A/N
Hello everybody. Thank you for reading this story. I would have never had the motivation to continue the story if it weren't for all of you. Now, onto the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: Overwatch belongs to Blizzard entertainment and its respective developers. All I own are a few characters and the plot of the story.
Now onto the story.
King's Row, London, England
Moving through the streets of London at night wasn't an easy task, even for Ghost. With protests almost every night, the streets of King's Row were packed with humans and Omnics alike. At the moment, Ghost's first goal was to establish a safe house and then make contact with their contact in London. It wasn't the first time Ghost and Soldier: 76 had worked with the man. They had dealt with him a few times prior to this in different countries but since then he had moved to London for the same reason Ghost was there now. Noticing that the timer on his cloak was about to run out, Ghost quickly scaled the side of the building using some tricks he had learned from when he was younger. Once he got to the top, he noticed a man with black armor that looked similar to the old Blackwatch armor, leaning against the ledge. He had a submachine gun leaned against the wall next to him and had a couple of devices strapped to the backpack that laid next to him as well. It took him a moment to register who the man was but when he did, he realized it was his contact.
"Ironwood." Ghost said, uncloaking behind the man.
"Ghost." Ironwood said turning around, unfazed by the sudden appearance of the cloaked man. "What brings you to London, business or pleasure?"
"Business, unfortunately." Ghost said with a sigh. He walked next to man and leaning against the wall. From the top of the building, he could see a protest in the street below with people and Omnics chanting and yelling in the street while riot police stood ready in front of the protesters. "I assume you know why I'm here?"
"Yeah, because of the photo I sent you and Old man 76." He said. "Is he here, by the way?"
"No, just me. If we stumble upon something that bigger than the both of us, I'll call in the cavalry." Ghost said. "So what do we go-." Ghost stopped as he heard some climb up on the roof they were on. Glancing back, Ghost could see it was a young woman wearing a salvaged and repainted Talon chest piece with elbow and knee pads to match. On her back was a standard issue military carbine and a pistol holster was attached to the front of her chest piece. She has brown hair light brown hair tied into a ponytail that stuck out of the back of a cap and sunglasses that sat on top of her cap, letting her light brown eyes show. She didn't seem to have noticed Ghost standing there when she spoke up.
"Hey Adam, I checked out the abandoned warehouse at the edge of the district and -" The young woman said as looked up and saw the two men. "YOU!" She said loudly as soon as she recognized Ghost, drawing her pistol from its holster and aiming it right at his head. "What are you doing here?!" She asked before looking at Ironwood. "What is he doing here?!"
"Calm down, V." Ironwood said. "He's a friend." He turned toward Ghost. "Should I even ask how you know Victoria?"
"I'll tell you the whole story later. Short version is a group of us were hired to escort an HVT. We were successful but we were the only two of the group that survived."
"Yeah and then you proceeded to shoot the guy who hired us before we could pay us." Victoria said, still pointing a pistol at Ghost and pressed it harder against his skull.
"Only because he drew a gun on us and tried to kill us." Ghost said looking back at the young woman. "And you didn't get paid, I made sure to get paid at least half for accepting the other half was automatically transferred upon completion of the mission."
"I still want my cut." She said quietly as she lowered her weapon.
"Yeah well unless you feel like holding a seance, I don't your gonna get that money, not like there's any money left to take." Ghost said, mumbling the last part. "Anyways, I need to get to establish a safe house so I'll be on my way." Ghost said as he turned to vault over the ledge. Before he could leave, Ironwood stopped him.
"Wait." Both of them looked back at Ironwood. "Since we're gonna be working together, you might as well crash with us."
"Are you sure about that? I can find my own location."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, things are picking up around here so it'll be better if we stay together." Ironwood said. Victoria wanted to object to having some random mercenary temporarily living with them but knew it won't change his mind.
"Alright. I'll take you up on your offer." Ghost said. "Lead the way." Ironwood nodded while Victoria scoffed at him as the trio made their way to their current resident.
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Watchpoint: Gibraltar, The Rock of Gibraltar
It had been a few hours since the dropship had landed back at Watchpoint: Gibraltar. A few members of Overwatch were there to gathered to greet them as they landed and were curious to say the least when they saw Ana. After explaining that she was one of Soldier: 76's partners, they quickly began giving her plenty of space. However, a certain Overwatch doctor notice of her, more specifically, her rifle. Once she saw she was alone, Mercy approached the older woman.
"Doctor Ziegler, how are you, my dear?" Ana said as she noticed the younger woman approach.
