Chapter Text
He finally took the USB stick out the crusty computer and placed it on the table after slotting the cap on, soon walking over to his new device and picked it up...
The initial idea is to shoot it at someone and put them in a 30sec stasis...this would eliminate their mercenary effects on the fight and stop a lot of problems...now it was time to test it out.
The recordings were made if anything were to happen, so he flipped the switch...soon placing the device back down and pointing it towards a can of bonk scout had graciously gifted him.
Soon a laser, similar to snipers laser sight, shot from the designated spot, soon hitting the can and rideshading....something he realised too late
As the light flung from wall to wall, it unknowingly went through the base and by sheer luck, all Windows and external doors were closed during the time of the shot.
All living things, after 30sec, were put into stasis...vanishing into nothingness.
As soon as the team of 9 vanished...there were immediate implications. The most noticeable being All their connections were cut. Sentries de-activated but did not explode, still feeling a connection to the construction PDA. Demos stickies would no longer detonate on press, but also didn't explode on the spot...still felt a connection to the trigger the black Scottish Cyclops held at his gun.
As the Engi opened his eyes, he was surrounded by white...a pure and blinding colour that he was overjoyed he had his goggles...he could imagine if the others were here...and after looking around and seeing specks of blue around the place, his heart dropped...the others where here.
Winston, tracer and mercy had decided to take a day off...a single day to finally catch their breath and maybe take a quick car ride somewhere. So after packing a bag with some snacks, medical necessities and any other miscellaneous things, they all got into a car and headed in a direction.
The HQ had been told and the proper people were put in charge so that in case anything happens, nothing would go majorly off the rails.
And so they headed off into the road and hoped to just chat something up, relax a bit and figure out the next steps.
By the time the car was almost out of fuel and halfway across a desert, the trio had seen a building farther forward.
Not only the building but also a lot of green...
Approaching, the three got out their car and approached the building..soon seeing another similar one a bit farther ahead but ignoring it in favour of checking the closest one.
After having a look around, the trio all agreed to split...saying to meet up at the car when finished.
Each headed off.
Winston had started looking around the building for any sort of entrance with mercy, tracer made a move to have a look around properly, have a look at all the green and find something interesting.
Traced had been blinking from spot to spot, having a look under some leaves while running past others. Soon, she found a moss pile along a wall...one that couldn't be that fluffy without some sort of support...
After approaching and slightly moving some more from the top, she saw a blue sheen...after moving more off properly, a form of a turret was more prominent...with her heart soon to beat out her chest, she kept uncovering more and more.
With two guns connected at the back via an ammo circulation and a rocket launcher from the top, the machine seemed to be offline...but after feeling the back, it still felt warm....how long has it been here?
After a quick second, she figured it was worth taking the back section off and having a look inside.
With two clicks, the back plate fell off and a spiral of ammo was front and centre, the replacement of rockets was also crammed on the top where they presumably would be exchanged.
...heat rose from below her clothes and almost made her faint, so after placing the back on and moving away, she quickly walked off...figuring that it would be better to just ignore it.
Going to mercy and Winston, the two enter the massive wooden structure covered in blue and nod to one another before turning and heading each their own detection.
The windows had been covered by so much and so both had their own methods of making light. Winston with his lights that were included in the leftover armour he had on and mercy with a small torch clipped in her coat pocket.
Mercy had been walking down the hallway, there wasn't much sound apart from the clicking of her shoes and considering the darkness, it wasn't the best condition...she still pulled through and walked forward.
Soon ending up at a row of rooms, and there were small plates on each one...some were covered while others were barely readable.
Quickly taking a cloth, she wiped one down to see a fist...it was only made from 2 colours and after walking to another door and wiping away another to reveal a...rocket? She definitely had to rethink a moment.
This place was inhabited...but the condition of the building was so worn out...maybe they were gone?
Shaking it all off, she carried down the hallway, opting to keep the doors closed in favour of staying blind to whether they had left or not.
