Well February just seems to be the month that loved to kick us while we were down. Yet another chapter without the adventures of Stan and Fred I am afraid, and for the same reason. Once more, the sky has lost one of its stars and the world has become just that much dimmer than it was before.

February 27th 2015, at the age of 83, Leonard Simon Nimoy passed away due to complications from COPD. For twenty one of the last twenty six years, he and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise have been one of my greatest sources of entertainment and inspiration. While Monty Oum was the man who stoked the embers of creativity and got me back on my feet, it was the work of Gene Roddenberry that first opened my eyes to the world of fiction and it's Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

So, this chapter will be dedicated to him, as my way of saying thanks for all his hard work both in the world of fiction as well as conservation and charity. It is also my way to say farewell to him as he has now joined Gene Roddenberry, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, and Majel Barrett to boldly explore The Final Frontier.

"The miracle is this - the more we share, the more we have." -Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015

Checking the time on her phone yet again, GoGo sighed.

"It's quarter after seven. Where the hell is he? I dropped everything and hauled ass to get back as soon as possible, and he doesn't even bother to show up?"

At first she had been worried, Fred's message had been strange to say the least and with everything else going on she was already a little on edge. After an hour passed that worry turned into annoyance. Two hours later and annoyance turned into outright hostility.

She had been having fun. Something of a rarity these days, in fact nonexistent after Tadashi's death up until they had stopped Callaghan, after which it went back to nothing. She had skipped her afternoon class and even from heading to the Nerd Lab to work on her bike, which was still behind schedule and nowhere near far enough along for her upcoming demonstration in just a few weeks.

Three and a half hours after that, she was downright livid. If Fred showed his face, she was going to skin him alive and drag him down the road behind her bike.

At least to start. She had spent the better part of the last few hours coming up with new and creative method of torturing the hapless idiot, with her plans becoming more creative the longer she waited. Currently she was contemplating which could cause more pain on an open wound. Salt or chili powder.

A series of lightning fast knocks at her door brought her out of her thoughts though did nothing to improve her mood. Narrowing her eyes into a fierce glare, she rose and quickly made her way to her dorms entrance.

"I'll start with a potato peeler, but then when he thinks it's over, I'll switch over to the-" all thought ceased when she opened the door.

She had expected many things, hoped for others, but expected many nonetheless. But from the countless possibilities her mind had summoned, this had not been one of them.

Standing before her, looking from side to side with a nervous twitch was Fred Lee. Hunched over and clutching a briefcase to his chest, he was wearing his mascot outfit and shaking like the last dying leaf on a tree in the harsh winter wind.

"Fred?"

Head snapping to her at hearing her voice, he lunged forward and closed the door behind him, locking *all* of her locks before running to her small table.

"Fred? What the-" she didn't get the chance to finish as he clamped his gloved hand over her mouth and whispered in the harshest tone she had ever heard to keep quiet and not say a word.

Depositing the briefcase on the ground he ran back to her table and took one of her chairs and propped it up against the door to jam it shut before rushing to her TV and turning it on, raising the volume as high as it could go then setting it to a Spanish soap opera. He then grabbed her arm and pulled her hard, nearly to the floor as he moved to the back or her dorm, briefcase firmly clutched to his chest once more.

"Fred, what the-" again she was silenced, but not by the hand covering her mouth.

It was the raw look of fear in his eyes.

Never, not once in all the time she had known him had she once seen Fred THIS afraid. Not when he spilt soda all over Wasabi's lab station, not even during Baymax's rampage.

THAT had her afraid.

Pulling her along until he found what he was looking for, the bathroom; he pulled her in and shut the door behind them, locked it, and turned on both the sink and shower.

The two stood in the middle of the room, all sound drowned out by the running water for nearly a minute before Fred finally spoke.

Looking her dead in the eye, he swallowed, and then frowned.

"We have a serious problem."

Only now able to fully absorb everything he had done, GoGo glared, but it again waned at the raw look of fear in his eyes.

Turning his back to her, he closed the toilet seat and motioned towards it before sitting on the rim of her shower/bath.

"I told you that I would try to give you a hand, but...I..." taking a deep breath, he cleared his throat and stopped. Reaching into his suit he produced a lighter and set it beside him then pulled the briefcase into his lap and opened it.

