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Part One:
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Part Two:
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You watch the large screen in slight boredom. Your fingers move quickly across the keyboard in front of you as you write out notes on how the simulation is going.

You were in the fourth week of your internship at Krei Tech, and things were beginning to feel monotonous. The project you had been assigned had seemed so awesome at first, but because you were an intern, you were stuck doing meaningless tasks and didn’t actually get to do anything interesting.

The project that was getting worked on was a jet propulsion system for an individual person. The system was very similar to Baymax’s flight suit, however it was meant for an actual person, rather than a robot, and it was more of a jetpack type design instead of boots. A group of individuals had been selected to undergo special training to prepare for using the flight suit. Unfortunately, most of them had reactions too slow to be able to maneuver themselves in the simulation, meaning it was too risky to put any of them in an actual suit.

Four long weeks, you’ve watched these people fail at the simulation again and again. You take detailed notes on the things they’re doing wrong and you send them to your boss, however, you’re pretty sure he hasn’t read any of them, because none of the pilots have been improving. The suggestions your boss gives to them are ones he’s coming up with on his own, and he probably thinks that there’s no way some sixteen year old can actually have some good advice on the subject.

The simulation ends when the pilot crashes into a building. The people in the observation room let out a collective groan as all their hard work results in another failure. Your boss slams his notebook onto the table and walks out in a huff. The other pilots wait for the man to come out of the simulation room then they all leave together. The technicians move the slowest, taking their time to gather their things and log off their computers.

“Man, Krei is going to have our heads if we don’t get at least one pilot through the simulation soon,” one of the techs complains. You’re pretty sure his name is Marcus, although you’ve never actually talked to him.

“I think it’s about time we ditch the pilots we have and get someone else in there,” one of the other Techs states.

Marcus chuckles, “Are you volunteering, Thomas?”

“What?! No way, the boss would kill me!”

“Aw, come on! Don’t be a pansy. He probably ran off to go sulk in his office, meaning we’ll be alone for a while. Who wants to jump in? Give it a test drive?”

The room is silent for a minute, everyone too scared to break the rules. “I’ll do it,” you pipe up, shocking both yourself and everyone else.

They all look at you with wide eyes, some of them only noticing you for the first time, even though you were introduced to the whole group on your first day. Marcus looks at you with a raised eye brow. “Um, who are you?”

“That’s the high school intern,” one of the other techs provides before you can say anything.

Marcus and half of the other techs burst into laughter, “You’re so cute, thinking you can actually do anything in the simulation!”

You glare angrily at him, “I can do better at it than you can, I’d wager!”

Marcus’ laughter cuts off and he glares back. “Oh really? Wanna put some money where that mouth is?”

Thomas puts a hand on his shoulder, “Come on, dude. She’s just a kid.”

His words irritate you, which causes you to say your next piece, instead of backing down like you should. “Okay. How much you wanna bet?”

Marcus smirks, thinking that this is going to be easy money for himself. “100 dollars says you don’t make it ten seconds into the simulation.”

You cross your arms and cock out your hip, “Fine. 500, says I finish it.”

Everyone’s eyes except Markus’ widen at your confidence. Markus’ smirk only grows wider. “Are you really willing to throw away 500 dollars just to prove yourself, little girl?”

“Are you?” you respond without missing a beat.

He shifts to the side and gestures to the door that leads to the simulation room. “Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.”

You keep your head up as you walk through the group of technicians and into the simulation room. You slip your arms through the straps of the jet propulsion backpack. It’s a specially designed one to work on minimal strength to provide just enough thrust to work against the gravitational pull on your body, without letting you shoot through the roof of the building. You then put on the neural transmitter headband, which is the way you control the jetpack. One of the reasons for your confidence is the fact that they use a neural transmitter, and you have two more years of experience with using such a thing than any of the pilots do.

Once the simulation starts, the jetpack lifts you up into the center of the room and then the magnetic suspension in the walls of the room lock onto the backpack to keep your body centered in the very middle, so you can’t go crashing into the walls. The domed walls then come to life and the simulation starts.

The basic idea of it is to fly through these virtual hoops, without running into the nearby buildings, or hitting the edge of the hoop. You lean forward, until your body is in a horizontal position, then you use the neural transmitter to talk to the jetpack to tell yourself to go forward. The image on the simulation room changes with your thoughts, making it appear like you’re moving forward, when your body is actually staying in place. You do some testing to see what it feels like to move up, down, left and right, before you even approach the first hoop. When you feel like you have the hang of it, you dive through the hoop.

That’s when the timer starts up. The virtual numbers appear next to you, letting you know how much time has passed since you started the trial. You move a little slow at first, still getting your body used to the motions of the simulation. After your third hoop, you go a little faster. You’re grateful for how in shape your body is after all the running around you’ve done with Hiro and your friends, because it’s really helping to keep your body in the outstretched position it needs to be in while you’re “flying”.

