Archive of Our Own ^beta

            “Oh, come the hell on!” Cried an aggravated Junkrat, smacking his hand against the side of his grenade launcher. How did they keep winding up smack in the middle of battles they had no part in? That Sombra lady shouldn’t have even been targeting him, he was far from the target they were here for! Yet here he was, with a (somehow) hacked grenade launcher. A sitting duck. “Remind me again why we stuck around?” He yelled to his partners.

            His omnic second sidekick (because, quote, “I can’t demote Roadie from first sidekick, he’d get sad!”) wasn’t having a good time, either. Their healing beams were beginning to overheat from constant use, desperately keeping a battered Roadhog on life support. Originally, they’d been on the offense as well, but all three of their shared Hogdrogen supplies had since completely depleted. No wonder, either. The three of them were getting battered from both sides, by both Overwatch and Talon.

            “This was your idea!” They called back to Junkrat, their modulated voice wavering a little as they ducked to avoid a stream of fire from Mauga’s chainguns. “You’re the one who wanted to stay back when we spotted ‘em all, ‘Watch the carnage’!”

            “Oh yeah! I did say that, didn’t I?” Junkrat recalled with a burst of laughter, sounding half manic and half panicked. His grenade launcher finally whirred back to life in his hands, earning a wicked grin. He wasted no time, launching a few bombs straight into the face of the quickly approaching Mauga, who swerved and growled. “Ha! Bullseye!”

            His sidekick dashed quickly to the side to evade Mauga’s new path, yanking Roadhog out of the way, too. They shook their head, patting Roadhog’s arm. “We gotta get outta here,” they said to Hog, taking his hand in theirs and guiding their healing rifle gently over a long cut there. Hog imperceptibly sighed with relief, then nodded and huffed.

            “Time to go,” he grunted over at Junkrat. Rat, for his part, immediately whined, exaggeratedly sticking his lower lip out in a pout.

            “Awwww, but it was just gettin’ good!” He complained, firing a few extra bombs in Mauga’s general direction in protest before stalking over to the other two, hands firmly on hips. “Fine, fine. But next time! Next time we pull out the big bombs!” He insisted, already tapping his peg leg on the ground in excitement at the mere idea. Hog huffed and the omnic rolled their digital pupils.

            “Don’t even think about it,” Hog said, grabbing a visibly disappointed Rat and tugging him along in the opposite direction of the battlefield. The omnic went to follow the pair, but something stopped them in their tracks. Something felt… Off. There was a strange twitching feeling in their leg. Odd. Omnics weren’t supposed to be able to twitch.

            They glanced down at their leg. One of the bolts that held their makeshift leg scraps in place, previously having been knocked loose by getting caught in a dashing Mauga’s crosshairs, was now… Floating out of their leg and up into the air? The hell? They looked around, realizing other things were beginning to float, too- Small rocks and pebbles, debris from the fight, shrapnel from Rat’s bombs, all levitating in midair. Even their head cords were starting to rise. They ran forward, reaching up and grabbing Hog and Rat’s shoulders.

            “Hey, something’s wrong-” They hardly got out before they all three rounded the corner and found themselves face to face with the source of the floating objects.

            A man stood- No, floated- There in the middle of the street. He was grasping at his head, visibly shaking and murmuring to himself in a language their pattern recognition software recognized as Dutch. Trash and debris were swirling around him, ping-ponging back and forth as gravity fluctuated. It was getting worse, they could feel it. Their cords were floating higher, above eye level, and even bolts still securely in their sockets were beginning to feel tugged upwards. Then, from the corner of their eye, they spotted it: an Overwatch agent, perched on a roof, aiming one of her flight suit’s rocket launchers at the man. They weren’t familiar with all of the agents, but they didn’t need to be to know that this was a horrible idea.

            “Shit-!” They hissed, breaking away from Hog and Rat to run forward, waving her arms at the blue-clad agent. “Don’t-! Don’t shoot!” They cried, but unfortunately, the agent was too far away to hear and too focused on her target to see. She pulled the trigger.

            They ducked, shielding their head as a rocket careened towards the floating man. It never hit its target. It stopped midair as soon as it hit the gravitational field he was putting off, hovering a few seconds before exploding on its own. They jumped a bit, but not nearly as much as the man above them did. He curled in tight on himself for a moment, shoulders heaving. There was a pause just long enough for Hog and Rat to begin running over to them before something in him seemed to… Snap.

