DISCLAIMER!
This is a long chapter. The other chapters might not be this long, but I was too excited to stop writing this first one. Every chapter will focus on a different hero, so the next chapter will not be focused on Morrison. Also, I'm going into college soon so once that happens, this story will be delayed for a while. I hope everyone enjoys this story! Constructive criticism is welcomed. But don't eat me alive please :'D. Thank you for reading my crap! Different scenes will be separated by a series of X's
xxxx
The night was calm in the city of Dorado. The lapping of the slow tide swayed back and forth, in and out, wetting the beach bit by bit. The moon shone brightly, illuminating the sky with various shades of royal blues and blacks; a perfect night. Jack Morrison, infamously known around the world as Soldier 76, swiftly sped walked his way back to his current base of operations: a small, out of commission wine cellar on the outskirts of the city's cliff side. He had just finished dealing with thugs of the Los Muertos gang, but he knew more were out there, hiding like the cancer they were. He'd hunt them till the last if it was the last thing he-
A bright icon appeared on his HUD. It flashed the words 'RECALL: Initiated by agent WINSTON'.
"What the hell?" Morrison muttered under his breath.
The veteran quickly got into the basement of the wine cellar and checked his computer. On the screen, dozens of Overwatch operative faces were facing him, with Winston in the middle. 76 had no web cam, so none of them even knew he was there. They were all conversing about something, but what? What had made Winston recall everyone? And why now?
"So, that's the plan then," began the scientist, "I will use the Gibraltar dropship to get Lena first, and I will update you all on who will be picked up next. For those of you who have proper transportation, make your way here as discretely and safely as you can,"
So many familiar faces were on that screen, faces that Jack hadn't seen in years. Angela, Reinhardt, Torbjorn, Mei, Genji, Jesse, and Lena. All of them were alive, and they all acknowledged Winston's orders in their own way.
"Alright," said Winston, "Prepare yourselves everyone. Today we rebuild Overwatch, our family. I will see you all soon. Good luck,".
The screens all blinked black. But Morrison had so many unanswered questions. What was going on? Why were they recalled? Who were they fighting against? For years 76 had been a vigilante, hopping from country to country, city to city, trying to clean up the scum of the world bit by bit. There was still unfinished business in Dorado. He'd hate to leave the city in the hands of Los Muertos again, but if his team was reassembling, he knew there must be a damn good reason. He needed to get to Gibraltar, before it was too la-
A large rumbling came from nowhere. The soldier quickly drew his pulse rifle, and scanned the area. The rumble came again, and on the third time, he realized it was his stomach. The man hadn't eaten anything for two days. He may have been an augmented soldier, but no amount of physical enhancements could stop the need for nourishment. There was a small restaurant nearby. He'd grab something to go and find a way to Gibraltar as soon as possible. Packing up everything he needed, Morrison destroyed any evidence that he was there, using his pulse rifle to make short work of the computer and anything that could relate back to him. Then he made his way to the restaurant: Panaderia Las Nieblas.
Fortunately, the business was open at these late hours, though he was cutting it close. Morrison reached for the handle, but realized that his current appearance, with the menacing mask and large rifle slung over his shoulder, would probably deter the kind people who worked here. He knew he couldn't part with his rifle, however, so the mask would have to come off. He unhitched his disguise and shoved it into the inside pocket of his jacket. The scars of battle stained his face still, hardly even faded away after years of concealment. He could see his reflection in the windows on the doors, and sighed, remembering the day Reyes had betrayed everyone, betrayed his country, his world, and for what? Was it all worth it Gabriel? Was it worth hurting everyone who cared for you, who valiantly fought by our side during every struggle? Was it worth dying? Jack pushed these painful memories aside, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. That was the past. What matters is here and now. He opened the door, triggering the little bell that was rigged to it. In response, a middle aged woman, wearing a flowing flower apron and her hair knotted into a bun, came rushing to the front desk.
"Alejandra?" she inquired.
Noticing that the six food tall, battle scarred, gray haired man was not who she was expecting, she corrected herself.
"Oh, Perdóneme señor. How may I help you tonight?"
Jack calmly approached the front desk, attempting to smile, something he hadn't done in years.
"Buenas tardes señorita. All I'd like tonight is a large burrito, everything on it, with a small loaf of bread to go, por favor," he politely asked.
The woman nodded, "Si señor. Right away,"
As she made her way to the back, the door flung open once again.
"Mama! I'm home! I got the flou-"
Morrison turned half way, looking at the girl who had just entered. It was that same girl he saved a week ago. She stared back at him, hazel eyes wide with disbelief. A long, awkward silence echoed throughout the room, and then-
"It's you!" Alejandra exclaimed, "It's you it's you it's you it's really you!"
