Chapter 25: A Mercenary and A Familiar Foe

*Reaper's POV*

The black-robed killer stood calmly in the middle of the roof, fully aware of the dangerous sniper-fire that was plaguing his troops. Despite knowing this danger, he was certain that their snipers couldn't place a shot on his misty form from afar. The only time his physical form could be seen clearly was when they were within close distance with him, and he knew how much snipers valued their shots - so why would they waste bullets on a mist that wasn't the intended target?

From afar, he was nothing but a large mist of black - the unusual visual effect applying to scopes as well.

He ordered that his troops secure the upper roof from Overwatch's squad of soldiers and the mysterious time-travelers that had joined forces with them. He despised the fact that he had to make due with these poor Talon rookies. Their will to follow simple orders was questionable, so he was already in regret when he issued the order to not shoot, or most importantly - kill, any of the two runners. Talon wanted them alive, if not both of them, then at least 1 of them alive - for use in their experiments. But if it was up to him, he would've personally preferred to capture Tracer alive and kill off the mercenary that saved her life.

He was a sadist after all. He loved observing the agony of others, and seeing Tracer in agony was something he'd kill for... but then again, what did he not kill for?

Besides, he had unfinished business with her, and he didn't mind spending a few of Talon's lives to see it happen.

Some would even say that the black-robed figure cared more about the mission than his troop's lives, which was partially true. But it's not like he cared deeply about the troops. If he was given resources to use, then he would use it. And the Grunts were nothing but resources to him.

Just the Grunts though.

Luckily for him, his higher-up allowed him the command of a decent collection of Enforcers, and 2 highly-trained Assassin units. He requested Sniper units too, but was rejected.

He growled quietly when a Talon Grunt came hobbling towards him.

"Sir!" He yelled frantically.

"Speak." Reaper commanded.

"We're getting picked apart by their snipers! Casualties left and right whenever we peek our heads above cover!"

"Back to your post." Reaper said.

"Sir-!"

"Back to your post." He repeated, turning away from the Grunt.

The Grunt nodded and ran back towards cover, trying his best not to get shot along the way.

Reaper made his way to the dropship, the weapons of war plaguing the air around him. He reached the dropship's main doors. Inside of the vehicle were troops and specialist units that he commanded to stay on standby.

"Reaper, when can I use this shotgun?!" An Enforcer yelled impatiently, groping and examining his new weapon. The sparks that accompanied the weapon caught the hulk-minded troop's attention.

"Soon. When those two little brats make their way up here." Reaper notified. He turned towards the silent Assassin units, "Assassins," he called out.

The two silent females lifted their heads in notice, staring back at their leader.

"Time for work." He turned and headed back towards the middle of the roof. Looking to his left, he could see another Talon Grunt making his way towards him, but this time, he had different news for his ears.

His speech was stuttered, "Reaper, sir, the-the runners-!"

"Out with it, Grunt." Reaper ordered impatiently.

"They made it past our defences!"

Reaper didn't reply, but only observed - waiting for the pair to come through the doors.

*Scout and Tracer's POV*

The pair continued up towards the stairs that lead to the rooftop, conversation arising from them.

"Scout?" Tracer called out.

"Yeah?"

She stopped on a step, and turned around to face him, making him stop as well.

He gave her a confused brow, "... what's up?" A sly smile came across his face, "You scared or somethin'?"

She nodded, "Yes. That, and..." she trailed off. She frowned, sliding her hand gently across his cheek.

"... I'm worried."

The words came out as a whisper, a whisper that was so quiet that the sound of gunfire could be heard in the distance, despite the walls that they were covered behind.

Scout's smile refused to disappear, a unique trait of his that she would adore until her dying days.

"Hey, don't worry, sugar cheeks," he wiggled her cheek, automatically summoning a smile from her, "what're you so worried 'bout anyways? You know we're gonna kick his weird shadowy ass back into the..."

He chuckled before he could finish his sentence, "heh... we're gonna kick his ass back into the shadows." He laid his fingers upon the hand that she still had on his cheeks, muttering two words that caused her eyes to glint with hope.