Unbeknownst to you, the technicians all have their jaws dropped as they watch the large monitor of your simulation. “She’s actually doing it…” Thomas says in a low mumble.

His voice makes Markus snap out of it and he growls from the back of his throat. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” He quickly logs into the control system and begins to alter the simulation. He makes the hoops closer together, and switches their angles relative to each other to make it more difficult to access each consecutive one.

You notice the sudden change of the simulation, and it doesn’t take you long to figure out what’s going on. It annoys you that Markus would pull something like this, but on the other hand, you kind of like the challenge. Your body has to arch and do a few cork screw spins to get through the hoops, but you’re still able to do it.

It’s then that you notice the sizes of the hoops beginning to shrink. Your eyes narrow in irritation. You need to finish up this simulation, before it becomes physically impossible for you to even fit through the hoop, meaning you’d hit the edge, and it wouldn’t count as a completion. You go a little faster, to the point where it’s beginning to get difficult to control yourself. The faster you go, means that your reactions need to become faster too.

“What in the world?!” Your boss cries out when he enters the control room. “What is the meaning of this?!”

All the technicians jump in surprise, too focused on the main screen to even notice that he entered the room.

“S-Sir!” Markus steps back from his computer. “Uh… we tried to stop her from going in, but…” he lies.

“Markus!” Thomas hisses, frowning at his friend.

“Well, what are you all standing around for?! End it now!”

“Too late,” one of the other technicians states, staring up in awe at the monitor.

“What do you mean it’s too late?!”

“She’s already completed it,” someone else replies, in just as much shock.

Sure enough, when the boss looks up, blinking back at him in bold words is Time Completed: 19:55.

He gapes up at screen, not believing his eyes.

Not knowing what’s going on in the control room, you take your time taking off the neural transmitter and the jetpack, carefully putting them back where you got them. You step out of the simulation room and your eyes immediately land on Markus. You give him a smug smirk, “I’ll take my payment in the form of cash. If you don’t have it today, you can give it to me tomorrow.”

Your victory gets interrupted by a deep voice clearing their throat. You look over and feel dread pool in your gut when you see your boss. “Sir! I-”

“Don’t speak,” he interrupts, his tone harsh. “Come with me.” He turns around sharply and leaves the room.

Markus snickers, causing you to glare at him as you walk passed to follow your boss. He walks briskly to his office, not even checking if you’re following him. As he enters the office, he moves to stand behind his desk, placing his hands on the hard wood to glower down at you. “Sit,” he orders.

When you sit down, you have to look up at him, and you hate the way he tries to tower over you.

“Do you have any idea how many laws you just broke? You went into the simulation room unauthorized, and not only that, you used the equipment to actually run through a simulation. What if you had broken something? We have been working on this project long before you came along to this company, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a little 16 year old girl ruin everything for me!”

You glare defiantly up at him, “I don’t see what the problem is. I didn’t break anything. All I really did, was prove to you that the people you have flying that thing are incapable of doing so, because you’re incompetent at giving proper instruction to them on how to use it!” After the words flow out of your mouth, you wish you had just kept your mouth shut.

Your boss’ face turns from an angry red to a near purple as he purses his lips. “I will not tolerate such words from a little girl!”

“I’m not a little girl! Stop calling me that!” you yell, getting to your feet.

“Sit down!” he yells back.

You do as you are told, but continue to glare. “I want you out of here! I don’t care that your internship is not completed. You have no right to continue working for this company. You will turn in your badge and never come back.”

“That won’t be necessary,” a calm and collected voice sounds from behind you and it sends a shiver down your back.

Your boss looks up, his face going from reddish-purple to white in seconds. “Mr… Mr. Krei!”

You feel your stomach drop. Well, you can now kiss your chances goodbye of ever getting into SFIT. As one of the most esteemed alumni of the Institution, Alistair Krei had a lot of say on who got in and who didn’t. If you get yourself on his bad side, any dreams you have of working in technology disappear in an instant.

The blonde man walks further into the room, coming around your chair until you can see him. He looks down at you, giving you a curious once over. “Are you aware that I have a live feed of the simulation room and control center up in my office on the top floor.”

You fiddle with your fingers in your lap, your hot headed emotions immediately becoming subdued by his intimidating nature. “Um, no, I didn’t.”

“Yes, well, I was able to see and hear everything that just occurred. I do believe there is just one course of action we must take…” You swallow thickly, feeling a lump forming in your throat. “You are getting transferred to becoming a pilot,” he finally states.

Your eyes widen in shock and your boss begins to sputter out his protest. “You can’t do that! She is only a minor! She’s here on a high school internship!”

Alistair turns his icy glare on your boss, “Are you questioning my authority?”

If possible, the man seems to pale even more, “Of course not, Mr. Krei. I apologize.”

