MEKA 6
"It won't budge. It's no use. Go on without me."
Meka 5 pilot grumbled over the radio, and the rest of the Mekas assembled around the broken down machine turned to Meka 1 as if demanding a decision.
"OK, squad, this Meka 1. We move on. Meka 5, dismount and find somewhere safe. Light your beacon and wait till recovered." Kim Jongmin, the pilot of Meka 1 and the squad leader, more famously known in the professional FPS gaming community as 'Ned_Rada', made his decision known.
"HQ, this Meka 1. Emergency reboot didn't work and Meka 5 is out. The rest of the squad is moving on. Please send recovery for Meka 5"
"Meka 1, HQ. Roger. Chopper on way. Resume operation." Colonel Jung's voice crackled over the radio net, and the squad was already back in motion. Song Hana, Meka 6, stayed a bit longer than others to see off Meka 5 pilot. She felt relieved that the squad leader did not order her to dismount and hand her Meka over to Meka 5 pilot.
Still, she was not happy at all.
#
It was bit of a mess back in the HQ, because somebody asked who should be in charge. Normally, Colonel Jung was the Chief in Command for all Meka operations. However, that was for the usual Meka drone operations done through remote control. Now that Omnic had managed to crack the drone network and turned the Meka fleet into its pawn, The Colonel suddenly found himself no bodies to command.
The engineers did tremendous job converting half a dozen Mekas human-pilotable in such a short time, taking out 'unnecessary' parts to make just enough room for a pilot to crawl inside doggy style.
And that's where the chain of command became blur, because the pilots were young men, who had gone through the mandatory military service, some in the Army, some in the Air Force, and some in the Navy...all now in their Reserve status of their respective military branches. The Navy officers backed out, despite protests from the Marines, as soon as the question 'who is in charge now?' was raised. The Air Force backed out, too, because well... it's a land warfare. The real challenge came from the commander of the local Mechanised Infantry division. He insisted that he should be in charge because a manned Meka is a mechanised infantry and the Reserve Activation put some of the pilots under his command.
The dispute went on for hours until the Chief of Joint Staff intervened, effectively assigning Colonel Jung responsible for the wise use, and the life and death, of the new pilots.
Yes, the pilots. Five young men in their twenties having spent several years of military conscription time...who happen to be professional gamers endowed with quick thinking, insane reflexes, and brilliant tactical minds necessary for piloting the cannon shooting bipedal robots. Five professional gamers, who happen to be still young and fresh enough to be in their reserve status….which left one Meka lacking its pilot.
So Song Hana was brought in. The undefeated world champion of Stracraft, THE D. VA, a deity, a ruthless destroyer of her opponents, a rolling destruction machine that left no enemy units standing. Just turned Nineteen and thus legally an adult.
#
And Hana was not happy at all.
The pilot interface was virtually non-existent, and she had to do with post-its plastered over various wires and switches; reading something like 'jump these cables to do this', 'flip this switch for such and such'...and the pain, oh the pain! Every thudding step her Meka made jolted Hana, who was lying on her belly in the middle of a machine where human presence was not designed for. Her ribs and knees were bruised to purple, the Army overall was greasy with lubricants from god knows where, and if it wasn't for the tank-crew helmet she was wearing, she would have suffered concussions dozen times over.
#
Now the squad was silently passing the ruin of yesterday's battle. Bringing up the rear, Hana shivered at the sight of the debris of Meka drones, burning, scattered around the levelled city block. Although the Air Force was not capable of dealing a significant damage to Omnic, it had more than enough firepower to strike and wipe out the hacked Meka drone fleet right here in the western block of Incheon. The drones were stopped here by force, three kilometers east from the sea side of the city where Omnic, having lost its initiative, sat and contemplated the next move. Hana pushed on.
"You guys smell that?" Meka 4 interrupted the silence.
"Yeah what's this? It smells like burnt squid" Hana was curious..
