And we're back with the final chapter of build-up, after this, ya gonna get a bit of a time skip and things are going to take off in some pretty interesting ways. Let's get into it, shall we?
Overwatch: Remnants Chapter VIII
Reunion Part II
Jesse kept his head low as he left the diner, ignoring the burning crate and shattered stone scattered about him as he walked forward. Blake was a step behind, blade at the ready, her eyes scanning about the rubble with a worried glare.
As the dust cleared McCree spotted a bare-armed man with a biker's helmet atop his head and a yellow bandana covering the bottom of his face picking through an open crate. He almost daintily pulled out a belt of grenades and set them aside. He seemed too focused on the task at hand to hear their approach.
Jesse cleared his throat loudly as he got within a few steps of the man, Blake coming around from behind him with her sword pointing towards the ground.
"Huh?" the man asked, looking up at them. His eyes went wide as they traveled up Blake's blade and up to her cyborg features before he shot McCree a quick glance, did a double-take, and then bolted.
"Ashe!" he cried, stumbling as he raced away from them, disappearing into a cloud of smoke, "Ashe!"
McCree held in a sigh as he followed after him at a sedentary pace, "I was afraid of that."
"Afraid of what?" Blake asked, shooting him a probing look.
"She and I have a fun little history." McCree muttered, "I was honestly hoping one of the others would take the bait."
"Bait?" Blake mouthed with narrowed eyes before shaking her head, "You were hoping that because?"
"They'd be less likely to shoot me," McCree muttered as he set his face in a determined grin.
"Less likely, as in they'd still try?" Blake queried with a flat tone.
McCree shrugged with a grin as he pulled out a cigar and put it in the corner of his mouth, "Probably."
"We got trouble!" the man cried as they exited the smoke, McCree getting eyes on two other men that looked fairly similar to the one shooting, and an Omnic carrying a sniper standing on the ridge above them. A hovering pallet was loaded up with several weapon crates, and a large ovoid capsule, a rush of joy filling his chest as he locked eyes on it. He instinctively went for the chip in his pocket as the woman standing beside it turned around and locked him with an intense glare, her deep red eyes burrowing into him.
Beside the pallet, a large omnic in a leather vest with a small bowler cap perched atop his head looked up and cocked his head slightly as he sighted McCree.
He saw Blake tense out of the corner of his eye but gave his head the slightest of shakes as she turned to look at him. She relaxed slightly, but the grip of the hilt of her blade never slacked.
"Jesse McCree," Ashe said, sounding a tad surprised, a hint happy and a hefty helping of suspicion, "Been a while. You promised you'd write."
"Well, Ashe," Jesse began as he lit his cigar and looked up at her, sending a playful wink her way as he did so, "I've been kind of busy."
"We're pretty busy ourselves," Ashe stated, resting Viper across her right shoulder and rolling her eyes, "So it's awful convenient you showing up here today."
Her eyes flicked over to Blake, "Who's your friend?"
Jesse gave Blake a side-glance, and a confident smile, "Oh her, she's a stray, just like the rest of us."
He looked upwards and gave the sniper a friendly wave, "Nice to see you again Bars."
He then turned to look at the triplets, "Nice to see y'all too, even I still can't tell which of you is which."
He finally turned to the large omnic and tipped his hat to him, "Bob, still stylish as ever."
Bob went to give him a nod back, only to freeze as Ashe sent him a piercing look.
"As for what I'm doing here, well you've never been one to shy away from a good tip." he finally answered, sending Ashe a snarky smile, pulling out his cigar and rolling it between his mechanical fingers.
"Hey!" she stated, taking a step forward, sliding her rifle back into her hands, "We worked hard for this score. The two of you best move on now."
McCree chuckled, as Blake shot him another questioning glance.
"All I want is that crate" he stated, pointing with his cigar at the white egg-shaped container, "Everything else is yours."
"This crate?" Ashe asked with false consideration, tapping it with her rifle, "Huh, Bob."
The Omnic jolted to attention, lifting an oversized hand, and pressing a button that caused the crate to open with a puff of cool steam. The two of them stare into the crate, Ashe's eyes widening slightly in awed confusion, while Bob's head cocked to the side.
"Well, well, now you got my attention," Ashe stated, as she turned back to McCree with a cunning smile.
