/
McCree eyed Ashe suspiciously, as if doing so would give him the answers he so desperately needed. He weighed his options, knowing that he'd have to make a move sooner or later, and knowing himself, he knew he'd make the wrong one. The timer sitting in front of him certainly wasn't helping either.
"Come on Jesse, we don't have all day."
"You rushing me isn't helping, Liza. Now shut up, I'm thinking."
Ashe leaned back on her chair with a disappointed sigh. "I knew we should have gone with speed chess."
"You saying I'm slow?"
"Jesse, it takes you five minutes to make a single move."
From the couch next to them, Taylor joined in on the conversation. "She's not wrong McCree. I'm getting bored just watching you."
"No one forced you to sit there and watch us, Taylor."
Taylor shrugged. "I had nothing better to do." She said before scooching closer to Diaz, who was sitting next to her. "Hey Diaz, what do you say we-"
"Nope." Diaz said, shutting her down "You haven't earned that back yet."
"Earned what back?" Ashe asked, though she knew exactly what the two of them were talking about.
Taylor sulked. "Shut up and just play your game Ashe."
"I would if Jesse would just make a goddamn move already."
"Alright, alright. Here." McCree said, moving his bishop.
Ashe smiled at him before trapping his king into a corner with one move. "Checkmate."
"Goddammit!"
"Sorry Jesse. Looks like I'm the one sleeping on the bed tonight."
"That's what you two are betting?" Taylor asked "I reckoned you would have wanted to sleep with McCree, Ashe."
Thankfully, McCree was too caught up on his loss that he didn't notice the blush that Ashe's face had developed. "We used to do that, but there's only so much sleeping positions we could be in before it gets awkward. For her anyway, I have no problem with sleeping with her."
"I have a feeling you're not the problem here McCree." Diaz said "Ashe just hasn't slept with a boy before."
"Oh, ok. Has she slept with girls before?"
Why? Why those choice of words?
"No, I don't think so." Diaz said, his voice strained from trying to hold back his laughter.
"So I'm the first person you slept with?" McCree asked, finally making Diaz and Taylor break down in laughter.
Ashe was so red at this point that she had to keep her head down as she fixed the chess pieces because someone even as oblivious as McCree would notice. Before either Diaz or Taylor could make another comment, one of the estate's staff members approached her with her phone in hand, saying there was a call for her.
"Oh thank god." Ashe said "Who is it?"
"It's an unknown number, Miss Elizabeth."
"Maybe its Naomi." McCree said "She did say she'd reach out to us once she'd given everyone in her gang a chance to decide if they want to join us or not."
"He's right. Put it on speaker."
Ashe did as she was told and set her phone on the table. "Elizabeth Ashe speaking, who is this?"
"This is your parent's personal assistant, I'm calling about them."
Her parents. With everything that's happened in the past months, she completely forgot about her parents. About how they don't know that there were now three new people living on the estate. That, and the fact that their daughter was now technically a criminal.
"You still there?"
"Y-yeah, what about them?"
Ashe could feel the voice on the other end hesitate. "I'm calling from the hospital. Their private jet crashed on the way back to your estate."
Ashe didn't say anything so the assistant continued. "They're still alive but they're in critical condition. They're being operated on as we speak."
"Were they unconscious when they were found?"
"No. They were wide awake all the way to the hospital. In fact they were the ones that called me. They told me to notify the staff, and any other business partners they were supposed to meet up with. I figured I'd tell you first though, just so you'd know before anyone else did."
Ashe's suspicions were confirmed, and though she knew it would be, it still hurt. She thanked the assistant before hanging up the phone. She looked back up and saw the others staring at her, and remembered they were listening to the same call she was.
"Are you ok Ashe?" Diaz asked, to which she just shrugged off.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"You heard that phone call right?" Taylor asked "Are you not worried?"
"Why should I be? They weren't worried about me. They crash their jet and the first thing that comes to their mind is to tell their employees and business partners, not me. They're more worried about their money than their fucking daughter so forgive me if I find it hard to care about them."
"That's bullshit." McCree said, who up until now didn't say anything.
"What?"
"You heard me." McCree said "You know how lucky you are? I'd do anything to get my parents back. I'm sure same goes for Diaz and Taylor and yet here you are, both parents still kicking and yet you don't give a shit."
"You don't know them the way I do Jesse. They were terrible parents."
"That doesn't matter. They're still your family." McCree said "They may be bad parents, but that doesn't mean you have to be a bad daughter."
