Overwatch: Jinxed

Chapter 4: Try Me

Tracer's breathing was slow and steady. Infinitely quiet. The slightest sound would warn a master assassin like Reaper.

She could hear him. It was only the barest hiss of smoke as he moved around the room, but it was enough for her to vaguely detect where he was. Thank God Isabell hadn't radioed in to check on her - she had that much faith, at least.

But Tracer couldn't check on her, either. And if Sombra got to her - or if she got to Lena herself, she'd have no way of knowing.

The room was dark, the lights off. Nobody was in here. Tracer supposed that there weren't any night guards in here because it was such a secure room. Only Alistair himself was allowed in here, from the looks of the chip that Isabell had given her for access. She hadn't been able to find the object yet - most of the stuff in here was weapons. Illegal prototype weapons.

Winston had said it would have a strange effect when you went near it - your bones would go cold because of some sciency thing and it would make your hair stand on end. She supposed Reaper didn't have hair to stand on end, but she was pretty sure he had bones - unless he was tracking it.

Maybe it even belonged to him.

It was still illegal and dangerous, so that was not going to stop Tracer.

Tracer glanced around the room. It was a maze of glass cases based on white quartz pedestals, ready to be tested again the next day. It was near impossible for her to see Reaper through them.

So if she crawled, and went low enough that she wasn't visible through the glass...

He wouldn't be able to see her.

And this room, the ceiling was so high, and the room itself so big... it would echo like hell.

Tracer grinned. She listened to the faint hissing, and was pretty sure Reaper was still near the window, working his way along that row. She was at the other end of the room.

"Oh Reeeaaa-perrrrrr," she laughed, and indeed, her voice ricocheted around the room, impossible to tell where it had come from. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins. This was the stuff she lived for. 

On all fours, Tracer skittered across the room, making her footsteps as loud as possible - she knew she wouldn't be able to move without making enough noise to alert Reaper. But making too much would send echoes rippling everywhere, which indeed it did.

Of course, Reaper could tell that she was across the other side of the room. But it was enough to ruffle his scanning-tech of senses enough to keep her location pretty fuzzy.

He growled, and Tracer heard the click and scrape as he whipped out his guns. She laughed. "What're you gonna do with those, love?"

Oh, she was pissing him off bad.

"Also I don't appreciate you asking Sombra to 'finish me off'. Don't play favorites."

She heard him snarl and couldn't keep the smile from breaking over her face. Yes, she was probably high on the adrenaline raring through her veins and the sheer danger of the situation she was in, but hey - if you're going to fight, do it with a smile on your face, yeah?

Tracer grazed her hand across every quartz pedal she came across, looking for that stone-cold feeling she was supposed to get. So far, nothing.

She heard the door open, and she froze. She heard Reaper rapidly clouding into mist.

"Come out, Reaper. Stop being so paranoid."

Sombra.

Great. Outnumbered, with a shoulder that could fail her having just been dislocated, and half of the hunting power that her enemy had.

She heard Reaper rippling back into existence. He was getting closer to her. "Tracer is here."

"I noticed," Sombra drawled. "You found the weapon yet?"

"No, imbecile," Reaper snarled. "In the room. With us."

"Oh. I'll find her. You focus on getting that gun thingy."

"Trans-extrapolating energy container," Reaper growled, and hissed away into mist.

Well, no point in hiding now.

"Sombra! So nice of you to join the party!" Tracer leapt up, spinning, and whipped out her twin guns, firing rapidly. Sombra, who was exactly where Tracer had heard her, hissed and ducked behind one of the cases.

Tracer couldn't hit the cases first. That would make her the criminal, and Overwatch needed all the good publicity it could get.

She landed, and Blinked right before Reaper smashed his gun down on her head.

From twelve meters away, Tracer reactivated her comms, and turned them up to full volume. Trickery wasn't her usual style, but outnumbered against two of Talon's best operatives... she didn't have much of a choice. "Hello, love!"

"Lena! You're okay!"

"Me? Of course. Now, I need you to bring the rest of the team up here. I'm outnumbered."

Tracer heard a long silence on the other end. Isabell had no idea what she was talking about. She could hear silence from both Reaper and Sombra as well, as they were listening for her reply. Her plan was working.

Come on, Isabell... Pull through for me.

"Of course," she replied, and Tracer sagged with relief. "Everyone?"

"Nah," Tracer told her. "Just Winston, Hanzo, Genji, Mercy, Lucio and Mei. How soon can you be here?"

"Ah, give or take ten minutes?"

Five minutes. She'd be here in five minutes. She was already in the building.

"Make sure that weapon you have in your arsenal is ready as soon as possible," Tracer told her.

The hack on Sombra. ASAP. She needed her out fast. As much as Tracer hated to admit it, she couldn't take on both of them.

"Sure," Isabell replied. "It's almost finished. It'll be ready before we're even there."

Smart girl. "Good. Now, I'm a little preoccupied, love, so I'll see you soon."

"Jinx out."

Jinx. They would think she was a member of Overwatch.

With a loud "Wa-hoo!" Tracer leapt into the air, planting her feet on the edge of the glass cases and sprayed glowing blue everywhere. Reload, ratatatatatatatatt. Reload, ratatatatatatatt.

"Oh, she is dead now," Sombra snarled over the bullets.

Tracer Blinked twice. She was two meters from Sombra.

She shot.

Sombra swore and dodged left, heading into the sea of glass. Tracer Blinked on top of the glass and ran across the cases.

Sombra roared and started spraying bullets with her machine pistol. Tracer yelped and Blinked back down, away from them - but the mission had been completed. She hit a glass case and it shattered, and an alarm started blaring.

Now was her chance.

Tracer Blinked forwards--

Straight into Reaper's waiting hand.

It closed around her throat.

Recall!

She whipped backwards. Space and time distorted around her. The lights became too bright, the darkness too deep, and then she was blinking in and out of existence and she was dead, she would never see her friends again, just a blinking shadow--

And then she was back, and she fired at Reaper. He roared as a blue bullet struck his shoulder and he vanished into mist. Tracer Blinked after him--

And then Sombra was gripping her Chronal Accelerator.

And then her machine pistol was pointed at it.

"Adios," Sombra snarled, and pulled the trigger.