Ten minutes earlier. Over the South Atlantic.

The team were sat in the back of the Covert dropship as it skimmed the icy waters east of South Georgia. Sombra had found out about Winston's being in charge of Overwatch, sparking a fit of laughter. Gabriel's response was to fire a blank round at her: obviously, it didn't harm her, but it did cause her to jump and fall off her seat with, a shriek and howls of laughter from the others in the bay.

Mercy had joined them as well by this stage, having broken off from her humanitarian work in the Africas to help. If anyone would be able to undo the damage done to the pair, she would. However, she, like Ana and Winston, had no idea of the Poltergeist's true identity: Omega had replaced his mask and demanded of the three or four who knew to keep quiet. "Or else", he'd remarked with an evil smirk.

"All right, quit the clowning around in there," came the gruff tones of said simian over the tannoy in the cargo bay, "We're coming in hot. Odds are that they're holding Widowmaker and Tracer in the mid-decks in the center of the ship. You'll want to start there. Remember: watch your fire. We don't wanna go to all this effort just to kill them by accident. Good luck."

The inside of the hull rattled slightly as twin smart-cannons lit up the hostiles lining the edge of the deck. Dull pings signified small-arms fire returning against them. The dropship lurched violently. "Incoming, hang on!"

The ship lurched the other way as Winston launched a barrage of missiles, raking the deck and ripping apart the SAM turrets that were trying to knock them from the sky. The ship swooped down to the foredeck as the door swung open. A green light flickered on as the team disgorged from their transport.

"I'll circle back in ten. Don't be late." The team fanned out across the deck as they swept aft, toward the bridge. A hatch swung open as a dozen or so more targets appeared. They hadn't learned to use cover, however, as a matter of half a second later- and several hundred rounds- they almost ceased to exist.

Before Winston took the ship into a high orbit, out of range of any secondary measures or debris from explosions, he strafed the ship from bow to bridge, eviscerating metal and man with the 30mm shells.

"Alpha, you're up. Beta will switch to our side and begin our sweep. Make sure you check your fire, Gabe. I know what that damn buckshot looks like and if I find any in me, I'll be putting one of those Hellfires somewhere you don't want it."

The team split into their smaller groups: Alpha, consisting of Jack, Gabriel, Mercy and Sombra were to sweep the port side of the ship below decks, while Beta, consisting of Omega, Ana, McCree and Doomfist swept the starboard. They found the access doors on the sides of the bridge and got to work.

"We'd better move fast, the crew have already keyed their Squawk. Expect Talon fast-movers in five."

As Alpha swept Subdeck 3, Mercy halted them. She knelt down, tapping her fingers against some residue on the floor before appearing to smell it.

"What is it?"

"Blood. Tracer's."

Gabriel's stance showed his confusion.

"How the hell can you tell that by sniffing it?"

Angela smiled. "Years of medical experience and patching Tracer up. I'd know the smell of her blood anywhere, the amount of times it's coated my hands."

She pointed to a visible trail leading through the hallway and into another door. "Follow me."

On the other side of the ship, things were getting interesting.

"Now what?" Ana was used to being affronted by walls of white-hot lead and phased pulse rounds, but this was entirely new. The Advocate unit had brought a team of men wielding Incinerators into the fight. Regardless of all else, everyone knew- or at least thought they knew- that these heroes weren't immune to fire.

"I will draw their fire," Doomfist called out, having been separated from the other two, "aim for their fuel tanks!" With that, Doomfist broke cover and bolted at the Incinerators, using his gauntlet as a heatproof shield. As the Incinerators changed target, Ana swung out of cover. Silently, she praised her decision to ditch her signature .338 Lapua for something a little faster-firing. The DMR ripped through the first advocate's tank with a 7.62 NATO Incendiary round, instantly setting its pressurised contents alight and turning the line of Incinerators into a screaming mass of fire. Doomfist broke off his run, admiring Ana's handiwork, witha wry grin on his face.

"And here I was, under the illusion that you were a humane sniper. I stand corrected."

"It's humane if they deserve it." Ana replied, almost sarcastically.

"Beta, this is Alpha: rally on us, we've picked up the trail. Subdeck 4, Section A-2-7." The trio didn't stop to acknowledge, each vaulting the gantry and landing in the open hold section adjacent to Alpha's location.

