Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Overwatch headquarters, tactical command center, ten hours later

Morrison looked through the glass wall of his small office inside the tactical command center of Overwatch. He looked into a large dark room with lots of huge monitors and dozens of employees working different stations. It bore some resemblance to mission control in Houston. However from this room no missions to space were coordinated, but instead, the global activities of Overwatch. Back in the day, each Watchpoint had one of these rooms commanding whole armies of land, air, and sea forces for their respective grid squares. They were generally commanded from the old headquarters in Zürich, the one which was destroyed by Reyes and his attack on Overwatch.

It was a necessary sacrifice.

Now the general command of what little remained of Overwatch was stationed at Gibraltar.

Luckily his small office inside the command center was soundproof, so Morrison could talk freely and not worry about someone eavesdropping... which would have been a disaster.

"That was not planned" he hissed "You know I can't let that slide. We need her."

The voice on the other side of the phone was easily recognizable simply because it was so unnaturally deep "I know, and I am working on it. All I can give you for now is a destination where the ship she is kept on is headed."

"Better than nothing." Morrison grumbled.

"We are supposed to meet up for refueling in the Arctic sea north of Russia near a port city called Diskon. There is a tanker waiting there for us."

"Hang on. Us? Are you on board?" Morrison asked, furrowing a brow as he was running up and down in front of his desk, nervously playing with a randomly victimized pen.

"I am, but don't get your hopes up. There is nothing I can do at the moment without compromising the mission. You have to come and get her if you want her back. However, there is one thing I could do for all of you should worst comes to worst, and the rescue mission fails."

"Don't say it" Morrison mumbled, squeezing the poor pen in his hand tightly. Reaper did it anyway.

"I'll kill her before she spills anything. Or worse. Currently, she is holding her own, but I have no idea how long she will be able to keep it up. Have to give it to her though, little kitty has claws."

"At least some good news for now. We'll hurry up. Thanks for the intel."

"One hand washes the other" Reaper replied before the line went dead. Morrison slammed his phone back into the station on his desk before he stormed out of his office. The door opened with a silent sizzling, and the loud, borderline chaotic atmosphere of the command center spilled into his private room.

People were talking and running around, phones were ringing everywhere, keyboards were hectically hammered on, and the sound of good old paper being roughly handed around lingered heavily in the air. It was utter chaos. Out of the mess of stressed out agents and employees a tall male in a dark blue uniform, just like anyone else inside the control room, walked toward Morrison at a fast pace.

"Sir, your orders?" he asked, and apparently this was enough to quiet the room down drastically. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at Morrison, waiting for instructions. They had been working tirelessly to acquire every last bit of information concerning the attack in Zürich, but they were at a point where new information was harder and harder to procure and less and less important.

The soldier cleared his throat "Alright. Until Tracer arrives and activates the tracking system for us, there is not a lot we actually can do. But I at least managed to get a destination from one of my whistleblowers. While I don't know where Dr. Ziegler is being held captive, I know that the ship she is on is currently en route toward Diskon, Russia for refueling purposes." Morrison paused "I want you to search for that tanker. Group A, your task is to bring each and every satellite we have in that cluster in position and search every square inch of sea around Diskon until you find the tanker we are looking for!" Morrison ordered, and a small group of six people nodded a quick "Yes, Sir!" before they went to work on their task. Soldier 76 continued. "Group B, I want you to read through all the reports on Diskon, that is, everything we have about that city. Prepare a tactical briefing file with possible routes, hideouts, and special points of interest; I want to feel like it is my own god damn home town after I read your report! Got that?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Group C, prepare possible starting points for both a sea based and an air based rescue operation as well as returning positions should the starting points become compromised. I want updates every five minutes, understood?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"And get me someone who is fluent in Russian. They will come along, whoever it is you find."

"Sir?" Another solider stepped up to Morrison, a woman with the standard female issue of Overwatch uniforms. She chose to wear a skirt instead of pants. "I just received word that Agent Oxton's shuttle is making its final approach. Her shuttle passed the inner defense ring one minute ago and Athena cleared her for landing in bay seven. The shuttle should touchdown in approximately seven minutes."

"Thank you" Morrison nodded. "About time. Send someone to pick her up."

"Sir!" The woman nodded and was gone again. Morrison rubbed over his temples. Oxton really couldn't have taken any longer.

