Widowmaker led Reaper onto the Mantis, her airship, a sleek thing with a few well-worn notches in the wings. It was beautiful, her own, a personal prize hidden deep in the facility she called home. Or at least, had called home. It was hard to think of this place as a haven anymore, what with the dead clones strewn down every corridor, the Japanese attack squad that had decimated their defences, and of course the machine army that was now cleaning up.

Omnics, she reminded herself. They were much, much more than simple machines.

She rushed through the cabin of the Mantis and reached the main console, where it took her only a few moments to activate the EMP blast. She fancied she could feel the wave as it reverberated outwards. She certainly heard it. Machines and their weapons instantly went silent, and the vast hangar felt emptier than it ever had before.

'That was impressive.' Reaper said, his voice echoing in her mind, a dark and grizzled thing.

She nodded. 'That was how we planned to fight the Omnics, initially. But now… well, the technology is hard to find, and harder to replicate. The Mantis is one of few airships fitted with it. A few moments to reboot the internals, and then…'

'The EMP doesn't stop the ship?' Reaper asked.

'No. Each piece of hardware is protected by an internal sheath. Smarter people than me designed it, but it works.'

The Mantis hummed to life a few seconds later, lights flashing on every surface, and a cool breeze running through the ventilation system. Widowmaker entered her password and the dashboard lit up.

'Go let the others in.' She instructed, and Reaper did as he was told. If any of them remain alive, she thought.

Luckily almost all of them had managed to hold against the Omnics. Junkrat had watched their backs, firing an endless stream of grenades down the corridor and laying whatever traps he had. The two younger clones had died – one decapitated by a falling robot, the other shot – which meant that Soldier 76, one of the first of his kind, was now one of the last. He had accumulated a scar on his forehead which Mercy seemed unable to heal. It made him look rather dashing, heroic, if even older than before.

Tracy was awake. She looked withdrawn, upset. But Widowmaker imagined that was probably a fair enough reaction, when her partner Genji had so recently been taken away. They had been lovers, Widowmaker guessed.

Still, there was something she didn't like about the young woman. A cockiness which came across in her English accent, bright and high-pitched even now, in her sadness. It was annoying to listen to. The girl was cute, yes, but that wasn't enough to make someone her friend.

'How long until the Omnics wake up?' Soldier 76 asked, joining Widowmaker at the console. He was one of few clones who had received lessons on flying. That had been years, and years ago, back when the government powers had hoped that the clones would be a suitable counter-weapon to the robots.

'A few minutes.' She said. 'Don't worry, we're leaving.'

Once everyone was on board, Road Hog bringing up the rear, Widowmaker lifted the Mantis into the air and, hovering in place, they turned to face the exit.

'We're going that way?' Soldier 76 asked. Below them the maze of stationary vehicles and piled-up crates of supplies looked much less dangerous. 'Shouldn't we open the door?'

The hangar door was a heavy blast door, concrete, almost impossible to open. Not like the main doors at the front of the facility. Widowmaker didn't even want to imagine the destruction that had taken place over there… Last time she'd seen it there had been a Japanese warship parked outside, vehicles of destruction firing back and forth, clones dying in their scores, smoke rising…

These doors could only be opened on foot, by someone standing at a control desk to the right of the doors. Widowmaker or 76 were the only ones with the passcodes.

'We'll get to that,' she replied, hovering closer to the exit, enjoying the sensation of controlling the Mantis. 'But first, what do you think of our new friends?'

76 turned, as if he could see the rest of the group through the walls that separated the cockpit and the cabins.

'Most of them seem like good people.' He admitted.

'I thought the same. That's what worries me. This group of good people arrive on our doorstep and from what you've told me we barely last another hour. They bring trouble.'

'Trouble answers to no man. In my experience it brings itself.'

Widowmaker smiled wryly. 'You're right. But these people certainly don't bring peace, either.'

'Are you saying we should dump them? I'm not sure I would be comfortable with that.'

'Not at all. I'm saying we should use them for as long as we can.'

'And then dump them?'

Widowmaker shrugged. 'If necessary.'

The Mantis was now stopped right by the hangar door. Widowmaker turned and led Soldier 76 back to the cabins, where they found Mercy, Road Hog, Junkrat, Tracy, and Reaper sitting very quietly.

'What are we waiting for?' Junkrat asked.

'Soldier 76 is going to get the doors.' Widowmaker informed them. 76 saluted, then went to the back of the airship. He opened the loading door and stepped out onto the pile of cartons that Widowmaker had stopped next to. From here it was a short climb to the hangar doors console.

'Right, so then what?' Tracy asked. 'There are a lot of people on this ship. Lots of very different people. We need to decide where we're going. I vote we go after Genji.'

'We're not just gonna run after Genji.' Junkrat rolled his eyes, his antagonising expression only causing Tracy more distress. 'He lied about who he was, and got himself killed. The rest of us need to look out for the rest of us.'

'So what? He was still part of the group!' Tracy exclaimed. 'And besides, I've lied about who I am, too!'

This brought a moment of silence among those gathered. They looked at her expectantly. Finally, sighing, she opened up.

'My real name is Lena Oxton. My call sign was Tracer, which is why Genji and I used Tracy as my false name. I'm a pilot… sort of. I was supposed to join Overwatch when I…'

'Overwatch?' Junkrat shouted. Road Hog spat on the floor of the Mantis. Widowmaker eyed him unpleasantly as Junkrat continued. 'Are you fucking kidding? You were one of those maniacs? That explains everything!'

'I never did!' Tracy – Lena – replied. 'They were disbanded before I was old enough.'

Mercy had exchanged a look with Reaper. 'What is Overwatch?'

