Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction ever, honestly never thought I would be one to write one but I am a big fan of Big Hero 6 and the series. This is set past the conclusion of Season 1's "Countdown to Catastrophe" and just a little into the next season.

It's something I created to fill a gap in the story I have been wanting in the series to address, the whereabouts of Abigail Callaghan since the conclusion of the story. And the implications of her return and interactions with the series' characters, especially her father and Hiro.

The great thing about a character like her that has so little to work off of in the source material, I have taken a lot of creative freedom that expand on her in a plausible manner.

While this chapter may be a bit more action oriented and only begins to lead towards the integration of Abigail to the main storyline, I hope it helps to provide the audience with a sense of her character, personality and motivations.

Please, by all means, leave any reviews with recommendations for improvement and/or what you like in these following chapters.

Enjoy!

Warning: Light violence

Disclaimer: I do not own Big Hero 6 or Big Hero 6: The Series.

Big Hero 6: The Penitent Sparrow

Chapter 1: The Silent Sparrow Speaks

Within a vast hanger, a lone prototype aircraft sits at the end of a long, railed runway. At the height of the structure was a control room, complete with various screens and virtual mappings of the surrounding area. It was a space that hosted the likes of various prominent members of military and government leadership. Present to spectate the battle testing of the prototype. Within the prototype aircraft, the pilot was conducting her final pre-flight checks.

"Well, the world is watching you. The success of this project wholly depends on you now. No pressure, of course," an enthusiastic voice rang through the pilot's internal communication system within the cockpit.

With a confident smirk, the young, female pilot responded, "Wonderful. Might as well give them a show to remember."

"Then, the stage is all yours, Ms. Callaghan," her supervisor said in a playful but encouraging tone. It belonged to her superior, Mr. Shinji Tanaka. She appreciated his candid and relaxed personality, even under the high stakes at this final phase of the project.

Abigail briefly found herself reflecting on how she arrived to this point in life. She was grateful to be a part of this project. After she was rescued through the portal of the failed "Project Silent Sparrow"—having been stranded on the "other side"— she immediately dove back into her work as a test pilot for various military technology contractors across the country and overseas.

Although the circumstances for her desire to work away from home were… complicated. She knew that, despite enjoying what she was currently doing, she couldn't escape the feeling that she was running away from what happened there… her disappearance in that catastrophic accident… and what her father did in his grief for her.

Abigail Callaghan, after being treated and debriefed of her experiences in that different dimension, would promptly move to pouring herself from project to project. In this case, she was approached and selected personally by Mr. Shinji Tanaka, the co-founder of Tanaka-Ackerman Air Industries, to test pilot a prominent military project. It was designed to challenge the trend of military aircrafts being unmanned. To bring back a certain human touch of innovation, ingenuity and the amassed personal experience that even today's advanced Artificial Intelligence processing cannot yet replicate.

She was part of Tanaka-Ackerman Air Industries' secretive "Project APOLLO," a prototype proposed for rapid deployment by the military and self-defense forces. It was aptly named after the NASA's Apollo space missions (prior to the absorption of NASA into the International Space Agency or ISA), where when digital systems failed, human ingenuity and creativity allowed for disasters to be averted or ensured mission success.

The project's hallmark: to integrate a smart A.I., named "ODIN," which was capable of providing comprehensive real-time situational awareness and battlespace intel, while having the aircraft, itself, operated by a skilled, seasoned human pilot. That pilot would be yours truly. It was designed with the hope of creating a synergistic and symbiotic relationship between human and A.I. for augmented and unparalleled aerial combat performance.

To reduce the input time of controls and decrease reaction time for enhanced maneuvering, it would utilize a neurotransmitter that would directly translate the thoughts of the pilot into the APOLLO's flight control system (FLCS). It's performance directly reflecting Abigail's tactical decision-making and hyper-focused skills under duress. This neurotransmitter technology was notably provided by Krei Tech Industries, her former employer. Although, it was rumored to have been based on the designs of a certain gifted student's school project at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.

Unfortunately, Abigail was fully aware of this project, since it was the very same technology that her father stole and abused to exact retribution on Alistair Krei. She did not want to dwell on this, it was a complicated and painful situation... to see what her father became and those he hurt in her name. But at times, these thoughts would intrude her headspace. Keeping herself busy would keep them at bay, focusing on tasks after tasks, projects after projects...

Snapping back to focus, she prepared herself. "Well, ODIN, you ready for this?" the pilot asked, affectionately petting the aircraft like an owner would their furry companion. "/Systems operational. Standing by to commence operation/," the computerized, formal male voice of the A.I. ODIN responded. Abigail chuckled at her A.I.'s monotonous and systemized responses, hoping they can eventually make him more personable and have a more natural voice generated.

