C'est La Vie

Chapter 2

"What if some of the things we stumble upon are really things we were unknowingly gravitating towards?"

Unknown

Tracer woke up with a pounding headache. She squinted against the lights that seemed far too bright as she tried to focus on her surroundings. She was back in her quarters at the old Overwatch base, Watchpoint: Lombardy. How she had gotten here she couldn't remember. She only vaguely remembered seeking cover in an abandoned apartment in King's Row after taking a pretty bad beating by one of Talon's assassins.

She raised a hand to rub at her temple in an attempt to ease her headache, when she noticed the IV line sticking out the back of her hand. Inspecting herself a little closer she found that her chest and stomach were heavily bandaged underneath her chronal accelerator and a wound on her head had apparently been stitched. Help must've gotten to her in time. No doubt Winston had sent Mercy along to pick her up. Back when Overwatch was still kicking, the Swiss doctor had always been on the front lines as a field medic, never afraid to get her hands dirty. She had been one of the first agents, along with Tracer herself, to join Winston in his efforts to revive the Overwatch program.

Lena slowly shifted to a sitting position on her bed and looked around the room. She was alone in her quarters, her clothes sat on the foot of her bed, neatly folded and washed. Instead of her iconic brown and orange uniform she was dressed in a hospital gown. No doubt Mecry had done this to her, too. The older woman knew how much she hated these things.

All in all, Lena's quarters were very basic, as were most of the living spaces on almost every Watchpoint. Overwatch wasn't known for it's luxurious outposts. Aside from the bed she was lying in, there was a small bedside table next to her, a larger, metal desk protruding from the opposite wall with holographic displays in various sizes, a keyboard and a holopad on it. A very basic chair stood in front of the desk. There were two sliding doors, one led out of her room and to the hallway that connected to many more rooms like this as well as the rest of the facility. The other door led to a very small bathroom, with an even smaller shower, a toilet, a small sink and a mirror. Aside from that there was quite a lot of storage room hidden behind the walls. In the upper corner above her bed was a window through which artificial sunlight was streaming into the room. Since the whole facility was located underground there were no actual windows, so they had implemented these lights to give the inhabitants some sense of time, as it emulated the day and night cycle. It wasn't very luxurious, but it was home. At least now it was.

Lena was about to try and get up to... well, to do something, since she wasn't willing to sit in bed all day, when she heard voices from the corridor outside her door. The sliding doors to her quarters opened as Mercy, followed by Winston, came walking in, engaged in an argument.

"... told you this was a bad idea. We don't have the resources to support these kinds of missions and you know it. I don't blame you for trying to reinstate the Overwatch project, you had good intentions, but we are unorganized and spread too thin." The blond woman argued, sounding slightly aggravated. Winston, a giant, genetically engineered gorilla scientist, rolled his eyes at Mercy's rant and let out a puff of air.

"I know we don't have the resources, but what did you expect me to do? We couldn't just stand idly by and let it happen." he said in his deep voice.

"And yet it happened anyway. And on top of throwing all the money and equipment out of the window your recklessness almost got one of our best operatives killed." Mercy said, glaring at the scientist.

"Gee, thanks... I know I messed up but did you have to say it like that?" Lena said in a small voice, the guilt over her failure making her stomach churn.

"Oh good, you're awake." Mercy exclaimed, looking relieved to have an excuse to get out of the deadlocked conversation. She hurried over to the bed, quick, expert hands checking the Brit's wounds and making some adjustments to the various medical equipment around her. "Alright, everything looks good so far." she came to a stop at the foot of the bed, a clip board in her hands, as she regarded Lena with an intense stare.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like Winston tackled me to the floor... again." Tracer said with a smirk.

The towering scientist gave a resonating laugh as he approached the bed. "Good to see you're in one peace, kiddo."

"Yes, yes well. You seem to be doing just fine now," Mercy continued in a very professional manner. "although your state was critical when we first got to you."

"Give it to me straight, doc." Lena said and Mercy paused for a moment while regarding her with one of her trademark, indecipherable stares.

"Well, you had several broken ribs as well as heavy internal bleeding and a severe concussion. It was difficult but I was able to stop the bleeding and mend your wounds to the best of my abilities. That being said, your healing process should be quite quick. I expect you will be able to return to light duty in about 2 days, though I recommend that you refrain from 'blinking through time' andany strenuous activities for at least another 7 days."

"7 days?!" Lena shouted unbelieving.

"Yes, you heard me right. If you want to make a full recovery you will have to take it slow."

