VIII
Lena's fingers were practically burning with the itch to do something. Anything. But here she was, waiting. She knew something was happening in there. Amelie was being quiet, claiming her conditioning prevented her from revealing anything about the plan. That story was believable enough, even if it brought with it unpleasant implications. They might not be able to trust Amelie as a guest after all, if she was so thoroughly under Talon's control. But she'd gotten Amelie to at least agree to try, and that was something, right?
She was getting sidetracked. Again. Amelie was not the pressing issue, the fact that the entire Icebox had lit up in a hauntingly familiar purple was. Somehow Lena knew, it was the Talon hacker Sombra, enacting some scheme. Any one of a thousand things had gone wrong, and Sombra had been tipped off. But if Sombra still had control of the Icebox's exterior defenses, she still couldn't send a message to Jack. It killed her not to know what was going on, it tormented her to continue to wait. Every minute made it harder not to seize the controls and jet off to the prison. But she remembered Jack's orders.
"Wait for the rendezvous, no matter what happens. We can't communicate, so the plan cannot change."
So here she waited, practically punching the walls in impatience. She watched the clock tick by in slow motion, taunting her. Athena hadn't said anything since Amelie had arrived, when the SI had expressed dissatisfaction with the precautions Lena had taken with the prisoner. She was magcuffed, so Tracer figured that would be good enough. Oddly, Amelie seemed more patient than ever. She looked at the wall, waiting much easier than her.
"How are you so calm?" Lena asked.
Amelie considered this for the briefest of moments, seeming to understand Lena more than she should, as if she knew exactly what Jack's orders had been. "For one, I don't care how this turns out. They're your friends, not mine." After Lena stared for a moment, Amelie added, "Just being honest."
Lena wanted to argue, but Amelie wasn't exactly wrong. Amelie barely had emotions anymore, Talon having stripped them away. Why wouldn't she be perfectly calm? She didn't stand to lose anything. Something still bothered her about this. Human beings were going to die if Lena didn't do something. Wouldn't Amelie at least care about that?
Keeping a weather eye on the clock, Lena booted the ship's computer display, looking for something to occupy her time. The first thing that opened was the performance that she'd been watching over again.
"Swan Lake?" Amelie said, before Lena could close the window.
"Yep," Lena said, her voice stiffening. She may well have died from shame if it was instead one of Amelie's performances displayed. Thank god for small favors.
"I did not take you for someone that would be interested," said Amelie. "You… Don't seem to have the patience."
"Oh," Lena guffawed. "I've got loads of patience when I want it."
"Really?" Amelie said with cold humor.
Lena swallowed the flat-out lie. "Yeah," she said, "sure I do."
Lena saw an opportunity, both to occupy herself, and get Amelie to talk. She ran with it. "So… How do you... How do you do that?"
Amelie raised her eyebrow, "What?" it said.
"Ballet, I mean. It's…" She recalled what she'd watched before. The dancers' movements were so fluid, it looked as if the music were following the dancers instead of the other way around. "It's hard, isn't it? Takes… I don't know, proper instincts."
"Not so much," said Amelie easily. "It's discipline."
"It looks so interpretive," said Lena.
"It's not at all. It's rehearsal until your body is as prepared as the music," Amelie shrugged. "That, and relying on the rest of the production not to fuck up. Obviously, there needs to be some flexibility, in case someone does."
"I'm getting the painfully obvious metaphor," said Lena. "No one runs out on stage when the production looks bad from the wings."
"Wait for the cues," said Amelie, nodding.
Lena threw herself into a chair, and flipped on the holoscreen again, her secret being out anyway. And she watched Swan Lake through again. They hadn't made it long before Amelie closed her eyes. She looked serene, as if in sleep, but Lena noticed the subtle clenching of her jaw. At first, Lena knew neither the emotion, nor what elicited it, but then she realized it must be the music.
"It won't be much longer," said Lena, smiling awkwardly. They'd be done soon, at any rate. Ready to begin bringing Amelie back into the light. The thought gave her joy, and a bit more patience. But that wasn't all. Amelie was going to be free again. Free to be who she was, who she so clearly wanted to be again.
Amelie looked at her, and Lena wasn't sure how fully she'd taken her meaning. "It will be over soon," she said.
The proximity alert sounded, bringing true panic to Lena for the first time. What could be out there so close? Not a surveillance drone.
