Chapter 4
A long night, a kiss goodbye
Light-brown eyes were glistening with tears. Emily sniffled while trying to get rid of them with her hand. The cool, autumn air this night made things a little easier. She breathed through deeply.
Emily sought to distract herself by looking at her phone, but nothing had come up. A few messages for Sica still lingered on the screen. They were sent with a small glint of hope.
Last online 4:28 am… Maybe this is when Sica sleeps?
Something else would have to distract her from what just happened in Bernstein's office. By habit, Emily looked at the news and immediately regretted doing so, as that only served to remind her of work.
I failed at my job. My boss threw me out...
A fit of nausea got hold of her. Emily quickly tucked her phone away again and shivered all over.
I'll get another chance. Calm down already!
It felt as if depression and sanity were warring against each other in her mind, causing one nasty headache. Emily wasn't certain yet who'd win, and she wasn't sure she cared.
Her mood was surprisingly good. Emily's little manager had been amusing to parlay with. Since it was no fun for her to kill that which had already come to terms with being assassinated, she had spared him, too. Widow was quite animalistic in that sense.
There was a certain longing for another target after skipping on the last one. A brisk pace made it easy to catch up to her prey. The redheaded reporter was walking down in the streets below her. Two more blocks and she would've reached home.
C'est dommage.
Widow moved to a good spot. She could just take aim and end it here. Make an example. A trivial exercise.
Eh.
But she wasn't feeling it.
I'll confront her first. Maybe she'll be as amusing as her superior, yes?
There was a renewed, devious smile on Widow's lips. She resisted her thirst for the kill and continued to stalk her prey.
She'll die whenever I want.
There was a bad feeling at the back of her mind, as if something horrible was about to happen. She couldn't shake it, no matter how hard she tried. A shiver ran through her body as she tried to suppress the emotion.
Emily instead tried to focus on how she felt about soon being home instead. As journalist, she was used to stay up this long depending on the day of the week, so she wasn't really at the point of collapse. Still, she longed for the sweet release of her bed, just to call it quits for today.
Just be done with everything…
Tears were still persistent now and then, but she had herself under control, swiping them away as they came. Even a small smile stole its way onto her lips as she thought about sleeping.
It's the simple things in life, right?
Emily took a left turn around a corner into Wellington Street. Just as she did, a fire truck came her way without any fanfare. It soon disappeared into the night. Emily trailed it with her gaze.
"Huh."
Was there a fire here during the riots?
She turned back to face the street and stared at the smoldering, lifeless husks of a row of flats, including her own. Smoke was still rising from the ruins of the inferno that had burned her own little sanctuary to the ground. Most of what she had owned was gone, lost to her in an instant.
Emily stood there under absolute shock.
I guess her house is gone. She's not taking it too well.
Widow was mildly annoyed. Her target would be useless in this condition. Any bullet to the head would almost seem like a mercy killing and Widow didn't deal in mercy.
Just my luck.
The assassin was rapidly beginning to lose interest.
This won't do.
She readied to pack her things and forget about this little vendetta of hers.
Then she heard something that reinvigorated her killing intent.
"Ouh la la, you must really like me.~"
It was her own voice.
As a fucking ringtone.
Emily fidgeted with her phone as tears endlessly streamed down her cheeks. She couldn't keep up with swiping them away.
"One shot, one ki-"
Click.
"H-Hello?"
She had stumbled back into the metal fence of one of her neighbor's yards on the opposite side of the street of her former home. Emily tried to keep any resemblance of composure, but that was an impossible task.
"Oi, it's me, Lena! I know you're probably at work right now, uh…"
Emily wanted to keep it in, but hearing Lena's voice made it somehow harder to calm down. It was as if her conscience wanted to cry for help. She sobbed into the phone more than she talked.
"L-Lena… I'm sorry… m-my h-home… it's g-gone…"
"Wait there!"
Then Lena hung up.
Emily just stood there, all alone. The phone fell out of her hand as she lowered her arm. Her body was a useless mess, shivering and barely holding itself upright. Her mind was still blank form shock and she seemed to be stuck in time, unable to muster the will to move.
