"We have been expecting you. Sergeant Roberto Santos at your service," said a stocky man with a thick Mexican accent as Overwatch's strike team arrived at the gates of Castillo. The man was wearing a sleeveless black shirt, green military cargo pants, a vest fitted with magazine pouches, and a custom made AK-74 assault rifle was slung on his shoulder--quite an ancient weapon in a world filled with advanced weaponry.

"So what's the situation sarge?" Jesse inquired, exchanging a handshake with the sentry. "And where are the rest of youramigos? I thought there is a squad of you here."

"Guards here are all in dreamworld. In there thosehijo de putasare partying hard and drinking stupid. My men are standing by inside. They will be ready when shit hits the fan."

"Just to be clear, if anyone from Los Muertos or Talon want out we're to give them just that."

They quickly made their way through the gates and soon arrived at the fortress' circular courtyard, only to be greeted with a tactical disadvantage. The buildings and circular arches were garrisoned with Talon and Los Muertos' soldiers, a large armored manned combat mech aimed its particle beam cannon at the intruders, and to make things worse, six Los Muertos thugs which turned out to be Roberto's men were held at gunpoint by a complementing number of executioners near the graffiti stained wooden double doors.

"Do you seriously think Talon is that stupid?" Sombra de-cloaked in front of the hostages "Heymi amor." She winked seductively at Jesse, who returned the gesture with a dirty smile.

"Buy me some time. I'm going around to the hostages,"said a cloaked Lightning through telepathy, something which the team was still getting used to.

"Olivia." Jesse tipped his stetson hat. "Kinda strange runnin' into you here."

The stealth hacker laughed. "I could say the same to you and youramigoshere." She twirled her fingers. "Why don't you just give up and we can continue what it was that we left that night, hmm?" she cooed.

"Keep talking Jesse."

"Why don'tyouand your pals here do that, celebrate holiday gettin' chummy with one another...and we can fuck like there's no tomorrow. Whaddaya say?"

"Not a chance, the boss is planing something big. Told me that if you won't surrender, then you'll die."

"What's in it for Los Muertos?"

"More weapons, money, we can take over Dorado with this kind of back up!" one of the thugs roared, followed by the jeering laughter of the rest of his mates.

"In position, I'll take care of the hostage takers and your lady friend. On your signal."

"I'm not going to ask you again, Jesse." Olivia aimed her machine pistol towards the cowboy, who smugly smiled at her.

"I wish there's a better way to end this, but oh this is gonna hurt."

In a split second, licking arches of bright yellow electrical discharge struck the hostage takers. The attack knocked all hostiles unconscious yet left the hostages untouched. Lightning quickly conjured an energy dome to shield him and the hostages after commencing his attack from the incoming bullet storm.

"Want to live? Come with me!" the guard captain barked at the flabbergasted cops who began to quickly untie themselves, grabbed the weapons nearby, and began to return fire as they moved to the western walls for cover.

"You look important," Lightning spoke to no one in particular and nonchalantly lifted Olivia with his telekinesis, taking her with the group.

Edward stepped forward and activated his Energy Barrier, shielding his team from their own share of bullets as they also ran to the western walls.

Their retreat was going as planned until the armored mech turned its sights on them and fired its particle cannon straight towards the shield bearer. Edward side stepped the attack in order not to get hit in the torso, but didn't do much else as he would be putting his team in danger should he try to do evade the attack completely. The energy blast tore through Edward's right shoulder, effectively punching a large hole through the armor's thick shoulder guard. Intense pain caused him to fall to his knees, but regardless kept his shield up for his teammates to get to cover. The attack also crippled his shoulder integrated missile launcher, but thankfully the ordinance inside did not explode.

"Get the fuck outta there!" Jesse yelled as the mech began to recharge it's cannon.

"AEGIS, red phosphorus missile, now!" He grunted.

"RP missile, primed and ready."

Edward straightened his torso and the targeting computer tracked his line of sight to the largest threat available - the mech. Locked on.

The missile streaked towards its target and exploded, blanketing the area with a thick phosphorus smoke, effectively blinding all nearby hostiles as Edward shuffled towards his team. Unlike it's white counterpart, the red phosphorous' smoke did not cause thermal burns upon contact, but concealed against thermal and visual imaging systems just as effectively.

"Bloody hell, are you alright?" Lena asked concernedly.

"It's just a flesh wound, I'll live. We need to do something about that mech though. My shield is useless against that particle cannon." Edward grunted painfully as he slumped against the wall where Angela began shining his wound with her staff's yellow biotic beam, scolding him in the process. "And fast, this smoke screen won't last any longer."

"DIOS! What is that?!" Roberto aimed his gun at Lightning who was descending down the steps with the sergeant's men on his six and an unconscious Olivia on his telekinetic grip.

"Baby, you'll have to buy me a round or two for that info." The stallion winked.

"It's okay, he's with us," Angela assured the sergeant.

"So, what do I do with this sleeping one?" Lightning asked as he dropped the hacker to the ground.

