AN: I know this chapter came a bit quickly, but it's here, so... enjoy!
Life since the attack was mostly anticlimactic. Every day was the same. Get up, eat, train, eat, exercise, maybe go to the meeting room, eat, go to sleep. Just like my former life at Talon. Days passed, until it was finally Monday. The day of the first mission.
"Agents of Overwatch," the female robotic voice, called Athena, called out from speakers throughout the HQ. "Reinhardt, Orisa, Bastion, Widowmaker, Junkrat, and Mercy, please prepare for your upcoming mission. Report to the shipping bay in fifteen minutes. Ammunition for your weapons is waiting inside the ship."
I had been waiting for this. I was in the cafeteria, eating, so I quickly finished my meal and stood. I began walking toward my room, and I passed by Junkrat, who was already geared up. I opened the door to my room and entered, changed into my sniper suit, checked my venom mines and grappling hook, grabbed my sniper rifle which held my last personal ammo, and stepped outside my room, closing the door behind me. I walked down the hall, then past the cafeteria and Winston's workshop, into the shipping bay. A large airship sat in the center of the room. Reinhardt, Junkrat and Mercy were already waiting. I approached and stood next to them. Junkrat was tossing a frag from his left hand to his right hand. Mercy and Reinhardt stood relatively still. Soon enough, Bastion and Orisa had arrived.
"Please board the ship. Further instructions will be given inside the ship." Athena directed us. We climbed the steps into the ship, and a hatch closed behind us. It was a bit different from the ship that had brought us here: it was smaller, more aerodynamic, the walls had advanced armor inside and out, and there were several crates of ammunition set against the wall opposite us. One for each weapon of each hero.
I followed the others to the crates and found mine. There were two with my name on them. The first was filled to the brim with bullets. More than I had ever had at one time. My bloodthirstiness bathed in the sight of all these bullets. I picked up a handful and let them drop out between my fingers until only one remained. It was the exact type of bullet that I always used. I dropped it into the container and closed the lid, opening the other one. This one held Venom Mines. I was already stocked full of those, so I grabbed some extra ammunition from the first crate.
Athena's voice sounded throughout the ship. "Taking off. Destination: Route 66," and the engines hummed to life. I felt a slight lurch as the ship lifted off the ground. It turned around as the bay door opened, and zoomed out.
A few moments later, a 3-dimensional holographic map of our destination, Route 66, appeared in the center of the room. Athena had us gather around it and began displaying our mission.
"The Uprisers are escorting a bomb through this area. If they reach their destination, they will launch it toward our HQ in hopes of wiping us out. You must stop them." An arrow appeared, showing the estimated path of the payload. "The bomb will defuse if left in the payload long enough. Hold out until that happens. Then, quickly load into the ship. The payload will stop moving if you stand on or nearby it. Good luck."
Over the next hour, we planned how we wanted to approach this situation. Reinhardt, Junkrat, and Mercy would move down the road until they encountered the enemy. Then, Reinhardt would activate his shield, Junkrat would fire upon the enemy, getting damage boosts from Mercy, and when Reinhardt's shield breaks, Mercy would heal him from any possible damage while they all get behind cover. Meanwhile, Orisa and Bastion would try to flank and end up on the payload, Orisa's shield providing Bastion with enough cover to defend the payload in turret mode. I would try to move around until I found a good sniping position, place a Venom Mine in a convenient location, and assist the rest of the team.
When we arrived, the ship dropped us off. Everyone rushed to their positions. I found a thin bridge over the road. There was a tunnel in the mountain to my right that I could retreat to. I pointed my arm toward the bridge and activated my grappler. It took hold and pulled me up. As soon as I landed, I took aim, while Reinhardt, Junkrat, and Mercy advanced underneath my position. Upriser soldiers streamed into view. They climbed onto the payload, some sitting, oblivious to the lurking danger ahead of them.