McCree got up and stormed out of the room, leaving the three of them in an awkward silence until the phone rang again. Ashe kept it on speaker as she answered it.
"Hello?"
"It's Naomi. I gave everyone a chance to decide and they all seem to be on board, but they want to see you first. I'm sending you an address, it's not that far from your estate. About an hour or so. If you runinto any trouble, just say I called for you. That should stop them from shooting you."
"Should?"
Naomi chuckled. "Relax, I'm kidding. Partly. Just mention my name, you'll be fine."
"You better be right."
"I always am. See you soon."
Naomi hung up and Ashe got up. "I'll get the car ready, you two get McCree."
"No, we'll get the car ready, you go get our cowboy." Diaz said as he and Taylor got up.
"Why?"
"Because he's pissed at you."
"That's exactly why you two should go get him." Ashe said.
"No its not. If we get there and they see there's tension between the four of us, they'll doubt we're fit enough to lead them. Hell, they doubt us enough as it is since we're technically still kids. Except for Taylor, she's old."
"I'm twenty-four!"
"I'm twenty. You're old to me." Diaz said before turning back to Ashe "Fix things between you two. I'm serious."
Ashe waited a bit before setting off to fix things with McCree. She knew where he was going to be anyway. Whenever he needed to clear his head, whatever the reason may be, she'd always find him smoking at the balcony of the master bedroom. Their room.
She made her way there, and sure enough, he was standing there huffing away at a cigar. It wasn't until she was behind him that she realized she hadn't thought about what she was going to say yet. Thankfully, McCree spoke first.
"What do you want?"
"Naomi called. She asked us to meet up with her."
McCree stubbed out his cigar on the railing of the balcony, still not turning around to face Ashe. "That all?"
Ashe clenched her fist. She wasn't backing down. For once, she's throwing her pride out the window. "No, it's not." She said "My parents may be terrible, but that doesn't change how insensitive I was to you guys."
"That's not what I'm mad about."
"I know, that's just what I'm apologizing about first." Ashe said "Look, I want to worry about them but the way they were just makes it impossible to me. I've been trying ever since I was a child, and every time my anger towards them is the only thing I feel."
McCree sighed before finally facing her. "I'm not going to pretend I know how it was like for you growing up." he said "But they're still your family. You have to fix your relationship with them sooner or later."
"I know." Ashe said "But for now, I'm more worried about our relationship."
McCree stepped down from the balcony and walked past Ashe. "Don't worry, we're good." He said as he made his way to the garage with Ashe, now sporting a goofy grin, right behind him.
/
The ship ride back was quiet, the injured ones either unconscious or too weak to say anything, the uninjured ones not in the mood to talk about anything. McCree stayed at the back, keeping an eye on Ashe, just in case she managed to wake up from the sleep dart Ana gave her and free herself from the many restraints put on her.
"You better not be thinking what I think you're thinking of." Tracer said as she sat across from McCree, who was surprised he just understood what she just said.
"Shouldn't you be flying this thing?"
"Torbjorn has it on autopilot. He told me to take things easy so I won't break this thing on my chest any further than I already had."
"So what are you doing here?"
"That's mean Jesse, but don't flatter yourself." Tracer said "I'm not here for you."
"Let me guess, you want to make sure I don't kill her in her sleep?"
"Well after what happened back there, can you blame me?"
McCree scoffed at Tracer, infuriating her since he clearly wasn't taking her seriously. "I told you not to kill her, didn't I? What part of that didn't you understand?"
"You also told me you'd stop me if you have to, and yet you didn't."
"So you prefer I shoot you, then?"
"Why are you so bent out of shape Lena?" McCree asked "She's still alive isn't she?"
"That's by pure luck! Had you not run out of bullets, she wouldn't even be here right now."
McCree got up. "Whatever. You wanted to watch her didn't you? Here you go." He said, walking over to sit elsewhere on the ship, somewhere far from anyone else.
/
The four of them pulled up to the address Naomi sent them and immediately ran into trouble at the front gate. Thankfully the woman herself was there to sort everything out before any of them had gotten shot.
"Guns down, they're the ones I was talking about."
"You better be right about this Naomi." One of the guards said.
"I always am." Naomi said "Everyone back to whatever you're doing. I'll call you when we've got things sorted out."
The crowd went away one by one until it was just Naomi left, who then asked them to follow her. Just from the outside, they could already tell the place was an apartment complex so they expected a private meeting with Naomi, and a few bodyguards of course, but now that they were actually inside, gang members were all they could see. Almost as if…
"Do you have this place all to yourselves?" Ashe asked.