Widowmaker stared at the blonde. Beautiful she might be, but apparently the healer lived beneath a rock. She was no child. She was old enough to remember Overwatch, to remember what had happened before the Fallout…

'Overwatch,' Junkrat scowled, 'is the reason for all this. The reason the sky went grey for weeks, the reason the robots turned against us, the reason hover cars crashed to ground and the undead walk the earth. Overwatch is…'

'Shut up!' Tracy shouted back. She looked close to tears. 'Shut up, it's not true.'

Road Hog's booming voice cut through their argument. 'Everyone knows it's true.'

'Actually,' Widowmaker said, 'it's not.'

Finally, a brief moment of silence. They all looked at her. None looked more confused than Mercy, and she was the one who captured Widowmaker's attention, so Widowmaker took the story right back to the beginning. At least as far as she knew the story went.

'Many years ago, decades, the world started to divide. There were too many people, close to eight billion, and not enough resources or money or time to look after them all. Organisations began springing up on every continent, in every country, every city. Secret, sometimes, or overt in the case of others. And all with different agendas. Some of these organisations wanted peace, others destructions, and some wanted to wipe out millions of people to bring our population under control. They spoke of diseases, famines, wars. Nightmares.'

Widowmaker shuddered. She remembered some of those dark times from when she had been a child. France had had its fair share of villains. She remembered some other times from her early days as a Special Agent.

'Overwatch was created to save people. A team of highly gifted, highly trained, highly dangerous individuals. Mostly scientists, with a few warriors in there too. Reinhardt, of course, was incredible. He was my hero growing up. And then there was the brilliant Winston, deadly Ana, gracious Symmetra...'

'What happened to them?' Mercy asked, voice full of innocence.

'They died.'

'All of them?'

'Most of them.'

Junkrat made a tsk noise. 'Hold on. You skipped the part where they cause the end of the world.'

Widowmaker sighed sadly. 'Overwatch were framed for that. The media latched on to their every move, made it look like they had caused the very damage they were onsite to stop. Overwatch continued, of course, for as long as it could. A lot of governments around the world had invested their time and money into the program, they couldn't simply let it go. It was the United Nations of peacekeeping organisations. But eventually it had to be disbanded.'

'And what makes you an authority on Overwatch?' Junkrat asked.

Widowmaker raised an eyebrow. 'I was one of the agents tasked with bringing them down.'

It took the group a few moments to get past this particular rush of information. Lena Oxton, or Tracy, whatever her name was, looked especially wounded, as if Widowmaker had slapped her.

'Why would you do it?'

'I didn't. Or at least I stopped as soon as I could.'

'Who was bringing them down?' Mercy asked.

'A rival organisation, called Talon. They had a lot less media presence, and a lot less authority, but a lot more money. Some very rich, very important people around the world wanted Overwatch out of the way. And eventually they got their wish.'

At that moment Soldier 76 climbed back onto the loading ramp of the Mantis, and clicked it shut behind him.

'Doors are open.' He grunted. Then, looking around the group, he asked, 'what have we been talking about?'

'Our destination.' Widowmaker answered. 'Japan.'

There was a murmur of confusion between the others. As before it was Junkrat who spoke his indignation, while Road Hog and Reaper remained quiet, their thoughts unreadable.

'Japan?' The Australian Junker asked. 'Why the fuck would we go there?'

'I can think of five reasons,' Widowmaker raised her hand. 'First, I am the pilot, and that is where I want to go. Second, it is the only remaining nation that still maintains a full civilisation. Third, Tracy wants to get Genji back, and that is where he will be. Fourth, we need answers, and I promise you that they lie in Japan. Why else would it be the only country to survive the Fallout, as well as the Omnic uprising?'

'And five?' Tracy/Lena asked.

'I can't remember.'

Widowmaker piloted the Mantis out the doors of the side-hangar of the facility. They were on a different side of the mountain than they had been an hour earlier. Unable to help her curiosity Widowmaker directed the ship around a quick lap of the facility.

The back doors were abandoned, flung open, with no one still around. The Japanese warship which had landed there with Hanzo on board had left with Genji some time ago. It looked almost peaceful on this side of the rocky outcrop.

On the other side was a very different vision. The first Japanese warship, the one which had attacked the facility head on, was still parked outside the front entrance. It was in ruins, smoke billowing into the air. It would probably never leave the ground again. Scattered around it were the bodies of a hundred clones, a few dozen Japanese soldiers, and many more Omnics. These robots had not been affected by the EMP, and were very much alive. They clambered over the warship, tearing it apart, building new Omnics to increase their army. And still more were rolling in from the West, an endless river of them stretching further than Widowmaker could see.

'Unbelievable.' Soldier 76 breathed. There was great sorrow in his voice. Many of his brothers, his family, had died in that battle.

'You know,' Widowmaker remarked, 'we may be the last living people in America.'

She directed the Mantis upwards, angling toward the atmosphere. They would hang close to the Earth's gravitational pull for a few hours, then dive back in when they were over Japan. It was the way the Mantis had been designed to travel, and it was extremely fast, not to mention calming.

'Not for much longer.' 76 replied.

Widowmaker thought of her conversation with the others, explaining the history of Overwatch. It was an organisation she had grown up admiring, much like Tracy, but her admiration had been beaten out of her. Her time with Talon was all that lingered now, a blotch at the forefront of her mind that reminded her she would never really be free. Her evil deeds may have been in the past, but they were catching up.

She did remember the fifth reason to go to Japan, but she had not wanted to tell the others. Murder is a bad way to end a conversation, and assassination isn't much better.

But she was the Widowmaker, after all. And she had a job to do.