Enraptured in Ice

by KibaElunal

At the height of Overwatch's thirty years of service, many members were dedicated to using science to seek out solutions to Earth's growing problems. One such scientist is Mei Ling Zhou who in an emergency placed herself and her crew into cryostasis. However, something went wrong and five years later she is revived by Winston's young lab assistant, eager to prove himself. (Lemons)

4. Chapter 4

Enraptured in Ice Ch. 4

AN: Hey everyone, sorry that took so long. It took me a while to get through this chapter, but I finally did it! Whoo! Things are finally starting to come together, and I hope that you've thoroughly enjoyed the story thus far. Thanks again for all of your support and reviews :D I really appreciate them. -Kiba

Tracers hands were a blur as she quickly disassembled her gun, setting the different parts down on the table in front of Dan. "These," she explained, beginning to repeat the process with the second one, "are Pulse Pistols. They hold forty energy rounds in a charge and fires the entire charge in one second. What they lack in accuracy, they more than make up for in firing rate and punch. In addition, they have a spring assisted hair trigger, meaning that it takes almost no force at all to pull the trigger. However, I'm not going to let you use my guns. These are my babies."

Picking up another gun, she held it up for Dan to see. It was one that looked familiar to him, though he couldn't place why. "Where did you get that?"

"I borrowed it. Don't worry about it. Stop asking questions. This is the Peacekeeper. It's an old-fashioned, single-action, six-shot revolver. This means it fires physical bullets, not energy based ones like you may be familiar with. It's got kick to it, so you've got to hold it steady and firmly. It's not loaded right now, so get a feeling for the weight."

Taking it in his grip, he was shocked by how heavy the small device was. The cold steel felt foreign in his hands as he leveled it towards the targets at the end of the range. "It feels...weird," he commented, closing one eye.

"Keep both eyes open, line the sight up with the notch. Wherever the gun is pointed at that point, that's where your bullet will go." Wrapping her arms around him, she slipped one leg between his and hooked her foot on his ankle. "Pull this leg back, and center your weight. There you go."

"Now it feels really weird."

"The peacemaker is powerful. If you're not careful it will knock you on your ass. Now it's a single-action. That means you have to pull back the hammer first." Flipping a switch on the side, she slowly drew back the metal arm at the back of the barrel. "Now the gun is cocked and ready to fire. Exhale slowly and pull the trigger."

With a loud and thunderous crack, the gun leapt back in his hands, causing Dan to drop it with a start. "Screw this," he grumbled, turning to leave, but with a flash Tracer blocked his path. "Look, this just isn't for me. Okay? I can't do this. I don't want to."

"You're doing fine," she tried, but still he shook his head, unmoving from his spot. He was trembling where he stood, his arms wrapped around himself as he struggled to maintain eye contact with her. "Dan...it's a dangerous world we live in. You need to learn to defend yourself. What if your life was in danger? What if Mei was in danger?"

A flash of anger appeared in his eyes. "Don't do that," he growled. "Don't try to use her like that to get what you want from me."

"Danny, this is important and if Mei were here, she'd agree with me."

"I said, stop!" He bellowed, causing Tracer to flinch in surprise. "I don't care what you want or what you think of me Tracer, but don't use Mei as some way of manipulating me! I won't stand for it."

"Dan," Tracer stated calmly to get his attention. "What is the problem? You had no difficulties shooting at Reaper and Widowmaker. Why can't you shoot at a paper target down the range?"

"I...I didn't shoot at them," he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. "I just...I just stood there and pretended to shoot. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Guns scare me. I don't want anything to do with them."

Tracer was beginning to feel frustrated. Rubbing her temples, she replied, "The only way to overcome your fears is by facing them. Pick up the gun and try again."

"No."

"Then go home!" she finally snapped. "Everyone in Overwatch has had to make sacrifices Danny, but if you're not willing to do that then pack your things and leave!" As soon as the words left her lips, she'd wished they hadn't. Shoving her out of the way, Dan took off at a full sprint. "Dan, stop!" she called after him, but he refused.

With a zip, she tried to cut him off, but he quickly dashed down a side corridor, disappearing in the labyrinth of boxes and scaffolds in the warehouse.

As Dan continued fleeing from his former friend, he glanced over his shoulder to see if she was still pursuing. When he didn't see any sign of her, he looked forward, just as an arm extended out from a corner, catching him square in the chest and sending him on to his back with a pained groan.

