Chapter 2: Red alert

Lena was strapped with a device on her chest that prevents her from blinking. As she was taken to her prison cell, she saw the facility around her and the new enemies she will be facing once she gets out from her restraints. They looked like mercenaries with different specialties. One guy who led her to her cell looked like a recruit. He's young and active and a desire for some action.

He doesn't shut up about going to the other side and fight other people. Tracer can tell they are going to attack her team.

"Come on, doc. When can I face them? I know how to beat them." The young man said.

"Calm down, Scout. You'll have your moment." The German doctor said. "But I want you to do one simple job first. If you did well with this one, I will give you your first field mission."

"Oh, yeah! So I can go and kill people, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright! What's my first job?"

"Stay here. Watch here. Don't let them out!" The doctor shut the door leaving the Scout with the two prisoners.

The young mercenary grunted, "Fine. I can do surveillance. Easy-peasy..."

In her cell, Lena noticed the prisoner with her. "Jesse? Is that you?"

The gunslinger from Blackwatch woke up by the sound of her voice. "Lena? You're here? Wait... how?" He looked at her and saw her restraints. "You can't use your magic... so they know about you. They know about Overwatch..."

Tracer looked down and noticed the cowboy has no cybernetic arm. They took it from him. "Jesse... do you know these people?"

The young mercenary yelled at the two prisoners. "Hey! You cannot talk! Quit talking!" He showed them his steel bat, threatening them.

Lena just whispered to the gunslinger. "So... do you have any idea who these guys are?"

"Not much. But I can only say is... they are preparing an army."

"Army?" Then Lena asked the most important question. "How did you get here in the first place?"

"Long story short- I was tracking a supposedly-Talon agent. But it was not. It's an Omnic. I got knocked out and the last thing I saw is that thing taking my face and form."

"Now that explains a lot. So you are not dead."

"Dead? Wait... you met that poser bot me?"

"Yes. We thought you're dead."

"Well, I'm not. But I'm glad that bot is gone." The cowboy was glad to hear some good news.

"But why did it take your form?"

"Infiltrating the base, probably. Taking intel about us- including Blackwatch members."

Then the Scout heard them talking, "Hey! What did I saw about talking?"

The cowboy yelled at the young mercenary. "I didn't say anything?"

"No. I heard you guys are talkin'"

"No. We are not." McCree reassured him.

"I'm sure I heard you guys."

"So open up and listen to our talk."

"Nah. It is probably not important. I don't want to waste time listening to your bullcrap."

"THAT'S ENOUGH, SCOUT!" A man emerged out from thin air, revealing himself to the prisoners. "Leave for a moment, boy. I like to have a little chat with these two."

"But the doc said..."

"I don't care. Leave."

The young merc just simply do what he was told to do. Leave. "Alright. I'll be outside- next to the door. But outside."

The masked man in a red suit went to his pocket and lit a cigarette before approaching the two prisoners. "I know you have a lot of questions. But I have questions too- and I want them to be answered."

"Sure." The gunslinger said quickly but added one condition. Lena listened. "You'll ask us a question, we'll answer. Then we'll ask you a question and you'll answer. Is that fair? A deal?"

The masked mercenary grinned. "Deal."

Lena whispered to McCree. "Are you going to tell them everything?"

"Just trust me."

The mercenary started his first question. "How are you planning to escape?"

Both Overwatch agents were surprised. They did not expect him to ask that. "Excuse me?"

"How. Are. You. Planning. To. Escape." The masked man repeated himself clearly.

Winston got readings of chronal energies radiated around his lab where Tracer disappeared. His AI Athena scanned the place and showed the simian the results. He started to figure out a theory. "The device is a hook"

"What did you say?" Torbjorn missed the last word.

"The device was design to pull Lena out from- here or this time now. We are talking about time-travel here."

"Right. Time travel. To my only knowledge, Miss Oxton is the only one who has this time-travel device. I have never heard anyone attempt to build one or tried to- but still." Then the short man asked. "How did she get her abilities?"

"The OWX-01 Slipstream" Winston opened the file of that experimental project. "A next-generation teleporting fighter jet."

"And Lena is the first test pilot."

"It malfunctioned and jet disappeared. Months later, Lena manage to reappear again-"

"But the Slipstream?"

"Excuse me?"

"What happened to the fighter jet that she was piloting?" Torbjorn asked the most important question.

That is when Winston realized something. Now he knows how the device on Lena works, the mystery of the McCree imposter and the location of the fighter jet. The simian proposed an idea. "We need to make another one."

Years ago, Lena Oxton and the Slipstream disappeared in the first flight.

A century ago in the badlands of the New Mexico, a truck emerged from the sandy horizon as the sun rises. In the truck were three men heading to their new job. The Australian hunter Mundy gave two of his friends Dell Conagher the engineer from Texas and Dr. Ludwig the doctor from Germany a free ride. While heading to the facility, Dell and Ludwig discussed about their future. "No plans going back to Germany, doc?"

"Nein. I cannot go back." The doctor looked at the old newspaper of his hometown. "They don't want me there."

The Texan understood. "They don't like your morbid experiments there, doc?"

The German clarifies. "Actually, they don't like my pigeons. They said if I stay there, they'll cook them one by one. I can't let them do that- that's why I left."

"Oh..kay." Dell went to the Australian. "Are we there yet?"

"Not yet, mate." Mundy reassured them. "But we are close. It just-hidden."

The truck drove off road and went straight to the dry gorge. There they found the hidden industrial facility called Hydro. Three of their companions were already there setting up a perimeter. The truck stopped and Dell went out first when he saw the crash site. He approached to the first man near him. "What happened?"

The young man answered. "The black cyclops said he saw it appeared out from nowhere. Like poof, magic surprise."

"The wizard Merasmus?"

"No signs of Elditrich magic or one of his strange tricks." The woman in purple Miss Pauling answered the Texan. She gave him pictures of the crash site and the object at the center of it. "Not magic nor alien- it's Science."

Dell looked at the pictures and was amazed by the design of the object. "Extraordinary."

Mundy and Ludwig stayed at the truck, letting the tech brain enjoy the sight. The hunter tried to find a parked his truck and the doctor gathered all of his equipment. Once parked, the doctor went out to find a good place to set up his experiment. The Australian locked his truck but then felt a sting on his chest. "Oh god... it's happening again." The Sniper then decided to follow the doctor than to let the pain pass and watch the Texan examine the crash site with Miss Pauling.

Ludwig found a good room and placed his things inside. But then the hunter called him, "Busy, doc?"

"Sniper? Why are you here?"

"The chest pain, doc. It happened again."

"Red Alert again?"

The Australian felt the sting again. "Yeah. That alert. Whatever you call it..."

Ludwig put down his kit and an old book. He opened the kit and gave a bottle of medicine to the Sniper. "Drink this and it will ease the pain."

"I don't want it to be temporary, doc. It will always come back."

The doctor paused for a moment and realized that he has no medicines left for the rest of the his patients. "Alright. I have- something for you. It will be permanent but it will not be- let's just say, you will never be normal in the end."

The Australian said, "Doc... when we all let you put that device on our heart, we will never be normal."

Hearing that gives the doctor joy.

Meanwhile back at the crash site, Dell Conagher examine the remains of the object and later discovered the symbol of Overwatch.

Up Next: Run or Die