait, B-Baymax?" the young Hamada yawned, rubbing his eyes and finally noticing the big white robot next to his bed. "What are you doing up?"

"Your aunt asked me to make sure you were awake," the healthcare unit replied.

"I mean … why are you activated?"

"Your aunt requested that I help set things up in the café earlier. Then I helped serving customers until she asked me to get you up."

"Oh … right. Of course," Hiro said as he rubbed his eyes again.

After the events at Krei Tech Industries nearly a year ago, in the times that Baymax wasn't at the San Fransokyo Institution of Technology with Hiro and the others, or when he wasn't playing a part in their superhero group, he had taken to helping out Aunt Cass in her café. His round, gentle exterior made him a very calming figure for customers, and the kids loved seeing him there every day. It also didn't hurt Aunt Cass that having a robotic member of staff was pretty rare at the time, making her little establishment an attraction and pulling in more customers. With Tadashi gone, the extra pair of helping hands was more than useful. Unfortunately, his usual fighting and healthcare chips weren't equipped to deal with the tasks that waiting on tables and serving food and drink required, which resulted in more than a few catering accidents. So, at his aunt's request, Hiro had managed to make a hospitality chip that aided the healthcare robot in accommodating to the new line of work. Now, Baymax could now be seen regularly at the Lucky Cat Café, serving numerous customers as he helped out Aunt Cass and Hiro, if he had time to work in the cafeteria. Even with Cass employing a couple more hands to help her out, and Hiro and his friends giving her a hand when they could and if she needed it, Baymax was always a great aid early in the morning when everyone else was still getting there.

"Your friends will be arriving soon," Baymax reminded after a few seconds of silence, watching the young boy with his usual robotic stare.

"Huh? Oh, right. We're going to the nerd lab today," Hiro remembered, dragging himself out of bed.

"You may want to fix your bed head."

Giving the robot a slightly confused look, the robotics prodigy sluggishly walked over to the mirror in his room and looked at the reflection. He saw his pair of pyjamas, complete with a picture of an atomic diagram on his white shirt and a square criss-crossing pattern on his sky and navy blue pants, slightly ruffled up from him rolling over in his sleep, along with his very messy hair which, instead of being the usual mop-like mess that it normally is, now sticks out all over the place.

"Right … Thanks bud. I'll be downstairs soon," Hiro responded after running his hand through his hair, his black raven hair brushing back with his hand before returning to its spiked out state. He let out another yawn and stretched as he walked out of his bedroom and headed into the bathroom, leaving the healthcare companion to slowly plod back down the two flights of stairs to re-enter the café.

After several minutes in which Hiro took a long, steamy hot shower to reinvigorate himself, get dressed and collect what he needed into a backpack, he finally came down the stairs into the kitchen, wearing his usual red hero t-shirt, peanut brown shorts and navy blue hooded jacket, with the black backpack slung over his right shoulder. Bouncing down the stairs, he was able to pick out a few of the usual customers sitting at small tables and booths, with his aunt walking around to the many morning customers with an apron around her waist and a round serving tray which she used to carry the glasses and plats, both full and empty, back and forth from the kitchen and the tables. Looking around, he also saw Baymax standing behind the register, trying to open it up with his big balloon hands, a couple of kids giggling as the robot continued to try and type in the order, his large hand and fingers making it extremely difficult for it to just press down on the one individual button each time.

'We really need to get him a better system if he's handling the money,' Hiro thought with an amused smile, chuckling silently to himself and shaking his head. 'Maybe I can build another register for him with bigger buttons …'

"Prrrr"

"Hello, Mochi," Hiro cooed to the tabby cat as he weaved between his legs, purring softly and looking up at the young boy. He reached down and picked up the cat, scratching his fur as he continued to purr. "Having a nice morning?"

"Meow."

"Hello, sweetheart," Aunt Cass greeted as she spotted her nephew midway down the steps. "Sleep well?"

"I'm pretty sure I did," he replied, putting Mochi down and letting the cat run away into the café, weaving between the tables and letting the young children pet him, lapping up the attention.

"Hey there, little man!" Wasabi called out from a nearby table, he and Honey Lemon waving at the robotics prodigy.

Wasabi No-Ginger had come in wearing his usual outfit; a fern green jumper, with a white t-shirt underneath, black trousers and black jikatabi shoes, with his yellow and white woven headband over his hair line. His brown hair was drawn back into the usual set of dreadlocks, completing his generally laidback look. Honey Lemon was dressed in a canary yellow cardigan, a 60s style lemon yellow shift dress, blush pink leggings, yellow platform high heels and orange frilly socks. Her golden hair had been pulled up into a bun at the top of her head with a few strands and bangs hanging down the sides of her face, while a pair of pink rimmed glasses sat on her nose in front of her eyes.

"Hey, Wasabi and Honey," Hiro replied, running over to the two of them, each with a take-away cup in their hands. From the aroma drifting up from their drinks, Hiro guessed that Wasabi had ordered a latte and Honey had gotten a cappuccino.

"Oh, I'm glad you weren't hurt last night," Honey expressed as she rose up, wrapping her arms around Hiro and pulling him into her.

"I-I'm fine, Honey. Really," Hiro insisted, feeling his face flush up a bit in embarrassment.

"Still, we were all so worried about you when Baymax called us," Honey said, letting go of him and brushing a few strands of hair out from her face. "Please don't do something like that again."

"Speaking of," Hiro said, trying to divert the topic of conversation away, "where are GoGo and Fred? I thought they were coming too."

"When we went around to Fred's, he was still sound asleep," Wasabi explained, taking a drink out of his cup. "Mmm … nothing like a good latte to start the day off right."

