Demoted || Genyatta

Chapter 2: If You Can't Find Another Reason Not to Stay

Genji's eyelids felt heavy the next time he attempted to open them. Actually, his entire body felt heavy, like there were weights tied to his limbs. Slowly, he managed to open his eyes, only to see.. blue?

"Good morning, Genji."

He was looking straight into Angela's strict eyes, and as he looked around, he realized he was in her lab. Instantly, he remembered what had happened.

"I'm alive," he said before he could stop himself, probably mirroring Angela's puzzled expression.

Angela took a few steps back and grabbed a tablet from her desk. "Yes, but only just." As she walked back over to the bed Genji was lying on, she listed all the injuries, "All of your synthetics were disabled when we found you. Seeing as your synthetics are what's keeping you alive for longer than a few hours, I was just in time to reactivate them."

Genji tried to sit up, but Angela placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "You're lucky we found you at all, you know? Your tracker had been disabled as well."

Angela was busy typing something into her tablet, so Genji took this chance to sit up straight without being stopped. His limbs still felt slow and drowsy, and as he willed his fingers to move separately, he noticed it took a few milliseconds longer than usual for them to react.

"It'll go back to its usual speed in a few hours, don't worry," Angela spoke, clearly having seen Genji's struggle. The cyborg merely nodded and put his hands onto his lap.

The air turned tense around them, both awaiting the yet unspoken question. Genji looked up at Angela, but she was still typing away on her tablet. Whether she was just pretending to be busy, Genji didn't know.

"Angela.." Genji eventually broke the silence. He had to ask. "What about Derek?"

There it was. Angela's fingers froze just above the tablet, and very slowly, she lowered it. She turned away, but Genji could see her shoulders tense when she answered, "He didn't make it."

It stayed silent for a very long time after that. Eventually, Angela went back to typing, and she occasionally jotted something down in a notebook on her desk. Genji sank back into the pillow and blankly stared up at the ceiling. 'He didn't make it.' 'He didn't make it.' 'He didn't make it.'

Everything was ruined. They'd been so close to catching Antonio once and for all, but he now knew for certain that Blackwatch was still hot on his tails, so there was no way he'd leave the safety of his base anytime soon. He was basically untouchable now. Besides, Genji had never really failed a mission before. Sure, he was known for doing things his way by now, but it had always worked out without much extra trouble. For a mission to go downhill like this.. it was embarrassing.

Angela had taken a seat at her desk at some point, because when Genji eventually sat back up, she was leaning over some paperwork and her pen was scribbling softly across the paper. Genji had always been easily irked at small sounds like a pen touching paper, so he decided it was time to move himself to his bedroom instead.

As he stood up, he half expected Angela to stop him, but she barely looked up from her papers as she said, "Reyes expects you in his office to debrief."

"Now?" Genji asked impatiently. "We usually debrief the day after the mission."

This time, Angela did look up at him. "It is the day after the mission."

Genji gaped at her for a moment. He'd been unconscious for longer than he'd thought. "..Right."

Without another word, Genji left Angela's lab and, although begrudgingly, started heading towards Reyes' office. He had no idea what time it was, his internal clock having been reset to 0:00 due to the EMP, but judging from the abandoned halls it was either very late or very early. He usually came across more people when walking through the barracks.