What Cost?

by RealM1NEPR0

The heroes defended against an unexpected attack. The enemy was driven out, and the most powerful thing in the universe was kept from their hands. They won. But at what cost? (Had to use OC since Juno isn't listed)

Chapter 1

Scene 1

{Cemetery} Tracer was sitting inside a waiting room, reading over the notes that were prepared for her. It still felt unreal, how Chronoguard was capable of killing so many people like that. All the sounds of fighting, pained screams and flatlines were stuck in her head. She felt like just walking out to not deal with it, but it wouldn't solve any problems. [Emily, approaching] "You alright, love?" [Tracer, despondent] "No." [Emily] "Do you want to talk about it?" [Tracer, despondent] "You already know what I'm going to say." Emily took Tracer's left hand in hers to provide whatever comfort could be offered. [Emily] "Loss is a part of life. It's something that can't be avoided." [Tracer, despondent] "This is different. It's my fault everyone lost people in the attack last week." [Emily] "It's not your fault. It's Oxton's-" [Tracer, despondent] "Don't. It's my fault. I poked my nose where I shouldn't have, and they fought back." [Emily] "You poked your nose into a conspiracy that concerns everyone's lives. If you didn't then they could've killed more without any conflict." [Tracer, despondent] "That doesn't sound any better." [Emily] "I know. But we have to keep hoping for the best," [Tracer, despondent] "Hope got them killed." {Courtyard} Everyone was sitting in their seats as they waited for things to begin, and they were all dressed in black. There was literally no positive emotion to be seen, not even from those who always found the positive in things. [Junkrat] "Roadhog?" Roadhog grunted a hmm for Junkrat to continue. "Do you think if we were there when it all went down instead of visiting Brigitte's family, we could've done something to stop them?" Roadhog just nodded his head. [Junkrat] "I've never been this emotional about others' lives before!" [Roadhog] "You've changed." [Junkrat] "You're right." Brigitte then came back from the building and sat next to Junkrat. [Brigitte] "I only have 5 weeks left to go, and I'm already having to make more bathroom runs. Where's Juno?" Roadhog shrugged out of a lack of knowledge, and she saw Juno sitting alone on the very far left. [Brigitte] "Her friends should be with her. I can't imagine what she must be feeling right now." The doors then opened again, and Emily joined the crowd as Tracer walked up to the stand. [Junkrat] "What happened to her hand? It's in a cast." [Roadhog] "Injury. Now shut up." Tracer set the notes on the stand and adjusted the microphone, and prepared to speak.

Scene 2

[Tracer, despondent] "Thank you everyone for coming here today. We're here to . . . remember those we lost during the . . ." She had to wipe a few tears away while reading the notes before she could continue. And yet she didn't want to. Emily walked up to comfort Tracer, and she resumed speaking. [Tracer, despondent] "We're here to remember those we lost in the attack. Starting from the Asian territories. From Japan: Genji and Hanzo Shimada, who both played a role in stopping Doomfist in Detroit 2 years ago. Along with Asa Yamagami, who trained them in their skills, as well as raising Kiriko Kamori. And finally, from South Korea, Dae-Hyun Park, Hana Song's childhood friend and mechanic." Kiriko then took to the stand. [Kiriko] "Thanks for coming. Genji and Hanzo were brothers, but they didn't always get along. Hanzo made that very clear." Everyone chuckled a little as Kiriko kept talking, and Lúcio sat next to Juno. [Lúcio] "I know you're hurting-" [Juno, upset] "I wish to be alone." [Lúcio] "Pushing others away won't help-" [Juno, upset] "I said I wish to be alone. Please." [Lúcio, sighing] "I lost someone before. But I know that pushing people away won't help. It never does." [Juno, upset] "You don't know what I'm going through." [Lúcio] "I once had an uncle named Alex. When I was 6, my parents told me he died in a car crash. He always brought his daughter over so we could play, and we would often act like the parents back then were horrible. She read too much adult stuff for her age." [Juno, upset] "He is still alive. He was sent to prison for the murder and abuse of her." [Lúcio, after a few seconds] ". . . oh my god, that's why she acted like the adults were abusive. Now I miss her a lot more." Everyone clapped as Kiriko left the stand, and Emily took it. [Emily] "Thank you for remembering the Shimada, and for remembering Dae-Hyun. And now . . . the Red Promise Team. Jiayi Teo, Khiem Van Minh-" Each name brought pain to Juno as she heard each one, and she counted until they were all said. All 26 were gone. The only family she knew for a long time. [Emily] "Juno, would you like to come up here?" Juno initially shook her head, but Lúcio took her hand. [Lúcio] "If you don't say something now, you'll regret it later. Trust me." She thought about his words for a while, and eventually got up with him following, and she brought D. Va up as well. [Juno, upset] "Thank you for coming. My parents, Jiayi Teo and Khiem Van Minh, were . . . scientists. They . . . wanted to . . ." D. Va offered Juno a tissue, and she took it to wipe away her tears. [Juno, upset] "They wanted to expand the reach of humanity. 2 months . . . almost 3 months ago, I brought them home. But they are now dead. Because of me . . ." Lúcio offered a comforting hand, and D. Va did the same. [Juno, upset] "I do not know why they had to die, but . . . I do not know how to make their deaths not meaningless. But I will try."

Chapter 2

Scene 1

{Watchpoint: Gibraltar, medical; the next day} Tracer was laying down on a bed as Moira performed a few scans on her hand, and also checking that the cast wasn't disturbed. They didn't dare speak after what had happened, and even as Tracer looked around the room, there were still a few patients here and there being released. Patients that she believed she harmed. [Moira] "The burns and electrocution have healed. Ready?" [Tracer, despondent] "I'm not sure anymore." Moira decided that was a yes, and began removing the cast as Mercy walked over. [Mercy] "I've discharged most of them. None of them have any long-term injuries from the incident." [Moira] "Very good." [Mercy] "How are you feeling, Lena?" Tracer didn't hear Mercy talking to her; she was too absorbed in the memories of the chaos. Moira got her attention by snapping her fingers in Tracer's ear. [Tracer, flinching] "Why are- Angela. Hi." [Mercy] "I don't think you're doing alright, Lena." [Tracer, despondent] "What do you think? I got hundreds of people hurt." [Moira] "You didn't hurt them; Chronoguard did." Moira finished cutting the cast open and removed it from Tracer's hand, and started pricking the fingers with a needle. [Moira] "How does it feel?" [Tracer, despondent] "Like rubber." That was concerning, so Mercy pulled out a scanner device and tried her best to keep it steady while it analyzed Tracer's hand. [Mercy] "Your friends are worried about you. You barely talked to them after . . . you know. The only sort of interaction you actually did yesterday was read to them, and that's not the same as speaking to them." [Tracer, despondent] "I don't want to see everyone hurting because of me." The scanner beeped, and Moira took a quick look before pulling out a finger stretcher. [Tracer, despondent] "How bad is it?" [Mercy] "Not sure until we take a look." Mercy helped put the hoops over Tracer's fingers, and she tried to close her hand. But every little bit it tried to close, her hand shook more with strained effort until she gave up. [Moira] "Oxton burned your hand multiple times, and hit it with a taser. The nerves aren't sending and receiving the signals properly." [Mercy] "It's similar to what my hands are like, but it's different. Nerves won't heal. I found that out when she poisoned me so long ago." [Moira] "There's no point in amputating it to replace it with a prosthetic. The research on the hands was destroyed in the attack." [Mercy] "There is an alternative. We could-" [Tracer, despondent] "I don't care. Just do what you need to do."

Scene 2

{Desert Road} A prison bus was pulling over on an abandoned road, and guards were ushering the prisoners out. [Guard] "Alright, listen here, scumbags! This road has been used as a dumping ground for all the trash that law abiding citizens don't want to keep! Your job today is to clean up this road! Also, as a bonus, whoever fills their bag first will get a treat at the prison!" [Scott] "What's the point? All the treats these days go to Findlay." [Guard] "Fine. The first 2 prisoners to fill their bags will get the treat! Now shoo!" The prisoners spread out and began picking up the garbage, with guards watching to make sure they didn't run. [Scott] "Findlay Docherty, could you at least slow down some? Let us win for a change." [Findlay] "If I let ye win, then it willnae be as fun for you." [Scott] "I'd rather just win. You're here for the next 30 years for stealing classified info. What's the point of being a model prisoner?" [Findlay] "Ah made a mistake. Targeted the wrong lassie. And when I found out ah was in the wrong, I surrendered." [Scott] "Screw it; I'm running." [Findlay] "If ye run, you get shot." Scott looked around to check on the guards, and when they looked away, he bolted. The next second he had a bullet in his leg, and he was being dragged back onto the bus. [Findlay] "Idiot." He turned to keep picking up trash, but then heard a car pulling up behind the bus. [Guard] "Go away! Prison activity going on here-" They stopped when the passenger showed some sort of I.D, and she approached Findlay. [Findlay] "Emily Oxton. Been awhile." [Emily] "I know." [Findlay] "We ain't exactly friends, so what are ye doing here?" [Emily] "She returned." Findlay stopped collecting trash as he heard what she said. [Findlay] "Ye mean Tracer's imposter came back? The one that killed me folks?" [Emily, nodding] "She's dead now. We also found this in her possession, and I figured I should return it to you." Emily pulled out a red scarf and held it up for him to see. And a small look of happiness grew on his face as he took it. [Findlay, happy] "Thank you for finding me sister's scarf. It means a lot to me." Findlay offered a handshake to Emily, but she couldn't bring herself to take it. And Findlay seemed to know why. [Findlay] "Killing her came with a cost, didn't it?" [Emily] "A cost that I fear was too high." [Findlay] "How many?" [Emily] ". . . too many." [Findlay] "Ah'm sorry for everyone who died to her. Tell them that ah hope they'll persevere."