“Our internships are very prestigious, the fact that she is here, means that she was able to get in for a good reason. After several weeks of trials, she’s the first to ever complete a simulation. Not only did she complete it on her first try, but she did so in an altering environment, which isn’t until phase 3 of simulations. You have failed to provide me with any other alternatives. We need to be moving forward on this project, and you have not made any progress on your own.”

You boss has to literally bite his tongue in order to keep his mouth shut. “Yes, sir.”

“Leave us.”

Your pulse races as your boss walks out, leaving you alone with Alistair Krei. Hiro would be so pissed at you right now. Mr. Krei moves around the desk and takes a seat in the chair. “So, Ms. (Name), what do you think of my proposal to make you a pilot?”

It’s weird hearing someone so famous say your name. “Um, honestly, I don’t really know what to think. I didn’t mean to cause any problems, it’s just that Markus…” you pause. I mean the guy was a jerk, but you didn’t want to throw him under the bus, and be the cause of him losing his job.

“I have audio on my live feed, Ms. (Name). I heard everything that was said, I know exactly what happened. Markus will be reprimanded for his actions, however it seems I should actually be thankful to him. If he hadn’t coaxed you into going into the simulation, we may never have been able to move forward with the project. I saw those emails you’ve been sending, as well. They provide good information. Tell me, how does a high school junior know so much about jet propulsion?”

You have to put on your innocent face as you shrug. “I learn quickly.”

“A habit you have picked up from your friend, I presume? I know of your connection to Hiro Hamada.”

Your heart stops, “How do you know that?”

He smiles, although it isn’t an out rightly sinister smile, it doesn’t seem particularly genuine, either. “I know a lot of things, Ms. (Name), especially if it is something this important. Have you ever told Mr. Hamada about the things you’ve seen and done here?”

You shake your head, looking down at your hands, “Hiro doesn’t exactly approve of me working here.”

Mr. Krei chuckles without humor, “Yes, he has been quite open about his distaste for me.” He threads his fingers together and sets his hands on top of the desk. “I trust you know about his adventures across the city, do you not?”

You look up at him, your pulse beginning to race, “Yes…”

“Two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the group, as I’m sure you remember. I met all but one of them. Ms. (Name), you are the last member of the team, aren’t you? The one that was too injured to fight against Callaghan.”

You bite your lip in order to stay silent, but you know that he already knows the truth.

“Your silence speaks volumes.” He unthreads his fingers and sits back in his chair. “Your association with Mr. Hamada and the team of heroes is both an advantage and an obstacle for us. I read in your file that you are planning to apply to SFIT in the fall. If you work for me, I can guarantee your acceptance. One simple recommendation letter will get you in, and you’ve already shown large promise. I would very much appreciate it if you were to work for me, but your loyalties need to lie here. You cannot tell your friends, your family, or anyone else about what it is that you will be doing here. Especially not Mr. Hamada.”

Your hands clench around each other, “And what, exactly is it, that I will be doing here?”

He’s silent for a long moment, trying to determine how much he should tell you. “Krei tech is currently preparing for an operation to open another set of portals. An individual pilot will get sent through, equipped with the jet propulsion system. Your job as that pilot is to navigate through any debris found on the other side, so you can locate and bring back the original Baymax, the robot that got left behind by Hiro Hamada two years ago.”

Your eyes widen in surprise. “After everything that happened, you’re really going to open those portals again?!”

“My reason for doing this does not need to be explained to you. The only question you should be thinking about is are you on board, or are you not?”

“I… I don’t know.” This is a lot of information to process, and you honestly have no idea what to do.

“Go home. Think about it. Come back to see me tomorrow. This is a decision you must make on your own. Even though you haven’t agreed, you are still bound by your current contract to refrain from divulging any Krei Tech information to anyone.”

“I understand.” You nod and push yourself out of your chair. You can feel Mr. Krei’s eyes on you the entire time you have your back turned as you leave the office.

Later that night, you sit on your bed, freshly showered and in your pajamas. Your hands shake as you dial a familiar number and hold your phone up to your ear. He answers after a few short rings.

“Hey, (Name)! What’s up?” he asks, clearly still awake, despite the late hour.

“Can… Can you come over?” you ask him.

He quickly detects the strange tone of your voice and immediately becomes alert. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… I just, I need you, Hiro…”

You can hear him scrambling around in the background, “Okay. I’ll be there soon.”

“Kay,” you respond before hanging up.

You wait by your window and a few minutes later, you see him pull up to your house on Tadashi’s moped. You open your window as Hiro steps up to the house. He easily climbs up the drain pipe, like he’s done so many times before, and fluidly pulls himself through the window and into your room. As soon as he’s standing solidly on his two feet, you wrap your arms around him and bury your face into his chest. His strong arms automatically reciprocate the embrace, pulling you in close.

“(Name), you’re shaking,” he notices. He rapidly rubs his hands up and down your arms. “What’s going on?”

