Overwatch Global Headquarters- Switzerland
Madam Adawe's heels rang sharply against the polished stone, her face unreadable beneath the Strategic Command Hall's war-room lighting. Holographic projections flickered with global casualty reports. Commander Jack Morrison and Lieutenant Ana Amari flanked her at the center console.
Shawn Rose arrived, looking like a new man, despite the numerous third degree burns he had not but days ago. However, he kept movements slow but deliberate, faking that he was still in recovery. Some of his team filed in behind him: Spencer, Sonya, Virginia. Each one well rested, but wary of the call for a meeting.
"We need your team operational," Adawe said without preamble. "Immediately."
Shawn exhaled. "What's the target?"
"Not what," Jack replied. "Who."
Ana tapped the map. "India. Delhi."
"The Vishkar Corporation," Adawe continued, "has been keeping India's major cities online using proprietary hard-light lattice grids. Civilian services. Emergency routes. Defense constructs."
"And someone's finally aiming for them," Sonya said.
Adawe nodded. "Last night, omnics dismantled Vishkar's security detail outside Jaipur. Only one target mattered, Amrita Kaur, the acting CEO. She survived."
"Shame," Spencer muttered under his breath.
"She's arrogant, insufferable, and runs her empire like a private kingdom," Ana added bluntly. "But she's the only one who can manually restore the lattice if it collapses. And as you guessed it by now, one of the major contributors to Overwatch."
"You're sending us to protect her," Shawn said flatly.
"Correct," Adawe confirmed. "Your orders are to embed at Vishkar Tower and keep her alive."
Transport Jet 'Osprey' – Airspace over the Arabian Sea
Rain streaked across the hull as the jet banked hard toward India.
S3bastian tilted his head. "So… we're risking our lives for a corporate monarch who likely uses public money to build private spas?"
"She's worse," Sonya muttered. "Spent half her career dodging humanitarian probes. I read the reports."
"Maybe she'll be grateful we're saving her," Marco said without much conviction.
"Or she'll complain the seatbelt chafes," Spencer replied.
Shawn didn't say anything. He stared down at a crate beside him, which was another shipment of Blackline, ready to be swapped into local medkits undercover.
Vishkar Tower, New Delhi – Main Lobby
The inside of the Vishkar Tower sparkled with arrogance. Floors of polished hard light. Clean white walls, untouched by smoke or war. While the world burned, this building gleamed.
A convoy of assistants in pressed uniforms approached parting to reveal Amrita Kaur.
She was tall, dressed in a flowing violet coat over high-grade armor, gold trimmed. Her face carried the look of someone perpetually inconvenienced.
"You're late," she said before introductions could begin. "I expected someone with a better posture."
Spencer blinked. "You're welcome."
She ignored him. "I assume you've been briefed. I want no soldiers inside my private wing. Your boots scratch the marble."
"We'll try not to die too loudly, then," Sonya muttered.
Shawn stepped forward. "We're here to keep you alive. Not to redecorate."
Amrita smiled thinly. "Then I suggest you learn how to do both. This tower was designed for elegance, not bloodshed."
The upper floors were pristine and sterile. Corporate medics in matching blue-and-white coats barely acknowledged the Overwatch medics. None of them looked at Shawn's team with gratitude.
"I see why the tower hasn't fallen," Marco whispered. "No one would dare care enough to come here."
Virginia exchanged medkits with a nearby tech, slipping in a Blackline-loaded pack. "They'd probably use dying civilians as PR."
S3bastian scanned the tower's systems. "Their security grid has massive blind spots. If I were a hostile AI, I'd hit this place during an evacuation."
Sonya nodded. "Which means she's going to insist on staying inside."
"Of course," Shawn muttered. "Queens don't run."
Rooftop Helipad
Beneath dark clouds, Amrita Kaur stood in an expensive coat unsuited for combat.
"These helicopters are beneath me," she scoffed. "I asked for a Vishkar prototype. Not this scrap metal."
"Funny," Spencer said. "We asked for someone with a soul."
Amrita turned slowly, eyeing him like a fly on her sleeve. "If you don't like this assignment, I'm sure there are better places for people with attitude. I hear the front lines always need volunteers."
"I'm already a volunteer," Spencer shot back.
Shawn stepped between them. "Enough. We're not here to argue with our ticket out of the next blackout."
Amrita smirked. "At least someone here understands value. But I refuse to step foot in whatever that is that you have before me."
Without another word, she walks off, leaving the team shaking their heads.
Shawn turns to one of the engineers, "How long till she gets her precious prototype?"
"It won't be ready until tomorrow." He says without looking up at him.
Shawn doesn't even bother asking for them to put a rush on it, he could tell he was going to get ignored. "Looks like we have the day off." He says to his team.
"This might be the worst mission we've been given yet." Marco says.
"Yeah. I think the volcano was better." Dwayne mumbles as they move back downstairs.
With the team gone, Shawn turns to S3bastian, "Come, we have work to do."
Lower Storage Wing
In a dim hallway below the tower, Shawn and S3bastian moved fast.
Each unlocked Vishkar medkit was opened and swapped and Blackline replaced standard stims. The labels were identical. The packaging perfect. Quiet infiltration, hidden in the guise of aid.
"This place is going to collapse from the inside," S3bastian said. "Not because of omnics. Because no one here would take a bullet for anyone else."
Shawn looked up toward the executive suite.
"Then we make sure we do."