"Get ready," McCree stated under his breath, so faint he knew Blake was the only one that would hear it. Her one antenna twitched in acknowledgment, but her posture didn't change. She stared straight ahead, her eyes locked on the now open crate.
"What is it?" Ashe demanded, her voice tinged with just a hint of an anger Jesse was well acquainted with.
"That's none of your business," he stated tersely.
Ashe stepped down from the pallet with gun in hand. She walked a few paces forward, setting her rifle into both hands before coming to a stop a few feet in front of the two of them.
"Well as I see it, it is very much our business," she said, her eyes narrowing.
Jesse let out a sigh as he set his cigar back into his mouth, "It doesn't always have to be this way, Ashe."
She took a few steps forward and cocked her rifle, "Apparently, it does."
Jesse let his hand fall down next to his holstered gun, as Blake fell into a loose fighting stance, pulling the bladed sheathe from her back and reforming her main blade into a kama.
Bob ripped the Route 66 street sign out of the ground and tested its weight as he squared up behind Ashe, the triplet they'd startled drawing both of his pistols and doing the same.
The other two took up positions behind them, Blake turning ever so slightly to face them as they raised their shotgun and rifle respectively.
Bars fell to his knee atop the rise, scoping in on the side of McCree's head.
The tension continued to rise, the only sound was the whistling of the air through the canyon, the dying fires of the explosion, and the end of his cigar.
A hawk cried out above them and the tension seemed to magnify even more. Ashe's eyes narrowed, a bead of oily sweat dripped down Bob's brow, Blake retightened her grip on her weapons.
Jesse locked eyes with Ashe, as he began to hear the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears, and the chip in his pocket suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Ashe and the Triplet raised their guns, but McCree shot first, ripping his hand cannon upward in a flurry of motion and sending off two shots. He dodged to the right as his shots caught the triplet in the hand, a sniper shot powered the ground in front of where he had just been standing.
Blake flipped into the air, sending her kama rocketing towards Bars, who rolled to the side and went to line up another shot.
"Come on!" Ashe yelled as the triplet stumbled into her from the momentum of the shot, his gun whirling through the air. She shrugged him off and then opened fire on McCree.
The other triplets opened fire, buckshot, and rifle bullet whizzing past the pair as McCree ducked low, and pulled a flashbang off his belt and tossed it towards Ashe and Bob. Feeling secure in their momentary blindness he whirled on the remaining triplets.
Blake let a clone take a hit from Bars as she slid across the ground, which propelled her even further forward, racing towards the one holding a rifle.
McCree meanwhile fired at a cable sitting between the two of them, which snapped causing one of the train cars above to careen downward. A cable snared around the rifle-wielding triplets leg and ripped him skyward as the train car swung downward nearly taking off the remaining triplets head off.
He ducked, bolting away, and Blake was on him in a second, taking his legs out from under him, smacking the shotgun aside so the panicked shot her fired off ate dirt and not her face and followed it up with a harsh kick to the side of his head which sent his eyes rolling.
The other triplet swung back and forth in a panic as Bars tried to line up a shot on McCree or Blake.
"Don't shoot!" he cried several times, as McCree used the distraction to lance a shot directly into Bar's chest, sending him off the ledge and into the ground in a heap.
The triplet continued to swing, fighting to grab hold of something, as Blake tossed her kama at him, he swung forward the combined momentum of his forehead meeting the weapon knocking him senseless.
She yo-yoed it back as Ashe opened fire, her shots cracking against several scattering boulders. McCree fanned his hammer down as well, firing several shots towards her.
Ashe went to duck, as Bob slid in front of her, the sign catching the bullets and one of his great hands coming up to grab hold of Blake's weapon.
Giving the pair a harsh glare he pulled Blake forward, swinging the sign like a bat hoping to catch her in the torso.
A clone took the blow as she fell to the ground, releasing her kama, and dodging a shot from the still-standing triplet, she whirled on him and McCree fought a laugh at how easily he cowed at her cybernetic almost catlike eyes.
"Bob, do something!" Ashe yelled.
The omnic tossed Blake's weapon and his impromptu club aside, readjusted his hat, and lifted his arm. Several ports opened up, six barrels emerging pointing directly at the back of Blake's head. She whirled around as he glared down at her, a look of surprise on her face.
McCree fired off a shot, catching Bob in the shoulder, shredding a part of his vest. The Omnic turned to look at him, immediately leveling his gun and opening fire from all six barrels.