She couldn't judge how long it took, but something pulled her away from the fence at one point. Emily blinked a few times with her tear-filled eyes and suddenly felt herself being tightly embraced. The smell was unmistakable.
Lena
Emily buried her head against the shoulder right before her and started to let it all out.
"You're not hurt, right? That's good! I'm so relieved!"
Wailing cries were slightly dampened by a pilot's jacket. All the while Lena straddled her back.
"Hey, hey…"
Every so often, she would whisper words into Emily's ear that she probably thought of as 'encouraging'.
"It's okay! Who needs a home anyway, am I right?"
Emily cried a lot louder at that.
"Uh, yeah you're right, homes are nice. But come on, it's not all that bad, is it? Let's smile, okay? You look a lot cuter when you're smiling, do you know that luv?"
Time went on and on as they stood there together, one of them holding and the other clinging. Emily slowly exhausted herself. Maybe she even cracked a little under Lena's stupid comments as every so often some giggles mixed themselves with exhausted sobs.
"You know what? I get really wet when I'm standing here with you… On the shoulder, you see?"
"S-Stop it…"
"Nu-uh, can't stop won't stop!"
Is she quoting Lucio from Auditiva? Is nothing sacred anymore?
"Come on, smile a bit, luv!"
Emily finally gave in and slowly retracted her head from the shoulder with another mixture of sobbing and giggling, looking at Lena.
She looks so happy.
That happiness rubbed off on her. It was contagious, kind of like Emily always found herself yawning when she was around sleepy Anderson. A shaky smile stole its way onto her lips.
Lena seemed as if she was incredibly proud.
For herself? For me? Both?
"I'll try but… i-it's not easy. My home…"
The thought made her look away and nibble on her lower lip with distress. A hand on her cheek guided those light-brown eyes back up.
"Forget this!"
"How…?"
"You can stay with me for a while."
The redhead blinked a few times, as if she had misheard.
"I could…? But… wouldn't that be-"
Lena pressed a finger to her lips to stop any further objections.
"No but's! I always wanted to have a roommate and you seem to be in need of a shelter, luv. Plus, I owe you big time for yesterday! Angie said I'd be bedridden if you wouldn't have brought me home. Now smile for me, will ya?"
As if her eyes being all red from all the crying wasn't enough, her cheeks decided to join them. There was an exhausted smile on Emily's lips now. She nodded slowly, still silenced by Lena's finger.
"There we go, that's a good girl!"
Lena grinned at her cheerily with a wink.
Widow had watched everything. How Tracer hurried with a hobble to get to this little reporter, how they embraced each other, laughed with one another.
Enough of this! Any more and I will puke.
Mild curiosity had made her wait up until now, but enough was enough. Even though her pulse was low, she could feel her blood boil. Widow was at the end of her patience with this display of sickening sweetness.
The assassin applied pressure to the trigger amounting to 5lb. The bullet exited the chamber with a resounding bang. A target would have to stand at 3200 yards distance to have a chance at hearing the noise of the shot before the impact, not counting the time it would take the brain to process. Her targets never hear it coming. Widow coldly observed in slow motion as her 7.62x51mm caliber projectile pierced through the air, hitting its intended target at 777 miles per second velocity at the temple. The force of the impact was strong enough to throw the head around to a neck breaking degree, while the bullet exited the skull through the frontal lobe on the other side. Even without the obvious brain hemorrhage, the force of impact would have a similarly terminal outcome. Warm blood splatters covered the walkway, the victim's clothes and the face of the one she had embraced. The victim's body entered a state of primary flaccidity: Pupils dilate, the jaw falls and muscles relax. Only her companion kept her upright at this point. Within minutes of the heart stopping, her skin will turn pale and her body begins to cool down from 37° Celsius until reaching the ambient temperature.
Widow blinked.
Currently Widow applied 4lb of pressure to the trigger of Widow's Kiss. The shot of course never happened. In her mind, she was predicting what havoc one bullet would wreak. Widow knew her work and liked to play it safe.
This is as done a deal as it gets. Why do I hesitate?
The assassin tried to think why she would stop herself like this. She couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the right time to finish her prey.
A thought came to her from the depths of her subconsciousness.
