Null Protocol || Ramattra x Reader

Chapter Forty

"Cassidy actually, ma'am." The cowboy grinned, tipping his hat at her as he clutched a cigar in between his teeth. "But I get that a lot."

"What're you doing with Overwatch, Lay?" She did a thorough sweep of the command ship when she had a free moment in search of the smaller omnic but hadn't found her, and the sight of her friend alive and well did more to bring life back into her eyes than she even realized.

Laylani perked up at her nickname, though her reply came after a couple seconds of awkward silence. "Ramattra sent me here to make sure I'd be safe. We had a bit of a...falling out."

(Y/n)'s joy died as concern took its place. "What happened?"

"He blamed me for getting you captured." She fiddled with the glass lei around her head, avoiding the girl's sympathetic eyes. "And he sent me here to let Overwatch prove their merit by keeping me safe as I worked to regain his trust."

"Where is Ramattra?" Genji asked, moving closer to the screen. "We require his help to extract you." The silence that followed was heavy, weighing down on (Y/n)'s head until her gaze fell to the floor.

Cassidy cocked his head, a concerned drawl to his southern twang. "I don't s'pose you're deep in thought?"

"I'm mighty glad he learnt to rely on others," was (Y/n)'s shaky reply. "I reckon he trusted y'all more than he let on towards the end, there."

Laylani leaned in beside Genji. "Wahine, you need to tell us what's going on. Ramattra hasn't communicated with us since he went in to find you."

"We were set to follow after him on his mark," Cassidy explained as he clutched his cigar between two fingers. "But he went quiet on us. Sombra did her thing to hook us up with you, but we've been in a tizzy waiting for any information about what's going on down there."

"I saved Master Zenyatta while he kept their forces focused on him." Genji gestured over his shoulder where the camera could just barely pick up the outline of the monk meditating as he hovered over the floor. So Ramattra wasn't the one to save his brother, he actually relied on Overwatch while pretending he was solo just like Doomfist expected so Talon remained unawares. It was genius, a complete contrast to the omnic she met at the Shambali Monastery because he knew Talon thought him incapable of change, but he'd proven to everybody that he was capable. But as pride welled up in the mechanic's heart, pain cut it open at the realization his life was cut short just when he was learning he didn't have to fight alone.

"Tell Zeny I'm tickled pink he's just dandy." (Y/n)'s voice cracked and she had to put a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries, and instantly, all their attention was focused on her. "He can't hear us, you reckon?" Genji glanced over his shoulder then shook his head, and after taking a deep breath to steady herself, she broke the news. "Ramattra's dead." The silence that followed was deafening, and her heart broke all over again at the sympathy she was leveled with through the screen. She couldn't handle it, so she quickly prattled on, "And now Doomfist is using his warbot army to go after Maximilien in Monaco to shut off his sentience, too."

"Sombra mentioned Max was in the market for her talents, said he was planning on leaving Talon." Cassidy tapped the cigar so ash fell to the floor. "You figure Doom knows?"

Genji nodded, folding his arms. "That would explain why he seeks to kill Max."

"Then we've got a casino to hit." Cassidy smirked, replacing the cigar between his teeth, and as Laylani tapped away on a separate keypad to look into Maximilien, Genji walked over to Zenyatta, getting on his knees in front of his master to quietly explain what happened. (Y/n) watched the two of them, but without being able to hear them, she couldn't get a read on the cyborg or omnic's emotions.

"We'll see if we can get ahold of Max – the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?" Laylani's enthusiasm sparked some in (Y/n), and she tried to twist her lips into a smile, but the omnic saw the pain in her eyes and her head dipped sadly. "I miss him too, pua, but even until the bitter end, he wanted you safe. I'll make it up to him by getting you out of there alive, so do your best to focus for me, yeah?"

"It weren't your fault I got captured," (Y/n) whispered, but Laylani ignored the comment like her guilt was more than deserved.

"You'll need to contact Sombra and tell her we're on the move, only, tell her we're interrupting Doomfist's attack on the casino, not the Talon base."

"Doomfist plans to start the raid later tonight, he's mighty close to launching this whole shebang." (Y/n) turned so the Nulltrooper she modified was in the background, and Laylani's optics lingered on it for a beat before she typed faster and Cassidy pressed a comms button to notify the rest of Overwatch. Who they would enlist for this mission, she wasn't sure, but with Laylani's research on each of the agents, she knew they'd be well prepared. "And I affixed these bumpkins here with explosives set to detonate."

Laylani's head snapped up in surprise before a melodious laugh slipped out. "That's my u'i wahine. Rama would've been so proud of you."

(Y/n)'s heart squeezed uncomfortably at the blatant past tense, but she didn't let it distract her. "Just give me a holler and I'll rig these here devices to blow Doomfist's army to kingdom come."

"Then we'll swoop in to finish the rest." Laylani sat back with a self-satisfied air as a commotion stirred up behind her, new faces the mechanic had never seen before mixing with ones she met back when Ramattra first tried her way in King's Row. Zenyatta had risen his optics to Genji, and while they spoke too quietly to understand, Zenyatta wasn't floating and the orbs that circled his neck weren't levitating anymore. She wanted to say 'I'm sorry' but that wouldn't fix what she'd done, and even if he never blamed her for killing his brother, she wasn't sure she'd ever be rid of the guilt.

"Join Doom for whatever he has planned. We'll be in touch, just make sure to answer when you know you're alone." And with that, Laylani signed off to prepare for Overwatch's attack on Talon.

(Y/n) slipped the phone back in her pocket, then swiped a small, black box with a switch and a button off the countertop – the switch to arm the explosives and the round button to detonate them and destroy Doomfist's war machine army – and palmed the same type of bomb she affixed to each of the Nulltroopers' chests in her other hand. It was her last one and she knew exactly where to put it, but for now, into her pocket it went.

As if on cue, Sombra appeared with a knowing smirk dancing on her lips like she heard everything. "Sounds like our 'amigos' are ready to go, carnala, and just in time. Doomfist awaits." The hacker turned to lead the way, so (Y/n) followed her out of the command ship with the Nulltrooper in toe towards the shuttle set to take them to the raid, mentally steeling herself for what came next as she clutched the explosive in her hand.

[Japanese] Mata aeta na = Good to see you

[Hawaiian] u'i wahine = pretty/beautiful woman

[Spanish] amigos = friends