The Midnight Theory Chapter 15: XV, an overwatch fanfic

Note: We're back. Final main chapter. Epilogue coming sometime before the heat death of the universe. Enjoy.

As Sombra ducked out of the way of a massive, gorilla-sized fist, she realized that her plan was not going as smoothly as she had hoped.

It was a shame that things had fallen to pieces so quickly, but she supposed that was what should have been expected when she decided to put her faith in that faithless blue slut. She had all of Talon under her command, the heroes of Overwatch had been vanquished, and everyone in London would have been caught in her grasp if that deceptive wench hadn't betrayed her. She scolded herself for believing that the sniper could be trusted to do anything so important, and she wished she had just shot the woman in the head weeks ago. Apparently, the feeling was reciprocated, because she had been dodging sniper bullets for the last three minutes, hearing them narrowly whiz past her skull.

"Stay still, dammit," Widowmaker groaned from her perch on one of the Shard's three peaks. From above, the assassin could see each of the skirmishes taking place on the roof, each individual member of Overwatch battling off multiple Talon soldiers at once. They were batting away her minions like flies, easily proving why they were so special. Her focus, unfortunately, was on the world's greatest hacker, who was trying to split her focus between the very accurate sharpshooter and the very pissed off, glowing-red gorilla.

"Stay still, dammit!" Winston screamed, clutching his fists together over his head and violently swinging them down. Sombra sidestepped the blow and followed up with a quick kick to his midsection, which she used to bounce away and gain some much-needed distance.

"Hey, she already said that," Sombra quipped with a smug grin. "Get your own material."

Annoying people: her one, constant trait. Even when faced with terrible circumstances, she always knew how to use her mouth to make it worse.

"Shut up!" Winston bellowed, charging after her. "You can't run anymore!"

"For God's sake, what are you so angry about?" she asked genuinely as she dodged his powerful blows. "Is it about that time I snuck into your base and blew you up? Because that was an accident."

Winston roared, and Sombra rolled her eyes.

"So, not that?" She peered up to Widowmaker just long enough to notice the sniper taking aim at her head. Unable to help herself, she shouted, "Do you have any idea what upset the monkey?"

Her response was a hail of bullets. She rolled out of harm's way, still smirking and quipping without a care.

"Seriously, Widowmaker, you're supposed to be on my side," Sombra said with a laugh. "Did I not give you a big enough dose earlier? I'm assuming that you're just a liar, rather than them actually figuring out how to undo my work. No?"

"Be quiet," Winston demanded, taking another wild swing at her. Sombra was impressed. Despite his size, he was able to attack rather quickly. She thought the magical red glow was a neat effect as well. She was, much to her displeasure, not very familiar with the ape's abilities. She had no idea what caused his power, which meant that she had no idea whether or not she could manipulate it. Her primary thought was that it had something to do with technology, but then again, she was fighting a talking animal, so the concept of magic was not entirely ruled out. One thing was for certain: He was very mad about something. And through her cunning and the power of deduction, she was very quickly able to determine what that was.

And she could have a lot of fun with that.

"So, she's dead, isn't she?" Sombra asked with a shrug. Winston growled.

"Don't you dare…"

"Oh, she's super dead," Sombra said wickedly. "Tell me, how did it happen? A noble sacrifice? Her body gave out on her? Ooh, did she finally grow a pair and, you know…" She placed a finger gun to her head, and stuck out her tongue. "That's a damn shame. We had so much fun together."

Winston had enough. With tremendous force, he leaped into the air, and pulled back his fist. He dove towards the ground, hollering into the air, his eyes burning red. Sombra was more than ready. With a flick of her wrist, she vanished. Winston slammed into the ground forcefully, sending a shockwave that rocked through the foundation of the structure they were standing on. He looked around for her, but could not see that she had uncloaked and hopped onto his back, already working her fingertips on their holographic keys. In mere seconds, there was a resounding click, and she was in. His powers might not have been hackable, but his jetpack certainly was, and with a devious grin, Sombra activated it at full power. She leaped off his back, rotating through the air and landing gracefully, as his jetpack shot him across the roof uncontrollably, hurling him off the edge of the building. He began to fall as time stood still, and Sombra gleefully watched him tumble out of sight, carried away by his own technology.

