Hey everyone, this story's ending. I just can't find the right way to lead to the conclusion, so we're jumping ahead a bit. Sorry if you don't like that, but these next two chapters should be very entertaining.
As the heroes sat on the dropship, they contemplated the last few week's events. Thankfully, they had been able to stop Kenichi's plan to use the Husks to potentially take over the world, but the cost was greater than anyone had predicted. Sure, the heroes all had varying opinions on Don Kim, but to Dawg, he was probably the closest thing to a father figure he had that didn't end with him being shot, abandoned and forced into hiding.
Needless to say, Kim's death took a pretty heavy toll on Dawg.
This wasn't helped by the fact that he was then forced to kill the Husks by essentially poisoning them all so they could finally die. Many of the heroes had tried to talk him out of it, and Reinhardt even tried to forcibly stop him, but he received a rather aggressive bite from one of the Husks.
"They can't be saved. This is the merciful thing to do." Dawg had reasoned, seemingly almost emotionally empty as he did so. Finally, the heroes had relented (and been threatened enough by the Husks) that they left. No one liked it, they collectively agreed they were letting a kid commit what could almost be described as genocide, but also knew there was no talking Dawg out of it. Add to that the fact that if they tried, the Husk's would most likely attack once again.
After completing his last task, Dawg had disappeared for about three days. It actually had been Zenyatta who found him at one of the monasteries in Japan. Dawg had apparently come and simply been meditating for the past three days, refusing all food or drink from any of the custodians at the temple. The monk had joined Dawg, and after a few days of silence, he had finally gotten him to open up.
"It was my fault. One way or another, all the crap we've been going through… It's been because of me." Mad Dawg had said solemnly. But to his credit, he didn't have the self-loathing tone he had before, he seemed almost at peace. "Virus, Doomfist, Kenichi, Moira… Everything they've done, all the people they've hurt. It was because of me."
"You cannot blame yourself for what someone else's soul contains." Zenyatta reasoned. "You are but one person, not even an adult yet, and still you try to put the weight of the world on your shoulders. And to what end? What do you hope to gain form this?"
"A few years back, I would've said answers to my past. Then, I probably would've said 'To be a hero' now… I think now it's simply to try and atone for my mistakes."
"And what mistakes would you think those are?" Zenyatta asked, a bit curious as to what Mad Dawg truly blamed himself for.
"Lying to everyone for one." Mad Dawg sighed. "I feel like I've already mostly done that. But moreover, I've hurt people. Some might blame my lifestyle, but that's not the case. At any point, I could've simply not killed people, or tried to return sooner… or…"
Mad Dawg shook his head as he trailed off.
"I don't know. I guess that's why I've been thinking for these past few days."
"And do you know what you want to do about your mistakes?" Zenyatta asked. He expected Mad Dawg to answer with something like trying to spend time with the agents more, or mending relationships more, never in a million years did he expect what Mad Dawg said.
"Yes. I'm gonna kill Moira, and anyone who stand in my way."
Present Day…
Mad Dawg was loading mags into all of his weapons. He was terrified, but also felt an odd sense of relief, like the biggest causes for his guilt and fear were gone, or at least, soon to be gone. Sure, EVERYONE had tried to talk him out of what his plan was, to tell him they couldn't just kill Moira, that they couldn't justify what some might see as a targeted assassination. His answer was simple, and surprisingly harsh.
"Then stay." Was all he had said. "This is my fight. None of you need to get involved."
"Kid, you're out of your goddamn mind." T-Bone had immediate interjected. "If you try and one-man-army this shit, you're going to DIE. And even if you somehow get in, how to you plan to get out?"
"Explosives." Mad Dawg had shrugged off his friend's concern.
"I'm with him, this is insane." Torbjörn had insisted. "What plan do you have for even finding out where they are?!"
"I don't have one." Dawg had admitted. "I was just gonna attack some of their known bases and hope that gets their attention."
"You are literally considering TERRORISM." Lúcio had shouted, seeming angrier than anyone had ever seen him before. "And for what?! Some personal vendetta?!"
"As long as Moira and I live, people. will. DIE." Mad Dawg had shot back. "I don't expect any of you to understand. But this has to happen."
"So that's it? You're just gonna throw your life away and leave everyone behind?" Roadhog asked. "After all the time you spent trying to re-connect, you just wanna burn it all to the ground?!"
"YOU DIDN'T SEE WHAT I SAW!" Mad Dawg finally shouted. "I connected with the Husks. I SAW what they went through. Both under Moira's and Kenichi's experiments… You have no idea the nightmares they can cause."
This did leave a few of the heroes silent, as they knew Dawg had a point.
"I… I can't keep doing this." Dawg finally admitted. "Knowing what I am, knowing what I was meant to be… How do you expect me to keep moving forward? This isn't some petty revenge plot, Moira HURT people. Not just me. How many people has she experimented on?! Extorted? Mutilated?!" He now turned and looked directly at Mercy, who had been silent the whole time. "What the hell should I do? Tell the world 'hey, I'm a psycho-mutant who killed a ton of innocents in a power outage? And therefore, you shouldn't like this one woman'? Is that what I'm supposed to do?!"
Presently, Lúcio sat next to Dawg, sensing his anxiety, and trying to play some calming music, but it didn't seem to work. Granted, he didn't expect it to, but that's what friends did. When Dawg had said he was going to either turn himself over to Talon or storm their base, Lúcio had been of two minds about it. First, he wouldn't let his friend do something that stupid, but then he realized, he couldn't let his friend do something that stupid alone. He chuckled slightly at the reaction everyone had given him when he had said as much.
