Big Hero 5: the Ghost Soldier

Vincent was worried about his friend. Well, he’s always been worried about his friends in general, that’s a given, especially considering that all of his closest friends were vigilantes now, him included, but one of them in particular stood out more than the others, making his danger radar go wild the moment she came into sight. That friend was Leiko. Knowing her from high school, he’s become quite accustomed to her antics, with her ‘I’m not here to make friends’ attitude slowly crumbling halfway into their first year at SFIT when they met Aina and Tadashi in their shared classes, the two just clicking with her in an unexpected way. When Tadashi, the guy who could make friends with seemingly anyone in the university, brought Fred into their group, she didn’t immediately lash out at him as she would’ve, had they met on similar terms a year ago. He didn’t find out the exact truth about what happened to his old classmate at the time, only that she’s been in and out of school for years without an obvious reason and that one day she disappeared for an entire semester, only to be brought back by the police several months before the school year ended and never disappeared like that again until their graduation. He had his suspicions, of course, in fact he was almost positive that she’s been involved with some gang business, but what bugged him the most is the way she looked. And Leiko looked lost at best and utterly broken at worst. She wouldn’t say a word unless asked by a teacher, and she wouldn’t speak to anyone else unless it was strictly school related. He tried asking her too, of course, but this only ended with her threatening to kill him if he said another word. And looking back, this was definitely not an empty threat back then, unlike the stuff normal angry teenagers would say. He didn’t try again until they were both in SFIT, several months after meeting Fred. He thought, for once, that whatever happened back then, she could talk about it now. She said not to worry about it at first. When he tried again, the same threats as in high school repeated. Except, this time, he didn’t budge. Vincent knew that he probably shouldn't invade his best friend’s privacy like that, that he should’ve taken the hint and dropped it, but… he was worried, okay? He knew that whatever it was, it still haunted Leiko. He knew it did, with the way the smallest things got her to lose her temper sometimes, some very specific things. Like a best friend’s death. Don’t get him wrong, Tadashi’s death devastated them all, most of all, obviously, his family, but… he knew Leiko was taking it very differently from them all. He had a sneaking suspicion it might have not been the first time she got to lose a friend like this, but he couldn’t prove anything until she decided to tell him herself. Well. She spilled the night after, when he came to her apartment per her request. Apparently, since Vincent was the only one in their friend group who had at least a hint on what had happened to her before SFIT and holding it in for so long, especially after the history seemingly repeating itself, it was just too much. So she chose the safest option and told Vincent everything. About the gang. About the way it worked. About their jobs. About her siblings and about the nightmares of that time still haunted her years after. About how the nightmares of that one night resurfaced after Tadashi’s death, more vivid than ever and … Yeah. He understood now why Leiko decided not to have friends for almost three years. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have done it any other way either, had he gone through this too. But what surprised him most was the moment when Leiko pulled herself together, accepting the glass of water he held for a few minutes, as her glance morphed into something of the old days, something he’s seen all those years back when she only returned to school. “Let’s hope it really was an accident. And if it wasn’t, let’s hope that he won’t find out who was responsible,” she said back then, and at the time, Vincent didn’t think it made much sense. Until it suddenly did. On Akuma island, when they have uncovered the truth about the man in the kabuki mask. Also dubbed as the day when Hiro has attempted to murder Callaghan, blinded by his grief and rage. Yeah. In retrospect, it made a terrifying amount of sense that Leiko somehow knew this was going to happen the moment Hiro found out who was responsible for Tadashi’s death. And what’s even weirder, she finally calmed down after Callaghan was defeated and arrested after his attack on Krei tech. Perhaps, it brought her a semblance of closure, something of a