Their first contact with the Omnic was quite by accident, and sooner then they had expected.
Angela was working in the forge, where she had been all night. Having kissed Lena goodnight, and discovering some old schematics in the forge, she simply had to learn some of the techniques they taught. She had not forgotten her promise, and planned to get her four hours following her session. She and Reinhardt had agreed, he would teach her all she needed to Upgrade the Valkyrie suit, the specialised Magnet in the right arm so as to summon Gungmir straight to her hand.
Lucio was also awake, the first one up every time, a hangover from being woken by his child every morning. Having eaten, he went to throw some bread out for the myriad of birds nesting in the trees.
Where he saw it.
He froze in his tracks, his breath freezing in the morning cold, and suddenly capable of ignoring the cold of the dark, sunless morning.
It's metal flanks were barely visible beneath the growths of turf and earth that had built over it in the years, but the rare hints of metal shone from the bright lights of the house and the moon. Transformation was out of the question, dirt clogged every available place. It's size dwarfed Lucio; who was on a height with Lena, it rose twelve feet easily, and its vast width made it all the more imposing.
It stared at Lucio, and Lucio stared back, still holding a piece of bread.
"Whatever you do, don't move" Said a voice behind him. The accent told him it was Lena, and she was holding onto one of his arms, ready to whisk him away. "I've Zarya on the way down. She'll warn the others" Lucio nodded and swallowed.
Together, they watched the Metallic beast. Slowly, the bastion moved ever so slightly closer to the bread Lucio had thrown out. What happened next, surprised both of them.
A small bird, still appearing groggy and tired from its roosting came out of one of the cracks on the Bastions armour, and set down to the ground to peck. Everyone assembled watched cautiously.
"The bread, Lucio" Lena muttered in his ear. She grabbed hold of his shoulders, so as to whisk him away at the first sight of trouble. "Give him a bit"
Lucio swallowed, and took an extremely cautious step forward, wary of the massive gun attached to the Omnics arm. The Omnic whirred slowly and watched the two approaching.
Lena gave a quick look around and saw Angela and Zarya watching from the house doorway, Reinhardt was preferably in the garage getting his armour ready in case of an attack.
The Omnic and the two humans were now only a small distance from each other. 20 feet at least. The omnic gave a look to Angela and Zarya in the doorway, and appeared to be more wary of them then of the two in front of it. Lucio and Lena made the last few steps until they were in front of it. Lena had seen the gun, and would only have allowed the two to get so close if she was certain she would be able to get them out of the way if it attacked.
Lucio was still holding a piece of bread in his hands, and at Lena's prompting, offered it to the Omnic. Lena was shaking and Lucio was sweating despite the -20 celsius morning, freezing almost instantly on his skin. He briefly wondered what would kill him first, frostbite or the omnic.
The world held its breath, as the omnic tentatively took the piece of bread. Still watching it broke it up in its hand and spread the crumbs to the slowly increasing number of birds on the frozen ground.
Fuck me thought Zarya, and Angela forced down her urge to run out and grab both of them to start running.
"Hallo" Lena said to the machine. She had hoped for some response, but it merely ignored her.
"Can you understand me?" She continued. It gave no sign of reply, seemingly stuck in its task. Lena thought for a second, waged up the risks and then grinned.
"Dozy bloody toaster" The machine stopped for a second, and then continued as though it hadn't heard or understood. Lena grinned.
"So you can understand me. You like birds?"
The omnic was quiet for a moment, but then gave a little whirr of affirmation.
"Yeah, same" Lena continued. "Had a girlfriend who liked watching birds. Before that birds to me meant someone you met in a pub. Later on I used to fly birds myself in the RAF, until… this" she tapped on her chest where the blue light showed from under a grey parka. The omnic made no appearance of hearing, but when she had finished he slowly moved his head so as to look at Lucio. Lucio swallowed but kept a clear voice.
"I know some birds from Brazil" He said. He wasn't sure why he said that, but felt like it was the only thing he could say. "And Numbani. Beautiful, colourful, a lot more colourful then the ones up here" Lena tensed as he said that, but the omnic did not seem to mind. Lucio paused for a second, but then continued. "Would you like to see them?"
The omnic gave another whirr.
"Yeah, well. Problem is, omnics have had a lot of trouble in Numbani" Lucio continued. The omnic gave a low whistle which Lucio chose to believe was a sound of sympathy.
"With Anubis" and at that, Lena almost blinked both of them out of there. The omnic jerked violently at the word and looked at Lena and Lucio, a slow rattling coming from its frame as the two realised it was shaking, Lena's grip hardened like a vice and Lucio almost shouted as the omnic backed up and tensed like a wary animal.
"So you know about it" Lucio said, his voice shaking. The omnics reaction had told him everything they needed. "And we know you were involved in that"
"Lucio, are you insane?" Lena whispered under her breath, and Lucio shook his head.
"I know that the Anubis programme was developed from you, they were able to bypass the resistance from you. What do you think of that?" He accused the Omnic.
