All The Time In The World!
#E10
A rush of adrenaline shot through her body, nothing Lena Oxton was too unaccustomed to in life-or-death/fight-or-flight situations. But considering the situation now, she tried telling herself it was unnecessary. Not like he was trying to kill her.
"Pay attention, Oxton!" her opponent called out. A wide arc motioning of his arm and three black-red shuriken flew towards her. Snapping back to her reality, Tracer imagined in her mind she was no longer in their path and her body reacted, leaving a trail of blue light. The shuriken stuck themselves through the solid ground.
"Almost had me there, Genji!" she laughed. Her control over her amazing power was improving daily. Ever since her successful mission defending King's Row from an Omnic onslaught, her confidence scaled higher and higher. Nothing could touch her! "All thanks to a certain, brilliant scientist gorilla! I owe him all the peanut buttered bananas in the universe. Hopefully when he's back in town from Gibraltar." Tracer mused.
Red eyes flashed in front of her face and two solid blows from the cyborg Shimada connected to her stomach. The force of it made her stumble and fall backwards.
"If you're going to stay light on your feet, at least make sure you notice when your enemy is about to strike you, Tracer. I imagine the combination of the two would make it easier on you, harder on them," Genji taunted.
Tracer huffed and blinked to Genji's right, taking aim with her pulse pistols, on a less lethal setting, of course. Blue energy pellets fired from her weapons, moving faster than one could follow, but the cyborg effortlessly somersaulted out of harm's way. Her shots hit the nigh-indestructible glass that protected the audience of five. Three more shuriken embedded themselves were she no longer was.
"Remember, you two! This is just a spar, go easier on each other, Genji," Dr. Angela Ziegler spoke pointedly through the Danger Room's speakers, her ageless brow creased with concern.
"I think the Hero of King's Row can take more than Shimada's handing out, Angela," said Blackwatch's commander Gabriel Reyes. He had a smirk on his face from observing his friend's worry.
"He's right, you know," said Overwatch's commander Jack Morrison. He ran a hand through his blond hair. "Her power should more than enough bridge the experience gap between herself and him. If she were paying attention, that is."
"I am paying attention! Sir!" she exclaimed backflipping and blinking past the projectiles aimed for her. She returned fire, spraying and praying for a lucky shot, but no such luck.
"Oh, yeah. She's definitely a winner," Reyes replied.
"Ha, ha! How exciting!" came from the mighty Reinhardt Wilhelm. The towering man gave all his attention to the two fighters. "Blackwatch's finest warrior against Overwatch's brightest! Oh, when can I see a match between you and Commander Morrison, Reyes?"
"Are you kidding?" Reyes laughed. "Think we all know how'd that go."
"Please say you're kidding, Reinhardt," Dr. Ziegler interjected. Reinhardt shrugged and shared a smile.
"I don't think Overwatch could survive any fight between Gabriel and I," Morrison joked.
"Exactly, that's what I meant," said Reyes. "Sorry, Crusader. This'll have to do for you."
"This is just a sparrin' match, yeah?" asked Jesse McCree. "Not the start of some kinda "proxy war" between you and the boss man, boss man?"
Reyes smirked. "Afraid it's as plain as it looks, McCree. Just some entertainment, nothing more."
"Right, right," McCree said, absentmindedly cleaning his Blackwatch revolver. He did manage to give the spar more than a passing glance, however. "That Oxton lady knows how to dodge, I'll give 'er that."
As the fight continued, Tracer couldn't believe the abundance of energy she had. Her acrobatics weren't taking a toll like she was used to them taking. "Adrenaline, you can't even feel the pain!" she recalled the song lyric in her head. Was Genji eyeing her with suspicion? "I promise I'm not juicing, bro."
"At least he looks like he's having fun. I'll bet he's smiling under his faceplate."
"Yo, Shimada! Are you having fun at least?" the cadet asked her practice foe.
Another leap, a front flip, more shuriken from Genji. He paused before bending one robo-knee and hyperextending his other cybernetic leg against the Danger Room's silvery matted floor. "I was hoping for more of a challenge from you, Oxton."