Scene 3

{Watchpoint: Gibraltar, hangar bay} D. Va was working on her mecha with absurdly loud music blaring in the background. Athena had tried to lower the volume a couple times, citing hearing damage, but D. Va overrode it each time. She didn't want anyone talking to her after he died. [Athena] "Hana, I must warn you that the high volume-" And again, D. Va muted Athena and kept working. There wasn't any real reason to work on it; it was already in top condition. But she kept working until her arms felt numb from repeated motions, and called it quits when oil got all over her face. [D. Va, angry] "Athena, kill the music." It stopped almost immediately as she left the hangar bay, soaking up whatever oil she could with a towel and throwing away empty Korean liquor cans as she made her way to the cafeteria. [Passerby] "Hey, I'm sorry-" She ignored him and kept stumbling through the halls, and ignored everyone who expressed condolences until she reached the cafeteria, which was completely empty. She went behind the counter and went through the cabinets for a drink, but couldn't find the ones they had in South Korea, so she just pulled out a bottle of beer. [Lúcio, concerned] "Are you-" [D. Va, angry] "Go away." D. Va tried to get the bottle open, but opening bottles wasn't one of her skills, so Lúcio took it and popped the cap off. [Lúcio] "You want to talk-?" [D. Va, angry] "No." She took the bottle and walked off, but Lúcio followed her. [Lúcio] "A bottle of liquor isn't going to-" She ignored him and took a swig, and almost immediately spat it back out with a cough. [D. Va, angry] "You deaf? I said go away." [Lúcio] "I won't. I know you lost Dae-Hyun-" [D. Va, angry] "Keep his name out of your fucking mouth!" She took another swig of beer and was able to keep it in that time. [Lúcio] "Hana, this isn't healthy. It never is." D. Va rolled her eyes and tried to take another drink, but Lúcio took the bottle away. [D. Va, angry] "Give it back!" [Lúcio] "Hana, you've had enough." She tried to take it back by force, but he kicked it into a trash can. [D. Va, angry] "YOU CAN'T JUST-" [Lúcio] "Hana, talk! Why self-destruct like this?" [D. Va] "You know damn well why!" [Lúcio] "Would Dae-Hyun approve?" [D. Va, upset] "I couldn't even speak up during yesterday's funeral! How do you think that feels?" [Lúcio] "Horrible. But when you start pushing people away, that's when you start hurting others. I've seen it happen before." Lúcio pulled D. Va into a hug and allowed her to process her emotions. [D. Va, sobbing] "He was my best friend since- since we were kids. And- and now he's- he's . . ." [Lúcio] "I know, Hana. I know. If he were here, he'd probably scold you for drinking." That got a slight chuckle from her, and she returned the hug.

Scene 4

{Medical} The sedatives that were put in Tracer began wearing off as she woke up from surgery, and Moira was wrapping up stitches on her hand. [Moira] "How are you feeling?" [Tracer, groggily] "What did you do?" [Moira] "I grafted a net of nanofibers with microbots along the nerves in your right hand." Tracer held up her hand and flexed it a few times, and it felt like it was never injured. [Moira] "I'm recommending that you stay here for a few days to properly-" But Tracer had already used a blink to quickly exit the room, and Moira set a stopwatch. It was only a few seconds before Tracer walked back in while biting her jacket to stifle the pain and holding the graft in her hand. [Moira] "You need to do a better job at listening. Winston didn't come in yet to work on it so it wouldn't be ripped out of you when you use your abilities." [Tracer, despondent] "Just put it back in." Moira set Tracer back on the bed and applied some gauze to soak the blood coming out of Tracer's hand, and prepared more sedatives. [Moira] "You're not going to say anything positive?" She shook her head. "And you're not going to talk about it?" [Tracer, despondent] "I said put it back in. Please." Moira sighed and put the IV back into Tracer's arm, and leaned her back as she fell back asleep. {Other side of medical} Mercy was running a few scans on Mei's arm, and Snowball was nuzzling to provide some comfort. [Mei, saddened] "I don't want to accept that Jiayi is gone. We were friends in grad school, and back then, she always joked that if drinking wouldn't kill her, then nothing would." [Mercy] "I'm sorry that she's gone as well. We all are." The scans finished up and Mercy took a look at the results, but a look of confusion crossed her face as she read it. [Mei] "Do you need any help interpreting-" [Mercy, confused] "No, it's not that. According to this, the nerve running through your arm was spliced." [Mei, confused] "It was cut? But if that were true, then I wouldn't be able to control my arm." [Mercy, confused] "That's what's confusing as well-" They heard more beeping, and looked to see that Snowball had gotten ahold of a metal detector, and it was detecting something in Mei's right arm. So Mercy recalibrated the scanner for another check. [Mercy, more confused] "What the . . . Mei? There's a device bridging the gap between the spliced nerve endings. And it had a symbol on it." [Mei, confused] "What symbol?" [Mercy] "It's the same one the attackers were bearing. It's Chronoguard tech." [Mei, confused] "They fixed an injury that I didn't know I had? But why?" Snowball was practically beeping like crazy now. [Mercy] "I think Snowball knows the answer."

Chapter 3

Scene 1

{Cafeteria} [D. Va, upset] "I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. One moment we were all standing there as the army appeared, and the next he was in my arms, unmoving." [Lúcio] "I didn't lose anyone that day. But through you and Juno, I feel like a part of me died with them." D. Va nodded and tried to pour herself some beer, but Lúcio took it away again. [Lúcio] "You already had some while working on Tokki earlier." [D. Va, sad] "You know how I'm hurting." [Lúcio] "And I know burying your feelings doesn't help in the long run. It never does." [D. Va, sad] "You speak from experience?" [Lúcio] "I do. When I thought my uncle died . . . actually, he's still alive, but in prison for murder. Back then, my family told me that he died in a car crash along with my cousin. I ran away and acted out for a while, but I was eventually convinced to talk about how I felt. It was like getting a dumbbell off my chest, and it helped me reconcile my feelings." [D. Va, sad] "But you said he was still alive." [Lúcio] "The point is that I missed him. I thought I lost someone I loved, and went through grief. And I learned that sharing your pain helps you to understand yourself better." [D. Va] "Tell that one to Juno." Lúcio nodded, but his face quickly took on a look of realization as he abruptly got up. [Lúcio, concerned] "Have you seen Juno today?" [D. Va] "I was working on my mecha all day." [Lúcio, concerned] "Athena, do you know where Juno is?" [Athena] "Juno Teo Minh logged a departure last night." [Lúcio] "Shit!" Lúcio and D. Va ran through the halls to get to the hangar bay, and only now did D. Va notice a missing jet. [D. Va, concerned] "Athena, where did the jet go?" [Athena] "Unknown." Lúcio took the data pad off the wall of the bay of the missing jet and looked through the logs, and saw one entry. [Lúcio] "Mexico. She's in Dorado." [D. Va] "I'll get us there-" [Lúcio] "You're drunk." [D. Va] "I'm not that drunk." [Lúcio] "I don't care; I'm not letting you fly after you've had a few drinks." Lúcio logged a jet departure and pulled D, Va into the jet with him, and he began programming the autopilot. [D. Va] "Your touch felt hot." [Lúcio] "That's the alcohol speaking. Drink some water and get some rest, and you'll wake up in Mexico." Lúcio finished setting the autopilot, and he sat next to D. Va as the jet took off for Dorado.

Scene 2

{Medical} Mei had plugged Snowball into a display panel, and it pulled up several video files that it tagged. [Mei] "You tagged them as 'Paralysis Confusion'?" Snowball beeped in confirmation and played the first, which depicted a fight between Mei, Reinhardt, and a figure in dark with a helmet. [Mercy, confused] "Is that Reaper?" [Mei] "No, he was a different enemy. He called himself Phantom." The fight in the video progressed until Snowball was shot and fell to the ground, and seconds later, all three had fallen from the balcony to the ground floor. The fight between Mei and Phantom continued, and he ended up burying Mei in a closet full of assorted things before leaving. [Mei] "I remember what happened there. I shot an icicle at him, and he caught it and threw it back at me. The return trip only grazed my arm." Mei rolled up the sleeve of her right arm to reveal a scar located around the bicep. Snowball beeped again and resumed the video, and zoomed in to when Phantom threw the icicle, and it hit dead on Mei's arm. And the instant it happened, it fell limp, but the Mei in the video didn't notice. [Mei, confused] "But if that's what happened, then why don't I remember it?" Phantom closed the door and left, and a blue glow approached. [Mercy, shocked] "It's Oxton!" Oxton opened the door and hit Mei in the head with something, and then the others found the pair. [Mei, confused] "That's not what I remember." Snowball pulled up another memory; this time with it trying to get Mei's attention before startling her with a loud beep. [Mei, recording] "Oh, I didn't notice you were . . . it's paralyzed." The Snowball of the past let out a sad tone as it hovered up to Mei's face, gesturing with a question towards Mei's other arm. [Mei, recording] "Don't worry; my left is fine." [Mei, realizing] "So that's why you sometimes comfort me against my other arm?" Snowball let out a happy beep and pulled up another video. [Mei, recording] "I've already accepted that it's permanent. But thanks for making sure I'm alright." [Medic, recording] "All in a day's work." The medic finished the scan and spoke with the Chronoguard boss in a private room. And Snowball zoomed in to get a good recording. [Boss, recording] "We can't send her back like that. Everyone would suspect something if we did." [Medic, recording] "I can reconnect the nerve endings with a modulator." [Boss, recording] "Put a multiversal locator in it as well." [Mei, shocked] "They're tracking me!?" [Mercy] "I'll shut it down and bring in Brigitte. She knows a lot about hardware." [Mei] "On the bright side, if I won't feel anything with the device off, I won't need any painkillers. I'll be saving you a few credits." [Mercy, chuckling] "Well, there is that."

