A/N: What took me so long? Real-life and general laziness.

"Unrest in South Korea. Since the attack on Agent Hana Song or as she is known to her worldwide fans, the people are getting agitated towards the omnic part of the population. In South Korea, due to the regular omnic attacks, a part of the population has not the best opinion of them. Extremists even go so far as saying they would be better off without the omnics.

Now with the recent attack on Hana Song, sympathizers towards these radical groups seems to have skyrocketed. All over the internet, posts can be found, dedicated to the hashtag, quote: "Send the scrap to the scrapyard!" End quote.

There have been multiple attacks on omnic civilians and even police officers. There have been at least twenty confirmed arrests, but experts say this is just the calm before the storm. As for Hana Song herself, she has been brought to the biggest hospital in Seoul, where she has been in intensive treatment for two days. Our correspondent Jeff Ryder is life in front of the hospital, which is currently under siege by reporters. Jeff, what is the current situation in Seoul."

"Well Tawna, from an outsider's perspective it looks like everything is calm, the people are going on about their daily routines, but not all is as it seems. I have talked to a few passersby earlier and generally, the people appear to be uncertain. Because one needs to remember that Hana Song is indeed a popular defender of Omnic Rights and having one of them bringing her close to death is something no one was prepared for. On the one hand, there are those that say, it was "just a random thug, it could have also been a human." On the other hand, the extremists are using the situation and say that this is "proof that no omnic can be trusted"."

"Speaking of the assailant, what do we know about him?"

"Very little, in fact. The local police forces have been interrogating him for two days by now, but they have yet to make a statement. As for the assailant, his name is Johnson Shortfuse, an omnic who originally came from the US. From what we could gather, he is wanted in multiple states for a list of comparably minor crimes, most of them being thefts and illegal weapon possession. We can only speculate, but the most plausible theory is that he came to South Korea in order to escape the authorities. After all, it is considerably easier for an omnic to learn a new language, than it is for a human."

"That is both interesting and scary. And what about Hana Song? Do we have an update on her status?"

"Indeed we do. A couple of minutes ago, a doctor informed us that Miss Song has been successfully stabilized. He said she was put into an artificially comatose state and is now under 24/7 observation for the time being. At this point, only family members are allowed to visit her. They have yet to make a statement regarding the incident and given what happened, it would be preposterous for us to expect any word from them anytime soon."

"Thank you, Jeff, we will bring you an update as soon as one is available. Onto other news-"

The screen was turned off and Sombra put the remote on the table in the middle of the room. To each of her sides, Widowmaker and Reaper were placed, the former polishing her weapon, while the latter had his arms crossed and looked over to the two women.

"That wasn't one of our operatives, right?" Widowmaker asked.

"No. Hana Song is not a priority target," Reaper replied. "And I hardly believe some random piece of scrap metal is capable of injuring a high-class agent, like that girl. Even if she is a child."

"With that, you are correct my dear Rays," Sombra spoke up, looking at a bunch of violet holographic screens. The other two Talon operatives looked over to the hacker with ever so slight anticipation.

"This "omnic" isn't even an omnic. It was just a remotely controlled robot that happened to look like an omnic. From what I could gather, it isn't even that old. A few weeks at most."

"And how exactly did you acquire this knowledge without leaving the base?" Reaper asked though he knew the answer already.

"Trademark secret." Sombra simply replied. "That and the security was rather lax on that thing, especially for military standards. It looks almost like the thing had been a rushed project."

"By military standards?" Widowmaker echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Are you saying the South Korean Government just took out one of their best agents?"

"Unless this is some elaborate plot threat, weaved by someone else? It looks like it." Sombra shrugged, looking towards her colleague. "Though, since when is anything ever as it seems, correct?"

Reaper and Widowmaker gave each other a look. After a moment, the shotgunner looked back at the hacker, his mask preventing anyone from reading his expression.

"Is whatever is happening in South Korea somehow relevant to our current or future operations?"

