Unmarked Talon controlled freighter, approaching the tanker 'Athos', 1842 hours
Widowmaker sighed heavily. The most difficult and most crucial part of her entire plan was still ahead of her. Apart from that, everything had been taken care of just like she had planned. No one noticed a thing.
When Amélie was replacing the drugs they used to turn the prisoner's mind to mush with simple saline solution no one even saw her slip into the cooling chamber. Widow walked in, replaced the labels of the harmless water, and threw the IV bags filled with drugs over board, before she left the reefer again. No one even stopped to ask her what she was doing, and Amélie doubted that someone would have even questioned her presence if they saw her. She was a shadow; nothing more.
Procuring a uniform which would fit was a little more tricky, because Widowmaker couldn't really steal one from the changing room of the soldiers. She needed someone ranked high enough to avoid being spoken to by a higher up and it, of course, needed to be a female uniform for Mercy. It would have been tough luck if someone recognized the name and knew the person wearing it should have been male. No. That risk was something she didn't want to take.
But Widowmaker was lucky due to the fact they recently took a young female Brigadier General on board. She was the commander of the Dark Wing. She was also a ruthless and cruel leader, fitting to commandeer the special ops division of Talon. Rumor had it she was reporting to Talon's nameless head directly, bypassing the board altogether. The general would do just fine for Widow's purposes. Amélie visited the dressmaker and pretended to run some errands for the Dark Wing commander. Naturally, no one even dared to raise an eyebrow, let alone say something. Soon after a few firmly placed words and cold glares, Widowmaker had took a spare uniform back to her tiny private living space. Which was hardly more than a bed, a sink, and a mirror in a room the size of a prison cell. She had to admit the uniform might have been a bit over the top, but still way better than a simple Corporal.
The most difficult job until now was stealing and placing enough plastic explosive to ensure the ship would blow up correctly. And with correctly Amélie was thinking about completely; without anything left to salvage. Widow did spend hours to rig the fuel tanks, engines, and most importantly, the pipeline and valves used for refueling. It would have been great if she could have rigged the tanker as well, but she didn't want to risk being spotted switching ships. It would have to do. She would wait until the process of refueling was initiated before she'd make a run for it with Mercy in tow and blow both ships up into tiny bits. It would look like someone hadn't been careful with where they smoked. The freighter was running on highly flammable, extremely optimized high energy fuel which basically blew up when you looked at it too sternly.
Yet compared to what was to come, this all seemed like child's play.
The most important part of her cunning plan was still a big question mark, and that was if Mercy would even trust her enough to come along. It all depended on Dr. Angela Ziegler. Widowmaker decided that it would be best to be gentle with Mercy, that is, be nice and careful to win her trust. The otherwise deadly assassin might have had some inspiration from the way Tracer acted around her, which made Widow rather quickly trust the bubbly Brit. And now Amélie really needed Mercy to trust her if her little plan would have any chance at success. So, no glaring, no threatening, and no intimidation; the polar opposite of what Widowmaker usually did. A part of her felt stupid, but it couldn't be helped. If she could try and find some of Tracer's caring warmth within herself around Mercy things would turn out fine.
The only thing Widow was afraid of was that Montgomery might have already succeeded in breaking the doctor far enough that she wouldn't be able to think independently anymore. The medical records suggested otherwise, but they also were some hours old. Montgomery worked fast.
Only one way to find out.
Widowmaker pulled the door in front of her open and stepped inside the brightly lit room. What greeted her was the smell of blood and sweat mixed with a barely tolerable heat. Her guts twisted as she saw Mercy tied to a chair, her arms behind the back, completely naked with old blood dried all over her otherwise stunning body. There were a couple of clear infusions hooked up directly to the vein in her neck. She was breathing heavily while Montgomery was walking up and down in front of her, holding a heavy metal wrench in his hand. There was a large hematoma on Mercy's ribcage, but it was quickly fading away into nothingness. Montgomery looked frustrated and at a complete loss of ideas like he never had before.
Widowmaker had to suppress a smirk. To think that the great master of pain, Archibald Montgomery, would one day run out of ideas because of a frail looking woman. It was almost inappropriately bemusing.
"You work too hard" Widow announced, causing the torturer to spin around. Her first goal for now was to get Montgomery out of the room before she could try and convince Mercy to trust her. A part of Amélie really pitied the poor girl, a part which felt like a lifetime ago she had been through something similar. But Widow consciously didn't remember anything. There was just this feeling of unexplainable sympathy for Mercy.
"What are you doing here?" the torturer wanted to know, trying to sound intimidating, but he barely managed to not sound exhausted. That blonde bitch was the toughest bone he ever had to crack, and with the sudden deadline from the boss, he was really feeling the pressure from above.