"Y'know what? Dawg. If you're really gonna do something this stupid that might get you killed… Count me the hell in."
The whole room had fallen silent.
"Whoa. No." Mad Dawg had immediately tried to say. "No way. Uh-uh. NOT happening."
"I don't care." The musician had shrugged. "Kace, we pulled you out of a Talon base a few years ago. If you're going back into one, I'm going with you. This is what friends do. This is what a family does for one another."
"No. Santos… You can't." Mad Dawg had tried to argue, but then the last thing anyone had ever expected happened.
"I'm going as well." Solider: 76 had declared. "And that isn't up for debate."
"You know I'm comin' along for the ride as well." McCree then added.
"I'll be there to crack some skulls." Roadhog nodded before Mad Dawg could say anything.
"I can't stop you from doing something this extraordinarily stupid… So, I won't let you go alone." Torbjörn agreed.
"I haven't put up with you this long to see you run off again." Zarya added. "Talon is an enemy that must be dealt with, I will fight with you."
"As will I." Reinhardt put forth.
"This is a stupid, reckless and potentially harmful plan that could be classified as a war crime." Winston then spoke, seeming to get everyone's attention. "We could very well be seen as the villains we fight."
He paused for a moment, then took his glasses off, seeming more serious than Dawg had ever seen him.
"But after all that they've done. To us, to the innocents of the world. I don't give a damn what anyone thinks."
Now, the dropship was approaching its destination. Thanks to some hacking on Dedsec's part, they had been able to track the main Talon base back to Canada. On top of that Marcus had been able to find the frequencies Talon contacted one another on, so they were able to plan their assault for when everyone was there.
"Kid. This is the stupidest thing you've ever done."Wrench commented, his mask emoting - - before he added. "And I love it."
A few hours ago, Mad Dawg had been in his room in the Overwatch HQ. He was backing his bag with the tools he needed for this attack. Then he stopped and simply looked around, sighing deeply. Walking over to his closet, he took out T-Bone's jean jacket and set it on his bed. His room seemed… Barren. Even with the posters and graffiti had had spray painted on the wall, it seemed empty. He looked over to his computer and sighed again, wiping his eyes as he walked over and sat down.
Meanwhile, in the Talon HQ, Doomfist was talking with Reaper about an upcoming mission, when a low-level intelligence officer ran into the room.
"Sir!" He shouted, out of breath from his sprint. "It's that Mad Dog kid! He… he said he found the base, and he wants to talk to you!"
Both men blinked in shock, before Reaper scowled in anger with Doomfist smirked.
"How did he find us?" Was all the large man asked.
"I… I don't know. But he said he wants to talk to you. Something about a deal, or a death match."
Doomfist raised a brow in confusion, before walking over to the table and checking the security feed. Seeing nothing outside, he turned his attention to the blinking communication light and clicked on the receiver.
"Please tell me this is some kind of joke." He said bluntly before even finding out of Mad Dawg really was on the other side.
"Sprite Cranberry?" Came Mad Dawg's voice. "Nah, I'm kidding. No one likes' that. Heya Doomy!"
"How did you find this communication frequency?" Was all Doomfist said in response. In reality, he really didn't care, he could figure that out eventually. (although he had a decent idea how Dawg had found out, but that was just a theory.)
"Look, I'll cut the BS. I know you want me dead, and I think it's safe to assume you know I want Moira dead." Mad Dawg suddenly said flatly. "So, here's my offer. Hand her over, and let me and her fight, and if I win, then we fight, and if she wins, well… she can go f**k herself."
"Why are you doing this?" Doomfist asked, not even responding to Dawg's inane offer. "Do you really wish to die that badly?"
"No." Mad Dawg answered honestly. "But I'll be real, it'd be great if Moira was dead. I'm just putting that one the table. I'll give you… ten seconds, then I'm gonna detonate the fifteen pounds of C4 I brought with me and find her myself. Bye!"
Beep.
Doomfist and Reaper looked down at the receiver, then up at one another.
"He's lost it." Reaper remarked.
"Did he say fifteen pounds of C4?" Doomfist asked.
"He's lying, I can tell you that." Reaper shrugged.
"What makes you say that?" Doomfist asked.
"Because there's the Overwatch drop ship." Reaper said, pointing to a monitor, showing the large ship touching down just on the edge of their base.
Earlier…
Mad Dawg smiled as he in the process of finishing what he was doing on the computer. As he pushed his chair back, there was a knock on the door.
"Wheels up in five Dawg!" 76 called.
"Coming!" Dawg called, before looking back with a smile at his computer.
Presently…
"Okay, so they defiantly know we're coming." Hanzo remarked as they saw multipole Talon squads running out form the base.
"How you wanna do this?" McCree asked, looking over to Mad Dawg.
"We need a distraction." Mad Dawg mused. "Something they wouldn't ever expect…"
He looked up at Reinhardt, who looked back at him. The two remained silent, then grinned at the same time.
"Yes." Was all the old crusader said.
"Awesome." Mad Dawg smirked in response. Before walking over and hugging Mercy. She returned the hug and whispered:
"Please be safe."
"Aw, c'mon. Where's the fun in that?" Mad Dawg grinned.
Out on the field, the Talon squads had taken up position, weapons aimed at the drop ship. However, no one entirely knew what to expect the heroes to do.
"So… what do you think they'll do?" One of the gunner's asked.
"Hard to say." Another mused. "They're renowned strategists. So we need to be ready for-"
"THUMBS UP, LET'S DO THIS!" Mad Dawg suddenly shouted, before Reinhardt rocket charged out from the ship with Mad Dawg on his shoulders. As the pair shot forth then simultaneously yelled…
Say it with me.
