Chapter 66
Their entrance was a lot less bombastic than that of the MEKA Squad, yet the cameras stayed rolling the entire time. Lena wasn't entirely sure it was interesting to watch a group like theirs quietly deploy on the bottom of an oil rig, and she sure as hell wasn't sure what type of people would enjoy watching this.
To each their own, she supposed.
Regardless, they stayed quiet. The AI that controlled the enemies was too busy dealing with MEKA Squad's airborne assault. To the kids' credit, Lena doubted anyone else could have made for a grander distraction than them. Their shared comms had been lit up with more calls than Lena was used to.
Almost every single action that they took was said. Number of enemies? Check. Ammo counts? Check. It was to the point that Lena felt somewhat inferior to their ability to multitask like that.
Then again, they were professional gamers whose entire job was to track a massive amount of resources at any point in time.
"Al~right, door's open." Sombra waved her hand as the purple glow around the security door faded. With a small hiss, the oil rig was open to them. Reinhardt took point, with Winston taking the rear. The rest of them were sandwiched between the two, forming a line in the tight corridors.
The formation they took was not standard, as Overwatch's usual fights were not in tight spaces. In fact, their doctrine usually came to large, open areas. This was made clear by the armor that Reinhardt wore, and the shields that Winston employed. They were made to shield allies as they pushed forwards, or bounced from cover to cover.
Lena herself was someone that thrived in being unpredictable, and the same could be said for literally everyone else on the team.
Which made the idea of the hallway they were walking through a complete deathtrap, if an enemy with sufficient firepower decided to pelt them from a defensive position.
Thankfully, MEKA was keeping all of that firepower trained on them. In fact, they hadn't fought a single 'Enemy Program', as they apparently called them, since they entered the oil rig. Lena didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
"Sombra, how far do we need to go?" Lena asked the hacker, who had the map of the place hovering on a screen next to her.
"We're taking the next…left, then climbing the stairs. After that, it's a straight shot to the main admin room."
"Brilliant. Because nothing ever goes wrong in a long, narrow corridor with no cover." Her thumbs brushed the cool metal of the triggers as she spoke, her sarcasm obvious.
Behind her, Winston rumbled, a low, comforting vibration that she felt more than heard, "Statistically, narrow corridors reduce the angles of attack. However, given our team composition..."
"I thought you were the optimist of our little operation, Winston." Archer snorted out as the Spirit walked along. He was, by all accounts, tense. Despite the fact that nothing could realistically hurt him (Or any of them, for that matter. This was a simulation, after all) he was watching everything like a hawk. He had been like this ever since he had seen the oil rig. He didn't even say why he was like this, not even to his partner in crime that was Sombra.
Lena knew because usually, when he did, Sombra would have that tiny little smug smirk that she had more or less copied from Archer.
Right now, Sombra was looking a lot more confused than Lena had seen her before. Or maybe it was for the cameras, who actually knew?
"Contact!"
Reinhardt's sudden exclamation snapped her out of it. Immediately, she took position, crouching down as the crusader deployed his barrier. In front of them were three enemies, two boar-like and the other squid-like. The boars took notice of them, and were already charging their way down the hallway, while the squid sort of just…stood there?
Whatever, if it wasn't doing anything, it could be dealt with later. Who knows, maybe it was the simulator's AI being overwhelmed with all of the additional processing power.
The one-way nature of the shield allowed her to let out a burst from her pulse pistols, straight into the body of the bull that had strafed left. The other one was intercepted by Sombra's submachine gun. Unlike Lena's weapon, however, it lacked the stopping power to put it down completely. Where Lena's had fallen over and disintegrated into blue pixels, this one had made it to Reinhardt's shield.
The ferocity that the Enemy Program displayed was shocking. Omnics still had a sense of self-preservation, and wouldn't just charge in like this. Nor would they start slamming their head against the hard light shield hard enough to start breaking portions of themselves off.
Their pause was a mistake.
The squid in the back finally acted. The pixels that had been the defeated Program started to coalesce back into shape. Within moments, the bull was back in play, and was now attacking the hard light shield alongside its ally.
"It's a repair node!" Reinhardt yelled out over the sound of metal screeching, "Genji, you're up!"
The cyborg took that to heart, jumping over the shield and making a break for the enemy backline. The bulls reacted, their massive jaws aiming upwards. Reinhardt took that distraction and pinned the right one against the wall, crushing it. The remaining bull was intercepted by nearly four hundred kilos of gorilla, as Winston barreled in with a roar.
That one was impacted by the fist of the scientist, knocking it down to the ground. This was quickly followed up by the shock of his tesla cannon, incapacitating it further.