"Look around you. Dead marines. They held off the drones here so the Air Force can burn things down...including themselves."
"Squad, this Meka 1. Shut up." Meka 1 tried to put stop to the chatter, but it was already too late for Hana to unsee what she saw.
#
One more kilometer west and the squad would reach Omnic. The Omnic controlled Meka drones had mowed through this part of the city before being stopped by the Marines and the Air Force. Hana tried not to look at the shot up bodies scattered around, which was getting difficult as the closer she got to the sea side the more bodies not to look at.
Every step sent a thudding vibration through her Meka like a small earthquake, and the vomit literally right in front of, and on, her face spread down her neck, got inside the grease stained overall and squelched around her torso at every motion.
The squad had heard over the radio Hana vomiting all over herself, yet they kept silent. Hana could feel the unspoken 'I told ya.' flying through the air between her squadmates.
The professional gaming world has always been that of men. D. VA and her Starcraft was an exception and the world could live with one exception. However when she was brought in to pilot the sixth Meka, the media went nuts. She was too young. She was too weak. She did not have any military training. You will get this pretty young lady killed. She is a girl!...but oh yeah she kicks ass in Starcraft.
This. Is. Not. A. Game...The message was clear to Hana.
#
"This is a game, Miss Song" said Colonel Jung when he personally came to Hana's flat to invite her for the last Meka pilot position. He sat upright, not touching the blue can of Hot6 Hana offered.
"With the real life consequences, of course, nevertheless still a game." Colonel Jung added.
"How is that so?"
"Games take the abstract elements of the real world and make you juggle them in order to achieve certain goals." The Colonel replied.
"That's why the modern games have become more of lifestyle rather than escape from the reality" , he added. Hypothetically, he argued, if a game had successfully ported the abstract elements of the real world into its mechanic, anyone who excels in that game should also be able to brilliantly handle the same real elements present in the real world. Hence no boundary.
"What is your Starcraft?" Colonel Jung asked.
"Hmm…" Hana had something in her mind, but could not put them into sentences.
"As I see it," the Colonel offered his help. "You assess what you have, take what you can, making split seconds decisions to cover your weak points and exploit your opportunities by maneuvering your units in precise timing and positions. All for the one goal of destroying your opponent."
"Something like that, yes."
"So is the real combat, Miss Song. You just happen to unleash your skills unto Starcraft, that's all."
#
Live or die, you become an icon regardless. Such is the fate of a maiden fighting for her homeland. Hana remembered the Colonel saying. She pushed on riding her Meka, groaning at every painful bump. An Icon, my ass.
"Right. Squad, halt." Meka 1 broke the silence, interrupting Hana's thought. The squad had travelled west and entered the last stretch of the main road. At the end of the road about 200m ahead of the squad stood a wide six story building, a hotel now ruined, blocking the view to the beach, where Omnic was planning its next move.
"HQ, this Meka 1. We in position."
"We see you, Meka 1." HQ replied. Hana looked up and saw swarms of camera drones dotting the smoke filled sky.
"HQ, we thought the drone network was hacked?" Meka 1 also noted the camera drones.
"Only our Meka network. Those are media drones. Sorry about those, but if we force the media to pull out it all becomes too political."
"Any chance they too get hacked and turn against us?" Meka 1 demanded assurance.
"Too small and fragile to do any damages to your Mekas. Also, Omnic doesn't seem to care about those, so no worry."
Meka 1 was sceptical, but there was nothing much he could do about the media attention. On his first day of job, and millions watching, breathing down on his neck...
"Meka 1, HQ here. Proceed whenever you are ready."
"HQ, this Meka 1. Roger and out."
#
The squad again stopped and formed around the leader at the northern corner of the shot up hotel building. Stepping out of the corner meant direct sight of Omnic, and the first manned Meka combat in Korea's history.
