Chapter 6:

"So do they know who it was?"

Tracer shook her head. "Nope. Some people came to pick the body up, and that was the last we heard," she took a thoughtful sip from her expresso. "Although Genji got a blood sample from one of the crazy ankle biters, so I think we're gonna take a look at that,"

Lucio grimaced. "Ugh. I heard the Nomads aren't even human. Is that true?"

"How should I know?" Tracer shrugged. "I only saw one, and it was a little kid. They looked pretty human to me,"

"Oh, God, a kid?" Mei looked disgusted. "They have kids? That's not good..."

"Yeah, you didn't know?" Hana struggled to peel an orange as she spoke. "The Nomads use their kids as distractions, that's how they lure people in. You see what you think is a homeless kid in the street, you go to help them, and boom! The Nomads- oh, come on! Give up the goods you orange devil!"

Lucio took the orange before Hana could rip it apart. "Let me do it. Anyway, Tracer, you're lucky you got out of that house in time,"

Tracer couldn't help but chuckle, sipping on her drink. "You're telling me!"

"Hey!" Winston approached their table with a folder in his hand. "Are you guys busy?"

Mei shook her head. "Not right now. Why?"

"I've got a new mission for you," he laid the folder down on the table. "It's important,"

Tracer groaned. "Oh, please, Winston, I just got back!"

"I know," he replied, his voice only slightly apologetic. "But I think the four of you are the best ones for this. A few locals have spotted members of Talon around Chamberlain Street, downtown," he opened the folder to reveal security camera pictures. "We only have photo evidence of two Talon members, although others claim to have seen more,"

"What do you want us to do?" inquired Hana, biting into an orange slice. "Look up and down Chamberlain Street?"

Winston shook his head. "Not exactly. You see, most of the reports came from one place: a coffee shop. Two women affiliated with Talon have been seen at Lovin' Cup at least twice, and they're always there at 9:30 AM,"

"9:30 AM?" Lucio repeated, looking at the time. "That's in an hour,"

"It is," Winston nodded. "What do you say? Can you get in one of the vans and go take a look?"

Tracer sighed, downing the rest of her drink. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Come on, guys,"

"Wait!" Hana shoved a handful of orange slices into her mouth, threw away the peel and jumped up. "Okay! Now I'm ready!"

About fifteen minutes later, the group of four were situated in a van and parked near a row of shops on Chamberlain Street. They all watched Lovin' Cup, a local coffee shop, closely. Or at least, as close as they could considering where the van was.

"Anything yet?" Tracer asked Lucio, who squinted at the shop window through a pair of binoculars.

"No," Lucio shook his head. "No one familiar,"

Mei looked at her phone. "Well, it is only 8:50. We've got some time,"

Hana turned away from the window to look at Mei, and she grinned. "So, Mei- did your hot boyfriend give you his number?"

"My-" Mei realized what Hana was talking about. "Hana, stop it!"

Hana snickered. "Well, did he?"

"He didn't!" Mei tried to sound firm, although her ears were pink with embarrassment. "I-I didn't ask,"

"Who are you talking about?" Tracer twisted around in her seat to look at the two other girls.

"You know who!" Hana raised her eyebrows and wiggled them teasingly. "The little Scoot, the one you found in the desert,"

Mei scoffed. "Little? Hana, he's older than you, I think-"

"You're looking to reel him in, Mei?" Tracer asked, rather blunt. "Please do: he flirted with me, more than once, and I'm not looking forward to telling him I don't swing that way,"

"Ooh, looks like you have a mission, Mei!" giggled Hana.

Mei covered her face. "Oh, for the love of- Hana! Ugh," she looked back up, not making eye contact with anyone. "I mean...he seems really cool, and I always thought the idea of reincarnation was fascinating, but..."

"But?" Hana prodded her.