"I'm fine, Miss..." Mercy trailed off. She was unsure who she was but the woman clearly knew her from somewhere and was quite fond of her. It almost made her feel guilty for not remembering her.
"Janina Kowalska but please call me Janina." Ana said giving Mercy the fake name she had given the doctors who had treated her after her "death" at the hands of Widowmaker. "I apologize about the mask but when working with Soldier: 76, you grow accustom to wearing one." Ana said as the two started walking together.
"I understand and please, call me Angela." Mercy said, remembering her less than exciting conversation with the soldier. "I actually wanted to ask you about that rifle and how you came to acquire it."
"You've never shown any interest in weaponry before, Angela. You were always against violence."
"I still am but that rifle was a prototype that I had a hand in as means to deliver medical aid without bringing the user into danger. I never wanted this prototype or my inventions to be weaponized and the project was shutdown when Overwatch was." Mercy said. Ana had a feeling that Angela had a hand in this and very few people had access to her nanites technology. With a sigh, Ana responded.
"I got it from a Helix Security convey that was ambushed by a group of terrorist while in the Middle East. I was able to scare off the attackers before they could take anything but the Helix personnel had all died before I could help them. When I saw the cargo the convoy was carrying Overwatch equipment, I grabbed what I could and scuttled the convoy before they could return. If it makes you feel better, I've only ever used it to help people. I've been using darts filled with a type of venom that when administer to someone who is inoculated to it, will receive all of the positive effects of it and none of the negative. However, to those not inoculated, it has a much more harmful effect to them." Ana explained. Mercy seemed smile a bit at hearing this. While she was against the construction of the weapon entirely, she was happy to see it had gotten into the hands of someone dedicated to helping people.
"Thank you, Janina. I am glad it has made its way into good hands and is being used to help people."
"Of course, Angela. The innocent need to be protected." Ana said with a smile. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Ana glanced over and saw it was Soldier: 76 walking toward them. Mercy seemed to have noticed it to and looked over at the Soldier: 76 as he stopped by them.
"Can I talk to you?" 76 said.
"It seems our time has come to an end for now. We'll talk more later." Mercy said, turning to leave.
"He wasn't talking to me, my dear." Mercy stopped and looked back. She noticed that Soldier was looking at her, waiting for her response.
"O-oh." She stumbled over her words for a moment before regaining her composer, not expecting him to want to talk to her. "Of course, 76. What seems to be the concern? Are you injured?"
"No, I just wanted to talk." 76 said. He could feel Ana grinning at him through his mask and it was making him nervous, almost as if he was asking a girl out on a date in from of mother. "Is there anywhere we can talk more privately?" He could have swore heard Ana giggle under her mask.
"Of course. We can talk in my office." Mercy continued walking to her office unsure what to make of the sudden change in behavior in 76. 76, on the other hand, turned to Ana.
"Stay on comms and alert me if James tries to make contact." Ana nodded and walked off to look around and see who else she recognized and how much have they changed. 76 quickened his pace slightly to see catch up with Mercy and once he did, he easily fell into step with her. The walk was quiet as both didn't exactly know how to begin the conversation with the other. Jack mentally berated himself for getting himself into the situation without any means of getting out while Mercy was still trying to figure out Soldier: 76 and why he suddenly wanted to speak with her. Realizing neither were getting anywhere with their current line of thought, both let out a small huff of frustration. Finally, Mercy broke the silence as they were approaching the building.
"May I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Why did ask to speak with me?" She asked. "When we talked during the medical examination, you seemed less than interested in talking to me."
"Two reasons. Winston suggested I tried talking to people since no one trusts me or my team. So I agreed and you seemed to be the easiest to approach and talk to." Mercy expected something like that but it still surprised her. What she wasn't expecting was the off hand compliment, which made her smile. Walking into her office, Mercy took a seat at her desk while 76 sat in front of her.
"So what do you want to talk about?"
"I was hoping you would have some ideas, doc. I haven't had many social interactions outside of my team so my social skills are a little rusty."
"Alright, why don't you tell me a little about yourself so I can get a better judge of who you are." Mercy asked. 76 sighed. He should have expected this. With how little they knew about him, they were bound to be curious and take every opportunity to gather information on him.
"Alright. My name is first name is John." He wasn't lying, not to her. He may leave out parts of the truth but he refused to lie to her, partially due to a promise he had made her back when they were still dating. "Grew up in a rural America until I left to fight in the Omnic Crisis. After the Omnic Crisis, I joined up with Overwatch." 76 said. Mercy was actually surprised about complete sudden cooperation. It was almost a complete one-eighty from the last time she had spoken with. Listening him as he spoke, she realized he never mentioned how he end up in the mask. Once he had finished, she began to asked her questions.
