The third day that Jesse McCree was in handcuffs was going to be the last, one way or another.
He'd been sitting in the airship's makeshift cell for him- his room- with his handcuffs on. Angela was visiting him with food, which he stared at morosely. "Uh, Angie, I've already apologized. Like several times." He pointed out, poking his food. He wasn't particularly hungry. "I've explained my reasons, several times. And you agree that we should look into it. And I have to find him- he wasn't in a good place, Angie, you saw that. It's been three days."
"Jesse, you had a terrorist who has been trying to kill us in our base for several days and have actively sabotaged our efforts to capture him." She sighed, rubbing her temples as she sat down. "We have been deciding as a group what to do with you, and unfortunately, it came down to a vote." Angela took in a breath. "Despite my personal opinion, most think it's best you…are turned in to authorities. I don't think we'll actually do that, but I know most are thinking of turning you out. You have endangered us all, and some think that you have to be punished for it."
"Well that's a predicament." He said, honestly a bit shocked.
"The other older members and I decided that…another vote was in order, amongst ourselves. Many of the younger members were the ones that voted against you- Fareeha, Satya, Aleks, but a few of the elder did as well; such as Winston, Tracer… and 76. However I wanted to have another meeting with them. Since you did have your reasons."
Hearing that 76 had been amongst those against him was the worst part of that. "Then I assume I'll be left here for a bit longer." He mumbled, and Angela nodded. She seemed sad.
"I…will try to convince them otherwise." She murmured. "However, Jesse…" Angela sighed, looking tired. She looked as though she had more to say, but couldn't. He nodded.
"I understand." The words tasted bitter in his mouth. She didn't want to tell him not to expect better results. Angela stood, and he listened to her footsteps leave his room, and the door closed behind her, sounding not unlike the ringing of a funeral bell, metaphorically speaking.
It was a good thing he knew how to break outta handcuffs. Being in a gang as a teen was helpful sometimes. The only reason he hadn't until this point was because he was trying to make a show of faith- that he wasn't against them. Overwatch was his family too- but Gabriel…well. He couldn't just leave him to suffer. Gabriel was as important to him, if not more so, than Overwatch itself. He was the one Jesse had known longest, the one he had cared about longest. After all, Jesse hadn't been Overwatch, he'd been Blackwatch. He was one of the last members of Blackwatch, the group known for the "Shadier shit" that Overwatch did.
And unfortunately for Jesse, his show of trust hadn't worked out in his favor.
"Fuck!" He banged his fists against the wall, wincing a bit at the metal biting deeper into his wrist. Dammit. Shit. If he had to go it alone, help Gabe alone, he would. Sure, being with Overwatch again had filled the void in his life that had existed since he inherited a second empty home, since he'd lost Jack and Gabe in one fell swoop, since he listened to Isabela Reyes be assassinated over the phone, but he was used to having to leave people behind. It was one of the few ways he'd been able to protect himself over the years.
However, he wasn't one to not meet his promises, and he had promised Gabe that he'd help him. If he just was gonna be cut loose anyway, he would do the cutting. If there was nothing here for him, then he'd go. Jesse McCree hadn't lived this long, hadn't done this much by waiting for the guillotine to drop fiddling his thumbs. Naw, he'd survived by fighting his way through, and sneaking around what he couldn't fight.
The sun went down, and people stopped moving around. He waited a while longer, slowly packing up his things, putting on his serape and his hat, before he easily broke out of his handcuffs.
It was the dead of night, and he pocketed his weapon as well as an extra change of clothes- he'd need to bathe when he got out of here. There was a train headed through Europe early this morning, he'd be able to catch it and get outta dodge before the other members woke up.
However, as he snuck out, managing to get as far as the main entrance of the airship without being caught, he heard footsteps. He jumped behind the table, watching from where the kids had apparently been playing Starcraft the night before, a drink that he'd grab in a second on the table, and he waited. And then he saw who was responsible for the noises and internally groaned. "Awhh hell." He complained, before he rolled out, shooting at the Talon folks as they came in from the side of the ship, before rolling back into cover. He reloaded- at least each of his bullets had found its mark, but he heard footsteps coming in fast. They were swarmed.
