The knight
The warm air, the lust for relaxing on the beach with its white landscape, away from busy cities and its madness while reading Emily's mother number one fantasy novel. That's what Tracer was thinking at the moment as she and Winston were chasing Zarya down the Russian front line trenches with the majority of Russian soldiers and its heavy mechs dug in deep between sand bags and sitting in holes they have dug long before the two members of the disbanded overwatch arrived in moscow to repel what was known as the second omnic crisis in this heavy winter blizzard and fog.
"Please Zarya! Let us help you!" Tracer plead as she touched the back of Zarya's shoulder, having able to finally catch up to the massively big build woman.
Zarya turned around and showed the brunette a furious look. "No you cannot! We have done pretty well against these der'mo for the past twenty-two years! We don't need any outsiders help! Especially you people who have been branded terrorist."
"Zarya, we may not look like much but we are the best chance you got for repelling this attack." Winston inserted as he stand beside Tracer. "Athena and I have calculated that even with your giant and advance mechs, you still won't be able to hold off."
"Athena?" Zarya query, wondering who she was as the pink-haired woman only saw two of them.
"That will be me." Athena announce as she projected herself onto Winston shoulder as a holographic ball while winston was holding a datapad. "I am Winston personal AI and assistant, I understand that you would not like our help as there is a ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of having a backlash from the global community of having two previous overwatch member helping you as several news crew are broadcasting this event live around the world."
"Great." Zarya hissed "More of these."
"Please luv, let us help." Tracer pleaded once more "At Least do it for the civilians in the city."
The pink haired woman sighed "Look, I know what this is all about, you want to recruit me and become your comrade isn't it?"
Tracer gave out a nervous laugh and scratches the back of her hair "Well… that was the plan at first but after seeing the situation, we still want to help."
Zarya sighed once more. "My answer is still no, I am honestly thankful for the offer but my people needs me, Russia needs me."
"At least take their offer in helping comrade." a female voice said
The trio turned around to the source of the voice which revealed a woman who was a white suit while being flanked by two Russian soldiers on both of her sides.
"Comdiv Volskaya!" Zarya exclaimed and gave her a salute
The woman chuckled "At ease and its Katya you don't have to be so formal with me." The woman then turned to the brunette and Winston "And greetings to you two as well."
"Hiya!" Tracer waved while Winston gave a nod.
"I am Katya Volskaya, Ceo of Volskaya Industries and Comdiv of this first and last line of the Moscow defence force." the woman stated "While most of my people share the same thinking of not wanting to get help from the outside, I however, am willing to accept such help especially from overwatch finest."
"You mean it?" The brunette asked, unsure whether katya was being sarcastic.
The woman nodded "Even though we have troops and mechs, we still need help and every help is welcome."
The brunette squeak with joy and blinked right in front of Katya and shakes her hand vigorously "Thanks luv! You won't regret it!"
Katya laughed "And when we succeed today, as the commander of this defence force I am willing to let Zarya go with you as how would that german giant would say, a crusade?"
"What?!" the pink haired woman exclaimed "You can't be serious?!"
The woman chuckled "Oh I am comrade and I believe they deserve a reward for their service."
"But what about the people? What about mother Russia?!" Zayra asked
Katya walked up to her and patted Zayra shoulder "Zayra, I am not speaking to you as a higher up, I am speaking to you as a friend. After this is over, there will be nothing left for you to do. I want you to go out there and see the world yourself, help the people who needs to be protected like how you protect our people, show them what it means to be a true Russian hero."
As if on cue, the alarm had sounded off, causing everyone to rush into positions from running into the tranches to crewing up the mechs.
Katya sighed "I must make my leave into the bunker with the civilians, go now and show these two overwatch how a real soldier fights."
The pink haired woman saluted back "I will comrade!" then she turned to Tracer and Winston "Come! follow me! You want to help right?!"
"Yes ma'am!" Tracer and Winston said and gave her a mock salute.
With that, the trio made their way into the center of the trenches as soldiers were preparing their weapons. Zayra grab one of the rife that was sitting on the rack and tosses it to Tracer.
"Here, you gonna need to use that." Zayra stated "Your small puny pistol won't do good against them at that range."
