Overwatch: The Lost Soldier

Though she had seen his photos, she could tell that they didn't do him any justice. He was far more handsome in real life than his photos had let on. There was rugged masculinity to the man, which found both enticing and appealing. As she looked on, the click of a shotgun, brought her focus back to the wraith like killer, that had them all at his mercy.

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"What about Zaryanova?" Reaper had asked Sombra as she had directed Mei to join her friends.

"Unconscious, badly wounded, freezing and possibly dying. Without this though," she gestured to weapon that lay at her feet, "no way she'll cause trouble, even if she does wake up."

Grunting, he spoke out loud, catching Widowmaker's attention, "Keep an eye on everyone. If they try anything, kill them."

Moira had been asking pointed questions of Michael and he had refused to answer, simply fixing her with a deep scowl. Most of the questions consisted of how he had survived, when he was supposed to be dead, as he had died on her table, years ago. His only response was, "You're a smart girl, figure it out." Her response had been a hard slap to his face, which he took in stride, but stayed quiet.

Moira decided to follow another line of questioning, "So since you survived, I would assume that Vincent has as well. Where is he?"

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Mike, at first scoffed, which then bloomed into full out laughter, at the absurdity of her latest question. His laughter echoed throughout the trees as he continued on. He then decided that he would answer the hated scientist.

"That's what this is all about? Finding Vince? If that's the case, then you'll have to go and dig through the detritus of Overwatch HQ. He molders in a shallow grave there," the Canadian man said with a scoffing finality.

"Liar!!" Moira screamed at him as she slapped his face, yet again. "We have documented proof that he was spotted here. Where is he?!?"

"I told you, he's dead. I would know, because I killed him myself."

Moira went to slap him again, until Sombra caught her hand and told her, "Chica, it's pointless to try to slap another answer out of him. He's telling the truth."

"How can you tell?" Moira asked, her anger evident.

"Look at the way he's staring at us. His gaze and breathing is steady, unfaltering, which means that he's hiding nothing. The questions he's answered have been quick and to the point, with no trace of nervousness in his voice, or any change in his pitch. What he's telling us is the truth."

Moira grasped the big man by the jaw and demanded through clenched teeth, "How is that you, a failure, were capable of overcoming such an exceptional specimen?"

"Like I'd honestly tell you, bitch," Mike said with all the vitriol he could muster. He then spat in her face, before yanking his head away.

"Oooooooh! I like him! Can I keep him?" Sombra asked, with all the sweetness of a girl who had just discovered boys for the first time. Moira shot her a withering stare, making her raise her hands in compliance, backing away.

"Just kidding, Amiga. You do what you want with him."

The Latina shuffled away meekly, as Reaper looked on, chuckling to himself. He still kept his weapons trained on his prisoners, especially Mei. Though she was brilliant, she didn't have the tactical or combat experience of the other two. As long as he kept her in his sights, Tracer or Jack would hesitate to do anything that might likely get her killed.

"This is a setback, but there is an opportunity here. Bind them all and we'll take them with us. I could use some test subjects like these," Moira said haughtily, looking down at Jack and Lena, her mind awhirl with the possibilities. Reaper laughed darkly as he and Sombra kept their weapons trained on their captives.

The Irish scientist kept wondering how it was that Michael had survived. There was photographic evidence that Vincent was spotted here, along with the Sergeant. Yet, the man present insisted that he had killed Lieutenant McCready himself. Could Sombra have been wrong or found bad information? No! It was a statistical impossibility, Sombra would have missed nothing in her information sweep, unless......

"Not on my watch," she heard a guttural voice state, much closer than she thought possible. She turned for a moment, to see the Sergeant charge and hit Sombra with such force, that she went flying right past the red-headed woman. The next blow cane directly to Moira's sternum, sending her flying through the air, just as Sombra had. Reaper turned his attention to Mike and that's when Jack leapt up and struck, decking the black clad man as hard as he could.

Gabe went flying, as did his guns, but he flipped in midair and landed on his feet in a crouch. He drew another pair from within his coat and pointed them at Jack, whose weapon was at least ten feet away and to his right. Not nearly close enough to grab it, but just then an inhuman roar sounded, causing both men to turn and gasp.

