almightythirst | Open Post

The data paints a dire picture, though not one they hadn’t already known about in a general sense before. But this level of detail is a game-changer. The only question now is what they do with it.

Jesse participates in the deliberations even knowing that he can’t, in good faith, take part in any of these operations moving forward. Not with Overwatch. This bond between him and Hanzo allows him to be detected far too easily, and there’s no way of knowing where his sire might be before he touches the ground somewhere. And they can’t prove that the man is of sound mind and unwilling to betray them. He shares the fact that Hanzo can sense him without adding details or the cause, refusing to budge when questioned further. Whatever else is there is his and Hanzo’s business, he argues, irrelevant to the mission at large.

He meets Genji’s gaze several times over the course of the night and knows he’s not the only one thinking about the elder Shimada. He’d taken the news better than expected, but still, Jesse had seen all the same pain and confusion on Genji’s countenance as he’d felt face-to-face with Hanzo on the rooftop. Not the anger though. It seems like he’s gained back his equilibrium tonight, while Jesse still feels completely off-balance. Makes him almost tempted to give that meditation thing a shot.

The meeting breaks well before the end of the night, given how most of the group is of the diurnal persuasion. Jesse spends a little extra time poring over the data from the chip before he slips out of the base for some fresh air. It’s not until he’s perched on a cliff face some distance away that he closes his eyes and, with that sense he still barely understands, tries to reach out. No direction. No way of knowing if he’s even doing it right, or if they’re too far apart for it to matter.

Just tell me you're alright.

But there is no answering call, no response. Just the wind, and that faint tug somewhere out there that knows Hanzo is still alive. Just as Hanzo feels for himself, when he chooses to focus on it.

It doesn't do to dwell. He can't appear distracted, not when he is already being chided for letting his fledgling escape. Next time, there will be dire repercussions. So on and so forth, as he maintains as neutral an expression as possible, until at last he is dismissed.

Somewhere in the course of checking his weapons, he feels...something. A pull that draws his attention elsewhere in the world, and for a moment he stills. He hadn't expected seeing Jesse again to dig quite so deeply, and how he wishes things could be different. How strange that he longs for those long open roads, just them and the night and the rolling countryside, and an easy companionship he'd never known in his entire lifetime. Undead or otherwise.

But you don't live a bad life and expect good things to happen to you. He is still a long way from deserving that sort of peace, and Jesse deserves more. He'll realize that, eventually.

Turning on that feeling pulling him elsewhere, he focuses on his bow once more.

Even when it doesn’t yield immediate results, Jesse waits. He focuses on the fact that, when he concentrates, there’s something on the other end of the line. It’ll have to be enough. When he does go back to the base, it’s with sunrise nipping at his heels.

They make it clear from the start that Hanzo is not the team’s priority. Jesse makes a case for finding him even knowing that, logically, they’ve made a decision that makes the most sense. They can’t sacrifice the intel they’ve gained for one man, who may or may not want to be rescued. If found, they agree—some more willingly than others—they will do what they can to help the elder Shimada. But that’s all they can promise.

They put their feelers out and learn as much as they can about the leads provided, then create a game plan focusing on the bases. A coordinated strike on several at once. Even as he helps them put it together, Jesse knows he’s too much of a liability to take part. He tries not to think too much about how this will extend past just one mission, and that he’s effectively unable to do anything out on the ground where Talon is concerned from here on out. All that anger and righteous fire, now with nowhere productive to go.

Still, he takes care to memorize the info about the lab and manufacturing plant.

Jesse feels even antsier in the days that follow, the base a bustle of energy as everyone prepares. He starts to wonder if the nightmares are partly to blame. They wake him every evening now like clockwork. Or maybe it’s the new knowledge of how deep his and Hanzo’s bond actually goes. What other secrets does he not know about that, or about this hidden world Hanzo has inhabited so much longer than him? If Hanzo had been a long-term goal of Talon’s, and he’s in their grasp now… what’s next in their sights?

