*Gibraltar: Meeting Room*
"Are you ready?" Morrison asked.
"Give me a sec" Hana replied nervously, trying her best to sit still.
He nodded and lifted his hand away from the receiver, giving her time to gather herself. Though she possesses natural charisma, she would need to put effort in today, especially when they are about to speak to the highest offices of the United Nations, all who are dying to give him a piece of their minds.
Faced against such odds, Morrison himself was not without fear, now having to defend his own pride, position, and above all, the reputation of Overwatch in this single meeting. If he fails, this could very well be the end of Overwatch.
Could he have planned another way? Something more conservative and less risky? Perhaps… However, his training did not call for such strategies. Thankfully, this only requires his and Hana's presence in the room, so at least there will be no one would distract them and the flow of the conversation could be more focused.
"Ok I'm ready"
Pressing the button, the screen was immediately flooded with multiple faces of leaders, the most prominent being the President of Korea and the head of the United Nations, Gabrielle Adawe.
"I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes" the President said when he saw Hana.
"Mr President, I assure you, the UN had not, and never will, abduct any of your soldiers without your express approval" Adawe said.
"Then why is our best MEKA Pilot, who went missing for months if I might add, be suddenly promoting our local products with Commander Morrison in Overwatch Headquarters?"
"Commander, care to explain?" Adawe asked, turning to Morrison.
Before Morrison could speak and out of sheer nervousness, Hana spoke out of turn.
"I felt that Overwatch needed my help so I decided to come over without telling anyone"
"And you did not bother to inform anyone in the military?" the President asked, his tone obviously softening.
"Sorry, it was a last minute decision" she said, pouting slightly.
"Is this true Commander?" he demanded.
Morrison gulped. Before he could take control of the situation, Hana had already gone way out of their original plan, but since the shots were fired, all he could do is adapt.
"Yes Mr President, after the war we were in dire need to her expertise, I apologize on behalf of Overwatch for taking her so suddenly"
After a brief string of murmurs from all who were present, they were silenced when Adawe spoke.
"Commander, you are one of the very few who survived, and is still a successful product of the Soldier Enhancement Program are you not?"
"Yes ma'am"
"Then why do you need the expertise of, and I mean no offense-"
"Its k" Hana assured when Adawe's eyes flickered to her.
"Yes… The expertise of a 19 year old?"
All eyes were on the Commander when he stayed silent, trying to think of a way to appropriately inject the pre-planned story.
"Commander?"
"He is embarrassed" Hana said suddenly, causing all eyes, including Morrison's, to snap at her.
"Excuse me?"
"He is getting too old so he needed a new pair of eyes to upgrade the old system, that's why he asked me to come secretly"
"Hana wh-" he began but she immediately cut him off.
"I'm sorry Commander, but they deserve to know the truth!"
"I knew it" a voice called out.
Morrison immediately recognized that obnoxious voice even before everyone was able to identify the speaker. It belonged to one of the inspectors who chastised Overwatch months ago after it was attacked.
"I have warned everyone that the good Commander would not be suited to act as sentries for the Pax Aeternum, evident now that he had admitted to require outsource assistance" he continued.
Hana hid a gasp. She had intended that the conversation to attract sympathy, but instead it brood more complications.
"Enough, you have mentioned this multiple times and my order will not change. Overwatch will act as the main security for the Pax Aeternum Ceremony" Adawe said firmly, reprimanding him.
"Yes ma'am" the man said with disappointment.
"Now… Forgive me Ms Song, I do not know your rank"
"Hana's fine Secretary General"
"Hmm… Hana, what is your current, official role in Overwatch? Are you involved in the security for the Pax Aeternum Ceremony?"
"Yes, I'm helping Overwatch to set the teams, in a non-Korean military fashion" she added quickly when the President raised his eyebrows.
"Oh? In what way?"
Morrison said nothing, wondering where Hana was going with this. As much as he would like to play along, it would be hard for him to lie convincingly, after all, he was engineered to be superior in terms of warfare, and he was sure that everyone in the meeting was familiar with that fact.