They both saw Sergeant Perun, tearing away his coat and boots, as his flesh rippled and expanded. His back arched as he stood, his limbs lengthened and thickened, heavy ropes of muscle filling him out. The man's bones cracked as they changed shape, and grew. His head turned from that of a human man, to some sort of twisted hybrid of man and beast, canine teeth studding a toothy maw. His once pink skin was replaced with a rough hide that sprouted dark gray fur, so dark, it almost looked black.

When it finally stood, it towered over all of them, standing at nearly eight feet in height, it stared venomously at the Talon strike team, and roared. It charged at Reaper on all fours, long, razor sharp nails digging deep furrows in the snow. Gabriel, despite never expecting this, maintained his ground and opened fire on the wolf man, emptying his magazines.

It trembled under the heavy slugs, before coming to a halt mere feet in front of shadowy man. Reaper then laughed, figuring that he had either beaten it, or killed it, as it stood deathly still. Then it moved, standing at its full height in front of him, growling softly. Indeed, the agent hunter had wounded the beast, seriously by the looks of it. But right before his stunned eyes, the wounds closed over, almost as though they had never been.

"I was mad before. Now you've gone and pissed me off!" the animal said to the wraith, as he struck. Reaper teleported away, quick as thought, but the beast wasn't fooled. It quickly sniffed him out and turned to where he now stood, guns ready. He fired at the monster, but it had simply shrugged off each shot, as though they were insects.

"Widowmaker! Abort mission! I repeat, abort mission! Get back to the transport and get us out of here!" Reaper screamed out, hoping that their fourth team member had received that transmission.

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Amelie couldn't see much, due to the thermal imaging of her visor, but what she did see, terrified her to the core. It was impossible! That a man could become such a feral and savage animal, was beyond her.

"Moira, what kind of monster have you created this time?" she murmured to herself.

Though she should have obeyed Gabriel's orders, the golden eyed woman kept firing at the beast, in hopes of wounding it. Seeing that her rounds had little to no effect on it, she refocused her sights to the fallen Overwatch team. As she scanned for them, she finally located them, but only to find that their heat signatures had dropped substantially.

Widowmaker would have thought them dead, except they were actually moving. Merde, she thought to herself. They had likely made their way back behind that ice wall that Mei had constructed earlier. Taking a few pot shots confirmed her theory, otherwise, their heads would have exploded like watermelons. Amelie double checked and saw that at least one of them hadn't moved much, if at all. She smiled to herself, believing that she had at least seriously wounded, if not killed at least one Overwatch agent.

Sweeping the battlefield, the blue skinned woman found her remaining team members. Though their signatures were a bit muffled, they were still moving, which was heartening to see. With that, she packed up her perch and hot footed it back to the transport. As Widowmaker ran, she called out, "Rendezvous at the edge of the waterfall! Repeat, pickup is at the waterfall!"

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Waking up a few moments later, Moira clutched her head, as a headache threatened to pound its way through her skull. Her vision was blurred and for a moment, she forgot who she was and what she was doing here. Then, as her vision cleared and she remembered, then truly saw what had become of Sergeant Perun.

The monster he had transformed into, was magnificent! The way he could still articulate as a logic thinking being, yet still maintain his animal ferocity, was one of the limits that she had hoped to break. In breaking one of humankind's shortcomings, she was finally successful! Now, everything made sense! However he had survived, he had lived long enough for the serum she had given him, to fully transform his DNA. He was now a living hybrid of human, wolf, bear and wolverine!

Standing on wobbly legs, she moved her arms, trying to activate her biotic emitters, only to find them damaged beyond repair. She cursed quietly, hoping to avoid any attention from the wolf-like man and shrank back, just as Widowmakers transmission came through. The ginger haired scientist didn't like it, but at this moment, there was little choice but to abort.

"We will cross paths again and next time, you won't be so fortunate," she said quietly. It was then, that she heard a moan from behind her and saw Sombra fuss around. The Latina was trying to get up, but failing, her face a mask of pain. Moira dropped down to her and felt around her mid-section, which was wet with blood.

"Seems like you have a couple of cracked ribs, possibly one or two of them broken, along with some severe lacerations. You're bloody lucky to be alive," the scientist imparted to her hacker team mate.

