Old Habits Die Hard | 5

ooOoo

It had been two days since Yuan arrived to Overwatch HQ.

It wasn't a bad place, for the most part. It was one of the more technologically advanced places he'd been to, actually. The only things disturbing was all the strewn about objects in the control room, topped off with broken shards of glass covering most of its surface. When he Winston asked about that, the gorilla said he had run into mishaps during the re-assembly of Overwatch.

There was also his room for the mean time; it was full of unfinished metal contraptions and grease was almost everywhere, including the bed- which was actually smaller than him. Lena said the room once belonged to a dwarf, but Yuan wasn't sure that he could buy that story- especially with her giggling the entire conversation.

Currently, he was at the HQ's training room. It was a huge place, akin to something belonging to the Olympics. Weapons were hung along the walls; rifles, pistols, shotguns, and the like. Along with it was a shooting range, filled to the brim with targets.

Yuan was briefly disturbed with how there was nearly nothing in the training room that can be used for melee weapons, but he found a pleasant surprise in the steel dummy in the corner of the room. It was bolted to the floor, and when he ran his hand through it he found that it was rotatable.

He was staring at the dummy when he heard a voice behind him. "If you are worrying about breaking the thing, you shouldn't. It has withstand more force than your sword can possibly create."

Yuan whirled around- the voice didn't belong to anyone he knew in HQ. He found himself face-to-face with a humanoid being covered head to toe in some kind of silvery armor. The glowing green visor on its head was looking at him impassively.

Yuan gripped Drakon tighter. "Who are you supposed to be?"

The metal being dipped its head at him. "My apologies for startling you. I am Genji, a veteran member of Overwatch. I was working with Winston when we were tracking down the object you came from."

Yuan relaxed his posture, breathing a sigh in relief. "Oh. Thank heavens you're not some technologically advanced assassin sent to kill me."

Genji seemed to freeze at what he said, but then the robot started walking around him in a circle, looking at him in every angle.

Yuan raised a brow. "What are you doing?"

"Zen has taught me well in sensing the forces of the world." Genji tilted its head. "You are releasing a very odd energy. It is nothing I have ever felt before."

Yuan shrugged. "Winston detected it too, I think. But really, I'm not feeling anything."

"Are you sure you are not interested to sense what your aura is like?" Genji asked. "It is a very curious sensation, especially when compared to the natural forces of the universe."

Yuan pursed his lips and looked down.

Genji crossed its arms. "Overwatch does not have many in the way of numbers now. You can at least partake in some activities that the few can offer."

Yuan raised his hands in mock defeat. "Alright, alright. You got me. Doing some 'inner peace' stuff might be safer than having Lena teach me how to fly the dropship."

Genji tilted his head, then he shook it. "That girl has always been of the wild sort. It is charming in its own way, don't you think?"

Yuan grinned. "Hell yeah it is."

Genji nodded, and he made a two-fingered hand gesture against his chest. "This afternoon, Yuan. You will see me with my master. Farewell for now."

Smoke bursted around Genji, concealing his body. When the smoke vanished, so did the robot.

Yuan shook his head and turned to the steel dummy, bringing both of his hands to wrap around his sword. "Robot ninja, huh. That's new."

ooOoo

Jack Morrison made himself comfortable in the couch. It was hard, actually- a soldier could never truly let down his guard.

The sight of the battlefield-turned-control room was unnerving, even more so when he was resting within it. For some reason, he had felt a chill run through his spine when Winston had showed the camera footage of his battle with the being called "Reaper".

Winston sat on the floor beside him, not taking a seat on the couch for obvious reasons. He was staring expectantly at the door in front of them, as if there would be a tsunami of bananas coming out from the other side.

"You seem awfully happy, Winston," Jack remarked. The gorilla shot an annoyed look at him.

"As leader of Overwatch, I must keep an optimistic face. My emotions reflect on my members, after all," Winston said.

Jack crossed his legs placed his hands behind his head. "Good to know you're learning. I was worried if you were gonna die from a panic attack in the last mission."

Winston growled, but immediately relaxed his expression when the steel double doors ahead slid open.

