7 months later...
Lena's POV
"Lena, report to my office for a mission debriefing." I awoke to hear Jack's voice over the intercom. I rubbed my eyes, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room. The room had always seemed dark since Brayden's death. I once again had to push my feelings back into myself and push through every bit of what my life had now become. I had sort of lost my love of missions, I wasn't depressed, I still had a good attitude and humor, but I always felt chills when called to do a mission. I've always shook it off as just some sort of instinct and continued with the mission.
I stood up from my bed and put on some clothes, and walked out the door. The only noise in the base was the echo of my footsteps and the slight hum of my choronal accelerator. The base had always been quiet, almost as if it was mourning just as we did. We had said we had completely moved on but no one dared say his name, as if saying would bring a curse upon us. Jack had especially never talked of him, hoping that if he never brought it up he would never have to come face to face with the guilt he had deep inside of himself. We always referred to him as "The Boy" making him seem more ominous than he actually was, he wasn't a cold hearted kid like his new name would make him sound like, he was just a normal kid that took on a lot of responsibility when joining us. That and many scars, before being killed in that explosion.
I knocked on his door, and heard him call me in. I was greeted by a tired Jack and Winston, who barely smiled at me. I smiled faintly back and took a seat. "Well luvs, what's the big mission ya want me to do?" I said with my usual peppy spirit, masking the actual pain in my heart.
Jack slid the folder across the table, which was labeled top secret. He allowed me to flip through it as usual. It showed multiple amateur photos of a hooded figure with a skull mask fighting supposed criminals. There were news articles in the folder talking of the "Hooded Vigilante" as the news paper put it. It had many witnesses claiming he was a hero, but the police warned the public to stay away from him as he was dangerous and had killed many people.
"Well, what's the big idea? Another vigilante in the streets of London? Not uncommon to be honest." I said, flipping through the pages of the folder, with even more witnesses talking about the "justice" that he doled out against criminals, by either killing them or leaving them in the hospital for the rest of their lives. Clearly not the kindest. Jack only slid another folder my way and didn't even speak. I was about to open it before Winston placed his hand on it and warned me. "The pictures are quite graphic, I'm just warning you." I nodded and prepared myself. I opened slowly and found horrible things. And man with his head bashed in completely by a baseball bat, another man missing all of his limbs. One man was even impaled on a rusty pipe, left alive to feel every moment. I flipped a page to find the x rays of the people who survived the encounter with the vigilante. One victim had a broken jaw, his skull completely fractured in two places, leading to severe brain damage. Another man had his arm completely turned the other way around, his knee shattered and his sternum broken. I closed the folder, not wanting to see any more of the photos.
"Now you see why we need to stop him. I don't care if the people think he is a hero, he is doing more harm than good. We need to bring him to justice. I'm trusting you can get it done." I stood up and saluted him before walking out of the office to go get ready.
A few hours later...
The flight back to my childhood home was rather short, I went at a very fast speed, I wanted to get back to London quickly, it was my favorite place in the world. I needed to get this vigilante off the streets before he does anymore damage. The hard part was, he could be anywhere in London, and that's a hard thing to keep track of. I figured I would stick to the rooftops to keep a birds eye view, and also not to get seen by citizens. Overwatch was still illegal, and I had no plans on going to jail. I took my seat on the rooftops and scanned the city, my feet dangling down off the roof, flowing in the wind. Luckily time was on my side, so I blinked a little forward into the future every few minutes, I wasn't the most patient person in the world.
I had sat for minutes, but in real time I actually sat for 1 day. I hadn't seen anything except the people of London passing by doing their own things. I watched as two people walked in a dark alley, presumably a couple, a man and a woman. They talked while hand in hand but some suspicious people walked behind them, loose clothes and baseball bats and knives. They couple noticed them, and their weapons. They were outnumbered 7 to 2. The criminals called for their money but the couple refused. One of the me chuckled and stepped towards them. I was about to jump down when the vigilante I was looking for landed in front of them. The criminals immediately jumped back, and the vigilante told the couple to get out of there, which they obviously did. I watched closely, waiting for my chance to strike.
"I'm gonna give you one chance to walk away. If not, better say goodbye to your momma." The vigilante said, his voice deep and menacing. "Fine, I'll count. One. Two. Three..." the criminals looked at each other and nodded, before all rushing the man. He quickly dodged one swing of a baseball bat and elbowed him in the nose, breaking it instantly. Another swiped with a knife before it was kicked out of his hand and was slammed into a brick wall. The vigilante took two jabs to the face and fell back dazed into a wall of the narrow alleyway. He then pulled the pipe right off of the wall and swung wildly, knocking out two of them. "5 left. Come on, hit me." He taunted, preparing himself. They all went at him again and he flipped over all of them, grabbing a knife out of one of their hands and swiping it across one of the men's neck, killing him. They looked in fear as one of their partners drowned in their own blood. He then punched one in the neck, kicked the other one in the jaw, dislocating it, and flung him by the arm into a dumpster. One snuck up on him and stabbed him in the side. The man groaned, but not stopping in the massacre of these men. He was grabbed and held up by one of them, taking a few jabs to the stomach, before drop kicking him in the chest and breaking free of the hold. He then roundhouse kicked the man behind him, sending him flying. He picked the one on the ground up and slammed him into the wall, knocking him out. He turned to the last one, who looked at him in complete terror. The vigilante sprinted at the man, grabbing him by the throat and holding him as he kicked and clawed, trying to escape the hold, but with one snap, he stopped struggling and fell to the ground lifeless.