"Don't worry kiddo, you'll be back in action in no time. You'll just have to take it slow for a while." Winston consoled her. "Besides, your chronal accelerator took quite a lot of damage. I've been able to stabilize it but I still need to make a few repairs to restore all of it's functions."

"Aw, this sucks..." the brunette pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"That is what you get when you engage one of the worlds most effective assassins on your own. Now, I need to get back to my work, you know where to find me should you need me." the older woman made her way over to the exit, the sliding doors opening almost soundlessly. She paused before stepping out, throwing a look over her shoulder at the bedridden pilot.

"And Lena? Don't beat yourself up over this. I doubt any of us would have been able to stop Widowmaker. It wasn't your fault." she shot Tracer a brief, reassuring smile before exiting the room, the doors sliding shut behind her.

Lena released a breath she didn't know she was holding. It could have been worse, she knew that. She could have woken up in a cell instead of the security of their outpost, or, even worse than that she could have not woken up at all. She was grateful to her friends for rescuing her and bringing her back in one piece but the relief paled in comparison to her own conscience nagging away at her.

"She's right, you know?" Winston said tentatively, knowing how Tracer must feel. "You were up against Talons best agent on your own, you were lucky she didn't kill you as well."

"Yeah, guess you're right." Except she could have killed her. Twice, in fact. But Lena kept those thoughts to herself.

"Alright, you know what comes next. I need a full report from you about everything that happened." Lena groaned. She hated writing reports. "But," Winston said, holding up a hand to stop her from objecting. "I realize you have been through quite a lot, so the report can wait if you don't feel up for it right now."

"Thanks, Winston. I guess I really should rest some more. You know, doctor's orders and all." Tracer said, smirking. In truth she wasn't feeling very exhausted, it was just that she wasn't particularly keen on recounting her encounter with Widowmaker. Especially when she herself wasn't entirely sure about what had actually happened on that rooftop.

"In that case I will leave you to it. Get some rest. I'll stop by later with some food." he gave a mock salute and went for the door.

She watched as the door shut behind Winston. Tracer was alone again in her small apartment. She knew she wouldn't be getting much rest as her mind wandered back to the events on the rooftops of London. In her mind she was going through every step, every motion of Widowmaker, trying to figure out why she hadn't just killed her when she had the opportunity. It vexed her because Talon were obviously going after former Overwatch agents. The attack on Watchpoint: Gibraltar had proven this. So why the hell was she still alive?

Not wanting to sit in her bed doing nothing all day, she carefully sat up and swung her legs off the bed. Her body protested her movements, as it sent ripples of pain through her chest and ribcage. She paused for a moment, trying to steady her breathing and gain the upper hand on her body. She succeeded and slowly pushed herself off the mattress, grimacing as her bare feet touched the cold metal floor. So far so good. She was a little wobbly on her legs but it wasn't like she would collapse at any moment. She made her way over to the desk, careful not to lose her balance. She grabbed the holopad in one hand and made her way back to the bed, sliding back under the covers and making herself comfortable. She wasn't about to sit here and do nothing. Instead she would spend her time doing some research on this blue-skinned woman.

She quickly logged into the Overwatch database and opened the assassin's profile. To her disappointment, there wasn't much there.

[Note: access to these files is restricted.]

[Error: Insufficient Permission; limited access has been granted]

[Cleanup: complete]

Name: unknown

Alias: Widowmaker

Country: France (presumably)

Birthplace: unknown

Date of Birth: unknown

Age: unknown

Sex: female

Hair: black

Eyes: yellow

Height: approx. 1,75m/5'9"

Peculiarities: light blue skin; tattoo on right arm spelling 'cauchemar' (French: nightmare), tattoo of a Black Widow on back

Affiliations: Talon

Classification: Sniper; Assassin

Abilities: advanced use of sniper and assault rifles, advanced use of diverse martial arts, use of toxic explosives, advanced use of a grappling hook

Priority: Type A

Last seen: King's Row, London

Current Location: unknown

Lena bit the inside of her lip. She had expected to find more on the assassin. She scrolled back to the top of the file. 'Access to these files is restricted'. Why would they be restricted and why didn't she have access?

"Hey, Athena?" Tracer said, prompting a small holographic 'A' to appear on her bedside table that began to flicker as the AI spoke.

"Yes, Ms. Oxton?" Athena inquired.

"I can't seem to find much info about Widowmaker in the databases and what little there is I don't have full access to. Do you know what that's about?"

"The current Overwatch database is a collection of all the information I have been able to extract from accessing previous Overwatch databases in various locations. They are incomplete." the AI said calmly.

