He would never get used to take-off. The jolt of the ship, the noise of the jets outside, the shudder of machine around him, springing to life. Brought back from the dead. Blackwatch would never fly in heli-carriers like these. The covert operations unit was purely undercover, transportation was strictly limited to black cars and black helicopters. Looking back, he did remember feeling tinges of jealousy every time he saw a massive ship like this taking flight. The pristine white glow against the bright blue sky was a major contrast to the black vehicles against the dark backdrop of an alley way. But, it was fitting; a dark alley way for a dark mission. McCree lit a cigar and let it hang out of his mouth lazily. He always assumed they wouldn't let him smoke in the ship, but no one bothered him about it. Nobody seemed to notice. The young Korean girl and the kid with the bright green skates were chatting like they had never spoken before, even though they were practically inseparable. She kept laughing and moving her hands in a fast paced kind of way, and he kept nodding enthusiastically and pointing to a hologram screen with what looked like a past mission on it. Jesse had never spoken to them before, maybe once or twice to give some orders for a job, but he didn't know much about them besides the fact that the girl (he had heard her name was Hanna from other agents) was from Korea and had been drafted into the war. The boy (Lucio?)was from Brazil, and was a 'freedom fighter'. Always wearing headphones, always bouncing up and down, like an uncontrolled sound wave.
Then, there was the new recruit. It was known that McCree liked to dispense justice on his own terms, but he had also given this up by joining Overwatch again. However, his hatred for letting this criminal in was almost enough for him to forget the rules and let Peacekeeper do what it oh-so fiercely desired. Fawkes, also known as Junkrat, was a killer. He had no regard for life, no regard for the people he hurt, and every time he stepped close to McCree he smelt like dried blood and chemical smoke. Beside the fact that he made Jesse sick just by being present, he was also an infuriating person to be on a team with. Loud, obnoxious, and constantly making snide remarks at Jesse ("Oi, cowboy, forget your lasso at home did ya?" "Hey, Ned Kelly, tip your hat and say 'howdy,' just for fun!") he would constantly take the focus away from the task and lose them time. Of course, if he hadn't been offered a position in Overwatch in exchange for a permanent resign from a criminal lifestyle and a full payment of his bounty, Fawkes would be scared shitless of McCree. But Winston had made his decision clear; he was staying, along with his partner Roadhog. Winston had figured that it was better that they were here, helping their cause, then out there wreaking havoc. As much as McCree disliked (no, hated) the choice, he wasn't one to argue with Winston. The scientist was no doubt one of the best assets to Overwatch and forming a grudge against him wouldn't do McCree any good.
Junkrat was messing with the pilot, asking her questions like "What does this button do," and "Will this switch blow anything up?" when they finally touched down. Jesse chucked his cigar into the trash and yawned. The two young agents stood up and continued talking, making their way over to the door of the vessel. Fawkes was saying goodbye to the pilot ("I'll hook you up with some explosives for this thing another time!") and strolled nonchalantly over to the door. McCree felt the sting of burning hair in his nostrils and fought off a sneeze. This was a simple mission, and it could easily be done by just Jesse himself, but it was obvious that Winston had sent the other agents with him so they could learn a thing or two. It wasn't like McCree had agreed with this, but he wasn't about to get into a scuffle with Winston. Feeling more like a babysitter than an Overwatch agent, he turned to the rest of the group. "All right," he grunted, slightly uncomfortable due to the fact that Lucio was an inch taller than him. "Look, this should be easy, in and out. You've been on missions before, and hopefully," he glanced at Junkrat and narrowed his eyes. "You know the strategy by now. Hanna and Lucio, you scope out lower ground. Hanna, only call your mech if we get noticed, we need to stay undercover unless we been spotted. Lucio, stay close to Hanna and watch her back. I want both of you on the left side, standin' ground near the warehouse entrance." Hanna gave him a soldier salute and said "Roger!" He sighed before continuing. "Rat, you're with me. Stay quiet while we cover higher ground, and only attack if we're spotted, understand?" Junkrat gave him a lopsided smile and copied Hanna, saying "Roger!" in an over exaggerated high-pitched voice. "Hey!" She crossed her arms and pouted, and Lucio stifled a giggle. "Rat and I'll come down when the high ground's need cleared. Wait for my signal, got it?" The Lucio and Hanna nodded, and Junkrat said "Gotcha, Eastwood." He then broke into a fit of hysterical laughing. Babysitting, McCree thought as he turned his attention to the door.
