Lightning flashed, tearing Amélie Lacroix from the soft blanket of death's embrace.
The lightning also illuminating a group of five people chasing a group of two down dark moonlit streets.
"Hold on luv, we're almost safe!" Shouted Lena Oxton, also known as Tracer. The events of the past two weeks had made the two women wanted people. Outnumbered, on the run, they were down on their luck, and Lena knew it. Turning around, Tracer laid down covering fire with her Pulse pistols to buy some time for Amélie to rest. It was ironic that it had come to this. That Overwatch should hunt their own mascot for weeks was unthinkable and yet, Amélie and Lena were in just such a position, with Amélie bleeding out rapidly. Lena wished it didn't have to be this way, and yet it was. It was not just some random Overwatch soldiers chasing the two of them, no, no, no; it was worse. It was her friends in Overwatch. Jack Morrison, or Soldier: 76 as he was now known. Angela Ziegler, or Mercy. Jesse McCree. Genji Shimada. Winston. The people she thought were her best friends at Overwatch were chasing them right now. They wanted to kill Amélie to 'avenge those who lost loved ones due to Widowmaker'. Bullshit, this was vigilante justice.
Lena wouldn't let that happen. She thought Amélie deserved a second chance after all she found out about her. Continuing to fire at their Overwatch pursuers, Lena heard Winston shout from three score yards behind her.
"Lena, she's an assassin; she's murdered dozens upon dozens of innocent people. Why would you protect her after all she's done?
Widowmaker fell to her face on the cold hard stone. Tired of running, tired of holding on. She faded.
She dimly heard Lena shout.
"-suffered so much at the hands of Talon-deserves a chance, and I'll not let you deny her that-never wanted to kill those people!"
Lena blinked over to McCree and stole one of his flashbangs. Blinking over in front of Genji, she fired her pulse pistols directly at him and, side stepping, dodged her reflected pulse ammunition. Blinking away from Genji, she threw a flashbang in his face, making sure he couldn't catch up to the two of them, he being the fastest of their pursuers. His cyborg body meant he could sprint long distances for long periods of time without feeling exhaustion. "Sorry Genji, Sorry McCree!"
Recalling back to Amélie, she fired at her Overwatch friends to buy more time. "No hard feelings, luvs! I have to do this!"
She dashed over to Amélie and, picking her up, heard her speak.
"Cherie, leave me. Get to safety; I'm so tired. I just want to sleep. You can still make it if you leave me now!" Amélie whispered with all the strength she had left in her hurting body.
"Aw rubbish! You're not dying yet, luv!"
Amélie smiled faintly before her head fell and she went limp.
Momentarily holding Amélie with one arm, she used her other hand to lob a Pulse Bomb at Winston, who had closed half the distance between them. This caused him to put up his barrier, as Lena knew he would. Holding on tightly to Amélie Lacroix like her life depended on it, Lena ran.
And ran...
And ran...
Twenty minutes later, they were at the outskirts of a small town close to London. Lena had no clue where they were going to hide, but fortunately for them both, Amélie stirred and, recognising her surroundings, whispered to Lena, pointing out a safe house nearby that neither Talon nor Overwatch would think to look for them at. Lena blinked toward the building Amélie pointed at. She realized that they were about sixty miles east of the King's Row Watchpoint. Arriving at the building, Amélie whispered to Lena to set her on her feet. Standing tall, she moved her bloodstained hands to the keypad. Yelping, she staggered, almost falling but for the fact that Lena caught her. Lena crouched, applying pressure to the bullet wound in Amélie's left leg. Amélie entered the keycode. Falling to her feet, she crawled through the now open door. The door shut behind them as they entered. Amélie spoke
"Lena cherie, get the medkit in the bathroom s'il vous plait, I'm fading fast!" Lena blinked to the bathroom and, snatching up the medkit, returned to Amélie. Lena opened up the medical supply kit and, grabbing a pair of tweezers, she warned Amélie about the pain that was coming.
