Welcome to Before Overwatch, a collection of backstories for your favorite characters. I intend on writing backstories for each character and future characters, so... this is gonna be a long story. Despite the title, Before Overwatch doesn't mean each backstory will take place before they had joined Overwatch or whatever, it's just a fancy title and such. Oh, and warning. Out of my, ah, trilogy of stories, this is definitely the darkest one. I will be putting warnings for this story, the first time I have ever had to do so for fanfic. Expect lots of violence, lots of swearing, lots of sexual content and other things I can think of. Please enjoy.
Oh. Additional note. This story and any other story where the main character that the story is about speaks another language, assume that the language spoken is in that language and not in English. For example: is Korean and speaks Korean. Her dialogue in this story will be Korean (but written in English, obviously) unless stated otherwise. I will be inserting some words in their native language as a means of emphasis. But yeah. So, that's that. Enjoy!
Hana Song
The shockwave collapsed the entire cul-de-sac. The alarms wailed as people rushed out of their homes making a beeline toward the shelters but it was too late for the adjacent neighborhood. Hyuk and Jina Song watched in horror as the buildings fell, crumbling under the crushing weight. The next shockwaves would be coming soon, they needed to go, they needed to run, but their legs felt like concrete.
That's when the Omnic rose from the sea.
They were miles away from Jeju but they could see the Omnic rising, it was impossibly huge, so difficult to even register its size. The Taitan Omnic looked large enough that it could wipe Jeju off the map with a single swipe of its hand.
Jets screamed overhead, flying toward the monstrous Omnic, firing off their payloads but their missiles looked like toys compared to the Taitan. They harmlessly grazed the Omnic's armor, it barely flinched and continued to turn its attention to the mainland.
"Come on!" Jina said, rousing her husband, Hyuk, out of his stupor. "We must get underground!"
Hyuk's eyes were orbs of fear, but he nodded and readjusted his grip on a small bundle in his arms. Hana was crying, of course, she was only eight. All of this chaos and discourse would strike fear into anyone. Hana buried her face in Hyuk's chest, screaming.
Jina wished to comfort her but they couldn't. She took Hyuk's hand and ran. They sprinted as quickly as they could to the nearest shelter, an underground bunker in the middle of their little town.
Jina and Hyuk grew up with the fear of this attack since they were children. They had done countless drills at school, went through countless evacuation plans, all to prepare them for this. But they weren't ready, no one would be. It's one thing hearing about the monstrous Taitan emerging from the sea like some kind of demon and wiping out millions of people, but its another actually seeing it happen.
Her heart hammered in her chest, her legs felt like lead but Jina kept running. Crowds of people herded in the same direction, there were too many people to count a sea of fear and agony. The second shock wave hit.
The ground cracked, the sea exploded, buildings collapsed and everyone was thrown off their feet. Jina was quick to recover but the sight of the aftermath made her sick. Thousands of people were on the ground, pinned by debris, torn asunder from the blast. The street they were running on no longer existed, instead it was torn apart, collapsing downward into hell.
Panic seized Jina's throat as she looked around, desperately searching for Hyuk and Hana. "HYUK! HYUK!" she screamed but her voice felt unfamiliar to her, ah, she realized her hearing was shot. High-pitched ringing drilled a hole in her mind but she screamed as loudly as she could.
Tiny hands tugged at Jina's leg. Jina looked down. Hana was there, thank God. Her face was covered in soot, there was blood on her shirt, tears streaked down her face. She screamed something but Jina couldn't hear.
"Hana!" she said, unable to hear her own voice. "Hana, you must run! Please go!"
Hana shook her head, still crying, still looking down at her leg. What was wrong? Why couldn't Jina move?
Jina took a better look at her body. She was laying, pinned to what used to be a shop. A massive chunk of rebar left Jina horribly dismembered. Her left leg was about ten feet away on the street, her right was cleaved in two. But she didn't feel anything. She didn't feel anything at all.
She looked up. Hana was crying, sobbing, trying to wipe her face but left streaks of blood on her cheeks. Jina felt weak. She wanted to call for Hyuk. Jina followed Hana's line of sight. Hyuk was pinned similarly to the wall to Jina's right. He wasn't moving.
Copper filled Jina's move and it was harder to breath. She told Hana to run. Told her to survive. To simply survive.
But Hana wouldn't move. Hana stood there screaming and sobbing. She stood there until Jina couldn't move anymore.
A man snatched up Hana. His uniform bore the insignia of Overwatch. He didn't say anything as he sprinted away, unable to help these dying people. He needed to save someone. Anyone.
Just one person.
"I'm so happy to meet you!" Duri Kwan giggled, taking Hana's hand and shaking it firmly. "Oh my gosh, you… you are amazing! I l-love your streams and just.. You! C-can we please get a picture together?"
