[Warning. There are Spoilers ahead for Overwatch’s short story “What You Left Behind”.]
There comes a time when a hero is introduced to Overwatch that very little is known about them, aside from their connections to the world. We learn about them through the context clues in the game, their relationships with other characters, and so far as their interactions with said other characters in the game. And then there are the comics which reveal events, or in this case a short story. The last short story that Overwatch revealed was “Bastet”, choosing to focus on Ana and her time in hiding in the Necropolis, only coming out when her long-time friend Soldier: 76 chooses to join her side in taking down a corrupt man. However, in this one, the focus is on the newest character in the Overwatch lore, combat-medic Baptiste.
Baptiste had first been introduced back in February, showing his past connections with Talon and how he joined them to gain the skills and means to be able to fight and protect. But something had happened that caused him to leave. But did he really? After all, the only way to leave Talon is in a coffin. But it seems he’s been able to dodge most of Talon as we pick his tale up in the new short story “What You Left Behind”.
Baptiste starts in Haiti, having come back to Port-de-Paix, his hometown where he’s helping his longtime friend keep up with a clinic that they dreamed of building together. Though his visit is quick to run sour when he’s reunited with an old Talon teammate of his, Mauga. Mauga and Baptiste clearly have a history together of being friends within Talon, but it’s possible that their connection ran deeper. However, Mauga has a mission for Baptiste to join him, and another partner by the name of Nyguen, to take down a pharmaceutical company CEO who resides in Haiti by the name of Vernand Sinclair. With threats to his longtime friend and the clinic, Baptiste agrees to be pulled along.
When they finally catch up to Sinclair, the timeline begins to set in place. Prior to this story, Baptiste’s timeline to the main Overwatch was unclear, but a quick nod to the animated short “Recall”, puts this story two days after Winston sends out the video to the ex-Overwatch agents. This puts Baptiste on the right track to find the other Overwatch members, to try and be a hero too, despite how much he believes that “there’s no good men”.
Juxtaposed with the current time of Baptiste being pulled back into a Talon mission with Mauga, is the story of Monte Cristi; the fateful day that made Baptiste realize that his time with Talon was over and he needed to leave. The Monte Cristi mission was lead by Cuerva, and they were meant to extract a man from the town. However, when the target was not in sight, Cuerva ordered that Talon begin to raid the town. Civilians became casualties, and Baptiste’s moral compass was finally pointing away from the people he thought he could trust. And just when he thought he would be able to escape, Mauga had caught up to him. But in a turn of events, Mauga let him go, leaving Baptiste with a warning and an I.O.U.
At the end of it all, Baptiste is able to escape Mauga once more, using his Immortality Field for the first time. Immortality Field is one of the moves in Baptiste’s kit when he was first launched into Overwatch. And of course, he escapes. Leaving him with one mission in mind: find Overwatch. But unable to do it alone, he enlists the help from an old friend: Sombra.
Sombra had been a part of Baptiste since day one. Her symbol was shown in the original tweet that teased Baptiste’s arrival when the file came out talking about how he’d gone rogue and killed his Talon teammates.
With all the lore surrounding Baptiste and where his morals lie, it’s clear of one thing: he wants to be a good man, choosing Overwatch over Talon. This was clear when he was introduced, and even more so now that he knows he’s heading towards the Overwatch members.
One of the other things that’s arisen, is the possibility of Mauga being the next hero in the line-up. In “What You Left Behind”, Mauga has a lot of descriptors to how his kit works. He has two large guns that are described as being the size of a normal person that are both connected to a large coolant tank on his back. That sounds very reminiscent of the designs for the Heavy Assault Units of the Talon force shown in the PvE events such as Uprising or Storm Rising.
He’s also described to be able to summon a large energy shield that takes up enough space for both Baptiste and Nyguen to fit behind, or in. It’s able to absorb bullets as well as deflect them. And with an eye-catching design, it is possible he could be in the next set of new hero’s to be released, mostly likely as a Tank as the last tank to be introduced was Wrecking Ball.
And after all this, Blizzard isn’t done.
In a Developer update, Jeff Kaplan talks about how Baptiste is getting Play, Watch, Earn event much like how Ana had for her Bastet skin. This time, it looks like the skin for Baptiste is his medic uniform for when he was in the Caribbean Coalition, before he joined Talon.
Baptiste’s Play, Watch, Earn will have players win 9 games of Quick Play, Arcade, or Competitive to gain the new cosmetic item. And there will most likely be Twitch streams to watch for a specific amount of time to gain some exclusive sprays as well that go into the short story, and possibly include Mauga. However, no time has been set as to when this event will go live or when it will end.