"Gibraltar?"
Jack turned to look at Ana, a sigh pulling from his chest. "Not many places we could go. Everything else was either locked down too tightly or too degraded for our use. Besides," he held the door open for Gabriel and his cargo of unconscious cyborg. "Only place still usable that was also big enough."
"Big enough," Ana chuckled. "How many have answered the call?"
"So far," Gabriel headed down the hall, barely looking back. "Not enough. We've got us, Angie, Fareeha-"
Ana let out a curse in Arabic, her eye twisted shut. "She had told me that she was-" She cut herself off. "...Well."
"Fareeha knew?" Jesse growled the words out.
"Jesse, wait," Ana reached for him and sighed when he pulled back from her and went storming down another hall, away from Gabriel and Genji. "Jesse!"
"Someone has ta tell Hanzo his brother ain't doin' too well, might as well be me," he grumbled the words back at her, his hat pulled low over his eyes. "And maybe ya ought'a have thought 'bout the reaction to this when you were all 'Dead' and everythin'."
He disappeared into the elevator, the doors closing behind him with barely a whisper of noise.
"I do not blame him," Ana muttered as she ran a hand down her face. She followed when Jack motioned her after Gabriel, both of them walking in silence towards the medical bay. "What else has changed?" she asked after a few minutes of walking next to him. She kept his pace, her hands twisted together behind her back.
"We've got some new recruits, too. We've got a guy you might recognize," Jack sighed as he pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "Ana, Reinhardt is here."
She muttered a curse, looking back at the floor.
"Your daughter and your lover are both here, one knows you're alive and the other has thought you were dead, the same as me and Gabe might I add," Jack grinned nervously. "He had a breakdown when I was identified and Gabe was dragged back in. He's going to see you and he is going to panic."
"Then maybe he will not see me," Ana sighed.
Jack shook his head. "He is going to see you, Ana. Anyone who might be able to report back to the UN from our group has been expunged. Right now, we're operating on bare bones, Ana, and we need everyone we can get. We have who we could find of the originals. I've found some of the locations of the others and there's been...Nothing. Ana, some of our old agents have been nothing more than bloody messes in bedrooms or hotel rooms or..."
He shook his head again, dismissing the memories trying to reach out to him. "We're too fragile right now. Those who are alive need to be alive, not buried memories."
"...I will speak with him," Ana promised quietly. "Who did you find?"
"One of the newer recruits at the time when everything went bad. Found her in her bedroom, blood dripping down the wall from where it looked like she'd been shot in the head," Jack frowned, opening the door to the medical bay. "Which kind of brings up another thing," he motioned towards her missing eye. "We've got her back."
"You've got her...Back?" Ana made a face. "You are certain? We thought we had her back and then Gerard ended up murdered in their bed."
"Certain and absolute," Jack watched Angela check Genji over, her face twisted in concentration. "She broke Talon's conditioning, we've been keeping her under observation. They grabbed Gabe and tried to hurt him, managed to wire his jaw closed and put him out of his own mind for a bit," his fingers found the small patch of scarring that remained on his neck and led up to his ear. "When he was out of it, he popped the shrapnel out of my brain, dislodged it from my skull. We both woke up and I haven't...I haven't wanted to be anywhere but by him since I remembered."
"I thought the two of you were fighting."
"Cionadh Walsh," Jack began quietly. "Is a dead man when we find him. His corpse hasn't been found, he is assumed alive until proven otherwise. He was altering Gabe's mind, changed enough stuff around to cause Swiss headquarters to go to dust."
His fists clenched at his sides. "Had permission from the UN to manufacture a divide between us. Every story needs a villain, after all, and I guess Gabe made a good enough one in their eyes. Paper trail leads back to them, but only when we're digging deep enough on Talon servers," Jack turned to look at Ana. "They did this to us, Ana."
Ana studied him, her one eye sharp as ever, forever a sniper and forever a mother who remembered having a mischievous child. He showed no signs of changing his words, no hint of joking laughter or amusement.