"Don't get me wrong, he is the best I've ever met, but he is a newb when it comes to team composition"
"Pardon? A… 'Newb'?" someone asked.
"Just someone who is unfamiliar with some things but is willing to learn"
Taken back by the word and not wanting to look foolish before others, everyone pretended to understand and nod, even Morrison.
"Commander… Is it true that you are still a… 'Newb' about team compositions? Care to elaborate?" Adawe asked.
"Err… I shall leave that to Hana" was all he could say.
"I mean… He knows how to make uber PVE teams, but against PVP opponents, he needed something new to cheese through them, especially since we are no longer fighting bots"
The room was silenced by the seemingly random words, everyone digging through their wealth of knowledge trying to understand the abbreviations.
"Very well, it would seem that she has a role to play in Overwatch, Mr President, are you satisfied with the enquiry?"
"Err… Yes, yes, as long as she returns within the year" he stammered, still trying to figure out what Hana just said.
"Good. Commander, we wish you luck for the days to come"
With that said, the screens disappeared one by one before finally it became all dark.
"That was…" Morrison sighed when Hana stood up and started hitting him.
"Ow! Hey! What?"
"Never. Make. Me. Do. That. Again!" she cried, shouting each word with each hit.
"Hey hey calm down! You did good there!" he said, trying to calm her down, but only succeeded to double her blows.
"Do you have any idea how scared I was?! That was scarier than fighting the Gwi-Shin!"
He was at a complete loss for words at her sudden outburst. He had seen this kind of reaction in movies before, but he had never thought about how he would react in a situation like this. Should he take advantage of her military background and order her to stop? Should he just sit there and receive the hits until she is satisfied?
Thankfully she answered the question for him when she stopped hitting him and sat back down, breathing heavily as the adrenaline dissipated.
"What now?" she finally asked.
"Now we draw up the teams" Morrison said simply, waving his hand over the table and the map of King's Row appeared.
"Huh? I thought that was all just a story?" she asked.
"Well, since you've gone off and started whole new branch of story, we have to commit to it now"
*Pacific Ocean: Hades*
The room emits a strange blue light, which hurt Quillion's eyes when he looked in, needing a full minute before they adjusted.
Inside is plain but has obvious engineering to absolutely contain those imprisoned. Pillars of solid steel and metal held the glass boxes by its four corners, clearly locking them in place. Hovering above each box were large vents, all emitting the stench of the ocean.
Acting as a perimeter surrounding each box, were strange metal rods that protruded from the ground, each two feet apart from another, undoubtedly acting as some unknown security measure. If he were to give a guess, they are electric.
It was also cold. Unbearably cold.
There were only four boxes with occupants. Amelie and Baptiste shared one in the middle, next to one that is filled with darkness and smoke so potent that it cast its own shadow that resembled tentacles.
Two others flank them, one on each side, and though they were sealed behind reinforced glass, their presence commanded well beyond their confines, filling the room with their whispers.
To the left, a man was wrapped tightly in a strapsuit, complete with a pair of headsets that is secured on his ears, muttering endlessly. To the right, stood a tall woman, who was looking at Amelie with interest, both her arms behind her back.
And he saw that she was missing her right hand and dread came rushing back.
It's not possible. Absolutely impossible.
He took a few steps back and felt himself press against the cold steel wall.
He is back on the table. That cold, hellish table, where he is tied up like a corpse. Hovering above was the knife she used and played with his flesh like a toy. Her eyes were cold, steely, and brimming with uncaring glee. To escape, he must endure terrible, self-inflicting pain, but even that has no guarantee.
When his knife slipped through his fingers and clattered onto the floor, all eyes turned to him.
"I must say I did not expect to see you again" Moira chuckled.
He could feel himself falling whilst on the bed as fear, vertigo, and pain resonated throughout his entire being as her words rang clearly into his ears.
