Date: December 17th
Location: Somewhere in Rio de Janeiro
"It's the time of year for Christmas cheer, with Krampus on his way… With his eight death deer we're waiting here, excited for the slay…" Mad Dawg sang to himself as he sat on the left arm of Christ the Redeemer statue up on the mountain. He cracked open a root beer and took a long drink. He wiped the foam off of his mouth and whipped out-
Be mature.
His binoculars.
Oh. My bad.
He gazed around the city, it was an odd and new wonder to him to see the 'city of lights' as he had heard it called. Some people pointed up to him in confusion as it was technically illegal to have climbed up here to drink but hey, you do you. And Dawg'll do Dawg. About four months had passed since he had joined Overwatch, and things were pretty good. He and Lucio were fast friends from the start, and it didn't take much for him and Hana to become friends as well. (Partially because the three of them and Junkrat were the youngest members.) He never really saw him and Hanzo becoming anything more than co-workers, especially after what had happened with him and Dom Kim, but after some training sessions, the two had built a trainer/trainee relationship which constantly changed depending on what they were working on. Torbjorn was fascinated by the security systems he had built, but also understood Mad dawg's fear of them being used as weapons. The two had opposing ideas for the usefulness of certain aspects of machines (Torbjorn didn't understand why Mad Dawg believed that adding a slushy machine was necessary, and Mad Dawg didn't understand why adding emergency shut down systems to their machines were so important.) It hadn't taken much for him and Lena to build a friendship… But then there were Symmetra, Winston, and Solider 76… So from the word go, things were rough with Symmetra. She had walked into the room when Mad Dawg was tipsy and explaining his views on politics, and more importantly, why he was an Anarchist. This really pissed Symmetra off, and she tried to rebuke his stance by explaining how everything needed to be organized and in order. Dawg had replied with, and I quote.
"Yeah? Y'know what was organized? Talons attacks which have killed God knows how many! Y'know what's weird? You think everyone has to agree with what you say, LIKE TALON. You try and control what people think, LIKE TALON. You've got the same 0.001% matters view as that Symmetra-"
"That's Symmetra." McCree had then cut in. Pointing to her.
"Oh. Well… SCREW YOU!"
Thing is, she knew he was drunk and decided to leave it at 'He's intoxicated so he isn't thinking clearly.' The real problem came from the fact that he had then violently thrown upon her and passed out.
That may have been a mistake.
Y'think?
Things were better with the other two, Winston was amazed by his natural mutation which allowed Mad Dawg's cells to regenerate so quickly. But something had come up while he was researching their genetic structure which had genuinely frightened him. Something about the shape the D.N.A. was in. But Dawg didn't understand science, so he just decided to give him some space. Then there was the big man. The Solid Snake, The King Bowser…
What?
You'll find out eventually… Solider 76. The first dozen or so missions that Mad dawg was sent on, Solider 76 would be on. When asked about it, he always replied with something like "It's just the way it was set up." Or "Zenyatta's calling in a favor." But MD knew what it really was: We have no idea what the hell is with you so we're watching you so you don't commit mass genocide or something else that's bad. And he had a point. Mad Dawg had a tendency to open fire on anyone who was coming at them, including civvies. Thankfully, he had missed and had only injured them, but he could tell 76 was pissed. After a few more 'restrained' missions, he had stopped showing up on every job. But something told Mad Dawg the mistrust he had created wasn't defused yet. If he was being honest, Solider probably hadn't beaten his ass yet because of Ana. Dawg didn't know what it was about her and Solider 76, but she seemed to have a way to calm him. Maybe they were married at one point. But when he asked Farrah about it, she had told him that she didn't know who her father was. He ALSO found out she hated talking about that. So he wasn't sure if they were friends or enemies. Now it was nearly Christmas, and Mad Dawg had NO IDEAwhat to do. Up until about two or three years, Christmas had usually been the following:
Go to a party somewhere
Get stupid drunk (and try to win Beer Pong against Ray.)
