A/N
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the next chapter of this story. I hope you are all doing well. Now I want to answer some questions and address things that I got from reviews that I couldn't reply to them with private messages.
First, yes, the romance between Ghost and Tracer will continue. I asked if I should or not and everyone who responded said I should and I agreed with them. Thus, I continue it.
Second, about the bad guys. The thing about the bad guys is that the Omnic I introduced a few chapters ago is part of a completely different faction and has no affiliation with Talon or Overwatch. The introduction of the three new Talon mercenaries was more to give Reaper a team to work with and round it out to the 6v6 we're use to from the game. As the story progresses and fighting between the Overwatch and Talon continues, we will see glimpses of the Omnic building up his own forces because of as of this moment, it's only that single Omnic. There will be time skips in the future of this story to speed things along. It's tricky to explain without giving things so you'll just have to wait and see. Just know that the Omnic and Talon have nothing to do with each other and will most definitely hate each other when they meet. Talon doesn't like Omnics much. But enough about that. Disclaimer time.
Disclaimer: Overwatch belongs to Blizzard Entertainment and its respective developers. All I own is the plot of this story and some of the characters.
Now onto the story.
Ilios, Greece
Escaping their pursuers, or assuming they have, most of Joker Squad found themselves trying to catch their breath in a small house, the only exception being Ghost who just opted to take up the role of a lookout while everyone rested.
"How...are you...not dying?" Luna asked in between pants. Since she and Ghost were the last ones to get away, they spent most of the time sprinting to catch up, especially Ghost, who stayed behind a little longer to set off his trap. After a few deep breath, she continued. "We ran like a mile."
"Because he's an asshole and he's driven by spite." The response came from Adam from his spot on the floor nearby. Everyone just looked at him with obvious confusion. "He use to lap the rest of us without breaking a sweat during training when we told to run and would keep doing it just to spite us." Looking to Ghost for an explanation, he just shrugged and went back to looking out the window while turning his attention every so often to the his wrist mounted device. Everyone fell into silence after that to catch their breath. After a few minutes of silence, Ghost stepped away from the window, now confident that they were no longer being pursued.
"Looks like we lost them." Ghost said as he slung his rifle. "How's everyone holding up?"
"Been better. Arm's pretty badly bruised and got grazed a few times but I can still fight." Adam said as he sat up.
"I got few cuts but other than that, I'm fine." Luna said rolling her shoulder.
"Still a little winded and bruised from when I got launched but I can keep going." Desmond reported. "Lady took a few rounds but she's operational."
"Glad to see you're fine, Desmond, considering I broke your fall." Victoria said before looking at Ghost. "I'll be okay but I'm going to feel it later." She said before making her way over to Adam to start patching him up. Turning to Garret, he said nothing and just laid motionless on the floor.
"Garret?" Desmond called out to him. "Garret, you alive?" Still no response. Desmond made his way over to Garret and tried shaking him, once again receiving no response. "That can't be good." Checking his pulse, he pleased to find that he was still alive. "Well, at least he's still alive."
"V, what did you give him earlier?" Ghost asked, remembering that it was Victoria who got him up originally.
"Hm?" Victoria looked back up at him, not paying attention what was happening while she was treating Adam's injuries.
"What did you give Garret? He's not waking up." Ghost asked again.
"Oh, I gave him a combat stim. It probably wore off by now so he probably crashed. He'll wake up in an hour or so. Nothing life threatening." V said nonchalantly.
"Can you give him another? We might need him." Luna asked.
"Do you want his heart to explode?"
"Not really." Ghost responded.
"Then I wouldn't recommend giving him another dose for at least another couple of hours so his body has some time to filter it out of his system." With that, V went back to patching up Adam, who looked a lot more unsure on if he wanted Victoria treating him.
"So, what's the plan?" Desmond asked, ignoring what he just heard.
"Well considering we're down a man, we're going to have play this smart. If they're not coming after us now, they're either regrouping before sending out patrols again or they're waiting for us to make as move." Ghost started. "Desmond, is Lady ready for recon?"
