Hey there guys, quick author's note before we begin. There might be some information that isn't entirely correct in the story in regards to the time itself. We don't have a lot of specific information in regards to when certain events happen in the timeline outside of character ages and the creation and fall of Overwatch. So if there's any information I get incorrect or do not mention, please let me know in the comments. With that said, I won't waste any more of your time. Hope y'all enjoy.
I do not own any characters or locations within this story, only original characters. Overwatch is owned by Blizzard Entertainment.
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Chapter 1: Guilt
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Location: King's Row, London, United Kingdom
Date: Present Day, 2074
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Lena Oxton awoke from another nightmare, sweat running down her skin as she wipes her brow. Another nightmare of the very night she witnessed Mondatta's death, a death she couldn't stop. She takes a breath and holds her head, sobbing quietly. The sight of the omnic monk shot dead before her very eyes, lodged deep in her subconcious. She felt a hand on her shoulder making her look behind to see her red headed, freckled girlfriend, Emily.
"Lena, had another nightmare?" Emily asked, concern in her voice as Lena placed a hand over hers.
Lena nods. "The same one. I keep seeing him Emily, I keep seeing Mondatta..." She states, taking a breath before letting Emily's hand go. "I know it's already been days, but I just can't get it out of my head."
"Lena, we've been over this love. It wasn't your fault. You did everything you could." Emily assured her.
Lena nodded but she didn't truly listen, she looked up to her walls, looking at all of the old photos of her and the Overwatch crew. She sighs before laying back into bed, her mind spinning out of control over the thoughts of what has happened. "I keep asking myself, what if Overwatch was still around? Would he still be alive?" She asks.
"I'm not sure love." Emily states somberly. "I want to tell you yes, but I honestly don't know." She says getting out of their bed. "I'll get a pot of tea ready, why not watch something on the telly, that should help some."
Lena grabbed the remote control and turned on her television, skimming through channels before stopping on the news. She witnesses a woman talking about a situation going on in Russia, commenting about relations between humans and omnics. Lena sighed before looking back at her old photos, looking back at her old friends. Her times with the gorilla, or all the laughs she had with the large, bearded man. She sighs, looking over to her old communicator, a small circular device with a black screen on it, remembering all the times she'd talk with her old friends on it, all the times she would sneak calls with Emily on the device, she chuckles quietly.
After a few minutes Emily returns with two mugs full of tea, she hands one to Lena before sitting back down on her bed. "Blimey..." Emily stated looking over the news report. "Things are getting out of control all over the world." She says before taking a sip of her tea. "Things are that bad in Russia, what's stopping all of this hitting King's Row?"
"Or all of London." Lena added sipping her tea. "The world needs more heroes. The world needs Overwatch again." She adds, setting the mug down.
"Lena, you know the Petras act has forbidden all Overwatch activity." Emily states, concern in her voice.
"I know Emily, I just...I just can't continue to stand by while all of this happens." Lena explains pointing to the television. "I hate just...sitting here, watching the world fall apart in front of us." She states before feeling Emily's hand over hers.
"I know that, you're a hero through and through. Your heart is in the right place, it's just...the world doesn't want heroes anymore." Emily explains.
The couple sit there in silence for a moment before the silence is broken by a quiet beeping sound. Lena looks over to see her communicator flashing an image of the gorilla from her photos. She beams seeing the face and quickly answers the call. "Winston? Is that you, love?" Lena asks getting a smirk from Emily. "Oh, it's been too long!" She continues as she lays her head on Emily's lap, happy to hear from her old friend.
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Location: King's Row, London, United Kingdom
Date: 3 days after Recall, 2074
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Lena found herself packing the last of her belongings, sighing happily as Emily walks into the room. Lena looks to her and gives her a toothy grin.
"Someone's happy." Emily jokes getting a peck on the cheek from Lena.
"This is exactly what we needed Emily. Winston finally initiated the recall, we're getting the team back together." Lena states zipping around the room, blinking around, gathering the rest of her supplies.
Lena was always a girl who lived life on the fast lane. She got her first motorcycle at the age of seventeen, then she joined the Royal Air Force as a test pilot gaining her callsign "Tracer." Afterwards she became the youngest member ever inducted into Overwatch, joining them for an experimental flight program. Overwatch handpicked her to test out their newest prototype of a teleporting fighter, the Slipstream. However, during the first flight, the Slipstream's teleportation matrix malfunctioned, and disappeared. Months later, Lena reappeared, but her molecules began to desynchronize from the flow of time, turning her into a living ghost. She was luckily saved by Winston, having built a device called the chronal accelerator that would allow her to stay anchored to the present day. This also allowed her to control her own time, allowing her to speed it up and slow it down at will.
"It'll be so good to see everyone again. Angela, Reinhardt, Vivian. Overwatch, back again!" She cheered, zipping around before closing her suitcase.
"I know, I know. Just...promise me that you'll be safe." Emily said hugging her girlfriend. "You already need a chronal accelerator to keep you here with me, I don't want to lose you permanently." She said, her voice getting shaky.