It isn't that story, is it?
She remembered reading how Tracer went completely insane in that 'fanfiction' that Sombra had shown her. After failing to save Mondatta, the hero lost every ounce of morality in her body, working with criminals to take Widowmaker down for good. And after she had taken down Widowmaker…
Don't be ridiculous, that's just a story!
The pressure on the trigger was held at 4,5lb. But her thoughts lingered on that theory.
She further remembered the actual panic on Tracer's face after Widow had finished Mondatta. In the story that Sombra had shown her, right after that moment, Tracer would lose it.
But that didn't happen outside of the story.
Widow knew from this Bernstein character that the redheaded reporter, the one Widow saw on the roof top that night, might be the cause of this disconnect between the tales.
Did she keep Tracer sane? Maybe. So, what if I take her away now?
The two of them down there began to giggle with one another about some joke while Widow continued to wreck her mind about implications. She imagined the horrified look on Tracer's face if Widow only applied a little more pressure right now, letting that cute little head down there go 'pop'.
A smirk stole its way on Widow's lips. It sounded fun to her at first, to take something away this annoying girl clearly adored.
On the other hand, she could see Tracer completely snap in the span of seconds after that, her gaze going wild and crazed, laughing amidst blood and death, looking around aimless and dazed, the feeling of loss taking her breath, everything turning upside down as madness beckons.
Something in her grew uncertain.
Maybe that's what I should be averting
Her mind, in shambles, began to rhyme,
since everything felt very much off this time.
Her finger went away from trigger, clouded with worry.
She felt as if back in ballet, being an actor in an unreal story.
I absolutely don't have time to deal with an even crazier fool!
That's how she rationalized, watching Tracer already acting a tool.
Ce n'est pas grave, she tried to console herself, there's no need to rush.
It was lucky for everyone involved that nobody would point out her blush.
Widow instead continued to observe, trying her best not to actually puke at the two of them being so cute that she couldn't compute.
"¡Maldito sea! What is she doing?!"
Sombra had made herself comfortable with a blanket and some chips. She also had a fluffy bunny with shrill, violet extensions to cuddle with. Barely anybody knew about her little pet that was munching on a carrot right now and she liked to keep it that way. She didn't trust Widow's sadism to stop at cute animals.
Her rig was showing the scene of Emily and Tracer from all kinds of different angles, not quite voluntarily sponsored by London security cameras.
"Is she thinking up a poem or something? Come ooon! Deal with her already!"
The little hacker was visibly frustrated at the scene. Mainly because she could see Widow in one of the camera corners not doing anything.
"Has she seriously developed a soft side? Gha! Of course, it couldn't just go over smoothly!"
Sombra grumbled to herself, munched on another chip and then drifted down in her seat while cuddling with her funky bunny.
„Hora de empezar de Nuevo."
The cameras vanished one by one and made way for an array of pictures that were connected to each other. It looked like something out of a police detectives department, where officers would try to find out how murder cases could be connected to people and evidence. At the center of this particular assortment was a redheaded reporter.
"We'll have to move on to plan B then. Don't we, Senor Fluffles?"
Sombra began to cackle deviously, stroking her little bunny while Senor Fluffles seemed more interested in the carrot he was munching on.
"Mercy told you not to run…"
"I know…"
Emily was supporting Lena at the side, like she had done yesterday. The only difference was that both of them were much more aware of the way their bodies pressed up against each other.
Déjà vu.
"But you still did?"
"I had to come and rescue you!"
There Lena made her blush again. Emily was a bit embarrassed to be the figurative damsel in distress.
"It wasn't like I was in danger or anything…"
"You sure sounded like you needed someone to save you."
"I did? Well… ugh… Still, you shouldn't have to hurt yourself like that!"
"But I do! That's what a hero does."
A small sigh was the answer. Lena innocently smiled brightly at her from the side.
I can't be mad at her. She's too good for this world.
Emily whispered in return and looked down to the walkway as she did.
"I'm glad that you came."
They were quiet for a while, walking down the streets of London in the early hours of an autumn dawn. It wasn't bright enough yet for the streetlights to turn off, but the far horizon already shone in light blue colors.
