OWLT 20- New
"So, my Pet, do you understand my terms?" Reaper asked, with Hana still trapped under his boot.
Tracer's voice was flat and dead, an endless void that boundless energy once filled. "Join Talon… Obey you guys… Protect Talon… Don't speak out of turn… Don't go back to Overwatch."
"Cut that out, Lena! Don't do it! Come on!" Hana tilted her head up to Reaper. "Seriously? If you were just going to use me as blackmail, why even bother with all this torture stuff?" she squealed as Reaper grabbed her by the hair, and bent down, pulling her head up so she could hear his soft words.
"Because now we know she is truly ours, and she will never look for a way out. She is a Talon agent now, and she knows it. Look at her." He grabbed her hair and pulled her head up, so Hana was forced to look at the icon of Overwatch. Her eyes were unfocused, her expression neutral in a way that said: "There is nothing worth anything." Her head lolled to the side, and Tracer didn't react when Sombra came over to help her up. "Do you really think she's going to look for a way out? Do you really think she's loyal to you all, who failed her so miserably? But take comfort in knowing that her torture ends today. I have no intentions of harming her anymore."
"Could you be any less cliché of a villain? Well, on the topic of cliché, just know that you're not getting away with this!"
"We'll see about that."
"Could you do an evil laugh?" D,va asked snidely, earning a quick stomp on her arm, not enough to do damage but enough to hurt a decent amount as Hana grit her teeth.
Reaper lifted his foot off D,va's back and grabbed her by the wrist, holding her arm behind her back so she couldn't move as he spoke to Lena. "Now, so long as you uphold your end of the bargain, I will never have the button to destabilise this girl pressed," he swore. "But now, prove you mean your words." The ghost turned to Sombra, who was looking away, appearing disinterested. "Sombra, bring the new recruit over here."
Sombra almost seemed to yawn as she wordlessly strode over to the bench Tracer was shivering on. "Come on, Chica. Let's get you out of here. It's almost over." Sombra tugged Tracer's right arm over her shoulder, allowing Lena to put her weight on the hacker. The mangled leg looked worse than in the video as sickening squishing and cracking sounds could be heard every limping step Lena took to the end of the room. Reaper pressed a button on the remote, and Lena shivered momentarily, squeezing her eyes shut as some bug on the back of her neck, not too different from the one Hana wore, began to light up.
Tracer kept her eyes down while Reyes seemed to assess how much she meant her words. Hana stared at Lena with pleading eyes, but her gaze was intentionally averted. "Now, my Pet, break Hana Song's arm, then we will send her back to Overwatch. Prove you are loyal."
"Seriously?! Because you haven't messed with her enough already!" Hana shouted through grit teeth as Reaper whipped her around, revealing her left arm he pinned to her back. Hana couldn't help but shake as she tipped her head back and watched sorrowfully, not even with fright, as Tracer bit her lip and grabbed Hana's wrist with her trembling hand.
Hana howled as Lena quickly, with what little strength she had left, pulled Hana's arm in a different direction from her elbow with an echoing snap. Red, hot pain flared up as D,va bucked and strained against Reaper, who was still holding her in his firm grasp.
When she finally settled down, Hana looked up at Lena again. "Tracer… don't do this…" she begged again. "Seriously.. they're coming!" she shouted through grit teeth as he arm screamed in protest to any movement.
Tracer looked away in shame and despair, yet made no effort to resist or fight back. There was no will left with which to fight.
"Let's go," Reaper ordered as Sombra wordlessly led Tracer down the corridor. The subdued hacker in front of Hana was a far cry from how everyone had described the supposedly sadistic puppeteer. D,va yelped as Reaper put one of his sharp claws to her throat, poking it just enough to cause a slight sting. It didn't take any explaining for Hana to know she didn't have much of a choice but move alongside Reaper as they slowly made their way down the hallway as Sombra held the crippled and malnourished girl at her side.
