Hi all, hope everyone has been staying healthy?
Sorry that yesterday I did not make any post but work has been hectic recently and I think from now on my posting will become quite random.
The reason for this is that because this is Act 3, I want the quality of the story to be at least better than Act 1 and 2.
So since I don't want to rush this, the posting MAY become once a week if I cannot make a chapter in time.
Thank you all for reading this and I hope that this can be a good journey for all of us.
*Gibraltar: Watchpoint*
Winston and Angela looked up when the alarm gone off and a squad of mercenaries ran past the door.
"Athena, what's going on?"
"Morrison has gone off to meet the Null Sector head on, Colonel Smith is gathering a strike team to assist"
They looked at each other in shock. Jack is going to face them alone first?
"What's going on?" Lena demanded, woken up by the alarm.
She is now confined in the old Time Chamber that she waited in many years ago until Winston built the Chronal Accelerator.
They waited for a second to answer as she faded within the chamber randomly.
"Null Sector is coming" Winston said when Lena maintained her form for more than a few seconds.
"We have to help him!" she shouted, desperately looking at her anchor on the table.
"Just a little lon-" he began but she faded.
"We have to help him!" she shouted, desperately looking at her anchor on the table.
Angela fought back tears as she watches her friend.
"We will get you back out there soon, just be patient" she managed out but Lena isn't listening. Or rather she couldn't.
To Lena, all she heard was "Patient just out there soon we get back"
"NO! You cannot just leave me here!" she yelled, scared to be left alone in this state.
"Athena please" Winston implored, refocusing his attention on the Accelerator.
Words formed on the screen and Lena read it discouragingly and with extreme difficulty. It is bad enough that she could not hear them properly, but even when it is spelled out for her, it was like reading with dyslexia as the words appeared at random order.
Unable to lie down due to her condition, she tried to find ways to relax but every effort proved useless as the faceless murderers of Emily haunted her.
The plan was so simple.
Avenge Emily and face the consequences later.
All she needed was the targets.
Targets that only Quillion have seen.
"Quillion…" she seethed as her thoughts focused on him.
It is all his fault. If he only did what she asked him to do, none of this would've happened. He just needed to point her to the right direction and that'll be it.
She could almost hear the rage that is building up inside her with each passing minute, to a point that she wants to scream while biting or tearing whatever she could get her hands on.
Grabbing fistfuls of her hair, she groaned in frustration as she paced around the chamber, trying to find a place where she could hide from watchful eyes while wanting to be monitored at the same time.
Looking down, she could see that the Accelerator is still far from being battle ready as Winston still worked tirelessly on it.
"Refreshments" Athena announced, sliding in unwrapped chocolate and various drinks through an automatic door.
She tried grabbing a piece of the chocolate but found it extremely difficult to time it right for her hand to be in the present to grab one of them.
In the end she just gave up and allowed herself to fade around the chamber randomly, too tired to force herself to remain in the present.
"Good thing this chamber's here" she sighed, allowing herself to pass through time randomly.
Unlike losing control of herself outside of the chamber, she will only see the different timelines within the glass.
Various scenes flashed before her as she stood behind the glass. Many times the room is dark and empty, but she will see a glimpse of the old days of Overwatch.
Engineers creating the chamber hastily to contain her after she reappeared from the Slipstream project, the many times Winston and Angela took turns to watch over her, and even Reyes giving little Faheera a tour of the room.
But there are sadder scenes as well, like weeds and grass begun to grow around the room, as if the base has been abandoned for many years. Even once she saw Talon troops invading the base.
However, these images are too fleeting and random to be able to decipher properly, so she kept it all to herself. No point causing panic when there is none.
"Lena?" a faint voice called out, a different voice than the usual clutter.
Curious, she forced herself to remain in this constant, her teeth gritting from the effort.
"I don't know - you can hear -, but - most likely place - think of" he said, echoing.
"Quillion?"
Half of her wanted to leave, to let his message be lost in the void of time, but the other half needed to know what he wanted to say.
True enough, Quillion stood before the glass, a large backpack slung around his shoulders. His eyes are sunken and he wore a complexion as if he is in pain.
Somehow she knew that this was yesterday, just hours before he took off with Lox.
"I can't let – do this, I know – never forgive – but I will – sorry"
Frowning, she sat in the corner away from the glass. It is bad enough she is listening to him, now she has to decipher what he is saying?
"Promise I made – Emily – protect you"
She perked up at the sound of her name.
"Suicide mission – not sure if – means anything"
She looked around frantically, she needed to find something that can help her focus.
He held up a picture and she saw it is the picture Agong was carrying.
"I am going to die, this much I know" he sighed, massaging his arm with the other, trying to keep the picture steady.
"Die?" she thought, making sure Emily's face is in full view for her to focus on.
"I have broken enough promises, this time I will not fail the promise I made to Emily to protect you" he seethed, his tiredness now replaced with rage.
Walking closer to the glass, she could see and hear him clearer now.
"I don't belong here… You are all heroes… I'm just some guy who overslept…" he continued, shaking his head, his face downcast again.
