Winston closed the program transmitting his emergency message. He wistfully looked around at the chaos of his lab. The room waited patiently.
Athena's robotic voice broke the silence, "I hope you know what you're doing." Can disembodied AI's sound chiding?
After a beat, Winston sighed, "So do I."
Almost in response, his monitor rang with a call. It read Tracer. Winston's face lit up, as he adjusted his glasses. He touched a button on the monitor and Tracer's face appeared in front of him.
"Winston! I'm so happy to hear from you," beamed Tracer in her cheery British accent.
"I could say the same thing, Lena," Winston chuckled in reply. "How have you been?" But Tracer's face turn dower.
She finally found the words. "There was an attack. I tried to stop the assassin, but…" Tracer trailed off.
Winston was too weary to hide any surprise, "An assassin?". Tracer's eyes became glossy, even behind her orange goggles. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Tracer nodded her head gently. "I couldn't stop her," she added, pain on her face. Athena pulled up articles of the recent assassination of Mondatta on the monitor. His robotic body, draped in monk's clothes, lay shattered, half hanging outside of a car door. His followers wailing in anguish in the background. Winston stared in disbelief, then turned away in pain.
The room waited patiently, again.
"I'm so sorry Tracer. The world is still very broken," said Winston. Tracer nodded in agreement. "But that's why we have people like you, Lena," he added, bringing a smile to both of their faces.
"And you big guy," she returned in kind. "Are you recalling all Overwatch agents?" she followed.
"We need all the help we can get."
"Are you sure they all want to come back? Overwatch was banned. Outlawed across the world," Tracer's voice became meek.
"I don't know if they'll all come back," Winston conceded. "I don't really expect most of them to. But the world can always use more heroes." The mantra reflexively came out. The words felt comforting, like a warm blanket during a rainstorm. They'd both lost count of how many times they'd said that phrase.
The words galvanized Tracer. She puffed up her chest a bit, and her shoulders became less hunched-over.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked her commander.
"Bring in your chronal accelerator to my lab. Will you be able to get her alright?"
"I'll be there in a flash," Lena pepped.
Winston nodded, smiled, and then adjusted his glasses. "We've got some work to do."
Lindholm Torbjörn tinkered with a new shield in his workshop. His daughter, Brigitte, was welding a new mace in the corner, far away from anything flammable. It only takes burning down your workshop once to learn your lesson, her father's phrase echoed in her head as she hummed to her work. Sparks illuminated the visor of her mask. The room filled with sounds of metal on metal and flames melting steel. The only things spoken all morning were the groans from the machines, and it was soon approaching lunch time.
A loud electronic beep sounded thrice over the cadence of the shop. Ingrid, Lindholm's wife, appeared on a digital screen, projected onto the only wall in the workshop not covered in hanging equipment. Lindholm looked up from his work, and his look of contemplation was replaced with a warm smile. "Alskling, good morning," he greeted his love.
Her long grey hair was braided behind her head. The wrinkles around her eyes only distinguished her already gorgeous features. "Morning Hjӓrtat. You missed breakfast this morning. Too excited to eat?" she asked playfully.
Lindholm chuckled bashfully. "Just tryin' to finish up this shield for our new friend." His face lost twenty years of wrinkles when he spoke to her. He looked like a schoolboy again, to her.
"I understand Lind. I'm happy to see you working so hard again. I haven't seen you this excited in…" he voice trailed off a bit. "...Years," she finished wistfully.
Lindholm rubbed the back of his head, feeling his white locks and remembering the years without Overwatch. He looked around his workshop, taking account of all that was there. His shop looked about the same as he'd left it all those years ago.
"Lunch is almost ready, and you have a visitor," Ingrid added.
"Another one?" Lindholm asked a bit surprised. But no sooner had he asked, he heard the bellow of Reinhardt outside of his shop, in his thick German accent, "Torbjörn! You old Mausi. We have been called, and we must answer."
Torbjörn's face lit up, but then became clouded with confusion. He looked to his wife and then daughter for clarification. Brigitte had already removed her mask after hearing the sound of Reinhardt's thunder. She gave her father a look of bemused exhaustion. Grease smeared her face, but she was unmistakably Ingrid's daughter, even with the red hair.
"Overwatch, papa." Brigitte explained as if the one word was enough. He father nodded in understanding. "I should have known," he chuckled. Torbjörn hopped off his stool and nearly skipped over to the workshop's main entrance. As soon as he opened the door, a great bear of a man scooped him off his feet in a gripping hug.
