Save Him One More Time: Phase 3

Chapter 12- Explosion, Take Two

She looked at the sky, trying to find the sun, and then she spun and ran north.

She did not stop for a very long time, but when she finally collapsed to the ground, breathing hard and fast, her face flushed and dripping with sweat, the sun was low in the west. She didn't know how far she'd gone, or where she was. The medic sat up, and looked around her. There was a road, running east and west, but no one on it. She tried to stand, but her legs were jelly and she fell to the ground again. She had no coat and already a breeze had risen. She dug herself a hole in the snow, piling it around herself, and curled up in a tight ball on the ground. Hopefully she wouldn't freeze; she was already shivering and she had no coat.

She was awoken an hour or so later by a feeling that she was being watched. She opened her eyes and jumped back. There was a man sitting on the edge of her snow pit. His hair was long and unkempt, but his eyes held an attitude of nobility.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, staring at his bow, arrows and strange clothes.
"I could say the same for you." He had the same accent as Genji, but his voice was deeper and lacked the metallic intonation. She squinted in the fading light.
"You sound like someone I know. What is your name?"
He laughed.
"As if I would tell you. I just found you, asleep on the side of the road, and you expect me to tell you my name." He sighed, shaking his head. "You haven't even told me your name."
She adjusted herself to a more comfortable position.
"I can't tell you my name. If I do, you will die."
"What, you'll kill me?" He looked at her disdainfully. "As if."
"No. I'm being hunted and if you know anything about me you'll die. He'll kill you."
"Who? Who will kill me? Are you being hunted by a masked cyborg?"
"Masked cyborg? What does he look like?"
"Silver armor, carries a blade, green slit where his eyes should be. He is fast, but not the brightest. That is how I know he is not an omnic."
"That sounds like someone I know. He's not hunting me, although I'd be glad if he were here."
"Why? Do you also want me dead?"
"I don't even know who you are. No, I'd be glad if he were here because he is my friend."
The stranger leaned in.
"Tell me about him. Does he have a name? Does he fight with the blade? Just how fast is he?"
She frowned.
"His name is Genji." She stopped and stood up as the man nocked an arrow and aimed at her.
"You lie." His eyes were stony and hostile.
"Genji is dead."
She put her hands up.
"Dead? How long?"
"Genji has been dead for over ten years."
She lowered her hands.
"Genji's body was brought to me twelve years ago, and he was not expected to survive. I built him a cybernetic body and healed him."
The stranger lowered his bow.
"What are you? There is no way he could have survived, I am sure of it." He pointed the bow at her again. "Where are you from?"
She backed up a step.
"Zurich, Switzerland. I'm a surgeon. I need to get to America, and then I need to get to Moscow."
He didn't seem satisfied with her answer and aimed carefully.
"Please, don't kill me," she said, backing up another step.
"What kind of surgeon brings people back from the dead? I watched him die! I saw him bleed out! I killed him!"
Hanzo. Genji's brother. Angela had heard the entire story many times.
"Hanzo."
He knelt in the snow, laying his weapon aside.
"What kind of angel are you?" He bowed his head and she saw a tear fall.
"I'm not an angel. Hanzo, I'm not going to kill you. What you did to Genji is reprehensible, but he is alive and well. He seeks to make peace with you." She took a step closer and he jumped away.
"Don't touch me." He turned away from her, shoulders shaking. "Leave me."
She opened her mouth to protest, but heard a distant voice. Glancing in the direction of the Talon base, she fled.

"Jesse!"
He pried his eyes open. Sam dropped the staff and sat next to him.
"What did I do? Are you gonna die?"
Slowly, he sat up. Sam had done his job well.
"You fixed me up, kid. I'm good as new now." He ruffled Sam's hair. "Good work, kiddo."
Sam beamed at him.
"Now," Jesse said, standing up, "we've got an angel to rescue." He picked his hat up off the floor and looked at the front of his shirt. "First I have to get me a new shirt. This one's holey." He stuck his finger through the bullet hole to show Sam. "And you could use a new shirt too." Sam looked at his own shirt.
"Why? What's wrong with it?"
"It's dirty, and it's got blood on it. Looks like you got shot too." He picked up the staff. "I guess I oughta hang on to her stuff till we find her. Don't want anybody taking it, now."
Sam trailed eagerly behind him as he set out for his own place.
"What are we doing?" he asked when Jesse stopped at the edge of the city, hoping to get a ride.
"Hitchhiking. We need a ride to the next city, that's where I live, and it's too far to walk." He set the suitcase down next to them and took Sam's hand.
"If we look pitiful enough, we'll get a ride easier." Sam frowned, and Jesse smiled. "Maybe cry a little, if you can do that." Sam's lower lip started quivering, and his eyes filled up with tears.
"Perfect." Jesse angled his hat a little further back on his head and adopted a tired squint, sitting on the suitcase of Angela's stuff and trying to flag someone down.
Hours later, Sam started crying for real. Jesse couldn't blame him- it was hot, they hadn't eaten, and they didn't have anything to drink. He stood up.
"Come on, Sam, let's get us a sandwich and something to drink and then we'll just have to start walking, I guess." He picked up the suitcase and led Sam back into town.

