I heard gunshots. At first they were muffled, as if they were coming from very far away or my hearing was failing me. I wished it was the first option. I opened my eyes to darkness. My body had slept on a cold surface as a thick fog covered the ground. 

As I stood to my feet, the sounds of the gunshots grew louder. Off in the distance I could see sparks of red light. They would go off every time a gunshot rang through the air. My instincts were telling me to run as far away as possible, but I couldn't. Instead I began to move forward, strangely entranced by the bursts of light. 

The closer I got, the more clearer the world around me became. I saw a dark clothed figure, a gun in his hand. It was aimed at a couple, the man's body shielding the woman. 

The Reaper!

The pupils of my eyes shrunk as I bolted forward, reaching my hand out towards him, "STOP!"

The Reaper turned his mask towards me and his laughter echoed across the dark void, blasting in my ear drums. The fog grew bigger and thicker as they shielded The Reaper and my grandparents from me, forming a wall between us. 

I dropped to my knees and covered my ears, desperately trying to suppress The Reaper's laughter. The gunshots resumed, along with the scream's of my grandfather. 

"Please, make it stop. . ." my voice trembled as tears raced down my cheeks

They kept growing louder and louder. My head was pounding as if my brain was going to explode. I dug my finger nails into my scalp, feeling the warmth of blood seeping down the side of my face and wash over my finger tips. 

"MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed, looking up into the heavens. 

There was a flash of blinding light, followed by a strike of lightning as thunder roared overhead. I jumped back, startled. Standing within the glowing light was Captain Amari. But something was different about her. It was if her appearance was distorted, glitching between her younger appearance in her Overwatch uniform, to how I saw her just moments ago, old, wrinkled, but none the less strong and fierce. 

"Come with me," she spoke, extending her hand towards me. 

My hands trembled, my eyes shaking as I sat there too shocked to move. 

"I can help you," she proclaimed, her hand inching closer. 

With a shaky breath and quickened heart beat, I reached out for her. I took her hand, and as she pulled me up to my feet, the fog dispersed and the light around her glowed brighter. 

"Hang on, Hope," 

*******

"Hang on, looks like she's starting to come to,"

Voices filled the room around me as I slowly opened my eyes, my vision clearing by the second as I attempted to sit up. I woke up with a headache and the spot on my shoulder where the dart pierced my skin stung, but other than that I was fine. 

My heart was still pounding from that dream I had. Come with me, I can help you. . . 

Hand on my forehead, I turned and scanned the room. Both Genji and McCree were leaned back against a wall, Genji with his arms crossed by the door and McCree by the window, smoking a cigar as he blew smoke out through the window. 

I could see my bags to the side containing all my clothes and belongings for when I packed for visiting family back home. This must be my room for the duration of our stay here. 

"Hope, are you well?" Hanzo reached out, gently placing a hand on my stun shoulder. He was sitting on a chair next to my bedside. 

I didn't want my friends to worry. Well, not any more worried than they are now. First I go toe to toe with a Talon ninja to emerge on the brink of collapse, then I immediately go off to search for Fareeha on my own knowing full well that The Reaper was out there somewhere lurking the shadows possibly hunting for me. 

I discretely breathed in and out slowly through the nose, trying to calm my heart pounding before turning to face one of my teachers. 

"Yeah, I'm okay. . ." I spoke tiredly, shaking my head as I lowered my hand. "How's Fareeha?"

"She's a bit banged up, but the doc Mohammad says she'll be alright," Jesse was next to speak, is gaze never fading from the scenery outside the window before he turned over towards me, a reassuring grin on his face as he nodded in my direction. "This ain't her first rodeo, kid," 

I breathed a sigh of relief, swinging my legs over the side of the bed as Hanzo removed his hand from my shoulder. "I'm glad she's okay,"

"What happened during your encounter with the Reaper?" Genji questioned, his visor perking up as the light shined one it and a flash of bright light temporarily blinded my eyes. I could tell by the tone in his voice he was a little upset about the scenario that happened. 

