Revised on the 11th of October 2017


Eichenwalde, Germany

2076

The German Sun shined through the doorway and windows to the long-abandoned hunter's lodge, birds preening off the morning dew from their feathers. Nathan was still asleep in the chair right in front of the fireplace, long since burned out of its flame with only a charred, blackened husk of soot and wood in its place. The Mauser rifle, its box of ammo, and its cleaning kit were still in front of him, along with the rest of his inventory.

Slowly, Nathan started to stir awake, groaning groggily as he sat up on the chair and adjusted the duster over him that acted like a makeshift blanket. Bringing up his right hand to his eyes and trying to wipe the sleep out of them, he exhales deeply as he lurches forward and almost falls flat on his face to the ground. He just stays there, eyes still closed and with little motivation to bother changing that. He never liked mornings and would rather have another hour or two of shut-eye.

Finally, he opens his eyes and still has somewhat blurry vision as he reaches forward and grabs the rifle by its stock. He looks down and examines the old bolt-action for any water-damage it could've sustained last night, but nods ins satisfaction when he sees that it is spotless. Well, as spotless as a nearly century-and-a-half old military rifle could be. Nathan is honestly surprised with how well-preserved it has been, especially considering the rifle's been lying abandoned in a town for who knows how long. Isn't the first relic the Courier laid his hands on.

His smile fades as he looks to the right of him and sees the space next to him empty, with no sign of the Omnic except for only a few scratches into the wood and indentations into the rug. The bird's not there either. Standing up, Nathan looks around to see if the robot was nearby but sees nothing. He was more annoyed than worried at the thought of trying to search through more of the ruins to find the Omnic. Sort of reminded him of the times he would have to chase off after Rex when he went chasing off after rodents. Though, he didn't know what Bastion caught a whiff of.

He gathered his gear and supplies, sported his armor, and slung his "brand-new" Karabiner over his back before going off further into the town to discover more of its landmarks. One street and one checkpoint later, it's almost as if the Courier traveled through time and space again as the town's more ancient architecture of stone castles and cobble road now surrounded him. A large stone tower in front of him, a set of stairs connected to it not too far from where he was. He scales the steps but stops midway as he looks to his right to the horizon and sees the large skyscrapers of a city far away from the quaint village. He whistles loudly as he leans onto a brick when he gets closer to the edge.

"Well, would you look at that?" he utters, imagining the skyscrapers to be taller than any building he's seen, functional or otherwise.

So far, he's only seen three cities in this world, but all of them easily beat out anything back in California and Vegas in terms of size and scale. Post-War, of course, as things could have been different in Pre-War terms. That's one of the reasons his world went to hell in the first place. Still, civilization seemed far away and Nathan couldn't spend the rest of the day sightseeing.

Climbing the rest of the flight of stairs, he climbs over piles of rubble to find a doorway on the other side, that led into the large castle at the center of it all. He was about to walk in but ducked as a bird almost flew into him and outside, apparently using a space inside the castle to roost until Nathan intruded. Grumbling as he shook his head, he continued inside, flipping his Pip-Boy's light on as it was a little dim save for a few windows.

Strolling through the castle, through another old ruin, it felt a little surreal walking through the dilapidated stone hallways of yore with the occasional rusted hulls of advanced soldier-bots. A battle occurred here long ago, and as the Courier walked further into the old bastion, he finally found the Bastion he was searching for. In the middle of a throne room where plenty of sunlight shone through the roof.

"Bastion!" the tall man called, getting the bots attention as he walked over with a sense of relief. "There you are."

"Beedoo beedoo!" Bastion acknowledged, motioning its stiff greeting with its hand.

"What are you doing here?"

The robot regarded Nathan with a glance before pointing to what was in front of them. It was another large mass of metal but in the form of a man. It had an ornate design of angled and curved armor, gold furnishings and fanciful decoration that made the shape akin to a bird of prey, even having a blue loincloth with the image of a creature that is the cross between an eagle and a lion. It was somewhat overgrown with flora, seated upon a wooden throne flanked on either side with the same creature on the loincloth as armrests and with his left hand resting upon one of them. Next to the shell of Power Armor was a huge mace, bigger than any Super Sledge.