They had all studied the first contact report and the media footages. This Omnic was, simply put, a giant robo-spider. From the cigar shaped central body, about the size of a school bus, eight tentacle like metallic legs were drawn out, each measuring roughly a meter thick and 100 meter long. The tentacles acted as spider legs when travelling, but also had dual use as whipping weapons. When in combat, it was seen that Omnic needed at least three of its tentacles for standing support and travel while the rest five did their deadly job. However, analysts predicted that Omnic surely had the option to put the central body down to the ground and commit all eight legs for an attack if needed. This was the reason Hana was brought in as the sixth Meka pilot. Engaging six Mekas simultaneously meant Omnic had to commit at least six of its legs, thus making it immobile. Now with malfunctioning Meka 5 out of the picture, the advantage in mobility was gone and things were down to the remaining five Mekas on the field.
#
Meka 1, Ned_Rada, announced his plan to the squad. Mekas 1 and 2 will go left, 3 and 4 will go right. While avoiding the tentacles, they will try to shoot and destroy as many legs as possible thus regaining the advantage in mobility. After that they will...
"What about me?" Hana stopped her leader mid sentence.
"You stay here."
"What? No way."
There was a brief silence from Meka 1 before he spoke again. He was both concerned and annoyed.
"D. VA, why are you in this? I mean, us guys...I've got things to protect and we've got the fucked up conscription law and shits and it's either this or prison or lose loved ones...but you? What are you doing here?"
"I make my living off games, and I'm making my living off THIS game." Hana spoke through gritted teeth.
"Fuck you"
"Fuck you" D. VA snapped back at her leader.
The hostile silence that followed told Hana she was not going to get any support from her squadmates. She could feel the anger building up inside Meka 1. Kim Jongmin, better known as Ned_Rada, a handle deliberately put together to mock an old retired Starcraft player, earning him the public enemy status from the Starcraft community. He was the top FPS gamer of the season, and revered by the FPS community as a big brother figure. He had recently announced his engagement, but now was leading a bunch of nerds into a real life combat. Hana knew he had at least some sense of duty to his fiancee, to his country, and to his fellow squadmates including herself, and thus had every rights to be angry about her attitude. Then all of sudden, the fuming anger radiating from Meka 1 vanished with a long sigh coming through the radio.
"All right, Meka 6. Go with 3 and 4."
The tone of abandonment seeping through Kim's voice told Hana that he decided not to care any more. She really was on her own in this battle.
D. VA
Mekas 1 and 2 moved down to the southern corner of the building while Hana and her group waited for the go signal. Transmission from the leader to HQ informed the squad to get ready.
"HQ, this Meka 1. Engaging."
"Meka 1. Good luck."
With that the squad moved out. Meka 3 was leading Hana's group, and the moment he turned the corner he was immediately greeted by a meter thick solid metallic tentacle hammering down from above as if it was waiting. To Hana's horror, Meka 3 crumpled like an aluminium can, oozing blood and grease.
"Keep moving, go go go!" Meka 4 jumped over the recently created obstacle and led Hana onto the beach while firing his dual fusion cannons at the tentacle of death.
"This Meka 4. Meka 3 is down."
"Keep moving, keep shooting. Stick to the plan."
#
"How the fuck this happened!" Colonel Jung screamed and jumped up from his chair. It was not directed to anyone in particular, but the anger and the shame filled the room just enough to make everyone keep their heads down.
"We've got shit loads of camera drones in the sky, and twelve fucking TV screens here showing the live footage from above, and nobody! No-fucking-body saw that one coming? We could have warned the boys out there but nobody saw that giant shit moving?!"
Ashamed, everyone pretended to be busy looking very hard at the monitors on the wall, displaying the birdeye view of the four Mekas zapping here and there, firing their dual cannons whenever possible. Nobody dared to speak it out aloud, but it did look like a video game.
#
Hana's attempt to stick close to Meka 4, while dodging the tentacles sweeping and swooping from all sides, was failing miserably. It was impossible to coordinate their maneuver and targets to shoot at, because at any given moment all the units were vectored towards different directions. All the while the rotating barrel fusion cannons mounted on each side of her Meka made deafening noises and shook her body to the bones.