Jack Morrison was rage incarnate, his eyes showing the anger he had felt since finding all of it out.
"We were betrayed," she said softly.
"Yes, we were."
She turned back to watch Angela check Genji over. "Do we have access to the files Gerard last looked at?"
"Likely," Jack's spine went rigid, the posture of a soldier once more. "Suspicions?"
"Gerard was killed suddenly and for no reason. If Talon had simply wanted to make an impression, they could have done something bigger. If they had wanted to give us a warning, they could have chosen someone else. Gerard was high profile, important to Overwatch and the people who worked within it," Ana paused, her mouth curling with displeasure. "He always had a habit of investigating when he thought something was not right. If he thought that, perhaps, something was going wrong in our organization, he would have done something about it."
Jack nodded and walked over to Gabriel, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"You're familiar," came a deep voice from behind her. It sounded obstructed, like speaking through a mask and when she looked around, it was obvious why. The man who stood behind her was a hulk-like being, somewhere around a foot and a half taller than her. "Why are you familiar."
Australian accent, that much was clear, even behind the pig-shaped mask he wore. "I could say the same of you," she answered after a moment. "Though I suppose it is easy enough to guess. I seem familiar to you and you sound as if you are from Australia, so I would think that you are Mako," she held out her hand. "The dead never do stay dead around here, I suppose many are tired of this fact."
He took it surprisingly gently, his great paw of a hand enveloping hers. "I am," he rumbled the words out. "Who are you?"
"My name is Ana," she met his gaze.
Mako grunted, his other hand coming up to push the mask off of his face. His face was scarred and his teeth were tusk-like in size and shape, two decades between him and the man she had headed off to recruit, but it was him. "Thought you were dead," his voice wasn't any less deep without the mask and it was barely a surprise.
"So did I," she admitted quietly. "Glad to see you here."
"Effective recruiting," he shrugged one of his shoulders. "Blown up Omnium, current salary-payer needed to get out of Australia and get various injuries tended to. Overwatch has the best technology for what he had," he motioned towards Angela. "Was here for something he needed, actually. What is happening?"
Ana turned to look over her shoulder. "Genji had a run in with someone I was trying to hunt down. Instead of tracking her, I came back with Gabriel and Jack."
"Someone should tell his Omnic," Mako watched for a few more seconds. "I'll come back later, go do that now."
Ana could only watch, shock silencing her, as he turned and left the room.
"When did Genji find an Omnic?"
Gabriel turned to look at her, the expression on his face harder to read than she remembered him being. "When he went a little off the rails because he was understandably unhappy with the world," he nudged his hand against the exposed skin of Genji's face, tracing gently over some of the scarring with his knuckle. "Ended up in Nepal, meditated and trained and just sort of...Got better. We knew a really angry version of him, tried to kill Jesse some days."
"We did," Ana nodded. "But an Omnic?"
"Hey," Gabriel tensed up, looking at her. "Y'know almost better than anyone how I feel about Omnics, generally. You were there for that fight, Ana. Jack, you, me, Reinhardt, Torbjörn...There's a lot of people who know how I personally feel about Omnics," he sighed, taking a slow, deep breath through his nose. The centers of his eyes flashed red for a moment, anger or frustration or worry, she didn't know. "But this guy. This guy is good for him, Ana. Genji's happier than I ever saw him in Blackwatch days. His brother is here too, they get along enough to sometimes use the comms to argue during missions or swear at each other in Japanese. Ana," Gabriel held up a hand to keep her quiet. "Just meet him before you start scolding Genji for loving him."
The door opened quietly behind them and Gabriel smirked. "Guess that's happening now," he raised his voice a little, barely turning his head to look at the new arrival. "Zenyatta, were you waiting outside the door until we were done talking?"
