The barracks was quiet tonight, the lowly hum of a brand new halogen bulb reverberated from the walls and only the consistent staccato of my keyboard interrupts them, damn, you can tell I'm bored. As far as new year's go, this is probably on the uh… shit side. I'm a high ranking military officer, a Captain, overseeing Overwatch's little pet projects and I'm stuck out here in the middle of the British Antarctic territories waiting for one of the RAF's finest. The eggheads are good enough company; Sikes is a laugh and the most normal lad on the team but the others? Man, there's this one guy, Dan, his head is so far up his arse he can tell you how his own prostate tastes. He is a genius though, rebuilt this little omnic companion for us. He codenamed the thing B45T10N, luckily he's not as good at robotics as he is particle physics, the damn thing can barely walk.
I really shouldn't be surprised, or complaining for that matter, because at this secret UN outpost, facilitated, in secret, by the illustrious King William of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to aid the UN it's fight for peace or something. The details are ultimately boring, all I know is that I'm being paid a lot of money to guard some scientists and their toys. Honestly, the stuff they're doing here is pretty damn incredible. Their latest invention is a plane that can warp through time. Yep. Somehow this thing reached the human test phase and now they're shipping Lena-goddamn-Oxton in to fly it. The poster girl for the entire British Army will come here to live, train and test the world's first Harrier-time-jump-jet, better yet, she'll be bunking with myself and the scientists which means I can finally meet the legend that everyone talks about.
Here's what I know. Lena is barely an adult, at 21 she's the youngest pilot to wear a Victoria cross having fought in every major combat zone around the world with a record 36 confirmed aircraft kills. Beyond that, there is nothing. Her files are dripping in black ink and her family is noted as 'deceased' in her public file while reports of what the lass is actually like are mixed. Some say she's a genius, that she engineers her own planes and upgrades. Other reports suggest that this success is entirely false, that her success must be down to luck because she is notoriously stupid. Well whatever the case, I'll have something to look at, that girl is gorgeous.
"Whatchya lookin at there?" a voice rings out from behind the Captain, startling him. Reflexively he spins around, taking the small figure by surprise and pinning it to the floor, pushing his pistol against her throat.
"Who are you? What's your intention?" he demanded. The girl giggled and smiled, then he realised. "Wait, are you…"
"Lena Oxton reporting for duty!" she announced proudly, wincing at the pain in her shoulders as the Captain continued to pin her to the floor. The Captain apologised profusely. "You didn't know I was here?" She stopped saluting as he helped her to her feet.
"No" he replied, helping her to her feet, "you were expected to arrive tomorrow".
"Oh, am I causing you trouble?" she asked, blinking. She seemed to hang on his every word as if it were a Tekhartha Mondatta speech.
After a long, unintentional pause the Captain replied: "No not at all, Lena I… I just, you have quite a reputation, Lieutenant" he said with apparent difficulty.
"Most of its rubbish, love" she said, a wide grin spreading across her face. "I just like to fly planes and do a little good y'know?"
"I see, well it's good to meet you but you need to let us know you're here. For one, this is a highly secure facility and two because these are your commanding officer's private quarters." He noted sternly.
"Terribly sorry sir!" she exclaimed "I do 'ave an habit of causing people trouble, I'll stay out yer way then." With that, she winked, and made for the door at speed. Before he knew it, he was alone with nothing but Lena's smiling face running through his mind, almost hoping she would break that promise.
A week or so later the Captain woke up early. As per his usual routine he pulled his socks up to his powerful lower calves, slid his feet into his running gear and headed towards the gymnasium. The long corridors appeared to go on forever as he passed from one dully lit hallway to the next. Just as he neared the hanger he heard a loud clang reverberate from the walls. He froze, knowing that intruders would likely be highly trained operatives, making noise only with the intention of being heard. He clung to the wall as he slipped inside the large hanger, creeping slowly and hiding among the shadows.
Bee boo beep.
The Captains eyes narrowed, recognising the noise as Daniel's robot, emanating from behind a large collection of crates to his right. He approached the crates slowly with his pistol drawn. Quickly, he rounded the corner raised his gun.
Sat with legs crossed was Lena. To her right lay the dismembered hand of Daniels robot, freshly torn from its socket. In the other hand she propped a high calibre rifle the size of her upper body against her shoulder as she inspected some plans scribbled across the side of the crate. She giggled sweetly, having seemingly discovered what comes next.
"Don't worry fella, I'll fix you up all good and proper." She said smiling as she began to attach the arm. She began to rewire the massive rifle to the omnic's arm, carefully and skilfully.
Finally realising his position, the Captain broke his trance and spoke. "Uhm… excuse me?" he asked indignantly.
She looked up, losing her concentration and allowing a burst of electricity to jolt through her. Reeling in pain, she knocked the dismembered robot over and it collapsed on top of her.
Sighing, the Captain knelt beside her and lifted the large metal carcass off of her. Then he helped her up too. Unlike before, the Royal Air Force jacket, trousers and Aviators had been replaced by regulation combat fatigues on her lower body, while her upper body was covered only by a cropped white tank top, stained grey from grease and oil stains. She lifted the large metal goggles from her eyes, which emphasised the grime on the face and smiled once more.
