The dropship crash site left a trail of ripped-up tarmac, followed by the many upturned vehicles that were unfortunately in the aircraft's path. Though the total mess was caused, this bothered no one.
"Hana! I'm so glad that you're okay!"
"Kiriko, I'm fine! It's so good to see you again! How did you get here?"
The two best friends spared no time celebrating their reunion once the taskforce had disembarked from the crashed ship. was happy to be in her home country and more than glad to be reunited with one of her best friends.
"Didn't you forget? You gave me tickets to Korea to come visit you." Kiriko flashed her flight tickets to her gaming best friend." I managed to see your team and visit some parts of Busan, but I didn't see you after the 'Overwatch 2' taskforce whisked you away." She emphasised on the fake taskforce's name using air quotes.
As the two chattered away, Winston watched as introduced her friend to her squad of younger heroes in the taskforce, giving himself a small smile.
He was also glad that most of the taskforce emerged from the mothership unscathed. Despite being held prisoner for less than a day and tossed in the falling dropship like clothes in a dryer, most of them were more than glad to be free from their shackles and cells and reunited with their confiscated weapons and fellow allies.
Sadly, that cannot be said for what will happen next.
This attention was now turned towards John and Vale, who were properly apprehended by the taskforce. Their hands were now properly in cuffs, and they were surrounded by the much more experienced members of the taskforce, who had their guns aimed at them in case they attempted to escape again. As he approached them, he could hear the agents arguing.
"He was just saying that, without these two, escape from those onmics could not have been possible if the hamster was alone." Hammond's mech, Wrecking Ball, spoke on the hamster's behalf, who was finally glad to be inside his mech again. He was describing his experience of escaping from his mech and bumping into the two inside the mothership.
"But these two idiots that got us into this mess in the first place," Reaper added. "Without them, we won't even need to be here. The city's just too loud for my taste."
"Aw. Don't be so grumpy, old man." Sombra teased the masked leather man, earning a grunt from him.
Their argument came to an end when a couple of blacked-out military vehicles pulled up to the crash site. The people inside the cars spared no time getting out once they stopped, with one approaching the gorilla.
"Commander Winston," a man in military attire said, eagerly shaking Winston's hands. I am Captain Jae-min Park. It's an honour to meet the taskforce at last."
Winston blushed, adjusting his glasses. He had never been called a Commander before. "Oh, why, thank you, sir. It's an honour to meet with a high-ranking official in Korea. Apologies for dropping in at such a crucial time."
"It's no trouble at all, Commander Winston. Right now, evacuations are going smoothly out of Busan the moment The Eye was on our radar. We were apprehensive when you and the taskforce went missing in Lisbon. After all, you have one of Korea's brightest and greatest defenders in your taskforce. "The Captain laughed, referring to Hana Song. "The moment we received her distress call, we came straight away. So, what can we assist you with?"
"For starters, we need help with these two folks." Sojourn intervened in their conversation. "Please detain them until we can put a stop to whatever the Eye has planned now that they have hands on the prototype bomb."
Vale was surprised at this. "Hang on, you're not arresting us? After all that we have done?"
Sojourn sighed, her back still turned towards them. "Look, I'm sorry about whatever I said earlier in the dropship. Even though you helped us escape from The Eye, we can't just let you off the hook. You have something you're not sharing with us, which could put the whole world at risk if you don't tell us."
"Maybe you can tell us where are you from for a start?" Sombra popped by her side, resting her hand under her chin, seeing that neither John nor Vale would spill anything.
"Enough, Sombra," Winston stopped the Mexican hacker. He quickly spoke to Torbjorn, who had popped on by. "How's the dropship? Can we still use it?"
"The hull's compromised, and the frame is cracked. I wouldn't trust this thing to fly unless you want to blow it up in your face," Trobjorn said, returning to the sad piece of machinery that had been wrecked.
In the background, a certain junker could be heard saying, 'Blow up?' but was ignored by everybody.
"We can request for multiple dropships, Commander." Captain Jae-min Park suggested.
