Big Hero 5: the Ghost Soldier

Hiro woke up to what felt like the worst post-nightmare headache in his entire life. Considering that it was the second day he remembered and last time it wasn’t that bad, it was actually pretty close to the truth. His heart was still pounding almost painfully as he regained his senses and he didn’t like it. With a groan, the boy lifted himself on the good arm and nearly fell from the bed with a scared yelp when he realized that he wasn’t alone. In fact, there was a man sitting in a chair with a tablet just a few feet away from him and he didn’t even notice. Hiro shuddered and finally sat properly, not knowing if he should start a conversation first. Gladly, the other man soon noticed that he was awake and put his tablet down with a smile. “Oh, great, you’re awake now! I was starting to get worried that someone put you into a coma and never informed me. Feeling alright this morning?” He asked and for some reason it made Hiro tense even more. “Who are you?” He responded with a question and moved the bandaged shoulder away on an instinct. Must be one of Obake’s co-workers, the young genius guessed. He didn’t like being scared of everyone he sees here, but oh well. The visitor grinned once again and got up on his feet, “my name is David,” he introduced himself with a little bow. Theater kid, Hiro rolled his eyes. “I will be your doctor here. And, well, guess I’ll be everyone else’s doc too while I’m at it,” David chuckled. “So, how are you feeling now, Hiro?” Hiro hesitated with a frown, then gave himself a moment to consider the answer, examining every part of his body and how they all felt. In two words, nothing really good. “Well, my head hurts as if I’ve been drinking all night. Which I clearly haven’t but that’s not the point here. Also my arm, most obviously, feels like shit. Uh, what’s left of it, that is. Actually, my entire body does, but not this bad and I think it’s just the nerves from the nightmare. Guess I’m just going to have to get used to this.” He shrugged and instantly regretted the action as his shoulder suddenly hurt enough to make him wince. The man suddenly got closer and steadied him with one hand, the other gently pressing a little higher than the bandages. Problem child, you’ve been awake for literally just two minutes, he huffed to himself when Hiro calmed down. “For your information, kid. It's not a good idea to move it a lot now.” “Yeah, figures,” he scowled. Man, having painkillers in your body actually feels nice, apparently. Not having them, though… David chuckled at this. Then, he nodded to the door. “Well, I see you’re more or less functioning. Now come on, let’s get you properly checked and change your bandages.” With that, the doctor moved to the exit, though, waiting for the kid to follow. There was clear hesitation in Hiro’s eyes as he still sat there unmoving. The other sighed and leaned on the wall, his arms crossed. “You don’t trust me.” “Of course I don’t. I’ve known you for two minutes and you already want me to follow you. How am I supposed to know I am safe with you?” The man arched an eyebrow in response and smiled almost proudly. “Good to know you still have at least some self preservation instinct, it’d be pretty bad if your brain damage included losing this one. Also, don’t worry, ‘Bake wouldn’t have let a stranger get here so easily. Now come on, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish,” he gestured to the exit and had finally left the room, leaving Hiro shuddering for some reason. Taking a deep breath, he stood on his feet, glancing at the door. It was okay, right? This David guy had a point, Obake didn’t seem like a person who would let any stranger in his home, so if he trusted Obake, he could be more or less calm about this one, too. Well, probably. With that, the boy left the room and followed David in the corridor, wondering how these two could’ve met in the first place.

***

Cass did not take the news well. In her defense, nobody actually expected her to, given what news she had heard just last evening. Her last family was dead. She was alone now. All by herself. First night ended up with her crying herself to sleep at five in the morning. She’d felt so empty the next morning she didn’t even bother to get up from her bed until early evening, Mochi yelling by her side in distress all day and eventually curling into a ball beside her. By the time she had finally managed to actually get downstairs with the cat in her hands, the sky was already getting its orange sunset colors, her phone on the table exploding with notifications. The search team didn’t find a trace of the body, except for the blood stains on the dirt. The samples had proven it to be Hiro’s. There were no traces of the leader of Big hero 6 either, only the smallest pieces of his broken armor. They had nothing to work with. She had nothing to hope for. To hold on to. Not anymore. Cass sighed heavily as she scrolled through her notifications, lazily spotting the important ones and erasing all the rest. Then she finally fed the cat and sat at the closest table, simply watching the people behind the window as they walked down the streets, a couple of them spotting a woman staring at them and going just a little faster. What was she supposed to do now? She didn’t have the heart to turn on TV, knowing exactly what was going to be there. Knowing how important Big hero 6 were to the city, every journalist would kill to tell everyone about it in a way someone will actually see it as something new. Just to think about it, how they loved speaking about someone’s now dead child… Cass felt sick from the very thought of that, let alone actually hearing that. Next morning there was a sign on the door saying the cafe is going to be closed for a week. At last she had a little time and even motivation to try to care about herself. She knew she’d have to get back to work soon, but she really needed this week off. At the very least a week. She’d have to get through. Somehow.

