Learning from the past
Angela let Baptiste in her tent and put water in the kettle, tea was great to drink because any water they pulled up still need to boil it. She let him look around and settle at the table she had. It’s hard to interrogate people, Angela thought, even thought she remembered watching Jack, Gabe, and Ana do it. It came so naturally to them.
“Do you take anything in your tea?” Angela asked politely, trying to put Baptiste at ease by putting her pistol on her bed. “I don’t have any cream or milk but there are creamer packages that aren’t horrible.”
“Just a sugar. Why are you putting yourself in danger by being alone with me?” His face was difficult to read, but she could tell that he was hiding something and that he isn’t the type to trust easily.
“Because I wouldn’t trust anyone else in this camp to ask the right questions. You know that I was part of Overwatch, I had access to more information than the typical medic and know about more threats in this world then the average do-gooder.” Angela pour the two cups in front of Baptiste and put one sugar in each. “Which mug do you prefer?”
“I’ll take this one.” He pulled the mug towards him, looked around, and lay his gun down underneath his chair. “So I’m assuming that you know about Talon, Doomfist, and Moria?”
Angela sighed, stirred a creamer into her mug. “Yes, I know about all of that. I knew that Moria had something to do with the healing technology that you had. I wish that I was wrong.”
“She delivered the grenades a team and one operator was the field medic of their team. The rest of the team generally rallied around them, or they hung back. I need to make this clear, I am no longer part of Talon, I have next to no contact with Talon, however,” Baptiste said with a sigh, “Talon is hunting me.”
“What do you mean by next to no contact?” Angela leaned back in her chair, Baptiste had an honest face she thought to herself, pity that no one would trust him if they learned that he had been part of Talon.
“A woman named Sombra contacted me immediately after I betrayed my team. I don’t know who she is, but she told me that she could help me. She’s been finding ways for me to get across oceans, away from Haiti, into other areas that need humanitarian aid. I know that she probably has her own agenda and one day there will be a price to pay, but if that’s what it cost to create a better world so be it.” Baptiste said passionately, between sips. Angela was reminded of a woman that was part of an exchange program at the Watchpoint before Overwatch disbanded, Satya she thinks was her name, who wanted to create a better world.
“How did a man like you get into an operation like Talon?” Angela was bewildered.
“Haiti is in bad shape, worst than here. I was recruited into the military when I was 15, taught how to protect people, defend the orphanage that I grew up in, and because I was clever taught to heal people. Once the Omnic war was over the military was mostly disbanded, and I was left jobless in a country without a job market. So I looked for work in the only area I knew, medicine and war. Talon found me pretty quick once I started asking about jobs. They didn’t seem to bad at first protecting bases and raiding old Omnic facilities, but then we were sent to assassinate people and on raids on settlements. Innocent people were killed. Before this point all the money I had was being saved for a clinic, but once I realize that I was causing more harm than I could heal I left.”
“But it seems like you were just a normal field medic, why are hunting you?”
“You saw the fields that I set up when we were getting attack? I made those, and I modified my gun too. I’m not just a field medic though I wish I was. I was the second best medic they had in Talon, under Moria. And unlike her I was making things other medics could use. I got away before they forced me to hand over my blueprints and destroyed them as soon as I was far enough away.” Baptiste looked down into his empty cup. “My immortality field and amplification matrix would case hell in the wrong hands. Soldiers refusing to die, bullets ripping through whatever was in front of them? No I couldn’t unleash that on the world.”
“Well, you don’t mean us harm but you are hunted.” Angela stood up and started pacing in front of the table. “I can get you out of here, but just wandering the world is still dangerous. From what I’ve been hearing Talon is growing and since Doomfist got out, is more active than ever.”
“So what do you prescribe Doc?” Baptiste joked, “I find a rock to hid under until the world finds a way to get rid of them?”
“Not exactly, Medic.” Angela pulled out a tablet, “I know some other people that don’t exactly have a side and are on the run. They could help you and then you don’t have to worry about being blackmailed into something latter.” Angela typed out a few lines and then paused. “I think I might also be able to get a source on this Sombra, too.”
“Why?”
Angela stopped and looked at Baptiste. The man looked exhausted, road weary, and partially starved. She’d have to get him to stay long enough to fatten him up a bit before sending him to Hanzo, Hanzo was the only person that she could think of that didn’t have a connection with Talon or Overwatch before the war. He could keep Baptiste out of harm’s way.
“Because like you said yourself, the tools that you created are dangerous and should fall into the wrong hands.” Angela finished her message to Hanzo. “I trust your hands and your judgement, but being alone can twist judgement. So being with someone else that can help your head stay on your shoulders straight would be best.” Angela send McCree a message asking about ‘Sombra’. “His name is Hanzo Shimada.”
“And why him.”
“He owes me a favor.”
