Disclaimer: I own no franchise mentioned in this work. Halo belongs to 343, Overwatch belongs to Blizzard.
Sorry that it took so long to get this out. Got distracted by school and other projects. Will be a bit before another chapter, as usual, but such is the way that it is. Hope you all enjoy!
Tracer had been outside the atmosphere before, though it was only a couple times while she was testing equipment for the Research and Development team of Overwatch. When she had taken those trips, gravity had released its hold on her, giving her the freedom to reach speeds unparalleled in atmospheric flight.
Riding in the alien transport back to their ship in what seemed to be the weirdest kidnapping ever, Tracer noted the continued presence of gravity, though it felt different than it had on Earth. Considering the fact that the transport was property of interdimensional aliens that could travel between stars, it wasn't surprising to the agent that they possessed such technology.
While Tracer was fairly calm, she could most certainly not say the same of the other people in the enclosed space. Across from her sat the two junkers, which was concerning as it was. The lack of restraints did nothing to help that, though the two seemed content to stay in their current positions and refrain from bothering the Overwatch or Talon agents.
That was not to say that they were sitting still, however. The larger one seemed to be greatly interesting in the ship around them as he looked around. His buddy, on the other hand, was positively vibrating in his seat as he looked at the door that had closed behind the two alien warriors. Tracer could pick out mentions of explosives and some sort of shard in his mutterings, but she didn't even try to understand how those went together.
Taking up the bottom of the space were the two motionless bodies of Widowmaker and Sombra. Considering the danger the Talon agents could present, Tracer had concentrated on them rather than the junkers. Even after seeing the Green Warrior incapacitate them so easily, she was still extremely nervous about leaving them unrestrained.
Admittedly, if they were going into space, then there wasn't a lot that the terrorists could do. As clever as Sombra may have been and deadly as Widowmaker was, both lacked the capability of surviving in a vacuum without specialized equipment.
Tracer's attention was diverted away from the two as she felt a significant deceleration from the craft, indicating that they were probably approaching their destination, wherever that was. That assumption was proven correct a few short minutes later as a soft vibration came from the ship, something Tracer could easily recognize as a landing.
Several seconds passed, during which the sound of massive plates of metal moving could be heard. Once that noise had ceased, the two warriors emerged from the front of the transport, each towering about everyone else in the small space.
Both of the individuals ignored the attentive stares from the others in the compartment as they stepped past. The one with green armor took the lead as it reached out and pressed a button to the side of the back hatch. A hiss of pressurized air was audible as the seals broke before the slab of metal descended, allowing everyone to see the well lit plating that had sealed the entrance. Well, those who were conscious could see that Tracer amended as she nearly tripped over the prone forms of the Talon agents.
The Overwatch agent was distracted from the two bodies, however, as she noticed the strange alien motioning for herself and the junkers to follow. Surprisingly, the two Australians not only understood but obeyed the command as they walked by Tracer, with the large one giving her a long look before he followed his companion.
Slightly confused by the look, and a little creeped out by the mask that had given it, Tracer was nonetheless not intimidated by the large junker. Thus, she calmly took up the rear of the procession as the alien led them further into what had to be a complex of some sort. As they walked, the Overwatch agent noted the defensive construction of the vessel, with cover provided all over as well as thick doors that opened as they approached.
For interdimensional beings that could travel in the chaotic void Tracer had been trapped in without side effects, they sure seemed concerned about being attacked. That thought stayed in the forefront of Tracer's mind as the group of four reached what seemed like some sort of planning room. An odd table with what looked like a holographic projector provided the centerpiece of the room, with multiple screens set into the walls for additional viewing surfaces.
The alien seemed to content to simply watch them as they waited, at least that was what Tracer assumed they were doing. Once the green one arrived with Widowmaker and Sombra, they would probably be asking questions. What those questions might be was anyone's guess, albeit Tracer could assume that it would be related to their reality. Dimension. Time. Whichever one of those qualified.