"Lucky? How is this lucky?" the dusky skinned woman groaned in pain. Moira simply pointed in the direction of the fight that was happening. The look on Sombra's face, though priceless, sold her on how easy she was getting off.

"Madre de dios!! Is that....?"

"Michael Perun? Yes. It seems he wasn't a failed experiment after all, but we have no time. You're hurt and I'm out of the fight. Widowmaker is on her way down in the transport, but we still have to get there. Can you stand?"

Nodding, the dark complected woman grit her teeth as Moira helped her up. Slinging her arm over her shoulder, the she helped the wounded hacker along. She could only hope that Reaper could keep holding the beast at bay.

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The fight had lasted far longer than Gabriel had anticipated. The beasts' resilience was astounding! Every time Reaper thought he had managed to wound it, the gaping holes left behind by the twelve gauge slugs closed over. Each one healing like they had never been there to begin with.

Facing a creature with this level of ferocity, forced him to teleport numerous times, just to stay ahead of it. He teleported again, coming up behind the beast, hoping to find a weak point, only to have it turn around and grab him in a two handed grip. The nails scored his armor, as the monsters grip kept his arms pinned to his side.

"Fight an enemy long enough, he starts developing a pattern and becomes predictable," it snarled, before it jabbed its claws into the dark man. Reaper screamed out in pain, as the nails of this creature punched through his armor, like it was paper. Then it squeezed, crushing his bones, eliciting a howl of a dying man. In moments, Reaper fell limp, the pain too much even for him to endure.

Tossing him aside like a rag doll, the beast that was Sergeant Michael Perun, turned to face the other two women who had accompanied Reaper. The spot where they had lain was vacant, with tracks leading into the woods. Sniffing the air, he caught their scent and charged after them.

"You can't hide from me!"

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They had made decent time through the woods, until they reached the river. By then Sombra had recovered enough from the hit to manage to move on her own. They were halfway across the frozen river, nearly to the transport. Amelie stood waiting by the hatch, her rifle ready, when the wolf man burst out from the forest behind the fleeing women.

Shock, awe and fear flashed across Widowmakers face, as the beast charged at them, intending to rip them limb from limb. Widow's Kiss chattered, bullets flying at it, as she tried to wound the monster, but to no avail.

Only when he was nearly on top of them, did he slow down, as a swirling nimbus of black mist, coalesced into Reaper. For once, the beast was surprised, but it only lasted a moment, before he began tearing into the ice, intent on breaking the shotgun wielding terrorist, as he had before. Reaper kept firing, doing everything he could to keep it distracted.

As the rest of his team disappeared into the transport, Gabriel decided that it was time that he made his exit. As he began to teleport into the transport, he saw that both Jack and Tracer had come out onto the riverbank, moving as fast as they could to catch them.

Even with her chronal accelerator, there was no way Lena could catch them. The transport was already airborne, carrying the Talon operatives away from the conflict. Though they were already away, Reaper had dropped several grenades, the explosives forcing the Overwatch team to fall back. The hatch closed, sealing the Talon strike team safely within its confines.

Moments later, there was a clunking sound, which came from the closed ramp. Suddenly, hardened nails punched through, tearing small holes in the metal. Slowly, it began to move, widening the gouges, then a fist punched through, causing the metal to tear with a shriek. Another roar sounded and they terrorists knew that the beast had somehow, managed to latch onto their aircraft.

Taking a risk, Reaper punched the emergency open button, forcing the hatch to fly open. Once open, the wolf man that was Michael Perun, flipped up and stood before the black clad man. In the span of a heartbeat, Gabriel Reyes unloaded his shotguns into the walking monstrosity, the slugs exploding with concussive force. The blasts drove it back, forcing it to the edge. It was at that moment, that Sombra, though wounded, opened fire on the wolf man, pushing it over the edge and into the snow covered valley below.

"Not today, puppy!" Reaper growled as he turned back into the ship, closing the door.

"Doomfist, will not be pleased," the Mexican woman stated, as she was being tended to by Moira.

"Better to come back empty handed, than not come back at all," Reaper said, with a finality that made even Moira shiver with its implications. He walked on, deeper into the ship, with a slight limp to his step.