"What are you doing lieutenant?" The Captain asked. He looked her up and down as she stood sharply to attention. Her grubby face beamed as she saluted him.
"Giving B here some well needed tummy loving care, sir" she giggled again. At the notion of her stomach the Captain noted her toned body, covered in an alluring natural shine caused from a few hours of hard work.
"It looks like you broke it." He stated flatly, glancing at the pile of limbs and steel.
She broke from attention and knelt beside the robot. "I added a minigun and a cannon. There are now two modes beyond the recon mode. One is a sentry turret, the other turns this into a tank, pretty cool, right?" she laughed again as she set about reattaching the rifle to the robot.
"Excessive is the word I'd use."
"Aw, rubbish! A little lady like me has to have some extra firepower up 'er sleeves" she replied, bending across the robot to seemingly highlight her tight arse. At that, the job was done and the robot whirred back into life. The Captain smiled as Lena pranced about the room, chasing the military hardware around the hanger as it tried to escape her, she was certainly impressive alright, even if she was… pretty eccentric.
Suddenly the Robot stopped and levied its gun against her, she laughed as she dodged a flurry paintball's with a sideways roll. The machine began to morph into a turret as she scrambled behind more crates on the opposite side of the room.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" the Captain shouted. The machine rotated to face him.
"I think e's mad I took 'is arm off!" she cried as a torrent of paintballs unleashed themselves upon the Captain. Three hit his side as he slid to cover, large blots of torn skin beginning to form on his thigh and side.
"Paintballs will seriously injure at this calibre Lena!" he shouted.
"Better not get hit then! Let's shut this thing down together, move!" she cried as she leaped from behind the boxes, firing her own paint ball gun. The captain made a run for the next set of stacked crates underneath a large aircraft. He could hear her laughing as she returned fire. "There's another gun in the crate to your left Cap" Lena shouted. The Captain pulled out the gun but the turret sensed the movement, spinning round and firing five more rounds up the Captains arm and chest. He scrambled away as hundreds more chipped away his cover. Lena walked out from her cover and fired at the robot. As it turned she shot three more times, finally smashing its camera. This sent the turret into a frenzy, it morphed into its mech mode and fired, forcing Lena to giggle as she cartwheeled away. Lena ran towards the Captain as the machine morphed again. He looked up before ducking instantly as a large paint shell flew between them and splattered across the walls.
"You made a fucking tank?" He shouted.
"Don't worry, love. The Cavalry's here" she said nodding at the science team in the doorway.
The tank turned to fire but Lena and the Captain rushed it. Lena somersaulted over the barrel of the tank, yanking it to the side as it fired. The Captain bundled into it, forcing it to morph once more, revealing the wired neck. By this time, the science team had reached the robot and subdued it as it sprayed wildly at Lena who continued to laugh and dodge the bullets with her acrobatics. Daniel, confused at the sight of his own robot, pulled the wires connecting the robot's head to the power source, shutting it down.
Then, the staccato of a woman's boots could be heard as the bumbling science team mourned their turret. The Captain snapped to attention as Lena lay in a pile of boxes laughing to herself.
"Captain Lennox, care to explain yourself?" the woman demanded. Lena sat up, covered in sweat and grease and noted the long hair of the woman. She wore a small uniform that clung to her figure perfectly and she spoke again with a thick French accent. Behind them, 3 men and a Gorilla entered the room.
"er…" he began, glaring at the bevy of strange characters to enter the room. The first, the most normal of the bunch, was Sergeant Gerard Lecroix a burly Frenchman with a similarly thick accent and also the Major's husband. Second was Commander John Morrison, leader of Overwatch, who held himself in a way that bled heroism, his greying hair and tired looking face conveyed power despite that ear to ear grin gripping his face. Then there was Reinhardt, a mountainous excuse for a man behind them, using an enormous hammer to lean upon.
"aha- I er, don't usually have to say this Captain" she said, winking at Gerard and flashing him a devious smile "but focus on me and the question at hand, please."
"Yes, Major Lecroix!" he snapped, "Lena was fiddling with the B45T10N unit and I came to investigate." He winced at the pain from his wounds.
"We was testing the new features, Major!" Lena chirped. "He makes a great training partner, don't he Cap?" she said, elbowing the Captain who doubled over in pain.
"It's impressive what you've done here, Lena" said the Gorilla who was helping the science team rewire the fallen Omnic.
Lena's went wide as she realised who these people were. "Oh my god you're Winston!" she cried, breaking rank and bounding towards the Gorilla, shaking his hand.
"Lieutenant, calm down. Please?" Commander Morrison begged, rubbing his temple and yawning slightly.
"Yessir, Commander Jack sir!" Lena quipped, realising her position all of a sudden.
"It's John, Lieutenant." The commander sighed and looked to the Major who dragged Captain Lennox away for a good grilling. Reinhardt roared with laughter at the situation. He noted that the science team were going to have a lot of fun cleaning the mess up and left the room, laughing to himself as he went.
