Dear readers!
I know that in the previous chapter I said I'll post next Friday but... I figured that's a bit too long so here's one chapter to fill the gap.
Thanks for reading and have a good day!
*Mediterranean Sea: Overwatch Shuttle*
Lena Oxton remain seated after calling Winston, haunted by a hidden pain that she tried so hard to express a moment ago. Now it lingers as a strange coldness gripping her chest. She looked around her private quarters and despite her exhaustion from her missions in Russia and Malaysia, she is unable to feel at peace or find rest.
This used to be where she could be herself, a place where she could take off all her masks and still feel safe. Now it is a cold, sad, and crushing, being alone is no longer an option for her as her thoughts has lost its colorful memories and is now haunted by that one incident. That one incident that could've prevented the war.
She needs to get out. She needs a group of people who could distract her from the memory and find things to be cheerful about, even if it makes no sense. She quickly secured her harness and blinked into the Pilot Seat.
"Heya!"
"Whoa!" the pilot jumped in his seat, quickly closing the video on his tablet "Tracer! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
She laughed, she has always preferred an informal crew.
"Whatcha watching?"
"Never mind that" he said, ignoring her question and quickly deleting his search history "Shouldn't you be asleep? I know you're tough but to go from Russia to Asia on the same day? That will knock anyone out"
"As they always say, the night's still young!" she replied cheerfully.
"Right… So how can Uncle Lox be of service today?"
"Nothing much, just thought to inspect everyone ya know?"
Lox snorted "Well that's a first, well, so far the skies are clear and no one detected us flying through their airspace so everything is just peachy"
"That's a bloody good job, keep it-" a yawn suddenly overtook her words, surprising herself.
"I really think you should get some rest, you don't have to force yourself to make an inspection after everything you did" Lox said with an eyebrow raised.
Feeling that the conversation has come to a very disappointing end, she conceded.
"Yeah maybe, well, I'll make a few more rounds before that then"
"Right" he replied, taking out his tablet again "You do that"
In a blink, she vanished.
"Phew… That was a close …" the pilot sighed, turning back to his screen.
Tracer reappeared outside of the Private Quarters and was about to knock when she heard loud snoring from all the 5 soldiers who volunteered to come with her. "Poor chaps" she thought, quietly walking away, they rescued more than 100 civilians while fighting off a group of Omnics in Russia and just trekked through a jungle within 3 days. They earned their rest.
She grew frustrated. There was no one to keep her mind occupied, the pilot is busy and her men are sleeping. The only one who she hasn't checked is…
"No" she shook her head "Now may not be the time to talk to him" but as she was about to blink back to her own quarters, the memory of her storming off just moments before stopped her.
"I do feel bad to leave as I did… Should I apologize?" she thought to herself "But why should I apologize? It's his fault, he should apologize. Yes… I should make him apologize!". Despite knowing that is a poor reason to visit, she needed someone to talk to, even if it has to be a stranger.
"Sorry to barge in like thi-" she stopped mid sentence as she blinked into the Medical Bay. She looked around the small room, realizing that it is vacant.
"Wha-?" she looked under the bed to find the backpack missing but his weapons are still next to the door, confusing her further.
She began blinking randomly around the shuttle. It is not a big or even a medium class shuttle by any means. In fact, there was nowhere to hide, A few corridors, 4 rooms and the Pilot Seat. So where could he be? Finally, she blinked back in the Medical Bay and began grabbing her hair saying "Oh no, no, no, no, why? The mission has been completed! Why?"
Just then, the door opened behind her "Oh, didn't expect to see you here".
Hearing his voice, she turned around and saw he is holding a book and a pencil. He is noticeably cleaner as well.
"Where did you go? I was looking all over for you!" she scolded.
He cocked his head to the side confusingly and replied "I was just outside the door, there is a window there so I decided to sketch something to pass the time"
"Outside the do-?" without finishing the sentence she blinked behind him and sure enough, there is a window with a clear view of the sky and below.
"So you were just… Outside sketching?" she said weakly.
"Yeah, just thought to stay close to the Medical Bay in case someone comes looking, but…" he said, eyeing her Accelerator "I did not expect you to appear into rooms randomly" he paused for a moment before saying "Next time I should leave a note eh?". He chuckled at his own joke and Lena can't help but smile at that.
"So why did you decide to come?" he asked "To make sure I haven't died halfway in the journey?"
"I wanted…" she stopped herself, "This is the first time he seems relaxed, it would be terrible to ruin his mood now" she thought to herself.
"I wanted to see if you needed something to do for the next 2 hours, but I guess I didn't need to worry" she lied.
"Oh, yes, I was getting bored and I realize the flight has been very smooth, so I thought it will be a good opportunity to sketch"
An awkward silence dragged between them for a moment.
"So… Watcha sketchin'?" she finally asked.
"Just some random chicken scratches, I have no clue where we are but…" he said as he flips through his book "Here you go, easier to show than explain"
Her eyes widen in surprise at the "chicken scratches". It is detailed and clear. She could clearly see the stars and the clouds in the shaded areas which she guessed is the night sky. The sketch of the ocean is plain but somehow, he filled it with life, waves, boats, even what look like whales littered around the sketch.
"How did you do this?" she asked
"Err… I don't know" he said "Ever since I went through my training program, the volunteers have become very talented in almost everything"
She glanced at him when he said "training program", what kind of program was that?
"Anyways, ignore that one" he said as he walked over and began flipping the pages in her hands "let me show… Where is it…". Normally Lena is very selective on who can go close to her but with Quillion it felt… Acceptable.
