Chapter 16:

Mei's footsteps echoed through the empty hall as she kept her gun against her chest, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds. This went on for about a minute until she became aware of the patter of feet coming up behind her.

Tensing up, she whirled around, aiming. "Freeze right there!"

Scout halted, putting his hands up. "Whoa! Just me!"

"Scout!?" Mei lowered her weapon, feeling incredibly embarrassed. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry! I thought you were-"

"Hey, hey, it's cool," he assured. "I shoulda said somethin', my bad,"

Mei eyed Scout's arm. "What happened-?"

"Oh, this?" Scout lifted up his bandaged up arm. "Eh, that Reaper chucklehead cut my damn arm. S'all right, though, I'm all patched up,"

"Wait, wait," Mei shook her head in disbelief. "Reaper!? You ran into Reaper and lived!?"

Scout snorted. "Well, yeah. Pretty easy, actually, all we had to do was mess 'em up with a truck,"

Mei stared at him, open-mouthed. "Scout, Reaper is a Talon member-"

"I know that! I wasn't born yesterday-"

"You took out a Talon member! How are you not freaking out!?"

Scout paused. "Uh...should I be?"

"I..." Mei trailed off and then shook herself. "Where is Reaper now?"

"Tracer cuffed him and he's in the back of Engie's truck," Scout explained. "We think he's got a concussion,"

"Whoa," Mei breathed, mostly to herself. She stared into Scout's handsome face for a few seconds before clearing her throat. "Anyway, there are at least two other Talon members in here,"

"Yeah, I heard," Scout nodded. "Snipes went lookin' for the blue lady. I've been textin' him but he's not responding,"

Mei grimaced. "Oh, no. Well, Widowmaker prefers to shoot from high places, so that means she's probably-"

"Hey!" a voice called from down the hall, and both turned to look.

Much to their surprise, Sniper came trudging up, with Widowmaker dragging at his side. "I got her!" he said, breathless. "She's got Black Flu, and she's got it pretty bad,"

Mei took the woman from him, taking a look behind her neck and cringing. "Geez!"

Widowmaker just stared up at Mei, her eyes blank. "Kill me,"

There was a long pause, and Mei pushed her back into Sniper's arms. Scout watched as Mei turned away, pacing while staring at the ground.

"Mei?" Scout's voice had a twinge of concern in it. "Ya good?"

More footsteps came pittering over the linoleum tiles, and Mei glanced up to see a handful of some other people running towards them.

"Any luck?" Engineer wanted to know, somewhat out of breath.

"Yeah, look!" Scout gestured to Sniper. "He got a live one!"

Soldier took one look at how Sniper held on to Widowmaker and remarked rather loudly, "Is she your prisoner?"

"No!" Sniper barked. "She's sick-"

Widowmaker cut in, droning, "Juste me tuer, je ne souhaite pas être dans les bras de ce maréchal en sueur,"

Spy raised an eyebrow. "Si la mort est ce que vous souhaitez, nous ne vous accorderons pas un tel prix,"

When Widowmaker glanced up, slightly surprised, Demo groaned. "Great, now we got two of ye talkin' in fancy,"

"Be quiet!" Mei snapped suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her. She took a breath. "I...I'm sorry, just: what is going on here!? I thought only Scout was supposed to come,"

Engineer nodded, a little embarrassed. "Sorry miss, there was a change of plans. Ya need help here? Anythin' we can do right now?"

Mei swung her gun at her side in thought, her eyes glued to the floor. "I...I'm not sure,"

Just then, Pyro tugged on Engineer's sleeve, pointing at the ceiling. "What is it, Firebug?" he replied, turning to look.

Pyro pointed, making a noise of confusion. Engineer looked up, squinting. "What the-? Hey, are your security cameras on?"

"No, actually," Mei sighed. "Someone hacked into them and shut them down, we were told,"

"Okay, well that one's flashin'," Engineer explained.

Mei turned to look. "Huh? What? But if they're off..." she trailed off, squinting. "We're being watched,"

Indeed they were. Sombra's voice filtered through Moira's earpiece, saying, "They noticed the camera. They aren't that far from you, just turn the corner and you'll find them,"

"Thank you, dear," Moira glanced over the corner, smirking. "This should be easy,"

Right as Mei began to reach for the communication device on her utility belt, Moira's shoes came clicking into the scene.

