Hi, everyone!
I am so happy to announce that we have reached 1,000 views on this story, a number I never thought I would reach!
Thank you all so much for sticking with it.
Also, I owe you all an apology for my absence this last week. I was on vacation, skiing in Utah, and the week has been hectic due to Hanukkah, but I'm back now, and hoping to work harder than ever.
This chapter is a long one, and I worked very hard on it, so please show support by commenting and leaving a favorite if you liked it.
I will once again ask for feedback if you have any. Anyway, enjoy chapter five.
Happy Holidays!
Chapter 5
Beep, beep, beep. I turn to my side and slap the top of my alarm clock to turn it off. I slowly sit up in bed and stretch my arms over my head. Reinhardt and McCree are already up, getting dressed in their battle attire. We attack at Numbani today. I slide out of bed and go to the wardrobe where they're getting ready.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," says Reinhardt.
"Morning, guys," I respond.
McCree is quiet, regarding me with a nod and a weak smile. I nod back and smile.
I grab a black workout turtleneck and a pair of brown pants. I put them on and get my jacket from the top shelf. I go to the bathroom we share with the girls to comb my hair. Tracer's already in there, brushing her teeth.
"Hey, Jack," she says, "You ready for today?"
"Yeah," I say, "I hope we can win again."
"Sure, we can," she says, "If you don't jinx it."
"What are you, nine?" I say, and we both laugh.
I finish brushing my teeth and head back into my room to get shoes. I quickly pull them on and walk out into the hallway. I go to the kitchen and make coffee while I wait for the others. Mercy exits her room, clad in shining armor and drifts over to me to get coffee as well. Everyone slowly comes out of their respective room until we're all seated at the kitchen bar.
"Do we have a plan?" asks Torbjörn, looking up at me from his adjacent seat.
"Torbjörn, you build your turret wherever you think you need to. Remember, we're attacking, so you should move it around to help with any situation."
"Yes, sir," says Torbjörn, giving a jolly salute in my direction.
I look at Tracer, sitting on the other side of the counter.
"Tracer, stick with me while we capture the point. I'll run to keep up. Reinhardt, do your own thing. Watch the area and protect whoever needs help with your shield."
Reinhardt nods, his white hair falling over his eyes.
"Mercy, heal whoever needs it."
"Of course," she says.
"Let's go, then."
I put my mug in the sink as we all leave the kitchen for the hangar. I enter the ship first, pulling my tactical visor and pulse rifle off of the weapons rack. I flip the visor over my eyes and take a seat next to the first aid pod. Everyone but Torbjörn takes their seats. Torbjörn hobbles up the steps to the control panel and inputs our location. He comes back down and sits next to me.
"Buckle up, everyone," I instruct, "It's gonna be a fast ride."
The click of six buckles echoes throughout the ship and a rumble starts below my feet. We start to move, slowly at first, and then faster and faster until the jets at the bottom of the ship push us up and we begin to speed towards Africa. We soar through the clouds at hypersonic speed and reach the Numbani Overwatch air terminal in a little over ten minutes. We get off the ship and ride down the escalators to our preparation room.
"Welcome to Numbani, the city of harmony," Athena says over the loudspeaker nestled in the corner of the dome-shaped ceiling, "Your objective for today will be to attack. You must first get past the enemy team in order to capture the control point, objective A. You will then push the payload to the end of the track. Good luck. Your mission begins in thirty seconds."
"Alright, everyone," I command, "Gather here."
My teammates huddle close, arms draped around each other's shoulders.
"Today, all we have to do is focus on the objective. If we can score another win today, I'd say we're golden. You got me? No distractions."
They all nod at me, eyebrows drawn in, and then McCree looks at me.
"He's right about that last part," he says, still looking at me, "No distractions, especially for you, Morrison."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I inquire, although I already know the answer.
"Well, you're team captain," McCree responds, "You call the shots. We can't have you messing up."
Tracer cuts in.
"You won't mess up, Jack," says Tracer encouragingly.
"Of course not," I say, giving McCree a secretive glare. McCree reflects it back at me and I look away.
"3, 2, 1," begins Tracer, glad to break the obvious tension in the circle.
"Team!" we all shout, and break the circle, dispersing towards the metal gates.
"Ten seconds remaining," states Athena as we huddle behind the glass, hoping to get a glimpse at the enemy team's position.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1," says Athena, and the doors slide open, revealing bright sunlight.