"And what about you luv?" Tracer asked as she examines her new weapon
"I have this!" Zarya happily announced as she unholstered a giant weapon from her back that she was carrying.
The brunette looked at it and compared the rifle she was holding. "Aww… no fair!"
Zarya laughed "You will get you turn when you start getting some gains."
"I don't think Emily will appreciate that." Tracer muttered
"What did you say?" the pink haired woman asked
"Nothing!" Tracer quickly answered
Suddenly a string of explosions came crashing down upon them as if the very sky came tumbling down upon their heads.
"Take cover comrades!" one of the soldiers shouted as most of the troops kept their heads down as the shells from the artillery kept raining down upon their heads. Some of the troops were not so lucky as a few of the shells manage to hit the trenches killing and ripping the soldiers and mechs that were inside.
"Don't worry this shield will protect us!" Winston exclaimed as he toss out his barrier projector and it produces a dorm like shield, protecting those who are within the area.
"Blimey!" Tracer exclaimed as she kept her head down despite having the dorm shield protecting her "they really got us in a pickle, can anyone see them?!"
"Net!" the pink haired woman answered "Not with this fog and blizzard blocking our vision!"
"Well we got to do something or we're going to lose more men!" Tracer pointed out as a nearby trench got destroyed by artillery fire, killing everyone in it.
"Unfortunately it is not possible miss Lena." Athena stated "I have calculated that the best chances for survival is to remain as they were, any attempts to do anything else other than staying in the trenches will just lower the chances of survival."
Tracer scoffed at Athena's statement but listened while the shelling continued onwards all the while the screams of soldiers being ripped apart and the sounds of explosions crackle through the air. It was only after a few minutes later which felt an eternity that the shelling from the omnic artilleries have finally stopped. All the surviving soldiers popped their head out to see the result of the omnic destruction. They were great with a catastrophic scene, hundreds and upon hundreds of soldiers and mechs laid around the area with mangle body parts and mechanical parts scattered around them.
"I think i'm going to be sick…" Tracer stated as she tried to hold her food into her stomach.
"I...I need a casualty report comrades!" Zarya shouted
"I… I have the numbers Zarya." Athena answered
"Tell me… how many comrades have given up their lives for the motherland." Zarya asked
"Over eighty percent of our force have wiped out." Athena stated "And over seventy percent of our equipment such as the giant mechs and the latest mechs have been either completely destroy or in dire need of extensive repair at once."
"God…" Winston simply stated as he took off his glasses and rub his nose bridge "all those lives… lost."
"Incoming comrades!" Shouted a surviving soldier.
It was then hundreds upon hundreds of human size omnics came rushing out of the fog, armed with rifles and cannon mounted shoulder for secondary weapon.
"Oh bollocks! Not them!" Tracer exclaimed and quickly aim her rifle
"Aim for the heads comrades! For the motherland!" Zarya ordered
All the surviving defence force open fire upon the the omnics with everything they got, unleashing a torrent of lead raining down in the general direction. However, despite their valiant attempts, their weapons did nothing to the robots as continued to advance with not even having one fallen to the lead barrage. One of the giant mechs that survived the artillery barrage began to open fire it guns at the humanoid omnics but only to be quickly destroyed by a single shot, destroying the top half while leaving the lower part of it body intact.
"No way…" Tracer stated as she watched destruction with her very eyes
"Where did that shot came from?! I demand answers!" Zarya shouted as the fighting continued all around her.
"North of our position." Athena answered "it was a omnic carrying what is to be believed is a sniper rifle."
"Impossible!" the pink haired woman retorted as she fired her particle cannon at an omnic but did no damage to it "the omnics never deployed such kind of unit!"
"It appears they have adapted, evolved. This is very interesting." Winston stated as he fired his weapon but did no affect on the oncoming wave of robots.
"The position is being overrun." Athena announced "Advice to fall back with remaining forces and pull back into the city bunker."
"Net!" Zarya shouted back at the AI "We will stand our ground right here or we die trying!"
The brunette had enough and blinked right in front of zarya, causing her to be surprised by Tracer sudden appearance. Tracer then punched directly into her face with all her might causing Zarya to stumble back.