Unable to meet his gaze, you pull away from him. Maybe asking him over, wasn’t really the brightest of ideas. Now that he was here, you wanted to tell him everything. Stepping up to the window, you shut it and close the curtain. “I’m okay, Hiro, honestly…”

He frowns. “I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong. You asked me to come here for a reason. What can I do?”

You take his hand and give it a light squeeze, giving him a half hearted smile, “You’re already doing it. Just having you here makes me feel ten times better.”

He tugs on your hand, pulling you over to the bed. Kicking off his shoes, he sits down and pulls you into his lap. You curl up against him, resting your head on his shoulder.

“(Name), please,” he whispers to you, the worry in his voice prominent.

You squeeze your eyes shut, having to fight desperately against yourself to confess everything that’s happened. You know that your chances for SFIT aren’t the only thing on the line here. If Krei finds out that you told Hiro, Krei wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate, even if it meant hurting the people you care about.

Letting out a deep breath, you open your eyes, but keep your head against Hiro’s chest. “There was just this jerk at work today,” you finally say. “He kept belittling me, calling me a little girl, because I’m 16 years old, and everyone else there is in their mid-twenties or older. He just pissed me off, and now I’m being a total girl about it, getting emotional and all…” You’re speaking the truth, but it’s so far from the things you actually want to say to him that it almost hurts you.

Hiro’s arms give you a tight squeeze of comfort. “I hate people like that. They feel threatened and just lash out at you in order to make themselves feel better. I hope you know that he’s probably only jealous of you. When he was sixteen, he was probably getting drunk and doing stupid stuff, he wasn’t anywhere near as accomplished as you are. People never like it when someone way younger than them already has their life straightened out, believe me, I know.”

You smile, his words making you feel better about yourself. He’s the one person you know that can actually understand what you’re going through. You just wish you can tell him more. “Thank you for coming, Hiro. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He tilts his head down to kiss the top of your head, “It’s what I’m here for, (Name). You already know that I’d do anything for you.”

You close your eyes again, your body relaxing against him, “You’re the best.”

He chuckles softly, “So are you going to tell me this guy’s name, so I can go kick his butt?”

You laugh, lifting your head up to give him an incredulous look, “No!”

He gives you a crooked smile, “Why not? He sounds like he deserves it!”

You shake your head, continuing to laugh, “You are so bad!”

“What? I’m just delivering due justice.”

“Okay, Mr. Vigilante,” you reply, getting out of his lap and standing up, off the bed. “It’s late, I need to finish getting ready for bed,” you explain before walking into the small bathroom across the hall from your room. You quickly brush your teeth and when you walk back, Hiro’s moved under the covers of your bed. He’s got his hands up behind his head, which is propped up by your pillows. “What are you doing?” you ask with a curious tilt of your head.

“I’m spending the night. You don’t really think I’d come all the way over here in the middle of the night, just to go back after a few minutes, do you?”

Laughing, you shaking your head and turn off the light before crawling into bed next to him. He curls an arm around your waist and pulls your body next to his. “We haven’t done this in a while,” you state, resting your cheek against his shoulder.

“Not since I stopped having those nightmares,” he responds.

“Do you ever get them back?” you ask.

“Sometimes… Usually when I’m really stressed out, but it’s not very often.”

You remember that first night he called you to stay with him just like it was yesterday. You remember how scared he had been. “Hiro… If you found out there was a way to go back… a way to get something that you lost back. Something that was important to you. Would you do it? Even if it was something kind of dangerous?”

He’s quiet for a moment, thinking over your question. “You mean, if I could get Tadashi back?”

“No… Well, yeah actually, I guess. Or like if you lost Baymax and could go after him.”

“Well Baymax is easy. If I ever lose him again, I can just rebuild him. I’ve done it before and I can do it again, if I have to. Tadashi’s a little tougher to answer. I’ve already begun the process of accepting that he’s gone. I don’t really know what I’d do in a situation like that. Where is all this coming from?”

You shrug, keeping your head tucked against him, so he can’t see your face, “It’s just something I think about, sometimes.”

“Well I do know one thing, for sure. If it was you that I lost, there would be nothing that could stop me from getting you back.”

Your breath catches in your throat and you look up at him with wide eyes. “Hiro…”

He looks back at you with enough determination in his gaze to take your breath away. “You are the most important person in my life. I don’t know if I could have gotten through these past few years without you. If I were to ever lose you, I don’t think I’d be able to recover.” His hand on your hip tightens its grip.

You move your arms to wrap around his neck and pull him in close. “You won’t lose me. I’ll be here with you, for as long as you want me to be,” you promise.

He buries his nose into your hair. “You better be.”

You close your eyes and take in his scent, trying to calm your racing heart. On top of the need to tell him about everything at Krei Tech, you now had to suppress your desires to express your feelings that you had for him as well. You don’t know exactly when it happened, but you’d grown to love Hiro as more than just a friend. Fear of losing him was the only thing that kept you from expressing your feelings. However, moments like these always made it difficult for you to keep your secret.

