The battle began.
Maya, leading the Japanese hit squad, immediately had her forces spread out. They fanned around the rocky outcrop, shooting up, forcing their opponents to duck back and search for cover.
Cassidy found himself leading the defence, as if by accident. The others did not seem to know how to lead a team, nor how to work as a team, so it was only logical he took charge. His time leading the Deadlock Gang had taught him a lot about leadership.
'Junkrat,' he nodded to the spiky haired Junker, 'start lobbing. Make it rain grenades. The rest of us can use that to our advantage.'
Junkrat, looking just a little panicked, obliged. He aimed the launcher high and fired. The first of the explosive projectiles flashed in the high sunlight before beginning its descent. It detonated, and there was a panicked shout from below. The consistent gunfire faltered as the hit squad re-evaluated their position.
His group had every right to look afraid, Cassidy acknowledged, though most of them hid it well behind their bravado. Their enemies had over double the numbers and superior technology. High ground or not, Cassidy and the others were surrounded. They had a good defensive position, but nowhere to retreat to.
'Road Hog,' he drawled, looking at the big man who was still showered in red splatter, 'you go back to the Ute, defend our retreat. They might try to flank us. The rest of you, with me.'
Cassidy saw Reaper slipping away, but did not attempt to pull the grim warrior back. He was a wild card, yes, but Cassidy had seen him in action, and he trusted that particular wild card. At least he trusted him to do the right thing. And in this case the right thing was a great deal of damage to their enemies.
'What do you want us to do?' Mercy asked, holding a pointlessly small pistol in her hands. Her wings had fanned out on her back now and, whether Cassidy believed a word of what Reaper said or not, she did look like an angel.
'I want to charge 'em,' Cassidy answered, dry and gritty. 'It's the only way we can get the jump on 'em. And I'm sure as hell hoping to get 'em to surrender.'
Mercy nodded. Mike and Tracy exchanged a glance, but said nothing. Junkrat, who was hopping around on his peg leg and firing grenade after grenade down onto their enemies, seemed almost gleefully unaware of the true danger they were in, as if all it took for him to forget his trouble was a chance to make something blow up.
And on that note; something blew up.
It was one of the hover cars, Cassidy realised. Junkrat, firing blindly, had managed to hit it with a grenade, and a blossoming mushroom cloud of flame and smoke billowed into their line of sight. It was as good a chance as any.
'Now!' Cassidy called. He charged over the top of the rocky outcrop without waiting to see if the others followed. He fired the Peacekeeper once, twice, three times. His first shot caught one of the Japanese soldiers in the neck and he fell; the second two missed. He rolled forward, dust billowing around him, then tossed a flash-bang grenade toward a group of enemies to his left. The grenade went off with something like a ping noise, and light flared. Cassidy shut his eyes with plenty of time to spare, and opened them as soon as it was safe.
His enemies, blinded and disorientated, were not so lucky. He raised the Peacekeeper again and thumbed back the hammer with his false hand. Three rapid shots flew out. Three foes fell.
He would have perished then and there if not for Mike – Genji – and Tracy, who had dutifully followed him down the rocky hill and into the enemy encampment. Mike flung a shuriken star that rebounded from a vehicle and slammed into an enemy, knocking them down. Tracy fired her twin pistols, emptying their small clips in an instant, and reloading again.
Cassidy watched her as he reloaded his own six-shooter. She was utterly distracting, such a skinny figure, such a great fighter, such tight clothes…
She flickered in and out of his view, first dancing ahead, then reappearing where she had stood a moment ago. His attempts to watch her became more and more disorientating. Had he lost his mind? Was he finally going crazy, or was Tracy actually moving in and out of time, flashing forward and backward?
A shot ricocheted past his head, and he ducked, finally reloading the Peacekeeper. There were still enemies in the area. He could worry about Tracy and her apparent abilities later.
He felt a bullet pass through his upper shoulder, and another his leg, and fell to the ground, trying to find cover while also shooting back. No luck. The Japanese hit squad had him surrounded. Mike and Tracy, it seemed, were also pinned down. He had to…
Mercy appeared, swooping down from the outcrop with staff and pistol in each hand. As she flew above the nearest enemy she kicked them in the face and they fell. She landed, cat-like, on the bonnet of one of the hover cars and lashed out with her staff, knocking a foe down and shooting another.
Cassidy tried to stand, but his leg and arm were weak, aching from bullet wounds. Blood was already soaking his clothing. Mercy noticed, pointed her staff toward him, and a brilliant glow radiated from the tip of the weapon to his own body. The light basked him, and he felt its power. A healing power. The bullets extricated themselves from his rapidly healing flesh and in moments he felt not just healed, but better than he had in a long time.
He stood without difficulty, raised his six-shooter, and looked around.
The enemies were down. Those not dead had surrendered, and were lowering themselves to their knees as Genji and Tracy aimed their weapons at heads. Each of the foes looked dishonoured, and furious at being outmatched. And yet something wasn't quite right…
'Hell of an effort,' Genji grinned, sheathing his sword. 'Mercy, you came in at just the right moment, a little distraction…'
'And a little healing,' Tracy added, gesturing toward Cassidy. 'I bet he's grateful. I know I was when you fixed me up.'
'I'm grateful,' Cassidy grunted, not looking at Mercy. He did another count of their enemies, just to make sure, and reached the same result. 'Fuck. Where are the others?'
Mercy's beaming smile slid from her face as she, too, realised the problem. There were a handful of enemies around them. Some dead, some alive, most wounded. They had done well to take out so many with only four – and Junkrat's cover fire, of course – but it was still not enough. Before the fight began there had been fourteen, or fifteen, if not more. Where was Maya?
'I think…' Mercy began.
