Chapter Text
Soldier 76 adjusted his grip on his pulse rifle, squinting as if it would help his tactical visor focus any faster.
His target was a young kid with blond hair and stars in his eyes, twenty-one years old and ready to take on the world. The kid was laughing, jabbing at his friend with his elbow, apparently free of cares and worry.
Soldier didn’t feel a thing. He shifted his finger on the trigger, waiting for the friend to leave. He didn’t want any witnesses.
Finally, the kid waved and turned to go. The friend called out one last playful insult before scampering away. The kid was still chuckling to himself, grinning at the open air. He believed the world was at his feet. He believed he had a bright future ahead of him, opportunity, that he would make history.
Soldier waited for his visor to make some final calibrations, aimed his rifle the slightest bit higher, and pulled the trigger.
The Watchpoint was unusually rowdy. All ongoing missions had been cancelled, and all agents immediately recalled to base. While there were agents stationed at the point at all times, normally there was always at least one team out in the field. It was highly uncommon for every single member of Overwatch to be home at once.
They all gathered in the main conference room, exchanging nervous glances and shrugs. Nobody officially knew what was going on but there were always rumors, and in such a small, tight-knit group, word traveled quickly.
Winston sat at the head of the table and pushed up his glasses before clearing his throat, signaling the start of the meeting.
“I’m sure you all more or less already know why you’ve been recalled,” he began. He took off his glasses and cleaned them, a nervous habit. “But, for the sake of clearing up any miscommunications, here is what’s happened.” He put his glasses back on and glanced at his notes. “Our respawn tech has stopped working.”
Dead silence. Winston, seeming to sense the discomfort in the room, took off his glasses so he could fidget with them.
“Though we are able to carry portable respawn machines to on-site mission locations, these handheld devices are remotely controlled and powered by a mainframe here at the Watchpoint,” he continued. “If the mainframe goes down, the entire system shuts off.”
“And that is what happened?” Genji asked.
Winston nodded. “Without our respawn tech, we cannot safely send agents into the field. So, until we can get it fixed, we’re grounded.”
“How long?” Mei piped up.
Winston glanced at Torbjörn. “Well, we… we don’t know.”
This prompted a flurry of whispers around the room. Winston put on his glasses once again and raised his hands for silence.
“This tech was first developed by the original Overwatch,” he explained. “Obviously, it was – is – extremely powerful technology. Extremely dangerous, in the wrong hands. Only two mainframes were ever made, the second being the one stationed here and the first…” He hesitated. “The first was in Switzerland. It was lost in the… in the explosion.” He pushed up his glasses with a knuckle. “Research on this was one of Overwatch’s most closely guarded secrets, to the point where all information was stored on old-fashioned external hard drives and paper kept in the Switzerland headquarters. The only way to access it was to steal the physical drives and notebooks. It was a safety measure against hacking, but unfortunately it also means that everything is gone.” He sighed. “In other words, we have no idea how to fix our machine.”
McCree whistled. “Well ain’t this a pickle.”
“Did Overwatch not function perfectly well without this technology in the past?” Hanzo huffed, arms folded over his chest.
“Indeed,” Zarya agreed. “We can survive.”
“Yes,” replied Winston slowly, “but we lost a lot more people. And with our numbers so few right now, we can’t afford to send agents out without it.”
“What’s the plan, then?” Lena’s head was cocked to the side, her expression far too smiley for the occasion. “You’ve got one, don’tcha?”
Her good cheer was infectious. Winston smiled in response and nodded. “Yes. Actually, your chronal accelerator is a huge part of this.” He placed a capsule about the size of a fist on the table. “This is a time traveling device. It is an extrapolation on Lena’s accelerator, and I was able to-“
“What’s the plan?” Fareeha cut him off before he could launch into a full scientific explanation.