Scene 3

{Other side of medical} Winston was using some new device on Tracer's hand for the graft, and she watched as it glitched and flickered from distortions to the timeline she was desynced from. [Winston] "Lena, I'm a little disappointed that you didn't listen to Moira when she told you not to leave." [Moira] "She doesn't want to talk to anyone." Winston kept adjusting the device until it was perfectly lined up with Tracer's displaced time, and powered up a charge. [Winston] "This is going to hurt a little." And she grunted when Winston applied a shock to her hand, briefly causing it to glitch through time before stabilizing. [Moira] "Don't use any of your abilities for the rest of the day, otherwise you'll wind up back here all over again." Tracer barely nodded and got out of the bed, and left the medical bay. And there were a lot of people waiting outside with various get well soon gifts. But she ignored every last one and kept walking, until she found the vault that was broken into during the attack. No one had been down there to clean up the mess; the cleaning crew was dead. The thought reminded her that Juno's family had been sentenced to 500 hours of community service for sending her on an untested ship to Earth, so they became the cleaning crew to be with her while doing their time. She didn't want to think about it anymore and left, coming across a door that seemingly hadn't been opened since Oxton took over. She opened it and saw the conspiracy board she'd started so long ago, and there was evidence of a struggle that happened long ago. She entered and took a look at the board, grabbing a red string and wrapping it around a picture of her. And she stopped. The board had half-assed theories on what Chronoguard was, what they wanted, and what they were capable of. And they all suddenly paled against the memory of the attack. She didn't understand why it happened, or what they wanted, but she hated herself for letting them cause so much destruction. And she lashed out against the board, ripping it off the wall and tossing it across the room. And she didn't try to stop herself from breaking it apart and ripping the pictures and string to pieces. And she eventually backed up against the wall and buried her face in her arms, wondering why she got them killed.

Scene 4

{Jet} Lúcio was sitting in the cockpit watching the sky fly past the jet as it flew towards its destination: Dorado. He still couldn't comprehend why Juno would take off without any notice; he was going to ask when they landed. He'd almost fallen asleep when he heard a clatter from the main cabin, so he got up to take a look. He opened the door, and was shocked to find 2 empty beer bottles on the floor, and D. Va had just finished off a 3rd one. [D. Va, drunk] "High score-" [Lúcio, annoyed] "Damn it, Hana, drinking doesn't solve these kinds of problems! I should've taken a jet without a minifridge." [D. Va, drunk] "Mini fridges rock! Like rock bands. Do you know the rock band-" Lúcio stopped listening and went to the minifridge, and he started pulling the rest of the beer out. [Lúcio, annoyed] "Drinking your life away until you become an alcoholic is always the wrong path. You're not having any more." [D. Va, drunk] "You're cutting me off!?" [Lúcio] "Once you confront your emotions and make peace with yourself over Dae-Hyun, you can-" [D. Va, agitated] "I TOLD YOU TO NOT MENTION HIS FUCKING NAME!" [Lúcio, pissed] "And what's the alternative? Becoming so drunk that you wind up hurting everyone else back at M.E.K.A? This isn't you!" [D. Va, drunk] "Maybe I was just hiding a part of me! You should know something about secrets; you're a high-earning athlete! A celebrity! All celebrities have something to hide. And I hid many things from my best friend. Things that I wanted to tell him someday. But now he's gone- and . . ." She was starting to cry a bit, so Lúcio sat next to her to comfort her. [Lúcio] "Things don't always work out, Hana. Sometimes, life has other plans." [D. Va, sobbing] "Life is a shit ball. Why did it decide to kill Dae-Hyun for no reason? I wasn't ready to lose a best friend that day! And now he'll never know all the things I didn't tell him!" [Lúcio] "I'm sure that he's still here, in spirit. He'd probably scold you for going through 3 bottles of beer." [D. Va, drunk] "4. Gibraltar." [Lúcio] "It doesn't really matter. What matters is what you choose to do to honor him. Do you think drinking yourself to death would honor him?" [D. Va, drunk] "Depends on the drink-" [Lúcio] "No, it wouldn't. Get some sleep. We'll be in Dorado in a few hours." D. Va pulled Lúcio in for a hug, and he returned the favor. [D. Va, drunk] "You feel so warm." [Lúcio] "That's the alcohol talking." [D. Va, drunk] "I'm being serious. I like you, even though you're already Juno's boyfriend. I wish . . . you could be mine." [Lúcio] "I'm not going behind Juno's back while she's-" He stopped when he noticed that D. Va had fallen asleep, so he pulled out 2 blankets; one for her, and one for him.

Chapter 4

Scene 1

{Gibraltar Medical} Brigitte was sitting next to Mei, waiting for Mercy to come back for the examination. [Brigitte] "Didn't think I'd be looking at augmentations before. Aside from prosthetics, of course." [Mei] "I'm sure you'll find it interesting, to say the least." [Brigitte] "I was told you didn't know you had whatever that device is in your arm?" [Mei] "Never knew about it until today." And then Mercy returned with a scalpel and taser. [Mercy] "Taser's the only thing I could think of that would turn it off. This is going to hurt for a second." [Mei] "Fire away." Mercy's hands shook as she took aim, and hit Mei's arm with the taser, electrocuting her a bit. It only lasted a second, and once Mercy stopped and shut the taser off, Mei's arm was unresponsive. [Mercy] "Ready?" Mei nodded as Mercy took the scalpel, and Brigitte averted her eyes. [Brigitte] "I watched a short video on this, but it still didn't prepare me for having your arm cut open like that." [Mei] "The bright side is that it doesn't hurt at all- OW!" [Mercy] "Sorry. Cut a little higher than what I should've." Mei buried her mouth in her left arm while Mercy dabbed up the blood from the right one, and held it open for Brigitte to take a look. [Brigitte, nauseated] "I'm seeing . . . is that what's in our arms?" [Mercy] "Yep. What do you make of the device?" [Brigitte] "Snowball, do you have the video Angela mentioned?" Snowball reconnected itself to the display and played the part with Chronoguard discussing Mei's injured arm. "Pause." And it paused as the medic held up the same thing that was bridging Mei's severed nerve endings. [Mei] "And to think they made it as small as a yuan." [Mercy] "Nerve signals are extraordinarily complex. Lena's graft used micro technology to keep the signals intact. They might have developed nano technology." [Mei] "Wouldn't that be the same thing to pass the nerve signals in my arm along?" [Mercy] "No. Keeping information intact and copying information are 2 different tasks." [Brigitte] "Wait a minute. Snowball, zoom in on the device in the video." And the screen zoomed in on the device, and revealed that the medic had attached something to it. Brigitte took a pair of tweezers and grasped the device in Mei's arm. [Mei, in pain] "Ow . . . my arm feels like it's on fire." [Brigitte] "Touching the nerve itself. Sorry; I'll go slow." Brigitte slowly twisted the thing until she saw a tiny ball on it, and pulled it out with another pair of tweezers. [Brigitte] "This is the tracking device they mentioned. You're off their grid now." [Mei] "Thank you, Brigitte." [Mercy] "Are you able to take a look at it?" [Brigitte, getting up] "After I make another bathroom run. Babies move a lot." Brigitte then quickly walked out of the room. [Mercy] "Ready to close it up?" [Mei] "Yep."

Scene 2

{Gibraltar Lounge} Emily was sitting in one of the couches in the lounge, just thinking about what happened the past week. Then she heard the door open behind her as someone talked over a communicator. [Other Tracer] "-she's already dead as a doornail! I personally buried the body! The Tracer you're worried about is beyond our reach. Call me back when you actually have something important to say." The Other Tracer hung up the call and sat across from Emily, clearly exhausted from dealing with everything going on. [Other Tracer] "When I wanted a bigger role to play in this fanfiction, I didn't think I'd be impersonating an imposter." [Emily] "You're in contact with Chronoguard?" [Other Tracer] "Rarely. They're dealing with in-house fighting right now, so I can't exactly get any information out of them." [Emily] "Well, what did you find out?" [Other Tracer] "They're mad at Oxton for calling an army here to . . . you know, but the boss is satisfied that she thinks Tracer was the one who died, not Oxton." [Emily] "Give me that." The Other Tracer handed Emily the communicator, and she saw some functions that were different from the communicators that Overwatch used. [Emily] "What's 'Multiversal Targeting'? And . . . It's a multiversal portal device!" [Other Tracer] "I haven't tried testing it out. For all we know, it could be a trap, or the boss's way of knowing that Oxton's dead." Emily scrolled through logs until she saw one call, and played it back. [Chronoguard Boss, recording] "So you're going to poison the cake at the party?" [Oxton, recording] "Yep. I'll just sit back and watch as everyone dies right in front of me. I'll be saving you the trouble of sending an army." [Boss] "I suppose it would be taking care of the problem a few days early." [Other Tracer] "They were already planning to kill us before Oxton involved herself?" [Emily, realizing] "I know I've told Lena - my Lena - many times that this wasn't her fault, but she still thinks it is. Maybe she'll see otherwise if I tell her-" [Other Tracer] "You're going to tell her that she wouldn't have made a difference because Chronoguard was already going to kill everyone? That's not reassuring someone." [Emily] "Not when you put it like that, it's not. I mean- She's hurting right now. And she won't let anyone help her." [Other Tracer] "Reminds me of myself 12 years ago. I was displaced from my home timeline and she tried to cheer me up, and I refused to listen. But I eventually warmed up to her, and now I'm a major character in this fanfiction arc." [Emily] "The follow-up memorial is tomorrow. I doubt she'll want to speak again." [Other Tracer] "I'll talk to her. Convince her that everything's going to be alright."

