Fire and Ice: an Overwatch Story

Prologue

Days had stretched into what felt like years and ran from me in just halves of milliseconds. After nine years of hibernation, time had continued to go on without me. I was stuck in a time warp that no one else could connect with. Winston tried his best to acclimate me to the new world I was thrown into, but nothing ever seemed right to me. Technology had advanced beyond what I was used to, but wasn't much of an issue for me. I was actually quite pleased with the innovations society had made while I was asleep. I felt like the years of data I had collected during my hibernation period could contribute to the small bit of positivity we had left. To be frank, there wasn't much good in the world. The Omnics were close to taking over and chaos was the new normal. With Overwatch being outlawed, crime ran rampant across the globe. The world had changed completely without me, and I did not know how I was going to handle it.

The morning I awoke from hibernation was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. I was apart of a research group that branched from Overwatch. I worked for the organization, but did not have much contact with the heroes themselves. I was stationed in Antarctica to study climate phenomena. In order to save resources, my team agreed to go into a hibernation-like state for a few months during a snow storm. We would regain consciousness and return to work like normal once the majority of the storm had passed. I was the first to wake up. Soon after, I learned that the system that maintained our hibernation had malfunctioned and left us asleep for not months, but nine years. I immediately ran to check on my team in their hibernation capsules, but I soon discovered that I was the only survivor. No one from the outside world had knowledge of our mission or whereabouts. I was alone in Antarctica, surrounded by the corpses of my research team.

My mind was unable to process the events that I had just experienced. Nothing felt real. I wanted to leap out of my body and just go back to what I knew as normalcy. I completely rejected reality and became unable to function. My body flew into panic and I blacked out. All I remember from then was the feeling of utter fear and uncertainty. With the help of my robot assistant, Snowball, I was eventually able to get in contact with Winston, an old friend of mine.

Winston was a gorilla scientist. Not a scientist who studied gorillas, but an accomplished scientist who happened to be a gorilla. Winston was one of the smartest and kindest people I knew. He was large in stature with a deep and comforting voice. He was selfless, determined, and incredibly intelligent. He invented many wonders that no being had even fathomed before. An example would be the Chronal Accelerator he created especially for Tracer.

Tracer was a bundle of light and joy. She was lean with long legs and a bright smile, wore goggles, and spiked her hair upwards. She also had the power to manipulate time. When she "blinks," she can jump a few seconds ahead of herself or rewind back. With Winston's Chronal Accelerator, she gained the ability to control her blinking. Before this, she was lost in time, unable to remain contact with the world. It took Winston weeks to finalize the invention that would anchor Tracer to the present. He came up with a blue orb of light that sits in a chest shield. When Winston called on all agents of Overwatch to save the world, Tracer rejoined to use her power for good.

Winston and Tracer took me in. They gave me a bed and a roof to reside under safely. Though I was extremely grateful, I was aware of the burden I must have placed on their shoulders. For weeks, I dealt with violent panic attacks throughout the night. I rarely got any sleep. The faces of my dead research team overfilled my nightmares every time I tried to rest. I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, confused as to where I was and how I got there. The episodes grew so intense that Winston brought a sleeping bag in my room and waited to comfort me when needed. He slept on the floor for a month. Having Winston at my side to relieve my fear and confusion greatly healed my open wounds. I would wake up, terrified, and he would rush to my side and remind me of reality. Then, he would hold me until I fell back asleep. Every morning, Tracer would wait in the kitchen for me and brew a pot of coffee. We would sit and talk through my thoughts until the pot was empty. Eventually, the attacks stopped altogether, and only appeared on very rare occasions. I was finally able to function with stability.

Though my anxiety was somewhat under control, feeling apart of this world was still a struggle. I barely recognized my surroundings and the people in them. Major cities were destroyed, political propaganda plastered the streets, and the family I had once looked up to disbanded. All Overwatch activity had been outlawed, and majority of the heroes went into hiding. The only remaining members were Winston and Tracer, desperately trying to bring the team of heroes back together in order to protect the people of the world. I gladly joined their team. I was happy to repay them for all that they had done for me and to also help those in need. I began to prepare myself for when battle came. I developed a blaster that freezes anything in its range. I keep Snowball, who also has a few tricks up his sleeve, in my pack at all times. I have the ability to manipulate chemical-made ice and snow to my will. I wasn't the strongest hero, but I sure was one of the smartest.

Winston and Tracer prepared me for battle. Winston constructed obstacle courses that required mental and physical strength. They mirrored major battle sites such as Nepal, Havana, and Numbani. Tracer would coach me through each course while I fought AIs. The beginning was rough, but I finally built up muscle and stamina after a few weeks. We didn't plan to take on huge crimes considering that we only had the three of us, but we were determined to do what we could in order to make the world a better place. We started with petty crimes, such as stopping the convenience store thief or halting a mugging in the park. But soon, we heard about a couple of Junkers involved in a warehouse robbery in Busan.