Work Text:
Mina’s hands were closed tightly over her ears, her fingers digging harshly into the flesh of her skull as she tried to shield her hearing from the deafening explosions around them. Her mufflers had been broken in the last explosion and there was no salvaging them, she had to rely on her own hands to keep from losing her hearing as she rushed through the battlefield looking for the others.
She whipped around, stumbling and barely catching herself every time she started to fall over the rubble. She couldn’t see the team. The last person she had seen was Lieutenant Amari, and they had been separated after a landslide of rubble swept Mina off her feet.
From the corner of her eye Mina could see one of the sensors on her scanner flashing red. She needed to stabilize her suit, but she didn’t have the right tools. She needed-
“Mina!” a voice called out and she could have cried as she turned to see Torbjörn on the crest of a hill. Just the man she was looking for.
She ran towards him, narrowly dodging behind a slap of concrete as a round of shots went off. She counted the heartbeats that passed, and at the window she knew was right, rushed back out and continued towards her friend.
“Where are the others?” he shouted over the roar around them. Mina debated removing her hands so he wouldn’t have to lose his voice entirely, but the moment she started to she flinched and reclasped them in position.
“I don’t know,” she shouted in return. “Amari and I were separated, and I haven’t been able to check for the others. My systems are down, something was damaged.”
“Pull it off them, let's get it fixed so we can get you up there,” Torbjörn said.
Mina hesitated only a moment more before removing her hands from over her ears. Her whole body tensed and she felt her chest screaming in panic at the overload to her senses. She pushed through it all and pulled off the scanner around her wrist, taking the offered wire from Torbjörn to plug it into his backpack.
Together they watched the scans being run, and after confirming it was a problem with the software, Mina took Torbjörn’s place and started typing lines of code as quickly as she could, listening for Torbjörn’s order of when she found the issue. It came after a few checks, and she was easily able to correct the damage made by an EMP she hadn’t noticed the presence of.
“Are you in a condition to fly?” Torbjörn asked. She nodded and he did a quick check over her pack before confirming that there had been no damage to the hard shell on her back. With the press of a button, the shell opened and the wings unfolded themselves until they hung at her back.
“Find them and get them back to this spot,” Torbjörn said. “I think I found one of the bastard’s weaknesses. There’s a space in their formation with a slightly different pattern than the rest, they’re protecting something.”
“Got it,” Mina nodded. “Stay safe.”
She flipped on the protective screen that shielded her face and took a running start off the hill, pressing a button on her scanner.
“Flight routine activated,” an artificial voice reported through her comms.
Her feet left the ground and her stomach did the same swooping motion it always did. Soon she was looking down at the battlefield from up above, the chaos unable to reach her from this height.
She could see Torbjörn covering her, ensuring that none of the omnics could shoot her down as she searched. When she ensured he was the only one in the sector they were in, she dropped down a set of sticky bombs and watched as a full batch of omnics blew up and fell apart. Her visor zoomed in enough for her to see Torbjörn giving her a thumbs up, and she nodded in return before directing her flight path across the rest of the land.
She ran scan after scan, but for a couple minutes she didn’t find any of them. She would need to land soon and rest for a minute before she could take off again. If she didn’t find at least one of them soon, then the chances of her finding any of them at all severely decreased.
A flash of blue caught her eye, and she quickly turned in the air to find Sire Reinhardt smashing through rows of omnics with his hammer as he struggled to activate his barrier. She redirected the flight path and dove down towards him, stumbling as her feet hit the round and she had to run to keep the momentum from toppling her over.
She landed close enough to him that she only had to shoot her way through a couple omnics to get to his side.
“Doctor, I thought we lost you,” Reinhardt said, clear relief in his voice as he smashed through another row. Mina quickly reloaded her gun and shot at the stranglers he couldn’t get, struggling to keep her hands steady.
“I thought I lost you,” she said. “Torbjörn is at a hill about two klicks north east. He’s coming up with a plan, we need to get everyone to him since comms are down.”
“Understood,” Reinhardt said. “I know where Morrison is, can you find Amari and the Commander?”
“I can, I should be all recharged,” Mina said. She glanced at his shield that he was still struggling to activate. He and Jack wouldn’t make it a full two klicks without proper protection.
“Let me see your shield,” she said, wagering that she could risk the loss of a couple moments.
Reinhardt held out his arm to her, staying as still as he could while she scanned it. It had been shot.
Mina reached to her pack, searching around until she found the tool she needed. She only needed to make a few micro adjustments to redirect the energy. The shield wouldn’t last for long, but it should be enough to get them halfway there.