'Christ, is there still a person in there?' Nathan asked himself, not wanting to find out if it smells worse than T-51b does after use. 'What did Wilhelm call it? 'Crusader Armor'? Wonder if he knew this guy?'

The sound of wings flapping above them caused the two to look up and follow another bird as it flew over and behind them. As it flew out of their vision, it incidentally led the man's eyes to a huge blue banner with the same eagle-lion hybrid on the man's armor. Yet, below that, there was a set of monitors and computers. Must've been the communications equipment.

Nathan bounded over and was at the command desk in mere seconds. However, his hopes were dashed as he realized they were without power and were unresponsive to anything he tried to do. Computers in this world, for as flashy and advanced as they seem, weren't nearly as reliable as Terminals when it came to the power supply. Who would've thought a fusion battery would last longer?

Now, the chances of contacting Overwatch and eventually getting back home to the Mojave seemed to be far from his grasp. As far away as that city seemed. As his mind raced with headaches of trying to find alternative and riskier solutions of contacting the team, he felt someone tap his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Bastion looking down at him and cocked its head to the side before holding its metallic hand to the man. It was a holding a cord connected to the station. It then pointed to itself while still holding the cord.

"Boo boo doo de doo," it suggested, not stammering in its proposal.

"Are you sure about that?" Nathan questioned, genuinely surprised at the sudden generosity the robot was going through to help him. "Do you even have enough power in you to do it?"

"Bee doo boo dooweet," Bastion answered, apparently confident in its response.

The human was afraid plugging his metal acquaintance in might lead to unforeseen consequences. However, since the lights may have been out for this place for decades and there is no other living soul here other than a couple of birds, he doubts they'd find another power source anytime soon. Hell, he didn't even know if the equipment was working. But he only had one shot at this. Still, it didn't feel entirely right using the Omnic like a battery. Especially with how selfless it tried to be, not really expecting anything in return.

"Alright," he accepted, hesitantly as he grabbed the cord. "Let's see if this'll work."

Bastion gave a few beeps of reassurance before it moved to the side and planted itself into the ground, the same configuration it transformed into when it went to sleep mode the other night. With its "claw", it pointed to an area on its back indicating that is where Nathan should plug the cord in. He obliges, and after finding a port that seemed like the right fit he goes in plugs it. The cord plugs in with an audible "kerchink" that echoes throughout the castle and Nathan steps back to see Bastion's head pocketed into its body and glowing a dimmer blue.

"Bastion?" he asked, anxious if anything had happened to the machine. "You alright?"

Flickering lights then distracted him and he saw that the once dead computer monitors and screens were now flashing to life. Well, not all of them. A few flickered awkwardly in random patterns and others were still a black canvas. The one in front of him, a curved monitor with a white outline and a keyboard in a similar pattern, seemed just fine.

Nathan grabbed the knocked over wooden chair in front of him and brought it up, dusting it off before he sat on it and scooted closer to the desk. He messed around with the keyboard, but due to his unfamiliarity, he fumbled with the computer and didn't really have an idea of what to do or what he was even doing. It frustrated him more than it should've, especially as he spent 10 minutes trying to figure the damn things out. It made him feel older, for some reason, his hands clumsily going over the touch-screen keyboard. After more minutes passed, he leaned back in the chair rubbed his hands through his black hair, puffing out air in frustration. He looked back to Bastion, still a box, and felt worse for wasting its energy reserves. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his pack of smokes to let off some steam, but paused when he heard something clatter against the floor. He looked down, picking it up, and saw that it was the flash drive that Winston had given to him to extract data from computers. Which extracted data, if he remembered correctly, by establishing a connection with Athena back at base. And he had this stick in his back pocket the entire damn time!

"I am getting fucking old!" the 40-year-old denounced himself, pinching his nose bridge before going back to the computer. "This better fuckin' work…"

Searching the computer, he finds a port and plugs the device in with. He sits back in the chair and waits, hoping that it will do anything. The screen is still, for around a minute, until a window pops up and bears the familiar image of Athena. It is a bit garbled and fuzzy, but it's her none the less.