"You should take a break, Montgomery" Widow stated, crossing her arms under her chest. "If I remember correctly, which I somehow do this time, you still owe me..." Widow paused, because she had actually not the slightest idea how their favor-count looked. Talons memory resets were ridiculous. They tried to erase shit selectively, which only resulted in useless fragments most of the time. Some things she remembered; most she didn't. Now she was just gambling with Montgomery. A part of her was always a tiny bit scared of him, despite knowing how much of a coward that man really was. She was scared simply because she knew who would do the reconditioning should she ever be subjected to it. But right now she ignored that particular side of herself.
"Two. Yes." Montgomery sighed. "Listen, I enjoy this game usually, but the boss really wants her ready, I can't let you do your thing this time around. Dammit, Widow, the last one was only half alive after you were done."
Widow looked briefly at Mercy, who glared at both of them like she was trying to murder them with intense stares.
She wasn't stupid. Angela knew full well who the blue skinned woman was. There was not a single person in Overwatch who didn't know. She was dangerous, as gorgeous as she was deadly and a walking precision weapon, honed to fulfill one task and one task alone: killing people. Without any guilt, remorse or sympathy, Widowmaker stalked her prey until it was dead. If Talon's master assassin was sent to take care of someone, their life was over. Period.
Reputation is what this woman had. With every completely impossible assassination, with each unexpected hit from the dark, it grew. No one ever caught a glimpse of her other than a few of Overwatch's best agents. And most of them were dead after their encounter with her. Now, whenever someone was murdered with a precise shot to the head, from an angle and in a situation said shot should not have been achieved, the shooter was clear. Widowmaker.
And now the very same Widowmaker, who was marked as extremely dangerous and shoot-on-sight if possible, was standing right in front of Angela, eyeing her up for a quick moment. Mercy felt a cold shiver run down her spine simply from the way the ruthless assassin looked at her. And the things Widow said were not helping her to calm down.
"Montgomery, I am willing to use both favors for some fun." she said, cocking an eyebrow "I really need a vent right now."
The torturer frowned "All two favors? What are you up to, Widow?"
"I like her face, enfoiré" Amélie shrugged.
"What are you two sickos talking about?!" Mercy shouted, fury dripping off her voice like bitter venom. This made Amélie very happy inside because it meant that Angela Ziegler was still there. Nonetheless, she needed to make sure later. For now, it was good to see that Mercy was pissed off enough at her presence to yell at them. She would have to work on that as well. Angela mustn't stay pissed off.
"Shut up!" Both Talon members hissed back. Yes. Angela mustn't stay pissed off. But Montgomery also needed to leave. Preferably now. Baby steps, Widow, baby steps. One thing after the other.
"You like her face?" Montgomery frowned before he started chuckling "Oh, now I see. She is a girl. Well, that explains things. I didn't know you swung that way."
Widow stepped forward and grabbed Montgomery on his face a little too tightly to seem friendly. Her fingers forced a ridiculously inappropriate duck-face on his dry, grey lips. He was getting cocky. Can't have that now, can you? "You know exactly what I am going to do. So, get your mind out of the gutter; I am not you. We have a deal, oui?"
"Yes, yes" Montgomery shrugged defensively before Widow let go of him. "Jesus, don't take everything so seriously all the time. Have at her then, but remember that I need her to be able to talk after you are done. I'll get some coffee and be back in... half an hour? That enough for you?"
"Sounds good to me" Widow said, cracking her knuckles with a devious smirk.
"Just don't kill her" Montgomery remarked as he left the room. Widowmaker waited a moment to make sure that he wouldn't come back because of some forgotten shit before she moved over to the cameras and turned them off one by one.
Mercy was fidgeting in her chair, trying to get out of it, but all her efforts were in vain. Her eyes were glued to Widowmaker as she gracefully walked around the room with her heels clicking prominently, but also gently, on the metal ground. While she was shutting off the cameras, her hips were swaying back and forth with every step, and Mercy suspected that Widowmaker didn't do that without a reason. Was she teasing her? Then again, maybe it was just her way of walking. Amélie walked past Mercy and out of her field of view. The loud steps stopped, and the doctor only heard someone turning on a faucet for a short moment.
Some more light steps on the rusty floor and Widow reappeared right in front of Mercy. Talon's master assassin seemed to hesitate for a second, before the she sat down on Angela's lap.
Mercy's body stiffened immediately "Get off me, you freak! Don't think I will play along with whatever you are thinking of right now. Don't think I don't know who you are!"
"Oui. Of course you know who I am." Widowmaker smiled an almost pitiful smile at Angela, causing her to pause for a moment. The woman sitting on her lap suddenly didn't seem as threatening as she initially thought, and surely not as bad as her reputation would suggest. She wore a sad expression on her beautiful face, and her body language didn't seem hostile. Widowmaker was surprisingly light, Mercy noticed. Also, her piercing golden eyes didn't leave the deep blue orbs of Mercy. Something told Angela that whatever was going to happen would be not what Mercy expected. Still, despite feeling prepared for whatever Widowmaker planned to do to her, Angela was rather surprised, almost shocked, when Widow raised a wet cloth up to her face. Instinctively, she twitched away from the rag, but was met with concerned eyes peering into hers.