"She will be. Give me a few to do repairs." Desmond replied as he grabbed the drone out of the air.
"Alright. So how are you three doing on ammo?" Ghost asked next as he checked over his own ammo situation. See how much ammo he went through, he was happy that he grabbed the extra ammo before leaving.
"Burned through quite a bit but I got plenty." Adam said after quickly patting himself down
"I'm fine on ammo. Unlike Adam here, I pace my shots instead of firing wildly." Luna said jokingly.
"Well, excuse me. You didn't seem to be complaining about me 'firing wildly' when I drove them back after you got hit." Adam said with a smile, lightly nudging the sniper with his elbow.
"I didn't get hit, I was grazed. And you're right, you were an adequate distraction." Luna said with lightly pushing him back, earning a small chuckle from Adam.
"Anyways, Desmond, how about you and Lady?" Ghost asked, hoping to get back on topic.
"I'm fine on ammo. I packed extra and Lady's weapon's power cell recharges itself." Desmond said as continued to tinker with Lady.
"Well, at least we can effectively fight back when the time comes." Ghost said with a sigh. Running his hand through his hair and pushing down his hood in the process, Ghost's radio beeped a few times to notify him of an incoming call. On the side of his visor, he could see the familiar image of Soldier: 76 appear, letting him know who was trying to contact him. Walking into a separate room and tapping his ear piece, he greeted with the sound of heavy firefight.
"What can I do for you, sir?" Ghost asked. After hearing a burst from 76's signature heavy pulse rifle, Ghost got his response.
"Ghost, Winston called in about an explosion and not being able to raise you on comms. What's your status?" 76's rough voice came over the radio before he started barking orders once again. "Watch that left flank. Solomon, Dominic, get ready to get those civilians out of the crossfire. Move on my command." The sound of gunfire once more filled Ghost's ears as 76 opened up with another long burst from his heavy pulse rifle.
"We're a bit banged up but we're still alive. I screwed up though. A lookout noticed that a guard was missing and sent a group to check it out. That group ended up running right into us and a firefight broke out. We tried disengaging but we got pinned down in an alleyway from both sides and were forced to fight our way out. That explosion was me trying to keep Talon from following us as we retreated." Ghost explained, running his hand through his hair once more.
"We can worry about the mistakes later. For now, focus on the mission. How close are you to completing your objective?"
"Not close enough. We've located the missing agent but Talon's putting up a stiff resistance. We've fallen back to regroup and are coming up with a plan to take the objective at the moment." Ghost said. The response he got, however, wasn't from 76 but the sound of an explosion going off. "But for now, you have more pressing matters to worry about. See back on the ship, sir."
"Copy that. Stay safe out there." 76 said before he said to no one in particular. "I've got you in my sights." With that, the comm line went silent and call was ended. Ghost sighed, once again running a hand threw his hair as he thought over his options.
"You're not going to tell him about what happened with Garret?" Adam said leaning on the wall nearby.
"I'll explain what happened in my debriefing but he's not entirely at fault for what happened." Ghost said, looking out of a window that face the water, hoping the sea breeze would help clear his head while looking at the giant statue of the ancient Greek warrior. "I went over the footage Lady took earlier. A lookout on the other side of the square notice that the guard I took out was gone for too long and had a someone check it out. Probably why we ran right into Talon so soon."
"You can't blame yourself for that. That was purely bad luck." Adam argued. "What Garret did, though, wasn't acceptable. He assaulted a superior officer just because he didn't see eye to eye with what we were doing."
"That's the thing, Adam. I'm not faulting him on his reasons for attacking me. His views and opinions are his own and to him and everyone else, it looked like we were going to torture that guy. The only reason you knew better is because we've worked together before and you know how 76 and I do things."
"But you have to admit his actions were too extreme."
"I agree and he will be dealt with accordingly when we get back to the Watchpoint." Ghost said. "But for now, we can't afford to create an internal conflict within Overwatch. Not with them barely being able to support themselves."
"Alright." Adam conceded and dropped the argument. "I'm just trying looking out for you, James." Adam said as his voice became laced with sadness. "I know what's its like to lose family. I'm not about to lose anymore."
