"So, you're one of these…Heroic Spirits?"
"That's correct."
"And Heroic Spirits are ghosts of prominent dead individuals that have come back from beyond?"
"Close enough, yes."
"And you were able to do what you did because magic is real?"
"Shocking, I know."
"What a load of horseshit!" Reyes threw up his hands as he yelled. Behind the one-way mirror, Lena flinched as the man's anger came through.
They had been here for well over an hour now, a day after the Null Sector attack. Or rather, Lena had been here for an hour, while Archer and whoever was assigned to watch him had been here for an entire day. From what Archer told her, they'd been trying to interrogate him on who he was.
Surprisingly, Archer had told them the truth. He told them what he was, what his abilities were, that magic was a thing, etc.
Unsurprisingly, none of them believed him.
Since then, she had been asked by Commander Morrison to come and answer a couple more questions, though why exactly they were doing it in front of Archer's cell was a mystery. In fact, the reason why the Commander wasn't asking anything and just watching the proceedings was much the same.
Finally, after Reyes' shouting failed to elicit anything more than a snort from Archer, the black-clad man huffed and left the room. Soon enough, he was standing right next to them.
"Nothing." Reyes grumbled as he crossed his arms, "Damn bastard has the best poker face I've seen in a while."
"I could tell." Morrison snorted, "Still, I'm starting to lean on the idea that he's telling the truth?"
"Jack, you can't seriously be falling for his bullshit." Reyes raised both eyebrows in response, "I mean, really? Magic? Heroic Spirits? Come on, it sounds just like one of those Japanese light novels!"
Even Lena had to blink as the idea of Reyes reading a light novel filtered through her head.
"Truth is always stranger than fiction. If he was really lying, then he would've made a more believable story than the one he's going with. What's more, I've had Winston's AI go through everything he's said, and not once has he made a contradiction in his story. It's either he's telling the truth, or he believes it to be the truth."
"So what, we're just gonna let him go?"
"No, though I doubt that we could really hold him if he really wanted out."
Of that, Lena had no doubt. She'd seen the aftermath of Archer and Ramattra's battle. She felt the shockwaves from across London when they were escorting the EMP. She knew for a fact that if Archer didn't let them, he could've broken out and destroyed the whole building if he wanted to.
"Cadet Oxton." Her name being suddenly called out snapped her out of her reverie, "You must be wondering why I called you here."
"Um, yes sir!" She fumbled a bit as she stood straighter.
"Some people have informed me that you knew this 'Archer' before any of this happened." Lena nodded, a brief moment of hesitation in her motion as she did so, "Then, if you're willing, would you go in and ask him a few questions about his story? A friendly face might change his answers to something a bit more…normal, I suppose."
"I, I can try?" She phrased it as a question. She knew that, at the very least, Archer was telling the truth. The only problem was making other people believe in it.
That was likely the hardest part.
Unlike her, the Commander and Reyes hadn't been ripped from time and space and dropped on a hill of swords. They weren't able to manipulate and travel through time like she could. They didn't trust Archer whatsoever, despite his actions saving the lives of everyone in the building.
And that was the crux of the issue.
They didn't trust Archer. Whereas she did so, due to the fact that he had helped her in her time of need, when he could've just not done so.
Archer was a good man - Spirit, ghost, whatever - she just had to convince the leaders of Overwatch that she was right.
Better said than done, especially with how Archer talked like he was constantly annoyed.
"Well, I'm sorry that I most likely just lost the one job that I'd enjoyed doing. I'll try not to be annoyed next time it happens."
It also didn't help that he was listening to their entire conversation.
'Dammit Archer, can you not be a sarcastic asshole for one minute?'
"I tried. I stopped trying after the twentieth time they asked about my weapons."
"Good. Take this and wait by the door, I'll open it up once you're there." Morrison gave her a datapad and motioned to the side.
'And couldn't you just, y'know, tell them about it?'
"I did. They kept insisting that I was lying about magecraft, and that I was really using some hardlight tech. It got old really fast."
Lena made her way towards the cell entrance, and gave a thumbs up at the camera on the ceiling. With a click, the heavyset doors opened with barely a sound.
"Oxton." Archer stared at her with a look that betrayed nothing of the conversation they were already having.
"Archer." Lena did the same. Archer had, to her knowledge, never divulged the fact that the two could talk to one another through their contract. She wouldn't dare to give that away. It helped that she had been doing this ever since she and Emily started becoming regulars at the diner that Archer worked at.
She hid a frown as she realized that that was going to come to an end.
"I'm guessing that your bosses told you to ask me a few questions?"
"Um, yeah. Hold on, give me a second…" She opened the datapad, a list of questions filling the screen. Questions that she knew for a fact that Archer had already answered, especially since she had watched Reyes ask at least twenty of them.
'Okay, yeah, I can see why you would get annoyed.'
"Thank you." The sheer exasperation that came with the words almost made Lena laugh out loud.
'...You know what, fuck it.'
Overwatch already had the answers to most, if not all the questions that she was given. She didn't need to reiterate the same points over and over. No, she was going to ask for answers to questions of her own.
"What was that all about?"