But then, just as it seemed he was out of reach, Widowmaker came out of the sky, rolling to the floor and stopping just at the edge of the building. She launched her grappling hook down and snared the massive ape by the harness around his chest. She dug her heels into the floor and gritted her teeth as she pulled desperately to keep Winston from plummeting, only barely managing to keep herself from falling with him. She felt her heels slip as the weight tugged her downwards, and she strained her arms to hang on for just a moment. But, she was already wounded from her bout with Reaper, and it wasn't long before her legs gave out, and she felt the call of gravity summon her towards the edge.

However, before her legs could fall, she felt an overwhelming sense of cold wash over her, and she looked down to see that her lower half had been completely encased in a thick block of ice. Mei, several yards away, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry. I got you," she said half-confidently.

Widowmaker sneered. "Tell me again why we decided that Pharah should take Angela to the hospital instead of helping us here?"

"Because she can fly, and it would be faster?" Mei mumbled.

"Well, I can think of about a thousand better uses for her right now!" Widowmaker snapped, still feeling the tension of the chord against her arm. She peered over her shoulder, and panic flashed across her face. Sombra grinned at her, down the sight of her submachine gun.

"This is what happens when you cross Somb—"

With a damaging shot, the gun was blasted out of her reach, and she recoiled in shock as she gripped her wrist. She barely had a moment to recover before McCree dove after her, getting in close and firing at close range. Sombra guarded the onslaught as best as she could, grabbing McCree's wrist and yanking it sharply in every direction she could think of, narrowly avoiding his aim.

"Dammit," McCree said with a grimace. He grabbed her with her free hand and pulled her in tightly, shoving his nose against hers. His pistol was ere inches from her temple, but no matter how hard he pushed, it would not budge. "How the hell did you get so strong?"

"Push-ups. Weight-training. I'd love to show you sometime," Sombra said nonchalantly.

"Not in the mood," McCree groaned, struggling with his weapon.

"What's wrong? Trouble keeping it up?" Sombra asked, casting a sideways glance at his hands. "You know what the problem is? Your arm is outdated. That type of prosthetic is years old. You'd be much better off with a powerful upgrade."

"Well," McCree growled, "I guess you'll have to tell me how that works out."

With sudden force, McCree pulled backward, and dragged Sombra's arms outwards. The motion caused her to jerk forward and she stumbled unexpectedly, leaving her limbs complete exposed.

"Genji, now!"

Sombra didn't see the ninja coming, but she heard him. His voice rang out from above, and he moved like lightning, dashing towards her out from the sky, sword drawn and crackling with power.

"Ryūjin no ken wo kūrae!"

At the last moment, she shook free one of her hands, but McCree grabbed her right wrist with his massive, metal gauntlet, holding it in place as Genji's blade sliced cleanly through it. Her hand dropped to the floor, sparks flying from its broken end. Sombra stumbled backward in a daze, clutching at her mutilated wrist and staring at the exposed metal tubing within.

"Carajo, I just installed that!" Sombra cried. She fell to her knees and surveyed her environment. Her reinforcements were wiped out, lying incapacitated on the floor. To her right, the man in the big metal suit with the oversized hammer hoisted the gorilla upwards, as the snowball worked to thaw out the traitor. To her left, the gunslinger and the ninja began to approach her, weapons at the ready. She was a thousand feet in the air, with nowhere left to go. Overwatch had overpowered her. So many years of planning wasted. She took a deep breath. She couldn't afford to panic, at least not yet. She could still pull it off. She just needed to be clever about it.

"I have to admit, I didn't really think you could do it," she stated reluctantly. "I guess I shouldn't have underestimated you. Such brave heroes."

As they finally recovered and began to surround her, she continued, throwing her stump hand into the air. "I surrender by the way. You can take me into custody anytime you—"

She was quickly silenced with a sudden boot to the face, toppling her over. She tried to recover, but before she could, Widowmaker, stomped down hard on her throat, knocking the air out of her.

"Shut up," the assassin sneered. "Where is the bomb?"

"I thought you wanted me to shut up?" Sombra choked. "Be more specific—ah!"

Widowmaker twisted her boot further into Sombra's neck. "The bomb. Where is it?"

