"Mercy?" Widow asked in a hushed whisper while they were both coming around the corner of the port walls and on to the long main road in front of the small haven.
"Mh?"
"How are you? Honest answer." She asked with a certain urgency in her voice.
"Äh..." Mercy hesitated. Where was that suddenly coming from? Why was this important right now? And why was Amélie sounding like it was really crucial to answer that question truthfully? Angela didn't know, but she knew better than to question the significance of an honest answer now. "I have been better. If we find a phone soon, I can contact Lena. I should be fine until then."
"Fighting capability fine? Or hardly not dying fine?" Widow asked, again the same kind of pressing tone in her voice. It started to concern Mercy a bit more than it should have.
"Why do you ask?" she carefully dared to inquire, not really sure if she wanted to know in the first place. Questions like that usually didn't bring good answers with them.
"There were two guys at the corner opposite to us waiting and observing. They are both gone now. But I didn't like their expression one bit. They screamed Dark Wing so loud I'm almost deaf. The way they lingered at the corner…I have a bad feeling. This smells like a trap."
Mercy's first impulse was to ask what the hell a Dark Wing was supposed to be, but reasoned that now was hardly the time. She instead answered Widow's recent question "To be honest with you, I am more barely not dying than capable to fight. Not that I am dying; Just closer to that end than to the other..."
"Merde." Widowmaker hissed under her breath, but appreciated Angela's honesty. It would make her planning more predictable. "Ok, take this" Amélie handed Mercy the bag she was carrying and began to, yet again, search the insides for something. After a moment, she quickly pulled out her rifle, her glove with the hook, and the venom mine. This made the bag 20 kilos lighter. "Keep walking down the street to the next corner. Someone will stop you soon. Try to engage in idle conversation for as long as possible. I will take care of the rest. Don't worry; I won't let you out of my sight. Nothing is going to happen to you."
Mercy wanted to reply with something, but when she turned to her left, Widow was nowhere to be seen. Swallowing a sour lump down her throat, Angela continued to walk down the street just like she was told to. Her legs felt heavy, and each step was almost like her shoes were covered in glue sticking to the snow covered ground. She kept her head low, and tried to seem homely, but for someone wearing a General's uniform that was rather impossible. Especially considering the bright blonde mane coming out from under her combination cap.
Walking down the street felt like an eternity. Time stretched like elastic goo, and even though Mercy saw her legs moving, she felt like they weren't carrying her anywhere. It was like she was stuck on a gigantic treadmill. Deep inside herself she hoped - almost prayed - that Widow could have been wrong and that there was no one around to stop her at all. Maybe the two people Talon's now former master assassin spotted were nothing but two strange civilians.
Then again, Widow was the best professional killer in the world for a reason.
And one reason was that she was never wrong about these kind of things. She couldn't be. Her life and the success of the mission depended on it. Which Mercy realized as soon as she was standing in front of a pair of light brown cowboy boots. Angela swallowed before she could work up the courage and look up at the man right in front of her. 'Idle conversation. Say something nice!' Mercy thought, but the stranger was faster.
"Excuse me, I need a minute of your time, General" a raspy voice said as Mercy looked upward to the stranger. The more she saw, the more familiar she felt with him. His cowboy boots, the worn out jeans. his voice, the way he pronounced things. There was the stench of cheap cigars in the air, but Mercy noticed this rather late. He had his hand firmly around his holstered revolver and the huge golden belt buckle read 'BAMF'.
Mercy's eyes snapped open wide. "McCree!" She gasped, her head darting up and looking straight at him. And, indeed, standing in front of her was one unshaved, cigar-smoking, hat-wearing Jesse McCree. "What are you doing here?" she asked flabbergasted, not believing what she was seeing.
The cowboy blinked twice "Angie" he shook his head. "No. What are you doing here?" He asked, reaching out to place his hand formerly on the handle of his gun on Angela's shoulder. "We came to rescue you! Are you ok? How did you escape? What are you doing in that uniform?" He gave her a shake which was probably a bit rougher than strictly necessary. But he couldn't help it. No one dared to voice the thought, but deep down they all thought they knew what it meant when the freighter exploded. There was no way Angela survived it.
And now she was standing here, right in front of him. She looked exhausted, pale around the nose, and definitely ready for some rest, but other than that she seemed fine. Or at least, Jesse thought she was fine.
"Did you blow up the freighter? Who was the other guy?" he asked in rapid succession.
Her eyes were wide open as she stared at him for a moment. Angela knew him. It was McCree. The same Jesse McCree who she called her friend. She had been with him on missions, and she had been with him on random outings. They got along well. He was a nice, honest guy. She was his behavioral health counselor for many long years. There wasn't a thing he wouldn't tell her. He would never do her harm; Angela knew that.
But she couldn't help it.
She felt his hand on her shoulder, firm and demanding, and her body started to freeze. She felt her skin tingling from cold sweat. His smell reminded Angela of him. His touch was strong…like his was. The hand placed on her shoulder? It made her think too much about him. Mercy's stomach turned painfully as she saw McCree, her friend, being replaced by the ugly visage of Montgomery for what was but an instant.
It was enough.
She quickly jerked away from his hands, stepping back a little bit in her initial shock. It didn't help that she felt dirty all over her body. The brief touch now was enough to make her remember what happened before Amélie came to her rescue.
"Don't touch me!" she cried desperately, her arms wrapped tightly around herself in a frantic hug.
"Angie?" McCree asked, dumbstruck. She looked scared all of a sudden. Scared of him. Why? He didn't understand. "What's wrong? It's me!" he tried to explain, not knowing what to do. Where the hell was Shimada? He should be around somewhere. And where did that other guy run off to?
Angela stared at the cowboy with wide eyes. She felt like breaking down. It was McCree; no one else. Surely not Montgomery. Then why had his touch freaked her out so much? Why did she feel the sudden urge to run away and hide? She didn't have that problem when Widow touched her before, and she did much more than just place a hand on Angela's shoulder. But it was different with her. Amélie's touch was soft. Careful. It didn't freak her out. Widowmaker made her feel safe. She would protect her from harm, like she had since she came into Mercy's cell.
Widow would look out for the Swiss doctor.
That was the moment Angela realized something she forgot in the initial shock of the unexpected reunion with an old friend. Something she didn't think about while she was seeing things which weren't real.
"I will take care of the rest" Amélie had said. Mercy felt a tingle run down her entire body once the realization of what exactly Widow meant with these words hit her like a speeding truck. Widowmaker was going to shoot him. She thought he was a threat. She didn't know he was a friend. And after Angela pushed him off so harshly, she couldn't even blame the assassin for it. Oh, fuck!
"Listen, you have to-" run. Mercy couldn't finish her sentence when a gunshot ripped through the air with a unique and very distinguishable sound. A sound like it was only ever produced by one rifle in the world, only this one of a kind weapon would create such a thunderous sizzling sound while the extra long bullet sped through the air, ripping through it like a sharp blade through paper. Yet another time the Widow's deadly kiss was blown at a target.
And it never missed.
Angela could feel the bullet rip past her, the hiss of air leaving a stinging pain in the right side of her neck as she had to witness the projectile connecting with McCree's left shoulder. The force of the impact spun him around his vertical axis as he crashed to the ground with a loud groan. It was his luck that he wore heavy armor underneath that cowboy outfit, but the bullet still pierced through it. The damage would have definitely been much more substantial otherwise.
