It Begins
King's Row- seven days earlier
It was 10:30 and King's Row was unbearably quiet. Lights in buildings were left on and a few vehicles were dotted around the area, abandoned. An evacuation order was in place and the district cordoned off after Reaper was spotted prowling the area. Where Reaper was meant Talon weren't far behind. Therefore, Overwatch responded, sending out its own team to confront the Talon forces.
Kings Row had been the centre of a couple of battles recently, as well as Mondatta's assassination. This was something that the British government was no longer going to tolerate. Unknown to Overwatch or Talon, the government were preparing their response to the current situation.
The Overwatch force was comprised of six agents. Winston, who had decided to personally lead the team, along with Tracer, Mercy, McCree, Reinhardt and Torbjorn. The team had assembled near the clock tower, knowing Talon had stored something nearby. Winston had received a tip off about the attack and although a bit vague, he knew Talon had to come through here first.
"Any sign of trouble?" Winston asked Tracer, who was stood on the hotel balcony, watching the nearby church, where they suspected Talon was currently based.
"Nothing." Tracer replied, her cheerful manner not present in her reply.
"Are you okay Lena?" Mercy asked, noticing Tracer's lack of cheer. "You don't seem quite yourself."
Lena sighed. "Honestly, I'm worried Ang."
"About Emily?"
"No. Well yes I'm always worried about her..." Lena looked over to the Mondatta statue, a constant reminder of her failure to protect him. "This is my home Ang and it's been hit a lot recently. I don't know how much more London can take before something snaps."
Mercy wasn't given a chance to reply, as Tracer looked back towards the church, the doors opened.
"Heads up, Talon's inbound!" Tracer blinked over the nearby wall and moved into position, while Reinhardt raised his barrier, sealing up the gap between the wall.
A few seconds later, Reaper appeared, a number of Talon soldiers following close by. They opened fire on the barrier, it absorbing the damage as they pushed forward. Torbjorn placed a turret behind Reinhardt's barrier, assisting it by firing into the approaching enemy forces. Tracer blinked forward, attacking the troopers as well as Reaper, who all struggled to keep up with her as she blinked circles around them. Eventually, once she used her recall, she blinked back through the barrier, letting Mercy heal her back up.
The fight had only been a few minutes long and Reaper was already frustrated. With a chuck of Talon's initial force down, he turned into black smoke, flying over the wall and landing next to Reinhardt. As he appeared, he fired a number of rounds into the German's armour, causing a high amount of damage. Rein now dropped his barrier, forced to attack the intruder as Mercy kept her healing beam on him. This was exactly what Reaper wanted, turning back into wraith form and moving back behind the wall.
This move had given the Talon troops the chance to advance, some flanking through the hotel and getting behind the defensive line, forcing Overwatch back towards the clock tower. Reinhardt raised his barrier up once again, giving Torb the chance to place a new turret. McCree and Mercy were also behind the barrier, McCree being damaged boosted as he fired into the incoming forces.
Meanwhile, Winston and Tracer were diving into the middle of the enemy force, the two of them taking out a small number of them before Reaper began to spin up for a death blossom. Tracer quickly jumped into one of Winston's hands, before he jumped back to the team, avoiding the barrage of firepower and letting Mercy heal them up.
Thanks to Tracer and Winston, Talon's force was down to 3 troopers and Reaper. Fortunately, he planned for just a situation. After all, the troops tended to be all but ineffective against the Overwatch agents. Once the two agents jumped away, he contacted the church.
"Squad two, attack!"
Within seconds, a second wave of Talon troopers reinforced the depleted force. They moved forward, their numbers enhancing the troopers confidence. Reinhardt saw his opportunity, the troopers were close together and he knew exactly what would end this fight.
"HAMMER, AHH!"
Reinhardt flinched in pain, raising his barrier back up and dropping his hammer to clutch his side. A very well aimed sniper round had gone straight into him, hitting a weak point in his armour. A few seconds later another shot landed on the barrier, adding to the firepower that was being absorbed by the it. Mercy now focused her healing beam on him, while McCree moved next to Rein, taking shots at the incoming troopers.
"You good?" McCree asked Reinhardt, who was still clutching his side.
"Yeah. Her aim is getting better." Reinhardt said, knowing exactly who had taken the shot.
