"Here's the play," Junkrat said seriously, and Isabell could almost imagine the team huddling around their captain. Such a melodramatist - he'd practically dressed up especially for the occasion of infiltrating his home town and blowing up whatever he could. Riptire polished to perfection, mines gleaming at his waist, mechanical arm and leg shiny as if they were straight from the cardboard factory.
He drew in the dirt with his peg leg. "We enter in here." He pointed to a rudimentary diagram of the front of the entrance of Junkertown. "Roadie and I will go in through the front entrance with our... inconspicuous disguises..."
He pulled out a scarecrow-looking costume that looked made out of old corn sacks. Everyone stared at him. Even Isabell was doubting whether her own sanity was intact if she was trusting him.
The sun was just rising still, and Isabell had been allowed to hitch a ride of Roadhog's motorbike with Jamison to just outside the town, while her friends had had to walk. Tracer had Blinked ahead pretty early and they'd been chatting ever since - until everyone else had arrived, it being at least 9am by now, and Junkrat had immediately started explaining.
"And then Isabell and Headcase, as per her request," he bowed melodramatically, "will go in together through the sewer system."
Isabell gave him a glare that promised a world of hurt and he grinned broadly back at her. "You two will infiltrate the main city center, and hang out there, trying to be..." He put extra accent on the word. "Inconspicuous."
Tracer put her head in her hands.
"Then smurfmonkey and Santa Claus will hide in our massive tray of gold," Jamison grinned, pointing to the massive hovertrailer that was piled high with gold and jewels. And, you know, just casually laced with dynamite. "And Roadie and meself will get them into the city and into the Queen's chambers. McFrogNugget will wall climb his way up the side and hang out in the bar to the left-- I mean, right-- I mean, north-east? - of the city, ready to snatch that paper."
Lucio made no comment. He just kind of stared.
"Then me and Roadie," he said, his voice growing in pitch as he got more excited, "blow up the Queen's palace, and then we run like hell for the main area! Perfect distraction! Then, in the chaos, I make a rousing speech to the Junkers of Junkertown and they all follow me as their new leader, McFrogNugget grabs the paper and tries not to sniff Isabell or Headcase as they help him escape."
"What about us?" Tobjorn growled. "We're hiding inside that bucket of gold that you just used as a distraction."
"Details, details," Jamison waved him off, and Tobjorn gave Winston an exasperated look that translated roughly to 'Can I kill him now?'
"It's foolproof!" Jamie laughed maniacally, and Isabell finally saw that side of him that everyone described him as. When he was around explosives, shit went down. This was the scrambled-eggs side of the basket - and as much as it was terrifying, Isabell was enjoying how much more terrified everyone else was.
Everyone waited for someone to say something, but nobody did.
Jamison actually look genuinely surprised. "Nothing? No objections?"
"I could think of a thousand better ways to get in," Tobjorn muttered.
"With some serious modifications," Winston folded his arms, "It could work. Jamison, why are we hiding inside the gold in the first place?"
Jamie shrugged. "Couldn't figure out where to put you."
Tobjorn's ears went red with fury. Tracer raised an eyebrow at him in warning and they had a silent staring contest for a while as they argued soundlessly. Eventually, Tracer folded her arms and Tobjorn sat down with a huff, defeated.
Isabell stepped forwards. "Jamie, you and RoadHog hide under the gold. Despite your inconspicuous disguises, on the off chance that they do recognize you, we'll need you to be hidden from sight. Winston and Tobjorn can edit your disguises to suit them better and they'll go in with you, just like you planned, into the Queen's palace. But instead of blowing the Queen's palace sky high," she raised an eyebrow at him, "which is the tallest building in Junkertown and would likely topple onto the rest of the town killing dozens of people... give her this."
She held out a pair of her nunchucks.
"Isabell," Tracer protested. "You can't--"
"The Queen will recognize my technology. She's seen stuff like this before. I..." Isabell took in a deep breath. "I wasn't kicked out of Junkertown. I ran."
Even Jamie was quiet.
