I: Recall

"Knock, knock," said a deep velvet voice. Dr. Ziegler glanced up from her desk to see Commander Reyes in the door.

"Come in Gabriel," she said with a smile, pulling off her glasses and setting them on the desk. Reyes entered the office, beelining directly to the doctor's table.

"I think I'm sick Doc," he said with a smirk. Angela rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help but allow a smile.

"Gabriel," she began. He cut her off with a soft kiss. She indulged him for a moment before pushing him back.

"You know we're not supposed to be romantically involved," she hissed playfully.

"Is it so wrong for a man to want to visit his wife?" He said with a smirk. She gave him a light slap on the shoulder.

It was true that she was not actually Dr. Angela Ziegler on anything but paper. She and Gabriel had married in secret a fortnight ago after two years of playful courting. If it wasn't so cliche, she would have considered it love at first sight when she first met him.

"It is when we're not supposed to be married," she said with a coy smirk. It was Reyes' turn to roll his eyes.

"It's a stupid rule," Reyes said pushing a strand of hair away from Angela's face, "Lacroix is married."

"Gerard's wife isn't the top medical expert in the country, nor is Amelie a part of Overwatch," Angela replied.

"Details, details," he muttered.

Angela planted a quick kiss on her husband's lips before pushing him away.

"I need to get back to wor-" A loud explosion shook the building. Angela grabbed onto Reyes.

"What the hell was that?" Reyes shouted.

"All units evacuate! I repeat all units evacuate!" The order came over the intercom of the Watchpoint.

"Angela," Gabriel grabbed his wife's arm, "Get out of here. Now."

"I- I can't," she cried back, "Gabriel what's going on?"
"I don't know but you need to get out n-"

He never finished his sentence. There was another ear-splitting explosion that rocked the building. The scientist was thrown back from the explosion, landing against the window of her office with a crack. Angela screamed in pain. Her leg was undoubtedly broken.

"Gabriel!" She shouted as debris began to fall from the ceiling, "Gabriel!" She shouted. She could feel her arm was broken. The room was quickly filling with smoke, burning her eyes and throat. She tried to move forward a sharp pain shooting through her leg.

"Gab..ri..el" she choked out. She needed to get out of there, but her head was starting to ache and her vision was going to blur. She was acutely aware of the sirens of the Watchpoint blaring. There had been an attack. She continued to choke, now on her knees desperately searching for her husband.

"Gab.." Angela tried to choke out his name once more, but the smoke was beginning to blacken her vision. She slumped onto the floor, laying as low as she could.

"Angela!" She heard someone cry out her name.

"I-I'm ov..er… here," she croaked out. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted. She cracked open her eyes. Gabriel was lifting her up.

"Just hold on," he said, his voice gruff. There was blood trickling down the side of his head from his temple. Angela could feel herself fading. She was acutely aware that Gabriel was carrying her through the debris as they tried to escape the building that was now engulfed with flames and the sound of gunfire.

"We're gonna be okay," she heard Gabriel say, "You're gonna be okay. You have to be ok-"

Another explosion rocked the building as they reached the ground level.

"Reyes!" Gabriel looked towards the sound of his name being called. Jack.

"Jack!" He shouted as Commander Morrison rushed to his aide. "Get Angela out of here!"

"What about you?" Morrison shouted over the chaos. He grabbed Dr. Ziegler from Commander Reyes.

"Don't worry about me, I'm right behind-Augh!" Reyes fell forward. The third explosion had knocked loose a support beam that had come crashing down. He became pinned.

"Gabriel!" Angela screamed.

"Shit," Morrison said, "We need to go!"

"You can't leave him!" Angela screamed, "Put me down! We have to help- We can't-"

"Angela!" Reyes barked, "Go! I'll be fine." Her already irritated eyes began to sprout tears. Reyes looked at Jack, "Morrison, get Dr. Ziegler out of here."

"Gabe I can't leave you-" Jack tried.

"GO. NOW. That's an order from your Commander," bellowed Reyes.

