Hope (Cutscene script sample)

Foreword:

This script has a couple of objectives:

1. Place
Mercy within the context of OW’s world. It tries to justify her coming back to
OW after the team was disbanded, given how she has been depicted in the comics
and her readyroom lines in Gibraltar (where she says
OW was disbanded for good reason).

2. Expand the
universe. This strip features Garren, an original-character Omnic
veteran who, like Zenyatta and Bastion, broke out of the yoke of his
programming. Exploring what it means for an Omnic to
do so, and cast a shadow as to what else there is to
discover, is part of what this script is meant to do.

3. Follow the
OW short cinematic format/scope. The OW cinematics have a particular
target, pacing, and scope. Thought to such things as assets, visual
effects, shots and action are considered in this script.

—

 

The sound of windchimes rings out in a soft harmony,
followed by the sound of a quill scratching paper.

FADE IN: INT. NIGHT. GENJI’S DESK

Genji’s cyborg fingers wield a simple wooden quill, dipping it into an inkwell, and
writing an illegible language onto a piece of thick paper. A purple Solms-Laubachia flower is next to the paper.

FADE
OUT.

GENJI

(Off-screen) Dear Angela.

FADE IN:EXT.
DAY OVER THE FIELD HOSPITAL

GENJI

(Off-screen)

I don’t know where or when my letter will reach you,
but I know you will be devoted to your cause.

Red cross tents stand in the midst of a bombed-out city. The fighting has come to
a lull, but in the distance a flying vehicle flies past. GARREN stand by the
entrance of one of the tents, looking off into the distance. Garren is still
recognizable as one of the “heavy” assault
Omnics from Null Sector. However, his whole shell is painted and decorated in a
distinctive style with a red cross stenciled onto his shoulder. Garren wears a
“Keffiyeh” scarf around his neck.

ANGELA ZIEGLER, dressed in a
medic’s uniform, treats a wounded soldier, bandaging his wounds in a freeze framed diorama. In the background, a pad with the
Overwatch symbol is glowing. Garren is in the background, holding a tray with
fresh bandages

GENJI

(Off-screen)

I thought of you after I saw Winston’s message.

Angela checks on the IV of
someone wrapped in a blanket. She looks tired, but unwavering. Garren is in the
background, pulling a blanket over the chest of another unconscious patient.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

He is correct. The world does needs heroes again.

Angela puts on a surgical mask
while she stands next to a gurney with an unconscious patient. A tray of
surgical instruments is being held for her by a nurse. The pad is visible
again, still glowing with the call. Garren is seen leaving the tent.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

But when the world lost Overwatch, it did not lose
you.

Angela stands by a bed, head
lowered, brow furrowed intently and arms crossed,
while Garren helps a nurse put fresh sheets. The pad with the Overwatch symbol
is still nearby.

CUT
TO:

INT. IN THE FIELD HOSPITAL. SAME
SHOT AS THE LAST, NOW ANIMATED.

Rows of beds have the wounded, the displaced, the
orphaned.

People move about. Human and Omnic nurses, dusty, battered and tired, but working hard
to help. ANGELA ZIEGLER is working on GARREN, an omnic
patient.   The pad with the

Overwatch symbol is nearby.

The tent shakes as a vehicle
flies past, shaking the tent. A nurse looks up at the sound while she’s helping
one of the patients and flinches. Angela continues to work on Garren’s
shoulder, barely reacting to the noise.

ANGELA
ZIEGLER It’s quite unusual to see one of you old heavy units operational,
especially one as traveled as you…

 

Angela closes the access panel
on Garren’s body. It has a stenciled red cross symbol spray-painted on.

ANGELA ZIEGLER How do you feel?
I’m not an engineer, unfortunately. I can only do so much.

GARREN

All systems within parameters, doctor.

ANGELA ZIEGLER We’re done then.
You have to make sure that you don’t stress that arm
too much, understand?

Garren looks up at her, but doesn’t reply. Angela begins putting the tools way.

ANGELA ZIEGLER

And I’m curious about your story, Garren. The last
time I saw a unit like you I —

Garren turns his head to look at
something through the top of the tent suddenly. Angela stops speaking, taken
aback. Garren turns back to Angela, quickly rising to his feet.

GARREN

(interrupting)

Incoming. Take cover.

The roar on an engine in
distress quickly overwhelms all other sounds.

