Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s late in the evening for Hana “D.Va” Song – a young pro gamer and M.E.K.A pilot – as she hosts another live stream playing the classic game Starcraft II. It's dark in her room except for the bright light coming from her multiple computer screens and the soft glow of a desk lamp – giving off just enough light for her fans to see her.

For the 5th consecutive time that night, the word ‘VICTORY’ in big white letters is displayed on screen as the Terran enemy's Command Center is blown to pieces.

“아싸!” Exclaimed Hana as she fist pumped the air triumphantly, reaching out for the can of Nano Cola sitting atop her desk. She took a moment to review the match summary screen before backing out to the main lobby.

“Well,” she sighed, nearly yawning, “I think that was a great note to end on; what do you guys think?”

In response to the stream coming to an early close, Chat started spamming an audio alert of someone saying “nO!” The flood of overlapping noise got a chuckle from the exhausted teen. “OMG, guys.. pleaseee.”

She downed the rest of her drink and briefly glanced at her webcam with an amused grin before looking down at the chat box. Her viewers, as always, went crazy; she could barely read one word before the comment she was trying to look at would disappear. Among the replies were sad remarks about them not wanting her to leave so soon, while others complimented her performance regarding the latest match.

Hana set the now-empty can onto the desk in front of her and leaned back into her gaming chair, rubbing her eyes. "Yeahhh, I know, I know. I'm so sorry to cut this stream short tonight. It's been a really long day and I'm starting to get burnt out," she replied to her viewers, sending an apologetic smile in the direction of the camera.

It was indeed a very long day. Before the stream, she had to make repairs to her mech as a result of Overwatch’s most recent assignment. In short, the team had to help prevent Talon agents from delivering a payload to the “Underworld” in King’s Row, London. Since it was destroyed before any real analysis could be made about the object, no one knew for certain what the device would have done. Many believed that it was simply an EMP bomb to commit mass Omnic genocide. Though, there was some speculation that it could’ve been a device that takes over computerized machinery, similar to the Anubis God program. Regardless, both options greatly concerned Overwatch. Or what’s left of it, anyways.

Ever since the Petras Act, the law that forbade Overwatch intervention, the whole world slowly fell back into chaos – back into the Omnic Crisis. Granted, it’s currently an active threat only in Russia, but in all honesty, how long will that last? How long till it reaches the rest of the world?

Citizens have been blinded by their hatred for the once loved organization to see that their progression in forever resolving this conflict has started to shift its gears into reverse. And it’s only going to get worse if no one’s going to do something to turn said gears back around.

So, in a desperate attempt for action, Winston transmitted a video message to as many former agents as he could. He hoped to recall them back to duty – make them see just how much the world still needs Overwatch… even if the world believes they aren’t needed.

"But thank you all for joining me,” Hana continued speaking to her loyal fans. “You guys are the best! I'll make sure to do an even longer stream next time.” Then with a cheeky grin, she looked into the video camera and added, “I might even drag Lena and Lúcio into a gaming session; how does that sound?" She watched the chat overflow with so many excited messages over the promise of bringing the trio together.

Hana opened her mouth with a smile to say her goodbyes, but was suddenly struck with a new thought. “Oh! I almost forgot,” Hana burst out, shifting in her seat before continuing.

“Just a quick reminder: Lúcio will be performing some of his hit songs at Mexico’s Dorado festival in about two weeks! Tracer and I will be there to enjoy some well needed time off. But don’t worry, I’ll be posting videos of the whole thing!”

Hana then decided it was time to conclude the stream. She brought two fingers up to her left eye in the form of a sideways 'V' and winked to her fans.

"Winky face!"

The comment box instantly blew up from numerous people spamming the emoji before the session got shut down for the night.

After closing out of the streaming app she leaned back into her gaming chair. She took a look at her desk, seeing all the snacks littered across its surface. “Oof...”

I really need to clean up; I don't want to spill cola all over the place. . . again.

She started to recollect the memory: Her desk was covered with a countless amount of empty containers (much like its current state). The mess on top of it caused an even bigger mess when Hana accidentally knocked over her drink. This ruined her keyboard and spilled over into her lap and onto the floor. Luckily, the floor wasn’t made of a carpet material which could have gotten stained. But, to make it worse, this happened mid-stream.

How embarrassing.

Hana got up begrudgingly and started to gather all the wrappers and soda cans, preparing to make a short trip to the room’s trash can. When she got halfway there a loud ‘bloop’ was heard from behind. The gamer half turned to look at her computer screen which had a tiny box popped up in the bottom corner. She got a message, and she could probably guess who it was. Excited, Hana turned back around to continue her set course and deposited the trash into the bin.

She heard another loud ‘bloop’ as she sat down at her desk. The messaging window was then dragged over to the center of the screen and maximized for better viewing. A humongous smile spread across her face when she realized that her previous assumption about the messenger proved to be correct.

22:59 [Azúcar]: Hey chica, how’s your stream going?

23:00 [Azúcar]: You’re most likely perdiendo.

23:00 [D.Va]: Uhm, I’m what?

23:00 [Azúcar]: You’re… doing good? :D

23:01 [D.Va]: >__>

23:01 [Azúcar]: <__<

23:01 [D.Va]: Liar. What did you just say?

23:02 [Azúcar]: Okay, ffiinnee, I’ll tell you.

23:02 [D.Va]: Yeah?

23:02 [Azúcar]: No <3

23:02 [D.Va]: >:[

23:03 [Azúcar]: Anywaayys.. how is the stream, really?

23:04 [D.Va]: The stream was good. I decided to sign off early though. Weren’t you watching?

23:04 [Azúcar]: Wait actually, already?

23:04 [Azúcar]: Is the Hana Song starting to slack off? Tsk tsk.

23:04 [D.Va]: As if! You’d totally love that, though, wouldn’t you. Maybe then you could finally beat me in a game of Starcraft.

23:04 [D.Va]: (¬‿¬) Without cheating.

23:05 [Azúcar]: ¡Ay, mi corazón! That was only one time. Uno.

23:05 [Azúcar]: But to answer your question, no, I wasn’t watching. I'm currently busy with something.

23:06 [D.Va]: Aww! You’re busy and yet you have the time to message me? Oh man, I must be pretty special ;)

Hana typed and sent out that last message as the beginnings of a light blush spread across her cheeks. She enjoys the playfulness that seems to always pop up within their chats even though they don’t know one another.

Well, they kind of do, but not exactly.

Azúcar was a friend that Hana made through Starcraft II once during a random online matchup. The game was nearing its end point, only D.Va and Azúcar left alive, fighting for victory. Hana was building the last units she needed for her army to be complete, 110% sure that this will be the final blow that will grant her yet another victory. That is, until literally 1.2k Protoss Probes swarmed into Hana’s Zerg base, slowly zapping everything to death.

DEFEAT!

Normally at this point D.Va would be lit aflame with rage for having a hacker come in and ruin her game, making things unfair for those with skill – but she wasn’t. She wasn’t mad at all; it was quite the opposite, actually. She toppled off her gaming chair and onto the floor in the best fit of laughter she has had in a long time. She’s well aware that the unit maximum in the game is 200 so they were obviously cheating. But to have a thousand plus mineral gatherers fly through her gate and kill everything so slowly was the funniest shit that she has had happen to her by another player.

So no, D.Va wasn’t angry. Instead, she sent Azúcar a friend request along with a message filled with zest and extreme amusement saying that they should hang out sometime and play as a team – and they have done just that.

However, Azúcar has chosen to hide their identity so much so that Hana doesn’t even know their first name or gender. It’s just ‘Azúcar’. Almost every single time they talk Hana tries to piece together who her secretive friend really is. Hoping that maybe at some point they will accidentally let information slip out, giving clues to the curious gamer. Unfortunately, that has yet to happen. All she really knows is that they’re a fan and a Spanish speaker. It could be their native language or they are just bilingual and like to speak both; Hana can’t tell since they had never been in a voice call together.

She sat and waited for a reply for what seemed like forever. The mini built-in clock on her computer read to be 23:09. She looked at the clock incredulously, almost wanting to accuse it of lying to her. Why did three minutes feel so much longer than three minutes? Her tiredness could have easily fooled her into thinking it was well past midnight by now.

Nonetheless, She continued to stare at her screen with half lidded eyes, determined to finish this conversation before bed despite her body’s will to pass out right then and there.

She almost did, too, until a small change on screen caught her attention. She perked up upon seeing the notification ‘Azúcar is typing…’ blink at the bottom of the screen. It flashed a few more times before disappearing completely. This made her deflate rather quickly.

Getting impatiently bored, Hana came up with a great way to pass the time. She remembered that her friend had said something to her in Spanish, refusing to give its translation. So now she needs to take matters into her own hands and investigate the meaning of ‘perdiendo’. She typed it into her internet browser’s search engine and pressed ‘enter’. The computer ‘bloop’ed simultaneously with the finalization of the search results.

Due to curiosity and happiness, the Korean looked back at the messaging window – search results forgotten.

23:12 [Azúcar]: ¡Híjole! I just read the news. Are you alright?

News? Oh, right. Even though the previous mission was a success for Overwatch it didn’t happen all too easily. Reporters must have gotten wind of what happened in King’s Row. Including the critical damage that was dealt to Hana’s MEKA.

Aww, how sweet – they’re worried.

A tiny smile subconsciously formed as she began to rant about her busy day, making sure to include that she is fine and that it was no biggy. But then she froze, remembering that she was in the middle of translating that Spanish word and switched from her conversation window with Azúcar to her internet browser tab. She couldn’t help the little laugh that bubbled out when she saw the answer she was given. Slightly shaking her head side to side with an amused scoff escaping her lips, she went back to the chat box and aggressively held down the ‘backspace’ key before rewriting her reply.

23:14 [D.Va]: dOn’T cHaNgE tHe SuBjEcT!

23:14 [Azúcar]: ¿Qué?

23:15 [D.Va]: I looked up what you said earlier and

23:15 [D.Va]: Did you just call me bad?!

23:16 [Azúcar]: Dios mío, you’re still going on about that? And here I was, being worried for you.

23:16 [Azúcar]: You never cease to astound me.

23:16 [D.Va]: Astound you? If anything, you should be astounded by how amazing I am at kicking your butt in Starcraft >:3

23:16 [Azúcar]: I don’t think you’ll ever understand how hard I rolled my eyes just now.

23:17 [D.Va]: You’re only jealous (¬‿¬)

23:17 [Azúcar]: Oh yes, please, continue to besar a tu propio culo.

23:17 [D.Va]: What did you say this time?

23:18 [Azúcar]: Ay, not again.

23:18 [Azúcar]: Okay listen, I really need to finish something before I run out of time.

Hana’s facial features quickly dissolved into a pout, realizing that the conversation had met its closing point.

23:18 [D.Va]: ㅠㅠ alright. Talk to you later?

23:19 [Azúcar]: Of course, bunny. <3

[Azúcar has gone offline]

23:19 [D.Va]: <3

[D.Va has gone offline]

Azúcar seemed to have rushed to end that conversation, which Hana found to be rather odd. This made her sad and kind of worried. But why would she be worried?

Nothing is wrong, right?

They didn’t even get to see me send a heart in return, she thought to herself with a frown as she signed off as well.

With the computer finally powered down, the Korean stood from her chair for the second and final time releasing a loud yawn as she stretched. Exhausted from the day’s earlier events, she wandered over to her bed and practically face-planted onto it. In the process, Hana noticed that something was missing from atop her night stand. She took a moment to consider what the possible item in question may be, but came up blank and decided to forget about it for the time being.

After a few seconds of lying on her stomach, she came to the conclusion that squishing her face into the mattress actually isn't all that comfortable right now and flipped over onto her back. Satisfied with her new position she stared up at the ceiling and sighed.

It has been about a year now since the transmission was sent. Almost immediately, Winston got responses from all over the globe. Some were eager to rebuild what was lost while others stayed out of it – believing the organization shouldn’t be restored – and the rest were caught somewhere in the middle.

Although there were a number of people who answered the call, it still didn’t seem enough to even rebuild a mini Overwatch. But as the months dragged on, the shortage of allies slowly decreased. Like-minded people of different origins joined together with the one goal of helping the world again.

… and this is where I came in, Hana thought to herself with a little upward tug on her lips.

Heroes like D.Va and Lúcio for example took a step further by bringing aid to the newly re-formed Overwatch. For Hana, thanks to her squad and other M.E.K.A trainees, she now has more time and flexibility to do much more than only protect her country.

Hana proceeded to look around the current room she resides in from her spot on the bed. The computer on the desk isn’t her original setup, nor is the bed. She isn’t even on the coastal M.E.K.A base in Busan, South Korea. She was granted access to her own living quarters inside the orbital launch facility located in Gibraltar. Winston even went as far as making sure she had all she needed for not only her streams, but also for mech construction and repair. Hell, she even got her own hanger to store her equipment.

