Work Text:
It wasn’t even supposed to be a hard job. Just some quick data removal, simple, get-in-get-out. Easy money. She should’ve known better. There’s no such thing as easy money. Now she was stuck, three weeks beyond the timeframe she’d committed to this itsy bitsy project wearing the world’s least flattering janitor’s uniform. It was swampy, edging more towards grey than green, as if the people responsible had gone out of their way to find a colour that screamed ‘suspicious stain.’
She’d searched for three whole hours to find a wig that would compliment it. If she was going undercover, she was going to look cute. And she had decided that she was not going to sacrifice the pink nails.
As she paced the halls of Vishkar’s corporate headquarters for the eighth time, Sombra decided that she’d rather personally rip off the nails with her teeth rather than spend more time just…waiting. Maybe if there was something interesting happening the delay wouldn’t have bothered her so much.
Every single day, Vishkar opened 8:00AM sharp. Sombra and the other maintenance staff showed up at 7:45AM to beat the rush and make sure everything was ready. Then every single night, the doors were shut and locked at 9:15PM. Only one or two of the maintenance staff would stick behind for a couple extra hours to inspect the whole place. Just like their bosses and their bosses’ bosses, the maintenance staff reeked of that Vishkar perfectionism that teetered a little too close cultish. As a result, the place was spotless. Constantly. But they kept the maintenance staff on patrols, presumably expecting them to chase down each last particle of dust with gusto.
It should’ve been the perfect cover, too. No work to fall behind on, nothing to draw attention to herself. Even the excuse to get herself alone in the building with no one to ask questions. Except, of course, for one small hiccup.
Satya Vaswani (Codename: Symmetra) was there far before opening each morning, and long into the night each night. Watching her claw her way up through the ranks was impressive to say the least. It was like she had a personal vendetta against her superiors, the way she would scout out their projects, then pour over them in the hours she stayed awake, looking for ways to streamline, simplify, or reduce costs. Sombra had been lurking around for about two months total and she’d already seen the woman rise in rank twice.
The badges that she pinned to her sari glittered and shimmered, the shiny threads and beads representative of her accomplishments and status. Unlike the majority of the people Sombra had seen, Satya’s sash was covered completely in the things. It was really more of a wonder that Satya wasn’t climbing the ladder faster. And Sombra had a sinking suspicion that that was due to her youth, at least in part.
But occasionally, like tonight, she would find Satya alone in the simulation lab running over different scenarios through hardlight figurines, nit-picking and adjusting things so small that Sombra had to wonder if she saw any difference at all.
However, Sombra didn’t land all the juicy clients just for her skill with a keyboard and impeccable skill with an eyeliner pencil (though she was positive those were near the top of the list). Sombra had a plan for Ms. Vaswani. See, every night she stayed behind, she would turn off whatever music that her coworkers kept on for ambiance. She would shut the doors tight, pulling closed any windows that had been left open, and unplugging any machinery she didn’t need. Sombra clacked the tips of her nails against the window of the lab door and waved cheerfully when Satya gave her a look that could rival Gabriel Reyes on a bad day.
Satya Vaswani hated distractions.
That? That Sombra could work with.
She pulled the keyring from her belt and let it jangle loudly before finally inserting the correct key. The electronic pad next to the door beeped happily and shone green, so she twisted the handle, then let it fall shut with a ‘oops!’. She repeated this process two more times. By the time she was actually in the room, Satya’s own fingers were drumming an irritated beat on the table top. She did not look up from her work to acknowledge Sombra. She looked like was trying to see the individual pixels in her projections.
“Pardon me, ma’am,” Sombra said, high and pitchy like her abuelita used to do when she wanted to guilt trip the kids. “I don’t mean to disturb you. Pretend I’m not even here.”
Sombra clutched the handle of the trolley full of cleaning supplies she dragged around with her on patrol and made a big show of struggling to get it through the door. The door slammed onto the middle of the plastic cart twice, denting it. When she let out another frustrated sigh and pretended to try again, she heard Satya move behind her. She let go of the trolley in surprise and the door clicked shut, tsking to herself as the cart remained trapped on the other side.
Satya’s key ring jutted forward out of nowhere. She kept one perfectly manicured hand on the keypad, and the other effortlessly holding open the door. The way she had chosen to do it bracketed Sombra up against the entrance way. Her eyes were dark as she loomed over Sombra, and the infiltrator thought for sure she’d been busted. She was going to have her ass kicked by the most boring--
“Well?” Satya’s voice was low and impatient.
Sombra’s eyes went wide.
Satya nodded to the cart. “Bring it in.”
“Oh!” Sombra squeaked, nodding rapidly. “Of course. Ma’am. Thank you.”
