OK... now this time it's guaranteed to end, even if it goes to 20 thousand words. (It probably won't) AGAIN! Thank you for your patience and happy holidays. Consider this my gift to you if that's your thing... If that is not your thing then Happy Regular Winter, or if you're in a different part of the globe where winter is like your summer... Sup. And if I finish later than all that... Sorry.
[In the Middle of The Battlefield]
Church was flipping through the screens of all the possible combos he could make with the list before him. He already made Pharah more of a danger in the sky than anything else. He made Cassidy's bullets start to ricochet, even making Genji's dragon strikes launch when he swings his sword. He maximized Reinhardt's shield, gave Doomfist a shield that also charge's with punches, and traded Dva's mech fire rate for a tighter spread with more damage. Mercy's staff connected to more targets, Moira was tossing more healing orbs, everyone was putting in more work.
It got so effortless that the bots were practically falling around them like dominoes, they hardly needed to lift a finger. It probably helped that all the machines were reading Tex as the biggest threat around, well at least these machines were smart enough to realize that. Even though she was just using her bare fists and raw strength she was doing more damage than even the mighty Doomfist and Reinhardt put together. Though he felt like something was missing.
He pulled up a screen showing the face of his body, still being occupied by Epsilon, "E! Will you hurry up with that present for Tex."
"Sure... I do all the work... you get the credit." He argued as he ran through the battlefield with a large duffel bag.
"We're the same damn person... we all get the credit."
"Sure..." Every fragment responded sarcastically.
Tex just finished tearing the arms off a machine and using them to beat another nearby when Epsilon finally arrived, "About damn time. What took you so long?"
"Get off my back woman, We went through a lot of trouble to get this." Epsilon shot back as he unzipped the bag, revealing her present, two fully automatic classic M16 assault rifles.
She picked them up, admiring their 5.56 full metal jacket power, feeling the weight that they carried with them. Then she spotted the final gift he got her, "That asshole knows me too well."
She turned to face the incoming horde and began firing both rifles from the hip, gunning down enemies harder and faster than Mauga. Armor piercing hot lead tore the metal machines down to the cores as the shiny casings fell to the floor. The smile on her face was sadistic to some but Church knew well enough that the look was of pure joy.
Epsilon smiled and shared his visual feed back to Church, who was looking at his screen of her for a moment. Church shed a little tear that was holographic as he sniffled and wipe the corner of his eyes. As he was starting to go back and run the many new modifiers he gave to the team, a presence sent an uncomfortable chill down his spine, despite the temperature around him increasing.
He turned around and saw him, "Well... well... well... Pandora... by the way still the dumbest name ever."
"I like to believe it's unique and fitting. Seeing as how as soon as my box was opened... everything fell into chaos with you all." Pandora greeted.
Church pulled up a screen and showed it to his enemy, "Got to say... you're handling loss very well. Thousands upon thousands of Null Sector forces dropped in the matter of minutes. Closing in on an hour. We should be finished by dinner."
Pandora smiled as he pulled up his screen, pressed a few buttons and showed Church, "We should, I must thank you..."
"For what..."
"For reminding me there is strength in numbers, but sometimes... it's not about quantity... it's about quality..." Pandora started stepping back with his arm open, palms up as he looked above.
Church looked where Pandora was gazing and nearly did a double take, seeing the large ship begin to move, covering the sky and almost blocking out the whole sun from the canyon. Delta showed up with statistics and presented them to Church, who couldn't make any sense out of all this, "What am I looking at here D?"
"A massive amount of energy is being produced and channeled at one specific point." Delta explained.
"A weapon?"
"Unsure... however due to position, outside structure and schematics, all signs point towards a massive release point."
"Release of what?" Church asked.
His question was soon answered as the ship came to a stop of the glowing mass shot straight down in a beam, directly onto Pandora. The bright lights of purple and orange cascaded over him like a waterfall, cloaking him in energy so dense that it measured out the maximum on every scale they had on hand. All of that excess energy used to power up a ship that big, directed onto that suit.
"Delta?"
"It's bad... Church, his power is literally off the charts. Compared to how he was before. It could quite possibly be equivalent of a few dozen fusion cores."
"Dozen? So our chances?"
"..." Delta disappeared knowing he was told not to talk about it.
Church got on the open comms to everyone in the area, "Everyone to my position... Epsilon I'm gonna need my body back."
As the stream of energy ended, all the heroes joined together with Church who reentered his body. They looked Pandora who was knelt down, recovering and adapting the massive power to stabilize with his self. Armor shooting off purple sparks, streams and lines of orange going around the body to form weird shapes.
Simmons' and Baptiste's eye scanners popped in front of their faces as they started to sweat bullets. Simmons started shaking as he pointed, "The scanner..."
"It says... his power level is ov-" Baptiste tried to continue but was cut short.
Tucker snapped his head back at them, "If you say over 9000, I swear I'm gonna Yamcha you both..." They stopped as he turned to Church, "What's the deal?"
"Well we have the most powerful armor in the world, backed up by an insane artificial intelligence unit that's almost as smart as me and now powered by a flying fortress that doubles as a factory for machines." Church started listing off the dangers.
Caboose raised one finger to correct him, "And you forgot the flamethrowers."
"And the flamethrowers."
"So what does that mean... what do we do." Dva looked down at him.
"I'll put this in videogame terms..." Church said as Pandora finally stood up, "Mission Objective: SURVIVE."
[On The Ship: Power Core Room]
Carolina and her team felt the entire ship rumble just a few moments ago. They started to wonder, did something hit them? Is there a problem in another part of the ship? Do they still have a ride secured for later? So many questions and no idea how to answer them. They had their objective: plant the charges, get out, and blow the ship to Kingdom come.
The room they were standing in was large, after passing several rooms, an assembly line and a hall where several bots tried to ambush the four of them. After taking a moment to heal and recover, they snuck into the next room, making quick observations, taking a note of the two large doors on either side. And the center, a lot of steam coming from a ring in the floor connected to several large pipes. The floor had opened up, a pool of some type of thick dark liquid was bubbling as something floated up, a large orb or energy with a purple and orange aura coming off of it.
"So... that's it right. Seems a little... obvious." Wyoming pointed out.
Washington agreed with him, "Yeah this isn't just stupid, this is... videogame boss expose weak point kind of stupid."
"Good." Carolina took one of the bombs, "That'll make this easier."
"Plant charges on each of the pillars that raise it up." Locus gestured to the three other spots to set them up.
As they were finishing up wiring all the devices, a loud mechanical roar shook the room. Making everyone pause trying to determine what exactly that was. Nobody dared move another inch as their eyes tried to scan the room.
