"Kallista is moving on her mission," Morrison began.
"Here I was wanting to surprise you with good news," Gabriel replied.
"Word travels fast when one of our agents has been recruited to help her," Morrison replied with a sigh.
"She's working with severely limited resources. I appreciate you giving her what she needs to make this shit go away," Gabriel replied.
"Yeah. It only makes sense with the dilemma around the world. She can have anything she needs," Morrison replied. "On a side note have you contacted Verona?"
"Yep. I got her in contact with Kallista and also changed some of the grounded agents to help with the cybersecurity of the local governments," Gabriel began. "Just to prepare for whatever happens after Kallista completes her mission,"
"Do you think she'll do it?" Morrison questioned.
"I don't know why she wouldn't be able to do it," Gabriel replied. Morrison sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"That's not what I asked you, Gabriel,"
It was Gabriel's turn to lean back in his chair, he silently studied the man, although they were friends the situation called for the man to stay true to his role in Overwatch, Strike Commander.
"Yes. She can and will do it," Gabriel replied.
"Is that an answer based on her ability and skill or your belief in her because of your intimate relationship?" Morrison questioned.
"Based on her ability and skill she will complete the task given to her. Failure is not an option in Blackwatch," Gabriel replied firmly despite being slightly offended that the man would bring in his relationship with Kallista.
"We cannot drop the ball here Gabriel," Morrison sighed. "They are discussing cutting funding to establish a new means to protect its member states,"
Gabriel remained unfazed at the mention of funding being cut, he already knew that budget cuts were inevitable his division already felt the effects of the cuts. He already knew what loomed on the horizon.
"I knew this was coming and I'm still crying," Tali laughed slightly as she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"I know, I know, but look on the bright side of things. When I get back, we're gonna have one hell of a honeymoon," Daniel reassured his new wife, Tali.
"I swear if you don't follow through with that, I'm gonna murder you myself," Tali threatened, Daniel, laughed and kissed her forehead.
"Wait for me…ok?" Daniel smiled. Hesitantly, Tali nodded as she stared up at the taller man, her husband.
"Good girl," Daniel murmured softly and kissed her, Tali immediately responded to the kiss by wrapping her arms around the man's neck as he leaned down.
"Alright, alright you love birds. Y'all can fuck when he gets back,"
Tali immediately broke the kiss and her cheeks aflame with embarrassment.
"Don't be jealous Kyle" Daniel shouted at the man leaning out the window of the transport vehicle. The man Kyle grinned from ear to ear as he looked down at Daniel.
"I'll be back. I promise," Daniel gave Tali one more kiss before he hesitantly stepped back and began towards the vehicle. Tali watched as her husband got into the vehicle and waved goodbye.
"Konrad Welcome back,"
"Thanks, Hans," Konrad grinned as he slipped on his old lab coat.
"It's Dr. Han," Han replied. Konrad grinned at the woman and in turn, the woman sighed annoyed with the man's shit-eating grin already.
"I hope you haven't forgotten anything since you've been away," Dr. Han began as she began down the halls of the med wards.
"Nope, have we been swamped?" Konrad questioned
"See for yourself," Dr. Han replied as she opened the door to one of the medical wards. Konrad's eyes widened in shock as the number of wounded agents and staff on the various beds.
"What the hell happened, are we at war or something?" Konrad turned to the stoic woman.
"Not entirely…but something is coming," Dr. Han began as she entered the ward, Konrad followed behind her.
"There's an influx of civil unrest around the world, so I would not be surprised if war was right behind it,"
"I like how nonchalant you are about this Doc," Konrad joked, the woman suddenly stopped and turned to face him.
"Unlike Dr. Ziegler, there is no room for emotions, just action. There is no room for stress when it comes to saving a life or doing our duties," Dr. Han began. "With that being said, please review the charts of those who are supposed to be discharged today. You know the drill," Dr. Han said as she began the opposite way of Konrad.
"Right into the fire. Ok, I see you Doc," Konrad said as he went over to the main kiosk, cleansed his hands before he grabbed his datapad and opened the first patient's file.
"Back to work,"
"Hayden, I heard about what happened but…"
"JR…I…saw my father during that mission…I…" Hayden blurted. The man JR looked down at Hayden stunned back at the sudden confession.
"Did…did you tell Reyes?" JR questioned cautiously. They knew that Hayden never spoke about their father despite the innocent questions asked. He had been lucky enough to learn the name of their father.
