1.
The secretary general of the U.N., Taonga Arendse, walked down a hallways towards the media room. He did not want to face the press at all, since he had a feeling they'd ask why these terrorists are taking so long to be accountable. Did they not know these things take time? We solve matters with diplomacy. This is not diplomacy.
As Arendse arrived at the podium, reporters started raising their hands up. Flashlights went off from the pictures taken, and he already started to sweat from the lights.
"Alright then," Arendse said in his thick, sub-Saharan accent. "I'm here to take questions about the U.N. response to the bombings in Mumbai, Jakarta, Johannesburg, and Mexico City, and nothing else."
"What aid efforts are being undertaken?" asked the first reporter called on.
"Aid workers from 40 countries will be sent out to provide medical care to the displaced individuals," Arsendse started out. "The Vishtar Corporation is currently in talks to replace the destroyed housing and businesses."
"Are there any leads as to what caused these?" another reporter asked?
"We are investigating all possible leads. The most promising so far deal with Omnics and Talon."
"Do you have anything to say regarding the rumors that Overwatch is up and running again?" a reporter towards the back of the room asked.
Arendse was caught off-guard by the question. "That is off-topic from what I said I would be discussing."
"But the attack in the Overwatch museum involved known former agents Tracer and Winston."
"Overwatch activity has been outlawed by the Petras act. Any activity done in the name of Overwatch will be punished. But I am not addressing that. I'm talking about humanitarian efforts."
"But if these former agents are acting in the name of an outlawed organization,"
"Alright, no more questions will be taken," Arendse said as he walked away from the podium. The reporters started shouting more questions, through more now dealt with Overwatch.
Arendse walked back to his strategy room furiously. His associates, Denisa Dumitrescu of Romania and Shahnaz Amirmoez of Iran, waited in the room hoping the press conference went well. The look on Arendse's face said otherwise.
"So, how did it go?" Amirmoez asked.
"Awful," Arsendse responded as he sat down at his desk. "They didn't ask about our relief efforts. They wanted to know how we are dealing with Overwatch."
"Well," Dumitrescu asked, "are we doing something about it?"
"I didn't recall Overwatch. That's not my concern."
"You don't necessarily have to be the one to do that, sir. Any agent with access to the recall program can do so."
"They're still not my concern. As long as they don't stir up any trouble."
"Aside from the museum incident," Amirmoez went on to say, "reports are showing someone fitting Tracer's profile was present at Mondatta's assassination."
"So someone who could teleport around? It's the 2070's, man. People have been working on that technology for decades."
"Sir," Dumitrescu interjected. "Regardless of your feelings, we have to be prepared if something like this does happen. Given the amount of crises we're dealing with, some agents are likely to show up again."
'Why should I interfere in what they do? Especially if it makes my job easier?"
"The law is the law. And it's part of the law of the world peacekeeping organization you are a part of."
"Just get back to your work," Arsende said as she got back to his computer. As his assistants got back to their work, he pulled up a list of all the past Overwatch agents, living and dead.
2.
"My main theory is Talon," Winston said during his address to the group in the main computer room. "They're manipulating the Omnics in a way that distracts the world from their main terrorist activities."
"Do you have any proof of that?" Torbjorn rebuttled. "And it's not just Omnics having themselves another existential crisis?"
"Well, . . . no. No hard facts. Just theories."
"Ah, best be packing up everyone. The monkey who's supposed to be smarter than us is stumped!"
"Quiet, Torbjorn," Ana said to shut the dwarf up. "We need to hear what he has to say."
"Okay," Winston continued. "Here's the evidence I have so far. Right now, there's sizable fighting happening in Russia, with Omnics moving westward from Siberia. Their targets aren't the same as they were the first time. Before, they would strike at whatever human population center was nearby. Now, the attacks appear to be calculated and have thought put into them."
"You do know," Reinhardt pointed out, "that it didn't take the Omnics until after the war was over to start making truly intelligent decisions. Maybe they just have better battle plans."
"That's a possibility," Winston said. "But there are still parts of it that don't make sense. Look at how they attacked cities like Omsk, Ufa, and Kazan. They only attacked the various industrial centers, trying to steer clear of residential areas where they could."