He could escape now. These guys would have gladly turned him in. He didn't know what kinda majority had voted him to be ousted from Overwatch- his home as much as theirs. His conscience weighed heavily on him though, at the thought of Talon harming these people. Even though they had voted to turn him in, these people were still more of a family than Jesse had had since he was a 13 year old.
"Well, fuck me." He complained to himself, before jumping out from behind cover. "Yoo hoo! Over here fuckwads! Come'n get me!" He shouted, drawing attention to himself, and laughing as he heard bullets hitting the spot directly behind him as he ran as fast he could. "Hoo lordie." He breathed out in slight fear as he ducked behind cover again, firing off rounds from under the table to shoot people in the knees, in the crotch, not willing to die here, and not willing to let his friends die either.
Especially not when it was probably Reaper who gave up their location, and they were asleep.
They fuckin' owe him one after all of this is said and done.
"Hello, Jesse." A cool voice came from behind him, and McCree tensed as he felt the business end of one of their guns up against the back of his head. And then there was a rush of air, a guhhhh, and the guy fell backwards against the wall. Jesse looked behind him, and saw a goddamned arrow sticking out of his helmet.
There was someone on the roof, and as arrows rained down on talon agents through the open door and behind it, Jesse didn't really care much who they were- just that they seemed to be on his side of this mess.
He took the second and reloaded as he rolled out the other direction they'd been heading. They had been carrying something heavy, it'd looked like. The archer came down from the roof, and looked at McCree up and down as he approached.
"You are with Overwatch, yes?" The man asked, and Jesse shrugged.
"I sure as hell thought I was." He admitted as he shot the guy coming from behind his mysterious archer ally. "Name's McCree. I'm glad you're here to help, but after this is all said and done, I'm gonna have to ask a few more questions. As you can see, we're a bit busy for all proper-like introductions."
The man bowed briefly. "Hanzo, at your service. I am here because I will not let these foul people kill the person I have been looking for, in search of answers in his sleep."
"Jesse!" There was a shout from behind him, and the man felt a small frame against his body. "Holy shit! There are bad guys everywhere! They've brought a bomb to the middle of the ship!" Hana frantically informed him, before hugging him again. "Ugh, McCree! They were trying to tell me you're bad and stuff, but I don't believe a word of it." She huffed, indignant. "Like maybe you should have told us? But 76 didn't say boo about how he was Jack Morrison until after he nearly killed you. They all have their secrets. Also you're the only one who doesn't treat me like a kid."
She didn't look very threatening in her socks, PJ shorts, and t-shirt combo, however, she had obviously been fighting since her breathing was fast and she had to reload her mid-range light blaster. Hana Song wasn't anyone to be messed with.
"Looks like we don't have much time." Jesse rubbed his neck as he let her go. "Lets get going then." Hana and Hanzo fell in behind him, the more experienced member of Overwatch, trying to keep their advantage on Talon as McCree shot at those getting too close, Hana watched for flankers, and Hanzo sniped people from a bit further behind.
The noise the three were making as they cleared a path through the enemy was indeed finally rousing the other members.
Angela Ziegler has come out in her silk pajamas; her normally kind blue eyes glaring searing holes of hatred into enemy Talon agents. The one who was foolish enough to not back away was met with her staff, and there was a loud cracking noise as the man collapsed from the hit to the head.
"I'll send you my consultation fee." She spat on the man, hitting another as they tried to grab her from behind by whipping around with her staff extended, knocking the breath out of him as she slammed him into the wall. "I am not here for this- I need my blaster."
"Whoa! Nice shot mom!" Hana shouted cheerfully as she reloaded her gun. McCree rolled to reload Peacekeeper, giving Angela the thumbs up from a distance. Mercy was no morning person, let there be no mistake.
"OW! Ow," Hana shouted a second later as her gun was shot from her hand, the girl clutching it close to her body as she located the Talon agent that had hit her. She didn't even pick up her gun as she ran at him full speed, jumping and kicking madly as she grabbed him by the arm and bit into his shoulder, the agent desperately shaking his arm to get her off.