"I'm too old for him-"

"Oh, God, Mei," Tracer cut in. "Mei, you are not old. I don't know how many times we have to tell you this,"

"I know, I know!" Mei sighed. "I just...everytime I go on a date with someone, my age situation is what turns them off. You know, with the cryostasis-"

Tracer cut her off again. "Mei, don't worry about it. You never know, maybe it won't bother him,"

"Hey!" Lucio blurted out, pointing out the window. "We got someone!"

Everyone crowded around Lucio's window to look outside. There, walking towards the coffee shop dressed in a casual outfit was Sombra, Talon's most notorious hacker.

Her pace was brisk, and she didn't seem nervous at all as she let another customer hold the door for her. They saw her mouth a 'thank you' to the man before disappearing into the shop.

"Did you see which way she came from?" Tracer inquired, not peeling her gaze away.

"She came in from the right," Lucio answered. "From the hotel,"

They watched the coffee shop in silence, and Mei remarked, "That's the same hotel Scout is staying at,"

The hotel in question was known as 'The Pearl Palace', and it was a relatively nice place. It had to be, or else Rene wouldn't have decided to stay there otherwise.

John awoke that morning to a stream of cold liquid being poured on his face. He jolted, sputtering out a curse and sitting up. "Agh, what the hell!?"

Ferguson stood over him with a half-empty bottle of water, grinning. "Aye, ye finally up, lad? We've been waitin' for you,"

"Have ya?" John grumbled, rubbing his eye. "What time is it?"

"It's 9 already, sleepy head!" John heard Scout chiding from the bed beside him. "We wanna know what you wanna do for breakfast,"

John slipped his sweater on, thinking. "Hm. Well, there's a nice little coffee shop not too far from here-"

"I'd rather not go out," Rene cut in. He was sitting up, now, looking miserable. The events from early that morning were taking their toll on him. "If you brought food here I would eat it,"

Scout huffed. "Aw, come on, Spy-!"

"Why do you keep callin' him that, ye little bastard?" Ferguson shook his head. "C'mon, boy- let's go on a shopping trip. You and me: what d'ya say?"

"All right, I guess," Scout shrugged, sliding out of bed and pulling a T-shirt over his head.

Ferguson grabbed his wallet, and he leaned over to look at Rene. "Any special requests, French Fry?"

"Non," murmured Rene, yawning as he switched the TV on.

"If ya get yogurt, get plain," John instructed from his bed, but Ferguson just smacked his arm playfully.

"I didn't ask ya, Aussie!"

A few minutes later, Scout wandered around a convenience store with Ferguson as they picked out items they could eat in their room.

"Your dad likes green tea, am I right?" Ferguson wanted to know.

"Yeah," Scout nodded, looking at an expresso shot's label. "Green tea's his favorite, he says it keeps him slim. I think he's tiny cause he only eats freakin' salads an' shit. He's turning into such a twink,"

Ferguson was quiet for a few seconds, and then he remarked, "Ye shouldn't talk 'bout your dad that way, laddie,"

"Why not?" Scout scoffed. "I'm sure he shit-talks me all time when he's with you guys,"

"He does," Ferguson confirmed. "I try'ta tell him to stop. Really, though, he cares 'bout you,"

Scout placed an expresso shot in their basket, mumbling, "He's got a really funny way of showin' it. At least he's here this time around,"

Ferguson looked puzzled. "'This time 'round'?"

"Oh," Scout paused, thinking. "Yeah...remember we were talkin' about our past lives? No, no, you were asleep-"

"When your dad was havin' a freakout? I slept through that,"

"Yeah...well, basically, in our other lives, Dad was a real deadbeat who wasn't there at all,"

"Aye, that's awful," Ferguson didn't seem skeptical like John had been earlier. He seemed to believe in the idea. "He's here for ya now,"

Scout grabbed some yogurt and put it in the basket. "He is, I guess. But he's controllin' as hell and still treats me like I'm ten! I remember, in my old life, wishin' he'd been there for me, but now he is and he's a nightmare,"

"You're bein' overdramatic, laddie!" Ferguson sounded almost offended. "He ain't a nightmare! Like I said, he cares 'bout you. He really does,"

"I hope you're right," Scout rooted through the basket. "I think we have everything,"

"Wait!" Ferguson pointed ahead to the cooler. "Gotta get some drinks,"

Scout realized he was referring to alcohol. "Ah. Yeah, 'course,"

In the van, the Overwatch agents gathered some weapons together as they waited for Sombra to leave Lovin' Cup.