"Hello, everybody," Moira began, her hands clasped pleasantly yet her expression indicated that she intended to do harm. "My name is Moira O'Deorain, and I will keep this short and simple: hand over Widowmaker or I shall have to kill you,"

Mei acted fast, poising her weapon. "It's over, Moira! You're outnumbered!"

Moira chuckled. "Oh, Mei. Tell me: can eight hens overcome a fox?"

Mei started to answer, but Moira interrupted her. "The answer is no, Miss Zhou,"

Before anyone had any time to react, Moira swept her hand forward in a practiced motion, and a strange black substance flowed from a device on her wrist. It coiled around Mei's limbs, solidifying into bounds and immobilizing her.

Scout jumped at Moira with a running start, but she was prepared and shot the same substance at him. As he fell to the floor, his limbs bound with the stuff, Moira remarked, "A powerful invention, isn't it? It's new material a close friend of mine is allowing me to use. Do not move around too much, because it will burn your skin. Now-"

Moira was cut off when Pyro smacked her in the stomach with a wrench, hard. Moira only made a soft grunt in response, flinging her hand forward and releasing a shockwave of dark energy and blasting Pyro backward.

Pyro slammed directly into Soldier, who caught her effortlessly and placed her on her feet. He then snatched a mop from a nearby bucket in the corner, getting a running start and leaping right at the woman.

Moira stepped away, ducking the blow he directed at her head and then releasing more of the black substance, tying him up with the mop pressed against his neck.

"Shit!" Engineer exclaimed when he realized the mop was cutting off Soldier's airway. He ran to help him, only to have Moira force him back with a potent wave of energy.

"Leave him," she then whirled around to face Spy, who was trying to sneak up behind her, and she slammed him into the wall with great force, knocking the wind out of him.

"It amazes me how much humans are willing to fight, only to die another day," Moira mused, seizing Demo by the neck. "I have the potential to kill all of you, do you not understand this?"

Scout winced as he tried to wriggle free of the bounds, feeling them tear at his skin. "S-so why don't ya just hurry up and do it, stupid bitch!? Instead of talkin' us to death,"

Moira turned her attention away from Demo, squinting at Scout. "Excuse me?"

"What are you doing!?" hissed Spy, struggling to stand up.

Scout coughed and went on. "You say you got the potential to kill us, and yeah? A dog has a potential to kill us! So does a bear, or a dedicated bird! You ain't special,"

Moira stared at Scout for a few seconds, amused, and then she dropped Demo. After she'd bound Demo, she made her way over to Scout.

"And just who do you think you are?" she began, kneeling beside Scout and looking into his determined face. "You are but a boy, a boy with a hot tongue,"

Scout only glared at her. "I ain't a kid, lady,"

"I see," Moira retrieved a scalpel from her coat, grabbing a hold of Scout's face. "Perhaps I should teach you a lesson because after all, I am going to kill you, but that doesn't mean I can't play with you first," she began to pry his mouth open with her fingers. "I will cut out your tongue-"

She never got the chance to. The only thing anyone heard before the madness ensued was a gasp, and Sniper shouting, "Oh, my God, it's Heavy!"

Moira glanced up just as a large hand seized the back of her neck, yanking her away from Scout and throwing her against the wall. There was a sickening crack as her nose met the concrete wall, and she crumpled to the ground, gasping and trying to compose herself.

She raised a hand, intending to do her worst, but Heavy simply grabbed the device on her wrist and tore it right off, smashing it on the floor.

Instantly, the dark bounds fell away and became liquid, freeing those who were trapped. Moira tried once more to do damage, but Heavy simply closed his large hand around her neck, choking her.

"Talon will kill you," she growled at him in between chokes.

Heavy stared at her for a moment, and then lifted her off the ground, slamming her back down and shattering her earpiece. He could have killed her, right then and there, but Mei aimed her gun and fired, freezing Moira to her spot.

"We can't kill her!" Mei explained breathlessly. "She could have important information that we need,"

Mei then turned to the others, asking, "Is everyone all right?"

Soldier wheezed, throwing the mop aside and letting it clatter to the floor. "I don't give a single damn about information! Let me at the bitch-"

"No!" Engineer stopped him. "Listen to her, it's not our call,"

As everyone tried to gather themselves, Mei knelt beside Scout, who was sitting up but looking very shaken. "What about you?" she asked, her voice rather quiet. "Are you okay?"

Scout nodded. "Y-yeah! Hey- she didn't...? She wasn't really gonna...?" he poked his tongue out, wiggling it around. "She..."

