Chapter 11 – Waiting for the End.
Tracer woke in the morning and the world seemed brighter. The sun pierced through the cracks in the curtains and filled the room like a liquid. In her veins, the potent serum coursed through her like raw alcohol, at once cleansing and corroding her body. Lena's naked form was wrapped delicately in a white silk sheet, her now long hair obstructed her vision as she yawned unceremoniously and grinned at the ceiling.
"Amelie, that was amazing" she said, interlacing her fingers with Widowmaker's long blue hair. Widowmaker didn't stir, save for a smile which spread lazily across her face. It had been a week since Tracer started sleeping with her and she had not felt more herself since Emily was killed. She turned over and swung her bare legs over the side of the bed and hopped out. For women purged of emotion, the pair of them were remarkably happy. Tracer supposed that perhaps this was a sign of her growing sociopathy however, given her current state, she couldn't care less about it. As if to accentuate this, she took a dose of her new medication and sighed heavily as relief flooded her body.
Lena still felt numb as she pulled her orange leggings on and as she slipped her feet in to her running shoes. She pulled on a tank top and left the room, heading towards the briefing rooms. She punched in her security code at the door and stepped inside as the door slid aside, bleeting its approval.
Sombra looked up from her tablet and smiled. "Ah Juliet arrives!" she smirked "or maybe you're the Romeo!"
This made Hanzo laugh. "Now that would be something" he chimed.
Lena blushed as she poured a mug of coffee from the pot, "that's not really how it works, love" she giggled.
Hanzo's brow furrowed slightly however, and Lena felt him watching her as she bit into a slice of toast. Sombra spoke after a few moments of silence. "Big news coming in from the top, I heard" she gloated. she'd obviously gained access to it without Reapers permission.
"That would explain the hurry" Hanzo said as two squads of men ran past the door and bolted down the hallway towards the hangar.
"You think we'll be involved?" Tracer asked with a mouthful.
"When aren't we?" Sombra said with a smile.
Lena nodded in agreement as Hanzo stared at her cautiously. "You sure you can handle it Lena?" he asked, a paternal tone in his voice.
Lena shrugged. "I can't wait, I've been itching for a fight for ages." She said as Widowmaker walked into the room. "Anyways, I've got to meet with Hans, he's showing me my new accelerator!" She said before bolting from the room towards the lab.
Hans' lab was pandemonium. Scientists dashed about, clucking to each other and whirring about as Hans directed them in a symphony of panic and distress. The Vishkar scientists were visibly frustrated with Hans as he ordered them around.
"Remember people, I said practicality was key!" he belched. "And it's got to be fashionable, for the love of god, with the type of power we're giving her we can't afford to upset her!" he said laughing to himself as he downed the last of his coffee.
Tracer giggled and shouted out to him. "Hans! I better be impressed with your progress" she said, feigning disgust.
"You will be ma'am" he smiled, bowing lightly in jest, "we've managed to create a design that shows a lot of promise."
"Do explain love" Tracer said as she approached the holographic schematics bench.
"Okay, so your current accelerator essentially holds you in place like an anchor. So instead of your body moving in and out of time it traps you in the present and synchronises your cells."
"Yeah that's what Winston told me." Tracer said, giving her old friend no thought.
"Right, so, our new design…" Hans began as he pulled up the new accelerator onto the hologram. "is this!" he beamed. On the projector were six items: Four bracelets, a necklace and a small flat device, which seemed to be a power source of some sort.
"I like it" Tracer said, looking them over curiously. "So what's different?" she asked, looking at Hans in anticipation.
"Well, this isn't so much an upgrade as it is a whole new device." He said. "So where as your current accelerator holds you in our time, this device will separate it by creating a sort of biotic field around you."
"In English, love, I didn't get around to doing a degree in chronal physics."
"That's not a thing, Tracer" Hans chuckled.
"Exactly!" she giggled back "so explain"
"Well, it means that you will operate independent of our time." He said, letting the revelation sink in.
"So, I could literally time travel?" Tracer spoke softly.
"Well yes, but travelling significant distances would be impossible because of the amount of energy it requires." Hans sighed and rubbed his nose. "Of course, this opens up a billion questions about the nature of reality itself."
"woah"
"yeah, no shit, right?" Hans smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. "some good news is that we are planning on powering it using your own condition, it is completely self-reliant." He added.
"It is?" Lena asked, her eyes lighting up "how?"
"uh well basically, splitting a pocket of reality from reality creates a lot of energy." He chuckled. "If we powered it any other way you'd explode so we harnessed that."
"Jesus…"
"Don't worry, we're making it as safe as possible." He reassured her by handing her a prototype of the small flat box.
"so, this is the main bit?" she asked.
"Yep" Hans said, then he smiled. "All it does is amplify your ability to control your own time, which means you don't have to wear it all the time"
Tracer smiled, had it not been for the medicine she may have cried. "Are you for real?" she asked, looking up at him.