I wonder what Lúcio is up to, the brunette thought to herself as she glanced over to the digital clock sitting on top of the bedside table. It read 23:27. As far as she knew, Lúcio has been working on some new mix tapes for the upcoming gig in Dorado, Mexico.

With a mischievous smile and a new task in mind, Hana rolled back out of bed and walked to her computer in search of her cell phone. Maybe he’ll let me have a sneak peek, she silently hoped as she reached the desk. After a few seconds of scanning its surface, Hana came up empty handed.

"Okay, where is–?" She began to ask in a perplexed tone to nobody in particular. She continued to stare at the desk in deep thought, trying to remember where she saw it last. Then out of nowhere, the brunette turned on her heel to face her night stand. It became apparent that the thing she was missing earlier was...

"–my phone," Hana mumbled to herself, interrupting her own thoughts. "I must have left it down in the armory by my mech." Groaning in irritation, she went to her room’s closet to retrieve a pair of cute pink and white bunny slippers. After lazily stepping into them and grabbing her favorite jacket, she left her room in search of the armory at the base of Watchpoint: Gibraltar.

Roughly ten minutes pass and Hana approaches the hangar number she was looking for. She punched some numbers into a control panel, sliding open the metal side-door and stepped inside. To her left, against the same wall with the door, are several crates and shelves stockpiled high with spare parts used solely for making repairs. Along the far left wall sits a decent sized tool cabinet and right around it are many pegboard wall racks that hold some of the bigger and more complex equipment. On the wall parallel to Hana’s point of entry is the large reinforced hanger door. In the center of the room, connected to some cables, Hana’s pink MEKA unit stands proudly on top of an extended rotary lift. And lastly, protruding from the right hand side wall is a reeled up crane.

The room is dead silent aside from the slight echo of Hana’s slippers padding against the metallic floor. It’s pretty dark inside the room even with the few floodlights that are scattered overhead. She began to make her way towards a portable workbench that’s pushed close to her mech. On top of it there is a pile of tools and within that organized mess is where her phone should be.

Mid-walk, Hana stopped in place and started getting an uneasy feeling. She can’t place it, but the best way to describe it is that it feels like she’s being watched.

I knew it… I knew I shouldn’t have watched those stupid horror movies with Lena the other night. She lightly scolded herself, deciding that it’s the only plausible reason for the unexplained feeling.

Regardless of that belief, she observed her surroundings, searching for any signs that point to anyone else being in the hangar with her. The Korean didn't see anyone but she spotted her tool cabinet against the left wall and realized that a few drawers were wide open. “I could’ve sworn that I shut those before I left?” Hana mumbled, questioning herself as she made a quick detour over to the chest and closed it up.

Getting on track again, Hana continued to walk, or rather speed-walk to the workbench.

Ugh stop being paranoid! No one is here and you know it.

Her phone almost seemed to blend in with the cluttered contents (despite its case being pink) as it took Hana a hot second to finally lay eyes on the device.

You see? That wasn’t so hard, now, was it? There’s absolutely nothing to be worried about.

Pocketing it, she began to turn around with the intent of going back to her living quarters to message Lúcio. But before she could even turn around – as if on cue – a floodlight flickered and burned out, making the already dark room seem so much darker.

Nope! Never mind, I’m going to die.

In a surge of unnecessary panic Hana turned to hightail it out of the hanger, but before she got far, or could adjust her eyes to her path, she collided into something – or someone.

“Oomph!” The person grunted from the impact.

“Ahh!” Hana screeched and instinctively gripped onto the person she ran into, preventing herself from tripping over.

“Whoa, Hana! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you alright?” The man quickly spoke, putting his hands on Hana’s shoulders to help stabilize her balance.

“Lúcio!?” Exclaimed Hana, exasperated. “What the heck are you doing in here? You gave me the biggest jump scare!” She smacked him on the arm, not hard enough to hurt the guy but it wasn’t a light hit either.

The man had a sheepish smile on his face. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you, I’m sorry. I just wanted to ask you something so I went to your room to hopefully catch you still awake. Turned out you weren’t even there so I came here to find you,” Lúcio said, letting go of the girl’s shoulders.

“Oh,” Hana blinked, “I left my room not too long ago so you must have just missed me. I was wanting to talk to you about something too.”

They took a moment to just stare at one another before they burst into a fit of laughter. Like what were the chances of them both wanting to speak to the other but somehow miss the opportunity by a slim margin?

Once they had both calmed down, Lúcio spoke first, “so, what are you doing in here, anyway? I thought you were done fixing up your mech hours ago.”

“Oh yeah,” the Korean stuck her hand inside her jacket pocket and pulled out her cell. “I accidentally forgot my phone in here when I left in a hurry to go stream.” She pressed a button and swiped the screen to enter her passcode, unlocking the device. “You tried to call me?” Hana asked Lúcio as she saw the ‘missed call’ notification.

“Yeah, I just assumed you were caught in the middle of your stream when you didn’t pick up. But then you didn’t call me back for a good while so I started to get worried and came to check on you. And well, heh, you know the rest,” he explained himself, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What did you want to ask me?” Hana looked up from her phone as she pressed the lock button and put it back in her pocket.

Lúcio seemed to perk up by that question. “Do you want to hear some of the music I put together for the festival?” He asked with a big smile. “I could totally use your opinion before it all goes down.”

I should have known, Hana giggled and hooked her arm around Lúcio’s as they moved to leave the hangar.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Chapter Text

It’s the next day now, the morning sun shining through the curtains to give natural light to Hana’s bedroom. Much to her displeasure, the rays are dancing directly across her face as if to insist that it’s time to wake up. To combat this, she rolled over onto her side, facing away from the window and released a noise of content as the sun was no longer blinding her.

Unfortunately, life had other plans as her alarm clock began to screech out its demands.

Beep!..Beep!..Beep!..Be--

Hana quickly rolled back over onto her other side to make the offending machine stop its obnoxious chanting. With it being silent in the room once more, she moved to sit upright at the edge of the bed and cleared the sleep from her eyes. Glaring at the clock, she watched the time change from 07:00 to 07:01.

She then began to think about what Lúcio showed her and just how nervous he was for the upcoming gig. If she were completely honest, she has no clue why Lúcio would have any worries; to her the music sounded amazing and the other details they discussed were perfect. But then you add the other list of activities the event will have and it becomes certain that this festival is going to be unbelievable; one hell of an experience to remember.

Before Hana could form another thought, the voice of Athena, Winston’s beloved A.I., rang through the Korean’s room, gaining her attention.

“Good morning, D.Va. How do you feel today?”

“Oh hey, Athena,” Hana responded right before a big yawn escaped her. “I’m pretty tired to tell you the truth.”

“Does this mean you won’t be fit to accompany your team on the mission?” Inquired Athena.

Hana, suddenly finding herself wide awake at hearing that question, asked one of her own. “We have a mission? I haven’t been notified that there was one.”

“You received an alert on your cellular device at an estimated time of 14 minutes and 34 seconds ago.”

Puzzled, Hana picked her phone up off the nightstand and unlocked it to view her messages. Indeed, she found the otherwise missed notification about Winston’s request for a mission briefing. That wasn’t the only message either, it appears that Lena contacted her a number of times.

06:33 [Tracer]: Hey luv, I’m having trouble with something. Think I could talk to you about it some time?

06:47 [Alert]: Mission briefing in the conference hall: 0725 hours.

06:47 [Tracer]: Eeeehhhhh :( why must we have a mission this bloody early?

06:49 [Tracer]: I hope you didn’t pull another all-nighter streaming last night… You didn’t, right?

06:54 [Tracer]: DX aw no…

06:57 [Tracer]: Are you seriously still asleep? Come on, let’s go get some coffee before we both decide that today we aren’t going to live.

07:00 [Tracer]: You leave me no choice, I’m coming over. Don’t be mad if I barge in and belly flop on you. Consider this to be your warning ;)

It’s 07:04 now as Hana finished reading her missed messages. What does she want to talk about? She thought to herself, but didn’t have enough time to think more on it. “Thanks, Athena, I’ll start getting ready,” she reassured her, standing up to get off her bed.

“Understood, I will notify Winston that you are attending,” the A.I. said before she left the coms in Hana’s living quarters.

Before anything else could happen, the room’s sliding door opened to reveal Lena on the other side – fully prepared to do as she promised. She even seemed to have a running start before slowing herself down upon seeing Hana up and moving.

“Hiya, luv! So you’re actually awake, huh?” Lena greeted her as they shared a hug. “Didn'tcha get my texts?”

“Oh, do you mean your spam wall?” Hana began to laugh as the Brit quivered her lower lip, pretending to be offended. “I’ve only been awake for about 5 minutes, but yes, I just got done reading them,” Hana said as they parted.

“Ah… well, good thing you’re up because I thought I was gonna have to drag ya out of bed myself,” she quipped with a grin of her own. “That would’ve been a fun wake up call.”

“Uh-huh, sure, for you maybe,” Hana stated in an amused tone, setting down her phone and picking up a decorative boudoir pillow from her bed. “'Cause waking up to the wind getting knocked out of me sure sounds fun.” With a toothy smile, Hana chucked the pillow at Lena to emphasize the word ‘fun’.

Though, fortunately for Lena, she simply blinked away from the airborne object with a startled squeak.

“Hah! Ya missed.”

A pair of squinted eyes and a stuck out tongue was the other girl’s only response.

The Brit exaggeratedly put a hand to her chest over a spot where the chronal accelerator doesn’t cover. “I am wounded dearly by your attempted assault with a cushion. Now ya must make it up to me somehow…” She flashed a grin and batted her eyelashes innocently. “Coffee sounds lovely, doesn’t it?”

“Phft,” Hana shook her head at the older woman’s antics and went to her closet. “Can’t you just make it yourself since you’re already prepared for the mission?” She pulled out her uniform and tossed it onto the bed, smirking at Lena. “Maybe be so kind and make me some while you’re at it?”

“Cheeky,” Lena said a little above a whisper, trying to suppress a smile.

“Huh? I didn’t quite catch that.” She feigned obliviousness with her back turned, getting ready to change into her mission wear.

“Oh.. nothin’, nothin’ at all,” she said in her usual cheery voice and began to show herself out of the room. “See ya when you’re ready.”

Right before she exited the room, however, she quickly turned around to playfully cock a snook at her younger counterpart.

Hana, still with her back turned, caught the action in the corner of her eye and chuckled to herself. She then continued to put her clothes on and grab her light gun, heading through the door to meet up with the others.

As Hana walked through the entryway tunnel towards her destination, she heard the faint voices of her team already chatting amongst themselves. The words that they spoke inside the room were unintelligible to the approaching MEKA pilot. Thinking she was late, she quickly took out her phone to check the time. It simply read 07:12 which reassured her that she was in fact 13 minutes early – not late. With a sigh of relief she continued down the path, wondering what today’s mission was going to be.

Another Null Sector attack? She began speculating. Rogue A.I? Talon?

Once Hana finally reached the operations room she took a peek inside. In the middle of the room was Cassidy, Mercy, Pharah, and Reinhardt seated around a rectangular table with an orange holographic globe floating above it. On the sphere was a single light blue dot which was located somewhere over Germany. Joining the group at the head of the table was Winston, who sat comfortably in one of his tire chairs.

Hana then spotted Tracer in the corner of the room sitting on a swivel stool in front of a workstation. She was lightly spinning side to side holding a bowl of cereal in her lap as she listened to the others talk. Next to her on the desk are two coffee mugs; Hana could only assume that the extra one’s for her. The door slid shut behind her as she walked past the hologram table to meet up with the older girl at the desk.

As Hana drew closer, she started to notice that something was off about Tracer. The usually chipper and energetic girl was looking intensely into her cereal with a slight downwards tug at her lips. What is she thinking about? Hana mused silently as she continued to walk even closer. Then, something in her mind clicked – she remembered Lena’s text from earlier this morning.

“…I’m having trouble with something...”

Is that why she seems so upset and lost in thought right now? She noticed that the girl barely even touched her breakfast. She was holding a spoonful up above the bowl but going nowhere with it. It’s like she was frozen mid action – caught looking past the scoop of food and into the abyss that was the cereal bowl.

Maybe I should say something. Wanting to brighten the girl's mood, she smirked and began to open her mouth to jokingly ask Lena why she was trying to curdle the milk. But then the girl in question suddenly looked up and smiled brightly upon seeing Hana.

She smiled as if she wasn’t frowning just a second ago.

How odd…

“There ya are!” She happily said as she dropped her spoon into the bowl and turned to pick up one of the coffee mugs, preparing to hand it to D.Va.

