The World
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[Wanderer POV]
God knows this world and our people have been tainted beyond purity. Maybe those of new births are pure but God knows that most of us are rotten to the core yet it is good to know that one such as you still exists in a world like this. Thank you and until then, God be with you. - Joshua Graham
You can't save everyone, Will. Both of us know that, even if we try, we'll eventually fail and harm more people than we save. - Courier Six
Truly like your father, following in his footsteps; you hurl yourself into dangers just for the good of humanity. Sometimes I wish I never helped you find him. - Madison Li
Keep true to your faith, my friend. Deliver God's wrath upon those who go against His will but show mercy upon them before delivering retribution. Even the Lord gives mercy to the Devil. - Daniel
Remember to come back, Will. We'll always remember what you did for the Brotherhood, especially the Capital Wasteland. None of us will forget your great deeds, Sir Paladin. - Sarah Lyons
For all the things that you have done for me, Will. Accept this token of my respect to you, a great gift of evolution. - Fawkes
Learning to exist with your new mutations is a hard thing to accomplish. I've lived for more than two centuries and even I still find it hard to control my mutations but as a small amount to the debt I have to you, I will always be here to teach you how to live with this new part of yourself. - Harold
My calculations knew that the Courier would deny my offer of power and wealth for reasons such as his love for California and the Mojave yet I am astounded and angered by your own betrayal, Wanderer. I had hoped we would have come to a mutual understanding between two educated individuals. - Robert Edwin House
You must be one of the dumbest men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting or you truly have forgiven me. I don't know whether to thank you or be angry with you. In the end, this is farewell Wilhelm. - Augustus Autumn
So you're the Paladin of the Brotherhood who's caused my Legion such horror and terror with your weapons and armour. Tell me, what is a Paladin of your institution doing outside of your chapter? A runaway, perhaps? Or a traitor? - Caesar/Edward Sallow
Darkness, that is what I could only see. Voices, voices of those I trusted and respected and those who I came to despise and hate.
Their voices repeated words and sentences I heard them say a long time ago.
Many in times of great joy and jubilation but others were at times of distress and chaos. I know not what such things are happening to me but their voices, all coalesce to becoming one voice, maybe this is what God's voice is to everyone.
An amalgamation of all voices of those you cherish and despise in life. To teach those that for all the good and bad experiences you've had in life, they were all important into making you into the person you are now.
Yet I have a feeling that that isn't the case as the voices now turned into never ending calculations and theories concerning the universe and its secrets.
Have I gone mad? Yet that cannot be true, I died, sucked into a forming black hole that was safely contained only moments after I was consumed.
Although how can I know I am dead?
A question impossible of answering in my current predicament. Why seek answers when I do not know the question? Always reminded myself of that in times of my overthinking self.
And then all of a sudden, the voices ceased in their onslaught of words. In quick succession, a bright explosion came in front of me yet it made no sound. The explosion was blue in colour, as it encompassed my entire sight, replacing the black void that was in front of me.
Then that was when I felt it... The Universe was singing to me its great secrets and far forgotten gifts. Yet how can I understand its melody?
01.15.2078 | Gibraltar, Spain
[Narrator]
The world, after several decades of long but tense peace, was on the brink of war. By the result of recent developments throughout the world, the formerly disbanded elite strike team of Overwatch, was recalled a year ago from today.
The recall order was given out under the order of Winston, the genetically modified gorilla turned scientist of the group, the de-facto leader of the group after the deaths of its leaders, Commander Jack Morrison and Captain Ana Amari.
Ever since the Petras Act, the Overwatch team was officially an illegal group but now they were on headlines throughout the world once again. Recently, in Paris, a group of Omnics from the Omnic faction of Null Sector had arrived at the historical capital of France.
There, the Null Sector force endangered the city with the local police force barely capable of holding a measly defence against the advanced weaponry of Null Sector. Local media outlets broadcasted the event with international outlets yet to even receive information.
Yet Overwatch, or what few agents it still had, did their duty and stayed true to their oath and came to the aid of the city. Winston, with aid from Tracer and the recently found Mei-Ling Zhou or Mei, came arriving through an MV-261 Orca.
