Gear woke with a start, practically flinging herself from the chair she has fallen asleep in. She shook her head to remove the drowsiness of just having woken up, reaching for her scrap rifle. Outside she could hear the distinctive "thwup" of a vibrobird and the roaring of a drop-ship. Radioactive sand was being blown in by the currents created by the vehicles, lacerating her even through her thick riding leathers. The scavver crept up to the broken window of the gas station she had stopped in, peering over the lip to bear witness the vibrobird slowly descend on the broken highway only several feet away from her. Far above it in the glowing red sky of the Australian Outback, she saw a bright white drop-ship circling for a few moments before racing off to the north. The vibrobird was beginning to stop its rotors, the blades coming to a stop slowly before disappearing as the energy beams were turned off. There was no doubt this was an Overwatch ship, its hull was painted white, blue and orange and practically lathered in the organisation's decals. She felt her hands tighten around her scrap rifle, one hand moving to flick the safety off the side of it and turn the weapon's fire selector to semi-automatic.
She felt the air behind her grow warm and she looked over her shoulder to see the glowing red Omnic place its hand on her shoulder. Though she felt nothing physically, she felt the hand on her shoulder none the less. Before she had a chance to snap at the hallucination, it spoke without any regard to what was going on around them,
"Don't fight them Adria... This is your chance to return to what you were! To the world you fought so hard to protect!". The Omnic's voice was raised and Gearhead's hands only gripped tighter around the scrap rifle. She was sick of this thing and what it was trying to do. She was a scavver and nothing more. Ever since the blast this is all she ever was, whatever had happened before mattered little to nothing. The hatch of the vibrobird hissed and began to lower, Gear having her eyes fixed on the ramp the entire time. She raised her scrap rifle, using the ledge of the window as a support as she began to line up the rifle at about head-height to the ramp. The Crimson Omnic shook its head slowly, turning to walk back to Gear's ride, dissipating into the surrounding air.
The hatch suddenly slammed down and Gear fired a shot from her scrap rifle, the super-heated metal flying true to its target... Before pinging off harmlessly. Gear blinked behind her helmet as she processed this, slowly looking up from her sights to see a giant of a creature, towering over seven feet, clad head to toe in silver power armour of some form. A large hammer was slung over its shoulder. It looked down at the dent the scrap metal had done to its armour and let out a booming chuckle. Gear's eyes widened and she let out a few more cracks from her rifle at the Giant coming down the ramp. Each super-heated shard of metal pinged off just as uselessly as the first, only emitting more booming laughter from the Giant. She saw it put a leg backwards as it leaned forwards. Gear stood up slowly and began to back away from the window when she saw massive rocket boosters on its back flare into life. The Giant began to float along the ground towards where she had been firing from. She was convinced that she heard it yell,
"CATCHPHRASE!" in a distinctively German accent. Gear had to practically throw herself to the ground by the time the Giant slammed through the wall at the high speed it had gained, showering the both of them in dust, bricks and radioactive sand. She scrambled to her feet, trying to run for her chopper, fear definitely over-riding any sensation of feral rage she usually had. The Giant shook its head and watched the small woman fleeing from him. He let out another chuckle and raced after her, swinging the rocket hammer at her with enough distance between them to send her flying into a nearby, long ago broken jukebox. The Giant heard her grunt in pain before he himself grunted in pain, raising a hand to the woman before placing the hand on his back.
"Ach... Von moment if you would... Getting too old for zis". She slowly got to her feet, fairly sure one of her legs was broken and watched the Giant doubled over, looking like it was snapping its own back. Gear was baffled, but saw her chance and began to limp away from the man, still trying to get to her chopper. The silver Giant looked up from his stretching and saw her running. He shook his head and grabbed his hammer, raising it high above his head, smashing part of the ceiling above him, before bringing it down with the hammer's rockets on full burn, slamming it into the ground. Gear felt the very Earth beneath her shake as she fell to the ground, her scrap-rifle going spinning off into the distance. She let out a groan of pain and began to crawl away, in time to fell a large hand grab her by her torso, lifting her up and slinging the scavver over the Giant's shoulder. She struck the man in vain, only to his seeming amusement. The Giant looked at her bike, then back to the woman wriggling on his shoulder before he began to walk back towards the vibrobird. There was suddenly a crimson hue to the air and Reinhardt stopped, turning to see an Omnic, partly translucent and glowing the same colour as the air. It reminded him very much of Zenyatta.
"Ah, Reinhardt. It had been quite some time has it not?". Reinhardt looked over the thing, his helmet not showing any indication that it was even there,
"I do not know you, Omnic. But do elaborate, if you vould". Reinhardt had noticed that the woman had stopped wriggling on his shoulder, but he payed no heed to it.
"You do not remember? Hm. Perhaps it was not as memorable for you as it was for me... Either way... Before you go. There is a Talon package on Adria. I am sure your superiors would like to see it". Reinhardt raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, but gave the strange Omnic ghost a nod, turning to walk. He heard the Crimson Omnic say one more thing,
"And tell Zenyatta that Halcyon is sorry". Reinhardt looked one more time over his shoulder, just in time to see it dissipate. He shook his head and walked back to the vibrobird, strapping in his catch before starting to fly it back towards the drop-ship.
"Your vounds have healed up nicely Varik". Mercy gave him a smile and Varik gave a nod of thanks, reaching behind him to rub the back of his neck. The angel-winged woman got to her feet and walked towards one of the cabinets, starting to put away the medical equipment. Varik felt his dry lips parts as words carelessly tumbled out,
"S-s-so... What happens n-now?" Was all the words he was able to stutter out in his confused state. Mercy turned to look at him, still having that friendly smile on her lips.
"Vell, we are heading to outpost Victoria. Reinhardt has radioed in zat he has found some information that Talon are heading there". Varik nodded slowly, getting to his feet. He was still in his garb from the office complex, still caked in ash and dust. He frowned softly,
"I thought Outpost Victoria had been destroyed by Omnics?".
"It vas. But zat doesn't stop zere being old computers and science research zat Talon can use against us or civilian populations". Varik nodded and offered a slight smile. Mercy gestured him to the stairs, which he hastily headed towards. He accidentally bumped into Soldier on the way out, the older combatant letting out a grunt and barging his way past the civillian.