"Hello?" she calls out through the computer's speakers. "Hello? Who is this? Mr. Brin, is that you?"

"Athena? Yeah, it's me!" Nathan calls out, a wave of relief washing over him. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you! I'm glad to see you're still with us, Mr. Brin!"

"Trust me, I agree! Where's everyone else?"

"All agents are well and accounted for. If you'll excuse me, they all thought you had died!"

For the first time in days, the Courier let out a hearty laugh, echoing throughout the stone walls of the castle.

"Can't blame 'em, honestly," he says, as a coy smile formed upon his lips. "Wouldn't be the first time someone's thought that."

"Nonetheless, it is great to see you alive and well," Athena said, full-heartedly. "I am notifying Winston of your status and triangulating your position, right now. So, in the meantime, please keep this connection live as much as you can. Help should be there soon, Mr. Brin."

"I'll be waiting."

Nathan slumped back into the chair, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he picked up his pack of cigs from the wooden table and retrieved one. His lips wrapping around it, he brought his shiny lighter's flame to the end and flicked it off after the tip was properly set aflame. Holding it between his index and middle finger, he shut his eyes as he gave it a good, long pull with his lungs and felt the warmth fill his insides. Then, just as smoothly as he did breathing it in, he pulled the cigarette away from his mouth and puffed out a big cloud of smoke into the air. Watching it rise into the blue banner. His eyes twitch to the left and see Bastion, silent and unmoving with the cord still plugged into it. Though, the bird was back and was stuffing, even more, building materials into its nest, tenderly placing the twigs. He looks at the computer desk and sees Athena's symbol, also silent and unmoving.

'As, soon as Athena's done doing whatever she's doing,' he planned to himself. 'I'll have to disconnect Bastion as soon as possible. Don't want to leave him like that.'

The bearded man's brows furrowed when he thought about that, that he just called Bastion a "him" in his mind. Would it be a him? Would it even care? Nathan concluded shortly after it wasn't important, as of now.

Almost half-an-hour had passed before any update from Athena on the monitor, and Nathan was almost about to start another smoke as ground his boot on the spent one until the computer's screen suddenly changed. It was a video feed, in the middle was Lena with her goggles hanging around her neck, and behind her were Zenyatta and Reinhardt without his armor. They were in a dropship's cockpit.

"Nathan, are you there?" she asked with a worried expression. "I can't see you."

"I can see you," he responded, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, thank God…" the Brit exhaled, a hand on her chest as relief washed over her. Nathan could also see weight being lifted off Reinhardt in the background and possibly Zenyatta, as well. "Are you alright? I thought you were a goner, for sure!"

"Could be better but it isn't the worst I've been through."

"Falling hundreds of meters through the air to the ground and still being alive isn't something to scoff at, mate! Sorry, we couldn't come back and try to find you! It's just that we sustained-"

"It's-it's fine! Don't worry about it. Where are you guys, anyway?"

"We just came back from Gibraltar to get the dropship repaired. We knicked one of our spares to come get you as soon as we heard the news."

Reinhardt then stepped in closer to the monitor, speaking up as he did.

"Ja! And I was surprised to see where Athena had found you!" the old German stated. "If you did not know; you are in the town of Eichenwalde, mein Fruende! It was the home of my master, Balderich."

"Really?" Nathan asked, looking behind and seeing the Crusader still in its throne. "He wouldn't happen to be in a very flashy suit of Power Armor, wouldn't he?"

"Wha- You have found him?!"

"Yes. Along with some other interesting pieces of history."

He glanced at Bastion, for a split second.

"I see… At least we could retrieve his body in the meantime. It has been long over-due."

"Sit tight, Brin," Lena said a newfound smile on her. "We'll be there faster than you can knab the Queen's knickers!"

"I'll sit ti-," he was about to finish until his face contorted at the last part. "Wait, what?"