"Shhh, relax. I won't hurt you. It's just to clean you up a little bit" Widowmaker explained before she proceeded to gently rub the cloth over Angela's face. From time to time she folded the rag differently to get a clean surface for cleaning all the dried blood on Mercy's pale skin off.
"What are you doing?!" Angela hissed. She was so confused. Her body was hurting all over and now there was this woman being gentle and careful. A part of Angela cried out in relief, but at the same time, all her alarm bells went off loudly. This was not right! it had to be a trick! Something was up; Angela knew it. "Is this supposed to be the carrot and stick approach? Are you are the carrot or what?"
"Non" Widowmaker replied sternly. "I will ask you a question now and your answer will decide what happens next, compris?"
Angela swallowed before nodding slowly. Her mind was so sluggish, hours of endless pain and suffering wearing her down. She needed to concentrate, but the gentle touch of the cool wet cloth on her cheeks was too distracting. Mercy knew that she wouldn't be able to fight much longer. Her resolve was fading with every minute she had been here.
"Who are you?" Amélie asked, peering deeply into Mercy's eyes. They were beautiful; so deep and blue and with a slight hint of violet in them. They were almost as wonderful as Tracer's, but lacked the infinite source of calm glee. They were more determined, fiercer and sterner, but they also were terribly broken at the same time. Hollow and exhausted.
Angela swallowed. Not that question again! She couldn't stand hearing it anymore. She had no idea how many times Montgomery had asked her that question, doing horrible things to her whenever she had answered with the truth. She couldn't take it anymore. Her body was hurting all over. There was not a single place left which could have been tortured for the first time. She was sleep deprived and just wanted this to stop. She wanted it to stop. She couldn't think straight anymore. It had been easier when Montgomery kept hurting her simply because she could focus on the pain and fuel it into anger.
But there was no more pain.
There was just Widowmaker's soft touch, and it didn't help Mercy one bit as she caught herself leaning into the cloth a little bit while her eyes fluttered closed, but she couldn't do anything against it. Widow's cool touch was almost like a tiny glimpse of sweet heaven amidst the burning fires of never ending hell. At this point Angela would have done almost anything to keep that soft hand on her cheek for a second longer.
It was nice.
Soft.
Gentle. It didn't hurt, and all she had to do was telling her a number. Maybe her number. It would be so easy. TTS 627. Three letters and as many numbers to make it stop. To give up her old self for a new one. To become... to become a monstrosity! With huge black wings implanted into her back.
You will gladly hurt those you call your friends and you will come back to me begging me for more. Montgomery's voice echoed through Mercy's hazy mind. She suddenly saw Fareeha kneeling in front of her, held down by Talon's soldiers.
"I am sorry, Angela" she had said, before they blew a hole in her head. The last thing Mercy saw was the hurt expression on the Egyptian's face. Hurt because she couldn't protect Mercy. Hurt because she failed her.
It felt like someone punched her in the guts to wake her up from a dream.
'NEIN! NIEMLAS!' It was wrong. Angela snapped out of her stupor as if struck by lightning, recalling the reason why she was here. The events of what had happened in Zürich. What they did to Fareeha. What they wanted from her. She wouldn't give in now just because that murderer sitting on her lap displayed a more gentle side. Angela would stand her ground. They were all her enemy, and, nothing else! Her eyes flew open and she jerked away from Widow's hand.
"My name" she said in a venomous hiss "is Angela Ziegler! And nothing you say or do will ever change that!" Mercy contracted all her muscles in advance, preparing to be hit again. But the painful sting somewhere on her body never came. Mercy was completely puzzled when she saw an almost happy smile spread across Widowmaker's plum lips while she continued to clean some blood off the edge of Mercy's mouth.
"Bien" Widow sighed relieved. "Bien. I really hoped you would say that, Mercy."
A long moment of heavy silence spread between the two women in which Mercy struggled to comprehend Widowmaker's reaction. It made no sense to her whatsoever.
"What...?" Angela tried to ask in confusion, her stiff body starting to relax at least a little bit. What was that about? Something was going on and it was clearly not the way things were supposed to be. Mercy suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.
Amélie gently moved the cloth to Angela's right temple, carefully rubbing over it as she was speaking with a hushed voice "Listen, I can get you out of here. But you have to absolutely 100% trust me and do exactly as I say. I imagine this is difficult for you, but I won't risk it if I can't be sure that you do exactly as I tell you." she said, her golden eyes full of determination, yet there was a glint of uncertainty and... maybe fear.