Everything happened in light speed around Mercy as she struggled to even begin to comprehend what the hell was going on. Her vision started to tunnel, and she had no idea where Widowmaker had taken that shot from, but it was good for McCree that Mercy apparently stood in the way for a clean headshot.
McCree groaned on the ground, raising his hand to his shoulder to check the damage. There was a bit of blood, but way less than there could have been. The bullet apparently hit more of his artificial limb than his flesh.
"Jesse..." Mercy mumbled, rooted to her spot. She couldn't get her legs to walk when McCree tried to get up again. It was a miracle that the cowboy was even moving let alone succeeding to stand up. He was tough, that much was sure. That was when Widowmaker swung past Mercy using her grappling hook and landed right in between her and McCree. It seemed like Angela was stuck in a movie. She could only stand there and watch while the cowboy, though injured, was quick to reach for his revolver.
But Widowmaker was fast; faster than any other human could have moved, and kicked the weapon out of his hand with an impressive spin of her body, flicking her leg out in just the right moment to make the cowboy lose grip of his gun. Her motions were fluent- graceful even- as she sidestepped McCree's punch. Mercy had never seen someone move with such precision before. And apparently neither had McCree. The cowboy was caught completely off guard when Widowmaker slid over his shoulder, grabbing his neck and sending him flying to the icy ground in an impressive display of supernatural flexibility. Now behind him, the deadly assassin moved to eliminate the person who she believed to be a threat to Mercy. He had touched her. She jerked away. That fool dared to mess with them? To just walk up to Mercy and grab her like that? Did he really think nothing would happen? It was reason enough for Amélie to act.
Angela opened her mouth to stop Amélie, but the words got stuck in her throat. There was a dash of green and three reflections lighting up in the night air. Widowmaker apparently saw them out of the corner of her eye and, in an almost Matrix-like move, she dodged the three Shurikens flying toward her. It was a miracle neither one of the projectile weapons hit the injured McCree or Mercy.
Widowmaker had no time to think about that as she evaded a blow from a long Katana. Her new enemy was moving well. He would definitely be a challenge. The Ninja she was facing could land a few hits with his legs or some punches, but Widowmaker was able to fend his most dangerous weapon off for now. She used her rifle to parade his Katana while they moved around and around each other in a deadly dance.
The blade was swung around his body and sailed down to her from above. She rose her rifle in reflex and crammed the sharp metal in between the trigger group.
There was a short moment in which no one moved.
It was the moment Mercy needed to calm her senses and regain her ability to think and speak.
"Stop it!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, probably waking up half of Diskon as she stared in shock at the scene in front of her. Mercy could only hurry over to McCree on the ground to check if he was alright so far. He groaned, his ego probably more damaged than his body.
"Dr. Ziegler" Genji stated, clearly surprised, glancing at Mercy and then back at Widowmaker. Why was the assassin apparently protecting the doctor?
Every fiber in Mercy's body was trembling, aching with anxiety. "Stop it!" she repeated silently. "These are my friends... and... and she saved me.. I... just stop this madness!" Mercy demanded with a shaking voice "Put away your weapons, please!" Mercy pleaded, looking down at McCree who shook his head, processing how he was taken out so fast. It wasn't the gunshot, was it?
"You first, swordsman" Widow hissed.
"I will not. Lower the gun, assassin."
"Genji Shimada!" Mercy cried, finally convincing her legs to move again as she hurried over to Genji and pushed him away from Amélie "I wouldn't be here without her! For the love of god, put your sword down!"
Genji hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between McCree, Widowmaker, and a Talon-clad Mercy before he swung the blade around and returned it into the sheath on his back.
Widowmaker stared Genji down with a hateful glare before she retracted her rifle into assault mode and looked over to Mercy. "You sure, Angela?" she asked carefully, not taking her eyes off the ninja.
"They are my friends; I know them well. They won't hurt me"
"If you say so" Widow shrugged, walking over to McCree's revolver on the ground and picking it up, pondering if she should give it back.
"You shot me" McCree groaned as looked at his shoulder, or better, at Mercy controlling the wound. There was a hole in his clothes and in the armor underneath, but there wasn't a lot of blood….Relatively speaking at least.
"Oui. I did. And you have to thank the doctor for standing in the way of a clean headshot. The shot wasn't even fully charged. You'll survive, cowboy" Amélie replied uncaringly, ignoring the glare she got from McCree.
"You will survive" Mercy confirmed after a quick inspection. When McCree tried to stand up, she shoved him back to the ground with a warning glare, making it crystal clear that he was to sit in exactly that spot and not move. "Give me some wound foam and I'll patch you up" she said demandingly. Surprisingly enough, it was Amélie who moved to the sports bag they brought along before retrieving a longish cylindrical dark metal object and passing it to Mercy. The doctor shook it a couple of times
"That is Talon tech, Angie" McCree tried to protest, but was met with no understanding on Angela's behalf.
"It's just wound foam. Like any other is. The bleeding isn't bad, but it needs to stop. Also, you don't want an infection, do you?" Mercy asked, not waiting for an answer as she slammed the needle right into his wound in the shoulder. The faint hissing noise indicated that the first aid measure was working if Jesse's face hadn't been indication enough already. That shit definitely wasn't pleasant.
Mercy was just about done tending to McCree's admittedly surprisingly unspectacular wound when she heard a well known noise. The noise created by a certain time acceleration device usually worn by a certain friend of hers.
-/-
Tracer was standing in the small boat she and Zarya had borrowed…or taken without permission but with the full intent of returning it undamaged.
She would have lied if she said that the recent com contact with Genji helped her calm down. Not one bit.
A Talon General? Here?
What's going on?
She had wondered about that for a minute or two and was really thankful that Zarya chose to shut up. Lena really didn't feel like discussing anything right now. There was this really bad feeling in her guts, and it wouldn't go away. She really couldn't put a finger on it.
And then there was this banging sound. This one distinct bang followed by a specific hiss.
A rifle shot, sounding like only one rifle could sound. It was a sound she wouldn't ever forget; she had heard it so many times before. What started as the sound of doom in the beginning quickly turned into the sound of hope. Whenever Tracer heard the Widow's Kiss, she knew who she was looking for. She knew it was going to be one of those missions. One of the rare dances they shared.
The Widow's Kiss. Widowmaker. Amélie!
That was the moment Tracer knew that either something went absolutely right or terribly, terribly wrong. Hoping for the former rather than the latter was all Lena could do, however.
"That sounded like a gunshot" Zarya stated, perking her ears.
"Ya think so, luv?" Tracer replied sarcastically. It was very relieving to see that the port was already close "Drop me off at the next possible point. I'll go ahead. You stay with the boat, ok?"
"Understood." Zarya replied, pulling the small vessel up close to the outer port walls. Tracer jumped the last few meters on to the mainland and blinked away, a vanishing blue trail of light was all she left behind.
Lena ran as fast as she was capable to do, her lungs burning from the freezing air, but she didn't allow herself to slow down.
Her heart was beating in an almost painful mixture of hope and fear while Tracer raced to the point where she thought the shot had come from. It was just a wild guess, but maybe she would be lucky. She was sure that Widowmaker was here. It was her rifle without a doubt. But would that mean that maybe Angela...? Lena didn't dare get her hopes up. She was no fool. Even if she didn't want to believe it, she was fully aware what the explosion at sea meant.
A good portion of her had died the moment she heard the explosion. She knew that her best friend was likely dead.
But what was Amélie doing here in Diskon?
Questions over questions and so little answers. Lena couldn't think straight anymore by now She was just focusing on rushing forward. Maybe, just maybe she'd-
And then she came around the corner and a blink later she was right there.