"Please tell me... that someone's stomach." The British assassin pleaded.
Locus looked up and finally discovered the source, "No... it was that."
From up above them was a massive Null Sector unit, one that stood taller than any member in the team did, the size of a small house. It's white and purple armor was large and bulky, a massive blunt weapon in one hand, a pulse gatling gun in the other. It's head had resembled a rhino or a beetle with one optic sensor in the middle. It stomped forward a few steps and slammed it's fist to the floor, cracking the metal and shaking the ground.
"What the fuck is with this thing?" Wash asked before the machine started shooting at them. They took cover behind the pillars and popped up to fire at the massive tank like creature.
The two side doors opened up for several troops to aid the big monster, "I hope the boys are having an easier time."
[With The Boys]
Sarge was thrown through the air to Pharah, knocking the two soldiers down and out of the way. Dva's and Lopez's missiles were burnt to the ground before they even had the chance to hit their target, the flames had reached them as it made Lopez glow hot red while he protected Dva from serious burns. Even a direct double rocket from Doc had little to no effect on their target.
Church hid behind a rock as he reloaded as Tucker and Tex joined him, to join him and reload as well. He peeked out and saw Pandora setting fire to everyone and everything. Shields protecting their friends and teammates as everyone was trying their best just to slow him down.
Tucker took his time loading his gun, "So... any possibilities we beat him?"
"Struggling to come up with something..." Church admitted refilling his gun with another magazine, "I'm open to anything."
"You know I'm always cleaning up after you boys..." Tex replied as she took a peek, "Whatever we use it has to be a killer... something that's a one hitter."
"Rockets and pretty much every ultimate has absolutely no real effect." Tucker looked up with her.
"Sorry I left my Hammer of Dawn at home!" Tex told Tucker.
That's when Church took everything he heard and had one option left, "Wait, I got an id..." He paused for a quick moment, "...You know about the Hammer of Dawn?"
"I played some of your stupid games before.."
"Really? So... Did you enjoy them?"
"CHURCH!" Tucker and Tex both shouted at him, "Alright, I need the Laser I modified. I need to hook it up to me and maybe I can use that to finish him off."
"Okay, what else?" Tucker asked.
"Buy me time." He got up ready to run, "Wait... is this... OH TUCKER!"
Tucker tried smiling it off as Church realized which specific rock they were taking cover behind. Tex was growing angry and inhaled so she could redirect the anger to the appropriate target.
They sprung out of cover and went back into the fray, Tex and Tucker back to the fight against Pandora and Church on his way to recover the Laser weaponry. Tex emptied both magazines into his back, squeezing the trigger until she heard the famous click. All 60 bullets managed to receive the attention of it's primary target. He turned around slowly as he projected his flaming holographic face.
"Agent Texas... I must say... your tenacity is something we never truly understood. It would be impressive if it wasn't so goddamn annoying." Pandora recalled.
Tex dropped her guns and cracked her fists, "If it isn't everyone's least favorite artificial intelligence. The one that is supposed to be creative but does the same shit."
"I would not call this the same, I just want the pieces... not all of you... well... definitely not you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tex snapped.
Pandora couldn't help but chuckle at the naivety of Tex, "Oh Tex, do you honestly think we want you? The shadow of a man who could never bring back the real woman? You fail at everything. Your relationship with Church, your daughter, you even fail at staying alive."
"Yeah, well that's where your wrong... I'm not based off of Church's memories, I'm based off theirs..." She gestured to the Reds and Blues, "And I... always kicked their asses."
Pandora did the numbers in his head and discovered she might actually have an advantage thanks to that, but shook off the worry from his mind, "Still, I doubt you can take me... alone..."
"She is never alone." Mercy announced gliding in right next to her..
Tex smiled with a nod before running up to punch Pandora square in the dome visor. Upon seeing her direct path, he fire both fire streams in her direction in an attempt to burn her down before she made it to him. Once the flames had reached her, he felt assured his victory was at hand, if he took down the strongest one the others would follow soon after. He stopped firing and began to stand tall, until he saw her figure still running through the flames. He tried to recover and burn her again but was unprepared as she socked him so hard he actually stumbled. How could she withstand the intense? Thanks to a gravity bubble, placed on her by Zarya, shielding her from pain.
When he recovered he aimed his fire back at Tex, but received a swift kick in the dome by Tracer, who came back another time, and another kick. She then recalled so that all three kicks would be relived in one moment for Pandora. Enraged he ran at her to swipe at her, but was stopped dead in his tracks by large sniper round chipping his dome. Far back from the action Widowmaker, taking shots at the shiny dome, the perfect target. He tried to conjure up a ball of flame to hurl at her but his gauntlets were deactivated, they were hacked by what was an invisible presence, Sombra. He tried to change to target her but when she vanished before his eyes, he was bashed with a shield, then struck by a Brigitte's mace, twice and then shot back by the flail whip.
This time he managed to grab her shield just in time as his weapon had finally recharged. He aimed at her face and prepared to ignite her in a fiery blaze, but when he tried firing all he heard was the gas leaving the barrel. Then he felt a chill running up his spine, not the chill from fear, but the chill from actual freezing temperatures. He was being frozen in place from Mei. His movements were slowed as he tried to attack his new target but he was halted when A knife landed in his back, pulling him around as he was slashed in the face by a rusty ax made of scrap.
He tried to back away but was knocked back into the fight by Pharah's rocket, bringing him to the center of so many enemy women. As he looked up he saw Echo take the form of Tex as she cracked her knuckles while the others looked down at him. dropped her mech right on top of him, standing on him, holding him in place so she and the others could absolutely wail on him. Kicks, punches, stabs and shots, all damage boosted once Mercy had activated her Valkyrie system and made everyone increase the pain.
Tucker, Sarge, Genji, Reinhardt and Caboose looked at the display of violence and harm that the ladies of Overwatch were producing in absolute fear.
"I'm now starting to see what Church finds attractive about violence." Genji admitted.
Sarge tried standing tall and proud but his twitchy movements could be read like a book, "Don't know what you talking about... This is just a usual Tuesday for- Ouch, that is not supposed to do that."
"I would be proud if I wasn't terrified at the same time." Reinhardt admitted.
"Caboose, remember what I taught you?" Tucker needed to make sure.
Caboose nodded, "Don't ever put your thingy in crazy."
"Yeah... add scary and violent to the list."
"Okay... I still don't know what that means..."
"I know buddy."
