There I was just sitting by my lonesome with wires coming out from all over my body, especially my chronal accelerator. Winston was running some critical diagnosis on the tech that made it up; he made the machine so he’s the only one who understood it. I was getting a tad impatient; the most productive thing I could do at the moment was let my mind wander and plan out how I could beat the snot out of the next Talon merc who came after another omnic monk.
“Chronal Accelerator diagnosis complete, here is the report Winston.”
“Thank you Athena.”
While Winston sat in his tire reading all of the data on his fancy computer, I had to sit still and be a good little girl. I let out a bored sigh and rested my head on my hand, which was tricky since I had to maneuver my arm through all of the wires sticking out of the machine on my chest.
“Relax Lena, I’m almost done here.” He said.
“How can I relax when there’s ANOTHER omnic crisis going on? I shouldn’t be here I should be out there stopping this!” I almost yelled back.
“Well you need to wait until I finish this maintenance check, you wouldn’t want your Accelerator to glitch out in the middle of a firefight would you?”
“No… it’s just–”
“You wouldn’t be able to protect anyone if you kept fading in and out of time either.”
“Gah, I know!” I was getting a little frustrated by this point. “I just can’t help but feel that every second I’m sitting around not helping another innocent life gets taken away! It's like every person or omnic that dies is my responsibility…!” I massaged my temple, a headache form from getting so worked up.
Winston took a moment to look me over; I knew he was reading into me. “Lena… is there something else on your mind? Something you wish to talk about?”
I pouted and looked away from him, muttering a soft “No”. I knew he wouldn’t accept it, but I really did not want to talk about what was on my mind.
“It doesn’t take a genetically engineered, hyper-intelligent ape to know when there’s something wrong. So come on out with it, I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” He said.
Of course he cared, despite being a… what he said, he was able to read human emotion like one of his many, many books. Maybe that genetic engineering also gave him some kind of emotional sensor in his brain, I don’t know. Or maybe it was because the big lug had an even bigger heart.
“Well…” I said “Did you hear about what happened to Tekhartha Mondatta?”
“Yes, he was assassinated at King’s Row, why?”
“Well, I happen to know who the assassin was.” I sat up straight and look Winston dead in the eye, “It was that soulless, living weapon Widowmaker.”
“The Talons? They killed Mondatta?”
“Yup, it was them. The reason I know this is ‘cause, I was there. I saw her taking aim at Mondatta and tried to stop her.” I wasn’t able to look him in the eyes at that point, “And you know exactly how well that went…” I sighed and looked at the ground; I never felt any better about my screw up when I talked about it, despite what any experts say about it, so I tried not to tell anyone. Why Winston was some kind of exception I’ll never know. The memory of that night just kept playing over and over in my head and how different everything would be if I just hadn’t been so… so…
“Lena?” Winston called out, returning me back to reality and catching my attention.
“Sorry, I was thinking about that night and…” I sighed and looked down again “I feel like it’s my fault Mondatta was killed.”
“It’s not your fault. The Talons killed him, not you.”
“I know! But the shot that killed him, I could have stopped that if I wasn’t so careless! When we were fighting she had a clear shot right here at my chest, which was lined up perfectly with his head. If I had just taken the shot and not ran away he would never have died. There’d be no Second Omnic Crisis, no recall of Overwatch, no innocent deaths! If only I just took that shot…”
I felt pathetic each time I reminded myself of that night. I swear I can still see the smug grin on that witch’s face; like she knew what would happen the entire time.
Winston’s tone became a lot sterner after I said that, “Do not talk like that. You’re one of Overwatch’s most valued members. I don’t know what we’d do without you. I can’t tell you how much everyone would lose to the Talons had you not been there to stop them.” His face pulled that ‘scolding parent’ kind of look, the one that only he knew how to pull. “Besides, even if they didn’t get Mondatta that one time, who’s to say they wouldn’t have tried again? You know how persistent the Talons can be.”
Sometimes, I kind of hated how he was always right about things, but I knew he was trying to reassure me (I sure didn’t show it though), so I just blew a strand of hair out of my face in frustration. What Winston said still did make me feel just a little better.
Athena interrupted our discussion, “Winston I think you should see this.”
Winston returned his attention back to the computer; he read more of the diagnosis until I saw him perk up. “Ah ha! Found you~.” He sang. “Seems the calibrator’s been having a few quirks, nothing a simple reboot won’t fix.”
A calibrator reboot. I knew what that meant but still (kind of stupidly) asked, “Does that mean I’ll have to wait longer?”
And of course he answered, “Yes Lena. And don’t perform any strong manipulations of time either. No blinking or recalling. Athena, double check for any more anomalies while the calibrator reboots.”
Athena undoubtedly obliged. I unhappily groaned, and laid onto my back. I went back to letting my mind wander, to what not even I knew exactly. My eyes drifted around the room looking at all of the high tech around me. I’d likely never understand how anything in the lab worked, but I at least knew what some of them could do. Athena… well she could do a lot, more than I’d like to list. There was Winston’s prototype barrier projector on a nearby table, I remembered hearing the story about how a bug in the system saved his (and likely Overwatch’s) life. There were his other tools like his jump pack and his tesla canon beside the table; there were the servers that held all of Overwatch’s information in a room above, there was even Winston’s favorite tire swing (apes will still be apes).
And on another table were my things, two custom-made rapid-fire pulse pistols; my main tools for protecting the innocent, a few pulse bombs; for when things really get dicey… And sealed in a case behind them all was my old Slipstream pilot armour. Lookind at it made me remember the days of training and being recruited for the slipstream, and everything that happened to me afterwards. I thought about all of the work Winston did just to help me... I thought of all the fighting I had done and those whose lives I saved and those I’d taken... I thought about how it was happening all over again… Then I shook those thoughts away, not wanting to feel bad all over again.
My thoughts were interrupted when the computer started blaring warnings. I immediately sat up straight, “What’s up?”
“Something has malfunctioned, I’m working on it just stay calm I can fix–”
Before he could finish I felt a painful jolt of electricity in my back, it felt like I’d just been stabbed. My reflexes kicked in and I blinked away from where I thought the source was coming from… and I instantly regretted it. My Chronal Accelerator sparked and flickered and alarms blared from all over the lab. I was officially freaking out. My heart sank when a large spark exploded in front of my face, and the accelerator made the unhealthiest sound a machine like that can make.
“Oh… that can’t be good.” I whimpered. And then all hell broke loose.
All I remember was a blinding blue flash, the feeling of being hurled back with the force of a freight train, and hearing the echo of Winston screaming out my name. It was like the feeling of recalling, just much longer, and a not quite as… comfortable of a ride. And then I blacked out.
Now I know all of that sounds pretty crazy (and believe me it sure was), but what happened to me after was downright mental. I even asked Winston if it had happened, and I took a medical exam just to make sure I wasn’t drugged or in a coma or something. But yeah, it was real; and I’m glad it was.
Hello loves! My name is Lena Oxton, but you can call me “Tracer”. And this is the story of how I traveled through time and space and accidentally discovered the first intelligent alien life.