"I know." Ghost's tone matching Adam's. "Thanks, brother." Ghost said as he walked over Adam on the other side of the room and grasped Adam's shoulder, who nodded in response. Out of the corner of his eye, Adam noticed movement that drew his attention through the window.
"James, check it out." Adam said, directing Ghost's attention out the window. Zooming in with his visors, Ghost watched as a squad of Talon soldiers secure the area down the street. With no show of danger, the squad leader motioned for someone to show themselves. A few seconds later, the final mercenary they haven't encountered yet showed up. Watching the woman place a some kind of circular device on the device, they assume she said something as the squad looked at her before quickly heading back the way they came. With Talon cleared out, they watched her pull remove something from the device and make her escape. "What is that thing?"
"I don't know but whatever it is, it can't be good." Ghost said, removing his finger from the side of his visor. "Come on, we better tell the others." Heading into the next room, Ghost explained to everyone what they just saw. Not know what the object was or what it was capable of, Ghost and Adam both agreed to investigate the object and a minute later, the two were outside with Adam in front with his shield and Ghost closely behind him while Luna provided overwatch with her rifle from the window in case it turned out to be an ambush. Slowly approaching the object, they eventually entered within a few meters of it. However as soon as they took a step forward the sprung up a few feet off the ground, spraying bullets in every direction as it did so. The device bounced of the ground once more, continuing its spray of bullets but once it touched the floor a second time, the device stop shooting and broke apart. With the spray of bullets over, the everything went quiet until Adam broke it.
"Is it over?" he asked as he hesitantly peeking out from behind his shield. Ghost stood up and checked every direction to make sure no one was coming. "Fuck, I'm going to feel that later." Adam groaned as he shook his arm.
"I don't know what that was but I want ten." Ghost said as he rushed over and collected what remained of the mine. "Come on, let's get out of here." The two quickly retreated back to the safety of the house. As they entered the room the rest of Joker Squad was in, Desmond was the first to greet them.
"We heard gunshots. What happened?" Desmond asked as Adam walked past to keep join Luna on keeping watch.
"Remember that third mercenary that never showed up when we were engaged by Talon? Well turns out we were right about her bag having nothing good inside. Those gunshots were from a mine, some kind of variation of a bouncing betty that shoots bullets." Ghost explained before a thought occurred to him. "Also from this moment forward, I think I'm going to refer to them as Bullet Bettys."
"Anything else we should know about?" Desmond asked, ignoring Ghost's impromptu naming of the mine.
"Don't know. We didn't stick around to find out. We should probably expect more traps though." Ghost said getting serious again. "Is Lady ready?"
"Yeah, just waiting for you two to get back."
"Alright, send her through the window facing the water and have her start making her way toward the lighthouse."
"Got it." Desmond said as he tossed the drone into the air. Taking direct control of Lady, Desmond flew Lady through the window and then marked the top of the lighthouse with a waypoint to let her autopilot do the rest. "Waypoint set and Lady is on her way. Ready to go." Desmond said, putting the tablet away.
"Let's get a move on then." Ghost said. "V, stay here and keep an eye on Garret."
"Fine by me but Ironwood has to stay too. If his arm takes anymore damage, there's going to be lasting effects. Plus, I can't carry Garret and his gear on my own so if we have to bail, I'm going to need to help."
"Fine." Ghost agreed with a sigh. While he didn't like the idea of losing their tank, he knew better than to question the medic on matters of team health. "Adam, you heard the lady. Keep them safe. In five minutes, pack it up and move to the extraction zone."
"You can count on me." Adam said as he and Ghost grasped forearms. "Good luck out there." With a nod, the other half of the team left the building. The three agents moved in silence through the town. Half way through the town, they decided to cut through a building to reach their objective faster. However as they were walking, Ghost's visor picked up something attached to the bottom of the wall.
