Two hours later, Alice headed towards the Blackwatch training room. Others in her position would probably have been excited to spend the next few hours training with the best agents in the Overwatch; some would probably have been terrified at the thought of facing them in combat, while others would have been determined to prove themselves in their eyes. All Alice wanted was to return to her little safe haven, to the bed she had grown to love, but unfortunately, her boss wanted her to spend her time beating the shit out of one of his agents, whoever it may be.

She just wanted to sleep after that last unpleasant dream, if you could even call it a dream. Is it too much to ask?

'Remember, you can't come out fully; they can't know about you, and I don't want you in any danger. It's clear, they don't trust us, and I don't want to find out what would happen to us if they were to see you.'

How will I help you then?

'We just give a good fight but under the basic stuff they've seen, 'kay?'

What if the cyborg is going to be there?

'That's why I said we give a good fight but not to go overboard - just enough, to show them that we shouldn't be underestimated.'

Yes, that's better.

'We need to show them our strength and make it clear that we are not an easy target.'

Understood. But if they try anything, I will destroy them immediately.

Alice pushed through the double doors that led to the training room a minute later. It was no surprise to her that Commander Reyes and McCree were there waiting for her. Just as she expected, the cyborg was there, as well. She felt rather ne1rvous as she glanced at him, their conversation from the day before still fresh in her mind.

Lethal threat detected; proceed with caution.

She couldn't help but feel unsettled by what he had said to her. Did he really mean that if she wasn't so important to Overwatch, he would have left her to die? She frowned at the thought, realizing that she was only alive because Overwatch needed her.

If he attempts anything, I will not hesitate to kill him.

"You're late." Reyes said to her, pulling her out of her thoughts. For a moment, she thought he really was upset with her. However, as she turned to look at him, she could see the faintest hint of amusement in his dark eyes.

"My apologises, Commander, but I had a pretty bad night, and now I feel as if someone just brought me back to life."

Reyes snickered and looked at McCree, a quiet conversation being passed between the two men. Genji, however, didn't react. His red eyes flickered between Alice and the other two men, the same feeling of deja vu hitting him upon hearing a familiar voice.

"Don't worry about it; it's your first day, so I'll let it slide this time, but be on time next time." His eyes darted down to the mask that covered her face, "I noticed that you wear it all the time, you don't need that here, do ya?"

Alice head looked at the floor, "I- I can't really take it off- they won't listen." She mumbled the last words quietly. Reyes shot her a confused look. "What I mean is that I don't want to remove it. I prefer that people around here wouldn't see my face."

"Or what's left of it." She muttered under her nose, words barely hearable.

Genji's eyes flickered, an unknown emotion hidden within their depths.

Reyes didn't said another, only nodded in understanding, and then cleared his throat. "Today won't be the most exciting, since we need to see where ya stand in terms of combat. We'll start off with some sparring." He explained as he led Alice towards a large training mat in the middle of the room. Then he gestured towards Genji, "Genji there'll be your partner."

Alice stopped and slowly turned towards the Commander, her heart dropping to her feet as she wondered if she heard the Commander correctly. She glanced towards Genji, eyes widening as she noticed his hand gripping the katana in the sheath on his back tightly. She turned back to Reyes panickedly. "With all due respect, boss, but are you insane?"

Reyes smirked. "Do you want an honest answer?"

Alice threw her hand up in exasperation. "He hates me, and I have no idea why! He won't hesistate to actually kill me this time!"

"Relax." Reyes said with an amused chuckle. "No weapons are allowed here. It will only be hand to hand combat. You will be fine."

"Right, like that'll stop him from strangling me for his own amusement." Alice scoffed.

"Then you have to beat him before he can do that." He mentioned towards Genji, and the cyborg took his stance at the end of the training mat. Both men eyed Alice expectantly, and she couldn't help but notice McCree watching from a distance with an amused smile on his face.

"Can't I spar with McCree?"

Reyes shook his head in exasperation. "Just fight the ninja, Alice."

Alice swallowed nervously, Genji's words from the day before echoing through her mind. He basically told her that if he had the choice, she would be dead. She couldn't help but wonder if he would try to kill her now. She hesistantly took her position on the mat opposite of Genji. He looked away almost immediately, although she was surprised to have caught the faintest hint of excitement shining in his eyes; this only made her even more nervous.

