Time passes with no new word from Talon. Amélie had just clocked out of work. She hung her apron in her locker and walked from behind the counter. Her fellow co-worker handed her a latté as she walked to the patio. "Merci". She found an empty table and sat down. She pulled out her book that only had a few more pages left to read. "Whatcha readin!?" That was the last straw. Amélie stood up from her table and grabbed the annoying British girl by the shirt collar.
"Listen you little cretin! I'm trying to have five minutes to myself! You think I don't get enough of your stupeed voice or your dumb face at home or in class!? You even come into my work everyday and order thee same thing! A small mocha frappachino with extra whipped cream! And you always say that your name is Sweetheart so I have to call that out every day! What's your angle? What do you want!?"
"Aw come on luv. I…" Amélie's expression soured even more. "I just...Uh… well I guess I should let you have some time to yourself then…"
Lena laughed nervously then turned and quickly hurried off. Amélie breathed a sigh of relief and finished her book. Amélie turned the last blank page in the book just to make sure she didn't miss anything like she always does. There she found a tiny receipt paper with some writing on it.
~ I think you might enjoy these ones next luv ~
On the back of the paper was a list of a few books she hadn't heard of. She sat there for a moment and thought to herself. 'Tien, now I feel foolish.' She stood up from her chair, gathered her things and crossed the street.
She wasn't able to shake the feeling the entire way home. The little insect was so annoying, but it had been a long time since someone noticed one of her interests. She sighed, supposing that she could be a little less hostile. 'If only the girl wouldn't be so irritating!' There were many students around as she headed back to her dorm. Amélie was prepared for the usual; loud music, soda and pizza boxes strewn about and Lena playing video games with Hana. But Lena wasn't there. Amélie set her things down and sat on her bed. She could hear faint murmurs from the students outside. Across from her was Lena's side of the room. It's messy of course, with her clothes all around her bed. Lena had photos and ticket stubs all over her wall. Amélie stood and walked over to Lena's bed. She leaned over quietly and looked at the photos. There are some of her with people she had never seen around campus. 'Probably friends from Britain.' She pondered. She saw photos of her roommates. 'Ah, I remember this one. She made me be in this one even after I told her no.'
All these images had the British girl smiling. Amélie couldn't understand how someone could be this happy all the time. It's exhausting. One photo stood out. Amélie leaned in more, resting one hand on Lena's bed. She gently peeled off the photo and brought it back to her side. In this photo, it showed Lena wearing a thick leather jacket and she was sitting on the back of a Jeep. It looked as though she was talking to the man off to the side in the photo. She was smiling in this one too. Amélie scoffed and frowned, sticking the photograph back onto the wall and checked the time. 10:30. Not really late but it was weird that Lena wasn't home yet… Uhg! What did she care? Walking back to her bed, she pulled out one of her books that she hadn't finished.
She woke up the next morning with the book on her face. She had fallen asleep without meaning to. She looked over instinctively. Lena was not there. But her bed was a mess. She must have left early for class. 'Quieter than usual' Amélie thought. Amélie got ready for class promptly. Dressed in her business casual style with her hair pulled back into her notorious high pony tail. She grabbed her bag and took quick strides towards the door. She passed Hana, who was on the couch clicking away on her game. Amélie reached for the doorknob, but before she turned it, she looked over her shoulder and asked; " Hana…" Amélie paused. "... Do you know … if Lena is feeling well?" The sound of the French woman's voice had caused Hana to actually pause her game. Amélie had rarely talked to her without reason. Hana took a drink from her Mountain Dew and cleared her throat. " Yeah, Amélie. She seemed alright to me. We went out last night and had a good time. You know her, always hyper LOL!"
'I guess I don't really know her…' Amélie thought. ' Whatever'
"Thanks Hana," Then she opened the door and left.
'Lena seems to be okay then. Uhg what do I care! Stupeed girl.' Amélie walked down the stairs from her dorm quickly. She was about to merge into the stream of students when something caught her arm and violently jerked her back and pulled her under the cement stairs, blocked from the view of any on lookers. The training kicked in and Widowmaker quickly thrusted her arm downward to break the grip and then upwards to hit the chin of her attacker. But her attacker was just as fast and grabbed her elbow just before the blow to his face. That's when Widowmaker had a chance to see who it was.
"Reaper." Amélie the exchange student was no longer there. Now it was just Widowmaker, the emotionless assassin. Reaper let go of her elbow with a deep chuckle.
"Have a nice Winter break?"
"What does Talon want now? Am I clear to go back? I'm tired of playing student."
"Things have gotten more… complicated." He paused for dramatic effect, she supposed. Although this would do nothing for Widowmaker. It just made the conversation longer than it needed to be.