"Goodness gracious… you barely weigh anything…" Hana blinked in surprise at the soft words Sombra murmured, barely audible. Her voice was… Sympathetic? D,va's head spun with the possibilities. Did Sombra regret taking Tracer to Talon? Did Sombra help in any way? Was the hacker… Guilty?
In such a short time, the group had thankfully just managed to subdue her mech as the purple glow had faded, and Genji, of all people, sat in the cockpit. They intercepted halfway down the hallway as her mech haphazardly stomped down the path. Everyone froze in their tracks as they were presented with this impasse.
"Hello again," Reaper called out smoothly, still holding the sharp, clawed glove to Hana's throat as she leaned as far away as possible.
She watched as Jesse's mind whir as he comprehended what he was seeing in front of him. His eyes were cold and enraged as his gaze flickered between Lena, then Gabriel, then Hana, then back to Gabriel. Mercy was several feet behind him, one hand holding her staff, one covering her mouth in disbelief. Genji's expression was unreadable, though his hands were stiff on the joysticks of Hana's mech.
"Gabriel," McCree greeted stonily. "Can ya go back to bein' dead?"
"I see you're as socially graceful as always," Gabriel almost teased, cocking his head. "I'm afraid I can't right now, thanks to a certain someone in the room," he leaned forward, appearing to be staring at… Mercy? Genji tipped his head up in surprise, but for the time being, McCree seemed unaffected. Angela looked as though she had been struck by lightning, her body tense as she dropped her gaze for several seconds.
Gabriel feigned shock, putting his free hand over his heart. (If he had one, D,va would add.) "What? Angie? You didn't tell them? I'm hurt. Well, I'll let you guys talk things out. Go on. Tell them!" he prompted, his dark and gritty voice imitating that of an excited child.
"I… I didn't…" Dr Ziegler took a deep breath, meeting Reyes' gaze as her grip on her staff tightened. "You know this is not what I wanted."
"But it happened, and you did nothing about it," he mused, anger lining his words now.
Hana was feeling dangerous today. "Heya! If you're done chit-chatting about your tragic backstory and playing the pronoun game, carefully avoiding any actual context as to what you're talking about, how about we bring up the fact that my back's starting to hurt from this position, and you're kind of threatening to kill me right now!" she grunted. "Not to mention your 'pet' that looks like she needs some medical attention, and my arm is absolutely killing me. So, if you don't mind, can we get on with this and deal with the edgy stuff later?" Hana momentarily felt Reaper's claw dig into her chin, drawing a tiny speck of blood before he stopped himself. It was almost s pity. Pissing off the murderous terrorist would have been one heck of a way to go, and Hana really wasn't up for being blackmail.
"You're right. I'm sure reminiscing can come later. In the meantime, we're going to walk to the escape ship. If Sombra detects any attempt to warn your group, or if you make a step out of line, I slit this girl's throat."
"This girl has a name, you know!" Hana shouted in annoyance. It was stupid, she knew it was stupid, but she was not in the mood to be a quiet, obedient hostage.
Her mech took several shuddering steps back as Genji worked the controls. McCree whipped his head between the cyborg and Hana, tightening his grip around Peacekeeper. The cowboy took slow, wary steps backwards, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.
Angela was yet to move. She stood still, not sure what to think or do. She gave McCree a defensive glare as he put his hand on her shoulder with a painfully neutral expression. She flinched but began backing up as well.
Hana grunted as Reaper prodded her forward. She could see the fury in McCree's eyes, hidden behind neutrality as he continually moved his gaze between Hana, her now broke arm, and Lena's tired unfocused eyes. Genji's eyes were hidden by the visor, but Hana would wager his face looked about the same, given the jerky way her mech moved, not guided by fluent or relaxed hands.
That walk to the escape ship was one of the most awkward and annoying experiences of Hana's life.
…
"My team has the bomb set!" Efi called out joyously to her group. Torbjörn was bust issuing commands to his team, but Winston seemed stressed as he bit his lip and quickly typed on his keyboard. "Dr Winston?" the little girl called out, chewing her tongue nervously. The gorilla jumped, glancing at Efi for a brief moment before turning back to his screen.
