Set 10 years later. Overwatch is approaching its second Golden Age.
The armoury was dark, quiet, and cold – as it should be, for it was past midnight. Everyone had retired to their bunks, nabbing some rest in preparation for another busy day ahead. But there were those who chose to hang on a little longer, to finish whatever tasks they had on hand. One of them was Hana Song, senior agent and trainer of Overwatch's first generation of mech pilots.
"Fuck!" Hana spat, utterly frustrated when the metal sheet she held to the roof of her mech fell onto her shoulder. She turned off the blowtorch in her hand – which had burnt the protective tubing of the mech's cables – and let out a string of curses. "You fucking useless piece of shitty metal junk–"
"Say any more and I might start getting offended," said the mech's AI through its in-built speakers.
"This is all your fucking fault, Bunny," Hana groused, lying back on her elevated seat and closing her eyes in an effort to calm down. She took off her gloves and welding helmet so she could breathe easier.
"Well, I wasn't the one who decided a single mech suit could block a direct missile attack."
Hana growled. 'Bunny' was but a small fragment of the main MEKA AI that oversaw the Korean army's mech units. When Hana had stolen her mech from the base, a little piece of that AI was still in the suit, reviewing her combat logs and analysing her performance. Thus, she had not only stolen a piece of equipment, but a part of the AI as well. Their relationship had been rocky at first, the AI fragment refusing to aid Hana until it was returned to the army. But after accepting that its continued existence was closely tied with Hana's survival, it started helping. Reluctantly.
Since then, the AI had grown significantly from their combined experiences – to the point where Athena claimed it had a fully-developed consciousness of its own. It was now a functional, independent AI. And thus, Hana started treating it as its own being – the first step to which, was letting her choose her name: Bunny. Granted, Hana was the one who suggested that name, but Bunny had considered it and accepted it.
"It's cute, I suppose," Bunny had said. "Helps lower people's guard before we mow them down."
Sometimes, Hana was glad the MEKA AI's drone control functionality had long been disabled since the Omnic War. With Bunny's attitude and their constant head-butting, Hana figured she didn't need Bunny to become a backseat driver who could wrest control from her hands at any time she wished. Like the mission they had just returned from that very day.
"We protected the squad from getting blasted to bits, Bun."
"I protected the squad. You flew out of my ass and didn't have to eat a missile flying into your face."
"You don't have an ass."
"Neither do you."
A snort from outside the mech and the touch on her leg made Hana jump, and her forehead hit the exposed metal frame of her mech.
"Oh Dio," the voice said. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," Hana groaned, setting her blowtorch down to rub at her forehead. She reached down for the controls, and held onto a button that slid her seat out through the front, pausing in front of her visitor.
Vera was leaning forward from where she sat on the short scaffold deck Hana had placed in front of the mech. Her pale complexion looked even more ghost-like under the glow of the mech's lights.
"What are you doing here?" Hana asked, reaching out to touch her cheek gently, taking care not to disturb the ragged scratches marring her skin. "You're still in recovery."
"So are you." Vera smiled, poking at Hana's abdomen where she wore bandages beneath her t-shirt. "I was bored. And I missed you."
"Yeah? Well, you're going to miss me more when Angie puts me six feet under because I didn't send you back."
"You're not going to?"
Hana sighed, moving her fingers up to hover near the stitches on the side of Vera's head. They had shaved off that side of Vera's hair too, in order to reach the head wound. Hana had been on her own mission when she received news of Vera's injury, and it took all the willpower she had not to just fly right back to base.
"No," Hana said. "I won't send you back to that medical purgatory. Even I can't stand it in there."
She held out a hand to Vera, who took it and climbed into Hana's seat with her. Though it's still a squeeze even after Hana modified it to be a little more spacious, it was comfortable in a way. Especially if you shared that space with the right person.
Hana rested her arm around Vera's shoulders as they settled in the seat, which slid back into the mech at another button push.
"So," Vera said. "Why was Bunny pointing out your lack of ass?"
"Not you too," Hana groaned.
"She said I don't have one," Bunny explained.
"Oh. But doesn't Hana fly out of your ass every time she ejects?"
"Exactly."
"Come on, girls," Hana cut in. "Don't make it weird."
"How have you been, Vera?" Bunny asked, complying with Hana's wishes for once.
"Other than tired and bored? Nothing much. Oh wait!" Vera shifted, leaning on Hana as she reached for the small holopad in her pocket. She held it up and flicked it on, projecting a 3D model of the mech. "I've been thinking of upgrades for you."
"Cool."
"Not cool," Hana said. "You should've been resting."
"Oh, don't be a spoilsport. Look." Vera tapped on the mech's guns, and a separate window with schematic drawings appeared. "I think I can calibrate your cannons so they're more accurate. Tighten the spread. And you can choose whenever you want it to–, focus!" she added, realising that Hana was looking at her instead of the projection.
Hana's small smile grew as the engineer returned to her impromptu presentation.
"I've drafted a little software that can hook up your mech's readout to Ana's drones, so you can have an aerial view of the field whenever. Also, I'm coming up with a prototype energy matrix that can deflect bullets. You know, like–" Vera stopped again, this time by Hana's hand covering the holopad.
"How about we leave it for tomorrow, hm?" Hana said, noticing the exhausted quiver in Vera's hands. The woman didn't know when to stop and take a breather, even when she was injured. Kind of like Hana, actually.
"But I've just gotten to the good part–!"
"Tomorrow," Hana insisted, thumb flicking the holopad's power switch. "Get enough sleep tonight, and I'll let you tell me all about it tomorrow."
"Darling," Vera sighed. "You are horrible. I cannot sleep with all these ideas buzzing in my head."
"Then I guess you won't be talking about them tomorrow, Carelli," Hana said. She held Vera's stare steadily, before her partner surrendered with a pout.
Smiling as Vera laid her head down, Hana said, "Bunny, go offline. Lights too."
"Are you going to sleep inside me again?"
"Yes," Hana replied, feeling Vera chuckle beside her. "Now go offline."
Bunny gave a petulant groan, and went offline as ordered. The lights in the mech slowly dimmed until they were in complete darkness.
Hana closed her eyes, clearing her mind of the day's events while Vera shifted in place, presumably trying to find a good sleeping position. But moments later, Hana felt the soft press of lips on hers, and opened her eyes. With a gentle smile, she tilted her head up to meet Vera's kisses. One after another, until Vera pulled back, thumb brushing across Hana's cheek.
Then she lay back in the seat again, this time with an arm over Hana, resting their heads together. Hana closed her eyes again, feeling her heart ease slowly back into its regular rhythm. She was home.
Yep. My brain did a fart and here comes another OC, Vera Carelli.
This fic will centre around their relationship, but I'll explore Hana's character and develop Vera as an Overwatch agent/hero as well. Chapters might skip about in the timeline. Updates for this will come whenever.