“You know, Lena, that I was joking earlier, right?” The Korean asked. “You didn’t need to get me coffee.” She reached out to take the mug anyways, appreciating the offer.

Lena stopped extending the cup to Hana and began pulling it back towards herself with a goofy smile, lightly biting her tongue in between her teeth. “Does that mean I can drink it? Suit ya self, that’s more for me!” The Brit started to bring the mug up to her lips, pretending that she was going to drink some. But before she could even get close, Hana quickly slapped a hand over it, blocking her from stealing a sip.

“H-hey, no! I didn’t say that I didn’t want it,” Hana told her as she moved to take it from Lena’s grasp, amusement clearly in her voice. “So, keep your lips out of my coffee,” she asserted with a small chuckle.

“Aww, rubbish. I don’t wanna go make more.” She sighed. “That one cup did little to nothin’ for me; I’m still beat.”

“More?” Hana questioned in disbelief. She walked closer to the desk and picked up Lena’s mug, finding it completely empty before setting it back down again. “Should’ve made extra…”

Lena just shrugged and picked up the spoon to her now extremely soggy cereal. Falling into silence, and not knowing what to say, she swirled the mush around with the utensil. It was obvious that she wasn’t planning on eating it any time soon.

During this time Hana got a better look at her friend. She took note of the dark circles lightly forming under the Brit’s eyes. Was she having trouble sleeping? Is that even the root problem? The fatigue and space-outs – are they just symptoms of a bigger issue? Hana took a sip from her coffee, slightly shaking her head as all sorts of questions swarmed her mind.

One thought stuck out in particular, however: she wouldn’t be so distracted by her thoughts if her problem was simply being exhausted.

Deciding that it was time to say something, she pulled another swivel chair next to the desk and sat down. “So… what’s going on?” She tried looking at Lena in the eye but her gaze was completely focused on the cereal that was still in her lap.

Okay, why is that still there? What’s the point?

Hana, without any forewarning, took the bowl from her lap and set it on the desk. Only then did the older girl look up at her friend.

The spell has been broken!
D.Va - 1
Predicament - 0

“I mean, come on, Lena… you look like me after hosting a 24-hour charity stream.” Hana stated with concern, a hint of levity in her voice.

“Well…” Lena spoke hesitantly, “I haven't been sleepin' good for a few days now.” She paused for a moment to grab her mug, completely forgetting it was empty. “I didn’t sleep at all last night, actually.” A huff of a laugh past her lips, realizing her mistake. “...Hence the coffee craving.”

“Is this what your message was about? 'Cause if you're not feeling good maybe you should talk to Angela about it or something,” Hana suggested, taking the empty cup from her and putting it off to the side. She then handed Lena her own coffee mug which was hardly touched. “You can have it,” she said with a smile.

Lena returned the gesture with a soft ‘thanks’ and drank some before continuing the conversation. “Not exactly. I’m tired, sure – but…” Her mouth opened and closed a few times, debating her next words.

“Have you ever wanted something to happen so much that you start to question if it finally is.. or if it's all just in your head?” Her palms cupped the mug in her lap, taking comfort in the warmth it radiated.

Lena continued speaking, not waiting for a response from the younger girl. “Everything is so… complicated… to say the least,” she chuckled nervously, finding the floor to be a much better place to stare at as she attempted to form her nagging thoughts into words.

“I’ve tried talkin’ to some of the others about it before, y’know – get them to help me. But...” She trailed off, shaking her head with a scoff. Her voice suddenly shifted to a mockingly low tone.

“‘She can’t be saved, only put down.’”

“‘She’s gone forever, why do ya care so much?’”

“‘Oooh, well even if we did get her back there’s nothin’ that can be done and–‘“

“Blugh!”

Lena threw her hands up exaggeratedly in a bout of rage. But that anger briefly vanished when both girls had what felt like a mini heart attack upon seeing the back of Lena’s hand collide with the handle of the coffee mug. Her actions almost caused it to fly off her lap and go crashing down to the hard floor. Hana watched as her friend put the cup back onto the desk before slouching over herself, putting her face in her hands with a loud sigh.

“. . . I disagree,” Tracer finally mumbled out, seeming to deflate at her own statement.

Something like a minute of silence broke out after those words, which gave Hana enough time to digest the information and think about it. Tracer kept saying ‘she’… the person of interest hasn’t yet been identified which stopped Hana from immediately responding.

Why would they not want to help?

Why would they be mad at her for asking?

Who is she talking about?

Hana looked at her friend, opening her mouth to speak. But before any words could come out, the sudden outburst by another Overwatch agent caught their attention.

“What do ya mean ‘they revivified’?!” Cassidy yelled from the center of the room.

The two girls briefly exchanged looks – a silent promise to resume this later. With an apologetic expression and a gentle pat on the other girl’s knee, D.Va moved out of her seat. Lena chugged what was left of the coffee before setting the mug down and getting up to follow Hana to see what the commotion was about.

Tracer let out a yawn as they made their way over to the holo-table. “Why ya shoutin’, Cassidy?” She asked as Hana and herself took a seat.

Angela, who sat on the opposite side of the table from Lena, gave her a questioning look. Lena’s face contorted into a confused expression when she saw the look from the doctor. Though, shortly after, she seemed to have realized why Mercy stared at her the way that she did and attempted to give her a reassuring smile.

Hana saw the subtle interaction between the two agents from the corner of her eye. She also saw Tracer’s attempted look of reassurance... which honestly didn’t look too reassuring if you asked her. But what she saw just now also gave her more questions about Lena and her secret someone.

Have they talked about it? Does Angela know who it is?

A loud sigh coming from the gunslinger broke her thoughts. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he leaned back into his chair, kicking his feet up onto the table. Instead of saying anything, he looked over at Winston who was able to instantly decipher his silent request to answer for him. “Athena, can you please repeat what you said so D.Va and Tracer can be informed.”

“Satellite scans over Eichenwalde, Germany show the presence of multiple electromagnetic signatures,” Athena stated for the second time to the agents around the table.

“Oookay..?” Hana drawled out in a slow and confused manner. “But what does that mean exactly?”

“What did the satellite find?” Lena chipped in with her own question. Both the girls looked equally confused.

The light blue dot on the orange holographic globe began to enlarge and then disappear as the blue holo-image of the Eichenwalde Castle got zoomed in on and put into view. The picture was then flattened down onto the table before slightly rising back up again, showing the area’s layout in a detailed 3D blueprint visual.

Hana kinda just sat there looking at the hologram move in awe.

Yup, it’s official. That never gets old.

“Information collected from our data banks suggest that the high levels coming from the area pertain to similar values emitted 30 years ago from Bastion Siege Automation B73 units.” The A.I. continued, “It appears that they have somehow been revivified.”

“But how is that possible? Were they not fully destroyed the first time?” The silvery yet concerned voice of Angela spoke this time.

“That would be correct. Or at least, so we have thought.” Everyone watched as Athena began to pinpoint a bunch of orange dots all over the image. “These mark the locations of each unit and where they fell after the battle.” Some dots disappeared and then reappeared in completely different places. “And this is where they are now, according to the most recent scan that was taken approximately 2 hours, 16 minutes and 21 seconds ago.”

“That can’t be right.” Reinhardt stood from his seat and began to equip his armor that was waiting for him on a nearby rack. “My fellow Crusaders and the Mountain Infantry Battalion beat them out of commission all those years ago. No amount of repair could fix them; they were torn apart!”

“Are we positive that they are the same exact Bastions from that battle and not some new threat?” Hana carefully asked, gaining the attention of everyone.

After a short pause she elaborated, “I mean, I find it kinda hard to believe that they suddenly just got up and started walking around if they did in fact get ‘torn apart.’” Hana made some air quotes with her fingers. “But if they held that capability this whole time.. why now did they reactivate?”

The room was thrown into silence. Everyone knew she had a good point, but none of them had an explanation for the Omnics’ sudden revival.

After what felt like an eternity, Winston cleared his throat to break the ice. “We don’t know exactly what it is that we may be walking into, which makes this mission extremely dangerous...”

“But that gives us all the more reason to check it out, right?” Pharah expressed her thoughts to the team. “Because whether or not it’s the B73s or something else, it’s important that we put a stop to it immediately.”

Winston took a moment to consider the pros and cons of taking action. On one hand there is the possibility of them walking into something they are not expecting, which makes this whole thing risky. But then again, nothing they do is labeled as ‘safe’. On the other hand, if they don’t check it out, it could amount to an even bigger problem, and not just for Eichenwalde.

There wasn’t much left to think about on the matter. So with his mind made up, Winston started to give out his orders. “Looks like it’s settled.” He then got up out of his seat, followed by everyone else; aside from Reinhardt, who was already standing. “We will discuss our plan of action once a bigger picture is painted on the situation. Athena, I want you to continue monitoring the area and let me know of any changes. Everyone else, we will talk more on the way there.” All 6, excluding Winston, gathered up their equipment and made their way to the exit. “Your ship leaves in 15 minutes.”

Chapter Text

Location- approximately 197 miles from Stuttgart, Germany
Time- 0936 hours

Static momentarily filled the airwaves inside the cabin before a deep voice began to speak over the coms. “Alright ladies, get ready to tuck and roll! ETA in 20 minutes,” the Overwatch aircraft pilot named Ray informed his passengers.

“Awwhaha Cassidy~” Lena laughed as she playfully elbowed the man in the ribs from her spot next to him. “Why didn’tcha tell me there’s a lady under that hat?” She then flicked the rim of his cowboy hat, causing it to slightly loosen and go crooked to the side.

Cassidy’s hand shot upwards to catch his hat and securely put it back in its place. He half turned in his seat to face Lena and chuckled. “Well gee, darlin’, I thought the facial hair was a good enough clue for ya,” he said, bringing his hand down to his chin to stroke his beard with a playful grin.

Stifled laughter caused him to turn his focus to Angela and Fareeha who sat against the opposite wall of the fuselage across from Hana, Lena and himself. The doctor had a hand lightly covering her mouth to hide her smile as she attempted to suppress the giggles that jolted her body. The former Helix security chief, who sat next to the currently giddy medic, just crossed her arms and averted her gaze with an amused smirk.

As silly banter unfolded around her, Hana’s phone ‘bloop’ed in her hands as a dropdown bar appeared at the top of the screen. She was in the middle of playing ‘The Lost Viking VI’ and the damn notification decided to block half of her gameplay. This caused her to lose sight of the enemy ships and, not too soon after, watch her Viking ship turn into a ball of fire as a stray light blue laser beam one-shot it. The explosion was accompanied by the ‘you lose’ screen – her last life going down the drain.

She was kinda ticked, seeing how one simple notification made her fail and need to try yet again to beat her old high score. Normally she would ignore it until it went back up to where it came from and continue playing, but this time was different. Before the bar could retreat from Hana’s death glare, she saw the name ‘Azúcar’ within the message.

‘I think I might have an idea on ho–‘

That’s all she could read of her friend’s message before it was cut off. Hana moved to tap the bar as fast as she could but it recoiled back into the top of the screen, disappearing. This caused her to curse under her breath in her native tongue, fully believing that it did that just to mock her.

She closed out of her phone game before launching her messenger app.

09:38 [Azúcar]: I think I might have an idea on how I can finally beat you in Starcraft II ;)

09:38 [D.Va]: Oh yeah? Please, do tell, I wanna know what you’re planning so I can watch out for your cheats.

09:39 [Azúcar]: ¡Ayy! I’m talking about some real plays here. You’ve gotta give me some credit, cariño.

09:39 [D.Va]: And what ARE these ‘real plays’ of yours? Hmm? (¬‿¬)

09:39 [Azúcar]: That's for me to know and for you to find out…

The unoriginal comment from her mysterious friend caused the hero to roll her eyes in response.

09:40 [Azúcar]: When you lose to it (^3^)

pppPPHHFFTT!!!

09:40 [D.Va]: Lol! Fine, keep your secrets (ㅠ_ㅠ)

09:40 [Azúcar]: Noooo don’t give me that face :’(

09:41 [D.Va]: Will you [sniff] cheer me up by [sniff] revealing your strat? :’D

09:41 [Azúcar]: In your dreams, princesa. It's a lot more fun to watch you struggle with the unexpected ;)

Moments like these make D.Va wish that she could visit her friend IRL. She wants to see the smug expression that’s most likely plastered across their face every time they exchange remarks of this magnitude. She wishes to also hear that smugness – to finally be able to connect a face and voice to the messages that’s always brightening her mood.

But that won’t be happening unless they stop being so secretive...

Hana sighed inwardly at that thought.