Something in Satya’s eyes softened a little, the annoyance being traded in for genuine comfort taken from human companionship and Sombra did not like that shit at all. She ducked under Satya’s prosthetic arm and proceeded to tug the trolley so hastily that the side of it slammed into the other woman’s hip. The responding yelp was nothing if not satisfying. She was going to get the architect to go home one way or another.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, ma’am!” Sombra’s eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hands.
Satya was gritting her teeth, breathing slow and obviously focusing on not reacting poorly. “It is fine. Just go about your business. Please.”
“Oh of course, ma’am,” Sombra’s voice was sticky sweet. “Wouldn’t dream of interrupting the important work you do. What with all the… Uh--”
She gestured broadly to the holo on display.
“It’s an upcoming demolition site,” Satya finished for her, patiently. “Delicate work.”
Sombra tapped her fingernails over the caps of the various cleaning solutions trying to figure out which would be appropriate to use. Or pretend to use. She shot a curious look over her shoulder at Satya again, looking from her to the holo and back again.
“Is it, ma’am?” Sombra selected the bottle that looked like it was full of purple. It wasn’t labelled, but whatever. It would presumably clean something. Maybe if she was lucky it would stink and Satya would need a breath of fresh air. “Begging your pardon, of course, but isn’t demolition pretty straight forward?”
Satya sat down heavily on her seat again, and huffed out a breath of air. She rested her cheek on her palm, looking at the holo like it personally offended her. “That seems to be the general consensus around here. You are not mistaken in assuming so.”
Sombra’s eyes caught on one of the smaller buildings surrounded by little hardlight trees. Even the clotheslines had been added, swaying under the pressure of an invisible breeze. Satya drew her fingers through the projection, twisting it at odd angles and zooming in close enough that Sombra could almost see the interiors of the buildings. Little desks and chairs all standing around empty like a ghost town, tilted nearly perpendicular to the flat of the table and still unaffected.
Satya did not match her work. There was not a single strand of hair out of place, not a single wrinkle in her clothing. The colours were impeccably matched and her jewelry was tastefully reserved. The sharp wings of her eyeliner added the only lines of cruelty on an otherwise soft face, but even then she looked… focused. Like she had missed something and was going to dig through the holo pixel by pixel until she found it. Though the carefully applied concealer hid the shadows that surely rested under her lower lashes, Sombra could see her exhaustion in the way she wilted forward oh-so-slightly. Just the tiniest break from otherwise perfect posture.
“You don’t think it’s straightforward, huh?” Sombra asked, twirling the purple bottle in her hands. “What’s got you pouting, chica?”
Satya looked annoyed to be taken away from her focus, her eyes flashing over to Sombra only for a nanosecond. The curve in her back straightened out and the softness left her face. Like she expected Sombra to tattle on her for having the audacity to be human or some other ridiculous Vishkar shit. It was a cult.
“The demolition part is simple,” Satya admitted like it pained her. “Here, look.”
She spread her fingers wide, then brought her fingertips together, flicking wrist and then repeating the gesture a couple times until the holo image fit its entirety on the table. She tapped something and a little orange dot followed the tip of her pointer finger. She placed it at the edge of the building with the clotheslines. More orange dots were dropped across the holo, until they glowed like a starry sky against the blue.
Satya sat back, examining her work with those sharp eyes, full lips pursed into a line. She snapped her fingers without a countdown or anything and the little orange dots flashed. Slowly, one by one, the orange rumbled and spread, cutting through the support beams of the buildings like a knife through butter. The structures trembled in place, knocked back and forth by opposing blasts. A couple teetered, looking like they’d keel over completely, but by the time the last of the orange bombs had gone off, they had righted themselves.
Then it was like dominos. First was the apartment building with the clotheslines; it shuddered and shook until the first floor collapsed inward on itself. Then the second floor, third, fourth, faster and faster until the whole thing had compacted itself into a flat square. The buildings behind it went next, like a wave, each of the structures fell without a single brick or shard of glass ever leaving the confines of the ground they had been built on. It was sort of beautiful.
Satya did not look pleased, but she glanced at Sombra nonetheless with a small smile. “It is not uncommon for people to ask to watch the demolition. Satisfying?”
The bottle of purple had stilled in her hands and Sombra had all but forgotten that Satya could see her at all. But she grinned back, catching the fire behind that whip-smart gaze. It was no wonder her client was worried.
“Mm, in its own way,” Sombra conceded, ducking her chin down so she could look up at Satya through her lashes. “But what about this stuff here?”
She dropped the bottle back on her cart and swung her hips maybe with a bit more exaggeration than she needed to as she approached the holo. The sharp edge of her pink nail traced the collapsed clothesline, watching in awe as the string bent under her influence, and pulling it up off the ground until she had it suspended in what looked like thousands of feet above the demolished city. Pixelated dust fell away from tiny shirts and scarves. One of them fell off the line and fluttered down to the ground. One glance at the sad look shading Satya’s face under her cheekbones and in the line of her brow told Sombra that her hunch was worth pursuit.
