To be the elite, you must surround yourself with the best of the best; whether you band together to save the world, or just a worthless plot of land. And every good team needs a good hit-and-runner.
Like Tracer, the spunky agent of Overwatch. And the Scout, the Boston-born merc of Team Fortress.
The ninth episode of season three brings two speed-oriented gunfighters from popular first-person shooters, both renowned for their array of equipment and abilities, to blows against one another. The hosts will pit a figure who bends time to her will against one that has a seeming mastery over gravity, futuristic technology against archaic weaponry, for even as Tracer and Scout have taken on a variety of foes and earned just as many victories, only one can stay in the ring long enough to survive a death battle.
Kicking off the episode is the hosts narrating the story behind Tracer, part of a new generation of heroes living up to the legacy of Overwatch, the organization who, in the 2040s, would broker peace for humanity during the uprising it faced of its robotic servants, known as omnics. The England-born Lena Oxton, Overwatch's youngest pilot in its flight program, was hand-picked to test fly a teleporting experimental aircraft, but tragedy would soon follow in its wake when it warped Tracer through time; her body now out of sync with the flow of time, she would appear uncontrollably, phasing in and out of existence. When it seemed that Overwatch's premiere pilot would be lost, her fellow agent, the genetically enhanced gorilla Winston, engineered a chronal accelerator, with which Tracer could stabilize her physical form, grounding her in the present.
The chronal accelerator did more for Tracer than keep her body in sync with time; with it, she can also manipulate how it flows for her, manifesting in a pair of abilities. Her Blink ability speeds herself up enough to move roughly 23 feet in an instant, whereas her Recall ability rewinds time, regaining any lost health as she returns to where she was three seconds prior, but in some cases, she can stretch this duration to five times that amount. Her own temporal abilities are complemented by her arsenal, minuscule though it may be, the crux of which is the Pulse Pistols, synced to the chronal accelerator. As Tracer's primary firearms, the Pulse Pistols lack in range and accuracy, they make up for in both damage and speed, taking only a second to empty a magazine and reload. She also carries Pulse Bombs as yet another signature hallmark, a sticky bomb that detonates after a brief delay, covering a small distance beyond the blast radius, dealing heavy damage to those caught in the explosion.
Tracer uses the chronal accelerator, as well as her Pulse Pistols and Bombs, alongside the kind of agility that lets her leap 15 feet in the air, to create a hit-and-run strategy, minimizing risk to herself as she navigates across the field, which has worked out fairly successfully for her. With these tactics in mind, the Overwatch agent has been able to survive multiple conflicts with the terrorist sniper Amélie Lacroix, better known as Widowmaker, such as ensuring a Doomfist gauntlet's protection in a museum and standing her ground in a firefight against Widowmaker; the latter instance is particularly prominent as Tracer was able to evade a round from Widowmaker's rifle in less than a hundredth of a second. Skilled as she may be, though, Tracer's approach to combat comes with its own set of flaws, the chronal accelerator being a major cause of them. The device responsible for keeping Tracer in the present can overheat and require a recharge if used excessively, taking the Pulse Pistols with them. In addition, Lena is more experienced as a test pilot, and as such, her accuracy at long range leaves much to be desired. But if for the good of the world Tracer must operate with these flaws, she will do so with no hesitation.
- Tracer: (staring at two young boys caught in an ongoing gunfight) Ah... don't worry, luvs. Cavalry's 'ere! (the younger boy gasps in admiration)
From there, Wizard and Boomstick go from Tracer to her foe, the Scout, part of an ongoing feud between the Mann lineage. In 1850, the wealthy Englishman Zephaniah Mann, having spent much of his fortune buying useless gravel pits at the request of his twin sons Redmond and Blutarch, went to the grave leaving the pair the land they requested he buy. The brothers, each wanting the other's share of gravel pits, eventually hired an array of mercenaries to take the pits by force; each mercenary had his own specialty, but only one relied on his own agility to get the job done. Born in the 1950s, the mercenary known only as the Scout was the youngest of his eight Bostonian siblings, having earned his trademark skill from a desire to join in the constant scuffles his elder brothers were constantly a part of; always present long after the fights were over, the Scout trained to run faster, becoming the quickest of his siblings and putting his skills to work in the gravel wars.
