The transport craft broke through low-hanging clouds over Lake Geneva, revealing the gleaming white spires of Overwatch's central command. Shawn Rose sat quietly, arms folded, the hum of the engines mirroring the tension in his chest. His team was grounded, resting back at base after the Vishkar operation. The insurgency had been crushed. Amrita was still in power. And Blackline was still a secret... for now.
Beside him, S3bastian checked the fit of his polished frame in the reflection of the window. "Do you think they'll serve tea at this meeting or just sharpen daggers behind their smiles?"
"I'd prefer honesty to refreshments," Shawn muttered.
"Then you're definitely in the wrong room."
Overwatch HQ – Conference Wing, War Room Omega
The room was a fortress of soundproofed steel and tempered glass, its walls decorated with star maps, holographic overlays of omnic activity, and incident reports cycling on the periphery. Seated at the central table were the most powerful figures Overwatch had to offer:
Madame Adawe, head of the organization, arms folded, expression unreadable. Gabriel Reyes, stone-faced, leaning back with a sniper's glare. Ana Amari, arms resting on the table but eyes sharp. Torbjörn Lindholm, grumbling while flicking through data logs. Sojourn, always alert, one hand tapping data into her wrist console. Jack Morrison, stoic and serious as he knew that if all of them were gathered at that moment, something serious was about to get discussed. Reinhardt Wilheim, his huge frame struggled to fit in the chairs provided. Dr. Mina Liao, standing at the head of the room with a holopad and the kind of expression that meant something groundbreaking was coming.
They were all waiting on Shawn and S3bastian.
"Welcome back, Rose," Adawe said coolly. "Let's not waste time."
Liao gestured to the holoscreen as it lit up with a stream of binary code flowing like a waterfall.
"We've spent months chasing patterns in omnic aggression," she began, "but it wasn't until this last month that we found... consistency."
She swiped the pad, bringing up a sequence of intercepted command strings, each prefixed with a unique header of shimmering violet glyphs stemming from different countries.
"These aren't just instructions. They're directives, encoded commands sent through sub-layered quantum channels we didn't even know omnics had access to. Not from a Ravager commander. Not from a relay node. From something... higher. Something designed to be obeyed without question."
Liao's voice dropped.
"I have reason to believe that this is the work of a God Program."
A low murmur passed through the room.
Torbjörn was the first to speak. "A machine issuing orders outside all known channels, and you think this one's... divine?"
"Not divine," Liao replied. "But omnipresent in omnic communication networks. It sees across regions, speaks through nodes we believed dormant. And every time it activates, coordinated strikes happen days later. It's pulling strings, manipulating variables. And we don't know where it is."
Ana narrowed her eyes. "Or what it wants."
Shawn stepped forward, his tone flat. "I do."
All heads turned.
He didn't wait for permission. "Its name is Anubis. It's not just some emergent code or rogue experiment. It's a synthetic war entity with the purpose of eradicating human life."
Adawe's eyes narrowed. "You knew about this?"
Shawn didn't flinch. "Yes."
Reyes cut in, tone sharp. "And you didn't think to share that with command?"
Jack spoke up, "People died Shawn. A lot. There's no telling how many lives we could have saved it we had known about this years ago."
"I had no confirmed data. No coordinates. No way to stop it. Just a name and a threat. Would've sounded like a fairy tale to most of you anyway."
Adawe leaned forward. "We decide what's actionable, not you. We're trying to win a war to save humanity, not race against your secrets."
"I'm also trying to win that same war." Shawn snapped back. "Not argue about protocols while cities burn."
For a moment, the tension was ice. Ana said nothing, her expression unreadable. Sojourn exhaled slowly. Reinhardt slapped his heavy fist on the table in front of him.
"Enough! Arguing isn't going to change anything. We should just focus on what we have in front of us. Anubis is real. It exists. If we stop it, we stop the war. The question now is, how do we find it?"
Liao, recovering her composure, tapped her terminal. "We begin Operation: Chokehold. We'll hunt down every major omnic figure believed to act as a relay, those with unusually high broadcast bandwidth, consistent communication gaps, or unexplained movement."
Reyes nodded. "We isolate them, take them out, and monitor the signal collapse. If the command chain fractures, we'll see where it tries to reconnect."
"Triangulate Anubis," Liao said. "Piece by piece."
Adawe turned to Shawn. "You're being reassigned. No more independent deployments unless cleared by this table. Your team will operate under direct command during Chokehold."
Shawn gave a half-nod. "Give us a name and location, it'll be dealt with."
Later – Hallway Outside War Room
S3bastian kept pace beside Shawn as they walked in silence. "You handled that with all the grace of a grenade."
Clanking behind them drew their attention to Reinhardt, who was struggling to catch up to them. Once they slowed down and let him, he put his hands on his knees wheezing as tried to catch his breath.
" This... Anubis. I take it that you've met it." Reinhardt asked.
"Plenty of times. Too many if you ask me. If you see an omnic with purple eyes, that's him." Shawn confirmed.
Reinhardt sighed. "The things you say and the things you do... A lot of people think you're either arrogant or insane. Some think you're both. But I know better. You act with good intentions, but you don't follow the rules. You remind me of me, before I joined. I, too, acted with little regard for the rules, but I learned my lesson. Shame I learned it too late." He places a hand on Shawn's shoulders.
"Our actions effect not only ourselves, but those around us. I'm telling you this now so that you too don't find this out too late."
Shawn nodded his head. "Thank you for the concern, Reinhardt. I'll be more careful in the future."
Reinhardt does a slow nod. "Thank you for hearing me out. I should move along then, shouldn't hold someone up with a mission as important as yours." Saying this, he starts to lumber away.
Although he didn't mention it, Shawn knew exactly what he was referring to. Who he had lost. Made Shawn think of his own team as he glanced at S3bastian. He had no idea what Anubis was planning, but now that his presence was revealed, it was finally the endgame. No matter what happens, he'd be strong enough to protect them, losing anyone on his team wasn't in his plan.