McCree ducked down behind a boulder, as Ashe and the remaining triplet opened fire on Blake who flipped away from them, scooping up her weapon as she did so and after using a clone to deflect another hit bunkered down behind some crates across from McCree.
"Looks like Bob got himself some upgrades," McCree noted, tossing aside his cigar and letting the spent shells of his hand cannon spill out across the ground.
"So you going to explain why you're 'friends' are so quick to shoot us dead," Blake shouted.
"If we get through this, maybe." he returned with a grin.
"Smoke them out of there!" Ashe ordered, opening fire as Bob switched arms and the last triplet began to lay down his own fire.
McCree grimaced, and on instinct shot behind him, the small cry of surprise caused him to briefly shoot a look over his shoulder. Bars was slumped on the ground and Blake was looking at him with a slightly pissed expression.
"You didn't even look," she stated angrily.
McCree made to respond only for a bullet to crack through the stone right next to his ear and caused whatever snarky comment had been about to emerge to die in his throat.
"Last chance McCree!" Ashe shouted, another one of her shots shattering stone next to his head, "You and your little sidekick toss out your weapons!"
Grimacing slightly he shot Blake a look, who shook her head quietly and then pointed towards where the bundle of grenades was lying several steps next to her. She stalked across the ground slowly, hooking the blade of her kama carefully into the belt and giving him a nod.
"Alright Ashe," he said with a grin, "Here they come!"
Blake tossed the belt into the air, her grenades flying free as she ripped the belt backward.
"Oh shoot!" Ashe yelled, turning to run as McCree popped up over his hiding place and opened fire, catching the grenades square. The exploded in a detonation of fire, smoke, and force that sent a cloud of dust rippling back across him and Blake. His poncho was pushed back by the sudden breeze as was her hair as he mockingly spun his guna and slipped it back into the holster.
They'd gathered the Deadlock members, tying them up with rope McCree had scrounged up from somewhere, and set them atop the pallet after the cowboy had taken the crate they'd started a shootout over and placed it on the ground with an odd amount of care.
Blake watched quietly as McCree picked up Bob's head and set it softly down on a clump of rope.
"What." Ashe began as she emerged from unconsciousness with her hands bound, "What the…"
"McCree!" she yelled, sitting up and tugging at her bonds.
Ignoring her the cowboy placed Bob's hat back on his disembodied head, adjusting it slightly, "Sorry about that Bob. No hard feelings?"
The Omnic stared up at him wordlessly, before looking over at Blake with a roll of his eyes.
"McCree! Hey!" Ashe yelled, pulling even harder against the rope, "Untie me, McCree!"
"Say hi to the gang for me," McCree stated, still talking only to Bob, as he pressed a button. The pallet started up and began to drift away as Ashe continued to yell.
"I am talking to you!" she cried, her voice becoming quieter and quieter the further away the pallet moved, "I will not be ignored! I'm going to rebuild Bob and I'm gonna have him rip off your other arm! McCree!"
"Is that really how you lost your arm?" Blake asked with the ghost of a smile.
McCree chuckled his voice softer than she had ever heard, "No."
He stopped before the "egg" and tapped the button to open it, revealing a sleek white metallic form. Blake stared at it in wonder, as he pulled the chip from his pocket and set it into a slot in the very center of the shape.
The chip sealed to the body of what Blake quickly realized was an almost angelic looking Omnic body. A projector activated on the head, a blue holo-projection of a sleeping woman's face emerging. Her eyes flickered open and as she spotted McCree smiling down at her a wide grin crossed her face.
"Hi, there cowboy." the omnic stated.
McCree let out a soft laugh, and took off his hat resting it over his heart, "Welcome back, partner."
He reached out a hand to lift her out of the container which she took, their grip soft and comforting as he lifted her into the air. She floated there, the setting sun glinting across her pristine white form as she took in her surroundings but her eyes always seemed to travel back to McCree's face.
Her limbs were not fully connected to her torso, free-floating alongside it while a pair of smooth white wings projected from her back.
Blake noticed that even as she looked around, McCree never looked away from her, and she rested her hand in his almost naturally. Part of her felt like she should look away as if she was intruding on something very personal.
"Hmm...how long have I been gone?" the omnic asked.
"Far too long." he returned.
