p class="MsoNormal"Machiko didn't even think as she shoved Callaghan's office door open. The past few weeks she hadn't gotten all that much sleep due to stress and nightmares, and she wasn't thinking; didn't hear the slightly elevated, tense voices on the other side of the door. Callaghan's door was never closed, and it was Wednesday. She always hung out with him on Wednesday. Today wasn't any different./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Except, apparently, it was; she stopped dead when Hiro twisted to face her and Baymax waddled around in circle. His puffy bulk blocked the view of the desk, but she knew Callaghan's startled face well enough to imagine it./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey," she said, automatically going to stand-your-ground response. "Th'fuck you doin in here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Language," came Callaghan's voice from behind them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Right. Machiko tossed her bag into the corner and slouched into a chair. "Sorry," she muttered, rubbing her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It's okay," Hiro said, though she wasn't apologizing to him. She was too tired to correct him. Or she didn't care. emPick one, asshole/em. "We were just leaving. C'mon, Baymax."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The robot was staring at Machiko, black button eyes expressionless. But he didn't move when Hiro started for the door. "Baymax, emc'mon/em."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I have a query." It still hadn't moved./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hiro groaned and dragged a hand over his bangs. He was about to speak, but Baymax piped up again. "About the injuries I have categorized from my scan of you, Machiko Arashi."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Machiko stiffened and sat up, alarm flickering in her gut. Since when had—oh right, in the alley. The robot probably just hadn't had time to say anything earlier. That didn't matter, though, what mattered was it shut up now. "Whoa hey, now, that's not—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Injuries categorized add to two hundred twenty eight, ranging from previously broken bones to internal trauma." Behind them, Callaghan rose to his feet and came around the desk. He was willing to side with his hated enemy on this one thing. The multiple eyes on her made Machiko very very nervous. As it always did, she stood her ground and fought back./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That's emnone of your business,/em" she hissed, "and you can stuff your emquery/em!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Baymax paused. Its confidentiality program was still very primitive, but at least it knew to not to ask that particular question. But it had one purpose, and one purpose only: to heal the sick and injured. If it couldn't ask the question it could go another way around, and so it doggedly kept talking. "I recommend: immediate physical therapy," Baymax paused and waddled forward; Machiko shrunk away, "and perhaps: mental therapy, as evidence suggests they began accumulating at: three years of age."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I got in a car accident," Machiko blurted out, fingers white where they were clenched into fists. She had to empunch /emsomething… around her, the three other people in the room were silent for a short moment as she struggled with her temper. Then Callaghan said quietly, "Every year since you were three years old?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The girl lunged to her feet, turned and smashed her fist as hard as she could. Callaghan rose swiftly and Hiro stumbled back, startled. Baymax started forward, probably hoping to stop her from harming herself, but the professor beat the robot there, grabbing her wrist as she drew back to punch again. "Machiko," he said softly, reaching up to touch her face and "accidentally" brushing a thumb against a particular spot on her neck./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The girl took a deep, shuddering breath, attempting to calm herself, and the professor glanced at the boy. "Mr. Hamada, if you please."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hiro looked at him suspiciously. Sure, Machiko had been hanging out with the hidden supervillain for almost a year now, and the man seemed to welcome her, but did he really trust him to do the right thing for her? He repeatedly tried to murder his former students, he'd caused the death of another student—Hiro's brother—he blackmailed the heroes into not revealing him on pain of discovery to all their emother /emenemies, and they were pretty damn sure he was looking to kill Alister Krei. The man's moral compass had gone violently askew ever since he'd stolen Hiro's microbots (and perhaps before then)./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"But if he was good at one thing, it was being a father. Hiro nodded slowly and beckoned at Baymax. "C'mon."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I do not think—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""This isn't something you can fix, buddy." He looked down at her. "Hey. If you need any help… you know where we are." He meant both in the school and out./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She didn't respond. They left. Machiko was breathing hard and shaking as she pushed her anger away, and Callaghan kept his hand resting on her neck./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I get in fights," she hissed finally. "You know that."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You got in fights when you were three years old and on with someone strong enough to scar you for life?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She sucked in a breath. "It was none of your business. It's none of your embusiness/em!