3.
2.
1.
"LEROOOOOYYYY JEEEENNNNKKKIIIINNNNNSSSSSSSS!"
Thankfully, they're outdated meme worked, as not only did all of the Talon guards' recoil in surprise at the shouting, but none of them opened fire. Which sucked because that's what Mad Dawg did. Letting lose the chain gun he was holding, forcing multiple of the squads to duck for cover. Which gave the other heroes the opening to charge out. Weapons blazing, the heroes of Overwatch and Dedsec came running towards the base, firing off everything they had. The Talon goons were caught completely off guard by the mass of bullets flying towards them.
Mad Dawg, Pharah, McCree, T-Bone and Lúcio and Junkrat were able to slip through the chaos, and make it to the doors. Without a moment's hesitation, Junkrat dropped about ten mines on the door and blew it clean off of its hinges. Turning to the others, he nodded and put a hand on Dawg's shoulder.
"Give em' hell Doggo." He ordered. "I'll guard the entrance."
"Thank you, Fawkes. For everything." Mad Dawg said, surprising Junkrat with the mention of his real name. "Let's roll!"
The four made their way in, blasting, punching (and in Dawg's case) breaking the Bro Code by sacking several of the guards. Dawg was using his phone to tap into the building's feed to try and locate Moira. He wasn't paying attention as a Talon assassin leapt forward. Screeching as its blades were out.
Crack!
T-Bone drove his wrench down hard onto the assassin's head, knocking it to the ground, where McCree shot it.
"Holy crap. Thanks." Mad Dawg said when he realized what had happened.
"Don't mention it." The older man nodded. "But when this is done, I want my jacket back."
"Sure." Dawg nodded. Rounding a corner, the group found themselves outnumbered by back up. The issue was, they had assault rifles, and Pharah had a rocket launcher. Unleashing a barrage of rockets, she shouted: "GO!" over the explosions and shouts. The small group ducked into the next room and continued on their way. As they kept moving, T-Bone stopped.
"Whoa. Ray. What are you doing?!" Mad Dawg asked, whirling around to see T-Bone entering another room.
"In about ten seconds the security systems will be re-activated. Or this place will go into lockdown." He explained, grabbing a chair and installing a drive onto a nearby computer. "If you wanna keep going, someone's gonna need to override that shit."
Mad Dawg paused, then nodded.
"Thanks again Ray. I'm sorry I didn't get in touch with you sooner."
"The hell? Why are you wasting time!? GO!" T-Bone shouted, ignoring the sentimental moment Mad Dawg was trying to achieve. Mad Dawg chucked and kept moving. Getting into an elevator with McCree and Lúcio. Once they were on their way up, something occurred to Dawg.
"This was probably a really stupid idea." He remarked.
"This whole idea is dumb." McCree shrugged.
"No. Seriously. I mean, getting into an elevator just makes it easier for someone to-"
"Hola."
"Mierda." Mad Dawg cursed when he felt Sombra's pistol at the back of his head. McCree and Lúcio aimed their weapons at her, and Mad Dawg sighed in annoyance.
"Don't bother." He rolled his eyes. "Before either one of you can kill her, she'll probably kill me."
Neither lowered their guns, which was to be expected, and Sombra just laughed gently, but mockingly.
"What the hell was your plan?" She couldn't help but ask. "You really think you can walk in here and not get caught?"
"Yeah." Mad Dawg shrugged. "I figured you owed me for saving Alejandra's life."
Sombra felt like a sack of bricks hit her. She was genuinely speechless and shocked, something which rarely, if ever, happened.
"You son of a…" She growled, tightening the grip on her pistol. "You think you can throw that in my face and that'll keep me from doing this?!"
Even more shockingly, Mad Dawg turned around and shrugged.
"Honestly, if you were the Talon agent you pretended you were sometimes, I would've killed you a long time ago." He laughed. McCree and Lúcio joining Sombra in the 'Absolutely-shocked-like-what-the-heck-is-Dawg-doing-club'. "You think I would've worked with you, let you take Virus' stuff, hell, that I would've not wiped your files are we were done if I thought you would kill me!?"
Sombra didn't respond, still trying to piece together Mad Dawg's logic.
"Sombra… I trust you." Mad Dawg said, now with the utmost sincerity. "You saved my life, and I saved yours. You may only think of me as some kid you're probably supposed to kill, but I never saw you as a Talon agent I had to kill. I know what you've been through, and I feel that. Losing your home, the gang who raised you? I've been there, I've done that. And sooner or later you have to ask a really important question; who are you really? Who are you to Alejandra, who are you to those around you, but most importantly, who are you to yourself?"
Sombra remained silent, thinking over what Dawg had said until she shook her head.
"You think some speech is gonna change my mind on this?!" She asked with a laugh.
"No. But a friend of mine who's a better hacker than you is currently in control of the building's security. And he can access devices via cameras when given enough time, so I'd say your implants are gonna hurt right about… now."
Before she could pull the trigger, Sombra cried out in pain as she felt the devices wired into her body begin to go on the fritz. She couldn't focus, she couldn't control it… She looked up with anger in her eyes when she realized Dawg had played her, much like she played others.
"See ya!" Mad Dawg laughed as he jumped backwards out the elevator door. Sombra yelled in fury and managed to fire a few shots, but they hit the wall above him, and then she realized who still had their weapons on her.
Mad Dawg groaned as he pulled himself up. Taking out his shotgun, he made his way down the hallway. Surprisingly, there weren't any guards at this point, not that Dawg cared. When he finally came to the door where he knew everything would change…
He slowly opened it and entered rather calmly.