Jesse took pity on the man and shot him through the helmet, watching him go down as Hana released him.
"You took my kill!" She complained loudly, and Jesse rolled his eyes as he rubbed his temples with his prosthetic arm.
"Really? Now's not the time kiddo!" He pointed out before he kicked her gun back over to her.
"Brigitte!" Reinhardt's voice came from across the way, and the panic in it was clear. The teenager was both unarmed and unprotected, and Talon agents had grabbed her for it.
Hanzo- the man had at some point scaled the ship to get a better angle for this- jumped down and swung his bow around to knock around the people away from her, but the man holding her shouted at him to drop his weapon.
He paused, grimacing, hating that he sunk so low as to use the civilian against them, but dropped his bow anyway.
A sudden flash of green sped through the room, and Genji's katana was in the man's throat. "Oh, so you finally take up my invitation, Hanzo!" His voice was obviously stressed, and Jesse snorted as he saw the man wearing a rather embarrassing set of blue pjs, complete with a little nightcap. Zenyatta was wearing a matching set. "Makes sense that you couldn't come before!"
"These buffoons led me straight to you." Hanzo corrected sharply. "It is occasionally hard to track down a group of people who are borderline international criminals. Either way, be more grateful! If I were not here, you would be solely defended by the walking American stereotype!"
Zenyatta seemed to have grabbed Brigitte, making sure she was alright before bringing him over to where the Bastion unit had set up in Sentry form, rapidly shooting at the oncoming attackers, allowing the omnic and human teenager to pass, before reopening fire.
Man, was Jesse glad that he was on their side, he thought as Bastion's little arm came up to wave at Brigitte, before it beeped angrily at people behind them.
"Jesse- you know how to break out of handcuffs?" Lena shouted as she blinked past him in a flash of blue light, firing her pulse guns off into the fray as well. She was only wearing a tank top and a red thong with ribbons down the back side, and Jesse briefly wondered how the hell she got her clothes off while wearing the chronal accelerator. But then the question registered.
"Wait, you thought I couldn't?" He asked, bewildered. "I was just playing nice and by the rules! I was in a gang, people, of course I know how to break out of handcuffs!"
Lúcio blew past him, wearing a green pair of "are you nasty" booty shorts and his skates, giving them all a speed boost. "I told them so!" He shouted. "I told them you could, it's just a skill that you learn when the police are after your ass!"
Jesse was about to agree; before he remembered the fact they had a time limit here. "Shit!" He shouted, before taking off. "Han Solo, Prima donna, Angie- you guys watch my ass." He called back, and though Hanzo and Hana looked affronted, they followed him anyway once Mercy pressed them forward with her staff.
As they ran past Hana snorted as Reinhardt and Torbjörn fought off a few people chasing them, seeing as how Reinhardt was just in tighty-whiteys and a pair of bunny slippers, while Torbjörn was in sweat pants and an undershirt.
However, that meant there was finally a clear path, and Roadhog and Junkrat were fighting off a few people as Mei tried to block off others, closing the room off with an ice wall, wearing an oversized t-shirt with a panda on it and baby blue panties.
"How did Jesse get out?!" Mei shouted as she froze fighters off.
"For fucks sake!" Jesse complained, as he reloaded again, shooting the man that had the bomb in his hands, and missing, the man going around the other side and getting cover from his allies. "None of ya'll listen! I was in a gang, it teaches you certain things, and there is definitely a reason that Gabriel Reyes was the only officer to ever catch my ass! Either way, be grateful! They're laying down a fucking bomb!"
"I know! That's what I brought him for!" Mei shouted back, cursing as she was shot in the arm. "But he doesn't know how to defuse that!"
Junkrat ran past, shoving a bomb in some guys pants. "I thought the soldier types just picked you out 'cause your ass was pretty mate!"
"HELL NO!" Jesse shouts as he finally manages to get one of the covering agents, running into the fray with Hana, Hanzo sniping the ones that had started to run from the bomb. "Gabe was the only one with sense to knock me out before tying me up much better than just handcuffs."
