Chapter Text
At Gabriel's glare, Jesse reluctantly ground his cigar underneath his boot. He leaned back against the rumbling wall of the transport, watching as his commander turned back to Genji and their hushed conversation resumed.
Jesse had thought Genji to be some sort of custom-built omnic when they first met some three-odd days ago, but he'd quickly been disabused of that notion during his introduction. He winced. Definitely not the best of first impressions.
He tugged his hat lower and closed his eyes. It wasn't that he was tired, but there wasn't much else of interest other than the pair off in the corners, and he didn't feel like bothering the driver, either. Mills was scary if you got on her bad side.
The mission was fairly simple: one of the Shimada-gumi's lieutenants would be overseeing the reception of a large arms shipment. The plan was to take him out. Genji would be the one spearheading the operation - the Strike Commander had apparently put him in charge of everything regarding the yakuza clan - and the only reason Jesse was there was that Blackwatch had free agents, and Overwatch did not.
As for Gabriel - the official reason for the Blackwatch commander's presence was to promote "cross-division cooperation", but Jesse couldn't help but remember how furious Gabriel had been after the last operation Overwatch had borrowed him for. He reckoned the same held for Morrison, judging by how loud the yelling had gotten after Gabe stormed into the Strike Commander's office.
If nothing else, this op would be a nice change from jungle dirt and sweltering heat.
Their transport's door swung up and open after it came to a stop, revealing Nagoya Port. Jesse got up and followed Gabriel and Genji out onto the hard concrete, pausing a second to appreciate the cool sea breeze.
It was nearly dusk. He could see ships flowing in and out of port, glimmering, but there was only silence here.
Waves lapped at the dock as Gabriel and Jesse followed Genji towards a a long, squat, featureless warehouse ahead of them. Its concrete walls seemed to pack any sort of foothold, but Genji scaled them nimbly nonetheless.
As he slipped out of sight, presumably to check out the area, Gabriel leaned against one of several old, rusted shipping containers resting just parallel to the warehouse. Jesse joined him, running over the mission brief in his head. The shipment was due to arrive around nine, but the Shimada prided themselves on being early. So their target, Daisuke Himura, would arrive around eight, and be accompanied by a small security entourage.
The plan was to get in, take Himura out, and leave. A surgical strike; vicious, precise.
Soon enough, Genji returned. "There may be a slight problem."
Gabriel said, "Like what?".
"I expected two cars to be coming here - one for Dais —Himura and his personal guards, and another for additional security. There's five. Perhaps another lieutenant is coming alongside him, or …" Genji trailed off.
"Or?"
"...nothing. He'd never come, not for something so routine." Genji looked over at Gabriel. "It will be considerably more difficult to take out Himura. However, this opportunity will not come again. Should we proceed?"
"Why ask me?" Gabriel growled. "This is an Overwatch operation, and Overwatch's leader has informed me that you're the one calling the shots here. I'm just here to keep an eye on this idiot."
Jesse did his best not to meet anyone's eyes, heat rushing into his cheeks, but Genji acted like he hadn't heard, choosing instead to just look at the Blackwatch commander.
Surprisingly, Gabriel was the first to break the silence. "They're too close to get away cleanly at this point. I'd prefer to initiate on our terms, not theirs."
"So I can count on your assistance?"
"Why not."
As Genji clambered back onto the roof, Gabriel waved Jesse over to a position by the corner of the warehouse. Barely a minute later, Jesse's earpiece crackled to life.
"The target is approaching."
"Roger," Gabriel replied.
Jesse glanced around the corner of the building and saw five pairs of lights just a little ways off. He drew back and leaned his head back against cool concrete, feeling the familiar buzz of adrenaline start to fizz in his veins.
His nervous energy only mounted when he heard the soft whine of hovercars coming to a stop, but he stayed still. Right now, this was Genji's op. If it went well, the only thing he and Gabriel needed to do was provide cover for extraction. If not, they were to make their best effort to complete the mission objective.
It seemed like an eternity before yells broke the silence. Genji came over the intercom, terse and low.
"I was not successful. We should leave now."
They'd barely begun to move when something whizzed past them and plunged into the ground. Jesse turned to look - it was an arrow, but its head was glowing.
"Shit," Gabriel muttered. Jesse started sprinting, because Gabriel swearing was never a good sign.
" Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau!" a man roared, and the words sent tremors down to his bones. All of a sudden, he could feel immense heat bearing down on him before a solid hand shoved him out of the way.
When he got up, he frowned. Blue sparks crackled in the air, but other than that, everything around him seemed intact. Then he turned and saw Gabriel sprawled out on the ground.
"Boss!"
"I'm alive," came the sour reply. "My leg's fucking killing me. Hand me an emitter."
Jesse dug into his pouch and placed the biotic emitter down by Gabriel's leg - and nearly recoiled at the stench of burned flesh.
"Boss-"
"Save it. I'll be fine in a bit."