***

Click. “...the tragic incident on Akuma island is still…” Click. “...does that also mean that the era of these vigilantes is soon about to end as quickly as it began? Only…” Click. “...there are no proper words to describe the shock after…” Gogo gave out a heavy sigh and closed her laptop, then put it on the charger. It’s been almost a week since Hiro’s death and it still was basically the only topic every news channel would discuss. Not surprising, yet still… hurt? “Shit,” she shook her head and sat back on her bed, running her hands through hair. “Shit!” Well, it didn’t exactly hurt at this point. Yes, she was angry. She was filled with hatred for Obake and Momakase for killing her friend. She felt the disappointment in herself she’s never felt before. She failed. She f- messed up big time. Her hands were still shaky after that night and she still could feel her chest hurt from that little walk of hers when she decided that running into some armed criminals and fighting them just like that was a smart idea. She wanted to scream her lungs out and break every wall with her bare hands just to get them on these bastards and make them suffer!.. And yet… now it also just felt numb. Gogo knew all these feelings were still there, she just couldn’t exactly feel them anymore. It was so weird. She couldn’t even get annoyed with any nonsense Fred tried to pull to try to distract them, she couldn’t even bring herself to be mad at Karmi anymore, even though part of her still blamed the girl. At least Granville gave them some time off. To deal with loss at least to some extent and tell Cass and all the stuff. In any other situation the young woman would probably be concerned about their dean actually knowing their secret identities, but was it really, really worth even thinking about it now? Really, not the biggest problem here for sure. She almost jumped when she heard a knock on her room’s door and clenched on the blanket as she realized how tense she was. A quick logic chain led her to realizing that it was no attack, but just her roommate. Well, at least she knocked before coming in. That was some progress here. “I, uh,” Honey started awkwardly, not actually coming into the room and not even entirely opening it. “I made some pasta if you’re hungry… not that I insisted. Um, okay, you probably need some space, I get it, I’ll…” “Just… give me a minute. I’ll come,” Gogo forced out a smile. The other nodded and closed the door back, quiet steps heard on the other side as she fell back on her bed and sighed. She needed to get over it already. Well, okay, that wasn’t the right way to say that. And then it clicked. She needed to be stronger than that. Nothing would bring a dead person back, she’d learned the lesson already, thank you very much, but they still could avenge him. And oh, did that sound wonderful to her. Sure, it meant breaking several promises she made to herself all those years ago, but hey, she clearly needed to rethink some life choices anyway. Maybe it was time to finally greenlight necessary murder too? For the first time in days Gogo smiled genuinely as she got on her feet. Yes, revenge certainly sounded like a good motivation to keep going. For Hiro. That would take a lot of time to prepare properly, though. Not that she didn’t have resources. Not that she ever intended to use them this way. Or any other way, really. But this could wait, and now? Now Honey Lemon was waiting for her downstairs with what smelled like the most delicious pasta in the world and she needed to push the thoughts and half-baked plans away for just a couple of hours more. Obake was not getting away with this.