"So what lead you to wear a mask?" Mercy asked. She had formulating theories in her head when she first laid eyes on him, trying to figure out why he and his team all wore masks but that was all she had, theories. With a heavy sigh, 76 answered the question.
"I was at the Overwatch Headquarters when the base went up in smoke." Almost instinctively, Mercy's hand went to her chest and gripped something under her shirt, presumably a necklace. "When Strike-Commander Morrison figured out what was happening, he ordered a full evacuation and we had fought to secure a route for the non-combat personnel to escape then we went after the rebelling Blackwatch members." He noticed her grip tighten as he told the story. "We caught up to them and the fighting spread across the base as we fought to deny them access to databanks, weapons, prototypes, anything they could use to against Overwatch. In the end, it didn't matter. The fighting between the Strike-Commander and Commander resulted in the base's core being compromised and the entire base exploding." 76 said as he recalled the events of that fateful night. He couldn't meet Mercy's eyes as he told the story. When he managed to build up the courage to look at the young woman, what he saw only made him feel worse. In front of him, Mercy's blue eyes filled with tears as she remembered the night when the search and rescue team told her the news of Jack Morrison. She had cried for hours and refused to believe them, stating that he had promised her that he would never leave her. It wasn't until they presented her with Jack Morrison's dog tags was she forced to accept the fact that he was gone. It almost broke the younger woman. If it weren't for her friends that showed up to comfort her, she wasn't sure what would have happened to her. Soldier wanted nothing more to take off his mask and tell her he was there and that everything would be okay but he knew it would only make it worse. All he could do was out a comforting hand on her shoulder and mourn with her. After about a couple of minutes, Mercy finally had calmed down enough to speak without her voice faltering too much.
"I-I apologize. I lost many close friends that day." Mercy said, wiping a tear from her eyes with the back of her hand. "Can you give me a moment?" 76 nodded and walked out the room. Once he was down the hall, he slammed his fist against the wall, cursing for making her cry. For the past few years, he told himself that she had probably have moved on but this had only served to prove him wrong. Leaning against the wall, he slid down to the floor with a heavy heart. He didn't know what to do. His thoughts were interrupted when his radio beeped. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he pressed his radio.
"Soldier here."
"Jack, its Ana. James just checked in. He wants to talk to you first then he wants to link Winston into the call."
"Copy, patch him in." After a few moments of silence, the faint sound of arguing could be heard in the background followed by a groan which sounded closer to the radio. "James."
"Oh, Commander, sorry. Adam is arguing with his new partner. She's not fond of me."
"Is she going to pose a threat to the mission?"
"Threat, no. Minor obstacle, possible. I'll work on trying to get along with her. Anyway, I'm calling to tell you that I've taken up residence with Adam and his partner in their home, his idea, and to tell you and Winston that Adam would probably make an excellent recruit for Overwatch since we're trying to expand our numbers." Ghost said, glancing back to make sure the other to people weren't listening in. Luckily, both were still arguing. "His partner, a mercenary woman by the name of Victoria, no last name provided, has the potential to be an effective Overwatch agent as well, you know, with the proper training and everything." 76 took a moment to think about it. Two new Overwatch agents would be beneficial. He was well aware of Ironwood's abilities and if he was still in charge, Ironwood would have made an great agent in his eyes but it wasn't his decision to make. Not anymore.
"Alright. I'll contact you once I'm with Winston."
"Copy that." With that, the radio died down and Soldier was once again surrounded by silence. Hearing the a door open down the hall, he turned to see Mercy. Her make-up had been removed after being messed up from the few tears that got free. Noticing 76, she walked over to him as he got up. "Are you okay now, doc?"
"Much better, thank you. I'm sorry to have to cut this conversation short but I got a call from the training room that a couple of agents got too rough while training and injured themselves." Mercy said with a small smile as she grabbed a med-kit. "If you don't mind, I would like to continue this conversation later."
"It would be my pleasure." Mercy's smile brighten a bit as she walked toward the exit, Soldier a few feet behind her. Once outside, the two said their goodbyes and head their own separate ways. On his way, he met up with Ana and the two made their way to Winston's lab.
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Ironwood's safe house, London, England
Ghost listen to the two other occupants of the house as they argued about their next move as he set up a secure video connection to Watchpoint Gibraltar. From what he had witnessed, the two argued about damn near everything. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought they were siblings or married from how often they argued. Once he was finished, Ghost dusted off his hands and looked back at the two arguing.