"At this point? I cannot tell for sure." Sombra replied honestly. "Here is what I could gather. The little child is not in Seoul anymore, rather she's been brought to a heavily defended military installation." Sombra typed something on the hologram with her special glove. "Rather curiously, they increased the security the day before the little girl got attacked."

"So obviously, they are planning something with 'er." Widowmaker stated obvious, critically eyeing her weapon. "And it's probably correct to assume, that our petite Miss Song would not 'ave agreed with whatever they're doing. The question is: what are they doing to 'er?"

"That I cannot answer without direct access to their system," Sombra told them, sounding a little annoyed. She typed even faster on the small holograms, until one holographic display went in front of all of the others, making a little sound as it did.

"Well, hello. What do we have here?" Sombra muttered allowed, her eyes scanning whatever was displayed in front of her.

"What is it?" Reaper asked.

"If I read this correctly… it looks like our little assault disrupted a top-secret project of theirs, codenamed: Beehive."

"Bee'ive? That was the same codename for our target." the sniper pointed out.

"Precisely." Sombra nodded. "I don't know the connection between the girl and the project as of yet, but I'd say it's worth having a closer look."

XXX

At the same time, in a secret military installation, general Tang was watching the live video feed of the specially designed quarantine room. The researchers working inside the quarantine room all wore bio-hazard suits and were monitoring a huge glass tube, which had been positioned in the middle of the room. Several instruments were attached to the tube, giving their feedback via holo-screens back to the women and men at work.

Inside the glass tube was a big, fleshy cocoon, which floated suspended in a yellow liquid of some sorts. If one looked closer, they could see the cocoon expanding and reducing itself on a regular basis, making it appear like a beating heart.

"So tell me, in what exactly did we put the cocoon?" General Tang asked one of the head scientists, who happened to be standing right next to him.

The woman in question readjusted her glasses, before answering. "Well General, as you might know, a caterpillar needs to eat a lot, before it can put itself into a cocoon and start the transformation or else it would die of starvation. The same principle goes for Miss Song. The virus itself isn't enough to complete her transformation. For the virus, itself needs the right materials in order to make the transformation happening, while at the same time Miss Song needs to be kept alive somehow."

"So, if I understand you correctly, that yellow stuff is basically liquified food?" The man asked, pointing at the tube on the screen.

"Well, if you want to have the simplified version, then yes." The scientists answered. She opened up a holographic screen, which showed some kind of gray substance, along with a lot of tiny written data.

"From what we could gather, the creep is usually responsible for keeping everything fed, including the Zerg creatures that are growing inside their cocoon. Since placing her cocoon inside the Zerg nest is not an option, we had to improvise. By analyzing the creep, we were able to identify the exact components of the substance. Surprisingly, we not only found the nutrients to keep any kind of living being alive but also a variety of minerals and chemicals usually only found in the soil. We even think we were able to find the molecules that are supposed to be the Vespene Gas from the game, though so far we have no way to confirm it."

"One thing, after another." The General advised. "Before we try to find substances that might not even exist in our universe, how about we focus on finding out if our plan is actually working. How is the status of Hana Song?"

The Scientist switched over to some other screens and frowned. "Alive, as far as we can tell. We pick up normal brain activity, her heart rate is steady and at a good pace and aside from the occasional twitch or cramp, there hasn't been much of noteworthy activity. However, at the same time, we cannot tell for sure if our modified virus is doing what it is supposed to do. We dare not risk damaging the cocoon for further insights, lest we risk Agent Song's life."

The General frowned. "I see. And I assume everything has been prepared in case of an emergency?"

"Evacuation plans are in place, defense systems are online and on standby and the self-destruction, sequence codes have been distributed. The security personnel is ready as well, though you'd be more informed with this than I am."

Tang nodded. "Yes, don't worry. The security personnel is prepared for any kind of situation. What I also wanted to know Doctor, is there any kind of deadline we can estimate as of Miss Song's… rebirth?" the General struggled to find the right word for a second there.