"He jumped me. I tried to hold my ground, got a hit in, but he was stronger than me," I hung my head, my hair falling to hide my face before I brushed some locks behind my ear. "He would have had me if Fareeha hadn't come to my rescue," 

"You are lucky. The Reaper is a fierce assassin, credited with kills that spam decades," Hanzo lectured sternly, eyes narrowing at first but after examining my tired face, his face suddenly softened, along with his voice. "Not many can say that they survived an encounter with him. I am glad you are one of them," 

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Sensei," I bowed my head apologetically towards Hanzo before turning towards Genji. "You as well, Genji. Right in the middle of me promising not to engage, he showed up out of no where, and I know I sound like a little kid making up excuses, but it's the truth," 

Genji studied me through his visor. I couldn't tell whether or not his gaze was shifting beneath the mask. You'd get the impression that he was always stone cold with it on, but I've been fortunate enough to see his eyes, his face. Genji whenever he's with his friends is anything but stone cold. 

"You swear you could not avoid him?" He asked.

I nodded my head. 

He followed with a long sigh, his head lowering to the side. His arms slacked to his sides, hands on his hips as he pulled himself off the wall, standing on his feet. His gaze returned towards me. "Then there is no need to apologize, Hope. I am just glad that you are safe," 

"Speaking of," McCree puffed out one more cloud of smoke before snuffing out the cigar and tossing it out the window. "Care to elaborate more on why you were found asleep on a rooftop?"

Jesse pulled out something from his pocket before tossing it over to Hanzo who swiftly caught it in his hand before presenting it to me, "Genji found this on your person, attached to your shoulder," 

Ana's sleep dart. The containment originally within it were no longer there, suggesting that whatever serum was inside injected itself into my body and rendered me unconscious.  But for how long? Glancing out the window it looked like it was the late afternoon, the sun beginning to set. 

"A sleep dart. It belongs to Captain Amari," I responded, reaching over and gently taking it from Hanzo's hand and examining it closely. 

The three men instantly perked up, more so McCree and Genji since the pair had formed a more stronger connection with the Captain than Hanzo. 

"You saw her?" Genji asked. 

"Are you sure, Hope?" Jesse jumped in, stepping closer as his hands began to shake. Whether in excitement, shook, fear, it was unclear. "You swear it was her?"

"It was her, honest to GOD," I looked at him dead in the eyes as my voice pleaded out to him. "She saved me and Fareeha from The Reaper. He would have done worse to the both of us he didn't notice her," 

"You followed her then?" Hanzo estimated, as that was his conclusion as to how I ended up on a roof top near the other end of the town and not in the back alley near the Temple of Anubis. 

"I had to. I felt as if I didn't catch her then, we'd never be able to find her after that. I called out to her, and she talked to me. She remembered my family name and I think she knows about Project Disciple!" 

"Did she tell you anything else?" Genji asked. 

"She said I'd see her again tonight," I added, pausing a brief moment to recall our meeting but I shook my head in distraught. "But she never said where to meet her," 

"That puts a damper on things, doesn't it?" Jesse sighed, his lips scowling. 

"Did she give you any indication where to meet her?" Genji suggested. 

"Nothing, Senpai," Shaking my head again, I growled in frustration. "She knocked me out, and then the next thing I knew I woke up here," 

"Perhaps we can take a look around in the location where you last saw her to see if she left any clues behind indicating where she might have gone," Hanzo offered a suggestion, looking up and exchanging glances with the group. 

"Sounds like a plan," Jesse nodded in agreement. "Unless we find out anything, we're just back to square one," 

"Then what are we waiting for?" I proclaimed as I began to maneuver myself to sit up from my bed, only for Hanzo's hand to firmly grasp my shoulder as he gently pushed me back down. "Hanzo--!"

"We'll do so in tomorrow morning," The eldest Shimada brother quickly added. "You need to rest, Hope,"

"I did rest already!" I argued. 

"Getting knocked unconscious by a sleep dart doesn't count," Genji chimed in whilst shaking a finger at me. 

I huffed in frustration, the locks of my hair falling down past my shoulders as I looked down at my knees. "Okay," I sighed in defeat before returning my glance towards Hanzo. "We'll go tomorrow," 

Hanzo nodded his head as he patted his hand gently against my cheek before sitting up from his chair as I laid back down in my bed against the covers. "Rest for a bit. Later I wish to go over our encounter with the Talon operatives with you, and review some maneuvers," 

"Okay," I nodded in agreement. 

Hanzo gave me a soft, assuring smile before departing from my bedside and made his way out the room. Genji gave me a firm nod before following behind his brother. Jesse was the last to leave, but not before stepping closer towards me, reaching over and ruffling my head of brown hair. As hard as I tried, I couldn't contain the short spurt of laughter that left my lips as I swatted my him away with a grin. 

