Cass Hamada couldn't help but stare at the rather unusual customer who had settled at the back table. It wasn't that he looked like a tramp or anything, but his clothes were rather unusual. They were Old Victorian and she wondered if he was an actor or something similar.
Whoever he was, he had appeared when her back was turned, then promptly fallen asleep against the wall. There were plenty of people who stepped in to "get away" from the world. He just hadn't ordered anything before dozing off and she didn't want to waste a cup of coffee by just leaving it at his table.
Her attention was diverted by a set of new customers entering the café. They were obviously college students. She could tell. Their hats had college logos on them, though only one said SFIT on it.
Thinking about SFIT, Cass couldn't help but wonder if her nephew was there now. Lately, he'd spent a lot of time there. With his ribs finally healed from that stupid incident with Mr. Krei, she wasn't surprised. She just hoped he wasn't pushing himself too hard.
"Did you see that?" a female customer exclaimed as she pointed out the window. Murmurs of confusion filled the air as patrons tried to figure out what was going on, noses pressed to the glass.
Cass was not without her sense of curiosity, though part of her sighed at the idea of having to clean nose prints from the windows. Despite that thought, she moved to investigate. "What's going on?"
Upon further prodding, the woman who'd spoken out confessed to seeing a man jog down the street on the other side of the road, only to suddenly disappear as if he were a ghost.
The look Cass gave her was disbelieving at best. And when the phenomenon wasn't repeated, even when another pedestrian crossed through the same area, she wrote it off as early morning tiredness. The only other explanation was that her nephew was messing around again.
Determined to find out one way or another, the café owner reached for her phone and dialed Hiro's number.
......................................
Hiro groaned as his cell phone rang from across the room. "It's way too early for this," he complained but got up when the tone started over. Someone really wanted to get a hold of him, he supposed.
Stumbling out of bed, Hiro made his way across the floor where his pants sat folded against the wall. His phone was in one of the pockets, where he'd forgotten to take it out the night before. He mentally reminded himself to either put his phone closer or on silent next time. He almost tripped on his hoodie, which had just been thrown on the floor.
Wasabi would have had an aneurysm had he seen that. But the neat freak was still sound asleep, snoring away like a log cutter. It was just as well.
"Hello?" Hiro answered in a groggy voice. "Aunt Cass? Huh? No. Crashed at Fred's place. Am I working on what?" The teen blinked a few times, wondering just what his aunt was talking about. In his semi-sleep state, it made no sense to him. "No. I'll be home later." Much later, he amended. He still felt worn out after yesterday's incidents. He felt lucky the campus was on a week-long break and he could afford to rest.
Saying the appropriate goodbyes, Hiro hung up the phone. He slowly made his way back to the bed. His thoughts caught up with him the moment he reached the mattress, jolting him wide awake. "Wait. What?!"
For the briefest of moments, he wondered if he'd been dreaming. But a quick look at the call log on his phone confirmed that he hadn't. He had really just talked to his aunt and she really had just asked if he'd been working on something... questionable.
What was it his aunt had asked exactly? Was he toying around with some kind of experiment involving making things disappear? Was she talking about teleportation? But how could she know about that unless someone else had made a portal?
Wait. Ms. Smith, Krei's personal assistant, had told them Krei had found the portal. It was alien tech. and if he'd found that, who was to say someone else hadn't found something similar? He had to investigate.
Not bothering to wake the others, especially not their guests, Hiro got dressed and snuck out of the room. He should have known better, though. Baymax was waiting just outside the door.
"Good morning, Hiro," Baymax greeted. "You are awake much earlier than usual. What seems to be the trouble?"
Making a snap decision, Hiro beckoned for the robot to follow him. "Come on. I need you to help me investigate something back at the café."
The robot decided not to question it as he followed his primary patient down the hall. He could tell something was going on simply because Hiro was never this awake so early in the morning. He figured he'd understand why once they reached the café. All he had to do was wait.
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Deanna felt as though something was off the moment she woke up. Strange dreams had plagued her sleep and she had no more idea what to make of them than she did as to what had woken her.
It took a moment for the empath to remember where she was. Once that was recalled, she stretched out her senses to try and understand what had called her from sleep. Was it a feeling? An emotion felt from one of the others? She wasn't sure.
A clock on the night stand indicated it was eight hundred hours. And, as far as she could tell, neither one of her companions was awake. But someone was. No, make that two people. She could sense two distinct minds.
Deciding to investigate, Deanna quickly changed out of the borrowed night clothes and back into her uniform. It probably needed cleaning, but it was the only thing she had. The broken bone made it a bit difficult, but at least the brace was easily removed and put back on.
Deanna opened the door and almost walked into the butler. She quickly apologized; momentarily confused by a hint of amusement coming from the man she'd almost knocked over.
"If you are looking for Master Frederick, you will find him in the breakfast room," Heathcliff informed with a stiff bow. "Would you like me to show you the way?"
Danna couldn't help but smile at his overly formal manner. It reminded her a bit of the Captain. Underneath that, she could feel a slight sense of curiosity, though nothing more than passing. For a human, he had a very well-organized mind and kept his emotions strongly in check. "Yes please," she said with a bigger smile.
With a slight gesture for her to follow, Heathcliff moved down the hallway towards the center of the Manor. He led her down a flight of stairs, then to the left of where they'd had dinner the night before.
This room was smaller, with a normal-sized table closer to the windows. Several chairs sat under the table where a decent spread of traditional breakfast food waited.
Fred stood from his place at the far end as the door opened. "Morning!" he greeted the injured woman. "Want some breakfast? We don't usually stand on ceremony when my parents are away."
