Chapter 11
It had only been one full day since Hana was wounded, she had to stay in bed for one week, yet one day proves it takes a lot less than a week to be bored out of your mind. She had been alone on the bed for quite some time and really wished that Angela or Lena were there to talk to. Truly she wished that anyone was there so she wouldn't have to be trapped alone with her own thoughts. She couldn't stop thinking about her and Valkyr's argument the previous day. Hana had never seen Valkyr so upset before, apart from being in combat of course. On the bright side, this definitely proves that she cares for her, why else would she scold her? She didn't want her gone or hurt.
Her silent prayers were answered when Angela walked into the room. "Finally! Somebody to talk to! What's going on Angie?"
Angela seemed tense, as if she knew nothing about this conversation would be fun. "I'm afraid why I'm here is very serious, Hana."
Hana's smile faded as Angela spoke. "Continue.."
"I'm afraid after Valkyr left this room yesterday she had left the base presumably to go into town. She since hasn't returned." Hana gasped and her mouth hung open. "We've tried contacting her in every way available to us and we have not gotten any kind of response. We have just sent a small team to scout the town to find any hints as to where she's gone. I will keep you updated on what we find. We will find her." Hana could feel herself start to tear up. The one she loved and the one who loved her back was gone, but why? Angela say down by Hana's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Hana began to cry as her doctor and motherly figure took hold of her. "But why? Did I anger her to the point where she decided to leave? Does she feel unwanted? I didn't mean to make her leave!" Hana said between sobs.
Angela held Hana tighter, using her free hand to stroke her hair. "I can assure you it wasn't your fault Hana. I'm sure she has a good reason for leaving, we'll find her and talk to her, we'll make everything right again. I promise, Hana."
The rest of the day seemed to go by in a blur. People came in to check on Hana whether it was about her physical condition or her mental condition, Lena came with with some chocolate ice cream for comfort and talked to her for an hour to help her feel better. Lucio stopped by to give her an exclusive preview for his new album, knowing how much Hana enjoyed his music. Genji dropped by to see Angela but also talked to Hana for a while before leaving. Even the Junkers Mako and Jamison stopped in to check on her. They were surprisingly nice to Hana, asking if there was anything they could do for her while she was in bed and offering to get her food and water or running into town for her. She didn't need anything but was extremely grateful they cared that much. It was around midnight before Hana actually began to get tired. As her eyes began to close for the night, she was interrupted by her phone ringing. Oh come on, can't I just get some sleep!? Maybe I should just ignore it…. No, I should just answer it, it could be important. Picking up her phone, she answered in a tired voice.
"Hello?" No response came from the other end. "Hello? Anybody there?" She was about to hang up until she heard something like a door, with someone entering the room.
"Sorry to keep you waiting! I just had to get some things. What was your name again? Valkyr?" Hana had to put her hand over her mouth in order to conceal a gasp. That sounded exactly like Sombra, taking to Valkyr? This wasn't good at all. "Whatever, what's important is I'm going to 'modify' you a bit and then try to get into that mind core of yours and see just what I can do with you. Sound good?" A loud noise child be heard in the background, it sounded as if Valkyr was screaming if she could. "Well you're opinion doesn't matter, it's going to happen. Oh man I forgot something, be good while I'm gone okay?" Hana was trying her hardest not to scream. Valkyr didn't leave, she was kidnapped! She kept listening as she heard a soft beeping noise from Valkyr as the line disconnected. She must have called from Sombra's phone, why? Realization hit her like a truck as she shot up and paged for Winston.
Aftera couple of minutes a very tired looking Winston entered the room. "You paged me Hana?"
"Yeah, sorry for waking you but this is very important! It's about Valkyr!" Winston's eyes widened at this.
"What did you find?"
"She called me, through Sombra's phone. She didn't leave, she was kidnapped!"
"That certainly changes things. I'm assuming you called me here to see if I can trace the call to find their location?"
"Exactly. Can you do it?"
"Sombra has been known for being almost unreachable. I might not be able to crack it myself, I'll have Athena look at it tonight and I'll finish it up in the morning. May I have your phone?" Hana handed him her phone. "Alright, you rest, we'll get this cracked and go get her tomorrow afternoon." Winston left the room to prepare the tracing. Hana on the other hand, fell flat onto the bed, asleep before impact.
The next morning, Hana awoke at ten AM, a time much earlier than normal. She needed to know how the call trace was going, she couldn't stop thinking about Valkyr and how they needed to get her out. What was Sombra going to do to her? Hana didn't even want to think about it, she only thought about how they were going to rescue her. She got out of bed, despite being told not to unless absolutely necessary, and went down to Winston's lab.
When she walked in, she noticed a large map on one of the main screens, with a marker near where the last mission took place in Dorado. Winston entered from one of the side rooms and seemed surprised to see Hana here, especially this early. "Hana? What are you doing up this early? And shouldn't you be in bed for the rest of the week?"
"I can't just lay there while I know Valkyr's out there being tortured by one of Talon's best." Hana gestured towards the screen. "Is that the place? Is that where the call came from?"
"I believe so yes. We can send a team in as soon as six PM. Don't worry Hana, we'll get her back. Now, you need to go back to the medical area and continue your rest."
