Chapter 27
The air felt damp and cool, but it wasn't something that felt nice and refreshing like breeze on a summer day, no, quite the opposite actually. There was hardly any light, even if there was a small window behind you that led to the now evening sun
Your cell was nothing like the ones you had seen at the other Talon base. These ones seemed old, raggedy, more traditional for prisoners. It was much smaller and the room was made with dark steel and stone that began to crack and chip which made up the flooring. At least it still had a sliding door to enter and exit. You also noticed there were cameras set up around the cell. However you remained still, your weary eyes had seen all that you needed to
You constantly heard murmurs from either beyond the door or from outside of the window. It was clear you weren't in the same place as the island in the tropics, but then where were you? The only time you left your cell was to go to the bathroom in cuffs, so you only knew that small path from the cell to the restroom.
Time seemed irrelevant. Seconds morphed into minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days. It all just became one big glob of time and you didn't care enough to keep track of time. Ironic isn't it? It seemed that that accelerator anchored you into this reality too, but for a different reason. After it was destroyed, time just seemed meaningless, figuratively for you and literally for her
You began to hear a clicking sound gradually become louder from beyond the door and instantly knew what that meant. Your body said to be nervous, hence why your heart beat began to increase, but your mind stayed calm and unresponsive.
A particular assassin slid the door open to enter the room, a woman that practically ruined your life. Your eyes were trained on the base of the door, so when she entered, you turned your head so you wouldn't have to look at the purple heels. It was the first time you had seen her in God knows how long, but her presence only spelled trouble
"11 days. 11 days and not a single word from you" Widowmaker said. You briefly looked up "You haven't even thanked us for your new limb" She said slyly while smirking
At the statement you rolled your shoulder and looked at your now metallic left arm behind your back. The power of Widow's sniper bullet was enough to render most of your arm useless. So when you were unconscious, Talon amputated it and replaced it with cybernetics that ran all the way up to your bicep. It was not unlike Mccree's arm in terms of look. It was sleek and made of a dark, almost black metal. But you didn't doubt that Talon implemented something into it
"You know...when the girl was in captivity she resisted everything we did, but you, you seem to have just accepted your fate, quite saddening really" She said in a tone to taunt you
You unconsciously clenched your fists for a moment as you continued to stare at nothing but a wall. You had no desire to fight back, even if you consciously knew you had to get out of this mess.
"So you're going to remain silent? I flew all the way out here just to talk to you...but since you have no words..." She turned to the door and it swiped open
"Why am I alive" You asked quietly
She turned back grinning at the sound of your voice "Pardon?"
"Why am I alive?...You've had countless opportunities to kill me. Numbani, Egypt, the base, here. What do you want with me"
"Well, at Numbani I was just having fun. Watching your relationship with her crumble was quite the sight to see, and I still got my target. As for Egypt..." She chuckled to herself and began walking around you "Love is a powerful, powerful emotion, is it not (your name)?"
You narrowed your eyes at her in confusion behind your back "What are you saying"
"Well obviously we wanted the girl for her abilities and we were hoping to...'change' her, but we didn't quite get that far. But we also knew that you were leader after the ape perished. You were meant to find out about the base one way or another, we just didn't know when. Nonetheless, it was obvious you would strike prematurely due to your desire to rescue her with limited soldiers and equipment, so Talon stacked soldiers at that base. We lost a few bases in your fit of rage, but all turned out better than expected." She paused to recollect her thoughts while grinning
"I must admit, the sheer size of your forces were larger than expected, but three quarters of that army is now either deceased or missing in action. Morrison is dead, Genji Shimada: missing, Angela Ziegler: missing, Fareeha Amari: Missing, Jesse Mccree: Missing, Reinhardt Wilhelm: missing, and Hana Song: declared deceased after her mech exploded. As for the rest, they managed to escape on a single drop ship while the majority of the infantry was killed. On top of all that, you destroyed the one thing that kept Lena Oxton anchored in this world "She began to chuckle "I did not expect that. I mean, all that work, all those deaths, all for naught...*sigh* As for right now, I do not know what to do with you"
You sunk your head down at the recollection of your failure. You shuddered at the thought of not just Lena being gone, but the list of people Widow gave you. At least you knew where Lena was...sort of.