"Trust me."

Seeing the confidence that was ever apparent in Scout's eyes was causing her to tear up slightly, only putting her emotions at more risk if he was to get harmed... or worse...

Meet his death.

She closed her eyes and put her head right onto his neck, pulling him into an embrace with her grasping arms.

"I don't want you to die." She muttered sadly, the words creeping across his neck.

He gave her a comforting hug in return.

"I'm not gonna die. Come on, you know me." He reminded her of the day that they had met, the intense situation where he escaped the hands of death and when he rescued her for the third time on that day.

"Remember when we were runnin' from him? Hiding with the trees and those bushes?" He asked.

She nodded in return, still not confident in him.

"Remember when I tackled the crap outta him? I forgot to tell ya that he feels like a pile of bones, so imagine if I punched him - he woulda collapsed right on the spot!"

Tracer giggled and nodded, wiping away her own tears with a smile on her face.

"But damn, I didn't, cause he got one up on me, and I won't lie, he almost got me, but I got a few tricks up my sleeve that makes me unfrickintouchable! You should know this, cause I remember the look on your face when you found yourself on the road - alive as the sun on a sunny day."

"But that's bollocks! You can't be completely untouchable, luv'! You died!"

It was a piece of information that Scout forgot, which Tracer had to bring up.

"Okay, yeah-"

She continued, her worry steadily increasing, "And I had to revive you! If I hadn't thought about using a soda can to bring you back from the dead, then you would've never came back alive, and then I would've never had you here with me, and then-!"

"Sweet Cheeks!" He interrupted, shaking her body gently, "Snap outta it! You're actually starting to make me feel all nervous inside, and it doesn't feel nice, so please, just stop worrying, alright?"

Tracer was normally optimistic about everything, especially about going up against Reaper. But the mere thought of Scout losing his life was far too much for her to bear.

She couldn't even fathom how depressed she would be if Scout was to die today...

She didn't even want to think about it, but it was an undeniable thought that forcibly slithered into her mind all because of the murderous Ex agent.

She sighed and nodded, trying to keep her posture intact.

"'Kay, I want ya to take a deep, deep breath and stay calm... stay cool, even though you're really friggin' hot most of the time." He requested.

She giggled at his witty sentence, but did as he asked regardless.

She inhaled deeply and exhaled.

"Good... now repeat that, then keep repeating it until you feel like you're ready to kick some ass." Scout said.

She took a multitude of deep breaths and before she knew it, she suddenly felt as if she could take on the world with no problems. She smiled at him and began to tug at his shirt.

"C'mon, Scout. Let's go get this bloke!"

He grinned in return, "Finally! Time for some action!" He reloaded his scattergun and followed after Tracer's blinking figure.

x

Tracer kicked the roof's door open, spotting the shot-up heads of various soldiers littered across the roof. The snipers must have been the cause of the downed bodies. In the middle of the roof was a person that reminded her of death, but that was only because it was death.

It was Reaper.

"There he is!" Scout pointed out. His eyes caught sight of many troops in red and white, "Crap. Looks like we gotta take care of his friends first, start shootin'!"

Instantly, Scout broke away from Tracer and started making his way towards an isolated troop. He caught him by surprise and pumped his armour with his tight spread of bullets, killing him.

"One down! A dozen more to go!" He cheered.

The sudden noises got the attention of the masked freak. He lifted an emotionless finger and pointed at the mercenary.

"Subdue him..."

His voice was raspy and low, yet loud and ever-so commanding.

Immediately, 5 Grunts and 2 Enforcers made their way out of the bay of the ship. Each Grunt was wielding a baton with red electricity sparkling from the tips, while the Enforcers were equipped with shotguns.

But these weren't the normal shotguns that Tracer had seen them armed with before. The barrels were spiralled with bright red sparks, and the cartridges of the weapon could be seen from outside of the bulky design.

Judging from the design of their weapons, it looked non-lethal, and was strongly hinting towards quick subjectivity instead of raw killing-power.