"Okay... and what about these restrictions?" the Brit wondered.

"I have been programmed to keep the access level restrictions on certain files active, only applying slight changes in terms of adjusting various security levels of Overwatch members. I am not authorized to grant access to confidential data, if that is what you are implying."

"So who has the authority to do that?" Lena asked, raising a brow.

"As the current head of operations, Doctor Winston is in charge of granting personnel access to confidential information."

"Thanks, Athena, that would be all." she said, dismissing the AI.

"As you wish, Ms. Oxton. Signing you off."

This raised more questions than it answered. Why would Winston implement restrictions on certain files? Her headache began to worsen as all these different thoughts raced through her head. She had to put the holopad down to massage her forehead with both hands. Maybe she should call Mercy back in so the doctor could give her something for this damned headache. Then again she wasn't one to fuss about every little ache in her body. Maybe she really should get some rest. She could worry about this whole Widowmaker thing when she was feeling better.

Turning the pad off and placing it on the table next to her she snuggle into the blankets and closed her eyes, trying not to let her mind be invaded by more thoughts of the blue skinned assassin. Luckily for her sleep was already waiting at the edges of her mind, quickly encompassing her and granting her a dreamless sleep.

OWOWOWOWOWOW

"Hey Winston, can I ask you something?" Tracer asked, biting her lower lip feeling nervousness well up inside her. Winston was sitting on a stool beside her bed, currently very busy repairing the brunette's chronal accelerator. He seemed to be quite engrossed in his work, but he replied, although a few seconds passed before he did.

"Of course, what's on your mind?" the scientist said without looking up from his work on Lena's chest.

"I've done some digging on Widowmaker, you know, to get a feel of what she's capable of and... there are a lot of restricted files I can't get into. I was wondering..." She left the sentence hanging, unsure of how to phrase the questions that had been boggling her mind for the past two days now.

Winston halted in his movements, his hand with the soldering iron hovering in the air. He wasn't looking at Lena, but she could see his brows knead together as he seemed to debate something internally. Finally he spoke.

"I... suppose it's no use in keeping it a secret anymore, with what has happened... I guess you have the right to ask." he put his tools down beside him and regarded Lena with a stern expression. "Do you remember Gérard Lacroix?"

"Yeah, I remember him. He was the guy who designed the Slipstream, wasn't he?"

"He was head of the research team, yes. He was there when you took the initial test flight. Brilliant man and a great scientist! I had the privilege to work with him on one occasion, best two months of my life." Winston recounted. "But that's not what you asked about. Sorry, I got a little carried away." he apologized.

"It's alright, you must have really admired him." Lena said with a small smile on her face.

"I did, I did... anyway. Because he had such a great mind there were quite a few people who wanted his head. But back then Overwatch did a pretty good job at keeping their own guys safe. Many people tried to kill him but all assassination attempts were unsuccessful. That's where Talon and Widowmaker come in." he sighed as he took off his glasses, seeming reluctant to meet Tracer's eyes.

"You see, she wasn't always this cold and calculated killer she is today. Back then she was just an ordinary woman by the name of Amélie Lacroix,who happened to be Gérard's wife. When Talon were unable to kill him they kidnapped Amélie and did God knows what to her." He paused, fiddling nervously with his glasses. "When our guys finally found her she seemed none the worse for wear, so she went back to her normal life alongside her husband. Then, two weeks later they found Gérard in his bed, a knife in his chest with Amélie's fingerprints all over it. But she was nowhere to be found."

"They covered this whole story up pretty quickly, saying they both died at the hands of an assassin that night. There's even a grave with Amélie's name on it somewhere on the outskirts of Annecy in France, next to her husband's." He finished, looking back up at tracer.

"That's... awful." Lena whispered, barely able to comprehend everything her friend had just told her. "But how are you so sure that that's her?"

"Widowmaker matches Amélie's profile perfectly and we never found a body, which means she could still be alive. She's also working for Talon, who originally fabricated this whole assassination plot. We don't know what they did to her exactly throughout the years after her disappearance, but whatever it was it killed everything Amélie used to be." He said before he put his glasses back on.

"So... does she know? I mean..." Lena asked.

"We don't know what she knows. No one's ever really talked to her much, or lived to tell the tale. All I know is that the woman she used to be is no more. Maybe they did something to her mind to erase her memories, who knows." Winston replied.

The brunette was trying her hardest to comprehend all of these new informations. The gears in her head started turning rapidly, as she went over her fight with Widowmaker again and again. This would explain why the older woman reacted the way she did. Winston was about to pick his tools back up and continue with his work when Lena spoke up again.