"I'm going on the mission." An audible sigh was heard from Winston. Hana knew damn well she was injured, but that didn't change the fact that her lover was in danger and needed help.
"Hana you know I can't let you do that. Even if I did let you, you know how Angela would react." He had a point, there was no way she would get past the wrath of doctor's orders, Angela would never let her go.
"Alright, fair point. I'll go get some rest then." Hana refused to be defeated so easily, she has aces in her sleeves and it's time to use one. She went back to her bed and paged Genji, she had a plan and nothing would get in her way.
Five minutes passed as Genji walked through the door. "Do you need something Hana?"
"I do. I need your help. At six today Winston's putting together a team to rescue Valkyr from Sombra. Naturally, I can't go. Unless you help me."
"Sneaking out huh? You know Angela would have both of our heads of we did that."
"I'm well aware Genji, but I need to go. She's mad at me and that's what made her leave in the first place, I NEED to make it up to her! Please…." Hana put on the best puppy eyes she could, hoping Genji had a soft spot.
"Hana, given my life before cyberization, how many eyes like that do you think I've seen? Many."
"Oh come on! I'm willing to take full blame for this, I know Angie is probably gonna get really mad at us, but the person that I love is out there being held captive and I can't do anything about it without your help! You know you'd want to do the same if Angela was the victim!" Genji looked down at his feet, Hana either just convinced him, or angered him.
With a sigh, Genji looked back up to Hana. "So what's your plan?" Hana couldn't contain her smile. She knew that he'd give in eventually.
"First, you give me a quick rundown on how to sneak around like a ninja. Then, you distract Angela when she comes to check on me, while a make a bed dummy and sneak my way over to the armory. Then you will head to the ship because you volunteered to go on the mission, and after the engine starts, distract everyone again to delay takeoff, giving me time to sneak into the storage part in the back of the ship with my Meka." Genji didn't say anything for a moment until he finally got this thoughts together.
"It could work. Assuming you learn well and quickly. And if you reveal yourself, then I had no part in this. Deal?"
"Deal."
"Alright, stand up. Two key factors of being stealthy is to be light on your feet and always stay with the darkness…."
5:30PM
Angela walked into the med bay to find Hana asleep in her bed, as much as she hated to do it, she had to wake her up to check on her recovery. She tried on Hana's forehead lightly trying not to disturb her too much. "Hana? Hana I need to check on you so you'll begin to wake up…"
"Yeah yeah doc I'm up…."
"Come on now Hana, maybe a bit more enthusiasm than that? We're getting Valkyr back today! You'll be able to see her soon you know."
"Yeah I am excited for that but I'm just really tired, I'm probably just gonna sleep for the night after this if you don't mind."
"That's fine Hana, I'll make sure you don't get disturbed. Your wound is looking much better now, not much longer you'll have to stay here! Now I'll leave you be, rest well."
"Thanks Angie." Shortly after the conversation, Genji entered the room as planned.
"Angela! May I speak with you before we leave?"
"Of course Genji! Rest well Hana." Angela left the room with Genji leaving Hana alone.
Acting quickly, Hana threw herself out of bed and stuffed blankets onto the bed to create a dummy so nobody would know she's gone without a closer look. She then left the room through another door and quietly made her way down the halls using techniques Genji had taught her. She sprinted without a sound, shut off lights in order to sneak past teammates, weaved between objects and always stuck to the shadows. Eventually she found herself in the armory, she quickly grabbed her mech and got inside. Luckily, the landing pad for the ship was very close to the armory, she only need to wait for the engine to start. It didn't take long for Genji to get back to the ship as the engine had started, Hana waited a few seconds for the distraction and flew out of the armory. She had gotten directly behind the loud ship, she saw Genji talking to everybody in front and have Hana a free pass into the storage section of the ship.
With a silent thank you to Genji, Hana waited to get to her destination as the ship took off.
Valkyr could only watch as Sombra worked away at whatever this "modification" was. She was fairly certain that no matter what it was it wasn't going to be good. Sombra stood up and walked over to her and held a cube in her face.
"Good news! It's just about done, soon enough this will be inside you and then I can get to work on that little mind of yours. Oh, I can't wait!" Sombra was like a child on Christmas Eve, constant excitement and practically shaking in anticipation. Valkyr would be scared, but she only felt angry. She wanted to scream and fight back, but her restraints were made by Sombra specifically for her. They used similar tech to what Sombra uses for hacking, and they're constantly in effect while on her.
"Now I suppose I should probably tell you what I'm going to do to you. Well, it's a surprise, so I'm not going to." Valkyr let out the closest thing to an annoyed groan as she could. "Oh come now! Don't be like that, you'll find out soon enough right?" Sombra was touching Valkyr's face and speaking the way a mother would to an upset child. It infuriated her, she stared swords into the Mexican woman's eyes, craving for her blood to coat the walls. "Ohohoho! Let's calm down a bit ok? I can practically feel your rage…. I suppose if you want to know that badly, I can find you a little hint. After I'm done making your new modifications, you can thank me later by the way, I'm going to work on your mind itself. And let's just say, it'll be rather hard for you to ignore me after that." Sombra walked back to her workstation, giggling the whole way.
Hana, please… Hurry...