The Darkest Night.

Part 1: The reforming of Overwatch.

Chapter 1: A lost Guardian

My eyes opened, and the first thing I saw was light.

Blinding, brilliant, blistering light.

Never thought I'd say this since becoming a Guardian, but fuck this light.

I blinked over and over, my pale hands covering my face for a moment till my eyes finally adjusted. I'd never been asleep long enough for my apartment lights to wake me up like that. I also didn't remember my bed to feeling like thick blades of grass, or trees planted inside my room.

I rubbed my head, shaggy hair ruffling thanks to the disturbance, and sat up, staring at the greenery surrounding me and listening to the sounds of chirping birds and singing insects all around. Vines, trees, shrubs, plants, you name it, and it was here.

A jungle.

Now I've been to Venus, been in the jungles that covered its surface even when the Vex were atop it, but this jungle was different.

It was peaceful, and as a plus I didn't feel like I was in any danger.

But I was in a jungle.

Not in my bed back at the Tower.

How the hell did I end up here?

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing but a croak came out. I coughed, and the dry, sand paper feeling in my throat forced me to gag.

Fuck.

With a violent shake and a bite of my cheek I coated my mouth with saliva and opened my mouth again. It was moist so I swallowed and felt life return to my throat.

"Di… Dig? You here little bud?"

There was a chime and next to me, in a brilliant flash of light, my ever faithful Ghost appeared. Dig was his name, a sarcastic piece of shit that was my best friend in this hell torn world.

"You don't have to yell." Dig… Dig groaned? I'd never heard him groan. At least, not to where it seemed genuine.

I ignored his complaint. "Where are we? Doesn't look like the Istar Sink. Doesn't look like Venus at all."

Dig hummed, his lights and triangular form twirling for a moment. "I have no idea. I'm picking up no singles, no transmit zone, no anything. I can't even raise the emergency Com's channel. We could be too deep in the Amazon on Earth. Its possibly the jungle is too far away or too thick for the signals to penetrate."

"Great." I sighed, and with a nod my helmet, Vermilion Strip 1.0, appeared over my head. "Stuck in a jungle with only you for company."

"At least its not as bad as when we were stuck in the Cosmodrone that one time."

I scoffed, "when we were stuck with fireteam Zulu?"

"Yes. Those asshats thought they could bring down ten minotaurs using only their fists."

"Thank God we were there to kill the reinforcements that showed up." I laughed before looking at my attire. I was dressed in my armor and…

Wait. How had I gotten dressed? I was asleep! Who dressed me!

A heat rushed over my cheeks, and I looked around. At the very least I seemed alone. Still, being clothed without my knowledge was unnerving.

I flexed my arms, my Spektar Grasps moving with every minor movement I made. I took a moment and looked over my armor. Heliopause Vest wrapped my torso, as per usual, and my Bones of Eao were still attached to my legs.

For a moment I thought about shooting my foot to see if I was dreaming, but when Dig turned to me, and made a motion with his little pieces that resembled a roll of his eyes, I decided against it.

Definitely wasn't a dream. Even in my dreams he wasn't such an ass.

Strangely though, I had no cape.

"Hey Dig, you have any spare capes with you?"

"Actually… I have a lot…. Even stuff I wasn't carrying when we retired to the room for the night."

Weird…

"Well, what do we have?" I asked, stretching my legs for a moment before checking to see if my knives were still on me. All three were, so at least I had that.

Dig floated closer. "Raze Lighter, 1000-Yard Stare, Gjallarhorn, The Next Big Thing, Saterienne Rapier, and the Last Word. Plus, of course, your sparrow and… that's odd."

"What is it?"

"Our ship was turned to programmable matter. I've never done that before. I've heard of it, but its rarely done. I mean, it hasn't been done in decades."

I shrugged. "Guess there's a first time for everything. Give me the Big Thing, Rapier, and Lighter."

"Sure. Want anything else with that? A cookie maybe?"

"Sure. Make it chocolate chip."

"Eat me." Dig quipped before my equipment appeared on my back. I drew Rapier and checked the ammo count. Full, and from what my visor told me, so were my other weapons.

My radar was working and my grenades were full. Even my melee was charged up.

"So about that cape?" I asked looking at my Ghost.

"We got one. The Shattered Vault…" His voice dropped.