From the shadows, a bright orange glow lit up a grizzled face, as the man took a deep drag from his cigar. Exhaling the smoke into the air, the lab assistant tried to scramble away from the man. "You made a big mistake comin' to rip this place off, punk," he growled, walking calmly in his direction.

"What? N-no, I work here," Dan protested. The man's spurs jangled with every step as he reached down and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, easily lifting him from the ground before throwing him against the wall.

As he did, the man's dusty poncho parted to reveal that the thing that gripped him was in fact a robotic arm. "You can't bullshit a bullshitter son, and believe me I've spent some time bullshittin' the best of them," he answered. "Now, normally, I wouldn't give a thrice damned bit if you were robbin' this place, but considerin' that my baby's gone missin' and you just so happened to be runnin' rather suspiciously after she cried out for me, well...I reckon that means you may know a thing or two."

"What?"

The man rolled his eyes before painfully slamming Dan into the wall again. "My gun. Where's my Peacekeeper?"

Dan's eyes widened with recognition. The gun that Tracer had had him shoot must have belonged to this man. She'd said she borrowed it, but if she took it from him, that could mean this guy was trouble. Considering his treatment of himself, Dan kept his mouth shut. "I don't know."

"Bullshit, son. You reek of gunpowder and my gun's one of the only few that still uses it on this here complex. Now I'll ask you one more time before I start gettin' angry." Taking the cigar out of his mouth, he exhaled a bitter cloud straight into Dan's face before holding the lit end just a short way from his cheek. "Where's...my...gun?"

Taking a deep breath, Dan quickly lashed out with his leg towards the man's chest. If he hit him hard enough in his solar plexus, maybe he'd get the opportunity to escape. With a hard metallic clang, his shoe collided with the hidden armor plating beneath the attacker's poncho.

"Fine," he snarled. "Have it your way."

Just as he was about to press the burning hot embers into the younger man's flesh, something slammed hard into him, forcing him to release Dan. Standing between the two of them was Tracer, fists clenched and ready to fight.

"So we got someone else who wants to fight?" the cowboy asked, hurling a small device towards them both.

Dan shoved Tracer hard out of the way, just as the grenade erupted in his eyes with a concussive bang, leaving him blinded and unable to hear anything as he tried to maintain his balance.

Rolling to his feet, the man lifted his hat from the ground, tugging it back down on to his head. The woman the boy had shoved out of the way now raced towards him in streaks of blue light that he immediately recognized. "Hold up, now! I ain't your enemy, partner," he shouted quickly, just as her fist slammed hard into his jaw.

Dan's vision slowly began to come back as the ringing in his ears continued to pierce his brain with their shrillness. Extending his arm, he rested his weight against the crate. He felt ashamed and humiliated that once again, Tracer had come to his rescue.

Having grappled him to the ground, the ex-pilot was began punching him repeatedly until the man held up his hands. "Damn it, Tracer, it's me!" As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the alley, the man's tired old face became more distinct as she let his cloak slip through her fingers. "Shit. You still have one hell of a right hook, you know that?"

"McCree? What are you doing here?" she asked nervously.

"Stoppin' some punk from robbin' you blind. You're welcome by the way."

"Robbing…? You mean Dan? He works here, you moron!"

"Don't call me a moron, moron! You're the one who punched me in the face."

Tracer clambered off of him, helping him up before turning to see that once again Dan had disappeared from her sight. "Damn it, not again. All right McCree, listen up. If you want your gun back, and not thrown into the ocean, you're going to help me find Dan, understand?"

His eyes sharpened on her. "You know where my Peacekeeper is?"

"Yeah, I do. Now are you going to help me find him or not?"

"Fine," he grumbled, turning and walking away from her. "He went this way, here."

"How in the…"

"I can smell him. Boy's covered in gunpowder. Don't tell me you're losing your edge," he sneered. "Why you lookin' for this kid anyway? He couldn't fight to save his life, but if he works here that means he must be a box-pusher of some kind."

"He's a friend," she huffed. "I was trying to teach him how to shoot, but we got into an argument and he ran away. I had lost him up until I heard you threatening him. I thought you were some Talon assassin. Thank God neither of us were armed, right?"

"What were you two arguin' about?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"Dan's...he's a bit gunshy, is all. I got frustrated and I told him to pack his bags and leave. Truthfully though, that's the last thing I'd want him to do. He works really hard here. He and I haven't been seeing eye to eye a lot lately. This shooting practice was supposed to be a way for us to get along more."

