When the first person came into the clinic, Lena couldn't help but gulp down her worry. They were carried by two others, one Overwatch agent, and the other a civilian male, going by how both of them were dressed.

"DOCTOR!"

It…wasn't pretty.

Lena couldn't even figure out if the person was male or female, as most of their body was burned to a near crisp. Just the smell alone was enough to make her almost lose her breakfast.

The civilian was openly crying as well, while incoherently babbling towards the unfortunate soul. It was at that moment that the pilot understood that this was most probably their spouse.

The only relief that she could find was that the patient was still breathing, although Lena had to question if that was a good thing.

"Move!"

Angela barreled past her and guided the patient towards the staff. Unlike before, where the calming aura was everywhere, the aura seemed to be concentrated on the tip of the thing. Soft yellow light still spilled from it, but nowhere near as visible in the room as before.

Laying down the patient on the adjacent bed, the doctor quickly made her way towards the staff, pulling it free from the ground. She pointed the glowing end towards the bed, and suddenly, Lena was witness to a miracle.

Blackened skin slowly shifted to a healthy, if pale complexion. Charred hair, blood that the pilot had initially never noticed, coal-like nails - everything began to shift closer and closer to what people could see as healthy.

Until finally, a blonde woman in her 30's lay sleeping peacefully on the bed, not even a scar to show for her initial condition.

Unbidden, though not unexpectedly, the civilian man started bawling even harder, and through the haze of crying, the pilot could hear him thanking Angela repeatedly. To which the doctor shook her head in negative, a sign of modesty if Lena had ever seen one.

The woman had performed a medical miracle right in front of them and she goes and denies thanks.

Lena had never seen anything like it.

"Go grab some food from the cafeteria - she'll be hungry when she wakes up." Angela continued as if what she did was normal, "Other than that, let her rest for a bit before you leave. You're free to stay a while, but expect there to be a lot more commotion in a bit." The man nodded and rushed out after taking one last look at the woman.

She then turned to the still slack jawed Overwatch soldier, "What's going on out there?"

"Ah! Ma'am!" He saluted, rather sloppily in Lena's opinion, though she really couldn't blame him, "Omnics have been flooding in from somewhere in King's Row, and they're heavily armed. We've been trying to hold them back, but some civvies got caught out in the open."

As if waiting for that moment, a loud explosion and the unmistakable sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance. Immediately, the soldier stiffened, and looked to Angela with a meaningful stare. The doctor nodded, and the man was off.

Angela turned to Lena, face stone-like, "Get ready. We're going to have a lot of work cut out for us."

…

Indeed, there was quite a bit of work. It only took a few minutes before more and more people were carted into the clinic. Lena fought the urge to recoil in horror more than once. Bullet wounds, third-degree burns, limbs pancaked as if stepped on. And not even just military personnel.

In fact, there were a lot more civilians than Overwatch, maybe three for every one soldier.

The pilot was suddenly really glad that she didn't go the medical route.

Still, the staff in the young doctor's hands worked miracles. What would take a hospital a team of specialized surgeons a couple of hours of work, she finished in less than a minute.

It still didn't stop people from filling up the room. While the physical damage was fixed, Lena could still see those patients holding their limbs in phantom pain.

That didn't stop the Overwatch agents that came in from rushing back outside back into the fight.

All throughout this, the gunfire in the distance didn't stop going off. In fact, they picked up more and more. In a few instances, explosions that rocked the entire building echoed out. Lena was worried for Emily, but their flat was thankfully fairly far away from King's Row to be affected.

That said, a quick call wouldn't hurt.

The call was answered on the second ring, "Tell me you're okay." The worried undertone of someone who just got someone back was not something the pilot missed. It brought quite a funny feeling in her chest.

"I'm fine." She tried to sound as calm as she could, despite all the noise outside, "I'm staying in the Overwatch base for now, don't worry."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about!" Emily sounded even more panicked than before, "The news says all the Omnics are converging there!" Almost as if on cue, the doors to the clinic burst open, a frantic Winston barging in through.

"Dr. Ziegler!" The bellow almost made her clamp her ears shut with her hands.

"Winston?"

