It was fun, using Fareeha's rocket jump to take out the guards attacking Tracer and the commander. It almost came as a disappointment when they rounded the corner to the elevator and nearly ran into Captain Amari and her daughter. Tracer skidded to a halt, nearly falling over as the armor rattled in protest. The alarms were still screaming, yet there was a noticeable lack of guards. That made things easier for them!

The woman Tracer could only assume was Fareeha was following the Captain, completely calm and collected, yet the mistreatment Talon put her through was still evident. The tank top she was wearing was stained red, and horrid gashes and cuts trailed down the arms and legs of her otherwise fit body. She seemed astonishingly unbothered by this as her head repeatedly whipped around, watching for guards.

"Way to set off the alarm!" Captain Amari scolded to Morrison, though her voice was full of affection.

"Sorry, things were too quiet for my taste," he admitted almost playfully, turning to Fareeha. "It's been a long time, kid. How has it been?"

Fareeha, startled to be addressed, answered curtly. "It has been wonderful, now that you guys are back."

Tracer cut in, still wearing Fareeha's armor. "Nice to meetcha, Fareeha! Though, not to break up this emotional moment, but where is Genji?" Ana chuckled, pointing up. Tracer followed where she was looking, and bust out laughing. Genji was holding himself up in the corner of the ceiling, his arm wrapped around one of the support beams. He waved a salute nonchalantly, still watching for guards that were yet to come.

Fareeha recognized her voice almost instantly. "Tracer," she announced reverently. "It is an honor to meet you."

Tracer beamed behind the visor. "Same to you! It's a shame I didn't transfer to the Swiss base until after you left! At least we get to meet here, though! I take it you want your suit back, though?"

Fareeha nodded, grinning with astonishing cheer. "That would be preferable, yes. There should be a release trigger in the helmet." Tracer nodded, pulling off the helmet, pressing a switch on the inside. The individual mechanisms came unlocked; the armor fell apart into individual limbs, dropping the chronal accelerator with it onto the ground.

Tracer hurried to grab it, throwing it over herself and adjusting it deftly while Pharah did the same.

"Oh, sorry if my harness messed with the systems a bit! It doesn't like electronics!" Tracer hastily apologized as she turned on the suit.

"It is no problem. I can fix any issues quickly. Thank you for retrieving it. I am glad to see you found your harness as well. In perfect condition, no less?"

Tracer nodded, testing out one of her blinks. Sure enough, her time sped up, and she was several feet away from the group in the blink of an eye. "Yeah! It was all fixed up for me when we got there! Maybe they were planning on using it themselves! Bet they didn't know it wouldn't work for them!" Tracer giggled in relief. It was wonderful having her harness back, and with no need for repairs to boot! It was almost too easy!

Commander Morrison finally piped up, swinging his rifle over his shoulder. "Hate to break it to you, but we really need to get out of here. There will be plenty of time for celebration later."

The elevator stood before them, nothing malicious about it. Curious, Tracer blinked over and pressed the up button. Within seconds, the door opened.

"Wait," the commander grunted before she could run in. "We need to climb the shaft. They probably will turn off the elevator."

"Hold the door open," Fareeha ordered. Without hesitation, her mother used her foot to keep the doors from sliding shut. A panel on the side of her suit opened, and a missile of all things fired out of it, blowing up the roof the elevator with an explosion of debris. There was astonishingly little damage, beyond the walls being scorched. The roof of the elevator had been thoroughly destroyed, however, as the dust cleared, a hole in the ceiling revealed a means to climb the elevator shaft.

Tracer whined. "Aw, we could at least see if it still works before climbing!"

"The odds of that are slim to none," the commander retorted with a snort behind his mask. Genji shook his head with a laugh, ninja-ing his way into the elevator, pressing the button to take it to the top. He gestured for everyone to get on. Not wanting to be left behind, Tracer hurried on with the group in tow. Against all elevator began its ascent, steadily climbing upward despite the damage and despite Talon likely having the ability to deactivate it. Once again that feeling of wrongness set Tracer on edge. Surely there should be more resistance. Or maybe none of the Talon authorities were here! Yeah! That must be it!