"Here it is, sketched this one when I was in California, it's –"
"The Milky Way" she breathed, stunned by the attention to detail. It is almost picture perfect.
"Bravo, this is one of the few sketches that I really put effort in" he said proudly.
"It's… Beautiful"
He allowed her a moment to enjoy the sketch before a thought came to him.
"Do you know how it got its name?"
She was taken aback at the question and as she thought further, she was a bit surprised that she never asks how it actually earned the name Milky Way. She shook her head.
"Well, according to the Ancient Greeks, the Milky Way was formed when a god named Zeus brought his half mortal son home to be breastfed by the queen of the gods when she was sleeping. When she awoke and found this child suckling her, she pushed him away and a few drops of the milk created the Milky Way"
She stared at him "You're joking right?"
"Oh no, not at all, that's how it got its name" he said before taking a drink.
"That's… She's got quite a serious set of tits then" she said, which was immediately followed by the sound of a huge spit. She looked up and saw Quillion had spat out his drink.
"Y-You have don-done that on purpose!" he accused her as he point at her with a dramatic flair while coughing.
"No!" she exclaimed "It's just… it…" she could not finish the sentence before she began laughing herself, the sight of him doing a spit take is hilarious.
"I mean… … Imagine the size of her to make all that, obvious innit?" That was when they lost it, Tracer snorted a few times (which she tried to hide) while Quillion is gasping for air, this continued until the announcement came.
"Rise and shine everyone! We will be landing in 20 minutes!"
Lena and Quillion looked at each other in surprise. Have 2 hours passed that quickly?
"Well, cheers for that luv, haven't had a good bennin in a long time, see you in a tick" she gave a 2-finger salute before disappearing. Quillion slide his book back into his backpack and replied into the air "See ya soon Tracer". He looked at himself in the mirror and saw that his face is still red from laughing, he could not remember the last time he had such a wholehearted laugh, especially with a beautiful wom-
"No…" he said to his own reflection, his smile fading "Don't you start feeling attached to someone you barely know"
He changed into his combat gear and checked that all his weapons are loaded. Though he felt safe, she gave him no reason to trust her nor the destination is for his best interest.
A haunting memory surfaced.
*Malaysia: MGF Base (32 years ago)*
He was running down the hallway, his squad following close behind. Sergeant Jampang was dragging his best friend Ahmad while the other two Privates, Hazir and Oliver, covered their retreat.
Destruction reigned around them as the first generation machines of the Null Sector fired wildly into the crowd, eliminating many high ranking officers within seconds. They were ordered to run towards the Armoury where the base would make its last stand.
However, the unorganized perimeter was obliterated and the Armoury was quickly destroyed. As the defensive lines evaporated, the squad was surrounded from both sides of the corridor. They were able to repel the first wave of attackers but it caused the death of Oliver, who was unexpectedly shot by a bullet that ricochet off the wall, killing him instantly.
Quickly assessing the situation they realize that the only ones not suffering from vertigo were Jampang and Quillion. Unable to move nor retreat effectively without abandoning the rest, they agreed to make their last stand in the laboratory, which was around the corner. Unbeknownst to them the Null Sector has already anticipated they would make that decision.
Quillion shuddered as he remembered trying to get the door open but the hacked biometric security rejected his prints, those precious moments caused the death of Ahmad.
Quillion remembered how Ahmad smiled and shouted his famous line "Malaysia Selamanya!" as he stood up and repelled the ambush almost singlehandedly, activating his adrenaline to a fatal level as he rampaged through the Omnics with his heavily modified parang and pistol, destroying many before he finally succumbed from his injuries. His self sacrificed provided enough time for Quillion to hack the door.
When the doors open with a hiss, they ran in, but just before they could shut it, an Assassin Class Omnic stabbed through the gap straight into Hazir's heart as it tries to force its way in. With a shout of rage, Jampang blew its head apart with his shotgun before they were finally able to close the door.
With no time to mourn, the two survivors threw everything they could against the door as the Omnics began prying it open. Priming his rifle for battle Quillion prayed his final prayer as he prepares to die.
However Jampang has other plans. He knew that he could not convince Quillion from fighting whenever the opportunity arises, which is why he has always put the reckless Corporal under other duties such as being the "Historian" of the group.
It was not because he liked Quillion more than the others, far from it, rather it was because each of them are precious resources that the country could ill afford to lose, and Quillion always puts himself in unnecessary danger.
But with the loss of the squad and even the entire army, Jampang will make his last, final gamble to invest in his Corporal in hopes that he will reach his full potential when the time comes.
Quillion remembered how he looked at him and as he gave his final order.
"Corporal, promise me one thing"
"What's that Sarge?" he remembered himself saying as he prepares to activate his adrenaline rush.
"Find whoever is behind this and rip it's head off"
Those were the final words from Jampang as the next thing he remembers was the butt of his Sergeant's shotgun smashing into his face.
When he awoke, he found himself in a highly experimental cryotube, its process nearly complete. He remembered how he saw his Sergeant's body on the floor, his lifeless face was etched with exhaustion, his body twisted in an unnatural posture.
He remembered a faceless Omnic standing in front of the cryotube, scanning for any heat signatures that resembles a human. He remembered how he wanted to die with his squad that day, he remembered trying to shout and punch the glass as a final attempt to fight, but they were frozen.
"They will pay" he vowed as he froze.
"They must pay" he said to himself in the mirror.
Translation:
1. Malaysia Selamanya - Malaysia Forever