She watched as Genji reached behind him, cybernatic hand gripping his katana tightly as he slid it out of his sheath. His red eyes shone with amusement at the sight of her backing away a little. She noticed his shoulders shook ever so slightly as though he was laughing. He nodded towards McCree and tossed his weapon towards him; the metal blade clanged against the wooden floor loudly as it landed at the cowboy's feet. Alice's mind froze as she realized the sound of the katana's swinging was the same as the sound of her own blade falling from her desk yesterday, and the exact same sound the katana from her dream had made.

She shivered slightly at the memory. She hoped that Genji really wasn't just a bloodthirsty psychopath.

Genji and Alice looked towards the Commander, who nodded to encourage the pair to begin the duel.

Alice sent a death glare towards McCree as she heard him yell, "Good luck!"

Alice had barely any time to react before Genji lashed out at her. Khai-Ja's thinking was quicker and immediately moved her legs to the other side, dodging his first attack.

Focus, Alice Smith. His speed is faster than I have calculated.

Alice shook her head and focused once more, the targeting triangle glued to the cyborg and following his every move.

I shift my feet and put my fist up. Even thought the armor is on, I'm going to do this without cannons.

That is impractical. It would be much more effective tactic to use our plasma cannon or energy blades.

"It's hand to hand combat, bugsuit." I whisper, before facing the cyborg. He raises an eyebrow but dosen't say anything.

Her fist flies in for a punch, but Genji easily deflects it. He threw a right hook at Alice, but she dodged, then he followed with a sweeping kick that was also avoided. Alice skidded backwards till he bumped into a wall. Genji tried a jumping knee but Alice rolled to the side, creating some space between them. The cyborg was now behind her, and she twisted around on her feet just as he dashed towards her once more. She caught it just in time, stepping to the side to avoid another hard blow. She turned around to face him once more, smirking victoriously.

"Too slow."

The amusement that was once present in his eyes had now been replaced by annoyance. Genji rushed towards her again, and Alice wondered he was being so predictable. She caught him as he neared her, wrapping her foot around his leg. This caused him to lose his footing, and he tumbled to the ground with an oomph. Not giving him a chance to stood up, Alice leaped on top of him, pinning him to the training mat with a grin on her face. He was about to shove her off of him, but his eyes widened as he noticed a long black blade dangerously close to his neck. She narrowed her eyes at him, chuckling at his reaction. "Ha! That was actually easier than I expected. Were you going easy on me, Grinch?" She taunted him, the blade melting away as it was never there. The annoyance radiating off of him in waves only caused her to feel more triumphant. His eyes narrowed and a noise that sounded like a mixture between a growl and mechanical whirring came from within his chest as he pushed her off of him with ease. Alice fell to the ground with a thud, watching as he pulled himself to his feet and glared down at her.

"I'm impressed." Reyes said, pulling her attention away from the angry cyborg. "Not many people can take down the ninja."

Alice shrugged, her chest tight with pride. "He's too predictable." She shot another challenging look towards Genji as she said this, finding it almost fun to annoy the grumpy man. "It wasn't hard to catch on when he did the same move over and over again."

Both Reyes and McCree continued to compliment Alice, though their words flew over her head as she noticed Genji stalking away from them. He stopped in the far corner of the room and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. He glared at Alice through narrowed eyes, causing her to shift uncomfortably and look away. She wondered if she got herself into a bigger mess than she realized by messing with the cyborg.

.

.

.

Later that night, Alice sat by herself inside the Blackwatch common room, reading a random book she picked up from the bookshelf. The book itself was quite old, with many of its pages torn and some even missing. No one was currently in the room, and if someone were to come there, she would make herself invisible to simply avoid any confrontations with the other agents. Just like McCree told her, she was currently the only female assigned to Blackwatch, making her the current hot topic amongst the agents.

She didn't like the attention, and she was way too tired to have a conversation with a stranger at the moment, however she grew rather annoyed with the amount of sideways glances she was receiving.

What about Juleka? She's pregnant isn't she? Khai-Ja asked.

Alice shook her head, looking through the pages again. "It's not Roberto's remember? It was Mariana's cousin, Ignacio. And Mariana killed him remember? With the car that sent him flying against one of the funeral homes."

She made a good choice. Getting rid of the weak organism would benefit her life much more, now that he's dead and she won't have to worry about him or the money she owes him.

"Not everything is always about killing. She could have called the pollice on him." Alice said, closing the book.

And what would the police do? We both know that most of the authorities are corrupt.

"Well, you are right in this one but-"

Don't deny what you know is true. Did the police help you while you were still with them? How many times did they visit your home? Not many.

