Disclaimer: Big Hero 6 the Series is owned by Disney Animation. Aspen and her ilk are owned by Aspen MLT and Michael Turner.

Chapter 7 (Finale) – Clean Slate

One week later…

"If I never see this place ever again, it'll be too soon."

"...Don't you deliver mail down here, Go Go?"

"Quiet, you."

For the umpteenth time, the gang found themselves in a place they didn't want to be, but it wasn't just them this time; the group was joined by Granville, Karmi, and Aspen, the latter putting the finishing touches on the submarine.

Over the past few days, she had been staying with Wasabi at his apartment, which was a complete shock to the other members of the group when they found out one day at the Lucky Cat Cafe, and a perfect opportunity for Go Go to crash it under the guise of checking up on her.

Her real intention was dealphabetizing the stunning collection of DVDs Aspen told her about.

Imagine the stunned look on his face when Wasabi came back into the room to see the A's swapped with the B's.

The horror. The absolute horror.

After being separated by a giant water wall, Go Go had revealed the real real reason for visiting them: Granville had informed her that Captain Matthews had reached a plea deal with the court marshal. Instead of being in the max security prison, he would be relocated to a correctional facility in San Diego, where he would serve his jail sentence with other military inmates.

"But apparently the evidence he provided as part of his cooperation agreement wasn't good enough to lower the time of his sentence," Go Go added as she sat next to them on the couch. "Aspen, he's not getting out. He'll be there for the rest of his life. He can't hurt you anymore."

After she left, Aspen had stayed on the couch with a thoughtful look on her face. Wasabi shut the door behind his friend and noticed as soon as he turned around. "What's up?"

"Can you take me to SFIT tomorrow? I need to talk to Professor Granville about something."

He wasn't sure what the conversation was going to be about, but she spent the majority of that next day in her office. Just like when she went missing, Wasabi couldn't concentrate on his work. And judging by the lack of bunson burner flames, wrench turning, and wisecracks, he wasn't the only one.

And then the gang of seven was summoned to the dean's office, where Aspen and Granville made available her plans for the next day.

And that's where we're at now.

...Er, we're at the docks now. If that wasn't painfully clear.

"Everything looks good." Aspen turned the last screw on the panel to fasten it into place. "This baby should be able to run for quite a long time. I completely forgot that you even had this, Fred."

"Well, you know..." Fred cracked his fingers. "I have to learn how to pilot a submarine somehow."

"I thought you said you knew how to when we met for the first time."

He shrugged. "I did. But don't worry, I know how to pilot one now."

Unfortunately, his admission had been within earshot of the group, and one Korean in particular. In one fell swoop, she grabbed his ear and dragged him down the dock. "You and I are going to have a long talk, Knucklehead."

Granville sidestepped the two as she approached the marine biologist. "Aspen, are you certain that you wish to do this? We would not mind at all if you wanted to stay for a while longer."

"I appreciate the offer, Professor, but I have to do this." Aspen peered around her shoulder to see a certain someone try to separate Go Go from Fred's ear. "I know it's hard to explain, but I need to find out who I am, both literally and metaphorically. As much as I've loved being here...I have to figure things out."

"You do not need to explain anything to me," Granville replied. "Although allow me to assist with your journey, if only a little."

"You don't have to do that," Aspen said, looking out into the ocean.

"Oh, but I insist."

Aspen glanced back to see Granville handing her a manila folder. "What's this?"

"Everything that the captain had pertaining to you."

She opened it up taking note of the photos and documents inside. She studied them over as the rest of the group (including a red-eared Fred) came back over.

"Captain Matthews was part of a naval rescue operation in the Pacific Ocean approximately twelve years ago," Granville explained. "A distress beacon had been activated by a family on a capsizing vessel, and his personal craft, the U.S.S. Paradise, was the closest to the last known ping of the signal. They arrived about twenty minutes after the call and had found you hanging on to some floating debris. There...were no other survivors."

