Shoutout to michael_ramsay, may you get a mercy pocket in your next OW game.
Me and Mina creeped through the hallways of the omnium making our way carefully to the elevator. I could feel that Mina wasn't as fearful as when she started, and it was just reduced to a slight nervousness from time to time.
As we neared where the elevator was, I could feel that there was omnics guarding it. It was a relatively small amount, just four, but their purpose was obviously to locate where we were. Taking the stairs wasn't an option as there were many patrols, and it was easier to avoid them altogether by doing this.
Turning to Mina before we rounded the corner, in a hushed tone I ask, "Did you happen to bring a weapon?"
She looks at me sheepishly. "No. I don't bring one because I don't know how to use one."
"That's fine." I say. I mimic the action of pulling a trigger with my finger. "Can you do that?" I ask.
She nods her head. I hand her my Desert Eagle, which she almost drops from the weight of it. "I'm going to go deal with these guys, so in case we get flanked, you point this end towards the enemy and do what I just showed you. You have nine shots but if I hear you shoot I'll be back before you even get that far. Now closely watch that direction for any omnics." I explain to her as I take the safety off the gun.
Ignoring her new feelings of nervousness, I turn the corner to engage the omnics guarding the elevator. They snap ready as soon as I turn the corner. Since we're nowhere near a server room, they immediately open fire. Sprinting towards them, I swing my sword twice in front of me to deflect the two bullets that would have hit me. Turning in the air, I slash through the first Bastion before dropping low to the ground to dodge the other who attempted to swing at me.
Cutting off its arm, I quickly bring my weapon back down, cutting off its head. Turning towards the final two, I quickly swish my blade back and forth in front of me as they open fire on me at close range. Lunging forward, I dodge all bullets as I slash out in front of me, destroying both of them in one motion.
As I take a second to appreciate my work, sudden gunfire from the hallway snaps my attention back to it. Rounding the corner, I find a gun in my face. Thankfully, I was already bent backwards as a bullet sails past where my head once was.
"OH MY GOD!" Mina screams as she realizes what she just did. Taking the gun from her, I look past to see the corpses of three Bastions in the hallway.
"Yeah, next time you're getting the sword. Come on, the elevator is free now." I tell her. Stepping over the bodies of the fallen Bastions, we enter the elevator and press the button for the second floor. While we wait on the slow-moving elevator to reach our destination, I don't miss the despair that is oozing off Mina right now.
"What's wrong?" I ask, knowing full well what was wrong.
"I...I almost shot you." She manages to say after a moment.
"That's on me. I knew your situation and should have announced myself before I turned the corner. " I explain.
"But still..." She goes to say but I stop her. Before saying anything, I put my hand on her arm, sending signals to calm her down. Feeling that she is calmer, I reassure her.
"Listen, I'm ok. Mistakes happen and we learn from them. I'm fine and just focus on that." My words quiet her down as the elevator continues.
"How did you dodge that by the way. You were so fast." Mina asks after a minute.
"It's one of my abilities. It's how I dodge and deflect bullets." I tell her.
"So... is it true that you can see the future?" She asks carefully.
I sigh as I had forgotten about that whole ordeal. "In a way." I admit to her. Gabriel probably put it on my file about me that everyone had access to. Since everyone could know about me, I wasn't too keen on revealing the abilities I had so causally.
She pauses as I can get a sense about what she's about to ask me. "From the data we saw back in base, it's clear that someone is pulling the strings. Do you know who or what it is?"
"I do, it's pretty much what you think it is." I admit to her. She's a smart woman, so everyone literally already can guess that it's an omnic controlling everything, but they don't know the depth of it. I wasn't about to reveal the specifics to her quite yet and put her in that line of danger though.
"Did you.... help build it?" She asks carefully.
"No. In fact, you should move carefully, Mina. There's more going on than what we know. Don't be so easily trusting and stay around those that you do." I warn her.
"Ok." She says, and we go back to silence just in time for the elevator doors to open. Checking both ways before proceeding, I escort her to the direction of the second access point. When we get there, an explosion rocks the building.
"I guess one of them is done with their access points. Let's hurry ours and meet up at the final one." I say. She begins typing on the computer and we get a response immediately. With so many points getting cut off, the omnics catch on to what we're doing and are beginning to grow desperate. All omnics on this floor must be coming our way.
"Stay low. I'm going to have to shoot in this one." I call over my shoulder to her. I don't bother looking to see if she did it as I know it won't matter. If the server blows, me and her are going up in flames with it. Nevertheless, I had little choice in the matter as they even sent OR-14 bots to deal with us.
