HQ was nestled atop the high, rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean – Junkrat had never thought much of it, except that he was fairly sure it was built there for a reason – it was hard to access without the right transport. Isolated, and a good defensive position. It also had a nice view.

He wasn't the type to waste time gawking at it, but if the weather was good he was partial to basking in the summer sun. The warmth was nice. Not as oppressive as the blazing heat of Oz, but pleasant in a way he'd only experienced on rare occasions, when a miracle occurred and the atmosphere of the outback finally balanced itself for a few brief hours and all the horrors and hardships of the land didn't seem quite so bad...

Why he should enjoy anything that brought back memories of the place he didn't know, it was impossible to untangle his contempt and inexplicably still lingering nostalgia. It was ingrained in him. Etched under his skin. Couldn't quite scratch it out even if he tried.

At least Hog seemed to share a similar feeling, since he too was prone to haunting the metal walkways and outlooks when the weather was at its hottest. Perhaps they were both creatures of the sun. He certainly detested the cold.

That was all irrelevant though, what captured Junkrat's interest this time was the ocean itself. He'd never much cared for it before, it was just a big load of water that you couldn't drink, and there were no shallow shores or beaches to explore, only deep blue water and steep cliffs, hardly inviting to a man with one leg. As his plan began to take shape however he marveled at how convenient it all seemed. He was overdue a bit of luck.

The omnic liked to meditate atop the cliffs, gazing out across the water as the sun shimmered on the horizon. Unfortunately if was fifty-fifty as to whether the cyborg would be with him or not. That, Junkrat was willing to admit, put a spanner in the works.

Dealing with the omnic took priority - while Junkrat didn't much like the cyborg he supposed he was technically still human and technically an ally, so killing him was not part of the plan... plus he'd be a right pain in the ass to take down given what he'd seen of his fighting prowess. Finding a time when he knew the omnic would be alone was key.

So it was that skulking about in the early morning became a pattern over the next week for Junkrat. As distractible as he was, he had a plan, and a dogged determination to see it through, enough to focus him on the immediate necessity of the task.

To say he was stealthy would have been a lie – he was too loud, too twitchy, and more than a little prone to talking to himself. However there were no rules against being any of those things regardless of how early in the morning it was, and there were only a select few about to see him. They didn't bother to ask what he was up to. If they considered his behavior peculiar, they shrugged it off. It was Junkrat, after all.

Eventually, he found himself rewarded. The omnic was alone.

Still, Junkrat hesitated.

The omnic sat with its back to him at the edge of the cliff, gleaming faintly in the orange light as the sun crept further over the horizon and bled out across the sea. It had not moved in the time he had been watching it.

It seemed all too inviting... what if the cyborg was lurking nearby? What if this was a trap, so temptingly laid out? But as he lingered out of sight he could detect nothing amiss.

Junkrat gnawed at his lip, letting out a small frustrated sound as he wrestled with his indecision.

This was the perfect opportunity, he couldn't let it slip through his finger... a quick shove, and down it would topple into the water, sinking to the dismal depths and far out of reach, never to be found... if anyone asked, Junkrat would deny having seen or heard anything. And things could return to how he liked them. The base would be safe again. Yeah, it was that easy...

Strengthening his resolve Junkrat abandoned his hiding spot and moved forward. He'd meant to move stealthily, but sadly that was not what he was built for. Whether it were the creak of his pegleg or the skitter of rocks tossed up by a clumsy step, something caught the omnics attention.

Junkrat froze, holding his breath, and slowly, ever so slowly, the bot turned to look at him.

They stared at one another for a moment. Or rather, Junkrat suspected it was staring, it was a tad hard to tell when it didn't have eyes.

Then, as it so often did, it raised a hand in its silly little circular wave. "Greetings."

After a moment's hesitation Junkrat straightened up, sneering back at it. "Ya don't gotta play nice now, no one else here but you an' me."

"Ah, I see. Still, that would be no reason for me to be rude. It is a pleasant morning, is it not? Perhaps you would like to join me in my meditation?"

"What the fuck makes ya think I'd wanna do that?"

The omnic shrugged. "You seem to carry a lot of anger with you, a chance to focus on relaxation and clearing your mind would do you good."

"No way I'm lettin' ya mess with me mind, ya hear? I'm not stupid," he growled.

"Of course not," the omnic replied pleasantly enough, though there was a subtle shift in its robotic tone, something that suggested it had its doubts. "What can I help you with then?"

Junkrat scowled, weighing up the possibility of a tactical retreat. He'd wasted nearly a whole goddamn week waiting for the right moment though, and he was itching with impatience, he wasn't sure he had it in him to go back to quiet plotting without accidentally causing something explosive when his irritability reached new heights. Best to settle it now. The thing was sitting so close to the edge it was impossible to resist.