Aspen stared at the inventory logs as the dean continued. "Standard procedure called for either notifying the next of kin or placing you into a foster home. The captain, however, was able to falsify documentation to adopt you into his care. And then a few days later, there was an incident involving you and a certain Applied Physics major at the pool on the naval base he was working at."

"Wait!" Fred pointed to Wasabi. "You're one of those!"

Go Go slapped him in the shoulder. "She's literally talking about him, Fred."

"The next day," Granville said, smiling at Wasabi, "Captain Matthews requested a transfer to the naval base in San Diego, which was granted. The intention, I'm guessing, was to keep you out of the public eye. This was also the first documented contact he had with Dr. Killian, and I would presume that's when they started their...experimentation."

Aspen had finished her read-through of the papers and closed the folder. "Professor, I didn't see anything else in here about the accident. What do you mean by 'other survivors'?"

She took a deep breath. "I can only guess, because the captain was able to wipe the majority of the incident details from the logs. The only thing that remained was the death count. It's documented as 'one male adult, one female adult, and one female child'."

"Wait," Hiro interrupted. "That's three people, including her. It sounds like the captain listed her as deceased after the fact to get her in his possession."

"That is a good theory, Mr. Hamada, and one that I agree with. Unfortunately, we may never know."

"So he knew about me and was lying since the beginning."

The two looked at Aspen, who was staring down at the wood beams of the dock. "For the whole freaking time."

Granville put a hand on her shoulder. "Aspen, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am for what has happened to you. You are an extraordinarily talented person, and any company would be happy to hire you on the spot based off your experience. I could put in a good word, if you wish."

"I appreciate that, Professor, but I'm not really in the mood to work for anyone right now."

"And that is understandable." She patted said shoulder gently. "I know that you want to take this journey, but know that you will always have a home here if you need it. And if you ever should require the use of SFIT's facilities, just say the word and they are yours."

Aspen smiled up at her. "Thank you, Professor."

She simply nodded, gesturing over at her bio-tech student. "Karmi?"

Karmi stepped forward, a small thumb drive in her hands. "I took a deeper dive into an analysis of your DNA. I ran both your human and foreign strands through every single public database I could think of. Hiro also suggested some...non-public databases."

Under Granville's stare, Hiro merely shrugged. "Hey, it was for a good cause."

"In any case, Hiro set up an algorithm to search through them faster. It ran for almost the entire day straight."

"And?"

Karmi shook her head sadly. "No match. To either one. I was able to document a strong expression of IGF proteins, so based off of that, I would presume that your human side is from your father. Your...actual father." She held up her phone to show her the two separate strands. "But their DNA isn't in any forensic, medical, genealogical, or national database that we ran it through. And your foreign DNA doesn't match any documented creature on Earth."

Aspen tilted her head.

"You're literally one of a kind, Aspen. I know that doesn't mean anything, but I'm giving you all of the tests we did." She set the drive into her hand. "Maybe you'll find something we didn't."

"Thank you, Karmi. I appreciate it." Aspen nervously shuffled her feet. "And I'm really sorry for yelling at you that night. You were just trying to help. And I was not in a right state of mind."

"It's OK," the bio-tech major replied. "I know you didn't mean it."

"I'll tell you one thing, though. I still can't believe that you don't know."

"Know what?"

She gestured to the rest of the group, increasingly alarmed faces staring back at her. "About these guys. About how they're Big-"

"On justice!" Hiro interrupted. "Yup! Big on justice and truth and all of that good stuff!" He ran behind Karmi and pushed her in her back, back toward the cars. "So much so that we're going to go over here to get out of the way of all of that justice!"

Ignoring Karmi's "Hey!", Granville nodded to her. "Best of luck to you, Aspen."

Wasabi was the last one in line as the entire group exchanged pleasantries and hugs. His was a little longer than everyone else's for obvious reasons. Done with the queue, the rest of the gang were off to head back into the city...

"Wasabi."

She had grabbed his arm, stalling his exit. He waved off the rest of the group, who had seen him stop mid-stride.

"Can I...talk to you for a second?"

He turned back toward her, the sun setting perfectly behind her head. If this was a movie, he would be laughing at the sure absurdity of it all.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No." He was confused. "Why would I be mad at you?"