Next to them.
At first, Lena couldn't believe her own two eyes, but this was real. It was really happening. Her poor heart was skipping probably more than a couple of beats and she could have sworn that the damn old pump sunk into her pockets in that moment.
Amélie was the first one she noticed. And then, of course, there was Angela's blonde mane. She was just helping Jesse back to his feet. Genji was there as well. No one was hurt…at least not seriously.
And her best friend was alive! She wasn't on board the freighter! And Amélie was here as well! God, Lena could hardly believe her luck. It didn't take her more than an instant to know what had happened and to figure out why Angela was here.
Her lover had saved her best friend. There was no other explanation to it.
Despite being completely out of breath, Lena couldn't help but giggle. She had been so worried. She had been worried to the point where she doubted her own sanity.
And now everyone she had been so worried about was right in front of her. Safe and sound.
The relief Lena felt in this moment was not explainable with words or describable with fancy analogies. It was something she had never felt before; something more powerful than anything else Tracer had ever experienced. Seeing everyone, and she really meant everyone,standing here on the street now, unharmed, and safe, was an entirely different category of feelings; it nearly knocked her out.
She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Angela standing there. The doctor just threw away an empty tube of wound foam, quickly checking the result on a very uncomfortable looking McCree.
Lena needed a moment to take everything in. It was over. Finally.
"Oh, thank god!" she exclaimed with more than clearly audible relief, blinking forward and into Mercy's arms, hugging her tightly. "You are here, luv! You made it! God, I am so glad! I was worried sick! Never do that to me again, you hear me?!" Tracer cried as Mercy worked through her initial surprise and hugged the smaller Brit back. The strange thing was, being touched by Tracer now wasn't freaking her out either. McCree's touch made her really uncomfortable.
Lena, of course, had no way of knowing what was going on in Mercy's mind. She was just so happy to have her back. To see that she was still alive. That she wasn't hurt, or otherwise changed. It brought something back to life in Tracer; something she thought had died when the freighter exploded. It was a heartwarming scene of absolutely pure friendship how Lena beamed at Mercy with nothing but sheer joy.
"I'm alright, I'm alright! Don't squeeze me to death!" the doctor said, only half jesting. Tracer blushed a little bit and let go of Mercy. Angela smiled at her best friend "My new friend's efforts would have been for nothing if you did."
Mercy gestured toward Widowmaker who had come a bit closer. Tracer and her exchanged a painfully brief glance, both quickly looking away, afraid everyone would notice their secret immediately. It was silly, they both knew it, but neither one of them could help it. Lena's initial impulse was to go and jump at the blue skinned French beauty and hug her until she had no air left to breath before she'd kiss her senseless; but now was not the time. The completely lost faces of everyone, should she and Widow suddenly start making out here on the open street, were probably not worth the commotion. Besides, she waited for so long already, what was another few minutes, or maybe even hours? It didn't matter. What mattered was that her and Angela were both safe.
"Now if this isn't a surprise, Tracer" Widowmaker said coolly, lazily swinging her rifle to rest on her shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" Lena replied, and managed to pull off a rather convincing pissed off tone. It was better this way. No one would be suspicious. And Lena knew that Amélie understood that.
"Someone had to help your friend" Widow shrugged carelessly, deciding to go with the idea of not knowing Tracer for now. She knew that her lover wasn't as mad as she sounded. Her eyes were betraying her, overflowing with joy and affection. The mere sight alone was enough to give Amélie a warm and fuzzy feeling around her heart. "That isn't important now. Did anyone happen to bring Mercy's staff along?" she asked, switching the topic of their conversation altogether. "She really needs it soon."
"Why?" Tracer wanted to know, cocking an eyebrow and letting go of Mercy to step a bit back. Maybe she imagined it, but did Widow look a tiny bit jealous?
"My nanoprobes are experiencing some minor malfunctions. I need to sync with my staff soon." Angela stated, and tried to make it sound like it wasn't the big deal it actually was. Truth to be told, she was starting to have trouble standing again. Her vision was getting blurry, and she felt an uncomfortable pressure against the back of her eyes.
Amélie opened her mouth to call out the bullshit Mercy was telling, but she was interrupted by the cowboy.
"Hang on here for a moment" McCree stepped up, but Lena shot him a deadly glare.
"I know what you are thinking, but not now!" she hissed. "We can take care of that at the hotel later on!" Tracer set her backpack down, but McCree stopped her from opening it.
"If we bring her back to the base and it turns out she is another sleeper we are all screwed. Fucked. Done for. Over and out. Goodnight forever." Jesse asserted forcefully.
"Jesse..." Tracer warned with a deadly glare. "Didn't she just tend to your wounds? What kind of sleeper would do that?"
"It's okay, Süße" Mercy waved it off as no big deal. The faster they would get this behind them, the faster she could hopefully get to her staff. It wasn't like Angela didn't understand McCree's reservations. This would be classic textbook Talon. Brainwash someone important to another person, send them back, and make them kill the target. It worked a couple of times before already, so why not again? Widowmaker was hardly the only case of this happening. She, however, was the first. And she was the only one where people were constantly denying it really happened. It was probably easier for most Overwatch agents to think Amélie had sold them out and did everything of her free will.
Mercy might have been one of those people who doubted the medical capability of anyone to influence rational decision-making in such a way.
Not anymore.
"Tell me what's on your mind, Jesse" Angela said and tried to sound warm, but the taste of iron in her mouth made that rather difficult.
"I don't want to go about this the wrong way. Especially considering that you obviously are still a medic first and foremost" McCree started, rubbing his hand over his patched up wound. "But please understand, Angie. This wouldn't be the first time Talon fooled us. How do we know you are still you? I mean, you just show up here in the port with her" he nodded toward Widowmaker in a rather derogatory way, "and we are supposed to believe that she helped you escape? You have to agree that smells fishy. I'm sure you know what she made everyone believe once they freed her from Talon. This feels like history all over again."
"Angela is obviously not brainwashed. Don't you see that?" Tracer bellowed. This was stupid. It was Mercy; she could tell. Besides, Amélie would have never brought her if she wasn't sure Angela was still herself. But Tracer couldn't say that since she would have to reveal that Widow and her had an affair... relationship... whatever.
"Your affection for your friend might cloud your judgment, Lena. One can only see with both eyes open. My friendship with Doctor Ziegler makes me want to trust her, but I do know that our comrade's concerns are not unjustified. She had been in Talon's hands for quite a while. And the fact that she is accompanied by Talon's most dangerous assassin is not helping matters either." Genji stated.
"Don't get me wrong, Angie" McCree said "But we came to bust you out. And busting you out would have meant we were interrupting a process. We didn't really expect you to show up here…especially not with that woman here."
Widowmaker didn't give the cowboy any satisfaction in reacting to his statements simply because she wanted to get past this as fast as possible. So, she instead stated the best thing she could come up with to help their matters. "We brought our files along. You can read what happened there and I am sure your medical experts can confirm that Mercy is neither mentally unstable nor brainwashed in any way. I wouldn't have come here if that was the case."
"That's the problem; our most trusted medical expert is the one who got abducted. Besides, there is no one else here who could judge that with a professional opinion. I just don't want to wake up tomorrow only to find out I have been killed in my sleep along with everyone else. I lost an arm to not being careful before. You can't blame a man for being careful."
"Jesse McCree! It's me!" Angela shook her head "You know me!"