"Getting better? It's Widowmaker, she's the best sniper there is." McCree replied.
"Second best." Reinhardt corrected, picking his hammer back up and nodding to Mercy as thanks.
"If only she was here, maybe Widow would have a run for her money." The cowboy grumbled as the cracks on Rein's barrier became very apparent. The agents took cover wherever they could as the barrier broke, a shot hitting Reinhardt once again and wounding him. Winston placed down his barrier, giving them a short relief. Expecting another shot to hit one of them, Mercy moved away from the fight, powering up her resurrection tech. However, when the second sniper shot rang out, it never hit anywhere near them.
Tracer looked to the rooftops, seeing another sniper engaging Widow. It was like fate that she appeared just at the right moment.
"Hey McCree!" Tracer called out. "Seems like someone heard you!" She said pointing up to the rooftop. Sure enough, there she was, Ana Amari, dodging shots from Widow while returning her own. Widow could be seen carefully aiming but seemingly unable to land her shot. After taking a couple of hits herself, Widow was forced back, giving Ana a small window of opportunity.
Ana grabbed one of her biotic grenades, throwing it down at Reinhardt before firing shots into all the agents. Reinhardt reactivated his barrier, its power returning to maximum as the Talon forces reached them. Ana fired a few shots at the incoming targets, before disengaging and running towards Widow's last know location.
"Where's she going?" Torb asked, slightly annoyed their sniper support had just left them.
"She's keeping Widow busy. Focus on these lot." Tracer answered, blinking forward and firing a magazine, then recalling back behind the barrier.
While the Talon grunts kept Overwatch busy, Reaper had managed to sneak away from the battle, teleporting to higher ground behind their position without anyone noticing.
McCree moved towards a flanking point, some Talon troops moving through the opposite building in an attempt to get behind them. He rolled into their path, firing three shots and taking all three troops down. As he looked back towards the team, he noticed Reaper preparing to jump down.
"WATCH OUT!" McCree shouted, gaining everyone's attention.
Tracer looked up and saw Reaper as he jumped, his intention clear. "MOVE!"
Tracer sprinted towards McCree, blinking out of the way as Reaper landed. Winston managed to jump away and Mercy activated her Valkyrie suit, flying away just in time.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Both Torb And Reinhardt we're unable to get away in time, Winston's depleted barrier offering little protection as they were cut down by Reaper.
Reaper began to laugh, turning towards the other three agents on the ground. However, his victims didn't remain down for long, as Mercy swooped in and resurrected both fallen agents.
"Fall back to position two!" Mercy shouted as she flew away from the area, Tracer and Winston following.
Reinhardt immediately activated his barrier, taking the shots from Reaper as him and Torb retreated. McCree ran forward, rolling once he was close enough and threw a flashbang. Reaper was left blinded for a moment, giving the three of them enough time to get out of range. While annoying, Reaper allowed them to escape, turning to see the Talon troops securing the area.
Reaper now knew that they would need a little more firepower to break Overwatch's defensive line. He once again contacted the church.
"Team three, move in to reinforce." There was no answer. "Squad three report." Again no answer. "Widowmaker, do you have eyes on squad three?"
Widow meanwhile was pinned down, the remains of a small health kit Talon provided discarded as she fired her SMG. "I'm a little busy at the moment!"
"What? With who?" Reaper asked, amazed someone was causing Widow trouble.
"Amari!" Widow replied sharply, before running out of cover and jumping to another rooftop, missing a couple of shots from Ana as she moved.
Reaper now groaned. "Where there's one, the other won't be far away."
"Where's team three sir?" One of the Talon troopers asked, clearly not following what was happening.
"Dead. We're all that's left, so try not to die." Reaper replied sarcastically, clearly annoyed with the situation. "Get that thing ready to move and get it to the target location."
Meanwhile, Widow had taken cover behind a rooftop access, reloading her weapon as she scanned the area in front of her. The plan to provide cover fire had gone to hell since Ana showed up. "Of all the people..." she thought to herself as she turned around to face the wall and activated her thermal vision. To her annoyance she could not see Ana anywhere. Widow moved around her cover to the roof access door, staying close as she looked around for her target. As Widow looked to her right, she saw Ana running straight at her, rifle over her back and her fists raised.
