Prologue
Throughout the vast emptiness of space, a dark, pill shaped pod floated about aimlessly with haste, seeming to have no real destination in mind considering it didn't show any signs of activity. There was no form of light to show it was active, no thrusters helping to up its already swift velocity. It just appeared... lifeless. Empty. Or, so it seemed. If to be mistaken for a meteor, none could deny that it's a tiny one, hardly threatening, as it appeared to be the size of a mere bed, being just big enough to contain a single person within it.
For how long this pod had drifted through the everlasting void of the cosmos, nobody knows seeing as it's yet to be discoved. Perhaps not even the being held within is aware of their predicament; If there's even one to begin with. However, answers may come soon, as some ways ahead of its current path, a planet awaited the pod's fated arrival. A planet most commonly known as...
Earth.
It is on this world that a young man bearing extraordinary power... joins a team of many gifted heroes.
A team, known only as... Overwatch.
And he couldn't have arrived at a better time..
The streets of Paris, France.. Zero Hour..
"We did it... We've won.."
Victorious. To most, it may not be considered an emotion, but for the heroic gorilla known as Winston, dedicated member of Overwatch, that's the best way he can describe his present feelings. And for good reason. He smiled as he looked up to the light snow shower falling over him, closing his eyes as said snow brought him some piece of mind. He needed it after the close call he and his friends just had when trying to defeat the colossal omnic rampaging through Paris. Boy, was it a rough battle to get through.
If it hadn't been for the well-timed arrival of Genji, Reinhardt, Brigitte, Mercy, and Echo, he, along with his best friend Tracer and Mei, more than likely wouldn't be alive right now. Or, at least, he wouldn't if he had managed to buy his friends some time to escape. Thankfully, in the end, no sacrifices needed to be made. And none of them needed to suffer the pain of leaving anyone behind.
A child's cheerful giggling woke Winston from his tranquil trance, blinking his eyes open to see a little girl running about to play with Mei's faithful companion, Snowball. He chuckled at the adorable sight, grinning as he recalled to himself that it's preserving sights like these is why he fights the good fight, no matter the cost. Right now, he couldn't be more proud of himself for completing this mission. Not only is he proud of himself, but he's also proud of his friends for responding to the recall. To join the war that so desperately needed heroes to fight it for the sake of peace. Despite what world governments may think about their reunion, the world can't deny that they needed them, needed Overwatch, now more than ever to fight off the threat ravaging the globe once more. And believe him, they intend to give it their all. But more importantly, they intend to win, or die trying, as this recently won battle was only the beginning.
Speaking of his friends, he turned to see just a fraction of the Overwatch team gathering around to greet each other, commencing a reunion that was a long time coming while also introducing their latest member, Mei-Ling Zhou.
"Victory is ours, my friends!" Reinhardt cheered as his fellow heroes came together.
"Hi, Lena." Said Brigitte as she came up behind Tracer, surprising the peppy brit as she turned and gasped.
"Brigitte?!" Tracer exclaimed, skipping up to the young support hero to get a good look at her. "My, how you've grown!" She chirped, holding onto Brigitte's cheeks while making her observation. She then perked up when realizing that the latest arrivals had yet to meet Mei. So, not about to delay the introduction, she released Brigitte's face, causing her to stumble a bit, before blinking behind the snow hero to nudge her closer to the group. "Oh, everyone! Meet Mei."
"H-Hi, everyone." Mei waved with slight timidness, caught a bit off guard by Lena's action. However, she needn't worry as she was immediately accepted, courtesy of Reinhardt.
"Ice to meet you!" The veteran hero punned unashamedly, everyone, with exception of Genji and Brigitte, chuckling at his joke as he shook Mei's hand.
"Ugh, Reinhardt..!" Brigitte groaned, not one to enjoy the 'fun' of puns. Especially Rein's puns.
Rein laughed at his goddaughter's reaction before returning his attention back to the new recruit. "Glad to have you aboard, Mei. Welcome to the team." He sincerely added.
"Thank you, Mr. Reinhardt." Mei smiled at the large man's friendly nature, said man insisting that she just call him Reinhardt.
Winston was beyond glad that his old friends had welcomed Mei with open arms; not that he doubted them in the first place, of course. He about made his way to join them, but halted upon noticing a slightly burned photo on the ground, smiling as said photo was of him and some of the other original members of Overwatch. 'I can't believe it.. It survived.' He thought as he picked up the photo carefully, brushing off bits of concrete and dust. He stifled as it was a pure miracle that the photo even survived the destruction of their ship. Honestly, he couldn't believe their luck.
A few times, he glanced back and forth at the nearby team and the old one in the photo, a hefty bit of pride fueling him as he truly couldn't be part of a better family. Sure, there's not as many members now as there were back in the day, but he knew that slowly but surely, they'd rebuild and reform back into the beacon of hope they once were. 'It's just going to take some time... and quite a bit of effort.' Winston smirked at the challenge, hiding the photo on his person before resuming his way towards his family.