After making her way down, a set of double doors ended the hallway and with nowhere to go, she walked over and pushed will all her strength.
The doors were heavy...they seemed to be made from wood so what was making them feel like steel bars?
After a second of pushing with all her strength, she finally got the door to budge open.
Entering, she fell to her knees, heaving...surprised by the strength of the door she started thinking twice about who possibly could have lived here...
Finally regaining her breath, she got up and looked around. The light she held flipped from wall to wall, from a table to a couch to the most crust tv you have ever seen.
As she made eye contact with the device on a stand that was almost as thick as Winston, she placed her hand over her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from laughing.
As she approached it, her laughter faded to one of admiration.
-*omg, people still have these?! Woooow*
She had a proper look at it and then turned around, wondering what else was in the room.
Winston had ended up taking a different route and once he saw the tiled floor slightly toughened to a dirt texture...he had a look at the floor...
There was a semicircle of dirt that was mostly under the tiles, then it went back to normal tiles further on.
After a second of hesitation, Winston opens the door with the dirt, soon entering what looked like a workstation.
A crusty laptop and keyboard lay on the table along with a USB stick and blueprints...some soggy and crumpled while others in surprisingly good quality. with a quick sweep of the entire room, there were shelves on top of shelves that had all sorts of small boxes and plastic bags wrapped around something.
Looking over the table there were a lot of minute things that he could look through for hours...but that USB seemed peculiar to him.
From what remembered, it was an old form of data holding...out of curiosity about what could be on it, he quickly picks it up and pockets it, soon deciding there was nothing else of immediate value in the room and heading down farther into the building.
Ending up at a dead end and white double doors with a bright red cross...he assumes it's medical...even mercy has her own wing so what is to stop the inhabitance here to have the same?
Once he pushed the doors open and walked inside, the smell of alcohol was strong...had No one opened the windows or was it something else?
He didn't want to look around any more than he had anyway so he opted to leave and instead do a round of the base from the outside...
After quickly leaving and heading outside, he then starting to wander around. Soon finding a cabin sticking out the side with wood stacked up against a wall to look like a wall...farther down it began to look like a carpentry workspace.
With woodcutting tools and even containers filled with nails and even a canister against a wall that had also held the shelves of small bits and bobs. Sloshing around the canister, he found it was full and with the form of the canister it was most likely fule.
deciding to not look any farther, he hopes this is enough...taking the canister and heading back, he quickly sends a signal to the other two to head back to the car...
Luckily, both already were.
As the car pulled u to the back of the overwatch HQ, the team all high five one another for the best day of relaxation.
As the car got parked and everyone set everything they brought with them back at their dedicated spots, they nodded one another goodnight and headed to their rooms.
Windson put his hands instinctively into his pockets and felt the smallish stick...after dropping it by Athena, he quickly said goodnight to her before heading to bed.
<4days later>
Winston had figured it was time to clean his table a bit, maybe just enough to get more bananas on and to stop slipping on peels every 2seconds.
As he cleaned, he soon came across the USB.
It was just a rectangle with a slit to show the top.
After placing it by one of his monitors, he cleans the rest of the table and with a clean mind he finally sits down...seeing the USB being the only thing in the immediate eyeshot
Remmemebrrimg the hallways like it were yesterday, he reached for the metal and take the top off.
Somehow, it looks new...not a speck of dust or rust covers any part of the metal. Squinting slightly and starting to think twice about the contents he quickly asks Athena to lock down the computer so in case there is a virus, it wouldn't spread.
As the computer complied and locked down everything from within, Winston grabs the USB, flicked to the correct side and inserted it into the computer.
The computer shows the loading of the file and soon a screen pops up with...5 contents...
They are typed as...pm4 and a text file. But that format just doesn't exist.
...old form?
Maybe.
-virus?
-no sir. It is completely clean.
-You can get rid of the lockdown then.
As the visuals come back, the folder is still open, it's 5 files with no icon and titles like "test" and "plan", it seems like a time capsule.