The light of the ship dimmed as the door opened to a small town on the East coast of the United States. McCree guessed, somewhere around Rhode Island. As he stepped out through the door, the smell of sea water and driftwood washed away the putrid scent of Junkrat, and he took a few heavy breaths before taking in the scenery. His eyes took a minute to focus because of the heavy fog, but he saw that the ship had landed on a cliffside that stretched too far to see the end on either side. The waves lapped up against the weathered rocks that lined the short cliffside, sending occasional sea spray into the wind. Up ahead, a stony path with overgrown wheat grass that fringed the outline of the path. McCree motioned the team to move forward and they followed silently in his footsteps.
It wasn't like he was used to leading a team. Back during Blackwatch, he was more of a follower. Every word that Reyes said, every order, was followed without question by McCree. Even when it all went to shit, Jesse would cling to Reyes like a goddamn puppy. It took a lot of strength for him to realize it was time to leave. But God, he should have left sooner. Or he should have at least planned his leave before he did. He didn't even pack a bag. Being out there on his own, no money, food, shelter, was one of the hardest times he'd ever been through, even worse than being 'recruited' into Blackwatch. But even then he had no other responsibility but himself, no one else to look out for or to worry about. Now he had two kids and an idiot to watch.
They had reached the end of the path, and emerged into what looked like the backyard of a beach house. The gray sky clashed unpleasantly with the mustard yellow exterior of the house, but no one seemed to be home, and so they passed through the garden gate of the yard undetected. They stopped and crouched behind a bush, surveying the area. All the houses looked identical, besides sometimes varying in color. The mist hung near the ground, sliding along what Jesse identified as the main road. However, the strangest part about this was that the street seemed completely deserted. Although it was still early morning, maybe 5 am, there was no sign of life. Any life at all. Not even the street lamps were on. Lucio seemed to pick up on this, and whispered "Hey, no one's here! This should make our job even easier. Come on, let's go!" He took Hanna's hand and almost dashed off before they saw something moving in the mist. Jesse grabbed Lucio and pulled him down roughly. He'd have to talk to him about what he just did, but that wasn't on his mind right now. His mind was solely focused on the figure in the fog. It was human (or at least, it looked human). A soft blue glow seemed to emit from the person as it made it's way down the street. Jesse tried to get a better look at it, but his eyesight was no use in the fog. Hanna, however, seemed to be able to see it fine. "It's a man, I'd say he's around 40. Long hair, wearing some sort of weird Japanese get-up. He's got a bow and arrow… and a tattoo. Lucio, you know this guy?" Lucio shook his head. "Nah, but he looks familiar…"
McCree watched him and the glow move further down the road. "That light," he said aloud, "kinda looks familiar—"
"We don't have time for this right now." Fawkes growled. The team looked back, surprised, to see Junkrat staring lethally at the person on the street.
"I've got a bad feeling about this place. Let's just get this over with already, Ponyboy." Junkrat jumped over the bush faster than Jesse could stop him, and stood on the sidewalk for a moment before racing down the street. McCree turned to the two agents that were left and said "Stay here." Then he muttered a frustrated "dammit" and started running after the maniac. It took him a moment to realize that the mystery man was running in the same direction their mission was in. But why? All they needed to recover were a few documents that had been stolen during recall, nothing too interesting. And yet, the feeling of being watched seemed to grow the more he sprinted after Junkrat. The mist seemed to gravitate toward Jesse, not to hold him back, but to hide him. Something bad was going on, but why here? Why now?
And why had Junkrat suddenly stopped?