Russell sits at his desk, in this over-the-top, extremely expensive leather chair that can spin around as if it's on ice. He sighs, readjusts his posture, and nearly blinds himself on the hard-light screen in front of him.

"Why did they have to choose sky-blue? Seems counterproductive for eye strain…" he mutters, blinking a few times and increasing the ambient light. He rubs his eyes, and squints to read the tiny letters on workstation.

"Maybe you should turn the lights on a bit more, working in the dark isn't good for the eyes." He jumps and draws the Ace of Spades in the direction of the voice in a dark corner of his office. "Saves you some surprises."

He lowers his weapon upon seeing the familiar purple hue from Sombra's trench coat.

"Sombra," he says, leaning back and sighing in relief. "Good to see you. What do you nee-"

"You know what I'm asking for," Sombra says, curtly. She crosses her arms and steps forward, regarding him with a hopeful gaze, as if he's about to give her good news. "I'm talking about Xiao, any updates on her search?"

"Sombra…" Russell takes a deep breath and steels himself. "Nothing new from last week. Edgar wasn't able to locate anything other those traces of Void Light, I'm sorry but I have to-"

Sombra visibly deflates, and scowls. "Don't you even dare try and close the search."

"I don't want to, Sombra, but I'm getting railed by the UN Security Council and the media about this, we have to give them some form of conclusion to this." Russell leans forward, using one elbow to prop himself up as he hides his eyes behind the curve between his thumb and index speaker. He sighs, and looks back up, to Sombra. "That's all I can say. We don't know where Xiao is, she's disappeared, gone. Chances of finding her are slim. If we can even find a dead body-"

"Don't say that! She's alive, I know it!" Sombra pleads, tears welling up in her eyes. Black streaks start forming down her cheeks. "She wouldn't abandon us after so much!"

"I know, it's not like her to abandon friends like that, not that she hasn't done it before but…" Russell cocks his head to the side.

"She's done this before!?" She asks, incredulous.

"Only to pursue something more important," he pauses. "Tell you what, find me something that Xiao definitely would go after over everything else, and I'll open the search again."

"Who said we were closing it in the first place!?"

"I did, and I don't want to hear another word about it unless it's definite proof she hasn't been captured but…er, deserted." Russell raises an eyebrow and relaxes himself on the back of his chair.

"Fine." Sombra nearly spits, and he sees her fist clench before she turns around and disappears.

Jingles materializes in front of him. "You know, she is right, we shouldn't abandon Xiao like that." He says, floating over to be at the center of Russell's vision.

"I know she is, that's why it hurts so much to do this, I'm hoping she finds something," Russell says, putting his left elbow on an armrest and leaning his head into his hand.

"She tried bugging your office, but I stopped her," Jingles says, and a small black square with a single blue light blinking at the center materializes on Russell's desk.

"Of course, she showed up before I did." Russell chuckles, and sits himself straight, before getting back to work on all this bureaucracy stuff.

It only takes a few minutes for him to get tired of it. "Man, I really need to get out of this place."

"I don't think that's a very good idea, Russell," Jingles says, in his matter-of-fact voice, which is just half condescension and half sarcasm. "Man, you're really sounding a lot like Cayde."

"Yeah, why can't you be my Sundance?" Russell chuckles, and turns off the screen, before lounging back. He stretches his arms, and reaches for a non-existent coffee mug, suddenly getting one as Jingles transmats one into his hand.

"Please, that's what got her killed," the Ghost says, rolling his eye. A new shell materializes on him, it being a single ring buoy that sticks under the ball part of his frame. "What's this? Russell, change it back, this is inappropriate!"

Russell giggles as he looks at his floating Ghost fly around frantically, in a vain attempt to convince him to change his shell.

"You look perfectly fine," Russell says, waving Jingles off and suppressing some giggles. "Besides, who cares?"

"The Guardian that's standing in your office!"

"What?"

Russell looks to his front, and sees a Hunter that's a few feet taller than the sitting desk in full dark-red Bladesmith's Memory armor standing there, their arms crossed behind their back, standing tall and proud.

They give him a short nod, and their Ghost materializes next to their head, sporting a grey Generalist Shell with several marks all over it.

The Hunter signs something to him, then pops of their helmet. There's an exhale as the woman reveals herself. Her almond, slightly wide pupils go up and down, scanning him, before settling for eye contact.

