A/N: Some OC characters are based off the hero concept videos made by BlameTheController on YouTube. I do not own the rights to the characters and will take this fic down if he contacts me and asks me to.
Chapter 3: Shackled
Cold steel around her wrists and ankles woke her up from her forced slumber. Her temple pulsated in strong protest to the hit she had received in the jungle and her dazed mind had trouble processing her situation. Sombra shook her head to clear her mind, closing her eyes to focus. It wasn't like she hadn't been in sticky situations before, but she really had hit a streak of bad luck. First, she had accidentally taken a job helping out the very corporation she had exposed as corrupt, then she had overlooked the simple fact that the internet wasn't the only place where she needed to erase her name from and finally, she had allowed emotions to cloud her judgement which caused her let down her guard. The cold steel against her bare skin made it hard to feel angry at herself for the mistakes she had recently made and easier to blame the world around her. Deep within she knew that it was her fault, but for a small moment she felt as though predicting Rara's death, Malo's obsession and a random kidnapping attempt was too much.
When she opened her eyes again, they had gotten used to the darkness which allowed her to take a look at her surroundings and bindings. The first thing she noticed was her gloves, nails, wires and mask laying on a wooden barrel right in front of her. It looked as if whoever placed her gear in that position wanted to taunt her while giving her a sinking feeling of hopelessness. They succeeded. She reached out her arm towards the barrel in futility, finding that the chains that bound her prevented movement less than she first assumed. The chains were made of heavy stainless steel, clasped around her four limbs with massive traditional metal cuffs. Due to the size of the cuff-holes and metal hoops, she theorized that the chains were designed to hold malnourished men which is why they fit her thin limbs perfectly. She walked along the wall that the chains were attached to, feeling the large stone blocks it was made up of and searching for a weakness in it. Rectangular plates acted as bases to the chains, placed in a pentagonal pattern on the wall to allow for arm, leg and neck restraints. The base connected to the neck restraint hung further up the wall, out of her range. She was happy that she wasn't restrained by the neck, as it wouldn't allow her to look for weaknesses in the wall. The wall's surface was rough and old, like an old vampire's castle walls. The wall had parts that were covered in thick black sheets of fabric, probably hiding windows behind them, they sat taped to the walls too far up the wall for her to reach. When she turned around, chains rattling around her, the rest of the barrels around her took her attention. They were positioned on the other side of the room, out of reach, but standing sorted and organized. Next to the barrels, a space next to the wall left enough room for a door. Her restraints made it so that couldn't see around the stacked barrels, leaving it in the air how she got in to the stone room. Adding the stone walls, window-covers, standing barrels along with the faint smell of grapes, she concluded that she was in a wine cellar.
Her bare feet slid across the floor as she paced heavily along the small perimeter she was restricted to. The blue-purple combat leggings she had been wearing were cut above the kneecaps, removing the familiar feeling of having lightly armored knees and exposing the smalls of her legs along with her knees. Her hair was disheveled and wild, with the wires that she could usually feel embedded within completely gone. The only part of her system that was intact was her spinal implant, hidden underneath the hoodie she had put on to hide her identity at the gang feast. She couldn't even bring up her HUD, giving her no chance of escape through the translocator that she set up earlier. Slumping against the wall and hugging the chain attached to the neck-restraint, she was about ready to give up on escaping. The cold hard steel was nowhere near comfortable to press against herself, but it was better than hugging air.
She looked down on the massive chain, about as thick as her arm, and got an idea. She looked up at the black sheet that she presumed covered a window and gauged the distance to it. If she was two feet taller, she would be able to rip off the tape and peek outside. Standing up and turning to face the wall, the hacker tried to grip the neck-chain in a climbing preparation. The chains restraining her arms crossed and her grip suffered greatly as she pressed on and planted both her feet on the wall. Before she started climbing, she heard a metal door open near the barrels and she quickly jumped down from the wall to face her kidnapper.
