"Sorry there, 'Love.' It was a good show y'put on… But I'm 'fraid the party's over."
Tracer grit her teeth as she felt the grenade launcher barrel against her back shake along with another burst of laughter from the mad Junker. To have been fooled so handily by someone who was widely considered to be a crazed idiot… Oh, she wouldn't stand for that. Not one bit. Her chronal accelerator hummed as it charged up, and in an instant she was gone. The gear on Junkrat's chest harness rattled as he gave a small jump of surprise.
"Oi! Where'd ya go?!" he shouted, looking around feverishly for the woman who, just a moment before, he'd had solidly held up at gunpoint. His answer came in the form of a charging electrical hum and the cool feeling of a gun barrel being pressed against the back of his head.
"Rotten luck, 'Mate.' Looks like the game's not over just yet!" Tracer snapped back triumphantly, though she struggled a bit to keep the trembling in her legs from being transferred up to the pulse pistol she held against his head. The bastard was so much taller than her when he stood straight up that she had to stand on her tippy toes in order to reach over the large spiked tire he wore on his back, and it was straining her already-overworked legs a bit. Luckily, her captive hadn't seemed to notice.
"A-alroight, alroight, alroight! F-fair 'nuff! Y-ya got me!" Junkrat stammered out with an undignified crack in his voice, instantly holding his hands high in the air in surrender. A smirk planted itself across Tracer's lips as she watched the Junker's earlier confidence instantly evaporate into his usual cowardice. Now this was more like it!
"L-look, maybe I did come on a bit strong. Y'know, with the whole 'threatenin' ta blow ya up' thing… Totally my fault. But seriously, th-this is all jus' a big misunderstanding, mate! I-I mean, can't we talk 'bout this?"
Tracer opened her mouth to reply, but her witty comment caught in her throat as she spotted some movement from her captive. It wasn't much, just a quick glance back over his shoulder. The problem was he wasn't looking back at her. He instead glanced past her, clear overtop her head, a wide grin erupting across his face in the split second he'd seen what he was looking for. Tracer's eyes widened behind her visor. Oh, bloody hell, she'd forgotten about—
"Huurkk!" was all she managed to choke out as she was suddenly jerked violently backward by the waist, her pistol clattering to the ground as it flew from her hand. Before she could register exactly what was happening, she felt herself slam against a wall of flesh, knocking the wind right out of her. An arm as thick as a tree trunk then pinned her there with such force that it knocked her chronal accelerator out of whack. There would be no zipping back through time to get out of this mess.
"S'bout damn time ya got here! This li'l drongo was 'bout ta blow me fuggin' head off me shoulders! Some bodyguard you've been lately!" Junkrat whined, stamping his peg leg against the ground with all the finesse of a five year old throwing a fit. Roadhog replied with what sounded to Tracer like wordless grumbling behind his mask. She could feel the deep rumbles of his voice reverberating through the bare chest her back was pinned against, the thought of which made her shudder in mild disgust. Junkrat had no trouble at all in understanding his partner-in-crime, and his entire body seemed to slump in exasperation as he rolled his eyes derisively.
"Oh, right! Because it's my job to case a joint an' make sure they got fast lifts! Y'know, if ya'd lost a few pounds it might not'a taken so damn long! I swear, I think I could hear those cables cryin' from all'a way in here!"
The response this time almost sounded like one of Winston's low growls, though Tracer thought she could make out a single word in it this time: "Jamison…"
Junkrat let out a squeak at the implied threat, shying back a few steps and staring up at the Junker Enforcer with wide, terrified eyes.
"S-sorry, sorry, sorry!" he apologized frantically, a few fearful, nervous giggles bubbling up to the surface every now and then. "C-c'mon, mate, I didn't mean it! Y-y'know stuff like that just slips out when I'm stressed!"
And he did indeed look more stressed than usual, now that Tracer thought about it. Junkrat seemed a lot more twitchy than usual, constantly looking around as though some boogeyman was about to jump out and get him at any moment. She even noticed a fresh bald patch on the left side of his head that she was sure hadn't been there before.
