A/N: Hey guys, I have to check in by saying I made a small edit to this chapter. It's nothing too noticeable really, but I've realized that will not let me put D. Va as one thing in the chapter, because apparently it's an emote. I've noticed it omits any form of emotes. I think I may have gotten them all. Sorry about any confusion in this chapter. I'll try to remember this from now on.
Disclaimer: Overwatch and its characters belongs to creator Jeff Kaplan. This fanfic belongs to me.
Also, I think it's obvious how much I enjoy writing action scenes such as in the last chapter. And that chapter was just basic training practice. Anywho, I'd also admit that I had fun with this chapter as well, only because I ultimately think D. va and Symmetra could hit it off as best buds (ultimate-ly hah get it?... sorry). I only wish they had in-game conversations. Also, my OTP makes an appearance here. ReinxAna is too pure :3 Onto the chapter!
Chapter III: First Impressions
A week had past, and Satya had gotten comfortable with the room little by little, despite the stationary figurines that watched her with their painted eyes. That was until a certain, outgoing brunette charged in, two pairs of pink triangles dotting her cheeks and a video card waving about in her hand. "Awww yeah! Time to upload some cool shots!" she shouted, oblivious to the silent and startled female that occupied the other side of the room. The peaceful solitude Satya had been enjoying was now gone.
Hana Song inserted the card into her computer, busying herself with uploading the videos of her mission when she felt the presence of someone else in the room. Her chestnut gaze wandered over to see she was not alone. "Hiya! You must be my new roommate right?" she greeted cheerfully.
Too stunned to say anything, Symmetra nodded as she watched the younger girl gather a bundle of snacks and two Mountain Dews, the load too much for her spindly arms to carry properly. The Korean didn't seem to care. "Welcome then! Hope you've been guarding the room okay. A couple of certain Junkers have the tendency to try to steal my stuff," Hana grumbled, stuffing a handful of chips into her mouth as she typed away at the computer furiously. Satya was not pleased to hear her words. Theft of her belongings was the last thing she wanted, especially by those two animals.
Finally finding her words, she replied, "I've kept the door securely closed when not present in the room." It was a habit of hers after all. In fact, she continues to check several times to make sure the door had no other way of access other than by using the key. Or blowing a hole into it, she thought aggravatingly. She wouldn't put it past either of them when it came down to their obvious affinity for explosives.
"Awesome! I like you already," the Korean beamed at her roommate, casually hitting the enter key that loaded whatever it was from her video card to the computer. After loading was complete, Satya could see clips of a small base with guards and civilians on the inside and miniscule band of what looked to be robbers pounding away at the door. D. Va was seen in the next clip, ejecting from her MEKA to shoot the robber's guns out of their hands, aided by Zarya's gravity barrier and Pharah's concussive shot. Satya wrinkled her nose, eyebrows furrowed. Wasn't there some kind of rule to keep missions confidential? And did she just see the Korean girl upload it onto a public media site?
Hana cheered at herself through the screen, the camera apparently having been mounted on the inside of her MEKA as the girl turned around holding up peace signs. "Did you see that? That was awesome!" she squealed to herself, taking a rather unhealthy gulp of Mountain Dew. The amount she had consumed would surely not agree with her stomach later. What Satya didn't know was that this was Hana's average consumption rate of the soda drink while she games. The former Vishkar clenched her jaw instinctively as she heard a faint, rhythmic bass playing in the background of the video.
Somewhere, Lucio was parading around with his world-famous music amped. Music playing on his speaker gun, amplified by its trigger. On Vishkar's stolen technology. Satya ground her teeth silently, tuning out the music before she lost her nerve. Neither did she pretend to enjoy the girl's enthusiasm to forego confidentiality. Not that Hana was bothered with her roommate's silence. She had already begun playing a game of Starcraft, occasionally going "AFK" to watch her followers increase after uploading the video.
The Indian was attempting to concentrate on a book she had recently purchased – trying and failing – when a knock on the door reverberated the room, followed by an all too familiar thumping of music. Satya narrowed her eyes, passively glaring holes into the page before her as Lucio called out. "Hey, D. Va. Up for some gaming? Challenge you at a game of Mario Karts. Bet you can't beat me this time," he hollered through the door. Symmetra cringed just hearing his voice, hoping to all of the gods that her roommate wouldn't oblige or didn't hear through her own headphones. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on her side.
