Sparrow
Abigail watched as Baymax moved the scanner in front of her. The instruments on the wall of Big Hero 6's medical lab began showing data as the scan neared completion. As the scanner reached her toes, the machinery dinged and Baymax placed the instrument back where he had found it.
"Scanning complete. Awaiting diagnostics report."
It had been three days since Sirque's defeat at Krei Tech. In that time Abigail had spent more time resting from a crazy few days and figuring out her own powers. But she could only do so much on her own, hence why she was now being tended to by the small group of geniuses and their healthcare robot. Fred was there too.
"So when did this start?" Hiro asked.
"Um… a couple weeks ago, I think." Abigail answered, thinking back. "I kept waking up in strange places in my apartment, and I thought I was sleepwalking. But now I think it was my powers starting to develop."
"When was the first time you realized you could teleport at will?" Wasabi asked as he looked over early data reports from the scan.
"Tuesday. I was going to put my cereal bowl in the sink and suddenly I was at Krei Tech."
"So, if our hypothesis about the origin of your powers is correct, what changed recently to get them to manifest?" Go Go asked. "Why now?"
"Walk us through the day before your powers really started kicking in, Abigail." Hiro said.
"Well, um… it was a Monday. Typical Monday. I signed off on some blueprints, had some lunch… then later in the afternoon I tested the mag-lev cars."
"Mag-lev cars?" Wasabi looked up surprised. "Go Go, weren't you working on designs for Mag-lev cars?"
"I might have… sold the designs to Krei Tech to help fund my master's degree."
"Wait, is that where our new fridge came from as well?" Honey Lemon asked.
"Maybe…"
"Wait, how much did you sell the designs for?" Hiro asked. He'd already known that Go Go had sold the designs thanks to his conversation with Krei, but the how and why hadn't really come up.
"Five million dollars." Go Go stated plainly. Everyone in the room gasped except Fred.
"Nice! That's the same as my monthly allowance!"
"I wanted to pay for school and be comfortable. Krei offered me like ten times that, but it was too much."
"And you're still living in that tiny apartment?" Wasabi asked skeptically.
"Yeah. I'm comfortable there. And it means that on the occasion I can help pay for some supplies that Wendy needs for the kids at the science center. At this rate I'll run out of money in like ten years. One less thing to worry about."
"We're getting off topic." Hiro said, steering them back to the matter at hand. "So, you tested the mag-lev cars and then what?"
"Then… then Krei brought you down. And we… talked."
"About what?" Fred asked.
"She made the Tadashi connection." Hiro answered for her. "You left pretty quickly after that."
"I did, yeah. I was kind of… emotional that night." Abigail said, slightly rocking on the examination table. Despite her new-found connection with the city's superheroes, talking about some things were a little awkward still.
"What about the morning after?" Hiro asked.
"I woke up in the living room… I thought I'd sleepwalked again. I was still upset from the night before… more upset than I'd been in a while. Then… poof." Abigail made a circle with her hands and then wiggled her fingers around to mimic the teleportation.
"Sounds like to me her emotions helped change her body chemistry enough to fully trigger her powers." Go Go said as she looked at the on-screen data to confirm her theory.
"I thought you didn't believe in all of this spontaneous super-powers stuff, Go Go?" Fred smiled slyly.
"Fred, I'm a woman of science." Go Go tapped the screen behind her to indicate that the data backed her up. "And science doesn't lie. This scan compared to the scan she received at the hospital after we rescued her from the portal last year confirms that sometime recently her biology changed. And it's less spontaneous and more catalytic."
"I will pretend to know what that means!"
Abigail looked at the monitors in concern. "How'd you even get my medical records anyway?"
"My mom is friends with lots of people." Fred answered.
"Noted…"
"Well, I guess that answers where and how the powers came from." Hiro said.
Abigail hopped down from the table as Baymax offered her a lollipop. "So what now?"
"Well, we can't tell you what to do. They're your powers so you can do what you want with them," Hiro began. "We appreciate your help with Sirque, but if you want to call it here and just go back to being a normal person, then we understand."
"But?" A small smile appeared on Abigail's face. She felt like she knew where this was going.
