Chapter Text
‘This was not how I had planned this,’ he thought, as he welded the tether to the pod. He didn’t have much time. Soon his final lifeline would leave. He needed to escape, now more than ever. Alarms were blaring, glass was shattering, screams and shouts echoed throughout the facility, but they were all drowned out when the gunfire started. That was when he decided that he’d welded enough, and rolled his makeshift craft up to the hangar. Where the traitor was making his getaway. He attached the tether to the traitors craft using a claw he’d torn off of one of those creepy maintenance robots. That was when the traitor began to fire up the engines. He didn’t have much time, so he got in his pod, hoping that the cushions he’d smuggled from the break room would brace him enough. As the pod shook, he looked out of the tiny viewport to see that they’d had lift-off. ‘I am free. I am alive. I am safe,’ he thought. Unfortunately, his judgement was too quick, as the pod jolted. One area near the middle of the tether was splitting, threads of metal wire coming loose. ‘I am near Earth now, I can make it,’ he thought hopefully. However, he was far from the blue planet when the tether snapped, sending him plummeting down towards a continent whose landscape was almost entirely desert. The impact would kill him for sure-
Hammond awoke from his nightmare, breathing rapidly as he adjusted to his surroundings, remembering exactly where he was: inside of Wrecking Ball. He had escaped from Horizon. He was in Junkertown. He sank back into his chair as the voice of the mech’s AI filled his ears, “Hammond, this is the third time this week that you have become startled in your sleep. Are you certain that nothing is bothering you?”. Hammond squeaked back, informing the AI that he was, in fact, okay. Champions like him did not have time for nightmares.
Winston sighed as he looked at a framed picture of him, alongside all of the other experiments at Horizon Lunar Colony. The photo was one of the few belongings he took with him to Earth. “You alright love?” Winston jumped as Lena blinked behind him. “Yeah just, uh,” Winston looked back at the photo. He couldn’t keep lying to his team about his mental state forever. “I... I miss the other specimens at Horizon,” the gorilla admitted sheepishly. The brit gave him a glance of sympathy, before her eyes lit up. “Athena, can you... I don’t know, access Horizon Lunar Colony’s databanks?” She said. Winston didn’t move, preparing to tell her that communications were likely cut off long ago, but Athena spoke first, “Establishing connections with Horizon Lunar Colony.” The room crackled with tension, Winston unsure what to say, or even what to think. “Horizon Lunar Colony databanks accessed. The following files can be accessed: Communications, Research, Staff, Specimens, Structures, Theories and Miscellaneous” Winston sat there slack jawed. How had he not thought of this sooner? “Athena, access Specimens,” he said, still trying to process the fact that this actually worked. Athena continued, “Specimen status reports:
Specimen Twenty-Eight ‘Winston’: Missing
Specimen Twenty-Six ‘Ellie’: Alive
Specimen Twenty-Four ‘Marie’: Deceased
Specimen Twenty-Three ‘Hypatia’: Alive
Specimen Twenty ‘Susan’: Deceased
Specimen Fifteen ‘Calvin’: Alive
Specimen Ten ‘Dyson’: Deceased
Specimen Nine ‘Simon’: Deceased
Specimen Eight ‘Hammond’: Missing”
Once Athena had finished, the pair were left unsure of what to think. Tracer was already thinking about plans to go there, expecting Winston to be agreeing, but he just stood there, before asking, “Athena, why does it report Hammond as Missing?” Athena was quick to respond, “Specimen Eight was last sighted attaching a makeshift escape pod to a escape pod piloted by you. The escape pod lasted several minutes after take-off, before detaching and landing on Earth” Winston looked more hopeful than Lena had ever seen him before “Where about on Earth?” Winston quickly asked.
“Based on his trajectory, Specimen Eight would have most likely landed not far from the Australian Omnium. Said Omnium has been repurposed into the home of a clan of scavengers known as the Junkers.” Winston stood still for a moment, processing the information, before declaring, “Athena, inform everyone to head to the Orca. I’m saying hello to an old friend.”