The Major returned and read the riot act to Lena. After a solid five minutes of shouting, the Major paused and delivered the good news. "Lena" she began "your training is done, the plane is ready, we're going to run the first slipstream test today at -"
"Hiiiiiiigh noon!" Tracer interrupted, imitating the famous McCree.
"You broke into the database again, didn't you?" Lecroix growled through gripped teeth.
"You should pick a better password, love." Tracer gloated. "I can read you like a book", she winked and took her leave. Amelie was left fuming at Morrison and Gerard as a slew of expletives were muttered under her breath, lamenting her interaction with the infamously unbearable Lena Oxton. Of course, and she would rarely admit it, she held a soft spot for the plucky Englishwoman who often inadvertently pushed and tested the major beyond her limits. In many ways, she was thankful for it.
Five hours later the hanger was still covered in paint as the begrudged Captain and Science team scrubbed at the walls and boxes, trying to get the pink substance off the seemingly unending stacks of boxes.
"Enjoying yourselves, boys?" Lena called from the entrance, giving her trademark two fingered salute. The Captain stood up to protest but stopped when he saw her. She looked heroic, with her brown eyes hidden behind a pair of tinted aviators and white flowing scarf. Her gear clung to her slender lower legs while her upper thighs were insulated by more sky blue material upon which read: Slipstream. Her yellow harness clung to her torso and chest, with a small thick pipe that attaches to her breathing apparatus installed in the jet. "What? Jealous or something love?" she said, now within a foot from the Captain.
The Captain again began to speak when he suddenly stopped and resumed his cleaning. Lena turned to be met with the Major, smiling deviously, she mocked Lena. "You call that flirting?" She laughed and began to walk towards the jet. "You have a lot to learn… Cherie"
Lena looked at the Captain, now bright red she turned away from him after noticing the small grin on his face. "oi what do you mean, cherry?" She shouted after her, "I aint no fruit!"
The major stopped, clearly irked by the mispronunciation "It means, darling and you pronounce it sh-eh-ree"
"Whatever you say, cherry" Lena said, ascending the small ladder and climbing into the cockpit. The Captain chuckled as the clean-up crew vacated the area for take-off, watching with interest as the Major eyed up Tracer's ass while speaking into her radio.
"Tracer has entered slipstream, ground personnel are vacating the area" she shouted as Tracer booted up the engines, giggling at the expression of anguish on the face of her superior officer. The Captain followed her to the control tower where Reinhardt, Morrison, Gerard and now, Captain Reyes of the Blackwatch stood observing the take off.
Tracer grinned as the doors of the hanger rolled open, squinting as the bright glare of the Antarctic desert struck her bare eyes. She pulled on the large flight helmet and activated the heads-up-display. It highlighted the barely visible runway as she began to taxi the jet to the start of the runway.
"All systems green, conditions are perfect here, cherry." She said in a tone more serious than the Captain had ever heard before. Tracer shook with anticipation as she awaited the response from the Major.
"Hold on Tracer, we've detected turbulence in this sector, stand by for a moment."
"Aye-aye, cherry"
"Please stop."
"Okay, cher- er Ma'am" she said with a nervous grin.
Reyes turned to the Captain. "Lennox, take control of the practice artillery, we need to put this thing through its paces A.S.A.P." Tis was clearly a decision that annoyed Morrison and Winston who looked at each other grimly. "Don't even start, sir" Reyes began, "we need this tech on the field now, before we lose this war, she knows the risks.". The Captain didn't want to get involved, he knew as everyone else did, the power struggle between these two and thought better of it than to get involved. As such, he took control of the training lasers, hoping that this would work out okay.
The Major sighed and turned to the radio. "We're green here too Tracer, you're cleared for take-off." Without replying, the jet engine roared as it began to speed along the tarmac picking up speed before finally leaving the ground. The radio crackled as Lena began laughing, immediately doing a barrel roll over the base as the ensemble of people in the control tower ducked and rolled their eyes as she flew overhead. "Cut ze theatrics, Tracer" Major Lacroix demanded "and climb to thirty-thousand feet, we're going to test the jump capability immediately."
"Aye-aye Cherie!" she laughed, blasting straight upwards. Tracer smiled, feeling majestic as she darted about the clouds as she rolled and spun the plane like a dancer performing Swan-lake.
"She's amazing…" the Captain said accidently, and watched in horror as everyone bar Reyes turned to smile at him.
"Cheers, love!" chirped Tracer over the microphone, causing his cheeks to flush red as Reinhardt bellowed with laughter. "Don't go easy on me Cap, I'm gonna jump and the you give me everything you have okay?"
For a brief second she disappeared before reappearing a mile ahead. "Haha! Check me out!" she laughed, blipping about the sky.
"Start shooting, Captain" Reyes commanded. The Captain nodded and began targeting, firing a barrage of lasers into the sky, all of which missed Tracer as she continued to flit about the sky, giggling with more vigour the closer her came to bringing her down. Then, one lucky shot struck Tracer just as she activated warp. The Captain laughed waiting for her reply.
It never came.