What happened when I became conscious for the first time? Again, it was strange experience. I had never been conscious before this, and despite being a year old, I was physically and mentally in my late 20's. But I didn't know any of this. I was surrounded by two figures (who turned out to be scientists), and I sat silently as they observed me. It was merely a formality, though; I'm not the first clone they created. I wouldn't find out until later that there were 53 before me.
I was laying completely still on a steel table with a blank expression on my face, but my mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour; trying to process what was happening, where I was, that kind of thing.
"Proceed with test A." the scientist to my right stated.
The scientist to my left nodded and held his hand above my head. He looked down at me and said "Follow my hand with your eyes." He proceeded to move his hand back and forth. After a second of hesitation, I followed his hand back and forth with my eyes without moving my head. After doing this for about half a minute, he pulls his hand away and looks me in the eyes.
"Are you capable of speaking?" he asked. Apparently, there were some clones before me that were mute. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
"Say something. Anything." the scientist then said, with a hint of desperation in his voice. I didn't know it at the time, but if a clone turned out to be mute (like some were), then they would be considered a failure and disposed of. 54 clones in, the scientists did not want another failure.
"I…I-I" I stuttered. This technically was my first time speaking. Eventually, I managed to spit out a question. "W-where am I?" I asked.
The scientist smirked, pleased that I could potentially be their first success. He ignored my question and looked over to the scientist to my right.
"Doctor, I think we may have our first success." he said confidently. While he was smiling, the expression of the scientist (now confirmed to be a doctor) to my right remained unchanged.
"Remember Clone #0023? We made just as much progress with him as we did with this one, and it was still a failure. Remember the final test?" he said, with little emotion in his voice. The scientist's smirk faded and he looked down. "Right…" he said with a similar lack of enthusiasm. As for me, I had no idea what they were talking about. I was only concerned with the answer to my first question.
"Where am I?" I asked again, this time with little struggle. They both looked down at me.
"All will be explained in due time." the doctor said. I had an endless number of questions, but I trusted that the most important ones would be answered in time, like he had promised.
Up until this point, the room had been mostly dark, save for a giant light above me while I layed on the table. All of a sudden, the giant light turned off, and rows of smaller lights spread out on the ceiling illuminated the room. At the same time, the table began to fold upwards, sitting me upright.
The doctor brought in a large machine and rested the front of my right arm on it. The machine used two straps to restrain my arm, and it extended two robotic limbs with needles. It looked as if I were giving blood, but in reality, the machine was going to tattoo my arm to mark me as a test subject. Using two needles, the machine tattooed a barcode on my arm (Author's Note: think of Agent 47's barcode from Hitman, only larger and located on the inside of the right arm), with the numbers 1229 and 0054, which represented the date of my creation (December 29th, I guess you could consider it my birthday) and my official designation, Clone #0054.
Once that was finished, they stood me up and gave me a shirt and a pair of shorts, as I was wearing nothing prior. "Put these on. We're going to meet some important people." the scientist said. "They will determine whether or not you will complete your final test. If you do, they will be your new teammates. If not, then we'll be reprimanded for wasting their time. So, please do pass the test."
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I had the feeling that I shouldn't ask any questions. I put on the shirt and shorts, and looked over at the scientist, who was speaking into an earpiece. "Clone #0054 is ready." he said. The door leading into the room opened, and the scientist and the doctor led me out down a hallway. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. At the end of the hallway was another door, and when it opened, I was greeted by three individuals.
"As I stated previously," the scientist began, "these three will determine whether or not you complete your final test. If you do, they will be your new teammates." All three of the individuals eyed you down for a minute, and you did the same. "Perhaps I should introduce them." the scientist finally said.
He motioned towards the woman on the far left. She was shorter than you were by quite a bit. She had a purple skin tight suit with a recon visor on her forehead, along with…blue skin?