McCree forcibly pulled Widowmaker away, wrapping his arms around her waist and dragging her backward. "Watch it there, sister. We ain't tryin' to kill her." Sombra grasped at her throat, pushing herself halfheartedly to her knees. She beamed at the heroes surrounding her, a thin trickle of blood rushing from her nose.

"You people are pathetic, you know that? Overwatch," she said with disgust. "A bunch of puppets. So desperate to convince yourselves that you aren't freaks and monsters that you'd throw away everything to save a dying world."

"We ain't monsters," said McCree plainly. Sombra chuckled.

"Oh, aren't you? Jesse McCree, bounty hunter. Former Blackwatch operative. How many innocent people have you killed? How many terrible things have you done in the search of profit? I've read your files, your history. I know I've done some bad things, but shit, compared to you, I'm a damn saint. And the rest of you? You're just more of the same. A fat little scientist thrown out of time who watched everyone she cared about freeze to death. An old Crusader still clinging to his glory days, so he forgets that no respects the man he has become. A mentally broken castaway whose barely even human anymore. A dead-inside, gutless bitch who still can't get over the fact that her own, worthless life was taken from her. And you," she gestured to Winston, "I don't even know what the fuck you are supposed to be. To think that any of you truly believe you can find a place in this world is… well, childish. It'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic."

There was a moment of stillness as Sombra chuckled to himself. Then came the downwards glances, the bitter sneers, the silent rage. But over all of that broke through a single voice, unbroken, numb to all insults.

"Enough stalling. Where's the bomb?" McCree asked, unfazed.

Sombra rolled her eyes. "And so serious, too. Do you want to know where the bomb is? Fine. Here's the truth: There is no bomb. I made it up."

"Bullshit," Widowmaker scowled, tugging against McCree's grip. "I saw her working on it."

"That wasn't a bomb. That wasn't anything," Sombra claimed. "I was never planning on making a bomb."

"She's lying. Talon contracted her to develop a superweapon. I fetched the parts she needed myself."

"Widow, Widow, Widow, did you really think I was going to do anything Talon said?" Sombra laughed smugly. "I was never planning on working with Talon. I just wanted the money, so I faked most of my work on the bomb, and I was going to take my payment and escape to the Virgin Islands, where I could lounge on the beach drinking margaritas in the hot summer sun. Seriously, did you think it was even possible to develop a weapon like that? The chemical agent, sure, but a device powerful enough to spread it that far? It would require something much bigger and much more advanced than anything I could come up with. You got played. Plain and simple."

"She's not cooperating," Reinhardt stated, shaking his head. "What should we do?"

"The bomb has to be here somewhere," Widowmaker stated. "She mentioned earlier that her soldiers had finished setting it up right around here."

"Maybe it's cloaked?" Mei suggested. "You know, just like she was earlier?"

"Possible, but then where is it?" Widowmaker asked. "She said Talon had set it up on the Spire. Set it up. Where is the set up then? Where is the rest of Talon? Something is wrong."

"I told you already, it's a lie!" Sombra protested.

"Can someone please tape her mouth shut already?" Widowmaker groaned.

"No, no, no, no," Sombra cackled. "You misunderstand me. A single bomb of that size detonated in one location capable of spreading a chemical agent across all of London? Impossible. At most, it would hit a few blocks, and then dissipate into the atmosphere. The physics don't work out in your favor. But a larger bomb? Or two? Or ten? Or a hundred, spread out across the entire sky? Oh, that... that could work out quite nicely."

In a flash, a pair of massive hands wrapped around her waist, and within a moment the hacker was brought face-to-face with the giant ape.

"What did you do?" he questioned her.

Sombra rolled her eyes. "You know what's really funny about you hero types? You always think you know everything. You have so much faith in yourselves. But I've faced dozens just like you, and let me tell you something…"

A distorted cry rippled through the air and they appeared: a dozen airships materializing throughout the sky. Each was packed with soldiers, and hanging from their sides were massive black machines, each the size of a small car. The airships whirred loudly, and even down at the city streets, people looked up in shock and wonder at the massive vessels hovering in the air. They dotted the horizon, and the heroes looked up in horror just long enough for Sombra to begin dancing with her one remaining hands, targeting each of them in her holographic interface. By the time Winston, realized what she was doing, it was too late. Sombra burst out of his grasp, launching herself back through the air, and wrapped her arms tightly around her chest as violet energy surged through her. With a sudden jolt, she shot her arms forward, and the sound of electrical static filled the air as the heroes became engulfed by a wave of power, unlike anything they had ever encountered.