"These tentacles are not falling off!" Meka 4 screamed over the radio.
"Same here. I see some chips and dents, but no real damage." Hana added her observation, jumping over a tentacle that was whipping in from her right. She fired off a volley at Omnic's main body and found it equally non-damaged.
"Aw, crap."
What with there being no proper control console onboard Mekas, the pilots were frantically switching on and off switches, jumping cables here and there, pulling levers and turning valves, all the while looking out for the incoming dangers and firing at the targets of opportunity. What they were doing on the beach, barely surviving, that alone already was beyond the ordinary human capacity.
"Shit! Squad, ball up on me." Meka 1 ordered.
"We gonna concentrate our fire together and kill those things one by one" He added. Seeing her leader Meka 4 moving towards the other side, Hana was shocked to the idea and screamed into her mic.
"No, no! Spread out! Don't ball up!"
"Fuck you. On. Me. Now!" Meka 1 was running out his patience.
"Those things are gonna bundle up! Spread out!" Hana was almost in panic. "Listen to me!"
"Fuck you D. VA! I'm the shooting expert here. You listen to me!" Meka 1 screamed back.
Dodging another incoming tentacle from above, Hana saw Meka 4 reached and joined Mekas 1 and 2.
"Look, we are Goliaths fighting a Lurker. Don't ball up, please!" Hana pleaded, yet she was already on her way to Meka 1 in the hope that maybe he was right. Please let him be right. Please, oh god, please!
Half way to her leader, Hana saw the bundling. Omnic suddenly dropped to the ground and committed all its tentacles, wringing them into one giant bundle of death pointing upwards. Hana froze in place as it began to fall down on her squadmates.
#
HQ let out a collective gasp and then went completely silent as the tentacle bundle squashed the Mekas. Six fusion cannons combined were not enough firepower to shatter the gigantic tree of death falling on their heads. On the TVs, the media pundits who were busy commentating on the battle all went silent. Slowly, but steadily, one by one, the camera drones started focusing on the one remaining Meka.
#
Hana knew she wet herself, but it did not matter now. She was trembling and her heart was pounding.
A display of an unnecessarily excessive force! A strategic maneuver she enjoyed using in her Starcraft games. One smooth crushing deployment that shattered any hope of winning and instilled the sense of despair. Such devastating blow to morals that some of her opponents quit their profession. 'And you play that shit on me!' Her heart was racing. She was not a good loser.
The tentacles suddenly moved, un-wringing themselves thereby releasing the stored tension, each shooting at an incredible speed towards the last standing Meka. Hana had anticipated this and darted towards the center body of Omnic. She figured sticking around the center would provide less space for the eight tentacles to maneuver.
This was contrary to what Omnic had expected. Omnic had assessed the last Meka would turn and run away, out of range, weeping, spreading the despair to the rest of her friends. Now that the Meka was hanging around Omnic's central body, there was no need for mobility. The best course of action was to destroy it as quickly as possible using all of the eight legs, because the constant volleys of her fusion cannons were rather….annoying.
#
"HQ, this D. VA. What now?" Hana called in.
"Meka 6, HQ here. We...erm…"
"Get me the Emperor"
"Who?"
"The Emperor. The Boxer" Hana demanded, yet again managing to dodge three tentacles coming from three directions. She still kept firing all over the central body of Omnic, hoping to find a weak spot.
"HQ, Get me the Terran Emperor on the line!" She knew that despite his age the Emperor was alive and well, because just couple weeks ago he was on APM TV...interview about some person called Kong-whatever. She needed his wisdom right now.
#
Colonel Jung was baffled.
"Who is she talking about?"
"Sir, I think she means His Majesty Lim Yohwan." His aide offered assistance.
"And...he's the Emperor? Of where?" The Colonel demanded. Korea was not an empire after all.
"Well, sir, he is. His Majesty Lim Yohwan, the Boxer, is the Terran Emperor, sir!"