Alejandra ran over to the man who saved her life and scampered all around him, ecstatic about seeing her hero. Morrison couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed, since this girl did cause him to lose track of those Los Muertos punks.
"Alright kid settle down. Yeah yeah it's me," he said.
"But but- it's you! You're Strike Commander Morrison!"
Jack's hadn't been called that title for years.
"Okay kid, easy, easy. How do you even know that?"
Alejandra could still hardly contain herself as she explained.
"After you saved me from Los Muertos, I spent days researching Overwatch, learning more and more about them every day. I dug up as much info as I could, and after reading what there was about you, I just connected the dots! Though it was just a theory, until now! I also have a poster of you up in my room, so I just recognized your face, heh. I had always hoped I would see you again, and now you're here!"
Morrison was impressed. This girl had deduced in mere days what the many governments of the world were still having trouble with to this day: finding out who Soldier 76 was. But something about this troubled him nonetheless. If this girl could find out who he was, surely someone else has by now. But whether someone else has or not, he couldn't do anything about it either way. All he wanted was his food, and transportation to Gibraltar. That was when Alejandra's mother interrupted.
"Ali, how about you repay his kindness by getting him his order?" she asked, handing her a small note with the order written on it.
Alejandra quickly snatched up the note and ran to the kitchen, "Si mama!"
The mother turned to Morrison, eyes soft with gentle glee.
"You saved my daughter's life? Mucho Gracias señor. I am in your debt,"
The two of them sat down at one of the expertly carved mahogany tables, carvings of various flowers engraved into the sides. The questions began.
"What are you doing here? Have you become Dorado's personal police force?" Alejandra's mother asked.
"I'm here to cut out this city's cancer: Los Muertos. I've done all I can to keep them off your streets. They aren't gone yet, and I'm afraid they won't be gone for a while," Jack replied.
"Oh...Porque señor?"
"I've gotten a call from my colleagues. They're reforming Overwatch. I need to find out why. But I swear to you, once that business is taken care of, I will come back and finish what I started here. Your city will be free of Los Muertos. I'm sure that my team will be more than willing to help,"
The mother let out a soft, happy sigh.
"I have faith in you. I would be so happy, to watch mi hija live in a world, not torn apart by hate and violence. You and your Overwatch saved our world once, and I had prayed that you would come and save our world again. I guess my prayers were answered, because here you are,"
76 couldn't help but give a genuine smile seeing this woman happy. It reminded him of when people looked up to Overwatch with hope, full of honor, giving everyone courage and justice. Their compassion for bringing the world peace inspired so many. He was determined to bring harmony back to the world he fought so hard to protect all those years ago. His thoughts were cut short by Alejandra's mother.
"Though some times, I fear I will not live to see that day, to see her grow in such a place… But all I hope is that she lives to experience that world, even if I do not,"
The smile from his lips faded, as Morrison remembered the many lives lost at Overwatch's Swiss headquarters. Brave men and women, like Ana Amari (may she rest in peace) would never see a day like that. It was then that Jack put his gloved hand over Alejandra's mother's hand.
"I swear to you, I will do everything I can to make sure you both see that day. The world can be a better place. It will be a better place,"
That brought a wide, tearful smile to her eyes.
"Gracias señor Morrison. You are truly a hero."
"No señorita," He began, " I'm just a soldier,"
xxxx
"You sure he's in there hombre?"
"Si, positive man. I saw him. Scary mask, leather jacket, huge ass gun. It was definitely him,"
"Alright then. Come on chicos! Let's go get a bounty!"
xxxx
Alejandra had returned with the food, neatly packaged and warm.
"Here you go Strike Commander! A meal fit for a soldier!" she cheered, feeling immense pride.
Morrison couldn't help but chuckle softly as he put the food into his bag.
"Thanks kid. Today you saved my life. I haven't eaten in days," he said, putting his mask back on.
The door slammed open.
"Well I hope you weren't taking that to go!" said an unfamiliar Hispanic voice, "Because you ain't goin' nowhere hombre!"
The three of them turned immediately, Morrison leveling his pulse rifle, Alejandra's mother quickly grabbing her daughter. Before them stood three Los Muertos thugs, each of them with a unique skeleton painting over their faces and arms. Jack could see more thugs outside the store, standing next to something large and mechanical that he couldn't quite make out. The three in front of him chuckled to themselves. It was time for answers.
"What are you punks doing here?!" 76 yelled.
