"Come now, Ana. Do you want me to shoot your other eye?" A sweet, French-accented voice said, although it had a tinge of danger.
"Amelie Lacroix, or should I say Widowmaker?" Ana responded. She couldn't see the spider just yet, but Ana knew her enemy must be closer than she liked. How else could she have hacked Ana's comms? "You got lucky last time. I hesitated. This will be much different."
"I agree. Not only am I fighting an inferior sniper, I'm fighting one that's too senile to see her target." Widowmaker taunted. Ana frowned and slowly looked to the right, keeping an eye on the shadows. She was at the highest point of a church tower, looking down at a small town which was placed on the hillside. From here she had a perfect view of everything, and even though it was nighttime the moon shone bright enough for her to see correctly. Ana knew her enemy would be here. She had led her here. Invited her, you could say. It didn't matter. She'd end this now once and forever.
"Inferior? I had time to take that shot, I was just wondering if my friend was still in there. Amelie." Ana replied. Her frown grew as she slowly began looking left. Something was wrong…years of combat had led Ana to fully trust her instincts so the minute she felt the hairs on her neck stand she rolled to the left. A bullet zipped by her and hit the bell, ricocheting off it.
I don't even have to see you. Ana thought with a smirk, her sights focusing on Widowmaker who was hiding in the shadows between two houses, aiming up at her. Ana fired but she backed up and out of view right at that moment. The bullet hit the dirt where she had been moments ago.
"You, and all the others, are fools." Widowmaker hissed. "Amelie this, Amelie that, don't you understand that woman is dead?" While she spoke Ana took the time to jump out of the tower, sliding down the side of it and jumping off once she was almost to the ground, landing on the floor with a roll and running inside an abandoned building. "You cling to your hopes for that woman, Amelie, hoping she is still somewhere here. Hoping you can save her."
"I used to do that, Widowmaker." Ana replied quickly, aiming her rifle through the window and looking at the rooftops. "But I know that isn't possible. So I've come to finish the job." Ana's scope fixed on Widowmaker, who was now on the roof of a small house, using the chimney as cover. Ana fired a single round but Widowmaker ducked and the bullet whizzed over her head.
"Yet you still hold grief. You still think of that woman, you wonder if she is still there. I can see it in your eyes." Widowmaker whispered. Ana crouched behind the wall and, much to her surprise, a bullet pierced it to her left. Then another, closer to her, and another. She cursed in Arabic and ran out the door, a steady stream of high caliber bullets following her but always missing her by at least an inch. She burst out of the building and jumped over a small wall, falling a few feet down and out of Widowmaker's view.
"Of course I do. Amelie was my friend. We would talk to each other, she would play with Fareeha. We had a bond." Ana said, her voice tinged with sadness. "Something like that doesn't disappear. Ever."
"You and that woman are both weak. Both clinging to such futile emotions, such as friendship and love. That is why I was able to come out, I was stronger." Widowmaker said. "And that is how I defeated you. I am not constricted by such emotions."
"How you were able to come out?" Ana asked while quickly walking through the narrow streets that were part of this place, keeping her rifle trained on the rooftops. "Meaning you were always there…and now Amelie is there."
"Speaking to you is pointless. You are almost as stubborn as that foolish British girl." Widowmaker murmured, obviously annoyed. Ana frowned as she saw a shadow move in the moonlight and froze. After a few moments a purple cylinder of poison sailed down to Ana, but she shot it out of the air and the poison dissipated. As she pulled the bolt of her rifle Widowmaker jumped down from the roof, her rifle blazing. Ana grimaced and ran back where she had come from, going around a corner and out of sight.
"I see you met Tracer." Ana chuckled. "She's quite the agent, one of our best. And if she survived fighting you that's just a testament to her skill." Widowmaker turned the corner Ana had, on one knee, but as she expected no one was there.
"It's called luck. And it will run out." Widowmaker promised, shooting her grappling hook to a rooftop. Before she could get up there however, a bullet hit the device on her arm and she fell against the wall, then back down to the floor. Widowmaker immediately got up and pressed herself against the wall, a second bullet hitting the ground where she had been a second after.
"You won't be alive to see that happen." Ana promised. "I'm not letting you hurt anyone else."
"What makes you think you can kill me? You are older, without an eye, and out of your element. We both know that spiders rule in the darkness." Widowmaker chuckled evilly afterwards. She was right about one thing, despite the moonlight the buildings gave plenty of cover and dark areas where Ana's eyes just couldn't see. This was happening now as Ana, who was perched on the branch of a tree at the top of a small hill, couldn't see Widowmaker anywhere.
"I did lure you here, didn't I? Tricked you. Maybe spiders rule the darkness, but even they need to come out of the shadows." Ana answered. Her eyes focused on a flash of red hiding in the shadows and she fired another round. Widowmaker didn't say another word, leading Ana to believe she had almost gotten her. "I know that bullet didn't hit you, Widowmaker. You cannot hide forever." Ana rolled off the branch and landed on her feet, dashing towards a small wall and laying behind it.
"Perhaps you are right." Widowmaker said after a few minutes. "There are times we must go into the light…but the same goes to you. Sometimes you must walk into the shadows, blind and afraid, unsure of what will happen. Come, Ana, let's play in the darkness." Immediately after a bullet hit the dirt by Ana's side and she vaulted over the wall, running towards a house for cover. The area she was running to was so thick with buildings it was covered in darkness, except for the streetlamps of course. No bullets followed the first and this led Ana to believe Widowmaker was chasing her here. She wanted to get her in the dark, by surprise.