My heart sped up and I scowled.

"Give it to me."

Without a word it materialized, its golden black form billowing against my back, the wind caressing it and its dark embrace.

"All right, first things first." I said lowering my weapon to my side and spinning around. "Where the hell are we?"

"A jungle."

"It was rhetorical Dig."

"Well you shouldn't have asked it."

"I'll kill you."

"Scary." The Ghost disappeared and I rolled my eyes before setting off though the brush.

The leaves, nor the twigs bugged me. I pushed them out of the way, and my armor made anything that would scratch me null. Still, the sounds of life were overwhelming. Birds flew by me, and animals leaped all around, though most of them stayed hidden even from my sight. It made me jumpy. The jungles on Venus were quiet. Only the Vex ruled that green.

So, as we went I tried to remember what happened.

I had come back from a mission, taking out a Fallen Captain who was rallying rogue troops to himself, and after Cade cleared me I had walked into my apartment in the Tower, showered and went straight to bed.

I had dressed for bed. I had put my armor away. I had looked at the picture frame on-

No. I shut my eyes and stopped walking for a moment.

Don't think about them.

Her…

"So, want some music?" Dig asked. It was his way of taking my mind off… off of it.

I nodded and Thistle & Weeds started up. Not a bad song, and hey, made me feel like everything was ok. Of course I never knew what ok was considering I was a soldier in a never ending war, but fuck it.

And so we marched on.

For hours.

Literally, we trekked through endless jungle for hours. And hours. and hours….

And… "Ok Dig, how long have we been walking?"

My stomach growled.

"We've been going for five hours. Not a change in anything around here, though I literally just started picking up faint signals. They're… old, and primitive in a sense. I was scanning for our Com's channels and didn't even think to check for old FM and AM channels." Dig replied, his voice oddly curious. "They still suck, but they're being used." There he is.

I pushed another branch out of my way. "Well what does-"

Snap!

I spun on my heel, coughing and raising my rifle in one expert move. At twenty three I wasn't the youngest or oldest Hunter in the ranks of the Guardians, but I knew my stuff. I was experienced, I had been there at the Gates helping breaking into the Vault of Glass. I had hunted down Skolas's lieutenants with the team who would eventually kill him. I had spared with Lord Shaxx and not come out with ten broken bones, only five. I had been there when Crota fell.

So when I say not much could surprise me I felt like I was telling the truth.

But this got me.

I was a… a….

Well first off it was clearing, at least a hundred feet in diameter. The sun poured in like a glorious ray announcing the worlds next savior, and the green swayed with a light breeze.

But thats not what got me…

It was…

Uh…

"What is that?" I asked, half lowering my gun and half tightening my grip.

"I presume a robot. Considering its mechanical and has a light for an eye and… Oh. Now it's staring at us."

It was a robot, Dig was right about that. But nothing like I'd ever seen.

The thing was tall, at least eight feet. Maybe nine. It made Shaxx look small. It was covered in grass, it was blocky in design, but also lanky. Its head twitched and a single white light shined towards me. A bird sat on its shoulder and a large machine gun hung at it's side.

"Beep bo bop bo bop." It's head tilted. Well it definitely wasn't Vex.

"Uh, hi." I muttered, not sure whether it was going to try and kill me or was just greeting me. That damn machine gun was big though.

Dig then stated, "It's trying to communicate with us. Hmmm. Old Binary I think. Here, make it speak again."

"How?" I growled and the robot took a step back.

"By being your charming self idiot."

I sighed and lowered my gun. "Hey buddy. I'm Nate. Just taking a stroll in the jungle. What's your name?"

The machine, robot, whatever it was, actually seemed to blink its one light eye. "Beep bop."

"Got it. It's name is Bastion." Dig informed.

"So Bastion," I began, "were friendly ok? I just want to know which way the last city is."

The Robot, actually seemed to relax. I had no idea it was agitated. Guess my people skills are kind of off.

"Bee bo bop bo bo."

"It has no idea what that last city is, but it says the human city of Rio is not far from our current location." Dig translated for me.

I raised an eyebrow inside my helmet. "Rio? What the hell is that?"

"If my databanks are correct, it's a city that existed in the early twentieth and twenty first centuries. It was wiped out during the the Fall."

"Well, I guess the thing means the ruins of Rio."

