Chapter Text
The circumstances of the mission were odd, to say the least.
Not that the popular hero, Lena Oxton, also known worldwide as Tracer, cared. She had been in odd missions before, back when Overwatch was an official thing and not an illegal band of vigilantes that called themselves heroes. Hell, she had even flown a time-machine into oblivion once. Nothing could top that.
Still, this mission didn't sit well with her. Overwatch had detected a signal in Norway, an abandoned mountain facility that used to be theirs was, for some reason, emitting the signal on an encrypted channel. Winston had accessed it and all evidence pointed at that it was yet another veteran responding to the Recall. It had been months since the recall had been initiated though, what had taken this fellow so long to answer? Why from up in some freezing mountains? It was a bit suspicious and everyone knew it could be a trap.
That's why Lena had volunteered to go alone.
She was always the obvious choice. Fast, with the reaction time to dodge nearly anything thrown at her and the ability to blink through objects and pull herself out of them, she was also the safest choice. Despite that, it had been her job before to either check out the situation first or provide support to an actual battlegroup. This wasn't odd, she was just checking out the place first. If things got dicey then she'd bail.
"Arriving in ten seconds," Athena, the AI that seemed to inhabit all Overwatch systems, announced.
"Roger Athena, thanks," Lena happily replied, smiling up at the ship. Both Athena and Winston had told her countless times that interacting with an AI meant nothing but Lena was a proud follower of the Iris, she believed all machines had a soul in them, including AI.
The Brit was wearing, for the first time in years, her Slipstream gear. It was just as suitable for combat as her actual uniform and much warmer, which would be useful for this mission. She had sunglasses on instead of her goggles and of course her trusty pulse pistols holstered at her sides. Her stomach seemed to drop as the aircraft quickly descent, luckily Lena was strapped in and chewing gum.
Why did chewing gum help on aircraft anyway?
The ship's lights went off and silently, stealthily, it descended into a small clearing in the Norwegian forest. They landed with barely a wobble (Ha! Lena would have landed without the wobble) and the hatch across from her quietly opened. The hero finally unstrapped herself, made sure her chronal accelerator was running on minimum power so it wouldn't light up, and she made her way outside the ship. Athena began talking in her comms as she walked through the trees, knee deep in snow.
"You are not dressed for this kind of environment," She informed Tracer, who already knew this. "You should reach the facility in ten minutes, then you have twenty minutes to get inside or freeze. It's nighttime, so that might be shortened. This means-
"This means I'll have only ten bloody minutes, at best, to actually get inside. After that I'll have to run back to the ship or risk turning into a popsicle," Lena finished, smirking. "Consider it done, Athena, Tracer out."
That would be the last Lena heard from the AI until the mission was over. Any more radio contact would be risky, at best, deadly at worse. If Talon were setting an ambush they would almost certainly be able to hack her communications device. Sombra had that talent with technology, after all.
Lena tried to push this out of her mind as she made her way through freezing, yet thankfully soft, snow. Her teeth were already chatting and she saw her breath appear as vapor. Norway was no joke, especially in the winter, and not wanting to freeze she put a little hop in her step and hurried up the mountain. Always in the cover of some tree, her eyes instinctively looking upwards for a sniper, or at the shadows for a wraith. Fighting Widowmaker for years, and even Reaper a few times, had made these actions second nature as of now.
She paused as she finally reached the treeline and, crouching behind some bushes, surveyed the area. It was much like she remembered it from her few deployments to this country. Trees surrounded a large area similar to a hill, covered in a perfect blanket of white snow. A metallic path used to be visible, with small lights flanking it, but that had been mostly buried by now. At the top of the hill bit, and at what would be the end of the path, sat a small fortress-like Overwatch base. This had served as both an Ecopoint and military outpost for Overwatch, back in the day.
Lena saw nothing out of the ordinary except lights coming through the windows. This place should have long been since abandoned, the lights meant someone was actually there. No snipers at the top or in the surrounding trees, although it was hard to tell in this darkness, and no other sign of life. The Brit noticed she would have no option but to hike up the path, in plain sight of anyone living there, to reach the base in the timeline she had.
"It's gonna be like that, eh?" She murmured to herself, pulling out a picture from a pocket on her breast, looking at it and smiling. It was from this Christmas, Lena and Emily were hugging each other and smiling widely. Behind them, one hand on his glasses and the other around the two women, was Winston. Her best friend.
A few seconds later she returned the photograph to where it should be and was hiking up the snowy pass, occasionally cursing as she tripped or as bare skin would accidentally touch the snow. She made it to the door and, finally, let her accelerator run at full power. Its glow lit up the nearby snow, the wall, and her face in dull blue. With a confident smile Lena pulled out her pistols and blinked up the wall. One, two, three times and she was thrown into the air, landing with a spin and her pistols aimed in front of her to witness-
Nothing. The roof was just as deserted as the bases perimeter. This didn't put a damper on her mood, nor did it stop her, for she immediately dashed forward to the door that gave roof access and hid next to it, listening for anything inside. After a minute (by her calculations and how her fingers felt, she judged that she had three minutes left before she had to go back) the hero stood up and blasted the handle off the door, gently pushing it open. Light streamed out, as if inviting her inside.
