Chapter 3
It was not easy. Or at least, not as easy as she had hoped.
Sombra grunted as she landed inside another warehouse, her stealth drive finally blinking out as the shadows of the closed building hid her. She had been avoiding the sparse, daytime security that patrolled against intruders in the area while it was shut down. It was much easier to navigate around the armed officers in the daylight as there were only a handful walking around, especially close to the origin of the surge. At night, their numbers increased which was quite an inconvenience for getting around. However, it was significantly easier to be spotted in the bright outdoor light than at night. Luckily, her cloaking was reliable and gave her an even better advantage when she was running about in her signature, dark duds.
But then, there were the Overwatch agents to account for as well.
The technomancer had clocked a couple of them in the plaza when she blended in with the local populace at the start of her investigation. She scoffed as she remembered seeing the famous, Brazilian, DJ-turned-freedom fighter who was casually going about as a tourist. Not far from him, a certain Korean pro-gaming superstar and defender was getting a treat at a small market stand. Sombra would bet her gambling chips that there were one or two other agents amongst them. In fact, that one girl in the bucket hat, blue jacket, and athletic joggers looked vaguely like a foxy vigilante she had seen the Hashimoto take interest in back in Japan. And she was sure she had spotted her fellow latina in one of the sightseeing crowds that she slipped through.
"Sombra. I have eyes on an Overwatch agent slipping between the buildings."
Oh great. Another one.
Keeping her voice low, she adjusted the communicator in her ear.
"Who is it?"
There was a moment of silence as she imagined that Widowmaker was changing positions to keep a lookout on her newest target.
"Green lights. Metal armor– merde."
"Araña?"
"Genji Shimada."
"Hmph. Of course it is." This really made things difficult. The younger Shimada was usually able to counter Widowmaker's shots if he spotted her. His cyborg body also allowed him to take more hits – nevermind the utterly unexplainable ability to summon a dragon to fight. He was not someone either Talon operative was interested in facing. "Okay, just keep outta sight and don't start anything. Is he anywhere near me?"
"No. He's scouting out the apartments on the other side of the district."
"Good. Just keep me updated if he moves in my direction."
"Compris."
Rolling her eyes, Sombra began combing through the warehouse, making sure the security cameras were wiped of her presence. She had been rushing through this mission of hers but now with Genji wandering nearby, she was doubly so. She needed to get as much information or better yet, some trace of the person she was after so she could successfully track them or flush them out of hiding. The hacker had already browsed through a few warehouses in the area, tapping into some of their cams for breadcrumbs to find out if the unknown person had returned to the scene of their "crime." Her initial plan had been to dip into the servers and archives of recorded activity to see if the elusive attacker had been caught on tape or if there was anything out of place.
To her immense surprise, she had instead encountered a couple of damaged security bots and cameras in the wake of the surge area. It was an incredibly frustrating moment seeing the "carnage" and precious loss of accessible information. She had just started formulating a back up plan as she paced in the open area she had personally dubbed "ground 0" when she noticed a few particularly damaged cameras further down and not in the direct electrical blast. Curious, Sombra made her way over to the first few devices only to notice more random cameras shut down along the alleys. All of the inactive ones had their lenses pointed in a particular direction, tracing a path that wound itself through the backroads and alleys. Thrilled to find a trail, she made her way through the district and into an area away from the current attention of the guards and general public.
Eventually, she had found herself amongst another series of warehouses and supply shacks in the outskirts of the factory district. Although seemingly abandoned and out of use on the outside, a closer look at them had her detecting recent activity from disturbances in the dust and dirt – things that would normally not be noticeable to the average worker, but for an experienced "investigator" such as herself, they were the clues she was looking for.
Sombra felt like she was getting closer and closer to her target as she made her way through one disturbed building to the next until she found herself in her current one. And closer she was, as she spotted a hidden nook behind a set of tarp covered materials on a shelving unit against the side of the warehouse.
Wearing a satisfied smirk, Sombra moved towards the spot and shifted the tarp covering some rubber-wrapped, ceramic tiling. Checking behind the stacks, she found a few of the same material laid out on the floor and covered with more of the wrapping as the stacks, built up like someone was aiming to make a cushion. She found additional rubber set up against the wall of the warehouse as if someone had been making a bed fortified by non-conductive material. This was further proven by a roll of the plastic tarp, folded right at the supposed "head" of the bed.
Either a squatter is hanging out here, or I just found my target's "nest."