"Oh, Efi… Good, have them meet in the main hall…" he muttered.
"What's… what's wrong?" she asked as he flinched, his eyes glued to the screen.
"Lots of things," he responded, gritting his teeth.
Efi chanced a peek at his screen, and her heart caught in her throat. She nudged Torbjörn, who responded with a grunt of acknowledgement as he moved his gaze between Winston and his monitors for a few seconds, calmly issuing commands.
"Oi, Efi, we may wanna get the hell outta dodge," Junkrat called through the mic, drawing her attention.
"What? Is something wrong?" the child answered, immediately checking her agent's vitals. They all appeared to be fine.
"It would seem," Symmetra began, her voice annoyed and stressed, "That this… hooligan saw it fit to put a five-minute timer on the bomb."
"What?!" Efi cried. "I saw you assemble the whole thing! There was no timer!"
"Well, not like I made it visible. But yeah, five minutes. Might wanna get movin'."
"Ummm… guys?" she called to the other two. "Junkrat put a timer on the bomb. Five minutes."
Torbjörn snarled. "What? Control your agents for goodness' sake!" Efi recoiled and bowed her head as he barked orders into his communicator. "Where are your people now?"
"On their," Efi's voice caught as she forced away the shame. "On their way to the entrance. They'll be there in a minute or so."
"Well, they're taking a detour. Everyone is on their way to the main hangar."
"The… hangar? But the base is underground!"
"Look at your map, and get them over there!" Torbjörn shouted with his eyes still glued to his screen. "This is why we don't put a twelve-year-old in charge of a life-or-death situation!"
"I- I'm sorry… I'm sorry. I'll tell them," Efi choked, holding back a sob as she directed her team past several corridors to reach the hangar.
"G-go right, guys. Okay, now… Um… left! It's left!" she stumbled, trying to guide her running team to the leading group. The hangar was likely attached to the main gathering room, though it'd be a gamble, given she didn't have time to check the map.
"Gah, it'll be shorter if you take them past the second hallway!" Torbjörn criticised as he frantically alternated between his agent's stats, commanding them each way. Efi recoiled, and her fingers grew unsteady as she tried to stop shaking, blinking away a tear as she quickly corrected herself and made her team turn into a different hallway. It was only a short way to the hangar now, Efi would bet.
"Rookies… I knew I would've rather had the bucket of bolts doing this job…"
Efi stayed quiet, keeping her head low in shame.
"Oh, don't listen to him!" Mei comforted, placing a hand on the small child's shoulder as she watched the monitor. "You're doing great! He's just a grumpy grouch!"
"I am not!" Torbjörn snapped, rolling his eyes.
"See what I mean?" Mei added, making Efi giggle slightly. The climatologist backed away with a satisfied smile. "There we go. Don't you worry. Everything will be all right."
Efi sniffed once more and smiled back at the girl who had been frozen in time and gave her a reassuring thumb up.
"He is just stressed," Zenyatta assured, his voice melodic, putting Efi at ease.
"Alrighty! Everything will be fine! I'll make sure of it!"
Mei shot Torbjörn a condescending glare as she backed away, satisfied with herself as Efi resumed watching her team with a new surge of confidence. It wasn't over yet. They still had a shot.
…
The hangar was small. One room, small, with a jet, also small. The large door for the plane was open, revealing a long tunnel that would lead to the surface. A huge group was in the hall before the hangar. Genji was in a mech, Jesse and Angela were slightly further back. McCree was tense. There were other people, a bit further down the hall. An OR15 of some kind, and an old Bastion. Lúcio was there. The Junkers, who had been on news reports, followed a woman Lena didn't know. The Captain and Commander held their guns up, ready to shoot if they could.
Lena hoped they didn't. She couldn't go with them. Lena couldn't go to Overwatch. She swivelled her head to glance at the blurry visage of the pro-gamer, D,va. Reaper grasped her arm firmly, D,va trying to cradle the arm Lena broke. The chronal destabiliser glowed threateningly on her neck.