Scene 3

{Dorado, Mexico} Lúcio was sleeping as the jet entered Dorado airspace, and the jet alerted him as it made its descent. He woke up as the jet flew below the cloud layer and tried to pull the blanket off, but someone else was holding them in place. He took a look and saw that in her drunken state, D. Va had crawled under his blanket to sleep with him. He didn't really mind, but had to tell her. [Lúcio] "Wakey wakey, Hana." She barely moved, so Lúcio shook her awake. [Lúcio] "Feeling rested?" [D. Va, hungover] "no." He grabbed a cup of water and handed it to D. Va, and she drank it down quickly. [Lúcio] "We're now in Dorado. Ready to search around for Juno?" [D. Va, hungover] "no." She tried to pull the covers back over her, but Lúcio didn't let her. [Lúcio] "Hana, you came along to look for Juno, not to stay on the jet, remember?" [D. Va, hungover] "I know, but . . . I think I overdid it with the liquor." [Lúcio] "You did. But staying here won't help us find Juno." Lúcio pulled D. Va off the bed and helped her walk until they got to the jet door, and she was starting to regain her footing as they got off the jet. [D. Va, hungover] "The sun is so bright." Lúcio just grabbed a pair of sunglasses and handed them to D. Va, and she put them on before continuing. [Lúcio] "She could be anywhere in Dorado." [D. Va, hungover] "Then we split up." [Lúcio] "I'm not letting you out of my sight." [D. Va, hungover] "Splitting up covers more ground." [Lúcio] "You keep trying to cope with alcohol, and it won't work. If I took my eyes off you, you'd find a flask and drink away." D. Va rolled her eyes as they kept walking through the streets of Dorado, and they came across a bar. [Lúcio] "You're not getting any drinks." And they entered to find people partying. [D. Va] "We're looking for a friend!" [Person 1] "We're all friends here!" [Lúcio] "We're looking for a specific person! Her name's Juno!" [Person 2] "What does she look like?" [Lúcio] "About a little shorter than me with purple hair!" [Person 2] "Came here earlier and took a bottle of something. Asked to have it boiled. Crazy girl; cooking alcohol kills the alcohol! That's the same as asking for a flavored drink!" [Lúcio] "Do you know where she went?" [Person 3] "She asked for directions to where some space ship landed about 8 months ago!" [D. Va] "This place is loud!" [Person 1] "Is your girlfriend drunk?" [Lúcio] "She's not my girlfriend. But thank you for helping us out." Lúcio took D. Va's hand and escorted her out of the bar while searching the streets for clues as to where Juno could've gone. And he didn't notice D. Va taking a swig out of a flask she managed to buy.

Scene 4

{Tracer & Emily's flat, London, night} Tracer had arrived at her flat as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, with a key in her hand. She looked through the windows and saw someone on the couch, but couldn't tell who based on the shadow, so she knocked on the door first. And she heard the person on the couch get up and unlock the door, and it opened to reveal a Chronoguard officer. Tracer couldn't even run as she was shot, and she woke up from the nightmare. [Emily, worried] "You alright, love?" [Tracer, despondent] "No." [Emily] "You can talk to me, Lena." [Tracer, despondent] "Alright. Everything is my fault and everyone lost someone because I poked around." [Emily] "That was not your fault. It's Chronoguard who's responsible for what happened, not you." [Tracer, despondent] "Everyone says it's their fault, but I provoked them. If I didn't fight back, then everyone else would still be alive." [Emily] "If you didn't fight back, then more people would've died." Tracer had stopped listening and gotten out of the bed, and took her accelerator with her. [Emily, concerned] "Where are you going?" Tracer didn't respond and left the bedroom, and made her way to the living room and turned on recorded news reports. [Reporter] "Overwatch has released a statement concerning the attack at Gibraltar. They've said the perpetrator was none other than Talon, an organization originally run by Akande Ogundimu, aka The Doomfist."Fakes news, she thought. And for good reason. If everyone knew the truth behind the attack, then they'd point out how she was unable to stop them, she thought. She got up and took a bottle of gin out of the fridge, contemplating whether or not to drink. [Emily] "That's not going to help. Everyone needs their hero." [Tracer, despondent] "Their hope is misplaced. I'm not a hero." [Emily] "Yes, you are. Remember when you took down Doomfist-" [Tracer, despondent] "That was then. I underestimated a new enemy, and look where it got us." [Emily] "You stopped them from claiming more lives-" [Tracer, despondent] "All I did was let myself get dragged into a weapons vault where they were ready to kill me for the Vanadium. I didn't fight back." [Emily] "Maybe not then. But you can keep fighting them now." [Tracer, despondent] ". . . sorry, Em. They're too powerful." [Emily] "We said the same thing about Doomfist, and yet we defeated him. And we did it together. We'll stop Chronoguard together as well." Emily gently pulled the bottle out of Tracer's hands and pulled her into an embrace, and Tracer began tearing up a bit. [Tracer, crying] "And if I get us killed?" [Emily] "You can't get us killed. Everyone will make sure of that." And Tracer was finally able to release her pent-up emotions, crying into Emily's shoulder as she processed the grief. [Tracer, sobbing] "They'll hate me for not doing more." [Emily] "No. They'll understand why you couldn't." Emily then helped walk Tracer back to bed for the night, and pulled her in close for comfort. And Tracer was able to get back to sleep, and with some sense of hope. But it died out just as quickly.

Scene 5

{Watchpoint: Gibraltar, night} Mercy was looking at the device in Mei's arm to figure out how to turn it back on, and Mei had taken a painkiller just in case. [Mei] "Maybe if we could recreate this, then we could help more people with it." [Mercy] "Not until we develop nanotech sophisticated enough to recreate information and pass it around. But I'll keep it in mind." [Mei] "So, how are you and Moira doing? It was only a few weeks ago." [Mercy] "Well, it took a little bit to figure out how to define a marriage between a person and a clone of a person, but we figured it out. She already looked at a few homes in Switzerland to save me the hassle." [Mei] "Sounds like you two are going to be happy together." [Mercy] "Got it. Hold still." Mercy took a needle with both hands to keep it steady, and hit some sort of thing that restarted it, and it suddenly hurt for Mei. [Mei, in pain] "Och . . . The pain from having my arm cut open without pain killers is now hurting." [Mercy] "Can you hold still while I stitch it up?" Mei nodded as Mercy began stitching her arm closed, and Brigitte returned with the tiny ball. [Brigitte] "It's a passive tracker." [Mei, in pain] "A what?" [Brigitte] "Before he died, papa taught me the difference between an active tracker and a passive tracker. Active tracking uses a power source to send location information to the user, but a passive tracker keeps notes on where it's been for someone to look at. And from what I was told about Chronoguard, they're tracking from another universe." Mercy finished up the stitches and cut the nylon. [Mercy] "How does it feel?" [Mei, in slight pain] "Still hurts a little, but hey, I can do handstands again." They all chuckled as Mei got off the bed, and Mercy began closing up for the night. [Mei] "Speaking of Moira, where is she?" [Mercy] "The cliffside. She told me there's some sort of surprise." Mercy finished putting everything away and left the watchpoint, following the dirt path until she reached the cliffside where Moira was sitting. [Mercy] "I take it you had a good day today?" [Moira] "I did. Saved a couple hundred lives. The only thing to top it off would be a relaxing evening with my wife." Moira held up her hand to show off the new ring on it, and Mercy chuckled as she sat down next to her. [Mercy] "You're not still trying to figure out why you were created?" [Moira] "I am. But it's not an obsession. I'm working it out as I go." Moira then pulled out 2 glasses from a basket she brought, and poured a little bit of a bottle of brandy into each one. [Mercy] "This is the surprise?" [Moira] "Yep. Figured that as the best doctors the world has to offer, we could at least take a break, if only for tonight." Mercy took her glass and clinked it against Moira's, and they sipped as they watched the stars, but they were interrupted. [Mei] "Angela, Moira? Sorry to bother you, but I have a question." [Moira] "Alright." [Mei] "What exactly did Vanadium do to you?"

Chapter 5

Scene 1

{Dorado, Mexico} Lúcio and D. Va had been asking for directions to the site of where Juno might be, and a lot of the people only spoke Spanish. [Passerby] "¿Ellos buscan para la nave espacial?" [Lúcio] "Sorry, but I don't speak spanish. Do you know anyone who knows english?" [Passerby] "Solo hablo español. ¿Tú no sabes hablar español?" [Lúcio] "Sorry to bother you, sir." And they kept walking through the streets to find the location. [D. Va] "Dorado is big." [Lúcio] "I know. I was only here once and that was with Juno, but that only lasted an hour at most." The pair turned another corner and bumped into another man, and they all fell to the ground as assorted items flew everywhere. [Man, angry] "Mierda! Los niños de hoy en día!" [Lúcio] "Sorry sir, so sorry!" They all worked together to clean up the mess, and Lúcio noticed the flask before D. Va did. And he got to it first and held it up to the man. [Lúcio] "This yours?" [Man] "Eso no es mío." [Lúcio, confused] "Then who's is-" The man ran off as Lúcio looked at the flask, and he didn't even need to think to figure out the owner. [Lúcio, pissed] "Hana, what did I tell you about drinking to cope with Dae-Hyun!?" D. Va just tried to take the flask back, but Lúcio held her away from it. [D. Va, agitated] "GIVE THE FUCKING STUFF BACK!" [Lúcio, pissed] "Listen to yourself! You're yelling at me over a drink!" [D. Va, agitated] "YOU YELLED FIRST!" Lúcio pulled D. Va into an alleyway to get them off the streets, and tossed the flask away. [Lúcio, pissed] "If you keep drinking, you'll get temporary relief. But if you keep drinking more than you should, then you'll never know how to cope without resorting to liquor." [D. Va, angry] "I don't care. I'll figure it out as I go, and eventually-" [Lúcio, pissed] "Eventually you'll get someone killed." That stopped D. Va in her train of thought, and she turned to face Lúcio directly. [D. Va, confused] "What are you talking about?" [Lúcio] "I looked into my uncle Alex. He spent every credit he got from support systems and friends on liquor, and his daughter - my cousin - was subject to his abuse while he was drunk. Everyone who knew tried to get him to stop, but he didn't. One night, he got into a shouting match with my cousin, and hit her with a bottle. She died, and he tried to cover it up by dumping her on the side of the road. They caught him the next day." D. Va couldn't say anything, and was about to offer a hand of comfort, but didn't. [Lúcio] "My point is that there's a line where you go too far, and most people don't see that point until they've already crossed it. I don't want you to cross that line." [D. Va, realizing] ". . . I didn't know." [Lúcio] "I do care about you, you know. And Dae-Hyun would agree." She didn't react with hostility when he said his name that time, and he left the alley to keep looking. [Lúcio] "Wait, I think that's . . . Hana, I found Juno!" D. Va took the flask off the ground and lifted it to her lips, but hesitated before deciding against it. And she pocketed it as she followed Lúcio.