Pulling back from the shelves, Sombra snooped around the rest of the warehouse for more signs of her quarry. Other than the occasional item moved about or missing wraps that were part of the hidden bed, she didn't find much else.
Guess they stuck to their little safe corner. She snorted to herself. That's fine. I just need one thing if I can find it.
The technomancer moved back to the nook and squeezed in carefully to the head of the ‘bed.' Grabbing the rolled up tarp, she carefully scanned the material until something incredibly thin, long, and dark curled off a corner of it. Sombra smirked and reached out, plucking the strand of hair from the bed and held it up to her eye.
Ya te tengo!
Immensely pleased at her success, she took a small, screen-polishing cloth out of her pack and securely wrapped the strand. Slipping the cloth with its precious cargo back into her utility kit, Sombra escaped back off the shelves and into the main area of the warehouse. Humming softly to herself in victory, she started connecting to her translocator that she had set up back in a safe alley. With a sudden whooshing sound of data being uploaded, she disappeared from the warehouse and reappeared close to "ground 0."
Easy!
At that moment, her earpiece crackled with static as Widowmaker's accented voice filtered through
"—mbra… Sombra! Do you copy?"
The hacker's brows raised in surprise at the sniper's urgent tone as she reached up to adjust her earpiece.
"Si, I copy. What's—"
The hairs on the back of her neck and arms rising was the only warning she had before everything suddenly felt wrong. Sombra frantically pulled her communicator out of her ear as it screeched with electrical feedback, sparking and fizzling from being abruptly overcharged. It dropped from her hand as she doubled over, clutching at the back of her neck as her implants seemed to overheat and pulse with too much energy. She grit her teeth, eyes wide as she felt an electrical surge pass through her spine as if she was desperately trying to unplug an uncovered cable from a malfunctioning outlet. Her whole body was wracked with shudders and she gasped loudly as the electrical surge just as suddenly stopped.
Pero que chingados fue eso?!
Talon's infamous hacker was left panting and feeling sick, her hands propped on her knees as she caught her breath from the onslaught. Her arms still shook and she struggled to keep her legs from buckling under her. Her heart pounded in her ears and in that moment she registered actual fear.
She felt like she had been electrocuted.
No… that wasn't right. It felt more like only the tech infused into her body and the tech around her experienced an overcharge. Her enhancements had burned her— her own tech! It was as if someone had weaponized and—
Sombra froze, her gaze landing on the sparking earpiece abandoned on the ground. Wide eyes stared at it in disbelief as she remembered the damaged cameras around her. With trembling fingers, she reached down to pick up the device, holding it warily in front her. The feedback noises had ceased and only static sounds reached her sensitive ears.
"—bra… c—…py? …om…w—at are y—!"
She brought it close to her lips and found her voice.
"Copy. Mission over. We need to go. Now."
"Wha—"
Stuffing the device into her pocket to avoid answering any of the sniper's questions, Sombra grit her teeth to stop their chattering. She took a steadying breath and with a wave of her hand, activated her cloaking. If she booked it out of the area faster than her usual invisibility sprints… well it's not like anyone could say they witnessed it.
(If she heard footsteps rushing behind hers briefly… she convinced herself it was only her own.)
On a rooftop of an empty cathedral overlooking the district, Widowmaker lowered her scope with a disgruntled frown. Her helmet retracted back and she glared at the spot she had seen Sombra disappear from. Her fellow Talon operative had looked off from what she could glean in her spot, so far away. Her shoulders were bunched up, her stance braced to run, and from the zoom of her rifle, her visage was pale.
Something had shaken her in her scouting. It had left the hacker prepared to bolt like a deer in headlights when the vehicle was already upon it. And bolt she did as soon as Widowmaker was able to spot her, connect to her communicator, and confirm that she could hear her. Then all she supplied the already irritated sniper was a command before cutting off their connection by completely removing the device.
Rude…
The cause of that irritability was related to her as well. One minute she was confirming enemy movements for the hackers sake to her and the next there's absolute radio silence. Not just the usual like when Sombra decides to take her own little detour on information gathering missions, but the kind like when something or someone decides to interfere with the comms. Widowmaker had heard the sudden static pick up on her line until it was too prevalent to be a simple technical issue. Soon enough, it had been more than an acceptable amount of time of not even hearing the background noise of Sombra shuffling about nor her breath leak into the microphone. While the hacker hated being interrupted in her work, the sniper made the decision to contact her and heard only more static in return.