She had asked Azúcar about it a number of times in the past – about why they refuse to open up to her. Sadly, she can’t get any answers out of them, so instead, she is left to her own assumptions:

Maybe they don’t want to be exposed to the public through her internet fame.
Maybe they are shy about meeting her – a worldwide famous gamer and hero.

Though, Hana doesn’t take Azúcar to be the shy type. They appear to be fairly confident when talking with her and their level of flirtatious bantering seem to also be on equal terms. Would you call it flirting? To Hana, it sometimes feels like it may be deeper than some simple friendly chattering, but maybe it is just that and she is overthinking it.

…Why are they putting so much effort into hiding themselves from me?

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

Hana, who was off in her own little world, jumped when Tracer’s voice unexpectedly broke through her thoughts. She turned her head to the right to find the Brit glancing over her shoulder, eyes glued onto her phone with peak interest.

Oh no, how long has she been watching?!

“What? I–I uhm… nothing…” Hana said in a voice similar to one a child uses when they know that they’ve been caught and tries to act natural. She awkwardly shifted in her seat, trying to hide the screen from Lena’s prying eyes.

She looked back down at the phone in her hand, finding that she had received two new messages without realizing it. Apparently she spaced out pretty hard, completely missing the fact that her phone vibrated twice.

Though, with the way Tracer was staring at her phone, Hana could probably assume correctly that the alerts didn’t go unnoticed by the older girl.

09:44 [Azúcar]: What are you up to? Maybe we can have that battle right now?

09:44 [Azúcar]: Y’know, to get your inevitable defeat over with. I expect to find your intangible crown of victory in my mailbox real soon :P

Lena shifted her eyes from the phone to Hana’s face and just gave her this look.

This ‘all knowing’ kind of look.

This ‘I read your whole conversation and now I know you got a friend’ look.

Yeah, that just confirmed her earlier assumption.

If Lena wasn’t busy staring her down right now, she would continue the smack talk with Azúcar – to make it clear that her crown is in fact going nowhere.

After a moment of what could be considered – for Hana – an awkward staring contest, Tracer finally opened her mouth to speak, releasing her bombardment of unfiltered questions. It’s like the dam broke and Hana knew that she was in for a disaster that can’t be avoided. It was only a matter of time befo–

“Who’s that you're talkin’ to?”

Shit...

“I don’t recall seein’ that screen-name before; why didn’tcha tell me you had a secret friend?”

“Oh! OOH! Is that your girlfriend~?”

Wait, wHAT?!?

Hana’s mind came screeching to a halt as it drowned out Lena’s continuous flow of questions. Her words slowly turning into muffled gibberish.

The gamer couldn’t form a timely response and squawking in embarrassment was the result. Thankfully, the other four plane passengers weren’t paying any attention to the hell of a mess that was unfolding between the two girls.

“I uuh, you see, we– I… uhm– hEH,” Hana fumbled immensely, face getting a brighter shade of red with every mess up.

However, her brain clicked, suddenly processing what Lena said as her embarrassed face rapidly contorted into a confused one. Instead of providing some answers to any of her friend’s questions, she asked one of her own. “‘Girlfriend?’ How do you know that they might be a girl?”

Tracer’s smirk quickly fell into a look of stupefaction. “Wait, you’re telling me that you don’t actually know who they are?”

Hana just sat there, simply nodding her head up and down.

“Wow, okay… for starters,” her tone started out ‘matter-of-factly’ but turned puckish within a second, “with the way you guys were chattin’, I figured that ya more than knew he– OW.”

The loud ‘thwack’ to Tracer’s upper arm seemed to reverberate through the mostly hollowed out plane.

This easily caught the others' attention but for only a brief moment. Some stares and a couple raised eyebrows got thrown in their direction but they seemed to have let it slide. If you guessed that it was for the fact that they didn’t want to get involved and possibly receive a slap of their own you’d be correct.

The Korean rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with a light blush still visible on her cheeks.

Lena rubbed the sore spot that formed, briefly chuckling at her flustered friend before continuing in a more hushed voice. “I guess I don’t really know if they’re a girl or not.” The Brit tilted her head, looking off to the side in deep thought as she explained her reasoning. “Though, from my understanding, azúcar just means sugar – but what kind of bloke would name himself ‘sugar’? So… I’m bettin’ on them bein’ a girl.”

She then looked back at Hana with a grin, wiggling her eyebrows, not giving her the time to respond to the information. “Your turn, so spill it.”

Ah, crap. Here we go...

D.Va slightly turned to the right in her chair, preparing to tell the smirking girl about this friend of hers whom she has kept secret for… weeks? months? She lost track. Before speaking, she bent her leg and propped her knee up on the armrest in a lopsided, half criss-cross position.

“Uhm, well… I–“ Hana trailed off, unsure about how and where to begin her explanation. She would have continued, too, if it weren’t for the abrupt interruption from a certain cowboy.

“Wai– hold on now! Why doesn’t he get teased?” Cassidy blurted out from his spot next to the girls, extending his arms in Reinhardt’s direction, palms facing upwards. Reinhardt was on the other side of the cabin one seat down from Pharah, closest to the back cargo door and D.Va’s unoccupied mech. The gunslinger looked around at the other five occupants on the plane, waiting for an explanation and sporting a slight pout.

Upon hearing him, Hana put her phone down on her thigh and leaned forward to see past Tracer so she could stare at the bewildered cowboy.

She raised a quizzical eyebrow. “What?”

Tracer also turned around to look at Cassidy, clearly amused by his really delayed response. “He's upset I didn’t poke fun at Rein about Ray’s comment like I did to him earlier.”

“Oh, LOL,” Hana said with mirth.

“Yeah, uh-huh,” the cowboy spoke, sounding a bit defeated. “But why me and not him, though?”

Without missing a beat, both girls said their reply, unintentionally speaking in unison. “It’s more fun.”

They whipped around to look at one another – mirroring the same mortified yet comical expression before dying of laughter. However, Hana’s movement caused her phone to slide off her leg and go tumbling to the floor, bouncing with an uncomfortable ‘crack’ sound.

The sudden noise made both girls halt their giggle fit. Hana reached down to pick up her phone and examined it. Finding nothing wrong, she set it back in her lap – this time in a more secure location.

“He’s more likely to run with the teasing and turn it into a compliment about his hair,” Mercy chimed in with a more than plausible explanation.

“Well, it does flow beautifully in the wind,” Pharah added in agreement, earning a pleased smile and a high five from the big guy – their armor-clad hands clanking together..

“Aah yes, I love the wind in my hair. Hahaha!” Rein dramatically flipped his hair and struck a pose, looking at the gunslinger with an expression on his face that just screamed ‘are you jealous?’

“What, and my hair doesn’t?” Cassidy asked in fake disbelief, raising an eyebrow while looking at Fareeha. His lips began to form a smile at Rein’s antics.

“Who knows; you’re always wearin’ that hat of yours,'' stated Tracer, who resumed her giggling. She then reached up to touch his cowboy hat for a second time. This caused him to swipe at her hand, which in turn, made her laugh harder.

Before he could begin to scold the time jumper about why she shouldn’t mock his hat, they got interrupted by Winston’s voice coming through their tactical earpieces.

“You all will be arriving at the Eichenwalde Castle soon. Should we go over the plan one more time?” The scientist questioned, wanting to ensure that everyone understands the mission.

“No thanks, my friend. I think we got it,” Reinhardt spoke as he put on his helmet.

This time Athena’s voice started relaying information to the team, including Winston.

“Feedback from the fourth scan since your departure has arrived. The first three scans, taken approximately 30 minutes apart, showed minimal movement. But this latest one... the markers have completely vanished.”

Every agent then received images of the first three satellite scans along with the most recent fourth. All of which were presented alongside the very first scan that was taken earlier that day. A brief moment of silence soon followed as they each took out their gadgets to view them.

“On second thought, maybe we should go over the plan again…” Mercy stated, a hint of unease in her voice.

The next thing everyone heard was Ray over the plane’s intercom. “About one minute till drop, I advise getting into position.”

“Looks like there isn’t any time to reassess our mission details...” Hana sighed as she stood from her seat and walked over to her awaiting MEKA unit. The back hatch opened, revealing a set of handlebars, the ones used to pull her forward into the mech’s pilot seat.

Before grabbing them, however, she finally shot Azúcar a quick, belated reply to their request for a Starcraft II matchup.

09:54 [D.Va]: Sorry, maybe later. I’m on a mission right now and about to reach my destination. I’ll have to wipe the floor with you on a later date! >;3

09:55 [Azúcar]: Oh, okay, I can wait for my victory ;)

09:55 [Azúcar]: But in all seriousness, please be careful, Conejita.

D.Va smiled down at her phone before pocketing it, deciding that she didn’t have enough time to send another message.

The agents could hear Winston huff in irritation on the other end of the line. “Going in blind isn’t impossible but it’s never easy. Stay sharp, keep me posted.”

Everyone expressed their understanding before exiting their seats, getting ready to drop down to the brewery tavern below.

Due to the dense forest, there was nowhere accessible for the dropship to land. Instead, it was forced to hover in place high above the buildings, its large rear door lowered, ready for the team to exit through. Ray held a hand up with three fingers out, removing them one by one as he counted down slowly.

“Three… Two… One…” At the unspoken ‘zero’, Ray lowered his fist in one swift motion, signaling that it’s time to jump.

Reinhardt dropped first, falling in between the worn and busted boards of the tavern roof, breaking a few on the way. The force from his descent caused his feet to smash right through the floor which created a decent sized hole. He swiftly stepped out of it and surveyed the area, finding broken tables and some ripped up banners that used to proudly represent the town. Vines and moss grew within the building, overtaking everything that was long deserted and destroyed. This included a tattered B73 which had fallen through the ceiling and one of the tables before settling down in the broken floorboards. The plant life of The Black Forest turned the tavern’s emptiness into a form of beauty. Although peaceful looking, it brought up all sorts of memories for the ex-Crusader. Some good… and others, not so much.

Reinhardt walked over and looked at the bar table, slowly running his armored hand over its surface. From behind, he could hear the faint zipping noise of Tracer sliding down a rappel cable. The sound gradually became louder until her feet stomped the creaky floorboards upon landing.

She took a quick look around the place. “It’s good to see that not all of ‘em appear to be walkin’ around, yeah?” Tracer asked the empty room and Reinhardt (but mostly to herself), referring to the dead Omnic that resides on the floor. She unstrapped herself from the cable and walked up behind Rein to see what he was doing.

“Ooo, is that your name etched into the table?” She asked him in wonder, admiring how beautifully it was carved out. “Did ya do that or was the bartender a tad flirty?” Lena joked with a giggle, tracing her fingers over each letter.

“Haha, no, that was my handy work from long ago,” Reinhardt confirmed with a light chuckle from under his helmet.

Their moment was broken when the sudden and very deafening sound of D.Va falling through and splintering another section of the already smashed ceiling and floor caused the other two agents to jump out of their skin. They seemed to have briefly forgotten where they were during their interaction about the old carving.

Tracer quickly turned to face the MEKA pilot, her eyes bulging out from shock. “Luv, I think all of Germany heard ya just now!” Her voice went from a normal volume to a slightly higher one as each word was expressed. She then glanced down, watching Hana step out of the freshly made crater that held the legs and feet of her mech captive.

“They might have felt it too!” Boomed Reinhardt as he convulsed with laughter, which was visible even through his body armor. He set his hammer down, making it lean against an old bar stool. Rein then proceeded to slowly raise his hands up and outwards, imitating the shape of a mushroom nuke cloud while making a faux explosion noise. Tracer doubled over with a snort at Rein’s visual demonstration.

The offended yet slightly amused glare he and Lena received made them both chuckle one last time before the sound of Pharah’s Raptora jets brought the three back to reality and remember their situation and mission – albeit unknown and therefore somewhat undecided.

They looked upwards to find Pharah using the boosters of her suit to gently fall through one of the now very massive holes in the tavern ceiling. Mercy wasn’t too far behind, carefully floating down into the room with the aid of her Valkyrie suit wings.

As the two women landed to join the other three agents, Tracer moved so she was standing directly underneath one of the gaps in the roof. She looked up at the ship hovering high above the tavern, expecting to see Cassidy coming down any second now. Except, she didn’t see anything just yet.

“Oi, luv, what’s the hold up?” She asked into the comm-link, her hand up to her ear.

“It's not everyday that I get off a plane by the use of a rope…” Cassidy voiced out in a slightly irritated manner. In the background the other agents could hear the sound of rustling and faint metal clinking. “There’s a big ol’ knot in the cable.”

Lena sighed and lightly shook her head, resisting the urge to facepalm. “I knew that I should’ve made you go first! At least that way I could’ve helped ya set it up...”

