Stage 38: Gone in the Blink of an Eye!
As soon as Junkrat lunged toward her, Tracer Blinked behind him. She then attempted to kick him in the back of the head, but to her surprise he managed to dodge it.
"This one's for you!" Junkrat said as he threw a land mine at Tracer.
She sidestepped to avoid the land mine, which fell harmlessly a few feet behind her. Next, Tracer Blinked forward to attack Junkrat who was so surprised that he dropped his Grenade Launcher. But he managed to block her kicks and punches fairly well until he used his peg-leg to hit Tracer's chest. The impact knocked her back a little ways, but what worried Tracer was the obvious scratch across the Chronal Accelerator's surface. Ignoring it, Tracer avoided the grenades Junkrat launched at her by Recalling backwards.
Her foot touched something, causing Tracer to look down. She saw that it was the land-mine Junkrat threw earlier and looked at him noticing he had a detonator in his hand. Before Tracer could Blink out of the way, Junkrat pushed the button which caused her to fly through the air and land face first onto the concrete flooring of the stadium. The audience gasped in horror, but were relieved once Tracer got her feet.
"Well, that just happened," Tracer said feeling partially winded. "Is that the best you can do, Junkrat?"
"I should think so," Junkrat said confidently. "Take a look at your chest."
Upon him saying that, Tracer looked down at the Chronal Accelerator and noticed it was cracked. Fortunately, the blue light was still shining.
"One more hit and that thing will break," Junkrat said and aimed his Grenade Launcher. "Shall we test that?"
"Bring it on, Junkrat," Tracer responded, trying to hide the fear in her voice.
Instead of firing the grenades at her, Junkrat launched the grenades around her causing Tracer to freeze in place. Then Junkrat took the tire from his back and pulled a chain to cause it to roll toward her. Remembering what happened during the Payload Competition, Tracer Blinked out of the tire's way as it exploded near her. However, the blast knocked Tracer down as she shielded her face. As her ears rang loudly, Tracer looked down at the Chronal Accelerator and saw the blue light fade completely. Thinking it had simply overheated, Tracer was about to get up when Junkrat appeared out of the debris and pointed the Grenade Launcher at her chest.
"That must've hurt," Junkrat said snidely. "Widow's tip was right on the money."
"Widow?" Tracer's eyes widened when she realized who Junkrat was talking about. "What did she—
Junkrat then immediately fired a grenade at Tracer, causing her to Blink in response. Because of this, the grenade missed and exploded harmlessly where Tracer was before. In her place stood the Chronal Accelerator, which was now badly damaged. Cursing to himself, Junkrat looked around the stadium and didn't see Tracer anywhere.
"Playing Hide and Seek with me, are you?" Junkrat said eyeing the crowd suspiciously. "Or did you run away cuz you're a coward at heart?"
The crowd started muttering as Junkrat kept looking around and scratching the back of his neck.
"Come on, Tracer," Junkrat whined. "This isn't fun anymore! You're really starting to shorten my fuse! Get out here so I can finish you off!"
No response came causing the mutterings to become louder and Lúcio to get nervous.
"Ah, well since Tracer refuses to show herself…that makes Junkrat the winner of this battle," Lúcio said as Tracer's image faded alongside Junkrat's.
"No way!" Junkrat exclaimed. "This is too easy! I want to beat Tracer myself!"
"That's enough, son," Soldier: 76 said, appearing behind Junkrat and squeezing his shoulder uncomfortably tight.
"Fine, mate," Junkrat said releasing himself from Soldier: 76's grip. "You don't have to be so rough with me."
As the crowd continued murmuring, Lúcio said, "All right, we'll be taking a short break before starting up the next fight as we determine the victory of this bout."
While the crowd dispersed, Soldier: 76 pressed a button on the side of his visor which caused a larger version of it to appear in front of him. He then went off toward the entrance Tracer came from and after a few minutes passed, Soldier: 76 sprinted toward Junkrat, who was attempting to sneak away, and held him up by his pants.
"I don't see Tracer in this entire building," Soldier: 76 growled. "Did you do something to make her disappear?"
"She disappeared herself, mate," Junkrat said nonchalantly. "That wasn't my doing."
"Then how do you explain why I can't find her?" Soldier: 76 said angrily.
"Perhaps she went back to her dorm-room," Hanzo suggested, standing next to Soldier: 76 along with the other participants. "May I be permitted to check?"
"I'll go," Zarya said. "No boys are permitted in girl's dorm, after all."
"Oh, hai," Hanzo said blushing slightly. "I forgot about that."
###
"Is Tracer in her room?" Zarya asked Pharah who was doing sit-ups on the floor of her bedroom.
"Not sure," Pharah said between breaths. "I didn't hear her come in."
Concerned, Zarya went into Tracer's room and found it to be completely empty. She looked under the bed, in the closet, and even the bathroom. Finding nothing, Zarya went back into Pharah's room as she was still doing sit-ups.
"She's nowhere in this dorm," Zarya said nervously. "Unless you're hiding her."
"Why would I be hiding Tracer?" Pharah said as she got up abruptly. "We've barely talked since I met with Ana."
Unconvinced, Zarya looked around Pharah's room and even peeked inside the suit but still Tracer was nowhere to be found.
"Where could she have gone?" Zarya muttered.
"Did something happen?" Pharah asked.
Zarya sighed heavily. "She disappeared while fighting against Junkrat."
"Disappeared? How did it happen?"
"Junkrat fired a grenade at her, she disappear, and never come back."
"That's odd," Pharah said shaking her head. "I know she's capable of traveling through time, but she doesn't go very far."
"All that was left was her chest thing."
"The same one you broke two months ago?"
"Da, and she almost disappeared because of it."
Pharah's eyes suddenly widened. "Did Junkrat damage her chest thing in any way?"
"He did scratch it with his peg-leg, then he caused her to fall a couple times."
In that instance, Pharah ran toward the dorm-room door.
"Where are you going?" Zarya asked.
"To see Winston," Pharah said as she put on her running shoes and opened the door. "You head back to the stadium, grab her chest thing, and meet me at Winston's dorm."
"What for?"
"I'm not sure what's going on, but I think Winston might know the answers."
To be continued…