Below Zero

Chapter 5: Frozen Over

The flight aboard the omnic's ship was quiet, but there was a sense of tension in the air. As she got closer and closer to Ecopoint: Siberia, Mei wondered what would happen when she arrived. If the launch codes weren't there, that meant acquiring the launch codes was entirely McCree's mission; that is, if McCree even made it to Ecopoint: Okhotsk. But if they were at Ecopoint: Siberia, then it would be all up to Mei. But what would happen if Talon showed up? Sure, Mei could hold her own against a few soldiers, but what about a whole squadron? Mei shook this thought from her head and focused on flying. The ship was an older model, so it didn't have autopilot.

"You still awake, Snowball?" Mei asked. Snowball didn't respond; sure enough, it was in sleep mode. Mei giggled and patted it on the head.

"We'll be there soon." she said. Mei felt herself get drowsy, for the trip to Ecopoint: Siberia was long and, so far, uninterrupted. She never did fall asleep, though; the pain in her leg wasn't as bad as it was before, but it was still enough to keep her awake. Plus, if she fell asleep, no one would be piloting the ship, and that obviously wouldn't be a good thing. The last thing Mei wanted was another crash landing.

"I think we're almost there!" Mei said excitedly. Sure enough, after a few more minutes of flying, a small facility perched in the hillside came into view.

"Now I need to find a good place to land." Mei said. Luckily for her, there was a helipad attached to the side of the facility, with enough room for two to three aircraft. Obviously, there were none to be found. Mei flew in and slowly set the ship down. The helipad was worn down and somewhat rickety after years of neglect, but it was sturdy enough to support the weight of the ship. The second Mei opened the cockpit, she was met with a blast of cold wind.

"It's freezing out here!" Mei yelled. "Come on, Snowball! We gotta get inside!" Mei grabbed Snowball and tried to run towards the entrance, but her running was slowed to a walk due the harsh winds. The walkway leading to the entrance was suspended in the air, and walking off either side meant certain death. Mei's vision was so obscured by the weather that her path was almost diverted to the edge of the walkway. Luckily, she made it to the entrance without incident. Upon entering, she saw that the whole facility was overrun with ice. Icicles littered the ceiling, and thin sheets of ice was spread out across the ground. If Mei didn't have her boots on, she would've immediately slipped and fell.

"This entire facility is coated in ice..." Mei said. "No one has been here for years." Of course, the same could be said for every other ecopoint. Unlike before, Mei quickly accessed the main computer room, as the doors were already wide open; they were likely frozen in the open position. Mei ran to one of the computers and found that it was somehow functional. She also noticed that the lights, although flickering and dimly lit, were active; something she didn't even notice.

"Winston must've remotely reactivated this ecopoint in anticipation of my arrival." Mei said. She went up to one of the computers and logged in using the same information she had used at Fujian. On the desktop was an audio file labeled as "mei_audio_instruction". Without hesitation, Mei opened the file. A message from Winston played.

"This message is for Mei-Ling Zhou. I've reactivated the ecopoint, but it's running on backup power, so don't waste any time. If the launch codes are at Ecopoint: Siberia, send them to Watchpoint: Gibraltar immediately. If the launch codes are at Ecopoint: Okhotsk, then McCree will take care of it. Remember the importance of this mission; the detonation of the EMP can and will have catastrophic consequences, so it's imperative that it does not fall into the wrong hands. Good luck."

With that, Mei immediately went through every file on the computer, while simultaneously keeping an eye out for the codes. If they were nowhere to be found, then it would be up to McCree to get the codes back to Watchpoint: Gibraltar. After a few minutes of scouring the computers files, her heart stopped. A file with an unknown format, labeled "emp_protocol_launch". She tried to open it, but to no avail.

"It won't open..." Mei said quietly. "Probably for security reasons." She wasted no time in completing her task; a few clicks later, and the codes were being sent to Watchpoint: Gibraltar. It wasn't immediate, however; a loading bar appeared on the screen, and it appeared to move at a snail's pace.