Widow had no time to react, taking a direct hit to her head, causing damage to her thermal goggles, a large crack now obscuring her right eye. Widow deactivated the damaged goggles, clutching the side of her head as she recovered from the hit. A sharp pain went through her head, feeling like something was clawing away under her skin. The pain passed as quickly as it appeared, leaving Widow wondering what exacty it was.
She had little time to dwell on her thoughts, as she set her sights on the target in front of her. Ana had reached for her dart gun, firing a sleep dart straight at her. Widow dodged out of the way, running towards Ana and tackling her, the two women impacting the door behind them. The door was obviously in poor condition, as the impact forced it open and sent the two women falling down the small set of stairs.
The stairs lead down to a small section of flat concrete, acting as a short walkway before another set of stairs, attached to the side of the walls of a small square structure, leading down to the top floor of an apartment building. Between the stairs was a gap wide enough for a person to fall through.
As the two of them reached the bottom of the first set of stairs, Ana once again reached for her dart gun and loaded a sleep dart, taking aim. Widow saw this, jumping back to her feet, rifle in hand and jumped over the metal railings, falling in between the stairs and landing at the door to the top floor. She moved quickly to the door, trying it and finding out that it was locked. She fired her rifle into the lock, swung the door open and sprinted inside the building.
Ana, still standing at the top of the stairs, now began to run down them, grabbing her rifle from her back and jumping over the railings near the bottom. Once she reached the door, she grabbed the handle, pulling the door open and aimed inside, looking both ways and seeing no sign of Widow. She now moved inside, moving quickly to find her target, determined not to let her escape this time.
Meanwhile, back on the streets, Talon had secured their payload and were moving it forward through the district. They weren't able to move it far however, as Overwatch stood in their way, ready to fight. With two teams deployed and the third not responding, the attackers were being very cautious. They were down to 20, the size of a single team. Reaper was leading the charge, keeping the pressure on Overwatch while keeping himself behind the payload, denying the defenders a clear shot at him.
The payload was pushed through the archway, Reaper moving to the left and entering a open building. Using this building, he managed to get closer to the Overwatch team, running out and firing his shotguns behind it. Due to his distance, Reaper was unable to cause any serious damage, Reinhardt adjusting his barrier to block Reaper's shots. What this did manage however was to give the Talon troops room to push forward, since Overwatch was distracted with Reaper. However, as four of the troops moved up, they were immediately cut down, a mixture of Torb's turret and McCree's revolver halting their momentum. No matter what they did, they could not push forward any further.
Reaper noticed the troopers fall back slightly, groaning in frustration as he wraithed and moved back behind the archway. They were down to 16, no way could they win this now. Hell, Talon's troops tended to be all but useless against Overwatch at this point. He always seemed to be paired with the idiots Talon had in its ranks. These troops were falling way too fast and Overwatch were still at full strength. Fortunately, Reaper had planned for such an eventuality.
"Payloads going nowhere. Go to plan B!" He ordered the remaining troopers. No one argued, splitting up into smaller teams of three and moving away from the fight, one squad following Reaper. One trooper decided to avenge his fallen comrades, moving forward again, taking cover behind the payload before running into same building Reaper entered a few moments ago.
Reinhardt now lowered his barrier, seeing the Talon force retreat and turned to everyone else.
"Talon's up to something." He stated. "Reaper never just retreats like that."
Winston nodded. "Agreed..."
Before Winston could say another word, the Talon grunt primed a grenade and ran out of the building, sprinting towards the Overwatch team. However, Torb's turret quickly turned towards him and with no other targets present, killed him in seconds. As the grenade dropped, Rein raised his barrier, stopping it doing any harm to the team.
"Well, that achieved a lot." Torb said sarcastically, clearly amused with the desperate attempt to kill them.
Winston now continued. "Tracer, McCree, search the area and take down those remaining troopers. Mercy keep them covered. Rein, Torb, head back to the dropship and get it ready to leave." Torb responded by picking up his turret, not leaving it behind.
"What about you?" McCree asked, reloading his revolver after the last fight.
"I'm going to the church, see what intel Talon has lying around." Winston replied, gaining another short nod from McCree. The team now split up, Winston, Rein and Torb rushing off, while Tracer and McCree moved out slowly, checking corners for any sign of Talon. Mercy decided to follow McCree, knowing Tracer had a better idea of the area than him.