All at once, their technology failed. McCree's arm fell limp and its weight dragged him downward, collapsing on top of Widowmaker, still stranded in his arms, and Genji instantly fell over with a pained groan. Mei's equipment began to whir loudly and, with a pop, exploded into a block of ice, knocking her off her feet. Reinhardt's armor ceased to function, and he stood silently in place, trapped within his suit, and Winston's tesla cannon malfunctioned, sputtering and shrieking as it powered down with the rest of his technology. He was left defenseless, and during the moment of hesitation in which he watched his powers fail him, Sombra capitalized, delivering a sharp kick to his face, knocking him away.

Sombra grinned wickedly. "You aren't so special, after all." With the heroes down, she sauntered over to her submachine gun, casually picking it up off the floor with her one remaining hand. As she admired her work, she heard a distant groan, and her eyes traced down to Widowmaker, her already-injured leg caught under McCree's immovable metal limb. The assassin panted, straining to worm free from the marksman's grasp, but failing to budge an inch. Sombra chuckled, and with gentle, restrained steps, made her way towards the fallen warrior.

"You… you won't get away with this," Widowmaker gasped.

"Really?" Sombra asked, gesturing to the sky. "Are you sure about that? How exactly have I not already gotten away with this? Who's left to stop me?"

"Someone will," Widowmaker said with spite.

"Oh, and let me guess," Sombra stated, "that someone is going to be you? Oh my, however, will I defend myself from a woman who can't walk and doesn't have any means of attacking me? What horror!"

"It doesn't have to be me. There are billions of people and omnics in the world who will be ready to fight against you. You might take the city, but you'll fall. Eventually."

"Hmm, maybe you're right," Sombra shrugged. "A few million people aren't really good for much. But thankfully, I don't just have a few million people. I have you lovely heroes to help me… all of you."

Widowmaker strained again under McCree's weight, but even as the marksman tried to help her, they could not move. Her panicked eyes darted around the skies, scanning the enemy ships stationed to release their toxin across all of London. There were too many of them. Even if she could free herself, she had no way to get to any of them in the few seconds before they attacked. For the first time in many years, she felt completely powerless.

"You won't control me," Widowmaker swore through gritted teeth. "You can't control me."

"I know," Sombra said, her voice somewhat remorseful. She very calmly aimed her weapon at Widowmaker's head. "Oh, well. Five out of six ain't bad."

Widowmaker recoiled. She threw up her arm to defend herself; why, she did not know, as she knew it wouldn't do her any good. But as Sombra casually moved her finger to the trigger and began to squeeze, Widowmaker found herself feeling something strange. It wasn't that the specter of death hadn't loomed over her for many years. Often, she even treated it like a friend. But as the moment of her passing dawned on her, she realized that a very strange thought permeated her mind.

She missed Gérard. And she realized she would return to him.

But then, the sky erupted in a flash of blue, and everything seemed to stand still. Their eyes jumped to the empty air, searching for a source, Sombra's finger still resting on the trigger. Was it a flash of lightning? Even with the dark grey skies, they would have heard thunder by now. But then what was it?

Another flash appeared, lighting up to the peak of the Spire. Then another. And another.

It took a few moments, but as Widowmaker's eyes darted around the sky, she noticed that there were fewer ships than there was just a moment before. And when another flash came, and the sky erupted in a blaze of blue, the assassin saw it: one of the airships being absorbed in a ball of blue light, and then vanishing without a trace.

"What… what are you doing?" Sombra asked, concern apparent in her voice.

"I… I'm not doing that," Widowmaker said honestly. More flashes of light. More disappearing airships. The time between flashes grew smaller and smaller and soon transformed into a steady stream of blue across the cloudy sky, clashing and vaporizing all it encountered. Sombra glanced around, stricken with panic. It wasn't possible. She had worked so hard for so long. It couldn't be real. Nothing should have been able to stop her. No military force could have gathered themselves so quickly to launch an assault already. No members of Overwatch were left standing. No Talon operatives were beyond her reach. That did not stop the flashes to stop before her very eyes. Her plans, her airships, her toxin: gone in a matter of seconds. She became silent, and as the last ship disappeared, she stood with her head hung low, quivering with anger.

