It was 2 a.m. and Chris had no intention of going back to sleep. The visions of his dream were burned into his brain, cursed with not being able to forget what he saw. He was wondering around the watchpoint trying to pass the time anyway he could, before he decided to hit the weight room and take his stress out on the heavy bag. He put on his headphones and started making quick work of the bag. He was getting lost in the dance he was having, striking the bag shuffling his footing to change angles and striking even harder. The music was distracting him somewhat, but not enough to keep his mind completely occupied.
Over here Chris help me lift this up.
He runs over to help lift up the ruble. There she is. Lifeless hazel eyes.
Not fast enough. Not strong enough. One more on your hands.
His hands clenching harder. His fighting form becoming less disciplined as the pain the sight of that dream brought him made him strike the bag with a wild flail. His eyes closed tight as the tears started to well up. He caught himself losing control. Breathing heavy and steadying the punching bag, Chris took a seat trying to regain his composure.
"It's been a while since I've seen you here this early my friend." Chris looked up to see Reinhardt walking in with a towel slung over his shoulder. Chris didn't say anything back, he was in no mood to talk to anyone right now. He just slumped over still trying to catch his breath. Reinhardt sat next to and his tone shifted from a cheerful one to a more serious.
"I'm sorry about your friend, I know it's hard-"
"Don't," Chris said still breathing heavy. It was clear he was still trying to fight back tears. "Just don't." Reinhardt stayed quiet to let Chris break the silence if he wanted to. "I don't want to hear any more apologies, I just," Chris paused to take a deep breath, "I can't go on." Reinhardt didn't say anything back. "What am I suppose to do?"
"Live with honor." Was all Reinhardt said. "The crusaders have a motto that we always hold true. Live with honor. Die with glory." Chris kind of missed the point of the motto. "You live with honor by honoring the fallen. My old friend taught me that, and I carry on his legacy, when I took his place to come to Overwatch." Chris nodded before leaving to go get some air. He looked down at his phone to see he had only managed to kill 2 hours. Is this how all the nights are going to be. Then he caught glimpse of his background on his phone. It was a picture of him and Lena after the night of his first mission. They both had a bit of a drunk smile in the photo. Chris let out a heavy sigh before hearing a noise that sounded like it came from the hangar.
He walked over and peered his head through the door to see Winston hard at work, but what he was working on was unknown to Chris. He stumbled over some machinery on the ground startling Winston.
"Oh, good evening Chris. I didn't know you were awake." Winston turned to his computer typing away.
"Can't sleep, I've been up for a while. If you don't mind me asking what are you doing?" Chris sat down next to Winston.
"Still trying to, well find an explanation for what malfunctioned during the last flight. You see I installed this circuit monitor on the jet to detect surges in power." Winston started to ramble on about the technical aspects of the jet that completely flew over Chris' head. Until he said something a little daunting.
"The last time this happened there was a 'delay', for lack of a better term, from her arrival after her blink. However, when we increased the distance for her jump, the monitor was completely overwhelmed and the core overloaded."
Chris' eye perked up a bit, "Wait so your saying there's a possibility she could just reappear?"
"I don't think so. This was different. The delay with her first jump she still blinked normally, this seemed like more of the jet detonating." The answer defeated Chris that much more.
"I think I'm going to quit Overwatch." The response was a bit random but one that caught the attention of Winston. "I can't keep myself here without being reminded of her. It's just..too painful." Chris didn't really expect Winston to respond as he got up to exit the hangar.
"What would Lena say to that?"
Chris paused in his footsteps and turned to see a surprisingly annoyed Winston get up from his desk chair. "You were all she talked about during our tests, how she thought you were so brave for taking on your past and using it as motivation to do something good. You were the epitome of what Overwatch stood for in her eyes." Winston took a heavy breath before removing his glasses, "Don't you dare prove her wrong." Chris didn't say anything back but just left. Chris staggered down the hallway, maybe from being exhausted, but Chris just leaned up against the wall and slumped to the floor. It seemed like he lost all will to keep walking. He felt as though the wind was taken out of his sails. The wind being in the form of that hazel eyed girl whos infectious giggle and impeccable timing would always bring him out of his thoughts of doubt. Then he started to think about what they talked about. The fact that he was here was one of the reasons she was so attracted to him.
"Live for honor." The words that echoed from Reinhardt earlier had more meaning now. The words clicked into place all of a sudden. "I have to." Chris muttered to himself. "I have to keep going."
Chris was startled to his feet when he heard someone walking down the hall approaching him. Chris looked to see it was none other than commander Morrison, who Chris hadn't spoken to since his outburst. Chris stood up straight trying to wipe the tears from his eyes as Jack met his stare.
"Chris." Jack acknowledged him seemlessly not breaking his stride.
"Sir?" Chris grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. Jack stopped but didn't turn to look at him.
"I'd like to take the time to apologize for my actions yesterday. I..I wasn't thinking clearly and my actions were out of line."
Jack finally turned to see Chris. He looked like a mess. The red puffy eyes were clear signs he had been crying, he looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"We all react to loss in different ways." Chris looked down sensing Jack's tone was not a forgiving one. "Keep your head up kid. You can't see what's coming if you keep looking down like that." Jack said as he continued on down the hall.
I guess that could have gone worse. Chris made his way down to Angela's office to see if she was already in or not. It was way before her office hours but he hoped she would see him again. He knocked on the door. no answer. Guess it is still early.
"Chris, what are you doing here so early." Angela asked as she was walking to her office with a cup of coffee in her hand.
"I was hoping you could spare some time to talk for a bit."
"Is everything ok?"
Chris looked down. "The dreams are coming back Angela. But they're more vivid."
"Come inside we can talk more there."
"What did they take?" An omnic voice asked
"Everything off of the hard drives, wiped them clean too." Akande responded
"I see. It would appear Overwatch has a means of gathering some rather delicate information wouldn't you agree."
"It would seem so."
"Deal with it, take out the new weapon for a test would you? I'm curious how she performs in the field."
"Understood." Akande responded as the hologram vanished. He turned to enter a medical facility with a number of doctors
"Maximilian wishes for her to accompany me on a mission." Akande demanded.
"With all due respect sir, she's failed multiple testings. The conditioning is not complete and the subject isn't ready for a full on- *GLARK*. Akande gripped the doctors throat with a tight hold. "I didn't ask for your opinion. I gave you orders." He snapped the doctors neck as the body crumpled to the floor. "Any other objections?"
The room fell silent. "Good."
The doctors woke the woman up from a sedated state. She looked at Akande and sat up with a blank stare.
"Are you ready for your first mission?"
The woman looked around like she was trying to figure out where she was.
"HEY!" The woman's attention was brought back to Akande. "I said are you ready."
The woman looked down before looking back up to Akande with her golden eyes.
"Qui."