Enraptured in Ice Ch. 11
AN: Hey everyone, sorry it's been a bit. A lot of things have been happening in my life, none of which very good. My job reduced my hours due to budget cuts, so now I don't make enough money to survive every month. I have a Pratreon set up. Just go to the website and search for Kiba Elunal. Any bit of money would really help me out, and even if you can't pledge anything, just following the Pratreon itself would be helpful. I also have my own blog on Blogspot. Kibaelunal. Blogspot. Com. The more followers I get on the blog, I'll be able to start generating ad revenue which will also help a lot. The blog has tips and tricks to help improve writing, and I'm even going to start critiquing fanfiction. Thank you so much for your support everyone, I'm sorry to have to ask you all for this. I wish you the best of luck in life and literature. -Kiba
Checking his watch, Dan frowned. It was already two in the morning? Had it really taken him so long to get back from the airport? He stood staring up at the door of the lab, contemplating whether or not to go in.
Hana was squared away again, and he had told her that he intended to sleep elsewhere for the time being. He didn't feel it was a good idea to tell her about what happened between him and Mei. If she found out, it would look really bad for him, even though he was certain he'd done nothing wrong.
With a huff, he slid open the door and made his way through the pitch black room. Already he could make out the curvy outline that lay in the bed, waiting for his return. For her sake, he hoped she hadn't kept her word about waiting up for him.
Pulling back the corner of the blanket, his eyes fell upon a woman that he was not familiar with. He blinked in confusion, his mind trying to piece things together. The woman was young, her skin darker in tone like someone who'd spent their whole life in the desert. As if to confirm his thoughts, beneath her eye was a stylized tattoo like that of an Egyptian hieroglyph.
Before he could react, her eye shot open and upon falling on him, he immediately dropped the sheet holding up his hands. "I swear, this isn't what it looks like," he tried, as her hand shot outward for something beneath the nightstand behind her. With a loud bang, he barely managed to dodge aside as a bullet grazed his arm.
"No, stop!" He cried, diving for cover as more bullets tore past him. Grabbing the steel lab table that he and Mei had made love on, he turned it over for cover, able to feel it vibrating with every impact of the bullets.
"Come out," she ordered in a stern voice. "If you do, I swear to you I will end you quickly for your trespassing."
"I'm trespassing?!" he argued, just as another bullet whizzed over his head. He was surprised how accurate her shooting was given that the lab was presently pitch black. He'd managed to find the table through memory alone.
Curiously, he grabbed a hammer and threw it aside, and sure enough when it landed with a clatter, a bullet smashed into it, sending it skittering across the tile. So she couldn't see him, she was firing by sound alone. Who was this woman?
"Athena, activate lab's PA system," he whispered as softly as he could.
"Come out," she repeated.
"Not until you stop shooting," he retorted, his voice echoing all around her. He could hear her turning about confused. His plan was working. "You seem to be having trouble finding me."
"You will not make a fool of me, pervert," she hissed, the sound of her gun's clip being replaced with another.
"It was an honest mistake! I thought you were my boss."
"You'd perv on your commanding officer?! You are the lowest scum of a man."
This woman was not going to listen to reason. He couldn't believe he was having to do this. His hand went to his waist, quietly unclipping his pistol and pulling back the hammer slowly. His only hope was to fight her to a stand still.
"Athena, activate lights, full power."
Closing his eyes, he shielded himself as they suddenly flicked on, causing the woman to let out a cry of pained surprise. Jumping out from cover, he took aim and with a well placed shot, sent the pistol from her hands before pointing his gun at her.
"All right, now you've got questions to answer. Who are you?!" he demanded, keeping his gun trained between her eyes. She said nothing, her gaze stern and fierce. Pulling back the hammer of the gun, he repeated his question, and she in turn remained silent. "Turn around, put your hands behind your back." She again, refused to comply. Was she really so damned proud that she'd take a bullet before surrendering herself.
He couldn't deny there was something familiar about her. She was rather shapely, though nothing like Mei. Still, she stood tall and straight, her piercing glare unwavering as she waited to accept her fate.
Dan knew he wouldn't be able to shoot her, but still he didn't have much of a choice. He carefully made his way around her towards the gun she dropped, never lowering his weapon. She in turn, rotated to keep her eyes on him. It didn't even seem as though she blinked.