vaguely similar experience to what has happened prior. He would never know. They never talked about it again in the months they’ve worked together as vigilantes, nor did she return to her… troubled state for a long while, seemingly content with letting it all go. Until… until she wasn’t. God, he felt so stupid for missing such an obvious detail about the shift in her behavior. He thought… he thought she would listen to her own advice she gave Hiro once, he hoped that Leiko would think twice before very obviously rushing head first into all of this again, not seeing how much she resembled her teenage self in this, how much she resembled Hiro in those weeks he still couldn’t help but remember with a shudder. He must admit, he did feel guilty for not seeing the signs earlier when he finally pieced it all together. He did feel guilty for not telling anyone about this, even though he was certain that they should know. Because telling them would mean breaking the promise he made to his best friend and he genuinely didn’t want to know how this would’ve affected her, only that it wouldn’t end any good regardless of his approach. But most of all, he felt guilty for not having the heart to stop Leiko even as he finally saw the figure that was most certainly her from the other side, glancing at each other from the roofs as he and Fred patrolled the street, searching for another criminal. Without even seeing her face, he knew it was her. And he knew that she intentionally kept her distance, for now. Luckily, she also had the reflexes to hide before Fred caught onto him staring at her from afar. By the time his friend reached him, she was long gone. “Wasabi? Watcha looking at?” “Nothing,” Vincent lied easily, sighing as he averted his gaze from the roof and to the street below them. “Come on, we should finish there and go meet the others.” God. He was such an idiot for not seeing it earlier. Now he could only hope Leiko wouldn’t go too far, too fast. That it was still not too late to help her.

***

Hiro was starting to feel that he bit off more than he could chew when he asked for Momakase to train him. It wasn’t hard, no. This was pure hell if he had to name it. He was mildly surprised it didn’t get as much convincing for both Obake and David to allow him to do so, actually. Sure, he was on even more medications he didn’t know the exact purposes of, and sure, Obake was constantly hovering from a distance, observing, but still. That… that felt a little too easy, now that he was thinking about it, catching his breath as he maintained his distance from the thief. As if they’d both anticipated this. Not Momakase, though. She seemed genuinely surprised when he first brought it up that night. Weird. It’s been a little over three weeks since they started this, and Hiro was already getting slightly better at hand-to-hand, adding to her surprise as they sparred every day with the woman constantly correcting his stance and making remarks about his moves, ones of an inexperienced fighter, but still, he was getting the hang of this remarkably fast. He really is a quick learner, she mused, swiping her leg under the kid’s feet and effectively throwing him off balance, which he quickly regained, planting one foot behind him to stop himself from falling backwards. Still, it gave her the perfect opening to strike again, this time hitting him in the shoulder (and carefully avoiding the connection to the prosthetic) and then kicking him in the stomach as Hiro was distracted. This time, he fell to the floor with a yelp. “You lost focus,” Momakase sighed, waiting for him to get up and asserting the damage. A few hits from today would most certainly bruise, but that was it, luckily. To the kid’s credit, at least he knew how to fall without further damaging himself. She wondered if the skill came from his vigilantism or even earlier. “Again.” “Well, I did manage to stay on my feet for a little longer than before!” Hiro grinned, completely ignoring the soreness in his entire body. Again, admirable in a fight. Concerning out of it. “True. You lasted 2 minutes and 36 seconds this time,” Obake supplied with a mild smile, stepping out of his corner to the two of them as he closed the timer on his tablet. “Which is your new record, if I recall the previous timings correctly. However, I’m inclined to agree with Momakase here. You have been rather distracted lately, which leads you to letting your guard down. In a real fight, you would’ve been seriously injured, had the enemy taken advantage of this.” The boy sighed at this, lowering his head, “Sorry. Just… been thinking a lot,” he shrugged. “It’s just… the dreams, they’re. Uh. I think I’m starting to