"Hold up." Ghost said. Zooming in on the device, he noticed a small beam coming out of the device that went all the way to the wall across from it. "Back up. I don't trust that thing." Everyone took a few steps back and got behind something. Looking around really quickly, Ghost found an apple sitting in a bowl and grabbed it. Tossing the fruit, the apple bounced into the laser. With the laser tripped, the device promptly exploded, sending a deadly hail of shrapnel outward, causing the Overwatch agents to duck behind something with a curse. Peeking out of cover to see the danger had passed, Ghost nodded to the others and the group let out a sigh of relief.
"That's going to get annoying quick." Desmond said.
"It already has." Ghost grumbled, now keeping his eye open for more traps. "Eyes open, people. I doubt that's the last surprise they have in store for us." The other two nodded in agreement and group once more set off.
The trip back to the lighthouse was a treacherous one. Not only did they have to avoid trap to keep their position unknown, the number of Talon patrols increased exponentially as they got closer, answering the question on why Talon didn't pursue them and forcing them to constantly be finding alternate routes and consume more of their time. Eventually, they ended up back in the alleyway they had their initial skirmish with Talon. The site had, thankfully, been cleared of bodies but the blood, scorch marks, and spent ammo from both sides still remained. Walking passing the obliterated remains of Adam's ballistic shield, only stopping for Ghost to pick up a bullet casing and pocket it, they continued to push up the alley and continued all the way to the stairs that lead to the balcony.
"Alright, here's the plan. Luna, set up on the balcony upstairs and provide overwatch. Dez, watch her back. I'll cloak past the rest of guards and secure the agent. Once I have him, I'll need a distraction. Under no circumstance do you two reveal yourselves until I give the signal, got it?" Both of them nodded. "Good now get a move on. Maintain radio silence." With that the two agents quickly but quietly made their way up stairs, finding Talon sniper seated in the room across the bridge struggling to get up as he had just awoken from his unconscious state. Seeing their opportunity as the other sniper turned away, the two ran across the bridge. The sniper noticed the movement and made eye contact with Luna, who rushed over with her rifle butt raised.
"Why me?" The sniper said right before the butt of the rifle crashed down on his head, knocking him unconscious once more. Down below, Ghost was easily slipping past the soldiers there. He could see the medics treating some the wounded in the building across from the lighthouse and the heavy from earlier making repairs to his weapon but no sign of the knight. Slipping into the building, he notice that the doors have been replaced since the last time he was the place and were all closed. Once inside, Ghost could see the agent slumped over in his chair and two guards standing behind him by the door that leads to the back of the building. Removing a bullet casing from his pocket, he tossed it to the other side of the room, causing both guards to jump with surprise and turn their attention to the source of the sound. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ghost bashed the butt of his rifle into the head of the first guard from behind and as the second guard turned around, he delivered a swift kick to the man's groin before slamming his head into the floor, rendering both unconscious. Not taking the time to admire his handy work, Ghost quickly rushed over to agent and started checking him over. The agent was in bad condition. He wasn't breathing and he body was beaten, bloody, and bruised. Freeing the agent from his chair, Ghost attempted to get a response from him but to no avail.
"You shouldn't waste your time. The man died of his injures earlier today during our skirmish. Stalker got a little too carried away, I'm afraid." A voice said. From the opening in the ceiling, the knight dropped down, almost on top of Ghost, who rolled out of the way and leveled his weapon on the new threat. The knight made no attempt to draw her weapons and instead opted to look over the body. Ghost watched her with a bit of curiosity but kept his finger on the trigger in case the knight made a wrong move. Watching her closely, he watched her reach into the man's shirt and removed something. Without a word, she tossed the object at Ghost, who caught it with his left hand while keeping the rifle trained on her with his right. Sparing a moment to take a quick glance at the object, his was surprised to see that it was the man's dog tags.
"Why are you giving me this?" Ghost asked suspiciously while pocketing the pieces of metal.
"Because you still made the effort to recuse your lost man even against the odds. Something I can respect." The knight said as she moved the corpse of the man and the chair out of the way. "Now here's the real question. Can you leave here alive with them?" The knight drew her sword. "I would advise you not to fire your weapon. Everyone outside would hear the gunfire and they would ruin my fun." Ghost knew she was right and had been trying to come up with a plan on how to get out since he walked to the building, to no avail.
