Chapter Text
“It is always darkest before the dawn.” A phrase meant to explain that the worst of situations only happen before the best. The hollow words comfort most. “Oh, you’re sad now, but just hold on (he cannot)! Sadness is only temporary (so is happiness) so live through tomorrow, it’ll be better! (It never was).”
That phrase was never, and will never, be true to Cole. If it was, why was it so damn hot out each time he was told it?
He was told it when he was bedridden in the hospital, newly an amputee, and ironically, during High Noon. He was told it while tied down in an interrogation room, having just signed his life away to Blackwatch during the biggest heatwave he could remember. He was told it when he had just narrowly escaped getting his head blown clean off by Omnics, those closest to him not having been so lucky.
In fact, he had been told it just now on the Orca by Angela. She pulled him aside from the others, expressing her concern for his well being.
“You’ve just seemed…off lately, Cass.” She whispered to the gunslinger. “Is everything alright? Can I help with anything?”
Cassidy responded by waving off her concerns, blaming it on a lack of sleep (which, to be fair, wasn’t entirely a lie). Angela didn’t seem fully convinced, but she didn’t have the time to interrogate him further as they had landed at their location.
The task at hand was to obtain this…whatever…from Talon. Something about it “being dangerous in the wrong hands” or whatever. Also discussed in the meeting was how quick of a transport it would have been. They’d have been in and out of the location in under an hour, if all went to plan. To be honest, Cassidy did not pay attention to a single piece of the briefing after he heard that. Everything was in one ear, out the other.
Regardless of what they were after, he was in charge of it. Peacekeeper fully loaded and tucked into his holster, he walked alongside the self-driving carrier, trying his best to keep an eye (and an ear out) for anything out of the ordinary, but it was becoming a struggle. The bright, mid-afternoon sun was unforgiving in its gaze down on Cassidy, leaving his head swimming with unwanted thoughts and his clothes uncomfortably sticky on his skin.
‘Darkest before the dawn, what a load of bullshit.’ But it's fine. It has to be fine. As much as he wishes to go back to his room, chiansmoking until his lungs burn, drinking until he drowns, there was work to do, and he needed to fulfill it.
“How are you holding up, Cole?” Genji spoke up suddenly from the intercom.
“Just peachy.” Cassidy huffed out in response. “ ‘s just too damn hot out.”
“Shouldn’t you be used to the heat? Didn’t you grow up in, like- the desert or something?” Hana chimed in.
“Shouldn’t you learn to not ask stupid questions?” Was the gunslinger's response. Hana scoffed.
“Jeez, sorry for asking.”
“Are you sure you’re good, Cole?” Genji pressed. “You have not been yourself lately, I just want to make-”
“I’m fine! Jesus, get off my ass you two!” Cassidy spat back, venom in his voice. He turned off the intercom in his ears, reveling in the silence.
He stayed like that for a while, willfully choosing to ignore people he knew, deep down, only had the best intentions for him. But, damn it, how much more obvious did he have to make it that he just wasn’t in the mood to talk?
Cassidy liked to be viewed as an easy going, chill member of Overwatch. He liked that people went to him with their problems; he liked being someone they could trust, but that was not the same as him trusting others. He would rather lose his other arm than explain the thoughts going on in his head.
But as the minutes ticked by and the sun only grew hotter, Cassidy only became more and more agitated. He couldn’t shake this vague, oppressive feeling of wrongness plaguing his mind, but he wouldn’t dare dwell on the actual cause of it. Stuff it down, stuff it down, you are fine you have to be fine -
Cassidys hand twitched, instinctively reaching into his pocket for a cigar, only to come away empty handed. He had agreed with Angela a few weeks prior to not smoke on missions anymore, if not for his health, than for the safety of not getting compromised by the lingering smell of tobacco and burnt paper.
He’s kicking his past self for that agreement. Screw avoiding lung cancer, he needed to get his mind off of things.
He closed his eyes, trying some bullshit breathing technique Zenyatta tried teaching him and Genji a while back. It never worked with him, and that in turn would just make his anger towards himself worse (so, you know, the exact opposite effect).
But still, he tried his best to take deep breaths, imagining the farm he lived on a lifetime ago as he filled his lungs with air rather than smoke. But each time the breath left him, he was only reminded of the gunshots; both far and near. The screeching of Omnics and humans alike, the deceased form of his…More blood. More gunshots.
And the sun. the blazing hot sun.
After his third attempt of trying to calm his screaming mind, he heard a gunshot go off, a real gunshot; ducking behind the payload just in time to narrowly avoid an early grave.
Peeking from the side of the car, Cassidy was greeted by the sight of seven, eight…nine Talon soldiers, all of their guns trained on him.
