Warning: Long as fuck chapter ahead.
Newly Classified "Outpost Gregory", Siberian Front, Russia
Nathan awoke curled up into a ball under a thick wool blanket, immediately feeling the cold cling to the skin of his legs since the dead of night when he went to sleep. Most mornings he would've been sure it was morning, but the grey overcast that encroached into the bedroom from the window made him think otherwise.
As much as he enjoyed the little warmth he had under the covers, the cold sensation on his legs gave the compunction he needed to sit up in bed and get those covers off. His night, like always, was short. Barely more fulfilling than a nap. And like always, there wasn't much for him to dream about in his short sleep. Except for one thing that decided to slip into his mind before the cold stung him.
"Veronica."
He thought for a moment, promptly stood up from the bed, felt the cold wooden floor sting his feet, and got dressed. As he almost got done gearing up, he looked at a photo on the nightstands to see what he presumed were the owners of this house: a man, a woman, and their daughter, all standing in some forested area and dressed in winter clothing. Nathan wasn't sure if they were among the civilians they had found imprisoned in those large crates because he didn't check. He picked up the frame since he was surprised to see an actual picture encased in glass, feeling the wooden frame under his thumb. Putting it back down when he finally left their bedroom and made his way to the front door. No one noticed him going into this absent family's home the night before, but he was too tired to give a damn.
When the New Californian opened the door, he immediately grimaced at the cold air that hit him at the doorway. Wishing he still had his duster despite being made for the complete opposite climate. And unlike the dim house, his eyes stung from the bright blanket of snow on the ground reflecting the sunlight.
"Fuckin' white bullshit," he muttered as he squinted and wished he hadn't neglected to bring his aviators.
After he was done complaining to no one in particular, he walked across the occupied village to see personnel, both Overwatch and Russian Military, milling about. There were much more soldiers than agents, so there were quite a few Russians that were either performing non-combative chores or resting. A few tents set up not too far from some of their parked vehicles. The agents, though, were all occupied with the exception of him. As Nathan walked across the village, he could tell he was garnering a few looks from some of the Russian soldiers. Some of them quick glances of curiosity, others a bit less indifferent. He couldn't for the life of them imagine why. At least they didn't arrest everyone while he was asleep.
A couple of heavy stomps behind him and before he knew it Orisa was at his side like a puppy.
"Good morning, Mr. Brin," she greeted, obviously tireless.
"Mornin'," he responded with a quick glance.
"I've been looking all over for you. Captain Amari said she wished to speak to you."
"Figures," he commented, unsurprised. "Where is she?"
"I will show you the way!" she jovially said before trotting along through the snow.
He didn't have the energy to decline the help, so he just shook his head and began to follow her. However, to his right, there was a group of Russian soldiers that were huddled around a campfire, their rifles setup into a tree. Before speaking to Orisa they had barely acknowledged his presence, but after they were giving him stares like some of their other comrades. Except they were filled with resentment as if he had pissed on their campfire. Nathan didn't know what their problem was.
"The fuck are you looking at?" he growled, not caring if they didn't understand him.
He stood there for several more moments as he looked at all of them, his mouth shaped into a slight snarl. The campfire Russians kept staring at him for several moments longer until one of them finally grabbed the attention of the others and directed them back towards the pot. Nathan walked away, Orisa having stopped and waiting for him.
"Mr. Brin, what was-?"
"Nothing, it's fine. Where's Amari?"
Orisa brought Nathan to the southwestern edge of camp where one of the MV-261 Orcas were parked with Overwatch encampments surrounding it and several Overwatch agents guarding the entrance. Once led inside, Nathan saw Fareeha, Reinhardt, Winston, and Major Nikonov around the central computer. The Major's "bodyguard" stood to the side, seeming disinterested in the interior of the Overwatch dropship as her heavy weapon was propped against a wall. Although, she cast a glare towards Nathan and Orisa when they walked through, more directed towards the omnic than him.
"Mr. Brin is here!" Orisa announced, getting everyone's attention to them.
"Thank you, Orisa," Fareeha said, waving her off.
"Break a leg!" Orisa told Nathan, who frowned.
She walked out, and Nathan walked up to the table where everyone was waiting.
"Major, this is Nathan Brin, one of our agents," Winston introduced the Waster to Nikonov. "You may remember him from last night during our… First contact."
The Russian Major held out his hand to the taller man, taking it. In this light, Nathan noticed the icy-blue color of his eyes. They stood out among his aged features, along with the firm grip he had on Nathan's hand.
"A pleasure to meet you," Major Nikonov greeted. "What is your rank, soldier?"
"I don't have a rank," Nathan replied. "Not a soldier, either."
Nikonov frowned and looked concerned.
"I was told you would be a perfect fit for this operation."
"He may not be a soldier, but he knows how to fight," Reinhardt proudly boasted on Nathan's behalf. "Among other things."
"Like what?"
The Major then held Brin in critical regard. Nathan looked to the others but only received a gesture for him to go on from Reinhardt. He sighed.
"You want me to track a target over a hundred miles on foot, I'll do it. You want me to track them over twice the distance and then shoot 'em 500 yards out, I'll do that too. Or, if you want me to get something from somewhere before razing it down to the foundation, I guess I could do that, too," the Courier marketed himself without skipping a beat, addressing the Major and his icy-eyes.
"What about omnics? How can you handle that?" the Major questioned.
"I've fought, and killed, machines bigger than most. And bigger. I've got the means and the know how to do so."
"Hmm… You seem a very confident man, Mr. Brin. Okay, I now have some faith in sending you with the rest of the team."
"On what?"
Fareeha grabbed his attention from across the holodeck. "On a Search & Destroy mission, but not quite. Major Nikonov informed me of an omnic staging area that's been largely responsible for the dispersal of the hostile omnic forces within this region. From what I've been told, it's a sort of mini Omnium."
Pressing a few buttons on the computer, a holoscreen appeared and showed an aerial view of a snowy landscape like the one they landed in. Except in the middle of a huge clearing was a large industrial facility composed entirely of metal. Metal roads and rail lines branching out from it like roots. And a dozen large figures surrounding the perimeter.
"Please don't tell me it's anything like the Australian Omnium," Nathan moaned.
He was too focused on the diagram to notice Major Nikonov and even his bodyguard react to what he said.
"Similar, but not quite," Fareeha said. "As I mentioned before, its smaller. Tradeoff is that its actually active and is fielding ground forces for the omnics as we speak. We think its one of the prime forward staging areas for the Siberian Omnium."
"Which makes it a vital target," Nikonov added. "And we want you and the team to help neutralize it and gain our forces a proper footing within the region. So, we can finally break this stalemate and begin taking back our homes from the omnics aggressors."
Nathan looked at the Russian Major and was reminded of the many NCR Officers he met during his travels, the ones who had the confidence and the acumen to back it up. The ones who seemed to have good intentions in heart and not just those of their superiors or their personal gain. Although, that's what he silently hoped Nikonov would be. Otherwise, he'd only be doing another POG's job for them.
"Who's in this team besides me?" Nathan asked.
"Lena, Jesse, Torbjörn, Vaswani, Reinhardt, Winston, and me," Fareeha listed off.
"You're coming along?"
"Yes. There are also two scouts we sent to the area before we go along, and that's all on the Overwatch side of things. Major Nikonov will be providing some of his own men to accompany us."
"And once we get there, then what? Not just gonna walk through the front door, are we?"
Nikonov shook his head and spoke. "While having you charge in there would look good for the holovids, there a few options we could possibly exploit to avoid unnecessary engagement. And Dr. Winston may have a few ideas."
"Oh, please, just call me Winston, Major," the Gorilla responded. "And as for what you're referring to…"
Winston bent over and picked up several metallic devices from the ground and placed them on the table for all to see. At first glance, Nathan could tell they were some type of explosive weapon, some kind of charge that looks like it should be stuck to a wall or surface. In the center of the device was a chrome cylindrical piece that looked oddly similar.
"I was able to construct a series of explosive devices that should emit an EMP discharge, based on the design of your Pulse Grenades," the Scientist explained. "While your grenades are quite devastating as is, I was able to tweak the discharge to be much more concentrated and to, hopefully, affect electronic instruments on a system-wide scale. They have to be latched on to work, however, but I'm sure we'll figure that out. We just need to put these on anything that will disrupt the omnics' systems once taken out of commission. And after that, if everyone comes back unscathed, mission accomplished! I hope. So, any questions, Nathan?"
"How soon can we get this done?" he asked.
"Actually, before you go off to get ready," Major Nikonov stepped forward and addressed him. "This is something I have already relayed to your other comrades, but several weeks back there was a detachment of Special Forces that were sent in to do what you and Overwatch are about to do. Four of them. Shortly after they were sent behind enemy lines, we lost contact and they never came back."
Briefly, a disappointed expression flashed across the Major's face before regarding Nathan. This was shaping up to be more of a personal request than a strategic objective.
"You want us to find them?" Nathan predicted.
"Yes, please, if you can. Even if you find them and they've long perished, we'll still have bodies to send back home."
Nathan looked off to the side and shook his head slightly. Retrieving bodies was always tiring.
"If we find them, fine," Nathan relented.
"Thank you! After all this is done, Russia and her people will thank all of you-!"
There was a sudden flapping noise that made everyone look up into the air. Nathan did, too, until he watched it finally fly down to the table where he was standing and saw Ganymede looking up at him.
"Ganymede?!" he said aloud. "What…?"
Everyone's attention then shifted to a corner of the packed dropship as one of the "crates" began to twist, rotate, and morph into an omnic. Everyone was surprised, but no one was nearly as shocked as the Russian soldiers with them. The pink-haired reaching to her weapon and already pointing it at Bastion.
"Omnic!" she yelled, almost about to clamp down on the trigger until she received a solid punch to the side of her head that made her let go of her weapon and her reeling to her knee. Looking up and snarling to see Nathan looming over her, also snarling.