"Tracer, this one!" Reinhardt's command was heard, as the bull he had pinned had decided to carve a hole into the wall. The recess allowed the Program to survive the crusader's pin, but left it trapped. Lena heeded the command, blinking forward and jamming one of her guns into the gap.
With another press of her trigger, the Program was eliminated.
Just in time for Genji to cut off the 'head' of the squid, preventing them from resurrecting.
The hallway was once more plunged into silence. It was broken by Archer's laugh, "Looks like you didn't need my help after all."
"Would have been appreciated, you know?" Lena rolled her eyes good-naturedly. To be fair, most of them operated without Archer's interference. The Spirit was a powerful ace, yes, but it would be foolish of them to rely on him to always be there. As such, the unit cohesion they practiced was mostly to assume that Archer was the occasional fire support rather than any complete assault member of the strike team.
Never mind that he could bulldoze his way through this entire simulation with his eyes closed.
The thing is, this was supposed to be a training mission. To be honest, it felt even less than that, as they weren't really doing a lot of 'training'. It was just to drum up the public perception of what MEKA was doing, and it was made obvious when the kids got the flashy side of the operation, while Overwatch got the boring rescue part.
"Right, let's keep it moving before more of those digital nasties decide to respawn." Lena said, twirling her pistols with practiced ease before magnetically holstering them at her hips. The brief skirmish had barely elevated her heart rate, compared to getting in front of the cameras again.
Knowing that this was all just training did let her relax a bit. With recent events (and Archer being Archer) she had been struggling a bit with stress. She had no real way to let out some steam, as sparring in the London base could only do so much. Against an opponent she didn't have any qualms fighting, with no consequences?
She felt almost giddy, now that she was actually doing it. So much so that she could feel her skittishness from the cameras fade as they continued.
Reinhardt grunted in agreement, his armor shifting with heavy clanks as he reformed their line, "Stay sharp! The next encounter might not be so easily routed!"
As they ascended the staircase, another squid decided it was time to block their path. Unlike the previous one that only healed its allies, this one attacked - tentacles, almost paper thin, rocketed outwards, the appendages stretching further than one would have thought. So many that they had almost blocked the entire stairwell.
Lena grinned, as despite the number of them, they were so damn slow that Reinhardt didn't even bother to shield them off, "Hey Genji," She elbowed the ninja beside her, "Betcha I can hit more of those than you."
Genji tilted his head quizzically, before realization must've set in. While she couldn't see his face, she could practically hear the smirk, "Loser buys the drinks?"
Lena raised an eyebrow, "Do you even-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Genji had already drawn the larger sword on his back, swinging at the tentacles. By the time Lena had realized it, he had already chopped off at least seven of them.
"Bloody cheater!" With a competitive grin, Lena let loose burst after burst from her pistols, each volley shredding off more appendages.
Soon enough, they had practically whittled down the squid's tendrils, and Reinhardt had used the opportunity to charge right into it. The steps of the stairway creaked ominously as the hulking form of the crusader climbed two steps at a time.
His rocket hammer was shoved forward like a battering ram, pinning the squid directly into the ceiling. Reinhardt would have swung to destroy it, but the tight corridors prevented him from doing any more movements.
It was Sombra that dealt the final blow, with a rain of bullets into the squid's head. The metallic crunch of the squid disintegrating into blue pixels echoed down the narrow stairwell. Reinhardt grunted, ripping his rocket hammer free from the ceiling with a shower of artificial sparks.
"Least they don't make a mess." Lena quipped, blowing an imaginary wisp of smoke from the barrel of one of her pulse pistols, "Though I reckon I still won that bet, Genji."
"Did you now?" The cyborg shot back, crossing his arms, "I got seventeen of them, while I doubt you even reached ten."
Lena blinked, her mouth falling open in mock outrage, "Seventeen? I distinctly counted at least twelve for myself! And half of yours were just the tips, that hardly counts!"
"A severed limb is a severed limb." Genji replied, the amusement clear in his voice, "I prefer my drinks cold, Tracer."
"Keep dreaming, prat."
"Focus, you two," Winston interjected mildly, pushing past them to scan the corridor ahead, "We are approaching the admin room. The simulation's objective states we need to access the main terminal to initiate the 'rescue' sequence."
They continued down the hall. Unlike the narrow stairs, this section opened up into a wider, reinforced antechamber. Heavy blast doors stood at the far end, marked with glowing digital locks.
Lena rested her hands on her hips, feeling the adrenaline ebb. It was just a game, after all. A highly sophisticated, publicly broadcasted game designed for PR.
But as she glanced over her shoulder, her relaxed demeanor faltered. Archer was trailing them, and he hadn't joined in the banter at all. His eyes were narrowed, intensely tracking the seams in the metallic walls and the digital readout of the ceiling lights. His hands rested casually at his side, but his posture was coiled spring-tight.