"N-No, stop!" he said, teeth chattering.
"Quillion?" Amelie called out.
"NO!" he yelled and sank to the ground, his hands over his head.
"At last! A savior! Please help us! It's been so long since I last heard the songs!" Sigma cried, pressing his face against the glass, his eyes demented.
"What are you doing? Get up!" Baptiste yelled.
The cold, the many voices, had paralyzed his body.
This was all wrong. They could not have survived… Mei told him that her gun would kill them as they froze, that Overwatch only needed their bodies intact to prove their innocence… He had personally froze each of them himself!
So why in the living hells are they alive?!
All the commotion did not go unnoticed.
Lena and the Captain were about to inspect the fallen book when the sounds of faint shouting seeped through the door.
"What was that?" Lena asked.
"Sounds like he has finally lost it" the Captain said with glee, looking at the door.
"Who?"
"None of your concern, if you would just stay here for a bit, I need to see this" the Captain said earnestly and reached out for her formal attire hanging on the side.
As Lena looked away to give the Captain some privacy, she felt a tap on her shoulder, almost making her jump.
"Get out" a voice whispered.
"Sombra?"
"Don't you hear him shouting? Get out!" she hissed.
Feeling herself being yanked out of the room, Lena spun around and ignored the Captain's "Hey!" and slammed the door behind her.
"What are you doing?" Lena asked as Sombra became visible and peeked around the corner.
"We have a problem" she said, beckoning her to look.
Looking around the corner, Lena was shocked to see that Quillion was in a fetus position far down the hall.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked and was about to Blink when Sombra grabbed her and interrupted her Chronal Accelerator.
"I'll get him, you stop the Captain" she said.
Sombra could feel Lena's mouth open to protest, but she turned invisible and left just as the door behind them flung open.
Sprinting down the hall, she boosted her speed through her mechanics as Lena stammered something to the Captain.
"Oi! Shut up!" she growled, when she reached him.
When he did not move, she forced a hand away and was shocked to see that he had his eyes wide shut and mumbling something that she could not hear.
"Another savior! Help me hear the songs!" Sigma demanded.
"Move out of the way!" the Captain ordered, her voice echoing through the hall.
"I don't feel so good, I feel sick!" Lena replied, stumbling forward and grabbed the Captain and kept her on the spot.
With little time, Sombra put both her hands on Quillion's head.
"What's keeping you down?" she thought, quickly opening the memory banks and was frustrated to see that the memory that is paralyzing Quillion was nothing more than Moira and a small knife.
"Really?" she scolded and dragged him into the room.
"Sombra? I must say I did not expect you" Moira laughed.
"Small world eh?" she shot back.
The sound of thunderous marching met their ears and Sombra looked around frantically where to hide him.
"Take her to the Medical Bay now! The rest of you, follow me!" they heard the Captain shouting.
"Over here" Amelie urged, pointing to the pillar that held the box with swirling smoke.
Sombra activated her cloak and hid where Amelie indicated, a hand tight over Quillion's mouth. As Captain approached, she surfed his memory rapidly and settled on one where she hoped would keep his mouth shut.
"And here I thought all of you would break much later" the Captain said, leading an entourage of guards.
"You seemed very jittery" Moira replied.
Ignoring her, the Captain walked up to Amelie, who was on the bed and looking up at the ceiling, while Baptiste was trying not to look at the Captain and where Sombra was hiding.
"The great Widowmaker… You have no idea how long I've waited for this" she said, admiring the assassin's beauty.
When Amelie did not respond, she continued.
"You should be glad, to be forever reunited with your friends"
"Captain, you shouldn't goad them" the Sergeant whispered, looking around him fearfully.
"Quiet!"
"You should listen to him Captain" Amelie finally said, turning her head to look at them "You would not like us when we are provoked"
"And you are not one to make threats here, unless you want to be like your friend there" she replied, pointing to Sigma, who is back in the corner, muttering.
"Save your breath Captain, your words are wasted on her" Moira commented.