Sarge clapped his hands together, "Well I say we can wrap this up, let's head back to red base and we can-"
A fiery explosion went off, it appeared Pandora was done being treated as a punching bag for everyone and activated his ultimate to get everyone off of him. He finally stood up straight as he tried scanning for Church his sight instead spotting the five men in front of him. He took his steps forward away from the ones who had done a number on him and made his way to those five.
"I'll get Church to hurry up and be his last line of defense." Tucker told them before he walked away.
"I'll get Doc." Caboose added.
"We'll hold the line." Sarge nodded as he and Genji stood shoulder to shoulder while Reinhardt stood in front of him.
[Back On The Ship]
Wyoming watched another decoy of his get smashed by the massive monstrous machine, as he hid behind cover, hiding while he thought of an escape plan. Locus decloaked next to him and simply pointed at him to get back in their and assist in the fight. Carolina was catching her breath after wiping out some of the grunts while Wash did his best to keep the charging beast distracted with an EMP punch that left it dazed and confused. No one has been hit too hard but it has been difficult for them to stay safe.
Carolina had a couple marks on her armor, nothing too fatal but even she knew that she could not take too many hits from that thing forever. Wyoming did his best to stay back and away from the eye of the monster so he had just a few marks. The ones who took the most of the pain were Locus and Washington who did their best to stay as active as they could.
Locus peeked from behind his cover to look over at the two good Freelancers, "Don't suppose anyone has any ideas?"
"Well, I would say run but it appears we are trapped within this space until we either die or destroy the core." Wyoming noted.
Wash then looked back and saw the core powering up and shielding the Null Sector force, "If we can destroy the core we can take that thing out."
"Okay so how do we do that?" Wyoming questioned.
Carolina cracked her neck and loosened her shoulder, "Leave that to me."
She stepped out from her cover and walked out to look at her opponent while it was busy roaring at nothing in particular. Getting into a runner's position with three fingers: index, middle and thumb on the floor as she started preparing her Overdrive. Sparks coming off of her as she looked like she was vibrating violently, shaking while she focused on big bot. When she had built up enough momentum and power she was gone from her spot in the blink of an eye and had moved so swift she knocked back the monster, making it stumble for the first time since they arrived. Then she did it again, several times to the point where every hit had made the beast take a step back.
The Charger had raised up it's gun arm in an attempt to block one of the incoming strikes it calculated, only for the strike to be the thing that shattered it's weaponized limb. As it looked like it was screaming in pain, Washington jumped on top of it's back to climb on top of it, hanging on to dear life like it was a raging bull. He charged up his EMP punch while holding on for dear life with the other hand, then once it was fully charged he delivered the punch directly on top of the beast's head. The force, added with the electromagnetic pulse, made the head crumble beneath his hand.
Carolina and Wash tried to catch their breath, "Please tell me it's over." Wash pleaded.
Unfortunately these machines have no quit installed in their systems, as the mech grabbed Wash and threw him into Carolina knocking both against the hard light barrier that trapped them inside. Wyoming groaned as he had to work more, "Oh damn..." He pressed the button on his belt projecting the several decoys to go and attack the bot with Locus who went invisible to attack with his energy sword.
[Back On The Ground]
Sarge was the last one standing as Genji and Reinhardt laid on the sand, their armor burnt and their bodies too hurt to get back on their feet. Sarge was backing up and blasting away, as shell after shell casing fell to his feet. He had plenty of time to reload as Pandora walked slowly, full of confidence that his victory was at hand in just a few moments. When he tried shooting one more time, Sarge's shotgun was smacked out of his hand. With no other option he started to wail on Pandora, throwing a few haymakers his way, but the armor was too strong that it ended up bloodying his knuckles.
When his knuckles became as Red as his color schemed uniformed Pandora smacked him with the back of his hand, sending him to the side. He stepped over the hill and saw Church working vigorously to charge his device and Tucker standing there guarding him. He started walking down as came closer and closer, ready to end his target.
But his shoulder was grabbed and he was spun around to meet a closed fist that shook him more than most hits he had taken that day. When he recovered he saw Blue team's strongest, Caboose, backed by the resident Medic, Doc, standing there behind him. Instead of grimacing at the brute he actually smiled and looked at him with admiration, "Well, this is new... I hope you'll put up more of a fight than last time. Afterall... I'm much stronger now."
"I know, but I get stronger the madder I get... and I'm pissed off..." Caboose replied as he looked back to Doc for the que.
As the two were about to collide, Doc flipped the switch on his device and the stream flowed to Caboose making his skin as hard as diamond, while his heart was moving as fast as an engine. Invincible armor vs super charged man, a battle of might and will. They locked horns and arms as they refused to give the other ground. Pandora had backed up and put some distance between them so he could start lobbing fiery projectiles at Caboose who slowly stepped his way over so he could get close enough to continue to beat him down. Hit after hit, the fire would disperse against Caboose's skin as he stepped closer.
When close enough, Pandora tried using both arms to incinerate his target but they were grabbed and the crushed, blowing up in his face. Caboose gripped his arms and then proceeded to hammer the dome with his own head. After several hits the orange tinted head piece was cracked. Once Caboose released his grip the two began their original slug match, their hits echoing back and forth while others were either incapacitated, recovering or helping others recover.
Tucker peeked from the cover he and Church were hiding behind to see the battle, "That supercharge won't hold forever."
"Caboose has about ten more seconds of charge then about thirty seconds worth of fight left in him." Church calculated as he kept priming the weapon, tuning the laser and charging the power unit.
"How long will that thing take?"
"One more minute..."
"So, I'm responsible for the last 20 seconds?" Tucker realized then groaned, "Fuck... please do not miss."
"Not this time..." Church added pulling video feed from the ship overhead.
Caboose's hits began to strike softer and lighter, while Pandora's stayed strong and consistent, then the light around Caboose began to fade and supercharged assist from Doc was no more. Caboose tried throwing some more hits but they were slowed as Pandora started striking him under each of his arms. After a few more desperate tries Caboose was lifted up by his chest and slammed back down.
Doc started to shake in his boots as he began to back up from his enemy, Pandora's terrifying presence alone made him quake in fear and the fact he was alone made him even more scared. Despite the cowardice creeping in his system, that survival instinct urging him to run, or that years of track in high school telling him to move. He stood his ground and instead picked up his double barrel rocket launcher and took aim. Fired the first two at the same time, directly hitting him in the chest, when the smoke had cleared, Pandora was unfazed. So he loaded it up again and fired again, Pandora shrugged off the incoming hits and started to march towards Doc, who continued to stay still and buy time for his friends. When he got close enough Doc was still reloading, then he snatched the rocket launcher away from the medic.