Down below, Ray nodded in satisfaction as he saw Dawg enter the room, and as he stood up to leave, he turned around and saw Reaper standing in front of him.
"Shit, is it Halloween already?" He laughed. Reaper replied by pulling out two shotguns. "Oh boy…"
"You shouldn't've come here." Was all Reaper said.
"I mean, yeah. But the kid has reason behind his madness." T-Bone shrugged. "I figured I would be able to help him."
"You're going to die, just like him and the others." Reaper said coldly, guns still trained on the older man.
"Y'know… that's the funny thing about death." T-Bone spoke up, not seeming at all threatened by the shotguns in his face. "Even someone who supposedly can't die, like you or the kid, can."
Reaper didn't notice T-Bone slowly reaching for his phone, as he added.
"All it takes is the right kinda juice."
Reaper blinked then felt his whole body become enveloped in agonizing pain. He hadn't been paying attention to the servers behind him, and Ray had overloaded them, causing an electrical fritz that would've been painful to a human, but was unbearable to Reaper. Especially because he had tried to enter his wraith form, which was mostly air. Ray took the opportunity and punched Reaper right in the mask, cracking it.
"That's for trying to hurt Kace!" He shouted, grabbing Reaper's head and smashing it into his knee.
"That's for tormenting a kid who didn't know any better!"
Grabbing his giant wrench, T-Bone managed to drive it into Reaper with enough force, that he impaled the enforcer into one of the servers, his body spazzing uncountably as Reaper was painfully electrocuted with the full force of the electrical juice.
"And that… Well, I hope you stay dead this time." Ray muttered, turning and deciding now was a good time to leave.
Moira wasn't watching the battle below, in fact. She seemed to not be paying any attention at all.
When she finally looked up, she groaned in disgust and set her book down.
"I already told you. You're nothing but an experiment, why do you-"
With a thunderous crack, Mad Dawg fired a blast from his shot gun. Unfortunately, he missed Moira, but the scientist activated her biotic weaponry.
"You amaze me." Moira remarked, turning to face Mad Dawg. "You're pure… inability to see the truth is astounding."
"Which is?" Mad Dawg asked, racking another slug.
"Your life is ultimately meaningless, I am the only one who ever gave it meaning, but you seemed to believe you have some sort of free will or preordained destiny. When in reality you were a failure we somehow weren't able to destroy."
Without warning, Mad Dawg fired several shots off of his machine crossbow. Moira's eyes widened and quickly phased out of the way, before blasting him with her biotic grasp. She noted that Dawg wasn't cracking jokes the way he usually was, which meant the threat he made was real. He was here to kill her. She paused, then noticed he had run out of ammo, and as Dawg began to re-load, she struck firing a blast of negative biotic energy at the mutant.
"I've made some improvements." She remarked, the wave of biotic energy now wrapping itself around his neck. It felt like the burning biotic grasp had thousands of wasp stingers attached to it which was digging into his neck.
"While it is grossly misguided, I have to admire your determination." Moira remarked. "Your willingness to continue with such foolishness is admirable, but the issue is you refuse to see the truth. You. Are. Nothing."
Closing her hand, the biotic whip seemed to tighten around Dawg's throat, slowly beginning to burn into his neck. Moira grinned wickedly as she watched Beta's life slowly fade away. However, he seemed to be smiling, and she didn't know why, but that bothered her.
Without warning, someone punched Moira in the back of her head. Yelling in pain, Moira dropped Mad Dawg and hissed angrily, turning to see who had attacked her. However, her jaw dropped in shock when she saw who was pointing a gun at her.
"Sombra?!"
"Sorry Doc." Sombra said with a slight shrug. "This isn't personal, but I owe Dawg a solid."
"You'll die for this. They'll rip your implants out one after another!" Moira snapped, hate blazing in her eyes.
"Yeah, but he's gonna rip you apart first." Sombra said with a smirk. Moira blinked and then realized what Sombra was saying. Without warning, Mad Dawg had half-changed into his beast form and tackled her to the ground, snarling loudly, Mad Dawg snapped down at Moira's face, his jaw line still reforming as it formed the ferocious snout of the animal she had tried to create. In a moment of stupidity, Moira grabbed the beast's jaws. She felt the hot breath and drool dripping onto her face, and she had to hold down the urge to vomit. This wasn't helped by the cuts from the razor-sharp teeth she received as Mad Dawg tried to bite down on her hands or head. But the scientist fired a blast into Mad Dawg's mouth first. The beast howled in pain and jumped back. Sombra also seemed shocked, and decided it was time to split, only to be shot by Widowmaker without warning, having appeared in the room to help. The hacker cried out in pain and fell to the ground, the electrical dart paralyzing her.
"I need the prototype! Tranquilize him!" Moira ordered, pointing to Mad Dawg's beast form, which was just finishing changing into its full form. Widowmaker blinked in surprise, getting a clear view of Mad Dawg's alternate form for the first time. Moira ran off, holding her wounded abdomen and the doors shut behind her. Widowmaker however, felt no fear and opened fire on Mad Dawg, the machine gun firing shot after shot in his direction. Mad Dawg had flipped a table over and was trying to use it as a shield, but it wasn't helping. The bullets tore through the wood, and into the monster's flesh. However, rather than wound or slow him down, it seemed to piss him off even more.