"Then give me something to work with here, Angie. I want to believe you, really." McCree said. He sounded sad. It was so obvious that this was difficult for him too. It wasn't like he wanted to question a good friend of his like this. Angela had done so much for him. She knew his darkest secrets. Talking to Angela about the things which bothered him had always been so easy for him. It was therapy. Yes. But he needed it. And she was there. "But I have to ask this, don't I? How do we know they didn't replace you with someone else in my friend's body?"
Angela smiled weakly. She understood his problem. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about that before. The timing was just...less than ideal. Still, this had to be done. It had to be answered. "I am the same person I was when I left for Zürich, Jesse. Yes, they abducted me. Yes, they did things to me like trying to break and brainwash me. But they failed. I was stronger than them. I kept myself going by thinking of what they did to Fareeha. I forced myself to fight. It was hard, and I almost didn't make it, but then I got help, and that help got me out of here" Mercy gestured toward Widowmaker who nodded slowly.
"I am still the same person you knew before today. I am still your friend. I am still the one you can come to and talk about what troubles you. I will always have that open ear for you. I am the same Angela Ziegler who chided you for wearing your hat to the official admission to Overwatch. I am the same Angela Ziegler who keeps telling you that smoking those cigars will one day kill you. I am the same woman who travelled with you to Texas when your grandparents were both old, sick, and on their deathbeds. I was there for you and held your hand for days while you cried your eyes out. But I was there for you. I have always been your friend and I always will be, without any doubts. And trust me, that wasn't always easy, Jesse. You have terrible table manners, and I hate those cigars you always smoke. But friends don't disappear just because times are rough. They help each other out. You should know that. Nothing has changed because of what those lunatics did to me. I am still that same friend who did that for you and who would do it all over again without a second guess." Mercy said this with a sad sincerity in her voice.
McCree stood there kind of awkwardly, reaching to scratch his wound. "And keep your fingers off the foam, Jesse! You don't want an infection!" Mercy basically ordered before she turned to Genji.
"And now to you, Genji Shimada. Didn't I spend months of my life developing and constructing that body of yours? I didn't even know you at that time, remember? You resented me for keeping you alive. You spat insults at me all the time, remember? I had to force feed you sometimes. I had to sedate you because you kept worming your way out of the bed and hurt yourself even more. And then you'd curse me all over again. I believe you wished me death more times than not while I worked on restoring your body."
"Not my proudest hours, I admit." Genji stated, looking away.
"But I helped you anyway. I took the insults, the hurtful remarks, the hate. I took it all, and I still helped you. Because I knew that underneath all that hatred and seething rage there was a man who needed help. He might not have known it, but he needed help. So, I did what I could for you, didn't I?"
"You did." Genji replied truthfully.
"Then don't even think for a moment that I would leave someone behind who needs my help just as much as you did. Just because she isn't bleeding to death or hasn't lost limbs doesn't mean she doesn't need help. What Talon did to her was far worse than what your brother did to you, Genji. And if you choose to be insufferable to the woman who risked her life for me; who got me out of that hell,and who had to work through great struggles to accomplish that, just because of her past, then you have learned nothing from your own past, and I have greatly misjudged your character, Genji."
Angela was in full blow, talking both McCree and Genji down without any pity. She had to force the hurting feeling in her eyes back so she could continue. But this would most likely settle their problems with each other for a while. She didn't want any mistrust to spread between them now. Mercy knew she wouldn't be able to stomach it. She hated it when friends couldn't trust each other. Friends were her family since she was seven years old. Angela couldn't exist without them.
Widow and Tracer exchanged another very brief glance as they both couldn't suppress a soft smile. Yep, this was definitely the original Mercy; there was no doubt about it. And anyone who knew her, even a little bit, would see that.
"And Lena" Mercy turned to Tracer who quickly rose her hands in defense.
"I never doubted you were you, luv. If you say they didn't break you, they didn't break you. You don't need to dismantle my past here. Please don't." Lena begged, waving her arms in front of her body. Mercy knew too much about her. The story she'd probably tell to convince everybody that she, indeed, was still the same Angela Ziegler would probably be really embarrassing. Like... really embarrassing.
"Thank you" Angela stated, blinking. Her vision was starting to get blurry again. "I don't..." she started, but trailed off. There was that stinging pain on the side of her cheeks once more. This was not supposed to happen so soon again.
Not good.
"Angela!" Tracer cried out. "Your face?!" she yelped, the shock written clearly across her expression as Mercy crumpled to the ground.
Widowmaker was a tiny bit faster than Tracer as she stepped forward and decisively caught Mercy out of the air, letting her glide down to the snow covered ground together with her. She held her carefully in her lap. "Now, for the love of god" Widow hissed angrily at McCree "Would you kindly tell me if you have her staff? She is dying!"
That somehow felt like a punch to the guts for everyone standing in the otherwise abandoned street.
"My backpack. Quick!" Tracer exclaimed, jumping toward the black pouch. Hastily ripping her bag open, Lena grabbed the folded staff and yanked it out. She studied it for a moment, contemplating on how to unfold the thing, before she decided to just give it a flick…which worked. The long healing staff unfolded itself with a prominent click. Confident that the Caduceus staff was operational, Lena rushed to Angela's side.
Mercy was gasping for air, the black veins on her face more prominent than ever before. Her eyes were bloodshot, and there was a fine line of blood running out of the corner of her lids. Great.
"Angela! Luv! Can you hear me? Your staff! Here! Take it!" Tracer exclaimed, her London accent more prominent than usual, pressing the long but surprisingly light tool into her best friend's limp hand. Angela tried to grasp the staff, but couldn't. Her fingers didn't move the way she wanted them to.
"You stupid moron!" Widowmaker hissed at a dumbstruck McCree "I told you her health was suffering! I fucking told you, enfoiré! But no, no! Let's question her mental credibility before we do something! Are you completely retarded, cowboy?"
"Woah now" McCree said, but was interrupted by a cry from Lena.
"She is dying, Jesse! Why did you have to go on about that? You knew she will take it personally! You know others are always more important to her than her own wellbeing. We could have talked about it later! We could have-"
While Mercy coughed up a blob of blood, she apparently also somehow managed to get her fingers to do what she wanted as the end of her staff began to glow. She suddenly inhaled sharply, her chest arching forward almost painfully far while she sucked air into her lungs. The beam of the staff washed over her body, the visible effects of her rampaging nano-technology vanishing from her face.
Not a minute later, Mercy sat up on her own again, pulling herself up on her staff. "So that's what it feels like" she mumbled to herself, giving Amélie a nod of gratitude.
"Slow, luv." Lena was at her side immediately, helping her up. "Are you ok?"
"I will be." Angela smiled at her best friend, hoping it would calm her down a bit. The poor woman looked horrible, like she hadn't closed an eye in days. Which she really hadn't.
"Angela-" McCree began taking his hat off and putting it over his chest.
"It's ok, Jesse. Your worries weren't unjustified. Just badly timed." She smiled weakly at him. "Does the shoulder hurt badly?"
"You patched it up. It's alright" he replied feebly, looking mortified. He had almost caused the death of a dear friend because of what? Because he didn't trust her word? Maybe. But maybe also because he knew how dangerous Talon could be. He just wanted to be careful. Had he known how dire Angela's need for that staff was, he would have waited.
"It wasn't done properly. We'll look into that later" Angela said warmly.
There it was. The side of Mercy Lena had told Widowmaker about. The caring side; the one who looked out for everyone regardless of who they were or what they did.
"If it isn't asking for too much, do you have a stim with you?" Mercy wanted to know.
