Disclaimer: I love Big Hero 6 and have really gotten it…but I don't own it.
Story: Hiro Hamada graduated high school at 13 and took 3 years to travel the world. At 16, she returns to San Fransokyo different than she used to be. Older and wearier, how will this Hiro still end up being a hero when all she wants is to be left alone? Fem!Hiro AU.
Set as a genderbent AU.
Spoilers: Yeeeessss. Yes, yes, yes. Beware?
Warnings: Hm, I need to think about this time.
Pairings: Eventual Kreihiro.

To SilverMarkings! A happy belated birthday –sorry for taking so long on this.

Hiro: Prometheus Complex
Chapter Nine: A Prelude to Darkness

"Uncle, what's this about?" Krei asked, amusing himself with a microbot Hiro had let him have. Of course, he couldn't actually do anything with it, but it was entertaining to just push it around and examine it, occasionally daydreaming about what could be done with a bunch of them.

"So I heard you went and picked up Hiro and her brother from jail," Uncle James said suddenly, not even bothering to sit down, and he winced.

"Ah, well, I personally thought it was amusing," Krei chuckled weakly.

"I have no issue about the situation and what you did, even if it would look out of place for you to personally involve yourself and go down to the police station yourself to retrieve them. It is, after all, one thing for her to call you to get them out of trouble, but another to go do something about it yourself," his uncle said seriously, giving him a frown. "But like I said, that's not even the issue that I am worried about. It's the ramifications of your actions that connect from the situation and to your…new usual habits these days."

Now Krei was thoroughly confused. What was his uncle on about now?

"You hang around Hiro a lot," Uncle James said gently. "You do so frequently and regularly that it's become more than a daily routine for you to come see her in her department. It's habit and people can more or less expect to find you there. That and with the fact that she actually thought to call you then and you went ahead to help her and her brother yourself, if people came to know about that time, it would start rumors."

Krei blinked. "Rumors? Of what?"

"Don't play dumb," Uncle James rebuked him, even though he really didn't understand what the problem was. "The fact you are around her all the time makes your relationship and contact conspicuous enough, but if people found out you went and did something like what you did will make it worse and people will question you two and just exactly how close you two are. Coupled with the fact that she's 16 years old and your employee, things will look strange and worrisome, especially for you. You can't afford a scandal, no matter how much either of us like her."

Krei grimaced. "That hadn't crossed my mind at all."

And it hadn't. He had found himself entertained by her presence and enjoyed being around her, even admitting that she'd become a friend of sorts, despite her youth. She was also one of, if not his best employee. And that time at the police station had been funny and sort of spontaneous, and it hadn't even made him think a second to not help her out and not go there himself.

"Has there been any rumors?" he asked hesitantly. It wouldn't do well to ruin his image or to cause her any problems. He'd have to think again on how to handle himself…

"Nothing passed her department," his uncle revealed, but that already surprised him since he hadn't even thought that anything was being said. "But that's expected, if unfortunate. You are practically a constant sight in her department, so her colleagues would have come to expect to see you and even begin to whisper amongst themselves. You're lucky enough they adore her though, and that it hasn't spread to the rest of the building and the business. The public also has no idea and we want to keep it that way, especially given Hiro's age."

"I understand," Krei nodded morosely, not really happy about this turn of events.

"Just be careful," Uncle James suggested more than warned, softening slightly. "Try not to be constantly by her side or…something. I'm sure you and I will be able to work something out in the future, have things look less strange. We'll figure something out."

"Yeah…"

Krei was still going to be disappointed at apparently having to distance himself from someone who he considered to be his only friend.


Hiro chewed on her pen, typing rapidly on the company computer she was assigned with and trying to finish the calculations.

"You have some deplorable habits," Krei's familiar voice said in amusement. "A tendency to chew on something when at work on something, and a messy habitat."

"My surroundings are a reflection of my soul. Chaotic genius," she declared dramatically, before grinning and whirling in her chair to face him. He was oddly at a polite distance away from her, which she mentally raised an eyebrow at. "Seriously though, I just can't be bothered. Plus, I end up cleaning after I'm done with the project."

"Which, apparently, according to you and your colleagues, you just begin a new mess for a new project."

Hiro shrugged, looking shameless. "True that. The chewing thing?" she shrugged again. "No idea. Anyway, what's up? Why are you here this time? And no, I'm not giving you another microbot or a demonstration."

He looked briefly disappointed before shaking himself out of it. "No, no, I was here for something else. I was actually just here to, um, invite you to accompany me through the convention again. I asked you before, but you might have forgotten in the face of your project. You have a bit of time before your showcase and you have to show off your project, but before that, you could walk with me and see about the other projects that are on display…"

"Oh! Right, right. That sounds interesting. It would be cool to actually go take a look around, see what others went to invent and make for everyone to see," Hiro mused. "Sure, why not? I'll meet you there. Tadashi and his friends are going to help me transport my microbots there, so afterwards, I'll meet you by the entrance or something?"

"Sounds about right," Krei nodded. "I'll meet you there. I'll call you to let you know when I'm there."

"Okay! Then tomorrow I'll come see you straight after I'm done setting up."

He gave her an awkward smile and then left her behind. She wondered what that was all about, considering he was acting weird and he usually stuck around for a bit.

