When I first wrote this story, I just wanted to write my own version of Overwatch with a few adjustments. Half the story has horrible grammar and the other half totally just strays from the title.
I mean come on. It used to be so simple but now shit has hit the fan and there are barely any laid-back moments.
What I didn't expect is this to reach over 100 follows... This is my second story to reach that high and it really shocks me. Looking back at the chapters I'd notice all my mistakes and it makes me cringe so hard that I would yell wake me up inside.
All jokes aside though, thank you guys for this. I really am thankful for this, even though the story has turned to shit.
I never thought someone would realize Tales Of The 501st was inspired from The Journals Of The 501st. Eli's beginning and ending monologues were inspired by that of the 501st trooper when he was retelling his stories. The idea of the 501st killing Overwatch was also inspired from that.
Desmond stared at the metal ceiling with dull eyes. No longer was he trying to find a way to escape, he knows that he'll be killed instantly even if he does manage to get out of his shackles.
Suddenly the silence was broken by a pair of footsteps approaching his cell.
Desmond looked forward and saw Sombra. She looked at him and sighed. She held out a metal plate.
"They told me to give you some food...Here" She placed it on the floor and slid it to him. Though Desmond had not touched the plate, he just kept staring at her. Sombra shifted uncomfortably.
"Look... I'm sorry but...They were paying and..." She sighed and sent him a firm look "I'm a mercenary, you know that. Talon was offering and I took it, you were just another target"
Desmond chuckled darkly and looked down. "Funny thing is..."
He looked back at her with a cold stare "Talon gave me an option to kill you..."
Sombra's eyes slightly widened. Desmond continued "After I had succeeded in assassinating the head of Helix, they debriefed me and came to a conclusion that there was no longer a need for a hacker when they could have a ghost do the work. Then I told them you'd be useful. You'd make a good tool. Now I realize..."
Desmond hardened his gaze "I should've kill you when I had the chance"
Sombra's eyes twitched.
"I..." She closed her eyes then turned around and walked out the cell block.
After hearing the sound of footsteps dissipating, Desmond looked at the food they had gave him.
'Pizza... Stale, cold, pizza *sigh* only Talon' He used his foot to bring the plate closer to his hands then grabbed it. It was difficult to eat with limited movement but he managed to get into the closest comfortable he could get in and continued to ate.
'Fucking PINEAPPLE?!'
Soldier: 76 jumped across rooftop to rooftop as he made his way through Dorado.
'Dorado...Seems like not much has changed'
He stopped when he spotted the building he had been looking for. He crouched down as he saw a little girl come out of the building.
"Be back by 7, Alejandra!"
The little girl groaned "Okay mama!"
Alejandra skipped down the stone paved street as she looked at the different stores she passed, as she was about to turn the corner she looked up and saw a silhouette covered by the moonlight.
She widened her eyes when she saw the familiar red visor.
Soldier: 76 jumped down into an alley way and Alejandra followed. She stopped when she saw him leaning on the wall.
"Is... That really you?"
76 turned to her "Seems like Dorado hadn't changed as much... How are you doing kid?"
Alejandra smiled "Good... What... Are you doing here?"
76 got off the wall and went closer to the girl "Did anyone new recently come in Dorado?"
Alejandra nodded "Yes! There was this one guy, mama and I called him Stranger because he never told us his name. He saved us when the Los Muertos gang started to harass people again. It was amazing, the bullets went through him! It was like he was invincible... Why? Are you looking for him"
76 nodded "Yea... Any idea where he went"
"He said he needed to find a friend... Then I think he headed towards the town center but, he had stayed with us because it rained the day before "
76 turned towards the direction of the town center then back to Alejandra "How long ago was this?"
Alejandra put a hand to her head "Hmmm... I think it was just two days ago"
76 nodded "Thanks kid"
"Is he in trouble?" Alejandra said.
"No... I just wanted to check up on him"
Alejandra's eyes lit up "Wait? He works with you?
76 slowly nodded "Something like that... I'll see you around kid" 76 ran out of the alley while Alejandra watched him leave
"I knew he was a hero"
76 got onto a fire escape ladder and climbed to the roof. He began to jump rooftop to rooftop and it wasn't long before he made it to the town's center. He looked around and noticed it was almost empty.
His eyes scanned the area only to find nothing out of the ordinary. He then looked at the pole located directly on the middle. On the top, it had six camera, all covering every angle of the center of town.
'Those cameras could show me where Desmond had gone to'
He looked around once more and spotted a little building where security guards were in.
'The footage must be in there' He jumped off the roof and landed on the ground, he walked towards the security building and knocked on the window, this caught the attention of the two guards inside. They both looked at each other then one of them approached the window.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"I need to look over the security footage. It's an emergency, one of my allies could be in trouble"
The guard looked at him skeptically "I'm sorry sir, but civilians aren't allowed to do that"
"I'm not a civilian. Show me the footage" 76 said agitated. The guard in the back only smirked
"Sure grandpa, go back to your nursing home"
76 growled and left the window.