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"His hand slid from her neck to her arm, feeling the scarred muscles twitch and surge. "Now we have proof, Machiko. Baymax can submit his findings—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""And emwhat/em?" She yanked away from him and spun around; he used her momentum to press her back down into the seat, knowing full well the possible consequences of these actions and pleasantly surprised when she didn't lash out at him. She struggled for a moment, but he had the upper leverage, and she gave up quickly. "I get taken away from my dad? I get put in child services, in some foster home—I'm emnot /emgoing through child services."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You don't have to." Her eyes snapped to his again, wild and scared and angry. He gently rubbed her arm as he spoke, keeping his manner and tone soft. "You already spend most of the week with me. Why not your weekends too?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He saw the panic cross her face and knew what it was for; how would she get back to Yokai if she was at Callaghan's? Taking pity on her he added, "I know how you value your freedom." emMore than most/em. "I promise I won't stop you if you need to leave for a while as long as you also value your own safety. But Machiko… this abuse has got to emstop/em."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She lowered her eyes again and took deep, shuddering breaths. "Child… services… they'll—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm offering emmyself/em as a foster home." Again her head jerked up. The shock on her face was practically emtangible; /emhe hid a smile. "I don't think they could find any place that's more ideal, do you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I-I—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""At least, I don't think there's anything more ideal."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She made a small sound. Acting on instinct Callaghan knew now it was safe to touch her further and slid into the seat next to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into his hug and he tightened his grip. Yes, he had her. This was the last bit he needed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It's going to be okay," he murmured. He tucked her hair behind her ear. It was still growing out. The natural shine her hair had was a welcome sight to the dead, straw-like blonde it had been. "I promise."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her entire life had been spent in that house./p
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't necessarily a terrible house, physically. Machiko just hadn't spent much time looking at it. She preferred breezing through the front doors and heading straight up the stairs to her room and jumping out her second-story window to get out. The back of the house was right up against an old dingy alleyway, which made it perfect for Monster to hang out in as it waited for her to come home. It was sandwiched between a Chinese takeout and their neighbors, a couple of older potheads who virtually never saw the light of day and who were probably squatting anyway./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The front of the house was gray. The paint was peeling and chipping and the lower windows sported rusty bars. There had once been fire stairs in the back but they'd long since been removed, stolen, or just rusted off. Machiko thought the whole place had once been a steam shop. It smelled like one. Concrete stairs led up to a faded blue door that according to the paint underneath had once been red./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It was hard to believe she didn't live there anymore. Things had moved rather quickly after her injuries had been found. Hiro was more than happy to help Machiko get away from her abusive father and it was easy for Baymax to transmit the data from his memory core to a hospital database. There really wasn't any other possible reason for the enormous amount of previously broken bones, spanning from three years of age to present./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He was less happy when he realized where she was going, but what could he do? Machiko wasn't going to let him or his friends' dislike of Callaghan stop her from possibly forever getting out of her dad's house./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her dad hadn't been arrested but they'd assured her he would be as soon as the proper paperwork had been filed. She'd believe it when she saw it. Besides her foster father—it was weird to even think about calling him that—Machiko wasn't really in the habit of believing anyone, especially adults./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"So now she stood in front of her house. Her old house. Two cops waited by the car and beside her, waiting patiently, was the professor and a large woman who was her social case worker. Jeanne, she remembered. The lady's name was Jeanne. She was very pleasant, but she was yet another adult Machiko didn't trust. She was just another kid to her. Another kid from another broken home; another case to solve. She wasn't the professor./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Dad was inside, hence the cops. She had to get whatever she left here that she wanted—there wasn't much. Her birth certificate, as long as it was in the same spot she'd hidden it. That and her social security card. Her mom must have gotten them for her before she died or ran away or whatever the hell happened to her—Machiko had no idea and honestly did not care a single bit. So those two things, and a picture album… miscellaneous shit…/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The door slammed open. Machiko didn't flinch, but her eyes remained on the stairs. She never looked at her father. Her eyes were always on the floor, gazing past him, or unfocused. Now that she had a more broad understanding of her mind she wondered if it was some sort of coping mechanism./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Mr. Arashi, if you could step outside please," one of the cops said. A warm weight made Machiko suppress a start; the professor had rested a hand on her shoulder./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"An