“It’s nothin’ I can’t handle. In fact, I think I almost have it,” Cassidy said with a proud sounding lilt to his voice. “It’s just bein’ an unnecessary pain in my a–“

A loud cannon blast, which was soon followed by another, caused everyone in the tavern to quickly look upwards and go silent. “In coming!” Ray urgently shouted into the comms.

Almost immediately, before anyone could blink, two fiery explosions occurred overhead that made them jump. Two mini rockets collided into one of the plane’s engines, completely blowing it off. The aircraft was sent spiraling off to the side and out of view of the five agents inside the building. It left behind a dark grey smoke trail as it went.

“Mayday! Mayday! We’re hit, and going down fast!” Ray was frantically yelling.

“May–“ Static quickly overtook the transmission feed before dying out completely. Comms silent.

Within the next couple of seconds, the ground rumbled and shook. The vibrations were easily felt and heard as the ship crashed down into the abandoned houses and overgrown forest located on a lower section of the mountain.

Once the earthquake-like sensation stopped, Rein turned away to gather up his rocket hammer which was no longer leaning against the old bar stool. Instead, it was found laying across the floor, having gotten knocked over.

Weapon in hand, he moved to the tavern’s double door main entrance. He peeked around the wall and through the tiny windows built within the doors. He doesn’t spot anything of obvious concern outside the tavern – only some busted B37s and a toppled over spider tank, all of which appear to be out of working order.

“C-Cassidy? Ray? Come in, are you alright?!” Came Angela’s shaky voice through their tactical earpieces.

A pause.

“Come on, guys, talk to me here…”

And another.

At this time, Pharah and Mercy had moved to set up at a nearby table and Reinhardt had assigned himself the duty of checking the perimeter.

Tracer stood in the same spot, looking up through the hole in the middle of the roof. Only this time, instead of a ship being there, it’s just a cloudy sky – or maybe it’s the smoke – threatening to rain down upon them probably within the next hour or so. Lena’s mouth is hung wide open, still stuck in a daze. Meanwhile, Hana actually got out of her mech and is now standing in front of her, trying to get her to calm down and focus.

Lena was mumbling out a whole slew of self-interrupted, stumbled over thought fragments. She spoke so quietly that Hana was the only one who could hear her. But even then, she couldn’t understand what she was whispering to herself about.

Nothing she did managed to shake the time jumper from her stupor. Her attempts at providing comforting words appeared to also be in vain as they went in one ear and out the other. But seeing Lena’s slack jaw, open mouth gaping gave her an idea. And so, Hana decided to try something silly and stupid. ‘Cause silly and stupid is the type of thing that seems to work best when it comes to these two.

D.Va quietly huffed and walked away from the older girl, approaching her mech. She opened the back hatch and hopped halfway inside, her legs dangling out as she searched for something. A few seconds later she wiggled her way backwards to get her feet back on solid ground, reappearing with a little clear plastic baggy in her hand. She looked over at Lena, and then the bag in her hands, and then back to Lena again. A mischievous smirk began to form at the corners of her lips as she schemed.

Omg this is so dumb it better make her laugh.

Hana then walked closer to her currently shaken up friend but still stayed a good distance away as to not be discovered quickly. She opened the bag which contained many small pieces that were of different colors, picking one at random. It was orange. She took a moment to consider the possibility of aborting her little mission due to its pure stupidity… but then again, that’s the point, is it not?

Eh, fuck it.

D.Va, gamer mode activated, began to concentrate real hard. She lightly pinched the orange object between her pointer finger and thumb before lightly tossing it at her target. It flew right past Lena’s face, missing completely. Determined, she reached into the bag and pulled out another, it was blue this time.

With the way Lena was positioned it made Hana’s operation just a tad harder than she would have liked. But oh well, she loves a good challenge.

She positioned the tiny blue piece between her fingers and flicked it at Lena again anD OH GOD. Hana froze, eyes slightly bulging 'cause she almost got caught...almost. The little object ricocheted off Lena’s chin before falling to the floor. It bounced a few times and then disappeared into the floorboards, probably sharing the same fate as the orange one.

Did she seriously not feel that?

She put her hand into the bag and collected one more piece, trying yet again to complete her mission. This one is yellow.

Three times the charm. Just gotta aim a little higher.

Hana prepared herself, her concentration intensifying. She gripped the yellow piece between her fingers and did just that – she aimed higher. It flew through the air and hit the bullseye mark she was going for. Mission accomplished. The mech pilot got an instant and very spastic reaction from Lena.

The Brit, in a seemingly freaked out panic, went from emptily gaping at the hole in the ceiling to looking wide eyed at the floor in a second. Hana watched in delight as the tiny yellow thing got propelled across the room out from Lena’s mouth. She’s now bent over wiping at her face and tongue all the while making really loud spitting noises.

“PBBFHTT pbbht-bphft, pPBBT”

The sight presented before her made D.Va collapse to the floor and just sit there red in the face from laughing so hard. “What happened, Lena?” The Korean choked out innocently, trying to catch her breath and regain her composure.

That seemed to have caught Tracer’s attention since she finally looked over at Hana. She winced and rubbed the back of her neck upon doing so, having figured out the hard way that looking upwards continuously for several minutes – and then quickly looking back down – isn’t all that smart to do.

“I think a bug flew in my mouth… ow.” She stood up straight and winced, stretching her neck side to side.

“Hahaha calm down, it was an M&M,” Hana bubbled out and lifted up the plastic baggy, shaking it a little for Tracer to see.

“Oh,” she laughed with a sigh of relief. “No wonder I thought it was a beetle – hard shell.”

“Eww.” Hana grimaced at the unwanted mental image that manifested. She then stood up from her spot on the floor before walking closer to her friend, offering her some of the colorful candy. “Is your neck okay?” She asked with concern.

Lena stopped massaging her neck and took the offered bag of M&Ms from the gamer. She then dumped a few into her palm before handing it back. “It’s doin’ better, now that I know it wasn’t a bug I almost ate.” She took a few from the tiny pile in her hand and popped them into her mouth.

“Aren't you glad it was chocolate,”

“Mmhm,” was the other's response as she nodded her head in approval, quietly munching on the sweet.

“'cause with the way you kept your mouth gaping open it very well could have been a bug.” Hana stifled a giggle and smirked at the older girl from the corner of her eye as she enjoyed her bag of M&Ms. “That would have been one sad bug.”

“No, that would have been ‘one sad Lena,’” she affirmed, pointing a finger at Hana as if she were lecturing a child. But her serious-like actions transformed into a chuckle upon realizing the silliness of what actually happened. “Thanks for that,” she spoke with a grateful smile.

D.Va simply returned a smile of her own and wrapped an arm around Tracer’s shoulders, guiding them both over to where the other agents were.

Reinhardt, who was still at the front entrance, took one last look out of the view space in the doors before going back to the group. As he walks in he finds Pharah and Mercy huddled around one of the few intact tables. The former is studying information that’s being displayed on her portable holo-gadget. From the looks of it, they’re the satellite scans provided by Athena. The latter is seated across from Pharah with a look on her face that suggests she’s about to–

“Damn it!” Erupted Mercy as she struck the table with her palm, overwhelmed with a sense of vexation. She sighed and removed her other hand from her comm-link, giving up on making contact with the two missing agents for now.

Lana and Hana, who just arrived at the table, cautiously sat down next to Angela. They were silently giving her a worried look due to her seemingly uncharacteristic outburst.

Rein took off his helmet with one hand as he approached the table. He then set the head of his rocket hammer onto the floor while gripping its handle, leaning on it as he stood. “We need to contact Winston and inform him of what just happened,” Reinhardt spoke calmly but also matter-of-factly. “And someone needs to go find them.”

“I’ll go,” Pharah offered, looking up from the satellite images she was reviewing. She then put the gadget onto the table, displaying a holo-diagram of the mountain’s surface.

“With how sharply it veered to the side there’s no way the ship crashed up here; it must be somewhere down in a lower section of town.” Fareeha pointed to an area of houses and trees to the left of the tavern. “So, if the ship landed where I think it did, I’d be the fastest at reaching them.”

Reinhardt took a second to weigh their options, which isn’t many. “Okay, you’re right. Having you fly down is our best bet,” he agreed. “Scaling the mountain by foot would take too much time – time that we possibly don’t have.” He then turned to address the medic. “Angela, you should go with her in case Cassidy and Ray are injured.” Upon hearing that suggestion, Mercy’s attentive stare turned into an ‘I’m not so sure about that’ look.

Rein didn’t notice her change in expression as he continued speaking. “As for the rest of us...“ he trailed off slightly, trying to think of what should be done.

“Are you sure that we should be splitting up? Especially now that our sixth teammate and ‘get away’ pilot have been attacked before we have even begun to understand the situation…”

The other four agents turned towards Angela, uncertainty now flashing across their own faces. That was a good point – important details about the mission seem to be changing every couple of minutes. The fact that two people are now MIA turns what they had thought was going to be a simple scout mission into something much more.

“I-I’ll just get Winston on the line and then we can come up with somethin’, yeah?” Tracer questioned as she briefly glanced at everyone, looking for confirmation. After seeing her team’s nod of approval, she brought a hand up to meet the device in her left ear, pressing the button to speak.

“Hey, Winston, ya there? We’ve got a problem.”

Chapter Text

The room fell into silence as everyone's attention became focused on their communication links, awaiting a response from the gorilla scientist. But the air waves were also silent, not even a slight buzz of interference came through – which is unsettling.

Tracer gave it a couple more seconds before trying again. “Wins–?”

All of the sudden, incredibly loud feedback shrilling flooded into their ears, interrupting Lena and sending a chill down everyone’s spine. It stayed that way for a second or two – just being loud as hell – before the volume gradually went down. Winston’s voice soon followed.

“So–y, I wa– get–ng so– pe–ut –utter, ar– –ou –uys a–rig–?” Even though the audio was extremely spotty it sounded like the guy was eating something.

“Luv, you’re breakin’ up. I can barely understa–“ Lena’s perturbation about the dodgy audio overpowered her sense of humor – which wanted to jokingly comment on Winston’s peanut butter addiction – but her friend cut her short regardless.

“–cer, te– m– wh–t ha–p–?” Underneath all that angry static his voice was insistent and filled with concern.

“Winston? Hello? Can ya hear me?” Lena cringed and scrunched up her neck as the offensive noise cranked back up again, attacking her eardrum relentlessly.

Winston can be heard speaking but this time everything he said was completely unintelligible. Nothing could be understood, not even in the slightest. His deep, garbled voice eventually dissolved into static. The same could probably be said for Lena on Winston’s end.

She winced as the tiny radio made a particularly unpleasant chirp. The others also made facial expressions, revealing their own discomfort.

“I ca– ugh!” Tracer removed her earpiece with an agitated groan, finally bringing the ear-blood screeching to an end. She then glanced up at her team with a look of defeat and stated the obvious. ”The link’s down.”

The others reluctantly followed suit, taking out their own devices. The room fell back into that uncomfortable silence once more, a fresh hint of dread encompassing everyone with it.

They’re missing an agent and their pilot who, at this time, may be injured or worse – dead.

And their outside communications have just been silenced; they’re on their own.

Lovely...

Tracer decided to speak again, finding the quiet room to be more stressful than not. “This is just bloody fantastic, innit?” But the cost of doing so leads to another stressful topic of its own. “Now what’re we gonna do?”

She braced her hands on top of the old wooden table and moved to stand up. She then started to lightly pace back and forth behind D.Va and Mercy, her mind running a mile a minute trying to figure out what to do now that they’ve lost contact with Winston.

“With how that just ended, I’d say the poor guy’s worrying himself sick right about now,” said Pharah as she removed her helmet and placed it on top of the table in front of her. She then looked up to find Lena halt in her tracks and gaze over Angela’s shoulder to stare back at her. “Which means he’s bound to know that something went wrong and is currently pulling all the strings he can to send a rescue team out,” she tried to provide some reassurance to the group.

After a brief pause, “...I’m sure he knows,” was repeated for emphasis as she gave everyone a stern yet sincere look. They will get through this; the guys will be okay.

Everything will be fine… right?

The room fell into silence… again. The only difference is that the dense, heavy feeling of worry was washed down into something a little less intense. It was still there – the dread – but that statement, though overoptimistic, allowed them to relax just a little bit more. Some quiet sighs were released and everyone's shoulders visibly became less taut. They knew that what Pharah said is most likely true; Winston is probably getting another team together. But what if he isn’t or is unable to? Deep down they can’t get rid of this sickening feeling that something is going to go wrong again while they wait to find out. They are not alone here and it’s blatantly obvious.

