"I hate every single one of you." I said, completely aware of the amount of fear in my voice.
"Only choice, you're the only one who can go invisible and pass the guns unnoticed, love." Lena called from the cockpit of our new jet. It had the latest in stealth technology, going so far as to even hide our thermal signature. It was basically my invisibility for a jet.
"Are you guys sure I won't be shot half way down?" I asked, yelling to be heard over the wind. I was at the back of the aircraft, looking down at the ground which rested thousands of feet below me. I had always been wary of heights, not exactly scared, but nervous. Asking me to jump out of this without a parachute was insane.
"Aye! I know the Omnics defenses well from the last war! You'll fall with three minutes left to spare." Torbjorn yelled back.
"Remember to go spread eagle in the last thousand feet." Mei said, standing next to me. "If they start firing at you press your arms and legs together and shoot downwards, lean in the direction you want to move."
"This plan sounded way better when I wasn't the one jumping." I told her.
"You'll be fine." Zarya said. "Contact us when you have deactivated the first artillery emplacement! We will fly in and, with the Russian forces, destroy the others."
"Remind me again why we can't just do the same to this one, fly in and bomb it." I turned to look at her. She was in her usual gear, loading her weapon.
"The jet is too big and has the slight chance of being detected. If you destroy this we can slip in and get the other defenses by surprise." Mei explained. "Now go, and good luck!"
A scouting team before the mission had shown us that we had no idea what we were facing. Instead of three gun emplacements, there were several all around the base seemingly built over night. So we had to change the plan to this. Me jumping out, destroying one to gain attention and let my team slip in, then while everyone was distracted on my point other jets, like this one, would appear and work on the other defenses. Perfect.
"God damn it…" I murmured. "Do me a favor and push me!"
"What?" Mei asked.
"Push meeeEEEEEEE!" I said, yelling as I felt someone shove me mid sentence out of the jet. "OH GOD I HATE ALL OF YOU!" I yelled in the comms.
"Focus. Do you see the base?" Lena asked.
"No! Too cloudy!" I replied. I spun, so my back was hitting the wind and I could talk without eating air. I was sure my heart would burst. "I'll shoot downwards; I won't be able to talk!"
"Why not? Torbjorn asked.
"I CAN BARELY FREAKING THINK HERE FALLING TO MY DEATH SO JUST BE QUIET AND LET ME WORK." I yelled, my fear making me act incredibly angry. I heard Torbjorn mutter something before clicking off his communicator. Ok, time to get to work. I spun again so I was looking down at the clouds. Just as Mei said, I tucked my arms and legs against my body and immediately shot down like a bullet. I had some goggles on, so the wind wasn't messing up my sight. I zipped through the clouds and could see everything clearly. The place looked small from up here, but I knew that those small black things were three huge factories that produced Omnics. The barely visible and definitely smaller specks around them were air and ground defenses. I focused on my target, the speck all the way to the right, and leaned in that direction. My body began moving in that direction but I was going much to fast, so I went spread eagle and seemingly floated upwards several feet as I fell. It was…odd, but now that my initial fear was gone I actually smiled. It was scary but freaking cool. A laugh left my mouth as I spun around, and then dived down several feet only to float back up. Is this what flying felt like? Because it was incredible! A laugh left my lips, only to be taken by the wind, as I spun and moved in the air with the delight of a child on Christmas.
"Focus, Alessandro." Mei's voice said through comms.
She was right, I had to focus. Maybe some day I could go skydiving for fun, but today I was in a war. I tucked into a dive again and sped down towards the guns. After a minute I activated my invisibility. Now those below me would see and sense nothing. Well, that was the plan anyway. We'd see in a minute if it works. I t was odd how slow I seemed to be moving. Sure, I was racing down so fast my skin was peeling off my face and my heart was breaking out of my ribs, but I always thought falling took merely a few moments and I had been in the air for easily three minutes. That's how high we had gone.
`"Hey guys, maybe it's a bit late to ask, but the hell am I supposed to land without a parachute?" I asked.
"Well, land might be the wrong term." Zarya said quietly.
"Oh my god please tell me you're not expecting me activate my armor in the last second and crash." I pleaded. Their silence was answer enough. "I swear I'll kill you all when I get the chance."
"After this we'll treat you, promise." Lena said cheerfully. Easy for her to say! I was about to crash down to the ground after falling thousands of feet! My stomach churned and I covered my mouth with one hand. Puking right now wouldn't be fun.
"Spread eagle in three seconds." Mei said. "One…two…three!"