"Oh, but it did seem rude to interrupt," Zenyatta hovered, just inside the door, in his usual half-lotus position. He inclined his head when he saw Ana looking at him. "You must be Miss Amari the elder," he pressed the palms of his hands together, the overlarge mala around his neck lifting away and circling his head slowly. "You are one of the ones who helped to rehabilitate my student."
He sounded grateful, the blue lights on his forehead flashing gently. "If I may," he gestured to Genji's bedside, waiting until Gabriel moved to be on the same side as Ana. Floating over, he lowered himself to an appropriate height to be seen when Genji woke up. "I thank you for returning him to safety, Gabriel," he pressed his palms together again, briefly, and although his facial expression did not change, could not change, he seemed almost to be smiling. "I suspect we must, all of us made somewhat of metal and wiring, improve our defenses."
Gabriel closed his eyes, his entire body tensing in regret. "Shit, I hadn't even thought about that."
"I had thought that would be the case," Zenyatta's voice was definitely amused now. "There is a level of concern for the ones you have claimed as your adopted sons, I would suspect, if I may say so, that you were concerned with their wellbeing as opposed to your own."
"Yeah, yeah," Gabriel waved his words off. "How're you feeling right now?"
"...Scared," Zenyatta's hand curled carefully around the top of Genji's head, a small, comforting gesture of love and protection that Ana was familiar with. It reminded her of every night Fareeha had spent sick, every time Genji himself had been forced back into rehabilitation after letting himself get partially destroyed on a mission. It reminded her of a much younger Jesse McCree, pale and sweating, his eyes wide and lined with dark circles as he tried to escape the nightmares of his past. "If he does not wake, if he does not open his eyes once more...I am afraid of the possibilities of loss."
"We have him here," Ana found herself saying, the words slipping out before she could stop them. "He is safe, he is physically sound. Angela will not let him die, his life will not end here, not after he has gone through so much-" she cut herself off, pushing back her chair and pacing to the end of the room. "He has not gone through what he has endured to die here, I will make sure of it!"
Zenyatta trembled for a moment, every inch the picture of a worried spouse, and she scolded herself. This omnic, this being made the same way as every last one she had faced during the Crisis, this was not an enemy. Shame on her for ever thinking that of him. He was visibly shaken, possibly scared of her now, and-
"I thank you," Zenyatta spoke softly. "It is odd, how our fears take hold of us only to disappear when someone shows support against what you are afraid of."
Ana nodded, not trusting her words before she slipped out of the room.
She found Angela first.
The younger woman was sitting in one of the chairs in the rec room, her feet pulled up onto the edge of the seat. Her hands were clasped loosely around a mug of what appeared to be tea and her gaze was focused on something far away and seen only by her. When Ana approached her, she didn't even move.
"My dear," Ana reached to take the mug from her. "You should not hold tea like that."
Angela started like she hadn't realized anyone was there with her and started to respond. She met Ana's eye, her mouth open to speak, then stopped.
Blinked.
And then, almost faster than anyone else would have been able to track, she threw herself into Ana's arms, hugging her tightly. "أمي!" she nearly sobbed the word out. It had been a long summer, Ana remembered. Angela had been all of seventeen years old and sobbing herself dry in a forgotten corner of the base, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, nails digging into her skin. She'd bled, a little, and Ana had managed to spot her in her corner.
It had taken an hour or so, but she had coaxed the upset teenager (With the weight of the world on her shoulders) out from hiding and into a room with a small cache of medical supplies. Ana had treated the cuts quietly, not saying anything until Angela had.
(Do you think I am a stupid brat?
I may think you a brat, my dear, but you are the furthest thing from stupid that I could imagine. You are brilliant, although you could stand to have a little more fun.)
She had taught Angela to call her 'Mom' in Ana's original tongue. The girl had seemed grateful to know something to call her by, scared and shaking as she way. Looking at the mission logs had revealed the reasoning: Her first confirmed kills.
The comments on her intelligence had been another one of the agents.
(Ana had made sure he never spoke to Angela again.)