‘Looks like this won’t be an easy mission after all.’ he laughed bitterly to himself. With practiced ease, he unholstered Peacekeeper, quickly getting up as he fired a shot straight into the chest of one of the soldiers, sending them hurtling towards the ground.
A wave of bullets flew at him. He crouched, but a bullet still grazed the side of his forehead. With blood trickling down his cheek, he shot another soldier down; their face frozen in malice as they crumpled under their weight.
Another down. 7 left. Eyes and gun trained on a soldier attempting to reach the cargo, he failed to notice one sneaking behind him. The soldier (a girl, much shorter than he, but just as strong) kicked him from behind the knee, pinning him to the ground as she dislodged Peacekeeper from his grip.
Cole struggled against her, managing to disarm her as well; but still she held on. She raised a fist, aiming for Cassidys head, but he turned in time to avoid the blow. Turning his head, in such a way, incidentally turning his comm back on in the process.
“-le!” the piece crackled to life. “Are you alright?! Please report back, Cole!” Genji screamed into the intercom.
“I’ve got it-” Cassidy grunted in response, managing to kick the soldier in the sternum before he ran towards Peacekeeper, slamming the butt of it into her skull. She collapsed, limp. Another soldier ran to him, but before Cassidy could shoot them down as well, they fired first; the bullet landing in his right shoulder. He hissed in pain, which only worsened Genji's frantic calls.
“What has happened?! Do we need to intervene?!”
“I’ll letcha know when I finish ‘em off.” he panted, clutching the wound as he returned the soldiers favor, gunning them down.
“Cassidy, let us help-” Hana started, but Cassidy didn’t let her finish. He switched the earpiece off again. He didn’t have time for this.
With 5 soldiers left, 2 bullets in his gun, and a move he has yet to use on the enemy, Cassidy assumes a position where he can plainly see the soldiers. They are all crowded around the cargo, all far too focused on untying it from the carrier to notice the red glint of the gunslingers eye as he droned on, quiet and dark
“It’s high noon.”
The sun felt scalding on his skin as his ability rushed forth, leaving him feeling like he was trapped in an oven. Waiting for just the right moment, he fired the gun with more bullets than it had loaded (how that worked, Cassidy didn’t know, or cared. It’s saved his ass too many times for him to worry about logistics).
All 5 soldiers collapsed within the second, each with perfect bullet holes between their eyes. Cassidy, blowing off the smoke from the barrel, holstered Peacekeeper once more, calmly walking back to the cargo again. Intentionally, this time, he flipped his comm back on.
“Problems’ been dealt with.” He mumbled, the start of a nasty headache forming.
“Alright,” Angela spoke up. “We will be over in just a minute. Are you hurt at all? Genji said he heard you get shot?”
“‘S about right. Bullet grazed m’ head, ‘n got shot in the shoulder too. But I’ll be alright, ‘cause I got the best doctor Overwatch has to offer on my side.” He joked.
Angela laughed. “You put too much faith in me, Cassidy. You need to be more careful next time.”
“Yeah!” Hana spoke up. “You’re stupid for dealing with that on your own!”
“I don’t need fighting advice from someone who spends valuable trainin’ time playing video games.” Cassidy argued back.
“Children.” Angela responded, sternly.
“Sorry, ma’am.” Cassidy whistled.
Still jesting with his friends, Cassidy continued to walk the cargo forward. After the day he’s had, he couldn’t wait to get back on the Orca (back to his cigars) and spend the rest of his night in solitude.
Enjoying his promise to a quiet evening after a successful mission, Cassidys train of thought was cut short by the sound of grunting; scrapping boots against gravel. Turning around in horror, he saw the soldier that pinned him down earlier rising to her feet, one hand on her head, the other holding her gun. With a terrifying realization, Cassidy realized she wasn’t pointing the gun at him . She was aiming for the cargo.
With a reaction time far quicker than it took Cassidy to grab for one of his grenades, she pulled the trigger, a round of bullets hitting the carrier.
Instantaneously, three things occurred.
- Cassidy's hearing cut out from both the rapidfire rounds of ammunition, and:
- An explosion occurred, tearing apart whatever it was he was transporting (seriously, how did he not know?) in a plume of ash and smoke, and finally:
- The explosion sent him hurtling from the force, falling flat on his back and knocking all the wind out of him.
For a few, dreadfully slow moments, Cassidy could not breathe, nor see, nor hear. He could feel the ground still settling from the aftermath of the explosion; could faintly smell gunpowder and taste metallic blood. He let out a pitiful groan, full of pain, as he forced his eyes open.