***

Karmi stared at the boxes in her now empty dorm and she couldn’t help but try to deny all of this happening once again. Of course, deep inside she knew there was no point in that, but… it was just too hard to accept. And she felt so bad for feeling angry that her work of several years had gone to nothing when Hiro literally died. All her problems were so little compared to this, weren’t they? Hiro died. He really is gone. The girl inhaled sharply, shaking her tears off as she got back to packing up the rest of things she still had here. It was the last day it was relatively safe for her if Gogo was serious, after all. Out of all this week’s time Karmi had spent in constant fear, this day felt especially hard. Because it really was the end. She had already taken the documents from SFIT. Mom was one call away to help her move back to their hometown. Nobody would even notice her gone. The closest she’s ever had to a friend was gone and it was her fault. Her being reckless, her being the reason Momakase managed to lure them into her trap… Breathe, Karmi ordered herself on the edge of another panic attack. One, two, three, four… one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four… She clenched her fists, steadying herself. She’s going to need therapy after all this. After. When she’s home, safe. The now former biotech student laughed at the irony, shaking her head. Safe, yeah right. As if she’s ever going to feel safe after all of this. Okay, no, she knew what exactly would make her feel safe and in which doses. With a sigh, the teen genius fished her phone out of the jeans pocket and sat on the bed, opening her mother’s contact. Me: Hey, I’m almost finished with the packing. Any chance we can start moving today? Or anytime soon, really. 11:34 AM From: Mom <3 Will tomorrow be alright? I don’t know If I can make it in time today, too much work. 11:42 AM Me: It’s fine. I can wait another day. At least, I think so. Okay, sorry, I’ll text after your shift. 11:43 AM Karmi sighed and tapped on the edge of her phone nervously, biting her lip. In fact, she wasn’t even entirely sure she was allowed to stay another night. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to spend another night alone haunted by these damn nightmares that wouldn’t let go. She was just so, so scared. Of what had already happened, of what was still happening around her, of what could still happen. For the first time in these two years she was finally realizing how dangerous San Fransokyo really was. How every day became a risk everyone was forced to take no matter what they did or wanted. It wasn’t just her. Nobody was really safe in this city as long as there were villains. And they will be there for long enough for sure. She needed to get out of here as soon as ever possible.

***

“I never thought I’d say this about a child ever again, but this Hamada kid is really… impressive, to say the least.” Obake grinned involuntarily and turned his head to David who was filing hospital papers a few feet away from him while he himself was almost finished with the arm prosthetic for Hiro. It was a little tricky to do something like this with so little time, with the doctor’s help the boy was recovering a little too quickly. And beginning to ask more questions, for sure. At this rate it might become very hard to hide everything that needs to be hidden for now very quickly. “He survived Akuma, Dave,” he reminded gently, giving him a little smile. “Twice. And he was an SFIT student. Not to mention that he was actually doing relatively fine with all this heroes nonsense. And he’s just fourteen. Of course he’s impressive.” “Hm, someone sounds proud,” the other chuckled. “Getting attached so soon?” Obake frowned at this, no sign of a smile anymore. He thought about it for a second, then scoffed and shook his head. He wasn’t getting attached, he was just saying he’d chosen this kid for a reason. Eventually, he just waved his hand in a dismissive manner, making David bite back his laugh. “I’m not getting attached to Hiro, especially considering how dramatically this little experiment of ours might fail. I don’t need to explain myself and my reasons to you. What I do need, however, is knowing for sure that Hiro is recovering as planned. Now, can you play a professional for a few more minutes and actually do your work here?” “He’ll be fine to try a prosthetic in two days if his recovery goes as planned,” the doctor responded in a colder, professional tone as he sent the full report on the boy’s process to Obake. He hated it when he had to do that, but oh well, sometimes even your former best friends and partners in crime can be a little harsh. “How is it going, by the way?” “It should be done by tomorrow, I just need to tweak some more things and run the tests.” The villain glanced through the report and nodded to himself with a soft hum, then turned back to the arm blueprints. “It’s just a temporary one, I’ll update it when he gets used to it enough. Well, you might as well come over and see if I need to make some more adjustments to this.” Beckett came up to him in the next second, forced to hold back a light shiver when he put his hand on Obake’s shoulder out of the purest reflex that’s been there for years. Luckily, the other didn’t react to this as much and just waited for the response as the doctor scanned his work until he nodded in approval. “This should work as a start, yes,” he said. “Should I tell him to be ready?” “Please,” Obake nodded, then frowned. “Weren’t you planning to implement a different type of treatment soon?” David smiled, already headed to Hiro’s room. “Not yet. We are yet to stabilize him enough for that. But yes, that should happen pretty soon if things will work as smoothly as they do now. Nothing without your permission, of course, but don’t worry about it right now.” With that, he left the lab, quietly humming some song to himself while the other villain was left alone to his work and his thoughts and he only stared at the doorway for a moment, then pursed his lips and shook his head with a heavy sigh. “You changed,” Obake said blankly, uncertain how he felt about it.