But the time for observing soon came to an end, as the troops began to make haste towards them.

"GET HIM!" An Enforcer yelled. He pumped his shotgun, a distinct *charge* making itself known as the sound of the weapon's reload. He sent 3 Grunts at the quick-footed mercenary.

Tracer found herself eyeing the vast amounts of soldiers that were along the roof, who were either returning fire or getting fired at from her allies below. She was brought out of the short trance by a far-distanced yell.

"GET THE BITCH TOO!" Another Enforcer yelled, pointing 2 of his Grunts at her.

Tracer blinked towards the lesser troops, but couldn't keep her eyes off of Reaper, who was calmly making his way towards the side of the roof. She wanted to know what he was doing instead of going directly for Scout and herself, but she couldn't be too focused with that when she found herself confronted with 2 shock-baton wielding soldiers in front of her.

"Careful! She can teleport!" The Grunt took a swipe at her, but she dodged it in time.

"Watch out for her recall!"

Tracer lowered her brow and began firing at one of them, most of her shots landing, but not enough to put him down.

"Agh!" He quickly reached for his pistol, which forced her to phase to her left.

A very tall figure knocked him down from behind, quite literally running him over.

"BOSS WANTS HER ALIVE, YOU IDIOT!" It was one of the Enforcers. He pumped his shotgun, the high-pitched charge shortening her time for a decision.

"Too bad you won't accomplish it!" Tracer pulled on the trigger of her pulse pistols, taking down one so far. "Could do this all day!" She taunted, using more of her blinks to disorient the soldiers.

Out of nowhere, Scout came jumping by, and pumped the Enforcer with a blast of his scattergun from the back. He squeezed out two more shots before gaining distance away from his enraged status.

"Yikes! That left a mark!"

The Enforcer turned and took a blind shot with his shotgun, not firing out bullets, but instead, a big ball of red sparks that dissipated upon contact when it hit with the ground.

Tracer took advantage of the distraction and emptied two full clips of her pulse pistol against his back - 80 Pulse bullets in total.

"Agh-!" The firepower from both the scattergun and her pulse pistols were far too much for the Enforcer to endure. His body hit the ground with a dull thud.

The time for celebration was far away, however.

The last Enforcer that was ordered to subdue them came along with 3 of his Grunts, barking out orders left and right.

"GRUNTS, TAZE THE LITTLE BOY WITH THE SHOTGUN! I'LL TEND TO THIS ONE." He snarled out. His followers obeyed without question, running after Scout. The mercenary simply laughed at them and invited them to chase him. If The Scout could outrun a rival Scout of BLU, then he'd have no problem with numb-minded troops in weighted armour.

The Enforcer took aim and shot at Tracer, just narrowly missing her figure.

"Woah-! Horrible aim!" She taunted him and returned fire, her bullets having a light effect on the front of his armour, but still irritating for the soldier nonetheless.

He growled and stuffed his shotgun with a glowing cartridge, "Gonna bag you up and turn you into the boss!" He finished reloading and took aim once again.

She reloaded her pistols as well and blinked to the right before he could fire at her.

The Enforcer pulled the trigger and shot a ball of spark towards the agent, but failed to hit her. Instead, it hit one of the roof's many sidewalls, dissapearing once it had made contact with the surface. The missed shot from the Enforcer caused him to scowl with rage.

Another opportunity opened up for Tracer to attack, and she acted upon it, quickly emptying her clips against the bulky troop.

"GRHH-!" Tired of aiming, The Enforcer hurled his shotgun at the agent and lunged violently towards her direction, intent on choking her to the state of unconsciousness.

"Yikes-!" She blinked to the right, barely avoiding the powerful hurl of his weapon, and completely avoiding his-follow up lunge. She taunted the figure's failed lunge with the twirl of her pistols.

"You are terribly slow, you wobblin' hunk of junk!" She blinked closer to him and pointed her pistols at his head, "Say goodnight!" She pulled the triggers, but a hand of his swatted at her before she could empty a full round into him.

