A/N: Special thanks to Th3RedPyro for explaining some of the finer points of Australian-English to me! Apparently, "sheila" would be used, rather than "lassie", when Junkrat uses it to refer to Mei, so I'll be going back an adjusting that as soon as I can ;D I enjoy doing research for stuff like this in my writing, so I greatly appreciate the heads up!
While I'm at it, I do have some artwork commissioned for this story! So if it seems as though I'm getting to close to the ending, I might start spacing out chapter releases, just so you all get a chance to check it out when it's completed. I saw the preliminary sketch that Kittybaka-chan did, and it looks amazing O.o Definitely check out his artwork on DeviantArt- plenty of Meihem there for you guys ;D
Roadhog was busily messing around with a motor on a nearby table, the mallet beside him getting quite a bit of use as he attempted to, Mei assumed, fix it. Sitting across the room from him, she'd watched him almost the entire time, curiously trying to figure out what it was he was doing. Finally, she stood up and simply walked over for a closer look, grasping the edges of the table and leaned forward to see past his large arms.
His face turned to her suddenly, as though he was surprised, but he quickly returned to doing whatever it was he was doing, silently, the only noise from him coming through his mask, his labored breathing sounding almost mechanical. Mei eyed his hands as he shoved them into different valves, working with different bolts, and just generally running around the motor's edges.
"Do you need some help, Mister, uh… Hog?"
He stopped, slowly turning to her, drolly, which she could even tell with his mask on, her body slowly pulling back subconsciously. His hand reached over across the desk, pointing at a picture frame that held a nametag within it, for a Mr. Mako Rutledge. Mei relaxed, nodding along.
"Ah, gotcha. You don't talk much; is it because of your lungs?"
Roadhog suddenly dropped the wrench in his hand, shaking his head, annoyed, looking deeper into the cavern to find Junkrat, though Mei quickly spoke up to help absolve the scrawnier of the two, "N-No, it's okay! He just mentioned the radiation screwed with your respiratory system or something."
The large man groaned, shaking his head as he grasped the motor with both hands, as if supporting him as he turned to Mei, his voice coming across angrily, "Did he mention it unscrewed a few of his screws?"
Mei nodded, unsurely, though it seemed to satisfy the man, who groaned again before picking up his wrench, returning to his work. Mei was left a bit more uncomfortable than she had been, but Roadhog suddenly began to cough, violently, turning away from her and bending over, instinctively covering his face as if his mask wasn't there.
"Are you okay?!" Mei asked, quickly, trying to help him, but he pushed her away, shaking his head.
He remained still for a few moments, breathing lightly, before once again grappling at his wrench, far more weakly than before. Mei quickly turned back to where she'd been sitting, eying the laptop before running over to fetch it, starting up a text-to-speech program before returning to Roadhog's desk, his head turning to watch her, curiously.
"Okay, I don't want you killing yourself trying to make conversation," she grinned, "So you'll just type it here and Sam with speak it for you, alright?"
Roadhog peered down at the laptop, almost as if critiquing it, before reaching over to grab at it, expertly typing with one hand as his other held it in space.
Sam: "That dolt never mentioned this."
Roadhog's head dipped into a slow shake, a sigh escaping his mask as he laid the laptop down, carefully. Mei grinned nervously, though carefully hid it as Roadhog went on working. She leaned back over, watching him, pointing out different things that he hadn't been aware of.
"Yeah, this is a foreign make," Mei noted, "I'm not one for cars, but I can certainly tell that this isn't German; it might be Japanese, maybe. See this ridge here? Most German models don't have that."
Roadhog nodded, shrugging as he reached for the laptop,
Sam: "I can't fix it then."
He shook his head, seeming to have rolled his eyes as his head fell backward, slightly, before Mei could speak, carefully grabbing for the laptop, "Let's see; if I can find the right- AH!"
She jumped up, excitedly, "Fareeha's made it out! Let's see… Says she'll be here, 13:00; awesome!"
