Chapter III
A few days had passed. Four days to be exact. Tensions in the Overwatch facility had grown, and over the last four days the main team spent much of their time inside the main room where most of their meetings were held. Jack, who looked as exhausted as ever, paced the halls and whatever room he was standing in, his depressed and quiet attitude wavering off of his body. Since Tracer and Winston returned from their mission at Watchpoint, he never left their sides. If they needed anything, even a hand to hold, he was there. Tracer was the most needy out of the two, and most would assume it was because she's a woman, but he knew that wasn't it. Jack had known Tracer since she joined. He recommended her to the heads of Overwatch at the time to hire her. He knew in his heart she was strong, and with that strength came bravery and perseverance, but he also knew she was hiding something and whatever it was it was causing her constant need for company and the nightmares that flooded her mind at night.
Winston, on the other hand, wished to remain alone, of course unless he wished for peanut butter or a drink. Even in those times, Jack Morrison was always there to seek what he wished for. He knew the scientist wished to be alone to think, so he stockpiled his room with jars of peanut butter. This was a dream to Winston's, but he didn't want that dream to be fulfilled because of the situation he was in. The team knew Winston was beating himself up for allowing Tracer to take most of the hits and not being able to get the information they needed, but he also knew that the events that took place could bring Overwatch closer to finding this group.
On the fourth day, tensions seemed to die down a bit. Winston's temporary paralyzation had faded a bit and he could finally sit up and move. He couldn't really feel the movement, but he could see with his own eyes it was there. Tracer also gained enough strength to sit up, but she couldn't stay up for very long. The two injured soldiers had blood transfusions. Luckily, for Winston, he only had to go through one, but Tracer had to have two. Due to using herself as a shield for Winston, she took the majority of bullets. Not to mention she was injected with lethal poisons from these bullets.
Walking into the rehabilitation area, Jack, Ana, Gabriel, and Reinhardt walked through in their normal attire, Jack, Ana, and Reinhardt in their bright blues and whites while Gabriel wore his dark Blackwatch gear, the logo of his team shining in the bright lights of the hallway. The four approached the end of the hall, where Angela Ziegler stood, reading some papers on a clipboard, and before they could strike up a conversation, she chimed in with a polite 'hello' as she looked up. "Good morning you four. I'm so glad you're all here. I was just about to call you, Jack. Tracer is doing a lot better. She is still unable to get out of her bed, but she's sitting up and eating. The same for Winston. His paralyzation is gone. Of course Moira is his main doctor right now so you'll have to find out more information from her," Angela said as she placed the clipboard at her side, Jack looking down at her nodding with a kind smile, "Thank you, Angela." Looking into the small recovery room, Jack looked to Tracer who smiled weakly towards the five standing by the door and dipped her head down a bit in attempts to greet them. Jack looked backed down to Angela and she motioned for the four to walk in, and they all immediately crowded into the room, surrounding the pilot's bed.
"I assume you're here to ask me questions, Commander?" Tracer said with a soft giggle at the end of her sentence. Jack smiled back towards her with a bit of a surprised look on his face. He couldn't believe this woman, who had almost died from using her body as a shield, was in such a good mood.
"Unfortunately, yes. Under protocall I have to get an honest, elaborate statement of the events that took place," Jack said pulling up a chair that was behind him and sitting down in it comfortably, "I know you may not want to relive it, and I know it hurts you that you're confined to this bed for so long, but this would really help us a great deal, Tracer." The young woman smiled towards him and the other three standing in the room, watching as Angela came inside with a laptop. Angela handed the laptop to Ana so she could type out everything that Tracer said. Giving a slight nod as she opened the computer, Ana looked to Tracer, "Whenever you are ready dear please answers Jack's questions. I know you're having trouble remembering but please try, and if you can't than tell us as much as you can," the Overwatch veteran said kindly, as she placed her hand on Tracer's hand rubbing it comfortingly. Tracer nodded at Ana then turned towards her Commander, "I'm ready when you are."