"Would you two save your little lovers' quarrel for later? It's sweet an' all, but I don't exactly have all day here." Tracer huffed impatiently. Junkrat shot her an unamused glare.
"Oh, well aren't we an impatient li'l fuck? Yer all in a hurry now that ya finally got here! D'ya know how damn long I was waitin' fer you arseholes ta show up?! I mean, for Chrissake, lookit how bored I got!" he retorted before hobbling over to the nearby wall. He flipped a switch, turning on the lights and revealing his 'handiwork.' Up on the ceiling was a huge array of explosives and detonation cord, all arranged in the shape of the grinning smiley face that was more or less the Junker's signature. Even with the revelation of enough C5 looming over their heads to demolish half the block, not to mention the mystery of how he got it all up there in the first place, Tracer could do little more to respond to it all than stare at Junkrat like he was the most insane person on the planet – which, in all fairness, he may well have been.
"W-wait… You were waiting for us?" she asked in utter bewilderment. Junkrat gave yet another exasperated slump oh his shoulders, staring back at her as though she were the mad one.
"Well, no shit, Sherlock! Why else would we 'ave picked a place like this?! You think there's anything in this bloody place I want?! Fuck no! I only picked it because I knew you lot wouldn't be able to resist swoopin' in ta save the day all hero-like when there's a buncha damned Suits in danger! But you took yer sweet-arse time, din' ya? Any longer an' them Talon cunts mighta beat ya here!"
By the end of Junkrat's little rant, Tracer couldn't help but bite at her bottom lip, looking away as though she really ought to tell him something, but didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. The Junker noticed her expression almost immediately, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at her.
"Oi, wot you over there gigglin' 'bout? Spit it out!" he demanded, instinctively raising his grenade launcher to aim her way, despite his colleague being in the line of fire. He got his answer, though not from his captive. Roadhog rumbled out another mask-muffled explanation, at which point Junkrat's eyes snapped so wide open that Tracer thought his eyeballs might bulge clean out of his skull.
"They're already here?!" he shrieked, his pitch rising several octaves higher than even the scrappy madman's voice sounded like it could handle. "You dickhead, why din' ya say somethin' sooner?!"
Roadhog's reply was a casual shrug of his massive shoulders. Junkrat's speech then devolved into small, feeble mumbles as he began pacing frantically back and forth, his one remaining flesh-and-blood hand moving up to clamp tightly around a tuft of singed hair.
"No no no no no no no! It wasn't s'posed ta happen like this! Th-they're not s'posed ta be here yet! How could they 'ave gotten here so bloody fast?!"
Another indecipherable grumble from Roadhog seemed to snap him out of his pacing long enough for him to shoot the larger man a wild-eyed glare.
"Sh-shut up! I'm not pullin' me hair out again!" he snapped back immediately, yanking his hand down from his head as though to prove he wasn't. Contrary to his objections, however, his hand came away with a decent sized chunk of golden frizz tangled up in his fingers.
"Why're you so worried about Talon if there's nothing here you want? It's not like they're gonna take your loot out from under you. You haven't got any!" Tracer interjected finally, getting rather tired of all this whingeing. Junkrat's attention darted back down to her once more, a none too pleased look on his face at the interruption.
"You really are as dumb as dog shit, ain't ya? An' they say I've got a few roos loose in the top paddock… I'd 'ave thought it'd be obvious, after all ya heard already. Them bastards ain't here for no loot. At least, not the kind you're thinkin' of. They came here for me, which is why I lured you lot out here. Believe it or not, I brought ya here ta save me."
Winston rushed up flight after flight of stairs as fast as he could, just barely managing to keep the trailing wisps of black wraith in his sights at all times. His arms and legs ached, his lungs burned in his chest, but he kept going, refusing to stop. The thought crossed his mind that perhaps he should have listened to Athena a bit more about staying on his fitness regimen, but the thought left as soon as it came. He had more important things to worry about than having an 'I told you so' moment with his AI companion.
Reaper's mist slipped under the door once they reached the top of the stairs, and Winston wasted no time. He didn't even bother slowing down as he drove his shoulder into the door, knocking it clean off its hinges as he barreled into the room, raising his tesla cannon up at his side. The hooded mercenary had reconstituted into his physical form and was currently making his way down the wide hallway towards the lone door at the end, which was blocked by the massive form of Roadhog.