However, before he could get to them, the female police officer they had saved called to him... with a very important question.
"Monsieur? Does this mean that Overwatch... is back?"
The team froze upon hearing the question, steering their attention over to the brazen officer. Winston contemplated the answer, and it probably would've taken him awhile to form one, but when he glanced at his friends and saw they were now giving him a look that said he should already know what to say... He did.
His mind made, Winston turned to the nearby civilians, a proud grin on him as he responded with absolute certainty. "Yes. Yes, we are!"
With that, the team stood firmly united, the fate of their family ultimately written in stone at that very moment.
However, before the civilians could celebrate the declaration of their heroes, Mei had to cut it short as she noticed something... strange soaring through the sky. "Uh, Winston?"
Winston hummed in attention, looking to Mei. "What is it, Mei?"
"There's... something falling from the sky." Mei said as she pointed high, Winston's gaze quick to follow the direction of her finger.
Winston gasped upon seeing a ball of fire heading straight for them, everyone immediately going alert upon noticing it themselves.
"The bloody hell is that?!" Tracer cried.
"No clue, but I don't think we're gonna want to be out in the open here when it lands!" Brigitte said with worry, bringing up her shield to prepare for the coming impact.
"Agreed, get to cover everyone, now!" Mercy ordered urgently, the team, as well as the civilians, not hesitating to follow the demand as they sprinted for shelter. The three civilians took shelter in a nearby shop. Meanwhile, the Overwatch team scattered for their own cover.
"Brace yourselves!" Genji was heard shouting, everyone doing just that as they hunkered down and waited.
FFFFWWWOOOSH!
A load roar erupted from the falling object, the ground shaking violently once it crash landed on the street. It didn't immediately stop as it slid across the concrete some ways, and in its wake, destroyed most of the street as it left a deep crater trail behind it.
Once all was quiet and the dust had cleared, the heroes took it as their cue to come out, regrouping around the dark... capsule? that gave them a scare.
"What... is it?" Mei asked as they cautiously approached, none of them daring to touch the pod just yet.
"It looks to be a... pod of some sort." That was Winston's guess as he rubbed his chin, using his impressive scientific knowledge to determine the object's identity. He wasn't certain though, as it didn't look like any pod he'd ever seen. If anything, it looked more like a missle. One that's smooth to the touch judging by its clean and reflective surface. However, a gut feeling told him that wasn't it. "Echo, can you scan to see what's inside?" He requested of the robotic woman hovering across from him.
"Of course, Winston. It will just take a moment. Please standby." Echo responded, her eyes scanning the pod without another word.
"Do you think someone's in there?" Brigitte whispered, leaning slightly towards Mercy.
"It is possible. However, we'll know for sure once Echo has finished her task." Angela replied, speaking hushly as to not disturb Echo.
Just in case, Genji stood combat ready, his left hand settling on the sword sheathed behind him at his waist.
Bewildered, Reinhardt looked up to the direction the pod had come from. From what he could tell before it landed, it came all the way down from space. It would explain why it was surrounded in fire before its impact. However, now he's curious as to the story behind it as he asked himself... 'Where in space did it come from?' Where indeed..
Finishing her scan, Echo blinked to her senses before revealing the results. "I have detected a human male contained within the device, Winston. He is alive, but appears to be in stasis."
Everyone gasped at the revelation.
"A human? Are you certain of that, Echo?" A perplexed Mercy questioned, the others asking the same thing mentally.
"I am postive, Angela." Echo nodded, having no doubt that it's a human her scans picked up.
"Woah.." Tracer huffed in disbelief. "What could a human have been doing up there?" She pointed to the sky. "And how the heck did he end up in this thing?" She gestured to the pod, many questions littering her brain at that point as she scratched her head. And she wasn't alone.
"That, I do not know." Echo answered.
"Could it be from the... moonbase you were raised on, Winston?" Reinhardt daringly asked, being gentle with his tone as to not upset Winston for bringing up the place of his dark past.
Thankfully, Winston was at peace with it as he answered the question normally. "It can't be. I knew the Horizon Lunar Colony inside and out. I practically have every inch of the place ingrained in my memory, and never once had I seen something like this there. Besides, last I heard, it's still completely abandoned."
Stumped, a pregnant silence went by the team before Tracer ultimately broke it.
"Well, should we maybe... try and open it?" The brunette suggested. She wasn't entirely sure if that's the right course of action, but with all the questions that were bugging her, she needed answers.
The others looked around at each other to see what they think. No one voiced any protest, nor did they express denial. All they could do... was shrug.
"It's your call, Winston." Mercy said as their sights were now set on Winston, leaving the decision to him.