"Archer?" Lena slowed her pace, falling in step beside him, "You alright, mate? You look like you're expecting the ceiling to cave in."
"Hmm." Archer grunted in response, "More or less. The enemies we've fought just confirmed a little thought I had."
"Whaddya mean we?" Lena raised an eyebrow, even as she started to worry a bit more, "You've hardly done anything!"
Archer snorted in response, before he turned his attention to the glowing digital lock on the heavy blast doors, "Sombra. If you would."
"Already on it." The hacker stepped up to the panel, her fingers dancing in the air as holographic interfaces materialized around her hands, "Let's crack this open, grab our digital VIPs, and get out of this stuffy-"
Sombra stopped. The vibrant purple glow of her hack abruptly flickered, shifting into a sickly, aggressive...pink?
"Sombra?" Winston stepped closer, his heavy footfalls thudding against the metal grating, "Is there a problem?"
"The directory..." Sombra muttered, her brow furrowing as she swiped rapidly across her screens. The usual confident smirk was entirely wiped from her face, "The encryption just shifted. I'm...damn, whoever made this encryption knew what they doing."
She yanked her hands back just as the digital lock on the blast doors sparked violently. With a heavy, grinding groan that sounded far too authentic for a mere simulation, the doors began to part. Sombra's confident smirk came back on, "Course, they're still not any match for me."
"Your back's still pink." Lena pointed out as the lights on the hacker's cybernetics didn't change.
"What?!" Sombra started pawing at her back, a look of alarm replacing her smugness, "¡Mierda!"
"Deal with that later," Reinhardt may have said it seriously, but his amused grin didn't capture that seriousness whatsoever, "We've still got hostages to secure."
The sound of MEKA's fighting grew louder above them as they entered the admin room. Lena was expecting a set of Programs that would stand in for hostages, similar to the Enemy Programs. Only, they didn't.
Instead, what they found was the distinct sight of a human woman sitting down in front of a table. Granted, they had a small veil of blue around them, betraying the fact that they were part of the simulation, but the sight was startling in of itself.
"Oh, you're here."
Add to the fact that the...Hostage Program(?) spoke first. She (because Lena felt uncomfortable referring to the woman as an 'it') wore a stark, form-fitting white dress that stopped mid-thigh, contrasting sharply with opaque black tights and sensible white heels. The garment was deceptively simple, save for the absurdly long, flared sleeves that draped around her like folded wings, and a thick, heavy gold collar resting firmly against her collarbone.
But it wasn't the outfit that made Lena freeze. It was the uncanny, staggering level of detail. The 'Hostage Program' possessed an impossibly lush mane of raven-black hair that seemed to float and writhe around her in the simulated gravity, defying the environment's physics engine entirely. A distinct set of pink marks rested on the center of her forehead, drawing attention to piercing, luminescent golden eyes.
"You sure took a while, didn't you?" Those eyes only had one target, however, and it was the almost paralyzed form of Archer himself, "Senpai~ "
Chapter 67
"I hate to come across as a bad guy," Reinhardt started, raising an eyebrow, "But that was Japanese, correct?"
"Yes." Genji nodded, "I do wonder why though. We are in a Korean simulation, so the use of Japanese implies that this has at least a joint venture with Japan."
"Could be the anime boom of the 30's?" Reinhardt rubbed his chin, "The engineers that would've worked on this are the right age to have grown up during it. Some sort of easter egg they included, maybe?"
Their conversation was light-hearted. Winston was not included, having taken the moment of respite as a chance to look around the simulated room. Sombra was busy trying - and failing - to get rid of the pink highlights that her implants now included.
That left Lena, Archer, and the Hostage Program together.
Except even that didn't last long.
"Mmmmoouuuu~!" The Program stomped her feet with a pout, "Why are you all ignoring me?!"
That little outburst halted all conversations immediately, with Winston having done so the fastest, "Wait…you can hear us?"
The Program rolled her eyes as she shifted her focus from Archer to the scientist, "Of course I can. Honestly, when I heard Overwatch was joining this session, I didn't think you all would be so dang rude."
"Apologies, ma'am!" Reinhardt recovered first, coughing into his fist, "We were under the impression that the hostage we would be rescuing would also be an AI hostage, not another person."
"Oxton, I need you to be very, very careful."
The sudden influx of Archer's mental voice nearly caused Lena to yelp. It was only due to her focus being entirely on the other woman that she didn't. Her focus that was just a bit too focused. As if there was a fog that was making her trail on every delicate aspect of the other woman.
'Archer, what the hell is going on?' She tried to move her eyes away, but every time she tried, her gaze would somehow make its way back.