I spread my arms and immediately felt the pressure of the wind drop somewhat. I disabled my invisibility and at the same time activated my armor. Now I was close enough to see the artillery, my target, slowly spin towards me. But it wouldn't have time. I spun so my back would face the ground and closed my eyes.
"Is he ok?" I asked, forcing myself to keep my eyes on the controls and let the others worry for Alessandro.
"He isn't responding, but he's alive." Mei informed me.
"Don't worry Lena, his armor will keep him intact…mostly." Torbjorn said. He was an expert with gadgets and such, but I knew we were all worrying.
"Please, don't ever make me do that again." A voice groaned. Alessandro! He sounded a bit pained, but angry. That was good. "Invisible and under the first gun. Give me a couple minutes to rig the C12 and move to a safe distance. Bastion units are closing in as well so I'll have to be careful."
"Roger." I answered. "We'll be ready."
"He really has no combat experience?" Zarya asked, poking her head into the cockpit. I shook my head at her and flipped a switch, keeping us in a type of orbit around the Omnium.
"His hometown got attacked by Talon. We managed to save him and he just ended up staying with us. We trained him, but he's not exactly a great fighter or soldier." I said.
"He seems like a good soldier to me." Zarya replied. "I had my doubts at first, so young, and then when he was too afraid to advance. But he is as strong as any soldier."
"That's the problem. He matches up to any soldier, and in Overwatch we want people who go beyond that." I told her, indicating she come sit next to me.
"He is new, I'm sure he will get to your level soon enough." Zarya said as she sat in the seat next to me.
"I agree, but for now things like theis are a bit out of his range, love. We're only letting him go because we have no choice." I admitted to her. None of us wanted to say this to him, but even if he could fight Talon soldiers and some robots he wasn't exactly ready yet. We didn't want him to join us in this mission and had, privately, looked for other options. "If he fought some of the people we've met…he wouldn't survive. Had we known we'd be helping so much here we wouldn't have brought him along."
"I think you made the right choice." Zarya murmured. "He reminds me of myself, when I started my career as a young athlete. No one thought I was ready for a great level of competition, and I surprised them all. If he met some of your enemies, I'm sure he'd do better than you'd think. He's determined."
I didn't answer her. All of us had our reservations of him joining us so soon. Sure, we had let him come along to Russia, but we hadn't expected to literally jump into the war. Now we were here, and there was no going back. He was here because we had no choice but to let him help. I sighed and turned the jet around, speeding towards the Omnium. Just as I had hoped, as soon as it came into sight the first artillery emplacement bursted into flames. Even from this distance I could see it.
"Ok guys! I'm moving to the first Omnium, the side entrance. See you there once you and the Russians are done." Alessandro said through comes, sounding grim. Had something happened? I heard a few gunshots before he left.
"Everyone, open fire!" I ordered. Immediately a dozen jets, including ours, materialized out of thin air. The artillery emplacements moved slightly side to side, their sensors confused and scrambled from the sudden activity. Trails of smoke sped away from the jets and crashed into the defenses, making them explode. I grinned at the one in my view and pressed the red button on my control panel, sending a volley of missiles to the huge turret. "Justice rains from above!" I said in a very bad imitation of Pharah. I could hear Mei laughing behind me.
I wish I had heard incorrectly. Hell I wish I hadn't heard at all. It shouldn't surprise me. All if it was true! But it bothered my anyway. They didn't want me here, not in this. They still didn't see me as someone reliable and strong, not yet at least. And it made sense! I had a few months training, some cool gear and nothing else. I wasn't a hero. Not yet. I wonder what Lena would say to me, if she knew she had forgotten to shut off her communicator and had broadcasted her words to all of us. Didn't matter. She wasn't lying, she had a point. And once we got back to base I'd make sure to change it, soon enough I'd really be one of them.
Focus. I thought to myself. I looked at the sky and saw several jets poof into existence, shortly afterwards they began destroying the air defenses. Most of the jets would then get to work on the bunkers afterwards, but my team would land and meet me. I had to get to the entrance of the Omnium, through the closest factory. The only problem was the hundreds of Bastions between me and it, firing constantly. I was sure they were about to break through my cover any moment, and it was reinforced steal!
"You're not moving, are you ok?" Mei asked me seriously. She was, for now, holding a pad that was tracking us all.
"I'm pinned. Give me a moment." I answered, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. Stop worrying about me, dammit! I sighed and looked around for an escape. I couldn't shoot my way out of this one, they'd surely advance before my invisibility recharged and my armor wouldn't last forever if I walked out there.