"I need to tell you something." she said, feeling unsure if she should tell her friend about her thoughts.

"Oh?" Winston said, fixing his bright, golden eyes on his friend.

"I wasn't complete honest with you." She half mumbled, unable to look at Winston. "When I wrote my report, I left out a few details because... I don't really know why I did it and it was stupid, I know. We need all the information we can get and I..."

"Lena." Winston interrupted her. "Don't worry about it. Whatever it is you can tell me." He gave her a reassuring smile. Tracer swallowed hard. She suddenly had doubts about telling Winston the reason behind her unease. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. She was probably just overreacting and interpreting way too much into it. After everything Winston had just told her she somehow doubted that Widowmaker's decision to not kill her had anything to do with Lena herself. Really, why would the world's greatest assassin spare the life of a silly, young girl. It didn't make any sense. Surely the older woman must've had an underlying motive.

"Winston to Lena, are you still in there?" Winston said, waving a hand in front of Lena's face. The young pilot blinked a few times. She had completely spaced out on her friend.

"Gosh, sorry, I totally blanked." she said apologetically, feeling a little embarrassed.

"It's alright, kiddo. So, what's this you're brooding about?"

"Um..." she began, biting her lower lip nervously. "When we were on that rooftop, Widowmaker and I, you know, after she shot Mondatta I was just so furious that I charged her head on. I didn't know how to write this in the report but somehow I was able to pin her down and I just... I just screamed at her 'Why would you do this'. I still don't understand how anyone could be so... so heartless, but when we were lying there on the roof she could have killed me. But she didn't. She didn't even move and there was something in her eyes. I don't know, it sounds ridiculous. It was probably nothing. I shouldn't have bothered you with this. It's probably just my imagination" she finished her rant. She could feel the heat rise up in her cheeks. It really sounded ridiculous when she said it out loud.

Winston only looked at her, cocking his head to one side. "So what do you think happened between you two?"

"I dunno, as I said it was probably just my imagination. I mean after everything you just told me I doubt that there's any chance that..."

"any chance that Amélie could still be in there." Winston finished the sentence. He stroked his chin as he continued. "The way I see it there could be two possible explanations. Number one would be that you simply weren't her target. She had finished her job by eliminating Mondatta and you were no threat to her. This is the most likely. Secondly, there could be a chance that you triggered something in Widowmaker that gave her pause. We know too little about what Talon did to her to know if this possibility is true, however."

"So what are you saying? That I made her... remember something, is that right?" the Brit asked.

"It is possible, yes. But we best not gamble on it. Widowmaker is still a very dangerous woman and you should be more cautious the next time you fight her. Charging her was a very bad idea, I hope you realize that." Winston warned her, his expression stern.

"But what if you're right, though? What if there's still some of Amélie left? Don't you want to help her?" Lena argued, not willing to let go of this argument, now that she had an idea of what had happened on that roof.

"Believe me when I say that I would like to, but we don't know if she actually wants our help. I know that you believe in the good of humanity and that everyone deserves a second chance, but right now we have bigger issues to deal with, I'm sorry." The way he said it told Lena that there was no use in arguing with him any further. She knew that her furry friend could be just as stubborn as she was and she didn't want to start a fight right now. She made the decision that she would bring this up at a later point. Maybe she could still change Winston's point of view for the better. She knew that he wanted to help people just as much as she did.

"You're right. Sorry I brought this up." Lena apologized.

"It's alright. I know how much you care about people, even those you don't know." he gave her a sad smile. "Now, I'm almost done with repairing your accelerator. Why don't we try a few test runs just to make sure it's working properly?"

"But Mercy said I wasn't allowed to blink for a full week."

"I won't tell if you don't." He said with a bright smile.

"Let's do it!" Tracer exclaimed, a mischievous grin on her lips. Practice was sure to take her mind off of things.

Heya, I'm back! I finally stopped playing Overwatch long enough to finish this chapter, yay :) Boy, that game is addictive... Anyway here's the next chapter, hope you like it. It's mostly just dialog and very little action, also this is entirely centered around Tracer since I find it easier to write from her perspective. Maybe I'll try my hands at writing a chapter centered around Widowmaker sometime in the future, we'll see how it goes.

Oh btw, that quote I wrote at the beginning isn't from me. I read that somewhere on the internet and thought is was really beautiful, but I can't remeber where I found it...

Also thank you very much for your reviews, I really enjoyed reading them :) Have a great day!