Lena looked over to Emily before planting a small kiss on her lips. "I'll be safe Emily. I'll give you a call the moment I meet up with Winston." Lena says giving Emily one last hug. "Well, I gotta run. Love you!" She says before zipping out at lightning speed getting a "Bye!" from Emily.
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Lena continued to travel the streets of King's Row, taking in the sights of her beloved city. Traversing the narrow streets, passing by Eberle and Sons, a local brewery that's been around since the early years of King's Row. She stops for a moment as she takes notice of the theatre, The Meridian. What she remembered was a local theatre that she and Emily use to go to every year, now a gravesite for the late Tekhartha Mondatta. The memory hits her like a ton of bricks, the sight of the bullet going through Mondatta, the woman that shot him, her cold smirk. A tear is shed from Lena as she steps into an alley to have a private cry.
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Location: King's Row, London, United Kingdom
Date: 4 days before recall, 2074
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A large crowd of people gather around the local theatre, The Meridian. Omnics and humans alike gathering, with signs and banners stating messages for peace, cheering for someone named Tekhartha Mondatta. Lena walks through the crowd, giving a quick wave to a little girl that had noticed her, she gives a smile as she sees the man that everyone was cheering for. The man was an omnic, an robotic humanoid A.I. He appears to be wearing a black and white robe, his face was a metallic white with yellow portions that acted like a mouth. The crowd went silent as Mondatta reached the potium, he looks to the crowd before raising an arm.
"Human. Machine. We are all one within the Iris." Mondatta speaks getting a cheer from the crowd. "Before me I see the future, humans and omnics standing together, united by compassion, by common hopes and dreams." He continues as he sees the crowd of people in peace, some people holding hands, omnics and humans hugging, and some quietly cheering.
Lena couldn't help but feel a cold chill down her neck, as if something was out of place. She noticed one of Mondatta's guards answer his earpiece, making her look around, noticing that one of the snipers from Mondatta's security team was not at his post. Sensing that something is wrong, she makes her way, leaving the crowd and walking into the darkness, traversing the dark alleys of King's Row. Climbing fences, running on walls, and running the rooftops, Lena noticed that most of Mondatta's security team has been incapacitated. She squints her eyes before noticing a figure, a slender framed woman, with long dark hair, a skin-tight purple body suit, and purple-blue skin. The woman appears to be hanging upside-down, holding a sniper rifle, aiming in the direction of Mondatta, the woman readies to pull the trigger, but Lena zips in and begins to fire at the woman, pulling out her pulse pistols.
The woman getting caught off guard by Lena quickly moves down the building she was hanging from, taking a couple shots at Lena before smashing through a window. Lena catches up to her, and gives her a smirk.
"Trying to crash the party, love?" She asks before firing her pulse pistols at the sniper.
The sniper flips over the railing, dodging the attack. Lena quickly blinks towards the railing, only to get kicked in the face by the sniper who ascends the building using her grappling hook. Lena quickly recovers and gives chase, avoiding the barrage of bullets that the sniper is firing. She quickly makes her way to the top floor, finding an open door to access, however the shooter had intended for her to come from that passage and catches her by surprise. Luckily Lena dodges the attack, quickly turning her communicator on to the security channel.
"Mondatta is in danger, shooter on the roof! I repeat, shooter on the roof!" She exclaims as the sniper continues to send a flurry of bullets to Lena's location.
"This is a secure channel, no one's a-" A male voice says before Lena cuts him off.
"Mondatta's in danger, get him out of here!" Lena exclaims as another barrage of bullets is fired at her.
The sniper continues to rain bullets on Lena, slowly backing up as she continues the assault. After a moment she then begins to run away, continuing on to assault some guards that begun to awaken. Lena realizes that the bullets have stopped and gives chase, running after the woman on rooftops, keeping up with her. As Lena fired her pulse pistols, the sniper lodged something into one of the walls of the rooftops, Lena however did not notice this and after crossing to the next rooftop is assaulted by a purple mist, causing her to stumble and fall. Her breathing slows, her coughing gets louder, she thinks to herself that she must've been poisoned. She feels a boot pressed against her shoulder and the barrel of a gun pressed to her head.
"Such a sweet, foolish girl." The sniper whispers in her thick French accent. She goes to pull the trigger, but Lena was quick enough to rewind her time, avoiding the purple mist entirely.
"What's that?" Lena asks mockingly as she fires another bullet at the sniper, hitting a gas canister behind her to shroud her in smoke. Lena follows the attack by lobbing a small device towards the sniper. The smoke clears, giving the sniper a clear view of the device. Quickly firing at it with her rifle, the device explodes in a ball of fire and smoke, knocking Lena off the rooftop. Lena quickly regains consciousness to witness the sniper aiming her gun directly at her. Time begins to feel as if it's slowing around Lena, this sniper was about to shoot her dead, her thoughts were cut short as the sound of the gun firing a bullet was made. She quickly used her chronal accelerator to blink out of the way.