Bending down, he slowly picked up the gun that she'd fired at him before tucking it into his back waistband. Stepping closer to her, his sights still set, he went to ask her her name one more time, but just as he was in range, she grabbed his wrist and before he could react, swept his legs out from under him.
Before he could roll over to get back up, she had one arm wrapped around his throat, the other locking his arm in place so he couldn't move to defend himself. As she began to choke him, he could feel her breath on his ear.
"You are a fool," she hissed. "You should never show an enemy mercy."
As he began to black out, the door burst open, Tracer and Mei rushing in with guns drawn. "Pharah is something...wrong?"
"Dan! Pharah, release him, he's one of ours!" Mei explained.
Immediately, Dan fell forward, gasping for air as he took deep breaths. Ripping her gun from his back, the woman he now knew as Pharah checked it to ensure that it was still functioning before placing it back on the night stand. "I caught him attempting to watch me in my state of undress," she explained coldly.
Tracer raised an eyebrow. "Dan?"
"I tried to tell her, it was a misunderstanding!" he protested, getting to his feet.
"Who is this imbecile?" Pharah asked. "Explain."
Mei frowned. She wasn't too happy with the way their guest was treating Dan, but under the circumstances, she felt it was best to keep quiet. "Daniel McQueen, meet Fareeha Amari. Call sign: Pharah. Fareeha, this is Dan, he's our assistant."
"Amari?" Dan asked. "As in Ana..." Immediately, Tracer's hand clamped over his mouth.
"Sorry, he talks a lot. Dan, let's allow our guest to sleep in peace. Don't worry Pharah, I promise he will receive a stern reprimand for this."
Her unwavering and angry glare stayed trained on him, but she slowly nodded, turning to go back to bed as Mei and Tracer dragged him outside. "Sorry about that, Dan," Mei apologized. "I should have called you, but it was late and she kind of showed up by surprise."
"What were you doing in there anyway?" Tracer asked.
Mei and Dan shared an embarrassed glance that went undetected before Mei spoke up. "I told him he could stay in the lab for now. I figured it'd be better for him to have some space from Hana."
"I see. Well, it can't be helped now. Sorry Dan, looks like you're staying in the barracks with the rest of us."
"Who is she?" he repeated. "What is she doing here?"
"As you may have surmised, Fareeha is the daughter of Ana Amari. I stopped you because there are some...unsettled disagreements between her and her mother. Now that she's dead, those disagreements aren't able to be resolved, and as you can see she's a bit abrasive. I figured it'd be best you didn't anger her more."
"Thank you," Dan murmured.
"She's here because she needs our help. Talon stole something from her. We'll leave it at that for now. It's too early to keep talking," Mei complained.
"Agreed," Tracer yawned. "Let's head back to bed." Before the others could respond, she zipped away to return to sleep.
Standing together awkwardly, Dan smiled at Mei. "Thanks for covering for me," he whispered, the two walking together back towards their quarters. "Sorry that we have to keep this thing between us secret."
"It's okay," she giggled. "Besides, it's not really anyone else's business, right? What took you so long anyway? I was up until midnight and you still hadn't come back yet."
"Hana ran away. She was going to fly back to Korea, so I had to stop her."
"Sounds romantic," Mei teased. "I think every girl dreams of a man chasing her down before she gets on a plane. So...what happened?"
"I managed to bring her back. I told her I'd give Tracer my report in the morning. I haven't changed it since before we started dating, so I'm hoping that she'll accept it. By the way, why is Pharah in your room?"
"Well...she's a very private individual," she explained. "She isn't much of a socialite, so she requested a room where she could be ensured privacy. Guess I should have remembered the agreement I made with you."
"Speaking of which…"
Mei giggled again. "Is it still on the table? I suppose I can let you stay in my room with me tonight, but you're going to have to sneak out in the walk of shame tomorrow. Think you're up for the task?"
"I snuck into Pharah's room without even trying, didn't I?"
She just laughed as she placed his hand in hers, walking with him until they reached her room. Making sure no one was watching, they slipped inside, and before he could formulate a question, Mei kissed him sweetly on the lips before crawling into bed.
