Chapter 32: MEKA

A/N: PLEASE READ, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Hello, everybody. Pleasure to be back. My apologies for taking so long to upload. School has been keeping me busy, so I've not been able to work much on this fic. Despite that, please note that I am not going to discontinue this story. And even if I decided to do so, I would be sure to tell you guys. So, if I fall silent for long periods of time, that is not me giving up on this fic.

HOWEVER.

I do have something else important to address here. There are several things I didn't do well early in the story. I openly admit this. I have learned a lot since then. But the most grievous mistake I have made in this story is something that I simply cannot ignore.

SO PLEASE NOTE:

I am officially retconning any implications that torture can be used to successfully interrogate, convert, or "break someone's will." This is blatantly untrue, as recent research has led me to discover. Given the gravity of the subject as well, it is not something I can leave unaddressed. I have plans in the future to go back and fix the dialogue with this issue, but I don't have time to now so this will have to do for now.

Now, this does not change a lot in the story, since the torture was done for reasons other than converting Tracer, and the whole reason she gave in was blackmail, and she would have fled at the first chance she got if it weren't for the sympathiser. I will be addressing this in the story in the future, but for now I wanted to point it out here, because I feel it is important to accurately depict serious topics like this.

But if you have any questions about the canon, about how the chapter is coming along, or just want to talk about Tracer or something, my Discord tag is Raven6229#9489. You guys are free to send me friend requests if you need to talk.

Anyway, without further ado, a chapter that is two months in the making! This one is an important one, so buckle up.

Hana didn't say anything as Mercy landed the ship in MEKA's hangar. She explained to her superiors why they were there with tight lips and a tense stance. She ignored their encouragement to come back another time. She had Orisa carry her PC equipment to the live-steaming room, where her squad-mates already had his equipment set up for Genji, Efi, and Lúcio to use with the promise of the DJs signature afterwards. Efi methodically set up all their streaming equipment just in case Sombra had been lying. D,va brushed away Lúcio's hand on her shoulder when he asked if she was okay. Soon, all their stuff was set up, and the stream was planned to start when her squad got back from their next mission. Hana fell onto the grey couch, staring at the wall littered in posters ahead of her, deep in thought, only for the doctor's shocked voice to blare over the communicator in her ear.

"Jesse! Why are you here? How are you here?"

Lúcio paused his fiddling with some of his settings on the compute, tapping his earpiece to talk. "McCree? He's there? How did he get on the ship without you noticing?"

Genji chuckled. "He had me help him hide in the locker."

Mercy muttered something under her breath as Efi began laughing. "You do realize we're supposed to make this look like a coincidence, right? If you're here, it'll be all-too-obvious that it's not. We could lose a valuable source of information that way."

McCree's voice was hard to hear through Angela's mic. "Sorry, Angel, but I ain't gonna just wait back at base with my thumb up my ass."

There was a pause, then a sigh of defeat from Mercy. "You are impossible."

"In other news, water wet," Genji added light-heartedly, setting up an old-fashioned Dance Dance Revolution dancepad to the big screen.

Efi's bubbly laughter finally quieted down as she finally got the webcams working, after which she rolled her chair back, tucking her legs and making it spin while she spoke. "Alrighty, webcams are a-go! Your PC is all set up, D,va! Everything should be good! How's your chronal accelerator?"

Hana tuned back in to the conversation, stuttering as she suddenly sat up straight, much more aware of the reassuring hum of the pink light on her chest. "Oh, uh… yeah. Accelerator should be fine. At least, it feels fine."

Lúcio shot her another worried glance. "Hana… I know this sucks, but come on, we'll get this sorted out soon. If Talon does attack, we'll have Winston bring it up with MEKA and figure out why exactly they want what they do."

"I know, don't worry about it." Hana waved him off, standing up and stretching, since sitting in the position she had been with her accelerator left her a bit sore. "I just don't like the idea of MEKA doing this, you know?"

Efi stopped spinning her chair, frowning but not knowing what to say.