The Korean told her online friend that she was going to log, rushing to the door to greet the DJ. Her eyebrows were drawn in premature triumph, a wry grin on her face as she replied to him. "I'm going to make you eat those words, Lucio. You're on!" she said with false hostility, failing to hide her mirth. It was obvious the two were close friends. Of course they are, Satya thought as she watched their exchange of silly insults. She got the feeling that D. Va was the whole reason why Lucio was even allowed to join Overwatch. What she didn't know was that she was only half right. The members of the group had recruited the Brazilian before Hana began to brag about his deeds.
Giving the unwanted guest a sizing up in scrutiny, she was surprised that he looked nothing like she imagined. Satya was expecting a dirty hoodlum, appearance to be more closely related to that of the Junkers to be honest, with an unruly, explicit set of clothing and gangster motifs. She had never actually seen him, only heard of his transgressions amongst her peers in Vishkar. The only part of him that even remotely came close was his choice of hairstyle, tight braids wrapped in ridiculously large dreads with small speakers attached to the ends to hold them in place. Otherwise, he was void of blemishes that she expected of a street ruffian, other than the painted frog tattoo on his left shoulder. Even his goatee was neatly trimmed and clothes not at all on the baggy side. Adding onto her disbelief, he had the decency to remove his roller skates as he entered the room, another piece of gear that was modified using the Vishkar's hard-light technology that he carried with him. Apparently, there was no rule against members of the opposite sex entering one another rooms either, she thought with annoyance.
Satya hadn't realized she'd been staring at the two of them until Lucio's gaze met hers. Oh that's just great, she thought with annoyance clearly written on her face. Seeing his eyes widen at the sight of her, she mentally kicked herself for allowing direct eye contact to occur. To some relief, he didn't seem to know who she was just yet, or at least who she's worked for previously.
"Hey. Sorry, didn't see you over there," he apologized, waving his hand as a greeting. At least he had the decency to excuse his rudeness of intruding. "You're new right? I'm Lucio. This is D. Va, or Hana rather, as I'm sure you know." He pointed between himself and the gamer.
Hana shrunk away with sudden nervousness, laughing pitifully at her own stupidity. "Oh… um. I haven't actually formally introduced myself. My fault." The two friends laughed at some joke Satya didn't quite understand. She didn't laugh or even crack a smile in return.
Instead, she closed her eyes calmly, marking her place in her book before putting it to the side. She would be civil about this situation, that much she would make sure of. Raising from her seat on the bed, silently thankful she was at least decent in appearance in the presence of others, she stiffly offered her name out of common curtesy before excusing herself from the room, desperate to get far away from her least-liked coworker. Lucio and Hana exchanged glances after her departure.
"Something I did?" Lucio asked, perpetually confused. He was answered by an equally unsure shrug. Deciding not to dwell on the Indian's behavior the two set up to play a series of Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros Smash, D. Va without a doubt leaving him in the dust with her honed skills. Though, Lucio refused to give up without a fight, whooping and hollering whenever he gained an upper hand.
As they carried on with their competition, Satya sought out another form of company, finding solace in the Chinese climatologist who was conversing with Zarya and Winston. The three of them were huddled up in a decent sized lab with shelves of test tubes, chemicals, and lab books lined up on every wall. They seemed to be discussing the data gathered on Mei's and Zarya's last mission, going over the weapons that the robbers had been given from suspicious parties.
"Pfft, the guns were nothing," Zarya scoffed in her heavy Russian accent, pounding a fist in her palm as if crushing the imaginary machinery in her hands. "I could break them like twig."
Mei nodded in agreement with her friend, producing surveillance videos for Winston to see. "She's right, they weren't too much to look at, but the emblem on their handles caught my eye," said the climatologist. The gorilla took off his glasses for a moment to clean them before pushing them up on his nose again and peering closely at the footage.