She chuckled as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Last night, when we got back to your place and went to bed, I snuck into your room to try to talk to you, and you didn't answer."

"I was asleep. I don't know if you know this, but you're a little exhausting sometimes."

"Yeah, that's fair," Aspen said. "I wanted to make sure you were OK, and I haven't learned the ability to talk through a closed door from a couch yet."

"So I wasn't going crazy. You did...stay."

She stared at him with those clear blue eyes. "What can I say? You're like a giant fluffy teddy bear. But that's not what I wanted to tell you."

Wasabi waited as she stared off to the side, now a little unsure. The best thing to do, he thought, was to let her get enough nerve to talk. He knew that once she started, it would all come rolling out.

"I wish...I wish that I could blame my da-Captain Matthews for everything that has happened to me. But I can't. I...I deserve part of the blame."

"Aspen, you-"

"Wasabi," she cut him off. "I need to get this out, OK? I'm going to go crazy if I don't."

He nodded, falling silent as she spoke up again. "I've spent a lot of time underwater. Besides college and the occasional trip up here, I've lived down there (she nodded out to the water) almost the entirety of my life. I was told that I would make a difference in the world...and I believed that. I didn't second guess the things that were being said to me. I believed it so much so that I started to dread coming up to the surface. Between what was happening in my head and the constant travel, I just wanted to keep to myself. Because I knew that if I met someone or did something great...more than likely I would forget it the next day."

Aspen sniffled quietly. "It got to the point where I forgot how to live a normal life. I forgot how to be a human being. I forgot how to feel, how to think, how to...breathe."

Her eyes blazed blue as she looked up at him. "And then I ran into you."

Wasabi didn't know what to say, so he let her continue on. "I kept thinking to myself when we were at your work that it was just a phase. That it was just another normal thing that I was going to move on from. So I did what I always do: try to push those people away with my over-the-top personality. But the longer we talked, and the harder I tried...the more that I realized it wasn't working."

Aspen's lip started to quiver. "I got back down to the base after that night, and for the next two weeks, all I could think about was you. You were kind, you were comforting. You were someone that I really wanted to get to know. But I eventually just convinced myself that I would never see you again. But then..."

She threw her arms out wide, almost angry now. "You just...show up. You freaking show up with Professor Granville and all of those thoughts just came back to my head. It took everything I had to keep myself calm. And then we went to the pool and then we got kidnapped and you got hurt and we...kissed each other..."

Wasabi stepped closer as she started to ramble, her voice breaking. "And I know that didn't happen in that order but I'm still sort of new to this whole 'actually remembering things' but I really really want it to last and I don't want to-"

He put his arms around her, and whatever remaining calm she had was lost. Aspen's hands grabbed his sweater, her face now buried in it, her tears freely flowing down her cheeks.

It was a long moment before either one of them regained their composure. Wasabi felt his own cheeks getting wet, but didn't really care that much. Aspen lifted her head slightly and spoke up.

"Wasabi...all of those thoughts and feelings that I have? I still have them. And I still want them. Which is why I want to ask you something."

She looked up at him, the tears still falling. "Come with me."

"I...what?"

"Come with me," she repeated. "We can find out who I am together. We can travel up and down the coast. We can get to know each other even more. We wouldn't have to be apart."

The words were almost out of his mouth before she stopped talking. "Aspen...I can't do that. You know I can't. I have to stay here. I'm part of a team. I have a life. I can't just leave all of that, even if it is you. I'm sorry."

She smiled sadly. "Yeah, I kinda knew you were going to say that. But that makes this even more difficult."

"Why?"

"Because." Aspen pulled up close to him, her cheek on his chest. "I've lost so much. My job. My family. Not to mention all of the memories that have been taken away from me over the years. Almost everything. The only thing I have left...is you." She let out a shaky sigh. "And part of me is afraid that if I go back down there alone...I'm going to lose you too."

"You won't."

The two turned to see a surprising sight: the other four in the group, Hiro and Go Go leaning against the dock posts, Fred with his arms crossed, and Honey Lemon's eyes glistening from her own emotions.