Mercy thought her ears were playing a sick joke on her mind "Bitte was?" she gasped. There was no way this was legit. There was no way this was not some kind of trap, or test, or whatever. Not in a thousand years would Widowmaker, the woman who had more confirmed single handed kills on her account than anybody else in all history of killers and assassins, offer Mercy, an enemy to Talon and to Widow, to help her escape. Never.
"You heard me." Amélie said, putting the cloth aside "But we have to be fast and careful. I have made some arrangements to get us out of here, but you have to trust me. I am risking a lot here, so don't you dare screw things up. I'm dead meat if you do."
"Why would I trust you?" Angela almost snapped "This may be just another trick to break me for all I know" Mercy asked, absolutely not willing to simply accept Widow's words.
The assassin sighed heavily. It wasn't like she didn't understand Mercy's problem. In her current state, Amélie would have had trouble believing anything herself. "Listen, you really don't have a choice. You can either risk coming with me, or you can keep sitting here and take what Montgomery has in store for you. Your decision. But I kind of wouldn't want to trade places with you right now. You want to go?"
"Of course I want to!"
"Then you are left with no other choice but to trust me. There won't be another one offering this to you. I know you are likely thinking of your friends now, but you will be broken to bits until they arrive for all we know. I personally wouldn't tempt my fate on this one. Trust me when I say you really don't want to do what they are going to make you do." Amélie stated with a serious expression. "You wouldn't want to hurt your friends, would you?"
Mercy swallowed heavily, an unsettling thought suddenly crossing her mind. She really hadn't thought about that possibility before. Had Widowmaker been forced to do this too? The night Amélie Lacroix transformed into her new personality, the night she murdered her husband Gerard in his sleep; did she do that because Talon forced her to? Not because she chose to do so? Angela never looked at it from this angle. Then again the whole incident was never really discussed. It was a big taboo for some reason.
"No. No of course I don't." Mercy admitted.
"Thought so. I will get you out of here. I promise. You just have to trust that I can pull it off. Which I can." Widow said in all seriousness, looking Mercy directly in the eyes. She didn't seem like she was lying. Maybe it was that nervous tone Mercy picked up in Widow's voice which convinced her.
"Why would you...?" Angela didn't understand anything anymore. What the hell? Why would Widowmaker want to help? Why did she even care?
Amélie rolled her eyes in annoyance "I am surely not doing it for you, Mercy" Widow snarled "I am doing it for me and someone I care about; someone who wants to see you free again. Is that reason enough?"
Someone I care about? Mercy's eyebrow twitched a little when she heard that, wondering what Widowmaker could have meant. Who could it be? Who could possibly be important to Talon's master assassin... at least important enough to risk anything to rescue Mercy. Dr. Ziegler felt like she was close to discovering some kind of connection between her, Widowmaker, and the person she had referred to, but she was tired, exhausted, and had trouble concentrating. A part of Angela knew that there was more to it than things would let on, but she couldn't figure it out. At least not now.
"I... suppose so?" Mercy replied, considering herself satisfied with the reply Widow gave her for now. It didn't really matter as long as Angela got out of here somehow. Better now than later. Beggars can't be choosers, right? If someone offered to free her, what did Mercy really care for the reason? As long as she was out of here. She was just still a little shocked to learn who her savior would most likely be. A part of her was convinced it would be Tracer who came charging in with a mighty battle-cry, carrying her to safety, wearing a teasing smirk and with a smug remark on her lips.
"Good." Amélie nodded with a relieved smile before she got serious again. "Still, I am surely not doing this for free. You will have to do something for me in return"
Mercy sighed tiredly. What did she expect? That Widow would help her out of the sheer goodness of her heart? Of course not. "Natürlich. I knew there would be a catch. What do you want?" she asked, looking at the assassin. A part of Mercy noticed that it was oddly strange how comfortable she felt with this deadly woman sitting on her lap, but she reasoned that this was just because Widow didn't beat her up and maybe because Angela was dead tired.
"You are a doctor, right?" Amélie stated more than she asked.
"Yes?" Angela replied with a nod, swallowing a snide remark concerning the reasons of her captivity. Widowmaker obviously had nothing to do with that. Not only because she was helping her now, but also because Mercy knew that Talon's master assassin didn't take hostages. If they would have sent her to deal with Angela, she wouldn't sit on a chair right now. She'd have a hole in her head.
"This all stands and falls with one crucial obstacle. I have a tracking chip in my neck which I need to get rid of before we bail if I want to get out of here unnoticed. Can you remove it?"
Mercy furrowed a brow. "You will leave too?" she asked, totally taken aback. That was some major news all of a sudden. Somehow she thought that Widow would only help her escape. but that she actually wanted to come along? What did she run away from? Dr. Ziegler had no way of knowing how Amélie's life here looked, and luckily, she also had absolutely no idea of the reasons why the deadly assassin suddenly wanted to leave Talon. Chances were she wouldn't have believed the reason if Widow had told her in this moment. That it all was because of Tracer.