He snorted as he recognized the insignia. "Hmph, so Talon is giving away weapons to anyone and everyone now? It makes no sense. What would they gain?" he inquired. "Mei, do you mind if I take this to the commander? He'll want to see this."
"Of course," nodded the Chinese girl. She ejected the card, handing it over to her primate friend as he went to visit Morrison. On his way out, he greeted Symmetra who was idling just outside the door frame. Mei followed suit. "Oh, Nihao. I don't believe I've seen you around here before."
Satya stiffly waved her prosthetic hand in return. "Yes, I joined while you were away on a mission. My name is Satya Vaswani. From what I've heard, you're Mei-Ling Zhou and Aleksandra Zaryanova," she gestured to them respectively. "Pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
"As well," Zarya responded, offering a hand to shake. With some hesitancy, Satya obliged, instantly regretting it as the larger woman's hand almost crushed hers and ripped her arm off in the gesture. The Russian woman chuckled, "You need some more meat on those bones, but you're still sturdy. I can't wait to work alongside you." Symmetra blinked, unsure of whether that was a complement or not before thanking Zarya anyway.
"Likewise. We're glad to have you here," Mei smiled warmly. She didn't request a handshake, instead pulling out a small drone that chirped and beeped. What looked like a smile had appeared on its digital screen. "And this is Snowball, my trusty bot. I was about to make some tea and relax. Would you like to join?"
Satya felt a small smile begin to form, relief washing over her to replace the anxiety she's had until now. Finally, she was able to find someone she could relax with. In no offense to Tracer and Winston, but the racing Brit was too much energy for her to be comfortable around, and she still couldn't quite get used to seeing a talking gorilla in a group of mercenaries, for lack of a better term. His intelligence and ability to speak wasn't what surprised her, considering how far technology has come, but she couldn't fathom why he would want to be an active part of battle. He's been well known for his overwhelming primal strength and ingenious prototypes, but he wasn't really what she would call the type to take up the front lines. And yet, the gorilla was proficient with both sides of battle, front and rear. Satya could probably get used to his presence as a respectable scientist, if nothing else.
"I'd be honored to join you in drinking tea," she replied. The three women made off towards the kitchen, Zarya breaking away as she spotted Reinhardt reading a newspaper at one of the tables. She was insistent on having a series of arm-wrestling matches with him, to which he heartily accepted. Both had cleared off the table completely, showing off their massive muscles by flexing in the most ridiculous fashion that Satya has ever witnessed. She and Mei joined Ana and Fareeha who were pulling out the tea settings. They discussed which flavor tea to brew that they could all enjoy, eventually settling for a lavender infused herbal tea, none all too picky about which choice was made.
Symmetra inhaled the aroma from her cup, reveling in the soft warmth being emitted and listening in to the other's conversation. She's never been one to talk to others, save for the occasional greetings and asking about one's well-being. There was nothing for her to really discuss. That didn't mean she disliked company and idle chatter coming from others, taking pleasure in being an audience to their enthusiasm. Mei's topic of conserving thermal energies had actually begun to interest Satya when she was bumped into all of a sudden, the tea cup from her hands jolting forward. She managed to keep hold of the porcelain dish to keep it from getting damaged, but the hot liquid still splashed over onto her hands. Her lips thinned as she twisted around to see who had caused the disruption.
In her line of sight, two Junkers were having an actual wrestling match, claiming to have been spurred on by Zarya and Reinhardt's competition. The smaller of the two scrap-scavengers was launched towards them, most likely having been the fault of her spilled tea. Instead of apologizing, Junkrat howled with insane laughter before lunging back to his friend, attempting and failing to tackle Roadhog. The two traded blows, bites, and twisting of appendages before Satya's had enough. She stood abruptly, carefully placing her cup on the table as she pulled out her light gun. Though, she had no intention to do any harm, aware of the eyes that were watching her carefully.
Inhaling and exhaling deeply, she raised her voice just enough to be heard over the rambunctious duo. "Cease this at once," she commanded, earning a satisfactory pause and silence. Roadhog and Junkrat exchanged glances between one another before eyeing the gun in her hand.