"Our last lead was a dead end. We need to get back out there and start find new leads."
"I realized that but where do we start? The warehouse we followed that Talon operative to turned out to be empty. For all we know, they could be on to us. We have to be careful with what we do."
"Well we can't just stay here and do nothing. We have to do something."
"Ladies, ladies, you're both beautiful." Ghost interrupted as he stood up. "For now, can shift our attention for a little bit?" Both Adam and Victoria looked at temporary Overwatch agent with curiosity and a bit of annoyance for being interrupted. "Adam, what's the one thing we wanted to do but never got the chance?"
"Join Overwatch but they were shut down six years ago." Adam answered.
"Promise to keep this a secret, both of you?"
"Alright, not like I can tell anyone without getting arrested myself for being a vigilante." Adam said. Both looked at Victoria, waiting for her response.
"Fine but this not be a waste of my time."
"Great. Well, what if I told you that it was still possible to join Overwatch and that they are in desperate need of recruits." Ghost looked at the two trying to get a feel of how they would react based on their facial expressions. After a couple of seconds of silence, Adam spoke up first.
"I'd say you were crazy but you've also caught my interest so continue."
"Remember the news broadcast about the return of Overwatch were they did that survey to see how the public felt about it?" Ghost asked and both of them nodded. "Unknown to them, Overwatch is back. They sent out a recall for all agents to return to active duty and check in."
"Wait, how do you know this?" Victoria asked. Ghost just pressed a few things on his tac-pad and on the screen, his Overwatch recall message was displayed.
"My dad was an Overwatch agent and he was still connected to the Overwatch network when he gave me his armor before he died last year. Earlier this year, I got this. I chose to ignore it because I wasn't one of their agents and I'm pretty sure they won't have reacted well to me posing as one of their agents even if that agent was my father." Ghost explain, careful not to tell them that he was part of said organization just yet. The other two stayed silent after hearing the explanation for a few moments until Adam spoke up.
"So why are you telling us?" Adam asked
"Couple of reasons. Main reason is that both of you, in my opinion, would make excellent agents with a little bit of extra training so I figured-" A beeping interrupted Ghost. "Hold up." Bring his finger up to the radio, he answered the call. "Ghost here."
"Ghost, it's Soldier. I'm with Winston and explained to him the situation. We're ready when you are."
"Copy that. Give me a minute." Ghost said. Looking back the two mercenaries, he turned his attention to them. "So what to do you guys think? Are you guy willing to hear this through?" Ghost waited for a moment before getting a response.
"Yeah, sure. Not like I have anything to lose." Adam said.
"Might as well." Victoria responded. "Beside, always did want to be a part of Overwatch." Ghost smiled behind his mask and pressed a few things on his wrist mounted device. The screen by him came to life as a secure connection was established. Once established, the image of Winston sitting in front of the computer and Soldier: 76 leaning against the wall appeared on the screen.
"Ah, there you are." Winston said as he saw the image of the Ghost and the two mercenaries appeared on his terminal. Soldier: 76 looked up as soon as he hear this and got off the wall and walked closer. "I assume everything is going well in King's Row?"
"As well as things can go. I've taken up residence with the two 76 told you about. Want to meet them?"
"Please, by all means." Winston said. Ghost motioned for the two other occupants of the house to step forward. With both of them in full view, Winston took a moment to examine them to and get an idea of what they would be like before actually speaking to them. After a minute of silence, he spoke up.
"So you're the ones who are sheltering Ghost." Winston said, still examining them. "Thank you for that. Not many would do that for another person."
"It was no trouble. I've worked with him and 76 for a while and they've saved my life on more occasions than I'm willing to admit." Adam said, earning him a chuckle from Ghost.
"Now I'm sure you've figured out why your standing there talking to me. Our agent has informed me that you would be an excellent addition to Overwatch. While I or any other senior members of Overwatch cannot be there to personally assess your abilities, consider this a trial run. Help Ghost complete his mission and if all things go well, we'll extract you as well when stop by to pick up Ghost and will give you an assessment on your abilities at our base." Both Adam and Victoria agreed, still some disbelief stirred within about the idea of joining the once beloved organization. "For now, why don't I just start with asking you both some questions." Winston said. "What makes you want to join Overwatch?" Both of them stilled and thought about the question. Overwatch was the one thing most kids of their generations wanted to be part of, from James to Victoria to Adam, all them had dreams of joining Overwatch. Finally, Adam spoke up.
