Fuck, fuck, fuck! Genji was gonna kill him and honestly, at this point McCree feels he would deserve it. Twelve hours and one mission into being an Overwatch agent and Hanzo was already gone, either dead or captured as far as McCree could tell from the broken arrows he'd found up the ridge where the archer had been. The gunslinger throw the pieces down in frustration with a growl, dusting his knees off as he stood.
"There's no blood." Reinhardt noted. "It's possible he fended off his attacker and went to look for us."
"That or whoever attacked him dragged him off before guttin'." McCree groaned. Looking down at the broken arrows McCree noticed two sets of footprints, one being easier to track as it was deeper, more solid. "Hold on, now. What do we have here?" McCree started following them into the mine shaft while pulling his gun back out of its holster; whoever attacked Hanzo could still be around after all. As he and Reinhardt walked deeper into the mine McCree felt his foot hit something and looked down. Bullet casings, and a lot of them at that.
"Aw, shit." he whispered as he reached down and picked one up. They're big, bigger than a buckshot, which means whatever they came from wasn't meant for public use.
"McCree." Reinhard calls, the light from his helm illuminating the adjacent wall. It was covered in bullet holes through they all stayed in one concentrated round cluster. "You know what this is from, don't you?" it wasn't a question, not really. McCree sighed as he threw the casing down.
"Dios puto rayos." McCree cussed under his breath. "Guess we know what Talon was looking for, now. How'd they find a working one, anyway? I thought we'd cleared all those damn things out."
"Apparently not." Reinhardt replied as he pulled his hammer over his shoulder. "We need to find Hanzo and fast. There's still no blood here and considering the size of this spray that can only mean he's alive."
"You don't have to tell me twice." McCree said as he and Reinhardt set out to search for the archer.
Bastian was wary of humans for a reason, a very, very good reason. They were easy to frighten and quick to anger, turning their guns and hate on the poor Omnic when it'd done nothing wrong. It didn't like killing, but the few times it had interacted with humanity had tended to leave it with no other choice. It was like a transformation not only of it's body but of it's mind, going into some dark place where it could not see but it remembered and feared. As such, it had taken to wandering the vast wilderness of the world, it's faithful companion Ganymede keeping it company. Unfortunately this hadn't seemed to work as well as the omnic had hoped; it should have known, thought, it was only time before the humans came looking for it.
The humans in black suits had chased it all the way from the Canadian wilderness to Route 66 where it had managed to hide from them for all of three weeks. While Bastian had hid away in the dark tunnels of the mine, Ganymede would often fly out and look for something to eat. Bastian felt bad for it's poor friend; the bird was made to eat berries but the canyon was practically barren, forcing the waxwing to either eat grubs and seeds or starve. That is, until today. Ganymede had returned to Bastian frightened but satisfied, chirping to him that he'd met a nice human who spoke waxwing and had given him dried berries before the humans in dark suits and the monster man showed up. Bastian wasn't happy about the dark suits and was terrified when Ganymede mentioned the monster man, overriding it's curiosity about the kind one that could speak bird. The Omnic had hurried through the tunnels as quickly as possible. Apparently it hadn't been fast enough as it heard footsteps coming towards it from the opposite direction. Quickly, it turned into it's turret form and waited quietly, hoping whoever it was would pass. They never reached it, though, the human taking cover around a corner as a dark presence follow after; the monster man. Bastian managed to suppress a scared warble as he grew closer only to suddenly fall over, an arrow sticking out of his mask. The human who shot the monster man came out of hiding and Ganymede grew excited; it was the man who'd given him berries! Bastian was still wary of approaching the man as just because he liked birds did not guerentee that he'd like Bastian. Suddenly, the monster man sits up, easily standing and pulling the arrow from his eye before grabbing the other whom had been distracted by talking to another over some kind of device.
Bastian, please! You have to help him! Ganymede cried from his perch atop the Omnic. Part of Bastian wanted to turn and run while the monster man was distracted but as the other man choked on the black smoke the monster man made and crawled pathetically on the ground, something stuck inside Bastian.
Long brown hair spilling over green grass, emerald eyes wet with tears as she crawled on the ground, trying to get away, trying to protect it. "Bastian!" she called, "Bastian, run!"
Bastian let out a hardy, "Dweet, dweet, dweet!" as it started to fire on the monster man, the creature making frightening growls and howls of pain before turning into mist and slipping away. Bastian quickly turned back into it's standard mode, scooping the human up before quickly making it's way back through the tunnel it came and taking a turn down another until it reach sunlight. When it spotted no other human life, it made it's way to the train wreckage and the abandoned diner. Bastian didn't know how hurt the human was and did not want to risk him becoming more injured should Bastion try to leave the canyon. Besides, it wasn't sure if there were more black suits waiting for it just down the highway or such, better to hold up somewhere at least somewhat secure before trying to leave. As it walked into the diner, it gently laid the human onto one of the booth seats. While there didn't seem to be any external injuries aside from some bruising, he looked far from okay. Pale and slick with sweat, he had his hands over his ears as if to block out some noise, eyes shut tight as small whimpers escape him. Ganymede hopped off Bastian's shoulder onto the table, chirping worriedly at the human.