Description
Part One:
katgirl28.deviantart.com/art/S…
Part Two:
katgirl28.deviantart.com/art/S…

You watch the large screen in slight boredom. Your fingers move quickly across the keyboard in front of you as you write out notes on how the simulation is going.

You were in the fourth week of your internship at Krei Tech, and things were beginning to feel monotonous. The project you had been assigned had seemed so awesome at first, but because you were an intern, you were stuck doing meaningless tasks and didn’t actually get to do anything interesting.

The project that was getting worked on was a jet propulsion system for an individual person. The system was very similar to Baymax’s flight suit, however it was meant for an actual person, rather than a robot, and it was more of a jetpack type design instead of boots. A group of individuals had been selected to undergo special training to prepare for using the flight suit. Unfortunately, most of them had reactions too slow to be able to maneuver themselves in the simulation, meaning it was too risky to put any of them in an actual suit.

Four long weeks, you’ve watched these people fail at the simulation again and again. You take detailed notes on the things they’re doing wrong and you send them to your boss, however, you’re pretty sure he hasn’t read any of them, because none of the pilots have been improving. The suggestions your boss gives to them are ones he’s coming up with on his own, and he probably thinks that there’s no way some sixteen year old can actually have some good advice on the subject.

The simulation ends when the pilot crashes into a building. The people in the observation room let out a collective groan as all their hard work results in another failure. Your boss slams his notebook onto the table and walks out in a huff. The other pilots wait for the man to come out of the simulation room then they all leave together. The technicians move the slowest, taking their time to gather their things and log off their computers.

“Man, Krei is going to have our heads if we don’t get at least one pilot through the simulation soon,” one of the techs complains. You’re pretty sure his name is Marcus, although you’ve never actually talked to him.

“I think it’s about time we ditch the pilots we have and get someone else in there,” one of the other Techs states.

Marcus chuckles, “Are you volunteering, Thomas?”

“What?! No way, the boss would kill me!”

“Aw, come on! Don’t be a pansy. He probably ran off to go sulk in his office, meaning we’ll be alone for a while. Who wants to jump in? Give it a test drive?”

The room is silent for a minute, everyone too scared to break the rules. “I’ll do it,” you pipe up, shocking both yourself and everyone else.

They all look at you with wide eyes, some of them only noticing you for the first time, even though you were introduced to the whole group on your first day. Marcus looks at you with a raised eye brow. “Um, who are you?”

“That’s the high school intern,” one of the other techs provides before you can say anything.

Marcus and half of the other techs burst into laughter, “You’re so cute, thinking you can actually do anything in the simulation!”

You glare angrily at him, “I can do better at it than you can, I’d wager!”

Marcus’ laughter cuts off and he glares back. “Oh really? Wanna put some money where that mouth is?”

Thomas puts a hand on his shoulder, “Come on, dude. She’s just a kid.”

His words irritate you, which causes you to say your next piece, instead of backing down like you should. “Okay. How much you wanna bet?”

Marcus smirks, thinking that this is going to be easy money for himself. “100 dollars says you don’t make it ten seconds into the simulation.”

You cross your arms and cock out your hip, “Fine. 500, says I finish it.”

Everyone’s eyes except Markus’ widen at your confidence. Markus’ smirk only grows wider. “Are you really willing to throw away 500 dollars just to prove yourself, little girl?”

“Are you?” you respond without missing a beat.

He shifts to the side and gestures to the door that leads to the simulation room. “Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.”

You keep your head up as you walk through the group of technicians and into the simulation room. You slip your arms through the straps of the jet propulsion backpack. It’s a specially designed one to work on minimal strength to provide just enough thrust to work against the gravitational pull on your body, without letting you shoot through the roof of the building. You then put on the neural transmitter headband, which is the way you control the jetpack. One of the reasons for your confidence is the fact that they use a neural transmitter, and you have two more years of experience with using such a thing than any of the pilots do.

Once the simulation starts, the jetpack lifts you up into the center of the room and then the magnetic suspension in the walls of the room lock onto the backpack to keep your body centered in the very middle, so you can’t go crashing into the walls. The domed walls then come to life and the simulation starts.

The basic idea of it is to fly through these virtual hoops, without running into the nearby buildings, or hitting the edge of the hoop. You lean forward, until your body is in a horizontal position, then you use the neural transmitter to talk to the jetpack to tell yourself to go forward. The image on the simulation room changes with your thoughts, making it appear like you’re moving forward, when your body is actually staying in place. You do some testing to see what it feels like to move up, down, left and right, before you even approach the first hoop. When you feel like you have the hang of it, you dive through the hoop.

That’s when the timer starts up. The virtual numbers appear next to you, letting you know how much time has passed since you started the trial. You move a little slow at first, still getting your body used to the motions of the simulation. After your third hoop, you go a little faster. You’re grateful for how in shape your body is after all the running around you’ve done with Hiro and your friends, because it’s really helping to keep your body in the outstretched position it needs to be in while you’re “flying”.