"What did you do?" she asked in a whisper, her voice hoarse. "What the hell did you to them?"

"Sombra, I didn't—"

The hacker did not give her the chance to respond. With a furious scream, she pressed down hard on the trigger and unleashed a furious barrage at the assassin. A violent series of crashes riddled the air, and Widowmaker shut her eyes, bracing for the impact. Sombra emptied the clip without stop, and by the time her gun clicked, she was breathing heavily, wishing that she could have done more to harm the assassin before her end.

Then, Widowmaker opened her eyes, and they both froze.

Twenty bullets hovered directly in front of her face, locked into the air like tiny, metal statues. They were completely frozen, and when Widowmaker reached her free arm out to touch them, they did not budge.

Yet, it was not the bullets that caused Widowmaker's eyes to widen and Sombra's mouth to hang open in shock. It was the woman standing next to them, who had suddenly appeared in a powerful blue flash. To Widowmaker, she should have looked ridiculous. Her brown hair was whipped into a frenzy, and she was wearing no more than a loose-fitting white T-shirt, long plaid pyjama bottoms and a pair of fluffy pink slippers. But there was something off about her, and Widowmaker could feel it. Had she always had those tiny sparks reverberating down her arms and dancing between her fingers? Had she always stood with such confidence, such energy that she looked as immovable as a mountain? Hadn't her eyes been a dull brown, and not the dazzling, electric blue that pierced straight through the hacker like daggers? She did not know. But when the woman finally spoke, she realized that she did not care. The voice was the same, but it was changed, radiating with so much fire and determination that she felt the words pass through her chest and strike at her very heart.

"Don't worry, love," Lena said fiercely, staring down the hacker several feet away. "Calvary's here."

Sombra groaned, throwing her arms down in frustration. "You! You're still alive?" she shouted furiously. "How fucking hard is it to kill you? Do you have a fucking reset button strapped to your back?"

Lena just glared at her.

"Really? You have nothing else to add to that?" Sombra asked bitterly. "No quips, no jokes, no explanations. You're just going to fucking stand there without saying a goddamn word to me."

Lena did just that.

"I can't believe this," Sombra moaned. "You come here at the last possible moment, and ruin everything I have worked so hard for. I should never have let you leave New York alive. I shouldn't have let you leave your home alive. Fuck, I never should have left any of you alive. You're all damn cockroaches, crawling out of the sewers to contaminate all of the good I've ever done!"

Sombra took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. After a few moments of reprieve, a sadistic grin appeared on her face. She extended her hand towards Lena, and brought up her interface. "Fine, Oxton. You want to come back from the dead and destroy my creations? Then let's pick up where we last left off. I could really take out some stress, and I wouldn't mind killing you a few more times to do it." Sombra readied to snap her fingers and take control, but then she froze, staring at Lena's chest with confusion. She could have sworn that Lena used to wear some sort of metal chassis there. But there was nothing in sight for her to hack. "Wait, wha—"

With a brilliant flash, Lena shot forward, and punched Sombra in the face as hard as she possibly could. The impact sent shockwaves through the hacker, and she flew backward, skidding across the rooftop. She rolled to a stop on her stomach and groggily rose to her feet, stumbling as she attempted to regain balance.

"That was for threatening Amélie," Lena said calmly as she lowered her fist. "This is for hurting Angela."

Lena vanished and appeared behind Sombra, striking her with a kick to the back of the head. The hacker rolled forward, flopping to the ground like a fish. She clutched her head, trying to regain her bearings.

"How did you… where did you—"

"This is for Winston."

Lena swiped Sombra's leg, taking her out.

"And Jesse."

She kneed Sombra in the stomach, and warped behind her.

"And Mei."

She brought down her elbow hard, and before Sombra could hit the floor, she was struck across the bridge of her nose.

"And Fareeha. And Reinhardt. And Genji."

Lena delivered another series of blows in lightning succession, each from a different angle, and each exploding through Sombra's body. Lena wound back her arm, and swung as hard as she could.

