Queen's Princess

Chapter 68

"G'day, love," Odessa said as she walked over to me, placing a kiss to my forehead. "Shoulda came to watch the mech battles. It was a blow out."

"Hammond win again?" I asked as we looked over at Hammond.

He squeaked before the mech spoke for him, "He says, 'Yes. The challengers keep getting weaker and weaker. I need a real challenge.'"

"I can give ya a real challenge," Meri said.

"Please. I want a real fight with someone who knows what they're doing. Not the punks I fought today."

"Are we about to brawl in here?" I asked as Meri and Hammond squared up.

"Aye, aye, aye!" Odessa called towards them. "Not in 'ere. Take it either outside and far from the homes or go into the arena."

"To the arena we go," Meri said.

Odessa sighed, shaking her head, "I gotta go watch them now. I'll be back, love."

She pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before saying goodbye to Jay. Running out of the warehouse and after Hammond and Meri, we heard her shouting at the two of them as they were about to fight on the way there. The two of us chuckled and I looked over to see Geiger was still in here, but was looking out the door.

"Go on, Geiger. Go watch them for us," I said.

Geiger nodded and ran after them

"I've never seen a mech fight before," Jay said.

"Neither have I. Let's go watch," I said, grabbing the keys.

I locked up the warehouse and we raced down to the arena to watch as Odessa was in the center of the arena with Hammond and Meri on opposing sides. Geiger was sitting in the stands and we walked over to him, sitting beside him.

"Here we have the challenger, head of the Tinkers and probably the only person other than Hammond that I have never seen leave her mech. Give a warm welcome to Meri!" Odessa said to the imaginary crowd, even if it was just the three of us there.

We clapped and cheered for Meri as she stepped out, circling around, taking a look at us. From the commotion we had caused, people started to come out and sit back in the arena to watch them fight.

"And here we have the defending champion, Hammond, or as we like to call him, Wrecking Ball!"

Hammond rolled around the arena a bit before he stopped, poking his head out from the mech.

"Challengers, ya know the rules of the mech fighting. I don't gotta repeat myself, do I?"

They both shook their heads, in which Odessa gave them an approving nod.

"Alrighty then, challengers, on three. One, two, three!" she yelled, ducking out of the way and climbing into the stands as Meri and Hammond met in the middle of the arena.

The fight was intense with the arsenal that Meri and Hammond both had. I remembered what Meri had up her sleeve since I saw her fight against Odessa in the Reckoning. I had no idea what Hammond had in his mech as I have never seen him fight before. But it seemed like he had machine guns, was able to roll around, as well as walk too. What caught me off guard was that a wire shot out from the top of the mech and it lifted him in the air. Releasing the wire, he dropped straight down. Meri jumped away from Hammond, but Hammond wasn't going to let Meri off that easily. He started to roll around in the ball before opening up and firing at her with the machine guns. This fight definitely wasn't in Meri's favor and I think she knew. Meri signaled to Odessa that she conceded. Odessa raised her arms for Hammond to stop.

"The champion will hold his title!" Odessa declared to the crowd.

They responded well as Hammond popped out from the mech, smiling at the crowd. He crawled back in and walked over to Meri, helping her up from the ground.

"Give a big round of applause to Meri," Odessa said to the crowd.

The crowd cheered and clapped for Meri. They waited for the crowd to disappear before they walked out of the arena. 

"Aye, Hammond, that was a good fight," Meri said.

"He says, 'You weren't that bad of a fighter. Maybe know what you're getting into before challenging me.'"

Meri chuckled, "You're not kidding. I don't think there is a human or mech in this world that can defeat you, Hammond."

"You'd be surprised with how some omnics fair against him," Odessa said.

"Right, didn't you have to fight those things while you were in Overwatch?" Meri asked.

"Some remaining ones, but they were mostly human dirtbags that were terrorizing people. It was mostly civil unrest from what I experienced. I don't know about Hammond."

"He says, 'I mostly fought the remaining bad omnics.'"

"Ah, so you got the fun part. I got the part that was terrible and depressin'," Odessa said. 

"'I am but a hamster in a ball. If I were to fight against those kinds of human people, they might want to kill me even more because I am a hamster.'"

"Ya got a point there, Hammond."

We made our way back to the warehouse and I unlocked the door. Odessa grabbed the handle and slid it back to where it was completely open. We entered and Odessa walked over to where Jay and I were before we left to watch Meri and Hammond fight.

"Teachin' Jay how to use the equipment 'ere?" Odessa asked, looking at the piece of metal she was cutting.

"Yeah. And just letting her know that we have her back," I said.

"I was just telling Y/N how one thing I don't have to worry about you guys is abandonin' me," Jay said. 

"We'd never abandon ya, Jay. Never in your time of need and comfort will we ever abandon ya," Odessa said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"We were promised a life with a child in it. But someone in Overwatch wanted to look after the child and we agreed to let them. Then we tried an experimental way and that didn't go as planned. And then here we have you, someone who just wanted to fit in and be who they are. I think it was a sign from some higher power that I got to know ya, Jay," Odessa smiled. "Because if we're being honest," she looked over at me. "We couldn't be happier to look after ya."

Jay smiled, tears forming in her eyes as Odessa grabbed me, pulling me to her side before opening up her arms. I opened up mine as well and Jay walked over to us, getting pulled into our embrace by Odessa.

"And ya don't have to worry about a thing about us leavin' ya," Odessa said.