Chapter 1: First Contact

Authors Note: Thanks for reading this story so far. I plan to make this a large story that tries to connect everything in the game to the true story of what overwatch is really about. The most important date that I've set in this universe is 20th June 2076 when Winston activates the Recall Reviews and constructed criticism is appreciated.

On another note I plan to get at least a chapter out per week. This chapter is lengthy as will be the next few to set the stepping stones for my universe, Enjoy.

"Where would you like to start Jack?" Ana Asked. With the Overwatch Recall activated, her intrigue has grown on Jacks theory. The more jack spoke about it the more she begun to question their history.

"Its best we start at the beginning...My beginning anyway. I remember it as if it was yesterday, Hearing the craziness on the news about Omnics attacking civilians. When I joined there wasn't any major tours available...But this was something different" Jack said with a long gaze. The kind of gaze you get when a flood of memories hits you...The kind of memories that scar you for life.

October 21st 2040 (36 years before the Recall)

Fort Green, California, United States of America

'This place is nothing like home' Thought a young Jack Morrison as he sat in his bunk looking at an old photograph of himself. Having spent the last year being posted to this location, he started to feel anxious about the situation, Sure he joined to get away from home but he was missing something, it wasn't his mother's T-bone steak that he had every Sunday. No, it was something else.

Morrison laid back on his chair next to his desk and had a self-thought and looked around his room. He had a bed that was in immaculate condition with no creases and tucked with perfect precision. The kind you would expect from a soldier. He had a bedside table with a lamp and a picture of himself when he passed his training, 'Hell has it been a year already?'. Next, he had his desk with another lamp with a note pad and the picture he just picked up with his family on it. The only other major object in his room was his wardrobe, nothing major to say about that really. The room was small and... Simple. 'Perfect, Just the way I like it'.

Morrison looked at his Dog Tag that was currently around his neck, It bore the basic details of any Soldier:

CORPORAL MORRISON

D.O.B 13/05/2022

BLOOD TYPE: AB-

75TH RANGER REGIMENT

'I will make you proud dad' Morrison thought to himself again. One of the biggest influences on jack's decision to join the US army was his Grandad who served with rangers 40 years ago. Fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places where the insurgency was a big problem. Not much is heard about places like that anymore. His dad was never one for fighting a war, He was a farmer so his grandad put his focus on his grandson to continue the legacy.

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock on his door.

"Come in" Jack instructed, He recognized the individual straight-away, He joined with him and they went through training together and became best friends...Well more than that. Vincent Jones entered the room and looked at Morrison who had his back to him.

"Hey Morrison, briefing in 10 minutes in the main hall, its big Morrison" Spoke Vincent, He was a black-haired man with strong facial features such as a strong jawline, His hair wasn't kept smart as was morrisons was but still looked professional enough.

"How big?" Morrison turned around and looked at Vincent.

"The big kind" Vincent gave a coy smile. "Trust me you going to want to see it" Vincent looked at Morrison and noticed he was just wearing some combat trousers with boots to match, no top except for his dog tags which rested on his chest.

"Are we still talking about the brief?" Jack returned the smile and stood up and closed the distance between them but Vincent stopped them.

"Later bro, we have this brief" Vincent said with his eyes directly at morrisons with a hand on his chest.

"We have 10 minutes" Jack replied, Morrison could tell the tension in the air, He was good at reading people.

"Think you can do it in 10 minutes and make it in time?" Vincent said with a smug look already undoing his shirt.

"Challenge Accepted" Morrison said and took Vincent into his embrace.

Briefing Room

A happily satisfied Morrison and Vincent sat next to each other in the briefing room, At least 250 people were present all part of 1st Ranger battalion, Bravo company. They sat in a rounded room with a center pedestal with a large table with a computer on with a device that can project a holographic display to everyone in the room. The room was ablaze with chatter with everyone wondering what they were doing here.

"What do you reckon this is Jones?" Asked Morrison, they were both in barrack dress which consisted of combat shirt and trousers with boots. They were in OCP (Operational Camouflage pattern) the standard camouflage of all united states armed forces.

"I think we are about to find out" when the door to the auditorium opened and walked through a very high ranking General, He had the kind of face that had seen more shit than a public toilet and wore plenty of medals to show much shit he had seen.

"BRACE UP" came a shout and immediately everyone settled down to show the correct compliments to the General. Morrison looked at him in awe 'That will be me someday'

"Please be seated gentleman" The general spoke with confidence that came with the title, everyone in the room listened and followed the command.

"Ladies and Gentleman, My Name is General Patterson. I'm the representative of the 75th Ranger Regiment to the Pentagon" He pulled out a device that resembled a remote and activated the hologram in the center of the room.