Unbeknownst to you, the technicians all have their jaws dropped as they watch the large monitor of your simulation. “She’s actually doing it…” Thomas says in a low mumble.

His voice makes Markus snap out of it and he growls from the back of his throat. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” He quickly logs into the control system and begins to alter the simulation. He makes the hoops closer together, and switches their angles relative to each other to make it more difficult to access each consecutive one.

You notice the sudden change of the simulation, and it doesn’t take you long to figure out what’s going on. It annoys you that Markus would pull something like this, but on the other hand, you kind of like the challenge. Your body has to arch and do a few cork screw spins to get through the hoops, but you’re still able to do it.

It’s then that you notice the sizes of the hoops beginning to shrink. Your eyes narrow in irritation. You need to finish up this simulation, before it becomes physically impossible for you to even fit through the hoop, meaning you’d hit the edge, and it wouldn’t count as a completion. You go a little faster, to the point where it’s beginning to get difficult to control yourself. The faster you go, means that your reactions need to become faster too.

“What in the world?!” Your boss cries out when he enters the control room. “What is the meaning of this?!”

All the technicians jump in surprise, too focused on the main screen to even notice that he entered the room.

“S-Sir!” Markus steps back from his computer. “Uh… we tried to stop her from going in, but…” he lies.

“Markus!” Thomas hisses, frowning at his friend.

“Well, what are you all standing around for?! End it now!”

“Too late,” one of the other technicians states, staring up in awe at the monitor.

“What do you mean it’s too late?!”

“She’s already completed it,” someone else replies, in just as much shock.

Sure enough, when the boss looks up, blinking back at him in bold words is Time Completed: 19:55.

He gapes up at screen, not believing his eyes.

Not knowing what’s going on in the control room, you take your time taking off the neural transmitter and the jetpack, carefully putting them back where you got them. You step out of the simulation room and your eyes immediately land on Markus. You give him a smug smirk, “I’ll take my payment in the form of cash. If you don’t have it today, you can give it to me tomorrow.”

Your victory gets interrupted by a deep voice clearing their throat. You look over and feel dread pool in your gut when you see your boss. “Sir! I-”

“Don’t speak,” he interrupts, his tone harsh. “Come with me.” He turns around sharply and leaves the room.

Markus snickers, causing you to glare at him as you walk passed to follow your boss. He walks briskly to his office, not even checking if you’re following him. As he enters the office, he moves to stand behind his desk, placing his hands on the hard wood to glower down at you. “Sit,” he orders.

When you sit down, you have to look up at him, and you hate the way he tries to tower over you.

“Do you have any idea how many laws you just broke? You went into the simulation room unauthorized, and not only that, you used the equipment to actually run through a simulation. What if you had broken something? We have been working on this project long before you came along to this company, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a little 16 year old girl ruin everything for me!”

You glare defiantly up at him, “I don’t see what the problem is. I didn’t break anything. All I really did, was prove to you that the people you have flying that thing are incapable of doing so, because you’re incompetent at giving proper instruction to them on how to use it!” After the words flow out of your mouth, you wish you had just kept your mouth shut.

Your boss’ face turns from an angry red to a near purple as he purses his lips. “I will not tolerate such words from a little girl!”

“I’m not a little girl! Stop calling me that!” you yell, getting to your feet.

“Sit down!” he yells back.

You do as you are told, but continue to glare. “I want you out of here! I don’t care that your internship is not completed. You have no right to continue working for this company. You will turn in your badge and never come back.”

“That won’t be necessary,” a calm and collected voice sounds from behind you and it sends a shiver down your back.

Your boss looks up, his face going from reddish-purple to white in seconds. “Mr… Mr. Krei!”

You feel your stomach drop. Well, you can now kiss your chances goodbye of ever getting into SFIT. As one of the most esteemed alumni of the Institution, Alistair Krei had a lot of say on who got in and who didn’t. If you get yourself on his bad side, any dreams you have of working in technology disappear in an instant.

The blonde man walks further into the room, coming around your chair until you can see him. He looks down at you, giving you a curious once over. “Are you aware that I have a live feed of the simulation room and control center up in my office on the top floor.”

You fiddle with your fingers in your lap, your hot headed emotions immediately becoming subdued by his intimidating nature. “Um, no, I didn’t.”

“Yes, well, I was able to see and hear everything that just occurred. I do believe there is just one course of action we must take…” You swallow thickly, feeling a lump forming in your throat. “You are getting transferred to becoming a pilot,” he finally states.

Your eyes widen in shock and your boss begins to sputter out his protest. “You can’t do that! She is only a minor! She’s here on a high school internship!”

Alistair turns his icy glare on your boss, “Are you questioning my authority?”

If possible, the man seems to pale even more, “Of course not, Mr. Krei. I apologize.”