Citizens and Parisian police were behind vehicles and cover from Null Sector fire. Coming down to aid them, the three agents did their duty and fought the Omnics. Yet it was not enough, the Null Sector force overwhelmed the trio and destroyed the Orca with Mei getting injured to protect the people.
At a last attempt to allow his friends to leave with the people, Winston came rushing out to fight against the force head on, even fighting against the massive Omnic titan without fear.
Yet as if fate had other plans, Genji, another agent of Overwatch, came to the rescue by deflecting an incoming blast from the titan and destroying a large chunk of the footsoldiers of the force, leaving a few dozen footsoldiers and a damaged titan left to be disposed of.
Alongside Genji was Mercy, Echo, and the Godfather Goddaughter duo: Reinhardt and Brigitte. Mercy immediately came to the aid of Mei's injuries and those of the people with Reinhardt and Brigitte turning their energy barriers on to shield their friends.
Eventually, Echo, Reinhardt and Brigitte took down the last remaining footsoldiers leaving the damaged yet still dangerous titan. Blaring its chest cannon, it fired a laser which was halted by the combined defence of the duo's shields. The laser was ripped apart as parts of itself came to the buildings, vehicles and street to burn the areas they landed on.
In a quick enlightening moment, Winston made a way to quickly and easily dispose the titan, with the combination of Mei's backpack and Tracer's pulse bomb, the titan could be disposed of in a quick freezing explosion.
Yet problem was how to get the cryo-bomb on or in the titan. Without even thinking, Tracer took the bomb and zipped through the street and jumped up to the air to land inside the hole that Genji made when he deflected the blast from the titan.
Though in the nick of time, the titan had its hand close to the English agent and in that moment doubt and fear came to her but to the rescue once again, Genji used his katana to cut the hand to make way for her.
Landing safely inside the titan, Tracer placed the bomb directly next to the titan's core and reversed her time back to when she was just right next to her friends. A few seconds later, the bomb ticked and blew off as it made a snowy explosion.
The incident was called the Paris Rescue or the Overwatch Resurgence. Headlines all over the world picked one of the two options and usually picked the latter with the following anticipation for the UN to step in and shut their operations down for good.
Yet no such acts were done by the UN and it has allowed for Overwatch to expand and recruit more members into their group. It was on the fifteenth of March did the entire group and their new recruits officially met all together.
From the hangars of Gibraltar did an Orca land and from it seven individuals came coming out to meet Winston.
The first to walk out and face the leader of Overwatch was Cole Cassidy, agent name: Cassidy. A former Blackwatch agent, Cole became an official member of the group after going clean and working with the official Overwatch group.
Second to walk out was Fareeha Amari, agent name: Pharah. Daughter of the deceased Captain Ana Amari, Fareeha was a captain of her own group back in her home country of Egypt. She enlisted into Overwatch after the Paris Rescue aired international news, she was immediately accepted from her military career and background of being the daughter of a former agent.
Third was Lúcio Correia dos Santos, agent name: Lúcio. A musician turned Freedom Fighter after a revolution came to the city of Rio de Janeiro against the corporation, Vishkar Corporations, who owned the city and oppressed the people, coming to join Overwatch after the Paris Rescue, being immediately taken after knowledge of his past with dealing justice against the unjust.
Fourth was Aleksandra Zaryanova, agent name: Zarya. A former soldier of the Russian Army, nicknamed 'The Strongest Woman in the World,' she came to join Overwatch after getting an offer from Cole to join the group to which she happily said yes to.
Fifth was Jean-Baptiste Augustin, agent name: Baptiste. A former Haitian medic turned Talon agent who shed his former self and became a new man and joined Overwatch to redeem himself of his past wrongs and sins.
Sixth was Vivian Chase, agent name: Sojourn. A former agent now returning to the group after Omnics attacked her home city of Toronto after the Paris Rescue occurred.
Last and seventh of the group was Hana Song, agent name: D.Va. A member of the Meka squad of the Korean Army, Hana joined Overwatch after the Paris Rescue was aired to her home country.
Cassidy, tipping his hat to Winston, nodded and looked at the gorilla in the eyes.
"How long has it been, Winston?"
"Too long, Cole."
"Indeed."
"Would you like to introduce me to your friends?"
Turning around he started to introduce the new recruits and returning member to Winston.
"This is Fareeha Amari, daughter of our great captain: Ana Amari."
