Chapter 6: Chapter 6 – Maniacal laughter

Saying goodbye to Peter after school, Makenzie turned to his left and started on his way back home. Falling into his thoughts once again, searching through all his information and trying to dig up something he could use to prepare for his future. ‘If only I had an ability. Anything would do even something low level. As long as I had reassurance, I could take a bigger risk without having zero chances of success.’ Cursing whatever God/entity that sent him hear in his mind for being stingy with their gifts Makenzie turned onto his street. The sound of a siren coming from nearby drew Makenzie out of his thoughts as he smiled. His father, Dan would always play his siren when he came by for a break at around the same time Makenzie got off school. The reason being that while acting childish years ago Makenzie had made a great show over the imposing vehicle his father drove for work. 

Hurrying his footsteps to meet his father before he went back to work, Makenzie rounded the corner to their cul-de-sac and froze in place. ‘What? Why are there so many cruisers? And the fire department too, what happened?’ Fearing the worst Makenzie hurried forward and started shouting to get someone's attention “Hey! That’s my house what happened?” The person at the forefront of the crowd, a tall white man with brown eyes and black hair turned to face Makenzie. Makenzie recognized him as his father's partner John. Noticing Makenzie's rapid approach John stepped away from the others after giving a few commands and made his way to Makenzie. “John. What happened? Why are you here? Where is my father? What happened to my house?” Arriving in front of John Makenzie started to rapidly fire questions one after another trying to calm the rising panic in his chest. “Whoa. Makenzie calm down!” John raised his voice to silence Makenzie and then looked down at him, grief appearing on his features causing Makenzie's panic to increase. Seeing Makenzie becoming more frantic John sighed and said “Follow me it’s better if I show you. So, you understand.”  

Leading Makenzie to the front door of his house John was stopped when he felt a tug from his pant leg and looked down slightly to see Makenzie’s childish figure shivering slightly as he asked John once again “John where is my father?” Hearing his question John again turned towards the front door and released another sigh before continuing forward into the kitchen where a blanket covered a corpse on the floor. The room was also filled with traces of burn marks. The wood cupboards burned black, and some directly disappeared into ash. As Makenzie arrived at the kitchen and saw the covered corpse, he suddenly found it impossible to breathe. Next to him John crouched in front of the cover and grabbed a corner before turning to look at Makenzie and saying, “Prepare yourself Ken.” Immediately afterwards he lifted the sheet and under it in a burnt uniform lay his father burnt almost beyond recognition.  

Makenzie’s stomach immediately plummeted, and he found it impossible to stay on his feet. Grabbing onto the wall nearby Makenzie slowly slid down onto the blackened floor staring forward in disbelief. Behind him John spoke up “Your neighbors saw smoke from the window and called 911. When the firefighters arrived, they worked as quickly as they could, but your father had been trapped in the kitchen and they weren’t able to save him in time. I’m sorry Makenzie. I should have been with him. Should have been there to help save him. Should have stopped him from doing something so foolish.” John spoke word by word and as he spoke his voice grew weaker until it was barely a whisper near the end of his sentence. As they both stopped talking the only sound that could be heard in the room was the slight sound of falling tears. Makenzie, who was stuck in a state of disbelief, suddenly whipped his head around to John and asked urgently “What about Aunt Diana? Is she dead too? WHERE IS SHE!?” Makenzie ended up almost yelling the last part as he tried to contain his uncontrollable emotions. Thankfully, John quickly dissipated those worries “Don’t worry she is fine. But she suffered from some bad burns on her hands as well as inhaling a lot of smoke. From what I heard when they arrived, she had grabbed the burning doorknob and was trying to pry open the door for your father.” 

