Edit:AU Note- Sorry for anyone who has read this story recently and House of the Rising Sun didn't play. For some reason it's not responding, so I replaced it with a different video. Don't worry it's still in high quality and it's by the Animals. Also I took this opportunity to add in a piece of dialogue for the pub scene that I forgot to put before I originally posted this chapter. Sorry! The change is after the line: "Small world.")
"This stinks." Tracer said, holding her head up with both of her hands as she sat next to you on the ledge below one of the windows inside the room. Now that she wasn't phasing in and out anymore, you or Angela could walk in and check on Tracer if you needed too. Winston would rarely go in, because he could barely fit through the door. But today, Winston and Angela took the day off from the lab as a reward that was given to the three of you for all your hard work in curing Lena, so it was just you and her today. You were given time off as well, but decided to use it on a later date.
"Don't worry Lena, it's only for two more days and then you can change rooms." She was still in her special room, even though you knew that she was ready to get an actual room now. It had been three days since you put the Chronal accelerator on her and so far she seemed fine. But to be safe, Tracer was to be kept under observation for five days just to be sure that she really was in the clear.
"I know. It's just that I'm getting tired of sleeping on this cold piece of metal in this cold room."
"Better than the floor and at least we gave you some sheets to lay down on the ledge."
"Still, I can't wait to sleep in an actual bed again."
" You know it's a good thing you can take off the accelerator when you need to and still be here at the same time. I can't imagine how uncomfortable it would be to try and sleep with that thing on."
"Yeah as long as it's nearby I'll be okay. Which is something I wish you knew before you tackled me."
"Okay in my defense I did not know that. You were starting to disappear and I didn't want you to go through with that again. It was just a heat of the moment kind of thing."
" Don't worry about it. Thanks again anyway. You and Winston saved my life. I'll never forget it."
"By the way, how does it feel so far? Is it too tight? Too loose? Is it acting weird?"
"I think *ccrk ker kuchuk chuu*--"
You widened your eyes to the sounds she was making.
"HaHa! Just kidding (Y/N)!" She said, giving you a jab on the arm."It works great!"
"Good to hear. " you said as you rubbed your arm. She could hit pretty hard for someone her size. "Winston and I worked real hard on it, even though he assembled most of it and drew the schematics for it. So after this has all settled, what's next for you?"Lena leaned back and took a minute to think.
"I don't know really. I'm definitely not flying for a while, but I don't know if the flight test program would even take me back."
"You kiddin'! With the pilot you are, they'd be crazy not to." you said looking at her. She smiled at your remark and you smiled back. She then laid her head against your shoulder and you looked straight ahead as she nestled into your shoulder. It was quiet for a moment.
"Um...Lena?"
"Hm?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm leaning against your shoulder. Your just more comfortable than this cold ledge and your so warm, love. What ? Got a personal space problem ?"
Good thing she didn't see you blushing. "No. No problem at all. S'all good." you told her. It was quiet again for a few minutes and you thought she was asleep until you heard her speak again.
"Hey (Y/N)?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?"
You felt your heart start to beat faster. Don't sweat. Don't Sweat.
"Um..sure. Go for it." you said as you waited for her to ask you her question. You could see her take a breath in. Oh god. What's she going to ask?
"When's your birthday?"
Phew. Started to freak out for nothing.
" I was born on (Month) (Day), 2050." you replied.
"Hey! I was born that same year too! High five!"
You gave her a high five, even though you knew she was born the same year as you since Angela gave you a copy of her file.
"Where are you from?"
Hm. Another question about you. It's alright. It's a good follow up.
" I was born in (Hometown/ Home country). My parents and I lived there until I was three, then we moved to Queens in New York."
"Wait! As in New York City?" she said as she raised her head up from your shoulder and looked at you.
"Yeah. It's about a half hour drive away to Manhattan from where we live."
"Oh, man! I've always wanted to go to there."
"You've never been?"
"No. My family and I would mostly stay in England when I was growing up. Speaking of family, you got any brothers or sisters?"
You leaned away and raised your eyebrow in question. She looked at you and asked "What?"
"Not to be rude or anything Lena but, what's with all the questions?"
"I just think it'd be nice to get to know each other more, love. I've already asked Dr. Ziegler and Winston about themselves. So it's just you now."
"Oh, alright. Well.." You lean back , lifted up your right leg on the seat and hung your arm over your knee," I do actually. I have one little brother, his name's Sam and he's 14 years old. I call him little runt. " You got your phone out of your pocket to show her your family. You went to your photos and found a picture of them when they took you out to lunch when they came to visit you at Cornell a few months ago.
"That's my mom right there. There's my dad and that's Sam sitting next to him."
Lena put her hand on your phone to get a better look at your family. " You're mom's so pretty, love. What do they do for jobs?"
"Well, my Dad is a History professor at NYU, while my Mom runs a diner back home. I used to work there with her and my brother, mostly in the summertime."
"What about your brother? Is he smart like you?"
"Almost. He's a 14 year old high school junior, well senior now, but I'm happy that he took a bit longer. Not because of a sibling rivalry or anything, it was because he got to live a more normal childhood than I did. I kinda grew up pretty fast."
" How did it happen? You know, all the science stuff?" she asked you. You take a breath as you tell her how (Full name) came to be a science prodigy.
