Mei was new (sort of) to this team, but even she had known that Widowmaker was a former Talon agent. Everyone knew. But no one really knew the why. The change in allegiance had only happened months ago, and understandably everyone was suspicious (although Mei was more intrigued than suspicious). Many knew of the story of Amelie Lacroix, the wife of a conspicuous Overwatch agent, who had been brainwashed or something of the sort and turned into a perfect assassin. The only thing, however, that would calm the few soldiers of the new Overwatch, was the confirmation of Dr. Angela Ziegler and of Winston that Widowmaker would remain loyal to them. Details weren't being given.
Angelia Ziegler. The two of them had had a brief acquaintance before the dissolution of Overwatch, before the cryostasis, and then Mei had responded to the call for the new Overwatch. She knew Winston a bit more, since the two had worked together at one point to develop her environmental technology. But she had never worked directly against Talon in battle, and the people responding to the call were exactly those who did. Mei had always worked in eco-Watchpoints, never with Blackwatch or the fighting forces or anything like that. She didn't know many of the agents that had responded to Winston's call, and those that she did know had changed after her cryostasis. Mei's fellow scientists had died during it. Even Widowmaker had been an unknown; Mei had never spoken to the Lacroix couple before.
So here Mei was, with the shredded remains of the once-great Overwatch surrounded by unknowns. Flung onto the battlefield because her technology could also be used as a weapon. She could do little else, because resources to research environmental problems were scarce. But at least as this new team moved around, retrieving bases and eco-Watchpoints, Mei could collect data from the world and scavenge for research supplies. And, as she fought against Talon and crime, she could still help make the world a better place.
It was a week later when Widowmaker paid Mei back. Talon launched an attack on the Overwatch team, sending in trucks of agents to clear out the building. Mei had been solidifying the team's defense by blocking off some of the side doors to the Overwatch building, forcing their enemies to go through the large entrance right in front of the armed Overwatch team. But as Mei had gone around the base intending to block any other doors, disaster struck.
Mei squinted in the darkness, wondering if there was some inconspicuous back door in the unfamiliar base when all of a sudden she heard a footstep behind her. Mei turned her head just in time to see a figure cloaked in black, shotgun aimed up at the ceiling. Mei's eyes widened as the light fixture shattered, sending her into darkness. Stupid! Mei thought to herself. In going to set up walls, she had left the team and made herself an easy target. She should have had a teammate come along or never left them in the first place. Glass rained down on her, bouncing harmlessly off of her fluffy coat.
Mei pressed the trigger on her endothermic blaster, spraying frost wildly in the darkness. Then she heard shotgun blasts in turn, and she could hear bullets lodging themselves into the wall. Her heart raced, feeling fear curl through her body. Mei wasn't a fighter, not really, and she was alone. Which way did she come into this room again? Mei backed up, gun still letting loose a deadly torrent of ice. Her other hand reached behind her, looking for the wall so she could follow it back to the door she had come in.
"Snowball." Mei whispered, "Go get help." She prayed her voice was hidden from her attacker in the noise of her frost spray and gunshots.
There was a slight beep and then a whirring as the small hemisphere attached to the machine on her back suddenly lifted off into the air. Mei exhaled a small sigh of relief before several bullets suddenly flew past her face. The attacker wasn't very good at aiming in the dark. Or, Mei realized with dread, they weren't trying to kill Mei but take her hostage.
Nope nope nope Absolutely not. Mei pointed her gun at the ground and raised up a wall of ice, then turned tail and ran, arms out to find the wall. Luckily the hallway she had come through was dimly lit, and she found the exit and fled. Sometimes Mei cursed herself for wearing these kinds of boots. She glanced behind her, looking at the dark doorway when all of a sudden a searing pain tore through her left leg. Mei fell back onto the ground, clutching at her calf. Several bullets from a shotgun blast had ripped right into her boot and flesh before settling to a stop inside. Mei let out a ragged gasp as pain lanced up her entire leg. Blood came from the holes in her leg, soaking into the fabric of her pants. Her endothermic blaster spun away, coming to a stop several feet away from her.