"I must say," McCree interjected. "That is peculiar."
"Then there are the attacks that fit more in line with the traditional Omnic style. Indiscriminate explosions. Killing randomly instead of specific targets."
"What makes you think these aren't just regular Omnics doing their regular attacks?" Fareeha asked.
"Last I checked, since the end of the first crisis, Omnics only fight in self-defense. They want no more to hurt a human than you would to a family pet."
"So they are or aren't connected?" Zeigler asked.
"They most likely are, as Talon is waging a war on multiple fronts, trying to keep the world in as much chaos as they can muster. On one hand, they're assassinating any leaders to try to make peace across this divide, like Mondatta in London. On the other, they're controlling the Omnics and having them do certain attacks to both stir up renewed fears. With all sides distracted, Talon can get away with most of their other schemes. Maybe they're planning something bigger."
Once the information had settled in, Ana spoke out. "Okay Winston. So if these theories you have are true, what can the 9 of us do? The Overwatch of old had hundreds of operatives working around the world. And I don't think we have the power or leeway to achieve that."
"Right you are Ana," Winston responded. "That's why I took it upon myself to scout out some new recruits in case something like this happened. We can't possibly go up against Talon this soon. So I'll be giving some of you missions to find these individuals in the meantime."
3.
On the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Russia, a group of Omnics are marching towards the city. Their target, Volskaya Industries. Long a builder of human piloted mechs that helped the fight during the first Omnic crisis, Volskya industries was now on overdrive producing more and more mechs by the day to combat the new threat.
In the suburb of Kolpino, Russian defense forces had set up a base as they suspected the Omnics would follow the Neva river to factories in Metallostroy. Sure enough, at midday, the marching Omnics came to a head with the military. But on the flat terrain outside of St. Petersburg, a wide, tall mound of dirt and snow stood in their way. The Russian forces shoot their laser rifles from on high while the Omnics charged up, not at all concerned with finding a way around the mound.
As the troops relayed guns and ammunition to each other, along with destroying the occasional Omnic that got close to the top, a new squadron arrived. Dressed in white burly coats, white fur hats, and tan goggles, they march to towards the front, carrying an heavy experimental particle cannon. They were lead by one of the rising stars of the Russian military. Aleksandra Zaryanova.
Aleksandra, known as Zarya by most, had been part of the Russian military only for a brief time, enlisting when the Omnic attacks started up again. But she quickly made herself valuable through her relentlessness on the front lines. She was one of a select few to test the particle cannons on the battlefield because her physique and desire to destroy the Omnics quickly.
Aleksandra climbed up to the top of the mound so she could stand there by herself, ordering the other men to stand down. From the top, with the cold seabreezes coming at her face, Aleksandra could see only a few hundred Omnics. No more than a recon force. They gave a brief pause to see what this burled up woman was going to do.
Aleksandra started her attack by firing particle grenades down, destroying Omnics in the blast radii. They started charging back uphill. Aleksandra switched on a particle barrier around her as the Omnics started to get closer and closer to her. Her laser cannon fended off any that got too close.
Alreksandra pressed a button on her cannon that shot something out towards the bottom of the hill. Something with a high gravitational that pulled all the Omnics inside it. Aleksandra motions for her troops to rise to the top of the mound. When they arrived and pointed their guns at the center of the gravity, she yelled out "Ogon' po gotovnosti!" Fire at will! The troops rained laser fire down on the Omnics, destroying those who haven't been crushed by the gravity well.
Aleksandra returned to base greeted with applause, with troops saying how this was a great victory and the Omnic won't return.
"Please, please," Aleksandra rebutted. "These Omnics will return or just strike somewhere else. I'm just glad this cannon works as it's supposed to."
Aleksandra left the troops to return to her tent. As she entered, she's startled to find a Chinese girl on the cot, Mei.
"Oh sorry," Mei said. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"Oh no, it's not that, you're fine," Aleksandra said as she composed herself. "How did the soldiers know I liked Asian women?"
"What?" Mei said, confused at what Aleksandra meant before she realized. "Oh, no, no, no. I'm not one of those girls."