argument commenced. Machiko blocked out all sounds the minute it started, still staring vacantly at the stairs. Something about the cops needing a warrant and his daughter was a delinquent bitch or whatever./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Machiko?" A steady voice cut through the fog. Machiko took in a sharp breath and refocused. Callaghan had been trying to gently get her attention. Her father was standing off to one side and Jeanne was coming back over from where she had been firmly talking him down and showing him the warrant to search the house and allow Machiko in. She'd hoped that he'd get belligerent enough to get arrested, but he seemed to have calmed down. Damn./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey!" Her father spun as she began to walk towards the door, professor and social worker right behind her. Machiko stopped. "Her fuckin' pimp isn't allowed in my house!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Callaghan hissed very quietly through his teeth, as if steadying himself, but Machiko snorted. Pimp. The very idea that Machiko would sell her body—would allow anyone else to sell her body—was hilarious to her. She snickered quietly as the cops tried to calm him down. It was unlikely that she'd ever be interested in sex ever. She'd had no interest in any such thing since as long as she could remember, and what happened with the frat party had only solidified it. She'd seen kids in her high school make out, sneak beneath the bleachers and into the bathrooms, suck on each other's faces… and the actions were only strange things that she regarded with a mild amount of fascination and vague disgust./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Professor Callaghan," Jeanne murmured, "I'm sorry, but—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He raised his hands. "I understand. Machiko, I'll be right here." His eyes were firm and the steel made her glance nervously back over at her dad. There was no way Callaghan could win a physical fight against her dad, but the force of his will was far more powerful./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She trotted up the stairs like she'd done so many times and breezed through the kitchen and up to the second floor. To her right was the hall and the bathroom as well as her dad's bedroom, which he normally didn't sleep in—he preferred the couch. That was fine. She preferred he sleep downstairs anyway. In front right at the top of the stairs was her tiny room./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't a bad room as rooms in the city went. It was small but useable. A twin bed took up most of it and the plaster on some of the walls had been knocked off. Her dad had punched a few holes in them. A tiny bureau held her clothes. Machiko didn't even touch it; they were all dirty. They didn't have a washer or drier in-house and she'd rarely had spare change for the Laundromat down the block./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her birth certificate and social security card were in a small box shoved way in the corner of her bed. Her dad had never asked for them or looked for them, and Machiko wanted him nowhere near them—he probably would have thrown them away out of spite./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She'd never noticed how dirty things were, or how incredibly run down, before Professor Callaghan's house. It was surprising how much she preferred cleanliness now when before she couldn't have cared less; she noticed every corner full of dust and old fur from Rowdy. She'd never vacuumed. They probably didn't even own a vacuum. She did try to clean up Rowdy's messes, of course; as he got older he became more and more incontinent. The smell of pee set her dad off and in order to avoid Rowdy being hurt any more she'd… put herself in his place…/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Until he'd tottered into the kitchen and her dad had blown up at him. That had been the event that had started it all./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her picture album was small and had photos of her dog in it and, in earlier years, a fish she'd kept for a year before it had died. She'd never dared take pictures of Monster. What if someone found the album? A couple of miscellaneous school supplies, and she was done./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She got up again and joined Jeanne at the top of the stairs. "Ready?" the woman asked./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"They left the house. Machiko smiled slightly as the door swung closed behind them and made a beeline for the professor, whose face was thunderous as he listened to her father get blustery again. "And that fucker threatened me and all I wanted to do was get my daughter home safe—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't listen to him," Jeanne said. Machiko found herself leaning against Callaghan. When had that happened? "I'm not," she replied simply. "He's nothing."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her head was resting on his chest so his chuckle reverberated deeply against her cheek. A warm hand rested on her upper arm. "Good girl."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"They left. Callaghan didn't ask about the amount of things she took from the house and Jeanne seemed satisfied about what she'd found. "It's a good case," she kept saying, but Machiko didn't care about that either. If it was such a good case, why did it take so long for her dad to get arrested?/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""We'll go shopping Friday," the professor—her foster father—told her. "It's high time you get some clothes that are just for you."