"We have something far better" Tracer laughed "A proper bed in a warm room. Zarya's grandmother has a hotel nearby."
"Speaking of whom, where is she?" Genji asked.
"Watching the boat, still" Tracer scratched her head "I'll tell her to meet us at the hotel." she instructed "I'll contact headquarters and fill them in on what happened."
-/-
The group walked back into the hotel lobby, exhaustion written clearly all over their faces. Now that the goal of their mission - rescuing Mercy - was achieved, the incredible tension washed off, and the adrenaline pulsing through their veins was slowly removed from their systems. Apart from maybe Widowmaker, who was the best rested of the lot, they all were close to falling asleep.
Luckily the lobby was completely abandoned. They were the only ones inside the warm lounge, which was probably not the worst coincidence. Widowmaker carried her rifle around, Genji forgot his cloak on the streets when he attacked Widowmaker, and Mercy was using her staff as support for walking while McCree poked the hole in his shoulder with curiosity. They looked like they returned home from war even though they didn't even go to one. The mission was never carried out the way it had been planned. Not that this was a bad thing. Not at all. They probably saved themselves a lot of pain and damage.
Tracer, who was leading the group, stopped in the middle of the lounge. "Alright, everyone. We wait for Zarya. She should be here shortly. Mission debriefing in five minutes." she announced tiredly. No one wanted to do a debriefing now, Tracer included, but it was just the way the rules wanted it, and she wouldn't get sloppy now.
"Yes, Ma'am" McCree yawned, walking past Tracer, followed by Genji, who nodded at her.
Angela walked up to Tracer and pulled her in for another warm and long hug. "Thank you" she muttered.
"Hey, I didn't do a lot, luv" Tracer smiled brightly. "Someone else did all my work"
"Be nice to her. She isn't as bad as you think" Angela smiled sadly before she walked after Genji. Tracer wanted to laugh simply because she found it hilarious how oblivious even her best friend was. Maybe if she would be more awake she'd have picked up on a few things and would have called Lena out on it. But as it was now, Angela was probably the most tired and exhausted of them all.
That left Lena and Amélie alone in the lobby. And for the first time since Numbani, they had a moment to themselves. Lena beamed at her girlfriend bright as day as she walked the few steps separating them over to her. Reaching out with both her hands, she took Amélie's in hers, gently stroking over the back of Amélie's cold hands with her thumbs before her fingers moved up to her wrist, caressing the pulse point there with delicate touches.
Lena's hot, slender fingers alone sent an electric shiver of excitement through Widowmaker, and she couldn't help but stare at Lena with probably the goofiest smile she was capable of. It felt so good being here. It didn't even matter where here was as long as Lena was with her. She felt like the world around them didn't exist anymore. There was only that lively brown peering up to her, a smile as bright as the sunlight. And Amélie felt the warmth spread through her body once again.
"Thank you, luv" Tracer suddenly said, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Thank you for saving her and..." She smiled the dwelling tears in her eyes away "thank you for coming back to me, blueberry" Lena's heart was on fire. She was so happy right now. Angela was safe. A little banged up, yes, but mostly fine and, not only that, she also somehow got her Amélie back. Lena wanted to cry out in joy, and it cost her all her strength to not eat Widow alive right where they were standing.
"Anything for you, chérie" Amélie hummed, enjoying even the simplest of touches from Tracer. She leaned in a bit closer, completely forgetting they were standing in the middle of the hotel lobby and fully intent on kissing Lena.
But then the front door of the hotel opened and the two basically jumped a step away from each other, almost like some teenagers caught doing something forbidden. Lena noted this down on her list of things she would have to talk about with Amélie. They would have to figure out how they wanted to make this entire... well, their relationship, work now. Tracer wasn't stupid. She could count two and two together. There was a damn good reason why that freighter exploded, and why Widow saved Mercy, and why she was here now. They had talked about this in Numbani, when it was still an impossibility. Faking her death and running away. Tracer knew what Widow had been planning and she loved it. Her ties to Talon were cut once and for all. She was all hers from now on.
"Privet" Zarya called out, walking into the hotel "I brought the boat back. What did I-" she stopped, looked at Widowmaker, rubbed over her eyes, and looked again, as if she made sure that she wasn't seeing funny things. "You are new" she stated, her tone neutral. Apparently Zarya didn't know who Widowmaker was. Tracer let a silent sigh of relief escape her lips. She really could have lived without another one hating her girlfriend.
"Oui," Widow nodded, slightly confused "I am."
"And you are blue." Zarya stated, Amélie cocking an eyebrow. What an astute observation.
"Yes."
"What's going on?" The Russian weightlifter asked. "I feel like I am missing out on something. Has this to do with the gunshot you heard before, Lena? The one you recognized and got you so worried?"
Tracer nodded "Yeah, that was her. Listen, go to the conference room. We'll start the debriefing then."
-/-
When Lena walked into the conference room they had been using to plan the rescue operation for Mercy, everyone else, apart from her and Amélie, was already there. Zarya had sat down in one of the many chairs around the table as had McCree, who was sill rather fascinated by the hole in his mechanical shoulder. His arm wasn't working properly anymore. Lifting it above a certain height was impossible, but apart from that, it was a miracle the damn thing still worked that much. Torbjörn did a good job when he constructed the prosthesis. He would also do a great job in fixing it again.
Mercy was standing in front of Genji, her staff leaning to the table to her right, the beam still connected with her. Tracer didn't know how long it would take for her damaged nanoprobes to adjust themselves again. Angela had told her everything she needed to know on their way back to the hotel.
The doctor did look rather kickass in the uniform she was wearing. Not that it fit her usual style, but it had a certain appeal to it. An uncharacteristic dominance.
"Genji, may I borrow your blade for a moment" Angela asked the ninja. "I need it real quick. You'll get it back in a moment" she reassured him with a smile.
Genji wasn't quite sure if he really should give Angela his sword, but then again, he didn't really want to give her a reason to chew him out again. Reluctantly, he reached for the grip of his blade in the sheath on his back when Angela shook her head with a laugh
"Sorry. The small one will do just fine. I doubt I could handle that large one" she smiled warmly, rolling up her left sleeve while Genji retrieved the smaller Tantō on his back.
"What'cha doing, luv?" Tracer asked, peering over Mercy's shoulder as the doctor took Genji's secondary blade into her hand.
Lena's eyes grew wide when realization struck her. There was a god awful tattoo on her best friend's arm. A barcode and something like a type designation. They branded her like fucking pig in a farm. "Wait!" Tracer exclaimed, but it was too late. There were easy and painless ways to remove tattoos. Simple laser-operations, done in the matter of minutes. It didn't even leave a trace of the former mark on your skin. Lena absolutely understood that Mercy wanted to get rid of that cruelty on her body, but she would just have to wait until they were back at the Watchpoint.
Yet Angela had a more immediate solution in mind.
With a swift motion, and the unparalleled precision only an experienced surgeon could ever muster, Mercy dragged the sharp weapon through her skin, cutting it off her lower arm together with the ink injected into it.
Blood gushed out of her arm for a moment, but the doctor was still connected to her healing staff. The wound quickly closed itself with far less life juice spilling everywhere than Tracer had seen in her mental eye.
She just stood there for a moment, staring as Mercy set the piece of her skin aside, reached for a paper towel, cleaned Genji's Tantō quickly but thoroughly, and handed it back to him.