As the Overwatch team split up, Reaper had moved back towards the clock tower. The original plan was to cause as much damage to the area as possible. The payload was only one way to achieve this goal. As he approached the hotel, he turned to the three troopers following him.
"Head back to the dropship and prepare it for launch. Make sure it stays in one piece." The three troopers nodded, running off and leaving Reaper alone.
Reaper now began to move towards the hotel, intent on placing explosives on the top floor and detonating them once they were clear. However, in the corner of his eye, he was certain he saw something move. He checked behind him, before turning back and looking around the area. He moved on, cautious in case an Overwatch agent was planning to jump him. "Most likely Tracer." He thought to himself. He was unable to move less than three steps before something rolled into his path.
Reaper realised far too late what it was, as he was left blinded by it detonating.
At this point, Winston had arrived outside the church, keeping his weapon ready for any Talon forces. Once he stepped inside though, he was pleasantly surprised with the scene that greeted him. Talon soldiers lay dead around the room and at the back of the church stood one man, busy staring at a computer screen and typing on the attached keyboard. A pulse rifle was leaning against the wall and he was wearing a jacket with a large 76 on the back. Without turning around, he spoke up.
"Winston."
"Morrison."
Morrison turned around, facing Winston. "Nice work with Talon. Guess that tip I gave you payed off."
"So it was you." Winston said, walking over to the console. "How did you know Talon was going to hit here?"
"Me and Ana were watching a Talon facility we found about a week ago. They were gearing up for something but we didn't know what. I managed to sneak in and find out about a plan to attack here. I considered you were in the best position to stop them so... here we are." Morrison explained.
"So, why didn't you help?" Winston asked, analysing the console Morrison was standing next to.
"I was busy extracting intel from this thing. Turns out Talon's moving something out of the UK soon. It looks like this attack was a distraction for something, though the info on this terminal's encrypted, so I don't know what."
"Mind if I have a copy?" Winston asked, pointing towards the console. Morrison responded by handing him a small memory stick, pulling out another one from his jacket and plugging it into the computer.
"I'm surprised you didn't make a copy when you cleared out this place." Morrison said, copying the contents of the hard drive for a second time.
Winston looked at him, confused. "What do you mean? I thought you did this."
Morrison turned to Winston, now slightly on edge. "Well if you didn't do this and I didn't... who did?" He quickly turned back around, looking on the computer and finding some camera footage of the church.
Meanwhile, Tracer was busy checking the area near the local pub. She had almost finished and was about to move on, when she saw three Talon soldiers enter the pub. She quickly blinked up to the door, seeing two of the troops setting charges while the third ran upstairs, towards the back entrance. She readied her pulse pistols and blinked inside, firing at one trooper before he could react. The second manage to raise his weapon but was unable to use it, as Tracer blinked behind him and fired her guns.
As the second trooper fell, Tracer heard a shot from upstairs, followed by a short cry of pain. She guessed the the remaining trooper had found a civilian and shot him. Without hesitation, she blinked up the stairs, hoping that the civilian wasn't dead. However, upon her second blink, she came face to face with the barrel of a shotgun. The owner was wearing a black military uniform and his face was obscured by a gas mask. To his left was the Talon trooper, shot dead.
They stood there, analysing each other for a few moments. Lena honestly was a little scared, thinking that the unknown soldier in front of her was looking straight into her soul. After a few seconds, the soldier activated his radio.
"Pub's clear." With that, he gave Tracer a two finger salute, before turning and running out the door. As he turned, Lena managed to see two items printed onto his uniform. The first was the British flag. The second was three words.
Who dares wins.
Back in the church, Winston and Morrison were analysing the security footage. They watched as a team of six soldiers entered the church, threw in a few flashbangs, before storming in and killing all but three of Talon soldiers. They surrounded these three, forcing them to surrender.
"You know, for an international terrorist organisation, Talon don't have the brightest troops." Winston said, seeing nobody keeping an eye on the cameras.
"I think they pair the idiots with Reaper on purpose. Would explain why he's so angry all the time." Morrison joked, as he paused the security footage on one of the unknown soldiers, zooming in on him. Before he could comment though, Tracer contacted Winston.
"Winston, we need to get out of here now!" She said, rather sternly and quite out of character.