Angela sighed. " And Gabe's rope work was so messy compared to mine, I can't believe I allowed you to just stay in handcuffs…how did I forget that."
"No time for that, Angie!" Jesse shouted as the doctor healed Mei's arm. "You guys get out. I'll buy us more time. There's nothing I can do about that." He jerked to the large bunch of explosives that attached to the engine. "But I can buy us some extra time. They're supposed to go off with this, if I can defuse it, they'll probably just fire into our ship to get it, but it'll get us a few extra minutes. Clear house, Angie." He knelt on the ground, and got out some of his emergency equipment that he'd packed up when he'd been planning on leaving.
"I'm staying." Hana said next to him, and Jesse's heart wrenched. "Go, mom, I'll make sure gay cowboy gets out too."
"Shit, Hana." He cussed, but got to work, looking down as the footsteps of Mercy, Mei, Junkrat and Roadhog all faded. "Heya, Hanzo? You there?"
"Indeed." The Japanese man stated from slightly a bit away. "I am making sure that you are not interrupted by any other agents."
"Awesome. If I say so, I want you to grab her and run." Jesse said firmly, even as Hana made a loud noise of disagreement. "Hana, I won't make you leave now, but you're young. 19. You're no more a kid than I was at your age, but you got your whole life aheada ya. If I can't do this, I wanna make sure that you go on. After all." He grinned as he got to the wires of the thing, inspecting it carefully before he started to move along. "Someone has to continue my legacy of being the resident troublemaker."
"Where'd you learn to defuse a bomb?" She asked after a few more seconds.
"Ah." He murmured, taking out the tool that had been in his mouth. "You see, oftentimes people will forget that while Overwatch's missions were dangerous… they weren't quite like Blackwatch. Blackwatch missions were…well, extremely dangerous. Hell, sometimes deadly if things went sideways in even a lil' way. I learned to defuse bombs on the clock. Some of the other members of the OG Overwatch learned, but I learned faster. It was one of the first missions where my dying handler taught me to do it. Since it was either defuse it or die there, and I wasn't about to die at 18."
And then it was done. The timer paused, with 2 minutes to spare. He took in a deep breath, before he let it out again. "Alright. Let's go. We have 3 minutes max before they realize something's wrong. Take only the essentials." He instructed Hana, the younger girl nodding.
She hugged him again, before she ran off to her room.
Hanzo nodded out of respect, following her to protect her. Jesse took in a small breath of relief, before walking back out. The fight had become a bit more hunkered down, and everyone was awake now.
"Bomb's defused." Jesse informed Angela as he ducked into cover with her. "We need to get out now, though. There's more explosives in that room now than I'd like to admit, so they can just blow the ship and call it good once they figure out it won't blow on its own."
"Zarya, 76 and Winston have already escorted Symmetra out into the city." She informed him. "She is constructing a teleporter- Ah, there it is!" She said, glad to see it formed in the base of its own accord, letting out a breath of relief. "Everyone, out." She said, and people began throwing things through the teleporter, Bastion leaving with Brigitte first, followed quickly by Lúcio and Hana, Junkrat helping Mei through it as well- she'd been shot again, this time in the leg, it seemed.
"C'mon, everyone hurry on up!" Jesse said, watching as one by one, Overwatch's new forces ran through the teleporter, until it was just Angela and himself.
"That it?" He asked her, and she nodded, clutching her crossed off list of names. "Ladies first." He gestured, and she grabbed his arm, pulling him through with her, refusing to let him out of her sight.
They came to on the other side, as Jesse's predictions came true, and they saw the Talon ships in the air begin to fire missiles into the ship's engine. Hana and Lúcio ran over to him, hugging him close, as the ship they had all been on started to glow a blinding white, before they saw a flash of light, and there was a shockwave that followed in the immediate aftermath.
"My god." Lena's shocked voice came as she sat on the floor, her whole body shaking. "That woulda been us." As the light died, they saw the fire in the distance, building in the skies, and in the light they could watch as the Talon ships left, fading into the night sky.