Winston thanked the Captain, who got on his comms to relay a message to the defence force. Winston's attention quickly returned to where he was.
"Your two are not under arrest. Until this whole thing is over, we will detain you until we can properly question you."
"Aw, Winston." Tracer blinked from her group and towards her scientist buddy. "Aren't they going to be part of the taskforce then?"
"Until we can get answers from them, that's a maybe," Sojourn reassured the Brit, which made her smile.
However, this surprised John and Vale, who glanced offside at each other. Even after what happened, they didn't think they would get a chance to be part of the taskforce.
"Captain, please escort these two into a holding place." Sojourn politely asked. The Captain quickly acknowledged her and got his soldiers to escort John and Vale towards the army vehicles.
Winston then turned to the taskforce. "Everyone else, get ready to board those dropships."
John and Vale watched as the defence force's dropships arrived quickly. Five ships landed near the task force, enough to take them to the front lines. They watched as the task members split themselves up and boarded each ship.
On the other hand, the soldiers were only interested in getting these two away to a secured location. They quickly and forcefully ushered them into the van as the two could only watch the dropships take off once the taskforce had boarded.
From then on, the mood inside the vehicle was damp. John and Vale sat in the back of a military van as it jolted and bounced along, both sitting on opposing benches facing each other. In the middle near the front of the truck, was a lone soldier, watching them with his armed rifle ready.
Outside, the once dark sky now turned daylight shone into the van's wire windows; its bright sunlight was bright enough to blind anyone who looked into it directly. John and Vale looked on in wonder as they drove through the now frantic city of Busan. The police were quickly escorting people to either nearby shelters or dropships that would bring them to safety in neighbouring cities and towns. Traffic could have been better, too. People were finding different and quick ways of leaving Busan, and unfortunately, the highways were one of the many routes that the public had opted for. But since they were part of a special military convoy, they were speeding through the traffic like a hot knife through butter.
The distressing view vanished as they entered one of Busan's highway tunnels.
In the meantime, John and Vale reflected on their first mission, which went so badly in many different ways. But rather than focus on what they had done, they decided to think about what could have been done differently.
What if they were caught when they tried to escape the army base in the Netherlands?
What if the computer cafe fight in Germany went badly and got captured by the police instead of those thugs?
What would happen if Vale was captured in Lisbon alone, and John had to escape alone?
What would have happened if The Eye hadn't shown up when the task force caught them? Would they still be part of the team? Or would they rot somewhere in a remote, high-security prison?
What if Hammond never fell on the onmic? Would the Eye have taken John away?
There were thousands and thousands of questions, but there was one central question of concern.
Why didn't their world contact them back?
They wonder how they will get home. Is there some emergency plan or something that they can do to get back to their world?
They knew the portal device that sent them to other worlds had no fixed point. So, to compensate for each realm's position and vastness, their home world would notify their agents at least three days in advance that a portal would open up in other specified coordinates. And they needed to head there before the portal closed.
The issue they only now realise is that they have yet to learn how long they will need to stay in this world. They knew that would be less than a week, but it had been three days, and there had been no prior notice or heads-up from their home world.
The military convoy proceeded as intended despite Vale being deep in thought. She peered out the window into the dimly lit tunnel where she sat. From the look of the overhead signs with a picture of the countryside, they were being escorted out of town by vehicle.
As they drove out of the tunnel, Vale adjusted her eyes to the sudden brightness change. The tunnel led to a stretch of highway along the city's outskirts. The overhead sun shone on this part of Busan, which was thankfully still left untouched by The Eye.
Beyond the highway railings, Vale suddenly saw a dropship fly above them, spooking her initially. At first, she didn't think much about it and continued to watch the aircraft fly off. However, when her eyes looked beyond the highway railings, multiple dropships were coming in to land in what appeared to be an open landing area, meant to be an emergency landing pad for those dropships. Looking closer without moving from her seat, she could see the thousands of Busan civilians lining up to evacuate on those dropships.
As Vale soaked in the sight, an idea formed within her mind.
