Writefagging 11: Overwatch

~

A certain stillness was about. Hard to describe it really in a few words. How to begin?

I was alone, it seemed. Currently, it appeared that I was surrounded on all sides by water, although I seemed to be breathing fine. A lake? The depth seemed to be pointing towards the contrary.  An ocean then. Despite squinting and even reaching out with my senses, I couldn't find a single thing anywhere. Just water in all directions. Then, suddenly, there just was. Right in front of me.

Gauntlet seemed to have dressed for the occasion, having donned an orange wetsuit with a black fist emblazoned into the chest area. His orange hair floated lazily around him, making it look as though a furry creature had stuck itself onto his head. He seemed to be wearing no shoes, however, although it didn’t seem to matter. He turned around with little movement, staring out into the expanse.

“Been a while, hasn’t it.” He stated. A pause. “Well, technically not. I did message you during the Holy Grail War. Funny thing, that. You didn’t even participate for most of it, but you’ve still got this.” With a flash of light, a tiny golden cup manifested into his hand, before dissipating just as quickly. “Took me a while to purify the nuisance. Those things are nasty. Regardless of that…” He let out a deep sigh and continued to stare out. It almost seemed as though every word was a struggle. Was he not used to talking to other people? Uh oh, he’s glaring at me. Right, he can read thoughts. He finally verbalized.

“Is it fun? To be a Jumper, I mean.” He drummed his fingers against his thigh. “I don't think I’ve ever asked you.”

“You don't ask me much,” I replied flatly. But it was a question. After all this time...did I enjoy this? After a moment, I spoke.

“I’m mixed. On one hand,” I fixed him with a glare. “You’re indirectly responsible for some of the most traumatic experiences in my entire life. But at the same time…” I trailed off for a bit and my gaze lost its intensity. Huh, I guess we both have that habit. “I've met so many people, seen so many things. I've found friends, family and a bunch of other stuff. I'm out there and it's the most stressful thing in the world, but if I’m honest? I wouldn't pick otherwise.

He seemed to mull that over. “Very well.” He said. “I want you to remember that answer, in the future. Feelings always change, after all.” In the distance, the blue water began to turn an odd tinge of pink. “Well, looks like our time is up. Off you go, don't want you getting boiled alive by molten rock.”

“Wait, wha-” I stammered suddenly

“Activating Chain Sequence!” The world began to dissolve.

“Could you stop interrupting m-”

‘WELCOME TO WATCHPOINT: DOMREMY’
~

Jump 11: Overwatch

Ashton:
+100CP Controversy
Age: 19
Location: Free Choice
Human (Free)
Hero (Free)
Tracer Booty (Free)
We’re All Soldiers Now (Free)
Combat Roll (Free)
-300CP Deja Vu (Discount)
Suit (Free)
-300CP Doomfist’s Gauntlet (Discount)
-300CP From the Shadows (Discount)
-50CP Transfer to Companions (+100CP to all companions from 1:2 Ratio)
-150CP Get the Gang Together (Kindred, Hyledd, J.Alter)

Kindred:
+100CP Controversy
Human (Free)
Neutral (Free)
Support (Free)
We’re Gonna Do Great! (Free)
Hello Hello (Free)
-300CP The Light of Order (Discount)
-300CP Guardian Angel (Discount)
-200CP Symetra’s Gun (Discount)
Suit (Free)
Tracer Booty (Free)

Hyledd:
+100CP Controversy
Human (Free)
Villain (Free)
Defense (Free)
Tracer Booty (Free)
Suit (Free)
-200CP Hacker Extraordinaire (Discount)
-300CP One Shot, One Kill (Discount)
-300CP Dragonstrike (Discount)


Jeanne Alter:
+100CP Controversy
Human (Free)
Neutral (Free)
Tank (Free)
Daring to Dream (Free)
Honed (Free)
-300CP I Will Hold the Line! (Discount)
-300CP Watchpoint (Discount)
-200CP Magic Shotguns
Tracer Booty (Free)

~

My name is Ashton. Right now, I’m in the mood to shove my hand down a certain orange haired annoyances throat. Of course, he wouldn’t give me straight answers. When has he ever?

