A/N: Before you begin, I just want to congratulate the few people that had those gut feelings in the reviews. You'll see what I mean.
The ground shook beneath her feet as a terrible ripping sound echoed throughout the building. She could hear rock and metal bang against the blast doors, alongside the screams of everyone in the room.
Then, nothing.
As if by a switch, it was silent.
Another beat, before clangs could be heard. Metal hitting metal, then more shredding. Another impact. The door was being bent, being hit with force that Lena was sure should have already broken it.
As if in response, the blast doors, and everything around it, glowed in blue lines. The damage reversed, and soon, the doors were back as if nothing had happened.
"You're welcome, by the way."
Reinhardt reacted first, pushing a vending machine into the way of the doors. Soon enough, everyone who could started piling as much stuff as they could. Chairs, boxes, anything with weight was set in front of it. Lena knew that the pile of junk wouldn't actually do anything, not when Archer had already done his magic thing to strengthen the doors.
Still, it gave the people around them some hope that it did, and that was enough.
Throughout the whole process, the fighting outside hadn't stopped. Maddened laughter, alongside more and more explosions, could be heard as clear as day.
"We need to get everyone out of here." Reinhardt spoke out loud, a tense look on his face, staring at the doors. He had his arm out, ready to deploy his barrier should it be needed.
"Can't," It was Commander Morrison that spoke, a hard grip on his rifle as he joined them, "All exit routes are compromised. Don't bother looking, Shimada. Without air support, we'll be gunned down by the Bastions before we even make it out the door."
"Shit." Genji swore from beside them.
"There must be something we can do!" Lena spoke out. She knew she was breaking decorum, but frankly, she didn't care. Archer was already fighting Ramattra, and with how it was going, she didn't know how long he would last, what with also having to protect the building they were in.
"Reinforcements are still a way's out. And with that ship in the air, we can't even be sure if they can make it to our positions." Morrison's words were spoken quietly, so that only they could hear it. None of the civilians could hear the almost resigned tone in his voice.
"Bu-"
"That's why, I'm going to ask you this." Morrison cut through Lena's protest before she could even begin, "Torbjorn Lindholm, one of our engineers, developed an EMP capable of taking down a ship during the original Crisis. He's sending the bomb, but the drop point is out of the line of sight of the ship's weapons. I'm asking you, right now, if all of you are willing to retrieve and detonate it?"
The words that the commander spoke of were that of a hero. To give their all for the safety of everyone involved. Had Lena been younger, she would've taken it in a heartbeat, thoughts of being a real hero no doubt coursing through her.
It was the unspoken words that caught up to her, held her heart in her throat. This was a suicide mission. There was no guarantee of coming back. She would be going out there, in the middle of a warzone, led by an enemy that could give Archer a run for his money.
She wouldn't have the man protect her, this time. He would be too busy protecting everyone else.
But at the same time, what choice did she have?
If she didn't accept, the ship would recharge its batteries and fire on them. With Archer already busy, then it's possible that he wouldn't be able to intercept it. There was no real choice in the matter, no real outcome where they don't accept. To say no would be to die. To say yes gave a chance at living.
Morrison knew that. Reinhardt, going by the look on his face, knew that. Genji knew that.
Lena knew that.
At that moment, the pilot felt an uncomfortable feeling in her chest. She was going to accept, no doubt about it. She was going to help. And she would try her damndest to live.
The only problem was, did she want to do this?
She'd read about heroes of myth and legend, and recently at that. Hard not to, when the man that was currently fighting for them was one such hero. In nearly all of those stories, the heroes ended up in some sort of tragedy. Almost all of those involved losing something important to them. At first, she had thought that those were just exaggerations. Surely not every one of them was real? That some of them were just authors being a bit too wild?
Archer corrected that almost immediately. He told her, in no uncertain terms, that had a tragedy been described in a legend, then the real thing was likely even worse.
She didn't want that.
"Hah! You know me better than most here, Commander Morrison! Reinhardt Wilhelm accepts!"
By taking this non-choice, she would be walking the path of a hero. She would be walking the path of a hero. A path that would spurn her fate into an eventual tragedy. Wherein her intentions to save everyone would result in everyone having a happy ending - all except for her.
She didn't want that.
"My blade is ready, Commander."
She would damn the fates of those she considered friends, to the point that there would be no stopping whatever would happen. She would be responsible for the death and destruction it would cause. Or maybe she wouldn't. Maybe she would.
She still didn't want that.
Surely Reinhardt and Genji, with their combined experience would be enough? That maybe someone else could go with them? Those traitorous thoughts came almost unbidden. And it was to her shame that Lena had given them more than a moment of her attention.
Lena shook her head as she strengthened her resolve. She would live. She and everyone she cared for would have their happy ending. She would make sure of that.
The three of them looked at her expectantly, even as she drew her breath, "You know what they always say: the world could always use more heroes!"
If Fate itself decided that it wasn't to be, then she'd fight tooth and nail to prove it wrong.
"Hmph. Are you done brooding?"
'Archer!' She sounded almost petulant in her own head, 'Aren't you fighting? Why the hell are you talking to me right now?'
"Considering what you're doing right now, I thought it best to inform you that, should you need it, I can likely draw this Omnic away for a few minutes."
With her acceptance, the three of them and Morrison started to form a plan of action. She half-listened to them as she continued her conversation with Archer. With a start, she realized he was right, and quickly relayed Archer's words.
Soon enough, as the sounds of battle beyond human comprehension happened in the background, a plan formed. One that Lena was certain to etch into her head.
