#Like they can set up a terminal to a turret but a baby could hack into that shit lmfao

[obessivedork]

I took the perks because I loooove hacking myself, but make no mistake cannonically my Sole Survivor Chuck is only good with the physical part of getting computers to work. Actual programming? just the tiniest bit above what an average citizen of their time would know and only because they were actively working on learning it the last year or so before the bombs fell

[nitewrighter]

Gency Week Day 5

Hyssop--Sacrifice

Uprising, Roleswap!AU

Whoo! Still made it in time for Day 5! Pacific Time, baby!!

Previous Roleswap Fics: 1, 2

---

The pop of gunfire sounded outside the old church as Sojourn frowned over a holo-map. Dust drifted down in puffs from the ceiling as the city rumbled with explosions. She looked up from the map to the several agents standing in front of her. Genji was looking clean-cut, polishing his glasses in his Combat medic uniform, Balderich loomed behind them in his blue armor, Mercy stood next to him, a ragged patchwork of woman and metal, and McCree next to her. Tracer was looking... frankly a little ridiculous under all the ‘tactical rigging’ they had given her chronal accelerator, especially when paired with her garrison cap--but her determined expression seemed to balance it out.

“Null Sector Jammers have cut off our comm-line with Zurich. I’m afraid we don’t have Morrison, Amari, or Reyes on the comm. The mission, however, still stands. Rescue the hostages, put down Null Sector. We’ll need to re-establish communications if we’re going to do either of those, though.” said Sojourn, walking around the table, “Balderich and McCree move in loud. Hold the line.”

“We can do loud, right big guy?” said McCree, elbowing Balderich.

Balderich just chuckled, “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Cowboy.”

“Genji will back you up and see to the needs of any hostages you come across. Ziegler, it’s up to you and Tracer to infiltrate the power station with your hacker drone.”

“Babysitting,” Mercy said flatly, with a sidelong glance to Tracer.

“I can handle myself!” said Tracer, putting her hands on her hips.

“You two are the fastest and quietest. Hopefully your hack should let us re-establish communications with Zurich and SatComm,” said Sojourn, “Ground forces are flying blind, but we need these numbers to put Null Sector down. It was a miracle the PM let us in.”

“They’d be killing themselves out of pride if they just kept us out,” said Mercy, glancing off.

“Noted. Point is, we can’t let them down now that we’ve got boots on the ground,” said Sojourn, folding her arms, “But if we send too much of our main force in without Zurich’s oversight, we could end up with a blood bath. First priority is re-establishing comms.”

Genji raised his hand.

“This isn’t school, Genji,” said McCree with a snort.

Genji cleared his throat. “Is it really wise--sending a Blackwatch agent and a cadet in without a medic?”

“Scared I can’t handle myself, Herr Doktor?” Mercy tilted her head.

“No-No--I just think--” Genji stammered.

“Balderich and McCree will be drawing the majority of Null Sector’s forces,” said Sojourn, “Your place is going to be with them.”

“And if I get hurt, I’ll just zip-zoop the injury away!” said Tracer.

“If all goes according to plan, Mercy and Tracer will rendezvous with you, Balderich, and McCree back at the clock tower, and we can move the majority of our force in to rescue the hostages. Understood?”

“Understood,” said the team in unison. 

“They haven’t shut down ground comms, yet,” said Sojourn, “I’ll be keeping track of your locations and update you on Null Sector movements as best I can with the jammers. Best of luck, agents.”

---

“Herr Doktor,” McCree muttered under his breath as he fired off his peacemaker at several Null Sector omnics, “I think she likes you.”

“Or, and this might sound crazy, I’m a doctor,” said Genji, firing off with his own sidearm as they both slowly moved forward behind Balderich’s shield.

“Yeah but the way she says it--- ‘Herr Doktor’” said McCree, “And you know she’s nicer to you than everyone else.”

“Here’s a thought,” said Genji, shooting down another  “How about we focus on the robot horde that’s trying to kill us?”

“Seems depressing,” said McCree. shooting another null sector bot through the head.

“The barrier needs to recharge!” shouted Balderich. Genji gave a glance to a a pile of rubble.

 “There! Take cover there!” said Genji. 

Balderich kept the shield up as both Genji and McCree dove behind the pile of rubble, before bringing it down and taking a knee next to them. Several Null sector bots attempted to flank but were knocked back by a fire swipe from Balderich’s hammer.

Genji brought his finger to his ear. “Tracer, Null Sector numbers are holding steady. What’s your status?”

