Jesus. Everyone was there.
Genji was there, and Isabell nearly had a heart attack. He was who her original nunchuck attack had been based on. And he was so freaking cool - speedy as hell and a half-cyborg ninja murdered-but-not by his brother? Rider of the Dragon of the North Wind, katana user, ninja stars thrown so fast that they could almost catch up to Tracer's Blink.
Mercy was there, but wasn't wearing her Valkyrie suit. It took Isabell by surprise until she realized how impractical it would be to wear your battle suit constantly. She offered a warm smile, ever the healer.
Lucio was there, as well as McCree - who was a genuine surprise to Isabell. She knew he'd been a former member of Blackwatch and now fought against crime, but she was certain she hadn't found a single record of him rejoining the vigilante Overwatch. He raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't offer a smile. Typical.
Lucio leaned back and nodded at her, winking in his upbeat way, trying to encourage her. Isabell swallowed.
It looked like a training arena. The few spectators were the other members of Overwatch - those who had come, at least. Lucio, Genji, Mercy and McCree were all there, as well as Winston and Reinhardt. Anyone else was either out on a mission, Isabell supposed, or simply didn't turn up.
She wondered if Zenyatta had ever visited Genji after his training was complete. Or vice versa.
Or if Hanzo and Genji ever saw each other.
Tracer grinned at her, tapping her gun against her Chronal Accelerator - which Winston had completed the patch-up job on. "You think you can take on the Tracer?"
"No," Isabell admitted, and swallowed.
She was not going to fail in front of Overwatch. Her heroes. The legendary advocates for good and the people she had looked up to all her life - heck, based her life on.
"But I'm going to hit you hard before I lose," Isabell flashed a grin at Tracer, the fire in her eyes returning.
"Try not to break the old bucket of bolts, if you don't mind," Tracer tapped her Chronal Accelerator. "I want to see everyone's reaction to you, not me blinking out of existence again."
"Yes, ma'am," Isabell nodded, and stood at one end of the arena while Tracer Blinked to the other.
And she tried not to notice how easily Tracer had said something so serious. If Isabell broke her Chronal Accelerator... Winston would probably kill her.
Out of nowhere, a loud, shrill Chinese voice pierced the air. "Sorry! Sorry!"
Isabell turned to see Mei - who she'd nicknamed the Ice Devil - scrambling into the room. "Sorry! I'm--"
She gawked when she saw Isabell, halfway through stepping over Genji to her seat. Her little droid, Snowball, was there as well, hovering over her head. Adjusting her glasses, she continued to stare. She whispered ridiculously loudly, "Who's that?"
Lucio pinched the bridge of his nose, and Mercy gestured for Mei to come over to her. Leaving her position halfway through stepping over Genji, Mei hurried over while Mercy speed-explained. "This is Isabell. She saved Lena's life, and Winston wants to see what she can do. Seeing as there's an outsider in the Overwatch headquarters, some of us turned up to see as well - and to challenge her if she's any good."
"I need a challenge," Reinhardt grunted, and Isabell nearly had a heart attack at just the thought of facing him.
Tracer's goggles flashed in the light as she looked to Winston for approval.
Isabell's heart was racing. Everything she'd ever done in the Simulator, those bullets, everything was to fight for this. Tracer was fast, unbelievably so - and her Recall was stupidly overpowered. But then again, a stun attack like Isabell's was too.
It was just like coding. Learn the patterns, mimic them. Predict your opponent's next move.
She steadied herself, trying to slow her rapid breathing. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Tracer. She couldn't beat Tracer!
Unless...
Unless she could.
Winston lifted his head in a nod.
And brought it down.
Instantly, Tracer Blinked. Isabell whipped out her Nunchucks and whipped both sets down either side of her body, absorbing the blue bullets that had - out of nowhere - come from her left, and then Tracer was on her right.
She could feel the surprise from Overwatch that she'd even lasted that long.
Her blue circlets started to glow brighter already - those plasma bullets gave her a lot more energy than ordinary bullets did.
Maybe she could do this.
Bull.
She would do this.
She'd categorized her abilities into four, including her Ultimate. She had her basic nunchuck wielding - hitting anything that got in her way. Then she had her deflection, when she absorbed power from projectiles. Then she had her Kinetic Energy Beam (she'd think up a cool name later) when she released the kinetic energy into a concentrated beam, and then her Ultimate, the Radiation Explosion.
Tracer had four similar categories - her pistols, her Blink, her Recall and her Pulse Bomb.
Blink.
Blink and you'd miss her.
She Blinked left. Isabell whirred her nunchucks to keep the bullets at bay.
She Blinked in front of her. Isabell had to cartwheel to escape the bullets.
She Blinked above her. Isabell swung too late, and a blue bullet whizzed too close, grazing her shoulder and sending blinding pain through her.
She gritted her teeth. Not just against the pain.
But the electric blue underneath her skin, now shown pulsing from the plasma burn.
There. There was her radiation poisoning.
Winston stared in silence.
Mercy put a hand to her mouth.
Snowball huddled closer to Mei.