"Good, I guess we are up then," the female pilot stated jovially as she settled in fully. Prompting the slender, young woman to don her helmet over her chestnut brown hair, neatly styled into a ponytail. Shown in capital letters, "CALLAGHAN" written on the side of her helmet. Taking a deep breath and exhaling calmly, she closed her eyes to give herself a brief moment of calm stillness.

"APOLLO 1, BASE TOWER, you are clear to commence the test," a more notably formal and monotonous voice announced through the communication systems.

Opening her eyes to reveal her large blue eyes, her pupils moderately dilating in anticipation for her performance. Abigail smiles confidently, "Then it's showtime."

The prototype APOLLO aircraft was then swiftly propelled along the long runway of the hanger, Abigail grinned ear to ear as she felt the immense G-forces along her body from the sheer speed of the aircraft. Its sleek design allowed the aircraft to pierce quickly across an open valley, as Abigail took note of the surrounding terrain features.

"/Multiple threats detected. Displaying twelve unmanned aerial combat drones approaching in two separate formations/," ODIN informed the female pilot. Immediately, ODIN began highlighting on Abigail's HUD (heads-up display) the presence of various unmanned aerial combat drones at a distance but closing in on them.

"Well, I hope our audience likes fireworks!" Abigail exclaimed as she accelerated towards one formation of drones, while sending long-range missiles towards the other formation coming from another direction. "Next toy to try out," she says giddily as she fires the APOLLO's Gauss projectile accelerator coil-gun, sending rounds at incredible speeds through rails of electromagnetic coiling that struck several drones at distance with deadly precision. Highlighting her intuitive skills to predict their evasive trajectories.

With both the drones and herself approaching each other quickly, they shortly arrived within engaging distance of both forces' short-range missiles and 20mm cannons. To display its capabilities for the test, the APOLLO was equipped with live fire armaments. However, the expendable drones were equipped with rather large paint rounds and dummy missiles for simulation purposes, a precaution to not damage the prototype or endanger the human test pilot. But still providing a realistic simulation of this aerial engagement, taking hits from these would potentially reflect poorly for the project and simulate her being shot down. Abigail was determined to avoid every round shot towards her, to show that humans still have value in a world now dominated by technology.

Ms. Callaghan, in her relatively young career time, had already gained an illustrious reputation for her victories against both human- and A.I.- piloted training "dogfights" and she had developed a massive working knowledge on how to engage even the most skilled ace opponents. This reputation was justified in front of the spectating government and military officials in awe, as Abigail skillfully maneuvered to avoid enemy fire but successfully destroyed several drones with her 20mm cannons lining up with their trajectories.

The second formation arrived within range, this time firing their own missiles at Abigail. "Welcome to the party! You come bearing gifts?" she playfully "greeted" the next formation of drones as she uses her aircraft's airborne laser weapon systems. These were designed to emit high energy directionally at targeted incoming missiles to neutralize them before they can reach the aircraft. It had multiple systems along the prototype, allowing the pilot to target multiple missiles at once. But this required skillful focus by the pilot while conducting other maneuvers.

However, this was not an issue for Abigail. She was known for having an uncanny ability to operate multiple functions at any given time, bringing the illusion of multi-tasking when she was actually processing back and forth between all of the inputs and stimuli that allowed her to fight, maneuver and observe the battle space seamlessly.

Admittedly, she attributes this ability to her father, who has shown this same capability. Something he used in his work in robotic sciences, his career as head professor and during his prior military service. Unfortunately, it was this ability that also allowed Callaghan to control a massive amount of microbots to capture Alistair Krei, rebuild Silent Sparrow and fight and contain all the members of Big Hero 6 simultaneously.

"/Another contingent of enemy targets approaching from the southwest, twelve total targets/" the A.I. ODIN said, making Abigail aware of the next group as she finishes off the initial two formations. Having an idea, she quickly requests, "ODIN, could you please display an overview of the nearby city?" ODIN displayed a digital map of the nearby mock city, an uninhabited metropolis created specifically for war games. Studying the brief map overview, Abigail decides to accelerate towards the city and attract the drones into that direction.

"Ummm, Ms. Callaghan? Where are you going? This wasn't part of the plan," Mr. Tanaka inquired, although still in a rather relaxed tone but genuinely curious of Abigail's deviation from their operational game plan. "I'm going off-script a little, relax. What's the use of having all of this 'playground' if it's not going to be in play?" Abigail playfully responded to her superior in the internal comms.