"Ah, the street rat is awake." his deep voice penetrated the silence.
"Who are you?" she tried to exude confidence and defiance.
"Quit the act, child, you know who I am and I know who you are." the man had unkept grey hair and beard with a glowing red visor. He was wearing a warm blue jacket with a white front and a long blue strip following along the zipper. To all extents and purposes, he looked like a soldier, with baggy combat pants and boots designed to run in dirt.
"You've got the wrong person then! Wonderful! Can you let me go now?" she eyed the fiber-wire that he held in his gloved hand, already missing the feeling of the smooth plastic in her hair.
"I NEED ANSWERS!" he shouted.
"About what? This was a mistake on your part, you know." she held her composure and gained some confidence, although a nagging voice in the back of her head told her that the soldier could explode in rage at any moment.
"Wait... are you...?" the pieces of the puzzle slowly assembled in Sombra's head.
"I'm not important. I'm just a soldier in the war against crime." he turned around to put the fiber-wire on top of the barrel where the rest of her stuff laid. The back of his jacket had the number '76' stitched in.
"El Soldado..." she gritted her teeth.
"And you are the second-in-command of Los Muertos." he faced her once again.
She barely heard him.
"You killed Rara." she bit the inside of her cheek to not get emotional, that's what got her into the whole mess in the first place.
A bone-shattering punch landed in her gut as she screamed in pain. She got the wind knocked out of her, falling to the cold hard floor of the cellar. It felt as if a car had run her over.
"You've killed more." the inhuman gaze of his red visor stared down on her fallen form.
"WHERE ARE YOU KEEPING THE HOSTAGE?" he yelled, American accent more prominent than before.
"What hostage...?" she spit some blood on the steel chain she was laying on.
"I don't have time for games, kid." he turned around to reach into a nearby barrel, bringing out the bottle of gin that she was sipping from when he kidnapped her.
"You neon freaks took a dear friend of mine, so I took one of you." he explained, opening the bottle.
"I'm not one of them, I'm-"
"SHUT IT" he roared.
"I saw you with that red bastard." her blood went cold, he was watching during the party.
"I'm just a contractor, someone they bring in to do work!" she replied.
"Bullshit. You're leading the group, do you think I can't tell?" he barked.
She rose with great difficulty while eyeing the bottle he held in his left hand.
"You got me." she raised her hands "I am the second-in-command." her mind raced with ideas of manipulation.
"I knew it."
"So where are you keeping your prisoner?" he growled.
"Does it matter?" a smug look spread across her face "The entire gang is on their way here right now. I don't think you can handle gang members rushing in from all angles like a SWAT team, can you?" her cocky tone of voice shocked the man in front of her, causing a vein above his visor to pop out.
"You're bluffing." he said quietly.
"YOU'RE BLUFFING." he shouted, throwing himself forward suddenly and flinging gin at her eyes. The liquid hit her eyes, burning them and causing her to keel over to rub her eyes.
"HIJO DE-" he smacked her on the side of the face before she could finish, making her tumble down to the floor once again. She couldn't keep her hands off her eyes as she rubbed desperately to get the burning liquid out of her eyes. Everything around her faded into nothingness as the only thing she could focus on was the pain. She barely registered the metallic sound of the door to the cellar and the soft voice of an old woman.
"Jack, what are you-" her eyes burned.
"-wait, that's one of the-" her eyes burned.
"-attacked from all angles-" her eyes burned.
"-Reinhardt and Brigitte-" her eyes burned.
"-captured by them-" her eyes burned.
"-Talon member-" her eyes burned.
"-throw her a feast." the pain was subsiding, tears mixing with the alcohol and cleaning her eyes. She was laying in the fetal position, staring with blurry vision at the floor. The distant voice that kept her sane during the torturing experience was that of Ana, causing a hopeful warmth to spread across her body and making her to listen in on the conversation.