'Wait for me, Emily.'
The plan they hatched was fairly simple. With Archer's help, they would move out of the building, and make a beeline for the side streets. They couldn't move out the other sides, as they were all secured by enemy forces, but the streets behind Ramattra and Archer were entirely clear - at least, according to Archer.
So, it was at that moment, after a good five minutes of preparation, that Lena, Genji and Reinhardt stood at the front door. With a nod, Reinhardt gave Lena the signal to start.
'Ar-'
"Wait a moment!" She was distracted when another voice came from the side. As one, almost comically, they all turned to see who it was.
"Angela, what are you doing?" The question was surprisingly, not from Lena, but from Genji. The cyborg had fully turned and was now actively staring at the medic.
Gone was the lab coat and glasses that she normally wore. They were replaced by a combat suit in the same vein as the ones that Reinhardt and Lena wore. Except, hers had a lot more technology layered around it, and had, for some reason, a pair of wings.
"I'm joining you, that's what." Her voice brokered no arguments, even as she glared at Genji, daring him to deny her.
To his credit, he did, "No! It is too dangerous." The cyborg vehemently shook his head as he made his way towards her, "Stay here, we'll do what we must."
'Oof. Bad choice of words there.'
Angela glared even harder at him, "And do what? Die?" Her glare softened as she walked up to them, "Genji, I've already cleared this with the commander. He knows that they don't need me here. They already have my tech installed, so any injury they get can be dealt with easily." She took up a spot between Lena and the cyborg.
"Meanwhile, your mission is too important. Going without medical support is the height of hubris. And if you fail because I wasn't there, then I and everyone else would die regardless."
Genji stared at her for a moment longer. Lena thought he would deny her once more, when his shoulders fell in resignation, "Fine, fine!"
Had it been another time, Lena knew he would have argued a bit more. In this case, time was of the essence, arguing would just cause even more delays they couldn't risk.
They all took up their positions once more. If Genji stood a little closer to Angela, then Lena wasn't going to mention it.
'Archer, do it.'
A beat. Then, complete silence. Lena was suddenly very nervous. She had quickly gotten used to the sounds of clashing metal and ruptured earth, alongside everyone else. To have it so quickly silenced was nerve wracking.
"Go."
At his prompting, Lena nodded to Reinhardt, who quickly lifted up the blast doors with a hint of effort.
And Lena saw destruction.
She thought she had seen it before. When Archer had destroyed those Omnics back during the first attack all that time ago. She thought that seeing the desperate corpses of Bastions and OR-14's would be the worst she would see for a long time.
She was wrong.
Archer was telling the truth when he said the streets were clear. Particularly because there wasn't a street. The entire area, which had once been a busy street filled with hover cars and whatnot, was gone. In its place was a massive rift in the ground.
The rift was a good three meters deep. Buildings were torn in half. Cars were nowhere to be seen. It was as if someone had detonated a shaped charge right in front of the blast doors, facing the direction of the Omnic.
Speaking of which, Ramattra was in the center of it, bound by golden chains. Archer held one end of it, while standing almost nonchalantly, "Stop staring and go already."
He gave their group a small smirk, and they were off, though Genji had to drag a gaping Angela with them. The confidence that Archer exuded was almost infectious, as Reinhardt ran forward with a roar, the rest following them.
None of them felt the worry that Lena was sure Archer wasn't intentionally sending through their link. Regardless, she had a job, and she would see it through.
He was wrong.
"The Chains of Heaven. A paltry imitation, but enough to utilize its Anti-Divinity properties." Archer calmly explained, his smirk growing ever so slightly. Though, in this instance, it wasn't because of the fight and his sudden one-up of the Null Sector leader that caused it.
No, it was the thoughts that had gone through Oxton's head that she had pushed through their mental link.
He was wrong.
A while back, he had thought that Oxton was like himself when he was younger. Trying to be a hero. Saving people. All traits that would have, at one point in time, made him resent a person. His time with Chaldea had somewhat changed that.
Regardless, he never could figure out why he couldn't bring himself to hate Oxton. Now, he did. And it was because he was wrong.
His ideals weren't wrong, per se. Archer himself was wrong. Oxton wasn't an old mirror.
She was a mirror for someone he wished he could have been. A hero that would save everyone she could, but would never lose sight of those that she cared for.
It was that revelation that made Archer laugh out loud, and spoke for the first time since the civilians got inside the building.
"Divinity, you say?"
The hulking form diminished, replaced with Ramattra's original form. The Chains of Heaven immediately tightened once more, only for Ramattra to break them. Archer wasn't fazed. The Projection he did barely counted as something he would actually use.
With their status as a Divine Construct, the best he could do was apply the Anti-Divinity properties to a false chain. Even then, it had held the Omnic long enough for those four to get away.
Of course, one had to wonder why it worked in the first place. Archer already knew. Hell, it seemed that even Overwatch knew to some extent.
Ramattra reformed his body, silver and purple coalescing around him. Archer prepared his weapons, a hundred more swords all forming behind him.
The Omnic definitely used nanomachines. It's just that, Overwatch just didn't know what kind. Otherwise, they likely would've told the person fighting for their behalf. That kind of information would likely be life-saving. That said, just knowing what he was dealing with, if not the specific type, opened up more questions than answers.
After all, how the hell did Ramattra get a hold of Klironomia in the first place?
A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.
Thank you to my newest patron: Jake Moss.
And a special thanks to: Oliver vazquez, brutalcrab, Tassimo and Bradley Wynters.