Scene 2

{Tracer & Emily's flat, midnight} Mei, Mercy, and Moira had driven a rental car up to Tracer and Emily's home after a quick flight. They didn't plan on doing so in the dead of night, but what they had to say couldn't wait. Mei walked up first and knocked as quietly as she could, and the door opened quickly. [Mei] "Sorry to disturb you-" [Emily] "It's fine. Haven't gotten much sleep anyways." Emily then saw Mercy and Moira step out of the car. [Moira] "We're here to talk to Tracer." [Emily] "She doesn't want to talk now. She's dealing with what happened." [Mercy] "I know. But it's important." Emily nodded with understanding and let them in, and filled a pot with water before setting it on the stove, along with a bag of tea leaves. [Mei] "Where's Lena?" Emily pointed, and the group turned to see her lying on the couch, watching reruns of the Chronoguard attack. Mei moved closer to sit next to Tracer, and she barely noticed. [Mei] "Everyone's worried about you." [Tracer, despondent] "I'm fine." Mei scooted closer to Tracer. [Mei] "I lost my friends when I went into cryostasis. I was alone then, but not anymore. And you're not alone here." [Tracer, despondent] "Did you get a hundred people killed?" [Mei] "You didn't get a hundred people killed." [Tracer, despondent] "Then tell me who's responsible." Mei was about to say Chronoguard, but didn't as she remembered the attack. Of course they were responsible, but she also partially blamed herself. [Tracer, despondent] "I thought so-" [Mei] "I got them killed." [Tracer, confused] "Wha- no, I got them killed. I provoked Chronoguard into attacking." [Mei] "When I first joined Overwatch, I was told to never prioritize one person over many people. That day, I prioritized saving you over saving everyone else. They died because I wasn't there. Jiayi died, because I ran to save a friend." A tear tumbled Mei's cheek as she relived the memory of the attack. [Tracer] "You don't understand. I provoked them. If I didn't, then you wouldn't have had to make that choice." [Mei] "And if you didn't, then Chronoguard would have killed everyone anyway." Tracer looked at Mei with confusion, then to Emily, who had finished making tea. [Emily] "They were planning on killing everyone who worked with Overwatch. Because of you, we can still fight." Emily handed a cup of tea to Tracer, and she just stirred it for a while. [Tracer, despondent] "Because of me, people are dead." [Mei] "And are we going to let them die in vain?" Tracer kept stirring for a while, and eventually set the spoon aside as she drank the whole thing. [Tracer] "What's your plan?"

Scene 3

{Dorado, Mexico} Lúcio and D. Va ran towards who they thought was Juno, but when they caught up, they saw it was just a dude with purple hair. [Dude] "No preguntes." He walked away as Lúcio hung his head in defeat, but then saw a courtyard with a statue of a spaceship, and a discarded bag from the bar. Lúcio entered and saw the plaque, but didn't understand the spanish. And at its base, he saw Juno sitting there, clearly saddened. [Juno, despondent] "A local translated it. It says: 'In commemoration of Juno's landing. This historic moment in our humble Dorado. Juno Teo Minh, the first human born on Mars, crash-landed on Earth at this very spot. The landing marked the end of her courageous journey from Mars and led her to take her first steps on a new world. The people of Dorado hope that Juno will be able to enjoy our planet as if it were her own.' But now, those words seem empty." [Lúcio] "Juno, I'm sorry-" [Juno, despondent] "You do not know my pain." D. Va was about to say something, but Lúcio stopped her and walked up to a local, and the local gave him his guitar. And Lúcio stood next to Juno. [Lúcio] "I've lost people before. I know what loss feels like." She wasn't listening to him anymore, so he tuned the guitar and began playing. [Lúcio, singing] "In my life you were a tourist. You only saw the best of me, and not what I suffered. You left without knowing the why." He kept playing, and Juno began to shed a few tears. [D. Va, whispering to local] "What's he playing?" [Local] "Turista, English edition. Popular in the 2020s, but it's an oldie now." And Lúcio kept playing, and some of the words were speaking to D. Va. [Lúcio, singing] "-And if not, well, too, let's enjoy, because the night got beautiful, but not as beautiful as you. Never and never like you." As he kept singing, D. Va looked at the flask in her pocket and took it out. And she considered what the words meant, and eventually removed the cap and dumped it. [Lúcio, singing] "You left without knowing the why; the reason for my wounds. And it wasn't up to you to heal it. You came to have a good time. And we had a good time." As the last notes were strummed, the sound faded until it was gone. And Juno pulled Lúcio into a deep hug while crying for what it seemed like the first time in a while. [Lúcio] "You're not alone in your grief. You can share it with others." Lúcio pulled Juno off the ground as she kept crying, and she pulled D. Va in for the hug as well. [Juno, sobbing] "Thank you for- for . . . for coming here. I thought- thought I was alone." [D. Va] "You're not alone. You have Overwatch." [Juno, sobbing] "It does not always seem that way." [Lúcio] "I know. Overwatch is a group of misfits and oddities, and we make it work. We're all here for you." [Juno, relieved] "Thank you, Lúcio Santos and Hana Song. I love both of you, despite knowing that one should only be with one."

Scene 4

{Tracer & Emily's flat} [Tracer, outraged] "Absolutely not! I'm not just giving you the most powerful substance in the world!" [Mei] "It's the only option we've thought of. Angela had the Vanadium in her for a while, and I was told that when Moira extracted it from her head, she went through hallucinations concerning past memories. It could help us understand more about Chronoguard." [Tracer] "Lest you've forgotten, the same stuff almost killed Angela when Oxton took over the first time. It took her months to get back to this point in life! I'm not letting you risk yourself like that." [Mei] "It's my decision to make, and I've already set my mind to it. I'm willing to risk myself to give us an edge." [Tracer] "The answer's no. My mind is made up. I'm sorry, but you'll need to find another way to make yourself hallucinate." [Moira] "Lena, when I extracted the Vanadium from Angela, she went through her past and faced truths she wanted to forget. But Mei here is going to use it to face the truths she wants to remember." [Mei] "Plus, Angela already had me take strong anesthetics." [Tracer] "What if you're another variant like Oxton was a variant of me? I won't risk it." [Emily] "Mei is our friend. If you're saying she isn't, then you're saying no one is. We all want answers." [Tracer] "And if you don't like what you find out?" [Mei] "We'll deal with it as a team. Together." [Tracer] ". . . You know you're asking for the most dangerous unidentified substance we've ever come across, right?" [Mercy] "We're perfectly aware. We'll be monitoring Mei while the procedure is in progress, and the instant something seems off, we'll pull it out of her." Tracer looked everyone in the eye for a very long time before eventually conceding, and went into the kitchen, pulling out a teapot. [Emily] "Isn't that a family heirloom?" [Tracer] "I lied. It was only a pound when my parents bought it. Never worked." Tracer dropped the teapot on the ground, shattering it open to reveal a sealed canister of glowing purple fluid, and Mercy instinctively hid behind the couch while trying not to hyperventilate. [Moira] "You hid the most powerful substance anyone has ever come across . . . IN A FUCKING TEA KETTLE OF ALL THINGS!?" [Tracer] "Oxton held it in her hands and didn't notice what was inside. I think that justifies it being there." Tracer handed the canister to Moira, and Mercy laid Mei on the floor as she began strapping her down to make sure she wouldn't move an inch. [Emily] "Mei, are you sure about this? It could get you killed." [Mei] "I'm ready." Mercy backed away when Moira began cutting Mei's head open as she set the Vanadium down. [Mercy, nervous] "It almost killed me. Instinct." [Emily] "It's alright." And eventually Moira had finished opening Mei up, and her brain was exposed as Moira loaded a syringe with some Vanadium. [Moira] "You'll go through various memories during this procedure. Focus on the ones that you don't recognize." Mei gave a thumbs up as Moira allowed the Vanadium to flow over Mei's brain, and her vision began to haze as the effects began. [Tracer] "Find the answers we need."

