Chapter 12:

5:00 PM.

Winston was clearing off his computer desk when he felt a gentle tapping on his shoulder. He turned around, pleasantly surprised when he saw Brigette standing there.

"Hey!" he greeted cheerfully. "I'm so glad you came!"

"I'm glad I'm here!" she grinned, holding up a Tupperware container. "I brought cheese potatoes!"

Winston clapped his hands. "Awesome! You can put those right in the kitchen. Is your father here?"

Brigette's smile faltered, though she tried to sound positive. "No, he had work to do. So sorry,"

"No, no, it's fine," Winston pushed a stray book into the bookshelf. "When are the two of you going to stay here, in the base?"

"Soon! I promise," Brigette tried to assure. "Moving is not an easy task,"

Winston nodded. "Oh, I totally understand that. It's just...it's better to have everyone here, in one place. Come on," he headed for the doorway and beckoned her. "Do you need to heat the potatoes up?"

"No, they're warm enough," Brigette answered.

In the kitchen, Junkrat leaned over the counter and watched Ana lay the hand pies on the tray.

"What are those, again?" Junkrat asked, wrinkling his nose.

"Hand pies," Ana didn't look up as she picked a piece of stray dough off of the countertop. She pushed him away gently when he tried to get a closer look. "Don't breathe germs on them,"

"They made of hands?" he wanted to know.

Ana couldn't help but laugh. "No! No, half of them have spinach and cheese, while the others have just spinach,"

Junkrat gagged. "Plain spinach!? Ya might as well eat leaves from outside, you animal!"

"Hush," Ana retrieved a set of plates and handed them off to him. "Could you set the table?"

Just then, Brigette entered, and Junkrat perked right up. "Oi, Brigette!"

"Hello, Rat!" Brigette reached up and playfully ruffled his tufts of blonde hair. "How is the trash man?"

"I'm just dandy!" Junkrat beamed, waving the plates around. "You would not believe what I have been up to-"

Ana jumped in, snatching the plates away. "You know what, Jamie? You're making me nervous with the plates. I'll set the table," she turned to smile at Brigette. "Hello, dear. What did you bring?"

"Cheese potatoes!"

"Oh, lovely! Put them right on the counter for now,"

As Brigette obliged, Junkrat turned his attention to Winston. "Gorilla man!"

Winston glared. "I told you not to call me that,"

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, Roadie told me to tell you that he's gonna sit dinner out for tonight-"

"What?" Winston shook his head in surprise. "But...why?"

Junkrat shrugged. "I dunno, ask him,"

This troubled Winston greatly, so he made his way to the room Junkrat and Roadhog shared. He rang the doorbell once before he heard Roadhog call from within, "Who is it?"

"It's Winston! Can we talk?"

There was a pause. "Yeah," Roadhog decided finally.

Winston entered, walking in to see Roadhog sitting on the bed while drawing on his sketchpad. The TV played an old Western movie.

"What's going on, Mako?" Winston asked, sounding concerned. "Do you really just want to stay in your room all the time?"

"Yeah,"

"Is something wrong?"

Roadhog looked up, seeming to make eye contact with Winston through his mask. "I'm dying, that's what's wrong,"

"No!" Winston attempted to sit on the edge of the bed but decided against it. "Mako, nobody's dying,"

"I have Black Flu," Roadhog went on. "I saw on the news that people have died from Black Flu already. I'm next,"

"No, you're not. We're going to figure this out-"

"How?" Roadhog went back to drawing. "By getting that kid to find the doctor bloke for us?"

Winston went silent for a second. "Oh," he realized. "You mean Scout? Yeah, he's not..." Winston's voice lowered slightly. "He probably doesn't even know what he's talking about,"

"I never said that," Roadhog clarified. "I mean that I looked up the guy he's talking about and apparently he was a whackjob. Not even a doctor, lost his medical license,"

"I didn't know that,"

There was a pause, and Winston cleared his throat. "Anyway, it would mean a lot if you joined us. You're a part of this team, too,"

"Not tonight, sorry," Roadhog's body jerked, and he started to cough.

Winston hesitated, then reached forward to touch the mask. "Do you need-?"

"I've got it," Roadhog mumbled between coughs, fiddling with his mask. He took several deep breaths, then went back to sketching. "Go have fun, don't worry about me,"

"All right," Winston turned to go, reluctantly. "Hopefully you'll join us next time,"

Roadhog only made a small sound in agreement.

Within a storage unit outside the base, Zarya knelt down to hook up a humidifier to the wall.

"Do you need help?" Heavy asked in Russian as he stood over her.