"But…" Hiro smiled at her. "You helped us save a lot of people. And with your powers you could help even more people. But we know you're new to all of this, which is why we wanted to offer you a… trial position on the team. We didn't have much clue what we were doing when we started being superheroes, and we made some mistakes. We'd like to teach you the ropes, and when we feel you're ready, you can join the team officially if you'd like, or branch out and do your own thing."
"Like I'd say no to joining the cool kids club. It'd be an honor to learn from you guys."
"Then it's settled. Abigail, welcome to Big Hero 6."
The room erupted in applause, making Abigail's cheeks turn pink as she blushed at the praise. "Thanks, guys."
"This is going to be so much fun!" Honey Lemon squealed.
"You'll fit in here no problem." Go Go nodded.
"Before we do anything else, though," Fred said as he brought out of notepad. "Abigail, what do you want your superhero name to be? I have a few options written down. Let's see here… Zap! Straight and to the point. Zippy! Maybe a little childish… Zonk! Y'know, if your teleport made a noise maybe that's what it'd sound like… I guess I started with the Z's… I thought about Blink but that one was taken…"
Fred kept listing off ridiculous names, but Abigail's mind faded away. There was really only one true answer to the question, and it came out of her mouth before she even really thought about it.
"Sparrow." She said. Fred stopped listing names and looked up confused. Abigail started again to explain. "I got my powers from Project Silent Sparrow, so what better codename could I have?"
Fred tapped his chin as he thought. "Hmm… it does give you a sense of mystery AND ties in with your backstory. I love it! Welcome to the team, Sparrow!"
Abigail laughed at Fred's enthusiasm as he ran up and shook her hand as if they were meeting for the first time.
"We can talk suit modification later." Hiro said after Fred's antics had died down. "I assume you'll want to maintain your secret identity?"
"That's probably for the best. People might be wary of me if they knew who my father was."
"Understandable."
Abigail checked her watch, noticing the time. "Shoot, I gotta run. Thanks for everything guys, text me when you want to get started on training stuff."
Everyone waved her off and she left the Big Hero 6 hideout. Knowing what she knew now about the team members, an old candy factory was an appropriate cover. She took a deep breath as she sat down in her car, something she rarely broke out of the parking garage attached to her apartment building. She had one more item on the agenda for today, something that was a long time coming. She followed the GPS until it took her to PrisonMax. The newly repaired walls and refurbished Buddy Guardians greeted her as she rolled past the main gate, having provided the special ID given to her by the police department.
She parked in the main courtyard and was greeted by the Police Chief. She'd seen him on the news since his arrival in the city earlier in the spring but hadn't formally made his acquaintance yet.
"Ms. Callaghan, I'm Chief Cruz."
Abigail shook his hand. "Abigail, please."
"You signed all the forms, yes?"
"I did." Abigail turned back to her car and reached into the passenger seat and gave Chief Cruz a stack of documents. "All read and signed. I know what I'm getting myself into by coming here."
"Thank you for understanding. Many of the prisoners here are very dangerous. We need to take every precaution imaginable to maintain public safety."
"I understand." She said. Cruz nodded and led her to a separate building from the main cellblock. The two were connected via a single hallway to transfer prisoners, and at first Cruz had been against the idea of constructing a building meant solely for family visits, but Hiro had worn him down. Cruz scanned his ID at the door and it opened with a buzz. The two walked in and a two-way mirror allowed Abigail to look inside an empty room.
"He'll be here in a moment. Myself and two guards will be just in here if you need us."
"Thank you."
Abigail opened the door to the meeting room, consisting of only two chairs and a metal table with built-in restraints. She sat down in one of the chairs and proceeded to wait. After a few minutes, the second door in the room opened, and two police officers walked in with a third man in an orange jumpsuit between them. He looked older than the last time she'd seen him, and his expression looked permanently beat down now, but it was him. Abigail stood up from her seat and the two made eye contact. He'd spent days trying to think of what he said when he got to see his little girl again, but any planned thoughts went away when he saw her standing in front of him.
"Abigail…" he finally managed to stammer.
Abigail wiped fresh tears from her eyes and managed a smile. "Hi, dad."