Then they caught sight of Reinhardt's shield… but too late. Junkrat had already fired a bomb. It exploded near the payload, sending soldiers flying. With cries of pain and surprise, guns went up, and bullets began to pepper against Reinhardt's shield. Junkrat continued firing. I aimed toward the crowd on the payload, found the head of what looked to be a high-ranking soldier, with golden stripes on his shoulders, and fired. Bright red blood spurted from the small hole in the man's forehead. By that time, I was focused on another head. I charged. I shot. Another kill. People began noticing and firing at me, so I moved to the right where they couldn't see me. Cries of pain rang out as Junkrat fired more bombs.
After a couple of seconds, I emerged again and hurled a Venom Mine at the payload. It landed square on the chest of a soldier near the one I had shot, releasing its gas with a hiss. Soldiers began coughing and keeling over as the gas found its way into their noses and mouths.
Orisa emerged from the left and placed a shield on the ground. Bastion stood behind the shield, switched into turret mode, and opened fire on the remaining soldiers on the payload. They fired back, but their bullets were met by the shield. The frightened soldiers climbed over each other to take cover behind the payload, giving me and Junkrat a perfect line of sight. We opened fire with a frenzy, cutting down soldiers. The panicked enemies had nowhere to hide. Suddenly, Reinhardt muttered something to Junkrat and Mercy, and deactivated his shield. He activated the booster on his back, and charged the enemies, hurtling toward them with an undodgeable speed. With a sickening squelch and a massive explosion of blood, he plowed through the soldiers. Bodies, limbs, and parts of them were sent flying in all directions. Reinhardt's armor was covered in blood and bits of flesh. He took one look at his armor and promptly ripped his helmet off and emptied his lunch on the ground.
No one remained but us six Overwatch agents. We all climbed on the payload, shared pats on the back, something that I found a waste of time and energy, and let the payload slowly move backward.
At one point, a helicopter came into view in the sky, guns blazing, but Reinhardt and Orisa blocked its bullets. Bastion fired his large turret barrel, shattering the windshield, and a perfectly timed bomb from Junkrat, which landed inside the helicopter, made it explode, crashing to the ground with a satisfying crunch. Junkrat took a minute to search through the destroyed helicopter, scavenging bits of metal, wire, and other scraps that he could use on future projects.
After a couple of minutes, the bomb hissed and steam seeped out, signaling that it had been defused. We jumped off the payload and boarded the ship, which had landed nearby to pick us up. The latch closed behind us, we emptied our leftover ammunition into our crates, and the ship took off to the HQ.
"Arriving at Overwatch Headquarters," Athena announced. The ship landed in the bay with a soft thud. The latch hissed and opened up. We exited the ship. Luckily, the inside of the ship had a place to clean off your gear, so all signs of Reinhardt's gory charge were nonexistent. Reinhardt, Mercy, Junkrat, and I headed off to our rooms in order to change back into regular clothes, while Bastion and Orisa headed off to do their own thing. I entered my room, changed back into regular clothes, and left, closing the door behind me. It was about time for my evening meal. I made my way to the bay. From there, there were doors to the hallway with the doors to every agent's room, a set of double-doors to the cafeteria, more doors for hallways that branch off into other parts of the HQ, and the entrance to Winston's workshop. I pushed open the door to the cafeteria and stepped inside. Most of the agents were already there, eating and talking. I made my way around tables and people, toward the counter. I was almost there when I passed by Lena, who was sitting at a table, her meal in front of her. She was watching something on her phone. Curiously, I backtracked to watch. A woman wearing all white was twirling around on a stage, moving gracefully. It was interesting to watch. An obvious waste of time an energy, yes, but an interesting act nonetheless.
"What is this?" I asked after a minute.
Tracer jumped, dropping her phone on the table. She quickly scrambled to shut it off. "Ah… Hi! Widowmaker! What did you say?"
"What was that? That woman? What was she doing?"
"Uh…" Lena stuttered, "She was, uh, doing a thing... that people do… you wouldn't know."
"Hmm." Clearly I was not getting the full story. "And what is it… that 'people do'?"
Lena sighed in defeat. "Ballet," she said. "It's called ballet. It's a form of dancing. She was particularly good. One of the best. And my favorite."