...now for a hunt to get the machines to read it
Athena has given me an address of a seller, they are said to be
-*holder of old tech. Not illegal, but definitely useless without proper care*
Packing some stuff for the trip, he quickly texts tracer...maybe she wants to come with him?
-yes Winston?
-I am going out for some stuff...want to come with me?
-yes!! I would love to Winston!!
The trip across town was quick, the massive buildings slowly became smaller and smaller, but never becoming "old"
Soon they came across one house in particular...it was...significant in its design. One that had a lot less use than the type expected nowadays.
After knocking and explaining the plan to tracer, the door opened Reveling an older-looking man with a child by his side.
-yes? What can I do for you?
-I was informed of the technology of old. I need your help.
-Oh, come in. Just explain the situation and I will help you.
The door was left open as the father walked back inside with the child following, soon running over to a table with paper and crayons, music blasting out some wired earphones that she put in.
As traces closed the door and had a proper look in the house, she was met with shelves of books and atop them, all sorts of containers with god know what inside.
Under tables, there were boxes with what he described as
-old computer parts. Even some old computers that I have yet to fix...I need to do that soon before I die.
- I came to you for info on this stick.
As Winston holds out the USB, the father looks at it and nods.
- Yea, USB...do you no longer use it? I would have figured this was old but it's that old?
-no, we still use them, it's what's on this specific one.
The father then takes it unceremoniously before jamming it into the side of a random screen. The pixels on the flat surface light up with a window and 5 files, now with proper icons and naming instead of something glitched.
-ahhh, mp4. Do you want a computer to read them at home or do you want them holographic?
- holographic would be the best.
- if you come back tomorrow, I can give them to you prepared. Getting something this old into a proper format is going to take effort, a lot of info is needed for it to run. I will do my best.
- ok, thanks for your services.
-no problem.
<2 days later>
The door opened with Winston finally waltzing inside. The USB had the files in the correct format and 200 less in his pockets. It was worth it though and now he would finally be able to see what was on the stick...maybe information on the place they found?
Walking over and repeating everything in like last time, The icons showed properly.
They read "1. Hello", "2. plan", "3. explanation", "4. execution" and a final note, "5. report". Their titling was...interesting...but it got the job done and so Winston pressed the first video and let it play, finally being able to run it without crashing his computer.
~video 1-4~ (because I am not describing each separately)
The camera moved from a laying position up, it jitters around before being turned to a male with goggles and a hard hat. He smiles and waved.
-*hello, I am Engi. Or Dell if you would prefer. This is going to be a selection of videos documenting my newest creation.*
His facial expression drops as he places the camera on a stand and moves slightly away.
-*fights have gotten...tough...I need a way to help my team and this selection of clips will be in case anything goes wrong and I can look back to see what I need to change. That's basically it for the first one...just a...hello*
The video cuts to black and soon it's replaced with a table and papers... a lot of papers.
-* ok so, I have the plan. Basically, it's going to be a trap sort of thing. You shoot it at someone and it traps them in stasis for 30 seconds. Of course, it has a cooldown...a long one at that and will be only used once or twice during the fights.*
He placed his gloved hand over to some writing, bairly made out by the fuzziness and constant movement
-*I used some wiring and coding from my teleported and dispenser to help me flesh it out more. The form also fits all components and it could fit in most small places including pockets, this would make it lightweight and easy to aim and shoot.*
The camera is almost thrown up slightly to be caught again but facing the aforementioned dell.
-*we don't want the administrator getting mad...had to use the timer from the teleporter and make it longer so she wouldn't kill us because of "lack of interest" or something or other.*
He looks at the sheet and soon frowns...
-*something not right here*
After a quick cut, the camera is seen to be in the corner of the room. Dell holds the printed blue sheet in front with a huge smile, almost like a child during Christmas.
-*it is done, the plan is set and it looks just beautiful. I love the idea and the fact I could make it in time for the next fight.*
He flips the sheet around to admire his handiwork
-*well, in case you can't remember where you put it, I will most likely be holding it under the table along with the other blueprints. Now it's time to make it*
As the screen cuts to black, there is a moment before the next Video plays. Instead of a calm start, it is instead the grinding of metal.