"I know what you are doing. For a spider with no emotion, you are a bit too cocky." Ana whispered in her earpiece as she slowly walked through an alleyway, rifle trained straight forward.
"Confidence and arrogance are two different things, moi ami." Was the answer Ana received before Widowmaker stood up from a rooftop, in plain view of the moon, and fired down at Ana with her rifle. The older woman let out a sharp yell, of both anger and pain, as it pierced her right leg and she immediately aimed upward and fired her gun. But Widowmaker was gone. "I am confident. You are wounded, in the dark, outmatched. I know I shall win. You are arrogant. You thought you could lure me here and finish me off. Thought you could kill me in my own element, at your age, without an eye. You must have had a death wish."
"There is such a thing as overconfidence, Widowmaker." Ana replied. "I am still the most skilled sniper in the world, despite my age and the lack of sight. Even in the darkness." Ana spun around and fired a shot directly at her enemy, who was silently creeping on her. The bullet, by luck, bounced off the side of her visor, knocking Widowmaker down. Ana ran as fast as she could, putting another bullet in the chamber, and fired at her enemy again. Widowmaker kicked Ana's rifle out of her hand as she fired and rolled backwards onto her feet, but was forced to jump to cover. Ana had her dart gun out, ready to put Widowmaker to sleep. The spider could hear Ana's cautious steps, hear her pick up her rifle and pull the bolt.
"You are wounded, and outgunned. Why do you continue?" Widowmaker asked, speaking loud enough for Ana to hear her without comms.
"Failure isn't an option. Not this time." Ana answered. "I will keep the people I swore to protect safe!" Then, much to Widowmaker's surprise, she fired a bullet which tore through the wall and went through her arm. She cried out in pain and turned the corner, her good arm firing full auto at Ana, but the older woman was gone. Disappeared into the shadows. "Don't see me? I thought this was your territory. As you say, your element."
"Je vois tout." Widowmaker said, her visor going over her eyes. She saw the red outline of Ana fifty feet ahead, making her way to the roof of a house. She was faster than she looked, even with the wounded leg. Ana made it the roof of the house and looked down at her enemy, only to see she was gone. Widowmaker might see all, but Ana couldn't. The older woman carefully scanned the area, trigger-finger ready, but after ten minutes resigned herself to getting back on ground level. It was possible that Widowmaker would attempt to escape now that she was wounded and Ana couldn't allow that.
"Running away already? I thought you outmatched me." Ana taunted, popping onto the street. She was easy target in the streetlamps light, but she had to cross the street to get a better vantage point. It bothered her that Widowmaker didn't answer her taunt. People may say she has no emotions, but that isn't true. She was arrogant and proud of herself, proud of her ability to kill. A direct challenge to that ability would not be ignored…unless she had a plan. Ana made it the other side with no excitement and began walking down an alleyway. She spun and aimed down another dark alleyway to the left as she heard a click, but didn't shoot.
"I don't run until the mission is done." Widowmaker hissed through comms. Ana slowly made her way through the alleyway. It seemed that nothing was here but as she passed some barrels the sound of cracked glass could be heard, air seeping out or something of the sort.
Widowmaker's poison canister. Ana thought, immediately dashing forward. She heard bullets behind her but didn't dare stop. Her head swam and she started coughing violently, crashing into a house (which was thankfully empty) and hiding behind the wall. She had to hurry. Ana pulled out a biotic grenade and dropped it by her side, letting the nano-bots that sprung from it heal her wounded leg and rapidly drain the poison from her system. She heard Widowmaker enter the house, probably thinking Ana was done, and kept coughing. Luring her close with the promise of a kill.
Two can play that game. Ana thought with a smirk as she faked another cough and took out a second biotic grenade. She through it into the other room and smiled wider as Widowmaker began coughing herself, backing out and firing her weapon to keep Ana pinned.
"Over-confidence, Widowmaker. See? You cannot beat me." Ana walked out of the house, simply to find her enemy doubled over, propping herself on a wall. She didn't even bother to fire her weapon. Instead Ana walked over to her, keeping a safe distance with her rifle up, but not firing.
"I never took you as the gloating type, Ana." She rasped, raising her gun. Ana fired a round and it fell from her hand, sparking and damaged. "But you will not kill me."
"What makes you so sure of that?" Ana asked, pulling her bolt and aiming it at Widowmaker's head. "I can't miss from here, nor can you dodge. You are out of tricks."
"Idiot." She said with a laugh. "You truly believe I would wait for you come and kill me? I am disappointed Ana. I thought you were smarter." Suddenly a Talon ship appeared above the street, out of nowhere. Widowmaker laughed and Ana dashed behind a house as its machine guns flared.
"Looks like…it's a tie." Ana said reluctantly.
"Oui. But don't think I will let you go next time, Ana. Next time I will finish the job." Widowmaker said. Ana walked back out as the ship spun, ready to leave with her inside it. "Au revoir."
"Same goes to you. Widowmaker." Ana said as the ship sped off, soon lost in the darkness of night. Ana sighed and began walking down the street, unsure of what to do now. It would be some time before she encountered her foe again, of that she was sure. What should she do now? She couldn't return to the army, she had no family left, no friends because she was presumed dead. She was alone.
"Or am I." She whispered to herself, pulling a small device out of her pocket with the Overwatch logo. When Winston had recalled the members of Overwatch she had also been notified, but decided to ignore it. Recently on the news she had seen some of the members, old and new, fighting. Her old friends…and her daughter. "Fareeha…soon you'll see me again." She murmured as she pressed a green button and held the device to her ear. "Hello, Winston. It is Ana Amari. There is much I need to explain, but first I need someone to come get me." She smiled widely. "We have so much to talk about."