"How rude!" She blinked away from him, leaving a slight hole of disfigured alloys and metal on the armour, but when he stood to his full height, she could see that she blasted away an upper part of his helmet, and what was underneath the thick piece of the helmet was a bald head, but there was a single wire running across the bare scalp.

Tracer cringed at the augmentation of the Enforcer.

"Crikey! I haven't even seen your face, yet I can tell that no lady has ever dared to kiss you!"

He picked up his shotgun and pumped it, "I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS, YOU LITTLE WORM!" He took aim and fired once again.

Tracer blinked out of its way, not even wasting time on observing where the failed shot went. She blinked closer to him, where she was met with a strong swipe of his bulky weapon. She ducked the swipe and blinked to his left, now in point-blank distance with the side of his body.

All of her shots landed, stumbling the enhanced troop. Before he could turn to face her, she blinked to his right again, and was once again - met by a volley of her pulse rounds, which was enough to get him to his knees.

She scoffed at the Enforcer, "Just give up!"

She let her guard down for just 1 second, but it proved to be more than enough time for the troop to get a hand around her neck.

His iron grip tightened immediately against her skin, "Gotcha now, you jumpy bitch."

Tracer wheezed and gasped for air, trying to pry the troop's fingers off of her neck with her fingers.

No use.

She could feel her brain shutting down at the lack of air that she was receiving. She lifted her pulse pistol, struggling to aim at the Enforcer in front of her. She tried to pull the trigger, but was denied the action as he pinned her down to the ground.

Tracer's eyes fluttered and her vision blackened, her throat threatening to shut down at the strong hand that was strangling her.

He squeezed her neck harder, and just when he thought she was going to pass out - she disappeared from his grip.

"What the fuck?!" The Enforcer roared, "WHERE'D YOU GO?!" He looked around for the woman that escaped his chokehold, but wouldn't have to look any further as he felt the tiny barrels of 2 pulse pistols at the back of his head.

"This recall is a total lifesaver, luv'!" Tracer pulled the triggers, leaving a large hole of disfigured materials against the Enforcer's head. She watched as the unit's head dropped dead towards the ground.

"What a bloody good time that was." She muttered sarcastically. She reloaded her pistols and scanned the roof. She was questioning why Reaper hadn't ordered as many troops to subdue Scout and herself. If he did so, then she was almost certain that Scout and herself would've perished a while ago...

Speaking of Reaper, from a distance, she could see that he was giving out orders and pointing somewhere in the distance with authority - which he was imposing on a Talon Specialist unit in front of him.

It was a Talon Assassin, no doubt.

The crimson-wrist blades and the greyed armour of the enhanced female units was what made them the byproducts of efficient killers, and was what made them stand out from their other counterparts.

Tracer couldn't hear what Reaper was telling the specialist, but she didn't care. She decided to interfere, and quite quickly as well. She used her maximum limit of 3 blinks and closed the distance with the Ex-Overwatch agent, surprising him with a full clip of pulse bullets to his back.

He scowled and managed some distance from her with the use of his shadowy form, floating away and re-emerging a couple metres from her.

The Assassin unit raised her wrist-blades, sharpening them against one another as she gestured the agent to fire at her.

"Leave." Reaper commanded from a distance. The raspy voice instantly caught the attention of the Assassin, "Kill off their snipers, and do not come back with failure." He ordered.

The Assassin nodded silently and let out a grim laugh as she dropped down from the roof. As she descended, Tracer could hear her blades scathing and scraping the material of the walls, giving her an unusual chill that she could feel around her body.

Reaper discarded his shotguns by throwing it to his sides, and almost immediately, 2 new ones materialized in his hands.

Tracer however, wasn't intimidated by the otherworldly reload, "A good old fashioned 1 v 1?" She asked, training her pulse pistols on him.

"Bring your boyfriend along." Reaper requested, "I wouldn't want him missing out on the show."

Tracer was waiting for the perfect moment to attack. He was still on-guard despite the conversation that was arising between them.