The agent collapsed on the floor once again, her dead, cold gaze boring guilt into Cassidys soul. The cargo was completely destroyed, not a single piece was left. He coughed, using all of his strength to turn his body as he spat blood into the gravel, grimacing. A fresh wave of pain, all consuming, wracked his body. He cried out in agony, shivering despite the still brightly-burning sun.
Waiting for the spell to cool, he stared at what used to be the carrier, more guilt amounting onto him as he surveyed the damage. One job. He had one fucking job and he ruined it. He knew, realistically, no one on the team would care by the end of the day. They’d have him back in the medbay, his shoulder all patched up and his arm attached to far more machines than necessary. Angela would put a steady hand on him as she poked and prodded, making sure that, physically, he was alright. For mental wounds, she had but one phrase.
“It’s alright Cassidy. It is always darkest before the dawn.”
Cassidy laughed bitterly at his ruined state, which only caused him to cough up more blood into the ground below him. Maybe he wouldn’t hear those words again. Maybe he was dying. He sure as hell felt like it. He still couldn’t even move more than an inch without his body protesting from all angles.
“Cass!” A voice called out through the ringing in his ears. “¡Corre rapido, chiquillo! Get out of here!”
Strange, that voice was oddly like…
Cassidy was overcome by another wave of pain. He writhed uncomfortably, feeling every pulse in his shoulder as it leaked more and more blood. He felt his eyes close. He tried to will himself awake, knowing that the others would certainly be arriving any moment now. But it was just so damn hot , and he was so damn tired…
His last memory before passing out was a vague feeling of warmth; the kind you’d feel when getting an embrace by a loved one. Huh. If this was what death was, then he’d gladly accept it.
—
“Cole, are you able to hear us?” Genji pressed, but gave up with a sigh. “He turned us off again.”
“That bastard!” Hana cursed out from inside her mech. “He’s going to get himself killed! I’m not waiting for him, c’mon you two.”
With Hana pulling up Cassidy's last known coordinates, they all began to follow her, each in an uncomfortable, pressing silence. As they approached closer to their destination, that was when they heard it: the distinct call of Cassidy summoning up Deadeye.
They could hear distant gunfire. Loud, ricocheting cracks that left even the trained Overwatch members wincing and restraining from covering their ears. For a few, terrifyingly still moments, there was no noise coming from the distant fight. Then, they heard Cassidy's voice, out of breath, slurring a bit, but alive nonetheless.
“Problems’ been dealt with.”
They spoke with the gunslinger, Hana getting a kick out of Angela's face dropping when Cassidy reported his injuries. They picked up their pace after that, wanting to get the cargo (but more importantly, their friend) back to the Orca as quickly as possible.
And, of course, when everything seemed alright, the team was proven wrong when they heard a loud explosion in the distance, right where Cassidy should be.
“Cassidy, report back, are you alright?!” Angela called into her comm frantically. When met with no response, she asked the question again, firmer, but once more there was no reply.
Panicking when he saw the rising smoke up ahead, Genji sprinted at full speed down to where the fight had just occurred, scanning like a wild man trying to find his friend.
“Cole?! Where are you?!” He cried out.
Hana and Angela caught up with him shortly after, each scanning their own little section of the area, but they could not find or hear anything. Hana had to press a hand to her mouth at the sight of all the dead soldiers. No matter how long she had been on the team, she would never get used to how the dead stared back.
“Guys!” Angela whispered-yelled towards Hana and Genjis direction. The two looked up, only to be greeted by the sight of the red-headed, hack doctor of Talon.
Absorbed in her own world, Moira did not seem to notice (or hear, for that matter) the Overwatch heroes looking her down. She held something in her hand, Hana suppressing a gasp when she realized she recognized the red garment as Cassidys serape.
Either due to the desire to save his friend, a death wish, or maybe both, Genji called out to her.
“Unhand him O’Deorain!” he screamed, sending a brigade of shurikens her way. Moira quickly dropped the garment, locking eyes with what they could only assume was Cassidy before she disappeared in a purple haze; the shurikens all landing uselessly into the gravel behind her.
With her gone, Angela wasted no time running her way over to where Cassidy should have been, but when she arrived at the ruins of the carrier, she gasped, recoiling slightly as the sound of broken sobs filled the air.
Sitting in a pool of blood was a child, no older than six. He was thin, with tan skin and his face scraped up and bleeding. He cried out, from either pain or terror, Angela was unsure.
But, one thing she knew for certain. Maybe it was how he held himself. Maybe it was the faint red glow still leftover in his eye. Maybe it was how he still held onto that damn hat as if it was the most important object in his life.
Whatever the reason, Angela knew one thing for sure. She was staring into the eyes of a young Cassidy.