"Don't want your help," Junkrat told it plainly, striding closer, "I know what ya are. Know what your kind is. Know the sort of shit ya do. Ya ain't people, just like to act like it, act like ya got a soul when it's all rust and bolts, an' you can fool the rest but ya ain't foolin' me, ya hear?"

"And how would you measure a soul?" It asked. "How would you detect it, if I had one after all?"

"Don't need to, ya ain't human, just metal, and metal don't have a soul," Junkrat told it flatly, coming to a stop only a foot away. Even with his awkward posture he towered over the omnic, something he relished, though it did not seem to notice.

"I believe we must agree to disagree."

"Shut it, I ain't here to listen to some bag of bolts," he snapped.

"Then what are you here for?"

Junkrat opened his mouth to spill it all. To tell the bloody bot exactly what he thought, what he intended to do with it, how satisfying it would be to finally free himself from its presence...

Something caught his tongue though, and Junkrat struggled, stuffing down his anger, clenching and unclenching his hands as he sought somewhere to stow it. He scowled.

"The view," he grit out, meaning not a word, but it seemed to satisfy the omnic at least.

It nodded to him, and turned back to look over the sparkling water. "It is a very pleasant view."

Junkrat reached for the thing's shoulder and he shoved.

Or at least, he tried to.

Things happened in an odd sort of blur.

He was certain he made contact, but as he moved forward the thing seemed to shift its posture and despite his hand on its metal joint it twisted out of his grasp and added its own push to his momentum.

Suddenly Junkrat was off balance and careering forward. He tried to stop. His pegleg skittered uselessly on the rocks, his arms pinwheeled. It was too late though, and as he reached the cliff's edge and attempted desperately to backtrack his own weight pulled him over with a startled cry.

Oh bloody hell, fuck, no...

He twisted at the last second, lunging with his prosthetic arm. Whether he intended to grab the edge of the cliff or pull the blasted omnic down with him in a final moment of spite he didn't know, but he missed both.

And he was falling.

It was hard to process quite how royally he had fucked up in that moment. The sudden terror that seized him as he plummeted downward was far more all consuming than any self reflection.

He flailed on instinct, unable to find anything to snatch on his way as the rocks blurred past and the cliff's edge grew distant and looming and it dawned on him quite how far down he was and quite how much this was probably going to hurt-

Then he slammed into the water's surface.

The impact sent jarring pain shooting through his body, and he barely registered the cold or anything else in a flash of stunned silence. When, finally, his brain caught up he found to his horror that he was still falling. Sinking, more accurately.

And there was no air. There was no fucking air, and metal sank, metal sank, and half of him was bloody well metal and he could feel himself being pulled down even as his frantic fingers clawed for the surface. His heart was pounding. He wanted to scream, he wanted to shriek at his own stupidity, but as air slipped unbidden from his lips he clamped his mouth shut and tried to ignore the increasing burning of his lungs.

Needed to think, needed to think, couldn't fuck up again now...

He fumbled with the straps of his pegleg, attempting to loosen it, but his hands were shaking and the saltwater stung his eyes and he saw little more than indistinct shadows in the growing dark. Junkrat tried to steady himself but he couldn't fight panic flooding his veins. Movements that should have been easy were clumsy and useless. He couldn't free himself. He couldn't, he couldn't, and he was still sinking...

He clawed at the straps in a frenzy, digging painfully at his skin but to no avail, the effort only left him exhausted. His strength was waning fast and it was not something he could afford to lose.

Giving up on that avenue he turned his attention back to the surface. It was more distant than ever, a faint light impossibly far above.

He could feel the pressure bearing down on him. He could feel the mounting pain in his chest as he fought his own desire to breathe, swallowing convulsively but refusing to open his mouth.

His head throbbed. He felt tired. His arms wouldn't move right, reaching feebly upward as he continued to try to pull himself out of the depths despite the futility of the action.

Junkrat couldn't even understand the pointlessness of it anymore. All that mattered was that he did not want to die, and he'd fight tooth nail and claw toward whatever salvation presented itself. He forgot about his leg and his arm. He forgot about a lot of things. He forgot that he wasn't supposed to breathe.

The water seared his throat and it felt wrong, it felt so wrong, but as he attempted to cough it up and draw another breath he found nothing but more seawater rushing in.

Things were getting fuzzy. What was he trying to do again? He felt like there was something very important that he couldn't quite place, but he supposed that didn't matter. That was normal, after all. He was tired. Maybe he should just rest for a bit? It was easier that way... but he had to... what was it he had to do?


Light, and sound, and noise, and he was in agony, chest heaving as he coughed and spluttered and hurled and his body would not stop shaking. Junkrat did not understand. The fingers of his left hand twitched, and he thought he felt solid ground beneath them, rocks and dirt that he let himself dig into like he was clinging to the only tangible piece of the world.