"I…I didn't," Hayden replied, almost defeated.
"Mahal…" JR began.
"It's not that simple. I just can't go up to Reyes and say 'Hey so my father isn't dead like I thought, he also is working for Talon and tried to kill me' how am I supposed to explain that?" Hayden sighed. "How do I tell my mother? Lee?!" Hayden sighed. JR was silent as he stared down at Hayden as they blurted out what was on their mind.
"How…How do I explain this to the man I look up to as a father figure?" Hayden began. "How do I tell him about my real father…who I thought was dead is alive and is on the side of the enemy?"
JR sighed softly and extended a hand for Hayden to take, Hayden took a moment to look at the man's hand before they placed their hand into his. The man pulled Hayden into their arms and squeezed them tightly.
"We'll figure out a way to tell Reyes, but we have to tell him," Jr began quietly, Hayden sighed softly as they relaxed into the man's embrace.
"I know…" Hayden replied softly.
"We can do it together," JR murmured.
"Koibito…thank you,"
"Yo McCree, I heard you got nice and close with the new agent, Cruz was it?"
"Badem you don't know how to keep your mouth closed do you?" Jesse smirked as he shook his head.
"Closed mouths don't get fed," Badem grinned. "Besides I heard it through the grapevine,"
"And that consists of?" Jesse asked.
"He means Flannigan and Bondevik,"
"There's a reason I said the grapevine, Marla," Badem huffed at the bulkier woman at her locker.
"It's not that hard to figure it out. You three gossip worse than little girls," Another voice spoke.
"Blow it out of your ass Sassani," Badem snorted at the comparison and tried to playfully swipe at the woman. The woman quickly grabbed the man's wrist and painfully twisted it, the man yelped in pain, and with a smirk she relented.
"Come on you two, we don't need anyone damaged on the field," Rodel suddenly spoke up.
"It was self-defense," Sassani shrugged as she closed her locker.
"I didn't know y'all kept tabs on me like that," Jesse chuckled. "Makin' me feel mighty special,"
"There are just some people that are just as fucking nosey as Malik and the Director, they need to know who's fucking who," another agent who had been mostly silent spoke up. Jesse flinched.
"Cañal…"
"Cañal, hell I forgot you were here for a moment," Badem spoke up
"It happens," the man shrugged.
"Either way…" Rodel began.
"Didn't McCree hate the girl's guts at one point and now he's trying to get into those faux leather pants to rearrange them," Marla began.
"Hey now-" Jesse began, his cheeks a dusty rose color from embarrassment.
"We all know that McCree is an ass guy and well Moira Cruz has got that ass," Badem replied.
"I mean it's true but-" Jesse coughed
Although he was becoming the butt of the oncoming roast session, he had to admit that he enjoyed moments like this before the start of a mission. Despite the casualties or injuries from their previous missions, they all kept each other going, motivated, alive. He could feel, sense something big that would rock the foundation of Overwatch to its core and in the process destroy Blackwatch.
He wanted to believe that Reyes had a backup plan, an emergency contingency plan, or even hell Lyuda or even Kallista had a backup plan for keeping Blackwatch on its feet. He promised himself that he would be at Reyes' side till the end regardless of what would happen.
"I could hear you lot in the hall, what the hell are y'all doing?" Natalie's voice had cut through the raucous laughter of the crew.
"Aye! There's that Southern Snake herself!" Badem called out.
"You make me sound like I'm a villain of some sort," Natalie grinned.
"After all the shit you pulled on us...you might as well be," Badem scoffed.
"Hey, Nattie. You joinin' us again?" Marla began.
"I haven't decided yet," Natalie smiled.
"Without these numbnuts -"
Jesse remained quiet as the woman began to converse with the other agents she had worked with nearly a year ago. He and Reyes spoke about the woman in a casual sense, Reyes mentioned that he believed the woman would not come back and had already accepted as much. She had too much to live for, too much to let go.
Though she hid her intentions well he could see what Reyes did, she had other things in mind for herself that didn't involve being on the field.
"Yo McCree. Lemme talk to you a sec-" Natalie began as she grinned at the unsuspecting man.
"Careful Nattie. He's dating someone now," Badem teased.
"Shut up," Jesse scoffed.
"Oooh...you're gonna have to tell me all about that," Natalie said as she looped one of her arms into his.
"Huh?"