Aside from that, I’m currently in the middle of what used to be a giant battle zone. Watchpoint: Domremy. Formerly owned by Overwatch and currently possessed by one Jeanne Alter.

Funny thing, that. Would it bother you if I were to tell you that we were just attempting to kill each other? Well, we were. Maybe not necessarily kill, but certainly fighting. Let’s see, where to begin. Eenie, meenie, mienie...It’s easiest to start with me. I know myself the best, after all.

My name is Ashton, as I’ve said before, call sign “Zippy”. No, I do not go by that normally. Yes, it is a humiliating name. Regardless, I seem to have gone through some stuff in my time. Ever had the traumatizing experience of riding in a teleporting jet just to have your friend and the plane disappear right in front of your eyes into the time stream, lost for all time? It isn’t great, I’ll tell you. Even if they come back later and become some sort of superhero. Then discovering that it's affected your body so that you can move through time? It's a freaky experience, I'll tell you that much. On the plus side, I don't need a harness. Might have to do with the fact that I was in the co-pilot seat but I suppose that doesn’t matter. Never understood how Lena could stand wearing that all the time.

Aside from that? After the test pilot incident, I ended up getting moved alongside Lena into combat. The Omnic Crisis wasn’t fun, I’ll tell you that. Imagine playing a game with six Bastions on one enemy team. Now, imagine it’s real life and they aren’t limited to a team of six. Along with this, they have other robots to assist them. It sucked. On the bright side (If you can call it that) I got to learn how to use my Chronal Warp powers. That and I will admit that I basked a little in the recognition following until the dissolution of the organization.

That's in the past, though. Right now? I was tracking down a Hacker known to have information on the Shimada Clan for Genji, who had contacted me for the first time in years. Well, who could it be?

After waking up with a splitting headache, I came face to face with our hacker. Its's Hyledd, go figure. She seemed to squint at me for a second, which I suppose would make sense considering that we had just been trying to gun each other down a second ago, before tackling me to the ground. Seems she didn't care that much after all.

Following a brief snuggle session (I know what you’re thinking, nothing happened. We were in the middle of what basically amounts to a small city) A cleared throat caught my attention. The Kindred were currently dusting themselves off, Lamb looking slightly disgruntled while Wolf was laughing in the corner. Meanwhile, Jeanne was rising from the ground, using her flag to hoist her up onto her feet.

Apparently, everybody had been up to something in their lives before this point. Not that this was anything unusual, now that I think about it. Hyledd was a hacker, as I had previously learned, but also a relative of the Shimada. Well, that could be bad. Best to tell Genji before Hanzo gets to her. He might mean well in a twisted sense, but in the end, he is a sort of psychopath. I’d prefer that my significant other is not shot for your redemption, thank you very little. Even after your little talk with your brother, I'm not trusting you to keep the business side of your bow away from my significant other. Aside from that, she had apparently been training herself to be a sniper. When I asked her why she just sort of smiled. “A hobby.”

Okay then. I’ll just back away from that then.

The Kindred were currently known for being some of the prevailing forces in modern medical science, something incredibly ironic in terms of what they are meant to represent. Granted, I suppose there are many ways of showing death. Then again, after all these years, were they still as attached to that role as they were? I certainly am not always the ant assassin person I had started out as. Aside from that, they apparently were about to work with hard-light incredibly well, which would probably not spell good with the Vishkar Corporation. Did I mention that they somehow acquired a replica of Symmetra’s gun? Because they did.

Jeanne actually a rather normal life, although she had apparently defended Paris when it came under assault by the Omnics. She seemed to be rather insecure about the fact, no doubt because of her origins. I would probably have to talk to her about it later, ultimately she does have some very serious identity crisis even now. As I mentioned before, after that she acquired the Domremy Watchpoint, which was at that point being invaded by Villain!Hyledd when I tracked her down. Apparently, the Kindred were in town for a business deal.