"Your fun?" Ghost said, trying to extend the conversation to buy him more time.
"It's not often that I get to go up against an enhanced soldier." Ghost raised an eyebrow at her.
"Sorry but I think you have the wrong person." The knight just shrugged and got into a ready position. "Well if I'm going die, may I at least know the name of my killer?" The request surprised her and it showed as she drop her guard.
"Alana but Talon forces me to use the name Knightmare. A little edgier than I'd like but I'm not going to question the people who fill out my paycheck too hard. Quickest way to lose a job if you do." Ghost just shrugged in response. He knew how mercenary work was like and wasn't about to fault her for that. "I told you my name. What's yours?"
"Ghost."
"Well at least I'm not the only one with an edgy name." Knightmare said a small laugh. "You know, you seem like a decent fellow. I hate to have to kill you."
"You seem like a decent woman. I'd hate to die." Ghost said. Knightmare chuckled before once again taking her ready position, letting Ghost know that his time to think of a way out has ended. Knightmare's first move was activating her shield and charged forward at high speeds. Barely dodging the attack, Ghost once again leveled his rifle and was about to pull the trigger when he remembered what Knightmare said about the everyone outside hearing gunfire. Cursing under his breath, Ghost instead spun the rifle around used the weapon to redirect the blade. Using the rifle to block and parry her sword, Ghost was surprisingly able to keep up with Knightmare's strikes and mostly kept himself from harm, receiving only a minor injury while redirecting the blade. Knocking the sword out of the way, Ghost created an opening in her defense and capitalized on it, delivering a solid punch to her stomach followed up by kneeing her in the helmet, sending her reeling back. What Ghost wasn't expecting was for her to recover as quickly as she did. In retaliation, Knightmare quickly removed her helmet, revealing her pale skin, dirty blonde hair, and angry grey eyes, and threw the helmet at his face. In the half a second it took Ghost to dodge the offending piece of apparel, Knightmare reengaged him with renewed vigor, her slashes and thrusts even more precise than before, forcing Ghost on the defensive once more. Cursing as Knightmare scored another glancing blow, Ghost dropped his rifle and grabbed her wrist in the middle of a slash with one hand and grab her belt with the other before throwing her with all his might to the other side of the room to give him some room. Like before, she recovered quickly but instead of immediately reengaging Ghost in combat, she chose to hang back and catch back her breath.
"And you fight well." She said in between breaths. "You should join me. We can use someone like you."
"Thanks but my boss would be pissed if I did. Plus your current employers are kinda dicks." Ghost said as he kicked his rifle up into the air and into his hands.
"Fair enough." She said as she raised her weapon once more. Rushing forward, she activated her hologram, hoping to confuse him and once again tried her shield bash. The plan half worked as Ghost did get confused and side stepped out of the path of one of the Knightmares and into the other's, only he side stepped into the hologram's path, which was dissipated on contact with him. Sweeping Knightmare's legs out from underneath her, Ghost attempted to bring the butt of his rifle down on her head to knock her out but she quickly rolled out of it and made a stab at him from the ground, the blade glancing his side, creating a shallow wound. Jumping back to put distance between them again, Ghost swore as Knigthmare kept pushing forward, keeping him on the defensive. Stepping into one of her swings, Ghost was able to stop her arm with his own. With the blade no longer in motion, Ghost used his elbow to knocked the sword from her grasp, sending the sword clattering across the floor. Forcing Ghost back with punch to his wounded side and kick, it was Knightmare's turn to put some distance between the two of them. The two stared each other down before Knightmare smirked, causing Ghost to look at her suspiciously and with a bit of confusion.