“See, I’m thinkin,” Sombra hummed, tapping another finger across her lips, taking the time to make a show of coming up with the idea. When Satya’s attention was fully on her, Sombra let her voice drop back to the smooth sticky sweet that nearly caught in her throat when she lied. “Vishkar is so efficient. The vision of the future, y’know? So they wouldn’t put this stuff in here for decoration. Vishkar is too practical for that. Too smart.”
She frowned, pretending to be puzzled, and did not miss the way Satya flinched.
“This data was taken from a satellite scan, amplified by ground reports,” Satya said. She flicked her wrist again and the whole image shivered. The buildings were back and unharmed, clothesline in the sky back to it’s spot on the edge of the holo. “Even the smallest things can throw the balance of a demolition off. And when we do begin the demolition, there’s always a chance…”
“A chance?” Sombra pressed. Lucio was going to flip. This was even better than the demolition data itself.
“A small chance,” Satya corrected with a sharp look, “that there may be civilians still present.”
Sombra gasped like she was surprised. “But Vishkar, would never--”
“I know,” Satya nodded solemnly and wow someone had really made her drink the kool-aid. Evidence that Vishkar absolutely would sitting right in front of her and still. Still. “But we have to be able to account for it if it happens. If one of those buildings goes down in a way it shouldn’t…”
“The damage would be greater,” Sombra finished with a nod. “Right?”
Satya nodded again. “Well, yes. But uncontrolled demolition risks harming more civilians.”
Her face soured, and she moved the image back to where it had been before Sombra interrupted her, staring at one of the middle buildings.
Sombra deftly unscrewed the cap of the purple stuff, and picked one of the cloths hanging from her pockets at random. She pressed the opening of it against the fabric and upended the bottle, feeling the dampness soak through the cloth. At this rate she was going to actually have to clean something before Satya could drag her guilty conscious out of the damn building. And that simply wasn’t going to fly.
Time to speed things up.
“Y’know, ma’am,” Sombra edged closer to where Satya sat, running the cloth over the surface of the table, pretending not to notice the image shiver from her interference.
“Satya.”
Sombra stilled, eyes wide on Satya. “Ma’am?”
“You don’t have to call me ‘ma’am.’” Satya waved her hand like she was trying to get smoke to dissipate. The tired smile she gave Sombra was perhaps a little more charming than the hacker had counted on, and she suddenly had to actually focus on the cleaning to prevent the warmth that threatened to flood her cheeks. Satya continued, “I know it’s protocol, but it always felt odd to me. I am just Satya. And you are…?”
I don’t exist, Sombra’s mind supplied. “Sara,” she said.
“Good to meet you, Sara,” Satya’s smile widened a fraction. “Thank you for listening. Sometimes a new perspective can help.”
Sombra’s hand left the surface of the table and she stared at Satya curiously. “With all due respect ma’a--excuse me, Satya. With all due respect, I didn’t do anything.”
Satya’s shoulders shrugged.
Another moment of silence passed and Sombra went back to pretending to clean. She knelt down, looking at the paneling and running the ridges of her nails across the panels. She spotted at least three USB ports, at least two of which the headset screwed into her skull told her were active. There was another one where Satya’s knee rested and it lit up on her internal display like one of those orange dots. That’s where she’d have to plug in.
So of course, Satya slumped forward again, bodily covering the port.
Sombra pushed herself up to her feet and tucked the damp cloth in her pocket before reaching out a slow hand to rest on Satya’s shoulder. The chill of air conditioning glazed the surface of her skin, but warmed almost immediately.
“C’mon, chica,” Sombra coaxed. “You cannot save everyone. The civilians that defy Vishkar orders are foolish to do so. Is it not a death of their own making?”
Satya’s frown pulled harshly down. “It does not matter their motive,” she insisted. “They are people. That is all it takes for them to deserve my respect and their lives.”
That surprised Sombra and it must’ve shown. Satya immediately started going over her faith in Vishkar, trying to assure ‘Sara’ that she understood the ‘necessities’ and did not at all wish to imply that Vishkar had anything less than total respect for human life and on and on and on. Sombra just blinked at her, watching the flush that creeped up her neck.
So that was what Satya Vaswani did in all her late nights and early mornings. She self-sabotaged Vishkar.
Well now. That was interesting.
“Aw, sweetness. Don’t put all of that on your shoulders, mm?” Sombra’s lips curled into a soft smile and she rubbed her thumb in circles around Satya’s shoulder. “Tell you what, Satya. When’s this beautiful destruction of yours going down, huh?”
Satya puffed out a relieved laugh and the tension leaked from her shoulders. “In two months.”