Naomi opened the door to the apartment at the end of the hall of the top floor and motioned for them to enter. "This place abandoned when we found it. We just let ourselves in and no one ever came to kick us out so as long as no one does, this place is ours."
"Ok then." Ashe said "You said your gang wanted to meet us."
"They do, but are you sure you want to go through with this? If you want to back out, I understand."
"What makes you think we'd do that? The four of us had already decided, and if you have to ask us that, maybe you're the one who's having second thoughts."
"Relax Ashe, I just want to make sure." Naomi said "Although I like the attitude. You'd make a good leader someday."
Although she tried to hide it, hearing that from Naomi made Ashe feel good. "So, how are we doing this?"
"What's the rush? Take a look around first, get to know the people since we'll be working together from now on." Naomi said before getting back on the phone "Hey, you have a second? I need you."
Naomi set the phone down, and moments later a woman around Ashe's age entered the room. She tried to greet her but the woman just blew past all of them and headed straight to Diaz, whom she threw her hands around him and gave him a kiss, shocking everyone in the room, although Taylor looked more pissed than surprised.
Taylor thought Diaz would be more pissed than she was, but when the woman pulled away, he was actually smiling. Smiling.
"Diaz, who is this?" Taylor all but spat at her.
"Oh, this is Rosita Santiago. She's a childhood friend of mine."
"Most people call me Rosie." Rosita said, going in for a handshake that Taylor backed away from.
"You gonna kiss me too?"
Rosita guiltily rubbed the back of her head. "I may have…overstepped, I just haven't seen him in a long time. I'm sorry."
"Its fine, I don't mind." Diaz said, making Taylor speechless, unsure if she should be mad at Diaz, Rosita or both.
"Good, you already know one of them." Naomi said "I just have to get a few more things ready. Santiago, show them around will you?"
"Love to."
They left the room and Rosita gave them a tour, or rather she gave Diaz a tour while McCree, Ashe and Taylor followed them, listening to them talk about what happened in their lives during the time they were separated.
"How'd you meet Naomi?"
"The same way you did." Rosita said "When we were stealing meds for your sister and I got arrested, I was put in the same holding cell as her. Well, technically I was dragged into the cell and I guess Naomi saw my potential. After a couple of months in juvy, she found me and took me in."
"Juvy?"
"Well, yeah. I didn't have you to break me out the way you did with Naomi."
"Rosie I'm sor-"
"Relax." Rosita said with a chuckle "A couple of months is nothing as long as we saved your sister."
"Well thanks to you, she lived long enough to go into rehab."
Behind the two of them, McCree tapped Taylor's shoulder. "Did you know any of this?"
"What?"
"You know, Diaz's sister." McCree said "I figured that you might since you've known each other for a long time too."
Taylor was actually embarrassed to admit how little she knew about Diaz outside of his capabilities as a criminsl or his abilities in the bedroom. "Uh, I knew bits and pieces about it."
"So some lady Diaz hasn't seen in forever suddenly shows up out of nowhere and you're telling me she knows more about him than you do?"
"Well…yeah, but-"
"Wow, you're a terrible friend. How do you not-aaaaaaahh!"
Ashe grabbed McCree by the ear and dragged him away from Taylor just as she looked like she was about to deck him. "Hey Jesse, why don't you leave Taylor alone so we have a talk about sensitivity."
While Ashe was scolding McCree, and with Diaz and Rosita still keeping to themselves, Taylor realized that she now had no one to talk to. Thankfully, they soon arrived to where they needed to be so she only had to wallow in her own self-pity for a tiny bit.
Rosita led the four of them to an empty apartment a floor below Naomi's. She opened the door before handing the keys to Ashe.
"You and Taylor will be here. Settle in while I show the guys where their room is."
"Wait, we're not bunking with them?" Taylor asked.
"Naomi likes to keep the men and women separated, with us on this side and them on the other." Rosita said "She feels like its more organized that way. Plus, it keeps things quiet at night, if you know what I mean."
"We're not children Santiago." Taylor said coldly.
"You're not. Technically, the three of us still are." Diaz said "You gonna be fine bunking with Ashe?"
"Why are you guys so serious about this? We're not forcing you to stay here." Rosita said "Naomi just wants to show you that if our arrangement goes as well as we hope it does, you four are welcome here."
