Nerf this!

McCree wondered if putting troops in giant robots to mow down the opposing side was commonplace in the Korean military. If it was, there were bigger cultural differences between the two of them than he thought.

Regardless of the length of her service, she didn’t look or act like she’d been through a tour of duty. She dressed funny and liked video games, the same as any other kid her age. And she was louder and livelier than he expected a former soldier to be. A stint in the military clearly hadn’t changed her much.

“I’ll buy my ticket as soon as I find a way outta here.” He smiled a little at her enthusiasm. Plugging her movie to an old cowboy, in the middle of some unknown, underground city? That took some dedication. Maybe he’d go see her movie after all.  

She didn’t mention anything else about her robot. She’d have to take care of that by herself. Old enough to drink, old enough to fight for her country, old enough to be on her own in Obsian. Really, her problems were none of his concern.

But fate had a way of pulling him into situations that had nothing to do with him. He suspected that this was one of those times; might as well jump into it on his own terms.

Besides, McCree was starting to take a shine to the kid.

“You ain’t gonna find your robot wandering around the city by yourself,” he said, “and it ain’t like I got a busy schedule. The two of us ain’t exactly a search party, but I reckon we can make a little progress on our own.”

He raised his arms over his head, one of his shoulders popping quietly as he stretched. By now, he just wanted to get moving. Standing around was making him restless; the thought of doing the same thing cooped up in some dive sounded like a fate worse than death. 

Yeah, sure, she was a hero, but the whole thing wasn’t... it wasn’t the best for her mentally. She went from smiling and proud to downcast in a split second; all it took was a couple not-so-great memories that she would rather forget. “Ah, well. It was fun until people started, uh... not coming back. Lost a lot of, ah, close friends. Fellow streamers and gamers. You know. Hah, that’s the military for you.”

She put her hands out in front of her and forced herself to smile, the universal gesture of ‘I have some major issues, but nevermind that!’ High Noon wanted to help her find her mech, she couldn’t scare him away with how fucked up she is. He’d probably think she was weak for being like that anyway, what with all he’s been through. 

“So, uh, I have absolutely no clue where my mech is, so that’s an issue. It’s gotta be somewhere there’s not a lot of people... I haven’t seen parts in the market yet.” Her voice was still shaking a little, which only made her more upset. She tried to push through it, thinking about the places she had to look. 

She shook her head. “The Month of Songs is a real month, the thirteenth one of the year. Comes after the Month of Clans and before the Month of Earth. I’m going to chance the guess that your months are just called something else…” Emily waved her hand to one side. “January, February, and whatever else you have.” By the whales, even time wasn’t tracked consistently across lands.

Hana seemed especially concerned that Emily didn’t know what a video game was. She tried to describe it but it didn’t help. “My childhood was fine and my mother provided me with the very best. If it’s just a story where you’re the character, perhaps it’s just a story about history where you play out the events with yourself in the middle of them–like in theater play. You simply participate in the story that has already happened.” She knew both Jack and Hana were from the future. It seemed possible. Although she couldn’t imagine anyone filling Jack’s role–the man was certainly in a class of his own.

But Hana just seemed frustrated with that answer and threw up her hands, giving up. She moved on to something else, asking Emily to be on the look out for bright pink metal plates. She laughed. “As much as I admire your energy, I doubt whatever you’re trying to build will get us out of here. The city stole us and it will keep us here until it wants to let us go.”

“Look,” Hana sighed, “you can insult my months and my video games, but don’t tell me that a huge ass robot with twin fusion canons and a built in defense matrix, capable of ripping apart a rampaging mechanized Godzilla with the right pilot, which is me, can’t help us get home. Especially with people like McCree around. We’re from the same organization, one known for kicking ass and taking names. 

“So if you, Emily-sshi, uh...” Something about this woman wasn’t right. Nobody around here seemed right except McCree, and that was because she was sure he wasn’t from some movie or book or video game she liked and knew the ending to. Their ending. Thank God she could rely on that fact. “You look really familiar, you know that? Like some chick that died in a video game I played. The only thing that’s coming to mind is cold? And mice? But whatever!”