remember things, vaguely. Mostly just the flashes of things, but still… yeah. And that’s not even the worst part, I’m already used to these weird vague nightmares, but then there’s Globby. I don’t even know why, but he’s been extra weird lately and it’s like he’s avoiding me now and it’s just so frustrating! Like, what did I even do to him? I know it’s been awkward at first because apparently I used to chase him around, but damn, dude, I thought we were friends now! Ugh!” Hiro kicked the air with an exasperated sigh, just barely missing Momakase’s thigh, who didn’t even flinch at the movement, and clicked his tongue with a grumble. He was tired of this. He was honestly just tired of everything here, including this training where he wasn’t progressing quickly enough for the adults to let him out in the field. Sure, it was important to be able to protect yourself, especially when fighting against the police and those heroes who were apparently more than okay with violence now that he supposedly died. But wasn’t he more of a brain of their operations before? Oh… right. That was Obake’s job here. And he couldn’t just replicate his old tech because he’d be recognized instantly like this… shit. And perhaps, his tiredness was what didn’t let him notice the calculative look on the man’s face before he put his hand on his shoulder, startling the teenager. “I think you need to rest for now, you’re clearly not in the right state to proceed with your training for today,” he said, glancing over his new and older, almost healed by now bruises and scraped knees. “I’d also suggest seeing Dave for your injuries, but he’s not here now… though, you already know where the first aid kit and the ice are. Do you need my help with anything there?” “No,” Hiro sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. “I’ll be fine, thanks…” “You did great today,” Obake smiled gently. “I’m sure you’ll be soon cleared to go to the field as well if you keep up this pace. You just need more practice, alright?” “Right,” he muttered, finally stepping away to head for the exit. And as he left the room in silence, the softness in the villain’s face disappeared entirely as he turned to Momakase, who’s been watching them quietly the entire time. “So, Globby’s being troublesome for no apparent reason, hm?” He hummed, tilting his head and glancing up to the vents near the ceiling. “I wonder what prompted this…” “He has been rather quiet around the boy recently,” the thief agreed, following his eyes. “And I can’t help but notice the strange shuffling in the vents these days as well… you don’t happen to have the rats issue here, do you?” “No, I believe I don’t,” Obake laughed. “Not the regular type, at the very least…” “Ah. Too bad this friend of yours doesn’t experiment on rodents as well. Could’ve been helpful to scare the rest away.” “Dave’s never been interested in them all that much, sadly. Says it’s a waste of time to work with something so small. Humans, though? They’re just about the right size for his ambitions.” Momakase only hummed at this thoughtfully, not saying anything in response. What a shame, really. They really could use some help with rodent control here.

***

To think that being born and raised in the gang eventually makes you less sensitive to witnessing murder was, apparently, wrong, Red thought to himself, suppressing a shudder, watching as a blade left the body of their victim with a nasty squelch, blood dripping on the ground as his partner for the night breathed heavily, shaking ever so slightly from the adrenaline. Alright, correction. He was mostly unaffected by the sight by now, having his fair share of both witnessing it and killing people himself, be it a direct order or an unfortunate circumstance of dealing with unwanted witnesses. It’s just… He’s never thought he’d actually see her murder someone, especially like this. He had to remind himself, time and time again, that this was what she came here for in the first place. To get to the people who took away who killed her friend. And, perhaps, have a little practice while she’s at it. “Tsk, what a waste,” Fury grumbled as she retracted her blade into the gauntlet, voice slightly distorted by the modulator in her mask. “And to think that he’d be a little more cooperative so that we wouldn't make such a mess here…” “Well, at least we got confirmation that the shipment was not on them… or for them. Man, this is getting harder.” The man sighed, shaking his head as he crossed another line off the list with a frown. Well, that was weird. You’d think that a large drug shipment would be for some gang in the Good luck alley, or someone near the Night market square. But Mel, bless