Hana directed the suit around and looked at her companions. They seemed momentarily lost for words, perhaps trying to decide their next move. It was at that point that Hana realised she didn't even know why they had come to Hanamura. Presumably to save McCree? When they were talking in the cell earlier he'd said that no one knew he was alive. Clearly that was not the case.

Mercy kept stealing glances back toward the cell, as if trying to make a decision about something. Maybe she had been closer to the dead man, Junkrat, than the others.

'Come on, we have to keep moving.' Tracer had stolen some goggles from a nearby guard, who lay dead. She took his jacket too, and tussled her hair. She didn't look like someone who had just been fighting for her life.

McCree turned to Hana. 'Would you like to come with us?'

Hana shook her head, then realised no one had noticed. The MEKA suit was so distracting many people didn't even realise she was visible through the protective visor.

'No thank you. There's someone I don't want to leave behind.' She fumbled in the compartment of the MEKA suit and found a small security pass, which she passed to McCree after opening the visor. 'Here. If you use this you can connect to the South Korean international station. The line is still open, and I'm the only one who monitors it. It's safe from the Japanese, and the omnics. Mostly.'

'Mostly sounds promising.' McCree tucked the pass away in a pocket. 'Thanks. And good luck.'

'You too.'

She made a few quick movements with the controls and flew up into the air. The tightness in her chest eased off, and for the first time in a very long day she felt like she had some control again. Being in a MEKA suit was something truly special. She had strength, speed, the power of flight… she was bullet proof, practically indestructible, able to cut down a dozen enemies in an instant. It was like a second skin, but more comfortable than her own.

And this MEKA suit, summoned straight from the low-orbit space station, smelt fresh and new. She had forgotten how good they smelled when they had not yet been used. As she flew she configured the controls to her liking – extra sensitivity, inverse direction pads. It was just like playing a game. She'd been so good at games, before the Fallout. It was a shame now that she wouldn't have time to pick up her books before she had to flee the country. But there was no time for that. After she got Genji, she had to leave.

Vaguely, she wondered what Mercy and McCree and the others had been looking for. She'd never really asked.

Then, she wondered what a game based on her life would be like. Or based on the entire Fallout, with Omnics and monsters… they could call it Overwatch, based on the old organisation of heroes that she'd heard stories of when she was younger. That would be fun.

She stopped the thrusters when she was over Shimada Castle. Last time she'd seen Genji he was in the med-bay, but she suspected he would not be there anymore. She'd heard the warning alarms, and knew without doubt that someone had escaped. It could only be Genji. He was a cyborg now, the worst abomination imaginable. After he'd escaped he would have come here, looking for his father and that damn sword he loved so much.

Gently she lowered herself onto the roof, and released herself from the tight cockpit. She took one of the handguns from the outer casing, checked the charge. Still fully charged. That was good. She might need the automatic blaster to get out.

She crept carefully to the edge of the roof, then dropped down from her hands and landed on the ground below. The outer doorway was not locked. Once inside she followed the upper landing around the centre of the room, looking down. No sign of Genji, Hanzo, or their father. Just two guards looking extremely stressed. She dropped to her belly, trying to ignore the annoying squeak of her tight, insulated suit, and cupped her hands to her ears.

'…shot, in the middle of the study.'

'By who? We're in the middle of Hanamura. No, it's too crazy, I don't believe it.'

'You should. We'll be at the funeral tomorrow, mark my words.'

'Must've been his son. Hanzo. Now that Genji's dead he knew no one would contest him if he took his father's place.'

'That's a cynical way of looking at things.'

'No it's not. Hanamura's the most powerful city in the world now, all thanks to the General. They call him the Dragon for a reason.'

'They call him the dragon because it's a symbol of his house.'

'I heard it's because they had a spiritual connection to dragons. Or the sword above his desk was made with dragon scales. Something like that.'

'Bullshit. Anyway, the sword did him no good. The bullet passed right through his skull, and now both his sons are missing. The place is going to descend straight into chaos, you watch…'

Hana couldn't believe it. The general was dead! Both his sons were missing? Where was Hanzo? She might not like him very much at the moment, but the last thing she wanted was to find out that he was dead. Genji was only part human now, and if the General really was dead Hanzo was the closest she had to family…

She was about to get to her feet when she saw a shadow. It was rushing down the corridor that led to the General's office. It was faster than any man had any right to be, and it was carrying a blade in one hand and what looked like shuriken stars in the other. There was a flash of light, a flutter of shadow, and one of the guards looked down to see his weapon had been dashed out of his hand by the force of the shuriken. He looked up, noticed the agile shadow racing towards him.

It was already too late.

'I return to the fight!' the shadow called, as it leapt into the air and the blade shone in the lamplight. The shadow was Genji, his metallic skin sparkling as he twisted through the air. Hana had never been so impressed or so afraid of him in all her life.

