Authors notes

Hello all! This is my first fanfic so please go easy on me but do give your honest opinion. Also as far as the lore goes its not going to be 100% so i will be making some adjustments for the story.

Maryland, USA

Chris came home from working his shift at the gas station. It was summer time and he knew he had to make some money while he had the time. He lived with his mom and older brother; his dad left them when he was younger. He didn't have much memories of his father, only the stories he heard from his brother and mother. While he was only 15 at the the time he was a lot more mature than some of his friends, which weren't many. But he didn't mind keeping to himself. He preferred it actually.

"Hey guys i picked up some dinner." Chris shouted as he put the bags on the kitchen counter.

"Oh you didn't have to honey." his mom replied while entering the kitchen. "Your brother is in the garage working on his car, can you go get him while i set the table?"

Chris nodded and scampered to the door, opening it to blaring music and the hood of the car up. He turned the music down to get his brothers attention and saw his dirty face peer from the side of the car.

"Foods here Greg." He closed the hood and wiped his face off with a rag and went to go wash up before sitting down to eat.

The three of them were enjoying their food swapping stories of their days and enjoying life as they knew it.

When out of no where a low grumble arose that shook the house and silenced the air. Everyone had a puzzled look on their face. It almost felt like an earthquake, which were extremely rare in the area. A louder one set off a chain of low rumbles that shook all the silverware on the table. Then suddenly a white flash and loud ringing noise filled the air that was void of noise.

Overwatch Shuttle

"Why would they be in this area?" Jesse broke the silence in the shuttle.

"Our intel suggest there was a front for a sugar factory in the inner harbor. Talon is using it as a weapons depot of some sort but we don't know know where they are shipping these weapons to or the extent of how powerful they are." Reyes replied. Jesse merely nodded and puffed his cigar one more time before flicking some of the ash off.

While Reyes and the cowboy were discussing possible scenarios of what talon could be doing, the cyber ninja was enjoying the view out of the side of the shuttle. He always seemed to appreciate the smaller things in life. His eyes suddenly locking on to the explosion in the distance.

"Reyes!" Genji shouted as the other 2 silenced their voices only looking the smoke cloud marking its destruction.

"Shit." he muddered to himself. he went up front to take the shuttle off autopilot and steered the shuttle to the explosion site.

When they landed all of the houses and buildings in the area were leveled from the shock wave. The closer they got to the detonation site the less rubble there was, most of it just ash. Reyes just looked down, like he was defeated. He had seen this far too many times. "Spread out and search for anything that might give us an idea of what happened." Reyes ordered. The other two nodded and started their search.

McCree had started digging through some of the rubble, hoping to find some kind of residue that was foreign to the buildings. upon searching he found a body. One of the few that they found that was fully intact. Most of the buildings had far more gruesome sights to behold under their rocks. He lifted more of the ruble and pulled the boy out and almost dropped him when the boy started to cough, startling him something fierce.

"WE GOT A LIVE ONE OVER HERE!" McCree shouted at the other two. Reyes quickly ran over signaling Genji to continue searching.

Chris opened his eyes slowly to find the sight of a cowboy looking down at him. Chris started to breathe heavy and cough. His eyes darting around to see what had become of what was suppose to be just another night at the dinner table.

When Reyes finally got to McCree, Chris started to panic even more. "Who the fuck are you?! What happened? Wheres my mom? Wheres my brother?" Tears were welling up in his eyes when he looked over at the rest of the debris, the realization slowly making its way into his mind of what their fate was.

"Calm down son, take it easy. Take a deep breathe." McCree tried to calm him down and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, but Chris wasn't having any of it. He got up and started running over to what remained of the house frantically searching for something, anything to give him a glimmer of hope that his family was ok.

Reyes looked at McCree, which McCree replied with a silent shake of his head. They both knew this wasn't going to end well. Chris kept digging and coughing while his vision started to blur due to all the dust that he inhaled. He slowly lost the will to go on and just started to break down and cry falling to his knees and slumping his shoulders.

Genji decided to join the two hearing all the commotion and meeting a sorrowful gaze in McCree's and, to his surprise, Reyes' eyes. A few more moments passed when Reyes finally walked over and knelled down next to the weeping kid. Genji and McCree both looked at each other, curious what was going to happen next.

"Whats your name?" Reyes asked in a surprisingly soft tone.

The kid sniffled a few more times and looked back.

"Chris."

"I'm Gabriel Reyes. These are my associates Genji Shimada and Jesse McCree."

Chris turned around to see Genji bowing his head and McCree tipping his hat.