"You know, I didn't think I'd have to use this but you deserved it. Go get him, girls." Knightmare said with a growing smile. As she said that, two holograms appeared, one wielding the a sword and the other wielding the pistol. The one wielding the sword quickly tried rushing Ghost with an activated shield while the other one opened up on Ghost with the pistol, the shots echoing in the confided space. At first, Ghost thought that the holograms would pose no threat like the ones prior but that thought was quickly proven wrong as one of the bullets grazed his arm, causing pain to flare up from the wound. With no choice but to open up with his rifle, Ghost dodged ducked underneath the slash of the sword wielding copy and pushed it into the wall before firing off a few rounds into the head of the gun wielding copy, destroying it hologram. The other copy quickly reacted to the 'death' of its twin by taking a swing at Ghost's neck. Ghost just dodged the attempt and drew his knife and stabbed it up through the copy's chin, causing that one to disappear as well. Returning the knife to it's sheath quickly, Ghost turned to face the real Knightmare once more. However, before he could do anything, Knightmare tackled him to the floor. Sitting on top of him, Knightmare drew a knife of her own and attempted to bring the blade down on his heart, only for Ghost to stop the stab. The two struggled over control of the knife for a short time but things quickly started to turn in Knightmare's favor. Unknown to Ghost, along the advantage of having gravity on her side and being able to put her weight on the blade, Knightmare's arms had cybernetics enhancements in them, giving her the extra strength she needed to overpower Ghost. Seeing that he was losing the struggle, Ghost instead opted to keep himself alive and shift the blade off course, causing the blade to pierce his shoulder. With a small cry of pain as the serrated edge of the blade ripped through his flesh, Ghost grabbed the knife and the held it in place and deliver a swift punch into Knightmare's unhelmeted face, stunning her long enough for him to force her off of him.
As the two stood up, Ghost winced in pain and grabbed his shoulder. Inside his visor, a warning flashed telling him that he was still losing blood and the knife still causing damage to him. Ignoring the warnings and blood starting to stain his clothes, Ghost prepared himself to once again face her but before either of them could make a move, thunderous booms came from outside as the floor shook from the explosions, with screams of panic and confusion closely following. Using the temporary confusion to get away, Ghost steeled himself for the pain and quickly pulled the knife from his shoulder, more warning flashing on his across his visor. Flipping the knife and grabbing by the blade, Ghost threw the knife back Knightmare. As she dove to dodge the blade from piercing her skull, Ghost grabbed his rifle of the floor and sprinted out of the building into the chaos outside. He could hear the cracks of Luna's sniper rifle followed by large explosions as well as Desmond opening his bag and releasing a small swarm of drones smaller than Lady that sought out hostiles and exploded as they got within proximity to their targets.
"Luna, Dez, fall back to the others. Mission failed, we're getting out of here." Ghost said over the radio, wincing at the pain in his shoulder as he bumped into a few people as he started running through the crowd. Knightmare attempted to follow but Lady suddenly dropped down in front of her and opened up with her weapon, causing Knightmare to jump for cover to avoid the burning hot rounds before Lady flew off. Once Ghost was through the crowd, Luna and Desmond quickly grabbed their things and took off running, linking up with Ghost at the bottom of the stairs. As they were making their way to him, Ghost took out a small canister that coated the wound in some kind of foam that hardened as it came into contact with the blood, temporarily sealing it the wound and injected himself with something to numb the pain. With that taken care of, the three of them took to running back the way they came. As they were running, Ghost's comms came to life and 76's voice came through.
"Ghost, we heard more explosions. What's your status?" 76 asked. The group halted, allowing Luna and Desmond to catch their breath and Ghost to answer the call properly.
"Not good. Mission's FUBAR, the agent is dead, and we're pulling back to the extraction zone." Ghost summarized. "I'll explain everything later."
"Understood." 76 sighed. "We had to drop the civilians off somewhere safe but we're doubling back. We're about ten minutes out."
"Copy that. We should be back by then. Don't leave without us." Ghost joked. "Also be ready, we might be coming in hot. We kinda had to bail on the farewell party early.
"We'll be ready, just don't be late. Now get a move on, soldier." With that, the comm line with silent Ghost focused on getting himself and the other two back to the extraction site.