"Us?" said the middle thug, who appeared to be the ring leader of this particular group, "We just want a taste...of that sweet 10 million dollars on your head,"
Morrison growled to himself. Stupid! He put these two in danger just by being here. He should have been more careful of his surroundings, should have seen this coming.
"Get out of my way or I'll run you over like rabid dogs!" he threatened.
The thug put up his hands in sarcastic defense.
"Woah now. I can see that you're burning with anger here amigo. So far be it from me to play with you. But you know what they say, 'play with fire, you're bound to get burned,',"
And that's when Jack smelled it: Kerosene.
The building was set ablaze before their eyes. Los Muertos had doused the restaurant in kerosene, and the fire was quickly spreading to the inside. Alejandra and her mother screamed, seeing their home burn before them. The thugs ran through the doors, but not before Morrison could send a pulse bolt through one of them, making him collapse onto the steps. The flames engulfed the inside of the building now, bits and pieces of burning ceiling falling all around them. Jack turned to see Alejandra and her mother desperately trying to open the back door, leading into the kitchen. At that moment, gun fire started to rip through the building. Alejandra and her mother screamed, ducking behind the counter. Coincidentally, the gun fire cut down the door.
"Go! Now!" 76 ordered.
The three of them bolted for their exit, with fire and bullets coming at them from all sides. Before going through the door frame, Morrison turned and saw the thing he couldn't make out before: a mini gun. He fired off his helix rocket before they had a chance to use it, utilizing his tactical visor to guide his shot through the broken window of the restaurant door. All three rockets impacted the weapon, causing a brilliant explosion of metal and bullets in the center of the Los Muetos group, ripping many of them apart. The gun fire lessened, but still continued to pepper them. Morrison continued running, catching up with Alejandra and her mother. Larger boards of burning wood began to fall on top of them, one causing Alejandra to tip, and another immediately falling and pinning her legs. Bullets continued to assault them.
"Mama! Help me!" cried Alejandra, desperately trying to get the heavy board off of her.
Both her mother and Jack grabbed the log and lifted it off of her, the latter helping her off the ground.
"Mija, are you oka-" her words were cut short, a bullet went right through her back, coming out of her chest.
Time seemed to slow down for both Jack and Alejandra, as they watched in horror as another bullet went through her mother, and another, and another. She fell to the ground, eyes wide, mouth gaping, blood slowly oozing from her wounds. That's when Jack heard the loudest scream he ever heard in his life.
"MAMA!"
Regaining himself, 76 secured his rifle between his backpack and himself, picked up Alejandra with one arm, grabbed her mother with the other arm, and sprinted towards the emergency exit. He could see it was shut, but noticed a window next to it large enough for him to smash through. With the bullets and fire and debris still harassing them, Morrison sprinted as fast as he could, pumping his legs as hard as possible, feeling every muscle ache and scream and burn hotter than the fire surrounding him. Then he jumped, bringing his legs up and in front of him, kicking through the window, glass cascading outwards, glinting with both firelight and moonlight. He hit the ground hard on his back, knocking the breath out of him. He took two small breaths, then looked to Alejandra, covered in soot and scrapes, trembling.
He asked, "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head. He nodded and released her. Alejandra rolled onto the ground and got up, trying to catch her breath and calm down. 76, still holding onto her mother, slowly got up and gingerly set her down on the concrete floor. She lost a lot of blood, Morrison could tell. She took quick gasps as blood slowly poured from her wounds, a small stream of blood dripping from her mouth. Alejandra went to her side, grabbing her mother's hand.
"Mama. Oh no no no no!" She cried, holding the hand tightly, tears building up in the bottoms of her eyes.
Her mother looked into her eyes, feeling her strength fade, her life slip away, but she used the last of it all to hold onto her daughter's hand, and say her final words.
"Listen to me, mija," she coughed, "Don't you… ever lose hope. I... had only wished… I could have seen you grow… in a world not torn apart...by hate..." She closed her eyes, still gasping.
"Mama, stay with me, please, don't leave me! Not...not yet. I know you hurt Mama. I know, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I did this to you! I'm sorry!"
She looked back at her daughter, eyes filled with determination.
"No Alejandra, this was -cough- not...not your fault. It was...them… and them alone…" her eyes changed from determination to compassion, "Te amo… Te amo mucho mija, con todo mi corazón. Don't you ever… lose hope..."
The tears fell as Alejandra clenched her teeth together, vision of her mother's face becoming a blur from the tears in her eyes.
"Si Mama, I promise! I won't ever lose hope. I promise..." she squeezed her mother's cold hand tighter.