"I have to say, I'm very impressed... I didn't think you of all people had that much fight left in you." Sigma complimented as he broke the rocket launcher in two.
"Oh, I've been told that before." Doc spoke back, "Afterall I'm a pacifist... but... do you know the Hippocratic Oath?" Doc asked before pulling out a bone saw and slicing upwards at the visor. The saw's sharp, strong blades finally made the dome helmet crack and reveal the true face underneath, making pause in shock and disgust, "What? What in the HE double hockey sticks did you do?"
His face, the true face underneath was a Frankenstein's Monster, a combination of different pieces of flesh stitched together, held together by stables and wires. Some features were unrecognizable, but the prominent face, the one that all the reds and blues were able to recognize, Pandora had used Hargrove's face for main features for his host. His possessed face had no color in his eyes, skin was pale as a ghost and gave off a rotting smell, "What's the matter, you look like you've seen a ghost."
Pandora lifted Doc off the ground and socked him across the jaw, knocking him to the floor in one hit. He kept taking step after step to Church and Tucker, but his movements were hindered as more enemies kept returning to get their licks in. Sarge, Lopez, Reaper, Mauga and Sombra shot at him from his right side irritating him, "You all don't seem to understand!" He asked as he activated some of his abilities. With his speed boost he zoomed over and beat all of them with one punch each. Grif, Simmons, Junker Queen, Baptiste and Moira started hitting him from the left flank but was halted as they destroyed a decoy. "My perfection will is inevitable." When the real Pandora was revealed, he appeared behind them all and proceeded to lift up Grif and use him as a ragdoll to smack the other heroes away. He was about to drop Grif by his ankle but heard the sounds of more incoming heroes, throwing him over at Lucio and Donut, then catching a rocket from Pharah and tossing it right back at her. "And your failure is at hand."
"Church?" Tucker asked.
Church got his weapon up and aimed and priming, "Almost there..."
Tucker ignited his sword and his tattoos glowed, "Church?!"
"C'mon... c'mon..." Church whispered as he kept one eye on the video feed he popped up.
"CHURCH!"
"Now..." He finished charging up the laser and took aim. The bright red light was beaming bright throughout the weapon as he gritted his teeth, ready for power he'd have to expect from the recoil. Just a few more steps away was Pandora, no way could Church miss, or could he? As the beam shot out, the most powerful one shot weapon had fired it's life saving shot straight up, missing the large dome helmet of Pandora.
Tucker who was currently being gripped in one hand by Pandora shouted at his buddy for such a fail, "You missed?! You MISSED! HE WAS THREE FEET IN FRONT OF YOU!"
"I'm tired of complimenting your efforts... so I take great pleasure in telling you just how terrible that shot was." Pandora said as he kicked Church to the floor then pressed his foot on his chest.
Church struggled to talk, "Yeah... it would have been... but I wasn't even aiming for you."
As he tried to decipher what his prey could have meant, a massive sound like thunder boomed just above them. Looking straight up, he saw the sky, through a small hole in his ship, a hole that passed from the bottom of the drop pods, to the top of deck, and passing through a vital component. The ship's power core. Carolina had just defeated the monster in time for the protection barrier to go down and exposing the heart of the machine. She smiled knowing damn well the only person smart enough to calculate where exactly to strike was Church.
"You fuck up my tank... I fuck up your ship." Church smiled as held on tight to Pandora's foot while Tucker held onto his arm. Planting his feet onto the ribs of the monster he stretched out the arm as he only had one free arm to do anything. Except defend himself from Tex, who was running up with a power charged punch, his free arm did what it could but could neither catch or block the full force coming at him. He was struck down and had released Church and Tucker. While on the floor Tex had managed to impale him into the ground, straight through his chest with a piece of rebar she had managed to pry off of the downed tank that Church had converted.
Tucker stood over him and looked down at him, "Stick around Pandora..."
A massive chain of explosions of fiery blazes from up above had gotten everyone's attention, ands the sight of the ship growing bigger made several uneasy. No it wasn't getting bigger, the wise ones thought, it was getting closer to the ground. Church switched to the main talk channel to everyone and called out to them, "Everybody move!" He demanded as he, Tucker and Tex all booked it out of the path of the crash zone. Falling pieces of ship, some on fire, others just large, had the team staying alive by inches.
[Inside The Ship]
The series of explosions made the ground unsteady as the Freelancers and Mercenary stumbled a bit before regaining their posture. The whole ship began tilting downward, causing a few bullets casings and other debris to slide and roll in the direction the ship was leaning to. Looking around they heard the rumblings from the ship and all that was soon to come, concluding that they needed to get out ASAP.
"Well, I believe now would be the time to fuck off..." Wyoming suggested as he already headed back the way that they came.
Locus and Wash following right behind him as Carolina had retrieved her weapon and took off after giving them a much needed head start. Washington spoke into his comms, "479er, we need an extraction!"
"On it, you better be ready to jump, because I am not waiting for long." 479er demanded as she started up the engines and began engaging in hover mode.
"You heard the pilot, move your asses in gear." Carolina demanded as she went off to the next room without them.
Locus ran right along side the other Freelancers as he made a valid point, "She is aware we do not possess the ability to increase our speeds?"
"Sometimes, I think it does escape her." Washington admitted as they made it to the next room, where Carolina had been in the center, shooting down the last couple of bots executioner style, "Then again it opens opportunities such as this for us to stay out of the fights."
"You ladies waiting for an invite? Get moving!" Carolina shouted.
Wyoming groaned at the constant insults she dished out, "Does she realize the irony in calling us women?"
"I don't think it's irony, I believe it is more satirical." Locus countered as he stabbed into a machine.
Washington called out to them as they lagged behind, "GUYS! The ship is literally on fire."
That warning had snapped them out of their discussions and realize that death was approaching fast. While they ran through the opening where they came from the overhead ceiling began to crack and fall to pieces. Pieces of metal sheets, heavy wires, tubes and beams had blocked their path entirely, the only thing they could see was a small opening leading to the outside.
Carolina tried to push and budge but to no use, even when the three others had arrived to try to raise up a beam blocking their way, it was no use. When the four of them had no power left to push they backed up to catch their breath. Racking their brains to find an alternative route or come up with anything to get to safety. The thought of death approaching made them think in high gear.
Locus then made his life saving discovery, he had not placed all the charges. One last brick of plastic explosives was all that they needed, and last brick was what they had, as he held up the improvised ordinance everybody stopped breathing worried something might happen to ruin their chances for survival. Moving very steady he placed the device right in between some pieces of the collapsed structure, sliding it ever so delicately until he could reach no further.
