Her return to her normal life was smooth at best, since she was only gone for two weeks in addition to her one week of semester break.
Classes went on as usual and she was almost done with her scholarship work, the idea coming to her in the middle of the night where she decided to illustrate the fight between Big Hero 6 and Callaghan. Of course, she wouldn't sell out their identities, merely painting them in blazing silhouettes against the burning skyline. She had a good feeling about this.
At home, in her now tidy room sitting in front of her PortTab, she heard a beeping coming from her phone, signalling a call.
Distracted, she picked up the phone, murmuring a, "hello?"
"'Yako, it's me."
"Oh, hey 'Dashi," she said and saved her current updates to the illustration. "What's up?"
"Are you free now? I have something amazing to show you."
"Amazing as in date-amazing or hero-amazing?" Ayako found herself asking this question nowadays since she was easily confused whenever he called her up, and claimed that he had something 'amazing' to share.
It was no secret that alongside studying for his last year in S.F.I.T, working in the Lucky Cat Cafe and taking care of his brother, Tadashi was also busy fighting alongside his friends and said brother in a superhero group that they had formed sometime ago.
Since Ayako had been busy in Russia, he had updated her on what they had been doing, giving her a clear visual of what she had been missing out. They mostly handled the safety of the civilians in the night; further cementing their reputation as San Fransokyo's vigilantes, protecting innocent drunks and women walking home from work, derailing the sick rapists who were looking for an easy target.
She couldn't have been more proud of them, and yet wish that she was there to help.
"Are you free now?"
Glancing at her still unfinished outline, she heaved a short sigh. "Yeah I am. I can't find the inspiration, anyway."
"Great. I'll come by and pick you up."
Ayako set down her tablet pen and picked up her discarded cardigan, shrugging it on. "Can't wait."
~~O~~O~~
He arrived five minutes later, the bright shine of his red scooter glimmering like a streak of flames. Ayako bounded down the stairs, feeling brazen and placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
Tadashi lifted his hand to his cheek, chuckling. "What was that for?"
Ayako smirked as she took the helmet from his slack hand, buckling it on, careful of her hair. "Nothing. Just missed you."
"Hmm."
She got up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, the scooter pulling away from the curb in record speed. "A little excited here."
"Because you have to see this," he said with a throaty laugh. "I promise you'll be surprised."
They passed the row of apartments, hitting the main road, Tadashi going faster than usual. They passed by San Fransokyo's wharf, the night of their crazy car chase with Callaghan flashing in her mind.
"Did Wasabi get his car back?"
"Yeah, he did. GoGo's helping him build it."
Ayako sighed, shaking her head. "Thank goodness."
"We met up with Abigail," he informed, his voice distorted since they were racing past the wind. "You should meet her, she would love you."
Ayako felt the familiar pang of being left out clench her heart. She put that all aside for a show of curiosity, wondering how Callaghan's daughter was doing now that she was back in their world.
"How's she doing?"
"Disorientated, but that's expected," Tadashi said, passing by a familiar row of houses for a mansion that she remembered stumbling to soaking wet and shivering from a cold fear at nearly losing her life.
"We're at Fred's house?" she asked, suitably confused.
"Yeah, it's here."
Tadashi parked the scooter and got off first before helping her, steadying her with a hold of her hand. Ayako passed him the helmet and smoothed down her hair, aware of his smirk.
"Come on," he said and grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together. She found his touch comforting and knew that whatever was in this mansion was something that would be able to help the team.
He entered the doorway that was unlocked, pushing it back with a familiarity that was questionable. It seemed as if Tadashi had been here far more times than she expected, walking with purposeful strides down a hallway. They passed by the huge dining room with another chandelier hanging from the ceiling, throwing fractured light across the room.
He brought her down a way that held more of the unique paintings that she admitted to Fred's father having a good taste in and reached a nondescript door.
He spared her an excited smile and pushed open the door.
The first thing that she noticed was that it looked like a high end gym. Ellipticals lined one side of the room, the whole space being dominated by a large mirror that reflected her awed expression.
A boxing ring was in the middle of the room, the red rope looking a whole lot like police red tape over a murder scene. To the far left, a sparring ring and a couple of weights. Her personal favorite were the treadmills to the right, shining in an alluring chrome.
"Wow."
He laughed. "Yeah, 'wow'."
"W-What is this place?"
Tadashi tugged her along by hand to walk around the space, a cool breeze brushing her neck from somewhere above.
"This is our personal gym that Fred's father gave once he found out he too was in the superhero business."
Ayako could only gape at him, the information hitting her like a sledgehammer.
"Y-You mean that F-Fred's dad is a...a..."
"Superhero," he finished for her, agreeing. "We couldn't believe it, until he showed us his old headquarters that Hiro is now using as a recon room for us to gather before a mission."
She spun around, trying to take it all in that yes, this was really happening. The life of being fighters and running risky missions would not just be a one time thing.
Ayako didn't know whether the emotion swelling in her heart was fear or excitement.