Her mother smiled, closed her eyes, turned her head, and stopped her gasping. Alejandra shut her eyes, more tears sliding down her cheeks and she held the hand. She shook, and softly cried a prayer. There was no more gunshots, no other sounds but the lapping of the waves, the crackling of the fire, and the praying of Alejandra. Morrison just stood and stared, not being able to do anything, say anything. What could he do? What could he say? Because of him, this woman was dead, and her daughter an orphan. He already broke a promise he made not ten minutes ago. He just kept staring at the tragedy in front of him, the failure of protecting these two. He finally decided what he should do. He stepped forward, next to Alejandra, and stood. She placed her mother's hands gracefully one on top of the other on her still chest. Then she rose, standing perfectly still, not looking up at Morrison.
"Alejandra… I'm so sor-"
"Alexandria," she interrupted.
"What?"
"My mother's name was Alexandria. That name means defender of man. Alejandra means defender of mankind. She gave me that name because she was inspired by Overwatch, by the brave heros who gave their lives to defend mankind,"
There was a short silence between the two, the fire slowly dying down behind them, running out of wood to burn. Then she faced him.
"I'm coming with you!" she announced.
Jack remained silent. She continued.
"I want to learn how to fight, like you, to help you get rid of Los Muertos! To make them pay for taking everything from me! I will not go live in some orphanage, in this place, crawling with psicópatas locos. I want to help you end them! I want my home to be peaceful, just like Mama wanted! You promised her that I would live in a world with no hate or violence. Help me make that happen, por favor,"
Morrison stood there, looking down at the girl, her eyes full of hurt and sorrow, but also hope and courage. He couldn't stop her even if God Himself told him to. He got down on one knee, removed his mask, placed it in his jacket, and looked her right in the eye.
"You listen to me. I made your mother a promise, and now it's broken. So I will make you this promise. I will do everything I can to make Los Muertos pay. I will do everything I can to make sure you live in a world, not torn apart by this mindless violence. But I will not risk your life for all this. You will come with me, but you will not engage in any combat, any violence,"
Alejandra looked down in disappointment, clearly upset from what she was hearing. But then-
"Until you have received extensive training,"
She looked up at him eyes wide.
"Personally carried out by me," he finished.
Without a word, Alejandra wrapped her arms around Jack's neck and hugged him as tight as her thin arms could. He just knelt there for some time, unsure of how to take this in. But he finally got past the awkward feeling and hugged her back. Her small frame shuddered against him; she was crying again. She pulled away from him and wiped her tears.
"First… we have to take care of Mama," she said, looking back at her deceased mother.
76 nodded, and lifted the body off the ground, cradling it in his arms.
"What shall we do?" he gently asked.
xxxx
Alexandria's body was cremated on the beach, her ashes scattered across the ocean. Alejandra told Morrison that was what her mother would want. She said her mother always loved the view of the ocean from their house, and that she would love to live in it if she could. Alejandra said one final prayer, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. The night was warm, with the cool tide providing a perfect balance of temperature. It was perfect for soothing the mind, calming the soul. Morrison just stood and watched, amazed at how composed this twelve year old girl had been this whole time. Any other child would be too shocked to even sit up against a wall. After a few more deep breaths, Alejandra walked over to Jack, looking up at him. He had his mask back on, but he felt she could look right through it. Her gaze was almost piercing.
"What's our next move?" She asked.
"We need to get to Gibraltar. That's where Winston is bringing all the Overwatch agents to," he replied.
"Winston? You mean the monkey?"
"He's not a monkey. He's a scientist. Well, technically he's a gorilla, but that's beside the point. All that matters is we get to Gibraltar. And something's telling me that's going to be harder than I anticipated,"
"We've got lots of boats! Just pick one," said Alejandra, gesturing to the various sail boats across the bay.
"Kid, we have to cross the entire Atlantic Ocean, and then some. A boat isn't going to cut it. Unless we get some kind of air superiority, we aren't going anywhere soon,"
Almost on cue, a seaplane was making it's decent onto the ocean, sending large splashes of water into the night sky, the droplets shining off of the light of the moon. 76 and Alejandra stared in disbelief.
"Well I'll be damned," Morrison said.
xxxxx
Okay! So first Overwatch fic. For those of you who have no idea who Alejandra is, she's the girl in the Overwatch cinematic "Hero". I worked for two days on this thing, and stayed up till four o clock AM on the last day hahaha! I hope you all enjoy it. Not sure when the next one is coming, hopefully within this week, maybe going into the next. I will try to have a schedule for this because I hate reading fics that aren't finished and people do'nt continue them (feels bad man). So I will do what I can to keep this alive. Thank you all who eventually read it! :D don't forget to criticize!