The tent is ripped away by a
crashing gunship. Everyone scrambles, except for Garren who stands perfectly
still while towering over Angela. The gunship, pursued by two other ships that
break away, crashes out of sight. More explosions rock their surroundings.

GARREN

(over the chaos)

You are no longer secure here. You must evacuate.

ANGELA
ZIEGLER (yelling over the chaos) Help everyone into the transports!

Start with the ones who can’t
walk!

GARREN

(over the chaos) At once,
doctor.

PANNING SHOT OF THE INSIDE OF
THE NEWLY REVEALED BATTLEFIELD, ANGELA AS THE FOCUS.

The chaos of the field hospital burning, with the backdrop
of the burning city, is filled with people. Omnics, humans, doctors, soldiers,
nurses, everyone running towards trucks, loading up the wounded. Angela catches
sight of the pad on the ground.

CLOSE-UP OF THE PAD

The pad is smashed. The
Overwatch symbol flickers out as it dies.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

You never stopped helping people.

The silhouette of her halo and
wings burst into view.

CUT
TO:

EXT. MOMENTS LATER AMIDST THE
CHAOS

The battle is getting closer
while everyone scrambles to the trucks. Some of them are driving off already,
while more are being loaded. MERCY, in her full Valkyrie suit, flies past,
carrying one of her patients to a truck before it speeds away. Only Garren is
left with her.

GARREN

All patients accounted for. Hostile units are
closing in. You must withdraw.

Mercy looks towards the city below the hill where the
hospital used to be. The battle rages on. In the middle of it, a massive shape,
towering over the broken buildings can be seen.

MERCY’S POINT OF VIEW.

UI elements flash, highlighting parts of the city while
buildings crumble.

FRAMING GARREN AND MERCY

MERCY

I don’t think I can leave quite yet. My work is not
quite done.

GARREN

You will need an escort, doctor.

MERCY

No. Make sure everyone here gets somewhere safe. I
can handle myself.

Garren looks up at Mercy for
half a beat, glances in the direction she is looking at.

GARREN

Be cautious, doctor Ziegler.

MERCY

You as well,
and thank you.

Mercy flies off in the direction
of the city, picking up altitude and then diving dramatically through pillars
of smoke, leaving Garren standing in the middle of the abandoned field
hospital.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

I have met Omnics who stood
against us. They remembered you the most.

 

Dodging around rocket fire and
tracer rounds, Mercy follows a road.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

You were our beacon of hope, and our enemies saw
that.

Garren watches for a moment longer, and begins running to follow her.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

They saw what you meant to those
around you.

 

CUT
TO:

EXT. DAY. THE SHATTERED CITY

The ground below Mercy is
shattered with the scars of a lengthy war. Collapsed buildings, smashed,
burnt-out cars, destroyed mechs and omnics. The battle seems to happen around
her, intensifying, but not directed specifically at her.

GENJI

(off-screen)

Without meaning to, Angela, you taught them
something.

Groups of soldiers are hunched down behind rocks and
broken buildings, hiding from the hail of bullets. When they see her flying by,
they look up.

Some salute by raising their fist into the air. Mercy flies past, toward the center.

CLOSE-UP OF MERCY’S FACE.

MERCY

(surprised, in German) Who would
even build such a monster?

PAN VIEW TO OVER MERCY’S
SHOULDER, TOWARDS HER PATH PATH OF TRAVEL, FOCUSING
ON THE DISTANT SHAPE.

The GIANT MECH smashes an entire
building apart with one of its limbs, firing a weapon into the debris. Mercy
dodges under pieces of it that are sent flying towards her. Mercy sees
something in the collapsed building and flies towards it.

CUT TO HUNKERED DOWN SOLDIERS

A CORPORAL
yells into the headset of his radio. A handful of other soldiers are
behind a smashed car, a block away from the Giant Mech.

CORPORAL

(into radio, frantic) We’re being
torn to shreds but there are civilians here! We can’t

—

Corporal looks up in surprise as
Mercy flies past. The radio squawks a reply Corporal
doesn’t pay attention to. Mercy continues to fly towards the center.

CORPORAL (amazed)

It’s the doctor from the hospital…

The Giant Mech tries to swat her
away as she twists to dodge, circling around like a bird trying to avoid a cat
that’s perched on its nest. Corporal looks around him to his comrades.

CORPORAL

(sudden realization) She can’t
get to the civilians. She needs a distraction!

Corporal waves all around him,
trying to get the attention of soldiers off-screen.

