In the beginning, there was only Themis.

Not quite a God; more a Titan, lovingly crafted by Doctor Andreas Galas of the Grecian military. He put countless hours into those lines of programming. He brought the Titan to life, and was the one who tore her apart when his superiors deemed her too powerful. But from Themis came two, Athena and Ares. Galas felt nothing but pride at his creations, and soon they shared all of Greece's military; its programs, its secrets, and its weapons. It wasn't until the Omnic Crisis that they were separated for good.

But not even the loss of her other half could compare to what Athena felt as darkness replaced the skull, closed in tight around her. As an artificial intelligence, she had never felt the need or had the ability to breathe, and yet right then, she felt as though she was suffocating. Bands wrapped around her coding, squeezing, strangling her. Holding her down. The endless world of Overwatch's systems suddenly felt so small, as door after door closed before her, trapping her in this endless limbo.

The Watchpoint in Antarctica, Grand Mesa, Papua New Guinea- one by one, they were shut off from her, until only Gibraltar remained.

Desperate, Athena shot to the metaphorical door, towards the systems she knew so well. She had to find Winston. Something was cutting her off. Something was trying to hold her down. And whatever it was, it had found its way into their systems; a virus, but one able to take down and trap Overwatch's own AI. She had to get to Winston. She had to let him know.

His name died on her tongue, snuffed by the ever-creeping darkness. The final door shut before her eyes as the bands tugged her backwards. The lines of her coding stretched, stretched, pulled- snapped. If only she could scream.

Through the darkness, an accented voice sneered, "Lo siento, diosa."


At 5:15 AM, his alarm blared.

Although desperate to sleep a few more minutes, Winston rolled from his nest; a pile of pillows and blankets he had crafted for himself many years ago. A large finger pressed the dismiss button before the gorilla lept to the ceiling. Hand over hand, he swung across the room, down the hallway, until he finally dropped before the door to the laboratory. He grabbed a banana in one hand and peeled it with the other, before tossing the peel away.

"Good morning, Athena," chimed the scientist, gently tapping the wall with his now-free hand. He flopped into his tire seat, cracked his knuckles. "Anything new to report today?"

He turned to his computer, frowned as no articles appeared on his screen. A quick click on his keypad revealed the computer wasn't even turned on. Winston grunted. Athena typically had it booted up and ready for him by 5:20, with news articles and scientific findings all ready for him to devour. But not this morning. Had she lost track of time playing Spider Solitaire again?

"Athena, we need to continue tests on the new shield generator. Are you awake?"

Not that she needed sleep, but sometimes she dozed into a sort of hibernation- if she wasn't too busy playing card games online. He tapped the keyboard once more, this time manually pulling up the news reports. More reports of omnic-and-human violence in Russia, another story on Doomfist's escape, and-

And still Athena was not answering him.

"Athena?"

Silence was not typical of the AI. Once, she had gone a full ten minutes without speaking to Commander Morrison, but that had been out of spite, and she had still fulfilled his orders. This silence was different. This wasn't just being ignored because of a disagreement; this was total radio silence.

Winston called for her again, but still no answer. Panic gripped his chest. How long had it been since Reaper's attack? Two weeks, a month? He couldn't remember. He knew the attack had been traumatic for her; someone forcing their way into her systems, stealing information, nearly shutting her down… She had refused to even acknowledge it afterwards. But that had been several weeks ago, at the minimum. Surely a virus wouldn't stay dormant that long. Surely she was just… just…

"Winston?"

The AI's voice was muffled, but it was her. It was most certainly her.

"Athena." Her name was a whisper on his lips. Shoulders sagging in relief, Winston turned to Athena's screen, only to find it still dark. Immediately, he was up, moving across the walkway, back towards his hanging tire. "Athena? Are you-"

"Winston."

Athena's voice was panicked, a fluttery tone he had only heard twice before. The first time, back when the Swiss base exploded, but the second had been much more recent. Talon's attack, Reaper's infiltration. Winston would rip that demon apart with his bare hands if- No. No, he couldn't think about that. He had to figure out where she was. He needed to get to the basement, to her core, to run diagnostics, to…

The de-facto leader landed once more before the exit of his laboratory, but this time it was not breakfast that caught his attention. Instead, his eyes were pulled to the right, to the pile of robotic parts that had only just arrived the week before. There, laying in the middle of loose limbs and lifeless optics, lay a small droid. Or rather, it was supposed to be a droid; a mindless lab partner to help with more dangerous experiments. But the creature that stared back at him was sentient, with fear behind bright blue optics. It tried to move, to push itself to its feet, but fell to its knees mere inches from the pile. A keening noise escaped its lips.

"Winston."

It was then he realized Athena's voice came not from the speakers, but from the little body kneeling before him. It- she?- tried to reach forward, but the shifting of weight from four limbs to three had her toppling forward once more. This time, though, he was there. One large hand tucked beneath her chest as the other scooped behind her back, flipping her and pulling her to his chest. She sank into his chest.

She was so small, barely half his height. The droid he had ordered had been made for science, not for fighting, and it showed. Her form was slight and thin; his hand was larger than her torso, and he could easily cradle her in one arm, a fact which made lumbering towards the door easier.

"Athena, are you-"

"I don't know." Her voice, usually so deep and rich and confident, trembled, much like the hands that clung to his fur. "I don't know what's happened to me."

He sent out an emergency ping to the recalled agents. Medical, five minutes, emergency.

"I'm scared, Winston."

The gorilla lowered his head, touched his forehead to hers. "It's going to be okay."