"Hold on Lena. There's unknown soldiers in the area, that might be a little risky." Winston replied, as Morrison tried to zoom the image in to identify the soldiers aleigence.
"That's the reason why!" Tracer answered back, her tone still very serious. "They're not just soldiers, they're the bloody SAS!"
Both Winston and Morrison looked at each other, just as the second copy of the intel completed.
"We need to leave." Morrison stated plainly.
"Agreed. Everyone, get to the dropship now!"
"Why are the SAS of all people here?" McCree asked, shocked that he was walking around with special forces prowling the streets. Torbjorn was the one who provided the answer.
"How long did you think it would take before someone reacted to Talons attacks? This is the British sending a message."
Morrison now pulled the second memory stick out from the computer, before contacting Ana.
"Ana, we need to go, UK special forces are here."
Ana was too occupied to answer properly, busy engaging Widowmaker in hand to hand combat. When she could, she simply clicked her earpiece, signaling that she understood.
Widow's rifle was thrown to the side of the corridor, while Ana's remained on her back, as they each tried to gain the upper hand over the other. Each woman managed to block the others punches, Widow attempting to kick Ana at on point, only for Ana to catch it, almost causing her to fall over. Eventually, Ana managed to out manoeuvre Widow, landing a large punch to Widow's head, causing her to lose balance just enough that Ana could grab her, slamming her head into a nearby doorframe. It was a heavy impact, that finally caused some damage to Widowmaker, though not physical damage.
Widow recoiled in pain, grabbing her rifle as she fell to the floor and aimed at Ana. She reacted by running down the corridor, taking cover as it turned to the left. Widow, now suffering from extreme pain pounding away in her head, crawled around the corner at the other side of the corridor, placing a venom mine as she leaned against the wall. She clutched her head, wiping away a small amount of blood from a cut, as she sat, the pain now unbearable.
"What is this?" She said quietly as she winced in pain, almost crying out as it worsened. Images were flashing before her eyes, too quickly to make any sense of them. The only thing she could make out was that one was a man, though she couldn't see who. Something had snapped and she knew it. As the pain somehow worsened again, she started to see images of herself, holding hands and laughing with that man.
"Gerard was a fool to ever love you!" Ana's statement cut straight through her pain, like a knife through butter and caused an almost automatic response from her.
"You don't know anything about him!" She almost screamed it out as the pain suddenly stopped, the images went and she returned to normal. She touched her head and realised it was damp with sweat. She wasn't even aware that she could sweat, her body too cold for it to occur naturally.
Widow suddenly realised what those visions were. They were memories of her old life... Amelie's life. Memories she should never have been able to see. That man must of be Gerard, there was no one else that could cause such a response. No one else that could cause so much pain. Her hands were shaking, her Vision was blurry, her body felt weak and at this point, the wall was the only thing holding her up.
"How? What's happening to me?" Widow asked herself, placing two fingers between her eyes and rubbing them to regain her vision. She breathed slowly, blinking a few times and checking the venom mine was still active.
Ana realised that something had happened. The cold, ruthless assassin just spoke to her with pure emotion. That was something Widowmaker could never do. She knew that she had to tread carefully.
"I know more than you think Widow."
Widow now stood up, using her rifle as a support for a moment and gained her breath as she slowly walked around the corner, during which Reaper contacted her.
"Widow, mission is scrubbed, I have your location, get to the roof now! Extraction in two minutes!" Reaper had escaped a SAS ambush and with so few troops left, he knew they had to leave now. Thankfully, Widow's thermal goggles had a tracker in them, just in case she was captured.
Widow wasn't quite finished however, walking towards Ana as she stepped out.
"Tell me, what do you think you know?" She asked, her composure finally restored and her body now acting normal again.
"I know that your still in there, somewhere, Amelie."
Widow scoffed. "Amelie is dead. Nothing you say will change that."
"Are you sure about that?" Ana's words hit her hard. Truth was, Widow wasn't sure. Not anymore, especially after what had just happened.
Before Widow could reply, she heard her venom mine detonate. She walked to the corner and prepared to fire at the coughing fool. However, instead she was greeted with a soldier in a gas mask, aiming his weapon straight at her.