"Shut up." She hissed under her breath, letting the book lying on her lap fall to the floor. 'How many times do I have to tell you, do not bring up my past?' Alice was pulled from her thoughts as someone took a sit beside her. She cursed at herself for not noticing anyone entering the room, and readied herself from embarrassment that would come when some random tried to hit on her. Forcing herself to look towards her new companion, her smile faltered a bit, relief washing over her as she noticed Jesse McCree sitting beside her.

McCree grinned at her in greetings, a lit cigar hanging between his lips. "Howdy."

I was only speaking facts, Alice Smith. The police forces are simply pointless, they do not do anything, and most of them are working with the terrorist organizations.

Alice simply nodded in greeting, not exactly in the conversing mood.

"What are ya readin'?" McCree said as he picked up the old book from the floor, "Great Expectations?" A romance? I didn't think you were the romantic type." He said, a cloud of smoke blowing into her face and causing her to frown.

"I'm not." Alice said as she snatched the book from his hands and looked boredly through the pages. "I was just bored, and the old cover of it caught my attention. I always preferred horror and crime type of books."

"You really showed em' today." McCree continued, failing to pick up on her reluctance to talk, "Not many people are gonna underestimate ya now."

This human Jesse McCree is annoying. Termination would be much approved.

Alice mumbled a quiet "thanks" though her mind was elsewhere. She knew that news of the cyborg being beaten by the new girl was spread rather quickly. Turns out McCree loved to spread gossip as much as a middle-aged housewife with nothing better to do. It wasn't long after their morning training session that nearly everyone in Blackwatch division knew Alice's victory. Alice frowned slightly, remembering how she had beaten Genji so badly, how angry he was when she pinned him to the ground and taunted him. She wondered, if she had embarrassed Genji. Was she too hard on him?

'What am I doing, thinking about the well-being of someone who kidnapped me, and tried to kill me?' She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were stopped as someone opened the doors and the familiar cyborg entered the common room. Alice and Genji seemed to tense at the sight of each other, the cyborg was about to leave the room but McCree was faster and pulled him to the same couch Alice was sitting. She groaned internally, as Jesse forced Genji to sit next to him.

No one said anything; it was a dead silence.

Alice perspired as she sensed Genji's glare boring into her skull, and she pondered whether he was plotting her demise at this very moment.

McCree seemed not to care about the tension in the air and cleared his throat, getting Alice's and Genji's attention.

"Ali, Do you want to arm wrestle each other?" McCree asked, "I want to see how strong you are, after all you beat the ninja. You don't mind a little challenge, do you?"

Alice hesitated, playing with her black gloves, her fingers ending in long claws fidgeted. Although a lot of time had passed since the operation, sometimes the pain in both her hands would come back randomly. It was annoying, but she couldn't really do anything about it, unless she would agree and let the scarab replace both her hands with prosthetics, and that's a big no.

Alice nodded in agreement, and positioned her arm on the table. Alice turned out had better reflexes. The back of McCree's hand came dangerously close to the surface of the table. McCree didn't gave up yet and managed to raise his hand to the starting position. Alice smiled as if admiring his stubbornness and fighting spirit, she exerted all her strength, but McCree in response to this, he also concentrated all his strength. Alice's hand pressed mercilessly, slowly defeating her rival. She was so focused on beating the cowboy that she didn't notice the other agents entering the room or the cyborg watching the match intently, as if he were analyzing her strength. Alice was about to seal her victory when the legs of the table creaked, breaking. Jesse was too focused on survival to register his opponent's strange reaction.

Alice instinctively clenched her hand as all four legs of the table broke with the force of their hands. Both hands were still connected, pulling Jesse and Alice to the ground as the whole table broke beneath them.

Jesse groaned as Alice's claws started to dig into his leather-gloved hands, reaching the skin. A little blood could be seen painting the girl's hand. Her eyes widened and she immediately pulled away, still lying on the floor.

"I am so sorry!" She panicked, grabbing him by his left hand and trying to help him up as she herself struggled to stand up due to the broken pieces of the table they both were lying on.

Her eyes widened even more in fear as she saw his right hand completely crushed. It looked almost as bad as her own hands had looked before the operation. All the anxiety she had been holding back slipped onto her face now that she realized how much of a mess she was in.

Bruising.Lacerations.Dislocated bones. The hand injury damaged the adjacent nerves and blood vessels.

"Shit. Can you walk?" She asked, her voice full of panic and anxiety, "Come on, I have to take you to the nice doctor."

Alice breathed a sigh of relief when Genji helped her lift the cowboy up, trying her best to stop the bleeding she had caused from his hand, and wrapping it in a towel.