"Maybe." Dig replied in my helmet.

"Which way is Rio?" I asked, staring up at the machine who was…. well it was watching the little bird fly around it. It was distracted by it. Intently, and curiously, watching as the bird chirped and flew around it.

Weird….

I cleared my thoughts and asked again, "Which way is Rio?"

Snap.

I heard the snap, the breaking of a twig nearby, it was light but just enough for my ears to pick it up. We were in a jungle, full of unknowns, but my sixth sense tingled and that had saved me in plenty of situations against the Hive or Vex.

My weapon shot up, my cape spun as I twirled onto my knees and took aim.

Bang!

A shot flew over my head and I instantly fired, bullets ripping into the trees behind me and shredding woods, plants, and probably dozens of insects.

"Bee boooo!"

"Get down!" Dig ordered.

"Why?!" I yelled, another shot rang out and slammed into my shoulder. I reeled back and my shields fell a forth of the way.

A whirring sound filled the air and I glanced back only to see that the strange robot had shifted into a front facing mini-gun….

The barrels began to twirl and I instantly hit the ground.

The deafening sound of dozens of bullets spilling out and tearing apart the jungle filled the air and I looked to where the bullets where hitting.

It was blur, but purple and black dashed thorough the trees, somehow evading bullets and another sniper shot let off.

A clink sounded and the mini-gun stopped firing.

My chance was clear so I shot up to my feet and drew raze lighter. A fire shield formed in front of me and the next sniper round bounced of it harmlessly.

I dropped the shield and flipped forward, smoke billowing out and I turned invisible from my secondary grenade. I had moments but that was all I needed. I slipped around a tree and saw a blue woman with a visor- aiming right for me.

I sidestepped to the left and a shot ripped the air apart right next to my head.

My camo broke. I lunged forward, and my sword sliced thorough the air where her head had once been. A boot hit my chin and I stumbled back. Again my sword came up and shielded me as a fully automatic machine gun unloaded on me at point blank.

"Last word." I growled and it appeared on my thigh.

Her clip clicked as the last bullet left its chamber and I lunged forward again. My sword strike missed again, thanks to her expertly timed dodge, but I drew last word with one hand. I fired at her and the visor retracted from her eyes and she back flipped away from my first two shots.

She wasn't as lucky as my third hit her thigh ripping through her…. skin tight suit, and injuring… flawless skin.

My distraction at her attire didn't go unnoticed and only the click of her weapons reload got me back into reality. Bullets hit my shield and I blinked backward before priming a grenade and tossing it between us. Half a dozen arc projectiles split open and raced at her while I raised Last Word.

A grappling hook shot by my head, forcing me to dodge, and the next thing I saw was a knee slamming into my visor. With a snap my head flicked back, but I recovered and spun. Last Word fired off three rounds at her retreating form, one hit but two missed.

Still her hook pulled her through the trees and she disappeared behind the green. I blinked after her, Raze-Lighter once again in my hands, and landed on the other side of the green she used to cover her escape.

I scanned my surroundings, but she was long gone. I could see a small trail where blood had leaked on the plant life but it ended only a dozen feet away. She had patched her wound quick and fled. Smart.

Raze-Lighter dematerialized and I twirled Last Word before replacing it back at my hip.

She was skilled, but in close range I had had the advantage. The way she had almost got the drop on me, suggested training. It also suggested intelligence, and she was injured versus me who wasn't. Intelligence suggested she would flee and live to fight another day.

Still, as I walked back to the clearing I kept my senses on high alert. You could never be to careful.

The sounds of sparks and welding equipment caught my ear and I looked to the robot who had helped me. He- yeah I'm calling it a he so what- was sitting down and his free hand had turned into a welder of sorts. It sparked against the crook in his elbow and after a few seconds the welder shut off.

Bastion flexed his arm and looked to me. "Boo bo bop. Be."

"He says thank you for the assist."

"Who was that? And why did she try to kill us?" I asked, a little ticked that I had just been shot at by an unknown assailant. An Awoken looking one at that.

"Bop. Be."

"He says he doesn't know."

I groaned. "Great."

"Boo beep be bo."

I cracked my neck. "What'd he say this time?"

"He says that he can take you to Rio as a sign of good faith. You did help him after all."