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Machiko couldn't help it. She smiled at him; a real smile, not a sardonic or sarcastic or sneering one. He didn't see it, having kept his eyes on the road, but he got the gist of it from the corner of his eye and felt a corner of his mouth turn up in response./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It was nice to see her smile./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It was nicer that he now officially owned her. Now the real work could begin./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Except, apparently, it was; she stopped dead when Hiro twisted to face her and Baymax waddled around in circle. His puffy bulk blocked the view of the desk, but she knew Callaghan's startled face well enough to imagine it./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey," she said, automatically going to stand-your-ground response. "Th'fuck you doin in here?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Language," came Callaghan's voice from behind them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Right. Machiko tossed her bag into the corner and slouched into a chair. "Sorry," she muttered, rubbing her eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It's okay," Hiro said, though she wasn't apologizing to him. She was too tired to correct him. Or she didn't care. emPick one, asshole/em. "We were just leaving. C'mon, Baymax."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The robot was staring at Machiko, black button eyes expressionless. But he didn't move when Hiro started for the door. "Baymax, emc'mon/em."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I have a query." It still hadn't moved./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hiro groaned and dragged a hand over his bangs. He was about to speak, but Baymax piped up again. "About the injuries I have categorized from my scan of you, Machiko Arashi."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Machiko stiffened and sat up, alarm flickering in her gut. Since when had—oh right, in the alley. The robot probably just hadn't had time to say anything earlier. That didn't matter, though, what mattered was it shut up now. "Whoa hey, now, that's not—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Injuries categorized add to two hundred twenty eight, ranging from previously broken bones to internal trauma." Behind them, Callaghan rose to his feet and came around the desk. He was willing to side with his hated enemy on this one thing. The multiple eyes on her made Machiko very very nervous. As it always did, she stood her ground and fought back./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""That's emnone of your business,/em" she hissed, "and you can stuff your emquery/em!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Baymax paused. Its confidentiality program was still very primitive, but at least it knew to not to ask that particular question. But it had one purpose, and one purpose only: to heal the sick and injured. If it couldn't ask the question it could go another way around, and so it doggedly kept talking. "I recommend: immediate physical therapy," Baymax paused and waddled forward; Machiko shrunk away, "and perhaps: mental therapy, as evidence suggests they began accumulating at: three years of age."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I got in a car accident," Machiko blurted out, fingers white where they were clenched into fists. She had to empunch /emsomething… around her, the three other people in the room were silent for a short moment as she struggled with her temper. Then Callaghan said quietly, "Every year since you were three years old?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The girl lunged to her feet, turned and smashed her fist as hard as she could. Callaghan rose swiftly and Hiro stumbled back, startled. Baymax started forward, probably hoping to stop her from harming herself, but the professor beat the robot there, grabbing her wrist as she drew back to punch again. "Machiko," he said softly, reaching up to touch her face and "accidentally" brushing a thumb against a particular spot on her neck./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The girl took a deep, shuddering breath, attempting to calm herself, and the professor glanced at the boy. "Mr. Hamada, if you please."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Hiro looked at him suspiciously. Sure, Machiko had been hanging out with the hidden supervillain for almost a year now, and the man seemed to welcome her, but did he really trust him to do the right thing for her? He repeatedly tried to murder his former students, he'd caused the death of another student—Hiro's brother—he blackmailed the heroes into not revealing him on pain of discovery to all their emother /emenemies, and they were pretty damn sure he was looking to kill Alister Krei. The man's moral compass had gone violently askew ever since he'd stolen Hiro's microbots (and perhaps before then)./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"But if he was good at one thing, it was being a father. Hiro nodded slowly and beckoned at Baymax. "C'mon."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I do not think—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""This isn't something you can fix, buddy." He looked down at her. "Hey. If you need any help… you know where we are." He meant both in the school and out./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She didn't respond. They left. Machiko was breathing hard and shaking as she pushed her anger away, and Callaghan kept his hand resting on her neck./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I get in fights," she hissed finally. "You know that."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You got in fights when you were three years old and on with someone strong enough to scar you for life?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She sucked in a breath. "It was none of your business. It's none of your embusiness/em!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"His hand slid from her neck to her arm, feeling the scarred muscles twitch and surge. "Now we have proof, Machiko. Baymax can submit his findings—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""And emwhat/em?" She yanked away from him and spun around; he used her momentum to press her back down into the seat, knowing full well the possible consequences of these actions and pleasantly surprised when she didn't lash out at him. She struggled for a moment, but he had the upper leverage, and she gave up quickly. "I get taken away from my dad? I get put in child services, in some foster home—I'm emnot /emgoing through child services."