There are times in everyone's lives when you have to make a choice that alters your path one way or another. As the Strike Commander of Overwatch, Jack Morrison had to make a large number of these choices, the results of which would not only affect himself, but many others as well.
A rapidly developing situation had presented itself, and going against his better judgement, he had hesitated. He had been a soldier, he had been good at taking orders, but this particular order had sat wrong with him.
It had also sat wrong with the rest of his team and friends, with them all giving their input, one way or another. For the most part, it was a unanimous consensus - something must be done about the violent Null Sector uprising happening right now.
It didn't take long to put together a team, some of them had already made preparations.
Because Overwatch had been banned from assisting with the incident, the smallest possible team had been assembled, each member picked for their unique strengths and skills.
Lena was one of the four chosen, she had requested to be put in the field and her opinion of the situation had been a tipping point for Jack to make the final decision for Overwatch to step in. Her knowledge of her homeland could possibly come in handy as well.
But, that didn't stop Jack from worrying about her. She had a lot of potential and a bright future ahead of her. Sending her into such a dangerous mission as her first felt ill-advised. However, this was her fight, as it were, and, Jack had a feeling that even if he had selected a different team, she'd somehow find her way on it.
Once the team was chosen, the final preparations were made. Chief among those was a special request Jack made of Angela: watch over Lena. She gladly agreed.
Jack, Ana, and Gabriel took up stations in the control room to observe and guide the mission. There were three main phases to the mission, so each chose a phase and set up their monitors to display the section they were leading.
The first section was Jack's, and it went off without a hitch. He was starting to feel better about the mission, things were going according to plan.
Ana's phase started off just as well, but then the difficulties started nearly as quickly. It seemed that Null Sector had figured out that there was a major effort to stop them and was sending stronger and more varied troops.
Jack stepped in to assist Ana, two pairs of eyes were better than one. They watched the situation and the backs of their teammates and friends.
The trouble began when there was a problem with the payload. It took time for it to be restarted and charge up. While it was doing so, the team would be sitting ducks.
They narrowly survived, mostly thanks to a localized EMP blast that took out the Null Sector bots in the area. This gave the team an all too brief moment to breathe and recover before the payload needed to be taken on its way.
Everyone was in fairly rough shape, despite Angela's best efforts, there was just too much going on for her to fully keep up. She patched everyone up as best she could as they made their way to the destination.
Gabriel had taken the last phase, since he had eyes on the ground who had given him the rundown of the area. While the team was battered, he guided them fairly safely down the street to their destination.
There were a few tough fights on the way to the barricade, but the team handled the Omnics one by one.
While the payload was preparing to fire, their situation got tougher, as more and more Null Sector bots arrived to try and stop them.
The Omnics were unable to keep the team from breaching the wall, but the team was exhausted from their victories.
And, the worst was yet to come.
Some of Null Sectors strongest troops were stationed behind the barricade. With Overwatch clearing out their numbers, they had decided to accelerate their plan and had started the countdown to detonate the power plant.
Time was running out, so four essential targets were chosen. There were other high-priority dangerous Omnics present, but it was quickly determined that eliminating those four would be the fastest way to break through and stop the countdown.
Taking just a moment to formulate a plan, the ream pressed forward.
The first target fell fairly easily, the second, less so. By the time they took out the first half of the targets, the team was in bad shape.
Angela did what she could, but with time running out, they didn't have time to recover.
As the team rounded the corner, they were peppered with bullets and they lost their first member: Reinhardt.
Retreating slightly, the shocked team tried to regroup.
Back in the control room, the three team members looked on in stunned silence, but neither them or their team on the ground had time to mourn their longtime comrade.
The fallen team member's camera was still mostly intact, so Jack, Ana, and Gabriel gathered what intel they could from it and continued advising the team.
Unfortunately, they were facing a killbox and were running out of options.
Exhausted, desperate, and grieving, they frantically came up with a new plan.
Splitting up, Torbjorn darted across to the other side and a hallway, while Lena and Angela gave him cover fire.
As soon as he was clear, he started setting up a turret to try and draw the Omnics' fire.
Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough.
Null Sector focused their firepower on the engineer and gunned him down, completely obliterating his camera in the process.
Both sides were down to half of their crucial members, but the Overwatch team was outnumbered and outgunned.
Angela and Lena struggled to come up with a plan they could pull off together. Finally, after some protesting from Lena, it was solemnly agreed that Angel would draw their fire, while Lena would use her speed to try and dart ahead to see if she could get past the guards and try a desperate bid to stop the power plant from exploding.
Time was almost up, so they rushed their hasty plan into motion.
Angela walked forward slowly, whispering an apology for not being able to keep Lena safe.
Null Sector dropped her almost immediately, while Lena lept past her and darted ahead.
3
Blink.
2
Blink.
1
Lena had just barely zipped past the last two OR-14s when the countdown hit
0
The power plant went up in a massive explosion that wiped out the majority of London, both human and Omnic.
There wasn't time to think or register their failure. The remaining cameras were destroyed quickly, their monitors blinked out one by one until the three leaders of Overwatch were sitting in the dark.
The silence that hung over them was heavy, full of grief and shock.
Jack was the first to speak, his voice and heart breaking, "Mission failed. Get the Prime Minister on the line, I have some explaining to do."
Grieving would have to come later.
Both Ana and Gabriel stayed by Jack as he made the most difficult call of his life. Each one had rested a hand on his shoulder, an act of solidarity connecting them.
The call to the prime minister was a long one, but neither Ana or Gabriel moved, they couldn't move, they had to face this together.
Jack didn't talk much on the call, the prime minister didn't give him a chance.
He placed the blame for the loss of London squarely on Overwatch and Jack. They had escalated a terrible situation and he thought that if Overwatch had stayed away as ordered, then perhaps London might still be on the map.
Once the prime minister said exactly what was on his mind, he hung up, swearing consequences for Overwatch overstepping their boundaries yet again.
The three leaders of Overwatch stayed together in silence for some time, until pressing matters finally overtook them.
Leading the way, Jack left the room first, closely followed by the others.
They paused for a moment in the hallway, then went their separate ways, each going off to make difficult phone calls.
The next few days were a whirlwind of grief and stress.
Memorials and funerals were given at Overwatch and around the world. Many people knew somebody who had been killed in London thanks to Null Sector.
Overwatch was an easy scapegoat and target, they were already under scrutiny, but this was the final nail in the coffin.
It took some time to relocate everyone and clear out the facilities, but eventually, it was complete.
Jack, Ana, and Gabriel were the last to leave. It was unspoken, but they all felt the same way. Overwatch had started with them and it was going to end with them.
They quietly walked through the now-empty hallways, the echoing of their boots was the only sound that remained in the once busy building.
They all reflected in their own ways, stepping through their shared past.
When they finished, they stood before the doors that marked the main entrance. They all knew it would be the last time they would ever step through those doors.
Going together, they left the past behind them. They didn't look back until they were some distance away and could see the whole building sitting there empty and alone.
Standing together, they watched as the sun set on Overwatch.
They weren't sure what the future would hold, but for now, they were going to face it together.