“Doing fine, love!” Tracer piped over the comm, her voice punctuated by the sound of her pulsefire, “Mercy is very... uh... enthusiastic!”

An animalistic yell from Mercy sounded on the other side and Genji flinched a little as it slightly blew out the comm’s speaker in his ear.

“Is she okay?” said Genji.

“Yeah that was just her ripping an eradicator’s head off with her bare hands,” said Tracer.

“Oh--Oh...” said Genji.

“We’re almost to the terminal. We should be able to---” the comm suddenly crackled, “--set up so---” another crackle.

“Tracer?” Genji said in alarm.

“--eradicators---” Tracer’s voice barely crackled before cutting out completely.

“Sojourn?” McCree brought his own finger to his ear then cursed as he shot down another nulltrooper that was flanking around their cover, “Nothin’ but snow,” he muttered.

“So comms are completely shut down then,” said Genji.

“The mission still holds,” said Balderich, “We hold the line, keep up the diversion until Mercy and Tracer can re-establish the comm lines.”

“If they don’t re-establish comm lines we’ll all end up sittin’ ducks!” said McCree.

“10 minutes,” said Genji, “Ten minutes for them to re-establish the comm lines, then if they can’t report in, we back them up.”

“A diversion’s only as good as the infiltration it’s coverin’” said McCree. Both looked at Balderich, who was, without Sojourn on the comms, their commanding officer.

“...Ten minutes,” conceded Balderich.

“Promise me you won’t spend the next ten minutes moonin’ and worrying about them?” said McCree, looking at Genji.

“...I’m more worried about Null Sector,” said Genji with a slight smile.

---

The power station was dimly lit, but Mercy could keep track of the bright blue glow of Tracer’s chronal accelerator and the sparks of pulsefire as they fought. She had some low-light vision with her cybernetics but the lights on Tracer almost made them irrelevant, the way they sparked off of the purple chassis and the orange optic glow of Null Sector forces.

The omni-staff in Mercy’s hands met with the Nulltrooper’s face with a screech of metal, piercing through the viewport. Mercy twisted her grip on the staff and suddenly metal blades burst out from the staff and out of the hull of the Nulltrooper’s head. With another cry she wrenched the nulltrooper’s head from its body and used it like a sledgehammer on the edge of her staff, shattering another Nulltrooper’s head as Tracer zipped and darted around, her pulse pistols blazing, keeping the attention off of Mercy and thinning nulltrooper numbers in the process.

“Told you it wouldn’t be babysitting---Woah!” Tracer barely managed to recall out of the blaze of Bastion fire as both she and Mercy took cover behind a support wall. 

“It’s blocking the terminal”! said Tracer only barely managing to look past the wall to flinch back with another volley of fire, “Any ideas?” 

Mercy peeked out as well and had to also flinch back behind the wall with the Bastion fire. “I need to think,” said Mercy. She brought a finger to her ear. “Sojourn,” she spoke and listened. Nothing. She switched comm channels. “Balderich,” she said and listened, nothing. She switched comm channels again. “Genji?” Her face dropped as there was nothing but static on the other end. Mercy felt the pit of her stomach drop. Genji always picked up. Always. 

“McCree?” Tracer was holding a hand up to her own ear, “...They’ve shut down all ground channels, too.”

“So we’re on our own,” said Mercy.

“I’m fast,” said Tracer, “If I head out there---”

“I’m not letting you kill yourself on your first mission,” said Mercy, “Let me think.”

“Aw, you do care!” said Tracer.

Mercy just huffed in response, then shut her eyes, trying to focus. Tracer shot down a few straggling nulltroopers coming at them from behind before Mercy huffed.

“I have an idea,” said Mercy, twisting her omni-staff. It came apart into two pieces.

“You... broke your weapon?” said Tracer.

Mercy twirled both staff segments like batons, then looked down and hauled up the headless body of one of the nulltroopers.

“...Huh,” said Tracer.

“We’ll need to move out together,” said Mercy, “Far enough apart from each other and dealing enough damage that we close the distance before it can get fire on either of us. We just need to get behind it and we can destroy it. It so much as nicks you and you recall back behind this wall.”

“But what about--?” Tracer started.

“I outrank you,” said Mercy flatly, “And with comms shut down, that’s an order.”

Tracer pursed her lips.

“This feels really stupid and dangerous,” she said quietly.

“That’s because it is,” said Mercy, hauling up the Omnic chassis. She motioned with two fingers to the hard right of the Bastion unit and Tracer gave a nod.

“Break!” said Mercy.