The taskforce had somehow forgotten about Tom and Eve. They were quickly hidden away and kept out of sight in their pockets rather than their belts. It was also a good thing that they kept John and Vale's weapons before their arrest since it was their only way to fight.
Using her boot, Vale gently tapped John's boot so as not to catch the guard's attention. His eyes were primarily spent staring at the van floor, still deep in thought. He looked up and saw his Fiancee's face. John thought that he was going to look at a defeated look but saw something shining in Vale's eyes instead.
Nodding her head so discretely towards what she was looking at, John tilted his head towards the window discreetly and saw the mass evacuations that were taking place near the highway from the corner of his Eye. He turned back and saw Vale give him a slight smirk.
John gave her a crooked smile. Vale's cunningness is both a blessing and a curse. There were times when she would pull some reverse psychology trickery or whatever nonsense on him. Sometimes, it would be harmless jokes and other times, it cost him money, which he will unfortunately never get back. Regardless, it was something John just now thought they would need. He may not know what her idea was, but they need to act fast now if they want to free themselves.
"Hey, guard," John said in a high-pitched, childlike voice. Do you fancy a haircut? I mean, your hair is a bit long for military standards, if you ask me."
Tired of observing them the whole time, the guard was uninterested in this conversation. Yes, his hair maybe a couple of centimetres too long to comply with army standards, but he was not going to be talked down to by some dimwit.
"None of your business, prisoner." He retaliated. His hand on the rifle tightened.
"Prisoner? Come on, I don't like being referred to as that," John continued. While talking smack to the guard, Vale brushed against Eve's disc in her pocket. Using her elbows, she slowly pushed the AI out of her side pocket and onto the bench she sat on. She was thankful that her AI was in the pocket, out of view of the guard.
With her AI, Eve could hear the conversation between the guard and John. Feeling Vale's hand over her, she automatically flashed a screen showing exactly what she needed to spawn. All she needed now was the right timing.
"Maybe we can cut your hair for you?" Vale said, pulling out the fakest smile anyone had seen. John couldn't help but make a face to hide his laughter.
The guard, completely fed up with the two idiots, has had enough.
"You better be quiet, or else I will use force!" The guard threatened, cocking his rifle to show that he was not messing around anymore.
John and Vale fell silent at his remark. The guard felt relieved as he finally received the silence he so deserved.
"Tsk." The guard seethed. "I don't get paid enough for this."
"That's too bad." The guard's brows furrowed as Vale spoke again. "It's because we could have given you a free haircut."
The guard got confused at what she meant until it was that moment when Vale ignited her lightsaber, which she had gotten out of Eve once she had cut her restraints. The lightsabre glowed menacingly in the van with a low growl. The light the sabre emitted bounced off John and Vale's creepy yet frightening faces as she held her weapon close.
The guard, entirely surprised, had the most enormous eyes in the van. His hands slowly lost grip of his rifle as it started to slip from his grasp, given how horrified he was now.
"그래. 이 일에 대해 충분히 대우받지 못하는 것 같아." Was all he muttered in Korean.
Captain Jae-min Park sat in the passenger seat in the vehicle right behind the van where John and Vale were. He was busy listening to the comms about the situation on the front lines.
So far, the situation is not so good.
Even with the presence of the taskforce, 'Overwatch 2' - he didn't like referring to them as the taskforce; it's a dreadful yet disrespectful name for them - were spread thin throughout Busan alongside Korea's Defence Force, the army and the police force, to try and counteract the overwhelming number of onmics.
Right now, the city is completely bombarded with onmics, both on the ground and in the air, and while their MEKA squad is working with Overwatch 2, it's barely putting a dent in The Eye's offence. The onmics are slowly making their way inland, particularly the evacuation pads where the dropships are landing to pick up evacuees.
The Captain could only sigh, looking at the passing evacuations beside the highway. On the positive side, The Eye's mothership was detected on Korean radar after a distant explosion was heard over Korea Bay. It turns out that while 'Overwatch 2' was being held captive, one of their agents and these two arrested may have done something to set off the explosions on the mothership.
Regardless of who will be credited with the detonation, the mothership was still far from Korea, though it was still approaching it quickly.