Jack looked down at a notebook that he had written questions in that he wished to ask both Tracer and Winston when they woke up. With a bit of hesitation he looked back up to the injured woman, "What events took place that led up to the attack?" Tracer nodded a bit to reassure herself to answer as elaborately as possible, and looked down to her hands that were now placed gently in her lap, "Winston and I had landed far from the main site at Watchpoint where the rocket and lab entrance were located. We maneuvered through the facility quietly. The most I remember of the situation was the cutting silence. It was almost unbearable," she said, her British accent soft as she continued on, "We entered the rocket maintenance area. There were no signs of people, or any kind of activity. Like I said, it was so quiet. Winston had the idea that we should push forward just a bit more and maybe we'd find something, and we did. We saw two people, one a human and one an Omnic, carrying some kind of computer system with them. Before Winston and I could report back…" Her voice trailed off a bit, and Ana glanced over at Jack ceasing her typing and then leaned in grabbing Tracer's hand again, the two women locking eyes. Ana reassured Tracer with the soft rub of her thumb that it would be alright.
Tracer nodded and looked back to Jack, "They came out of nowhere, Commander. I assure you we saw nothing," she looked towards Gabriel, "all of them could do that smoke...shadow whatever step you call it. Every single one of them could do it." She turned her gaze back to Jack, "A man transported to Winston and I. For a moment we thought it was Reyes trying to trick us and surprise us by showing up at Watchpoint as backup, but the second we looked at him we knew it wasn't him."
Jack nodded as she finished her sentence and pushed on to his next question, "What did this man, and the other men you came into contact look like?" She looked away, her eyebrows furrowing a bit as she thought, "I couldn't see their faces. Every single one of them wore the same armor. They wore this armor I had never seen before. By the way my bullets were hitting and ricocheting off I could tell it was thick. It couldn't have been made out of the same material most armor is made off. They all wore helmets that resembled motorcycle helmets, and they had visors covering their faces, Under the armor were bodysuits that somewhat looked like suits you'd wear to go diving." Ana typed quickly on the laptop, glancing towards Tracer than at Jack every so often. Jack nodded his head, "Is there anything specific about them that stuck out to you?" He asked looking at her more curiously.
"They...had this technology connected to a steel piece in between their chest plates. When I would start shooting at them, they would click the piece and a shield would appear around their armor, covering them head to toe. Every time a bullet would hit them, the armor glowed a bright orange shade, but would go back to normal. I noticed after some time though the armor would lose its power and shut off," she said carefully laying out her words making sure to pinpoint everything that she had remembered. "After a few minutes of engaging I got close enough to one of them, and I heard a robotic voice coming from his helmet...a woman's voice. Almost like Athena's."
"Artificial Intelligence," Reinhardt interrupted. Tracer looked towards the man and he gave her a warm smile. She smiled back to him and nodded, "Yeah...he turned away from me, and before he turned back, I saw an insert in the back of the helmet. It looked almost like a computer was installed in the back of their heads." Reinhardt nodded at her words and added on to her sentence, "Yes, many people nowadays are creating technology that allows you to insert AI through a helmet or into the actual human brain. This gives the AI the ability to speak to its host and inform them of any enemies in the area or of any dangerous areas in the terrain. They have access to all networks in the world and can find whatever information the host seeks within seconds." The German man looked towards Jack as he finished his sentence, while Jack looked to Ana as she typed and gave her a look, mentally instructing her to type out what Reinhardt had said.
"Alright. You're doing fine. Just a few more questions," Jack said kindly to Tracer, patting her hand gently with his. She smirked a bit and nodded showing she was prepared for whatever else he had to ask. "When Angela and Moira brought you back...you…" He hesitated for a moment and looked to Gabriel, who obviously knew what Jack's question was. He turned back towards Tracer and continued, "When Angela and Moira brought you back you were rambling about a woman. A sniper?" She nodded in response. "Right. Describe her for me, please. Was there anything that stook out about her? What was she wearing? Do you remember the way she maneuvered?" The young Brit sat quiet for a moment trying to collect her thoughts from the many questions Jack asked at one time.
