A short note

I just wish to present a fun story. I hope some will enjoy it. I try to maintain the lore while laying the foundations for some new adventures. Not all alterations are meaningful. It is not because something is altered that it will be important. The first few chapters are the story's setting. They draw inspiration from the shorts but don't necessarily follow the exact same path. There are also some new moments in there too. Criticism would be appreciated. Honestly!

I gave my best effort to make the story believable.

"Who are you love? Can you see me? What's that light in front of you?"

She saw his lips move, but no sound reached her hears. He was looking straight at her and it looked like he was repeating the same syllables repeatedly: "My name is…" maybe. He was not very far, maybe ten meters away. He had seen her and it made her happy. Her first human contact in months, if you could call it a contact. He HAD seen her, acknowledged her presence, she was not a phantom anymore. Well, maybe she was, but at least, she could be seen by someone. She was so happy! Maybe there was hope after all. However, she could not hear him, but it was progress.

"What a weird choice of attire," she muttered to herself, realising what he was wearing.

It was a very strange black matter covering him with some glowing red parts on his chest. And it was all so pointy. He seemed menacing, or dangerous at least. There was no reason for her to expect a threat from the stranger. Suddenly, the glowing orb in front of him disappeared and he fell. She followed him with her eyes to see he had landed on a snowy stone structure. He walked away, maybe looking at the sky, it was hard to tell from that distance. Then she realised: Why was she still floating? She looked where the glowing orb was five seconds before. She saw a city in the distance, medieval if she had to guess, a beautiful view. She let her mind wander about who lived there, what were their lives like. How she would like to get her life back. That thought made her sob.

"Arghhh"

The jolt of pain was horrible. She felt a shockwave wash her away. She was brought back to the Overwatch HQ where she had spent the last few months trying to get the attention of someone who could help her with her situation. She was a ghost, no one could see her or hear her, she could not interact with anything. It was so frustrating, even for the ever-joyful Tracer. She decided to slap the keyboard of the computer to vent. It would not accomplish anything, but she could pretend it did at least.

"Holy fucking shit! WHAT?"

The keyboard was now lying smashed on the floor. The door to the lab opened and a giant ape came rushing in while she was turning around.

"T… Tracer," he muttered, almost speechless.

"Winston!"

A huge smile appeared on the Brit's face as he reached to grab her in his arms. She explained what she had been through the past few months, leaving her recent encounter out of her story. After a few minutes, she started to vanish again.

"I will bring you back," promised Winston.

And she was gone.

Many years later

A quick look on both sides to make sure she wouldn't be run over by a car. Almost home she thought while muttering the lyrics to Fear of the Dark to herself. She loved to listen to this song while walking at night. It made her feel strong and confident, despite what the song's name would suggest.

Finally, her flat was in her sights, just in time for the end of the song.

"Perfect timing again Lena," she said, laughing at her cheesy pun.

She needed to have more social interactions, going to the pub and destroying everyone stupid enough to challenge her in a game of bar billiards absolutely did not qualify as having a social contact. It was such an old game anyway, she had to learn new party tricks.

"A timeless game I should say," she muttered, a few seconds later with a chuckle.

"I must stop with the puns, one day I will do one in front of actual people and blinking away won't change anything to my embarrassment."

No one expected the 26 years old brunette to be that good at it and she always managed to bring in enough money to pay for her drinks, with the new patrons at least, the regulars knew better than to try to impress her that way. They knew they had no chance with her anyway. They were all hunting on the same side.

As she entered her flat, Lena decided to take a quick shower before watching a movie, something lighthearted for tonight. Maybe Mulan, maybe something else, she would decide later. During her shower, she though about her friends, she had kept a regular contact with Mercy (or Angel as she preferred to call her) but rarely got to see her as she was always on humanitarian missions all over the world. Apart from her, she had lost contact with pretty much everyone else. It just felt wrong and awkward to try to contact them after all this time.

"And I don't know how anyway," she kept telling herself to justify her decision.

It was probably for the best anyway because all Overwatch activities were outlawed and she did not want to have any problems with the law. She was way too hyperactive for jail. Having wandered in her thoughts for quite a while, she realized she should start watching her movie if she didn't want to spend her whole evening on the couch. She had to find new activities. As soon as she got out of her room after putting her pyjamas which consisted of her old squadron t-shirt, she heard the phone ring, a melody that brought her many memories. She ran in the living room to collect her phone and saw Winston's face on the screen with a red blinking "Priority!" message in the corner.

She enquired, "Winston, is that you love?"

She carried on with a chuckle, "It's been too long."

"Yes, yes it has," he replied with a small laugh before proceeding to tell her why he initiated the recall procedure. After a few minutes and Lena asking him several times if he was alright, she felt reassured enough to let him go. He still had to contact everyone else, she didn't know how many would answer.

"I will be there tomorrow love and make sure Angel gets there as fast as she can to check-up on you," she said before hanging up.

Lena was so excited; she would meet her friends and comrades again. And Mercy would be there too! She had to be there or Lena would go tear her away from whatever humanitarian stuff she was doing and bring her back. She had to be there. She was he cornerstone of the team, without her, they were vulnerable and fragile, with her, they were strong and invincible.

She turned on the television and saw the live broadcast for Tekhartha Mondatta's speech which was going to begin in a few minutes.

"Shit, I totally forgot about that"

She blinked to her room to grab her combat gear and set off running and blinking as fast as she could to reach the meeting in time.