Chronal Disassociation Ch. 45

For a brief moment, all that Lena could see was the rubble falling towards her.

Then, a blur of red - Archer’s coat - flashed in front of her. His arm shot out, and a massive, transparent shield materialized just in time to intercept the collapsing ceiling. The impact sent dust and debris flying, but both the shield and Archer's arm held firm.

"Run!" Archer barked, his voice sharp despite the sound of shattering concrete and detritus.

Lena didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the nearest hostage and hauled her toward the exit. Archer, after all the debris had stopped falling, started to dig through the rubble to find those unfortunate enough to be buried. Coughing could be heard, so at least she could be certain that they were still alive.

The only issue?

O'Deorain was still in the room. They couldn't see her, nor could they see whoever - or whatever - had made the roof collapse.

More than that, Lena was certain that the woman had somehow moved despite the Black Key that was in her shadow. How she had done that, the pilot had no idea, and she wasn't about to ask Archer when they were frantically trying to evacuate the civilians from the line of fire.

Cassidy was quick to recover from the collapse of the bunker, and was now helping the hostages to limp out of the zone. His gun was still out though, pointed at the dust cloud that had developed around the room. Lena didn't see what he saw, but whatever it was, Cassidy immediately fired his revolver, much to the panic of the hostages.

The bullet's impact was signalled by a 'clang'.

In that instant, Lena felt a pit develop in her stomach. Was it an Omnic that had caved the area they were in? Worst case scenario, it could even be Ramattra themselves, given that Null Sector and Talon were working together.

“Now that’s not very nice.” The telltale sound of a whirring minigun.

The voice boomed through the ruined chamber, deep and laced with amusement. Lena’s blood ran cold as the dust settled, revealing the hulking figure stepping through the wreckage.

The man that stood there was the same one that had gone missing earlier. The same one that the Talon operatives treated with as much fear as respect. One of the miniguns in his hands was spinning up, while his other hand went up to rub at the cybernetics that were on his chest.

"Nice shot, didn't think you'd be able to aim through dust like that." The man gave a grin, showing pearly white teeth, "Though, I think you're gonna need a bigger gun than that. Something like this."

That was the only warning they had before he let loose a stream of gunfire.

Lena barely had time to react before Archer was in front of her again, the massive shield still materialized. Within a moment, the shield was expanded to cover the hostages behind them, even as they all scrambled for cover.

"Mauga!" O'Deorain's anger was palpable, "Stop playing around! End this, now!"

Mauga. Lena kept the name in mind, ready for the after action report that would need to be made later. If they ever got out, that is.

Archer was their only lifeline here. While the explosion from up top had made quite a bit of cover, none of that would hold up to continuous minigun fire. So, the Spirit had to shield them, essentially stopping him from doing anything else. Even if Archer could just wipe Mauga in an instant, that would mean exposing everyone to a brief window where they would be shredded by the minigun. Not acceptable.

Of course, Archer being Archer, Lena could spot several swords materializing above him, before shooting forwards in a blink of an eye.

Mauga barely flinched as the blades struck - not because they didn’t pierce, but because the man laughed as they embedded themselves in his shoulders and chest. Blood seeped from the wounds, yet his grin never wavered.

"Oho! Now that's more like it!" He roared, adjusting his grip on his minigun. The barrels spun faster, the whine of the motor rising to a deafening pitch.

Lena ducked behind a chunk of rubble, pulse pistols drawn but useless against the sheer volume of fire. She risked a glance toward the hostages. Most were out, thanks to Cassidy’s quick thinking, but a few stragglers were still scrambling for cover.

Then, a blur of green and silver from above, circling downwards behind Mauga. Mauga pivoted, tracking the cyborg with unnerving precision. With one gun still firing towards them, the Talon operative gave a feral grin.

"Fast little bug, ain'tcha?" Mauga chuckled before slamming a foot down. The ground trembled, and Genji barely twisted aside as a shockwave rippled outward, throwing him off balance. A burst of gunfire forced him to flip backward, retreating.

More swords embedded themselves in Mauga, and yet again, he just laughed. And she could see why soon enough. The swords, some of them further inside his body than others, were being pushed out. The swords eventually clattered to the floor, as Mauga somehow was healed, no sign of being injured whatsoever.

In the distance, though, there was a groaning that Lena wished she didn't hear. Even above the gunfire and the impacts on Archer's shield, she could hear it. She wasn't alone either, Cassidy looked similarly disturbed, as were the rest of the hostages.