The sniper lands and Lena lands on the rooftop with her, she hears the sound of people screaming in fear, getting her to look over the side of the building and witness the horror of what's happened. She sees the body of Mondatta, resting at the cab, a bullet hole in his head.
"Looks like the party is over." the sniper stated, chuckling to herself.
Lena was panicking, she was aiming for Mondatta through her, and because of her, Mondatta is dead. She glares at the woman and blinks to her, tackling her to the ground as she pins the woman down.
"Why?!" Lena screams, demanding an answer from the assassin. "Why would you do this?" She asks, her voice shaking.
The sniper chuckles as a light begins to glow behind Lena, what looks to be an aircraft has arrived and has shone it's light on the two women. Lena feels a tug on her collar as she's brought face-to-face with the woman. The woman gives Lena a cold smirk, and says one last thing to her. "Adieu, cherie." And before Lena can react, she's pulled over the building and slammed into the wall, her back smashing on the bricks and her chronal accelerator smashed into her chest. She freefalls to the ground, her face hitting the cobblestone streets, her face goes numb, her head aches, and the only image in her mind is the corpse of Mondatta.
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Location: King's Row, London, United Kingdom
Date: 3 days after Recall, 2074
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Lena sits in the alley, tears in her eyes before wiping them off. She fixes herself up before continuing to make her way to Bell, a local fish and chips store. As she takes a look at the building, she notices a large figure in a trench coat and fedora, out of one of those old noir films. She notices the figure before getting a closer look at the figure, the man is not even a man, but a gorilla. She smiles and walks over to the large figure, taking a seat the table with the ape.
"Don't you think that outfit is a little too suspicious, Winston?" Lena whispers to the disguised figure.
"Some people may not...exactly welcome my appearance without this disguise." Winston explains getting a chuckle from Lena.
"How have you been, love?" She asks looking to Winston, a big smile on her face. "Is it really true, you're bringing Overwatch back?"
Winston takes a breath for a moment, thinking about his words before nodding. "Yes. The world needs us, whether they want us or not." He explains. "There's a second omnic crisis on the rise, and without us, the world won't survive. And by the looks of it, Talon's involved with it."
Lena's eyes widen, her mouth goes wide. "Talon?" She asks. "What makes you think that?"
"I'm not too sure, but I had an attack at base. One of Talon's agents tried to hack into our database." Winston explained, sipping his drink. "I was lucky to hear from you, I still haven't gotten any word on the others." He continued getting a worried look from Lena.
"So...you mean...it's just us?" She asks processing this new information.
Winston nods. "For now, we can't lose faith yet." He explains as Lena catches her breath.
Lena nods as she looks into her reflection in her drink. She ponders over the events that happened days ago, thinking about the woman and Mondatta. "First the hit on Mondatta, now Talon trying to steal our database. What's that woman's connection? What did Talon want with our?" She thought to herself, trying to put the pieces together. "Winston, mind if I ask you a question, love?"
He nods, giving her a smile. "Of course. What's on your mind?" He asks looking back to his old friend.
Lena thinks about her words, looking back at the events that have happened, the words Emily has told her, and how going back to Overwatch may affect her life. She takes a breath before speaking her mind.
"You've heard of what happened back at the Meridian a few days ago?" She asks getting a nod from Winston. "Well, that night I saw his killer, a woman with blueish skin, she was a sniper, and I don't think she was alone." She explained getting a surprised look from Winston. "I tried to fight her off, but she beat me. Tried to shoot me, I was quick enough to blink out of the way, but she shot Mondatta instead." She explained.
Winston put a hand over Lena's hand, his giant paw dwarfing her own. He gives her a nod and furrows his brows. "I understand what you're thinking to yourself. You think you got Mondatta killed, that it's your fault, and that it should've been you instead of him." He states. "But it isn't your fault. You had no control, this is why we need Overwatch back. The world needs us more than ever."
Lena listens to his word, a smile coming to her face. "Emily said the same thing. I mean...I know that it wasn't really my fault, but I just keep thinking to myself that I wasn't fast enough, I could've saved him." She mutters, her voice getting shaky. "I wonder to myself, what if I didn't move? What if I got shot?"
Winston looks to her, taking a breath before giving her a reassuring smile. "This is the line of being a hero. This is why we need to work together, to prevent any more incidents like Mondatta. The world needs us, all of us." He stated.
The moment was silent, the weight of Winston's words resting on her shoulders. She thinks for a moment before giving Winston a smile. "You're right. The world needs more heroes." She answers getting a chuckle from Winston.
"So then, should I continue to call you by name then?" Winston asks smirking at her before she gives him a smirk back.
"Tracer will do." Lena answers. She gets up from her seat before looking to Winston. "Well then, what're we waiting for? We got people to find Winston." She answers before Winston gets up, following Lena back to the ship.
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And that's the conclusion of chapter 1. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as I enjoyed writing it. I'm getting back to the rhythm of everything after being gone for so long, but I know I still got more to remember. But I hope you all still enjoyed this and last chapter. You guys have yourselves a great day and stay safe out there.
-Kris ;)