But for now, he needs to escort these two folks out of Busan and into their holding cells. Despite the public holding up traffic, it gave way to them, meaning that there should be no issues with jams along the way.
It's a pretty straightforward task. What could go wrong?
As he reclined his seat and prepared to relax for the long drive, he kept his eyes on the prisoner van that carried the two inside. They were now along a stretch of the highway where traffic had finally been thinned out.
He watched as the convoy continued, using the highway's centre lane. That's when he started to notice weird things happening to the van in front of him, which was carrying the two prisoners.
At first, the van swayed from left to right in the middle lane. It was not unusual, but it got his attention since the Korean Army's drivers are more competent than to drive in such a manner. Along with the swaying, the van bounced more than usual, given that the road they were driving on was smooth and surfaced.
The Captain, unaware was happening in the back of the van, decided to shrug these odd niggles off.
Reminding himself to warn the van driver about his driving abilities and note the van's condition later, the Captain resumed lying back in his reclined passenger seat and proceeded to cover his eyes with his black officer's peaked cap, hoping to resume his well-earned shut-eye.
But as soon as his head hit the headrest, a smoke screen appeared, covering the van and completely obscuring the view for those behind the vehicle.
This sudden and unexpected act caught the Captain's driver off guard. She tried to step hard on the brakes, but since the car was so close to the van's rear and given the lack of visibility, she instinctively swerved to dodge the van rather than hit it.
The car's hovering tyres scrapped against the tarmac as she tried to steer to the left, where the van had mysteriously vanished in the smoke screen.
The driver's actions did not go unnoticed by her Captain, who was rudely jolted forward during the braking, sending him towards the dashboard while his cap flew somewhere within the car. It would been a painful headache if he hadn't buckled up as the seat belt tightened to keep him in place. Sad to say, the sudden swerve to the left sent his head sideways towards the window, knocking his head hard against the glass. Feeling the side of where he felt where the impact was on his head, he was thankful that he wasn't bleeding as the window didn't shatter.
As he checked and assessed whether he and his driver were alright, his attention was now diverted to the situation. The head of the convey, up ahead of the van, travelled some distance before realising what had occurred. They stopped a few metres away, and his men quickly rushed towards the smoke screen with their weapons drawn.
Realising that there was an imminent danger of two potentially armed and dangerous people getting lost in Busan, the Captain and his driver stepped out of the car and aimed their sidearms towards the giant grey smoke.
Slowly approaching the grey cloud, they moved slowly and carefully, not wanting to know their presence in the smoke. As they pushed through, a silhouette of a familiar-looking vehicle appeared.
They approached it with caution. Then, both he and his driver gasped at the sight.
The entire van was cut in half. The slice between the halves glowed a low orange as if a laser beam had dissected it.
In front of the van's cabin, they found the driver breathing heavily as he rested on the deflated airbag that went off after the smoke grenade detonated. The Captain's guards from the front of the convoy checked on the driver of the van while he and his driver went to check the rear part of the van, which was disconnected not too far from the front half.
Heading towards what used to be the holding cell of the van, the Captain's driver was ahead of him and the first to the scene. A soft but hearable breathing came from within as she inspected the wreck. Alarmed, she aimed her firearm at the source of the sound, only to find out that the guard was completely frightened by the whole ordeal. He gripped onto his seatbelt so hard that his knuckles were turning to an unusual shade of white. His short, shallow pants and inhales were shot to bits. His eyes were forced wide open permanently, and his skin looked like it had lost some colour.
As his driver ensured the guard was okay, the Captain went beyond the van's back half and past the smoke screen.
The Captain emerged from the smoke, and that's when he saw the two.
John and Vale were busy looking over the highway railing when the incident occurred above one of the highway's many viaducts. Looking over the railing, the height from where John and Vale stood to the ground below was a considerable distance. The only way to safely get away from the highway was to jump to one of the many nearby buildings surrounding the viaduct.
There were few short buildings in Busan. Most of it consisted of massive tall skyscrapers and condominiums that have sprouted over the decades, with the number of tall buildings increasing.