"Fred, what is going on?"

"GoGo, trust me, you need to sit down. This is serious. Hiro is in a lot of trouble, and so are we. I don't know everything that's going on, man, I don't know jack, but I know enough now to know we are seriously, deeply, royally screwed."

Seeing that he wasn't going to say anything else until she was sitting, GoGo sighed and took her seat. Something was up, she could tell easily enough, but she also knew Fred had a tendency to exaggerate and blow things out of proportion.

"He also thought a super villain trying to kill us was awesome," part of her mind cautioned.

"Remember last time we talked, I asked you how they could interrogate a minor? And we both thought it was weird that the police would bug his room?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I found out how, and why," pausing, Fred swallowed. "GoGo, it's not the police. This thing, this thing is huge, it's..." Pausing again he reached into the briefcase and pulled out a folder and handed it to her.

The folder was unusual; she noticed that instead of the standard manila color it was a dark shade of blue. The second thing she noticed was the entire front covered with what appeared to be a large black eagle with wings spread open across the front. The 'eagle' was likewise enclosed within a large circle and she could just barely make out writing along the outside of the circle. Turning the folder around, she read the words under her breath."

"Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate?"

Fred nodded, "They operate under the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division."

"And they would be?" Sure, she knew something was obviously wrong given how Fred was acting, and while wary, until she actually saw or heard something to convince her otherwise she would remain as such.

Fred took another deep breath and tapped the folder she was holding. "Open it, read it, fast if you don't mind."

With a raised eyebrow GoGo flipped the folder open and was shocked by what she saw. There, looking right at her was a photograph of herself, but not just any photograph.

It was her mug shot.

Looking up at Fred she was about to ask where he got the photo, but before she could even start he cut her off.

"Read it, the rest."

Glancing back down she moved the photo aside and found both a copy of her original record as well as a translated English copy. As soon as she realized what it was she ignored it and flipped it aside. Of all people, she knew those details by memory. What followed however was...disconcerting. Copies of every traffic ticket she had gotten since coming to the states, a photocopy of her driver's license and birth certificate, social security card, her diploma, medical records, her university transcript, banking statements, she half expected to find copies of her grocery receipts.

"Okay, so aside from the fact that I have a serious stalker problem? What is this? Where did you get this?

Rather than answer her questions Fred handed her another folder.

With a sigh she took it and flipped it open.

Much like the first, it was another folder filled with copies of records. Arrest, mug shot, school records, everything. The only difference was whose record it was.

Hiro's

True to his word, he had been arrested. Not that she thought he was lying exactly, but perhaps exaggerated a little.

Looking up she found a third folder held waiting for her.

"Is there a point to all this?"

Fred nodded but didn't say anything.

Sighing again, this time more in frustration than anything else she flipped the folder open, wondering if it would be Fred's or maybe Cass's this time.

She was surprised to find that it was neither. Though there was a photo looking up at her on top. Yet another photo of her, but this one was much more recent.

Very recent.

There, sitting on her lap and looking up at her was a photo of her on her bike riding down the interstate.

With Hiro sitting behind her.

Head snapping up, she looked at Fred with more than a touch of alarm.

"Where did you get this?!"

Fred started, then paused, started again, but stopped, then finally spoke. "I can't tell you that."

"HOW did you get this?!"

Again Fred tried and failed to reply several times before again answering "I can't tell you that."

"Damn it Fred what the hell?! What is this?!"

"I...shouldn't tell you that," Fred replied after swallowing nervously before once again tapping the folder. "Keep reading."

Flipping the photo over she found several more from earlier that day, her pulling up to the Lucky Cat, going inside, even a few photos of her inside Hiro's room. As she flipped the photos over one by one she found an overall picture starting to form. There were photos of her on campus, entering and exiting the dorm building, the campus itself, the lab, thankfully she noticed there were none from inside the campus at least but that did little to comfort her.

She found a number of pictures taken of her while delivering packages, one of her locking her bike up, and even one of the person who cut her bike lock with a pair of bolt cutters the previous week.

Unlike the others, she set that particular photo aside, earning a raised eyebrow from Fred.

"Personal," she replied, having set the photo face down so that he couldn't see it.