"Emily?"
"Hmm?"
Both of them looked ahead, only occasionally catching a glimpse of one another in the corners of their eyes.
"Err, maybe… that's a bit sudden right now."
"What is?"
Emily was curious and looked over. She saw how Lena was strictly looking ahead, as if to gather her courage and/or thoughts.
"Well… I kinda have to tell you something."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it's… pretty important, you know?"
"You're good at causing suspense."
Lena was getting a bit flustered at the cheeks and started to chew at her lower lip while she was thinking about how to say what she wanted to say.
She's so cute sometimes.
"Do you know…"
The little Brit looked over to her in a serious manner, something entirely uncharacteristic for her.
"Do you know that I'm Tracer?"
They both looked at each other for a moment. Emily blinked a few times and then tried to play the most convincing surprise she could muster.
"Oh. You are Tracer? The Tracer?"
"Yes! I am!"
"Wow!"
Emily desperately hoped that Cassy was filming. She wanted to have Lena's naïve expression as screensaver, if at all possible.
"So, you didn't notice!"
"I totally should've from your yellow spandex pants and pilot's jacket. Those are pretty telling."
"Yeah, they kind of give it away norm-"
Lena looked at her and squinted a bit, slowly getting behind the most devious deception.
"…waaait, you knew!"
"What, me?"
Emily tried to suppress the goofy smile on her lips, but failed miserably. She almost regretted teasing Lena about it, but that grumpy pout made it all worth it. Now she really hoped Cassy got that one.
"Yes, you!"
"Oh, I suppose I did."
Lena looked like she had trouble understanding.
"Why did you act so normal then?"
The sun had appeared at the far end of the horizon and the streetlights were turning off one by one. Emily thought for a moment about her motive and how to best convey it.
"You looked vulnerable. Lena didn't want Tracer to be seen that way, I think. And I wanted to be nice to Lena."
They were silent for a while. Birds began to chirp in the distance as the morning grew ever closer.
"Yeah… that's an interesting way to put it, but you're right."
"It's strange to think about, isn't it? But I can relate. We all have different masks we put on sometimes."
"You're really good at putting things in interesting ways! Masks, huh?"
"Yeah. Like… you wear one to work, one around family, one around friends and another one online."
Lena looked at her curiously from the side.
"Do you have one on right now?"
"I don't think so."
That was a lie. The reporter tried to turn attention away from that by returning the question.
"You?"
"Me? Huh, I'm… probably wearing the 'Lena'-mask."
Emily was mildly surprised. Her friend really doesn't lie at all, or hold things in. There was a sudden surge of curiosity as an author of fanfiction.
"Is it hard to distinguish who's the real you?"
Lena thought about that for a moment as they wandered along the sunset.
"It kind of… blurs at the lines, you know? It's both me, Tracer and Lena. I just want people to treat me differently depending on who I want to be right now."
"I know what you mean."
A small chuckle came from Emily, which made Lena turn her way with a puzzled look.
I wrote a story about that at one point, didn't I? Kinda feels like cheating to know how she thinks.
"What's so funny?"
Crap, gotta be subtler.
"Ah, I just thought of a joke."
"A joke?"
"Two skeletons walk into a bar. One falls over, both are dead."
It took Lena a few moments to figure that one out.
"It's okay, I'm feelin' better!"
"Are you sure your foot is okay?"
"Sure as eggs is eggs! I'll go make us something, you can get comfy on the couch if you want."
Lena closed the front door behind them and observed her new roommate while they talked.
I hope she's okay now. She sure looks giddy! Gosh, I hope I don't fuck this up…
"Lena?"
"Yes luv?"
"Could I, erm… borrow some of your clothes? I had these on since yesterday morning."
A blush crept up on Lena. She staved off the impure thoughts coming her way.
"Yeah, sure, no biggie! Just look in the bedroom closet."
"Thanks a lot!"
While Emily made her way to the bedroom, Lena took off and hanged her pilot's jacket. A black shirt and dark blue jeans remained after slipping out of her shoes. She had quickly put all this on over an hour ago in her quest to rescue the princess.
Her gaze was still glued to the bedroom door.