Troi absently tried to clasp her hands in front of her body but stopped when she remembered the brace and sling. "Morning," she returned, moving into the room. "You live with your parents?" She guessed he was somewhere in his early twenties, though she couldn't be sure.
It was an innocent enough question, Fred supposed, so he shrugged. "They're not usually home so it doesn't feel like it. Plus, it allows me to share my space with my friends. No one minds either."
Taking a seat, Deanna surveyed the food in front of her. It all looked and smelled delicious. She settled for some eggs and a croissant. From what she could tell of Fred, he was probably the most easy going of the group. His emotional state was laid back and mild. And he liked to talk.
Sprinkling some salt on her eggs, Deanna focused her gaze on her food. "Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" she suggested, taking a fork in hand.
Fred leaned back against his chair, totally relaxed and chill. "You want to know more about me or about my group?" He moved one leg to rest over the arm of his seat. "Just to clarify, there are decidedly things I can't talk about. That would be a total breach of confidentiality. That aside, what do you want to know?"
Troi felt a need to change gears, more than a little surprised by his response. Apparently Fred wasn't as naive as he pretended. "All right then," she said after swallowing her mouthful of food. "What can you tell me about your friends? I sense not everyone is happy we're here." She glanced around to indicate the whole manor.
"That's an understatement," Fred said with an eye roll. "Don't get me wrong, I'm totally cool with it, but some of the others are a little less so. They're more guarded, I guess you could say. Or maybe loyal. That's the word. Yeah. Loyal."
She'd sensed as much, but it was nice to have it confirmed. "How long have you known each other?" Deanna took a bite of her croissant, waiting for an answer without appearing like she was too eager for one.
Fred rubbed at one side of his face, his fingers teasing the edge of his customary beanie. "Um... now that's a bit more complicated," he admitted. "You see, we all met at different times, though all for the same reason. GoGo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon are all in the same year at the college so that was a no brainer meeting on their part, being in similar fields and all. Tadashi's the one who brought them all together though."
Deanna couldn't help but look up at the sudden, though very brief, sense of sadness that accompanied the mention of Tadashi's name. "Is Tadashi still a friend of yours? You seemed a bit sad when you mentioned his name."
The mascot debated. Would this be considered one of those things he shouldn't mention? Or was it safe territory? Tadashi was the main reason everyone had met, but the subject was still just a tad bit taboo, in a manner of speaking. It had become less so after the whole hospital bombing incident, but it was still very touchy. Especially for Hiro.
Taking a moment to distance himself from the implications, Fred spooned up some cereal from the bread bowl he'd been using. "Tadashi.... Well, Tadashi's dead," he finally admitted. "He died over a year ago in a fire."
Waves of sadness washed over the empath as Fred thought about his friend. There were decided mixed feelings about the incident and part of her felt curious about that. But she wasn't there to act as a counselor. She was there to gain information. Of course, if she did a bit of counseling on the side, that wouldn't hurt matters, but she didn't feel now was the time. "And what about you? How do you fit in?"
That seemed to change Fred's mood in a hurry as he grinned. "Well, I guess you could say I knew Tadashi before the others did. You see, I'm like the school's mascot. It's kind of a deal my parents worked out when they decided to help fund the place. It gives them more of an "in" having me there and all, since I technically graduated from school a bit sooner than most. Not that I like to brag about that or anything. I just did most of my schooling online or through a tutor."
Online. Now that was a term Deanna wasn't sure she understood, but she nodded anyway. Maybe it was slang for some form for education similar to what their computer back on the ship would provide. At least that's what it seemed like. "And you met your friend, Tadashi wasn't it? through being a mascot?"
Fred laughed. He couldn't help it. "Yeah. I caught him watching me one day while I was practicing my moves back when I tried public school. We went to the same place and it just seemed like a good idea to have each other's backs. He was a science nerd and I was a comic book enthusiast. Well, I still am but that's beside the point. Anyway, we both had our fair share of bullying, which is probably why we got along so well."
The ship's counselor filed that tidbit away in case she needed it for later. It wasn't really pertinent to what she was trying to learn at the moment, but it might be helpful. She finished her eggs before putting her fork back down on the plate. "And what about Hiro? He seems a bit young to be with people your age." She guessed there was at least a six year difference.
The last mouthful of cereal disappeared down Fred's throat with a contented sigh. "Hiro? I didn't actually meet him until like a year and a half ago. Again, Tadashi's the one who basically introduced us. He wanted to get his kid brother to enroll at the university. Now I know what you're thinking," he waved his spoon at Trio. "Hiro's really young for that. I mean, at the time he was only fourteen. But he's a genius, graduated high school at thirteen. I always thought that was pretty cool. Of course, Tadashi always thought he could have finished sooner if other things hadn't happened."
Admiration filled the room as Fred thought about the accomplishments Tadashi's kid brother had made since they'd first met. There had been many, including the creation of Big Hero Six. Of course there had been a fair share of bad things happen as well. Tadashi's death, the Viper group wanting to take over the world, to name a few, but they'd gotten through them and would continue to overcome whatever came their way. They were a team, after all.
Deanna contemplated the information she'd gathered, both literal and metaphysical. Fred's emotions, though simple on the surface, were a complex symphony underneath, and she found it fascinating. This was a person of many layers, inexperienced in a lot of ways, but more wise than anyone would probably guess upon just meeting him. And if nothing else held true, he fascinated her and that was enough to keep the conversation going.
After some careful prodding, Fred shared some random anecdotes from school life. They were things that were safe, like failed experiments and pep rallies, simple college stories that wouldn't get anyone in trouble. And, for the most part, his guest seemed more than willing to listen, which was a nice change to people ignoring his antics.