She looked down at his robotic hand for the first time, taking hold of it with both of hers, absentmindedly stroking it, "What happened?"
McCree laughed again, "Well that's a story for another time. But I got a call. They're getting the band back together. They want me, but really they need you."
They were silent for several moments before she looked up and gave him a kind smile.
"Since you have yet to give me a straight answer, how exactly am I supposed to find the others?" she asked with just the hint of a stink-eye.
"We're going to take you to them," McCree stated, looking over to Blake.
"We?" the omnic asked, turning and taking in Blake for the first time, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you."
"It's fine." Blake stated with a soft smile, nodding at McCree, "So you know this one huh?"
"Quite well." the omnic returned.
"Have you ever shot at him?" Blake asked with a joking smile.
"No-I-" she turned around and took in the smoking rubble behind them and then whirled on McCree, "Jesse what did you do?"
"I was trying to get you back!" he said with a half-offended grin.
"Mhm," she stated, turning back to Blake with a smile, "It is good to meet you…"
"Blake, you can call me Blake." she said, giving her a small grin.
"Blake, that's a lovely name." the omnic stated, "I am Echo."
"Well now that we've got introductions out of the way, it's time we get on the road," McCree stated, walking by the two of them.
"We're just going to hoof it?" Blake asked, crossing her arms.
"No, no, give me a minute," McCree stated with a smirk as he walked around the corner of the cliff face.
He returned several moments later, riding a red hover-cycle with a tacked-on black sidecar.
Blake immediately noticed Ashe's name on the key-fob and a worn picture of her and McCree, younger with wide devilish smiles on their faces. She shot McCree a questioning look, but once again he only had eyes for Echo.
"I think you're going to need to change things up." he remarked, "Just so we can fly under the radar on the way to Chicago."
"Understood, will this do?" Echo asked, as her entire body glowed blue and she was suddenly replaced with a copy of McCree who smirked at the original.
"Very funny, but no." McCree stated, leaning over the handlebars, "My face is already on quite a few bounty boards, having double is just gonna draw more attention."
"Very well, what about…" Echo looked at the picture on the speed motor and changed into a young Ashe, doing a twirl and then giving them both a pointed look, "Is this better?"
McCree let out an odd noise somewhere between a pained grunt and an affirmation that caused Blake's eyebrows to shoot into her hairline.
"I'll take that as a no," Echo muttered, tapping her chin as her body reformed again changing into a dark-skinned woman, with her hair pulled up into a bun though still dressed in Ashe's clothing.
"What about this Jesse?" she asked, looking up at him. Blake turned and saw a very pensive and somewhat mournful face looking back at them both.
"That works." he stated quietly, "Let's get going."
Blake climbed into the sidecar, as Echo slid onto the bike behind McCree. She slid her arms around his waist, causing the cowboy to tense slightly, but Blake didn't think she noticed. Giving McCree a curious look, she reached into her salvaged back and brought out the book about Sleeping Beauty. The cycle roared to life a moment later, the radio kicking on playing soft country music and they were off, heading towards Chicago, and the person McCree promised would take Blake in.
"Thank you all for coming today," Oz stated, his voice amplified by several speakers as he stood before a crowd of reporters standing within the plaza before Beacon Tower.
"Our world is on the brink of war, pushed further and further towards chaos every day." he continued, "Gangs run rampant the world over, Talon does as it pleases and Omnics once more march against the Kremlin. This Post-Overwatch era is not what the Petras act promised us, and while organizations like Helix and Atlas have stepped up to the plate to try and stem the tide of violence, there is one facet that has been ignored the world over.
He paused, looking across the crowd critically, "Remnant Trafficking, specifically the trafficking of Remnant children has gone on for far too long. They are being abused, abducted, and coerced all across the globe, and yet the UN has done very little to curb this egregious and corrupt evil that has crept into the corners of our planet."
"All the while these children are being used as weapons by the likes of Talon, Los Muertos, even the resurgent Null Sector and numerous other vile organizations that have grown in strength since the fall of Overwatch." he stated, his tone cold, "While Atlas PMC has done an effective job of liberating and training Remnant children across Northern Europe, and Russia, in other locations such as here in the US they are being ignored, which has allowed Remnant Trafficking to skyrocket."
He paused once more, the flashes of several cameras lighting up parts of the crowd, "In response to this I am announcing a system that works to end these predations. In a month's time, the construction of Beacon Academy will be finished. The Academy will be a safe place for Remnant children to hone their abilities."