“Hana,” Emily held up a hand the girl stopped in mid-sentence and in mid-bounce. “I cannot understand a word you are saying.” She counted off the reasons why. “First, you’re speaking too quickly for me to understand. Second, I don’t understand half of the words you’re using. I apologize, I really do, but I’ve only been here a few weeks. I don’t know a great deal about everyone here.”

Hana frowned and Emily tried her best to answer her questions.

“I’m.. uh… not from, England, did you call it? I’m from the Empire of Isles. Created out of the War of Four Crowns. The war ended on 14th Day, Month of Songs, 1625, with Gristol emerging victorious. I hail from Dunwall, located on the southern tip of Gristol. When I was taken, it was 1852. This is all I know to tell you.”

Now it was Hana who seemed confused. Emily shrugged. She was doing her best.

“I don’t know where everyone is from really. I’ve been told by Rhys and Jack that they’re from a planet called Pandora. They got the idea of different dimensions from me. I have no proof other than the strange collection of people I’ve met.”

She wasn’t quite sure how to address the next part.

“He’s from this video game I tried to play once, it was kinda cool. He’s the villain in it.”

Alright. I can believe Jack being a villain. Emily tried to parse out what Hana was saying. In it? In what? Something called a video game? The phrase held no meaning for her. “Uh huh. I suppose Jack may not be the nicest of people.”

Hana stopped bouncing for a moment for pick up another metal piece. Emily had no idea what it could be for. It was far too large for the young girl to wear.

Out of everything said, one thing in particular was bothering Hana. What kind of world was this woman from? “What’s a ‘Month of Songs’? Do you guys not have actual, real months? Like January, February, you know?” This was weird. And it seemed to be the only thing Hana focused on in Emily’s short story. 

As confused as Emily looked when Hana spoke, her confusion seemed to reach a whole new level with the mention of video games, and Hana noticed. She could not let someone not know what video games are. “Wait, you don’t know what a video game is? What kind of childhood did you have, did you play with a hoop or something?” What was the best way to go about this? “Like, you read, right? Imagine being able to see the story you’re in and make choices and... it’s like you get to be a character in the story. And sometimes the stories are really good, and sometimes there’s no story at all really.”

Can she not tell I have no idea what she’s saying? In these situations, Emily had been taught to nod and smile thoughtfully It was doing no good now. But Hana kept on flitting about chattering away.

“Also, like, what’s up with Jack saying you could kick my ass?” Emily tried opening her mouth but Hana continued. “You don’t look like you could fight.“ Again Emily tried interrupting, holding up one finger. But, she continued. “What’s up with that? What kinda training did you get put through?”

Emily had no idea how to answer any of that. She came to make sure this girl was okay, considering she was paired with Jack but Hana seemed to have enough vim and vigor to go around.

Hana picked up a spare part that was lying on her bed from earlier. Thank God I didn’t land on that. That would have been painful. She spun it around in her hands, trying to figure out where it fit in on the mech. The upper right leg, probably.

Emily shifted uncomfortably. Perhaps this girl hadn’t intended on Emily following her. Maybe the cultural differences between the two were causing a greater rift than she could fathom.

Hana kept talking though, although seeming a bit confused. Emily was beginning to think she should see herself out the door if the girl was just talking for the sake of being polite. But then she asked Emily about herself.

She bit her bottom lip. This young lady seemed to be pretty open with her: former military experience, used to attention, and very open with what she wanted to know.

“An island? Oh, cool! I’m from Busan. It’s in South Korea.” Hana wasn’t sure if this woman was even from any Earth that had a Korea. Whatever, odds are it did, right? “What island are you from? Japan? No, wait, you don’t look Japanese at all. Ok... Hawaii? Anywhere in the Pacific? Iceland? England. Oh, you’re from England, that’d explain so much about why you look like you’re... y’know. Not a peasant?” She was pretty sure she hit the nail on the head here. Had to be England.