This is not good.
"I'd suggest you stop moving." A dark voice said and Mei heard a click. She looked up with wide eyes to see the end of a gun pointed right at her head and she felt her blood turn cold. Air stuck in her throat as she saw past the gun to a skull-like mask, which was also shaped a bit like a barn owl. The dark holes in the mask looked down at her cruelly, empty of any humanity.
It was the same attacker from the room. How in the world did he manage to teleport in front of her? Suddenly Mei recalled Winston talking about this man. A Talon agent who could teleport short distances and also turn into smoke. She frowned, and couldn't put a name to him.
"Normally I kill any Overwatch agents immediately." The person said. "But you're in luck." And then he laughed, a cruel, sadistic laugh as he reached down and wrapped a clawed glove around Mei's arm, pulling her to her feet while keeping the gun trained on her. Mei grimaced as a fresh wave of pain came with the movement of her leg. "I think I'll use you to get the others." The Talon man continued.
Mei felt an even heavier sense of dread come over her. Now she was putting the rest of the team in danger because of her stupidity.
"This must be my lucky day." She said glumly, putting her other hand to her forehead. Her attacker barked a laugh, and then wrapped an arm around Mei's neck while putting the barrel of the shotgun directly on her head. Mei wished she had the communication earpiece, and then she wouldn't have had to send Snowball out and away. But Winston had been in the middle of finding an extra because Mei's had broken.
"Now walk." He snarled from behind her.
"Uh." Mei said. "You kind of shot my leg."
A brief moment of silence passed.
"Try your best or your head will meet the same fate." The man finally said.
"Right. Okay." Mei attempted to shuffle forward, wincing every time she put her foot down. If she had her endothermic blaster, she could temporarily freeze herself and heal part of her wounds. She could fight back. "So… Talon, huh?" Mei tried, thinking she could at least delay the man. She looked around as best as she could in a headlock, trying to think of ways she could get free. Stalling him until Snowball came back seemed to be the best idea, since the drone would most likely have a blizzard ready by the time it returned.
The Talon agent just let out a long-suffering sigh and Mei decided it would be best to close her mouth. But then a light went off in her head.
"Oh!" Mei suddenly exclaimed. "You're Reaper, correct?"
"Now I remember why I don't like taking hostages." Reaper grunted, shoving the gun into Mei's head, who grimaced. "But yes, correct."
"Let it go." Mei replied, wondering how much she was pushing it.
"Are you serious?" Reaper deadpanned, disgusted and unimpressed with the reference. Just then Mei spotted Snowball round the corner in front of her and relief flooded her body. Help had arrived. But no one followed the small drone and Mei felt the relief dissipate a little bit. Snowball hadn't gotten help. Reaper stood his ground.
"Some help." He scoffed, gloating, as Snowball floated closer. Mei watched Snowball in anguish when all of a sudden the pixel eye on the screen winked. Mei looked past robot to see something purple flash at the end of the hallway. Someone had come.
Ah. Reaper raised the gun from Mei's head to point at Snowball when a loud gunshot cracked the air, and Reaper's arm jerked sideways, his shotgun shot missing both Snowball and Mei, who jumped to action. She dropped straight down, forcing her chin past Reaper's arm to escape the headlock just as Snowball started spewing out a huge blast of frost. Mei let out a breath as the snow swirled around her, taking a moment to look around for her dropped weapon, which she spied a little bit away.
Reaper growled, clutching his wounded arm. He backed up, trying to escape the freeze. Mei crawled to her endothermic blaster as Reaper began to slow down. Ice started appearing on his body as Snowball did its work and Mei was almost to her gun. As her gloved fingers brushed the edge of the weapon, another gunshot echoed through the air. But just as the bullet was about to pierce Reaper's mask, he suddenly dissolved into a shifting, black mist. Mei watched as the black smoke floated backwards in the hail before disappearing back into the dark room. Mei grabbed her endothermic blaster and raised up an ice wall, blocking off the room door as the cold around her began to dissipate. Snowball's blizzard was over, and Mei turned to catch the drone in her hands.