"You have done well, my dear," Ana pulled back to sweep blonde bangs out of their faces. "I am so proud of you," she put her hand on Angela's cheek, looking her over. "Am I to take it, from the lack of shock, that my Fareeha has told you?"
"She did not want it to be a secret kept between us when we started dating," Angela wiped hastily at her face, a small smile on her lips. "I am sorry I know your secret."
"It is to be a secret no longer," Ana chuckled, leaning forward to press a kiss to Angela's forehead. "My dear, ابنة الثانية, I am glad to know of this. There is someone who will keep Fareeha in line, at long last. Perhaps even keep you in line as well. All of my children have been graced with love and I am proud."
"Yes," Angela wiped at her face again, fresh tears streaming down her face. This time, they appeared to be happy ones. "Although, I do doubt that anything in this world could keep Fareeha from doing what she wishes."
"Ah," Ana sighed, shaking her head. "My young, reckless child. Whatever am I to do with her?"
She reached up and pressed the pad of her thumb against a trailing tear. "Is she here right now?"
Angela shook her head. "She is due back in a few hours, along with Jesse's lover and a few of the new recruits. We have some new faces now, alongside the old ones," she looked down a hallway. "In the meantime, there is someone you may wish to speak with."
Turning to look as well, Ana nodded. "He will not be pleased if I reveal myself to him last."
"No," Angela shook her head. "He will not be."
"Very well," Ana stood up, her hand lingering on Angela's shoulder for a moment. "Breathe, my dear, you have done well. He will live, his Omnic is by his side. None who reside here will let him come to harm."
"Thank you," Angela retrieved her mug of tea from Ana's hand, taking a cautious sip. "Go speak with your own lover."
"I take my leave of you," Ana laughed as she headed down the hall.
Reinhardt, it seemed, had moved back to his old quarters.
Once you put an Overwatch agent in familiar territory they acted as if they had never left. Their habits were familiar, easy to track even if she hadn't made a career of watching people. Ana paused at the door, letting the trickle of memories flow through her mind.
(It is nothing, a war trophy!
It is an empty eye socket, my lion. Are you sure you can still see well enough?
Bah, I can see enough!)
He had laughed and neatly stepped across the room to pick her up, one-handed, and settle her on his shoulder, joking the entire time about her being his eyes. At the time, she had laughed, full and loud and full of hope and happiness. Their future had looked bright at the time, the world where she could raise her daughter and raise her daughter as their daughter and she...
Ana pulled herself out of the past, hesitating for a moment before knocking carefully on the door.
"It is just a second you must wait!" came the voice she so remembered from within. Heavy footsteps moved across the room and she could almost see how his foot landed each time. Reinhardt walked like he was marching, a proud soldier, a proud warrior. Every step firmly rooted him in the skin of the world, larger than life and ready to defend those who could not save themselves.
The handle turned and, for a moment, she panicked.
She thought about running away.
Reinhardt's face was older now, his hair more silvered and his beard fuller than she remembered, but it was him. As with the others, time had touched him but she still knew the face she was looking at. "Wilhelm," she greeted softly.
"...Ana?"
Her chest felt tight, her hand moving and dropping back to her side. It had stayed in the air, foolish thing, as if it were still knocking on the now-open door. Her eyes almost burned and she wanted to throw herself into his arms, seek the comfort she had given Angela. Reinhardt's arms had always felt safe and secure as if nothing could alter their lives as long as he held her. The floor shook beneath her when he dropped to his knees, his large hands trembling as he tried to figure out how to touch her.
"I would not blame you if you wished to take a swing," Ana swallowed her next sentence, willed the words she had not said out loud in decades. "I have heard what was inadvertently done to you by myself and the ridiculous men we called our commanders."
Reinhardt reached for her, his entire body shaking as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Pressed tightly to his chest, Ana allowed herself to return the embrace. "Oh, my lion," she whispered, her face buried in his shoulder. "I am so sorry for what I have done to you."
"You have returned to me," Reinhardt whispered. "For now, that is all that matters."