It wasn't her fault. It took some time to get out of Numbani with all the street blockades, checkpoints, and military patrols she had to somehow get past unnoticed. The shuttle was waiting for her well outside the city so no one would detect it, which meant extra walking distance. Tracer was fast, but even she couldn't teleport. Getting back to Gibraltar, of course, took some time as well.

At least they were able to procure enough information about what happened in Zürich and, even more importantly, who was responsible for it. Naturally it just had to be Talon, at least that was what they deducted from the files they were given by a contact in the Swiss police about two hours ago. That was why Morrison had contacted Reyes and, luckily, got confirmation that Dr. Ziegler was indeed abducted by Talon. Not that this would have been good news. But it was news.

It meant Angela was most likely still alive; something that wasn't such a given thing for everyone Jack had sent to Zürich. He had dispatched a team to retrieve Fareeha, or what was left of her. Bringing the Egyptian back to the medical facility of Overwatch was luckily only a matter of signing enough papers... which had nothing to do with what they would have to pull off in order to bring Dr. Ziegler back.

But first they had to find her. Somewhere on a Talon controlled ship God knows where. But at least they would soon be able to track her. A part of him always found it stupid that you needed two people that.

Every Overwatch agent had a chip implanted into their body, which allowed their position to be determined within a 25 meter radius. It was meant for situations exactly like this one, in case an agent was abducted or otherwise missing. A great invention, in theory.

But Winston, who of course invented this system, thought it might be too easy to abuse. He feared that someone could use his creation to control where people went, even if they weren't in any danger. So he decided the system would always be shut off and could only be enabled in case of an emergency; like the one now, with Mercy abducted by Talon. But in his infinite wisdom, Winston apparently thought that was not enough precaution, and installed a two-step verification. Now, much like starting a ballistic missile, you needed two people to activate the system. One was the Overwatch commander, namely Morrison, and the other person was to be decided by the implant-bearer. Naturally, Mercy had chosen her best friend Tracer as the person who'd be able to activate her localization chip and vice versa.

And since the system could only be enabled from one point and not remotely via phone or voice command, they had to wait for Tracer. Luckily she was here now.

Why did Winston's inventions always have to be such a pain in the butt?

-/-

Tracer jumped out of the shuttle even before it had fully touched the ground. The strong winds from its engines were pulling painfully on her short hair, but Lena paid no attention to it. She rushed straight for the entrance into the Watchpoint.

A few meters from the door leading inside was someone waiting for her. Tracer didn't recognize the girl at first, but when she got closer the pink war paint was a dead giveaway. Her petite, slender body was squeezed into her trademark pink and white bodysuit which left almost as little to the imagination as Widowmaker's. At least it wasn't low cut or backless, but an actual full bodysuit.

DVa, or Hana Song, her real name, had occupied the dorm room next to Tracer's, so they had gotten to know each other a little bit in the few days Tracer stayed at the Watchpoint before leaving for Numbani. The Asian ex-pro-gamer was actually rather nice, and Lena got the feeling that Hana kind of looked up to her as some kind of role model. It was almost a little bit embarrassing at times that DVa glorified Tracer so much. She even started calling her 'Unni', which Tracer had to actually look up. Apparently it was the Korean term for the older sister of a female, but it could also be applied to older women girls respected or admired.

A part of Tracer was flattered, yet the majority of her felt undeserving. Especially recently now that she was involved with the enemy. She suspected Hana might not take it too well if she learned to whom Tracer's heart belonged.

"Hana!" Lena called over the loud wind and deafening burble of the still running shuttle-engines. "What are you doing here, luv?"

"Morrison said I should walk you to the command center. Come with me!" DVa yelled back, shielding her eyes from the dust whirled up by the shuttle.

"I know where to go. What is he thinking?" Tracer shouted, before the two finally made it past the automated steel door. Suddenly the rough storm outside disappeared and they were surrounded by almost total silence.

"I don't know, Unni. Just following orders." Hana shrugged. "How was Numbani?" she wanted to know.

Tracer almost replied with something like perfect or wonderful but she remembered in the last second "Didn't go so well. Numbani's major is dead. Couldn't stop it"

"I am sorry, Unni" Hana said, looking up to Tracer. Heavens, she adored that woman. Tracer was everything Dva wanted to be. Strong and outgoing, determined, yet still so heartfelt with everyone. Hana wasn't like that. She always had to struggle against insecurity issues. Issues she was trying to hide behind a shield of unhealthy arrogance, hoping that no one would notice. Tracer wasn't like that at all, Hana could tell. She could tell, when Tracer was still a two dimensional depiction on a poster in her room among all the other glorious heroes of Overwatch and she could tell now, that she finally met her in person.