Berry man? Berry man, what's wrong? What did the monster man do? Ganymede tittered. This seemed to catch the human's attention as he gently uncapped his ears, unfocused eyes trying to hone in on the waxwing. Ganymede watched him before turning to Bastian. Maybe he's to hot. Humans get really unhappy when they're to hot. Can you find some water, Bastian?
Bastian gave an acknowledging chirp before setting out into the kitchen. It finds that the tap still works and considering the condition the diner is in, it probably hasn't been abandoned long. It grabs one of the glasses and shoves it under the running water, watching it fill before walking back to the human. The man looks warily at Bastian, but unlike the others, he does not attack. He eyes Bastian down like all the others did, but he apparently does not find what the others had or maybe he found something they didn't. Either way, he takes the glass with a quiet, "Thank you." before drinking.
Long brown hair falls over slender shoulders as she sips from the mug, a soft smile on her face. "Thank you, Bastian."
The doors to the diner fly open.
"Hanzo!" McCree spots the archer just as he notices the bastian unit; it's just as they'd thought. Reinhardt throws up his shield as McCree pulls out Peacekeeper. It may have been a couple years but he knows all the places that hurt on the big Omnics and hits every single one as he fans the hammer. The large Omnic lets out distressed chips as the bullets hit before turning into a turret. For the briefest moment his stomach turns; Reinhardt's shield would only hold so long and if the big guy charged then there was a fifty-fifty chance he'd just get mowed down. Taking a deep breath, McCree focuses, feeling the world start to slow around him only for it to all be shattered in some single moment.
Pain, pain, Bastian is in pain, it's in danger, and it goes to that dark place as it changes, ready to fire, ready to kill, but suddenly there's a warmth falling over it, arms wrapped around the barrel of it's turret mode.
Long brown lays across it's barrel, tears falling from her as she whispers, "Don't do this, you're better than this, you're so much better than this..."
Bastian lowers it's gun
Hanzo doesn't know why he did it, doesn't even remember getting up, but here he was, draped over the turret while making sure that McCree had no clear shot at the Omnic.
"What are you, fucking insane!? Move!" McCree yelled, fear tinging his voice.
"I will not!" Hanzo called back, gripping the barrel tighter. "Put your gun away, McCree." he demanded. McCree scoffed as his free hand almost knocks his hat off his head when he goes to run his fingers through his brown curls.
"Hanzo, that's a bastian unit Omnic, a front line killer! Move!"
"No! It saved me from Reaper, I owe it a debt!"
"It probably saved you by accident!"
"It did not!" Hanzo snarled back, turning only enough to glare daggers into the cowboy. "Put your gun away. Now!" McCree and Hanzo stared each other down for what felt like forever before Reinhardt put a hand on McCree's shoulder, having taken down his shield. McCree huffed, blowing smoke from his cigar out of his nose before putting Peacekeeper back in it's holster. Hanzo glared for a moment longer before letting go of Bastian, who turned back.
"So now what?" McCree asked as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb.
"We go back to the transport and bring Bastian back to Gibraltar." Hanzo replied as if it were common sense. McCree looked at him as if it were the exact opposite.
"You're joking."
"Do I amuse you, cowboy?"
"Dios, it's not a dog, Shimada! You can't just give it a name and take it home!"
"Were we or were we not here to retrieve whatever it was that Talon was searching for?" Hanzo asked, eyeing McCree down. McCree points at him, looking ready to fight back, but when he can't come up with a good counter argument, he just groans and starts walking back out the dinner doors. Hanzo turns back to Bastian and Ganymede, who had returned to his perch on the Omnic's shoulder.
"I promise, we will keep you safe." he said as he bowed to the Omnic before standing again and leading it out.
As Hanzo walked, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"I believe this is yours." Reinhardt said as he handed Hanzo his Storm Bow. Hanzo felt his chest grow tight as he took the bow back. In the scuffle with Reaper he'd all but forgotten it, fearing it may have been broken or lost in the mines.
"I...arigatou, Reinhardt." Hanzo said, a soft smile tugging at his lips before giving way to startled confusion as Reinhardt laughed.
"You are very welcome my friend! You should smile more often, it looks good on you." Hanzo felt his face grow hot at the compliment and, unable to think of a reply, he hurried ahead to catch up with McCree.