"Okay, good. Because that's something I prefer my men don't know about. How did you get here?
"I asked where I could meet with the great Aleksandra Zaryanova, and the troops lead me here."
"Little lady, this is an active war zone. We're trying to fight off the Omnics from destroying our factories."
"I know, that's why I'm here. I want to recruit you for Overwatch."
This caught Aleksandra's attention, as she then made sure no one outside was listening. "I thought Overwatch was disbanded."
"It did, but now we're sort of underground. Answering to nobody, fighting the good fight on our own, that sort of thing."
"So what do you want me for?"
"We know about how you were once the most promising female weightlifter to come out of Russia in a long time. And how you gave that up as you joined the military when Omnics started attacking again. We're working on putting an end to this too and we think your fighting experience would be a good fit for us."
"So you would just have me go from fighting Omnics here just to fight them somewhere else?"
"Not necessarily. We think they're being controlled by a terrorist group."
Aleksandra moved over to sit beside Mei. "As much as I would want to fight beside a cute thing as yourself, I must decline. There's too much work for me to do out here. And last I heard, any Overwatch activity is illegal. I do admire what they did greatly in helping Russia fight off the Omnics the first time, but I just can't accept."
A siren starting to go off, alerting the base of more Omnics heading towards them.
"You can show yourself out," Aleksandra said she got up and walked towards the tent flaps leading outside. "If anything comes up here, I'll try to let your organization know."
4.
"You're going to Japan?" Widowmaker said in disbelief.
"Yeah," Reaper responded. "Don't think I'm happy about it."
Reaper was in Widowmaker's private room, and had just told her about his new assignment. She was one of the few people he could trust with any info. But since Sombra was on a mission, she was the only one available at the moment.
"Why would the leaders think you're any good at trying to sway people to our side? You're not that approachable carrying around those giant shotguns everywhere."
"The target is the leader of a prominent Yakuza clan. It would help give us a stronghold in the Far East."
"And how exactly do you plan on doing winning him over? Holding a gun to his head and saying 'death comes for you?'"
"I've gone out on many missions that don't require guns."
"Name one."
Reaper couldn't think of any. Too many missions did involve guns.
"And that voice of yours. I know you're going for the whole grim reaper thing, but sometimes you take it much too far."
"It's who I am now," Reaper said with this voice growing in volume as he went on. "My targets will all know to fear the man who wears the mask of death! The man who comes for them when,"
Widowmaker cut him off as she tried to take off his mask. Reaper worked to stop her from doing so, but she managed to knock off some of the clips holding it in place.
"Stop that," Reaper said once he finally got her to stop, making sure the mask was secure. "No one can see my face. It makes people less afraid."
"That's the problem," Widowmaker retorted. "I may not feel emotions the same way normal humans do, but I know how to get someone to trust you. And you can't do it behind a mask.
"What do you know about building trust, assassin?"
"You think my rifle is the only weapon I have to kill someone?" Widowmaker said as she flaunted her body. She wasn't wearing the skintight outfit she usually wears when going on missions, but the shirt and pants she wore showed off plenty of her curves. "Now when you meet this Yakuza guy, the least you can do is show him your face. This guy doesn't know what you look like. It won't be a big deal."
"But the world is supposed to think I'm dead. What if he figures out who I am?"
"If we're going to be working with the Japanese mob, having secrets is not the way to a formidable alliance."
One of the devices in Widowmaker's room started giving off a noise, and she went to check. She received a message about a new mission. A new target to assassinate.
When the message ended, Widowmaker said "Well Monsieur Reaper, you can figure how to best approach this on your own. I have a mission to go on."
"Where?" Reaper asked.
"Greece. Some activist preparing to make a speech at the Lijang conference. You're going to be heading there, right?"
"I should be if everything stays on track."
"Good. And bring the Yakuza guy along. It will give him a taste of our power."
5.
Fareeha laid out some clothes for her to wear when she went to bed. She still thought she was crazy for taking mother up on this offer. And she hadn't gone on any missions yet. Still, it was nice for her to get a glimpse into this part of life mother never told her about.