The Doctor could only shake her head. "It's lottery at this point. The animals we tested the virus on had varying development times. Rats were usually the quickest, even though sometimes it took a whole day for them to transform. The only real reference we have, namely the game, gives hardly an accurate picture. The transformation of the Queen of Blades is supposed to have taken weeks, though she was a very special case. Since Miss Song is as normal as a human can be, we hope the process will only take a couple of days, preferably before the Zerg manage to escape. We cannot just assume that Miss Song will be able to control them from the get-go, but rather she will need at least some form of practice."

"I knew this was a bad idea." The General sighed.

"It's the best we have, given the circumstances." the doctor replied. "The only thing we can do is learn from our mistakes and go on."

"Did we really learn anything, though?" The General mumbled, looking at the screen. He was immediately brought out of his musings when his earpiece received a transmission.

"General."

Tang tapped on his earpiece. "Yes?"

"Your visitor has arrived."

"Good. Tell him I will be there in five minutes."

General Tang ended the transmission and turned towards the scientist once again. "I want a report every three hours and I don't care if her condition hasn't even changed one bit by then. If this goes wrong, then we might as well launch our nukes against our own country. Understood?"

"Understood General. I'll inform the staff immediately."

"Good. I'll be in my office." Having said his piece, Tang walked out of the room at a brisk pace.

XXX

"Soldier 76." General Tang announced his return to the office, by calling out his visitor's name. The gray-haired man in question turned around and glared at the military man through his red visor. Of course, General Tang couldn't really see this, but giving the wrinkles on the forehead, it wasn't hard to guess.

"I didn't actually think you would come." Tang walked past the man and sat down behind his desk. He motioned towards a chair in front of his desk and 76 took a seat as well. But he still kept his weapon at the ready with the safety undone.

"I figured if a General of all things wanted to see me, it had to be important." Soldier replied. "Though I should remind you, I'm not a mercenary. I work on my own."

"On your own," Tang repeated with a scoff. "Don't try to fool me. I'm well aware of the fact that you and Miss Amari are conducting operations together. Not to mention the many times the two of you worked together with Overwatch."

Soldier 76 jumped off from his seat, pointing his weapon at the man in front of him.

"How do you know about her?!" He demanded to know, to which the general could only chuckle.

"Oh please, Mr. 76. If I wouldn't have known so much about the founders of Overwatch, a simple Google search would have been enough for me to find out who she was. After all, the two of you rarely seem to have the time to remove the evidence from the scenes of your operations. Particularly the syringes in some of the victims' necks."

76 appeared to be scowling under that mask of his, but he lowered his weapon and sat down once again. "What do you want?" Soldier asked.

In response, General Tang snapped his fingers and a holo-screen appeared behind him. It showed a picture of the now no longer secret laboratory, specifically, the picture came from one of the surveillance cameras. On it was shown an ongoing firefight between the Overwatch Agents and Talon Operatives.

"Last week, you and Overwatch managed to successfully thwart off a Talon attack on one of our most valuable facilities. While I cannot officially thank you or your cohorts for this, I can at least say I appreciate the help."

"Uh huh." Soldier stated, waiting for the General to go on.

"Sadly, we have reasons to believe that they will try again, as they failed to obtain their objective."

"You think they'll just try again? After a few days, when you're on high alert?" Soldier asked with skepticism in his voice. "Talon aren't just a bunch of fanatics with guns. They're highly trained operatives, who sometimes plan years in advance before they strike."

"I am well aware of that, Mr. 76." The General replied. "Given that it was them who took out our most valuable agent, it stands to reason that they will attack rather sooner than later."

76 raised an eyebrow. "They attacked the girl?"

"A girl she might be," Tang conceded "but still, she is the best we have when it comes to open combat." The General snapped his fingers again and the screen behind him now showed a picture of the Omnic that attacked Hana Song.

