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Canon: Overwatch
Summary: Ana spots a ... mostly familiar figure out hunting Talon and gets something new to track.
Some things didn’t change. The Talon squad’s tactics were familiar in uncomfortable ways; cautious and fluid, relying on stealth until there was an opening for overwhelming force. Ambush predator tactics, like a crocodile.
Some of it was textbook Blackwatch patterns. I found the leader right where I would have found Gabriel when I had covered their operations in the old days. The costume left no room for conventional identifying features, but the body language was plenty; I had spent enough hours monitoring my own people to be very familiar with the irritable, impatient foot tap, arms crossed, shoulders hunched.
I had him flagged with a clean shot. It doesn't happen half out of knowing better than to potentially give away my position when their agents are not yet engaged, and half because Talon hadn’t been using Blackwatch tactics before everything exploded - I want to be sure of what happened to Overwatch before I take a shot blind over it.
He looks much more intact than Angela’s traumatized account had implied, although the bits of wisping black smoke give me pause to question. Her log had been succinct - “Subject briefly appeared to stabilize, then dissolved into black smoke”. Her voice diary had been more horrified-hysterical, the voice of someone who’d failed to save a friend and achieved something out of a horror movie.
Then he moves, pointing and giving orders, before dissolving and flowing off the rooftop as a black cloud.
She has no idea what she actually did.
His men covering the exits are easy enough marks once they begin their operation, allowing most of their intended targets a clear avenue to escape and scatter. He coalesces outside the door, fuming - literally- over the corpses.
I switch rounds take aim, and catch him with a biotic round in the shoulder; the biotic nanites will send data back to my rifle and headset. He looks up, confused, and zeroes in on my roost.
And then teleports a good fifty feet, heading towards me in jumps of about that increment.
I only barely make it out of the roost and get my stealth field up by the time he reaches it; he prowls the area searching exit routes and viable roosts for a good twenty minutes until he gets a radio call, apparently from their drop ship.
He’d walked past my hiding place once, swearing under his breath in Spanish; the voice is distorted, but definitely Gabriel.
*********************************
The data from the biotic dart is distorted and fragmented. The nanites barely established themselves as active before they were destroyed; there’s just enough data to confirm that it was essentially arriving in a hostile biotic swarm.
The damage was swift, but erratic; there is just enough to compare to my own work to see some similarities to a route I had abandoned - I may have found ways to weaponize the biotics, but a swarm capable of eating flesh and other materials was more destructive than I was comfortable with even.
It's definitely not what Angela had intended.
She’s not hard to find; still active as Mercy in war zones and areas of political unrest. Arranging a secure connection to send a simple text message and catching her less busy takes a few more days.
ANGELA. I’VE SEEN GABRIEL.
There’s a long wait for the reply.
THIS IS IN INCREDIBLY POOR TASTE. WHO IS THIS?
I hadn’t expected her to believe it on just that, but I have her attention; my next reply is a file attachment of the video from my scope when I had him flagged giving orders - and turning to smoke to leave.
There’s several more minutes passed.
THIS IS FROM A SNIPER SCOPE - ANA?
There aren’t many other snipers who would know Gabriel from that little.
I WOULD PREFER TO REMAIN DEAD FOR NOW.
WHAT ABOUT FAREEHA?
THAT IS PRECISELY WHY. I KNOW WHAT I AM HUNTING, I DO NOT WISH TO LEAD THEM TO HER.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THESE YEARS?
HUNTING.
I’d rather not elaborate; she’s good at what she does, and she’s better at keeping secrets than Jack, but she’s about as bad at stealth ops as he always was.
IN THAT VIDEO. WHAT HAPPENED?
Apparently she got the hint.
I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD HAVE AN IDEA. She really didn't know he was still around. I HAVE SOME DATA - IT IS NOT MUCH.
I send the feedback log from the biotic dart; what little I know about his new body. The biotic nanites had been destroyed not long after entering his system, but they had enough time to gather a little bit of data. There are a few minutes that would be her reviewing it.
YOU’RE THE GHOST WHO HAS BEEN ALTERING MY WORK.
I DO WHAT I MUST. I HAVE TAKEN PAINS TO KEEP THAT PARTICULAR PANDORA’S BOX AWAY FROM ANYONE ELSE; NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHO UNDERSTAND CONSERVATION OF FORCE.
THERE IS LITTLE I COULD DO TO STOP YOU.
Not happy, but I didn’t expect her to be; she was a doctor who supported military operations, not a military operative with medical training, and that means two very different sets of ethics.
I WILL REVIEW THIS - I DOUBT I CAN TELL MUCH FROM THIS LITTLE.
About as expected there as well. I WILL TRY TO SEND MORE DATA AS I CAN COLLECT IT. IT WILL TAKE A LONG TIME TO GATHER ANYTHING USEFUL.
I cut the connection there; catching up can come later sometime.
*************************************
Tracking them isn't particularly easy. It's mostly a matter of going over my pet analyst's predictions of where Talon is likely to strike next, then picking the hardest targets out of that list as the most likely to be where Reaper will be.
The first time I manage to find them, the most useful thing I manage to accomplish is distracting Amelie - or whatever Talon turned her into, rather - as we end up hunting each other through the research facility.