Lena dropped her head as a fresh wave of nausea assaulted her. The world seemed to tip around her, and Sombra tightened her grip on Lena's arm. The metal cuff on Lena's damaged leg weighed her down like lead. Keeping it off the ground was hard. She couldn't feel the leg. It bent wrong. Her eyelids were heavy, and her whole body felt cold and hot at the same time, with a numbness that alternated with soreness blocking most other sensations. It was hard to breathe. Her throat burned, her stomach felt like an empty void. Everything was shaking, or maybe Lena was the one trembling. She couldn't tell. She didn't feel like she was in her own body. It was like she was a spirit that had poorly overshadowed another person, trying to use unfamiliar limbs and see through eyes that weren't hers.
It was nothing like the dreams. The dreams were vivid, but faded, but had an underlying feeling of "it would be okay," since they would end. This wouldn't end. The moment lasted an eternity, both sides staring each other down. Two people were visible in Lena's peripheral vision. Widowmaker and Doomfist. Lena remembered him. He broke the chronal accelerator once. She knew she didn't like him. But now she worked for him, and the rest of Talon. She needed to listen to them and fight for them and protect them.
"Lena," she heard Jesse. His voice sounded calm. "Ya don't need to listen to Talon," he assured, his gun still drawn.
Hana gasped a long string of words from Reaper's grasp. "She's being blackmailed! He's using me as blackmail! Something on my neck! Chronal destabiliser!" she let out a strained cough as Reaper held her in a choke hold, cutting off her oxygen supply, barely short enough so that she didn't lose consciousness.
Everyone was frozen, not sure what to do. Reaper spoke up.
"We'll be going now." Lena felt herself be tugged backwards, towards the ship. Reaper was a couple feet away with Hana. Then they were at the jet's entrance. There was a blur of movement. Reaper pushed Hana away towards Overwatch. Genji ejected from the mech and ran to her side as she tumbled to the floor. A few people seemed confused by Reaper's actions.
"Tracer!" Lena heard D,va shout as Sombra helped her hobble up the last few steps to the ship. Then Lena saw it, the quick flick of Genji's wrist. A blur of green and silver, heading towards Reaper. Other loud noises rang out. One thought echoed in her head.
I need to protect Talon.
Sombra yelped in surprise as Lena pushed away from her, using her good leg to leap to the side, in front of Reaper. Something hit her chest. Cold and sharp and painful for a brief second, numb the next. Lena saw red as she hit the floor with a heavy thud. She felt herself cough and sputter for a moment. More red.
"¡Mierda!" Sombra cried out. Lena couldn't move. She couldn't feel anything. She saw herself be picked up. She saw Genji, frozen and unmoving. She saw Jesse, furious. Angela was terrified. D,va looked to be in horror, her hand covering her mouth with tears on her cheeks. There was a shadowy wraith that rushed onto the plane. Lena was being carried to the aircraft.
Lena's vision grew blurry. Everything was fuzzy. Darkness crept in. She welcomed it with open arms.
…
"Alright. She'll live for a little while longer," one of the three doctors, an Omnic, on the ship finally assured after an hour of Sombra pacing around the cramped jet while they worked on Lena. Widowmaker was sitting down, nursing her hand that had been injured, though Doomfist had wondered how she could hurt herself so foolishly. Widowmaker had ignored him.
"We had to destabilise her partially, to minimise the effect of time on her body, at least until we're able to properly treat her wounds." His voice was calm and collected, condescending, even. "She is not in good condition. We've removed the shuriken from her chest and done as much as we can to stop the bleeding, but she'll need a blood transfusion once we know her blood type."
"And her leg?" Sombra asked nervously, fiddling with her HoloVid.
The doctor dipped his head. "I see no alternative. We'll have to amputate it. There is too much gangrene. The leg is essentially dead on her. As for the cuffs she's wearing, we can't risk removing them until we have some actual equipment, or else she will bleed out immediately."
Reaper nodded. "We will be at the headquarters in a couple hours. Keep her alive until then." If the doctor was at all unnerved by Reaper, he didn't show it.