"She might call for back up, so we need to be prepared just in case," Tracer advised.

Hana took a bite from a bag of chips before reaching for her weapon, and a voice in the seat behind her piped up, "Oi, can you pass me them crisps?"

"Sure thing- hey!" Hana was about to pass the chips into the backseat when she realized who it was. "Junkrat!? How long have you been in here?"

"Junkrat's here?" Mei huffed. "Ah, great,"

Junkrat sat up, tossing a towel off of his head. "I've been here the whole time! I was fixin' some vehicles in the garage, and I took a nap back here. I hope ya don't mind-"

"Rat, you can't be here!" Tracer hissed. "We're on a mission!"

"Ooh! You are?" he shoved some chips into his mouth. "Can I help?"

Tracer was about to argue, but Lucio stopped her. "Sombra's on her way out! Jamie, you can help if you don't hurt anyone who's not involved," he handed over a taser. "Do you promise, little guy?"

"I promise!" Junkrat took the taser, giddy. "Hope I get to use this,"

Sombra checked her phone as she balanced the coffees in one hand, only to sense someone come up behind her.

"Good morning, Miss Sombra!"

Sombra recognized the accent and knew who it was right away. She turned around, seeing Tracer standing there with an oddly pleasant look on her face.

"Are you alone?" Tracer asked in a sing-song tone.

"Are you? Oh," Sombra caught sight of the other agents coming closer as she subtly pressed a button on her phone. "I won't be soon. See ya!"

She turned around and sprinted away, and as expected, the others gave chase.

Tracer caught up to her right away, tackling Sombra and bringing her to the ground, the tray of coffee smashing onto the sidewalk and spilling everywhere. "Gotcha!" Tracer gasped, struggling with the woman.

Junkrat came bounding up to where Tracer had Sombra pinned, and he waved the taser around. "Lemme take 'er out, Tracer!"

He attempted to stun Sombra, but she rolled out of the way and he missed. He tried again, but this time hit the wrong target.

"Whoops!" he exclaimed.

Tracer fell away from Sombra, shrieking a curse as she collapsed on the sidewalk and writhed. Sombra laughed and escaped into the alleyway, Mei and Hana hot on her trail.

Mei whipped out her gun, clicking it and aiming. "Freeze!"

Yet, within a matter of mere seconds, Sombra threw something on the ground, and there was a flash of light. Her pursuers both screeched to a halt when they realized she'd vanished.

"Wh-what!?" Hana looked around, dumbfounded. "I don't understand-"

The crack of a gunshot rang from above, and Hana heard Mei yelp next to her. "Mei!?" she whirled around, watching as Mei dropped to the pavement. As Hana bent down to examine Mei, she looked behind her shoulder frantically to see where the shot had come from.

"It was Widowmaker," Mei explained, sitting up the best she could. "I-I saw her only for a second, I was going to warn you, I'm so sorry-"

"Mei, don't apologize!" Hana turned to look towards the buildings behind her. "Where was she?"

Mei pointed. "There, on the hotel roof. I- gah!" she winced and grabbed her arm. "I-I don't think she was aiming to kill, I think she was trying to scare us off,"

A few feet away, outside of the convenience store, Lucio helped Tracer to her feet. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Tracer shuddered. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine," she shot a glare at Junkrat. "No thanks to you!"

"It was an accident!" Junkrat fired back. "I wasn't tryin' to shock ya!"