Finally there were no more photos left in the folder, but instead of records what she found appeared to be a report.

"Subject Ethel Tanaka, prior association with target is unknown. No family connection or previously recorded contact between subject and target criminal history. Only established path of contact possible through deceased former student Tadashi Hamada (See case file 0493772 ongoing investigation). Preliminary interrogation of Robert Callaghan confirms both Subject and the deceased have/had access to San Fransokyo Institution of Technology's Industrial and Technological Research and Development Laboratories, however investigation into records have found no correlating accreditation between them. Data retrieval from confiscated materials of target indicates only singular previous contact between Subject and Target of no consequential nature. No previous contact discovered within confiscated materials of deceased to indicate any form of connection."

Looking up at Fred, GoGo frowned before she continued reading.

"Records indicate a single contact made between Subject and mobile device owned by the deceased several months after their death. Same mobile device was used to contact additional San Fransokyo Institution of Technology students Aiko Miyazaki and David Claremont, in additional to Fransokyo Institution of Technology mascot Fred Lee. Students Aiko Miyazaki and David Claremont confirmed to have access to San Fransokyo Institution of Technology's Industrial and Technological Research and Development Laboratories, no current information to indicate Fred Lee has access to same facilities. Mobile device used to initiate contact has made no further contacts at this time. Tracking and locating of mobile device has not yet been established."

Turning to the next page GoGo's brow drew together in confusion.

"Permission for continued observation is granted. Authorization for interceding is granted only upon confirmation of negative intention or actions taken by Subject on or towards Target. Current psychological analysis indicates no immediate threat or danger presented by continued contact of Subject towards Target despite Subjects criminal history. Established behavioral patterns indicate no clear indication of current criminal actions of consequence or concern nor which may impact current investigation 04332975."

Shaking her head, GoGo looked up at Fred with a mostly confused but now slightly 'freaked out' expression.

"What IS all of this? Fred, what the hell is going on?"

Fred swallowed and licked his lips before taking a deep breath.

"Look, you know what the NSA is right?" Seeing GoGo nod he continued, "Basically, these guys are like the NSA, but a lot bigger. I don't know much, but from what I can tell they work with, for, or are part of the UN Security Council. These guys, they are the real deal, the Men In Black."

"But what is all of this? Why do they have," pausing she picked up the first folder and help it open to her mug shot. "This! Why do they have this! What is all of this Fred! Why are they treating Hiro like he's some kind of criminal?! He hasn't don't anything wrong, he hasn't done anything illegal...well, not since before Tadashi died, so why? What is going on?!"

"GoGo, these guys DO deal with criminals, but not all the time, all I know is they deal with threats, and not every threat is a criminal. Sometimes...something's good people with good intentions are the most dangerous thing on Earth. An honest person just trying to make the world a better place can be just as dangerous as some nut with a nuke."

"Hiro is a kid!"

"I know that, but it doesn't matter-"

"The hell it doesn't! Just because someone stole his invention, they're looking at him like he's some kind of terrorist?!"

"Yeah, they are, because in their eyes he might be a threat. I told you, these guys don't deal with criminals, they deal with threats, and there is a big difference between the two."

"He hasn't done anything wrong!"

"I know that, they know that, it's probably why he is still at home with his aunt and not sitting in some white padded room somewhere. They don't care if he's done anything wrong or not, they don't care if he is a good kid or not, all they care about is if he is a threat or not."

"This...this is WRONG." Shaking her head to clear her thoughts and push back the memories of her own childhood, GoGo felt her blood beginning to boil. Hiro wasn't a threat to anyone, not any more. She wasn't stupid nor was she blind, Hiro had the perfect opportunity to end Callaghan once and for all, but he didn't, he stopped Yokai and risked his life to rescue the man's daughter. He had a lot of unresolved issues floating around in his head and he needed help, but he was far from a threat.

"Why would they even think he was a threat? What makes him dangerous, at least to them?" she asked bluntly.

Fred raised an eyebrow at the question. "Uh, his brain? Remember what I said back at the bunker? Hiro didn't just design and create the microbots; he made all our suits too. The kid has a ton of potential, but depending on what he does with it...well, that's probably what they are worried about and looking at."

GoGo sank in on herself at that.