Smiling, Dan slipped out of his shirt and kicked off his shoes. Sliding into place beside her, he wrapped his arms around his boss, glad to feel the warmth rolling off of her body as he trailed kisses along her exposed neck.
Mei gave a happy purr, pressing back against him. She'd enjoy this for tonight, she decided, but tomorrow they'd go back to just being coworkers. Even still, she found herself excited by the prospect that someday, she may be able to enjoy this again.
The realization made it occur to her that perhaps she already did possess feelings for Dan, but she quickly silenced those thoughts by reminding herself that good things come to those who wait. Together, they curled up beside one another, closing their eyes, and falling asleep.
The next morning, Dan awoke to find Mei's eyes still closed, her breath calmly rolling over him as she dozed peacefully. "Good morning," he whispered quietly before nuzzling her with his nose.
She smiled slightly, her eyes opening to see Dan snuggled against her. "Good morning," she murmured back. "How did you sleep?"
"Never better," he admitted. "You?"
"Very well, thank you."
"Mei?" A voice called outside. Immediately, the feeling of satisfaction that the two shared became one of panic as Dan quickly rolled from the bed.
"J-just a second!" she called, scooping up Dan's shirt and tossing it to him before pushing him into the closet. Dan held his breath as she opened the door to see Tracer. "Good morning, Tracer. What's up?"
"I was looking for Dan," she replied. "I'm waiting for his report on Hana, but he wasn't in his room. It didn't even look as if he slept in his bed."
"Have you checked Winston's Lab?" Mei asked as Dan peered through the slits of her closet. His heart was racing as he watched the two, praying Tracer wouldn't find him and end the charade.
She sighed. "Yes, but Athena says he never even came in. The last she registered of him was entering the Barracks, but she says he never left. I thought maybe he'd come to speak to you this morn…" Her words trailed off as her foot bumped into Dan's shoe. Looking down at it, she looked up at Mei, with a concerned glance. "Mei, where's Dan?"
"I-I'm not sure," she lied. "Last night, we stayed up a bit longer and talked. He must have left his shoes here. It's a Chinese culture thing to take off your shoes before entering someone's home."
"Mei, I'm wearing my shoes and you haven't said a word," Tracer pointed out.
"Well, I didn't want to be rude. Dan left my room last night. I'm not sure where he went off to though. Maybe he managed to slip out from under Athena's notice. After all that's happened, he probably wants some alone time is all."
Tracer leaned down picking up the black tennis shoe. "Without his shoes?"
Mei just shrugged her shoulders, causing Tracer to sigh before dropping them on the ground again. Leaning against the wall, she crossed her arms over her chest.
"So what happened yesterday after I left? I have to say that kiss you two shared seemed more than platonic."
"Yeah, well...he surprised me is all. After you left, we just stopped and talked for a while. Then he went to go get Hana because she was trying to leave for Korea, but he managed to bring her back and…"
A cat like grin spread across Tracer's face. "You had sex, didn't you?"
"Wh-what?! No! Of course not! How can you suggest something so crude?" Mei exclaimed, her cheeks blushing furiously. "Dan and I are just friends! That's all."
"Uh-huh. This is all very interesting, Mei. So then if you and Dan are just friends, and he didn't spend the night here as I thought, you won't mind me saying something super embarrassing that you don't want him to hear, right?"
"I can't think of a single valid reason as to why not," she surrendered through gritted teeth.
Now Dan's face was entirely flushed as he leaned forward curiously. He had a hard time believing that Mei had any sort of dirty laundry. This, he felt, would help him to learn more about the real Mei.
"We should talk about that time you had that dream just last week," Tracer commented, the smile unfading from her face. "Such a very interesting story. Naughty, too."
Naughty? Dan's heart began to race. "Ha ha, very funny, Tracer. Don't you think you're taking this joke a little far?" Mei asked.
"What? It's just us, right? You already told me the story, so it doesn't really matter if it's just the two of us in here. I still remember you reading it out of your dream journal. So descriptive." Sitting on the bed, she tugged the journal from the drawer before Mei could even stop her.
"Tracer, give it back!" she cried, but the faster girl began to zip around the room, reading it and keeping it out of her reach.
