(See the end of the chapter for more notes .)

I know 'sombra/satya teams up against vishkar' is a pretty standard symbra scenario but one night I went into some kind of fugue state & drafted an outline between 1-4 in the morning so here I am

Chapter Text

Hard light is a pain to deal with. A hard light building is a huge pain to deal with. It isn’t impossible to hack— nothing is, not for Sombra— but it’s tricky and tedious and not even fun, especially since architects can just change the entire layout of a floor on a whim.

Ugh. Architects.

So, instead of a hallway leading to a teleporter, which should’ve been there according to schematics that were perfectly up to date five minutes ago, there’s a wall. A wall she’s going to have to hack into a door. Or something.

Just as she’s gearing up to do that, Sombra catches a glimpse of a certain someone headed her way from the security feed. Usually that means it’s time to amp up the stealth, but seeing who it is… if she can sell the right angle, it could make her job much easier.

She probably can’t. She’ll probably make her job much harder than it needs to be, but at least she’d get some fun out of it.

Sombra fusses with the wall, ready to be caught red-handed by Symmetra as she turns the corner and freezes in place. No doubt she’s taken aback by the sudden appearance of a suspicious intruder. “You are…”

“I am... a ghost,” Sombra says. Not too far off brand, considering she’s got her sugar skull icon projected over her face. “Boo.”

“Don’t play games with me,” Symmetra snaps, raising her photon projector in an extremely threatening way. She’s clearly experienced with how to use it. On people. “I know who you are, Sombra.”

“You do?” Sombra puts a hand to her chest, exaggerated shock plastered over her face.“¡Me halaga! But while I’d love to stay and chat, there’s some pretty interesting things I’m here to dig up about your employers. Boy, if you knew what they’re planning for Rio...”

A moment of hesitation. Promising. Then, “Tell me.”

“Hm?”

“What do you know about Vishkar,” Symmetra demands.

“I’m a little busy here, I don’t exactly have a slideshow on-hand for you—”

“But you have proof of their plans?”

Sombra scoffs. What kind of question is that? A bad one. She’s got terabytes of dirt on her right now, not including stuff she’s stashed in some contingency bunkers scattered around the world. But, as insulting as it is, being so severely underestimated works out pretty well. “If it’s proof you want, that’s easy. You can see it for yourself... if you get me to the top floor.”

Sombra waits for the inevitable explosion from Vishkar’s number one fan, but weirdly enough, Symmetra actually hesitates. “Then,” she says, “you will show it to me.”

“You sure?” Sombra asks, covering up the fact that she really didn’t expect Symmetra to fall for it hook, line, and sinker. She’s either more gullible than she looks, or less loyal. “Ignorance is bliss, you know.”

Well, for everyone else.

Symmetra doesn’t say anything— just offers a grim, stiff nod.

“Works for me. Lead the way, Ms. Vaswani.”

It’s much easier with Symmetra leading the way; she knows the new layout of the floor, which doesn’t actually matter that much since she can just move stuff around and make doors without a fuss. Much less work.

The top floor is where the head of the Rio project is set up, who’s… well, he’s really just some guy. Lucas Machado. It’s not important. What is important is that he’s pretty sloppy at covering up his dealings with a certain terrorist group, and is also pretty visible with how controversial the Rio project’s been (thanks Lúcio). All it’ll take is a little push for him to be knocked off the chessboard. Basically she just needs to scramble the pieces a bit and see if that gets someone more in the know to clean up the mess because Machado? Completely useless. To her, at least.

Sombra puts up a few screens filled with development plans, schedules, and a few choice correspondences. It’s whatever. While Symmetra’s distracted by all that old news, Sombra uploads something that’ll let her record Machado’s next talk with Talon, which should happen sometime in the next few days. It’ll be more than enough to get him put under some kind of investigation.

In any case, she’s all set. “You wanted proof, here it is,” Sombra says. “If you don’t believe me—”

“I believe you.”

Sombra bites back her first reaction, making a sound of vague interest instead of legitimate shock. Where’s the suspicion? Where’s the stubborn insistence that Vishkar’s amazing, incredible, can do no wrong?

“They really did plan to burn the favela. They were never going to help those who lived there.” Symmetra lets out a harsh breath. “What ‘better world’ is this?”

“That’s what caught your eye? Not the Talon stuff?”

“... I had my suspicions,” she admits, reluctantly. “I told myself it was a line Vishkar would not cross. I was wrong.”

“Ay, pobrecita ,” Sombra offers, shaking her head. Maybe a little condescending, but it’s not entirely insincere; poor thing stuck all her self-righteous eggs in the wrong basket. “So what are you going to do?”

“What I should have done a long time ago. I’m leaving.”

At that, Sombra lets out an incredulous laugh. “You think Vishkar’s just going to let Symmetra walk out?”

“Don’t call me that,” she snaps.

Sombra raises her hands, backing off on that front. Touchy. “I’m just saying, you’re their star architect. Their pride and joy! No manchez, they’ve sunk too much time and money into you just to let you go.”

“Then take responsibility,” she demands. “Help me.”

¿Que?

“Help me escape and I will help with whatever plans you have for Machado,” Satya Vaswani says, and there probably should’ve been some negotiation involved before she laid it out like a done deal.

It’s not like Sombra needs help. Phase one? Done. Phase two? Easy. Too many cooks spoil the soup, ella pasa de lanza. There’s really nothing stopping her from leaving Satya behind.

She doesn’t.