"As you know from the News the former company the Omnica Corporation was disbanded two weeks ago, they were convicted of fraud and the company was shut down as with the omniums they built" The device showed news headlines of the Omnica corporations shut down as with the omniums themselves.

"Last night, All around the world the omniums have been reactivated and multiple reports have been confirmed of machinery being activated last night and a new breed of omnics emerging front the factory" The device changed again and showed a live omnium with multiple omincs leaving the factory.

"As you all aware omincs are programmed to not harm humans" He looked deadpan at all the soldiers under his command. "Along with last night's reports we have had intelligence given to us that these omnics are hostile and have killed more than 750 people as of last night." The room was in uproar with gasps and whispers and a few shoutings.

"Gentleman, as of last night the president has issued a state of emergency, we have 4 omniums in this nation of ours and all are reactivated." He buzzed the remote again and the hologram showed the picture of the United States that highlighted all the locations of the omniums in the United States. All 4 of them were dangerously close to major settlements including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and San Francisco.

"We are now at war Gentleman; Our Enemy is the largest threat to our survival since the cold war. Your enemy is..." he buzzed the remote and it showed an omnic with a large chassis with` a single red light on his face, with large mechanical legs. It had a machine gun in its right hand and a human hand for its left. The most disturbing piece was the large minigun on its back that looked like it can tear anyone apart. "...Known as the Siege Automatron E54. An omnic designed by the Swedish Ironclad Guild to be used for peacekeeping."

Morrison looked at the picture in a deadpan glare, everything about this omnic shouted death and destruction, its machine gun looked enough to obliterate anyone let alone the massive minigun on its back. God knows what Vincent was thinking.

"From known blueprints of this omnic its weak spot is its blue core in its center chest armor. Your Sergeants will be briefed for teachings on engagements." The general clicked the remote again. It showed a map of Los Angeles along with a large black rectangle coming heading towards the city.

"Tomorrow at 0500 you will be transported by air to the outskirts of Los Angeles near Highway 5 to intercept the bulk of the omnics before they reach the city. You are to buy time for the bulk of the Armed forces in the area to move and set up defenses and allow for civilian evacuation." The General pointed towards the rectangle.

"This is the bulk of the omnics so far, it's currently according to analysts 4,000 strong with more being pumped out every day" Everyone in the room looked around with more whispers, A sign of discomfort and worry.

"Do not fret gentleman, you will have air support and Naval bombardment at your disposal, the president made it very clear that this Uprising is to be crushed as swift and efficient as possible and residents have been evacuated." The General concluded his speech by turning of his hologram, He looked at his soldiers, He knew the situation looked bad and the fighting an unknown enemy doesn't make it a good situation.

"I have full faith you will overcome the difficulties gentleman. You're the best, you were chosen for your skill and ability. Crush these robots to scrap... Rangers lead the way" With that he left the room with someone shouting brace up. As soon as he left chatter broke out everywhere. Morrison looked at Vincent.

"Well for a first combat operation I was hoping for somewhere nicer and easier" Said Morrison who looked less worried than his counterpart.

"Aren't you worried?" Replied Vincent as Morrison thought looked like a ghost.

"Not when you have my back" Morrison smiled, Vincent Returned one in kind.

Operation Vanguard

0400 HOURS (1 HOUR BEFORE DEPLOYMENT)

Outside the Armory

The night sky was quiet, A clear sky with the stars visible along with moon bearing down to the rangers. An unknown feeling was hanging in the air, that feeling of entering the unknown. You do not know what is ahead, you do know however is that the other side contains about a thousand robots armed to the teeth with intention of deleting you...'Yeah not the best first major OP to do' Morrison thought.

Morrison was with Vincent who was checking his rifle over along with his side arm. The United states Defense has just recently invested in some new infantry weaponry and the Rangers got some of the news toys. They were armed with the new M6A1 Assault Rifle equipped with a Grenade launcher. It displayed an Ammo counter behind the iron sight and while it looked bulky it weighed very little. Another toy that came with a ranger was the extremely reliable M1911, this baby has been a soldier's best friend for a very long time, At this point in service for 129 years.

Morrison was currently applying some camouflage to his face and neck, Standard to any deployed soldier in the field. He pulled long streaks starting from his top left forehead all the way down underneath his chin, He also had some on his forearms. He looked over at Vincent who had done the same.

"Got some cam cream on your face" Morrison spoke, an attempt to show humor to cheer his partner up.

"That won't work this time Morrison, nor did the last 10 times you've said that joke" Vincent said with a quite obvious smirk on his face.

