Chapter 19

Saving the Day

Before dawn was too early for McCree. He yawned through the entire preparation for the mission, only glad for the cup of coffee which awaited him in the locker room, courtesy of Mercy. He opened his locker, checked how much ammo he was carrying with him, then looked at his trusty gun. It was doing fine. He looked at the black box in his locker, opened it, and frowned. Well, what the heck happened to his other gun? He closed the box, then his locker knocked back his coffee, and walked into the Orca.

"Say, anyone seen my other gun?" he asked.

Zarya, who was doing the last of her check-ups on her weapon, paused and looked at him as if he was a madman.

"McCree, I have never seen you using another gun."

"It's not that. I keep a replacement gun in my locker, in case mine isn't up to speed. But it ain't here. Someone seen it?"

"No, sorry," said Mei.

"Perhaps you have forgotten that the one you are caring is your replacement gun." declared Genji.

McCree scratched his chin, trying to wrap his brain around what Genji had just said before he shrugged.

"Could be."

He sat down in one of the seats, strapped on the harness and waited for everyone to be ready to take off. Although the more he thought about it, he had seen his second gun recently, in its box in his locker. He decided he would look more into it once they got back from the mission.

Giza was a nightmare. Talon agents were squirming all around the Helix base and the streets close to it. It was impossible to pass, and the obstacles they had set to protect themselves weren't helping either. In the sky, the raptora team led by Pharah was unloading all the rockets the had left on their enemies. Grenades were flying everywhere, whether physical or made out of pure energy. Gunfires became indistinguishable, and it was impossible to determine from which side they came. Dust was flying everywhere, and the sun made it impossible to look at the ground, as it glowed with a golden halo. An ice wall suddenly appeared in the middle of the street, preventing anyone from passing through it. The heat made it melt rather quickly, and as it lost its solidity a few bullets managed to pass through. The door to the base had been blown open and twenty or so mercenaries walked around the narrow hallways, making the access to the main room twice as hard. Inside said main room stood Reaper. He was waiting for answers from the rest of the group, and indications from Widowmaker on the Overwatch situation.

"I see five of them, they are still far from the base."

"Good. And the Helix security team?"

"There are only four..."

A loud gunshot echoed in the ear-piece.

"Three of them."

"Good. Keep at it, it's almost over."

His finger left the button on the ear-piece.

"Missed me?"

He barely had the time to turn around. A gunshot echoed around the room, only one bullet being shot right through his temple. He fell to the ground and dissolved into black smoke which seemed to be coming apart quickly. Sombra took in a deep breath, and let it out. This was her first breath, freed of all revenge.

"Too bad it couldn't be in front of everyone. No one is going to believe me now! Oh well, time to go..."

She paused as she noticed the device on the table beside her.

"Puta vida..."

She quickly took a closer look at it and plugged in her ear-piece.

"Hola amigos, there's a bomb inside."

There was a pause as if everyone thought they had dreamed what they had just heard. Then McCree asked:

"Sombra, is that you?"

"Yes, I'm inside. Reaper's dead, but he was watching over a bomb. Timer 2:30. It's minute, not hours, so we better move it before it blows up the entire building."

It seemed to click in everyone's mind that Talon's plan was to destroy the base, not loot it.

"Can you bring the bomb outside?" asked Pharah.

"Not without dying twenty times. There's a bunch of mercenaries in the corridor leading to the room I'm in."

"I'll take care of it." declared Zarya.

Sombra crossed her arms and waited for the way to be cleared. She looked again at the weapon in her hand, a revolver left with only five bullets. Not that she would be needing them. All she needed now was to not lose it, or McCree would have her head for it. She looked back at the bomb and tried to connect to it, but beside its normal components, there was nothing electrical to hack. They must have known she could be there. She found that she could hack the timer, which would have been useless beside giving them the wrong time.

She looked back at the ground where Reaper had dissolved. His smoky-self had escaped through the ventilation shaft. She sighed. All of this for that? Twenty years of hacking, and planning, and searching. A shoulder full of bullets. Almost losing her girlfriend twice. All of this for five seconds of action? She decided here and there that it was over. She would never avenge anyone. Except for Hana, but she really hoped she would never have to go to that length.

As she looked closer, she found an ear-piece on the ground, and with a devilish smile, she picked it up and placed it in her ear.

"Reaper? Reaper? What is going on? Answer me, putain!"

"Sorry, but there's been a little change in your plan."

"Sombra..."

"I think it's time to lower the curtains. Show's over."

She crushed the earpiece under her shoe and placed the Overwatch one back in her ear.

"Widowmaker on the roof, probably behind you."

"I see her. I will take care of it," answered Genji.

"Run, little spider, run." Sombra declared to herself.

There was a loud bang on the door, and it suddenly blew open, revealing Zarya with her weapon in hand, looking truly exhausted by the rush it had been to get to her. Sombra looked at the minuter. 1:42.

