A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I'm finding it hard to keep my backlog updated and post on time, so I'm thinking I'll whittle it down to once a week or so. Thanks again!

Having been sitting in my bed placidly for about an hour, or at least what feels like one, I'm finally greeted by the door opening and Angela walking in.

I greet her with a smile and a pleasant wave. "Hey, doc. How's life?"

She huffs. "Stressful, what with you leaving so abruptly. Do you have any idea how panicked I was?"

"No, I don't. I'm sorry, doc, I should have waited."

"That's right. I hope you won't pull something like that again." She busies herself with doing a routine check, and it goes quicker than usual.

As she finishes up, I speak a thought that's been on my mind for a while. "Hey, Angela, do you know the commander well? I heard you call him Jack, and I've only dared call him that in my head."

She hums and haws for a bit, no doubt thinking about how best to say it, but then starts. "Jack and I are old comrades. We served together, back when Overwatch was just getting started, and so you could say I know him well enough to do so."

The door opens, and none other than miss Hana Song walks in, or should I say bounces in. "Hi, Ryuo!" She cheerily greets me, plopping down in the visitors' chair. "What's up?"

"Oh, you know, just some routine tests, nothing much. What about you?"

"Well, I'm back from a mission in Italy, and let me tell you, it was exciting!" Without waiting for my reply, she animatedly launches into her storytelling, while Angela and I share a look of half exasperation and half resigned amusement.

"...and so I swooped in!" She mimics her position with her hand, pretending to fly through the air. "I knocked him right off the payload and into a bunch of boxes, and bam! Bam! Bam! I shot him a bunch! He disappeared before I could finish him off, though." She pouts a bit at this, but returns to her usual self in less than a second. "So yeah! It was fun!"

Angela seems to have finished up with her tests, and is looking to leave, but I stop her. "Hey, doc, while you're here, do you mind if I go for a walk? I'll take Hana as a guide, and I'll be back before curfew, I promise."

She looks at me with a puzzled expression. "We don't have a curfew." She clues in to my joke, however, and smiles, chuckling a bit. "Oh, okay. Make sure not to get into any trouble, though."

I nod, and swing my legs out of the bed, eager to try to walk around without the use of a wheelchair. I lift myself up, and my legs feel stronger than the last time I stood on them, as if I was in tip-top shape. I look at Hana, who is excitedly bouncing about. "Yessss! Let's go, Ryuo!" she exclaims, grabbing my arm and bounding out of the room with me in tow.

I manage to keep pace with her decided strides, and we walk briskly through the halls until we get to the mechanics bay again. She leads me among the bustling throng of people, eventually stopping near a giant war machine, painted... pink?

She points at it. "This is my MEKA! It's what I use when I fight!" As if to show me, she runs around the back and it drops into a crouched position, bending its knees and pointing its cabin at the ground. I watch her slip in and come to rest on her stomach, grabbing two joysticks and rearing the giant thing back up until it stands at its full height again. "Check it out!"

She showboats a bit- well, a bit is a gross understatement- and moves the mech around, making it punch the air, float above the ground, hop like a bunny, and even dance for a short while, before having it crouch down again so she can wiggle out the back. She runs around it and comes back to me. "What do you think?"

I have been staring this entire time, in wonder of the technological feat, and also in wonder of the fact that this girl, who is barely an adult, has been given full reign over it. I quickly snap out of it and voice my thoughts. "It's awesome! How does it work?"

I'm interrupted by a voice from behind me. "You might just get the chance to find out." I turn to look at Jack Morrison, again conveniently behind me at the best possible time.

I gawk at him. "How are you always everywhere exactly when you need to be? That was seamless integration into the conversation. Your 'base-wide AI' can't be that good."

He smiles a bit. "It is. It was developed by one of the best here. Anyways, I came to tell you what you'll be doing." He hands me a stack of paper, which I take and rifle through absentmindedly while Hana looks over my shoulder.

The commander continues as I examine what he's given me. "Five of our top agents have requested an extra mechanic and/or technician as of late, to help them with their work. I figured I'd let you choose, since they'd all be happy to have you."

I notice that each paper is on a certain person, with five in total. I peruse them, but look back to Jack soon enough. "Who are they, and what do they want me to do?"

He points to each person as he explains their research to me. "The first one you know already. It's Hana, behind you. Her team needs another general repair mechanic because she's constantly getting her MEKA damaged, or even completely destroyed." I can sense a barb in these words, and I sneak a glance at Hana, who is rubbing the back of her head and examining the air ventilation on the ceiling.