"You know we're gonna end up kicking your arse and beating you silly if he joins in?" Tracer took 1 blink away from Reaper and scanned the roof for Scout. It didn't take long for her to spot him. He was having his way with the Grunts that were let loose on him, putting them down with the blasts of his weirdly modified shotgun.

"You knuckleheads ain't even worth the effort!" He taunted after blasting down another one of the five grunts.

There was one left standing in his way.

A Grunt swiped at him with a baton, but he dodged all of it, rewarding the troop with a point-blank blast of his weapon. Another Grunt swiped at him, horizontal and diagonal - the directions of the strike didn't matter, because Scout dodged it easily.

Chuckling, he dropped his scattergun and yawned, hoping to irritate the Grunt.

"You ain't even worth a bullet!" He stood still and waited for an opportunity to parry one of his strikes, and when it came, he acted upon it.

The electric end of the baton came swinging down on him, but his quick reflexes proved to be even quicker than the troop's strike. He stepped to the side and grabbed the Grunt's wrist with his left hand, pulling him towards himself. With the momentum from his pull, he stuck out his elbow, the sharp part colliding with the armour's neck crevice. The impact of his elbow caused the troop to let go of the baton and fall down on his back.

Scout caught the baton before it dropped to the ground and flipped it carelessly. He taunted the downed troop, grinning at him, "See? You ain't worth the bullets!" Flipping the baton one more time, he swiped at the soldier with the electric device, dangerous sparks flying and coursing with the material of his armour. The body inside of it shook and jittered - most likely dead, or paralyzed from the intense shock.

The fact that the whole sequence of Scout disarming an armed troop in less than 5 seconds was quite impressive.

Tracer couldn't even begin to dream of doing what he just did, she'd be too reliant on activating her recall instead of taking the risks to make a successful counterattack.

She found herself observing the way he fought. All the way from his quick natural movements, his unfair reaction time and his unusual double jump (which he made good advantage of with the other Grunts he dismissed) - she couldn't help but appreciate it.

"Look at 'im! He's turning your men into spoiled cottage!" Tracer cheered. She turned and smirked at Reaper, who was slowly advancing towards her.

"Just means that you won't need his help putting me down," Reaper aimed his shotguns at her, "die." He growled out.

An alarmed Tracer barely dodged the blasts of his shotguns. At the range she had over him, her pistols would never have efficient use of dispatching him, so she closed the distance with him. She didn't blink at him straight on though, she zig-zagged her way towards him and took unpredictable turns of direction, all while firing at him. The closer she got, the more shots that landed on him, but it was the same for her as well.

She could feel the burning pellet of his scathe against her arm, which made her hiss with slight pain.

Reaper could feel the tiny works of sharp pulses hitting against his body, which forced him to take cover near a broken air conditioning unit. He could've had both Scout and Tracer killed a long time ago, and if not killed, then in a very one-sided situation. If only he allowed his troops to help in taking them down.

Reaper needed at least 1 of them alive, but his trigger-happy soldiers were too much of a risk to trust in not killing the pair of runners. That's why he scowled out violently at a trooper who forgot his orders to not shoot at them.

A Talon soldier positioned himself a couple metres away from Scout, who was running towards Reaper. He pulled the trigger without hesitation and managed to land a single shot on the mercenary's leg.

"Ah- damn!" Scout cursed at the pain, but wasn't hobbling whatsoever. The pain was similar to a tickle, quite possibly because he's experienced worse than a casual bullet wound.

"WEAPONS DOWN, TROOP." Reaper yelled, which was quite ominous and dreadful to Tracer's ears.

The Talon soldier was shook by the deep-toned command. He turned and made haste for the sidewalls, trying to help his colleagues in taking down a sentry gun had been built by their opposition.

Tracer on the other hand, was busy making her way towards Reaper's side. As she ran, she could see his black cloak jutting from out of the cover.

Scout continued to run at Reaper's position with a full head of steam, saving all his scattergun shots for when he was in close, deadly range.

Both runners were quickly advancing towards his position - intent on shooting him as soon as he came in sight.