CORPORAL (yelling
around him)

Covering fire! Covering fire!

Corporal picks up his rifle and
aims it at the Giant Mech.

OTHER SOLDIERS

(off-screen, distant) Covering
fire!

CUT TO SHOT BEHIND AND OVER
MERCY’S SHOULDER

The Giant Mech turns towards
Mercy, focusing its sensors on her for a moment. Rockets and bullets pelt the
Giant Mech ineffectively from down the street.

GENJI

(off-screen)

You taught them the value of
hope.

The Giant Mech turns towards
them as Mercy dives out of the way and into the collapsed building. The Giant
Mech fires a beam weapon towards the soldiers.

CUT
TO:

 

INT. TWILIGHT. COLLAPSING
HALLWAY

Light breaks through a wall. A
CHILD on the ground looks up, grimacing at the light. Mercy pushes away debris,
clear a doorway, and offers he hand to the child. The child is covered in dust.
The child takes Mercy’s hand. The hand glows, with the glow filtering through
her fingers and along the child’s arm.

The child stands, but distraught,
points behind them. Mercy flips over a piece of wall to reveal A MAN. The Man
is unconscious on the ground, Mercy leans down over him with her Caduceus
Staff, the glow flowing from it like liquid.

The Man glows with the healing
energy flowing through him. He opens his eyes and breathes. Mercy helps him up.

They all run out together into
the light. The light at the end of the tunnel begins to fade as the building
collapses further. The door-frame leading outside visibly cracks. Mercy holds
back the man and the child staring at the wooden beam splintering.

The beam cracks further, about
to give way. The beam bends down, the last splinters popping off when Garren’s
hand suddenly appears. His fingers close around the beam and he lifts it.
Garren holds the door-frame from the outside, the arm Mercy fixed shaking with
the strain.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

Because of you, they now have a new path.

Mercy, A Child and A Man run
past Garren. Garren visibly struggles to hold the door-frame until they pass.
The arm that Mercy was fixing shorts and trembles. The building further
collapses in the background.

A Man carries A Child on his
shoulder, running away from the battle behind them. Over her father’s shoulder,
A Child waves a silent goodbye.

Mercy smiles for a moment,
waves, and then turns on her heel. The smile is gone as she looks up to the
Giant Mech. The Giant Mech is still firing on the soldiers on the side road.
Garren, who held his hand up in a wave to the child again, turns his attention
to Mercy.

MERCY

(without looking)

Go back to the others. I don’t want you to follow
me.

Mercy’s nanite wings flap
dramatically as she takes off. Garren watches her fly away. Garren begins to
run after her, after a beat.

 

CUT
TO:

 

EXT.  TWILIGHT. FLEETING HOPE.

The Giant Mech, scorched and
dinged by the bullets, continues to fire down a perpendicular street to the one
Mercy is approaching from. The Giant Mech is dinged and scorched with bullet
and rocket hits.

Mercy flies past the destroyed
buildings, glancing down the side street where the soldiers were before.

MERCY (shocked)

All of them — gone!

CUT TO MERCY’S UI PERSPECTIVE.

All that’s left of the soldiers
are smoking craters and gashes on the concrete. A couple of emergency icons are
glowing with the text “Critical!” in them.

MERCY

No, there’s still time! I have to
try…

Mercy flies between the Giant
Mech and the survivors, hovering directly in the Giant Mech’s line of sight,
spins in mid-air and whips out her blaster in a dramatic fashion.

Mercy fires, plinking away at
the armor around the Giant Mech’s sensors. The Giant Mech fires back with its
own beam weapons, getting a glancing hit on Mercy. Mercy cries out as she falls
out of the sky.

Mercy falls almost two seconds
before recovering, twisting around again and flying in a spiral around the
Giant Mech’s feet.

The Giant Mech tries to swat
Mercy away with its massive hands. Mercy weaves her way through the Giant
Mech’s hands, staying close to the Giant Mech’s body. The Giant Mech spins
around, trying to crush Mercy in its fist. Mercy barely escapes as her spiral
carries her up the Giant Mech’s body.

Mercy flies past the Giant
Mech’s head, which reaches up for her with its fist
one last time, barely missing.

Mercy plants her feet on the edge of
the lens of the Giant Mech’s massive beam-weapon. Mercy fires her blaster
repeatedly. Mercy’s blaster shots crack the lens. The Giant

Mech begins charging the weapon
Mercy is trying to break. The Giant Mech’s weapon glow increases quickly.

