Chapter 8: Side Quests
"Hey bro, what's up? I didn't hear you come in," Hiro greeted Tadashi a bit nervously. Tadashi looked up from petting Bolt and smiled.
"I wanted to talk to you about something," he replied and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh, you must want to be alone then," Penny told them and turned around to leave.
"It's alright. You might actually be able to help," Tadashi admitted. "Wait, where are your other two friends? Is it just you two here?"
"No-I mean yes! Well, they were here but they went to buy some snacks. They'll be back in a few minutes," Hiro explained.
"Yeah, so what happened?" Penny asked. They all sat down in the chairs in the lab's sitting room.
"Nothing, which is exactly the problem. It has to do with Honey Lemon," Tadashi replied sheepishly.
"So you do like her!" Penny exclaimed happily. Tadashi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck before nodding sheepishly.
"I knew it!" Hiro exclaimed and high-fived Penny.
"You came to the right people. Now, what would you like to ask?" Penny asked and laced her fingers together.
"Well, I don't know. I just- I don't know how to admit my feelings to her. She's heard how you guys have teased me but that's not the same," Tadashi told them a bit frustrated.
"You don't have to just say it. You could show her," Penny suggested. "Sometimes actions are far more romantic than words."
"Penny's right! You could create something maybe even a small robot with a recording of you telling her how you feel," Hiro agreed and added.
"You're right... You're right! That's a great idea! Thank you so much!" Tadashi exclaimed and gave them both a bone-crushing hug.
"I'll see you at home!" he exclaimed as he tried to run out of the lab. He accidentally tripped over a trash can but managed not fall.
"Heh, sorry," he apologized and picked it up before quickly leaving.
"How are you such a love expert?" Penny teasingly asked as they ran to the hidden elevator. Bolt jumped in right as the doors closed.
"I am just full of surprises," Hiro stated confidently.
"I'd like to see your love advice put to the test," Penny challenged him.
"Oh, well I could- wait, what do you mean-?" Hiro asked as the elevator doors opened but Penny ran out with Bolt close behind.
"Unbelievable," Hiro sighed before following her.
"How is Violet?" Penny asked as she ran inside of the training area.
"I'm fine," Violet replied from the couch.
"Are you sure? It must have taken a lot of energy," Penny asked with concern.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. Heroes can do this sort of stuff for long periods of time," Violet assured her.
"Wilbur, what are you doing?" Hiro asked as he saw Wilbur typing away on his computer.
"Hiro! Come here I need you to see this," Wilbur called him. Hiro walked over to see what happened. Violet got up but swung slightly so Penny helped her walk over to the computer.
"I had Baymax scan Violet and me to see if maybe he could see what happened that teleported us from the simulation room to here," Wilbur explained and scrolled through Baymax's results. " I compared the results of the current scan to the first scan Baymax made back in your room and found that I have a gene that was inactive until now."
"There have been cases where genes will become active out of nowhere, you could have had blonde hair your whole life and then all of a sudden it becomes brown," Hiro told them.
"But what does that mean?" Penny asked.
"I think that it's a gene that only people with superpowers have. The comic books were right I do have powers, teleportation, or at least I think it was me. As for fulgurkinesis I still don't know, I haven't tried," Wilbur concluded. "But that's just a theory, we need to have more people scanned."
"Alright, scan away," Penny agreed.
Hiro and Penny were scanned and the results were in. Hiro took over at the computer and started typing, looking for the results. He found it in a matter of seconds and set them all side by side to compare. He even found the first scan Baymax did of him.
"How can this be?" Hiro asked. The results were the same. They all had the same gene.
"Look, Wilbur and Violet have the gene as active while Penny and I have it as inactive. Mine is inactive in both scans while Wilbur's went from inactive to active," Hiro showed them.
"So does everyone have that gene?" Penny asked.
"I tried looking up that specific gene but there is no information on it and when I find a website that seems to have information on it there's a firewall protecting it. I manage to get around it but a few seconds later a new one pops up and it gets progressively harder," Hiro told them and rubbed his eyes.
"Okay, well it's only 4:12 p.m, so how about you and Penny take Baymax and discreetly scan people while Violet and I stay here so she can help me with my new found powers?" Wilbur suggested.
"Sure thing captain," Violet agreed and saluted him.
"Alright, I think we can do that. Would you like to Hiro?" Penny agreed but then quickly asked Hiro to make sure it was okay.
"Oh, uh, yeah," Hiro agreed.
"Alright Team Beta will go while Team Alpha stays here," Wilbur said.
"Why are we team Beta?" Hiro asked.
"Just because, it's to make it easier. Team Charlie will be Penny and Violet and Team Delta will be Hiro and me," Wilbur stated.
"Why can't we be Team Alpha?" Penny asked.
"It doesn't matter who's who, but Violet and I are still Team Alpha. Good luck!" Wilbur smiled and waved goodbye.
"Unbelievable, anyways I'll lock the doors, you know what the password is," Hiro told them as he, Penny, and Bolt walked out with Baymax in his case.
"Alright, let's start with the super lessons," Wilbur said while doing a heroic pose.
