Chapter 4: Time

It has been hours now and no one has come to give them water or food. Lena got up and yelled at the people outside. "Hey! We need something to eat or drink! Come on! We're starving to death here!"

McCree told her to sit down. "Save your strength, girl. You'll need it to-"

"What are you talking about? We need something to eat for strength." Lena peeked outside her cell, trying to see if someone there. "Why do they want us here anyway? If they plan to kill us, they should do it right away."

"I'm sure they're planning something else, Lena. We just have to be... ready when that time comes."

Lena doesn't like that. Be ready of what? Death? Torture? She doesn't want to face those things. She doesn't want those things at all. "Emily." She spoke her name, remembering the last time she saw her.

"Your girlfriend?" The cowboy heard her. "Did you... say goodbye to her?"

"I kinda did... I guess."

"Well, as long as you said goodbye, that's alright."

But then a black drunk came in mumbling about something in a Scottish accent. He brought food and water for the prisoners but he dropped it on the floor and kicked it in. Then he yelled to the people outside, "There! I did my job! Now can I get more bottle!" The drunk Scotsman left the room.

Lena and McCree were puzzled by that moment. But in the bright side, they have food. The cowboy took the big loaf of bread and gave some for Tracer. "This will do." He said as he ate the bread piece by piece. Lena, however, gobbled one slice of it and then the next.

Winston and Torbjorn was working against the clock, trying to construct the machine to take them back to the past. Untested but precise. Both minds were sure it will work.

While they were completing the machine, Morrison goes into the Overwatch files and search for clues if something else. Then Mercy came in to deliver what she found. "Gray Gravel Company. It's the manufacturer of these robots."

Morrison has never heard of that company before. "Alright... that's our first clue." He went to the computer and search for the company's name.

"There's no record of it." Mercy said.

Nothing came out from the search files. "You're right. This company is a mystery." He tried to search again but this time with a different word. Robots. And there it has one result. Morrison read it "Australian CEO claims to stop robot apocalypse. Suspected delusional but authorities unable to arrest or restrain him."

"Year?" Mercy asked.

"1973. That's before they constructed the robot."

"Great! Now you have the first clue, you can go and find it yourself."

"Right... I'll track down this Australian man's company and see what I can find. Where's Ana?"

"...uh. She's not available right now."

"What do you mean?"

"She's taking care of Fareeha."

"But you're here. You can take care of her."

"...um... well, there's something I need to tell you." Mercy cannot keep a secret.

Ana and Pharah arrived at the radiated wasteland of Australia. The two in their protective gear ventured forth to the location of Mann Co. Industries. Ana checked the scanners for radiation. "We should be close."

Pharah asked, "What's the intel about this Mann Co. Industries?"

"There are two facilities of Mann Co. One is from New Mexico and here in Australia."

"Are you sure the intel is solid?"

"The CEO claims to stopped a robot apocalypse... with his bare hands. He might be crazy but that's our only lead right now."

"Anything else, mom?"

"He did mention about robots disguising as himself."

"Good point." Pharah heard about the McCree imposter. She started to feel worried about it. If any of the dangerous Omnics get their hands on this tech, they might replace politicians, generals or leaders.

Then Ana found an underground hatch on the desert floor and saw the Mann Co. logo on it. "We're here." The hatch was mechanical and blast resistant.

Her daughter analyzed it. "It appears to be mechanical."

After stating the obvious, Ana asked her to stand back and pulled a grenade from her kit. It's not her biotic grenade but something she would never use to any human... unless it is an omnic. She placed the grenade on the hatch and went a few steps back. It detonated and splattered acid. The hatch door melted and created a large opening for the two to enter.

Flashlights on and down they go.

Ana and Pharah reached to the bottom and found the facility filled with old weapons and devices. Pharah released a drone to scan the place. "So, mom... where do we start?"

"Find the office, of course."

Then the drone picked up something but it was instantly shut down before giving the results to Pharah. She noticed it and immediately knew they're not alone. She whispered, "Mom... somebody's here."

Ana turned around and saw a man coming towards her daughter. "Fareeha, get down!" She raised her rifle aiming at the man. She fired two shots at the man's skull but it doesn't work.

Quickly, Pharah fired her rocket launcher to the mysterious man. She saw him propelled towards the steel wall. "I got him!"

