Its a cool and gloom evening, the streets of London are barren, the sound of rain pitter pattering on the tiles of houses in the block, Y/N is hard at work in his fathers workshop hammering away on all cylinders developing his latest invention, a pocket watch capable of reversing time for a single person but only for a mere moment. Gazing at the pocket watch in your hands, you think.
"All this time for me to finally develop what I've pursued for so long" you stand over the workbench eyes glazed over as your dad walks into the workshop. He was a former inventor and craftsman for the corporation Overwatch, well, before it was shut down, he made all kinds of gadgets and even armor in this very workshop. Being in the workshop alone is like being a kid in a candy store with 10 fold the excitement as I always wanted to be an inventor like him someday
Dad: "So its finally done, is it?" He asks, You come to reality again and give him an approving nod.
"Lets just hope this works son, would hate to see you not leave the workshop for months on end again..." He says ruffling your hair.
Y/N: "Now all there is to do is to put it to the test"
You say in an amazed and curious way, thinking of where you could go, you take it to the perfect spot, where the city never sleeps, Kings Row, a place perfect to jump from rooftop to rooftop and put your parkour skills to the test, you make your way to the rooftop and with a quick breath in and a long but reassuring breath out you make a mad dash for the rooftop across from you, jumping as your feet stomp through the mass puddles of water from the rain.
Making the jump you continue to build moment to the point where you jump over a railing into a free fall catching a view of the clock tower chiming as time slows down for that instant, you refocus and without hesitation you pull out pocket watch clicking the device into action and just like that you blipped out of and into reality reversing your own time to the point of time planting both of your arms on the railing ready to jump over. A big smile overcomes your face.
"IT REALLY WORKED" you thought to yourself with your heart racing, adrenaline only just filling your veins causing you to collapse on the spot.
Its been years in the making, but its finally completed, the device functions without fail but you did fear for your life a bit taking that leap of faith. But what is life without a little bit of risk.
"I cant wait to share my progress with my parents, all this time and I've finally developed a working gadget" you thought to yourself. Your achievement becomes short lived as you hear an explosion coming from the direction your house is in, the sky has been littered with plumes of smoke everywhere, fighter jets screaming overhead and even more explosions fill your hears with sound leaving one thought to come to your head "Mum and dad".
You panic as you break into a sprint across the rooftops, your panting leaving mist in the air with every breath, heart rate increasing with every second, you look down on the streets to see robots of white and purple invading the city shooting everything on site, not stopping your momentum you also see these same robots reduced to nothing but a pile of scrap and broken wires but with no sign of what did it.
Fires light the streets, screams of an unknown terror followed by gunfire filled the alleys of London, the rain kept coming down with no sign of slowing down slamming away at the brittle path below you. Yet you remained focused not stopping to your own thoughts or any other obstacle in your path, despite being a powerless kid your will to keep moving was commendable.
"You don't have time to stop" you assure yourself as you are just a few blocks away from your house, arriving at the site of a torn down building dread fills your thoughts, with pure instinct kicking in you bust down the door calling out to your parents but there's no response, making your way around the house there is no sign of them until you walk down to the workshop where you find them, buried in rubble, clinging to life by the skin of their teeth, consumed by fear they whimper. Tears come to your eyes as you cant stand to look at the position they are in.
Y/N: "Mum... Dad..." you manage to get out with you balling your eyes out, She looks up at you.
Mom: "Y/N... is that you?" she barely gets the words out as she wipes away the tears on your cheek.
Y/N: "I'm here Mum, what can I do?" as you try to pry them free from the debris, but to no avail it doesn't budge, You hear a whimper from your father.
Dad: "Son, you have to get out of here, keep the Z drive safe, find a way to get to Brigitte, you will be safe with her" you can do nothing but stand there in disbelief.
Y/N: "But I need to save you guys, I can get you out of here" you exclaim with tears still filling your eyes as you begin tugging at the boulders of rubble surrounding them knowing fully well you are powerless in this situation.
Dad: "Please save yourself, you are more than enough to make a change in the world, find somewhere to run and don't stop running" He says coughing with the smoke filling his lungs, before you could respond a blue blur blinks past, a full figure of this character revealed in the entry to the workshop.
