Chapter 71
"So you're a Servant?"
"Ehhh." Kiara shrugged in a sort of helpless manner, "Sort of? Technically, I shouldn't be one in the first place, buuuut some shenanigans happened and I got a Servant container. Then I lost that container after the whole Zeus thing."
"Zeus?" Lena furrowed her eyebrows, "That another God Program I don't know about?"
It would certainly be worrying. Lena knew about the most common ones - Anubis especially. And Chernobog after Kiara mentioned it. That did not necessarily mean that those two were the only ones that had ever existed. Lena could even remember an American one, though the name escaped her.
Considering that Kiara was an AI herself, it-
"Nah, it was the actual Olympian god."
Lena could only blink as Kiara flippantly waved her hand.
"Wha-"
"Oh! That reminds me! ARCHER!" Uncaring of Lena's flabbergasted look, the AI yelled out to the other Heroic Spirit.
Said Spirit was busy sparring against the MEKA Squad leader, Yuna. The other members of the squad had faced him one at a time, and they had easily fallen to Archer. Each one was now groaning in pain that couldn't have been simulated, in the back.
Archer hadn't held back with inflicting as much humiliation as possible. He had whipped out that damnable wooden sword of his, the one that he would usually use in their own sparring sessions.
She knew from firsthand experience that the pain inflicted by that thing was absolutely real, no matter the pain dampeners that the simulator may provide. At least Lena could use her Recall to remove the bruises that came with sparring. Genji and the others were not so lucky in that regard.
This time, the fight was actually going much better for Yuna this time around. Archer had elected to face her last, and over time, it seemed that the squad leader had managed to figure out a few of the tricks that Archer would pull, just from watching him best the others.
It also helped that Lena knew that her specific mech used a sword more than her guns. As such, even as Archer was clearly getting more and more hits in, Lena could clearly see that Yuna was able to actually predict some of Archer's moves. Albeit, everyone could tell that the Spirit was very much holding back, it was still an impressive showing from her.
Nevertheless, the flagging of Yuna's stamina was inevitable. Yet another problem that Lena wanted to rectify - while they may be capable of a lot of mental fortitude, none of that mattered when every single one of them was not as fit as they probably should have been.
After the advent of the mechanized forces of South Korea, conscription had been quietly stopped. This happened years after the Omnic Crisis, but before the true scale of the threat of the Gwishin was understood. As such, the current iteration of MEKA Squad had not been expecting such physical demands of them, especially when they were usually in a mech that did the heavy lifting.
Lena knew that that was a line of thought that needed to be stomped out, immediately.
That sort of complacency got people killed.
It was easy to look at the MEKAs and think their pilots only needed quick hands and quicker minds. But a cockpit was not armour against everything. A breached canopy, an emergency ejection, a power failure in hostile ground, and suddenly the celebrated defenders of Korea were soldiers without the training soldiers usually had.
The army had built itself around the Omnic Crisis. Sensible, perhaps. Machines had torn through conventional forces, so Korea answered with better machines. Then peace had come, conscription had faded, and the great metal fist remained while everything supporting it softened.
Only the Gwishin had never received the memo.
Lena watched Yuna catch Archer's wooden blade against her arm, wincing as she did so. Knees buckled, Lena noted, but she recovered exceptionally well for someone already sporting multiple bruises on the same arm. Yuna had enough courage to spare, she'd give her that. What she lacked was conditioning, and courage could not force oxygen into burning lungs forever.
Nor was this merely MEKA's problem. If the Gwishin reached shore in strength, how many ordinary units could operate once their drones were jammed? How many officers still planned for communications failing, transports dying, ammunition running low? Korea's defences were impressive, yes. But none of that mattered when everyone else was convinced nothing was wrong.
After all, Overwatch already had a base in London, and look what happened there. Complacency.
"ARCHER! Are you ignoring me?!"
"I was rather hoping you would take the hint." Archer replied, without looking away from Yuna.
He sidestepped her next swing and hooked his wooden sword behind her ankle. Yuna hit the floor with a yelp. Before she could rise, the blunt point rested beneath her chin.
"Dead." Archer said, "Again."
Yuna glared up at him, chest heaving, "You're enjoying this."
"Immensely."
"Archer!"
With a sigh that carried the weight of several lifetimes, he lowered the weapon and finally turned, "What is it?"
"Just checking cause part of my memory banks seem to be missing." They weren't, judging from the mischievous smile on her face, "Tell me, the last time you were at Chaldea, you were busy fighting Caenis, right?"
Now that piqued Lena's interest. Archer had been tight lipped about certain topics, and the how and why he had been separated from Chaldea was one such topic.
Archer raised an eyebrow, while at the same time lifting his wooden sword out of Yuna's reach, "Yes? I fail to see why that's important."
"Don't you want to know what happened after you went and died?"
Archer went quiet, his gaze shifting towards the other members of Overwatch, and pilots behind him. Lena could practically see him noticing their interest, especially when Hana stopped pretending to inspect the bruise forming on her arm.