Sombra tsk’d loudly, trying to frown disapprovingly at Satya’s abashed expression. “You’re telling me that you’re in here working yourself to the bone and these things aren’t even set to blow soon?”
“Well--”
“No, nope, I won’t hear it, Satya,” Sombra sing-songed her name, pleased at the smile that wriggled its way onto Satya’s face. “Here’s what you’re gonna do. You listening?”
“I think I might’ve preferred ‘ma’am’,” Satya grinned, one eyebrow raised.
“Too late for that, gorgeous,” Sombra winked. “First things first: tonight you’re going to go home and get a full eight hours of sleep. If you leave now, that gives you, oh I don’t know, about forty-five for the commute. That work? Good. Then--”
“Sara, I can’t just--”
“--Shh, beautiful, I’m not done yet,” she wagged a finger menacingly and Satya laughed. It was a pretty sound. “You’re going to get some beauty rest. Not that you need it, of course. But you’ll be your own second perspective. And then comes the best part.”
Sombra paused, letting the anticipation build. Those dark eyes of Satya’s glittered as they scanned Sombra’s face, and hey. The hacker was only human. If her grin widened just a little, well, who was to know? She slid her hand from Satya’s shoulder to hook a finger under her chin and tilt it upwards. She could feel it when Satya’s breath caught in her throat.
“In a week you and I are going to meet outside this room and I’m going to take you out. Believe me, it will be my treat,” Sombra purred. “Would you like that?”
Satya nodded shakily, eyes wide.
“Good,” Sombra let go of the other woman and pushed away from where she leaned against the table. “C’mon, you.”
She reached around behind Satya’s chair and tugged the jacket that had been draped over the back of the chair. Satya stood and stretched, yawning in a way that was a little to cute to be fair. Sombra reached out and boop’d her nose on a whim, grinning at the startled expression it earned her. She held out the jacket and the much taller woman bent down to accept the help donning it with an amused look.
“One week,” she repeated. “Right outside this room.”
“One week,” Satya confirmed. She faltered a little, looking towards the door hesitantly.
“Go on,” Sombra urged. “I can handle clean up, y’know.”
Satya nodded and walked out without another word.
But since Sombra was a goddamn professional, she waited for the door to click shut behind her until she snatched the wig off her head and tossed it onto the cleaning cart. Immediately the readings from her headpiece were clearer. The thumb drive in her pocket was out in a flash and she shoved it into the port she’d spotted earlier. She pressed down on the extract button and watched in satisfaction as her home-made program drained the tech for everything it was worth.
The door clicked open again and Satya stood in the frame, eyes wide.
“Shit,” Sombra hissed.
“Infiltrator!” Satya snarled, reaching for the weapon at her hip but Sombra beat her to it. She reached out towards the woman’s wrists, instructing the programming in her head to magnetize the metal in her bracelets. The wall cooperated with ease and Satya’s hands were pinned in an instant, the other woman squeaking indignantly. But that wouldn’t be a problem. The building was empty anyway.
“I told you to go home, chica,” Sombra sighed. “This is not how I wanted the night to end.”
Satya said nothing, but the fury in her eyes gleamed brighter than the orange glow of the dots had.
The thumbdrive beeped happily, pink light at the end flashing. Sombra yanked it away from the console, pleased to watch the holo shiver and shake for a moment. But no alarm went off. The thrill of victory was short lived, however. Satya was still staring at her like she would rip ‘Sara’ limb from limb if she could. Something ached under Sombra’s heart. Something uncomfortably like guilt.
“Aw, don’t look at me like that Satya,” Sombra pouted, pocketing the drive. She unbuttoned the horrible janitor’s jacket, tossing it on the cart with the wig. Returning the uniform only seemed polite. “Think of it like this--now those civilians have a better chance to keep their lives. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“You do not know what damage you are causing,” Satya snarled. “Vishkar will know of this, will hear--”
“Oh, darling, I’m counting on it,” Sombra grinned again. She sidled up to where Satya stood trapped and giggled a bit when she fought against the metal around her wrists. They held firm. So instead, Sombra leaned in close, nose almost brushing Satya’s. “Still up for that date if you are.”
“What? I would never--”
Sombra missed the rest of what she said, ducking under her arms and walking out into the vast and endless hallways of the Vishkar corporation. Satya’s voice was lost to echoes, but Sombra was sure she wouldn’t forget it anytime soon. And who knows? She might keep her promises for once.
Satya’s voice shouted something that sounded like it could be particularly harsh and Sombra spared a last look over her shoulder. Even from where she stood, those dark eyes on her were vicious. A trill of electricity ran up and down her spine that surely wasn’t entirely from her mods.
So she did what was only polite and blew the other woman a farewell kiss. The horrified squawk was really just icing on the cake.
Man. Lucio was going to love this.