Hey there gang, hope y'all are having a great day. Been working on this chapter for some time now (Shameless plug for The Tales of Overwatch for context for why this took so long) and I thank you all for your patience. With that said I won't stall much longer; hope you enjoy this next chapter of my Overwatch retelling.
I do not own any characters or locations within this story, only original characters. Overwatch is owned by Blizzard Entertainment.
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Chapter 5: Train Hopper
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Location: Somewhere in the United States
Date: Unknown
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The wind rushed overhead as a train rushed through the southern United States, passing through various fields and prairies. Hidden on top of the caboose of the hypertrain was Jesse McCree, a man in his late thirties sporting a thick beard, an outfit reminiscent of a cowboy of the old west, complete with a traditional cowboy hat and poncho, and a prosthetic left arm enhanced with some modern-day cybernetics. He laid back looking to the blue sky, a cigar lit in his mouth as the wind was pushing the smoke away from him.
Mccree was a former Overwatch agent, particularly a member of Overwatch's covert ops division Blackwatch. However due to an unfortunate incident involving a mission in Venice, Mccree and the rest of Blackwatch were revealed to the world, and Blackwatch would ultimately be sidelined, and then disbanded shortly after. After Overwatch had disbanded, Mccree would begin to travel the United States, working as a mercenary and vigilante. Having been on the run for some time, Mccree has taken refuge on the hypertrain in order to avoid the police. Staring at the clear blue sky, McCree closes his eyes, enjoying the air rushing past him, even if it's blowing past him at nearly four hundred miles per hour.
Suddenly his eyes open as the sound of a whirling helicopter was heard overhead. Soon the sky was filled with a whole squadron of helicopters, followed by ropes being brought down with what appeared to be armed soldiers going in through the top of the train. McCree squints his eyes, furrowing his brow as he watches the soldiers dive into the train.
"I don't recognize these fellas, but they're using Blackwatch tactics. Damn, and here I was hopin' for a quiet trip to Houston. Reckon it's time to play hero…again." McCree thought to himself as he grabbed the side of the train car and flicked his cigar out of his mouth.
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The passengers sat in fear as some of them had guns pointed at them. The heavily armed soldiers scouted the car, making sure none of the passengers tried to act against them as another pair of soldiers dropped from the hole above.
"Nothing in here." One of the soldiers stated as he continued to aim his gun at a couple.
"Keep searching! The boss ain't gonna be happy if we can't find this thing!" Another soldier barked. "And anyone that tries to impede is gonna get a bullet in between the eyes!" He warns the passengers, flashing his pistol for emphasis.
Suddenly the sound of glass shattering was heard getting the attention of the soldiers, only for them to see a man dressed as a cowboy. One of the soldiers spoke up.
"What the fu-"
McCree quickly pulled out his revolver and took shots at the soldiers, taking each one out with a single shot to the head. As their bodies fell to the ground, McCree stepped over their dead bodies, hiding his shooting arm under his poncho.
"Stay seated folks. This'll be over quickly." He says walking into the next car.
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A soldier kicked down the car attendant onto his back, having a gun pointed at his head. The car attendant looked up, sweat running down his skin and a young child crying in fear that his father might get shot in front of him.
"The code pally, now!" The soldier barked making the man choke in fear. He gulped before speaking.
"I-I-I don't know it. P-Please, I don't know it, I swear." The attendant whimpered getting a growl from the armed man. The soldier lifts a hand up and presses a button on his helmet, activating his commlink.
"This one doesn't know the code. Do we need him alive?" He asks into the comm. He's silent for a moment before wickedly chuckling. "Heh, copy that sir." He says before clicking his commlink off. He looks back to the attendant now with tears in his eyes knowing he's going to be killed. "Sorry pal, we all gotta die a some point, and I guess today just isn't your lucky day." The masked man states making the terrified man close his eyes waiting for the inevitable.
CLICK
"Actually, I don't think it's yours." A voice came behind the masked man. Before he could look at who it was, the armed man was shot dead, collapsing against wall and sliding down now a lifeless corpse.