"So Heathcliff said he would wake him up and make sure he got to university," Honey continued on, seeing as Wasabi had become enamoured with his drink.

"Mhmm … and GoGo messaged us earlier to say she would meet us at the lab," Wasabi pointed out. "So we came straight here after that."

"Oh, right. I hope that doesn't mean she did end up spending the night at the lab," Hiro responded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm getting the feeling she's been doing that a lot lately. She gets so focused on making her bike perfect."

"Yeah, she needs to relax. Let loose," Wasabi agreed, taking another drink from his cup.

"Would you like to be the one that says that to her?" Honey inquired with a smile.

"No, no I would not," Wasabi answered quite confidently. "That girl would take my head off for even thinking it."

"Well, maybe we can convince her to have some fun when her birthday comes around," Hiro suggested, taking a seat with them. "It isn't that far away, after all."

"Have either of you got any ideas what we could do for her?" Honey asked, taking her cup and holding it in her hands. "I have a couple, but I'm not really sure if they're any good."

"Same thing here," Wasabi answered, leaning back. "I'm not too sure whether she'd like them or not."

"I've got a couple of plans, but I'm not too sure which would work best," Hiro revealed. "I think I might wait and see how she's feeling a couple of days away before deciding."

"What do you have in mind?" Honey questioned, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Uh-uh, that's a secret. I really want to surprise her with this."

"Hiro, the last time someone tried to surprise GoGo, Fred ended up with a broken nose," Honey Lemon pointed out softly.

"Yeah, and she nearly gave me one just for knowing," Wasabi added, wincing at the memory.

"All the more reason for me to keep it a secret from you guys as well," the young university student reasoned. "If it doesn't go well, then I'm the only one that takes the fall."

"Well, so long as you know what you're doing," Wasabi said.

"And maybe you can use your adorable cuteness to stop GoGo if she does lose it," Honey added with a smile, rising from her seat.

"What?! Cuteness?!" Hiro responded in shock, looking over as Wasabi began laughing. "I am not cute."

"Sure you are," Wasabi chuckled. "Messy mop of hair, short height-"

"Big adorable eyes," Honey added with a giggle.

"I may be many things, but cute is not one of them," Hiro admonished, striding towards them as they walked towards the door. "I am sarcastic, charismatic, highly intelligent, macho and suave, but I am definitely not-"

"Take care, my cute little guy," Cass interjected before they could leave, wrapping her arms around him.

"Aunt Cass!" Hiro whined as she hugged him, to the obvious amusement of his two friends.

"We'll meet you in the car, our cute little guy," Wasabi teased with a laugh before walking out of the café.

"Bye, Ms. Hamada," Honey said, waving before following Wasabi outside.

"That really didn't help my case," Hiro moaned after the two older university students had left.

"Well, one of the biggest joys of parenting is getting to embarrass your kids," Cass said with a cheeky smile, ruffling her nephew's hair.

"Aunt Cass!" Hiro laughed, shaking his head and pushing her hand out of his already messy hair.

"I'll send Baymax over when the others arrive. They let me know they'd be a little late, but it shouldn't be much longer."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

"Okay," she replied, letting him turn around and walk a couple of steps before wrenching him back in. "Last hug."

Hiro couldn't help but be enveloped by her loving warmth and returned the hug, rubbing her back. When they let go of one another, Cass went back to serving customers and Hiro made to open the door. However, just as his hand touched the door, a sudden thought popped into his head.

'Why do I feel like I've forgotten something …?' the robotics prodigy questioned himself. 'Oh right, my phone! I left it on charge upstairs.'

Quickly heading up the stairs into his room, Hiro entered and picked up his phone just as it went ping, signalling a new message. He looked down at the screen to read the new message.

GoGo: Remember to bring the recorder orb, genius. See you at the nerd lab.

"Oh, right, the orb. Nearly forgot," Hiro said to himself, retrieving the small, dull blue orb from the desk where he had left it the night before and placing it into one of the pockets of his shorts before racing back downstairs. Exiting the building with the chime of the bells hanging from the door, Hiro jumped into the back of a small grey minivan, pulling the door shut behind him.

"What took you so long? Did your aunt smother you in little hugs and kisses?" Wasabi teased from the driver's seat.

"No, I had forgotten my phone and went back for it," Hiro explained grumpily to his mocking friend, clicking on his seatbelt as the vehicle kicked into life and rolled away.

"Here, Hiro. We got this for you before," Honey interjected, reaching behind her and handing the teenager a take-away cup.

"Mmm … hot chocolate," Hiro sighed, the warm chocolaty aroma wafting up his nose as he took hold of the cup. "Thanks, Honey."

She smiled at him as he took a drink from the cup, the lukewarm liquid running down his throat Meanwhile, Wasabi had taken to trying to find a radio channel worth listening to while they were waiting for the traffic light ahead of them to turn green. Occasional flashes of music, sports commentary and news stories filtered through the static as Wasabi switched from channel to channel.

"You know you've gone past most of the good stuff?" Hiro joked, leaning forwards and resting in the gap between the front seat and passenger seat.

"I'm looking for the San Fransokyo News Station," Wasabi retorted, sounding a little agitated. "Fred must've been fiddling with this when he borrowed it. I usually keep it on there."

"How do you know it was Fred?"

"When he turned on the radio earlier, advertisements and readings of superhero stories blared out," Honey explained, taking over Wasabi's search as the lights turned green and traffic began to move once more.

"Don't get me wrong, I do like the guy," Wasabi pointed out, fixating his eyes on the vehicles and road in front of him while occasionally glancing towards the side and rear view mirrors. "It's just that his carelessness gets to me sometimes … Plus I keep having to find my radio channels after he's been in the car. He never puts it back!"