Sombra sighed, settling down in one of the seats as she listened to the hum of the engine. She watched the prisoner intently, as though looking away would spell her death. Her breaths were short and ragged, and her entire form, while solid, seemed to glitch, like a blip on a screen Sombra had hacked. Little "glitches" in her form as time tried to rip her from this world. Her sleep didn't seem peaceful, her brows knit together, and she stirred often. The cuffs remained secure around her body, but removing them would cause Lena to bleed even more.
"Worried about your new friend?" Reaper appeared to tease, snapping Sombra out of her thoughts.
"Pfft. I just don't feel like having a dead teammate is all," Sombra assured, her voice nonchalant. Reaper nodded.
"I see." Sombra got the feeling he didn't buy it, but it wasn't like either of them would bring it up. "Now, I hope you don't mind preparing Oxton's room when we arrive at the next base." It wasn't a question. It was obviously an order. All the top-ranking agents had rooms prepared at each of the major facilities. That meant Reaper intended on putting her… up there, in the ranks. Likely equal or one or two slots below Sombra.
"Well, what do you want me to put in said room? A paddleboard or rubber ball?"
Reaper laughed darkly. "Of course not. Now, she is to feel welcome. She gets the standard."
Sombra blinked in surprise and ran through the checklist in her head. The "standard" involved a HoloVid, toiletries, Talon uniforms, the personalised combat outfit Reaper had designed, and any "special need" items unique to each agent. For Widowmaker, it would be some of the medication she took given her weakened immune system. For Sombra, it was her variety of technology since that was where most of her usefulness to the organisation lied. For Lena, it would be her chronal tech.
It was surprisingly generous to give such luxuries to someone Reaper had been quite literally torturing mere hours earlier.
Sombra just nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll prep it. But I guess it'll be a while before she can move to said room?" she directed the question to the doctor busily monitoring Lena's vitals as best he could in her current state.
The Omnic nodded. "She will need a fair amount of medical attention before she is ready to do much of anything."
Sombra shot Reaper a glare. "You really think this wasn't overkill? It's gonna be weeks now before she can do anything for us!"
Reaper barely moved. "It was necessary."
"Surely you…"
"Sombra." His words were sharp and commanding. Sombra quieted down, ignoring the gazes of the other passengers as she glared at her boss. "Do not forget your place here."
Sombra grit her teeth, making sure to put as much venom as possible into her voice, "Okay, Boss."
…
Morale was at an all-time low as the group flew back to Gibraltar. The Junkers, Lúcio, and Symmetra were on the same ship as last time, this time with Mei as well. Commander Morrison, Ana, Orisa, Torbjörn, and Bastion rode together as Torbjörn repaired any damage he could to the Omnics. The third ship hosted D,va's mech, Zenyatta, and Reinhardt.
The fourth ship was where most of the chaos was. Hana grit her teeth as she cradled her broken arm, which was attached to a painkiller IV drip. She sat backwards on a chair as Efi and Winston checked the device on her neck.
"And Reaper called it a chronal destabiliser?" Winston asked nervously. Efi stood on a foldable chair, peering over Winston's shoulder, leaning on him for support.
D,va sighed. "He said it'd give me chronal disassociation if anyone tried to remove it or if he activated it."
"Do you feel okay?" Efi asked as she tapped the device, making Winston jump.
"Aside from the fact that it's poking into my skin?" Hana tried to joke, wincing when it fell flat. "Yeah, I feel fine in that regard," she sighed again. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Winston ordered, his voice neutral as he took a step back. "You didn't put that thing on your neck."
"Well, I still feel bad. I tried to stop her, but she didn't listen."
Efi hummed, "Trying is all we can do. But hey, we managed to blow up a major Talon base! That has to count for something, right?"
Hanzo huffed nearby as he flew the jet. "Blackmail. This Talon group knows no honour."
Mercy tenderly held Hana's arm. "Are you okay with me setting the bone here?" Her voice was gentle, but still very business-like.
Hana winced. "Go ahead."
"Here," Mercy offered gently as she handed Hana a clean, white cloth. "Bite down on this."