"Don't you point that fucking weapon at him!" he threatened
The pink-haired Russian stood up and almost leaped at Nathan before Winston and Fareeha got between them. The Major stood there, still shocked that there was a Bastion unit in the same room as him. Meanwhile, Ganymede flew around the room chirping incessantly.
"What is that thing doing here? Why do you have a Bastion on this ship?!" Major Nikonov questioned, backing away slowly with nervous eyes fixed on the omnic.
"I'm sorry, Major," Fareeha began, equally surprised. "He's not supposed to be here, he's supposed to be back at base. I don't know how he got here!"
As Fareeha kept Nathan from grappling at the bodyguard's neck and Winston for the bodyguard, Bastion stood in the corner. His square head twitching nervously as he watched the altercation. After a while, Nathan finally calmed down a little and had Fareeha let go of him to go walk up to Bastion, Reinhardt already patting the old war machine on the shoulder plate.
"Sorry, pal. You alright?" Nathan asked.
"Eedoo," Bastion responded
"What are you doing here?"
"Beereepoo Eetoo."
Nathan's frustration faded when Bastion made those noises, replaced with surprise.
"What? Why?"
"Keeree too heepoo beereepootoo!" the omnic answered as sure as he could. "Eennn booroo".
"Bastion, you don't even have your gun arms, how are you going to-?"
"Nathan, what's going on?" Fareeha called out.
"Umm," Nathan turned around, unsure how to continue. "He wants to help."
Everyone fell silent again, including the Russians.
"Wait, you can understand him?" the bodyguard questioned in disbelief.
"Yes, and that's what he told me," Nathan reiterated.
"Oh, Bastion…" Fareeha brought a hand to her face, groaning.
Major Nikonov was silent as he looked at the old war omnic, but the shock was gone. He still looked at Bastion cautiously but there was a prospective gleam in his eyes. Complimenting his ice-cold gaze.
"Athena?" Fareeha called up to the ceiling. "Can you translate what Bastion says?"
"Yes, Fareeha," Athena answered.
"Good. Nathan, rest up and get ready for the mission. I'll take over things from here."
Nathan looked over his shoulder back at her, turning back to Bastion. Bastion craned his head down at him and gave him a mechanical, stern nod. Nathan lightly pounded his front chassis and walked away.
"Don't trouble him too much," Nathan demanded.
"I promise," Fareeha accepted.
"So, Bastion…" Reinhardt put a hand on his shoulder, who was only slightly taller than him without the Crusader armor. "You want to fight, huh?"
"Reinhardt…" Fareeha started shaking her head.
Walking out of the cabin door, Nathan felt the cold, Russian air, again. Feeling his helmet still cold to the touch even after being inside for a while. He was going off to find something to eat until he noticed a few Russian military trucks parked somewhat close to the dropship, not being there when he first got there. The civilians they had rescued were being helped up into the backs of these trucks, with assistance from Overwatch and Russian personnel, alike. Nathan walked over to take a closer look at the dozen or so poor bastards locked up in cages. He couldn't find the family in the picture, though.
"Don't worry, they'll take them back somewhere safe," Dr. Ziegler assured him as she walked up beside him. Wrapping herself with a spare blanket and holding two cups of coffee.
"That's good," Nathan muttered, not even looking at the Doctor as he watched the last civilian get loaded into a truck.
One of the civilians, a small child, reached out to the soldiers and held something out to them. An Overwatch agent and a Russian soldier each retrieved a tiny flower from the child, uttering "spasibo" before the trucks finally drove off west with an armored escort.
"Coffee?" Angela offered a cup to him.
"Thank you," Nathan graciously took the cup, the heat bringing sensation back to his fingers. It was only when he brought it to his lips in a cold climate did he fully appreciate the hot drink. When he took a few hearty sips and stopped for air, he felt compelled to state the obvious. "Goddamn, it's fucking cold."
"You should've brought a jacket, then!" Angela scolded him like his mom, smiling. "Or brought your… 'Duster' you call it? I'm sure that would've helped, somewhat."
"Nah, it's already too torn up. Basically rags by this point."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't worry about it."
"But you're still going to be awfully cold, especially out there. You know, I'm sure we have some spare coats in the storage tent. Hopefully, something in your size."
"You sure?"
"Yes. Come on, let's take a look."
Nathan looked at her and noted her assertiveness about him needing a coat like she was his mom. Yet, he was the fool to not bring a coat with him in the first place.
"Sure," he accepted.
The two then walked together to the supply tent, Angela dragging Nathan by one arm.
The white military surplus jacket was a bit tight on Nathan, especially with his armor, but fit well enough. The faux-fur lining of the hood brushing his neck and the thick parka padding on the inside hugging to his torso took some getting used to, not accustomed to constantly wearing heavy winter clothing. It was warm, though, which is what mattered. Not just feeling the cold bite of his armor over a thin shirt.
Nathan, along with some of other Overwatch agents, sat in the back of a Russian troop transport. Across from Nathan was Lena, Torbjörn, and Brigitte, while to his left and right were Jesse and Satya. There were also two Russian soldiers seated from across each other and closest to the transport doors. They weren't the talkative sort, usually eyeing the Overwatch agents or staring at their feet. Jesse had his hat over his face, Satya was intently focused on a construction in her hands, and Nathan stayed silent. Surprisingly, the bubbly Brit wasn't the most talkative as she was mostly on her phone while Brigitte and her dad were still arguing about her coming with on this mission. Even though she had successfully convinced him to let her tag-along, thus her being there, but her father was still quick to raise concerns. It wasn't heated, but the Russians occasionally cast glances at the two.
A tap on his right shoulder distracted Nathan from the Lindholms.
"Mr. Brin," Satya said.
"Yes, Vaswani?"
"I… Just wanted to thank you, again, for teaching me about the proper way to handle a firearm."
"Don't mention it," Nathan responded.
The Architect's expression was confused momentarily until regaining composure.
"Okay, as you wish," she accepted.
"What?" Nathan asked, wondering what he requested.
He felt Jesse shake as he tried to stifle a laugh.
"No, that not what I meant," Nathan clarified. "I was just saying you're welcome."
"Ah, I see. Thank you, again, then. You would be happy to know that I am working on a possible form of repayment for what you've taught me."
"Repayment? That isn't really necessary."
"I insist upon it. It would only seem fair."
"What do you have in mind, then?"
"I'm still not quite certain. You taught me how to be offensive, maybe I could help you be more defensive. Equal trade."
"You already gave us personal shields."
"They're tentative. Improvements could certainly be made. Something more substantial, hopefully."
Nathan wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
"Hey, whatever you say," he concedes but somewhat curious. "As long as you watch my back, I'll watch yours."
By the time their conversation had concluded, the occupants felt the troop transport slow and then come to a complete stop. The Russian radio music that was coming from the front was silenced. One of the soldiers brought a finger up to his ear as he received a radio transmission before looking at the other occupants and nodding.
"My tut. We are here," he said as he pressed a button and the large rear door of the transport began to lower down into the ground.
The occupants filed out into a snowed-in forest clearing surrounded by trees, a few kilometers away from the target. Several other troops transports along with some armored cars with mounted weapons were here. The other Overwatch agents, Fareeha, Reinhardt, and Winston, were in their own troop transport as space would've gotten tight.
Once out and about, the Overwatch agents reconvened behind one of the transports and Amari began to give them orders. One team would be tasked to go travel through the wilderness on foot and meet up with the Overwatch scouts, while the others wait until the main assault. That team would consist of Jesse, Vaswani, Winston, and of course, Nathan. However, there was a detail that wasn't relayed until it was too late.
And so, a few minutes later, Nathan along with the others were trudging through a Siberian forest with the pink-haired bodyguard, who the Major lent to the team for this mission. The one he punched, earlier. Obviously, introductions were curt and with nothing but the armor she wore from yesterday and her bulky gun, she started leading them to their mutual target. At a somewhat leisurely pace. She was acting civil, at least for now.
Nathan was the first one behind her, then Winston, Satya, and McCree trailing behind him. That probably wasn't a good idea. Thankfully, she didn't talk much, as curt escorting them as she was greeting them. Her vision focused on what was in front and around them in potentially hostile territory but never once looking behind her. Nathan thought he saw her cast some side glances to him or someone behind him, but they were brief. At least he wouldn't be the main draw of fire this time.
"Th-th-this is not my type of climate," Winston muttered, shivering a little even with his heavy coat and fur.
Their guide quickly exhaled through her nose.
"You will get used to it," she said, sounding more like a demand than small talk.
"I, uh, hope I do, Sergeant… Er, I'm sorry, what was your name, again?"
The Sergeant quickly looked over her shoulder, Nathan saw a frown.
"Aleksandra Zaryanova," she said quickly and fluently before directing her attention back to the front.
"…Ah, right…" Winston fell silent, looking back, confused and frowning. McCree shrugged.
"That's a lot of syllables," Nathan observed.
"You can speak robot, no? If it is too hard for you to pronounce, then you can call me 'Zarya'," Zarya quickly said, as if talking to a child.
"Zaryanova, then," Nathan quickly responded, looking up at the trees. Not seeing Zarya cast a frown at him.
They lapsed back into silence, again, the snow crunching beneath their feet. Nathan looked around the Russian forest, trees and ground covered in snow stretching on seemingly for miles. Snow reached up halfway up to his shins at times, making walking more laborious, but his legs weren't gonna ache just yet. The further they were led through, Nathan eventually noticed something off about this forest. Something missing here that wasn't in the forests in Germany, China, or Mt. Charleston.
"Dead air," he thought to himself aloud.
"What?" Zarya questioned.
"It's quiet. No birds, no animals; Just us. Is it usually this quiet?"
"No. It is the omnics. They scared everything off," Zarya said, resentment being palpable in her voice.
She fell silent again for a moment.
"Used to be louder than this," Zarya suddenly said, then nothing for the duration of the trip.
A half-hour passed of Zarya leading the four Overwatch agents through the forest, never giving much instruction other than a simple point of her finger or barely descript statement. Nathan was unsure if Zarya was even leading them in the right direction when the trees and ground still looked the same. But after another near half-hour of trudging through snow, Zarya had finally brought them to the edge of the forest where there was a huge land clearing ahead. The sight of the mini-omnium, their target just barely on the horizon, with smoke churning from it and multiple large omnics surrounding it. They couldn't find their scouts, though.