"I'm sorry to say this, but she probably would have done that," Mei explained solemnly. "I wouldn't put it past a woman like her,"

There was a pause, and then Mei offered him her hand. "Need help?"

"Nah," Scout murmured, struggling to his feet.

Pyro squealed with delight, clapping her hands as she ran up to Heavy and hugged him tightly. He had mostly calmed down, now, and he scooped up Pyro effortlessly, hugging her as she continued making happy sounds.

"Thank God ye got here just in time!" Demo exclaimed, patting Heavy on the back as he went in for a hug. "Dunno what we'd have done,"

Heavy reunited with each of his teammates, showering each with the same affection and happiness. He even treated Scout and Spy the same way, though he'd already seen them just a day earlier.

Zarya banged the door open, rushing in, but she came screeching to a halt when she took in the scene.

"You..." she began, pointing to the frozen Moira.

"Yeah, yeah," Mei took a breath, smoothing her hair back. She pointed to Widowmaker, who lay on the floor in a defeated heap. "Zarya, can you get her to the medical office?"

Zarya nodded, swooping down and picking up the limp woman. "Of course,"

Sniper noticed this, and he began to follow Zarya. "Hey, hey, where are you taking her?"

"To the medical office," Zarya answered simply. "She will be fine, worry not. Mercy can fix her chopped up brain and body,"

As Zarya left, Sniper made the briefest eye contact with Widowmaker. She watched him blankly as she and Zarya disappeared down the hallway.

Right as Mei was about to drag Moira off, Tracer came bounding in. Karen tried to keep up with her, tripping and falling yet allowing Scout to catch her.

"What happened!?" she gasped, looking around quickly. "Was that all of them!? Did you get all of them!?"

"Yep!" Mei exclaimed, gesturing to their guests. "Thanks to them!"

Winston appeared over Tracer's shoulder, lumbering in on strangely quiet feet. He took a moment to tally all the damage before asking, "You...you did this?" he looked to Scout with disbelief. "There's no way-"

"Believe it, my good ape friend!" Scout announced, proud. "Ya trust me, now? I-"

"Do not lie to the gorilla, Scout," Spy cut in. "It was a team effort, really,"

Soldier stopped prodding Moira with the end of the broom to point at Winston. "Who are you!?"

"He's our leader!" Tracer answered. "He-"

Soldier didn't let her finish. "And where were your troops, hairy gorilla man!? If Overwatch is so great, where is everybody!?"

Winston looked offended. "We are a very capable organization, thank you very much!"

"Sorry 'bout that," Engineer stepped in, reaching out to shake Winston's hand. "I've always admired what Y'all do around here,"

"It's fine," Winston relaxed slightly. "Look, a good number of our agents went out on a different mission. I tried to call some of them back here, but it seems the connection was severed. I couldn't get any calls through,"

"That ain't nice," Engineer agreed. "Could I take a look at your system?"

"Absolutely," Winston motioned for the others to follow him. "I have no idea where the other Talon members are, but in case they show up, you might want to stay close,"

The other two Talon members were miles away, in a self-driving rental car. Sombra grimaced and slipped her headphones around her neck. "Uh, Akande? You aren't gonna like this,"

"Let me guess," Doomfist removed his sunglasses. "Moira's systems went offline as well?"

Sombra nodded. "Yep,"

Doomfist sighed, watching the scenery go by as the car sped along. "No matter. I have others I can call too, and of course, you are here, too,"

Sombra perked up. "I sure am!"

The car slowed to a stop. The two got out, leaving the equipment behind but grabbing weapons. They walked up to the bushes, where a tall, slender figure graced out to meet them.

"You came after all," she greeted, her voice soft.

Doomfist nodded. "We have. Are the Overwatch agents close by?"

"Yes. I've been watching them. They have not seen me, I've been careful,"

"Good, good. Your loyalty is appreciated, Miss Vaswani,"

Symmetra's eye twitched. "My loyalty does not belong to you, sir. You know why I'm doing this,"

Doomfist's lips quirked into a smile. "I do. Let's get this over with, shall we?"

The three figures entered Nature's Gate, side by side.

Hey, everyone! Sorry, this took so long to update! I'm starting classes again soon and I haven't had as much time to sit and write.

Thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story! I hope you're really enjoying it so far, I've worked hard on it. Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter in your review, and I will see you at the next update. Bye for now!