A/N: HERE'S THE SIDE STORY I'M MAKING TO KEEP YOU GUYS OCCUPIED WHILE IM WRITING THE SPIDEY/LIFE IS STRANGE STORY. IT'S AN OVERWATCH STORY WHICH I'VE BEEN MEANING TO DO FOR SOME TIME, IT TAKES PLACE 6 YEARS BEFORE THE MAIN GAME. I'VE BEEN TRYING TO KEEP IN LINE WITH THE SO FAR CONFIRMED CANON OF OVERWATCH. ENJOY!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN OVERWATCH, BLIZZARD DOES; THIS APPLIES TO THE REST OF THE STORY.

Chapter 1

Location: New York City

The fires were raging in front of him, as it burned the entire vehicle and with it the bodies of his parents, he couldn't move however, and there was no one at the scene, only him. He could only watch and cry as his parents burn to ashes. But as he looks at the ground, he sees it darkening. He looks up to see that the fire is gone; there was no car anymore and the city had become deathly quiet. He's scared now; he can fill the chill down his spine, he looks around only to see two people, his parents. He's smiles for a brief moment only to stop when he sees their expressions. Both of them look at him in disgust, and anger.

"Look at you, nothing but a pathetic waste of trash!" The mother says

"I agree, he's been nothing but trouble, unwanted and a waste of money, It's your fault son that we're dead, YOUR FAULT!" The father ends with venom laced in his voice

The boy starts crying at the word being thrown at him by his parents. He tries to speak but he realizes he can't. That doesn't stop the father from continuing

"IT YOUR FAULT WE'RE DEAD YOU NO GOOD BRAT! AFTER EVERYTHING WE'VE DONE FOR YOU, THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US!?" The mother maliciously yells.

"BECAUSE OF YOU WE WILL NEVER BE HAPPY, NEVER!" The father says as the fires appear on his face and melts off his skin to reveal nothing but charred flesh. The same happens to the mother as they grab his face which begins to burn finally prompting him to let out a terrible blood curdling scream.

Location: Switzerland

"AAAAAAHHH" Nate screams as he wakes up from another nightmare, his face drips with sweat as he struggles to catch his breath. His hair covers his eyes but it does little to cover the tears. After he composes himself, he puts his knees against his chest and looks out at the window. It's snowing outside, he could see the thick sheet of snow cover the entire forest outside as the small rays of light seep into his room, brightening only his bed and leaving the rest of his room dim, empty, and lonely just like the outside.

Recognizing that no one has barged into his room specifically him, Nate realizes on the spot that today must be Friday, the only day where the man he's supposed to call his foster dad is at work early and won't be back until past midnight. Nate sighs in relief as he gets up from bed and goes to freshen up. He washes his face in the bathroom and then stares at himself in the mirror for a few minutes. He acknowledges the fact that while he has short black hair and light skin tone, it's unhealthily pale and he is thin to the point where he is barely healthy. Not to mention he's very short for a 12 year old. His eyes are dark brown, but they only show a tired expression.

A few minutes, he eats some cereal, not a big portion but just enough, he wouldn't dare eat excessively. He washes his bowl and puts it in the dishwasher just as it is expected. He goes back up to his room in order to get ready for the day. He pulls out warm clothes such as a sweatshirt and some insulated long johns for his legs, which he wears under his jeans. He then pulls out his name tag stating his name and the Overwatch logo on top.

As he goes walks to HQ he thinks about the one good thing he had right now in his life, it was the internship at Overwatch. While he never really spoke with other people, he was silently proud of such an achievement. Winston, this really intelligent sentient gorilla was the one that supervised the program since he himself proposed it on his first day. He doesn't talk to him much, only when he needs to. There were only 2 others interns who sound nice and all but he can't really muster up any courage to begin a conversation for his own reasons. The other members he has seen around here and there, but has never said a word to them ever since he had begun his internship weeks ago. He was okay with that though, it's Overwatch, and they're obviously busy people, dealing with both conflicts and crises overseas or the political world.

As far as he could only remember, he had talked to only 2 members, Winston who runs and supervises the program and Tracer; she's a recent addition to the team since the Null Sector uprising in King's Row last year. But the only time she ever spoke to him was when she said hi, and that was just in a hallway at HQ 6 weeks ago. He catches glimpses of her every now and then, but he's sure that she's constantly busy with missions and she never stops by to talk to him anyway. Who would ever have time for someone like himself? Everything is in constant motion, either you keep up with the others or you get left behind and no one will ever pick you up.