"one hundred percent" he replied, wiping his hair from his face.
"awesome" she whispered, feeling a hint of true emotion burst through her. "I better go practice, then, shouldn't I?" she said, spinning on her heels. "Thank you so much, Hans!" she said, kissing him on the cheek. Hans turned to thank her but she was already halfway out the room by the time he thought to do so.
Tracer arrived at the training centre and got to work on her training routine. She began with a basic simulation, a four versus one situation. Lena smirked as a turreted bastion unit appeared above her, pinning her behind cover as two soldier units flanked her. Lena dashed forward, attempting to prevent them from trapping her but was forced back as an OR-15 unit deployed a shield and covered the bastions weak spot. Tracer blinked twice and emptied a clip into one of the soldier units, disabling him almost instantly. She sprinted towards the second but didn't manage to kill it off and rolled for cover to reload. The bastion unit moved again, trying to trap her in a crossfire between itself and the OR-15. Tracer was about to finish off the soldier droid but was pulled back by the OR-15's graviton charge. In attempt to finish her off, the OR-15 deployed its supercharger but Tracer recalled behind the soldier, allowing Bastion to tear it to pieces with its turret. As it reloaded, Tracer saw her opportunity and blinked at the OR-15. She unleashed a flurry of Bullets at its head and giggled as it collapsed to the floor. With this done, she dodged the Gatling gun and lobbed a pulse bomb at the final omnic, killing it instantly.
Tracer sighed in relief but she noticed a shadow shift in the corner of her eye. Reacting instantly, she recalled as a training arrow flew through the space where her head at been. "Not cool, Hanzo" Lena remarked, drawing her pistols.
"Good reactions, let's see just how good they are" he said, ignoring her and nocking another arrow.
"Eat my dust!" she replied, launching into a sprint.
Hanzo forced off several arrows in quick succession and Tracer slid to evade them. Hanzo knew he would lose at close range and so fired his scatter arrows at Lena, making her evade again as he clambered onto higher ground.
"Why do you take the serum, Tracer, it's dangerous" he shouted, letting loose another flurry of arrows.
Tracer ignored him, and pressed her attack. She used a pulse bomb to force him of his perch and tried to then fight him hand to hand. The pair of them fought harder than they needed to and Tracer began to feel contempt for the self-righteous as they slowly stopped training and began to actually hurt each other. Tracer crossed the line first, drawing McCree's pistol and laughing as Hanzo scrambled away for his real arrows.
"What is wrong with you?!" he shouted as Lena giggled, shooting at his feet.
Grabbing his arrows, Hanzo began to shout. "Let the dragon -" however a shot cracked his bow. Amelie smirked as Hanzo's ultimate petered out. She rappelled elegantly from the gantry where Reaper and Tony also stood, watching the proceedings and muttering quietly to each other.
Tracer breathed heavily and realised she'd gone too far but as Amelie came to her side and folded her arms in opposition to Hanzo she felt vindicated.
"Let her do what she wants" she said, staring him down.
"Is she doing what she wants or what you want?" Hanzo said through gritted teeth. "we all ended up here because we betrayed the other side but the Tracer I know and fought against would never sink this low." He seethed, his breathing ragged from a deep-seated rage, as if he were watching a tragedy play out before him.
"It's just easier, Hanzo" Lena spoke, putting an arm around Amelie's waist.
"Is it?" he spat. "The great Lena Oxton, you would sacrifice your honour and identity because it's easy? You'd let her make you a killer because it's easy? You're weak."
Tracer looked away but clutched Amelie tighter, the confusion growing within her. She couldn't keep track of right and wrong anymore.
Amelie simply laughed at him and pulled her away, leaving Hanzo to stare up at the gantry in frustration as they returned to the common room in the barracks.
When they reached it however, a woman was sat on the couch, she rose elegantly and held out a hand to greet them. "I am Symmetra, I'll be working here from now on." Tracer nodded and Widowmaker waved her hand dismissively.
"Nice to meet you, love" she smiled as Amelie pulled a small box from a drawer that contained their dosage for the day. "Where you from?"
"I'm a high-level architect for the Vishkar corporation-"
"no, love, I mean your home" Tracer giggled as she took her dose.
"India, originally" she said cautiously. "May I ask what that's for?" she said, referring to the strange liquid encased within the syringe.
Amelie interrupted quickly "To maintain order" she said haughtily "of both the mind and body" she winked at Lena who blushed. As Symmetra nodded her approval, if that is necessary to maintain order then you must be commended.
Tracer opened her mouth to speak but was silenced as Reaper dragged Sombra into the room by her ear. "Let go of me pendejo!" she said through gritted teeth. Reaper ignored her and threw her to the floor as Hanzo, Tony, and Hans followed them into the room.
"What's going on?" Lena asked, looking down at Sombra, who panted heavily upon the floor.
"Her." She spat.
Lena looked at Symmetra, who rolled her eyes.
"What about her?"