"She's saying hello, and that your Ghost looks just fine," the Ghost says, his voice a bit on the higher end of the vocal spectrum and full of cheer.

"You're not helping my case!" Jingles says from behind Russell's neck.

"We've been assigned to this Earth, and we've been told to report to the field commander, which is you."

"Alright, uh, give me a second to find you guys something to do…sorry I'm not like Sloane…" Russell turns on the screen again and scrolls down a list of ongoing operations. "Okay, um…does an undercover operation to find a rogue Talon medic interest you? You'll be escorting Doctor Ziegler to find this guy called 'Baptiste.'"

The woman looks to her Ghost, shrugs then turns back to Russell and nods.

"She's up for that," the Ghost says, his shell rocking up and down. "Her name's Maya, by the way."

"Well, nice to meet you Maya, I'll see you on the field." Russell does a small finger salute before sending the woman on her way.

Jingle emerges from behind his neck. "Do you know who you just talked to?"

"No?" Russell answers, resting his head back. "Who is she supposed to be?"

"You don't recognize her!? She's the one who broke into the Vault of Glass, killed Crota, then Oryx, single-handedly stopped the SIVA crisis, and legends say that her Gjallarhorn is so enhanced with Light that a Taken Knight tried to touch it and instantly got vaporized, she also saved us all during the Red-"

Russell waves him off. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, she's the hero, but what is she doing here? Unlike the Vanguard to assign people like her to secondary sectors, like this sad, sad place."

"…I don't know, and it's weird that we haven't gotten any formal notice of it."

"Well, you did get formal notice of how good looking your new shell is."

"It's horrible, change it!"

/

Mess hall.

Lena skips her way through the masses of hungry soldiers with her somewhat small tray of food, headed for the exit to join her fellow operatives outside, only stopping when she notices a woman in armor in a similar style to Russell's sitting alone, save for her Ghost. It's eagerly conversing with her, only getting silent nods and shrugs in return.

She decides that Overwatch gossip can wait for a day and proceeds to sit across the woman.

The Ghost does a full 180 degree turn and scans her in the span of a blink of the eye.

"Hello!" It says, very cheerfully at that. It's voice has the same timbre and tonality of a certain voice actor that seems to slip Lena's mind at the moment, but she can remember it, since it's everywhere for some reason. "I'm Ghost, and this is Maya!"

Ghost turns to it's Guardian and nudges it in the shoulder. "Come on, introduce yourself!" It whisper-screams.

Maya rolls her eyes and drops her fork, then starts gesturing with her hands.

Lena distinctly recognizes it as American Sign Language.

"Nice to meet you," Maya communicates. "Like Ghost said, I'm Maya, and as you can tell, I'm a Guardian."

"Nice! What are you assigned for?" Lena signs back, giggling to herself like a schoolgirl because of the novelty of the situation.

"Er…official Vanguard business, not for everyone, yet," Ghost cuts in, and takes a quick glance to its Guardian. "We'll be assisting you guys over the course of a few months in order to…peace keep…and restore order…yeah."

"So you're not entirely sure, yet?" Lena signs back. Maya shrugs and grips her fork, twirling it inside the mush that's considered food in this place. "I won't pry, it's probably super important!" She grins.

"Heh heh, yeah…really…important," Ghost says, a hint of fluster in its voice. "Anyways, we have some things to attend to, it was nice to meet you!"

Maya and Ghost stand up and quickly disappear amidst the other soldiers that are present.

Sombra appears beside Lena a second later. The latter nearly jumps out of her seat.

"Sombra! What're you doing?" Lena asks, as she scoots a bit to the side to make a bit of space. "Were you eavesdropping on us?"

"Not really eavesdropping, but…convenient overhearing," Sombra replies, coolly as she kicks her feet up on the seats at the other side of the table and relaxes her back, being supported by one of those hard projections Guardians so often use in their weird antics. "So, you think she's been sent here to help us with finding Xiao?"

"Sombra…I dunno, the case's already closed, doubt they would send someone new to open it wide open again," Lena says, clearing her throat afterwards. "Seems pretty odd to reopen like this, blimey I don't think Russell believes the reason he's givin' out but-"

She stops herself. "Huh…Sombra you might be onto something!"