"Awh...Natalie is up to no good. This should be good," Sassani smirked.
"Hey, I'm a good girl now," Natalie gave the woman a toothy smile before she began to drag the larger man from the locker room.
"C'mon now Nattie, I got a mission to get prepped for or Reyes is gonna have my ass," Jesse sighed.
"I need you to tell me things. I need you to tell me what the hell happened since I've been gone" Natalie began, the playfulness she had moments ago gone. Jesse sighed.
"Where do I even start?"
"How about what's going on with Reyes. That sounds like a good starting point," Natalie replied firmly and crossed her arms.
"Well...we all have these theories," Jesse began.
Carmelo sighed annoyed at the fact he had to stop by his office due to an anomaly on his personal computer. He knew that he could have just called in tech support to look into it but the anomaly ping came from his personal files and sky-rocketed his paranoia and concern about the security in his own systems. Per the situation, with his partner, he knew he was lucky to not have suffered any additional attacks on his grid but there was always something gnawing at the back of his mind.
With a sigh, Carmelo punched in the code to his office and stopped in the doorway.
"Who are you?"
Kallista sat casually on the man's desk, face concealed by a holographic mask, her legs crossed over one another and her hands placed in her lap. Instead of the casual clothing she had been wearing since her mission started, she was dressed from head to toe in black. She had donned the prototype NYX suit that the R&D Division had been working on for years after studying what the Helios Elemental engine could do and learning the intricacies of the cloaking device she needed to field test it.
"Again, who are you," Carmelo started again.
"It doesn't matter who I am. The look on your face already tells me that you know who I am," Kallista began, her voice distorted. Carmelo took a step forward and gave a hearty laugh.
"I will say you have guts for thinking you can just walk into my office and think you can scare me shitless," Carmelo began. "Did that bitch Pavetti send you or was it her whore of a girlfriend?
The mention of Quinn Pavetti and Mireya Detslova immediately caught Kallista's attention as the man just confirmed they were indeed connected.
"It sounds like you already have me figured out," Kallista replied sarcastically.
"I knew they wouldn't let me keep my discovery to myself," Carmelo began as he approached his desk. "So what are you here for? I'm not really fond of killing the messenger,"
"No one dies as long as you reign in the Cheshire cat," Kallista replied as she slid off the desk all while keeping her attention focused on the man.
"Hah! Stop the Cheshire cat and give it to them? Fuck them," Carmelo snorted.
"Stop the Cheshire cat and I'll disappear from your office and you'll never see me again," Kallista began.
Carmelo stood adjacent to her; his eyes trained on her as if he was trying to figure out her identity. Kallista placed a hand on her hip as she eyed the man from head to toe.
"I don't take lightly to being told what to do," Carmelo began.
"Well you can keep this charade if you would like, but your friends and your partner will be taken down one by one…leaving just you," Kallista explained as she held up five fingers and lowered them until there was one
"It's up to you …but they are onto you…we are on to you,"
Without warning, Carmelo dashed the woman and threw a right hook. Using her quick honed agility Kallista avoided the punch and the series of blows that followed. Kallista quickly retreated back from the man.
"I said I wasn't one for killing the messenger, but I'll make an exception just one," Carmelo began as he threw off his jacket to reveal two cybernetic arms.
"Oh…you're packing heat," Kallista commented as she quickly thought back to the initial meeting in Italy. There were no signs of the man having any cybernetic parts on his body, with this new revelation she knew that she was at a disadvantage against the man and hoped that her back up would arrive soon.
"I'm going to break you and send you back to that bitch in a nice little box," Carmelo charged Kallista again. Keeping light on her feet she maintained a defensive stance and braced herself for the fight, even with her enhanced strength she would not be able to overpower him.
Though she blocked and dodged the man's attacks the shockwaves of each blocked punch was muted by the shields and stabilizers in her suit. She could still feel some of the impact but not enough to interrupt her stance or her ability to respond, but she knew without the suit her bones would have shattered from the impact.
Dodging a punch aimed for her head, she roundhouse kicked and went for a concussive punch of her own, the hit connected but the larger man was only stunned for a moment. Kallista took the chance to deliver another concussive punch to the man to knock him out but her first was caught right before it connected with his gut.
"Cute,"
With her wrist in his hand, he grabbed the front of her jacket and threw her into the desk. A surprised and pained squawk shot from Kallista collided with the desk and slid over it. Carmelo silently stalked over to his desk ready to finish off the so-called assassin, when suddenly Kallista leaped over the desk with a punch aimed for the man's neck.
