"What time is it?" I muttered, yawning as I sat up.
"It's high noon," Athena answered.
"Why- Why are you quoting McCree?" I asked, looking upwards.
"Lena told me I needed to work on my sense of humor," Athena informed me.
"Figures," I replied as I rolled off the bed, yawned once more, and walked to my bathroom.
We arrived late from to the base, glad to see everyone was ok and there had been no attacks. The others had already organized a defense plan, not wanting to get taken by surprise again, and Genji had shown the squad of marines to their new rooms. I had immediately been ordered to go get some sleep and I was so tired I didn't complain, passing out as soon as my head touched the pillow. I brushed my teeth and had a quick shower, sliding into some sweatpants, a random shirt, and Hana's bunny slippers (they were so comfy I had stolen them from her) before heading out to see everyone else. Before I walked out, however, I grabbed the knife Hana had given me, it made me feel safer.
I felt much fresher and awake now. My stomach rumbled loudly and I automatically went towards the kitchen area.
"Good morning," I mumbled as I walked in, opening the fridge and searching for food.
"Breakfast is on the counter," An unfamiliar voice said, I automatically pulled the knife out and aimed at the stranger, ready to the throw. She froze, gulping and holding a wooden spoon in her hand. "Ah, sorry?"
"Who are you?" I asked quietly, my heart racing.
"My name's Emily, I'm Lena's girlfriend," She answered meekly. She had long red hair that cascaded down her shoulders, a pretty face with some freckles, and was wearing jeans, a tank top and (for some reason) a green scarf. My hand went down and I raised an eyebrow.
"You're Lena's…girlfriend?" I asked again. "Lena swings that way?"
"Yes, is there a problem with that?" Emily asked, her voice a bit harsher. I put my knife way and shook my head, calming myself down and offering her a smile.
"No, it's cool," I said. "I don't care who Lena dates as long as that someone treats her right, ok? She just never mentioned she had someone so I was surprised."
"Do you normally throw knives at your friend's lovers?" Emily asked, handing me a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast.
"Uh, sorry," I mumbled, feeling ashamed. "I'm just on edge." Emily's face softened and she nodded in understanding.
Half an hour later the two of us were sitting at the table, laughing our heads off at the dumb stories Emily had of Lena. From the looks of it, you would've thought we were dear friends. Our plates were soon empty but we remained there, by ourselves. A few minutes later (as Emily was telling me another story) Lena walked in, she froze in her tracks, knowing she wasn't going to like what was happening.
"And then Lena accidentally pinched my butt-"
"I was flirting!" She complained, making Emily jump in her seat. The redhead immediately stood up, facing her girlfriend with an angelic smile.
"Uh, hi babe, Alessandro and I were just-"
"Yeah, I heard what you were doing," Lena lifted her chin up, trying to look offended. It didn't last much as Emily wrapped the Brit in her arms and laid a few tender kisses on her neck. Poor Lena quickly melted and forgave Emily. The two lovebirds sat back at the table, Lena eating some breakfast.
"Did you like the food?" Emily asked. "It's the least I can do for you guys."
"It was great, you might have to help McCree with his barbecue," I joked.
"Excuse me?" McCree asked, right behind me. My heart skipped a beat, and the two girls laughed as they saw my surprise. I snorted and nodded towards the chair next to me, which McCree took. He was dressed in his usual cowboy get up, his revolver missing.
Little by little the members of Overwatch began to trickle in, all the heroes except Hana and Lucio joined us for breakfast. Things seemed very normal until Reinhardt and Torbjorn walked in, in civilian clothes, looking like they had something up their sleeve.
"My friends, we have much to talk about!" Reinhardt roared, getting everyone's attention. "We are tired of how this group works!"
"Uh, what?" Zarya asked, raising an eyebrow. She seemed to take everything Reinhardt said as a challenge since he was the only person that could match her immense strength.
"You heard him," Torbjorn replied. "And so we will be kicking you all out with our army!"
"Your…army?" Pharah asked, clearly confused. We all were.
