"What is that girl's problem?" Hiro complained to his friends at the Periodic Cafe. "She pretends to be nice, then turns evil. She tries to build a robot but fails, like, epically, even though her friend practically is one. Oh yeah- and don't forget the time she nearly destroyed the city! And now she wants me to help her? There are just so many things wrong with that, but I can't even say no!" He tugged at his hair.

A brief silence ensued, then Wasabi spoke. "I honestly can't tell if you're talking about Trina or Karmi."

Hiro sighed. "Karmi wants me to help her with her biotech project by creating nano-bots that delve into the skin to treat deep lacerations while almost eliminating pain. She said they're for Sycorax..." he glanced at them meaningfully. He had a strong suspicion that Sycorax's operations were far from ethically viable. They literally dehumanised their clients, leaving them to destroy the city as monsters. Or at least Hiro was pretty sure that was true. His friends nodded grimly. Sycorax had really started to come between Hiro and Karmi, caused by what Karmi thought was Hiro's irrational paranoia, and what Hiro thought was Karmi's refusal to accept the overwhelming evidence.

Well, maybe not that overwhelming.

Hiro continued. "You get the picture. If I help her, Sycorax could potentially destroy the world."

"Ooh," Fred interrupted. "Classic hero dilemma. I said hero, by the way, not Hiro, though I guess both apply. Doing what is morally right can have catastrophic consequences- you should see Captain Fancy issue 87."

"Just don't help her," Gogo said bluntly. "What have you got to lose?"

"What have I got to- " Hiro ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. But she- she would lose..."

"Lose what?"

"I don't know." He thought about it. "I guess I'll just say no then."

"Aww," frowned Fred. "That was so much less of a dilemma than I thought it would be."

Later that afternoon, Hiro knocked on Karmi's lab door, and told her.

"I'm sorry, Karmi. It's just too much to ask of me; I'm not sure I'd be able to do that."

Karmi scoffed. "Too much to ask of San Fransokyo's resident robotics prodigy? Is there such a thing?"

Hiro didn't miss the compliment in disguise. "Maybe you could find someone else?" he suggested.

"No genius, you were hardly my first choice. Although..." she tapped her chin. "There was this one person who wanted to help. She's about my age, but she only told me she'd be up for the job yesterday, and I thought I was going to do it with you. Never mind."

"That's great!" Hiro turned to leave, then paused. The dilemma was coming back to him. "Are you sure? If you want I could stay for a bit and help with the design."

"You think I want you to stay?"

And that was Hiro's cue.

"Big Hero 6- on the move. Ba-da-da-da-da da-da-da-da da. Big hero 6 are in the groove. Sha-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la la. Going on Night Watch to look for the monsters. Things like these are kind of bonkers. Don't get me started on Bessie the Beastie. Or Liv Amara the Bestie. Or Momokase the knife thrower. Or Noodle Burger Boy the ketchup blower. Or- "

Gogo groaned. "Fred, please don't get started."

"Freddie, the song was nice the first four times, but I think I'd be ok if you stopped for now." Honey Lemon pleaded mildly.

Suddenly, Hiro stood up straight. "Guys, shush! Do you hear that?"

In the night, every shadow looked like a genetically-modified creature. But this one especially so. They were standing on a rooftop, looking down at the traffic, and every dark-coloured car seemed like a bunch of endangered citizens just waiting to happen.

Just then, the team heard the clank of metal and saw a blur of purple, and in a flash they had been teleported.

At least that's what it felt like to them.

Big Hero 6 woke simultaneously to the crash of a metal box. They turned swiftly in unison to the source of the sound. Out of the box stepped two figures. One was a hunky, electric purple and black robot with the head of a girl, and the other was the familiar Noodle Burger Boy.

Fred gasped. "You guys! We've been kidnapped by supervillains! You know what this means?"

"Someone's going to get hurt today," said Gogo.