The elevator rose in an uneasy silence, while someone waited for something to go wrong. Nothing did. Soon enough, the doors opened, revealing the lobby from which they entered.

"Something's wrong. Be on guard," the captain commanded, dutifully walking in front of Pharah despite not having the better armor. So, it wasn't just Tracer feeling uneasy. Dang. That must mean something was wrong.

It was when Tracer exited the building through the window, and a bullet pierced her arm, that she knew what that something was. Tracer screeched as loud bang was followed by the searing pain in her right shoulder, just below the harness strap. She shuddered, allowing the chronal energy that was always fighting for her body to take hold of her for a few seconds as she was yanked backward in time. The recall ended quickly, as she found herself just outside the window, no bullet in her arm. She shouted for her team.

"Sniper up top! Watch out!"

She heard Morrison curse. "Tracer, try to figure that out before getting shot!"

"Boo, that's no fun!" She joked with a laugh, as Genji began jumping and flipping up the walls to find their attacker. Pharah activated her booster, sticking close to the building to try and remain inconspicuous. With a giggle, she used her blink to jump from ledge to ledge, taking her to the roof of the building. It was a plain, white roof. Nothing on it. Genji was likely nearby. After waiting for a tense moment for her harness to prepare itself for another recall, Tracer casually blinked to another rooftop, staying around the area until she found Widowmaker.

"Ah, hello there, Tracer." Widowmaker taunted, sitting casually on the edge of the building, rubbing a red smudge on her rifle. "I see you've retrieved your little trinket." She didn't even turn to look at Tracer as she spoke. "Such a shame. Talon could put that device to good use. Perhaps you'd like to offer us your services?" It was such a nonchalant way of asking such a ludicrous question.

"Are you crazy? Never in a million years!" Tracer blinked up to the purple assassin, flipping out one of her pistols and rapidly unloading one of the energy clips. Her foe was ready for that, already having ducked out of the way, using her grappling hook to launch herself to another rooftop. Tracer grunted, blinking in a straight line to reach her. She screeched as a cold, burning pain erupted in her arm, and she was pretty sure she saw red.

She couldn't risk a recall. Tracer landed heavily on the rooftop, stumbling as she partly crashed into the stairwell entrance. Widowmaker was on top of the small building, sitting cross-legged with a sweet expression on her face. "Even if you rewind time, you still make the same mistakes. I find it amazing that you never learn."

Tracer grunted, flipping her pistol back into her right gauntlet. As the hand quickly went numb.

"Talon could help you, though. That little life-support device could be turned into an unparalleled strength if you let us help." She seemed almost bored as she continued working furiously on the little red smudge.

"I don't need any help! Clearly, Talon removed rational thinking when they stole your emotions!" Tracer taunted with an uneasy laugh. Life-support. She never thought of her harness that way. Life support. It was true, she supposed. She shook her head, blinking out of the way of a casual sniper shot if such a thing existed. Widowmaker seemed to be putting little effort into her shots. Out of the corner of her eye, Tracer saw a shuriken whizz by, which the sniper ducked out of the way from, still not having moved from her perch.

"Looks like it's time to go. My offer still stands. I'm sure you could find us if you tried. Now, Adieu, chérie." With those familiar words that Tracer loathed, she launched her grappling hook, letting herself fall off the building. She seemed to be gone the next instant.

Genji vaulted himself up next to her, landing with his hand softly touching the concrete roof. Tracer simply stared with a perplexed expression.

"That was… weird."

"You can say that again. I didn't hear much, but something is definitely off."

Fareeha landed on the roof as well, though with slightly less grace, stumbling slightly as her legs threatened to give out. Genji hurried to catch her, offering himself as support, which she begrudgingly accepted.

"We should get you to the ship!" Tracer declared after a few seconds of silence. "Dr. Ziegler will go mad if she learns that we didn't get you back quickly!"

"I am fine; there is no need to rush." Her stumbling as she tried to get off Genji's shoulder said otherwise, now that the adrenaline was wearing off. "They did not do much, beyond cutting my arms and legs and leaving me without much food and water. I will be fine."

Genji tilted his head to the side; no doubt confused behind his visor. "That is all? I am surprised to hear that, given the Shimada Clan and Talon's track-record regarding this type of thing."

