Shadows and Dust

Chapter 6


Reaper rammed into the first vehicle he encountered, a small pickup truck, and took it like an iron shield in front.

Widowmaker covered her eyes to keep them from being struck by the shattered glass, then ducked when Reaper used this truck to slam into another car.

The truck and the people inside were left incapacitated, as well as the SUV it was rammed into by Reaper. The man backed out quickly in order to intercept a large sedan, whom he made go out of control by chipping it with his tail, causing both of them to spin out.

The enemy sedan plunged into a ditch at the side of the road, driving straight into a light post soon after. The passengers inside stepped out, quite disoriented, but managed to gain their concentration and grab their weapons.

Widowmaker ducked for cover before the men could take aim, then shielded herself with her arms as the bullets ricochet off the SUV's makeshift plated armor.

"Give me a break..." Reaper growled as the SUV struggled to take off, then grumbled as a large truck went straight towards them, its large armored front ready to ram them into oblivion, "Start you useless piece of shi-" he saw that it was no use to continue, "Get here!" he grabbed Widowmaker by the shoulder and, as he stepped out, also dragged her behind.

"Ah!" Widowmaker hit the road pretty roughly, "What the-"

The truck roared and took their SUV right in front of her eyes, the metal screeching and screaming as it was struck. Their vehicle tumbled over and was knocked off the road by the truck, which by now started to turn around.

"Agh!" Reaper growled when the marauders in the sedan started to shoot at them, "Come on!" he yelled and threw Widowmaker behind one of the wrecks.

"Mon Dame!" Widowmaker growled, "What did you get us into!?" she yelled and pulled out her emergency pistol and started firing at their assailants.

Reaper growled in rage and then ran towards them, the large truck setting its sights on him.

"Idiot is going to get himself killed!" Widowmaker growled as she saw Reaper expertly avoid being shot at, but unaware that the truck was on his tail. The woman only grunted and went back down into cover as she heard the truck roar.

Reaper saw the truck and smirked, then before he was roadkill, turned into a phantom.

The truck drove right through him and was now headed in a no-stop course towards the sedan and its passengers.

"AHHHHHH!" the marauders screamed as the truck roared down the ditch towards them, taking all of them out when it capsized and crushed them all.

Reaper murmured as he rematerialized, then checked his body.
Several submachine gun rounds had struck his chest and stomach, but were stopped by his body armor and thus caused no serious harm.

The two could hear a bell sound in the alarm, and a small army of marauders could be seen coming out of their shanty homes and deploy.

"How.. fun..." Reaper cackled and turned to their overturned SUV, then teleported to its position.

Widowmaker saw the man reposition and ran towards the SUV as well, "What were you thinking, idiot!" she yelled and saw as the man opened the doors with his sheer physical strength.

"What, I thought you would like this?" Reaper chuckled as he handed her the Widow's Kiss, "Well, whether you like it or not, you should get a ready to kill.." he said in a mocking French accent as he pulled out his Hellfires and extra rounds.

"Not like this." Widowmaker shook her head, "I wanted some order at leas-" she stopped when she saw Reaper run towards the camp, "Sacre Bleu." she growled and followed some distance behind in order to pick off some goons.

Reaper felt it, his entire existence depend upon this.

It was time to Kill.

And that time started the minute he set foot in the small outpost and had the marauders aim at him.

"Mira mira..." he chuckled as he saw the men circle around him, all aiming their weapons. "Defectors... " he muttered when some of the marauders were wearing French army uniforms, "Goons... grunts... they all die the same..."

The men where disturbed by his appearance, but one of them finally spoke up.
"American! We will kill you!" the man yelled in coarse accent, "We have you surrounded... You have not chance!"

"Oh... Deseo contradecir." Reaper cackled, "I have all the chances in the world... Ustedes? Ni siquiera mierda..." he locked on to all their souls, then vanished.

The men gasped in shock and looked at each other in confusion, then scanned their surroundings to see where this strange person had gone.'

Even Widowmaker, who was looking down her scope, was surprised when the man disappeared, only to hear the blowing of soft wind behind her, making the woman turn to see Reaper materialize behind her.

"I'll let you take your shots." Reaper spoke, "Go on, you can take as many as you want out."

"I don't see why not." Widowmaker grunted, "You already aroused them to violence." she sighed and looked down her scope again, then fired.
The marauders entered disarray as one by one they were being taken out by an external force.

"Hmm.." Widowmaker smiled as she saw the disarray and the panic on the marauders, "Oh... now this is fun..." she laughed softly and got a clean headshot on one of them, "Ooh!"

Reaper nodded his head as their enemies fell, only to grunt when the men reorganized and finally caught sight of them.

"At least it was when I was out of ammunition." Widowmaker shrugged her shoulders and reloaded as she ducked behind the wreck of a car, "What now?" her spirits were now satisfied and well.

"I got this, plum face." Reaper muttered and commenced his teleportation sequence.

"RAHHH!" the marauders charged toward the car wreck where Widowmaker was hiding, then started to fire on it.

"Ungh!" Widowmaker growled as bullets ricochet off the wreck and the ground.

Unaware to the marauders, Reaper had appeared behind them, rising from the ground like a ghastly entity, "HAHAHAHAHAHA..." his cackle sounded above the noise of assault rifles and weapons firing.

The marauders at the back of the group where the first to notice, but also the first to go as they were blasted by Reaper. This action caused the rest of the mass to shift their focus towards the man, allowing Widowmaker to pop out and fire.

"Agh!" one of the marauders was blasted by buckshot.
"BLEH!" another was sniped in the chest.

