Overwatch: Backfire

Chapter VIII: Heroes Never Die

All the camera signals went down. Moira kept smiling, while I couldn't even stand properly. I contained myself as hard as I could not to cry, but, as soon as I realized Jack and Gabe were really gone, I broke down. It was all my fault. Leaking those files created all this miss in the course of an year. I was such a fool. Why did I decide to do that anyway?! Being protective over my family ended up destroying them, quite literally. The irony.

Moira heard me crying, giving me a laugh. She came close to me and held my face by my chin.

— Hush now, Ziegler. It's a brand new day.

She ordered me to follow her as we went to the back of the ship, where a Blackwatch van was. She told me to enter it as she took the driver's seat.

I entered the back of the vehicle and noticed she had put the strange armor bed there. She told me we were going to make a quick stop. I didn't reply, just took a sit and waited for something worse to happen.

We drove over to what was left of the headquarters. She ordered me to open the back doors and press a button on the peculiar bed. After a while, I wasn't sure what I was waiting for, she told me to be patient. Then, this dark mass entered the van, going inside the heavy suit.

I closed the doors and Moira took off in a hurry back to the ship. I started hearing agonizing screams. I decided to look at the suit's face... It was Gabriel's face. I could barely recognize him, burnt with that weird smoke coming out from all over his body, but the suit was containing it all. I started crying and shouting his name, but he wouldn't reply. I don't think he could even hear his own screams then.

Moira told me to shut up, saying she'd explain everything to me as soon as we were safe. Truth is, there was no way I could feel safe again. Just look at what I've just done.

She leaves us in the van as she rushes out of it to put the ship back on the sky. She leaves it on autopilot and asks for my help to take the bed out of the vehicle.

We place it on the middle of the ship's main room. She was still refusing to answer any of my questions. She makes some adjustments in the suit. Gabriel, or what was left of him, was still screaming in pain, but not as much as he was on the van. I guess Moira's adjustments did help after all. Then, she reached over to grab a skull faced mask, putting it on top of his face.

— Shh... There now... We're done.

He had finally stopped screaming and got himself up the bed. That was a terrifying experience. It was like seeing Frankenstein's monster come to life.

— Gabe — I quietly asked as that creepy mask slowly turned to look at me — what happened to you?

He replied with a deep, echoey voice:

— You tell me, doc.

I froze. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't Gabriel. Moira had killed him along with Jack in the HQ. She took her experiments that serious to murder a colleague? I mean, she was with Talon afterall...

— What now? — I asked Moira with my voice breaking.

— Now, Ziegler, we start a new chapter. Overwatch has fallen, it's only a matter of time now until chaos takes over the world again. In the meantime, we wait for the perfect moment to rescue Akande and bring Talon to its glorious days. All thanks to you, sweetheart.

All thanks to me.

***

United Nations Headquarters, USA
March 23, 2076

— Then, Moira tortured me to make sure it looked like I had just survived the explosion and dropped me off near a hospital. I had to come up with the whole gas leak story you have on your archives. But I guess it's past the time someone told the truth.

— And why did you wait all this time to tell it to us, Dr. Ziegler? — Asked the UN employee who was interrogating me.

— I guess... I just couldn't deal with myself. My guilt.

— Again: you can assure us all the information you gave us is true?

— This was a mix of my personal memories and files I accessed during the time I was at Talon and Overwatch. So yes. It's all true.

— Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Ziegler. You will not be placed under arrest, although we do have enough to do so, but we will keep you under protection for a couple of days, just while we check the facts.

He exits the room, leaving me alone. Would that be enough to redeem myself? I guess giving information away was my top quality.

Away from the room, the worker takes his phone out of his pocket and dials a number.

— Hey, want a plot twist? The doctor just told us: Morrison is alive. So is Reyes. All our suspicions were right. She told us everything. I'll deliver her statement to you myself later today. This time we... — Another employee rushed to him, shouting his name. — What?! What's wrong?!

— Sir — he tried to catch his breath back — the Overwatch communication system is back online — he handed his superior a document with some communication activity logged.

The first few lines showed only blank codes, then an activation command followed:

>USER: winston@owgibraltar.org
>ATHENA>EMERGENCY_PROTOCOL
>PETRAS_OVERRIDE
>CALL>ALL_AGENTS>ALL_LOCATIONS

After they returned me my personal items, I was escorted to my "safe chamber" were I would spend the following days. Then, my phone starts buzzing. I ask the guards to give me a moment — after all, I was not a prisoner.

A huge smile took over my face.

Incoming call: Winston