"I have been told that you are unable to feel? I would love to put that theory to the test. Personally" she continued, still ignoring Moira.
"You would've made a great Talon scientist"
Having enough of Moira's endless comments, the Captain turned to look at her and pulled out a switch, enjoying the look of glee evaporating from her face.
"No!" she shouted.
Too little. Too late. The vent above the box unleashed a huge torrent of water crashing it down into the box. She watched as Moira was knocked around in the box with loud thuds and smiled when she tried to fade, only to find escape impossible.
It only took a total of five seconds before Moira nearly passed out, to which the Captain pressed another button and instantly, the water was drained out through the slits that appeared on the glass floor.
"You gotta love this Hardlight Tech, always so flexible" she smirked, pocketing the remote as Moira gasped for air.
Turning her attention back to Amelie, she hid her disappointment that the spectacle did not even earn a reaction from her, only from the Haitian, who looked deathly afraid and avoiding eye contact.
In fact… He seems to be looking at something behind the pillar next to them. First she thought he was distracting himself with the darkness, but his eyes betrayed him.
"You are Baptiste, yes?"
"Yes" he automatically answered and immediately met her eyes.
He was not looking away out of fear.
Everyone held their breath as she moved to investigate, doing their best not to break character in case they prematurely give Sombra's position away.
"That's just rude, Captain, to approach me so callously" a voice called out.
Immediately the guards stepped back and aimed their rifles clumsily at the smoke and darkness that has begun to recede dramatically, all shaking in terror as a figure began to form.
First it was a pale mask that appeared in the void, staring down at them, its slits just as dark and unquenchable as his malice. Then a dark cloak billowed into existence and the darkness collected itself into it, forming first the arms and legs, all encased in dark claws and metal, before finally his torso, covered in ammunition.
Once it was all complete, he dropped down with a loud thud, landing on both legs and walked closer to the glass.
"Boo" he said.
The effect was immediate. Half of the guards dropped their weapons and ran away, whilst the other half fired at the glass, the bullets retouching dangerously everywhere.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" the Captain yelled, ducking down.
Her order fell into deaf and terrified ears, as Reaper's laugh echoed louder than the gunfire, his arms spread open as if Death had come to welcome them into his embrace.
When the final bullet was fired and only clicking sounds and Sigma's muttering could be heard, she stood up slowly to observe the damage.
"Medical Bay NOW!" the Captain ordered, seeing blood stains growing on some of the men, pulling one with her as she led the way.
"Nothing more than a nest of rabbits" Reaper chuckled.
"Never took you... To be of the theatrics" Moira gasped and shivered violently.
"At least I'm doing something besides just sitting around" he snapped back.
Groaning, she faded from the ground, and though she reappeared dry from seawater, she was forced to stand on the toilet, looking at her bed disapprovingly. By her experience, it would take a whole week before she could sleep on it again...
"And what exactly have you been doing?" Sombra asked, letting go of Quillion's mouth.
"I trust you did not come here to gloat?" Reaper asked, ignoring her question and looked down at them.
"As much as I would love to, no. I'm here to break you out"
"Oh? How do you plan to do that?"
"Before that, you and your friends must follow three rules" she said, holding up three fingers.
"Well, I suppose I got nothing better to do, let's hear it" Reaper said, sitting down on the floor and leaning against the glass.
"First, you do everything exactly as I tell you, not because you're untrustworthy" she added "But because up there's a maze, you'all will drown before you even reach the Middle Level"
"Sounds tolerable" he replied with a bored, sarcastic voice.
"Second, we will be flyin' to the place where I'm hiding, you must not kill anyone there"
"Assuming that I would even agree to your 'help', what makes you think I would follow you?"
"Because if you don't, I'll never tell you where Overwatch HQ is" she said with a sing-song voice.
Immediately, Reaper's head perked up in interest.
"What? Overwatch HQ?"
