Thanks guys for all the support, it really makes my day when I see the interest for this story in others, and, as one commenter put it, whenever I can 'convert people to the dark side of Hanzo x Sombra'! I loved that, thanks Anon! :D
'You would be wise to just let us go' Hanzo said in his usual leveled tone to the guy holding a gun to his forehead.
'Hmmm, wise, you say?' the man, a tanned and brown-haired individual with a slight accent, was clearly having a great time. 'Tell me what you could do to us. I am listening.'
Things did not look really promising, Hanzo had to admit. These people - omnic parts scavengers, by the look of it - clearly outnumbered them. The truck was in a pretty bad state after crashing into that rock, and so were they, with cuts and bruises covering most of their upper bodies. They were both kneeling next to each other in the middle of a small village - which, ironically was their original destination.
Hanzo felt his right face get more swollen and sensitive, which did not improve his mood one bit. Then again, Sombra next to him was gagged since the scavengers could not tolerate her insults anymore, and that did improve his mood.
He did not reply to the leader's question however, only gazed intently in his eyes, which made the other man snicker and look away after a minute.
'You know, we mostly deal with scraps, but I always hear you gotta extend your business interests' he said mockingly, and some of his lackeys laughed menacingly around him. He stepped close to Sombra, caressing her cheekbone with the barrel of his gun, but she just squinted at him as if saying I will kill you, puta.
'Take this one, for example' their captor said, smiling admiringly at Sombra 'I don't think I have ever seen anything like her before. It is fascinating! You hear about all these enhanced people, but this is a whole new level!' he touched the tech on the back of her shaven head and smiled delightedly 'That must've hurt like hell, so I assume you are a tough motherfucker.'
'All the more reason to let us go' Hanzo remarked calmly, closing his eyes as if to signal this whole situation was beyond his level of interest. The guy shot him a displeased look, then grabbed the archer by the arm and suddenly pulled him to his feet.
'We'll see if you have anyone to whom you are important enough. Family, friends, the government… You already look pretty torn up so I would hate to make you suffer some more, but if I need to, I will. Now… take him and lock him up. And call the engineers to take a look at her. I wonder how much human is left in your little brain' he said, turning to Sombra and lifting her chin 'If we can hack it and reprogram you, I am sure there are… reputable groups who would place a high bid on this pretty face.'
As Hanzo was dragged away, he met Sombra's uneasy gaze, and tried to look back as confident as possible.
He was thrown in a makeshift cell, a small room with an even smaller window on top of the wall which had some steel bars welded onto it. The guy locking the door promised he would break both of Hanzo's legs if he would make trouble; then he slammed the door and he was alone.
Instantly he ran up the wall to the small window, carefully peeking out. This must have been a storage room some time ago, facing the the edge of the village, with only two other small buildings in sight. But even if he got the bars down, it would take a bit of effort to fit through the small hole…
He jumped down and sat on the ground cross-legged, closing his eyes and calming his mind. He slowly shut off his thoughts about his hurting cheek, slightly torn lip and the steady, dull pain in his ribs and forced himself to come up with a plan to escape.
No use to do it before complete nightfall, he concluded. But also no use to wait until morning. If he would get his bow and arrows back, he could take a good handful of the guards out alone, but definitely not all of them - but even this is dependent on the layout of the buildings. He tried to map what is where, but could not identify any of the strategically important buildings in those few minutes while he was dragged here. Even if he made it out of the cell, he was as good as blind and would soon be captured yet again.
He did feel running into this mental wall of unsolvable problems many-many times before.
I cannot lead the clan.
It is impossile to control the dragons.
Genji must be stopped…
Involuntarily, he touched the back of his neck, as if someone had hit him with a stick… no, not a stick, the stick of his former teacher, Tadayoshi-sensei. Someone who has guided him all through his youth, and Genji too, until the younger Shimada had enough and went on his own way. He remembered how much he also wanted to just give up and live any way he wanted, but Tadayoshi always caught him slacking, and with a sharp poke to the ribs reminded him of his noble duties.
It was also this teacher of theirs, together with their father, who pushed them to the limit in order to tame their respective dragons. Years of harsh training, which Genji never truly finished and he… he got crippled by it, even, mentally and physically. His left hand twitched at the thought as it often did when he lost control. He took one more deep breath to calm himself, but could not get rid of the slight trembling in the left arm - a permanent reminder of all he has sacrificed to master the dragonstrike.
He forced himself to focus yet again. Walls are there to be overcome, he heard Tadayoshi's no-nonsense words whispering in his ear.
So… how should he mount this one?
A sudden, light buzzing interrupted his concentration, and he opened his eyes displeased. There was a strange, small omnic floating in the air above him. It was just slightly bigger than his knuckle, and had only one, purple led light shining in his direction.
He eyed the device with unease as it turned around itself three times, then circled him and floated up to the window. Was this a trap…?
Then the small device floated down to him again and projected something… it took Hanzo a moment to realize it was the skull Sombra used in all her emails.
'Sombra?' he gasped, somewhat shocked at the resourcefulness of the woman. The little omnic floated up and down as if it was nodding, then flew up to the window, signalling it was time to go.
'Come' Hanzo beckoned him in a low voice 'You will be my distraction.'
Then he turned to the door and yelled: 'Guard! I think some scrap of yours might have gotten loose.'
'Wha- goddamit you bastard, that is a cheap trick, go back and fucking sleep!'
Hanzo grimaced but the small omnic let out some chirping noises and the archer heard footsteps outside.
'Goodamnit, do you hear that? A watcher must have gotten in there. Let's get it before it maps out the whole fucking base to him.'
