#overwatch ensemble

9 cropped Overwatch screenshots. Transcript:

[CAMEO (D.VA)] (gasps)

[IVGUNNER (WRECKING BALL)] (Hammond rolling over someone)

[CAMEO (D.VA)] (dying sounds)

[WEBROLLY (MERCY)] (screams)

[BLINX (BAPTISTE)] (screams)

[LETDAHAKA (LÚCIO)] (screams)

[CAMEO (REAPER)] (screams)

[EPHOENIX (REINHARDT)] (grunts)

[CAMEO (REAPER)] (crushed sounds)

[CAMEO (BASTION)] (excited beeps)

[CAMEO (BASTION)] (curious beep)

[CAMEO (BASTION)] (fanfare beeps)

[BEATBOXVOXER (MERCY)] Mercy is here.

[CAMEO (WRECKING BALL)] (hamster noises) Control link established.

[FOPPA (SOMBRA)]: I’m securing the objective. Anyone want to join me?

[CHIEFTANBYRD (PHARAH)] Move back!

[XMDUDE (TORBJÖRN)] (dying sounds)

[CAMEO (BAPTISTE)] No dying on my watch.

[STITCH (MCCREE)] (dying sounds)

[SUPERMAN (REINHARDT)] (Charge)

[RICKBOI (WIDOWMAKER)] (disgusted sound) Americans.

[FUNKYCHESTER (GENJI)] (prolonged screaming)

[ANAKI (BASTION)] (concentrating beeps)

[GIMM (ORISA)] Please move behind the barrier!

[CHAOSINFINITI (ROADHOG)] (grunts)

There was a grunt of agreement from Soldier.

“Then what about Mario Cart?” Hana tried but Hanzo scoffed.

“You know McCree is no good at video games. It stresses him out and then he smokes. We do not want a repeat of last time.”

McCree raised his hands in exasperation. “I said I was sorry! Who set the sprinklers to be so sensitive anyways?!”

The unimpressed glares made him cross his arms with a petulant frown.

“Uno?” Mei peeped out.

“Winston,” was the answer from several agents at once.

“Let us leave out the cards completely,” Zenyatta suggested mildly as Lena’s consoling petting intensified.

Hana put her forehead on the table. “This is the worst!”

“I think we should play bowling!” Reinhardt exclaimed from the next to the Soldier who flinched at the volume. Everyone turned to him.

“How?” Lucio asked, confused.

“Sorry to break it to ya but we don’t have a bowling alley.” McCree drawled, already done with sulking, balancing his chair on the two back legs instead.

“Yeah, and you threw the Wii controller through the wall during that last tennis match,” Hana added in a sour tone. Reinhardt deflated. “Oh.”

McCree raised his hand as an idea struck him.

“We are not playing Never have I ever, Jesse,” Angela stopped him before he even managed to open his mouth. The plain disappointment in that scruffy face told everyone she was right on the money.  

“Yer no fun.”

Hanzo rolled is eyes and Genji snickered. “You just want to get plastered.”

“‘S wrong with that? We’ve been sitting here for a better part of an hour and haven’t come up with a single game everyone can play. Not exactly fun game night if ya ask me.”

“We are not canceling the game night,” Soldier growled, putting his hands on the table; ever so set on team bonding activities.

“Not suggesting we-”

Sudden rumble followed shortly by a trickle of dust falling from the ceiling, and a bang as McCree’s chair tipped back and he crashed to the floor made everyone stop; Hanzo the only one even attempting to help McCree back up.

“The hell was that?”

“...where is Jamison?” Mei asked slowly, her hand pausing in stress-petting Snowball.

The mad scramble as everyone tried to be the first out of the door was not as unusual as one would think since the two junkers joined them.

“Those better not be my babies!” Torbjorn yelled as another boom reached their ears, now mixed with a screech of metal.

They got to the exit just as a wild voice called: “Fire in the hole!” Making everyone backpedal at once, covering behind the wall as another much louder explosion rocked the Watchpoint.

“I’m going to kill him,” Soldier growled, pushing out the moment the dust settled.

Zarya whistled when they got to the now wide open space where an outcrop of rocks and a small shed used to be. The junkers were both there, Junkrat hoping from foot to foot in excitement while Roadhog was throwing some debris out of the way.

“What have you done?” Angela asked in horror.

Jamison turned to her, beaming. “Made us lil som’n!”

