Overwatch: Time After Time

Summary: When a life is ended too early, sometimes there's a second chance. Such is the case of Mark Winters. After a freak accident involving his and his father's invention, Mark is granted another chance at life in the world of Overwatch. Using his newfound abilities, he fights to restore peace to the world. All the while falling in love with a brown-haired Brit who can wield time.

Author's Note: This is my very first Overwatch story. I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 1: Alive

Location: Winter Technologies, Time: May 24, 2016, The Day of Release For Overwatch

Mark's POV

This was the day I had been waiting for since November of last year. The day Overwatch was released to PC and Console. I has been working two separate jobs to save up enough money to preorder the game. While my father had plenty of money and contacts to get me a free copy of the game, I told him I wanted to work for it. He laughed and told me that I learned a very valuable skill and lesson. Always work for what you want.

After I had picked up the game, I was in my room at my dad's business, Winter Technologies. Dad created this company when he was only fifteen, and gave me my own job working with the gaming division of the company. We created VR headsets, communication headsets and custom remotes for different clients and customers. But my dad and I were on the verge on creating the first ever virtual headset that placed you into the game world itself, meaning you could interact with the characters in a game, and they could interacted with you as well. You could change the ending of any game to the way you wanted it. Kind of like the Choose Your Own Adventure books that you can read, except without limits.

As I opened the packaging for the game, my smile widened when I saw my favorite character was on the cover. A knock on my door was heard.

"Mark, it's your father. Can I come in?"

I smiled.

"Come on in, Dad."

My dad entered. He was covered in soot, and he pushed up his goggles, leaving an outline from where the soot covered him except around the area where his goggles were.

I frowned.

"What happened, dad?"

"Oh, a prototype blew up...I can't seem to make it work."

"Don't be so glum, Dad. Failures are a part of science. Thomas Edison took 1,000 tries to perfect the lightbulb. As he said.."

"I did not fail. I have just found 1,000 ways that do not work..." continued my father. "I know, son. So how much progress have you made the new VR Headset?"

"I think I have what I need to make a prototype. But we need someone to test it."

"Why not you, son? You're an expert at video games. You learned from the best."

He gestured to the trophy outside of my room, reading "Video Gamer Championship 1989 Winner Steve Winters."

"I know dad, but..."

"No buts. You can do this, son. I know it. Now..let's build a VR Headset."

I smiled.

"Race you to the lab!"

I hopped off my bed, and hurried out the door, my father quickly following. As we entered the lab, I turned on the radio, and the sound system, and grabbed my headphones, tossing the other pair to dad. Loverboy's "Everybody's Working For The Weekend" began to blare out of the sound system as we began to work on the VR headset.

Several Hours Later...

It was done. Me and my dad had made the VR Headset.

I yawned loudly.

"We did it."

"Yep. We can run tests in the morning. Take it up to your room. I'll make the test preparations for tomorrow."

"Okay. Night, dad."

I hugged him tightly, before heading upstairs to my room. After I changed for bed, I placed the headset next to the Overwatch game case, not noticing a blue spark jumping from the case and vanishing into the headset.

Location: Winter Technologies Show Room, Time: Next Morning, Just Before the Test

This was it. I turned to my father.

"Dad, could we try Overwatch first? I know you said to play something easy and simple, but the game has a training mode I could do. I wouldn't be versing anyone."

"Well..."

"Please, dad?"

"Alright. Since your twenty-third birthday is today, I suppose you can. Consider it a birthday present."

"Wait..today is my birthday? I must have been so busy that I forgot that it was today. Thanks, dad!"

I went over to the gaming chair as my dad began to address the reporters who were there to interview me and my father about the new VR Headset.

"People of the world and the gaming community. You are about to witness the very first prototype of the...what is it called, son?"

"The In-Depth Virtual Reality Headset or the IDVR for short."

The reporters gasped in awe, and wrote it down in their notes.

My father coughed gently before continuing.

"Thanks, son. As my son said the new headset is called the IDVR. This new virtual headset can not only make you feel like you are a part of a game, it can literally place you in the world."

"How," asked one reporter.

"It transforms your brain waves into data, and makes essentially a virtual you that can move around in coding. Or gameplay for the gamers out there."

"What's to stop the consciousness of the person in the headset from leaving the body?"

"There's a series of safety measures that are inside the headset that protects the human brain. However they can not be removed or tampered with. It is quite safe."

A technician made his way over.

"Sir, we're all systems go."

"Thank you. Mark, we're ready. Fire it up."