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""You don't have to." Her eyes snapped to his again, wild and scared and angry. He gently rubbed her arm as he spoke, keeping his manner and tone soft. "You already spend most of the week with me. Why not your weekends too?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He saw the panic cross her face and knew what it was for; how would she get back to Yokai if she was at Callaghan's? Taking pity on her he added, "I know how you value your freedom." emMore than most/em. "I promise I won't stop you if you need to leave for a while as long as you also value your own safety. But Machiko… this abuse has got to emstop/em."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She lowered her eyes again and took deep, shuddering breaths. "Child… services… they'll—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm offering emmyself/em as a foster home." Again her head jerked up. The shock on her face was practically emtangible; /emhe hid a smile. "I don't think they could find any place that's more ideal, do you?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""I-I—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""At least, I don't think there's anything more ideal."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She made a small sound. Acting on instinct Callaghan knew now it was safe to touch her further and slid into the seat next to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into his hug and he tightened his grip. Yes, he had her. This was the last bit he needed./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It's going to be okay," he murmured. He tucked her hair behind her ear. It was still growing out. The natural shine her hair had was a welcome sight to the dead, straw-like blonde it had been. "I promise."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her entire life had been spent in that house./p
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't necessarily a terrible house, physically. Machiko just hadn't spent much time looking at it. She preferred breezing through the front doors and heading straight up the stairs to her room and jumping out her second-story window to get out. The back of the house was right up against an old dingy alleyway, which made it perfect for Monster to hang out in as it waited for her to come home. It was sandwiched between a Chinese takeout and their neighbors, a couple of older potheads who virtually never saw the light of day and who were probably squatting anyway./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The front of the house was gray. The paint was peeling and chipping and the lower windows sported rusty bars. There had once been fire stairs in the back but they'd long since been removed, stolen, or just rusted off. Machiko thought the whole place had once been a steam shop. It smelled like one. Concrete stairs led up to a faded blue door that according to the paint underneath had once been red./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It was hard to believe she didn't live there anymore. Things had moved rather quickly after her injuries had been found. Hiro was more than happy to help Machiko get away from her abusive father and it was easy for Baymax to transmit the data from his memory core to a hospital database. There really wasn't any other possible reason for the enormous amount of previously broken bones, spanning from three years of age to present./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He was less happy when he realized where she was going, but what could he do? Machiko wasn't going to let him or his friends' dislike of Callaghan stop her from possibly forever getting out of her dad's house./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her dad hadn't been arrested but they'd assured her he would be as soon as the proper paperwork had been filed. She'd believe it when she saw it. Besides her foster father—it was weird to even think about calling him that—Machiko wasn't really in the habit of believing anyone, especially adults./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"So now she stood in front of her house. Her old house. Two cops waited by the car and beside her, waiting patiently, was the professor and a large woman who was her social case worker. Jeanne, she remembered. The lady's name was Jeanne. She was very pleasant, but she was yet another adult Machiko didn't trust. She was just another kid to her. Another kid from another broken home; another case to solve. She wasn't the professor./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Dad was inside, hence the cops. She had to get whatever she left here that she wanted—there wasn't much. Her birth certificate, as long as it was in the same spot she'd hidden it. That and her social security card. Her mom must have gotten them for her before she died or ran away or whatever the hell happened to her—Machiko had no idea and honestly did not care a single bit. So those two things, and a picture album… miscellaneous shit…/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"The door slammed open. Machiko didn't flinch, but her eyes remained on the stairs. She never looked at her father. Her eyes were always on the floor, gazing past him, or unfocused. Now that she had a more broad understanding of her mind she wondered if it was some sort of coping mechanism./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Mr. Arashi, if you could step outside please," one of the cops said. A warm weight made Machiko suppress a start; the professor had rested a hand on her shoulder./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"An argument commenced. Machiko blocked out all sounds the minute it started, still staring vacantly at the stairs. Something about the cops needing a warrant and his daughter was a delinquent bitch or whatever./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Machiko?" A steady voice cut through the fog. Machiko took in a sharp breath and refocused. Callaghan had been trying to gently get her attention. Her father was standing off to one side and Jeanne was coming back over from where she had been firmly talking him down and showing him the warrant to search the house and allow Machiko in. She'd hoped that he'd get belligerent enough to get arrested, but he seemed to have calmed down. Damn./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey!" Her father spun as she began to walk towards the door, professor and social worker right behind her. Machiko stopped. "Her fuckin' pimp isn't allowed in my house!"