The truth of the matter was pretty simple, and that had been her suspicion from the start. But to hear someone else, Fred of all people voice similar thoughts was less than ideal.

"He's been given a bad hand, like a million other people out there. But just because he happens to be gifted, they automatically expect the worse from him. Just because...wait..." Glancing up at Fred, GoGo's eyes narrowed in concentration.

"You said they know he isn't a bad guy, and that was probably why he was still living with his aunt. Why did you say that?"

Fred's brow drew together in confusion. "What, you mean it's not obvious?" When she raised a thin eyebrow in response Fred sighed.

"Did you even read what was in those folders? Did you read the files? Hiro is under observation, same as you now, and probably me, and Honey Lemon, and Wasabi. If I had to, I would bet they've gone through Honey and Wasabi's places and looked for anything suspicious. You and I are the only ones they can't get to."

GoGo's blank stare made Fred groan.

"Think about it, there is no way they are getting in my house. My dad is too well connected and has too many friends in too many high places. It's too high profile to try and sneak in. You're here, in a privately funded university that's filled to the brim with tin foil hat wearing nerds. I told you before, they aren't getting in here, UN or not, this place has too many private investors who would throw a fit."

"So what about Wasabi and Honey Lemon? I've seen them...well, around; they didn't say anything or act different than normal."

"Well duh, Wasabi left his gear at my lab and Honey Lemon didn't have anything left remember? She set off her purse, and her costume wasn't exactly, you know, tech-y."

GoGo nodded, seeing his logic, which to be frank was starting to frighten her.

Glancing back at the report she noticed again the remark about a 'mobile device' that had contacted her and the others, which was odd since she didn't remember Tadashi ever calling her before...

Face palming GoGo let out a groan.

"Baymax, that's what this is all about, it's Baymax."

"Huh?"

"Fred that report mentioned a 'mobile device' owned by Tadashi that was used to contact us after he died. Tadashi died in the same fire everyone thought Callaghan did, but he turned out to be alive."

Fred slowly began nodding. "I see where you're going...Callaghan faked his death, and then almost wiped out ten blocks of the city. So you think that they think Tadashi did the same thing?"

GoGo nodded in reply. "It makes sense; you said that these guys are interested in threats, not criminals. Everyone thought Callaghan was dead after the fire, but he wasn't. Hiro said they didn't believe him or Callaghan about the microbot's being his invention. If these guys are half as paranoid as you make them out to be, I'm willing to bet they are watching us and Hiro because they're waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Fred scowled while GoGo shook her head in disgust.

"That's a new kind of low, but I can see what you mean...Tadashi did install an iPhone in Baymax, I remember that because he was having a hard time with it getting a signal for awhile."

"And Baymax used it to contact us, that's how we tracked Hiro down to the docks. Calls coming from a phone registered to someone who's been dead for months is going to look suspicious when the other guy who 'died' in the same fire turns up alive."

"So you think they are watching us because they are waiting for Tadashi to show up?"

GoGo shrugged. "Possibly, maybe? I don't know...I just...something isn't right with this. Hiro...I get why he might be a blip on their radar I guess, but he hasn't done anything to really deserve this. Before Tadashi brought him to the Nerd Lab he didn't care about college or universities. He just wanted to have fun, enjoy himself and find a challenge. That's why he turned to bot fighting."

Eyes scrunched together, Fred raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that?"

"Because he told me, I was eating lunch with him when you sent that text."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I took him out to Benito's and we just...what?"

Since arriving, Fred had switched between two modes. Fearful and paranoid. But now she was seeing another mode, one she didn't like.

Haughty

"What?"

"You? Took Hiro out? Now, that sounds a bit like a-"

"Don't finish that-"

"date," Fred teased.

Glaring, the teen held up the dark blue and black folders in her hands.

"Really Fred? Really? You come here telling me that I've got some kind of Government spooks stalking me and Hiro, and everyone else," (she ignored his smirk) "and now you're what? Trying to tease me or something? Why don't you try being just a little bit mature for once? I'm still trying to figure out why you're in your mascot outfit."

"Uh, because it's smart, and it's like, super stealthy, duh."

"Smart? Super stealthy? Fred, you're a six foot tall LIZARD, how is that stealthy? You're in a lizard suit, you're not a chameleon."

