Chronal Disassociation Ch. 50

“How’s her condition?” Archer spoke as he entered the hospital room. Lena was sitting down on one of the chairs beside the hospital bed where Captain Amari was laying in. It was her turn to watch over her, as they had taken to doing shifts.

They were in a hospital in Poland, though Lena didn’t know exactly where. After the skirmish they were in, they quickly transported the injured to the closest hospital, and Angela had basically assumed the role of head doctor in order to facilitate everyone.

Thankfully, there weren’t a lot of injuries that needed hospital treatment.

Unfortunately, those that did were extremely severe. Caught in the crossfire, several first responders had been caught by assassin Omnics, leading to deep gashes that, while healable by Angela’s tech, left them with blood loss that couldn’t be.

Like the captain here.

“Doc says that she should be waking up soon, though it’ll likely not be for long.” Right, enough of that. Lena shook her head and looked at the bright side. Nobody had actually died, which was a miracle in itself. Even the captain, who would likely need a few weeks to recover at the very least, would apparently come out right as rain once she did.

“That’s good.”

…But, that bright spot couldn’t last, not when Archer stayed silent after that.

“Bad news?”

The Spirit sighed as he leaned on the wall, “O’Deorain managed to escape.”

Lena’s fingers stilled on the chair’s arm. The fluorescent hum went a little too loud, like the room was trying to fill the gap.

“Brilliant.” She muttered, because the other choice was swearing, and the captain didn’t need that energy in the air, “How'd she even do that? Wasn't that thing you made supposed to keep her in?”

"It was." Archer nodded, "However, they seemed to have taken the entire cube with them."

"...Wha-?" The image of a bunch of Talon and Null Sector agents hauling away a giant glass cube with a person inside was just too absurd to think about.

"Don't think about it too much." Archer sighed as he rubbed his head, "Trust me, I've seen weirder. Adding onto that, they did so in the middle of the firefight, so I didn't notice until it was too late. Now, I can't even feel it, so they've probably already broken her out of there."

Right, that was a limitation of Archer's abilities, in that they don't last forever. Sure, he had explained that Tracing something could last a very long time, so he didn't need to necessarily worry about clothes and whatnot. The problem came with Reinforcing stuff. They could only last so long as the magical energy did so, and without Archer there to ‘refuel’ it, it would eventually turn back into normal, everyday glass.

Archer rubbed at the corner of his eye, the gesture small tired despite the armor of calm he wore, then said, “There’s a second part you’re not going to like. I managed to get some information from O'Deorain. I can almost be certain that they had this planned out, and that Lacroix was the one that took the shot." Archer grimaced as he took in the captain's prone form once more.

Lena, for her part, could feel her chest tighten in response. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to refuse to believe that her friend was the one that had done this, even if it was the result of brainwashing. But, without Amélie there to prove or disprove things...

“You know what? I hate that you even had to say it.” Lena’s voice came out thin, steady only because she made it be, “Feels like if we don’t say her name, we can pretend this is some other mess.” Lena pressed her tongue to her teeth, swallowed down the spike of memory that came with Amélie’s name, and filed it in the box marked later. The present was loud enough.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't sound like it."

Archer stayed quiet. The ticking of Captain Amari's vitals echoed. Outside, someone shouted, Polish. Lena couldn't help but stare at the bandaged socket on the captain's face. Angela's tech was incredible, but even it wasn't able to restore an eyeball.

It was very likely that she would need a cybernetic implant or something similar once she woke up.

The door to the hospital room opened quietly. In came a haggard looking Cassidy. Immediately, he sat down on an empty chair, before pulling out a flash from somewhere. With one move, he started chugging the contents. It was a good ten seconds before he finally sighed in satisfaction and gave a sympathetic stare to Lena, "My turn on watch."

Lena pretended not to hear him, sitting perfectly still.

"Lena..." Cassidy's tone was a mix of warning and pleading. And Lena knew exactly why.

Before they came to the hospital, word had already spread through social media about what had happened. Worse, video recordings of the entire ordeal had surfaced, even going so far as to show the emergency operation that Angela had to perform. A gross violation of their privacy in Lena’s opinion, but one that was covered by the fact that technically, Overwatch agents were public figures doing things in public.

All that to say that just about the entire world knew that Captain Amari was gravely injured, and that she was in this hospital.

People enjoyed listening to the triumphant heroes’ return. People enjoyed it even more when those same heroes failed. It was a strange case of human perception, where the negatives always outweighed the positives. Even memories were like that, so when one of the most prominent war veterans of the Omnic Crisis was put into this situation?

The vultures that were the media were already circling them.

To make matters worse, since Angela was busy with patients, Sombra roaming while invisible just in case they were attacked again, Genji had already made himself scarce, and Archer literally fading away anytime anyone asked him - he just did it now too! - the only people to deal with the media was Lena and Cassidy.

“Think of it as training for when you’re rich and famous one day.”

‘If this is what it’s like, then I don’t want it!’

The small banter that the two of them had…it eased her worries by just the slightest margin. Again, she knew that Archer did it on purpose. Somehow, the grump had wormed his way into being the elder brother she never had, and that included cheering her up in his own, awkward way.