Which was true - though they didn't hold a candle to Dr. Ziegler's fancy stick, the emitters were perfectly capable of handling even third-degree burns.
After a moment, Gabriel said into the comms, "Genji, report."
When no reply came, he sighed. "See if he needs assistance."
Jesse nodded and headed off.
Jesse barely managed not to gape at the scene that greeted him. Genji had taken out half a dozen of the Shimada's goons singlehandedly, and was presently trying to tear another one apart. Those who currently not dead or unconscious - Jesse couldn't honestly tell which condition Genji had left them in - had their guns aimed at the sparring men, but clearly could not get a clear shot.
He ducked back into the shadows cast by one of the nearby shipping containers and drew his revolver, but didn't pick a target. If Himura was available, Jesse would target him, but the man was nowhere to be found. That left the Shimada's enforcers, but they were too spread out for Jesse to hit them all effectively with one of his stun grenades, and while he reckoned he might come out on top in a four-to-one fight, Gabriel would kill him.
As he waited for an opportunity to strike, Jesse had to wonder who exactly Genji was currently fighting with. While his uniform seemed fairly similar to the rest of the Shimada, he was still alive. If Jesse had been in his shoes, Genji probably would've sliced off every limb by now.
The man was also holding a bow. And had a quiver on his back.
Right as he came to the conclusion that this was probably the archer who'd nearly roasted him and Gabriel alive with god-knows-what, there was a snick , a twist, and Genji's sword went flying into the air.
Gabe would understand. Maybe.
Jesse threw the flashbang. Half of the Shimada's guards went down, while the other two spun to face him. Jesse aimed and squeezed the trigger. Once, twice, and they crumpled to the ground.
" Duck! "
Gabriel's voice suddenly blasted out from Jesse's earpiece, and he instinctively threw himself flat onto the ground. Something embedded itself in where his head had been right after.
Jesse got up and spat out dirt for the second time in ten minutes, just in time to see an arrow pin Genji's foot to the ground. The archer notched another arrow at Genji, but was diverted by a shout from one of the hovercars.
It was Himura, clutching his shoulder, fighting someone clearly trying to keep him in the relative safety of the car. As he shouted at the archer again, Jesse fumbled for his gun, aimed, and fired - but his shot went wide. The windshield shattered, but Himura disappeared back into the hovercar.
He would've focused on the archer next, but the man loosed an arrow at his feet - which somehow split into several streaks of light. Jesse threw himself backwards and brought up his arm, gritting his teeth as several lines of fire etched themselves over his arm.
By the time he could aim again, the archer was gone.
It was finally quiet. Jesse looked across the concrete expanse at Genji. He was silent, still; his head was bowed and his arms hung loosely at his sides, causing his sword to almost touch the ground. Even from here, Jesse could see a crack in Genji's shoulder plate, and he found himself wondering about what exactly the archer could have done caused the armor to split like that.
Absentmindedly, Jesse tried to adjust his hat, but found that it wasn't there. Before he could panic, however, Gabriel came up from behind him, and waved something in front of his face. "Hey, mocoso , don't you think you're forgetting something?"
Jesse blinked for a second, then snatched his hat back. Ignoring Gabriel's chuckle, he put it on, but stopped when he felt his fingers prodding his scalp through the thick felt. A quick examination revealed two tears, opposite from each other.
"Better your hat than your head. Hanzo Shimada rarely misses his mark."
Genji's cool tone was bizarre, considering the fury with which he'd displayed only minutes before.
"Hanzo Shimada?" Jesse repeated, then laughed. "You sure that wasn't Hawkeye?"
Genji turned towards him. His green visor was impossible to read.
Jesse grinned weakly. "You know, the comic book superhero? He uses a bow and arrow?"
Genji clearly had no intention of following along, choosing instead to head back towards the transport. The arrow was gone from his foot, and as he walked it was not with a limp, but a stutter - machinery starting and stopping.
A little deflated, Jesse looked back at Gabriel, who muttered something about not wanting to explain this to Angela and Jack. The commander was favoring his right leg, but otherwise seemed to be all right.
"What about this?" Jesse gestured at the scattered, groaning - and in some cases, dead silent - aftermath of their battle.
"The Shimada will take care of it," Genji called back. "They have no wish for either the police or the media to catch wind of this."
Guess that's settled. Jesse turned his attention back to the hat over in his hands, and wondered if this tear rendered it unwearable. He began fiddling with the holes, running his fingers along the ragged edges until Gabriel let out an exasperated breath and snatched it out of his hands. "Hey!"
"I'll fix it for you, brat - so get on the damn transport. And -" Gabriel glared, and Jesse winced. "We're going to have a little talk about picking your goddamn battles. "
With that, Gabriel limped off towards the transport. Jesse followed, but not without another glance backwards at the battle's aftermath.
What in blazing hell was that thing back there? If Gabriel hadn't shoved him out of harm's way, Jesse was pretty sure he would've ended up as a lump of charred flesh.
So that was Hanzo Shimada .