"And this," she cried as her arm shot forward and smacked into Sombra's chest, "is for Emily."

Sombra soared through the air, landing with a dull thud meters away near the rest of Overwatch. The hacker groaned, still trying to get to her feet. She knew something was broken inside of her. She simply couldn't figure out if it was her bones, her organs, or some combination of both. Desperately, she fumbled for her machine gun, as Lena casually began to walk over to her.

"You…" Sombra mumbled tiredly. "You bitch… you shouldn't be able to move that fast…"

"I guess I've gotten better," Lena stated calmly.

"No… you shouldn't be here," Sombra claimed, struggling to reload her machine gun. "Your accelerator's been destroyed. You shouldn't exist. That's not possible."

"I used to think lots of things were not possible," Lena explained. Even as Sombra snapped the new clip into place, she pressed forward, unafraid. "Then you opened my eyes."

"Liar!" Sombra screamed, taking aim. However, before she could fire, a flash of blue engulfed her weapon, and the gun suddenly froze into place. She pressed on the trigger, and it would not move, and when she tried to drop it, it merely floated in place, unbothered by reality. Sombra scurried away from it, stricken with fear. "How are you doing this? You shouldn't be able to freeze things like that. You shouldn't be able to destroy all my ships like they were nothing."

"I didn't destroy your ships," stated Lena. "I just returned them and their crews back to their state of time from a few years ago. Good news is some of them will get a chance to make better decisions in their lives."

"But you shouldn't be able to control their time," Sombra stated, hurrying to her feet as Lena approached and trying to back away. "I studied your case for months. Your accelerator gave you the ability to control your own time, not others. But you're not wearing your accelerator. Someone with chronal disassociation like you should have just vanished."

"That's because I don't have chronal disassociation anymore. You cured me," Lena explained, continuing her approach. "When you tampered with my accelerator, it caused it to malfunction in ways no one had ever thought possible. It broke me down piece-by-piece, molecule-by-molecule, atom-by-atom, quark-by-quark, scattering me across every moment of every place that has ever existed and beyond. I didn't just warp through spacetime—I transcended it. I was exposed to the basis that makes up the very foundation of every facet of our entire reality. I broke into the nothingness past existence, and when I was inside of that nothingness, I saw the makeup of the core of the universe, and it transformed me and taught me things your mind cannot even comprehend."

"That… doesn't make any sense," Sombra stuttered. "You're not making any sense."

"Then maybe you need a lesson on spacetime." Lena continued. "A good friend of mine always referred to it like a book. We're the words written on the pages, and no matter what we do, the pages always move forward, and the text—our actions—always remain fixed into place. But now, thanks to you, I have the pen. I can move anyone and anything into any relative location in spacetime I want to. I can revert deserts back into oceans. I can age human beings into infinity. I see and understand everything, not just things that have happened, but things that will. I don't just control time anymore; I am time. And you happened to really piss me off."

Sombra stepped back further until there was nowhere else to go. She glanced behind her, realizing her heels were planted firmly on the edge of the structure. Lena walked up to her until their faces were inches apart.

"You can't win this fight," Lena stated.

Sombra flashed a grin, but it was clear to both that it was strained. "You… you don't scare me, chica. Do you have any idea who I am? I am Sombra, the greatest hacker who has ever lived. I am the goddess of this world. I am the savior of modern civilization. I am—"

"Olivia Colomar," Lena said with a shrug. Sombra paused, her eyes wide with terror. "And you aren't immune to gravity."

Lena shoved her, and she fell. The wind caught hold of Sombra's back instantly, and as she felt her feet leave the floor, a high-pitched shriek emitted from her lips. Her descent was rapid; she was lost as gravity took hold of her, dragging her down faster and faster, screaming past the windows of the Spire. She began to tumble, and her nerve instantly crumbled. She was going too fast. The world spun all around her, and the feeling of weightlessness crept up through her stomach and into her chest, nauseating her endlessly. Even a thousand feet in the air, the ground approached quickly, and within seconds the pavement became crystal clear, and so too were the civilians down below, watching with dreaded anticipation for her to splat across the road like a fly against a windshield. There was nowhere left for Sombra to go, no computer to hack, no airship to pick her up. Her voice gave out screaming as the road became a hundred feet away, and then fifty, then twenty, ten, and five.