She tilted your head up by holding your chin, making you look at her "Aww don't be so sad, cherie, at least you have me" She smirked then fled the cell. You shook your head ever so slightly and bit your lip
As Widowmaker walked through the base, the Talon captain, Bradshaw, seemed to come out of nowhere and placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. She merely acknowledged his presence but kept walking.
"So what are we doing with him" Bradshaw asked
"I don't know if that's my decision to make"
He scoffed and rolled his eyes "Don't give me that, you know damn well Talon granted you more authority than me or anyone else in this godforsaken base"
She smirked "I know, I just wanted to hear you say it...But I did have an idea. It would be a waste of a soldier if we were to just kill him, no?"
He rubbed his face in frustration "No no no no, don't even say it."
"Imagine if we were to get him to fight for us"
"On second thought, I'll be in charge"
"You haven't even heard me out, cherie" She said acting as if this wouldn't be his response
"I don't have to. Remember last time we tried to do that. I mean how can't you, it was two weeks ago!"
"Bradshaw, look-"
"No you look, do you know how many of our soldiers died because of one prisoner, and you're ready to do the same shit over. Hell Reaper's dead because you thought you could make Tracer your own little puppet" Bradshaw spoke in a condescending tone
"Reaper was nothing more than a pessimist grouch that was ready to turn on Talon the second he no longer needed us"
"He was a grouch capable of taking out half an army..." He shook his head and sucked his teeth "that's not the point. The point is you're about to make the same mistake twice. Kill (your name) and move on with our lives"
"Listen to me, Overwatch has no leader right now, he's right over there. Besides, there's no way they can muster up the forces they previously had."
Bradshaw didn't want to admit she was right, so he changed the subject "We don't have the materials or machinery to do the whole long process. Not to mention he doesn't seem like he'd be susceptible to torture"
"That's no problem...I have a plan"
Who knows how long it's been since your encounter with the sniper. Your dark thoughts hadn't consumed you as much as one would think. It was just empty and defeated. You had not thought of anyway to escape this prison nor had you thought of a way to find/build a new accelerator. These pieces to the puzzle will fall into place eventually, you thought
Your current daze was cut short when your cell door opened, and entered an unmasked Talon soldier, but judging by the armor, you could tell it was Bradshaw. It was the first time you saw him without his helmet. He had medium length dark brown hair that was slightly greying, combed back and to the side. His hair looked too clean cut to be a soldier, but his face said otherwise. It was rugged and scarred, strong features all showing his experience. Hazel eyes with a scar on the side of one of them, yet both eyes could shoot daggers
He head nodded to the door "Let's go"
"I'm not going anywhere with my hands tied" You motioned to your arms behind your back
He glared at you for a second before walking behind you and cutting the restraints off. Then you gave him a small smirk as if to say "was that so hard", to which he responded by shoving you out the door.
He led you down corridor through corridor and already you could tell that this base was nowhere near as architecturally impressive as the other one. It was simple and seemed more narrow, well at least in the building you were in. Eventually he led you outside, and the building you were just in matched the rest of the base in terms of size. It felt like a small neighborhood due to the wide open space in between structures that only slightly ranged in size.
But the sky looked beautiful, a clean, azure blue with few clouds in the sky. The warmth of the sun matched this beauty, it was like a paradise, except for the fact you were being held prisoner by a terrorist group, your girlfriend was in a different dimension, and half your team went missing. But other than that, it was perfect
Bradshaw led you into a a different building, which held a high tech gun range where many soldiers were shooting bots and moving targets. There was a gun rack with a wide variety of weapons right before the shooting stations. Bradshaw stopped at the rack and gestured to it
"Pick your poison" He told you
You glared at him, unsure of why you were here. You looked to the rack, then around the building to see that you were the center of attention among the infantry. You heard laughter and mocks emanating from them, obviously they didn't think you were a threat.
So when you picked up a simple pistol and a few clips, you walked up to the range. The soldiers who were shooting, stopped to watch, as did the ones in the building. They were shouting at you, followed by uproars of laughter. Bradshaw smirked as he stood with his arms crossed, knowing that his soldiers would soon be silenced
You set the extra clips on the table and the range went dark. You got a feel for the weight of the weapon before you held it up in preparation. You heard the snickers from the enemy. There was a buzzer like noise and lights shined down on various bots, moving and still ones alike.
