Deep breath. In and out.

You closed your eyes as you sat down at your chair. Big match today, versus Talon. Your team was the underdog as the opposing team have been on a tear recently, and yours wasn't in the greatest shape.

You glanced nervously towards (T/M), who was casually setting up his gear, then looked towards your opponents, sat on the opposite side. You noticed Reaper shoot a nasty glare as you as he sat down. You gulped and looked towards your computer monitor, grabbing hold of your mouse and starting your warmup.

You had a bad feeling about this.

/

"Ex-(T/N) are gonna be banning Overpass, one of their strongest maps in favor of Inferno. (T/M) did say they were practicing on this map so I wouldn't put them out of this just yet." The analyst paused, straightening his notes. "Well, I still don't have much hope for them either way, but there's that." The bearded man chuckled.

"Well, with how they played yesterday versus Overwatch of all teams, I'm with you, Sponge."

"None of you have hope? We are talking about one of the most dominant NA rosters in a while here, guys." The third analyst added. "I'm gonna be placing an underdog bet on Ex-(T/N), not-"

"Cause you believe in the NA dream?"

"Well, you could say that."

"Ah well, sorry to say but your dream is gonna be crushed today. Onto you Jerry and Osun."

. . .

/

LucidHunt Champions Seoul, Group Stage, 1-0 round

The game didn't start off well. After having been dominated by an overly-aggressive strategy in the pistol round, your team couldn't find a way to string rounds, let alone win any.

The current scoreline was 11-2 in favor of the enemy. (T/M3) had just eliminated Junkrat who attempted to push through the Banana smoke into T Steps, regaining the manpower equality, but Widowmaker replied with a double kill onto you, peeking the right-side corner of top of middle into her crosshairs, then (T/M3) who peeked from apartments.

Both of your peeks were badly coordinated and resulted in a 2v4. (T/M) picked up the AWP then (T/M3) died to Sombra, who was AWPing for some reason. Roadhog then pushed Banana, behind your IGL and sprayed him down from behind.

"Fuck dude, why the hell aren't you peeking when I'm peeking? Come on." You said as you rubbed your eyes in frustration.

"I didn't know you were peeking that early! Could have at least told me, huh?" Your teammate replied. "Besides, it wouldn't have done anything. Sombra would've just peeked out and fucked us both."

"Wasn't (T/M3) covering that angle?" You asked.

"No. Sorry." (T/M3) replied.

"Jesus Christ guys." You muttered, sighing afterwards.

. . .

The half ended at 13-2 in favor of your opponents.

The pistol round on the CT half was as bad, if not worse than the rest of the game. Four enemies went straight for the B bombsite while another lurked in the Apartments, carrying the bomb. (T/M) thought it was a straight B rush but upon rotating to the site for the retake, and after you, (T/M2) and (T/M1) died, it was then revealed that the bomb was in fact A and not B.

"We seriously fell for that? Holy shit this game keeps getting worse…" You muttered in open comms.

"(Y/N) if you have anything to say, then say it. This game's practically over. Tell me, what could we improve, hm?" (T/M) snapped, practically seething from the teeth. The IGL sighed. "Why do you keep blaming us instead of looking at yourself?"

"Who's the one with the positive K/D!?" You snapped back. "Am I the only one getting kills here? Fucking hell dude. Where is everyone else, I thought this was a team-based game!" You slammed your desk as you got mowed down by a Mac-10 at bottom middle.

Your team won the round, and managed to win another, but Talon replied with a force-buy win that put your team at a four to fifteen scoreline.

"Yeah it's over." (T/M3) muttered as your team almost lost a 5v2 but managed to pull back the retake with two players remaining.

The score was 15-5.

Your team managed to get two more rounds, making the score 15-7 but a successful B site take and an uncoordinated retake lost the game.

You took off your headset, sighed and stood up to go shake hands with the victors, as was tradition. You didn't bother looking at your teammates.

. . .

"What a horrendous game by Ex-(T/N). That physically hurt to watch. What the Hell happened?"

"Well, Shields, it doesn't seem like they've been practicing hard. That incoordination and general sloppiness is something I personally have never seen before in a team of this caliber." The bearded Australian analyst shook his head. "This game was frankly terrible of them."

"Yeah, I agree Sponge, certainly no hope for the American powerhouse that seems to be powering down." The other British caster, by the name of Mechanic said. "I don't see much hope for this team if they continue to play like this."

"Anyways, onto the next matchup…"

/

As you shook Reaper's hand, his grip tightened as he approached his mouth to your ear.

"You better watch out boy." He muttered, barely audible but still loud enough to send shivers down your spine.

You tried pulling your hand out of fear, but he kept his grip.

"Got some bad people after you." He muttered before moving on. You went on to shake the hand of the other four members of Talon.

They all looked at you funny, and you didn't like that. You gulped in fear after the other team and yours left.

/

You were frustrated. Very much so, and Hana was there to listen to you as you vented your anger. It was a healthy experience, as she knew how to listen and never attempted to solve your issues, as that wasn't what you needed.

She wrapped her arm around your shoulders and squeezed you tight. "Be strong for the next game. I want to see you on stage." She smiled. "Do you need anything before I leave for my match?"

You shook your head. "Thanks for listening."

"Always a pleasure." She smiled once more, sending butterflies into your stomach. "Are you free tonight? You want to do another stream together?"