He busies himself looking into the lab and the geneticist. Chances seem slim Hanzo would end up all the way out there. And even if he has… it’s not like anyone else on the team will be in danger along with him. The day they set out for the raid, Jesse takes off for Oasis. He leaves behind anything that could tie him to Overwatch or be used to trace him, including his phone and laptop.

Oasis seems a world unto itself. A marriage of arts, architecture, and science, it flourishes as a jewel in the desert. One of the most advanced cities in the world.

Jesse is a long way from the country roads of America.

Everything exists on holographic displays, or is automated in some way. Walkways glide seamlessly along sidewalks, and most of the people here appear to be some contributing factor to the city. Scientists, doctors, and even the children that can be seen in prim uniforms from time to time are clearly here to learn from one of the state of the art schools.

But there is also an air of peace, here. There is security, without the overt presence of it. No one things twice about passing through alleys, there's no trash littering street corners. It seems almost too good to be true.

Oasis is the sort of place Jesse wouldn’t have liked even when he was human. It’s all too regimented. The lack of garbage and crime only makes him feel even more ill at ease as he assesses the city from carefully chosen vantage points on the rooftops. He’s not optimistic enough to think it’s this pristine and safe just out of the goodness of the residents’ hearts. There’s a reason people here stay in line.

So he keeps all of his senses, natural and preternatural both, on high alert as he makes his way to the research facility. There’s no way he could blend in with this crowd, so he doesn’t try, staying out of sight the entire way.

He has two goals: to gather as much information on the inner workings of this place as he can, and to find the resident geneticist. See what she’s up to. Maybe even pay her a personal call depending on how this all goes. But the reports hadn’t mentioned if she was human or otherwise, so there’s that.

Breaking in is tricky, but Jesse hasn’t found a building he couldn't sneak his way into yet. (And that last one doesn’t count, he’d have been totally undetected if Hanzo hadn’t cheated. He’ll stick by that.)

It's quiet enough, this time of night, but the lights aren't off. Some scientists remain working well into the dark hours of the night on one project or another. That means fewer shadows to lurk in as Jesse makes his way along those corridors, with the higher security projects located deeper into the facility.

Basement levels. Cut off from the rest of the building. Accessible only by elevator, with pass codes and IDs required to go any further.

He has a number of options for how to proceed. He can wait for the elevator to come up, as it surely must, and convince whoever arrives in it to take him down below. He can try to brute force his way past the machinery, though that will almost certainly raise the alarms. Or perhaps there is another option entirely.

But it does look as though the elevator numbers are rising, as he decides.

Augh, workaholics, out here making his job that much harder. Though maybe he should be thankful, seeing as he has little other choice but to use one of them to get downstairs. None of the documents Hanzo had sent mentioned passcodes. Knowing this place, he wouldn’t be surprised if each person had their own unique number to make infiltration that much harder.

Waiting game it is. He checks his on-hand supplies, triple-checks his ammo count, then settles in to wait. All the while, one hopeful-yet-paranoid part of him listens for even the faintest whisper of a connection to something-- or someone-- within the building.

No such feeling emerges. Perhaps Hanzo had done his best to put distance between himself and his fledgling, for just such a reason.

But there is someone approaching. A vampire, quite like them, and as the door opens the figure of a woman emerges from the elevator. She has a Vishkar uniform about her, though the dress is perhaps slit a little higher than is standard for such things. Black and red, with a strangely pale look to her despite a tanned skin tone.

She pauses just outside the elevator, her red eyes cast about behind the red tint of a visor over her eyes. Searching. Something is amiss here, she's sure of it.

It’s for the best he isn’t here. If Jesse were to come up against Hanzo again, he’s not sure he could make himself walk away a second time.