"You won't have to, Aspen," Hiro said.

"Yeah." Go Go popped a bubble. "For two reasons. First of all, you can't get rid of us that easily. I mean, you can try, but it won't work."

"Yeah, we're like poison ivy. The more you scratch us, the more it's just going to spread around your entire body!"

"...Freddie, I don't think you're using the correct analogy here."

"What the knucklehead is trying to say is that we're your friends. Yeah, you don't have experience in that department. So what? Who cares? There's no better time than the present."

"And the second?" Aspen said.

"Well," Honey Lemon replied. "Professor Granville and Karmi left, but Wasabi...kind of didn't unlock the car before we walked away. So we literally can't leave even if we wanted to."

Through the laughter that erupted from them, Hiro held up his phone. "It's probably a good thing we didn't leave anyway, because I almost forgot to give you our parting gift."

Aspen watched as his Skymax came from over the warehouse roof, landing right next to the teen genius. "I don't understand."

"It's funny, in a weird way." Hiro said, his smile growing as he opened the front hatch. "I think we spent so much time trying to think of a project to help out Fathom that we didn't see who we should really be helping."

He turned his body to her, and Wasabi saw for the first time the canvas bag that was in his hand.

"You."

Aspen took the tote bag from him, her hand shaking. "I'm still not understanding."

"Open it up," Honey Lemon insisted.

The marine biologist stuck a hand in the bag and pulled out the item on top. She unfolded it and held it out in front of her to inspect it. It was a long-sleeved hooded jacket, light blue in color with a few ribbons of white on the pockets and trim. It felt very light, almost airy. She slowly put it on and zipped it up, marveling at the fit. She wiped her tears off of her face…

And noticed them just roll off the sleeve, not even staining the clothing.

"Wait."

Aspen conjured a tendril of water from below her, curling it over the sleeves and back.

"Aerogel particles." She stared at the group, Hiro nodding in affirmation. "You made them hydrophobic and put them on the jacket. Helps repels the water instead of absorbing it."

"Yup," Go Go said. "Also insulated with a little silica aerographene. You can thank your boy for that." Ignoring Wasabi's blush, she pointed to the shoulder. "Best low-density solid you can find. Keep you cool in the heat and warm in the cold water. You won't even feel it touching you when you do your butt-kicking thing."

Aspen picked up the next item; it was a long white scarf, so thin on the ends she could almost feel her fingers between the material. It was thicker near the center as she put it around her neck.

"Karmi remembered that aerogel is also very biocompatable, so the scarf can be used as a delivery system for those medications Wasabi said you were taking to help with your memory," Honey Lemon explained. "The liquids can be absorbed down the body of the scarf and into your neck. No having to swallow anything."

"All proper placebos have been tested and approved by Karmi and Hiro," a cased-up Baymax said from Hiro's back. "Allow a trial period for up to two weeks before contacting us about your results."

"Yeah, let us know how it works. Karmi and I...sort of have a project in progress, and we had to forgo a clinical trial. So...I guess you're our trial person."

Aspen looked over at him. "How am I suppose to contact you? I don't have a-"

Her hand clenched around the next object, which immediately shut her up. She pulled it out and ran a finger around the edge of the case.

"Well, you do now. Preloaded with all of our numbers." Go Go smirked. "Should have good reception even in the sub. And a secure line if you need to contact us when we're not being civilians. Plus, Fred got his thing on the back of the case."

"I had to get her something, Go Go! You guys did all of the cool science stuff."

Aspen held the credit card up for everyone to see. "Fred...how much is on this?"

"Don't worry about that," he waved her off. "Professor G said that your accounts had been frozen as part of the investigation. She thinks you'll get them back at some point, but until then...go crazy. But we're forgetting one thing! The pièce de résistance!"

She didn't see anything else in the bag. "Where is it? I don't-"

Four fingers pointed to behind her, and Aspen turned to see Wasabi holding something: it was circular and white, almost clear. It looked suspiciously like the bracelets that had been made for her by Fathom. But it was larger, with a medallion hanging in front of it.