Everything that followed happened so fast that Winston hardly had time to register it all. Reaper drew his Hellfire Shotguns, aiming their two deadly barrels in the Junker Enforcer's direction. Roadhog stood his ground unflinchingly, his hook in one hand and his Scrapgun held up at the ready in the other. A voice rang out from behind the bodyguard, loud and grating but thankfully muffled by the large, thick doors it was trapped behind. Even so, Winston could just make out the endless string of rather colorful profanities being more or less shrieked out in a heavy Australian accent, clearly directed at Reaper. Then came a female's voice, a familiar one, telling the first to shut up. The gorilla's hand tightened around the grip of his tesla canon. Tracer was in there with that maniac, Junkrat.
Even with the added urgency of Tracer's compromised safety, Winston found himself torn. Just who was he supposed to shoot? Reaper or Roadhog? Which one was the greater danger at the moment? He couldn't tell, and it seemed he may have been too late to make a decision in any case. Reaper had closed the gap between himself and his opponent, his fingers tightening around the triggers of his shotguns.
"Die." Hissed the dark fiend, which was all Winston needed to hear to take cover. He just managed to throw up his bubble shield and duck behind it before a shot rang out. A single shot. Well, that didn't sound like Reaper's style. He peeked under one of his forearms that he'd hidden his face behind, peering out into the hall. He wasn't entirely sure what he expected to see, but what he saw certainly wasn't it.
Roadhog had stood his ground, though his Scrapgun lay on the ground, streams of red leaking out from between the fingers of the hand he now held against his shoulder. Reaper stood before him, mere feet away, literally frozen in place at the edge of a frost-covered patch of floor. A glint of steel pulled Winston's eyes upward, and he instantly spotted a small weather-modification drone as it floated above the scene, still blasting out frigid air. He spotted Mei dashing out of the elevator towards him, followed closely by Mercy and McCree. He deactivated his barrier unit and gave the climatologist a smile of gratitude.
"That's two I owe you, Mei."
The comment brought a smile to her face.
"I'll let you pay me back later." She replied before running off to retrieve her drone. Winston followed behind, aiming to join the others. Mercy was busy prying the shotguns out of Reaper's frozen hands, hoping to give themselves something of an edge should the mercenary thaw before their business was done there. McCree was having something of a standoff with Roadhog, his Peacekeeper revolver ready at his hip and aiming at the injured Goliath that still stood stubbornly in front of the door. Winston joined at the gunslinger's side, readying his tesla cannon for a bit of added protection in case the Junker Enforcer decided to make a move. He didn't attack. Instead, he let out what sounded like a gruff sigh, raising his still-bleeding arm above his head in surrender. McCree arched a brow at the sudden change of heart.
"Well… That was easier than I'd figured it'd be." he mumbled in bewilderment, though he didn't dare lower his firearm, lest it was a trick. Winston furrowed his brows in the same confusion as his friend. Why on Earth would Roadhog defend that room so vigorously against Reaper, yet surrender so easily against them? The answer came when the door he'd been defending opened up a crack, a flash of blue dashing out and positioning itself between the heroes and the Junker.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" Tracer called out, holding her hands out in front of her as though she could deflect the bullets by sheer force of will.
"What in the hell?!" McCree exclaimed, lowering his revolver at once. Winston did the same and stared at his teammate in shock.
"Tracer! What's going on here?" he rumbled out, completely at a loss as to what was happening. The last he'd heard from the plucky Brit, she'd been in pursuit of Roadhog. To come up here and find her defending him…
"Look, it's a really long story. Just hurry up and get in here – and call the dropship while you're at it. We gotta get outta here before Mr. Edgy McEdgelord over there defrosts and comes after these guys again!"
The others weren't given the chance to argue before they were ushered into the office where Junkrat had been barricaded that entire time. Winston sent a quick radio message to Athena to call the dropship up to the top of the skyscraper before turning his attention fully on Tracer and the Junkers.