Clickclickclickclick…
Widowmaker realized she had run out of ammo, and quickly opened her gun to reload only for Mad Dawg to rush forward with an animalistic roar. Using her grappling hook, Widowmaker shot up into the air, dropping a poison mine in the beast's path. It detonated and sprayed the toxic gas into Dawg's face, making him cough and roar in pain. Widow closed the chamber on her gun and opened fire again, hanging upside-down, she fired blindly into the poisonous gas. She stopped and activated her goggles, and her eyes widened when she realized he wasn't in the cloud.
WHAM!
Without warning, Widowmaker was ripped off of her perch and slammed into the ground. Holding her ponytail in one of his paws, Mad Dawg slammed Widowmaker back and forth into the ground and the walls, letting out a deep rumbling laugh as he did so.
Widowmaker cried in pain, but cut the line and landed on the floor, charging up a shot and firing a deep blast into the beast's shoulder. Mad Dawg roared in animalistic pain and reared back, seeming to stumble and fall onto it's back. Widowmaker breathed heavily, looking down at her wounds. While numerous, there were rather small, and of no concern as only a few actually drew blood. Mad Dawg got back up and roared in anger before running towards her. Widowmaker did the only thing she could think of.
She swung at Mad Dawg.
She delivered a powerful punch to the creature's head, making it veer off course and have to come to a stop before turning around and looking at her again. Widowmaker opened fire with her machine gun, trying to slow the mammoth monster down as it once again bore its fangs and lunged at her, only for her to run out of bullets. Now, out of mines, bullets and cable, for the first time in a long time, Widowmaker felt fear as the creature bore down on her. Having finished reloading, she aimed her gun to fire it again…
But Mad Dawg bit down on the gun, slicing it in half with a single bite of his powerful jaws. Mad Dawg clawed Amélie across the chest, making her exclaim in pain, only to suddenly go silent when the beast struck next.
Down below on the battlefield, several Talon goons were firing from their cover trying to think of a plan.
"Have they seen us yet?" One asked.
"No, I don't think so." Another replied.
"Great, now we just need to keep quiet and figure out a way to get ahea-"
SPLAT!
Without warning, the bloody and decapitated head of Widowmaker landed on the ground in front of them. The goons went silent for a moment, then all screamed like girls, alerting the heroes to their position.
Moira went silent as the prototype weapon finished attaching itself to her, she had realized what happened, she knew Widowmaker was dead. Bursting through the doors, Mad Dawg was looking at a binder on her desk, having reverted to his human form, and a few of his wounds were healed.
"I never wanted this." Mad Dawg shook his head.
"Stop deluding yourself!" Moira snapped. "You brought this on yourself! Your actions lead to this! What human would do what you've done?! You're a monster!"
"Yeah… I know…" Mad Dawg sighed, still breathing deeply, trying to gather himself. "I've always known. I'm a mutant, a freak, an experiment…"
"Then why do you insist on continuing the idiotic dance?!" Moira snapped, anger filling her voice once again.
"Because…" Mad Dawg huffed, looking up at Moira. "There can never be another one."
"Wha-" Moira began to ask but was suddenly tackled by Mad Dawg, grabbing the scientist by the waist, Mad Dawg ran towards the window and used her as a battering ram to smash through it, taking Moira with him. As the two plummeted towards the ground Mad Dawg began wailing on Moira's face once again. He held nothing back as he struck her face with his fists, bloodying his hands as the closed the distance to the ground with alarming speed.
"WINSTON! NOW!" Mad Dawg shouted as loud as he could. Thankfully, Winston heard him. The scientist grimaced, not knowing what Mad Dawg had planned, but pushed the 'Play' button on the remote he had been given nonetheless. The small device Mad Dawg had dropped as he entered began to spark, and purple electricity began to fly out all over the place, finally, a purple hole opened, and Mad Dawg and Moira fell through.
Moira felt herself stop and groaned as she pulled herself up, looking around, she was in what looked to be an abandoned warehouse, or maybe a deserted laboratory… She groaned in pain as the beating Mad Dawg had inflicted seemed to protest at any attempt at movement. She felt wobbly as she got up, but her confusion and pain melted into cold-blooded murder and hatred when she saw Mad Dawg standing not too far away from her. He turned and faced her, then flipped her off.
"Suck on this one, sit on this one!" He said, flipping Moira off with both fingers.
"Enough of this!" Moira shouted, trying to blast a ball of parasitic energy at the obnoxious mutant, but aside from a few spurts, nothing happened. Moira blinked in confusion, then scowled when she saw that her stream suppliers were badly damaged.
Slugging Moira across the face, Mad Dawg wasn't smiling anymore, if anything, he was angry.
"I tried to make peace!" He shouted, swinging once again, hitting Moira's shoulder. "I tried to find common ground!"
Firing off a slight blast of kinetic energy off, Moira was able to retort.
"You wanted a mother! You're just an experiment!"
Mad Dawg grabbed Moira's jacket and headbutted her, accidentally hurting himself off of her metal implants.
"I made peace that you didn't care for me a long time ago!" Mad Dawg countered in a pained yet even tone. "I wanted to see if there was any way that this wouldn't end with us killing each other! I get that you didn't care for that, but this… It has to stop!"
Moira growled and sliced Mad Dawg's face with her nails, cutting along his face and damaging part of his left eye, making him cry out in pain. Good. She swiped again, and aimed for his throat this time, what she didn't expect was Mad Dawg biting down on her hand, making her shriek in pain.
"You think… you think this will just stop!?" Moira demanded, holding her bleeding hand. "This will never end! You can't change the past, you can't escape what you are! You think that if I die, then you'll suddenly be human?! You're still a murderer! And that will follow you until the day you die."