She zapped the armor, waiting until the melted metal covered the machinery again before shouting up to him, “Try that.”
Reinhardt took out a few more omnics before pulling his arm in front of him and activating the shield. It took a second, but the blue flickered to life in front of him, solidifying as it was supposed to.
They didn't exchange any more words before Mina took off again. She circled and searched, keeping an eye on Reinhardt and Jack as they fought their way towards the hill.
Below her she saw an omnic in the formation freeze before crumbling to the ground. Above it stood Ana Amari, it’s processor held in her hand.
“Lieutenant,” Mina shouted to her. She couldn’t land, not now. There was no space to do so, and even if she did it would landlock her for too long. Luckily she was loud enough, and Lieutenant Amari met her eyes.
“One klick, north, the others will meet you there,” she shouted.
“Copy that,” Ana shouted back. “Have you found the Commander yet?”
“Not yet, he’s the only one. I’ll find him and we’ll meet you all at the hill.”
Ana nodded and took off, carefully making her way through the hordes of omnics, picking them off one by one with an efficiency that would never cease to amaze Mina.
She checked her scanner, finding she only had a minute of flight left before she had to land again. Panic momentarily seized her, doubling the noise of the battlefield. She needed to find the Commander quickly.
“And comms are back up!” Torbjörn shouted in her ear. “Liao, Commander, can you hear us?”
“I hear you,” Mina said.
There was a long pause before another voice came, gruff and strained, “I hear you.”
“Commander, it’s good to hear you’re still kicking,” Jack said. “After that explosion I was worried you might be a goner.”
“It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me, Morrison,” the commander said. “What is everyone’s location?”
“Wilhelm and I just arrived at the meetup destination with Lindholm and we can see Amari on her way.”
“I didn’t know we had a meetup destination,” the commander said.
“Liao and I set it, Commander,” Torbjörn said. “She’s out looking for you now, you two can make it back together.”
“I will find my way on my own,” the commander said.
“No.”
There was a moment of pause over the comms as everyone registered the word, then the silence went tense.
“What was that, Doctor?” the commander asked.
“I said no, sir,” Mina repeated. “I can hear it in the strain of your voice, you’re either injured or cornered. GIve me your location and I will aid in extraction to the meetup destination.”
“Liao-”
“Even if you don’t tell me your location I will eventually find it on my own,” Mina said, scanning the field carefully. She stopped right after she finished speaking, spotting a crowd of omnics by a building that looked seconds from crumbling.
“Never mind,” she said, diving down towards the area. ”I’ve found you. Stay where you are.”
She dropped a set of sticky bombs, the detonations of which drowned out the commander’s protests over the comms.
“We don’t have much time,” Torbjörn said over the comms. “They’re preparing for something. Whether you like it or not Reyes, you need to go with her.”
A set of bullets whizzed past Mina, just barely missing her head. It was enough to distract her from her landing, and her legs ended up being pulled out from under her as she slammed down to the ground.
She recovered quickly, knowing she didn’t have the security to stay there, and sprang back up despite the burning in her right leg.
It only took a moment of forcing her way through the omnic horde with explosive and carefully timed shots until she found the commander, hidden in the crevice of two pieces of rubble, clutching his bleeding side.
Mina looked out from the building and found the horde was only growing. There was no way they were making it out with him this severely injured and there was no time for the rest of the team to get there.
She looked frantically around the building, inspecting its structure with a quick eye. She ran through every possibility in her head until she settled on one and took aim.
The sticky bomb clung to exactly where she wanted it to, and she slipped into a close opening, similar to the one the commander was in. Three, two, one-
The detonation went off above them, and the already failing structure crumbled down to block off the exit.
The dust settled, and Mina removed her hand from over her mouth and nose. She heard the commander coughing across the way and relaxed a bit against her hiding spot.
“You could have killed us both,” he said once his coughing had subsided.
“Well then it’s a good thing I didn’t,” Mina said easily. She carefully pushed out from her hiding spot and made her way over to him. He glared at her, but didn’t resist as she helped him maneuver out from between the rubble.
“Now what?” she asked.
“You’re the one who got us into this mess, it’s your job to get us out,” he said.
Mina resisted any comments about how it was more of a group effort that got them to the position they were in.
“Let me see your side,” she said.
He hesitated a moment, but relented based on his own rules. HIs hand moved away from his side, and Mina grimaced at the heavy flow of blood coming from the injury.
“I don’t have any supplies to patch it up,” Reyes said, his voice going thinner now that he wasn’t putting on any kind of act. “I don’t suppose you have anything that could help.”
“I might, but you won’t like it,” Mina said.
“Just do it,” he said. “I’d rather not die here, if that’s alright with you.”