He rests his head against the glass, the constant changing of emotions too taxing for him.
"Which is why you can't go down this road, the world needs you, it does not need me"
As much as she wanted to hate him for what he had done, she could not help but feel a sense of pity for him.
"Quil…" she said.
He looked up in shock, looking around the chamber with frantic eyes.
"You're here? So my plan worked…" he gulped, fear and relief flowed through him, making him drop the picture.
"Good… You're safe… Winston's got you…"
"Where are you going?"
He winced, though he is unable to see her, he could clearly hear her.
"Just stay here, I'll take care of it"
Knowing that he will never tell her, she decided to tell him one more thing.
"Fine, but don't die" she snarled.
He looked at the chamber confusingly.
"Because I'm going to kill you myself"
For the first time since London, he smiled.
"Well… Guess that's something I do deserve"
With that he walked away, but not before he purposefully held up the picture and slip it into a drawer.
Her focus slipped away as she has nothing to focus on, the room melted away and began to be rapidly replaced with various images.
"WINSTON!" she yelled.
He immediately stopped working and looked for her.
"Lena?" he replied.
"Drawer – first shelf – next to door – show it!"
Quickly jumping to the shelf, he was shocked to find a picture in it.
"Since when?" he asked himself.
Holding it up, he saw that Lena's physical body has become slightly clearer than before as she kept her eyes on the picture.
"Thanks luv" she said, picking up a glass of water and drinking it.
"Why did you put the picture in there?"
"Hmm?"
"How else would you know there is a picture there?"
"Doesn't matter… It is only a temporary fix"
"What do you mean?"
"Years ago I found out if I can focus on something, I can stick around a bit longer than usual"
"And when did you plan to tell me this?" Winston asked, slightly annoyed that this piece of information is not shared.
She merely shrugged and picked up a piece of chocolate, occasionally looking at the picture.
"I do have one question… What happened to Agong?"
"Who?"
"The terrorist you are fighting in London, what happened to him?"
"I… Do not know… The moment you called I left the scene" Winston admitted.
*Italy: Alps*
Lox was rudely awoken from the sounds of terrible coughs, though he kept himself still and eyes shut somehow.
"What's going on?" he thought, trying to get back to sleep.
But the coughing escalated and is now accompanied by someone hastily unzipping a bag.
"Where's Quillion?" he thought.
He opened his eyes by a fraction, too tired and cold to move despite the possibility of an intruder.
To his surprise, it is Quillion who is rummaging through the medkit, a hand over his mouth to stifle the cough.
Lox was about to ask what is going on when he found what he was looking for.
Pulling out one of the Health Packs, he quickly unscrews the top and extracted its contents with a syringe, which he quickly injected into his chest so quickly it looked like he stabbed himself.
Taking a few deep breaths, Quillion's body relaxed. Once the pain is gone, he limped towards the fire and threw the syringe into it.
Hawking, he spat into the fire, to which Lox noticed there is a slight scent of blood in the air.
Cursing, Quillion reached into the bag once again and pulled out one of the scanners from the Medical Bay.
"Status: Seek Immediate Medical Attention, potential life-threatening damages detected" the scanner announced, though muffled by a cloak.
"Great…" he heard Quillion groan as he gathered up everything and place it back into the bag.
Lox is now wide awake, torn between the decision to reveal himself and advise Quillion to stop the mission, or to trust in his so called "enhanced body" to be able to repair the damage.
"He did just inject himself with the Health Pack" he thought.
He was worried when Quillion pulled out another item from the pack but was relieved to see that it is his listening device that Lena found him with.
Putting the earpieces into his ears, Quillion turned up the volume and began singing softly with the music.
We're no strangers to love…
Drifting back to sleep, Lox began to have doubts that that this mission may not be as easy as pitched.
Morning came and Quillion woke him up with a nudge from his feet.
"Wake up, time to move"
He opened his eyes and instantly regretted it as the glare from the ice is unbearable.
"Mind lending me your shades?" he mumbled.
Rolling his eyes, Quillion threw him his pair.
"That's it?" Lox suddenly said out loud.
"What?"
"I've always thought there's some interesting features in here, but all I see is the time and date"
"Sometimes that's all you need"
They collected their things and walked out of the cave, where Sombra is waiting.
"Both of you had a good rest?" Sombra asked, sitting on a boulder.
"What's the plan?" Quillion asked immediately, not wanting to waste any more time.
Sombra was taken aback at his forwardness but quickly shrugged it off to regain control of the situation.
"Easy there amigo, once we-"
"The plan. Now. Or we are leaving" he threatened, his hands ready on his rifle.
"Well, looks like he may be useful after all" Widowmaker said, watching them from afar with her scope.
"Fine, we are going to meet up with one more guy, then we will go after them okay?" Sombra continued, ignoring her.
"Where is he and when?"
"He said he just arrived near the mountain, he will be here within the hour"
After an uncomfortable but brief silence, Quillion relaxed.
"Guess you didn't need to wake up after all" he said to Lox.
"We never told you to wake him up" she said.