"76 just called. Extraction will be here in ten minutes. Double time, people. Let's move." Ghost said and the others nodded and ran ahead of him. As they continued to run, Stalker and her squad were still patrolling the area when Desmond and Luna sprinted past them. Before they could attempt to take a shot at either of them, Ghost sprinted pass, tossing a grenade as he ran past. The grenade bounced once before going off, killing a few of the soldiers and destroying Stalker's rifle in the blast and resulting shrapnel. Before they could recover, Lady did a fly by the on the team, taking out several more soldiers before flying back over the building and out of sight. With no further complications, the three made it back to the extraction site just as the dropship opened it's door to let Garret, Adam, and Victoria in. Running up the ramp behind them, Desmond stopped for a moment and held out his hand, to which Lady flew right into and he grabbed the drone out of the air before taking the last couple of steps to get inside. "All agents accounted for. Get us out of here, Athena." Ghost called out. With that, the door closed and the dropship sped off to collect the last strike team. Luna and Desmond were hunched over trying to catch their breath while Ghost was standing there taking deep breaths.
"Ghost." Ghost spun around to see 76 and Ana approaching him. As Ghost turned around, the 76 got an even better look of Ghost's condition. Besides the large blotch of blood on the back of his shoulder that seemed to grow with every passing second, he had cuts on his arms and on his side and another blotch of blood on the front of his shoulder.
"James, are you alright?" Ana said as he rush over to check over the wound while 76 grabbed his first-aid from one of his pouches.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've had worse." Ghost said. Over the ship's intercom, he heard Athena announce that were en route to the last location.
"Come on, Let's get you patch up." 76 said pointing over his shoulder to the stairs leading to the back of the ship with his thumb. Ghost nodded in agreement and he, 76, and Ana all walked over to the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, Ghost turned and called out to Adam.
"Adam, when Winston's team come aboard, let him know we're up here so no one thinks we're dead."
"No problem." Adam said giving him the thumbs up. "I still want to know what happened out there." Ghost just returned the thumbs up.
"You sure you don't want my help?" Victoria called out. "I am trained to handle injuries like this."
"I think we're okay but we'll let you know if we need the help. Check with everyone else and make sure they're alright." Ghost said. Victoria frown at the order but did as she was told and checked on the others. Catching up to 76 and Ana at the top of the stairs, Ghost was surprised to see a small stool but decided not to question it.
"Take off your armor and and your shirt." 76 said. Ghost complied without question and began stripping off his chest piece. Getting his armor and shirt off, Ghost sat on the stool.
"Jack, you might want to see this." Ana said from behind Ghost. 76 just raised an eyebrow and walked over to see what she was talking about. As he walked around, his eyes widened as he saw what she about but remained silent.
"That bad, huh?" Ghost said with a pained chuckle. He could feel the numbness fading away and the pain returning with vengeance.
"James, what happened to you down there? There's an exit wound on the other side of your shoulder." With a sigh, Ghost explained everything that happened from his initial recon of the Talon's forces to the fight between him and Knightmare before his escape and everything in between, only making brief pauses to wince in pain as Ana attempted to treat his wounds. 76, on the other hand, listened to every word of Ghost report. While not visible, he frown when told about the introduction of the three new mercenaries and especially did so when told about the complication that came up between the Ghost and Garret. With his report coming to a close, Ghost heard Athena announce that they have arrived at the well and the doors opening with a hiss.
"Jack, this injury is too much for me to treat alone. I'm going to get Angela. Make sure James doesn't bleed out while I'm gone." Ana said, gesturing to the hole in Ghost's shoulder. 76 nodded and checked over the temporary bandaging on Ghost's shoulder only to find that he was already bleeding through them.
"How are you feeling?" 76 asked.
"Oh so now you ask?" Ghost said with another pained chuckle. "A little headed from the blood lose." Ghost shifted uncomfortably. "Also a bit uncomfortable from some blood that's trying to make it's way to my ass." 76 let out an amused grunt as he watch Ghost reach around his back to wipe the blood away with a piece of cloth. "I didn't think the blade would pierce all the way through." He muttered to himself.