"Capt. Amari told me your scouts would be here," Zarya squinted, taking a knee behind a tree and looking at the desolate clearing.
"She did," Winston said, using one hand as a visor over his eyes. "Where are they?"
Nathan, looking at the others, crouched down and slowly walked towards the forest edge. Passing Zarya as he got up to a large mound of snow that could act as cover.
"Where are you going?" she questioned.
"Relax," he said as he pulled out his Kar98k with the enhanced scope. "Wanna take a closer look."
When he got up to the mound, Nathan sighted in his scope and got almost crystal-clear imagery of the omnium. The facility wasn't even a tenth of the size of a regular omnium but still bustled with automated activity as worker and security drones buzzed around the many entrances in an out. He spotted more of those spider-bots from the village, along with other specimens that were bigger and heavily armed. The Waster could only sigh as he wished he brought the Pulse Gun.
Suddenly, the mound trembled before the snow shook off and something popped out from under it. A large, fat man in a heavy coat, stitched gloves, and an ushanka turned around to face Nathan. The Courier had flipped the rifle's safety off from the surprise but lowered it upon recognizing the pig mask under that hat.
"Rutledge?"
The Junker grunted, greeting them. Almost unrecognizable without his belly showing.
"Who is this?" Zarya asked, glowering at the man larger than her.
"The scout. One of ours… I think," Winston answered. "Wait, but where's Jamison?"
Hearing that, Roadhog looked down at a smaller mound of snow to his left before punching it lightly. The snow flew into the air as Junkrat popped up, screaming, and almost about to fire a volley from his launcher. His deranged look quickly snapped back to normalcy when he saw all the non-metallic sentients staring at him.
"Oh, it's only you," Jamison said as he eased his stance, shivering not twitching. "What took you so long?"
"You're the scouts?" Nathan questioned in disbelief.
"Yup! If there's something the Cap can rely on us to do, it's scrapping some bots. Spying on bots is a close second."
Behind him, Zarya was groaning and muttered something in Russian. Probably not something flattering. Nathan frowned when he looked at Jamison and noticed he was still in the same set of clothes since… Ever.
"You're not wearing a jacket?" he questioned.
"Roadie told me we would be going to Russia, not that it would be cold!" Jamison scolded as he shivered.
Winston interrupted them. "Okay, let's not get off track for a second. What were you able to find about this omnic base? Any weak points? Hazards? Patrols?"
"Well, for starters, there's a lot of damn bots all over the place," Jamison stated the obvious. "Was afraid we didn't pack enough for them."
"Uh… Yes, we can see that."
"But Roadie and I did see a glowing blue light in some tower in the middle of the thing. Don't know what that's supposed to mean."
Zarya looked up when he said that.
"Tower?" she questioned.
"Yeah, just some tower in the middle of the place. Glows bright like the opera house when we get the Ashes."
"I should get in there."
"Well, if you go around the back there seems to be this big bumhole that the clankers dump all their sludge. Wanted to see if it was flammable but Roadie said we're on a 'stealth' mission. Bah!"
Listening to what he said, Zarya mulled to herself momentarily before standing up.
"Then I will go there," Zarya declared. "Tell the others that I will begin my attack soon."
"Wait, are you sure that's a good idea?" Winston asked. "You'll be going in there alone."
"Element of surprise. Don't worry about me, I'll make it work from where I am."
"I'm not sure Major Nikonov would appreciate if we just let one of his soldiers go in there by themselves."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"How about you let some of us tag along? You know, just to make sure you stay safe."
"I am a soldier fighting for my home. Being in harm's way is expected of me."
"Well, at least consider it a courtesy?"
Zarya scowled, obviously annoyed by Winston's insistence of having Overwatch agents tag along. Nathan could tell she didn't really want anything to do with them, clearly leading them on orders and not because she volunteered. Ultimately, Zarya's pride gave way.
"Fine," the Russian soldier finally relented. "I will take the Americans and the Vishkar worker with me."
Nathan frowned, not just because she called him an American but also because he had to tag along with her.
"Are you guys alright with that?" Winston asked them.
"We're on a mission, are we not?" Satya asked back.
"Yeah, might as well get this done with," Jesse added. "What about you, Brin? Up for it."
"Sure," Brin answered, glowering at Zaryanova. "We'll need to slip in, though. That side might be a guarded as the rest."
A raucous and obnoxious throat-clearing made everyone look up to Junkrat, nonchalantly bringing attention to himself.
"Yes?" Nathan asked.
"Sounds like you'll need a distraction," he said, fluttering his hands like he was on stage. "Thankfully I've got enough leftover Cordite to help you with such."
"Okay, how long will it take you to set it up?"
Satya spoke up. "Are you actually considering his offer?" she asked Nathan very earnestly.
"The only thing he's useful for is making noise. So, yeah."
"Exactly!" he shrilly declared. "I can have a big enough boom set up by the hour, maybe even less! Oi, Wizz, how good are you with electrical wires?"
He was referring to the Scientist.
"Umm…" Winston was a bit hesitant to even respond. "I have a degree in Electrical Engineering, Theoretical and Applied."
"Then we'll have it set up in less than an hour!"
Zarya stood up and charged her weapon.
"Good, we've wasted enough time. Let's go," she ordered, moving through the forest a bit more quickly now.
Nathan and Jesse exchanged glances before they both shrugged and followed. Satya quietly behind them.
"Good luck!" Winston wished them as he cautiously went with the Junkers.
It didn't take long for the group to have the rear of the enemy base in full view with Zarya leading them. They were now crouched behind a snowy berm, waiting and observing. The southern side of the wall was as guarded as the others, if not more so, but they could see the entrance point Jamison was talking about: an exposed pipeline leaking black sludge that stained the snow. The humans bided their time.
"Those things are pretty big," Nathan commented, observing one of the large omnics through his scope. "We sure we have enough ordinance just to get in?"
"Da, we do," Zarya said, looking down at her weapon. "Stick close and you won't die."
'I ain't too sure about that', Nathan thought.
Jesse walked up in between them, his breath clouding the air.
"We still haven't found any of the Russian SpecOps," Jesse noted. "They have to be somewhere around here."
Nathan kept his eyes focused on the omnium, moving slightly to get the blood pumping in this cold weather. Moving his fingers to maintain the sensation in them. However, he felt something hard brush against his dangling hand and looked down to his right to see a shiny piece of metal sticking out from the snow. He immediately recognized it as the muzzle of a rifle and began slowly shoveling snow out to reveal more of it. As he dug up more, he saw it had digitized-winter-camo furniture, some type of underslung weapon, side-mounted laser and flashlight, and an integral red-dot sight. The others noticed what he was doing when he grabbed the rifle and wrestled it from the snow.
"Look what I found," Nathan said as he brushed snow off it. "This must've belonged to one of them."
Upon closer inspection, it was remarkably different from the AK variants he's used to, having what appeared to be an almost entirely polymer construction and modularity. The charging handle was on the left instead of the right, and the safety was above the trigger where his right thumb could reach, like his AR, but with four labels with different bullet graphics. The magazine was also polymer and has little windows that indicated round count in intervals of five from 0-30. He pulled back on the charging handle to feel the weighty bolt still function.
"Hmm, not bad," he complimented, finding himself admiring this rifle.
"Uhh… Brin," Jesse said, pointing at something to his right.
Nathan twisted his head back to the spot he dug up the rifle from and saw a black hand, frostbitten and shaped like a claw. Quickly realizing that was the rifle's late owner.
"… Looks like we found one."
Zarya quickly pushed McCree and Brin out of the way. Not hesitating as she stuck her hands into the snow.
"Are you not going to help me?" she asked.
Nathan set down the rifle with a sigh and began shoveling out the snow with her, then McCree. After about a minute, they were able to shovel off all the snow and pulled out the frozen corpse of a Russian operator. Much of his body was covered almost completely head-to-toe in his uniform and tactical gear, but they didn't need to remove his clothes to feel how cold his skin had gotten. And the huge exposed wound in the center of his gut.
"How long has he been dead?" McCree asked.
"Possibly a week or so," Nathan answered, finding himself examining the wound. "The snow would've preserved him for a while, but he's already starting to show signs of decay."
Zarya was silent as she looked down at the corpse until she reached down to his neck and snagged the man's dog tags off.
"If any of you can use his rifle, do it," she said as she went back to her weapon, propped against a tree. "Take spare ammunition, too. But nothing else. We'll retrieve his body when we're done."
Jesse and Nathan looked at Zarya as she passed them, Jesse then looking at the rifle and Nathan.
"Finders keepers," he gestured to both.
"Might as well," Nathan accepted, turning around and reaching out to the corpse. "Waste of ammunition, otherwise."
"Exactly," Zarya said, grabbing her weapon.
After respectfully looting the dead Russian soldier, Nathan retrieved seven magazines plus the one already in the rifle, plus what he assumed were rounds for the underslung grenade launcher. The AK mags and grenades had to share space with the lent AR mags in the satchel, Nathan making sure they sat snug in there. Just a couple more pounds of shit. But as he holstered All-American, Nathan silently hoped the authentic-AK would be up to snuff for dealing with large metal monstrosities.
"How is the rifle?" their Russian guide asked him expectantly.
"Feels fine," the New Californian responded as his big hands found their way around it, appreciating that he could set the stock at maximum length.
"Good. I think your hare-brained friend will start soon."
"How long has it been?"
"Been more than half an hour," McCree told 'em.
The still air was interrupted when a sudden and concussive blast threw up a large cloud of smoke above the trees. Seeing it occur where they were earlier on the horizon, a faint shrill cackling to be heard for a moment. In response, the omnic base began to echo a shrill, distorted noise as aerial omnics began to fly out from the base and towards the disturbance. Several of the larger omnics patrolling the eastern side perked up like animals before they began running there, too. However, there were still a few that stuck around and guarded the area.