"Everything will turn out alright, kid," he spoke reassuringly, flashing that charming smile of his. "We'll figure it out," 

"I'll see you later, cowboy," I waved a two finger salute at Jesse as he waved back smiling, taking his leave as he shut the door behind him. 

I stared up at the ceiling for a short while, breathing in and exhaling a long tired breath. It sounded like all hope wasn't lost. Maybe Ana did leave something behind back on the roof of that building for me to find. 

I rose both of my hands, clapping them together as I pressed them against my cheek as I shifted over to my side facing the wall to try and take a power nap before training with the Shimada brothers. The second I was on my side, I heard the sound of ruffling. My eyes snapped open as I paused for a brief moment. I shifted my body again; the same noise followed. 

Turning over to my back again, I reached down towards my pants, my hand searching inside my pocket until my finger tips graced the smooth sheet of a folded piece of paper and my heart skipped a beat. I immediately snatched it and pulled it out of my pocket. For a moment I just stared at it, completely bewildered as to how it got there. 

She must have slipped this into my pocket after knocking me out! 

Sitting up in my bed, I unfolded the piece of paper, finding a series of text. I was expecting to find coordinates, an address of some kind. What I got instead was a riddle. 

Go to where the dagger's tip marks one of the seven wonders, then travel west to a hidden city of the dead where you'll met those braved death.  

Daggers tip? A city of the dead? 

My mind was racing and within that moment I jumped out of bed, pulling the door open and stepped out into the hallway, "Guys, I found--!" I took a few steps forward then stopped suddenly. A light bulb went off inside my head as I thought back to Ana's words. 

"We mustn't speak here,"  

Does she want me to come alone? 

I look back down at the paper, reading the riddle once more before my gaze returned down the hallway as I glanced around. It appeared no one had heard my outburst. The guys must all be outside already. But there is one person I know who should hear this. 

Turning on my heels, I began walking in the opposite direction of the mobile HQ's exit. Shoving the paper back into my pocket, I crossed over to the other end of the base to find myself in the medical wing. If my hunch was right. . . I was!

Bandages wrapped around her forearm, forehead, and back, Fareeha stretched her arms in the air before slowly turning and twisting her torso with some warm up exercises. She had her back turned towards me. I took a peek inside, and when I was certain no one else was inside I reached for the door and gently knocked. 

The sound caught the Captain's ears as her body stiffened, her back jolting upright as she turned towards the source and found me at the door. "Hope!"

"Hey," I greeted with a small wave. "How are you feeling?" 

"I've been through worse, believe it or not," she shrugged, laughing a little bit at herself in the process. "Yourself?" 

"A bit of a headache, but fine," I shrugged in response as I stepped inside the room. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," she acknowledged my request. 

I closed the door behind me, finding the locking mechanism as I locked us both in the room. This obviously alarmed her as she took a step back, giving me a strange look. "Is everything alright?" 

"I found your mom," I stated. 

Her eyes widened as she regained her footing, staring at me like a just told a child school was cancelled because of a snow day. "What?"

"Your mom was there, watching us fight the Reaper. She actually saved us," I went on, stepping closer towards her. "I ran after her after making sure you were okay, and. . . I think she still remembers my family," 

Fareeha spoke nothing as she signaled me to go on, siting up on the edge of her medical bed. 

"She wouldn't let me know where she was heading. Hit me with a sleep dart," I went on as I gently reached down into my pocket. "But she gave me a clue where to find her," 

Pulling out the paper, I handed it over to her. She took it and delicately held it in her hands, her eyes scanning the words. 

"I was hoping you might know where exactly she's referring to?"

Cupping her chin with one hand, she stayed silent for a while longer before returning her gaze to me, "The daggers tip refers to a series of stars in the sky. The tip aligns and points towards the pyramids of Giza," 

Standing up from the bed, she walked over to a computer terminal, displaying a 3D map of the Pyramids. 

"So she wants us to meet her in a city of the dead that's somewhere west of those Pyramids?"

"The technical term is, Necropolis," She clarified. "That one might be a bit harder to find,"

"What do you mean?" I asked, arms crossed over my chest as I examined the map. 

"There were many Necropolis'. A lot of them were washed away in sand storms over the centuries, but there are a few that have survived," Fareeha explained. 

"You think she's hiding out in one of them," I realized. 

