(Attention readers, some changes were made to the prologue to fit the actual lore of Overwatch. the Omnic crisis ended 30 years ago. Overwatch disbanded 5 years ago. Tracer and Mercy were not involved in the Omnic crisis as they were too young. Jesse Mcree was also not part of the strike team in the Omnic crisis. They all joined after the war ended by some years) Changes were made 28 Nov 2023
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My dearest Fareeha,
Every mother hopes for a better world for her daughter. I was willing to fight and die for that cause. I taught you that there is nothing more important than protecting the ones you love. You grew up surrounded by heroes. They filled your head with stories of adventure and dreams of glory. One day, you wanted to join them. But this was not the life I wanted for you. I never told you of the weight I carry from all those I've killed to keep everyone safe. I always did what was asked of me. Until one day, I could not take the life I needed to. I hesitated and everything changed. The people whom I was supposed to protect died and I was left behind gravely wounded. The world believed I was dead. I thought perhaps that was for the best. I've lost so much in my life. I've said goodbye to so many friends. I've buried the ones closest to me. But after all that I have lost, I know that there are still people who need to be protected. So, I cannot stop fighting, not yet. Not when there are people still waiting for me. One day, I hope you will understand why I was not always there.
Your mother, Ana
Ana Amari is one of the founding members of Overwatch and regarded as one of the world's deadliest snipers. She is as old as Reinhardt. She has a high kill count and is able to stay still for hours waiting for the perfect shot. She inspired confidence and loyalty in her colleagues and bore the tattoo of an Eye of Horus as a symbol of protection. Likewise, her callsign in the Egyptian military during the Omnic Crisis before Overwatch was Horus. She is regarded as a hero by the Egyptian people. Ever since she was gravely wounded and lost her cybernetic eye, she has dawned an eye patch and grown accustomed to it, even though procedures to repair her cybernetic eye exist. She continues to experience phantom pain from the eye injury and it serves as a reminder of the lives she failed to protect.
Ana was back in Egypt for a while now and wrote letters to her daughter explaining her absence. However, she never received a response. She has since been working again as a sniper but in the shadows as a masked vigilante in Cairo known as Shrike. She was wanted for espionage, assault, and theft. In the eyes of the government, she is a vigilante but in the eyes of the people, Shrike was a hero. She was able to gather intel that Talon had a base in Egypt and was able to sabotage multiple operations. She was chasing down a Talon operative by the name of Abdul Hakim. He is thought to have direct contact with Reaper, which Ana hopes to exploit.
It is the early hours of morning before sunrise. The sky is black as night and she is scouting one of Hakim's palaces with the scope of her rifle when a figure that is trying to infiltrate the palace caught her attention. It was a man of average build and white hair wearing a red visor covering their face and a blue and white jacket with the number 76 on the back. He had a rifle strapped to his back along with a pistol holstered onto his dark gray pants.
"And here I thought I was the only ghost alive. What are you doing here Jack?" she spoke out loud to herself as she saw Jack Morrison.
Jack, also known as Soldier 76, is the genetically enhanced combatant and the commander of the Overwatch strike team. He, alongside Gabriel Reyes, joined Overwatch after being in the US Military soldier enhancement program. Amongst his greatest contribution was convincing Doctor Mina Liao in joining Overwatch research and creating Echo. After the Omnic crisis, the world turned on Overwatch and Jack was at the front end facing all the hate. Soon, Talon started targeting Overwatch and blew up the Rome facility, which Jack was in. He was presumed dead, though they never found a body and did not expect to find one as he was close to the source of the explosion when it went off. Without Jack's leadership Overwatch collapsed and it got disbanded by the United Nations.
Ana fired a shot from her silenced sniper rifle at Jack's feet to stop him from interfering with her operation. He immediately jumped sideways and took cover behind a wall. Ana fired another shot away from the gate to get him to realize the origin of the shot. When he took a peek to investigate, she was waving a piece of cloth in the air to call him over.
She was staying behind a broken piece of wall behind the cliff. Jack (Soldier) approached the area slowly and in stealth to not reveal his position to any guards in the palace. When he got close to Ana, he lowered his guard and walked over. Given the amount of canned food and food wrappers present, it's safe to assume she has been scouting this palace for a few days. Ana was still wearing her mask but it seems that Jack has recognized her.
"For a second there I was worried you really were going to kill me" stated Soldier as he slumped down on a small wooden stool.
"Maybe I should have, after what you were about to pull off. I had this place staked out for days. You were this close to ruining everything I've worked for. You'd better have a good reason" Replied Ana.
Soldier took his visor off revealing his face. He had a scar across his face from his forehead to his right cheek.