Zarya shook her head. "It's fine, I can do it," she straightened up, taking a look at the interior. "It looks nice in here, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," Heavy looked rather pleased, glancing around the area. "Although," he mused. "It is a bit dark,"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Zarya turned to a headlamp and reached for the switch. "You will need this light-" she switched it on, only to hear Heavy inhale sharply from behind her.

She turned around just in time to see him clambering onto the bed, raising a chair above his head with a look of pure terror reflected in his dark eyes. Zarya stood still for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. He acted like he was about to lunge at her, so she did the first thing that came to her mind and turned off the lamp.

"Put the chair down," she coaxed him gently, her hand hovering over the taser on her belt.

Heavy seemed to snap out of whatever had locked him in this state, and he looked embarrassed. "I...I am so sorry," he laid the chair down, sinking onto the bed.

"It's all right," Zarya sat beside him, a look of concern on her face. "Was it the lamp?"

"Yes," he nodded. "It's...it's like the lamp Ken used when he..." he trailed off, looking away.

"You do not need to tell me," Zarya unhooked the lamp from the wall. "I will get you a dimmer one, do not worry,"

"Thank you," he murmured as she placed a heap of clothes on the bed.

"These should be enough for now," she told him. "If you need any more, let us know,"

Heavy smiled weakly up at her, gratefully taking the clothes. "You are too kind,"

"It is my job," she smiled back. "It is my job to help,"

5:45.

Scout watched Sniper fry some fish cutlets on the grill with an unamused expression.

"This is takin' forever," Scout sighed finally. "You sure ya don't want me to run by that burger joint downtown?"

"We're not eatin' out every night, boy," Sniper explained to him as if he were a child. "That shit costs money. 'Sides, the fish are almost done,"

Scout sat down at the picnic table, leaning his chin in his hand as Spy set something in a clear container down.

"What!?" Scout exclaimed, picking his head up. "Are those green beans!? Who the hell bought those?"

"I did," Spy told him rather matter of factly. "They're good and you're going to have some,"

Demo just laughed as he poured some drinks. "I swear, yer still a lil' kid on the inside!" he handed Scout a plastic cup. "Here ya are,"

"Not a kid," Scout mumbled, making a face as Spy heaped spoonfuls of green beans on the paper plates.

Sniper eventually returned to the table with the grilled fish, and soon the four of them were crowded around the picnic table and enjoying dinner outside. After about a minute, Scout looked up and remarked, "So...what now?"

"Hmm?" Spy didn't look up. "What do you mean?"

"We're gonna forget that we know Medic is out there and is probably in trouble?"

"We haven't forgotten, lad," Demo assured him. "We're just taking a break from it, all right?"

Sniper joined in. "Yeah, and what Merasmus showed us already happened. Medic also looked pretty young there, didn't you think?" when Demo nodded in agreement, Sniper went on. "He might not be in danger anymore,"

"'Course, there had to be a reason the old wizard showed us that bit in particular," Demo mused aloud.

Scout picked at the fish with his fork, then spoke again. "That's the other thing- why is Merasmus doin' all this? I thought he hated us,"

"You know what I think?" Sniper took a sip of his drink and set the cup down. "He needs us for something,"

Spy cut in, sounding agitated. "Can we eat the food while it's still hot? Please? We can talk about this later,"

The table went silent, and only small conversations commenced for the rest of the meal.

6:00.

"So far, we have only had one encounter with Overwatch since we moved here, and no one was killed. An agent was shot, but not killed,"

"An Overwatch agent? Or one of your agents?"

"An Overwatch agent," Doomfist clarified. "Our sniper hit said agent in the arm but the wound was not fatal,"

The shrouded figure nodded on the screen. "I see. Next time, tell your sniper she has permission to kill an Overwatch agent. The more the conflict you create with them, the better. It will distract them from the Nomads,"

Doomfist gave a curt nod. "Understood,"

"May I interject?" Moira spoke up. "Exactly, how long do we have before the next step?"

"A week," the figure responded. "If that is not enough time for you-"

"It is," Reaper assured. "Do not worry, Ms. Hilton,"

The figure chuckled. "Please, call me Barbie. I will call back tomorrow afternoon to check on your progress,"

The video call ended, and Doomfist straightened up. "A week. How much can we do in a week?"

"Oh, just enough," Reaper pulled up a document from the laptop. "Come, come and see the plans I made,"

The blow dryer whirred to life as Widowmaker watched herself hover it over her damp hair in the mirror. Sombra sat beside her, staring into her own mirror as she re-applied her makeup. "So...you left him in the showers?"

