In comparison to your original journey to Talon, this dropship ride was far more pleasant. Lúcio was kind and talkative, and he also acted incredibly amiably considering he had been forced to cancel the rest of his US tour because of you. Olivia also appeared to enjoy conversing with the DJ, although you were finding it increasingly difficult to remember to call her 'Sombra' in front of other people.
"Alright...I've got to ask, that night in Utopaea. Why were you there?" you questioned, still not entirely sure of Lúcio's motives.
The DJ chuckled knowingly, clearly waiting for you to ask that.
"Well, I'm no fan of Vishkar. When they 'expand', innocent lives get crushed underneath 'em. I was hoping to find something...anything incriminating to stop them in their tracks" he explained.
If what you had heard about him was true, then the Vishkar Corporation had done some horrible things to his home, including using the people there as cheap labour. It was no wonder he wanted to strike back.
"You broke into a high-tech facility with the hope that you might find something. That's brave...or stupid" Olivia commented.
You had expected Lúcio to retaliate somehow, maybe get angry, but the DJ simply laughed.
"You can talk, breaking in for an assassination. Look, it isn't just hope, I know that Vishkar are dirty, and your Talon mission proved that. Thanks to you, I know that Vishkar are trading weaponized omnics with a terrorist organisation. Knowing what's happening is half the battle" he answered, causing you to nod in understanding.
"Yeah, well...unfortunately we've still got the other half of that battle ahead of us, and I reckon we haven't seen the worst of it yet. Do you think Overwatch will help us?" you asked, watching a look of uncertainty appear on Lúcio's face.
That was hardly a promising sign.
"Hard to say, they'll want to...but Overwatch isn't in a good place right now. The recall protocol came into action just under a year ago, but even now we're understaffed. Half of our old members refuse to return, and those who are here aren't exactly at their best. Don't expect a large base when you arrive...we're still fighting, but only barely" the DJ replied, causing you to let out a deep sigh.
After everything you had sacrificed just to meet these people, they had better be willing to help. If Overwatch weren't willing to aid you, then you weren't exactly sure where else you could turn.
"Attention. Five minutes to destination. Advise strapping in and bracing for landing" Athena, an artificial intelligence that served Overwatch, stated.
You did as the AI instructed, sitting back and mentally preparing yourself for the path ahead. Persuading the members of Overwatch probably wasn't going to be easy, but you had to try.
The shuttle landed down roughly, scuffing the ground as it reached a halt. The engines made a whirring sound as they cycled down, and the rear doors opened outwards, revealing daylight. At least Overwatch didn't operate from a dark underground base like Talon.
Lúcio led the way, skating down the boarding ramp and anxiously glancing around. You and Olivia followed closely behind, frowning curiously at the lack of people. Even if the Overwatch leaders didn't want to welcome you personally, there should have been some form of landing staff there to see to the shuttle.
"Lúcio? What are you doing here? I thought you were on tour..." a voice called, and you swiftly turned to see the source.
With a bemused look, you watched as a cloaked older woman with an eyepatch strolled towards you. You were sure you recognised her from one of Talon's files but couldn't for the life of you remember a name.
"I got side-tracked, amiga. Good to see you again, Ana...been too long" Lúcio responded, giving the woman a friendly smile.
At the mention of her first name, you suddenly realised who she was. Captain Ana Amari, the one-eyed sniper who used to be one of the leading members of Overwatch. It was rumoured that her eye had been shot out by Widowmaker, but you'd never quite been trusted enough by Talon to gain access to that file.
"Indeed, it has. Who are your new friends? I do not recognise them..." Ana questioned, casually dragging a large power cable and plugging it into the shuttle.
She tapped a few buttons, activating the shuttle's activating camouflage and setting it to run from the mains.
"Well...uh, they're actually the reason I'm here. Is Winston about?" the DJ replied.
You and Olivia simply remained silent, letting Lúcio take the lead. He knew these people; he knew what to say.
"Yes...he's working on something in his lab...modifications for the chronal accelerator I believe. What exactly is going on, Lúcio? Who are these two?" Ana explained, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
You had not even told her you were former-Talon yet and she was already dubious, this did not bode well.
"I'll tell you everything, Ana, I promise. But I need you to call a meeting. Gather any leaders who are on site, they're gonna want to speak to my new...friends" Lúcio replied.