"Huh..." El Soldado contemplated for a minute, looking at the broken hacker in front of him.
"The mask does look like that Sombra graffiti we saw in Mexico City, isn't that right?" he put his hand on the petite Egyptian's shoulder.
"Yes, she never introduced herself to me during our mission, but I believe she is the one and only Sombra. Gabriel has been working closely with her."
The soldier sighed deeply and approached the chained woman, reaching his hand down towards her arm-restraint. She didn't dare move a muscle as he inched closer.
"I hope the label of the bottle advertised the liquid inside. Kids these days." he sighed like a tired old man above her. His white glove made contact with her restrained wrist, feeling around until he got a proper grip and could feel her pulse.
"She's alive. Probably just being dramatic." he said, kicking her in the ribs to elicit a reaction out of her.
"Jack!"
Sombra groaned loudly at the abuse, sitting up surrounded by a sea of chains. Her purple hair flowed across her face and covered her eyes, tinted by smudged makeup that covered her face in a purple tone.
"Jack Morrison?" her voice shook from the injuries.
"Gabe told me you were dangerous, but he never told me you were crazy." she bit her tongue to avoid slipping into one of her snarky rants, wanting to avoid getting hit by the serum enhanced super-soldier.
"This changes nothing, you're still scum. You're just Talon scum that hangs around a gang on her free time." the soldier took a more aggressive stance.
"I need to change strategies, do you mind leaving me to my work Captain?" he said it like a statement, leaving no room for discussion.
The retired sniper sighed at his stubborn attitude and promptly left, leaving the chained girl with no hope of freedom. Sombra recalled seeing pictures of talon soldiers with their heads caved in the report of a mission in Wisconsin. Gabe had told her how 'Jack never did that back in the day' when he caught her looking at the report, building her knowledge on the former strike commander. Her stomach sank at the memory and she realized that she wouldn't survive the next 24 hours. Even if she miraculously managed to get her gear and translocate out, Malo would have exposed her identity as Olivia Colomar by then. The Conspiracy would hunt her down.
"Let's get down to it." the soldier cracked his knuckles as the heavy metal door closed with a resounding slam.
"Where is Reyes?" he questioned.
Already armed with the knowledge that she would die, Sombra refused to die like a coward and a snitch. She shook her head in defiance of the white-haired crime fighter.
"You're not a hero by protecting criminals." he reasoned.
"Are you any bette-" she couldn't finish the sentence. His fist shattered her nose with an echoing crack. Somehow, she managed to remain sitting, but she was close to getting whiplash from the force of the blow. It hurt like hell, causing her to clutch the broken nose with one of her weighed down hands.
"Don't speak unless it is to give me answers." he growled.
"Maybe it's easier for you to answer smaller questions." he mused "where do Talon operate out of?"
"Thailand." she held her nose while glaring daggers at her captor.
"What city?" he replied.
"A small village, it's called Fuk Yu." she quipped.
The American put his boot on her forehead, grinding dust into her colored hair as she struggled to shrug him off.
"Last chance." he warned.
"Go to hell, Tonto." she whispered.
"I gave you a choice." the dirty shoe lifted from her head for a few seconds as the vigilante took aim for a kick. He kicked forward at the chained woman, who brought her restrained arms up to protect her head. The block managed to protect her slightly, but the impact of the superhuman kick shook her head and caused her broken nose to bleed. With a silent thud, the hacker hit the floor once more, close to drifting out of consciousness.
"Don't you give up on me. I've got more questions." he exited her flickering vision and returned with a bucket of water. Cold water crashed into her skin, alerting her, washing her dusty hair and messing up her purple makeup even more. Taking deep breaths in quick succession, the hacker recovered from the blow, looking up at her captor with droopy eyes. Her defiance wavered in her weakened state. Blood dripped down her chin and sullied her hoodie along with the water that the soldier had thrown.
"This isn't Talon's world to play with anymore." El Soldado explained.