She sure seems eager to get out of her clothes…
Lena shook her head vehemently after imagining what her new roommate would look like naked.
Stop it Lena! Pure thoughts only! Don't ruin it again!
Some less flattering memories of her past dates came to mind as Lena moved to the kitchen and started to make hot cocoa. All of them could be boiled down to one of two scenarios.
In one scenario Lena would find a cute and considerate girl. Then she would proceed to scare her away by being too quick to get all feely-touchy and emotional, just as she did with Emily yesterday.
But there was a worse scenario: Fangirls.
They would talk endlessly about how cool Tracer was and squeal like dying pigs at everything she would say, like she could do or say no wrong. The absolute worst though was the clinging! Like she was some life-sized action figure and not an actual human being.
Lena cringed just thinking about those dates.
Thank god Emily isn't one of those!
I'm gonna live with her! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!
Emily stood in front of Lena's closet with her asthma inhalator in hand. She had to breathe through that thing, lest she would be hyperventilating on the floor right now. Emily was basically an emotional wreck at this point and sincerely impressed with her own fortitude up until now. Any longer and she would've blown her cover on the way to the apartment.
It didn't get any better as she started to rummage through Lena's things to find something suitable to wear. But she got a bit distracted in the meanwhile.
Tracer wore this on her vacation in Cologne! And that's her Halloween costume from last year!
Emily even found herself comparing sizes to the ones she liked to imagine for her stories and squealed in joy as they turned out to match.
Some police cabbies drove by outside and since Lena had the window open, it was pretty loud.
Huh? Could've sworn I heard something from the bedroom…
Lena looked over after the cabbies were gone, but no peep came from the bedroom right now.
Oh well, better not intrude!
Widow was watching her target from a vantage point on another roof.
Her thoughts had finally stopped rhyming a few minutes ago. It had been the most stupid and annoying thing in a long string of irritations tonight. Surely it couldn't get any worse.
What was happening down there however was a mystery to her, since the redheaded reporter seemed to have the time of her life rummaging through a pile of Tracer's stacked clothes.
Widow had the feeling that she should be more impatient, but that wasn't quite the case. Instead there was a faint curiosity in her emotionless body.
Might as well entertain myself.
Just then Emily began to undress. Widow coughed once at the coincidence.
Both of them were sitting at one end of the couch. Since they were already used to being close from their tracks home, it wasn't too awkward. That was a good thing. Lena was sure she would've gone crazy otherwise. Seeing Emily in her jogging trousers and a white t-shirt with a bunny motive that Hana had gifted Lena recently was straining enough.
"Be careful luv, it's still a bit hot! Wouldn't want you to burn your lips just yet, haha!"
Emily looked a bit surprised to her, raising an eyebrow at the odd choice of words. Then she carefully blew at her cup of hot cocoa, dispersing the steam coming from it.
What did I mean, 'just yet'?! Oh god, the look she gave me! Lena, don't fuck this up again!
"U-Uh, I mean, not like you should burn your lips at any point, that would be horrible! They look so pretty."
The redhead looked up to her from the cocoa again and raised the other eyebrow this time, too. Lena was sweating bullets and laughing awkwardly.
You're so stupid Lena, you are-
Her thoughts got shut up as Emily showed her the sweetest of shy smiles. Strands of her hair were falling around that beautifully freckled face, framing it perfectly.
"Thank you. It's nice that you think that way."
A cupid's arrow hit her with full force, as she watched Emily go for the smallest of sips from her hot cup of cocoa.
So composed! And cute!
"Hah, haha, no problem!"
The heart in her chest was beating like crazy as she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head.
"Should we watch a bit of telly, luv?"
Lena needed to quickly calm down after that near-death encounter with a sweetness induced heart attack, so she just grabbed the remote as soon as Emily nodded her approval.
The TV switched on as Lena pressed the power button. It defaulted to Atlas News. There was an overhead video feed of a grand metropolis. Smoke was rising from different parts of the city.
"- are still in full effect in some parts of London. The chief of police states that the riots lead by 'omnic rights activists' are under control. In the meanwhile, a spokesperson of the Coalition for Omnic Rights stressed that this is the work of extremists and while she can understand the grief for the late Mondatta, condemns all application of violence."