"Bring up exterior cameras," Tracer said. And the holo screen shrunk to a personal size, hovering in front of Lena's face before switching over to cameras. Athena keeping due diligence in secrecy.
There was nothing out there. Only the white void. But something skittered over the camera, like a spider.
"Athena, activate exterior defenses," Lena said.
"Negative," said Athena. "Activating exterior defenses will-"
"Trigger the bloody sensors," Lena groaned. She turned back to Amelie. "It's you, isn't it? One of your tricks!"
Amelie smiled coldly, an expression that didn't belong on LaCroix's face. A hunter's grin that distinctly belonged to Widowmaker. Lena's heart froze in dread.
"Are you surprised?" she said.
"I'm going outside," Lena said, strapping on her guns. Restraints closed around Amelie's arms and legs without Lena speaking a word. She didn't react, she'd expected this. Her calm acceptance chilled Lena further, as if this were all merely part of the plan. Lena didn't know what to do. Go outside and address that threat? Or stay inside and guard against this one?
Lena opened the door.
"The probe will sweep the ship in one-hundred and twenty seconds, Agent Oxton," Athena said. "Please hurry."
Lena blinked up to the ship's wing, making her way over to the rear camera that had detected the anomaly. It had been fried, a hole punched through it from some kind of small, high-intensity laser. She followed the path from the camera to the side panel, and immediately realized her mistake. The white panel had been torn away, revealing sparking wires.
"Bollocks!" Lena snarled. She blinked back down to the door, but it remained shut. Athena wasn't opening up. The Orca's engines fired, and the white hulk lurched underfoot. Lena summoned her will to recall inside, but her head only pulsed with a bright pain. This was no time for being squeamish. When she slammed her chest, her head exploded in such pain that she had to bite her tongue not to scream.
The interior of the Orca appeared around her in a blue flash. And Amelie was waiting. She thrust her palm into Lena's throbbing head, knocking her down effortlessly.
When Lena clawed back enough awareness from the red haze, she saw Amelie tapping away at the Orca's controls, the hovering blue Athena logo flickering red.
"Amelie," Lena groaned. "Standing offer."
"Become Overwatch's slave?" Amelie scoffed. "My answer remains the same, fly."
"No!" Lena said. Something in her cracked. "No! I'm giving you back the choice."
"Giving me the choice?" Something close to an actual laugh rose up in Amelie's throat, but she didn't look up from the panel. "Giving me a choice? I don't see much choice in your offer. Seems to me it's not about my choice."
"It is," Lena said. "What else would be?"
"Let me tell you your problem with me," said Amelie. "I'm a grey spot in your black and white little world. You can't imagine anyone would enjoy being like I am, so you want to change reality, make everything play out like the dolls in your head. Les virteuex, les mechants. Because that makes it easier for you."
Tracer was quiet for a long while. "You can't really think that… Amelie, please listen, I'm trying to help you."
Amelie was not listening anymore. The Orca was gaining altitude now. Whatever LaCroix was doing with those controls required her full attention, otherwise Lena would already be dead. All she needed was a momentary lapse, and something would change. Amelie knew she was awake, and undoubtedly was prepared for anything the hazy-brained Lena could throw at her. Except maybe the dumbest thing she could think of. Lena made a judgment call. She pulled a weapon from her belt and fired at Amelie's hands. She missed, of course, but she hit the control panel, which fizzed and popped.
"You idiot!" Amelie screamed. "Now you have no way of controlling this ship!"
"Wrong," said Lena.
"Wrong," agreed Athena.
The lights flashed white-blue, blinding Amelie, but not the prepared Lena, she rose up, grabbed Amelie, and tossed her in no particular direction, just away, just to get a few seconds, just regain her bearings. The briefest flash of terror crossed Widowmaker's face as she stumbled backward and out the opening door of the aircraft. She vanished into the white like a ghost, like she'd never truly been there at all.
Without thinking, Lena rushed over, the arctic wind threatening to rip her out and away to wherever Amelie had landed. It was a long way down.
"Athena!" Lena said. "You just- just-"
"I apologize, Agent Oxton," Athena said coolly. "I was not certain whether Widowmaker's continued presence aboard this ship was still desired. Was it?"
The door slammed shut.
Is she okay? Lena thought. Why is that the only thing I'm thinking right now?
"Bollocks!" Lena said, panicking. "The sensor sweep! Athena cut the power!"
"Hold on, Tracer," said a gruff voice over the comm. "That won't be necessary."