The Colonel blinked couple of times, then gave his aide a nod. "Get the man on the line."
#
Hana was exhausted. The heat buildup from the fusion cannons was unbearable, her front torso was still squelching with her own vomit from earlier, she had pissed in her lucky rabbit panties in the moment of horror, and her body was all bruised purple by constantly bumping against the Meka interiors. Also the prolonged state of concentration needed for the current state of bare survival was pushing her to the limit. Then, all of sudden, a soft elderly voice broke through the radio.
"DeeVeeAi, this is Lim Yohwan. What can I do for you, child?"
The Emperor! He has spoken to me!
"Oh, your Majesty, blessed be thy mouse. I seek your advice, your Majesty." Despite the life and death situation she was in, Hana could not hide her excitement.
"I am watching the live feed." The Emperor's voice had a soothing feel to it. He continued.
"Looks like your turrets have no effects, my child."
"That is true, your Majesty."
"Then get a more powerful weapon, DeeVeeAi."
"I will not rest until I get one. Thank you, thank you, your Majesty."
It was an obvious answer to a simple question, which D. VA had not thought of seeking. Now as she thought about it, it really was the only natural course of action.
"HQ, this Meka 6. I'm shooting fusion cannons, correct?" Hana inquired.
"Meka 6, yes, you are."
"So I'm lying on a mobile fusion reactor, correct?"
"Good thinking, DeeVeeAi!" The Emperor chimed in.
"Well, no, Meka 6. You are on the booster motor. The nano fusion reactor is above your…..oh no, no, no, don't you even think about it!" The Colonel went pale in his HQ.
"HQ, I know when you build this kind of things you make sure the fusion reactor doesn't go kaboom under any circumstances. Hold on…" Hana had to make a few jumps and runs in order to dodge the tentacles. Colonel Jung in his HQ was face palming so hard, but he could not think of any other options.
"So erm…" Hana came back on the radio.
"We will figure out how, and let you know. Hang in there, Meka 6."
#
And so for the next fifteen minutes, Hana waltzed among the dancing trees of death. She tried to maneuver her Meka as to cause the tentacles to knot themselves, but Omnic was careful enough not to fall for such a trap. The millions of spectators watching through the eyes of the camera drones above, as well as the media commentators, held their collective breaths, kept their mouths shut and remained silent. The inhuman reflex, the precisely timed maneuvers, and her insanely correct judgement displayed on the screens were just mind blowing that left any onlooker speechless.
#
"Meka 6, HQ here. We got a solution." Colonel Jung broke the silence.
"HQ, go on."
"Self destruction is easy. Getting you out relatively unharmed is the hard part. Here I will let our chief engineer explain." with this the Colonel handed over the comm to his expert.
First, Hana should destabilise the nano fusion reactor. Second, she was to loosen up some structural couplings as to weaken the hull structure. Then the last part, the insane part, was her blasting out of the Meka hull, hugging the blue lit booster motor, while an uncontrolled fusion reaction was happening behind her. She should prepare all this while still dodging the tentacles smashing down on her.
"I have my helmet on." Hana commented.
#
Millions were watching D. VA dashing through the tentacle menace, still blasting away her cannons to no effect, but they were unaware of what was going on inside the Meka. Hana, while maneuvering her Meka, also was closing circuits here and there, shutting down various reactor constraints as instructed by the chief engineer. When she flipped the last switch off, she noticed the distinct humming sound from the fusion reactor above her had changed. It was now time to prepare her exit.
"So what's the blast range?" Hana recalled asking the chief engineer
"It's a nano reactor so not as powerful as you'd think. Roughly 150m."
"And how far do I fly on this motor?" There was a silence.
"How far?"
"The booster motor works in pulse and the casing is well shielded. So no worry about burning when you ride it."
"C'mon! How far?" Hana urged, sensing the unease in chief engineer's voice.
"Roughly 150m if you launch 45 degrees."