"Only one way to find out," Fareeha grinned as she picked up the paper again and made her way towards the door. "Let's do debrief the boys and then we'll go exploring," 

I watched her as she walked past me, but I couldn't move. She sensed my unmoving presence as she spotted inches away from the door. Turning back to look at me, Fareeha raised a brow in my direction. 

"What's wrong?"

"The boys don't actually know about the note. . ."I admitted, the words dripping out of my mouth ever so slowly. It was like I was a little girl and my mother caught me doing something I wasn't suppose to be doing. 

"What?" Her head perked up at my response. "But I thought--"

"I was on my way to tell them when I first found it," I quickly clarified, waving my hands in a panic. "But then I remembered what your mother told me," 

"She doesn't want them involved?" Fareeha questioned as her shoulders slacked, looking at me with a slum expression. 

"I think it's more along the lines of the less who knows the better, so to speak," I shuffle in place, hands behind my back. 

Fareeha watched me for a moment before slowly making her way back towards me. She glanced down at the paper, reading it again before meeting my gaze. "This isn't your first time lying to them is it?"

For a split second the pupils of my eyelids shrank. The air in my lungs snuffing out as I couldn't speak a single word in reply. I lifted a finger at her, but froze. I instead rubbed the back of my neck. "Am I that obvious?" 

"Why do you do it?" She asked me. 

It takes me a moment to properly process what she had asked me. It was so out of the blue for me, catching me by surprise. "Part of me feels like I'm doing it to try and protect them. The last few times it's happened, people's lives were at stake. I worried if I brought them into it. . ." My head hung low as I wrapped my arms around my torso, hugging myself. 

"They would get hurt as well?" Fareeha chimed in. 

I slowly nodded my head. "Or worse. Yeah. . ." 

". . . You're worried about what the others might think of you?" She asked.

"Part of me feels bad that they'd go out of their way to keep me safe, but I'm tired of feeling like I'm bringing them down and feeling like a burden," 

There was an uneasy silence settling in the air around us as I leaned back against the computer desk, hands digging into my pockets. 

"I suppose I know a bit on what that's like," Fareeha crossed her arms, glancing down to the floor. Her gaze shifted to look at nothing really in particular, deep in thought. I watched her as she returned her gaze to me. "Then why come to me if you decided not to tell the others?"

"I thought out of everyone here, I felt I should tell you being her daughter and all," I spoke honestly. "I felt it was time you saw her again," 

Fareeha stared into my eyes as she slowly lifted her hand and extending the paper back towards me. "Tonight, 9pm after curfew. We'll head out and find her together," 

I took the paper back in my grasp gently as a small smile formed on my lips, "Together," 

"Make that three," 

The gentleman's voice startled the two of us as we looked over to see Genji standing at the doorway. How he managed to sneak in here without Fareeha and I hearing him was indescribable. 

"Genji--!" Panic filled my voice as I pushed myself off the desk, fumbling with my words to try and explain the situation to him. "I--"

"When will you ever learn, Hope?" He muttered, lightly shaking his helmet. 

He stalked closer towards me as I lowered my gaze. Was he going to scold me? Report me to Jesse? Hanzo? Lock me up in my room for the rest of the mission?! 

How could I have been so stupid not to tell them? What is wrong with me?! 

I felt the smooth metal of his hand grip my shoulder, and my whole body tensed as I shut my eyes. I prepared myself for the worst, expecting him to yell and drag me out of the room leaving Fareeha behind. 

But when he spoke next, his voice was unexpectedly gentle. "You do not have to go through this alone," 

I gasped, slowly opening my eyes as I looked up to peer through his vibrant green visor. "What?"

"We are a team, all of us," Genji proclaimed. "Whatever is going on, we can figure it out together," 

"Which means no more of these solo excursions of yours, understand?" Another voice caught my attention as Hanzo emerged into the room, Jesse following behind him as he leaned against the doorway. 

"Hanzo--!" I exchanged glances between the Shimada Brothers and the cowboy. I even looked over at Fareeha who only shrugged, a tiny smile pulling on her lips. 

"We in this together or not, Hope?" Jesse spoke up, tipping his hat back to get a better look at the woman, smiling brightly. 

I looked over everyone's faces before taking one more look at the riddle. My smile grew as I nodded in agreement with Jesse's statement. "Yeah. We are," 

"Then looks like we're gonna need a bigger ride to the Pyramids," Fareeha chimed in as she walked over to the computer terminal and typed in a series of commands. "I think I know just the person who can help us,"