The omnic was silent, and watched the birds resettle into their food after their startling from the Omnics reaction. It was still, but Lena and Lucio could feel as though it had deflated slightly, its shoulders bent downwards and the light of its eye had dimmed, to a small blue light in the dark. Lucio had seen that stance enough to understand what it was. He had seen his kid look the exact same way.
"I know you feel guilty, I don't think they took it with your consent did they?" Lucio went on. He walked forward slowly, and motioned to Lena to hold back. Alone, he approached the omnic, and placed a gentle but thickly gloved hand on the Omnics treads. The omnic tensed, and then finally relaxed. Lena watched, and slowly a disbelieving smile began to spread on her face.
Holy shit. He might actually get it to listen.
The omnic turned to look at the open doorway, and suddenly the Omnic tensed, and Lena's eyes widened.
"Listen, there is a way to help, but-" The air was forced from Lucio's lungs and he was suddenly far away from the omnic, his face buried in the snow with Lena covering him with her body. Lucio looked up; and groaned at the stab of pain that went through his torso, watching the omnic.
It was frantic, pointing his malfunctioned gun at the door where a startled Zenyatta stood. The omnics was moving frantically waving its gun threateningly and making a whining, constant whirr as it retreated back into the forest.
"Halt!" Shouted Zarya, but Angela sprinted out from the house to Lucio and Lena. Zarya thought quickly "We don't go after it right now. We take stock and we make a new plan" She looked to the thick thicket of trees illuminated in the dark.
Lucio muttered beneath his breath and felt the tension drain out of his body, Lena looked down at him and quickly motioned for him to look at her.
"You okay?"
Lucio groaned as another stab of pain went through his body. "I'm okay. But… ow, yeah, broken rib" Angela picked up Lena and began to feel Lucio's chest for confirmation.
Lena groaned. "Sorry"
"Not your fault...But the slipped disc is on you"
Later when all have had time to be healed and change they moved into the living room, where squashed settees and chairs lined the walls and a fire started by Reinhardt was burning and casting vibrant lights on the group.
Angela had burnt through the night working on upgrades, and with the warm heat of the fire began to feel the pull of sleep, despite the massive stress of having seen the omnic. Once Lena came in freshly showered and nestled besides her into the crook of her arm Angela had to fight hard to stay awake.
"Don't get too comfortable" Zarya said to the two of them. "This is a meeting, try to avoid falling asleep"
"No promises" Angela replied, but she sat back up. The rest of the team was there.
Reinhardt felt stiff and awkward amongst them, like he was intruding on their team, after the omnic had appeared he expected Zarya to have given out orders.
Zenyatta, however, was also not in the right state of mind. He moved around the room, muttering and looking everywhere as though he expected to see the omnic in the corner of the room. Zarya gave him a look before she sat down, and called to him.
"Zen?" she said. He did not react, and instead appeared that he was moving all the more. "Zen!"
"What!" He shouted back. The team jumped at the reaction and Zarya started. Zenyatta stared back for a moment, and when Zarya raised an eyebrow and motioned to a chair he relaxed his body, and sat. Though Zarya decided that he needed a close eye on him for the rest of the day.
"So" Zarya started. "How is everyone feeling. No one going to be running after a death machine in pitch black darkness?"
"Nope" Angela replied cheerfully, and recieved a jab in her side for her troubles.
"Care to explain why you felt that running after a frightened, deadly machine which can transform into a tank; in the dark, was a good idea?" Zarya asked as though she was asking why she was behind on a piece of work or why she had missed a meeting.
Angela shrugged. "Only one qualified" Zarya continued to stare and Angela sighed. "I wasn't running to the Omnic, I was running to Lena and Lucio"
Zarya snorted and looked down around at the rest assembled. Leaning forward she placed her head in her hands and sighed through her nose.
"So. Thoughts?" she asked to the room in general. No one replied, but Zenyatta spoke back into the room, not replying to her, not speaking to anyone. Just a hollow statement.
"It hates me" he said, everyone looked to him. "It reacted because it saw me"
Lucio clicked her tounge. "Might not. Might be that you coming out just made it too crowded and it freaked? Or maybe I did something wrong" Even to him, that excuse sounded weak. Everyone besides Reinhardt had seen the Omnic rear like a terrified horse at the sign of Zenyatta, and in the presence of Lena and Lucio it seemed to have calmed enough to talk about Anubis. Even being able to touch it.
Zenyatta pressed his point
"It hated me the moment it saw me, terrified to. I felt it, we were reaching out to each other so clearly, I could feel the mirror neuron lock working on us all. Apart for me. It hated the very sight of me"
The room was quiet, and everyone could feel tense glances looking back and forth between all assembled. Finally Zarya asked the question on everyones mind. "What did it see when it used the lock on us?"
Zenyatta grunted, and pointed to Lena and Lucio. "Those two he loved" He looked amongst the rest of them. "He seemed to like you all a bit too. Not as much as Lucio and Lena but enough"
"Why those two, alliteration?" Angela asked.