"Roger that, Dad."

I placed the headset onto my head, and activated the game. Suddenly, I felt an electric surge run through my body and I screamed in pain. What I didn't realize was the invention my father and I invented..was killing me. Then my vision went dark, and I knew no more.

A few weeks later...

I groaned as a light shone in my eyes, and I opened them. Everything was blurry.

"Wakey, wakey, sunshine," said a voice.

My mouth felt dry, and I could barely breathe.

"Wa..water...need...water."

Soon, I felt a glass of water pressed to my lips and I began to sip. Once I was done, I spoke.

"Where...where am I?"

"London Memorial Hospice. You took quite a shock. You were struck by lightning a few weeks ago."

"Lightning..? I don't remember that."

"Yeah, the doctor said you might have memory loss. I'm your nurse by the way. Name's Jack."

"Nice..to..meet..you."

I winced slightly as I slowly sat up. Suddenly, a phone ran. Jack answer it.

"Yeah? Really? Mondatta's coming to London? That's awesome! I'll see you tonight."

I was confused.

"Who's Mondatta?"

"A Omnic. He's a robot, and he wants to create peace between the humans and the Omnic's once more."

"When is he coming?"

"In a couple weeks. I could probably take you there if you get well soon. We try to take our hospice patients out for strolls while their recovering. Apparently, it helps."

"I'd like that."

"Awesome. What's your name? Everyone's kind of sick of calling you John Doe."

"I...I...think..it starts..with an M..."

"Micheal..Marty...Mark..."

"That last one! Mark!"

"And last name...?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Don't worry. We'll figure it out."

As he looked away, I moved my arm and winced. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity shot out of my arm, and struck the TV, causing it to spark. I was shocked. Jack was confused as to why the TV sparked, and went to find some janitors to clean up the mess, leaving me to figure out my powers.

Location: Hospital Science Lab, Time: The Evening Mondatta Arrives.

Two weeks went by faster then I thought it would. Some of my memory returned. Though not all of it. I still could not remember anything from just before I was struck by lightning, though I had a strange feeling that lightning was not the cause as I finished my super suit. It was skin-tight, and all black. I designed it to absorb my electric powers, and to channel them from my finger tips. I had a welders mask to protect my eyesight and my face. The only thing left to do was test it. Jack entered the lab.

"Hey, you about ready? Got you discharged and the wheelchair ready."

"Sure. Let me put my tools away and I'll be ready."

I put all the tools I used away, and climbed into the wheelchair that he had as we headed out of the lab and the front door. My super suit was tucked away in a small wallet I made. Having a miniaturization feature on the suit helped out a lot. As we rolled to a stop outside the hospital, I got to my feet slowly and gasped.

"London...sure has changed...it's more...futuristic."

"Well, what do you expect? It's 2046."

We climbed into his hovercar, and headed downtown to where Mondatta was supposed to be. After we parked, we headed over to where to the crowd was cheering Mondatta's name. A little girl next to me shouted at her mother as a beautiful woman with brown-hair stepped between us. She had what appeared to be a harness strapped to her chest, and it had a pulsing blue glow. Underneath that was a brown flight jacket and a yellow orangeish jumpsuit that hugged her curves. To top it off she had a pair of goggles with orange lenses and a white frame. A familiar name on her jumpsuit caught my eye.

"Tracer..." I whispered.

The woman turned behind her, and I ducked quickly. She shrugged her shoulders, and turned to look back just in time to see Mondatta step outside to speak.

"Human. Machine. We are all one within the Iris."

The crowd cheered, but to me the sound was drowned out. My brain ached. Memories were starting to return. I was snapped out of my daze when I saw the woman named Tracer pass me. I turned to Jack.

"I need to get some space. I'll be right back."

Jack nodded, and I headed off. As I leaned against a nearby wall, the sound of gunfire caught my attention. Opening the special wallet I made for my suit, I pulled it out, and enlarged it. Quickly climbing into my suit, and zipping it up, I placed on my welding mask, and rushed towards the sound of gunfire. Which was moving up several flights of stairs.

I groaned.

"Really?! Wait. Might be able to solve this."

I aimed my hands at the ground and electricity began to flow, and struck the ground. As I fed more electricity into my hands, I began to lift off from the ground.

"Woah..steady.."

Soon, I made it to the top only to see a blue blur jump by me. The same color as the device I saw on Tracer. Suddenly, the blue blur turned into Tracer and she was following what appeared to be a woman with blue skin. And she was carrying a rifle.

"She must be here to assassinate Mondatta..but why?"