"Found it," Honey announced as the introduction music began to play, signifying a return to the broadcast following some adverts.

"Yes! Thank you, Honey!" Wasabi cried out, throwing up a fist in front of him.

"Jeez, never knew anyone would be so excited about a radio station," Hiro muttered to Honey Lemon with a smirk. She nodded her agreement, brushing a bang of her hair back around her ear.

"Good morning, and welcome to the San Fransokyo News Station," the news reporter greeted as the music faded away. "I am your host, Brett Jensen. Our top story today: Police are currently investigating a serious incident that occurred last night, leaving five people seriously injured."

"What?!" Wasabi and Honey exclaimed, looking at the radio.

'Oh no … this'll be about him, won't it?' Hiro thought, slumping back in his seat.

"Reports have flooded in about an attack within downtown San Fransokyo, which police estimate to have happened at 11:00pm at an underground fighting ring."

"Underground fights?!" Wasabi repeated in shock. "I thought all we had were bot fights!"

"Apparently that's no longer the case," Hiro chimed in.

"Footage of the event shows a man being beaten down in the ring by three other men before someone suspected to be another fighter ran inside to help, allowing others to get the assaulted man out. The heavily bruised and injured man was admitted to the San Fransokyo Public Hospital and is currently in a serious condition."

"That's awful," Honey remarked, holding her hands together while Hiro takes a nervous drink of his hot chocolate.

"As another man entered the ring to face down the individual who had interfered in their brutal attack, an unidentified stranger gate crashed the scene, causing everyone to flee. Police arriving at the scene found two of the three men involved in the assault in the ring bleeding and broken bones. The third man in the initial assault and their assumed accomplice were found unconscious in alleyways a few blocks away. At this stage, police suspect that the unknown individual suffocated him, the reasons for which are not currently known. All four men are believed to be part of a black market gang and are currently under hospital arrest."

"So, does this mean we have a vigilante on the loose?" Wasabi whispered, his voice rising as he appeared to be visibly shaken.

"Or maybe someone much more dangerous …" Hiro murmured, gripping his knuckles tightly as the car slowed to a stop at another set of traffic lights, Wasabi indicating that they would be turning left.

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better!"

"Police are warning people to be careful during late times and to stay in open, public areas. They are also requesting that anyone with any information of the event to come forward to help their investigation."

"Well …" Honey started, switching off the radio and turning to face Hiro after a moment of silence between the three of them, "now I'm really glad that GoGo managed to find you last night."

"Mmm …" Hiro solemnly replied, drinking his hot chocolate.

"Is it too much to ask for even a month where there isn't one guy going around hurting others?!" Wasabi asked, gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Now we find there are more illegal groups popping up and everything!"

"Let's just take it easy. It could have simply been an internal dispute," Honey pointed out, trying to find a more positive outlook.

"I guess we'll have to look into this regardless?" Wasabi moaned, rubbing his eyes and turning at another intersection.

"Probably," Hiro answered. "Even if this was a fight amongst a single group, if they're going to endanger San Fransokyo and its civilians in the process, we have to do something to protect them."

'I'm just not liking the idea of having to face that person,' Hiro thought, finishing off his warm milky drink. 'There's something that feels … different about him. Not just like the standard criminals we normally deal with …'

Several minutes of driving later after having heard about the attack on the radio, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Hiro pulled into the university, stopping at a road gate just as they entered the complex. Walking out of a small booth which had the controls to the gate, an aging security guard strode up to them and giving them a wave, while another two could be seen lingering around the small building.

Ever since Professor Callaghan had been arrested following the incident at the then newly built Krei Tech Industries headquarters, security at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology had been increased. The aftermath of the destructive attack had led to a messy affair of questions and interviews by the police with both students and staff, with everyone reaching a consensus that security at the university should be increased to help prevent something like that happening again. Normally, the number of guards on patrol wouldn't necessarily be too high, letting the students get to their lessons and work on their assignments without feeling too intimidated. However, as it was currently the holidays for the students at the campus, the number of guards on surveillance had been increased to make sure that nothing would be stolen by someone trying to break in. The university was still open, with just about every area still accessible to students wanting to work on projects on campus, but many students took their time off relaxing, exploring and travelling elsewhere.

"Good morning, Colin," Honey greeted as Wasabi wound down his window, giving a small wave to the security guard.

"Hello, you three," the security guard greeted in return, leaning against the car and looking in. "Heading in to work on some projects?"

"Yeah, may as well take advantage of the empty space," Hiro replied with Wasabi and Honey nodding in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan. Sorry to have to do this to you, but I'm going to need to see your student cards."

"No problem," Wasabi said as they each pulled out their student ID cards and handed them to the security guard for him to inspect. "You're just doing your job."

"Nasty bit of work that happened last night, eh?" Colin remarked while he was checking their cards, clearly referencing the attack the radio mentioned.

"Oh … yeah. Awful," Honey agreed, all three feeling a little uncomfortable.

"You know, despite it not looking like it had anything to do with the school, they still wanted to add more guards because of it," the security guard explained as he handed their cards back to them.

"Well, you can't be too cautious," Wasabi commented, putting his card into one of his pockets.

"True, but you can be overly paranoid," Colin replied gruffly, standing back up straight. "Anyway, you all are good to drive through when the gate's open."

"Right. Thank you."

"Take care, kids," the security guard said in farewell.

