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"We'll be back in a few hours. We have them." Sombra ended the recording. Amelie should receive the message via her earing in a minute or two. She set the course for Utah and put the transport on auto-pilot. She then yawned and stretched in her seat, her knuckles loudly crackling.
"That was a crazy move kiddo." McCree's voice reached her from behind.
"That's coming from the dude that acts like he's living in a wild west movie?" Hana responded without missing a beat.
McCree laughter echoed in the transport. Sombra got up and walked to the main area.
The gunslinger was leaning with his back on the door on her right. Hanzo was sitting in front of Sombra, on the steps that led to the opposite cockpit. On her left, between crates and a few upside-down chairs, Hana was sitting near Brigitte. The mechanic was still asleep on top of the piles of clothes they had laid down for her.
Sombra had done a quick internet search when they removed the darts from Brigitte's body. They were supposed to neutralize an average size man for four hours. Brigitte had three stuck in her body when they found them, she wasn't waking up anytime soon. Hana was sitting next to her, looking at McCree.
"Why'd you care how I left?"
McCree shrugged.
"Just curious is all. Since Jack took over, Korea went into full lockdown. Hell, the first news I heard about y'all was a few days ago, and that was from Sombra." McCree smirked. "How did the biggest celebrity in Asia got out?"
Hana gave him a blank look.
"Piloting a flying robot," she said with a deadpan voice and turned away.
Hana was sitting crossed-legged on her bed with her eyes closed. She was focused on her breathing, trying to relax. Soon she gave up.
"Come on, get it together..." she whispered to herself.
She was wearing her suit, her hair still untied. Trying to relax, she slowly tied it to a ponytail. Focusing on the familiar movements helped a bit. Hana ran her hand through the hair and turned her head to the left. Her small backpack was at the feet of the bed. It looked like it was about to burst, filled with clothes and supplies. She was ready, yet she kept stalling. She exhaled loudly and walked to the window.
From here, she could see the ocean. The moon was hidden tonight, the only luminosity in the sky coming from the far city lights. She couldn't see outside, but when she focused, Hana managed to hear the waves' faint crushing on the MEKA base. After a while, she turned and looked at her bag.
"Oh, fuck it."
Hana put the backpack on and opened the door. She turned left and made a B line to the hangar. The base was quiet, save for her footsteps. At the hangar, all the lights were on, their cold white light spilling out the room. Inside, Dae-hyun was sitting on the ground near Hana's mech. He was wearing his work clothes, black track trousers and a dark blue, long sleeve. He didn't notice her entering. He was staring at the floor and moving back and forth, lost in his thoughts.
It had been many many days of arguing before he reluctantly agreed to help her leave. Hana wished that he had kept his promise to remove the tracking and communication systems from the machine. She went to greet him, but a voice from behind stopped her.
"Hana!"
Yuna Lee was at the entrance. She was wearing her suit but she must have stopped in the middle of doing so. Her left hand and side of her torso were uncovered, a plain tank top showing beneath. Her hair was a mess, strands of it falling on her face. Yuna pushed them to the side and with a few fast steps reached Hana.
"Where the hell do you think you are going!?"
Hana took a step back. Her friend looked furious. There was no use lying to her though. Yuna had this, almost unnatural, sense for detecting lies and tricks. That was the reason she was the main on-stage strategist of their Mecha Guardian V team. And the unofficial commander of the MEKA squad. So, Hana opted to tell the truth. As vague as possible.
"Europe."
"Where in Europe?"
"Sweden."
"What for?"
"...Brigitte."
"Right. And what about the team? You'll be leaving us one member short."
That was a weak argument.
"There hasn't been an attack since Morrison took over the rest of the world! No more crazy omnics, Yuna. All we are here for is to smile, be pretty and make people feel safe from threats that are no longer there! You can do that without me!"
As she talked, she took notice of Yuna's eyes. When the woman had entered the room, Hana thought she was angry. Now, Yuna's look was starting to look less intimidating. Her eyes were wet and her voice had a faint tremble when she asked her next questions.
"What about your friends? What about Dae-hyun?" she paused, "What about me?"
Hana didn't have an answer to that.
"I... I'll be back," she said meekly.
Dae-hyun finally spoke from behind her, his voice rough, quiet yet angry.
"They will hunt you down. They hunt down simple civilians when they try to leave, you think they are gonna leave you? The most famous idol in Asia, no, the world?" he paused and sighed, "You'll spend the rest of your life running. We won't meet again, Hana."
Hana stepped back more and more, away from them, until a wall hit her back. Behind misty eyes, she looked at her best friends. Dae-hyun was looking straight at her, his face a tight, expressionless mask. Hana turned to Yuna. She was standing straight, looking at Hana's eyes, her own teary as well. Hana couldn't meet their looks anymore, so she turned her head at the pink mech near Dae-hyun.
They stayed like that for a while, Hana feeling every second as an eternity. Tears fell slowly from her eyes, leaving cold trails on her cheek. She rubbed her eyes, one after the other. With clear vision now, she noticed something behind the mech. On the floor lay cut cables, scraps of metal and plastic, and the communication console of the mech. Surprised, she turned to Dae-hyun. He gave her a weak smile.
"I don't like it. But... You're too stubborn Hana. Even if you don't leave now, you will do so another night." his smile widened and he got up, "I'd rather say goodbye."
A small laugh of relief escaped Hana's lips and tears began flowing again.
"Do you really want to go that much?" Yuna whispered.
Hana turned to her and nodded. Yuna looked at the ceiling, murmuring quietly to herself. When she looked at Hana again, she had a sad smile on her face.
"Let us go then."
"Us? No, I'll-"
Yuna closed her suit and walked to her own mech.
"You'll get shot down minutes after they realize your comms and tracking are down. We are going together for a patrol, I'll just tell them you had a malfunction or something." she climbed the big mech, "Plus, it's been a while since we flew together."
Hana reluctantly agreed. Then, she turned to Dae-hyun. Tears were running from his eyes, but he managed a smile and opened his mouth to speak, but Hana didn't let him. She just ran and hugged him. As he hugged her back, she could feel his body shaking as he cried. After they calmed down a bit, she gently pushed him away and looked him in the eyes.
"I'll be back one day. Dae-hyun, I promise, alright? This isn't goodbye."
He didn't seem to believe her. But he smiled.
"So I'll see you then I guess."
He gave her a pat on the shoulder, then turned away and began moving the cables and scraps away from the pink mech.
They had flown South-West, along the coast. Yuna had gotten the flying control people off their backs with no problem. Saying goodbye to Yuna wasn't as hard as it was with Dae-hyun, only because they had parted while flying. Without Hana's comms they had no way to exchange words. In the end, there was a wave of the big mech's arm and Yuna turned back, boosting away as fast as the heavy mech could go.
Hana ran her hand over Brigitte's forehead, pushing wild strands of hair away from the woman's face. Brigitte sleepily moved her own hand to catch Hana's. Hana smiled. She was happy right now, being here with Brigitte. As for Yuna and Dae-hyun, she would be back to see them again. After all, she had made them a promise.