The perfect assassin

My name is Ana and I fought to protect my friends and to preserve a better world for the children of the future, yes that meant killing those who stood against us, but I always thought of my actions as a means to an end never the only path. As a sniper it's hard not to feel like your treating human life as little more than target practice, because if you begin to feel for every kill you in turn put your own life in jeopardy. I was the best at watching my teams back which is why overwatch was a good home for me in the beginning. Shortly after a tirade of successful missions we soon grew too arrogant and careless, so we made the decision to bring on my husband Amon as a second short range sniper. He was good but not as good as me of course. This meant we had more range and more coverage as I could focus on the distanced targets. It was however a fatal mistake.

It was a cold November day and a small group of overwatch agents including myself and Amon were sent to the temple of Anubis to investigate strange deaths in the area. Seeing as this was a more lax mission compared to others most of us were strangely calm and by our own hands blinded by arrogance. We arrived to find much more than a few missing bodies, but an entire graveyard of soldiers laid to waste by what had, by my best deduction, been the work of a very talented sniper. They're were to many clusters of soldiers to have been done in by overwhelming force. Soon after discovering this Amon looked to me with concern as if to tell me we were walking into some sort of trap, but I didn't listen. As skilled as I was at the time I should never have misjudged the danger that poorly, and especially with the few forces we had with us. We continued through the city trying to find the source of all the violence when suddenly one of our soldiers was encased in a cloud of purple smoke. He began to cough violently and immediately I knew it had to be poison. Some Omnic models at the time came loaded with a canister of poison gas if they were ever surrounded in certain situations, but this somehow looked different and more potent.

"Get back!" I yelled to the other agents rushing to his aid, but it wasn't quick enough and two more agents ran lungs open into the smoke. It only took seconds after that for the three of them to drop motionless to the ground. A shiver began to creep up my spine and I started to suspect that we were no longer alone.

"Some kind of trip mine my guess", said Amon inspecting the bodies with his scope.

My eyes took to the rooftops and I scanned the skyline only to notice nothing, "it feels more like an alarm rather than a trip mine" I said nervously to Amon. And this is where the annoyance of bringing a spouse along came into play for as we continued threw the city nearing the temple Amon began to notice my nerves begin to show. I very rarely got nervous on missions because I was always confident in my ability to protect my team but something about this felt wrong, it was too calm with so much death in the air. Amidst all the thoughts whirling around inside my head I felt Amon grab my hand and look at me with the overwhelming compassion he often did, and I knew no matter how hard I had to fight I would bring us both home.

Entering the temple I exercised more caution and we split into teams of two to survey the area as me and Amon took to higher ground to survey the area. Shortly after entering the temple, teams began to report back that the coast was clear. We all began to wonder if we had missed the party, and teams began to fall back to our position. Still, I felt a discomfort in the fact that we had not encountered any hostiles in a clearly hostile area. Fearing to make another mistake I ordered all teams to survey deep into the temple and report back as me and Amon watched the entrance. "So have you thought of a name yet?" Amon suddenly asked without taking his eye off his scope as most of our conversations back then were conducted.

"you can't seriously already be thinking of a name when we had just decided to even start talking about the idea of starting a family", I said sparingly.

Amon smiled with excitement, "I know but naming is the best part, the meaning of the name could influence the kind of person they'll become."

A rare smile creeped across my face as just the thought of having a child with this man excited me more than many things in this cruel and dark world. And it was the hopes of future generations that pushed me to fight.

Screams ripped through the intercom swiftly and violently as me and Amon tightened our grip in the wake of what was now an imminent fight. Teams began to report contact from multiple positions but there were no signs of an incoming infantry.