The group then managed to run a few feet to the nearest spot of cover they could locate, one of the walls had some scaffolding wide enough for them to stack up against. Once they were all safe and secure, Locus detonated the package, the blast sent scrap and debris flying everywhere around the room. Once everything had settled they saw the ship, clear as day. They all began to run for it, the rumbling of the ship making them stumble as the doors to the Pelican had opened up for them. Escape was no more than just a couple meters away.
Washington stumbled as the floor beneath him had cracked and opened up, catching his foot, causing him to fall behind. He winced in pain as felt an almost stabbing pain in the very center of his foot. Locus and Wyoming kept running as they passed Carolina who stopped and ran back to pick him up, once on his feet again, she put his arm over her shoulder as she dragged his limping body with him. Just nearing it closer and closer, by inches, that's when a bigger quake was felt, making them kneel to floor. With only seconds to spare Carolina grabbed Wash by his collar and back of his waistband, tossing him into the ship, where Locus and Wyoming caught him. She tried to run in and catch the ship but the current ship she was on began descending and as she jumped she reached out for the ramp, but missed it by inches.
"Carolina!" Washington called out as she disappeared from his view.
When she came back to the falling ship she fell into a crack that opened up to several beams and other parts to the ship. As it fell she used her ability and agility to maneuver through pieces and debris to avoid crushing blows. Ducking, dodging, sliding and running to stay alive as the ship was coming to a crash.
[The Crash]
The dust, sand and smoke filled the whole canyon as the impact kicked everything up like a turbulent tornado would. The area was blanketed with black, grey and beige colored clouds that were so thick, that not even a knife could slice through. No one could see anything for a full minute, making so many worried what would happen when everything cleared, if their friends would still be present.
Static was coming in everyone's ear as Church did his best to connect with all the teams, the Blues, Reds, Overwatch, even Talon. His voice was choppy and barely audible but his efforts were heard for everyone, all he needed to ease his nerves was just one voice to answer him back.
"C'mon sound off, need a headcount." Church ordered through the channel.
An old gruff voice answered first, "This is Sarge, here with Reaper, Moira and... two of the young bloods..." ( and Lucio)
A hearty voice coughed though, "Me and Brigitte have your friend Caboose and Doc, and Doomfist is here as well."
"Rest of red team here, with Mei, Cassidy, Baptiste and Mercy."
One by one they all checked in to confirm their safety and position for church to check off, finally he scanned the area he was in and began counting off heads, "Okay I see Winston, Tracer... Sombra, Mauga, Widowmaker, Tucker and Tex..." He took a deep breath as he tallied the numbers, "Zero casualties people... good work. Let's regroup and get the fuck outta here."
"Carolina come in! Carolina do you read?! Do you read?!" Wash's voice blasted through the ear piece.
Church cursed as had to pull the piece out before being deafened, "Wash, what the fuck is wrong?!"
"Carolina, she fell in the ship!"
"She's still in there?!" Church looked back at ship that just had another explosion. By his estimate, she may fall victim to suffocation, a fire, crushing debris, another explosion. The risks kept rising as Church looked at ship in front of him. He switched to all comms and began calling everyone in the area, "Hold the celebrations... Carolina is in the ship, this battle has now just turned into a search and rescue."
"Not our problem..." Reaper replied back.
Church just rolled his eyes, "Fine, y'all can fuck off for all I care." Church typed onto a holographic screen he projected, "But I'm taking all my cool powers back." And like that all the powers he gifted to everyone were gone.
"Aww rubbish. Who would tease a group people with something so new, spectacular and fun to use?" Tracer questioned. (Looking at you Blizzard.)
"Sorry but I need all the power I can use to scan her through the ship. With every camera down I'm going in blind without a locator." Once he finished a signal pinged on those with some type of visor. Mainly him, Simmons, Baptiste and anyone wearing a helmet or had cybernetic eyes. It was definitely deep within the ship, so they needed to act fast, "Alright if you can move, get to her."
"Hold up, first..." Tex paused him from taking another step before looking at Sombra, "I need your cloaking device."
"Sorry chica, not happening..." Sombra was about to vanish but was halted as Tex grabbed her arm.
"I wasn't asking... chica..." Tex leaned in close.
She heard the heavy feet from Mauga approach and turned to meet his gaze, "And what if I say N-"
He tried to argue, but it was kind of hard to argue when a steel toed boot had kicked you in the balls at killer speed with the force to crush concrete. After the ball crushing sound, his voice began squealing in a high pitch as he grabbed his groin and fell.
Tex turned once again to Sombra who rolled her eyes and gave up the device, "Whatever, I always have more..." She finally disappeared from view with a wave of her hand.
Tucker took a moment to talk to Widowmaker, "So... thanks..."
"You're welcome... and Merci..." She replied back.
"Merci? For Wha-" He paused as she pressed her lips against his once more. Her lips felt so warm that Tucker felt the heat rush to the rest of his face. As his blush started to fade he closed his eyes once more and leaned into it, one cupping her back and the other caressing her cheek. That kiss could have gone on forever, especially because neither party or the observers were interested in trying to stop it. The only thing that did interrupt it, was Tucker's need for air as he gasped for it once they parted.
"For making me feel truly alive once more." She used her grappling hook to zip away into the smoke and out of his view once more.
Tucker smirked once again, "Damn... why are the honest ones always the ones who leave me hanging?"
Once the three regrouped and joined together with Tracer and Winston, Tucker cut a large enough hole for all of them to fit through. The dark ship was only illuminated by small fires and sparks that showed the shadows of debris that littered their patch to Carolina. Tucker kept his sword lit up before anyone stepped in first.
"So... ladies first?" Church asked looking at Tex.
Tex groaned, rolling her eyes before stepping in first, "Asshole..."
"Shut up, bitch..." He followed right after her. Patting Winston on the back as he passed him.
The eerie darkness in the ship was accompanied by the sounds of metal creaking, sparks going off at random and pieces of debris swinging from wires and hoses. The clouds of dust that came in forced a few people to cough if only just to clear their throats. As they stood at a good spot they looked around to see several deactivated machines, remain motionless and lifeless, like they were in a graveyard.
"CAROLINA!" Church's call out echoed throughout the ship, making the group he was practically jump out of their skin.
Tucker turned his bro towards him, "Thanks Church! I may never have the hiccups again!"
Church pressed his finger to his temple to see if he could locate a more precise signal from Carolina. Whatever the material the ship was, caused a blockage in communications, either that or something else was amidst. Whatever it was made locating her damn near impossible.