Mei playfully hit Roadhog on the arm, his face turning to stare at his bicep as if such an action were foreign to him, though Mei simply went on, "Okay, okay; here, I'll make sure you get this working, then. If I can just find a decent site…"
Her fingers clicked and clacked quickly across the keyboard as Roadhog simply stood there, vacantly, awaiting her completion. He only watched the motor beneath him, but as a clanging came from around the corner, he slowly peered off toward it, seeing Junkrat there, a steel pot on top of his head, like a helmet.
"WOW-EE!" he shouted, wiping off the oil stains from his face, "That car's seen bettah days! Tell ya what, Roadie, I betcha next time we go out, we can find a brand spankin' new radiatior for tha girl!"
Hurriedly, Roadhog grabbed at the laptop, shocking Mei in the process, and began typing quickly, looking at Junkrat as Sam's voice droned aloud,
Sam: "If we weren't so busy finding one of only fifteen bags of plant food on this damned continent, the car wouldn't be shooting oil out of itself, among five other things."
Roadhog turned to nod at Mei, as if appreciating that she'd given him a voice, though she only stood there, slightly horrified, having potentially disrupted the dynamic of the duo. Sure enough, Junkrat watched his partner, greatly confused, pulling the pot from his head and tossing it onto a nearby table.
"Wh- I thought you were down, man!" Junkrat answered, shrugging, "If you had spoken up, we'd 've-"
Already typing hastily, Roadhog stared back of Junkrat, Sam's voice cutting him off,
Sam: "Talking with this throat is like stabbing my neck with a knife."
Junkrat sighed, looking away, "Alright, alright. But we can't just leave Daisy out hanging on a Rutledge."
He leaned over, eying Mei, who only hide her face in her hands as his "pun" washed over her, ickily. Despite his attempt at humor, Roadhog didn't find it funny, and he simply shook his head, sitting the laptop down as he turned to his motor and went on working, exiting the conversation.
Groaning heavily, Junkrat grabbed his pot again and walked off back into the other room, leaving the two alone again. Mei watched the empty doorway for a bit, turning to Roadhog, confused, before asking.
"Is it usually this tense?" she questioned, quietly.
Roadhog nodded, reaching over to type on the laptop,
Sam: "We're not friends. We're business partners. That's all."
Mei's face sank as she heard that, Roadhog returning to his work. Junkrat had said much the same, though he seemed to value Roadhog's presence far more than the other way around, a fact which saddened her further.
Roadhog, again, reached across the top of the desk, typing once again,
Sam: "As long as that treasure is hidden, he has me bound to him. No surprise, of course; he couldn't make it here, alive, without me. I'm more or less a prisoner here. I don't like that."
Suddenly, a loud *crash* left the next room, and Mei heard Junkrat curse in some obscure Australian expletive before he showed up again, sticking his head out from the door, angrily, "A'right! If I'm such a hindrance, why don't you just leave! Take the car with ya and go!"
Roadhog looked down at the motor before shrugging, turning to Junkrat with a nonchalance, speaking weakly through his mask, "Fine. Where's my half?"
A sudden terror came across Junkrat's face, knowing he'd screwed up in his anger. Roadhog easily noticed his expression, but remained still, seemingly happy enough to watch the man sputter out over the ocean somewhere, desperately seeking out an excuse. Roadhog had known, for quite some time, that there was no treasure, or if there truly had been, it was no longer of either of their possession.
Junkrat couldn't speak as he angrily stood there, simply seething, unable to find anything to say. Finally, Roadhog simply turned, leaving the desk and walking up to and around Junkrat, into the adjacent room. Slowly, Junkrat's head fell forward, the sound of an engine revving up suddenly echoing through the cavernous base of operations before, gradually, trailing off into silence.
Mei had returned to the couch, which had been, probably, the only true safe haven she had had here, where she could feel comfortably or, at least, out of the way. That didn't really apply now, seeing as how there was only one person left here, but feeling somewhat responsible for Mako's dismissal, she still figured it'd be best to remain as 'on the wall' as possible, just counting the minutes until Fareeha's arrival.