"Well it all started way back when I was five years old. Before I could go to public school, the school district told my parents that I had to do this little test. It was a test they would give to every kid that was going into the school system to find where they stand as far as intelligence and development. So I take the little test, finish, I leave with my mom, she takes me for ice cream and we go home. The next day, my Dad got a call from the district and they wanted me to test again."
"Why? Did you fail" Tracer asked you.
"No. It was the opposite actually. I got all the answers right. A perfect score on math, spelling, reading and whatever else was on there, it was just simple addition, subtraction and a bunch of other easy stuff so you know, piece of cake. So I take it again and after I'm done, they leave me in the room by myself. I assume they were looking over my test, to see if I had the right answers because they changed the questions this time. I guess they thought I must have cheated somehow. So a few minutes pass, they call me out and I see my parents to the right of me when I go out the door. I grab my Mom's hand and my Dad puts his arm around me as we start walking down the hall. We go into, what I assume was the administrator's office and she basically tells my parents 'Hey! You're son's a genius!'. Of course, five year old me didn't know what was going on."
"Did you study or anything for this test? How did you know everything?"
You shrugged "It all just clicked. I mean my parents would give me flashcards on stuff like that and I would read the little kids books real easy when I was four years old. So after that, instead of going to kindergarten, they put me in 1st grade just to see how I do and if I was good enough I could go to second grade in a month. Pretty soon, by the time I was twelve I was already working on algorithms and studying calculus in college."
"Where did you go to school?"
" I started off by double majoring in physics and engineering at M.I.T. in Boston, MA, got my bachelor's in two years time. Since I had taken advanced classes in high school and when the university saw my work, the dean said I didn't need take all the beginner classes. He said that I'd be wasting my time, so with that I got two bachelor degrees at fourteen. After that I decided to continue my education by focusing on quantum physics, so I got my master's degree from M.I.T. the following year. Then after that I transferred to Cornell to pursue my doctorate, I earned it in four years time and here I am." Now she looked like she had another question for you.
"What? You've never seen a prodigy before?"
"No, it's not that. It's just...why did you transfer and how come this took you the longest time to finish?"
"Oh. It was just that...I was feeling a bit homesick to be honest with you. My family was in Queens and I was in Boston. I mean I know that the drive time from Ithaca to Queens is longer than it is to Boston, but at least I was in the same state as they were. Also, Cornell just seemed more open to me and plus the town was a lot more quiet than it was back in Boston. Now the reason why this took me a bit longer than usual, is because I wanted to enjoy my life for as long as I could. I mean, like I said I grew up kinda fast. Pretty soon, I was going to graduate, apply to be apart of the space program, meet that special someone, have kids and make mortgage payments for the rest of my life. And that would be it. My life. Of course I didn't want that, at least not yet, especially the mortgage payments. So I decided, no more shortcuts. Let's slow down for once. Let's have some fun."
Lena sat there and took it all in. "Hm."
"Yup. What about you Lena? What made you want to be a pilot?" She asked you questions, it was only fair to ask her some.
" Well ever since I was little girl, I always dreamed of flying in the sky. Sometimes My Mom and Dad and I would go to the countryside and have ourselves a picnic . After I would finish eating, I would run around the field with my arms up, pretending I was in a plane flying through the clouds. Sometimes my Dad would pick me up to help me gain some altitude. He would say ' You can't fly if you're not in the air', he'd pick me up and spin me around. I dunno, flying just seemed so exciting to me."
" Cool." You said as you grabbed a few M&M's from the bag that was in your pocket.
"What'cha got there?" Lena asked you.
"M&M's. Want some?" you said as you chewed the candies in your mouth.
"Sure." She put her hand out and you poured a few onto her hand.
" What about your parents, Lena? What do they do? If you don't mind me asking."
" My Mom is a nurse and my Dad works in a car shop that him and a friend run."
"Hey! My old man use to be a mechanic to put himself through college."
"Really'?" she asked. You nodded in reply. "Hm. Well I know one thing I'm doin' once I get home. Take my folks out for a bite to eat, the food here is okay. But it's not as good as the food back in London, I could murder a chip sarnie right now."
"You're gonna murder who now?" you asked quickly.
"HaHa. No you goof. A chip sarnie is a sandwich that has a few chips in the middle with ketchup on them. It's the best." she said.
"Hold on, timeout! Let me stop you right there. One: That sounds like the most boring sandwich ever made. It's just fries , or chips as you Brits call them, and ketchup between two slices of bread. Two: the best? Really? Nu-uh. The best sandwich in the world is a pastrami sandwich on rye with mustard from Katz Deli on 205 East Houston St., New York, New York. Hands down."
"Oh, really?" She asked you, sounding as if she was just given a challenge.
"Yeah, really." you said. Tracer looked at you with a smug look on her face. What is she thinking right now?
"Wanna bet on it?"she asked confidently.
"What's the bet?" Oh this ought to be good.
"So you've never been to King's Row, right?"
"Nope. Never been and you've never been to New York City before, right?"