There had been no response until the feedback abruptly peaked in her headset. Alerted, Widowmaker had snapped her scope around, recalling the location of where Sombra had left her translocator and spotted the hacker doubled over and catching her breath. Immediately, she tried contacting her again, facing the same static as before but to her relief, she soon started picking up bits of audio from her fellow agent. She was finally appeased as Sombra replied but left even more frustrated when the hacker brushed off her questions and cut off their connection. From the sound of her tone, Widow picked up a vulnerability she rarely if ever encountered with the other woman, sparking even more curiosity about her findings.
Unfortunately, it looked like the technomancer would not explain what occurred for the time being. Perhaps in her report, Widowmaker would find some better explanation or another for her attitude. Sombra was usually detailed when it came to information gathering after all. She could glean what had happened through both their notes to the higher ups. Until then, she would give the hacker her space but ensure they weren't compromised by the enemy agents loitering about. A wayward glance could be enough to pick out an anomaly if they were experienced enough like a couple of the known agents present in the city.
And She had been feeling an itch the whole time she was positioned and waiting… Maybe she was just being overly cautious. The green ninja hadn't glanced her way even once afterall.
Widowmaker kept her sights on Sombra from afar until the hacker was safely out of the area. Once she had confirmed the other woman had evacuated the area, she retracted her sniper into its standard rifle form and made her way down from her position in the cathedral. She would need to navigate back to the agreed upon extraction zone with the least amount of contact with civilians and the like. It was always difficult to be subtle when her skin tone was particularly eye-catching. It didn't really bother her but it was a liability when she wasn't hidden by shadows or the darkness of night.
Glancing back once more at the church she had walked away from, her eyes narrowed as she scanned its shape. The bright sun of the day did it no favors in providing enough shadows for cover. Still, there were crevices here and there where little to no light flickered in– she had hid in one after all. There didn't seem to be anything off about them as before when she had climbed the building. So Widowmaker turned away and continued on, unaware of any eyes that may have witnessed the Talon sniper depart.
"Alright, can we get another hourly check in?"
"Getting bored already huh?"
"I mean, there's only so many photos I can pretend to take in the plaza. And for your information D.Va, I had one or two folks stop me for autographs."
"Pffft, have they asked why the famous Lucio is 'incognito' and all the way out here?"
"Actually most people be minding their business on that front. Got a lot of, ‘enjoy your vacation!' and ‘can't wait for your next album!' though."
"Huh. That's pretty thoughtful."
"Right! By the way, how's the ice cream? Isn't that like… your third or fourth?"
"First of all, it's gelato Secondly, what are you a cop?"
"Sorry! Genuine question."
"I went with the pistachio this time. It's good."
"That's a lot of sugar though."
"I'll be fine~."
"I would believe that more if you were Kiriko."
"Just cuz she cheats at dieting doesn't mean we can't."
"–I heard that!"
"Good."
"And it's not a cheat to have been blessed with balanced blood sugar by the fox spirit. It's just a bonus to my abilities in the same way you use your fast-twitch muscles from gaming in quick-tapping your trigger."
"Hmph, I had to develop those muscles through years of practice–"
"Heyyyyy, Kiriko, how are things on your end?"
"Hey Lucio. Pretty uneventful for the most part."
"I actually meant the city tour."
"Oh. I haven't been paying much attention to that."
"That boring?"
"No, not at all. I've just been doing my job scoping things out."
"Wow, calling us out there!"
"Nah. Illari has been paying enough attention for both of us. She's–"
"I have learned… so much."
"You uh… you alright there?"
"Yes. Did you know piri-piri chili sauce originated here but the chillies were brought over from South America and then taken to Africa before they learned to mix it with garlic and lemon? It's poured all over their churrasco chicken in liberal amounts and the restaurant in the plaza we passed serves some of the local's favorite version."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"It's HIGHLY recommended."
"Someone get this chica some saucy chicken."
"... Now that I think about it, we haven't really stopped to eat."
"You can join me for more gelato."
"As much as I would love to, I think we have to wait for word from our lead."
"Speaking of, has anyone heard from Genji? Or has he gone completely dark?"
"I wouldn't put it past him to be listening in on this whole thing and not responding because of his location."
"Oh, well that makes sense."
