[closed] Wake Me Up

[vata]

Who: Sombra + Talon
When: post-December everything
Where: living quarters
What: Sombra's systems finally finish repairing the damage, and a certain hacker wakes up from a month-long sleep
Warnings: super brief mention of needles, otherwise NA!

[Waking up feels like pushing up against stone. Like her limbs are made of sheet rock and her bones are all brittle underneath, and it starts with a groan that's dry in her mouth— bitter and stale, but when she winces, it all gets marginally easier. Like her mind's adjusting even if her body isn't: an understanding of the map that starts at her head and ends at her toes as they curl. As her eyes slowly crack open to a hazy mess of dim color— and then focus. Focus.

There's a sting in the crook of her arm, a sharp pinch that draws her attention as soon as she's capable of processing it, one hand slapping down instinctively and dragging the culprit loose— a needle, the connecting strands of tape— an IV. An IV?

How long has she been out?

Sitting up in clothes that aren't hers, braided hair pulled back and flecked with...feathers? Another groggy yawn has her pausing, and turning, and noticing someone else curled up beside her. It's not exactly unexpected: there's limited living space, and Sombra's been bunking with Amélie ever since they moved in (Gabe gets the office, along with a bed of his own— and an independence that probably sits well with his reclusive taste) but it's what Amélie is clutching in her arms that's unusual. A square piece of paper held tight between slender fingers.

Sombra's careful when she reaches over to tug it loose, violet eyes widening for a beat— then narrowing— her lips thinning out in a tight line as its contents are committed thoughtfully to memory. As she flicks her attention towards the empty bottle on the bedside table, quietly pressing the photograph down on the covers and slipping off the bed to set bare feet on the floor. She could wake Widowmaker up, sure, but considering what she's just seen? The spider probably wouldn't be happy about it. She's better off dreaming, waking up on her own, and having at least a sliver of a doubt that Sombra saw anything at all.

And Sombra's better off finding some food in their kitchen before her growling stomach wakes the dead.]

Comments

[vata]

No no no no, that is not an answer—

[Tired as she is, she shoves herself away from the counter, storming after LaCroix with every intention of keeping her from walking out on the full depth of this conversation.]

[araignee_du_soir]

[And of course, Sombra was going to follow her. Just like Lena had. Sometimes Amélie wondered if the hacker had any idea there were times she was just as damn annoying as the ex-Overwatch agent.

...she probably did it on purpose.]

It is.

[Entering the bedroom, Amélie proceeded to gather the clothing she needed for the day with one hand, the other one running through her hair as she tried to keep herself from pulling on it in a rather human act of discomfort and agitation.]

This place did something. I don't know what, but it let her see the first time Talon laid their hands upon Amélie LaCroix. Like she was right there in that underground bunker.

Watching.

[vata]

And you just let her get away with that?

[She sounds incredulous. Shocked. Maybe even bothered, her tongue clicking sharply against the back of her teeth.

This is Amélie LaCroix they're talking about— this is Widowmaker— not just another passenger on the ship, stuck under the heel of their own morals or limitations. The idea that Lena was able to watch it and walk away? That's crazy.

That's wrong.]

[araignee_du_soir]

[Amélie went very still for a moment, purposefully not looking at Sombra.] I was there too. The memory was clearer than I ever remember it as. Whatever caused it put me in that chair along with Amélie LaCroix. [To say she'd been a bit shook was an understatement. She stubbornly refused to say that woman was herself, referring to her as if she was an entirely different person.

She then continued gathering her things, still not looking at Sombra.]

I was unarmed at the time and not foolish enough to think I could take her barehanded when she has that accelerator. I was also down an ally I wasn't sure would ever recover. It was tactically stupid to attempt to kill her until I had proper backup. [And Reaper was rather unreliable these days.] I used the opportunity to sow seeds of discord between Lena and Morrison as he had clearly not informed her who I had once been. Lena does not like having things kept from her.

[vata]

You're sure it took?

[Lena was nosy, Lena didn't know when to keep her mouth shut— but that doesn't mean she'd go running to Jack as soon as she caught wind of something this big. Sombra's padding footsteps slow to a halt, her arms folding as she watches Amélie riffle through her things in agitation.]

If there's one thing I know about Overwatch? It's that they love their secrets.

[araignee_du_soir]

Positive. You are not the only one capable of manipulating people.

[She draped her robe over her shoulder, eyes still firmly planted on her things. Amélie knew Sombra had read the reports - surely she had - so she knew what happened in that bunker. To an extent, at least. But there was a difference between knowing and knowing.]

I left her with half answers and more questions than she was comfortable with, set an emotional hook by letting her think there may still be something of that woman still in me while vehemently denying it, pushing her back to her happy little Overwatch family and leaving the traitor alone.

Everyone wants to chase ghosts; what's one more?

[vata]

You sure you don't really want to be chased, mija?

[There's no real inflection to it. No tone that inspires the idea of judgment or suspicion: she is— as she always is— curious.

And she's set herself up neatly in the doorway to their bedroom, preventing Amélie from leaving.]

[araignee_du_soir]

Positive.