After a short time, the large armored being entered the room as well. Most notable was that he was alone, meaning that the Talon agents were secured elsewhere in the facility, or wherever they were. Tracer had yet to see any indication of the outside world, and while the ground seemed fairly solid, the aliens had already proved themselves capable of gravity manipulation.
All of Tracer's attention, as well as that of everyone else in the room, quickly turned to the holotable at the center of the room as a blue figure appeared on top of it. A second passed before it spoke, "Hello, my name is Cortana. We have some questions that you might be able to answer."
"Have at it. I have some of my own," Tracer replied, not missing a beat.
"Of course, and we will do our best to answer those, but perhaps we can wait on that. Obviously your situation is slightly more unique," Cortana replied. From what Tracer could tell, it seemed like the hologram was similar to Winston's AI, Athena.
This side conversation was promptly ended as the smaller junker looked at the blue hologram with slightly crazed eyes and muttered, "The Blue one is with the Green one, all working with the Strange one. Exactly as the Orb said!"
At his partner's outburst, the larger junker shifted uncomfortably at the attention that was directed at the two from the others. When nothing else was said, Cortana prompted, "The Orb?"
"The ruins told him secrets. I guard the keeper on his journey. He has been looking for the answer, in his words. Hopefully this will finally shut him up," the large one stated in a rumbling growl.
Obviously, that answer was rather unsatisfactory to the AI as she looked back to the first junker and pressed, "You heard of our arrival from an Orb?"
The question caught the attention of the wild man as he calmed down slightly and replied, "Beneath the wastelands of the wop wops, in a place of metal and light. It saw your approach through the land of eleven folds. The Retriever is needed, and I have found him!"
"Nothing but trouble," the larger one grumbled as the aliens reacted to the explanation. Since one was completely different, the other was wearing a helmet, and the last was an Artificial Intelligence that could control its expression perfectly, there was no way for Tracer or anyone else to actually see what that reaction was.
"Huh." The soft exclamation of both surprise and confusion came from the AI on the holotable as it looked at the junker. She turned to her companions and added, "Certainly sounds Forerunner, which means that they must have built some way to go back and forth between here and the Ark. Wherever here is."
Before anyone else could respond to that, Tracer helpfully supplied, "You're at Earth. Well, were, now we're in your...thing." At the last word, the Overwatch agent waved her hand around the room, gesturing to the structure as a whole.
"That's not exactly what I meant, but thank you," Cortana responded, obviously amused at the information. "You seem slightly more coherent than the two 'junkers', as I believe they're called. Know anything about any alien ruins on the planet?"
"Nope, though Winston might. If he doesn't then I really wouldn't know. I do know that these two came all the way from Junkertown in the Australian Outback. Apparently there was some big stuff going on down there recently. No idea why they came to London, or how," Tracer replied, rambling slightly as she went on.
Of course, that was no issue for the AI to sort out as she responded, "Interesting. There's not much information from that far out, what with the irradiated wasteland and lack of any infrastructure. Sounds like the perfect place to look around."
There was no verbal response to this, though Tracer noted that the Green warrior shifted ever so slightly. She highly doubted that the junkers had caught the motion, as unfocused as they were, and she had only seen it due to her natural proclivity towards fast movement. Had to be able to see what was coming when she blinked around, after all.
"After we know all we can, perhaps," the unknown alien said, speaking for the first time. Everyone in the room looked at the being as it continued, "If they surrendered to the Demon because of a Monitor, then there must be a reason for it to desire our presence." The last statement obviously referred to the junkers, though neither of the two seemed to acknowledge that.
"Once we know more is a good qualifier. After Spark, I'm not sure that dealing with a Monitor is advisable, especially with our limited supplies. I would like to avoid that if at all possible," Cortana responded, annoyance tinging her tone, much to Tracer's surprise.
Seeing an opportunity to jump into the conversation, the Overwatch agent spoke, "No idea what you lot are concerned about, but I've been around a few times. More reliable than those two or the Talon agents you brought along."
When the golden visor turned to observe her, Tracer couldn't help but fidget slightly. There was no emotion there, nothing to respond to and no way to tell what the warrior was thinking. Memories of her ordeal after testing the Slipstream jet came to mind, though Tracer quickly pushed them to the side before they could affect her.
