As it turned out, dancing wasn't the focus of the night.

It had all had started out predictably; A memo sent to Satya's phone with a set of coordinates and when to be there, but this time it came with the instruction to "dress casual, but sexy." It was certainly an odd request, but Satya could see where it was coming from. Sombra's locale of choice was, according to the memo, a nightclub and bar in Castillo known as Calaveras, known for energetic, alcohol-fueled nights that attracted a very sensual crowd. Upon changing into a midriff blouse, a sari, leggings, and heels, Satya believed she had fit the requirements, albeit not with great enthusiasm.

This serves no practicality, she thought as she switched out her artificial arm from the practical stark white it usually was to an appearance less distinguishable from an organic limb. Unless attracting the attention of every impulse-driven troglodyte present is the goal, in which case tonight will be a complete success.

When she teleported herself to the location, she at first wasn't quite sure if she was in the right place. The adjacent buildings had distinctly Spanish architecture, fitting since she was in Mexico, and the streets were well-kept but betrayed no trace of being somewhere that people frequented at all, let alone as often as a place for dancing. Satya glanced down at a hologram of the coordinates, confirming that the time, address, even exact latitude and longitude were all in order, and yet all appearances pointed in the direction of the entire area being a run-of-the-mill area, slightly dirtied by graffiti but otherwise no different than any other city district.

"Gotten lost, have we?" a voice queried.

By now Satya had gotten used to the voice, but its owner's uncanny ability to appear out of nowhere was still enough to startle her. Just to her left, Sombra materialized, wearing a leather jacket with the top buttons left revealingly open and a pair of skinny jeans that left little to imagination.

"Ay chica, you clean up nicely!" she declared, placing her hands on Satya's shoulders and turning her so that they were facing each other. Eyeing her from top to bottom, she purred "I almost didn't think you had it in you."

Satya retreated back and dusted off her shoulders, wrapping her sari tighter. "I don't. I feel like an imbecile."

"That just means you're out of your comfort zone, which if you remember is the point. Now c'mon, we're burning moonlight." She grabbed her friend's hand and set off with enthusiastic speed.

Before Sombra could drag her in some direction, Satya whipped her hand out of her associate's grip and curled it behind her back, further lowering her posture's status.

Sombra stopped on a dime and did a one-eighty on her heel. "Something wrong amiga?"

"This can't be the right place." she said, gesturing to the innocuous buildings. "There's no indication of any sort of establishment here."

Sombra chuckled amusedly as she strode back towards her. Placing her arm around Satya's shoulder, she guided her down a graffiti-stained alleyway towards the side door of the nearest building. Knocking in a distinctive pattern, a slit in the door opened and a pair of eyes, squinting hard under thin sunglasses, peered through and shouted something in Spanish behind him once he saw who it was wanting to enter. The peephole slid shut and the clicking of multiple locks being undone could be heard.

"Around here," she said as the door swung open and her and Satya stepped inside. "there are always details hidden beyond the first glance."

Now inside, Satya was confronted by a scene she hadn't expected. She now stood at the head of a dance floor, illuminated by countless multi-coloured strobe lights and packed nearly to bursting with participants, twisting and shaking in extremely close proximity like a school of bait fish.

She shielded her eyes to keep from being blinded by the lights. At the same time, she clutched her torso as the beat of the dance pounded at such a high volume that she could literally feel it hitting her. She knew she had to leave immediately, but the writhing swarm on the dance floor had congregated right where she was now, forcing her to back away in an attempt to reclaim her personal space. She tried to find the door, but it had become lost in the deluge of sound and light and people. Backing into a corner, her eyes flicked around frantically, trying to find some kind of escape before she became overwhelmed.

It was then that she spotted one saving grace: Sombra, near the edge of the crowd, her hair an unmistakable beacon just at the edge of the crowd. Still, with her racing heart and the fearful chill that was blanketing her, making her way into the storm to find the eye was looking to be almost impossible.

