When All Q Breaks Loose

Chapter Thirteen: Don't See the Point

(Okay, quick note, I'm going to go ahead and make these chapters longer, which is why I updated this chapter with more content. It seems to make more sense with the flow of things for me to do so, though they will decidedly vary in length. Just wanted to let you know, in case you were wondering why the sudden change from short to longer chapters.

Hiro ground his teeth in frustration as he growled. "This doesn't make any sense!" He threw his hands up in the air, making his swivel chair spin.

Several hours had passed since he and Baymax had left Fred's place and they were no closer to understanding what one person had seen from the café window than they had been when he'd first gotten the call. One person and some student who'd filmed it, he corrected himself. He'd played the video more than a dozen times in his little garage lab, but nothing had come of it. The truth of the matter was the student hadn't used the right kind of camera to capture what he most wanted to measure.

"You appear to be distressed. Might I suggest taking calming breaths?" Baymax observed as he watched the teen.

Hiro growled in frustration as he let himself flop back against the armrests. "Not helping," he admonished. "If I don't figure this whole thing out, I'm going to lose my mind!"

The robot shuffled closer, peering at the paused image on the computer monitor. "Perhaps it is someone's idea of a joke," he suggested.

But Hiro shook his head. "I already thought of that. Holographic projection was one of my first theories. But it can't be. The video clearly shows someone bumping into the jogger thirty seconds before he disappeared. You can't tell me someone's managed to make a holographic projection that good. There's just no way."

The teen ran his fingers through his wild hair, resisting the urge to pull out a few handfuls while he was at it. "No, Baymax. I'm missing something. I just can't figure out what."

At that moment, Baymax straightened, one finger in the air like an antennae. "I am detecting a high concentration of energy two blocks from our current location." He blinked. "One sign of life has materialized."

"What!" Hiro all but leaped from his chair. He ran for his hoodie, calling for Baymax to follow. "Let's go! Maybe it's that jogger!"

Baymax followed behind the excited boy, though at a much slower pace.

.................................................

The video arcade was just as loud and chaotic as Worf had feared. Teens of all ages, and some older, lounged around, shouting at the screens in front of them. He stood with arms folded as he scowled at the game Data was playing. It was something that involved a vehicle with pedals and a steering wheel.

"I do not see the point of this game," the Klingon growled to his nearest companion, which happened to be Fred.

Fred leaned against the railing, something the owner had set up to keep spectators from disturbing the players. "The point," Fred educated, "is to drive your car faster than anyone else on the track. You want to beat them across the finish line to win. But all the other cars want the same thing so they'll try to knock you off the road. It takes skill to beat it."

The android stared intently at the screen in front of him as he manipulated the controls, spinning the wheel to knock one of the computer-generated opponents off the track. Despite the game being on the hardest setting, he was slowly making a comeback on his real opponent, GoGo. "I quite agree," he said in response to Fred's comment. "This appears to be a game of reflexes and timing."

GoGo floored the pedal of her controls, zooming past various obstacles as her avatar rounded the far end of the track. She was totally in her element, leaving Fred to wonder if she hadn't learned her driving skills playing this game, because she was good at it. Then again, GoGo always liked speed and seemed to know what she was doing on the real road too. It was just too bad Wasabi wouldn't allow her to drive his van anymore. The last time had totally rocked.