The video feed flashed off with a giggle and Nathan was left alone in the German castle, save for the robot and the bird. Assured that help was on the way, the man went over to Bastion, the bird watching him curiously, and unplugged the cord from its body. The comms stations died out instantly after, and Nathan looked at Bastion to see if would come back to life. He waited for a couple of moments, even tapping on Bastion's visor, but received no response from the Omnic. The blue lights on its body were still glowing, but rather dimly. He hoped nothing was wrong with the machine.

He looked back and laid his eyes once again on the corpse of Reinhardt's master. Noting that it was bulkier than most suits of Power Armor he was used to. And the hammer, well, was obvious.

'How are we going to get his ass in the ship?' he wondered in his head, as he crushed his spent cigarette beneath his boot and brought out another one. 'Hope Reinhardt's Crusader Armor is good enough to do the heavy lifting…"

He left the room and soon was outside of the castle back in the daylight. Greeted again by vegetation growing in and around the town. A welcome sight, especially after being in that dark castle for a while. He was walking over the bridge that connected the castle to the rest of the town. He saw there were spaces in between the bridge's ramparts, and decided to sit down on one of them, his leg dangling off the bridge. The Courier was looking towards parts of the forest and pulled out another cigarette from his pack. If he was going to spend the rest of the day waiting, he might as well relax in the little time he has. However, as he was about to light the cigarette, he heard the approaching fluttering of wings and Bastion's feathered friend landed on Nathan's Pip-Boy. Not expecting this, he lowered his arms and looked at the bird on his wrist, cigarette still in his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as if he expected the little bird to answer. He held his right hand to it, offering his index finger as a perch. The bird looked at it and hopped on without a second thought. It chirped a little high-pitched song and looked curiously at the man holding it. Cocking its head to the side. Nathan couldn't but help be bemused by the bird's antics, tilting his own head in response.

Without warning, the yellow-bird flew off, back to the castle and most likely back to its nest. For some reason, the sound of its wings flapping echoed in Nathan's ear. Far longer than it should. Puzzled, picks his ear to see if something was inside. The flapping didn't go away. He snapped his fingers repeatedly next to his ear, trying to drown out the noise. There was still flapping, but it grew louder as time went on. Heavier in tone. Guttural. And it sounded like it was coming from the forest.

Air rushed around him and dust kicked up as a large helicopter flew from over the forest and then over the town. Two other helicopters followed it, one of them slimmer than the others. Nathan rocketed to his feet as he watched them passing over. They were of dark colors, like camouflage, and had insignias that looked like a black cross and the German flag. He instantly knew what they were and what they were here for, so he wasted no time running back to the castle. Running back inside and maneuvering the halls before his eyes could adjust, he soon was back at the comms station and Bastion's side.

"Bastion! Bastion!" Nathan yelled, his words booming throughout the stone walls. "Wake up! Come on, they know you're here!"

The Omnic was still unresponsive, its blue eye still hollow and of a dim brightness. No matter what the man did, tapping on its visor, or shaking its body, nothing seemed to garner a reply and it was as if the robot had become catatonic. He slammed his fist down on its chassis out of frustration, but also in a desperate attempt to get the robot to wake up. He didn't know how long it would take for the team to get back, or how long until the German military would find Bastion, so he had to figure out something fast.

'I need to do something!' he thought, his mind practically racing.

He looked to the table, to his gear. Running over, the first thing he grabbed was the old Karabiner and pulled back the bolt before opening the box of ammo. Grabbing five of the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridges, he loaded them in one-by-one with an audible click after the other. He then chambered the first round, the bolt feeling a bit stiff. Grabbing the rest of his gear, his helmet, and the flash drive, the Courier ran out of the castle and left the dormant Omnic behind. However, he wasn't going to abandon it. He was going to buy it time.

Leaving the castle, running back over the rubble to the left, and down a staircase that led him back down to the street, it wasn't long until he found himself back at the gated checkpoint, peering from a corner. One of the helicopters was hovering in mid-air, over the parking space in front of the hunter's lodge they slept in last night. Soldiers covered head to toe in gear were rappelling down, forming a perimeter with their rifles at the ready. The Courier had to shrink further into his cover to remain unseen but still have a visual on the men. About ten soldiers had descended, yet the helicopter kept hovering over them. The man spying on them was about to question why, until a set of Crusader Armor fell on the space in the middle with a boom, a fist to the ground before it stood back up unscathed.