"All teams report!", I yelled over the intercom to try and make sense of the unfolding chaos. One soldier swiftly replied that the shots were coming from the rooftops but he was cut of with the sound of a high powered rifle. Another sniper had entered the battlefield, but how many? Was it an ambush? "All teams, all teams fall back to my position" I told the other soldiers, and my eyes were wide open readying my weapon for the safety of my team. Only two soldiers emerged from the tomb dragging another behind them as he laid down cover fire but was soon silenced with a shot directly to the head. As I predicted we were dealing with another very talented, and also deadly, sniper. Amon jumped down from our positions and began to try and flank whatever was attacking us. The next thing I saw was a hook line to one of the temple columns but I only caught a glimpse of the purple figure that followed. I fired a shot to cut the line but it was too fast. I changed positions running to another ledge to get a better vantage point and fired another shot at the purple figure but again it was too fast for me to do any damage. There were only four of us left to fight whatever was attacking us and I grew nervous thinking of all the bodies that thing laid waste to in the courtyard. "Everyone fall back and take cover, Amon cover me I need to get higher", I said quickly before sprinting and jumping onto another platform and I climbed whatever surface I could to get a better look. As I climbed I heard two more shots ring out through the temple back to back and Amon confirmed my suspicions.

"Ana, both the remaining soldiers are down its just us can you see anything?"

I finally reached the top of the platform and raised my weapon to see a young girl with long hair dressed in purple with her weapon trained directly on me. Fractions of a second later I felt my scope shatter and all I could see was blackness and an excruciating pain shooting from my eye sockets. Whoever she was she had landed a direct hit on me and if it hadn't been for my scope, I'd be another corpse. Blind and bleeding I desperately tried to call out to Amon to warn him but my comms were too damaged. All I heard next was Amon screaming my name as he probably heard the shot originate from my position and couldn't reach me on my comm. In doing so he had only given away his position, but before I had a chance to scream for him to get down, I heard the final shot ring through the walls of the temple and rattle inside my brain. I crawled towards the edge to see if I could see any sign of life below but my one eye was in complete darkness and the other could only make out blurs on the floor. It was over so fast and I could nothing to protect the men in my care. In my agony I lost track of the purple women until I heard footsteps slowly closing in on my position. With no site and no rifle I was a sitting duck to the deadly force that was now approaching me. Soon after I felt the steaming barrel of her gun press against my temple. To my surprise, this time she hesitated, "finish it", I said softly to her and again no shot was fired. Suddenly the pressure had gone from my head and again I heard her footsteps however she was walking away from me. Confused and filled with rage being the only one left alive I yelled after her "why!? why me?"

The footsteps came to a halt and I was able to make out her whisper before she vanished, "I don't kill children, there's no sport in it". Having no idea what she meant my attention quickly fell upon Amon.

As I slowly climbed down from my position I tried to listen for any sign of life, but the only think I could hear was silence. After hours of searching through the temple, with nothing but one blurry eye to guide me, I was finally able to find Amon's body. He laid there cold and broken and my hands fell to my knees as tears started to gush from my bleeding eyes. Clutching his hands in my own I heard a low groan come from Amon. He was only able to make out one word before his final breath left his body empty and lifeless, "Hope" he said to me in his final moment, and I knew he was trying to tell me never to loose hope. I kissed his hands and laid them on his chest before using his radio to call for an extraction. It was the first mission I had lost, the first mission I was injured, and the first time I was coming home alone. For the first time I couldn't keep my promise to him and the last time I would fight for a long time.

With all that had happened I still didn't understand the words the purple women had said to me. It wasn't until months later I realized the truth. Somehow she knew that I was carrying a child and 6 months later my beautiful baby Pharah was born. Her birth gave me hope again, and her life meant that my Amon had given me one last gift before his passing. Years had gone by and tensions slowly grew between humans and Omnic once again but this time Overwatch was outlawed and I had no choice but to sit in hiding with my daughter. Now they call to me, again Overwatch needs a hero to keep them safe and again I must take to the battlefield. My dearest Pharah, it was never my intention to leave you behind to walk this earth with no family and no home to call your own but that is why I fight. I fight today not for peace or justice or to end war, but to make a home for my daughter and to preserve this world for her future. And someday soon Pharah I will take you home.