Widow quickly fired her SMG, hitting the soldier but not stopping him, he fired back, missing Widow by inches as she ran forward. At this point Ana had vanished, somehow managing to hide herself inside one of the apartments. Widow ran to the roof access, sprinting up the stairs, the soldier she shot a mere few seconds behind her. He grabbed the railings, swinging himself up the stairs, two more SAS troopers behind him.
Widow was far quicker than the soldiers, reaching the top of the stairs and running back through the damaged door, not bothering attempting to close it. She ran to the edge of the roof, looking to the left and seeing the Talon dropship heading in her direction. She readied her grappling hook and fired once the dropship was close enough, anticipating its speed perfectly and grappling inside.
The soldiers behind her reached the roof just as she grappled away, firing at the dropship as it sped away. The three soldiers were breathing heavily.
"Bloody hell, she can move." The one said, amazed at how fast Widow could run.
On board the Talon dropship, Widow walked over to the back of the ship, leaning against the wall and sliding down it, sitting on the floor. She left her rifle leaning against the same wall as she tried to make sense of what she saw. Reaper walked over, intending to speak with her.
"This mission went to hell a little too quickly." Widow simply nodded slowly, not bothered about how the mission went right now.
"You okay?" Reaper asked, seeing something wasn't quite right with her.
"I'm fine." Widow simply replied. Reaper didn't say anything else, walking back to the front of the dropship. Widow simply stayed where she was, placing her head in one of her hands. She needed to talk to someone and only one person would understand.
Overwatch dropship- 10 minutes later
The Overwatch team all sat doing their own things. Torb was busy reading a book he started on the journey out. Reinhardt and McCree sat at the table, drinking. Mercy and Tracer were sat close by, talking among themselves, while Winston was facing a large screen, trying to decrypt the intel he had from the Talon computer.
Morrison and Ana had managed to slip away unnoticed, Winston losing contact once they left King's Row. Despite how difficult it would be for them to get away unnoticed, Winston guessed the two of them would be alright. After all, both of them had been ghosts for years.
"I've told you to be more careful Lena. You're lucky he didn't fire." Angela said, Lena telling her everything about the soldier she came face to face with.
"I know and I'm sorry... after that encounter I'm probably going to take your advice." Lena replied, still slightly shaken from staring down the barrel of a shotgun. "I don't think he was going to fire though... he had every opportunity to do so and once he lowered his gun he gave me a salute. He knew who I was."
"To be honest, it's not that difficult to recognise any of us when we're in uniform." McCree chipped in. "But Angela does have a point. You do run in to situations a little too quickly sometimes."
"Your both right." Lena replied. "I'll be more careful in future." Angela smiled and McCree returned to his drink.
"By the way, did you tell Emily that you'll be home late?" Angela added, smiling again as she leaned back.
"Oh, better do that now. Thanks for reminding me." Lena pulled out her phone, writing a message to her girlfriend.
Hey em
Need to lay low for a bit after the recent battle so won't be home for a day or two.
Sorry
Love ya :)
A couple of minutes later, she got a reply.
Don't worry about it Lena.
Shame though, I had a great plan for us tonight. I suppose it could wait a day or two.
Love you too ;)
"You two make a great couple." Angela said, winking at Lena.
Lena chuckled to herself, blushing slightly. "Thanks." She replied as she put her phone away. She hated having to leave Emily in the dark sometimes but at least she understood and supported her. She couldn't ask for a better girlfriend.
Winston meanwhile had finally found something in the Talon intel.
"Athena, you seeing this?" Winston asked.
"I am, though I do not recommend following this up. It is likely that the British military will also find out about this, if they don't know already." She replied.
"What you found big guy?" Lena asked.
Winston turned around, taking off his glasses. "According to this, the attack on King's Row was a diversion so Talon could transport something out of the country. There's a cargo ship leaving Liverpool soon that's carrying something referred to as Project Indigo."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lena asked.
"I don't think following this intel's a good idea Lena. We're not outfitted for a stealth mission and by time we're ready, the ship would of moved out of port, making it difficult to land on without being noticed."
"Luv, whatever this 'Project Indigo' is, we need to take it away from them. Talon could be making new weapons for all we know!" Lena argued.
"I know but it's too risky. Hopefully, the SAS will find the intel we have. I'll have Athena drop the British a hint in a couple of hours just to make sure." It was at this moment Lena had an idea. Someone from her past still owed her a favour.
"Winston. What if I knew a guy who could help?"