Chapter 10

Hanzo busied himself picking up the broken pieces of Genji's shrine, doing his best to push Harley out of his mind. Most of his effort was in vain. I can't just keep behaving the way I did today, he thought, already starting to feel guilty about the way he'd snapped at her. And I certainly can't ignore the feelings, that much has made itself clear. He overturned a fragment of a vase in his hand, examining its once-detailed flower pattern now smashed into hundreds of pieces.

He let out a long, deep sigh. Despite the unfortunate nature of avoiding a problem instead of dealing with it, he hoped they would all have to travel to Dorado to find the others, since that would provide him with a much better distraction than standing around here, trapped inside his own head. He needed air.

"Hanzo?" Winston's voice carried across the temple.

Surprised, Hanzo turned around to see the gorilla headed towards him. Winston looked deeply troubled, even more than earlier.

"I thought you would be finding out what happened to the rest of that video," Hanzo walked closer to the centre of the room to meet him.

"We were only able to get the sound to that last clip so far. Mei noticed a pattern in the numbers, and we managed to… Look, it's not important how we did it, the point is that things are worse than we thought and they're probably getting worse by the second," Winston's voice sounded strained. "I'm afraid that some of us are going to have to go to Dorado."

Hanzo furrowed his brow. "What's happened?"

"You saw how Jack and Pharah were arguing right before the lights went out."

"Yes."

"Well…" Winston paused and cleared his throat, clearly upset. "They found Lena, but they weren't able to get her out. From what I pieced together from they were saying, she's hooked up to a machine they couldn't figure out before the guards came and they had to run. It's hooked up to her chronal accelerator… they can't just tear it out. Pharah wanted to get the agents out, Jack wanted to stay and fight to get Lena out."

"What about Genji?"

"There was nothing about him in that particular discussion, I'm afraid," Winston grimaced. "But that's another matter altogether. If they're using Lena for something… we have to get her out of there. And I don't think anyone there will be able to figure out her chronal accelerator. I'm going to have to be the one to go."

"Have you made contact with the others?" Hanzo asked, trying to ignore the fury building inside him at the cavalier attitude everyone had regarding his brother's disappearance.

"All of our original channels are dead. Mei is working on reversing the signal through which we received the video, to see if we can access any of their equipment that way. But for all we know everything they're carrying could be hacked or destroyed by now. Especially if Sombra is involved."

"You are not going alone."

"No," Winston sighed. "I'll absolutely need to take Harley."

Hanzo felt his eyes widen. "What? Her? Why?"

"Her powers are perfect for this type of situation. I was stupid not to have her go with the first team. I didn't think she was ready."

"She isn't ready," Hanzo stalled for a moment, grinding his teeth. While Harley showed an extreme amount of promise, she was still so green, and she'd never seen combat like this. Not to mention the thought of sending her into a situation that soldiers like Pharah and Jack couldn't handle made his stomach turn.

"We don't have a choice," Winston said firmly. "She'll have to have a trial by fire."

"Then I am going too."

"No, we can't afford to have…"

"Winston," Hanzo snarled. "I cannot allow you to fly into a Talon base completely blind with no back up but a brand new initiate. Besides, my brother is there, I must find him."

There were a few moments of silence between them as they stared each other down, each one baring his teeth a little. Hanzo realized he was breathing quite heavily and tried to steady himself. His heart was pounding against his chest so hard it was almost painful. Is this really as much about Genji as I'm making it out to be? He absent-mindedly wondered as he waited for Winston to reply, still refusing to break eye contact. Or is it…

"Fine," Winston exhaled loudly through his nostrils. "You're going to have a few hours before we leave, since we're still trying to figure out if we can make contact with the other agents. Use that time wisely with Harley and get in as much training as you possibly can. She's going to need it."

"Very well," Hanzo nodded, and Winston left the temple. Once he was out of sight, Hanzo let out a long breath and shook his head to clear it. You're making no sense, he told himself, still too tired to make heads or tails of his actions. A few minutes ago you could barely stand to look at her, and now you're insisting on going on a mission with her? What is wrong with you? He knew that berating himself wasn't solving anything, but he had always been hard on himself in the past in order to become stronger in the future. He needed to face his shortcomings. If only he could figure out how he wanted to behave around Harley.

No time to figure it out now. He headed out the back door of the temple, unsure of where she'd gone after he left her outside the shuttle. No matter what was going on in his mind, he needed to find her so they could focus on the task at hand.

