A Complicated Web

Chapter Twelve: Something Must Have Happened

Morning came a lot sooner than Hiro thought it should. He groaned as Baymax gently nudged him awake. "Did the others come back yet?" he asked groggily. In his semi-conscious state, he didn't immediately understand why the room was lighter than it should be. Then it came crashing down on him. "Wait. Baymax, is it morning?!" He practically jumped out of bed, not even realizing he'd actually had the first decent night's sleep in a long time.

Baymax moved in time to avoid being knocked over. "I apologize for not waking you when the others returned," he said, looking somehow downcast. "However, I deemed your need for sleep more pressing."

Hiro let out an exaggerated sigh as his body slumped forward. Okay, so maybe he'd really needed the rest. He could still feel the drowsiness trying to pull him back down. The lack of decent sleep had caught up to him. And now that he'd had one night of good sleep, his body craved even more. He let out a groan as he made his way to the bathroom. Maybe a quick shower would help him wake up faster.

The healthcare robot correctly guessed his intentions as he picked up a set of clothes from the partially opened suitcase Hiro had yet to unpack. He placed the articles of clothing just inside the bathroom door before the youth closed it. He then stood next to the door to wait. Considering the current state of his friend, he felt confident in his deduction that it might take him a while to come back out again.

"The others of your party are awake," JARVIS told the healthcare bot. The two had done quite a bit of talking while the others had been gone. And since JARVIS was really good at his job, he'd been able to multi-task at a level humans could only dream about. In fact, while informing Baymax of the others' status, he was performing the requested continual scans of the building while looking into the hacking incidents at both Stark Industries and NYU. Tony never left anything to chance if he could help it.

Baymax blinked a few times. "Thank you," he intoned in return. He had enjoyed his conversations with JARVIS. Chances were good most of those who listened in wouldn't find them that interesting, but they had brought in a lot of insight for the robot. "Please inform them Hiro is now awake and we will join them as soon as he is ready."

"Very good," JARVIS replied before going silent once more. He thought it best to let Stark's guests have their privacy, to a certain point. Obviously security took priority. It wasn't his fault he was able to keep track of their movements while inside the tower. Chalk that one up to Stark for integrating his programming into the whole structure.

Thirty minutes later, Hiro left the bathroom feeling cleaner and more awake, wearing the clothes Baymax had pulled out. It didn't hurt that most of his clothes were pretty much identical. He did have his fashion sense to keep up and didn't want to leave it to chance. There were, of course, a few variations, but they were all interchangeable. The only exception was the suit he'd worn to Tadashi's funeral, which safely sat in his closet back home.

With Baymax in tow, Hiro made his way up to breakfast with the others. Part of him disliked the idea of leaving him at home base while they were at the expo, but he knew it was better that way. Even Tony thought it a good idea, all things considered. He just hoped their host didn't mind giving the robot free reign of the place while they were gone, not that Baymax would do anything he shouldn't. It was still unusual, though Hiro appreciated it. It kept Baymax from getting bored or having to have him deactivate and reactivate all the time.

"Keep an eye on things, will you?" Hiro asked as he boarded the elevator after breakfast. The others waited almost impatiently for him so they could head out. Their driver for the day was already waiting downstairs for them. Not to mention how the expo would soon open for the day.

GoGo shifted her hips. "Can we go already?" she asked in her most sarcastic tone. She blew and popped a gum bubble as Hiro finally backed into the elevator. The others had been up way later than they probably should have and the adrenaline junky felt more inclined to be grumpier than usual. That would probably be remedied by the time she'd had her third cup of coffee.