"And who are you, Sheila? Gonna shoot us with that now?" Junkrat snickered, his tone dangerous. He nudged his pig friend in the gut and pointed at her. "Fancy gun, don't you think, mate? I bet we could make some good coin scrappin' that in." His companion let out a heavy snort, almost derisively at her.
"I will give you no more warning. If you do not behave, you will force my hand," Symmetra countered, not fazed by their threatening responses. She raised her gun to prove she would not falter, though she planned on not using it unless she really had to.
Meanwhile, Ana remained seated, calmly drinking her tea while observing the situation before her. She was aware of the antics Junkrat and Roadhog displayed on a daily basis, having needed to restrain the two on occasion herself. Her curiosity was piqued by the newer member as she eyed the photon gun the former Vishkar displayed. The sniper knew from its design that it wasn't suited for lethal shots, unlike that of the Junker's bombs, and neither was the owner suited for intentional confrontation as she could observe in Symmetra's stance and voice. From her analysis, she could conclude the hard-light user as one who'd carry a bit of an authoritative air, but is not the type to take action unless it was necessary. Ana's gaze shifted back to the lankier Junker as he retorted back in his usual demeanor.
"Oooh, how scary," Junkrat snickered, raising both hands in mock surrender with fingers wiggling. Then he wailed in laughter, wiping away a tear that formed from his eye and holding his sides. His laughter was out of control, to put it lightly. His grin turned dark as he brandished his own grenade launcher. Behind him, Mako cracked his knuckles. Weapons were allowed to be carried within headquarters on the account that they would be necessary against surprise attacks by intruders. However, this allowance was enough to make some members act rash from time to time. No casualties have been made so far, only because most situations were resolved immediately.
At his action, the old markswoman set down her tea and rested a hand on the small tranquilizer gun hidden away under her jacket. When the Junker issued a challenge back to Satya, Ana intervened. "That's enough, Fawkes. Stand down. Or would you two rather return to prison?" she sniped, words affective in freezing both Junkers in their place. They both knew the threat wasn't an empty one, having already experienced isolated cells not too long ago. Out of the corner of his eye, Junkrat could see Reinhardt also shooting a hard stare his direction. The older Overwatch soldiers were fully capable of seizing control rather quickly, skillful as they were with out-of-line members over the years.
With some reluctance and disappointment for not being able to blow anything up, the smaller Junker grumbled under his breath, "Not like that'd hold us for long anyway," before retreating with his bodyguard. As they cleared out of the room, the other members returned to their own business. Ana released her hold on the tranquilizer and took another sip of her tea, discretely mouthing a 'thank you' to her partner in arms. Reinhardt beamed his award winning smile as he left for the training grounds with Pharah, both always enjoying to spar and practice together.
"Vaswani," Ana called after refilling her empty cup. Symmetra had already holstered her gun when she turned to face the sniper. Her appearance was collected and calm, but internally she worried that maybe she had crossed the line. After all, it wasn't her place nor authority to take action in headquarters. If she had added fuel to fire, more than likely she would have been sent away with the Junkers. Satya held her breath, waiting for the elder woman to continue.
Ana smiled lightly, her keen eye spotting the Vishkar's hesitancy. "Relax, I'm not going to chew you out. Rather, I want to thank you for stepping in. If the situation had gotten worse, Reinhardt would have had to use brute force to get them to cool off," she chuckled. At her words, Satya felt her shoulders relax some. "Though, I will suggest you think before you act as well. I don't want our new recruit getting into some mishap very first thing."
"I understand," replied Symmetra. The sniper was right. She had let her emotions drive her actions, despite her better judgments. Her hands clenched at her sides as she cursed her own recklessness, light scald marks dotting her thumbs. The injuries weren't painful, but her own foolishness frustrated her. How could she ever let something so diminutive upset her? Satya's thoughts were broken when Ana stood and took one of her hands to hand her something. In her palm sat a medical capsule, similar to those that took residence in the sniper's biotic darts.
"You'll feel better once you take that. Those burns will be gone in no time," Ana explained, wrinkle lines stretching with her smile. Symmetra immediately felt her anxiety melting away just like that. Mei offered her a cup of tea to which she gratefully accepted. The former Vishkar mixed in two cubes of sugar and a little bit of cinnamon before taking a few sips to calm herself.