The ringing in his ears was a bloody cat shriek, and he felt like there was a pressure in his head, a throbbing that would not go away. He drew one torturous breath after another, blinking rapidly as he attempted to make sense of his surroundings.

He appeared to be on his side. The view from there was not particularly interesting but he could make out a yellowish globe of light hanging above him, a pair of boots, and a larger, rather furry set of hands. After a moment mulling it over he decided that the boots were probably Soldier's, and that the monkey was the only one with hands that impressive.

It also occurred to him that he was lying down, and he very much did not want to be.

Junkrat struggled to sit, swaying slightly as a wave of dizziness hit him.

"Lie back down and keep still, Angela is on her way but you don't want to worsen anything before she gets here," a gruff voice warned him, and when he made no move to obey he felt a hand on his shoulder attempting to ease him back down.

Immediately he recoiled from it, a snarl at his lips, and he caught Soldier's expression of alarm before the dizziness hit again and he toppled over.

"Is he alright? Given, uh, the circumstances I mean?"

"Alright enough to disobey orders," Soldier muttered, but there was an underlying unease in his voice, something Junkrat was unfamiliar with.

Miserably he considered the situation from the position of the ground again. Nausea followed the dizziness, and as he tried to fight past both to find some measure of strength with which to bluff his way forward, a new realization hit him and he stiffened.

Where was the omnic?

He couldn't be lying down. He couldn't be laid out this pathetically while it hovered ominously outside of his vision, so blatantly weak, such an easy target. His skin crawled, a sickening certainty overtaking him as he hauled himself into a sitting position with fresh resolve.

"Um, maybe it's best if you just take it easy for now?" Winston suggested hopefully, and Junkrat elected to ignore him.

His head turned in a slow arc, and there it was, arms folded in its lap as serene as always, no expression on the metal mask of its face.

Junkrat stared it down, eyes narrowed to slits. A little of the menace was lost when he still trembled, his hair was plastered across his forehead, and he couldn't quite manage to focus his gaze, but his spirit at least was unwavering.

A clatter of footsteps approached and his view was cut off as the familiar form of the doc materialized before him, her concern evident.

"What's his condition?" she demanded, studying him carefully but making no attempt to touch him yet.

"He appears to have sustained minor fractures, a loss in body temperature, and there's a possibility he may have inhaled water, though he started breathing again shortly after he was recovered. It's possible he may be experiencing some degree of shock. I've done what I can to soothe his injuries but this isn't really my area of expertise," the omnic replied, and Mercy gave a nod of acknowledgement.

"Alright. Jamison, I'm going to have to check a few things which means I'm going to have to touch you, do you understand?"

"Yeah," he managed to croak, though he could not find it in himself to relax.

The omnic was all his mind wanted to revolve around. Because he didn't know why he was alive and not rotting at the bottom of the ocean, but he did know he'd just tried to kill the thing... and it knew. It bloody well knew.

All it had to do now was utter a few gentle words to the others and it was all over for Junkrat. It would take all this away from him, steal this place away and there was nothing left he could do… he'd played right into its hands.

He hated it. He hated it so much. Yet he was cold, and shaking, and the air felt raw and ragged and his seething hatred was sodden and muted by his own wretched state.

Junkrat barely paid any attention to Mercy as she got him to follow her directions, checking whatever it was that worried her. Nor did he know quite when the blanket around his shoulders got there, or when Roadhog arrived wheezing like he'd run a marathon.

He didn't care much about what everyone was saying, it was all just a wall of sound that contested with the ringing of his ears and a bone deep exhaustion he'd hoped never to experience again.

It was only when Soldier began questioning the omnic on what precisely had happened that his senses seemed to snap back into place. Too bright, too sharp, the edges of awareness felt jagged, but he could not allow himself to miss this.

Tension returned to his shoulders.

"He was admiring the view when I came up, I fear I must have startled him for he lost his balance and fell. It was entirely my fault," the omnic said smoothly, hanging its head low as if with guilt. "I should have left when I realized he was here."

"You're sure that's what happened?" Soldier asked.

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

Soldier sighed. "No reason. But I trust your word, and you shouldn't blame yourself. It was an accident, and you called for assistance as soon as it happened. Fawkes may well have slipped even without you here and then no one would have known before it was too late."

"That would have been most unfortunate. Perhaps it is best if he remains inside for a time?"

"Not a bad idea," Soldier agreed readily.

It didn't make sense. Junkrat couldn't make head or tail of the situation. Why had the omnic lied? What could it possibly stand to gain? It had Junkrat pinned, one word would quickly condemn him, he'd just tried to shove it off a cliff and yet here it was covering for him...