their thoughtfulness, crossed out the majority of the list in one go as they discussed the original plan a week ago. Which led them to the new issue: they didn’t know where the shipment ended up afterwards. And, to make matters worse, there were at least two more while they were investigating the first one. And normally, they wouldn’t latch onto cases like this, preferring to stay away from the drug market until they needed something for themselves, but one thing in the lists of the shipments made his sister go for it. Graphene. One of the shipments contained graphene. The same material that Momakase used for her blades and one that didn’t have much use in the city’s underground. And of course, some of the same toxin she used for her victims was also there, which ruled out the possibility of a coincidence. And of course, they still couldn’t track her no matter how hard they tried. Apparently, she did appear on her base once, a little over a month ago. And apparently, again, from Mel’s intel, her right hand man, Takemura, took over the business for the time being since that day, only solidifying the suspicion of her alliance with Obake being a serious thing. Which, in turn, raised dozens of questions about the man himself, including his goals and motivation. And how in the hell could they not find any semblance of his base of operations for years, even though they have confirmed that he’s been active for a while now after spending a couple of nights connecting some of the older cases. All in all, weird, and awfully concerning, if you asked him. “It’s weird,” Fury sighed, glancing over the list. “It almost looks like Obake either doesn’t have any network in the city or they’re just too loyal to him to be willing to give up their lives to keep the bastard’s secrets.” “Oh please, who would give up their life for someone like him? What is he, a Disney prince?” Red laughed, shaking his head. “Hey, hold this for a moment, I wanna have a smoke.” “Really, Red? Right in front of a body?” She arched an eyebrow, taking the notepad from the man as he pulled out his pack of cigarettes from the pocket. “What, like he’s gonna be mad about it? Oh, have you seen my lighter by the way?” “Left back pocket, if I remember your habits correctly,” the villain hummed, watching her partner pull out the lighter from said pocket with a smirk. “Ah, you know me too well, sis.” “Of course I do,” she huffed, rolling her eyes, which was invisible behind her visor. “Didn’t spend seven damn years with your sorry ass for nothing, asshole.” “Ouch,” Red chuckled, breathing in the smoke with the first pull. “So, do we wrap up for the night or go for another lead while we’re at it, by the way?” Fury thought about it for a moment, scanning through the names that still weren’t crossed out. Sure, they already didn’t have so many options to go for, but the list was still pretty extensive in her opinion. That was very different from their vigilante thing when they did way less investigative work and usually went for active crimes… Wait. Since when were they vigilantes and not heroes in her head? “I say we check a few more leads before the news about this guy spreads by the morning,” she said with a shrug. “Unless your old bones can’t take that much work in one go?” “Oh, shut it, brat. Not everyone did several sports before joining a gang,” he huffed, barely restraining himself from breathing the smoke out straight at her face, just to annoy her. “Right, right, old man, I’ll keep that point in mind when your thoroughly smoked lungs give out during a chase from the police.” Red only rolled his eyes at this, turning away to finish his cigarette in peace. Fury could say all she wanted about it, but he really didn’t smoke all that much these days, simply because Mel couldn’t stand the smell on him. So, only smoking on the job it is so it could fade on his way back home. Besides, it gave him a little time to think about stuff. For instance, about coming to terms with how much Fury… Leiko changed over the years. It’s been almost a month since she became an active member of the Family again, and the more they worked together, the more these changes became evident. The way she moved, the way she talked, the way she looked at the world, everything in her now screamed a seasoned warrior, despite her being away from the gang for five whole years… At least she doesn’t look like an empty shell of a person anymore, he mused, absently watching the ashes fall to the ground, broken down by the slight wind. Though I don’t even know what’s worse here, given the circumstances… Well, that was an issue for another day. For now, they still needed to finish the job for the night.