Junkrat had quietly gone from room to room, silently carrying armfuls of equipment here and there, almost as if she wasn't there, though, on occasion, his eyes did meander over toward her, though only quickly, as if to make sure she wasn't dead or anything.
Finally, the boredom beginning to squeeze against either side of her mind, she took to her feet, walking over to the desk where Roadhog's motor still sat, pulling over the laptop and searching up blueprints online, slowly managing to figure out what was wrong.
As she worked, Junkrat showed more and more interest each time he passed by, eventually stopping a few feet away and just watching her unscrewing bolts and pulling apart componants. She tugged at one part, nearly taking the entire motor with her, unable to tug it loose. Quickly, Junkrat rushed up to her, taking it from her.
"'Ey, no need to hurt yerself," he muttered, easily pushing against the inner mechanism while yanking off the outer shielding, sitting in on the desk, "Why are ya messin' with this, anyway?"
She shrugged, wiping some oil off her hand, "I promised him I'd do it before I left."
Junkrat shook his head dismissively, "What, you think he's seriously comin' back?"
"Why not?" she spoke up, "He obviously knew for a long enough time that you had no treasure, judging by his indifference to you not spilling the beans. He still stayed around, though."
Grimacing, Junkrat scoffed, shaking his head as he headed off again, "Whateva' ya say. I have a feelin' we won't be seein' him around any time soon."
Mei watched him, sadly, as he walked away, but she was still determined, returning to her project with careful precision, following along with the diagrams on the laptop's screen, fixing the issue before beginning to put it back together again, methodically.
By the time she'd finished, it was 12:34 and nearing Fareeha's arrival time, so she headed over toward the small nook that served as a tiny sort of kitchen, washing off her arms as she stared toward the garage door that led out- where she'd said to knock.
She'd missed Fareeha, but she knew she'd miss Junkrat, oddly enough. She had never had any friends at Overwatch who were so intrigued by putting stuff together; on the contrary, many of them were more devoted to blowing stuff up. At that, she realized that Junkrat was no different- he was quite amazed by the idea of destruction. But, in his mind, destruction was only a means to further creation.
Most of the mechanisms she'd stumbled upon were built from previously existing machines- even the explosives in the car she'd noticed first thing. He'd had a knack for recycling scrap and using it to build car parts, or lighting, or perhaps even the laptop itself. He built, destroyed, and built again; what was he aiming for?
Then she thought of Australia itself- built, destroyed, and here she was, trying to do the very same thing. Maybe that's what Jamison Fawkes was doing; building to create brighter futures, brighter projects, and when they failed, he simply started all over again.
Mei stared off into the other room as she wiped her hands off on her pants, her eyes suddenly widening as her neck whipped downward- her Cerebral Projecter was nowhere to be-
"Lookin' for this?" Junkrat muttered, quietly, leaning against the wall just outside the kitchen.
She gave a sigh of relief, walking over to him, "Thank goodness; I thought I was…"
Amazed, her speech slowed to a stop, eyes widened. Although Junkrat didn't move, the ball in his hand, almost magically in Mei's eyes, projected a beam of light at the wall beside him- a grey haze filling the square projection that lined the wall. Her mouth dropped in shock.
"I figured it was the least I could do for keepin' ya here," he spoke, weakly, "So I managed to get it workin' as you wanted. Looks pretty nice, if I say so myself."
Despite his words, his expression was downcast, clearly saddened that she was leaving. Mei only smiled as she took her projecter, flipping its 'Off' switch before leaning over quickly, wrapping her arms around a suddenly shocked Junkrat.
"H-HEY!" he shouted, pushing at her arms, "YOU D-DON'T HAVE TA!"
"I know, but I want to," Mei spoke up, happily, "Thank you."
Junkrat still watched in surprise, but he slowly grew a smile, heartily, reaching a single hand around her back to pat her, "A'right, a'right."
"And you're more than welcome to come visit, as I said," Mei went on, happily, "If you want, I'll throw in a good word for you at Overwatch HQ; see if they'd be interested in taking in a yobbo!"
"Eh, I think I'm good," Junkrat shrugged, "This is the only place that'd have me. Even if it'll be a bit quiet, now, without yobboth runnin' around."