"Well that's stupid," he commented, causing Tracer to shoot him a glare.

"Beg pardon?"

"If you want the lad to open up to you, why in the hell did you think it was a good idea to make him do something he clearly doesn't want to do? I mean hell, trainin' a dog is one thing, but makin' a kid comfortable with a gun is a...wait a God-damned minute, you were letting him shoot my gun, weren't you?!"

"I thought it'd be easier than using one of my pulse pistols," she muttered.

He shook his head in frustration. "You're a fuckin' idiot," he grumbled. "C'mon, let's find your brat. I'm sure I'll be able to talk some sense into him after you apologize."

"Why would I apologize?"

"For scarin' him half to death. The Peacekeeper kicks like a damned mule and barks like a pitbull. If I was a gunshy kid, I'd be pissed about being forced to shoot it, too. Shit, you really don't know jack about people."

Tracer sighed in surrender, simply bowing her head and staring at the ground. She really hoped that Dan wouldn't hate her for this.

"We should split up," McCree suggested. "I'll go talk to Winston. You see if you can find him packing his bags. I doubt it though. That stun grenade I hit him with should keep him nice and docile for a while."

She nodded her head in agreement, splitting from his path to find her lost friend.

---

Dan was still dizzy when he stumbled back into the lab, shutting the door hard behind him and sliding down it. "Dan?! Are you okay?" Mei rushed to his side, crouching before him and shaking him gently. "Can you hear me, Dan?"

Looking up into her face, he smiled at her, but even still the loud bang to his ears prevented him from being able to hear her voice louder than a muffled whisper. "I'm sorry...Mei…" he slurred, resting his head against the door. "I...I couldn't…"

"Athena, scan the perimeter of Watchpoint and inform me of how many lifeforms are detected. Include omnecs in that search," Mei ordered.

"Scanning now...Including members of the crew, there are five life forms detected. Registered identities confirmed: Winston, Mei, Tracer, McCree, Daniel McQueen."

"McCree? Who's McCree?"

"Checking Authority level. Jesse McCree had already made a name for himself as a member of the notorious Deadlock Gang, which trafficked in illicit weapons and military hardware throughout the American Southwest, when he and his associates were busted in an Overwatch sting operation. With his expert marksmanship and resourcefulness, he was given the choice between rotting in a maximum-security lockup or joining Blackwatch, Overwatch's covert ops division. He chose the latter."

"Blackwatch?" she gasped, turning to look back at the ragged Dan. "Tā māde niǎo!" Running to her desk, she ripped open one of the drawers and retrieved her gun, checking it to ensure that it was fully charged. "Athena, activate all lights in the complex and inform Winston of the intruder's presence. I'm going to find him before he can hurt anyone else."

"Yes ma'am."

Opening the door, Mei quickly tumbled out into the light, leveling her gun down the roadway and carefully walking towards the gun range. She was furious that not only had he attacked Dan, but that he did so while Dan was unarmed and untrained.

Hearing the jingling of what sounded like spurs, she stopped, ducking behind a crate. Just as the footsteps came closer, she dove out, turning and firing an energy round straight through the mechanical shoulder of the cowboy. "What in tarnation?!" he cried as another shot severed the limb from him, sending it clattering to the ground as he held up his human hand. "Now hold on there, little lady! There ain't no need to go scratchin' that trigger finger. I'm just here lookin' for a kid."

"Yeah, I bet," she snapped, keeping her gun trained on him and making her way towards him. "You were the one who attacked Dan, weren't you?!"

"You got it all wrong. I mean, yeah, I did, but I wasn't…"

"Bì zuǐ! I don't want to hear your excuses. Get on the ground, now!"

He sighed, slowly getting to his knees and placing his one hand behind his head. "Listen, ma'am. I'm not what you think. It was just a simple misunderstandin' is all. The boy ain't seriously hurt, there's no need to get all..."

"Shut up," she interrupted coldly. "I will not ask again."

Just then, Tracer dashed to her side. "Mei, what are you doing?!" she exclaimed, lifting the barrel of the gun from McCree. "He's a friend."

"A friend?!" she snapped at Tracer. "He attacked Dan and you're calling him a friend?"

"Dan's fine," Tracer promised. "It was just a stun grenade. It was my fault he attacked Dan, okay? I borrowed his gun and he thought that Dan was the one who took it. Please, put the gun away."

