Guardians Come in All Shapes and Form
Chap 6
"Ow dow how, hurr mph phrr." Pyro mumbled as it continued to run in the direction where the explosion came from as it waited for the thermal thrusters to regain their charges.
Yet, despite willing its legs to go faster and for the thermal thrusters to charge quicker, Pyro's mind was all but silent. However, it was not for the Engineer, how to get back home, or anything like that. Pyro was worried for Angela. Why it still didn't know. All Pyro knew was that it had to protect her as it did with Engineer's buildings. It just hoped it wasn't too late, as Pyro knew a person's life is not repairable like a sentry gun or dispenser.
Nearby Village
"Verdammt." Mercy cursed as the constant stream of bullets, and plasma shots forced her into cover.
If there was one thing Mercy had learned during her travels and time with Overwatch was that things can change very quickly and very unexpectedly. After dropping off Pyro at its home, Mercy and the rest of the Overwatch members headed toward Gibraltar. She certainly was looking forward to being back home. And the thought of sleeping in her bed along with a nice meal sounded like heaven to her. Although, Mercy did wonder if she could find time to meet Pyro again as she now knew where it lived. Yet, what still bugged her was how mysterious Pyro became when she mentioned certain things or asked what australium was. Mercy knew Pyro was lying when it told her it was similar to a geode. Mercy hoped Pyro would explain to her what Australium was the next she saw it.
Unfortunately, her musings were cut short when the Orca suddenly came under attack. Thankfully, Tracer, being the experienced pilot she is, managed to safely land the Orca in a relatively open field devoid of people or animals. And fortunately, no one was hurt besides a mild jostle due to the crash landing. However, before anyone could radio Winston for emergency extraction, Talon appeared and started firing at them, forcing everyone to retreat while returning fire. And because they were in an open field, they had no cover. Luckily, Reinhardt and Brigitte were with them so they could use their shields to block the incoming fire while they headed to the nearby village they saw for better cover.
But that didn't mean they were out of the woods just yet. While they now had sufficient cover, they still had to deal with Talon. Luckily, they had enough firepower to push Talon back. But it ultimately didn't matter. No matter how much ground they gained, they lost it moments later. And to top it off, it was the worst for Mercy. Each Talon agent seemed to be trying their best to kill her. Typically, Mercy would just accept her fate as the respawn machines would revive her at Gibraltar. However, they were currently out of the respawn machines' range, which meant she had to be extra careful. Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done, especially considering some of her teammates were reckless.
"I NEED HEALING!" Tracer shouted from across the battlefield.
"Damn it." Mercy said, narrowly avoiding getting a bullet to the face after peeking out of her cover. She then activated her comms to contact the other healers. "Zenyatta. Lucio. Can either of you heal Tracer? Talon has me pinned down."
"I am unable to do so, Mercy. I am currently assisting Pharah and Reaper." Zenyatta answered.
"I got it." Lucio shouted before skating into view and heading toward Tracer's location.
"Danke." Mercy said in relief.
"How are you holding up, Mercy?" Soldier 76 asked over comms.
"Not so good, I'm afraid. I lost my Caduceus Blaster when Talon shot it out of my hands and have nobody near me to protect me in case any Talon agents advance and discover me."
"Stay put. I'll come to you."
"Thank you, Jack."
"Anytime. We got-DAMN IT!" Soldier 76 began before cursing, with comms going silent a moment later.
"Verdammt. I guess I better-SHIT!" Mercy said before cursing and wildly swinging her Caduceus Staff at the Talon Trooper that snuck up on her. Typically, it wouldn't do much damage, but she managed to knock the Talon Agent out due to Zenyatta giving him an Orb of Discord. "Thank you, Zenyatta."
"Your welcome, Mercy. But you must get out of there as I saw three other Talon hostiles approaching your location."
"Alright. Thanks for telling me. I'll move to a better spot. Can someone give me cover?"
"WE GOT YOU, ANGELA!" Brigitte said as she and Reinhardt moved so they could cover Mercy with their shields better. Not wasting a moment, Mercy left her cover and ran as fast as possible toward where Tracer, Lucio, and Genji had grouped up. She would typically fly to them, but they were out of sight.