"Is your gear ready? We need to make our way to the Staff Sergeant for a pre-deployment talk" Morrison replied with a look over their gear. They both wore a Tan combat vest that had magazine pouches along his waistline. It had a set of pouches on his right side and a very sharp ranger knife on his left. Underneath was a brown combat shirt that fitted them both very well. Morrison had his top button undone to show his dog tags; Vincent preferred to have his done up. They had fingerless gloves along with a woodland set of trousers that was tucked into their combat boots. Morrison checked over his gear one last time and put the clip over his M1911 and his rifle on his back.

"I'm ready let's go" Vincent spoke. They both moved across the camp to rest of their platoon that were sat in a line ready to go, both of them joined the end and listened as their platoon leader, A recently joined 2nd Lieutenant as well as their staff sergeant.

"Listen up squad" The Officer knelt down a pulled out a holographic map of their drop location. "Our platoon has been tasked with setting up defenses along this Woodline next to the highway to support the flank, the rest of the battalion will be spread around this point, Majority are in the center with some covering the rear just in case." He put the map away into his top pouch. "Sergeant assign squads then load up into the heli"

"Yes sir, Alright men usual squads, The same as in training. Brown you take 1st Squad, Morrison you have 2nd and Hunter you have 3rd any questions" the sergeant spoke with authority, Sharp and straight to the point.

"No Sergeant" The platoon shouted as one.

"Good, Rangers lead the way"

The Helicopter Ride

0540 Hours T-Minus 5 minutes to the drop point

Morrison looked around his cabin in the back of the Chinook, most of his counterparts were either asleep or checking over their kit for the 100th time. He looked out the window and all of it was mostly dark with the morning sky trying to peak out in the distance. Vincent was asleep next to Morrison; He knew that he was worried about what was about to happen. They all were but Morrison knew now was the time to step up and provide that morale.

"2 MINUTES" Came the shout from the sergeant. Everyone stood up and got their gear on. Rifle in hands and combat helmets with NVGs on. Morrison looked over to Vincent who had difficulty with his sling. He put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Vincent looked him in the eyes and gave him a smile. Morrison returned one in kind, with that his sling was fixed and Vincent was ready.

"60 SECONDS" The next cry came, all the rangers in the Chinook faced towards the rear of the cabin, the back door was opening and reveled the ground to them. Behind the Chinook were several other aircraft including the state-of-the-art brand-new defiant attack helicopter. This monster was a mean machine to enemy ground forces and none have been destroyed in combat before.

"10 SECONDS" The final cry came. The chinook was approaching the ground and the rangers were ready. They could see the highway which was at least 300 meters in front of them. The cabin light turned green and the rangers stormed out of the chinook with the Sergeant leaving first and point to his men where to enter defensive positions, two other chinooks landed next to morrisons with a respectable distance between them. Both had men and equipment flooding out of it.

Morrison headed to where the sergeant pointed, on top of a bank that was 30 meters from the helicopter with Vincent moving to his left about 10 meters away from him, both had dropped to the prone position and had stared to scan their area. No movement.

The chinooks had begun to take off and left the rangers in their respected positions, Morrison continued to look over his iron sights. Nothing to see except the breeze in the wind and the quiet night sky. Helicopters in the distance but the noise faded as they made their way back to camp. It was a long 5 minutes to make sure nothing was out there waiting for them; the call came over the net

"Squad leaders on me" The authoritive voice of the Sergeant came. Morrison grabbed his rifle and moved over to his Platoon leader and sergeant who were in the center of the defensive circle. Morrison and the two others took a knee with the pair of them.

"The mission is a go; anyone have any issues now is the time to tell me." The sergeant spoke to his men.

"No problems to report sergeant"

"Negative"

"Same here"

"Good, Now I want you take your squads and set up in your respected positions, Take an equal amount of gear with you from the supplies" He pointed to the mass set of boxes and crates next to them that contained food, Water, Ammunition and specialist equipment "Dig in and wait for orders. We don't have much daylight and we have about 2 hours before that main force arrives"

"OO-RAH" The three of them replied and moved over to their squads.

The Ground

0643 Hours

It was long wait, In the time that had gone by Morrison placed his men in defensive positions along the Woodline, He had ordered his men to dig in. In front of him laid 12 of his men down in front of him in foxholes with sandbags and whatever they could find. They just got the call that the enemy were within their reach and were on standby to engage. Morrison was behind his men and held his binoculars up to his eye scanning the horizon. It was early morning and the sun had now given light to the world.

"All stations check in over" Came the voice of the Sergeant. This was the 5th time in the last hour that Morrison was required to check in. Whether it was boredom or worry Morrison was sure it was the latter.