"If I'm right, nothing good." She saw Archer take a glance around in the corner of her eye. She couldn't see what he was looking at, but the feeling of a scowl implanted through their mental link.
The hostage raised her eyebrow, a hint of disgust on her otherwise perfectly framed features, "I am an AI, thank you very much. I suppose introductions are in order, right chat?"
Unbidden, a holoscreen popped up beside all of them. In it, a massive amount of messages scrolled past them. Her eyes couldn't focus on them, and she wouldn't. Not when the hostage suddenly struck a pose. Her hands were on her hips, chest puffed upwards. The room's lighting came alive as the woman smiled at them.
Her dark hair framed her face that was a bit too perfect in its execution. The sleeves of her dress smoothly transitioned onto her arms. Every miniscule movement was calculated, every action deliberate. Lena didn't know whyshe knew, only that she did.
"Hello, hello, hello everyone! Did you miss me?!" Somehow, the chat went even faster, "I missed you too! It gets lonely when I've got no one to talk to, you know?"
She spun around. A spotlight hit her from above. The ceiling didn't even have light fixtures installed there.
"But enough about my lonely heart!" She winked, pointing a finger gun at Reinhardt. The old knight actually took a half-step back, "Let's do this properly for the new viewers. I am your devilish, ultra-cute, combat kouhAI! Some of you already know my name, some of you don't, but you can all call me...Ki-a-ra Sess-yo-in!"
Wrong.
She was lying.
That was not her name.
It wasn't. Shouldn't.
Liar.
Lena knew that that wasn't the truth. And in that moment that she realized it, her eyes strained. Strained in a way that shouldn't be possible in a simulation like this. The woman-that-lies form shifted for a moment, as her golden eyes stared at the pilot.
In that instant, her form was overlaid by another. Instead of raven-dark hair, it was blinding purple. Instead of the white dress, it was a school uniform. Instead of golden eyes, it was a soft violet. And instead of the teasing smile, it was the grin of a predator.
"Snap out of it, Oxton!"
Archer's voice pierced the fog, her legs suddenly weakening in shock. Thankfully, she caught herself before she collapsed, and the cameras were still focused on…Kiara's introduction.
"Keep that close for a bit, will you?"
It was only when Archer mentioned that that she realized that she was now holding something in her off-hand. She glanced at it, and saw that it was a piece of red cloth, the same shade as the one that Archer usually wore. Another glance towards him and Lena saw that yes, he had cut off a portion of it and had handed it to her.
'Wha-' The question barely filtered through the link, but the underlying meaning of it was already clear.
"The shroud has Magic Resistance, rank D. Not useful against skilled mages, but good enough for minor mental influences like hers."
"Awww." Kiara pouted at Archer as if she could hear the conversation going on between the two of them, "You're reaaallly no fun, are you, Archer?"
"Having fun when you're around isn't really an option for me." Archer calmly spoke back, "Let me rephrase; especially when you're around."
"You're so meaaaann~! Chat, Archer's bullying meeeee!" The woman fake cried into the camera while pointing accusingly at Archer. Now that Lena could look closer - she realized she could do so now that whatever the AI was doing to her was thrown off - she could read the chat messages coming through.
[Tokki_Simp_No1]: TOKKI D:
[Gwishin_Slayer]: RED GUY HAS TO GO
[BobaKnight]: SHES FINALLY HERE THE QUEEN HAS ARRIVED
[InCoGtAb]: how he hell are yhose called micro missiles when theyre the size pf my head
[Bookwyrm]: There's no way they don't know each other, I'm calling it right now
[PewPew_Norepeat]: BULLYING D:
[matrixwasbad]: DEVILISH ULTRA CUTE COMBAT KOUHAI WINS AGAIN
[Pixel_Paladin]: BOOO RED COAT BOOOOO
[Salt_Free_Gaming]: D. Mon yeah I don't think a sword is gonna do it
"So, you two uhh, know each other?" Winston broke the silence as the gorilla looked back and forth in bewilderment. However, interestingly enough, Lena couldn't see any hint that he was affected by Kiara as much as she was. The same went for the others. Was she the only one that was mentally influenced?
Lena didn't know if she liked either answer, to be honest.
"Yep! Me and Archer go waaaaay back, even before I got integrated into MEKA's simulator." Kiara nodded enthusiastically, "So long ago that I didn't think we'd see each other ever again!"
Lena could both feel and see the gears turn for every single person in the room that wasn't Archer or Kiara. Even the chat was spamming question marks at this point, "That means that you've known him since-" Archer coughed politely but firmly as Winston spoke, "Right, sorry. Nevermind."
[remsleep12]: CASINO THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE HOLY
[lagswithc]: bruh red coat literally just censored the lore
[Overclock99]: I mean, we already knew Kiki existed before the sim
[Bookwyrm]: SINCE WHEN?