"Hey, Lucio?" Hana's voice called from the alleyway. "Mei just got shot!"

Lucio was alert right away, and he raced to the alley. "I'm coming!"

As Tracer pressed the emergency call button on her utility belt, the store doors behind her swung open.

"What the heck was that noise? I heard-" Scout paused when he noticed Tracer and Junkrat. "Oh, my gosh! What are you doing here?"

"We're doing our job!" Junkrat answered proudly.

"Hello, Scout," Tracer greeted breathlessly, adjusting her utility belt. "We're busy right now. Help's on the way, Lucio!"

Tracer turned and ran down the alley, but Scout followed her. "Hey, what's goin' on? Can I help? I thought heard a gunshot!"

Lucio made a face as he examined Mei's wound. "Agh, the bullet's too far in, Mei. We should get Mercy here to remove it, I don't have any tools for that right now-"

"Mercy's coming!" Tracer announced as she dropped to her knees to look at Mei. "Was it only your arm?"

"Yeah," Mei nodded. "Widow wasn't trying to kill me,"

Scout took one look at Mei's injury and gasped. "Damn, that's messed up! Here, I think I have...wait," he retrieved a bandana from his sweatpants pocket and brushed the dust off of it before wrapping it around Mei's arm. "Here- you're bleedin' everywhere. No good to bleed that much, y'know?"

Mei felt almost mesmerized as she watched him tie the strip of fabric around her wounded arm. "Yeah...thanks,"

Hana watched the interaction, and she subtly gave Mei a playful nudge. Mei tried not to acknowledge it.

Ferguson stood awkwardly in the alley's opening, the basket hanging from his hand. "Is, uh...everything all right?"

Scout got up quickly. "Yeah! Well, not really...you can go drop those off at the room,"

"You sure you don't want me to call someone?" Ferguson continued to pry. "It's really no trouble at all-"

"We're all right, we've got someone coming," Tracer assured. "Everything's under control," As Ferguson shrugged and headed back to the hotel, Tracer muttered, "At least I hope it is,"

Mercy and Ana arrived at the scene within moments, and Mercy went to Mei's aid right away.

As Mercy removed the bandana and began working on the wound, she noticed Junkrat standing there. "Jamison? Winston sent you on this mission?"

"Nope, but I got a taser!" Junkrat told her proudly, holding up the device.

Disgruntled, Tracer came up and snatched it from his hand. "Yeah, the one you shocked me with!"

"What!?" Mercy looked up, shocked. "Are you all right, Lena!?"

When Tracer nodded, Mercy focused back on Junkrat. "Jamison Fawkes, this is not some kind of game! You could have seriously hurt her!"

"It was an accident, I swear!" Junkrat fired back. "I was tryin' to get to the shadow lady, and she moved out of the way and Tracer was right there and-"

"Okay, okay!" Ana came up from behind, touching Junkrat's shoulder to calm him down. "Hey, Jamie? You should head on back to the base,"

"No!" Junkrat whirled around, his voice cracking a little. "Please, I wanna stay and help! I-I really do wanna help, and I didn't mean to-"

Ana shushed him. "I know you want to help out, honey, but I think it would be best if you left this to us, all right?" when Junkrat responded with a reluctant nod, Ana smiled. "Good. Lucio? Lucio, take Jamie back to the base, will you please?"

"Got it!" Lucio took Junkrat's arm, leading him to the van. "C'mon, bud!"

When they'd left, Ana turned her attention to Mei, who was back on her feet. "Are you decent, Mei?"

"Yes, ma'am," Mei answered, pulling out her pin to run a hand through her long, dark hair. She watched Scout out of the corner of her eye and wondered if he was looking at her. He was, but when they accidentally made eye contact, he looked away and pulled his phone out.