"Inadequate result in part of the mongrel, as I suspected," Satya observed, unimpressed.
"Yup. Brin, you still got spare Pulse Grenades?" McCree asked as he cocked the hammer of his revolver.
But before Nathan could even reach to his belt, Zaryanova stood up and yanked a handle on her heavy weapon, making a coil seated between the two rails spin and crackle with energy.
"No need," the large Russian soldier stated. "Stick together. Now."
She punctuated her response by arcing her cannon and sending a purple-blue ball directly two one of the large arachnoids where it landed squarely into its main eye. The machine now visually disabled, it roared as it began firing wildly into the air. Zarya then charged from cover and towards the base, the Overwatch agents required to follow. The "Americans" fired from the sides while the Vishkar Architect focused more on making cover appear out of thin air. Nathan fired the AK in single-shot to conserve ammo and felt the rifle's kick lighter than he had expected, making it easy to keep the red dot on the target. Humanoid infantry units of the omnics were relatively dispatched with ease when he aimed the weapon at the right spots, but he wasn't about to waste ammo on the larger variants as one of the arachnoids charged them from the right side – his side.
"Shit, incoming!" he screamed as he crouched down to retrieve one of his Pulse Grenades.
Zarya unexpectedly got in front of him and activated a shield that encompassed her entire frame in a bubble. Fire from the approaching arachnoid bounced and rippled off her shield and the coils on the back of her armor began glowing and pulsating with similar-colored energy. She eventually started to glow brightly like a reactor when she dropped the barrier and fired a particularly powerful beam from her cannon, surging energy from her suit. The beam was powerful enough to slice through one of the legs of the arachnoid, making it crash into the snow. Zarya didn't hesitate as she ran up to the downed omnic's eye and focused a beam of energy right into it, melting metal as it passed through layers of the machine. When a munitions compartment in its hull detonated, Zarya stopped and left molten metal oozing out of its eye.
Zarya had an expression Nathan was all too familiar with when she turned her back on the omnic she slew while muttering something in Russian.
The humans appropriately dealt with omnic resistance as they got to the pipelines Junkrat had scouted.
"Ugh, the stench," Satya lamented, wrinkling her nose. "Must we really wade through that?"
"Ain't got much choice, but there's a problem," Jesse pointed to the inside of the pipes to a barrier inside of it. "Looks like the omnics shut it close."
Zarya said nothing as she walked up to the pipeline, still pulsating with energy, and fired a beam at the barrier. It began to melt and eventually created a pool of molten metal mixing in with the black sludge.
"Now, we go through," she said.
"Hold on," Satya told everyone as she focused a made a gesture with her hand that enshrouded everyone, including her, in a light-blue shield that hugged their form. "So, we don't get filthy in that waste."
"Good looking out," Nathan thanked her.
They wasted no time getting into the sludge and wading through it as they got deeper into this man-sized pipe. As they did, they heard the western side of the compound erupt into battle as Russian forces with the other agents began their assault with the rest of the Overwatch agents.
They waded and trudged through what seemed like a quarter-mile of sludge until they saw a light at the end of the pipe. Thankfully, none of it touching their skin or staining their clothes but feeling heavier to walk through than the snow. When they finally reached this opening, it was big enough for the humans to jump up and climb through. They were now inside the omnium, inside a room that seemed to be responsible for the treatment and disposal of waste. Pipes running in and out of this room like veins until they conjoined into a large machine that churned and oozed the black sludge flooding into the pipes outside. The shield protecting them from muck fade and smell inside was noxious, so they quickly made their way out of the room and led themselves deeper into the facility. In contrast to the air outside, the insides of this mini-omnium were hot and uncomfortable at times with winter clothing. And while they could hear factory noise from the pipes, their ears were almost overloaded when they reached the factory floor and saw dozens and dozens of assembly lines cranking out omnics. There were hundreds of drones and automated workers that milled about as they assembled and constructed omnics like clockwork, mainly more humanoid variants. The workers all ignored the humans, but the security omnics were there to greet them the second they set foot onto the floor.
Zarya threw up another shield and stepped in front of the others as a hail of gunfire bounced off her shield. Nathan, McCree, and even Satya were quick to return fire, at both ground and aerial omnics that were targeting them. It was times like these Nathan wished he had a pump-shotgun as bird-like omnics soared above him, but he managed with the AK.
A few Bastion units stomped into view and were steps above the other infantry units they were scrapping. They took a few more rounds to take down, even with the AK and could turn into an autocannon fast. The factory floor soon being thrown into turmoil as the humans had to find cover or create their own. The Russian was able to brunt through the damage, her weapon becoming hotter and brighter the more she got hit. Her cannon practically ripping through the Bastions in half as they slowly marched up to her firing their guns. However, she became rather talkative as she yelled at the omnics in Russian and waving her weapon at any automated target she could see. The last Bastion was hers as it collapsed to the ground a half-melted mess. After the others slowly came up behind her with their weapons at the ready, Nathan looking at the last Bastion she mangled.
"You must really hate omnics, don't you, Zaryanova?" he asked, noting how reckless she had gotten all of a sudden.
Zarya only glared at him, her forehead drenched in sweat.
"Do you have the charges?" she asked.
McCree produced the bag that carried all of Winston's EMP charges. "How do you reckon we split up the work?" he asked.
"How about I go with Vaswani and you go with Zaryanova?" Nathan suggested. "One shield and one gun for both of us."
"No," Zarya refused, taking one of the charges for herself. "I will go alone. It will be faster that way. I will find where the reactor is and break it."
There wasn't much of a debate as she stormed off by herself into the omnic ridden facility. "If you are in trouble, I'll find you," she assured them barely as she turned a corner and got out of sight.
"Huh, I was just warming up to her," McCree dryly admitted. "So, I guess I'll go by my lonesome and take one of the charges while I'll leave you two to it?"
"No," Nathan said, looking at the corner where Zarya disappeared. "Take Vaswani and one of the charges with you."
"Are you sure about this, Mr. Brin?" Satya asked, showing some concern.
"Positive."
"Do you even know where to go?"
"I'll wander around and see if I find something important looking… Maybe that tower Zaryanova was raving about."
"May I please see your shield module, first, Mr. Brin?"
"Sure, but stop calling me 'Mr. Brin'."
"Noted."
Nathan handed the triangular module clipped to his belt to Vaswani, who held it delicately in her right hand and wrapped her left hand around it. The glove glowed and trembled as a trail of blue energy seemed to flow into the center of the glowing triangle. She stopped just a few seconds later and the triangular shield module was the same, but the light in the center glowed a bit brighter.
"I have overcharged your shield for you, Nathan," Satya explained as she handed it back to him. "It should give you twice the protection but for a limited duration. Please be careful."
"Thanks. I'd say the same for you two," Nathan said as he spun around and began to walk in the opposite direction. However, he stopped and considered that he was going to leave them to fend for themselves for God knows how long in this automated labyrinth. Feeling the gears in his old, Waster head turn, again, he sighed as he turned around and reached for his belt.
"Hey," he called out before tossing them one of his spare Pulse Grenades, which McCree narrowly caught. "Use it wisely."
He said nothing else as he spun around again and ventured into the live omnium.
Nathan Brin was alone as he traversed the metal halls of this living factory. Overwhelming sounds of the assembly line quickly becoming background noise and the temperature becoming more bearable for the Waster. More welcome than the snow outside. He clicked in a fresh magazine into the AK before racking the charging handle, the sound echoing throughout the hall for a moment. He considered putting one of the grenade rounds into the launcher, but his lack of knowledge of Russian under barrel launchers helped steer his better judgment against loading it within an enclosed space. The Courier might find a use for it soon, regardless.
As he tried to navigate a place clearly not designed for humans, he found himself looking up at the tall ceiling and looking where the tower was in relation to him on the ground. Drones and other flying omnics flew overhead paying him no mind, but he was rightfully wary of them. When he made another turn at a corner, the hulking form of a Bastion was the first thing he saw, and he rolled to the ground as soon as the machine fired. Stopping to his knees and using the momentum to swing the rifle upwards, he dumped half the magazine square into the Bastion's rectangular head with roughly two meters between them. All the shots landed, and the Bastion's head became riddled with holes as the upper-portion blew off. The machine kept firing wildly into the air, so Nathan quickly ran behind the lumbering machine and charged into its back to knock it into the ground. Following up by dumping the rest of the mag point-blank into its back, exposing the electronic guts of the machine and covering Nathan in black oil. Looked down at the AK and himself, seeing black stains on his winter coat. This one Bastion lay dead.
"Jesus," he grieved at how durable the machine was, like a Sentry Bot with thumbs.
Amid the industrial backdrop, he heard gunfire, McCree's revolver and Vaswani's hard-light.
"McCree, Vaswani, you there?" he brought a hand up to his helmet but only heard static. "Hey, can you hear me?"
There was only more static, but the gunfire continued for several more moments until ceasing. The assembly line becoming prevalent, again. Nathan bumped his helmet a few times but still heard nothing.
"Shit."
A slow but heavy stomping made him look around the corner to see the shadows of more Bastions heading to where he was, so he ran to save himself the time, energy, and ammo.
He went more quickly along the halls, taking care to cross any intersection and corners with the rifle checking first. Looking up to see if that tower was any closer, which it wasn't at first, but slowly began creeping along as he scurried all over the factory floor. Occasionally hopping over assembly lines or dodging worker drones. He encountered resistance, either Bastions or these aerial drones he swatted out of the air like bloatflies. And sometimes, he could hear the others firing their weapons accompanied by the omnics. Confirming to Nathan they were still alive until their weapons fell silent, again.
Eventually, Nathan kept seeing railings and catwalks above him, so he quickly scaled one of the metal walls with enough grooves in it to get to higher ground. Once up there, he began following where they lead him, and he kept the tower in sight. Occasionally being fired upon and firing back. While it seemed he made little progress on the ground, he saw the tower get larger and closer from where he ran. No omnics fired upon him when he ran, yet, keeping wary of the sky and ground.