[DoManOr]: [Clip] from D. Va, I think this was from 2 streams ago
[matrixwasbad]: DoManOr that was scary fast man, do you just have that ready to go?
"Anyway, if you're the AI controlling all of this, why are you here?" Archer bulldozed through everyone, asking Kiara directly. Said AI looked at him as if he was particularly slow.
"I just said it earlier, didn't I? I'm booooored." She rolled her eyes, "Like seriously, there's only so much a girl like me can take before I gotta stretch my legs."
"And including yourself as a hostage in a simulation is the best way to do that?" Archer narrowed his eyes.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't~ " She winked at all of them, "Also, it's a really good way to distract you guys from realizing that this room blocks radio comms."
Lena tapped her earpiece. The motion that should have connected them to the MEKA Squad up top came as dead air. She looked over at Sombra, the hacker already frantically typing on her hard-light interface. The purple holographic hexes flickered, let off a sharp smell of burnt wire and ozone, and shattered into sparks.
Meanwhile, Archer shook his head and sighed, "I should have known. You weren't even throwing higher level Shapeshifters and Eaters at us."
"Shapeshifters? Eaters?" Genji repeated. His hand rested on his wakizashi. The green neon of his cybernetics hummed louder, "You know these enemy types?"
"I'm familiar with them, yes." Archer said. He didn't look back at the ninja. His eyes stayed glued to the girl, "Trash mobs, mostly. But she's holding back the heavy hitters just to play with us."
The girl giggled. It wasn't a cute sound anymore. It grated against Lena's ears like metal scraping on glass.
"Bingo." The AI said as tapped her chin, completely ignoring the massive armored knight and the cyborg ninja, "You guys wiped out the basic Programs so fast. I had to step in before the viewers got bored. I mean, King's was right; what's a stream without a proper boss fight?"
As if on cue - and since Kiara was the AI controlling all of this, it might've been - the ceiling above them cracked open.
Radio noise flooded the comms instantly. The static screamed in Lena's ear. She winced, slapping a hand over her receiver.
"...hull breach in section four! They're past my shields!" That was Casino, sounding breathless and frantic.
"Defense matrix is failing! What the hell are these things?!" D. Va's voice cut through. Heavy weapons fire and the sound of tearing metal echoed behind her words. They were completely overwhelmed.
"Get into formation six! Overlord, prioritize repairs on Casino! I'm taking point!" D. Mon sounded much more panicked than earlier, the stress of everything finally seeming to hit her. The swinging of her blade could be heard even beyond the comms at this stage.
"Where the hell is Overwatch?!"
High above their heads, a massive arm circled. Trailing on it were the five members of MEKA Squad, firing just about everything they had. Even then, another mass of flying Enemy Programs chased after them, meeting flak fire from D. Va's cannons.
The slightly jovial atmosphere evaporated there. As much as this was still a training simulation, that didn't mean that they could take it easy while their prospective students were being beaten down like this. Evidently, the others also understood.
"Everyone, with me!" Reinhardt roared out, before he deployed the miniature engine on his back. Normally, his armor would have been too heavy to do anything other than move horizontally. That would have been the case here, had he not joined it with a heavy downward swing of his rocket-propelled hammer. It was enough for his arm to reach the edge of the now broken ceiling.
Winston easily made the same distance with his own jump pack, and quickly helped the crusader to get topside. The others were the same, jumping out with their own version of vertical movement. Unspoken was their decision to leave the 'hostage' inside - their job was to get the hostage to safety, which meant making the area safe to begin with.
What greeted them atop the oil rig's surface was a lot more Enemy Programs. And by that, Lena meant a lot. They swarmed the surface like an unending tide. Not even during the Uprising were there this many enemies in one place.
Unlike the ones that Archer called Eaters and Shapeshifters, many of these ones were much more humanoid, each wielding a sword of sorts. They were blocky, almost like bricks stacked on top of each other, with their limbs floating instead of connecting at the joints. Others were significantly bigger, where instead of swords, each of their arms were spiked balls. Those ones were even bigger than Reinhardt, which made Lena more nervous than she thought.
There were more variations than that, too. Spears, bows, clubs, even what looked to be guns. They all were focusing on taking down MEKA Squad - those with melee weapons would occasionally start to fly up, their legs shifting into rockets, before charging at the mechs.
Finally, the biggest one couldn't be ignored. A massive, human-shaped Enemy Program was standing in front of them. Its lower half was submerged beneath the water, but Lena wouldn't be surprised if it was actually standing on the ocean floor. Purple plated armor, with a faceplate that only had one eye on its right. It was swinging wildly at MEKA, as if they were flies that needed swatting. Each movement produced a gust of wind that would occasionally knock over some of its smaller brethren.