But no matter how much DVa adored and idolized Tracer, she couldn't help and notice that the Brit was really exhausted, at least judging by the large dark circles around her tired eyes, and... injured. Not only was there a freshly healed, red scar on her lower lip, there also was a large bruise on her neck and... did someone bite her ear? Because clearly there were teeth-imprints.

"Not your fault, Hana" Tracer laughed sadly, trying to sound positive "Let's just see that we get Angela back. Do you know anything new about Fareeha?"

"I don't; sorry. They are working on bringing her back to the Watchpoint" Hana said, rubbing her palms together nervously. She didn't like these times. Everyone was tense and bitter. Which was only natural, because the person everyone at Gibraltar thought of as some kind of replacement mother was gone, abducted by the worst organization of them all. "Unni, are you alright?"

"Mh? I'm ok. Just stressed out, you know? I will get Angela back, no matter what. There's no way I'll leave her in the hands of those lunatics" Tracer hissed angrily. She had way more reason to be pissed off than anyone else simply because Lena had seen how Talon treated their prisoners and knew what it did to their minds and bodies. There was not a second to waste. She had spent the entire flight back from Numbani planning how rescue missions for different scenarios could look like and who she'd best take with her. Lena prepared for all eventualities... at least all those she could foresee.

"I meant physically. You are injured. The bruises" Hana said shyly. Lena actually needed a moment longer than she would have liked until DVa added: "Someone bit you..."

Then Tracer knew, without a doubt, what the Korean gamer meant. Lena had to hide a faint blush starting to creep up on her cheeks as the memories of where the bruises came from, and who inflicted them on her, rushed back to Tracer. Now was not the time for thinking about that.

"Oh, that!" Lena laughed it off, quickly coming up with an excuse that would suffice for Hana to shut up. "No, no! That's no injury. You see, I had to stay a couple of nights in Numbani but because of the martial law, I couldn't exactly go to a Hotel, and since I didn't want to sleep on the streets, I kind of needed another option..."

"Ohh!" Hana laughed. She had read about that in books. "You seduced a fine gentleman and spent the time with him, didn't you? That is so cool!" Hana said, and it sounded like she had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

Which she didn't.

Her world had always been the computer and her games. She rarely got outside, and when she did, she found all the people coming to see and talk to her scarier than anything else. She preferred to have a screen in between two people, or some healthy distance in the form of a stage. At least she did until she joined the MEKKA unit. Then her life was the mech. She was basically glued to it. Again, not much social interaction. A part of Hana had been longing for that kind of relationship with a guy, but there was never time. Other things always were more important.

Tracer giggled, but didn't really have the heart to tell Hana the truth. She was so young and innocent in a way and Lena thought she'd ruin a world if she told her about Lena's real preferences. She wouldn't touch a guy with pincers if she had to. "Something like that, yeah" Lena replied instead.

"I wish I was more like you, Unni" Hana said plainly as they arrived in front of the door leading into the command center. Tracer just shook her head, knowing that being more like her was something you did not want. It got you into more trouble than you'd expect.

"Trust me, luv. You really don't." she said with a supportive smile. "I'll see you around, Hana. Thanks for walking me!"

"Of course. Good luck with the search. I hope Dr. Ziegler comes back soon. She is always very nice."

"She is" Tracer nodded, pressing her hand to a fingerprint scanner. The door beeped and slid open with a synthetic voice announcing her entry. Lena walked inside and looked over her shoulder one last time to see Hana waving before she walked off.

"Oxton, finally. Where have you been hanging around again?" Soldier 76 said, turning away from a large monitor. A ship of substantial size was shown from the top while it floated on the surface of the dark blue ocean, seemingly unmoved. An overlay described the ship as a tanker being run by a company called 'Clockwork International' under the name 'Athos'.

"Morrison" Tracer nodded, choosing not to reply to anything else. "Ghost-tracker protocol has been activated Athena told me?"

"Yes. We are just waiting for your password and fingerprint." Morrison said, gesturing toward another terminal.