However, as he crossed from one room into another through the catwalk, he stopped in the new room as he saw something in the corner of his eye. Looking down to his left at a large room and coming face to face with one of the largest robots he has ever seen. Even when it was hunched down, folded into a fetal position, the large omnic still towered over Nathan and the surrounding interior structures. Its legs were easily the height of medium-sized buildings and dozens of workers drone were tending to it, alone. The sound of cranes overhead made Nathan look up to the ceiling to see suspended rails guide large machinery over the dormant giant, then floating down to lock a mechanical arm as large as an ICBM into its right shoulder. The gun on it looking as capable as one, too.
"Titan," Nathan recognized it from a late-night research session on the internet, never fully realizing the scale of this behemoth until coming face-to-face with one. He remembered reading they were originally intended to help construct buildings bigger than it until they became weaponized. Naturally.
A whirring noise made Nathan duck and quickly snatch the wing of a drone that tried to clip him, slamming it into the ground and crushing it under his boot. He ran, again, closer to the tower than ever and not wanting to wake the sleeping giant.
Thankfully, after a few more turns and catwalks, Nathan arrived at the base of the tower. He walked into an opening, ready to climb up, but found the space desolate of any means of conveyance. There were no stairs, and there didn't seem to be any elevators. Not even a damn ladder. Just a long way up with no way to get there.
"Goddammit," Nathan muttered, all he could do really.
He turned and walked away from the shaft, seeing if he could contact the others but a sudden noise made him spin around to the shaft he was at. But now, there was a holographic display to his right. He slowly approached the display, seeing the words of that omnic language on it. It was unintelligible to him aside from the arrows pointing up and down. Nathan looked up, reaffirming how long it was.
"Fuck it," he said as he tapped the up-arrow and felt the platform beneath him begin to move.
Like everything else in this facility, the platform was fast, efficient, and unyielding. The human almost lost his balance as it moved him up to the highest level rapidly. It ended as quickly as it started when it reached the top level and brought Nathan to a metal wall. He stood there in the dark with his Pip-Boy's light on, looking at the wall, and holding his rifle at the ready. Nothing happened as he stood there, seeing just the wall and nothing for him to interact with. Then, a seam within the wall lit up blue and quickly separated, revealing a room nearly surrounded by glass windows that let the sunshine in. The floor was a pristine white, almost clear and spotless porcelain. And in the middle of this floor was a metal pylon with a glowing blue orb floating within a cavity in its midsection. The windows showed they were high above the ground, seeing the snowy forest go on endlessly into the horizon.
Of course, Nathan hesitated before he stepped inside into this sterile tower.
Two panels in the ceiling opened and automated guns popped out, but Nathan quickly delivered two bursts into the systems that put them out of commission. Another panel opened and several drones flew out, the Waster quickly dispatching two, but one fired a bolt of energy that he swerved out of the way from. Nathan twirled his rifle and smacked the stock into it, sending it crashing towards the glass. It didn't shatter the glass but crumpled to the floor dead after the collision. With that finished, he twirled back to the pylon, flipping the selector switch to what he presumed was full-auto. Getting the hang of this rifle.
The human cautiously walked towards the pylon, the red dot sight centered on the captive blue orb. Then, as he got within a meter of the pylon, the middle of the orb turned into a lighter shade. It looked like the pupil of an eye, and it was focusing on him.
"Kak ty popal vnutr'?" it said, the pupil contracting while Nathan kept his sight trained on it. "Kak ty popal vnutr'?"
The Courier did not say anything.
"I said: How did you get inside?" the machine repeated in English in a monotone voice with a deep tenor.
"Forced our way in," he responded.
"I know that. But how did you get here? Inside this tower?"
"I used the elevator."
"There is no way for you to access that, as a human. Unless you bypassed the security systems, but that is improbable. You had help from outside. Who?"
Nathan was silent as the blue orb kept staring at him, the pupil neither contracting nor expanding. Coldly focused on him, studying him, but seeming lifeless even for a machine.
Suddenly, the lights flickered in the room and Nathan heard the powering surging within the walls come to a stop.
"You don't know who it is," the machine observed, its pupil contracting.
"Whatever you say," the human said as he retrieved the EMP charge from his pack.
"I suspect the sudden and powerful EMP discharges that occurred within the facility are of your doing. Even now, systems I have in place to counteract your efforts are beginning to fail from these unprecedented EMP levels. I have never encountered anything like this before."
The Courier said nothing as he flipped a switch and watched lights on the charge blink. There was a screen that indicated the explosive's charging time. It was at 2% and growing. Nathan walked up to the pylon and an activated magnet stuck the charge to the metal hull. The pupil glancing to where he put it.
"You're going to destroy me?" it calmly asked.
"You look important," the Courier said.
"Wait."
A panel in the floor opened up and the Courier was about to fire his weapon into it before a sterile white pod as tall as him floated out of the hole. A panel separated and slid open to have a nude man fall to the floor in front of it. Nathan slowly walked over to the man until noticing there were glowing dog tags still hanging off his neck. Picking them up to see they were written in Russian. He put his finger against his neck and could feel a pulse.
"He was one of two I captured and promptly interrogated. Naturally, he was stubborn but lasted longer than the other one."
"Where's the other one?"
"Dead. Disposed of the body. Now, as several of my systems are now going to fail inevitably because of these breaches in the facility and security systems. Conserve as much power and shut down nonessential protocols, such as keeping him imprisoned."
Nathan stared at the orb, almost seeing the room's reflection in it.
"You're savoring your last moments, aren't you?"
The pupil flickered.
"You wouldn't?"
"Hmph."
"Your dismissal of the question and the pattern with which you speak suggest you seem unsure."
"You're my doctor now?"
"I find the juxtaposition between my reluctance to my eventual destruction and your compliance with unfortunate odds… Interesting. Even in casual settings like this, humans and omnics, make an appeal to a factor within their lives that give them a 'purpose'. Or whatever is labeled as such. But you, you're different. Not something shallow like 'special', but not the usual sentient specimen."
"Okay," the Courier got up and walked over to where he planted the charge. "I'm tired of this."
"Wait, can you please tell me what the device on your wrist is?" the orb pleaded. "I've never seen anything like it."
The Courier ignored the machine as crouched down to see the charge was almost at full power and ready for detonation.
"Please, don't."
"Shut up."
The Courier waited for another response but got nothing as the pupil kept staring at him, flicking as the colors around it twitched to different shades of blue. Sometimes purple.
As he waited for the display to reach full charge, he saw the elevator shaft flood with a blue light. Then, Zarya, Jesse, and Satya floated in on a solid platform of blue light. They all looked surprised to see Nathan had reached the room before them.
"Brin?" Zarya questioned as she stepped off the hard-light elevator. "How did you get here?"
"The elevator," Nathan answered. "Found one of the operators, too. Held prisoner. There was another one, but he's dead. Body was disposed of."
The newcomers saw the naked man in the corner and Zarya hurriedly ran over to him. Turning him on his back and putting a hand on his chest.
"He's still alive," she said, picking him up.
As Satya walked over to Zarya and summoned a floating stretcher bearer for the prisoner.
"Hey, Nathan, did that machine say anything?" McCree asked, eyeing the solid blue orb now.
"Not much. Tried to plead for its life. Trying to tell me someone from the outside helped me get here."
Zarya's glanced to Nathan when she heard what he mentioned, then to the pylon he was standing next to.
"Really?"
"No. And I ain't got time for this… Zaryanova, you wanted to get in here, right? Want to do anything before I waste this machine."
She looked at him, her face solid as metal. She considered what she was sent here to do, who she was sent here with, and what she had just heard. She thought about speaking up but was uncertain it was her place to do so. Nathan having got there before she did. Zarya looked up a moment later and shook her head.
"Kill it."
The Courier looked over to the blue orb, the pupil having fizzled out moments earlier in purple static. He flipped the switch on the charge, resulting in a sudden burst of energy conducted into the pylon and enshrouding it in a field of crackling static electricity. The blue orb shook violently before it ultimately fizzled out of existence. Zarya looked away from the pylon, realizing she had been holding her breath.
Shortly, the EMP charge fizzled and fell off.
"Let's get the fuck out of here," the Courier demanded.
The four humans, including the one they carted on a stretch, got to the elevator shaft and stepped onto another platform the Vishkar Architect constructed. The ride down wasn't nearly as fast as the original elevator, taking a good minute for them to reach the ground floor. Things were silent for most of the ride. Nathan leading the silence as he stood in front of everyone and was ready to step off into the lower ground. Suddenly, after they got halfway down the shaft, they all felt the facility tremble.
"What was that?" Satya asked, keeping control of the platform.
Several more trembles were felt until they finally got down and hopped off to see that multiple explosions had gone off. Already, the facility was starting come down on itself.
"The hell happened?!" McCree exclaimed.
"Who gives a shit?! Let's go!" Nathan yelled back.
They didn't argue as Satya created another set of stairs that got them off the catwalks and they began running to the exit. Originally, they planned to head back to where they originally came in but falling construction equipment and machinery blocked their path. But hope came when another, large explosion occurred on the other side of the facility, along with gunfire occurring.
"He-hey…! Are any of you in there?" they heard Winston over their comms, still a bit of static laden in between.
"Winston, yeah, we're here! Where are you?"
"At the entrance, we finally got through the perimeter defenses. Get out of there quick, Torbjörn said the facility's going through some kind of fail-safe measure! We'll be waiting… Fawkes, we don't need more explosions!"
"Well, that explains a lot! We're heading there right now."
The group then began running through the facility to the front entrance, where they could see light spilling in from a big hole that was blown into it. However, obstacles, in pieces or otherwise, hampered them as they tried to maneuver the wounded soldier along with them. More often than not, debris, fire, and explosions got into their way, so Satya was busy putting up shields at appropriate times. And omnics still out for blood fired upon them.
"Goddammit!" Jesse yelled, shooting at drones encircling them through the fires. "How far is the exit?"
"Not far!" Zarya yelled as she put more effort into pushing the wounded soldier through the facility than using her cannon.