[Elsewhere]
As the ship fell Carolina used her skills, agility and reflexes to maneuver past chucks of metal, null sector troops and all sorts of mayhem that tried to take her out. She ran on crumbling pieces, collapsing beams and leaping over panels, sheets and other scrap that kept on coming at her. Deeper and deeper into the belly of the beast she kept descending trying to get to some sort of safety or just stay alive as best she could.
The entire ship seem to have jolted as the collision with the ground stopped everything dead in it's track. Carolina had just managed to catch a bundle of wires in time, though the sudden force nearly tore off her arm as a loud cracking noise followed by a dull but sharp pain emanating from her left shoulder. Dulled only by the fact that the adrenaline pumping through her veins and her mind was already racing to everything else in the way. But the now useless arm hung at her side as she was now taking tumbles, smacking against different surfaces until she slammed against a wall hard enough that everything faded to black and she lost all consciousness.
When she came to her, she moved wobblily and laid with her face pressed again some type of cold sheet of metal, like waking from a slumber that lasted days. The thing that awakened her was some dust that tingled her nose and throat, causing coughs to escape her lips. Slowly she attempted to rise from the floor, in doing so she soon discovered she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, or more accurately a steel scaffolding that weighed too much to move. Tried as she'd like every time she tried to move it with one hand incapable of effort it was pointless. She laid her head back as the pain in her body was now beginning to be more noticeable due to the adrenaline now wearing off.
Using her one free arm and the memories about the technology from Project Freelancer, she brought her arm up to her face and used her chin, teeth and tongue to open up a panel and override the emergency beacon. It was a simple, but complicated steps involving opening the panel, biting some wires and then managing to cross them over with each other. When she was finished she didn't need to guess if it worked properly, because the blinking yellow light on it taught her the her beacon signal was activated. Now it was a matter of time hoping that the group was smart enough to pinpoint her location.
Well at least there was a few out there who would be smart enough to carry out such a task. So she laid her head back and began to grow tired, too tired to move but in too much pain to relax.
It was when she heard loud banging sounds, metal shifting and being heaved out of the way, the sound of someone approaching her position. She smiled and cand started to call out to whoever was approaching, "Hey over here."
The figure began to take steps around the corner, still missing Carolina by inches as it kept surveying and moving back and forth. Kind of swaying and stumbling in the shadows before getting closer and closer, "I'll admit, you sure are a sight for sore... eyes... oh fuck me."
[Church's Group]
After a few minutes of checking corners and walking down the rooms of whatever was left of the ship the heroes grew more and more cautious as this place was beginning to look like something from a horror film. The darkness was only accompanied by dripping fluids and the occasional spark sent chills down everyone's spine. The only comfort that some of them had was the fact that Tucker's sword lit the way.
Eventually they managed to meet some of the others who had also made their way through the giant aircraft, another couple minutes and still no sign of here. Fear was on the rise and hope was dwindling fast. A magical noise restored all faith within Church. Carolina's emergency distress beacon, she never needed it so the fact it worked was a miracle even of itself.
"Guys... she's over here!" Church called out with joy. He wasted no time and began running after the signal, leaving those who could not track it behind him. He ran towards it like a pup following it's best friend. He found the signal was just around the corner from an incredibly large structure, dividing the path to her, right lead to a downward slope, left was an upward ridge. He made the climb to the top see if he would need a higher view to spot her. When he made it to the top all color in his face disappeared.
She was there, standing up with the assistance of Pandora with his hand wrapped around the back of her neck in a tightened grip, in the middle of the room. The area was quite large, this room must have been an entire hall given the size. There were small trickles of blood leaving her neck where Pandora's fingers were digging into, any deeper and she would be dead within seconds. He took a heavy sigh as he saw Tucker and Tex arrive around the corner, raising his hand to stop them.
"Pandora... I know it's filthy fucking rich coming from me of all people. BUT YOUR POWERS ARE BULLSHIT!" Church exclaimed.
Carolina looked over at Church with a guessing glance, "Ya crashed the ship on top of him?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, we need to stop assuming that is sure fire way to kill someone."
"It's a fucking ship Carolina! How does anyone survive that?"
"Ahem, now then, let's get down to business." Pandora interrupted, "You know what I want... you know what is at risk... so lets just cut the shit and get over here."
"Alright just give me a second." Church calmed him down as he turned to look tucker in the eyes.
Tucker nodded to his friend he stood next to, "What's the plan... you always have one."
"I don't... not this time." Church explained, "If I try to think of one he'll come up with a counter just as fast. Plus no one here, not even Tracer can reach for Carolina and get out of there in time. This is the only way. Stay here."
"Not happening." Tucker took one step towards his friend.
Church responded by striking him with a punch to the gut, "I know... I'm sorry."
He began a slow walk, he was thinking with every step he took. Not about an escape or a plan, but just reminiscing about everything, his friends, the adventures that they shared and the one that they could have had could things have gone differently. All was coming to an end as he stopped walking as he stood within an arm's reach of Pandora.
"Let her go." Church demanded.
Carolina shook her head as Church made his order, Pandora smiled and tipped his head, "As you wish." He began to lower her to the ground then immediately threw her over Church's head to where Tracer and Tucker were waiting for them. The rest of the Reds and Blues had managed to make their way inside to check on them.
Church turned his head to watch her hit the two of them hard. Anger rising he began to grow in size and strength but was cutoff when Pandora grabbed Church's throat with his right hand and tried to cover his face with his left. Struggling, Church managed to say a few words before the hand made contact, "Pandora you bastard of my mind!"
"I know... now just give in..." He pushed further and further onto his face.
Church fought with every muscle in his body to keep that hand off of him, he took his eyes away from Pandora to avoid seeing his end. As it neared his face he had one more thing to say, "Ya ever wonder why... they tell ya not to worry about the father's in the wild?" This made Pandora pause, puzzled by the sudden words, "Cause it's the Mama that kills ya." Church smirked.
Pandora felt a chill run up his borrowed body's spine, if an already deceased body could crap itself, he would have. He slowly looked behind him to see Tex, she had taken the other way around. Her knuckles were balled up, turning white, teeth grinding so loud you could compare it to metal and her eyes were redder than Sarge and filled with a fury that could not be matched. He tired to release Church to have both hands capable of defending himself, but he found himself held back by the man who he had attempted to kill. As he felt himself pulled back he tried flipping around so he could face her, he shifted his body around just in time. With his left arm free he tried going for a swing, but Tex was going for a kick. Steel toed boot, fueled by super soldier that is already agitated collided with testicles of a stolen stiff, that was linked to an Ai that was once named Sigma.