You began to unload your clip into each target with uncanny accuracy and lightning quick speed. Headshot after headshot no matter how far or how fast the bot was moving. After each clip was empty, you'd quickly drop it out then reload hardly skipping a beat as you shot.
After you were out of ammo, you flipped the pistol around your hand and gave it to Bradshaw. He grinned and looked around at his soldiers who were completely stunned, not moving a muscle. He began to chuckle and set the pistol back on the shelf where it belong. You two hated each other, but he couldn't help but respect you. You don't know if you could feel the same way
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all...care to try again"
You kept your look with no expression and shrugged. You still had no idea why you were doing this, but it was certainly better than kneeling down in a cell. He nodded and turned to the rack and grabbed an assault rifle then handed it to you. Eyes were still focused on you as you took the rifle from his hands
You did the same thing with the rifle as you did with the pistol, except much quicker and more impressive. The soldiers watched in awe at the man who they made fun of mere minutes ago. You handed the gun back to Bradshaw again and he nodded slowly.
"Everyone, come with me" He told all the soldiers. He looked at you and motioned for you to follow him as well
Soon there was a stampede marching through the building to a different section where there was a large, arena like room with padded floors. They all circled around it, then Bradshaw gave you a shove to go in the middle. He whistled at one of the soldiers and pointed to the center, signaling for him to stand adjacent from you.
The soldier then readied up into a fighting stance and you instantly confirmed your suspicions about this being a fight. So you squared up as well and rolled your shoulders and cracked your neck. The soldier bit his lip and began to perspire
He inched closer to you and threw a punch, which you easily countered then tripped him. He rolled away from your oncoming grapple and recomposed himself. You now knew he feared attacking, so you kicked his side. It connected, but he grabbed your leg, so you jumped in the air and kicked his head with your other foot, instantly causing him to drop. The soldier rolled out to the edge of the circle and his fellow teammates helped him up
Bradshaw pushed two of the soldiers next to him to test you again. They both got on either side of you, feeling confident, only this was their downfall. You used each of them as shields once you countered their blows. Like an acrobat, you dodged their punches and kicks efficiently. When they were certain you were just going to fight defensively, you quickly rushed the two of them. You threw various combos of punches and kicks, alternating focus on them, all while blocking each attack that came your way. You did this until they both were on the ground in pain.
Bradshaw then sent in three soldiers. You mostly dodged the attacks that came at you all at once and only attacked when one of them was out of place. Once you were sure they were all fairly tired out, you went on the offensive, grappling your opponents to temporarily take them out of the fight then threw punches, kicks, and knees to the other two. Before long, you had knocked one out and the other two conceded.
Then the commander ordered four to go in and fight. The same thing happened again, all while you only took a few hits. And then five, still you emerged victorious. It may just be your anger towards Talon that made you fight so fiercely, or maybe it was your brokenness that caused you to remain calm. Possibly a combination of the two
Bradshaw didn't know if he should be impressed by your skill, or disappointed in his own soldiers that he trained. To be fair, you had numerous amounts of fighting styles incorporated into your own. The speed and passiveness Genji taught you, the the skillful and technical style from Mccree, and the strength and brute force of Zarya all make up your own
Sweat dripped down your forehead and temples and you breathed heavily after the gauntlet while the remainder of the soldiers stayed either on the ground, or helping the others off the ground. You looked at Bradshaw as to what to do now
He stared off and nodded. Then he looked to you "Well done kid..." He nodded for you to follow him. All through the base and eventually back to the cell, but on the way there, you grew curious
"...Where are we"
"Argentina" He replied with no hesitation
You acknowledged it and just kept walking. It was best to just get as much information as you could but keeping the conversing with the enemy as minimal as possible
You estimated that around a day has passed as you remain in your confined space, judging by the rise and fall of the sun. You sat on a beat up mattress that they were so kind as to give you one. You sat with your back against the wall as you stared at the golden rays that shined through your window. You stared at all the little specks of dust that were highlighted as you just sat and thunk.