“I want to see her.” Makenzie requested as he looked at Johns tear-stained face. “Sorry Ken. They put her under to help her escape the pain. She won’t wake up for a few days. But you can be assured that someone will come to get you the second she wakes up.” Listening to him Makenzie fell silent as something important seemed to start escaping from inside him. Trying to catch it Makenzie's attempt was in vain; it slipped right through his fingers. And then, Makenzie wasn’t in pain anymore, nor was he sad, nor was he worried, he suddenly felt empty. Just like when he was watching Tracer struggle against the Swarm time and time again and eventually, he just stopped caring. Constant failure made him stop worrying, recognizing that he couldn’t help in any way and could only watch. He did just that, he watched emotionlessly as Tracer and Overwatch fought. The light that had always shown brightly in his eyes was put out as if a bucket of icy water was poured on them. Turning back to his father, Makenzie’s feeling got even stronger and soon he found his body refilled with strength. Standing up still facing away from John Makenzie said “I’ll be fine on my own. There’s no need for anyone to stay you can grab what you need and leave.” His voice came out sounding indifferent and lifeless but before John could continue talking Makenzie had already left and started towards his bedroom.  

Arriving in his room Makenzie locked the door and sat down on his bed while staring blankly at the ceiling. “Did I do something wrong? Was I a great sinner in some past life of mine? Even if I was, was there a need to punish me like this? Could you not have just punished me? Why hurt someone innocent? Someone who worked with only achieving the best for everyone in mind? It’s not fair.” As Makenzie continued to question how this could happen a smile suddenly appeared in his mind causing him to pause before he started to remind himself “That’s right. What am I complaining about? You suffered much worse than this even in your first life. And yet you found the strength to continue trying to succeed. Yet here I am broken over something infinitely smaller than what you faced. I guess there goes my goal to become an ideal hero.” In his new life Makenzie wasn’t just affected by the old Makenzie’s memories, he was also changed by the members of Overwatch. Watching their story, a fight against a seemingly unstoppable foe never giving up, always thinking of innovative ideas to solve the problem and when proven ineffective they merely shrugged it off with a drink and went back to work. While Makenzie, who could only watch and hadn’t even actively participated, had lost himself at some point caught in the endless cycle of fighting the Swarm. He had ended up on auto pilot only becoming aware when a big change was made.

Makenzie had throughout his new life come to admire the mindset of the Overwatch members far more than their physical prowess. But even among the Overwatch members he idolized Tracer. He role modeled himself after her. Trying to always be like her, strong like her, and with that mindset he thought even if nothing worked out now, he would always be able to make something work in the future. However, even a mindset as incredible as Tracers is useless without power to back it up. Even his father with his great ideals, trying to bring justice to all of New York’s people was brought down by something as simple as a kitchen fire. Even more stupid was that his dad was an amazing cook and the odds of him making that kind of dumb mistake were nonexistent.  

‘Wait. That’s right. There's no way dad would make a mistake like that. Something else must be going on here.’ Stopping his negative thoughts Makenzie recalled everything he had heard and saw today and desperately tried to find any way in which it connected to the accident. How was dad trapped when the oven was on the opposite side of the kitchen. How could he not have noticed a problem while cooking. What had John whispered that he couldn’t make out? As he went over the scene of John’s tear-stained face Makenzie was struck by a memory from last year.  

(Flashback) 

Last year after he had been put to bed by Aunt Diana who went to sleep around the same time as him, he had secretly snuck downstairs to listen in on the conversation between them trying to gain more information on how the world was progressing. As he listened, he heard John mention an accident he had in his childhood “Yeah, after the accident my tear ducts stopped working. The doctors told my parents I would make a full recovery but that I wouldn’t be able to cry anymore. And he was right on the money my eyes haven’t so much as watered since then.”  
(End flashback) 

Thinking to here and adding up everything he knew so far Makenzie could determine that the so-called accident his father had died in wasn’t an accident at all and that John knew something about what really happened. As Makenzie reached this conclusion, he suddenly felt what he had lost earlier come back to him as tears streamed down his face. However, his tears dried quickly as burning anger took over his whole body. Trembling, the incredible anger Makenzie felt at the person who did this to his father as well as John who had a part in it completely consumed him. As Makenzie’s rage built up, he felt even more anger coming from somewhere else inside of him and it started to feed into his own rage. Before Makenzie could understand what was happening, his consciousness seemed to suddenly expand, and maniacal laughter started to sound in his mind before he promptly passed out. 