***

Back in his room, Hiro sat on the bed with a tablet on his knee and a pen in his hand. It took him a while to find out why he was so stuck in Obake’s lab whenever he had a chance to be and it only hit him when the man showed him several blueprints, prompting to analyze the technology. He needed to make something on his own too. Or, at the very least, prototype to make it later. It didn’t take him long to convince Obake to give him a tablet to at least sketch things out whenever he felt like it. David appreciated it too because it was a fine demonstration of the boy’s motor functions and brain’s work overall. He did feel confused about these rare glances when the doc looked almost sad, but he always shrugged it off. He also got access to many, many videos of different fights, not all of them even happening in San Fransokyo or America at all. These were fun to watch and analyze, and the man was always here to listen to him ranting. The boy could go for almost a whole hour explaining how any side could’ve improved their performance if they paid more attention to details. He even got other Obake’s co-workers to watch him break down a New York hero’s fight down to the suit and techniques and explain their weaknesses as he kept doodling things to assist his rant one time. Hiro didn’t want to think about the uneasy feeling at the back of his head as if something about it was so very wrong in a way he couldn’t understand yet. And then again, the tablet on his lap was pretty much everything that kept him from trying to dig into his memory, or nightmares that seemed to be remains of it, no matter how many headaches it had already cost him. It was just so much easier to forget the bitterness of the fact that he was left to die when he could distract himself with work. Were those vigilantes even looking for him? The young genius didn’t know and honestly, any answer couldn’t be comforting. They either abandoned the idea of even trying or were failing so bad at this. He bit back a disappointed sigh as he tapped the pen against his knee. Was it weird to be getting used to having one arm so quickly? Was it bad that the feeling of danger around Obake started to fade after a week? Was he just getting used to it so he stopped noticing it? Why didn’t he want to go home that bad anymore? Was there any home at all? Did it really matter? He was pretty safe here and at least he was sure to recover fast after what those heroes left him to. Or was he just developing Stockholm syndrome? The tip of the pen scratched on the tablet with a nasty noise, making Hiro snap out of his spiraling and shake his head in disbelief of what he started thinking of. Stockholm syndrome, yeah right. Obake was the one who saved him, not a kidnapper or something like that. He was just getting paranoid because really, there was too little information not to jump to ridiculous conclusions. Obake wasn’t dangerous, and neither was anyone else here. His mind was just playing tricks with him when he woke up to not knowing anything and now he just had to get used to these new conditions and calm his paranoia down. There was nothing and nobody to be afraid of. Right? Hiro whipped his head to the sound of knocking and smiled when the opened door revealed David who smiled in return. The boy frowned at the hidden tired look on the man’s face he hadn’t noticed until last several nights. Was he always like that or did he just get it from working with him so much? He hated to admit that he was starting to feel guilty that all of them had to put effort into making sure he was getting better, both physically and emotionally. “Hey kiddo,” David greeted him as he entered the room and glanced at the tablet that was moved on the sheets in a moment. “Had a blast with another analysis or some blueprints, hm?” The young genius inhaled sharply, fighting the faint blush as he caught what he was implying. I left you several hours ago with it and you are still working despite everything I’ve said. “Do I need to get Obake to program a time restriction you wouldn’t be able to crack so fast?” “I will just end up staying up all night until I take it down,” Hiro scoffed, but took the hint and put his tablet away before sitting on his bed again, fingers tapping on his knee. “So uh, any news so far?” “As a matter of fact, yes,” he nodded, the tiredness in dark blue eyes seemingly fading a bit. “Obake is almost done with your new arm. It’s a temporary one, though, we will see how well you will adjust to this. If things go as planned, you will be ready to try in just a few days.” The former hero blinked in confusion. “But I’ve only been there for a week? Shouldn't it take longer for me to heal and be ready for the prosthetics?” “Normally, yes,” the doctor hummed in confirmation, placing his hand on the kid’s right shoulder. He shifted a little under the weight at the feeling of a slight pinch in the muscle, but brushed it off to not moving properly for a long time. “But hey, normal is boring and I have enough experience with such things to shorten it as much as possible. So, a week should do.” Hiro gave a light chuckle at this and yawned, his head feeling dizzy all of the sudden. He always felt like this after David’s visits, but today felt a little… off. A little too much dizziness and too little control over his own body. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. “Wh–wha,” he didn’t even have the force to form words anymore, eyes not being able to focus. “What’s…” “Shh, you just overstrained yourself, don’t worry,” David reassured him, patting his shoulder lightly. “Just get some rest and it will go away, mhm?” “B’t I di… didn’t,” he mumbled, trying to reach out, but his arm never moved. He didn’t see the doctor grin slightly as he looked at the boy falling asleep against his will, he couldn’t feel fear as much as he was supposed to feel. There was nothing, but the calm, reassuring voice and a warm hand on his shoulder. “Go to sleep, Hiro. You are safe here.” Hiro closed his eyes before the man left the room, any hint of noise fading. He was safe. Wasn’t he?