"Rosie's right Taylor." Diaz said "We'll be going back to the estate after this anyway. We'll only stay here in case we need to lay low."
"That estate of yours is nice and all, but it sticks out like a sore thumb. Come on Miguel, let me show you and McCree to your room." Rosita said "If you need anything, just look for me. I'd be happy to help."
Once the three of them left, Ashe and Taylor went into their room, the latter immediately voicing her opinion about Rosita before the door was even closed.
"I don't like her."
"Why not?" Ashe asked "She seems nice."
"Too nice. Who does she think she is, just up and kissing Diaz like that?" Taylor said "The hell are you smiling at?"
"You're jealous."
"What?"
"Admit it Taylor. Diaz hasn't been giving you any hanky panky lately, and then suddenly some chick comes out of nowhere, locks lips with him and he doesn't complain. That'd make anyone jealous."
"No one calls it hanky panky." Taylor said.
"Yes they do."
"That's why you're still a virgin."
"Uncalled for, but that doesn't matter." Ashe said "You can take all your excuses and shove them up your ass. You hate the idea of sharing Diaz with someone else."
Taylor scowled. "I should be. Diaz is mine."
"I thought things between you two were casual."
"I-it is, but that still means that he's only allowed to have sex with me."
"That's not how casual sex works." Ashe said.
"Oh, what do you know? You're nineteen."
"I know that there's supposed to be no strings attached. If you're pissed at the thought of Diaz sleeping with someone that isn't you, well, you might not be as unattached as you think you are."
Taylor sat on one of the beds, ruffling her hands through her blonde hair in frustration. "Am I wrong to be? We've known each other for years by now. Up until a few months ago, when we had met you two, he's all I've had and yet I still feel bad for feeling like this. Is it wrong for me to want him all to myself?"
"Depends," Ashe said "have you told him?"
"Told him what?"
"How you really feel. If you haven't, you're basically telling him you don't want to be with him, but you don't want him to be with anyone else either, which kind of makes you a dick."
"Well, I've always assumed he already knows." Taylor said.
"Taylor, the way you are now, it seems like even you're confused by how you feel. Why do you expect him to know something that even you don't."
"Because he's smart."
"Exactly." Ashe said "Which is why he wouldn't jump to those kind of conclusions. If you want him to know, then it should come from you."
Taylor scowled. "So what do you want me to do? Just up and confess to him out of nowhere? He'd just think I was jealous."
"But you are jealous."
"That's not the point Ashe!"
"You're right, its not." Ashe said "The point is that you're just sitting on your ass, hoping someone else will solve your problems for you. You saw the way those two were, didn't you? Confess before Rosita beats you to it."
/
Pharah groaned as she woke up, the bright white and sterilized smell of the infirmary a nice change from what she remembered moments before she lost consciousness.
"So you're finally awake." Brigitte said as she walked over from her desk to Pharah's bed.
Pharah smiled at her. "Any reason you were waiting for me?"
"It's not the reason that smile is suggesting." Brigitte said with a chuckle. "How are you feeling?"
"I'll tell you one the anesthesia wears off. What exactly happened to me again?"
"You were shot remember? Your armor stopped the bullet but in doing so, it shattered. Take a guess as to where all those fragments went."
"Point taken." Pharah said "Although I'd rather guess who took those fragments out of me."
Brigitte smiled at her. "I wouldn't be checking on you if it wasn't me."
"That hurts."
"Oh suck it up, you'll live." Brigitte said before taking one look at Pharah and chuckling.
"Wow, thank you for finding this amusing."
"God, look at you. You don't belong in the infirmary."
"Good, I don't want to be here." Pharah said.
"Not what I meant. I was talking about how you look like."
"I don't follow."
"You're built for grunt work." Brigitte said "Useful in a garage or a workshop, but not somewhere as…delicate as the infirmary."
Pharah scoffed. "You're one to talk. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here anyway? Where's my mother?"
"Ana and the other medical staff are helping the ones with far worse injuries than a little shrapnel in the stomach."
"Again, thank you for taking all this lightly."
Brigitte gave Pharah a shit eating grin. "I'm kidding."
"Yeah, sure. What happened to the others?"
"The ones that aren't being treated for their injuries are interrogating the Talon member McCree and Oxton brought back."
"Talon member?"
"Yeah, white hair, gave off the same vibe that McCree does, which makes sense since there seems to be some history between them."
"Is he the one interrogating her?"
"I think so. He never came to the infirmary."
"Shit." Pharah got up in a panic before groaning in pain and falling back down to the bed.
