Obake was out on the patio. Work on the robot was complete and their set up was all ready to go. Now it was just a matter of execution. They wanted to wait until later in the evening before going through with their mission, which gave Obake time to meditate and prepare himself mentally for it.

To think… I originally used Tadashi as a means of trying to manipulate someone into trusting me and coming to my side as a student… and now, I'll be doing it again as a means of trying to stop someone from committing crime.

Obake gripped at the arm of his chair as he thought back to that night. He knew for the most part that tricking Hiro had been his idea but… he couldn't deny the memory that itched at the back of his mind.

"It's the perfect ploy. He clearly loved his older brother. Be convincing enough and he'll play right into your hands, Obake. Work that silver tongue of yours."

She encouraged it. It would've benefited us both if I had convinced him. He would've been my student and he would be out of her way. But alas, Hiro was too clever…

Obake smiled a bit.

And I'm glad he is. It'll serve him well.

"Obake?"

Obake looked behind him, seeing Tadashi present.

"Yes?"

"Just… checking on you." Tadashi walked over, pulling up a chair next to him. "Wife just wanted to be sure you weren't having a massive headache."

"I'm not, I promise." Obake chuckled. "Long as I don't push my limits with the robot I'll be fine."

"Got ya."

Silence fell between the two for a moment or so. Both were glancing around the yard before Tadashi spoke up.

"Hey… Obake?"

"Hm?"

"... How is Hiro doing these days?"

Obake was taken aback by this.

"What?"

"Sorry just… from what I understand you've seen him in recent time with your whole crime lord thing and well… I just wanted to know if you knew anything about his current situation or what's been happening since I've been gone. It's okay if you don't I just… I dunno…"

Obake looked down, gripping the arm of his chair tightly again.

"He's extremely clever. One of the brightest students in his class from what I had observed. Always trying to follow in your footsteps." Obake looked to Tadashi. "He still looks up to you and while he wants to be his own person - and made it very clear he didn't want you both to be lumped in together because you had your own strengths… He wants to be as selfless and determined as you are, Tadashi."

Tadashi's eyes were wide, a small smile coming to his face.

"He… He does?"

"He does."

"I swear, I'm gonna make you proud of me! I'll do whatever it takes. And you'll be there, right?"

Guh, I hate myself for what I did that night…

"Don't go there."

"Huh?"

Obake gave a stern look.

"I know you're thinking back to that night you "died". Regrets are part of life… I know that better than anyone." Obake looked away. "But dwelling on them will do you no good. You learn from them and move on and better yourself."

Tadashi nodded.

"R-Right. Like what we're doing tonight?"

"Exactly." Obake looked back to Tadashi. "Tadashi, I want to make a promise to you right now and I want you to remember this till it is fulfilled."

"Okay. What is it?"

Obake's features turned gentle.

"No matter what it takes, I'll get you home to your brother. That's my promise to you."

Tadashi's eyes grew wide before he gave him a grateful look.

"Thank you." He took a deep breath. "I trust you… I promise, I'll do whatever it takes. I just… I want to see my brother again."

"And you will." He squeezed his arm. "We just have to do some work first."

Tadashi nodded, looking to him.

"Well… what are we waiting for then?"

Obake smiled, his implant glowing for a moment.

"My thoughts exactly."

oooooo

The structure was abandoned.

No surprise, with the place having gone up in flames a few months back.

And I was the one who caused it.

Erin chuckled, remembering back to that day.

Truly amazing how fast Bird Boy worked to save all those people.

She never thought she'd find herself back at this place for any reason but yet here she was.

Erin narrowed her eyes as she looked at the readings showing on her visor.

That's Bird Boy's heat signature I'm picking up in there but what is he doing in this building? And… he's just standing still. Why isn't he moving?

Erin felt at the mini flamethrowers she had hidden under her sleeves of fire proof jacket, her hands twitching at the triggers.

I'm armed. If something goes wrong I can fight back.