Saving the question for later, I rushed after Tracer. Suddenly, she slid through purple smoke and fell down. The blue woman stood over her with the rifle pointed to her head.

"Such a sweet foolish girl..."

Rage bubbled inside me when suddenly Tracer flashed blue, and seemed to go backwards in time, before she redid her leap and blinked over the purple smoke.

"What was that?" she asked, opening fire on the blue woman. I stormed in and shot electricity at her, knocking her down. I grabbed her by the shoulders, and brought her to the edge of the building.

"Who are you? And why are you doing this?"

"My name is no concern of yours. And besides...looks like the party's over..."

Suddenly, a huge explosion was heard behind us. Tracer looked over and saw that the limo Mondatta was next to had exploded into flames.

"No..no...no...no!"

The blue-skinned woman pushed me off of her, and stood up. Suddenly a blue blur tackled her, and reformed into Tracer, pushing her towards the edge of the building.

"Why?!" cried Tracer. "Why would you do this?"

The blue-skinned woman chuckled. Suddenly a white light covered us and we turned to look, but the blue-skinned woman pulled Tracer towards her and said..

"Adieu chérie."

She launched herself backwards and pulled Tracer down with her, slamming her body into the wall hard. The blue light sparked wildly as she dropped to ground. I jumped down off the roof, landing next to Tracer as she tried to get up. I looked up and saw the blue-skinned woman with a smirk on her face as she walked away from the edge, leaving in what appeared to be a ship.

"Tracer..can you hear me?"

"I can..hear..you... I'm okay...who..are you..?"

"Call me Lightknight."

I gently helped her to her feet.

"Your harness is damaged. I'm guessing this is how you use your powers.."

"Yeah...how did you know that..?"

My mind searched for an answer, but found none.

"I guess..I just know tech. Though I have no clue what else this thing can do."

"Oh...so mate. How do you have your powers..hmm?"

She put her hands on her hips and looked at me with a "Come on, tell me." look.

"Struck by lightning."

Suddenly, a ringtone went off.

"Is that your communication system?"

"Yeah..I think it is.."

She looked at it, and hit the answer button.

"Winston? Is that you, Luv? Oh, it's been too long."

"Yes. Haha. It has."

"So, your recalling every Overwatch member?"

"I am."

"Can we add one more to the team?"

"Another recruit for Overwatch? Can we trust him?"

"He tried to help me save a Onmic. By the name of Mondatta. He was trying to bring peace...but..Widowmaker killed him..."

"Oh...so that's who she was.."

"Is that him?"

"Yeah..I'm Lightknight. I control electricity."

"We could use someone like you. Sending you my coordinates, Tracer. Bring him in."

"Roger."

Tracer ended the call and turned back to me.

"Ready to go?"

But I didn't hear her. My arms felt tingly. Tracer snapped her fingers in front of me.

"Hey. You ready?"

I snapped out of my daze.

"Yeah, let's go."

She smiled and tried to blink, but she only went so far before reappearing and gasping in pain.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I think my harness took more damage then I thought. We'll have to get Winston to look at it."

"Okay. We probably should walk then."

She nodded.

"Okay."

Soon, the two of us headed towards the airport, not noticing my arm fading in and out of existence before returning solid.

Location: Winter Technologies, Our World, Time: A Few Days After the Failure of the IDVR.

Steve's POV

I gently held my sons hand as he laid in the small hospital bed. He was in a coma with no brainwave activity. He was stuck in the game world of Overwatch.

"Don't worry, my son. I will bring you back home. I will free you from your virtual prison. This I swear by my own blood."

Hmm..so Mark is not dead. Merely in a coma with no brainwave activity. How does this effect the plot? Stay tuned to find out.

Also small note here. Just wanted to explain my decision to kill off Mondatta. One: I see fanfics where Mendatta survives and it doesn't make sense. According to a wiki on Overwatch, the Recall for Overwatch members happens after the death of Mondatta. So if Tracer was working solo to begin with, and she stopped Widowmaker from killing Mondatta, she might have not rejoined Overwatch when the recall was sent out. In my opinion, the death of Mondatta pushes Tracer to rejoin Overwatch. Two: The reason I had him die by an explosion was if Widowmaker was hired to take out Mondatta she wouldn't leave things to chance. I think she would have had a Plan B, should her shooting him with a sniper failed.(Which she succeeded with the sniper plan in the Overwatch Short "Alive" which this chapter is based off and named off of.) Hopefully these two reasons clarify my decision for my story.