It was a necklace. And it was beautiful.

She tilted her hair to the side to let him clasp it around her neck. Feeling it click, she looked down and touched the medallion. A curved line went through the middle, an orb each on the peak and trough.

"I would love to tell you that this does something super complicated and whatever, but it doesn't. It's also 100% free of electrical suppressors."

The tears started to come again as Aspen looked around at everyone. "You guys..."

All of a sudden, she leapt forward and grasped Go Go around the neck, pulling her into the tightest hug she could.

"I don't understand," the Korean said, wildly gesturing to her friends. "Why does everyone go for me first?"

"Because you're small and adorable, Go Go."

"Didn't actually want an answer, Fred."

The rest of the group piled on with the hugs, letting the atmosphere hang for a moment longer.

"I am unable to offer a hug, but I am hugging you in spirit."

Aspen broke it off, Wasabi's hand on her back. "Guys, I can't even begin to thank you for everything that you've done for me. I didn't even know all of you two weeks ago, and you've been so kind to me. I...I don't deserve you. I really don't. And you!"

She wheeled around to face Wasabi, his sweater clenched in her grasp. Surprised, he couldn't react in time as she bent him down to her level.

"C'mere, you."

Her lips landed onto his, pulling him deeply into a kiss. Wasabi immediately reciprocated, not noticing the youngest one in the group was busy having his eyes blocked by Go Go.

"Hey, what are you doing? I can't see what's happening!"

"Trust us, little guy," Fred teased. "You don't wanna see this. Grown-up stuff is happening right now."

After a few more seconds, the two separated. Wasabi stared at her longingly, but Aspen cut him off with a whisper. "You take care of yourself, OK?"

She glanced back at the others. "You make sure he takes care of himself, OK? Don't make me come back and set him straight."

Go Go laughed. "Now that I know where he lives, you can bet I'll be there more often."

"...Oh, I don't like the sound of that at all."

A minute later, Aspen's sub was completely underwater, the gang waving her goodbye. Once the water had settled back down, they started to make their way back to Wasabi's car. Said owner of car stopped right between the warehouses, staring back out into the horizon.

"Are you OK?"

Wasabi didn't even look at her. "No. No, I'm not."

"Yeah. Uncomfortable knowing that I know where you live now?"

"No, not that." He paused as he grabbed the keys in his pocket. "Do you think she's OK?"

Aspen set the sub onto autopilot and leaned back, her cheeks finally dry. She pulled the phone out of her bag again and turned it on. She started to flip through the contacts.

"She will be. You know how I know?"

"How?"

Go Go looked up at her friend and patted his arm.

Aspen stared at the screen, running her finger over Wasabi's profile picture.

"...Because she's got you."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:...Hang on one second, I need to finish this e-mail.

I understand your hesitation into this venture, especially with everything that has happened over the past week. However, I believe that the company can be salvaged. I can see that you have unloaded the vast majority of your stock, which is standard protocol given the market collapse. But take a look over my proposal when you have an opportunity in the morning.

I know that you are nine hours ahead, so you will not see the message immediately. When you have a chance, e-mail me back with your response.

Sincerely,

A knock was heard from the other side of Granville's office door. Strange. She wasn't expecting anyone at this point in the night.

"Come in."

The door opened, and the person on the other side came through. They closed the door rather roughly and strolled to the head of the desk.

"May I help you, Mr. Hamada? I must tell you that I am about to leave for the evening, so I hope that you can-"

"You lied to us."

Granville recoiled a little, surprised by her student's abrasiveness. "That is a serious accusation that you've levied against me. Do you have any documentation to prove this theory of yours?"

Hiro silently pulled something out of his pocket and held it up. Seeing the black drive in his hands made her pause.

"...I see that you've taken a leaf out of Baymax's book when it comes to backing things up."

"Yeah." He set the drive down on her desk. "The best thing about these drives is that when they get put back into my gloves, it automatically makes a backup in the second one. And that's what I used to take a look at the data on the Fathom servers. You know what else Captain Matthews put on the servers? Personal e-mails."