But now it was:
Go home and quietly sit on the couch watching cartoons
Hope my friends might call (Even though they don't.)
Now, it was almost Christmas again, but this time Mad Dawg was going to spend it with the Overwatch team! On the one hand, this might be what he's always wanted. But on the other hand, well… Mad Dawg had no idea how to act in a social setting like this would be, where to be at what time and most importantly; what to get everyone. He decided he'd improvise answers to problems one and two, and as for number three, that's why he was in Rio now. Well, also because Torb had built a wingsuit with rocket engines for the agents and needed someone to try it out. None of the agents who could use it were super excited…
Except for Mad Dawg.
Making sure everything was strapped on properly, Mad Dawg breathed then jumped. Feeling the air rush past his face, he thrust his arms out to the side. The wind caught the underside of the wings, and Mad Dawg took off down the mountain. Whooping and hollering in excitement as he shot through the sky.
"Woo! Hoo hooooo!" He cheered as he flew across the mountain side, admiring the beauty of the scenery. Raising his left arm, he banked and flew towards the beach. He took a long drink from his 'flaskpack' -a backpack which had could hold up to three liters of liquid- as he shot down towards the beach. He could see people pointing and looking up. As he flew above them he yelled.
"YO RIO! CHECK ME OUT!"
Flying over the ocean he looked in awe at the sparkling blue water. He felt the foam splash up onto his face and he laughed. Only for him to suddenly realize he was too close to the water. Yelling in shock, he kicked the engines into high gear and he flew back up into the sky.
"Hey Torb!" Mad Dawg laughed into the ear piece he was wearing. "This is AWESOME!"
"Great to hear my friend!" Torb's proud voice came in reply. "But uh… where are you?"
"In Rio!" Mad Dawg replied before flying back down towards the town. He glided across the heart of the town, then took a right and headed for the outskirts of the town, he tilted the wings up, retracting them so he could land…
But forgot about the engines and went flying head first into an abandoned building. Smashing through the wall and rolling across the dusty abandoned floor, skidding to a stop.
"AGH!" He screamed out loud. "THAT FREAKING HURT!"
He pulled a few chunks of wood out, groaning in pain with each one, and his healing factor kicked in and closed his wounds. He shook his head and the cartilage in his back cracked as he straightened himself as he got up. Looking around he saw the house was covered in graffiti, but there was still a table and chairs in the room he crashed into.
Seemed like whoever lived here beforehand packed up and hit the road in a hurry… He thought.
Yet through all the crude drawings of Omnics and quite a few of Lucio, there was one word repeated over and over.
Vishkar.
He thought back to what Lucio had told him about these guys… It wasn't pretty. In fact, it was the first time Mad Dawg had seen Lucio genuinely angry. And he's be lying if he said it didn't scare him. He'd seen Winston 'Going Ape' (as some called it) or Roadhog going 'Whole Hog', and while it was frightening at first, he got over it quickly. But when Lucio had looked him dead in the eyes and told him the truth, he was freaked out.
"Vishkar? Damn. You don't know do ya?" He had begun with a sigh. "They claimed they were going to help build our town back after the Omnic Crisis lift us without a home or a community. But… They lied." At this point, Lucio looked away, but Mad Dawg could see the anger in his body language.
"What happened?" Mad Dawg asked even though he knew he shouldn't.
"They took EVERYTHING our home, our friends and family, they used us for cheap labor. They cut down anyone who got outta line. Free speech? Gone. Basic human rights? Gone. We weren't humans to them. We were animals." By now, the light and energy in Lucio's face was gone. A mixture of fear and pure anger was all that Mad Dawg could see. And his eyes, they no longer were the eyes of the DJ who wanted to unify the world in peace, the man who gave Mad Dawg a V.I.P. pass to one of his album release parties after seeing him give his food to a homeless man and his dog. The eyes were almost empty, just the eyes of remorse, the eyes of a broken survivor. "I..I'm sorry Dawg. I didn't mean to go off like that…"
"What?! No! Dude! It's MY fault!" Mad Dawg had tried to console him. "I shouldn't've asked. I'm sorry."