As she went to the women's bathroom to take a shower, she thought of all the people she admired and heard so much about walked down these hallways. Not just those she met already, like Reinhardt, Torbjorn, and Dr. Zeigler, but Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes, and Liao. What were their lives like here? What were the other bases like?
Fareeha got undressed and pushed the buttons to turn the shower on. Temperature set to 100 degrees. Considering the base was abandoned for so long, it impressed Fareeha that basic functions like this still worked.
Fareeha had been enjoying this shower on her own when she heard someone one walk into the bathroom, undress, and turn on the next shower over. She didn't mind at first, but then that person started to sing.
"Colours of the world, spice up your life! Every boy and every girl, spice up your life! People of the world, spice up your life!"
That British accent could only come from Lena, with the footsteps against the pattering of the water on the floor suggesting she was dancing to her words. This amused Fareeha and wanted to see how long this would last.
"Slam it to the left, if you're havin' a good time. Shake it to the right, if ya know that you feel fine, Chicas to the front, ha ha. Hai Si Ja, hold tight."
Fareeha had had enough. "You know Lena, you should go onto one of those singing competitions you Europeans seem to have so much of."
Lena, startled by the voice, nearly slipped, but caught herself in time. "Oi Fareeha!" Lena said. " Is that you? I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were here."
"It's alright Lena," Fareeha responded. "It certainly entertained me."
"I could do some more. Yo, I'll tell you I want, what I really really want!"
"No, please stop!" Fareeha said as she laughed. She turned the shower off and stepped out to dry herself off. At the sink Fareeha stood at with her towel wrapped around her body, she noticed Lena's chronal accelerator placed on the sink next to hers. Lena continued to sing.
"Why you gotta play that song so loud? Because we want to, because we want to! Why always run around in crowds?"
"Hey Lena, can I ask you something?" Fareeha said.
"Sure love, what is it?" Tracer responded.
"How come you're not wearing your chronal accelerator right now?"
"Oh, that's something Winston did upgrades on. I don't have to wear it constantly anymore. It gives off a temporal field my body has to be in range of so I don't blink off accidently. As long as it's running properly, I'll be fine."
Fareeha started to run her hands down the device, "So is there a knob or a button somewhere?"
"Don't touch that!" Lena shouted rushing out of the shower, hoping to stop Fareeha. She covered up the accelerator with her slender, naked body. "You don't know how to work this thing!"
"Okay, okay sorry," Fareeha said before whispering, "You might want to put something on."
"Oh," Lena said as she realized she was naked in front this person she hardly knew. She put on her towel and turned her shower off. "Well then. Now you know I don't mess around with this thing," Lena said as she dried herself off. "One miscalculation or defect could send me to some unknown time period."
Fareeha started putting her evening clothes on as she continued the conversation. "I don't think my mother explained why that's the case."
Lena continued to dry herself off, not minding what parts of her Fareeha saw. "She didn't? It's the stuff of Overwatch legend. I was the best young pilot the RAF had seen in a long time. When I joined Overwatch, I was picked to pilot an aircraft called the Slipstream. The first time I flew it, it sent me to a place of temporal anomalies I couldn't describe, but it make my body out of sync with the normal timeflow. Luckily when I finally came back, Winston made this chronal accelerator to keep me here in the present."
"So why did you come back?"
"What do you mean?"
"When Winston initiated the recall, you were the first one to come back. Why so fast?"
At this point, Lena started to put her pajamas, strapping the accelerator over her top. "There's no way I could live a normal life having to keep this thing on me all the time. Settling down with some bloke wasn't in the cards. Believe me, I tired. I take to being a hero much to easily not to let it pass me by. Plus the accelerator has practical use in fighting the bad guys."
Fareeha started to feel sorry for Lena. Herself, she just had a powerful suit of armor she could take off anytime when she came home. This woman needed a special device to keep on her from flying off to some distant time. She tried imagining what Lena settling down would be like. She couldn't. Lena's personality alone would prove hard for someone to tether down. She couldn't imagine the complications of her condition entering the picture.
"What about you, mate?" Lena asked as she was fully dressed. "You have any Egyptian army stories?"
As Fareeha was about to start, Dr. Zeigler entered the bathroom knowing the two of them would be in there. "Oxton, Amari," Zeigler said. "Winston wants to see the both you. You have your first assignments."