And then, a blue flash of light engulfed her, and she regained her senses just long enough to notice that she was floating at the top of the Spire.

Then, gravity set in, and she fell all over again. She tumbled past the same windows, and the same nauseating feeling lurched through her innards. The helplessness was exactly the same as well, and she desperately searched for anywhere to grab onto, she continued to spin around and around and around, falling to her death. Yet, as she was halfway down the Spire, she heard something new. Over the rush of the wind pounding against her ears, she heard a very calm, polite British voice speak to her.

"Gonna be honest, I didn't think you would be a screamer."

Sombra looked over to her left, and there was Lena, falling headfirst right beside her, her arms crossed over her chest, and a particularly uninterested look plastered on her face.

"Like, I get that falling to your death is a pretty terrifying thing," she continued openly, "but I've always quite enjoyed falling. It gives a pretty strong rush of adrenaline, you know? Gives you plenty of time to think about things."

"What… what are you doing?" Sombra shouted, petrified. Forty feet. Thirty feet. Twenty feet.

"Simple," said Lena. "You broke my time. Now, my time breaks you."

A flash of blue light overtook them just before impact, and they fell again from the top. Sombra tumbled over and backward, rotating uncontrollably, while Lena stayed calm and straight as ever.

"Stop this! Stop this right now!" Sombra cried.

"Stop? We've only just started," Lena stated. "What's wrong? Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of heights, Olivia. I mean, I know you had that incident with the tree when you were six, but I didn't think that trauma would carry over to this stage of our life."

"You can't do this to me!" Sombra shouted over the wind. "This isn't fair! I can't even fight back!"

"Don't worry about it," Lena claimed. "By the seventieth time, you should get pretty numb to the whole experience."

"Seventieth time! Are you fucking crazy?"

"Well, to be honest, my brain did absorb an infinite quantity of energy from other dimensions, so that probably isn't all that healthy…"

"I swear to God, when I get my hands on you, I'll—"

Again. Sombra completely lost track of her thoughts. It was getting hard to breathe. She had been falling for what felt like forever. And according to her tormentor, there was no end in sight.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"Hey, watch your language," Lena said harshly. "Kids could be listening. I'm trying to set a good example for them."

"Maldito cabrón! Te arrancaré el puto corazón y yo te mata en tu sueño!"

"Hey! I know what that means now! Rude."

Again. At the top of her fall, Sombra saw the heroes recovering, staring at her with a mix of confusion and pleasure. She tried cursing them out, but before she could utter a word, she had dropped out of sight.

"Will. You. Stop. Doing that?" Sombra asked desperately.

"Doing what?"

"Sending me down this… oh, god, I think I'm going to be sick…"

"Oh, you're still upset about that?" Lena asked. "I thought you were the one who thought I was taking things too seriously? You wanted me to liven up? Well, here we are, having fun together. Lena and Olivia. And I fully intend for us to have fun together for a very long time."

Again. As Sombra fell, she looked over at Lena, a broken look in her eye. How many had thousands of feet she fallen? How long had she been caught in a sickening weightlessness? How long would it be before Lena decided to be merciful and let her actually hit the ground below?

"Please… let me go," Sombra begged. "I don't want to fall anymore. I've learned my lesson. Please…"

Lena merely glared at her.

"Come on! What do you want me to say?" Sombra cried. "I'm sorry for brainwashing your friend. I'm sorry for trying to kill your girlfriend. I'm sorry for everything bad I have ever done to you. I don't want to fall. I can't fall. I hate falling so, so much, and I am so sorry, so please be a decent person and put me back on the ground."

Lena said nothing.

"Dammit, say something already!" Sombra cried, looking down as the ground grew closer to her yet another time. Lena gave her a cold stare, and as the ground rapidly approached, she opened her mouth, and spoke dryly.

"Freeze. Don't move, or I'll shoot."

Again. Sombra fell from the top. Her mind was spinning, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, but she did not pass out.

Again. The ground seemed to move faster and faster, increasing the rate of each fall. The wind rushed through her like blood.

Again. She lost count of how many times she had fallen down, but she had long grown sick of Lena staring at her. And of Overwatch staring at her. And of the civilians staring at her. And of life, in general.

Again.