#
Loosening up the structure was rather easy. As she pulled down number of levers to manually decouple the hull components, especially the booster motor itself, her Meka started to buckle and clang at every motion.
"HQ, I'm bailing out!"
"Godspeed, Meka 6"
Initiating the motor, Hana muttered to herself 'Somebody buff this shit'. She jump started a circuit on the motor as instructed, and hugged tight with her eyes closely shut. Within a heartbeat Hana smashed headfirst through the front hull of her Meka, trailing debris, just a second before a tentacle smashed down the vacant bipedal robot.
The trajectory sent her flying inland towards the beach hotel. Hana was too weakened by this stage and could not hold on to the motor. She lost the grip and started her own trajectory at a lower angle than her original, which sent her crashing, again headfirst, through the partially shattered balcony window of a 3rd floor room, just missing a comfortably soft looking queen size bed, landing on and smashing a glass coffee table.
NOW A DIVA
D. VA blasting out of her Meka was a shock to the millions of viewers. A diminutive figure flying and disappearing through the hotel window was terrible enough, but when the TV screens were filled with the white flash of the enormous explosion, only to be immediately cut off to static, the number of emergency calls for heart attack cases skyrocketed around the world.
It took thirty nail biting minutes for the media to send in another fleet of camera drones. Dust had settled somewhat, and the breeze from the sea was clearing the smoke. Nevertheless, one could still make out the distinctive mushroom shaped mass of smoke and dust still lingering above what appeared to be a crater of jagged molten sand. In the middle of the crater lay Omnic. Its tentacles were gone. Just small stumps on its heavily cracked body were the only signs that there had been some stuff attached.
And when one of the camera drones angled towards inland, the world let out a collective sigh of relief at the sight of the hotel miraculously still standing, albeit heavily damaged. Cheers went up when D. VA emerged from the building.
#
Hana had already passed out during her crash landing, and well after the big explosion she was rudely awaken by a loose lamp falling from the torn ceiling onto her stomach. Lying on her back, she breathed heavily, amazed that she had survived. Smashing herself out of an armored combat robot had its price on her frail body. She could not move her right arm. Glancing down her body, she could tell the right forearm was broken. She could move the left one, but was sure the pinky finger was broken too. The pain in the left leg told her she would have difficulty walking around. She was bleeding from her nose, and with every breath she felt sharp pains from her ribs, those made cracking sound when she coughed blood. Maybe the crash landing did this to her ribs. Cuts and bruises, and the pain from lying on a pile of shattered glass pieces did not even register to her overloaded senses.
Her feet was facing the balcony, to the beach side. Groaning, Hana raised her head to look down and see the outside. The first thing she noticed was the queen sized bed she had missed to land on. "Aw, come on!" And there it was. Out the balcony, in the smoldering crater of molten sand was her enemy Omnic. Its tentacles were gone, but she could just make out the crude stumps wriggling about. This meant Omnic was still up and operational. "Aw, come on!" With a deep sigh, that sent another sets of bone cracking pains from her ribs, she slowly moved her left hand over and felt for the standard issue pistol on her right side. Hana was relieved to find it still attached.
#
Standing up was a real painful challenge, but Hana managed it eventually. She spent agonising ten minutes waiting for the elevator, dozing on and off standing on her right feet, before realising it was not functioning. She two third limped, and one third rolled, down the stairs to the lobby. The lobby was in chaos as if it was hit by a tornado. Slowly, but steadily, she stepped out of the hotel into the burning ruin that had been a beach.
And so she limped on, the entire world watching down on her from above with every painful step she made. Her helmet mounted communication was down, and thus the viewers, who had been informed by the media commentators that Meka 5 had been patched and on its way to finish off damaged Omnic, watched in writhing agony as D. VA made a painfully unnecessary journey to her victory. The world winced when she fell on the smoldering molten sand. The world cheered in unison when she stood up again.
