Aftermath (a BH6 crossover)

Chapter Eighty: Say in the Matter

Cass wanted to pace but her knees still ached from the rough handling the past few days had thrown her way, so she remained sitting on the couch. Thankfully, her shoulder felt a lot better. Loki had joined her soon after Baymax had headed down the hall with her message, possibly crossing paths on his way to her side. He had one hand draped across her shoulders as he leaned back against the cushions.

"I could get used to this," Loki admitted, though he sounded a bit distracted. He'd had the chance to mull over the contents of Dirk's note most of the night. And, while not exactly troubling, it presented its own set of problems, creating more than a double agenda. He either had to take up the original goal or abandon it for the new one, and he hadn't yet made up his mind.

Smiling, Cass leaned further back into his arm, wiggling a bit to achieve a more comfortable position. She didn't fear anyone seeing something they shouldn't. GoGo and Honey Lemon were gone. And Fred was doing who knew what with Wasabi in their room. Kally and Hiro already knew about the pseudo relationship she had with the Asgardian. And she doubted JARVIS cared. "You and me both," she said in response to her companion's comment.

Loki looked at the top of Cass's head, at her brown hair, wishing he felt brave enough to stroke it, but didn't dare at the same time. It was something he could only do after he'd made up his mind, pending on which direction he chose to go. But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the time while he had it.

Before anything further could happen between the two, however, Hiro and Kally joined them, Hiro leaning more against Kally as they made their way into the common area. Behind them, Baymax waddled as his usual sedate pace.

Not sure if Kally had the strength or not, Loki almost stood up to help but decided against it. Kally didn't seem to be straining, probably due to her Valkyrie blood. So, he waited while the trio made their way towards them, the young woman helping her companion sit in one of the armchairs.

"You wanted to talk with us?" Hiro asked as he settled himself. Having heard his aunt wanted to talk, he'd tried to finish his meal as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, his strength hadn't returned enough for him to walk on his own. And Kally had convinced Baymax to let her be Hiro's crutch in his place, something the teen wasn't going to complain about.

Cass straightened up, noting that Loki didn't remove his arm from around her shoulders. "Yes," she admitted. "I know you already gave the bare essentials on details, but I'd really like to hear what exactly happened yesterday. Fred would give me more embellishments than truth, and the other two who might tell me aren't here."

She purposely didn't look at Loki, knowing he was with Hiro the entire time. But she didn't know what had gone on in Hiro's head, and she definitely didn't know what had happened with Kally and her team. She'd seen GoGo's wounds when Baymax had changed the dressings, with Fred's help. But that hadn't given her much. That and Loki wasn't currently inside Hiro's head, which probably wasn't a bad thing.

"Where do you want me to start?" Hiro asked.

The two adults exchanged glances, Loki, once again, not revealing anything. "How about where you arrived at the college?" Cass suggested.

Now having a point of reference to start from, Hiro and Kally began to give Cass a detailed account of everything that had happened. Hiro gave more details about his side of things, assuming Loki had possibly mentioned them anyway. It wouldn't do to keep the details from his aunt, either, he decided, and so told her everything.

By the time they'd finished, Hiro actually felt like enough strength had returned that he could begin to pace the room, with a bit of help from the furniture to stay upright as necessary. "I admit," he stated, "I kind of wish I'd kept the fob so I could look into it myself, but I'm sure JARVIS has taken care of."