            “What is that melody?!” The man screamed, suddenly jerking his upper half wildly back and rising several more feet into the air. The pressure around them and the others suddenly plummeted, their feet leaving the ground. Junkrat cried out, grabbing at the ground in vain as he moved further and further away from it. Roadhog, normally calm, began scrambling and digging through his belt in an attempt to grab his hook. The omnic made a loud whirring noise in their panic, but was able to react a little quicker than the other two. Five thick, metal tendrils shot from their lower back. One wrapped around Junkrat, two around Roadhog, and the final two digging their metal claws into the wall behind them, anchoring the three from rising any further.

            “Hang on!” They cried, though their words didn’t mean much as the gravity began to almost… Increase. But not towards the earth, no. It was increasing upwards . They were being pulled up, and not gently either. Junkrat grabbed desperately at their tendril as he was pulled up, his lanky form beginning to slip from its grasp. Roadhog was still firmly wrapped up by both tendrils, but his sheer size was beginning to tug them from their place on the wall as gravity reversed. Their tendrils strained, trying to tug both of them back towards the ground, but it was no use. Junkrat moved down pretty easily, but Roadhog wouldn’t budge. They swore quietly, looking back up at the floating man. Even with the brief glance they spared him, they could tell; he was winding up to something. The reversed gravity’s force was reaching a crescendo, even beginning to rip their metal claws out of the wall behind them.

            The omnic looked around for any way out of this. The Overwatch agent from before had abandoned her perch, maybe looking for reinforcements, maybe going to hide. Either way, as they focused and felt their mind buzz, they found nothing. No other energy signatures near them, besides the man above them and their partners. Fuck. They looked back up at the duo, watching Junkrat scream and flail as Roadhog tried to grab him, and realized; they couldn’t pull them down, but they could launch them sideways . The omnic, channeling most of the energy they’d built up, forced out one of their large blasters from their back and launched themself up by kicking off the wall. As they reached eye-level with their partners, they readied their blaster, charging up a sunburst.

            “Run for it!” They ordered as they untwined their tendrils from around the pair, releasing the massive blast of golden light in tandem. The sheer force of it not only blasted themself back a bit, but also knocked both Junkrat and Roadhog several feet further and smack into the wall on the other side of the street. They both crumpled as they hit it, but fell to the floor, out of range of the abnormal gravity. Roadhog reacted first, hefting Junkrat over his shoulder. He pulled out his hook and tried aiming for his coworker, but the hook froze midway through its trajectory. They heard him swear while he tugged the hook back and ran off, Junkrat flopping like a dead fish over his shoulder.

            Once they were sure both their associates were safe, they scrambled to grab onto any surface they could. Their tendrils, all five of them, managed to latch firmly onto the roof of a building they’d passed. They pulled themself down onto the roof, watching the levitating man. That crescendo they’d been waiting for was taking longer than expected, but they could tell it was still coming. The man was shaking still, and the gravity was slowing down in its increase. Their pupils narrowed as their hands collapsed in, forming twin drills. They had to stop this.

            Stretching out their tendrils, they precariously balanced on the roof, pushing themself up towards the man at the center of all this chaos. But as they got closer, their movements slowed. Not because of the gravity changing again, but because of the man himself. They hadn’t looked too closely at him until now, not having had the opportunity to do so, but now they had an up-close view from a few feet away.

            He was old, it looked like. By human standards, at least. Gauging it, maybe upper fifties, lower sixties. But most humans that age the omnic had seen were calm, peaceful to some degree. This man wasn’t that. They could see water flowing up from his face, which was hidden as he curled up away from them. No, wait, not water. Tears. They could hear him sobbing, his shoulders shaking. He was whispering to himself in Dutch, things they could barely hear, but they did catch whispers of “music” and “melody”, along with brief phrases of “that’s not right” and “it doesn’t make sense”. His breathing was fast, much too fast for even a normal workout. The omnic wasn’t sure how much effort his gravitational manipulation was taking, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be enough to cause him to breathe how he was. And what’s more, he was facing away from them. That wouldn’t be much on its own, but he’d been facing away from the Overwatch agent from before, too. No one had been in his gravitational vortex before Junkrat, Roadhog and them showed up. He hadn’t just not attacked them; this man hadn’t attacked anyone. His attack seemed almost like it was more… Defensive.