If Talon wanted you dead, you'd be dead already, but that "training session" or whatever you want to call it, what was it for? Embarrassing Bradshaw's troops? No there was something more sinister the terrorists were scheming up. And the worst part is, you just have to roll with it due to the fact that there was no escape. You run from the base, then what? Talon will find you before you leave the country. This cybernetic limb has to have a tracking device. Not only that, the soldiers here are hunters with the world's finest tech
By the time you refocused on reality, the now orange sun shined right through the window into your face, causing you to wrinkle your nose and slide on over to the shade. It was late evening now and still nothing. When your senses tuned in, you noticed voices emitting from beyond the cell door. You tried to listen but there was no way. You sort of hoped it was for you, since an escape is impossible from this cell, plus it's simply boring.
Your time in here left you with your thoughts to consume you. Regret filled your mind. Over and over, you saw yourself hug Lena tightly until she disappeared into nothingness. Each time you tried to tell yourself, yes that was the right decision. But each time you saw the look of fear in the woman's eyes as you destroyed the one thing that anchored her to reality.
That look she gave you, it was unlike anything you had seen from her before. They were eyes that pleaded you to not let her go and at the same time they cursed you for doing just that. You just wished you had time. Time to explain yourself for what you had done for her. Lena would rather die than become a ghost again, and you completely ignored the fact. On the surface, you look ever so noble and altruistic, letting her go to save her, but no. No the dark reality is that you did that out of selfishness. You couldn't bare life without her, so you imprisoned her until you could find a way to return her to your side
And that task, how will that be accomplished? Winston was a genetically enhanced primate who understood every branch of science down to the last detail. No shocker he was able to find a way to reverse the effects of chronal disassociation. But what about you? You're just some kid playing hero, and doing a pretty shitty job at it too. You know nothing about the accelerator no matter how often it was pressed against your body. And that scared you. You made a promise to Lena and you didn't know if you could keep it
What if she was a wondering soul forever? She would never forgive you. The thought of Lena hating you for an eternity made you shudder. You bit your lip at the absence of the woman. So much so that a small stream of blood began to ran down your cheek, snapping you back to reality.
You breathed heavily and ran your hands through your damp hair. You clenched your now metallic fist and punched the walk before covering your face with your palms. The strength of the cybernetic showed when you put a dent into the wall. You glanced at it and shook your head. You felt more inhuman now more than ever, and not just because of one prosthetic.
You looked to the door again and heard the murmurs, trying to focus on the conversation, but it was no use. So in the meantime, you simply stared at the door, waiting
"I did your 'training session' or whatever the hell you wanna call it, now will you tell me how that helps us?" Bradshaw asked Widowmaker as they walked through the base.
"So we have a baseline of his set of skills?"
"Yes. He smoked our soldiers in weapon accuracy as well as kicked their asses single handedly. Sooo, I'm telling you this is a bad idea to recruit him. Kid's got nothing to lose, he'll stab us in the back the first chance he gets"
"See, that's where you soldiers go wrong: you don't see the whole picture. Of course (your name) will turn on us once we give him our trust, that's why you have to give a little... encouragement"
"You know, it doesn't help that you don't tell me anything about your schemes"
"Because I know exactly what you're going to say. Don't you think executing a boy is a bit unethical?" she said with a smirk obviously toying with the soldier
"Well, that 'boy' led a full scale assault on Talon and is more than capable of taking us down from the inside of he plays his cards right. Now, if we wanna talk unethical, what's unethical is torturing and brainwashing a 26 year old girl"
"You don't have much faith in me do you"
"I don't have faith in your decision making. Now as an assassin...yeah just stick to killing innocent people"
"Oh because you're such a noble person, leading armies into battle to slaughter the masses"
"No that's-"
"What it comes down to is that we're both terrorists, and since I have authority over you, I'll decide what we do with him"
He showed an expression of giving up and he stepped aside and motioned for her to go in front of him. "Right this way, your majesty" He said in a mocking tone. She narrowed her eyes on him and walked in front of him to your cell, she put in a code on a small tablet to to open the door
"Don't fuck up" Bradshaw said with arms crossed "It'd be a damn shame if your master plan didn't work out"
She rolled her eyes and continued typing in the code "Just watch"
He smirked and began walking to a control room where he could watch the two of you through cameras. There always had been some tension between the two of them. After all, they were basically polar opposites. Their fighting style, their decision making, their combat strategies. Talon had acknowledged the arguments that would surface between the two, but no violence has happened thus far and they'd hate to separate they're best commander and best assassin.