"Huh. I'll just bug him about it tomorrow then."

Maybe he'll be normal by then anyway.


"You excited, Hiro?" Honey Lemon asked, though she was the one that was clearly excited.

Hiro was a mass of nerves. She gave everyone a shaky smile, continuing to pour the microbots into the containers along with the others.

"Geez, Hiro! How much of these did you make?" Freddy laughed.

"A lot. Now shut up and keep working," Go Go deadpanned.

"Why do you need so much of them?" Wasabi asked, while Tadashi listened in enjoyment in the background.

Hiro had told Tadashi, so he knew much of what she'd planned, however he still didn't have a complete picture. It was something else to actually see it happening than to just know about the plans.

"You'll see," Hiro said playfully. "Hopefully, it'll be a good presentation…" A little bit of her worry leaked through.

"Alright, let's pack this up and head over to SFIT," Tadashi announced to everyone. "Hiro, you're going to meet with Mr. Krei, right?"

"Yeah," Hiro said absentmindedly. "He said to meet him at the front after I was done setting up."

"Still can't believe you know Alistair Krei," Wasabi said in admiration.

"Or that you work for him," Go Go smirked.

Hiro laughed lightly, rubbing the back of her head. "Ahaha, well you know, it's not too big a deal."

Freddy snorted. "Uh huh."

"We're just about done! Let's head out, guys," Tadashi reminded them, seeing that they were practically done packing up. "Hiro, you should call him to let him know."

"Okay!"

The group was soon on their way after she was done, and they were all joking around and having fun on the drive over. Hiro wasn't as reticent and shy as she usually was. It was nice though. They were Tadashi's friends, but she was kind of feeling like they were getting to be her friends too.

She didn't really have a whole lot of that.

Actually, just recently, if she could think of who she could count as a friend, only Krei came to mind. Which was strange and maybe pathetic, considering he was her boss.

"We're here!" Honey Lemon sing-songed as they stopped and parked at the back of the building, so they could slip in the containers into it. They split up into groups of two, taking a container each and transporting it to secluded corners of the convention.

"So we're going to take a look around too," Tadashi told her when they gathered back together. "You go on and meet your boss."

Hiro smiled widely and hugged him, before she turned and left him for the entrance. She didn't even need to call, seeing Krei leaning casually by the wall near the entrance and his secretary Carla next to him.

"Hello, Hiro," Carla spotted her first, smiling slightly. "Mr. Krei, Hiro has arrived."

"I have eyes, Carla," Krei huffed, rolling said eyes before he focused on Hiro and grinned, heading over and playfully ruffling her hair before he suddenly snatched his hand back and kind of tucked it behind himself. "Hey! So ready to look around?"

Hiro hid her confusion, but nodded enthusiastically. "On the way to you, I saw a bunch of things I'd like to take a closer look at."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Carla said in amusement before hustling them along. "We've got a tight schedule if we want to see a lot of the inventions before it's time for Hiro's Krei Tech showcase."

It wasn't bad and even actually awesome. For someone like an introvert and unwilling to socialize kind of person Hiro was, to be out and about right now and having fun was certainly a change from the usual for her, and was definitely bringing her more out of her shell than she had been. It was unexpected, but not unwelcome.

It still made her surprised to find that she was doing so and acting like so with Krei of all people, but that was another issue altogether.

The two of them shifted from display to display, quietly commenting with each other with the occasional input from Carla, who mostly followed them around and was just keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't get up to any mischief together and cause some sort of chaos. With those two together, it was hard to tell when that would happen and what they'd end up doing. The two didn't know it, but it was largely known that the two of them became sort of troublemakers around the Krei Tech building when they were bored and ended up thinking up things to do, and/or started egging the other on. It was, however, nice to see Hiro interacting more and being a little more outgoing, so Carla and the rest supposed it wasn't too bad a problem.

"Sir, Hiro, I hate to interrupt, but Hiro is supposed to go on in a few minutes. We should head over so she can get on stage and get ready."

Krei and Hiro stopped what they were doing in surprise, but turned to each other.

"Ah, we should go then," Krei became excited and Hiro laughed.

"Okay, okay! Time for the demonstration finally, and you can see what these babies can do," Hiro held up a microbot and tossed into the air before catching it.

They headed towards the stage area, where they ran into Tadashi and the others, with Aunt Cassie and Mr. Alexander having joined them.

"Ready to go?" Mr. Alexander smiled gently at her.

Hiro's nerves were starting up now though and it was getting obvious. Krei ruffled her hair again.

"Don't worry," he said. "You'll be fine."

"Better than fine!" Tadashi said, looking at her reassuringly. "You're going to be great!"

A chorus of 'yeahs!' came from everyone and Hiro calmed a bit. Hiro shyly smiled at everyone before she left them to head to the stage. Once on it, she looked at the small crowd that had gathered, not confident anymore. But she caught a look from Tadashi, who gave her a thumbs up and she felt herself at least straighten up. Strangely, she found herself looking to Krei, who gave her a soft smile and a nod, and confidence was rushing into her.

"This is a microbot."

Started 2/11/17 – Completed 2/20/17

A/n: Ah, sorry for the wait. Lots have things have been going on, and this chapter was surprisingly hard to write. Hope you guys enjoyed it and please remember to leave a review!


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