"Yes," Widowmaker answered, lifting up a lock of hair to blow air beneath it. "I put water on, thinking perhaps he would drown,"

Sombra scoffed, shaking her bottle of setting spray and spritzing a generous amount on her face. "Well, clearly that didn't work! He was right in front of your face, you could have shot him!"

"I did not feel like it," Widowmaker affirmed. "He was not a threat, I realized," she turned off the blow dryer, fluffing her hair up. "I also..." she trailed off, bringing her hands together to fiddle with them.

"You what?" Sombra paused, looking at the other woman quizzically.

"I also found him rather handsome," Widowmaker admitted. "It would be a shame to destroy him,"

Sombra's mouth fell open in disbelief. "Wow! You, of all women, spared a dude because you thought he was hot!?" she couldn't help but giggle. "Looks like we need to send you back to the lab to have your feelings drained again!"

Widowmaker turned to glare at Sombra. "Silence or I will kill you," she mimicked shooting a gun with her fingers. "One shot, one kill,"

The door opened, and a young woman shuffled in. Her feet dragged as she passed Sombra and Widowmaker, although they didn't seem to notice her as she headed for the showers.

She stripped her employee's uniform away, laying it on the bench as she reached for the shower's handle. As the water started up, Widowmaker finally turned to look and squinted in the woman's direction.

"Who is that?"

"Hmm?" Sombra looked up, putting her lipstick away. "Oh, that's Karen. She works here, she knows we're here,"

"Ah," Widowmaker looked at her face from different angles in the mirror, and she pulled her shirt's hem up slightly. "I look fine. Wh-"

Before she could finish, a pained horrified screaming broke out from the showers. Sombra shot up, rushing to see what was wrong.

"Hey!" she called out. "What's all the noise!?"

She stopped when she saw Karen lying on the shower floor, stark naked and soaking wet. Karen shrieked and waved her hands at nothing, shouting, "Get away from me! Don't touch me!"

Widowmaker entered, briskly shutting the water off and grabbing Karen's shoulders. "Stop yelling,"

Karen only writhed, yelling, "I'll kill you! The Administrator will kill you! Get your hands off me!"

"Stop!" Widowmaker's voice pitched, which was unusual for her, and she brought her hand down to strike Karen across the face, silencing her.

"Okay, no!" Sombra ushered Widow away, kneeling down and gently helping Karen up. "You okay? You good, chica?"

Karen hyperventilated, her fingers grabbing into Sombra's shirt as she buried her face in her chest. Sombra cringed, feeling the water soaking her shirt, but said nothing.

"I will let David know about this," Widowmaker explained quietly, turning to leave.

After a moment, Karen lifted her head up, looking embarrassed. "Oh...geez, I'm sorry," she backed away, scrambling to her feet and reaching for a towel to cover herself. "I-I got your top all wet,"

Sombra waved her off. "Nah, it'll dry. Don't worry about it. Is everything okay?"

Karen tied the towel around her body, slicking her dark hair back while trying not to make eye contact. "No. I had...some kind of really freaky hallucination," she shuddered. "There were bloody razor blades all around my feet, and some crazy man was staring at me,"

"I didn't see any of that," Sombra confirmed. "Are you on any drugs?"

"No!" Karen sounded offended. "Why would I do LSD at work?"

Sombra snorted. "Okay, okay. You any better, now?"

"No..." Karen seemed to visualize something, and she shook her head, her brow creasing as though she had a headache. "I...I think I need to lay down-"

The door opened again, and David rushed in. "Karen!" he halted right outside the showers, leaning in only a little. "Are ya decent?"

"Um, I have a towel on," Karen responded, tentatively stepping out to look at him. "I-I'm okay, now,"

David squinted at her. "Ya sure? Hon, your nose is bleedin',"

"Wha-?" Karen touched her nose, pulling it away to see a few spots of blood. "Oh...yeah. I guess it is," How'd that happen?

"You need a break. Get your clothes on, I'll be right outside," David smiled reassuringly at her, turning to leave.

Karen dropped the towel once he'd left, reaching for her uniform. "Thanks, uh, what's your name?"

"Call me Sombra," Sombra nodded. "If we're staying here a while, we might as well get to know each other. Of course, if you tell anyone that we're here, I'll have to kill you,"

"That's fair," shrugged Karen, buttoning her top back up. "Sombra...that's Spanish for shadow, right?"

Sombra's face lit up. "Ah, you know Spanish? No solo estás Caliente, también eres inteligente!"

Karen paused. "Yeah...I don't know what you just said. I took Spanish like ten years ago," she cleared her throat. "Well, I gotta go,"

"Okay! I'll see you around!" Sombra watched Karen leave, and she remarked to Widowmaker, "I like her,"