???: "Let me get you to a safe place love, take my hand" you hear the figure say as you turn back to your parents.
Mom: "My little Y/N, don't let anyone discredit your work, always look to turn the tides and prove them wrong" The final words your mother manages to get out before passing out and head collapsing to the floor from blood loss.
Dad: "Now go Y/N, we will always be proud of you" your father says as the building starts to collapse, with tears flooding your eyes the figure from behind you grabs your arm and pulls you out of the stairwell as the entrance to the workshop collapses, eyes full of disbelief you pull at the chunks of concrete to try and get back to them, hands now grazed and bleeding from the concrete rubble from your worthless efforts.
You hear footsteps approach behind you.
???: "I'm sorry for your loss love, but we need to get you away from here, Ill take you to my comrades" It comes to your attention that this figure is no ordinary soldier but rather an agent of Overwatch, Tracer was her name, you never noticed with your mind in a panic, eyes still full of tears, looking back at the rubble that once was your home then back at her, one thought came to your mind recalling what your father said as you walked with Tracer
Y/N: "I will make you guys proud, Mum and Dad".
Still being in a devastated state by, Tracer gets you in contact with her team who are in the middle of their response to the invasion of Null sector, that's what they were referred to as, "I need to find Brigitte" You blurt out in a panic, a man in a suit of steel then turns to you.
Man in armor: "You know Brigitte? You must be that kid she would spend all the time with back at Gibraltar" Tracer then chimes in
Tracer: "Brigitte is with her family in Sweden, well all of her family but this one" she points to a short man in the distance with a long blonde beard and a metal claw for an arm. She goes on to explain "That's Torbjörn, her father and well known builder of the iron clad family" You stand there in awe of even their presence in London.
Y/N: "What do you want me to do?" you question as they get ready to move, the man in the steel armor looks at you.
Reinhardt: "I am Reinhardt by the way, as for what you can do? We will have you patched up by Dr Ziegler here and send you to Gibraltar while we clean up here" You then nod and thank Reinhardt as Dr Ziegler turns to you.
Mercy: "Lets get you patched up shall we? Also you can call me Mercy".
Y/N: You nod and ask "Do you know when I will be able to talk to Brigitte?" She sighs in response.
Mercy: "Probably not for a while, Brigitte is in training to become an Overwatch agent like her godfather Reinhardt over there, but you two will meet again eventually" You then think to yourself as she finishes patching you up.
Y/N: "I wonder if she will even remember me" Tracer chiming in and reassuring your thoughts.
Tracer: "Don't worry too much love, Brigitte is busy but I'm sure you two will find time to talk once this is all over" With that note she signals Reinhardt, Torbjörn and Mercy to head out.
You stand there waving them off as a dropship takes you out of the city, the last thoughts you have before passing out of exhaustion are of gazing down at what was once your home, now turned into a battleground, but you will return, coming back stronger than ever.
Arriving at Gibraltar you don't recognize it at all, but you have memories deep down that arise to the surface of what it used to be.
Winston: "You must be the kid Tracer was telling me about" You turn around to see a big gorilla "I am Winston, we've met before but its been a hot minute, give or take a couple years" He says, you have vague memories of him but the recognition is there. "Anyways, to get to your room, head down this hall and its on the left at the very end" He says joyfully, You turn to him.
Y/N: "Thank you Winston, it means a lot" you say, he waves you off with a smile as you make your way down the hall, all these doors labelled with the names of Overwatch agents until you reach the end of the hall and notice a door with "Brigitte" on it but you played it off for now, entering your room there's a single bed with a window, mini fridge, air conditioner and even a fully laid out kitchen. You say to yourself "I wish i could've done more" as you lay down on your bed, eyes aimed straight at the roof thinking about what the future possibly holds for you.
That's it for the first chapter despite it being a tiny bit rushed, I hope I did a good enough job to explain Y/N's past and leave out for speculation his potential motivations to change outcomes of battles and fates in the future, This being his introduction to Overwatch and the process of becoming an Overwatch agent. Next chapter is a time skip and should be explaining more around what he has been up to during the time skip between now (The Past) and the recall made by Winston (Takes place after the events of Null sector attack on Paris). Please leave any speculations, criticisms and motivation in the comments and I'll be sure to look at them :P
<3