"Are you complaining?" Tracer joked, bouncing from foot-to-foot as they spoke.

"Of course I am not. It is just unnerving and peculiar."

"I am fine, rest assured. For now, we should get back. I need a bottle of water," Fareeha assured, jumping off the building and letting herself hover to the ground. Tracer bobbed her head a bit and blinked across the rooftops to reach the ship, with Genji following close behind. She couldn't help but turn and look back to where the Talon agent had been. What had been going through her head?

…

Tracer visited Fareeha as soon as she was allowed to do so, which was the day after they had made it back to Gibraltar (with Tracer thankfully not needing to pilot them there). She was in the kitchen, munching idly on some candy pieces when an exhausted Dr. Ziegler stumbled in, heading straight for the coffee machine.

"Heya, Doc!" Tracer greeted cheerfully, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Oh, Lena! How are you feeling?" She returned the greeting, trying to hide the exhaustion in her voice. She turned on the machine as it started to brew, frowning when she saw what Tracer was eating.

"Candy is bad for you, Lena. You need to choose a better snack."

Tracer giggled, spinning one of the candies on the cool metal table before popping it into her mouth. "You know I need more calories than most!"

"You need more nourishment in general. This means more of a healthy, balanced diet. Not junk food."

Tracer rolled her eyes, blinking over to the pantry, grabbing a box of chocolate chip and peanut butter granola bars. She blinked back to her seat, the kitchen blurring by as she plopped the box down and began to eat them. She waved one in front of the doctor. "Better?"

She sighed. "Yes, those will do for now, though you should see about getting some more vegetables in your diet."

"I will. I will! Calm down!"

The coffee machine began to hum as it poured the mug out for the doctor, who grabbed it the instant the last drop was poured, sipping it as she sat down next to Lena.

"Lena, I need to talk to you about something, and I think you know what that is."

Tracer casually bit into the granola bars, rolling a chocolate chip around her mouth. "What about it?"

"You've been dreaming, and have not told us?"

"It was never important."

"We both know you're lying." Angela just sounded tired.

"I'm not. It's not important. It's over now. There's no point in bringing it up."

"Your mental health seems like a perfectly acceptable reason."

Tracer shuffled in her seat. "I'm fine now, trust me. If I need to talk about it, though, I'll come to you first."

Dr. Ziegler sighed, relenting. "Very well. That reminds me, Winston wants to take a look at your harness as soon as possible."

Tracer tipped her head. "It works fine, though."

"Yes, but Talon repaired it. There could be something in it that they changed or did not fix."

Tracer hummed thoughtfully. "It was weird how they had it just lying around like that. I'll do that. First, can I go visit Fareeha?"

Angela looked nervous. "I would not advise going alone."

"What, why?"

"We do not know if Talon brainwashed her."

"But she seemed just fine!" Tracer pushed, pulling one more granola bar out of the box, fiddling with it as she spoke.

"We thought the same thing with Gérard's wife."

"What? You think they want Fareeha to kill her mother?"

"I would not dismiss the possibility." She stared at the black coffee in front of her, taking another small sip.

Tracer rolled her eyes. "You guys are full of it. She's fine! Now, I'm going to see her! You'll see that nothing is wrong with her soon!"

"I hope so."

Tracer blinked away, letting the gray and orange walls blur as she sped down the corridors. She reached the med-bay in no time. "Hey Athena, what room is Fareeha in?" She asked to the air as the speakers cracked to life to answer the question.

"She is in the third room to your left."

"Thanks, love!" Tracer expressed, running over there to give her harness a rest.

"Of course, Agent Tracer."

Fareeha was awake when she got there, reading a book with a bored expression. She smiled kindly as Tracer entered. The room was a standard hospital room, with a single window with plain green curtains, and a small table next to Fareeha's bed with a few different pieces of paraphernalia on them.

"Ah, Tracer. What a pleasure to have you here. To what do I owe the honor?" Fareeha was hooked up to two different IV drips, one probably for pain and one for nourishment. She seemed skinny, though not dangerously. Cuts and gashes of varying severity and age covered her arms, trailing from her wrists to her shoulders. They seemed shallow, yet still looked painful.

"Heya, I just thought I'd pop in and see how you're doing."