"MERCY! WATCH OUT! ASSASSIN!" Reinhardt shouted as two Talon Assassins effortlessly jumped over his and Brigitte's shields before running toward Mercy. Her eyes widened in fear as she turned around to try and defend herself. Unfortunately, the Assassin jumped on her and forced her to the ground before she could raise her Caduceus Staff. The second Assassin stopped right above her while two Talon Enforcers appeared on either side of her.
"MERCY!" The others shouted. They tried to save her, but Talon forced them to take cover.
'This is it.' Mercy thought as she closed her eyes. However, they snapped open when everyone heard what sounded like a miniature rocket nearby. But while everyone else was confused, Mercy recognized the sound. "Pyro?"
A moment later, everyone heard the sound again, followed by mumbling afterward. But before anyone could try and figure out what it was, a figure suddenly crashed into the Assassin that had pinned Mercy. And the force behind the landing created a small shockwave that sent the other Talon hostiles a good ten feet away and on their backs. Once everyone recovered from their shock, they realized it was the mysterious figure they had just dropped off.
"ARGH!" The Assassin underneath Pyro growled.
But the growling turned to pained screaming when Pyro covered the Assassin's face with its flamethrower and pulled the trigger. Once the Assassin stopped flailing and went limp, Pyro removed its flamethrower before turning to help Mercy to her feet.
'You okay, Medic?' Pyro signed.
"Yes. I'm fine now. Thank you, Pyro." Mercy answered, smiling before her eyes widened in fear when the other Talon hostiles got back to their feet. But before they could do anything, Pyro pulled out his Scorch Shot and fired a flare at the Enforcers on their right, causing them to catch on fire and burn to death. The other Assassin tried to attack Mercy from behind, but Pyro used his flamethrower's airblast to push the Assassin away but not before setting it on fire. The Enforcers on their left tried their luck next, but Pyro stopped them in their tracks by hitting them with its Sharpened Volcano Fragment. Once the Enforcers' bodies fell to the ground, Pyro grabbed Mercy and pulled her into cover as they were still out in the open.
"You okay, Mercy?" Lucio asked as he shifted to his healing music to heal any wounds Mercy might have.
"I'm fine, thanks to Pyro here." Mercy answered.
'What's going on? What happened?'
"Talon shot us down. How they found us, we don't know yet. Thankfully, no one died yet." Mercy answered.
"But that could soon change if we don't turn the tide soon." Reaper added as he entered their cover.
"WE COULD USE SOME HELP HERE! OUR SHIELDS ARE ALMOST DOWN!" Reinhardt shouted.
"I'm not sure if I should be asking this." Reaper said before turning to Pyro. "Do you think you can help us?"
'Alright.' Pyro signed as it took out its Degreaser and swapped its Scorch Shot for its detonator.
"Are you sure we should be letting Pyro help?" Genji nervously asked.
"Considering how quickly it took out the Talon Enforcers and Assassins, I'm sure it can help us turn the tide." Reaper answered, causing Tracer, Lucio, and Genji to become uneasy.
"I still don't like this." Tracer said.
'Neither do I, chica. That's why I'm staying invisible and as far away from that thing as possible.' Sombra added over comms.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Mercy asked Pyro while ignoring the others.
'Sure. Just stay close. Don't want you to get hurt.'
"I don't think that's a good idea, Mercy." Lucio said.
"I think it would be better if you stay here so we can protect you." Tracer added. Only to immediately shrink back along with the others when Pyro stared them down. It tightened its grip on its weapon while its breathing became heavier. And as it stared them down, Genji, Tracer, and Lucio felt an overwhelming amount of fear and dread rise in them.
'Ready, Medic.' Pyro signed, turning to her.
"Ready." Mercy said as she activated her staff and used it to heal Pyro.