Scene 5

{Jet} Lúcio, Juno, and D. Va were sitting on the jet as it left Mexico, and they hadn't spoken to each other since they found Juno. The only sound was the jet engine running. But the silence was eventually broken by D. Va. [D. Va] "Juno? You alright?" [Juno, despondent] "Speaking the truth, I am not. I brought my family to their deaths." [D. Va] "How? You let them see Earth again after being cooped up on Mars for 2 decades." [Juno, despondent] "It's one of many paradoxes that I am facing. And they all began when I accepted their proposition to go to Earth." [D. Va] "I know things seem like shit right now, but it'll get better. At least, that's what I was told." [Juno] "Who provided you with that advice?" [D. Va] "Lúcio." Juno wiped away a few more tears before mustering up the courage to continue talking. [Juno, with mixed emotions] "He is a good person. That is why I fell in love with him. And yet, I also fell in love with you. Another paradox that I'm struggling to deal with, along with the other paradoxes." [D. Va] "Things happen all the time, and they never get easier. What happens is that you learn to deal with the new challenges as they pop up." [Juno] "I am already aware that the passage of time helps to process loss. But I do not know if the same applies to a love triangle. I know that I must pick one, but I do not want to lose either you or Lúcio." [D. Va] "Who says you have to pick one?" [Juno] "Society." D. Va clicked her tongue as she pulled out the flask from earlier, and shook it to see how much was left. [D. Va] "Well, screw society. Drink and make a choice." [Juno] "Is that alcohol?" [D. Va] "Yep." [Juno] "Then I must decline. I am not of age to drink." [D. Va, after a few seconds] "So that's why you boiled the liquor in Dorado." Juno nodded, and D. Va got up to get Lúcio. Juno heard them talking about something, and then they came out of the cockpit. [Lúcio] "Hana said there was something you wanted to tell me?" [Juno, confused] "About what-" [D. Va] "About the paradox you have about us?" Suddenly Juno felt flushed when D. Va brought it up, and she struggled to speak for a while as the words failed to come to her. They gave her time, and she eventually figured out what to say. [Juno, nervous] "I have found that I am unable to break up with one of you. And yet society suggests that I should only be with one." [Lúcio] "There's a lot of people in Overwatch that don't care what society thinks. I don't care either." [D. Va] "No one's forcing you to make a choice, and there aren't any bad ones when picking between 2 people in a love triangle." [Juno] "Is choosing both a bad option?" Juno meant it as a small joke, but when she looked up, they thought she was serious. [Lúcio] "Are you suggesting a polyamorous relationship?" [Juno, flustered] "A wha- . . . a . . . what is a polymorus relationship?" [D. Va] "A group of 3 in a loving relationship." [Juno, flustered] "3!? . . . Such a thing is possible?" [Lúcio] "It is. But this sort of thing needs time to-" [Juno, flustered] "Are you alright if I decided to add Hana Song to our relationship?" Lúcio and D. Va looked at each other for a while, and eventually turned back to Juno. [Lúcio] "It'd start out rough, but with time, it'd function like a regular relationship." [D. Va] "I'm interested in a poly. There'd definitely be friction at first, but hey, what's a relationship without conflict?" D. Va pulled Juno into a hug, and Lúcio joined in. [Juno] "So, how exactly does a polyamorous relationship work?" [Lúcio] "We'll figure it out together. I'm not saying it's easy, but it'll be worthwhile in the end."

Chapter 6

Scene 1

{Dreamscape} There was silence in the beginning, with nothing but darkness all around. Then a series of beeps and noises started going off, and the pod Mei was sleeping in opened up. All her memories were hazy from being in a cryosleep, and she brushed it off as much as she could as her body began to wake up. [Mei, groggily] "Rise and shine, Snowball." The little droid powered on and greeted Mei with a happy beep, and she got ready for her first day since locking herself in a cryochamber. And yet, as she got ready for the day, everything seemed vaguely familiar, like deja vu. But she couldn't point her finger on what it was exactly, so she finished up and headed down to the labs, turning on several monitors. [Mei, concerned] "The atmospheric fluctuations above the anomaly have gotten . . . oh, no. It's much worse than we predicted! We have to get this to . . ." She paused again; more deja vu. And she turned to Snowball for answers. [Mei, confused] "Snowball, does any of this seem familiar to you?" Snowball didn't respond in any way; no beeps, no movement; it was static, unmoving. And the screens grabbed her attention as more data began showing up all over the place. [Mei, confused] "What the . . . where did all this data- Snowball? How long have I been asleep?" And Snowball was responsive again, and beeped while displaying the number 9. [Mei] "9 . . . We've been asleep for 9 years? Why didn't we-" Mei frantically pulled up old news reports, showing how Overwatch was always fighting some battle against Talon, sending rescue teams to recover kidnapped people, and how the Ecopoint she was currently stationed in was believed to be destroyed by a snowstorm. It was all new, and yet it all seemed familiar. [Mei, frantic] "Why haven't- Everyone!?" She ran through the base with Snowball following behind, and checked on all the cryopods her teammates were occupying. Every last one displayed a malfunction warning, and she wiped the fog off one of them to reveal a corpse. And she was shocked at the sight, almost breaking down into tears. But then it hit her as to why everything was so familiar; Moira and Mercy had put Vanadium in her brain, and now she was in her own subconscious. [Mei, with sorrow] "I'm sorry we didn't get to meet after the sleep. If you were still here, I'd tell you about the adventures I've been through. But I'm sure we'll meet again. We will." She wiped away another tear as she tried to figure out how to navigate her memories, but then she heard a monitor beep. And she turned to see one of the pods had an active heartbeat, and it was accelerating as it opened up, and the corpse stepped out. She didn't know what to do; this wasn't part of her memory. The corpse yanked open another pod to salvage a jaw, and attached it to itself before approaching Mei. [Mei, nervous] "Who- who are you?" It kept walking until it was right in her face. [Opara, distorted] "Captain Opara, Cryonics. You should know that, Mei-Ling Zhou."

Scene 2

{Tracer & Emily's flat} Tracer was standing at the stovetop with a pot of water on the burner, watching as it began to boil when Emily approached from behind. [Emily] "You never told me that you hid the Vanadium in that teakettle. Why?" [Tracer] "I never wanted to lie to you." [Emily] "That doesn't answer my question." Tracer sighed as she put the teabag in, and turned to face Emily directly. [Tracer] "When Oxton was taken away by Chronoguard, I wasn't sure if there were more who wanted their hands on what she brought. I also realized that locking it away in a secure spot would easily be discovered if someone took my identity again. So I emptied out a vault and marked it as classified, and stored the Vanadium at home. I even glued the lid shut to be sure." [Emily] "Why didn't you tell me?" [Tracer] "At the time, I didn't know who to trust. Oxton manipulated one of my closest friends into almost killing me, and I wasn't sure if she did the same to others. I never wanted to lie to you, but . . . I didn't know if I could trust you." [Emily] "Lena, you can always come to me if there's something you need to talk about. Always." Emily pulled Tracer in for a kiss, but a knock at the door stopped them before they could. Tracer flipped open a blind and saw someone she recognized. [Tracer] 'It's Chronoguard!" [Emily] "Stall them! They'll think you're Oxton." [Tracer] "I can't-" More knocking, and she realized she had to keep them away from Mei. So she poured some of the tea from the pot into a mug, and stirred it up as she opened the door. [Tracer, nervous] "Hey there . . . bitch?" [Chronoguard Boss] "Oxton. Have you eliminated the Tracer that lives here?" [Tracer, nervous] "Her body is . . . nothing but ashes. Personally cremated her myself, if you don't mind." The Chronoguard Boss stepped inside as Emily had finished locking up the room where Mei, Moira, and Mercy were. [Emily] "You a friend?" [Boss, whispering] "Oxton, is there a reason for her to still be alive?" Tracer gestured for Emily to leave, and she did. [Tracer] "Gotta keep up appearances somehow. Unless a public picture of me killing my wife is perfectly alright for my facade." [Boss] "Are there others here?" [Tracer] "Excuse me?" [Boss] "There was a rental car outside your home." Tracer panicked and glanced around for a way to cover it up, and eventually saw an old shovel. [Tracer, nervous] "Guy did stop by earlier. He's currently resting 2 meters underground." [Boss] "Oxton, if you keep killing people like that, then someone will catch you." [Tracer] "Good thing there's a second me in this universe. I can just incriminate her." The boss didn't seem suspicious so far, so Tracer led her into the kitchen. She just had to keep her away from what they were doing.

Scene 3

{Dreamscape} [Mei] "I know who Mr. Opara is. But you're not him." [Opara, corrupted] "Oh but I am! I'm the cryonics dude that put you to sleep! Disappointed that it didn't put you all the way to sleep-" Mei stopped listening and walked out the doors of the room, and was left in darkness all around. She stopped for a bit to think about what was happening; her memories were her own, so there shouldn't be anyone else with her, right? She saw a door ahead of her, and opened it to reveal a closet. And she knew what it was; it was the closet where Phantom trapped her back when she thought that Chronoguard was their ally. She backed out, and found herself in the whole building, with a fight happening on the balcony. [Opara, distorted] "Now THIS is a good one. Here you were, helpless, weak as you failed to stop Phantom-" [Mei] "Why are you here?" [Opara, distorted] "Missy, if you want to keep others out of your mind, I suggest you don't put things there in the first place." Mei was confused, but realization struck her as she put her hands over her head. [Mei, nervous] "What are you?" [Opara, distorted] "I'll let you figure that out. Now watch." Opara's corpse forced Mei to watch as Phantom forced her past self into the closet, and toppled over a shelving unit before leaving. [Opara, distorted] "This is the best part. Don't blink!" The past Mei fired an icicle at Phantom, but right as he caught it and threw it back, everything broke down before reforming, showing the icicle just grazing Mei's arm. And for the first time, the smile on the corpse disappeared. [Opara, confused] "This- this didn't happen. I know the icicle hit- but, but why didn't-?" [Mei] "That's why I put you in my head. To find answers. But . . . question, if I may? Are you the Vanadium that Angela and Moira put in my head?" The smile returned to Opara's corpse. [Opara, distorted] "Angela Ziegler? We've met! I almost killed her, by the way- Anyway-" [Mei, shocked] "You tried to kill Angela!?" [Opara, distorted] "Only after Moira tried to remove me when Operative Lena Oxton tried to kill her with it! Give her my regards." [Mei] "If you're not going to help, then leave." [Opara, distorted] "So you want your memories back? Fine. But I have one condition." [Mei] "Alright." [Opara, distorted] "You're leaving me in your head after all is said and done. Now, your memory." Opara rewinded the memory of Phantom's attack and adjusted his aim, then allowed him to throw it. And it hit the past Mei's arm dead-on. [Opara, distorted] "Now that's what you're supposed to remember. How you felt-" [Mei] "Are you going to belittle me all the time?" [Opara, distorted] "Do you want your memories back or not? Shut up."