She didn't care what the cyborg might be thinking about what she had done; all she cared about now was getting that stupid cowboy to the hospital room and saving his injured hand. Alice knew that those two were close friends, and she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if McCree's hand couldn't be saved or if it was cut off.

Alice stared at both of her hands as if they were alien. She thought she knew how strong she was, but in reality, she didn't; the stupid game the cowboy suggested proved it.

She wondered if there were any limitations to the armor Khai-Ja was providing her.

Oh, well, I myself don't really know. Highly magnetic forces can mess with my sensors, and a powerful electricity blast could put me into reboot mode. However, I have already adapted your body to fight off the effects of it, just like the effects of the sedatives and poisonous substances you have been in contact with multiple times. If my memory data is correct, beings and creatures who draw upon the power of green, also known as the source of the Green Lantern's power, have weaponized the willpower. There are more Lanterns of many colors, and all of them are at threat level: maximum. They are the eternal enemies of The Reach. Every Scarab is programmed to enable every countermeasure when in combat with them.

'So the only thing that can stop us dosen't exist? Isn't it just fantastic? We are basically gods on this planet.'

Negative. Green Lanterns exist, they just don't intervene with your planet. Although there are few lanterns from Earth, they have never returned to your planet after obtaining their rings.

'You have some comic book stuff going on, because we are in the real world and I'm pretty sure the Green Lanterns are from the DC Universe, and they only exist in colorful pages.'

I have saved recordings of many battles between Scarabs and Lanterns throughout the known universe. I can show you if you want.

'Is there any way I could remove you from my back?'

Negative. Any attempt at removing me from your spine will end in failure and could even result in our deaths.

"He'll be fine." Angela assured her as she took off her white gloves. Alice nodded, not taking her eyes away from her hands.

Angela noticed her emotionless expression; her voice was not the usual bored, but happy tone.

"It was not your fault." Angela spoke softly, but her accented voice seemed to not reach Alice, who continued to stare at her hands. The only indication that she was alive and not a statue was her occasional blinking.

"McCree has already explained everything; it was just an accident. The cowboy will be back in the field before you know it, and his hand wasn't that badly damaged." The doctor patted her shoulder, causing Alice to flinch from the contact but relax immediately. "We did learn something from this situation." She said, putting on her glasses.

"What?"

"That you've got a strong grip."

Alice looked at the doctor as if she were crazy for not taking the situation seriously, but she immediately noticed what Angela was trying to do and she gave up, letting out a quiet chuckle that of course the doctor heard.

"I guess I am his bad omen."

"Do I need to examine you for any wounds?" Angela called after her, as Alice finally decided to leave the hospital division.

.

.

.

Thuds were heard before a grunt gave out. The sweat fell on her back and chest. For a cold midnight, it was too hot for Alice's taste.

Alice huffed as she kept punching her makeshift punching bag. If you're wondering what was inside then you would notice the bloody knuckles she had after each punch. Her arms ached as the clenching tendons tightened on her muscles.

Alice threw a high kick, giving herself another small wound. Her feet wrapped in thin bandages as they landed on the bag. She panted and grabbed her water bottle, drinking from it and pouring some water over her wounded knuckles.

'Khai-Ja, count.'

3.24 seconds.

Alice nods throwing other throws. She had decided to make tests on herself. She wanted to find out how much Khai-Ja's armor could endure with her new strength. She also noticed that her fresh wounds were beginning to heal themselves; the black veins attaching themselves to the injury and closing it. With the newfound sudden healing factor that she had no idea she possessed, she wanted to test out how long it would take for a wound to heal based on its size.

So, she grabbed any shark rocks she could find and placed them in a punching bag, reletntlessly punching it and kicking it. It hurt at first but by doing this routine for an hour, she started to get used to it.

Alice twirled herself and gave a final kick, splitting the bag in half. She pants and flops to the ground. Looking around, she webbed her water bottle to her hands and took a chug of it.

She sighed and stared up at the sky. It has been a while since she worked out like this.

"This is nice..."

Yeah, whatever eases your mind.

Alice closed her eyes and just sat quietly as she felt the soft breeze. Even when she dosen't like the silence much, she actually likes how the moonlight shined dimly at the courtyard she is in. The small breeze kisses her skin as she pants. It's comfortable how the sweat on her arms cooled down with the winds.

"Okey... let's do this one more time, one hundred push-ups and sit-ups." Alice said, wrapping both her hands in bandages.