The guy names Engi is half off the screen with a welding mask and hunched over something. A couple of seconds pass with the constant sounds but soon the door that was on the other side of the shot swings open with a white figure standing in the doorway.
-(Realy muffled) *engi...engi!!!!*
After no response, he seems to huff and walk off, closing the door after himself.
A second later, Engi stops the cutting and flicks up the welding mask, looking around. He soon sees the camera and smiles, walking over to it.
Picking it up and moving it to the object he was cutting, he shows his handy work. A perfectly cut shape from the blueprint is on the table with a couple more pieces and some wires.
It cuts off but is soon replaced with the camera facing directly at the object dell was making and him actively fitting everything together.
The door on the left side of the shot soon swings open again and this time, instead of a white figure, it's instead a scrawny kid.
- *eyo engi!!*
- *Yea scout?*
- *medic said you need to go for a check-up. You have been working for ages now*
- *I will, I just need to finish this*
- * yes but like, He said now. He told me to come get you so you wouldn't work your way out of another trip like spy*
- * dag nabit...fine. I will be a second*
As he finished his last couple clicks and puts away the unnecessary wires, scout sees the cam and paces a peace sigh with his tongue out in the middle, winking to the side and holding his bonk a bit higher than he had it originally.
As soon as Engi is about to get up, he wipes his hand down and stands upright, smiling as soon as dell makes eye contact with him.
-*alright partner, lead the way*
As the two head out, the video cuts to black.
A second passes and the last video plays.
The object is placed on a stool and is facing a blank spot on the wall.
-* the prototype is done. Now I will be testing it. I will leave a text file to remind me to make a report and then I will explain what will happen. But just in case...*
He moved to the side and pointed to a button on the machine's side, there is a dial along with a slider.
-*The settings have already been set, they need to be in this position and the button needs to be pressed at whatever you want to put in the stasis.*
He moved away and placed the camera down, soon smiling and waving
-* well, it had been a rough month. Hopefully, it will all come to a happy ending. See you later*
~end of videos~
As the final clip ends, Winston slowly sits back onto his chair and closes the holographic reader, soon opening the final "report" text.
...his hopes are broken when all it said is
-*write the report
-dell*
...he never finished what he was aiming for.
With a heavy heart, he closed the entire file and takes the USB out.
...
Wonder if it's still there.
So curiosity got the better of Winston.
He had decided to drag tracer and mercy again with him, back to the old building to see if he can get this..." dell" out of a supposed stasis.
the girls weren't told exactly why they were going back in but with their knowledge from the last time they went, they weren't as eager as Winston.
-Winston you must tell us, why do you wish to take us back?
- yes luv, why?
He sits in the passenger's side and looks out on the road...soon turning to tracer in the back and summarizing the situation
-I have found proof of someone who lived there, he made informational videos to himself and I saw them. Now I want to see if he is still there.
The car falls silent, the rest of the trip is quiet apart from the purring of the engine.
As they approach the building, the car is shut off and Winston doesn't wait for the others, immediately getting out the car and making his way back to the original room where he found the USB.
The two girls run after him in an attempt to calm him and gain some answers. However, Winston gets to the room before both of the followers can ask questions.
He knocks down the door and chucks the USB onto the table where he found it, not really paying attention.
Looking around, he fined the device. It faces a bottle of the stuff the small boy had in the video But Winston can't pay attention to that now, he has a device to power up.
A couple of seconds later, the girls run into the room with barely any breath and watch as Winston presses a button.
They can't do anything as the laser bounces from wall to wall and after 30 seconds, Thuds echo across the entire building.
The three all look around to see a guy with goggles and his yellow hardhat rolling away from him, laying on the floor
After a second, he bolts upright but holds his side after hissing in pain. Soon looking around at the 2 girls and gorilla in the room with him.
...
-MEDIC!