"Nope. So how about this: I'll take you to King's Row, show you around and take you to the pub that's got the best chip sarnies in England. You take a bite and tell me what you think. If it's better than your sandwich, you have to admit it in front of me and say 'Wow Lena! You were right! Chippies are the best and they're way better than that boring meat sandwich!' and you'll have to announce my presence into any room I walk into whenever I tell you to."
"Okay. Then I'm guessing it's the same for me. I'll take you to Manhattan, show you around and take you to Katz's deli to have your taste buds explode from a savory Pastrami Sandwich. Now if my sandwich is better, you have to say 'My god (Y/N)! This is the best sandwich in the world and chippies are the most boring, tasteless and lazy thing to be put between bread. U.S.A! U.S.A.!" you said in a poor attempt of a British accent , while pumping your fist in the air. You saw that Tracer was smiling at your silliness. " Is the chant too much?"
"No, No. I like it. That's a good one. Nice accent by the way. Anything else?"
"Hm. Oh and you have to talk in an American accent for a day." Lena smurked at your request and extended her hand to you.
"Deal!"
You shook her hand, agreeing to the bet. Her little french fry sandwich didn't stand a chance against Katz's pastrami sandwich. Just then, you remembered something that you had to tell Lena.
"Oh I forgot to mention, I'm actually heading over to King's Row in a couple of days."
"What? Why?" Lena asked you.
"Old professor of mine is being given an award for her work in physics involving electromagnetic radiation. I would help her from time to time with her work along with a few other classmates, but I think she knew that I contributed the most to her research. So she sent me an invitation a few days ago to see her accept her award and I told Director Petras that I'd use the time off we'd been given to go to the ceremony."
"Oh. Um, alright I guess." Tracer seemed a bit let down, probably because she wanted to take you around King's Row. So to make her feel better you gave her some more details on the trip. "Hey if it makes you feel better, I won't be there for long. I fly in the night before, the award ceremony is the next day at lunch time, I'll go around and talk to some people in the room, pack my bags and come back the same day. Don't worry, you'll get your chance to show me around. I wouldn't trust those touring companies when I have the ultimate guide to King's Row right here." You said patting her on the back.
"Thanks (Y/N). Even if you're going to be there for a short while, I'm sure you'll love London. Here's a few tips while you're there:
1. If you're looking for the bathroom anywhere, call it the loo. Otherwise you might throw some folks off.
2. If you eat them, don't call 'em fries. They're chips. Chips. Got it? Good.
3. If you have to take the tube, don't stand in front of the doors whether they're opening or closing.
4. Don't stand on the left side of any escalator you take. You will get trampled.
5. This is very important: Do not. Under any circumstance. Speak. In. A. British. Accent. They will know you are faking it and they will stare deep into your soul. It's not a good feeling."
"Dully noted. I'll be sure to remember that." you said nodding your head in agreement. You both sat there in silence for a bit, then Lena asked something of you.
"Hey (Y/N)? Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure Lena, anything. What is it?" you told her.
"If you can, while you're in London, could you look up my parents for me? Could you please tell them that I'm okay?" Overwatch had yet to go public with the news about finding and curing Tracer, so her parents didn't know that their own daughter is alive. You knew the risk that would come with it if you told them about her. Word could get out and you might get into some trouble for talking about confidential information. But then again, these were her parents and they had the right to know that their daughter was okay.
" Just give me an address. I'll do what I can to find your parents Lena. You can count on that." Her face lit up as she came in and hugged you for that.
"Thanks (Y/N). You're the best."Your arms were up and to the side as she hugged you since she caught you by surprise. After a moment, you put your arms around her to return the hug. You let each other go and Lena looked as though a light bulb lit up above her head. "Do you have your phone on you?"
You searched your pockets. "Yeah, I got it right here."
"Let's take a picture together. You and me. Come on!"
"Oh..um..OK sure." you lifted the phone up and switched to the front camera. Tracer put up her hand in a peace sign as you got the both of you into the frame of the shot.
"Smile!" she said. You took the picture and it actually came out pretty good. You showed Lena the picture, "You have a cute smile, love. Could you send that to me? Here let me give you my number."
"Wait a minute. Do you even have a phone?"
"I do, they told me that they got my things in storage here and said that they'd give my stuff back to me soon. So as soon as I charge it, the picture will be the first thing I see.
You dialed in the phone number she gave you and saved it into your contacts to send the picture later. A girl just gave you her phone number and you didn't even have to ask her for it. Best. Day. Ever.
Three Days Later
You finish zipping your duffle bag shut and began to run through your mental checklist to make sure you weren't forgetting anything, before you left for King's Row. Toothbrush: check. Charging cable: check. Invitation to ceremony : check. Just then you got a message on your computer. It was your parents, who were skyping you from Queens. You went over to your desk to open up the video and there they were.
"Hey Mom! Hey Dad!"
"Hey there son. How's it goin'?" Your father asked as he fixed his glasses.
"Are you getting ready for your trip?" Your mom asked taking a sip from her coffee mug.
"Yeah, I just got finished packing right now."
"You're not forgetting anything? Shoes? Socks? Charging cable?*Cough* Protection?" Your dad asked.
"What would I need protection from? The tension between humans and omnics there is not as bad as before." You replied. Your dad raised his eyebrows and then it hit you. "Dad!"
He laughed as your mom gave him a punch on the shoulder. "What? "
"Sweetie don't mind him."