"It almost was." Hanzo murmured, tilting his head forward.
"Does anyone have any injuries?" Angela's shaken question disturbed their silence a few seconds later, and there was a variety of responses. There were a few- Mei had a gunshot wound to the calf, Genji's robotics had a few scuffs from knife wounds and a few holes from bullets. Junkrat seemed to be more on fire than usual. Brigitte had a bruise on her arm from where she had been grabbed.
But the gravity of the situation had hit everyone. If Jesse making such a racket while he was fighting off people hadn't woken them up, they would all be dead.
All of them were still in their PJs, with the exception of Zarya, who was wearing what appeared to be Symmetra's robe, as it had a VISHKAR Logo on it.
But they were all out in one piece.
"Where do we go now?" Fareeha's voice was small, shocked that they had been that close to death. She was wearing a silk negligee over her civilian prosthetics, her battle suit in a bag over her shoulder.
"Well." Jesse coughed before he spoke up. "There's a train leaving in an hour or so from the station a few blocks down. I was planning on hoppin' on, but…it's probably the smart way out, before Talon realizes that we're not as dead as they'd like us to be. It's headed through Europe. We can…you know, camp out at Gibraltar and figure out how to move forward from there."
"That's the plan, then." Winston spoke up, taking control now that the shock was starting to wear off.
"I brought changes of clothes!" Hana shouted, holding up the bag she'd brought with her. "I pilfered the laundry room for them after Han Solo and I grabbed everyone's wallets and passports from their personal effects."
"My name is Hanzo." He disagreed lightly, before handing over the smaller bag with personal effects that had he had deemed most important to Angela.
"Well, thank you." Angela said, clearly a tad bit overwhelmed. "I am surprised you thought to grab these, but thankful nonetheless, just as I am immensely grateful that you chose to help us when you did. From what I heard Genji say earlier, are you his…"
"He is." Genji spoke up from where Torbjörn was patching up his robotics. "My brother, that is. I am also grateful that he decided to come when he did, surprised as well, but in a different way than you are, I believe, Dr. Ziegler."
Hanzo looked at her in curiosity. "The last time few times he and I have met in person, we fought. But he has since informed me through letters the nature of how he survived. He is not the brother I once knew, but…there is no other way that he could know the things he does. You are the woman who… sustained his life?" He inquires, and Angela frowned at the use of "sustained" rather than "Saved", but didn't say anything.
After all, Genji had mentioned to her that he was trying to reconnect with his brother.
"I am." She nodded. "And please, call me Angela, Genji. We have known each other for so long." The woman smiled as she grabbed out a few clothes from the bag. "But we should hurry up and change. I do not know about you all, but I am not keen to remain out in the open in nothing but my bed clothes." She murmured as she walked off, and the group broke apart to go find secluded places to change.
Jesse found that Hana had even grabbed him a spare change of clothes, and after being in them for 3 days straight, he found it a welcome change.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he about jumped outta his skin.
"J-76!" He corrected himself after another moment of shock, before shaking his head. He looked the man up and down, before he stared at his shirt and pants. The shirt said, "The man, the legend," and had an arrow pointing to his dick, while the pants were obviously a too-small pair of baby pink sweats, the word "JUICY" on the back in bright pink sequins. Jesse knew that without even looking, because they were his clothes.
"76? Why are you dressed in my clothes?" He asked after a second more of staring, 76 seeming unable to come up with words himself. "More than that…" He took in a breath, and let it out, looking tired. "Why are you here? Aren't you…well, aren't you mad at me?"
"...I'm sorry." Were the first words, and 76 turned away a bit, obviously a bit ashamed now. "You didn't have to help any of us, you could have just left, but you managed to stall the majority of the agents, and defused a bomb that would have gotten us a lot more injured had it gone off." he admitted. "That was brave of you, Jesse," he said quietly, unsure about how to feel if Jesse had gone and left them without resolving anything. He had been incredibly angry, but there was something about the thought of losing everything that tended to put things in perspective, especially since he knew that Angela had told Jesse they had already decided to turn him away.
