Chapter 14:

Content warning: there's some gore right at the beginning. It doesn't last for too long, but it's there.

"C'mon, Harambe!" Junkrat chided, waving a couch cushion in the air. "We ain't got all evenin' for you to play your stupid lil' DVD!"

Thunder boomed outside as Winston turned to look at Junkrat with a glare. "Call me that again and I'm throwing you out for the rest of the night,"

"You-aren't-gonna-do-shit!" Junkrat chanted between claps, only to get Reinhardt's massive hand clamped over his mouth.

"Rat-man, there are children present!" he growled, gesturing to Efi on the floor.

Efi stuck her tongue out at Junkrat, and Junkrat maneuvered away from Reinhardt to snap, "She ain't a child, she's an ankle-bitin' maraca!"

"I know you are but what am I?" Efi teased, jumping up and mimicking Junkrat's posture.

Junkrat snarled, slipping off the couch. "Oh, that does it!" he sprung towards the young girl, playful and not malicious. "Prepare for pain!"

Efi shrieked, zooming behind the couch as Junkrat pursued her. "Ew, I can smell your breath!"

Hana twisted around to watch the chase. "You can take him, Efi!"

"Go, Efi!" Tracer encouraged from where she helped Winston hook up the device.

The little game ended abruptly when another large hand grabbed Junkrat and yanked him back, knocking the wind right out of him. Efi slowed to a halt, seeing it had been Orisa.

"Leave her alone," Orisa was saying.

Efi caught her breath, quickly approaching to diffuse the situation. "Hey, we were just playing-"

"Get your bleedin' metal paw off me!" Junkrat hissed, squirming.

"Oh!" Orisa realized her mistake, releasing him. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You have a tendency to be impulsive, see, so naturally I-"

"Don't touch me!" Junkrat recoiled from the towering robot, creeping back to the couch. "No omnics are allowed to touch me, that's the rule!"

"She's technically not an omnic," Zenyatta spoke up from where he sat on the floor.

Junkrat only glared at him. "I will smash you,"

"Hey, that's enough!" Ana cut in, her voice firm. "Jamie, come and sit next to me or you're getting a sleeping dart in your butt,"

Junkrat grumbled, climbing up on the armchair beside Ana and settling next to her. Pharah, who was on the other side of her mother, made a face. "Ugh, Jamison, you smell like a lawn mower,"

"Hush," Ana told her daughter.

Winston only sighed. "Thanks, Ana," he straightened up, announcing, "Okay, everyone! I got everything hooked up and adapted to fit this TV, so we can finally play the DVD!"

"Who even uses DVDs anymore?" remarked Genji. "You couldn't have bought this online?"

"I couldn't find it anywhere," Winston explained, reaching for the remote. "I watched this a really long time ago, when I was young, and it stuck with me. Luckily, I found the DVD copy at a garage sale a month ago, and now we can finally play it with these adapters!"

Mei picked up the case, squinting at it. "What's it even called? I can't read the cover,"

"It's called 'The Lonely Men'. It's a very rare sci-fi movie, and it's one of my favorites," Winston grinned when the title screen appeared. "Oh, you're gonna love it!"

The movie began, and it was actually rather interesting. It featured a group of men sent to a seemingly deserted planet, only to discover the planet was actually inhabited by lizard-like creatures. Winston felt a strange euphoria as he watched the others observe the film: maybe this was what could bring everyone together.

However, that was about to change.

Roughly thirty minutes into the movie, a strange ringing noise began in the background. It wasn't noticeable at first, but Lucio was the first to point it out.

"What's that noise?" he winced. "Is that supposed to be in there?"

"What do you mean-" Winston stopped when he heard it as well. "Oh...maybe the disk is damaged,"

Lucio seemed to accept this answer and continued watching. Three minutes later, the screen flickered.

"Uh oh," sighed Tracer. "Winston-"

The scene changed from the spacemen about to go into battle to a shaky camera recording of someone breaking a door down. The screams of a woman could be heard, mingling with the sounds of men shouting and loud footsteps.

The camera moved over to look at someone lying on the floor, revealing it to be the fresh corpse of a woman. She lay on her back, her mouth hanging open, her eyes rolled back, and her body had been sliced clean and gutted.

Everyone started yelling in shock and horror.

"Winston, what is this!?" Mei exclaimed, rushing to cover Efi's eyes. "Did you trick us into watching a snuff film!?"

Lucio clapped his hands over his face, gagging. "That looks way too real!"

Winston just stood there in shock as Tracer raced to the TV, pulling out the plug and watching as the screen clicked to black. A dead silence filled the room, until Junkrat mused, "Wow, my first R-rated movie!"