“Wasn’t there a shed before?” Satya asked, taking in the newly created space. “Over there, I believe.” She pointed to the far right.

A distressed sound came from behind Torbjorn where Brigitta was standing, pale as a ghost.

“‘S gone now,” Jamison grinned, clearly self-satisfied.

“I can’t remember what was in it,” Winston said, mentally inventorying before giving into any panic.

“Just some junk. Blew it up,” the scrawny junker waved his hand dismissively. Brigitta whimpered.

“All my spare parts? Gone?”

“‘S that what it was?”

McCree leaned close to Hanzo. “Just so we are clear. We could’ve been having sex right now.”

Hanzo shot him a look but he wasn’t fooling anyone. McCree could tell the archer regretted the decision to join in for the game night. But Genji was so insistent!

“Let’s make a run for it.” McCree wheedled.

“Jesse!” Hanzo hissed at him but the cowboy only grinned at him.

“C’mon, darlin’, I’ll blow you in the shower.”

That did make Hanzo hesitate. The offer sounded imminently more pleasurable than anything that could happen here.

“Eww! Stop it, McCree, I can hear you!” Genji whined from behind them, making Hanzo stiffen and McCree chuckle.

“Sorry about that, Genji, but no can do. Yer brother’s dick is just too damn tempting.”

“By the gods!” Genji threw his hands up, immediately attracting all the attention to the three of them; Genji cursing, McCree laughing, and Hanzo covering his reddening face in his hands.

There was a moment before Soldier wisely said “I refuse to ask,” and turned back to Junkrat. “Why would you-” he paused, looking for some words that could adequately describe what was happening, then gave up. “Why?”

“Cricket!”

“What?” Lucio asked, as perplexed as most of the others.

“There wasn’t anywhere to play. So we made space! ‘S game night, right?”

This time the silence was much longer. And the subsequent choir of groans much louder.

“Jamison, we do not have equipment for cricket.” Angela imparted the devastating truth to the man, whose face turned from glee to horror in an exceptionally overdone way.

“But- How can ya not have it?” He turned to the other junker pleadingly. “Roadie?”

The big man patted his back in a consoling gesture, Junkrat swayed under the force of it a bit.

“A blowjob and I’ll ride you like a bronco after. Final offer,” McCree murmured, making Genji squeak in indignation.

Hanzo was proud of his strong will and his determination to never be swayed by bribes or coercion. But even Shimada heirs had their limits. He grabbed McCree’s hand, turning on his heels he dragged the cowboy back inside, ignoring Soldier’s yelling following them in mixed with Genji’s pleading to just let them go for the love of all that is holy.

A few hours later when the cowboy was laying half across Hanzo’s chest, still breathing hard but already on his way to blissful unconscious, Hanzo knew he would never again choose game night over a night in.

Conversation slowed and the forced smiles finally dropped as the agents took a moment to absorb his words.

“Aye,” Torbjorn agreed after a long moment. “That it has.”

“It has been hard on all of us,” Mei said quietly, looking down at her mug of hot cocoa. She ran a thumb over the murloc design and thought of five other mugs standing empty in Antarctica. “We’ve lost so many people…”

“The Helix Prison break. Doomfist’s return,” Genji said, faceplate off and perched on the back of the couch. “The attack on Numbani.”

“Talon’s rise to power,” Lena said slowly, and leaned into Emily as she put an arm around her comfortingly.

“That asshole Petras gunning for our arrests,” McCree added.

“And the worldwide rise of the Second Omnic Crisis,” Winston sighed. “It’s true. A lot has happened this year, and not all of it was good.”

He looked around at the small gathering and brought himself to his impressive full height, holding his little glass of champagne between two massive fingers.

“But look around,” he said, face firming with determination. “Look at how much good this year has brought us.”

Most of the group didn’t look convinced, glancing uneasily around at each other.

“Well…” Emily finally said, a smile tugging at her lips. “Lena and I got engaged. So that’s something.”

A brilliant smile rose on Lena’s face and melted away her gloomy look like a sunrise after a storm. “That’s right, luv! Nothing could put a damper on that!”

“We…have made some new friends,” Mei gave Zarya a furtive glance before looking away with a blush on her cheeks.

“That’s right!” Lucio jumped to his feet. “I would have never met any of you without all the awful stuff that happened this year. And now I feel like I’m doing some real good in the world!”