Mei took deep breaths, before beginning to cough roughly. Losing her balance, she collapsed into Tracer's arms, the gun clattering to the ground from her grip.

"Mei? What's wrong? Mei?" Tracer looked to McCree helplessly as he stood up. "She's out cold. I don't know what's wrong. We woke her up from cryostasis just yesterday."

"Let's get her inside, we'll have Athena take a look at her," he assured her, clasping the younger woman on the shoulders. Picking up the gun, he tucked it into his waistband before helping Tracer carry Mei inside.

As the doors opened, Tracer saw Dan, head against the wall and groaning. "Damn it," she muttered. Could today possibly go any worse? Laying Mei on a cot, she went to Dan, helping him up as well. "C'mon, Danny. Let's get you to bed," she urged, as he weakly struggled against her.

"N-no," he slurred. "Let me go. I want to leave."

"Don't be like that. We can talk about it later, love. Okay?"

Putting him on the cot, he turned over to see Mei, her eyes closed and coughing violently as small spurts of blood pooled around her lips. "Mei?" he whispered, his senses seemingly starting to return to him. "What happened to Mei? Is she okay?"

"We're going to find out," Tracer promised. "McCree, can you send a message to Mercy telling her to report to Gibraltar as soon as she possibly can?"

"I can try, but you know that missy isn't much of a fan of we folk."

Dan's hand shakily extended outward, his fingertips brushing against Mei's. Unconsciously, her hand turned, fingers slipping between his as her coughing began to subside. "Athena, run a diagnostic on Mei and determine the cause of her illness. I'll get a sample."

"She's already initiated a diagnostic, Tracer. She has also requested that her results not be shared in the presence of Dan."

"Dan?"she asked stupefied, turning back to see him, tears streaming down his face. Her heart was breaking for him as she watched him caress her hand in affection. "Why would she keep it a secret from him?"

---

In another area of the world, Dr. Angela Ziegler continued to remove the long surgical gloves that had extended up her pale arms. Content that she did a job well done, she discarded them and began to leave, just as a man came rushing to her. "Doctor, you have a call from Gibraltar. They say that it's urgent."

Mercy sighed, nodding in gratitude from the man before taking the phone. "Winston? I thought I sent you the message telling you to forward any problems you had to Dan. He should be able to handle it."

"Not quite, Doc."

"Jesse. It's a surprise to hear from you after so long. How have you been?" Beneath her polite words was a thin veil of cynicism and distaste. It wasn't that she disliked Jesse McCree, but rather she disliked his philosophy of solving problems with the hot end of a shooting iron.

"Now ain't the time for chit-chat, Doc. We got problems here in Gibraltar and we're in need of your healin'."

"I can't just abandon a patient. Talk to Dan, I'm sure he'll be able to stitch you up just fine and send you on your way."

"Damn it, woman. This isn't something some kid can just up and solve. This little lady here is coughin' up blood like she swallowed a fistful of thumb tacks, and worse, she told Athena not to give us the results of the diagnosis."

"Why doesn't Tracer use her time recall to go back before she was injured?"

"It's not me, Dr. Ziegler," Tracer interrupted, appearing beside McCree. "Dan, removed a woman from the cryopods that was still alive. It's Mei-Ling Zhou. She seemed fine, but today she collapsed and started coughing up blood."

"Mei?!" Mercy asked in shock. "You said that Mei is there with you?!"

"Yes, and she needs your help."

The doctor looked over her shoulder towards the operating table where another set of surgeons had come to take over another specialized part of his body. Unless there were complications, he should be fine but… "I can't just leave, Tracer. The President is still in critical condition here. If he starts to crash they'll...did you say that she was cryogenically frozen?"

"Yes," she replied.

"How in the world did Dan get her out of there alive?"

"I don't know, Doc. We had to fight off an assault by Talon before we could really get the details. Point is: Dan's out of commission, Mei is sick and coughing up blood, and we could really, really use your help. I know you don't like us, but…please. Do it for, Dan."

"For Dan?"

"He and Mei have grown really close over the last few days. He has something of a crush on her."

Dr. Ziegler rubbed her forehead in frustration and she weighed her options. Tracer was right about her feelings for Overwatch, but she'd always had a soft spot for Winston and his assistant. They always seemed so much more...innocent. "Have Athena send me Mei's diagnostics," Mercy instructed. "If she puts up a struggle, tell her I'm initiating override command #13-5-4-9-3. I'll review the data on the plane ride over. Give me a few hours to wrap up here and I'll be on my way."