"Well," before the young woman could start she heard Gabriel lean forward a bit in his chair, and she looked up to him. He looked at her with his warm brown eyes, a look of yearning on his face. She could tell he was desperate for her to quickly answer the question. "She was quick. Whenever she moved I nor Winston could see her. She used grappling hooks to reach high ledges. She was equipped with two, and it didn't even look like she was swinging like a monkey. She was a cheetah...no...something quicker if there even is anything in existence that's faster than a cheetah." One of her hands came up to grasp the side of her face as she tried to remember, the sniper's image tattooed on the front of her brain. "Trust me, Commander Morrison, I will never forget that woman. Not even I could keep up with her. She moved gracefully and swift. She's obviously a pro, and has experience. Not to mention the way she looked was...terrifying." She made sure to emphasize the last word of her statement. Gabriel and Jack were both sitting at the edges of their seats, Ana and Reinhardt glancing at one another watching the two men sit with such curious faces.
Tracer looked to Jack who gave her a nod to continue, "She wore thicker armor than the men attacking us, and not a trace of her body could be seen. As I said before, the only thing that could be seen was a bit of hair protruding out of her helmet. I tried grabbing ahold of it as she grappled away, and I managed to rip a few pieces out." Her last comment made Jack shoot out of his seat. Ana looked up with a surprised look, not used to seeing him dart up so quickly. "Ange-" Jack was cut off by Angela's singsong voice, "We've already sent the strands back to the lab. They are running the DNA right now." A soft sigh could be heard through the room and the Commander sat back down in his seat. Tracer eyed him and the others in the room then continued.
"Like I said, her armor was thick. It was the darkest shade of black that I had ever seen before. The only lick of color that could be seen were the bioluminescent violet lights that lined the sides of her legs, arms and parts of her helmet, and even her gun. They were...so bright...and almost mesmerizing." Ana continued to type and also added to her statement just as Reinhardt had done before, "This woman's armor may be equipped with these bioluminescent lights to cause her enemies to basically zone out. That gives her an advantage to shoot them down. Luckily for you, too much was going on for that to happen. If she had been much closer you would have been a goner," Ana said looking towards Tracer in the bed, a look of remorse appearing on her face. Tracer nodded and looked back down at her hands that were still placed in her lap, "Her gun was massive. Long. It also had the lights on them. Her bullets were quick and penetrated whatever it hit completely as you can...see…" She bent her leg a bit to prove a point since one of the bullets completely penetrated her leg and had even lodged into the bone and shot out the other side. "The bullet didn't stop unless enough friction was applied to stop it, and her reload speed was wicked. If she wasn't my enemy I would respect how well she handled her gun," she finished lightly.
"Is there something else that stood out about her? She's our main concern since she's using deadly poisons," Jack stated, beginning to feel bad for the amount of questions he was asking her. He knew she was exhausted, but he needed to eliminate this new enemy as quick as possible so no more innocent lives were put in danger or lost.
Tracer sat in thought once again except this time she was thinking a lot harder than before. A soft groan escaped her lips as she tried her best to remember, "There is, but I just...can't remember…" Before anyone else could speak, Gabriel pushed himself into the conversation, "What did she say when she approached you? I know you told me before, but I want to be sure. You were in shock, so things could have changed." Tracer looked to him, seeing he was deeply concerned with the situation. Tracer and Gabriel didn't speak often. There were times they were paired together in training, but not much was said between them. Even so, she could read his expression well.
"She said: 'Adieu, chérie'," Tracer continued to look at Gabriel, "When you and her were apart of Talon, and she and I had a run in when she assassinated Mondatta...that's what she said to me before she escaped…" The pilot sighed a bit and looked away towards her hands again, "I was convinced it was her, but the way her eyes looked behind that visor...I just couldn't be sure…" Jack's gaze was on the ground but then he looked back to her, "You saw her eyes?" Tracer nodded in reply, "The only light available in the room was the slight sunlight that peaked in through some crevices. Her eyes glowed in the dark almost, and I recall Widowmaker's eyes looking the same, but this woman's eyes were so...unnatural." Gabe and Jack looked to one another as she looked to the ceiling, reliving what she had been through, "Her pupils were like a cats ー thin and sharp. But normally a cat's pupils turn that way when there is too much light. We were basically in pitch blackness. I could hardly see." She looked back down from the ceiling to her teammates in front of her, and talking with a bit of curiosity in her voice. Everyone looked from one to the other, until Tracer leaned forward a bit and grasped at her head. Angela rushed to her side and quickly handed her two pills, "Gosh...my apologies. Here is your medicine." Angela smiled at the young girl and handed her two small white pills. Tracer downed them quickly and took a sip of water that sat beside her hospital bed.