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Michael fell, from a height of more than a thousand feet, as he tumbled to the earth. Looking about, he saw that a copse of trees lay beneath him and he focused on dodging the tips, as he fell past them. His hands shot out, grabbing whatever branches were within reach. They began to slow his descent, and as soon as a large enough branch presented itself, he grabbed it and held on for dear life.

The branch he had grabbed, actually held, for all of seven seconds, but it was enough. The tree limb snapped under his weight, but by then, Mike had leapt from the tree he was in, to the one next to it. He made consistent leaps, working his way down, until he was finally on hard packed ground.

His eyes shot upwards, barely able to make out the fading aircraft, as it pulled away with all due haste. He roared after it, glad to see it gone, but still angry all the same.

"Merc scum," he growled, before he turned his gaze back from where he came. Smelling the scent of blood, he raced off back to where he had left behind the group of Overwatch soldiers. He hurried, running on all fours to give him the speed that was necessary to get there fast. Michael knew that at least one of the soldiers had gone down hard. He only hoped that she wasn't gone before he got there.

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Jack stood over Zarya, the medical pack he had brought with him had staunched the blood flow, when Mei's impromptu treatment had melted away. Though she was stable, Zarya's core temperature was falling fast.

"What are we going to do? We can't carry her out of here without stripping down her armor and she'd freeze to death before we'd even get near the transport," Mei lamented. Zarya was much bigger than any of them there and though Jack had enhanced strength, it wasn't going to be enough to move the fallen Russian, without causing more damage.

"Wish that I could take more than myself with thing," Lena stated bitterly, gesturing to her chronal accelrator. "Even if I could lift her, it wouldn't be for very long and even together, we aren't strong enough to lift her, much less carry her through this snow."

"I can carry her," a deep voice rumbled from behind them. The three members of Overwatch turned to see that Michael had returned, though he was still in his wolf form. He breathed evenly, despite having just run the whole way from where he fell, several kilometers away.

"After what we just saw, how can we trust that you won't turn on us?" the embittered soldier asked, with his pulse rifle aimed at the center mass of the creature.

"You don't. But you remember that man that I was Jack? I'm still that same man, just....less man and more animal. My cabin's not far from here. We can look after her there and everyone can be out of the cold," the wolf man said, his deep voice calm and placid.

With that last statement, he walked right past everyone and scooped up Zarya in his arms, as though she weighed nothing at all. When he turned, the three of them were staring at him as though he had just done the impossible. Grunting he trudged through the snow drifts in a northerly direction. After about a dozen or so steps, he turned back and glared at the team.

"Well? Are you three coming with me, or am I going to have to drink all the coffee and eat all the pie myself?" Mike growled.

"You have pie?" both Mei and Tracer asked.

"I could go for a cup of coffee," Jack said resignedly. With that, he shouldered his rifle and picked up Zarya's particle cannon, falling in behind their feral guide. Mei and Tracer hurried along in their wake, shivering from the cold as the sun began to dip towards the horizon.

As promised, the group didn't have to go far, maybe eight hundred meters before they came to small and secluded glade. Had they not been guided right to it, the team would have likely missed it, searching for the lost soldier. As they approached the front door, they saw Mike stumbling as he neared it.

"Someone, get the door, now! I'm changing back!" Mike ground out, as he leaned against the wall for support. Jack quickly opened the door and Mike swooped in, heading straight for a sturdy dinner table. Guessing his line of thinking, Tracer zipped in and cleared the table of any objects that lay upon it, which wasn't much. With the table cleared, the big man deposited Zarya on it as carefully as he dared.

"Surgical......trauma kit....under the sink." Mike croaked out as he staggered to the floor, shrinking back to his normal size. Mei darted to the cabinet under the sink and pulled the kit out, handing it to Jack. Both he and Lena started removing Zarya's armor, as Mei closed the front door, keeping the heat from the sputtering hearth from deserting them.

Michael roared again, but it was subdued and sounded more....human. He twisted and groaned, as everything started to snap back into place. The body hair receded, drawing back into him, as his transformation continued its reversal. Lastly, his skin turned back to a human shade of pink once more. The rough leathery hide of the beast that he had been, was gone from sight. He lay there, naked as the day he was born, breathing heavily.