The Scout is quick on his feet, enough to perform a jump in mid-air, which works well enough to tie into his game plan of staying on the move. Fittingly, his weapons and gear are all light of weight themselves, his own signature weapon being a baseball bat which he can strike up close or use for its more intended purpose, launching baseballs from a distance to stun his foes momentarily. While he carries a pistol on him for more reliable fire, the Scout's primary weapon for doing battle at range is the shotgun, of which he has a select few being carried into this fight. The original Scattergun is one such firearm, allowing Scout to fire six times from its double barrels, whereas the Force-a-Nature can only hold two rounds at a time, but with them, Scout can fire the shotgun with enough recoil to propel him even further. Complementing his weapons is the Bonk! Atomic Punch energy drink, filled with several hundred times the daily recommended amount of sugar and radiation, which the Scout can consume to enhance his speed and evade gunfire at the expense of being unable to use firearms, or be outfitted onto the Force-a-Nature to give the Scout an additional four mid-air jumps.
Even putting aside his deadly weapons and deadlier beverages, the Scout has served as a gun for hire for good reason; at an average running speed of 17 miles per hour, he's quick enough to evade the auto-targeting of an Engineer's sentry, regularly survives consumption of the radioactive-fueled energy drinks he carries as well as a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades. He can throw hits just as well as he can take them, having once killed a bear with the skeleton of Amelia Earhart and fought and defeated the Heavy, who was capable of killing said bear's mother. Thankfully, what the Scout has in speed and power seems to make up some for his shortcomings, such as a lack of armor or other protective gear, meaning it takes little to bring him down. In addition, his reckless and cocky attitude means his hit-and-run tactics are more straightforward, rushing in blindly with no sense of strategy. Still, if he's managed to survive this long fighting other mercenaries, bears, bread monsters, robots, and a vast assortment of other foes, he's clearly doing something right.
- Scout: (talking to the Spy) Dat's right, fancy pants, myself. So why don't you take your little failure, roll it up sideways, and— (Spy points to a watch counting down) — okay, crap, I gotta go. (downs a drink and prepares to leave before turning back) Screw you, though. (leaves again)
Both the combatants have been given their due, and the stage is being set. One advertisement for the Blue Apron recipe service later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
Inside the RED Team's base, an alarm goes off, and the Scout, fastest of the mercenaries hired, is quick to respond. Scattergun in hand, a leaping kick to the front doors gives way to the blinding daylight, where the Bostonian can see Lena Oxton, former Overwatch agent Tracer, carrying a briefcase, mirthfully giggling to herself all the while. After a brief showing of his demeanor, the Scout gets a better look at the intruder and prepares to charm his way into ensuring the briefcase stays with the team; and while it seems the Englishwoman sees a similar attraction, she soon snaps out of it upon hearing his request. Strapping the briefcase to her back, Tracer whips out her Pulse Pistols, ready to fight in memory of the organization she once served.
FIGHT!
While the Scout is quick to open fire with the Scattergun, Tracer is quicker still to dodge it, nimbly Blinking her way past the rounds and landing atop a crate. The Brit opens fire with her twin pistols, but she shares in her foe's troubles of failing to land a hit, the Bostonian outspeeding the bullets. The fight comes to a brief lull, Tracer taunting the Scout by Blinking and Recalling to and away from him at his every turn. To adapt to this foe, the Scout continues to open fire, Tracer once again Blinking her way past the shells. Now in midair, the once-chronally disassociated Hero hurtles a Pulse Bomb at the Scout's feet; the man in red scoffs it off before being trapped in the blast.
As the dust subsides, however, Tracer can see the Scout, a vibrant aura emanating from him; the radioactive powers of Bonk! Atomic Punch have helped him evade the explosion. Matching Tracer's musings with his own snide comments, the Scout marches forward with his bat, the rounds from the Pulse Pistols as the Brit warps about doing nothing but overheating her chronal accelerator. Tracer, now rendered helpless, can only parry the first few swipes, but the aluminum bludgeon proves to knock the wind out of her, a final swing sending her skyward, leaving the briefcase behind.