Or worse, he imagined another scenario wherein Jesse hadn't been able to get out. Dead brown eyes buried beneath rubble of a burning ship, betrayed by those he was supposed to be protected by. It felt like being doused into cold water as he imagined practically doing what Gabriel had done to him, to Jesse. Jesse'd sat in holding for 3 days as they'd argued over his fate. He'd not even gone to talk to him- he'd been so blinded by his own anger that he'd not even gone to ask for an explanation. The idea of losing more people to fires of an explosion just sent him reeling. While other members thought Jesse could just be working for Talon, 76 knew him better than that. He wasn't the type of person to double cross people. Never had been. No, deep down, he felt scalded that Jesse hadn't told him and betrayed that Jesse had picked Gabriel over him. Gabriel was dangerous, evil even. He felt no remorse for what he did. Jesse though, Jesse had a soft spot for Gabe. He'd had one for him ever since he'd really gotten into Blackwatch's work. Additionally, Talon had been hunting Jesse down as well before Overwatch even restarted, and though he wasn't necessarily a "good guy" as a few had pointed out, Jesse was very much against Talon.
He'd already tossed out the idea that Jesse had coordinated this attack given that they'd taken his cellphone, and he'd already found it still in the bag of personal effects Hanzo and Hana had collected, and had been keeping him under surveillance the past several days. And because he definitely remembered a mission where Jesse had defused a bomb before the fall.
No. Jesse wasn't working with Talon knowingly.
"Awwh, Hell." Jesse muttered, pulling his grump into a hug, even if Jack didn't necessarily deserve it. "Y'all are my family. I wasn't about to let them destroy it even if you guys were fuckin' up. N' you're right. I could have. I was going to, s' why I was ready to go when they came in." He huffed. "Especially since you guys wanted to hand me off to authorities. That was a touch hurtful, I'll admit, a bit more after I heard you were on the "Away" team." He paused. "Reaper was almost certainly the one who told them where we were."
"I'm sorry," 76 said again, sighing and going to nuzzle Jesse a little. "You're right. I was angry that you'd hidden him from us. Angry because I felt like you chose him over me. Angry that you prioritized him over our safety. Taking you to the authorities might have been overkill, I admit," he said quietly this time, rubbing small circles on Jesse's back, feeling the fabric of the familiar serape. Gabriel's mother had given Jesse this for his 28th birthday. But he felt somewhat vindicated to hear Jesse admit it was Reaper who had ousted them to Talon. It was Reaper that Jack drew most issue with. Jesse's soft spot might leave him vulnerable to attack, just as 76 had once been. 76 was furious that Jesse didn't think that Gabriel was manipulating him. Didn't Jesse see? That loving him was a mistake, just a way for Gabriel to get close, before stabbing him in the back and twisting the knife?
"I'm glad to hear someone apologize for that." Jesse mumbled, rolling his eyes a bit. "I'm not the only member with a bounty on my ass. But look-I ain't keeping any other secrets between us, alright? That was it. Wish you coulda come talked to me, and we coulda already resolved this...but I get you. I felt weird, but you...well. You have your own issues. But I sure as hell ain't choosing either of you over the other. Gabi needs help. And I promised to help him."
76 tensed again, before pulling away. "Jesse…even if you're telling the truth about it all, or what you think is the truth, he's dangerous, and you're calling him Gabi like nothing's changed. Everything's changed."
Jesse only sighed, looking away, toward the ground. "Look." He handed his clothes to 76, before turning away completely. "I'm not arguing about this right now. I ain't betraying you, and I ain't betraying Overwatch. But Gabe needs me too, so I ain't betraying him either."
And 76 didn't follow him when he walked away, his gun put away on his hips, the sound of his footsteps echoing the melancholy inside of him at the thought that Gabriel had been the one to tell Talon where they were, that they'd almost died, that 76 was sorry, that Gabriel, as upset and disjoined and scared as he was the last time he'd seen him, was now at the complete mercy of the people who had nearly killed a 15 year old girl along with a handful of celebrities who had nothing to do with the old battles Overwatch once fought solely for the purpose of eliminating the threat to their plans before it became an actual issue.