Stage 39: Memory and Thought!
"Are you sure that's what happened?" Winston asked after Zarya and Pharah had finished explaining Tracer's sudden disappearance.
"Positive," Zarya said holding up the Chronal Accelerator. "This was left behind after she tried to Blink from Junkrat's grenade."
Winston took the Chronal Accelerator from Zarya's hands and looked down at it. Noticing the cracks in the glass circles on the front and back, he attempted to turn the light on by tapping one side but nothing happened. Heaving a deep sigh, Winston put the Chronal Accelerator on a work-table and took off his glasses. His fists clenched for a brief moment as his normally black fur started turning red.
"Winston," Pharah said. "Is something wrong?"
"No," Winston said after a brief pause.
His fur returned to normal, causing Zarya to breathe easier along with Pharah.
"Upon first glance, I can deduce that the Chronal Accelerator was badly damaged due to the falls Tracer experienced during her match with Junkrat," Winston said turning to face Pharah and Zarya. "Because of this, the Chronal Accelerator stopped working by the time Junkrat fired his last grenade at Tracer. Naturally, she panicked and Blinked to get out of the way. But by doing that, she entered the time-stream much quicker than when she almost disappeared two months ago. When Zarya broke the Chronal Accelerator then, Tracer didn't use it and so she started to disappear gradually which gave me enough time to save her. But at the match, she deliberately moved forward in time which caused her body to instantly become part of the time-stream. As a result, the Chronal Accelerator was left behind because it doesn't contain the same cells that make Tracer time-travel in the first place."
"So what is the Chronal Accelerator for?" Pharah asked.
"It's a metaphysical anchor that keeps Tracer in the present while allowing her to move backwards and forwards in time," Winston explained. "Without it, she becomes attached to the time-stream and can't stay in one place for too long."
"Then how can we get her back?" Zarya demanded.
"To tell you the truth, Zarya, I have no idea," Winston said putting his glasses back on.
Zarya blinked. "Why?"
"Everything I know about the Chronal Accelerator and how to fix it is information that was implanted into my head by Doctor Winston," Winston said. "He was the one who invented the device, before his untimely death on the moon colony. So because of that, I have been able to prevent Tracer from disappearing again like she did ten years ago. But this kind of incident is new to me, and I'm not sure how to handle it."
Pharah thought for a moment and then said, "If Doctor Winston invented the Chronal Accelerator, then he must've figured out a way of bringing Tracer back to the present."
"He did, but I was too young to know how he accomplished that," Winston replied.
"Then surely he must've left you with some info on how to bring Tracer back again," Zarya suggested.
Winston scratched the back of his head nervously. "I don't see why he wouldn't have, but there's only so much information I can process."
"Maybe it's locked deep within your mind, which meditation will certainly make accessible if you concentrate hard enough," Genji said, causing everyone to flinch as he was still hooked up to Zenyatta whose lights were still dim.
"Genji," Zarya said with surprise. "How are you communicating with us now?"
"I've temporarily disconnected from my Master to speak to you," Genji said. "The hacker is proving more difficult to locate than we thought."
"Should I let Athena handle it?" Winston asked.
"No, my Master and I want to keep looking," replied Genji. "We have found traces of the same numbers that spell out the phrase you told us about, Winston, and they were found on a handful of student files."
"Can you tell me which ones?"
"Certainly," Genji nodded. "They were Junkrat, Hanzo, and Tracer's."
"Odd," Winston said raising an eyebrow. "Why would the hacker be interested in looking up some of the new students?"
"Maybe the hacker is working for Talon," Pharah suggested. "If they're as organized as the news claims, this would be something they'd do to see what kind of heroes they might have to deal with in the future."
"And possibly eliminate them before they graduate from this school," Zarya said.
"That would make sense in regard to Tracer, but Junkrat couldn't be the hacker," Winston responded. "He doesn't strike me as being very intelligent and I fail to see the logic of hacking into one's own file."
"Unless Junkrat was being manipulated by someone else," Pharah suggested.
"Who was the hacker," added Zarya.
"A likely possibility, but this means the hacker could be posing as a fellow student or a teacher," Genji said gravely.
A heavy silence hung over the room.
"What should we do?" Zarya asked. "The next match is in a couple minutes."
"Tell Soldier: 76 about Tracer's disappearance and Junkrat's involvement," Winston said to Zarya as Genji's green light shut down. "But until we have a clearer picture of our hacker, this is our secret. Understood?"
"Da," Zarya said, and left the lab.
Watching Zarya leave, Pharah turned to Winston and said, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Watch Genji and Zenyatta for me," Winston responded as he took off his glasses a second time. "I'll be taking Genji's advice and meditate in my room. Let me know if anything unusual happens."
"Okay," Pharah said.
###
Later, Hanzo showed up and Pharah explained what happened. He nodded a few times, but said nothing. His eyes occasionally wandered toward Genji, who was still not moving.
"Now that you're aware of the situation, you must swear to not say a word about this to anyone," Pharah said putting a hand on Hanzo's.
"I swear with my life," Hanzo said using his other hand to cover Pharah's.
"Good," Pharah said letting go of Hanzo's hand.
To be continued…