Unfortunately for Tracer, the chronal accelerator has yet to recharge, which she finds out when soaring to the battleground, where a rough landing waits for her; tumbling through crates and concrete walls, before finally slamming into a stack of wooden pallets, whereupon she finds the Scout, radioactive powers worn off and the briefcase dangling from one hand and a pistol in the other. Finding Scout pointing his sidearm at her, providence itself seems to aid Tracer, her chronal accelerator now fully charged and ready for action, and the former test pilot puts it to good use, Recalling herself as far as she can, Tracer sees that she is now in fully working order, back at the entrance of the RED Team's base.
Scout, in the meantime, is perplexed when he sees his bullet hit empty air. As for Tracer, she spends her time Blinking right back to the Boston native's location. By the time the Scout sees her, he's trapped in a blitz of kicks that help build up enough energy to deploy another Pulse Bomb by the time Tracer knocks him back to earth. The Scout's attempt to cheat death with Bonk! Atomic Punch is stolen from him when Lena yanks the can out from his hands and Blinks around him to slap the explosive onto his back. The Scout can barely express his displeasure before the bomb detonates, swallowed whole in the explosion. Tracer blinks back into the smoldering area, picking up the briefcase and offering her own two cents on the battle, Blinking her way out for good.
K.O.!
As Archimedes, pet pigeon of Scout's co-merc the Medic, breaks free from under the Bostonian's hat, having been trapped in his chest during a routine procedure, Tracer examines the briefcase and is awed by its contents before briefly closing it shut, ceasing its blue glow. The hosts conclude the fight by reasoning that Scout's speed and toughness were an advantage, but one that was outclassed by Tracer's own unique abilities and evasive skills. The greatest feat the Scout has to offer is surviving three simultaneous rockets, but in Team Fortress 2 lore, direct hits from rockets have been shown to instantly destroy far tougher foes, suggesting he was caught in the blast and not hit by the rockets themselves. As far as speed goes, while the Scout's 17 miles per hour is slightly faster than human average, Tracer far exceeds this in her reaction time; evading Widowmaker's sniper round puts Tracer's reaction speed at 11 milliseconds, over two dozen times faster than the norm. Even if Scout could somehow land a hit on Tracer, her Recall ability ensured she could brush off any damage she sustained in the fight and whatever element of surprise he had. While both hit-and-runners are without peers within their home series, Scout is far outclassed as far as comparison goes.
- Boomstick: And just like that, Scout was gone... without a "Trace."
Wizard: The winner is Tracer!
Tracer vs. Scout contains examples of:
- Brick Joke: During Scout's analysis, one of his feats is surviving having one of the Medic's pet pigeons sewn into his chest during surgery; the pigeon escapes from his hat at the end of the battle.
- Combat Pragmatism: Used and liberally lampshaded by both sides during the battle:
- When Tracer cries foul over Scout taking a BONK! drink and explaining its effects, his response is:
Tracer: "Aw, c'mon! That's not very fair!"Scout: (pointing at Tracer) "Listen, sweetheart, I. NEVER. Play. Fair."- So the next time he tries to use one, Tracer uses her blink ability to yank it away from him.
Tracer: "Not this time, YANKEE~EE!!" - Distracted by the Sexy: Tracer's such a hottie, that one look at her hindquarters was enough to nearly make Scout forget she was an enemy agent, and even tries hitting on her.
- Incompatible Orientation: Scout's attempt to hit on Tracer falls flat because she's a lesbian and already in a committed relationship.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: As Tracer implants a Pulse Bomb onto Scout's back, he starts to say, "Oh come on, gimme a—" but the bomb blows him up before he can finish.
- Male Gaze: Scout's first glimpse of Tracer is a zoom-in of her butt (surrounded by hearts) as she's attempting to flee with a stolen briefcase.
- No-Sell: Bonk! Atomic Punch allows the Scout to evade anything as long as it's active. While it helps him live through one of Tracer's Pulse Bombs, he doesn't get the chance to use it a second time.
- Shout-Out:
- Tracer's reaction upon seeing the glowing briefcase before quickly closing it shut brings to mind a certain other briefcase.
- Scout, upon seeing Tracer, quotes Groucho Marx's "if I said you had a beautiful body" line from You Bet Your Life.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: An in-universe example in that Boomstick points out the fate of the experimental aircraft that brought about Tracer's temporal disassociation is still unknown.