"Well, let's go!"

/

International Space Station, Years earlier…

The scientist gasps as he is brought back into reality. His head snaps to both sides, evaluating his surroundings. He takes another sharp intake of air and he falls to the floor, alongside everything else in the small laboratory he's occupying.

Everything is silent, and he can hear the universe sing for him; Silent whispers that whittle away as his consciousness returns to him.

It's so, so beautiful.

He finds himself on his arms and knees, his breath shaky and his mind a tornado of thoughts and emotions. Once the song disappears, he ponders for a small moment, about what this discovery can mean. He doesn't know, yet.

He does know one thing, though.

The end is coming, and that he is destined to be the one to welcome it. He remembers the end-bringer's clear beauty, and his heart aches for another chance to see her. Oh, how he enjoyed seeing her bring her blade down on inferior species, and he hopes to have another chance to witness it once more.

He hears the whispers again, but his attention is taken by the door to his laboratory being brought down by a battering ram and several security guards rushing in, their weapons raised and pointed at him. He starts cackling at the futility of it all, before they all start floating, then they suddenly slam to the floor. The sound of bones crunching and their pained screams floods his ears.

"I'm…exhausted, assistant…bring me…"

Something smashes against the back of his head.

Detention Center OW-2, a year later…

The scientist fakes his slumber, merely shutting his eyes in order to fool the two guards in his room. Imbeciles don't even recognize such a simple façade, pathetic.

"Damn, you're a lucky guy, assigned to this dumbass," one guard says. "Is he usually asleep all the time?"

There is an exasperated exhale. "No, usually rambling about the universe and swords. Pretty sure the latter is an allegory for Darwinism, or something like that."

"Swords?"

"Something about everyone being a sword, and to sharpen your own you have to kill others. Also mentioned something about the end of the universe, and how he's gonna bring it."

The other guard laughs. "What? Guy's a nutjob!"

"Shame, I was a real fan of his work in physics, he was brilliant. Whatever happened in the ISS fucked with him real bad," the first guard sighs. "Anyways, I'm off to get some lunch, keep an eye on him, will you?"

The scientist clenches his fist.

"Whoa, what the fuck is happening? You see that cup there-aw shit!" The scientist lets go, and there is a shattering sound as something made out of ceramic breaks on his right. "God damnit, get me some towels on the way back." Another annoyed sigh.

There is some indistinguishable chatter from the now-lone guard's radio device, then a blaring alarm.

In the distance, the cracks of gunfire sound through the thick concrete walls.

"Ah, fuck, requesting backup on subject Sigma's cell!"

/

"This should be it…unless I misconfigured? Can't be." Cassandra fiddles with the device strapped around her chest, smacking the small window that contains the Vex Radiolaria inside, and smiles in satisfaction as the white liquid violent sloshes inside. "Perfect, it works."

"OW Detention Center to all active units, we have a code-black situation! HVT-Sigma has-" The radio chatter fizzles as gunfire and explosions overtake the operator's voice.

"Backup alert has been terminated, proceeding with extraction," another voice says. This one sounds much more relaxed, probably the Talon soldiers.

A sleek black ship materializes from thin air in the sky, and descends towards the Overwatch Detention Center, a main hatch door slowly dropping downwards.

Cassandra pulls the slide of her Beloved sniper rifle and crouches down, quickly zooming into the numerous Talon soldiers that are evacuating with a bound man in a medical bed in tow.

Seems to be around a dozen.

"Shouldn't be too hard…" she mumbles to herself, licking her lips once before setting her crosshairs on a soldier, and pulls the trigger soon after.

One man down. Everyone else reacts by taking cover behind road blocks and small pieces of crumbled building.

Cassandra turns her attention to another ship rapidly approaching. It bears bright orange and blue colors.

Overwatch, damnit, she thinks, huffing in frustration as she looks back towards the Talon agents, who are rapidly evacuating with their prize.

"I better get out of here before she sees me," she says, and her head twitches in reaction to a bullet whizzing dangerously close to her face. She squints and notices a sniper on the Talon ship.

The sniper rifle's glare catches her eye as she blinks away from another round.

Cassandra presses a few buttons on her Vex contraption, and disappears with a faint white flash.

This was really hard to push out, holy shit.