Orisa, much to everyone's surprise, was the one to speak up. She gently trotted over to Hana, with her metal hands folded in a way that made her appear gentle despite the fact that she towered over the teenager. "I imagine discovering your employers were making such an underhanded deal with criminals would come as quite a shock, perhaps akin to if Efi did something like that for me. However, I don't think everyone in MEKA was okay with that. It seems far too drastic of a measure to take for a unanimous agreement. And when you brought it up with your squad, none of them knew of the deal with Talon. Not to mention, when your friend tried to look through your bosses' emails, the ones she could access were void of anything suspicious. The decision was most likely made by one or two specific people with the most authority, meaning the majority of MEKA can likely still be considered blameless in this ordeal."

Hana paused, staring up at Orisa's rectangular pupils, considering her words. Finally, she sighed and took a deep breath. "Yeah… okay. Guess I kinda need to stop moping, huh? We gotta get serious about this!" she reassured herself more than anyone else, forcing some cheer back into her voice, hoping the emotion would follow.

"I probably should be going back to the ship, huh? Efi asked nervously, fidgeting in the chair.

"Going back before Talon arrives would be smart, yes," Genji said in an almost joking tone. But before Efi could leave, he grabbed the back of her chair and spun it with more force than she ever could. Efi was caught in a fit of laughter as she tried to protest and get Genji to stop the chair as she spun to no avail, only earning another spin from the cyborg before he finally slowed the chair down for her. Efi wobbled out, giggling.

"I will escort you back to the ship," Orisa said as she helped Efi steady herself, the two heading out for the open hangar.

As Efi's giggles faded into the twisting corridors of MEKA, Lúcio turned to Hana. "Hey, you got power in your harness?"

Hana snorted. "Efi just asked about it. Yeah, Lú, I'm fine, don't worry. The harness battery isn't that bad. You saw me charging it on the ship."

"D,va's stream is scheduled to go live in a couple hours after the pilots get back in one. If Talon is going to attack, it will be soon." Mercy interrupted, her tone conveying more orders than words ever could. Hana brushed her hand over her holster. She saw Lúcio check his sonic amplifier for the fifth time since they started setting up. Genji remained perfectly serene from his spot on the sofa in a meditation pose.

A few minutes later, Lúcio let out a small gasp and ushered Hana over to him, where he was holding his phone with his chat service open. There was a fresh barrage of messages coming in.

Chat Channel Created

.

Sombra entered the channel

.

Lúcio was added to the channel

[Sombra]: hey howdy its Sombra-y

[Sombra]: hope you guys are ready because reaper certainly is. hes practically licking the lips we cant see with excitement im sure. Its been a bit too long since the poor fella killed

[Sombra]: Weve got SS, the boss, the other boss that punches stuff, and the next hokage. spider didnt come this time.

[Lúcio]: The next Hokage? What? Can't you just say their actual names?

[Sombra]: aww did i not even get a little chuckle out of you? i thought the hokage thing was pretty clever. im sure sparrow would agree with me if he didnt hate me

[Lúcio]: Alright, he seems to know who you're talking about, given the bitter chuckle. Does Talon have anyone that that DOESN'T have some sore history with Overwatch?

[Sombra]: sure we do but theyre what we call token-class cannon fodder

[Lúcio]: Truly, you must be a beacon of hope for those around you.

[Sombra]: ^_^

[Lúcio]: Hey, this is D,va. Can you just tell us where you guys are?

[Sombra]: aww come on whats a girl gotta do to get some laughs around here

[Lúcio]: Hah hah. Now come on.

[Sombra]: i dont want your pity laughs T_T

[Sombra]: whaaaaaateeevvverrr if youve gotta know, im going for the security cams, one-punch man and anime grill are going for the loot, and pink-eyes is playing the "shiny distraction" role. oh and our resident edgelord is there too soooo

[Sombra] glhf i guess

[Lúcio]: So, you're gonna be taking down the cams? What about alarms and stuff?

[Sombra]: naw, no plans to set that stuff off this time but ill kill the feed/lights wirelessly and pretend im heading there

[Sombra]: you know

[Sombra]: like a liar

[Lúcio]: Mk, we'll try to keep your being there on the dl, but don't blame us if you blow your own cover.

[Sombra]: pssh do you think im an amateur?

[Sombra]: now… apagando las luces

"The power just shut off throughout MEKA…" Mercy reported as McCree peered over her shoulder, watching a monitor displaying a night vision camera implanted in Genji's visor.