Ana gave him a sceptical look, but ultimately nodded her head, slowly walking back inside and gesturing for you to follow.
Ten minutes passed, and you found yourself sat in a darkened chamber which looked very reminiscent of an interrogation room. The pleasant sunny vistas of outdoors were gone, and now you might as well have been at Talon with your surroundings. You sat beside Olivia, both of you handcuffed to your metal chairs as a 'precaution'. Neither of you had resisted, if you wanted to gain Overwatch's trust then you would have to adhere to their rules.
As you grew bored of waiting, the door suddenly opened, and a tall man with a red visor stomped in, closely followed by Ana. The man stared at you and Olivia for a moment, his silence beginning to scare you a little.
"Jack...you can take the visor off. We're hardly in a battlefield..." Ana commented with a soft voice, causing the man to growl a little.
"Ugh...fine..." he replied.
With a sigh, he removed the visor, placing it on a nearby desk and revealing his face. A long and ugly scar, not too dissimilar from your own, had carved its way through his cheek, narrowly missing his eye. Grey hair covered his head, and he had the look of a grizzled war veteran. But all of that faded in comparison to Olivia's face. She wore a grin, as if she recognised the man, and in fact she did.
"Jack Morrison...hah...you're supposed to be dead... 'Strike Commander'" she commented with a chuckle, causing the man to slam his fist against the table in an unamused manner.
"I'm not a strike commander anymore...and I'm not the one being interrogated here. Lúcio seems to trust you, but I don't...I want names and information, now" Jack responded with a glare.
"Go easy on them...they came here by choice, remember. They're not prisoners" a third voice called from the hallway.
And then, you watched in disbelief as a talking gorilla walked into the room with a friendly expression. You turned to Olivia with a look of shock, but her casual attitude indicated that she had seen all of this before.
"My name is Winston, friends, I'm the chief scientist here. Care to tell us your names?" the gorilla questioned in a polite manner.
For a moment, you found yourself tongue-tied, but fortunately Olivia answered the question for you.
"This is Y/N L/N...and you can call me Sombra. We're hoping to help you...amigos" she answered, even putting on a sweet smile.
You could tell it was fake, but her own polite attitude seemed to fool the Overwatch leaders.
"Wait, Sombra? As in the notorious hacker, Sombra? That's you?" Ana questioned, gasping as Olivia casually nodded her head.
"Hm...Zarya is going to regret refusing the recall now...she's hunting you" Winston explained, referring to a certain pink-haired Russian weightlifter who you knew only by reputation.
It was said that she could lift cars with ease, and that grizzly bears were afraid of her, but surely those were just rumours.
"Flattered" Olivia commented with an uninterested look.
You could not help but smile at her complete lack of reaction at the notion that someone was hunting her. Olivia knew that no-one could track her successfully, so really, she had nothing to worry about.
"And what about you, Y/N? You don't look like the hacking type" Jack questioned, turning all attention towards you.
You coughed a little, sitting up in your chair.
"Oh, I'm not...I could never do what Sombra does. I'm a soldier...or I was. Retired now" you replied.
"Retired? At your age? Why's that then? Dishonourable discharge perhaps" Jack theorised, not relenting in his constant judgment of you.
"Nope...let's just say the commanders and I had...creative differences" you answered.
You did not fancy going through your whole life story with people you hardly knew, especially Miami.
"Very well...why have the two of you come forwards now?" Winston asked curiously.
You and Olivia shared a glance, and she nodded at you, allowing you to explain.
"We're former members of Talon...but each of us only joined to try and take them down. Our covers got blown, and we're here because we need help. Talon has an army of over fifty thousand armed omnics, we don't know their full plan, but it can't be good. We want to help put an end to them" you explained in full honesty, feeling a weight rise from your shoulders as you finally told your full story aloud.
Ana glanced at Winston with a look of surprise, while Jack simply lowered his head, clearly not wanting to treat with even former-Talon.
"I...hm...if what you say is true, then we're all in grave danger. Do you have any evidence of all this?" Winston queried, leading onto the question that you had been dreading.
There was no evidence, there was never any evidence, and it was at this point that you had always lost the attention of interrogators in the past. You just had to pray that Overwatch were different.
"No, we don't. There was a drive, Lúcio can confirm that...but in order to maintain our cover in Talon we had to give it up. They're too skilled to leave behind evidence" you stated, causing Jack to shake his head with a grim chuckle.