Now, Winston's inner scientist begged him to open the pod. However, a more rational part of him demanded they keep it closed, not wanting to risk the potential danger he could unleash upon him and his friends. A supposedly normal human landing on Earth from outer space? Yeah, something surely had to be... different about him. All in all, he was torn.
While Winston struggled to decide, Brigitte gave into her own curiosity. 'There has to be a way we can see him inside at least. A window or something.' She thought, giving the pod a gentle tap. Little did she know, that action would yield unexpected results.
Tap!
Upon touching the pod, a loud hiss suddenly erupted from it as steam began to rush out of its rounded ends. Startled, the heroes shrieked as they hopped back a tad, getting some feet between themselves and the now activated pod.
"I'm sorry! All I did was touch it, I swear!" Brigitte panicked.
No one had the chance to scold Brigitte, as their attention was quickly drawn back to the pod... that begun to open.
With bated breath, all the team could do was observe as the pod activated, the capsule shortly opening up like double doors to expose the young man 'sleeping' inside.
"Woah.." They muttered in unison.
At 6 feet, the unknown male had the body of a lightweight fighter, muscular, but not overly so, and well-toned. It wasn't difficult to notice his masculine form as he wore nothing but a black skintight bodysuit made out of a dense, but flexible material. Hell, it almost looked like armor if anything. His head was left exposed, revealing his unkempt dark green hair that now flowed with the breeze. With lightly freckled cheeks, he possessed a fair complexion and had quite the youthful face, which looked peaceful during his slumber.
However, what really caught everyone's attention were the two green katana like hilts held over his chest in each hand, his wrists crossed. What's strange though is that there was absolutely no blade attached to them.
For a few tense moments, everyone was at a loss, waiting anxiously to see who'd make the first move towards the unconscious lad. In the end, Reinhardt volunteered, mustering his courage before making a steady approach.
"Easy, Reinhardt.." Genji warned.
"Do not worry, my friend. I'll be just fine." Reinhardt assured, gesturing his allies to ease up as he kept moving ever so slowly.
"He's so... young." Mercy observed with a frown, more interested than ever to hear the young man's story when he wakes up. If he's friendly, that is.
"Ya got that right, doc." Tracer concurred, sharing Mercy's concerns.
"Those things in his hands." Mei spoke. "They look so much like... katana hilts."
"That's because they are." Genji uttered warily, adjusting his grip on his own sword hilt as he raised his hood. "However, the question now is... where are the blades?"
"Perhaps they're retractable?" Brigitte theorized.
"Not quite, Brigitte." Echo chimed in, having just concluded another scan, but this time, of the 'swords'. And what her scans found out left her a bit astonished. "There appears to be some sort of crystal built into each hilt, and while their exterior design are that of traditional Tsuka hilts, their interior design is not."
"Can you elaborate, Echo?" Winston questioned, his inner passionate scientist starting to take over.
"I could, but the technology used to construct them is... complex. It'll take time to explain in detail. Time that we do not have at this current moment. What I can tell you however, is that they are, in layman's terms, laser swords." Echo revealed, causing the team to go wide eyed.
"Hmm, if that's the case, then I suggest you be extra cautious there, Reinhardt." Mercy implored, watching the veteran tank with a slight bit more worry.
Reinhardt simply nodded as he donned a serious expression, his sights not leaving their visitor as he came up on him. 'Here's hoping I don't go losing my hand now..' He joked to himself as he raised a hand towards the young man for a tap, aiming straight for the stomach.
During this moment of truth, the anxious team couldn't help but squeeze on their weapons tightly as they had them at the ready, praying that they wouldn't have to fight again so soon. Especially against someone of their own kind. Well, that's what the present humans thought anyway.
Thankfully, luck was on their side more than they thought today...
Just as Reinhardt was about to touch their potential friend, he finally spoke..
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that, thank you very much.." A gentle voice came from the mystery man, causing the people around him to cease all movement while they gasped in shock. As for Reinhardt, his hand pulled back somewhat before he froze.
Unveiling his deep green eyes calmly, the young man took a moment to absorb the sights before him, or more specifically, the looks of total surprise being aimed at him. He smiled as he found the expressions amusing, almost chuckle worthy even. However, he refrained from giving into the latter as to avoid embarrassing them.
"Hello there, I'm Izuku. How do you do?" He politely greeted the hulk of a man before him, lowering his weaponful hands from his chest to show that he meant no harm. "I apologize if my lightsabers had you all on guard. I assure you, I mean you no ill will. I can sense that you all are good people, so no fighting will be necessary."
He received no response as the group of heroes were still processing his casual awakening, leaving him to gaze around awkwardly in response.
'I have a feeling this is going to take awhile..' Izuku thought as he bashfully sweatdropped.
( End of Prologue )