LATER

"Ah, good morning Nathan" Winston greeted as he saw the young intern come in with his lab coat

"Morning, Mr. Winston" Nathan softly relied with a soft smile

"Nathan, you're more than welcome to just call me Winston, there's no crime in that" Winston lightly lectured, it's been a few weeks now and Winston didn't really feel a need to be addressed formally. The other two older interns got used to calling him Winston but Nathan who was the youngest at 12 just kept addressing him in a formal manner. Probably because he's a young kid who's trying be respectful.

"I guess but isn't that inappropriate and against work ethic?" Nathan asks, his voice is soft and timid. He was always the most silent of the three.

Winston inwardly chuckles to himself; this boy is too respectful.

"Well, while you must address Commander Morrison or Commander Reyes by their rank. I don't have a problem with you calling me by my name only. Ok?"

"Y-yes sir." Nathan replies

Winston inwardly groaned, this kid is way too respectful.

"Let's continue off from yesterday. We were about to look at the cell's growth after the exposure to the chemical mixture."

"So we could see if it could accelerate the number of cell growth at a rapid but healthy rate without negatively affecting the genetic makeup or the DNA coding sequence." Nathan said in a soft manner with a hint of enthusiasm slipping out

"Correct"

"Ok" Nathan timidly said

Winston had a datapad out recording observations done by Nathan; this was something the interns would work on as part of a hands on 'lesson' as Winston calls it. Each intern worked with Winston as he applied a chemical mixture to some healthy animal cells on a Petri dish and then they would observe the results and come up with a conclusion.

It was pretty much a basic scientific method lesson. Winston had come up with this some time ago and merely decided to use this as a way to teach the interns. While the other two were looking forward to some hands on research, he had the idea that Nathan was the most enthusiastic, but he did a good job at suppressing it.

"What do you notice about the cells?"

"They look healthy, I see no altered appearance in the cells physical appearance, and the genetic makeup looks fine." Nathan says

"Anything else?"

"The cell's DNA sequences are the same as it was in the start and the microscope is showing that the rate of reproduction is still the same. Pretty much nothing in the mixture has affected it"

"Are you certain? Be sure to take another look to see if you miss anything." Winston says with a slight smile

As Nathan looks into the microscope, Winston gives a small lecture

"Remember that a science experiment is always carried out with a large amount of observation, even the tiniest things can make a big impact on research. Sometimes you'll have to look back repeatedly to see if you missed anything."

"There seems to be nothing different with the cells. It's the same as it was in the beginning of the week." Nathan concludes

"And how do you think this happened?"

Nathan takes a moment to answer Winston's question, the cells are normal and nothing was wrong.

"Can I see the mixture we used?" Nathan asked

This caught Winston's attention but he consented and gave the young boy the vial that contained the mixture. It was colorless and nothing was in it. Nathan looked at for a moment before opening it up and taking in the scent. This cocked Winston's eyebrows, and then Nathan drank the entire thing down, shocking Winston.

"Nathan, what are..."

"Just as I thought, it's just water." Nathan said with certainty

Winston stopped and gave a smile "Go on"

"The cells aren't animal cells, they're plant cells because of their cell walls, when we gave them water there was no reaction because it is simply used to continue proper life functions including diffusion. If they were animal cells, they would have already burst by now." Nathan concludes with a smile

Winston chuckles, he is a bit astonished that this boy dared to drink the water, Water was also used for the 2 interns but they assumed it was a mixture and came up with their own reasonable conclusions. But Nathan was the one who discovered the truth through actually drinking it.

"Correct indeed, Nathan. I'm a little impressed, most people would assume that was a mixture, how did you see past through my little trick though?"

"Well, it was colorless for starters, even though a lot of harmful chemicals are colorless, you would've made us put up an effort for safety which you didn't. Then the cells didn't have a negative reaction, they were healthy. Not to mention you always indentify the chemicals we're using on the beakers. But this time you didn't which meant that it was not even dangerous. So I guess I kinda had an idea that it was just a test of some sort" Nathan said with rising enthusiasm

Winston was astonished; he was able to identify the trick through differences in routine and observation in research. He was observational indeed; perhaps he should work with Angela sometime.

Winston made another chuckle "Ok, you got me. It was a little parlor trick all along, really designed to test your observation and reinforce it with your reasoning. While the point wasn't to uncover the fact that it was all a trick, I am genuinely impressed that you uncovered it. A fine job indeed" The gorilla stated.

Nathan gave a little smile and a small thank you, but inside him he lit up, he became so and astonished that someone gave him a compliment.

"You know, after 6 weeks here, you didn't really get to talk to other people much. I didn't mean for it to be a little solitary here." Nathan could see where he was going with this.

"It's alright, I-I j-just like to fo-focus on my work is all. Be-besides the rest of your team are re-really busy people anyway. I'm fine just ta-talking to the other interns and you." Nathan said, silently cursing himself for stuttering.

Winston raises an eyebrow at that stutter he did, Nathan doesn't notice it though and Winston puts it aside for now.