"We can discuss that elsewhere." He said, offering Yuna a hand up, "The squad has no reason to be involved in Chaldea's affairs. They have their own responsibilities, which already demand quite enough of their attention."
"Sure!" Kiara agreed, far too readily. Lena had only just begun wondering what she was planning when the AI continued, "Then I'll tell them everything afterwards. Might even put together a little presentation, since you're so worried about taking up their time."
Archer's hand paused halfway through helping Yuna stand. To her credit, the squad leader merely tugged impatiently until he finished, although Lena suspected she was enjoying his irritation considerably more than she had enjoyed their spar.
"That rather defeats the purpose of speaking privately."
"Only if the purpose is keeping them out of it." Kiara replied, smiling, "Besides, wouldn't you prefer being here? My memory's apparently unreliable. Who knows what embarrassing details I might get wrong?"
Lena was fairly certain that Archer didn't believe the claim about her memory any more than she did. Nevertheless, he looked towards the squad again, and she could understand his hesitation. Knowing something generally came with questions. Questions that these particular soldiers would be reporting to their superiors.
"No recordings." He said finally, "And nothing discussed here leaves this room."
Yuna folded her arms, carefully avoiding the worst of her bruises, "If it concerns Korea's safety, I can't promise that."
Archer considered her answer, then nodded, "Fair enough."
Kiara clapped her hands together before he could reconsider, "Wonderful! Now, do you want the good news first, or shall we start with what happened to Senpai?"
"Start with whether they survived." Archer said. There was none of his earlier irritation in the words, and Lena noticed Genji straighten slightly. Whatever amusement he had found in the exchange apparently ended at much the same point as hers.
"They did." Kiara replied, "Honestly, you could let me build up to it a little."
"No." Reinhardt's answer came before Archer could respond. The older man had folded his arms, his expression unusually stern, "That is not something you make a soldier wait to hear."
Lena gave Reinhardt a worried glance. Ever since he had to run off and contact Commander Morrison about Chernobog, he had been strangely morose. She hoped that nothing came about the other God Program, as Reinhardt definitely didn't deserve getting reminded by the Crisis.
Kiara glanced towards him before shrugging, "Fine, fine. Senpai survived, we got past Poseidon - no thanks to you, of course - and eventually we made it to Olympus. Which, before anyone asks, was considerably less welcoming than the name might suggest."
Winston opened his mouth, then closed it again. Lena sympathised. There were probably several questions competing for his attention, and none of them were likely to receive an answer if Archer decided that they were getting distracted.
"Olympus was where you encountered Zeus?" He asked instead.
"Yep!" Kiara cheerfully nodded, "Zapped Holmes pretty badly that he ended up being useless for most of it though."
"Holmes?" Winston repeated, adjusting his glasses, "As in Sherlock Holmes?"
"Yes, the detective." Archer answered before Kiara could, "You can ask about him later." His attention returned to the AI, although Lena noticed Winston looking towards her as if she might somehow have an explanation. She could only shrug. At this point, she was simply grateful that someone else was having trouble keeping up.
"Did he recover?" Archer asked.
"Enough to keep being annoyingly clever." Kiara replied, "Anyway, getting into Olympus was the easy part. Actually doing anything once we were there? Slightly more complicated when the local gods could notice you."
"Gods, plural?" Hana asked. She had settled beside Yuna, apparently having abandoned any intention of pretending this wasn't interesting. The rest of MEKA Squad did the same, quietly sitting upright with their attention on Kiara.
"Well, it wasn't called Zeus and Friends for nothing."
"Nobody calls it that." Archer said.
"I just did~"
Sombra snorted, earning herself a glance from Genji. Lena could understand the amusement, but she was watching Archer instead. He still held the wooden sword, its tip resting against the floor, and his questions had so far been very specific. She suspected he was listening for names Kiara hadn't mentioned.
"Who was with them?" He asked, confirming her suspicion.
Kiara's smile remained, though she stopped rocking on her heels, "You want the entire list?"
"I want an account of what happened. Preferably in order." Archer's eyes had sharpened, now completely ignoring everyone else in the room. No, it wasn't that. Lena knew that he had been looking for answers for a long time now. Each and every lead Archer followed had ended nowhere. Even that lead with the Magician guy, was a no-go.
Now? He had someone who claims to have been there herself. Though, looking at how Kiara acted, Lena wasn't one hundred percent sure she trusted anything that came out of her digital mouth.
"Mash was still with Senpai, obviously. Musashi too. Leonidas, Tamamo Cat, Ishtar were the main party for a while there." Kiara began, counting them off on her fingers, "And before you ask, yes, we had help from people who actually lived there. Turns out having gods run everything doesn't mean everyone likes the arrangement. They gave us somewhere to hide, which was pretty important when the alternative was wandering around a city full of people who thought we were there to destroy their world."
Lena shifted where she stood. Put like that, she could understand why the locals might have been less than welcoming. Archer had told them of Lostbelts, and the reality of dead timelines like that before. It was still as jarring to hear it now as it was back then. Still, there was something about Kiara's wording that bothered her, especially when Archer didn't question that particular part.