"Overwatch is still hanging around. Talon has confirmed their presence." Widowmaker clenched her jaw. "They have a plan to weed their agents out. They should be getting in contact with you soon. They want them taken care of. Overwatch needs to learn to stay out of our business. We'll be in touch soon. In the meantime, study up on your next target." Reaper handed her a Manila folder. "Her name is Ana Amari. One of the highest ranking members of Overwatch. Right out of the Egyptian military. Their most decorated sniper." He said with a wry grin. Widowmaker paid no mind, pouring over the file. She grudgingly admitted it was impressive.
"Where will the target be?" She asked.
"We're not sure yet where the best place for the strike is. Be prepared to drop things here. We'll be pulling you out soon." He smiled again, "Keep your trigger finger disciplined." With that, Reaper did his usual deep laugh and dramatic exit of smoke.
Widowmaker wiped away at the smoke entering her lungs with a small coughing fit. Finally! She thought. 'Soon I will be done with this silly game of pretend.' At the end of that thought, Widowmaker felt a tiny pull in her stomach. She quickly shook that silly feeling away. Right then the campus bell started chiming signaling 10 o'clock and Amélie returned. She stepped out from the staircase and started, well not sprinting, but she wasn't really walking either. She quickly turned the corner to her classroom when she slammed into another person.
"Oh hey Amélie." Lena said.
Amélie's face instantly contorted in annoyance.
Lena laughed a bit. " Sorry I guess I should watch where I'm going. I'll, um let you get going."
With that she quickly walked off before Amélie had a chance to respond.
'Quoi?' Amélie thought. Lena never walked away without talking her to death. She shook her head. 'Glad to be rid of her anyway.' Amélie marched to her class and sat dutifully through the lecture on English literature, wondering how many more of these she would have to endure. Deciding that she needed to blow off steam, she resolved to some target practice that night. First though, she had to get through a shift at the coffee shop.
Work had gone by slower than the neural reconditioning Talon had put her through. Okay maybe not that long, but Widowmaker could not wait to hang up her apron. She grabbed her gym bag and lugged it over her shoulder. Her co-workers said bye as she left but Widowmaker was already out the door by then. She ran across the street, passed the bookstore and down the alley. She quickly shoved a dumpster against the wall, hopped on it and jumped to the ladder that led to the roof of one of the quaint hotels in town. She did this in what seemed like one swift motion. It took her no time at all to get to the roof. There she had a view of the entire area. The wind picked up, which probably made the temperature cooler, but that would mean nothing to her. Widowmaker snapped the sight onto her rifle and crouched. She felt a rush of adrenaline, matched only by a successful kill. Peering through her scope she noticed the buildings nearby were mostly empty. Few people walked the streets. Her finger brushed the trigger. Muscle memory almost caused her to flick on her infra-sight visor. Then she saw them. On one of the floors of the Lumerico building were two people. She could only make out one of them. He was wearing a blue tactical suit and had blonde hair with grey streaks. That's when she recognized him. Jack Morrison: Strike Commander of Overwatch, and the girl behind him was... Lena…
Widowmaker zoomed in as much as her scope would go. She focused on the girl. Habit led her to aim the reticule on Lena's forehead. "What is this girl doing!? The fool!" Talon was right about the Overwatch presence, but they couldn't of known Morrison himself was here. Could they? At that moment a beeping sound came from her bag. She spent a moment more locked onto Lena before she disengaged and walked over to the noise. She reached inside her bag and pulled out a small square device. On the screen was a dark red "T". She pressed it. Widowmaker looked over at the building while it loaded the messages. She could not see them without her scope. The message was only a few words. "You know what to do. " And she did.
Jack hated being without his pulse rifle but it wasn't exactly appropriate for the mission. Priority on this mission was stealth and, much as he hated to admit it, the kid was a natural for this sorta thing. She was following behind him dutifully, he'd forced her to promise to obey any order without question before allowing her to join him on this mission. That's when he heard it. The kind of thing you'd only hear with a decade of U.S. Army experiments done on you, a bullet coming towards them. Jack ducked out of the way to avoid what would've been a clean headshot as the bullet crashed through the glass.
"Get down, sniper!" he grunted as he pushed Lena out of the way. This time a bullet that had been aimed at her, struck him square in the shoulder and he grunted in pain.
"Jack!" Lena screamed as she knelt down and helped him get to cover. "Are you alright!?"
"Uhg, that's sir to you kid."
"Zut!" She had missed Morrison and the girl. Her location compromised, she quickly disengaged and ran towards the edge of the building where she leaped off. She allowed herself to drop ever so slightly before she stretched her arm out and used her grappling hook to send her flying towards the Lumerico building. From rooftop to rooftop she ran getting to the large building in record time. While she sprinted to her alerted targets, something caught her attention. Black smoke seemed to be following her. "Great, Reaper…" She would rather die than have him steal her kill. "What are you doing here!?" She growled at him. Talon knew that she preferred to work alone. "I'm here to make sure the job gets done." He replied. Widowmaker glowered at him before turning attention back to their targets.