"What's that ship?" Lena wanted to know, nodding at the monitor. Oxton was on edge, crazy with worry about the two people she cared the most about. Of course she was mostly worried for Mercy, who had been abducted into the claws of a terror-organization. Tracer was informed during her flight that Talon as the kidnappers were confirmed. She almost cursed out loud when Athena told her. If they had informed her a few hours earlier, she might have been able to get Amélie to help. But then again, she was in enough danger as it was. Apart from that, she didn't even know how to contact her. Tracer had left in such a hurry she had completely forgotten to give Widow her number or anything else. She wanted to bite herself... after Lena had rescued her best friend of course. That was her top priority for now.

She didn't even want to know what Talon was doing to Angela. Very unwelcome memories of the video showing Amélie being tortured rushed into her mind, and Tracer felt like hurling her guts out. Her skin was tingling unpleasantly, and Lena felt the sharp, stinging rush of adrenaline in her veins like barbed wire. She would not allow anything to happen to Angela. It was horrible enough that no one was there to stop this from being done to her now lover. But not again; not if Tracer could help it.

"Most likely the destination they are taking Angela to. We are not sure. If it is, we might have a chance, depending on how far Dr. Ziegler is still away."

While Morrison explained things, Tracer pressed her hand to another scanner, which turned green before she typed her silly password into the console. She had no idea why she chose that phrase back in the day.

"Dr. Ziegler's confidant has entered her password correctly and authorized the Ghost-tracker protocol. Enabling tracking device... Please wait... Please wait... Please wait... Signal detected. Narrowing down the exact location" Athenas soft, yet clearly artificial voice announced.

"Give me the location on the big screen!" Morrison ordered. A moment later the ship, which was shown prior, was gone, replaced by a map and a blinking red point somewhere in the North sea.

"Is the target moving?" Lena asked.

"Yes, Ma'am" a voice from somewhere in the room answered almost immediately "Target in motion."

"Calculate the time it takes from the current location to the tanker we spotted near Diskon" Morrison ordered. That took a little bit longer than the answer before.

"Sir, ensuing from the assumption that they won't change their current speed and considering the optimal possible route at this time of the year and with the current meteorological situation, the fastest time they should reach the Athos is in 7 hours and 48 Minutes. Sir."

"Good" Morrison nodded, checking his watch. Almost eight hours. More than enough time to fly to Diskon, set up a provisory base of operation, wait for the ship with Mercy on board, and then strike when they had no way of running away because of the refueling. "Time is on our side, it seems. I will assemble a team." he announced and turned to leave. He was stopped by Tracer reaching out and grabbing his sleeve.

Morrison looked over his shoulder and knew exactly what would come. He just needed to look at the angry, hurt expression on Tracer's face to know that he could forget about leading that operation.

"No." Lena stated firmly, fearing that maybe Morrison would run into Widow and ruin everything. Also, she wanted to be the one coming to Angela's help. She wanted to be there for her when they got her out of the hell she had to be in. Lena knew Angela like no one else and she was sure that her best friend would need some serious comforting once she was free again. Morrison was hardly the person for that. "You won't. I will lead the team. Angela is my best friend. I will go and get her."

"Your emotional involvement is-"

"None of your business, luv. Angela was my friend for longer than I care to admit; the last thing I will do is sit around while you go and save her. I know her better than anyone of you, and she will need me. I go. Period." Tracer fixed Morrison with one of her very rare death glares which made it unquestionably clear that this discussion was over. There was no point in arguing any further; Tracer would never stand down.

"Fine. You go" Morrison grumbled, hoping Tracer would not run into Reaper and ruin everything. "Assemble a team." He told her. Maybe it wasn't half bad that Tracer insisted on going. That would mean he had time to take care of something, or more accurately, someone else.

"I want McCree and Genji" Tracer replied instantly, the planning she did during the flight paying off. There was not a second to waste. This seemed an awful lot like a sneak in, sneak out kind of operation in rather close quarters. Something Reinhardt in his bulky crusader armor was rather... unfavorable for.

The door into the command center opened again, and a mountain of a woman with bright pink hair walked into the room. She wore a dark muscle shirt and had a tattoo on her shoulder spreading over her upper arm reading the number '512'. Her face was grim and serious. Tracer had little doubt that this woman... or mountain could have easily picked her up and tied a knot into her, without even struggling. There was just so much muscle everywhere. Almost as extreme as Reinhardt.

"Reporting for duty, Sir" Zarya said with a heavy Russian accent, walking up to Tracer and Soldier. "Ma'am" Zarya quickly but accurately acknowledged Tracer, who wanted to speak up to tell her to drop the Ma'am, but the Russian weightlifter had already turned back to Morrison. "You requested my presence."