Finally, after the billionth time falling from the Spire, after the trillionth foot, Lena decided that it would probably be best to give the miserable little hacker a check-in.

"So, how are you feeling, love?" Lena asked with genuine concern. "Because to be honest, I'm feeling absolutely great. Fantastic, even. In fact, I think I could just about fall forever."

Again.

"And when I say forever, I mean…"

Again.

"…literally…"

Again.

"…forever."

Again.

Sombra looked at Lena hopelessly, her eyes wet and running. Lena couldn't tell if those tears were from actual suffering, or just the harshness of the wind, but either way, it sparked enough mercy within the speedster to consider wrapping things up.

"Please…" Sombra muttered with the last of her energy. "Please… I beg you…"

"Do you promise never to hurt anyone ever again?" Lena asked sternly.

"Yes…"

"Do you promise that you will turn yourself in to the authorities, and surrender all technology both attached and unattached to you?"

"Anything… please…"

"And do you promise that, if you ever get out of custody, you will use your gifts to actually help people instead of harming them?"

"Yes."

"And I don't mean helping them by pushing a crazy world-conquering, conspiracy-riddled agenda to enslave mankind. I mean, you know, design software for the local soup kitchen."

"Yes. Yes. Yes."

"Okay, maybe not that, but you know what I—"

"Yes! For God's sake, the ground is getting closer!"

Lena nodded approvingly. "Good. Then, I guess you deserve a break."

There was a flash of blue light, and suddenly, they were back on the roof of the Spire, standing on solid ground. Sombra immediately fell to her knees and collapsed. She shuddered on the ground, too busy hyperventilating to notice Lena kneeling over her, watching with a keen eye. The hacker wept silently, muttering the phrase, "Solid ground," over and over again under her breath. Lena placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"There, there," she cooed, "it's all over now."

"Solid ground. Beautiful solid ground," Sombra whispered in a daze.

Lena sighed, rising to her feet. She turned to Overwatch, who had long since recovered and had been watching the spectacle for the past ten minutes. She laughed awkwardly, and gestured to the hacker.

"So, yeah… I might have gone a bit too far on that one," she said nervously. "Truthfully, I didn't think she would react like this—"

Lena barely had the chance to finish her sentence, as within seconds Winston leaped forward and pulled her into the biggest, tightest hug she had experienced in her whole life. Tears were already running down the face by the time he held her, and she soon became lost in her friend's embrace.

"I missed you so much, Lena," he choked out happily. "I'm so happy to see you again."

"Happy to see you again, too," she said sweetly. Soon, the others joined her, wrapping around her and smushing her into the middle of a massive group hug. Her arms weren't big enough to contain them all, but they held her as they wept for their rediscovered friend. On the rooftop of the Spire, as the grey clouds began to dissipate, and he sun returned, they stayed, proud to be reunited as a family one more time. They had finally done it. The threat was neutralized. They had won.

"You won't believe how much I missed you guys," Lena said happily.

"Same," Mei said warmly. "And you've got new powers now. That's pretty cool."

"Yeah," Lena agreed. "Pretty cool."

Lena stared joyfully at the people surrounding her, but soon, she realized that she was missing someone. With a small bit of force, she was able to break apart the hug, and make eye contact with her: Widowmaker, standing several yards away, annoyedly staring at her rifle as she balanced her weight on her wounded leg.

"Amélie?" she asked curiously.

"Yes… I don't think so," the sniper responded honestly. "I'm not really a fan of group hugs or any form of physical contact. That, and I hate all of you. So much. Really, I think I'm just going to go now—"

Lena dashed forward, and without warning, jumped straight into Widowmaker's arms, and pulled her into a sweet hug. The assassin froze in place, stunned by the warmth of another living being. Her face was emotionless as Lena whispered into her ear.

"I missed you, too."

Widowmaker wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. Her arms remained straightened at her sides, but the creature would not let go of her. Knowing that her only chance of freedom relied on saying something nice, she sighed, and spoke to the quirky, monstrous being that, for some reason, she didn't hate as much as she remembered.

"I'm glad you weren't ripped apart across all of spacetime," Widowmaker muttered.

"I'll take that," Lena said contently.

"Great. Now," Widowmaker stated, motioning to the others with her head, "will someone please get her off of me?"