“Stop being sappy and get out there. Or are you telling me you’re scared of a few reporters?”

And with being an elder sibling came the inherent ability to annoy the everliving shit out of her.

“I’m going, I’m going!” She said out loud, both to Archer and Cassidy at the same time. The cowboy looked way too relieved for her liking.

Still, it worked. Once more, Archer had diverted her gloom, even if just a bit.

‘Thanks, Archer.’

“Hmph. Thank me when you figure out what to say to O’Hara once you get back home.”

‘...Oh shite.’

…

The corridor smelt faintly of disinfectant and old coffee. It was unpleasant, to say the least. Lena took a breath anyway, squared her shoulders, and followed the sound of voices. Well, it wasn't like she had a choice, seeing as this was a single corridor.

The hospital foyer was already groaning under the weight of press badges and boom mics. Someone had dragged a lectern near the doors. Lena had to wince as she bore the brunt of glares from the hospital workers. Just their prescence here was becoming too much.

Head held up high, she walked straight towards the mess, jacket zipped up, Overwatch patch impossible to miss. Heads swiveled. The hush before a storm. There was a beat.

Then the storm hit.

“Agent Oxton, is Captain Amari alive?”

“Is this an isolated incident?”

“Are assassin Omnics cooperating with human cells?”

“Do you blame Overwatch for escalating violence in Europe?”

Lena blinked through flashes. Her mouth wanted to run. Her brain yanked the reins, “Captain Amari’s receiving care, and our medical lead says she’s stable for now.” True enough, “We’re coordinating with local authorities. However, let me remind you that this is a hospital. Please, respect the patients.”

“Do you have any information on the perpetrators?”

Unfortunately, this didn't calm down the crowd of reporters at all.

“We’re investigating.” She kept her shoulders square, “We’ll share details when it’s safe for everyone.”

"Safe for whom, exactly?"

She stared at the one reporter with a small glare, “Safe for the nurses behind you trying to move a crash cart. Please step aside.” She pointed, and the line of cameras shuffled just enough to let a harried team through. Small win, but it steadied her pulse.

However, the small team of nurses wasn't the only thing that caught her eye. Two imposing figures marched up behind them, making their way towards the podium. Relief flooded through Lena as Commanders Morrison and Reyes took the lead - mostly Commander Morrison. On the other hand, as Morrison worked the press like a pro, Commander Reyes nodded to Lena as they quietly exited the stage.

The crowd surged for Morrison, microphones craning, questions piling into a tangle. Lena let Reyes steer her along the edge of the foyer into a side corridor where the walls swallowed noise. He didn’t say anything till they were well out of hearing range of the crowd.

“Report.” He said, arms already tense.

Lena did so, detailing everything that had happened to them. Throughout her report, she could see flashes of anger cover the commander's features, though he quickly snuffed them out. By the end of it all, the man had taken off his usual headwear and was running a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Talon’s getting brazen.” He groaned out, "That new Doomfist of theirs wants a damn spectacle, no doubt about it. Shit, where's that hacker of yours?"

"Listening in." Sombra's voice popped up in the comms, making Lena jump.

Reyes didn't so much as flinch, immediately replying, "How fast can you get me the specs of the Omnics you all fought? Dropships too?"

"I already have them on file, just waiting on a secure server to upload them on."

"Prep them, then upload them as soon as we get back to London." Sombra gave her affirmation as Reyes nodded approvingly. Lena was nervous about the decisive note in his voice.

"Do you think we'll need them, sir?"

"As far as I can see, we're heading towards another Omnic Crisis. Might as well prepare now before everything goes hot." The scowl on his face only exacerbated the feeling of helplessness Lena felt, “Enough of that for now. Let’s head back before they notice us missing.”

“Oi, wait.” Sombra once more jumped in the conversation, “You might want to head to Amari’s room.”

“What happened?” Reyes snapped back, already gesturing for Lena to lead the way. Sombra’s reply came quickly.

“Vitals are spiking up, looks like she’s waking up.”

…

Morrison was quickly contacted, but was still in the middle of the impromptu press conference. Instead, it was just Lena and Commander Reyes rushing through the hallways into Captain Amari’s room. When they got there, they found Cassidy helping the older woman sit up, while a local doctor was examining her.

Reyes gave a sigh, shaking his head with a rough grin, “Goddamn Ana, you gave us a damn good scare. What’s the situation, doc?”

Lena didn’t like the look that the doctor and Cassidy shared. Neither did Reyes, for that matter, his grin fading as he looked back and forth, “What’s wrong?”

“Reyes, look, uh, I don’t know how to say this-” Cassidy took off his hat and started fumbling with it. He looked almost like a schoolboy getting into trouble, and Reyes as the parent who just found out. Especially with the glare that he threw around.

“Spit it out, Cassidy.”

“Please don’t blame him.” It was Captain Amari that spoke, turning her body to see them. There was a strange cloudiness in her eye that made Lena breathe in sharply, “I’m afraid it’s to do with me, unfortunately. I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize any of you. Would you kindly tell me where I am?”

…

A/N: Canon event btw, Ana did lose her memory after getting shot. Only difference is no coma this time.