Fareeha saluted to Winston to which Winston took out a hand and waited for her to shake it to which she did.
"It is good to finally meet you, Fareeha, your mother would be proud of you to join Overwatch."
"Yes, she certainly would."
They then went to Lúcio.
"Lúcio Correia dos Santos, Freedom Fighter for the people of Brazil."
"It's good to meet another like us in these times, Lúcio."
"So you're Winston? My God! I dreamt of meeting you ever since I was a kid!"
"I hope you aren't disappointed to what you see."
"Disappointed? I'm amazed!"
At that both Cole and Winston laughed with Lúcio following them. The duo then went on to Zarya.
"This is Aleksandra Zaryanova, a great friend of mine."
Shaking hands with the Russian woman, Winston took notice to her strength and made a note of it.
"A friend of Cole is a friend of Overwatch."
"Da, Sir Winston."
"Winston is just fine, Zarya."
Both nodded to each other then continued on the introduction.
"I don't think I need to introduce you to Vivian."
"Vivian, how long has it been?"
Winston said with open arms as the Canadian woman sunk into his large arms.
"Too long, Winston, too damn long."
The two broke the hug and nodded to each other. Finally, the duo came to introduce and meet the last person.
"This is Hana Song or famously known throughout the world as D.Va."
"Good to meet you, Ms. Song."
"Just Hana, Winston."
He nodded and then looked back to the entrance to Watchpoint and raised his arm.
"Follow me inside, there, I'll have Tracer show you the barracks where you'll sleep and eventually see you to the meeting room where you'll all meet the other members of Overwatch."
"You heard the man- or gorilla. Get your things and follow him!"
- An Hour Later -
All of the members of Overwatch, or what it currently had were in the meeting room of the Watchpoint. Here did the new members meet the agents they had yet to meet. There were seven agents in total who had answered the recall of Winston.
First was Lena Oxton, agent name: Tracer. A former RAF pilot who used an experimental plane that had time altering technology, the experimental part of the plane damaged Lena extremely to the point of her 'inheriting' the time altering abilities of the tech. Eventually she would gain control of this power through the help of Winston who made the Chrono-Accelerator which controlled Lena's time warping.
Second was Mei-Ling Zhou, agent name: Mei. A former agent who was cryogenically frozen because of her doings in Antarctica and its dangerous weather. Eventually she would come out of ice and find her entire team deceased and Overwatch disbanded, through her will and strength, she ventured out of her base and travelled the world until finally reaching Winston in Gibraltar.
Third was Genji Shimada, agent name: Genji. A former member of Blackwatch, Genji became an official Overwatch agent after finally finding inner peace with himself through meditation and help from his mentor and master, Zenyatta.
Fourth was Angela Ziegler, agent name: Mercy. A former member who answered the recall of Winston and came to the aid of the group in their darkest hour.
Fifth was Wilhelm Reinhardt, agent name: Reinhardt. A German Crusader who became one of the founding members of the team and became their tank and enforcer.
Sixth was Brigitte Lindholm, agent name: Brigitte. Daughter of the famed Törbjorn Lindholm, Brigitte is the goddaughter of Reinhardt and has assisted him in his travels as his assistant/personal repairwoman.
Finally was Echo, agent name: Echo. She was created by Overwatch scientist and founding member: Mina Liao. A highly advanced Artificial Intelligence, Echo is capable of great creation and destruction as she is capable of mimicking the entirety of a person or thing.
The first to speak was Winston as he introduced each of the new faces to the agents.
"My new friends, this is, as you have met, Lena Oxton or as you know her as Tracer, our resident pilot and as I like to call her, stormtrooper.."
"Nice to meet you all, loves!"
As always Lena's energetic personality resonated throughout the atmosphere as it seeped into other people.
"It's good to see you again, Lena."
"Good to see you too, Vivian."
Then Winston moved on to Mei.
"This is Mei-Ling Zhou or Mei. A scientist climatologist of Overwatch, maybe some of you have read her journals."
"Oh, oh! I have! And I need to say that your journals have been a great inspiration for me, Ms. Zhou!"
Hana had blurted out, it made Mei flustered as it was a first for her to hear someone who saw her as an inspiration.
"O-oh. Thank you."
Winston then went onto the next agent.
