A/N: Okay so apparently this site is hyper-vigilant about removing anything it thinks is a link, so there may be blank spaces where it's supposed to say D[Va]. If you come across any of that just read the blank space as Hana's name.
Hana spent the next several days learning the ins and outs of her new gang. Most of the Junkers were surprisingly civil to her, maybe because she was a teenage girl, although some were still kind of dicks. There were about thirty of them in all.
She'd taken Boss' advice and chosen a nickname for herself. She settled on her old eSports username, "DVa". The Junkers seemed to find it funny rather than intimidating like most of theirs, but she didn't really care. Besides, it was better than being stuck with a name like "Junkrat".
"Hey, DVa!" A grating voice roused her early one morning. "Deevs! Wake up!"
She rolled her eyes before even opening them. Reluctantly sitting up on her cot, she was greeted by the sight of Junkrat outside the bars of her "bedroom". He was shifting his weight back and forth from his normal leg to his peg leg and giggling as usual.
"What?" Hana's tone could not have been any less cordial.
"Today's yer big day!"
"They're finally gonna build me the soundproof walls I asked for?"
That spurred more laughter from Junkrat. "Just c'mon out! You'll see."
Hana leaned over the side of the bed. Rubbing her eyes, she cast a glance over into the scrap-of-chrome-turned-mirror she'd installed on the wall. Her eyes looked sunken into their sockets these days. She wasn't entirely sure why she even bothered with a mirror, in all honesty – it wasn't like she could be assed applying makeup or anything anymore. She used to get so elaborate with it, even painting pink stripes on her cheeks as part of her signature look when she livestreamed. Nowadays the only signature look she had was "post-apocalyptic teenage greasemonkey".
She slept in her clothes, so her morning routine took practically no time at all. She was up and ready in a matter of a few minutes. Junkrat, who was still waiting outside her cell, visibly brightened when she opened the cell door and leveled him with an apathetic stare.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! No more waiting!" He hopped down the long hall of cells. Hana wandered after him, still yawning. It was tough to get a decent night's sleep on a prison cot. Still beat sleeping out in the wastes, though.
Junkrat eventually led her to the dining hall. To Hana's surprise, everyone was already up and hanging around it. For the most part they weren't eating – they looked like they were waiting for something. A buzz of chatter arose from the group when Hana and Junkrat strolled through the doorway. Suddenly, Hana realized, all eyes were on her.
"So." The crowd parted to let Boss through. She was smiling, a rare occurrence from Hana's experiences with her. "You've been with us for a full week now."
Had it been a week already? The days really flew by when you spent most of them either sleeping or trying to find a place to pee where no one was watching you.
Hana's lack of response did not seem to deter Boss from continuing her monologue. "We've been taking it easy on you, but as of today you're going to start pulling your weight around here. First step to that is…" She fanned one arm out, encompassing the ragtag group around her. "Choosing a partner for scavenging runs."
"Scavenging runs?"
"We go in pairs. Comb the Outback for anything and everything that could be useful to us. We can make something useful out of even the junkiest of junk. Where do you think we got our name from?"
Hana had a sudden, hazy memory of her school days. She was always scrambling to find a partner for group work when the teacher called for it. The downside of not having very many real-life friends.
She immediately looked to Junkrat, who shook his head. "Sorry Deevs." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Roadhog had appeared behind him without Hana even noticing. "I'm a taken man."
That same sinking feeling from her school era began to gnaw at her stomach. She glanced about the crowd of unfamiliar Junkers. Sure she'd spoken to most of them a time or two, but she didn't really know them – and how was she supposed to know who already had a partner? What if they didn't want to be paired up with DVa the Newbie?
"…Who's available?" she asked Boss, trying to pretend the suddenly-quite-intimidating group of Junkers around the other woman didn't exist.
Boss laughed. "Why don't you ask them? Hey, who needs a partner for scavenges?"
The Junkers all murmured amongst themselves. Shrugs and headshakes all around seemed to give off the impression that nobody needed a partner. Hana sighed. "I can just go by myself. I mean, I have my mech. That kind of counts as a partner, right?"
"Uh-uh, no way. What kind of boss would I be if I sent you out there all alone, with no one to return your valuables to us if you get yourself killed? I'm not letting that mech rot somewhere because you got eaten by a mutant dingo."
And here Hana had thought Boss was actually looking out for her. Rookie mistake, she guessed.
"Okay, well, I guess you're gonna go in a group of three then. How about you – hey, wait a minute." Boss fixated on a Junker near the back of the room. Hana stood on her tiptoes to try to see who she was addressing, with little success. "I know you don't have a partner. I always see you sneaking out by yourself."
"Who's she talking to?" Hana whispered to Junkrat.
With his extra height he was presumably able to see them clearly. He leaned down to her and said, in a poor excuse for a whisper, "I don't know their name. They never talk to anyone here."