Granville stared straight at him, saying nothing.

"When we were working on the project, Karmi brought up a very good point about the interactions between you and the captain, so when I saw the correspondence between you and him, my curiosity got the better of me."

He returned her glare as he pushed the drive to her. "The first e-mail you sent to him was on the day before you asked us to go to the docks. I went back as far as I could in his inbox to see there was anything that I had missed. There wasn't. You said you had been in correspondence with him for a while. That's just not true. And between what happened after Aspen pulled us out of the water and all of this...you can probably understand why I'm a little frustrated."

Granville straightened up in her chair. "Mr. Hamada, you have to understand something. I did not lie to you. I simply did not tell you the entirety of the truth."

"That's literally the same thing!"

"Listen to me-"

"No, I'm done listening to you!" Hiro pounded the table in anger. "I want the truth from you! I think we deserve that much!"

The dean stood up so fast that he almost fell backwards onto the ground. Yup, he had definitely gone too far this time.

"Mr. Hamada..."

He shielded his eyes from the inevitable tirade.

"Have a seat."

Hiro peeked over his arm to see Professor Granville standing behind her white chair, gesturing toward it.

"Are...are you serious?"

She raised her eyebrow at him.

"OK, you are serious."

Hiro strode around the desk to stand in front of the chair. He slowly sat himself down and looked around the office. He was normally used to seeing things from the opposite direction, but this was…

He took a deep breath in and let it out, a rush of emotions coming over him.

"How interesting." Granville went to the front and sat down on top of the desk. "That was my exact same reaction when I sat there for the first time. You can feel it, can you not? The pressure. The responsibility. All compacted into a nice little office. It's quite the accomplishment, really."

She turned to her student in the chair. "I wear many hats, Mr. Hamada. Dean, professor, friend, colleague. Some of those things conflict with each other from time to time. I have to deal with a lot of things that come my way, and not all of them are going to be in the interest of public consumption. It is a regretable circumstance, but one that is unavoidable when it rears its ugly head.

"Mr. Hamada, I am not going to apologize for any of my actions. I will, however, apologize for not keeping you informed of my actions. I forget sometimes that our continued cooperation is a two-way street, and that things may be better when our heads come together. So, I am sorry for that."

"Professor, did you know about what the captain was doing with his company?"

"I had...suspicions. I did work for him, after all. He was quite the meticulous person; even with Dr. Killian and his close friends, he always wanted to take care of everything himself. A good trait for the head of a company, but when things go wrong, it doesn't take much to figure out where the blame should go. I thought it was quite strange as well for an aquatics company to be spending an exorbitant amount of money on satellite equipment. You can say all you want about ocean mapping and the like, but those resources would be better off spent somewhere else."

"What about Aspen?"

Granville didn't answer immediately, and Hiro started to get mad again. "Professor, did you know what he was doing to Aspen?"

"Hiro." Her stare bored into his eyes. "I swear to you on the life of your brother that I did not know anything about what was happening with her. If I had found out or even had an inkling of a suspicion, I would've pulled all of you out immediately and had gone to the authorities. There would have been no need for you to rescue Aspen from the base...or for you to mislead your classmate, even though that was not your intention."

"Yeah, I'm still icing my shoulder after we got to school the next day."

"Yes, Karmi is rather direct when it comes to her criticism. Also her left hook."

Hiro had enough of the chair; he got up and returned to his prior position, absentmindedly rubbing his still sore arm.

"Speaking of your classmate, when are you going to inform her of your after-school activities?"

"I'm not." Hiro looked away from his teacher, trying to take in anything else in the room. "I...don't want to get her involved."

"I don't know if you have noticed, Mr. Hamada, but it is far too late for that. Especially if you take everything that's occurred into account. The past few days, what happened on Akuma Island..."

"Wait," Hiro interrupted. "How do you know about that?"

Granville opened her laptop, typed in a few commands, and waited. Hiro rocked back and forth on his feet, not sure what was going to happen. After a few moments, she turned her screen to face him, and his eyes filled up with the vision of a rather familiar website.