"You think I want to hang around here after I help you escape? Please. Don't think they'd spare me a fate worse than yours if they found out." Widow laughed, expertly masking her true intentions "So, can you do it? Because if you can't, I won't waste my time. No way in hell am I going through reconditioning again."
Mercy blinked, so many questions burning in her head. Reconditioning? Somehow the image she had of Widowmaker up until a few minutes ago was proving itself completely wrong with each word Amélie spoke. Where Widowmaker had been the culprit before, she rapidly started to turn into the victim in all this. It showed in the small details of what Widow was saying and it caused Mercy to wonder. Why? How? What happened? But Angela decided to save the questions for later. Now was not the time. Could she remove a tracking chip from Widow's neck?
If that question was only answerable in a simple way. It wasn't like there was only one place in the human neck to implant a tracker. Because there really wasn't. And depending on the location, it would either be a piece of cake to remove with nothing but an exhausted doctor, a scalpel, and a few minutes time, or almost impossible to do so with even the best team of well prepared specialists, the most advanced medical equipment, and all the time in the world. "Where in your neck? Like inside the CNS or-"
Widow rose a hand up to the side of Angela's neck shortly under her earlobe, causing Mercy to shudder slightly. Damn, her touch was so cold. What the hell did Talon do to her? "Here" Amélie said "about a centimeter in."
Mercy considered that for a moment, imagining all the possible obstacles she would have to think of at this location. Luckily, it wasn't implanted into the spinal cord, because that would have been impossible to impromptu remove. "I need a scalpel and a set of precision pincers. Both sterile, obviously. I also need rubber gloves and dressing material. Then it's no problem. It's close to the artery, but I can manage."
"Bien" Widow replied in relief. Step one of two complete. "Also, I want you to put in a good word for me at Overwatch. I will need to hide somewhere after pulling this stunt off." Widow said, and had that demanding look on her face, which she had worn before. But there was also something vulnerable in her eyes; something that made Angela think Widowmaker was scared of something.
It was understandable. Mercy could only imagine how it must feel to run from Talon after being with them for so long. Still, the reason for Widow wanting to run in the first place was a little... bizarre. Who would profit from her vanishing the most, Mercy wondered? And also, was there a chance she could actually do what Widow wanted from her? The only one who could decide what would happen to Widowmaker should they ever get back to Overwatch was Morrison. And he could be rather stubborn at times. Anyway, Angela was rather certain she had enough influence over him to convince him to let the assassin stay, perhaps if it was only for medical supervision or something. Granted, that would only work if Morrison didn't suspect Mercy's mind had been tampered with. She would need her medical records from Talon here... and probably Widow's as well. Angela knew that Overwatch had files on her, the ones that Genji stole years ago, but they were exactly that. Years old. The documents have been collecting dust in the archives for years since no one bothered to check them. No one really cared either. Amélie Lacroix was gone; nothing a few gigabytes of data could change. It was sloppy work, without a doubt. But it also wasn't important right now. Mercy reasoned they would need the newest ones to get anywhere.
"I can't promise you something definite, but I can reassure you that I'll try my best should we make it out of here alive. We will have to take my medical records, and yours as well, with us though. I need to somehow prove that I am still me, otherwise, my word will be worthless. I will have to look through your documents to prove that you are, indeed, no threat. You are no threat, am I right?"
Widowmaker snorted "At least not to you or your friends." she replied.
"Alright. That is all I can offer you, Widowmaker" Mercy told her. She couldn't give her any definite promises simply because Angela didn't know what would happen once they made it out of this nightmare of a swimming steel hell.
Amélie seemed to consider Angela's words for a moment "That will have to do. I will take care of the records. So we have a deal then? You get rid of the tracker and speak for me when I get you out of here?"
"Ja" Mercy nodded seriously. "We have a deal" She couldn't quite believe that this was really happening, because it should not have happened this way. Angela felt her heart beat faster and faster the more she thought about just who was helping her here. Sitting on Angela's lap was Overwatch's most wanted, the assassin they all were instructed to shoot on sight, and the woman who had murdered her husband in his sleep. And yet the very same person who had killed countless of innocent people at the command of her masters defied those exact same masters now and helped a complete stranger escape for... for someone else? It made no sense.
"Parfait!" Widow said, and sounded relieved. "But you have to follow my instructions to the letter no matter what happens, otherwise, we are both doomed. Do you understand that?"
"Yes." Mercy nodded. It only made sense, she had no idea where they were and what they were supposed to do, whereas Widow most likely had a meticulously prepared plan to escape. Angela would have been stupid to question her savior.