Tracer's smile didn't waver. "Well, I'm having fun." She gave a front flip of her own and mimicked Genji's stretching. Her opponent's thick eyebrows furrowed, and she imagined he was staring at her with mild confusion.
"There's a lot less talking during these kinds of things, you know?". He sounded confused, so that helped her mental image.
"I know, I know. I promise, I'm working on it. It's just, I get so nervous during these kinds of things, I just start talking, and talking, and talking, and some more talking. Even with the talking with my hands that sets the Commander off a bit," Tracer said with a quick gesturing of her hands. "I can't help it. It's not all bad though, I find it helps distract my fearsome foes, so no one sees me go for the Pulse Bomb!" she finished, while preparing to throw her signature and favorite gadget.
"No explosives allowed," said Reyes, Morrison, and Ziegler in unison, Morrison and the doctor sounding more forceful. Tracer gave a light sigh while Reinhardt began to argue for its use. Immediately realizing it was futile, she settled to continue a barrage of blue pellets. She thought she heard Genji chuckle as he deflected the rounds.
"Yes," he began. "It makes for a great tactic!". Almost imperceptible was his wrist flick, a single shuriken launched upwards from behind his back caught Tracer's attention. She eyed its rise with suspicion before realizing it wasn't what she should be focusing on. "Oh, damn it!" she thought as he leaped at her.
"Visual misdirection," he spoke as he used a combination of his strength and dexterity to disarm her of one of her pulse pistols from her grasp and aimed it at her forehead. "Works better for me in my line of work."
Her eyes widened as he pulled the trigger and a flash of blue sparked out.
"Left!" she shouted in her mind. That familiar brief sense of weightlessness returned, and she was left as she wanted. "Getting a bit reckless, are we? Tryin' to take my head off now?".
"Be sure of yourself! This is on a safer setting, right?" Genji asked before tossing it aside. He rolled his neck and stretched his arms before reaching the wicked sharp blade attached to his back.
Tracer couldn't help but stop herself to watch. When he drew the sword and spun it in his grasp, a single green dragon followed the sword's arc. It was arguably the coolest thing Tracer had ever seen and she thought just about everything involving Overwatch was cool.
"How does that thing work?! Is it like a hard-light technology ala Vishkar or is it… magic?". "Shimada, how do you turn the dragon on? Is it tech or magic?" she asked excitedly. He might be about to skewer her, but she couldn't help it.
He studied the blade briefly. The curved black and red monstrosity seemed to weigh his on his mind more than his body. "Only a Shimada can control the dragons," he said solemnly. "And I think I'll keep you guessing about its nature." Her foe broke into a sprint right for her and let his blade swish through the air at her.
Tracer's eyes widened as the arc fell at her. She ducked low and blinked underneath Genji's legs. "Wait! I can't chuck a tiny little bomb, but he gets to swing his sharpened glow stick?"
"Live for the thrill, Tracer!" called Reinhardt from the speakers. He gave her a thumbs-up.
"Oh, whatever," she muttered. "The very least you could've said that one line you like." She braced as he shoved her back and swung at her again.
"You know the one, Genji! Ryuoko jin-!" Tracer interrupted herself with a fake and harsh hacking cough. "Yeah, I said that right. Right?" The green dragon past through the matted floor as Genji's blade cut through the ground. A tracing of blue danced all around him. From behind, she gave him a solid shoulder charge and staggered him.
"Wait, is that just a hologram? Lame!" Blink.
"Would you silence yourself!" Another wide arc. Blink.
"No, you!" she retorted with zest. Another blink. Genji studied her pattern well and placed a kick right to her chronal accelerator.
"No!" exclaimed Tracer. "My chronal accelerator!" Genji paused, eyeing her with mild concern.
"I'm melting!" she quickly followed, one hand clutching her chest, the other writhing in mock pain. Genji flicked his wrist and three more shuriken flew at her.