Lena could see Emily tense up at her side.
"Please switch the channel!"
"O-Okay."
"In related news, an assassination attempt was made on the editor in chief of the Ev-"
"-ven show up on the GPS." "It is unworthy of global positioning." "That's the whole point" "Get off the grid, right?" "No cell phone reception…"
They were looking at a scene of young adults in a van driving down a forest road. Emily blinked a few times.
"What is this? It looks ancient…"
"That's what you get on a movie channel in the morning, ancient stuff!"
Lena clicked on the info button on her remote.
"That's… 'Cabin in the woods – 2011'."
"Oh, I heard of that one! That's a horror movie."
Emily tensed up a bit again to Lena's surprise.
"Is something wrong?"
"I-I get easily scared…"
Jackpot!
"D'aww, don't worry, I'm here to protect you from all the scary monsters! Being a hero and all."
That seemed to at least reassure Emily enough not to demand another channel switch. Lena dimmed the lights for ambience.
"I don't mean 'never', but…" "Hey. Nothing you don't want."
The two characters in the scene began to tenderly kiss. In the meanwhile, it was painfully obvious that the killer was entering through the door. Emily was freaking out again.
"Behind you! T-Turn around!"
Predictably, the two characters did not turn around. Suspenseful horror movie music, gurgling and female screams could be heard, but Emily couldn't see any of that. She hid her face on Lena's shoulder and pressed her eyes shut, clinging to her 'hero' as soon as the knife was falling.
Lena on the other hand managed to get her arm around Emily, holding her secure. She was in heaven, smiling without a care in the world.
Near the end of the movie the whole story goes crazy, unleashing a lot of common phobia. Most of which poor Emily was obviously susceptible to. After the crazy, murderous clown, she didn't even look up from Lena's shoulder anymore.
At this point it was no use trying to watch the film anyway. Lena was too hot and bothered to care about the plot.
"Should I turn it off?"
"N-No, it's okay! I'm… I'm okay!"
The answer came more as a meek squeal that reminded Lena of a frightened mouse.
"I don't really want to watch anymore, though."
"Huh?"
Emily was a bit confused at that, looking up from her roommate's shoulder. Her eyes were glistening a bit from being scared so much. It was impossible to hold back anymore.
"There's someone a lot more interesting here. You were really brave!"
A blush stole its way on Emily's freckled cheeks. Lena couldn't resist stroking one of them.
"Ah, it's not… I'm just a scaredy cat."
Emily tried to avert her gaze, but Lena guided it back upwards.
Now or never! Finger's crossed…
"And what a cute cat you are!"
Lena winked at her, smiling with all the charm she could muster. It came easy to her, even though her tummy was bubbling with excitement. She came closer, so much that their foreheads almost touched.
"I like you really a lot, Emily."
She whispered those words truthfully before finally closing the distance. In the back of Lena's mind, she knew that Emily's shocked expression and widely opened, beautiful light-brown eyes might be concerning, but it was far too late to worry about these things.
Their lips touched. Lena tried to be as tender as possible for their first kiss, keeping it light, only committing to small and sensual motions. The body beside her shivered as if a mild surge of electricity went through Emily's body. A squeal was dampened by their kiss.
Slowly, Emily began to return the affection. Lena felt her hesitation and found it insanely cute. The resistance melted away with every passing moment, as they eased into each other more and more.
Lena found it hard to think at this moment. All she needed was right beside her. Her arms subconsciously pulled the girl of her affection closer.
Not… too fast…
These warnings were ignored by her emotionally driven body. The need for Emily was far greater. Her hand on Emily's cheek delved downward, exploring the underside of the cute bunny t-shirt, gently stroking her pale tummy. At the same time, she tried to softly open the kiss, pressing her tongue to Emily's lips.
Her skin is so soft…
Her companion tensed up somewhat, growing restless for some reason, but Lena didn't care anymore. She tried to reach for-
"BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
Lena tensed up while Emily was positively startled to death. Emily tried to get free and Lena let go, watching the redhead falling over herself to get into the bedroom
Shitshitshit! Why now?!
