Lena stared nervously as the ride continued. Normally, she'd be chatting up Angela, talking about whatever little thing came to mind, just to stave off the boredom. Normally.

It wasn't a normal day, unfortunately.

Archer sat next to her, and across from them, sat almost everyone else. Almost everyone, since Winston had to take another transport, Reyes and Reinhardt joining him. All that was left were Genji, Angela and Commander Morrison.

Morrison stared at Archer as if he was going to try something. Genji was openly glaring at the red-clad man. Only Angela didn't seem hostile, but the way she would avoid directly staring at him told her all that she needed to know.

'Somehow, I blame you for all of this.'

"Really? I haven't even done anything to deserve this, I would think. Ah, hold that thought."

"Honestly, you're all acting as if I was going to blow up the street or something."

"There, now you can blame me."

'You-I-UGH!'

Archer's words certainly had an effect. The other three passengers were now looking like they were ready to bolt into action. Genji was already in the process of drawing that sword on his back when the white-haired man laughed out loud.

"Calm down, will you? It's just a joke."

"A joke, perhaps, to you." The cyborg spoke, more venom in his voice than Lena had ever heard, "To me, nothing more than an affirmation of your lies."

"Lies, you say?" Archer raised an eyebrow.

"A man with power such as yourself would not be content in living such a simple life. You have lied, and are obviously lying, about your intentions." Lena could hear the drawing of the blade. Internally, she was panicking. A fight, right here, right now, would be disastrous.

Genji didn't seem to care.

As a matter of fact, it seemed that neither did Archer.

The Spirit scoffed, an infuriating smirk tinged with mockery directed at Genji, and spoke up, "Coming from you? Are you sure that you're not projecting, perhaps?"

"You-!"

"Enough, the both of you!" It was Angela that shouted, surprising just about everyone within earshot, "You are acting like children!"

Archer shrugged, and though she could practically hear the cyborg's grip tighten for a moment, Genji eventually relaxed just a bit. He was still glaring daggers at the other man.

"I will be watching you. When the truth comes out, I shall be there."

"The only 'truth' to be had would be my name." Archer rolled his eyes in annoyance, "In fact, that's also the only lie I've ever told you. Isn't that why you're worried about me in the first place?"

The Spirit's admission must've caught Genji off guard, as there was a beat of silence between them. It was broken by Archer's snort of laughter.

"What, you seriously thought I would give out my real name? Especially if I were an assassin akin to the Magus Killer?"

"I mean, you did say that you're a…Heroic Spirit. It's very much possible that you were Kiritsugu Emiya when you were alive." Angela furrowed her eyebrows as she asked. Lena listened in the background, content to be a spectator for now.

More than that, she was curious. As much as Archer had explained things in the past, she was more so interested in how he was going to explain things to people that didn't necessarily believe in the concept of magic and magecraft.

"While I won't say that the possibility of Kiritsugu Emiya being recorded as a Heroic Spirit is impossible, the likelihood of him doing so naturally, are." Archer shrugged as the transport they were in stopped. A brief look outside showed that they still weren't where they were heading.

Traffic had piled up. More than one person was honking now, and in the distance, Lena could spot a couple of cars gridlocked in an intersection. She sighed. It was going to take even longer now.

Regardless of the interruption, Archer continued unabated, "It would take truly extenuating circumstances for him to be recorded, and even more of a coincidence for him to be summoned into the modern era as I did."

"...I see." Genji didn't let up on his tenseness, "If that's the case, then you wouldn't mind telling us your real name?"

"Yes, I would very much mind."

"Why? If you have nothing to hide, then your name shouldn't matter." There was a harshness to his tone, and Lena could see the faint stirrings of the shuriken arm that he had. Lena knew from seeing it in action that he could throw those at a moment's notice.

"Maybe you think I'm an idiot, but I can assure you I am not." Archer glanced at Morrison, who had stayed quiet during the entire ordeal, "I know that part of the reason why Reyes hasn't joined us is so that he could formulate a plan of action should I prove myself to be a rogue element."

"Then why let him?" Morrison didn't miss a beat, eyes staring holes into Archer's form. Unlike Genji, who was actively trying to provoke Archer, the Commander kept a cool head, the previous efforts of trying to get Archer to talk seemingly forgotten.

"It's the reasonable thing to do. Had I been in your circumstances, I would've done the same." He turned back to Genji, "As for my name, I've already said that I am a Heroic Spirit. Someone recorded within the Throne of Heroes for their deeds in life. Those deeds are part of human history. If I were to give you my name, you could just as easily look through those records and find anything you want about me."

Archer gave a shrug, "Suffice it to say, I'm not exactly fond of you looking for my weaknesses, something I know you'd do given the chance."

For some inexplicable reason, during the entire explanation, Lena felt wave after wave of amusement coming from Archer.

"Fine, keep your secrets." Morrison shook his head, though he didn't seem as disappointed as Lena thought he would be.

"That's all I ask."

For a minute, they all stopped talking. The tension in the air was still palpable, and if she had a knife, she could probably cut through it.

'I can't take this anymore! How long do we still have?!'

"Normally, it would be another fifteen minutes. With this traffic? And the repairs still ongoing? Maybe another hour at max."

'...Oh, screw it.'

"So! Archer!" Lena put on the best curious look she could, "You said you knew something about Ramattra and his Kilrowhatsits, right?"

"Really? That's the best you've got?"

