Lena took the first flight from London after the incident in King's Row. Her old pilot jacket hung over her shoulders, zipped up to keep the chronal accelerator hidden as she rode economy, saving money and keeping a low profile. The food was poor, the seat was uncomfortable, and two large men in expensive suits talked across the aisle at each other, getting louder and louder as the flight went on.
She had a layover in Madrid, where she had to wait twelve hours for a smaller flight to the Mediterranean. She used the time to sleep in the airport, head cricked on a lumpy armrest while her legs hung over the side. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Mondatta's head with the insides blown out the back. The woman, the dead one with soulless eyes and blue skin, her words sunk deep into Lena's head and planted themselves there, unmoving with rigid edges that chipped away at her, pushing her further into a dark corridor.
Once she boarded the flight she put her head buds in and listened to a thunderstorm. The rain lulled her dozy and let her mind seep back into those poisonous thoughts. If only her rewind would let her avoid those words, just like she had avoided the bomb.
Through all of it, she hadn't forgotten Winston's call, but the joy she had felt at hearing his voice, at seeing her communicator light up for the first time in years, it was gone. But she couldn't let it get to her. She couldn't let Winston see her in a slump. That was part of the reason for her isolation to begin with. It took a year after the disbandment for her to dawn the suit again. And even longer for her to use her abilities for anything that stupid tricks in her apartment. Running to the bathroom during a commercial break and rewinding back to the couch. Busy traffic? Blink across in a tiny gap. Line at the grocery? Just grab the food and rewind out. What's a bag of chips to an entire store?
So after the plane landed she stopped by a bar, the Paul Oxley. Gibraltar was just as beautiful as it was when she was stationed there. The sea salt stained the air and the sound of planes and boat buzzing around the harbor made a joyous atmosphere. The streets were packed with tourists all the time, giving her new faces to look at and mess with, and the policia were laid back enough to not giver her trouble when she would wear her suit around. The accelerator, she'd say. It's a pain getting this thing off without removing it. Which wasn't true, but no one had to know her secrets.
At the bar she took a few shots of Tequila, just enough to feel the warmth in her face and the lightness under her feet. A Spanish man with a strong scent of fish hit on her and she played back with him. He paid her tab before she dashed out into the street, blinking far enough way that he couldn't see her. It was only noon and the sun was a sweaty mess. Winston would be on his computer, listening to the other Overwatch members as they contacted him and wanted to know what was up. Maybe he'd be surprised at her showing up? Maybe he already knows? She fancied both ideas.
It was a hike up towards the Rock of Gibraltar, so she caught a ride in the back of a transport truck and hopped off before they noticed her. Even with the lift it was a thirty minute, uphill climb and she was soaked when she reached the top and saw the base. The Overwatch flag was at half-mast, the UN flag was torn and battered, and the various other country flags were in severe disrepair. She could see the dust on the windows from far away, and a shadow hung over it like a haunting ghost. As she got closer she saw that a few of the windows were actually blown out, and the front doors hung on rusty hinges. Had Winston been living here this entire time? She thought. Was he alone? Had no one stopped by? Why hadn't she?
I was busy, she told herself. But she knew she was lying. She knew it and it made her feel like trash.
Stepping through the front door brought back memories. Good and bad. Like when she first met Winston after he developed the Chronal Accelerator, when he saved her from an uncertainty that threatened to crumble her. Or when she and Reinhardt took it upon themselves to clean the entire facility while everyone else was out on a mission. They ended up having a food fight instead, using every room and hall as their battleground. When the team returned, they were met with lumps of mashed potatoes and ladles of soup to the face. They were not pleased but they were hungry.
The bad ones seemed to fight harder to the surface. Nearly losing her mind after the crash, nearly losing her life when Reyes showed up, getting a bullet to the gut when McCree snapped. The wound she didn't rewind because when she pressed on it she still felt the pain and in moments of darkness, like the one she was in now, she liked the pain.
She walked down the halls and out into the central base, exposed to the sun and clouds. Debris laid out on the ground, dried blood streaked the walls, door were blown off hinges, shotgun pellets lodged in the steel.
"Gosh darn it!" Steel crashed in the base. The low rumblings of Winston were unmistakable. His anger was adorable when caged.
"Winny?"
"Who the?" A pair of double doors slid opened partway and Winston walked into them. "Flibbin' doors." He pried them open and stepped out into the sun, shielding his eyes. "El?"
She giggled. "Diggin' in the peanut butter again?" She pointed at the remnants on his hands that he smeared on his face. He looked at his fingers, sniffed, then licked them before smiling and running over on all fours. She opened her arms and let him scoop her up and spin her.
"Ah! I can't believe you're here."
"Put me down, Winston," she laughed.
