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Time Error

Chapter 12

"Beginning activation sequence in five…four…three…" Winston started the countdown as he, Engineer, and Symmetra were about to test out their first TTPB prototype. They were eager to see how this would play out. For safety measures they brought their TTPB to a testing lab and set it in an empty room surrounded by reinforced glass.

Winston monitored the status of the new TTPB from a computer that was wirelessly connected to the prototype. While Engineer and Symmetra observed the event. Symmetra wearing protective eye shades, Engineer already wearing his usual goggles.

"-two…one." Winston finished the countdown as he pressed enter, beginning the sequence. The TTPB started emitting a humming noise as it begun its course. Engineer gulped, suddenly feeling tense as he watched it. Symmetra breathed slowly to keep herself calm. Winston continued to watch the machine through his computer, his face showed no signs of stress or alarm as he gazed at it. Which could mean good news?

The TTPB then began to hover slightly, while giving off a slight glow. Engineer saw this as a sign of improvement, since the first time he tested it by himself it was more destructive. Unfortunately though, the device could not hold out any longer.

Winston let out a surprised grunt when a warning sign appeared on his screen, followed by failure signs.

The humming noise from the TTPB ceased and it dropped back down to the floor before letting a spark show with a puff of smoke to end it. And Engineer could've sworn he heard it give a little toot before deactivating.

The three stood silently with confusion and frustration…but surprisingly one of them was feeling quite amused. Engineer chuckled as he stared at their now failed prototype. Winston gave him a very confused stare, wondering what was so funny, while Symmetra stared at Engie with a concerned look.

"Are you alright Engineer?" Symmetra asked, Engineer stopped his chuckling but was still smiling.

"Yeah, how 'bout you?" Engineer asked back.

"Not sure, your reaction to this is putting me off."

"Including me." Winston added.

"What? Can a man laugh at his own failures before moving on?" Engineer said before putting on his gloves and entered the room to pick up whatever was left of the new TTPB. After he came out of the room with the TTPB in hand he spoke again.

"We're gettin' somewhere fellas, and that's all that matters to me. Hehe, and earlier I was thinking me and Scout were gonna be stuck here for awhile. With that amount of progress we made, me and Scout will be back home in no time." Engineer finished with a confident grin.

"Ah, I'm glad at least you're satisfied with the results, I for one am not." Winston said with a sigh of annoyance. "It angers me much when my projects don't work."

"That I can relate with." Symmetra said. "But Engineer is right, we are getting somewhere, our prototype doesn't look too bad. We can still work on it once we replace the damaged parts. Winston, did you see what went wrong?"

"Well to start with-" Winston began but was interrupted.

"I'm gunna stop you there for a sec partner, can you sum it up in a sentence by any chance? We don't need the extra bit of information." Engineer said, Winston sighed before obliging.

"To say the least, it needs more power." Winston stated.

"Hm. And here I was thinking we gave too much." Symmetra said.

"But giving too much power would cause it to malfunction, I should know from experience." Engineer added. "So if we give a little kick to it, it won't work. Give too much, still won't work. Looks like we'll need to find the sweet spot then."

"Seems so Engineer." Winston said while rubbing his chin. "I'll look into it later, let's continue this another time, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Alrighty then. Guess I'll check on Slick and see what's he up to." Engineer said.

"He's most likely with Tracer, you know how those two are always together." Symmetra suggested.

"No doubt about it, didn't I tell y'all they'd become best friends?"

"Pretty sure you said something about friendship bracelets." Winston said as they exited the lab.

"Now how to find those two chatterboxes?" Engineer pondered.

"Looking for Scout and Tracer?" Mei said, having heard him.

"Oh, hello Mei, yeah have you seen em'?"

"Yup, they're in the training room."

"Training room huh? Why do I have a feeling Scout's just trying to show off?" Engineer said to himself.

*Training room*

"Wow Scout! You can still keep up with it!?" Tracer exclaimed as she watched Scout run on a treadmill going at its max speed, level 10. She too was on a treadmill but she was not going as fast as him. Scout grunted aloud in agreement as he continued to run, while silently being impressed by this machine. The treadmills back in his time was never able to speed up to his level, but this one he is using right now is starting to break him a sweat.

