Chronal Disassociation Ch. 66 (Patreon)

“I hate to come across as a bad guy,” Reinhardt started, raising an eyebrow, “But that was Japanese, correct?”

“Yes.” Genji nodded, “I do wonder why though. We are in a Korean simulation, so the use of Japanese implies that this has at least a joint venture with Japan.”

“Could be the anime boom of the 30’s?”  Reinhardt rubbed his chin, “The engineers that would’ve worked on this are the right age to have grown up during it. Some sort of easter egg they included, maybe?”

Their conversation was light-hearted. Winston was not included, having taken the moment of respite as a chance to look around the simulated room. Sombra was busy trying - and failing - to get rid of the pink highlights that her implants now included.

That left Lena, Archer, and the Hostage Program together.

Except even that didn’t last long.

“Mmmmoouuuu~!” The Program stomped her feet with a pout, “Why are you all ignoring me?!”

That little outburst halted all conversations immediately, with Winston having done so the fastest, “Wait…you can hear us?”

The Program rolled her eyes as she shifted her focus from Archer to the scientist, “Of course I can. Honestly, when I heard Overwatch was joining this session, I didn’t think you all would be so dang rude.”

“Apologies, ma’am!” Reinhardt recovered first, coughing into his fist, “We were under the impression that the hostage we would be rescuing would also be an AI hostage, not another person.”

“Oxton, I need you to be very, very careful.”

The sudden influx of Archer’s mental voice nearly caused Lena to yelp. It was only due to her focus being entirely on the other woman that she didn’t. Her focus that was just a bit too focused. As if there was a fog that was making her trail on every delicate aspect of the other woman.

‘Archer, what the hell is going on?’ She tried to move her eyes away, but every time she tried, her gaze would somehow make its way back.

“If I’m right, nothing good.” She saw Archer take a glance around in the corner of her eye. She couldn’t see what he was looking at, but the feeling of a scowl implanted through their mental link.

The hostage raised her eyebrow, a hint of disgust on her otherwise perfectly framed features, “I am an AI, thank you very much. I suppose introductions are in order, right chat?”

Unbidden, a holoscreen popped up beside all of them. In it, a massive amount of messages scrolled past them. Her eyes couldn’t focus on them, and she wouldn’t. Not when the hostage suddenly struck a pose. Her hands were on her hips, chest puffed upwards. The room’s lighting came alive as the woman smiled at them.

Her dark hair framed her face that was a bit too perfect in its execution. The sleeves of her dress smoothly transitioned onto her arms. Every miniscule movement was calculated, every action deliberate. Lena didn’t know why she knew, only that she did.

“Hello, hello, hello everyone! Did you miss me?!” Somehow, the chat went even faster, “I missed you too! It gets lonely when I’ve got no one to talk to, you know?”

She spun around. A spotlight hit her from above. The ceiling didn't even have light fixtures installed there.

"But enough about my lonely heart!" She winked, pointing a finger gun at Reinhardt. The old knight actually took a half-step back, "Let's do this properly for the new viewers. I am your devilish, ultra-cute, combat kouhAI! Some of you already know my name, some of you don't, but you can all call me...Ki-a-ra Sess-yo-in!"

Wrong.

She was lying.

That was not her name.

It wasn’t. Shouldn’t. 

Liar.

Lena knew that that wasn’t the truth. And in that moment that she realized it, her eyes strained. Strained in a way that shouldn’t be possible in a simulation like this. The woman-that-lies form shifted for a moment, as her golden eyes stared at the pilot.

In that instant, her form was overlaid by another. Instead of raven-dark hair, it was blinding purple. Instead of the white dress, it was a school uniform. Instead of golden eyes, it was a soft violet. And instead of the teasing smile, it was the grin of a predator.

“Snap out of it, Oxton!”

Archer’s voice pierced the fog, her legs suddenly weakening in shock. Thankfully, she caught herself before she collapsed, and the cameras were still focused on…Kiara’s introduction.