            Their pattern recognition kicked in again as they absorbed that. He was panicked. They’d seen this before. Junkrat sometimes got like this, too. They glanced down at their twin drills, watching as they collapsed again, returning to being hands. They didn’t need to fight him. He needed help. He seemed scared. But what could they do? Normally Junkrat was pretty easy to calm down; they just had to use his real name, speak gently, and offer him a shoulder to cry on while he recovered. They didn’t know this person’s name, though. And beyond that, they weren’t close enough to offer that shoulder.

            Finally, an idea hit them. It was a risk, for sure, but it was as good as they had. Pulling back up an old memory, they began to slowly hum an old tune. They’d heard it from a music box, out in the outback’s wasteland. Junkrat had adored the little box when they’d found it, replaying it over and over again until it eventually broke. They remembered the tune well from the constant repetition- Short yet slow, subtly peaceful.

            The man’s head jerked up as he caught the first few notes, looking around in a search for the source of the song. He turned, finally seeming to notice the presence of an omnic beside him. He jerked back a little, raising his hands as if they were about to hit him. They held their hands up in turn, showing that they had no weapons, and became a little louder in their humming. A slow, dawning realization came over the man’s face as he seemed to realize that the music was coming from them. His shoulders slumped, legs uncurling from his chest. The flow of tears from his eyes began ebbing. The anchored omnic felt the pull of the reversed gravity become a little weaker.

            The man began to drift a little closer as he listened to their music, seeming completely enraptured by it. They went to recoil a little, still attached to the roof by their tendrils, but fought the urge. No. This man, he… He didn’t seem like he was a threat. Not really. They watched him with slight wariness for a moment before slowly extending a hand, fingers outstretched. The man looked down at it for a moment as if confused by what they wanted, but he reached his own hand out after a moment. They grasped onto his hand softly, trying not to squeeze too hard. They’d pinched Junkrat’s hand doing that before. Pain would only make things worse for him, they knew from experience.

            Slowly, they pulled their tendrils back into their lower back, lowering themself back towards the ground with the floating man in tow. The gravitational pull was growing weaker and more normal by the moment as they continued humming, making it much easier to move down than before. Their metal claws began to slowly shift from the building’s ceiling onto its wall, slowly crawling their way back towards the ground. The floating man didn’t resist, continuing to stare at them.

            His expression was unreadable, which was saying something given how long the omnic had spent studying human facial expressions. It was far from empty- Full, really- But they couldn’t tell of what. Shell-shocked, possibly. Dazed, definitely. He almost didn’t seem to know what was going on. They recognized his gear- Thick, protective sheets, but almost restrictive in nature- As Talon made. Yet unlike the other Talon agents they’d seen that day, he wasn’t trying to kill them. Or even capture them. He was just… There.

            If they had lungs, they would’ve sighed with relief as their feet finally reconnected with the pavement. Their tendrils let go of the wall, slithering back up into their back. Good. Had it not been a bright, sunny day, they’d have run out of energy completely by now. The floating man maintained his grip on their hand, but his feet never touched the ground. Made sense, they thought, now that they noticed he wasn’t actually wearing shoes. Odd. The rest of the Talon members had shoes. They looked up at him, still continuing their humming as he seemed to both figuratively and literally come back down to earth. His eyes, formerly glassy, finally managed to actually lock onto them in a way that seemed he could actually perceive them.

            “...what happened?” The man asked, his formerly unreadable face taking on a degree of bewilderment. He began looking around as if he couldn’t remember where he was. The omnic was inclined to believe it was an act, but the more they watched the more they realized the man wasn’t giving off any lying tells. He seemed sincere. Even stranger for a Talon agent. They may not have interacted with them often, but sincerity didn’t seem to be a top priority for them from what little they had seen.

            They almost replied, prepared to spout their location, before a beam of crackling purple light shot by their head. They yelped, jerking down and looking around for the source. Sure enough, as expected, Sombra.