Luckily, the AI on the holotable distracted her once again as it replied, "Probably true. You seemed to handle yourself well in a fight, or at least well enough to survive it."
"Of course, hard to be an Overwatch agent if I can't deal with a little roughing around," Tracer stated with a bit of pride.
The little blue avatar seemed to perk up at that as she inquired, "You're associated with Overwatch?"
"Quite well known for it too," the agent answered. "Surprised you couldn't figure that out."
Cortana appeared slightly irked at that as she countered, "I would have, eventually. No matter how much processing power I have, however, I am limited in my search for information by the few connections to your networks that can be accessed through the ionosphere. Even if I could get a solid connection, I still couldn't go through the entire knowledge of a species in such a short time."
"I saw mentions of Overwatch, and I looked into the organization, but I was not aware that there were still active cells. Whoever is hiding your tracks is doing a good job, provided the investigation only skims the surface. Why are you still active?" the Intelligence asked.
Tracer had felt pride for Cortana's praise of Winston, but she quickly directed her attention to Cortana's question. It took her a few seconds to formulate a reply that would make sense to someone that didn't really know anything about the state of the world. It was certainly a challenge that Tracer had never faced before, as everyone usually knew what was going on thanks to the news.
"Sounds like you're short on information, so I'll tell you what I can," Tracer began. When no argument came, she continued, "Overwatch was formed during the Omnic Crisis as a united organization to defend all countries. After that was done with, we continued to help as we could, countering the enemies of peace on every front."
"After a while, though, people forgot what it was like before Overwatch was created. There were protests against the collateral damage from fights, issues with funding from countries who felt they didn't need us anymore, and infighting between members. It all came to an end when the Overwatch Headquarters was destroyed, though not much is known about how or why, even by those of us still around."
Tracer sighed as she thought back to that time and explained, "In its prime, we were the defenders of the world, with nearly limitless resources and an army of heroes. After the Fall and the Petras Act, our numbers slowly fell as people became disheartened. There aren't many of us left now, only a few new recruits along with the most devoted veterans. We do what we can to stop trouble where we see it, but there's only so much we can do."
"Our biggest enemy is Talon, a group devoted to destroying any progressive relations between humans and Omnics. Apparently they want to make Humanity stronger through conflict or something like that, at least according to someone Winston knows. Those two that you defeated earlier are both Talon operatives, some of their best in fact," the Overwatch agent told them.
Cortana easily processed the information and had already begun further investigation into the group as she questioned, "Why is this Petras Act enforced by some private security firm?"
"Had a little run in with Helix, or just see them on the web?" Tracer asked with a bit of amusement.
"They mistook us for Overwatch agents and tried to arrest us. Since we're a foreign entity and cannot obtain legal representation for our case without revealing military secrets, that outcome was unacceptable. Unluckily, that reason was insufficient to prevent a skirmish," Cortana replied.
Tracer nodded and agreed, "They get paid for any Overwatch agents they bring in. As if dealing with the enemy wasn't enough, the very people we're trying to protect have it out for us as well." A distinct hint of bitterness was evident in her tone at that comment.
"Getting involved in a foreign conflict is not our objective, but if they insist on interfering then there is little choice," the AI muttered thoughtfully.
"Bad news for you on that front, luv. They'll be coming after you any chance they get since you took out one of their squads. Bit of a catch, can't get arrested cause there's no one to defend you, can't defend yourself cause it'll lead to your arrest. If you want to get home, Winston may know something. He built my chronal accelerator, can probably figure out a way to help you out," Tracer said, tapping the side of the glowing device on her chest as she did so.
Cortana seemed amused at that as she replied, "I would not be opposed to getting in contact with him, but I very much doubt that he will have the knowledge to help us. Creating a chronal anchor is impressive, but I assume that he has extensive experience with that technology. As far as I have seen, there have been few experiment with the slipstream, and most of those were done by the now-defunct Overwatch."
Tracer's surprise at that was obvious as she exclaimed, "I was part of some of those! Was called the Slipstream Jet, supposed to be the faster thing in the sky. It didn't go quite right, though."