As Makenzie laid passed out on the bed his body began to produce black smoke that started to wrap itself around Makenzie's body. Under the layer of darkness Makenzie’s body grew taller and stronger as the smoke solidified into a black cloak surrounding him and a white mask grew over his face. Slowly raising his head from his chest Gaberial Rayes, better known now as Reaper, cracked his neck before quickly reviewing Makenzie’s memories. Laughing to himself at what he saw his body dematerialized and swiftly exited the room. Getting to the roof of the building he turned his head eastward towards the NYPD headquarters. Jumping down Reaper silently disappeared into the shadows of the night. 
Tonight New York will meet The Reaper! 
. 
.. 
... 
Outside of the New York police station on a high-rise building nearby the shadows suddenly started to bend as a figure manifested on the roof looking down at the station. Watching the police and criminals constantly moving in and out of the building, Reaper looked around until he locked onto his target. Watching as John made his way into the building, Reaper’s body covered in black smoke moved. Rushing down the building his body like smoke gilded over the ground and moved forwards without stopping for any obstacles in his way. Arriving near the rear of the station Reaper looked around before spotting the electrical box. Moving towards the box, Reaper raised his clawed hand and swiped downwards destroying the box and cutting off the station's power.  

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Moving into the building, Reaper remained unaffected by the darkness, after so many years darkness had long become his home. Making his way through the station and into John's office where he saw the officer sitting at his desk, complaining about the power outage. Reaper Silently moved behind him and put his clawed hand onto his neck unnoticed before speaking in a raspy dark tone filled with killing intent. “If you make any noise, I will kill you.” John’s whole body froze in shock at the voice coming from behind him. Immediately he reacted by trying to turn and face his attacker, but as he went to stand, he felt a prick on his neck and looked down only to reveal a look of horror at the black claw that was currently piercing his neck. ‘What? When did he?’ “I’m going to ask questions and you're going to answer. Every time I think your answer is a lie I'll break a bone, understand?” Pulled from his thoughts John slowly nodded his head trying to show whoever was behind him that he understood. “Good. Tell me about the death of your partner Dan Walker.” “He was in an unfortunate accident at home while cooking.” John replied hearing Reaper's question.  
Feeling no action from behind him John was about to sigh in relief when suddenly the claw on his neck moved up and covered his mouth before another claw grabbed his left hands thumb and twisted violently. Letting out a scream of pain that was suppressed by the hand covering his mouth, John started to move around violently trying to get out of Reapers hold. However, it proved useless no matter how John struggled Reaper’s hold didn’t weaken. “That was for lying to me. And this.” Speaking to hear Reaper’s clawed hand grabbed his index finger on his left hand and twisted once again. “This is for not taking my threat seriously.” John barely heard Reaper's voice through the pain, but he still understood the general message and started to calm himself down. ‘Judging by his rushed actions it seems it’s just him alone and he doesn’t seem to know how long the power outage will last either. As long as I stall till the power is back people will notice and I can use that as a chance to kill him and justify it through demonstrating his cruelty from my injuries.’ Thinking to there John decided to properly answer Reaper’s first question “The house fire wasn’t an accident earlier that day two men entered into his house and put a miniature explosive in the oven and another near the door. Later, on the day when Dan returned home, they watched him through cameras they had set up and detonated the mini bombs after he entered the kitchen. He was caught in the blast and lost his mobility. He burned to death as a result.”  

Listening to John’s answer Reaper felt rage that didn’t belong to him accumulating in his chest. Laughing to himself at the unfamiliar sensation Reaper looked back down and asked another question “How did the men enter the house? There were no signs of breaking and entering”. Before arriving at the station Reaper had done a sweep of the house. Being the former leader of Blackwatch Reaper was a professional in quiet missions like this one and he’s learned that no matter how careful you are there’s always something that shows you the truth of what happened. However, sometimes that something can be covered up by someone, making it much harder to find. And sure enough, John’s next answer followed Reaper’s assumption “I gave them a key. Dan and I had been friends for years and I would go over occasionally so Dan gave me a key so I could let myself in.” 