The attendant opens his eyes to see a man dressed as a cowboy standing over him. "So, a code. What does it open?" McCree asks looking at the man. The attendant tries to catch his breath, steadying himself as he looked over to his son. "Something at the front of the train, or the back?" McCree asks again.
"B-back." The attendant stutters.
With a tip of his hat, McCree puts a hand on the car door and looks back to the attendant and his son. "Thanks partner." He says before moving closer to the door, taking a look through the peephole to see more armed men.
"Sam Hill, wonder what they're after. Even in this crowd, there ain't enough pocket change to cover this op." He thought before looking past the soldiers and focusing his attention at the door behind them. "Must be something expensive in the cargo hold. Something they want intact."
"W-Who are you?" Asks the car attendant. McCree pauses before taking a soft breath, focusing his attention back at the armed men.
"Just somebody trying to help. Stay down." He orders before readying to open the door.
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One of the armed soldiers grabbed another attendant, aiming his gun at the attendant as another soldier pointed their gun at another man, most likely the conductor due to the cap on his head.
"Open the door!" The soldier pointing at the conductor ordered.
"A-And why would I do that? What do you even want?" The conductor asks.
The soldier sighs, annoyed before looking at a third soldier, nodding his head to make the soldier aim his weapon at the conductor. "I'm going to give you one last chance. We're here for something on this train, and considering that none of the other cars have it, that must mean it's on this car." The soldier begins. "We got you out gunned, and outnumbered, and I don't think your buddy here appreciates having a bullet in the brain." He warns looking between the conductor and the attendant. "So, open the door, or we kill him, understand? If you don't do what we say, we'll kill him. So, open the fu-!" The soldier is soon interrupted by the sound of a door opening.
"Heads down, everybody!" McCree yelled before shooting two of the soldiers down. The lead soldier ducks behind a seat, shooting back at McCree as his captives flee to hide. McCree dives behind a seat, watching as bullets fly by him. He looks to his left to see an elderly woman hiding behind the seat with him. "Beg your pardon ma'am." He says with a nervous chuckle.
"No problem at all." The woman says as McCree ducks under another bullet and begins to shoot back.
The soldier turns his commlink on, ducking and avoiding bullets fired from the other end of the car. "Backup! Send backup!" He orders before a voice comes on the comm. It was a feminine voice, with a slight bit of sass and an accent to it. "I don't care what's up ahead! You hear me!? I want back-" He stops before the feminine voice says something getting a growl from the man. "Never mind, Talon One." He growls before ducking behind the seat to dodge another bullet.
"Last chance to surrender stranger!" McCree calls out. "This don't need to get any worse than it already is!"
"McCree!? Is that you!?" The soldier asks recognizing the voice of their mysterious assailant. "I swear to god I'm gonna kill you!" He roars before taking another shot. "You hear me!? You're a dead man Jesse McCree!" The soldier roars once more stepping out in a rage, ready to fire at anything that moves.
Suddenly everything is shrouded in darkness as the train moves through a tunnel. The soldier breathes heavily, his heart racing a mile a minute as he loses sight of his target before suddenly feeling an object pressed against his head and a presence in his vicinity.
"You lose partner." McCree said making the soldier go wide-eyed. "And the name, is Cole Cassidy." And soon, a long bang was heard within the darkness, and a loud and heavy thud followed soon after. As the train leaves the tunnel, the civilians see that the only one left standing was the man dressed in the cowboy costume. Cole looked around before seeing the conductor, with a smile he waved him over. "Excuse me conductor? Mind opening this here door? Let's see what they were after."
The conductor gives him a nod before going to the door and begins to put a code in. "Thank you, sir." He says getting a grunt from Cole.
"Yeah, it's whatever." Cole adds, before looking back at the conductor. "Just doing what I can to help." He states before the door opens and the two men are illuminated by a purple glow.
Behind the door was a heavily armored box with a purple glow emanating from the box. The two men looked to each other for a moment before the conductor spoke up. "W-what is that?"