“I think I can agree with the sentiment,” Mina said.
She searched through her bag again and found what she was looking for. Her eyes were drawn to her own leg, the blood from her injury finally seeping through her uniform. It seemed as though they would be sharing their misery.
“Can you rest my bone?” she asked, nodding down to her ankle. He seemed confused by the question at first, but when he saw her injury he cursed under his breath.
“I can,” he said.
“Good, you should probably do that before I get to work on you,” she said. “For all we know, this will make you go into shock.”
Reyes sighed but didn’t say anything else. Mina propped herself against an unsteady wall and grit her teeth and his hands found their way around her leg. A crack filled the air, and her free hand flew up to her mouth as she stifled a scream.
“Thank you,” she struggled to catch her breath. “I don’t know if this will work, but it might be all we have.”
“Stop talking,” Reyes said. He sat down, back pressed against the opposite wall. He undid his belt, folding it over as he met her eye, “I’m guessing I’ll need this?” At her nod, he tipped his head back and took a deep breath before jamming the material between his teeth.
Mina limped to him, taking a knee on her undamaged leg. She fired up the same tool she used to close up Reinhardt’s armor, and raised it to Reyes’s side. He nodded, and she pressed it over the wound as she pressed the button.
The scent of burning blood and flesh filled the air. Reyes lasted longer than she expected before he started to scream against the gag.
“Only a little more,” she tried to reassure, running the tool along the wound. Reyes kept screaming until she pulled the tool away and gently dabbed away the leftover blood with the sleeve of her uniform.
While he was calming himself, she collected herself and tried to shut off her mind to not think about the pain she was about to endure.
She pushed aside the torn cloth of her pants so that she had a clear shot at the wound, and pressed the button on the tool again, openly screaming as it burned the injury closed.
Reyes pushed himself up to his feet, wavering but standing his ground. He held his hand down to her and she waited only a few more breaths before taking it and forcing herself to her feet as well. Her leg tried to give out, but Reyes kept her steady, and together they started to make their way through the building.
Their comms cracked to life again when they got further into the building, and Ana’s panicked voice came through.
“Commander Reyes, Doctor Liao, do you copy?”
“We copy,” Reyes said, wincing as a certain step aggravated his injury. “We’re both okay. We’re on our way out the back of the old bank.”
There was a moment of pause, then Jack spoke, “We know where you are. Get to the backdoors, but once you’re there stay put. We will come and get you.”
Mina took another step, but it proved to be too much for her leg as she crumpled to the ground. She heard Reyes curse above her, dropping down harshly to his knee just to keep her from face planting onto the ground.
“What was that?” Ana asked.
“Doctor Liao and I are both injured,” Reyes said. “She cauterized the wounds, but it’s going to take us a while to get out of here.”
“Then just stay where you are,” Ana said.
“We can’t. This building is going to come down on us any minute, we need to get to that exit or we’ll be trapped.
Mina panted, clinging onto Reyes’s steadying hand. She listened as he spoke with the others over the comms and tried to keep her attention on them, but another sound made her look up.
That sound. It was so specific. She knew that sound-
“Get down,” Mina shouted to Reyes just in time before an omnic rounded the corner and let a round of fire go into the wall where his head had been.
Reyes didn’t hesitate on the ground beside her to pull up his gun and shoot the omnic down. It fell to the ground, but not before letting out a chime Mina knew.
“Backup is on the way,” she said, horrified. “They know where we are.”
“Then we have to make sure they can’t get to us,” Reyes said.
He got back to his feet, breathing evenly. Adrenaline was taking over for him, even though Mina’s couldn’t seem to kick into gear. He helped her back up without consideration for her leg. They didn’t have time to worry about injuries.
They limped together down the hall at a faster pace than before, checking every doorway. They eventually found a map, and didn’t have to wander aimlessly anymore. They knew right where they needed to go.
“How do we even open it?” Mina asked when they were nearly to their destination.
“It should already be open,” he said. “They had to get all of the money they could out of it before evacuating. I doubt they remembered to close it afterwards.”
Sure enough, just as Reyes said, they reached the vault room and found it still wide open.
“How many bombs do you have left?” Reyes asked.
Mina checked her bag, counting carefully before answering, “Ten.”
“Perfect. Give me five and take five for yourself.”
They stood in the open vault with the bombs ready, watching the hall and listening. The comms had gone silent as the others worked to get to them in time. They wouldn’t be able to. They had to fight for themselves if they wanted to make it out of the bank alive.
The sound of marching metal in the distance interrupted the silence and they braced themselves. They listened, Mina counting to her heartbeats as the marching got closer.