As she felt her nerves completely relax, she sighed, "Are they always that unreasonable? I don't understand the reason why we have criminals in our midst."
Mei giggled and nodded her head. "Well, yeah. Their personalities are pretty predictable. I've even had to freeze one or the other while they were causing trouble. Sometimes, they just need to cool their heads… Pardon the pun." The joke was corny, but it made Satya smile if only for the moment. Then, her brow furrowed.
"If they are so much trouble, what makes it worth keeping them here?" she asked. It was an enigma that plagued her mind.
After taking a sip of her own tea, the climatologist replied, "Commander Morrison believes that they have the ability to reform themselves, on the basis that the radiation that had warped their cognition can be fixed or reversed. Dr. Ziegler has been looking into it ever since they were recruited, and I have no doubts to her medical knowledge. However, I don't see any changes can be done to their personalities, cured or not." Mei let out an exasperated sigh, shrugging and shaking her head. She's experienced several occasions of the smaller Junker bullying her. Roadhog she could tolerate to some extent as he preferred to stay quiet and sit around. Junkrat was his polar opposite.
"You'll learn how to deal with them after a while," Ana said, chuckling. "On the battlefield, you're free to do as you wish to keep them from ruining the mission, provided your interjection doesn't cause even more trouble."
Satya took the advice to heart. She had the right idea just now, but performed rather poorly in taking control in the situation and establishing equal grounds with the Junkers. Ana's own interjection was one to marvel on. She needed not to draw attention to her weapon or threaten to attack with it in the way that Symmetra had. The warning was still there, but the sniper knew the exact words to use to dissuade the hot-headed Fawkes. Making a mental note to improve herself in this field, the Vishkar changed topic to discuss Mei's technology.
The Chinese girl was happy for the new subject, eager to forget about the two criminals for the moment. Her excitement built up when she began explaining the mechanism to her freeze gun and how it could flash freeze anything without causing damage. Like the Vishkar employee, she also abhorred the act of killing, admitting that she had only killed one person in her life and that it was a desperate act to save herself. "It was a terrible feeling that I don't want to relive. I was lucky to escape with my life. Now, I make sure that the enemy doesn't come that close ever again. I would either disarm them by shooting my ice cycles into their weapons or freeze myself until help arrives," the climatologist said. Truthfully, she wasn't overly fond of the last-ditch effort to freeze herself either, for personal reasons that she would rather not openly discuss, but it was better than taking another life.
"That's noble of you," Satya remarked. She only wished she could say the same. Through her life in Vishkar, she had not been as lucky, forced to take lives when the situation turned dire. Some of her targets couldn't have been persuaded or subdued. She had even been physically assaulted on her normal rounds around the headquarters in Utopia. And she had no way to defend herself with in the same sense as Mei. Her photon shield was easily passable, she reluctantly admitted to herself, as was proved in the training grounds on her first day. When her life was in danger, she had no choice but to take lives.
She was used to it, unable to count how many she's actually taken. It wasn't a whole lot, but she knew that somewhere there was someone grieving for the loss of a loved one. The sense of guilt never faded away with each life she had to end. Satya stared blankly into her nearly empty cup as she recalled those she killed, their faces were ingrained into her memories. She knew the names and families of some. After all, most of her targets had been mutinous Vishkar workers. She would never take the life of a civilian the company worked hard to protect.
"I know what you mean," Ana agreed with the scientist, her voice breaking Symmetra out of her trance. She looked curiously at the sniper. Surely, the older woman's taken more lives than either of her younger peers, considering how long she's been in Overwatch. As if to answer the Vishkar's mental statement, the Egyptian explained, "I've had my fair share of killing after so many years. I only wish I could consider them all to be corrupted omnics, but there were several who were human. The lives I do take, innocent or not, human or omnic, will always be on my conscience. That's why I've modified my rifle to heal. The more lives I can save, the more likely I'll be able to atone."
Satya let the elder woman's words sink in and echo in her mind, her expression frozen in surprise. They were the exact words she needed to hear, and Ana seemed to know this somehow. The sniper smiled gently at her before excusing herself to aid Mercy in the medical lab, leaving Satya to consider her advice.