"This is Widowmaker." the scientist said. Widowmaker looked to me and smirked. "Bonjour, chérie." she said.
The scientist motioned towards the hooded man in the middle. His outfit was all black, and his arms were crossed. Even with a barn owl mask covering his face, I could tell he was unamused and somewhat frustrated. Despite being slightly taller than him (by about three inches), I felt intimidated by his presence.
"This is Reaper." the scientist said. Reaper merely grunted in response.
Finally, he motioned towards the small woman in purple on the far right. Half of her head was shaved, the other half covered with long black hair that was purple at the end. She was tapping away at purple hexagrams with her long nails. I was confused by what she was doing, but it didn't really matter. It looked as if she was barely paying attention.
"This is Sombra." the scientist said. She looked up for a second and said "Hola." before returning to what she was doing.
"I suppose I should leave you guys to it." the scientist said. Following that statement, he left the room with the doctor. Once the door shut behind me, Widowmaker spoke up.
"Well, chérie, I suppose you have many questions." she said. "Perhaps you're asking yourself where you are, or even who you are…" she then said. She was right. I slowly nodded.
"Well, let's keep it simple, shall we? You are a clone." she said. I was somewhat taken aback by the statement. "In fact, you're the 54th clone of a man known as Tobias." The 0054 barcode tattoo made sense all of a sudden. Still, I had no idea how to process what was going on. Widowmaker continued on. "Tobias was an Overwatch agent. A very skilled one at that. You may…remember some of his operations." I was confused by what she said. "You share the same memories he does. So that's how you would remember his missions." she said. She turned out to be right; upon telling me that, I began to remember his many Overwatch operations. I understood why I had no recollection of embarking on those missions, because it wasn't really me. "Tobias would've been a valuable asset for Talon, but he was quite…disobedient." she said. "Not even our neural conditioning broke him. So, we resorted to…extreme measures." All of a sudden, it made sense.
Widowmaker smirked as she looked at me. Slowly, anger and frustration built up within me, and it showed. All the pieces were falling into place. I knew what was going on now; I was a clone made specifically to fight for Talon, to fight against Overwatch. But I knew that Overwatch were my allies…at least they were Tobias'.
"Motherfuckers…I'll never fight for you. Tobias wouldn't, I won't." I said with pent up anger in my voice. Widowmaker's smirk slowly turned into a frown. "Mmm…I'm afraid you don't have a choice, chérie. Did that idiot scientist mention Clone #0023?" she said. I slowly nodded as I remembered his mention of Clone #0023. "Clone #0023 was supposed to be a success. Other clones either had genetic defects or did not live past the embryo stage. He was just like you. Unfortunately, he refused to work for Talon until the very end. We gave him multiple chances, but he simply did not comply. So…we disposed of him. I assume you know what that means."
It all became very simple now. Work for Talon, or die. It wasn't before long when Widowmaker gave me the ultimatum herself.
"You are a Talon operative. Overwatch is the enemy, and you will exterminate them. Otherwise, you will be disposed of."
I sat there in silence for a long time. Even Sombra looked up from whatever she was doing, curious as to what my answer would be. I knew I had no choice but to agree to help Talon, but I did not want to say it.
"What do you want from me?" I asked. She smirked, and I took that as a sign that my answer was sufficient. The lights dimmed, and a series of images began to show up on the wall behind her.
"Overwatch was disbanded not long after we captured Tobias." Widowmaker began. "Unfortunately for us, Overwatch initiated a recall, bringing all living Overwatch agents back into duty. They broke the law, but more importantly, they've become a thorn in our side. That's where you come in, chérie." As I slowly took in her words, another question came up in my mind.