"Tell you what, why don't you go with McCree over to the shuttle over there and we'll get you checked out and make sure you're ok." Reyes said ever so calmly with a hand on his shoulder. Chris simply nodded still kind of in shock of what just happened. McCree walked over and guided Chris over to the shuttle. Genji walked over to Reyes who was still kneeling down on one knee.

"You and I both know its a miracle he is still alive." Reyes returned to his cold demanding tone. Genji simply stood there looking at the remains of the house.

"Indeed." Genji noted. "To survive something like this shows a strong will."

"Or just dumb luck." Reyes got up still looking down

"Do you think.." Genji was cut off by Reyes already shaking his head.

"Perhaps we should take him back to the watchpoint so that Dr. Ziegler can do a proper examination."

Reyes still looking down said nothing. He seemed to be deep in thought or lost in a memory Genji couldn't really tell which. "Get in contact with Morrison, tell him to send a search party for any other survivors." Reyes ordered. Genji acknowledged him and started to head back to the shuttle.

Reyes still fixated on the what he was staring at finally reached down and grabbed what looked like to be a necklace locket. He figured it probably belonged to the boys mother. he opened it up to reveal your typical family photo. Smiling and posing for the camera. Reyes sighed heavily before picking it up.

Walking back to the shuttle seemed to be the longest ever to him. Reyes was use to delivering bad news but for some reason this seemed different. He was use to having to tell a spouse or a parent of a lost soldier when he was back in the army. He always had a redeeming words of encouragement of how courageous they were in their final moments or how dedicated to squad they were. What was he going to say to this kid. He knew nothing. Nothing about him, nothing about his brother, nothing about his mother, nothing at all. He finally looked up to see McCree tending to some of the open cuts and wounds of Chris who was just staring out into space. He seemed to be doing ok all things considering. He motioned to McCree to give them some privacy.

Before Reyes had even the chance to start, Chris beat him to the punch and asked, "What do i do now?"

Reyes felt like he had a heavy burden on his shoulders with this kid. But he wasn't sure why.

"We are taking you back to our HQ. Our medical staff will take good care of you."

Chris wasn't talking about now. "What about after..Where will I go..What will I do" His voice crackling with the tears starting to stream down his face.

Reyes pulled the locket out of his pocket and placed it in his hand. "Don't ever forget them kid."

Chris opened up the locket looked at it for a brief moment and closed it tightly. The tears flowing down his cheeks. He tried so hard to keep it in. He hunched over and and just let loose, everything finally settling in. Reyes put his hand on Chris' back and tried to comfort him as best as he could as the shuttle took off.

Watchpoint Gibraltar

Jack Morrison was awaiting the shuttles return with Angela Ziegler alongside him. They had been briefed on the situation the Blackwatch team stumbled upon along with the guest they were bringing along. When the shuttle landed the three blackwatch members step out with the Chris following close to Gabriel's side. Reyes motioned to Angela to take the kid to her office which gave a quick nod.

Reyes turned to Chris and knelled down to meet his eye level. "This is doctor Ziegler. She's going to take good care of you ok?" Chris just slowly nodded and followed the blonde doctor to her office.

Morrison met Reyes' eyes and motioned for him to follow.

"What do you think happened?" Jack asked

"Its tough to say. It's too high of a populated area to test weapons. Talon is cruel but they aren't reckless. They want to stay out of the spotlights as much as possible. The safest thing to say is that it was some sort of malfunction." Reyes concluded.

"Agreed. But we can never be too sure with Talon. We'll keep an eye out for anymore activity in the area." Morrison replied.

"What about the kid" Reyes asked

Morrison raised an eyebrow wondering why Gabriel was concerned. It wasn't in his nature after all.

"We'll set him up in some foster care or something, I'm sure he'll be just fine after we-"

"I'll look after him" Reyes interrupted.

"What?"

"Kids been through a lot. Might be better for him if he stays here for a bit at least. Besides you know how those foster care places are. It will be months before he finds a stable home IF they find one."

"Reyes I don't think this a stable place for kids to be running around here" Morrison said almost sounding annoyed at the notion.

"Jack. Please. He'll be my responsibility, i'll keep him straight"

"Fine. He is all yours. He messes with anything and he's gone got it?"

"Understood."

Jack looked at Reyes and asked "Why do you want to look after him. You aren't the type to pick up stray cats and feed them."

Reyes looked at Jack with a little disgust with the comparison he just made, but shrugged "I don't know to be honest. I just feel like i owe it to him."