But it didn't stop him. The man got up and flicked the dust off his ruined shirt. "The doctor was right. You BLU maggots will come here and take over our base! God, I hate BLUs." He looked at Ana's and Pharah's attire which have blue on it. The lights of the facility turned on and revealed everything inside especially to the man who attacked them. He has a bowl army helmet, ragged pants and long scraggly white beard. His face looked like 90-year-old man but with a physically fit body. But something was attached on his chest. A device with a red glowing beating heart.

It is like something you saw in a horror movie.

Ana and Pharah were horrified to the man's appearance. They were not sure if he can be killed. But Ana made a plan. "Fareeha, distract him for me while I find anything we need. Once I got it, we'll blow everything here and bury him."

"That's a little bit extreme, mom." Pharah commented.

"Eh... I know."

The man cried with sheer rage and he charged towards them with a pickaxe. "Time to feel the pain!"

Winston finally completed the machine. Torbjorn was just take his time to rest but he gave the good news to Morrison who later found him yelling at Doctor Ziegler. "What happened here?"

"Ana and Fareeha went out by themselves without asking for permission."

The doctor was a little scared at the commander. She doesn't like to see him angry and she has never seen him this angry. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking... if we split up, we could find Lena or the enemies faster."

"That's not your call, Angela." Morrison said.

"I know. It was Ana's."

Everything went silent for a moment. Torbjorn interjected with good news. "The machine is ready."

"Finally!" Morrison said. "Some good news..."

Morrison approached the simian and asked, "What's the status?"

"Machine is complete and ready to go. With this, we can send someone to grab Lena and pulled her back to our time. It will act like a fishing rod."

"No test?"

"We can try sending an object first and then pull it back."

Morrison thought about it and then he turned his eyes on to Angela. "Test it on her first."

Winston and Torbjorn were surprised by what he said. "You want to do human testing first?"

"You heard me. Angela can go first."

Panicking, the doctor asked. "Is this about Ana? I'm sure it's just- you are joking, right?"

The commander said. "I'm not joking. I'm commanding you to get into the machine." He then asked the two who built it. "You two said to me that you are sure it will work. No need for testing."

"Yes. But still, we do need to test it on objects first. That's what we do when he created a device." Winston said.

Torbjorn added, "We don't test weapons to humans because it would be-"

"I know." Morrison said. "But it is a time machine. What's so bad about that?"

Winston gave him the worst possible scenarios. "Age acceleration? Lost in time? Rip apart?"

"Fine! If Angela doesn't want to do it, I will."

"No!" Angela said. "We can use a small creature. Like a lab rat or a hamster."

"That's a great idea!" Winston said. "We can use animals." The three humans all turned to him. "To be specific, small animals..." The simian brought in a lab rat and placed it inside the machine. They turned it on and the rat disappeared.

It was a successful time jump.

Now, they turn the machine into a hook to pull the rat back to their time.

The device did it's function and successfully brought back the rat.

"The machine is ready." But Winston has something to say. "Now we just have to send someone to find Lena and attach her with the device I develop."

"Then how did you explain the rat?" Morrison said.

"Because the rat was staying on one place and that is why we able to pull it back. But in Lena's situation, she could be away from here."

"Good point." Morrison said. They went to the machine and check on the rat. Mercy approached the small creature and noticed no signs of change. "It's perfectly fine. No oddities." Winston and Torbjorn were proud of their work. "Now we can go and save Lena."

But then Morrison has a change of mind. "It will not be we. It will be you." He pointed the doctor.

"Is this a joke again?" Angela starts to feel like it is.

"No. For real, I'm an old soldier and I cannot go in there with cybernetic limbs. If something happens, I'll be immobile before I get to Tracer."

"How would you know?" She asked but was interjected.

"...and Torbjorn cannot come because- we need him here. Winston too and people will surround him and capture him because he's... a talking animal. You should go."

"How about Reinhardt?" She said.

Everyone looked at the machine and compare it to Reinhardt's size.

"Never mind." She made up her mind. If that's his command, she must follow it. "Alright. I'll do it."

"Okay then. We're ready." Winston gave her the devices so she and Lena can get back to the future. "Just attached it on Lena's chronal accelerator and it will automatically pull you two back."

"Understood." Angela went inside the machine and watched at they're about to activate it. However, there's something she did not expect. Behind Winston and Torbjorn, the commander was standing there watching her. And when the machine turned on sending her away, Morrison's eyes turned red.

"Oh no..." Angela tried to warned the two but it was too late.

She disappeared before they could hear her warnings.

Up Next: Into the Badlands