Fred snorted and crossed his arms.

"GoGo, nobody, and I mean NOBODY uses normal cameras anymore, and they haven't for the last ten years. All the police, military and government spooks use FLIR cams now, digital thermal imaging. This thing," Fred tugged on the neck of his mascot uniform "is designed for hot weather; it's got a water circulating cooling system and absorbs body heat. So yeah, I might stick out like a sore thumb on a normal cell phone camera, but on infra red? I'm to-ta-lly invisible. And guess which one the Government spends its money on?"

Stopped short, GoGo's eyes bulged. That was twice Fred showed a sign of actual intelligence.

It was official; she was starting to freak out.

"Since when we're you this smart?"

"Since always, you just started listening to me after you saw an actual super villain with your own eyes."

Raising her hand and pointing at Fred, GoGo was forced to pause and consider his words.

"Look, I know that I seem out there a lot, and I might not be super smart like you and everyone else in the Nerd Lab, but I'm not a moron."

Sighing, GoGo shook her head. "I know, I'm sorry Fred, it's just, this...I don't know if I should be freaking out or worried about me or Hiro or you, Wasabi or Honey Lemon just...disappearing in the middle of the night."

"Hey, I'm freaking out too okay? I actually DID change my underwear after I found that stuff."

GoGo's obvious disgust was summarily ignored as Fred continued.

"But you know what? I'm...not worried. To be honest. Scared out of my pants, but not worried. I mean, so what? If they come after us, what are we going to do about it?"

"Go down fighting, swinging, try to take a couple of them with me," GoGo replied without missing a beat.

"What?! They're just doing their job."

"So is the cop who tries to give me a speeding ticket. Doesn't mean I'll make it easy for them. I've seen this before; I lived this for sixteen years. If they try to put me down because they think I'm some kind of threat, then I'll go down AS a threat and try to bloody a few noses first."

"But if you don't give them any reason to think you are a threat, they'll leave you alone. Same with Hiro."

"Hiro, who's pretty much lost everything except his aunt and his cat, locked himself up in his room and stewing in his depression you mean?"

Fred's shoulders sagged at that remark.

Narrowing her eyes, she could tell that he was fighting with himself over something.

"Is there something else?"

"Hm?"

"You're hiding something, I can tell."

Slightly panicked Fred held up his hands.

"No, no, no no no, no. I'm not hiding anything, I'm just...I don't know what to say...this is kind of...devils crossroads here."

Shooting her friend a curious look, GoGo motioned for him to explain himself.

Sighing and looking to the side before sagging, Fred groaned.

"You and Hiro went out to lunch today?"

GoGo nodded, warily raising an eyebrow just waiting for him to try and get a jab in on her.

"He told you why he got into bot fighting?"

"Yeah, you're point?"

"Did he tell you anything else?"

"Anything else? Like what?"

"ANYTHING else? I mean, you know, did he talk to you, was there any actual conversation or what?"

GoGo's eyes shifted to one side and narrowed in thought, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"A few things, yeah. We just talked, for like, an hour."

"You talked to him, he talked to you, or you talked to each other?"

"We talked to each other," giving her head a small shake and beginning to lose patients she glared at the man child. "Is there a point to this? What are you looking for?"

Head rocking from side to side, Fred paused to give her a frown.

"He talked to you, you talked to him, and you had an actual conversation with him...that's what I'm getting at."

"So what? Big deal?"

"The deal GoGo, is Hiro never really talked to any of us. He talked at us, but he never really just...talked, at least not that I remember."

"That's not true, he talked to us plenty. Remember when we helped him with his mircobots? I don't think stopped to breath the entire time," GoGo smirked at the memory. A kid in a candy store had nothing on the boy when he was brainstorming something.

"No, he didn't, that's what I'm trying to say. Hiro didn't talk TO us he talked AT us. He told us what to do, what he needed or what he was trying to do, but that's not the same thing as actually talking to someone. When he made our super suits it was pretty much the same thing, we told him what we wanted, and then he made it happen, yeah he even explained it but the only person I ever saw him really talking to was Baymax."