"Well, I hope it's an old friend," Lena murmured, entering the facility.
Well, it was someone she had already met. A friend? Not really.
Lena had memorized the plans for this building before coming here, and she still remembered some of the paths from the old days. After going down three flights of stairs and making her way through three empty hallways, she finally turned a corner and walked into the observatory room, where the light was coming from.
It was a huge room that had three giant monitors up on the roof, the monitors were black but used to display images of space or of the aurora. Computers and machinery littered one side of the room, a conference table with more seats covered the opposite end, and in the middle of the room right under the main monitor was a makeshift common area with cushions, a coffee table and blankets. Lena could almost picture the scientists here laying around the common area looking up at an image of space, drinking coffee together.
But this time there was no such thing, no, this time the only person laying on one of the sofa's that made the common area had tan skin, dark hair dyed purple at the ends, and a black and purple jacket with leggings.
"Sombra," Tracer sneered, her weapons up. "Not even trying to hide? You're not much of a frontal force ya know."
"Please, who said I was here to fight?" The Mexican woman shot back, eyes glued to the ceiling as she tapped a holo-pad lazily. Was she playing Starcraft 2 on that? Hacking, surely.
"So you expect me to believe you're alone?" Lena laughed without humor, looking around. "You gonna come out Widowmaker? Or is it Doomfist this time? I know he escaped prison and we have a score to settle."
"You aren't much for brutal fights either, chica, so we both know you aren't dumb enough to fight us all alone." Sombra finally sat up, the holo-pad disappeared and she smiled widely. "Lucky for you, I'm alone this time. Come, sit, I made us coffee."
"You're out of your bloody mind if you think I'm going to believe you," Lena replied.
"Please, take your time. You can look at every nook and cranny for my partners, I'll just sit here, drink my coffee and eat my bizcochos."
"I'll take you up on that, just remember you can't surprise me by yourself," Lena warned. "I'm too fast for Widow, and certainly to fast for you."
Sombra simply chuckled, shoving some sort of pastry in her mouth. While she at her stupid biscuits and drank her coffee (maybe my cup had poison?) Lena carefully blinked around the room, inspecting as she said, for any signs of Talon occupancy. She mostly walked around, using blinks only at points she found would actually server to surprise her with an attack, and in a few minutes had to admit Sombra wasn't lying. They were alone, at least, in this room. The Brit took one more second to block the only door with a chair and then I returned to the hacker, who was licking some cream off her fingers with exaggerated sensuality, while giving her enemy a knowing look.
"Great, you know I'm gay, anything else before I arrest you?" The hero asked, crossing my arms and giving her an annoyed look.
"Are you not going to sit on drink your coffee? It took me, like, two minutes to repair the machine! That's a lot of time for someone like me!"
Lena sighed, sat down, and started munching on one of the thingies. A bizcocho. It had some sweet, thick spread inside which was quite delicious. Her guns were at her side, unholstered but out of her hands.
"Dulce de leche," Sombra explained, as if reading Lena's mind. "Most of it comes from a country called Uruguay, although Argentina makes it too. I had a friend there and let me tell you, amiga, we need more of that stuff in Mexico-"
"What do you want, Sombra?" The Brit cut in, not ready to listen about hispanic cuisine.
"It's not what I want, Lena Oxton, it's what you want," Sombra answered cryptically. Lena simply raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm saying I have something you want!"
"Yeah, and I'm a villain. Wait does this have to do with the cream licking? Because you're hot but I'm not interest-"
"Por Dios, no!" Sombra interrupted, looking slightly appalled by the idea. "This is actually important, Lena. Can I call you Lena?"
"No."
"So Lena, you know back in the day when Overwatch actually mattered to the world it had a lot of funding, right?" Sombra continued, ignoring the other. "So, like anything with money, it had lots of branches and secrets. Captain Amari's rifle? Illegal until the final phase of its creation by Torbjorn. Blackwatch? Wow that branch has a lot of dirt on it."
"What's your point?" Lena asked, her mouth dry. Yes, she knew Overwatch had its shady bits and she was not at all proud about that but for the most part she tried to ignore it.
"My point is the shady pieces of your organization didn't die with it," Sombra whispered, leaning forward with a conspiratorial smile. "And the Recall revealed some new information to me."
"Say I believe you," Lena carefully said, setting down her pastry, removing her glasses to show Sombra her glare. "Why would you even tell me this?"
"Didn't you wonder how I knew you were a lesbian, Lena?" Sombra smirked.
"Maybe you didn't? Maybe you just thought I was hotter than hell and decided to test your luck?" Lena replied, returning the smile. It disappeared once Sombra spoke again.