Everyone in the room who witnessed it, regardless of history, gender or race all collectively, felt as though they experienced that pain as they winced al at once. All except for Grif, "That is so fucking awesome when it happens to someone else."
As Pandora came back to the ground and fell to his knees, clutching his loaned family jewels, Tex seized the moment to put him in a rear naked choke. Her right wrapped around his neck, as the left held his head, the two arms connected in an inseparable link. She held him tight as she could as she looked up at Church, "NOW!"
Church nodded as he dropped a device on the ground, it took a moment for everyone to see what it was, Winston actually had to reach behind his back just to make sure. Church must have picked it when he patted him on the back, his shield barrier. Church dropped it on the floor to activate it, then he charged up both his hands, a strange bluish glow emitting from the palms, "Sorry old friend, but this is the end..."
Church put both hands on the side of Pandora's head and began to try again to flood his mind with all memories of the pain and suffering that split his mind apart. Pandora screamed bloody murder as he felt his mind being ripped apart. All while Tex was determined not to release him no matter how hard he struggled or how much he squirmed, her grip was solid.
Tucker started to run up and cheer his friend on, "Hell yeah, waste his ass Chur-AGH, what the fuck?!" Tucker asked as he held his his nose which ran face first within a barrier that was Winston's.
Church kept his focus on his enemy, "I'm sorry but, the only way to finish this if I relive the experience with him. There's no possibility where this ends in a way where we come out on top."
"No... don't you dare... don't you Fucking dare!" Tucker demanded as he tried to look his friend in the eyes through the barrier.
Church let some artificial tear escape his eyes, "This... is..."
"No... please don't."
"Goodbye..."
Tucker fell to his knees as he let his hands slide down the impenetrable wall. He closed his eyes and held his head down as he knew that when Church runs the numbers, he knows that it's more than likely always accurate. It still wouldn't stop him or the others from trying to save him.
The seven other members of Blood Gulch, aside from Carolina, all rushed over to try and do whatever they could to break the modified shield that Church started blasting his shotgun at point bank range, Grif hacked away with the Grifshot's blade, Simons unleashed several drones, Donut placed several grenades down, While Lopez tried to burn through it with his hand torch. Doc had turned up his medical device and used it on Caboose, who then kept throwing punches at the barrier. With his fists clenched he threw furious ferocious haymaker after haymaker at the field. Tucker got back on his feet and continued slashing at the barrier to free his friend from his selfless sacrifice.
While Church was busy destroying himself, Tex and all the other fragments trapped in the dome shield, he could feel his concentration fading as he lost his strength. As Pandora was screaming for the painful memories to cease, Tex lost her ability to remain stoic. Her eyes were drooping and her grip was loosening, she could hardly a few more seconds. That's when she fell backwards and collapsed underneath the weight of her fading life. Once her hold dropped Pandora made his move.
Pandora batted Church's hands away then knocked him down by slugging him in his chest. While Church was trying to recover so was Pandora as he stayed on his knees, catching his breath and using all the rage building up inside him as a way to fuel his desire. After taking the hit to the chest, Church knew a few ribs must have cracked due to the force, and with all units still drained he couldn't heal. But he had people to protect, people to save, so he forced himself up to face his enemy. The two rose up at the same time, Church tried to grab Pandora's face before his strength could manifest, as he reached out Pandora caught his arm just inches before it made contact. Pandora tried to do the same but was caught immediately by Church. The two were at a stand still.
Outside the crew saw the scene within, their eyes widened while Church had struggled to keep himself alive. Motivation and desperation made the already tired sim troopers push even harder. None of them were making any real progress, despite the cracks showing that shield was staying strong. All their arms were heavy, their firepower were the only things consistent but the flames, explosions and buckshot were too spread out to do any consistent damage.
Church and Pandora were still locked in together, struggling to gain ground over the other as they were able to recuperate their strength. The only difference was that Church was reaching his peak, while Pandora had more strength incoming. If the standstill went on any longer than Church would most likely lose and die, but he couldn't think of anyway to get the upper hand, if he tried to maneuver, Pandora would counter.
The only person being consistent was Caboose. His strikes were hard and precise, they didn't falter or slow down, every punch against the shield sounded like a crack of thunder. Once Doc's supercharge was gone, Caboose kept going just as hard. His knuckles began to stain the shield wall with his own blood when knuckles started to turn red again. He ignored all the pain and kept his tearing eyes locked onto what truly mattered the most to him.
Church hear the bangs just nearby, but found himself losing the test of strength between him and Pandora. THOOM While his hand that tried to reach Pandora stayed still, Pandora's hand was getting closer and closer to his face. THOOM He found it impossible to remain o two feet, dropping his knee to the ground while Tex struggled to get back up. THOOM His end was approaching fast, so he closed his eyes, because the last thing he wanted to see was Pandora's Frankenstein's Monster face grinning over him. Pandora was celebrating with a maniacal laugh, his victory finally at... hand?
A hand, covered and spurting out blood was gripping Pandora's shoulder so tight it crushed the armor underneath it. That hand was connected to Caboose, who was seething with rage. His hands were incapable of throwing a punch without sustaining even more damage, but luckily he didn't just have his hands to help him out. Caboose delivered a hard headbutt, cracking the borrowed nose of Pandora making him cover his face long enough for the big guy to put him in a full nelson hold, "Church, NOW!"
Church did exactly as Caboose demanded and got back up placing both hands on Pandora's face, unleashing all he could without holding back. He just had to get Caboose out of there, "Get out of here Caboose! This thing is gonna fuck you up."
"We're not going anywhere." Caboose replied as Grif and Lopez helped by taking a side on one of Pandora's arms and holding him in place. Tucker, Donut and Sarge held onto Church, Donut by his waist and the other two on his right and left. Doc and Simmons joined the big guys to make sure Pandora was secured tight by holding onto Lopez and Grif and pushed them into Pandora.
"Get out of here you fucking idiots!" Church ordered.
"Not a chance Blue..." Sarge argued.
"We all in this shit together." Grif added.
Tucker just looked at his friend for a while, "See you on the other side this time Church."
Church paused before speaking knowing they were in for something none of them would truly be prepared for, "I'm sorry about this." he whispered under his breath before the pain could begin.
[The "Pain"]
There was bright white light, so strong and so blinding it made everyone try to block the intensity of it, before they could become blinded by it. They all stumbled as they felt the air grow so cold that their breath became visible through the white smoke. When radiant light finally settled they found themselves in some generic type of room, like a cell of some kind. Four walls but no door, what's more as they looked around, no one was actually with them, everyone was in their own personal cell.
"What in Sam Hell?"