            “Ay! Hands off him!” She cried as she ran over, whipping her machine pistol off her belt with surprising quickness. The omnic looked up at the man beside them for a moment, tugging their hand from his before whirling around and dashing off in the other direction. Sombra’s attempt to hack hadn’t hit, so they were still able to channel their dash and sprint away. They didn’t stop to see how the man reached out after them.

            They didn’t stop running until they heard the tell-tale sound of ticking down a road to their right. They paused, glancing down it just in time to watch one of Junkrat’s signature landmines fire off. He seemed to have recovered well from the hit he’d taken against the wall, now locked in a fight against one of the Overwatch agents (the quick-moving ninja one) alongside an equally recovered Roadhog. They would’ve smiled if they had a mouth. Back to the status quo, it seemed.

            They raised their hands, pulling out both plasma rifles, and fired off their healing beam straight into Roadhog. It branched off onto Junkrat as well, making both of them jump and glance back at their associate. Junkrat’s smile could’ve rivaled the sun in luminosity as they ran up beside the pair, using their free rifle to begin firing energy rounds at the opposing ninja.

            “Ey, you’re back!” He cheered, beginning to fire haphazard bombs with even more tenacity than before. “Roadie was getting worried you’d gone walkabout!” The omnic glanced briefly up at Roadhog, who just huffed as he hefted his hook again, prepared to try to hit the ninja once more.

            “Aw, ain’t that sweet?” They teased, watching Roadhog look down and glare at them for a moment. “Yeah, bloke back there didn’t even do anything. Seemed almost like he didn’t even remember he should’ve been fighting.” The ninja was moving too quickly, evading their shots. No worries; they’d hit eventually. “Felt kinda bad for him, frankly.”

            “Don’t,” Roadhog grunted above them as he tried once more to grab the ninja with his hook, “He’s Talon.”

            They looked up at Roadhog with mild shock. “Since when do you give two shits about Talon?” They asked, beginning to get a bit frustrated with how many shots they were missing. Junkrat laughed.

            “Nah, he just don’t like that Mauga bloke!” He cried as he yanked another bear trap off his belt, tossing it right into the ninja’s path. The ninja attempted to skid to a stop, but his momentum wouldn’t let him, leaving him to tumble straight into the trap. The omnic cringed a little as they heard him howl in pain, remembering damaging their own leg to a similar trap, but Junkrat just cackled maniacally. “Right on target!” He exclaimed, readying his grenade launcher to fire on the trapped ninja. “Give ‘em hell, mate-” He began before trailing off, his eyes widening a bit. The omnic followed his gaze, feeling their energy flow run cold. Aw shit. Of course all their blasting would attract the attention of the other Overwatch agents in the area. The one in the blue flight suit swooped up over a building, rocket launcher already aimed and ready to fire. Following quickly behind her was another agent, flying as well, dressed in white angelic garb and using a long, fancy-looking staff to channel a blue beam towards the first woman.

            “Fucking hell- Boosted bomber! Run!” They yelled, though they didn’t need to. As soon as he’d seen it, Roadhog had grabbed Junkrat and thrown him over his shoulder before turning tail and running the other way. Their associate followed closely behind, occasionally having to jump out of the way as the blue agent began firing more rockets. Unlike with the floating man before, these didn’t stop midair, cracking the pavement as they collided with it. The omnic tried to look as attention-grabbing as possible while dodging the blasts, hoping to keep them off of their partners for as long as possible.

            “How do we always wind up runnin’ away from everywhere we visit?” Junkrat somehow managed to yell while being jostled around on Roadhog’s shoulder. His increasingly exasperated sidekick shook their head, then looked up at Roadhog.

            “Think you can lug me along if we do the usual?” They asked, pointing at their back for emphasis as they jumped to the side to avoid another missile. Roadhog grunted, giving them a quick nod. The omnic immediately turned off their vision for a moment, leaning their head back as they focused hard on the energy stored within their core. “Lets see how well they fly in the dark,” they said, before a massive cloud exploded from the container on their back,

            The miniature drones spewed from the omnic’s back container, stretching up to the sky and projecting thin layers of light-reflecting membrane between them. Though the membranes had holes from overuse, making the layer above their heads look like a starry sky, the area was nonetheless plunged into an almost-complete darkness. The omnic themself underwent a change, too, their five tendrils bursting from their lower back and propelling them forward at max speed. Both large blasters unfurled from their back, though they didn’t aim them at the fliers. Instead, they nodded to Roadhog, who seemed to understand.