Even with the Vishkar dispersed, Symmetra still had a function to preserve humanity. She may have taken lives herself, but she was still working to help those in need, just as the company had always tried to do. If she could save lives with her hard-light constructions, then she would have served her purpose.
Satya continued to relax in the dining hall with the others, content with observing the behaviors of those around her and only speaking when a topic caught her interest. As her company slowly began to dismiss themselves, she headed back to her shared room. Pausing in front of the door, the Indian strained to listen for sound inside. Even though she was determined to cooperate with her peers, she still wasn't ready to associate herself with the rebellious thief that aided in the fall of her company.
Unable to detect chattering or the easily recognizable beat of Lucio's music, she unlocked the door and entered. Satya breathed a sigh of relief as she noticed the room empty. A half-eaten bag of chips on the floor was the only evidence that someone had been by recently, and she wasn't at all sure of who'd been the owner. Bothered by its appearance, she scooped up the discarded package of junk food and relocated it to the idol's snack shelf, sealing it to keep it as fresh as possible. With nothing else to do, Satya laid out her yoga mat and shifted through positions, clearing her mind of all distractions.
For a couple of weeks, this was her routine. She'd wake up early, though not before sunrise unless she was plagued with nightmares again. Sometimes, she would do morning exercises before breakfast. Then, she'd keep her own company in private by reading or dancing. Other times, she'd join with a couple of the other members just to idly talk. They'd do most of the talking of course, as she preferred to listen. Satya found herself becoming closer in companionship with the scientists, the doctor, commander, and elder markswoman. Her relations with the British sprinter and both Shimada brothers was also stable, at the very least. She could manage to work with them if she was to be assigned to a mission with them. Satya's even shared some personal views with the omnic monk on rare occasions. The rest of the Overwatch members she could tolerate, save for a few particular names.
Her primary concern was about her safety being compromised when in the same location as the Junkers. Though they had been careful enough not to threaten to attack someone, both took liberty to aggravate her immensely. The smaller one would throw cheap insults to her and her newfound companions in any fashion that seemed possible. Roadhog wouldn't say much of anything, but she's caught him glaring at her through his mask, feeling the intimidating stare bare down into her back when she wasn't looking. If he meant to make her feel uncomfortable, he succeeded. Their banter made her days a living hell when she wasn't in the presence of her peers.
Then, there was the hoodlum she would try to avoid. His presence has increased over time as she would catch him in the company of others. Satya would admit that she knew she couldn't always evade him. Lucio was too popular amongst the better staff, after all. However, she did everything in her power to keep from confronting him, taking any opportunity she could to divert her attention when he glanced her way. She'd even politely excuse herself from her group when he entered the room. The DJ noticed this behavior and was determined to find out what was going on.
Lucio waited patiently at the end of the hall leading to both hers and D. Va's room, bouncing his head in time to the music that played on his headphones, when Symmetra rounded the corner. She saw him immediately and turned back, acting as if she had left something behind. He wasn't falling for that trick. "Hey, hold on a minute," he called out, lowering the volume of his music slightly so he could talk to her without distraction. With some reluctance, Satya paused though she didn't face him. He decided to close the distance instead.
Before he could speak, she interrupted, "If you're looking for Miss Song, she's with Zarya at the training grounds." Lucio shook his head before he realized she couldn't see it.
"No, I'm not here for Hana. I just wanted to ask you why you've been purposely avoiding me. I'm not blind. I know Junkrat and Roadhog give you a good reason to ignore them, but I'm confused on what I've done. Did I upset you in any way?" he asked. If she said yes, he had every intention to apologize for whatever it is that he had done. He didn't want to cause trouble for anyone.
Satya struggled not to respond what was truly on her mind in answer to his question. Of course he's done something wrong. He's caused people to rebel and riot against her company, a company that was created just to protect those same people. He caused it to collapse. But she couldn't say that. Instead, she relaxed and turned to face him fully with a stern expression. Her jaw was stiff as she answered, "You've done nothing. I think you're just imagining things."