Scene 4

{Tracer & Emily's flat} Tracer passed the Chronoguard Boss a cup of tea, but she didn't even touch it. [Boss] "I'm sure you're aware of the struggles we've been facing after Sloan Cameron's coup?" [Tracer] "Lemme guess: you're not smart enough to take care of it without me?" It was really awkward for her, but she saw Emily flash a thumbs-up from a reflection, so she kept it up. [Boss] "Their little rebellion had been shut down. Now, about the ARTU. Have you gotten any information out of her?" Tracer had no clue what she was talking about, so she had to lie again. [Tracer, nervous] "She doesn't know anything useful." [Boss] "Then terminate her. She is no longer of use to us." [Tracer, nervous] "Of course. But it'll have to wait until tomorrow. It'd be a little suspicious if I flew a jet at this time of night." [Boss, suspicious] "You know that the Moira ARTU lives at the watchpoint, and that as Tracer, you can be anywhere you want at any time you bloody please. Why the hesitation?" Tracer was shocked. Now she knew who created Moira; Chronoguard. But she couldn't show it. [Tracer, nervous] "How about you come with me? I'll let you kill her myself." The Chronoguard Boss looked Tracer dead in the eye for what seemed a long time before getting up from the table. [Boss] "How did you kill Oxton?" [Tracer] "What?" [Boss] "You're impersonating an imposter, Lena." Now Tracer was the one to get up to confront the boss, and she held her pulse pistols at the ready. [Tracer] "You launched the attack against us, killing dozens of our own! And you think you can just get away with it?" And now the boss took a sip from the tea, and set it down on the table while raising her right hand, where her watch was equipped. [Boss] "I'll make a proposition with you. If you kill me, then Ramattra, Olivia Colomar, Sloan Cameron, and hundreds more will die. And if you let me walk, then they will all survive. You're a hero, so make the choice; kill hundreds, or let everyone live." [Tracer, outraged] "Why would I let someone like you walk free when you killed so many people?!" [Boss] "Because if I did, then I would later come back to save those hundreds of lives." [Tracer, confused] "What do you mean by you?" The Chronoguard Boss twisted a dial on her watch, and something happened. The boss didn't look any different, but suddenly she seemed VERY different. Tracer looked over the boss and took in the details, and slowly realized that she was looking in a mirror. But not any mirror; it was 2 of the same person in the same room.

Scene 5

{Busan} The jet that Lúcio, Juno, and D. Va were flying on made a detour to Busan, and the trio were slowly walking down a path only D. Va knew. And she stopped just outside a gate, where a few people were just leaving. [Lúcio] "Hana, where are we-" She was gone when he turned around, and the group passed by before D. Va returned. [D. Va, saddened] "Those were my M.E.K.A. squadmates. We all knew Dae-Hyun like . . ." A few tears formed in her eyes as she wiped them away, and Lúcio suddenly understood why they were here. [Lúcio] "I know you regret not speaking during the funeral. Now's your chance to tell Dae-Hyun what you were going to say." Juno was about to say something, but Lúcio kept her from saying anything as D. Va slowly entered the cemetery, and they followed behind. And the trio kept walking until they got to a gravestone adorned with a large collection of gifts, personal items, flowers, and a picture of Dae-Hyun himself. D. Va was beginning to have second thoughts about talking and tried to back away, but Lúcio gently walked her up to the grave. [Lúcio] "Just say what you want to say." D. Va hesitated as more tears came to her eyes, but she eventually worked up the courage to sit down next to the gravestone. [D. Va, broken voice] "Sorry, Dae-Hyun. About yesterday, or 2 days ago. Sorry that I didn't speak at the funeral. I was scared, and angry, and . . . and I didn't want to deal with the pain. I took 3 20-packs of light Korean liquor, and burned through all of it inside a week." D. Va stopped to wipe away more tears, and she wasn't sure if she should keep going, but Juno and Lúcio sat next to her and held her hands. [D. Va, stifling tears] "I know I should've done more in the attack, but I know now that there was nothing I could've . . . I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you. I'm going to hate myself for that. But I hope you'll forgive me. And . . . I've always considered you a brother in the M.E.K.A. family. We always have." D. Va pulled out the flask she had and set it at the base of the tombstone. [D. Va] "I was in the dark when you died. But some good people pulled me back into the light." She pulled Lúcio and Juno in for a deep hug before continuing. [D. Va] "I'm in a throuple now. Never expected that to happen, but it did. I'll always think about you. 24/7, 365. You'll always be a part of me." The trio got up as Lúcio and Juno both kissed D. Va, and she kissed back. [Lúcio] "So what are you doing next?" [D. Va] "I'm going to take a break from M.E.K.A. I'm spending some time on this new thing with you two." And they kissed again, and as they walked out, D. Va felt a sense of reconciliation.

Chapter 7

Scene 1

{Dreamscape} Mei was standing next to a biobed as her past self was being examined by the past Mercy, with Opara's corpse watching with a smile. [Opara, distorted] "Once again, you were helpless as-" [Mercy] "Mei, you're lucky Phantom missed his shot. Otherwise, who knows?" [Past Mei] "Thank you, Angela." And once again, the smile on Opara's face turned into a frown. [Mei] "I know this isn't what happened. But why can't I remember the truth?" Opara smacked the past Mercy in the face with his skeletal hand a few times until the memory fractured, and they saw a bat in the cracks. [Mei, realizing] "That's what Oxton used to knock me out in the closet!" Opara grabbed the bat and whacked Mercy with it, and the memory reset as she began testing Mei's sensations in her limbs, growing concerned when Mei didn't respond to her right hand being pricked. [Past Mercy, concerned] "Do you feel anything?" [Past Mei] "No, is something wrong?" And she kept pricking along past Mei's arm until Mei reacted, and a scan was run on Mei's arm. [Past Mei, worried] "Is something wrong?" [Past Mercy, hesitant] "The icicle . . . when Phantom threw it back at you, it impaled you in your arm. At first I thought you didn't move it when being carried out because it hurt-" [Past Mei] "Angela, it's alright. It's just a question of what happened." [Opara, distorted] "I'll finish it for you. He split your nerve in half like the pathetic-" [Mei] "Don't belittle me like that." [Opara, distorted] "He stabbed you, plain and simple. Personally I would've aimed for the head-" [Mei] "I'm not letting you antagonize me while we're here. But now we have the answers we want." [Opara, distorted] "Not all of them." Opara snapped his fingers and the memory shifted again, but this time it was completely fractured, frustrating him. [Mei] "What happened here?" [Opara, distorted] "Let me show you." He brushed away all the fractures to reveal Mei receiving a checkup, and he whacked the medic with the bat. [Past Mei, worried] "What are you doing?" [Past Medic] "Restoring your arm." He smiled as the medic cut open the past Mei's paralyzed arm and threaded the lower, unresponsive nerves through a small device, and then set it inside the arm as a faint explosion went off. [Past Mei, nervous] "What was that?" [Past Medic, lying] "Detained a Junkrat variant. They're always stubborn." And the medic took the device and activated it, and it automatically attacked itself to the upper nerves in Mei's arm, causing her pain as her arm twitched. And she held it up gingerly as the Chronoguard Boss returned. [Opara, distorted] "And there you have it. Everything that happened while . . ." He stopped as he saw thousands of blue foxes being carried through the halls, and the smile disappeared again. [Mei] "What are they?" [Opara, to self] "Fuck!"

Scene 2

{Tracer & Emily's flat} [Tracer, shocked] "wh- I- . . . Wha- you're . . . You're Lena Oxton?" [Boss] "Not anymore." [Tracer, shocked] "Then why-" [Boss] "I phase-shifted my appearance out of your perceptions. Physically, I looked the same, but I disabled it to allow you to perceive who I truly am." [Tracer, shocked] "Why?" [Boss] "In my universe, when I flew the Slipstream, it didn't disappear, disintegrate, explode, or anything like that. It teleported. I thought I was a hero. But when I landed, I was arrested for violating a UN sanction. I didn't just teleport across space; I teleported across the multiverse, and landed in a universe where Overwatch was illegal." [Tracer, in disbelief] "So what's why you're doing this? Over a petty grudge?" [Boss] "No. They almost killed me when they dragged me away from the jet, so they took the Slipstream Matrix with me so I could go to court. Death sentence. I escaped and fled on the jet, and jumped into another universe; that time it was under Null Sector's control. I decided to become a hero and defeated Null Sector, and in return, they wanted my head for illegal Overwatch activity. So I ran again, and that time, I watched. All across the multiverse, heroes like you and I are never appreciated for the sacrifices they make. We're always painted as criminals." [Tracer, in disbelief] "There's no way that's true!" [Boss] "Let me finish. I saw that the goal of peace that every Overwatch wants was impossible. So I decided to do it myself, and stole one universe's resources and brought them home. I researched a way to bring everyone under my control, and came across one thing. And I launched expeditions to gather it all, and bring the multiverse under my control." [Tracer] "That's no way to justify murder on the scale of trillions! You're talking about conquering everyone in existence because some were jerks to you! You're no better than Null Sector, or Talon even!" [Boss] "At least you now know my motive. And I know you want nothing more than peace. Fighting is all you've ever known. It's all everyone has ever known. If you convince everyone to turn a blind eye once, all your troubles - terrorists, kidnappers, murderers - are all gone just like that." [Tracer] "Suppressing the free will of the people to prevent evil is evil." [Boss] "And here I thought I could convince you." Tracer raised both pulse pistols and fired, but the Chronoguard Boss twisted another dial on her watch, freezing all time around her. And she simply pulled out an extendable stick. [Boss] "Tracer, you won't hear this, but this selectively removes memories. We'll see what happens when I set it to remove all memories." A few button presses on the stick, and the boss struck Tracer in the head with it. She didn't even move due to the time freeze, and the boss put the stick away while reactivating the obscurer. [Boss] "Readers, this isn't the story of a hero stopping the villain. It's the story of the villain erasing the hero." And she opened a portal and left, and time was allowed to resume, with Tracer falling to the floor unconscious.