"Yup, not an outpost, not a safehouse, the HQ itself"
Reaper growled as he pondered on her words. She has always been a manipulator and possesses the basic foundation for a strategic mind. Why would she offer her best bargain to him so easily? Was it because she is close to achieving her own goals that surpasses the importance of Overwatch? Would he be nothing more than a puppet?
"That's where the third point comes in" she said, as if reading his mind "Jack has personally assured me-"
"Do you expect me to believe you spoke with Morrison?" he laughed, cutting her off.
"Ya don't believe me? And here I was passing along the message that he would have a rematch with you"
"Rematch? What rematch?"
"He told me that he beat you in hand to hand combat when you two fought in Monaco, he is willing to duke it out again"
"He did not 'beat' me! He had help" he spat back as if the words were a bad taste.
"Yup! He thought you'd say that, so he is willing to do it again, mano a mano, no assistance, in Overwatch itself. Until then, all you've got to do is One: Do everything as I say, Two: Don't kill anyone unless I tell you to, and finally Three: If you finish a single mission with me, you will have another shot at Jack"
Hearing this, Quillion forced himself to stand. Fear still grips his heart, but Sombra had frozen his memories away from those horrifying pictures and left him with something else to focus on, whether it was on purpose or not. The memory where he first met Sombra and Amelie on the snowy mountains of the Alps.
Whatever her plan was to freeze his memory here, he must not allow Talon agents to run free again, especially after he saw firsthand their cruelty and viciousness.
"No…" he groaned.
"Oi! Shut it!"
"Of all the criminals, these are the ones we are breaking out? I won't allow it!"
"Really? You're doing this now?"
"Could you really take his word for it? They can't be trusted! In fact, you can't be trusted!"
"Sounds like the boy does not agree to your plans" Reaper chuckled.
Quillion ignored the comment and tried to stare Sombra down, who maintained an impressive air of resistance. After a few heartbeats, she unexpectedly shrugged.
"I didn't think that you'd want to be free of your amado so easily!"
He blinked and, from his peripheral sight, he saw Amelie turn her head at them.
"I don't understand" he said.
"These cells are built in a way that they'll never open, so our only option is if we wanna break one out, we have to break all of them out"
"You're bluffing, no one would ever designed something like that"
"You'd be right, but the Captain has made some adjustments of her own"
"How could you possibly know that?"
Reaching into her armor, she pulled out a piece of paper.
"I've been hanging out in the Captain's room for a bit just now, these are just some procedures that I've found. We've gotten this far, we are breaking them out now"
"Don't you-!" he started but she shook her head.
"No time" she said and touched his nose, refilling him with the terror of the torturous memory.
"Do we have a deal?" she continued as Quillion froze in fear, looking up at Reaper.
*Hades: Medical Bay*
Never before had Lena wanted to pace around the room so bad, her mind racing with millions of questions and none of them can come to a conclusive answer. It got even worse when a flurry of doctors and nurses burst into the room and started to prepare the beds and set up many of the medical instruments.
"What's going on?" she asked the nearest nurse, who just finished setting up.
He did not reply, merely nodding to her grimly and waited, his eyes staring at the door where a doctor held open, looking around impatiently. With such a tense moment, Lena gulped down her impatience and held her breath, not wanting to disrupt their focus.
Soon they heard it, a clamor of voices and shouting, then came a sight that Lena had hoped to never see again. Pale faces of men drenched in blood were dragged in, gasping or barely breathing, and were quickly laid on the bed.
Of the eight that came in, three of them stood over their comrades, including the Captain.
Learning her lesson from Overwatch, Lena stayed in bed and was silent, allowing the busy room to its duties. Times like these, she wished that Angela was here, as the current staff is obviously not used to these sorts of injuries and clearly needed an expert like her to lead them.
It was after half an hour when the Captain looked over and noticed she was there, to which she walked over, her face downcast and worried.
"Sorry you had to see this" she apologized.
"What happened? I thought it's secure down there?"
"It is but… Unfortunately a prisoner had the whole crew terrified, I just didn't expect it to be this bad"
"How do you mean?"
