A Helping Hand
"Come on, you should remember these streets. Closest centre should be right here" Widowmaker hissed through her teeth as she continued to claw her way through the alleyways. She had been walking for a couple of hours now, but it felt like an eternity with the sun blazing down from above. Of course, today of all days had to have perfect weather without a cloud in the sky.
In truth she was more annoyed at herself not being able to locate one of the local hospices or charity centres, a place that would have basic medical supplies she could use. This was Paris, a city she had visited multiple times long ago. A city she had performed in and a city she had loved back when she could feel such things. But…accessing those memories was hard. They hurt worse than the pain she was in right now, and she didn't dare tap into them for help. Instead she tried to remember the map that was included in her briefing. The briefing she left on the ship as per Talon protocol.
"I am going to have some words with Gabriel when I get back. Get that imbécile to change that protocol" grumbled under her breath as she made yet another turn on her search for a place where she could give herself a basic level of treatment. This, of course, was when she heard a door open behind her and someone stepping out.
Instantly she snapped to action, ready to fight as she spun on her heel expertly as if she hadn't just fallen off a building at least 13 floors tall. As she spun, she readied herself to kick whoever had surprised her, given that her gun was broken, and sent her foot flying into the face of the person she was now facing.
Or at least she would have, if the person wasn't much shorter than anticipated. "Bonjour madam. Uhhhhh, what are you doing?" said a voice from below her foot, a young voice speaking fluent French, which was to be expected. She slowly lowered her foot back down to the ground while mentally chastising herself, she had been so absorbed in her complaints about Gabriel that she hadn't heard the boy walking to the door, let alone his light footsteps that would have gave away his age.
Looking down at the boy she saw what looked to be a child of roughly 7 years of age with light brown hair that was short in length, yet messy in the way that only kids seem to achieve. His eyes were perhaps the most striking feature about him being a deep green, and were the thing she first noticed as they stared up at her in confusion and a little bit of curiosity. "Why's your skin blue?"
Widowmaker just frowns a little more and starts to walk away, now having to limp slightly from the strain of her kick. Internally she was cursing her weakness, and hated how inadequate she felt. "None of your business, go back to your parents."
"But you look hurt! We have a first aid kit inside"
That got her attention. She paused and turned to face the child again, and does her best to make her scowl go away. If she's to get that first aid kit, she needs to play nice. That's what she reasons as she walks back over to him. "You do? Well I would…. appreciate using it" she says, trying to find the correct way to word her phrases. This child could give her exactly what she needs, but scaring him off now would be disastrous. "What is your name, little one?"
The child smiles and grabs her hand to pull her inside, seemingly too excited at having met someone new to notice how cold her hands were or the slight yelp of surprise as she gets unexpectedly pulled along. "Fabrice! Please come with me!"
Widowmaker grumbles slightly again as she gets pulled inside the building, only to tense up as she notices that it's a clinic. "Must have opened up while I was…" she idly muses to herself as she regains control of her movement and stops being dragged along by Fabrice, instead walking with him if somewhat slowly.
As she gets dragged further in, she gets more uncomfortable from knowing that the second she came in she couldn't leave without causing a scene. And a dead child tends to attract the wrong kind of attention which she is not equipped to deal with right now. But another fact is gnawing away at her.
She's a wanted terrorist. A criminal and a murderer. Not only that but before she was forged anew, she was a semi known public figure with…him…being such a prominent member of Overwatch and her own ballet performances. It was highly likely that whoever is running this clinic could recognise her, not that her distinctive outfit, blue skin, tattoos and the broken Widow's Kiss on her back are helping her ability to remain anonymous. But it was too late for that now, already Fabrice had led her to a waiting room that was thankfully empty.
The room itself was welcoming enough, with a large window to the street and chairs that were actually decently comfy to sit on. The table in the middle of the room had a modest collection of different holo-magazines and newspaper pads on them. As Fabrice ran out of the room, she noticed one newspaper with the headline "SNIPER STILL AT LARGE", and her blood froze as she quickly snatched it and began to read.
Straight away she could tell the newspaper was one of the more legitimate broadsheets because of the more factual basis compared to more tabloid papers. It went on to detail the attempted assassination of Arnou Cinq-Mars late last night, and how the suspected shooter was the known marksman and terrorist known as Widowmaker due to camera footage from the hotel showing her. It strangely didn't mention anything about the person who shot at her, which was a cause of mild irritation. The bigger concern besides the story however, was the fact that it included an image of her front and centre.
Glancing around, Widowmaker quickly set to hiding the pad so that on the off chance the person running the clinic didn't recognise her she wouldn't be given away. Eventually she settled on hiding it behind the radiator in the corner of the room, it slotting away neatly and catching about halfway down after which she returned to her seat. "There, one less complication. Now, what about you?"
Pulling Widow's Kiss off her back, she looked at it as she spoke while contemplating where to hide the broken weapon. Her outfit was impossible to deal with, but at least it didn't scream "killer" when looked at.
It was then of course that the door burst open and Fabrice and the man clearly in charge of this clinic walked in. He was an older man, looking around the age of 50 to 60 years old with a full head of greying hair and a small moustache. Underneath his doctors coat he was wearing a green sweater, and brown trousers. His ID badge identified him as a Dr Hervé Vaux and, as he pushed up his glasses and gave a slightly nervous straightening of his coat, he stepped forward and gave a smile. "Hello Madam Widowmaker, it seems my son has found you in need of aid"
Chapter End
Welp, she got recognised despite her efforts to avoid exactly that. But it would have been unreasonable for her to not be recognised right after an attempted assassination attempt she's suspected of being involved in.
Do please leave any and all criticism in the reviews, as god do I need it. Hope you enjoyed my scrawling's.
See you next chapter.