"Probably the weirdest addition really was Caenis herself." Archer jerked to attention as Kiara shrugged, "Or himself. Or whatever pronouns they used. I don't know, actual genderbent people confuse me."
"You mean to say they survived?" Archer sounded incredulous.
"Oh yeah, that was fun!" Kiara laughed out loud, "One of the first things they asked after they got out of the infirmary was 'where the fuck is that white-haired bastard', and Cat actually pulled up a mirror to their face!"
"Wait." Hana looked from Kiara to Archer, her expression becoming considerably less amused, "Is this why you wanted us to leave?"
Archer raised an eyebrow, "Pardon?"
"The secrecy." Yuna clarified, glancing towards her squad, "No recordings, nothing leaves the room, we shouldn't be involved. You made it sound like we were about to hear classified information."
"And instead we're getting your crossover fanfiction." Jae-eun added. He shifted his bruised arm into his lap, "Which is fine. People have hobbies. I just don't understand why we needed the warning."
Lena opened her mouth, then stopped. Beside her, Winston looked similarly uncertain about where to begin. Unfortunately, Sombra had already turned away, her shoulders shaking, and that probably wasn't helping their credibility.
"Was it an embarrassment thing?" Seung-hwa asked, sounding almost apologetic, "Because we wouldn't have made fun of you."
Kyung-soo glanced towards Jae-eun, "Most of us."
"I haven't even said anything!"
"You literally just called it his fanfiction."
"Because it obviously is!"
Kiara covered her mouth, though Lena could still see her grin. Archer looked towards her with an expression that suggested he knew exactly how much she was enjoying this.
Sighing, Lena decided to be the adult in the room. Clapping her hands, she directed all the attention towards her, "Alright, let's make things clear. Yes, whatever Archer is saying is very much real. I should know, this bloody twat's shown enough evidence that I've had to stop calling things impossible around him." She lowered her hands, looking across the five pilots.
Hana still appeared doubtful, while Seung-hwa glanced towards Winston, apparently hoping the scientist would provide a more reasonable explanation. Lena sympathised, although she suspected he would have preferred someone explain Sherlock Holmes to him first.
"That proves he can do weird things." Yuna replied, "It doesn't prove Sherlock Holmes helped him fight a god." Beside her, Jae-eun nodded, and Lena couldn't particularly blame either of them. She had been given considerably more time to get used to Archer's existence. They had received bruises and an impromptu lecture on apparently historical events that sounded like someone had pulled names out of a hat.
"We have corroborated enough of Archer's explanations to take this seriously." Winston said, adjusting his glasses, "That doesn't mean we've verified everything Kiara is telling us." Genji nodded at that, while Reinhardt's attention remained on the AI. Sombra, unfortunately, was still visibly enjoying herself.
"You needn't believe any of it." Archer finally interjected, "I wanted to speak privately because explaining the circumstances would take time. Time I would prefer to spend hearing what happened." Lena noticed Hana look down at his hand, which had tightened around the wooden sword. Kyung-soo nudged Jae-eun before he could say anything.
Yuna considered Archer, then nodded, "Alright. We'll save our questions." She settled back beside her teammates, and Lena turned towards Kiara before the AI could make matters worse. Judging from that smile, she certainly had something prepared.
"Carry on." Lena said pointedly.
Kiara sighed, "Such a demanding audience. Anyway, Caenis wasn't particularly happy about working with us, but good ol' Gordie apparently impressed them enough that they were willing to help."
"...Goredolf Musik?" The skepticism in his voice was even more pronounced than the doubt in MEKA Squad.
"I know right?!" And yet it was apparently shocking enough that even Kiara agreed with outstretched arms, "Anyway, long story short, Zeus goes apeshit, Mashie hits him with the Black Barrel, and that triggers Chaos - that is, the Primordial Chaos - to get summoned onto the planet. Let me tell you, stalling the resource collection of a Dyson sphere so that Musashi could go and kill herself, while not having admin access to the Moon Cell's resources, ran me dry."
Archer's expression emptied. Lena had been about to ask what the hell a Dyson sphere (or what it even was, for that matter) had to do with any of this, but the question died before she could voice it. His hand had gone slack around the wooden sword, and Genji took a small step towards him before stopping.
"Musashi?" Archer asked. Kiara lowered her arms, apparently realising which part of her explanation had actually reached him.
"She closed the way through." Her voice was quieter now, though Lena couldn't tell whether that was consideration or calculation, "Chaos couldn't reach us afterwards."
"That wasn't what I asked."
Nobody in MEKA Squad moved. Even Sombra had turned back towards them, her earlier amusement gone. Lena watched Archer wait, and found herself wishing Kiara would hurry up for an entirely different reason.
"She wasn't exactly a Servant in the normal sense, you know."
"...I see." With a nod, Archer dismissed the wooden sword in his hand, "You five, I believe that Oxton and Wilhelm have some drills for you to do. I'll leave you in their hands. Now, if you'll excuse me." He said with finality, and walked towards the door.
Lena frowned, but let him go, already deciding she'd check on him after the drills; the annoying bastard was still her friend, and he wasn't getting out of that by assigning her more work.