The gate swung out electronically, letting the three in their minivan drive on through into the campus grounds. Wasabi slowly drove them up the path, passing by stretches of green grassy hills that would otherwise be filled with students running around, playing games or lying around relaxing if they weren't all away on vacation. They drove by the reception and one of the blocks of buildings, pulling up into a carpark that would be completely empty except for a couple of cars and motorbikes owned by a few professors and students. Getting out and grabbing their backpacks from the boot, Hiro taking his from the seat next to him, they walked over to the robotics and engineering block, greeting the guard that was waiting outside before entering the building. As they wandered through the building, they passed a couple of classrooms with two or three students sitting inside studying vigorously with their heads stuck in their workbooks, a common area where a few students were messing around and having fun, and a couple of singular workspaces like the one Tadashi had before his unfortunate demise, the students inside having left the windows looking in transparent while they worked. They were acknowledged by a couple that they would pass, and the odd professor or two they would pass also greeted them before moving on. The presence of others around served to remind them that, even if now was the time that they could relax and have fun, there were still those dedicated to their learning and to the teachings of others within their campus that strove to improve their world in their own way, just like their group of six – if you include Baymax – do.

Finally making it to the lab, they enter in to find a very empty and spacious area all around, a stark difference to the state that it normally would be in during the school semesters. Gone were the many various projects in robotics, engineering and chemistry, the equipment provided by the university neatly packed away while the projects remained with their students. Some would not be returning, those projects accompanying students who had graduated and passed their courses, moving on to bigger and better things. Soon, some new ideas and programmes would be developing in their place, freshman students taking up their own dreams and attempting to turn their theories and dreams into reality. In a fortnight's time, the large lab would once more be bustling with noise, people and progress, but for now it remained empty save for the few items Hiro and his group were working on, a television left on with the news being programmed, and a lone woman hunched over a workbench, gulping down some water as she looked over many different pieces of paper.

"Hey, GoGo!" Wasabi called out, tossing his empty latte cup into a nearby bin. The three waved at her who nodded back in acknowledgement before returning to her workings.

"Well, she's certainly in a good mood," he muttered sarcastically as he walked over to his usual area and set his backpack down, squealing in surprise as a yellow disc hurtled its way towards him. The big, gentle man ducked and turned away, shrieking as he brought his hands up in front to protect himself, though calming down a little once the disc passed overhead, bouncing off the wall behind him.

"I heard that," GoGo declared as her yellow mag-lev disc sped back through the air towards her, catching it on her suit's glove before tossing the piece of equipment to the side, the glove landing on a seat set against the wall that rested a couple more mag-lev discs and her black jacket.

"Why is it everything always so serious with her?" Wasabi questioned as he began setting up his plasma firing poles, GoGo showing a small smirk upon hearing his comment.

"Hey GoGo! What's up?!" Hiro shouted as he leapt up onto her workbench, scattering a couple of her notes.

"What do you think you're doing, nerd?" she asked him, her deadpan face meeting his lopsided grinning expression.

"Uh, saying hello to you," Hiro cheekily answered, sitting down and resting his head in a hand, the arm poised against his leg. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you're asking for another bruise," she replied casually, walking over to her mag-lev bike hanging up from the roof and turning the pedals around, running a finger along the edge of the spinning rear wheel. "Where's Fred?"

"Still on his way, probably," Honey answered, wheeling a long, thin island table into her section before grabbing some glass chemical instruments while Hiro slid off GoGo's bench, rubbing his tender bruises through the sleeves of his jacket. "He was still asleep when we went to his place. Heathcliff said he'd get him here."

"Figures," GoGo replied, pulling the rear wheel out of its magnetic axis and laying it down on the bench.

Hiro glanced at the television as he made his way over to his section, which happened to be right between GoGo's and Wasabi's. Looking up at it, he saw the story currently on was based on the upcoming International Mixed Fighting Championship event, the 100th pay-per-view instalment and the first being held in San Fransokyo. Currently, they were hyping the main event title match between the reigning heavyweight champion Takanori Nakamura and the number one contender Dagran Ortez, with an interview between a reporter and the heavyweight champion currently showing. Turning away from the screen, Hiro pulled out a couple of his microbots encased in a petri dish, the right glove to his combat suit and his laptop, setting them down onto the workbench in his section. He flipped open and turned on his laptop, putting in the password before walking out into the corridor and entering his private office and workspace, the same one that his brother Tadashi had before his death, and collecting a few tools and portable drives, carrying them back into the laboratory. When he walked back in, he noticed that Wasabi had his laser induced plasma gate powered up and buzzing, the student fiddling around with the energy components and trying different calibrations to see their affect, and Honey already carefully pouring out different chemicals and quantities into beakers and flasks. The robotics prodigy, seeing his friends getting down to work, walked back to his zone and laid his gathered equipment down before plugging in one of the portable drives, feeling a soft touch on his shoulder. Glancing at his shoulder and seeing the black, fingerless gloved hand resting there, he looked past to see GoGo standing just behind him, peering down at his work.

"Did you bring the orb?" she inquired, moving beside him.

"Yeah, it's in my pocket," he answered, reaching a hand into one of the pockets in his shorts and discretely letting her see before letting the orb disappear back into the confines of his clothes. "I'm just waiting for the right time to show them."

"Good, good …" she replied, leaning up against his workbench with her sleeveless arms crossed over her chest. "Do the others know?"

"They know about the attack, but they don't know that you and I were there," he responded, clicking onto one of the files on the drive he plugged in and loading up a program containing notes, designs and codes for Baymax's carbon fibre armour. "They heard from a news station on the radio."

"Figures," she sighed before letting out a yawn. "They've been covering it for half the morning. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," Hiro said, slumping down into a nearby chair and rubbing his temples. "I don't know how I feel about all this. I don't want to think about what he did and what he could do, and I'm not sure what we need to do about it all right now."