6.
The model city of Utopea, India. Home of the Vishkar Corporation. Specializing in a new wave of sustainable project developments in both the developing world and areas affected by Omnic attacks. Despite the noble intentions, Vishkar has been known to engage in dubious activities in order to secure lucrative contracts and to showcase their radical hard-light technology.
On this day, members of Talon were in talks with Vishkar to propose an alliance. The fine details had yet to be worked out, but Talon was proposing in the event of any destruction during the course of Talon operations, Vishkar would be assured they would have the chance to rebuild. In return, Vishkar would provide their technological prowess to Talon.
Two Talon members and two Vishkar representatives, Sunder Misra and Swarna Jain, were discussing this in a boardroom. When a final agreement was reached, one of Vishkar's main architects, Satya Vaswani, stormed in, having just found out what was happening.
"When was I going to be told this?" Satya asked, "that we're going to work with terrorists?"
"Satya," Jain said as he tried to reason with her. "We can discuss this later. It will be beneficial for both sides."
"You're agreeing to aid them in destroying cities. We don't stand for actively eliminating people's livelihood just to further our own. For all we know, they could planning to attack all of our developments right now."
"Talon can assure this company we're working in its best interests," one of the Talon men said. "We're trying to make a better world like you are."
"Talon can do no more than serve their own ends. These men are no more than chipkail ke gaand ke pasine (sweat of a lizard's ass). Send them back where they came from."
"Tsk, tsk. I thought Indians were renowned for their hospitality," said a new voice that entered the room. Symmetra was caught off-guard by this new individual. A woman from some Latin American country given her accent, but she just wore a black hood to hide her face and a bag she was carrying. There seemed to be beeping coming from her chest, but that was covered too.
"Apologies I wasn't present earlier," the woman continued. "I thought these huevons (idiots) could handle this arrangement on their own. But apparently not. You, however, seem quite feisty and adamant. You'd be a fine addition to Talon."
"I'm sorry," Satya said. "Should I know you?"
"The name's Sombra," the woman responded. "And everyone will know that name soon."
Sombra sat down at the table, pulled out her computer from her bag and started typing.
"You say that Vishkar doesn't stand for destroying people's livelihoods. The footage I have says otherwise." She flipped the computer around the show Satya and the Vishkar representatives the footage. It was of security camera footage not shown on the news. In a slum of Johannesburg, an Indian man walked out of a tall shanty building. About 15 seconds later as he made a turn down the street, the building not only exploded, but the ground underneath it opened up a sinkhole, swallowing up the surrounding houses. The people who lived in the slum either ran away, fell down the hole, or were clinging onto the dirt as the floor continued to give way.
"This was one of those mysterious bombings the news has been talking about lately. Talon doesn't have this technology. I wonder who does. Does the same go with with the bombings in Jakarta? Mexico City? Me no guts (I don't like). And Mumbai too? Your own gente (people), Satya? Or is it Symmetra? And what about this blotched operation of yours in Rio De Janerio? Stopped by a DJ on roller skates? Que embarazoso (How embarrassing)."
Satya became very nervous now, "Where did you get that? How did you know my codename?"
"Vishkar encryption was only slightly more difficult than what I'm used to."
"Satya," Misra said miserably. "This is the point we were trying to steer clear of. And we were trying to keep this on the down low from the employees."
Satya found herself in a tight spot. There nothing more she could say without compromising someone's position even further. "Okay, how can we make sure this isn't leaked?"
"Simple. You agree to help Talon and the footage doesn't get out. Of course, we'll hang onto it for safekeeping. You want order in this world? Talon can give it to you."
Satya couldn't believe the position she was in. Her company was being blackmailing into working with terrorists. The very definition of disorder. But Satya had been dealing with problematic situations like this all the time. She knew of several incidents Vishkar was involved with and viewed this as another one of those. Something she can hopefully get past. But maybe there could be something in this for her, or something she could sabotage.
"Okay," Satya said confidently. We have a deal."
Soundtrack for this chapter
Spice Up Your Life - Spice Girls
Wannabe - Spice Girls
Because We Want To - Billie Piper