"Look around you luv!" Tracer grabbed Zarya by the collar and shoved her face into full view of the carnage "Your men are dying here! We cannot hold this ground! We are not even making a dent on them! Our weapons are useless! Order the retreat now!"
Zarya spits at the thought but gave in as she saw it was no use in arguing the facts.
"Fine!" Zarya said and with that, Tracer let go of her "Retreat! Fall back to the bunker now!"
At once, the remaining defence force ran as fast as they could but were quickly gun down by the omnics. Tracer tried help the fallen soldiers as she blinked over their bodies but was too quickly shot in the process.
"Arrghhh!" Tracer screamed as she instantly fell onto the bloodied snow due to the impact of the bullet that hit her. The brunette tried to recalled but found that a bullet hit directly into her chronal accelerator, result her in unable to recall.
"Lena!" Winston shouted and unleashed his primal rage.
The giant gorilla jumped onto Tracer location, shielding her from oncoming fire that gunned down many of the defenders. One of the robots got near Winston in an attempt to shoot at close range. Not having that, the monkey instinctively threw a punch at the robot but instead of tossing the omnic due to the shear force, the robot grabbed Winston fist. This shocked him as not even their old teammate Reinhardt was able to do that. The omnic quickly proceed and twist his fist and it gave a loud crunch sound, indicating that his bones of his wrist was instantly broken.
The primal ape letted out a painful roar and grabbed his broken wrist with his other hand.
"Damn it!" Zarya exclaimed as she witness the whole thing and fired a shield barrier on Winston "You're covered! Now grab her and get out of here!"
Winston quickly regained focus and grabbed the wounded brunette and limped quickly away into the city with Zarya trailing behind them. The trio managed to reached the civilian bunker and the doors were quickly shut tight as they enter. Winston, wounded on one hand hoped along as he was carrying Lena in the other hand all the while Zarya looked around to see civilians but was greeted with broken and worn out faces.
It was then a woman ran up to her and grabbed her hand as she kneels down with tears in her eyes.
"Where's my son?! Where's my precious son?!" the woman plead
"I… I'm sorry he died while fighting." Zarya hesitantly answered not knowing who the son the woman was referring to but it did not matter as the answer fitted all.
The woman simply fainted upon hearing the answer as she had no more strength left in her. This was the many site that Zarya was all too familiar with but she can never get use to. It was then Katya approached her with a sad smile on her face that the pink haired woman couldn't bring herself to look but must do so in hopes to face what she had to answer as Katya Volskaya was holding hands with her daughter while clutching a book tightly.
"How bad is it out there?" the woman asked as she softly squeezed her daughter's hand.
Zarya sighed "Terrible, our weapons can't stop them, not even a single one has fallen to the might of our guns and they manage to kill off our titan mech with a single shot."
Katya eyes widen "But those were made of the best metal alloy the industry can produce!"
"I know." Zarya darkly chuckled "and they managed one shot was all they need comrade."
The mother sighed "And the two overwatch ex-heroes?"
"Did their best, got lots of fighting spirit. Especially the thin one." Zarya answered "Punched me hard though not strong as bear."
Katya chuckled "I see."
"Did any other soldiers made it to the bunker?" Zarya query
The woman shook her head "No, just you three comrade."
Zarya sighed at the answered she was given, the entire defence force wiped out by omincs they can't shoot down and they are drawing near to the bunker, it was only a matter of time till they break through and slaughter everyone of them.
"Do you think anyone is coming for us luvs?" Tracer asked as she and Winston made their way to them though with the brunette left arm bandaged and having a sling wrapped around her neck while big friend's broken wrist was wrapped with a simple cloth.
The two women shook their heads.
"No, they are jamming all communication networks even then, the closes city defence force will take at least three hours." Katya answered
"I could send Athena to try and get help." Winston suggested as he plug the datapad into a socket.
"Winston I calculated that it will be no use to-" Athena stated but was interrupted
"Go Athena, get help." Winston sternly ordered while having tears coming out of his eyes.
Athena turn to Tracer, hoping her to convince Winston it was pointless but the brunette simply nodded while foaming tears behind her visor. With that the AI just simply transferred herself through the network leaving an empty datapad.
"Your AI knows you're not going to survive this right?" Zarya asked the scientist.