Mad Dawg sighed and opened his backpack. Digging for a moment, he pulled four wheels out and then took the wingsuit off. When Torbjorn had been designing it, he had needed something long and flat to hold the base, so they had used a longboard. Slipping the wheels back on, Mad Dawg went outside and rode on down the sidewalk. He watched the destroyed, trashed, rotting, and in -some cases- burned houses where families once lived, now they were simply husks of their former home. Finally reaching a small one, he sighed sadly when he saw that this house was more damaged than the others, a large part of the roof was gone, there were holes in the wall, seemingly made by sledgehammers, (trust him, Mad Dawg KNOWS when a sledgehammer has been used), and bullet holes everywhere.
Those bastards probably tried to use this place as a warning… But it just made more people rise up. He mused. He looked at the faded words in the rusted mailbox, time seeming to have eaten the back of it. But he could make out a few letters.
Co e a Dos S t s
"This is it." Mad Dawg said aloud to no one in particular. Walking up to the remains of Lucio's childhood house, he pushed lightly on the door, and it creaked open on one hinge, tiling down. He clicked on a flash light and walked up the old wooden stairs, each step creaking louder than Reinhardt's joints during warm-ups. He walked down the old hallway until he found a door on the end with a crayon drawing of a frog on the door. Walking into Lucio's old room, Mad dawg pulled a bandana over his face so he wouldn't inhale too much dust. In the rom there were some old pictures of Lucio as a child with others playing soccer, or Lucio trying music making for the first time. They weren't what Mad Dawg was looking for though. Remember how at the beginning of the chapter we talked about Christmas? Yeah, this has to do with that. Mad Dawg sat down on Lucio's old bed, seeing the state the room was in now, pondering on what it would've been like before Vishkar screwed it all up.
I hope your dead Vishkar… Dead or able to move really, really, REALLY fast… Mad Dawg seethed internally. 'Cause if you aren't and I find you… Oh boy. This story might be rated M if that happens…
Then Mad Dawg saw what he was looking for, sitting on the headboard. Smiling he picked it up and looked it over. He gently set it in his bag and opened the window to let some air come through. Feeling his goal for coming here was successful, he checked the list he had written.
Angela
Roadhog
Junkrat
Zarya
Kong Kong
Jesse (Bitch! Lol)
Gamer Chick
Lucio
Ana
Cool Rocketeer
Ikea Gnome
MC Hammer
The list went on, naming the other members of Overwatch he needed to get something for. He crossed Lucio's name off and looked at the remaining names. The only real problem he had right now was there were two members of Overwatch he hadn't met. The monk Zenyatta and some guy named Bastion…
I'll deal with that when I get to them. Mad Dawg decided.
His phone pinged and he saw a message from Jay, a guy he had paid to help him with the second part of his gift for Lucio.
Yo Doggy! It's done, what'cha think?
-Jay
Looking at the picture, Mad Dawg grinned. He knew Lucio was gonna LOVE this. He replied:
It's awesome!
-MD
Who's a good boy?
-Jay
Don't. Start.
-MD
Shaking his head with a laugh, he looked at the list and chose a random name.
"Lena." He said aloud.
Walking back outside, he began full on sprinting, then he kicked the engines into high gear, jumping and exending his arms, the rocked-power wing suit began to fly, once he was up in the air he began yelling loudly:
"CHEERS LOVE! MAD DAWG'S HERE!"
All throughout Rio, people swore they heard a young boy's laughter.
A.N. Part one done! Mad Dawg's getting into the holiday spirit… Even though he ain't totally sure what that is… What do you think he's got for Lucio? What about the others? This is Mad Dawg we're talking about. Things are going to be unique to say the least. Love hearing reviews/ideas from you guys!