Jack scanned the rooftops to see if he could catch a glimpse of the sniper that was after them. He turned to the kid, "Get out of here Oxton. I'll distract whoever's after us. You get to safety."
"I'm not just going to leave you here…"
"I appreciate the thought but this has been a waste of time if we both die. Go!" Reluctantly Lena slunk off to try and escape the building. Just then there was a crash and shattered glass went everywhere. A tall thin assassin with an oversized sniper rifle had swung into the building on a grappling hook. Behind her was a cloud of black smoke. "God damn it Gabe…" Jack seethed.
Lena didn't have time to go far before the assassins broke in . She froze up. She could hear Morrison shouting, but couldn't make out anything. She looked at the sniper. Her eyes were covered by a visor with bright red dots. Then she looked at the man in the black hood as he started forming. Morrison had more things to worry about other than whether or not the young cadet was listening to his orders. Without his pulse rifle, this would be quite the challenge for Jack and he knew it.
Widowmaker had a plan. She would focus the soldier and have Reaper take care of the girl. 'Yes, that will be better.' she thought. She took a step quickly towards the soldier, gun locked and loaded, but before they could combat each other, Reaper leaped towards Jack and they started battling it out. 'Merde!'. Widowmaker turned her head to Lena. Her hair whipping to the side. She aimed her gun at the chest of the annoying girl and pulled the trigger, letting out a spray of bullets. Lena rolled out of the way as soon as the assassin pointed the gun at her. She quickly hopped on her feet and ran out the double doors leading out of the business room and into the hall. "Uhg." Amélie frowned in annoyance. The girl was faster than she would of guessed. Amélie chased after her.
Morrison ducked and weaved to avoid Reaper's shotgun. Reaper was obviously becoming irritated. "Still spry for your age old man…" He said.
Jacked chuckled, hoping to throw him off balance. "I'm good at what I do. Almost as good as you playing dress up."
Reaper growled with anger and started firing wildly. "Die! Die! Die!"
One of Reaper's shot hit Morrison square in the chest and he fell back. Reaper stopped firing, thinking Morrison was down. But Jack's armor had absorbed most of the blast and before Reaper could react, he quickly drew his sidearm and fired at him, he then quickly disappeared into a plume of black smoke.
Morrison smirked. "Predictable."
Amélie was in pursuit of the girl. Her infra-sight visor had finally run out of its charge and she had lost Lena. She was proceeding carefully when the girl suddenly appeared behind her faster than Amélie had thought she could move. Amélie swung her rifle around but Lena grabbed the rifle out of her hands and struck her across the face, all while letting out the most annoying laugh. That was when Widowmaker realized that Lena's attack had removed her visor. "Amélie…?"
It's been a long time since Widowmaker had felt the stomach pull that comes with panic. Even though it was only a small ping that barely even lasted a moment, she had felt it. Lena stood there, staring at the woman she had known and loved for most of the year. Lena shook her head. "Wot? I… I don't understand? What are you doing?" Lena took a step forward towards Amélie. That's when Widowmaker saw the the opening. She thrusted her arm and shot one of her poison gas darts at the girl's face. The gas surrounded her and she started to cough. Lena's vision began to blur and her body got heavy. She could no longer hold herself up and collapsed to her knees. The coughing was so intense she thought she was going to rip her throat to shreds.
Widowmaker walked over and stopped to pick up her gun before reaching Lena, who was now holding herself up by her arms only. "Foolish girl. I tried to push you away." Widowmaker pressed the barrel of her gun on Lena's back forcing her on the ground. "You were so persistent and annoying." Lena could not answer back as she tried to focus on anything. Widowmaker had her target at her mercy. She had her mission. This was too easy and yet she hesitated. Although it was only for a second, she hesitated to pull the trigger and because of that, it gave Ana the time she needed to fire one of her sleep darts.
Widowmaker collapsed to the ground, instantly unconscious. Ana quickly turned her attention to Lena, whose coughing fit had only gotten worse. She propped Lena up against the nearby desk. Ana pulled a small pack of vials from her blue trench coat and gave Lena an injection. She checked Lena's eyes and took her pulse. Ana guessed the girl would be okay but she would need further medical attention, more than she could give here.
Jack emerged from the other room looking bloodied and weary. Ana quickly stood up and slapped him across the face. "I told you this was too dangerous for the girl!" She said. "You're such a thick headed imbecile sometimes Morrison."
"You can lecture me later. We need to bug out of here quick." He looked down at Lena. "Is she safe to move?"
"Yes, but we have to hurry. Let's get out of here." Ana replied. Then she indicated Widowmaker. "Leave her and the other one, we don't have time." Morrison stooped down and gathered Lena into his arms, who was still looking over at Widowmaker and weakly muttering, "Why are you doing this..."