She tried to center herself, but the noise drowned out her thoughts. Her attempts at serenity were shattered as sweat dripped down her face and hair, making them feel heavy and dirty. Before she could sink down into her corner and lose all faculty, however, the eye of the storm came to her.

"What's that thing you like to say?"

The words cut through the pandemonium as she looked through her heavy eyes and saw Sombra standing in front of her, reaching out a hand to aid in navigating the chaos.

Satya didn't know what to think about this after such a traumatic entrance, but she did know she had to leave the dance floor and that her superior was the only means of doing so. She took Sombra's hand delicately and followed as the two made all haste through the crowd to leave the room.

They exited out a door that led to the bar, a much quieter room with far less occupants. It still had its unfamiliar elements; The smell of cheap booze and cigarette smoke hit Satya like a wall and the bare, unkept simplicity of its aesthetic had no charm in her eye, but it was far preferable to the alternative. The two women circled the tables that took up most of the space and took seats at the bar itself. Across the room, a player piano created a bouncy riff while the Omnic on the room's small stage sang a tune about a steamy tryst in Cuba.

As they sat down, Sombra gestured to the silver-haired bartender, who slid a full shot glass over almost instantly without even looking at her. At the command of another gesture, he backed towards them, plucked a bottle of tequila off the rack, and set it down between the two before sliding over another shot glass, this one empty.

"Care for something? My treat." Sombra offered as she popped the cork off the bottle.

Satya lightly pushed the glass away. "Kind, but I don't drink." she said quietly but with a direct tone. "It's a choice." she added after she saw her affiliate eye her curiously and then stare off as though she was trying to figure out something in her head.

Sombra grasped the neck of the bottle and brought it closer. "Oh well, more for me I guess." She downed her glass in one take and briefly coughed before refilling it. "You do realize this means you're driving, right?"

Satya was puzzled. "I don't have a vehicle. I can take you to your place once we leave, if that's what you mean."

Sombra laughed. "Ah, not even two shots in and I'm not thinking straight. Herman must have finally gotten the good stuff, the agarrado." she mused, eyeing the bartender before downing her glass and refilling it again. As she did so, the laughter on her face faded away and her expression grew solemn.

"Hey listen, before I get any further into this." she said, pointing at the bottle. Once Satya had focused her attention on her, she continued. "About back at the dance floor, I'm really, really sorry. I wanted to get you out of your comfort zone yes, but I guess I took you a step too far. I should have known better after that story you told me and I'm definitely not going to let it happen again. You don't have to forgive me if you don't want to, but I just wanted to let you know." She lowered her head so that she was looking down at her lap and let her hair fall over her face.

Satya sat silently for a long period of time, looking at Sombra, at the bar and its few patrons, at the peeling paint on the walls and the moths circling the lights on the ceiling, contemplating what she had seen and what she had been promised with what had been experienced.

Finally, she spoke up. "Are you still telling me the truth?"

"Of course."

She breathed in and loosened her sari, letting it slide off her shoulders and down her arms. "In that hall, when you found me, I was having an episode just like what I described in India, the one you said was 'sensory overload'. I was about to curl up and lose myself, but then I heard you and saw you and suddenly, I could process my thoughts again. I just felt... assured, like I knew I would be safe."

Sombra looked up at her friend, showing herself as touched while hiding her excitement.

"As well," Satya continued. "it could have just been a mistake."

Sombra nearly let her joy at hearing that colour her tone. Totally worth it.

"I wish you hadn't put me in such a position, but I am grateful that you got me out of it. You atoned, so I have no reason to be angry."

Now Sombra let out her elation, but gradually as so to not reveal anything to her astute companion. She brushed her hair back over to one side and slid her glass closer. "You're a kind woman underneath all that rigid order stuff, you know that?"

"And you're a welcome change from my last handler." Satya replied.