“Keep that close for a bit, will you?”

It was only when Archer mentioned that that she realized that she was now holding something in her off-hand. She glanced at it, and saw that it was a piece of red cloth, the same shade as the one that Archer usually wore. Another glance towards him and Lena saw that yes, he had cut off a portion of it and had handed it to her.

‘Wha-’ The question barely filtered through the link, but the underlying meaning of it was already clear.

“The shroud has Magic Resistance, rank D. Not useful against skilled mages, but good enough for minor mental influences like hers.”

“Awww.” Kiara pouted at Archer as if she could hear the conversation going on between the two of them, “You’re reaaallly no fun, are you, Archer?”

“Having fun when you’re around isn’t really an option for me.” Archer calmly spoke back, “Let me rephrase; especially when you’re around.”

“You’re so meaaaann~! Chat, Archer’s bullying meeeee!” The woman fake cried into the camera while pointing accusingly at Archer. Now that Lena could look closer - she realized she could do so now that whatever the AI was doing to her was thrown off - she could read the chat messages coming through.

Tokki_Simp_No1]: TOKKI D:[Gwishin_Slayer]: RED GUY HAS TO GO[BobaKnight]: SHES FINALLY HERE THE QUEEN HAS ARRIVED[InCoGtAb]: how he hell are yhose called micro missiles when theyre the size pf my head[Bookwyrm]: There’s no way they don’t know each other, I’m calling it right now[PewPew_Norepeat]: BULLYING D:[matrixwasbad]: DEVILISH ULTRA CUTE COMBAT KOUHAI WINS AGAIN[Pixel_Paladin]: BOOO RED COAT BOOOOO[Salt_Free_Gaming]: @D.Mon yeah I don’t think a sword is gonna do it

“So, you two uhh, know each other?” Winston broke the silence as the gorilla looked back and forth in bewilderment. However, interestingly enough, Lena couldn’t see any hint that he was affected by Kiara as much as she was. The same went for the others. Was she the only one that was mentally influenced?

Lena didn’t know if she liked either answer, to be honest.

“Yep! Me and Archer go waaaaay back, even before I got integrated into MEKA’s simulator.” Kiara nodded enthusiastically, “So long ago that I didn’t think we’d see each other ever again!”

Lena could both feel and see the gears turn for every single person in the room that wasn’t Archer or Kiara. Even the chat was spamming question marks at this point, “That means that you’ve known him since-” Archer coughed politely but firmly as Winston spoke, “Right, sorry. Nevermind.”

[remsleep12]: @CASINO THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE HOLY[lagswithc]: bruh red coat literally just censored the lore[Overclock99]: I mean, we already knew Kiki existed before the sim[Bookwyrm]: SINCE WHEN???[DoManOr]: [Clip] from D.Va, I think this was from 2 streams ago[matrixwasbad]: @DoManOr that was scary fast man, do you just have that ready to go?

“Anyway, if you’re the AI controlling all of this, why are you here?” Archer bulldozed through everyone, asking Kiara directly. Said AI looked at him as if he was particularly slow.

“I just said it earlier, didn’t I? I’m booooored.” She rolled her eyes, “Like seriously, there’s only so much a girl like me can take before I gotta stretch my legs.”

“And including yourself as a hostage in a simulation is the best way to do that?” Archer narrowed his eyes.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t~☆” She winked at all of them, “Also, it’s a really good way to distract you guys from realizing that this room blocks radio comms.”

Lena tapped her earpiece. The motion that should have connected them to the MEKA Squad up top came as dead air. She looked over at Sombra,  the hacker already frantically typing on her hard-light interface. The purple holographic hexes flickered, let off a sharp smell of burnt wire and ozone, and shattered into sparks.

Meanwhile, Archer shook his head and sighed, "I should have known. You weren't even throwing higher level Shapeshifters and Eaters at us."