Genji stood frozen for a moment, his eyes glued to the girl who hadn't seemed to notice his presence. His mind wandered back to the hour earlier when he had found her sitting with McCree in the Blackwatch common room. It had taken him by surprise, and for a moment, he hoped they wouldn't notice him so he could slip away unnoticed. But of course, McCree had his sixth sense and forced him to join them. Now that he thought about it, if he hadn't been there, who knows what could have happened to McCree.

Alice's eyes snapped open and bolted to her feet, turning to the person. She didn't sense them coming near her. What gives?

"Oh, It's just you." Alice said, lowering her fists as the familiar red light momentarily blinded her. "What are you doing here at this hour, stalking me?"

"I should be the one asking you this." Genji rolled his eyes, but Alice was able to caught a faint hint of amusement in his voice, "And what if I was?"

Alice stared at him, disbelief shining in her eyes as she couldn't tell whether the always grumpy man was now joking or not.

"Honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was true." She said, shrugging. "There are already plenty of men following me around. I don't know what to do, other than killing them, and I really want to kill them. Are you one of them too? Or did you come here to finish me off, because I have hurt your big ego a bit?" Alice said it so casually, as if she didn't have any care about the mention of killing. Ignoring the ninja, she grabbed her almost empty water bottle and began to walk towards the entrance to the dormitories.

"I don't understand you." Genji caught up with her, not caring about the signs she was giving him about wanting to be left alone. "You had all of the most sensitive Overwatch classified files and you didn't do anything with them, didn't blackmail us or sell them. You could have brought the entire organization down with that information; you had the power. Talon was so desperately trying to collect, yet you did nothing with it."

Alice raised an eyebrow, "What are you suggesting? I don't work for Talon if that's what you're implying."

"You did something even Talon wasn't able to achieve, but somehow you did - a teenager with no history in the internet and no family information. Your room was devoid of any signs of advanced technology or supercomputers. I simply cannot believe that a sixteen-year-old could bring so much trouble, using only a library computer. Were you working alone or were others assisting you?"

Her eyes narrowed on him questioningly. "Hm? What is that? An interrogation? Did Reyes make you do this? I thought you were not the type to talk unless forced."

"You haven't answered my question." Genji spoke in his usual unfriendly tone, although a faint hint of pure curiosity was visible.

"Well, I did work with someone. My consciousness and intelligence can be actually useful sometimes."

Genji's stare turned inquisitive, like he could read her thoughts and knew what she was thinking. He tilted his head, only narrowing his eyes even more. Alice knew that he knew that she was lying but who would believe her? A parasitic alien fused to her spine, speaking to her telepathically, has helped her hack into Overwatch's files; Does that sound believable?

"No one would be stupid enough not to do anything with that kind of power. You were looking for something, weren't you?"

'Fuuuuuuuck.' Alice really wished she was back in bed, only so she could scream bloody murder into her pillow.

"It's none of your business," she hissed under her breath, reaching to grab the doorknob of her dorm door.

Genji seemed unbothered by her aggressive tone. "You are in Blackwatch so it is my business. Others might trust but I don't."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh, really? Good to know." With that, she reached for the door, swinging it shut before the ninja had a chance to say anything more. Leaning on the door with her back, she finaly noticed how unstable her breathing was and how everything around her was red, the targeting triangle was shaking uncontrollably. She heard the sound of his heavy footsteps retreating down the hallway before disappearing altogether. Alice stood in the dark room, the only sound being the voice of the Scarab, but it was muffled and blurred in her head. Alice was surrounded with people she couldn't trust, and she felt more alone than ever.

"Tommy... what should I do?"

.

.

.

Alice rolled her shoulder as she walked through the courtyard; it had only been a few days since she was shot in Hanamura by the cowboy, and yet it felt her shoulder had been healed for months, same her leg. Ava walked beside her, and the omnic turned to look at her in concern as Alice kept rolling her shoulder.

"Are you in pain?" Ava questioned softly, gesturing towards her shoulder. Alice was thankful that she had the rather quiet omnic as a friend; it certainly made living on the Overwatch base surrounded by overly-serious agents bearable. And it made avoiding a certain cyborg even easier, she was not in mood for another awkward conversation.

"I'm okay." Alice responded with a smile, "It's just amazing how fast my leg and shoulder healed. Dr. Ziegler truly is an Angel."

Ava laughed lightly at this, a soft mechanical whirring that was oddly contagious. Her laughter died down, however, as she spotted Amari across the courtyard, seemingly preparing for the day of training. Alice noticed this and felt a stab of pity for her friend; she was lucky enough to get out of basic training considering she was recruited straight into Blackwatch.