"Staying silent is part of being a– o̶͖͌ͅ-̴̼̪͂̋͋͗͜ȍ̸͚̙͈̳̋̊͑͝ŏ̴̢̖̰͠f̷̡̛̥̤̠̐͒͆̊ ̵͚͓͉̗͎̈͒̄͆̃s̷͎̲̈́̆͌͠͠o̶̼͂r̷̨̧̗̺̽͐̓̈́͒ͅr̶̙̜̽̆̐̕y̴̦̽"
"You okay–"
"W̸̮͍̓͊h̸̗̜̞́ä̸̭̼́̽́̚ť̷͙̔̂?"
"Q̶̩̦̿͘U̷̢̧̩̰͗̾Ë̷͖̘́͒̃̌–"
"Ë̴͖̭̮́̑Y̸̧̧̌͒̅ ̷̛̻̜͖̖͗̾̉̉Ý̸̨̨̱̯̤O̶̩̣͂̓̄̐"
"O̷̘̘̮̊̈́͑̚w̵̩͈̥̐̄̾͠ ̴̢̬̆̏̂͊͠o̵̬̻̫͒w̷͔̻̓́̉̽͆ ̶̦͔͕̑̈́o̶̢͚̫̒̕͜͠ͅw̸̞̻͌ ̷̪͚͉̘͛̇̇ö̵͔̻́w̵̲͍̘͕̮͆͒!̸̧̙̙͓̃"
.
.
.
.
.
.
"T̶–e̷s̶t̵i̴n̸g–s̶̏ͅh̸̝͂-it. W… wait. Testing. Hello?"
"D.Va reading you loud and clear."
"Copy. Lucio?"
"Yea. Hearing you now Kiri. Copy."
"Okay great. Illari?"
"Copy. I hear them both."
"And me?"
"En serio? I am literally right next to you."
"What happened?"
"Yea! That sounded worse than when I'm playing against someone with a shitty headset."
"I'm… not sure. We were making our way through a crowd in the plaza and trying not to bump into anyone."
"We bumped into a few people actually."
"–I said, trying.Anyway, it looks like our comms glitched out. What were you guys doing?"
"Still here. Nothing new. I even put my camera down."
"I was almost done with my gelato."
"Wait a minute…Kiriko, I think only your device glitched."
"What? How would you know?"
"I heard Illari clearly right after getting some feedback from you."
"Illari?"
"I was asking if you were okay. That was heard without an issue?"
"Oh yea! I heard that. Then when Kiriko spoke it was all static."
"Wow. Great so only my communicator is messed up?"
"It sounds like it's working fine now."
"You're literally right next to me."
"Oi!"
"Ladies ladies! Please. So only Kiriko's glitched and gave us feedback. That's… kinda unusual considering the quality of these comms. And I would know as someone who regularly works with auditory equipment. I helped with upgrading and testing some of the quality of these. Though it's quite possible that another tech device, strong electrical pulses, certain enhancements, or even some strong magnets can affect their output. Like with any electronic device."
"Maybe one of those many people Illari said you bumped into had something on them?"
"Oi! She specifically said a few!"
"I did."
"Eung eung, whatever. What I mean is that maybe someone you coincidentally bumped into had something to disrupt our equipment? We can't rule out the possibility of there being Talon agents here as well."
"Kuso, are you saying someone could have tried hacking my comm?"
"We can't rule out the possibility."
"D.Va has a point. How about this– anyone in the crowd that stood out to you?"
"Besides Illari looking like a hot goth?"
"I– Wha– Kiriko!"
"Really? Right in front of my gelato?"
"She's not wrong. You were serving a look."
"Lucio!"
"Hehe. Anyway, no one in particular, to be honest. There was an older couple holding hands and with cute hats, that one guy with a large backpack wearing cargo shorts and hiking boots, and this one blue-haired girl with metal piercings on her brow and nose–"
"—Blue hair?"
"Ssi-bal!Genji, you nearly made me drop my gelato!!"
"Shouldn't this be your third one?"
"... Of course you were paying attention."
"'Silence is golden.' Kiriko, you mentioned a girl with blue hair? Was she in pigtails with blonde highlights? Wearing a navy work jacket?"
"Considering you described her perfectly, yes, I did. Is she our target?"
"For now, hai."
"Ryokai. I'll head on after her."
"Do you want me to continue following Kiriko?"
"No. Hang back with Lucio and D.Va for now. Keep an eye out in the area in case she heads back your way."
"What will you do then?"
"I'll intercept her when the moment is right."
"Alright! I just finished my gelato so I'm ready to go."
"Please keep the chatter to a minimum too."
"... Roger."