Scene 3

{Dreamscape} [Mei] "What were those foxes?" [Opara] "The Kitsune. I always made fun of them for using me as their home, but now I actually care about-" [Mei, confused] "Home? What are you?" [Opara] "The Vanadium you pumped into your head is merely an extension of myself to interact with whatever it comes into contact with. In the omniverse, my true form is a storm that surrounds the Overwatch multiverse, the World of Warcraft multiverse, the Nintendo multiverse; basically every fanfiction that some writer comes up with. There's good universes like your world, and then there's some degenerate universes where all that exists is feet pics." [Mei, confused] "I don't understand." [Opara] "Of course you don't. You're not a nigh-omnipotent being like me. Damn it, this is horrible." [Mei] "How do we stop Chronoguard?" [Opara] "By killing everyone that works for Chronoguard. Starting with-" [Mei, outraged] "Murder doesn't solve problems!" [Opara] "Tracer tried to murder Doomfist by blowing him up." [Mei] "That's different- wait. Did you say 'Tried to'?" [Opara] "One of the advantages of being a nigh-omnipotent being is that I can sense when people travel the multiverse. Right before the explosion hit, Doomfist was snatched and landed in Chronoguard." [Mei] "And you didn't tell anyone?" [Opara] "I'm a neutral evil entity. I like it when bad things happen." [Mei] "You don't have to be evil. You helped me remember what Chronoguard wanted me to forget, and I'm thankful for that. That proves that you can be good." [Opara] "No thanks. I'm allergic to good guy stuff. On a related note, I'm waking you up now, and just like you agreed to, I'm staying in your head." [Mei] "I never answered your request. You just kept talking before you heard an answer." Opara stared Mei in the eye for a long while, almost menacingly, before backing off. [Opara] "You passed my test. I'll vacate your brain once I wake you up." [Mei] "And how do we do that?" [Opara] "Simple." Opara grabbed a surgical knife from the medic's table and stabbed Mei in the throat, killing her. [Mei, in pain] "Why-" [Opara] "You ever die in a dream and you're jolted awake? Same deal here. Don't you dare forget about me." Mei gave a thumbs-up as Opara cut her the rest of the way, and once Mei was dead, the entire dreamscape crumbled as light began pouring through. She was waking up, and he morphed into a purple-black blob of Vanadium before also vanishing.

Scene 4

{Tracer & Emily's flat, living room} Mei jolted awake as the Vanadium on her brain dripped off, and Mercy, Moira, and Emily rushed over to check on her. [Mercy] "Are you alright?" [Mei, groggily] "I'm fine. I got my memories back." Moira scooped up all the Vanadium that left Mei and put it back into the canister, began putting Mei's head back together. [Emily] "What do you remember?" [Mei] "My arm was impaled in a fight that Chronoguard put me into, and they fixed it so you wouldn't suspect anything." [Mercy] "What else?" [Mei] "They're capturing blue foxes. But The Storm said-" [Mercy] "Hold on. Who said what?" [Mei] "Someone who took on the corpse of Captain Opara from the ecopoint I was stationed at. He told me to give you his regards." This left Mercy unsettled, and she decided to leave the flat for some air. [Emily] "Angela, are you alright?" [Mercy, unsettled] "Fine. Just getting some air." And then Mercy was gone. [Mei] "Where's Lena?" [Emily] "Chronoguard is paying her a visit, so she's pretending to be Oxton to keep her away from you." [Mei] "That sounds like a tough act to pull off." Moira finished putting her skull back together, and just put the top skin on while dousing Mei with her healing tech, repairing it quickly. And then Mercy rushed back inside the flat while trying to break down the kitchen door. [Emily] "Angela, what-" [Mercy, concerned] "I saw Lena through the window! She's on the ground!" Emily then joined Mercy and forced the door open with her prosthetic hand's strength, and they rushed to get Tracer off the ground. [Emily, concerned] "Lena, wake up!" She snapped her fingers in Tracer's face until her eyes began to move, and Emily set Tracer in a chair. [Emily, relieved] "Thank god you're alright, Lena. What happened?" Tracer barely registered Emily as her eyes darted around the room, and Emily was getting worried. [Emily, concerned] "How many fingers am I holding up?" It was obvious that Emily was holding up 3 fingers, but Tracer just stared at them, not knowing what Emily was doing. [Emily, worried] "Do you remember anything?" Tracer just blinked, and tears were beginning to flow from Emily's eyes. "Do you remember . . . me?" No response as Mei and Moira entered. [Mei] "What happened?" Tracer looked at the 2 who entered, and didn't react in any way as Emily pulled her into a sobering hug. [Emily, sobbing] "What did they- . . . why can't you remember me?" That sentence stuck out to Mei, and she took the Vanadium from Moira's hands. [Mei] "I think this will help." Mercy saw the Vanadium, and backed away again. [Mercy] "That stuff is unstable-" [Mei] "What other choice do we have? Moira, please have Lena transferred to Watchpoint: Gibraltar and recreate the procedure you did for me. We're bringing our friend back."

Chapter 8

Scene 1

{Chronoguard HQ} The Chronoguard Boss is overlooking a large room of ARTUs being created en masse, weeding out any defects and irregularities when someone enters. [Boss] "Officer Fawkes. Report." [Fawkes] "We have 99.99% of the Vanadium we need. Ma'am, if I may?" She nodded for him to continue. "You went to the cinematic Tracer's universe personally, yet you came back empty handed. Was there a reason for that?" [Boss] "Oxton failed to acquire the Vanadium that the Tracer of that universe hid. I knew that I couldn't, so I gave them a push." [Fawkes] "A push? Care to elaborate?" [Boss] "They're hiding honey in their hive. I poked it to force them to reveal themselves. They are currently in possession of one of our multiversal portaling devices. I remotely reprogrammed it to only accept a power source of Vanadium, and only if it's a full canister." [Fawkes] "And that makes 99.999%. We're missing the .001 percent." [Boss] "Which, after branching their universe several times, I've concluded to be residing in Angela Ziegler. Once she comes to us, along with a team, we'll extract it from her, take the Vanadium canister from them, and power the weapon." The side doors then opened, and they turned to see who entered. [Fawkes] "I was told you died to Tracer." [Oxton] "I did. Your superior branched that reality at the moment before my death and pulled me out. Then I got to blast that branch to smithereens! Murder on the scale of billions has never felt so good." [Boss] "Call it reincarnation, Officer Fawkes. She's not the original; rather, she's a carbon copy of the original." [Oxton] "Yeah yeah, when do I get to kill Tracer for killing me?" [Boss] "She's technically dead right now. Her memories, personality, and identity no longer exist. She's the equivalent of a newborn." [Oxton, annoyed] "Boo! That's not the same as murder." [Boss] "Give it time, and you'll be able to kill whoever you want when the heroes come to stop us."

Scene 2

{Watchpoint: Gibraltar} Emily was walking into the watchpoint like she had been doing for the past week, bringing something new every day. This time she was carrying a bouquet of flowers as she passed by everyone who stood by with hopeful looks on their faces. Word had spread after Tracer was brought in barely knowing how to do anything; walking, talking, everything. [Mei, hopeful] "I wish for Lena to get better." [Pharah] "We all do." Emily had heard the same thing many times, and it didn't get better with time. She eventually got to the medical bay, where an unconscious Tracer lay on the bed surrounded by gifts from everyone, but mostly from Emily. [Emily, heartbroken] "I'm back again. This time I brought a bunch of Primroses. Your favorite." Emily set the flowers in a vase and poured some water into it, and readjusted some of the gifts to balance them better. And on her way out, she caught a glance at the Vanadium coating Tracer's exposed brain. She held out hope it would help Tracer. {Tracer's Dreamscape} [Doomfist, distorted] "You hear that? Primroses. And you'll never get to touch them." [Tracer, despondent] "Storm, what's a Primrose?" [Doomfist, distorted] "It's THE Storm. You have to say the The." Tracer hadn't left the murky beach that was created in her mind, still fishing for lost memories. She turned the term of fishing for information into an actual act of her never-ending day, and the bobber dipped before Tracer reeled in another puzzle piece of her fragmented memory. [Doomfist, distorted] "A week of fishing for memories, and you've gotten . . . some of them." [Tracer, despondent] "I've figured out that my last name's Oxton, I'm married to Emily Oxton, you - as The Storm - are taking the identity of someone I think I killed to protect others, and that I'm a hero of Overwatch. But what good is a hero if all I do is pilot a jet?" [Doomfist, distorted] "You piloted the jet before becoming the hero." [Tracer] ". . . I guess that makes sense." Tracer cast the fishing line back out, and Doomfist sat next to her. [Doomfist, distorted] "You fish in murky waters. You want your memories back, yet you make things more difficult than they should." [Tracer] "I don't know why the water's murky. If you can help, then help." [Doomfist, distorted] "I can help. I just want to watch you struggle." Tracer rolled her eyes and reeled the line in, and there was no puzzle piece in the hook. She was about to cast the line back out, but Doomfist stopped her. [Doomfist, distorted] "You should jump in and search with your hands, as opposed to using a small line." She stopped and thought about the idea, and eventually threw the fishing rod to the side and jumped into the water. Doomfist waited for a minute until Tracer reemerged, and threw a puzzle piece to the shore. [Tracer] "It's a start." [Doomfist, distorted] "And you know what the end is?" [Tracer] "Not yet. But I have a feeling I'll know the end when I see it."