Pyro nodded and motioned for Mercy to follow it closely as they left their cover. But instead of running straight for the Talon hostiles, they decided to flank by taking an alternate route devoid of enemies. After a few seconds, they were behind all the Talon Troopers and Enforcers. Seeing that they were still undetected, Pyro swapped its Degreaser for its Backburner as the extra damage would be helpful. But before going out, Pyro fired a flare from its detonator and had it explode once it was between the Talon Hostiles, setting them ablaze. And once they were busy trying to put themselves out, Pyro rushed out and used its flamethrower to finish the job. However, it made sure to stay in front of Mercy to ensure she didn't get hurt if any hostile tried to fire back. Luckily, Pyro didn't need to worry, as despite the enhancements Talon gave its forces, they failed to provide them with anything to protect them against fire.
'You okay, Medic?' Pyro signed as it and Mercy moved into a building to gather themselves. Although two Talon Assassins already occupied the building. But Pyro quickly dispatched them by forcing them into a corner with his flamethrower's airblast before killing them with the Axtinguisher.
"I'm fine." Mercy answered, turning away, so she didn't have to look at the bleeding corpses. While Pyro's way of dealing with enemies was effective, it was brutal and nearly made Mercy gag. She really wished she had her headphones or earplugs, so she didn't have to hear the pained screams of the Talon agents as they burned to death. Shaking her head, Mercy focused back to the present and activated her comms. "Is everyone alright? Pyro and I just finished clearing out some Talon."
"We're fine. You two clearing up the hostiles up front gave us some much-needed breathing room." Soldier 76 answered.
"But we can't move up as there are a couple of snipers out there. We need you to take care of them before we can come out. They are on the second floor of a few of the buildings." Reaper added.
"Okay. Pyro and I will deal with them." Mercy before turning off comms and turning to Pyro. "Did you catch that, Pyro?"
"Uh-huh."
"How are we going to take care of the snipers?"
'I think you might want to sit this one out.'
"Why? I can follow you, and I have no doubt you can protect me."
'I can, but one thing I know for sure is that snipers never leave their backs unprotected. And they probably have something guarding the only way to their position, so I'm going to take a different route.'
"What route?"
'With my detonator, I can use it to blast myself up the second floor.'
"Won't that hurt and set you on fire?"
'Yes, but I've done so plenty of time before, and my suit will prevent me from catching on fire. And this is why I want you to stay behind as if you try it; you'll only get hurt and get set ablaze.'
"Well, you don't have to worry about that. I can fly to any nearby ally as long as I can see them, even if they are on a higher elevation."
'Alright. But you might want to take a step back when I do so, as the flare explosion radius is a bit big.'
"Alright. Just tell me when." Mercy said as she activated her staff to heal Pyro.
Nodding, Pyro and Mercy left the building and headed toward where the snipers were. Thankfully, the snipers didn't see them as they focused on keeping the other Overwatch members pinned. Once they were behind the buildings the snipers were using, Pyro turned to Mercy and motioned for her to step back. Mercy nodded and took three steps back while Pyro grabbed its detonator, loaded a flare, and aimed it at its feet. Pyro fired the flare and crouch jumped simultaneously, causing the flare's explosion to send it to the second floor of the building. With Pyro on the second floor, Mercy used her Guardian Angel ability to fly to Pyro.
Once they were together, they quietly made their way to where the snipers were. Knowing that once it set the first sniper on fire, its screams would alert the other snipers, Pyro figured it would need some range, so it swapped its backburned for its Dragon Fury. Pyro also switched its detonator for the Scorch Shot as the knockback from its flare would temporarily hinder the sniper's movement.
"Pyro." Mercy whispered as they moved into position.
"Uh-huh?"
"I changed my Caduceus Staff setting so it would buff your attacks instead of healing you, so be careful."
"Finks."
Adjusting its grip on its weapon, Pyro rushed out of cover, with Mercy following it toward the oblivious snipers. Once they were in range, Pyro continuously fired his Dragon Fury at them. And with the combined additional damage of the Dragon Fury and Mercy's staff, the snipers went down almost instantaneously. But the pained screams of the first three snipers dying did alert the others. Four tried to defend themselves by pulling out pistols, while the last two attempted to escape. Yet they failed as Pyro shot two Scorch Shot flares at them, hindering their movements and setting them ablaze. Unfortunately, this allowed the other four snipers to fire a few rounds. However, Pyro grunted through the pain, kept moving forward, and quickly killed the remaining snipers as they underestimated the Dragon Fury's range.