Hanzo stood ready by the door, all his muscles tense and quickly thinking through a hundred or so scenarios. Then the first guard stepped in cursing heavily and the small omnic blinded him with a sudden flash and he cried out, covering his eyes. Hanzo quickly crouched and kicked at the guard's feet, having him fall to the ground; but right after him another one stormed into the cell. The archer leapt forward towards the door, shutting it with the impact and then jumped off of it, right towards the second guard, wrapping his arms around the other's neck in a choke hold. The guy thrashed around for a minute or two, but this was a specialty of Hanzo's, one he perfected on so many assassination missions. The thug finally collapsed and Hanzo quickly bound and gagged them with their belts and strips of their clothing.
'Let's go' he whispered to the omnic, and carefully opened the door, only slightly peeking out.
There was no one in the next room, or, apparently, in the building. Clearly the group outnumbered them, but they could not have anticipated to take a skilled assassin as a hostage... And of course… whatever Sombra was doing.
He slowly kept creeping in the shadows, the small omnic floating before him, showing the way out of the building.
Outside there were some guards patrolling as well as several members of the group around a fire a bit further away. But it was already pitch black, around midnight, and only one small floodlight was scanning the perimeter of the village lazily.
'I need my bow if I want to free you' he said to the robot, which in turn projected a tiny map of the village in front of them, and highlighted two buildings; one closer to him, and the other on the further end of the village, marked with a small skull.
'So this one?' he looked over to the closer building, interpreting the map and trying to relate it to his position. He proceeded to quietly sneaking towards the weapon storage and saw two guards sitting before it. As he was contemplating how to distract them, the omnic let out a slight beep and circled around itself hastily. Then it flew towards the guards who hopped on their feet and started running after it.
Hanzo quickly sprinted towards the building and burst in the door, closing it behind him. Their belongings were thrown on a crate of ammo; he quickly took up his bow and quiver and shoved Sombra's weapon and translocators into a smaller duffel bag. Looking around at all the weaponry, he got an idea and dug around until he found a small box of grenades.
By the time he exited the building, the two guards were already heading back - in an instant he drew an arrow and shot one right in the head, but the other already drew his rifle and fired at him. Hanzo jumped to the right behind some barrels, and drew a grenade from his belt, pulling out the pin and throwing it into the open room; and then he ran as fast as he could behind the next building.
The explosion came in several bursts as one section of the weaponry lit the next, even from the relative safety of the neighboring building his ears were ringing and the heat felt unbearable. After what felt like an eternity of explosions and shouting in the background, he saw the small omnic fly toward him, and urge him to get up - until at one moment, it abruptly fell to the ground.
'Sombra' Hanzo murmured, and, careful to stay hidden, proceeded hastily to the other building he remembered from the projected map.
The explosion sent all of the camp into a frenzy, and Hanzo only hoped the other guard who saw him at the artillery was dead by now, otherwise they would be on the lookout for him. The floodlight snapped here and there in a frenzy now, but he silently took down the man operating it, and apparently no one in the chaos below noticed the light coming to a halt.
He finally reached what he surmised was the building he was looking for. But before he entered, a cold and stubborn voice in him said - Leave her and just go. It will be easier that way.
And for a moment, he did consider it. It's not like he needs that god-forsaken woman. She meant only trouble anyway and would back-stab him again, the first chance she got...
Then he let out an annoyed sigh and kicked the door in.
He rushed through two empty rooms before he arrived at something resembling an infirmary. Sombra was lying on an operating table in her bodysuit with hands and feet tied down and was writhing away from a man who had a strange cable in his hand.
Hanzo jumped there in an instant and locked the man in a choke-hold from behind.
'Free her, now' he growled furiously, and shot a look at Sombra, who looked genuinely frightened for once.
'You have no chance to escape' the man muttered angrily back as he fidgeted with the trains holding the woman 'We know these deserts much better than you.'
'Shut the hell up' Sombra said, removing her gag once her arm was freed, and instantly after punched the guy in the face with full force.
'We want nothing from you. Just forget about us' Hanzo said before tightening his grip and making the man faint.
'Thanks for… you know, not leaving me here' Sombra said cheekily as she sat up.
'I did consider it' Hanzo said with a slight smirk, then glanced at the door 'Can you run?'
'Yes, but they have helibikes, that will be faster. Just give me a moment and I'll check it out' she said and, before he could stop her, already disappeared thanks to her camo suit. Hanzo took this short pause to look around the room and grab some bottles of water and a small first-aid kit lying on one of the counters, stuffing them in the duffel bag.
'Here I am' Sombra said in her usual sing-song voice as she appeared right next to him, and reached into the bag unapologetically, saying 'Wow, you got back my pretties? I really do owe you now, samurai.'
'What did you see?' Hanzo asked impatiently, and drew an arrow.
'Some guards at the helipads, the rest at the fire. Maybe a good time to use those fancy dragons, finally?' she asked mockingly as she put on her belt with the translocators and reloaded her weapon, following Hanzo until they exited the building.
'No' he whispered back, crouching and hastening his steps 'That would draw all of them here. We need to remain as invisible as possible.'
'Then I distract and you take them down' she nodded, and threw her translocator as far as she could, putting on her camo again. A minute later two of the helibikes ahead of Hanzo went into a frenzy and the three guards shouted at each other and started shooting in random directions. Hanzo took a big breath and started running towards the commotion, stepping up a huge rock on the way and launching himself in the air - only to draw his bow and shoot one of the soldiers in the head from mid-air. The two remaining guards started shooting in his direction a moment later, but one was shot in the head from behind by a suddenly reappearing Sombra; and she immediately translocated next to the other guy, knocking him out with a spin-kick.
'I see you can also take care of yourself' Hanzo remarked, and she smiled back pleased in response.
'We make a good team, you know' she said as they fired up the two helibikes, but Hanzo just let out a slight 'hrmph' in response.