Hana did as she was told, trying to keep from shaking as Mercy gingerly felt Hana's arm.
Then there was agony, brief and sharp as spots appeared in Hana's vision. She clamped her teeth down on the rag, allowing the fabric to stifle her cry.
"Well done, Hana," Mercy complemented after a few seconds. D,va gasped for breath, putting her head on the back of the chair. "Not many people handle a bone setting this well. My nanotech can accelerate the repair from here." Hana sighed in relief as the pain faded away, the golden glow of the doctor's staff washing over her arm.
"How does that thingy work?" Efi asked as she leaned over Winston to watch the nanotechnology. "Why can't you use it to heal just any wound?"
Angela chuckled. "The bots themselves do not heal. They accelerate the healing process. Wounds such as burns need to be regularly treated to heal properly without scars and the likes, but bones are fairly low-maintenance once they've been set. The doctor nodded in satisfaction, taking a step back. She grabbed something out of her first-aid kit and began wrapping Hana's arm. Once that was done, she slathered the bandages with some sort of thick, viscous cream that solidified into a cast. It was a fairly new technology, from what Hana had heard.
Angela finished her makeshift operation by using a softer fabric to create a small pouch-like splint that would go around Hana's neck. The doctor winced upon realising Hana's neck was currently occupied by the destabiliser, and instead attached the strap to D,va's shoulders. It was a bit more awkward but would work.
"There we go. You should be able to remove the cast by tomorrow. Just hop on by the medical wing."
Hana nodded. "Thanks, Doctor." Hana kept her voice low, rotating her head a bit, as though to shake off the uncomfortable device on her neck. "So is there anything we can do about this "Toy," as Sombra called it?
Winston sighed. "We'll have to look into it more at Gibraltar. Efi? Can you look into that? I need to report this mission to the UK and deal with some of the press." Winston's voice was low and lifeless as he spoke. It was understandable, considering he had essentially lost one of his best friends.
"Hey…" Efi comforted. "Lena's still alive, I bet! And you know what? We'll get her back here! We'll figure out this Toy thingy on Hana, too! Lena is alive and well, and Hana will be okay!"
Genji, whom Hana had forgotten was one the ship, spoke up. His voice was cold. "How could you say such a thing!? You are not familiar with the cruelty of Talon, Child! Lena is not fine and might never be fine again! She might not even survive after the shuriken I threw into her chest!" Genji roared in frustration, slamming his fist on the table as McCree watched, his face painfully neutral.
"Hey! I know I'm still a kid, but I saw what they did to her! I'm young, not blind! We all know you didn't mean to hit her! We didn't expect her to run in front of Reaper like that! How could we have known that would happen? We couldn't!"
"Don't be oblivious to the facts! I hit her, she might die, and if she doesn't, Lena has been brainwashed to Talon!" Genji sneered from behind his visor.
"What? You think that I'm oblivious just because I'm an idealist? I'm aware of the world around me! I've read the news! I saw the Doomfist attack! I lost friends when he attacked, but you don't see me edgelording around like I forget the good guys can still win!"
Genji quieted for an instant, thinking about Efi's words. "Who says we're good guys?"
"I do! You're trying to make the world better!"
Genji barked a brittle, broken laugh. "You obviously don't know anything about me."
Efi glared, "I know you're trying to stop the terrorists! Which can only be so much of a crime!"
"When you work how I do? I think you need to look up Blackwatch once and a while, Kid."
"What you did doesn't define who you are."
"Well, if it'd help me find Lena, I guarantee I'd do everything I've done to people tenfold. I doubt you can see much light in that with your shiny view of the world," Genji retorted in frustration.
Angela held her hand up, silencing the two as everyone watched her nervously. "Quit bickering like schoolchildren! We will save Lena one way or another, but now is not the time nor the place to have such pointless arguments!"
"Yes ma'am," Efi conceded, looking down as she settled down onto the nearby seat. Hana looked at the doctor, who nodded, though her eyes were sad. Hana took this as permission to leave the chair and sit next to Efi. D,va could tell the girl was trying to put on a brave face as she sat up straight with eyes straight forward.