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Callaghan hissed very quietly through his teeth, as if steadying himself, but Machiko snorted. Pimp. The very idea that Machiko would sell her body—would allow anyone else to sell her body—was hilarious to her. She snickered quietly as the cops tried to calm him down. It was unlikely that she'd ever be interested in sex ever. She'd had no interest in any such thing since as long as she could remember, and what happened with the frat party had only solidified it. She'd seen kids in her high school make out, sneak beneath the bleachers and into the bathrooms, suck on each other's faces… and the actions were only strange things that she regarded with a mild amount of fascination and vague disgust./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Professor Callaghan," Jeanne murmured, "I'm sorry, but—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"He raised his hands. "I understand. Machiko, I'll be right here." His eyes were firm and the steel made her glance nervously back over at her dad. There was no way Callaghan could win a physical fight against her dad, but the force of his will was far more powerful./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She trotted up the stairs like she'd done so many times and breezed through the kitchen and up to the second floor. To her right was the hall and the bathroom as well as her dad's bedroom, which he normally didn't sleep in—he preferred the couch. That was fine. She preferred he sleep downstairs anyway. In front right at the top of the stairs was her tiny room./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It wasn't a bad room as rooms in the city went. It was small but useable. A twin bed took up most of it and the plaster on some of the walls had been knocked off. Her dad had punched a few holes in them. A tiny bureau held her clothes. Machiko didn't even touch it; they were all dirty. They didn't have a washer or drier in-house and she'd rarely had spare change for the Laundromat down the block./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her birth certificate and social security card were in a small box shoved way in the corner of her bed. Her dad had never asked for them or looked for them, and Machiko wanted him nowhere near them—he probably would have thrown them away out of spite./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She'd never noticed how dirty things were, or how incredibly run down, before Professor Callaghan's house. It was surprising how much she preferred cleanliness now when before she couldn't have cared less; she noticed every corner full of dust and old fur from Rowdy. She'd never vacuumed. They probably didn't even own a vacuum. She did try to clean up Rowdy's messes, of course; as he got older he became more and more incontinent. The smell of pee set her dad off and in order to avoid Rowdy being hurt any more she'd… put herself in his place…/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Until he'd tottered into the kitchen and her dad had blown up at him. That had been the event that had started it all./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her picture album was small and had photos of her dog in it and, in earlier years, a fish she'd kept for a year before it had died. She'd never dared take pictures of Monster. What if someone found the album? A couple of miscellaneous school supplies, and she was done./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"She got up again and joined Jeanne at the top of the stairs. "Ready?" the woman asked./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Yeah."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"They left the house. Machiko smiled slightly as the door swung closed behind them and made a beeline for the professor, whose face was thunderous as he listened to her father get blustery again. "And that fucker threatened me and all I wanted to do was get my daughter home safe—"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Don't listen to him," Jeanne said. Machiko found herself leaning against Callaghan. When had that happened? "I'm not," she replied simply. "He's nothing."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Her head was resting on his chest so his chuckle reverberated deeply against her cheek. A warm hand rested on her upper arm. "Good girl."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"They left. Callaghan didn't ask about the amount of things she took from the house and Jeanne seemed satisfied about what she'd found. "It's a good case," she kept saying, but Machiko didn't care about that either. If it was such a good case, why did it take so long for her dad to get arrested?/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""We'll go shopping Friday," the professor—her foster father—told her. "It's high time you get some clothes that are just for you."/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"Machiko couldn't help it. She smiled at him; a real smile, not a sardonic or sarcastic or sneering one. He didn't see it, having kept his eyes on the road, but he got the gist of it from the corner of his eye and felt a corner of his mouth turn up in response./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It was nice to see her smile./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"It was nicer that he now officially owned her. Now the real work could begin./p