Shadows and Dust
Chapter 4
Widowmaker awoke to disorientation and confusion, seeing nothing but a white ceiling above her. This was a vastly different location from where she last saw before everything blacked out on her.
"About time you woke up." a gruff voice spoke, and Reaper's figure was revealed to her. The man was tying some bandages around his wrists, exposing his mangled hands for a few moments before he put on his signature clawed gauntlets.
"What the- Where.. where are we?" Widowmaker looked around and scanned her surroundings, "What happened?" she wiped her sore eyes.
"I accidentally slammed the mask a little too hard..." Reaper muttered as he tied his boots, "Must have knocked you right out, but regardless, I managed to drive through the dust storm." he said and finished tying, "Managed to find this gas station before the car went to crap." he muttered and grabbed his mask off the floor.
Widowmaker saw as the man held his mask up, but since he was facing away she could not see his face- which would have been a first if this wasn't so.
"Lilac..." Reaper muttered as he whiffed the air around his mask, and then let out a soft sigh.
"Yes, it's my favorite." Widowmaker murmured, "Must have stuck when you drove that disguise into my skull." she groaned as her head still hurt.
"Apologies." Reaper chuckled as he put his mask on, then turned to the woman, "Rest assured it was an accident." he bobbed his head and stood up, "I think we should stay here the rest of the day, and maybe I'll check on the car tomorrow." he stretched a bit.
"Yes, I am exhausted." Widowmaker also stood up and stretched her legs, "How long until we reach the Germany?" she asked, noting that some of the items that were left in the gas station were various pamphlets bringing attention to German destinations.
"I don't know, actually." Reaper pulled out his phone, "No signal- Though it should be obvious seeing half the world is nuked." he muttered and looked at the options, "I could set up the Satellite locations, but I'm not the most tech savvy person." he rubbed his head in confusion.
"That is if the Omnics haven't jammed everything, it's best to keep in the cold trails." Widowmaker suggested, "Or else they could track us." she muttered and turned off her own device.
"Eh, what the hell." Reaper shut off his phone, "We'll know when everything's in the German language." he shrugged his shoulders, "And the Autobahn is ready for my driving." he cackled and then sat down, grabbing a nearby bag of potato chips from an aisle counter.
"Pomme de terre." Widowmaker muttered as she looked at Reaper open the snack, "How unsightly." she grumbled.
"You'd best take that back, because these are for you." Reaper chuckled as he handed the bag to her, "I really don't want to go outside and get the rest of the food." he saw that the sandstorm was still raging.
"Don't you need to eat too?" Widowmaker grunted, really not wanting to eat the chips, "Please, I insist." she muttered and glared.
"I only consume the souls of the living." Reaper growled, "Meager mortal food does not satiate my ever needing entropy." he clenched his fist, then grabbed a potato chip, "But this could suffice." he chuckled, a drastic change in character, and then lifted his mask up a bit and ate it.
Widowmaker caught a small glimpse of his chin, which had a scar at the point she saw it.
"However, I still wi-" Reaper turned when he heard the storm die down, then saw that they could see outside again, revealing a dustbowl of a French landscape before them.
"My France..." Widowmaker muttered and walked out to the outdoors, then felt the stinging arid air strike her nose, making her instantly huff out air.
"Need a hand?" Reaper walked next to her and started to take off his mask, "Unless you can bear this bitter sand." he muttered.
Now Widowmaker could get her chance, a look at something that bit her curious side for far too long, "Yes, I would like it." she said and extended her arm, urging the help of the mask.
Reaper removed the mask from his face.
A cold, lifeless face.
His sclera were deep red, as if they were lacerated and badly damaged. His irises were not much better, as they were also deep red and gave way to his collapsed pupils.
Oh what a horror of a man!
"I know I'm a handsome vato, but come on." the man smirked, the very fringes of his lips nearly parting at such action, "Control yourself, Amelie." he cackled and pointed at her as he stepped back.
"Sacre Bleu..." Widowmaker said in pure disgust, "Casse toi!" she also stepped back.
"Well, looks like you're not into my type." Reaper shook his head, "I guess I shouldn't let you have this." he reached for the mask.
"Yes, please!" Widowmaker grumbled, "Take it! Mon Dame!" she hunched over and was about to lose her food, "Ha.. ha..." she wheezed and held her stomach.
"So dramati-" Reaper stopped when he saw a figure in the distance.
No, scratch that, four figures.
No, five, six, and then seven. Seven figures in the distance all kicking up the dust behind them.
Widowmaker looked up and also saw them, the figures of seven cars, six of which appeared to be hounding down the one in front.
000000
The woman peered down her sniper scope and got a closer view, which confirmed that six of the cars appeared to be chasing just one small sedan. The cars behind the sedan were charred and horribly disfigured, and several of their passengers popped out with military grade assault rifles and started firing at the small car ahead of them.
"Looks like it's some sort of attack." Widowmaker mumbled as she saw one of the pursuers rammed into the sedan and made it spin off the road, the sedan tumbling soon after.
The two saw as the six other cars ran circles around the downed vehicle and fired as they did so, causing the car to be filled with so much lead it burst into flames. After the downed vehicle combusted, the small pack drove off as it exploded-
However, right into the two Talon agents' direction.
And it was only a matter of time for the small posse to notice the two people and their vehicle.
"Uh oh..." Widowmaker muttered and smirked a bit as she saw the car gang drive down.