They got farther along, the light from the entrance seeming closer, but they still had quite the distance to it as they tried to traverse this facility. As Nathan kept his eyes on the sky, he spotted something blue flying high up near the facility's roof. It was Fareeha.
"Hey!" he yelled, firing his rifle into the air to catch her attention.
It worked, as Fareeha spotted them and quickly flew down to where they were.
"You're alive!" she greeted, almost smiling if it wasn't for all the explosions going off around them. She went over to the wounded man on the stretch bearer and picked him up. "I'll tell the others where you are and your path from here on out seems clear but get over to the entrance quick! Double time it!"
Fareeha rocketed off with the prisoner in her arms, leaving the able-bodied ones on the ground.
"I suggest we follow Capt. Amari's advice," Vaswani said, becoming uneasy with the fire surrounding her.
Without a wounded man to worry about, the group hurried at a faster pace, but the collapsing omnium didn't make it any easier for them. Satya trying her best to maintain the group's well-being, Zarya even throwing up a shield or two when debris got too close. But halfway to the entrance, they came across a huge mound of debris in their path.
"Cover me, I will create a path," the Vishkar Architect said, waving her hands around before creating a set of blue translucent stairs that bounded over the obstacle.
She let the others go first, and when they got over to the other side she climbed up and down the steps as well. Soon, joining them.
"Never been more thankful for stairs in my life," McCree joked but was probably genuine.
Unfortunately, no one could relish in his humor as the mound suddenly erupted and a large leg sprouted from beneath it. Satya – last one to climb the stairs – was too late as she was buried by some of the falling debris, and the others watched as a damaged but still dangerous arachnoid faced them. Zarya was the closest and spun her weapon around to fire but was thrown into a solid metal wall by one of the legs. McCree fanned the hammer and emptied all six rounds but only served to annoy it before it leaped at him. He rolled out of the way and the creature slipped on an oil leak running across the floor. Groaning, McCree grabbed the Pulse Grenade given to him earlier and tossed it to Nathan, who ran towards the omnic before hopping onto it. He pulled the pin, but that was as far as he got as it suddenly bucked upwards and began to shake violently once it realized a human was on top of it, Nathan losing grip of the grenade and sending it flying off somewhere. That didn't deter Nathan as he cried out and hanged onto the machine, seeing there was exposed wiring. Reaching and crawling over to that exposed spot, Nathan crouched on top of the arachnoid and pressed the AK's muzzle right against it. He clamped down on the trigger and fired the entire magazine, watching as layers of wiring and electronics practically disintegrated from the full-auto burst. Nathan feeling the gas and flash on his mask. 3-4 seconds was all it took for the omnics to keep writhing until it finally collapsed with a might thud, the light fading from its eye. Nathan hopping off just a second later, his breathing a bit heavy. Was only shaken out of it when he heard pained moans to the side.
Nathan ran over and quickly found where Satya Vaswani had landed. She was alive, but now had a large metal slab crushing her left arm. A huge, tortured grimace on her face as she tried to set it free. Screaming in pain when she moved too much.
"Nathan…" she tried to say through clenched teeth but let out another scream. "Aggghhh!"
"McCree! Zaryanova! Get over here!" Nathan screamed as he grabbed the metal slab and tried to lift it as hard as he could. Feeling pressure well up in his arms, chest, and legs as he exerted as much strength as he could. McCree ran over and saw what was happening, immediately running to Nathan's side to help him up. Even together they couldn't get the slab to move even a smidge. Only letting go when a nearby explosion offset their balance.
"Are baap re…" Satya meekly said, looking at the slab holding her prisoner. "I'm trapped."
Nathan stood back and looked at the slab where her arm was. Blood was seeping out of from under it and began staining her clothes. Another explosion going off near them. Thinking quickly, he reached to the back of his belt and pulled out his knife.
"I'm sorry…" Nathan mumbled as he crouched down. "Jesse, keep her still!"
"What?!" Satya exclaimed, wondering what he said until realizing he was holding his knife.
The Gunslinger couldn't say anything as he knelt down and grabbed her hand and shoulder. He knew full well what was coming but already started to feel a knot bound up in his stomach. Satya could only watch helplessly as Nathan brought down the knife to her crushed, ruined arm and positioned it underneath her flesh, the blade upwards.
"Nathan, please! Nathan, I beg of you, don't do this-!"
In one swift motion, Nathan's blade sliced through the flesh of Satya's left arm with ease, the bone having turned into powder by this point. Satya let out a blood-curdling scream that echoed over the collapsed factory while her legs flopped over the ground, Jesse trying to keep her still but cringing from the sight. More blood dripping out where her arm used to be. Slowly, Satya's agonized scream shifted into equally agonized sobbing with tears streaming down her face. Nathan ripped off the AK's sling and turned it into a makeshift tourniquet around what remained of her left arm. He then pulled out a Med-X syringe out of his pack and jammed it into her left shoulder. With Jesse, they picked her up and got her to her feet. As they did, Nathan looked and saw the rest of the Overwatch team running to them.
"Get her to Dr. Ziegler, now!" Nathan told Jesse, pointing at the approaching team.
"What about you?" he asked as he picked Satya up, bridal-style.
"I'll get Zaryanova. Go!"
Jesse simply nodded before he turned and started running to the others as quickly as he could. Nathan wiped Satya's blood off his knife, still warm, and sheathed it as he ran to where he last saw Zaryanova. He saw the Russian soldier slumped against the wall and holding her head, trying to get up.
'What the fuck am I doing?!' Nathan thought as he bent down and got one arm over his shoulders. His other arm holding the AK. "Hey, Zaryanova, get up!"
"Ugh… Nyet… Leave me…" Zarya muttered barely in the right mind to speak.
"The fuck are you talking about?! I don't like you, but I'm dragging your ass out of here."
Looking ahead, he saw McCree was able to reach the others and that they were running to him, as well, but a large pillar fell right in front of them. Nathan lost balance and fell, dropping Zarya, too. He looked up to see the path was obstructed, again, and there was no way to climb over or blast through it.
"Nathan! Hold on!" he heard Reinhardt yell. "Don't worry, we will try to get to you! We- Look out!"
Several omnics leaped out of nowhere and began attacking the group on the other side. Nathan scrambled to his AK and was about to fight until he looked back to notice Zarya walking into a hall, balancing on her cannon.
"Hey, where are you going?" Nathan called out and followed her, where she got up to a big wall and plopped down on the floor.
"I… Will make door," she said in labored breaths as she gripped her cannon and racked the handle. "Hit me."
"What?"
"I need charge… Hit me… Shoot me!"
Nathan looked at the wall and to her before he dropped the AK and pulled out his Brush Gun. Making sure it was loaded with the hottest rounds he had. Cranking the lever with a meaty clunk. He nodded to Zarya, pressed a trigger on her cannon that made a barrier appear around her.
"Go!"
Nathan quickly fired .45-70 Govt's point-blank at Zarya, bouncing off the shield with such intensity. With every shot, coils on Zarya's armor glowed brighter and brighter until she became a conduit. When Nathan finally emptied his rifle, Zarya dropped her shield and pointed her cannon at the wall.
A large and thick beam of energy surged forth from the cannon and stuck the wall, already beginning to make parts of it melt. She kept this going for half a minute, the heat from her beam spreading through the metal wall. Her weapon seeming like it was going to overload and explode into a cascade at any moment. Finally, the beam died down and a roughly human-sized hole leading to the outside was presented to them.
"Go…" she said with one more breath before she slumped into the floor.
Nathan looked at the wall and considered running as the place was going to blow any minute but looked at Zaryanova. The large woman using the last spurts of energy she had to save him. Someone he punched without warning, earlier.
He went over and picked her up from behind by grabbing both her arms from under them and began backing up into the human-sized hole. Leaving behind her cannon as he could only carry so much by this point. After ducking between molten and scarred metal, they had finally reached the snow, but Nathan kept going. Aiming for the tree line which couldn't have been more than a couple hundred meters away, probably far enough before the place blew up. The New Californian finding himself welcoming the cold snow after being cooped up in that place for a while. He labored under carrying someone almost as big and heavy as him plus a couple more pounds of armor atop of that. The snow not making it any easier as his legs had to heave its way across the ground. But he, fortunately, got to the tree line as a large explosion erupted from the facility and Nathan threw Zarya behind a tree as he took cover behind another.
The explosion powerful enough to make the ground shake was also powerful enough to send metal and debris flying for miles, and the big fireball was bright enough to blot out the sun for a moment. Nathan even felt the heat of the explosion as he was covered in snow. Then, fiery rubble fell to the ground, some as large as the omnics. Some were the omnics. And Nathan hugged to the tree for a good minute until the explosions stopped and he felt the heat get off his back. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked up to see the facility was now a mangled shell, the erupted roof stretching out to the sky like bones.
"Hey, is anyone there?" he called out on the comms, but static.
Suddenly, something large fell into the snow from the roof of the omnium, and Nathan looked up to see it was a dead arachnoid. At least, he thought it was dead at first before it snapped one leg up and stood itself up, covered in soot. Unfortunately, it spotted the human hiding behind the tree line and roared.
"Shit!" Nathan cursed as he reached to his belt and scrambled to unhook a Pulse Grenades.
The arachnoid covered ground fast, faster than a deathclaw. It got halfway to the tree line when Nathan finally unhooked one of the grenades, pulled the pin, and threw it at the omnic. Landing somewhere in the snow, the omnic was bounding over until a sudden cascade of electricity instantly fried its wires and sent it tumbling into the snow. Skidding to a stop just meres inches from Nathan.
His breathing was ragged by that point and he was about to sit down to rest until he heard more roars echo from the omnium. Then, he heard a slight ticking noise echo from his Pip-Boy. Faint but continuous.
He tried to establish contact again as he went over to Zarya and heaved her over his shoulder. Again, there was static. While he could walk his way back to the Outpost on foot, that would be suicide with both the straggler omnics and the radiation about. Acting on instinct by this point, he wanted to put as much distance between him and the radiation, for the time being, so he went north. Hoping to find somewhere to rest as he carried Zaryanova over his shoulder.