The echoing groan of those that might have been humans.

Pain. Suffering. Each heightening for every injury that Mauga took and subsequently healed from.

It was Archer who understood what was happening.

"Son of a bitch." It was disturbing how this was one of the few times she heard Archer talk with such hatred and disgust. Even through everything that they had been through, she hadn't heard this much feeling from him in so few words, "Whatever O'Deorain's done to those in that hallway, she's managed to tether them to him." Archer’s voice was a snarl, his grip tightening on the shield as another volley of bullets hammered against it.

"Every injury he takes, it gets transferred over to them, and they're healing extremely rapidly." It was only now that Lena saw that Archer was glaring into the hallway, and only now that she knew that he could probably see everything in the darkness.

Lena’s stomach twisted. The groans weren’t just from the wounded. They were from the experiments, the people O’Deorain had butchered and stitched into the walls. And now, their agony was being harvested to keep Mauga standing.

"That’s sick." Cassidy spat, reloading his revolver with sharp, furious motions, "Even for Talon."

Mauga just laughed, the sound booming over the gunfire, "Hey, don’t knock it till you try it! Feels great on my end!" He rolled his shoulders, the wounds from Archer’s swords already closing, the flesh knitting together with unnatural speed, "C'mon Archer! Doomfist was hyping you up so much, don't tell me this is all you got?"

Archer’s expression darkened, but he didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, his gaze flicked toward the hostages still trapped in the room.

"Cassidy," Archer said, voice low and urgent, "Get them out. Now."

Mauga’s grin widened. "Aw, running away? That’s no fun." He shifted his aim—

Lena Blinked.

She reappeared directly in front of Mauga’s line of fire, pulse pistols already spitting blue energy. The bullets pinged harmlessly off his cybernetics, but it was enough to make him flinch, breaking his focus.

"Oxton!" Archer barked.

"Just buyin’ time!" She shot back, already Blinking again as Mauga’s minigun roared to life. Bullets tore through the space where she’d been standing, chewing up concrete and metal.

She was fast, but Mauga wasn’t slow. His eyes tracked her, barrels spinning, and Lena barely twisted out of the way of another burst. One grazed her side, sending a hot lance of pain through her ribs. She hissed, before immediately Recalling. Her body went through the motions she already did, in reverse, ending with her mid-Blink. She dove to the side once more as Mauga didn't hesitate to fire on her position, thankfully missing this time.

Archer wasn’t idle either. The moment Mauga’s attention was split, the Spirit lunged. His shield dissolved, replaced by twin curved blades in his hands. He moved like a shadow, closing the distance in an instant.

Mauga barely turned in time to block the first strike with his minigun’s barrel. Metal screeched as Archer’s sword carved a deep gash into the weapon. The second slash came faster, aimed for the man’s throat-

Mauga laughed and let it hit.

The blade bit deep, blood spraying-

And then, from the hallway, a chorus of screams.

Mauga’s wound sealed shut in seconds, his grin never fading, "See? Ain’t this a hell of a party?"

Archer’s eyes narrowed, his grip tightening on his blades. Lena could see the calculation in his gaze, the understanding that every injury they inflicted on Mauga was only causing more suffering to the souls fused into the bunker’s walls.

But Mauga wasn’t giving them time to think. With a roar, he swung his damaged minigun like a club, forcing Archer to leap back. The Talon operative didn’t stop there, his other minigun spun up again, bullets tearing through the air.

Her eyes darted to O’Deorain. The scientist had retreated to the far side of the chamber, the earlier chaos removing the Black Key that had tied her in place, watching the events unfold with a weird mix of detached interest and intense annoyance. If they could take her out, then whatever tether existed might be cut off as well.

More than that, their mission was to also capture O'Deorain more than anything. Once they did that, they could just as easily retreat rather than fight Mauga.

"Genji!" She called out to the cyborg who had been off to the side after Mauga had shaken him off, trying to look for any openings, yet finding none. With a jerk of his head towards her, she similarly motioned towards the mad scientist. In an instant, they beelined towards O'Deorain. Lena, with her Blinks, reached her first. Her pistols lit up as she fired, but O'Deorain merely faded into smoke once again.

She reappeared a few meters off to the side.

Genji was on her as she did so.

Clearly, they had managed to catch her off guard, as she failed to disappear, taking a vicious blow to the stomach. Coupled with Genji's own augmented cyborg body, it was strong enough to push her onto her back.