"I know mom."
" But he is right about protection, carry it with you because you never know."
"Okay! Moving on! Where's Sam? What's the little runt up to?"
"You know I'm almost your height, so that name's not gonna stick forever." Your little brother said as he walked up behind your parents and appeared in front of the camera.
"Yeah, but you've still got a few inches to go little brother, so the name sticks. How did school go? You getting held back a year?"
"Aha, Aha, very funny." Sam said sarcastically. "Nailed every single class and I'm already getting offers from schools."
"Yeah, you're a senior now and plus you're my little brother. You should have no problem getting in to a good school next year after you graduate. Have you been in my room?"
"..No." Sam said with a blank expression on his face.
You pointed at the screen. "Really ?Cause I can see my bedroom door's open and the light from my Batman Lamp is on."
(AU Note- Saw this online. Looked pretty cool.)
"No bro, your room is exactly the way you left it." Sam told you.
"Are you selling my stuff on Ebay again? You know, you are lucky that I caught you last time before Z0MBiSlayer86 bought my Lego Death Star set 10188*. "
"It's just 3800 pieces sitting in a box."
" 3803." You said correcting him."I'll get around to building it. Eventually."
" You better not build it without me."
" I won't, I won't. Next time I come home, everything better be there Sam. I swear, if you sold my Iron Man arc reactor, I'm gonna be pretty pissed. "
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sam said as he walked to his room. He may be a little pain in your side, but he was your little brother and you're glad to see he was developing your're attitude.
"So when are you coming to visit?" Your mom asked you.
"Hopefully in a couple of weeks. I'll just use the time off they gave us for completing our work. They gave us four days to take off when we choose, so after tonight I should have three left. "
"Good, come back soon okay. We miss you."
"I miss you all too."
"Son, be sure that you don't forget your special necklace." Your dad said.
You grabbed the necklace out of your shirt , held it with your thumb and showed it to your parents. "Don't worry dad, I got grandpa's good luck charm right here." It was a four leaf clover carved out of Connemara marble that your grandpa always had on him, even after he retired from the service. He gave it to you before you left for college.
"Good. Don't lose it." Your dad told you.
"Alright, well we don't want to make you miss your flight. Have a good trip and be safe, okay?"
"I will Mom. Bye, love you both." You waved at the screen.
"We love you too. Bye." The screen read 'Disconnected' and you turned off your computer. The clock on your nightstand read 3:50 P.M. and your plane was scheduled to leave at 6:20 in the evening. You grabbed your duffle bag and decided to head to the training facility to see how the field tests were going for Tracer.
You went down the hallway and came before two blue doors. You walked in to see Dr. Ziegler looking out the windows of the observation deck, while holding a clipboard.
"How's it going so far?" you said as you walked up beside the doctor.
"Oh, (Y/N)! You startled me!"
"Sorry."
"It's alright, you're just in time actually, we are about to begin the test shortly. Winston is already down there with Tracer and some equipment. You can join them if you'd like."
You walked out of the room and went down to the training room floor to get a better look at how the accelerator worked. You had about two hours until your plane would leave, so time was on your side. The doors to the room opened and you could see Winston typing in some data into a computer, while Tracer was warming up with some stretches. She had her chronal accelerator on and she was wearing some orange and black Overwatch jumpsuit.
" I was afraid you guys were gonna start the party without me!" You said as you walked up to Winston.
"(Y/N)? I thought you were leaving to King's Row?"
"My plane doesn't leave for another two hours and the drive to the airport is only ten minutes. Thought I'd come by and see what's going on before I head out." You said with your hands in your pockets.
"Well, we are about to begin the first trial of the accelerator, so you're just in time. Could you go over to Tracer and make sure we're good to go?"
"Can do." You put your duffle bag down and walked to Tracer, who was sitting down on the mat, stretching her left hamstring. She looked up and saw you, "(Y/N)!" she got up and placed her hands on her hips. "I thought you were leaving for King's Row? What's going on?"
"I have some time to spare, so I decided to come by and see how the tests are going. Is the accelerator working okay?"
"Still here, so yeah."
You look up at the observation deck to see Angela give you thumbs up, telling you that everything seemed alright at her end.
"Okay looks like vitals are running, chronal accelerator accelerating, Lena Oxton..um..Oxtoning* I guess. I don't know." Tracer laughed a bit at that as you stepped back and gave Winston a thumbs up. "We're good to go Winston!"
"Great.Let us begin." Winston stepped on to the mat and stood beside you as you two explained to Lena the first test.
" Now Tracer, me and (Y/N) have been talking about how the chronal accelerator can do more than just suppress your chronal disassociation. We've theorized that it can give you the ability to control your own time , and one of the things you'll be able do is move from one place to another at a speed close enough to the speed of light."
"With the chronal accelerator, you can use your condition to move at the blink of an eye. This involves what we call in the world of physics quantum tunneling, which is where a particle can go through a barrier that it normal can't pass through."
"For example, say you drop a ball down a hill and it rolls down and goes up the next hill. But, as you know, what comes up must come down, so the ball only goes up to a certain height and then rolls back down due to conservation of energy."