"Every great piece of fiction, Mr. Hamada, contains some kernels of truth. It also helps that Karmi is a fantastic writer and paints her...Captain Cutie...in such a grandiose light."

Hiro looked up, his cheeks blazing. "I still can't do it, Professor. She's..."

"Important to you?"

He said nothing, the heat almost unbearable.

"Hiro."

The teen genius stared at her, still not used to her using his actual name.

"When I brought you and Karmi together, I knew that there would be difficulties. After all, the two of you are very different. Lifestyles, social circles, upbringings. I had hoped that the two youngest students to attend this institute would be able to look past those differences and be able to see the good in each other. To my pleasant surprise, I was not expecting...this."

Hiro had no response to her. If he opened his mouth, he wasn't going to be able to stop talking. Granville, seeing his dilemma, continued on.

"I understand if you wish to wait until the time is right. However, a situation may come where you may not have a choice in the matter. In a case like that, I would like to think that she would want to hear it from you and not from outside sources.

"Mr. Hamada, I am not going to tell you what to do. You are a college student, and someone who is capable of making your own decisions...but if she is as important to you as you wish me to believe, you should tell her before it's too late."

"Professor." Hiro's mind had wandered back to his interactions with Karmi, and the question came out before he could stop himself. "Do you know what happened to Karmi? Something happened to her in her past, and...she hasn't opened up about it. I can tell it's really bothering her."

"...You are aware of the irony of her keeping something secret from you when you are doing the exact same thing to her?"

"I am now."

"Hm." Granville pushed her laptop to the side, amused. She pulled out a pen from her drawer and started twirling it in her fingers. It seemed like an odd way to start a new conversation.

"Mr. Hamada, students come into this space expecting a certain amount of anonymity. You can understand why people would not want their personal conversations to become public knowledge, including yourself. I would like to think that you do not want people knowing about your heroics, at least not yet. But to somewhat dance around your question..."

Granville stared at him again, going full professor mode. "Karmi has spoken to me about a number of topics, all of which you have no business knowing about. You've probably seen this for yourself (her ironic tone was obvious), but she is a very private person. I am quite happy that she has even opened up with you on the level you have mentioned."

"It was bad, wasn't it?"

She must've seen the sadness in his eyes, because she let out a heavy breath. "Suffice to say, Mr. Hamada, it was not good." The pen was now on the table in front of her. "And that is all I will say on the matter. I implore you to not pressure her about it. When she is ready to tell you, she will tell you. And when she does, I hope you will sit and listen, because she will need someone to be there with her."

The silence permeated through the office for a bit before Granville spoke up again. "Well, now that we've probably broken every single teacher-student confidentiality rule in the book...is there anything else you wish to talk to me about?"

"No." Hiro set his hands in his pockets. "No, I don't-"

His fingers grazed the object in his pocket, and he pulled back his statement. "Actually, there is something."

"Oh?"

Hiro put it down on the table right next to the drive. "A few weeks ago, before the semester started, I was alone on patrol. Everything was going fine, and then...I got jumped."

"Jumped, you say?"

"Ambushed, surprised, whatever you want to call it. The woman who attacked me said something about testing me. Getting me ready for something. She gave me this."

Granville peered down at the silver card, her eyes widening slightly.

"She said that she was an ally, and that she would be there if we needed her. I ran the initials that are on this card, but the only thing that came back was some private security company in-"

"Symkaria."

Hiro was surprised at the intrusion. "Yeah. How do you know that?"

Granville was back on her computer, typing away. "How well versed are you with the country?"

"Not at all. I didn't even know it existed."

"You are not the only one." She pushed her laptop screen down, the map projecting between the two of them. "They only recently gained their independence within the past couple of years. I'm sure it would not have been covered in any of your high school classes...if you were paying attention, of course."

"I wasn't."

"Geography is not the most exciting of subjects, to be fair. In any case..." Granville zoomed in onto the region. "I do not know a lot about the country myself, or even the company you speak of besides where it's located. If you wish, I can reach out to some people to get more information for you."

