"Time of death, 6:45 PM. Cause, cardiac arrest."
Shaylin sighed as she looked at the monitors as they read out flatlines. It was painful to look at… even if she knew it was fake.
She looked down at the young man who laid on the OR table. While he looked pale and was still she could still hear his shallow breathing just barely over the blare of the monitors.
It'll be over soon. Just hang in there a little longer.
Shaylin and the doctors brought the sheet over the young man's head.
"I'll… go tell Ms. Amara the news."
Shaylin exited the OR.
Outside, Liv was waiting, the woman sitting on a bench with her arms folded, her assistant sitting next to her, looking at something on a tablet.
Liv stood up as soon as Shaylin came close.
"What's the status of the patient?" she asked.
Shaylin frowned, a grim look in her eyes.
"Tadashi Hamada died of cardiac arrest due to unexpected complications of burn damage and his… unusual condition."
Liv frowned at this.
"I see… Shame. It would've been wonderful to look further into his abilities." She sighed. "I guess pyrokinesis is just not something meant for humans."
"I'm afraid not. The body just can't handle it."
Liv nodded.
"I would like to at least help with the autopsy. I feel I owe it to you since I promised I could help him but… seeing as he's dead, I can't in how I originally intended."
"That won't be necessary." Shaylin's eyes narrowed.
Liv's frown faded as she raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Shaylin leaned in, whispering into Liv's ear.
"You have been asked to vacate the premises immediately. We do not welcome people with god complexes like yours at our hospital."
Liv's look turned dark.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I'm not going to ask again." Shaylin pulled back. "There's nothing of interest here for you. Leave or you will be escorted out by security. That would be such a lovely look for a CEO, wouldn't it?"
Liv scoffed, signalling for her assistant to stand.
"Such an ungrateful hospital. I was only trying to help."
"You only came because it was a unique condition. You didn't care for the boy like I did. He was someone with a life that he wasn't sure he could return to. Now, that's never going to happen."
"And who's to blame for that?" Liv smirked, turning away. "Come along, Chris. We're done with this riff raff of a hospital."
Chris nodded, following after his boss.
Shaylin waited a few long minutes before returning to the OR.
Shaylin approached Tadashi quietly, shaking him gently.
"She's gone."
He opened his eyes, sitting up slowly.
"She is?"
"Yeah. And she's never coming back. You're safe now."
Tadashi sighed in relief, lowering his head.
"Yet… things are still going to be complicated, aren't they? If not more than they were before?"
Shaylin brought her arms around him, stroking his hair.
"They are… but I promise… some how, some way, we'll get you home to your family."
Tadashi buried his face into her shoulder.
"Thank you…"
Shaylin kept him close.
"Anytime, Tadashi."
Anytime.
oooooo
A freak accident… powers that developed because of said freak accident… and can't go home to family due to circumstances related to Liv Amara…
… Sheesh, is it just a hobby of hers to make everyone's life miserable?
Obake frowned as Takashi finished telling his story.
"And so… I took up a new identity, came here to Saga and have been living here ever since… The Phoenix thing didn't come till later. Never thought to do it till something happened that sparked the idea… erm, no pun intended."
"Yeah, which involved running into a fire to save the chief of the fire department." Eboni elbowed Takashi a little. "Way to make and impression AND scare the daylights out of me."
"H-Hey, it all worked out!"
"Yeah, yeah, you're an idiot but you're MY idiot." Eboni smirked. "But yeah, blah blah, hero stuff in between, he and Trina became the epic duo of Saga and I'm just their woman in the chair who keeps their tech up to snuff and make sure they ain't killing themselves."
"I see…" Obake looked to his daughter. "Anything else I should know?"
"That's pretty much it." Trina shrugged. "Not really much to add to me and Takashi meeting. It was all just stuff that fell into place with transferring him to Saga and my mom and I helping in hiding him from Liv since we're not fans either."
"Then where does this Dragoness fit in?" Obake asked.