A few steps away, Mad Dawg hesitated for a moment, seemingly letting his healing factor work, and thinking about what had been said. But it was clear that his healing abilities were struggling against her biotic weaponry.
"I'm a monster, and if there's a hell I'll probably end up there." Mad Dawg replied eerily calm. "But as long as you and I exist, more innocents will die. There can never be another Mad Dawg. There can never be another Beta-576."
"Then what of Angela? Does she die too?" Moira hissed, charging up another beam. She was nervous though. Mad Dawg, Beta, whatever it was called… It didn't want to die. After all she had hit him with, she wasn't sure if this would kill him.
"Ang… Mercy has scars that will follow her for the rest of her days." Mad Dawg replied, catching himself, and his anger clearly growing. "She lives with guilt and burdens that are not hers to bare. No matter what happens here, she's suffered enough."
"Do you not hear yourself!?" Moira yelled, her tone one of tired annoyance. "Everything you say is hypocritical! You think killing me or yourself won't cause Angela more pain?! After all she knows about you, after all she did to create you, your final gift to her won't be release from the pain you've burdened her with. You'll only be adding more to it."
Mad Dawg sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, but the thing is, those scars? They'll heal. Give her enough time, and Ms. Ziegler will heal. She'll overcome the pain, she's strong enough to."
"And what of you?" Moira snapped.
"Honestly? I'm probably gonna die here." Mad Dawg shrugged. "And as long as I take you with me, I still win."
Without another word, Mad Dawg grabbed a broken shard of glass and threw it at Moira. The scientist's eyes widened in shock and quickly disappeared, re-appearing behind Mad Dawg and jabbing her nails into his throat. She grinned with wicked pleasure as she felt them cut into his throat, ripping them out, she grabbed the mutant and ignoring her pain, slammed him through a glass tube. Not waiting any longer, she grabbed him and threw him into a nearby wall, seeing a sizable chunk of glass coming out from his gut. She kicked it inwards and Mad Dawg coughed a violent amount of blood.
"And this is where you wished to die? The place of your creation?" Moira snarked. "Very well then, let your life end where it should've nearly two decades ago."
She let her biotic grasp finish charging, then blasted Mad Dawg with it. To her surprise, Mad Dawg summoned enough strength to roll out of the way. He grabbed one of Moira's legs and bit down hard on it. Pushing himself backwards, Moira fell into her back, and Mad Dawg grabbed the discarded chainsaw. Revving it to life, he brought it down on her right arm, just below the elbow and cut it off. Moira screamed in unimageable pain as she saw her disembodied arm. She also realized in horror that her main weapon against Mad Dawg was gone.
Somehow, she summoned all her anger to grab the gun Mad Dawg had been using, noting it as a modified peacekeeper much like Jesse's, which meant there were more than six shots in it. She fired blindly and heard the sound of bullet cutting through flesh and bone, and Mad Dawg stumbled backwards. The chainsaw falling out of his hands and seemingly carrying itself off. What Moira hadn't expected, was how loud the gunshot was. She found her ears ringing and momentarily stunned, possibly due to the chainsaw wound. Thankfully, her upgraded biotics activated a new fail-safe protocol which unleashed what some may describe as a healing gel onto her damaged arm. The blood stopped pouring out and she breathed deeply
"I know, I wanted you to see what you did." Mad Dawg quietly replied, before pressing a button.
Moira looked around in shock as the tubes around her were suddenly lit up, revealing twisted husks and failed clones of Mad Dawg.
"No…" Moira breathed, horror filling her face. She took a step back and found herself frozen as the tubes began to open. With angered hissing, the creatures emerged, looking from Mad Dawg to Moira.
"A few weeks ago, I was going to kill these guys, but them out of their misery, like you failed to do. I don't know if you enjoyed their suffering or if you were too lazy, but they're in pain. All of them. Admittedly, you may not have made all of them. But they all know you. What you did. The torture, the experiments… your 'failures'. But then I figured… y'know what? Nah. You needed to see what you made."
"I… created…you…" Moira seethed, still woozy from the damage she had sustained, seeing the snarling monstrosities standing around her. "You think a few failed experiments could possibly hurt me?!"
"Yeah." Mad Dawg shrugged. "You wanted to create a weapon. Well, here they are." Raising his voice, he added: "Mom? Meet the family." Mad Dawg smiled, holding his arms out. "She's here everyone! Let's show mama some love!"
Then, something so bizarre happened Moira honestly believed she was going into shock from the blood loss.
Mad Dawg started singing.
"I know you're seein', but not believin'.
A picture's worth a thousand words, and look who's holding the pen.
You let me out of my cell,
And what you've done is unleash hell." He sang in a bit of a vaudeville showtune voice.
I know you're frightened, but hey just lighten up,
How else ya gonna see the monsters in the corner of your eyes?" Mad Dawg continued singing, suddenly appearing right next to Moira.
"We've got a killer surprise,
It's our thanks for all of your lies!"
"Springin' from the labs where you've driven us mad,
Retribution for us could be the seal of your fate
And all the years you left us rotting here
With nothing but rejection made us bitter and cold." Mad Dawg continued singing as Moira was suddenly forced forward by one of the Husks.
"So, give us what we're owed!" Mad Dawg suddenly shouted, getting right in her face.
I got a million things to say to someone like you,
Now answer to all of your selfish deeds.
We are the ones you left behind, you put us out of mind,
You can't rewind, it's far too late for that now.
"Now we're all finally free, and your fate will be made by me
You're in for a Hell of a show,
And you're in the front row
Oh, mama WELCOME HOME!
