The alleyway was only partially lit by the moon and whatever light managed to creep out of the barred windows at the side, while three piles of garbage were lined up against the walls.
As the time was almost midnight, a single figure suddenly turned down the alleyway and carefully made its way through it.
The figure took quiet, careful steps, as it inched closer to the other side. However, when it reached the middle, it stopped, right next to a couple of garbage bags, a dumpster and a trash bin. At the other end, a new figure at appeared. Yet unlike the cloth-wearing figure in the middle, this one was wearing a familiar dark combat-armor.
As the cloth-wearing figure stood and assessed the new arrival, it heard a sound behind it and it turned its head slightly, only to see two more combat-wearing figures in the other end of the alley.
"If this is how it's going to be..." The figure in the middle said, as it reached onto its back and pulled forth its familiar bow.
Once they saw Hanzo ready his bow, the two Talon operatives in the back immediately pulled out their rifles and aimed it at the back of the archer. The third Talon operative, which stood in front of Hanzo, didn't draw any rifle. Instead, he pulled out a medium-sized retractable blade.
At first, Hanzo just looked at the blade. The operative then flicked his wrist, and red electricity began to crackle around the blade.
"Then so be it." Hanzo eventually finished his sentence, before adopting a battle-ready stance. The rifle-wielding operatives also readied themselves, yet the melee operative just stood his ground.
"Let us begin." Hanzo said, and before the operatives had a chance to react, the archer quickly grapped the lit of the trashbin and threw at one of the rifle-wielding operatives, before quickly firing an arrow at the other.
As the blade-wielding operative closed the distance between him and Hanzo, the operative who had the lit thrown at him managed to roll to the side. But his partner wasn't as quick, and the arrow quickly pierced right through his right arm.
He quickly let out a scream of pain, and while his lit-avoiding partner tried to focus his aim on Hanzo, the blade-wielding operative reached him first and viciously lashed out at him.
However, the archer was quicker and managed to place his bow between him and the blade, blocking it.
He then quickly hit the operative on the neck, briefly stunning him, which Hanzo used to swiftly jump over him, so that the rifle-wielding operative couldn't get a clear shot.
The blade-wielding operative quickly regained control, and with surprising speed, turned around for another slash.
Hanzo just managed to jump back before the blade made contact with his stomach, and the operative tried to cut him again, but again, he jumped back.
Now slightly infuriated, the operative carelessly lashed out at Hanzo, who rolled to the side and ended right next to a trashbag. The operative, now even more frustrated, lashed out at him again, but Hanzo quickly managed to grap a trashbag, and throw it at the attacker.
The blade effortlessly cut through the black plastic, but that resulted in several individual pieces of trash, including empty cans for human- and catfood, half-eaten pieces of fruit and several other things, temporarily blinding the attacker.
Hanzo immediately capitalized on this, and quickly fired an arrow straight into the throat of the attacker. After a few gaggling sounds, he fell over, dead.
The archer then stood up, but immediately had to duck again, when the last concious member began to shoot at him.
As the bullets whisked past him, Hanzo thought of how to best deal with him, when he saw something. The dumpster had wheels.
With all the might of his legs, Hanzo kicked the dumpster, sending it rolling rather fast towards the operative, forcing him to get out of the way.
As soon as the bullets stopped, Hanzo dove out of cover and fired an arrow at the operative. Headshot.
With all the attackers dead, Hanzo stood up and took a minute to get his breath back. Yet his break wouldn't last long, because two more assailants suddenly appeared at the other end of the alley.
With only a split seconds to think, Hanzo dove towards the closest barred window. Though it hurt his arms, he managed to break through, and just as he landed on the wooden floor among splinters and loose nails, he could hear the bullets whisk past outside the window.
The archer quickly stood up and looked around. It was a small apartment, with just a coutch, a tv and a dining table with a few chairs around it.
The sound of cans getting stepped on shook Hanzo out of his thoughts, and he deduced that the two new operatives were coming for him.
He quickly jumped over the table, and flipped it to provide cover from anything that might come from the three windows. He then placed a arrow in the bow, aimed at the middle window and prepared to fire it.
A couple of seconds passed, where all Hanzo could hear was his own steady heartbeat. He remained focused on the windows, looking for any movements and listening for any sounds.
Then, after a few tense seconds, the bars over the leftmost window shattered, and the two operatives looked inside. Hanzo immediately fired the arrow into the eye of the right operative, before ducking into cover behind the table just as the other one began firing inside the room.