"Don't tell me." Reaper sighed, shook his head, and cocked his shotguns, "We're about to be attacked by a gang of post-apocalyptic marauders like in that Australian movie." he muttered.
"Yep." Widowmaker nodded and looked away from her scope and at Reaper.
"Around, eh... 7, 10 armed men?" Reaper asked as he cracked his neck.
"Most likely." Widowmaker sighed as she pulled out some lipstick from her bag.
"Bring it on." Reaper cackled as he saw the gang approach.
"How's this for my introduction?" Widowmaker asked as she puckered her lips and put up her makeup.
"You look ready to kill, that's for sure." Reaper responded as he heard the roar of the engines, and the whooping and whistling of men as the cars ran circles around the gas station.
"What, no compliment?" Widowmaker smirked, "Then again, I had no choice words for your appearance either... so I guess I should practice what I preach." she chuckled and saw as one of the vehicles, a truck, stopped and caused all the other cars to stop as well.
"Bien, Bien, Bien..." one of the men on the truck stepped down, "What do we have here?" he chuckled and inspected the two agents, "Mon mon..." he rubbed his chin as he saw Widowmaker, "Quelle belle dame..." he grinned and checked Widowmaker out.
The rest of his gang whistled and wooed the woman.
"Qué quieres?" Reaper growled as he walked up to the man, visibly intimidating him.
"Ah... Regardez!" the man yelled in anger and fear as he looked at Reaper, "Misérable Espagnol." he scoffed and stepped back, returning his gaze to Widowmaker.
Widowmaker glared at him.
"What the hell did he say about me?" Reaper grumbled and looked at Widowmaker.
"Wretched Spaniard." Widowmaker responded, "I'm surprised, I didn't know you were Spanish." she chuckled, only to stop when the man reached for her thigh.
"Hon hon hon hon." the man chuckled and retreated his arm, "Des yeux percants." he smirked and turned around, but then suddenly used his element of surprise to get a smack on Widowmaker's behind.
Widowmaker gasped, completely shocked.
"Hon hon hon hon!" the man erupted in laughter, as did his little posse, who congratulated with light applause and whistling. "Hon ho- HWACK!" the man gasped when a sharp pain struck his back.
"There's only a few things I know in French..." Reaper twisted his arm, revealing he had driven his armored clawed hand into the man's back, "And fils de pute is one of them." he drove his claws deep.
"GAHHH!" the man screamed in pain, then fell when Reaper pulled out his hand, exposing a huge black wound.
The gang stood aghast as Reaper held a small black, orange, and purple sphere of a burning essence in his hand, which disappeared as it was absorbed by the man. In a fit of rage, they all pulled out their assault rifles and aimed at the man.
"Get out of here!" Reaper turned and booted the woman away, then turned into a phantom before he was blasted.
"RAHHHH!" the gang members yelled as the fired on the man, but stopped when they saw he was but a specter, an apparition that could not be killed. Seeing that this ghost moved towards them, some tried running in fright, while other more valiant (or foolish) men shook it off and continued firing until they could not.
However, the ghost of Reaper still roamed the land, and the man rematerialized next to those who stayed behind.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA..." the man cackled deeply, sending a chill into his enemies' spines, and completely decimated all of them with successive shotgun blasts. Once the threat was no more, Reaper absorbed the remaining essences of all these men, and finally turned to Widowmaker, who walked up to him.
"Nice work." Widowmaker nodded, then stepped up to the truck and placed her rifle on the hood.
"How far are they?" Reaper asked as he saw the fleeing gang members trying to escape, "A few hundred meters?"
"Not even." Widowmaker scoffed and aimed down her scope, firing one round.
Reaper saw as one of the men was instantly taken down, then another, and finally the last one, who went off with a satisfying POP! "Incredible." the man clapped as he saw all the targets were downed.
"What can I say?" Widowmaker smirked, "I am the best." she chuckled and looked at Reaper, "Now what are we going to do?" she said.
"I'll tell you what we're going to do." Reaper muttered as he looked at the 6 new cars, "We're gonna take one of these muebles." he chuckled and inspected the vehicles, trying to find the best one.
"What, got tired of our old one already?" Widowmaker shook her head, then nearly tripped on the body of the gang leader, "Agh! Nique ta mere!" she yelled and kicked the criminal.
Reaper chortled at the sight as he patted the car of his choice, a small SUV that seemed to be in decent condition- at least in one better than that damn taxi cab that nearly led to their sandy demise.
"Can you burn him?" Widowmaker asked Reaper, "I want to see that man burn." she pointed to the body of the gang leader.
"I just absorbed his soul while he was still alive." Reaper muttered, "That's more torturous than the heat of a thousand flames." he said.
"But he dared defile me." Widowmaker crossed her arms.
"He's dead. As he should be." Reaper shook his head, "Plus, you can count on me to defend you from defiling. As you saw, that man learned that this is my ass." he grabbed Widowmaker's backside.
Widowmaker gasped and turned in pure annoyance, then punched Reaper in the face, letting loose a nice cracking noise.
Reaper grabbed his head and then repositioned it back, once more allowing his neck to crack loudly, "Nice hook." he chuckled, "Relax, I only kid." he waved his arms and walked to the cab, "Now help me unload this."
Widowmaker nodded and walked to him.
Perhaps this companionship will be more interesting than she thought it would be.
For reviewer Ngrasser: This is going to be a Reapermaker fic, but the running gag is that this story is going to go against all the Widowtracer fics that are spread around the fandom. Sorry for confusion.
Hope you enjoyed and please review!