“Two hours…” The others, shaken from their inner thoughts, turned their attention to Hana. “If Winston did put together another team it would be at least two hours till some help shows up, maybe more – if at all. That’s how long it took us to get here.” D.Va sat on the far left side of the table. The wall next to her was made almost completely of windowpane glass and through it, from high up on the mountain, a vast field of grass – which was once a battlefield – can be seen below. The tall, futuristic towers in the city of Stuttgart can be seen far off in the distance.

She had her left elbow on the table with her cheek resting on the knuckles of her balled up fist. Her head was tilted to the right looking in the direction of the others, including the spot between herself and Mercy where Tracer was previously seated. A puff of air passed her lips, causing some stray hairs to fly up and out of her face. She was clearly annoyed with the unfortunate circumstances.

No one wanted to say it aloud but she had a valid point; help might not actually be on its way despite their hopes and certainties.

Or at the very least it will be delayed… They have quite a while to wait.

Anything can happen within the time frame of two hours, they all know that, so they need to be prepared and treat the situation as if they’re on their own. There is no time to wait any longer, Cassidy and Ray might be running out of time.

Reinhardt, still standing at the end of the table with his hammer by his side, shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to decide what the best course of action is before handing out orders. As far as he’s concerned, the mission is no longer an information gathering one, instead, it’s a ‘rescue and GTFO’ mission. But part of him still wants to go forth with it to an extent, if only for the fact it would be a complete waste if they left so soon. He doesn’t want to abort with no new information other than the knowledge that their aircraft got blown up by an unidentified attacker. That definitely wouldn’t help their cause and it sure as hell wouldn’t do Cassidy and Ray any justice.

With that thought in mind he decides to do both: rescue the MIA agents and possibly delve deeper into the castle – hopefully to find what they came for… or not ‘cause that would actually be bad if their suspicions proved to be correct. But regardless, they really do need some answers. Who or what attacked them?

Rein finally spoke after a minute of thought, bringing up his left leg to set his armored foot onto the head of his rocket hammer. “Since we lost contact with Cassidy and Ray we have no idea what sort of state they are in. I believe our first priority is to search for and recover them, assess the damages, and bring them back here to the tavern.” He then made a small gesture with his right hand, referring to the current building they’re in. “We can consider this to be our base of operations.”

Everyone looked amongst themselves, nodding their heads in agreement. The old brewery will be their garrison and the first step to their new mission is to rescue their missing friends.

“You two need to start heading to the crash site. Can you do that?” The ex-Crusader looked back and forth between the two agents in question.

A glint of uncertainty flashed in Angela’s eyes again. But mind you, this isn’t because she doesn’t want to find out what kind of condition her friends are in – she is worried as all hell and everyone can agree that the situation is horrible. But with all these red flags showing themselves it’s most likely not the end of it – nowhere close. You can’t blame her for getting a bad feeling.

Pharah nodded her head, confirming that she’s ready. Mercy just sighed and moved to stand at the same time her teammate did. “We don’t have much of a choice now, so yes.” Once on her feet, she picked up her staff which was leaning against the end of the table in front of Reinhardt.

“We should all put these back in, huh?” Pharah held up her communication device, which everyone had taken out earlier due to the unbearable feedback it produced. She placed it back into her ear, glad that the noise was no longer present.

The other 4 agents did the same, all of whom inwardly thanked their devices for the silence.

Does the absence of static mean their earpieces are broken or did they simply just shut up and start working again? But, well, If they’re functioning normally they probably would’ve gotten an earful from the worried scientist by now. So what gives?

With the device in her ear, Pharah re-equipped her helmet and picked up her rocket launcher. “We can go out that side door over there.” She pointed in the direction of the main entrance doors but more to the left of the building. “That will probably lead us to where we want to go.”

Her voice came in through their com-links sounding clear as day, devoid of any feedback. Their closed network of communications appears to still be intact. That’s good, maybe they aren’t as shut out as originally believed. But that raises suspicion – and a question – how come they can talk to each other but not to Winston?

“Okay, let’s get moving.” Mercy walked around to the other side of the table behind Reinhardt to meet up with Pharah, who was already walking towards the door she was pointing at a moment ago.

They approached the exit and opened the door, Pharah went out first and Mercy was about to follow as well, that is, until she stopped and turned to the other agents still gathered at the table.

“I don’t know what you three plan on doing while we go find the guys but… be careful, alright?” She looked at each of them before setting her eyes on Rein specifically. “And you,” she pointed at him. “Don’t do anything stupid.” She sounded serious but the smile that she made afterwards proved she was only teasing.

“Wouldn't dream of it! Haha!” He laughed full heartedly. “Let us know what you find when you get there.”

Mercy only nodded her head before turning back around to leave, closing the door as she went.

On the other side, at the top of the stairs leading down the cliffside alley, she found Pharah looking into the distance. She wasn't just admiring the view, she was looking at something – her facial expression a mixture of uncertainty and… fear?

Before Mercy could see what it was for herself, Pharah turned to speak to her. “I hate to ask but…” she then looked back towards the cliff and pointed in the direction of the forest. “You think that’s what shot down our ship?”

There, sitting just within the treeline, is a colossal sized spider tank. Thankfully, it wasn’t moving or anything. But since their satellite readings had shown that the B73s have been mobile, what says that the other units don’t share that same capability? Maybe they would be jumping to conclusions for having such a thought. But maybe not, it’s a justifiable assumption. Let’s just hope that it isn't true.

“Oh mein Gott!” Angela exclaimed once her eyes finally landed on the monstrous quadrupedal Omnic. “I hope not. We’re incredibly unprepared for this if so...”

They stood and stared at it for a moment longer, watching it intently to see if it dared to move – it didn't. Now feeling a little tense, both looked at each other and silently agreed that it’s time to move out. Cassidy and Ray shouldn’t have to wait any longer.

Mercy looked over to her right; gray smoke was billowing up from behind a group of buildings next to them. Judging by how small the trail of rising smoke looked, it must be quite a distance away rather than simply being on the other side.

“Over there,” she said as she pointed in its direction. “It looks like it’s getting lighter, maybe there isn't a fire anymore.” Her voice sounded hopeful.

“Maybe. Let’s go find out,” said Pharah skeptically, but still mirroring Angela’s hopefulness as she initiated the boosters on her Raptora suit before heading towards the smoke trail. Mercy spread her wings and took off as well, flying in close proximity.

After Mercy and Pharah left through the building’s side door, Reinhardt picked up his hammer and turned around, heading to the front entrance without saying a word. Hana lifted her head from her hand and looked behind herself at Tracer. They both gave the other a quizzical look before glancing back at the ex-Crusader, wondering what he’s doing.

“Uhm… hey big guy, where ya goin’? Lena called out to Rein, watching him walk away.

He kept moving forward but turned his head to the right, the view of Tracer and D.Va in the corner of his eye. “I’m going to go take a look around and… hmm, maybe stop by the bakery to get a coffee.” He chuckled aloud and kept moving. Soon enough, he disappeared around the corner right before the main double doors, vanishing from the girls’ sight. Their utter confusion was increased by tenfold as the faint echo of the doors opening and closing could be heard.

Did he seriously just leave?

Their eyes shifted to each other once again – furrowed eyebrows and little ‘o’ shaped mouths were new additions to the previous look.

“Wha–?” Hana quickly got up from her seat. “Rein?!”

“Oi, wait a minute!?”

They both started sprinting after him ‘cause honestly where the hell is he going?

Halfway across the room, Hana skid to a halt like some fast moving cartoon character before doing a one-eighty back in the opposite direction. Lena, who was following from directly behind, blinked to the side with a yelp.

“Hana, what are ya–?” She questioned with a slightly startled voice from nearly trampling over the other girl. She cut off her own question, however, when she turned around and watched the gamer swiftly approach her MEKA unit and jump in.

D.Va flipped a couple switches on its overhead control panel. The unit buzzed to life with the sound of mechanical whirring and some retro game-like beeps. The LED lights around the fusion cannons and jet boosters turned its signature pale green color. On the bulletproof glass shield popped up multiple diagnostic images and data numbers of the same color before fading away once the system was fully online.

“If he’s leaving to go check out what’s happening at the castle, we better go with him,” D.Va finally responded as she began stomping her way back over to Tracer. “And there’s no way I’m going out there without 토끼.” She then tapped at the torso compartment of her MEKA as if she were giving a good dog a pat on the head. It made light metallic banging sounds as she did so.

Lena just laughed and shook her head as she followed D.Va across the other half of the giant room. “Where do ya think he went?”

“Uhm, the bakery?” She said, sounding out her reply with a playful ‘duh, idiot’ type of tone. That's where he said he was going at least. “Wherever that may be…” she then mumbled.

Tracer scoffed at that response and then blinked ahead before turning around, now walking backwards as she looked at Hana through the glass of her mech. “You really think he was serious about that coffee?”

“I dunno… maybe? Well, at least not the coffee part. I doubt he’d find an espresso machine that actually works in there, let alone some ingredients.”

“This town was evacuated on short notice, I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to find some dusty ol’ bag of coffee beans lyin’ around in there.” Lena moved to face forward again so she could round the corner towards the main entrance. “How old would it be anyway, like… over thirty years?” She then grimaced with a laugh upon imagining how rancid it would be.

“Yeah, that wouldn’t taste good,” Hana lightly chuckled before going serious. “Ready to go find him?”

Tracer nodded her head in a confirmatory manner as she stepped back away from the doors, letting D.Va get in front of her. She pushed the double doors open with the barrels of her fusion cannons and stepped outside. Tracer wasn’t too far behind, her duel pulse pistols at the ready.

The first thing they were greeted with upon exiting the tavern was a simple, regular sized spider tank. Although it’s the normal size, it’s still fairly large; bigger than D.Va’s mech and Reinhardt combined. It’s lying on its side next to a crater, presumably the location of its landing zone all those years ago. It seems to be unresponsive to their presence.

Then, the two quickly began to notice all the inactive, moss covered B73s that surrounded them. Some were off to the sides just sitting or lying across the ground or up against the buildings. A few others were scattered about in oddball places such as hanging halfway off a roof or being crushed underneath a hover-car. Most of them appear to be suffering a form of dismemberment – a detached leg or an arm-gun lying beside them. Hell, even one of them is decapitated. How did this happen? Where is its head?

All of the brick buildings in the area are absolutely covered with bullet holes and a couple of them have collapsed roofs. Piles of loose debris and rotting wooden planks litter the ground along the edges of the main pathway. Aside from the walls looking like Swiss cheese, It’s hard to tell if this happened due to the battle or from the structures just being old and weathered. Perhaps it's a mixture of both.

“Ya think that might be the bakery Rein was talkin’ about?” Tracer loudly whispered from her spot next to D.Va, flicking the barrel of one of her guns in the direction of a building up ahead.

In front of D.Va and Tracer – around the spider tank and down the street – is a building with a post sticking out of the wall, a red and yellow sign with dark green trim attached to it underneath. It's shocking to see the sign still intact after all that had happened there. You’d think it would’ve gotten blown into oblivion, but there it still stands, simply reading 'Gütebäckerei' in white lettering with what looks to be an upside-down pretzel design above the name.

They both started making their way towards it and as they got closer they saw just how wrecked the structure actually is. It’s one of the buildings that has a giant hole through the middle of it – rubble and wood gathered messily on the inside. Now it’s an even bigger mystery as to how in the world that bakery sign still exists. Though, without the sign and the damn pretzel looking thing on it they wouldn’t have thought it was the bakery at first glance. Probably not, anyways.

Amazing. Ten out of ten. Pretzel design for the win.

Now they just gotta hope the German man they’re looking for is hanging around in there… hopefully not making a thirty-plus year-old death concoction.

Tracer ran ahead and blinked inside, getting past the bricks and planks that are piled in front of the doorway. “Hey Reinhardt, ya in here?” She questioned the room and received no answer. She looked around with a sigh, semi-agitated with the fact that he is nowhere to be found. The first thing her eyes landed on was a B73 lying on its side up against the front of the cashier counter. A large, single wooden beam laid on top of the fallen Omnic.

“Kikerikiii~!”

Lena spun around so fast at the noise she nearly tripped over her own feet. D.Va was found standing inside the bakery just past the doorway. The top half of her mech was rotated slightly, allowing her to stare at something on the left wall. Was it Hana who made that sound? Lena couldn’t tell. She was about to start looking around in confusion, but before she could do that, the other agent spoke up.

“Aww,” Hana pointed at the bottom right corner of a wall-mounted blackboard. Her voice cracked, and so did a smile – two things she was obviously trying to hide. “Look at the chicken.”

The way she was acting confirmed it for her; D.Va is the culprit.

“Hana, whyyyy...” Lena sounded so exasperated, almost like she was sick of her shit. That is, until she started laughing along with the bubbly MEKA pilot.

“Just checking to see if you’re still awake,” Hana stated in a casual manner, light chuckles still slipping from her lips. “Maybe you’re the one who needs a cappuccino.”