"I was looking for you. I thought you were dead, Ana. When I saw the news about this new vigilante Shrike, I knew it was you. When I arrived in Egypt, I did my own investigation about Talon and Abdul Hakim"
"the world thought you were dead too. I saw the news reports. But I knew you were so hardheaded you wouldn't know how to die. All the same, you're lucky to be alive."
"My old boss used to say there's no such thing as luck. Just good genetics"
"Sounds like a jerk" scoffed Ana.
"Kind of was"
"This is my war Ana. I can't stop. Have you given it up? or else you'd have told me you were still alive. But then why would you be here outside this palace?"
"You don't know what I went through, Jack. I failed everyone that day. I decided it would be better if I was just a ghost. I realized even a ghost can protect those who need it." She sighed and continued "I don't care about your war, but I do care about you. You need me Jack. You need someone to watch your back"
"And here I thought I was the one supposed to be recruiting you" Replied Soldier with a smirk on his face. "So, would you care to explain to me how another sniper beat you to the trigger years ago?"
"First of all, they didn't" she took a short pause remembering that day before removing her mask and continuing "On our Rescue mission in Poland to rescue hostages from a Talon base, we were ambushed in our rendezvous point. It's like they knew our every move. We must have had a mole. So many of our agents were being shot. Civilians dying. They even knew where I was. They engaged me and I started changing positions. You gave me an order that day to disengage but I had the upper hand in that fight. The sniper took a shot at me too early and missed thereby revealing their position. It was tough, maybe the toughest shot I ever took, but I landed a hit onto their helmet, and it broke, revealing their face"
"Was it someone you knew?"
"Someone I failed to protect Jack. It was Amelie Lacroix"
"Lacroix? I do remember us on a mission protecting one of the Overwatch heads; Gerard Lacroix. His wife was kidnapped long before that though. That mission failed as well as he was assassinated. "
"Right. In Poland, Amelie was the sniper shooting us. We thought she died but she must have been the one who killed Gerard. Talon must have brainwashed her to kill her own husband. I froze at that moment having that thought. I was a fool. I hesitated. And I faced the repercussions" Said Ana as she pointed to her eye patch.
"How did you survive?" asked Soldier.
"I woke up in a hospital. Not sure how I got there. I tapped into our comms and listened in. I accepted that the Ana that Overwatch knew died but soon I felt the world calling on me again but I swore to not put others in danger again. So I worked alone from the shadows keeping those I care deeply about safe."
Ana looked through her scope to scout the palace but there was no activity. She turned back to Jack.
"Do you hold Reye's death over your conscience Jack?" asked Ana in a caring tone.
"I grew up with him and we enlisted in the US military together. We both joined the Soldier Enhancement Program and were the top of our squads. We decided to join Overwatch. Leadership fell to Reyes at first but overtime it fell to me as he was too rogue and I brought out the best in people and helped mold overwatch into a cohesive force. I told Reyes they made the wrong choice and that he should be the commander, though he rejected the idea. Soon he became the commander of Blackwatch and started undergoing further experiments to enhance his abilities. I spent most of the time defending his questionable actions and experiments but the tension between us only grew. With multiple failed missions, he and I got into a heated argument about my by the book approach and how it is not working anymore. Ultimately, our internal conflicts made us blind to the moles within Overwatch and it led to the Rome facility incident. I barely survived that explosion. It should have been him that survived. He might have been able to prevent Overwatch's collapse. Better yet, if he was the commander in the first place we would not even be in this mess. I know you wanted him to be commander Ana. Why didn't you speak then?"
"We all have our regrets Jack. Not speaking up is not one of mine" She said as she smiled and looked back into her scope while continuing "Just tell me one thing, what are you going to do when all this fighting is over?"
"Our war is never over. I hunt those who sought to bring Overwatch down. Call me a vigilante, the truth is I'm just a soldier"
"This is revenge Jack and will only get you killed. But you will not die. Not while I have my eye on you."
As the call to the morning prayer from the nearby mosque started. Jack pulled a photo from his pocket. It was a photo of Reyes, Ana and himself. He felt at peace looking at this photo as the prayer came to an end. Ana noticed the smile on his face. She put her mask back on and so did he, but not before tucking the photo back into his pocket. He stared at the sky as it started turning blue.
"Eyes open Jack we've got movement" Ana said as she was scoping the palace when Abdul Hakim made an appearance inside.
"It's been a while since we worked together but it still feels like it was yesterday" Soldier said with a smile behind his mask as he picked up a comm from Ana's backpack and put it inside his ear.
"Remember, we need him alive. We need intel" Reiterated Ana on the comms.
Soldier ran down the cliff quickly and stealthy. Anyone would be amazed at his agility for his age, which is mid-fifties. It's probably due to his genetic enhancement but still commendable. He quickly took down a guard at the gate while Ana took the other one out with her sniper. He tried to push open the large wooden gate but it was obviously locked. He sighed as he realized he would have to climb over the wall. He took a deep breath and was about to vault the wall before overhearing the comms from the guard he took out.
