Love & War 6: Replicants
Chapter 4: Can We Trust Her?
"Cheers, love. The cavalry's here!"
"Lena Oxton, codenamed Tracer, was the youngest pilot hailing from the Great Britain inducted into Overwatch's experimental flight program. She was chosen by Overwatch agents to test the teleporting fighter prototype, the Slipstream, but during the first flight, its teleportation matrix malfunctioned and disappeared, leaving many to believe she was dead. However, months later she returned, but the ordeal of the Slipstream's teleportation matrix malfunction changed her completely. Her molecules had been desynchronized from the flow of time, suffering from chronal disassociation, a living ghost, disappearing from time to time. She was unable to be present in her physical form. She even had strange dreams of the past, including her role as a kitchen maid in a large house in the country. Overwatch doctors and scientists seemed hopeless due to her condition until Winston, a brilliant gorilla scientist created a chronal accelerator. This devices keep Tracer anchored in the present. It also allowed her to control her own time, increasing and decreasing its speed at will as well as giving her unique aging properties. One day, Tracer discovered Widowmaker escaping from Talon agents. She explained to her of her botched operation. Suddenly, Tracer's accelerator created a time-traveling portal, and both found themselves in Los Angeles, in an chaotic warfare with the citizen's duplicates. Apparently her accelerator received a hidden upgrade, the ability to travel through time. Widowmaker saw an opportunity to seek out Melody Jones, Commander of the Homefront Warriors. Tracer also came to the same conclusion, longing to test her piloting skills again."
"Amelie!"
"Lena, are you alright?"
"Never been better, love."
"This is Lena Oxton, aka Tracer. She was a pilot from what I understand."
"Pleasure to meet you," said Melody.
"Likewise. I saw the billboard and you are currently recruiting?"
"Yes. You probably saw the duplicates out there, right?"
"Who created those monstrosities?" asked Amelie.
"That's what we like to know. Tracer, we could actually use a well-trained pilot."
"Cheers, love. The cavalry's here!"
"What's with the goggles,"
"These are not goggles, Melody. They are InfraSights."
"Damn! What are you packing, Tracer?"
"My pulse pistols."
"Let's see what you ladies got!"
"Can we trust her?" asked Tanya, concerned about Widowmaker.
"She seems more compassionate than Nina," Jade replied.
After the conversation, Melody escorted Widowmaker and Tracer to the shooting range. Amelie equips her rifle.
"Whoa! What is that?" asked Melody.
"My special rifle, Widow's Kiss. Observe!'
Amelie demonstrates to Melody her amazing sharpshooting skills. She downed all targets in less than 30 seconds!
"Wow!"
Melody tried her shot with her Remington M40. She took all targets down in over a minute.
"Damn..."
"Cheers, love," said Lena. Amelie had just beaten Melody's record of 1 minute.
Meanwhile, Melody tested Lena's piloting skills as they circled around the Homefront Warriors perimeter. Chris saw the chopper flying around. Five minutes later...
"We could definitely use a pilot for this mission."
"Happy to be on board, Melody."
Back inside the bunker, Chris stood, waiting for his daughter.
"How'd it go?"
"Amelie beat my record! She took every single target down in less than 30 seconds!"
"Impressive! No wonder Los Angeles got cleaned of the duplicate vermin. Our mission, Operation Iron Dragon, will commence shortly, Mel. Have your team ready. We're about to show these duplicates that no matter where you're from, we all bleed the same color. I'm joining you for this mission."
"I can finally see my hero in action."
"Hey, now. I may have retired, but I still have a soldier in my blood. Let's go."
Chris and Melody left the bunkers, unknown to them that they were being watched. Inside a building now called Ultratech, a female cyborg, ARIA, was watching from behind the scenes.
"Melody Jones... An impressive human. She would be perfect for her evolution."