"You have a good work ethic Nathan, along with impressive observational skills. But I don't want you to feel alone in Overwatch, you should have a chance to get to know the other members of the team especially your two fellow interns. So you and the other two are all going to meet them Monday when you come in." Winston said with a smile.

"Oh, that's alright, you don't have to bring them here just so they could meet us" Nathan says

"Actually, it was Commander Morrison who decided for the team to come meet you three, they are all looking forward to meeting you and I thought it'd be nice for the three of you to establish a connection with the team. Besides all of them are coming back from a 4 week mission anyway so thought it would be nice for a change."

"Oh, really? That's great Mr. Winston" Nathan softly said as his heart rate sped up in a hint of excitement.

Winston decided to let the formality pass this time "Trust me, give it a short while and it'll be like having a second family." Nathan gave a slight wince at that which Winston didn't notice.

Winston looked at the time on his clock "Oh! Look at the time, it looks like we'll have to cut this short today, you're free to go Nathan." Winston said as he starts rushing to gather some stuff

"A-already?" Nathan asks

"I'm afraid so, I have some other things to do today that must be taken care of, so I'll see you here again Monday at 12:00 although I recommend coming 20-30 minutes early. Don't worry about the lab; I'll turn it off myself. That's all, have a good weekend." Winston ends in a friendly manner as he leaves in a hurry.

Nathan waved goodbye as he left the lab, went to the locker room to grab his stuff and go home. While he didn't expect today to end early and make him deviate from the routine, he isn't worried since today is the only day where he comes home late, by that time he'll already be asleep in his room after preparing everything for him.

As he treads through the blanket of snow, he calls himself a dumbass for stuttering in front of Winston of all people, the man…well Gorilla is super intelligent and was educated by scientists on the freaking Moon, and now he's probably suspicious already. Hopefully, he'll last for the rest of the internship and then after that, he, along with the other Interns, will be assigned a fully fledged position within Overwatch, working alongside actual members that help make the world a better place. He'll be working away from him and nothing can stop that.

As he reaches the front doorstep of the house, he takes out his house keys and unlocks the door. He opens it to find himself in the shadow of tall but thin figure, he looks up to see the angry face of him, his foster father Henry.

"Good afternoon brat, I'm glad to see you got home early too." Henry says as his voice is laced with venom

Nathan looks up in total fear, this was not supposed to happen, he shouldn't be home this early at all.

"B-b-but aren't yo-you working today?" His heart beats faster now, and he feels the fear filling up in his stomach

"I got off early today, but what do I come home to? A FUCKING PIGSTY!" Henry yells as he violently grabs Nathan's hair as he yells in pain, he kicks the door shut and he then backhands Nathan in the face causing a bit of blood to come out.

"You ungrateful brat! How dare you forget to clean this place up!" Henry yells as he grabs Nathan by his coat and throws him against the wall, where he starts punching him in both his face and his stomach

One punch

"I take you in"

Another Punch

"I give you food and clothes"

Another punch

"I give you a home."

Another Punch

"I give you all that you need"

Another punch

"AND THIS IS HOW YOU FUCKING REPAY ME?"

Henry gives a final punch to Nathan's face, leaving him bruised with a black eye and a bloody nose, while the tears of his pain come down his face as he struggles to breathe whilst suffering from the newly given bruises on his stomach.

"Ple-please sniff I'm so sorry sniff it wo-won't happen again, just no mo-more ple-please sniff sniff" Nathan pleads, but Henry is still unfazed and enraged.

Henry uses his foot to then move Nathan's body straight to the floor and then proceeds to stomp on his body. As he does so, he says "It won't happen again huh, that s what you said last time but you did it anyway you little shit. Don't think you can escape this, this is WHAT YOU DESERVE! YOU HAVE TO BE DISCIPLINED IF YOU'RE GONNA STAY HERE." Henry angrily says.

Nathan puts himself into fetal position to protect himself but it doesn't work much. Henry continues stomping for another second before he stops to catch his breath. He then looks at Nathan who has been turned into a sobbing bloody mess with hateful eyes and then drags him outside to the backyard by his hair, he opens a small wooden shed and he throws Nathan in after ripping off his coat.

"You're staying in there again until Saturday, you'll get some ice for that face but don't even hope for any food or water for the rest of the day. Remember, you're the reason why this happened to you." Henry says, he then slams the shed door shut, leaving Nathan to sob alone in the cold comfort of nothingness.

A/N: Well how is it? Yeah, Henry is an asshole that's begging for a death sentence. Don't worry he'll get what's coming to him. Also, the other Overwatch members including Ana and Reyes will be present for this story but no Moira or Widowmaker. Things will pick up in the second chapter. Please Review this chapter, your feedback is appreciated.