Reaper was patient, knowing where both runners were at the same time. It was as if time slowed for him when he noticed Tracer's energy-ridden figure, and the blast of Scout's scattergun.

He quickly turned into a shadowy mist, causing the majority of Scout's pellets to land square on Tracer's body.

The breath shot out of Tracer in an instant. She didn't know what hit her when she found herself down on the ground. She let out a cry of pain and clutched her mid-section, hot and stinging to the touch.

Scout's face dropped and his heart slowed when he witnessed the fresh wounds on the agent's body.

"Tracer!" He made a dash for her wounded body, but was interrupted by the harsh kick delivered to his side. He was kicked against the broken AC unit, which only put him in more pain. He winced at the impact, feeling it in his ribs and his back, but he wouldn't be given time to recover as the barrel of a shotgun made itself known in the corner of his eye. He had enough reaction time to roll towards Reaper's legs, throwing off and ultimately avoiding the lethal blast of his shotgun. He hustled himself up and returned fire, landing a close ranged meatshot that caused Reaper to stumble back.

Reaper scowled at the pain, "You won't be able to save her like you did last time, you brat."

Darting his eyes back and forth at Reaper and Tracer, Scout fired another shot, strafing him as he moved side to side; a tactic that proved effective against every type of enemy he's faced so far.

Reaper used the same tactic, but not to much effectiveness because of the mercenary's speed advantage. The boy was a hard target to hit, and him being unnaturally quick didn't help his standoff. A pellet hit his mask, another one hitting his body. He suddenly found himself getting overwhelmed by the amount of shots he was receiving from Scout's scattergun.

"Back up, shadow boy!" Scout taunted, reloading his scattergun once he spotted Reaper giving him space.

There was no question about it. If Reaper was going to continue fighting this talented mercenary, he had to give time for his cells to recover, but he was intent on multi-tasking...

Tracer was still on the ground, clutching at her chest. Reaper seized the opportunity and turned into a mist, phasing his way towards the wounded body of the agent.

"Shit-!" Scout dropped his scattergun and made an alarmed dash for Tracer, trying to beat Reaper to her, but he was too late... he wasn't fast enough.

The Ex-Overwatch agent got his hands on her, easily pulling her up with his cold hands. He got her in a chokehold with one arm, and held a shotgun to her head with his free hand. He was using her as a meatshield against her partner.

Scout stopped in his tracks, gulping at the stressful situation in front of him. He narrowed his brows and gritted his teeth at Reaper.

"... you better let go of her, or I'm gonna kill you and rip ya damn head off. Let go of her now you fucking prick!" Scout yelled, straining his fists, hating how powerless he currently felt.

Reaper pressed the barrel to the side of her head.

"First, I'm gonna kill her, then I'm gonna turn you into the lab-rats at base."

Scout made a desperate dash for Reaper's shotgun.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

Reaper pulled the trigger, expecting the head of the beloved Overwatch agent to pop into pieces... but to his surprise, no such thing happened.

Reaper heard a zap behind him, and before he could react to it, a burning pain stung his back, forcing him down on one knee.

Relief washed over Scout's face when he saw Tracer behind Reaper, but his senses urged him to do something to the distracted killer in front. Without his scattergun in hand, he wouldn't waste time going back for it. Instead, he ran up to Reaper and threw a punch at his mask, and despite him not having the strongest punches in the world - the strike managed to crack a piece off the mask.

Reaper's head shot back at the fist that connected with him.

Scout on the other hand, immediately pulled back his fist, wincing at the burst of pain that was delivered to his knuckles on the strike.

He rubbed his knuckles and bit his lip with a scowl, "Ow- Crap! That hurt!"

Tracer reloaded her pulse pistols and pointed them at Reaper's head, but before she could pull the trigger, he once again turned into a mist of black - re-emerging on the middle of the roof.

"Quick, Scout! Let's chase him down. He's weakened!" Tracer blinked towards Reaper, closing the distance.

Scout followed her order and ran after her, picking up his scattergun along the way.