Lena sighed wantingly, “don’t even joke about that.” She quivered her lower lip for added effect, earning a snort from the gamer. A boost of energy really does sound amazing at this point in time.

Tracer then walked over to her friend, wanting to examine the crooked board that D.Va stood next to. It appeared to be a menu – in German, of course – that listed off all the treats and their flavors that the shop used to provide to customers. It also has some cute little doodles on it, one of which being a rooster with ‘kikerikiii’ next to it. Lena soon realized that must have been what Hana was mimicking.

A chalkboard menu, some pastry racks, coffee pots, an oven – all of which are things that prove they were correct about it being the bakery. But in that case, where is Reinhardt? Shouldn’t he be here?

Before anything else could be said or done, the sound of rubble shifting and rolling across brick and wooden flooring caused both agents to quickly turn towards the sound. Or, more rather, D.Va turned towards the sound and Lena swiftly leapt behind the old, dusty countertop. She then popped her head up with her pistols drawn, aiming towards the other entry door in the shop.

“Aahhh, there you are my friends!” Boomed Reinhardt as he walked down the steps and through the doorway, crushing some already broken stones beneath his feet.

Impeccable timing.

“Where the heck did you run off to? Ya nearly gave me a bloody heart attack!” Tracer complained as she stepped out from behind cover, holstering her pistols into the compartments on her forearms as she did so. She didn’t need to put a hand to her heart to know that it was pounding.

“Damn, Lena, you’re awfully jumpy today,” Hana teased, a little smirk barely visible on her features.

“Oh, shush…” Lena half scoffed, half chuckled.

D.Va then turned back to their ex-Crusader friend, wanting some answers for his disappearance. “Why did you leave the tavern in such a hurry?” She paused for a brief moment before adding, “you shouldn’t have gone out alone.”

“Alone? I didn't go alo–“ Seeing their tight lipped, eyebrow raised, ‘uh-huh, sure’ expressions, he cut himself short and changed his explanation. “Okay, maybe I did– BUT you two caught up rather quickly. I wasn’t out here all by my lonesome for long, now, was I?”

“Angela was right,” Tracer pointed at him with an accusatory finger, similar to the way Mercy did earlier. “You’re trouble.”

A moment of silence filled the room before the German man softly spoke from under his helmet. “You can’t see it, but I’m frowning.”

D.Va and Tracer both giggled from how innocent he sounded. The fact that they really can’t see his facial expression only adds to the humor. For all they know, he’s actually sticking his tongue out at them and they wouldn’t even know it.

He’s only being playful at this point but of course he’ll give them an answer to his true whereabouts. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out as their conversation got interrupted.

Light crackling noises came in through the trio’s ear pieces and Mercy’s voice replaced it soon after. “Tracer, D.Va, Rein? Can you guys hear me?”

“Yeah, we can hear ya. What is it, luv?” Tracer responded immediately.

“Oh good,” Angela sighed with relief. “The comms still work.”

After she spoke, the sound of a fire extinguisher being used in the background became more apparent. Her sigh, along with the loud spraying of foam, made the other three agents worry. Did Pharah and Mercy arrive at a disaster scene?

“Are you guys okay? Did you find them? Are they okay?” D.Va began with some concern, asking the questions that her and the other two agents around her wanted to know.

“Fareeha and I are okay, yes,” she reassured the other half of her team. “And we did find them.“

“In what condition?” Reinhardt then asked, dreading the possibility of bad news.

“They, too, are just fine. They’re shaken up with some bruises and minor lacerations and Cassidy broke his arm, but all in all, they are okay.” She talked so nonchalantly it threw everyone off with that final medical statement.

That escalated quickly.

“What!? A broken arm? How is that ‘okay’?!” Came Rein’s outcry, which scared everyone, making Tracer and D.Va physically tense up.

That outburst greatly confused the medic. “What..?” Then it hit her; she understood now. “Oh... OH! No, no, no. His cybernetic arm is broken, not…” She trailed off, not even wanting to say it.

Little ‘oh’s and ‘thank goodness’s were mumbled out quietly amongst the relieved agents. If you listened closely, you could hear laughter in the background on Mercy’s end of the line. It was both Cassidy and Pharah laughing their asses off because they knew how awful it sounded with the way Angela put it. But, of course, they knew it didn’t mean what it sounded like it meant, which made it so much funnier to them.

“Stop laughin’ ya guys and get in the comms,” Lena requested, knowing that they could hear her.

“Cassidy lost his earpiece in the crash, so he won’t be joining us here,” Pharah finally spoke into her communication device, lowkey still coming down from her laughing fit.

Mercy then jumped in with a question for her other teammates. “Did you guys find or see anything after we left? Did you even leave the tavern?”

”Hmm… aah yes, I was just about to inform the girls of something I saw. But that was cut short when you got our attention,” Reinhardt said before continuing with a grateful tone to his voice, “which saved me the trouble of needing to repeat it to you guys, so that’s nice–”

“You saw something?” Pharah questioned with interest, cutting off the man’s ranting session.

“What was– wait…” Mercy began her own question before stopping herself abruptly, and instead, asked a different one. “You have to tell them too?”

Uh-oh, busted.

“You wandered off alone?! Reinhardt!” She sounded like an angry mother.

D.Va and Tracer just stood awkwardly in the bakery looking back and forth between each other and him – both equally thinking the same thing. He saw something?

“Well, not exactly–”

“Yes, exactly” and “he did” was said simultaneously by Tracer and D.Va. This caused Reinhardt to silently turn to them with such emotion. They were able to read the face of his expressionless helmet, which pretty much whined and asked ‘how could you betray me?’ It wasn't in a serious sort of way though; it felt as if they were siblings who tattled on him to their mother about something completely dumb and unimportant.

“What did I tell you?” Referring back to her indelible accusatory finger and ‘don’t be stupid’ remark. She scoffed, even though a smile shined across her face. “Reckless as ever… but then again, you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t, huh?”

“Ya got that right,” Tracer blurted out, earning a laugh from the other 4 agents (and Ray) who were able to listen in on the conversation.

Suddenly, Cassidy could be heard very quietly over Pharah’s comm. It sounded like he said, ‘what the?’ but then he got louder and shouted “Oh hey! There ya are, ya little…” before cutting himself off.

The next thing D.Va, Tracer, and Reinhardt hear is Cassidy in the comms as he spoke triumphantly. “I found it!” He chuckled. “What’d I miss?”

“How did you manage? Where was it?” Pharah asked incredulously, probably giving him a stare that’s equally disbelieving.

“Here I was, for the longest time, thinkin’ it got sucked out the door of the darn ship. But this whole time it was just chillin’ inside the neck of my pancho.” He sounded so happy it was comical.

“Okay, we are getting off track here,” Mercy stated with authority but shined an apologetic smile to Cassidy for killing his moment so quickly. “What did you see, Reinhardt?”

The German man in question walked past the two girls and out the door that they entered through previously. They turned, watching him as he left with curiosity.

Where is he going now?

D.Va and Tracer then followed, finding him walking back down the main path towards the brewery.

A sigh filled with uncertainty passed Reinhardt’s lips. “A figure, I think, rounded the corner and through a side passage near the castle portcullis gate,” he began to explain. “All I saw was movement in the corner of my eye; I’m still questioning if something was actually there or not...”

That beginning statement alone caused the others to become slightly disconcerted. This was the first time – other than the rocket assault – that they’ve received potential evidence that something’s here with them. But even so, they still don’t fully know what it is that they’re going to come across. Rein wasn’t able to identify it after all.

Of course they have their satellite scans and readings to refer to, but how much information does that really give them? Not much. If anything, this is all just educated guesswork and they’re only here to confirm.

Look how well that turned out.

“Where are you guys?” Pharah asked them, the tone of her voice somewhat portraying the unease that everyone is feeling.

“We were at the bakery down the road but we’re just now re-entering the tavern,” D.Va spoke up as they walked around the overturned spider tank that’s lying in front of their destination.

Rein opened the front doors and went inside first, D.Va was next. Tracer lagged behind as she took one last glance over her shoulder – looking for any changes in the street. Finding none, she began to turn away, but something quickly grabbed her attention, making her stop and look up.

She got flashed by a little glint of sunlight as it briefly reflected off one of the three windows at the top of the tall, skinny tower that stands in the center of town. The structure looms high above the rest, and for a moment, Lena began to wonder how beautiful the view would be from up there. But then another thought came just as quick.

Is someone watchin’ us?

“Okay, good, just stay there,” Pharah insisted through the comms. “In a few minutes we should be able to start heading back.”

Tracer heard Reinhardt form a response to Pharah but she wasn’t paying attention. Her focus was set on the tower and the observation of its windows. She was looking for something: a shadow from within or another flicker of light. Nothing. Maybe she is just being paranoid and the glint happened only because of where she stood in comparison to the window and the angle of the sun’s light on it.

That’s plausible, right? It has to be.

“I’m almost done patching up Ray and then we’ll start walking. I have no idea how much time that will take, though…” Mercy said with a sigh, thinking about the long trek that’s ahead of them. “Hopefully not too long.”

Regardless, her operative instincts tell her otherwise. They are on a mission – one of which isn’t going so smoothly. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if that paranoia turned out to be correct. Unsure what to think, Lena took one last look at the middle window before heading back inside.

“No worries, luv. We’ll be here when ya get here,” Tracer rejoined the comms and reassured the medic, ending the conversation as she turned the corner and finally stepped into the main part of the building.

She watched as Reinhardt set his hammer down against the bar table before taking a seat on one of the stools, his body facing away from the counter. He then leaned back against the table’s edge to rest.

“Looks like we’ll be here for a while,” Rein said with a tired grunt, crossing his arms – as much as his armored suit would allow – and slightly tilting his head to the side. “May as well sit and relax for a moment.”

Agreeing, and deciding to leave him alone, Tracer shifted her attention to D.Va. She was sitting at the same old wooden table from earlier near the window. At some point she had discarded her mech, leaving it to stand at the foot of the stairs in front of the other nearby table. Lena started walking over to the gamer and as she got closer she realized that Hana had her phone out and was looking at it.

“Talkin’ to your girlfriend?” Lena snickered playfully, and then full on laughed as the younger girl put her phone face down on the table top before looking up to glare daggers at her.

“I was hoping you’d forget about that,” Hana began, a light smile forming despite the oncoming sense of embarrassment. “But of course you wouldn’t, especially since it’s a chance for you to poke fun at me.”

Tracer sat down beside her friend, swinging her legs underneath the table as she released a fake gasp of shock. “Make fun of ya? Gosh, I’d never do that.” She then smirked before continuing, “ya do make it easy sometimes, though.” She lightly elbowed Hana in the arm. “And this is one of those times that’s hard to pass up.”

Hana just simply hummed and picked up her phone. “I wasn’t messaging her. I was thinking about it though since we have some down time but...” She paused. “I should just wait till after the mission; I don’t need any distractions.” She put the phone down again, resisting the urge to send a text to her not-so-secret friend.

Hana looked over to Lena, only to find the goofy Brit shimmying her shoulders with a smile, wiggling her eyebrows a few times.

“Len– OMG, stop,” Hana sputtered sheepishly, draping her arm across the table and burying her face in her inner elbow, trying to hide the blush that’s probably there.

“As I recall, ya have some explainin’ to do and a story to finish,” Lena said as she nudged the other girl’s shoulder with her own. She was referring back to their little interrogation chat that they had on the plane before their arrival.

“Isaidnodistractions!” She repeated quickly with a hiss, snapping her head up to glower at her friend, her cheeks a little red.

The sudden movement caused Lena to jump a little and burst into laughter, which Hana joined in. At least the comical relief is able to mask her discomfiture.

With a barely visible smile still playing on her lips, Tracer looked over to her right to see how Rein is doing. He was just sitting at the bar table – same spot and position – possibly asleep.

As she panned her eyes across the room, her focus landed on a smashed table near the center. Something felt off about it but she couldn’t figure out why for a good few seconds.

But then she remembered.

Oh no…

“You know what?” Hana spoke in thought. “I think I’ll actually message them and say hello.” She picked up her phone again for the second time and went into her messenger app.

Tracer wasn’t listening in the slightest as her smile quickly vanished and turned into an open mouthed frown. She then sat up straight and threw her right leg over the bench to straddle it. This allowed her to get a better look at the mangled table before carefully looking around the room.

Hana – looking down at her phone – continued speaking, not realizing that Lena wasn’t paying attention. “What do you think I should say? Just a simple ‘hi’ or maybe–” She stopped mid-rant as she lifted her head up, finally noticing Tracer’s odd behavior.

“What’s wrong?” D.Va apprehensively questioned her, glancing around the room trying to see what Tracer was looking at or looking for.