Mei's face twisted happily, charging up a laugh, which she released, falling away from her hug to bend over, grasping her stomach as she laughed and laughed. Junkrat simply crossed his arms, smirking, proud of himself as he watched her crack up, wiping away tears as she recovered.
She turned to irrhythmic bursts of giggles now, shaking her head in disbelief, "My- My goodness, that was brilliant!"
Junkrat only nodded, "I thought so."
Lost in this moment, the two nearly jumped in surprise as a quiet banging came at the garage door. Mei happily went through her pockets, nodding to herself as she mouthed each object she found, everything in its place. She looked up at Junkrat, who stepped back, allowing her to walk around toward the door, following along behind her.
"Oh," she stopped, "Thank you again for fixing this up. I'll be sure to give you a shout-out on my blog when I mention it."
Junkrat stared at her, confused, "A'right, but some day you'll have to show me how to scream into so many other computers."
Mei grinned as she turned, but she noticed his arm had been hidden behind him, mysteriously, forcing her to pause as another knock came against the metal door. Junkrat seemed to grow sad as she noticed, his face sinking low, almost unsure of himself.
Slowly, he brought his arm around, his fingers clutched around the pot where Daisy sat, proudly rising up toward the ceiling. Mei's eyes dazzled for but a brief moment, quickly turning to shock as she realized what he was doing.
"B-But! But she's so-"
"Eh," Junkrat shrugged with a grin, "I've seen somethin' more beautiful than her, now. I'll be fine."
Mei's face immediately blew up into fever-red hues, nervously turning downward to hide her expression as Junkrat further reached out the plant for her to take, "C'mon, now. Your gonna make this place pretty again, right?"
Another knock.
"I'll be happy ta see it," Junkrat went on, somberly, "Then I'll say to everyone, "That's because of that one sheila"."
Mei grinned, "So it'll be worth a few billion dollars?"
"Oh, it'll be priceless!" Junkrat exclaimed, happily, "I figured you'd be worth the same, but I doubt Overwatch would'a taken me seriously, so…"
He nervously scratched his neck as Mei smirked once again, reaching over for another quick hug. Finally, Junkrat made his way to the door, bending down to unlock its handle as he stared back up toward Mei.
"You're always welcome here too, ya know."
"Of course," Mei smiled, clutching Daisy tightly against her body.
Junkrat grinned, yanking the door up and the two were suddenly confronted with the brightest sunlight they'd ever seen, hurrying to shield their eyes. Mei's hand looked pitch black as the sunlight shone around it, but as she began to lower it for a better picture, she suddenly found Junkrat flying down to the ground, grasping at his stomach, painfully, a cry escaping him just before a foot managed to kick him in the face to shut him up.
"Junkrat!" Mei shouted aloud in horror, though she was soon confronted, herself, with a dark silhouette, reaching over to grab at her shoulder.
She quickly pushed the arm away, shielding Daisy with her other arm. As she turned to run, the same figure easily caught her, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her into the arm, her legs flailing for dear life.
"J-JUNKRAT!" she shouted, loudly, as the body spun around, her eyes watching two goons taking turns at pummeling the nearly life-less body on the ground, an unfamiliar face appearing in the sunlight at the door.
"My, my…" the man spoke up, evilly, "A rat in its hole. C'mon. I want them both; Archibald will want one of 'em. Take the plant too; she'll need it if she's so desparate to cling to it."
"NO!" Mei shouted, trying to kick her way out.
Impatiently, the good holding onto her reached down to share a grasp with the pot, while another goon made his way over, winding up and punching Mei in the chin, her body sliding silently to the floor as her captor slowly released his grip. The man at the door shook his head.
"Well, we keep losin' 'em, but getting two back," he shrugged, "I guess this rat would be worth more than that other chick; at least I have the satisfaction of revenge with this one."
He snapped a finger, signaling the goons to go to work, smashing up what they could, the leader of the bunch only standing there, barking orders, "Let the other one know. When he gets back, he'll know not to fuck with Oliver Jones."