"Soldiers, ATTACK!" Reinhardt roared, and suddenly a herd of children ran into the room armed with pillows and foam swords. A few of the older members, who now seemed to understand what was going on, stood up and followed the game. Newer members, like myself, were too confused to do much. I couldn't even stop three of the smallest ones from jumping on me and sending the chair against the floor. I was holding two of them at bay as the third tried in vain to pull my arm away, by that point I was laughing with the rest. Finally, this older girl who seemed related to the rest pulled them off me and we slowly got them settled. A pretty blonde woman wearing a turtleneck and sweatpants walked in, taking Torbjorn's hand. They began to introduce everyone, who seemed to be the children of Torbjorn and the blonde, but also the honorary grandchildren of Reinhardt. They had also brought a cat with some weird Swedish name, and I dubbed him Furball for us English speakers.
"Is that everyone? Is everyone here?" Lena asked, sitting on top of Emily's lap. Everyone else, most of them eating, were looking around.
"No, Lucio and Hana are asleep," I answered. "So is my dad and his squad. Wait, where's Mercy?"
"The doctor is in," Mercy announced behind me, making me jump out of my seat.
"Can you guys stop doing that!" I complained, turning to her. Before she could answer I pulled her into a hug. She tensed up for a second, but then relaxed and put her arms around me. "I'm glad you're ok, I heard about what you did. I'm so sorry I wasn't-"
"Hush," She ordered, sitting me down and taking the seat to my left. "We all had our jobs and you did yours excellently, we're all safe and together now. Let us focus on that."
"I know it ain't beer, but grab whatever drinks you got," McCree said, taking his glass of orange juice and standing up. "A toast, to Alessandro, for not only getting to where he is now but for warning us to get all of you-" He nodded to the new arrivals. "-and bringing you to safety. I think we can all say, without a doubt, you are a Hero and a proud agent of Overwatch." He nodded at me and took a sip.
"Cheers!" Emily and Lena called at the same time, drinking as well. Suddenly everyone in the room was cheering, yelling thanks, to the point where I could tell I was blushing and could do little but stand up, smile and nod at the rest. Angela could sense my discomfort and chuckled, standing up to give me another hug and congratulate me.
"Jesus, did I miss a party?" A man said everyone, turned to see my dad walk into the room. My heart began to race, although I didn't know why, and I found myself leaning more on Angela. He was wearing a tank top and sweatpants, his feet bear. He was fit and seemed ready to fight, but his eyes had a gentle nature to them. "Congratulations son, I'm proud of you."
How could he say that? The memory of us crying in the ship was still fresh, the knowledge that I had let my sisters die constantly on my thoughts again, I failed my family, how could he feel proud? I didn't deserve that-
"Breath and calm down," Angela suggested, sitting me down and gently caressing my cheek. I instantly felt better.
"So, I guess I should introduce myself," Dad said, walking behind me and setting his hands on my shoulders. I let him, smiling a bit as I noticed everyone was quiet and paying attention. "My name's Nathan Soto."
"So that makes you Alessandro Soto?" Lena asked, her hand trying to take a piece of bacon from Torbjorn's plate. He slapped it away and she pouted. "You never told us your last name."
"Huh, I didn't?" I asked, scratching my chin. "Well, now you know. Alessandro Soto."
"Or in the field, Survivor," Fareeha said with a smirk, taking a bit of her food.
"Your new call sign, correct?" Angela asked. "Well, we used to have the tradition that each member chose their name, it is fitting you did too."
My father looked around for a free seat, looking a bit bothered that he couldn't get a chair next to me, and settled into a chair in between Bridgette and McCree. Our breakfast continued from there quite normally, despite all the new people. We joked and laughed, some spoke more than others, serious matters were brought up and then dropped again. After the chaos of the past few days, the sudden normalcy was accepted by everyone. Even my father began talking to McCree, telling him some of his stories from deployment and the cowboy listened politely and gave his own stories. I was just started to really calm down, to slip into this normal feeling, when a pair of arms wrapped around me.
"Good morning," Hana said, sounding tired. I turned to look at her and her lips pressed against mine, making my entire face go red. She raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Still embarrassed?"
"Uh, Hana," I said, leaning closer. "You realize nobody else knows about us, right?" I smiled widely as Hana's own face turned dark red and she looked up, smiling nervously. The new additions to the base didn't seem to care all too much, but the ones we had lived with previously seemed interested or surprised. My dad looked worried, which made me worried.
"When did that happen?!" Lena nearly yelled. "If you told me we could've gone on a double date!"