Lena tried to reach for the pager in her snug jeans. She quickly read the message on it and got sober real fast. Then she looked over towards the bedroom.
Damn… Should I even follow her? She went hiding for a reason. Fuck, I hope this is salvageable…
Lena stood up from the couch, shutting the TV off and went over. She stopped right next to the bedroom door, not looking inside or anything, just close enough so her voice would be there with Emily.
"Uh… I'm… sorry if that was too sudden, Emily. I just… really like you, you know luv?"
There was no initial answer.
"I'll cut it out if you don't feel the same way, no problem."
Again, no answer. Lena could swear she heard heavy inhaling coming from the bedroom.
She sounds like she's having a heart attack! Was I that bad again…?
"Okay, I… guess we can talk later, haha. Right now, I was called to an emergency meeting, hero stuff you know?"
"Even though you're injured…?"
She's still talking to me! That's a good sign! It's a good sign, right?
"Well, the doctor didn't give me any medical certificate to skip out on work, so I'll have to! Can I leave you alone for a couple of hours?"
"Y-Yeah. Do you have… a notebook I could use?"
"Of course! It's right next to the telly, password is cavalry one exclamation mark with a capital 'C'."
A small giggle came through the bedroom door, putting a smile to Lena's face.
"I'll be sleeping when the cavalry's coming home, I think."
"I-I won't do anything funny, promise!"
Another giggle.
"I'll hold you to that."
"See you soon, Emily!"
The hero turned around, still a bit tensed up from everything that happened. The pilot's jacket and shoes were quickly put back on again. She already wanted to step outside when Emily called out to her.
"Lena?"
Surprised she turned around. Emily was hiding halfway behind the frame of the bedroom door. The beginnings of a shy smile could be seen on that visible half of her lips.
God she's so cute! I wanna go back in…
"Y-Yes, luv?"
"You can call me Emi. Come back in one piece, okay?"
Lena felt her chest stir. It was a heartwarming feeling, to know there would be somebody at home, waiting just for her.
I'm so in love.
Emily made herself comfortable lying on the couch. The jogging trousers were on the floor, discarded, as the redheaded reporter tapped away on the notebook with both of her pale, naked legs crossed on the couch. Since she worked on documents in the web, it was never a problem to just go back to work on her stories.
Should I stop here? I mean, that's a good cliffhanger for the next one.
As she contemplated on that, Emily started to twirl her red locks with one finger. That was a silly habit, but it kind of helped her think.
It was just a good thing that writing was such an efficient distraction from all the hotness that happened earlier. Emily didn't even know how to start figuring out how she felt about that. So not even starting to try was clearly the best idea in her mind.
Yeah. I think this paragraph will be the last. Sica will be furious!
Emily tapped away at a few more sentences, grinning gleefully. Then she scrolled all the way up to reread the story. She would do so a couple of times to adjust small sentences for readability or correct grammar mistakes. What her fastest readers would digest in around ten minutes took Emily generally around eight to twenty hours of planning, writing, talking to proof readers and correcting. And that all depended on how hard of a time she had envisioning the plot advancement.
It's worth it for the people I'm making happy with this.
That's what she liked to think, smiling contently.
A light breeze was tingling at her bare legs.
Didn't I close the kitchen window?
Emily looked up. The room was only dimly lit as clouds blocked out the sun at this autumn morning. The brightest light source in the room was Lena's notebook. She closed it to adjust her eyes to the dark. It was just in time to witness a tall lady clad in a violet body suit enter through the window, as gracefully and silent as a cat would do.
Amber eyes caught sight of her.
Widowmaker observed her prey with a mixture of amusement and pure killing intent.
In her mind, Emily had thought about this scenario many times. In half of the cases, she died immediately.
"Bonjour, Emily."
The other half would have her die slightly later that day.
Notes:
¡Maldito sea! ~ Damn it!
C'est dommage ~ What a shame
Ce n'est pas grave ~ It does not matter
Hora de empezar de Nuevo ~ Time to start over
This chapter took me quite a lot of time to compose. I hope you like it!
I'd appreciate your comment, dearest reader ♡