***

It was early in the morning when Leiko snuck into her window, silently closing it behind her with a sigh. Nothing. Nobody on the list knew shit about Obake, or the shipments apparently connected to the man as well. In the end, that was just a few more bodies of people who were unlucky enough to be in the same areas as her and Red and not know anything relevant. At least she got to clean out the blood off her equipment at the base instead of bringing it all home. She really hated that part back in the day when Mom could catch her doing that. “Tough night, huh?” A somewhat familiar voice called from the dark, startling Gogo for just a millisecond until… “Fuck!” She cursed, whipping out a knife from her jacket sleeve and throwing it at the source of the noise on pure instinct, panicking immediately after the throw as her mind finally registered who was the owner of the voice. Oh shit, don’t tell me I just killed my friend, she thought frantically, hesitantly turning only as she heard a faint, familiar buzz of certain plasma blades. Wasabi exhaled a moment after, shutting off the blade as the half-melted knife fell to the floor, definitely leaving a mark there. After the moment of mutual silence as the accidental near murder slowly sunk in, they locked eyes with each other. He spoke first, voice strained in his shock. “What the hell is your problem, Leiko?!” He shouted, throwing his arms in the air. “I just wanted to talk and you freaking try to kill me!” “It was an accident, okay?!” She yelled back, balling her shaking hands into fists. “You’ve known me for years, Vincent, so why in the ever-loving fuck did you think that sneaking up on me like this was a good idea?! Hell, why are you even here at 3 AM?!” Damn, good thing Honey wasn’t at home right now, opting to stay at SFIT to work on her project this time. And that she would stay at Fred’s manor for the night. Explaining that to her would’ve been awkward… “I just said it, I’m here to talk, damnit! Gah! This is why you didn’t have friends until college!” Wasabi pointed an accusatory finger at his friend, not missing the flinch he received in response. “Actually, I didn’t have friends because other people apparently still have a tendency of killing them,” Gogo snarled. “And the ones who manage to stay alive are just being difficult!” “And that’s why you went back to that gang? Because it’s easier to be a murderer when you associate yourself with criminals?” The sudden change in his tone stopped her from making another snarky remark. It wasn’t the tone he usually used with his friends even when he was upset. No, this specific tone meant that her friend was deeply hurt and stressed about it. And she was the reason he was hurt like this this time around. And it definitely didn’t help her that he was essentially right in what he was saying right now. “Well, it’s not like any of you would’ve supported me in this,” Gogo sighed, losing the most of her heat in one single sigh as she finally sat on the bed, letting her hands fall limp on each side. She nearly suppressed a flinch when Wasabi sat on the other end of the bed. “Besides, it really is easier this way. If I somehow slip up and get caught again, nobody is going to hunt you down as accomplices because I won’t act as a member of Big hero 5, I am doing this as Fury, a criminal and a member of the gang. This way, I don’t have to drag you guys into this, I have my siblings who can cover for me without having to care about civilians or public image, we are wanted by the police by default, which I can’t allow you guys to have. And they have informants all over the city, if there’s anyone who can help me get to Obake before he takes someone else’s life along the way, it’s them.” “You could’ve told me, you know,” he grumbled, fidgeting with his thumbs. “We all are worried about you and your sudden disappearances, Leiko. The team needs you, criminal or not. Your friends need you, no matter what you think.” “How did you figure it out anyway?” She asked, raising her head at Wasabi. He shrugged with a sigh. “I remembered the signs. I mean, you told me what happened back then yourself, and then I just needed to look for familiar patterns in your behavior when I felt that you were acting off. And then I even managed to see you when patrolling and I kinda… well, to be honest, I tried denying it at first, that you were just having a tough time with your trauma resurfacing like it did with Tadashi, but I couldn’t keep fooling myself when I saw you like this in person.” “Just our friends,” Gogo laughed weakly. “Just our friends,” he chuckled back awkwardly. “I still don’t get it though. With Callaghan, you were against Hiro going to kill him. What’s so different now?” “Just about everything,” she shrugged grimly, shooting a glance at an already cooled off melted knife. “First off, he was acting purely on emotions the moment he found out who was the killer. I had about a week of moping around before I came to the decision to at least seek them out again. Secondly, he was going to leave witnesses and a whole recording from Baymax, not to mention the pain in the ass the cleaning of the crime scene would’ve been, if