"Obviously," the AI replied, gesturing to the Chronal Accelerator. "Experimenting with Slipspace, as we call it, is quite dangerous. Using a drive in the atmosphere is almost suicidal. You're lucky to have survived."
"I knew the risks. Still, Winston's the best bet you got at getting home. I'm sure he would just love to meet you," Tracer said. A few seconds passed as Cortana seemed to examine the Overwatch agent, causing Tracer to shift slightly under the attention.
Eventually, the AI seemed to reach some conclusion as she decided, "Might as well follow what leads we have. Our primary objective is returning home, however, not helping your world. We simply do not have the resources or support to do so."
"Be glad to have you, world could always more heroes," Tracer replied hopefully.
Cortana laughed slightly and responded, "People need their heroes, gives them something to smile about. That's your job, though."
"Winston thought you were a replacement for Overwatch. Some new United Nations program to help things return to normal. He doesn't know about..." the Overwatch agent trailed off, gesturing wildly with her hand to indicate everything around them.
"He knows just as much about us as we know about your world," Cortana replied. "Maybe a bit less since I've been surfing through the information I can get to."
The conversation between the two was interrupted as the alien being inquired, "What are Omnics?" He seemed to have a slightly difficult time pronouncing the word, though Tracer could still understand it well enough.
Cortana answered before Tracer could as the AI explained, "Basically Artificial Intelligences confined to humanoid platforms. They can move about and interact with humans and other organic beings, but they're still digital in nature. Apparently there's been significant conflict with them before, which is known as the Omnic Crisis. Tensions between humans and Omnics are on the rise, though I haven't looked into it too much since its a local problem."
When the AI looked at Tracer for anything she'd missed, the Overwatch agent added, "Many people think that peace between humans and Omnics is impossible. Talon is exploiting that for their own goals, regardless of who gets hurt on the way."
"So we were attacked by their two agents because they thought the Chief was an Omnic?" Cortana questioned as she considered the events on the ground.
Tracer glanced at the silent green figure and replied, "No idea about that myself, but they probably made the same mistake as we did in assuming that you were some new security force from the UN. Taking down a replacement for Overwatch would be a big victory for Talon."
"Guess our next conversation is with those two in that case. I will guide you to some bunking space that you can use. Thank you for your cooperation," the blue AI stated.
"Could I join you in your questioning?" Tracer asked.
The junkers appeared to have no interest in the conversation as they stood to leave. Cortana only spared them a glance before turning her attention back to Tracer as they waited for privacy.
"Stay out of trouble," Roadhog said as the two junkers exited the room. He sounded annoyed at the excitement of his companion, though it was hard to tell with the creepy mask covering his expression.
Before they left, Cortana turned to address the junkers, "Please don't try to steal anything. I'd hate to kill you after you worked so hard to bring us the information on the Monitor. If you need any supplies, just shout. I will hear you."
Cortana's voice called out from above to direct the two junkers down a branching passage just before the door closed. Tracer couldn't help but feel that it was really strange hearing the AI's voice without seeing her lips move.
The AI glanced over towards the golden visor as if asking permission after the junkers left. She seemed to get some sort of nonverbal answer as she looked back to the Overwatch agent and replied, "I don't have a problem with it. I imagine that they won't be forthcoming with information if you're there or not. Well, either that or lie, and you could help catch the second."
"Not much reason to trust me either," Tracer pointed out casually.
"You surrendered peacefully and have been cooperative. All the information you've given so far has been verified by the sources I have accessed. As far as I can tell, you didn't tell anyone about your little visit to the ship when we were in slipspace, or you weren't believed. Either way, it's appreciated. Trust may be taking it a bit far, but I am willing to take your advice into account relating to events on your world," Cortana responded.
That answer satisfied Tracer's curiosity as she stated, "I can accept that. As for telling anyone about you, I tried at first. Didn't get far though, I keep quiet about it now."
"No one believed you, when they knew so little about the slipstream?" the AI asked in slight confusion.