"'He took me into his arms, holding me there and whispering sweet nothings into my ear. I could feel his heated breath and his passioned heart beating for me. He placed his hands on my breasts, massaging them lovingly as he stared up at me. I was his Goddess, and he my loyal High Priest. He would do anything to pleasure me, and I knew it, too. With every soft word of encouragement I gave, he served to pleasure me even more greatly, even going so far to drink from me as if I were a holy chalice. His tongue was so hot and slippery, it was like…"
"Stop!" Mei whined, tackling Tracer to the ground. "Ugh, it's so embarrassing!"
"Where's Dan?" Tracer asked. When Mei said nothing she went to continued reading, but the climatologist easily plucked it from her grasp and threw it away on the bed.
"He's in the closet, okay? He's hiding in the stupid closet."
Tracer tore open the doors to gaze upon the half naked lab assistant. "Well, I hope you enjoyed that little dramatic reading. Put your shirt on. You and I need to have a little chat, understand?"
"Okay," he muttered, following after her once he'd redressed. As he trailed her outside, she suddenly grabbed him and threw him against the wall of one of the buildings.
"Are you out of your damned mind?!" she hissed. "I cannot tell you all the rules you've broken in the last forty eight hours! I couldn't get back to you on the rules of fraternization, that's true, but dear God Dan, sticking your dick in a woman before you've broken up with your girlfriend? That's not cool in any situation."
"It was after we broke up," he grumbled.
"Five minutes is not 'after', Dan!"
"This isn't any of your business, Lena," he stated coldly, causing her to pause and let go of his collar. Smoothing it out for him, she sighed.
"So, now what happens?" she asked. "I don't imagine Hana knows. How do you think she'll feel when she sees you arm in arm with Mei so shortly after you two have separated?"
"Mei and I aren't together," he corrected, his eyes falling to his feet. "We both agreed that what happened between us was nice, but was a mistake and that we need to just pretend it didn't happen. We just slept in the same bed last night as a follow up, but that's the end of it."
Tracer's eyes softened slightly before she wrapped her arms around Dan and hugged him close. "I'm so proud of you! Oh, it's so hard not wanting to squeeze the hell out of your adorable body. Little Dan's growing up so fast!"
"Shut up!" he protested shoving her away. "Look, I was upset and I made a mistake. I don't need you giving me a hard time about it!"
"Oh, so Mei is a mistake now, is she?"
"No, but having sex with her was. That wasn't how any of this was supposed to go. I wasn't supposed to date a girl who was using me to get into Overwatch. I wasn't supposed to go berserk and have sex with a woman whom I respect very deeply, on a whim! I was supposed to be happy! Now...I'm just confused." He rested his head against the wall with a groan. "I don't know what to do about it. I still have feelings for Hana, but I have feelings for Mei, too. I know that I'd be happy with Mei, but I don't know if I can trust Hana, and I've had sex with both of them and don't get me wrong, both times were great, but…"
"Wait, you had sex with both of them?!" Tracer cried, a big smile on her face.
"Focus Tracer! Look, I need you to tell me what to do. Please. Mei is willing to forget this ever happened, but I don't know if I want to forget it. I don't want to get back with Hana again. I want to be with Mei, but I don't think she'll agree to it."
Placing both of her hands on his shoulders, Tracer smiled at him sincerely. "Listen up Dan. I'm going to impart onto you some advice, passed down from woman to woman since time eternal."
He nodded, waiting expectantly.
"Fuck it."
"...What?"
"Fuck it. Fuck it all to hell. You've only got one life Dan, no point in living it half-assed. If you want Mei to be with you, tell her that. Don't hold back."
"What happened to 'You're aiming for outside of your reach' and 'Just forget her Dan it's never going to happen'?"
"Fuck it."
"But what if I tell her I want to be with her and she says no?"
"Fuck it."
"Tracer, you're really not helping me at all. I'm serious about this!"
She gave a light sigh. "Dan, as your friend, I am telling you this in the strictest confidence that you keep this solely between us. Go for it. I can tell you with 95% certainty that she'll say 'yes'."
"How do you know?"
"Shh. Don't worry about that. Just...aim for that 95% okay?"
He paused for a moment. "Out of curiosity, what is the other 5%?"
"You trip and fall face first into a puddle of acid on your way to talk to her."
"Seriously?"
"I'm a time traveler, you've got to trust me on these things. Stay away from acid, Dan."