As Hanzo tried to come up with how to get out of the room, the firing suddenly stopped. As Hanzo was about peek out of cover, a single sniper bullet suddenly pierced the table and hit the floor only a few centimeters from Hanzo.
Then another bullet pierced. And another. Hanzo knew he had to move quickly. He peeked out of cover before quickly ducking again to avoid another sniper bullet, but he had seen what he needed. The sniper was on the third floor in the building next to.
As another bullet pierced the table, Hanzo mentally prepared himself. He then vaulted over the table and quickly made his way to the window, while avoiding yet another sniper bullet.
He then vaulted out of the window, and as expected, the operative was waiting on his left. He quickly thrust the sharp edge of the bow into the operatives stomach, before drawing an arrow.
However, as he was about to aim at the sniper, five more operatives suddenly jumped out of the building and immediately surrounded him.
Hanzo stood for a second, completely frozen, and evaluated the situation. He then slowly, with no sudden moves, put the arrow back in the quiver and pulled out a different one.
Then, to the confusion of the operatives, he aimed at the wall behind the operatives.
Breathing slowly, Hanzo aimed a few milimeters to the left, before letting go of the arrow. It hit the wall, and immediately scattered into a flurry of smaller arrows, all bouncing around the alley.
After a few seconds, Hanzo placed his bow back on his back, as all the operatives dropped, an arrow in their head. And after a few additional seconds, the sniper fell out of the window and down in the alleyway, also with an arrow in the head.
"Was that all?" Hanzo then asked out loud, as he turned around himself.
"Yes." 76's voice answered.
Everything around Hanzo suddenly glowed blue before vanishing, ending the simulation. Hanzo quickly walked out of the dedicated simluation area, with a hexagonal pattern on the floor, where each tile could rise and sink, with a soft retractable wall around it.
"Satisfied?" Hanzo then directly asked 76, once he reached him. Behind 76 stood almost everyone, besides Angela and Genji, and they had all seen Hanzo's demonstration. 76 himself stood with his arms crossed.
"Most certainly..." The old soldier responded, in a voice that was unusually thoughtful for him.
When 76 remained in silence, Hanzo turned towards the rest of the gathered, looking for any sort of response.
"That... was... AWESOME!" Lena suddenly exclaimed in a voice that was loud, even for her, and every turned to her, as she continued.
"The way you managed to dodge all those melee attacks, and then you used a trash bag to take him out, and that guy you just shot AS SOON as he appeared in the window, and that scatter arrow! What a way to finish it!" She continued.
"Most impressive, indeed." Winston acknowledged once Lena was done rambling. Compliments and positive comments soon started to spread throughout the group.
As they continued applauding him, Hanzo turned his gaze towards the back wall, behind everyone else. There, slightly covered in shadows, Max stood and watched in silence. But there was something unusual about his look.
He looked pretty displeased, but more than that, his gaze was somehow directed at everyone and no one in the room, at the same time. Even Hanzo didn't know how to do that.
"Well..." 76 finally said and everyone immediately silenced themselves. Hanzo turned towards the soldier with a questioning look.
"I believe you'll be useful on missions, there's no doubt there." He started. "Your use of enviroment is also to be commemorated. In other words..." 76 now turned towards Winston. "I think he's good to go for the next mission. Then we can see what happens."
Winston nodded but Hanzo didn't exactly seem to like the last sentence. But before he could manage to say anything, Lena once again spoke.
"That's it then?" The brit asked and 76 simply nodded.
Everyone immediately got up from their seats and started walking out of the room, with Reinhardt and Fareeha purposefully walking next to Hanzo. The two last ones out were 76 and Lena, but before they exited, 76 turned towards Max, who was still leaned up against the wall.
"We're done here." 76 said in a mostly neutral tone.
Max turned his head towards 76 and responded in an equally neutral vocie. "You aren't."
The soldier simply grunted before exiting the room. But Lena remained behind and looked at Max, who had returned to looking at the simulator with the displeased look.
"Is something wrong?" Lena asked before taking a careful step closer to Max.
However, instead of answering, Max just slowly began walking towards the simulator. Once he reached it, he leaned against the low walls and looked at the hexagonal floor, before looking at the four projectors, one in each corner, that projected the enemies.
"Did... you want to try it?" Lena tried, very unsure of what exactly Max was doing.
"What do you think?" Max asked and it was still in the neutral tone as before. Yet when it came from Max, it sounded a lot more cold than when it came from 76. Or perhaps it was just more cold, Lena couldn't hear.