The few seconds it took to take this all in was enough time for the Enemy Programs to shift their attention to Lena's group.
Down below, the pilot could hear Kiara cheerfully call out, "Have fun with KP!"
Archer was the one that swore for all of them.
Chapter 68
Lena was glad that this was all a simulation, if only because she didn't have to worry about wasting the ammo of her pulse pistols. No matter what anyone said, those cartridges were a pain in the arse to carry around, especially with how fast they emptied when in a firefight. On any mission, she would need at least fifty reloads, and while yes, the accelerator on her chest could refill spent cartridges, they did so at an abysmally slow rate.
The same could be said about all of their training sessions. In order to simulate real world scenarios, her training weapons had the same drawback built in by Winston. It was grating to realize that at any point, if she lost track of them, Lena could very well be a sitting duck who would only be able to run around until her ammo refilled themselves.
With this simulator, that was all thrown out of the window, and Lena could fire without worry.
"Down!"
Hearing the German man yell, Lena didn't hesitate to immediately drop to the ground. A massive swing of Reinhardt's hammer took one, two, then four of the Programs in the chest, sending them flying. Lena didn't stop shooting, her weapons taking the legs of another enemy that was stabbing forward with its sword. The now-downed Program was finished off by Winston's jump pack, the exhaust from jumping enough to flatten it.
Even then, they barely made a dent in the wave of enemies.
Genji was swinging his sword as he dashed nimbly through the Enemy Programs. The big ones were usually his targets, as their bulk didn't allow them to reach the cyborg as he vaulted over them. More than once, Lena had seen the morningstar-handed hulks fall over from a single, well aimed slash to the 'neck'.
Sombra was completely invisible. Since the start of the battle, Lena hadn't seen hide nor hair of the resident hacker. Though, the pilot had definitely seen her work, as a slowly growing horde of purple-lined Enemy Programs were now fighting their own. It seemed that the AI had taken into account Sombra's abilities and allowed the Programs to be converted.
Lena was certain that the other woman was having the time of her life.
And to be fair? Lena was the same. Earlier, the entire bit with that Kiara AI had spooked her quite a bit. The idea that something as powerful as that had existed for long enough that Archer personally knew her?
Frankly bloody insane.
The people watching had no idea of how long Archer had existed, assuming that he was around the same age as the younger members of the strike team. On the surface, she could get that. His white hair and her own preferences aside, Lena could objectively say that the man was way too handsome to be assumed as anything over thirty.
Nevermind Japanese. Who the hell looks at Archer and goes 'yeah, this bloke's Japanese'?
Anyway, the stream viewers were assuming that Kiara's comments only meant that it was a couple of years before the red-clad man had joined Overwatch. That he maybe met her when she was still being built. Nothing too problematic, as AI was still definitely a branch of science that was actively being developed.
Though anti-omnic rhetoric had extended to decrying such research, self-aware AI was still viewed in a fairly positive light.
Herself and the others on the strike team knew differently, however.
Archer was a Heroic Spirit that worked alongside the defunct Overwatch predecessor, Chaldea. That was the only place that Kiara could have met Archer at.
Which meant that the AI predated the Omnic Crisis.
The consequences of Archer not telling them of Kiara's existence could be left for another time, though. Lena had a lot of steam to blow off, and a free shooting range with infinite ammunition with no real risk of injuries?
Lena wasn't a fan of video games, but bloody hell if this was what it felt like for people who didn't want to risk life and limb, she could understand why.
The fun had to stop eventually, though. A massive shadow fell over Lena, blocking out the artificial sun of the simulation.
She blinked away from a sword swing and looked up. The giant Enemy Program was impossible to ignore. Surprisingly, it was the least dangerous enemy for Lena and everyone else on the oil rig's platforms. Its focus was entirely on MEKA Squad, and even then, it wasn't fighting properly. More or less, it was swinging its arms wildly, as if trying to swat a particularly annoying set of mosquitos.
Yet, those swats were the source of a massive amount of turbulence for anything flying close to it. Case in point, the comms she could hear from the kids in the air.
"Stay in formation!" D. Mon called out as she used her mech's green energy sword to try and carve a gouge on the Program. It didn't work, her weapon bouncing off, causing the younger girl to swear in Korean (or at least, Lena assumed it was a swear).
"I'm trying!" D. Va, having been thrown off course by one of the gusts, angles herself to dive back into the fray. It doesn't pan out, as MEKA had to again scatter from a deceptively fast fist. That Lena could keep up with all of the action going on proved that she had actually grown to have more spatial awareness than she had thought.