"This is Genji Shimada or Genji. An agent I am proud to call a friend."
"Nice to meet you all."
Genji said with a nod.
"Uhm... Just a question. Are you a guy or an omnic?"
Hana had asked with the other new recruits' expressions surprised and worried if Genji were to be insulted or even angered by the question but to their surprise he wasn't at all.
"You are not the first to ask this question and in my opinion you will not be the last. Though to answer your question, many years ago, I was badly injured but, thankfully, I was saved by Overwatch."
"Oh. Hope you're better."
"I am. Thank you for saying such."
Winston then went on.
"This is Angela Ziegler or Mercy, maybe you know her as the Guardian Angel from the Omnic Crisis. Overwatch's resident medic and doctor."
"Doctor Ziegler, it is an honour to meet someone with a name as known as yours."
Baptiste had said with joy and excitement in his voice.
"Please, call me Angela. Calling me Doctor Ziegler makes me feel older than I am."
At the last remark of being called Doctor Ziegler, all agents who knew of the Good Doctor's nanotechnology laughed with the Doctor laughing herself.
The new recruits were confused as to what the joke was but kept silent. Eventually the laughs died down and Winston would continue on the introduction.
"This is Wilhelm Reinhardt or Reinhardt. Our shield and hammer in Overwatch."
"It is good to see some new friends come to join our great team!"
Reinhardt's extremely loud and strong voice resonated with the walls of the room as if making a thunderous noise from his voice.
"It is great to meet a German Crusader such as yourself Lieutenant Reinhardt. Your fame and glories have come as far as Russia."
"I can see you are strong, my Russian friend. Maybe I can test your strength later."
"Then please be prepared. I am not called the Strongest Woman in the World for nothing."
Reinhardt and Zarya laughed as both were excited for their spar. Winston continued on the introductions.
"This is Brigitte Lindholm or Brigitte. Now some of you more astute individuals might know her as the daughter of a famous Torbjörn Lindholm."
"So all grown up, Brig?"
Vivian remarked.
"All grown up, Ms. Chase."
"All grown up to the point you forgot my name."
With a sigh, Brigitte said.
"Nice to meet you too, auntie Vivy."
At that, most of the agents laughed with Brigitte having a small blush on her face with it becoming even more tense from Reinhardt putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Alright, last but certainly will not be least is Echo."
"It is great to meet new members of Overwatch."
With everyone now introduced to each other, Winston was about to make a presentation of the new agents roles and their future missions but all of a sudden alarms were raised as the power of Gibraltar suddenly died.
"Emergency power initiated."
The artificial voice of Athena blared in the room.
"Athena, report."
Winston said.
"Anomaly found in the workshop. It has caused an electrical disturbance of a magnitude affecting all of the Iberian peninsula and causing shortages and outages throughout all of Europe and North Africa."
"Alright team, this is your first mission and it involves our home. Let's get this anomaly out of our abode."
"Right behind you, big guy!"
Lena replied to Winston with her usual energetic tone. With everyone getting up from their seats and going to the anomaly.
Acquiring their weapons and armour through the barracks, the team got to the workshop to find a ball of darkness as it permeated its essence throughout the room. The event was surreal and even supernatural as it looked like a television show from over fifty years ago.
All agents were at an awe at the image as none of them ever saw anything like it.
"What is that?"
Reinhardt had blurted out with Winston answering a few seconds after.
"That is something even I do not know of."
Then in an instant, the darkness permeated a greater essence as all light outside of the workshop was blotted out with the only things making light were the team's weapons and armour. Then in the ears of each of the agents, spoke a voice who used the mother tongue of each of the agents.
"How can one know the truth of the universe if one cannot understand it."
"The universe is cruel to those who wish to know it."
"All find the universe confusing and complex yet that is what makes it so interesting."
The voice said those three phrases many times over for several minutes. Many of the younger agents had slammed their hands into their ears yet it was fruitless as the voice pierced physical properties and could be heard in their minds.
It all culminated to the point of Winston's patience being broken and bringing him to the brink of going into his primal rage and destroying the entire workshop but thankfully the voice ceased its advance at the perfect moment.
When it did so, the darkness filled everyone's vision and encompassed their bodies as the only thing they could see was the darkness; for a few seconds, the agents were cocooned inside the dark until it all disappeared.