"Say it!" Widowmaker pressed, her heart almost racing. She had never even thought of betraying Talon before. If this backfired, she would be absolutely screwed. And Tracer would never see either one of them again. The fact that Amélie usually didn't work with a partner didn't make things easier either. The few times she worked with Reaper didn't go too well. No. Widowmaker didn't do teamwork too well, so she was rather nervous about rescuing someone she had never met before. Extracting a beat up, exhausted hostage, like Mercy was by now, surely was an entirely different number to working with a combat experienced killer like Reaper. And if even that went wrong, Amélie didn't like the odds of this stupid idea she had. Still, she needed to do it.
For Tracer.
This would work; it had to.
"I am to precisely follow your instructions at any given circumstance during our escape. And I will do that. If you say run, I run. If you say stop, I stop. If you say sing the Russian national anthem, I will fucking sing." Angela replied seriously. Somehow she understood why Widow was so tense. They didn't know each other at all, and Widow needed to make sure that Mercy would play along with the plan the assassin obviously had. Angela had no problem doing whatever Widowmaker said until she was out of here. It couldn't be worse than what she had already seen.
"Good. I will get the equipment I prepared along with the files and be back in a couple of minutes or so." Widowmaker said, moving to slip off Mercy's lap.
"Wait. Please." Angela stopped her with trembling voice. Her unbent and unbroken facade was quickly becoming undone now that there was hope in the air again. Now that there was an end to this nightmare just within Mercy's grasp.
"Mh?" Amélie paused, still sitting Mercy's lap.
"Could you please untie me. I really don't want to sit here tied up until you come back. If Montgomery-" Mercy said, but choked on her own words. The mere thought of being at that monster's mercy for even a second longer made her insides cringe in pain. There was no way she'd be able to live through that again. And now that she knew they were leaving, she felt another desire burning inside of her. One she didn't get often, but one Angela Ziegler was familiar with.
"Of course" Amélie smiled gently, leaning closer to Mercy and letting a hand slide in between one of her arms and the chair. "You want revenge." It was no question.
There was no point trying to deny it. "Ja" Mercy stated coolly. "I want him to know what it feels like. I want him to regret it."
"I could just kill him, you know?" Widow said, her skilled fingers starting to manipulate the binds.
She felt Mercy shake her head. "I want to do this" she stated. Amèlie didn't say anything.
"Widowmaker?" Angela asked, causing Amélie to stop only a few inches away from the side of Mercy's face. God this position looked like something it clearly was not. Widow simply wanted to undo Angela's bonds. She should have just gotten up and walked around, but somehow Widow didn't.
"Oui?" her fingers stopped moving for a moment.
"Who are you doing this for?" Angela asked out of sheer curiosity. Somehow she needed to know.
"That's none of your business" Widow snapped, proceeding with what she was doing.
That was when suddenly the door creaked loudly and heavy footsteps walked inside. Mercy felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees.
Montgomery was back way too early. There was no way that half an hour had already passed.
Widow froze for a moment, her brain racing and trying to figure out how she could finish undoing the ropes on Mercy's wrists without Montgomery noticing. She needed to distract him. She needed to divert his attention, and in the momentary rush, Amélie came up with quite possibly the stupidest idea she ever had. And Widow entirely blamed Tracer for it. She had been the one stirring these kind of ideas in her mind.
Like a flash, Widow leaned forward and caught Mercy by absolute surprise when the doctor suddenly felt cold lips hastily press against hers. With wide eyes, Angela escaped an overwhelmed moan as she tried to process what the hell was going on.
Her body tensed up as she felt one of Widowmaker's hands carefully grope her breast before the reason behind Widow's actions dawned on her. Montgomery was back and obviously watching while Widowmaker's other hand was stuck down her arm working on the ropes bound around her wrist. Mercy felt quick and skilful fingers hastily tamper with the knots. And when they began to considerably loosen up, she suddenly understood what Widow was doing. She was distracting Montgomery, keeping his eyes where she wanted them to be and away from what they shouldn't have noticed. While it probably wasn't the most textbook-conform idea by any stretch of the imagination, it would most likely work. Mercy decided it was best to play along and quickly relaxed into Widow's touch.
One thing was for certain, this was hardly the first time Widow had been touching another girl. Angela had no idea if the deep red blush on her cheeks came from all the adrenaline in her blood right now or because of something else, but a part of her had to admit that Amélie's touch was... rather pleasant. She had no difficulties in letting another moan escape her lips, and told herself it was because she wanted to distract Montgomery and not because a part of her actually enjoyed the sensation. Quick fingers moved around her wrists, and after a moment of being kissed and groped, the tight ropes cutting into her flesh hung loosely around her hands. Mercy grabbed them so they wouldn't fall to the floor, giving their trick away.
"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Montgomery mocked with a chuckle, walking into the room as Widow broke away from Mercy, spreading a fine strand of salvia between their lips. Mercy was blown away, mostly by surprise, but also by the fact of how much she enjoyed that. It had to be because of the stark contrast between being kissed and being tortured. Yes. That was it. It was only so nice, because it wasn't painful. No other reason.