"I don't rightly know." Cole answered before looking back at the dead body bodies of the soldiers he fought. "But they were talking about sending backup." He adds before opening a door and kicking the box off of the train. "So, I'm willing to let them have it." He sees the box land into the earth before the train leaves it behind, watching the helicopters fall back into the mountains. "That should get them off our backs."
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The helicopters began to land once the train was out of sights, and multiple armed soldiers began to surround the box, aiming their weapons at it.
"Object secured ma'am." One of the soldiers stated as a woman walked by them. She was a young woman, lightly tanned skin and dressed in patterns of black and purple. Half her head was shaven, her fingers ended in pointed tips.
"Good, now let's see what I won." The woman says before lifting her hand up, moving her fingers slightly and opening the box. Her eyes go wide, and a wicked smirk comes across her face. "Bueno seré condenada." She states looking over the object. "Get this thing back on board. The boss is going to love this." She adds before heading back to the helicopter.
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Cole sat by the elderly woman, taking a sip of whiskey from a glass provided by the car attendant. He thought no real reason to lay low now that the passengers have seen him. An announcement comes on a screen, showing an image of Cole under his "Jesse McCree" alias and a feminine voice was speaking over the image.
"Breaking news! Notorious outlaw, Jesse McCree has launched a raid on a hypertrain. The fugitive is wanted from murder, theft, and many more crimes. Be on the lookout for this man and notify law enforcement if you see him." The woman stated getting an annoyed grunt from Cole.
"Just like I thought. I show my face and save the day, and still I'm the one who takes the fall. No surprise there." Cole thought to himself before seeing the car attendant, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Excuse me, sir?" The attendant starts getting a raised brow from Cole. "We arrive at Houston in three minutes. What do you want us to say to the police?" He asks. "I think they're blaming you for this, and they mean to arrest you."
"Yeah. I figured as much." Cole sighed.
"What should we tell them?" The attendant asks once more.
Cole sighs once more, pulling a cigar and a lighter before looking at the man. "Tell 'em the truth. If they don't want to listen, that's on them." Cole states lighting his cigar before giving the attendant a smirk. "But maybe you could get on the radio and fudge our arrival time a bit." He takes a puff of his smoke. "It's been a long day, and I wouldn't mind a five-minute head start."
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Location: Houston, Texas
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The hypertrain comes to a stop, arriving at a train station in Houston. As the doors open several armed police officers step inside of the train looking around each car for the outlaw "Jesse McCree." However there was no sign of the man, anywhere on the train, except for the armed soldiers he had taken down.
"No sign of him chief." One of the officers stated getting a grunt from the mustachioed police chief.
"He's elusive that's for sure." The chief grunts before looking back at the conductor for answers.
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Location: Unknown, miles away from Houston.
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Cole Cassidy had managed to gain some distance away from the authorities in Houston, having snuck aboard another hypertrain, this one heading to Albuquerque. He had continued to look up at the sky, enjoying the peace that it brought him now that the only thing above him were birds and clouds. He sighs lazily, laying back as the clouds passed him by.
"Those goons were using Blackwatch tactics and knew who I was. I don't know why former Blackwatch agents are trying to grab a box off a train, but I know one thing for sure, someone's leading them, someone who knows my moves, my tricks, my abilities. And most likely has some connections with Overwatch." Cole thought to himself as his eyes went heavy and drifted off, taking a well deserved rest for the trip to New Mexico.
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And with that, the long-awaited chapter five ends. As I said before, this was a chapter that quite frankly was supposed to be released a while ago, but unfortunately so much had happened that delayed this chapter. But everything now is back in order, and I'm feeling much better both in writing and in my personal life. I just want to say thank you all for your patience and for your support. I know this is still a relatively new story and I understand that Overwatch fanfics aren't exactly the most popular types of stories, but I'm still grateful to everyone who comes by and gives my story a read, you all are the reason I continue to write and continue to add more to this story. I can't promise that the next chapter will be out soon, but I will try my absolute damndest to make sure the next chapter doesn't take close to eight months to get out. Thank you all again for your patience and your time to read my story. You all have yourselves a wonderful night and take care.
-Kris ;)