Chapter 9 Flashback: Jaguar and Overwatch first encounter

Shortly after chapter 4:

D.VA came into the rec room all excited.

"Hey guys, look what I got!" she shouted.

"Is this an excerpt from Jack Morrison's log? Hana are you crazy?" Faheera asked.

"Sorry, but I couldn't resist. But look, this is when he tried to get Jaguar to go on a mission as support."

"I was there. He never mentioned what happened between them," Lena said.

Torbjörn took it out of Hana's hand and started reading.

Five years earlier:

The young Cadet Tracer and I went aboard a Navy ship I got the hint that the ship of a gang of pirates called "Scarlet Witch" was damaged after a raid on a Talon ship and would moor here for repair. Winston gave me the recommendation to put us in good stead with the captain, a man known only as Jaguar, because he could be a powerful ally.

Although I deeply dislike the idea of making common cause with a felon. And I honestly wonder how the hell Winston knows this man.

"Jaguar? Sounds like a cunning weirdo from a third world country," I said.

The admiral who commanded the fleet replied: "Not quite. He's British but you can hardly notice it."

"Oho!" said Tracer in astonishment.

" And why do they call him that?" I asked almost sarcastically.

"Because he bites the neck of his enemies," the admiral said calmly.

I saw Tracer's eyes widen and she suddenly got a slightly disturbed look on her face.

After an hour a ship with deep red solar sails appeared out of the fog.

"Oh, the flag doesn't have a skull and crossbones on it," Tracer said next to me, looking through binoculars and sounding a little disappointed. She wanted to come along because, quote: "She's never seen a real pirate before.

The Admiral made contact, they held a discussion via hologram to arrange a meeting. Half an hour later a motorboat came from the direction of the ship to us an Omnic stood at the wheel and waved to us.

"Greetings! My name is Hyx the navigator of the Scarlet Witch. Our captain has agreed to negotiate with you."

Despite considerable objections from Cadet Tracer, I went into the boat alone.

When we came out on deck, at least 20 armed people scowled at me. Then when a small, bearded man spoke.

"Let me guess, you found out we raided Talon and now you Overwatch guys are trying to take it from us." whereupon almost everyone started laughing.

"Enough!" yelled a harsh voice and suddenly everything was quiet. I looked up and what I saw made my blood run cold in my veins.

At a site near the quarterdeck stood a tall pale man in a black coat and hat with a sword around his waist. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but his eyes glowed green. By my experience I knew one thing immediately: That was the captain.

Now I know why they call him Jaguar, everything about him looked like a cat of prey ready to attack. In addition to this, these silver, claw-like fingertips. The man was still very young, maybe in his early to mid twenties.

"Charles is right," he continued. "There is no question of giving up our prey."

"That's not what this is about. I'm here on Winston's recommendation to negotiate an alliance," I said.

The captain raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Fine, but leave your gun."

I turned in my rifle and we headed back to his cabin. He never took his eyes off me for a second. Then suddenly a huge combat omnic appeared in my path and made an angry, growling noise. Did he have a teddy bear hidden in his arm?

"Stay calm Drumbie! They just want to talk," said a young woman with copper hairs and white spikes that she had tied into a braid. Behind her stood another woman with short blonde hair.

Fortunately, I always carry extra weapons on my body. Jaguar sat down at a table with several navigators. Then he took a small book and wrote something down.

"The gun in your leg holster will do you no more good than the knife in your sleeve."

My eyes widened. How the hell did he notice?

He indicated to me to sit down. Then he got up and started walking up and down behind me.

"So let's get the lines straight. What do you want from us?"

"To negotiate an alliance, like I said."

"And they send a government guy like you to do it? Why should I join your little club?"

"We're not a club. We were protecting the innocent.

"I've seen your kind of protection. Most people on my ship are here for guys like you. People who were supposed to protect them, but they lost everything because of them. Government people like you. Here, they have freedom and true protection. Tell me! How many innocent people do you think died because of you? Hundreds?"

"... yes," I replied. Then it happened. This slender and at first sight a little slim man grabbed me by the throat, lifted me up and pressed me against the wall.

"LIE ONCE AGAIN. AND I'LL SLIT YOUR STOMACH AND LET YOU EAT YOUR OWN LIVER."

"Thousands," I gasped. But his grip got even tighter. "Hundreds of thousands." Then he let go of me and I sank to the ground, gasping.

"So no deal can be struck. I must ask you to leave my ship now and do not even attempt to raise your weapons, because then you will not leave this ship alive."

The boat brought me back to our ship. I think his claws cut me. I'm bleeding a little bit on my neck.

When I arrived, the Admiral informed me that Cadet Tracer had sneaked aboard the pirate's ship. I stood ready to intervene, but against all odds, it did not happen.

The two seemed to be getting along splendidly. When Tracer came back after a while, she had a satisfied grin on her face.

"What was that?" I asked angrily.

"Oh, nothing, I was just negotiating the alliance," she still said with a grin.

"How?"

"I don't know what you have. He was quite nice."

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"Wow. Fierce," Brigitte said.

"No wonder the Commander doesn't trust Jaguar," Faheera said.

"It's true this Omnic really had a teddy bear. It was really cute." squeaked Tracer.

Then a voice came over the loudspeaker.

"All agents present to man the planes we have a mission in Bangkok.