I was seriously considering grabbing a hunk of metal to use as a shield and advance on them when my savior came. A Russian jet had been flying overhead and I saw it shoot a pair of missiles. They hit the factory but almost immediately a hail of bullets hit the aircraft, making it burst into flames. It began falling towards us and, as luck would have it, crashed into the large group of enemies in front of me and blew up. I grimaced, knowing nobody could've survived that, and silently thanked the fallen pilots for their help. Knowing not to waste this chance I let my armor spring to life and dashed across the open area, firing at the few Bastions that crossed my way easily. Most of them were destroyed, and the few remaining ones were damaged and trying to repair themselves. I made it to the building without further excitement and stopped at the door.
"Guys, how long?" I asked.
"We're having some trouble up here, give us five minutes." Lena said. I could hear her cheer for some reason, and then an explosion sounded.
"Roger that." I answered. While they were busy I could at least clear out the room. I smiled and went invisible, opening the door.
Very few of my prey were ever challenging enough for me to worry, and I doubt this boy would be any different. After defeating the best sniper in the world very few people had ever presented me with a challenge. I, Widowmaker, was now the best sniper in the world and had proved it time and time again. So I didn't think killing this one, some little boy, would be much different. Indeed, he'd be dead without knowing what killed him. I was surprised he even made it past the Bastion units outside and to the Omnium. I just needed him to open that door, then I'd pull the trigger of my beautiful weapon and- there I'd have it, un garçon mort. One dead boy. One less enemy, and one more victory.
I waited, hanging upside down from one of the girders, in complete darkness, and ignoring the five Bastion units below me hiding between the metal crates that occupied the room. I'd kill him before they processed the command to shoot. Then his friends would follow. My smile grew ever so slightly as I saw, through my scope, the handle of the door move. A moment later the door swung open revealing- nothing? No one was there. I frowned and enabled my thermal view, but saw nobody hidden behind the walls either. Where was he? He must have opened the door.
"Hey guys."
I immediately looked down to see him materialize out of thin air, smiling proudly as he quickly and efficiently shot the robots in their weak points and destroyed them. He looked over the room once before lowering his gun and putting a hand to his ear.
"Entrance should be clear, but hurry up before backup arrives." He said.
My sights focused on his face. He was extremely young to be part of Overwatch. I had never hunted someone of his age before. His brown eyes were hard and alert, and I could tell he was mad at something despite being in middle of a war. Of course he was. Little brats acted this way, and that was all he was. The brat wasn't even smart enough to wear a helmet!
"Something's…not right." He muttered to himself. I had learned quickly that everyone, except perhaps the robots, had a sense of instinct. Some had it better than others. Instead of shooting him I smiled and decided to let him investigate the room, perhaps I'd learn something about my enemies from him? He frowned and looked upwards, into the shadows but not where I was. I had to contain the urge to laugh! He was so ridiculous; it was obvious he couldn't see anything. He must've finally come to the same conclusion because he shot a bullet up there, then looked to another spot and shot once more. He was trying to see if anything was hiding up here…smart. Soon enough he'd find me, I had to act.
"Adieu." I whispered, refocusing the crosshairs on his head. He turned blue just as a fired and, much to my surprise didn't die! "Merde." He hadn't turned blue; it was a shield across his entire body. He looked up at me and fired, forcing me to drop down to the ground. I immediately fired another round at him and stepped behind some metal crates as bullets whizzed past me.
"Nice try!" He yelled, firing a burst at the crate. "You got lucky in Egypt, but I'll take you down!"
Of course, petit garcon, continue believing that. I thought. Now I remember him. When the monkey had arrived in the aircraft he had, for some reason, been talking through a megaphone. At the time I barely had a glance at him, but it was obvious he was a civilian. Now he was fighting with them? Overwatch must be recruiting, my superiors would want to hear about this.
"Dammit." I said as I turned the corner, seeing she had already disappeared. That sniper, a person with purplish skin, had nearly killed me. I had activated my shield because something just felt wrong, and afterwards the bullet hit me! I cursed again as my shield sputtered out and died. It'd take a few minutes to recharge, leaving me vulnerable. This was the type of person Lena had referred to earlier, the person I couldn't beat. But she was just a sniper! She got the jump on them in Egypt and on me now, but without the element of surprise I'm sure I could take her down. "Come on out, you coward!" Right now, she could surprise me. I'd have to be careful, let her come out.
"Pauvre garcon, you believe you actually have a chance of defeating me." She taunted, her voice seemingly coming from everywhere. "I am the Widowmaker, and nobody escapes my sight."