[Taking her things, Amélie swung toward the door on her way out, only to find Sombra barring her way. She stopped short of bowling into her, finally looking down at the shorter hacker.]

It is just another weapon to use against them. A twist of the knife in Morrison's gut. The man that chases after Reaper, wanting Gabriel Reyes back, pining for the days of past whilst shunning and hating the only one out of the three of us that did not join Talon of her own accord. I would not be surprised if he has made overtures toward you, appealing to your ego about how your talents are wasted with Talon.

So, no, I don't want to be chased. [A slight pause, then just a hair quieter:] Not by them.

Bouge toi.

[vata]

He did.

[The words feel a little hollow. A little muted when she says them, if only because it's a point were she feels less...certain. They'd struck a deal before she went under. Not the worst bargain, sure, but one that she isn't sure is the best way to go, either.

Because Gabe was right.

She didn't consider whether or not he wanted to stay, or why— or the fact that he wanted her to stay with him, too. It was about getting back at everyone that had their fingers deep into that conspiracy. And it was making sure he stuck around to help her finish them off.

Stupid that it's taken her this long to realize it.]

Hey, Araña... [Sombra bites her lip, leaning against the door frame as she knits her fingers together. Still very much in the way.]

[araignee_du_soir]

[Of course, he did. Why wouldn't he? Talon knew of Sombra's habit of engaging in extra-curricular activities outside of her missions - or inside - that made her such a risk to employ. But the reward of having such an opportunist, that skill and information, had thus far outweighed the risk that came with her. Vialli's orders about watching Sombra after Volskaya may no longer apply given the man's recent removal, but it still resided as a subprocess in the Widowmaker's programming.

And from the way Sombra's tone shifted, the behaviorism she displayed...



The hacker been swayed. Made a deal with the enemy. Agreed to apply those very ample and unique talents of hers to someone that was refusing to fade away like he was supposed to, insisting on sticking his nose into business that no longer concerned him. An irritating spore on the skin of the war beast that created just enough of a distraction that the Reaper was to remove him from existence. Permanently.



Amélie's body stilled, the minute tension that had been at the corner of her eyes smoothing out, as something inside her began to unfurl. Stretching and stirring from its repose, dragging the woman that been woken up back from the fore, ignoring the futile clawing as she fought for purchase, as easily as tossing refuse into a bin. This would be a pathetically easy kill for the venomous spider - almost a waste of her skills. But it had been so long, that the idea of sinking her fangs into flesh and tearing life away - even something like this would be invigorating.

But something caught, something of that woman managed to refuse to be completely shoved back into that tiny box she'd spent so many years in. Maybe it was the realizations that had come to her over the last month, or maybe it was that kiss - that moment - on the beach. Whatever it was, it was just enough to keep the Widowmaker from striking immediately, delaying the process to give Sombra the small chance to divert the protocols activating.]

Tell me how it benefits Talon. [Her voice had gone cold, businesslike, but it wasn't completely devoid of emotion.] Your agreement with Morrison. Tell me, Sombra. Killing you right now will be so, so easy.

And I just got you back.

[vata]

[Sombra doesn't need to think to see it, all the telltale signs the switch upstairs has been flipped. A certain sharpness to that gold gaze, the narrowing of her eyes.

...the fact that she asks Sombra not to make her kill her.]

Wasn't a big deal. Trust me. [Trust me, she says again, but unlike all the earnest back and forth she'd tried to encourage earlier, this? This is Sombra. The quick ease of a lie without balking— without guilt. Maybe that's what makes it work so well, their relationship: Amelie's been constructed out of ultimatums and broken desires, a maze of dead-ends with literal dead-end consequences— but it all hinges on moments of hesitation. Opportunities that invite bared fangs and the pull of a trigger.

Sombra— not Olivia Colomar— exceeds at failing to flinch.]

Needed to get him off my back and make him think the three of us were going to actually stick around.

[She lifts her claws, violet eyes drifting across glowing talons, still reclining casually in the doorway.] Unless you wanted him shadowing our every step.

[araignee_du_soir]

[There was an art to lying, and the best lies were the ones that had a kernel of truth embedded within. Sombra was a master liar and seemed to understand the precarious position she kept placing herself in. Amélie couldn't tell the hacker to give her any reason - even a lie - as the Widowmaker wouldn't let her, but it was the lie that saved Sombra's life. Again.

Whatever this deal with Morrison was, if it did succeed in getting the man to leave them alone for the time being, then it was of benefit to Talon. That was enough. Barely. By no means did she believe Sombra when the hacker said it was no big deal, but that nugget of truth in the lie satisfied certain parameters in her protocols.

Nostrils flared and she raised her head up, coldly looking down at Sombra like the gutter trash she came from. A hand reached out steadily, deliberately, to Sombra's neck, hooking the v of her hand up under the woman's chin. Though close, she had no intention of obstructing her airway at all, but used the leverage to force Sombra to look up into those uncaring deadly eyes.]

Do take care not to allow your risk level to exceed your value to Talon. You are more useful alive than dead.

[Words chilled to the bone in tone, making it all to clear what part of Amélie was addressing Sombra.

...and then the hand was removed after a second, sweat beginning to bead on Amélie's forehead. She swallowed hard, trying to recover.]