In fact, Hana expected either a chopper or a column of armored vehicles to show up at any minutes, finish off Omnic for her, and get her the hell out of here. "Come on, Come on, guys. Don't make me walk all the way" she begged to no one in particular. Yet she beat on, sobbing from the intense pains running throughout her body.
After what seemed like forever, she reached the edge of the crater. Hana turned her head to see if there was any sign of a chopper or foot soldiers coming, but the torn up hotel blocked her view to the main road and the rest of Incheon city. She waited a bit more, but there still were no signs of anyone coming. There was only one way of descent given her leg condition. With a deep sigh, she slid feet first down the slope, with her cracked ribs and a broken arm, on the jagged surface of hot molten sand. Many viewers turned their head when D. VA collided with Omnic. First she seemed to have lost consciousness for a minute or so, but she again stood back up on her damaged legs.
#
Hana looked at her enemy. What appeared to be Omnic's armor layer had been evaporated by the fusion reactor, revealing a surface of thin metallic panels underneath, most of which were cracked to some degrees. One particular panel section caught Hana's attention. A strange clicking sound was coming from behind it while blinking greenish light leaked through the cracks. She limped over to the section, took a deep breath wincing in pain, and pried the panel off with her still functioning left hand.
She could not quite make out of what she saw. The inside looked like some kind of a machine, yet organic, yet...whatever the hell it was. The clicking sound went overdrive to a high pitched shriek, and the green light from the interior blinked so fast it was maddening.
Song Hana, D. VA, the undefeated champion of Starcraft for three consecutive years, instinctively recognised her position. The enemy was on the brink of a complete elimination, and it was desperately bruteforcing the infinite possibilities to find a solution in its favour.
"GG"
She pulled out her pistol, and pointed it at what she believed to be Omnic's brain.
At this moment, Omnic caught Hana off guard. From the deep within its interior mechanism, Omnic shot out a dozen needle like darts at its immediate threat. However, in its desperation Omnic had miscalculated the firing angles. Only three out of the dozen connected with the target.
Hana's insane reflex was not good enough to get her out of harm's way in such a close proximity, but it was good enough to make her pull the trigger. Hana felt burning sensations on her left cheek and something struck the front side of her helmet very hard. Falling backward, she managed to empty her magazine and bladder.
The clicking sound stopped, and the blinking light was no more.
Hana was on her back, crying out in pain as she fumbled to get the two darts out of her face. Eventually she gave up, and just lay there panting. She wondered when the help would come. Then she saw a camera drone descending upon her. They were not supposed to come below certain height but this one did anyway. When it reached about 3m height, the drone reeled down what appeared to be a communication device.
"Well done, DeeVeeAi."
"How…"
"APM TV and I are doing each other a favour. You rest. Help is on the way." Hana squinted and could see the APM TV logo on the drone.
"Thank you, your Majesty." Hana spoke weakly.
The word spread, and the world switched channel to APM TV.
"I hear you...play Starcraft?" The Terran Emperor asked.
"Yes, your Majesty. Three times champion" Hana closed her eyes and whispered back. The Emperor sighed.
"Games fade with the time, my child. Along with their champions."
"I...I don't want to fade"
There was a brief silence from the Emperor before he answered back in his assuring voice.
"You won't. Heroes are immortal, DeeVeeAi. You see? Heroes are what our games are made out of."
Hana opened her eyes again.
"Your Majesty, if I may...it's D. VA, not DeeVeeAi. Diva as in a female deity, or a goddess..."
A hearty laughter from the Emperor filled the air, and the world laughed with him in unison.
"How fitting! Now you have truly become one...a D. VA."
And Song Hana, your Diva, beamed a smile. A smile oh so bright.
EPILOGUE
There came a knock on the door. Rising from her hospital bed, Hana told her guest to come in. It was Colonel Jung. He was carrying a letter sized envelope in one hand, and a bag of what appeared to be some garments in the other.
"How you feeling, Miss Song?" He inquired.