The speedster's eyes fell to the floor as she nodded. "Same here."

"I'm afraid we'll have to leave that story now for some breaking news, with more information of last night's attack." the female news reporter, the name caption below identifying her as Sarah Charalambous, said, cutting away from a video package on a new exhibition arriving at the San Fransokyo Museum to the news studio. The interests of the four university students perked up as they all came together, looking up at the television screen in silence.

"In the look for more witnesses to come forward, and as a warning for the citizens of San Fransokyo, police have released video footage of the event last night that they received from a person they managed to capture and arrest last night."

Faint scattering and squeaking can be heard outside the lab as a silhouette slides around on the polished floors before bursting through the doors.

"Wassup, guys?!" Fred exclaims as he rushes through the door. The school mascot was dressed in his baggy fainted red t-shirt with the Kaiju imprint over the chest, a plain white long sleeved shirt underneath, and baggy sage green cargo shorts, holding up a large enclosed parcel in his hands while his school sign is strapped in with his black superhero themed backpack. "Guess what I got sent!"

"Uh … guys? Helloooooo?" Fred says as he walks up to the four university students, none of them having turned around to acknowledge him when he entered. "Oh no, I'm a ghost! I've become a ghost!"

"Quiet, nitwit," GoGo growled, not turning away from the TV as Fred frantically touched his chest and arms, checking to make sure he hadn't turned into an apparition. Sighing in relief that he hadn't suddenly died and turned into a spirit, Fred also turned to the TV screen to see what they were looking at.

"Due to the gruesome nature of the video, we have been advised to only show a portion of the film," the news reporter stated. "Even so, we advise that anyone who has any issues with viewing violence, blood and bodily harm to look away now."

The footage started playing, a slightly blurred video filmed by what appeared to be a simple mobile phone. The recording begins with showing moments of the three thugs beating down the first fighter, excoriating and pummelling his body, before Jason Thompson, the young fighter, leapt over the cage meshing to protect the badly injured man.

"Whoa …" Fred said glumly, watching the scene.

"How awful," Honey gasped, placing a hand over her mouth.

The footage continued on, with the young fighter facing off with the thugs while the beaten down man was dragged from the makeshift arena. Both Hiro and GoGo watched gloomily as the scene they had witnessed hours ago playing before them once more, angry that they couldn't have done anything themselves to stop the assault from happening. The adrenaline junkie clenched her hands together tightly into a pair of fists, her fingernails digging sharply into her gloves, while the young genius huffed and folded his arms across his chest, glancing down at his feet.

"Police are yet to identify the man in the ring that helped to stop the initial assault," Sarah Charalambous announced as the recording continued, with the fourth thug joining the others in the arena before the clattering trash can announcing the arrival of the shrouded individual.

The five watching in the lab could hear the young fighter yelling at people to escape the vicinity as the hooded man strode menacingly up to the arena, before jumping out himself to get his things and assist in getting the man he saved away. The person filming turned their phone to the ground and seemed to stagger a little as they tried to escape with the others, before turning back and filming more of the incident. When the camera rose up again to the arena, the four thugs still stood in the centre of the makeshift arena seemingly frozen in place, with the menacing man now stood in the cage with them, long steel bar in hand.

"Who in the world is that?!" Wasabi shouted.

"No idea," Hiro murmured in response.

One of the thugs ran out towards the hooded foe, looking to swing at him with his large steel pole. The hooded man parried the attack, holding the pole horizontally in front of his head to catch the downwards swing, before forcefully shoving the attacker back and swiping one end of the pole at the long pole wielder and striking him in the centre of his face. The thug dropped to the floor, clutching his face as blood poured out from his crooked nose, bent out of place, heavily implying his nose had been badly broken. The baseball bat wielder ran forwards next, his swing being parried like his previous companion's had been, but he managed to bring his shield up to block the hooded foe's heavy swing.

While the footage continued to play, with the sounds of frantic murmuring as well that sounded like it was from the studio as opposed to being part of the recording, the door to the lab opens with a click and is pushed out slowly. Walking through with small stumpy steps was Baymax, the robotic healthcare companion turning his head to look around blankly before bumbling over to the group of five students, blinking at the TV screen with its robotic stare.

The baseball bat thug tried to shield bash the unearthly stranger, but the staggering attack was caught in the hand by the hooded man. Using a vast amount of strength he wrenched the thug forwards before twisting his shield arm behind his back. The remaining unharmed thug and the thug leader both turned and proceeded to scramble out of the ring as the nightmarish fighter thrust his lone weapon between the back and the twisted arm of the baseball bat wielder. With the two thugs having clambered out of the arena, they watched in horror as the hooded man violently wrenched back on the top of the pole, causing a very crack to sound out as the base of the weapon pushed out fiercely against his arm, breaking the shoulder.

The five students all cringe at the sound of the bone breaking and being wrenched from its socket at the ruthless jerk of the weapon, Honey turning away from the screen while Wasabi's cheeks puffed out quickly, the man covering his mouth with his hand before running over to a bin and throwing up in it. Hiro runs a nervous hand through his hair as the thug lets out an excruciating shriek, clutching at his broken arm while his two companions that had climbed out of the arena flee the scene.

"I would like to apologise for the scenes that were broadcast," the news reporter expressed regretfully, clearly shaken up. "The images at the end were not intended to be shown on the program, so on behalf of the news station I apologise."

Wasabi walked back over to the group and they all looked tentatively up at the television screen as the female news reporter collected her notes, neatening them up before looking back at the camera.

'Police are yet to identify the hooded man in the footage, though they have reason to believe that he is a notorious anonymous murderer connected to a few cold cases around the world," Sarah reported a little shakily. "Again, they ask that anyone with any information contact them and come forwards to help in the investigation."

