Wrapped up

Both Jack and Gabriel knew better than to argue with me when I clearly been up to something and was now fleeing form the scene. They continued their act of being upset at the food pushing their plates away angrily and got up with me. McCree had already left the place to spread out further. The two others let me leave before them to get me to safety before they would eventually follow along.

We met back up at a bar near the area. It was our emergency plan, never return to the hotel, in case you were being followed. The others didn’t know why we were running and from whom. I didn’t think we would be followed, not by anyone from the diner at least but I followed the protocol to the letter.

 

 I arrived at the bar like any other patron, I walked past Jesse like I didn’t know this man, I just brushed my hand against his back to signal him I was there and okay. I went to sit close to the TV, watching the game that was on pretending to be there to celebrate a team. The two Commanders showed up a few minutes later, and started to play darts.

We waited a few minutes, looking at everyone that entered after us, we kept an eye on one another, and the people that were around us. They tried to figure out what had happened, glancing at me, waiting until there was a free seat next to me. After the alluded time we sat together on one of the empty tables in the back, away from the chaos and away from the door.

 

I was a little out of breath, still tense from the unwanted game of hide and seek. They all looked very concerned at me while I gathered my thoughts to explain where I went and what happened. I slowly started with what my initial plan was until I ended up in the storage room with those crates that looked like they were filled with hay. “Are you out of your mind?!”, Gabriel hissed, looking around again to see if anyone turned around at his outburst. “You could have told us something”, he laid into me, lecturing on how dangerous that was, and how that could have cost us the entire operation. If the diner found out that Overwatch had an official investigation going, they would shut down everything and even destroy evidence.

 

And they weren’t wrong, it was risky and got completely out of hand. I expected to find maybe a kitchen, a freezer room and some dressing room for staff. I didn’t intent to find corridors and hallways that were not included in the building plans.

 

Jack then interrupted his business partner mid-sentence; the lecture had gone on for several minutes by then. “Either way…”, he glared at Gabe until the Latino had settled down, “You did good, got information we didn’t have. We now know for sure that this place is covering for someone.”, he spoke highly of my work, my quick thinking and how a team would take responsibility together and not throw a member under the bus.

Gabe couldn’t hear that praising anymore and rolled his eyes. Jack was already becoming a little biased towards my actions, which was cute, but dangerous. I promised them to do better from now on and let them give me instructions before I made a move. That seemed to deescalate the situation and we could finally wind down.

 

We began talking about what chaos they had caused just to get me out of there. Jack switched seats to be next to me and keep me by his side like he wanted to do all day. We started ordering drinks, loosing up with some alcohol. Drinking on business wasn’t standard practice but we haven’t even been there for a day and already worked until nightfall. We made a plan and written in down to approve it once we were sobered up again.

The next day we got the lawyers involved and laid out our case so they would grant us a search order outside of the diner’s business hours. Calls and texts all day, from judges to back to Gibraltar to confirm our mission. We couldn’t go through the local police station seeing as they could be involved in all that.

 

By midnight we finally had all the legal documents to proceed. We dressed up in our formal unforms that nobody would question us, and we entered the diner by breaking open the side door. The place seemed calm, now that nobody was here, and nobody was watching. I brought the team back to the staff room and showed them the crates.

They were too heavy to lift, so clearly there were other things than hay in there. Commander Reyes broke one open and dug through the covering straw to pull out a gun. He looked stunned as he pulled this out of the hay, inspecting it if this was real or just a prop, like the box. But no, this was indeed a real machine gun, and it wasn’t just one. We dug through more of the boxes to find even more weapons, their serial numbers shaved off professionally. These were illegal guns, smuggled in, prepared for unidentified use.

 

Commander Morrison got up “we need more permits for that”, he said stunned at the secret armoury that we discovered. We needed to confiscate all of these and lock this place down. Jack just checked his phone seeing that he had no reception as his eyes flew up to the open door after the floorboards creaked. He put his phone away, his hand moving to his blaster. Reyes joined in immediately, slowly moving towards the door to investigate that sound. Jesse kept me by his side, I had my weapon out and loaded, but I wasn’t ready yet. I couldn’t shoot, my aim was terrible, I was just here because this mission was not supposed to involve gunfire.

 

We carefully left the storage room, ready to move to the exit and go back outside. The staff room seemed empty, but before we could make sure of it a figure had grabbed both Jack and Gabe from behind, throwing them into the storage room with such force that the shelves collapsed onto them. I let out a scream as I heard the crash and abandoned my gun to rush towards the two but Jesse yanked me to the floor, shooting at the figure.

The clothed figure returned fire with multiple fast gunshots, making its way to the exit while we hid behind tables and counters. I managed to glance inside the storage room, Gabriel was completely buried under those heavy boxes and Jack was laying against wall unresponsive. I couldn’t rush over to help without getting shot at least once from the enemy.

 

As the bullets ran out, the figure had taken flight and was rushing out of the building. I crawled back onto my shaking legs ready to run to Gabriel’s side to help. “Forget us, catch them!”, he ordered us while tossing us his guns to have something heavy against their rapid-fire attacks., “And Jesse, keep her save, at all costs.”, Gabriel added while trying to pull his limbs free without success.