"She just kind of came out of nowhere." Eboni held up her hands. "And that's all we got. We don't know where she came from and why, we just knew she was obsessed with Takashi's powers. Now though… seems we have a lead on the why." Eboni brought a hand to her face. "It only figures she's in cahoots with that crazy devil woman."
"And now she knows where Takashi is…" Kim lowered her head. "Which means…"
Takashi lowered his head as well.
"Liv will know too, soon…" He brought his hands to his face. "Great… just great…"
Eboni brought a hand to his back.
"Taka…"
Obake frowned at this.
He knew what that was like. He knew all too well. While it wasn't a perfect mirror… everything that was just explained to him about Takashi reminded him all too much of what happened to him.
Obake's hands gripped at his blanket.
I can't let her ruin another life. Not like this.
And especially not this one if this is who I think it is.
Obake looked to everyone in the room.
"May I have a moment alone with Takashi?"
Everyone looked at each other confused but nodded, filing out, leaving the two alone.
Takashi gave Obake a perplexed look as they stared each other down.
Obake was silent for a moment before he spoke.
"Tadashi Hamada. Robotics prodigy. Inventor of the robot, Baymax. Loving and caring older brother to Hiro Hamada. Wanted nothing but the best for his brother, knowing he could be way more than what he was before he enrolled at SFIT. Tragically passed away in an attempt to save a professor who turned out to be the one who caused the fire he died in… or so people thought."
Takashi's eyes were wide at this.
"W-What?"
"I know it's you." Obake's look was firm. "You may have omitted your old name and details but with all you said, it didn't take me long to realize who you actually were with the information I have on you. I know a lot more about you than I should but that aside…" Obake's look turned gentle. "I want to help you in dealing with this problem. I just wanted to get secret reveals out of the way."
Takashi… Tadashi was unsure what to make of what just happened.
"I… What?"
"I want to help you." Obake repeated. "I stated all that I did just as a means of getting the tension of keeping a secret out of the way. If we're going to take care of this issue it's key that we're transparent with each other. A bond of trust, if you will."
Tadashi gave a baffled look.
"Wait, wait, back up. Why do you know so much about me? Do I WANT to know?"
Obake sighed.
"I'll keep it at I was trying to manipulate your brother by any means possible to be my student, even if it meant using you somehow. Didn't work since he's too smart. Can we move on to helping you with your situation, now?"
Tadashi crossed his arms before taking a seat in the chair next to his bed.
"Yeah, though I got questions for later." He replied, before raising an eyebrow. "Got any ideas for dealing with the Dragon Lady?"
"Liv is currently too occupied with things in San Fransokyo right now, which means it'll take some time before Dragoness can get information to her. If we can intercept before she sends her anything, we can prevent Liv from discovering you're here in Saga." Obake smiled. "All we have to do is locate her hideout, capture her and destroy the evidence."
Tadashi hummed in thought.
"That could work, but she's smart. She's not gonna just show up outta nowhere… slippery too. When she's shown up at fires, she manages to get away before I can do anything." He frowned. "It'd have to be a trap basically… and it'd have to be strong bait-" He trailed off. "... No-"
"It may be the only option we have, Tadashi." Obake cut in. "However, I don't intend to throw you to the sharks without a safety net. I may not be able to do much at the moment physically but I have something back in San Fransokyo that could help, I just need someone to fetch it for me so I can make adjustments."
"If I go with Eboni into the city, we could keep under wraps and get it. I'd just need a good idea of what it is." He smiled. "Then we could bring it back here."
"I'll give those details in a moment. The main plan is this: You'll act as the bait, Dragoness will no doubt take you back to her lab, thus, we can use you as a tracker. We'll follow her back and before anything can be done, we'll apprehend her, delete the data and turn her over to the police. Simple as that."
Tadashi was still unsure… but the plan seemed airtight as far as he could tell.
And… I don't want Liv getting her claws on either one of us.
Someone has to help right?
He took a deep breath, before nodding.
"Alright… I'm in." He held up a finger. "But if I wind up dissected, I'm haunting you. Deal?"
"Deal." Obake chuckled. "I shall do my best to ensure that doesn't happen."
"Good… So… What's the thing you need?"
Obake smiled
"A robot."