"Vishkar destroyed my home, Reyes!" Sombra seethed as she rose to her feet. "When you took me in you promised me you'd protect me from them!"
Reaper ignored her and stood beside Tony as Symmetra snickered. "We don't care about you, Sombra" she gloated. "You and Lucio may have set us back but your little revolution failed."
"They are here for the development of Lena's new Chronal Field Modulator and will provide additional tactical support on our next mission" Tony said, loudly asserting his position as boss and shutting the dissent down with ease. "Hans, patch him through" he said sternly.
"ya, sir" Hans replied, hurriedly tapping his tablet and bringing the communicator online.
The familiar face of Takeshi appeared before them and Lena smiled warmly. "Takeshi!" she gleamed.
"Hello Tracer!" he replied in earnest. "I'll get right to the point because timing is essential." He said, displaying an ardent sense of professionalism.
"We've discovered a surviving prototype of progenitor." He said as Tracer felt her knee's go weak. "It's ended up in the hands of the shambali, in Nepal."
"Nepal?" Reaper said, "Last time I heard, Genji had it." He added, looking at Hanzo.
"He still does, whatever progenitor is, it's clear that he didn't trust Morrison with it" Takeshi replied.
"He defected?" asked Hanzo.
"Looks that way, yes" Tekashi said, appearing uncomfortable as Hanzo turned about, scratching his chin in thought.
"Well what are we going to do?" Lena asked, looking at Tony.
"Good question," he began "Thank you for the intel, Tekashi, you may go." He said and Tekashi disappeared from view. "The operation is simple, we wait until Overwatch launch their attack and we join the fray. There's a small village, which we will use as a base of operations, that's our first objective and it's where Hanzo and Symmtra will remain to coordinate the troops"
"Troops?" Sombra asked, raising an eyebrow "sounds like an invasion"
"It is" said Reaper with a deep sigh.
"Overwatch are as desperate as we are, they're throwing everything they have left into this." Tony said grimly. "The second phase is for Widowmaker, Reaper, and Sombra to take and hold the Sanctuary"
"What about me?" Tracer asked, hoping desperately to be involved.
"You will first help take the village, then you will help take the shrine" he said, "you will also go inside the sanctum to secure the prototype until help can arrive."
After that things moved quickly, the base was awash with activity as all the remaining members of Talon geared up to leave for Nepal. Tracer spent much of that time alone, thinking about the coming fight. For a moment, she thought about her old friends, she knew they'd be there and she knew that she could not afford to hesitate. With that in mind she stuffed a few extra doses of medication into her pockets knowing she'd need them later. Tracer then became acutely aware of a pair of cold hands on her hips and breathe on her neck and she sighed deeply as Amelie clutched her tightly, turning her around to face her.
They stared at each other for a while, just taking each other in. Widowmaker smiled that devilish grin and kissed Lena's forehead before wiping her bangs from the side of her face. "I adore your hair like this, cherie" she said, playing with it between her fingers.
"I guess I got tired of the boyish look" she smiled back.
Amelie grabbed her by the neck and bit her lip before bringing them to Tracer's. "Good luck" she said, releasing her slowly and walking away towards the VTOL. Lena watched her all the way, seeing her ass swing like a golden pendulum as she felt her lip and wiped her lover's saliva from her mouth.
Hanzo slipped from the shadows behind her and spoke softly, placing a hand delicately on her shoulder. "Lena…" he said, making her jump.
"Oh bloody hell Hanzo, you coulda given me a warnin' or something!" Tracer said cheerily.
"Forgive me" he said "for that, and for earlier" he added sheepishly.
"Look, it's okay, I kinda lost it too" Tracer admitted, tying her hair back into a tight ponytail.
"I just know what it feels like to betray someone, Lena" he spoke confidently and with the reverence of a warrior. "The widowmaker does too, even if she doesn't admit it" he said.
"You mean she know's?" Lena asked in astonishment, her head snapping towards the VTOL where Amelie stood, talking with Sombra and Reaper. "she stays even though she knows what they made her do?"
"Yeah" he said shaking his head. "she embraced what they made her, she was so convincing that Reaper even tried taking her off her medication"
"and she kept going?"
"of course, she did, that's just who Amelie is"
"or was…" tracer noted.
"perhaps, but she found a way to deal with it" Hanzo said softly.
"Did it work?" Lena asked, concerned for her own medication.
"For her perhaps," he sighed, "certainly not for me anyways." Tracer raised a brow at that, hoping he would expand further but he couldn't, something painful seemed to stop him. "All I'm saying, is that it's easier to live with your actions than it is to change who you are."
Lena said nothing, swallowing hard as she heard some home truths. "I mean, what you two feel for each other, is it as special as your feelings for Emily?" he said, looking Tracer in the eye.
Tracer said nothing. She did nothing. Soon she realised, she'd become nothing as well. Hanzo walked away and she finished packing her gear. In her black Talon combat gear, only her soon to be outdated accelerator remained of who she used to be.