Fareeha sighed, setting the book on the table next to her. "I am fine. The cuts are nothing I am incapable of handling, and I am feeling better now that I have had a meal. I do not see why the doctor is keeping me in here." She must have noticed how Tracer was bouncing up and down nervously. "Do you know why they are doing so?"

"Yeah, I do… They think you're brainwashed. Or suspect it or are wary of it or something like that. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but whatever, right?"

Fareeha tipped her head calmly as Tracer said this, absorbing the new information. "I see. I suppose I can understand why they think this. I will have to wait until they do not suspect me then."

"Why do you understand? It looks like they did a number on you." Tracer gestured to the gashes on Fareeha's arms as she slumped down in the chair by her bed.

"Because they did not do nearly as much as they could have. They merely used the knife over and over. When it became clear that I would not submit, they should've tried something new, yet they did not. There was definitely something wrong. Talon has been acting off about everything as of late. I can see why everyone would be unnerved by this."

"You think they have some plan behind it all?"

"It seems likely."

"Guess I should get my harness to Winston soon, then."

"Feel free to go now. There will be plenty of time to talk when we know you are not at risk."

Tracer nodded, waving to Fareeha as she blinked to Winston's lab.

…

Ugh. Winston's science drabble had the same effect as a history teacher. It was all she could do to stay awake as he prattled on and on about her harness. "Let's see… the stabilizer seems to be in working order, and the distributor doesn't seem to be any different. The battery has no issues, and I can't detect any remotely detonated devices. Do you feel okay?" Winston tentatively turned the harness over in his large, unwieldy hands, being careful to keep it powered on.

Tracer snapped to attention, kicking her feet as she sat on his work table. "Yeah, I feel right as rain."

"No setbacks?"

Tracer shivered. "Ew, no. I'm not sick if that's what you mean."

Winston nodded. "Okay. Just let me know if you experience any issues. We don't want to repeat what happened when you first got the harness."

She laughed. "Yeah, that's the second-to-last thing I want!"

…

The sun was setting as Lena settled down in her bed. Several bags of new clothes and items were sitting on her dresser, waiting to be unpacked. All she needed from the bag was a pair of soft orange pajamas for now, though. It had taken her several minutes to get her new harness off since it had several clasps and straps that held her body in a vise grip. After a moment of fumbling, she managed to get it on the charger stand, stumbling back to her bed.

She wasn't feeling great if she was honest. Her legs were heavy, and her stomach churned. Her head pounded and her eyes begged to close. She had gone the day smiling and laughing with Winston and the doctor as they helped her get adjusted to the harness in one short day.

It was almost sobering to realize she would have to wear it for the rest of her life. A big, bulky piece of metal was all that was standing between her and the void of time. The place she had just started calling "There." A quiet sob built up in her throat, and she didn't totally know why. She just let herself cry softly, humming at the same time to make sure she could still make noise.

A year of hurt and pain and fear. That was why she was crying. She could finally voice her sorrow. Not to anyone else, of course, but at least she could use her voice, even if she was complaining to the air. It's the only one who needed to listen. Her head throbbed with each quiet sob that left her throat as she covered her spiky hair with her warm blanket. She shivered uncontrollably, both from cold and fear. She must have wept for an hour. It was therapeutic, and she felt much better as she finally sighed, out of tears to cry. That was when she finally went to sleep.

…

Pain. That was all Lena could feel as her head hammered, and her body felt like it was tearing itself apart. It felt like the Slipstream crash. She gasped and maybe screamed as the red, angry pain overtook her sleep. She rolled to the side, falling off the bed, entangled in the covers. She couldn't move. All she could think of was the red and angry pain. She's pretty sure she began to vomit, though she could barely comprehend anything. Athena must have turned on the lights, as the blinding brightness caused her head to hurt ever worse. Blood and vomit covered her and the covers as she could only groan and gasp, struggling to breathe.

"Winston! Doctor Ziegler! Emergency in Lena Oxton's room!"

Lena couldn't hear the words properly. All she could hear was the ringing in her ears. The pain. It was only getting worse. She was hot and cold at the same time, with her eyes squeezed shut in some desperate attempt to block out the light.

