Middle East
Helix Security Corp.'s
Operation: Black Soil

Fareeha Amari crunched sand beneath blue, metal boots. The new moon shone over-head, the circular shapes of New Horizon's abandoned lunar base decorating the orbiting body's face like tattoos. The cool desert wind blew over her armor, up, underneath her helmet, cooling her face. She almost shivered – her suit's ventilation systems and the already chilled desert night spurring chillbumps to run down her arms. Fareeha loved it. It had been too long since she had been in the desert.

A groan came from her escort, however.

"We have been walking for over an hour, Fareeha. I am tired."

"Watch your voice, Dr. Zeigler, or you'll get us caught." Fareeha chastised.

"Where are ve even going?" Angela asked, jogging to walk beside the dutiful soldier. "You asked me to bring my Valkyrie suit, and you said you needed my help, but you never expanded."

"I'm compartmentalizing information." Fareeha responded. "If we get split up and captured, I can't have you revealing what Helix knows."

"I can suffer some pain, Fareeha. You know this." Angela was almost hurt.

Fareeha turned to her, still walking, but a serious glint in her tattooed eye. "I know, Ang, but you don't know what Talon is capable of. They killed my mother—" A shadow crossed her mind, a glint of revenge in her eye. "They're very capable people."

"I know," Angela responded. "You forget, I served alongside your mother."

Silence.

"She is missed."

Fareeha muttered something in Arabic. Angela recognized it. It was a prayer of safety Ana had always said before battle.

"We are close. Stay near to me and be ready for a quick escape." Fareeha whispered, dropping to a crawl in the sand.

Angela dropped next to her, but harder than the well-trained Amari. Sand splattered her face and some fell down her armor.

"Ugh." Angela grunted. "I hate sand."

Fareeha crawled to the top of the closest dune and looked down into the valley. There, on the horizon, was the sparkling gem of Oasis, a technologically advanced city created by the greatest minds in the world. Closer to them, and just down the hill however, was a small encampment.

"Talon." Fareeha muttered.

"So vhy are we here?" Angela asked.

"There's a hostage in the big tent, and we're here to get them out, Dr. Zeigler."

"Who?" Angela asked.

Fareeha didn't smile or respond at all. Angela knew from being friends with Fareeha for so long that she didn't know either. Instead, the soldier turned to stare the doctor in her crystal-blue eyes. "Go, get them."

Before Mercy could ask anything else, Pharah launched into the sky with a deafening roar and soared across Talon's camp. Soldiers looked up, startled and stupefied. Then one grabbed his rifle and fired at Pharah, and the rest followed suit.

Mercy watched for a moment as Pharah dodged and weaved fire, returning rockets at the enemy. Then, she slid down the hill, using her Valkyrie wings to glide over to the large tent. She could hear movement inside and was debating how to get in and out. She was distracted as Pharah's rockets lit up the far side of the camp, soldiers flocking out of the tent towards the action. Mercy waited a moment, hearing no more movement, and was about to enter when she heard heavier, more dangerous footsteps leaving the makeshift metal floor of the building and beginning to crunch sand.

A growling voice chilled the already cool air.

"What's going on out here?"

A soldier stopped, saluting. "Sir, there's an attack by a Helix operative on the far side of the camp!"

The grim figure of Reaper turned and looked, then waved the soldier on.

"How did Helix find us?" He growled to himself. He watched for a moment more. "And Helix never works—"

His hand closed around Mercy's throat faster than she could react. "Alone."

"Agh!" she exclaimed.

A cold laugh filled the air. "Fancy meeting you here, Dr. Zeigler." He chuckled. "The one person who escaped Overwatch with everything intact."

"Ack!" Mercy struggled in his grip. He threw her to the ground.

"Well, you can only run for so long, before the Reaper finds you."

He pulled out twin shotguns and aimed them at her.

A small explosion hit several feet away, from behind Reaper, but blasted him off of his feet. Angela coughed as sand sprayed her.

"Mercy! Move!" Fareeha shouted, coming in for a landing, her feet absorbing the shock of her descent, her concussion grenade reloading. Mercy stood up, grabbed her staff, and fled into the tent as Reaper made his way back to his feet.