"My staff and I are fully prepared to give these children a life free of fear and oppression, while also teaching them in more than just the use of their abilities," Oz stated, gesturing behind him to a portion of his assembled staff. Glynda nodded to the crowd silently, Professor O waved, his manic green hair bobbing with the motion while Professor Port gave the crowd a jovial smile. Mei stood alongside them, looking more than a little nervous, giving the crowd a very quick wave.
Oz continued, "I should be noted that we are not alone in this endeavor, and I would like to announce that we have partnered with MEKA and Numbani to found other schools that will aid in the training and education of any bright, individual, Omnic, Remnant or otherwise that seeks to better themselves. I have been informed that the Adawe Academy in Numbani has already opened its new campus. I hope that Beacon and its sister schools will turn into the shining light that this world desperately needs. Any questions can be forwarded through my assistant, Ms. Goodwich."
With that Ozpin walked off stage, headed into a side room off the main atrium of the tower where Qrow, Tracer, and Winston were waiting.
"Nice speech boss." Qrow remarked, pointing his flask at the screen, "You really set them scrambling."
Already several reporters were barraging Glynda with questions, who was answering them with her usual grace and patience.
One question seemed to silence the barrage, as a reporter wearing the bright holobadge of the New York Times appeared on the screen.
"Mr. Oz stated that his school would be similar to Atlas's Recruitment Program, yet many believe that Atlas rescues Remnant children to add to their PMC forces eventually, not out of the innate altruism of their actions, will Beacon Academy prove to be any different?" the reporter asked.
Winston turned to look at Oz, "She has a point, at the end of the night, what is going to make Beacon any different from Atlas?"
Oz turned to look at him, with a soft smile on his lips, "I am not looking to make these children into soldiers, I'm hoping to turn them into heroes."
Oz's message was heard around the world.
Atop the very tower now hounded by the press, a duo that had become the trio watched the news with deep interest, as their names were listed off as the first admittees to Beacon.
Over the radio on a hovercycle with Blake listening intently, and trying not to sneak a peak at Echo resting her head against the awkwardly tense McCree's back.
On a corner in Paris, a young man with blonde hair stood watching the announcement with bated breath, a mixture of hope and sadness welling up in his gut.
In Busan, a red-haired girl battered a dummy while watching the news, calling a metallic bottle to her hand as she paused to take a drink of water.
In a small New York apartment, Ruby and Yang listened to the news enraptured, Yang's arm resting in a sling as she lounged on the couch while her younger sister darted around the room excitedly babbling about what this could mean.
Tai watched this with a mixture of bemused happiness and worry, as he heard a knock on his door. He opened it and froze as staring back at him was his daughter's uncle, Qrow Branwen.
He gave Tai a genuine smile, and took a sip from his hip-flask, "Long time no see, we need to talk."
Tai grimaced, but let him anyway Ruby's excited cry of surprise drawing a smile to his face.
In a dark warehouse, Torchwick leaned back in his chair as he heard the news.
"Putting them all in one place huh, that should make our job easier," he muttered.
"Just as she predicted." a sultry voice stated, "Now all we need to do is bid our time."
"Letting them learn how to fight though, to work together, won't that make things difficult?" Torchwick asked, as he picked up his Chinese food and began to poke around the box, "Especially since Overwatch is definitely tied to whatever the 'wizard' is up to."
"Teaching them how to be strong, to make them more effective in the battles to come it is an admirable goal." a gruff voice stated, from the corner of the computer screen, "One that we could easily turn to our advantage, but that also means it is time for me to return to the world."
"Numbani won't know what hit it." a snarky, Spanish accented voice stated as a neon purple sugar skull appeared on the screen.
"Neither will Chicago. Continue with the plans, reach out to the Fauns, stir up resentment amongst the Omnics, but do so after you relocate." the gruff voice stated, before cutting off.
"So kiddos," Torchwick asked with a snarky grin, as he whirled on the quiet trio of teenagers that were sitting off to the side, "How do you feel about prep life?"
And scene!
So ends the prequel, and the Beacon Years begin the next chapter! Beacon is definitely going to come off more like Xavier's School, but that just means so many more shenanigans are going to kick off.
Any questions, comments, and critiques are always appreciated. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!