“And it has been an honor and privilege to help with the rise of such new heroes,” Reinhardt said fondly, putting a giant hand on both Lucio and Hana’s shoulders.

“We have…” Hanzo surprised himself by speaking up and didn’t make eye contact with anyone, staring at the sake he cupped in both hands. “…reunited with family we thought long gone. And for that, I am grateful.”

McCree put a gentle, comforting hand on Hanzo’s back while Genji beamed at him from across the room, eyes suspiciously wet.

“We have our family back, and nothing will ever break it apart again,” Winston said with determination. “No matter what trials are thrown our way, if we work together, we can overcome them. What this year has brought us is hope.”

“Hey!” Hana pointed at the screen. “Twelve seconds! Eleven!”

“Ten!”

Genji leapt to his feet, though Zenyatta continued to float peacefully beside him.

“Nine!”

Torbjorn hastily ran to refill his drink, ignoring Ingrid’s laughter behind him.

“Eight!”

Hana and Lucio scrambled to snap their phones out, getting their social medias ready to record.

“Seven!”

Mei shyly slid closer to Zarya, blushing and looking away. Zarya did the same.

“Six!”

Lena entwined her fingers with Emily’s.

“Five!”

Fareeha flopped heavily into the couch beside Angela, grinning wide.

“Four!”

Satya, on the outskirts of the crowd, drew in closer, getting more relaxed around the team with every day.

“Three!”

McCree wrapped one arm around Hanzo’s shoulders, pulling him close.

“Two!”

Winston smiled fondly at the group counting down. His group. His family. His Overwatch.

“One!”

Cheers erupted through the room as the holoscreen showed fireworks that were going off somewhere else in the world. McCree pulled Hanzo into a deep kiss.

“Happy New Year, Jesse.”

“...Forgot about breaking the table and opening up your wounds?”

“Well when you put it that way, it sounds silly.”

Emily laughed and kissed her before walking to said broken table.

“You tried to lay yourself on the table to get my attention. A five year old table. Which barely survived the move here.”

“I was lying sexily...” Lena pouted and Emily laughed harder, making it difficult to keep pouting and not laugh too.

“So,” her fiancee hummed once their laughter calmed down. “What's up with Fareeha?”

Lena almost shrugged before a glance from Emily stopped her.

“Just general stuff. But...” She sighed. “Angie's not doing to great.” Emily just hummed and swept the floor for more pieces of table.

“Sad to say, I'm not surprised. She's a pacifist after all.”

“Yeah. Though she doesn't seem to regret helping us, just more of...” Lena vaguely waved her hand, not wanting to bring up the unsaid.

“Right.”

They all really couldn't let their actions so. As heroic as they were, it still was the after effect of any gun fight. Luckily, they had Zenyatta so he could offer perspective and therapy.

He was damn good at therapy.

“Anyways, she seems to be getting a little more sleep.” Granted, it was because of the now-ex chief of police. Sombra did seem to keep her word and provided with enough evidence to send him packing. It threw a load off of Fareeha's shoulders.

“Good! She always had nasty bags under her eyes,” Emily said while gathering the pieces into a corner. “Well, that should be the last of it. Time to look for a new table.” She smiled and walked over to poke Lena's nose. “I'll leave that to you, Tracer.”

She snorted and wrapped her arms around finacee.

“Alright, but I'm not telling them why.”

“You don't need to tell them why in the first place!” Emily laughed. “Though I'm sure they've heard of worse.”

“Worse than failed seduction?”

“Who said it failed?” Emily blew some of Lena's hair away form her face. “You still look handsome to me. Besides, we should be careful. They opened up pretty easily.”

Lena winced and pulled her closer.

“Sorry.”

“Don't be.” Emily gently rubbed her back, careful not to hit the bandages. “You have a good heart. One that I've yet to see in others.”

She took her finacee's hand and moved away so that Lena could see her smile.

“You're my hero, Lena. And I'll always be by your side.”

Staring up at her, Lena almost felt like crying. She was, but the multiple emotions she was feeling at the moment made it hard to tell whether it was because she was sad or delighted. This woman deserved more than Lena could offer, was what she always told herself. Looking back on it, though, Lena knew that she had done better because she knew what was waiting for her. Because she knew that someone was there by her side. Because she knew someone loved her.

The world needed more heroes.

And Emily was her world.