Just as I began to counterattack, I felt a familiar friendly source of bioelectricity enter my perception. Putting my gun away with a sigh of relief, I engage the omnics with my reinforcement on their flank. My engage is easier as they can't open fire, allowing me to close the gap faster.
Slashing through each omnic I encounter, I dance through their attempts to punch me until I end up out in the hallway. I turn in time to see Sojourn duck under an OR-14s fist and return it with one of her own. Finished dealing with the omnics, she walks over to me.
"Thanks. I can assume that you're done with your access point then." I ask. She nods her head, "If we're done here, our next task is to meet up with Morrison downstairs at the final access point."
As we make our way downstairs, its becoming apparent that the omnics really don't want us to complete the mission as we encounter no resistance on the way there. My guess is that they're gathering all their forces at the final access point to stop us at all costs.
Getting off the elevator, we meet up with Jack who confirms our suspicions. All omnics are converging on the final point. We had a fight on our hands.
As we near the server room, I can feel the sheer number of omnics and know that a gunfight is unavoidable. As I draw my weapon, everyone follows suit as the first of the Bastions come into view. They transfigure into turrets and I rush ahead, deflecting the bullets away from them. Jack follows up with a well aimed Helix rocket that blasts all transformed Bastions. Sojourn uses her new upgrades and slides past me, using her railgun to easily tear through the Bastions.
An OR-14 bot comes up to intercept us but three shots from me and its head explodes. From behind us, Jack clicks his visor and opens fire. I recognize this as his signature ultimate as every shot he takes doesn't miss as waves of Bastions fall. I spend my time darting around, deflecting any bullets that near him as we continue our push towards the server room.
I don't ignore this feeling that I get, as I work alongside two great DPS heroes in the game. Our teamwork right now fills with me a sense of euphoria. Of course, as usual, that's when everything always goes bad.
Another Or-14 bot rises to counterattack us, and Jack shoots another Helix rocket to take it down. The first tow collides with the omnic, causing it to explode. With nothing to stop it, his rocket continues into the server room. There is a moment of silence, as everyone holds their breath as they watch the rocket collide with one of the computers.
The resulting explosion reduces all nearby omnics to parts and sends the room into nothing but a ball of flames. The explosions chain after each other through the wall down the hallway catching Mina off guard. The force of the explosion next to her sends her careening into the wall, knocking her out. We, too, catch the blast radius as we get knocked off our feet.
Unfortunately, as we recover, we see the computer is still in his glass panel, safely untouched among a sea of fire. We couldn't just leave it like it is right now, as we couldn't be too sure if it would be eventually destroyed or not. With the smoke filling the hallway, words couldn't be said, but we all knew one of us had to go in there to destroy it.
Looking at each other, Jack points to Sojourn and mouths the words, "You," telling her what she already knew. Out of the three of us, she was the only person who could safely get in there. However, the return wasn't looking so good. As she prepared herself to run in there, I quickly went to check on Mina. She had a bruise on her forehead, signaling that she might have a concussion. Needless to say, she was out for the remainder of this mission.
I do what I can to stabilize her condition and turn just in time to see Sojourn dash into the flames of the room. Taking off my katana and gun, and handing them to Jack, I quickly think of my best course of action. I just needed to go in there and grab Sojourn. I would have to keep my breathing down to a minimum as the smoke was a problem. Not to mention the fact that I would be walking ankle deep in flames. There was one thing I knew for certain; this was about to hurt.
Through the fire and the flame, I could hear that Sojourn succeeded, and shut off the access point. Without hesitation, I jump through the wall of flames into the room. Each step I take sends waves of pain through my body. I try to ignore the pain, but it's too much, causing me to cry out. Among the flames, it's easy to spot Sojourn's body which I waste no time in grabbing.
Running towards the door, I struggle to stay awake through all the pain. My mind focuses on something else, as it seems like an eternity getting to the door. My mind finally settles on something to focus on which helps me run the rest of the way.
'Her body is surprisingly light.'
Jumping through the door, I drop her body roughly as I lay on the floor, spasming with pain. As I look at my hands, I can only imagine how I look to Jack as third-degree burns cover my body. I lay there as my bioelectricity does it work, rapidly healing my burn wounds. After a few moments I get up, almost perfectly fine as I look at Jack and see the shock in his eyes.
As the smoke continues to fill the hallway, Jack and I pick up Mina and Sojourn and head out of the omnium.