'Shut it! You're the one that didn't want to say anything else earlier! At least this way, I don't have to deal with a powder keg about to explode!'

Archer didn't bother to reply through their link. The three other Overwatch members were now staring at him intently.

"It's Klironomia, and yes, I did say that, didn't I?" Archer made a show of rubbing his chin, "Hmm. Yes, I suppose we do have time. I expect our conversation is already being recorded?" He looked at Morrison for the last part.

The Commander didn't so much as blink as he nodded.

"Good. To put it into the simplest terms, they are somewhat similar to your nanomachines, Ziegler. I suppose you must've based your own on them?"

"I did not." Angela frowned, an almost insulted look on her face, "And I would appreciate it if you didn't imply as such."

"Really?" Archer looked surprised, "Well how about that. I was sure you…" He coughed.

"At any rate, it's not the first time I've encountered someone using Klironomia, and with how Ramattra is, likely not the last."

"If that's the case, then you must know how to fight against him?" Morrison was leaning forward, his previous somewhat passive look replaced with one of intense focus. Lena gulped. It was the face of a man that was ready to go to war. A man that reminded Lena that Morrison wasn't just the leader of Overwatch, but also a war veteran.

A war veteran that had just found that the war might still be ongoing.

"Frankly, the only thing you can do is hit them as hard as you can." Archer shrugged, "By the nature of the Klironomia, anyone infused by them can be as strong as a Heroic Spirit, even a normal, baseline human. This goes doubly for Ramattra, who's practically vomiting the stuff out."

"But if they're nanomachines, then it's possible to override them, yes?" Angela continued, "Going by what you said about them being similar, I should be able to control them similar to my own healing nanomachines."

"Perhaps?" Archer hummed to himself, "If we were able to somehow get ahold of their source code, then maybe. I still wouldn't put much stock into it, however. Instead, I think you should focus on improving your own tech with…"

Lena's head started to spin as the conversation turned to a different direction completely. Where Angela was slightly nervous before, she was now actively debating Archer on the efficiency of her own machines. On how to empower someone similar to the Klironomia. Technobabble flew straight over her head, and given how Genji and Morrison looked, the same could be said for them.

'Since when the hell were you an expert in nanotech?!'

"Hm? Oh, it's not much. The strengthening effect that the Klironomia have is somewhat similar to the magecraft I use."

"...prove by cycling through them. It should be fairly easy to do. The main issue is making them work constantly. See, if you only do one energy cycle, then-"

"It'll only empower them for an instant, yes, I understand that. But cycling them constantly would build up too much friction and heat! It shouldn't be a problem for Omnics, but humans would die within a few seconds!"

"Indeed. That's why-"

"Ahem!" The two of them were interrupted as Lena coughed, "So where did you encounter Klironomia before?" Immediately, Angela's face turned crimson as she realized what had happened.

"Commander Morrison, I am so sorry!" Angela stuttered out an apology. Lena smiled as she spied Genji consoling the other woman.

"No need. The conversation was…illuminating."

"I suppose we did get away from the point, didn't we?" Archer sighed to himself, sitting straight up once more, "To answer your question, I had fought individuals that were infused with them a while back, around forty or so years ago. None of them used the Klironomia as Ramattra did, however."

"Wait, hold up." Lena held up an arm, hand waving around frantically, "What do you mean forty years ago?"

"Exactly that. Klironomia has been around for a long, long time. I suspect that Ramattra must've found a cache somewhere and managed to take control of them somehow."

"And how long ago are we talking about?" The amusement she could hear in Archer's voice had picked up. She didn't know what his answer was going to be, but she knew it would be too ridiculous to believe in. Up until she realized that she was now a time traveling pilot, of course.

"Hmmm. Hard to say. Maybe a few thousand years before 12000 B.C.?"

"You're shitting me. You're actually shitting me." At this point, she didn't care for the fact that her commanding officer was sitting right across from her, not when everyone, and she included their driver, was now staring at Archer with incredulity.

"There's no fucking way that is in any way true."

"First magic and magecraft, now this?" Genji scoffed in derision, "You must think us gullible."

"Three words." Archer stared at Genji, pointing at the katana he had, "Magic. Dragon. Sword."

He gestured towards all of them, "I know for a fact that you don't have any holoprojectors, no hardlight generators installed. Have you seriously never thought that maybe, just maybe, the dragon spirit that comes straight out of your ass whenever you draw that sword isn't normal?"

"...well, when you put it like that…" Lena thought about their run through King's Row, when Genji would use his sword, glowing green dragon and all. She didn't know how she felt about that.

"And now you're here, telling me that magecraft doesn't exist when the proof has been sitting right in front of you!" Archer sounded genuinely frustrated, but the faint feeling of amusement didn't fade, "There's only so much selective blindness that I'm willing to tolerate, Shimada."

The red-clad man crossed his arms, "And now you're telling me, that despite all that, you have the gall to assume that I'm bullshitting you right now? I mean, come on, how hard is it to believe that the nanotech that a rogue terrorist is using came from interdimensional, space-faring ships that became the Greek gods that landed on Earth 14000 years ago?"

A beat.

"Ah. We're here. Excellent, I'll be right back."

As Archer went out to explain to his former boss that Overwatch would be paying for the damage to the diner - one of his conditions for helping Overwatch - all Lena could hear was the cackling laughter of the man in her head.

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: Jadrien Jack.

And a special thanks to: Oliver vazquez, brutalcrab, and Tassimo.