"I guess its because I'm like James. Our fathers were part of Overwatch before it collapsed. They instilled into us the values and morals that Overwatch was based on. All we ever wanted to do was join Overwatch growing up and we were going through the recruitment process but Overwatch was shut down and UN troops rounded us and the other recruits up and brought us home before we could even finished our training or could be put into the database." Adam answered. "We all grew up surrounded up by Overwatch, its stories, its deeds. You can say its all we've ever known." Winston listened to ever word the young man said. He spoke well and more importantly, he had just proven he had information on at least one of soldier's Overwatch had formed an alliance with. Winston allowed his gaze to shift from the two recruits to the Overwatch agent in the room with, who seemed to noticed the shift in attention and shrugged.
"Alright, what about you?" Winston asked, looking at Victoria.
"I'm not like either of them. Neither of my parents worked for Overwatch, my mother is doctor and my father was soldier during the Omnic Crisis. I grew up listening to stories about Overwatch and always dreamed of joining but besides that all I can offer are my skills as a field medic and a soldier and my life." Victoria said with complete honesty. Winston nodded his head and for the next hour continued to question the two.
In the end, Winston concluded that both had what it takes to join Overwatch, at least mentally and morally. They cared about the lives of other people when they're on combat operation and take the precautions to minimize the loss of civilian life. More importantly, they understood that if they joined Overwatch, they would be part of a family that looked out for one another. Once the two had finished, Winston called Ghost forward.
"Thank you bringing them to my attention, I'm sure they'll make excellent additions to Overwatch. I can't wait to see what they can do in person."
"No problem. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"
"Actually, yes." Winston responded. "On the flight back, Soldier: 76, Janina, and I were discussing how to better integrate you three into Overwatch and to gain the other's trust."
"Alright, so what's that got to do with me?"
"Out of the three of you, the other agents are the least intimidated by you because they've seen the way you interact with Lena."
"I'm not going to like this, aren't I?"
"No but it was you that got us here so now you have to deal with the consequences." Soldier said from behind Winston.
"Oh boy, what did I get myself into?" Ghost asked.
"Winston suggested it and we agreed with him. When you get back to base, you're being put in charge of a strike team. The member of your team will be announce once you get back since the Janina and I will be part of another team."
"Please tell me you're joking. You can't seriously want to put me, of all people, in charge of a strike team. The other Overwatch agents trust me as far as they can throw me, which I doubt is very far. What makes you think they're going to take orders from me?"
"As a team leader, its your job to earn their trust and show them that you'll be looking out for them. For now, consider this scouting mission practice for when your in charge of your own team." Ana said.
"Copy that." Ghost said, sighing in defeat. "I better get to planning with my 'team' then. I'll see you guys in a few weeks. Signing of-."
"Oh Winston!" Tracer's voice echo in the garage. A few seconds later, Tracer blinked over the railing and was on Winston's shoulder before the Soldier: 76 and Ana could stop her. "Guess what I found?" It was at that moment she realized the call on the screen. "Oh! Is that James? Hiya, James! Can he hear or see me?"
"I can hear and see you, Lena. Good job on getting everyone back in one piece." Ghost said with a chuckle.
"Thank you. I didn't become the youngest Overwatch pilot because of my looks you know." Tracer said with a giggle. Her attention was soon drawn to the two people now standing in the background, trying to inch their way off screen. "Who are those two behind you? Are those your mates?"
"Something like that. I'll let Winston explain everything later but before we continue, you should probably check with Winston if its alright if you keep using his computer." Ghost said, trying to get the young British girl's attention on the gorilla whose shoulder she was still leaning on. Winston, at that moment, had picked up Tracer by the back of her jacket and set her down. As he looked at the young woman, he could only sigh and agree to let her use the computer to keep talking to Ghost but warned her not to touch anything on his desk or computer, to with she agree and took a seat on the tire Winston used as a seat as soon as the scientist got up. Soldier and Ana left with a nod to Ghost as they followed Winston out of the office and into the garage below.
A/N
And that's a wrap. Man, it has been awhile since I had last updated, hasn't it? Anyways, thank you so much for reading this. Really hope you guys enjoyed it. I really am sorry for the delay on this. I've just been spending way too much time pulling all nighters playing video games and getting ready for stuff.
I also apologize for the severe lack of action happening in this story and that in the next chapter, there's gonna be time skip. I want to start getting things moving in this story because I have some ideas I wanna play with.
So what did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Leave a comment/review or shoot me a PM if that's more your style.
Anyways, thanks again for reading and have a great day.