"That's...not comforting. Anyway, if you say I should go for it...I'll go for it. This isn't you trying to cockblock me, right?"
"Can't cockblock someone who's already gotten laid," she laughed, nudging him playfully with her elbow. "Now come on, give us details! What sort of sounds do they make? I bet Mei's a squealer."
"Christ, Tracer," Dan shuddered, his cheeks burning red. "For all of our sakes get laid!"
"Why should I when I can just live vicariously through your sex life?" she teased.
"Right...I'm going to go find Mei now." With that, Dan turned to leave before Tracer called after him.
"Hey! First things first: your report for Hana?"
"Let her in! She managed to fight off Talon with just the two of us!"
"Gotcha, I'll start it up now. Good luck. Don't you dare bang someone again when you're supposed to be working or I'll have your ass, and not the same way that she does, either!"
"You really are the worst!" he groaned, heading back toward the lab. As Tracer went to file the paperwork, neither of them noticed the dark shape vanishing from the shadows of the alleyway.
Once Dan reached the front door of the lab, he was suddenly grabbed, pulled into the alleyway, and thrown against the wall of the building and a pistol shoved in his face. Down its barrel he could see the dark angry eyes of Pharah.
"Wh-what are you doing?" he asked. "I'm not trying to peep again, I actually do work in that lab so…"
"Shut up," she hissed, interrupting his words. "You are some of the most dishonorable filth I've ever laid eyes upon. I listened to your conversation with Tracer, and unlike her, I am not amused."
"Wait you…" Dan's eyes widened. "Hold on! You can't tell, Hana!"
"Still your tongue," she ordered. "You're a monster preying on the hearts of young maidens and I will not stand for this. I don't know how you twisted Professor Zhou's mind to care for you so, but you will regret it."
"What is your deal?" he scoffed. "How is any of this your business? Who I'm interested in romantically has nothing to do with you, unless it is you, which after the second time you've jammed a gun in my face, will never happen. You're crazy!" Before he could continue his spiel, she slammed the butt of her pistol hard into the side of his head, sending him to the ground with a grunt.
Kneeling down, she put her gun to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. "You are going to stand up slowly, head to the gates, find the first plane out of Gibraltar, and you're going to leave. Understand? If you don't, I will kill you. The only reason you still breathe now is because I don't want your foul blood to taint Overwatch."
"Tough shit," I wheezed, pushing myself up before she struck me hard in the back, sending me sprawling back into the dust. "Kill me if you want," I declared. "I've worked too hard and for too long to leave Overwatch, just because some nobody I've never met disapproves of my romantic life choices."
Another blow, this time a kick to my ribs that made me groan. She rolled me on to my back, pointing the gun in my face. "Last chance," she growled. "You will leave them alone. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," I grunted, causing her to quickly leave me behind. For a few minutes, I simply lay there, trying to gather the strength to get back to my feet. I was certain she'd broken one of my ribs. That was when I suddenly felt a sharp jab in my leg, followed by the whoosh of a silenced gunshot. Had I been shot? Reaching down to my leg, I found a small syringe like casing, now empty. Drugged?
The pain seemed to drain from my body almost instantly, and I suddenly felt much better. Slowly getting to my feet, I pressed my hand against where she'd kicked me to find my ribs still intact. What the hell? My eyes scanned the buildings, looking for evidence of the shooter. I saw nothing amidst the shadows and dark corners of the compound.
Scratching my head, puzzled, I turned and entered Mei's lab. "Hey Dan," she called replacing her tools back on the metal table that she'd now righted. "So...what did you tell her?" she asked.
Looking up from the object he held in his hand, he registered that she'd spoken. "Sorry, umm...I told her about us...but I think she already knew. Something really strange happened to me outside."
"Let me guess, Tracer was absolutely thrilled by the news. She's been talking you up to no end."
Checked out again, I worked carefully to remove the needle from the syringe before praying just a drop of the medicine was left over.
Sure enough, there was just enough to make a slide, and I quickly took it to the microscope. "Dan, are you listening?"
"Y-yeah," I stammered, twisting the focus knobs. My eyes widened at what I saw. "Holy shit," I muttered. "They're nanobots."
"What?"
"I was injected with nanobots, I think they healed my wounds. Based on this, it looks as if they are designed to patch wounds and disrupt nerve clusters to remove pain."