"Ha... Old people man, they go crazy"
Suddenly the door was busted down, shocking both guards. 76 came in.
"I'm no grandpa, either. Now I won't ask again. Show. Me. The. Footage."
The guard he had been talking nodded rapidly and went over to a terminal and opened up the camera footage.
"The town center is recorded by the cameras for a week before they erase them... Do you um know when your friend visited the center?"
"Two days ago. In the morning"
The guard turned to the terminal and began to type on the terminal. He pressed a button and soon the camera footage from two days before showed up. 76 leaned in and began to look through the footage.
He spotted one marked '9 AM' and pressed it. Just like Alejandra had said.
On the camera footage, it showed Desmond walking towards the center and beginning to look around. Soon a figure in an overcoat approached him and they both left.
76 turned to the guard "What's in that direction?"
The guard behind him spoke up "That's where the slums are located, mostly poor and homeless people"
76 nodded "So the bad side of town?"
"Yes"
76 got up and began to walk out "Thanks for the help"
Before he got any further a guard yelled out
"Hey mister" 76 turned to him "There had been shady characters there recently, at least more than usual. It was four days ago when a weird looking dropship came and landed over there"
"What color was it"
The guard crossed his arms "It was black. Just black"
'Talon'
"Did you see anyone step out?"
The other guard came to the window "Yea... I usually go there to check on the camera to and make sure they weren't stolen. I saw an omnic along with armed guards surrounding him. Behind the guards was these three agents. One was a woman wearing some type of of purple latex suit, the girl next her had wearing black and purple clothing. She had purple highlights. The last one, looked edgy. He had been wearing a skull mask and was dressed all in black, like the grim reaper"
'Reaper, Sombra...And Widowmaker' 76 looked at the guard
"You said there were cameras?"
He nodded "Yea... I can give you the access code, the booth there is usually unguarded"
"That would be helpful" 76 walked towards the window and grabbed the holo-card the guard had given him. 76 nodded at them "Thanks for the help..."
76 began to run towards the direction Desmond had headed.
'Hold on, kid... I'll find you'
Desmond slowly began to wake up as he heard his cell doors open.
"Get him up"
Before he could fully awaken, he felt his shackles fall then lifted up off the floor. He shook his head then looked to his sides.
There were two Talon soldiers carrying him out of the cell and were following a high ranking officer.
Desmond looked around as they entered the main hall of the base, as they passed by, Talon agents moved out of the way and watched the prisoner.
They entered a room filled with scientists. On the sides were terminals and on the middle there was a circular chamber and inside the chamber was an operating chair.
The omnic who had captured him, had been talking to a scientist along with Sombra and Widowmaker. Reaper watched him in a corner.
The omnic raised his head and looked at him "Ah... Mr. Riley"
Everyone in the room turned their attention towards him as the omnic walked towards Desmond.
"Glad to see you're awake" He flicked Desmond's head.
In that moment, Desmond's anger rose up and he knocked off the two guards then slammed the omnic into the hard metal floor. Widowmaker and Sombra raised their guns at him, Desmond grabbed a pistol from one of the Talon guards and held the omnic at gunpoint.
Desmond looked around as nobody moved and smirked "Looks like we got ourselves a standoff" His face turned serious "Now let me tell you what happens, you get me out of here or I kill this motherfucker"
The omnic laughed "Really? Is that how it's going to work?"
Desmond clenched his teeth and pushed the gun on the omnics head causing the omnic to only laugh more.
"Reaper... Give him the shot"
Suddenly, Desmond felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. He turned and saw reaper injecting some sort of fluid in him. He fell to the ground and grabbed his head.
He screamed as his head began to feel like it had been exploding constantly. He clenched his hands into a fist and pounded the floor.
"WHAT...HAVE...YOU DONE!"
The omnic watched with his hand behind his back as Desmond writhed on the floor, Reaper stood next to him with shotguns ready just in case. Sombra watched with clenched teeth at his old team leader trying hard not to look away. She turned her eyes to Widowmaker who had a passive expression plastered on her face.
One of the scientists walked towards the omnic with a holo-pad.
"Sir... Could we attach some tubes on him? We'd like to see how the virus affects his body and we want to see his vital"
The omnic nodded "Go ahead... You two" He motioned at two guards "Get him on the operating chair and strap him down. If he tries anything, hit him...Hard"
The two guards nodded and grabbed Desmond off the floor then carried him onto the chamber. When they strapped him down, a couple of scientists went inside and began to insert tubed into his veins and injected him with more of the virus.
A scientist led the omnic towards a terminal and pointed at the screen to show Desmond's vitals.