After she took a deep breath and exhaled she closed her eyes, trying to check everything off in her head that she needed to tell the Commander that she could remember. Jack could tell she was thinking so he backed off for a moment trying to allow her some space.
"I remember now."
Tracer's sudden tone of voice caught everyone off guard, "There was a man. Beside her." Jack raised an eyebrow as she said this, his eyes looking to hers with questions. "There was an man beside her," she said lightly while looking between the other five people in the room, "He was wearing power armor and was much bigger than the other soldiers. It was the same armor you said Winston had mentioned. The power armor that Talon was trying to create, but failed. He wore it in order to protect himself, but he didn't shoot any kind of weapons. It didn't seem he had any weapons, but he did speak...once." The room fell silent as she continued to gather her thoughts, "'Tartarus engage' is all he said." Ana looked to the laptop, as she had been staring at Tracer typing this entire time, and made sure she typed 'Tartarus'. "Reinhardt, go ahead and radio Sombra. Inform her and the rest of our research team to begin research on this group…'Tartarus'. All information is to be left confidential to only this team." Reinhardt nodded and activated a small radio chip while putting it in his ear and walking out of the recovery room.
"He was close to her," Tracer interrupted, "He never left her side. Even when she came to me. It seemed he was following her like a lost puppy but…" she trailed off and thought for a moment, "he seemed to be judging her every movement and decision. He was breathing down her neck and mentally harassing her, and when they disappeared into their ship...he grabbed onto her so forcefully and tightly. Almost like...he owns her." Ana stopped typing and looked to Jack, perfectly hearing Gabriel's leather combat gloves rub together as his fists tightened. Before Gabriel could react in anyway Jack looked to Tracer and smiled, "Thank you, Tracer. You've helped. More than you'll ever know. For now, rest up. Don't rush to get back into the field. We want you healthy when you return." He smiled down at her as he stood up from the leather seat, pushing it back where he had taken it from. She gave him a kind smile and nodded. Ana and Gabriel followed in suit, pushing their chairs back and exiting the room quietly.
Jack could sense Gabriel wanted to say something, and he knew whatever it was, it wasn't going to be very nice. So, before he could do so, he broke the silence instead, "We don't know if this 'professional assassin' is Amélie. She died. We all saw her fall off of the aircraft when Ana shot her. If it didn't kill her right away, drowning and bleeding out in the ocean had to have done it," he said with a matter-of-fact tone in his voice. Gabriel clenched his teeth and for a moment he thought they would crack and chip away from how hard he was biting down. "Even if you think that, Jack, we should still look into it. She was a very strong sleeper agent. Talon made sure of that. She could have barely pulled through and swam back to land and the tide could have covered up her tracks," Ana stated while walking beside the Commander, continuing to look through the notes she had taken from the interrogation they had just finished. Jack nodded knowing that she was right, "Alright Amari, for yours and Reyes sakes we'll look into it." Gabriel looked towards Jack while Jack turned and gave him a bit of a cold, but playful smirk.
As the three regrouped with Reinhardt, they headed back up to the meeting room where they were greeted with other Overwatch member's faces. Sombra sat in her usual computer chair, typing meticulously at the keys with a few members of the research team sitting beside her in their own chairs typing away. Jack walked towards the Hispanic woman while the other three walked to the chairs of the large meeting table and took a seat.
"How's it going? Find anything?" Jack said, leaning down a bit and looking at her computer screen. She let out a soft chuckle and nodded, "Not a whole lot but we have find quite a bit even though you gave us this information on short notice." The hacker stood from her seat and walked to the other end of the room, a large holographic projector appearing. "And when I say a bit I found a lot. To an average person it may be little information, but most of it I had to decode." Everyone sitting in the chairs at the table turned to face the woman as a serious expression took over her face. Jack walked to the end of the table and pulled out a metal chair, looking at the information and images that were visible on the projector.