"Torbjörn! It's good to see you old friend," Reinhardt's voice reverberated in all of Torbjörn's body. Torbjörn didn't bother trying to break the hug, even though he hated being picked up like a child. He learned a long time ago there was no point in fighting against Reinhardt's embrace. Besides, he missed his friend.
Brigitte put down her torch and lined up for her bear hug, knowing it was inevitable. But Reinhardt didn't bother with turns, and scooped her into the hug too, shouting "Brigitte! It's good to see you again." He looked behind them, noticing the unfinished projects with fresh signs of work. He loosened his grip on them, saying, "Ah good, you're preparing for work. I'm glad you came around to your senses Brigitte."
"Well events seem to be getting decided for me lately," Brigitte replied.
Reinhardt released his two companions. He gave her a look of confusion. "What do you mean, Brigitte?"
Brigitte turned to her father, who returned her look. "We have a new guest, Reinhardt."
"A new guest? I don't understand," replied Reinhardt.
The pause in the commotion allowed the sound of robotic servos to be heard by all. Bastion, an old Omnic Siege Automaton, walked out from behind some trees chasing his bird friend around, playfully. A look of surprise and terror exploded on Reinhardt's face.
"Brigitte! Torbjörn! Look out!" Reinhardt tackled them both to the ground, giving cover to them with his body. The shouts alerted Bastion to danger. He looked around desperately for the danger Reinhardt had been referring to, but couldn't find any. He then dove to the ground, mimicking the actions of Reinhardt, covering his head with this robotic arms. His bird flew underneath him too.
Torbjörn, muffled, said, "No, no. It's ok Reinhardt. Let me up, you're crushing me."
"We need your turrets Torbjörn!" Reinhardt replied, seemingly unaware of what Torbjörn had just said.
Brigitte repeated her father's complaints. "Reinhardt, it's ok. He's not like the others."
Reinhardt, realizing he wasn't getting shot at, began to release the two from his arms once more.
"What do you mean? Why is he on the ground?" Reinhardt asked.
"Let us up, and we'll explain," replied Brigitte.
They all climbed to their feet, Bastion following them up. Reinhardt was turned, half-facing Torbjörn and Brigitte, half-facing the bastion unit, his posture no longer relaxed
"I know this will sound strange, but this one…" Torbjörn's voice trailed off, unable to find the words. "He's…"
"He?" Reinhardt questioned the pronoun. "It's a bastion Torbjörn. They cannot be trusted."
"This one is different," Brigitte explained. "Reinhardt, meet Bastion." She gestured to the Omnic, who gave him a friendly wave in response.
That caught Reinhardt off-guard. He looked back at her as if she just said the sky was green. "Different how?"
"Honestly, we don't really know," Brigitte replied. "I found him on my way home from Eichenwalde. He was...lost?" she added, unsure of the truth.
"Lost?" Reinhardt repeated, as if she was using the wrong word.
Brigitte looked away a bit shamefully, but added, "He's...just different Reinhardt. He doesn't want to kill anything. I don't think the omnics have control over him anymore. He even has a little bird friend."
Reinhardt looked surprised and took another look at Bastion. Bastion waved at him, childlike. "But...how?" he asked.
"How did Mondatta become who he was?" countered Brigitte.
"Was?" questioned Reinhardt.
The question visibly hurt Brigitte. She realized that Reinhardt hadn't heard about the assassination. "He's dead Reinhardt. Assassination. They think it was Talon."
"Ahhh," Reinhardt nodded in understand. "That makes more sense now. Talon is stirring up trouble again. Those cowards always work in such nefarious ways."
"Assassination is pretty public though," Brigitte added. "I wonder what is causing them to be so bold now."
"It will make no difference. It's time we wipe them out once and for all. Are you with me old friends?" Reinhardt rallied.
Brigitte and Torbjörn looked at each other significantly. Before they could answer, the video projection from inside the workshop beeped again. This time, the Overwatch logo appeared on the wall. Then Winston's face was looking into an empty shop.
Torbjörn, Reinhardt and Brigitte walked inside, leaving Bastion outside for now. "Winston!" exclaimed Reinhardt.
"Reinhardt! Torbjörn! And Brigitte!" Winston hollered, leaning back in his chair, revealing the rest of his lab. Behind him, Tracer blinked into view, testing out her repaired chronal accelerator, only to blink away a second later.
"Was that Tracer behind you? Is Lena with you?" asked Brigitte.