She heard voices. They were tinny and distant, and she couldn't listen. She might've felt soft, hairy gorilla arms scoop her up if any sensation was replaced with pain.

Time seemed to go longer than usual; every second turned into eternity as everything was red and loud and awful.

Then she was met with darkness.

…

Angela hurried about, quickly hooking up an IV drip to Lena, which put her to sleep in a matter of seconds. She was gasping and wheezing for breath even while unconscious, and was shaking like a leaf. In a matter of minutes, Lena was surrounded with IV drips, a heartrate monitor, and a variety of other devices aimed at keeping her alive. Winston had set the chronal accelerator on a nearby table, popping the actual device out of the leather harness that held it, though he didn't dare shut it off.

"Winston, her body temperature is reading 116 degrees Fahrenheit! No human has ever had such a high fever and lived to tell about it!"

"Well, we'll make sure Lena is the first! Now come on!"

Lena's heartbeat was roughly twice as fast as it should've been, and she seemed to be in sheer agony even as she slept.

Winston piped up as Mercy frantically struggled to stabilize her condition, to no avail. "Her body is rejecting the chronal accelerator! It's trying to fade back into Time, but the harness is keeping her here! In essence, she's being torn from this plane of existence and the one she goes to when she fades!"

"Something like that could be lethal! Should we turn the harness off?"

Winston shook his head. "No, we can't do that. Who knows what would happen, and it wouldn't even solve anything."

With that grim exchange of words, they began to work, trying desperately to keep the pilot they had toiled over for a year alive. The whole time, they didn't notice that right outside to door, was a ninja and a cowboy.

…

Winston grunted. "She's not even close to stable. Are you sure we should let her wake up?"

The doctor sighed. The sun was now setting as they spent the full day working, to know apparent avail. "I've done what I can so far. We can't risk taking our eyes off her, but she risks a coma at this point, and we'd be better off letting her wake up and eat whatever she can. She's hooked up to nourishment IVs, three or four of them, in fact, but those can only do so much."

Winston nodded. "Do you think the painkillers would work, though?"

"That's where things get tricky. It might help with something like a headache, but that's all."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Give her the paralysis serum."

"What? Are you crazy? We can't paralyze her!"

"It won't be permanent! Just a serum that can, in essence, turn off her spinal cord. This will stop any and all pain she can feel from the neck down!"

"But what effect do you think that would have on her emotionally?"

Dr. Ziegler sighed, already preparing the syringe. "At this point, we need to prioritize her physical health first." Winston nodded grimly as she pricked Lena's neck, slowly pushing its contents into her bloodstream. Within ten minutes, she had stopped shivering and churning.

…

It was an hour later. Lena would be waking up soon. Winston and Angela were tired. Just tired. Winston continued running diagnostics while the doctor kept Lena alive. Her nanotech was useless on Lena.

"Winston, you should get some rest. I will watch Lena." Angela offered, trying to calm the stressed gorilla. "Maybe you could get some of your peanut butter and relax for a bit."

"You're one to talk. You know we can't risk that right now."

"She is not stable, but so long as we keep an eye on her, she should live. I can watch her."

"I refuse."

Another voice cut in. "Ya know, how 'bout you both go get some sleep? We'll watch Lena." Jesse and Genji let themselves into the room. Their eyes immediately went to their friend, who was surrounded by IVs and other machines acting like a completely new type of anchor to this world.

"Jesse, how long have you two been out there?" Angela asked, sounding exhausted.

Genji answered this question, the red lights on his robotic half lighting up Lena's ashen face as he walked to her bed. "We have been out here for several hours. I do not need sleep, and Jesse got some earlier. We will watch her."

"I mean, we spent so much time with her in that chamber. What're a few more days while she gets better? We'll try to get her some food, too. We'll be sure to warn ya if anything goes wrong."

"Should you not be focusing on training?" Angela asked with no real conviction in her voice.

Genji chuckled. "We both know I do not need that as of right now. Now go rest."

Angela sighed again. "Let me know the instant something is amiss. She should be awake soon. She will be unable to move her limbs, and this may confuse and disorient her. Her heartrate is closer to normal now, but she is still critical."

McCree nodded. "We gotcha. Now you two sleep. I'll die before I let Lena do so."