"I'm afraid I'm going to need some sort of explanation here. Please, can one of you tell me what's happened?"
Much to Winston's surprise, it was Junkrat who hobbled forward to explain things.
"Alroight, ya better listen up good, ya great baboon, 'cause I got a lot ta go through an' not a lotta time ta go through it. Them Talon bastards are after somethin' I dug up a while back, an' they'll do worse than kill me to get their hands on it."
"Wait a minute…" McCree interjected, holding up a peremptory hand. "You don't mean that 'treasure' ya found out in the old ruins of the Australian Omnium?"
Junkrat gave a small jolt of surprise at that, now turning a pair of wide hazel eyes on the gunslinger.
"Wh-who told you that?! What do you know 'bout it?!" he demanded, to which McCree merely shrugged his shoulders.
"Can't say I know too many specifics, but I've got a few contacts who hear about these things from time to time. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what it is you found in that ol' pile of junk, but there's a helluva lotta people who wanna get their hands on it, and none of them are the kind of people you want in charge of an Omnic anything."
Winston's face took on a grim expression at this new information.
"So, this thing you have is dangerous. Do you have it here with you?" he asked, to which Junkrat held out his arms as though inviting the primate to inspect his sparsely-clothed body.
"An' just where d'ya think I'd hide somethin' like that? Under me donga? It's too big ta be carryin' around all'a time. I got it stashed away somewhere safe, but if them Talon fucks get a hold of me they'll torture me half t'death 'til I tell 'em where it is. Now, I don't wanna lose no more limbs if I can help it, an' I'm bettin' you lot don't want that thingamawhatsit in Reaper's hands, so I need you ta keep me safe 'til I can come up with some way ta get 'em off m'arse."
Winston let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he took in all of the information he was given. Junkrat might not have been the brightest man on the planet, but he did have a decent assessment of his current predicament. He still wasn't entirely sure what this 'thingiemawhatsit' was that the Junker had, but if Talon wanted it this badly, he was sure it wasn't something they should have. It was a crazy proposition, but perhaps taking in this explosives-obsessed freak really was the best way to keep Talon from finding this mysterious object. He sure wasn't looking forward to trying to explain this one to Soldier 76, though.
There was a rush of noise from outside, and Winston looked up in time to watch their dropship fly by, circle around, and come to a stop hovering just outside the window. He let out a small sigh of relief. At least it had gotten there before Reaper thawed out and went on the attack once more. He started towards the window, but paused as he remembered something rather important.
"Wait, what about all of these explosives? We can't just leave them here." he said, gesturing up to the ceiling where Junkrat's smiley face of destruction was still strung up. Tracer bit at her lip, looking up at them hopelessly.
"There's not enough time! Reaper will be back up to snuff any minute! The only one here fast enough to get it all down in time is me, but I have no clue how to disarm bombs! I'm more likely to blow us all up if I try!"
"And Torbjörn probably hasn't finished disarming the ones downstairs, either…" he grumbled out, trying to think of some was to get it all done quickly and safely. He was pulled from his brainstorming when he heard a bout of mad cackling behind him. He turned to find not only Junkrat laughing his usual manic laugh, but Mercy and McCree quietly snickering to themselves as well. He stared at the two of them in shock. This was no time to be laughing when there was enough explosives above their heads to bring down the entire building!
Finally, it was Mei who stepped forward, marching her way up to the lanky Junker. She snatched his detonator from where it was clipped to his belt, earning her an indignant "Oi!" in the process. She then fiddled with it until the safety popped up from overtop the trigger button. Winston and Tracer both let out a panicked yelp, dashing forward to try to snatch the detonator away before the climatologist blew them all shy-high. They were too late. She pressed the button.
Winston snapped his eyes shut and covered his head with his arms as a series of loud bangs erupted overhead, fully expecting to be crushed in the next instant. However, rather than chunks of concrete and shrapnel, something much lighter rained down over him. He cracked open one eye as if afraid he was dead already. Once he was sure he was still in the world of the living, he lowered his arms and glanced around. The entire office was now covered in red and gold streamers and confetti with bits of the colorful pieces of paper still floating down on them from above. The gorilla could do nothing but stare, left utterly speechless by yet another unexpected turn of events.