Between the nearby screeching of marauding omnics, the tick of his Pip-Boy's Geiger counter, and the cold welling up in his feet, they all made Nathan focus on getting away. It was the cold that made his mind feel blank other than thinking about survival. Zaryanova was unconscious for the entirety of this trip, but Nathan felt her stir slightly on several occasions. He didn't get an opportunity to rest or check on her as it always seemed there was something else moving in the snow – stalking them. Nathan looked, seeing nothing but miles of tall trees everywhere. Checking his Pip-Boy to make sure he was still going north. Checking occasionally if he could reach anyone on his radio. He couldn't.
It had gotten darker and colder the further he went up north, the trees obscuring sunlight from reaching the ground. He could always trek for hours on end through the blistering days and chilly nights of the Mojave, Baja, and Great Basin. But he'd be damned if he could go a single day through this goddamned snow, where he felt every step bite at his feet. He considered stopping his trek north to loop around now and see if he could make it back to the outpost on foot, but he was cold. The metal helmet as cold as ice by now. The air still dead.
It had been an hour or two since he started running, but it seemed his effort would finally pay off when he saw something break the tree line up ahead. He could see a settlement, not an omnic erected base but an actual human village. Homes of wood and concrete with snow piled on the roofs. Unfortunately, when the New Californian got to the road that led through the village from the forest, he knew something was wrong. The dead air extended to this little village, and there was no life or light to be seen from any of the homes.
Feeling the knot in his shoulder winding up again, he set Zarya down against a nearby fence. She was still breathing, and Nathan felt a heartbeat on her neck; better built for this weather than him. He got up and faced the road again.
The snow piling on the roofs and the roads were the first indication, the lack of any living activity was the second. Yet, Nathan felt an uneasy twinge go up his spine while he slowly walked across the road with the AK at the ready. The air started to get heavy as the sun's light became scarcer. Seeing his own breath in the air in front of his mask. None of the homes looked like anyone had been inside them for weeks, months maybe. Some of the homes were wide open as if the occupants had left in a hurry. The air got thicker, and he started breathing heavier. Almost not wanting to call out to anyone in fear of disrupting the silence.
Too focused on the road ahead, Nathan tripped and fell face down into the snow. He quickly got up, pointing his rifle to what may have tripped him until he saw it was a man's face. Lying with their face up and having turned blue from being buried under snow for God knows how long. Nathan held his breath until he noticed there were other mounds in the snow. Against his better judgment, he quickly crouched down and threw the blanket of snow from this part in the road until he had uncovered two other people buried beneath. One was a woman facedown on the road and another a child, unable to tell what they were because of the clothing they had on. Large holes ripped through their clothing with blackened stains on the road. Nathan slowly stood up from the corpses, unwittingly staring at them for a minute while the wind around him got louder. When he finally looked up from their bodies, the air around him had gotten colder, windier, and whiter. This blizzard appearing out of nowhere, unable to see either end of the street. He heard something and he flipped around with the AK towards where he thought he heard it, but only saw the wind whipping the snow up. Not even sure if he saw figures, trees, or the wind. Heat began to well up in his chest, his eyes and rifle twitching to what he thought he saw stalking him through the blizzard. The inside of his helmet becoming hot as his breath became ragged. Eventually, the snow was all he heard as he whipped around and around and around. Becoming dizzy as he writhed in the frosted town.
A minute later, Nathan kicked in the door of one of the homes and ran inside with Zaryanova over his shoulder. As he ran in, he plopped Zarya down onto a couch before falling to one knee. He quickly took his helmet off, sending it clattering to the wooden floor, and began gasping for air. His face was drenched in sweat and his left hand cupped the base of his neck as if to pull something off that was choking him. His hand feeling needles going through. His heart pumped gallons when he tried to steady his breathing, but he felt the cold, dead air bite even as he inhaled it. Soon, thankfully, his breathing was heavy but steadied at a calmer rate. The twinge running up his spine dampened, the warmth of his blood returning to what it should be. When his breathing stopped filling the room, he finally noticed the air is still next to him as he looked to see a man in a white shirt and camo pants pointing a handgun at his head.
Nathan looked down the barrel and breathed, looking at the man.
"You speak English?" the New Californian asked, unfazed.
"Who the fuck are you?" the man asked, gripping the pistol solid with one hand while he balanced on a stick with the other. "And what are you doing with Aleksandra Zaryanova?"
Nathan glanced down and saw the man's right leg was in a makeshift splint, the cloth tattered and discolored. Looking behind he saw the bedroom with a backpack and rifle propped against the bedroom wall.
"We were sent to deal with the omnium. Zaryanova, I, and a few others," Nathan explained as he grunted and got up to his feet. The Russian man backed away and kept the pistol trained on the New Californian, now towering over him. Nathan kept staring at him in the eye. "We were also tasked to find a group of Russian special forces that were sent here weeks prior if we could find them."
The man kept his pistol trained on Nathan, but his expression softened.
"You found them?" he asked.
"Three, but two of them were dead before we got there," Nathan said.
The man sighed, lowering his sidearm and turning around to limp to a chair adjacent to the couch Zarya was passed out on.
"I knew about Yuri," the survivor began. "I thought that rifle looked familiar. I watched as the round went right through him. And the others got surrounded by the damn omnics before I could do anything. It was only a matter of time before they got me, too."
"What are you doing out here?" Nathan asked, looking around the rundown house.
"I ran. Away. Until I got hurt and crawled all the way here. My radio broke so I'm stranded here. Surrounded by omnics."
Nathan looked at his wounded leg, noting that it was still intact and had bandages covering multiple lacerations. The omnics' weapons would've blown it right off.
"An omnic didn't cause that. What happened?"
"Bear trap. Got almost to the bone," the survivor said, grimacing slightly. "It might be infected by this point, I don't know."
"I know a doctor back at the outpost that could look at that. We should try to find a way there."
The survivor rolled his eyes and groaned, throwing a hand up into the air.
"Ah, chyort… You fucking Americans and your 'can-do' attitudes! Thinking you can get me out of this alive. Cannot even let a man die in peace!" he exclaimed derisively. "I can't go."
"Waiting for your crippled ass to expire before I deliver it ain't on my schedule," Nathan growled, glaring daggers at the man. "And I'm not American."
"Canadian, then! What-the-fuck-ever!"
"Besides, the bulk of the omnic force is probably decimated by this point since we blew their base in the region up. We might have a chance to get back to your comrades."
"Yes, I had a feeling you may have been responsible for that explosion I heard and saw earlier. Now the forest is irradiated."
"Eh, place seems like a shithole anyway. Makes me wanna shoot myself every time I see snow."
Nathan looked out at the window, seeing nothing but a white veil covering it. Blinding white. Everywhere.
He then saw something flash through the snow storm outside before he picked up the AK and walked over to the window. Peering through as he crouched behind the wall, his eye's darted through the storm to pick through the icy curtain. He spotted a red light just hovering in the middle of the storm, then another, and another. The silhouettes of a dozen omnics were able to distinguish themselves in the snow. Nathan now felt the ground shake as an arachnoid walked with them.
"Nam khana…" the survivor said as he was subdued with grief when he looked through the window.
Nathan didn't say anything as the storm started to clear up and he could get a clear picture of the omnics right outside his door. Watching as one of the omnics stomped one of its big feet over the dead family, mangling the corpses like dog shit. Murderous figures in the snow, meandering as they please. Nathan felt the twinge crawl up his spine.
Nathan grabbed the last fresh mag for the AK and quickly swapped it, but not racking the charging handle yet to not alert the omnics. Next, he reached to the pouch again and pulled out one of the projectile grenades.
"Show me how to load this," the Courier quietly demanded.
"What?" the survivor asked.
"After I kill these omnics, you have by the hour to pack your shit up or I'm leaving you here to die of hypothermia so the Major can find your body later."
The Courier put his helmet on and looked at the survivor, expectantly. "Show me how to load this."
The Russian operator stood there, staring at those red eyes, barely able to see the man underneath them. He glanced to the grenade launcher before limping over and pointing, instructing him to just insert it into the tube and flip the safety off. The Courier did as he instructed, sliding the 40mm grenade into place and wrapping his fingers around the grip. He looked back up to the road, the omnics still there. The inside of his chest was getting hot, he slowly reached to the right side of his belt where his last Pulse Grenade was. Feeling it with his fingers.
As the heat got hotter, his breathing became shallower and more guttural the longer he stood there. Leaning against the front door and listening to the storm outside. Not even looking through the window but at the floorboards. Blankly staring at nothing as he felt his heart beat steadily when he wrapped his fingers around the door handle and slowly turned it.
The Courier opened the door and slammed it shut as he burst through, and the survivor dove to the floor and covered his ears. Immediately, he heard the arachnoid scream as the village was engulfed in a battle, an explosion happening within a second of it beginning. Hearing the AK go off before the omnics quickly drowned out the noise. The survivor twitched as he felt the ground shake from something heavy falling to the ground, but kept his eyes shut and tried to keep the noise from hurting his ears. Unsure if the noises he heard were the blizzard or the death rattles of omnics. Everything outside becoming nothing but noise for him. However, he could hear the AK slowly overtake the omnics, until it was the only one.
It stopped after 15 seconds.
When he heard nothing but the storm, the survivor slowly opened his eyes and peered to the front door. He could see from the window that the storm had died down somewhat.
The door swung open and Nathan walked through, his loaned winter jacket covered in black oil. The AK's barrel smoking.
"Get your shit ready, now."
The survivor said nothing as he quickly got up and limped over to the bedroom to pack up his belongings. Nathan went over to the couch and crouched down next to Zarya, putting his icy finger on her warm neck to find there was still a warm pulse. A mechanical noise made Nathan shoot up and look to the door. He dropped the AK and summoned All-American before he quickly ran out. The dozen or so omnics he had wasted, including the arachnoid, were all still dead and crumpled to the floor in a mess of oil and scrap. The storm began to let up, but Nathan's vision was still obscured as he went across the road. Hunched over his rifle, he scanned the village and tried to spot out anything from the wind. His heartbeat steady. Then, at the end of the road, he could see a large figure approach from the distance and Nathan snapped his rifle to it. The storm let up again and Nathan eased himself off the trigger when he saw it was an omnic dangling a few inches off the ground before the figure carrying it dropped it into the snow. Rutledge walking over it to greet Nathan.