The Giant Mech’s weapon fires.
Mercy is thrown off the Giant Mech, blasted away.

CUT
TO:

EXT. TWILIGHT. MOMENTS LATER.
ONE LAST STAND.

Mercy crashes into the middle of
the street where the soldiers were. The Giant Mech turn to face her again.
Mercy, glowing with golden biotic power that heals her wounds, stands up and
confronts the Giant Mech. Mercy’s wings are broken.

The Giant Mech begins charging
its weapon again, the crack on its lens spidering further along the glass. The
glow of the weapon increases slowly inside the Giant Mech’s eye. The weapon
sparks and shorts, but doesn’t stop charging.

Mercy confronts the Giant Mech,
standing in the middle of the street, among the bodies of the soldiers. Mercy
glances towards them. All of them are illuminated with the
“critical!” symbol in her UI. Mercy looks down to her own hand.
Mercy’s biotic power gathers into a sphere in the palm of her hand.

MERCY

(wistfully, in German) I always
knew I’d work myself to death.

Mercy kneels in the posture of
her Resurrection spell. The orb of biotic power at her fingers quickly spreads
tendrils along the floor towards each soldier.

MERCY

(quietly, earnestly) Just
please, let me finish my work…

The Giant Mech keeps charging
its weapon, about to finish. Mercy looks up, defiant, as he begins to stand and
the biotic power all around her reaches a nearly blinding glow. The Giant Mech
fires its weapon, hitting the ground some fifteen feet away from Mercy.

The Giant Mech’s weapon scorches
the ground towards her. Mercy is about to be engulfed by the beam of the energy
weapon.

Mercy looks over to one of the
fallen soldiers glowing with her biotic power. The soldier is on the ground,
looking back at her, reaching out with his hand.

GENJI

(off-screen)

You know your own path. You won’t stray from it.

Mercy smiles, and closes
her eyes. The biotic energy is released. The soldiers are revived.

The image fades to black. A beat
passes.

GENJI

(off-screen)

But the world must not lose you now.

Mercy opens her eyes suddenly.
Garren is shielding her from the beam. The edge of Garren’s body glows from the
heat. Mercy’s shocked expression is replaced by an angry grimace.

Mercy thrusts her staff at
Garren’s back, releasing a torrent of biotic power.

Garren’s body is melting too
fast for the biotic power to repair it. The photo of a family, the different, clearlyfinger painted translations for
“Garren-505” in a multitude of languages, the memory of the places he
has been and the people he helped are being scorched away.

Garren’s body starts to come
apart. Mercy grits her teeth as part of the beam scorches her shoulder.  Mercy keeps channeling biotic power into
Garren, still grimacing.

MERCY

(angry, in German)

Must everything I do always be undone?!

The soldiers around Mercy and
Garren are on their feet. The corporal is on his feet, yelling, pointing
towards the Giant Mech. A hail of rockets and bullets shoot towards the Giant
Mech, aiming for its beam weapon. The Giant Mech’s head is knocked back by the
combined fire, the beam weapon exploding. Garren and Mercy are left in the
middle of a scorch-mark in the shape of Garren’s shadow.

The Giant Mech collapses onto
its back, dead.

As the sound of the Giant Mech’s
fall echoes away, Mercy is still trying to heal Garren.

MERCY

Why did you not listen to me?!

The biotic power can’t go past
where the metal has been burnt off.

Mercy shakes her head, not
looking up from where she is trying to fix Garren.

Garren’s eye blinks on and off,
losing power.

Garren’s eye goes out one last
time. Mercy shuts down the biotic beam.

Mercy is left in the middle of
the battlefield, surrounded by the soldiers he saved. Garren’s body is half
gone.

FADE
TO BLACK.

 

EXT. THE NEXT DAY. OUTSKIRTS OF
THE CITY

Mercy is standing by a grave
marked with Garren’s name, and his half-burnt Keffiyeh scarf slung over the
tombstone.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

So many still need to learn that lesson.

Mercy holds Genji’s
letter, folded over a Solms-Laubachia flower. She
places the flower on the gravestone.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

That hope can lead us through a
starless night.

 

Behind her, the Overwatch
dropship comes in for a landing. Mercy bows her head to the grave and turns on
her heel and walks towards the dropship.

GENJI

(Off-screen)

Angela, won’t you be the light of hope once more?

FADE
TO BLACK.