Granted an official pardon from the U.N, celebrated as a hero and awarded a pension to live out his days without the need for further heroics, former Strike Commander Jack Morrison was well off.
Living a peaceful life in the suburbs of his home town, Bloomington. Jack now spent his days documenting his time with Overwatch, by tapping away on a data pad or when he grew tired of it by dictating to Artemis (an artificial intelligence gifted to him by Winston.) Whose name, Jack realized was no accident. He may no longer be involved in the running of Overwatch, but deep down he would always be a hunter.
But even though Jack liked to think that moving to the suburbs would grant him complete privacy. He hadn't counted on that illusion behind disproven by the actions of his next-door neighbour.
"Jack, my sensors indicate that there is a spy behind the fence." Artemis informed Jack.
"Describe the spy to me." Jack calmly instructed Athena, without looking out the window that the 'spy' was no doubt using to get a look at him
"Judging by the presence of a uniform she appears to be an elementary school student."
"Let me handle this."
Moving closer to the window and pretending to look out of it, the girl ducked down as Jack approached. Stepping off the cardboard boxes she had used to see above the fence, the young girl fled into her house.
"Kid's just being curious." Jack brushed off the nosy behaviour as inquisitiveness.
The next-door neighbour Katie observed, had a workaround for everything that could possibly involve stepping out of the house. Grocery shopping? Delivered to his door. Work? Done at home judging by the glow of computer screens she could see from behind the window of his house. The man was practically a hermit. The reason why? Katie was eager to know. She only hoped it wasn't because he was under house arrest.
The one time that her neighbour did leave the house was on his daily walks. At 5 o'clock, sharp. Like clockwork. Introducing herself would not be difficult.
"Hi, I'm Katie. I just moved in to the house next door with my mom, what's your name?" Katie asked Jack, in the middle of opening his front door.
"You can call me, sir. Good day, Katie." Jack gave her a standoffish reply and entered his house, closing the door behind him.
"Don't you think you were being a little harsh with her?" Artemis who had heard everything, reproached Jack.
"It was the only way to stifle her curiosity. If I'm distant, she won't be interested in peeking over the fence." Jack tried to justify his rudeness with the young girl.
"Or maybe you just encouraged her curiosity by withholding your name." Artemis challenged his assumption.
"Guess, I'll have to live with that."
History had never been Katie's favourite subject at school. Static dates and numbers were a bore, making her attention drift as her teacher taught the day's lesson.
"Before the peace we enjoy today, our nations were ravaged by the devastating forces of the omnics. The conflict between humans and omnics spanned an entire decade. Now, who can tell me the name of this war?"
"The Omnic Crisis." A boy seated in front of Katie raised his hand and answered.
That was an easy question, everyone knows that, Katie thought as she skimmed through the class material on her data pad, ahead of everyone else.
"Very good. It was thanks to an international taskforce known Overwatch that the war came to an end, restoring liberty for all." The teacher praised her student and finished.
Partial to happy endings herself, Katie skipped to the end of the text where she found an intriguing image. A row of Overwatch agents dressed in formal attire being pardoned by the President of the United Nations. And in the middle of said row, stood a familiar man with white hair and two scars across his face. And he looked just like her next-door neighbour.
Letting out a small gasp, eyes widened. The teacher noticed the look of astonishment on Katie's face.
"Katie, is there something you want to share with us?"
"My neighbour looks just like Commander Morrison!" Katie exclaimed, with no reservations. She'd just stumbled upon something big. Perhaps the biggest discovery she would ever make in her entire life! And she was not afraid to share it with everyone else.
"Yeah? And my neighbour is Reinhardt!" A boy sitting at the back of the class, yelled across the room, making the rest of the class erupt with laughter.
"I'm sure your neighbour would be flattered to hear you say that, Katie. Moving on." The teacher responded and returned to the topic at hand.
But the similarities between the two figures in Katie's life stayed with her for the rest of the day, intruding on her conscious thoughts as she tried to complete her classes. Mathematics? I wonder how many omnics he's killed? Geography? Did he ever fight in those countries?
The end of the school day brought great relief to Katie. She could finally go home and confront her neighbour about his remarkable resemblance with Strike Commander Morrison. But her anticipation soon turned into apprehension. What if she was wrong? What if in revealing her suspicions, she embarrassed herself in front of him? She would never be able to face him again.
But before Katie could imagine such a scenario any further, a truck pulled up in front of Jack's house and a delivery driver stepped out from it with a package in his hand. Seeing that he was heading towards her neighbour's house, Katie intercepted him before he could make it to the front door.
"Excuse me, sir, who is that package for? My mom and I just moved in next door and we still don't know what to call our new neighbour." Katie asked with a sweet voice, hoping her question would come across as having innocent intentions.
"It says here, it's for Jack Morrison." The man read the label on the package.
"Thank you!" Katie's voice chirped as she thanked the delivery driver and went on her way.
Stepping on the front porch of Jack's house, the delivery driver knocked on the door and handed Jack a PDA for him to sign when he came to answer the door.
"Package for Jack Morrison. Sign here please."
"Thank you." Jack scribbled a hasty signature and gave an appreciative nod as the man wished him a good day and left. Closing the door behind him, Jack took the package inside and read the name of the sender.
"I wonder what you've given me this time Reinhardt…" Jack pondered, but before he could open the package and find out, he heard another knock at the door. He was proving to be quite a popular guy that day.
Opening the door once more, Jack was greeted by the sight of Katie holding something behind her back.
"Oh, it's you." Jack said as a matter of fact, but not in an entirely unfriendly way.
"I learned about Strike Commander Morrison in school today. He looked just like you." Katie informed him.
"Is that so?" Jack gave her a non-committed reply, he didn't like where the girl was going with this.
"I also asked the delivery man who the package was for. He said it was for Jack Morrison." Katie continued, with a smug voice. Clearly proud of what she'd discovered.
"I'm one of the many Jack Morrisons. It's a common name." Jack dismissed the coincidence, hoping to throw Katie off the scent.
"With the same scars across his face?" Katie held up her data pad for Jack to see. The screen in question zoomed in on a photograph of Jack with the same two scars he bore on his face today. The resemblance undeniable.
"Whatever you say, Katie. But don't go telling your friends your neighbour is the former leader of Overwatch. I just want to be left alone, you understand?" Jack conceded, realizing there was no point denying his identity when the evidence was heavily stacked against him. Knowing full well that since Katie was persistent enough to learn his identity, she would continue to pester him until he admitted it.
"I don't have any friends at school. I just moved here." Katie confessed, making Jack fall silent. "But don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Katie reassured him with a smile.
"A secret you wouldn't have, if you'd just kept your head down!" Jack growled to Katie, putting his knowledge of her previous nosiness out in the open.
I was inspired to write a Jack Morrison retirement fic when I watched the old man/young girl bonding formula in the 2015 movie The Little Prince. Thanks for reading and reviews are always appreciated.