Both sprinted out and Tracer blinked fast to the right of the Bastion unit, which shifted the barrel of its turret toward her but was suddenly struck hard by a bar of metal. One half of Mercy’s Omni-staff. It swiveled back forward to fire hard on Mercy, who was charging forward and using a quickly-falling-apart Omnic chassis as a body shield. Tracer took the opening and darted in and up onto the platform where the Bastion was situated, zipping behind it and firing both pulse pistols on it with a yell. The bastion suddenly turned around, and Tracer could feel the heat off of its barrel.

“Oh bug--” she started but suddenly Mercy descended from above, slamming the Omnic chassis down onto it before seizing the half of the omni-staff she had thrown and stabbing it through the bowed ‘head’ of the bastion unit. Both Mercy and Tracer caught their breath and a nervous shuddering laugh escaped both of them.

“Not bad for a rookie,” said Mercy.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” said Tracer, before glancing over at the wall the Bastion unit had been blocking, “The terminal!” She perked up and drew her hacker drone out of her coat before hurrying over to a terminal hub splattered with Null Sector graffiti. The hacker drone hovered over the terminal and Overwatch’s virus splayed across the scene in manic streams of data. “Oh well this is easy,” said Tracer, leaning against the wall as the hacker drone hacked, “I’ll be honest, I was kind of dreading this part and hoping you’d know more about it what with you being all...” Tracer realized that her mouth had outpaced her thoughts and she was on the verge of saying ‘cyborg-y,’ when she really wasn’t sure how sensitive Mercy was about it.

Mercy tilted her head.

“...smart,” Tracer said, proud of herself.

Mercy just rolled her eyes as she put her Omni-staff back together. Tracer laughed a little as the hacker drone continued hacking, “And that,” she said, putting her hands on her hips, “Is how Lena Oxton totally aced her first MissioOON-WOAH!” 

Both she and Mercy were suddenly yanked hard off their feet in a flash of green light and dropped hard on the ground. Tracer shook her head and found herself looking up into four orange eyes.

“OR-14′s!” Tracer shouted as the centaur-like Omnics surrounded them.

“Get behind me!” said Mercy, brandishing her omni-staff.

“Uh...” Tracer got behind Mercy only to hear a distorted fanfare like call as a tank-mode bastion wheeled toward them from behind.

“Scheisse---” Mercy started when suddenly there was a cry and a figure clad in blue armor slammed into the new Bastion, slamming it into a wall and shattering it

“Balderich!?” Mercy called out.

One of the OR-14′s raised its fusion driver only to be flash-banged from the right as McCree fanned the hammer right into the Omnic’s face.

“You two took too long!” said McCree.

“We made it to the terminal!” said Tracer, darting around the OR-14 and helping McCree keep it occupied.

“Angela!” Genji rushed to Mercy’s side, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” said Mercy, as Genji drew his sidearm to help lay down cover fire as the four of them hurried back to Balderich and his shield to set up a strong defensive line.

“I’m fine too, thanks for asking,” said Tracer.

“Of course you are,” said Genji, “Zip-zoops, was it?”

Tracer snorted.

“Terminal status?” said McCree.

“Hacking in progress,” said Mercy, pulling out her sidearm and firing through Balderich’s shield, “We should have comms back up within the next two minutes.”

“Long enough to tell Sojourn where our bodies are when comms come back online,” said McCree.

“The good doctor will keep us safe,” said Mercy, a smile in her voice as she fired her sidearm.

“Hear that, Genji? It’s all on you!” said McCree.

“Oh joy,” said Genji.

Deep fissures started running through Balderich’s shield as the OR-14′s continued their advance.

“I have fought these things before,” said Balderich, “In Eichenwalde.”

“Well that’s... good, right?” said Tracer, “You know how to beat them.”

“Nearly every Crusader lost their lives in that battle,” said Balderich, “I have lost a team to these monsters before. I will not allow it to happen again.”

“Balderich--” Mercy started.

“The three of you will keep our new recruit safe, ja?” said Balderich.

“Obviously but--Wait--Balderich--!” McCree started, but it all happened in a matter of seconds. The shield shattered. Balderich suddenly charged forward and slammed right into the OR-14. The Null Sector omnic drove its back legs into the ground, standing fast as Balderich moved into it with all the force of a hypertrain. Balderich stumbled back from his own impact, before rolling his grip on his hammer and swinging hard.

“Balderich!” Genji nearly zipped after Balderich but Mercy caught his arm.