Reaper turned and spun as he reloaded and unloaded his rounds at the men, cackling and laughing at this manic destruction.

Unaware to the man, one of the marauders, this one more heavily armored than the rest and thus surviving his assault, rose up and aimed his large machine gun at him.

"Reaper!" Widowmaker spotted the man, then shot her grappling hook and swung from a light pole.

"Kill- Wah!" Reaper was grabbed by Widowmaker before he was shot by the armored man, "What the- Oh..." he growled when he saw his assailant turned and fire.

"Sorry for this." Widowmaker muttered and dropped Reaper behind a tent, then used the extra reeling speed to jump behind an armored car. Quickly, she set up and aimed at the armored man's head, firing a round.

TLING! The bullet bounced off the metallic helmet the man was wearing.

"Hmph." the man grunted and turned to the woman.

Widowmaker gasped, then saw Reaper approach the man.

"I will consume your soul!" Reaper seized the man and drove his hand through a slit in the man's armor, which was located at the base of his neck, "Hahahahaa..." he laughed eerily as the armored man started to spazz.

Widowmaker saw more marauders come forward and shot them, only to run out of bullets and be left with two charging straight at her with knives, "So... that's how it will be..." she murmured to herself and pulled out her two black and red knives.

The men, feeling cocky, laughed and taunted the woman as the three circled around.

"Rah!" one of the man charged and went for the jab, only to have his hand caught and his body dragged towards Widowmakers.

"Bonjour..." Widowmaker smirked as she held the man tight, then pushed him away and roundhouse kicked his chin, "Tah!" she spun and kicked the man again, then punched his stomach and finished off by driving one of the knives into his chest.

"Hrr..." the other man growled as he saw his ally go down, then spun his knife and showed off his superior blade skills, "Honhonhon..." he kept spinning his knife and was about to lunge until he was blasted by buckshot.

"Showoff." Reaper muttered as he put up his smoking gun.

"Well, that was a thrill." Widowmaker smiled as she saw all the dead marauders around her, "I must say... that got my heart running." she nodded and looked at Reaper, who extended his arms up into the sky and started to absorb all the essences around him.

Reaper felt thoroughly empowered by this new life force fueling his body, and with his he removed the clothing covering his arms. His bronze skin was back, as was his muscular frame from many long years ago, now it was time to check one other thing.

Slowly, the man reached for his mask.

Widowmaker grimaced, remembering the last horror she saw.

However, that Reaper was no more, and even though he appeared 40 years old, Reaper had now fully human features that were not a horror to the beholder.

Widowmaker couldn't quite connect it, but she had felt that she had seen that face somewhere before.

"How do I look?" Reaper asked as he felt his face, relieved he had normal skin now.

"Much better than before, that's for sure." Widowmaker commented, "This one doesn't make me want to vomit." she smirked and walked towards the road.

"Where are you going?" Reaper asked as he put his mask back on.

"This radiation is killing me." Widowmaker responded and glanced at the extremely sunny skies, "I need some shade." she muttered, but suddenly received some when Reaper made his cloak loom over her.

"There, better?" Reaper asked as he covered both of them.

"What has gotten into you?" Widowmaker stopped and looked at him and noticed he once more took off his mask, she was quite surprised at this to be honest.

"I thought I could show off the new Reaper." Reaper responded, then he put down his cloak and place it on along with the mask. He stood silent after this.

Widowmaker was concerned, but not emotionally but pragmatically.
Could Reaper function with this sudden disassociation?

"My face must be hidden." Reaper finally spoke, "Not out of shame, but to strike fear into the souls of my enemies." he growled lowly and made his body exude a dark gas- the source of his power, human essences.

Widowmaker's doubts were relieved, for now. To her, this must have just been a shocker for Reaper since he had just recovered from whatever monstrosity he was, so it was just a passing thing.

"Widowmaker." Reaper spoke.

"Yes?"

"Are you still burdened by the sun?"

"Oui." Widowmaker responded, and once more the cloak covered her.

However, this time, Reaper was a lot closer to her.

0000000

Walking was tiresome, as Widowmaker found out.
Her knees weak, arms heavy.
If it wasn't for Reaper sacrificing his energy in order to cover her, she would have overheated a long time ago. Which made her wonder...

"Aren't you hot?" Widowmaker asked Reaper, who hadn't said anything this whole time, unless asked something by the woman- like right now.

"I do not feel the same things as mortals." Reaper spoke lowly, "I am quite comfortable, which may surprise you since I am wearing these black clothes and armor." he chuckled and looked at her.

"The sun's glare is hurting my eyes." Widowmaker groaned and rubbed her sore eyes, "This dust is making it worse-" she muttered, then felt a cold thing on her hand.

Reaper had handed her his mask.

"My my..." Widowmaker muttered and put the mask on her face, which darkened the surroundings around her, "Hmm..."

"It's only us two." Reaper spoke, "I hate to admit this, but we complement each other."

"Oh really, now?" Widowmaker asked, filled with curiosity, "And how is that?"

"Do I really have to explain?" Reaper growled and then glared at her, though he couldn't be mad, he knew it be true, "A la verga." he grunted and grabbed Widowmaker's chin.

It was time to act.

The man grabbed his mask and placed it on his face, then touched his face and hers at the nose area.

Widowmaker was shocked, the heck was this guy doing?
As quick as this action was done, it was terminated when Widowmaker stepped back.

Reaper glared at her from behind the mask, what had he done?
He had revealed something about him.
A weakness.

A weakness known as attachment.