"I feel a bit dizzy, but generally alright." Hana invited the Colonel to sit down. He sat on a small chair next to her bed.
"Do you want some Mountain Dew or Doritos?" Hana gestured towards the boxes and boxes of Mountain Dew and Doritos stacked up to the ceiling. "Wonder why the overseas 'fans' sent me all those same things." Hana mused.
"Must be some kind of a pop culture reference we are not getting." Colonel Jung observed, wondering just how many calorie those things were combined.
#
Hana was on painkillers for the past three months, and she was on and off throughout the time.
"Sorry, I'm kinda cloudy about the last couple months." Hana apologized in case she missed something.
"It's alright. I called in to check on you and they said now you are ready… healthwise."
"Ready?"
Colonel Jung grinned like a school boy.
"Well, whenever you are ready. We are all prepared to unveil the new Meka and you the pilot to the press. I mean they've been camping down there for months so it's just a matter of going down to the lobby and.."
Hana bolted upright, and winced at the pain in her ribs. She gestured to the Colonel it's alright. Rubbing her ribs, she had her eyes wild.
"I got a new Meka?"
Without a word, Colonel Jung produced a photo from his pocket. The new model was definitely something to behold and it was….
"Pink rabbit?"
"We talked with your parents, and they showed us your stuff, and your stuff are all pink and rabbit and ...so." He shrugged. "We have just this one for now. With your feedback, we finalise the spec, and boom! Mass production. Pink, black, rabbits, cats, whatever you like"
There was a smile forming on Hana's face. "Can I have a go?"
"Now?"
"Now…oh, it's not here, I guess." She looked let down. The Colonel blushed.
"Ehem, actually… it's here down in the lobby."
Hana squinted her eyes.
"For unveiling?"
"For unveiling, yes."
"Whenever I'm ready…like right now?"
"Yes, erm, right now." Then he handed over the bag. "I will wait outside."
#
When Hana told him to come in, Colonel Jung entered the room to find her in the new bodysuit of white, pink, and blue. She had correctly mounted the rabbit ear headset as well. Hana tapped on the sponsor logos placed on her thigh.
"I think I know where you got the money for the new Meka model."
"With strings attached, yes." Colonel Jung admitted.
Hana was looking at herself reflected on a mirror, turning this and that way, posing some cool stances as a 19 year old gamer girl would do. The Colonel noticed she still winced and limped and groaned from her pains, and he was sure the press would notice that, too. It was a reminder of the fragile nature of their new hero, and that made her even more precious. Colonel Jung was not happy with this train of thoughts and shook his head.
He saw Hana was looking at her face on the mirror, touching the two scars on her cheek. 'She must be bothered by those,' he thought.
"About that. I have an idea. May I?" He pointed at her pink lipstick that was out on the table. She nodded, and he…
"Whiskers! You are a genius, Colonel." Hana was delighted.
#
"Right, give us twenty minutes to get things setup. I will send someone to escort you down." Colonel Jung said.
"Roger that, Sir."
"Oh, and this…" He stopped mid sentence, his hand holding the letter envelop halted mid air. He lowered his hand back, and turned to the door. "Never mind, we talk later."
"Whenever I'm ready, right?" Hana joked cheerfully, to which the Colonel stopped his steps. Still facing the door, hand outstretched to open it, he seemed to be going over an internal discussion.
If he was to follow the Petras Act, he should have already destroyed the letter in his hand the moment he found it, addressed to Ms. Song Hana, mysteriously placed on his desk. At first, he was outraged that they tested him like this. Yet, he brought it all the way here….
Hana waited patiently and gave him the time he needed. Finally, he made his mind up and turned back to face Hana. Colonel Jung took few steps towards her.
"I didn't want to force you to make a decision right now, and it's a big decision, believe me. But I think it's now or never, so…" He handed over the envelop. "It's an invitation."
Hana immediately recognised the circle shaped seal printed on it.
"D. VA, you ever heard of Overwatch?"
-The End-