With that fiasco behind us, we now had a rather nice place to settle down it. You don’t really see it because of the limitations of the maps, but do you know how massive a Watchpoint is? It's big. REALLY big. Certainly a step up from the Kindred’s castle and warehouse, which showed up somewhere near King’s Cross. Yeah, the residents were surprised too.

When Winston ended up hitting the big red button two years later I ended up arriving at Gilbartar along with the rest of the gang, which caused a bit of tension due to Hyledd’s rather checkered past. Thankfully I managed to convince her that robbing banks isn’t the greatest idea anymore, so now it’s just corporate espionage. Small steps, right?

That was all fine and dandy, had a good couple of adventures with them despite it being technically illegal. Oh boy, were people up in arms about it. Walking down the street at least one out of five people were talking about it constantly. “Avenger this, Draco that, Zippy-”

Don’t you call me Zippy. “Zippy, luv! Come on, the ships taking off!” ...Tracer, you get away with it because you’re my senior. Nobody else.

Turns out that Genji and Hyledd hit it off rather well, despite my earlier misgivings about it. That might or might not have been facilitated by her actually becoming a dragon in front of him and proceeding to convince him that she was some sort of ‘chosen one’ but I won’t bother getting into it. From what I gathered, she gave Hanzo a nasty shock when they finally ran into each other. Turns out that the two brothers aren’t the only people in the world who can shoot magic spirit dragons from weapons.

The Kindred ended up spending a number of years alongside Mercy, although they eventually left after a chance encounter with Symmetra caused them to reveal their capability with hard-light technology. Needless to stay, there was an unofficial but bloody scuffle in which I have a feeling the two of them might have been in trouble if not for Jeanne arriving. Apparently, someone caught the footage and posted it on social media and if I’m honest I still can’t believe it. Her Noble Phantasm is meant to be a shield of sorts, sure, but I had never seen her doing it this fiercely nor effectively. I suppose practice makes perfect?

Oddly enough, I struck up a friendship with Lucio after that. It may not have been coincidental though, considering that he’s known for disliking Vishkar. Eventually he found out that I could sing (albeit maybe not his style) and we ended up hosting a concert together, instantly spawning a dozen “Does Zippy is Gay?” Headlines across the world. On the other hand, he did teach me a good amount of Portuguese. I’m already trilingual (Noxian dialect, English, Japanese, a smattering of French although I don’t count that) soI suppose adding another to the list couldn’t hurt. I couldn’t really get that far though, ultimately learning languages requires immersion into cultures that I ultimately don’t have time for.

Around the seventh year was when things got hectic. Aside from the public being torn on Overwatch’s ‘revival’ and the disapproval of the UN, Talon had finally made its move once again in Seoul. I myself had been there along with the rest of my crew to stalk D.Va to her base- I mean ask for her autograph, so of course, we had to intervene. The thing about Talon though, is that aside from their rank and file most are assassin type characters. The only figures of their number who really got up and close with you were Gabriel (Reaper) and Doomfist. Widowmaker was a sniper and Sombra...she’s Sombra.

Everything can be hacked, and everyone? I don’t think so, mija. It’s hard to get the jump on a guy who’s aware of everything going on around him for a mile if he puts his mind to it, even if you have cloaking on. Putting on a fake signal of her location towards Talon was easy with a bit of tampering from Hyledd, as was removing the cybernetic enhancements from her body after a little bit of impromptu surgery from the Kindred. Sometimes I forget how long they’ve studied the medical sciences, but they’re pretty good at it. Forget good, they can mend and restore lives if they so choose.

After dropping Sombra off in a discrete location, minus all her gear, it was a quick run to where Talon had established as their point of attack.