"Amazing! I wish I could reach that level but unfortunately I've only been able to reach level 7." Tracer admits.

"Yeah well remember the exercise routine I told ya, it'll really change ya." Scout said while slowing down the treadmill to level 7.

"Scout that exercise routine doesn't really sound like much." Tracer said, sounding unsure about it.

"Really?" Scout almost tripped on the treadmill but corrected himself before continuing his run. "Huh…well you may not believe me Lena, but that's really all I did." Scout said, Tracer hummed in response.

"Guess you could always come up with a better one then, and who knows? Maybe you'll grow faster than me, though I doubt it." Scout smirked, Tracer rolled her eyes but smirked back.

"We'll see about that then." Tracer taunted as she increased the speed to level 8. Scout didn't seem too impressed and blew a raspberry. Tracer struggled to keep up at level 8 but decided to bring it to level 9. Bad move. As soon as she brought it to level 9, she immediately flailed backwards. And since she was not wearing her accelerator, she couldn't blink to recover.

Scout brought his arm out towards her as an attempt to catch her but met his demise as she did when she caught his arm and brought Scout along with her to the floor. Tracer fell onto her back while Scout fell on top of her. It took a moment for the two runners to notice the position they were in and immediately froze in place, their eyes locked to each other.

"Uh…" Tracer uttered.

"Um…" Scout stammered.

Then the two runners heard a whistle from the entrance of the training room, both turned their heads to see Engineer and Symmetra watching the embarrassing scene.

"Damn Scout, didn't know you had it in you." Engie commented while giving him thumbs up in approval.

"Tracer, what exactly are you doing with Scout on top of you?" Symmetra questioned.

Both Scout and Tracer blushed and immediately Scout got off of her, crossing his arms and shaking his head in denial.

"I don't know whatcha talkin' bout." Scout lied, doing his best to slow his heart rate.

"W-we were training, luv! Right Scout?"

"Yeah! That's what we were doin'."

"Mhmm, sure." Engineer said nonchalantly.

"Then what was with you two being in close proximity of each other? Your noses could have touched." Symmetra grilled.

"Ah…erm." Tracer struggled to come up with words at this point, it was bad enough she and Scout were in such position, she didn't need this right now.

"It was a slip-up alright now quit interrogating us! Geez you two be acting like as if you don't make mistakes when you train or whatever!" Scout shouted. Engineer laughed.

"Ah I was just messin' with you Scout, don't be a stick in the dirt now." Scout clicked his tongue in annoyance before lending Tracer a hand, helping her up. Tracer silently thanked Scout and remained quiet so she can calm down.

"What're you doin' here anyways?" Scout asked.

"Came to check on you, see what you two were up to." Engineer explained, Scout furrowed his eyebrows.

"That's it?"

"Nope, I also bring good news and bad news."

"Hit me with the bad news first." Scout said, Engineer nodded.

"We recently tested out the new TTPB, and it failed." Engie informed, Scout sighed.

"The good news?"

"Our estimated time of leaving just decreased." Scout blinked, so did Tracer.

"Huh?"

"You heard me Scout, though the new TTPB failed we've still made a lot of progress. We could possibly be going back home in days."

"Woo! That's what I'm talkin' bout!" Scout cheered, Symmetra and Engineer smiled seeing Scout's reaction, but Tracer stood there feeling unsure how to react. While she was feeling glad for Scout, she was also feeling sad about how she now has less time to spend with Scout.

"Hey come on Tracer did you hear that? Me and Engie might be going back to our time soon, can you believe it!?" Scout asked, wondering why she was being so quiet about it.

"That's…that's great Scout! I'm happy for you!" Tracer forced a smile, it went unnoticed by Scout, but Engineer and Symmetra caught it. Tracer decided to leave so she could think about something.

"I'm going to go now, I got some things I just realize I need to do. We'll talk later, cheers!" Tracer said before picking up her accelerator and leaving.

