Speed prompt, written in 58 minutes.

We were nearly there! We were in the scrum of the final stretch of our escort, with bullets flying everywhere and everyone shouting, and I could feel it in my bones: we were going to make it!

I'd ducked into a recess to catch my breath and stay out of the line of fire when the noise began to die down. We must have defeated those awful mercenaries that had been sent to stop our escort; what a relief that was, because they'd been a tough bunch. I could hear voices, so I peeked out of the doorway, taking a deep breath and opening my mouth to ask if anyone needed my assistance… just in time to see Reinhardt marching the escort around a corner at least a hundred feet away.

The voices I'd heard didn't belong to my team: the people standing right in front of me with their backs to me and regrouping were Talon assassins.

They hadn't seen me.

Oh, no, I thought, hurriedly retreating back into the recess. It was a dead end; the only way out was past them.

Where were my team? Why had they left me here? I wanted to comm them, but I was worried if I so much as whispered those Talon monsters would hear me, and there was no one to resurrect me if they did.

God, what should I do? Should I just wait here and hope for the best? I supposed if they didn't know I was—

"Hey, didn't they have a healer somewhere?" That was Reaper's voice

Someone scoffed. "She probably flitted away with the rest of those vermin," a voice with a heavy French accent answered. "But I'll get her next go around, don't you worry..."

"Not if I get her first," a deep and muffled voice answered her. I heard the rattling of chains.

Yes, I thought as loudly as possible, go far, far away and look for me elsewh—

"No, I didn't see her leave," Reaper decided. The was a long pause. "I think she's still here."

I draw a sharp breath—too sharp, because now I could hear them all listening.

My hands shaking, I unsheathed my blaster. It would be useless against all of them, but what could I do?

God, where were my team? Where were they? I couldn't do this by my—

"There you are," a dark figure materialised in front of me, blocking me up against the wall. "So we meet again."

"Don't do this, Reyes!" I tried to shout, but he'd already raised his pistols to immediately fire at me—at me, his old colleague!—and it was only because he was taller that I managed to duck under his arm to avoid being shot at point-blank range. I ran out of the recess—crying out for help, I'll admit—and straight into the rest of his team. God, there was so many of them, and the only reason they didn't all mow me down in an instant was that they were surprised to see me.

Terrified and with no other option, I turned and ran.

They recovered from their shock and soon bullets and shot guns pullets started to zip past my head and, behind me was the heavy thump thump thump and rattle of chains as that monster pig-creature they had tanking for pursued me.

He was going to get me, I realised.

He may have been morbidly obese and horribly unfit, but he was tall, much taller than me. And he was laughing. A horrible, animal-like sound and before I could read a corner, a doorway, a box, anything to get me out of their line of fire suddenly I was plucked off my feet and rushing through the air and spinning towards—

God, the horrible creature! His pig-mask bulged and shrank with each breath, and he stank like cigarettes and filth. "Huh, pretty," was his comment to me before he raised his colossal makeshift gun and aimed it in my face and I was screaming, crying out, struggling, and begging for help from anyone who'd listen and then—

—I was rushing through the air again, but upwards? Upwards by my staff…?

"Don't let go!" That was Pharah's voice! "Rocket barrage incoming!"

And then the sky lit up with gunpower and rockets and I could hear them whistling through the air and exploding in showers of fireworks all over the ground. The Talon mercenaries were shouting in alarm and fleeing—thank goodness—and by the time she was out of rockets there was no sign of them.

My grip on my staff was slipping because I was shaking so much, but in one clean movement, Pharah lifted me into her arms and we catapulted through the air and away from what had very nearly been my final resting place.

I didn't realise how hard I was breathing until that point. She did. "We thought you'd gone ahead!" she tried to explain. "When I realised you were still back there…"

Her stricken expression was all the apology I needed. "Thank you for coming back for me."

She gave me a surly grin. "I don't leave people behind to get killed."

That was very nearly what happened, I thought, remembering that horrible creature's gun in my face.

She saw my expression, and her arms tightened around me. "I'm going to keep a closer eye on you from now on," she promised me. "I'll take good care of you, because heaven knows you've patched me up enough."

That was actually very comforting. "After the experience I've just had, you can start by buying me a really stiff drink..." I paused. "Or perhaps more than one."

She laughed; I actually couldn't remember if I'd heard her laugh before? It was rather a pleasant sound, and a relief to hear it. "It's a deal," she said as we slowly drifted back towards the ground and the safety of Reinhardt's shield.