It had to want something. Maybe it drew some sick satisfaction from this, from knowing it held something over him, from putting him in its debt... but Junkrat didn't believe in debt, and he sure as fuckin' hell refused to owe anything to a bot... the only thing he was giving that rust bucket was a frag to the face.

His breathing was picking up, agitation swirling inside was he tried to collect his thoughts enough to think, to bloody think of a way out… nothing made sense, nothing ever made sense here...

He didn't think he blacked out, not exactly, but he wasn't sure how much time had passed when he found himself in the medical ward.

Wasn't the first occasion he'd found himself missing a chunk of time, but at least he felt confident it couldn't have been long because his hair was still damp. He felt warmer though. And calmer. Some piece of his mind must have settled itself during whatever period had passed.

He was also back in one of those stupid beds that he'd spent so long fighting to get out of, and he let out a groan at the realization. "Shit... didn't wanna be back here for at least a month..."

A snort sounded to his right. "It's yer own fault."

Junkrat sat up. He turned a haughty look to Roadhog. "And how'd you know, eh? Were ya watchin'? What if I told ya the bloody bot pushed me?"

Roadhog just stared at him. There was an accusation in that look that made Junkrat uncomfortable, had him fidgeting about and glancing elsewhere. Hog had told him not to do this again, to fuck up badly enough his life hung in the balance, and yet he'd gone and done it anyway cos he just couldn't help himself…

What if no one had pulled him out? Pretty dull way to cark it, he'd always wanted to go out with a bang, not at the bottom of the ocean… Maybe he should have told Hog, let him in on the plan… why hadn't he? Cos he wanted to fix his own mess for once? Why the fuck should the details matter? Weren't they supposed to be a team? Or was he fucking that up too?

Too much to think about, it didn't matter, but he wasn't gonna let the big lug guilt trip him.

Junkrat jabbed a finger in his direction. "Don't ya think you can hide behind that mask, pig face, I know ya givin' me that look, an' I know what ya thinking, and I don't appreciate it!"

"Ah, Jamison, talking again are we?" Mercy's pleasant voice interrupted as she drifted over.

Junkrat scowled, huffed, and somehow managed to find his grin. He flashed his teeth, straightening up and attempting to look as healthy and uninjured as possible despite any protests his body may have. "Yeah, can't deprive the world of me wonderfully soothin' tones, right? Would be a proper tragedy. So, doc, what's the news? Tell me I ain't gonna have to stay here."

"Thankfully not," she said with a smile, "the internal scans are all coming back fine and you seem to have regained some of your... natural energy, so there's no need. You really should take better care of yourself though. You're still recovering, try to remember that."

"Course."

"And if you ever need me outside of your regular checkups feel free to stop by, or request an appointment, no more jumping off cliffs, please."

"Pfft, nobody appreciates drama," Junkrat stage whispered to Roadhog, swinging his legs off the bed. He was a little wobbly at first but quickly found his balance, the various aches and pains that plagued him being more than easy to deal with. With a friendly wave to the doc he limped off, Roadhog at his heels.

"What happened?" his larger partner asked when they were out of earshot. He was still peeved, Junkrat judged, but he'd known him long enough that he could tell the feeling was quickly mellowing to exasperation now that Junkrat was moving around on his own again.

"Still tryin' to figure that one out," he muttered, fussing with his hair. It kept flopping in his face with none of its usual wild spring, and the salt water had done something weird to it. It was damp, and it felt wrong, and the more he fretted over it the more irritated he became.

"Stop that," Roadhog warned, "gonna get yourself caught."

He looked pointedly at Junkrat's prosthetic hand, which was busy trying to wrangle some sense into his blond locks.

Junkrat, in turn, stuck his nose in the air. "Shut it, I know what I'm doin'."

He did indeed get his hair caught in the joints of his prosthetic hand, and freeing himself was a painful and largely humiliating process. All the while he knew Hog was wearing that smug 'told you so' look under his mask, which did not improve matters.

"Said you're trying to figure it out," Roadhog said, once Junkrat was mostly done and simply picking at the loose hair still sticking out of the joints of his fingers. "Can't remember or don't know?"

Junkrat paused, glancing both ways to check they were alone. He beckoned Hog closer. Once the giant bent to lend him his ear Junkrat told him, "tried to shove the bot off the edge, only it did some... weird twisty shit an' I ended up goin' over instead."

Hog considered this for a moment. "The bot said you slipped."

"Yeah," Junkrat muttered, expression doubtful, "that's the bit I'm tryin' to figure out..."


((Sorry updates haven't been frequent, but yeah I'm still going with this and cheers for sticking around! Also a big thanks to those who dropped reviews, always makes me feel better to know people read this and hear what they think. On another note, I've just seen the new Moira dance emote and it's the dumbest thing, I think I'm still in shock.))