"And now your cover's been blown anyway, isn't that convenient?" he remarked with a gruff voice.
Winston and Ana remained silent, clearly uncertain of whether to trust you or not. They were not as open with their distrust as Jack, but they didn't necessarily disagree with him. You were about to pipe up and deny Jack's condemnations, but before you could, someone else did instead.
"Hey...pendejo...we have risked our lives a hundred times over to get here. Y/N has sacrificed more than you could ever know for this, and the things we've done to fight Talon will haunt us both for a long time. Take our information or leave it...but don't you dare call us liars" Olivia responded loudly, clearly having had enough of Jack's judgement.
You gave her a surprised but impressed look, while Winston and Ana mostly just appeared shocked. Jack took a deep sigh, backing away and letting his colleagues take the lead.
"We...appreciate everything that you've done, and believe me, we know that Talon are a threat to us all. I understand you were there in Antarctica...that was one of our first tastes of Talon's wrath" Ana stated.
You thought back to what you had seen there; a Bastion unit holding off waves of Talon troops, a cowboy with a hell of a punch and a Chinese girl wrapped in thick clothes.
"Why were you there? What was Overwatch doing so far south?" you questioned, purely out of curiosity.
That was the moment you had lost your cover in Talon, you wanted to know if it had been worth it.
"One of our members, an ecologist called Mei-Ling Zhou, was trapped there because of an issue with her cryogenic pod. She was intending to find us herself, but her robot...Snowball I think its name is, managed to fix the facility's communications. We retrieved her and she is now working in a secure facility elsewhere" Winston replied, causing you to roll your eyes.
"The facility had comms? I wish I'd have known that; I spent a day trying to get a crappy exploration helicopter to work. I had to shovel tonnes of snow out of that thing" you muttered under your breath, causing Olivia to smirk beside you.
"This conversation is getting off-topic. I'm sure you both have good intentions, you wouldn't have come here otherwise, but your argument is weak at best. You cannot provide us with the location of Talon's base because you do not know it, and you have no proof of their plans. And since Lúcio is the only one who has vouched for you, I'm afraid we cannot help you" Ana interrupted, trying to act as politely as possible as she spoke.
But no matter how softly she delivered her decision, it didn't change the fact that Overwatch were basically just giving you the middle finger.
"The DJ ain't the only one vouching for 'em...I do too" a voice suddenly called from outside, speaking with a familiar Western drawl.
You waited in anticipation as the metal clank of spurs approached and couldn't help but smile as a cowboy strolled casually into the interrogation room.
"Jesse McCree...it's been a while, good to see you" you greeted, genuinely happy to see a friendly face.
McCree nodded his head, tipping his hat towards you and Olivia.
"Likewise, Y/N. Ma'am. That's a nasty scar on your face, Y/N...I didn't do that, did I?" the cowboy questioned, causing you to shake your head.
"Nah...your punch barely dented...this was from a Talon assassin" you answered, watching McCree shake his head with a grin at that comment.
"Enough of this...if you choose to vouch for these two, then that's your choice. We'll give them shelter and bring them up to speed...but if they stab us in the back, it's on your head" Jack remarked, staring at McCree for a moment before walking swiftly out of the room.
"Noted" Jesse remarked, giving Jack the briefest of middle fingers before turning back towards you.
"So...we can stay? You're not gonna kick us out?" you asked, looking up expectantly.
Hopefully, McCree's support counted for something.
"You can stay," Winston repeated, "but do not expect comfortable beds and five-star service, I am afraid. We're still very much at a weak point, right now. I'll assign you a shared dormitory on the east side of the island, but don't expect it to be much better than a motel room right now".
You gave a knowing smile.
"Well...Sombra and I are used to staying in motels" you remarked, sharing a smirk with Olivia.
Ana and Winston simply stood there, not at all picking up on what you were implying.
"In that case...welcome to Overwatch...or what's left of it" Winston answered, moving over, and breaking your handcuffs without an iota of effort.
You stood up with a sigh, rubbing the red marks that the handcuffs had left around your wrists before taking a deep breath. At long last, you weren't alone in this fight...
Brief Summary – Arriving at the run-down Overwatch headquarters, you quickly find yourselves in an interrogation room, having to persuade the 'heroes' that you are not their enemies. Thanks to the support of Lúcio and McCree, you are allowed to stay, and are assigned a shared room.