***

Gogo never thought she’d return here after everything that had happened. She never wanted to. She would love to forget it, to brush it off like a bad dream. Yet, there she was, sneaking into a dark alley and climbing up the path nobody but them knew. Up to the last floor, the one no one had ever noticed to be separated from everything else. No way in, no way out, unless you knew beforehand. The heroine grit her teeth as she almost tripped on the way too slippery balcony, fingers sliding on wet metal. She wasn’t going to die from something this dumb. After five long minutes of parkouring, Gogo stood in front of the window she hoped she’d never have to open, ever again. With a heavy sigh, she fished her lock pick out of the jacket’s inner pocket and opened the lock not longer than in a minute. Still got it in ya’, Fury, the voice she almost succeeded in forgetting rang in her ears as she shook her head, sliding into the apartment and closing the window behind her. She stood still for a moment, then took a knife from the belt in her free hand and started to walk down the hall, as quietly as possible for a human. She only had half a second to react to the faint movement when the back of her neck tingled and the knife hidden in her jacket’s sleeve swung in the air and before her brain even processed what happened, she was jumping off the wall to neutralize the threat, metal screeching against metal. When Gogo opened her eyes again, finally focusing them on the surroundings, she sat on the red haired man, one knee digging in his back and arms pulled up as he hissed. Someone she didn’t recognize until he spoke. “God damnit Lei! Let go!” The hero frowned, distrust in her eyes boring into the other’s skull, but dropped his arms down, then stood up, as quiet as he remembered her to be. “Still lacking situational awareness, Red,” she scolded in a cold tone as she walked to the side to collect her knife while allowing Red to get up on his feet and growl. “I was the one attacking you! How come I am the— oh,” the young man trailed off under her glare. Gogo only scoffed and threw the other knife in his direction. “What are you even doing here after all those years?” He asked with a concerned frown. For the split second, she allowed her hesitation to show. Just for a second, before the familiar coldness returned to her face. There was a reason she was doing this. “The Key rat. Are they still with you?” Red’s expression darkened. “Of course you’re here for them. What did I even expect?” The criminal huffed and pointed his head in the direction of one of the corridors. “Follow me.” They walked in silence for a while, jumping from window to window, Gogo’s eyes darting from side to side to spot every difference she could. There was just so much that did change and honestly, she didn’t know why she was surprised in the first place. After all, it’s been five whole years since she left the gang. Of course things changed. The small apartment used as their main entrance looked even worse than she remembered, and she thought she’d seen the worst of it. Bloodstains here and there, dust and moss right under the windows, nobody even tried to take any care of this place anymore. The young woman felt the guilt stab in her chest as she realized what was the reason for it. At least, outside things were slightly better. New names and personal tags appeared on the doors, some of them even familiar to Gogo. She had her suspicions about those new thieves, but never had time to do the background check. And most of them were barely old enough to graduate from high schools or even start attending these. She felt sick at the thought of how many names there were. “They’re probably asleep,” Red warned when they had finally reached one of the few doors that didn’t have any names on it. Just a bunch of keys hanging here and there. “So we better…” “Yeah, yeah, no startling sleeping rat, they bite, I remember,” the hero rolled her eyes as the other opened the door carefully, stepping inside the room after a long moment. Luckily, Key rat wasn’t asleep at all, but rather fidgeting with a pen in their hands while sitting in a beanbag chair. Their long dark hair with toxic green streaks was pulled up in a messy ponytail for the most part so as not to get in the way and their jacket was just on their lap, revealing arms that were marked in many ways. Gogo didn’t feel disturbed by the amount of scars covering their best informant’s body. She didn’t think about how at least half of them were definitely obtained while she was absent. They looked up from their pen, eyes widening in shock as they instantly recognized who stood beside their best friend. “Little sister,” Key rat’s voice was somewhat hoarse, disbelief leaking through words. Gogo braced herself. This was for the good. She could do it. “Hey, Mel,” she tried to sound calm and failed dramatically. She was not ready. “Guess I really couldn’t stay away from here forever after all, huh?” It was a bad idea. A terrible one, really. Well. She didn’t have much choice.