"I'll widow your maker, that's for sure!" I yelled back. The only reply I received was silence, probably because I had confused her with my weird comment. One of the many charms of me. "So, you're from France, huh? Want a baguette?" Once again, the only answer was silence. I spun slowly, keeping an eye above me as well as in front of me, but saw no one. Had she run?
Click.
I rolled forward as a bullet zipped by me, missing me by a hair, and hid behind a crate. Where had that come from? Before I could react another bullet hit my back, luckily in my armor, and I fell against the crate harshly. My back ached, but the bullet hadn't pierced the metal. I spun and fired at where I assumed she was at, to no avail. She had already moved. I let myself fall to the ground and another bullet, from my left, barely missed my head. I may not know when she would shoot or from where, but as long as I moved unpredictably I'd be fine. I hid behind another crate and activated my shield.
"Can't hit me now!" I yelled, walking out from my cover and looking up at the girders. She had to be up there. A sound of metal over metal made my turn around, and I saw a crate stacked over a few others fall off. I stumbled backwards and it fell where I had stood a moment before, nearly crushing me. Ok, maybe she was a bit harder to kill than I had thought.
"So determined…so angry…why is this, I wonder?" She said, her voice a sweet whisper. I growled and fired randomly upwards, hoping some lucky bullet would hit her.
"Come out and fight!" I yelled. She was a sniper and certainly didn't look built for a fight. If I tricked her into coming down, maybe I could beat her?
"As you wish." She said, right behind me.
I had been playing with him up until now. Pushing the crate over? I merely wanted to make him move into the right position. I few steps backwards. I grappled back up into the girders behind him and watched him blindly fire into the air. I hadn't had such a stupid target since I was hunting politicians in Asia. I could've killed him ten times over by now, if I wanted to. But for once in my life I was enjoying myself a bit too much. It'd be disappointing to ruin that fun so fast.
"Come out and fight!" He yelled, angrier than he probably knew. Obviously something was on his mind, making him more erratic and vicious. Ah, he truly was an easy target. If he wanted me to go down and kill him face to face, why not? I silently fired a poison canister a few crates behind him and then quietly jumped down.
"As you wish." I whispered, right behind him. He spun around and I took a step back, kicking the rifle out of his hands, spinning and kicking him backwards. He growled and ran towards me, not even bothering to grab his gun. He wanted a fist fight. I smirked as he threw his punches, which I easily dodged, and this seemed to infuriate him even more. He spun and kicked, but I blocked it and pulled him closer to me. His face went to surprise and then back to anger, and he tried to head butt me. Head butt me! Truly, no other hero was this bad at their job. I let go of him and stepped to the side, letting him stumble past me. His shield flickering out of life and I fired at his feet, making him jump back behind the crates.
The crates with poison. I heard the steady hiss of the canister releasing its toxin and also heard him yelp in surprise, immediately coughing and desperately moving away. But it was too late; he walked back into view and fell to his hands and knees, coughing wildly. I walked over to him and easily pushed him over with my foot, pressing the barrel of my gun to his head.
"You cheated." He muttered through his coughs, pulling a knife from his leg. I easily kicked it out of his hand as he tried to stab my ankle.
"Pathetic." I said. "Did you enjoy our fight, petit garçon?
"Fuck you." He muttered, sounding weaker. The poison wasn't lethal, but was meant to weaken an enemy.
"You do not realize your situation." I stated, positioning the barrel of my gun over his leg and firing. He yelled out in pain and reached for his leg, but I simply shot one of his arms as well. I waited patiently for him to stop yelling and glare at me through teary eyes. I admit, I enjoyed his pain somewhat. Torment of my prey was something I rarely received.
"You're a bit too cocky." He said after a few moments of silence.
"How so?" I asked, smirking at him.
"How about you ask them." He smiled widely and nodded to the door. I heard a noise, such a familiar infuriating noise, and felt someone tackle into me, pushing me to the ground. I immediately shot my grapple hook to the far wall and sped out from underneath my attacker, from underneath her, and into the shadows. Tracer had, once again, arrived at the right time.
"Merde." I muttered angrily. The boy, who couldn't see me, seemed to be staring straight at me as three other people ran inside. For once, I had failed my mission. I had gotten overconfident.
This will not happen again. I promised, not to myself but to him. Next time he would die. And with that thought in mind I made my escape.
Talon would not be pleased with my performance today.
Finally, a new chapter. You can blame the long period of nothingness to summer activites and procrastination.
Ok, mainly my procrastination. Sorry!
Don't forget to fav, follow and as always REVIEW because your opinion is what matters most, see you on the next chapter!