"Yes but I would rather at least know that I have save one person from this nightmare." winston said
Zarya chuckled "Come then! At us toss to that by standing at the front door as we make our last stand."
"Agree." Winston nodded
Tracer watched the two made their way to the front gate as she sadly smile at the site, knowing they will not see the end this day.
"Tell me Tracer, do you have someone waiting for you back at home?" Katya asked breaking the brunettes thoughts
"Huh? Oh yea… I have a girlfriend back in london." Tracer answered
"Oh?" Katya raised one of her eyebrow
"What? Got a problem with me loving a woman instead of a man?" Tracer teased as she sticks her tongue out playfully.
The woman laughed "Not at all, it always nice to have someone loving you back."
"Yea, it is." The brunette added as she looked down at the woman's daughter which she notice the book. "You know, my girlfriend's mum wrote that book."
"Did she?" Katya asked with her eyebrow raised
"Yea, there are many versions of the book but my favourite has always been the first book she wrote." Tracer explained "It's about the world plunges into darkness and there is only war."
"But a lonely knight stood against it all as he fought hard on his majestic griffin in order to protect and rescue his elven wife and daughter from the forces of chaos." Katya added
"Demigryph luv, griffin as wings. Blimey, I didn't know the Ceo of volskaya industries is into these kinds of books." Tracer happily smiled.
"Well, i'll let you know that those books helped me to get through the twenty years we have been at war with the omnics." the woman explained
"Too bad we don't have our own knight to save us from this." The brunette smiled sadly. "I wish the knight was real and come save us like in the books where he saved the elven village single handedly."
"Then pray, pray that you become that knight and save us all from this." Katya said as she smiled at the brunette
Tracer smiled back and smiled even harder at the thought of saving everyone single handedly like the heroic knight and his majestic mount as in the book that Katya's daughter was holding. Suddenly explosion could be heard coming outside of the bunker walls and the sound is alot louder near the entrance.
"I guess our time is almost up." Katya stated
"It's nice chatting with you luv." Tracer said
Katya smiled and her daughter wave at her as she ran towards the entrance, leaving the family and the rest of the civilian population to their final thoughts and wishes. All the while Athena jumped from one computer networking station to another until she could not proceed any further.
"I must find help." Athena muttered to herself as she tries to find another port but couldn't.
"No… No… I must find help please…"Athena begged desperately as she was hopelessly trying her best.
"Look at me… talking to myself, oh how Winston would love to see me developing a cognitive function." Athena said to herself "I beg, I yearn… please let me find a port so I can increase the chance of saving everyone."
It was at that moment AI prayers had been answered, suddenly a bright light flashes in front of Athena and as the light fades away, it revealed a knight and its mount but what was most intrigue was that the knight's mount was not an ordinary horse but rather a monstrous yet majestic creature that can only be found in book as it head was that of an eagle while its body is that of a lion while was covered in red and gold trim body armor with stunning designs decorating it. The knight was spectacular in its own right as the knight's helm had a golden wing ornament on the top while though the knight's armor was not decorated the same treatment as the mount, the silver shined brightly under the sun as it pierced through the fog and blizzard all the while the knight was carrying a huge lance and a shield that has a golden skull emblem to compliment it.
"No way… that's impossible…" Athena muttered "Is this what humans call a miracle? Even if it's just one man and the odds of defeating… no... this is it, the knight is the reinforcement."
Athena recognise the knight and its mount to be very similar as the one in the best selling novels. The AI looked up in her search banks and read the novels quickly, thinking of a way on how to deal with such unknown contact. After quickly gone through it, she didn't hesitate and quickly did what she was sent out to do, finding help. "Excuse me!"
The knight and its mount quickly looked in all directions unsure where the voice was coming from as the knight raised his lance and held his shield close to him. "Show yourself demon! Come out and face the wrath of sigmar!"
The AI knew how to respond due to reading the novels and slowly comply as she projected herself but instead of a ball shape like digital sphere, she projected herself as a queen like entity with a long white gown, blonde hair with fair skin and a golden crown on top of her head.
"Don't be afraid I won't hurt you." Athena said
The Knight instantly lower his weapons but its mount was in pounce like stands as if a cat was about to catch it prey to which Athena found it quite interesting.