"You've been away for far too long." Mad Dawg sang as he and Moira were circled by Husks. Without warning, Mad Dawg tossed Moira over the side of a railing, and she landed painfully on another level, seeing a laboratory much like the one where she had created some of these monstrosities. But where she assumed Kenichi had continued her work. Shockingly, Mad Dawg was already down there as well.
No longer projects, distorted wretches. Mad Dawg remarked, looking around at the destroyed lab.
They've suffered so much since you abandoned them long ago.
Well, mama don'tcha know,
You're gonna reap what you have sown.
Maybe you still think that you're in control, but open up your eyes 'cause heads will roll
But the monsters you've made have waited for this day
Know that your kids all want to play, and you don't get a say
"It's goin' my way!" Mad Dawg laughed as he spun Moira into a table, which he was then suddenly lying on like Burt Reynolds one laid upon a bear rug.
We've got a million memories of agony and pain,
Sent down the drain at discarded us like scraps.
Ya thought you really got away but now it's time to pay,
It's Judgement Day; I'll have the final laugh.
Noticeably now, Mad Dawg didn't seem to be happy, he seemed angry again.
"Now the Husks are running free, and they're listening to me.
It's a Hell of a show,
And you're in the front row.
Oh, mama WELCOME HOME!
You've been away for far too long!"
Moira had regained some of her strength, and now aimed the gun she had stolen at Mad Dawg, firing at him, only of him to disappear and reappear as he kept dancing around the room. Moira genuinely felt uneasy, and unsure of what to do at this point. This wasn't helped by the Husks continuing to approach, only to either pull back or hiss in pain (due to their incompletion, Moira mused) and run off. Without warning, all the lights in the building shut off, and a single one turned back on, acting as a spotlight as Mad Dawg stood in front of her, looking at a file.
"And now as the curtains finally close." He sang in a rather saddened tone, as one of the Husks was inexplicably playing a violin.
You'll see the monster in children's clothes
I know you never cared for me,
But all they wanted was to be free
But you didn't have, the decency, to put them out of their MISERY!
Without warning, Moira was grabbed by a cane and pulled to the ground. Mad Dawg rolled her over and kicked her in the ribs.
So, why the hell should I show you peace that you never showed me?
You wanted control but we've broken free.
They're flesh is rotten, long forgotten,
With nothing but rejection made us bitter and cold.
"Now give us what we're owed!" Mad Dawg suddenly roared, his face briefly shifting to his monesterous side.
I got a million things to say to someone like you
But frankly dude, I just don't care anymore
But the ones you left behind want peace of mind
And that means a piece of you. Don't expect to survive.
Now the Husks are running free, and your fate is made by me,
And yeah, it's a Hell of a show,
And you're in the front row
"Oh, Mama WELCOME HOME! You've been away for far too long!" A husk shouted grabbing Moira and shaking her violently.
"WELCOME HOME! You've been away for far too long!" Another Husk yelled throwing Moira against an old table.
"WELCOME HOME! You've been away for far too long!" Mad Dawg concluded, seemingly being held up by the Husks, he cracked his neck and turned his back to her, and all the Husks seemed to understand what this was implying.
With demonic screeches the Husks launched themselves into Moira. The scientist tried in vain to escape, to fade away, or to blast them with her grasp. Finally, in an act of desperation, she attempted to claw her way out. But the husks had latched onto her, biting, scratching and gnawing in anger at the woman who had created them, abandoned them, who didn't have the dignity to put them out of their misery.
The last thing she saw was Mad Dawg standing at the door. Flipping her off one last time, he picked up a remote from his bag and walked to the door. Turning back to face the writhing mass, he simply said:
"Hasta la vista. Mommy."
Pushing the button, Mad Dawg sprinted out the door and dove into another room as the bombs he had set up some time ago exploded. Killing Moira and taking the Husks with her, finally putting them out of their misery and making sure Moira could never hurt anyone ever again. Once the shockwaves had subsided, Mad Dawg breathed deeply, then let everything out and cried.
"I'm sorry…" He mumbled. "I'm so… sorry."
He hadn't thought about this happening, when he killed Moira and the Husks… He was alone.
"No. Not now…" Mad Dawg said aloud through gritted teeth. "You can mourn later. But now… There's a Thanos rip-off who needs to die."
Back outside the Talon HQ, the heroes were shocked when the Talon agents had suddenly backed off. The bullets had stopped and the goons had drawn back, granted, the Talon Goons also seemed extremely confused, but also knew better than to question orders.
"What's happening?" Tracer whispered to Solider: 76.
"I don't know Lena…" He said quietly. "But be prepared for anything."
Then they saw why the Talon squads had backed off, Doomfist was walking out with some of the elite guards, and they were dragging Lúcio, McCree, T-Bone, Pharah and Sombra with them.
"Aw, crap." Someone muttered.
Sombra, for the first time in her life, seemed terrified. She was silently crying in fear of what was going to happen to her as the agents trained their guns on her.
"All things considered, I'd say this was successful." T-Bone suddenly commented with a shrug, despite having a gun aimed at him.
"Yeah, we should really do this more often." McCree nodded with a smug grin.
"Sure, why not?" Lúcio shrugged. "I think some dude robbed a coffee shop I really liked back in Rio, let's go after him."
"All I ask, is that Mad Dawg show himself." Doomfist declared, ignoring the conversation going on below. "He wanted to deal with Moira, now I wish to deal with him. He has until the count of five, then Sombra will die. After that, the others."
"And the reason we're supposed to care is about Sombra…?" Hana asked skeptically.
"Because Sombra helped him." Baptiste coldly replied, anger clear in his body language.
"Where is he?" Mercy asked, concerned.