"Oh alright, see ya." Scout said, remaining clueless of what was happening. "So how many days do you think it'll take Hardhat?"

"If we were to work continuously on it? Three to four days tops." Engineer answered.

"Not bad." Scout said.

"And this is only if we are not interrupted by terrorist attacks and such." Symmetra piped in.

"Well it has been rather quiet lately." Engineer mumbled.

"That's what we all think right before something does happen." Symmetra's eyes drift towards where Tracer went.

"If you'll excuse me I have to go somewhere, good day." Symmetra bid farewell and went after Tracer.

"Good bye for now." Engineer said.

"See ya." Scout also said.

"So what were you two doin' in here?" Engineer asks.

"Oh we were just doing some running, me and Tracer earlier were talkin' bout the exercise plan I did to get faster. But then she said that my plan was too easy, can you believe that!?"

"I don't think I'd have too much of a hard time believing that, remember Scout, we're in the future. People have probably came up with better plans then what you got right now."

"Pfft, doubt it. So far I haven't met anyone who could match my speed other than Tracer around 'ere." Scout said.

"You shouldn't really be saying that Scout, or else ya might jinx yourself."

"Whatever." Scout dismissed passively. The two remained silent until a though came to Engineer's mind.

"Ah Scout, we need to talk."

"Aren't we talkin' right now?"

"Not here, let's take it to the room for privacy reasons."

"Uhh ok?" Scout gave his best friend a weird look before following him all the way back to the room. When the two entered the room and Engineer closed and locked the door, he began to talk.

"What was happening back there in the training room? With you on top of Tracer?"

"Goggles come on man, I already told you." Scout answered.

"You ain't lying to me are you?" Engineer continued.

"No, why would I? Wait what is these freakin' questions!?" Scout growled, starting to feel agitated.

"I'm gettin' there, just one more question. Where do you and Tracer stand?" Engineer questioned. Scout remained silent for only a second before answering.

"We're friends." Scout replied without any hesitation.

"Nothing more?"

"Uh yeah?" Scout said, as if it was obvious.

"Hm." Engineer hummed, getting into some thoughts in his mind.

"Why, is there something wrong with me and her being friends?" Scout began asking.

"No, well maybe…I dunno." Engineer said, scratching his head.

"Well then what gives?"

"It's just that…have you noticed anything strange about Tracer when she's near you?" Scout sat on his bed and began playing with his baseball, had no trouble remembering a few moments of Tracer acting weird.

"Now that you ask me this, there have been moments where she acts weird. Like…this one time I got close to her for a sec, she got all mad and I had to back away."

"She got mad?" Engineer inquired.

"Yeah, her face got all red and stuff, I guess she likes her personal space. The same thing happened earlier too, her face went red as my shirt. Glad you and Symmetra showed up before she could explode on me." Scout said.

If Engineer could without dying, he would have face palmed so hard his hand would go through his face. But for now he settled with a mental sigh. Plus a regular face palm.

"What?" Scout asked.

"Scout, sometimes you can be dumber than dirt."

"Says the guy who builds a TIME machine thinking it could somehow help his teammates win a war, and then gets stuck in the future." Scout countered.

"Mocks the one who got sent into the future by a crazy wizard." Engineer shot back. The two went at it for awhile, bringing up whatever past mistakes the other have done and using it as their next line.

It wasn't until Reinhardt knocked on the door, causing both of them to stop their roasting streak. When Engineer answered the door and let him in, Reinhardt could literally see the flares between the two.

"Whoa what's with all this? I thought you two were friends?" Reinhardt said as he put himself between Scout and Engineer.

"Hey he's the one who started it!" Scout shouted.

"Engie?" Reinhardt turned towards Engineer for an explanation.

"What? He is dumber than dirt."

"How so?" Engineer waved for Reinhardt to lean over so he could whisper in his ear. Reinhardt did so and was surprised by what he heard.

"Oh." He gave Scout a look before continuing with his purpose of why he was there. "While I would be glad to continue this conversation, this is not why I'm here."