"Thank you, Snowball." She murmured quietly before looking down the hall to see who had helped her. For a second there was no one, but then the person turned the corner. Tall, imposing, blue-skinned and grasping a downright deadly gun in her arms, the woman she had saved a week earlier revealed herself. Mei's mouth fell a little bit open but she shut it immediately. The sniper made her way down the hall, head held high as her low heels somehow created no sound.
"A 'thank you' would be nice." Widowmaker cocked her head and said in a low voice, her French accent coming through. She looked down at Mei with a superior expression, who raised an eyebrow in amusement, recalling the incident.
"After you didn't give me one?" Mei said in mock indignity, with a small smiler on her face. Widowmaker's eyes narrowed and Mei backpedaled, waving her hands in the air. "Sorry, sorry. Just joking. Thank you." Mei noted that joking wasn't quite the way to go around Widowmaker.
A moment passed as Widowmaker regarded Mei, who held her gaze. The sniper looked away first. Mei wondered if she could see the slightest bit of red on her face.
"Je t'en prie." Widowmaker said quietly, and Mei had to strain to hear it. It was as if Widowmaker hadn't wanted Mei to hear, nor did she even want to say it. You're welcome.
"À l'aide, s'il te plaît?" Mei said, and Widowmaker turned to look at her, clearly surprised. Her cool eyes were widened slightly and her eyebrows furrowed a bit. Mei smiled. She had just asked for help, since she could not really move. As an Overwatch scientist, knowing multiple languages was essential to working in a team. It might help Mei bridge the gap between her and the purple woman.
Widowmaker's expression quickly resumed its previous, neutral but haughty tone as she approached Mei.
"You can't walk?" The assassin asked, lowering her weapon as she stopped right in front of Mei. Mei looked at Widowmaker, then looked at the holes in her leg, and then looked back at Widowmaker. There was a small pool of blood forming underneath her.
"No." Mei said.
Widowmaker pursed her lips, and her brows were furrowed again. She glanced over her shoulder (at what, Mei didn't know) and then back at Mei, who hadn't moved. Then, as if she was about to step into a pool of sewage, she bent her knees to the ground, still avoiding Mei's gaze. Mei looked away too so she wasn't just awkwardly staring at Widowmaker, and then there were slim hands sliding under her knees and back. Mei could tell that Widowmaker's movements were awkward and restrained, and she was kind of confused about that. Mei had seen Widowmaker in battle and with others, and there she was all deadly and confident. Here she was… not quite that. And Mei realized, as Widowmaker's fingers continued to stay on the backs of her knees, she felt that the sniper's temperature was dangerously low.
Mei was intrigued.
Suddenly the altitude changed, and Mei was lifted up in Widowmaker's arms, and she was held flush against the sniper's half-revealed chest. Mei looked up at Widowmaker's chin before deciding against that because now for some reason she was blushing.
"Sorry that you have to do this." Mei said, and she felt Widowmaker give the slightest jolt. "I know you don't like touching people." She recalled how Widowmaker had reacted in the past, and felt a little guilty.
A silence followed, and only the soft sound of Widowmaker's shoes was audible for a moment. Mei suddenly became aware of a soft dripping sound, and then realized that she was leaving a trail of blood on the ground. There was probably blood all over Widowmaker's arm, too.
"It's fine." Widowmaker said abruptly. To Mei's comment or to the blood on her, Mei wasn't sure. Then the silence returned, and Mei began to wonder why Widowmaker was acting so awkwardly.
But then Widowmaker was stiffly setting Mei onto her feet, because they had reached the team. She gave a curt nod to Mei and then to Mercy, who was coming with her healing staff, and then she was off.
As the golden beams curled around her leg, Mei found herself missing the cool body that had held her close.