The two were lucky that they stopped along this stretch of highway. A shophouse was directly under them, right below them, and not too far of a jump.
When contemplating their next course of action, they were so distracted by their ideas and planning that they should have considered the time factor.
This came to light when a familiar loading click of a gun was heard.
Freezing in place, the two turned around and saw the Captain with his gun aimed directly at them.
"Freeze! Don't move," the Captain warned, his voice trying to sound calm and reassuring in this tense situation.
The Captain expected the two to retaliate and draw whatever weapons they had on them. Surprisingly, the two raised their hands not above their heads to surrender, nor did they draw their arms at him. Instead, they, like him, wanted some reassurance as well.
"Wait, wait." John flapped his hands in an attempt to cool the tensed-up Captain. "Hear us out."
"There's a bomb on that mothership that we escape from. We know that it is on its way here. We are not as bright as we might like to think. But we are not stupid to know what they will do to this city once they arrive." Vale explained.
The Captain slid his finger away from the trigger. "What does this have to do with you? And why can't we shoot down the ship?" He questioned. He wanted to avoid where this was going. His officer instincts and training want him to arrest the two, have them adequately stripped, search for any more weapons, and be brought to a secure location before these two clowns could attempt to escape again. He wanted to follow his orders.
But at the same time, he felt that if that were to happen, he would have prevented a pleasant outcome of the battle of Busan.
"Sir, I know this may sound stupid, but we are the only ones with any hope of remotely detonating that bomb," John added. "We can see that the city will be completely overrun with those onmics, and the taskforce may not have enough time to return to that mothership. Plus, if we shot down that mothership, there's a chance the onmics could escape with the weapon in their hands. I'm unsure whether it can be destroyed like that, but I won't give the benefit of the doubt."
The Captain soaked in John's words. While he had trouble believing that they were able to detonate the bomb before they reached the city, he was entirely right about the city being flooded with onmics, left, right, and centre. With the army, police force, and MEKA squadron, alongside the 'Overwatch 2' force, they had to focus solely their resources and workforce on defending Busan. They can think about the offensive once the battle is in their favour.
By this point, the Captain's driver and team had joined him. Seeing that he still had his firearm up and against the two, the Captain's driver and the team escort also drew their arms.
The Captain shook his head as he cleared his thoughts. "And how do you know if I can trust you?"
Both Fiance and Fiancee look at each other with smirks written on their faces.
"That's the fun part, Captain. You don't."
They flipped themselves over it and down below with their backs still turned against the railing.
The Captain's confused face turned into shock and horror as he raced towards the railing. He peered down, and much to his relief, he saw John and Vale completely unharmed, having landed on one of the short buildings, a shophouse, right underneath the highway.
He watched one as the two managed to dust themselves off and scamper away, but not before some parting words for the awestruck Captain.
"You'll see!" John looked back up at the stunned Captain and his team, and they all looked down at him and Vale. They watched them run off down the rooftop door and into the building below.
"Should we go after them, sir?" The Captain's driver looked at her commander for any orders.
The Captain twisted his lips, unsure of what to do now. At this point, the smoke screen had cleared up, and he could see the utter mess the convoy was in. Some of his men were attending to the wounded as they lay on the ground after being extracted from the split van. As lovely as those two had seemed, they left his men shellshocked, which didn't sit well with him.
Just as he was about to say something, one of the drivers from the convoy spoke up.
"Sir, the army is requesting that we be needed at the outskirts of Busan as soon as possible," the soldier explained, receiving the message from his phone. They desperately need more manpower to help handle the evacuees and the situation of Busan."
Right. The evacuation and battle of Busan. The Captain was so engrossed in wanting to pursue John and Vale that he completely forgot that they were still in the middle of a battle. From the HQ's order, this seemed more serious than just chasing two suspicious folks who thought they could take down the mothership.
The Captain had little choice but to concede the news.
"Load up our men inside our remaining convoy," he instructed everyone around him. We'll head there now."
The soldiers immediately proceeded to their assigned vehicles. Some of his men assisted the injured in getting into the cars.