Yet, she wasn't down for the count. O'Deorain had been part of Blackwatch, and it showed as she rolled into a crouching position.

Her arm, blackened and rotting, pointed to Lena, and what the pilot could only describe as liquid darkness instantly linked up to her chest.

Lena didn't know how to describe the feeling, only that she could practically feel herself aging rapidly. Life itself being drained from her body, lethargy hitting her as her knees buckled.

It was only for a second.

Genji followed up his first strike with a kick to O’Deorain’s offending arm, making it snap at its elbow. It succeeded in breaking the connection to Lena, true. It didn’t stop the appendage from moving though, nor did O’Deorain seem to even acknowledge Genji’s actions.

Instead, the arm formed a fist, as an orb of the same liquid darkness formed, until it was around double the size of a football. Strands of blackness continued to tether themselves onto Lena before she could even move, Genji having been caught in the same radius. Both of them fell to their knees as they could feel the life being literally sucked out of them.

The rapport of a revolver. O’Deorain flinched backwards, fading into shadow and retreating. Thankfully, as she left the immediate vicinity, so did the orbs of darkness follow her.

Through blurred vision, she could see Cassidy roll up next to the two, even through the still ongoing fight between Archer and Mauga. He grabbed a couple of syringes, ones that Lena recognized as some of Captain Amari’s ammunition for her rifle, before jamming them into both of them. Lena’s vitality surged as she felt the effects of O’Deorain’s abilities leave her body, so much so that she had to gulp in air as she didn’t even realize she had been struggling for air in the first place.

“The hostages are all out, but we need to get out of here!” Cassidy hauled Lena to her feet, before doing the same to Genji, “Any longer and the damned tunnels are going to collapse!”

Lena nodded, shaking off the last of the dizziness. The entire bunker groaned under the strain, dust and debris raining from the ceiling.

"We can't leave Archer." Lena said, gripping her pistols tighter.

Cassidy grimaced, "He can handle himself. We can't."

Genji, still recovering, steadied himself against the wall, "He is right. If we stay, we become liabilities."

Lena hated it, but they were right. Archer was holding Mauga off, but the fight was tearing the place apart. If they didn’t move now, none of them would make it out.

"Fine." She gritted out. Out loud, she yelled towards the red-clad man, "Archer, all the hostages are out! You can let loose!"

Lena didn't know if he heard her or not, but she trusted that he did.

The three of them bolted for the exit soon after, dodging falling chunks of concrete as the bunker shuddered around them. Behind them, Mauga’s laughter boomed, followed by another deafening exchange of gunfire and steel.

They made their way through the back exit, one that was clearly just recently made with the construction materials still laying about. They burst out into the open air just as the tunnel collapsed behind them, sealing off the tunnel in a cloud of dust.

Captain Amari’s voice crackled through the radio as soon as they did so, in a voice that made it clear that she had been repeating herself for a while, "All agents, fall back to extraction. Now."

Lena spun around, pulse pistols raised, half-expecting Mauga or O’Deorain to come bursting through the rubble.

Nothing.

Then-

A distant, muffled explosion from deep within the bunker. The ground trembled beneath their feet.

Lena didn’t move.

"Oxton." Cassidy’s hand landed on her shoulder. "We gotta go."

A flicker of red in the dust.

Archer, walking towards them with a body in tow. His coat was only slightly singed, but the same could not be said for the person he was dragging with him.

O’Deorain.

Unconscious. Bleeding. But alive.

Lena’s breath left her in a rush, "You absolute wanker!" She shouted, relief and fury warring in her voice, "You scared the hell out of me!"

Archer’s lips twitched, just slightly, "Wouldn’t dream of dying before you, Oxton."

“You know that you could have just asked me like this, you know?”

‘I was panicking!’

He tossed O’Deorain’s limp form at Cassidy’s feet, "Here’s your mad scientist. Try not to lose her."

Cassidy whistled, holstering his revolver to haul O’Deorain over his shoulder, "Damn. Didn’t think you’d actually bag her."

Archer didn’t answer. His gaze flicked back toward the ruins of the bunker, his expression unreadable.

Lena followed his stare, "Mauga?"

"Gone." Archer’s voice was flat, "This bitch made it to him and tried to extract themselves with some sort of teleporter. He got out, I prioritized capturing her, so here we are."

She didn’t like the sound of that. But now wasn’t the time.

"Extraction’s waiting." Genji reminded them.

Archer nodded, turning away from the wreckage, "Then let’s not keep them waiting."

...