She rolled up one of her sleeves before heading inside. She kept her flamethrower ready as she made her way down a few halls. As she approached the area where Phoenix was, her steps became slower, wanting to be prepared for anything. Though, as she drew closer, she could hear voices.

"You'll never get away with this!"

"Oh, but I already am, Phoenix."

Huh?

Erin looked into the room, eyes widening at what she saw.

Phoenix was strapped to a table with what she could only assume were heat proof restraints. He was hooked up to machines that were trackings vitals and many other things. Standing not too far from him was a tall slender man with slicked back dark hair with a red streak in it. He was dressed in a black suit with a lab coat on over it. He wore a broad grin on his face as he watched Phoenix struggle at his restraints.

Phoenix snarled up at his captor, rage filling the young man's eyes.

"I swear, no one will let you! They'll notice that I'm gone!"

The man laughed, throwing his head back.

"Oh, please. You're nothing but a child." He glanced up at the monitors. "Keeping riled up like this isn't good for a consistent result you know. I'd hate to sedate you."

… Okay, no kidding when he said crime lord. Phoenix thought, narrowing his eyes.

"You sonofa-"

"Tsk, tsk." The man grabbed him by his chin, forcing him to keep eye contact. "That's no way to act. Just behave. Everything will be just fine."

Phoenix wrenched his head free.

"Besides… we have a guest." The man turned to Erin, amusement in his eyes. "Fiesty one isn't he?"

Erin was taken aback by this before composing herself.

"He is…" She narrowed her eyes. "Though I thought I'd be the only one after this boy. Who are you and what do you want with him?"

The man extended a hand to her, a cool smile on his face.

"Obake is what I'm known by. I'm quite intrigued by his DNA as you are. We're all working for the same person, are we not?" He grinned. "I thought we could study him together. Better to have a full research team but two minds can work just as well, no?"

"I suppose…" Erin raised an eyebrow at this. "I don't recall Liv mentioning you at all in our exchanges."

"I'm new and she hasn't been able to inform you of me coming due to her being busy with events in San Fransokyo. She's trying to work around the nuisances known as Big Hero 6. She just said to come and help you capture Phoenix and then introduce myself. Simple as that."

Erin hesitated for a moment before taking his hand, giving it a firm shake.

"Well… pleasure to meet you, Obake." She looked at her scanner again, noting she couldn't pick up a heat signature from him.

"Pleasure to meet you too." He let go of her hand quickly, going back to the table. "I was just debating how to go about today's procedures. How had you planned to handle him once you captured him?" He smirked. "I just want to respect your wishes as well."

Just keep her talking. I don't want Shaylin to kill me just yet.

Erin crossed her arms.

"Well, I was planning to take him back to my private lab. I have specialized equipment that would be able to scan him without being too invasive. I would also have blood samples drawn, skin samples and whatever else might be of interest in understanding how he functions. Basically, I would get as much as I can before I hand him over to Liv for her own research."

"We can easily obtain skin and blood here. If you wanted to examine him further, I have plenty of equipment for that. No expense spared."

Obake caught Phoenix giving him a warning look out of the corner of his eye.

Just deal with it Tadashi, I'll get you off of the table as soon as I can.

"What do you say?"

"How about NO!?" Phoenix snapped. "You both are crazy! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"He really seems to think that screaming act will work." Obake shrugged.

Erin chuckled, looking to Phoenix.

"Well, scream all you want. No one can hear you." Erin looked back to Obake. "I appreciate the offer but I must insist on using my lab. Better to have a sterile environment. Plus, I do not want to leave evidence behind."

He gave a nod.

"Very well. At the least we can prep him for the procedures here, make it less of a hassle… I assume he'll be sedated heavily for majority of it? After all… while a dead specimen can reveal quite a bit, nothing quite like getting answers from the living."

He walked around to stand beside Phoenix, grabbing a syringe and leaning over him.

He lowered his voice.

"Just hold on a bit longer. Act like I've just done what I said I would." He whispered. "On my signal, you can burn through these. Got it?"

Phoenix nodded.