Sombra scoffed. "Si, Sanjay isn't my type either. I guess that's just bosses sometimes." She paused long enough to down her next glass before looking directly into Satya's eyes. "Speaking of which, I think I owe you an explanation from yesterday. You remember that, right?"

Satya looked back with a face that indicated she wanted answers. "I don't usually forget things. I was actually hoping that I could find what you meant tonight."

"Great minds think alike." Sombra smirked. Before she continued on, she exhaled slowly and filled and downed another glass, briefly pounding her fist on her chest as the drink knocked the wind out of her. She recovered quickly though, and gave her answer. "The reason why I couldn't tell you about my boss' order regarding the Junkers is because where we were wasn't safe. When you're out in the open, you never know just who is listening to you."

"I didn't see anything." Satya said innocently.

"That just means they're good at hiding. You don't always see me show up, do you?"

Once Satya had conceded that her point was valid, Sombra extended one hand out towards her ally and summoned a holographic map with coordinates. "I wish I could tell you more, but I don't think you'd believe me if I didn't give you evidence to back it up. Tomorrow, you'll need to go to this place. It's nothing huge, just a walk-around of my boss' office, a meet-and-greet of the others I work with. Quite the personajes, they are. I think you'll learn a few things."

A long lull followed before Satya broke the silence. "And...?"

"And that's it. A simple day to follow up the crazy one you had. I just need you to do one other thing for me." She leaned over in her bar stool towards Satya until their faces were so close that their noses were about to touch. "I need you to be curious." she said with quiet-voiced urgency. "Not just now, not just then, always. Always be asking questions, always be wanting to know why, always be looking for answers. You have no idea how much it'll help you."

Satya retreated back in her seat, considering the question and the seeming dodging of her question from yesterday. It almost seemed as though Sombra hadn't given her a full answer, a classic Sanjay move. On the other hand, her words and actions had given off a sense of trust, and her apology earlier hadn't given off anything that indicated insincerity. She had also not seen any reason to believe Sombra was playing her like Sanjay had tried to do. Perhaps she was actually trying to make a new friend? The evidence definitely supported it, and it was leading to a conclusion that .

"Very well." she answered. "I will try."

Sombra sat back up in her chair and smiled meaningfully. "I knew I could count on you." She picked up her glass and held it aloft in a toast. "To friendship."

Satya was briefly concerned about not being able to toast back, but then she saw the glass she had turned down earlier sliding her way, filled with water and sent along with a silent "you're welcome" from Herman the bartender.

"To trust." she toasted back before they both bottoms-upped their drinks.

Just then, the music picked back up again. The songstress from earlier had been replaced by a pair of men, one with an acoustic guitar and the other with a set of bongos. Together, the two of them played an upbeat melody while singing in Spanish.

Sombra, now past the point of just getting a buzz off the poison she'd picked, perked up like a meerkat. "Ooh, I love this song!" she proclaimed excitedly.

Satya listened closely to the singers and their music, attempting to discern their value. "They are decent with their instruments, I agree, but I don't know what the lyrics are."

Sombra chuckled. "You really need to learn Spanish, amiga. You hear that one word they're repeating?"

"Yes. What does it mean?"

"'Slowly'. I'll let you figure out the rest." Just then, the Mexican's eyes twinkled with inspiration and a grin swept across her face. "You know, the night's still young, and I did say we were going dancing. You thinking what I'm thinking, chica?"

Catching on swiftly and deciding that the idea wasn't too far outside her comfort zone, Satya unwrapped her sari and draped it over her chair. She extended an open palm towards her friend. "Shall we dance?"

Without saying a word more, Sombra grabbed her hand and guided the two of them to an open area just in front of the bar. While Sombra did a sexy groove to the beat, Satya held nothing back and launched into her full dance regimen, drawing attention and praise from everyone present. She realized that this was exactly what she'd wanted to avoid, but the thought wasn't as discomforting as it would have been.

Her friend made sure of that.