I step out of the air terminal, and scan the street for enemies. Walking quietly, I step into a coffee shop across the street from the terminal, Tracer by my side. The rest of the team walks next to a large green bus adjacent to the shop. This coffee shop looks abandoned, like everyone in it just up and left. Suddenly, the sound of explosions pierces my ears, and I look out the window to see Junkrat, the sweat on his faces glowing with the sunlight. He launches a grenade at the team and they all dodge it, except for Mercy, who sees it only as it explodes under her legs forcing her onto the sidewalk. I notice a dark shape materialize behind Junkrat's shoulder, only to disappear into the building next to to the coffee shop. Reaper's on the watch.
"Oh, shoot," cries Tracer, seeing Mercy, and we rush out of the shop to join our team.
Mercy wields her pistol, shooting aimlessly at the junker. Junkrat launches another bomb, which hits Mercy directly in the head, and she dies on the spot, only about thirty seconds into the battle. Junkrat escapes with only a scratch on his ear from where one of Mercy's bullets grazed him. He laughs as he runs away, and I try to chase him down but am unable to, as he disappears around the corner to find what is probably the rest of his team. I go back to our group, huddled next to the bus.
"Disperse, everyone," I say, "What's done is done. We need to find them before they find us."
They respond to my order quickly and disperse to their different positions around the city. I stick with Tracer while Reinhardt and McCree go to approach the enemies at the point, Reinhardt holding his shield out in front of himself and McCree. Torbjörn disappears into a clothing store across the street to find a proper nest for his turret.
"Where to, Jack?" asks Tracer.
"Let's go in there," I decide, pointing to the building next to the coffee shop, "I saw Reaper sneak in. At least, I thought it was him."
"Alright," she says, "I'll lead the way."
"Careful," I warn, "I don't know what he's up to."
"When am I not?"
She punches me playfully on the arm and blinks in. I follow suit, sticking close behind her. The building is dimly lit by a small light bulb, which dangles above a rack displaying button-down shirts. There are other displays like this one, scattered around the room, displaying pants, t-shirts, and others. Next to the rack with the button-down shirts, I notice a staircase leading up to another area not quite visible from where I stand. Tracer points up the staircase and begins to ascend it, tiptoeing as to not give away her position to a man in a black coat. I follow her up the stairs to a landing, where we take another flight, leading up farther. We then emerge on a high balcony, where we can see objective A, a glowing yellow outline, taunting us from below. On the point, McCree and Reinhardt are battling Mei and Symmetra. Symmetra has turrets set up around the Payload, and they're pushing our teammates back from the point. Mei and McCree each have their respective guns pointed at each other, both dodging shots. I can't see Junkrat anywhere.
"Come on," I cry, my voice keeping a steady tone, even though butterflies crawl in my stomach.
We both take a step to the staircase leading back down, but before either of us can get anywhere, we're each grasped by a strong hand.
"Nice try," says a thick Russian accent coming from behind us.
The hands whip us around and we're caught staring into the angry face of Zarya. Her giant gun is on the floor at her feet and she makes a grab at it before either of us are prepared to fight. She swings her weapon in a wide sweeping motion at Tracer's head, but Tracer ducks, making Zarya sear the wall behind us. Zarya loses her balance and spins around, giving Tracer and me enough time to start firing our weapons. By the time Zarya regains balance, she's fatally wounded. We continue to fire, causing more damage until Zarya crumples to the ground, dead. Tracer and I rush back down the stairs, blinking and sprinting to get to our struggling allies. On the way over to the point, we catch a glimpse of Widowmaker standing on top of an advertisement pillar featuring Lució. She machine-guns her way through Torbjörn's level two turret, only for Torbjörn to finish the turret's job with his own gun. Widowmaker tumbles off of the pillar, landing a good distance away from me. We show up at the point just as Torbjörn starts building a new turret.
"Oh, shit," Tracer exclaims.
"McCree's cornered," I say.