Tracer Blinked right. "Try catch me!"
Isabell glanced for just a second at Winston.
He was staring.
She had a pattern. Tracer had a pattern. That was how Doomfist had got her last time. Old habits die hard, they say.
She just had to wait for the perfect moment.
"Come on, love!" Tracer grinned, Blinking to her right. "You can do better than that!"
That was when she Blinked to Isabell's left.
And when she got both pairs of nunchucks in the gut, right below her Accelerator.
She Blinked before Isabell could ever register that she'd connected, on the other side of the arena. She stared at the rips across the fabric from the spikes on the nunchucks, and the glowing blue now pulsing around Isabell like a halo.
Isabell grinned, swung a pair around her shoulder, and tapped her goggles.
Once she'd recovered from being winded - in a split second - she nodded to Isabell with a smile, giving her a two-fingered salute.
Game on.
Isabell started moving, now. She skidded left and got Tracer in the back of the knee, then rolled to avoid the spray of blue bullets. Tracer Blinked behind her and hit her over the head with her pistol, but before she could pin her, Isabell scrambled out of the way, sweeping her nunchucks behind her.
Again, and again, and again.
Isabell's blood was roaring in her ears. She could see Mei whispering, astonished, to Mercy, who nodded with a smile, as always. Then she quickly ducked from the arena, probably to get her Valkyrie suit. She hadn't expected Isabell to be this good, and now there might be need of her talents.
Tracer ran at Isabell, her Blinks temporarily out of charge. Isabell took the opportunity and flicked one nunchuck at her. Of course she dodged - but straight into Isabell's other pair whirling for her legs.
They connected with a loud crunch, and Isabell winced.
Tracer was already whirling through time and space, her Chronal Accelerator roaring, as she flew backwards in time. To hear about it was awesome, but to see it - it was legendary. Her movements from the last three seconds rewound, her guns hovered weightless in front of her hands.
Recall.
If Isabell was scared for her, she could hardly imagine how Tracer reacted to Recalling. Perhaps she was used to it - but after what had happened after the Slipstream... Isabell knew that kind of fear too well. She didn't exactly have time to dwell on it, though - because if Tracer was scared, it didn't show.
She was already shooting at Isabell again.
"That's what I like to see!" she laughed, Blinking and backflipping in the air above Isabell, who deflected with a whirling nunchuck.
"Not when I beat you, it won't!" Isabell laughed back, glancing at her circlets. Glowing like they were on fire.
Tracer saw her gaze, and pulled out a small device from her back.
A Pulse Bomb.
Isabell ran.
Not fast enough.
"Ha!" Tracer shouted, throwing the bomb.
It landed a foot away from Isabell.
No, no, no, no, no--
Beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeepbeep
Isabell was thrown backwards, tugged into the blast radius of the bomb. She scrambled for traction, but the sand offered none. Helpless, she was dragged into the field of the bomb.
And then exploded outwards.
BOOM.
Isabell hit the sand. Her goggles were cracked and her nunchucks lay useless in her hands by her sides.
Not even her nunchucks could absorb power like that.
She groaned. Everything hurt.
Tracer Blinked over, and put her pistol two inches from Isabell's head. "Bad luck, love."
"For you, maybe," Isabell grinned, opening her eyes.
Tracer, as fast as she was, didn't have time to see the pulsing light grow so bright that it burned even Isabell's goggled eyes.
She was all out of Blink charges.
Her Recall hadn't recharged yet.
So Isabell blasted her halfway across the arena when her Kineto Beam hit.
Tracer lay, stunned, on the ground, and Isabell raced over, despite literally everything aching like hellfire burning in her muscles. She skidded in the sand and wrapped the chain of one of her nunchucks around Tracer's neck, and grinned, staring into her goggles.
Tracer Blinked away, but stumbled when she landed, and turned around. Grinning widely. "Call it a draw."
Isabell couldn't believe it. She'd gone head to head with Tracer, and she'd not only come out alive, but she'd good as won.
Isabell clasped Tracer's hand and grinned, shoving her. Tracer laughed and shoved her back, holding up her hand to the astonished Overwatch. She winked at Winston. "I told you so."
As Mercy floated down with her staff powering up, Reinhardt laughed a roaring laugh, clapping his hands and smashing his weapon against the floor. "Fantastic!"
As Isabell was flooded with sweet, sweet, golden relief, Mei leapt up and started clapping wildly, too.
And then Genji - Genji - got up and clapped.
No freaking way.
Tracer, who had been healed before Isabell, zipped over to Winston and whispered into his ear. He blinked in surprise, and growled, "Absolutely not."
"Come on, Winston, love," Tracer encouraged. "We need it and you know we do. And don't tell me you're not curious about the glowing under her skin."
Winston sighed, and grinned. Just an act. On the inside... He's just a big softie.
Maybe Tracer was right.
Isabell didn't have time to dwell on it.
Winston leapt down and adjusted his glasses. "Isabell, would you like to join Overwatch?"
Isabell wasn't sure if she passed out or had a brain aneurysm.