The vigilante turned around and started to walk away, before stopping in his footsteps and turned to my direction, looking me right in the eyes. I felt a chill run down my spine. "How's the view up there?" He asked. I dropped down a few yards from him, staring at him, he didn't flinch one bit.
"Stop right there, you're going to jail for what you've done, hero." I said the last word mockingly.
"Oh the famous Tracer, those words are rich coming from you. Didn't Overwatch get shut down? How's that going? Shouldn't you still be mourning over the loss of an agent. So sorry for your loss." He chuckled. I kept my mouth shut, only growing angrier. "Really, no words? Would expect more from the poster girl for Overwatch. I would at least expect a 'Cheers luv!' from you."
"Gosh, you're shorter than I imagined, I feel like you're a kid taking dress up a little too seriously, must I call ya mum?" I mocked him. "I mean seriously, must be very ashamed of your style, I mean really, a skull painted on your mask? Oooh, scary."
"Funny. I must've really overestimated your skills at taunting people. I also feel you underestimate me. Now come, show me what the legendary hero Tracer can do. Or will you just be yet another disappointing fight." He motioned for me to come to him. I blinked over to him swinging, but before I could hit him I felt something string me up by my feet. He then picked up the pipe behind him and swung.
A few hours later...
I heard humming and him sitting in front of me, closely analyzing me. "Wakey wakey sleepy head. You really should've looked around before you blinked towards me. I mean seriously, didn't they teach you to expect the unexpected. That's like rule number one. So predictable. Why must the pretty ones be so dumb? Gosh, you are not the brightest."
I tried to recall back to before I was captured but couldn't. I looked down at my choronal accelerator and noticed it was a dim light and sparks were flying out of it. He noticed my worried look and tilted my head up to look at him.
"Oh, don't worry, you won't be disappearing from our time, I've just made sure you can't recall back to before I captured you. You understand don't you? I don't want you leaving yet."
My eyes widened, how did he know that I would disappear? How did he destroy my powers? Who is he?! The thoughts ran rampant in my head, all of my questions unable to be answered. He started to laugh loudly, holding his stomach as if it would burst. "Hahaha! You're face, you.. you... you really thought no one knew your secrets. You thought everyone would forget who you are, Lena?"
I gasped. He knew who I was?! How?! His tone turned very serious quickly, moving closer to me, inches away from my face.
"But I never forget! I will never forget what Overwatch did to me! But I've done more by myself than Overwatch ever dreamed. Did they tell you about how the crime rate in Britain dropped to its lowest in over 3 decades! You know who that is? ME! You know how criminals think twice before they do something. That's ME! Do you know who strikes fear not only into the hearts of criminals in London but all over the world?! ME! And the truth is... I'm just better than you."
The world around us went silent except for the rain now pouring down into the alleyway. He stared into my eyes with such fury, such anger, it truly left me scared. What had I done to this man?
"Who are you?" I barely muttered. He chuckled at my response. He turned the other way. Slipping off his hood, and taking his mask off, I saw brown hair sprout up from where the mask covered. "You really have no idea? Do you Lena?" He turned to me.
It was Brayden! But I thought you were dead! How did you live?! Why didn't you come back to me?! I'm so sorry! His face was half of his left cheek was burned, along with the left side of his neck. His lips were horribly burned on the left side and had a scar running down his nose to his cheek. His one eye burned with rage, all directed at me. I was so shocked I had nothing to say.
"What? No words? I'm hurt." He said coldly.
"Y..you..you're dead, I saw you die." I could barely speak, unable to wrap my head around all of this, all of my feelings.
"Oh, but I'm very alive, in fact, I felt every bit of the explosion. I felt every shard piercing my back, I felt the flames eat at my flesh. But that wasn't what hurt the most. You didn't even look for me! You left me to die in those flames! I trusted you! But I learned the truth that day. It's a cruel cruel world. Trust no one, not even those you call family. And you know what? You all taught me that whatever I set my mind to, I could accomplish. And you know what I want now? I want you dead! All of you!"
I felt tears in my eyes come out, I couldn't stop them. My best friend! Brayden! This is what he became! I felt so guilty, I could've saved him. All the guilt I kept inside started to force its way out.
"I'm so sorry. W..we tried to save you. We looked for you!"
"Don't you dare lie to me! You left me! I loved you! But you made it clear, that you don't love me." He snarled, the flames in his hands rising.
"Please... come back with me. You don't know how much we missed you. We could be together again, a family. We still love you!"
"What?! And pretend like nothing happened! That we are all one big happy family and nothing could go wrong. Have a beautiful Sunday dinner together and grow old together! You know, maybe that could've happened, maybe, if you had actually loved me, this wouldn't of happened. Maybe, I wouldn't look like this, the monster you made me!" He started to cry, and turned away. He sobbed slightly, trying to hold it in. He eventually stopped and wiped his tears. "Well..." he turned back to me, "what's done is done. Can't go back changing the past now can you? Oh wait! You could've!" He joked.
"What now, are you gonna kill me?" I asked, completely defeated.
"No. I need you alive. Well, at least for now. First I'll make you suffer, watch every one around you die a slow painful death, knowing it was your fault. Then I'll leave you alive for a few years, let you stew on your life decisions and how it led you to where you are. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll let you taste the sweet release of death. How's that sound sport? But right now, we're leaving." He started to unshackle me, and carry me away.
"Where are we going?" I asked, holding in my tears.
"Home."