Thankfully, someone comes up on the elevator before his patience can wear too thin. He assesses her quickly—a vampire, no telling how old or strong. Sharp though, if she’s sensed him already. He slips out from the meager shadows beside the elevator and presses the barrel of his gun to the back of her head.

“Stay quiet now. No sudden movements either. Hands out where I can see ‘em.”

He’d taken out the closest camera just before this subtly enough that they might buy a technical malfunction, but he doesn’t want to test those odds. This has to happen fast, and it has to happen now.

She doesn't tense. Instead her eyes cut sideways towards where he stands, with an almost stern expression.

"You are late."

In a moment she's drawn away, turned to face him with an imperious look that wouldn't have looked out of place on Hanzo, come to think of it. She regards in him a brief once over before making a humming noise, and gesturing for him to follow with a mechanical hand.

"Come. Before anyone else discovers you are here."

Jesse doesn't put the gun down. Neither does he shoot like he really should have when she moved. This is so completely off-script that, frankly, he's wondering if he missed something. Judging by the look on her face, he just might have. He hadn't thought anyone could look down their nose as well as Hanzo... but she's giving him a run for his money.

"Don't recall having an appointment."

"Shall we proceed, or not?"

She regards him steadily with those unnatural eyes. There is something else within him, not necessarily of the blood. Something she does not trust. But there is little choice. He is what they have to work with.

"We have little time before you are discovered. And I would rather this be taken care of without delay."

A swipe of her card, and the elevator opens once more.

Jesse watches the stranger warily for a moment more, eyes darting from her to the elevator. Nothing in there he can see. No traps or chance of ambush. Still, he keeps Peacekeeper trained on her as he steps toward the elevator.

“Any chance you’re going to explain this before we get to the basement, or nah?”

"That would depend. How much of your association would you care for me to say out loud in this very well-monitored facility?"

She lifts an eyebrow at him, then the gun, before letting out a small sigh. As if he's chewing with his mouth open at the table and she's choosing to hold her tongue for the moment. Get in, McCree. Before she changes her mind.

"You are here, as many are in Oasis, to learn. I can take you where you need to go, to find the information you seek. Do you really require more than that? Surely you can simply start shooting if things do not go to your liking."

She knows a lot more than a random scientist or researcher should, even after Jesse had taken great pains to go unnoticed. He can’t help but be intrigued, even knowing the danger. He follows her into the elevator nonetheless.

“Fine. But shooting things is still the plan if someone makes a wrong move. Brought plenty of ammo.”

And he’s not about to be shy about that either. He’s been inoculated against a lifetime’s worth of haughty stares by now.

"Not gonna tell me a thing in the meantime, are you?"

She eyes him for a moment. Then she reaches up to her visor, taps it gently, and a light goes dim. Slowly, the elevator begins to descend, a blue light washing over both of them as the numbers tick down.

"You may call me Symmetra. For the time being. And what you need to know is that we share a common goal." Her gaze cuts sideways towards him. "Difficult as that may be to accept, for a former hunter."

So she knows who he is. That's troubling for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which being that he'd been spotted sneaking into a building again. Is he going to have to redo his basic training or something?

"Nothin' former about it," he replies gruffly, ignoring for a moment the fact that he hasn't been on a proper hunt in ages.

"But sure. I'll bite, Symmetra. And you're just going to let me leave this facility when we're done with tea and chit-chat down there."

"What they are doing with our research is monstrous. Barbaric."

Her lips thin tensely, and its clear that she's weighing a great deal in her mind before straightening, composing herself once more. "We were meant to be making the world a better place. This, there is no excuse for. The sooner this project of theirs is terminated, the better for all."

Her eyes return to the numbers, following their descent. Then, a few floors short of their goal, she extends one hand. Not a flesh and blood limb, but of the same elegant composition of many robotics within the city. Something in her palm flickers and glows brightly.

The elevator suddenly grinds to a halt, the blue lights changed for a flooded red, and the door slides open prematurely.

