The Wings of Hope, an Overwatch story
By Feenixfire90
"Some will search for love and acceptance for the rest of their lives. Others will learn to love themselves and turn their pain into motivation…" Kushandwizdom, 2016
Location: Talon Research Facility, somewhere in the remote mountain regions of Northern China.
The team were close to the facility; they had been escorting a payload to attack the facility with for an hour now. On top of the payload was a large silver knight, producing a large energy shield to protect the payload, right behind the old knight was a sentry turret… or at least what looked like one, it made some noises to speak to the old knight.
The knight looked down at the mech and said, "itz too quiet. Itz been too long zince we encountered Talon agentz Bastion. Hey Angela! How long till ve get the facility?"
Mercy was flying alongside the EMP payload, but still keeping behind the shield, she smiles at the old knight and says, "Soon Reinhardt, Jack is up ahead with Hanzo to clear the path."
A few hours earlier in the plane…
"So what intelligence do we have on this place then Jack?" Angela asked as the strike team, made up of Reinhardt, Bastion, Hanzo and Soldier 76, looked at a holographic 3D map of the mountainous area and the research facility.
Jack typed on a touchpad on the table to make the map zoom in on the research facility, he then said in his seasoned gruff voice, "listen up, we received intel a week ago on a facility when we shot down a Talon air drone. It contained information on a research facility located in Northern China, now what they are researching is not well know, I suspect it's to do with the fusion cores used to power the Omnics.
"We will be facing resistance, but it shouldn't be anything we haven't handled before team. Now the plan is to deliver an EMP payload to the facility to get rid of any rouge Omnics working for Talon, we take out any agents we come across and engage Reaper or Widowmaker if they are there.
Any questions?"
Hanzo shook his head, Reinhardt had that manic German grin that meant he was going to enjoy the fight ahead, Bastion whirred in agreement as his lil bird chirped. Angela gives Jack a reassuring nod and smile, as she knew he still got a bit nervous when planning a mission.
Jack smiled under his mask and then cleared his throat to continue the plan, "Reinhardt, Bastion and Angela. Get on top of the payload and get it moving, Reinhardt you shield everyone, Bastion I need you on in sentry mode behind the shield, Angela support the pair of them with your healing powers.
Hanzo, you're with me at the front to take care of the agents and any threats to the team and payload. When we get there, we set off the EMP and head in, we have to destroy the fusion core and shut that place down. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir/vir!" The four of them said.
Back in present time…
Hanzo was perched on the branch of a tree as he watched the payload come up the hill, he could hear the agents from the facility, which was within sight now. He narrows his eyes and draws back an arrow in his bow, then looks at Soldier 76 for a signal, who gives him a quick nod.
That was all the archer needed as he activated his scatter arrows and let go the arrow, it goes flying into the first Talon agent and then scatters, hitting another four and killing them. Soldier 76 fires at the remaining agents as they fired back, using his Helix rockets at wiping out a group of agents.
Those that were still left were firing at the payload and the rest of the team, but Bastion Gatling gun made short work of them as the damage was soaked by Reinhardt's shield.
When those troops were cleared and the EMP got to the door, Reinhardt jumped off and charged the door open, ramming his way into the base, more gunfire followed as Angela slipped in and opened the main doors to let the EMP into the main area.
76 sprints and unleashes Helix rockets, which are aimed at a window of a laboratory on the first floor and a few windows and generators on the ground floor. Scientists went flying with the explosion and then started to flee, for which they were then getting picked off by a sneaky Hanzo from the ceiling support beams.
While this chaos was raining down and gunfire was being exchanged between both Overwatch and Talon, a strange woman crawled out of the blown out laboratory, trying to negotiate the fragments of glass on the floor. She looks up at the battle and panics, she couldn't fight in a patient gown and even if she had her combat suit on, she hadn't actually fought in a full battle before. She was frozen in place, that deer in headlights look on her face as she felt the air around her get cold. He was here…
This instantly attracted the attention of a certain someone, that someone being Reaper, former Blackwatch member, who was in the base overseeing the ongoing project there. He comes out running on to a balcony that oversaw the central area and the battle below, he growls and brings out his shotguns.
He then jumps down and starts shooting at Angela, who eek in surprise and switches to her gun and starts firing back, using her quick moves and flying to try and dodge shots. Soldier 76 noticed this and turned on his tactical visor, turning the gun on Reaper and shooting him multiple times, Reaper huffed and disappeared, before reappearing behind 76 and giving him a huge punch to the face.
Soldier hits the floor hard as Angela called out his name, Reaper gave a raspy laugh and said, "well well well Jack, here we go again. You and me, in this constant battle of hero and villain, but who is who. In my eyes, you are the villain!"
"Gabe, this isn't you. This was never you! If you want to blame anyone for your current state, blame me and not Angie! But I'm no villain, I'm only doing my job to protect my team."
"You keep telling yourself that Jackie, you keep telling yourself that," Gabriel said.
Soldier 76 scrambled up to his feet and signalled to Bastion to activate the EMP to bring the fusion core down. Bastion got the message and he quickly activated the EMP, it started beeping as it counted down to activation.