"Emily."
Lena didn't even think, she blinked forward and grabbed Sombra then blinked twice more and had her pinned against the far wall, hard enough that Sombra cried out with pain, completely taken by surprise, yet when she looked at Lena her hands merely went up in a peaceful gesture, and she smiled again.
"It doesn't surprise me that you know her," Lena said through gritted teeth. "But if you mentioned her to Talon, or try anything with her-"
"Talon doesn't know a fraction of the things I do," Sombra purred, leaning forward so her mouth was by the Brit's ear. "Overwatch likes to keep their heroes on a tighter leash now. Tell me, Lena, what would be the best way to keep you fighting against Talon? To risk your life even when you have someone to live for."
Lena thought she knew where this was going, and she definitely did not want to hear it, didn't want it to possibly be true.
"Revenge, Lena. Blame Talon for the murder of your loved ones, then set you out to kill us. Like a dog on a leash." The hacker created a small holo-panel with her left hand and information began pouring in. Lena's eyes skimmed most of it, but she did catch their shared address, both their names, mentions of Blackwatch, Angela Ziegler, Jack Morrison and a time.
Three in the morning.
"What time is it?" Lena whispered.
"Almost two A.M," Sombra replied. "Might want to hurry, amiga, you still have a chance."
It could have all been a lie. It probably was a lie. Sombra could create whatever she wanted in the digital world, she could invent whatever she wanted, do anything on a computer. It was probably a setup of some kind.
Yet Lena couldn't take that chance. If there was the slightest chance in the universe that Sombra was being truthful then Lena had to play it safe and make sure nothing happened to Emily.
"She better be ok," Tracer rasped, letting go of Sombra and dashing out of the room, a neon blue streak following her.
She didn't pause at all, no, she dashed all the way outside of the building, jumped off the roof and blinked forward, continuing her sprint down the snowy path and into the forest, into the ship. She slammed her fist against a button and everything sprung to life. The hatch began to shut.
"Lena." Athena sounded surprise. "What are you-"
"Override code: 37FG9OSX, manual control to ship and zero access to all systems," Lena yelled.
This would give her complete control over the ship and cut off Overwatch from her comms, from even being able to track her. The hero was already in the pilots seat, strapped in, her hands flying over the different buttons and tiny levers as she prepped for a hasty take-off.
The last thing Sombra saw from inside the base, while sipping on her coffee, was the aircraft hover into the sky and speed off. She used her free hand to tap the communication device on her ear.
"She's on her way."
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The engines were nearly dead.
Lena had used the override code mainly to avoid any detection from Overwatch, just in case Sombra wasn't lying, but she also did it so she could access all the ships controls which included the overdrive speed. Problem is, overdrive burned out the engines. Lena had ten minutes before the three in the morning, and she needed to figure out where to land this thing or everything would be for naught.
The Brit kept her eyes peeled open as she hovered over the city, watching people look up and point at her. The rooftops were much to small, so was the square in front of the library, but maybe...
Lena made her way to Mondatta's statue, eyeing the open area surrounded by buildings. There were tons of people there but she'd have to hope they were smart enough to move away as the ship descended. This landing was hasty, with nothing fancy or pretty, Lena dropped it almost like a rock and bumped in her seat. She unstrapped herself and jumped off the seat, dashing outside in a streak of blue and down the road, breaking through the crowd that had formed around the ship and making a beeline for her apartment. Minutes later she was there, she didn't say hello to the doorman, she didn't wait for the elevator, no, Lena just kept running and running. She completed several flights of stairs in seconds and finally paused for a breath. Her heart skipped a beat.
The door down the length of the hallway, her door, had been torn to pieces. Lena blinked forward and into her home.
"No...no no no no no!" She yelled, blinking past the living area, which had all its furniture overturned or destroyed, blinking past down one last hallway and into their room.
Like the rest of her house, everything was a mess. The bed was overturned and broken, the picture frames were nothing but broken glass, the closet was kindling too. And in the center of the room, laying on the floor.
"Emily."
Tears began to well in the Brits eyes as she blinked to her girlfriend, grabbing her shoulders, looking for life. But no, she was too late. The red-heads eyes were staring away at nothing, her chest didn't move, her hand had lost its grip on a pistol, something Lena had allowed her to keep just in case their enemies found them. Her stomach was bloody, but that was it.
"It was supposed to be three am..." Lena murmured, sobbing and hugging Emily's corpse. She looked at the clock and her heart broke even further: It was 3:05. "I'm so sorry Em, my God, I'm so so sorry."
Lena's sobs filled the room for hours, she refused to let go of her lover's body, refused to open her eyes and see the truth once more, the ugly truth which was right in her face. Eventually, as the sun began to rise and shine through the window, Lena's grief gave way to something new. Something burning and powerful, something she hadn't felt even with the fall of Overwatch.
She wanted revenge, and she knew just how to get it.