"Come onnnnn, guys!" Suddenly, Kiara's voice echoed throughout the shared comms, making Lena pause her shooting. Only for a moment, before another of the Enemy Programs managed to dive beneath the shield that Reinhardt was projecting, "I even made it slightly easier, considering Archer's here!"
"You call this easy, Kiki?!" Casino yelled, "In case you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have the firepower to take this down!"
"Oh don't be so dramatic." Lena could practically hear the rolling of eyes, "You should have this in the bag! Well, if Archer stops sandbagging so much."
Well, she wasn't wrong. But, considering what Archer was doing now, they might be already revealing a bit too much than he wanted.
Because Lena had heard the term 'wheat before the scythe' before, but it was only now that she truly understood just how literal that can be.
Back during the London Uprising, Lena had seen what he was capable of. Firing missile-like arrows from a distance, before engaging the Null Sector leader on his own. They were instances where Lena was far enough away that she could only really see the aftermath of everything. Even the way Archer had flattened a street, that one she didn't really see how he did so. Only that he had done so.
Even against Mauga, Archer was basically held down by the fact that he couldn't let the rest of the team get shot by a hail of bullets.
Like Lena, right now, there were no such complications. Not anymore.
Two swords, one black, one white. Held in each hand, Archer flew through any Programs that swarmed around him.
Reinhardt needed the bulk of his hammer to smash a couple of Programs - Archer's kick shattered five in one go.
Genji's magic dragon sword could cut five enemies with one swing - one of Archer's swords would be flung forward like a buzzsaw, bisecting ten at a time.
Lena's pulse pistols could down three programs before reloading - Archer didn't need to reload the ring of endlessly spawning swords that launched forward, each sword destroying its target entirely.
Where the strike team had been bunkering against a force of dozens at a time, Archer had already killed hundreds of the enemies already.
And Kiara implied that he was still holding back.
The mini-screen projected on her face showed just how disbelieving the viewers were.
[PewPew_Norepeat]: WTF WAS THAT KICK?
[lagswithc]: bro is playing on a different physics engine
[ceroCooldowns]: DID HE JUST SPAWN SWORDS OUT OF THIN AIR? WHO THE HELL GAVE THIS GUY VISHKAR TECH?
[Salt_Free_Gaming]: wait is he omnic? how is he doing that
[Bookwyrm]: Overwatch holding out on us. who tf is this guy
[Gwishin_Slayer]: EXPLOITER EXPLOITER HES HACKING THE SIM
[matrixwasbad]: KIKI SAID HE'S HOLDING BACK?
[JunkBall]: vishkar hardlight doesnt look like that
[BobaKnight]: my bits are gone. he has 500 kills in two minutes.
Unfortunately, this caught the attention of not just the viewers.
"Archer!" D. Mon's voice carried a bit of frustration, "As much as I am annoyed at Kiara-" The AI blew a raspberry, "Is she telling the truth?! Do you have some way to take this thing down?!"
"Hoh?" He was doing the annoying tone on purpose, Lena swears he was, "And here I thought this was supposed to be a training simulation for you guys. Though, in retrospect, I'm guessing you haven't gotten up to this level yet."
"Yeah, more or less." Kiara's nonchalant tone was almost as annoying as Archer's general voice, "Basically, the head honcho wanted the kids to get their shit kicked in-"
"Language!" Overlord uncharacteristically shouted, even as he dodged a headbutt from the giant, of all attacks.
"-cause they were getting too big in their britches. They thought that you guys wouldn't be able to do anything to KP, so they could get a double whammy with shutting down MEKA's popularity and making Overwatch look bad."
"Politics?" Archer snorted with a tiny bit of sympathy.
"Ehhhh~" Lena imagined Kiara doing a so-so gesture as she continued, "Sort of? Try a mix of politics and global conspiracy."
"Should you really be talking about this right now?" Reinhardt, of all people, cut into the conversation, "We arelive, you know?"
"I mean, what are they gonna do? Shut me down? They do that and they prove what I'm saying is correct. Plus, I never signed an NDA~!" The mischievous sing-song of Kiara's voice was terrifyingly cute.
"You're an AI, there's-"
"ARCHER!" D. Va yelled out this time, "ANYTHING FOR THE BIG GUY?!"
Instead of answering, the Heroic Spirit created another weapon. This one, unlike the cleanly made swords that he had used earlier, was one that was made almost entirely of stone. It didn't even look like a sword. It was a massive, brutal slab of jagged gray rock, crudely carved into the shape of a giant axe. The thing was larger than Reinhardt. It had to weigh several tons.
And Lena could clearly see it, enough to describe it in its entirety, as Archer had swung it once. Hundreds of the programs were blown away, thrown into the digital sea. The pressure that was one Reinhardt and Winston's shields immediately let up as the deck of the oil rig was cleared of any enemies.