"I can't tell if she's talking about Fred, the villains, or us." Wasabi shook his head.

"What it means is that I'm finally on the same level as my dad! We've both been kidnapped by our archnemeses! What a day!" Fred said jubilantly.

After a little stuggling, Gogo had ripped through her binds with brute strength. The skin on her wrists was raw with rope burn from the action, but otherwise she looked scarily determined.

Neither the robot nor the robot-girl seemed perturbed.

"Trina," Hiro stated, glaring at her.

"Hi, Hiro," she boomed. Perhaps the new voice had come with the upgrade and shaved head. "Wondering why we've brought you here?"

"We'll stop wondering if you just let us out. I'd ask what you want, but whatever it is I'm sure it's nothing good. Gogo's already free; she's going to free us too."

Baymax spoke up. "No one is entirely free in and of themselves."

Honey Lemon and Wasabi groaned together. "We tried to teach him philosophy," she explained.

"To make me a better health care professional in the area of: psychological therapy."

Trina interrupted this. "Hello? We don't have time for chit-chat. Do we not look like intimidating enough villains to you or something?"

Gogo had relaxed by this point. "If you wanted to hurt us, you would have done that before." She popped a bubblegum bubble.

"Gee whiz, miss, you're right," said Noodle Burger Boy. "We want your help."

"That's right," affirmed Trina. She walked up to Hiro confidently, until she was dangerously close. But Hiro maintained a sly smile- there was no point in giving her the satisfaction of being scared. "You will not help Karmi with her Sycorax assignment."

Hiro was taken aback. "Wait what? Why?"

The others looked from him to Trina: Hiro had already said he wouldn't help Karmi. And that was a strange request from a murderous girl-bot.

"You will. And, you will not tell anyone- anyone- that I am a robot, or that I am working with her on the project," she demanded. "For if you breathe a word, that breath will be your last."

Hiro audibly laughed at this. "You're going to kill me? As if you would."

"Hiro," stated Baymax. "She is a robot. She is like me. We do not have a moral compass,"

"Hang on," started Honey Lemon. "You're working with Karmi on the project?"

"You are?" echoed Hiro.

Trina paused. "Oh. I thought you guys already knew. What with Karmi giving you all those clues."

"About my age, robotics, she said..." Hiro muttered. "I should have known."

Trina snorted in a way that was not unlike Karmi. "Where did all those cells in your big brain go, genius? Karmi extract them for pathogen testing or something?" Noodle Burger Boy was the only one who laughed, creepily but slightly cute.

"So what it gonna be? Will you do as I say?"

"What choice do I have?"

Baymax raised his pointer finger. "You always have a choice."

Fred furrowed his brow. "You know, we could always do that thing where we say that we will do as she says, but not do it? That's what my dad always did. Also do you mind telling us every step of your plan? That's always a bonus."

"Hah! You insult us by comparing us to Von Steamer. I will know, Hiro. And if you know me, you'd know that I'm telling the truth. I'll let you guys go back now, but don't forget. There's no such this as an accident in my books, so be careful of what you say.

And Hiro."

"Trina?"

"Do. Not. Help Karmi in any way."

"Yes, ma'am," Hiro joked. He knew that only something bad could happen with the new arrangement, especially if Trina had teamed up somehow with Sycorax like Momokase and the other villains. He would think of some way around this later.

The next second, they were back on the roof. None of them were stunned.

Hiro checked his watch. "3 am!" he practically shouted. "Aunt Cass is going to kill me if Trina doesn't first..."

Baymax came in with a reality check. "Hiro, you have an end-of-term assignment due in. 5 hours and. 30 minutes. It is currently. -1% complete."

"Oh, *bleep* I'm screwed. Minus one percent? How does that even happen?"

"You will see when we get home."

Hiro jumped on Baymax's back, waved a hasty goodbye to his friends, and rode home.

It was only when he got there that he realised he had left them stranded on the roof.