She looked down at Hiro, who simply nodded. "Very well. Give me a few days and I will reconvene with you when I am finished."

"Professor." Again with the questions without thinking. "What did you do between the time you left here and when you came back?"

He only got an amused smile in response as she dismissed the display. "Mr. Hamada, the list of things I have done in my life are quite numerous. You would probably find a lot of them boring."

"I don't think working with people in fancy suits and taking authorization over police 'boring'."

Granville nodded her head. "Philip and I were colleagues a long time ago. He owed me a favor; I simply asked that he fulfill it."

Hiro was silent as he walked to the exit. This had been such a weird conversation, yet an enlightening one. He was going to eat so many gummy bears when he got home.

"Mr. Hamada, do you trust me?"

He turned back to see Granville peering over the laptop at him. He wished he could say the question had been entirely out of the blue, but given what had been said between them, it was only a matter of time before it came up. He had to take a second to think about it.

"...I wouldn't have given that to you if I didn't."

She smiled at him. "Thank you for your honesty. Have a good night, Mr. Hamada."

"You too."

As he left, Granville rubbed her eyes. She sure was going to enjoy this weekend, but not before she finished this e-mail first.

Sincerely,

Grace Granville

P.S. - All of my students, up to and including Hiro Hamada and his friends, are considered off-limits. Surely you understand that getting them involved in your affairs will end badly for one person only, and that will be you. Have I made myself clear?

She sent the e-mail off and got up from her chair to grab her coat from the closet. The time difference meant that she probably wouldn't get a response until the morning.

But to her surprise, as she bent down to close her computer, there was one already waiting for her. She narrowed her eyes as she read it:

Dear Grace,

Your opposition has been noted.

Sincerely,

Silver Sablinova

AUTHOR'S NOTE (FOR REALS THIS TIME): (I told you she'd be back. I never said for how long, though.)

This story was a risk. I've mentioned that before, but it's a point I want to reiterate. Not a lot of people even know about Aspen and her comic series' existence, and putting her into an established verse like Big Hero 6 was me taking a chance in the creative department.

And I wasn't kidding myself; I knew that the views were probably not going to be as much as they were for my other romance stuff. And they weren't. The total views by the end will probably be half of what they are for my other stuff.

But what I didn't get in views...has been made up for in sheer passion from you guys.

Based off of trends, this story will have more reviews for it than both Foundation and Continuity, which is insane. I never expected to have people come out and say how glad they are to have fanfiction made with Aspen Matthews in it. I don't know if you've noticed, but there is pretty much no fanfiction out there in terms of Fathom, or even just with Aspen.

And that's almost criminal. If you get past the scantily drawn artwork and the swimsuits and all that, you see a character in Aspen that has a ton of potential. I can only hope that I fulfilled some of that potential with this story.

Thank you to everyone who read this fic, and who was kind enough to leave a review. You guys, as always, are the reason why I do this. Your support, even for a story out of the norm like this one, has been great to see. I may have deviated from the source material a little bit (as one reviewer has already noted), but I wouldn't change anything.

...Except maybe throw more Avatar jokes in. Who knows? Maybe later.

Speaking of later, you guys are probably wondering what's going to be coming next. Well, for the first time, I will be making a companion piece to this story, which is currently untitled. It will take place immediately after the ending of Fathom and may or may not have a certain motorcycle driving, cabbage cart burning Latino in it.

And then we're going to go back to what we all (including myself) have been waiting for: a story filled to the brim with Hiro/Karmi. This is a story that has been in production since I've started writing BH6 fanfiction, and I am dying to share it with you guys.

It'll have a little bit of everything. Volatile arguments. Hurt feelings. Karmi's fanfiction. Awkward conversations. Butter chicken. Friend excursions. Squirrels. The sharing of sleep spaces. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is only the tip of the iceberg.

The prologue of Overnight will hopefully be going up next week. The companion piece may go up earlier in the week to not interfere with this, but we'll see what happens.

As always, read and leave a review, if you like. Until next time, everyone.