"Tartarus," she said to begin her presentation, "is a group of people that go back centuries ago. This group started small, but soon began to grow in large numbers. It first appeared back before the Cold War, when communism was a huge worry in the world. People thought the group was a bunch of psychotic communists, but that, my friends, is incredibly wrong." The young woman flipped to the next image that showed a logo of the group, and more information. In the center of the logo was an eye with a cat shaped pupil. Surrounding and protruding from the eye were black shapes that looked somewhat like daggers and some red lines outlined these images. "Tartarus is a group of highly trained and professional soldiers, marines, doctors, scientists, assassins, etc.. The group only accepts the best of the best. You can't be a nobody to join. As I said, people believed the group was a bunch of psychos who wanted to rule the world with a communist government. Although they do wish to rule the world they are not communists. To put it simply: this group wants full control. They wish to gain control from all countries, cities, states, etc. in the world and bleed their economies dry. They do this to create these." Sombra held up her clicker and flipped to the next screen. Images of massive guns, explosives, cannons, and more filled the screen. The Overwatch team sat at the table in awestruck, some of the weapons they looked at looking completely new to them.
"These," Sombra began as she pointed to a high quality picture in the right corner, "is a rail gun. Rail guns use electromagnetic forces to launch high velocity projectiles, but it doesn't rely on explosives to cause it's damage." Pointing to a larger weapon in the center of the screen she looked back towards her audience, "This, ladies and gentlemen, is a hydrogen bomb. I know what you're thinking: this is the most basic nuclear weapon and many people in many countries own them, but this group does more than create them. When this group gets ahold of economies they upgrade this weapon times twenty by adding as many explosive chemicals they possible can inside without it reacting to them. You'd think they'd use these to destroy entire nations, but instead they use them as threats, basically dangling the bomb in countries faces and saying, 'If you don't give us full control over the government and economy you're done for'." Jack looked at the weapon she had been pointing at. He recognized it as Tsar Bomba, a Russian hydrogen bomb that, when tested, was recorded as one of the most powerful nuclear bombs in the world. He knew in the back of his head, whatever this Tartarus group was doing was more than likely making the bomb even more powerful and if tested it would beat the Russian's.
"That's not all of course. Ever since the fall of Talon, Tartarus has been able to build up its forces and gain more ground. They have full control over a few small countries in Egypt and France," Sombra added, setting her clicker down on the metal table in the center of the room, her and Jack locking eyes as he raised a brow. "What do you mean? No one has informed us that these small Egyptian and French cities have been liberated." Sombra nodded, "Exactly. The government is forced into secrecy and must act as if nothing had ever happened. If not…" Raising her hands up she makes a small explosion gesture, Jack watching with a frustrated look. Everyone else sitting at the table looked to him with many questions, but they knew he wouldn't be able to answer them. The commander cupped his head in his hands for a moment and then sat back up, nodding to Sombra, "Thank you. Make sure you put all of this information on file and keep it confidential. We don't want any of this information getting leaked. Any status on the hack?" Sombra shook her head, "No Commander, but we do know no files were corrupted nor taken. Everything is running smoothly now. We believe the hack was used as a diversion to distract us from helping Tracer and Winston." Jack nodded at her statement as he crossed one of his legs over the other, leaning back in his chair a bit. McCree spoke up, his cigar smoke wafting around his dark brown cowboy hat, "Well, seems we got ourselves a problem," he said in his thick accent, messing with the spurs on the back of his boots. Genji sitting beside him nodded in agreement, continuing to keep his gaze down towards the metal table. Jack sat silently in his chair, and sighed while standing up.
"There isn't much we can do. For now we all have to continue on with our lives until we find a lead on this situation. It's about time to begin training, so everyone head to your rooms and get ready. Training starts in a half hour. Make sure you don't leak any information to any students." Everyone in the room nodded, some saying 'yes commander' in reply. The Overwatch team filed out of the room one by one, some members speaking and others heading to their rooms to change quickly. As Jack watched his team leave he looked at them all closely. He had known some for many many years and others not so long, but he still saw them all as his family. In the back of his mind he thought for a moment, 'Whatever this rising enemy is...we have to get rid of them quickly. I can't afford…" Before he could finish his mental statement he felt a strong hand grab ahold of his shoulder. He turned to look at his long time friend.
"I know you're worried, Morrison, but for now all you can do is hope for the best," Gabriel said in a wise tone. It wasn't usual for Gabriel to say something so optimistic, but Jack couldn't hold back a slight smile and nodded in agreement. "I hate to admit this, but I'm worried as well," Gabriel released his hold on Jack's shoulder and walked over to the table, turning and sitting himself on top of the cold metal. Jack stepped forward a bit, crossing his arms over his chest while Gabriel crossed his ankles together. Looking at the ground, Gabriel shoved his hand into his pocket pulling out a brown slick wallet. Jack looked from his gaze that was focused on the ground to the wallet, watching as Gabriel flipped it open and pulled out a small photograph.