An omnic in some kind of monk clothing walked into the room. Jack, for some reason, felt more relaxed and at ease with the omnic's presence.

"Hello there!" Winston said with a smile. "You must be the one Genji talked about. He said you were interested in joining Overwatch."

"Greetings." The omnic clasped his hands together and bowed. His voice was of a serene quality, one that Jack wouldn't mind listening to all day. "I am Zenyatta. Indeed I am the one Genji spoke of. My apprentice can never go anywhere without prattling off about me."

"Apologies, Master Zen." Jack nearly jumped at the voice behind him. He twisted around to see Genji watching them with crossed arms. "Perhaps next time I shall try not to flatter you as much."

Zenyatta shook his head. "You know very well what I am talking about, student." After a while, he gave Winston a look, as if expecting something.

Winston stared back with a blank face until he shook his head, red ringing his cheeks. "Oh, erm, sorry. I see you already know Genji. I'm Winston, the current leader of Overwatch and the only scientist if the team. The man beside me is Soldier 76- he prefers his identity to be a secret."

Zenyatta nodded at Jack, and he nodded back.

Winston cleared his throat. "Now, Zenyatta. Overwatch is a serious business, and we are currently operating without the knowledge of the government. The PETRAS Act states that any unofficial business must be disbanded immediately, so we are taking a very big risk here. Do you swear to remain loyal to Overwatch from now on, and fight to the bitter end with your new brothers and sisters?"

Zenyatta sighed, bowing his head. "As of right now, the humans and omnics are in disharmony within the Iris, Overwatch or no Overwatch. I find it better to actually fix the rift between us all rather than wait for a full-scale war to happen."

Zenyatta looked up, and despite the lack of expression in his robotic face, Jack knew he meant serious business. "From now on, I will give all my services to Overwatch in able to contribute in every way I can."

Genji laid a fist on his palm and bowed to Zenyatta. "I am glad that you decided to be part of Overwatch, Master Zen," he spoke with barely contained glee in his voice.

Zenyatta made the same gesture. "As I am, apprentice."

Winston gestured to a hallway, a wide grin on his face. "Excellent. Now if you follow me, Zenyatta, I'll show you around the HQ and where you're temporary private quarters will be. I also want you to meet our team's member who isn't present. Her name's Lena, and she's a great friend..."

Soon, the monk and the gorilla were walking deeper into the hallway, their voices becoming more inaudible. Jack realized more by the seconds that he and Genji were the only ones left in the room, and that the ninja had his visor trained on him.

"Greetings, Jack Morrison," Genji said.

Jack snorted, standing up and walking to a hallway opposite to the one Winston and Zenyatta left in. "Jack Morrison died when the original Overwatch HQ collapsed. There's only Soldier 76."

Genji immediately fell into step beside him, shooting a head tilt at him. Jack could picture the curious look Genji's scarred face was giving him. "Has plenty changed for you, Sir?"

"You could say that." Jack made sure to stare straight ahead. Plenty more than you could understand, kid.

"And is your perception of who you are also different know?" Genji asked.

Jack halted to turn to Genji, who did the same. Red visor met green ones as Jack barely resisted to get into the ninja's face. "So what if it is? You were there when Overwatch fell. You should understand."

Genji sighed. "I understand very much where you come from. Dr. Ziegler, after all, had to make me a new body when my old one was mauled to barely recognizable proportions. It took a long time for me to accept who I now was, but by letting people help me I was able to cope and move on. I only hope that it would be the same for you, Commander."

At the mention of his new body, Jack had inspected up and down Genji's metal-clad form. Pity welled up inside him. How much of his past self does he still have? If an arm or leg were to be ripped off, would he just need to be fixed and then he could go through his day again?

Jack tried to penetrate through Genji's visor, to see what emotions the ninja had in his eyes. Then he sighed and turned away.

"I'm sorry, Genji," he said without emotion. "This soldier needs his afternoon jog. I'm going outside."

With that, Jack continued to walk off with a new destination in mind. In said mind, he could also see Genji standing still, watching his form turn a corner and disappear.

To be continued...