everyone was magically on board with covering up for him. The only ones who know about my murderous intentions are you and people who have already killed enough people for this to be a regular Tuesday. Which brings us to the last point. Guilt. Because let’s be honest, even if he managed to kill Callaghan and get everyone to cover it up with him, Hiro wouldn’t have been able to live with it the moment the adrenaline wore off, it would’ve destroyed him. Me, on the other hand? I’ve had years of practice with living with both survivor’s guilt and a broken moral compass, I will probably only feel bad that I didn’t get to them sooner. Besides, it’s not like someone is going to miss them when I’m done, so.” Wasabi sighed heavily at this, covering his face with his hands. Well, that was it. His best friend has just officially confirmed that she both rejoined a criminal organization and that she did this with the intention of murdering people more easily. Yeah. That sure would’ve been a lot more to take in had he not been prepared for this exact outcome. At least she actually told him about it instead of keeping silent right until it was supposedly done. Small victories and all that. “I have just one more question for you.” “Yeah?” “Are you really sure you’re going to go through with this? That it’s the right choice in this situation?” “That’s actually two questions, but… yeah. I am,” Gogo nodded after a moment of consideration. “It might not be the best course of action per se, but it’s the optimal one for me. You know, both bringing our dead friend justice and eliminating a serious threat to everyone’s safety here. That’s the risk I’m willing to take here.” “Alright,” Wasabi sighed. “Then I guess I can only leave you to do your thing in this case. Just… be careful, alright? I really don’t want to lose you too. Though, I have to say this. If I see that it becomes too dangerous for you, I’m telling Aina and Fred and we’re getting you out of it, like it or not.” “Guess that’s fair,” she shrugged with a sigh. “Though I would prefer for them not to know unless strictly necessary. Just means that I actually have to be careful with killing an untraceable asshole.” “Well, untraceable or not, he’s still only human,” her friend hummed as he got up and picked up the knife from the floor. And Gogo could see from her position that there was, in fact, a burnt mark there in its place. Well, at least it wasn’t deep… “He’s going to slip up one way or another. And then you’ll catch him, with us or the other guys.” “It’s really weird to see you essentially supporting me in murdering someone, you know,” she smiled at him. Wasabi laughed without any mirth behind it. “You’re not the only one angry at Obake for killing our friend, you know,” he said simpy. “I’m just not the kind of person who would’ve gone through with murder as a coping mechanism. Still… I don’t exactly support it, I just know that trying to talk you out of this is useless now. And that you’re smart enough to cover your tracks when you’re done. I can sleep knowing that I didn’t do anything to prevent a murder of someone if it means that their death would bring peace or safety to my friends. But I can’t say the same about my best friend consciously endangering herself because her emotions got the best of her. So I’m really hoping that’s not the case. Goodnight, Leiko, I’ll tell everyone that you got home from your night shift safely.” With that, Vincent left her room and soon she could hear him locking the door with the extra key she gave him over a year ago for emergencies. Huh. She honestly forgot he even had this one until today. Well, she could definitely call this a tough night, huh…

***

“It seems that this new treatment you started is already bringing the results,” Obake hummed with a slight grin as they watched Hiro spar with Momakase, this time using knives. Plastic for now, to ensure there weren’t too many serious injuries while the kid was still getting the hang of it, but he was certain the young genius would appreciate the little surprise he made for him over the weekend with the newest shipment. Pity they had to get rid of the intermediary this time. Though, it was a necessity, he couldn’t risk it nowadays when there were people actively trying to find him… well, no matter. This shouldn’t take too long at this rate. “Ah, yeah, my lab partner had a few suggestions when we discussed the latest results and complications,” Dave drawled, watching as the kid slashed the air just mere inches away from the mercenary. “Though I must admit, he really is recovering way faster than any of us anticipated. I suppose you do have an eye for truly remarkable individuals.” “Hm, if you say so yourself,” the man hummed, glancing at the doctor. “So, does your lab partner have anything else in mind that I should know about?” In response, David grinned at him with the look of a man who didn’t mean any good. Obake had to admit, this look was growing on him. Perhaps he really just needed to get used to it. “Don’t worry, ‘Bake,” he said, turning back to the other two sparring. “I’m certain you’re going to like it when you see it. We just need a little more time here.”