"Wounds? What wounds? Who injected you?" Mei asked, utterly confused by my deductions.
I hesitated telling Mei about my encounter with Pharah. I knew that if I did tell her, she'd talk to her, and if she talked to her, who knew what would happen to me next. I had no doubt the crazy woman actually would shoot me and dump my body over a cliff. "I don't know who shot me, or why," I answered. It wasn't technically a lie. I didn't know who had shot me or their motivations for healing me.
"I see," Mei murmured. "Well, another mystery to the list of mysteries, I guess."
"The list? What other mysteries are there?"
"For starters, the mystery of how my hammer was destroyed."
"Pharah shot it last night."
"Well, one down. Okay, Sherlock, maybe you can tell me why the weather has been all screwy?"
"To give pretty scientists something to do," I suggested, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"When did you become so charming all of a sudden?" she asked, half-teasing.
To be honest, I had no idea where that came from. Did my confidence from last night's encounters stay with me? "Somewhere between having sex the first time and having sex the second time, I guess."
"You're funny," she commented sarcastically before flashing me a smile. "But enough flirting. It's time to get to work. We've been really far behind lately. Let's get started on this climate control device."
"Yes ma'am," he answered, picking up the tools we'd need. Standing beside her, Dan offered her the wrench. Just as she reached for it he pulled it back. "Now, you're not going to lose it this time, right?"
"What did I just say about flirting?" she giggled, snatching it from my grip, and moving to tighten one of the lugnuts. "Do think you can handle working on an ionic converter? We need a way to stabilize their vibrational energy for emission."
"Understood," he beamed, grabbing the component and setting to work. It wasn't too bad of a patch job, just a small crack along its housing, but still he was glad he could help. Every now and then he'd peer up up at Mei, watching as her hips swayed slightly to the rhythm of whatever song it was she was humming. It was then that it struck him again, just how much he felt for her. "M-mei?" he called to her, causing her to pause her work and look over her shoulder.
"Hmm?"
"I...I…" he began to stammer, his heart racing and his cheeks flushed. He strongly wanted to blurt out his feelings again. He wanted to just tell her that he loved her, one more time, but he knew that wasn't the way to do this. Regardless of what Tracer told him, he didn't want this to be fast. He wanted to be patient with this. "I just wanted to say, you look very nice today," Dan explained, giving her a smile.
Placing her pencil down that she was using to sketch her design, she moved to stand across from him, leaning on her elbows. Dan bit his lip nervously as he watched her examining his handiwork on the table. Why wasn't she saying anything? "Do you think…" Mei began, pausing for a moment to run her finger along the back of his hand, "you could show me what you did?"
A warm shudder ran through his spine as her soft lips curled into that smile he loved so much. "What, this?" he asked indicating the converter. "Y-yeah, it's a pretty simple fix." As he showed her the repairs he'd made, he couldn't help but notice the way she squeezed her breasts together with her arms, giving him even more of a view down her low cut tank top than it normally did. "And...you're flirting with me and I'm being incredibly oblivious...aren't I?" he murmured.
She gave a slight chuckle, leaning closer to him before placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. "Keep it up, my brilliant assistant. I'm counting on you," she purred. As she turned to leave, Dan felt his heart race. Maybe he should go for it.
"Mei?" he called.
"Yes, Dan?" she replied, her beautiful brown eyes once more meeting his. "Did you need something else?"
"I just wanted to ask...would you like to...go see a movie sometime? Like...just us?" he felt so dumb about how he asked. He wasn't sure how to do it without scaring her off, so he hoped she'd understand.
"Dan, are you asking me on a date?" she asked, her sultry voice teasing every fiber of his being. "So soon after breaking up with another girl at that?" Her second question caused him to sink like a rock. Angling his head downward, he almost felt ashamed of himself. Dan knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but even still, Mei had a point.
Approaching him again, she tilted his chin up so she could stare deep into his eyes. "I...I'm…"
Leaning closer, she whispered softly in his ear. "I didn't say, 'no'." Turning his head, she placed a light peck on his cheek. "I'd be happy to see a movie with you, Dan. Maybe after you could take me to dinner?"
Joy raced through his veins. "Y-yes! Definitely!" he agreed excitedly. "Th-thank you!"