He didn't fall for her lie, his face twisting into further scrutiny. "I know for a fact you have been ignoring me. You can't deny that," he retorted before sighing. Lucio became aware that he was facing against a stubborn woman, rubbing at his shoulder. "Look, I don't know what I did, but I just want to say sorry, okay? I don't care if you hate my guts, but I don't want to be the reason for you to leave your friends in the middle of a conversation."
She wanted to yell at him, truly. Wanted to tell him exactly what he did and that no amount of apology would repair what he's done. But she restrained herself. No good would come out of a quarrel after so long. She was determined not to make a mistake while being a part of Overwatch, no matter how difficult it was to do so. That's why she's refused to take any action against the Junkers as of late. Satya gritted her teeth, just wishing he would leave her alone. Then, she paused, blinking in confusion. Wait, what was that last part? Her brow furrowed as she lost her confidence. She didn't know how to respond after that last bit.
"What I'm trying to say is, I won't bother you, and if you don't want me around while you're with them, then that's fine. Just let me know. I know how to give people privacy," Lucio said, trying to find some kind of middle-ground for the both of them to agree on. He extended a hand with a smile, hoping she would accept the peace offering. Satya considered his words, masking the grimace that threatened to surface at the sight of his outstretched hand.
She had no intention on shaking hands, instead giving a firm nod. "As long as you hold your promise, I'll be willing to agree to your terms." That was good enough for him. If her refusing to accept his hand shake had bothered him, he didn't let it show as he let the appendage fall back to his side.
"Deal," he responded. Lucio tapped a finger to his chin in thought. "Hana and I will need to find somewhere to play our games so we won't bother you."
Symmetra pondered for a moment. While the idea was welcome as she would be able to enjoy some peace and quiet in her own room, she'd never truly be in the room that often. For the past couple of weeks, the two had only converged to play video games twice. Other times, Satya and Hana were the only ones in the room as the idol played solo, to which the former Vishkar was able to ignore the gamer for the most part. D. Va's late-night streams was the only thing she had real issues with. Hoping she wasn't going to regret saying it later, Satya assured him, "I will have no issue with you visiting so long as you do not touch my stuff or leave a mess." She felt like she was nagging a child.
Lucio's smile widened as she said this, the gesture instantly making her cringe outwardly. "You really mean that? Awesome!" He gave her a double thumbs-up. She didn't respond, waiting for him to agree to her terms. As if catching on, he added, "I don't go snooping around in other people's business like those two Junkers. Don't sweat it."
Says the one who's carrying around physical evidence of theft, Symmetra thought to herself. It took all of her will not to glance at the altered weapon that was strapped to his belt. She was still not able to completely trust in his words, but at least they could come down to some agreement. In fact, she was honestly surprised that he could be soundly reasonable, considering his history. Satya idly wondered if he would have a different attitude if he knew who she really was. The longer he went ignorant, the better for her. It meant less confrontation and hassle she had to deal with. Though, she knew it was only a matter of time before he figured it out one way or another. Let's just hope we'll never be grouped up in missions, Satya thought to herself. She dreaded to imagine how that situation would play out.
Later on that week, she had been preoccupied with creating blueprints and miniature models that she'd recently worked on when her communicator beeped. Weaving the hard-light forms back into nanochips in her prosthetic arm, she retrieved the small tablet and tapped the icon that displayed the holo-message.
"Good afternoon, Vaswani," greeted the hologram replicate of the commander. When she returned the greetings, he continued. "How soon will you be ready to leave on a mission? It won't be a long one, probably only a couple of days. You won't be forced if you don't wish to go."
Satya thought on her answer for a moment, though she already had chosen. She would have no issues with leaving, as she really wasn't doing much as of late. A little change in routine would be welcome so long as she was able give her service, and she felt comfortable enough with most of the members to go on missions with them. Satya finally answered, "Preparations would take no time at all. I only require my gear."
"Understood. Rendezvous with me at 900 hours tomorrow in the assembly hall. Your team will be ready to depart by then," he instructed. Symmetra returned with a salute she had begun to pick up from Ana and Pharah. The hologram pixelated and dispersed in moments, and she relocated the communicator into a compact socket in her biotic palm. She returned to finishing her blueprints before turning in for the night, sleep coming early so she would be rested enough to depart in the morning.