"Uh oh." Once more, Tracer blinked… right next to her discarded pulse pistol. Her smile grew. "And now, for the grand big finish!" She closed her eyes and focused. Shimada's light footsteps were closing on her. Her mind showed her exactly where she was standing seconds ago, and she willed herself to return there. The familiar weightlessness came…
…but didn't leave her. She opened her eyes and was astounded to see the room she was in was a blue hue. Everything was blue. Genji was blue, his dragon and sword were blue, the captivated audience of five was blue, everything was blue. Except for her. Her silvery grey and orange training uniform kept its own colors.
"Absolutely wicked…" she whispered. Her wonder quickly shifted to worry as she realized it wasn't ending. This was completely wrong!
"Be calm, Lena…hold it together. You're fine, everything is fine." She examined her lifesaving chronal accelerator and found no signs of damage. "This is fine…"
She decided to wait out this strange event. What else could she do? Fly from the Danger Room to Gibraltar? "Well, I could if I were having a regular, boring malfunction. But this is something else."
She guessed minutes had passed before her body began floating and retracing all the steps she took around the frozen Shimada. It was dizzying and oddly beautiful to spin and look up at the ceiling and have the almost blinding blue lights stare back.
"Beautiful... wait!". The most brilliant plan Tracer ever conceived formed in her mind. As her amazing Recall worked its magic, Tracer took aim with her pulse pistols and fired at her foe. 20 rounds left both of her pistols, but slowly wormed their way towards their target. Curious, she gave her signature gunslinger spin and her pistols reloaded, readied for more firing. She continued the process of firing, reloading, and firing until you could barely see Genji mid-footfall.
"Might sting him, but that oughta fix his steely eyed glares! Hope I didn't overdo it…"
In the span of one breath, the world returned to its nature colors, Tracer was placed far out of reach from Genji's blade arc, and 120 pulse pistol rounds hit their mark on his cybernetic body.
"AGH!" his pained howl echoed, as they peppered his body. He fell to one knee, then both knees and let his sword fall from his grasp.
Tracer's eyes widened at her fallen foe. She looked at her own hands before dropping her weapons and running to his side. Seconds passed and the angelic healer was by both of their sides. Her impressive caduceus glowed yellow as a stream of glowing nanites rushed into Genji's body, healing his bruised and fatigued form.
"Holy shit, lady! How'd the hell did you do that?" the southern gunslinger questioned.
"I-I don't know!" she exclaimed as Morrison, Reinhardt, and McCree crowded her. "It's like… like…"
She felt lightheaded.
Tracer stumbled and found herself in the grasp of the boisterous Crusader. "Watch yourself, my friend. Looks to me you've done a number on yourself as well as Genji!"
"Too much, all of this. All of you," Mercy muttered.
"I am fine!" the cyborg exclaimed. He cast her a guarded look. "I've never seen you move like that before. Completely imperceptible to my eyes." He rose to his feet rather quick causing his legs to give out. McCree shouldered his weight easy enough but remarked on how heavy the cyborg was. "What was that burst? Where are you keeping that…" he paused and cast a glance at the stream still connected to his body. "…I am fine, Dr. Ziegler. What was that, Oxton?"
"I still don't know! Ask again in like, a week when Winston's available. He's my guy on all this timey-wimey stuff."
Now the healing stream and all eyes were on the young cadet. Lena met Reyes' amused eyes.
"May need to switch rosters, Jack. This one here…" he said, pointing at the youngest of the group. "She's got a lot more hidden potential than we all thought."
"And let O'Deorain get her claws on her? That sound good to you, Tracer?" her commander addressed her.
Tracer tilted her head and clicked her tongue. "Can't say that it is, sir."
"No, you'd much rather join the Crusaders and carry a massive rocket hammer!" exclaimed Reinhardt. Tracer patted his gigantic bicep and then gestured to her own.
"But my arms, they are small. And rocket hammers are taller than McCree."
"Hey now, I'm an innocent bystander!" McCree protested.
"Innocent?" Reyes inquired.
"Yes. Innocent."
"Lena," Mercy called her attention. "How are you feeling now?"
Tracer stared herself up and down and around. She smiled. That massive drain she felt was gone. She flexed her arms.
"Catchphrase!"
Well, at least Reinhardt laughed.