"It never was." she didn't recognize her own voice.
"About time you realized, I run these streets." he went on.
"Whoever runs the world uses me, you and Talon like puppets." she replied, head spinning.
"AMARI! Get in here, I hit her too hard." the old man left her field of vision once again, leaving her alone in the dark. Focusing her mind and closing her eyes in order to stay awake, Sombra put her brainpower towards determining how much time had passed since her kidnapping. Her luminous mask laid on the barrel in front of her, still giving off a purple glow. She remembered that the mask glowed for a total of 48 hours before needing a recharge, not narrowing down the timeframe by much. Heavy chains felt heavier than ever, causing her to develop an urge to lay down, it felt hopeless for her to think about survival when she was slowly succumbing to the heavy hits of her kidnapper. She briefly imagined a tall Irish woman explaining that she might have internal bleeding, almost hallucinating the thick accent and monotone voice. When she laid down, the chains rattled and shifted underneath her, making it uncomfortable to get into a proper position.
"Wake up, Habibi." Ana said as she tapped the half-sleeping infiltrator on the cheek.
"Tengo razón, no es mi culpa." the beaten form mumbled, eyes still shut tightly.
"You've really gone above and beyond here, Jack." the old woman said softly.
"She reminds me so much of Fareeha. I'm sure we can turn her life around." she said, her affectionate tone fell on deaf ears though since the old commander stood stubbornly with his arms crossed while the broken hacker was half-unconscious. Ana sighed at her companion's antics while force-feeding the hacker in front of her a small Vicodin tablet. The hacker shivered on the cold cellar floor and mumbled more in Spanish.
"No me entiendo... todo..."
"Why did you have to cut off her leggings at the knee? Poor girl is freezing." the ex-captain voiced her concerns.
"Shoes looked high-tech. Couldn't get off them without using a knife anyways, figured I'd take the little bit of armor she had as well." he stated with little emotion.
"Could help me dislocate a kneecap if it comes down to it." he added.
"I thought Gabriel was the cruel one." she replied, still checking on Sombra on the floor.
"She's a Talon agent! I've done worse to them." he lashed out.
"She's a human before a Talon agent. Christ Jack, do you not believe in redemption?" the woman sighed.
"This is the infamous Sombra we're talking about." the soldier ended curtly.
"I imagined someone stronger... more stable. She's just a girl, no older than my daughter. Perhaps the rumors were just rumors." Ana mumbled.
Sombra listened in as well as she could, fading in and out of consciousness. She felt disrespected, angry and vengeful at the two bickering heroes above her. One wanted her dead and the other wanted her weakened, both of their ideals sickened her to the bone.
"Chinga..." she mumbled, before shaking her head to clear the confusing thoughts.
"...tu madre." she finished.
The pair were alerted to her eavesdropping and displayed serious expressions that deepened in the darkness of the cellar.
"Young people these days. No manners." the gray-haired man uttered.
"How was your sleep, dear?" Ana stroked the hacker's cheek.
"I wasn't sleeping." she expressed, trying to glare at the old woman with defiance.
"You really are something..." the soldier growled.
His companion shushed him quickly with a quick look that Sombra couldn't see or analyze.
"How old are you?" the woman quizzed.
"I don't give out information for free." she said, holding on to the little bit of courage she had left.
"I just want to help, you're not going to be called a snitch by your little gang because you revealed your age." Ana stated, wagging her finger in the wounded woman's face.
"Alright, I'm thirty." Sombra said in a low tone, happy to be in the care of the sniper.
"Not that hard, right?" her caretaker said.
With heavy eyelids and the Vicodin in her system, the hacker had trouble staying awake. She barely remembered the anti-interrogation training she had received from Talon with such a foggy mind. Laying down in large chains for what felt like hours had also taken a toll on her already beaten form. Perhaps giving in to the cold embrace of sleep would allow her to regroup the disorganized thoughts bouncing around in her brain.