"Let's go to the open room since the Simulation room is still, umm, occupied," Violet told him and led the way.
"You're the boss," Wilbur agreed and followed her.
~With Team Beta~
"Why don't we start with your brother's friends?" Penny suggested. They were walking down the street with Baymax and Bolt on a wagon.
"Great idea, they usually go to the Lucky Cat Cafe right about now," Hiro told her. Once they made it to the Lucky Cat Cafe the smell of bread filled their senses. Hiro was used to it but Penny was blissfully overwhelmed.
"They're not here yet, so I guess we can just wait for them. Do you want anything?" Hiro asked her.
"It all smells great," Penny whispered happily.
"You sound like you've never eaten sweets before," Hiro told her.
"Not usually, no. The producer wouldn't let me eat anything "unhealthy" because he was afraid I'd "gain weight and be unable to perform"," Penny told him and mimicked her producer's voice," I guess I'm stuck in that mindset since I haven't been able to bring myself to eat many sweets."
"Oh, wow. Now I have to buy you something, wait right here," Hiro told her before going over to the counter.
"Hey, Aunt Cass, could I please have a strawberry cheesecake slice?" Hiro asked.
"Hello, Hiro! Of course, and who's that girl with you?" Aunt Cass asked him not even trying to hide her excitement.
"She's a friend, her name is Penny," Hiro replied making sure to emphasize the 'friend.'
"That's Penny! I've heard so much about her. She must be really close to you if you decided not to register to SFIT for the past 2 weeks to hang out with her," Aunt Cass commented.
"Yes, that's Penny. And I have told you about my other friends too," Hiro replied.
"Well, aren't you going to introduce her to me?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure. It's not like anything can go wrong," he agreed and whispered the last part.
Aunt Cass squealed happily and took off her apron before fixing her hair. She grabbed a piece of cheesecake and walked with Hiro towards where Penny and Bolt were sitting.
"Penny, this is my aunt Cass, Aunt Cass this is my friend Penny and her pet dog Bolt," Hiro introduced them.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you," Penny greeted her with a smile.
"It's great to meet you too. I have heard so much about you," Aunt Cass gushed.
"Really? All good things I hope," Penny giggled.
"Of course! That you're so kind and pretty," Aunt Cass started effectively making Penny blush," Actually, you look a lot like this child actress, funny, her name was also Penny and she had a dog named Bolt. Were your parents fans?"
"Huge fans, I'm actually named after her," Penny quickly agreed.
"No wonder, I remember the first time I showed the show to Hiro and Tadashi. Hiro watched the entire first season at least three times. I'm pretty sure he had a cru-" Aunt Cass started to whisper to Penny before being interrupted by Hiro's loud greeting.
"Hey, guys! We were wondering if you could let us scan you with Baymax!" Hiro talked loudly.
"Hi, what would you guys like?" Aunt Cass asked and walked back to the counter.
The gang seemed overwhelmed but managed to nod at Hiro and give Aunt Cass their orders.
"So why did you want to scan us?" Honey Lemon asked Hiro and Penny after they were done.
"We wanted to see how far Baymax's abilities went," Hiro told her. "Actually, do you know anything about genetic mutations or inactive genes turned active?"
"Well, I dabble a bit in biochemistry, what do you want to know?" she asked.
"What happens that makes a gene activate or deactivate?" Penny asked while petting Bolt.
"Well, it could be due to changes in the environment as a form of adaptation, or maybe it was due to an extreme situation, kind of like adrenaline. But it could also be random. Kind of like how some people have no allergies when they are younger but find out later that they're allergic to peanuts or pollen," Honey Lemon tried her best to explain.
"Okay, thank you," Hiro told her and got ready to leave.
"If you need any information we have some books in the Biology department at SFIT that could help," Honey Lemon informed them.
"Speaking of SFIT, when are you gonna registry?" Fred asked him.
"Yeah, classes started 2 weeks ago," Go Go agreed.
"Guys, he wants to spend time with his amigos, he could always go to college later anyways," Honey Lemon defended him.
"Ohh, skipping class for your lady friend, tsk tsk Hiro," Wasabi teasingly scolded him.
"Well, thank you for your time, it was really nice to see you guys, but we really should get going," Hiro said as he slightly pushed Penny towards the door. He grabbed Baymax's wagon and pulled it with him.
"It was nice seeing you again," Penny called after them.
Once they were outside Hiro sighed with relief and looked back to the cafe. Fred and Wasabi were making kissy faces at him making him blush and groan with embarrassment.
"What was that?" Penny asked and turned to the window.
"Nothing," he quickly told her and put his hands on her shoulders so she would look at him," just that we should probably get going and scan more people."
"Right, let's go," she agreed and pulled the wagon, "I didn't even get to eat my cheesecake."
"I'll make it up to you I promise," Hiro apologized and turned towards the window.
They were still doing it so glared at them. Go Go shook her phone and showed him a picture of him and Penny. They were definitely going to show Tadashi and he was definitely not going to let him live it down. He looked at the ground and walked after Penny.
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