"My sailors are all veterans from the Omnic Crisis. They've been through their fair share of hell, so to have them panic like that…"
"Hey it's not your fault luv"
"I thought I could've led by example, to show them that there's nothing to be afraid of by staying right next to the cells… Guess I totally botched that up"
This is a momentary weakness that the Captain hates showing. She had always maintained that everyone should keep themselves in check , to be professional at all times, but after a long isolation from the outside world, talking to a hero, who is unbiased and unfamiliar to the workings of the sub, is a very much welcomed person to speak to.
"It was Death…" a man groaned from the bed, catching their attention.
"Shh… Just stay still" the doctor said, trying to calm him down, but the beeping from the heart rate monitor intensified.
"We can't contain Death! We all saw it! I saw it! He is slipping past the glass! He-" he shouted, getting louder with each word before suddenly choking.
Though the doctors immediately attended to him, he had already passed, fear etched deep into his face. Seeing this, the others also started to panic, promoting the doctors to administer drugs to calm them down.
"I should drown them all right now…" the Captain said with gritted teeth.
Lena didn't know what to say.
She thought she would be ready for a mission like this, never thinking that the people they were assigned to break out would be this dangerous. She had hoped that Amelie would be the most dangerous inmate here, but this proved her wrong.
Whoever is down there and the sight before her breed second thoughts whether to carry out the mission or not, as she shuddered to think what these people would do once set free.
Then the submarine was thrown into complete darkness.
"What's going on?" Lena yelled over the panicked shouting.
A second later, red lights flooded all the rooms and panicked shouting can be heard. Immediately the Captain pulled out her remote and pressed the button on it.
"No… NO!" she shouted, throwing it aside.
"What's going on?"
"Something hacked into the remote, we need to stop them now! Everyone follow me! And Lena-" she added when the men grabbed their weapons "I hope you're feeling better because we need you"
*Hades: Entrance to Third Level*
This was the moment they had trained for.
His hand held the remote to close the floodgates below and alongside him were twenty men, all spaced out, each of them were all seasoned veterans of the Second Omnic Crisis, and they were equipped with three light machine guns at tactical angles.
The designs of the submarine have been perfected to give them an overwhelming advantage as it allows squads of men to set up their weapons to point at the single, narrow staircase, making it impossible for anyone or anything to survive should anything try to force its way though.
Their objective was simple. Hold the prisoners back while allowing as many crew members to escape as humanly possible. If everyone is accounted for or should the defenses fail, the man in charge will close the floodgates and drown whoever that is left in the Third Level.
It was a perfect defense.
But what it could not have protected was the morale of the men, each having been mentally compromised by Reaper for the past many months.
"Steady men!"
His efforts to calm them were admirable, but only for the first five minutes.
From the depths below, flashes of lights were seen as gunfire echoed, and the crew who did manage to run out all wore a pasty pale face or worse… The injured looked older, almost skeletal and degraded of life.
Then silence… Saved for the sounds of heavy boots.
"Sir?" one of them asked, looking at his finger hovering over the button.
"Not yet, someone may still come through"
"Close the door!"
"Steady! We had to be sure to save as many as we can!"
Sweat stung their eyes as they were glued down their sights, trying to gulp away their fear as their hands trembled with each step that grew steadily louder from the darkness. To make matters worse, the red lights have begun to flicker.
"Someone call the engineers to get the power back!" he shouted.
"Sir…" another said weakly, pointing up at the lights.
Looking to where he was pointing, what they saw pushed them to the verge of tears. Dark, smoky tentacles-like shadows were slipping its way above them, randomly flickering around and even casting shadows from above.
"Death comes…" a raspy voice said from in front of them.
Author's Note:
Hey guys, sorry for the delays, getting harder to write nowadays, so to adapt to that, I've decided to make the plot move a lil bit faster :D
Not sure when the next chapter will be out, hopefully within 2 weeks so stay tuned and thanks for reading!