"I did" Morrison stated, sounding as if he had forgotten about it. He then remembered that he told someone to bring him anyone speaking Russian... and Zarya was Russian. Hence her presence. There was too much on his plate today, and his work was nowhere near done for the day. He still had to take care of something else, outside of this whole Mercy abducted by Talon disaster.

"Not to be nosy, Sir, but why is there a tactical map of my hometown on the screen?" Zarya wanted to know, looking a tiny bit suspicious. At least as suspicious as her stoic face would allow to get.

Tracer's eyes lit up in excitement for a moment and Jack knew exactly what would come "I will take her as well" she said to Morrison, who sighed. Called it. You have to make everything difficult, don't you, Oxton?

"Inform Genji and McCree we'll meet at the shuttle in thirty minutes. I need the tactical files in 20. This is no time for standing around. Hurry up, slowpokes, we got to save our doctor. Not a minute to waste" Lena announced loudly as she walked out of the command center. She tried to sound positive, which might have fooled everyone who didn't know Tracer as well as Morrison did. He had worked with her long enough to tell when she was really in high spirits or when she was faking it for the sake of everyone's morale.

And Tracer had never been faking worse than right now. Mercy's abduction must have really been chewing on her insides. This, Morrison completely understood. The two were basically inseparable. He had never seen a friendship like theirs before. Well, maybe one, but that was different.

Morrison was left behind shaking his head in disbelieve. This woman would one day be the death of him. If he wouldn't need her to keep a certain assassin in check he would maybe have to set her head straight one day. But, unfortunately, he did need her; now more than ever.

"Seems like you have been chosen for a search and rescue operation." Soldier said to Zarya "You heard the lady. In 30 minutes at the helipad."

"Sir, do I understand correctly? We are going to rescue Doctor Ziegler? Everyone is talking about what happened to her."

"Yes. She was abducted by Talon. Oxton will inform you wholly once she briefs you all for the mission" Morrison replied, his voice clearly showing just how stressed out the man really was. Even though no one would ever suspect where large portions of that tension really came from.

"I will head to the armory then" Zarya stated with cold determination, giving Morrison a quick, but very Russian, salute before turning around to leave. The worst threat to mankind were Omnics, and Zarya hated them with burning passion. But right after them there was Talon. Sick fucks thought they could do whatever they wanted and not pay the price. Fools. The crimes they committed in Russia especially. Their recruiting. Zarya huffed loudly as she left the command center. Mass abductions are no recruiting.

"Sir?" Yet another agent walked up to Morrison, handing him a data pad. Morrison sighed inwardly, taking the pad and looking over its contents. Medical files and reports from Zürich for the most part. This day was utter chaos. But that was to be expected. "We have word from our agents in Zürich concerning Fareeha Amari"

"Any updates?" Morrison asked, not wanting and also not having the time to read the report.

"As instructed, we left the press under the impression that she is dead. We prompted Helix International Security to list her as KIA. They don't know she is still alive. Amari's body is being prepared for transport. Her condition is still critical, but the doctors in Zürich say, she might survive. They, however, can't tell if she will ever wake up from the coma. The bullet did substantial damage to her... ehhh" The agent awkwardly scratched the back of his head "Sorry, Sir. I didn't understand half the words they were using. To put it simply? Pharah was extremely lucky. If it wasn't for the tube of nanoprobes they found on site, she would be dead now."

"I understand. See to it that she is brought home safely."

"Yes, Sir!"

"And prepare my shuttle for launch. I have to take care of something else"

"Right away"

-/-

A/N:

Alright ladies and gentleman, so much for the 16th iteration of Addictions. I am aware that this was a 100% filler and setup chapter, but as I am sure you all know it was necessary. We are getting serious! So let's prepare for busting Mercy's ass out of Talon's greedy fingers.

If you want to support me and my story, you can do so here:

tipeee com slash e82s-fanfiction

-/-

The next few chapters will be quite fast pace, quite eventful with the whole mess around our dear doctor Ziegler, but I promise after that we will take some time to chill and enjoy some quality time with Widow and Tracer, yes?

Good.

Special thanks to my three angels once again! *bows deeply in respect*

Also, keep the reviews and feedback coming, I love to hear what you guys think! Thank you all for the crazy support you are giving me! I can't tell you how happy it makes me :D

See you in the next one :)

o7

E82

Translations:

oh, there aren't any this time! What happened? My bad :D