Gunfire interrupted their thoughts. They looked up, and saw Junkrat toppling down over the edge of the rocks. Perhaps he had been shot, or perhaps just thrown down. It was hard to say. Either way, he was now at ground level with them, rather than on the top of the outcrop. They'd lost their defensive position.
Road Hog was still above. Clearly, they'd been flanked. The big man had lost his gas mask and was firing at enemies Cassidy could not see from below. The big man would not last long alone up there. If Cassidy's counts were correct three or four enemies, at least, had flanked them from behind.
Cassidy reloaded. But there was no way he could get up there in time to help. Even someone with two good hands could not climb that outcrop quick enough. Not unless…
'Road Hog!' he called. The big man glanced down, sweat on his fat-covered face. 'Hook me!'
Road Hog obliged. He turned to face Cassidy and fired the hook. Cassidy held up his false hand and the hook latched onto it painlessly. Without a moment to prepare himself Cassidy was yanked up into the air. He managed to kick off some rocks with both feet as he shot forward, and his own momentum carried him well past Road Hog into a high arc…
He was flying. Or so it felt. He reached the apex of his journey two meters above Road Hog's head and time seemed to slow. It almost felt like he could have kept rising forever, except that he was still anchored by the Road Hog's heavy chain. He hung there for a moment, looking down on the outcrop, and for the first time understood the term bird's eye.
He raised the Peacekeeper. He looked at his enemies. The air around him surrounded every inch of him, a sensation he had never felt before. It played with his hair, teased his inevitable fall back to earth, but allowed him his moment in the sky. He aimed. And he fired.
Three shots.
Three misses.
It was almost impossible to shoot accurately while hoisted in open air, with barely a split second to aim and fire. But in fairness Cassidy did remarkably well – his bullets pounded into the dust by his enemy's feet, and they all stood back in alarm. It had all happened in less than a few seconds. Maya and her allies were confused and disorientated. Was that… a flying cowboy on a fishing line?!
Cassidy crashed to the ground a moment later, his stint of gravity-defying finished as swiftly as it began. A spike of pain shot up from his back. He had landed painfully.
He looked up to see Maya's blade facing him. Road Hog had two rifles pointed at his face. They'd lost this fight, but at least they'd tried everything.
'I should shoot you for even trying something that stupid,' Maya smiled, 'but I have to say I'm a little impressed. Now, where is Genji? I will take him, or…'
Reaper appeared.
One moment it was Cassidy on the ground with three enemies looming over him, the next Maya and her team had an enemy looming behind them. The cold, hungry steel of Reaper's guns softly stroked the backs of Maya and her closest companion's heads. He didn't need to say anything, but he did anyway.
'Put them down.'
The dark voice travelled straight into the minds of Maya and her companions. They lowered their weapons. They looked pained about it, but they did not have a great deal of choice. Cassidy lifted himself to his feet and dusted himself down.
'Well,' he turned back to Road Hog, who was watching on in stunned fascination, 'that was fun.'
Mike and Maya were not invited to participate in the peace talks. Both were too hot under the collar, still itching for a fight. Mike had drawn his blade, and seemed ready to decapitate Maya the moment he saw that she had been disarmed. She, similarly, had reached for her weapon and had to be held down by Road Hog.
It was Mercy, as usual, who spoke for the allies. Maya's second-in-command, one of only seven to survive the fight, spoke for the Japanese. His English was impeccable.
'We can't let you go,' Mercy said.
'Neither can we,' The soldier replied flatly. 'I would like to, but it is a matter of honour.'
'Then it seems we are at an impasse.'
'You do not seem to want to shed unnecessary blood,' Maya's second in command replied. 'And you cannot take us with you, you have neither the provisions nor the equipment. So you must let us go.'
'We could steal your vehicles,' Mercy countered.
'You may steal them anyway, it will not help you. There is no rope with which to tie us up, and we will try to escape if given the chance.'
Cassidy wanted to threaten them all with death, but decided against it. He didn't want to waste bullets, and he'd never before shot an unarmed enemy, he wasn't about to start now. Junkrat, whom Cassidy had expected would be very willing to finish off their disarmed foes, seemed surprisingly indifferent.
'Let 'em go,' he said. 'Better off having some frightened survivors to share scary stories about us with the bigger force.'
'I will tell them you are a rag-tag group of warriors, with only second-rate weapons and a food supply that diminishes every day. They will come for you. Genji's brother will come for him until his last breath is drawn.'
Reaper raised his arm and fired. The 2IC fell back, dead. Reaper inhaled the smoke from the barrel of the weapon and looked around at the other Japanese soldiers. Maya, restrained a short distance away, shouted out in anger and shock.
'Fuck off,' he told them. 'And tell Genji's brother to fuck off too. We won't tell you again.'
Cassidy caught Mercy looking disparagingly at Reaper. She clearly did not approve of this decision, and neither did Mike or Tracy, who complained loudly at allowing Maya to leave. But in the end Maya and her five remaining soldiers did leave, albeit unarmed, and sporting several injuries. Reaper and Mercy were, one way or another, leaders of the group. And despite their complaints no one seemed willingly to fight their decisions.
Cassidy, for his part, was just a little glad to see the Japanese riders shrinking into the distance. Between the robots, and the Fallout, and the dead that walked it was nice to know they'd spared a few lives. Lives of living, breathing people. It didn't make up for all the Deadlock gang members he had helped kill the day before, but hell, it was something.
Genji didn't take long to calm down. His frustration at seeing Maya leave was improved by the joy of having stolen two new vehicles from the enemy. They were behind schedule, but could make up time now.
'Come on,' Genji said, pointing. 'Let's see if we can't break into this facility before nightfall. I have a feeling we'll need the light for this one. And even then it'll be a fucking miracle if we all get out alive.'
Cassidy couldn't help but agree.