GoGo frowned at that, recalling several times she and Hiro had spent the entire night talking about their projects. Hiro was brilliant, no argument, but he wasn't exactly creative. He duplicated things and improved on them, but he didn't come up with things of his own. Case and point his microbots, which were miniaturized duplicates of his Megabot, which in turn was a miniaturized duplicate of Robert Callaghan's frictionless articulation drone.

He had the ability to improve anything you showed him, could seemingly solve any problem needed to make something work, but there was a downside to that she had picked up on.

Hiro thought two dimensionally.

With her suit, his idea had been to mount a pair of miniaturized maglev wheels to a pair of boots. The theory was sound, and in testing they found it worked perfectly. The only problem was unlike everyone else, she had zero offensive capabilities. That was why Hiro had been so insistent on making sure she had some form of armor to help protect her.

After the initial test where she used a nearby garden hose to entrap the Lee family's faithful butler Heathcliff, she pointed out this problem to the young genius, asking what she was suppose to do if they had to fight the Yokai anywhere other than someone's back yard.

Initially he had been stumped, as had she, but while toying with one of her maglev boots as she often did with her bike wheels when trying to think (pulling it away and letting go as if it were a magnetic yoyo) she had an epiphany.

The maglev discs would always return to their docking ports as long as they moved close enough to the polarity point. And while history had not been her best subject, even she remembered the stories of Captain America from back in World War II, how he used a Vibranium shield like a throwing disc as a projectile weapon.

She knew that she was onto something, she just didn't know how to make it work...which fortunately for her wasn't a problem as she had someone on hand who could make it work. All she had to do was suggest attaching a second pair of maglev discs, this time to her wrists, and mention 'Captain America's shield'.

It took him an hour to rewire the auxiliary batteries in the armguards into the primary circuit and create an interface along with an entire electromagnetic stabilizing system. Wanting to help out she spent that time crafting the second set of maglev blades using his updated schematics. Though she had snapped at Hiro when he tried to take that over as well.

"Don't you get it? GoGo, he let you in."

Snapped out of her thoughts the teen turned her attention back to Fred.

"Let me in?"

"Yeah, well, that's what we Big's call it. It means he trusts you, problem is...well, look; you've got two choices here. You can do the smart thing, or you can do the right thing."

"What's the difference?"

"The smart thing would be to run like hell, find a private plane and fly it to Budapest, shave your head, change your name and live out the rest of your life in a monastery as a monk."

"And the right thing to do would be?"

"Use the fact that Hiro trusts you to help him. I'm not going to lie, he needs help, just from what you've told me, I'm willing to bet he's reached the point where he's so lonely that he's thankful just to have someone care he exists. The problem is that helping him is basically suicide. It hurts me to think it, but...I don't know if I could help him if I was in your shoes."

GoGo snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious! GoGo, I love kids, I hope that one day I'll have a bunch of my own, and my parents raised me to always help people whenever you can. But I also happen to know there are far worse things in life than dying. And I'm willing to bet these spooks...well..."

"Are you afraid or not? You seem to have a hard time deciding."

Fred frowned at the sarcasm that dripped from her voice.

"I said that I wasn't worried, not that I'm not afraid. I *am* afraid, I'm terrified, but at the same time I know there's nothing I can do about this. If they want me, they'll come and get me, and there is nothing I can to about that. So yeah, I'm afraid, but since I can't really do anything about it I'm not going to worry about it...I'll just...try to do what I can to make them *not* see me as a threat."

Rising from his seat, Fred took a moment to look around her bathroom while she was deep in thought. Just when she was about to ask him what he was looking for, he apparently found it.

Her trash can.

Setting it in the middle of the floor, he dropped the three folders into it, then took a small can of what looked suspiciously like lighter fluid and started squirting it into the trash can.

"He can NOT be seriously thinking that I'm going to let him-" the unfinished thought was confirmed when Fred lit the lighter he had brought and dropped it into the trash can.

Gaping, her mouth closed when she noticed just how pensive Fred looked.

"I've got to get going...don't put that, let it finish on its own. Make sure there is *nothing* left okay?" Fred explained before offering a small, oddly sad smile. "Whatever you do, it's up to you. Just remember, if you help Hiro, you're putting a really big bulls eye on your back."