"Anyway..." Max said as he turned back towards Lena, now again with his usual warm expression and tone.
"Mind doing me a favor?" Max then asked as he began approaching Lena.
"I don't see any reasons not to." Lena responded, also with a smile.
Max lowly sighed before mumbling "Enthusiasm." He then quickly looked back at Lena, and explained. "Would you mind telling Mei to meet me in the hangar with her wintercoat, and then telling Winston that we'll be gone for a while?" He explained.
"Er, sure... but where are you going to?" Lena asked back with much uncertainty in her voice.
"No offense, but I get the impression that you're not the type who's able to keep secrets for long." Max said, as they walked out of the training area.
Lena got a slightly pouty face, so Max quickly added "And if she already knows where she's going, then I anticipate that the trip there will be much more uncomfortable for her. So you'll have to forgive my caution."
"Fine." Lena finally said and Max smiled. He then suddenly turned towards the personal rooms, as he added "In about fifteen minutes."
"... Sure." Lena said, but Max didn't visibly register that she'd said anything.
Now pondering what on earth they were going to be doing, Lena turned towards the recreational room and began to make her way there to find Mei, with a weird feeling in her stomach.
As Mei made her way towards the hangar, her encounter with Lena for some reason had stuck in her head.
It wasn't even because Lena had said anything that strange to her. She'd just come up to her and said "Hey, Mei? Max asked to meet you in the hangar. And to bring your wintercoat."
Mei had just responded with a casual "I'll be there." But it was Lena's behavior that had stuck with Mei.
When she had mentioned Max, there had been a small amount of uncertainty in her voice, and she had generally adressed him a lot more weirdly than usual.
However, Mei just shrugged. She was going to ask Max, so she didn't have to worry about it so much.
She finally reached the hangar, and once she entered, she saw Max standing next to an open dropship, with a light jacket he hadn't been wearing before.
"Ah, Mei. There you are." Max exclaimed once he saw her enter. As he began walking towards her, he saw that she had kept her promise and was carrying her usual winter coat.
"How are you doing?" He asked once he was closer, and he sounded like he usually did.
"Good. I've been thinking a bit, and I'm thankful for what you've done for me." Mei answered him honestly.
"Glad to hear that." Max simply responded, before turning around towards the dropship.
"Do you have any plans?" Max then casually asked.
"... Not really." Mei admitted, in a slightly embarassed voice.
"That's fine." Max quickly assured her, before explaining "I was hoping you would go to somewhere with me."
"Where?" She asked, but Max just smiled in return.
"If I tell you... well, that would ruin the surprise." Max said in a slightly joking voice. Mei kept looking at him curiosly though, and Max continued.
"I supose all I can really do here is ask you: Do you trust me? Do you trust I want what's best for you?" He asked, his voice now more sincere and serious.
Mei stood for a second, before finally nodding.
"Great!" Max exclaimed, before he started moving towards the dropship. Mei simply sighed with a smile, before starting to follow along behind him.
Once they were inside the dropship, and the doors had closed, Mei suddenly adressed Max. "Hey... Max?" She carefully asked.
"Yeah?" Max asked back, as he stood by the window.
"I..." Mei started, but she briefly stopped when the drophsip suddenly rumbled a bit, before taking off.
"Anyway." She then said before trying again. "I wanted to ask you, did something happend? When you were alone with Lena, I mean?" Mei asked, but before Max had a chance to answer, she quickly added "I don't mean it like 'that', of course... not that I would be against it either, but..."
"It's fine." Max quickly assured her, and Mei quickly sighed.
"I... suppose it was that simulation." Max eventually answered, and Mei looked at him with confusion. His voice was suddenly more serious, as was his expression.
"The simulation? With Hanzo?" Mei asked and Max nodded.
"If you don't mind me asking, what was so bad about it?" Mei asked.
This time, Max was silent and he crossed his arms as he seemed to think about something pretty intensely. He eventually let out a sigh and as he turned to the window on the side, he said "I'm not a fan of violence. No matter which form it takes."
He simply kept looking out the window, and Mei felt like it was best not to dig into it any further for now.
A/N: I apologize if you found this chapter a bit unnecessary, but there were some things I wanted to make clear before the next chapters. Speaking of the next chapters though, I would really appreciate any feedback you may have on this story, so that I can make the next chapters as excellent as possible. That's not to say that I don't try to make what I usually write as excellent as possible, but the chapters that are coming up will be really important, so I just want to give them everything! Or if you have any suggestions/ideas, then I'd also love to hear it! Anyway, that's all for now. Until next time!