"Emily, I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Lena, don't you fucking dar-" She tried to stamp down the guilt she felt as she heard her fiance's last words before she cut off the call.

All the while, Winston was explaining something to the doctor. The pilot didn't know exactly what was said, but she had a good idea once Angela started to bark orders for everyone to pack up. While the civilians were initially confused, the soldiers went to work as fast as they could.

They probably knew what was happening just from seeing how urgent Angela was being.

It therefore came as only a mild surprise when an explosion, one much closer than the previous ones, shook the building they were in. Of course, the civilians did what any civilian would do.

Panic.

The chaos in the clinic heightened to a frenzy as a mob of everyday Londoners surged for the exits. Where before there was the quiet tranquility of the medical bay with the backdrop of gunfire in the background, there was now a stampede of panicking individuals scared for their lives.

A monstrous roar quieted everything down.

"Thank you, Winston." Angela adjusted her lab coat as she stared at the now quiet crowd, while Winston did the same with his glasses, "Now, if everyone were to calmly leave through the emergency exits." Her voice was stern, and Lena had the distinct impression of being in front of a particularly stern teacher.

Still, she expected the silence to only last a brief moment or two before the instinctive urge to panic gripped the crowd again.

Then, to Lena's astonishment, the crowd actually listened and quietly left through the exit in a single file line.

"You have to teach me how you do that." A small smile formed on Angela's face as the awe in Lena's voice could be heard.

"A crowd like this is nothing compared to those snobs in Oasis." The moment of amusement passed between them, a breath of fresh air despite everything going on. The smile faded, and the stern look once more formed itself.

"Winston, you will be joining us?"

"Yes ma'am. Commander Morrison ordered me to escort you and everyone out of here."

"Alright, let me just pack up my equipment. Lena?"

"I'll go help the others." Lena offered, to which both the senior Overwatch members nodded.

"Good, we'll leave in five minutes."

Five minutes later, most of the civilians were already through the exit, with almost half of the Overwatch agents joining them. Lena, Angela, Winston and the rest of the soldiers carrying various medical equipment were all that was left.

One last check for everything, and they were finally off.

The first thing that Lena noticed when they went through the exit was that it was an eerie-as-all-hell tunnel. Lit up with red emergency lights, up until the distance, and if she was honest, a bit claustrophobic as well.

The second was the sheer humidity of the place.

"Would it have killed you guys to put an A/C in here?"

Winston chuckled, "Sorry, but the finance department said that it was a waste."

"Waste my ass." Lena grumbled, and she could tell that everyone privately agreed, even Angela. Nonetheless, they trudged on, eager to get out of this place as fast as possible.

Another five minutes later, they caught up with the initial group of people. They were crowding around, but none of them were moving forward. Lena frowned, as she heard the muttering of the people.

Something was wrong.

Evidently, the others with her agreed, as they pushed a path between the sea of bodies and right into the front. There, they could see that several blue-clad soldiers were gripping their wounds - new ones that they most definitely didn't have before.

Several of them were pointing guns at a barricaded door, which was being pounded furiously by something on the other side. The people behind them muttered, looking around each other in uncertainty. Lena knew it was only a matter of time before something tripped them into another frenzy.

A look was shared between the three of them. The pilot hadn't really been part of Overwatch long, but she knew her part in a situation like this.

Angela immediately went to provide healing to whoever needed it.

"Alright everyone, everything's goin' to be fine!" Lena went to work assuring the crowd, "Just having a bit of trouble with the door, but we'll be outta here before you know it." Both of them still kept an ear out for Winston's part.

"What happened?" The scientist asked, voice grave.

When a 200 kilo talking gorilla looks angry and asks a question, you answer, "Sir! Several hostile Omnics are right outside the exit!" One of the uninjured saluted, "Small arms fire was ineffective, and we don't have any heavy equipment to deal with them.

"Also, we…we lost a couple of guys." The air of professionalism faded at that last part, and Lena remembered that as much as these guys looked and acted like soldiers, it had been decades since Overwatch had been an actual military organization.

These guys, trained as they may have been, are probably in the same boat as everyone else. Not knowing what to do, internally panicking, and now losing people that they knew and worked with for who knows how long.