Winston turned around, remembering he wasn't alone in his lab anymore.
"Oh, yes, she's here too," he replied. A squeak of "Hiya!" came from Lena off screen. Winston continued, "it's good to see you all, but we have very little time. We just got an alert that there's a threat upon the museum where the Doomfist gauntlet is guarded. Lena and I are heading over there right now. You're the only ones that had responded to my message so far. How quickly could you get there?"
Torbjörn and Brigitte looked at each other, realizing there was only one response to the request for help at this point. Torbjörn answered, "Not very quickly, but we'll leave soon."
Brigitte stepped closer to the screen, saying, "Are we really the only ones that responded to your message?"
"So far," Winston replied hopefully. "I'm sure people are just...nervous. We're breaking the law, you know?"
"We're being heroes!" proclaimed Reinhardt.
Winston just smiled. "We need to get going," he added, looking toward Lena again. "See you all soon. Signing off," and with that, the screen closed, and the Overwatch logo appeared once more.
Author's note: I've done my best to work within the framework of the established stories of this universe. The Overwatch shorts were a big inspiration for me, and I consider them all 100% canon in my work of fiction. At this point in the story, the very first Overwatch cinematic trailer that was released, seen here (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=FqnKB22pOC0, takes place. I find it redundant for me to write the events that happened in this short, so go watch the short to see what happens after this chapter.
Also, I implied that Reinhardt's short, entitled "Honor and Glory", seen here (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=sQfk5HykiEk&list=PLAYFVhxsaqDuOh4Ic5mRu5CiZVKCMVv66, occured a few days ago. Essentially the timeline goes like this:
1. The Last Bastion (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=to8yh83jlXg
2. Alive (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=U130wnpi-C0&list=PLAYFVhxsaqDuOh4Ic5mRu5CiZVKCMVv66&index=7
3. Recall (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=sB5zlHMsM7k&list=PLAYFVhxsaqDuOh4Ic5mRu5CiZVKCMVv66&index=8
4. The first part of this chapter
5. Honor and Glory (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=sQfk5HykiEk&list=PLAYFVhxsaqDuOh4Ic5mRu5CiZVKCMVv66
6. The second part of this chapter
7. Cinematic Trailer (They remove urls, just add this text to the end of youtube's url): watch?v=FqnKB22pOC0
8. The third part of this chapter (which happens right now, see below)
This is not a complete timeline, as there are obviously more chapters to be written and more short to be included. I will try to make it obvious where the official Overwatch shorts fit into my timeline, but I will also include timelines like this to help keep things straight.
The older brother returned the affections of his little brother as they stood in the Hall of Heroes. The adrenaline still pumping through him, he didn't even care about pretending to be cool. They had just seen Tracer and Winston. Two of the original Overwatch heroes. Nothing could top that.
The older brother's heart was beating through his chest. All he could hear was the blood of his veins rushing through his ears. But after a moment, another sound entered the hall. Footsteps approached the gauntlet. Broken glass cracked underneath the steps.
A one-armed, bald, black man stood at the gauntlet. His muscles burst through the street clothes that restricted him. His left hand tightened into a fist, then reached up to take the gauntlet.
Without a word, he attached the gauntlet to the end of his arm, where cybernetics already melded with his flesh. It locked in place with a satisfying clink. The metal fingers stretched and flexed at his will. They then tightened into another fist, and a sinister smile twisted on his face.
He looked over at the two boys, seeing their fear of him. He didn't hesitate. He swaggered over to them, stopping close enough to tower over them. He bent down to bring his eyes down to their level.
"What happened to your arm?" he casually asked the younger boy, motioning towards his green cast. Not sure how to respond, the older brother spoke up for him, "He broke it playing football."
"That's good," replied the powerful man, in a husky Nigerian accent. "It's good that you played so hard that you lost something. And it's good that you're recovering. That's how we get stronger."
The boys tried to react, but couldn't. They stood their shocked. The adrenaline was starting to make them shake. "You do not need to be afraid. Do you know who I am?" asked the man squatting before them.
They both shook their heads with negation.
"My name is Akande, and I am here to save the world," Akande said with a smirk. "Now, stand back," he commanded, motioning them away from him. They took several steps back, as far as they could go before he leapt up from his squatting position, jumping all the way to the roof of the hall. His metal fist punched through the glass, making pieces shatter down around him and to the floor below. That same fist grabbed the frame of the glass he just broke and effortlessly pulled himself through the new hole. With one more leap, he disappeared from their view.