Hana wrapped her good arm around Efi, patting her on the shoulder as she did so. The little girl relaxed a bit as she leaned into Hana's side.
"We'll figure this out…" Efi promised. "I know it. We'll get that thing off your neck."
Hana nodded in agreement. "I know we will."
The two were silent for a few seconds, then Efi spoke up nervously, "Can I take a nap now, though?" Efi asked, her voice full of exhaustion. "This is like, the seventh most stressful day I've had."
"Only if I can join you."
The two girls fell asleep minutes later, leaning against each other as the jet thrummed on their way back to Gibraltar.
…
Lena couldn't tell when she had woken up, or for how long she had been awake. Then she gasped as thoughts and memories flooded her. She snapped her eyes open and sat up. A wave of nausea assaulted her, and it took several seconds before Lena could do so much as look around.
The room was different. She wasn't in her cell. Instead, she appeared to be in a hospital room. The walls were a pale violet with no windows, but medical equipment littered a nearby desk. Lena was on a bed. As in, a real, soft bed. It was unbelievably comfortable. Or maybe Lena was just glad to have a cushion to lie on again. She didn't know.
The pain Lena had become so familiar with had dulled as well. It no longer hurt to breathe, air coming in and out of her lungs with extreme ease. Gingerly, Lena tapped her neck. There was no cuff. Her arms felt light as air, and Lena found that instead of the cuffs, they had a thick layer of bandages covering each of them. Feeling her hospital gown also revealed the cuff on her Torso had been removed. There was a slight sting in Lena's chest with every little movement, and she vaguely remembered jumping in front of Reaper. Though, most of her memories from that event were fuzzy.
The memory of D,va was vivid as ever. Lena had to come here. She had to work for Talon now, or else Hana Song would be destabilised. Lena sighed, falling back on the bed, barely avoiding the several IV drips attached to her arm. She was so done with it all. Whatever Talon wanted her to do, she'd do it. She couldn't handle any more of that. No more of the cuffs, or the magnets, or the destabilisation, or the shocking. It sounded too good to be true.
Then Lena realised something. She felt… odd. As in, off-kilter. She sat back up, remembering her hurt leg. She still couldn't feel it. Gingerly, Lena pulled the covers off her legs. Her left one was fine, with bandages wrapping it as well. As for her other leg-
Lena froze, the blanket slipping from her grasp. Her right leg was gone. About halfway down the thigh, a prosthetic clasp had been attached, smooth and shiny and new. Lena felt the bottom of it, wincing as she felt nothing where her leg had once been. Reaper had been right. She was a "crippled pet."
Her train of thought was interrupted by the door opening, making her snap to attention immediately. Much to Lena's surprise, it wasn't Reaper. It was Sombra.
"Hey, Lena. I hope you're feeling better; you've been out for a few days," she offered, helping herself by sitting in a nearby chair.
Lena stayed silent, watching as the hacker reached below the bed. "Oh, in case you were wondering, I don't know if you saw it, but here's your harness." Lena made a small gasp as Sombra set the chronal accelerator on the bed next to Lena. Except it was different. The fabric colour had been changed to a dark purple, and the holographic gear that was always spinning was a bright, vivid pink. Almost hot pink, in fact.
Sombra noticed Lena's surprise. "Oh, the colour change is purely cosmetic. I upgraded this thing a bit, but other than that it's the same as before."
Lena slowly reached for it, sighing in relief as she wrapped her arms around her anchor, feeling the familiar buzz of the harness as she held it to her chest.
"By the way," Sombra added as Lena looked up. "I wouldn't suggest talking for a while. Your throat isn't doing too well."
Lena nodded, unconsciously rubbing the bandages loosely wrapped around her neck. "Here." Lena noticed that Sombra actually had a bag with her, and out of it, the hacker pulled two large water bottles, a variety of candies, three sandwiches, and other oddball snacks one might find packed in a school lunch. Lena looked up in surprise as Sombra set the meal out in front of her.