That one swing carried enough strength that there was no way that it wasn't noticed.
"Should you really be showing off Nine Lives? Who knowswho's watching, Archer~ "
Lena felt her chronal accelerator stutter against her chest. The sheer mass of the stone slab defied gravity. And Kiara just casually gave it a name on a global broadcast.
Nine Lives.
It sounded like a bloody video game ultimate. But the pressure in the air was way too real. The smell of crushed ozone and ancient, dry dirt completely masked the digital ocean breeze.
"That's kind of the point." Archer said. His voice was calm over the comms. Dead calm, "If anyone understands what I'm doing, then that just means that I got their attention. Better than a dead end in London."
He didn't bend his knees. He didn't brace his stance. He just lifted a jagged rock the size of a dropship over his shoulder like it was a cricket bat.
Out in the water, the giant Program finally noticed him. Its faceplate, the one with just a single eye on the right side, stared down at the tiny man in red. It raised a massive hand to swat the entire oil rig.
He swung the stone axe-sword.
Lena squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands over her ears. It didn't help. There was no boom. The air just cracked, creating a vacuum that sucked the breath right out of her lungs.
He swung once. Then twice, three times, four. It was physically impossible. Something that massive and brutal shouldn't move that fast. But Archer blurred. He delivered nine consecutive, overlapping strikes in the span of a single heartbeat. The swings fused into a blinding flash of raw force.
A shockwave tore across the open water. It pushed the simulated ocean back, carving a dry, perfectly straight canyon right through the sea.
The attack hit the giant dead center.
A second later, its entire torso blew out the back. Millions of blue pixels erupted into the sky like a heavy smoke cloud. The air pressure violently equalized. Wind rushed back in, throwing Lena clean off her feet. She hit the metal deck hard, sliding backward until she slammed into Reinhardt's heavy boots.
The giant collapsed. The massive body hit the water, sending a tidal wave crashing over the lower platforms of the rig.
Dead silence fell over the comms. Even the MEKA mechs hovering above them stopped moving.
Archer stood at the edge of the broken platform. He let go of the stone weapon. It dissolved back into thin air, leaving no trace behind. He dusted off his coat.
Lena groaned and pushed herself up. Her ears were ringing so badly she could barely hear him. She tapped the side of her visor to bring the stream chat back up. The text was scrolling so fast the system was struggling to render the words.
Even then, that wasn't the most shocking bit.
"No fucking way." D. Mon was the one that voiced their collective disbelief. The giant had fallen over, yes, but it didn't disappear like the other Programs. Instead, it somehow got back on its feet, the only blue pixels that shattered being from the armor platings as they fell off.
It had taken an impossible attack from Archer, and still lived to tell the tale.
And yet, the Heroic Spirit didn't even look fazed.
"Sorry about that, I tried to only aim for the armor, though I don't know if you got hurt from that. You alright?" Archer spoke, and it wasn't to any of them. Instead, it was to the giant itself.
"I'm alright, Mr. Archer." The faceplate had shattered, and where before there was a giant Enemy Program, now there was the face of a giant girl, "It actually kind of tickled!"
Lena just stared. Saltwater from the displaced ocean rained down on the cracked metal deck, soaking right through her jacket. Her ears were still ringing from the vacuum snap of the stone sword.
She looked at the giant girl, who was currently rubbing her cheek like she had just been pinched. Then she looked at Archer.
He knew her. Of course he did. He knew Kiara, so why wouldn't he know the bloody skyscraper-sized boss monster?
"Then I'm guessing that we've completed the mission, haven't we?"
"Yep!" The giant girl nodded enthusiastically, "Mother said I should only fight when I have my armor, so I think you guys win!"
Archer chuckled, "Sounds about right. Well, I'll talk to you later, if that's fine with you?"
"Mhm!" The pressure created from the giant's nods was immense. The girl turned to the floating MEKA Squad, who not so subtly got back into formation. Surprisingly, the giant only gave them a small, shy smile, "I had a really fun time playing with you guys. Do you think we can play again someday?"
There was a moment of silence, and for a moment, the smile on the giant's face started to disappear. Almost like she was on the verge of crying. It only ended when King tapped on D. Mon's mech, prompting the MEKA Squad lead to stutter out, "Y-Yeah, we had fun too. So…yeah?"
The gamer's words were as lost as Lena was with what was happening, but that didn't stop the giant's smile from returning in full force, "Yay! Next time, I'm gonna be the best kaiju you've ever seen!" She yawned, "But I'm tired now, so I'm gonna go take a nap. It was nice meeting you again, Mr. Archer!"
"Same to you, Kingprotea. Have a good nap."