"I trust you know what you're doing," her superior chuckled, having faith in her abilities to think on the fly. "You know it," she laughed as she began to maneuver between the skyscraper buildings and even flying right along the city streets at a dangerously low altitude. At this point, the drones were on her tail but several were already crashing into buildings in their pursuit. As she weaved through the city, she began to maneuver into areas of the city and at angles that she could destroy the incoming drones.

"Whoah. You're killing it out there. You are a machine. You're definitely worth every penny hiring you, Ms. Callaghan," Mr. Tanaka laughed in the comms. "You have one more group incoming, let's get this done so we can go for a celebratory bite after this. My treat." Abigail shook her head, smiling, "Boss, you sure know how to treat a lady."

Focusing on the last group, ODIN displayed their approach to Abigail. "Looks like the last of our guests have arrived at the party. Time to give them a little welcoming surprise," she smirked, enjoying her job way too much. She noted that the drones were still not in view, due to a building standing between them. She knew the limitations of the current programming of combat drones, that they were based on algorithms from strict standard operating procedures. She knew, that these drones would try to take the most efficient route to her but avoid the building as obstacles in their way. She accelerated directly towards the building between her and the drones. For her, the obstacle was the way.

"ODIN, identify which floor of the building ahead has the most clearing with least obstructions at current trajectory," Abigail requested of her A.I. "/The 52nd floor has the most clearance at your current trajectory. Highlighting on your display. Be advised, it is a small opening, please proceed with caution./" ODIN responded as it highlighted the small sliver of the building that Abigail wanted through her HUD. "That's sweet, thanks for the concern, ODIN," she joked to the A.I., having complete confidence in her abilities as she adjusted her heading.

By this time, the drones were closing in and preparing to maneuver around the building just as she predicted. "Uhhh, Ms. Callaghan, you do know there's a building in front of you?" her superior said nervously through the comms. "Precisely," she said as she had maneuvered the aircraft into the building, passing through the mock building's business office cubicles and narrowly missing the floor and ceiling with precision. She emerged through the windows on other side of the building. At an advantageous position, she was on the tail of her pursuers and made short work of them.

"APOLLO 1, BASE TOWER. ENDEX, I say again, ENDEX," the formal voice returned. It was the end of the exercise.

"Nearly gave me a heart attack, hotshot. Have to say, you really put on a show for our guests. That contract is almost guaranteed now, tremendous work. Now get back here and let's celebrate with the rest of the team," Mr. Tanaka said, not attempting to hide his giddy excitement.

Abigail returned to the hanger bay promptly, being greeted by Mr. Tanaka who introduced her to the entourage of generals and government officials. Showering her with praise, she kindly corrected them that it is the aircraft's development team that should get praise for their design. "I only get to play with the cool toys they make," she said jokingly, even being around very formal high-ranking officials. Impressed with the design and her piloting skills, the project was well-received and its future prospects promising.

As Mr. Tanaka promised, he then had Abigail and the APOLLO development team come together for a celebratory dinner. The atmosphere was one of delight in their success, triumph over so many technical and bureaucratic hurdles and an air of the connection between a team, a family. With the things that were going on in her life, she appreciated this time to share connections with people that consider her part of their family.

"Ms. Callaghan, thank you for agreeing to come onto this project. I hope it is okay to say... When I approached you, I had heard that you were moving from project to project directly after returning from… that 'far-off place.' And I don't mean to assume, but I believe I know why. Regardless of what … he did… you are making a respectable name for yourself. You are your own person. Although, I pray that you will be able to slow down and process everything that has happened since you were gone…" Mr. Tanaka said in a caring and yet solemn tone that Abigail has never seen. A smile suddenly returned on his face, in a heartfelt manner he told her, "But I sincerely want to thank you on behalf of the development team, you showcased what their labors had produced. I hope the best for your future endeavors, Ms. Callaghan."

Abigail smiled back, but found herself having a hard time responding to him. So she could only say "Thank you for everything, Mr. Tanaka," and came in for a hug. She appreciated his sentiment. He was a caring, fatherly man, perhaps the near same age as her father. But his words, while bringing up many emotions within her, were genuinely caring and comforting with his understanding.

Suddenly, one of the members of the APOLLO development team rushed into the room to get Abigail's attention. "Guys! Ms. Callaghan… I am sorry… I think you should see this," he said in a distressingly, serious tone. Mr. Tanaka and Abigail followed the crowd of team members congregated around one of their digital monitor screens. As they made their way upfront to view live news development being shown on the monitor, Abigail immediately noticed it was showing San Fransokyo... her home.