She shifted, coming at him on hands and knees, and wrapping her arms around his torso tightly. It was…not something he was used to, Angel having become more distant as the years went on. She had quite the arm strength for something so small and slim.

Hana pressed her face into his chest, and he slowly lowered his arms down, wrapping one loosely around her, and using the other to rub small circles on her back. She was babbling about her friends and how she missed them. And apparently one of them spoke a similar language to Jack. 

“…I can’t be here alone.” Jack felt his heart, something he knew was guarded and hidden behind walls of smiles and guns and glibly-worded death threats, crack just the tiniest bit for the child sobbing in his arms. He would want someone to be there for Angel if she was in this position, wouldn’t he?

“Don’t worry, pequeña, I’m here. I wont let you be alone, I promise,” he said softly, humming again while he rubbed her back. The singing had seemed to work earlier, so he would sing to her again.

After a couple more minutes, she took a deep breath and prepared to actually, really speak. “I still think, in general, you’re a terrible person, even though you aren’t being bad right now,” she said, voice cracking a little, “Obviously I have to fix this whole evil murderer thing. Teach you how to be at least a decent person or something, can’t have the guy I’m stuck with down here with acting like a babo. That means fool, by the way. I think you’re gonna hear it a lot.” 

Her arm twitched, and she looked down at it, gazing at the wound. She sniffled and looked up, though not at him directly. More like passed him, off into the distance. She seemed embarrassed.

“’M sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to, to hurt myself.”

“I know you didn’t, pequeño, I know. Those things just ten to happen. I’m sorry too, for yellin’. That was somethin’ I shouldn’t have done.” He shifted so he was sitting on the ground, legs stretched out slightly in front of him. He didn’t care about getting dirt on his jeans, he had a few other pairs. 

She scrambled forwards, wrapping her arms around his torso and clinging to him like a little kid. She needed comfort right now, who cares if it was from Jack? He could have been a talking tree for all she cared.

She started breathing fast, and mumbling something he couldn’t understand in that language she spoke. It was fast and hurried, slightly slurred. She was shaking slightly harder than before, eyes tightly shut.

“Niña, niña it’s okay. Just breath, sí? You’re alright, I’m not goin’ to yell at you. I’m sorry, pequeño,  I was angry not at you but at others. I’m not goin’ to hurt, you, I promise. Just breath, pequeño, you’ll be okay,” Jack said, trying to be as soothing and as quiet as possible, so as not to startle her more. He just hoped that it worked. 

He knew that everyone calmed down differently, but he didn’t know what that was for Hana, and had to wing it the best he could. Jack himself tended to get violent towards anybody, including himself, if people got close, and he only calmed down when he was left alone for a while.

She was still mumbling, so he thought that a different tactic might help. There was that one old song he used to sing to Angel, when she would get upset after a bad dream. Maybe it would work?

He hummed a bit, to remember the tune, and started singing softly, “’Si tan sólo, aunque sólo sea,’ los suspiros de pájaros carpinteros, ‘La corteza en el árbol era tan suave como los cielos.’ Mientras que el lobo espera abajo, hambriento y solitario, El llanto de la Moo-oo-oon, ‘Si tan sólo, aunque sólo sea’.”

Her eomma had sung ‘arirang’ to her sometimes when she was little and upset over things her appa did. Her only two escapes from what was happening around her were her eomma’s kindness and video games.

Hana’s breathing was calming down, if only just a little, and she could finally see through the tears in her eyes. God, he must think she’s pathetic. An adult, hiding and crying like a child. But she couldn’t help it; she had to grow up so fast, and it was so much easier being a little less than mature.

He was being so kind now. Why? He didn’t seem like the kind type, especially not after all the stories of killing people and controlling people and being absolutely ruthless. Now... now he was playing nice? She wondered if it could be a trick or something. But what reason did he have to trick her, unless he was even more cruel than she first expected? 

Her conclusion was that she was being too paranoid about this.

The mark on her arm had started to hurt now that she wasn’t feeling completely numb. God, what was she going to do about this?