Half of us burst into laughter and the tense feeling left me once again, Hana copied Lena and sat on my lap. I was more than happy to wrap my arms around her waist as she began to explain everything that happened in Brazil, including our dance and our kiss. Now that we were talking about the missions more questions came, from both the heroes and the civilians. Angela told us what had happened at the base, how she had heroically saved Genji (although she said it was nothing) and everyone escaped, the kids asked all of us a ton of questions that we answered. Slowly, though, they began to leave the rest of us alone. Soon only the heroes, Emily, and my father were left. Lucio had joined us somewhere along the way and was introducing himself to the rest.
"Well, since we're all here I think we should talk about our next move," Fareeha suggested.
"Already? We just got some peace…" I muttered, sighing. Hana gave me a peck on the cheek and it was obvious on her face that she agreed with me.
"We beat Talon three times in a couple days, we need to press the advantage," She argued, moving her plate to a side. I could tell by hr face that she was entering her "Captain Amari" personality.
"I agree with Fareeha," Angela said. "I am always against violence, but we need to hurry and finish our plans while we still can."
"What exactly are our plans, anyway? Recruiting is all I know of," Hana said.
"Uh, we're still working on that," Winston admitted, taking off his glasses and smiling half-heartedly. "Recruitment is step one, after that, we'll see what to do. A good step is to win over the people again, we already got Russia on our side."
"So we'd just keep fighting evil everywhere, like the old days?" I asked, sitting straighter.
"Exactly, until the world's nations decide to fund us again and we can actually help bring peace," Lena chirped. She must've noticed the look on my face because she shared a look with Winston before speaking. "Is that…wrong, love?"
"No, it's fine just…I expected something more," I frowned, trying to find the word.
"Something we an actual objective," Hana finished, and I flashed her a smile.
"It's not straightforward," Winston agreed. "But it's what we must do if we succeed it'll be just like the old days...only this time we will make sure the peace stays."
"You'll need more people," Dad said, leaning forward on the table. "More than just a couple dozen heroes and a squad of marines."
"Yes, well, that's why we're trying to get the world to trust us-" Angela began.
"No, you need more men now," Dad interrupted. "I always respected Overwatch, and now that I'm stuck here I promise I will do whatever I can to help…but your plan won't work with Talon still around, and you can't take down Talon with a few heroes."
"He's right," Reinhardt said gravely. "They are strong, stronger than us."
"They hacked our systems already, found is more than once," Torbjorn added.
Silence surrounded the table as the implications of all this finally settled in. My dad was right, we were a couple dozen heroes against an entire organization that outgunned us, outnumbered us, and outmatched us in cyber battle. Last time could have gotten bad, we might've lost in Brazil, Angela could've died here…
"This sucks," I muttered, looking away. "He's right, we'll need a lot of people very soon. Talon's got to go if we're going to do anything."
"We can handle Talon," McCree said with a chuckle. "They're a lot, but if we cut off the heads…"
"The highest ranking people we know are Reaper and Widowmaker, maybe Sombra and I doubt they're running things," Hana said. "So how do we get the leaders of Talon?"
"We focus on what we know," Genji said, sitting cross-legged on his seat. "Sombra knows a lot, perhaps we could catch her and…obtain information. I don't think we should try to capture Reaper."
"Agreed, he must die," Fareeha answered, perhaps with some bitterness. "He's been killing older Overwatch members, he fought Commander Morrison the day Overwatch fell, yes? He's a monster."
"Ok ok, one thing at a time," Lena exclaimed, making a "time-out" gesture. "We need to focus on recruiting, at least for a little while more. Who is the next on our list?"
"My brother, Hanzo," Genji said, surprising everyone. The only person that didn't seem surprised was the doctor, who looked away to hide the anger on her face. I saw it, though. "I've visited Hanzo a few times, and he is capable of good. Alessandro and I must go to see him soon."
"Why me?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Hanzo wants…proof, proof that I can be responsible," Genji admitted, knowing how petty that sounded. "You are my proof."
"How is my son proof of your responsibility?" Dad questioned, crossing his arms defiantly. He didn't want to let me out, not again.
"Genji is my master," I explained, nodding at the ninja. "I'm his pupil, remember when I fought the Talon soldiers? Most of that was thanks to Genji, he's also taught me swordplay."