"Stay here and don't keep your eyes off her. She's got a bunch of tricks up her sleeves." Lena growled as her Pulse Pistols ejected from her gauntlets and to her hands. "If she gets up, just zap her again."

"Got it."

"I can take that thing out." Jesse smirked as he twirled his Peacekeeper revolver. "When that mech's out of the picture, we all move in, pincer attack. Sarge, I'm counting on you and your guys to provide fire support."

"Wait! Get behind me." The crusader pushed himself up and activated his shield barrier to protect his friend in case hostiles started shooting blindly. And true enough, the sounds of gunfire soon filled the courtyard.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" exclaimed a Talon soldier before being shot in his head by a stray bullet, blood and brain rapidly gushing out from his helmet. Some impacted Edward's energy barrier, turning them into orange sparks.

Jesse's hand stayed on his gun's grip, ready to draw and fire as soon as he saw any hint of the mech's cockpit. As the smoke began to dissipate, the mech's towering shadow loomed above Castillo, providing him with the opening he needed. A loud bang echoed throughout the courtyard and the mech fell to the ground with a loud crash, it's pilot dead with a bullet embedded in his head.

"Well done," the crusader praised.

"Genji, Tracer, nail the higher levels! Tin man and I will sweep the lower ground!" Behind him, Roberto barked orders at his men, splitting them into two smaller groups of three rifles each.

"On it cap'n!"

The team quickly commenced their counterattack, both sides engaged each other guns blazing. Lena's attack squad advanced quickly, overwhelming Talon and Los Muertos rapidly, but two of Roberto's men were killed in a grenade blast.

Out of the blue, three Talon gunships flew in and deployed three more mechs to the battleground. As Edward, Jesse, and their fire support team were in the battlefield's center, they became prime targets for the machines of war. The crusader told his companions to leave the proximity as they would not stand a chance in close quarters combat with the beasts of steel, but he can...or at least live long enough to land the killing blow. He managed to evade some of their melee attacks but he was eventually hit and thrown against a wall, effectively demolishing the structure. Thankfully, his suit took the brunt of the attack, only leaving him with bruised ribs instead of being squashed like a bug.

Genji, who was coincidentally positioned behind one of the walkers when they landed quickly took action in the form of a slashing leap with his Dragonblade. As the pilot didn't expect the unseen attack, there was little he can do other than bracing for impact as his mech's torso got severed in two, other than a nosebleed and bruised visage he did not suffer any other damage until the cyborg ninja stabbed his heart through the cockpit.

Lena did an equally impressive feat as well. Due to her inhuman speed, it was impossible for a regular mech pilot to even see where she was going, much less getting a bead on her. It's melee attacks were akin to a panicked child swatting stinging bees. She fired her Pulse Pistols repeatedly at the walker with no effect as her weapon cannot punch through that kind of armor. It was then when she armed her Pulse Bomb to try and blow a hole on the protective plates. She zipped and somersaulted behind it's back and chucked the sticky explosive before zipping to a safe distance and a few quick beeps later the bomb went off, exposing the mech's reactor. Seizing the opportunity, Jesse fired a round into the power source, effectively turning it into scrap metal.

Already recovered from the blow, Edward took it much up close and personal with the towering war machine. The mechs' weapon was not designed for close range combat so he only needed to worry about it's massive swatting arms - it's only defense at such engagements. Using his suit's powerful rocket engine and integrated heavy duty skates, he maneuvered under it with relative ease, and smashed his rocket powered lucerne war hammer to its right knee, resulting in fatal structural damage to the mech's right foot. He quickly twirled and used his momentum to at strike the back of the walker's left knee, eliminating its ability to stand at all. Once the machine was incapacitated on the ground, Edward smashed its particle beam cannon, toppled it to its back, and slammed his hammer through the cockpit's canopy, turning the pilot into a red smear.

After witnessing the carnage, what's left of the enemy quickly surrendered and threw down their weapons. But then, their radios were hailed.

"Huh, looks like we missed the party."a woman's voice came from the other side. She spoke with a thick Egyptian accent.

"Actually we could use some help hauling these guys off." Jesse chuckled. "Get your butt down hereCaptainAmari!"

Edward froze where he stood, a mixture of excitement and nervousness belched into his stomach. He would literally walk through a storm of bullets for his teammates, even taking one or two of them in the process with no hesitation, but when it came to occasions like these...that's another story.

"How are you feeling?" Angela asked as she glided to him with her Valkyrie Swift Response Suit. "Your heart rate spiked up just now."

Edward looked at her and smiled underneath his helmet "Ja, just a little bit surprised that's all."

"That mech hit you hard. Are you sure you are not hurt?"

"W-well my ribs are h-having quite the bruise right now," he stammered.

"You sound nervous. Oooooh, is this because of Fareeha?" Angela smirked as she once again engaged her staff's healing stream. "You know, I miss the days back when you two were still at this size." She pinched her index and thumb together, leaving a small space in between.

Edward chuckled. "T-those were the days."

Not long after, Captain Fareeha Amari, otherwise known as Pharah, landed at Castillo's courtyard with three of her men - Mahmud the medic, Tariq the rookie, and Saleh, her second-in-command.