'Jesus H. Christ!' Nathan silently exclaimed. 'All this over one Bastion?!'

He kept watching as the Crusader Armor, which was not in a knightly steel but a forest camouflage displaying a bird symbol on its chest piece began to bark orders in German. Nathan returned from the corner and looked at himself, seeing how woefully underequipped he was to take on a highly-armed military squad. A couple of spears, a pistol, an old rifle, and two grenades were all he had. Though, as he looked at the two grenades, the more he realized their worth as noisemakers. He didn't need to kill all of them, just distract them and lead them away from Bastion.

He got up and ran to down the street, making his way back to the bar where the dead tank Omnic was. Now inside, the first thing the Waster did was hop over the bar-counter and scoured the shelves for any alcoholic beverages that could at least knock someone on their ass. Finding a couple of bottles, varying in volume, he began to pour their contents all over the establishment, over anything that was constructed of wood. After taking one swig from a bottle and breaking it over a balcony above him, he ripped the little amount of grass growing out of the dead Omnics into a bundle of kindle before lighting it aflame with his lighter. He threw one bundle over a table and another into the balcony, before running outside to the corpse of the Omnic tank.

The man examined the killing machine's body, trying to find some exposed part of its hull. He eventually found an opening, conveniently located under the Omnic's cannon. Thinking this is where it ejected spent shells and was close to its ammo storage, he retrieved one of his grenades from his belt. Not even giving a second thought, he pulled the pin and dropped the explosive into the breach. Nathan ran to a store with a collapsed roof and dove behind the counter, trying to shield himself from the blast. Scant 3 seconds later, he heard the grenade detonate and set off the Omnic's payload, deafening the initial blast and sending fire and shrapnel in all directions. One of the glass panes on the counter shattered as a piece of metal crashed into it. Slowly, Nathan peered out of his cover and saw the robot corpse was now a mangled fireball in the crater. Then, soldiers began running into view, their weapons at the ready. It wasn't long until the Crusader came along, and they were all examining the wreckage and trying to spot out any activity. One of the soldiers pointed to their front, and they all saw flames spilling out from the bar, unbeknownst to them that the arsonist was behind them. Seeing they were occupied, Nathan quietly slid out of the store and back onto the streets, bursting into a sprint when he thought he was far enough away from them.

Making his way back to Bastion, he had just crossed the checkpoint for the third time when he heard the rotors of another helicopter going off in the distance. Taking an immediate left instead of a right, he saw the other transport chopper hovering over the space just before crossing the bridge. Nathan cursed as he tried to figure out what he needed to do sidetrack them. Behind him was a perch, with no other way of getting up there except climbing. So, the Courier did just that, scaling the stone bricks with a rifle slung over his back. It was somewhat easier than scaling a tree and it wasn't long until he reached the top. Now on the vantage point, he unslung the German rifle and crouched down behind some stone brick, resting the muzzle on it. The Courier peered through the scope; It was a simple design, two flat lines on either side going to the center with a pointed line coming up from the bottom, with nothing connecting them or anything in the upper half. It was scratched and unclean, but he could still see through the scope and saw another squad soldiers with a Crusader Unit leading them. Leading them to the castle. Ensuring there was a round in the chamber, Nathan aimed his rifle and soon rested the pointed tip on the chest of a soldier, easily within a hundred meters of range. He had his trigger on the finger and was one swift movement of ending this man's life.

But Nathan restrained himself and hesitated.

This man with the German flag on his shoulder wasn't a Talon foot soldier, or a scumbag merc waiting to get paid for a job well done. It was just a grunt, responding to a threat being posed to his homeland. He – they – must've had thoughts, even memories, of the Omnic Crisis that Nathan had just figured a scant couple of hours, ago. For what seemed like the first time in a long time, the Courier put himself in the shoes of someone between his crosshairs. Other than that, evidence of the Omnics still surrounded him. He growled at his indecisiveness as he peered through the scope again and aimed at the man again, but deciding to place the shot on his leg.