GoGo reaches over to a nearby workstation and grabs the television remote off of a bench, pointing it at the screen and turning the TV off. The lab was filled with silence as they all retreated into their minds, trying to deal with what they had just seen and heard. Baymax waddled over to Hiro and looked down at him, the robot's lenses blinking as it stared at the young boy.

"Your neurotransmitter levels are dropping," Baymax reported. "Have you been feeling sick?"

"No, Baymax. I'm fine," Hiro replied, looking a little gloomily up at the robot his brother had originally designed. "Just wondering about what to do with all these new developments."

Hiro's gaze returned down to his feet before he could feel the vinyl touch of Baymax's arms wrapping around him, before the balloon-like head of the robot rested on top of Hiro.

"Treatments for sadness include compassion and physical reassurance," Baymax stated as he held Hiro, the small boy cracking a small smile at the robot's antics.

"I'm okay, Baymax."

"You will be alright," Baymax reassured, patting Hiro's head. "There, there."

"Thanks, Baymax," Hiro said, shaking himself out of the robotic companion's grip. "Were you able to scan the information of the hooded man?"

"My scanners are unable to retrieve the medical information of a person in a recording," the robot explained. "Only if they are physically in front of me can I scan them."

"Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense," the robotics prodigy replied. "It was worth checking."

"I don't understand this," Wasabi commented, looking around at the others. "A vicious attacker and a murderer?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions. We don't know that he is a murderer," Honey pointed out.

"They just said that the police have reason to believe he is!" Wasabi replied, gesturing to the now blank screen.

"If he is a killer, then why didn't he take the lives of those four thugs? There wasn't anything stopping him from doing it," Hiro reasoned.

"Imagine, a new supervillain …" Fred said, slightly awed. "A new powerful foe for Fred's Angels to fight against!"

"For the last time, Fred, we are not called Fred's Angels," Wasabi stated disparagingly, rubbing his temples.

"Why not? It's an awesome name, full of vigour and valour," Fred debated, jumping up onto a bench. "I've been working hard on the theme song for us too."

"Fred, I swear to god-"

"Guys, please. This isn't the time to fight each other," Honey pointed out, stepping between the two.

"You guys need to know something," GoGo interjected, making the three that had been arguing look at her. "Hiro and I were at that arena last night just as that happened."

"What?!" Honey, Wasabi and Fred exclaimed.

"What were you two doing at an illegal fight?" Wasabi questioned.

"We didn't intend to be there," GoGo defended. "I rescued this genius here from the clutches of some unhappy people, before stopping off in another set of alleys to check on my bike. Hiro heard some cheers and thought it was another bot fight."

"Hiro, you went bot fighting?" Honey asked, the young university student wincing at the speedster's declaration.

"Uh … I might have …" the teenage boy grimaced. "Look, can we not get into this now? We have something else that seems just a little more important to talk about."

"Alright, but I want an explanation later," Honey gave in. "Please continue, GoGo."

"Climbing up a building, we saw it was an underground fight instead of a bot fight," GoGo continued. "Hiro wanted to stay and watch because, as he said, he thought that Baymax learning another style of fighting would be beneficial."

"Would learning another combat style help my healthcare protocol?" Baymax queried, tilting his inflated head slightly.

"It would help you keep us healthy by protecting us," Hiro explained, "Same as you learning karate."

"Should I add it to my healthcare database?"

"No, I'll give you another data chip."

"We watched one fight and the end of another, before we started leaving. We ran back when we heard the first man being beaten up, then that young fighter that jumped in to stop the attack told everyone to run when the man in the cloak and armour turned up. So that's what we and everyone else did," GoGo concluded.

"There's something else as well," Hiro added as well, taking the recorder orb out of his pocket and holding it in his closed hand. "As we rode away, we ended up seeing what he did to the leader of that gang. It … well … it wasn't pretty."

"He was the guy who walked into the cage last," GoGo pointed out, nodding along slowly with Hiro's last statement. "The one with the chain around his hand."

"I don't know that I even want to know what he did," Wasabi muttered nervously, running a hand through his dreadlocks.

"Well, we saw that he dropped this on the thug when he was finished with him," Hiro mentioned, holding up the recorder orb in his hand for the others to see. Fred, Wasabi and Honey all leant in closely to look at the orb, Baymax slowly plodding over with his vinyl legs squeaking along the floor as they come down before also analysing the orb, robotic eyes blinking with his gaze.

"A recorder orb?" Fred questioned as Wasabi picked it up, holding it up close to his face. "What's so special about that? Krei Tech has been distributing those ever since we helped them develop them."

"This is a rarer orb," Wasabi examined, raising the orb between his fingers and lifting it up towards the lab lights. "It appears to be one that can record everything around it within the set rendering distance. The normal ones just film within a set frame dimension limit."

"What's on it?" Honey asked as Wasabi returned the orb to Hiro.

"We don't know, we hadn't checked yet," Hiro answered. "GoGo thought we should wait till we saw you all today and watch it then."

"Well, let's get it set up then," Fred suggested, clasping his hands together.

Working together, Fred, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey and Baymax started carrying and pushing any tools, gear, equipment and tables that were placed around the centre of the room and moving them over to the edges of the room, any of their own personal effects into their own work zones. In the meantime, Hiro moved over to his workspace and pulled out some cables from within a desk which he then plugged into his laptop, along with a small attachment with a circular holder in the centre. Typing away on the keyboard, he opened up a program designed to work alongside their recorder orbs, giving him control over the playback of the footage.