"Thank you, Angela. I know Dan would really appreciate it."

"Speaking of Dan, start treating him now. If it's a minor enough wound, you should be able to without any problems at all. No excuses," she replied coldly before hanging up.

"Ma'am?"

"Sorry, but it looks as if I'm being called to another emergency. The President should be out of the woods for now. If he beings to seize, give him 35ccs of metrotroptoline."

"Yes, Doctor. Thank you."

She smiled warmly to the man. "It was my pleasure. Tell him that all I ask in return is that he continues the good work he's doing in the attempt to unite omnecs and humans." With that, she quickly made her way to the airport where her plane waited patiently for her arrival. Stepping inside, she sighed, sinking into a seat before blowing a blonde curl out of her face. "No rest for the wicked," she grumbled

---

Hanging up the phone, Dan began to sit up, his body swaying slightly. "Ugh, my head."

"Dan!" Tracer cried, hugging him tightly. "Thank God, you're back to normal."

"More or less. Not so loud, please."

"Yep. Them flashbang's gonna hurt like a bitch," McCree replied to him before letting out a hiss as Winston's torch singed a bit of his flesh. "Watch what you're doin' you damn, dirty, ape."

"If you don't like it, you're more than welcome to let the man you blinded and deafened take a crack at it," Winston shot back. "Mei really did a number on your arm. You must have made her really pissed off."

"I tried to tell her...ungh...that it was a misunderstandin'."

That was when Dan noticed her still figure beside him on her cot, unmoving, but her breathing heavy and ragged. "Mei?" he whispered, moving closer to her. "Mei, what's wrong?"

Her eyes were closed as her chest heaved painfully, unable to respond. Tracer placed her hands on Dan's shoulder, trying to steer him away. "C'mon, Dan. Let's take a walk."

"Let go of me," he snapped, shrugging her off. "What's wrong with her?"

"We're not sure, but Athena told us we're not allowed to hear the diagnosis while you're in the room as per Mei's orders."

Dan felt incredibly torn. He didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay by her side and he wanted to help to make sure she was better. He was hurt because she intended to hide this from him, instead of opening to him like he'd hoped. Finally, he was scared because deep down inside of his heart, he feared that this was his fault. Maybe he messed up the revival process or something. Maybe, since he couldn't bring himself to shoot at the Talon agents, she was injured by the poisoned gas while her body was still vulnerable.

"Dan, please. Let's go," Tracer urged, but he just sat there, looking down at the unconscious scientist.

"This is all my fault," he whispered. "This is because of me. I was so arrogant and selfish that I wanted to prove myself by making sure I brought her back from cryosleep. I didn't even give a damn about what may have happened, so instead of waiting for Dr. Ziegler, I did it myself." His body was trembling as he leaned closer to her and without a second thought, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry, Mei."

Her face scrunched up as he pulled away, turning and grumbling in her stupor. Taking a deep breath, he stood up, leaving the room. Rushing outside, he slammed the door shut behind him, only for Tracer to follow close behind. "Dan."

"What do you want Tracer?" he snapped, storming towards Winston's lab.

"I want you to stop and talk to me. I know you're upset, but…"

"But you don't give a damn. Yeah, I'm aware!"

"You know that's not true," she argued, zipping in front of him. "Will you slow down, please?"

At her urging, he finally slowed to a stop. "Fine. What is it?"

"About what I said earlier. I was just angry and frustrated. I don't want you to leave, so please don't think that. I get you're scared of guns. I shouldn't have forced it on you and I should have taken you through steps instead of tossing you into it."

"Is that all?" he asked. "If so, you'll have to excuse me. I've got a life to save."

"Dan, stop. She didn't want you to know she was sick for a reason. You should respect that?"

He stopped, taking a deep breath before wheeling on her. "What good is respect if she's dead, Tracer? I'd rather her be angry with me and be alive than be happy with me and dead. If it was my fault that she's like this, then I need to do what I can to help her."

"What do you plan on doing?"

"Don't worry about it. You wouldn't understand if I told you."

"Dan!"

He ignored her now as she followed him into the lab. Winston looked down in confusion, clambering down to swing in front of him with a thud. "Dan, Tracer's trying to talk to you."