Squeezing the trigger, the old rifle sounded off and Nathan watched the man collapse to the ground but screaming.

"Sorry about that…" the Californian muttered under his breath.

Chambering another round, he watched as two men ran to their comrade's side and tried to drag him out of view while the others scrambled and tried to figure out where that shot came from. He guided the scope to the left, landing on one of the men trying to help their friend. Aiming low to avoid hitting vitals, he fired off another round and hit him square in the boot, sending him to the ground clutching it. A few moments after, one man ran to him and hoisted him over his body firemen-style, but giving Nathan another target to incapacitate. He fired off his third round, expecting it to send them both to the ground, but not bounce off a blue wall of glowing-energy.

"Oh, shit…" he cursed, lifting his eye from the scope to see. "I forgot they could do that."

Now, a large, rectangular energy barrier emanating from the Crusader's left arm put itself between the Californian and the Germans. There wasn't much he could do with the old rifle anymore, and any attempt would just be wasting ammunition. Rifle shots pinging off the stone forced him to take cover and now indicated his position was compromised. He reloaded his rifle, swiftly, but slowly peered out from cover to get a glimpse. More rifle fire forced him back, and curse himself as he was now stuck where he was. He tried to come up with another plan, trying to weasel his way out of this. But the sounds of rotors chopping through the air forced him to look to his left and up to the air, seeing the silhouette of a helicopter. It was the third, slimmer one. And it was coming straight for him.

"Fffuuucckk!" he screamed as he jumped from his nest and narrowly avoided cannon fire from the gunship, sending stone and debris everywhere in his wake.

He slammed against the ground and writhed in pain for a couple of seconds until he pushed himself up and took off running to his right. Unfortunately, he was cut off, as the first squad of soldiers from before had arrived and were now engaging the Courier. Nathan narrowly avoided the charging mass of their Crusader Unit and took off into the opposite direction. He unholstered his pistol and fired back as he ran, a few rounds pinging off the armor before the blue shield was activated and shimmered from the rest of the magazine. Running and evading rifle fire, he spotted a staircase that led down and dove in. A column of fire nearly immolating him.

Now finding himself in a lower level, he was about to go up the staircase he immediately saw but stopped upon hearing voices approaching. He chose right, going through the hallway, and taking them for where ever they were going to lead him. The sound of a gun charging went off behind him.

"Halt!" commanded a German soldier. "Oder ich wer-"

Nathan promptly responded by swiftly launching a spear at him.

"Was-" the spear missed but lodged itself into the wall, dangerously close. He stumbled backwards out of surprise, falling on his ass. "Scheiße!"

While that man was pissing his pants, Nathan kept on running; Taking a wooden staircase, running through a doorway, and immediately finding the doorway to the castle, the one he's been using. Gunfire made him twirl around and see the soldiers firing at him from across the gap. The Courier retaliated, but making sure to only wound, not kill. Thus, he downs to soldiers by clipping them in their shoulders, knocks one off his feet by shooting him in the shin, and another taking a round to his foot. All in quick succession. His age still hasn't gotten the better of him, yet.

The last round in his rifle stayed unfired as their Crusader brought their shield up. It blocked his rounds, but not theirs, Nathan then taking cover behind ramparts that were already crumbling. However, voices and footsteps echoing from the doorway he just came from made would soon force him out. One of the footsteps sounded heavier, metallic. It wouldn't be long until they make it up those stairs. Grasping his rifle, he retrieved the last grenade from his belt, but hesitant to use it. He didn't have much a choice. He pulled the pin and chucked it through the doorway, hearing it clatter against the floor.

"Granate! Runter-!" one of the soldiers screams, before being cut off by the detonation. A tinge of regret shapes on the Courier's face, beneath his mask, but it doesn't waver him as he bolts back into the castle.

Running in still expecting Bastion to be inert, he was surprised to see the bot round the corner just as he was about to himself.

"Bastion?!" he exclaimed, both happy and shocked to find the robot now active. "You're alive!"

"Dee boop boo dwee de boop?!" it hurriedly asked, concerned about all the gunfire.

