Settle up and leave

A week later...

Today was the day Hiro officially started attending classes at the institute.

He could have gone earlier, but the stubborn kid had insisted on going to school with his brother!

With no other choice, everyone had waited until Tadashi had fully recovered and was out of observation before picking up the brothers and taking them to the institute together.

Ge Li had also fulfilled his contractual promises afterward. He hadn't dared do otherwise.

He had also thought it over carefully afterward and decided that investing in the brothers probably wouldn't be a loss.

As for that final week, Lu Wen could only think... Soldier Boy had been right.

By the time Lu Wen emerged from Cass's room, the sun was already high, and Cass had long since gotten busy in the café.

"She really does have plenty of energy." Watching Cass bustle about, Lu Wen chuckled, shook his head, and came down the stairs.

"Aren't you tired?" Lu Wen quietly appeared behind Cass and took the coffee pot from her hand as he asked.

Lu Wen's sudden appearance startled Cass! Once she recovered, she gave him a light, reproachful punch.

"You scared me!"

Then Cass pushed Lu Wen into the kitchen. She quickly served coffee to the remaining customers before coming into the kitchen, leaning against the counter with her arms folded across her chest, and watching him for two seconds. "Leaving today?"

"Yeah," Lu Wen answered softly, pouring himself a cup of coffee while he was at it.

Cass nodded and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. There was no sadness in her expression, and her tone was relaxed. "All right, then I won't try to keep you. Someone like you wouldn't stay even if I tried. Having had you is enough! This older lady didn't lose out."

After saying that, Cass even gave Lu Wen a mischievous wink like a young girl.

Lu Wen glanced at her over his coffee cup. "You're taking it well."

"What else would I do?" Cass chuckled. "I'm not some teenage girl who has to have a good cry before it's over. You came, you helped us a lot, and everyone's happy. That's enough.

"If you ever pass through San Francisco again, remember to stop by. I'll make you coffee."

"Just coffee?"

Cass shot him a look and picked up a spoon from the counter as if to throw it at him. "What else do you want?" Then she laughed too. "All right, these past few days have been good. I'll remember them."

Lu Wen set down his coffee cup and looked at her. "I might come back someday."

"Then I'll be waiting." There was a smile in Cass's eyes as she said it, but her tone barely changed, as though she were talking about something perfectly ordinary.

She came around the counter, walked up to him, and opened her arms to hug him. She quickly let go and patted his shoulder. "All right, stop dawdling. You've still got things to do, don't you? Go on, get going. I've got a café to run."

Lu Wen nodded, turned, and walked out of the café. The doorbell rang once, and sunlight flooded in from outside before being cut off as the door closed.

On the east side of the Krei Tech Campus, Ge Li was sitting in his office, staring blankly at his computer.

When Lu Wen pushed the door open and entered, Ge Li sprang out of his chair, his expression somewhere between "he really came" and "couldn't he just not come?"

"Mr. Lu, I... I've got everything ready... It's all on this hard drive, along with that equipment, two small prototypes. They've been calibrated to your specifications and are ready to take away."

Ge Li spoke very quickly, dragging two metal cases out from beneath his desk as he talked. Their shells bore the Ge Li Technologies logo.

Lu Wen dispensed with the pleasantries and put the hard drive and the two metal cases into System Space right in front of him. He glanced at Ge Li. "Good. People who keep their word live longer."

"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right." Ge Li nodded repeatedly. Sweat ran from his forehead to his chin, but he didn't dare raise a hand to wipe it away.

"From now on, make sure the Hamada brothers get every cent they're owed. I might drop by to check the accounts now and then."

"No problem. I'll make sure everything is handled properly." Ge Li rubbed his hands together and looked at Lu Wen imploringly, as though waiting for an order saying, "You can go now."

Lu Wen said nothing more and turned to leave the office. As the door closed, he heard Ge Li let out a long breath inside, so loud he could hear it through the door.

The afternoon sunlight was a little gentler than it had been that morning, and there weren't many people on the campus of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.

When Lu Wen reached the lab, Hiro was at a workbench fine-tuning a white robot. Tadashi sat in a chair beside him, holding a cup of coffee with that old notebook resting on his lap.

Baymax had his head tilted, looking adorably dopey as he watched the newly built robot of his own kind.

"Lu Wen!" Hiro looked up, his eyes lighting up. "You're here! The new Baymax is finished, and Tadashi added a new rehabilitation program."

The new Baymax inflated into shape beside them. His sensors lit up blue, and his voice was a little smoother than the original's. "Hello, Lu Wen. I have synchronized your physical data. Would you like me to scan you now?"

"No need. I'm doing fine." Lu Wen patted Baymax's shoulder. It was soft and felt just the same. "Thanks, Tadashi. I'll take this."

Tadashi put down his notebook, stood up, and nodded to him. "You've earned it. If it weren't for you, I'd still be laid up."

While Lu Wen chatted with Tadashi, Baymax and the new Baymax stared at each other with their beady eyes, each raising a pudgy hand in greeting.

"Your brother has already repaid me." Lu Wen put Baymax, the data, and the core components into System Space, then glanced at Hiro. "Study hard from now on. Stop thinking about stirring things up all the time."

"I don't..." Hiro tried to argue, but after opening his mouth, he didn't have much confidence in it himself.

Tadashi laughed beside him.

Standing in the lab doorway, Lu Wen looked back at the brothers and waved. "All right, I'm off."

"Lu Wen, will you come back?" Hiro asked, his tone a little more serious than usual.

"Depends. Make something of yourselves here. Hopefully, the next time I see you, it'll be on some technology news report first."

With that, he turned and left the lab as the Hamada brothers waved goodbye.

At the end of the corridor, Lu Wen looked both ways. Once he was sure there was no one around and no damned cameras, he pressed the teleport button.

Whoosh...

"No one's here? JARVIS, are you there?"

Looking around the empty house, Lu Wen called for JARVIS.

"I'm here, Mr. Lu. Welcome back." JARVIS's distinctive cybernetic voice came from the smart speaker in the corner.

"How long was I gone? And where's your boss?"

"A total of 181 days, four hours, and twenty-one minutes have passed since your last disappearance. Mr. Stark is developing new Mark Armor in his private villa. Would you like me to contact my boss for you?"

JARVIS hadn't directly stated where Tony was.

"Yes, hurry up and contact him. Tell him I've got something good to show him."

"Certainly. Contacting Mr. Stark now."

While JARVIS contacted Tony, Lu Wen found somewhere to sit and waited. He remembered that after the Battle of New York, the events of Iron Man 3 seemed to come next. Tony was currently developing the Mark 42 Prodigal at his private villa.

Soon, JARVIS reached Tony and arranged a series of confidential travel arrangements to take Lu Wen to the Malibu Estate in California.

It was also called the Stark Estate.

Happy came to pick him up in a helicopter and took him all the way from New York to California.

"Thanks, Happy."

"You're welcome. Mr. Stark said you can go straight in to see him. JARVIS will guide you. I have other business to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

Happy escorted Lu Wen to the door with great professionalism, then bid him farewell with the practiced courtesy of a butler before flying away in the helicopter.

"He really is professional."

Looking up as Happy departed, Lu Wen acknowledged his professionalism.

Happy might have been a little comical, but there was really nothing to fault about the range of services he provided.