"When'd you get in? Where've you been? What've you been up to? There's so much to show you. How's the Accelerator working? The guns? You seen any of the old crew? This is so exciting. I have dinner cooking, believe it or not. I don't know why I decided to cook tonight, but I was feeling frisky. Please, please, come inside." He grabbed her arm and she ran to keep up with him.
Inside the base Winston showed her around to his new set up which was littered with empty peanut butter containers and banana peels. He showed her the map with all the indicators flashing for the various agents. Some of them moved, some of them were stationary, and most had been shut off, which meant they were either dead or didn't want to be found. He took her to the stew pot where he was brewing a mean potato broth for dinner.
"And this, this is the new thing I'm working on. Just saved my life before I sent out the recall." He pulled up a small steel container which looked similar to Lena's warp bomb. He tossed it on the floor and it sprung to life in a blazing blew energy field, which surrounded them. "It's a force field. So I'll be able to jump to you or anyone on the field and protect them. Or maybe force enemies to scatter by leaping safely inside their ranks. There's so many options." The field buzzed and blurred before the machinery sparked and the field went down. "There's a few kinks right now but I'm working on it. It'll be ready before the first mission."
"Mission, Winston?" He looked down at her, eyes going soft, face drooping.
"Yes, ah, I suppose I might be…getting ahead of myself." He hobbled to his seat which squealed under his weight.
"Am I the first one to—
"Yes," he said. "You are…the first one to answer the recall. Reinhardt responded but was very vague. Torbjorn's active but in Russia for some reason. Angela didn't answer but she's doing me a favor right now. McCree…I don't know about him. Reyes is alive. He came here…he's not with us anymore. Neither is Lacroix."
"They'll answer, Winston." She placed her arm on his shoulder and he smiled.
"I'm sure they will too. They have to. I didn't do this with light heart. There's danger all over the world Lena. I know you've noticed. Things are getting bad again. The world needs Overwatch."
"I was there in King's Row—
"I know." He got up and moved around the chair. "I saw the news…I'm sorry you had to see that."
"I tried to stop it."
"It was Lacroix," he said.
"That was Ames?" Lena backed up. "No way."
"Yes way," Winston said. "She's working with Reyes. They're with Talon."
"Wha—why? What's going on?"
"I don't know," he said. "Not yet. But I'm working on it." They sat in silence for a moment before he went on. "Angela…I don't know if she'll stick with us, but I sent her out to investigate something. A possible new addition to the team. And I've been putting out feelers. There was another assassination attempt led by Lacroix and Talon. This one in America. One of the 'feelers' stopped it. I was…impressed. So we might have something there."
"Winston…I…I can't just…"
"Before you say anything," he said. "Lena, listen. I think the problem is that my transmission didn't go out properly. Like I said, Reyes stopped by and we had a chat. Some things were messed up. London's not far. I think the transmission went through to you because you were so close. But when I contacted Angela, she didn't hear the transmission. This isn't a lack of trying, it's a lack of communication."
"Winston—
"No, no. I'm not done. The satellite is down. It was brought down when this base was evacuated. But I've got it working again. Come with me." He rushed from the room. Lena looked at his mess and his computer and wondered how many days he spent sitting there moping. He did look like he gained a few pounds.
When she caught up with him he was in the middle of a sentence.
"—junk metal. It's so huge it's hard to move by myself and I've been devising a way to make it easier, but it's difficult. I think maybe, looking at your Chronal Accelerator, I can figure it out. If you don't mind, that is. I won't need to remove it, I just…sadly lost my blueprints for it and a lot of other inventions when Overwatch was disbanded. With that I can finish my idea and I can move the satellite to the launch platform, get that baby in the sky and the recall should go through to everyone."
"Winston," she said.
"Lena. It can work. This is not hopeless."
"Look around, Winny. It's just us here."
"Angela will be back soon, a day or two. And I'm sending for the one who stopped the assassination. That's four, maybe five is Angela was successful."
"But, Winston—
"Why did you come here, Lena?" He leaned in close to her, his stern face breathing onto her. "It wasn't to catch up. I heard your excitement when I sent out the recall. You answered immediately. You had been waiting for it. I know you were. Come on, look at me. Look at me, Lena. It's still me. You're still you. I just need your help to get this satellite up and then I can prove it. Come on."
She took a step back.
"I don't even…Winston, I let Mondatta die. I…" He stepped forward and hugged her with one of his huge, hairy arms. She snuggled into it. "I have missed your hugs."
"I've missed you too."
"Gosh," she said. "I can stay for now. At least for now. But if this doesn't work—
"If this doesn't work, I'll come back to London with you and we can fight crime together."
She laughed and punched him on the arm. He playfully punched back, knocking her over. She rewound and blinked around him. He spun, swinging out trying to grab her, but she was too quick. He fell back on his ass and she whipped up next to him. "Still got it," she said.
"You're mean."
"Thanks, love."