"There's someone else that you should see."
He brought her out from the team's gym and down another hallway, stopping outside another door which she took to be the recon room for she could hear laughter coming from the other side.
Pushing open the door, she was confronted by two sights: One, the whole team had noticed her and were calling out greetings, happy to see her. The second one was an ambling white marshmellow robot that lifted one limb up, giving her a circular wave in his own rendition of a greeting.
Her mouth was wide open, and Honey stopped from advancing towards her with the intent of hugging her.
"Ayako?"
In answer, she eloquently summarized her experiences today with this sentence:
"What the fudging jellybeans?"
Catching herself, she cleared her throat, much to the team's amusement.
"Welcome to the club, 'Yako," GoGo commented dryly, understanding her shock well enough.
Tadashi gently nudged her shoulder and Hiro came by to stand next to her, grinning from ear to ear.
She lifted up one shaky finger, breath living her in a rushing 'whoosh'.
"B-Baymax." Glancing down at Hiro with wide blue eyes, she whispered, "how?"
"Baymax 2.0 gave me his chip when he launched us out of the wormhole," Hiro admitted, leading her over to the rectangular oak table where she took a tentative seat. "So, I rebuilt him from scratch."
Ayako looked to Tadashi. "And you didn't tell me?"
"We wanted it to be a surprise," he confessed.
"Surprise I am," she muttered.
Looking to the silent robot, the eyes of the whole team on her, she tentatively mimicked Baymax's wave, the motion making him blink.
"Hi, Baymax. Nice to see you again."
"And you too, Ayako," the robot chimed in benignly. "Your production of melanin has been low this past month. Diagnosis: Vitamin D. I advice you to take a walk in the morning before 9 a.m because that is when the absoprtion from the sun rays is most effective."
She ran a hand through her waves, laughing in disbelief.
"It really is you, Baymax."
He tilted his head to the side and nodded. "Yes, I am really Baymax."
She looked at Hiro, smiling widely. "Amazing. He's as real as the last one."
"If not even realer," Hiro added, smiling his gap-toothed grin. "Are you shock?"
"Well enough," she said and gazed at the rest of the team. She laughed and said, "it's so good to see all of you again."
Honey squealed and ran towards her, wrapping her in her strawberry scented embrace, her yellow sundress scrunching under her touch. The tall blonde had to hunch down to hug her, and Ayako huffed a laugh, patting her back.
The chemist genius pulled back and started chattering excitedly. "How was your trip? Did you have a great time? How was your dad? Does Russia have a lot of cute guys?"
Ayako raised her hand in a motion for her slow down.
"Russia was beautiful and so were their men. My dad is fine and Tadashi should have told me that we were going to meet up cause I would've brought the souvenirs then."
Everyone mock groaned and some of them chastised Tadashi.
He lifted his hands in surrender, protecting himself from the group's good-natured flames.
"Sorry, sorry. I forgot."
Hiro beckoned Ayako over where she was greeted by a spread of computer screens and a control panel more complicated than algebra.
"Whoa," she whispered and skimmed her hand over a panel of buttons which she recognized as controlling communication links.
"Pretty huh?" Fred piped from over her shoulder. She glanced back at him, nodding in agreement.
"It is."
"And it's all for you to control," Hiro said and she looked up at him, astonishment written on every line of her face.
"W-What?"
Tadashi came to stand beside her, booting up the system where red dots scanned her face and the screens lit up, in recognition of her.
"You're our new communication controller since you showed how good you were on the field," Tadashi said and she felt something akin to wonder brewing in the back of her mind.
Her fingers lingered on the keyboard, and she brushed a light touch over the surface.
The others were waiting for her to say something, eyes on her reaction.
Ayako knew that this was a very generous offer, but somehow she couldn't help think that they didn't want her on the field. She much preferred that, being in the fray and assisting her friends in any way that she could, not sitting in a dark room worrying if all of them were okay and having to witness second hand the danger they were going through.
She didn't want that. She wanted to be there, with them.
But they were anticipating her answer, earnesty radiating of their forms.
She glanced at Honey's wide smile to Fred, Wasabi and GoGo's open curiousity. Tadashi caught her gaze and he could sense her hesitation. However, she didn't want to cause a scene and merely nodded, swallowing down a lump of disappointment, the feeling of being left out again resurfacing after she had fiercely tamed it down.
"I love it. Thank you."
~~O~~O~~
"Are you okay?" Tadashi asked after he had sent her home, the scooter laying idle and rumbling under them. She removed the helmet and rested her head on his shoulder, sighing.
"I'm fine."
"You didn't look so happy back there."
Ayako grimaced. "You could tell?"
"Yeah," he said softly and turned around to face her, the scooter being braced on the ground using the rear brake lever, stable and firm so she had the comfort to lean forward without fear of slipping from the seat.
"Are you okay?" She only had to look up into his wide, brown eyes that were probing and filled with compassion to answer.
"I am, but..."