Winston, a little embarrassed, coughed awkwardly and nodded. “Yes. Right. Well, the plan is for someone to use this device to travel back in time to the old Swiss headquarters in 2046, find the information we need to fix our respawn mainframe without alerting anyone to your presence, and come back.”
Angela’s face was in her hands. “This is the most illegal thing I have ever heard.”
McCree nudged her, grinning. “This ain’t exactly a legal operation to begin with, sweetheart.”
“Who’s going?” asked Hana.
“I’m the time travel expert,” Lena said, standing up. “Obviously-“
“Not you,” Winston interrupted. “It’s far too dangerous for you, specifically. Your chronal accelerator could be disrupted and we could lose you forever.”
“Oh.” She sat down, pouting. “All right then.”
“It has to be someone who won’t be recognized in the past so as to avoid temporal disturbances, as well as someone who is able to sneak past any security and is competent with the hard drives,” Winston continued.
“Sounds like a job for that Talon lady, uh… Sombra,” Lúcio said.
“Yes, well, for obvious reasons we can’t ask her,” Winston replied. “Satya, you’re the most apt for this job, if you’ll take it.”
Satya nodded. “Of course. I-“
“Hold on.”
All eyes turned to Soldier 76, who had been silent up to that point.
“I should go.” He was doing his best to contain his annoyance, but it was seeping into his gruff voice anyway.
“No,” said Winston immediately. “No, Jack. You’ll be recognized. And if you meet yourself-“
“I won’t be recognized.” Soldier pointed to his visor. “None of you recognized me. As long as I keep the mask on, it’s fine.”
“But-“
“Winston.” His tone did not invite argument. “I was Strike Commander. I know any and all passcodes. I have the right fingerprints and DNA for scanners. I still remember the security schedules. I know every inch of the building, and exactly where I’m going.” His expression was hidden behind his mask, but it wasn’t hard to tell that he was glaring. “It has to be me.”
“He’s got you there, my friend,” Reinhardt chuckled.
“This is a terrible plan,” Winston grumbled, stress-cleaning his glasses again. He returned them to his face. “Fine,” he relented. “Get in, get out. Do not change anything.”
Soldier nodded. “I read you.”
“This is a terrible plan,” Winston said again, frowning as he handed Soldier 76 the time capsule.
The time capsule could travel through time, but not space; the device had to be operated on-location. Winston, Soldier, Angela, and Torbjörn had all flown to the site of the former Overwatch headquarters in Zurich. The rubble had been cleared and in its place a monument erected in honor of those who had lost their lives. They had even rebuilt the huge statue of Strike Commander Morrison, which Soldier eyed with distaste.
“It was a waste of the goddamn budget the first time they built it,” he scoffed. “And I’m the only one who got a statue, of course, like I was worth more than anybody else who died here. It barely even looks like me anyway.”
Angela laid a comforting hand on his back. “Then don’t think of it as a statue of you. Think of it as a statue symbolizing the ideals that Overwatch stands for: courage, bravery, equality, love, protection. Standing for what you believe in.”
Soldier shook her off, hands clenched into fists. “I didn’t symbolize any of that.”
“Enough self-pity,” Torbjörn cut in. “The time capsule’s been pre-calibrated to send you to the right times, so you don’t have to worry about messing with it.” Don’t mess with it, was the unspoken threat. He held out two faintly glowing orbs. “These are the cores. One’s already been inserted into the capsule. It uses up one core per time trip. These things are hell to make, so we only have two more.” He was glowering. “You’d better only need one more to get back, but you’ll have an extra just in case.”
Soldier took them and placed them safely in one of his holsters. Winston, Tobjörn, and Angela stepped back.
“This is a terrible plan,” Winston bemoaned yet again.
“Good luck!” Angela said, her smile a little more strained than usual. “Safe travels.”
Soldier nodded his thanks and placed the time capsule on the ground. Small legs and a projector extended out from the device, much in the same way his biotic field emitter did. He tapped the button and waited for it to power up.