With the program completely loaded up, Hiro moved his laptop onto a portable island bench, sitting it on an open ledge just below the benchtop, and pushed it out into the centre of the room just as the others all finished cleaning up. With the island positioned where he wanted it, Hiro moved off to collect Baymax's helmet while Fred carried over a device looking like a thin tall plasma ball, only without the spherical covering around the dark blue ball tip. Fred proceeded to plug two of the cables Hiro brought over into the device – made to help project out images and recordings caught in the recording orb, attaching one into the robotics prodigy's laptop and the other into a power socket in the wall, while Hiro used the last cable to plug Baymax's helmet to the laptop, the visor illuminating along with the spherical tip of the device as it was connected. With all the preparations done, the group all pulled out a pair of shades, called RecoLenses, each from a draw of the island bench, the glasses simply looking like sunglasses with tinted dark blue visors.

"Ok, let's see what we've got here," Hiro muttered as he and the other humans put on their RecoLenses.

As soon as the glasses cover over their eyes, their visual surroundings changing from the rainbow of available colours; the whites of the walls and floor, the matte pastels of orange, teal and blue painting the otherwise traditional laboratory look, the dull greys, yellows and oranges of the diverse, delicate and technical equipment, the blank slates of the occasional whiteboard scattered around the work area - some with writing sprawled all over and some completely clean, the otherwise colourful bindings and coverings to their many numerous workbooks, the industrial colour pallet of their workbenches and tables, and the icy frosted glass windows peppering the walls, all currently not being illuminated by the bright fluorescent lights fitted into the ceiling above, as it was all covered with a deep blue filter. And as the filter came over their eyes, it revealed the scene caught by the recorder orb projected all around them in an electric blue light, the projection device acting as the epicentre of the spherical projection.

Stepping out slightly to the side, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred all seem to gasp as they see a gargantuan image of the unidentified hooded foe, dressed in his shadowy, ruinous garb, the details of the demonic armour etched quite vividly into the projection. Due to the now apparent positioning of the orb in proportion to the armour of the intimidating man, all they could see of him was the front of the person, his armour and garbs, while the face of the individual remained shrouded by the hood of his cloak. Looking to the other figure in the projection, they could make out the other person to be one of the members of the gang that was mentioned in the assault – GoGo and Hiro knowing that he was the leader of the gang, his face completely etched in terror and fright with his mouth open as if to scream. Within the rest of the projection, they could also see the brick wall that the mysterious individual had slammed the cowering thug leader against, his arms covered in spikes and spines thrust out as his hands grabbed at the scruff of the gang man's shirt, along with some of the nearby surroundings; a couple of trash bags and rubbish cans lining the walls and the occasional piece of litter scattering the cool concrete floor beneath them. From their own experiences having witnessed the frightening event, GoGo and Hiro both noted that they could not spy the scythe that the grim-looking figure wielded, or the dumpster that the thug leader was eventually hurled against. They all also observed that neither of the two members of their group could be seen in the footage, leaving both the speedster and the prodigy to internally sigh in relief.

"Whoa …" Honey murmured near breathlessly as she stared at the holographic clip before her.

"Hey genius, think you could scale it down a bit?" GoGo asked the robotics genius, the teenage boy responding by picking up his laptop and typing a few commands into the computer until the people in the scene were roughly the same height as they normally would be.

"The design is incredible!" Fred marvelled as he looked over the devilish garbs of the hooded man, a hand over his chin.

"Fred-" Wasabi piped up cautiously.

"Such attention to detail to so easily grasp the immense factor of fear and intimidation," Fred continued, completely ignoring Wasabi. "I'm telling you, this guy could very easily be a supervillain-"

"Fred!" Wasabi said slightly louder, though still carrying the timid tone in his voice. "This is not the time!"

"Whenever you guys are ready," Hiro interrupted before Fred could speak back, giving both of his friends a slight glance.

"Go for it," GoGo responded, seconded by Honey Lemon giving him a tense nod, leading Hiro to tap a key on his laptop which caused the scene to start playing.

As the recorder orb played back the incident from the previous night it had filmed, the group watched on with tentative attention, the four that had not seen the event last night observing closely while Hiro and GoGo viewed it with a slightly queasy feeling running deep within them.

"Oh no! We're dealing with the grim reaper!" Fred exclaimed as the nightmarish stranger unhooked his scythe from his back and swung it around with force, pinning the thug leader against the brick wall. "Everybody run!"

While Fred dove for cover, looking to hide from the recorded foe, Honey Lemon let out a gasp and covered her mouth at the same time that Wasabi let out a little squeal as they watched the scythe be embedded into the solid brick wall, just barely missing the neck of the gang head.

"It's not the grim reaper, dimwit," GoGo exasperatedly sighed, picking Fred up off the ground and hauling him back up to his feet.

"Oh, right. Of course …" Fred chuckled sheepishly to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck before continuing to watch the footage.

The recorder orb continued to play back more and more of the event, the local band of heroes observing nervously as the nightmarish individual continued his interrogation, terrorising the hapless and helpless gang leader. The ruffian stammered and trembled as he continued to fearfully answer the questions poised for him by the hooded stranger, trapped in the unmoving vice of scythe handle and alleyway wall until the cloaked individual jerked the scythe out of the bricks. The weapon disappeared from sight of the recorder as the attacker moved it around to their back seemingly to hook it in place as the thug dropped from his temporary suspension, clutching and rubbing his neck as he was left gasping for air. The expressions of the six watching, save for Baymax, turned to a mix of concern, worry and fear as the gang leader was then wrenched up in the arms of the cloaked stranger, choking him out before hurling his limp body into the dented dumpster. Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Hiro all grimace and turn away as the thug's body slams into the disposal unit with a dull heavy thud, indenting the dumpster further before rolling unconsciously to the cold concrete ground.