Or forced to work with them or rot in jail.

"Hey, you only have one more week of hell." Alice nudged her gently, "Which division are you hoping to be placed in?"

Ava shrugged, "Captain Amari is bringing us to train with the other divisions to see where we fit in best. Today we're going to work with the Overwatch engineers, and I'm not too excited about that. Everyone just seems so uptight. I hope I get assigned to Blackwatch. That way, if I happen to kill someone on a mission, all the Overwatch saints won't get upset."

Alice blinked at her friend, taken aback by her rather harsh answer. She was well aware of the fact that, because of the current state of their world with Null Sector and Talon terrorizing countless countries and villages, many people have grown insensitive to death and violence, herself included; still, Ava's almost eagerness to kill worried her.

At least, she's not afraid to get her hands dirty.

'If you like her that much, why don't you slip away from my spine and attach yourself to hers?'

Alice went to respond, perhaps to tell the omnic how dangerous it was to seek out a reason to kill, though she was quickly interrupted by the sound of Khai-Ja's voice about her next training session with Commander Reyes. She sighed and said a quick goodbye to Ava, and took off a run towards the Blackwatch training room.

Meanwhile, Genji stood next to the Commander in the Blackwatch training room. His arms were crossed over his chest as he waited for the new girl to finally show up. He frowned as he shifted between his feet, silently cursing the Commander for forcing him to partake in yet another useless training session for the new girl. It was obvious that she was in no need of training, her skills were almost as good as his. McCree was not supervising with them the new recruit training today, due to his right hand injury, that was caused by an accident. Of course, he doesn't blame the girl for his injury; it was all an accident, after all. An accident that wouldn't have happened if McCree hadn't been so stupid and decided to persuade the girl to arm-wrestle with him. Watching the girl go from calm to full-on panic mode was definitely funny, especially when she herself ran all the way to Reyes and started apologizing and taking all the blame on herself, and wanting to fix the completely broken table, that could be easily replaced. Of course McCree could have joined them today, but the cowboy was too excited to let his free lazy time disappear without being used, so he decided to spend all his day, eating and doing nothing in his room.

Still, he beamed at the thought of beating her in a sparring session and wiping that smug grin off of her face, although he couldn't see it, he knew the grin was there.

Genji was pulled from his thoughts as the doors to the training room swung open, and the said girl walked in. Alice looked at the commander and nodded to him in greetings but tensed immediately as her eyes met with the cyborg.

"Am I late again?" She asked confused as to why both man were looking at her that way.

"Don't worry, you're here now. Let's get started." He turned to face Genji, who was busy to look everywhere but the new girl."I was planning for today's training partner to be McCree, but he has better things to do. So, you don't have a problem with being her partner again?"

Genji turned to look at the Commander, red eyes blazing with annoyance. Even since he had allowed himself to be beaten by the newbie. Reyes and McCree had done nothing but tease him for his apparent failure. He said nothing; the anger in his expression was enough to shut even Reyes down. As he took his stance on the training mat, Alice looked at him for a moment, hesistance evident in her movement, before nodding towards him once.

Genji took this as his opportunity to strike. Without so much of a warning, he launched himself towards her, determination etched across his features. Alice easily side-stepped him, grinning at him smugly. Genji silently scolded himself for being empathetic. Thruthfully, he wasn't going at her with his all. He had no idea just how strong he was; he was unaware of the strength behind the cybernetic suit that he now controlled. He was worried that, if he fought Alice with all his might, he would end up actually hurting her.

Genji shook the thoughts away. He couldn't let himself get distracted. Blackwatch agents didn't show mercy for anyone, especially not some girl that deserved to have her ego knocked down a few notches. He quickly leaped around her, causing her to twist her body wildly in an attempt to keep up with him, and he reached out to grab her. Alice was quicker, however, and caught his arm before he was able to make contact. He tensed as the sudden feeling of her warm talons wrapping around his forearm, his head spinning at the unexpected contact. Genji always thought that the girl's armor didn't produce any heat, so saying that he was surprised at how warm her fingers were was an understatement; they were nearly as hot as fire.

This caused him to let his guard down, allowing Alice to pull him towards her. He felt her body against his back as she wrapped her arm around his neck, holding him with enough pressure to incapacitate him though not enough to hurt him.