"Ugh, really?" Mei groaned. "The connection speed is terrible here." She sat back in her chair and waited. It wasn't before long before she found herself lost in thought. She thought deeply about what would happen if Talon got ahold of the EMP. Would they detonate it immediately, crippling the U.S., or possibly even Europe? Would they threaten to use it and use that threat to manipulate world powers into doing their bidding? There was no sure way of knowing, unless they actually did acquire the EMP. While lost in thought, Mei checked the computer.

"16%....17%...." Mei muttered. "Can't this thing go any faster?" She sighed and stared off into space. Her train of thought was soon interrupted by the sound of an aircraft landing. Mei immediately feared the worst. She peeked out of the door and found a large dropship had landed right next to her ship. Four soldiers in black armor exited the ship.

"Talon..." Mei thought. But that wasn't all. Two more individuals exited the ship, and these weren't any ordinary Talon grunts. A shorter lady in purple and a large African man with a giant robotic arm stood before the entrance.

"This is where the girl landed," the large man said. "Find her."

"Doomfist..." Mei said nervously. "Did he follow me here?" She immediately equipped her endothermic blaster and blocked herself in with a wall of ice. She stood as still as a statue as the group approached. They stopped in front of the door, with a few murmurs being barely audible. The words "ice wall" and "man made" could be heard. Before Mei could process them, a large metal fist came crashing through the ice wall, knocking Mei to the ground. Doomfist brushed himself off and turned his attention towards Mei.

"Ah, Mei-Ling Zhou." Doomfist said. "You're the girl we've been looking for. Do you know who I am?" Mei slowly nodded.

"Good." Doomfist said. "Then you know what I want." Mei stayed silent. "Don't play dumb. We want the EMP launch codes. We intercepted Winston's transmission, so we know your mission. We sent a squadron after that idiot McCree in Okhotsk, and the launch codes were nowhere to be found. Sombra, play the transmission." The short woman in purple walked into the room and pulled up a screen with her long fingernails that presented an audio recording. Mei recognized one voice as McCree's, but she couldn't make out the other. The second voice was deep and raspy.

"Where are the launch codes, cowboy?"

"I ain't tellin' you squat, partner."

"I know they're here. And if they're not, then we know that they're with your Chinese friend. Check the computers."

A minute or so of silence passes.

"Well, you lucked out, cowboy. The codes aren't here. That means they're in Siberia."

"You're makin' a big mistake, pal."

"Oh, how threatening. Leave him here. His ship is out of fuel anyway." The transmission ended there. Doomfist grinned at the situation.

"It looks like the codes are here." he said. "But where, exactly?" Mei was still silent. The whole time, she glanced over at the computer.

"96%...97%..."

"You've been looking at that computer an awful lot, Mei." Doomfist pointed out. "Sombra, you know what to do." Sombra walked over to the computer and began rapidly typing, presumably as a part of the hacking process.

"The codes aren't here, amigo." Sombra said. Doomfist's grin faded. But after a few more seconds of searching, Sombra grinned slyly. "However, a file labeled 'emp_protocol_launch" was just uploaded to Watchpoint: Gibraltar." Doomfist looked towards the other Talon agents.

"You heard her." Doomfist said. "Next stop: Gibraltar." Doomfist and Sombra left the room, leaving Mei behind.

"What about the girl?" one of the agents asked.

"Leave her." Doomfist said. "We will destroy her ship as we leave. She won't last long here on her own." Mei's heart, which was already beating at high speeds, had stopped. She stood up and ran to the entrance, but before she could make it, a bomb detonated on the walkway to the helipad, causing it to collapse. As a result, Mei's ship was also sent plummeting below. Meanwhile, the Talon ship had taken off into the sky, completely unscathed. Snowball, who had been hiding the whole time, came up to Mei, who is in shock over what had happened. Despite Snowball's attempts to comfort her, there was no denying the harsh truth. Mei was stranded, just like she was nine years ago. This time, however, she was alone.