"But you just wanted to do the usual." Archibald was laughing "Yes, yes. You are not like me. No, no. Not at all." he said "Better pay attention that no one finds out about that preference of yours" Montgomery continued while Widow leaned forward to whisper into Mercy's ear, parts of her cold skin pressing to Angela's heated and sweaty chest.
"I replaced the IV bags with water a while ago. The drugs should be out of your system by now. You can take him on. He is a coward. You sure you want to do this yourself?" she asked, and Mercy gave her an ever so faint nod. Montgomery would have never noticed it even if his eyes weren't glued to Widows hand on Mercy's full breast.
Reassured that this was what Mercy wanted, Widow slid off her, a mischievous smirk on her lips which could have been interpreted as so many things at once. She eyed Mercy again, having to admit that she was playing along perfectly, mimicking the overwhelmed and confused victim in all of this.
Widow slowly stalked toward Montgomery with an eerie glow in her eyes as she stared him down. He actually gulped and took a step back. Even though he was on rather friendly terms with Widow, she still managed to scare him witless sometimes. Like... now. He should have kept his mouth shut and just let her do her thing. If she felt like snogging the prisoner, hey, not his problem. She turned the cameras off and didn't untie her. He was in no position to judge. Oh god, why did he have to open his mouth? She was looking royally pissed.
"And they won't learn it from you, enfoiré. Are we clear?" Widowmaker pressed a finger into Montgomery's chest. He flinched at Widow's devious smirk "You know what happens to those who stand in my way."
"Relax, Widow. I was just messing with you. I mean, look at her, all flustered and red and weak. Oh, she looks so needy. I guess you did most of my work. I won't complain. It will be easy going from here on. Stop by whenever, ok?"
"Watch your tongue, Montgomery" Widow shot him a glare before opening the door "Have fun you two" she added, not looking at Mercy a second time.
-/-
China, Lijiang Tower, laboratory of Mei-Ling Zhou, around the same time.
Morrison looked at the cold golden metal doors right in front of him, soft music playing in the background. Typical elevator music. A modern piece sending off classical vibes and tranquility in pace and volume. From time to time he stole a glace at the display above the golden doors where a number kept climbing in accordance with the elevator.
A few minutes later he heard that long expected Ding! as he waited for the doors to slide apart before he stepped through.
The room on the other side was huge. It was two stories tall and took up the entire ground of the floor with no walls. There was expensive and highly experimental looking tech standing, lying, and hanging everywhere. A little to his left there was a giant glass cupola which seemed to contain an entire ecosystem with trees and bushes and various other bright green plants. Large screens on the outside were displaying whatever data was being measured inside the cupola, while on countless tables around and in front of the glass biotope various different instruments were taking care of long time experiments. Everything was either made of glass, polished steel, or plain white plastic, and there was not a grain of dust to be seen. The lab was chilly, the environmental control apparently set to create an almost arctic atmosphere.
It would be fitting for the inhabitant of this lab.
"Mei?" Morrison called out, walking a few steps into the impressive room. He heard some rattling and clinging of glass before a woman stuck her head out in between two large metal cupboards. She quickly adjusted her large hipster glasses with two fingers.
Her round face showed confusion for a second before she brightened up visibly "Jack!" she exclaimed happily, dropping something on to a nearby table and rushing toward the Overwatch commander. "What a wonderful surprise!" Mei gave him a quick hug.
"I wanted to check on you" Morrison shrugged "You didn't answer the recall, and I was getting worried. But it seems you are doing fine." he took a demonstrative look around the lab, swallowing a sour lump in his throat. He had always liked Mei, she was relaxed, easy going and occasionally funny. Yet the documents Reaper gave him were clear-cut. There was no doubt.
"I know, I know. And I am so sorry" Mei replied, sounding genuinely guilty "I should have said something, but there is so much work to do, and I feel like I can finally change something with this research, you know? Do something good for our world and give something back." She smiled brightly at Morrison, and he really believed her. He never really questioned the purity of her motives. But there were affairs, where the end didn't justify the means anymore. Mei overstepped a boundary.
"So, you found an investor I presume?" Morrison asked, taking a stride into the lab, looking around further. It was a great facility with state of the art technology. Somehow he knew that Mercy would probably have to change her panties if she got the chance to play with so much new tech. She always had a thing for new scientific toys to fool around with. If she had the chance. Which she didn't.
"I did. A very generous one as well. I am really lucky" Mei replied, blushing a little bit. "Hey, now that you are here, we should catch up a little bit!"
"Yeah, I'd like that" Morrison smiled warmly at Mei despite having to force the happy expression on his face.
"Great! I have some beer in the fridge; want some?"
"You know me" Morrison laughed with a shrug. "I'll be on the balcony, marveling at the skyline"
"A wise decision. It is beautiful from up here. You can see over all of Peking!" Mei replied in good spirits as she turned to get the beverage she held out in prospect.