"That's his heart rate monitor and that is the progress of the virus. Currently it has infected 2% of his body"
The omnic nodded as he listened "What about his blood pressure? His temperature?"
The scientist motioned at another scientist "He keeps those vitals over there. This is the important stuff, the chamber is in a controlled temperature environment so we can easily monitor his temperature from there"
"Very good" The omnic turned and began to move towards the exit of the room then turned back towards the scientist "During this process, will the virus be active?"
"I'm afraid not... We need to keep pumping his blood with it for it to progress, so if anyone unplugs him from the tube, the virus progress will halt and not take effect. Though his body might be fatigued if that ever happens"
The omnic nodded "Reaper, I want more security on this room. I want you assigned onto this too, Desmond is too important to lose now"
Reaper nodded and exited the room. The omnic turned to Sombra and Widowmaker.
"You two, follow me. I have a meeting coming up and I want you to be my guards" The omnic left the room followed by Sombra and Widowmaker.
As they walked Sombra looked at Widowmaker who still had a passive expression on her face. Sombra looked at the omnic and opened her mouth.
"Uhh... Sir... What does that virus do? Is it killing him?"
"No... Let's just say it's a...Reawakening virus."
Sombra raised a brow "Reawakening? What do you mean"
The omnic 'smirked' "Tell me... How much did your old boss spend on Desmond's conversion"
"Over 1.2 billion...Why?"
The omnic chuckled "He let 1.2 billion walk away just because he left one simple thing out...Emotion"
Sombra looked at Widowmaker, who had shared the same confusion as her. "Emotion?"
"Yes... Your old boss trained Desmond to be an emotionless killer. A machine. Just like 501st training. This training does not erase emotion. It simply suppresses it. That's how 1.2 billion walked away. That's how Desmond was freed from Talon's conversion. Because of emotion"
"..." Sombra looked down as they continued to walk. Widowmaker looked at her then at the omnic.
"What will this virus do exactly?"
The omnic glanced at Widowmaker then turned forward "The virus has little strains of coded cells, similar to that which flow within Sombra. It will burrow inside his brain. At the moment it will not do anything but once the process is complete, the coded cells will destroy anything that relates to emotion. Happiness, Sadness, Anger all of that will be replaced by new code. It will leave him impassive."
"Isn't that just suppressing it?" Widowmaker said.
"Yes... Except all his memories will be erased completely, from birth to now so he would never remember. And as for the coded cells, the only way to remove them is to remove his brain. I think you know what i'm getting at"
Widowmaker nodded slowly. She turned to Sombra who shook her head.
"Are you sure he wasn't there?" Mercy asked worriedly. She had picked up Soldier: 76 on her way to the new watchpoint and learned about what had happened to Desmond.
"Yes, I've searched the town, I've tried to contact him through the comms but nothing worked... It's highly possible Talon captured him, when I searched for the footage in the slums area, the terminal containing had been wipe. Why would Talon waste its time to cover their tracks when they fly a dropship in broad daylight. It doesn't add up" 76 says as he begins to take off his mask. Mercy looked down trying to think of a logical explanation on why Desmond had suddenly disappeared.
"I...What if he just got lost... What if he lost his communicator... What if-"
"Angela... It's not a what if. He DID get captured by Talon and Widowmaker DID help in his capture" 76 says as he rubbed his head. Mercy sighed and put her head in her hands.
"I know, Jack... I know. I'm worried. What would they do to him? Would they try to convert him again?" 76 sat next to her and put an arm over her shoulder.
"Maybe... It's highly unlikely considering that it didn't work that first time. They might ransom him to us. I don't know... This is all messed up" 76 used his other hand to run it through his hair. "I can't believe I trusted Widowmaker. I really though Desmond had brought Amelie back but it was just all a lie."
Mercy laid her head on his chest and sighed "What are we going to tell the others...What are we going to tell poor Lena, and Sam. Desmond is the only family left that Sam has, I know he'll raid all known Talon bases in the world "
"At this point i'll take anything... Desmond's been with me since the beginning before Soldier: 76. He was with me Jack Morrison was still alive. The kid is practically family" Mercy smiled at him.
"Jack... You know you don't have to wear a mask anymore. The others will be fine with you being alive, i'm sure no one blames you for Overwatch's downfall" 76 sighed.
"I know they had forgiven me but...It's a matter of forgiving myself"
Mercy chuckled "You sound like Hanzo right now... You need to learn to let it go or it'll forever bring you. Trust me. I'm a doctor"
76 chuckled "That you are, Angela...That you are"
Sorry for not posting this yesterday, my family wanted to eat out and we came home late. Anyway thank you all for the huge milestone of 100 follows! 100! THAT'S FUCKING CRAZY!
THANK YOU AND HAVE A GOOD NIGHT/DAY!