"Hey, calm down. I do not want to stitch you up again." Brigitte said.
"You haven't seen how he's been lately. If there's no one there to hold him back, that woman's dead."
…
Despite the fact that McCree was staring her down, Ashe still found it in her to smirk at him. "C'mon McCree, glaring at me like that, waiting for me to somehow mess up, that has never worked for you, has it?"
"I'm not waiting for anything. I'm just trying to find a reason not to put a bullet in your head."
"Ooh, I'm so scared." Ashe said, waving her cuffed hands. "If you wanted to kill me, you would've done it already. Admit it, you need me alive."
"They need you alive. At this point, I don't care what happens to you so just tell me whatever it is you people have planned next so I can be on my merry way."
"Remember when we were drilling into someone from a rival gang?" Ashe asked "None of them ever talked because they knew that that information was the only thing keeping them alive."
"So is that why you're not saying anything?"
"As much as I want it to be, I'm not telling you anything because I don't know anything."
"Bull. Shit." McCree growled.
Ashe shrugged. "Don't believe me then, I don't care." She said "I don't know how Reyes was when you worked with him, but with me he kept everything on a need to know basis, and since I'm clearly not important enough to know what we have planned, then you're just wasting your time here."
McCree grabbed Ashe by the collar of her shirt and yanked her closer to him. "Don't be so smug Ashe. You telling me you don't know anything just tells me I have no reason to keep you alive anymore, and I doubt you want that, so cut the shit already!"
Ashe glared at McCree. "Again, whenever we caught someone from a rival gang back then, I was always the bad cop, remember? What makes you think this shit will work on me?"
The two of them stared each other down, Ashe's frustration slowly beginning to match McCree's. Before either of them could make another move though, Brigitte burst through the door of the interrogation room.
"McCree, that's enough."
McCree growled. "The hell do you want, kid?"
"You're too close to this McCree. Getting angry won't help anything."
"Go back to the med bay Brigitte, this is none of your damn business."
Ana entered the room as well, grabbing McCree's wrists, forcing him to let go of Ashe. "I'll take over from here McCree, go with Brigitte and have her check you for any injuries."
"I'm fine Ana."
"I wasn't asking McCree." Ana said, her usual calm and patient demeanor no longer present in her voice. "Go with Brigitte. Now."
There was no way McCree was leaving before he got any answers, but Ana had never been this commanding to him that she almost seemed hostile. He had never seen her be truly mad at him, and he didn't want to. Defeated, he turned to leave when Ashe yelled after him.
"That's right McCree, turn your back on me and leave again!" she yelled "Just like you did back then."
"What?" McCree asked through grit teeth.
"Don't listen to her Mc-"
McCree pushed past Ana and slammed his fist on the table Ashe was handcuffed to. "Is that what you think happened?" he asked "I didn't leave you! I got captured in that sting operation, although you would've known that if you hadn't took off. We didn't know if the estate was safe or not since we couldn't get to you so we had nowhere to go when Overwatch hunted us down. Rosita, Naomi, they didn't fucking make it. I wouldn't have made either if Reyes didn't see something in me. If I hadn't joined them, I would be thrown in prison where I'm sure a lot of rival gang members will be waiting for me, so stop saying I left you because I did what I had to to live. If you hadn't left that night, things would have been different, so stop blaming me Ashe! You're the one who left! You're the one who tore our family apart!"
McCree stormed out of the room, Brigitte awkwardly following him. Ana snapped her fingers to grab Ashe's attention as she sat down in front of her. "So," she said "let's start over, shall we?"
…
Half an hour passed, and although Brigitte had checked every inch of him, she still wouldn't release McCree from the med bay.
"Kid, if there was something wrong with me, you would have found it already." McCree said "I'm clearly fine, what the hell am I still doing here?"
"I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything."
"Cut the shit Brigitte." McCree said, the tone of his voice stating that he was in no mood for anymore bullshit. "Why am I still here?"
Brigitte groaned. "Fine, Ana wants me to keep you from interfering with her."
"And you think holding me hostage in the med bay will help you do that?"
"It worked, didn't it?"
"But not long enough." McCree said, getting up to leave. "I'm going back there."
Brigitte moved in to stop him. "McCree, don't do this."
"Why? Right now, we should be squeezing any information we could use from that-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, McCree." Brigitte said, now sporting a scowl towards McCree. "You're not helping much with what you were doing anyway. Besides, if she really didn't know anything then it won't take Ana much longer, so just wait here please."