Hana smiled warmly, "Of course!" She pulled out her Polaroid and stood cheek-to-cheek with Duri and made a goofy expression whilst Duri tried not to cry in the picture. The picture was printed instantly and Hana lovingly signed it, "To Duri, my most amazing fan with the cutest hair! Love - !"
"Oh my gosh," Duri said, examining the picture, still trying to compose herself. "I- thank you! My mom won't believe this!"
"It's no prob, really," Hana insisted, still smiling at Duri's reaction. Despite Duri easily being ten years older than Hana, she behaved more like a sixteen year old fan meeting their idol.
Hana supposed she would be considered an idol nowadays. Duri was supposed to lead Hana to the recording studio but once they met, Duri's once steely professional demeanor dissipated and she immediately hugged Hana.
It was something she had been used to since she was sixteen, but this time it was for a different reason. It wasn't for winning some Starcraft tourny or getting 15 million subs on Twitch. No. It was for saving South Korea.
"I'm sorry," Duri said, still smiling. "It's just… you're a hero! H-how did you do it? It must've been scary."
It had been scary. Terrifying, in fact. But Hana didn't say that part. She just smiled and winked. "Nothing I can't handle!" she giggled. "And sorry, Duri, but that part's classified."
Duri looked disappointed but she nodded all the same. Ever since the fight, Hana had been bombarded with thousands, millions of questions like that. A million times Hana gave the same answers.
Oh, it was nothing.
Oh, it was easy.
That's classified!
But the truth is, Hana is still reeling from what happened. Still confused how she survived at all. The South Korean government had debriefed her and threatened her under penalty of death not to reveal what she saw, what she did to save all of South Korea.
Good. She didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to go home and sleep for a week. But she couldn't. Hana was pulled immediately to make a documentary about herself. To explain her life, her journey to the people. That was probably scarier than the battle itself.
Duri took her to the booth. It was a simple recording booth, soundproof walls (ooh, she would need that for her stream setup) a professional grade microphone (didn't look as good as hers), and a camera set up all for her.
There was a team of people setting up the sound and video for this session, along with the interviewer herself. She sat opposite to Hana's spot, her pretty blonde hair was being done up by a squadron of make-up artists.
The interviewer didn't greet Hana as she entered, so she just awkwardly sat in her spot. One of the make-up artists turned to do Hana but she waved him away. "Oh, no, I'm fine."
Truth was, she wasn't. Hana hadn't slept well this past week. Her brown hair was a messy, dark circles ringed under her eyes, she looked paler than usual. She had come to this recording session wearing her BATTLE BUNNY shirt and simple shorts, literally the clothes she had slept in these past few days.
The make-up artist insisted.
He put about five pounds of makeup on her face, quickly cleaned her hair with some dry shampoo and offered her a better outfit but Hana drew the line there. Finally, they were ready.
The interviewer smiled at Hana but it didn't feel very genuine, which was a first, people couldn't stop worshipping her whenever she went out. It was a nice feeling, being treated as a human again.
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Song." The interviewer said, her smile looked more like she was just baring her teeth.
"Oh, please, call me Hana. Or !" Hana said, smiling.
The interviewer merely smiled back. "Okay… Hana. I am-"
"Jeong-Hui Oh," Hana interrupted. "I know, I've watched all of your documentaries. I really enjoyed the one about the Lunar City, Future in the Void."
Jeong-Hui's smile turned more genuine, as if she were shocked that someone like Hana would watch her documentaries much less even know who she was. Hana got that reaction a lot as well. People assumed that because she acted like a goofball on stream that was how she was supposed to be 24/7.
It got so bad, one time her stream found out that Hana wore glasses and regularly read and they threw a tantrum. They accused her of faking glasses to attract more viewers or trying to seem smarter than she actually was, it was a mess. Hana never streamed without her contacts ever since.
"I am… glad you enjoyed my work," Jeong-Hui said. "Not many people liked that one."
"Whaaat?" Hana gasped. "It's the best! Your theory on planetary colonization was super concise and well-thought out! I totally agree with you, I think we can definitely colonize Mars in ten years."
Jeong-Hui's smile became warmer with each word she spoke, she looked like she wanted to continue the conversation but glanced at her watch and frowned. "As much as I would like to continue, we are pressed for time, sorry Hana."
"No worries, so, what's the deal? Your producer didn't really explain anything to me."
The camera's red light flashed on and Jeong-Hui's demeanor changed. She maintained her smile but she leaned in forward and held up her microphone to her mouth. Her professional mode, Hana decided.
"We are just looking to get an insight on South Korea's own Savior," Jeong-Hui said, her voice sounding professional and eloquent. "We want to learn all about you and see how the rising star of pro-gaming became an international sensation, a hero."
Hana smiled at the camera, maintaining her perfect professional smile. "Alright, this is gonna be a long story, so buckle up guys. You're in for the long-haul."