"Why did you bother cloning Tobias? He refused to work for Talon, and he was immune to the neural conditioning, so why would exact copies of him be any different?" I asked. "You've been alive for one year, and awake for one day. Tobias lived for 22 years before he was captured. He's lived long enough. You haven't." she responded. I was confused by her words, which prompted her to go on. "He's lived years of his life, you've barely lived a life at all. And it could end just as quickly as it started if you don't comply." she said with a hint of anger in her voice. I was still confused. Regardless, I knew that Widowmaker did not want to continue discussing the topic. So I simply nodded, and let Widowmaker continue.
"As I was saying, Overwatch is a thorn in our side. So, that's where you come in." she said. The images behind her showed pictures of various Overwatch agents. Most of them I did not recognize, and Widowmaker noticed this. "Do you not recognize these people, chérie?" she asked. I shook my head. She smirked at me.
"Perhaps you recognize these people." she told me. Suddenly, the picture behind her turned to one of a man you recognized. It was Jesse McCree, who was a member of Blackwatch. My eyes went wide. "That's…McCree…" I said quietly. "But I've never met him…yet I remember him." Widowmaker chuckled. "Tobias knew him. That's why you do." she said. The picture of McCree changed into one of a cyborg. He had black hair and half of his body consisted of red and gray prosthetics. "Genji Shimada…" I said to myself. Widowmaker smirked yet again. "That's not all." she said.
Simultaneously, three more images appeared behind her. The first one was of a woman with short, spiky brown hair and some sort of glowing device on her chest and around her soldiers. The second one was of a large man in blue armor, wielding a giant hammer. The last one was of a blonde woman with some sort of staff that fired off a stream of light, which I recognized as a healing stream. I remembered all three of them. "Lena Oxton…Reinhardt Wilhelm…Angela Ziegler…" I said quietly to myself. At the same time, flashbacks of Tobias' various missions alongside them played in my head. However, I noticed there were two missing.
"What about Jack Morrison? Gabriel Reyes?" I asked. Widowmaker's smirk faded away and was replaced with a frown. Suddenly, I heard Reaper growl ever so slightly. When I looked over at him, he shot daggers at me with his stare. It was enough to send chills down my spine. I looked back at Widowmaker, seeking an answer.
"Jack and Gabriel are dead. They are of no importance." she said sternly.
She looked up at the superimposed photos of the Overwatch agents, then back at me. "These people are not your allies. They are your enemies. You are to eliminate every single one of them." she said. "Not just who you saw, but everyone affiliated with Overwatch. Otherwise, you will face the same fate that every other failed clone did. Understand?"
I paused for a moment. I knew I should've said no. If I died, Talon wouldn't have the asset they were looking for, and I wouldn't have to kill the people who I knew should be my allies. But I was selfish. The original Tobias may have faced death bravely, but I wanted to live. I wasn't willing to sacrifice myself. After a minute or so of silence, I looked at Widowmaker and gave my answer.
"Alright…I will fight for you." I said slowly. Widowmaker smiled at my response. She knew I could barely bring myself to say it, but she didn't care. She, along with the rest of Talon, had the valuable asset they were looking for.
"You've made the right decision." she said, still smiling. Seemingly on queue, a decorated Talon soldier walked in. "He will lead you to Firing Range 2C." she said. The cloning process should've replicated Tobias skills, so shooting practice should be quite easy for you, almost unnecessary. But some time in the range wouldn't hurt."
As she began to leave the room, she stopped right by my side and looked me in the eye.
"Adieu, chérie." she said quietly, before leaving. I looked over to Reaper, who, despite being mostly silent during this meeting, spoke for the first time.
"Don't screw this up, Tobias." he said before disappearing into a black mist.
I had been referred to as Clone #0054 up until this point, so being referred to by an actual name felt strange. But what felt even more strange was the phrase itself. "Don't screw this up, Tobias." I remember the original Tobias being told the same thing…by Gabriel Reyes. At the time, I brushed it off as mere coincidence.
"Let's go." the soldier said to me, leading me out of the room. Sombra followed me as the decorated Talon soldier led me out of the room. She looked up at me with a smile.
"Welcome to Talon, amigo."