"It's nothing. We need to get out here! Fast!"

There was a sudden crackle of static, making Nathan jump as it went off in his helmet. Bastion cocked its head to the side, wondering why their friend acted like that.

"Nathan, are you there?" he heard the Brit's voice, laced with apprehension rather than pep. "We're near your location but we're picking up a large amount of activity and radio chatter. What's going on?!"

"German military's here!" he shouted. "They found Ba- Agghh!"

Rifle fire sounded off inside the castle, and Nathan crumpled to the floor with a pained scream and his rifle clattering to the floor. Clutching his left shoulder, the pain stinging as he immediately tried to put pressure on the gunshot wound. He felt it get warm with blood pouring. The Courier snarled in his helmet and instantly spun around with his pistol at the ready and began firing in the general direction of where the shot came from. He watched as a man fell to the ground, becoming limp. Half a second later, Nathan realized what he had done in his short spurt of rage. On the ground, he saw troops and powered armor units filling in, their weapons pointed to the front. But there was a sound of machines churning and clanking. He looked back, to no longer see a bipedal robot, but a large, emplaced minigun. The lights on its body were blood-red, again.

An unrelenting barrage of high-caliber munitions at a flooded the dark interior with a shower of light, and a thunderous register. Troops ducked to ground and cover, and the two Crusaders putting up their barriers that rippled uncontrollably from the sheer firepower they pitted up against. They still held and seeing this, Bastion raised the turret up and started firing at the stone ceiling. It fared much worse, stones and bricks crumbling from the power and falling onto the Germans. Eventually, a large part of the ceiling collapsed onto the squads, sending a cloud of smoke and obscuring vision.

Nathan got up on his feet, still clutching his shoulder, and retrieved his rifle as he slung it over his back. He knocked on Bastion, prompting the robot to transform back into its bipedal shape and glow blue again. There was more static on Nathan's radio.

"Brin! Brin! Are you there?!" he heard the Brit yell over the radio. "Please respond!"

"I-I'm here!" the wounded Waster rasped out. "What's the problem?"

"The LZ is hot as hellfire right now! Are you inside the castle?"

"Yeah!"

"Then go to the spot where that big hole in the wooden ceiling is! The one further inside!"

"Why?!"

"Just go!"

He argued no more, and ran further inside the castle with Bastion. It wasn't long until he was back at the throne, where Balderich rested. He waited, waited to find out what the hell the pilot had planned. It didn't make sense for them to retreat further into the keep. He looked back, hearing metallic footsteps approaching. Then, just like what happened with what Bastion did, the palace's wooden ceiling collapsed, splintering and cracking, rubble nearly falling on the two. Then spilled in the large body of an Overwatch dropship. The ramp lowered, and Reinhardt was the first to get his boots on the ground in his shining armor.

"Get on the ship! Hurry!" the old German ordered in his booming voice, before realizing Nathan wasn't the only one there. "I will retrieve my… Is that a -?!"

"Just fucking ignore it and get your dead friend! Go!"

The usually boisterous German complied and nodded, running to the throne to retrieve his fallen ally. Nathan and Bastion climbed onto the ramp, noticing a yellow blur flying in before them. Boarding the ship, Nathan immediately went over to the booth and sat down, taking off his helmet and gasping for air. Bastion stood in the middle, beeping with interest as it looked around the cabin. A few moments later, the ship slightly tipped to the side as Reinhardt climbed aboard, getting the corpse of his mentor and his mace into the cabin. After he set them down, he banged on the interior wall.

"We can go now, Lena! Mach schnell!"

As the dropship rose and the ramp was closing, Nathan's eyes widened in horror as he caught a glimpse of the two Crusader Units staring at them with their hammers in hand. However, they merely stared and craned their helmeted heads as they watched the ship slowly rise from it crazy landing, not even attempting to sling fire at it. They were soon out of sight, as the ship gained altitude.

"I hate to the bearer of bad news," the British pilot announced over the intercom. "But we're not out of the woods, yet! An Attack Heli is on our tail with a full salvo of missiles!"