McCree groaned before walking back to the bed he was sitting on. "You better be right."
The two of them returned to waiting in silence. Or at least McCree did, Brigitte decided to nervously glance at McCree then awkwardly look away once he notices.
"Relax kid, I won't run. Stop looking at me like that."
Brigitte shook her head. "That's not why."
"Then what is it? Sitting here doing nothing is bad enough, I don't need you silently judging me. Spit it out."
"That woman, you said you used to be a family."
McCree raised and eyebrow at her before waving her off. "Don't put too much thought into that, kid. I said all that in anger. Any loyalty I had to our gang belongs to Overwatch now."
"But there was a time when you were loyal to your gang. Perhaps even loyal to her?"
McCree was taken aback by Brigitte's question. "What makes you say that?"
"I could see it in the way you two were around each other. How you two got mad at each other. There was definitely some history between you two, and I'm not saying that as in fellow gang members, more like as close friends. Maybe even as lovers, which makes me wonder if you're really able to leave them all behind. I won't be surprised if you still have some feelings left over for her."
That last part struck a chord in McCree, and not in a good way. For some reason, that last part was what affected him the most. The light creaking on the metal joints of his prosthetic made him realize that he was clenching his fists in anger.
"You're pushing it, kid." He warned through grit teeth "I may have agreed to stay here but that doesn't mean you get to pry into things that ain't any of your damn business."
"Maybe, but you're reaction makes me wonder just how close I was to home." Brigitte said, leaning towards McCree so she can study his reaction. "I'm right, aren't I?"
Even as he was cornered, there was no way McCree was taking any of this. "Watch your mouth Brigitte, you don't know me well enough for you to talk like you do." He said, getting up and nudging Brigitte out of the way.
"Where do you think you're going."
"Away from you."
Brigitte grabbed McCree's hand. "You're still not allowed to leave the infirmary."
McCree yanked his hand free. "Then stop me."
"Don't make me do this McCree."
McCree chuckled. "As if you'd pull a gun on me, kid. Let me guess, that's a sleep dart you have pressed against my back right now."
"Doesn't matter what it is as long as it stops you."
"Is that what Ana told you? It actually kind of hurts how much she doesn't trust me anymore."
"With the way you've been lately, I'm surprised you'd expect anything less."
"Fair point." McCree said "So, what are you waiting for? Do it already."
"Do what?"
"The hell do you think? Shoot me already."
"Wait, you want me to?"
"Of course not." McCree said "But if you don't want me walking out of here you have to, don't you?"
Brigitte hesitated for a second and McCree grabbed the sleep dart from her hands. "Then I guess I'm walking out of here."
"I can't leave you alone for a second anymore, can't I?" Ana said as she walked in the infirmary, checking on her daughter, who was somehow comfortably asleep while everything between McCree and Brigitte went down.
"Did you get anything out of her, Ana?"
"Barely more than what you got from her."
"But its still more than what I got." McCree said. "What did she say?"
"She wasn't lying about not knowing anything, that's for sure. Reyes was always so closed off, especially when it came to things like this." Ana said "Ashe did say that one of them was supposed to be caught, and she just drew the short straw."
"Why the hell would they want to get caught for?"
"Distraction, maybe. I just don't know what for, there's nothing of use in the red zone apart from a few omnic weapons, but the risk doesn't make it worth it."
"So what do we do now?"
"For now," Ana said, placing a hand on McCree's shoulder "we should get some rest. Its getting late Jesse, we'll go at it again tomorrow, don't worry."
McCree didn't want to stop. He wanted to keep going until this was finished, but his own fatigue convinced him to listen to Ana. Even if they did find Talon, he wouldn't be useful if he was half asleep during their confrontation. Bidding a goodnight to Ana and a reluctant apology to Brigitte, he made huus way to his quarters, falling asleep the moment he collapsed onto the bed.
His sleep wasn't as long as he hoped it would be though, the events that happened that day made him unable to stay asleep any longer than a few hours. Groaning as he tossed and turned, trying his best to fall back asleep and not think about why Ashe would willingly let them capture her, because that was a rabbit hole he was not letting himself fall into.
As he got up, he stepped on his discarded pants, noticing a bulge in the pocket. Examining its contents, he got an idea he knew was bad, but it was the only way he was getting answers for the rabbit hole that he inevitably fell into anyway. Putting his pants on, he left his room knowing damn well he'd regret what he was about to do.