In the meantime, he and his driver returned to the vehicle. The Captain didn't speak. He silently walked into the car's passenger seat, and his driver started the vehicle.
"What about the two sir?" She asked. She had a feeling that something was on the Captain's mind. It was evident at what was keeping him preoccupied. "Are we letting them go? Or are we going to get them once the battle is over?
The Captain's sleepy attitude was gone. He was now completely awake and had a stern look on his face as he thought of his plan. He could split his convoy into two. She could send one to intercept the two rogue militia while he returned to HQ to settle the matter himself.
But thinking for the team, he knew that separating his team in such a desperate time was utterly foolish.
"No. We stick together." The Captain reaffirmed his driver. "Besides, I don't think that they were lying about being able to detonate the bomb."
The driver, completely taken aback by her Captain's orders, looked at him confused as she drove long.
"All we can do now is hope that we have made the right decision to let them go."
John and Vale rushed out the door from one of the shophouses on the street. There, they could see the massive, disorganised crowds rushing to the nearby evacuation site that Vale had pointed out earlier. Ranging from the disabled elderly to children, there was no age restriction for the panic that settled into the hearts of Busan's citizens. Even preschool kids and their teachers were not spared from the chaos, choosing to protect the young ones rather than run away.
Another note was the lack of vehicles used to escape from the looming onmic invasion. The public preferred to run towards a specific direction instead, which indicated that the evacuation site was closer than they thought it would be.
Deciding to use another way to get to the site to avoid the massive crowds and jams there, John and Vale chose to turn to the backstreets right next to the shophouses for a way there.
"Sir, what is the plan now?" Tom asked. Are we going to back the command ship?"
Vale saw one of the many invading droids fly overhead, zipping through the Busan skyline.
"That's the plan, the only plan. At least we can't leave this world without cleaning up our act."
Vale then elaborated on her idea: " We're going to the evacuation centre, steal a jet, fly to the mothership, and detonate the bomb, bring down the mothership and the invading forces."
"The only thing I'm not onboard is the whole flying part. I don't like to become another tumbleweed again." John recalled the whole falling fiasco from the mothership. Their ship rolled about senselessly out from the sky like it was dead weight, tossing and turning the whole time before crash-landing hard in Busan.
"We still haven't covered the fact that both of you can't fly a jet." Eve tried to keep her composure but couldn't help but laugh.
"We'll get to that once we have a jet." Vale smiled, sighing at the prospect of flying again. Hopefully, this time will be better.
They kept on running through the dusty and dirty back alleys. The smell was appalling, and there was litter everywhere. Plus, the streets were utterly disorganised, which meant finding a way around the many fallen bins and other junk clogging the roads.
But these little things matter when you fight for the city's survival.
At last, after rushing through the labyrinth of uneven and unsightly backroads, sunlight peered through their path. They could see the dropships taking off and leaving the evacuation site right ahead. The only obstacle in the way was the main road in front of them, littered with more abandoned vehicles, with the folks leaving them for the nearby evacuation site.
John and Vale then left the alleyways and started weaving through the maze of vehicles. They were so close to reaching home—they had just finished this mission—that they could be on their way to make a portal back.
BANG!
A lone shot was fired as its round echoed through the air.
John and Vale immediately recoiled and braced for cover, ducking down low behind the many cars to prevent them from getting hit with more shots.
Looking around, they tried to find the source of the shots fired.
It took less than 10 seconds to find out who had fired that shot.
There, in the sea of deserted cars, a woman with fair skin walked out, wearing a white-colour blouse covered by a black vest and donning a black cowboy hat with gold accents.
As menacing as she was, the shadow behind her was far more daunting. Coming into view, he was a gigantic omnic with a hulking and oversized build. Never mind the sheer dimensions of the onmic, the footsteps were like miniature earthquakes that could be felt right under John and Vale's feet.
Then there were his weapons. Alongside his size, his wrist-mounted guns could make the two of them into Swiss Cheese in two seconds flat.
Both the onmic and the cowgirl stared at the two, the latter giving off a smirk on her face.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"