"I'm well aware, sir, but I'm a little busy right now, so if you could just move aside, I'll handle my work and get on with my life."

Winston however, did not budge. Instead, he leaned back on his hind legs, stretching to stand a looming five feet taller than Dan. "You will show her respect, Dan. We are your friends, but we are also still your superiors. If you ever want to be a member of Overwatch, you'll have to…"

"TO HELL WITH OVERWATCH!" Dan shouted, catching both of them off guard. "Overwatch had its damn chance to save the world and they botched it! They don't exist anymore and I'm not going to sit idly by while a friend of mine is dying because some defunct mercenaries masquerading as heroes tells me to. Now step aside." Without even waiting for an answer, Dan slipped under the stunned Winston's arm. "Athena! Extract nanobot samples from the corpses of the nineteen other scientists and compile them into a slide please."

"Complying," she commented, the needles quickly injecting into the different corpses and collecting them as a thick murky liquid. Soon, a single drop of liquid was encased between two pieces of glass and presented to Dan to take. Winston began to tremble in anger, but Tracer quickly placed her hands on his chest trying to calm him down.

"It's okay, big guy," she assured him. "He's just upset. He didn't mean it."

"You think he'd be more grateful after everything we've done for him," he huffed, turning away to storm off. Tracer just looked back to her friend who was now hunched over a microscope.

Walking back to his side, she pulled a chair beside him. "Whatcha doin'?" she whispered in his ear, trying to lift his spirits.

"Athena was able to get Mei out of the ice by manipulating the nanobots in her body to warm her outer skin but keep her inner skin cold. Maybe the nanobots are doing something to her."

As he turned the knobs to bring the microscopic machines into focus, it showed them creating some sort of energy field that was causing the liquid they were in to crystalize.

"They're using some sort of anti-induction field. It's how they cool her down. If these ones are still cooling, then that could mean that something went wrong. Athena! Give me a scan of the bodies."

Looking up to the projector, it began to conjure an image of their internal systems. Life signs were of course flat, but that's not what Dan was concerned about. Touching the holoscreen, it zoomed into the chest of one of the scientists, and separating the components, he was soon looking at solely the lungs. Inside of them was some sort of cloudy anomaly.

"What is that?" Tracer asked.

"I think I know, but just to be sure...Athena, run a spectrograph of the anomaly and provide the components."

After a few moments, she let out a chirp to alert him that her work was done. "Results indicate that the material is formed of one part carbon and two parts oxygen." Standing up, Dan walked to the body and carefully opened its mouth.

"Dan?"

Placing his hands on its chest, he pressed, causing a hiss of air to escape as a smoky mist emitted from their mouth and nose. "It's worse than I thought."

"What is it?"

"Carbon dioxide. The nanobots solidified it in their lungs. That's what's wrong with Mei. Her lungs are filling with dry ice. They're hurting her lungs and she's struggling to breathe. We don't have much time. Athena, hack into the nanobots signal and stop them."

"Complying... Apologies, Dan. It seems that something is interfering with my command signal and is overriding it. I am unable to control them."

"Damn it!" he snapped. "I'll have to do something else." He began to rush around the lab, scooping up different electronic components. "Tracer, give me one of your pulse bombs."

"What? Dan, you're insane. Dr. Zeigler is on her way, you should…"

"I don't have time to argue with you Tracer, just do it!" he shouted before taking a breath and calming himself. "Please," he begged, "Mei's life is in danger. She won't last long enough for Mercy to help her."

Reaching to her pack, she placed the bomb carefully on the table in front of him. "Okay," she whispered. "I understand. I'm trusting you, Dan."

"Thank you," he replied, silently turning back to begin disassembling the pulse bomb. He didn't have much time, he knew, but he had to do something. He'd rather risk her life then let her continue to suffer as she was.

"What is your plan?"

"If we can't control the nanobots, the least we can do is shut them down. I'm modifying your pulse bomb to create an EMP to put them out of commission. Then we put her on oxygen and manually pump her lungs to quickly sublimate the remaining crystals and pray that they didn't damage her lungs to the point of no return."

Removing the hull of the bomb, he very carefully began to remove the solder, pausing to wipe his forehead of sweat with the back of his hand. Grasping a pair of tweezers, he carefully lifted a pulsing blue sphere and set it aside. Curious, Tracer began to marvel at its color.

"Don't touch that," Dan instructed quickly, continuing to make his changes to the circuitry.