…
Ashe sat up on her bed, finally giving up on getting any sleep for the night after hours of trying. She can thank McCree for her insomnia, since that bastard knocked her out cold for god knows how long, and now she's not even the least bit sleepy. Groaning in frustration, she lied back down on her bed, which was surprisingly comfortable for a holding cell.
Hell, the room was so nice that if she hadn't been told otherwise, she'd have thought the room she was in was just a spare bunk for the members of Overwatch. There may have been a lot of things she hated about these so called 'good' guys but their hospitality was not one of them. If the tables had turned and she were their captor, McCree and his friends would find themselves thrown in a small dark room or chained to a pole somewhere out in the open for everyone to see.
In her case though, they treated her properly despite what she'd done. A clean set of clothes, food and water, treatment for her injuries, hell they even allowed her to take a quick shower. A fucking shower. Though that short British chick tasked of watching over her may have been watching a little too closely.
She heard a beep and it snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked at the electronic lock on her door, the light on it now green instead of the red she had been looking at for as long as she can remembered. Before she could even make out the figure on the door, she felt something hit her neck and the sleep she had been looking for finally came to her.
When she woke up, she wasn't lying on her bed anymore and was strapped onto a seat of a ship instead. One look at the hat poking up from the captain's seat told her exactly who was flying her right now.
"Hey McCree!" she yelled "What the fuck did you do to me?"
"Relax, it was just a sleep dart." McCree said over his shoulder "In the middle of a fire fight, it should knock you out for just a couple of seconds, but if there was nothing to interrupt you, you could be out for hours. Its completely harmless."
"Harmless my ass. That thing left me defenseless to you."
McCree scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself Ashe, I just needed a way to get you out of there without quietly."
"I'm guessing its not because you're helping me escape?"
"Hell no. I'm taking you with me so I don't get killed the second your friends see me."
"You don't really believe that do you?" Ashe asked "Pretty bold of you to assume Reyes won't hesitate to kill me as well as long as he gets you."
"You know, that did cross my mind." McCree sais "But you're still useful to him because as long as your alive, he has all of deadlock by his side."
Ashe's shoulders slumped. Her bluff didn't work. "You really though this through, huh?"
"Of course I did. I'm trying to avenge Angela here, I'm not half-assing this."
That last part got to Ashe. For some reason, it made her feel bad. "Was she your wife?" she asked before she could stop herself.
"She was supposed to be, but you guys took that away." McCree said "Why the hell do you care anyway? Surprising that you do seeing as how you're the one who got her killed."
"I was only supposed to help catch her, you know." Ashe sheepishly whispered "What they did to her after that was completely out of my control."
"What was the point of you telling me that?" McCree asked "You hoping I'd go easy on you or something? Doesn't matter who did what Ashe, as long as you were involved, you get the same treatment as the others."
Ashe didn't say anything after that remark. McCree was right, why did she say that? It was almost as if she wanted McCree's forgiveness. Hell no, there was no way that was the reason. She wouldn't allow it.
The two of them remained silent until they reached the red zone again. McCree handcuffed Ashe and dragged her behind him as he walked to a vantage point he had seen earlier which gave him a clear view of the entire area.
Using Ashe's viper, McCree scanned the area for any signs of Talon until he was interrupted by a comment from the woman herself.
"You sure you know how to use that?"
"I'm the one who taught you how to shoot the damn thing, remember?"
McCree scoped back in, noticing that there were a lot more omnics gathering at the center of the town. Squinting, he saw the omnics being taken out one by one as they tried to swarm whoever was in the middle. He knew right away that that's where he's going. Slinging the viper over his shoulder, he and Ashe slowly slid down the steep cliff they were just on. Once at the bottom, McCree pulled out his revolvers and they began walking.
"Hey McCree, you mind giving me my rifle back?"
"Like hell I will."
"Look around you McCree." Ashe said "Not only are we in the red zone, we're in the open too. Do you think you can take on every omnic that comes our way by yourself?"
"Say what you will Ashe, you're still not getting a gun." McCree said "Besides, I'm sure every omnic here is focused on your friends. The hell are they doing anyway?"
"Like I said, I don't-"
"Yeah, yeah, you don't know." McCree said, irritated "Why did I even bother."
…
"Any day now, Sombra!" Reaper yelled, discarding his used shotguns and pulling out two new ones.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Sombra yelled back as she fiddled with the wiring of her EMP.
"Go faster! We can't keep this up much longer."