The headlines of the developing news story read, "A Second Great Catastrophe Narrowly Averted." The news anchor revealed, "The city of San Fransokyo was nearly completely destroyed, experiencing a series of bizarre events that researchers say would have caused more damage than the Great Catastrophe of 1906. Although the circumstances are still unclear, it was reported that the folks of San Fransokyo witnessed what appeared to be a star hovering over its lighthouse." Abigail was shocked and became uneasy, hearing the story unfold. It continued, "The star was said to cause a massive explosion after it became unstable, the blast would've destroyed nearly all of San Fransokyo. If it weren't for a sudden massive tsunami wave that seemed to stop it from causing damage."

Abigail was speechless, still processing it all. She thought to herself that this could not be happening, this could not be real. But the team members around her, in their commotion, began to see what the other news sites would say about the situation. One of the news sites had a local video recording submitted, the sight of it left everyone silent as their eyes were completely focused on the unreal situation. They witnessed the event, the bright star that arose from the lighthouse, hovering over the San Fransokyo bay. As it began to implode, it sent a terrifying shockwave of energy that threatened to overtake the city. But the person recording the video on his phone, while attempting to be steadily record the situation, would capture a massive green object meteor down into the bay, causing a massive tsunami wave that engulfed the star's shockwave. And to everyone's surprise, a large pink wall around the pier of the Fish City district was able to stop the now oncoming massive wave.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind now, this was a true catastrophe that could have ended in tragedy and massive loss in an instant. But to the members who knew Abigail, including Mr. Tanaka, they looked to her with concern, knowing that she grew up there and that she had a... certain family member there. Abigail's mind raced and emotions were beginning to overtake her, she could feel the rapid palpitations of her heartbeat. Attempting to focus and hide her emotional distress, she tried to calm herself down, taking deep breaths and closing her eyes. As she attempted to process this near disaster, she came to the harsh realization of what she would have lost if it wasn't averted.

Admittedly, she was trying to escape the truth of her father and his actions. She wanted to stay away from him, she felt immense anger, guilt, shame and sadness towards the "Silent Sparrow Incident." A part of her somehow believed that she was the cause of it all, had she not volunteered to participate in that project, she would have never been stranded and her father wouldn't have hurt people.

There was still so much to process and heal from the incident, but she realized that she would have lost so many opportunities had San Fransokyo been destroyed. And along with it, would've been her father, who despite all things considered she still loved and wanted to be able to forgive him... to reconnect with him. With her mother having passed away, he was all that she had left in the world. If he was gone, there would have been the regret of never coming to visit him again after she returned. The regret of never mending things with him.

Deep in thought, she then saw that someone had switched the channel to San Fransokyo's own news network. And with it, the familiar news anchor, Bluff Dunder reported, "It was a countdown to catastrophe. But thanks again to Big Hero 6, I am fine... And the city is too.. which is what I was worried about. Who are these mysterious do-gooders?" And then it was followed by various images of San Fransokyo's citizens thanking and taking pictures with San Fransokyo's own local team of heroes, Big Hero 6.

Among the images, one particular one had caught Abigail's eyes immediately. Surrounded by children swarming around a small figure, a young hero clad in purple armor is shown to be squeezed in for a photo. Standing next to a school bus, it was clear that the children revered him and his team. Rightfully so. Although the visor of his helmet was slightly tinted to conceal his identity, it was possible to slightly see the shy smile of a boy beneath it.

This was the boy who had, along with his team, apprehended her father at the Krei Tech Industries building that was being torn apart by the unstable Silent Sparrow portal. This was also the very same boy who risked his life to save Abigail's life, and as she had heard briefly from her father, had also lost a friend to the "other side" of Silent Sparrow.

It is by no surprise that he and his team would risk themselves to protect the city from that mysterious star that threatened it. But, had they been unable to succeed... Abigail realized that she would have regretted never meeting her rescuer, to properly thank him for what he had done for her. Truthfully, she had only heard so little about him, and wanted to get to know him. Her father knew his actual identity…

It appears that despite her attempts to avoid San Fransokyo, to avoid anything that had to do with her father… she was being called back home to face these issues regardless of what she would do to stay away. She would have to face her father and her feelings towards him. And perhaps, could she hope to atone for the sins of her father? She had to steel herself, it was an inevitable outcome that she would have to return home. But she was going to do so of her own volition, of her own accord. If she had to face it then she must commit to it head on.

"Ms. Callaghan… Abigail.. are you doing alright?" Mr. Tanaka inquired, an almost fatherly concern shown in his expression. Abigail looked at him, smiling reassuringly, "Yeah… looks like I'm coming home."