I didn’t hesitate, orders must be followed, as heart-breaking as they were. I grabbed one of Gabe’s shotguns and was off, rushing behind the new target of this mission. McCree could barely catch up with me as I ran like my life depended on it.

 

We reached the normal dining area and I spotted the figure sprinting outside, away from the scene into the night. I wasn’t one to give up and ran behind them McCree at my heel. “We’re not fast enough!”, he huffed out as he tried his hardest to follow the figure down the road.

 

“We don’t need to be!”, I answered already calculating distances. We passed by the cacti I went to study a few months ago as all this started. One of many perks about plants was, they could grow anywhere, in the driest desserts to rainforests and even through asphalt.

I gave it my all to get closer to them before I made my move. I made three, long running steps, leaping off the ground to reach just a little further before slamming my hands into the ground, conjuring up my powers. The asphalt under our feet cracked the ground shifting and breaking in a steady, predictable line faster than any human could run. The target had turned their head to see the ground breaking behind them and hurried to reach a parked escape vehicle. Just as they opened the door and jumped in a vine had grabbed their ankle and dug itself in their flesh with its thorns.

 

The plants around us seemed to turn to me, as if they were hypnotized by my powers and ready to be commanded as well. I stood back up and ordered the vine to return. It obeyed and started dragging the target through the broken pieces of asphalt and rocks. They, hissed and yelped as their back got torn from the rough ground. I stopped just long enough for them to try and crawl backwards before I would continue dragging this person towards us.

Shotgun in hand I greeted the clothed figure, holding the gun right at their head while more vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped around each limb. I stood tall, looking down at them with villainous hate for hurting those I loved.

 

McCree stood aside speechless mouth slightly open, his breathing still heavy from the chase. I kept my eyes focused on the target, not moving an inch, just controlling their restrains with one hand and holding the gun with the other. Jesse stepped up to the person with his hands raised to show he was not holding his weapon before he pulled down the persons cover. McCree seem to freeze up for a second before slowly standing back up. “Ashe?”, he asked carefully.

 

The figure looked at Jesse like he had just seen a ghost then started laughing through their tears. “Look what we have here, Jesse McCree in the flesh.”, she sounded condescending, “I knew you’d show your face around here sometime”. They seem to know each other to some extent, even if their relationship did not seem like a good one in that moment.

I kept my face neutral, stern, just like the Commanders would, ready to react and shoot. I had never successfully shot a shotgun before; I was still in training after all. Last time I tried the knockback from one of these send me flying back and threw the gun out of my hands, but she didn’t need to know that.

 

McCree was still quiet, studying the face of the man under my foot. “You’ve changed. What happened to you.”, he whispered quietly maintaining distant from the target.

 

I looked between them, trying to figure out what was happening in front of my own eyes. “McCree, who is that lady, and why would she try to kill us?”, I pressed for answers. If he knew something, he better speak up before it would be too late.

 

Jesse stood silent, still in shock but our target, was very happy to fill me in. “Someone needed to step up and do the dirty work after he bailed on us. “, she spat out while he was still strapped to the ground by my powers that were fuelled with rage and revenge. Bailed? Does that mean… they worked together? How long had this been going on? And does it still impact his work at Overwatch. It must not have been a coincidence that his old friend attacked us right after we began our investigation.

What if Jesse knew all along, relaying information to the enemy that we are trying to defeat. I didn’t know what to believe, and without the guidance of the Commanders it was up to me to protect the mission. My hand slowly went to my own gun, unclasping it from its hold before I had it point right at McCree’s head.

 

Even his former colleague was stunned that I would pull a gun on him. McCree stood frozen, looking down the barrel of my gun. I wanted to be on the save side, Jack was out cold and Gabe was still stuck in the storage. My mission was to capture the target, which I did, but now that I felt outnumbered, I had to take more drastic measures. “Nobody move or both of you are dead. Jesse, explain! Tell me you’re not working with them. Tell me you’re not a spy.”, I demanded with the sad kind of anger in my voice.

 

McCree took off his hat and placed it slowly aside, not wanting to get his precious signature look dirty in this mess. He stepped up closer, his hand grabbing the end of my weapon pointing it at, his chest, like he wanted me to shoot. “I promise you, I had nothin’ to do with this. I have left the Gang, for good, years ago.”, he was surprisingly calm in that moment, his actions showing trust no words could convey.

 

I looked at him, my eyes still dark and focused. It would be easy to eliminate him right this second, allow me to be on the save side and have one less threat at my hands but I couldn’t do it. The grip on my weapon faltered and I slowly let it sink to the ground. The woman let out a scoff, almost disappointed I didn’t shoot. “You left us to rot, I spend hard time because of you.”, Ashe shouted trying to get herself freed but I kept her on the ground.