"Looks like that Sombra wasn't lyin' this time 'round. I still say we shouldn't trust her."

"But so far she's been pretty nice!" Efi pointed out as she sat at one of the tables on a small laptop with Orisa's point of view displaying on it. "I know you're mad at her and stuff, but I think she's sad about what she did."

McCree snorted. "Hah. Doubt that," he spat, chewing on an unlit cigar. Mercy sighed.

"For now, she's the only source of information we have. Unless you have a better idea, we're best off listening to her."

Jesse only grunted, pacing over to Efi's seat, where he checked her screen before watching Mercy's some more. The group had begun moving to the hangar full of MEKA suits. D,va was running alongside Orisa and Lúcio in the hallway lit only by their gear. Genji was far ahead of them, wide open to attack but also the one with the greatest chances of escape should things turn south.

Which, knowing their luck, it was probably about to.

Genji had to deflect a spry of bullets the moment the door to the open hangar slid open. With the quick slice of his blade and inhuman reflexes, before he even knew what he was doing, the bullets that were about to hit him flew off into walls. The next moment, he jumped up and off the wall to avoid the punch of an all-too-familiar gauntlet. Suddenly, he felt weak in the knees as purple light seemed to surround him on all sides, which quickly became pain. It took a shuriken thrown in the direction of his attacker to release himself from the beam of energy siphoning his power. Genji spun around, shoving the fuller of his katana against a shotgun barrel just as his attacker pulled the trigger, causing the gun to backfire. Using his other hand, he unsheathed his wakizashi and used the smaller blade to protect himself from incoming pink pulse bullets. He grunted as a few grazed him, but the damage was all superficial.

Lena cackled as she blinked over the shuriken aimed at her leg. "Tsk tsk. So predictable. You really need to learn some new tricks."

"Duly noted." Music began to play through his headset, one of the famous tracks by Lúcio that somehow filled Genji with vigour. The DJ was riding along the walls of the hangar, his sound pack glowing green along with his skates. Lurching off the wall and onto a support pillar, he fired his waves of sound and energy at the black and purple-clad redhead that had had most of her attention fixated on the baby blue MEKA unit she was tampering with. She rolled her eyes and held her hand out as purple light began to collect into a sphere. With the push of her hand, she launched it towards Lúcio. He cried out as some of the volatile, purple energy seemed to latch onto him. He immediately lurched off the pillar, gasping for breath once he was free of the life-draining orb.

"Interesting toy you've got there," the scientist said, sounding bored. She didn't even look at Lúcio as she planted something on in the wiring on side of the machine, which she had removed the protective panel from. "Vishkar's sonic mind control technology, correct? Its a shame you ruined such a powerful machine like you did. It could have done much more than play a few songs."
"Sorry, I'm afraid I've got these things called morals. Probably a foreign concept for you, huh? Now, are you gonna fight me or are you just that pretentious?" Lúcio smirked as Moira's eyebrow seemed to twitch.

"I've got more important things to do than fight a battle against someone who won't even fight with the full power of his equipment. Besides, I think you have other things to worry about."

"Lúcio! Watch out!" Hana screeched as the infamous Doomfist she had seen on the news when she was kid charged towards her friend. Hana flew forward and slid on the ground with her blink as she kicked her leg out in Doomfist's path. The man skid to a stop before tripping. D,va gasped and covered her head with her hands as Doomfist changed his plans and was about to punch her.

"No you don't!" Lúcio's gun roared overhead and likely would have deafened Hana if it weren't for her headphones. Doomfist flew back several feet but stopped himself quickly by digging his feet into the ground. But it was enough time for both D,va and Lúcio to get a fair distance away as they circled their foe. Lúcio jumped from wall to wall, firing shots as he flipped upside down and latched onto the ceiling long enough to avoid the orb Moira had fired again, though she still seemed far from focused on the fight. Hana continued to blink in circles, firing at him whenever she had the chance, though her bullets seemed to barely dent his cybernetic-enhanced limbs, and she couldn't land a shot on his vitals.

Lúcio rolled to a pillar and jumped off, flying towards Doomfist with his gun out. His gun once again roared, but Doomfist barely flinched this time, his feet digging into concrete that was torn up from his sheer power. The man then grabbed Lúcio, who's eyes were wide with realization that quickly turned to panic as Doomfist threw him back against a pillar. He crumpled to the ground as the pillar cracked from the force of his impact, blood dribbling from his mouth.

