Origins (Overwatch Ashe x Male Reader)

012

"Once we're topside B.O.B. can carry the crates to the truck. I've already used my parents' credentials to scrub these identification numbers from the cargo manifests and adjust the inventory levels. Poof, gone! It'll be like we were never—"

"Uh, Ashe?" Cole pointed at crates. "Are those supposed to do that?"

"Huh?"

The inset displays on the crates had begun flashing—one message, over and over: Warning! Warning!

"Warning about what?" Cole asks.

"I'm not sure." Ashe furiously tapped the tablet, searching the crates' interface. "Give me a second."

"Never this easy," I grumbled to myself.

"Don't act like you know how to pull off heists," she mutters under her breath.

Suddenly, the message changed.

Storage location proximity exceeded. Security ordnance activated.

"Security ordnance ..." Cole's eyes widen. "Does that mean a bomb?"

"I—I don't ..." Ashe swiped through screen after screen. "There must be some sort of explosive fail-safe on the containers to prevent theft."

"Can you turn it off? Hack it or something?"

"Hack it? I can't even find it!" The beeping picked up speed as Ashe hit every option she could see, but the warning continued to flash. "It must be accessible only from the warehouse."

Cole paled a little, eyes going to the edge of the platform. I glance at the two but it looks like they both got an idea that I don't seem to grasp.

"We gotta make this platform go faster—"

"It only goes one speed, Cassidy!"

There is fear in Cole's eyes, fear that I suspected the same people in the lab had, the same fear that I can see in Ashe's face. In unison, we turned to the shaft running alongside the cargo platform, the rungs set in the wall.

"How fast do you think you can climb?"

Jesse blinked. "Let's find out."

She dropped the tablet and bolted for the edge of the platform, boosting herself onto the rail.

"Wait!"

She turned back to see Jesse pulling the rifles from the case. He tossed one to her. "Here!"

Still, behind the two of them, I grab two that I can carry and sling the strap over my shoulder.

Ashe caught it, then slung the Seraphim's strap over her shoulder and jumped. She wasted no time starting to climb. Next Cole got onto it and I got in after them. We manage to outpace the platform but the beeping was getting faster and faster.

"Ashe..." I can feel my voice fail me.

The opening of the shaft was getting closer and closer. But the cargo platform was still rising, and if the bombs in those crates went off, they would obliterate everything around and above them.

They were in the barrel of a gun, right before it was about to fire. "B.O.B.! Help!"

Two meters from the top of the ladder, a scream of metal sounded, and a huge arm appeared. It grabbed Ashe, lifting her from the shaft like a toy leaving the two of us doing our best to get up there.

B.O.B.'s other arm plunged into the shaft, and a moment later, out came Cole. But all around them, lights flashed, warning of the platform's imminent arrival.

It was too late.

Shit. I glance at the beeping below reaching a climax. Above me, there isn't enough time for me to clear that space without losing most of my body on the way up. I use the electricity to amplify myself and increase my pace despite the fact that it is burning through my nervous system.

I see a flash of yellow and make a shield to defend myself as best I could.

My vision turns to a hot white. At the centre of it all, I couldn't hear the roar of the explosion, but I can still feel the extreme heat on my body. I glance around me to see a large bubble surrounding me that is reacting to the flames and explosion.

Perfectly preserving everything within it. It starts to break apart as soon as I rest my shoulders, quickly replacing the extreme heat with a scorching burn against my skin due to my proximity to the white-hot flames.

I push through the flames of the shed. Getting outside before it collapsed in on itself. In the distance, I can see the two of them being clutched by B.O.B. and the two of them pushing themselves free from him and rolling onto the singed grass.

Better than those two got out before me.

I see Cole who spots me walking out of the shed practically unharmed.

"Whoooo!" Jesse lay an arm's length away, grinning madly. He let out a half laugh, half cough and turned to her. "Well, I've had my fill of excitement for the evening. You?"

"B.O.B., are you okay?"

The omnic stood, creaking a little, and shook himself like a dog. But besides a few scorch marks, the butler seemed none worse for wear. She then glances past him with a concerned expression before visibly relaxing at the sight of me walking to them.

Walking towards me she almost tackles me to the ground.

"We made it." Her voice shook as she said it. So did the rest of her, a little.

"Thanks to B.O.B.," said Cole. "At least you managed to get yourself out of that just fine."

I groan to myself. "Almost. I could pass out right now."

"Yeah, he's a great butler and bodyguard, when it comes down to it." Ashe shifted the strap on her shoulder, bringing the rifle around. "And we're not walking away empty-handed, either."

"Yup." Still, on his back, Cole gestured toward the warehouse complex. "Now all we gotta worry about is them."

In the distance, a cluster of security drones is headed straight for us.

And they were closing in fast.

I turn my head to face Ashe but my vision doesn't turn with me, the whole world feels slower than it should be.

I blow out the air in my lungs before managing to get it out. "Don't... freak out... but I am going to pass out right now."