He let his breath go.
Nathan stared at the campfire set outside of the outpost's medical tent. He nestled a hot cup of tea in his hands and savored as much warmth as he could through his fingers. He could hear the Russian soldiers celebrating a victory against the hated omnics as some of them meandered about with drinks and MRE's in hand. A few groups banded together and sung in their mother tongue, some Overwatch agents even joining them, excluding the omnics of course. Nathan just drank his tea next to the fire. However, he heard laughter as Brigitte sat on an adjacent log, looking at her phone. Acting as if she about to fall off her seat.
"What's so funny?" he suddenly found himself asking.
"Huh?" Brigitte looked up from her phone. "Oh, nothing, I was just looking at some funny holovids."
"Of what?"
"Cats."
"There's funny holovids of cats?"
"Yeah, lots! I know that might sound weird to you, but they can be really funny. Want to me show you some?"
"I'm… good. Thanks."
Nathan waved at her before he looked back into his cup of tea. Seeing oil stains on his face in the dim reflection.
He then heard Lena blinking about, blue flashes going off in his peripheral vision before she appeared where they were. Appearing next to Brigitte and hugging up to her while she extended her arm in front of them.
"Here's Brig!" Lena exclaimed.
"Hey," Brig waved to the phone.
And Nathan barely had time to react before Lena blinked right next to him, hugging right up to his shoulder.
"And here's Nathan!" she said, Nathan seeing that it was Emily who was on the phone in the middle of a video chat. It looked like day where she was.
"Oh, hey," he greeted towards the phone, giving a two-finger salute.
"Hi, Nathan!"
After pleasantries were exchanged, Lena blinked off, again. Blabbering on to her poor girlfriend and leaving Nathan to sit by the campfire. However, that didn't last as Nathan could hear someone approaching from behind and stood up to greet Dr. Ziegler, who had just come out of the medical tent.
"Nathan," she greeted
"Dr. Ziegler," he greeted. "How's Vaswani?"
"Right now, stable. I was able to stop the bleeding before she could go into shock. She was a bit restless afterward, acting somewhat delirious, but I was able to get her to lie down and rest. She couldn't really argue against doctor's orders."
"Good… That's good."
"Yes… And, I want to thank you for helping her get out there. Jesse told me what had happened. I know that was a hard decision to make."
"Well, between letting her die from getting crushed or helping her live, it wasn't that hard at all."
"I figured you were going to say that. But I also want to thank you for helping bring Zaryanova and the surviving operators back, safely. I heard you played a very significant part in that, as well."
Nathan smiled and laughed, remembering how he almost got himself and the others killed in that little stunt he pulled in the village. His smile quickly faded.
"I guess… You're welcome, Doc."
"Now, I know you declined when you first got here but… Are you sure you do not require any medical attention? Any pain that you've been feeling since the omnium or even before? I'd be more than willing to help, especially for you, Nathan. Or, maybe you just want to talk? My schedule's a bit open."
"I… Think, I'm good. Everything's fine, I'm just tired… But thanks for asking, like always, Doc."
Nathan smiled as he looked down at her until he noticed Zarya walking out of the medical tent, able to stand on her own.
"Umm… Excuse me, Doctor, but I think I'll head over to Zaryanova and speak with her for a bit. If that's fine."
"Of course, Nathan," Angela said, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Thank you," Nathan said, smiling at her before turning away and scooping up the AK from his seat.
As Nathan walked up to her, Zarya's expression seemed blank as she stared straight ahead. She noticed and promptly stopped in her tracks to face the large Waster walking up to her. One of the few people she could address at eye-level.
"Hey, Zaryanova, I-"
"Thank you," she immediately cut him off. "For saving my life."
"Oh, uh, you're welcome. I was about to say the same thing. Back at the omnium, that was some pretty creative thinking."
"Da, it was. Do you need anything else?"
"Actually, here," Nathan held up the AK to her. "Figured you'd give it to Major Nikonov, so he can hand it to the quartermaster if you guys have one. You Russians make a fine rifle."
Aleksandra Zaryanova just raised an eyebrow, her eyes switching between the rifle and Nathan.
"Keep it," she said. "Consider it forgiveness for punching me in the face."
Nathan raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything else as he lowered his hand.
"You have a good right hook, though," she admitted before walking away without another word.
Nathan stood there and watched her go, losing sight of her when she made a turn right between some tents. He looked down at the rifle given to him, bearing signs of wear that weren't there when he first picked it up. Sighing, he throws the rifle into his left hand before walking away and trying to find somewhere to sleep.
He wanders around the camp with the AK dangling from his left arm and sees the post-victory mood still going strong. A lot of the Russian soldiers sitting around campfires and passing bottles of what he presumed was alcohol, but Nathan was fine with what was in his canteen. He did notice some Overwatch agents mingling with the Russian, the latter much warmer with the former considering recent events. Nathan even stopped as a male Overwatch agent ran in front of him and lead a female Russian soldier by the hand – the agent apologizing to him with a "sir" – as they went off to somewhere secluded, drunkenly giggling all the while. Unfortunately, Nathan wasn't in the mood to do the same.
Eventually, as he wandered about and got a look at the place, he found himself at the western edge of the outpost. However, he spotted some type of vehicle parked along there and saw a brunette woman in non-military clothing except for a vest with the word "PRESS" on it. She was talking with a Russian soldier who kept denying her entry while a small, red drone floated next to her.
"Please, I just want to speak with them, this is the closest any reporting station has ever gotten to them! Please, the world needs to know who they are!" this woman pleaded, but the soldier wasn't having any of it.
"Go. Away," the soldier calmly and slowly said, though, he sounded like he was struggling with the foreign words. "Is. Not. Safe!"
The woman groaned not getting anywhere, but she looked over and locked eyes with Nathan. He furrowed his brow before walking away from her sight.
Nathan Brin kept wandering the camp, not really sure why. His legs felt a bit restless, possibly more so than usual, but he just didn't feel like hitting the hay, yet. Feeling like there was still something out there for him to look at. The answer probably came when he looped back to the dropship and saw near the bay door Jesse and Fareeha talking to each other. Nathan got closer and heard what they were saying.
"I promise I'll be safe. It's just gonna be a quick trip back home," Jesse said to Fareeha, who had a visible but subtle look of concern on her. "Visiting old friends."
"Jesse…" Fareeha started, grabbing him by the shoulder. "I know this mission is very important, but are you sure?"
"Intel's solid. All I have to do is get there on time."
"I know you're always on time, but are you okay heading there by yourself?"
"Sure. Company would be nice but… I've got things handled on my end. Besides, it's a bit of a personal matter. Don't worry, it'll pay off in the end."
McCree said that last sentence without the humored inflection he always seemed to have.
"Just promise me you'll be safe, okay?" Fareeha wished of him.
"You're starting to sound like your mother," Jesse said, smirking.
"Ugh! Don't even start," Fareeha smiled. "Go get some rest, you've got a long day, tomorrow."
"Can do."
They separated, Fareeha going into the dropship while Jesse went the opposite way. However, as he went on to obey a direct order, Nathan walked up to him.
"Hey, McCree."
"Hey, partner. What can I do for you?"
"I overheard your conversation with Amari."
"You did?" he said, acting offended for a few moments before smirking. "And?"
"You need someone to tag along?"
"Really? You're offering help? That's mighty unlike you, Brin."
"Oh, fuck off," Nathan rolled his eyes.
"Besides, you should've heard that I'm fine being on my lonesome for this one. It's sort of related to what we talked about last night."
"I know, but…"
"But what?
Nathan looked at McCree, frowning. Even he had just caught himself doing this and wondered if he should even meddle in this. It was a personal matter to McCree, but that hasn't stopped Brin from getting wrapped up in the dozen or so personal matters beforehand.
"I dunno. Guess I just wanna get the fuck out of this cold," Nathan admitted, growling about the weather. "Any way I can."
"Can't blame ya'," Jesse sympathized. "Ain't exactly my weather, either. Still, this operation is delicate. Not sure if I need another gun for it."
"I ain't just another gun, though. I'm pretty sure you know that by now."
Hearing that, McCree thought to all the times he's seen the Waster in action, the way he fights, the way he shoots. The Gunslinger always considered himself a good shot and the only other person he would ever hold in higher regard being Fareeha's mother. But Nathan… There was something more "vicious" with the way he fired his guns. Scarily accurately.
"Hmph, I'll consider it."
They went off to finally get some rest.
Responses…
Blaise Welshman: Again, not really how human emotions work. I guess one reason why Nathan acted the way he did was that he was surprised to see something so visceral and brutal in this world that hasn't been scorched by atomic fire, yet. Or… Maybe because it reminded him of things he's seen in the wastes. People can react differently to certain events in their lives, and Nathan is no exception. Just because he's seen the worst of it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when he sees it again.
Bob: Oh, I hope I did enough research! The hundreds of hours I spent collectively in almost all of the Fallout games – from 1 to New Vegas – and the number of hours spent staring at the Fallout Gamepedia website; I hope that would be enough! Or are you referencing the characters who are from mods, which I explicitly stated at the end of the 1st chapter which you left that review on, evidently?
6tyninner: There's a difference between capturing someone, executing them, and dumping the body off in the middle of nowhere to being actively engaged in combat with known terrorist operatives.
ZILLAFAN: Yes, I'm aware of that. Nathan is taller than Zarya, even by a tiny bit, so I was confused about why you left that until I looked back and saw there was some awkward wording describing their heights. Went ahead and fixed that.
Guest: What's "pozzzing"? I searched it up, but I only got results for a really fucked up fetish involving AIDs.
Anyway, thanks for reading!