Morrison, in the meantime, slid the large glass door leading outside into the slightly warmer night air open and stepped onto the balcony. A gentle wind was blowing, and he found that the night was uncharacteristically peaceful for the given situation. The night was clear, and there was a beautiful full moon on the rise, the stars around it sparkling.
He stepped forward to lean over the handrail and look down a couple of hundred stories into the depths below him. Morrison was so far up he had trouble making out single persons on the ground. They seemed like ants from up here. For a short second it made him wonder how insignificant they all truly were in the greater picture. One would think one person hardly could make a difference. Yet one person could make all the difference in the world. If anyone, he would know.
"Here you go" Mei said, ripping Morrison out of his musing as she handed him an ice cold beer, leaning over the handrail next to him.
Morrison took a deep swig of the green bottle, the bitter taste of the beer spreading in his mouth. It had been a while since he had the last one. Despite that, he had little difficulty knowing that this was by no stretch good beer. It was... well, more water with a bitter taste of old rice. He checked the label with a frown, and noticed that there were only Chinese symbols on it.
"Horrible, I know. But it's alcohol, so I don't complain" Mei said without looking at him. He chuckled deeply, setting the beer to the side.
"I didn't really come here for the beer" Morrison stated, and could have sworn that Mei did blush a little bit. Oh, that naive girl.
"R-Really?" she managed as Morrison reached over to her, turned her around, and was suddenly rather close to her. His hand slid down her arm and over her waist before it finally came to a rest on her thigh.
"No" he stated with a smug grin, letting the formerly faint blush on Mei's cheeks explode into something fierce.
"I-I... This is... unexpected. B-But... nice" she stammered nervously, completely unsure of where to put her hands. It had been so long since... well. God, if she had known that this was one of those visits, Mei would have prepared for it. With cleaning up the lab and... showering, maybe. Oh no, the bed is a complete mess!
"You misunderstand" Morrison replied "Choosing your investor was a mistake" he growled before he pushed the hand resting on Mei's thigh upwards, lifting her onto the handrail, her balance solely kept by Jack's hand on Mei's legs.
"W-What-" she gasped eyes wide in shock. Her investor? How did Morrison know about that? How did he-
"Talon sends their regards" Morrison removed his hand and gave Mei a hard push, sending her flying over the handrail and off the balcony. He just heard her scream as she fell into the night.
Morrison poured his beer out over the balcony and put the bottle into his pocket. It was the only object his DNA could be unmistakably identified on.
He sighed and turned around to leave while he reached for his phone. At least this was finally taken care of.
"Yes?" The deep voice on the other end of the line growled.
"Took care of the rat."
"Good. Set her lab to the torch. We can't risk someone salvaging her research."
"Gotcha" Morrison nodded, not the slightest bit taken aback by the idea of burning down a laboratory in a skyscraper. "Did you get anything useful out of the files I got you?"
"Yes, but we'll have to discuss this later."
"Bad timing?"
"Kind of. I've got to take care of our little spider soon. She is causing trouble." Reaper growled.
"According to plan?" Jack wanted to know, finding some chemicals in the lab which would do just fine for what he had in mind.
"That remains to be seen." Reaper growled, watching Widowmaker and Mercy through the semi-transparent mirror. Widow was smart, no one questioned that. But she wasn't smart enough. A locked door could hardly keep him out of somewhere.
-/-
A/N:
So much for this installment of Addictions, ladies and gentleman. It has been an absolute pleasure so far, I thank you all for your amazing support!
I really hope you enjoyed Widow's and Mercy's exchange, because that was super difficult to write for some reason. The little breather where they kissed in the middle was something I really wanted to do. Just to lighten up the mood only a little bit. Also I guess most of you got the hint that this was just to awaken Mercy's potential to romance Pharah. So yeah.
I killed Mei.
Why?
Because she is an annoying cunt and deserves to die. God I hate her so much. Really, she gets me from 0 to 100% salt in like a second. Almost as horrible as Junkrat. Who I hate with burning passion.
The review system is experiencing some technical problems recently, but don't worry about it. Just drop your reviews off like you normally would, they do show up after a while. I just can't reply too soon this time around. But please, do keep the reviews coming! I love to read your thoughts.
Special thanks to the three angels once again.
Oh, yes, a special favor for my trusty beta-minion, because I really owe the man big time: He asked me if I'd kindly "whore out" (his word, not mine) his youtube channel. Which I hereby do. If you like anime/manga etc. check EhMattissimo's profile for a link to his youtube :)
Aaand that's it. Basically.
o7
E82
If you want to support me and my story, you can do so here:
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Translations:
Bitte was? = (German) Come again?
and some more French stuff, which already appeared in the story before. I am too wasted to look this up again now.
Have a good one folks!
still E82