Beeping emitted from the cockpit, growing more intense, and the sound of flares being deployed and an explosion going off. The occupant in the cabin trembled from the force of the cabin shaking. Bastion then approached Nathan at the booth, before booping and beeping something to him. It was a plan.

"You wanna do what?" the man questioned, apprehension sparking across his face.

"Boop deep booboop beep be beep!" it explained.

As risky and dangerous as the robot's plan seemed, it, unfortunately, had a point. And Nathan doesn't exactly want to crash into the forest again, so that may have swayed his opinions a tad. They only have on shot at this, so they had to make it count.

"Lena!" Nathan yelled to the cockpit. "Lower the ramp and make it face wherever the helicopter is. We're gonna try and make it piss off!"

"Are you mental?!" the Pilot screamed out. "How are you going to do that?!"

"It's not me! It's the Bastion that's gonna do it!"

"You what, mate?! There's a Bastion on-board?! The bloody hell is it going to do?!"

Another explosion from a rocket shook the cabin, more intense this time.

"It going to make sure we all don't fall in the forest! NOW DO IT!"

The cockpit was silent, but there was a sudden decrease in speed from the ship and it yawed to the right. The ramp lowered, the sound of rushing winds being let in, and in the distance, was the silhouette of the helicopter fast approaching.

Bastion trudged over to the ramp, near to the edge, as he looked out to the sky. The Courier thought for sure turn back into a minigun and give the helicopter a lead storm. Yet, the Omnic always seemed to have surprises in store, as it then transformed into a literal tank!

"Boo do de dee de deeee!" it sounded out, transforming into a heavy ordinance-piece and promptly sent explosive shells into the directions of the helicopter. Its cannon booming throughout the ship's interior. The vehicle began to bob and weave, trying to evade the warhead as they rocket towards it. One of the shells detonated close to the hull, knocking it around and causing it to smoke. The hunter now relented, flying back in the other direction and away from the dropship. They were now in the clear.

The ramp closed back up, and the dropship started to fly back home with no other warning from the cockpit. Nathan slumped back into the seat, properly relieved from their rescue. The approaching form of Zenyatta made him cast a tired expression to the Omnic Monk.

"You are wounded," Zenyatta calmly observed. "Here. This should help."

Holding open palms in front of him, a glowing golden orb of energy formed in front of him before he cast it before him and the orb floated over to Nathan and anchored to him. Somehow, the pain in his shoulder began to dull and his breathing became steadier as a wave of euphoria showered over him. He closed his eyes and reclined further into the booth.

"Thanks," he muttered gratefully to the Omnic, his eyes still closed.

After receiving what he assumed to be medical attention, the burnt-out and tired Courier just sat in the booth. Breathing heavily as he could feel the sweat pool from his brow. He almost began to fall into a trance in his state, and like it always did, his mind began to wander and think about what had just happened.

Gibraltar. Egypt. Britain. Here. It seems like everywhere he goes in this world the Courier always finds himself in deep enough shit that someone must come and save him. Eventually, he thought, he's going find himself in a dire situation too deep to climb out of. Where his luck will truly run out.

'Heh,' a sly thought made him chuckle, though it wasn't nearly as innocuous as it looked. 'I'm fooling myself to think I could pull through anything and everything, it's just only a matter of time.'

What happened in that old little village was just further testament to what would be the inevitable. He knew the only thing left for him to do is prepare when the time does come.

"Are you all right, my friend," the voice of a concerned Metallic Monk ringing his ear. "Do you require assistance?"

The Courier opened his eyes to address the Omnic, a thoughtful expression presented itself. Back home, in the Mojave, he was known as a legend. As Courier Six, or more simply, The Courier. Though, he would be a terrible liar to say that he was alone in his exploits and journeys. Whether it was the Mojave, Sierra Madre, Utah, Big Mountain, or even The Divide, he was never truly alone. He wondered where his friends were if they even knew he was gone.

"I'm just wondering…"

"Yes, Mr. Brin?"

"…Where the hell did Bastion learn that tune?"


Apologies to any native-German speakers for any inaccuracies in the German in this chapter.