A choked noise came from the man as her punch connected, she quickly followed up with a spinning back elbow to the side of the man's head and finished with another concussive punch. Again the man caught her punched and simply backhanded her as he held on to her fist, though he held on to her fist she stumbled.
"There it is…that face…" Carmelo began as he grinned ear to ear. Kallista's holographic mask had disengaged revealing her eyes but the rest of her face remained concealed by another mask. She angrily stared back at the man, daggers in her eyes.
"I knew you were a woman but those eyes I've seen before," Carmelo began.
"They'll be the last thing you see," Kallista growled as the generator on her back sparked to life and immediately sent a stream of electricity through her suit. The man howled in pain as he threw the woman away from him, Kallista slid across the man's office to only dart back to him to deliver a series of blows.
Carmelo stumbled backward, blood dripping from his lip as he charged the woman again, Kallista managed to dodge and block a majority of his attacks except for one that connected with her abdomen, a sickening crack could be heard. The impact of the punch sent Kallista a few feet back away from the man before she crumbled to the floor, a cry of agony burst from her throat and soon gurgled.
"We're done girl," Carmelo shouted as he stalked over to her. Weakened, Kallista tried to crawl away from the man but soon the metallic taste of iron, blood, flooded her taste buds as it pooled in her mouth. Quickly, Kallista snatched off her mask and spat blood just as he yanked her from the floor. A painful shot from the woman echoed in the man's office.
"Another revealing feature!" Carmelo chuckled despite the man's broken nose. "Getting a good look at you…you look familiar,"
"Didn't…ah…you…ah learn…the first…time?" Kallista huffed. The small engine on Kallista's back whirled to life again and immediately a shock permeated through her suit and into the man's body.
"Fuck-!"
Kallista barely landed on her feet as she stumbled but quickly pulled a gun from underneath her jacket and shot at one of the man's cybernetic arms. The shot immediately severed the man's arm but the man stood unaffected by the loss of the limb. Silently the man stared down at Kallista, Kallista started up at the man stunned.
"Is this all that you have to offer Fata Morgana?"
"Y-You're inside of him…" Kallista whispered and immediately winced. Her initial theory had the Cheshire cat housed in the body of one of the MacAllister twins but not the man himself.
"This one has better usage than the other one…although traversing the city as a young cyborg girl did prove useful," Carmelo spoke but Kallista knew that this wasn't the man that she was just in battle with before.
This was the Cheshire Cat.
"I didn't expect you to catch on to me so quickly. You're much smarter than I expected,"
"You've completely integrated yourself into him, haven't you?" Kallista questioned.
"I have…and if you were to disable this body, I am more than capable of transferring to the girl,"
Kallista smirked despite the pain, the one piece of information was all she needed to hopefully end this encounter with Carmelo or well the Cheshire cat.
Without preamble, Kallista moved and avoided the swipe aimed for her head and took a split second to enact her newly thought out plan. Kallista tumbled to the floor behind the infected man as he stood in shock, the exposed circuitry of where the man's arm used to be and lodged almost inserted into the empty space was a device.
"You—" Carmelo growled and snatched the woman by her neck as sparks and smoke started to billow from the port. Kallista gripped at the man's hand around her neck as she struggled to breathe.
"It's over Fata Morgana—"
Suddenly the man stumbled forward and suddenly fell to his knees dropping Kallista.
"D-Director!"
Kallista gasped, coughed and heaved for air as she looked at the unconscious man foaming at the mouth, slumped on his knees.
"Huntress...I...didn't think...you would get here," Kallista panted. The woman known as the Huntress smiled as she quickly administered a Nano Shot to the woman for her injuries.
"Sorry, it took me longer to get here with the small team you asked for. How bad are you injured?"
"Bad," Kallista replied.
"Alright. We don't have much time anyway," The Huntress began as she helped the woman to her feet taking the brunt of Kallista's weight as she stood. Kallista bit down on her tongue to keep from shrieking in pain.
"There's blood there and the security will switch back over soon," Kallista began to inform the small team of Blackwatch agents the woman had managed to gather.
"A quick clean up? Got it," one of the agents nodded and began to silently order the small team on points where to focus.
"What about him?" The Huntress questioned as she motioned to the unconscious man foaming at the mouth.
"I need to extract some data from him..."