“Our internships are very prestigious, the fact that she is here, means that she was able to get in for a good reason. After several weeks of trials, she’s the first to ever complete a simulation. Not only did she complete it on her first try, but she did so in an altering environment, which isn’t until phase 3 of simulations. You have failed to provide me with any other alternatives. We need to be moving forward on this project, and you have not made any progress on your own.”

You boss has to literally bite his tongue in order to keep his mouth shut. “Yes, sir.”

“Leave us.”

Your pulse races as your boss walks out, leaving you alone with Alistair Krei. Hiro would be so pissed at you right now. Mr. Krei moves around the desk and takes a seat in the chair. “So, Ms. (Name), what do you think of my proposal to make you a pilot?”

It’s weird hearing someone so famous say your name. “Um, honestly, I don’t really know what to think. I didn’t mean to cause any problems, it’s just that Markus…” you pause. I mean the guy was a jerk, but you didn’t want to throw him under the bus, and be the cause of him losing his job.

“I have audio on my live feed, Ms. (Name). I heard everything that was said, I know exactly what happened. Markus will be reprimanded for his actions, however it seems I should actually be thankful to him. If he hadn’t coaxed you into going into the simulation, we may never have been able to move forward with the project. I saw those emails you’ve been sending, as well. They provide good information. Tell me, how does a high school junior know so much about jet propulsion?”

You have to put on your innocent face as you shrug. “I learn quickly.”

“A habit you have picked up from your friend, I presume? I know of your connection to Hiro Hamada.”

Your heart stops, “How do you know that?”

He smiles, although it isn’t an out rightly sinister smile, it doesn’t seem particularly genuine, either. “I know a lot of things, Ms. (Name), especially if it is something this important. Have you ever told Mr. Hamada about the things you’ve seen and done here?”

You shake your head, looking down at your hands, “Hiro doesn’t exactly approve of me working here.”

Mr. Krei chuckles without humor, “Yes, he has been quite open about his distaste for me.” He threads his fingers together and sets his hands on top of the desk. “I trust you know about his adventures across the city, do you not?”

You look up at him, your pulse beginning to race, “Yes…”

“Two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the group, as I’m sure you remember. I met all but one of them. Ms. (Name), you are the last member of the team, aren’t you? The one that was too injured to fight against Callaghan.”

You bite your lip in order to stay silent, but you know that he already knows the truth.

“Your silence speaks volumes.” He unthreads his fingers and sits back in his chair. “Your association with Mr. Hamada and the team of heroes is both an advantage and an obstacle for us. I read in your file that you are planning to apply to SFIT in the fall. If you work for me, I can guarantee your acceptance. One simple recommendation letter will get you in, and you’ve already shown large promise. I would very much appreciate it if you were to work for me, but your loyalties need to lie here. You cannot tell your friends, your family, or anyone else about what it is that you will be doing here. Especially not Mr. Hamada.”

Your hands clench around each other, “And what, exactly is it, that I will be doing here?”

He’s silent for a long moment, trying to determine how much he should tell you. “Krei tech is currently preparing for an operation to open another set of portals. An individual pilot will get sent through, equipped with the jet propulsion system. Your job as that pilot is to navigate through any debris found on the other side, so you can locate and bring back the original Baymax, the robot that got left behind by Hiro Hamada two years ago.”

Your eyes widen in surprise. “After everything that happened, you’re really going to open those portals again?!”

“My reason for doing this does not need to be explained to you. The only question you should be thinking about is are you on board, or are you not?”

“I… I don’t know.” This is a lot of information to process, and you honestly have no idea what to do.

“Go home. Think about it. Come back to see me tomorrow. This is a decision you must make on your own. Even though you haven’t agreed, you are still bound by your current contract to refrain from divulging any Krei Tech information to anyone.”

“I understand.” You nod and push yourself out of your chair. You can feel Mr. Krei’s eyes on you the entire time you have your back turned as you leave the office.

Later that night, you sit on your bed, freshly showered and in your pajamas. Your hands shake as you dial a familiar number and hold your phone up to your ear. He answers after a few short rings.

“Hey, (Name)! What’s up?” he asks, clearly still awake, despite the late hour.

“Can… Can you come over?” you ask him.

He quickly detects the strange tone of your voice and immediately becomes alert. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… I just, I need you, Hiro…”

You can hear him scrambling around in the background, “Okay. I’ll be there soon.”

“Kay,” you respond before hanging up.

You wait by your window and a few minutes later, you see him pull up to your house on Tadashi’s moped. You open your window as Hiro steps up to the house. He easily climbs up the drain pipe, like he’s done so many times before, and fluidly pulls himself through the window and into your room. As soon as he’s standing solidly on his two feet, you wrap your arms around him and bury your face into his chest. His strong arms automatically reciprocate the embrace, pulling you in close.

“(Name), you’re shaking,” he notices. He rapidly rubs his hands up and down your arms. “What’s going on?”