"Now replace the ball with a particle and the small hill with a simple barrier. Place the particle on the left side of the barrier and you expect it to stay there, but it manages to go through the barrier and appear on the right side. Instead of taking the usual way of getting over the barrier, it just goes through it."
"And that's what you'll be capable of Tracer. (Y/N), if you may, can you walk ten paces down the mat?"
"Of course." You walked ten paces, timed yourself just in case Winston forgot to, stopped and turned around.
"Now, according to the stopwatch on my data pad, that took (Y/N) 8.32 seconds. With the accelrator, you can cover that distance and much more in much less time."
"Yeah, the barrier for me to cover that distance is that I can only go a certain speed. But, you have no restrictions on speed with this thing. So go ahead and give it a try."
Tracer stood there and looked down at her accelerator, "Okay..um..how?"
"Look at where you want to go and picture yourself there. Use your forward momentum to carry you there and vice versa for moving backwards. Remember, the accelerator allows you to be in control of your own time. It'll be like running, but so much faster. Just focus your energy to one spot and the accelerator will do the rest." You told her. Lena closed her eyes and took a deep breath in and breathed out. She looked ahead and started on a light run on the mat. She was going normal speed and then you could see the accelerator starting to flash and small pieces of blue light started to form around it. Winston went back to the computer, "How's she doing?" you asked him.
"The accelerator is holding. It seems as though she's trying to do it, but it's as though she's holding back. Something's not letting her make the jump."
She must have been scared that she was going to disappear again. "Lena! Just let go! You'll be OK!" You told her as she was still running as her eyes closed and she took a breath and *Fwoosh*. You saw a blue light and there was Lena a couple of meters ahead from where she was. You turned to Winston, "Did we get that?". The ape gave you a thumbs up and motioned for you to come to the monitor. You went up as he played the footage. You couldn't believe what you were seeing. She was running and then a blue streak formed as she went forward a few meters. You looked up and saw Lena looking at her hands and touching them to see that she was still here. She looked up and a smile ran across her face and she did it again. She started to go around the room and came up behind you guys. She saw the footage of herself and was amazed. She continued to blink around on the mat and stopped at the center of it. She was filled with excitement , "This. Is. Awesooome!" she shouted as she jumped into the air with her arms up.
"Hey (Y/N)! Come here! I want to try something!" You walked onto the training mat. "Stay right there!" What is she up to? She's probably going to go around you or..*WHACK*. You fell back onto the mat and put your hand on your forehead and you could see that Tracer was doing the same. You both groaned in pain.
"What did you do that for? Oh my head!"
"Ah! I thought I could go through you. You said the particle could go through a barrier."
"I didn't mean a solid one!" You looked up to see that she got up and was offering her hand to you. You couldn't be upset with her, you thought she could go through a solid barrier as well. You smiled, grabbed her hand and she helped you up. "Well, I'd like to stay for the rest of the tests, but I got a flight to catch."
Lena gave you hug," Have a good trip love.". She then whispered into your ear, "Remember, please try to find my parents." She told you the address and you were sure to remember it. "I"ll find them, Lena. I promise."
You went up to Winston and wished him and Angela good luck on the rest of the tests as you picked up your duffle bag and headed for the airport. A car from the base took you to the airport and traffic wasn't too bad. You looked at your watch to see that it was 4:45 P.M. , so you still had well over an hour till your flight left. After going through security and waiting in the terminal, you boarded the plane and sat down by the Window. Luckily it wasn't a packed flight, so you had the row to yourself. After the attendants did their safety demonstration, the plane took off and ten minutes into the flight you were allowed to use your electronics. You got your phone and put your earphones in to listen to your music to past the time. You scrolled through your library to pick a song and you couldn't decide. There was Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash, The End by The Doors, Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin, Another One Bites The Dust by Queen and so on. So you just pressed shuffle and listened to the first song on the list.
Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival, a classic and one of your dad's favorites. You leaned back into your seat and let the song play, while mouthing and from time to time, quietly, sang the lyrics.
"Don't go around tonight, it's bound to take your life. There's a bad moon on the rise."
The next day
You sat at your table, listening to your former professor give her speech on her work and accepting her award. "...Once again, I'd like to thank the committee of the royal society for considering and awarding my work. But, before I sit back down, I would like to give thanks to one of my brightest pupils, who I wish to share this award with. Would (F/N L/N) please stand up and be recognized?"
There's your cue, you stood up and waved as the room gave their applause. " Thank you all so much." There was another round of applause as she went back to her seat.
After the ceremony was over, you walked around and would talk to any of the guest who came up to you. You looked at your watch to see that it was 4:15 P.M. and your flight back to Zurich was scheduled to leave at 7:05 P.M., so it was best to leave now and go to the address Lena gave you. You went up to Mrs. Redmond and gave her thanks for her achievement and she reminded you that it was yours as well. You told her you had to leave early and you went off to find Lena's parents.
You called a cab and it took you to where you needed to go. You drove out of King's Row, crossed a bridge and after about twenty minutes of driving, you pulled into a neighborhood in the East End of London and got out of the cab. You gave the driver 10 UK pounds to keep the engine running , just in case they weren't home. Your watch read 4:50 P.M. and you went up to the door to ring the door bell. You pushed it and waited for a response. Nothing. You pushed it again and hoped that they heard the doorbell. Again, no response. You looked at your watch and it was five o'clock. Was anyone even home? You thought of looking through the Window, but you didn't want to seem rude and creepy. The cab driver tapped his meter and you raised up five fingers to ask for more time and he gave it to you. You had to tell them about their daughter, they had to know that she was alright. You had to keep your promise.