"Alpha Squad in position" The first squad leader spoke.

"Bravo in position" Morrison replied. After a good 20 seconds Charlie squad didn't issue their reply.

"Charlie squad check in over" The situation was starting to worsen when all of a sudden.

"Jack you hear that" Vincent spoke to Morrison who was next to him. Morrison looked around to hear anything unusual...Sure enough there was.

"SHIT...MORTARS!" Morrison cried and within 4m in front him came the first shell, missing one of men but was sure to leave some shock.

All around Him all of his men began to take cover from the incoming fire, these weren't average mortars as their precision was almost deadly but was missing by inches. That was until Morrison looked in horror as one mortar dead Centre into one of the foxholes and sent one his men flying a good 8 feet in the air.

After a good eternity of shell fire which in reality only lasted 45 seconds, Gun fire started to emerge from the other treelined, Morrison grabbed his binoculars from his foxhole and looked into the distance and got his first look at the enemy. It was exactly as it was described except it was painted orange and had a red eye down the center of its face. Morrison must have stared for too long as he was pulled down by Vincent into cover. He looked at Vincent who had a mixture of rage and fear in his eyes. Morrison readjusted himself, He had a job to do.

"SQUAD, TARGET 250M, AIMED SHOTS ONLY, FIRE AT WILL!" His entire squad was the first to engage the omncis and returned fire into the treeline. Morrison looked through his binoculars into the carnage and could see the rounds of his men's rifles hitting their targets and luckily were doing some damage. It wasn't enough though and a few more emerged and began to Transform? 'Oh Shit' Morrison thought aloud.

"TAKE COVER" All of his men followed and a hailstorm of rounds entered their position, A few of his men were able to return fire especially the man who had the light machinegun who's barrel at this point was beginning to catch fire. The same man unfortunately was hit in the head by the same shroud of fire and his head exploded and pieces of his head was sent in different directions. His loader was covered in blood and even some landed on Morrison. 'We need support' Morrison thought.

"Bravo Squad Leader to Platoon leader come in over"

"Platoon leader send"

"We are under fire from the enemy and are pinned down we need support"

"Negative we are spread across to far, I have called in gunships ETA 5 minutes"

"Roger Out" Morrison finished

"What's the situation" Asked Vincent who was slowly returning fire.

"We are on our own for a while" Morrison looked at Vincent "I have an idea but do you trust me?"

Vincent looked straight into Morrison.

"Always"

"Good, I'm going to pop smoke and flank round the back of them with three guys and rain fire on them to buy us time"

"Are you crazy? We can just wait for support." Morrison could see the fear in his eyes and with that he took his partner and brought his lips to his. It worked and calmed him down.

"I will be back I promise. JACKSON, RAMEIREZ, ALLAN ON ME, THE REST OF YOU POP SMOKE" Morrison commanded, He moved whilst the smoke began to build up and took his fireteam into a nature made trench that took them deep into the forest. They moved until they were near enough away from their frontline, he ordered his men to take a knee with him.

"Here's the plan, we are going to move around them and rain fire on them until the gunships arrive. Keep your distance and focus fire. These bastards are tough."

"A Bit crazy jack don't you think?" Said Jackson.

"That's the point Jackson" Morrison cocked his rifle after he reloaded "Rangers lead the way."

They moved through the woodblock; it was quiet except the distant gunfire. Morrison stopped his men behind a large fallen down log, He pointed straight ahead of him. In front of them was a lone omnic who was walking forward with his arm mounted weapon pointing around their direction. Morrison looked at his team and tapped his rifle.

"On three" He began to count and as soon as he said one all four of them opened fire onto the omnic, many rounds bounced off but some caused some damage and the omnic began to fall before it even got a shot off. It fell with a large thud and the team moved over to it whilst reloading. They were now standing over it and looked at it with a very curious look on all them, its light began flickering and turned its head towards them. Rameriez proceeded and fire into its head and it finally stopped. They all looked at him and he just gave a simple shrug. That was until his neck exploded and even blood rained over his teammates and the omnic.

"GET TO COVER!" Shouted Morrison as he dragged Rameriez to cover whilst his neck was bleeding. He put his hand on his wound but his hand was quickly turning red. The remaining two returned fire. Morrison couldn't do much anymore as Rameriez had slumped over and the light had left his eyes. Morrison hit the wood next to him with a large hit and rage coursed through his body.

"YOUR IN MY SIGHTS" Morrison screamed and began firing back with deadly precision. He ran out of rounds with his rifle but picked up Rameriez's rifle and continued his rage induced shooting. Fortunately, before he ran out of rounds, A Familiar voice came over the radio.