"What is her name?" I asked.
"Ah… Funny enough, her name's Amelie. Just like you!" Lena replied, nervousness creeping into her voice.
I was interested in watching this woman myself. "And her last name?"
Lena's eyes went wide as she stammered, "Uh… well, that's not important is it?"
It was now clear that she was holding something back. "Tell me."
"Fine," she said. "It's Lacroke. Lacroke, yeah." She awkwardly turned back to her phone, avoiding eye contact with me, and tapped the video for it to continue playing. As she did this, the name of the video appeared momentarily at the top of the screen: Amelie Lacroix: Best Performance!
I gasped and my heart skipped a beat. Probably two, really. Amelie Lacroix. That was my name. This ballet dancer… she was me.
I forgot all about getting food and bolted out of the cafeteria. I was beginning to feel lightheaded. I ran full tilt to my room, burst inside, not bothering to close the door, and flipped open my laptop. I opened a search browser and searched for Amelie Lacroix. I found a website, titled Amelie Lacroix: Her history and Talon transformation. I clicked on it, and read.
As I progressed further into the website, I began to feel more and more sick. I used to be a ballet dancer, one of the best, until Talon captured me and filled me with all sorts of chemicals. My heart rate became slower, I felt no emotions. I had been turned into the perfect killing machine. Two weeks later, I had killed my husband in his sleep, and had been used on missions ever since.
Suddenly, memories began to flood back into my brain. Memories of my husband. My friends. My old life. Everything I ever had and knew: My old cat, my house, my favorite food. And my headache grew and grew the more I remembered. My eye began to twitch and my nose bled substantially. Because I was experiencing something I hadn't felt in over a decade: emotion.
I put my hands to my head. The pain, both physically and mentally, was unbearable. I cried out in pain, anger at Talon, and sorrow for what I had lost. I screamed, a horrible, broken scream, and then the world went black.
I woke up lying in a hospital bed, Angela sitting in a chair by my side. Standing on my other side was Doomfist, my former Talon commander and teammate.
"I came to make sure you were okay," He said.
Mercy put a calming hand on my shoulder, but it did nothing to help me. My memories still ran fresh in my blood. I screamed and spat at Doomfist.
"You erased me! You turned me into a weapon!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I tried to jump out of bed to punch him, but Angela grabbed my arms. "You took everything away from me! EVERYTHING! I will kill you!" I tore my arms out of Angela's grasp and lunged, but he grabbed me by my throat mid-air.
"NEVER attack your commander!" He yelled. Reinhardt, who had heard the noise, burst into the room. I socked Doomfist in the nose, one, two, three times, as he choked me. Reinhardt barreled into him with a yell, knocking him away and freeing me.
"You are not my commander!" I yelled at Doomfist. "I take no orders from you!" I lifted my foot to mash it into his face, but Reinhardt put his hands on my arms and pulled me back to the bed. Soldier 76 and McCree had entered by now, and as Doomfist rose and began to stride toward me, fists clenched, they grabbed his arms and dragged him away. More agents entered the room, assisting Soldier 76 and McCree or asking what had happened.
Mercy stood up and yelled, "Everyone get out! Out! Amelie needs her space!" The agents began to exit the room, dragging Doomfist with them, who was still spitting and cursing in my direction. His protests became muffled as Mercy closed and locked the door behind him.
I flipped over, buried my face in the pillow, and began to cry. Angela put her arm around me. After what must have been a quarter of an hour, I cried myself dry, and no more tears came out. I flipped onto my back and lay my head on my wet pillow, staring at the ceiling.
"Amelie," Angela said, "tell me what happened."
I took a moment to collect myself. "I… I saw Lena watching a ballet dancer on her… her phone, and I… I asked wh-who she was watching, she to-told me that it was Amelie La-Lacroke, but I saw that it was m-me, so I Googled myself, a-and then my memories came back… the ones they had taken a-away from me…" And that was all I could handle before I passed out again.
AN: I'm really enjoying writing this, and I hope you are enjoying reading it! If there's something you want me to add to this story, just leave a review!