Chapter Text
Ancient scholars used to speak of four elements, elements that made up the world as we know it.
There’s fire and earth, equally dangerous as they are life giving. Then there’s water and air, both of which life cannot exist without.
But that’s ancient history, now there’s a new element. We use it everyday, for transport, for communication, entertainment. Many would agree this new element is as vital to us now as the other four are.
And just like the others, it too can be destructive.
Too long has humanity been confined by the world we inhabit, too long fighting just to survive. But the world is not as it was, the rules have changed. We can either adapt or perish, those rules are still the same though.
That is why I fight, and where I draw my strength from, my current, my spark.
Shocked? Don’t be, there’s still much to be done.
Will you adapt?
Or perish?
* * *
From the beginning the odds were stacked against y/n, growing up in what one might call an ‘unstable’ environment. Y/n understood early that what she sought, what she needed lay beyond the horizon.
And so she left, left her home, her country, her family and identity. She held no hate towards either of those things but it was clear that other people, people with different views would always come between her and the work she knew she was meant to do. And so when she arrived in Oasis to study computer science, she wanted to make a new name for herself, one that would not invite hostility based solely on lack of information.
And it worked, soon enough y/n had developed her own line of code-based simulations able to accurately synthesize and parallel that of real life. If there had been an explosion the program along with a few search drones could find where it went off, why, who made and planted it. This would be a huge step for law enforcement but it would take some time testing and troubleshooting before being released in the field. Meanwhile it was installed and available for use in the student lab, used mostly for simulating the effects of early-stage medication before being handed out to test groups.
Satisfied with her work y/n was one day approached by Overwatch to work in their tech and science department. Having been recommended by the university she accepted and looked forward to expanding her work and help in the fight against Null Sector. But she quickly learned that the life of heroes was not all glory and honor.
Having to work late nights and her addiction to caffeine already being bad enough she rarely got time to herself and even less to actually see the good she was doing. Sure she got the occasional credit and mention in the news but she was never there to see her tech in action. Still, she couldn’t complain as the chances of her ever getting this far was 1 in 270.090, roughly speaking. For 5 years things were going great, during Overwatch’s ‘Golden Age’ as it were. On occasion y/n even got to meet and work with some of Overwatch’s more famous agents like Dr. Ziegler and Winston. She had her own lab and had even been informed she might soon lead her own division of engineers.
And she would have were it not for the “Venice Incident '' where it was eventually ruled out that she and many others were guilty of conspiracy and perjury. Of course she had no direct involvement but her tech was by the time widely used and to satisfy the public the court drew in as many people as possible, even those who had never been in the field.
And with that y/n time at Overwatch as over, not that it mattered, it shut down not long after but this time she did leave with a grudge for her former employer. She had done so much for them and now she couldn’t even get a job as an engineer. Good thing she had saved up and the contract with Overwatch as well as the court had approved that some of the involved be given a monthly allowance for the time equal to that they had been in service. And it could have been worse, she could have gone to prison but was dismissed on the previously mentioned reasons of never having any direct involvement.
But it still didn’t sit right with her, besides being cast out that is. Why had she of all people been accused? Yes many others were as well, both scientists, engineers and HR personnel. But how had her work been significant enough to warrant her termination? Y/n had even made a list, counting every gadget and code she had worked on and pulled up every contract she had signed. Satellite channels, surveillance cameras, tracking chips, drones. None of these had been used in Rialto, well besides the chips but every agent had those.
The court had said they had been tampered with and those so-called ‘Blackwatch’ agents had had theirs send out false signals or completely shut off during their missions. Was she to be responsible for her higher ups tampering with her tech when she herself had never been notified? Unbelievable…
To present day, besides her slowly shrinking wallet y/n needed to find something to distract herself with, as she always had. The idea of working some low paying service job sounded not at all enticing but without access to her old lab she had thought of returning to Oasis, maybe as a teacher?
Unbeknownst to her, while y/n was trying to figure things out she was being watched.