Only the hardcore fans will understand who IRIS really is. Everyone else just knows Echo.
Development base Alpha B.
location classified
13:34 standard eastern time
"They're here! the base is under attack!" The alarms rang out before the man's yell even reached the lead scientist's ears. So, it finally happened, Talon is making its move. We got to do something. An impact made the base shudder. And they must have brought Doomfist, ironic. The man ran as fast as possible to his laboratory. Accessing his computer to lock down his data, the lead scientist quickly grabbed one of his colleagues. "Quickly!" he yelled, panicked. "We have to contact Overwatch!"
"To late! The others tried, it won't work! They must have gotten to the systems first!" Oh no, without them we can't even call for backup!
"Maybe so, but if we can get to the manual override, we might be able to reset the systems!"
"But we'll be killed on sight!"
"Well," said the man, grabbing two pulse cannons, throwing one to his friend. "It's that, or die here. And it's a good day to try."
"Okay." he replied shakily. "Let's go." He said, more confidently this time, opening the door and shooting a talon operative.
"let's hope this works." the two quickly moved down the hallway, avoiding the sights of any people, quickly making their way to the communications center. they could hear the sound of gunshots echoing down the hallway, security was failing.
"So once we get there, how do we reset the computers?"
"I've designed a safe mode in case of a compromise. it might be able to keep Sombra out of the systems just long enough to send a distress signal. it's manually operated so we'll have to be inside for it to work."
"What about Echo?"
"You know as well as I do that that's what they may be be after and you also know it never worked."
"But what if-"
Winston told us to 'let it rust in the basement' we shouldn't use it!"
"Okay but-" he never finished his sentence as his friend pulled him back
"Shh! Talon." he whispered. "Get ready."
The two held themselves tightly to the wall, fingers griped on the trigger of their guns. Their hearts pounded inside of their chests, sweat dotted their foreheads.
"Three"
"Two"
"One"
Together the two jumped out and gunned down the four men before they could even react.
"Wow, I was actually expecting to get shot."
"Because... Protagonist?"
"Yep."
"Okay, now let's get to that-" He was cut off by a blast narrowly missing his head. The two turned around and ran towards the communications room, firing shots behind them. Once inside they override the door lock to shut.
"Okay, pull the red lever and press the reset button" said the lead scientist, motioning to the proper panel. "I'll calibrate the rest" they ran to their areas, working quickly
"Got it!" The lights flickered on and off. and a voice played overhead.
"Safe mode activated"
"Okay, send the transmission."
"Waring! This is development base alpha we are UNDER ATTACK! Repeat, we are under attack! Winston, do you hear me?!" The screen glitched, then ATHENA's Icon appeared on the screen.
"What's going on?"
"It's Talon, they're attacking us! We need help!" as if to emphasize his point the door suddenly bucked, as if someone had taken a rocket to the door.
"I'll alert the team, ETA 10 minutes."
"NO! That's not good enough! we need to do something!" The man turned around to see his friend typing out quick commands on the panels. "What are you doing?"
"Help's clearly not going to get here in time, so we need to stall them. And the only one capable of that is Echo!"
"Do you know what Winston will do to us for that?!"
"It's better than dying!"
"I thought Echo was deactivated and demolished." said ATHENA.
"Fine! I'll put in the commands!" Yelled the lead scientist.
"I thought all the subjects to the project self-terminated, what are you planning to do?" asked ATHENA
"Give me a moment!" a compartment opened up next to him, revealing what looked like a cryogenics tube."ATHENA, I'm going to have to ask you to upload the activation codes into Echo, I think the base code you have should stabilize her."
"Are you sure?"
"Well-" He was cut off by the door being blown off his hinges. The man's colleague turned around and laid down fire with both their guns.
"Upload ATHENA! I'll by you time!"
"ATHENA you have to do this or everyone will die!"
The AI was silent for a moment. "Alright. Activating Echo." the man typed in the final commands, and the Screen went blank, and the pod opened.
The body inside was made of metal, glistening in white. A holograph projector was indented into the face. It wasn't shaped like a normal omnic. Its arms and legs hovered inches away from where the sockets should be. The legs were elegantly designed. no joints could be seen, but could still move. Veins of light quickly pulsated up and down, before stabilizing. the projector powered up, then lit up. The body stood up in a very fluid motion. The tip of the feet were hovering away from the ground. the hands had a natural, skin-like look to them. The whole body made her possibly the most advanced omnic to date. The head silently turned towards the man, not saying one word. The face hadn't loaded in yet, it was chilling, but inviting.
"Echo? Are you in there?" Echo had overloaded every program they downloaded from the amount of data inputs, but he had guessed ATHENA's multitasking program would help her use the powerful body, but it wasn't guaranteed.
The omnic said two words in reply. "Echo, online."
So? Was it good enough? This would be an epic backstory for Echo's creation!
This is a oneshot, but it could be a two shot if you want it to be...