Right when you heard the door slide open, your head darted to the window and you looked out at the light orange horizon. There was a blob of purple in the corner of your vision, which you thought as much. There were a few moments of silence, no words nor noises between you and her, until you heard a small clanging sound of metal hitting the floor.
You looked up at her and she had the same smug grin on her face. She motioned towards the object she had dropped on the ground, and your eyes focused on the floor. You eyed it for a few seconds then you glanced up at her again. She kicked it your way so you picked it up and examined it. It was your butterfly knife. Out of habit, you twirled it around your fingers before closing it again. You bit your lip as you stared at the fully sharpened knife
"How do you know I'm not gonna stab you in the back when you leave" You asked, your eyes remaining still
"Because I know you're smarter than that. You kill me, if you even can, then what? Go fight an army and walk miles to civilization, all while reinforcements are hunting you down?"
You nodded slowly. "Then what's this for" you held the knife up
"(Your name) let me ask you something...do you truly love Lena Oxton?"
Your seemingly uninterested expression and mannerisms turned to those of pure focus as your eyes instantly shifted to the assassin, who assumed a relaxed position by resting her shoulder on the wall
"What are you saying..." You said in a passive aggressive tone
"It's a simple question, do you love the girl"
"Why?"
"Because I know regret consumes you. You can hardly live with yourself knowing you're the reason she's not here"
"It was either she gets killed, she becomes your puppet, or she escapes. Now which do you think is the most logical of those?" You said in a snarky tone
"'Escape' is an overstatement, and you know that. And you can quit the attitude because it's obvious you have a guilty conscious in your possession. I mean why wouldn't you, you spend weeks searching for her all just to have her...disappear without a trace"
"It was the only way she can be freed of Talon"
"But there's just one small problem with that, cherie: You don't know how to get her back, and the monkey is dead. So, Lena is trapped in an endless limbo until a new anchor is created. However, the rest of Overwatch, or the world for that matter, know that she's gone and you're imprisoned"
Your heart skipped a beat and you began to perspire, but your expression did not show those signs of anxiety. "What do you want, besides giving me a full summary"
"I want your services..." She said as she pushed herself off the wall to look at you
"Fuck you...Might as well kill me" you looked away from the captor
"Be careful what you wish for, (your name), Bradshaw has his finger on the trigger, ready to dispose of you. But if that happens, then who will save Lena?...must I remind you that no one knows about her. So if you're dead, she'd just be a ghost for all an eternity. And how could you break your promise to her. What were your final words to her? 'I'll bring you back'?"
You closed your eyes clenched your fists, and cracked your neck at the predicament you were in. You remained silent while she began pacing around the room
"(Your name), our scientists will construct a new accelerator for Lena. After all they are the only ones in the world that have studied and done maintenance on it. We do that in exchange for your services as a Talon soldier" There it was, the proposition
The idea sounded absolutely preposterous on the surface, but in reality, what choice did you have? "What happens when you bring her back, you'll just let the two of us walk free?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. It's not important either way, since you don't really have any other option, do you?"
You gazed up at her again. There had to be some other way, right? Anything besides becoming a terrorist.
"We create a new accelerator, and you work for us, it's simple" Widowmaker repeated
"I'm no terrorist" You said aggressively
"Don't think of it as that, this is all for Lena. Everything you do from now on is for her. Do you truly love her, (your name)" She returned to her first question
You ran hands through your sweaty hair again and smacked the wall behind you in frustration. You covered and rubbed your face before looking up at her again. "I don't... I don't have a choice, do I?"
She smirked, knowing she had won "No you don't, cherie. Do I take that as a confirmed deal?"
You remained silent and slowly opened and closed your knife. Recently you've been on a streak of bad decisions, and you fear that you have just added to that counter. There is no possible way this could end in your favor, but what else were you to do?
"Oh and by the way, we have already assessed your skills on the battlefield, so in case you were planning on just tagging along for the missions, we know your full potential. And if we don't see that, the deal's off and Lena will be lost forever, do you understand?" She threatened you. You turned your head and nodded a few times "Good"
She made her way to the door and opened it and stood in the doorway. She waved to you to follow her "Come on" She told you
You slowly stood up and made sure to grab your knife, but you remained standing in the cell "Where are we going"
"You're a soldier now, you don't stay in cells" She said to you by looking behind her back. You reluctantly followed her out of the cell. What have you done...
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