I looked at the Robot. Sure we had just worked together against an obvious assassin, but I still didn't know if this machine was on our side. It could be an old construct from the Golden Age wandering aimlessly, or a Vex machine in disguise, though I doubted it was the latter since it had yet to try and kill me.

"Sure why not." I reluctantly agreed.

At the very least Bastion could get me to a large enough open space and Dig could materialize our ship.

The ruins of an ancient city should be a perfect candidate.

Besides, whats the worst that could happen?

And so we started off our little band, actually the two of us, the machine and I, towards Rio.

He didn't say much, and neither did I. Well, at least to him.

"So what is he?" I asked, my internal comms keeping the conversation private.

"Not sure. No records exist of his design. However these signals I'm picking up hint at ages past technology. It's only brief snippets I get, still trying to adjust to them, but I keep getting words like war, Omnic crisis, Overwatch, the United Nations, Plasma TV's, Radio, and burgers."

"Burgers?" I asked.

"Popular apparently, but that's what caught your attention? Not the mention of the United Nations? Or the Omnic Crisis which mind you was never mentioned in any historical records?"

I took a deep breath and Bastion beeped at me.

"I'm fine." I told the robot before returning to my private conversation. "Dig, get into any form of communication you're picking up. Get me any info you can about where we are."

"Now thats a plan. I can tell you already though, the United Nations, they died off hundreds of years ago. They fell in fire and war, fighting to the last man against the Darkness."

I pursed my lips, stepping over another large log. "And we have no confirmed reports of a new faction claiming to be them?"

"Not as far as I know. Maybe Cayde knows something about it."

"Maybe. I guess it wouldn't be hard for a new faction to pop up " Somehow I doubted that. A new faction rising was a big thing. It meant more division, more resources split between more people. If that had happened, Cayde would've said something.

Something about this was all wrong.

That much I knew.

Tracer landed without so much as a grunt, her keen eyes surveying the war torn jungle.

It was obvious a battle had taken place here. The spent bullet cartridges and the blood were sure tell signs of that. Apparently though not a single person had been killed. There were no bodies, and if it was their suspect then she would have left bodies for her and Winston to find.

Windomaker was cruel like that.

"Nothing, Winston. Just spent bullets and poor sods that didn't stand a chance." She frowned at the torn plans and trees.

"Always a step ahead isn't she." Winston murmured.

"I'm sure I can find her in Rio love. No reason to fret." The English woman smiled gently before teleporting across the clearing. "From the looks of things whoever she fought put up a fight and didn't die, and if I know her she's going to try again."

She then saw the blood. "And there's blood. If anything I'd bet her mark's going to need a Hospital. Makes Rio even more of a target for her."

"She does pride herself on her work." Winston agreed. "She won't let them go. What's her saying?"

"One shot, one kill." Tracer reminded herself.

The Great Ape sighed. "Be careful ok?"

Tracer smiled again, "oh you worry too much! Have a sense of adventure Winston! I'll be fine. Otherwise I'd be a pretty poor agent."

She teleported again, this time onto the top of a small tree. Her green eyes gazed out through the trees, hoping to see something of a trial to follow.

"Well you're already poor second in command."

"Winston!"

"You left another banana in my locker!"

"But you love them!"

The Ape groaned and she giggled before teleporting once more, this time towards Rio.

"Just be safe. Mei, just arrived and Mercy and Torbjörn are still on their way. I'll head to meet you in Rio in a few hours."

"Don't be late love." With that the Com's died and Tracer let a content grin spread across her face.

She had a good feeling about today.

A/N Here it is. The Darkest Night. Destiny meets Overwatch. Guardian meets heroes. Nate is a Hunter, hence the cloak, and he faced Widowmaker in this first chapter. Don't worry, there's a reason why to everything that happens in my stories.

In case anyone doesn't know, Bastion and Widowmaker aren't apart of Overwatch. From what my research though the comics and Wiki, only Tracer, Winston, Mei, Mercy, Torbjörn, Reinhardt, McCree, and Genji are (Game character wise at least, there are other members but they aren't int he game). The others aren't apart of the group, and Reaper and Widowmaker are actually complete enemies of them, hence why in the game there's dialogue between Tracer and Widowmaker that make it clear they are not friends. 76 and Reaper were at one point apart of Overwatch but that was their late persona's Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Review, God Bless, and go Overwatch!