He continues as if nothing had ever taken place. "The next is one Satya Vaswani, a hard-light architect. She's one of the best in the world, and the Vishkar Corporation has her as one of its highest ranking members simply because of her skill alone. She needs someone to help manufacture and design new technologies. This is the first time she's asked for help, so I can only assume it's something big." He points to a regal-looking Middle-Eastern woman, who is busy apparently generating things out of thin air by her lonesome. The look on her face tells me she's no-nonsense and down to earth.

"The next is our resident Head Mechanic, Torbjorn. He needs more hands on deck repairing all the vehicles and devices every agent uses, like the plane we picked you up in." He points in a direction, and I follow his finger, seeing nobody that stands out amongst the gaggle of people. However, I realize why shortly, as a man walks out from amongst the crowd, being only about four-foot-eight in stature, though still stocky, in some weird twist of fate. He sports a really cool mustache and a large smile to boot, and I think I might enjoy his company.

"After that is Winston. He's more into the technological rather than the mechanical, but he needs someone to help him with base maintenance and general work as well. He did most all of the work on the base-wide AI, Athena." He gestures to a tall man in a lab coat, who is chatting with what seems to be a gorilla in a curious spacesuit-like apparatus. The gorilla appears to be wearing glasses, but I chalk it up to me being tired and look back to the man beside it. He looks thin and wiry, almost as if he'd fall over if you blew on him hard enough, and has countless wires and other doohickeys scattered around his workspace.

"The last one is Efi Oladele, over there, and by extension, her construct Orisa. While Efi is a bona fide genius, she simply can't keep up with Orisa's repairs and manufacturing backup ammunition for her at the rate they're going. She wanted someone to help with making sure Orisa doesn't run out of shields or superchargers while in the field." This 'Efi' is a small child, who doesn't look to be older than 12, tinkering with a massive centaur-shaped robot, and chatting animatedly with it.

"I don't expect you to pick now," Jack says, bringing my attention back to him, "and you can spend a day or two with each of them, to figure out who you want to help. Just tell me when you've picked someone, and I'll assign you to their team officially."

I shift from one foot to the other. "Is it possible for me to work on my own project as well? Not saying I don't want to help these people, but I also have stuff I want to do."

"We can work something out, so long as it doesn't interfere with anything else. We'll see when you're all settled in." With that, he nods, and walks off, evidently to appear in some other place at the perfect time.

I turn to Hana, who is looking at me excitedly, with eyes as wide as dinner plates and a beaming smile on her face. "Who are you gonna pick, Ryuo?" He asks, obviously wanting to know now though I only know one of the people I have to pick from.

"I don't know, Hana. I have to meet these other people first. Who do you think I should talk to?"

She thinks for a moment. "Maybe Symmetra. She's not too keen on other people, so you may as well get her out of the way." Noticing my confusion as to who she's mentioned, she explains. "It's her callsign. When I say Symmetra, I mean Satya."

I nod, slowly getting it. "Does everyone have a callsign?"

She laughs. "Not everyone, silly. Only the top agents get callsigns. Mine is D. Va!"

"Diva? That's fitting."

She pouts. "Not Diva, D. Va. There's a difference! Most people call me by my callsign, not my real name, because it's easier that way."

"So I should call people by their callsigns?" I find it a bit weird, but try to adapt as Hana nods again. Looking over at the woman called Satya- Symmetra, dangit- I start to walk over to her.

She looks up as I approach, and her eyes narrow as she glances at me. I realize I'm still in sweatpants and a t-shirt from my time in the hospital, and haven't had the chance to change.

"What do you want?" She speaks as I draw near to her workbench. She turns back to whatever she was working on, ignoring me completely.

"My name's Ryuo, I was told you needed an assistant. Commander Morrison gave me a few options to pick from as for my work here, and you were one of them. I believe you're Satya? Or does Symmetra work better?"

She scowls at me, turning her head slightly to look at me disapprovingly. "Neither. I would prefer you left."

I'm taken aback by her frankness, but steel myself. I knew she was going to be like this. "I wouldn't. What you're doing here looks interesting, and since you've applied for help, I believe I can be of use to you."

She stands up, still looking at me like I'm inferior to her. It creates a vindictive sort of aura around her. "What do you know of my field? How could you possibly help me?"

"Nothing," I admit sheepishly, scratching the back of my head, "but I'm a quick learner. I think I could-"

She wheels on me, poking me in the chest while her voice remains icy cold. "I asked for professional help, not a child in street clothes. You would do best to leave, before I become aggravated."