Frowning as he left, GoGo watched him leave, still not having got up from her seat as she watched the fire in her trash can burning away at its contents. Her attention drifted to the photo she had set aside of the young man that stole her bike, and after studying it for a moment she dropped it into the pyre as well, watching it shrink and shrivel as the flames consumed it.

Running through the SFIT parking lot, Fred came to a dead stop when one of the car's lights flashed on and pulled out, cutting him off.

Swallowing the nervous lump in his throat, Fred stood his ground and made no move to run or escape. Instead he waited until it pulled up. When a hand clamped down on his shoulder, he didn't even jump.

"Get in."

It was not a suggestion.

Several minutes later as the black car with tinted windows made its way through the nearly empty streets of San Fransokyo, Fred was mentally keeping track of every turn they made trying to figure out where they were going. He had an idea, and he didn't like it. The entire ride had been in silence, the driver seemed to have known where to drive them before he was told to get into the car.

Finally, the car came to a stop, and so did Fred's heart as he realized exactly where they were.

"Did you tell her?"

Swallowing thickly, Fred nodded, but quickly figured they wanted a verbal response. It was difficult, but he managed to choke out a single word.

"Yes."

Several long moments passed without a sound passing between the car and its occupants. The same strong voice that had spoken earlier then made itself known once more.

"Did you warn her?"

Fred's heart skipped a beat.

"No," he croaked out, eyes still boring holes in the floorboard. In the back of his mind, he had never been so happy in his life that his father knew how to text as he had been right now.

Again the car was filled with silence, until finally a single word was spoken.

"Good."

The large man who had been sitting next to him opened the door and got out, though Fred didn't move a muscle. As he had told GoGo, he wasn't a moron, and while he was indeed afraid, he wasn't worried. His thoughts were brought to a halt when his door was opened and the large man instructed him to get out of the car.

Calmly and carefully Fred did as he had been told, and looked up.

They were parked in front of his home.

Once he was on the sidewalk, the large man got back into the cars back seat and closed the door behind himself before the car casually pulled away without another word.

Not that one was needed. Actions spoke louder than words, and these actions were louder than any cannon.

We know who you are. We know where you live.

With shaky steps, Fred made his way into the house, closed the door behind him, and then promptly fainted.

Emerging from her shower, more tensed and frustrated than she had been before, GoGo's mind was buzzing with everything that she had learned. The more and more she learned, the more she didn't like what she was finding, and the more questions there seemed to be.

Something was going on, something big, and Hiro was right in the crosshairs. Along with her, and possibly everyone else.

With her towel wrapped securely, she made her way around the small dorm, setting everything back into its place. The chair Fred had moved, switched her TV back to English before turning it off, turned off her sink and switched off the garbage disposal she had poured the soaking wet ashes down before taking her shower.

"I've already got two strikes against me...and even Fred..." GoGo shook her head. If there was anything that disturbed her above all else this night, it was Fred's admission that he would have left Hiro for his own sake. To hear that coming from someone that devoted so much of their time to helping others, volunteering wherever he could, left a cold and hollow feeling in her chest. There was no other way around it. Fred was afraid, the very same Fred that had not once been afraid during their entire short stint at Heroes with their lives on the line the entire time.

Returning to her room and changing into her night clothes, she considered what she did know, not what she thought, what she *knew*.

Hiro was alone. Hiro was hurting. Hiro was being isolated. Hiro was being watched like a hawk. She had a criminal record and nobody would bat an eye if she disappeared one day.

GoGo cringed at that thought and pushed it aside. She knew that wasn't true; there was one person that would miss her. And that in turn was the problem.

"After everything he's been through, and after everything he's done for me, do I really want to put that on him?"

Returning to the living room, she pulled the cushions from her couch and set them aside, then pulled her 'bed' out and unfolded it.

"Dad's been through enough already, and half of it's my fault. If anything happened to me..."

A physical ache settled in her chest at the idea of her father simply not hearing from her one day. No reason given, no explanation, just like thin air gone without a trace.

Looking down, her hands clenched into fists as she gazed down into the hole left after pulling her bed out. To be more specific, at what was looking up at her from that hole.

"But at the same time..."

Bending over and reaching into the hole, her hands grabbed onto the item in question and pulled it out.