"Jack its Vincent, the gunships are here give me co-ordinates" Morrison was relieved a little and took cover again and began to give co-ordinates.

"3462 1187, DANGER CLOSE 200M WEST" Replied. He immediately refilled his rifle with rounds and re-engaged the enemy.

"Jack that's too clo.." Vincent was about to say but Morrison cut him off.

"Just do it damnit!" Morrison seethed. He was too busy returning fire.

"Roger Hang-tight" Vincent replied with a sad-tone. Morrison was too focused on the omncis that were moving forward, he managed to take down a few before he heard a very audible click. He began to reload but had run out of magazines.

"IM OUT!" Morrison shouted and he got met with an even worse response.

"IM OUT TOO"

"IM OUT AND HIT" Morrison immediately looked over to his comrades' position and saw that his leg was blown clean off from the concentrated fire of the omnics. He began to run over to his position when he heard helicopter blades and the sound of rockets hitting the ground, Morrison didn't look over...he ran straight to his teammate and was hit in the side of his face by grit and dirt. He jumped down to Allen who had a leg blown off and began to apply a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. As he checked over his comrade a large crunch appeared behind him, He looked and a sole omnic was standing behind him with an arm missing and chassis broken. Unfortunately, it wasn't his arm that wasn't armed. It pointed it straight at Morrison.

"Oh shit" Was all he could say and he closed his eyes. He was sorry he failed and sorry that he couldn't say goodbye to his family or Vincent. But instead you know in those moments when before your die your life flashes before your eyes? Well for Morrison it was large pieces of metal flown straight into his face by a shotgun blast. He opened his eyes and saw the omnic in front of him and Allen, Jackson had just joined them and 3rd party arrived too. It was a man with a large pump-action shotgun, He had a large chest plate and a baseball cap on backwards. He was carrying some serious equipment, the kind belonging to special forces.

The man walked over to him and gave Jack a hand he held out to him "On your feet ranger" The man spoke and Morrison accepted.

"Alex, Simon grab those two guys" The man said whilst he pulled Morrison up. "Hell, of a move their Corporal, Smart but stupid" The man gave a toothy grin, all Morrison could do was look in awe and was grateful for his lifesaver.

"Thanks...Your name?"

"Don't worry about that for now, Let's get you guys back to your line" The man started to walk off and his men followed with Allen and Rameriez in a fireman carry. All Morrison did was walk with them and looked at the carnage around him. The forest about 50m ahead was flattened and trees were broken and blasted away. Several omnics were laying in the heat completely blown off and broken.

'What a shit show'

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO CARELESS MORRIOSN? LEAVING YOUR MEN LIKE THAT AND WALTZING AROUND BEHIND THE ENEMY WHILE LEAVING A WHOLE SQUAD TO A LANCE CORPORAL!" The sergeant major screamed. He was right it was careless but still he saved most of his men with his squad suffering the least number of casualties of only four.

"Sergeant I made a call and with respect I thought the right decision to take the heat off of my men." Morrison replied confidently whilst still covered in blood and dirt and god knows what else.

"You are right" The 2nd lieutenant spoke. "Your actions resulted in your men's lives saved with minimal casualties which is what we expect. This is only the beginning and you worked with what you could. From our end it confused them to some degree which bought us time and any survivors have retreated. No doubt they will be back with worse but so will we." The 2nd lieutenant spoke. Morrison got some confidence back from his actions.

"Sir he abandoned his post" The Sergeant spoke.

"That's enough sergeant, Morrison well done. Get some Rest and be prepared. Dismissed" Morrison saluted and the officer returned one in kind and left the tent that was made for the command. Waiting outside was a familiar face from before.

"Like I said, Smart but stupid." The man gave with the same toothy grin. They shook hands and Morrison had a bunch of questions.

"Thanks for the save, I owe you one. I recognize special forces when I see one. Are you Delta force?"

The man gave a surprised grunt "Hmm, Good guess, but no that's not for you to know. I will be seeing you around Morrison" The man began to walk away and a dying question was killing Jack.

"Could I at least have a name?" Morrison pleaded, Not out of desperation but curiosity. The man turned around a gave that trademark tooth grin.

"Reyes...Captain Gabriel Reyes" Reyes turned around to meet up with his own squad who was waiting for him.

Morrison stood there like a lost kid looking for his puppy. He just watched as the man who had saved his life walked away. He had hoped he will return the favor someday

'Hmph, Gabrieal Reyes, Has a ring to it.

Authors Note: Thanks for reading, Critisism and feedback is appreciated. I know that this is long and crammed but I had so much I wanted to write its crazy. I hope you enjoyed it with more chapters coming soon.