Downstairs, Ana waited at the top of the ramp as the last of the Overwatch agents made there way aboard. Greeting them as they passed, Mercy finally came into view talking to Tracer from behind Reinhardt.
"Angela." Mercy looked over to see Ana and smiled.
"Oh, Janina. How are you? Did your mission go well?"
"It went well but we can talk about that later. I need to ask for your help. Ghost's mission didn't go that well and he was injured." Ana said began but was cut off by Tracer.
"Wait, James was injured?" She said, concern clearly showing on her face. "Is he okay? Where is he?"
"Don't worry, he's okay for the most part. He's in the back of the ship with 76." Without any further explanation, Tracer blinked past Ana and shot up the stairs, looking for the injured soldier. As she reached the top of the stairs, she found Ghost shirtless and holding his shoulder. Under normal circumstances, she would have taken a moment to take in the image of Ghost sitting there shirtless but as of the moment, her attention was focused on the bloodied bandages scattered on his body, mainly the large on his shoulder.
"James!" Tracer called out as she dashed over to him. Ghost almost jumped at the sudden appearance of the young woman and her sudden exclamation.
"Lena?" Ghost said with a bit of confusion.
"What happen to you, love?" She said kneeling in front of him, seeing the bandaging on his shoulder bloody on both side. Ghost didn't say anything and just opted to remove his mask and setting it on his lap. 76 was about to stop him but a look from Ghost halted him and instead decided to give the two some room and wait for Ana and Mercy by the stairs.
"I'm okay, Lena." Ghost said. Tracer continued to look at him with eyes full of concern but they quickly melted away as James smiled at her and spoke up again. "I promise."
"If you say so." Lena said returning the smile and removing her goggles to let it dangle from her neck before wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her forehead against his. "But this is the last time I'm letting you out of my sights." James could only chuckle at her words and just wrapped his arms around her in response with a smile on his face. The two only were only able to stay like that for a few moment, however, as they were reminded that weren't alone, unlike before.
"Oh my. And how long has this been going on?" Mercy said with a giggle.
"Ah, young love. I miss those days" Ana said teasingly. Both Lena and James felt their faces heat up as the blood rushed to their cheeks as they quickly released each other from each other's grasp while stumbling over their words. In their mad dash to let go of each other, James's mask was knocked off his lap and onto the floor, catching Mercy's eye as it fell, giving her more ammunition to tease Lena with later. A few moments later, the mask was picked up by 76 who handed it back to James without a word. James quietly thank the older soldier before reequipping his mask, much to Tracer's displeasure.
"Don't worry, Lena. You two can go back to staring into each other's eyes once we finish treating his wounds. We don't want your boyfriend's injures to get infect now, do we?" Mercy said with a devilish grin, causing the blush on Tracer's face to darken and was too embarrassed to try to deny the accusation of James being her boyfriend. As Ana, Mercy, and even 76 shared a laugh over the embarrassed state the two were in, they were both shared the same thought.
'This is going to be long flight.'
A/N
And that's a wrap. Thank you so much for your support and more importantly, your patience. You have no idea how much it means to me. This chapter is longer than most but hopefully it's just as good. Sorry I haven't been updating recently. Life is doing its thing and school has not tough me how to adult.
A few things I should probably address here before I go though. Adam and Ghost are not actually brothers. They're brothers-in-arms since they initially trained together but they are not actually related. Want to clarify that for those that didn't understand that. Knightmare's ultimate is shown in this chapter as well as Desmond's, who's ultimate I never mention before. Knightmare's ult is called Decoy, letting her summoning two physical copies of herself, one wields a sword and the other, a pistol, both with low durability. Desmond's ult is called Swarm, which is him releasing a small swarm of drones that seek out enemies and self destruct when they get within range using explosives attached to them for high damage. Like Junkrat's riptire, they can be destroyed before reaching their targets. That's all I have at the moment. If you have questions, feel free to PM me or if you ask in the review section with a guest account, I will get back to you in the beginning Author Note of the next chapter.
So what did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Let me know with a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style or want a quicker response.
Anyway, that's it for this chapter. Thank you so much for reading this story and as always, have a great day.