She then shifted on the bench, trying to get a clearer view of Lena’s face so she could track her line of sight – which is hard to do since her back is turned towards her. But she tries nonetheless, throwing both her legs over to the other side of the table’s connective bench.

“What are we looking at here?” D.Va asked, leaning forward to rest her elbows and forearms against her thighs as she looked at her friend quizzically.

“Wasn’t there...? Uhm,” Lena trailed off as she pointed at something in the room. Hana followed her finger with her eyes, leading her to the broken table and messed up flooring near the center of the room.

It’s a crater – an indentation to the building's interior – and it was empty.

It’s empty.

Upon realizing what was missing, Hana straightened her posture and looked intensely at the spot where a B73 used to be before standing up off the bench.

Tracer did the same thing before quickly taking a few steps in Reinhardt’s direction. “Rein?! Wake up, somethin’s wro–“

The sound of mechanical pieces rotating followed by a hydraulic hiss caused both girls to freeze in place, making Lena stop mid-sentence. It also helped gain Reinhardt’s attention, who quickly sat up and got on his feet before arming himself with his rocket hammer.

Subsequently, the same two noises were heard again but a loud stomp was added at the end. It was then followed up by yet another set of compressed hissing and consecutive thuds. It sounded like walking and it was coming from the upstairs, indoor balcony.

Rein tilted his head upwards at the mezzanine above him and then back down again to give a questioning look to the other two agents. They both stood on the opposite side of the room looking rigid, silently gesturing towards the vacant space where the B73 was previously lying ‘deactivated’.

Reinhardt quickly connected the dots and lightly shook his head, now understanding what it was they were dealing with.

From their spot, Hana and Lena should be able to see what’s above him. In fact, they're both scanning their eyes across the wooden fence-like railings, looking for movement. But based on their expressions, he’s guessing that they don’t see anything… at least not yet.

This is bad…

They hear it, but they don’t see it. What do they do? Stay put and hope it goes away or risk moving into a defensive position and have it become aware of their presence – if it wasn’t already?

Hiss… stomp

Hiss… stomp

This is so nerve wracking, Hana thought to herself. She peeled her eyes away from the balcony ledge and glanced down at Rein and then to her left at Tracer. In doing so, she realized just how vulnerable of a position Lena and her were in compared to Reinhardt. They’re out in the open while he’s directly underneath where the noises are coming from. He’d be the last of them to get noticed, which doesn't make it any better seeing how he’s also the most armor protected agent in the room. Can’t they just switch places? I mean, he has a shield…

‘Shield’… wait a minute. Defense matrix!

She looked to her right, seeing that her MEKA was still standing at the foot of the stairs where she had left it. I need to get to my mech. She stared at it and inwardly grimaced, finding the distance between it and her to be rather undesirable. It’s so close… yet so damn far. Does she dare make a move for it?

She glanced back up at the mezzanine once more and then carefully lifted her right foot to begin the slow – and hopefully quiet – shuffle towards her MEKA unit. Before she could even take that first step, however, she felt a hand quickly grab her left arm. She turned her head in response and found Tracer staring at her, mouthing the words ‘what are you doing?’

D.Va, with her foot still raised, just pointed at her mech with her thumb. It should be obvious as to where she’s going. Tracer nodded her head before pointing at herself and then to Reinhardt, signaling that she’s going to sneak over to him while D.Va goes for her MEKA.

The Korean nodded her head at that and finally set her foot down, taking her first step forward.

cREAK~

Tracer, who didn’t even have the time to think about taking one step, whipped her head back around to D.Va with wide eyes. Hana was cringing heavily, silently cursing the floorboards beneath her for its outcry.

So much for being undetected.

Before anything else could happen, two loud and high pitched alarm-like bleeps sounded out from above.

Blee-bleep

This was then followed up by aggressive servo motor rotations and more hydraulic hissing and clanking. This was something that Reinhardt was all too familiar with.

“RUN!” He shouted at them, the deafening sound of gatling gunfire coming milliseconds later.

Bullets rained down upon them, easily shredding through the mezzanine and wooden floorboards below. It was like a ‘deer in the headlights' type of moment for the girls. It happened faster than anyone could react – faster than Tracer could blink away. The trail of bullets bee-lined up, leaving a trail of destruction as it rushed straight for Lena.

D.Va ran towards her MEKA and dived, doing a barrel roll to hide behind it. Once there, she covered her head with her arms and frantically looked back to where she was previously standing, wanting to figure out where Lena had gone.

Tracer couldn’t move – she didn’t have enough reaction time – before a sharp pain flew through her foot, and then her leg, and then her other leg. The first shot nearly made her collapse as she shouted in agony, stumbling backwards.

Hana watched this unfold with sheer horror, her scream going unheard, “LENA!”

Before it could get any worse, a bright blue light suddenly flashed from her chronal accelerator, swirling around it before enveloping her whole body. She seemed to, quite literally, fall in reverse as all her previous actions from only a moment ago were rewound like a film. The bullets that had pierced her body started to fly backwards, spiraling out from the floorboards and back through the holes in her legs. The blood that she had shed reversed its splattered trajectory, going back to the source. The wounds closed and the tears in her leggings were repatched. This all happened within a blink of an eye, nearly too fast to observe.

At the end of it, the time that she had reversed was now resumed as she blinked away, dodging the three bullets that went through the ground for a second time. She vaulted herself over the old wooden table and blinked to the brick wall, the assault of bullets shattering the windows as it followed her. She dived behind the brewery tank farthest from their assailant, covering her head with her arms just like D.Va was doing.

Speaking of which, she looked over to the gamer, locking eyes with her through a sight line underneath the table. Both looked relieved, seeing that the other was alright.

D.Va was about to make a move to get inside her mech, but as she got close to its hatch a bullet ricocheted off its pink metal, leaving behind a little dent as it chipped off some paint. It did this in many places as the Omnic blindly sprayed down upon them.

Where the hell is Reinhardt?!

It’s not like she could take a peek around the leg of her mech and find out. She’d get her head blown off if she tried. It’s too risky to move and now she’s stuck – being forced to sit behind her mech rather than in it.

Yup, this is really bad.

Ray’s wounds have been patched and the majority of the plane fire has been extinguished. About three minutes after getting off the comms with the others, they got up and left the crash site, beginning their long journey back up the mountain. D.Va, Reinhardt and Tracer await their arrival inside the tavern.

During their walk, the chatter between the four was nonexistent. All of them were silent as their thoughts clouded just about everything around them other than their sense of direction. Just a lot of walking and no discussion about, well, anything.

That was, until Cassidy decided to suddenly start talking.

“How did we get here?” He questioned, probably thinking aloud more than actually asking someone specifically.

“By aircraft,” Pharah said with a straight face. She’s walking to the left of Mercy, who seemed to get a kick out of that response.

“‘Cause no– HEY, shut up,” he retaliated with a huff. That wasn’t what he meant.

A quiet ‘what, you asked,’ could be heard from the Egyptian woman ahead of him, slightly amused.

He lightly scoffed at that before continuing, restarting his thought with emphasis at the beginning. “‘Cause none of us would’ve thought this mission would go south as fast as it did.” He paused for a moment, putting the handle of a screwdriver in his mouth so he could take a wrench out of his right back pocket.

He used it to tighten two little bolts on his cybernetic arm before repocketing it, removing the flathead to speak. “This was only supposed to be a scoutin’ mission to see what was happenin’,” he stated to the group, reiterating what was already known. “But now our plane was shot out of the sky and we can’t get a hold of Winston. It makes ya wonder what the hell went wrong.”

His cybernetic arm wasn’t as bad as they thought, it just came apart in a few places rather than actually breaking. So now, as they walked back to the tavern, Cassidy worked on tightening loose bolts and screws and replacing the ones that came out and were lost.

The end of his talk was met with ten seconds of silence before he spoke up again. “No really, what do ya reckon?” Cassidy asked, wanting to know what the others think happened.

“I’m not sure,” Mercy answered first, pausing for a quick moment to think. “But it definitely wasn’t something that we were ready for.”

He looked expectantly at the other two, who only shrugged in response. It went quiet again as everyone got caught within their own minds… still walking.

At least the view is great.

“Do we even have a plan for when we reach the brewery tavern?” Ray then asked the group, breaking the silence once more.

Will they leave or stay? Will they come back more prepared or stick to the mission – whatever that may be at this point?

What should they do? It’s hard to say.

“Other than to simply get there?” Pharah responded, slightly turning her head to the side so she could see him. “Unfortunately, no.”

“We haven’t gotten that far just yet,” Mercy added, finishing that thought, “We’ll come up with something once we get back to the group.”

Ray nodded his head in understanding and looked up at the castle through the trees. The sight really is beautiful, but wow they still have a long way to go.

“How much longer ya think?” Cassidy exhaled, sounding fatigued.

Pharah completely turned her head to the right and Mercy to the left, both giving him a disapproving side-glare, raising an eyebrow. Even Ray was giving him a look, though his was filled with amusement rather than annoyance.

“We haven’t even been walking for ten minutes and you're alr–“ Pharah started with a deadpan tone, thinking that he was asking the childish backseat question: ‘are we there yet?’ But before she could finish, she was cut short by the insistent cowboy.

“Darlin’, no, that wasn’t what I–“ A chuckle passed his lips, making him stop and restart his sentence. “I meant about the rescue team… ya think Winston sent some people?”

“It may be too soon to tell,” Mercy began with a sigh. “We arrived here around 09:56 and now it’s–” She took out her holo-pad and viewed the current time stamp in the top corner of the device. “14:19...” She sounded surprised by that reveal, having believed it was somewhere around 12:00.

“So we’ve been here for four hours? Backup should’ve been here by now if that’s the case,” the cowboy spoke, a little pout escaping him as he looked up at the sky, almost expecting to see an Overwatch aircraft fly into view any second. But no.

Pharah, who was carrying her rocket launcher with both hands, let go of it with her left so she could take out her own gadget. “That… doesn’t sound right to me,” she mused aloud before finally laying her eyes on the time. The information she was given only puzzled her even more as she made a face at the device.

Mercy caught sight of Pharah’s expression and questioned her about it, “what’s that look for?” As they were still walking, she side-stepped closer to Fareeha and glanced down at the holo-pad in her hand. She then made her own facial expression at what she saw.

“What’s goin’ on?” Cassidy asked, looking down from the sky and noticing the behavior of the two ladies in front of him.

Mercy then turned to look at Cassidy and Ray. “What time does it say for you guys?”

Without questioning her, both men shoved their hands inside their pockets and pulled out their gadgets, reading the time off them simultaneously.

“03:04…” Came Ray’s answer, who instantly understood what the problem was.

“18:07– hUH?!” Cassidy read aloud the time normally before making a noise of confusion, realizing what it was he was saying. “Now wait a minute... It’s not six at night!”

Cassidy then looked up from his seemingly broken device and stared at Pharah and Mercy. The former simply lifted up hers for him to see as she responded with, “mine says 04:08.”

Something is definitely messing with us, they all thought.

Before they could start sharing theories as to why all of their clocks were wrong, a faint yet aggressive noise made them stay silent – listening.

It sounded like a woodpecker was going ham on a tree somewhere off in the distance. But they knew better, it’s gunfire, and they could easily guess where it’s coming from.

Everyone came to a stop along the path and instinctively shifted their eyes to the mountaintop – acting as if they’d be able to see something from this far away.

“Reinhardt, come in!” Pharah put her hand up to her helmet, enabling the communication link before anyone else could first. “Tracer? D.Va?” She questioned with some persistence, getting nothing in return. She was met only with silence and the occasional crackle through the feed.

Exhaling sharply, she firmly gripped her launcher and moved a couple paces away from the others. “Something’s wrong, I need to get up there,” she said, igniting the jet wings on her Raptora suit. “You guys keep walking, I’ll let you know what I find.”

Before she could take off, a hand on her armored bicep pulled her back and spun her around. She was now looking at the face of a very determined Angela.

“We don’t know what’s happening up there; do you really think that I’m going to let you go alone?” Mercy spoke to her with fire in her eyes. Yup, there’s no persuading her otherwise.

Fareeha sighed reluctantly, disliking the idea of Angela flying with her into a potential fight. But she’s probably right; they might need her help.

“Go, we’ll be fine,” Ray stepped in, trying to usher them away and put an end to their stubborn staring contest. “Go.” He made little shooing motions with his hands.

They both chuckled with tiny smiles, giving in to his request. They really can’t spend any time debating it, the others are in trouble. “Stay close,” Pharah said to the medic, who responded with a quick nod.

As Ray and Cassidy watched them take off for the tavern, they resumed their walk along the forest trail, anxiously waiting for what happens next.