As if nothing happened, Watchpoint's energy supply returned to normal as the darkness disappeared but in its place was an eight foot tall figure of pure metal and steel. Its eyes pierced into the souls of the agents as its red colour made it seem as if it was the Devil Incarnate.
Through either instinct or military training, the agents all aimed their weapons on the figure but only being stopped from firing on the figure by Winston's commanding voice.
"Hold! Hold your fire! We don't know if this thing is hostile or not."
"Are you crazy, Winston?! Can't you see that this is some sort of Omnic that Null Sector has created!"
"Even still, I will not risk to cause danger upon this team if I can stop it."
...
[Winston]
This isn't any Omnic model that I know, it isn't Null Sector, Talon nor any other manufacturer of Omnics. Its intricate design was beyond anything I had seen in other models.
I can see on their faces that they want to shoot this thing to smithereens, hopefully my words of caution go into their minds and won't shoot willy nilly.
The Omnic looks around the room and then looks to us and then back to the room and then us, for several times the Omnic looked between us and the room several times until finally muttering one word.
"Shit."
It cursed? That was odd for an omnic but I stayed cautious and prepared for anything. At a bid for diplomacy, I asked it a question.
"Who sent you?"
An easy question to answer, I expected it to say Null Sector, Talon, or even nothing as one would normally hide its identity. Yet to my surprise it did none of the three and just stood there and tilted its head as if to say the question was confusing.
I needed to think on what to do next but then Cole got into the argument and destroyed any hope of diplomacy.
"You're a damn Omnic aren't you?! So who the hell sent you?! Either Talon or Null Sector! Choose one and then we'll shoot you!"
I've always commended by American friend's courage and steel will but sometimes I wished he never had such a powerful personality. In response to my friend's words, the Omnic emerged two miniguns from under its arms and aimed it at us; in quick response, both Brigitte and Reinhardt turned their energy barriers on but thankfully it did not fire any bullets.
"Please! We wish no bloodshed to happen on these floors. We can talk peacefully if you lay down your weapons."
"Yet I was not the one who so aggressively called someone an Omnic."
So it is capable of diplomacy. Good. This gives me more information and possibilities to converse with the Omnic or whatever it was since it did not identify as one.
"Please forgive my friend for his words, he meant no offense. Though it makes one curious as to who you are."
Then the robot's miniguns disappeared and it just stood there for a few seconds until it spoke once more.
"Quid pro quo. I answer one question, you shall answer one. A fair transaction, don't you agree?"
"A fair transaction like any other. Who goes first?"
"As a sign of cooperation, I shall give you the first turn."
Looking to my fellow agents and friends, their bodies were more relaxed but their hands were tense and eyes solely on the robot.
"Who are you?"
"Complicated question, yet one I can easily answer. I am what you would call a man who walks a road with no end."
"So you're human?"
"Patience. You shall have your turn once again. Where am I?"
"You're in Gibraltar, Spain. A facility known as Watchpoint: Gibraltar."
"Hm... I see."
The Omnic or human muttered to himself something that was out of range for me to hear yet a few words I could faintly hear were 'experiment,' 'success,' and 'alternate'.
"Are you human?"
I asked to finally discern what we were speaking to.
"I am human."
"How do we know you're not telling a lie?"
Lena had said. For a few seconds, the man stood in thought on what to do with the next thing he did being something none of us expected.
The man took of his helmet and showed us his face. A Caucasian male with natural black hair and emerald eyes, from what I could discern his age might be around early twenties to late twenties.
"Is that adequate enough to convince you that I am not here to deceive you?"
The man said as he re-equipped his helmet.
"Yes, it is."
Now that I know that our friend here is a man, I can peacefully end this conversation.
"What year is it?"
An odd question but if that is what he wants to ask then I'll answer it.
"2077. Fifteenth of January to be precise."
The man muttered something once again, the words I discerned from his mutterings were 'timeline,' 'possibility,' and 'research'.
"How did you get here?"
"Dangerous experiment with alien teleportation technology resulted in a failure but thankfully I still live and breathe."
So our friend is a scientist who researches alien technology but there have never been any extraterrestrial sightings in ever so how could he have such technology. Unless...
"Do you have any hardware or device that is capable of processing data going as large as a hundred geobytes?"