"Hey, you're a Talon agent now. It's time you're finally treated like one. That starts by giving you the nutrients you need. Sorry I couldn't get more. Reaper was a pest."
The food was amazing. Lena tore through it all in a matter of minutes, relishing the different flavours and textures. The water was cold and clean and plentiful and amazing. The sandwiches were all different flavours. One with ham and cheese, one with peanut butter and jelly, and one that had too many ingredients for Lena to count. When she was finished, she gave Sombra a grateful look.
"Geez, you look like a puppy when you make eyes like those. Okay. I gotta go do some things for Talon, but I'll be back later. The technology department has started on a prosthetic for you, so I'll bring that by when it needs testing. Your uniform should be done in a bit as well, so I'll show you that, too. In the meantime, here."
Sombra set something on Lena's lap. It was small and cylindrical. A HoloVid. "It's just a simple movie HoloVid, and I put a few films on it, but that should be enough to entertain you for a few hours." Sombra stood up and stretched, shovelling the plastic and wrappers from the food into the trash can before heading to the door. She turned to Lena before leaving, her voice surprisingly warm. "Welcome to Talon. I promise things will be better from here on out."
…
"I- I'll figure something out! I know it!" Efi promised as Hana once again sat on her bed with Efi peering at the Toy, then at notes and designs for the chronal tech. Lúcio sat nearby, setting up for a stream the three of them had agreed to do that night.
"We know you will, Efi," he agreed as he fiddled with some chords.
Hana sighed and stared at the ground. "I hate this…" she admitted. "It's been a week! And I still have this thing on me! It's not even that we can't get it off, it's that it's on in the first place!"
Efi flinched. "It's not your fault," she offered for the umpteenth time.
"Well, I need to do something about it! What would you say the odds of this thing having a camera, or a tracker, or a microphone or something are?"
Efi thought for a moment. "I'd say pretty high. That way, Reaper could still show Lena that it was on you."
"See? I'm still just a bargaining chip or a piece of blackmail! Maybe if we get it off, Lena will come back to Overwatch!"
Lúcio winced. "Honestly? After what we saw? I think it's unlikely. Besides, Talon isn't going to just let her trot back over here, even if she wants to do so."
"And I was the tipping point!" Hana shouted in frustration. "Imagine how that feels, knowing that because of you, somebody had completely turned their back on their friends and family!"
"They would have gotten to her one way or another," Lúcio tried to comfort, finally setting down the chords and wires.
"No, because we would have saved her!"
"Or they would have stuck the Toy on someone else!"
"But they didn't! They stuck it on me, and now we're sitting here, doing absolutely nothing to help!"
Efi recoiled, looking away. "Sorry… I'm trying. I really am. I just don't know what to do about it. I can't open it up and see how it works since that could trigger it, much like tearing it off would."
Hana froze, staring at the ground for an instant. Lúcio noticed, and his eyes widened.
"Hana… Hana, don't you do what I think you're thinking! That's crazy!"
"Why is it?" Hana asked. "At least Reaper couldn't use me against Lena anymore!"
"Yeah, but for what? She might not come back, and that will be for nothing!"
"No, it won't be!" Hana shouted, her resolve strengthening. "At least she'll have nothing keeping her there, and maybe we can get her out easier! And I don't need to be someone's pawn!"
"Hana. Look at me," Lúcio ordered, his voice calm. "This isn't worth it. From what we've all heard, Lena's condition sucks! And with no way to make another accelerator, you'd be stuck with us having no way to help!"
"Well, then at least it'd be my fault, and I can't be used against Lena!"
"No! Don't you dare!" Lúcio shouted as Hana's hand flew to her neck. She pushed Efi back as the child tried to stop her, causing her to fall back on the bed.
"I'm sorry," Hana stated simply.
Then she closed her fingers around the Toy.
Then she tore it out.
Then agony swept over Hana as blue consumed her vision. Nothing became real, and Hana screeched as she felt her body torn apart.
Then all became an endless darkness as Hana was forced into the essence of time itself.