Obake inserted the needle into Phoenix's arm the man falling "unconscious" within moments. He looked back to Erin, giving a grin.

"He is now ready for transport."

Erin smiled, making her way over.

"Let's not waste any time then. My lab isn't too far from here."

Obake nodded, adjusting the table so it could be mobile, unhooking Phoenix from the machines.

"By the way…" Erin started. "Why can't I pick up a heat signature on you? My scan picks up nothing when I look at you."

"Disrupter." Obake showed a band he had on his wrist. "I needed one back in San Fransokyo as a safety precaution due to Big Hero 6 having a way of tracking criminals by biological information. I still keep it on just in case."

"Ah, that makes sense." Erin grabbed a hold of the table. "Well, right this way."

Erin took the lead, heading out of the building. Thanks to the cloak of darkness the night provided, no one could see the two walking about with Phoenix on the table.

It wasn't long before they came to an abandoned electrical plant, entering from the back doors.

While run down and battered on the outside, the inside was something much different.

The area was pristine, the floor somewhat reflective. The walls were lined with all kinds of high tech equipment and scattered about were machines, all intended for examining and testing specimens. The centerpiece of it all, a large set of monitors, serving as the control center.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Erin chuckled, moving ahead, giving a bow. "I haven't really had the chance to show it off to anyone yet so this is quite an honor for me."

"It's impressive."

And that's not even a lie. Everything here is advanced and well set up. Liv never gave me anything like this while I was working under her.

"Thank you. Liv was kind enough to help me renovate the place into the beautiful lab it is now." Erin moved in further, leading Obake inside, dancing a bit across the smooth surface of the floor. "I look forward to the day I can show it to my cohorts."

"Cohorts?"

"Surely you know about Naoki, Coilin and Drake?"

"Those names don't really ring any bells."

"I guess Liv didn't tell you about them." Erin smiled as she started to set up some of the machinery. "They're fellow researchers just like us, employed by Liv to look into other strange biological anomalies, all for something in return. Just wait till you hear what they found, they're just as interesting as Bird Boy there."

Obake raised an eyebrow, stopping the table in the middle of the room.

"That so? I wasn't aware Saga had more mutants." He remarked, connecting him to the monitors.

"More than simply mutants. All kinds of strange ones." Erin grinned. "I'm only after Bird Boy there, but if this goes well, you might be deployed to work with them as well. Quite the research opportunity."

I'd rather put that tumor surgically back in my own brain, thank you. He thought, biting his lip to keep quiet.

"I'd like to know more. So I can best assist them when the time comes. Prey tell how… strange are they?"

"With Naoki, he's looking into a group of people who have advanced prosthetics. Not just run of the mill fancy ones, but prosthetics that might as well be living flesh with how well they function with a touch of superhuman capabilities. He's hoping to understand how they work as a means of helping someone dear to him. For Drake and Coilin, they're after something that I'm not sure I entirely understand myself. From what they told me, it's a being that can create, as they put it, "healing water" that can restore anything to perfect condition. They hope to capture it and utilize it for their own means. Of course, with both and ourselves included, we'll be sharing our research and specimens with Liv. All of our subjects have something that would be of use to her for a project she is working on. What that project is, is unknown to us. Regardless, we get to do what we want and she gets what she needs, everyone wins."

So Liv basically has a team of freaks doing her dirty work while she sits back in her lab and looks all perfect and innocent. All for some project that no one knows about. And I used to be one of those freaks.

Obake looked down at Phoenix before looking around the room, noting a large and smaller figure sneaking around the area.

We're ending this now.

"Now, since you're all filled in, we better get to testing. Though, before we do." Erin made her way over to Phoenix, her fingers brushing gently against his helmet's straps. "We better see who our special little boy is so I can get a picture for Liv to put on file."

"I suppose it'd be best to see… NOW!"

Phoenix's head came up, headbutting Erin as hard as he could, igniting his flames as the restraints burnt away in seconds.

"GET OFF OF ME!"

"ACK!"

Erin didn't have a chance to react as Obake grabbed her from behind, suplexing her with her ease.