Shaking, Winston stood up and popped the DVD out, looking it over with a shocked expression. He checked the DVD case before turning to exit the room.

"I-I'm sorry everyone," he apologized. "The night is over,"

"Winston, where did you even get that!?" Tracer demanded to know, following him to his office. "I thought you said it was family-friendly,"

"It is!" barked Winston. "It...it should be," he opened the door, throwing himself in front of his computer. "I got it from a garage sale. The man who sold it to me was, well, eccentric, to say the least," he slipped the DVD into a slot on the computer, typing something. "God, I feel like such an idiot. I didn't preview this beforehand to see if it was all right!"

"You're not an idiot," Tracer tried to assure.

"I am!" Winston groaned, leaning a hand into his face. "All I wanted was to have a fun night, a fun night as a family and not just a team. And now..." he gestured to the computer screen. "Now I need to deal with this,"

"Need help?" Tracer wanted to know, sitting beside him.

Winston shook his head. "Not at the moment. This is something I should do myself,"

"I understand," Tracer nodded, rising up and heading for the door.

As she stepped outside, her phone began buzzing. Her heart leaped, thinking it was Emily, but as she looked at the contact name, her feelings shifted from excited to confused. Why was Scout calling her? What could he possibly need at this time?

She answered. "Hey!"

"Hey, Tracer," his voice sounded weirdly quiet, and Tracer had a feeling something was amiss. "Uh...we gotta talk. You busy?"

"No, no," Tracer leaned against the wall. "I got the time. Something the matter?"

Scout inhaled. "Yeah- we found Medic,"

"Did you? Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yeah, yeah, listen: the guy that's about to be executed, Adel Heinz? You know him?"

"I know of him, yes. Why-?" The information sank in, and Tracer knew. "...oh, no. I-I'm so sorry,"

"What are we gonna do?" Scout's voice cracked. "We got the man knows how to fix this Black Flu thing, and pretty soon he's gonna be dead! Oh, man, if we knew earlier-"

"Scout!" Tracer cut in, silencing him. She tapped her foot anxiously, thinking. "I...we can fix this. We can think of something-?"

"Like what!?"

"I-I don't know! Oh, God..." she went silent, and then shook her head. "Come over tomorrow for breakfast. We'll talk then, okay?"

Scout's voice lowered. "Sure,"

"Okay," she affirmed. "It'll be okay,"

"Thanks," he hung up.

Scout set his phone on the table beside him, reclining in the chair. He put his hands on his face, his throat involuntarily squeaking. Overwatch was an organization devoted to fighting evil and protecting the innocent, and here was: about to ask them to free a death row inmate from prison. He could almost feel Winston slapping him across the room...

He shook himself. No, no, he wasn't about to give up. He couldn't give up now. They'd come so far, him and the others- they couldn't turn back, now! If this had happened in their former lives, back at the fort, they would have gone after Medic, performing a thrilling rescue. But those days were over, weren't they?

"Fuck," he cursed softly. He looked all around the room: he'd slipped into the pool room unnoticed, just for some quiet. The low lights bounced off the water, reflecting on the ceiling as Scout watched all by himself.

Scout couldn't stand it, and he reached for his phone again, searching for another contact. He didn't want advice, he wanted some kind of support. He knew who to ask, even though she wouldn't be much help.

The phone rang for a few seconds, and then there was a click. Comfort already started to fill Scout's veins when he heard that familiar voice.

"Dylan, my baby!" his mother's voice cooed sweetly. "I've been missin' ya!"

"Hey, Ma," he couldn't stop himself from smiling. "How's it goin' with grandma?"

"She's doin' much better!" she answered cheerfully. "The new meds are workin' great. How's everythin' goin' with you and your dad, sugar?"

Scout tried to think of a response. "Uh...kinda shitty, honestly,"

"Aw," her voice softened. "I'm so sorry, baby,"

"It's-"

"Is your dad givin' you trouble?" her voice went into what Scout called her 'mama bear' mode. "'Cause Rene knows I will beat his ass if he keeps treatin' you like shit-"

Scout cut in quickly. "It's not him! Ma, it ain't him this time. It's...something else,"

"Oh? What?"

"It's..." Scout realized his mother would actually be very accepting of the reincarnation idea. After all, she did watch as those physic TV shows and had even visited a medium before. Yet, he couldn't explain everything. Not now. "It's kinda hard to explain, but basically we were tryin' to do somethin' important, and now a big wrench's been thrown in our plans,"

His mother sighed. "Oh, hun. That can be very hard, I know. Ya think I can help?"