"Maybe describe them?" Her whisper grew sharper, laced with slight annoyance.
Before Junkrat could answer her, Boss spoke up again. "Okay DVa, this'll be your new scavenging partner. Maybe you'll actually get them to talk to you, 'cause they sure as hell don't want to talk to me or anyone else here, seems like."
The other Junkers moved aside as one stepped out from the crowd. Hana's eyes widened at the sight of the Junker she'd seen in a cell her very first day there. The one with the gas mask and the sniper rifle.
Boss waved a hand at the strange Junker, who kept their covered eyes fixed on Hana. "So here's your new partner. This…person." With a shrug, she added, "I don't know their name or jack shit about them. We call 'em The Wastelander because they look like they came out of one of those post-apocalypse movies."
The Wastelander moved to stand before Hana. Hana realized in that moment that they were about the same height. It felt a bit odd to her. From a distance the strange Junker had seemed so much larger than life, so intimidating.
"Um, hi." Hana gave her new partner a small wave. The Wastelander gave her a small nod, but said nothing.
"All right, so now that you're paired up it's time for you to go. Don't come back 'til you find something good." Boss led Hana over to a large metal door with no window. She pushed it open, revealing the harsh Outback sun to the dim room.
"Wait, what about my mech? It's still in its cell!"
Boss hesitated. "Ugh, fine. Go get it and then come right back here."
As Hana started off for the cells, she heard light footsteps behind her. Suddenly The Wastelander was at her side. "Oh, you can wait here if you want," Hana said. The other Junker ignored her words, and continued to follow her. "…Or not. Okay."
Every member of the Junkers was somewhat creepy in their own way, but none of them unnerved her quite like this one. What were they hiding? The entire time they followed Hana they kept a firm grip on their rifle, as if expecting Hana to suddenly lunge at them like a rabid animal that needed to be shot down. Hana did her best to try and ignore it, with mixed results.
If this was how their scavenging runs were going to go then they were surely going to be a ton of fun.
"So," Hana said as they trudged through the sweltering wasteland in search of junk, "I'm Hana. I – I mean DVa. I know we're supposed to be all about nicknames here and stuff."
The Wastelander walked in the shadow of Hana's mech. They cradled their rifle like a newborn child. Hana noticed the gun had an array of notches carved into its barrel, almost like tally marks. There were many of them.
"Boss said they call you The Wastelander," Hana eventually said. "Is that, like, okay? Or do you want me to call you something else?"
Predictably, her questions received no response.
"Oh come on," Hana whined. "We're partners on these stupid outings now. Can't you at least talk to me?"
Again, no response. The Wastelander stared ahead of them, never looking in Hana's direction. That spurred a bit of Hana's old personality to the surface. She did not like being ignored.
"Okay, fine then. If you don't want to talk then I'll just do all the talking." Hana took a deep breath (well, half a breath, a few coughs, then the rest of the breath), and then launched into a spiel.
"It's really hot out today…hotter than usual, even. I wish I could take a shower. The mech has sweat stains on the joysticks from my hands. That's kinda gross. I wish I could take it to a car wash. Well I guess it would be a mech wash. Do you think they'd wash a mech at a car wash? I mean it's kinda technically a vehicle, right? It's carrying a passenger. If the world ever goes back to normal maybe I'll try taking it to a car wash and see what happens. I mean, if I live that long I guess. Kind of feel like my lungs might give out before then. Can't do much without lungs. Unless I had some kind of freakish DNA surgery and had, like, gills installed on me or something. Then I could live underwater. Then I wouldn't even need to shower, because I'd be living in water all the – hey, are you even listening to me?"
The Wastelander still was not paying Hana any mind. In fact they seemed completely unfazed by her outburst, almost as if they didn't even notice she was there.
Hana grumbled under her breath. "Ugh, I can't believe I actually miss Junkrat right now. At least he says words and doesn't just leave me talking to myself." She fell silent for a moment, but then couldn't resist adding, "I thought I was gonna go crazy before I joined the Junkers. Nothing but silence all day every day. I'm not used to that. I don't know if you're aware, but I'm a teenage girl, and teenage girls usually like to talk once in a while."
She'd planned her words to be spoken sarcastically, like a joke, but when they fell from her lips they held an unintentional note of sadness.
"I miss the way things used to be," she practically whispered. "When I was normal, and had normal friends…and my parents…"
The Wastelander's step faltered. Hana turned to find them looking at her for the very first time since they'd departed for their run.
Hana hadn't expected to actually garner their attention. "…Forget it, I'll be quiet. I know I'm just being annoying."
They continued on in silence after that. Quite some time passed before they came upon what had apparently used to be some kind of corner store. Its roof was blown off, the windows were all smashed out, and everything inside was tipped over and spilled everywhere.
Hana stepped the mech through one of the window frames. She then swiveled the mech's joysticks to lift its "arms", revealing the makeshift "cannons" she'd affixed to them. Their damage output was pretty puny, but they were pretty fast at shooting. Unfortunately they left a lingering smell like burning metal afterward and heated the mech up to scorching levels, but hey, it was her own handiwork and Hana was damn proud of it.
There didn't seem to be anything worth shooting inside the storefront, thankfully. Hana was several steps in before she realized The Wastelander was no longer at her side. She turned the clunky mech to find her companion stepping cautiously through the broken glass of the windows. "Oh, I can help–" Hana held out a metal arm to the other Junker, but The Wastelander refused it. They pulled their other leg inside the storefront, stumbled slightly, but caught themselves before Hana could intervene. The more Hana watched their movements, the more she began to realize something. This Junker did not move like she did. They moved like an older person. Their back was bent slightly, and their movements were very cautious and deliberate. They certainly weren't feeble, but there was age to their step.
Hana used the mech's old power loader abilities to lift a toppled store shelf. Beneath it she found a few boxes of cookies, all chewed open by rats. Regardless she snatched a pack up, plucked out a few that didn't have nibbles gone out of them, and stuffed them into her mouth. She was probably supposed to bring back everything she found, but screw it. She hadn't had cookies in ages.
There were probably things in the store the Junkers could use, but Hana was unsure exactly what was useful to them and what was not. She did manage to find a few undisturbed tubes of toothpaste – God knew the Junkers needed it – but upon opening them the toothpaste ran out like neon green water. She also found some deodorant, but it, too, had liquefied from massive amounts of radiation.
"I think this place is kind of a bust," she said after a while. Of course The Wastelander did not respond, giving Hana no clue where in the store the other Junker even was. She wandered across the storefront, checking the aisles for her silent companion.
To her surprise, she found them in the tiny Grocery section, stuffing a box of…tea bags…into a pouch at their waist. Before Hana could comment on the strange choice of item they walked away, pretending to take interest in something at the front of the store. Of course, being the nosy little shit that she was, Hana couldn't ignore the situation for too long. "Really?" she said as her mech stomped up beside The Wastelander at the front of the store. "You're a tea person?" It struck her as weird and, for some reason, kind of funny.
Other than a few uninteresting odds and ends the store was picked totally clean. They moved on. Despite her earlier resolution to be quiet, Hana couldn't help trying to pry for just a little more information about the mysterious gun-toting Junker accompanying her. "So you really won't tell me anything about yourself? Not even your name? You can talk, right? You just choose not to?"
They came upon a sinkhole where the pavement of the road had cracked and blistered. The piping system must have burst, for some residual water pooled in the sunken areas. Her questions forgotten, Hana slipped out the back of her mech and hurried over to it. She was dying of thirst out in this heat.
The Wastelander watched as Hana cupped her hands and sniffed the water. It looked and smelled okay. Some bubbles beneath the water's surface indicated the pipe was still actively leaking, so the water must have still been relatively fresh. She took a sip. With a smack of her dry lips, she said, "I think it's good."
The Wastelander knelt down beside her. Instead of taking a drink from the sinkhole, she unclipped an old-school canteen from her belt and filled it up. Once it was filled she closed it and put it away without even taking a swig. "Aren't you thirsty?" Hana asked. "My friend Junkrat says when he found me I was so dried out I looked like one of those vacuum-sealed meat packages–"
"These people are not your friends."
Hana startled at the response. Her head whipped up from the puddle towards her companion. The Wastelander had lifted their mask just enough for their words to be clear to her. The voice that spoke them was undeniably female, and sounded, as Hana had predicted earlier, somewhat old and weathered.
"So you can talk," was all Hana could think to respond.
"I prefer not to." The Wastelander had an accent that was definitely not Australian. "It isn't wise to disclose unnecessary information. Especially not to cutthroats like the Junkers."
"I'm a Junker," Hana said. "You're talking to me."
"I have my reasons for that." The Wastelander turned away, prompting Hana to close the distance between them. "You are not like them. You never will be. You are far too trusting and give far too many chances. The moment your arrangement with them is no longer deemed fruitful enough, or maybe even before then, they will kill you and take everything you have."
Hana hesitated, unsure how to respond to the harsh words. Eventually she said, "If you supposedly don't trust them then why are you with them? Aren't you scared they'll kill you?"
She swore she heard a husky laugh from under the Wastelander's mask. "They couldn't kill me if they tried. But you are only a child. Anyone who looks upon you can see the naiveté in your eyes. And they will use that to their advantage eventually."
Hana circled around the woman, trying to get a look under her mask. The Wastelander would grant her no such wish. "So, what, I'm supposed to just trust you on this, but not trust anybody else? That sounds pretty suspicious to me."
"Good. You should be suspicious."
That was all The Wastelander would say. After that she lowered her mask and began to walk away. Hana reluctantly followed her, practically overflowing with questions she knew would not be answered.