Pharah launched rockets around them, surrounding them with fire and debris, leaving the two in a scorched arena.

"Amari." Reaper growled.

"You recognize me, but I don't recognize you." Fareeha said, cautiously.

"Doubt you would." Reaper growled, tossing his shotguns away.

Fareeha gave him an inquisitive look.

"Better hope Dr. Zeigler can reconstruct a second person, because Jack Morrison is going to need it." Reaper laughed.

Shock froze Fareeha, long enough for Reaper to pull out twin shotguns and land a hit before she launched into the air, hoverjets keeping her airborne.

"Fareeha, you're not going to believe who this is—"

"Mercy?" Pharah called over the radio. "You need to get out of there, right now!"

"It's Captain Morrison!"

"I know!"

Reaper fired several blasts into the air, but the shrapnel merely clinked off of Pharah's armor.

"Fine, we're taking this indoors!"

Pharah dropped, knees buckling as she landed. Reaper turned and strode back inside the tent.

Jack was leaning wearily against a stack of boxes. Mercy tried to get him on his feet. Jack growled at the tent door and Mercy turned, gasping.

"Let's see how much of an Angel you really are…" Reaper growled, aiming shotguns at the doctor.

A look of determination hardened on the Swede's face and she suddenly swung her staff up, connecting with the underside of Reaper's chin. She twirled it again, hitting him on either side of his ribcage and connecting a blow to his stomach. He grunted and fell back. He tried to stand up, but Mercy swung down, knocking his mask off. He fell, face buried in the sand, Mercy standing over him triumphantly.

A moment of hesitation, then Mercy bent down to turn him over.

"No, Doctor." Jack's rough voice came, filtered through his mask. "That's a ghost's face you don't want to see."

"Who is it, Jack?" Mercy's always gentle voice inquired.

Pharah entered the tent. "Time to go." She gestured behind her back.

"Who's carrying him?" Mercy asked, gesturing towards Soldier.

Pharah crossed the room and picked the wounded man up. "You've got some explaining to do, old man."

"Later, let's get out of here." Morrison growled.

Pharah nodded and ran out of the tent, Mercy behind her. She rocketed into the air, the doctor close on her tail, gliding behind. Soldiers fired from below, but all missed.

When they finally landed several miles outside of Oasis, both flyers were exhausted.

"Explaining how you survived is not the same as explaining what you were doing here." Pharah said, jabbing a finger at the Soldier. Jack was now laying on the ground, Angela tending to him.

"The mission, kid." He grunted.

"You're too old."

Jack laughed, then grunted in pain.

"Our ghost – or Reaper—sure knows how to torture people." Angela said. "There's only so much I can do with the suit. You'll need a real hospital."

"Unlikely." Both Jack and Fareeha said at the same time, then glanced at each other.

Silence.

"Your mother would have been proud." Jack said quietly, as if just between the two of them.

"You didn't know my mother very well." Fareeha whispered.

A gentle silence between the two. Then, the soldier stood.

"How'd you two find me?" Jack asked gruffly, still clutching a particularly bruised side, zipping up his "76" jacket.

"Helix Security got an alert about a possible hostage situation outside of Oasis. They sent me to investigate. I thought it would be a good idea to bring Mercy."

Jack nodded. "Who sent the alert?"

"No idea. I'm sure you can understand that I didn't ask."

Jack nodded, a smile on his face. "Completely."

He slid his mask back on, red visor illuminating. "You two kids stay safe." The now filtered voice said.

"You, too, Jack." Mercy called at the retreating figure.

The two women watched him disappear into the desert.

"So," Fareeha asked, removing her helmet, shaking her dark braids free as the moon set on the horizon. "What now?"

"I don't know." Mercy replied. "Perhaps I will stay here for some time. There are many areas of crisis. I can assist those who need it."

"Right back into the fray." Fareeha smiled. "You haven't changed a bit, Angela."

"I assume you will return to Helix?" Angela asked.

"Of course." Fareeha responded. She hesitated though, tapping her boot on sand. "Perhaps we can both take a break, get some coffee? Talk?"

Mercy could tell something was bothering Fareeha, so she agreed.

What could it hurt?