Tracer shrugged and answered, "I did sound a bit nutters. We don't know anything else about this slipstream place anyways since Overwatch was shut down anyways, so no one else has any experience."
"So you were sent out into the slipstream without any protection or other such precautions?" Cortana questioned critically.
"I was in a jet designed for the trip," the Overwatch agent argued. "Something went wrong with some teleportation matrix and I ended up stranded. At some point, I woke up in your, uh, room thing."
This amused the holographic AI as she responded, "It was our hangar. As for what happened, how many calculations were done to guide you through the slipstream?"
"Haven't got a clue. I was just told to fly the thing, not how it worked. It was supposed to take me from point A to point B almost instantly. Something about changing coordinates in three dimensions, though I think they forgot to account for time, hence the need for my Accelerator," Tracer explained.
"Right, well, I can give you a bit better than that," Cortana offered.
Tracer eagerly accepted, "Would love to hear it, luv."
"If the engineers and whoever else was working on the drive that allowed your craft to teleport only messed up whatever controlled your position in time, there would have been no issue. You might have been stuck somewhere, or rather, somewhen that you weren't meaning to go to, but that could be fixed easily. The problem is that time wasn't the only dimension that got left out in their calculations," the AI began.
"Slipstream space isn't some convenient little place to go to circumvent the laws of physics. A small distance such as one side of a planet to another might seem like instantaneous transport, but doing something like that requires extremely fine control of the mechanics that govern travel through the slipstream. Slipspace isn't just three or four dimensions like realspace, its a set of seven dimensions that overlay the standard three spatial and one temporal. Each must be accounted for when making a jump, making it nearly impossible for anything short of a computer to account for fluctuations in the drive field."
"That you safely entered the slipstream is impressive, as radiation emitted from highly radioactive material when entering slipspace will kill anything that is not properly shielded. The failure to account for field fluctuations is what caused the loss of your craft. Due to some rather unfortunate circumstances, our own slipspace drive was adrift and pulled you into its field when it encountered the unstable slipspace bubble that was created when you entered," Cortana explained.
Tracer interjected as she asked, "So you found me by luck?"
A small shrug was the only physical response from the avatar as the AI replied, "Our own knowledge of slipstream space is still limited. It might have been luck, it might have been some unknown property. Not much data is available to say since undirected slipspace jumps tend to end badly."
"So how are you here? Cool as it is, two versions of humans seems unlikely," the Overwatch agent pointed out.
"Remember that the slipstream is eleven dimensions. Usually, UNSC vessels maneuver through the standard spatial dimensions while using the laws of the slipstream to traverse interstellar space. Since our jump was made without coordinates, our drive followed you to here, wherever that is. It seems that some temporal drift occurred, however, probably due to the lack of any set coordinates from your own jump," Cortana responded.
"Which doesn't seem to concern you that much," Tracer commented.
Cortana waved off the concern as she retorted, "It happens. The point is that we followed you here unintentionally and would like to go home, which requires coordinates to do so. More specifically, some set of coordinates from our own existence."
"What? Like a different universe or something?"
"Call it that if you like. Some different dimension of the slipstream that allowed us to arrive here," the AI replied.
It took a second for Lena to process that before she inquired, "How could we help you at all? You can travel across time and space, and apparently the multiverse as well."
"Well, yes, but it isn't something we can control. Entering random coordinates gets us nowhere sensible, so something else would need to pull us to the location. In this case, that was you. We now need something else to pull us back, hence our questions," Cortana explained.
"So it is. I don't know anything about that, but might as well ask the Talon operatives," Tracer suggested.
Cortana nodded at that as she stated, "That was our next line of inquiry."
"Let's get to it then." The Overwatch agent jumped up, ready to confront the two enemy operatives that had been captured by these people.
With that, the blue avatar disappeared, leaving the holotable clear of any indication of her presence. The dull thuds of armored boots against the metal plating of the floor drew Tracer's attention to the alien and green giant as the two made their way towards the exit.
The two larger figures seemed to have no trouble knowing where they were going as they easily made their way through the corridors. Even though it only took a couple minutes to reach their destination, Tracer still couldn't help but wonder exactly where they were.