Hana's eyes widened and she screamed in rage. Without hesitation, she began to attack Doomfist relentlessly.

Orisa charged out of the Overwatch dropship without hesitation to help Genji, who was fighting Slipstream and Reaper by himself. Reaper turned to face Orisa, giving Genji a chance to better defend himself from Lena as she attempted to shoot him in the back.
Orisa launched a graviton chare, pulling Reaper into a line of shots. He burst into a puff of smoke, circling behind the robot. Orisa reared and kicked back with her hindquarters as he attempted to reform, forcing him to maintain his smoky form for several more seconds. He circled around Orisa, and when it seemed like he was going to reappear behind her again, she once again bucked back. Instead, he reformed only enough to blast her in the leg as his smoke swirled overtop her as he reformed on her back. Orisa reared back and bucked, trying to get her attacker off, but he was relentless as he fired again into the freshly damaged leg, causing it to spark dangerously. Next, he grabbed firmly onto one of her arms and yanked it back, making Orisa lose her balance and topple to the ground.

"No! Orisa!" Efi cried out as she watched from the ship in horror. She could hear the fight right outside the door, making everything feel vividly real as she watched Lúcio's slow heartrate monitor apprehensively while Orisa's vitals consisted of several critical errors. "Mercy! We have to do something! We can't let them die! We can't let my friends die!"

Mercy looked torn as her eyes flirted from the screens to the door.

"Oh, for the love of…" Jesse muttered under his breath. He pressed the comm he had on his ear. "Sombra. You're listening in on this channel, right?"

There was a few moments silence, then a sigh. "Yes, yes I am," said a voice that undoubtedly belonged to the hacker. "You wanna know if you can go out there, right? Well… Sending you out would raise so many alarm bells in the boss' head… you know what? Fine. You guys go."

There was no hesitation. Mercy grabbed her Caduceus staff and activated her Valkyrie suit. She pressed the door to open the hangar. She wasn't the only one to run out. Before anyone could react, Efi snatched a communicator and bolted out the hangar door.

"Jesse! Follow me! I've got a plan!"

Slipstream continued her sparring session with Genji, the two running and blinking faster than eyes could track as they chased each other around the giant hangar, weaving through jets and MEKA units. Slipstream blinked on top of a ship as Genji followed in a flash of pink. She shot in the direction she knew Genji would come up, though her bullets only grazed his shoulder as he twisted out of the way and flipped on top of the small jet's wing. She continued fighting with Genji, both moving in patterns they knew well in the other person. Neither could land a decent hit, the closest Genji had gotten to hurting her was a Shuriken that knocked off her goggles and shattered the right side of the plastic. A shot recall was all it took to heal whatever damage it caused to her, and she threw her goggles back on even with the missing half as the twosome continued to fight. They moved so rhythmically any spectators would swear it was choreographed. Then something caught Slipstream's eye.

"Woah… is that D,va fighting Doomfist? Doesn't that look familiar. I belive now would be a fitting time for me to go on about déjà vu and whatnot." She could see Genji pause and stiffen as he saw the famous gamer fighting her former enemy. She was circling him, a blur of pink almost impossible to track with the eye. It was the same as last time. "Now… what was it that came next in this part of the story?"

Genji didn't hesitate to abandon his fight with Lena as he dashed over to save Hana. Slipstream watched him go, interested.

"Slipstream? What are you doing? Kill them!" Reaper shouted through the mic, snapping her out of her stupor. She mentally kicked herself for getting distracted as she blinked once more into the fight.

D,va was fighting on instinct, ducking away from whatever blows Doomfist attempted to strike as she circled him, her glare fixated on him. Lúcio lay unconscious on the floor, and she had no intention of letting Doomfist near him. It became a cycle. Blink. Dodge. Attack.

Blink, dodge, attack. That was what she did.

Blink.

Dodge.

Attack.

Blink.

D-

She didn't dodge. She realized this a moment too late as she felt herself pulled back. She felt Doomfist tighten his grip on the accelerator, and she realized in one terrible moment what was about to happen.