"Just trust me on this" he replied shortly. Angela frowned, and shared a concerned look with Lucio. Zen had always been calm, and never short tempered. But this had rattled him badly, ever since he had got the new body, people felt like he was getting angrier and angrier. Zarya wisely chose to move it along.
"Okay, so we have made first contact. We're far ahead of where we originally would have been. Now the question is, does the plan change?"
"I hope so" Lucio said. Angela began to settle back into the meeting. The composition was common, often Zenyatta would quietly muse in the background while her, Zarya and Lucio decided on the plan, with Zarya usually having the most clout in deciding the plan. Zenyatta rarely spoke, but when he did it was worth listening to. Lucio continued "It's so much more closer than we thought it was. Going camping in -30 weather to find a machine that's practically next door is ridiculous" Angela and Zarya agreed. The original plan to make expeditions from the lodge outside in the dark cold to find the omnic had been thankfully dashed, and now they could sleep within the warm confines of the lodge. Angela spoke next.
"We could set up a rota, 5 of us each pulling a 5 hour shift searching for the omnic and reestablishing contact and communications. If it likes us then it might even come to us" When Angela said that Zenyetta looked down at his feet, and Angela swore in her mind at her insensitivity.
Lena shook her head, and the four were pulled out of their established clique and turned to look at the outsider. "You're forgetting, it didn't see Reinhardt"
Zarya turned to Zenyatta. "Well? If it was to look would it like what it sees?"
"I wouldn't know" Zenyatta sighed. "I never got a good look at him when I could. But frankly, Herr Wilhelm spent a lot of time destroying other Bastions" Reinhardt shifted uncomfortably as Zen looked at him. "I wouldn't risk it"
"That's four then" Zarya said quickly. "Me, Lucio, Lena and Angela. Four over 24 hours, that means six hours per person" She said it with a bitter taste in her mouth. All of them had the proper equipment to be conducting searches in the dead of the polar night, where the temperature could drop below -30 Celsius. But Lena and Lucio would have to take the shifts when the sky hinted at a morning, when the sun almost breached the horizon and things were somewhat warmer. Lucio could skate over the snow on specialised hard light shoes fitted just for that purpose, Lena could use her blinking affects and Angela could fly. But still.
"Splitting Up" Zarya said. "Are we sure we want to do that? It's not just the Omnic out there that's the problem"
Angela grimaced. She knew how to treat cold inflicted ailments, but they were far from pleasant. Her uncle had lost a finger to frostbite during a mountaineering attempt on Mount Blanc and had heard first hand how horrendous it was. She pressed her teeth together.
"We all need to bring flares, emergency tents, blankets, heaters, food. Everything. We need someone alert at all times to be able to respond" she said, and Zarya nodded.
"I agree. To put it simply, I won't be fast enough to reach them quickly."
"Then one of us three will have to be here at some point on lifeguard duty" Lucio said.
"And, someone here is going to have to take the night shifts-" Zarya's voice was immediately drained out by Lucio, Lena and Angela immediately declaring themselves best for said duty. Rolling her eyes, she pointed at Angela.
"Yes!" Angela shouted. "Two to one!"
"I'll be taking the night shifts to" Zarya continued. "I have experience in these sort of places. I won't be able to make it as far as you guys in your shifts, which means I'll just have to be extra thorough" she nodded amongst the group, and hid her smile as best she could. They were enthusiastic, bright and happy to get started, just as she liked them. Their willingness to put themselves forward for the hardest necessities and their wish to out hero each other was almost adorable to Zarya. They only problems were Zenyatta and Reinhardt, the latter whom harrumphed and spoke up
"I'll just like to say" He began. "I refuse to be a dead weight. I'll be quartermaster. You have a problem with the equipment you come talk to me" Angela felt as though that was pointed towards her. "I'll also be distributing the emergency equipment. We are well stocked from the old plan, won't be a problem"
"Thank you Reinhardt" Zarya replied. She looked around her team. "Let's get started" she turned to Lena and Lucio. "You two can decide amongst yourselves who goes out first. Whoever isn't can stay back and make sure their equipment is top-notch. Reinhardt, you said you would be happy to see to that?"
Reinhardts smiled. "My pleasure"
"Good"
Angela spoke "I was wondering if it could be good to go with Lucio? Double the range"
"No. For the time being, we start slow and then branch out. You should sleep."
"I can keep going!"
"Yes. But why? If you're sleep deprived you won't be as perceptive. Stay behind this time and look after the equipment, then sleep. You'll need it for the night shift"
With that, she looked around the group and felt a small glow of happiness at the progress made. "Everyone understand?"
The sounds of affirmation went around the room. Angela moodily agreed, but felt the rebellious pull to the forge to finish up on her work. She did just that as Zarya dismissed them.
One by one the members left the room to their respective duties, until on Zenyetta was left in the room with Zarya, waiting his chance to leave.
"No" Zarya said as she closed the door before he could leave. Zarya gave him a sympathetic look, and motioned to sit back down in the chair he had sat in.
"We need to talk"