Erin groaned as she lied on the floor. She attempted to get up, only to be knocked down by a bo staff hitting her in the back.

"Don't even try."

Erin glanced behind her, seeing Kame was present.

"You…"

"Yep. Surprise, sucker." Kame pressed her bo staff into her back. "This is for popping my stitches."

Erin growled, her eyes looking to Obake.

"Liv WILL hear about this."

Obake laughed, throwing his head back.

"A likely story." He crossed his arms. "Liv hates disappointments who can't fend for themselves." He tsk'd, walking around her. "You may rat me out to her, but she won't believe it's not entirely your fault. I'm sure she offered you many things to use for subduing him. Maybe even offered you the chance to straight up euthanize him, yes?"

"You… You were nothing but a hired hand! How would you know?"

Obake knelt down, tilting her head up so they made eye contact. He made the side of his face glow.

"Because… she had a hand in making me the man I am today." He sneered.

Erin's eyes widened.

"B. Aken… You were her favorite subject to talk about. Her psychological experiment in numbing the human mind as a means of making one more susceptible to obey orders without question."

"Correct." Obake grinned. "And she succeeded."

Erin growled.

"Liv will have your head."

"Nope." Kame prodded her bo staff into her again. "Cause she won't even get to hear about it. Neither will your cohorts."

Kame looked over to the computer set up, noting a small jackal robot downloading all the information from it. Erin followed her gaze, eyes widening.

"What are you-!?"

"Encrypting and downloading all your information." Obake smirked. "You won't have anything to present… and we weren't even going to give you the chance to report anyway." Obake narrowed his eyes. "A police report has already been sent. They'll be here soon."

Erin snarled, trying to get up, only to be knocked down again by Kame.

"You… You may take me out… but Liv and my cohorts will be there to fill in for me. You can't stop what's already been started. Liv will do whatever it takes to get what she wants."

Obake scowled.

"And I will do whatever it takes to get what I want. Unfortunately, Liv taught me that lesson quite well." He stood to his full height, moving to the monitor setup, laying his hand on the console, closing his eyes. "You won't be needing these where you're going. Don't worry." he looked back at her with a smirk. "I'll take good care of them."

Erin sneered. She didn't dare move. She knew it was over. She looked over to Phoenix, the man still having his flames ready.

She smiled a bit, closing her eyes.

"Least I got to see you in action one last time, Bird Boy. Shame I didn't get the chance to know you better."

Phoenix growled but kept quiet.

I have nothing to say to her. It'd just make it worse.

The noise of sirens came through from the outside as the door started to be kicked in.

"We should make ourselves scarce." Obake looked over to Kame and Phoenix. "We're done here."

"You're coming back for this gear later huh?"

"Only if it's not taken by the cops."

Obake picked up the jackal robot, placing it on his shoulder.

"Got everything you need, Anubis?"

Anubis nodded, making himself comfortable.

"Alright, we're done here."

After cuffing Erin to one of the machines, the four dispersed from the building, letting the cops finish up the job. They all watched as they stormed the area, soon bringing Erin out.

"Well done, guys." Eboni said into their communication devices. "Dragoness is detained and Tadashi's secret is safe."

"And we have more information than we bargained for." Obake smiled. "I'm going to ask for your assistance deciphering what we obtained."

"You can count on me. Just get my baby home."

Obake petted Anubis' head.

"Of course."

"Good. Seriously, you guys did amazing."

"We make a pretty good team, huh?" Kame chuckled.

"I think so." Phoenix crossed his arms. "Not bad for a ragtag team of vigilantes."

Obake chuckled, bringing an arm around Kame.

"I couldn't be prouder of my Little Star."

"Aww Daaaad."

"I mean it." He gave her a gentle look, before looking up at Phoenix. "Though, with what we learned… we can't simply stop here. I hope you realize that."

"I do. Others are going to get hurt if we don't do something. So… I'm willing to go further." Phoenix gave a serious look. "Some one has to help."

Obake nodded, smiling.

"Just what I wanted to hear."