Unable to meet his gaze, you pull away from him. Maybe asking him over, wasn’t really the brightest of ideas. Now that he was here, you wanted to tell him everything. Stepping up to the window, you shut it and close the curtain. “I’m okay, Hiro, honestly…”

He frowns. “I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong. You asked me to come here for a reason. What can I do?”

You take his hand and give it a light squeeze, giving him a half hearted smile, “You’re already doing it. Just having you here makes me feel ten times better.”

He tugs on your hand, pulling you over to the bed. Kicking off his shoes, he sits down and pulls you into his lap. You curl up against him, resting your head on his shoulder.

“(Name), please,” he whispers to you, the worry in his voice prominent.

You squeeze your eyes shut, having to fight desperately against yourself to confess everything that’s happened. You know that your chances for SFIT aren’t the only thing on the line here. If Krei finds out that you told Hiro, Krei wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate, even if it meant hurting the people you care about.

Letting out a deep breath, you open your eyes, but keep your head against Hiro’s chest. “There was just this jerk at work today,” you finally say. “He kept belittling me, calling me a little girl, because I’m 16 years old, and everyone else there is in their mid-twenties or older. He just pissed me off, and now I’m being a total girl about it, getting emotional and all…” You’re speaking the truth, but it’s so far from the things you actually want to say to him that it almost hurts you.

Hiro’s arms give you a tight squeeze of comfort. “I hate people like that. They feel threatened and just lash out at you in order to make themselves feel better. I hope you know that he’s probably only jealous of you. When he was sixteen, he was probably getting drunk and doing stupid stuff, he wasn’t anywhere near as accomplished as you are. People never like it when someone way younger than them already has their life straightened out, believe me, I know.”

You smile, his words making you feel better about yourself. He’s the one person you know that can actually understand what you’re going through. You just wish you can tell him more. “Thank you for coming, Hiro. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He tilts his head down to kiss the top of your head, “It’s what I’m here for, (Name). You already know that I’d do anything for you.”

You close your eyes again, your body relaxing against him, “You’re the best.”

He chuckles softly, “So are you going to tell me this guy’s name, so I can go kick his butt?”

You laugh, lifting your head up to give him an incredulous look, “No!”

He gives you a crooked smile, “Why not? He sounds like he deserves it!”

You shake your head, continuing to laugh, “You are so bad!”

“What? I’m just delivering due justice.”

“Okay, Mr. Vigilante,” you reply, getting out of his lap and standing up, off the bed. “It’s late, I need to finish getting ready for bed,” you explain before walking into the small bathroom across the hall from your room. You quickly brush your teeth and when you walk back, Hiro’s moved under the covers of your bed. He’s got his hands up behind his head, which is propped up by your pillows. “What are you doing?” you ask with a curious tilt of your head.

“I’m spending the night. You don’t really think I’d come all the way over here in the middle of the night, just to go back after a few minutes, do you?”

Laughing, you shaking your head and turn off the light before crawling into bed next to him. He curls an arm around your waist and pulls your body next to his. “We haven’t done this in a while,” you state, resting your cheek against his shoulder.

“Not since I stopped having those nightmares,” he responds.

“Do you ever get them back?” you ask.

“Sometimes… Usually when I’m really stressed out, but it’s not very often.”

You remember that first night he called you to stay with him just like it was yesterday. You remember how scared he had been. “Hiro… If you found out there was a way to go back… a way to get something that you lost back. Something that was important to you. Would you do it? Even if it was something kind of dangerous?”

He’s quiet for a moment, thinking over your question. “You mean, if I could get Tadashi back?”

“No… Well, yeah actually, I guess. Or like if you lost Baymax and could go after him.”

“Well Baymax is easy. If I ever lose him again, I can just rebuild him. I’ve done it before and I can do it again, if I have to. Tadashi’s a little tougher to answer. I’ve already begun the process of accepting that he’s gone. I don’t really know what I’d do in a situation like that. Where is all this coming from?”

You shrug, keeping your head tucked against him, so he can’t see your face, “It’s just something I think about, sometimes.”

“Well I do know one thing, for sure. If it was you that I lost, there would be nothing that could stop me from getting you back.”

Your breath catches in your throat and you look up at him with wide eyes. “Hiro…”

He looks back at you with enough determination in his gaze to take your breath away. “You are the most important person in my life. I don’t know if I could have gotten through these past few years without you. If I were to ever lose you, I don’t think I’d be able to recover.” His hand on your hip tightens its grip.

You move your arms to wrap around his neck and pull him in close. “You won’t lose me. I’ll be here with you, for as long as you want me to be,” you promise.

He buries his nose into your hair. “You better be.”

You close your eyes and take in his scent, trying to calm your racing heart. On top of the need to tell him about everything at Krei Tech, you now had to suppress your desires to express your feelings that you had for him as well. You don’t know exactly when it happened, but you’d grown to love Hiro as more than just a friend. Fear of losing him was the only thing that kept you from expressing your feelings. However, moments like these always made it difficult for you to keep your secret.