"H-heh… Happy Year of the Rat..?" Junkrat giggled out nervously, looking between the others as though expecting someone, anyone, to laugh. No one did. The only reaction he got was Mei forcefully shoving his spent detonator back at him, mumbling something angrily to herself in Chinese. It took a moment for Winston to finally find his voice again, but he quickly shook his head and brushed off the paper streamers once he did.
"Wait… What?" was all he managed to get out. Mei turned back to him, still in a bit of a huff after Junkrat's stupid antics.
"Torbjörn said the bombs were fake. You must have missed it when that Talon agent shocked you." she explained as she brushed the confetti out of her hair. Junkrat let out a nervous series of giggles, shrugging his shoulders.
"Hoggie said you hero-types prolly wouldn't help us if I actually blew up the place, so I left all'a me 'fun' toys behind. Had ta make due with these here party poppers. Shame, really. Woulda been one ripper of a firework show!"
Winston opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of breaking glass, followed by a huge rush of wind and noise from the outside. He looked up to find that, while they'd been squabbling over the bombs, Roadhog had gone over and shattered one of the large windows with his hook, opening the way to the dropship. He grumbled lightly to himself, but didn't bother trying to argue the point. It was becoming quite apparent that things weren't going to go as he'd liked, no matter what he said. Instead, he merely gestured for everyone to make their way over to the ship.
McCree went first, sprinting across the office and taking a running leap over to the dropship's open rear bay. He made it with a few feet to spare, rolling to safety once aboard. Mercy was next, using her Valkyrie suit's wings to glide over effortlessly. Winston offered Mei his arm and, once she accepted, scooped her up and used his booster to leap across the threshold. Finally, Tracer zipped over almost instantly in a flash of blue.
Junkrat hobbled over to the window somewhat hesitantly, leaning out to take a peek down. Big mistake. He scrambled back, letting out a burst of nervous laughter.
"L-long way down, ain't it?" he asked rhetorically, though he still looked up at his companion as though expecting an answer. What he saw made the grin on his face fade instantly. He hadn't noticed all of the blood running down Roadhog's arm until just then.
"Uhh… Mate, how ya gonna get over there like that? Ya ain't exactly a roo, even in the best of health." Junkrat questioned, a clear note of concern coming through in his voice. Roadhog gave no response. Well, no verbal response, at least. The lanky Junker let out a yelp as he was suddenly snatched off his feet. Before he had time to argue, Roadhog drew his good arm back and launched his partner through the air and into the back of the dropship. Junkrat's body slammed crosswise into McCree, sending the both of them tumbling until they collided with the far inside wall.
Junkrat didn't waste time trying to get his air-legs before he leapt up and made a mad dash back towards the open bay doors. Winston just barely managed to rush forward in time to grab the maniac by the back of his pants before he had the chance to jump. He pulled him back inside, though it took more effort than he ever thought he'd have to use with such a scrawny guy with two fake limbs. Junkrat, of course, fought tooth and nail the entire way.
"No! Let go'a me, ya great hairy fuckwad! I ain't goin' nowhere without Roadhog, Talon or not!" he shouted out as he thrashed with all his might, trying to break the hold he was now in. Winston managed to get him into something of a headlock before looking down at the man who Junkrat was throwing a full-blown fit over. The Junker Enforcer merely stared back, making sure he had the gorilla's attention before making a very deliberate gesture towards the ground. Winston nodded, at which point Roadhog disappeared back into the building. This only served to make Junkrat thrash even harder, and it took both himself and McCree to pull him back in far enough for the dropship's doors to close.
"Hey, calm down! We'll pick him up on the ground when we go to get Torbjörn!" he assured, though to little effect.
"No! Fuck you! Fuck all'a you!" he screamed, practically in hysterics at this point. "Yer gonna leave 'im ta die! I know ya are! That's what they all try ta do; ta get me away from 'im! I never shoulda trusted ya Overwatch cunts! Yer just as bad as th' rest of 'em! Mako! Makooooo!"