"How many are out there?" The growl in Winston's voice was more than a little terrifying, especially how Lena could see him gripping his fist open and closed repeatedly as if gripping something.

"At least three of them, sir."

It only took a moment's hesitation, before Winston turned to the person nearest the barricade, "Open it up, I'm going in."

"Sir!?"

"You heard me," Lena had a hard time believing that the mild-mannered gorilla could be so serious about something like this, "I'm clearing the room."

Everyone else looked at each other in silent askance, before Angela nodded to the operatives. The one that Winston spoke to gulped in preparation, and Lena could see his hands tremble in anticipation.

"On three."

"One." The metal bar holding the door was removed.

"Two." A hand was put on the door handle.

"Three!" Winston practically leapt towards the door, just as it burst open. Lena didn't even have time to see just what was behind it as Winston barreled towards it with the loudest roar she'd heard yet.

Smashing sounds could be heard beyond the doorway, and everyone ducked as they heard gunfire sound out. Crashing, screeching, shooting and roaring was all they heard, before one last triumphant roar.

Winston came back in, a cut on his face, "Uh, room's cleared. Get everyone out here, quickly."

All in all, it took a total of less than a minute for all of that to happen. As Angela healed Winston, and the rest of Overwatch started directing the crowd's attention, she went to inspect whatever it was that Winston fought.

It took a bit of time to recognize the metal husks that Winston had left in his path, but when she did, she felt her heart leap to her throat. Huge, horse-like forms with four legs. A torso that was three times as thick as Lena's own. Hulking guns torn from their arms.

OR14. A model of Omnics made infamous during the Omnic Crisis. They had been some of the most powerful frontline units of the entirety of the Crisis, only topped by the E54 Bastion units that made up most of the Omnic forces.

She suddenly understood the fear that the others had.

"What the hell are these things doing here?" She heard Angela whisper harshly towards Winston, who shrugged in frustrated helplessness.

"I don't know, but these ones aren't the only ones here. They're the reason why Commander Morrison had me escort you."

"Scheiße!"

Lena knew enough German to know what that meant.

"We don't have time for this," Winston was firm in this, "We need to get everyone to safety before more of them come." Angela took a breath, as did the pilot.

"Right." The doctor turned to the people behind them, who were now clamoring in nervousness after the entire debacle, "Coast is clear everyone!"

As a wave, the crowd surged forward, eager to get out of there. Some of them did notice the OR14, but thankfully didn't make too much of a fuss about it.

One thing about Londoners is that a lot of them were very racist towards Omnics, and while in most cases that was a horrible thing, in this case, that racism paid off in them not realizing just how close they were to one of the deadliest Omnics humanity had ever faced.

When they did make it out with the three of them at the head of it all, Winston more so than any of them, they were met with quite the sight.

Winston had fought off three OR14's and won, something that not many can boast about alive. When they made it out, they could see a little over a dozen more OR14 husks scattered about. All of them were dead, large holes speared through their torsos.

Moreover, there were even more E54 corpses scattered about, their large miniguns visible for all to see. These ones, the Londoners knew what they were, and subsequently started pointing at in a panic.

'Bloody hell, can these guys not panic for two bleeding minutes?'

"They're civilians, Oxton, that's their main thing."

'Fucking hell - Archer?!'

"No need to be so crass. I can hear you just fine."

'I thought you were out doing shit! Why the hell are you back when there's bloody OR14's everywhere?!'

"I'm not." The man sounded honestly flabbergasted, "I'm just talking to you using our telepathic link, remember?"

What.

'I thought you could only do that when you were close?'

"I never said anything about that."

'Then…why only now? Why not during, y'know, everything else that was happening?'

She could hear the shrug in his 'voice' when he replied, "You looked busy."

One day, she would wring this man's neck. As it stood, he was nowhere near her hands for her to do it at the moment. She looked back towards the rest of their group, who were now just a tad calmer now that they saw that the Omnics weren't shooting at them.