"I am no one's property" she hissed angrily, watching as her cut off skin quickly turned grey before it decomposed into nothing but ash. The nanoprobes still inside that part of her body quickly destroyed the now lifeless tissue. "Now I feel better."
"Sometimes you really scare me, luv" Tracer stated.
"You don't know how it felt" Angela said only for Lena…and probably Widow, who stood rather close, to hear. And Lena didn't know. She could imagine, but she wouldn't know. Amélie knew. She sympathized with Angela.
"I don't" Lena nodded, smiling weakly. She really hoped her best friend was fine. More or less. At least for now. She suspected that things would get easier once they were back at the Watchpoint. "But let's just start the debriefing now. I am dead tired and things are rather unclear as of now."
Angela nodded. "Alright. Let's just be civil about this for a moment. Before we start, let me just quickly fill you in on something. I couldn't escape Talon without help" Mercy gestured toward the assassin near her. "Now, she, of course, has a problem because she can't go anywhere. Not really. As you might have guessed, the explosion of the freighter was our doing. We wanted to make sure that our disappearance would be unnoticed. And now that she is free of Talon, I promised a safe place for her to stay. I am planning on using Gibraltar as such a safe place."
"Erm, Angie, not to be picky or anything, but you don't have the authority to allow that" McCree stated.
"I will talk this through with Morrison. I gave her my word, so let's just leave it at this for now. Without her, I would most likely not be standing here now. So, let me introduce everyone real quick, because if I get my way, and I will get my way, we are all going to see each other more often." Mercy shot McCree a warning glare, telling him to watch his mouth. He was a good man, but his mind wasn't the most flexible. He was stubborn and sometimes a little... traditional. To him, an enemy was always an enemy. And a friend used to be a friend forever. He had learned the fatality of that philosophy the hard way. Some friends weren't meant for forever. Just as some enemies weren't always your enemies. But Jesse didn't see it this way. Angela wouldn't go so far as to call him simple, because he wasn't. McCree had experienced some very bad incidents in his life. She couldn't really blame him for his behavior. He meant well.
"So..." Angela felt uncomfortable calling Widowmaker Amélie in front of everyone. When she told her about it, the way the assassin had said it, her words felt more like a confession only meant for Mercy's ears; not for everyone. She ended up not using a name at all, instead just gently touching Amélie on her shoulder "The huge woman with the pink hair relaxing in the corner and not saying a word is Aleksandra Zaryanova. We call her Zarya most of the time. Her grandmother runs this hotel, from what I gathered?"
"Da" Zarya nodded.
"She is one of the new Overwatch members" Mercy noted before moving on.
"The cowboy you shot goes by the name Jesse McCree, and trust me when I say he isn't normally such an insufferable git. He is a rather decent human being most of the time."
"Howdy" McCree tipped his hat and actually managed to not sound like he was about to shoot Widow.
"The Ninja over there is called Genji Shimada. He and I have been friends for a long time now, haven't we?"
"We have, Dr. Ziegler." Genji bowed toward Widowmaker, a hand held in front of his chest with two fingers out and two curled into a half fist like he was making a finger pistol. "Yoroshiku. I apologize for my earlier behavior."
"And last but not least, this is Lena Oxton, also known as Tracer. She is my best friend, so I'd be really happy if you two could get along." Mercy said with a hopeful smile.
Tracer giggled cutely "We met before, luv, so no need for introductions." she said, the glance she shot Widowmaker not going unnoticed. Someone was shifting the gear lever into L for lesbian.
"You have?" Mercy asked, turning to Widow with a one-sided smile, feeling the urge to give her a heads up at least. "Well, I suppose it's only fair if I give you a warning then since you saved me and all. Be careful with Tracer or you'll end up in her bed faster than you can think" Mercy winked at Lena who complained loudly while Amélie could hardly contain a smirk from spreading across her lips. Well, Mercy was actually right. She ended up in Tracer's bed way faster than she ever thought. Though she was unconscious the first time. The second time, however...
"And this, of course, is the woman who saved me from Talon. Now, I know you all aren't exactly fond of her and, trust me, I wasn't either, but she really did a lot to get me out of there. I do owe her big time, so please be nice to her."
"Widowmaker" McCree grumbled. "You know that she killed her husband in his sleep, right? Gerard Lacroix was a good friend of mine."
Widowmaker heard that name. Loud and clear. She had a stinging pain in the back of her head as an image flashed into her mind. An attractive man with a two-day-old beard. He glared at her for some reason. And then he smacked her across her face. Amélie could feel the burn on her cheek even now.
"That was the past. Her name is-" Angela started, but was interrupted by the French beauty. She didn't want to hear her name again now. She was afraid hearing it would only unlock another memory she didn't want to see.
"It's ok, Angela." she smiled briefly, ignoring the image she just saw and instead concentrating on her more confident self. She turned to the rest with an enchanting smile on her lips. "Enchantée" she greeted everyone with a seductive French hum "Don't worry; I usually don't bite." Amélie purred, causing Tracer to almost choke when she heard that. Because Amélie loved to bite her all over her body. The imprints of her teeth were still visible on most areas of her skin Widow decided to pay attention to.
"Good. Now that we all know each other, let's start with what happened on the freighter and how you escaped, shall we?" Lena started, ignoring the heat she suddenly felt from Amélie's statement before she sat down on one of the chairs around the table. "Quick and dirty so we can report it to headquarters asap and finally go to bed afterward."
-/-
Widowmaker closed the door to the conference room behind her maybe ten minutes later. Apparently she was not welcome for this part of the debriefing. It apparently had to do with her in some way, so she didn't bother asking for more information and left them to it. Tracer gave her an apologetic look when she opened the door for her, and Amélie had little difficulty picking up on the guilt which lay behind those beautiful brown eyes. She would have liked to tell Lena she was worrying for naught, but she didn't find a way to say it without anyone noticing. So, Amélie just smiled at her lover, hoping it would be enough to calm her nerves before she slipped through the door into the slightly cooler corridor outside.
Not really knowing what she should do otherwise, Amélie headed for the abandoned, yet still brightly lit, lobby and allowed herself to sink into one of the many comfortable leather armchairs. The cold leather hugged her slender body nicely while Widow crossed one leg over the other. She stared blankly into the comfortable lounge, letting her eyes roam through the room. From where she was sitting, she had all the entrances and exits to the lobby covered, so she would notice immediately when someone entered the hotel.
For the first time in a while, Widow allowed herself to really relax; to let the events of the last hours and days sink into her head and process them.
She was here.
She made it. She was away from Talon and to what had to be safety.
After years and years of slavery, she was free again. Finally, she managed to piece enough information in her head together to make her want to leave. The numbing confusion and blinding fog in her mind was clearing up, and Amélie could see - really see - for the first time in years.
It was all thanks to Lena Oxton that she now was where she was. Not only geographically.
Mercy trusted her. Hell, she seemed to even like her to a degree, and so did Tracer. Of course, Lena should better like her after everything they had been through. And Widow wasn't even talking about the sex, which was absolutely mind-blowing. No. She was talking about their emotional connection. Or, at least, her emotional connection with Lena Oxton, the only person on this planet who made her feel andmade her frozen heart thaw, and her icy soul warm up. She was the one who wormed her way into Amélie's heart so persistently that even Talon's chemical trickery couldn't remove her anymore. It was only Lena Oxton who enabled Widow to think clearly again; to feel something else other than the pleasure of killing. Only Lena brought love and warmth with her where only darkness and despair used to be. With Tracer around, Amélie felt like she was finally whole again.
She didn't want to miss that feeling for anything in the world.