            The trio made a harsh right around a corner, though they didn’t continue that way. Instead, they all three ran straight into the nearest open building, ducking inside. The newly-armed omnic aimed both their blasters at the canal outside the door, firing two quick shots of energy into the water. The force they used caused two massive splashes just in time for the bomber and the angel to round the corner.

            “They went for the canal!” The bomber yelled, the omnic’s pattern recognition noticing a slight accent in her voice. Junkrat began to giggle at the comment, but Roadhog quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.

            “Fall back, they’re not our objective here,” the angel told the bomber, lowering herself down to the ground. “If they’re running, it’s not worth our resources to pursue them.” The bomber audibly sighed, following the angel’s lead and sinking to the ground. Both women ran off in the direction they came, maybe to go help the ninja from before.

            The trio stayed silent for another minute before heaving a shared sigh of relief (though the omnic had to mime it). Roadhog finally let go of Junkrat’s mouth, leaving him to gasp for air and clamber off his shoulder.

            “Not bad, Junkbot!” He praised, beaming at his second sidekick. Said sidekick gave him their best equivalent of a glare, digital pupils narrowing.

            “Don’t call me that,” they said, though they could feel their energy to argue with him fading quickly. In fact, all their energy was fading quickly. Distributing those drones and shifting into their “ultimate” form tended to suck them dry. They swayed a little, the drones all swooping down from the sky and pouring into the building. As each attached itself to its respective charging port on their back, more and more of their remaining energy drained. Their tendrils slid back into their back along with their blasters. Roadhog positioned himself behind them right as they wobbled and fell backwards.

            Roadhog looked down at them with mild concern, his shoulders slightly tense as he lifted them in one arm. “You good?” He asked, tapping their side. Their artificial pupils, dimmed from power saving mode, flicked up to him and they nodded.

            “Yeah,” they said, their voice quieter than usual, “Hanging on for dear life earlier with mister Floaty Bloke sucked the life outta me.” They laughed for a moment before laying their head against Roadhog’s chest. “I need some sun.”

            “You’d think you’da charged up real quick while he picked you up!” Junkrat chattered as Roadhog began carrying their associate through alleys, trying to get out of the city as quickly as possible. “You got so much closer to the sun! Was it hot up there? Did you boil?”

            The omnic didn’t reply as he kept babbling, just chuckling softly as they were carried out of the city. They glanced over  Roadhog’s shoulder, watching a Talon ship swoop down to extract their agents. Hm. A part of them wondered if the floating man from earlier was on the ship, too. They settled back into Roadhog’s arms, watching the clouds pass by. They hoped he was okay.

------

            “You sure you’re okay, vejito? You've been out of it ever since the incident earlier.”

            Siebren’s head jerked up as Sombra spoke to him, her arms folded but her face soft with concern. He waved his hand, smiling a bit. “Oh, don’t worry about me, my friend!” He insisted, shaking his head. “I’m perfectly fine. Though I appreciate your concern.” Sombra shifted from one foot to the other, clearly not convinced. But regardless, she just sighed and patted his arm.

            “Anytime. Just… Come get me if it starts getting bad again, okay?” She asked, softly squeezing his arm. Siebren smiled again, patting her hand.

            “I will. But I assure you, everything is fine,” he said, nodding. Sombra nodded as well, still looking uneasy, but she stepped back and walked away. Siebren watched her walk off before turning his attention back to the window of the ship. The clouds outside it swept by as the ship flew in erratic zigzags to try to avoid Overwatch’s tracking. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.

            And there it was again- The melody. Soft for the time being, but still ever-present. He could feel the distant formation of stars, sparkling past in tinkling notes. It wouldn’t stay nice for long. It never did. That tinkling would turn to overpowering crescendoes, some all-powerful being’s hands slammed haphazardly into the keys as stars imploded and solar systems collapsed in on themselves. And there would be dozens. Hundreds. Thousands . Pianos and harps and violas and drums and noises no human has ever produced before, all pounding out their incessant cacophony at once. All for him. All to him. Singing to him .