"What does it do?"

"It goes 'boom'."

"Ah."

Now that he'd finished with the circuitry, he turned to the sphere, using a scalpel like knife to carefully remove what looked like a gel membrane around the sphere. It was the gel, Tracer discovered that was glowing the pretty blue color. "Is this safe to touch?"

"Ground yourself first," he replied, taking the metallic sphere that was inside and replacing it back into the socket. As he finished reassembling the device, he found that it was completed and with a sigh, he allowed himself a moment to take a breath.

Not listening to Dan's warning, she grasped the gel, just before it hardened in her fingers like tiny rocks before splitting apart into thousands of slivers that stuck in her finger tips and rained down to the table top. "Ow, ow, ow."

"Should have listened," Dan lectured. "I'll get the splinters out later. For now, I need to get this to Mei quickly." Rushing out of Winston's lab, the ape watched the two curiously, his temper already starting to subside.

Soon, all of those present in the base stood around the unconscious Mei who was gasping for breath. Placing the mask over her mouth and nose, Dan flipped the necessary switches to start the oxygen flow before placing the modified pulse bomb on her chest. "Winston, you'll want to leave. Tracer, you too. McCree, if you have any electrical components necessary to your survival or ability to move, you will need to leave, too. This thing will shut down any electronic devices. That includes armors and chrono accelerators." Leaving, as instructed, Dan found himself now alone with Mei. "Athena, perform hard reboot. Delay power on for 1/10th of a cycle."

"Are you sure about this, Dan?"

"No," he admitted finally. "But I have to do something now or she will die. I'll see you in an hour okay?"

"All right, Dan. I wish you luck."

With a low whir, the hum of Athena's processor within the building dimmed into silence. Dan pressed the button on the pulse bomb, causing it to begin to beep frantically before an brilliant flash emerged outward, followed by all of the lights casting the room into pitch black. The EMP had worked.

Discarding the spent 'bomb', he quickly leaned down, placing his cheek on Mei's chest. Her heart was still beating, but she wasn't breathing. That's when he realized the oxygen machine too was affected by the pulse. Swearing, he ripped the mask from Mei. Parting her lips, he tilted her head back and placed his over hers. This was not the way he'd hoped he would have his first kiss with her, but right now, he only cared about one thing: saving her life.

Exhaling into her mouth, her chest rose beneath him. Pulling back, he placed his hands between her breasts. He was amazed by how soft and warm they felt, but still he focused himself and gently pressed downward, causing a wheeze of air to escape Mei's lungs.

Still she wasn't breathing yet. He repeated the process again, placing his lips over hers, filling her lungs with air and squeezing the remaining dry ice from her lungs. Nothing.

"Come on, Mei. Please. Please, don't leave me yet," he begged, his eyes beginning to water as he tried again and again with no results. "Damn it, Mei, don't do this to me!" When nothing happened, he felt his heart shatter in his chest. "I'm so sorry, Mei. I'm so, so, sorry."

Salty tears began to stream from his eyes as he placed his hand gently on her cheek. Leaning downward, he placed his lips against hers once more, though this time it was in a gentle and loving kiss. With one last sigh of surrender, he pulled from her, sinking back into his chair.

Just then, Mei's eyes flew open as she let out a pained gasp, coughing and hacking fiercely as she sat up in shock.

"Mei!" Dan quickly embraced her, holding her tightly in his arms. "Damn it, you scared me so badly," he whimpered. "I'll do whatever you want me to, okay? I'll shoot guns, I'll learn weather, I don't care."

"Dan?" she murmured confused as he buried his face in her neck.

"I'll do anything," he repeated. "Just promise me. Promise me you won't leave me like that again." He clutched her tightly to him, unable to see the timid blush that was on her cheeks as her hand gently rose to brush against her lips. She could still feel the soft sensation of his kiss, her mind reeling to pick up the precious moments when it had briefly been unable to process the world around her.

"You saved me again, didn't you?" she whispered. "Now I owe you my life twice over, Dan."

"Don't worry about that now," he breathed back. "I'm just glad that you're still here."

The two sat in the dark for a long time, his arms wrapped around her in a protective and loving embrace. She pressed against him, eyes closed and weak as she allowed the warmth of his body to serve as a shield against the scary coldness of her near-death. Once the moment had finally passed, only one question was on Dan's mind...what was it that had manipulated the nanobots to try to kill Mei?

To be continued...