On the point, Reinhardt charges past the payload, skimming and knocking out two of the sentries previously positioned on the side. He tries to direct his charge towards Symmetra, but she jumps out of the way, connecting her weapon's ray to his chest, which has already been wounded by the sentries. He runs into a wall and quickly regains his posture, materializing his shield in front of him to block Symmetra's rays. In the corner where the building's wings meet at a ninety degree angle, McCree is frozen in Mei's ice pod. Mei takes a shot at his head and makes it, instantly killing McCree. I notice something fly out of the open doorway of the l-shaped building next to the point. It crosses the point and begins to roll down the wide slope in the street but explodes in front of Reinhardt's shield, causing damage to it. Tracer and I run up to help him, but Symmetra sees me and a ball of hard-light charges at my chest, knocking me on the ground. Tracer sees me on the ground, cries out, and shoots at her. Symmetra fires another orb, but Tracer dodges it, blinking to the right. Tracer continues to shoot at Symmetra, and finishes the job, saving Reinhardt, who now runs to a nearby building to look for health.
"I can heal you here!" I yell to Reinhardt, struggling to my feet, "I need it, too."
"Thank you," Reinhardt puffs as he heads over, "Incredible work, Tracer!"
"Yeah," I copy, "You really saved the old guy's ass. Mine, too."
"I'm just as old as you, Jack," proclaims Reinhardt.
He slaps me on the back, nearly sending me to the ground again. I stay on my feet and pull out my biotic field, placing it on the ground in front of me. We gather in the glowing circle of light, recovering as Torbjörn exits the building where his turret was, lifting his protection mask to wipe sweat from his shiny brow.
"Well, what do you say we capture the point," he says, joining us as the biotic field disappears into it's capsule. I pick it up and put it into my pant strap.
"Definitely," I say, "You guys take that. I'll go get Junkrat. I think he's in there," I say, pointing at the building where the bomb came out of.
"Sounds like a plan," says Tracer, and they step on the point as I enter the empty doorway of the structure, careful not to make too much noise.
I tip-toe down a short hallway and emerge out of another door, coming face to face with the rat himself. I start to shoot at him, and that does some good damage, but he punches me in the face and steps away. I can't keep my balance and fall to the floor, scrambling to get the health pack that hovers in front of a brown oak desk. I land on it and sigh with relief as the pain disappears. I point my gun up and shoot at his chest. It kills him almost instantly after the damage I did before he hit me. I get to my feet and leap away to escape the bombs.
"I got Junkrat," I say into the headset built into my visor, "You guys alright out there?"
"Yeah," Tracer's voice says back to me, "We just captured the objective and we're getting ready to move the payload now."
"Alright," I respond, "Have y-"
I'm interrupted as a bullet penetrates my stomach, knocking me into the desk. I stare up frantically to find Reaper, his mask seeming to scowl down at me. He laughs in his maniacal tone and shoots me again in the shoulder. I begin to feel weak and sink to my knees as his pressure releases. My gun is angled under his chin from the ground and I start firing upwards helplessly. He grunts as his white skull-like mask flies from his face and lands in a musty corner behind the desk. The gunpowder clears from his face and I drop my gun in shock, feeling blinded by the sight before me, the face I have tried so hard to forget.
Faint lines mimicking his old battle scars pierce his skin, a pale, dead porcelain layer lying on top of the chocolatey brown I remember so well. His eyes are dead as well, a pitch black glinting in the florescent lighting. He used to have a goatee and mustache, replaced now by sharp white stubble. His eyebrows are gone. He still has a bald head, but his skull seems to have sunk along with his cheekbones. His nose seems sharper compared to how it used to be; soft and straight.
"Reyes," I gasp.
"Its about time you knew, Morrison," he snarls after the initial shock of his absent mask.
"How did you-," I begin.
"How did I know it was you?" he finishes, and his lips pull back in a type of dry grin.
"I...but you died! How...," I stutter, unable to finish.
"You're right," Reyes says, clapping his hands together as if to mock a sudden realization. He cackles again, dryly.
"And, let's just say an old friend fixed me right back up."
These are his last words to me as he points one pistol at my head and pulls the trigger.
I appear in the ship a few seconds later, frozen in shock. I stand in one place as Mercy drops a book she was reading on the couch and rushes over to me.
"Jack?" she says, concern in her voice, "You look pale. Is everything alright?"
"No," I say, "It's Reyes...Reaper...he's Reyes...Gabe..."
She puts her arms around my shoulders, confusion in her voice as she shakes me back and forth, trying to get another word out of me, but it's too late. I collapse on the floor, my vision darkening, fading out...fading...fading away.