"I know this seems incredibly childish. At the time I thought the same. When I was still in Talon with Sombra and Widowmaker, Sombra always tried to take pictures of the three of us. As if we were a family…" Gabriel began in a soft tone, his gaze focused entirely on the image he was holding in between his thumb and index finger, "It was late at night. The three of us were living at Talon's main facility, and we all had our own rooms like we do here. I remember walking out into the hallways seeing Sombra loudly sneak up to Widowmaker's room. The next thing I knew, we were both inside her room. I was trying to stop Sombra, but she got the picture. It's awful, and like I said it's childish, but…" His voice trailed off as he spoke. He held the small picture out to Jack who gently took it into his hand as if he were picking up the most delicate flower.
Looking at the image, Jack let out a slight chuckle. Sombra stood in front of Widowmaker's bed, holding out the camera to get her and the sniper in the picture as she slept, but Widowmaker wasn't sleeping. She was launching herself towards Sombra to attack her and Gabriel stood in the back, grabbing onto Widowmaker's ankle to hold her back from the Hispanic hacker. Sombra held up a nonchalante peace sign while the other young woman had a look of pure rage. Although Gabriel's face was blocked from the old skull mask he wore Jack knew he was probably feeling annoyance and anger. "At the time, I was pissed. I wanted to knock the hell out of Sombra. We were always told to leave Widowmaker alone when she slept because it was an important part of her reconditioning. Of course I never bothered her. We hardly ever spoke and the only time I saw her was during missions. But now…" He trailed off once again, looking up to Jack who was still focused on the image he was holding, "But now I cherish that moment more than anything. I was an idiot back then. I was so...clouded with rage and hate for anyone that I only saw the situation as a nuisance. I regret ever pushing her away. I regret always being such a dick. I've tried to run away from those memories for seven years, and now that all of this is happening…" Jack looked up from the picture and eyed the frustrated man sitting in front of him, wondering if this was some sort of confession.
"I can't help, but realize that everything you and Ana have said is true."
This took Jack off guard for a moment. He wanted to ask, "So you do love her", but he knew that he probably shouldn't especially in the situation they were in. He knew Gabriel was probably dealing with a lot of feelings and had no idea how to express them, but he wanted to keep his distance. He didn't want to start another fire inside of Gabriel and push him away like he had done so many years ago. Looking back down at the picture for a moment, Jack leaned forward and extended his arm out, offering the image back. Gabriel, looking at it hesitantly, took it into his hands and placed it slowly back into his wallet before he shoved it into his pants pocket.
The two men sat in silence for a moment until Gabriel finally broke it, "I suppose we both should be getting ready for training. Wouldn't want to keep our students waiting?" Gabriel laughed a bit as he said his last statement sarcastically, knowing that the students he taught dreaded training and groaned the second he walked into the room. Jack chuckled a bit and looked down towards his combat boots, nodding, "You're right."
Gabriel stood from his seat on the table and him and Jack followed beside one another out into the hallway, and down to the East wing where their rooms were located. The entire walk back they both spoke quietly, discussing drills that they were hoping to teach their students in the future and about the drills and training they went through in their earlier years. Once they both arrived to their rooms, Gabriel held out his ID card for the screen to scan and Jack did the same. The metal doors zipped open and before Gabriel could escape into his room he heard Jack call out to him in a cool, gentle tone, "Hey," he said, Gabriel turning around and the two locking eyes for a moment, "I don't know if I told you this when you joined again, but…" Jack looked down a bit breathing in sharply, "Welcome back."
Jack disappeared into his bedroom, the electric doors shutting quietly. Gabriel, somewhat awestruck, stood in the doorway and looked back towards where Jack had been standing and smiled a bit. For a moment he felt at peace with himself and the world. He was still worried about the situation at hand with Tartarus, but he knew that with his team beside him everything would be alright. The muscles on his biceps flexed a bit and he turned away, disappearing into the darkness of his room to change.