It was cold. Something crushed his chest. He couldn't move.
Voices. Two females, far away. His eyes wouldn't open. He tried to call out to them, to get help. He couldn't.
A surge of panic gripped him suddenly and he felt himself start shivering.
His eyes snapped open and he tried to squirm out from underneath the chunk of metal. He still couldn't move. He found his voice and managed to yell something incomprehensible. The female voices stopped.
A redhead leaned over him. Her face was sharply angled and her eyes were different colors.
"He's alive," she called to the other, "help me get this off him." A tanned girl with purple hair showed up and they pushed the chunk of metal to one side. He coughed violently as the pressure disappeared and he could breathe again. The redhead knelt next to him and helped him sit up.
"Are you alright?"
He shook his head, trying to clear his mind.
"What-" he coughed again, "what happened?"
The tanned girl looked around.
"Looks like an explosion. Some kind of transport malfunction, I guess."
It came rushing back to him, and his head throbbed as the memory returned.

She laid her head against his chest. "I've had a bad feeling about this all day."
"Hey." He lifted her chin. "We're going to be okay. We'll weather this storm like any other. Heroes never die, Angel, you say that yourself. We'll make it okay."

He struggled to his feet. "The others," he said, "the other shuttles, where's the last one? Where is she?"
The redhead's eyes narrowed.
"Where's who?" Her tone was sinister.
"Angela, where is she? She was in the last shuttle, where is it?"
The redhead frowned.
"Angela who? There aren't any other shuttles, just yours. Are you sure you're alright?" She pulled him down. "Maybe you should sit awhile, and let your body stabilise. You were just in an explosion, after all." She stood up. "I'll go for help. Olivia, you stay here. Make sure nothing happens before I get back." She handed the girl a syringe. "Be careful."
Olivia sat down next to him and handed him a towel. "Here, don't want to freeze before she gets back."
He looked around nervously.
"What's your name? Why were you on a transport in the middle of nowhere?"
"You're Olivia, right?"
"Yeah. I prefer to go by my nickname though. Sombra."
"Sombra." The word felt strange in his mouth. "I wasn't alone. There were other shuttles. I saw one explode, then I heard a crack and everything went black and I woke up and your friend was asking if I was alright."
Sombra stiffened.
"She's not my friend."
"Oh." He pulled the towel closer around him. "I'm Gabe. You did ask," he added, as she frowned at him.
"Yeah." She stood up and stretched. "Moira's not going to be happy about that," she muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing." Sombra looked around and pulled up a holo keypad of some sort.
"What are you doing?"
"You don't want to be here. When she comes back, you're gonna be sedated and she's gonna mess up your mind. She'll make you forget everything and be loyal to her and she'll make you kill Angela." The forest vanished. The snow disappeared. Even the chunk of shuttle debris vanished. Sombra pulled him to his feet. "You're not actually injured. She couldn't do that without killing you. Now come on. We have ten seconds to reach the door and sixty seconds after that to get out of the building." She dragged him after her.
"Where do you think you're going?" A purple woman dropped from the ceiling.
"Widow, get out of my way!" Sombra kicked her in the shins. Gabe adopted a fighting stance.
"Oh please, Gabriel. You're not fooling anyone. Try letting go. Run away. Hide. But I will find you and I will drag your body back here." He swung at her face, black smoke rising off his arm. She dodged easily. Sombra typed something on her keyboard and Widow dropped to the ground.
"Who's that? How does she know me?" He ran after Sombra.
"Widowmaker. You used to work with her. Moira's gonna turn you like her. Cold. Ruthless." She threw down a device. "Quick, stand here," she shoved him onto it. "When you get there, run. Like you've never run before. Don't stop. Never stop running. Moira will never stop hunting you." As the room disappeared, she touched his nose. "Boop!"