She trailed off, unsure of how to put this. Would he take it the wrong way when she said that being a communication controller was not what she wanted?
"It's just...what happened to our team work? Why am I not on the field with all of you?"
Tadashi dropped his gaze, suddenly mute.
"Tadashi?" His silence was unnerving her, and she could sense that it had more to do with the fact that the team had randomly decided she should be given that task.
"We...talked," he said, a little bit forceful, as if coaxing those words out. "And your help during the fight with Callaghan was admirable."
She could feel a 'but' in there somewhere and struggled to keep her face neutral.
"But we feel that you would be safer behind the scenes," he admitted.
Her jaw fell open, wide with disbelief. "And you agreed to that?"
"I had to, you were in danger and we couldn't protect you while fending off the villains at the same time," he added defensively, like their decision was her fault.
"Unbelievable." She mounted off the bike and handed him the helmet, unable to look at him.
"Hey, hey, 'Yako." He caught her arm, pulling her close. She felt him lift her face to meet his, but she stubbornly averted her eyes, jaw set in anger.
Tadashi sighed and dropped his hand. "Just understand that I couldn't let you get hurt."
Her eyes flashed with an intense emotion and she could feel the anger turning into indignation. "And what about letting me decide on that?"
"The whole team pitched in and said you would be much suited to background work. I had to agree."
She yanked herself away from his embrace, cool outrage seeping in between them.
"'Yako, wait-"
"Okay, Tadashi," she said and turned around to face him, weary.
His reasoning was pretty sound as she had been in danger during the fight. Ayako had no special skills to boast about, and she was sure that a gun wouldn't be able to protect her in a fight against a technologically advanced villain who could've easily knocked her off her feet.
The microbots swam in her thoughts and she recalled how frightened she had been when they had pinned her to the ground, encircling her wrists with their iron grip and how helpless she had felt.
She understood his reasoning, the logic and facts backing it up. That didn't mean she had accepted it.
"Okay, I'll do it," she said and saw a smile of relief break on his face. The icy sensation of anger still hadn't warmed up her limbs, body stock still with indignation and sad resignation.
"Come here." She let him hug her close, breath playing idly with stray strands of hair on her neck. "Thank you for understanding."
Ayako could only hug him back, briefly enjoying his embrace and nodded.
"You're welcome," she said softly, knowing that what she meant was completely the opposite and how a shard of hurt was piercing her lungs, making every breath hard. She felt hurt at the fact that he had joined in and voted against her joining the team during their mission.
The feeling of being left out intensified, one that even his embrace couldn't chase away.
She bid him goodbye with a frozen smile stuck on her face, rooted to the spot long after he had left.
Letting out a shuddering breath, she wrapped her arms around herself, trudging up the steps of her apartment, the sun dipping behind the horizon, the last rays of the day shining on her hunched form.
Ayako sat on the stairs and gazed out at the trees, the empty street, the cars all lined neatly by the curb; serenity and normalcy clashing with the disappointment lingering like a film of grease.
She pushed back her hair, tips of her fingers cool like ice cubes on her skin.
I am all right, she chanted, working encouragement into her system and dispelling all the dark thoughts. I am all right and I am home and I have friends. I am all right.
~~O~~O~~
A polite knock on the door caught his attention from the files that he had been studying. The middle aged Russian man raised his head, adjusting his seating position which invariably let his gray coat flutter to the ground. The Cuban cigar dangled from his lips as he silently cursed the interruption, picking up his coat.
Another knock was the final straw to his patience and he barked a quick order to enter.
"Pietro." A man in their ranks only known as the Detective due to his uncanny ability to uncover even the most mundane of information from a target strolled in, a single picture in hand. "You might want to see this."
Setting the photograph down, Pietro's eyes widened when he saw who it was, and this time, when the Cuban cigar rolled from his tongue and down to the floor, he didn't pay it any heed.
"Is that..."
"Well you were searching for her for a long time. Thought I might help with the process." The Detective clapped him on the shoulder and took his leave, leaving behind an impregnable silence.
Pietro lifted the picture, his hand shaking as he turned it around in the dim lighting, hoping that the angles of the woman and her daughter in the picture might change and he wouldn't recognize them. If Anton had this in his hands...
He heaved a shuddering breath, and had half the mind to call the Detective back and rectify his mistake, tell him that he never wanted to start this search in the first place.
Ten years he had been searching for her and now she was staring back in the photograph, eyes on her daughter, still as beautiful as he remembered her from college. The girl had her mother's nose and sharp cheekbones, but her eyes were Mikhail's.
He would remember that vivid shade of blue from anywhere.
Not for the first time, he was helpless, torn and conflicted.
Pocketing the picture, he went back to his work, hoping that the constant search of clues would never once more lead him to an answer as apparent in the breast pocket of his gray coat.
A/N: Happy New Year guys and I hoped you guys had a great Christmas season! Sorry for the late update as per usual, your patience is highly appreciated :)
Reviews are also welcomed, off course.