"No excuses for your sake, hope Sombra can get something useful out of this. Helix will have a weakness. They won't know what's coming. Also, Any progress on our ghost?... Well, keep at it. Once you set a trap, you never know what will fall into it" said a familiar voice on the comms.
"What is it? Why did you stop?" Said Anna over the comms
"That voice... It's not possible. Ana, Reyes is here" replied Soldier.
Ana was taken by surprise at what she heard but immediately realized what's about to happen. This situation feels too familiar to her. To be distracted from the main mission by the past.
"Jack no. Focus on the mission!"
He ignored her and vaulted over the wall. Ana quickly changed her position to get closer to provide better cover. She was able to make her way to one of the guard towers to have a good sniping position. She took out the other guards on the nearby towers before looking into the square where Soldier was. There were multiple bodies on the ground as he was fighting all of them. They have lost the element of stealth and are now in open fire. She was providing support and taking out enemies all over the square.
"Jack, we need to retreat!"
Soldier ignored as he ran alongside the wall as he fired his helix rockets, which are on his rifle as a secondary attachment. He fired them at the entrance to a guard hut. The entrance collapsed, caving in on the guards trying to come out. He activated his Tactical Visor, which produces a hologram in front of his eyes that helps him target enemies. He fired at all enemies ahead of him as he pushed through to the center where he left one alive. He hit them with the end of his rifle, dropping them to the floor and disarming them.
"Where is he?" said Soldier to the disarmed guard.
The guard did not understand who did Soldier refer to and before he even asked again, a black mist was behind him forming the shape of a man. Reaper appeared and fired a shot directly at his back. Soldier felt the bullet going through. He knows that even with his enhanced healing abilities he would not be able to survive this close range shot from a shotgun. He fell to the ground holding on to his side trying to keep the blood from pooling out of his body with no success.
"Right here, Jack... Always rushing in. I know your every move before you even think it. Always have. Always will. Ugghhh" Reaper said but was interrupted by a sniper bullet grazing the side of his neck.
Ana immediately pulled out a few biotic rounds, yellow absorbable rounds that contain healing capabilities, and fired them at Soldier. She then took out her nano gun, which is made of nano particles that enhance a person's abilities and numb any pain. She fired it at Soldier.
"Get in their Jack!" Screamed Ana out loud as she removed her helmet.
Soldier immediately felt relief from the pain and a surge of energy rushed through his body. He launched himself forward off the ground and tackled Reaper. Reaper was taken by surprise as he was receiving multiple fists and blows from Soldier. Ana couldn't get a clear shot at Reaper.
"Idiot, you're always in the way!" She said out loud as she repositioned herself onto a more open position. As the nano boost's effect wore off, Reaper took the opportunity to punch Soldier at the area of the gunshot wound, dropping him to the ground. Ana fired a shot at Reaper's head that missed by chance as Reaper lifted his wrist to punch Soldier. The shot landed on the metal part of his arm wrist and thereby deflected off. He left Soldier on the ground incapacitated and turned to Ana. Before she was able to fire another shot, he turned to his mist form and reappeared behind her. Taken by surprise, she was only able to move backwards when Reaper was about to throw a punch. She took out her pistol but Reaper quickly disarmed her.
"Hakim's been trying to draw out the one who's been sabotaging our operations. I never expected that it'd be you... A real ghost." Reaper said as he tried to throw a few punches but Ana was constantly deflecting them.
"Not to mention him. Guess we old soldiers are hard to kill. But I should have known. You always took his side" He continued.
Ana took the opportunity as she dodged more of his punches to tackle him from the side with her leg and push him over the ledge she was on. They both fell together and she seized the moment to unmask him midair. Her face was in utter shock as she saw his face when they fell to the ground. She jumped backward at the sight.
"What happened to you?!"
"He did this to me, Ana. They left me to become this thing." Reaper said as he turned to his mist form.
"Reyes... "
"They left you to die. They left me to suffer... Never forget that" Reaper said as his mist form drifted away.
Ana remembered Jack bleeding out and turned back to see him trying to get up. It seems his abilities started kicking in but he still needed support to walk.
"Jack" Ana said trying to think of a way to tell him what she saw.
"I know... I realized it when he shot me" replied Soldier and continued "We need to get moving, it's not safe here".
He held onto his side as he grunted. Anna offered that he leans on her to walk.
"We need to get you patched up. I have a safe house we can go to. You think you can stay alive for me till we reach?" asked Ana sarcastically to which Soldier is only able to grunt as a response.
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special thanks to the artists: AdiosMariachi, Kim Armi X, Einlee