"Shapeshifters? Eaters?" Genji repeated. His hand rested on his wakizashi. The green neon of his cybernetics hummed louder, "You know these enemy types?"

"I’m familiar with them, yes." Archer said. He didn't look back at the ninja. His eyes stayed glued to the girl, "Trash mobs, mostly. But she's holding back the heavy hitters just to play with us."

The girl giggled. It wasn't a cute sound anymore. It grated against Lena's ears like metal scraping on glass.

"Bingo." The AI said as tapped her chin, completely ignoring the massive armored knight and the cyborg ninja, "You guys wiped out the basic Programs so fast. I had to step in before the viewers got bored. I mean, King's was right; what's a stream without a proper boss fight?"

As if on cue - and since Kiara was the AI controlling all of this, it might’ve been - the ceiling above them cracked open.

Radio noise flooded the comms instantly. The static screamed in Lena’s ear. She winced, slapping a hand over her receiver.

"...hull breach in section four! They're past my shields!" That was Casino, sounding breathless and frantic.

"Defense matrix is failing! What the hell are these things?!" D.Va's voice cut through. Heavy weapons fire and the sound of tearing metal echoed behind her words. They were completely overwhelmed.

"Get into formation six! Overlord, prioritize repairs on Casino! I'm taking point!" D.Mon sounded much more panicked than earlier, the stress of everything finally seeming to hit her. The swinging of her blade could be heard even beyond the comms at this stage.

“Where the hell is Overwatch?!”

High above their heads, a massive arm circled. Trailing on it were the five members of MEKA Squad, firing just about everything they had. Even then, another mass of flying Enemy Programs chased after them, meeting flak fire from D.Va’s cannons.

The slightly jovial atmosphere evaporated there. As much as this was still a training simulation, that didn’t mean that they could take it easy while their prospective students were being beaten down like this. Evidently, the others also understood.

“Everyone, with me!” Reinhardt roared out, before he deployed the miniature engine on his back. Normally, his armor would have been too heavy to do anything other than move horizontally. That would have been the case here, had he not joined it with a heavy downward swing of his rocket-propelled hammer. It was enough for his arm to reach the edge of the now broken ceiling.

Winston easily made the same distance with his own jump pack, and quickly helped the crusader to get topside. The others were the same, jumping out with their own version of vertical movement. Unspoken was their decision to leave the ‘hostage’ inside - their job was to get the hostage to safety, which meant making the area safe to begin with.

What greeted them atop the oil rig’s surface was a lot more Enemy Programs. And by that, Lena meant a lot. They swarmed the surface like an unending tide. Not even during the Uprising were there this many enemies in one place. 

Unlike the ones that Archer called Eaters and Shapeshifters, many of these ones were much more humanoid, each wielding a sword of sorts. They were blocky, almost like bricks stacked on top of each other, with their limbs floating instead of connecting at the joints. Others were significantly bigger, where instead of swords, each of their arms were spiked balls. Those ones were even bigger than Reinhardt, which made Lena more nervous than she thought.

There were more variations than that, too. Spears, bows, clubs, even what looked to be guns. They all were focusing on taking down MEKA Squad - those with melee weapons would occasionally start to fly up, their legs shifting into rockets, before charging at the mechs.

Finally, the biggest one couldn’t be ignored. A massive, human-shaped Enemy Program was standing in front of them. Its lower half was submerged beneath the water, but Lena wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually standing on the ocean floor. Purple plated armor, with a faceplate that only had one eye on its right. It was swinging wildly at MEKA, as if they were flies that needed swatting. Each movement produced a gust of wind that would occasionally knock over some of its smaller brethren.

The few seconds it took to take this all in was enough time for the Enemy Programs to shift their attention to Lena’s group.

Down below, the pilot could hear Kiara cheerfully call out, “Have fun with KP!”

Archer was the one that swore for all of them.

…

A/N: Sorry for the lower quality Brute. It’s hard to find a higher quality one.