I turn away, and look at Hana, who is rapidly motioning for me to come back to her, so I leave without another word. When I get to Hana, she's flustered. "Are you nuts? Do you know what happened to the last guy that pushed her that far?"

The look on my face evidently tells her I don't, and she whispers to me, her eyes darting around. "He couldn't walk for a week without her tripping him on some miniature hard-light cube or something. He broke his nose, and sprained both ankles."

I tilt my head. "I think I can get through to her. I need to talk to the head of department here, though."

"Well, that would be Winston, so let's go find him." She wanders in the direction I last saw him, and I spot him by his height. He's still talking to the gorilla, so I assume this man must be more than slightly insane, but the gorilla seems placid.

D. Va skips over and waves at the two of them. "Hi, Winston! Hey, Dave!"

The tall, lanky technologist scratches the back of his head shyly. "O-oh, hi, . H-how's everything going?"

She beams. "Great!"

I approach as well, and all three of them look at me expectantly, even the gorilla, which I'm a bit unnerved by. "I'm Ryuo, pleased to meet you." I don't know to offer a handshake to the man or the gorilla at this point, so I simply keep my hands to myself.

Thankfully, my indecision is remedied. "Ah, Ryuo. I'm Winston. Glad to meet you," the gorilla says, sticking his oversized hand out to shake mine.

Wait.

The gorilla?

I take another look at it, and it is, in fact, wearing glasses, and smiles in a simian way as it extends its hand for a handshake. I confusedly take it and shake, probably looking as astounded as I feel. "I hear you're the head scientist around here, then?"

It- he, I should say- laughs, holding his belly as he rears up to rival the tall guy beside him in height. "By far, you're the best reaction yet!" I look and see that Hana is laughing too, and she stops long enough to explain, holding her sides in mirth.

"Winston's..." Her pauses are punctuated by more giggling. "Winston's a genetically... modified gorilla from... Horizon Lunar Colony..."

The tall guy speaks up, if mumbling could be considered speaking up. "W-we never tell anyone because it's f-funny to watch their reactions."

I nod, the situation finally processing. "I see. Well, color me impressed." I start to smile, getting caught up in the humor of the situation. "You certainly had me thinking I was out of my mind for a moment there." I turn to the lanky one. "You must be Dave, then?"

He stammers, pushing thick circular glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Y-y-yeah. I'm Dave."

I make a mental note never to get caught alone with Dave, and turn back to Winston. "Hey, I've got a favor to ask of you."

He nods. "Ask away! Just don't ask for me to share my peanut butter, because that's not happening." He grabs a jar from seemingly nowhere- possibly the desk behind him- and dips two fingers in it, eating some with a satisfied look on his face.

"I need to know what field of work Satya Vaswani's involved in, and I need access to all the general research regarding that field."

Both Winston and D. Va gawk at me. Winston decides to speak first. "I'll get someone to get that ready for you." He speaks into a communicator. "Lola, can you bring me all the hard-light construction research we have on file?" A small burble constitutes a reply, apparently, because he places it back down.

Hana explodes. "You can't be serious! She just told you to 'F off' and you're going back?!"

I hold out my hands to placate her. "I've not chosen her yet, keep in mind. I want to know if she's even a valid choice at this point."

Winston coughs. "Symmetra's not know for being the most... cordial. She prefers to work alone, and does not like disturbances."

I shrug. "I was told I could work under her, so damned if I don't at least try."

Both Winston and sigh. "All right," Hana says, "Don't say we didn't warn you."

After a moment, a woman, looking to be in her early twenties, comes scurrying over with a device in her hands. "Winston!" She calls out as she approaches. "I've got the research here!" Winston takes it from her, and then she leaves to go back from whence she came. He hands it to me. "That's got everything you need to know on it."

I look around for a place to sit, and, spying an empty workbench, nod to Winston. "Thanks. I'm gonna go do some reading now, to try and edu-ma-cate myself." I maneuver over to the seat beside the bench, and sit down, starting to peruse the screen in front of me. I read, and swipe to bring up a new page, and read, and swipe, until it says I'm about halfway. I look up, and the lights seem to have dimmed, and the number of people diminished. I shrug, and continue reading. When I reach the end, the workshop is empty, save a select few still fastidiously working away at whatever project they have to do. I shut the device off, and look around for materials I can use to test out my new knowledge.

Locating some at another abandoned workstation, I tinker for a while, letting my hands flow as they usually do, putting each piece in its desired location and looking for others to fill in gaps. As it gets more and more complex, I feel the desire to finish it well up inside me, and I continue on with renewed vigor.