The teams converged on a locked pressure door. Doomfist ushered the rest of the team back as he drew his fist back.

"Ready?"

"Yep. Do it."

He nodded, before slamming his fist through the door with such force that it more or less took the superstructure surrounding the door with it. The advocates waiting on the other side dropped their weapons and surrendered: when fighting someone who can take a door apart which was designed to shrug off breaching charges with a single punch, is fighting really a sensible choice?

The team swept through the door, to be greeted by a new problem: as it turned out, the ship had a contingency plan in the event an enemy force were to board: Gabriel and Jack leapt from the railing into the water, attempting to board the submarine before it could depart. As they surfaced, a number of alarms sounded above deck as a pair of hydraulic hatches in the bow of the ship opened, turning the drydock into a deployment point. The pair scrambled back onto the superstructure, realising that it was futile to even try to board now.

"SHIT! I shoulda known that fucking thing would do that!"

Jack glanced at his best friend and once-right-hand-man. "What?"

"The Istanbul. I forgot all about it: this is the ship Widowmaker was sent to for neural reconditioning between assignments. The labs were based on a sub inside the ship so that if this happened..." He tailed off as Winston's panicked voice took up the com.

"GET OUT OF THERE, NOW! INCOMING M-" The hull of the hulking supertanker lurched to one side and rolled as a pair of XJM-3 ship-killers struck the port side. Immediately, the hold begun to flood.

"Everyone on deck, now!".

The team scrambled through the ship, dodging falling piping and panels as the ship continued to list to port and plunge by the bow. As they reached Subdeck 2, the hull begun to groan and creak, before a tearing noise was heard as the stress of the violent movement tore the ship apart. The section slammed back down into the water from a 20 degree angle, lifting everyone off their feet and slamming them to the floor.

"FUCK! GO GO GO!"

It had taken the team less than 90 seconds to reach the deck, but even by then it was almost awash. Winston brought the ship in as low as he dared, acutely aware that the change in air pressure if the ship were to sink could potentially drag his craft down as well. As the last of the team boarded, Winston lurched his craft up, in time to witness an explosion under the surface, punching a wall of water about 200 feet into the air. As everyone regained their breaths, a look of horror befell Jack.

"Shit. Where's Sombra?"

"Oh fuck. fuck fuck fuck! No!"

As he and Gabriel panicked, A familiar face popped up an inch from Gabriel's face, tapping the cheekpiece of his mask.

"Boop!"

Gabriel jumped with shock as the sodden girl clutched her chest, laughing uncontrollably.

"THAT is for the blank earlier, gilipollas. And don't worry about that sub, I've fixed it." Bringing up one of the HUD screens built into the floor of the hold, a map of the planet appeared, with a red dot and traceline behind it.

"Spiked them! Hang on, let's make this a little more personal..."

A few taps later, the red dot had been replaced by a pair of icons, looking like an anime rendition of Widowmaker and Tracer.

"Now, I'll that sub isn't gonna resurface for a while. Not until the heat has died down"

Gabriel and Jack had both taken their respective headwear off, revealing their battered faces. "Well, let's call the Junker Duo. They'll be of use."

"Nein, das ist a bad plan." Mercy broke into the discussion now. "We're trying to save those two, not vaporise them and whatever they are held inside!"

"Relax, Angela," Gabriel muttered, as he slotted a cigar between his lips. "That ain't why I'm calling them in. First, the sub ain't gonna resurface for a while yet, so we won't risk killing our friends."

Angela was confused. "Then why bother calling them? It makes no sense to involve someone when they aren't going to be able to do anything, except perhaps occupying hold space."

Gabriel smiled, he drew a lighter and struck the flint. "They will be useful," as he lit the end of his cigar, before closing the lighter, "Because we're about to light the biggest fire you've ever seen under Talon's ass."

AUTHOR NOTE

Not a bad chapter, I hope. Longer than some of the others, at least. And can you guess where the ship-cum-submarine idea came from? (Hint: starts with 'X', ends with 'Men' ;) )

As you can see, things are going to start getting... lively. And while I start to draw this story to its climax, I'm going to start work on a shorter story for Halloween. It's going to be somewhat different to most Halloween stories as it won't have anything to do with Junkenstein, although *hopefully* the story will still be an interesting and tense read. Think RE: Apocalypse and you won't be a million miles from the basic idea I've pondered since August.

Ciao!

B.