"That's just cruel," Honey Lemon commented as the three turned their heads back to the recording as the hooded figure reached inside their worn cloak and pulled out the orb, their projected fingers gripping the space behind and beneath the group as they looked around the room with their RecoLenses.

As the projection closed in on the individuals covered face, the change in angle brought the mouth of the attacker into view but still couldn't render the remaining features of the face being cloaked in fabric and dark shadow. In a soft growl the stranger bared some of their teeth, a couple seemingly shaped like fangs of a beast.

"I know who you are; I know what you've done. And I'm sure you know of me," the stranger said in a low growl, their voice revealing them to indeed be male. "Now that I have your attention, know that I am coming for you and all who work with you. Cherish these last precious days of freedom, because when I find you I will drag you down and everything you own with you. And any who dare stand in my way will fall by your side. No longer will you terrorise this world. You will be brought to justice and I will make you pay for your crimes. And you will rest in peace nevermore."

With the slight movement of his thumb and a soft click, the recording comes to its end with the still projection on the grim ominous growl of the male attacker. After they all silently look at the image for a few seconds, one by one they remove their RecoLenses and rested them on the table, Hiro having to reach up and remove Baymax's helmet from its head before unplugging the cable connected to it.

"Looks like we have a bit of a situation then," Fred remarked thoughtfully as he leaned up against a workbench, breaking the tense silence between the group.

"A bit?! A bit of a situation?!" Wasabi repeated in a high pitched voice. "This is a huge situation! He said he wants to kill someone! And he's going to take out anyone who stands up to him!"

"So, pretty much your stereotypical mass murderer then?" GoGo questioned, glancing at the hysterical big man.

"More an assassin, or a bounty hunter," Fred suggested, walking over to his bag and rummaging inside. "Maybe one of my comics has something …"

"Comics? Why do I feel like I'm the only one taking this seriously?! Wasabi exclaimed, burying his head in his hands.

"We are taking this seriously, Wasabi," Honey Lemon pointed out, an unsettled expression etched into her face. "But panicking about it isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Yeah, woman up," GoGo said bluntly, walking over to Wasabi and hitting him firmly across his shoulder.

"What're you thinking, Hiro?" Honey Lemon questioned as she looked at the robotics prodigy currently sitting down in a chair with a brooding face on.

"Something just doesn't seem to add up to me," he explained, causing them all to look at him. "The reporter said that this man is considered to be a murderer, right? But here it seems like he's seeking to administer retribution on his target."

"Sometimes killers can have a sense of honour," Honey Lemon said, though seemingly unsure of herself.

"And just because someone is a vigilante doesn't mean that they won't kill someone if they think they deserve it," GoGo added, with Fred nodding in agreement. "We really don't have a lot to go on this time."

"You and Hiro both saw that attack, right?" Wasabi questioned GoGo.

"That's right."

"Well, how did you manage to get away from him? Did he just not see you?"

"Oh no, he saw us," Hiro answered. "He saw us just after he'd finished up with the recording."

"How did you escape him?" Fred questioned, looking anxious along with Honey and Wasabi.

"We might not have had the police not shown up," Hiro continued. "He fled when their cars showed up in one of the entrances for the alleyway, climbing up one of the buildings. We ended up running away as well, so that we weren't caught by them either."

"You guys are very lucky …" Wasabi sighed in relief, slumping down into another chair.

"So what should we do now?" Honey Lemon questioned, looking around at all of them.

"Probably best if we try and get as much information on this guy as we can," Hiro proposed, his gaze angled a little down at the floor. "The more we know about this person, the-"

Hiro stopped short as the doors to the lab clicked open, causing everyone to look round as the entranceway swung apart. Standing in the doorway was a man, they judged to be a little over six feet tall, wearing a pair of slightly baggy black sports pants with two white stripes going down the outside of each leg, an open tanned brown leather jacket covering a plain steel grey cloth shirt. Slung over one shoulder was a black, red, white and grey backpack, hanging just next to a long braid of brown hair, leading down from the head covered by a hickory brown Stetson. His white cross trainers left little noise on the floor as he moved slowly inside.

"Uh, g'day there," he greeted in an even voice, taking off his hat and revealing his weatherworn face, slightly covered with various scars and cuts – especially around his left eye – and grizzled brown sideburns leading down from his hair and along his jawline. Both GoGo and Hiro's eyes seem to light up a little in surprise at the sight of him, though it went unnoticed by the others.

"Um, hi there," Honey greeted back with a little wave. "Who are you?"

"The name's Jason. Jason Thompson."

AN: Aaaand another cliffhanger to leave on. Not so much a suspenseful cliffhanger, but a sign of things to come.

In terms of when the next chapter comes out, that will depend on how I prioritise my stories from here on out. Now that I've finished high school (I technically finished in October last year, that might tell you how much out of it I was), I have a lot more time to get back on with my stories. First thing I need to do is finish of my most popular story, which I haven't updated in over two years now. I really need to get on with it and finish it. When that's all done and dusted (only a couple of chapters left), I'll figure out which stories I'll focus more heavily on to get on with. Could be this, could be not. If this is one of the stories I prioritise, then uploads should come far more readily. If not, there should still be the occasional chapter here and there to keep things flowing.

Anyway, same as last time, fav/follow if you enjoy so you know when the updates come, by all means review or PM me your thoughts if you so desire. Constructive criticism is always welcome, along with any suggestions or questions you may have. If it's a question, I'll try to answer you as best I can without spoiling anything to come.

Until next time, adios.