"Ryūjin no ken wo kurae!" There was a surge of blinding green light as a Dragon roared furiously. Genji dug his blade into Doomfist's arm, forcing him to loosen his grip on Hana's accelerator as she fell to the ground and watched. Genji's dragon tore through the man's arm, causing the infamous Doomfist to fall to the ground with distorted and sparking metal, though it still seemed mostly intact, with Doomfist's normal bionic arm still inside.

Hana gasped for breath, checking her harness frantically for damage. There was a brief moment of silence as Genji's dragon dissipated. Doomfist narrowed his glare.

"I remember you. Seems like you learned after last time. Moira. We need to go."

D,va turned to Lúcio, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw Mercy treating him. Instead, she turned her attention to Orisa, who was currently fighting Reaper and struggling, having taken severe damage. "Guys! We gotta help Orisa!" D,va was the first to blink towards the centaur. But she was interrupted by a flash of neon pink. Slipstream stood in front of her, cocky as ever as she held her gun to D,va's harness.

"Sorry, Love. I'm afraid I gotta stop you here. How about a rematch, hmm?"

D,va didn't say anything, only trying to blink to Orisa. But no matter what she tried, Slipstream was there to stop her.

Genji's voice cut through her heaphones. "D,va. You take Slipstream. I'll help Orisa."

"Roger!" D,va looked to Slipstream. "You're really not going to let me past, are you?"

"Nope!" she chirped. "The boss kinda wants you dead, sooooooo…"

"Allright then. Come and get me."

Slipstream smirked and began to chase her prey through the maze of jets and MEKAs, her mind fixated on the thrill of hunting the pink blur in front of her. Though she couldn't put her finger on it, she was getting a strange feeling of déjà vu…

"Kid, this is the single dumbest thing I think I have ever done!" McCree shouted from on top of the MEKA unit Efi was in. "How the hell do you even know how to use this?"

"I looked over Hana's, and she showed me some stuff ages ago! Now come on! We can't let them get away with the MEKA!" Now just grab onto something!"

McCree grunted and grabbed onto the wing of the mech as it hummed to life with Efi inside. Immediately, the girl rocketed up several feet and activated some sort of hover mode.

Efi sighed in relief. "Looks like Genji is helping Orisa fight Reaper… and Mercy is helping Lúcio"

"Holy hell… is that D,va and Slipstream?"

"Ack, more importantly, look!" Thanks to Genji being preoccupied with Reaper, Doomfist was holding his gauntlet under good arm while holding onto a MEKA that Moira was flying towards a Talon dropship hovering at the hangar entrance. "Hang on!"

"Moira… of course it's her. Somehow I'm less surprised to see her in Talon than I was Gabe."

McCree's hat flew off as the mech rocketed forward. Jesse grabbed peacekeeper and opened fire on Doomfist, several shots burying themselves in his arm. Despite that, he didn't let go, only glancing at Efi and McCree before shouting something at Moira. Doomfist was the first to hop off the mech, landing safely in the open dropship twenty feet away thanks to powerful leg enhancements. However, there was no way for Moira to reach in time before Efi rammed into her with the full force of the mech at the same time Jesse.

Both suits careened out of control as the pilots attempted to right themselves. Jesse had managed to hold on thanks to his bionic arm, and he used the opening the opening to jump off Efi's mech before it fell too far away and land on Moira's.

"Knock knock, sweetheart." McCree growled as he hit the glass windshield, poking his head over the mech after Moira managed to right it. "I hope you know you ain't getting this thing on that ship."

"Fortunately for us, we still got what we needed. The mech would have been a nice bonus, but this changes nothing, Cowboy." Moira smirked as she turned off the mech's thrusters as the machine began to plummet to the hangar floor. McCree's eyes widened as he jumped off just before it hit the ground, rolling as he hit the ground to spread the impact through his body. He grunted as a jolt of pain travelled through his body, but the damage was negligible. He looked up to see black smoke on the ship turn into Moira: apparently bursting into smoke was a popular party trick at Talon.

Then he remembered Efi. McCree whipped his head around and saw that the mech had crashed onto the ground and was sparking, smoking, and in shambles. Efi was hanging limply out the front windshield, which had cracked and left one or two noticeable cuts on her face. He ran over to her and quickly pulled her out of the machine, holding the small girl in his arms.