"What could it be then?" Engineer asked.

"Hey what'd you whispered about me!?" Scout yelled.

"There's a mission coming up, Winston and the others wishes for you and Scout to partake in this one. I too wish the same thing." Reinhardt announced.

Engineer and Scout looked at each other for a moment like as if waiting for the others approval, and then they both grinned at each other before turning back at Reinhardt.

"Alright, we're in." Engineer said.

"Yeah we doin' this!" Scout cheered, Reinhardt gave a laugh.

"Ha! I knew you two would be interested! Follow now comrades, I bring you to where the others are waiting." Reinhardt turned and exited the room, Engineer and Scout following.

Winston and the agents were in the meeting room discussing the situation as they waited for Reinhardt to hopefully return with Engineer and Scout.

"So you think they will accept this request?" Mercy asked Winston.

"It's their decision, but I'm hoping they do accept. Having them for this mission would be an advantage for us." Winston replied.

"I don't have any reasons to think they wouldn't join, being cramped up in this base must be getting boring to them." Pharah commented.

"Well, recently Tracer and I have taken them out, but I do believe they are bored from staying in this base." Symmetra said as she sat next to Tracer.

Tracer sat there unusually quiet with a contemplating look on her face, they could all tell something was bothering her. Symmetra gave a worried glance towards her, wondering if she was still thinking about the talk they had recently.

*Flash back*

"Tracer, are you alright?" Symmetra asked, startling Tracer out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Hi luv'. Yes I'm fine, just thinking about something." Tracer said. "Look Symmetra I really need to be alone right now so I'll chat with you later." Tracer began walking away until Symmetra spoke again.

"Is it about Scout?" Symmetra asked, causing Tracer's pace to slow to a stop. By this reaction Symmetra's suspicions were being confirmed.

"It is isn't it?" She asked again, not hearing a verbal response but still receiving an answer as Tracer's head tilted downward, her shoulders sinking. With a sigh, Tracer reluctantly replied back.

"Yes…it is."

"You don't have to think about it all by yourself you know? You can tell me about it." Symmetra said.

"Thanks luv'. I don't know what to start with to be honest."

"How about why you are upset about Scout leaving?" Symmetra suggested.

"Okay. I'm not sure why I am upset about Scout leaving, I should be happy right? But then I get this feeling in my chest, and it hurts…" Tracer explained.

"Lena, do you have feelings for Scout?" Symmetra questioned, the question caught Tracer off guard and her heart raced.

"Oh um…well I have known Scout for a couple days now, and I will admit there have been moments when I would look at Scout a tad bit differently from a friend. I mean there are times when he could be such a pain and annoying but there is also moments when he would be so kind and look…handsome, and I start to think about him as more than just a friend." Tracer said while blushing, looking down at the floor in embarrassment since she is telling Symmetra all this. Suddenly her heart races after a thought.

"You're not gonna say anything about this to Scout right?" Tracer asked.

"What? No of course not." Symmetra answered.

"Not even Engie?"

"Not even Engineer."

"Good."

"But Lena, you do realize that these feelings you have for him…they can be harmful to you."

"What do you mean?" Tracer looked confused.

"Well take a look at yourself as the moment, you're already having troubled and sad about it when he's still here. Imagine how you would feel when he's no longer here." Symmetra said.

Tracer now understood what Symmetra meant, yet before the conversation could continue any further Soldier 76 appeared. Both agents paused and hoped he didn't hear any of what they were talking about.

"There is a meeting being called, you two know what to do." Was all he said before walking away.

Symmetra and Tracer took one glance at each other before they began heading towards the meeting room.

*Flash back ended*

"Howdy! Heard you were callin' us?" Engineer greeted as he and Scout entered the room, following Reinhardt. This snapped Symmetra out of her glimpse from the past when Engineer announced his and Scout's arrival. They've gained the attention of Tracer as well, bringing herself back to her usual self once she saw Scout.

"Engineer, Scout. I am glad you've decided to join us." Winston said.