"This doesn't make any sense."
"What the fuck?"
"Church?"
"Where is everyone?"
"Qué es esto."
"I think I'm gonna be sick?"
"Church?"
"What's happening?"
"CHURCH?"
They were all alone facing their own isolation and solidarity, grey walls, what seemed like fluorescent lights buzzing overhead. But they weren't entirely alone, there was a voice, one they knew too well to be just anyone random. It was Church, but it almost wasn't, this voice sounded tired, exhausted even.
He looked messy and disheveled, his body looked skinny and malnourished, hair was unkept and messy, five o'clock shadow and finally his eyes looked empty, void of any life left in him. He was in the corner of the room, farthest from them as he wore rags rather than armor or actual clothing. And he kept repeating himself, "Please... please... no more... please... I can't... I'm too... tired... please no..."
His repeated whispering made them all cautious and hesitant to approach him, their feet dragged with each step as they approached what they could only assume was the memory of Church when he went through his early process. Eventually they got up the courage to approach him.
"What? Who... who are you?" He asked as he felt on edge.
[Sarge]
"Call me Sarge... we came to get ya out of this mess." Sarge told the tired artificial intelligence.
"No... please... I can't do this again... please no... too tired."
"Look kiddo, we all tired... but you listen to me. You can do this... You're stronger than you know... don't tell anyone else I said that..." Sarge stood back up and gave out his hand, "So... ya coming?"
[Lopez]
Lopez approached with heavy metal steps as he got close to Church. He took a second to check something and took a sigh of relief as it was confirmed, "I'm just your friendly omnic mechanic... and you need to come with me..."
"I'm sorry... I... I can't... I'm too broken..."
Lopez pulled out a large monkey wrench for Church to grab onto, "There's nothing too broken we can't fix... if there is... we can always make something new..."
[Simmons]
Simmons rushed by his side and did a quick inspection on Church, "You've seen way worse, c'mon let's go..."
"But I'll just fall again... I won't get back up..."
Simmons pushed up his scanner like it was a monocle, "Statistically speaking you get up more times than you fall. If you get up 7 times and fall 7... you just need to get back up one more time."
[Grif]
Grif took on a different approach than his friends, instead of getting him up, the big man took a seat right next to him, "You don't mind if I catch my breath, do you?"
"shouldn't you be trying to escape... just leave me... I'm too..." Church tried to explain.
"Yeah, yeah... you're tired... Rest isn't laziness... it's a necessity... we'll go when you're. But we BOTH go, capiche?"
[Donut]
Donut skipped over to go next to Church, he looked down at the glum version of his friend, "Hey there, don't be a stranger. We need your help."
"I... I can't... I'm... I'm too scared..." Church admits to Donut.
Donut brushed off the comment, "Is that it? So are all of us... as a wise man once said, Courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it."
[Doc]
"Easy there pal... let's be reasonable..." He raised up his hands as his version of Church was more violent, tossing things against the walls, kicking, punching and doing anything he could at them.
This Church roared in fury, "There's no fucking point! What am I supposed to do?"
"That rage... that anger you're feeling..." Doc spoke to him like trying to ease a wild horse, "Chanel it... and use it. Make it yours and make it work for you."
[Caboose]
"I'm your friend... we've been through a lot together. I fought for you and you fought for us..." Caboose tried to make his best friend remember.
Church cocked his head to the side trying to comprehend the reasoning behind this, "Why?"
"Because that's what friends do... that's what families do..."
[Finally Tucker]
They didn't say nothing for the longest time, just stood there staring at each other, trying to figure each other out. Neither moved, not even blinking, because whatever version of Church Tucker was staring face to face with, was definitely not his best friend. This looked older, wrinkled and his eyes were pure white and glowing.
"So... what you need some type of motivation to keep going? C'mon Church, get over this and let's just g-" Tucker started speaking to his.
Just as tucker gestured to the door, the figure that resembled Church finally talked, but with a different voice, "Am I a bad person?"
"What?" Tucker asked. Both to the question and the unusual way his voice sounded, "What do you mean? Church you, you're our friend."
"Am I a bad person?" Church's unusual form finally made sense once the figure started to add more details and his voice had a bit of a southern twang. When all the details came in Tucker was staring face to face with the original. Not Epsilon, not Alpha, not even his friend Church... the original, Director Leonard L. Church.
Tucker ignited his sword and prepared for a final face off, "You... Do you have any idea how much damage you caused. The pain, the deaths... you're responsible for almost everything bad that has ever happened to us! To others!"
"I know..." The memory of the Director didn't even argue with Tucker.
Tucker took a moment to scan his surroundings. One quick glance revealed that the Director stood in center crowded by shadows of himself at war with each other. It made sense, Church's psychotic form wasn't himself, or Omega or any single artificial unit, instead it was all of them. The hatred they had towards the Director, the confliction between the reason he did this and results it caused, even the mask they used to hide behind the war within themselves. It made it worse when they kept reminding themselves that they all came from him.
The Director bowed his head as the shadows surrounded him, wrapping themselves, constricting his movement. Tucker knew what Church was truly doing to himself, what the Director did only to himself. He bowed his head as he went forward, "You've done some bad shit. Maybe they had the best intentions behind them. A lot of people still got caught in the fallout of your collapsing mentality. But in that chaos it gave birth to something different... something crazy... something exciting... something incredible... You gave us a new purpose than just canon fodder for your troops."
"..." The shadows trying to choke out the director ceased and eased up.
"I can't forgive you for everything, and I doubt that even others would be willing to forgive you the same... but maybe... maybe you should forgive yourself... but do me a favor..." Tucker paused for a moment, "Don't forget what you did... just try to learn from it... okay?"
"Okay..." The Director nodded. They then faced the door out, a bright rectangular portal opened up for them to walk through.
"See you on the other side Church." Tucker saluted before jumping into the light.
Church looked down at the shiny floor at his own reflection, he went from looking like the Director to looking exactly how he remembered himself to be. Smiling he turned around to confirm there was only one shadow left, "Yeah... see you soon." Church said as the bright light enveloped him.
[To Be Continued]
Okay... I'm not doing this on purpose, I swear. I actually thought I could end this in 10,000 words. I was wrong. And I'm not even going to say that the next chapter will be the end because I actually plan on making a Chapter as a sort of extra. Somewhere between, emote concepts, interactions that might be had, etc. Also glad to report that Rooster Teeth and Overwatch are making a comeback. After the company was bough back, and Overwatch finally getting actual descent updates it's about damn time. Now almost 12,000 words used for this chapter. So et me finish with the usual, Kriegmeister, signing off for now.