Finally, the group of omnics turned the corner. Reyes said nothing, and it took Mina longer than she wanted to admit to realize he was waiting for her word.
She counted the heartbeats as the gun raised. Then right before the window, shouted to him, “Now!”
They both threw their bombs, Reyes at the omnics with precise aim, Mina at the ceiling and walls.
The second before they could detonate, Reyes pulled the vault closed, and silence and darkness fell over them.
They stood there for a long moment, the only sound in the vault being their own breaths.
“So that’s it,” Mina whispered, breaking the silence. “We’re trapped in here.”
“Until the others find us, we just have to hold out here,” Reyes agreed.
“What about oxygen?” she asked. “If they don’t get here soon, we’re going to run out.”
“My lungs don’t need as much because of the SEP,” Reyes said. “If I breathe less, we stay calm, and we stop talking, we’ll be fine.”
Mina stood there for another moment. She wondered what Reyes was thinking beside her. Did his enhanced eyesight let him see in the darkness where she couldn’t?
She sat down, propping her back against the wall of the vault. She tried to focus, but she couldn’t hear anything, no matter how hard she tried.
There was a thud against the door to the vault. Bullets and explosions hit it, but it was made to last. Still, Mina couldn’t help imagining all of the possibilities. All of the ways they could break through and pick them off like sitting ducks. Their bodies would be found in the vault and their names would be lost among the millions of others in the Crisis so far.
“Hey Reyes?” Mina whispered.
“I thought I said not to talk,” Reyes said.
“I know,” she said. “I just… if they break through, I want to know. Do you think there ever could have been a world where we were friends?”
“What do you mean?” Reyes asked.
“Like, a world where you didn’t dislike me so much,” Mina said.
“I don’t know, Liao,” Reyes said. They both heard the metal at one of the seams start to shriek, but neither gave a reaction. They stayed where they were as the metal tore and the sounds of the battlefield reached them again. Light came in, and another explosion went off, sending dust flowing through the crack.
They still stayed and watched. There was nothing they could do. There was nowhere they could run.
“For what it’s worth,” Mina said. “I would have liked to be your friend.”
She saw Reyes look to her from the corner of her eye, before a small black ball was dropped through the seam.
She moved faster than she ever had, and was proud that even the SEP reaction time didn’t catch her. She slammed into Reyes, taking him off his feet as she pressed what she needed to on her sensor. The warning beeping of the bomb was accompanied by the machinery moving in the shell on her back as her wings again came out, covering them just in time for the detonation.
Mina didn’t fully remember what happened past that point. She remembered Reyes shouting, and more metal tearing, and feeling herself go weightless, but she didn’t remember the exact events. There was beeping, and the wind of being airborne whipping her hair. Was she being lifted into a helicopter? Then there were the lights shining in her eyes as she was pushed on something- a stretcher?- down a long hallway.
The next thing she truly remembered with complete clarity was waking up in a bed. Machines hooked up to her in ways that told her not to move.
“About time you came back to the real world,” a gruff voice spoke. Mina looked to the side with her eyes only, finding Commander Reyes in a hospital bed as well, only a few feet away from her with the dividing curtain drawn back.
“We were starting to get worried about you,” Reyes said. “How are you feeling?”
Mina tried to speak once, but all that came out was a rasp. She coughed against the dryness, and swallowed down some saliva to coat her throat before trying again.
“Numb.”
“Good,” Reyes said. “It means the medicine is working.”
They laid there in silence for a long time after that. The doctors came in and checked over her before leaving them alone again. She listened to the sounds of the hospital and the pain surrounding her, and started to fall back asleep. She was stopped when Reyes spoke again.
“What were you thinking?” he asked.
“Had- to- save- you,” she said, voice choppy from lack of use.
“Yeah well you had to save yourself too,” he said, voice sharp, cutting through some of the fog in her mind with the recognition that she was being reprimanded. Instead of continuing his lecture, however, he sighed as he seemed to do often, and she looked to him in time to see the sorrow in his eyes.
“You don’t tell anyone I ever said this,” he said. “And if you remember this, you chalk it up to the drugs doing shit to my head, got it?”
Mina nodded.
“Good,” he said. Then, “You did good, alright? You’ve come a long way since we first picked you up.”
Mina just stared at him for a moment. Then, after the words registered, she let a slow grin grow on her face and watched Reyes’s contort with regret.
“Don’t you dare,” he warned.
“You like me,” she rasped.
Reyes sighed as she laughed, then looked to her in concern as she coughed. When she was calmed down again, the smallest of smiles came to his face.
“Yeah Mina, I like you just fine.”