Chapter Twenty Six

She winced at the noise level in the darkened bar, letting the heavy door swing shut behind her. The initial post-game euphoria was worse, she knew, and by this late in the day was starting to settle down. Many of the Elites chose to drink later for that reason, more likely to be left - relatively - alone.

She found their table easily, fighting down the urge to slip away before they saw her, for the large round table was busy. First to see her, Barker raised his hand a few inches from his glass, and nodded to her.

Wraith forced her mouth to smile.

"Wraith!"

Fresh from the MedBay and glowing with both victory and what Wraith guessed was a substantial amount to drink, Darwyn noted the gesture and turned to greet her with a broad smile, shuffling into the Medic beside him as he made room for her on the booth bench.

Her butt was barely in her seat before a glass appeared in front of her, and the archer poured her a measure from one of the bottles cluttered in the table's centre. She gave him a nod and as she took a mouthful of the burning spirit, she swept the table with her gaze.

Beside Darwyn, Lifeline and Bangalore, a quiet smile from Bloodhound. Octane, making most of the noise at the table and probably the room, telling Pathfinder some tale or other, both of them laughing. Beside the robot and opposite Wraith, Barker sipped from his glass as he listened, looking almost as out-of-place as she felt.

She didn't feel guilty at the small relief of the missing Trickster. However, it did bother her slightly that she noted his absence, as mere months ago it wouldn't have crossed her mind to register it. Despite the amount of her time she now spent wishing he'd disappear, his presence she'd come to expect.

"Good to see you." Bangalore murmured, lips lifting in a half-smile when Wraith met her eye, "Was one helluva game."

"I'll say!" Octane laughed, turning excitably, "I was watching in thee Medical Wing. I thought 'e might've had you at the end, compadre."

Barker snorted a chuckle, sipping from his glass.

"Nah!" Darwyn called over the other's replies, slapping Wraith on the back with a gleeful grin, "Our Wraith had him."

Lifeline, giddy from the Game high and drunker than any of the others, laughed so hard at Wraith's wince that she knocked her drink over. The table descended into yelps as people scrambled to avoid getting soaked as the rum sloshed all over the tabletop, but Lifeline could do nothing but laugh more, catching sight of Octane's taunting grin and giggling more.

When everything had settled and an amused member of the bar staff had brought them sufficient cloths to dry the mess, Lifeline was still wiping tears from her eyes.

"Fo'real," she chuckled, heaving in a breath and turning her grin on Wraith, "Tha was some nice work. Ya got me, again."

Wraith shifted as the weak smile touched her face.

"Maybe you're too slow." she murmured in reply as she lifted her glass, gaze flickering to Octane when he loosed a howling laugh.

"Yo're too slow, amigo! Betta get good!"

Lifeline chucked a handful of peanuts at him, but his laugh was not dissuaded.

"It was a good fight." Banagalore hummed, rolling her eyes between them at their antics.

"It vas." Bloodhound nodded in agreement, eyes catching Wraith's across the table, "Mirage vas foolish to speak."

Her mouth twitched as she agreed, for of course the tracker had caught how closely she'd been listening, at the end.

"Just a pity that girl got a lucky shot on you."

Bloodhound nodded at the soldier's words, smiling softly.

"She vas a vorthy opponent. De Gods had blessed her."

Pathfinder's screen brightened, and he nodded.

"She was a very good fighter." he agreed brightly, "Were it not for her quick thinking, Mirage and I would not have been able to re-join the battle and claim second place."

"We thought the same thing, didn't we?" Darwyn looked between his former squad mates as he leaned forward, "Dead impressive, holding off so many of you the way she did."

"Caught us by suhprise." Lifeline chuckled, re-filling the glasses she could reach, "We'll see her again, I betcha."

"I don' want herr on my squad." Octane chuckled, "No offence. But a defender? Pssshh. Yo gotta be fast in thee Games, or you get left behind."

The conversation quickly devolved as the occupants bickered and tossed peanuts at each other. Wraith fell back into her own head as it continued, trying her best to ignore the pressure in her chest at being so surrounded, focusing instead on analysing how the sound and atmosphere of the table was more pleasant than she'd expected when she'd agreed to join them for a while.

It wasn't as if she never socialised. She did, more often than she'd like, really. But it had been a while since she'd had her arm twisted into drinking with them.

"Yeah," Darwyn was saying, his elbow bumping into Wraith as he took a bottle from the table and uncapped it, "where is Mirage? I woulda thought he was the type to celebrate."

Octane's chuckle turned leering as he winked at Lifeline. The Medic chuckled, and grinned.

"'e's busy, ya know? Likes to cel-a-brate in his own way."

Wraith huffed a laugh as Darwyn's face grew puzzled, the other Elites chuckling with her. Pathfinder, in his usual manner, flashed a love heart across his screen.

"He is engaging in the company of a young lady." he recited, seeming pleased when everyone laughed, "Which is what I think is his code for sexual relations."

The table dissolved into fits of giggles at the statement declared so brightly, and Darwyn's face took on a mild pink sheen.

"He moves fast, huh?"

Octane's grin was devilish when he turned it on the archer. Bangalore rolled her eyes even as the speedster spoke, anticipating, no doubt, what he was going to say. His eyes trailed purposefully down the new guy's face and back, and he winked.

"Not as fast as me, amigo."

Wraith felt the archer shift reflexively at the faint trace of boldness in his tone, stealing further into her personal space, and she shot Octane an exasperated glance as the rest of the table laughed. Barker, she noted, seemed to have relaxed somewhat. Amusement buoyed her slightly.

"Let them get comfortable before you starting chatting them up, would you?" she retorted, raising an eyebrow.

Darwyn pushed her gently with a spluttered denial, shooting Barker a glare when he commented on what a pair they'd make. Wraith smirked softly in the sound of continued laughter as she downed the contents in her glass and let Lifeline refill it, feeling that perhaps it had been worth swallowing the urge to be alone, to indulge just a little in the presence of people who might understand the need to keep their heads busy while the battle finally eased from their blood.