The two caught up with the weakened Talon member and immediately began firing at him. Tracer maintained her distance and continued shooting the Talon agent, while Scout got as close as he could to him.

Scout pressed the barrel of his scattergun against Reaper's mask, "Eat it, you masked sicko!" He pulled the trigger, but his aim was thrown off when Reaper swiped at his legs.

"Agh-!" Scout hit the ground with a thud, but before he could get back up, the shadows around Reaper's body started to violently pulsate and twirl, curling in with itself.

Reaching out of the twitching shadows was Reaper's hand, disfigured and morphed into some type of a black ooze instead of a physical arm. The weird substance wrapped itself around Scout's ankle, and started travelling upwards his calves.

"What the hell?!" Scout gasped and shot at the black substance with his scattergun, trying to wring his leg free of the matter that was gripping his legs. His effort was wasted though, as the ooze only grew larger in mass, soon threatening to cover his whole leg with it.

"Not good! Not good!" He couldn't move a leg of his anymore.

"Oh crikey- Scout!" Tracer unloaded about 4 full clips of her pulse pistols at Reaper's body, she was in denial of how much pain he could endure.

Tracer has never seen the shadows pulsate so violently around Reaper's form, and she's definitely never seen such an ooze emit from his body either. Whatever it was that came out of him, she didn't want it anywhere on Scout, and when she saw it plastered over the whole of one of his legs, she went to work on doing whatever she could do to get rid of it.

Oddly enough, Reaper's body couldn't be seen underneath the thick amount of black mist that covered his body, so she figured that shooting at the infinite abyss wouldn't do any good.

"Tracer, what the hell is this?!" Scout screamed, the ooze running up to his waist now, "Can't- ugh! Can't move my leg!" He cursed and shot at the dark matter once again, but barely proving effective.

As stupid as it sounded, Tracer figured that maybe ripping the ooze off of him would free his leg from its odd captivity. She wasn't thinking rationally anymore, she was desperate to not see him fall victim to what this mysterious ooze had in store for him.

Tracer dug her fingers into the ooze; The substance felt like jelly, but there was a strange sort of air circulating inside of it. A foul smell also radiated off of it too; it smelled of a forgotten morgue, and it entered her system.

"Goodness-!" She coughed violently at the foul smell and retracted her fingers from the disgusting substance.

"What the hell is this?!" Scout asked again, no longer shooting at the ooze, but punching and clawing at it. He could no longer move his leg.

Tracer held her breath and dug her fingers once again in the never-ending rivers of the ooze that was sprawling across Scout's body, now travelling to his other leg. No matter how many times she ripped and how many times she swatted the thin, but full substance away, it kept on regenerating almost instantly. She was at a loss for words at how clueless she was against this mysterious substance that Reaper had made...

Speaking of Reaper,

His dark, midnight-toned figure emitted from the valley of shadows he had been laying underneath. The shotguns in his hand glowed a violent red, with pristine black adorning all of his body. The garments he wore earlier were no longer spotted on his body - but its not like it mattered, because he was levitating now. The lower half of his body turned into a complete mist of black, while the upper half of his was bare and fully embraced with shadows.

"Death to him." Reaper muttered.

Tracer gasped quietly. It was as if the world fell on her at that moment.

"No! No, no no!" In a blind panic, Tracer began ripping at the foul ooze that held Scout down to the ground, but to no avail, as she soon found herself getting hurled away from his body with the use of Reaper's otherworldly grip.

Tracer was thrown a good distance away from him, but that wouldn't stop her from attempting to rip him out of the ooze's hold.

"Damn it!" Tracer rushed to her feet and blinked towards the levitating Reaper, doing everything she could to throw him off. She fired at him, barely effecting Reaper, and once her clips were empty, she smacked the butt of her pistol against the upper half of the killer, again, not having much effect.

Tracer caught a glance of Scout, and what she saw threatened to break her heart, and even her entire will to continue fighting.

The mist... ooze? Whatever it was, it covered almost all of Scout's body. The only part she could see left of him was his hand... his fingers were straining for salvation, and his screams were muffled.

