AN: OK, so IN FRICKEN ORDER, lets go through whats been going on with me. 1: dropped out of college. 2: started training to become a professional boxer. 3: got a new job with more money and longer hours. 4: won my first fight(feel free to applaud). BUT BABY IM BACK. so this is a short chapter, but I think yall will like it. PEACE OUT GIRLSCOUTS.

A Study in Shadows

Angela stood watching the young new team train from one way glass beside her long time friend, the frown on her face never quite leaving. In the few months following Winston's call, the team of novices and ex soldiers had become gifted warriors, but something nagged at the back of her mind. They were just warriors. They never drilled rescue operations or evacuations, only combat maneuvers. Day in and day out they honed their gifts for violence, training to eliminate threats completely and leave as little a mark as possible, then disappear into the night like a pack of wolves.

"You've certainly created a gifted group of hitmen Winston," She couldn't quite hide the acid in her voice. This wasn't what she'd been promised. "Whose your first mark?"

The scientist sighed.

"Angela you have to understand, we aren't living in the world of the old overwatch. We're fugitives, we aren't welcome at rescue sites or train wrecks. We have to avoid capture and deal with the threats we can deal with if we are going to have any impact. That means we have to go after dangerous people, or would you rather I tell Genji to try negotiating with the Shimada clan?"

Angela glared out the window.

"Then what are you going to do, just eliminate anyone you deem to be a threat? I won't be party to a second Blackwatch."

"Of course not! We're going after dangerous criminals already on the international wanted list. The first target is that psychopath vigilante tearing through the poor sectors in Dorado, soldier 76."

Angela's eyes widened. She'd heard of him on the news. A mass murdering globe trotter with access to advanced weaponry, he had recently been on the news brutally slaughtering gang members in Dorado, leaving thousands in property damage and collateral behind, though reportedly there was not a single civilian casualty on his record. Now it was her turn to sigh.

"And you promise me to withhold deadly force when at all possible?" She asked, already knowing the answer. He may not hold her ideals, but Winston was a good person.

"Of course Angela. We are not killers, we're heroes." He said, watching her intently.

"Then," She said, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, "You'll be needing a combat medic if your going up against such a dangerous opponent."

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3 days later

Stepping over the corpses of the other gang members, Soldier 76 slammed the butt of his gun into his downed target's ankle, shattering the bone and ensuring he wouldn't be able to run. The kid screamed, and Jack belatedly wondered how old the kid was. Couldn't be over 17. He knelt down and placed his knee on the gang member's chest to keep him still, his red visor lighting up the criminal's bloodstained face as he leaned close.

"I'm going to ask this once, then I'm going to start breaking things. Where are the Muertos moving next?"

"I don't know man I swear Please I have a sist-AAAARGH"

Soldier reached over with one hand and casually crushed his wrist beyond reconstruction.

"The cashier you and your buddies just shot up had family too. Didn't stop you. Now tell me what I want to know." He growled, the rage bubbling to the surface. He fought it down. Now wasn't the time.

"I- Wait wait I know something!" Soldier's impassive visor stared down at him. "The Guys were talking about something big going down near the Vishkar site on the north end."

Jack thought about it. It made sense, locals around these areas avoided Vishkar like the plague, and the site's security would be watching for intruders, not loiterers at any of the large warehouses in the area. Jack stood and leveled his gun at the young Muertos member. He hadn't earned his bones yet, which meant he hadn't killed for them. Frowning, he grabbed the pistol the kid had been carrying and popped out the magazine. Full 16, one in the chamber. The kid hadn't fired a shot.

"There's a hospital five blocks from here. You'll get popped on your record immediately, but if you hurry you might be able to walk without a cane one day." The vigilante paused. "If I ever see you running with the Muertos again, you'll end up a stain on the pavement kid."

And with that, Soldier 76 disappeared into the dark recesses of a broken down apartment building and started heading toward north end.

##########################################################################################################

Mercy and Winston stood on the rooftop of a warehouse in Dorado's infamous North end, known by the locals as the Vishkar Occupied Zone. It was a beautiful area, Vishkar hard light buildings and streets twisting into beautiful and impossible shapes and casting their trademark blue white glow down on the streets. However, in mercy's mind it was just a cruel display of beauty amidst the poverty of the rest of the north end.

"How do we even know 76 will show up here Winston?"

One of the new recruits, a young Brazilian musician by the name of Lucio, piped up.

"Our intel, or rather the intel we, ahem, borrowed from the United Nations database, points towards this being a prime target for the Los Muertos gang sooner rather than later, and soldier 76 has been hunting them down relentlessly," Winston explained calmly, his natural leadership and intellect showing through, "Therefore, we can reasonably assume that the vigilante will be here sooner rather than later as well."

############################################################################

4 hours later, 4:05 am.

"Winston, we gotta call it a night man, there's no way anything is going down this late." Mercy was starting to really like Lucio. She was dead tired, no longer accustomed to the long hours Overwatch had often required of her. She stifled a yawn and chimed in.

"I have to agree with Lucio Winston, keeping this up will lead to nothing healthy, and if I wasn't so tired I could list off the negative effects for you but-" Something caught her eye. A glint of red light against the blue white pallor of the hardlight. "What is that?"

She pointed to the moving red spark as it darted from building to building and nearly blurring speeds. Winston quickly pulled out a pair of binoculars and zoomed in on the glow. Mercy saw him smile, and a sinking feeling entered her gut.

"That, Doctor Ziegler, is our target."