Chapter Text
Lúcio was, as Hana had put it, “unhealthily interested” in the Bastion Unit. It was hard not to be, in his opinion. A team of six heroes goes on a mission and comes back with an extra party member. An old, overgrown relic of war that seemed more interested in nature than murder. The last of their kind, left deactivated in the woods for years until just coming online recently. It was a walking piece of history that he’d like to know more about.
At the moment the Omnic was being held in Winston lab until they could figure out how much of a threat it actually was. That would determine whether they’d keep it or destroy it. In fact, Lúcio had just seen the gorilla leave, saying something about giving the scans time to finish. To his knowledge, there wasn’t anyone else in there at the moment. So the musician slipped inside the room quietly. The door had been locked, but if he could get into Vishkar he could get into Winston’s lab.
Was it stupid to purposely seek out the Siege-Automaton? Probably. Breaking into a highly advanced facility and stealing experimental technology was stupid too, but look where that got him. The line between bravery and stupidity could get pretty blurry sometimes.
The lights had been turned off, the room lit only by the glow of the monitors. A progress bar was shown on one of the larger ones, the surrounding smaller ones had coding flying across the screen too fast to track. Despite that speed the bar wasn’t budging, it seemed the process would have to continue overnight.
The Bastion Unit is hard to miss, even in the dark lighting. Their massive silhouette is clearly outlined and Lúcio could see the dim glow of the single optic from the doorway. He makes his way over to the Omnic, stepping over the cables lying on the floor. As he gets closer he can see several cords plugged into the overgrown machine. One leads over to the computer but others are connected to what appears to be generators. The Brazilian recognized them as sappers, devices designed to detain an Omnic by draining a majority of their power, forcing their systems to use the rest of the energy just to continue running. It was only used on particularly dangerous Omnics, and the Siege-Automaton definitely qualified. In fact they needed several just to account for their size.
“Hey there.” He greets quietly, but jumps back slightly in surprise when the Bastion Unit slowly tilts their head up to look at him. It seems even all these sappers still weren’t quite enough. He laughs embarrassedly and steps closer. Even though the Omnic is sitting they practically loom over him. He’s never seen a functioning Bastion in person before, and even in this broken down state Lúcio knows he’d be no match for them if they weren't having their power drained. It's scary, but he was always a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
Yet there’s no signs of aggression from the Siege-Automaton. In fact they seem to be curious, yet wary of this stranger. It mirrors the Dj’s own feelings and that’s the odd thing. Lúcio had expected more of a drone than an Omnic, but there’s clearly sentience to some degree here. The Shambali believed Omnics had souls, but would they include Bastion Units in that definition? He makes a note to seek out Zenyatta later to ask his thoughts on the matter.
He’s in the midst of this line of thinking when something starts screeching. Looking up Lúcio noticed the yellow song bird perched atop the Siege-Automaton’s head. It’s puffed up its feathers and is crouching low, tapping its feet on the grass covered metal. It’s clearly an aggressive display, the small bird looking ready to launch at him if he comes any closer. The Dj puts his hands up and takes a step back. It’s irony at its finest. A little ball of feathers has more intent to kill him than the war machine it’s perched on.
The Bastion Unit chirps at it, the sound drawn out a little longer than it should have been due to low power. Like the Omnic equivalent of slurring your words when exhausted. The one hand reaches up slowly to grab the bird and Lúcio’s afraid the Omnic is going to crush the fragile creature. But instead they move the bird onto their shoulder, give it a parting pat on the head after they let go of it. The arm goes limp and drops into their lap, the movement seeming to tire them out. The bird calms down, but eyes him warily. It seems to be daring him to try something, he wouldn’t be surprised if it pulled out a tiny knife to match the threat.
Keeping an eye on the small animal the Brazilian approaches again. “Hey there,” He says, voice soft. They barely incline their head in response. “You look pretty tired. Long day?” There’s little response besides a soft whirr that almost sounds like a yawn. Lúcio sits down beside the Siege-Automaton, keeping a small distance between the two of them out of respect and that beady eyed bird on the other side.
There’s something painted across the side of the Omnic’s chest that he has to squint at to read in the dim lighting. “E54 huh? That your serial number or something?” He asks. “Well if you’re really the last Bastion Unit you don’t really need one anymore. You mind if I just call you Bastion?” There’s the smallest beep from the other which he’s going to assume means they like the nickname.
Lúcio starts scrolling through his music library, it's too quiet in here. “So what kind of music do you like Bastion?” He asks, talking for the sake of talking. The Omnic isn’t really much of a conversationalist. A confused trill leaves the other. Right, the middle of the woods probably didn’t get too many radio stations to listen to. “Here, try this on for size.” He tells them, selecting a playlist. This particular style of music is a mix between classical and techno music. It’s pretty laid back and seems like Bastion’s style.
His hunch is proven right when the Omnic sways gently and beeps along with the beat. Even though they don’t have the most expressive face, Lúcio thinks they look pleasantly surprised. It’s the kind of happiness of discovering new things and it makes him smile.
Yeah, he’s pretty sure Bastion’s much more than a drone. Music is the window to the soul after all.