"Kid? Kid! You okay?"

Efi coughed, groaning. She was covered in bruises and bleeding in some areas, but she would be fine. "Don't tell my mom and dad about this please… they'd kill me." She coughed again as McCree laughed. "Jesus kid, you're crazy. Can you walk?"

"Mm… I Don't want to." She chuckled at herself, but also winced, sucking some air through her teeth. Jesse had to remind himself that the kid had never needed to build up any pain tolerance before.

"Alright, fine. I'll only carry ya this once."

"Can you make it a piggyback ride?"

D,va and Slipstream continued running, neither willing to give the other party an inch. D,va was panting while Lena seemed fine, when all of a sudden, Slipstream paused, putting her hand to her ear as she listened to her communicator. She then turned to Hana with a grin. "Sorry D,va! This was fun, but I gotta go now!"

"No! You're not leaving!" Hana blinked after Slipstream, but Reaper, who had retreated from his fight with Genji and Orisa, materialized between the gamer and pilot with his gun planted on her harness. In a panic, she blinked back several feet, giving the two of them a chance to run off.

"Bye!" Slipstream waved, following Reaper diligently as the two ran for the jet. Genji looked like she was about to run after them. Hana prepared to follow, when Sombra's voice cut through their communicators in a panic.

"Wait! Wait! Don't go near them yet! Circle around but keep your distance! Just trust me!"

"And why the hell should they trust you?" McCree's voice retorted through the microphone.

"No time! Just listen to me! Please! I'm going to help!"

Genji seemed torn. "How do we know this isn't a trick?"

D,va shook her head. "I've had some dreams about Sombra! I think we can trust her! Just do what she says!"

Genji didn't hesitate as he began to take a detour, looping around Reaper and Slipstream, though the extra distance would mean he couldn't intercept them before they reached the lowered dropship. Hana blinked after them in a similar fashion, hoping Sombra wasn't lying. If Slipstream and Reaper got much closer, there'd be no way for them to intercept them.

Then D,va saw something. There was a purple shimmer in the air as the hacker seemed materialized in front of the escapees.

"Apagndo las luces!"

So much happened in the span of a second that it was hard to tell what was going on.

There was a blinding flash of purple that pulsed from the hacker. Reaper spun around without hesitation, pressing his gun against her abdomen. "You always were too rebellious for my liking." There was the unmistakable bang of his shotgun, accompanied by the sharp odour of blood.

Hana, Genji, McCree, with Efi in his arms, and Mercy all ran towards the action at once. Mercy ran straight for Sombra to stabilize her while Genji stopped the bullets Reaper tried to bury in the back of her skull by slicing the gun in two before he could shoot.

Then there was Lena. Her accelerator flicked and malfunctioned. Hana hurried over to her, tearing off Slipstream's harness but allowing her functioning one to act as an anchor. Slipstream seemed unaware of this as she sank to the ground. She ran her fingers through her hair, clutching her head as she trembled. Then she screamed. It was loud, broken, and full of absolute pain. Everyone save Reaper shivered.

"S-Stop it!" Lena screeched as she looked upward. With half of the pink goggle lens missing, she stared at nothing with wide, tearful, chocolate brown eyes. "Stop it! Stop it! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it go away! PLEASE MAKE IT GO AWAY!" Reaper used the distraction to sneak away, knowing full well nobody would let him get close to Oxton. Mercy bit her lip and continued to try and get Sombra stable, who was losing more blood by the second. McCree, was clenching his fists as Efi, who was on his back, held her hands over her ears with her eyes squeezed shut. Lúcio was still unconscious, though Orisa, who, despite all her damage, was attempted to get the DJ on her back, also seemed to pause at the cry for help. Hana wasn't sure what to do as Tracer sank further to the ground, curling in on herself as she wept. "Please stop it… stop the pain… Stop it stop it stop it stop it!"

Finally, Genji reacted. "Quickly! That was an EMP! It's effects will be temporary! The sympathiser is going to come back on!" He knelt at Lena's side, pulling out a small syringe he had been storing in place of one of his shurikens. "Forgive me, Lena." The girl remained curled in a ball, loud sobs racking her whole body as Genji quickly injected her with the sleep serum. He whole body relaxed as she immediately went under, just as the pink began to return to her eyes.