Winston walked forward, caution evident in his steps, "Extraction point is another three minute walk. I'll take point." The rest of the armored Overwatch agents, now fully healed by Angela, took to their flanks. In the back, Lena could see several wrapped bodies being carried by a few other agents.

None of them looked happy doing so. In fact, she could see one of them openly crying.

It never is a good day when you have to carry your friends home like that.

"Oxton, stop." Archer had a tone of urgency that she'd never heard from his usual relaxed tone, "You're heading right for a pack of them."

'Shit!' She thought, while outwardly, she sprinted as quickly as she could to the front, "Winston!" Her whisper was sharp, punctuated by her grabbing his arm and giving a tug.

"Lena? Is something the matter?" The scientist looked confused for a second, watching as Lena gestured wildly towards the path they were heading in, "Lena, I don't understand."

More gestures, this time, she mimicked shooting a gun, "Look," Winston rubbed his head in abject annoyance, "You can tell me later. Right now, these folks need to get to safety." He moved forward, warily looking around while ignoring Lena's motions for him to come back.

He only realized what she was trying to say when he was face-to-face with an orange-coloured Omnic. Well, five of them to be precise.

"Ah."

The five Bastion units immediately shifted to their turret forms. Minigun shots pelted them as everyone dove for cover. Thankfully, only Winston and Lena were in any danger of getting shot - everyone else was still around the corner.

Bad news was, Winston and Lena were pinned down by five Bastions.

"And here I was trying to not blow my cover." Archer grumbled in her head. A whistling sound in the distance caught Lena's ears, before an earth shattering impact happened right on one of the Bastions. Then another, then another, until shooting suddenly stopped.

Warily, Winston took a peek, before stepping out onto the street in bewilderment. Lena joined him shortly after he made it clear the Bastions weren't a threat.

They really weren't, not with five arrows speared right through their chassis. Of course, calling them arrows would be an understatement - they were the length of an Olympic javelin, and were just as thick. The only thing that identified them as arrows were the notches on the back.

Then, just as suddenly as they came, they burst into motes of blue light.

"Hardlight?" She heard Winston mutter, "But who - no. Not important." He shook himself from his thoughts, before Angela came rushing in to check on them. When she was satisfied, she finally noticed the Bastion corpses that now littered the street.

"Who on Earth?"

"No idea, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth." The scientist adjusted his glasses before looking back at the crowd, "We move quickly, and quietly. Understood?" A nod shared among everyone.

"You're welcome, by the way."

'That was you?!'

"I'm not called Archer for nothing, you know?" God, this bloody smug bastard was going to get a punch if she had anything to say about it.

"But yes, I've been clearing out these…Omnics wherever there were no witnesses. Keep a semblance of secrecy. I was clearing out that area when a few of you guys exited the door." The grimace in his voice this time was palpable, "Poor bastards got gunned down immediately. Couldn't do much other than pick off the ones in visible range."

Lena looked back to the OR14's. Now that she took a closer look, each one had the same distinct holes similar to the ones that the newest Bastions had taken. A single hole through the chassis. Except these ones had one peculiar commonality among all of them.

They were all facing towards the tunnel where they came from, and they were all shot in the back. A look to where they would have come from showed signs on even more arrows impacting the ground. And the way they looked, one of the Bastions arms splayed as if reaching for something…

'Holy shit.'

"Oxton? What's the matter?"

'Ahhhh! Nothing, nothing.'

"Hm." She could almost see him narrow his eyes in doubt, before he evidently shrugged it off, "You better get moving then. I can cover you while you people move, but there's still more of these things around the city."

'Right. Thanks.'

The way that Archer spoke of Omnics should have been obvious from the start. Hell, he'd told her before that she was his first contact in well over forty years, well before the first Omnic was ever produced. And the callous way he talked about them, belied either racism, or something else.

And she'd bet right on that something else being that he didn't know that Omnics were sapient. That they could think. Those Bastions and OR14's weren't at the door to their exit because they wanted to kill the people inside.

They were afraid.

They were running, finding cover from an unknown assailant.

They were running from Archer.

Not for the first time, Lena wondered just what the hell he really was, to make humanity's boogeymen run away from him.

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

Thanks to my newest patron as well: LoLGrim.