"Aye no prob, I've been wanting to get in some action. What's the job?" Scout said, letting his eagerness be known.

"That's what the meeting is for Scout, now if you two would take your seats, we may begin." Winston said. Engineer sat between Soldier 76 and Pharah, Scout found his seat next to Tracer and Mei.

"Hey Tracer, you doin' alright now?" Scout asked.

"Ha! Of course I'm fine, what made you think not?" Tracer said.

"I dunno, you were actin' a bit weird earlier. Jus' wanted to know if you're okay." Scout explained, revealing his worry about her. Tracer smiled at him before turning her attention towards Winston who began speaking about the mission.

"Alright, now that we're all here I shall begin." Winston said, all had their attention on him. "I have recently been notified by Athena of a call for assistance, requested by one of our secret supporters. They have been seeing suspicious activities around their area, and they fear it could be Talon."

"You sure they aren't just being edgy?" Pharah asked, remembering the time when they arrived at a mission area after being reported of suspicious activity. But only to find out minutes later that the cause of the suspicious activity was nothing at all, just the people being too tense.

"That is a possibility but I still think we should go." Soldier 76 commented.

"76 is right, we should go no matter what. This is one of our supporters after all, who helps us in return by sending resources." Pharah sighed after Winston said this.

"They better be right about this." Pharah mumbled.

"And another reason why we should go is that they have been working on this project, it could give Talon a reason to go after it. They said there is more to this but they want us there to finish explaining." Winston said.

"Hm, well I guess we better get to it then. Don't see a reason to keep them waiting." Engineer said.

"Right you are Engineer, we shall depart in 10 minutes, get geared up and ready to move by then." With that Winston concluded the meeting and the agents went off to get ready, including Engineer and Scout.

*Time Skip*

After ten minutes of preparation the heroes and mercenaries was ready to go, they set off with whatever transportation they had with them. Since the company they were heading towards was in a vacant area, they didn't have to worry about attracting unwanted attention.

The ride was long, and Scout had a difficult time waiting since he had nothing to keep himself busy with other than to just sit there in boredom. The same could be said for Tracer, it was unfortunate that in their haste to get in the transportation vehicles they did not sit next to each other. But alas once they finally arrived to the mission site.

Once Scout and Engineer saw their destination, they weren't impressed but were surprised. They've seen many fascinating looking buildings back at the city, but what they were looking at right now was nothing of that. There is a huge abandoned old factory, surrounded by a couple old warehouses. Dust and dirt covered the walls of the buildings, webs covering the old broken windows.

"Umm, did we get lost or somethin'?" Scout asked.

"No, we're right where we need to be. Why?" Tracer looked at Scout.

"Ya kiddin' me? This place looks so old and abandoned that it looks like it's from our time, right Engie?" Scout said.

"Possibly, but we're 100 years or so in the future, I doubt this place has been abandoned for that long. All this dust and rust could just be a disguise." Engineer said.

"Great observation Engineer, you see this may all look like an abandoned area, but that's what they want you think. Let us head inside and you'll see what I mean." Winston said.

The group of heroes and mercenaries walked towards the large building in the center, and as soon as they got closer, Engineer and Scout began noticing something. They were hearing noises inside the factory. When they approached the door, Winston told the group to hold for a minute as he walked further to the door.

He walked towards a sign next to the door and pulled it off, revealing a number pad along with an eye scanner. After pressing in a couple of digits and scanned his eyes, the wooden doors fell forwards and hit the ground. Then doors parted away from each other and opened a pathway of staircases leading to the underground facility.

Scout and Engineer's chaw dropped immediately at what they just saw.

"Well…I did NOT see that comin!" Engineer shouted in amazement.

"Yeah no kidding!" Scout shouted with his pal, Tracer laughed at their reactions.

"I take it your base didn't have something like this?" Pharah asked.

"The only thing we had close to this was a gate that opens by its self whenever we approach it." Engineer said.

"This is nothing compared to what you'll find inside, now shall we continue?" Winston said before making his way down the staircase, the group following suit.

To be continued…

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