Ghosts of the Past

Chapter 1

Bullets raced just over Morrison before drilling into the wall, exactly where his head had been a second earlier. At superhuman speed, the commander threw himself under a table, jumped back up and whipped out his handgun. He shot two bullets in the attacker's torso, knocking him to the floor.

Jack Morrison was a tall man with the tough, military build. He had salt and pepper hair and his eyes were of a beautiful light blue. He was dressed in the Overwatch uniform, the same color as his eyes. His badge showed that he was commander-in-chief of the organization.

He'd started the day with the normal routine: he'd done his morning exercises and eaten breakfast, before having a look at the first daily news briefs.

That's when someone had fired a rocket at his desk.

The armored window and Morrison's ultra-rapid reflexes—accelerated by his genetic modifications —had saved his life. The building was clearly under attack; all communications had been cut off.

How was this possible? Morrison was at Overwatch's headquarters in Switzerland, one of the highest security buildings in the world, in one of the safest regions on the planet.

But he'd seen too many unbelievable things in his life, nothing could shock him now. He took out his handgun and started to inch cautiously towards the armory, just before being attacked by the assailant, whoever he was.

Morrison had experience in combat fighting for decades. He fired a few shots, then dove under cover to dodge the bullets from the attacker he'd shot down. Or at least, he thought he'd shot him down, but then he saw him getting up again. Under his black tunic, behind the Morrison's bullet holes, he saw his bullet-proof vest.

"Damn it!" Morrison cursed.

His handgun wasn't powerful enough to break through the protection, and his two attackers wore helmets with visors. If he had his normal equipment, Jack could pick them off in a matter of seconds. But he couldn't carry an assault rifle on him 24/7.

Morrison dove to the ground, dodging a new swarm of bullets coming at him. These people were good, he had to give it to them. If it weren't for his superhuman reflexes, Morrison would have been dead already.

He surged up and sprinted towards them. Morrison dodged a crossfire bullet before pounding his fist right into one of the attacker's heads. He nailed him hard and the shooter staggered backwards.

Morrison heard a noise behind him. He responded half a second too late and took a violent blow to the shoulder. The other had attacker had slipped behind him and knocked him down, sending him flying a few meters

Then Morrison heard a shout. "Commander! Take this!"

He knew that voice, it was Lieutenant Anong Konda on the building's security forces. Morrison turned and saw an assault rifle thrown at him.

He grabbed the weapon in mid-air and shifted over as his two opponents started shooting at him again. Morrison fired a rapid succession of bullets into the assailant's torsos, killing them instantly.

Lieutenant Anong, ran over. Originally from Thailand, she was a tall woman with a caring face, brown eyes and long black hair. She wore the Overwatch officer gear: a blue uniform, a lightweight bullet-proof armor, handgun and the automatic rifle that she'd thrown to Morrison.

"Thanks, Lieutenant," said Morrison. "What's your report on the situation?"

"A few minutes ago," Anong started, "all the detection and communication systems shut down. Then these guys came at us from all sides. Not too many of them but they're well-trained and they've got a highly organized attack strategy. They knew exactly where to hit."