You searched your pockets to find a napkin in your left pant pocket and found a pen in the other pocket. Luckily, the napkin wasn't too crinkly and the pen wasn't short of ink. You wrote a letter, telling them all about Lena, her condition, where she was and that she was alive. You were sure to tell them that they shouldn't go public or go looking for her until Overwatch made it public. You folded it and wrote; "For the Oxtons" and slid it under the door. You walked back to the cab, hoping that they get the letter. The cab driver took you back to the hotel and on the drive over, your phone buzzed in your pocket. You opened it to see that your flight, for some reason, was pushed to tomorrow morning.
"Great." you said.
"What's the mattuh?" the driver asked.
"My flight got delayed to tomorrow at 9:20 in the morning."
"Ah. Sorry 'bout that."
"Looks like I'm having dinner in London. Any recommendations?
"So you're not from 'round here, huh?"
You laughed. "What gave it away?" You said jokingly. He told you of a nearby pub that had some really good chips and that's all you needed since you weren't that hungry. He dropped you off back at your hotel and you went up to your room to change to something more casual, since you were still wearing your formal attire from the ceremony. After a quick shower, you slipped on a pair of dark blue jeans, a black crew neck t-shirt with a black hoodie left unzipped and your red converse sneakers and headed to the recommended pub.
(AU Note- Bit of background sounds for you guys. Just try to get the volumes at the right level to where that they don't drown each other out. Worked best at half way. Optional if you want to use it or not.)
The pub had dim lighting with red walls along with it's wooden floor with the feet of the decent crowd it had on it as you walked through the doors and sat in one of the wooden stools of the bar. You leaned back into the red cushion of the seat to scan the bar. There was a retro stylized digital jukebox against the wall that had The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals playing out of it to the left of you, with the door to the kitchen a few feet in front of it and the bathrooms, or the loo as Lena told you to call it, were towards the back.
"What will you be havin'?" someone asked you. You looked forward to see a male bartender with a crew cut and a beard with both his hands on the bar counter, waiting for your response.
"Um..I'll just have a (favorite soda) if you have it and an order of chips, please." you told the bartender. He gave you your drink and gave the order of chips to one of the waiters to take to the kitchen. As you waited for the chips and sipped on your soda, someone placed their arm around you and you could smell the alcohol off of him.
" Oi boyo, mind helpin' a fellow man get himself a good shag?" The man had an Irish accent, black spiky hair, a pair of sunglasses sitting on his forehead with a pint in his right hand.
"What?"
" Don't worry I'll be sure that you get one yourself too. Now, I'm thinking of those two feeks over there by the window. See 'em? The redhead and the caked blonde? Just don't act like a total muppet and we'll all have craic. What do ya say?"
"I'm trying to understand a word your sayin', pal."
"Never mind lad as you were." He pat you on the back and went to go find another man to be his wing man. At least, you hope that's what he was asking you to be. You then saw a waitress walk out of the kitchen with a basket in her hand and come up to the bar.
"Chips?" She asked you.
You raised your handed and nodded as she handed you your light dinner. As you started to eat, the door to the bar opened and a middle aged man with a beard, wearing a brown suit with a tan-yellowish button-up shirt underneath and an olive green flat cap, walked in and sat two chairs down from you. He got comfortable as he took his cap off ,putting it in front of him on the wooden counter of the bar and a bartender that looked to be around the same age as the old man, went up to him to get his order.
" John! Been awhile since you walked in here. What can I get you? How's the wife?
(AU note: Introducing Sir Michael Caine as the wise old man every story has. Again, if you need a face and voice to go with the lines, there you go.)
(AU Note- He's younger in this story, so let's go with a middle aged Sir Michael Caine.)
"Evening Will. The missus is doing fine, she's up in Harlow looking after her sister. She came down with a cold. I'll just have a pint for now." The man said to the bartender. You looked back to your chips and continued to eat as the television above the bar was on the news channel. It was something about a peace accord that would hopefully help ease the tension between humans and omnics in London. "Won't do much good to them omnics as far as protecting them from beatings. Since when did ink on a piece of paper change the minds of every man and everybody followed it?" the man said after looking at the report on the TV.
"Well, the books of every religion in existence, for starters.Not a fan of Omnics?" you asked him.
"No, they're alright with me and I support their demand for equal rights. They only built the city around us. It's the least we can do to repay them, although not everyone here shares my opinion. The omnics that the people are afraid of now, were destroyed more than twenty years ago. What about you?"
"Same. Considering that there's a group of omnic monks out there that were able to abandoned their programming and believe in a deity, there's more to them than we perceive. I've put a couple of omnics back together and after I fixed them, something just told me that they were more than just bolts and circuitry. I quote Descartes: I think, therefore I am."
The old man nodded, agreeing with you. You both went back to what was in front of you until he asked you something. "You said that you put a few omnics back together?"
