Hey guys, sorry that these chapters are taking so long to come out. Truth be told, I think I'm having a lot less inspiration to go on than when I started. I'm thinking about taking a week off as a break and letting the ideas come back to me. If that doesn't work, I'll just get back to pushing these out. Oh, and sorry if these seem like they're kind of jumping around everywhere, but that's just because I want to really focus on the important parts in the Overwatch timeline. And if you hadn't already noticed by now, I make tons of references to the Overwatch game, whether that's quotes, events, or character relationships as a whole. So if you think that something seems out of place or even if you don't, you should go check out the character interactions and quotes! That out of the way, enjoy chapter 11 of Death's Blossom!

~Atlas

I gasped for breath, my face drenched in water.

Breathing out heavily, I paused to recollect myself. Water dripped from my chin and trailed down my forehead as I wiped the water out of my eyes.

I reached out to a pile of neatly folded towels and pulled one out. I quickly dried my face off before moving my attention to my hands. As I finished up, I tossed the towel to the side and rested my hands on the sides of the porcelain sink.

I stared at my reflection, as I did just about any time that I looked into a mirror. At this point, I'd grown used to seeing the scars. It became normal to me. I could barely even remember what I'd looked like before.

I scowled before grabbing my mask and fixing it into position, once again shrouding my scars. Letting out a sigh, I walked out of the restroom, my boots further dirtying the marble tiles.

I rolled my shoulders as I made my way to the end of the room, stepping over a fallen glass cabinet. Several files and folders were scattered across the floor. I leaned down and lifted up the body of a man wearing a clean suit, dragging it through the mess of a room and shoved his corpse onto the leather chair behind his desk.

I sighed as I noticed a fallen picture frame. I picked it up and placed it neatly on the desk, away from the bloodstains to keep it clean. It was a picture of the man with his daughter and wife.

Cute. Must have been a family man.

I pat the man's shoulder as I pulled out my holopad and opened a message that I'd received from Sombra.

"Reaper, have you completed your objective?"

I cleared my throat before speaking into the holopad, "Yeah, the target's dead. Helix is gonna have to make do without their lieutenant. What's with the name?"

"Reaper? I heard about your freak out, and I thought it was time that you were given an alias."

My brow twitched. Of course she heard, she hears everything.

"Besides, it's better if we eliminate any traces of your name. As far as the world knows, Gabriel Reyes is dead. It wouldn't do well for them to find out otherwise."

I nodded, "Fine. We'll do that then."

For someone who knows so much, it's laughable how little she knows.

I pushed open a window and admired the view. I was standing on the edge of the highest floor of a skyscraper that overlooked an entire city. I took a deep breath before leaping over the edge.

My mind instinctively referred to my training as clouds of darkness began to surround my body, my physicality quickly dissipating into a smoke-like form. My vision enhanced as my body became weightless as I'd essentially become a shadow.

With danger out of the way, I focused my attention on landing some place out of sight. Immediately, I noticed a dark alleyway with nothing but trash. I angled my body to fall in that direction, straightening my back to accelerate myself.

As I grew closer and closer, I flipped myself into landing position. And just as I made impact with the ground, I released my wraith form, the force knocking everything around me back. As the shadows faded, I groaned and straightened my posture.

Then, I heard something metal drop behind me. I immediately pulled out a shotgun and aimed it in the direction of the noise.

An old homeless man stood, shaking with terror, his eyes wide, and hands up in surrender. He had dropped a can of money and it's content had spilled out across the floor.

I sighed and let my arm fall to my side. The man fell back and scrambled away, shouting "Demon! It's a demon!"

Nobody's going to believe him. But I should still get out of here before someone gives him the benefit of the doubt.

I pulled out my holopad again and said, "Sombra, I'm gonna need a pickup."

"Already have one standing by."

I nodded as a Talon aircraft appeared from the corner of my eye. I made my mark on the plane and closed my eyes, letting out a breath.

When I'd opened them again, I was standing inside the boy of the aircraft. Looking down, I saw a circle of shadows dissipate where I'd once been. It took a while for me to perfect this technique, and even then, I could still work on it.

I'd finished giving my report to Sombra and made my way over to the training room. After entering my pin into the number pad, the door opened and I expected to see Widowmaker working on her shot. But she wasn't there.

Oh yeah. She's off on a mission in Giza.

"Sombra, what's the status on Widowmaker?" I called out as I approached one of the several computer screens.

"Agent Widowmaker has recently arrived from her mission in Egypt. She is making a path in the training room's direction. Her heart rate appears to be unnaturally high, or I suppose I should say unnaturally normal."

Her heart rate? I thought as I began to pull off my trenchcoat, leaving my mask on. I took off all of the heavy parts of the outfit, leaving just the skintight armor, my pants, and my shoes remaining. I walked over to the nearest chair and let myself fall on top of it. That's definitely not something you hear a lot of when you're talking about Widowmaker.

As I sat, waiting for Widowmaker to eventually arrive, I stretched out. I groaned as I looked back on my assassination. It definitely wasn't clean, but I got the job done and that's all that really matters.

Damn, did he put up a good fight though. Guess I should've expected it from a member of Helix.