He did a cursory scan of the adjacent courtyards and didn't see her. Already annoyed, he doubled back to his room in order to get his bow and arrows. Hanzo hated wasting time and a few sonic arrows would make quick work of figuring out where Harley was. He stepped outside again and grabbed three arrows from his quiver, firing them in rapid succession in three different directions across the base. They pinged the silhouettes of Mei and Winston in one direction, DVa in another, and finally, around the back of the bathhouse, the distinct outlines of Harley and McCree.

Hanzo instantly felt his chest tighten when he realized he'd have to go get her, which meant interacting with both of them at once. Gritting his teeth, he began walking in their direction, trying not to drag his feet. He did however indulge himself in taking the longer route to where they were standing; it took him through one of the more dense gardens at Hanamura, the one his grandmother had babied her whole life. The trees, shrubs and flowers that she had once so delicately and purposefully pruned with her own frail hands instilled a sense of calm over him.

Right as he was about to round the corner closest to where the two were standing, he heard them talking and paused. He pressed his body up against the building and inched himself close enough to hear their conversation. Even though it was practically torture, he just needed to know where the two of them stood with each other.

"I have a question," Harley's voice was soft but playful.

"Shoot."

"Why do you let me call you Jesse when everyone else calls you McCree?"

McCree let out a chuckle. "Maybe I like the way it sounds coming out of those pretty lips of yours."

"Oh really?" Her voice was breathy. Hanzo felt sick again.

"Yes really. Though surely not the only thing I'd like to hear from those lips."

"Well alright then…" She paused for what was obviously effect. "…Jesse."

Hanzo looked around desperately for something he could break, but the beautiful ornate garden was no place for another one of his fits. He had to continue swallowing the swirling mess of rage and discomfort and pain and desire that threatened to burst out of him at any moment. He had no idea how he was going to be able to train with her, but he didn't have an option.

After a deep breath, he stepped around the corner to tell Harley to come with him, but the sight he was met with knocked the air out of his lungs. Neither Harley nor McCree noticed him standing there, just a few feet away from them. Harley's back was pressed up against the wall and McCree was standing over her, leaning into her with his whole body. They kissed with fervor; breathing heavily with the odd muffled sound of pleasure escaping them. Hanzo's entire body felt numb as he watched for what couldn't have been more than few seconds but what felt like an eternity. Finally he was able to regain his composure – though he was sure he was extremely red in the face – and loudly cleared his throat.

Both of them jumped a little at the noise, breaking apart instantly. Harley flushed several deep shades of red and looked at the ground, while McCree laughed awkwardly and tugged on his belt buckle to shift his pants. Hanzo simply stared at them, deadpan.

"Begging your pardon," McCree was the first to break the silence. "Didn't think anyone would be back here to be honest."

"I came for Harley," Hanzo forced the words out, trying to hide how strained his voice felt. "You are going to be leaving with Winston and I to help the others in Dorado."

Harley's head snapped up. "What?!"

"Winston insisted your abilities will be needed there."

"But… I… I didn't think…"

"We have a few hours before our departure," Hanzo continued, looking past her instead of directly at her. "I've been asked to spend them training you as much as possible, since we haven't fully explored all your powers."

"Why aren't we all going?" McCree cut in.

"You'll have to take that up with Winston."

McCree's lip twitched like he was going to say something but thought better of it. Harley's eyes were wide and frantic. She looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. Hanzo used his distaste to fuel ridding himself of his feelings about her: how can someone so emotional be trusted on such an important covert mission? Is she going to freak out like this every time we ask her to take something on? I can't believe Winston thinks she's ready to go with us… But even he had to admit he didn't fully understand her abilities, and maybe there was something more to it that he hadn't considered. Still, she should be able to keep a more level head.

"We must begin," Hanzo said firmly when neither of them moved. "The practice range should be ready to use again."

"I'm gonna go have that chat with Winston," McCree turned his attention on Harley, taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "You work real hard now. You do your training and I'm gonna see if I can't convince Winston to let me back you up on this mission."

Hanzo suppressed his urge to roll his eyes. Harley gave McCree a little half-smile, and with that he turned around and left, spurs clanking with each step. With him gone, Harley turned back to Hanzo, still wearing her small smile. Even though it was captivating, her lips were still glossy and red from the kissing, and the surge of what he could now only assume was jealousy pounded in his skull.

"Come on," He managed to snap. "We've got a lot of work to do."