"Well, took you long enough!"

She picked up the bomb and ignored the glare the Russian woman gave her. They both ran back outside, where they found the team in the courtyard, behind one of Mei's wall. One minute and thirty seconds were left.

"We have to get it as far away from the city as possible." declared Mercy.

Pharah landed beside them.

"I'll take of it. I'll fly to the desert and throw it there."

She was about to take it from Sombra's hand, but Mercy's came to rest on her shoulder.

"Don't. You won't have enough time to get away from the blast radius."

"We can't leave it there!"

Sombra cut short their quarrel by clearing her throat.

"I have a translocator back in the plane. If I can fly with Pharah, I'll teleport us both out before it's too late."

The whole team looked at each other for what felt like a minute – but thankfully wasn't. Pharah nodded and took the bomb before standing up. Sombra found purchase on the back of Pharah's armor.

"Hold on, it may shake a little."

They suddenly took off, and Sombra felt like her stomach had bumped into her knees, before coming back up in her throat. She tightened her grip on the small handles, and as they flew over the city at full speed, Sombra decided that it was the first and last time she would do such a thing. Hana would kill her when she would hear about it.

The loud gunshot of a sniper rifle glazed past them, and Sombra managed to press a finger on her earpiece.

"Genji! Keep Widowmaker off of us!"

She couldn't keep her finger on it long enough to hear his answer. The outskirt of the city was already in their sight, and Pharah pressed her engines harder.

"Are we there yet?" Sombra yelled from behind her.

Pharah rolled her eyes before answering:

"Almost. This plan of yours better work!"

"Watch and learn!"

They reached the desert, and it became even harder for Sombra to see. She closed her eyes and held on even tighter to the handles. Finally, they slowed down and landed in the hot sand. Sombra barely dared to step down from her perch. She lightly sank into the sand, while Pharah placed the bomb on the ground. 0:22.

"Alright, what now?"

She turned to face Sombra and was surprised when the hacker hugged her.

"Hold on. It may shake a little."

McCree reached the plane with the rest of the team, almost ready to leave. Genji joined them quickly, his energy cells fuming. Widowmaker must have had him running for a while. As they entered the plane, they indeed found Sombra's teleporter and wondered how they hadn't found it earlier. She must have been well hidden during the entire trip because none of them knew of her presence before she spoke in their ear-piece.

There was a purple flash, and Pharah appeared, Sombra still hugging her. While the hacker let go of her teammate and looked completely fine, Pharah instantly felt weak. She stumbled to the side, found a seat, and while Mercy rushed to her side she refrained from vomiting. Mercy looked over to Sombra who simply crossed her arms.

"It's completely normal. Some people are more affected than others. If you knew how long it took me to get used to it."

But before she could comment more on it, there was a loud explosion coming from the other side of the city, which echoed in every street. A cloud of sand appeared over the buildings.

"Not bad, I got to say, it does look pretty nice from over here!" declared Sombra.

The rest of the team still had their eyes on the cloud, evident relief on their faces. Sombra opened her jacket and took out the gun she had used to kill Reaper. She handed it to McCree.

"It's yours. Take it back. It's too heavy for me."

Just as McCree took back his gun with a small smile on his lips, Sombra was violently crashed onto the side of the cargo by Zarya, who quickly placed an arm under her throat to immobilize her.

"You shouldn't be here. You better explain yourself or we are leaving you here."

No matter how much her throat screamed for air, Sombra found the time to smirk.

"Primero, you won't leave me here because Hana is going to kill you if you do, and I wouldn't recommend it. It's painful."

Zarya tightened her grip, and while Sombra chocked McCree finally made a move forward to intervene.

"Secundo, I was there to kill Reaper. It's done, now I am at peace... As much as I can be right now..."

"Zarya, you should stop.."

"Please, Alek, let her go." Mei intervened as well.

Zarya listened to neither of them.

"Tercero, you would all be dead... If I hadn't come with you..."

"She's right," assured Mercy. "We would have never made it to the building this quickly if Sombra hadn't killed Reaper. And we would never have had the time to stop the bomb or place it somewhere safe."

"Come on, now, let her go..." asked McCree as he placed his hands on Zarya's arm, ready to pull her away.

Finally, Zarya let her go, and Sombra slid to the ground of the cargo, coughing and choking on her own spit.

"Let's go back to the watchpoint." Zarya declared as she sat in one of the seats and got ready for take off.

Mei went to sit beside her, and they waited until the rest of Pharah's Helix team joined them to the ship to finally take off. Meanwhile, Sombra took the time to breathe and only got up from her spot when McCree gave her a hand.

A/N:Hi guys! Get ready because tomorrow, exceptionally, I will post the ending. You can thank me, because I'm not making you wait until Monday! Now if you'll excuse me, I am a play away from level 100! I'll see you guys tomorrow!