Now, it was only a matter of convincing the boss of Overwatch to let her stay.
For some reason, Widowmaker was rather positive about this. Maybe it was because she already made the impossible possible by running away from Talon without them ever knowing she was still alive (hopefully). Maybe it was because she was at a point where she really couldn't care anymore. It was a very long, very tiring day after all.
But what if Overwatch decided she was a threat? Would Tracer do what she had mentioned in Numbani and run away with her? Amélie smiled at the thought because that would be exactly what Lena would do. She'd show up in the middle of the night with a small backpack and grab her by the hand, running off into the night. And Amélie would come with her no questions asked. She'd happily follow her to hell if that was where Lena wanted to go.
Widowmaker was harshly ripped out of her musings when someone suddenly placed a bowl of soup on the small coffee table in front of her chair.
Her head shot up and she met the old face of an easily hundred-year-old woman who smiled a warm, motherly smile at her. It had been a while since someone snuck up on her like this. Reaper didn't count. He probably teleported, and that was cheating.
"You look like you could use a warm soup, my child" she said in Russian, carefully letting her old body sink into the armchair next to Amélie. The elderly woman made an exhausted sound, folding her arms over her stomach. She looked contempt with the world like it was. Her age gave her an aura of great wisdom, and the grandmother seemed like nothing could shock her anymore.
Amélie stared at the soup for a moment, contemplating hissing at the old woman for sneaking up on her, but deciding against it. Instead, she reached for the soup and tasted a spoonful. It was hot and rather spicy, but it warmed her up from inside.
"Thank you" Widowmaker replied, also in Russian. Her Russian wasn't the best in the world, but she could manage. "You run the hotel?"
"That I do" grandmother Zaryanova replied with a warm laugh. "You know, it's funny how you renegades all pick this chair." she stated, looking into the distance like it was nothing at all.
Widowmaker felt her hand freeze around the silver spoon, staring at the old woman in absolute shock. A part of her was already contemplating how she'd kill her should she turn out to be one of Talon's double agents. With a flick of her thumb the spoon turned around in her hand from an eating position into an attack position. Yes, Widowmaker was perfectly capable of turning an innocent spoon into a deadly instrument of destruction.
"Relax, my child" The ancient hotelier chuckled "You are hardly the first Talon defector who came to this hotel. They have been using Diskon as a port for many long years. And people sometimes tend to run away. They all end up here. And they all end up in this chair sooner or later. I don't want to know what they did to you to automatically make you pick the safest point for an escape even in a peaceful hotel."
"You know?" Widow asked, flabbergast.
"Of course." Grandmother Zaryanova replied warmly. She was completely calm, like she was often giving advice to people in Amélie's situation. "I have been around long enough, and Talon has been haunting this town for too long. An enemy of them is a friend of mine. And I welcome everyone who wants to get away from them. Most of them don't make it; did you know that?"
"That is hardly encouraging, thank you" Widowmaker rolled her eyes.
"I said most of them. Not you. You will make it out of here just fine. I know you will."
"What makes you say that?" Amélie wanted to know, turning the spoon in her hand back into eating position and proceeding to fill her empty stomach with the meal.
"Well, you have a good motivation for starters. That, and you are the first who blew their ship up to get away. I like your odds."
Widow snorted "What would you know about my motivations?"
The grandmother laughed happily, and Amélie didn't like it one bit how she apparently knew a lot more than she should have in the first place. Were all older people like this? So mysteriously knowledgeable?
"Oh, I think I have you figured out, my child" she said, her laughter slowly fading away into a bright smile "You did it all for that lovely British girl, didn't you? I have to admit, she is a solid choice. A very solid choice. Determined, friendly, and she cares about her friends. No. Nothing wrong with risking something for her."
Widow couldn't help but stare blankly at her again. How the hell did she figure that out?
"Now, now, my child. Don't give me that look. I know what I have seen. How you looked at each other, even if it was only for a moment, and how she held your hands over there. It was hard to miss"
"We were alone..." Widow breathed.
"It is my hotel. I've lived here for more than sixty years. I guess I can move around without anyone noticing."
Widowmaker couldn't come up with a single word…which seemed fitting as a reply. Not one.
"You are keeping it secret, aren't you?" Grandmother Zaryanova stated more than she asked. "You are afraid that no one would understand. That they'd blame her for being with you, right?" she asked sadly, looking at the woman next to her. She was beautiful, despite her pale blue skin and intimidating golden eyes. She must have been drop dead gorgeous when she was still normal. Grandmother Zaryanova felt a heavy sadness in her heart. This wasn't the way things should be.
"Yes" Amélie nodded and looked away. It was heartbreaking to watch.
"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Let me tell you that this will change. There will be a time when your friends will understand and when they will accept it. Maybe not now. Maybe not tomorrow. But there will be a time." The old woman smiled an encouraging smile at Amélie "For what it's worth, I think you made the right choice. I hope you will find happiness, my child. I don't know what Talon did to you, but whatever it was, I am sure you deserve to be happy more than anyone now." Grandmother Zaryanova nodded at Widowmaker while she got up from her chair. "And now I will leave you to it. Just know that as long as you are here, you are in no trouble. Relax a bit."
"Thank you" Widowmaker replied automatically, her brain still processing what it got fed just now.
"You are very welcome."
-/-
Half an hour later, Tracer came out of the conference room close to collapsing on the spot. They went through all the events of today one more time, writing a preliminary report and informing headquarters about the successful mission.
After some convincing, Angela and Lena managed to get McCree to accept that Widowmaker would stay with them for the time being…at least until Morrison made the final decision on what would happen with her. The cowboy apparently had the most problems with her being here. He didn't trust her one bit.
Then again, he was the only one who got hurt by her, too. Or more accurately, damaged.
Zarya didn't really care either way, maybe a little over-confident in her ability to handle the assassin should worse come to worst.
And Genji, well, he was silenced by Angela's prior argument that he would have learned nothing from his own past should he choose to judge Amélie based on hers. She wanted to leave Talon. She wanted to escape, and Lena was actually rather surprised with the ferocity Mercy defended her best friend's lover. It was good, because it spared Lena the trouble of having to do it without any real reason why she would know such things.
When Mercy slapped the fact that Amélie didn't choose to join Talon and that she had no other choice but to abide by their will into their faces, it was enough to shut even McCree up.
After that matter was settled, they agreed that it would be best to spend the night at the hotel and be picked up first thing the next morning. And seeing how they all were beyond exhausted, this was probably a very wise decision.
"I'll go and check on our little assassin" Tracer announced.
"It's ok, I can-"
"Nononooo, luv" Tracer stopped Angela from taking that responsibility from her. "You will take this key" she handed her an old fashioned metal key with a keyring and a wooden fob and number on it "and go to the room it unlocks. You get inside. You strip out of those horrible, yet strangely hot clothes. You grab a quick shower. And then you crawl into bed where you sleep until I wake you up tomorrow. Got that?" Tracer asked, cocking her head to the side in a cute way.
Mercy rolled her eyes. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance against Tracer. Not only because she wouldn't stand down, but also because her best friend was right. She really needed sleep. And a shower. Taking the key from Lena, Angela nodded tiredly "bin ja schon weg" she murmured under her breath, turning around and slinking off.
"Sleep tight, luv" Tracer said after her, turning around to go and find Amélie.
Which was more difficult than she imagined.
But eventually, she found her outside the hotel in the freezing cold. She was on the side which allowed for a breathtaking view over the ocean. Or it would have been breathtaking had it not been in the middle of the night and absolutely pitch-black. In the distance, however, one could still see the fires of the exploded ships burning.