The katana came down. The guard on the left went down with it. The other raised his fists but Genji kicked, and the force of his robotic leg sent the man hurtling back to slam into a wall. Genji stood over him, but did not finish the job. The man was already unconscious. Something about Genji's posture looked both triumphant and sad. He had been on the run for a long time, Hana realised, but now he was an enemy in his own home. It could not have been an easy position to find himself in.

'Genji!' Hana called.

He looked up, spotted her hiding behind the battlements. ' ! I am very, very glad to see you.'

She gestured to the stairs. 'I'll come down. We should talk.'

'We should. There is a lot for me to tell you. But Hana, you should know, I am not the man I was before. I have had my flesh melded with machine. I am disgraced. Now that I have my father's sword I will banish myself. Tonight is my last night in Hanamura.'

Hana took this in quickly. She had expected as much. 'I know you're a cyborg, I saw them doing it. I didn't know what they were planning. Before you escape we need to…'

The sound of shouting interrupted her words. More soldiers were hurrying into the hall of Shimada Castle. Hana was surprised, but the feeling didn't last long. Already tonight there had been break-ins, break-outs, abductions and assassinations. Hanamura would be crawling with soldiers. No doubt reinforcements were on the way from Tokyo as well.

Genji lifted his sword in a defensive stance. 'Go, Hana. They do not need to know you were here. Tell my father you had no part in it. Get free before…'

'Your father is dead.'

Genji's eyes widened. One of them glinted red. New optic fibres? Lenses that allowed him to see… what? Infra-red? Tactical green? Fear? He was a cyborg now. Who knew what abilities he had been given.

'The bloodstains in the study…'

'He was shot, apparently.' Hana's voice felt suddenly very small. 'I'm… I'm sorry.'

'Hana, I…'

Genji never got to finish his sentence. The guards entered the room and opened fire. Genji dived for cover behind a pylon as bullets flashed and skittered off the floor around him. He did not have long. Could not possibly escape this many enemies.

Hana pressed a button on her bracelet.

'Go! Get out of here!' Genji shouted. But she had already made her decision.

The MEKA suit shattered the section of the roof above and crashed down to earth below. It thudded to land, not beside Hana, but between Genji and the soldiers. They all stopped firing, stood back in fear and surprise.

'Climb aboard!' Hana pressed a button on her bracelet and the back of the suit opened up. Genji did not hesitate. He crawled inside and it closed behind him. Hana continued to direct the armour's movements. It turned, aimed itself back up at the roof, and thrust up into the air. Hana grabbed hold of it's foot as it passed by her, and swung up through the hole in the roof so that they all landed together.

Genji climbed out, looking a little shell-shocked.

'That machine is… incredible.'

Hana smiled at him. She was one with the machine in so many ways that a compliment for it was like a compliment directly to her. But it was more than that to Genji. Perhaps he knew that some of the MEKA tech had been used to program his own limbs; perhaps he knew that the MEKA was the only reason he was not overrun by the Omnic virus.

She put her hand on Genji's chest, sensing his insecurity as easily as she sensed her own. 'This machine is incredible.'

He smiled. 'Thank you.'

They might have stayed like that for longer, but more alarms were whirring through the air, and they could already hear the guards rushing after them. Hana had managed to escape without killing anyone this time, but she did not know how much longer her luck would last. The sun would be rising soon, and no doubt General Shimada's closest lieutenants were already being roused to take command. Soon the air force would be patrolling the skies and the streets would be on full lock-down, if they weren't already. The time to escape Hanamura was now. She might not get a second chance.

'How did you get to be… here?' Genji asked, dumbfounded. 'How did this… happen?'

Hana thought of all the things she could say… from the moment she had seen Genji carried on a stretcher from the warship, her disagreement and fight with Hanzo, her time in the cell with McCree, her rescue at the hands of Mercy, Reaper, Tracer, the murder and abandonment of Junkrat...

There was no time. And besides, Genji would not be interested. He did not know or care about those strangers. He needed to get out of Japan before it was too late. There would be time later to discuss the details, to make plans.

She stepped into the MEKA suit. 'I'll tell you later. For now, grab hold of the suit. Do you think you can stay aboard?'

Genji's robotic hand clamped around the edge of one of the MEKA suit's protective plates. 'I can hold on for hours. There's no muscle left, just wires and pistons.'

'Good. I'll stay within the atmosphere. The thrusters will burn out pretty quick, but it's a new suit, we should be able to reach the mainland.'

'The mainland of what?' He asked.

'Asia. From there we'll look for a vehicle you can use. Anything not overrun by Omnics.'

Hana was scared, but excited. It had been a long time since she'd left Japan; or at least a long time since she had been allowed out without the careful mandate of the Japanese military. This was a chance to fight the enemy, reclaim part of the world, and be independent. She had not had this kind of freedom in years. If the price was becoming a fugitive with Genji, it was worth it… wasn't it?

'Sounds good.' He nodded as they rose into the air, and the thrusters burned. 'How about we aim for Nepal?'

'Nepal? What's in Nepal?'

'The voice in my head lives in a monastery in Nepal.' Genji clung to the outside of the MEKA as they flew over the city. Hana turned to look at him through the visor. 'It's a long story.'