I went into the mission thinking that it would be a simple operation, so I came with minimal resources and left the other Talon agents behind. As I snuck into the skyscraper in wraith form, I found my way to where the lieutenant had locked himself away.

I'd entered the room through the vents and hid myself in the corner. The man was staring out of the window, so I thought I'd make it easy for myself and just push him over the edge. But the moment I dropped my wraith form, he noticed my presence and ran to his desk. I knew I couldn't risk the sound that a gunshot would make, so I swiftly grabbed his wrist and threw a punch aimed at his jaw.

The force knocked him back into the wall, but he caught himself and began to fight back. We thrashed around the room, knocking over several things in the process, leaving the room as a mess. Eventually, I got the upper hand and managed to knock him out. After that, I just finished the job by-

My thoughts were cut off as the doors slid open. Widowmaker walked in, with her visor in her hands. It looked like the entire face side of it was blown off. She made her way to table and forcefully set the visor down.

I stood up and walked over to her, stopping behind her. "Everything alright?"

She turned around and I flinched. She was smiling. She never smiles. She responded, "Yes, everything is perfect."

"Ah…" I said awkwardly. "So, the mission went well?" Her smile remained plastered to her face as she turned back around. "Yes, I even took out a pest in the process."

A pest? "Is that what happened to your visor?"

She nodded, "Yes, but eliminating a potential rival is worth losing a mere object."

The room went silent. I've never seen Widowmaker without her visor. With her smile, she actually looks… human. I froze as the thought passed through my mind. I coughed, "Right. So, who was this pest?"

"Ana Amari."

Ana? "You… killed Ana?"

Her smile noticeably faltered, "I did. Is there a problem?"

I forced a smile, "No, of course not. I just…" I paused. "I'm just impressed is all." There's no way a soldier like Ana would be taken out by Widowmaker.

She turned so her back was facing me. "Now, the world will know who the best sniper is."

I scoffed, "I never took you for the prideful type."

She chuckled in response, "Please." She faced me, leaning back against the table. "My pride is the reason why I never miss a shot."

"I'm learning more and more about you every day." I said, sporting a smile of my own.

She raised a brow, "You should be careful. It might be dangerous not be the best idea to get to know someone called Widowmaker."

"I'm a veteran soldier who's working for Talon. Life doesn't get more dangerous than that." I joked.

She let out a laugh, "Perhaps you are right. It certainly isn't one of the more simple jobs."

She laughed? This must be a trick or something. "So, you killed one of the greats in Overwatch. Congratulations."

She seemed to sober up, "I could have killed more if she wasn't in the way."

"What do you mean?" I asked I started to go back to my chair.

"Amari was there with an Overwatch team." I froze.

I growled "Of course, they were there. As long as Overwatch is alive, they'll be following our every move."

She smirked, "I doubt you will have to worry about that for much longer."

I looked at her quizzingly, "What do you mean?"

She seemed surprised as she hesitated before saying, "You hadn't heard about Overwatch?"

I shook my head, gesturing for her to continue.

"When you stood up against Jack Morrison, the battle caused the Overwatch Headquarters to collapse. Everyone seemed to make it out unharmed. Well, except for you and Morrison."

"What happened to Morrison?"

"The public has determined that Jack Morrison died alongside you when the building fell apart."

Jack Morrison's dead? I smiled internally. Good. I'm glad I took that son of a bitch down with me.

She continued, "And while the headquarters has fallen, Overwatch is still functioning. However, they seem to be losing more and more support as the world has begun to lose faith in their exploits."

"So what does this mean?"

"It means that the United Nations are considering passing an act to illegalize Overwatch activity, and with a helpful push from some outside benefactors, Overwatch will soon be shut down."

I scowled as I walked over to my holster and pull out a shotgun. "That just makes things harder for me."

She leaned her head to the side, "How so?"

I laughed bitterly, "I want to take Overwatch down personally, and if they're all scattered about, I'll have to chase them down."

She seemed to stare at me, "I see." She was silent for a minute before taking a breath, "Then I will assist in your mission."

I furrowed my brows, "Assist? Why?"

She shrugged emotionlessly, "It wouldn't do well for a Talon operative to be seen attempting to assassinate Overwatch agents. It'll be up to me to make sure your pursuit remains hidden."

I smiled under my mask, "Alright, I can work with that. As long as you don't get in my way, I think I could tolerate your company."

With that, she picked up her rifle and went to practice her shot. As she walked away, I realized just how different she looked without that visor on her head. Her clean light blue skin and her dark purple, tied into long ponytail, and her outfit that seemed to cling tightly to her body, defining every feature about her.

I guess it won't be too bad having her there to watch my back. It'd definitely make my job a whole lot easier.

Are you seriously going to trust her? You've seen what she does. She lures you into trusting her, and then she stabs you in the back. Have you already forgotten Gerard?

Oh shut up, you've had your time to talk. Besides, Gerard was an idiot who couldn't tell when his wife was lying to him. If she tries that on me, I'll know. So, why don't you let me handle this, while you sit back and watch how a real soldier does things.

…

It's about damn time.