Summary: Ana spots a ... mostly familiar figure out hunting Talon and gets something new to track.
Some things didn’t change. The Talon squad’s tactics were familiar in uncomfortable ways; cautious and fluid, relying on stealth until there was an opening for overwhelming force. Ambush predator tactics, like a crocodile.
Some of it was textbook Blackwatch patterns. I found the leader right where I would have found Gabriel when I had covered their operations in the old days. The costume left no room for conventional identifying features, but the body language was plenty; I had spent enough hours monitoring my own people to be very familiar with the irritable, impatient foot tap, arms crossed, shoulders hunched.
I had him flagged with a clean shot. It doesn't happen half out of knowing better than to potentially give away my position when their agents are not yet engaged, and half because Talon hadn’t been using Blackwatch tactics before everything exploded - I want to be sure of what happened to Overwatch before I take a shot blind over it.
He looks much more intact than Angela’s traumatized account had implied, although the bits of wisping black smoke give me pause to question. Her log had been succinct - “Subject briefly appeared to stabilize, then dissolved into black smoke”. Her voice diary had been more horrified-hysterical, the voice of someone who’d failed to save a friend and achieved something out of a horror movie.
Then he moves, pointing and giving orders, before dissolving and flowing off the rooftop as a black cloud.
She has no idea what she actually did.
His men covering the exits are easy enough marks once they begin their operation, allowing most of their intended targets a clear avenue to escape and scatter. He coalesces outside the door, fuming - literally- over the corpses.
I switch rounds take aim, and catch him with a biotic round in the shoulder; the biotic nanites will send data back to my rifle and headset. He looks up, confused, and zeroes in on my roost.
And then teleports a good fifty feet, heading towards me in jumps of about that increment.
I only barely make it out of the roost and get my stealth field up by the time he reaches it; he prowls the area searching exit routes and viable roosts for a good twenty minutes until he gets a radio call, apparently from their drop ship.
He’d walked past my hiding place once, swearing under his breath in Spanish; the voice is distorted, but definitely Gabriel.
*********************************
The data from the biotic dart is distorted and fragmented. The nanites barely established themselves as active before they were destroyed; there’s just enough data to confirm that it was essentially arriving in a hostile biotic swarm.
The damage was swift, but erratic; there is just enough to compare to my own work to see some similarities to a route I had abandoned - I may have found ways to weaponize the biotics, but a swarm capable of eating flesh and other materials was more destructive than I was comfortable with even.
It's definitely not what Angela had intended.
She’s not hard to find; still active as Mercy in war zones and areas of political unrest. Arranging a secure connection to send a simple text message and catching her less busy takes a few more days.
ANGELA. I’VE SEEN GABRIEL.
There’s a long wait for the reply.
THIS IS IN INCREDIBLY POOR TASTE. WHO IS THIS?
I hadn’t expected her to believe it on just that, but I have her attention; my next reply is a file attachment of the video from my scope when I had him flagged giving orders - and turning to smoke to leave.
There’s several more minutes passed.
THIS IS FROM A SNIPER SCOPE - ANA?
There aren’t many other snipers who would know Gabriel from that little.
I WOULD PREFER TO REMAIN DEAD FOR NOW.
WHAT ABOUT FAREEHA?
THAT IS PRECISELY WHY. I KNOW WHAT I AM HUNTING, I DO NOT WISH TO LEAD THEM TO HER.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THESE YEARS?
HUNTING.
I’d rather not elaborate; she’s good at what she does, and she’s better at keeping secrets than Jack, but she’s about as bad at stealth ops as he always was.
IN THAT VIDEO. WHAT HAPPENED?
Apparently she got the hint.
I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD HAVE AN IDEA. She really didn't know he was still around. I HAVE SOME DATA - IT IS NOT MUCH.
I send the feedback log from the biotic dart; what little I know about his new body. The biotic nanites had been destroyed not long after entering his system, but they had enough time to gather a little bit of data. There are a few minutes that would be her reviewing it.
YOU’RE THE GHOST WHO HAS BEEN ALTERING MY WORK.
I DO WHAT I MUST. I HAVE TAKEN PAINS TO KEEP THAT PARTICULAR PANDORA’S BOX AWAY FROM ANYONE ELSE; NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHO UNDERSTAND CONSERVATION OF FORCE.
THERE IS LITTLE I COULD DO TO STOP YOU.
Not happy, but I didn’t expect her to be; she was a doctor who supported military operations, not a military operative with medical training, and that means two very different sets of ethics.
I WILL REVIEW THIS - I DOUBT I CAN TELL MUCH FROM THIS LITTLE.
About as expected there as well. I WILL TRY TO SEND MORE DATA AS I CAN COLLECT IT. IT WILL TAKE A LONG TIME TO GATHER ANYTHING USEFUL.
I cut the connection there; catching up can come later sometime.
*************************************
Tracking them isn't particularly easy. It's mostly a matter of going over my pet analyst's predictions of where Talon is likely to strike next, then picking the hardest targets out of that list as the most likely to be where Reaper will be.
The first time I manage to find them, the most useful thing I manage to accomplish is distracting Amelie - or whatever Talon turned her into, rather - as we end up hunting each other through the research facility.