76 pulled out his gun and starts firing at Reaper, who shadow stepped him and started firing off his shotguns, Angela hid behind the payload and started healing Jack with her staff as the gunfight continued.
Bastion whirs to her to say the activation was done and it would be wise to move out of there, she understood what he said and says into her comms, "boys! I think it would ve best to get out of here!"
"Oh come on Angela! The vun is just getting started!" Reinhardt comms back, he enjoyed smashing up Talon agents too much.
Mercy was getting impatient and says sternly into the comm, "Reinhardt ! Beweg deinen Arsch aus diesem Ort jetzt , bevor ich Sie schaufeln aus den Trümmern nach oben !"
There was silence on the comm, then a disgruntled Reinhardt said, "Ja Frau..."
"Sure thing Angela, just get Jack out before he does something stupid…" Hanzo says, shooting down various Talon agents as he headed towards the exit using the ceiling beams. Reinhardt charges out the building as the EMP was one minute away from activating.
"Jack! Now would be a great time to get out of here! Heaven knows what's going to happen to the systems when this EMP goes off." Angela said to Jack as he kept shooting at Reaper, as wounds were being created, the healing beam was instantly healing it.
"No! I'm not letting that bastard escape this time!" He yells at her, still firing.
"Jack Morrison! Do you want to be buried in rubble if this place goes down? And don't go through this crap that you should have died years ago! I have heard that time and time again in battle to the point its expected! Heroes never die, and as far as I am concerned, you are a hero, you stupid boy scout!" Angela yelled back, time was running out now.
He considered what she had said and after a moment, he stopped shooting and turns on his heels. He then grabs Angela and sprints for the exit as Reaper shoots after them and yells, "Die! Die! Die!"
As 76 sprinted towards the exit with Angela, her eyes looked up at the first floor and noticed a strange looked girl with a red birthmark on her face, slowly getting up as she looked back at the winged medic. It was the patient gown and the bewildered look on her face that made Angela think something was off with the girl, she wanted to tell 76 to turn back to help her, but it was too late.
They got some distance away to the rest of the team when the EMP went off, causing electrical failure and generator overload. Which caused the facility to blow up into a great ball of fire and smoke with a huge BOOM!
"Vhy is it we alvays end up blowing something up on ze missions…" Reinhardt remarked as he watched it go up in flames.
"Because that is the story of my life Reinhardt," Soldier 76 said darkly, life and soul of the party eh?
Angela frowned as she thought of that strange girl, even wondering if what she had seen was real or if she was going as crazy as Junkrat, until something came up on her systems. She pulled out a life reading device that she used to find the beating hearts of earthquake victims and looked at it. The screen showed mostly flatlines and bodies going cold. Except for one somewhere in the back, one red hot thermal signal was appearing with a heartbeat.
"Jack… someone's still alive in ze rubble," she said, blinking.
"So? It's probably an agent or something that got lucky," he snapped in his gruff voice.
"Jack… we can't leave someone who survived the blast, we help people, no matter what."
"I'm afraid Angie haz a point Jack… if it vas one of us then you vould get us out. Back me up here Hanzo," Reinhardt agreed with a disapproving frown.
"I'm having to agree with Jack here, but I can see her point. If we choose to investigate, the decision to leave the survivor to die would be very hard," Hanzo said grimly.
"But I saw her before the place came down, she didn't look like a Talon agent, she looked like a patient in the full gown and everything!" Angela cried out, looking distressed at the thought of leaving her behind.
"Mercy that is final!" Soldier 76 barked at her, he would only switch to her hero name if he was serious.
Angela narrows her eyes at Hanzo and 76, then says, "Kochen Sie Ihre Köpfe das Paar von Ihnen!" She then flies back towards the buildings to find the signal of life.
Soldier 76 tried to stop her and yelled, "come back here Angela! God damnit!"
He follows her in with Bastion, Hanzo and Reinhardt following, before long they were digging through the rubble in the rough area to where the survivor was. But it wasn't before long when someone found the survivor.
"I found someone!" Soldier 76 yelled as he tried to lift a block of melted metal, Reinhardt heard this and rushed over, helping lift it as if it was a light puppy. What greeted them was the battered body of a young Chinese woman with a thin body and chocolate brown hair, she had a red patch birthmark over her right cheek and below her eye and bruises all over.
76 bent down and slowly picked up the girl, making sure not to break anything else in her body. Angela flew over as 76 cradled the girl in his arms, Reinhardt looked concerned at the pair of them and then at the girl. She examined the girl in his arms and says, "let's get her back to the base. I can treat her on the way back."
"Bastion, Hanzo, go ahead and clear our path of any Talon leftovers, we'll meet you back at the plane," Soldier 76 said, getting up and carrying her still.
The pair of them nodded and went ahead to clear the way. Reinhardt looks to 76 and says, "Jack, do you need me to carry ze girl?"
"No no, its fine Reinhardt. Thanks though. Let's just get her to a safe place."
All three of them head off back in the direction of the plane. If they had looked behind them, they would have seen Reaper reappearing on top of the rubble. He growls as he watched them taking away his little pet project, his little experiment. He would have to report back to the head about this and try to get her back if she didn't kill the team first…