“Let me go!” Genji yanked at her steadfast cybernetic grip, “I’m the medic! I can’t let him---!” he turned his head to see Balderich’s hammer blazing and his armor sparking amidst a swarm of fusion core fire from both the OR-14′s. In a heartbeat Genji knew running in there would only punch him full of holes. 

“He can’t--” Genji started.

“Hold the line, protect our own,” said Mercy, “...he’s the commanding officer.”

“Well, the hell I’m just standing here!” said Tracer, zipping in. 

“Tracer!” Genji, Mercy, and McCree all shouted at the same time, running after her.

The battle was a blazing mess of pulsefire, peacemaker fire, flashbangs, the whirl of Mercy’s staff, Genji’s biotics, and the clang of metal on metal from Balderich’s hammer. Tracer was blinking and recalling around in dizzying streaks of light blue. Mercy was brutal, stabbing her staff through the joints in the OR-14′s legs and tearing them out from under neath them, only to be wrenched off of her feet from a graviton charge of the other OR-14, then tackled out of the fire by Genji. McCree kept the steady stream of nulltroopers coming in as flanking backup busy, but that also left his back exposed to the OR-14′s. In desperate moments Balderich’s shield would spring up, still running deep with fissures and shattering again within seconds, only barely buying them a few precious seconds to try and hammer out a bit more damage on the OR-14′s. Finally there came a cry of “HAMMER DOWN!” and the entire team was thrown off their feet as Balderich charged one last time into the felled wrecks of the OR-14′s, slamming both of them into a wall.

There were a few moments of silence as the team collectively became aware of their own breathing, or its lack thereof. Balderich rose to a swaying standing position away from the wreckage of the OR-14′s. He set his hammer on the ground and leaned against it like a walking stick.

Mercy was panting when she looked at Genji, who brought his hand way from a spot on his ribs, bloody. “Genji--” his name escaped her.

“It’s fine,” Genji grunted, “I can...” he looked over to Balderich, who suddenly slumped down the length of his hammer’s grip, “Heal it--No!” he rushed over as Balderich collapsed on his side. Blood was seeping from several of the joints in his armor.

“...kuso. Help me turn him over!” said Genji. 

Mercy helped him push Balderich onto his back. Balderich coughed up blood, ruby droplets caught up in his great mutton-chop mustache. Blood was pooling underneath him.

“I can fix this,” said Genji, setting down a biotic field, “I can fix this--”

“There’s no time,” Balderich coughed, “You need to get to the hostages.”

“No!” said Genji.

“That’s an order! Ngh!” Balderich suddenly winced. 

“Oh you great big---” Genji was prying at his armor. Biotics could only go so far if his lungs were filling with blood--he had to get the armor off, maybe perform thoracentesis. 

“Genji...” Mercy started, putting a hand on his shoulder.

There came a blip over everyone’s comms. Tracer turned her head toward the terminal. 

“The hack’s complete...” she said quietly, “...Comms are back online.”

Just on cue Sojourn was yelling in everyone’s ears. “Status report! Status report! Null Sector is moving to execute the hostages. We need our strike team moving now!”

“We’re alive,” said Tracer, “We have an agent do--”

“We are fine,” Balderich spoke over her.

“What? No--!” Tracer started.

“Cadet Oxton, I would ask you not to crowd the channel,” said Balderich. He coughed and blood spattered from his lips.

“Balderich--what’s going on down there?” said Sojourn.

“I’m going to hold the line to make sure the comm channel stays open,” said Balderich, “The rest of the strike team will move in with the main forces to rescue the hostages.”

Tracer’s mouth was hanging open. Genji was still desperately trying to heal Balderich’s wounds, but not even biotics could seem to outpace Balderich’s own systems shutting down.

“Understood,” said Sojourn, “But they need to move quickly.”

“I think I should stay with Balderich in case--” Genji started.

“Genji--those hostages are going to need immediate medical treatment. You know where you’re needed,” said Sojourn.

“Balderich is in critical condition!” said Genji, “He’s---!” Genji looked back at Balderich to see him wrapping his massive gauntleted hand around Mercy’s cybernetic forearm. He mumbled something in german to her before seeming to relax a little, slumping back against the OR-14′s wreckage, one hand still gripping his hammer. “He’s...” Genji trailed off.

“...Get to the hostages, Combat Medic Shimada,” said Sojourn over the comm. She knew. Genji could feel it.

“...yes ma’am,” said Genji.

He looked at Mercy. She didn’t say anything, she only took him up in a brief, tight hug.

-----

The AU is continued here.