Yelling a string of profanities in Spanish, Sombra attached her EMP onto a radio tower. After giving a quick warning the others, she activated it, the purple wave that followed deactivating all the omnics surrounding them, as well as every other omnic in the red zone. They found themselves standing in silence before each omnic fell to the ground one by one.
"Did we do it?" Doomfist asked.
Roadhog kicked one of the omnics on the ground. "I don't think so. These piles of scrap look useless now."
"Be patient fat ass, these things take time." Sombra said "Look around, kill any stragglers that weren't caught by the blast."
As they were doing so, Junkrat and Widow came back from their vantage point with Ashe by their side and McCree being dragged behind them.
"Oi!" Junkrat yelled "Look what we've brought back."
LWidow yanked McCree in front of Reaper and they all surrounded him. "He stepped on a venom mine."
"How unfortunate." Reaper grabbed McCree by the chin and forced him to face him. "You caught onto us pretty quickly kid, I'm impressed. Now where's the rest of you?"
"At the base. I came here alone."
Reaper let out a gravely laugh. "You expect me to believe that?"
"If I wasn't alone, I wouldn't have gotten caught."
"Maybe." Reaper said "Or maybe you're trying to pull the same trick on us. Let us catch you while everyone else is getting ready to take us out."
"He's not lying, Reyes." Ashe chimed in.
Reaper let go of McCree and turned to face Ashe. "Is that so? Don't tell me they turned you against us just like that."
"The hell are you going on about? Let's not forget the reason I joined your sorry ass group was because I wanted to get back at McCree. Do you really think I'd be helping him."
Reaper thought about it for a second before finally giving in. "Fine, I'll bite. If you're so sure, you wouldn't mind taking a look around, would you?"
Ashe shrugged. "You'd be wasting our time, but sure."
"Akande, go with Ashe. You see anyone you don't recognize, kill her." Reaper said "We don't have room for traitors."
"You realize you're the biggest traitor here, right?"
Reaper waved her off. "Yeah, yeah whatever. Get going already." He said, watching the two of them walk off before turning back to McCree. "I still can't imagine you doing it with her all those years ago."
McCree struggled against his restraints. "Fuck you."
"Relax kid, I'm kidding. Learn to live a little." He said, before giving McCree a smug grin. "Oh wait, you won't be doing much of that anymore."
McCree grit his teeth in anger, which only amused Reaper even more. "Anything you want to know before I kill you? I'll let you die with all the answers you want."
"Cocky much, Reyes?" Moira asked, her arms crossed in disapproval as she watched Reaper toy with McCree.
"I'm just giving the kid some peace of mind, Moira." Reaper shrugged "I'm sure you want to know what we're doing here, don't you?" he asked McCree "You heard that EMP blast, didn't you? That just fried hopefully every omnic here. They are now completely harmless, at least until Sombra finishes up with them. Once she does, they will now be following whoever reprogramed them. Take a guess who this army belongs to now."
McCree continued to struggle against his restraints, eventually giving up once he realized he wasn't getting out of this one. At least he'll get to see Angela again. Angela…
In Reaper's amusement, he barely heard what McCree grumbled. "What was that?"
"Why did you steal Angela's body?" McCree asked "What more can you take from her?!"
"As much as I love the idea of adding insult to injury to Ziegler's death, that wasn't me kid."
"There was black smoke. It killed both the driver and the passenger before taking off with the body." McCree said "Who else could that have been?"
Reaper shrugged before raising his shotgun, pointing it at McCree's forehead. "No idea. Don't dwell too much on it, kid. You wouldn't want your last thoughts to go unanswered, do you?"
Before Reaper could finish him off, Sombra tapped him on the shoulder. "What do you want?"
"You're not the one doing that by any chance, are you?" Sombra asked, pointing to the black smoke surrounding the EMP on the radio tower.
Once the smoke completely engulfed it, it blew, a black shockwave spreading all throughout the red zone. The sound of thousands of omnics getting back up crept up on them, and before they knew it, they were surrounded.
The black smoke continued to gather in front of them, and once they were staring at a huge black cloud, something started to materialize in front of them the same way Reaper does. What they saw once it was complete shook them to their core, McCree the most out of all of them as he stared at what was in front of him.
Her angelic glow was now gone, in its place a blood-red aura, her once blue eyes taking the same color as well. Her once beautiful smile had also disappeared, what's all that's left was something sinister.
"A-angela?" McCree nervously asked.
The new demonic Mercy smiled at him. "Hello Jesse." She said "Did you miss me?"