"We found out rather quickly that this here is in fact not an Omnic, but a remotely controlled robot."

"Clever." Soldier admitted. "Minimal risk for personnel being caught and fuel for the hate towards the Omnics."

"Clever indeed, but not clever enough. My men were capable of tracing back the signal towards an empty apartment. And empty it was, they cleaned it almost spotless."

"When you say almost, I take it you found some evidence that Talon had been present?" Soldier inquired.

"There were a few things, but most outstanding was a mask we found." Another snap and the screen changed again, showing a mask that was usually worn by Talon Operatives. Someone was holding it in his or her hand. "It might not be much, but given what Talon is capable off, I'd rather not take any chances."

"Heh, sensible. So, I take it you want me to protect whatever precious cargo Talon is after?"

"Not exactly." The General disagreed. "The "cargo" as you put it was destroyed during the fight. The Project has been lost forever and there's no way to reboot it. However, Talon is not aware of that."

"A trap." Soldier 76 realized. "You're planning on setting up a trap for Talon. Still, why are you telling me this? This sounds like highly classified information, no matter whether the cargo was lost or not."

"I know when to make compromises, Mr. 76," Tang replied coolly. "As you just said, we're planning on springing a trap on Talon. Preferably we want to catch as many agents as possible alive, however, no one would cry if one or two end up dead."

"Heh, you're talking to me as if I'd already say yes. Now tell me," 76 leaned forward. "Just why exactly should I help you guys out, when your government is after me, just like the rest of the world?"

In response, General Tang he opened a drawer and took out a specific file. Instead of it being a holo-vid, it was a good old-fashioned paper folder with actual papers inside. Hey, people, this is the future, how many trees do you think are still around?

With a raised eyebrow 76 grabbed the file and opened it. Hidden under his visor, his eyes scanned the contents of what was written inside the files. He minded his body language while doing so. Even though most of his facial features were hidden, 76 knew that an experienced man like Tang could easily read a person by the smallest hints he or she gave away.

The file contained multiple pages and 76 took his time to read through every single one of them. During this time, the General received a call through his earpiece. "I'm in the middle of an important meeting." The man spoke a little annoyed. "Tell them to wait. I'll be with them, once I'm done here. Do not tell them anything, I'll deal with that."

General Tang let out a small sigh, leaning back in his chair. Soldier 76 was still busy going through the files and was probably going to be for quite some time. "Do you want some coffee, maybe?"

XXX

Hana didn't know how long she had been in this state. For quite a while she had been here in fetus-position, swimming in this warm liquid. She knew it wasn't water since it was way too thick for it to be water. And although she was covered from head to toe in this warm stuff, Hana somehow wasn't drowning. In fact, she wasn't even sure if she had been breathing the entire time she had spent there. She certainly didn't remember sucking air into her nose or even opening her mouth. In fact, whenever she tried, Hana found herself unable to move pretty much any part of her body. Even small things like opening her eyes appeared to be impossible for the girl.

At times the gamer girl wondered if she was dreaming. She remembered the theft she had tried to prevent only too well. Getting shot that many times in the back is far from a fun experience. Her current theory was that the doctors had put her in a comatose state and were currently working on her. But she wasn't sure if that was really the case or if she actually succumbed to her wounds, the latter of which would suck a great deal. Because if this was really the afterlife, it was pretty boring.

However, it wasn't always like this. There were those few times where Hana would feel something going on with her body, which supported her comatose theory. Especially at the beginning it had felt like her flesh had been ripped apart and her bones broken, fixed and then broken again. Those things still happened, but luckily not as frequent as in the beginning.

Then there were the times, where she felt a certain pressure onto her head. It never lasted for too long, a couple of minutes at most, but during those times she sometimes could swear that there were voices trying to talk to her. For the moment, Hana chalked it up to the drugs possibly messing with her head. At the moment, all she could really do was to relax and get some rest until she woke up on her own or got woken up by the doctors.