Not many people realized that although cybernatic armor that covered his body, Genji was still fully capable of feeling through the metallic plating. Dr. Ziegler installed sensory receptors throughout his suit, as well as the artificial spine that ran down his back, with the idea that Genji would be able to tell whenever he or his suit and his prosthetics were damaged in battle. While he felt pain, he also had the ability to feel the most pleasurable touches, as well. In fact, he was sensitive to even the slightest of touches. For a while, he cursed Dr. Ziegler for making his receptors far too sensitive, though over time he had grown used to it. But now he regretted even having them, for the strong sensation as if he were being burned alive, despite not actually being on fire.

Genji grunted angrily as he reached up and grabbed her arm with his hands, praying her off of him and shoving her away. He whipped around to face her, eyes blazing with fury. Alice took a step back at his sudden agression. All of Khai-ja's senses flared, warning her of incoming danger. Genji blinded by his annoyance and rage, took this as his chance to land a blow. He lashed out and knocked her to the ground, smirking victoriously beneath his faceplate.

Alice scrambled to her feet, obviously disheveled by the sudden blow. She shook her head, trying to calm her Scarab, then took her fighting once more.

'Don't come out!'

Genji launched himself towards her again, his judgement clouded with rage as red overtook his vision. He was sick of being underestimated, sick of being shoved to the ground over and over again as nothing but a laughing-sock. He knew that it was not Alice's fault, but in that moment, he didn't care. She was someone, and he needed to take his anger out on someone.

Alice felt a very known pulsating sensation inside her spine. Fuck no, she can't-

THREAT REGISTERED.

'NO! STAND BACK!'

"The fuck is your problem!" She groaned as the ninja was able to land another hard punch to her stomach. It was surprisingly more painful than she had expected, but what was she supposed to expect when it was his cybernetic hand?

"The fuck is your problem!" She groaned as the ninja was able to land another hard punch to her stomach. It was surprisingly more painful than she had expected, but what was she supposed to expect when it was his cybernetic hand?

Alice was distracted trying to keep Khai-Ja at bay, and Genji took advantage of it, not giving her any time to react before he tackled her to the ground. A pained cry fell from her lips as she tumbled to the wooden floor, missing the training mat by just a few inches. Genji pinned her to the ground, his hand pressing down tightly on her neck.

"Ow! No- stop it!" She was partially yelling at the cyborg who was definitely trying to choke her, but mostly she was trying to stop Khai-Ja from taking control. But it was useless.

"Dammit, get off of us!" In the middle of her hands she formed a small yellow circle, full of electricity. She grabbed Genji's neck and released the energy, electrocuting him but not enough to actually kill him, then kicking him off of her.

She rolled away from him, gasping for air. Two Khai-Ja's legs sprouted from her back, visible electricity moving between them, causing smoke to billow from them.

Genji's body was also smoking, his cybernetic hand glitching, with many sparks of electricity visible on it. Most of his organic body had several burn wounds, but it was his neck that looked the worst and was excruciatingly painful. His heart was also in a bad state; it was beating erratically.

"Went a little too hard on her, don't you think, ninja?" Reyes grumbled as he tried to help Alice stand up. She yanked her hand away from the commander rather harshly, leaving him speechless and walking towards the exit without another word.

Genji shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind of the agressive thoughts that threatened to consume him. Alice was limping, hissing in pain as she tried to keep her footing, while Genji noticed that her left arm hung limply at her side.

Genji turned away from the scene, his vision spinning from the attack. He had no idea how it happened, how he had become so blinded by rage that he willingly hurt someone that had nothing to do with his pain. It scared him, and as he turned back to face the recruit, she was already gone.

.

.

.

Alice knew that she needed to go to Angela immediately, thought she found herself going in different way. Khai-Ja was still very much on the idea of killing the cyborg and it took Alice everything not to go back and murder the ninja.

Her vision was glitching, and the number of threats directed at the people of Overwatch were overwhelming her. She passed many other agents on her way, some asking her if she was okay due to her limping movement, but she always dismissed them.

"Just, shut up." She groaned, running a hand through her mask. "It's okay, we're fine..."

Needles in their eyes! Rip them apart! Squeeze him to death from the inside!

"You don't mean that. P-please calm down, I'm your friend..." Alice stopped, her head hung as she stared at nothing, "Just... just be quiet."

The Scarab's screeching quieted, but she was still able to hear the aggressive voice.

Ignoring the stares she was receiving, she entered the courtyard, finding the fresh air and surprisingly warm weather calming her a bit. Seeing that no one but her was outside, she sat under her favorite maple tree that she spend much of her time under.

The adrenaline in her body seemed to fade away, and that's when she began to truly feel the pain coming from her injured arm.