"Pardon?" She saw him raise an eyebrow in confusion, but she could feel the amusement that entered her head.
"You heard me. That entire thing with Ramattra, what was that about? How did you fight him off? How did you make all those swords?"
"Magecraft." Archer nodded sagely, though the smirk on his face ruined whatever wise look he was going for.
"You know what I mean." Lena groaned.
"I am still telling the truth. Come on, Oxton, we've known each other a while now. You should know by now that if you want answers, you need the right questions."
Lena wracked her brain as Archer spoke. He hadn't bothered to contact her through their link, implying that he wanted her to think about it.
Reyes had asked about what he was, who he was, where did he come from, things like that. The questions given to her were on how he did the things he did, who he worked for. Objectives. Questions that had a definitive answer.
"Why?"
The word spilled out before she could stop it. Archer sat a bit straighter as she did so. A gleam in his eye as he started to smirk a bit more. He moved his arm in a rolling motion, egging her on to continue.
She didn't need to ask why he fought against Ramattra. She already knew that, and Overwatch would've asked that question even without her. No, asking that question would just lead to another dead end.
Asking why he was so strong would only result in Archer saying 'magecraft' again. Why he was there was moot - even a blind man would've seen the massive gunship in the air.
She thought back to everything that Archer had done. Back to the first, smaller incursion of Omnics against the London Overwatch base. Back when even Bastions and OR14's were afraid of Archer.
"Why was Ramattra so strong?"
"Finally." Archer laughed as he clapped his hands, "Twenty four hours and you're the first one to ask me that."
The red-clad man turned to look at the one-way mirror, his smirk reflected back at them. Even then, Lena wouldn't be surprised if he was looking directly at Morrison and Reyes.
"You people kept asking why I was strong, that you never even thought to ask why the enemy was just as strong. You assumed I knew nothing, given that I fought against Ramattra, and in the possibly rare instance that the thought crossed your mind, you never asked that question. You were too focused on who I was, and what I was doing here."
Archer leaned back into his seat as he shifted his gaze towards the ceiling, "Let me give you a bit of advice: when you're dealing with magecraft, the who, what or how doesn't matter. Every single one of those could be answered by one word.
"Instead, you have to ask why. Why did someone do something? The whydunit. That's a lot more complex than whatever shallow answers than a whodunit, wouldn't you say?"
'...they asked how Ramattra was so strong, didn't they?'
"They did."
'And you didn't answer them? The answer would've been the same either way!'
"Call it a matter of principle. Or payback for getting me fired. Either one works."
"At any rate, I know that this mirror can be turned clear. Why don't you do that, and I can actually see you people face to face? Don't you want answers?"
There was a beat, before the mirror turned into a window. Both Reyes and Morrison were looking forward with grave looks on their faces. The Commander gave her a brief look, before nodding in what looked to be approval.
"Much better." Archer chuckled, and Lena resisted the urge to kick him under the table.
"To answer your question, it's all about the nanomachines that Ramattra used. I'm assuming that you already know of them, yes?" The Spirit didn't wait for an answer, "Yes, you likely do. You fought against Ravager units during the Omnic Crisis, so you would've seen them use nanomachines then.
"What you likely don't know is what type of nanomachines they are."
"There's a difference?" Lena cut in, before clasping a hand to her mouth as all three men looked at her. Archer took it in stride, nodding in response.
"Your medic, Angela Ziegler, also uses nanomachines, doesn't she? Would you say that the nanomachines that Ramattra uses, and the ones that Ziegler uses are the same? Of course not. In fact, I'm assuming that Ziegler even has a name for hers, one that she just doesn't use for casual conversation because even she knows people wouldn't bother remembering it beyond them being nanomachines."
Archer coughed, "I digress. Yes, the reason for Ramattra being as strong as he is is due to his specific type of nanomachines, Klironomia. In short, whenever something is infused with Klironomia, they get an absurd amount of durability, strength, agility, mental capacity, and just about anything else you could think of."
"You talk like you've seen this before." The comms suddenly blared to life as Morrison spoke into a small microphone. Lena most assuredly didn't jump in her seat.
"I have. The details aren't that important at the moment. Just know that, as it stands, nothing you can do would harm that Omnic."
There was an ominous undertone despite the casual way that Archer spoke. Inwardly, Lena shuddered. Knowing Archer, he wasn't even exaggerating.
"Assuming you're telling the truth, what-no." Morrison started, before stopping with a pensive look on his face, "Why should we believe you?"
"You're learning." Archer clapped a golf-clap, "As for why, well, I can show you why if you were to let me out of here."
Morrison and Reyes looked at each other. Lena groaned in her head. Archer continued to smirk.
'You just love this, don't you?'
"Every damn second of it."
A/N: I've been sick for over a week or so now, and let me tell you, it ain't fun. That said, onto some good news: I think ffnet has fixed the email issue, so you should now be getting notifications. Though, they still haven't fixed the counter for chapter/story views being stuck at 0.
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 patrons: Keith Rust, Arn Tarcius, and LordMarksman!
And a special thanks to: Oliver vazquez, brutalcrab and Tassimo. You all better take care of yourselves, especially in this sick season!