I’ve got to hand it to Doomfist, he was perceptive. Enough to dodge the knife I had aimed for him and instead block with that gauntlet of his. Annoying. Here was a man who despite his moral issues would be a good fight. However, this is neither the time note place. A scream of agony filled my ears as his Achilles' tendons were torn to shreds by invisible hands. Brutal, but effective. The sound of gunshots rang and I instinctively blinked, appearing a short distance away. That was close. Just a second later and my body would have been full of lead. Thanks for nothing, Gabriel. Whatever, I’d get my payback. Hyledd was swiftly taking care of Widowmaker while The Kindred deftly weaved about the troops on the ground, releasing an arrow into the chinks of their armor every few seconds. From above Jeanne fired off an odd pair of magic shotguns she had somehow enchanted into the crowds, dropping them every few seconds only to pull out a pair of fresh ones. I’ll never understand how those work. She could keep an eye on Doomfist for now if he tried anything funny, although he certainly wasn’t getting up for anything.

Reaper let out a sound I assume to be his disgruntled voice before beginning to teleport away. Sorry smoke buddy, I’m coming for the ride. Shadow travel can be a real nasty way to track somebody, especially when their travel method involves creating darkness. I tackled him to the ground and put a knife to his throat.

“Hey.” I greeted him, now straddling his waist. A bit simple, yeah, but what can you do. “It’s been a while.”

“Zippy.” He responded. “Who’d have thought it was Tracer’s gopher who gets me.”

“I never was and will never be a gopher.” The knife came closer to his neck. “Lena is a good friend of mine, that’s all.” Suddenly he made as though to struggle and dissipate into smoke, only to find himself still bound in place.

“You’re not the only one who can do that, you know.” I gave him a half-hearted smile. “Everyone thinks that they’re so unique. But, we’re not.” A tendril of smoke and shadow appeared from my left pointer finger, sliding off and drifting over the masked man’s chest before dissipating. “See?”

“...What do you want?” He was resigned. Odd, I had expected more of a fight out of him. Even just a good old fashioned brawl. I suppose that being bound changed things. “I expect you didn’t come for pleasantries.”

I left him hanging for a bit as I listened to the sounds around me. Gunfire, metal on metal, sirens in the distance. Fewer shouts with each second. “What I want?” I finally asked, more to myself than anything. “What I want to is to drag you to my lake, dress you in chains and execute you for your crimes.” I let it sink in for him “But I can’t do that. That right belongs to others. That being said,” I got up and raised my boot over his face. “You’re coming with me.” Smack.

One year later I sat in my room at Domremy, sighing. Seoul had been a great blow to Talon, sure, but in the end that was only a drop in the bucket. Criminal organizations like that tend to run deeper than what the surface suggests. Even so, we got some goodies from it. Doomfist’s gauntlet now lay in a case within the warehouse, along with pilfered equipment from Widowmaker and Sombra placed in a separate chest. Last I checked Jeanne was in the late stages of developing tech similar to Sombra’s implants but without the need for it to be augmented to the body, but that was slow going even with Kindred’s knowledge of the human body due to outsourcing to Torbjorn. He has a good heart, but ultimately he’s all about his turrets and armor. Hard to get him motivated on other projects.

Aside from that? I think I had a rather peaceful last two years. I taught a few classes to kids in self-defense every couple of months and was surprised when Commander Morrison showed up to one class to watch. Of course, nobody could know, but it was touching in its own way.

Aside from that, another weird rumor popped up recently which might even be worse than the ‘Does Zippy is gay?’ Headline. This time, it was something along the line of people debating constantly on whether or not our group is fat. Wait, what? Why? Are they calling us thicc? What does that even mean? Why are people pointing at my butt on a screen like it’s the most interesting thing in the world? Who took that photo anyway?

Oh, look, the golden light. Thank everything, I thought I was going to lose my mind.

“Adven-” Jeanne raised her flag and readied the sharp bit.

“Nothing!” I quickly covered myself. She smirked and lowered it.

“Your orders, not mine.” We disappeared into the light.