"Only two. My mom owns and runs a diner back home in Queens. Assaults against omnics happen in New York, but there's not as much as there is here. We've had two omnics make their way to the door of the diner. One was crawling because he had one damaged leg while the other was on the sidewalk. The other omnic we had was being beaten in the parking lot, but my dad was able to chase the guys off with a baseball bat. He wasn't hurt as bad, but I still fixed him up."
"Ah, American. So you're an engineer I pressume? Where do you go to school?"
"I'm a physicist actually and I just graduated with my doctorate from Cornell about three weeks ago."
He seemed shocked at your eduaction, "But you look so young. How old are you?"
You swallowed your chips and replied, "Nineteen. I'm kind of a genius."
"Huh. So what are you doing in King's Row? Bit far from home aren't ya?"
"Old professor of mine was being given an award for her work. She invited me to the ceremony and I was suppose to be on a plane by now, but it got pushed over to tomorrow morning."
He nodded and rolled his eyes showing that he'd been in that situation before. "Care to join me?" You asked him. You were by yourself and so was he by the looks of it. You put your hand on the chair to the left of you, "Seat's not taken, you're more than welcome to."
He smiled, "That's very kind of you and yes. That sounds lovely. Will! Whatever he orders, put it on me tab, would you?"
"Sure thing."
You smiled in surprise as the old man got out of his chair to join you"Oh. Thank you. You didn't have to do that."
"Don't worry about it. Least I can do to repay your kindness." He extended his hand out to you "John."
"(Y/N)." You said as you shook his hand. As your hands separated from the shake, you saw that he had a ring on his right index finger. It had a logo on it that had two wings, with a sword between them.
"You're S.A.S.?" you asked him.
"Well, thank you for not saying ex or former, but yes I am. I joined the army when I was about your age. After serving six years in the army, I was offered the chance to join the Special Air Service by the time I was twenty-five. Did another seventeen years with them."
"Wow. Thank you for your service."
" What about you? Anybody in your family serve?"
"My grandpa. My mom's dad to be specific. Born and raised in Brooklyn. He started off at age eighteen in the 1st Infantry division, the Big Red One. After seven years, he joined the U.S. Army Rangers. He spent twenty-four years in the airborne division rangers. Retired about twelve years ago."
(AU note- For when the song ends and if you want to keep jamming. I found an actual recording of it on YouTube by the actual Beatles and not a cover band. If it's not taken off in a couple of weeks, maybe I'll change it to that. Although this isn't bad either. :12 second mark if you want to get to the song immediately.)
"Served during the crisis?"
You took a sip from your drink, "Yup. He told me that the jumps him and his unit made during that time, were the most dangerous ones he ever did. Said that it was like 'jumping feet first into hell.'* and that went around so much, they earned the nickname "Helljumpers."*. Yet, no matter how hot the drop zone was, they never lost a man during a single drop."
"Hm. So if you're his grandson, that tells me that he had children."
"Yeah, him and my grandma had my mom a year after he joined the rangers. Then my aunt a few years later."
"So you said your mom runs a diner. What about your dad? What does he do?"
"He's a history professor at NYU. What about you? What do you do after all those years in the service?"
"I run a small shop around here. Just came from closing for the night."
"What do you sell?"
He laughed a bit. "Not that kind of shop. A car shop."
"Oh, you're a mechanic. My dad was one to help put himself through college."
"Really?" You nodded. "Hm. Small world." There was a big cheer coming from the other side of the bar. You and John turned your heads to where it was coming from and saw that it was the Irish man from earlier standing against the bar, surrounded by other people from the bar. He had one hand on the counter top and a pint in the other. He finished taking a sip from his drink and went back to what he was saying.
"They didn't serve pints." he said.
"Aaaawww." Everyone around him replied.
"Only buckets!" He shouted holding his drink up high.
"Yeeaaahh!"
"There was only one barmaid."
"Aaaawww."
"For every man!"
"Yeaaahhh!"
"The guards came."
"Aaaawww."
"A bean garda!"
"Yeaaaahhh!"
"She was wearing glasses."
"Aaaaawww."
"And nothing else!"
"Yeaaaaahhhh!"
Just then the news channel went back to the peace accord and made mention of how the crisis wouldn't have ended without the formation of Overwatch. The old man seemed to not have a high praise for the organization. *Sigh* "Overwatch. Joke of an organization if you ask me."
"Well, she is right. We wouldn't be here if the U.N. didn't assemble the strike team. I'm assuming you're not a fan of their work?"
He took a breath to explain his disbelief in Overwatch. "Don't get me wrong, she is right on that note. But after that, there's not much else. Especially with that whole Blackwatch thing that's going on right now. But the real reason, that I don't give Overwatch a high recognition, is because I lost someone. Someone very dear to me. And they were the direct cause of it."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Was it during the crisis?"
"No. It was much later after that." He reached into his pocket and grabbed his brown leather wallet. "What is the most important thing in this world?"
You said the first thing to come to your head, "Family."
"That's right. In the end, that is all we have. That's what Overwatch took from me." He opened his wallet and got a small picture out of one of the pockets. It was faded and crinkled, so it was taken years ago. He held the picture in his right hand in between his thumb and index finger. His eyes were fixed on the small child that the young man that was once him held.
"You lost your kid."