"Lady of the lake… I did not… expect you to be here…" the Knight spoke
"Lady of the..." Athena paused for a moment and looked around which she found herself projecting on a frozen lake deciding the best of action, she calculated that it was best to play along.
"Oh… err… were you expecting someone else." Athena asked the knight
"Yes actually, I was hoping Sigmar himself but I guess I am not worthy of his presences… as expected for I have shamed him." the knight answered followed by his mount barked with a bird-like sound.
"No! He err… he's just busy and he asked me to take his place for a while." Athena quickly tried to come up with a lie, showing she had developed more in her cognitive skills
"Busy? A great cover up by telling that he is a shame to see me. After all, he has time for all of his sons and daughters does he not? am I not one of his heirs?" the knight stated "Tell me, lady of the lake, is this the land of the warp tainted chaos filth?"
"Err… no, you are in Russia, near the city of Moscow." Athena answered truthfully
"I… see so the warp spell teleported me to another realm instead of outright kill me." the knight sadisticly chuckled "Even I don't know how to die, oh how I have shame his name this badly."
"NO! I err, requested help and he err… Sigmar himself send you here." Athena quickly said
"He sent me here?" the knight cocked his head "Don't you have your green knight to aid you in your time of need? And why me? I am not from the land of chivalry for I am a son of Sigmar let alone a bretonnian at that."
"That's err… because erm… you were the only one available?" Athena answered unsure.
"Oh right, your champion was with us during the battle and I was the first to make my passing after getting hit by the damnable warp spell." the knight realised
"Regardless knight, your intentions are now here so I ask you, will you lend me your strength and vanquish the foes that taint upon this land?" Athena asked
"If that's what it takes to redeem myself then so shall it be." the knight answered "Tell me goddess, what chaos foe has overrun this winter wasteland?"
Athena quickly search up and read Emily's mom best selling fantasy novels once more in order to stay in character and found the perfect way to describe the omnics.
"They are armored warriors who knows no pain as the undead and only have one purpose, wipe out mankind." Athena answered "be wary knight for they come in all shapes, some are tall as castles but most are our size."
"Just as the twin-tailed comet priests visioned, is this the prophecy they have foretold? That the darkness will rain metal giants upon the land? It does not matter for I have slayed hundreds of demons of such sizes and as long as I still draw breath I will fight in Sigmar's name." the knight declared
"Then go, head straight to the north of here and hurry, the people of this land are in need of help." Athena ordered.
"I shall not fail in the name of Sigmar." the knight declared as his mount lets out a roar.
"Before you go, would you please tell me your name?" Athena asked
The knight laughed "My name is of no importance for I am one of his many sons, for I am a demigryph knight."
With that, the knight and his demigryph speared into the fog, leave the Ai filled with hope no matter how small the chances of saving her friends is.
"Winston, Lena hold on… help is coming." Athena muttered to herself one final time.
As time passes, the doors of the bunker was finally destroyed by the combined effort of the omnic invasion force, leaving every civilian to scream at the sight of them while only the three surviving defenders were unswayed by them as they ready their weapons one final time. The omnics came pouring into the bunker until there was no room left for them to maneuvered.
"Times up luvs, let's see if we can take down at least one yea?" Tracer said as she had a pulse pistol aiming at one of the omnics
"By my calculations, we should be able to pull off that before we get torn by at least two hundred thousand rounds of lead." Winston stated as he ready his weapon.
"It is a pleasure serving with you comrades." Zarya smiled "Let's make the end memorable."
"It is a genuine pleasure." Tracer added
The omnics and the three defenders prepared to fight as the infamous clicking coming from the guns began to echo the bunker until all of a sudden the omnics troopers turn their back to the entrance of the bunker instead of the defenders.
"What's going on?" the brunette asked to no one particular
"I have no idea…" Winston answered
Suddenly several omnics and bastion units began communicating with beeps and noise that a normal human couldn't understand until one of the troopers talked.
"ALERT. UNKNOWN CONTACT HAS DESTROYED EIGHTY PERCENT OF TOTAL FORCE." the omnic declared causing several murmurs and whispers among the population
"Reinforcements?" Tracer whispered
"Impossible, they are jamming us remember." Zarya answered
Everyone could hear the gunfire and multiple explosions outside of the bunker as it was getting closer and closer to them. The omnis readied themselves as this new threat was destroying them at ease. After awhile, the gunfire and explosions stopped, then the came silence, this made everyone including the omnics nervous as they were now aiming their weapons at the fog.