"My healing stream is upon you, Pyro. And good work." Mercy said, smiling as she changed her Caduceus Staff from empowering to healing.
"Finks." Pyro said, rolling its shoulders as the pain left its body. While it wouldn't admit it aloud, even though most wouldn't understand it, Pyro liked Mercy's healing better as there was a warmth to it that was devoid in Medic's Medigun. Granted, Pyro figured that was a trade-off as it could tell Medic's Medigun was better than Mercy's staff.
"Angela. Did you and Pyro take care of the snipers?" Soldier 76 asked over comms.
"Yes. You can come up now." Mercy answered.
"From the Shadows." Reaper said as he appeared in a pillar of smoke on the building Pyro and Mercy were on, startling Pyro. "Are you two okay?"
"I'm fine. Pyro did take a few hits, but I healed them."
"How many weapons do you have?" Reaper asked, pointing to the Dragon Fury.
'Only a couple.' Pyro signed.
"I doubt that." Pyro simply shrugged before turning to Mercy.
'How are you going to get back home since you don't have a plane now?'
"Reaper?" Mercy asked.
"Sombra already sent a message to Winston to send another Orca to our location with reinforcements. They should be here any moment."
"That's good."
"But I have to ask." Reaper said, turning to Pyro. "Why are you here, and how did you find us?"
'Saw the explosion, came to help Mercy as I thought she was in trouble.'
"Well, I was in trouble and would have died had you not saved me, so thank you, Pyro." Mercy said, smiling.
'You're welcome, Medic.'
"Yeah, we nearly lost a valuable member of the team." Reaper said.
'Is it true, though?'
"Is what true?"
'That some members of your group abandon Mercy while in fights.'
"Unfortunately. Some of us do try and stay by Mercy's side, but it's sometimes difficult as we're needed elsewhere."
'At least some try and stay by her side.' Pyro signed, frustrated.
"Yeah. Anyway, now that we are in the clear, you can return to your home now. And thanks for the help."
'That's... going to be a bit difficult.'
"What do you mean? We dropped you off at your home, right? Or did we get the location wrong?" Mercy asked, curious.
'It's more complicated than that.'
"What do you mean?" Reaper asked, crossing his arms. Pyro let out a disgruntled mumble before steeling itself. But before it could begin to explain, a loud crash caught their attention. "That can't be good."
"WATCH OUT! THREE TALON HEAVY ASSAULT UNITS JUST DROPPED IN!" Reinhardt shouted over comms.
"We better get to cover quickly." Mercy said.
'What's happening?'
"Talon deployed some Heavy Assault units to try and take us out."
'What weapons do they have?'
"Assault units have a powerful exoskeleton and wield dual miniguns, one on each arm." Reaper answered.
'Sounds like an old teammate of mine.'
"Mercy did say you worked from some company where you had to kill others."
'Yes. I'll tell you another time. Right now, we need to deal with those Heavies.'
"No offense, Pyro. But I don't think you will be able to kill them with your flamethrower before they kill you." Mercy said.
"I can disable the Assault units for a few seconds so you and the thing can get close. But I don't think it will be enough for you two to kill them." Sombra said over comms.
"Please don't call Pyro a thing, Sombra." Mercy chided.
'That could work.' Pyro signed.
"Yeah, to get close. But the Assault units will still tear you to shreds in seconds once they can fire their weapons again." Reaper reminded.
'Then it seems we will need some extra firepower.' Pyro signed before taking out a futuristic-looking flamethrower.
"What's that?"
'A flamethrower I call the Phlogistinator. My teammates used to hate it whenever I used it as it has the ability to increase the damage I output.'
"But will it kill the Assault units?"
'Let's find out.' Pyro signed with a chuckle that greatly unnerved Reaper.
"Should I empower you or heal you?" Mercy asked.