"My little girl. Taken from me and my wife."
"How's Overwatch responsible for this?"
" Like you and the rest of your generation, joining Overwatch was a dream come true. It was hers as well. Sometimes.." His voice started to break from talking about his daughter, "I think it was my fault...because I pushed her to do her best so she could join. But I remind myself of how good she was and that if anything were to happen, it wouldn't be on her."
"Again, I'm sorry. Losing someone that close is never easy, especially if it's your own child. If it's not too much to ask, what was her name?" You asked John. He calmed himself and took a breath to relax, so that he could answer you clearly.
"Lena."
You went back into your chair to take it in. Did you hear that right? Did he? "I'm sorry it's a bit loud in here. What did you say her name was?"
"Lena. The pilot that went missing three and a half months ago? She was my daughter." He told you. Your face was in shock. He didn't see it as he kept looking forward as he told you what happened. " It was early in the morning, I was sitting in the kitchen while the missus was making breakfast. As I was reading the paper, there was a knock at our door. I get up to answer the door to see who it was this early in the day. I wish I never answered that door. I opened it to see two men at our doorstep. One, an officer with his hat down to his side and the other was a priest with a bible in hand. I had been in the service long enough to know what that meant. I stumbled and grabbed the frame of the door and her mother came out of the kitchen to see the two men at the door. I looked at her to see her eyes were bloody red. I reached my arm out to her and she came to hold on to me. Apparently, she was testing some new fancy plane for Overwatch and during the flight something went wrong." His voice began to break again. "They said that she was missing. That they were searching day and night for her. I know my Lena was a good enough pilot that she possibly couldn't have crashed. Here we are almost four months later and nothing!" He covered his mouth as his eyes started to tear up and turn red. You excused yourself to the loo to give him some space.
You turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on your face. You placed both hands on the side of the sink to take this all in. That man is Lena's dad! You have to tell him that she's alright. But what if word gets out that you told someone classified information? Look at him! The man is broken and is on the edge. He needs to know that she's alive. You had to tell him. It was the right thing to do. You took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom.
You walked out of the bathroom and proceeded to walk back to your seat. Mentally preparing yourself of how you're going to tell him that his daughter was alive. As you were walking, you could hear the song that was playing from the Jukebox: Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was at the guitar solo, right before the final verse.
"Hope you got your things together."
You grabbed the chair, ready to tell him about Lena. "John? I have to tell you something."
"Hope you are quite prepared to die."
He was a bit more calm now. "What is it?"
"Looks like we're in for nasty weather."
"It's not easy for me to say this and I probably shouldn't. But I think you really need to hear it."
"One eye is taken for an eye."
"Go on. What is it?"
Just then you heard something loud in the distance. It came from outside. Then another loud sound occurred. Then another. Suddenly you heard sirens go off and they weren't emergency service sirens. Air raid sirens.
John turned around to face the windows. "We haven't used those since the crisis." he said with a bit of tremble in his voice. Some people got up from their seats to take a look out the window.
"Are those spotlights?" One of the patrons asked. The sounds from outside kept getting louder than thunder. You looked to John. "John? What's going on?" He sat there with his mouth open, trying to think what was going on. He face then flinched, as if he had come back from somewhere in his mind.
"Everybody down! Now!" he said as something crashed into the street outside of the bar. He tackled you down to the floor as dirt and glass came in through the windows. After a moment, you opened your eyes to see that a cloud of dirt filled the inside of the bar.You looked to see that the Jukebox was still playing the song. It was stuck, repeating the ending of the song.
"Don't go around tonight. It's bound to take your life. There's a bad moon on the rise."
References (In order of appearance)
1. The Lego death star set from Spider-man: Homecoming. Such a good movie.
2. Back to the future part 1, when Marty is getting ready to return to 1985.
3. Halo 3 ODST.
AU Note:
Anyone else here not at Comic Con in San Diego besides me? Well this is better isn't it? Who needs all that standing in the heat or the big crowds or the pretty cool cosplay or the exclusive merchandise they have there that people will sell online for triple the price or a spot in Hall-H to get a glimpse of Infinity War or Star Wars Episode 8 The Last Jedi? Who needs it right?
Anyway, didn't see that coming did you? I didn't want to introduce Sir Michael Caine as John Oxton immediately. I wanted to surprise you guys, so that's why I introduced him as the wise old man, labeled him the old man and why you just call him John. For anybody that is wondering, this chapter ends on the eve of the King's Row Uprising, if you haven't figured it out. What about the playlist I put together when you boarded the plane? *Long Sniff* Aaaah. You can just smell the dramatic irony/foreshadowing. Also, If I put the name of a song in a scene, I'll just put the actual song for you guys to play. Just so that it can help with the scene. It was pretty well received in my opinion when I put Mr. Blue Sky in the last chapter, so from now on I'll put the song in the chapter if I mention it. Also, sorry that I didn't use a Beatles version of Come Together. It's just that songs get taken down on YouTube daily and I didn't want to put that and then the link on YouTube becomes unresponsive. Again, I'll replace it with the recorded song if people have a problem with Lennon. I know that there are some people who do not like John Lennon, be it musically or personally. I just like the song and I thought it went well with the bar and the conversation. Well anyway, hope you like the chapter.