"They will not expect us from this direction. Come."

That stops Jesse short, and it keeps him quiet for the remaining duration of their ride. He thinks back, not for the first time, on the wolves he’d had to leave behind after that last botched mission. And the one in the church. And then the revelations in the reports Hanzo had gotten out to them… it’s as bad as she’s saying and more. He’d just never thought he’d hear anyone from the inside say it.

When they exit the elevator, he makes the decision to take his aim off of her. He hopes it’s not a mistake. Especially with that cybernetic hand of hers. He’s more wary of the tech than he is of her vampiric abilities.

“Knowin’ our end goal here would really help me help you.”

"It is not a thing simply or easily explained."

Taking the lead, she steps out into the hall. This one is silent. No movement, no lights save a few ambient glowing points from various hall decorations lazily turning in place. Her heels click softly as she progresses, leading him onward.

"...when we were assigned here to this project, I thought it would mean a life of stability and control, for those who lacked it. I was mistaken. Now I wish to correct that mistake." She glances back at him. "And there are others who wish the same. Some you may be familiar with, I believe."

It takes effort not to ask her outright if Hanzo is one of the people she’s talking about. It would do him good to know the man has kept his moral compass and his own mind, but he won’t risk blowing his cover in front of someone he can’t trust. Even if she seems genuine enough. He won’t risk that. So he keeps his expression schooled to indifference, even as his heart feels just a bit lighter.

“Talon seems to be good at that. They make all sorts of promises, but forget to mention all the dirty work that goes with it.”

"Everything comes with a price."

But this is a step too far, even for her.

At long last they appear at a doorway that requires another slip of a keycard. "The labs you seek are below. There is a small shaft meant for delivering samples, but it should be large enough to fit through, for someone of your composition." She gives him another coolly surveying look.

"I will lock the elevator down. They will not be able to reach you, but you will have to navigate your way out on your own. From what I have heard, you are more than equal to the task."

Jesse nods, giving the room beyond the door a cursory glance before looking back at Symmetra. She’s very clearly not human, and he wonders if her appearance is by design or a result of some aspect of vampirism he doesn’t know about yet. Had this happened little over a year ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated to put a bullet in her just for those red eyes.

Best not to think about how many other good people he might have killed, in the name of hunting ‘evil.’

“Thanks for this. I’ll make it count. We’re going to shut ‘em down, and we’re going to help all the people we can doing it.”

People. Monsters. What is even the difference anymore?

“Once this mess is over with and you’re out of here… look us up.” He figures he doesn’t need to elaborate on the ‘us.’ “You and… whoever else you know. Maybe whoever told you about me. Sounds like they’ve got some good sense.”

Perhaps there is little difference at all. What would Jesse qualify as? What would the beasts being manipulated count as? These things are no longer quite so clear as they once were, not even for others of their kind.

"Sense enough to know that any such response would only tighten their own leash." The look on her face is almost a pitying one. Almost. But she quickly resumes that air of cold composure.

"No. We will remain where the most good can be done. We will see this through. You should do the same."

His suspicions about who informed Symmetra are becoming stronger. It’s the pity that does it—what reason would she have to give him that look otherwise? He gives a quick, tense nod, eyes closing for just a second as he does his best to compartmentalize. He has to focus on this mission if Hanzo, this woman, and others like them can ever be free.

The only way to do any of it will be to burn it all down. He can almost feel it already, the flames of a burning Talon base flickering at his fingertips. What else could he want but that violence and revenge? He’ll do whatever it takes to get there, and he'll do it alone if he has to. Breaking in here is just the beginning.

When he opens his eyes again, he gives his head a little shake and rubs a hand quickly over his left eye. Another headache he can’t afford. If they’re going to destroy Talon and end this, they need this data. He won’t leave without it.

“I intend to. Good luck then, and remember that offer when Talon isn’t around anymore. You and whoever else you know in the same boat as you.”

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject