"Hana?"

It took every bit of strength for Hana to yank her eyelids apart and focus on the person standing over her. It was Swarnali, the first woman she had met at Vishkar.

"Is everything all right?" Swarnali asked. "You were out cold."

Hana scratched her head. She couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep, or why. All she could recall was a sudden feeling of extreme tiredness, like she could sleep for days and not be sated.

"How long was I asleep?" Her voice cracked midsentence, her body apparently still too groggy for perfect function.

"A couple of hours. We figured you needed your rest, so we didn't disturb you."

"…You just disturbed me."

"Well, okay, I'm disturbing you now." The woman chuckled a little. "But that's only because we want to introduce you to some more of our team here. We think it'll help you adjust a little better."

"You're okay with setting a wild animal loose in your company?"

"Oh, Hana, you're not a wild animal!" Swarnali patted her lightly on the arm. "In fact, I'd really like you to meet one of our Architechs in particular. When we first discovered her she was a lot like you, filthy and degenerate–er, no offense," she added at the sight of Hana rolling her eyes. "Anyway, we took her in, cleaned her up, and now she's one of our brightest stars here at Vishkar. I think we could see a similar success story in you."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, lady." Hana's voice was flat with complete apathy.

"Well we'll find out, won't we?"

Too groggy to much resist, Hana once again let herself be led out of the cell and through several security gates to Vishkar's main building. Swarnali moved quickly, preventing Hana from memorizing any paths or exits (as if her deep-fried brain could remember something like that, anyway). It didn't take long for them to be knocking at a tall, ominous door. Swarnali didn't wait to be let in.

The moment Hana stepped through the doorway she felt a massive swell of energy around her, like nothing she had ever felt before. The room was dark, with high ceilings and tall windows all drawn shut. The only light source came from a table at the center of the room. The table was positively radiant, its surface covered by a glowing, three-dimensional map. It was just like the one Hana had seen in the Vishkar ad.

In front of the table a woman had her back to Swarnali and Hana. Her arms swooped out in a grandiose gesture, and the map shifted in front of her, altering the size and shape of several of the miniature light structures. Hana noticed that she looked quite different from the Vishkar employees she'd seen thus far. Instead of a lab coat this "Architech" wore a short white dress, and her hair was pulled back into a perfectly neat bun. She seemed to be wearing something on her face, like a visor of some kind.

"Satya?" Swarnali took a few steps toward the Architech. The other woman did not respond, and instead merely kept tinkering with the size of one light-building in particular. "Satya." Swarnali's tone was less cordial the second time, and she came to stand directly beside the other woman.

The Architech finally turned their way. Her chin was high, her expression one of mild annoyance. "I am trying to concentrate," was all she said.

"And we appreciate that. But I have a special task for you today."

The Architech, Satya, raised an eyebrow. "There were no special tasks on my schedule–"

"It was a last minute decision." Swarnali stepped aside and placed her hands on Hana's shoulders, marching her forward a step. Satya looked her over with thinly-veiled disgust.

"One of the refugees?"

"I want you to look after her for a short while today. Talk to her, give a good impression of who we are here at Vishkar." Swarnali resumed her business-cheerful tone, but it was strained.

Satya's eyes widened. "Me? But I am trying to solve these discrepancies in the Outback map."

"Just pretend she's another Architech. A new one, who doesn't know how things work around here. As you were not so long ago."

Satya furrowed her brows and turned away. "I do not know why you would select me for this, but very well. I will not disrupt your plan."

"Thank you, Satya. I knew you'd come around." Swarnali gave Hana one last pat on the back. Before heading out of the room, though, she was sure to add, "And Hana? Don't try anything. We have eyes everywhere." Hana's gaze followed her as she pointed to nearly a dozen cameras and screens mounted throughout the room.

The slam of the massive doors ushered in a long, painful silence. Hana stood uncertainly at Satya's side, watching her work. Her gestures were amazingly fluid, almost like dancing. The presence of a stranger did not seem to shake her concentration in the least. Occasionally she would murmur something to herself and Hana would perk up, thinking she was being spoken to. Inevitably, however, the Architech would make a small affirmative noise and then change something drastically on the map. She continued to ignore the girl at her side.

After many long minutes of silence, Hana finally couldn't take it anymore. "So, I'm Hana," she said.

"Satya." The other woman did not even glance Hana's way when she responded.

"How do you do that?"

Her vagueness forced Satya to look her way. "Do what?"

Hana waved her arms around like an inflatable noodle at a car dealership.

Satya clicked her tongue and resumed her work. "I've trained to be an Architech since I was a child."

"Swarnali says Vishkar 'rescued' you like they 'rescued' me."

That gave Satya pause. The light map flickered before them. "She told you that?"

Hana nodded.

"Well, she is telling the truth." Satya started to walk around the table to the other side of the map. Hana followed her. "Vishkar rescued me from a life of chaos and disorder. A life of extreme poverty. They took me in, fed me, clothed me, and most importantly, taught me."

"How old were you?"

"Very young. Just old enough to remember how terrible things were before Vishkar saved me."

"Too young to make your own choice?"

Satya nodded. "I was but a child. I could not possibly have made an educated decision for myself. Which is why I am thankful every day that Vishkar made it for me."

"Are your parents alive? Or were you an orphan?"

"I do not feel comfortable answering that."

"Okay. Sorry."

Satya appeared to be working on the other side of the map, but after a few seconds of observation Hana realized she was just doing and undoing the same few changes over and over again.

"I don't want to be here," Hana said.

"I did not want to be here when I first arrived, either." Satya's response seemed practiced, as though she'd said it, or perhaps thought it, several times before. "Sometimes the human mind does not know what is truly best for it until it can gaze back in retrospect."

"So how long have you been here?"

Satya continued her pointless reshaping of the Outback map. "Twenty years."

"Twenty years?" Hana gaped. "Wow. I thought you were only, like, my age."

"I am twenty-eight." The map stopped transforming. "Ugh, I cannot concentrate with you here. Why was I chosen to look after you?"

Hana shrugged. The woman pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. As she did so the light from the map reflected off her arm, which Hana only then realized was made of metal instead of flesh. "Do you work with explosives?" she asked. Junkrat was the only other person she'd met with prosthetic limbs, and that was why he had lost his arm and leg.

"Explosives?" Satya wrinkled her nose. "Absolutely not. Their results are far too unpredictable."

"Oh. Well my friend Junkrat lost an arm and a leg working with explosives, so I thought maybe…you…" She gestured subtly to Satya's robotic limb.

It seemed to take the Architech a moment to make the connection, but eventually she shook her head. "Oh, no. This was a voluntary upgrade."

Hana stared blankly at her.

"I consented to the procedure," she clarified.

Hana blinked slowly.

"I agreed to have it removed," Satya finally said, a bit exasperated.

"Oh." Hana made a face. "Why the heck would you agree to have your arm chopped off?"

"Human flesh is inherently flawed. It's no fault of our own – nature itself is imperfect. But we may strive to correct those errors." She held her white metallic hand out to Hana and waggled her artificial fingers. "It enhances my light manipulation abilities and allows me to hold perfectly steady while crafting small details. Human flesh cannot match it."

"Why didn't you cut both your arms off, then?"

Satya hesitated. "I…most likely will. In time."

"Can you feel anything with the metal one?"

Satya glanced down at it for a moment. "No."

Hana pursed her lips. "That must suck."

"It holds no relevance to me. Pain is meaningless on a limb that can simply be rebuilt."

"There's feelings other than pain…" Hana murmured.

"I know what you are trying to do, refugee." Satya straightened her spine and crossed to the other side of the room, where she opened one curtain just the slightest bit and peered out the window. With a wave of her metal hand a stool manifested just behind her, and she sat down upon it with the utmost elegance, crossing one leg over the other and retaining a perfectly straight posture as she gazed at the minimal landscape outside. "I am not stupid. Many have tried to steer me from my path in the past. But I hold a true understanding of Vishkar and what we do here. I know that everything we do is for the greater good of humanity. Someday the world will realize this, and will thank us for being the champions of transformation they did not realize they required."

Hana was no psychologist by any means, but she could get a pretty clear picture from both her own situation and that of this Architech of what went on here at Vishkar Corp. The company took in young people who were poor and desperate and twisted them into thinking they were some sort of unsung superheroes that the world sorely needed. At least, that was clearly the case with this Satya lady. They were trying to do it with Hana herself, too – turning her into some larger-than-life icon of the company in exchange for letting herself be groomed into whatever they wanted her to be.

This Satya woman could not be trusted, she decided. Her mind had long since been drowned in Vishkar ideology, ingrained in her since she was a child of just eight years old. Maybe if Hana had caught her twenty years ago she could have been converted into an ally, but she would likely not be of any help to Hana now.

"You should at least give us a chance here," Satya added, her voice quieter than before. "We improve people's lives. You will be happier here than slowly dying in a nuclear wasteland."

"You're probably right."

Satya shifted her gaze over to Hana, who had taken a seat on the floor beside her stool. "You're being genuine?"

Hana shrugged. "I was getting pretty tired of eating radioactive canned fruit for every meal."

Satya's expression visibly brightened. "Vishkar has amazing chefs who cook for the company. I could take you there now, if you are hungry."

"Oh yeah, I'm starving! It would be really cool if you took me there. And maybe you could even show me around the place afterward?" Hana hoped her sudden change in demeanor wouldn't be sniffed out as fake by the other woman.

Thankfully Satya's people skills didn't seem to be her sharpest asset. "Of course." She hopped up off her chair. It disappeared within moments. "You shall see just how much better off you and your friends will be here."

Hana stuck close to the Architech as she led them out of the room. This time she tried her hardest to remember where everything was. If she could even recall a few doors or hallways, it could help her make her inevitable escape somewhere down the line.

Vishkar's dining area was more like a restaurant, especially compared to the prison cafeteria. It didn't have waiters or anything, though. Satya led her up to a small counter with numerous chefs working behind it and a man in a suit relaying orders to them. Several holovid screens served as a menu above the counter, displaying the specials that day along with all of the usual dishes they apparently served. They were all listed in Hindi, but thankfully had small English translations underneath.

Satya was quite patient with Hana, giving her several minutes to look over the menu before asking her if she needed assistance in deciding. "What do you like here?" Hana asked her.

After a moment's consideration, Satya turned to the man in the suit and said something in Hindi. He nodded, then went to the back, presumably to relay the order to the chefs.

Satya led her then over to a table, which she inspected carefully before apparently deciding it was acceptable and taking a seat at it. Hana sat down opposite her. After an agonizingly long and awkward silence the man in the suit showed up at their table with two dishes of some spicy-smelling rice dish with other things mixed in. "Here you go, Satya." The man cast a glance over at Hana, but did not say anything to her.

"Thank you." A spoon materialized in Satya's hand. She set it down on the edge of the dish, then created one for Hana. Hana marveled at it for a long moment. It felt so solid and real, even though apparently it was just made out of "hardened light".

"This is called shrimp biryani. It is only mildly spicy – I am unfamiliar with your tolerance level for Indian spices."

"Korean food can be kinda spicy, but I don't think it's as spicy as Indian food. I guess we'll see." Hana scooped out a small spoonful of rice with some cashews mixed in and took a bite. "Oh wow, yeah it's definitely spicier than most Korean food I've had." She chewed it over, letting the flavor roll through her mouth. "Hm. It's good, though."

Satya smiled a little. "You like it, then?"

Hana nodded, already delving into another bite. The second mouthful had a bit of shrimp as well. Growing up in a seaside city Hana had been raised on a ton of seafood. It was sort of a creature comfort to her now.

Satya's nibbles of food were so delicate and calculated. She made sure to dab gingerly at her lips with a napkin after nearly every bite. Hana, on the other hand, quickly moved from an uncertain pace to gobbling her meal down like a starved dog. At one point she looked up to find Satya staring disdainfully at her. Hana shrugged. "What? It's good."

"No, no…by all means, go ahead…" Satya continued to pick delicately at her own meal. "I am glad you're enjoying it."

It took hardly any time at all for Hana to finish the biryani. She dropped her spoon down on the plate, leaned back in the chair and burped loudly. Satya's look of disdain returned. "Wow, even my burp tasted spicy. At least you guys have real bathrooms here…"

Satya held a hand up, silencing her. "Please, I understand your point."

"Sorry. I've been living with a bunch of scumbags." Hana stretched idly. "It was kinda nice, though. No stupid social stigmas or anything."

"At the expense of your entire society."

Hana shrugged again.

Satya quietly finished her meal while Hana looked around and watched the goings-on around them. Other Vishkar employees that arrived all seemed to cluster in groups. A few acknowledged Satya, but none came and spoke to her. If this were the Junker prison Hana would have been extremely upset by everyone ignoring her. It didn't seem to bother Satya at all. Maybe it was a common occurrence.

When finally she was finished eating Satya asked Hana, "Is there anything else you would like to do?"

"I'd like to see my friends. Would they let me visit them if you were there?"

Satya paused. "I am…not sure. I could ask."

"That'd be cool."

After meticulously cleaning up their table (seriously, didn't they have help for that?), Satya led Hana to a super modern-looking glass elevator. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Satya didn't even have to look at the button panel to push the correct button and open the elevator doors. Hana supposed after twenty years even she would probably have most everything memorized, too.

The floor of the elevator was an illuminated mirror surface. Hana glanced down at herself, then made a face in the reflective surface. Satya ignored her.

Apparently they were headed for the twelfth floor. Hana stared out at the glass for the first few stories, marveling at just how massive this corporate building apparently was. Then she looked back to Satya, who was glancing about idly with her arms folded. "So you're not scared of being alone with me in a secluded place like an elevator?" Hana asked her. "I mean, I'm kinda dangerous."

Satya did not even grant her a look. "I could incapacitate you in a moment."

Hana stared at her for a second. Then she feigned lunging at the other woman. Before she could even finish the motion a deafening buzzing sound hit her – followed a millisecond later by something burning hot and painful striking her on her rear end. "Aghh!" She twisted around to see some sort of turret-like thing fixating on her with a blue laser beam. "Ow, ow!" She sank to the floor, trying to escape the nasty pain beam. "Okay, you proved your point! I'm sorry!"

With a wave of Satya's hands the turret disintegrated. Hana rubbed her back. "Jeez, lady."

Satya shrugged. "You threatened me."

"Well I won't be doing that again."

It was a long, awkward ride to the twelfth floor after that. Thankfully the elevator moved quickly, and nobody else seemed to be headed up that high. When the doors opened to floor twelve they stepped out into a long white hall of identical doors. Satya strode down the hall, Hana in tow, until she reached their apparent destination. There she turned and cast a patronizing look down at Hana. "Do not move from this spot. I will be right back." She waved a hand, forming a wall of light around Hana. Upon tapping its surface Hana discovered it was completely solid, like being in some sort of giant test tube. With a sigh she sat down on the floor and rested her chin on her palm. Satya opened one of the doors and disappeared inside.

She was gone for what felt like forever. Hana leaned against the light wall, staring up at the ceiling. I really, really hope they let me see them. She missed everyone. She couldn't help wondering how Ana felt about all this, since she had advised Hana against the boat plan to begin with. Ana wouldn't even be there at the moment if not for Hana insisting they'd be fine. Hell, Boss wouldn't have been trapped there either. It was all Hana's fault they were in this mess. Well, Junkrat's too, since he was the one who convinced Hana to go along with it in the first place. The two of them were apparently just full of terrible ideas.

As she sat in silence within her light prison Hana began to pick up voices from another room. At first they were quite muffled, but they must have been moving closer to her, for they gradually became louder and clearer.

"We can't have another breach like that. Our image is just barely recovering from the last one."

"Well something was trying to get in last night. I got an alert that someone tried to access our system records using some really advanced decryption software. I'm surprised they didn't get through–"

"Maybe the upgraded defense system kept them out."

"I don't know. Hopefully."

Sounds like Vishkar has a problem with hackers. Hana could kind of sympathize. Hackers were the worst.

Satya emerged from the office a few minutes later with a neutral expression on her face. She freed Hana from her tube. "So…?" Hana clenched her fists, eager for an answer.

"They did not want to allow it at first. But ultimately they decided that you may visit with one of your friends, supervised by a Vishkar team."

"Just one?" Hana's shoulders drooped. "Well I guess that's better than nothing. What made them change their minds and allow that?"

Satya strode down the hall, not looking back at Hana. "I negotiated on your behalf."

"What? You did?" Hana hurried after her. "Um, thank you."

Satya paused for a brief moment. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, a pose that seemed to attempt invulnerability. Without glancing back at Hana she said in a faint voice, "Loneliness is a terrible affliction."

Hana hesitated. "…Yeah. It is."

Their trip back downstairs was wordless after that. The entire time Hana could only think of how determined she was – an ever-growing determination, at that – not to remain with this corporation. They kidnapped and ruined people. Hana wouldn't let herself be ruined by them. She wouldn't let her friends be ruined by them. They were all going to be free eventually, and it would start by making sure at least one of her trusted friends was alive and well.

Eight Vishkar staff surrounding them at a barren office table didn't make for much of a social outing, but even just the presence of a friendly face made Hana feel worlds better.

"I'm sorry I got us into this," Hana whispered, her eyes low. "I should have listened to you."

Ana reached across the table and laid her hand gingerly atop one of Hana's. "Don't blame yourself, child. You didn't know."

It was strange seeing the old woman without all her Wastelander gear. Stripped down to a white tank top and light blue hospital-esque pants, she looked a lot less like some post-apocalyptic badass and a lot more like just a tired and weathered old woman. The skin of her hands was wrinkled and hung off her bones. Her pure white hair was long and braided down her back, neither of which Hana had expected since it had always been covered by a hood. Her bare arms had wrinkles and age spots as much as her hands, but they were surprisingly muscular. She was an odd mix of appearance, somewhere in the middle of docile old lady and grizzled war vet. Made sense, considering that's apparently what she was.

The watchful eyes of the Vishkar employees around them made Hana a little nervous. She quickly reminded herself that she had the upper hand here – they wanted her. She was valuable to them. She had some wiggle room where they were concerned.

"Are you okay here?" she asked Ana. "They haven't hurt you or anything, right?"

Ana shook her head. "I am fine. Don't worry for me."

Hana looked around at the people observing them. They were clearly trying to remove themselves from the scene as much as possible. The only person who made occasional eye contact with her was Satya, seated at the far end of the table. The labcoats had obviously placed her between themselves as a means of defense if necessary. She was like their guard dog.

"This place is sick," Hana blurted. Several of the employees reacted with raised eyebrows and quick fingers, typing up something. Probably making note that she wasn't ready to throw herself at their feet yet. Satya looked taken aback. "Go ahead, write it down. This place, what you do to people, to kids, it's sick. Whether I work with you or not I'm still gonna feel that way. Forever."

Ana seemed as surprised as the Vishkar labcoats, but in a far less negative way. She nodded in subtle agreement.

They were supposed to be allotted a full twenty minute time block to visit with each other, but there was no way twenty minutes had passed when the Vishkars started trying to wrap up Hana and Ana's reunion. Hana suspected it was because of her comment about Vishkar being sick. Oh well. It was.

As they led Ana away Hana felt that sting at her eyes again. Don't cry, stupid. They'll use it against you. Regardless, it was hard not to feel heavy-hearted at the knowledge that her friends were all prisoners here, seemingly given far less care and attention than Hana herself. She bit her lip as it quivered, desperate not to show any vulnerability.

Satya came to stand beside her. She watched Hana for several seconds. Hana refused to turn to her, though she could see the woman looking her over out the corner of her eye. "You shouldn't cry," Satya eventually said. Her tone was not sympathetic, instead rather distant, as if purposely erecting a barrier between herself and Hana's perceived weakness. "Crying solves nothing. It is purposeless. A waste of energy."

Hana sniffed. "Thanks. I feel so much better now."

"Oh. You're welcome." Satya brightened a little. "Usually I am not the best at consoling people, so I'm glad I could help."

"It was sarcasm, lady."

"Oh." Satya ran a hand through her hair and turned slightly away from Hana. "Of course."

"I'm going to my room." Hana walked out on her. As usual, she was pursed by a labcoat who had to make sure she was actually returning to her room and not running away or something. Not like there was any chance of that. Between the ridiculous security and the fact that they had all of her friends here, Vishkar surely knew she wasn't going anywhere.