‘Everything is going as I thought so far.’ Reaper thought as he pushed away his anger and asked the last, most crucial question “Who ordered the hit on Dan Walker?” John’s body clenched when he heard Reaper’s last question. After all, if he answered this question honestly then he would have another problem to look out for. ‘Fuck! What are those idiots doing, can’t they even fix a busty fuse.’ Not hearing anything from John Reaper moved his hand over to John’s middle finger and was about to start twisting when John started speaking quickly “Wait wait wait. It was the Russians. Dan had been investigating too deeply into their business, so they got him taken care of.” Not hearing any response from behind him John thought Reaper didn’t believe him and closed his eyes expecting to feel pain however when he didn’t feel anything he opened his eyes only to notice the distinct lack of pressure on his neck shooting up and spinning around with his pistol drawn John looked around his office but couldn't find any sign of his interrogator. Feeling relieved, John relaxed in his chair, not noticing the black smoke that entered the vent of his office. 

Reforming on the roof of the station Reaper stood silently looking down at the ground where the police were panicking over the destruction of their fuse box. 

“Hey Mark, isn’t this thing supposed to be able to withstand explosives. What the hell could have just ripped it apart like this?” A confused young officer turned to a senior nearby and tried to understand the situation. 

“The hell if I know! I’ve seen this box withstand the force of assault rifles. There shouldn’t be anything in the city that can do something like this.” Mark, the senior officer said while looking nervous. The newbie might not have learned to think deeper on things like this but Mark, as a 6-year veteran new well that whatever caused this kind of damage so quickly and quietly was going to have an impact on the dynamics of the city. A weapon capable of this was something many people had an interest in getting their hands on. 

As Mark thought further on the implications of this incident an authoritative voice sounded “What’s with the commotion? Did you all not even remember the basics about what to do in an emergency.” Hearing the voice from behind them Mark and the others straightened up immediately and turned around giving a salute to their captain George Stacy. “Well, what are you all standing around here for?” Captain Stacy yelled as he walked up to them. “You, you, and you get to work on starting up the backup generators.” “Yes Captain” x3 Giving his orders George approached Mark and then looked towards the recked box. “What do you think could have done something like this Captain?” Mark questioned his captain while he started to get to work of removing the box from the wall. “I don’t know. But if I had to guess, I’d say... a hand.” “A hand? Captain does that mean you think a human could do this?” Holding up the front of the box to show his Captain Mark asked incredulously. “Well, it’s just a strong feeling.” Stacy replied as he suddenly turned his head upwards looking at the roof of their building. Following his Captain, Mark turned his head upwards, but he didn’t see anything. “Something wrong with the roof sir?” Mark asked, confused.  

“No... I just thought I saw something is all.” George responded to Mark and then headed back inside, lost in his thoughts. On his way to the office, he was alerted that John had been attacked and was in the infirmary. ‘Hmmm. So, someone knocks out the power sneaks into the building and targets John but doesn’t kill him.’ Coming to a conclusion George changes directions towards the infirmary. ‘John, whatever your hiding, I hope there done with you’ Closing his eyes the scene of a cleanly cut bullet proof box appears in George's mind. ‘For all our sakes.’  
… 
Making his way towards Hell’s kitchen Reaper reflected on the pathetic reaction the police had to his little break-in. ‘No matter the world, law enforcement will always be backseat characters.’ Chuckling darkly to himself as various thoughts on how he could torment the police started to pop up in his mind. Reaper had to Shake his head to get rid of those distracting thoughts. Reminding himself that he was here to do a job, nothing more. Looking at the dead quiet streets of Hell’s Kitchen under him, they were a stark contrast to the streets in the rest of the city which had thriving nightlife. Hell's Kitchen’s reputation for being a den for all the trash in this city seemed to be true. As Reaper scanned the dead streets, he let out a sigh as he realized how much time it would take to find a lead. ‘But no matter one way or another the Russians will disappear today.’ 

1 hour and a half later. Reaper was standing on the roof opposite a rundown hotel that was in an isolated corner of Hell’s Kitchen. If it hadn’t been for his enhanced senses and his partial understanding of the Russian language, he might have missed this spot. Unluckily for the trash in the building he did find them and now that he knew where they were they weren’t going to get away from him. 

AN:

Hey guys so another new hero was just launched for OW2 Kitsune and I plan to include her in the story along with the other two Overwatch hero's that have been introduced to OW2 so far. But after this it will be hard to continue to incorporate new heroes into the story. But let me know if you want them added in the comments. Thank you

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