Chapter Text
“Daddy!”
The man turned to the kid.
“We’re not done playing.” The little girl continued, sorrow on her face.
Her dad sighed and crouched down to be on the same eye level with her. He stroked her hair and smiled encouragingly. This seemed to cheer the girl up for a moment, though she soon turned sad again.
“You have to go?”
“I have to. This is a very important meeting, the boss is counting on me.”
“But we’re playing now, it’s important too. Why doesn’t he understand?”
The man sighed. It was an incredibly trivial and incredibly difficult question at the same time.
“He does understand, but this is a special situation. These investors are also very busy with very important things, this was the only time when all of them could come at once.”
“Ivystores?”
“People I’m meeting with.”
“But it’s after work.”
“It happens sometimes.”
“But it’s stupid.”
“World usually is stupid, Lisa. I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise. And then we'll finish playing, what do you say? And maybe mom will join?”
The girl looked up and smiled slightly. But a second later, she frowned again, as if considering something. She looked down at the tiny lion plushie she was holding in her hand and squeezed it tighter before holding it out to her dad.
“Rico will take care of you.”
He smiled slightly. It was his daughter's favorite toy, the fact that she wanted to lend it to him meant a lot. He carefully took the stuffed animal.
“And I will take care of Rico.”
The man stood up and put the plushie animal in his tuxedo pocket. Then he went to the mirror, smoothed his clothes and straightened his blue tie. And soon everything was spotless. Exactly as it should be.
He turned towards the girl, proud of himself.
“How do I look?”
“Like a smart dad who’s going to stupid meeting.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Oh! I know! I’ll have my own meeting! My plushies will. And they will be talking about really important things until you’ll be back.”
“Will you give me a report later?”
“So we could compare which was cooler?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m in!”
He smiled and ruffled his daughter's hair again. Out of the corner of his eye, he also noticed his wife, who was standing in the door, watching them with curiosity. When they exchanged glances, she approached the girl and lifted her into her arms. Lisa didn’t protest.
“And I'll make sure this meeting doesn't turn into any kind of rebellion.” His wife stated humorously, then turned to him once more. “Stay safe out there, okay?”
He nodded.
A minute later he was outside, walking down the sidewalk toward the tram stop. He had a few blocks to cross, but a quick glance at his watch calmed him down a bit. There was more than enough time, so barring an emergency, he'd be there exactly when he had to. There didn’t seem to be much traffic in the area either, since most of the neighborhood was at some cultural event, so the tram shouldn’t be late. In fact, there was no traffic at all.
He could hear birds singing from time to time, he could hear his own footsteps, and if he focused hard enough, he could probably even hear his watch ticking. No cars, no bikes, no shouting, no people. It was so quiet.
Too quiet.
Now he could probably hear his own heart beating as well.
“Relax. You’re overdramatic.”
Everything was fine. Only about four blocks left, nothing major. He was in no danger. It was a normal evening, and people on normal evenings are going where they had to go and coming home safely. No need to worry.
And then he saw something white in the corner of his eye.
He carefully turned his head and unfortunately he wasn't imagining things. On the other side stood a figure, leaning against a wall, their head turned towards him. A figure with an outfit far from casual. Without looking at them, he slowly turned his head forward again, not wanting to attract the stranger's attention. Although he probably did it anyway. Apart from that guy, he was the only person here.
That didn’t sound well.
The man took a deep breath, trying not to speed up his pace. Panicking wouldn't help him now. He had to get to the tram as quickly as possible. It was a good thing there was a shortcut between the streets. He didn't use it often, because it wasn't the safest place possible, but if there was a shortest route to the tram stop, it was this one. He'd be safe there. And other people would be there as well. Hopefully.
Or maybe he panicked too much? Maybe it was some kind of artist in disguise? Maybe some street performance? Some kind of prank? A really cruel prank? New hero? New hero, who likes to stalk people when they’re all alone and there is no danger to threaten them? Or just a regular guy who liked dressing up?
Or maybe it was a supervillain, because normal people in strange costumes didn’t happen in San Fransokyo.
“Don’t panic.” He whispered to himself. “You’re overdramatic.”
The villains had things against the heroes, against the police, against other influential or wealthy people, and against Krei (they all seemed to have a bone to pick with him), but not against ordinary, insignificant civilians. That person must have been waiting for someone. Maybe Big Hero 6 would show up there in a moment and start fighting, and he simply left home at the worst possible moment. If so, then he should get to the tram stop even faster.
He turned into a narrow street. And just a few seconds later, a chill ran down his spine. The villain had a bone to pick with the civilian.
He tried to go around him, but instead entered a dead end.
The villain blocked his path.
“Leaving so quickly?”
He turned to the criminal. And he realized it was a woman, or at least that's what the voice with the odd accent said. Actually, upon closer inspection, the posture pointed at that too. Not the face, since it was covered with something like a motorcycle helmet, but way stranger. Rest of her costume was strange as well. Black and white patterns, swirls, all kinds of geometric shapes. It was confusing. Hypnotizing.
He looked away immediately. This apparently amused her, because he heard her chuckle.
“You think you can escape? How childish.”
The man blinked. His family. His daughter. He had promised them he would come home. And now he didn't even know if that would happen. He didn't know anything.
“What do you want?”
“That’s a grand question. Unfortunately I can’t answer.”
Has he ever gotten under the skin of villains without even knowing it?
“Why? Why are you following me? Why did you chase me here?”
“You chased here yourself.”
“I don’t have money. I have nothing you could want.”
“You’re wrong.”
“What?”
He blinked, still not looking at her.
“Just a random man with a random life. You’re useless. For now.”
His breathing quickened, and if he hadn't heard his heartbeat before, it was now difficult to hear anything else. The villain was in front of him, behind him there was nothing but a wall, and he probably couldn't count on Big Hero 6. He didn't think they even knew she existed. Usually all the bad guys were shown on TV so people knew who to protect themselves from. He'd never seen her before.
He tried to run forward and push her, but she pushed him instead. She was stronger than he thought and pinned him to the wall.
He didn't stand a chance.
“Who are you?”
“You can call me Raito. Wanna know why I’m telling you this?”
“Why?”
“Because you won’t remember it anyway.”
Faster than he could see, she pulled out something resembling a flashlight and shined it right into his eyes. He managed to put his hand on the pocket where he kept Rico. And then there was only darkness.