"You told us we will only be here for the night, night has gone"
With that, he excused himself by climbing a slope, leaving an annoyed Sombra and Lox alone.
"I'm sorry but… Have we ever met before?" he asked.
"No" she snapped, looking the other direction.
"Oh okay…" he said, looking around awkwardly where he stood.
"Are you sure though?" he asked again, looking back but saw that she had already disappeared.
"What?"
He looked around frantically, not knowing she merely turned invisible where she sat.
"Want me to take care of him?" Widowmaker asked, her crosshairs at his head.
She shook her head.
"You are not becoming soft on me, are you?"
She laughed when Sombra gave her the finger.
Half and hour passed before Quillion came back.
"Any sign of him?" he called out.
"No one, not since you left"
Quillion looked around and sat down across Lox.
"What do you think our chances of success are?" Lox asked, trying to pass the time.
"Things will work out, if not then I'll make it work"
"Really now?" Lox snorted.
They waited a little longer before Lox spoke again.
"You feeling alright there?"
"How do you mean?"
"I mean… You didn't sleep at all last night, was wondering if you are in any pain"
At those words Quillion suddenly stood up, pulling his pistol out of its holster.
"Wait wha-?" Lox began.
Quillion ignored him and advanced, his features dangerous.
"Wait! Stop! I'm sorry alright?!" Lox shouted, cowering before Quillion as he raised his pistol.
"Don't shoot!" Sombra shouted, reappearing out of nowhere.
Too little. Too late.
Bullets barked from his pistol and flew straight into a large man lumbering through the snow, hitting their marks with deadly accuracy, exploding upon impact.
Everyone froze at the sudden violence, staring at the smoking body laid out on the snow.
"What have you done?!" Sombra shouted at him.
"He is not an ally" Quillion said, holstering his pistol.
"Well, I would say the same for you" the man said, sitting back up with a groan.
Angered, Quillion tried to reach for his gun again, but this time Sombra stood in front of him.
"We. Need. Him." she said, emphasizing each word.
"My love? Where are you?" Agong shouted, dusting off the snow and ash off his armor.
"Quiet! Do you want to start an avalanche?" Sombra scolded.
"Why not? We can build a giant snowman!"
"Mon Dieu… Let me kill him please" Widowmaker said.
"Everyone just chill! We just need you all to co-operate for a few days then you can all kill each other!"
"I am not working with a terrorist" Quillion shouted.
"She wants me dead?! Why? Is this what they mean when couples fight for no reason?!" Agong exclaimed in apparent anguish.
Widowmaker gritted her teeth in anger as she places her crosshairs directly at his meaty face, her finger tightening on the trigger.
She could end it all right now…
"Why are you even here? I thought you want to kill her!" Quillion shouted, pointing at Sombra.
"Ahh, you see, I still want to kill her, but my sweetheart asked me not to"
Quillion blinked. No way he can be serious, this had to be a trick.
"You do not believe me? Then truly you have never been in love!" Agong said with a strange air of triumph.
Under normal circumstances, Quillion would've let it slide, but the accusation struck a cord.
"You take that back" he said, this time pulling out a knife.
Agong looked at the knife and merely shrugged.
"Fine fine… I'm tired anyway" he said, raising his hands in mock surrender.
Reluctantly, he sheathed the knife.
"Now that we've introduced ourselves… Can I tell you guys what the plan is?"
He and Agong nodded while Lox remained on the floor, not moving since Quillion fired his weapon.
"Good, the plan is-"
"Where is my love? She should be here" Agong interjected, causing Quillion to reach for his knife again.
Do they really need this man-child?
"She can hear us I assure you"
Agong nodded and pulled out a Snickers bar from his pocket. Soon a loud crunching sound is heard as Sombra finally began her presentation, opening her palm and showing a structure before them.
"Widowmaker will go back to base as usual, she will be our spy inside" Sombra said, a purple stick appearing in the hologram.
"We will be stationed in Pisa to wait for more information regarding our targets"
Quillion waited for her to continue but she didn't, closing her palm and the image disappears.
"That's it? I thought you know where they are!"
"I know where all of them will be, but we cannot take them all on at the same time!"
"I did!"
"You have no idea the luck you had when you faced them"
"You don't even know how I beat them"
"That grenade was pure luck and you know it!"
"I… Wait… How did you know I used a grenade?"
"Uh oh…" Widowmaker said.
Though her features are calm, Sombra panicked, trying to think of a reason until she saw what Lox is wearing.
"The glasses, you think I haven't been watching?"
"I thought you were dealing with the sniper?"
"Multitask amigo"
Accepting the reason, Quillion weighed his options.
All he knew is that the Talon agents are in Italy, but not the city. The way Sombra desc, the three of them seem to be together all the time, so Widowmaker will let them know when is the best time to strike.
"Does this mean the base is somewhere near Pisa? Or is it in Pisa itself?"
At this moment, his best chance to find them quickly will be to follow this group of terrorists and assassins.
"Fine… When shall we depart?"
"How soon can you fly?" Sombra asked Lox.
"A…Anytime…"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"