"Saleh, take the boys and secure the area. I will have a little chat with our friends here."

"You got it boss," the mercenary said before signaling his fellow guns for hire to follow him.

"Who's the big guy? That's definitely not Reinhardt's suit." Fareeha asked as she lightly jabbed Jesse's shoulder, glancing at Edward who stood frozen like an ice sculpture. She crooked an eyebrow at his demeanor as she noticed there was something oddly familiar about him.

"Just ask him yourself." Taking in the cowboy's advice, she approached him, shouldering her signature rocket launcher.

"So, what's your name tin man?"

"Stay calm," Angela whispered before flying away to check on the other injured.

Edward inhaled deeply, mustered all the bits of calmness left inside of him, and took off his helmet.

Fareeha's jaw dropped, and the two locked stares for a long time.

"*Ahem* Hello Fareeha, I don't know if you still remember me-"

"Of course I still remember you Ed. It's been too long, too long- Oh what happened to your shoulder?" she pointed to the missing portion of his right shoulder armor, and the freshly recovered scar underneath.

"Work hazards." he shrugged nonchalantly. "Angie took care of it though, no worries. That's a nice dress by the way." He pointed at her blue tinted Raptora Mark VI combat suit, a signature to Helix Security International.

Fareeha chuckled, playfully punching Edward's breastplate. "And yours too. Now, if you're done being a fashionista lets get these people out of here." She smirked, putting on her unique avian head shaped tactical helmet.

Despite wanting to get this mission over with and get some time to chat with his old friend, Edward couldn't help but to wonder as how Helix could have possibly known their whereabouts as Overwatch's firewalls were practically impenetrable by external intrusions. One has to physically access the servers, in Gibraltar, to steal such information. Unless...

"Wait, how do you know we are here?"

"Anonymous tip, why?"

"Kuso! We walked right into a trap. Recall your men right now but do it calmly, distress will only prompt them to strike sooner." Genji suggested walking over to Jesse who was coordinating with Roberto and his men to escort the prisoners out of Castillo.

"Regroup on me, we are moving out."

Meanwhile...Mahmud, Tariq, and Saleh were scouring the surrounding buildings for hidden hostile remnants and anything useful for Helix to use, say Talon intel for example.

"I know they surrendered and all...but isn't this a bit too quiet?" Tariq asked in a hushed tone as he took a turn on a corridor.

Despite having proven himself as a capable soldier and IT specialist during the battle against "god program" Anubis - a type of artificial intelligence capable of corrupting and controlling lesser AIs, such as omnics or sentry bots - the transition from being a rookie to an experienced battle hardened soldier did not happen overnight.

"Yeah...but I see nothing on the scanners though," Saleh reassured him.

"The moment we rely too much on our tech, is the moment we doom ourselves," Mahmud said grimly.

It was then when they entered a living quarter tinted with purple lighting. They swept the room from top to bottom for any signs of hostile activity, but found none.

"Hey, what do we have here?" Tariq enthusiastically approached an unusually high technology computer sitting inside the room. He checked the device for any IEDs or similar traps, but again, null and void. He sat down on the setup's chair and propped his weapon beside him. "This...could possibly be...our biggest catch, today."

"If this device belongs to who I think she is...then yes." Saleh gave his friend a pat on the shoulder.

Tariq quickly sliced his way into the data bank, but alas found nothing, as if the whole data was purged right before the battle started.

"What? I-impossible. There should be at least something here!" He entered some commands into the computer, but then it locked him out from accessing any further.

"Regroup on me, we are moving out."Fareeha's voice rang on Saleh's earpiece.

"Copy that, you heard the lady, let's move! Tariq leave it!" Mahmud ordered.

"Damn it!" the IT specialist cursed, snatching his weapon on as they exited the building through its wooden sliding doors.

But before the squad could even realize what was going on, a spider shaped device landed on their feet and exploded into a deep blue smoke. In a matter of seconds, breathing became such a heavy task for them as the venom began to ravage their lungs and nervous systems. Coughing violently and gasping for air, their bodies became weaker and weaker as each second passed.

They were finished.

With the last bit of his consciousness, Tariq hailed his captain's earpiece. "C-captain *cough* *cough* g-get..."

"Tariq! Respond damn it! Tariq!"

Static.

Without sparing a second thought, Fareeha bolted to her men's last known position.

"Fareeha! Wait!Scheiße!" Edward shouted, tailing her closely. A quick turn later they arrived at the scene of murder.

As Fareeha attempted to approach her now lifeless soldiers, Edward held her back, shaking his head. "My scans indicate traces of a very poisonous gas in the air. With no chem-suit on you will end up like them. I'm sorry Fareeha. They didn't make it."

She knew this as well. According to her helmet's HUD, their vital signs were gone.

Suddenly, a loud crack was heard and half of Fareeha's helmet shattered into pieces. She collapsed with blood covering the left portion of her face.

"Like mother, like daughter."

Author's Note

As usual, thank you to XIII Hearts for editing this chapter .