"Amélie luv, the bullet's still in your leg, I'm gonna have to pull it out; can you stay still for me please? This won't take long, and even if it hurts a shit-ton now, you'll feel better for it later!"
At those words, a memory flashed before Amélie's eyes.
A scientist in a lab coat with an evil smile and eyes that glared daggers.
"You've been getting so sloppy in your missions, the Board decided you need to go to the chair for some retuning. It won't take long, and then you'll be perfect again Widowmaker!
At that memory, Widowmaker snapped, trying to kill the scientist she saw in front of her. She lunged for his throat...
Lena was just sliding the tweezers into the bleeding hole in Amélie's leg when she felt hands gripping her throat. Looking at Widowmaker in her surprise, she saw her eyes burning with hate. Lena got the rub of the situation and tried to ply Widowmaker's cold hands off her throat, but failed. Seeing stars before her eyes, Lena tried one last dirty trick; squeezing Amélie's leg hard. Widowmaker groaned and released her grip, only to try a right hook to Lena's face. Lena hopped backwards and, blinking forward, hit Amélie Lacroix straight on the jaw with enough force to break it; she heard a crunching sound. Widowmaker fell unconscious. Lena figured Amélie must have suffered a panic attack due to something she said, so she didn't hold what happened against her, but rather continued to treat her injuries. Removing the bullet from Amélie's leg, she found a canister of nano-probes in the med-kit.
"Blimey," She exclaimed. "Looks like Talon's got their hands on Angie's tech!"
Not trusting Talon not to put some form of their brain washing tech into a canister of nano-probes, and not knowing what purpose those nano-probes served, she discarded them. Finding a canister of coagulant and some gauze, she applied the coagulator to stop the bleeding and, getting a cloth and some rubbing alcohol, she cleaned the wound and applied the gauze. Tying a rag around Amélie's leg in a tight knot, she lifted her up bridal style and laid her down on the bed in the bed room. Going back to the living area where she and Widowmaker fought, Lena set to cleaning up the place. Finishing that moments later, she entered the kitchen and dug around in the freezer for an ice pack, needing it for Amélie's jaw. Finding one, she walked into the bed room, where she located a scarf on the bed. She tip-toed around, careful not to wake the sleeping Amélie. Retrieving it, her breath caught when Amélie moaned in pain and called out her name. Concern evident in the way she spoke the word. Carefully touching the ice-pack to Amélie's jaw, she wrapped the scarf tightly around it to suspend it in place. Stepping back, she surveyed her handiwork.
"Not bloody bad for someone who never studied medicine! Wait till Angie hears this! That is, if we're ever on speaking terms after this whole mess."
Stepping around the bed, she sank down onto the sofa, watching Amélie closely. Getting up, she grabbed the blanket that lay at the foot of the bed and covered Amélie with it, and then sat back down. Smiling when Amélie subconsciously shrugged the blanket higher onto her shoulders. She looked at peace. "I promised I would." Lena thought aloud. Shaking her head forcefully, she moved to a different train of thought to keep herself from thinking twice about her commitment to help/save Amélie.
"What are we going to do now?" Lena wondered. The more she tossed that around in her head, the more the implications of today came to mind. She had ran from Overwatch; committing insubordination to the highest degree in the process. And moreover she had shot at them, threw a flashbang and a Pulse Bomb at them! This all started when she didn't trust them to come to an accurate picture of what happened to Amélie. When she decided that it was better to go rogue than let them perform vigilante justice on Amélie for the sins of her Talon identity, Widowmaker. Not knowing like Lena did that Amélie never wanted to be the Widowmaker; that the life of an assassin had been forced upon her.
And now they were both wanted by Overwatch. And as if that weren't enough, Talon wanted to find Amélie so they could reprogram her to be their pet assassin. She was alone, with only her wits to save her and Amélie. "What are we gonna do?" Lena wailed in dismay. Only time would tell what was going to happen to them...