"I don't think so," he swallowed, smiling. "I just wanted to talk,"

"Of course, baby," she assured, her voice gentle. "I'm always here for you,"

"I know,"

There was a beeping in the background, and his mother gasped. "Oh! Duty calls. Talk to ya later, sweets. I love you!"

"Love you, too,"

The call ended. Scout pressed the phone against his chest little, feeling slightly better, but a little embarrassed. He was so desperate he actually called his mom...God, he missed her. Part of him wished his parents would get back together, but he knew that was impossible. Everything seemed impossible as if nothing would ever be the same again-

The door squeaked open, yanking Scout out of his thoughts. He stood up, reaching for his phone. "Sorry!" he called out, "I-I can go! It's..." he trailed off when he saw it was David. "Ah, great," he muttered to himself.

But David didn't seem angry. It was almost as if he were hiding a grin.

"Don't ya know it ain't safe to swim without a lifeguard, boy?"

"I wasn't swimming," Scout tried not to make eye contact, preparing to slip out.

David chuckled. "Yeah, I don't reckon you were the best swimmer based on my memory,"

For some reason, this made Scout upset. "Hey, I can swim! I just-" he paused, looking up at David and squinting. "Wait a sec...you remember me?"

"Aw, Scout," David smirked, clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder. "How could I forget you? Sorry 'bout earlier, by the way,"

Scout processed this, and he threw his arms around the older man. "I'm so glad ya remember, Engie!"

Engineer only laughed, hugging back. "Me too, kid. Me too," he pulled back after a moment, ushering Scout out of the pool room. "Awful muggy in here, come with me,"

As soon as Engineer shut the door and locked it behind them, Scout started rattling off. "Okay, listen: we found Medic, but he's actually a crazy murderer named-"

Engineer raised a hand, silencing him. "Kid, kid- I know. I know, okay?"

"You...do? But how?"

The Engineer didn't answer, and he simply led Scout down the hall. "We're gonna talk about that later. Just come with me, 'kay?"

"Okay..." Scout had several questions but only had more when Engineer headed for a door marked, 'Employee Dining Hall'. "Wait, what? What are we doin' here?"

Engineer only grinned, opening the door. "You're gonna see, kid,"

The door opened, and the sound of chatter met Scout's ears. His eyes widened as he stepped in, unable to believe what he was seeing.

His father, Sniper, and Demo all sat at the table with drinks, but across from them sat Soldier and an unfamiliar woman who Scout soon realized had to be Pyro. Engineer got a hold of Scout's small shoulder again and pushed him in gently. "Look who I found!"

Heads turned, and Pyro leaped up from her chair, taking a moment to look Scout up and down before flapping her hands in joy and hugging him tightly.

"H-hey, Pyro!" he hugged back, noting mentally how surreal this was. He took a look back at the men at the table. "What's goin' on?"

"Come and sit," Spy pulled up a chair. "Where were you?"

"Lil' bastard was in the pool room," Engineer explained, grabbing a glass and pouring a drink for Scout. "Cryin' like I've never seen,"

"Hey, I wasn't crying!" Scout defended, scoffing and accepting the glass. "You don't know what you're talkin' about," he took a swig, glancing around the room. "So, why are we here? Some kinda reunion?"

"Yeah, if ye want to call it that!" Demo laughed. "The reunion where we talk about breakin' Medic outta jail!"

Scout nearly choked on his drink. "For real!?"

"Yes, for real!" Soldier affirmed. "We are not leaving the German behind to fall prey to a government death-trap!"

"We were thinkin' of payin' a visit to Heavy tomorrow," Sniper explained. "Any idea where he is?"

Scout thought about it. "I think he's still at the Overwatch base. Hey, I'm going there tomorrow morning!"

"Excellent!" Engineer chimed in. "I gotta work tomorrow, but you guys can talk to him, okay?"

"Yeah!" those lost, hopeless feelings Scout had earlier were gone and thrown out the window. This was so exciting! They were getting back together!

"Excuse me?" a voice asked from the door, and they all turned around. Karen stood there, out of her work clothes but in a blouse and a pair of leggings. She grinned at them. "Can I be of any help?"

Scout squinted, not recognizing her at first, but then the realization hit him. "Hey, it's you!" he dashed over to her, scooping her up and squeezing her enough to make her let out a little, 'oh!' "Damn, you still look great! Can I still call you 'Miss Paul-"

"No," she answered quickly. "No, I'd prefer to be called Karen, thanks," she swept a lock of hair out of her face, turning to the others. "Can I get a drink?"

"'Course you can!" Engineer started pouring another glass. "Really, let's talk about this,"