"When he broke open the seventh seal there was silence in heaven."
-Rev 8:1
Rogue watched the LCD screen in front of him. Phoenix wasn't due for another mission for several more hours, and the rest of the Overwatch crew was resting in the room next to him. But Rogue couldn't rest, not after the things he had seen through the eyes of his omniscient god. He had watched Earth as it was brought to it's knees by the horror that was the Apocalypse. He was forced to watch through the eyes of Overwatch as humanity turned into creatures, nay demons. He watched good men, horrid men, women, children, the elderly, all die at the hands of the evil that was these creatures. All he could do was watch as Terrorists they had been tracking for weeks were ripped apart by the same hands that tore the throat out of their President. The same hands that tore babies from their mothers and lovers from each others arms. And each of these horrors that he watched made him realize that sooner or later, he would have to return to that accursed world. A world forsaken by God, a world that was being punished for no known reason to him. And for all he could see from his vantage far above the Earth, the one thing he couldn't see was a way to save their world. The last hopes of those pockets of humanity that he could witness, rested in the hands of the brave souls at Phoenix. The last hope for civilization to be reborn from the ashes of this fallen world and it was that hope that kept Rogue from opting out of this existence because even if the cursed couldn't be saved, perhaps they could prevent the last of humanity from falling to a like fate. And so he watched through the same eyes as God, doing his part to save his race.
"All units in Phoenix team, 20 minutes and report to helipad for final prep before moving out," the voice of the coms officer said through Vex's earpiece.
Well shit, guess this mission was a go now. Bishop had been transferred to Phoenix from Clean House just as the rest of his team had been the week before hand. This would likely be the first time that many of them had worked together, but John knew that each and everyone of his new team was perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. You didn't last long in this new world without being capable. No, he was certain that they'd be able to watch his back when dealing with the infected. They were ready for this, and if anything this new team would be more capable than any other in the entirety of Phoenix Operations.
Shaking his head, he grabbed hid bag from the corner and pulled out his handgun, holstering it in it's place on his thigh. Back in the day you weren't supposed to be armed on board vessels unless part of security or returning from a mission, but this new world changed the rules a little bit.
When he reached the armory he looked around, seeing a few familiar faces but not looking at too many new faces, he'd meet his new squad mates soon enough. When he got down to it, it took a few minutes to get everything in order and all his equipment in the proper pouches. He hefted hid Tavor and checked that everything was in working order.
Satisfied he checked the time and headed for the upper decks, reaching the helipad he looked around, it looked like he arrived first so he pulled up by one of the railings and dropped his bag. Leaning back he waited for the others to show up.
"Hawkeye, it's Phoenix Command. Gather with your squad on the Helipad. You will be moving out in thirty minutes. Your team should be briefed already, but we're confirming your mission now. Once you are in the Heli how you proceed is up to you. Use your team's skills to your advantage."
Phoenix Command paused for a moment as they brought up the mission file.
"You're entering Southern Maryland to investigate a signal from forward camp Rebound. We lost it in the first months of the infection. Communications were lost and we figured the base to be empty. Secure the camp and figure out what triggered that signal. Overwatch is currently outside of communication range so you're on your own for the next six hours."
They pulled up a map of the area, streaming it to his HUD display.
"There is a small town, population of 200, up the road 18 miles from the camp. We don't know the status of it's residents, but if it's like the rest of our Country you can expect serious numbers of infected. Try to keep this as quiet as long as you can. Once you've inserted it's three miles to the camp and the next copter we can secure for exfil is in eight hours."
Command channels went quiet for a moment before the voice returned, "Good luck, all current orders stand. Sample any rare infected you can, and kill anything that you feel able to without jeopardizing the mission or your squad. Phoenix Command out."