…

Lena woke up ten minutes later. Her head hurt, but the pain was dulled. She opened her eyes as light blinded her. It took her several seconds to realize the lights were dim. She went to rub her head.

Nothing happened. She tried again to move her arm, but it would not budge. She could not feel it. Not her other arm either. Or her legs. Or anything below her neck. She began to breathe heavily as panic set in. What was going on? Then a familiar voice offered her some comfort.

"Lena, calm down now. You're safe. Don't go stirrin' and fussin'."

"Jesse?" She asked quietly. Her voice still worked. She wasn't desynchronized. "What's going on? Why can't I move?" She hated how her voice trembled.

"Temporary paralysis. The doc said it's so you're not in pain."

"In pain from what?"

"From what I gather, your body 'ain't liking the harness too much, so it's making you super sick. We're here to make sure ya don't die while the doctor sleeps."

"Die? It's that bad, huh?" She wasn't as scared of this as she ought to be. "Well, I guess my days of being a test subject aren't over. Oh, well." She feigned nonchalance in an attempt to hide her sadness. Neither Jesse nor Genji bought it. Jesse looked back at Genji, who was sitting on the floor in his meditation pose, the red lights being the primary light source. He spoke up.

"Do not feel the need to hide your emotions. I know how you feel." And that was the critical point. He did understand.

Tracer sighed, putting it aside for the moment. "Can this bed sit up?"

Jesse found the remote. "I think so. Gimme a sec." He began to fiddle with the remote as the bed moved up, helping Lena meet her friends' eyes. The only problem was that Jesse had pushed the bed up too far, and Lena could see herself slipping.

"J-Jesse, I'm falling!" She grunted as she saw herself tip to the side. He dropped the remote to catch her, struggling to hold her upright. She was dead weight since she was unable to move.

"Shoot, I'm sorry!" He apologized, helping to lean her back against the bed. Lena looked away in shame.

"No, I'm the one that's sorry."

"Bullcrap."

"What?"

"I said bullcrap. You didn't ask for this. You didn't purposefully get sick. You didn't do anything wrong. Don't apologize."

Lena stayed silent. He seemed pleased with himself.

"Now, I promised the doc I'd get you some food. I don't think pudding is what she had in mind, but hey, it's pudding!"

Lena laughed. "She's going to kill you if she finds out!"

"Not if you don't tell her!" He winked, pulling out a package of pudding cups and a spoon. He opened one up and put as much on the spoon as possible. "Here, take a bite. Or a drink. Or whatever the heck ya do with pudding."

Tracer's cheeks burned with humiliation as she reluctantly ate the chocolate pudding, rolling the soft snack over her tongue, doing everything she could to imprint the sensation into her brain. It's been forever since she's had food like it. It was great. Too bad it had to be spoon fed to her. After she had swallowed, she opened her mouth to apologize, only for Jesse to hold up his hand again.

"Look, don't apologize. We watch out for each other. That's all I'm doin'. I'm just tryin' to make ya feel better. I'm sure when you're up and kicking again, you'll watch my back. For now, just let us help you feel better."

Despite not being able to even feel her chest, Lena felt a warmth in her heart that she hadn't felt for a while. The feeling that someone was treating her as an equal, not as an unfortunate patient. Genji just sat back silently, watching the two of them. Lena couldn't be more grateful as they stayed with her, just keeping her company, even as they had to hold her over a trash can as she vomited blood and bile. Even as she would wake up in the middle of the night after the serum had worn off, grunting from the agony before they could give her more. Even as she would find herself without the strength to even lift her head, they were there, with her on the long road to recovery.

…

Tracer woke up with a start, trying to re-orient herself. What had happened? Was that a dream? It was so vivid. It was such a vivid recreation of the time after her harness. She'd almost think she was desynchronized. Was she? She turned to her harness, which was glowing its usual bright azure shade. She was still here. So, was it just a dream? It didn't seem normal.

Then she noticed that her head felt fuzzy. Like cotton. She wasn't sick, but she had trouble thinking. Maybe she just needed more sleep. She'd worry about her dream tomorrow.

The one thing she didn't notice before going back to sleep, was the purple flash of light and the soft whispering.

"We're ready to begin."