"After the radiation bomb went off and killed that guy, the Queen had me dragged into her palace. She wanted me to make her more stuff like that - make her the most powerful monarch in Australia, and eventually, the world. I refused and escaped, and I never went back. If she sees this tech then she'll ask you where you got it from, she'll want to know everything about my whereabouts. She'll do anything to get her hands on me. That will keep her distracted for long enough, and then Jamie can set off some bombs in some less dangerous places and cause chaos in the city. Winston, you and Tobjorn act like you're worried and want to leave immediately, and she'll stay to reassure you and make sure she gets the information she wants. In the chaos - which I'm sure you can add to, Jamie - Lucio, Lena and I will get into the bar and clear the place out while we search."
"What do you mean 'clear out'?" Lucio asked carefully.
Isabell avoided his eyes.
"When in Junkertown, do as the Junkers do," she said softly. "If we don't want to be recognized, then we're going to have to act like they do - drunk, insane and volatile."
"You don't mean--" Tracer said, eyes wide.
"No, of course not," Isabell said. But she continued to avoid her gaze. "We don't kill them. But you have to be willing to injure them at least."
Lena was silent, and at that, Winston stepped forwards. "If that's what it takes to prevent global destruction, I think the Junkers can handle a bullet wound or two."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Tobjorn growled. "Let's go."
"Lucio, you head in first to scout it out," Winston said. "Isabell and Lena will be in after you soon. As soon as we're inside we'll let you know."
"Gotcha," Lucio said, moving to skate off. Before he did, he put a hand on Isabell's shoulder and murmured, "be careful."
Isabell said nothing as he skated off to skirt around to the side of the town's walls.
While Tobjorn, Tracer, Roadhog and Winston headed off to prepare the hovertrailer and quickly fix the disguises, Junkrat stayed behind until they were out of earshot. He leaned down to Isabell's level, looking her straight in the eye. "You sure about this, mate?"
Isabell nodded. "Yeah."
"That's not what I meant," he said in a low voice. "I don't know how you did it, but you keep your insanity on the inside. Us Junkers, we're all insane and we wear it like a badge of honor. But you? You have an insane side, Isabell. Don't tell me you don't. What I'm asking is, are you sure that you want to show them that side of you?"
Isabell swallowed. He'd seen straight through her. She remembered those first few months after the explosion - the sheer power that she'd felt, the urge to laugh at everything, without caring whether she got hurt or not. Able to set fire to her shoes and just laugh and laugh and laugh. No cares. No worries. Thirsty with no water? Drink some petrol! Need a distraction? Send a building up in flames! Who cares if you get caught? Who is even out here to catch you?
It wasn't until she'd forced herself to think straight, until everything depended on her, that she'd pulled out of it. That she'd hammered that darkness to the back of her head in search of one person: Jamison Fawkes.
And then she realized how he'd seen through her.
Because very slowly, she'd been turning back.
She remembered that while she was with Jamie she would laugh at his insanity instead of rolling her eyes or being wary of him. She sat on his shoulders leaning on a portable bomb and enjoyed it with no fear. She accepted his haphazardous plan without a second thought and hadn't even thought about changing it until Winston suggested it. And she was here, the place that she'd been chased out and hunted and she wasn't even remotely scared.
Isabell was going insane all over again.
"I knew it," Jamie said triumphantly. "I knew that your voodoo skin couldn't be the only shit that happened when you got blasted with radiation. You know it too. See, the rest of us have been insane for long enough to kind of get accustomed - every now and again, we can think clearly. But you've been hiding from it for ages. Who knows what'll happen if you let that shit out?"
"I can control it," Isabell gritted her teeth. "I've done it for this long."
"Just don't lose the Isabell I know," Jamie told her, turning away to go after the others. "As much as I'd love to see you go insane, I like you the way you are. Besides, the last thing we need is three insane Australians trying to save the world."
Isabell was quiet as he walked off. "I'll try," she said softly, but it was too quiet for him to hear.
Maybe she didn't want him to.