"He went after Moira, no one's seen him since." McCree replied, his eyes narrowed.
"Three!"
"Dawg… If you're gonna do an awesome entrance, do it now." Lúcio hissed.
"What the hell do we do?!" Reinhardt asked, feeling the urge to run to their defence, but knowing that would get them killed.
"Two!"
"Hey Shit-Fist!" A tired voice shouted.
Everyone present turned to see a battered and bloody Mad Dawg appearing from a cloud of dust. His clothes were tattered and he had many, MANY cuts and burns on his face, that his healing factor seemed to be struggling to heal. He wasn't limping, but it was clear he was in pain. He didn't seem to walk like a triumphant hero, more than anything, he seemed outright exhausted. Once he got to the middle of the battle field, he addressed Doomfist directly.
"Moira's dead." Was all he said, before spitting blood onto the ground. "If you want me, here I am."
Doomfist seemed to process the news of Moira's death in shocked silence. A few of the heroes (Mercy most noticeably) gasped audibly at the revelation. The silence returned to the field until Mad Dawg spoke again:
"If you're gonna kill me, then so be it. But leave them out of this. Let's settle this like real men."
Doomfist remained silent, surprised at Mad Dawg's survival, and his request. Finally, he held his gauntlet up, and the Talon soldiers lowered their weapons. Doomfist walked over to Mad Dawg, and nodded. Surprisingly, Akande put one of Mad Dawg's arms over his shoulder to support him, and the two began their way towards the base.
"Kace!" Mercy couldn't help but cry out in horror, tears in her eyes. Mad Dawg stopped and turned back to face the medic. "Please! Don't do this!"
"I started this." Mad Dawg simply said, his voice determined and unbroken. "I need to finish this."
Mercy looked to Jack for orders, for him to shout out for Overwatch to fight, to save Mad Dawg… But the look on his face said it all. No matter what they did, Mad Dawg and Doomfist were going to end this. One way or another.
Once they had reached his office, Doomfist sat down, taking a sip form his drink, looking over at Mad Dawg, who seemed completely broken. The mutant took a sip from his glass, but remained silent.
"Do you regret this?" Akande asked after a few moments.
"No." Mad Dawg simply replied. "I only regret things between Moira and I went the way they did."
"Sadly, that was always going to happen." Doomfist replied calmly. "She never would have accepted you as her son."
"I know." Mad Dawg nodded. "I gave up on that long ago. I just hoped we wouldn't have to kill each other. She's not my mother, I get that. But… It was clear there was something she wanted from me, I wish I could've found a common ground where that would've worked."
Akande gave the mutant an intrigued look, he wanted to ask a question, but remained silent.
"I want you to know, out of all the 'heroes' of Overwatch, you have earned my respect. Not many people can say that." Mad Dawg was silent for a few moments, then replied.
"Likewise." Mad Dawg nodded. "Maybe… maybe in another life, we would have been friends."
"And perhaps in another life, you would have joined us." Akande calmly replied. Mad Dawg nodded, still looking down. Mad Dawg finished his drink, then looked back up.
"I'm not going to just sit here." He finally said in a quiet tone.
"I expected as much." Doomfist nodded, setting his empty glass down. "I'll try to make it painless."
"I'm gonna kill you." Mad Dawg said in barely a whisper. Doomfist chuckled, but suddenly launched forward, driving his gauntlet towards Mad Dawg, who dropped to the ground, smashed his glass and used the broken shard to cut at Doomfist's chest.
Rolling away, Mad Dawg ran and jumped off the table flying back down, he began wailing away on Doomfist's face, his punches had the amount of strength Mad Dawg didn't think he still had. Doomfist growled in annoyance and grabbed him with his gauntlet. Slamming Mad Dawg into the ground, he brought his human fist down on Mad Dawg's chest, making him cry out in pain. His body felt almost brittle, exhausted, breakable.
Charging up his gauntlet to finish the job, he didn't notice Mad Dawg pull his knife out from his boot. In a moment of desperation, Mad Dawg stabbed Doomfist in the leg. He wasn't dead yet, and he wasn't going down without a fight. Yelling in shocked pain, Akande punched Mad Dawg directly across the face, knocking a few of his teeth out and sending him rolling across the floor.
Mad Dawg managed to get to his feet, and tried to call upon his Beast-form, but he was too exhausted or too damaged to do so. Grabbing his crossbow, he smiled at it, then aimed and fired. Sadly, the bolt did find it's mark, in Doomfist's cybernetic shoulder. Mad Dawg bit his lip, then looked down at the crossbow. Without warning, he threw the crossbow at Doomfist, pegging him in the face.
"No more games." Doomfist growled, closing his gauntlet fist, walking (and dragging his stabbed leg) over to where the mutant was, he saw Mad Dawg was trying to get something from his bag. He grabbed Mad Dawg with his human hand, hoisting him up into the air, holding him against the wall. His gauntlet was poised to destroy the mutant's head, it was time to finish this.
"Any last words?" He asked coldly.
"Thanks, Junkrat." Mad Dawg weakly coughed with a smile. The odd statement caused Doomfist to hesitate for a moment.
"What?" He asked.
Tingtingtingtingtingting
Eyes widening in horror, Doomfist looked down and saw Mad Dawg had stuck his bag to Doomfist's chest with duct tape, and in his hand was a long string with a number of rings on it.
AND THE BAG WAS FULL OF GRENADES.
"See you in World Eight Dash One!" Mad Dawg laughed. Doomfist roared in anger, bringing his gauntlet in to kill Mad Dawg…
Then the world was swallowed in fire.