"Yes, and Alessandro is ready to face my brother," Genji concluded, sounding a bit proud. "Not to sound childish…but I am eager to see him defeat Hanzo and prove to my brother how silly he is being."
"Hanzo is a world class terrorist!" My father nearly yelled, standing up. "Alessandro is not going to fight him!"
"Woah woah woah!" I said, just as loud. I had Hana slide off of me and stood up, facing my father. "Did you not see what I did yesterday? I saved you! I saved you and your men! Everyone here has trained me in some way and I know I can go out there and fight anyone, especially if they got my back!"
"You're too young to be thinking about fighting or killing people," Dad insisted, turning on me. "You're just a kid and I won't let you go risk your life again, you barely made it last time!"
"Dad, I literally stopped the Second Omnic Crisis with these guys, I got Lucio out of Brazil! Hell, I even held off Widowbitch twice! Sure, I had help each time but I'm not alone now either!"
"I don't like your tone or your language, you have one chance to keep quiet," Dad said, his voice dangerously quiet. This normally would've worked on me, but a lot has changed by now. I smiled just a bit and crossed my arms.
"Or what? You'll punish me?" I asked, raising my chin.
"I am your father and you should remem-"
"Enough!" Angela yelled, making my heart jump and surprising everyone in the room. I felt her hands on my shoulders but, unlike my dad, it just made me feel calm and more resolute. I kept silent as she spoke, glaring at my dad. "Mister Soto, I understand your concerns as a father but Alessandro has proven himself to be a capable soldier and hero. If he is willing to go, and if he is needed, then he shall go and that is final."
"Thank you," I replied.
"Who do you think you are?" Dad asked, clenching his fists. "You had my son and just kept him, that is kidnapping! Then you train him and just send him out to fight your fights? If it weren't for Overwatch Talon wouldn't even exist-"
"That's enough!" I yelled again, louder. "Dad I am over age, this is my choice and you can't stop me, that's final."
My dad was breathing hard, heck, so was I. We stared at each other for a few moments and he slowly looked around, taking in everyone's expressions. Everyone, old and new, looked hurt or angry by his comments. Emily glared at my father and gave Lena a peck on the cheek, Winston was half-heartedly picking at his peanut butter, Zarya looked ready to stand up and knock my dad out. He let out some sort of angry growl before storming out, leaving us all alone. Angela pulled me back onto the chair but remained behind me, forever supportive.
"I'm sorry about him, guys," I said with a sigh. "I don't know why he's so violent, sure he's my parent but still…"
"No, I understand him…but that doesn't mean he acted correctly," Fareeha said. "He just needs some time to adjust."
"Reminds me of Ana," Reinhardt murmured, mainly to himself. "The day Fareeha announced she'd be joining the army; we were all so proud but she…she was furious. I never saw her like that."
"Well, I guess I don't blame him then," I murmured, slouching on my seat. "I think I could use an extra fifty hours sleep, these three days have been too much. Did you guys have to go through all this on a daily basis, back when Overwatch was a bigger thing?"
"Not always…but yes, our work got to us," Torbjorn admitted. "That's why the organization gave us such great vacations!" He smiled widely, giving Reinhardt a knowing look. "It was on one of these vacations when I met a special woman."
Torbjorn broke into a very long and very detailed story of how he met his wife in some mountains in Sweden, how she was a hiker from Norway and had gotten stuck on the mountain with him. This broke any remaining tension and we all listened with humor until he got to the part when they returned home and got down to business. At that point Fareeha had covered Angela's cheeks, both Winston and I looked uncomfortable, and Reinhardt had excused himself to go train for no apparent reason.
All in all, it was a pretty calm morning.
So, this is another chapter done! And just a day before chapter 19? Wow, that's gotta be a record!
I know I've been gone for another, what? Three weeks? Not much I can do about it, but as always I'm still writing this fanfic! I've been paying attention into your comments and (to the few that do) messages, I'll get to answering when I can!
Ok but there's some more interesting things to talk about, OC's! I've gotten a few OC's to add to the story from friends and a reader (Thank you guys!) and I thought it was a good idea to get more, I want you guys to have some participation in the story! If anyone has an Overwatch OC, or wants to make one, get them ready! Just please remember not to make them to OP, and remember they won't be having a very large role within the story either, they're side characters.
Well, that's it! Don't forget to fav, follow and REVIEW because that is the MOST important thing.