'Empower. From what you two say, we'll need it.'
"Okay." Mercy said as she readied her staff.
"Sombra. Do it." Reaper ordered.
"On it, dad." Sombra said.
The three moved to the side of the building where they saw the Assault units firing at whatever they saw move. Soon they saw Sombra moving across the rooftops quickly before jumping into the air about ten feet away from the Talon hostiles.
"¡Apagando las luces!" Sombra shouted as she activated her EMP, disabling the Assault Units' weapons and mobility options. "NOW!"
"Mmmmmmmrrrrrrrpppghhh!" Pyro mumbled as it raised its weapon above its head while its body and weapon glowed a bright red.
"What the?" Reaper asked, surprised.
'Come on, Mercy. Don't have a lot of time before it wears off.' Pyro urged as it returned to normal while the weapon cackled.
"Right." Mercy said, using her staff to empower Pyro.
Taking out the detonator, Pyro used it to flare jump and close the distance to the Assault units. Mercy quickly used her ability to catch up to Pyro. Seeing Mercy and an unknown figure, the Assault Units tried to fire at them but found they couldn't as their weapons were still offline. But they were not worried as they thought their amour would withstand the attack. However, they soon learned that was not the case. As once Pyro and Mercy reached them, Pyro unleashed the full force of the Phlogistinator, which melted through their armor, killing them in seconds and leaving nothing but ash behind. And how rapidly the Assault units died shocked the rest of the Overwatch members since they knew Talon designed the Assault units to take lots of damage. Yet Pryo turned them to dust in seconds.
"Mmmmmmmrrrrrrrpppghhh!" Pyro mumbled in victory while raising its weapon above its head.
"That was surprisingly powerful. I can see why your teammates don't like it." Mercy said, shocked.
'But it has its drawbacks like no airblast.'
"I doubt you need whatever an airblast is with that much power." Reaper said as he walked up to them.
"Even more reason not to be near Pyro or piss it off." Sombra said, appearing behind Reaper as she did not want Pyro to set her ablaze again.
"Are you two okay?" Soldier 76 asked as he and the others arrived.
"We're fine." Mercy answered while Pyro put away its flamethrower. She then turned to Pyro with a smile. "Thank you again, Pyro."
'You're welcome, Medic.'
"Now you can go home." Sombra said, shrinking back when Pyro turned to her.
'I wish.'
"What do you mean by 'I wish,' Pyro?" Zenyatta asked.
'It's complicated. Anyway, I should probably leave as I have a lot to do.'
"Do you want some help?" Brigitte asked. She might now fear Pyro but couldn't help but feel they should help it as it stopped an Assassin from killing Mercy.
'It's fine. Besides, your friends and ride are here.'
"How do you know? I don't hear-" Reinhardt began but stopped when they heard the distinct sounds of the Orca approaching.
"You have good hearing." Genji said, amazed as he didn't hear the Orca.
'I needed to as part of the job to keep my teammates alive.'
"I really need to learn sign language." Genji said, with Tracer, Lucio, and Pharah agreeing.
"We can teach you another time." Soldier 76 said. "Anyway, thanks for the help. Want us to drop you off again?"
'No. I need some time alone to think.'
"Wait. Pyro." Mercy said.
"Uh-huh?"
"If you don't mind, I want to take you back to base so I can check on your wounds."
"I don't think that is a good idea." Lucio said.
"If you piss Pyro off, then yeah, it's not a good idea. But it seems like it can control itself, so it can come to base if it wants." Reaper interjected, with Solider 76 agreeing.
'I'm fine. I know first aid and have some supplies to treat any injuries I get.'
"Are you sure?"
"Uh-huh."
"Still, I'd feel much better if I give you at least a quick look over."
'Alright. But nothing too intrusive or invasive.' Pyro sighed.
"Danke." Mercy said, smiling. Pyro let out another sigh as the Orca landed. It really wanted to be left alone now so it could figure out its next step since it was stuck in a different universe or dimension. But Pyro then realized that wherever Mercy was taking it might have something that could help it get home. Plus, it would be nice to spend some more time with Mercy.