A hundred g-geobytes?! No modern technology can even comprehend a percent of that amount, the best computers can only process a hundred yottabytes, that's even accounting Omnics and Artificial Intelligences.
I was at an awe someone would even use the word 'geobyte' as it is a dream for computer scientists to achieve that milestone as it would allow greater data processing and storage space for all. I was speechless for so long that someone else had to answer for me.
"Unfortunately, there are no processors that are capable of processing more than a hundred yottabytes. I hope this answer is adequate to your question, Sir."
Echo had answered for me. The man in front of us stayed silent yet I could feel a sense of disappointment in him. I was still quite speechless at his question so I asked the team to do the questioning and answering for me.
"Don't worry, love. You just sit this one down and we'll all get some answers off of this guy."
"Thank you, Lena."
I then sat down as some form of mental stress suddenly came to me, I don't know what it was but it was straining me. Getting a few bananas and a can of peanut butter to cool down my head.
...
[Lena Oxton]
"Alright guys, Winston needs a little rest so we're left to talk with this guy. Got any questions to ask him?"
I asked the team. Their faces showed their confusion on the matter meaning they didn't really know what to ask, all the important things were asked by Winston already.
"Well first off, where the hell did he come from?"
Cole said with a voice loud enough for the guy to hear him. Hopefully he'll stay as unemotional as he has been for the past several minutes.
"Washington D.C."
"Where in D.C.?"
"You need answer my question first, not I."
At that, Cole got visibly irritated. Oh god, please stay a little patient, Cole. Thankfully, Angela and Genji were there to calm his mind. Looking back to the man, the rest of us waited for his question.
"Who are you people?"
H-how could someone not know Overwatch? This guy must have been living under a rock or something if that were so. Nevertheless, it's an easy question to answer.
"We're a group of people called Overwatch."
"Overwatch? No such group I have heard."
"Alright. Our turn again."
Cole said, looking around us anticipating a question. Then Angela raised her hand.
"What is your name?"
"William Johnathan Frederick Smith but I am also called Wilhelm Johann Frederick Schmidt but people know me as the Lone Wanderer."
"So you're a German born American?"
Reinhardt asked and of course getting no answer from the man, or William in this case.
"This question is also an offer of friendship. In exchange for materials of any quality and quantity, I shall assist Overwatch in any endeavours it asks of me."
I was about to say something then Winston came from behind all of us and asked.
"If we come to that conclusion, will you allow us to analyse and research your technology?",
"Barring the device on my wrist and any technology relative to the alien civilization I acquired it from. I shall give you a full analysis of my weapons, armour, and any other technology I have on me and I can make."
Then Winston slowly walked in front of William and he raised one of his hands. We waited in anticipation to what William would do and thankfully, he raised his own hand and shakes Winston's.
"Don't wanna pop anyone's balloon but how can we trust you if you're in your super armour?"
We all gazed at Cole and stared at him in anxious and stressed moods as we waited for William's response. Then, a hissing sound came from William as steam and air gushed out from behind the armour. From back of the armour popped out William.
A six foot tall man who gave off a feeling that a younger Reinhardt exuded decades ago. He wore black undergarments that kinda reminded me of those 'Space Marines' of that one tabletop game back in London.
He then raised his arms in a motion a person who was awaiting arrest were to do. All of us were confused as to why he was doing so and it showed on our faces cause he answered the question that was in our heads.
"As a sign of peace and cooperation place bindings upon my hands."
At that, most of us were shocked by his proposition, Angela so much so that she had to voice her mind.
"Tha-That will not be necessary, William, or do you prefer Wilhelm?"
"Call me as you wish. Names and titles are meaningless to me."
"Well as a Swiss girl, I'll call you Wilhelm. It'd be like talking to one of my old friends back in Bern."
"But wouldn't it be a little confusing since Reinhardt's name is Wilhelm?"
Hana had asked.
"Worry not, my little friend. Reinhardt is my name, Wilhelm is just a reminder of who I was."
Then Winston went into the conversation.
"Well now that we've come to a conclusion; William, if you would please follow Angela and I to the Medbay to conduct a check up on you."
Will then walked past all of us and stopped directly before Winston and Angela. Standing there with his hands behind him as if he were cuffed.
"Lead the way."