From what little she knew, her assumption had been that this had been a ship of some kind, as there was no way that some facility on the dark side of the Moon or something like that. Not unless the intelligence agencies had become so lax that they no longer had their satellites checking that particular blind spot as they had during the days of Overwatch. The sheer size of the vessel must have outclassed anything any organization on Earth had ever built, however, going by the number of passages.
Even then Tracer knew that there must be much more to a ship of this size. Her memories of her ordeal in the slipstream were fuzzy, especially since she had been trying to forget them for so long, yet she still remembered looking around the massive hangar before seeing the golden visor. It would be safe to assume that the metal in that place was the same type as here, yet if that room was on this ship, then the full craft would have to be close to a building in size.
All the power that was needed for the lights, AI core, and other things would be provided by some type of generator, probably nuclear or something such as that that would last for a long period of time. Then there would be weapons, living quarters, utilities, and a whole bunch of other things that needed space.
Figuring out what she was dealing with in regards to these people would have to wait until later, however, as the group of three stepped into the brig. As advanced as these aliens were, Tracer was surprised at how simple their prison block was. Instead of complex mechanisms or energy shielding that could be disabled easily, each of the four cells was sealed off by a large slab of metal, functionally identical to the rest of the ship's materials.
"Opening Cell One," Cortana called out as one of the doors began to slide up into the ceiling. One look at the gap left in the floor was all Tracer needed to be properly impressed by the security of the holding block.
Instead of having some silly system that could be hacked into or physically forced open, each cell was closed off by what looked to be about six inches of metal, though it was impossible to tell if that plate was solid or not. Either way, there was no possibility of Sombra getting into the system, since even the most skilled hacker simply didn't have the hardware access that an AI would have. Thus, the only way to open a cell would be if an AI approved it, or perhaps a command from the bridge if not that.
Tracer had deduced the electronic measures by the fact that Sombra herself had been standing at the door, probably trying to figure out a way out of her predicament. Any hope she had of escaping due to her captors incompetence was quickly dashed as the alien in silver armor wrapped a hand around her neck, its large fingers easily encompassing the infiltrator's slim throat.
The group and its unwilling follower wasted no time in arriving in a different room, this one equipped with a small pedestal with a holographic projector on the top. While not as large as the holotable from before, the avatar that Cortana favored easily fit onto its surface.
Sombra probably would've been fascinated by the opportunity to examine such an AI had she not been desperately attempting to loosen the grip around her neck. Much to Tracer's amusement, the Talon agent was making no progress against the simple physical strength of the massive alien. Apparently having a hand around her throat seemed to make the hacker hesitate to launch a cyber attack on her captor, probably since the being looked like he could easily crush her esophagus with little effort.
"Arbiter, if you would," the AI prompted, getting a glance in return before the alien released its grip.
Sombra stumbled slightly at the sudden release, gasping down air as her hands massaged the soft skin around her neck. While no bruises were visible at the moment, Tracer was fairly sure that they were on the way, especially if she predicted the hacker's intention to attempt a breakout correctly.
Cortana gave little thought to the status of the hostile as she began, "You will tell us who you are, who you work for, why you attacked us, and give us any other information that comes up from those questions. Before you try your suicidal plan, know that the Elite behind you is more than willing to burn your internal organs to ash by way of plasma if you do anything stupid. Oh, also, don't lie, you won't like the results."
"Why are you after me? She was the one shooting at us," Sombra said in what passed as a convincing tone.
"You shot at us first. Stop lying..." the AI countered easily, sounding rather bored with the whole thing.
Sombra scoffed and argued, "What, you believe her over me?! Overwatch is illegal for a reason. We were just doing what Helix could not."
Cortana eyed the girl for a second before rolling her eyes and, with a tone of boredom that Tracer could never equal, ordered, "Chief, break her arms."
Tracer's eyes went wide as the green armored giant took a step forward without hesitation.
You can thank the Doom 2016 OST for this chapter. I have no idea why or how that music managed to inspire this chapter, but myeh, whatever. A chapter is a chapter.
-evevee