Suddenly a loud bird-like roar echo into the bunker, shocking everyone while making their hair on their skin stand up. It was at that moment in everyone's mind, help has arrived but not what they had expected as the fog was pierced by the most majestic monstrous creature they have ever seen that can only be imagined through fairy tales and novels followed by the knight that was sitting on top of it as they charged forward into the omnic lines.
The robots didn't hesitated and open fire upon the knight and his mount with everything they got. The knight was not fazed by this and continued onwards as the bullets and rockets made contact with his armor, all were harmless to them and bounces off. The knight lowers his lance in attack position and pierced through several troopers with it while his majestic mount crushes and knocks back several of them at ease resulting in aws and gasps from the population. The omnics tried to find a weak spot on this new treat but were unable to as they have no data on this aside from the medieval history and fantasy novels. The knight continue his onslaught as he drove his lance deep into every trooper that got close to him all the while his majestic giant mount uses its hind legs and kicked them, destroying them as their chest were completely obliterated by the sheer brute force. Unknowing to the knight, he was being watched and recorded by news agencies as they too were wondering if this was real. What amazed them more was when the knight uses his shield and bashed a poor omnic and uses his left hand crushing its head like paper while his mount finishes the deed by swiping it claws on it, reducing it to scrape.
"Impossible." Winston muttered while Tracer only simply nodded
One of the omnic that was carrying the sniper rifle, fired directly at the knights head, instead of seeing his head popped like a cherry, the bullet made the loudest ding and bounce on to the roof of the bunker, causing a massive crater. The knight turned to the location where the shot came from and found the omnic. The sniper fires it gun at a rapid pace on the unstoppable knight but the same result occurred as the bullet bounce off the shiny armor as if they were just a nuisance and walked up to it, giving the killing blow. After the last of the omnics were destroyed, the knight turned towards the civilians and move towards them slowly. Everyone tensed up as this unknown being managed to destroy every single omnic at ease. It was only when the mount stopped in front of Tracer that it got tensed up even more. What surprises them was unexpected as the majestic bird-like mount gave a purr and started licking the brunette's face.
"Hehe… hey stop that! Hehe… that tickles!" Tracer laughed as the mount hits every sensitive spot.
The knight simply cocked his head, unsure why would his divine monster would do such a thing but shook his head and gave a pat on its head stopping it from assaulting the brunette.
With that, the knight and his mount galloped away into the fog.
"Hey wait!" Tracer shouted and gave chase
As Tracer ran out of the bunker she saw the devastation the knight has cause, all the omnic robots that they were unable to destroy were now lying in ruins as their bodies litter the streets of Moscow. The brunette followed the tracks, hoping it lead her to them and it was not some so of imagination. Her hopes were raised as she found them by a frozen lake. She quickly hid hoping to witness what is going on.
"Lady of the lake, this son of Sigmar has vanquish the foes that has cause destruction to your lands." the knight spoke.
"Oooohhh… he can talk." Tracer muttered to herself and continued watching
suddenly , Athena reappeared in front of the knight.
"You came back!" Athena exclaimed with delight. "The civilians, are they safe?"
"They are milady, for Sigmar had protected them this day." The knight replied
"What are you going to do now?" Athena asked
"I will now wait until my time has come." the knight answered "For I have endured too long and I shall wait for Sigmar to take me to his side."
All of a sudden the demigryph ran, causing the knight to fall off of it as it ran and tackle Tracer to the ground where she was hiding.
"Hey! Stop that!" Tracer commanded "I told you it tickles!"
The knight got up and walked up to where his mount was pinning the brunette down.
"Hiya!" Tracer smiled and waved at the knight while giving a under neck rub to the demigryph
"So milady, mind telling me why are you following me?" the knight asked
To be continued?
Author's note:
Hey everyone! I just want to experiment with this to see if this crossover work and i have this concept for some time now. If it does, just a heads up, i most likely won't be updating it since i have another story to finish and I am extremely busy, two mouths to feed while studying is no joke.