Amélie leaned against the wall of the hotel, taking a deep drag from a cigarette. The glow of the burning tobacco briefly lit up the stern features of her face and there was a faint, silent crackle from the embers.
"You smoke?" Lena asked as she walked up to Amélie. She didn't even bother leaning to the wall next to her and instead went straight for the hug, falling into her arms.
"Not regularly" Widow replied with a shrug, exhaling the smoke in the process. She did it more as an excuse to get outside and be alone for a minute or two than for the nicotine. "You mind?"
"No" Lena said hastily, quickly bringing her lips to Amélie's. She waited long enough for this. And soon enough, their innocent kiss grew more and more desperate, sloppy and definitely not graceful. It was filled with a primal need; an insatiable desire for the other as their lips violently crashed together and their tongues danced around each other in pursuit of dominance until they both broke away for some much-needed air.
Widowmaker had long since dropped her cigarette into the snow.
"Eww" Lena giggled "You taste like a London chimney"
"And why would you know how that tastes?" Widow replied with a chuckle.
"Oh, wouldn't you want to know?" Lena laughed, letting her head rest against Amélie's cool chest, her arms carefully draped around her lover's slender waist while she was playing with the hem of the lower edge of Widow's backless outfit.
Amélie hummed blissfully as she pressed Tracer a little closer to her, ignoring the pressure of her chronal accelerator.
"Are you alright?" Lena asked, one of her hands gliding up from Amélie's back to softly caress the bandage around Widow's neck. "Angela told me she cut a tracker out of your neck. Did it hurt?"
Widow shook her head "No. Your friend is very good at her work. I hardly felt anything." Amélie said, only telling a half truth. "I'm fine now." she sighed as she felt Lena's hand glide into her hair, carefully sliding her fingers through it. Lena liked her deep purple hair, Widow knew. She said it was like liquid silk. If getting her neck cut open without any anesthetic was the price she needed to pay to get to feel Lena running her fingers through her hair more often, it was a price worth paying.
"I missed you, Blueberry" Lena whispered after some moment of stroking through her hair and caressing her back. "I missed you so much it hurt. It was all so much since Numbani. But I want you to know that I am sorry for leaving in such a hurry. We should have worked things out better. I feel like I abandoned you there and I promised I wouldn't leave you again. But I did, didn't I? I'm sorry, luv."
"It's fine, chérie." Widow replied softly. "It was for the better, I guess." she said, her voice growing slightly remorseful. There was something she was sorry about, too. And it wasn't something Amélie wanted to talk about now, in this beautiful moment, but she needed to. She owed Lena at least some honesty for everything she did, and for everything she does, and for everything she risked for someone who was basically nothing else but a failed experiment.
"Lena?"
"Mh?"
"I have to tell you something. And I don't think you'll like it. But I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Lena asked plainly, not taking her head off Amélie's chest. She could hear her slow heart beat underneath, and it was getting slightly faster. A calming sound, somehow, yet also a constant reminder of how much Widowmaker was artificially changed.
"When I tried to free Mercy, I..." she paused for a moment, mentally preparing her for Tracer's reaction "I kissed her. And touched her. I kissed her and touched her breast." She repeated that last part for some reason. "I didn't mean anything by it. It was just to buy some time. You see, I was untying her, but the guy who had been torturing her returned sooner than I thought, so I needed to distract him. I panicked, and it was the first thing which came to mind. I am sorry. I shouldn't have-"
"It's ok" Lena laughed silently. Angela had told them everything about the events in the torture cell when Amélie was already gone. She had left the kissing out, of course, but she did mention that Amélie had to use some dirty tricks to get her free of her binds. "Relax. I'm not mad or anything."
"How is that ok?" Amélie asked, taken aback. For Lena this was an easy thought.
"You like her the way you like me?" Lena asked, taking her head off Widow's chest to peer into her mesmerizing golden eyes.
"No. Of course not" Amélie replied truthfully.
"And you did it only because you needed a distraction?"
"Yes. I wouldn't have otherwise"
"See?" Tracer smiled, putting her head back where it was before, listening again to the sound of Amélie's heart. It was slowing down again. "I told you before. I trust you. If you say there was nothing to it, there was nothing to it. End of discussion. Nothing to be sorry about. You brought my best friend home safely. I won't criticize you on how you did it. If you deemed kissing and touching her was necessary for success, it damn well was necessary." Lena said and started mumbling halfway through the sentence, her words growing slower and heavier with each new one falling off her tongue.
There was a long moment of silence, which Widowmaker needed to process what Lena just said. She somehow expected she'd be mad at her.
Amélie never thought Lena would look at it from such a cold, rational angle. She saw it for what it actually was. A necessity born out of a desperate situation. Nothing more.
While Widow was thinking about that, she noticed that Tracer fell into total silence. Her breath had gotten slow and steady, and she could feel the rhythmic gush of warm air against her skin.
"Chérie?" Amélie whispered softly, letting a hand run through Lena's thick, unruly hair which Widow liked to touch so much. The chocolate brown mane was more rigid than her own, stiffer and fuller. It made Amélie want to pull it…which she had done a couple of times in Numbani and had been rewarded with a satisfied moan. She didn't pull on it now. She just let her fingers vanish in between Lena's dense hair, softly massaging the warm skin underneath.
"I love you, Blueberry" Tracer muttered under her breath, clearly already fast asleep.
It was the most adorable thing that ever happened, and it brought the brightest smile on Amélie's lips as these words sunk into her soul. It was like a beautiful, rare flower just blossomed in her heart.
This was not how Widowmaker imagined this moment.
Yet it was even sweeter now that it was finally here.
"I love you, too" she whispered softly, gently picking Tracer up in her arms, so the sleeping beauty wouldn't wake up, and carrying her inside. She felt the Brit snuggling against her bandaged neck, murmuring something inaudible before she showered the bandage in sleepy kisses all while she was still knocked out.
The lobby was luckily still completely deserted, save for grandmother Zaryanova who was standing at the reception with a smile that said 'What did I say?' way too loud for Amélie's liking.
Without speaking a word, the old woman gave Amélie a key to a room and another endearing smile. Widow nodded as she walked off to carry Lena to her room.
To their room for the night.
-/-
A/N:
First of all, ladies and gentlemen, I have to apologize for the long wait.
I'll take this opportunity and fill you in on some changes. University has started again for me, so I am going to be a bit more busy than usual.
Please understand that updates won't be able to come in the pace you are all used to by now. I am sorry, but my studies do take priority, as I hope you all understand.
Now, I also want to make it clear that this story is NOT going to be discontinued. I WILL see it through to the end and we all still have an exciting journey ahead of us. It's just that I won't be able to publish in such a fast pace anymore. Sorry for that.
Slowing down a little bit might actually be good for the story. I have more time to think things through.
Well, that basically covers the changes for the foreseeable future.
Thank you all for your continued, amazing, absolutely beyond imagination awesome support. You all rock. I love reading all the reviews you write! I love it when someone favs or follows. It really makes my day when I see that people are enjoying my work.
So thank you everyone so much :)
Special thanks to my three angels, EhMattissimo who is beta-reading as fuck, Azuki Rose for the wonderful conversations and River Rhyme for the constructive discussions!
I will see you all in the next chapter
o7
E82
-/-
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Translations:
privet = (Russian) Hello
bin ja schon weg = (German. Approx) yes, yes, on my way.