"That's if (T/M) doesn't do an extended practice session."

"Oh well, we'll see. See ya!" She opened the front door and left.

You collapsed on the couch and sighed, pinching your nose.

This was a new emotion.

. . .

Your feelings were jumbled. You didn't know how to deal with this newfound feeling of butterflies. It…made you feel uneasy, he unfamiliarity of it playing a big part in that feeling. You couldn't believe you were admitting this to yourself but…

You were crazy for Hana.

Upon shaking that thought out of your head, you decided to go outside and take a walk to clear your mind of the cloudiness that so plagued your romantically undeveloped brain.

It was still early in the day, and there were people bustling about in the quiet suburban neighborhood that you decided to take your walk in. It was a sunny, quiet day. Birds chirped, flower petals danced in the pure air, and everything was right in the world.

Although the black sedan that was tailing you was a bit suspicious.

In fact, it was really suspicious. The thing kept just enough distance to be a small dot in your peripheral vision, but was consistent enough to arouse suspicion. It followed you like an AWPer tracking its unsuspecting victim.

You were going crazy, seeing random shit. You gulped as the sedan slowly encroached upon you as you moved further down the sidewalk. Something was off, you knew it.

You decided to take a turn into the backyard of a random house, not caring if there was anyone home. Walking on the luscious grass you heard the car stop at the driveway of the house. Doors clicked open then closed.

"Quick op. Nab the guy and get out. Kill any witnesses." Your blood went cold as you heard the robotic voice. You took a turn into the space between two hedge bushes big enough to conceal you. Waiting for someone to come by, you held your breath.

An Omnic in a black suit passed by, its three human friends trailing behind. You decided to go for the one at the back. Quickly grabbing the henchman's neck as your hand made its way to grab the pistol in its right hand. The enemy resisted as you jammed your finger into the trigger guard and forced the pistol to point at its owner. Quickly forcing the trigger to pull, the body of your enemy fell lifelessly as you shook off the blood and aimed the bloodstained silenced pistol towards your opponents.

You didn't hesitate to shoot the man to the right, a quick shot to the heart disabled him as you rolled into a plant, evading the volleys of plasma that had every right to take your life away.

"Reloading!" You heard one of the men call out. Taking this as your opportunity you peeked from your cover and fired a few volleys towards one of the kidnappers. The man slumped over, blood pouring out from his stomach as he clutched onto it, falling into his eternal slumber as his head slumped to the side.

A shot from the enemy hit your other shoulder. The plasma burned into your body as it pierced a hole into your skin. Flesh exposed as you grit your teeth and snarled. You did a roll to the side and fired a few more shots towards your kidnappers, a few landing on the last human henchman alive. The man screamed and fell.

You noticed the battery to your pistol was running low.

Shit.

"POLICE! GET ON THE GROUND!" You heard the voice of a police officer that was rapidly approaching, followed by an entire SWAT team equipped with assault rifles and armor. You were shoved to the ground and had your hands bound by handcuffs. The pain in your shoulder burned as it was moved.

"Dude! My shoulder!" You seethed between grit teeth.

"Oh. Sorry." The SWAT soldier replied as he took out a needle from his waist and stabbing it next to your wound. "There. That should make it feel better."

A whirring came from the Omnic that was cuffed too. Adrenaline pulsed through your veins as you shook the SWAT unit off and ran towards the Omnic, shielding the police officers from the ensuing blast.

A flash of white and the world went dark.

. . .

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep-beep.

You gasped as you awoke from your slumber, frantically turning around as soon as your eyes regained their vision. You then regretted that decision as pain came from every joint and every muscle possible. Slumping down, then sighing as you took in where you were.

A hospital. The divider curtains were green whilst the walls were white. A potted flower stood proud on a nightstand next to your bed.

A nurse quickly came running in. She said something in Korean before rushing out. A doctor and Hana came into scene not long after.

Hana smiled as she saw you. "Hey, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross…" Her smile turned into a grin.

"Fuck off I'm not in Sky-" You were interrupted by a coughing fit as your throat was drier than a desert.

"Slow down…you have been asleep for a few days and obviously haven't drank anything." The doctor remarked, he then said something towards the nurse. Said nurse came back with a glass of water which you took gladly and slowly drank from.

Wait.

It's been a few days.

"Oh shit." You said out loud. "How did my team-" Hana's smile disappeared.

"Your team…they…" She crossed a single arm as she attempted to deliver the presumably bad news. "They…kicked you after losing the rest of their games. I wanted to bring it up later when you were recovering…but-"

"What?" Was the only thing you could say. "I was…kicked?"

"Yeah…and the rest of the team are splitting. Some are joining Talon." Your state of confusion changed to shock as the news came to you. "It's kind of…complicated right now. I suggest you relax and recover-"

"No. Doc, when's the earliest I can get out of here?" The doctor looked surprised at the question, then looked at his tablet before glancing back at you.

"You should be ready to leave today…but I don't advise you to-"

"Get me outta here."

. . .

You leaned on the railing of the hospital, putting your single crutch under your other arm as you speed dialed (T/M). It rang a few times, then went straight to voicemail.

You tried (T/M1). Same thing.

(T/M2) to (T/M3) had the same response.

You growled as you chucked the phone off the balcony and swore your lungs out, cursing every single 'teammate' you had.

"Damn them all to Hell." You muttered as you shut the sliding door behind you.