Tracer reloaded her pistols and unleashed a full clip of pulse rounds at Reaper's upper body, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!" She yelled while shooting him. The pulse bullets were starting to have little to no effect on the killer, and he was making it well known when she resorted to whacking him instead of shooting him.

"LET GO OF HIM. NOW!" She yelled, a tear forming in her eye, "Please... PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS!" She begged, her knees weakening as her eyes darted back to Scout's mist-covered body.

A sudden change of the colours around her made her realize how deadly of a situation she was in - both for herself and him.

The mist grew to a threatening size, far above the height of Tracer, and well above the height of Reaper, who was levitating as well. The dark mist circled and popped violently around the three, surrounding them with a never-ending mist. The glow of Reaper's shotguns was brighter than ever, and Tracer found herself taking a cautious step back at the terrifying display of death working around her.

Reaper suddenly turned stiff, as did the eternal mist...

Tracer gulped and reached for her pulse pistols...

But the word that signalled her for an immediate retreat was yelled out by the levitating figure.

The shadows started to crash against one another, spiralling uncontrollably with crimson red jutting out from various spots of darkness.

"DIE, DIE, DIE!" Reaper yelled, a hellish choir emitting from his voice.

A barrage of thick and thin pellets spiralled in the air, 2 of which already causing rips and tears in her clothing.

Tracer shielded her eyes from the little pellets that flew around, straining her eyes to see if Scout was still okay. Miraculously, she could still see a sign of life from him, but as soon as that information was confirmed to her she blinked out of the lethal mist of death.

x

Tracer blinked out of the mist with her life barely intact, and the knowledge of Scout's life - uncertain.

"Tracer!" A familiar voice yelled.

It was Number 35. Her coarse voice could never be mistaken!

Beside her were 3 individuals - 3 of them who were the fellow colleagues of Scout; a man with a doctor's bloody lab coat, a towering man that carried a Minigun...

And a woman dressed in purple... the same woman that she had caught Scout staring at, was with them.

Luckily, Tracer knew that she could confront her about it later, and knew that the time to act on her impulsive possessiveness for Scout was DEFINITELY, not now.

Tracer stumbled towards them, looking frantically at the 4 individuals in front of her, thankful that they were all allies of her's.

"We have to help Scout!" She yelled, no introductions, straight to the point. She let out a panicked breath and reloaded her pulse pistols, a suicidal thought running across her mind to go back for Scout in that black mist of death.

She was going to do it. She didn't want to lose him - she couldn't, not now.

The lady in purple replied to her urgent request, with a deeply concerned tone accompanying her sentence.

"W-what happened to him?!"

Tracer stared at the woman with a very visible frown, a small reason being because of how concerned she was for him, but a big reason was because of knowing what Reaper was probably going to do to him.

"That bastard's gonna kill him!" She yelled with a frown.

The lady in purple looked as if her face dropped at those words...

x

Ugh, I really don't like writing combat sections. But I have to do it if I want this story to continue.

Happy early New Years. 2018 was productive and blessed. I know I've been hella slow making chapters compared to last year's production, but that's just how it be :l

If it seems like I'm neglecting this story... I'm not, I'm just not as active as I was with this when I started writing this a year and a half ago, when I was a weird teenager that had too much ambition under the intense summer heatwaves.

Who knew that this small idea I had in my head would lead to this — More than 100 people have my little creation favourited, and more than 100 people are following this work of mine... you guys really make my heart... UGHhHhHh.

I love you guys.

I don't know how this story survived for this long. I don't know how I still stay attached to this corny pairing of characters, but shit, I hope this keeps up, cause I'm not abandoning this anytime soon. You guys don't deserve it.

I'll try to hurry up on the next chapter, because you guys don't deserve to be waiting a full month for short chapters like this one.

So... see ya in the next one? :)

Oh, and see you all next year *cue laugh track*

!!!!! (totally unrelated, but can we just get some quick love for the cutest girl on instagram rn: @essaere only because she's so fucking cute !!!!!)