'Better?'

Khai-Ja was quiet for a moment, allowing her shell to be exposed a little to the outside world. The warm breeze was surprisingly very comfortable, and the quiet, soft mechanical whirring was the only answer Alice received.

'Should we go to the nice doctor? I can barely feel my arm and I don't want you to waste your healing juice unnecessary.'

.

.

.

Alice whimpered a bit as the doctor pressed into the bone on her shoulder gently. "This poor shoulder cannot catch a break. It is dislocated, it must have been a heavy hit. What kind of training are they putting you through?"

The doctor seemed genuinely concerned for Alice, though this only made her feel all the more worse. She hated that she would have to tell Dr. Ziegler that Genji, the patient that she was so fond of, was the reason behind her injury.

Alice sighed, "Pushed the ninja a little too far, pissed him off, I guess. I'm just tired of how badly he's treating me. We are not enemies, but he treats me like one, and I hate it."

There was sympathy in Dr. Ziegler's kind gaze as she turned to look at Alice. The girl's mask was lying on the desk next to her; the eyes of it were dull but still staring at her patiently. She needed to take it off due to her injured neck, but it was nothing serious and a quick fix with a dressing solved everything. However, Alice was surprised to see that Khai-Ja actually didn't seem aggressive towards the doctor and let her do her work without interrupting, not even forcing Alice to put her mask back on.

Though, it wasn't the Angela's first time seeing her face, Alice could see that she had many questions, but was thankful that she didn't asked any of them.

"You have to remember that Genji is hurting. It is best not to push him too far." She held Alice's shoulder in her hands, pushing lightly. "This may hurt a little."

"I know that now-- Ow!" Alice cried out in pain as she heard a loud pop in her shoulder. Then, as though nothing had ever happened, she felt nothing. There was the faintest ache within her bone, though it was nothing unlike she had felt before.

Dr. Ziegler then sent her on her way, though not before ordering her to scold Reyes for putting his recruits through such harmful training. Alice wanted to tell doctor that she had felt pain a thousand times worse than a dislocated shoulder while she was in Hanamura, though she ultimately decided that it was best not to argue. She left the medbay, holding her aching shoulder in her hand.

Let me remind you that this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't decided to join them in the first place. We are better off on our own; let us go.

"Here we go again; just be quiet. I'm not in the mood for another argument." Alice was nearly to the exit of the building when she found herself being approached by the last person she wanted to see at the moment: Genji. She slowed her pace as she noticed him walking towards her, narrowing her eyes at the cyborg skeptically. Genji came to a stop in front of her, his broad shoulders stiff as his eyes darted to her shoulder. Then, he looked at the arm that held it, and Alice could've sworn she saw a flicker of sadness in red hue of his eyes. She followed his gaze and, noticing for the first time that Khai-Ja's armor was down, finally making her Blackwatch shirt visible and exposing both her arms. The only thing keeping her identity secret was her mask that covered only her face, allowing her black short hair to fall onto her shoulders. She noticed also that several bruises in the shape of handprint were beginning to form on her arm, right where Genji had grabbed her earlier.

"I am sorry." He said to her before Alice could back away, his head hanging as the words fell from his lips. It took Alice a moment to realize what he had just said, considering that an apology was the last thing she expected from him.

"I deserved it." Alice said with a shrug. She figured that it was best not to start another argument, not when she was now aware of what he was capable of, "Did Reyes make you apologise?"

"No." Genji answered simply, still not looking at her.

"Oh, sorry." Alice mumbled, surprised. "You don't seem like the type of guy to go out of his way to apologise."

Genji didn't respond, though he finally looked up at her. They stood in silence for a few moments, just staring at each other.

"I am also sorry for harassing you earlier. Whatever you were looking for is not my business."

Alice was surprised to notice softness in his gaze, "I wasn't looking for anything that could potentially threaten the whole organization; I am looking for someone, and I'm starting to believe that they may actually be dead." Finally, Alice looked away, shuffling her feet uncomfortably as she cleared her throat, "I'll uh, see you around, Grinch-- I mean, Genji."

With that, she pushed past him, leaving him to stare after her as though he was frozen in place; the feeling of deja vu overwhelmed him, though he found himself shaking his head to clear his mind full of questions before they could escape his lips.

She is dead. It's just not possible.

As Alice entered her dorm, she wondered if he had only apologised because his ego was satisfied once he had beaten her. Either way it was progress, and she'd take progress.

We cannot trust this person. You must eliminate him before further injury arises.

"Oh, shush, he apologised."