            He could feel the pressure building. Bursts of sound between his ears, popping and swelling. He could feel every capillary in his brain, pumping blood to his neurons. He could feel them singing to him, his neurons. Their arcing energy, their electrons creating their own little stars. Stars that sang to him, wailing as they moved along the lengthy cells. Down his spine, producing a sound like a violin string being scraped. Throughout his body, screaming from every nerve ending in his fingertips and nose and chest. He began grasping at the back of his neck. Stop- Stop, it was too much- He had to stop them from escaping his brain stem! He had to stop it! He had to-! Had to-! A scream almost escaped Siebren’s mouth, but suddenly, he fell silent. His hands drifted off his neck. Something… Else, was singing.

            A different melody. Short yet slow, subtly peaceful. Hummed through a vocal modulator. The soft vibration of it sent gentle pulses through his brain, pushing the stars there to the sides. In their place, in the center of… Wherever his mind was… Was a golden glow. Shining, swirling. Not a spark, not a star. It didn’t tinkle and sparkle, it didn’t spark and flash like the stars did. It didn’t feel like it was born. It didn’t feel like it would die. It didn’t seem to give off that cacophony of eventual collapse. This glow, gentle, soft, ever-present, was eternal . And it poured off a soft melody of its own, different to that of the known universe.

            It was beyond that.

            Siebren opened his eyes, looking around with mild surprise. Oh. He hadn’t realized he’d begun to float up, countless documents rising in tandem with him. He focused on sinking himself back down, releasing the paper surrounding him from his grasp. It was easier to control now, now that he could focus on that glow behind his eyes.

            He hadn’t felt this calm in… Years. He looked back out the window, watching the clouds stream by, though they weren’t the focus of his mind.

            Who was that omnic, he wondered? The one who had taken his hand. He’d never seen any with that design before. And that was saying something, too, given the sheer amount he’d seen. Or… Thought he remembered seeing. It was admittedly a bit blurry, looking back to before the Crisis. But the omnic he’d seen earlier that day, he felt, was the first of its kind he’d ever bore witness to. And the humming- The humming! It was beautiful! Somehow, it had conjured that golden glow. Was- Was that the Iris? He’d heard Omnics speak of it before, vaguely. He’d seen footage- Top secret, if he recalled correctly- Of a golden glow emerging from a mountain in Nepal, sweeping across the world like a wave of knowledge for all omnics. Oh, how he envied them. What wonders they must’ve seen the moment that light brushed their minds!

            But he wondered; had the light now touched him, too? He could feel that warmth beneath his skull, curling around his cells as lovingly as a mother would her child. And along with it was that melody- That sweet, sweet melody, so different from the sound of the rest of the universe. It was clear, unified. Had… Had this omnic allowed him to see the Iris? Truly? Siebren felt giddy. A breakthrough! A true breakthrough! Dropping the trash can he didn’t realize he was lifting, he rushed to his desk to begin composing. It had to be written down! Be replicated! It had to be!

            He worked, and worked, and worked. Until the ship landed, he attempted to write the music, convey the same sound. But nothing sounded the same as what the mysterious omnic from before had hummed. Siebren groaned, then threw another crumpled up piece of eraser-shredded sheet music on top of the trash can he’d forgotten was on its side. No! No no no! He couldn’t let this go! If he went too long, he’d forget the melody! He’d forgotten much more important things, according to Sombra at least. He couldn’t afford to forget this!

            “Vejito?” Came Sombra’s voice from the door. Siebren jumped, glancing up at her as he almost dropped his pencil. “The plane landed a half an hour ago. Are you alright in here?”

            “My friend!” He exclaimed, setting down the pencil and turning a bit to face her more fully. “You said you can find anyone, didn’t you? You told Mauga that!” Sombra jerked back a little. Uh oh. Every time the doctor got like this, it meant he’d gotten close to a breakthrough. And those never went well.

            “I did, but-” She began, only for Siebren to cut her off.

            “Schitterend, yes! Good!” He said, the pencils behind him on the desk beginning to float in his excitement. “I must ask a favor, if I may.”

            “Okay, but you need to calm down-” Sombra tried, stepping forward a bit to try to soothe him. Siebren waved her off.

            “No, no, I’m more than fine! Listen. The omnic, earlier. The one you saw? I need to find it.”