"Hana, can you come here, please? Okay, girls, walk me through what happened here," Ana beckoned the two of them. "I need to know where Sombra was when she disappeared, where the shot came from, and if you heard any other shots,"

Scout glanced up from his phone to see Tracer heading for the hotel, and he followed her. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"To the roof," Tracer pointed. "Spider-lady might still be around if this is where Talon's camped out,"

"Can I come with you?" Scout piped up, following her inside the building. "I've been here since last night, I kinda know the place!"

"Yeah, sure," Tracer shrugged. "Any help would be nice. Kinda dealing with terrorists here, you know?"

They took the elevator up to the top floor, where they found some stairs leading to the roof. Once they arrived at the roof, they discovered no one there.

"Just as well, I suppose," Tracer muttered to herself, walking around. "I was hoping I wouldn't run into the world's creepiest Smurfette,"

Scout called from behind her, "Hey, she left somethin' here!"

Tracer perked up, turning around. "What?"

"This," he handed her a bobby pin with a strand of dark hair. "Does this look like her hair?"

Tracer took the pin and squinted at it. "Possibly!" she retrieved a tissue from her bag and folded the evidence inside. "It could be nothing, but you never know,"

Scout grinned. "Aw, it was nothin'," he rocked back and forth on his feet before asking, "So, uh...you busy tonight?"

Tracer inhaled deeply. "I am, actually. Winston's having a team dinner tonight, and I'd rather not miss it. You remember Winston?"

"Yeah, the monkey," Scout remarked, his tone rather scornful. "I remember him. Well, what about tomorrow night?"

Tracer started to answer, but Scout had another thought. "Ooh! Before I forget, I gotta take my dad to, uh, your, um...your Omnic therapist guy! What's his name?"

"Omnic therapist-?" she realized who he was talking about. "Zenyatta! He's not a therapist. Or is he? He may be qualified, I don't know-"

The door behind them opened abruptly, and a voice broke in, "Hey, can I help y'all with somethin'?"

He was a faculty member, and his nametag said his name was 'David'. Tracer cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"Hello, sir! I hope you're having a good day. Listen, have you seen either of these women?" she presented photos of Sombra and Widowmaker on her phone. "We spotted them moments ago at this hotel, and one of them shot an agent,"

David stared at the photos in silence and shook his head. "Nope, can't help ya. Trust me, I'd remember someone like them,"

"Okay, well," Tracer tucked her phone away. "Thanks anyway. I'm going to look around a bit more, I hope you don't mind,"

"Not at all!" David assured warmly, turning to leave. "If ya need anything, you can holler,"

When he was gone, Tracer turned back to Scout. "What were you saying?"

"Uh," Scout struggled to regain his train of thought. He recognized that man from somewhere..."My dad didn't call me by my real name last night, and he also tried to stab me. He was acting all weird and psycho,"

Tracer's brow furrowed in concern. "Psycho?"

"Yeah! He was talkin' about something being on his face, and then he called me Scout instead of Dylan. It was really weird, and since that Omnic helped me, I thought he could help my dad out. Dad was the Spy who mailed those Black Flu samples, remember? Or did I not tell ya?"

"I..." Tracer blinked, trying to process everything she'd just heard. "Y-yeah, I can put you in touch with Zenyatta. He doesn't have a phone, or at least not one that I know of, so," she took a breath, knowing she might be making a mistake by doing this. "If we exchange phone numbers, I can put you into contact with him,"

Scout beamed inwardly. Here was this beautiful British chick, and she was going to give him her number! This never happened to him! Oh, yeah, and he needed her number to talk to Zenyatta again...that could come later, though. They had time, right? If Medic was really out there, they had time to find him at some point. He'd still be there when they figured out who he was.

He cleared his throat, fishing out his phone. "Here ya go!" They tapped their phones together, and the familiar click of the numbers being exchanged could be heard.

Tracer stashed her phone away. "You want to keep looking with me?"

"Yeah!" Scout piped up, trailing after her as she headed for the door. "You bet I do!"