Angela watched helplessly as Jack swore beneath his breath and turned to run. She screamed and began pounding on Morrison's shoulders.

"Put me down! We can't leave him, we can't!" The tears were streaming heavily from her face as she looked back at her trapped husband. There was a final violent explosion that almost knocked Morrison back. Her eyes met Reyes'.

"I love you," he mouthed, "Mi diosa."

The next thing she knew there was a loud crack as the ceiling above him collapsed.

Angela sat up in her bed breathing hard. För helvete. Her bedroom was almost completely dark save for the dull illumination of her clock on the nightstand. She glanced over at it. 2:45am. She sighed and flopped back down onto her sweat-covered pillow. She'd had the nightmare again. The same one she'd been having nearly every night for the last ten years. She started at the dark ceiling, watching the fan spin in slow, lazy circles. Gabriel…

She forced herself to sit up. It was only an hour before her alarm was due. She sighed again, heavily. Might as well drink some coffee and catch up on emails. She pulled herself from her bed and shuffled through the threshold into her small kitchen. She retrieved her favorite coffee mug, chipped and worn, from its hanging place on the kitchen wall and headed to the coffee machine. As the bitter-sweet smell of coffee filled the air, she shuffled to her couch where her work tablet lay. Ever since the attack at the Watchpoint: Berne, she spent her days quietly working as a researcher at a prominent hospital in the area. Overwatch had been disbanded shortly after the attack. The official reason was that the people of the world felt they didn't need Overwatch anymore. But to Angela, well, there were other reasons. Much more important reasons.

She placed her finger on the power button and watched with dull eyes as the screen illuminated. There was a flood of emails and notifications as the tablet powered on. Angela groaned. Never a moment of quiet. Not even in her dreams. The coffee machine chriped, announcing that the coffee was now ready. She lay the tablet down and fetched her coffee. Before the attack, she used to drink her coffee with two scoops of sugar and a splash of milk. But ever since that dark day everything had become bitter. She found it easier just to drink the coffee black. Angela scooped up the mug and brought it to her lips. The scalding liquid burned, but she didn't care. She took a long gulp.

She carried her mug with her back to the couch and set it on the coffee table, resuming her email browsing. Her thumb hovered slightly over the tablet as she chose which emails to read and which to archive for later. A glance at the time told her it was nearing three in the morning. She took another long pull of coffee. As she set the cup back down, the tablet vibrated with a new message. Angela placed the now empty cup onto the table and looked at the notification.

Subject: TO ALL AGENTS OF OVERWATCH

She rubbed her eyes and blinked several times. Overwatch? She knew it was likely a spam email. People had a way of being cruel to those they used to view as heroes. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd received such a tantalizing email. As she motioned to hit the delete button, she paused. What if it really was something important? She sighed and rubbed her temples. It wouldn't hurt to just check. She clicked open the email. As she did so, a video projection popped up and autoplayed:

To all agents of Overwatch- To the former agents of Overwatch, this is Winston! Haha..obviously...Thirty years ago, the Omnics declared war…

Angela couldn't help but smile. It truly was Winston. She felt a pang in her heart for her old friend. What was he doing? As the video progressed Winston became irritated, explaining that despite the disbanding of Overwatch ten years prior, the world still needed them more than ever. He began showing images of the world in chaos. She felt her face pale. Null Sector rising again? With the help of…Talon?

So, are you with me?

Angela looked into the eyes of her friend's hologram video. His face was radiant with hope. Hope. Ha. That was something she hadn't felt in a long time. She sighed and closed the email window. She couldn't possibly go back. What was even left for her now? Overwatch had effectively ruined her life. Had ruined their lives. She closed her eyes and slumped back against the couch. She thought for a moment about her options. Her thoughts were interrupted by her alarm. She groaned loudly and forced herself up. Time for work. As she got up off the couch to begin preparing to leave, she stole a glance at her tablet. Her brow furrowed. I'm sorry Winston, she thought as she shoved the idea into the back of her mind.