She just giggled, "You don't have to thank me, Dan. Just show me a good time."
"I will," he promised.
Inside, Mei felt like cheering. She couldn't believe how well Dan had done, though she had to admit that perhaps she teased him a little too much. It was cute how quickly his emotions changed with every word she breathed, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel bad for scaring him.
Returning to her blueprints, she looked down to see all of the small hearts she'd been sketching absent mindedly, and she gave a light sigh. Tracer was right, she had it bad for him. When did she suddenly fall so hard? It wasn't like her.
Installing the new ionic converter into the machine, she tried her best to focus solely on work, though the feeling of Dan's eyes on her was highly distracting. "Hey, Dan? Can you come here for a sec? I wanted to see if you could see what's wrong here."
Moving beside her, Mei allowed herself to enjoy his warmth. "What is it?" he asked. "Is the ionic converter not working?"
"I think so, but see this cone here?" she asked pointing to it. "It should start vibrating, but it's not moving at all."
"Huh…" Leaning further into the casing, Dan began to tinker around inside of it as Mei took a step back to admire him doing so. She felt so feverish. Was this from what happened last night? She really wasn't that sort of girl, but there was something about the way that he took charge that just...clicked. "I think I found your problem," he explained, grabbing the allen wrench.
"No, Dan! Don't…" There was suddenly a loud whine of feedback as Dan collapsed to the ground, blood beginning to drip from his eyes and ears. "Dan!" Mei cried, running to his side to examine him. "Athena, run a scan! Is he okay?!"
"Scanning...Dan requires immediate medical attention. The intense ionic vibrations have ruptured his eardrums, and seem to have burst a few vessels in his eyes as well. He is suffering from hyphema, and if he is not treated soon, he may be blind."
"Contact Mercy!" Mei ordered, lifting Dan in her arms. She was surprised by how light he was. Opening the door, she stumbled out, rushing to Winston's lab where the med bay waited. "Winston!" Mei shouted. "Winston, open the door!"
After a few moments, the ape opened the door. "What's wrong Mei? Are we under attack?" Looking down at her arms where Dan lay, Winston quickly took him from her, bringing him in effortlessly. "Come in, Mei. We'll contact Mercy."
"This was all my fault. I was having him look at something, and I forgot to warn him...and...and…"
"Mei, calm down," Winston instructed. "It does not appear his injuries are life threatening, so you need to calm yourself. Dan is tougher than we give him credit for sometimes."
As he laid Dan on the table, his breathing became more ragged. "What happened?" Tracer asked, zipping to their side to gaze down on him. "How did he become injured?"
"He was...working on our machine and it activated," Mei explained nervously. "I was distracted and I didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late."
"You were distracted?!" Tracer snapped. "What do you mean you were distracted?! How could you be so distracted that Dan took such a bad blow to the head?"
Mei trembled as she wrapped her arms around herself, tears beginning to form. Winston quickly put his massive hands on Tracer's shoulders. "Both of you need to relax. Mercy will be here soon, and then she'll treat Dan and it will be fine. Pointing fingers is the last thing we need."
With a huff, Tracer pulled from Winston's grasp, going to sit beside Dan. "Until she does, I'm sitting right here. I won't leave Dan's side."
"M-me too!" Mei promised. "I want to stay with him too!"
"Actually Mei, it would be better for you to inspect your machine," Winston explained. "If it activates again and alters the climate around us, it could draw unneeded attention to our position."
"But…"
One stern glare from Tracer was enough to make the climatologist take an uneasy step back before rushing from the room, her eyes full of tears. Returning to her lab, she slammed the door shut behind her, breathing heavily as she looked at her machine. She knew that this was all her fault.
Dan let out a groan, though with the sounds he heard, it was almost as if his head was underwater. Everything was muffled. He tried to open his eyes, only to find they were already open. Everything was pitch black. He began to panic before he felt someone's hand touch his. "M-mei?"
"Tracer," the voice warbled, correcting him. "How are you feeling Dan? Tell me what's going on in that big head of yours," she pleaded.
His heart pounded roughly in his chest as he began to hyperventilate. "I can't see. I can't see!" he cried. "Oh God, I can't see!" Tracer, unable to do anything else, simply threw her arms around her friend, hugging him tightly as he continued to sob.
To be continued...