A flood of memories washed across her mind. Memories of a child, whose life had been nothing but pain, isolation, and misery. Closing her eyes she let the memories sweep her away, back to the past. A young girl who had no friends, who was treated like an animal by her classmates and as less than human by her teachers. Looked down on and treated like a criminal for something she had no control over, for no other reason than being who she was. Surrounded by people, but at the same time so completely alone.

Opening her eyes, GoGo ignored the tears in her reflection and instead focused on it itself. The short pigtails vanishing, her light brown hair turning black as night, their natural highlights turning purple and the fearful hollow eyes turning hard as stone.

Taking a deep breath, GoGo whispered under her breath, "Na-ege abeoji leul yongseo hasibsio. Geuleona geuneun deo dangsinboda jeoleul pil-yolohanda."

Setting the yellow and black helmet back, next to her armor and suit, she put her cushions over them.

Stan's Soap Box

Face Front, True Believers! It's time for some more questions from our readers! I apologize for this chapter taking so long, but I rewrote it three times before I was happy with it. I wanted it to be a bit dark, but it kept coming out as way to much angst for my taste and I had to keep toning it down. Also if anyone can figure out what GoGo said, it's a clue for many things to come. Suffice it to say there is quite a bit more to GoGo than meets the eye. But you'll have to wait and see to learn more about her past.

grandpagohan1 chapter 2 . Mar 5: This isn't bad. You got the characters down pretty good. And as a huge and ever-growing fan of HiroGo (yes, I do that amalgamation thing... don't judge me) I love a good story pairing them up, or even just moving them closer together. Although you do know Jamie Chung revealed GoGo's name to be Ethel, right? I assumed Tomago was her natural last name, buuuuuut since it's a corruption of a Japanese word and she's of Korean descent... yeah, that doesn't make much sense. Makes more sense Fred would assume she's Japanese and accidentally corrupt one of their words. Anyways... I know about Stan's Soap Box, so make me another cookie! Lol.

Glad you don't think it's bad and that you actually enjoy it lol. And for the record, HiroGo is the ship name, so no worries. The deal with GoGo's name is I wrote that chapter BEFORE her name was revealed and since I am drawing so much from the comics I went with her original name. Then they gave us 'that' name (which so far people are trying to ignore) and I had to come up with an explanation for it, even though like most I despise the name and prefer the original. It took a few days but I did, and it will be revealed/explained later in the story. She got a name change, but why and why THAT name you'll have to wait to find out. 'GoGo Tomago' was originally a password of sorts she used that activated her battle suit's Kinetic Reflection (basically she can reflect kinetic energy) and she adopted the nickname GoGo. Like 90% of everything else from the comics however this was ignored and they came up with their own ideas.

That Weird Girl chapter 5 . Feb 19: This story is pretty good! I love the Stan's Soapbox cameo (um, what else can I call it besides cameo?) and I love how you know what the character's would do. Love it!

Glad to hear you are enjoying the story! The Stan's Soapbox is a carryover from the comics, which I am largely using to fill in the MASSIVE gaps the movie left for pretty much everything. So I felt it was only right that I try to make this as 'comic book-ish' as possible, including the use of 'Issue#-' for chapter titles. I wouldn't say I know what the characters would do exactly though, just my own little versions of them. Still thanks again and hope you'll continue to enjoy this story!

Urazz chapter 7 . Feb 19: Glad you updated! I can definitely see Hiro and Gogo getting into minor trouble with how they behave together and be competitive towards each other. Maybe not any kind of major trouble but something minor that would get some laughs for us readers.

I'm hoping that Hiro will decide to attend SFIT soon but I think the Police or whoever is trying to watch him are going to have to be dealt with first. Keep up the good work.

As the bit above explains, this chapter was tricky and took quite a bit more effort than the previous ones. As for Hiro and GoGo, can't say too much without spoiling the surprises lol but I can say they are going to get into quite a bit of trouble, some legal, some...not so legal and I will be trying to play as much of it for laughs as I can of course. Humor is my favorite genre after all. Besides, teenage romance, there is going to be humor, mark my word!

Hiro attending SFIT is in the winds for what's to come, but again can't say much without spoiling. Though now you readers DO know just whose watching him ;)

That's all for reviews now, so I'll see you ladies and gents around. Until next time, Excelsior!