 

Jesse tried to keep my attention of him, taking away my gun and leaning down to my eyelevel. “I left, I joined Overwatch to escape this crazy cult. I’m on your side now, I would never betray my team like that. I would never betray you like that.”, his voice went soft, trying to calm me down. I was new to all of this; it was my first mission and nearly everything went south so far. He saw all of it, how scared I was, how unsure I was without Jack and Gabriel protecting me. He acted as if he knew how all of this felt like, he said and did all the right things to get me to breathe again.

 

 That’s when I let my guard down, which was a big mistake. I lowered the borrowed shotgun and wanted to pull McCree into a hug to apologize. Before I could even touch him, I heard a shot being fired and I landed on the ground, Jesse had pushed me out of the way and had thrown himself behind cover, holding his arm, blood running down his elbow.

The target started laughing as more and more Deadlock members appeared from the darkness. We had been surrounded, maybe that was their plan all along, trap their traitor and make him pay. I had to get to McCree, he was injured, bleeding. I couldn’t let him get another prosthetic on the other arm.

 

I took Gabriel’s gun, loaded and ready before I jumped out and started blasting shotgun shells while running to McCree. With a steal grip and a tense body, I could withstand most of the knockback even if each shot made me stumble, I never stopped moving. The enemy took cover and allowed me to dive behind the rock formation that Jesse was sitting against. I put the gun aside, hearing the man gasp and grunt in pain. I knelt next to him and grabbed his wrist, tugging at his arm so he would reveal where he got shot. He looked away as he let go of his arm, blood running down, soaking his clothes.

 

This should have been nothing new to me, but for the first time, I had to see someone I knew, someone I still trusted and cared for in so much pain. All the patients I saw at the hospital were exactly that, patients. I kept his arm steady while I let one of my vines sprout roses. I plucked one and held it in my blood-soaked hands, opening the petals wide and letting them glow. I took one petal at first and blew it towards McCree’s arm, it landed softy against his skin, before it started to dissolve.

The wound started to heal, and I continued to place petals against his arm, allowing the wound to heal faster. The bleeding at stopped, and the tissue started to regenerate, the once open wound was turned into nothing but a small red scar from where the skin was still irritated by the heat of the bullet

 

My breath was shaking, my hands trembling as I made sure it had worked. I looked at McCree, who had decided to watch my work as he felt the pain go numb. I felt my chest growing tighter and my breath getting shorter as my focus began to shift again. Fear was setting in, we were surrounded, I only had my standard issues gun I could barely use, and I nearly had to fight this fight alone.

Jesse was still flabbergasted by what he just saw, first the vines and then this. He didn’t move his arm for a solid minute before he began to trust his own body again. There had been so much blood, turned into… nothing. But there was no time for questions and overthinking.

 

His instructions were clear “Protect her, at all costs”, and he was a loyal soldier by heart that followed orders. He grabbed his gun again, and wrapped me into his poncho, keeping me close to his side. “When I tell you to run, you run, go hide somewhere.”, he whispered low waiting for me to agree and be ready. The gunslinger assessed the situation, it was a stake out, everyone was aiming at us, ready to shoot at the slightest move. Jesse started firing at them, giving me the signal to run, I sprinted back to my original hiding post, right between the diner and McCree’s rock formation. I could run inside, and risk being shot by one of the snipers, or I could stand my ground, reload, and raise hell.

 

That sounded like a much better plan. I reloaded Gabriel’s gun, seeing as my small pistol won’t do us any good. While Jesse and the Gang where waiting for the other one to make a move, I snuck around my hiding space and towards the group that had barricaded themselves behind their cars. McCree must have seen me because his fingers started to twitch more, ready to draw. I stood a good distance away, pressed against the canyon walls to avoid the snipers red dots.

 

Then all hell broke loose. I fired a shot at a group of them, I didn’t even know if it hit anything. They retorted and started firing, Jesse drew his revolver and his flashbang and went all out against the snipers. “It’s high noon somewhere in the world”, he said and perfectly shot 6 targets at once. Gabe said he was one of their best, his Deadeye shots were more accurate than any sniper could be and faster than any other gunslinger.

 

 I was hiding in a small tunnel that connected the sidewalks through a stone pillar. I observed both entrances and shot anyone that moved past. I saw that our target had been freed and was being carried away by her Gang members, and I could not let that happen. My goal was it to secure the target without causing more harm. I slapped my hand on the ground and drew a bloody line into the rocky floor. I lifted my hand back up and draw the same line in the air, aimed towards the running men. Vines started to grow in front of them, higher than any buildings wall, thick enough that nothing could pass through. They tried to turn back but the vines grew around them faster than they could think. I soon had them captured in a cage of deadly roses, no way to escape, no bullets or fire could get them out. The vines would regrow faster than they could destroy them.

Ashe’s feet had been pierced by my thorns making her unable to walk. I grabbed the gang leader by her arm and dragged her out of the cage, leaving her mates to be dealt with afterwards. I restrained her with the standard issue cuffs that were included in my equipment. She had to watch as I eventually, and with some of McCree’s help, arrested her entire group. I tried not to deploy any lethal shots, anything else I could heal, but I could not heal death.

 

 An eery silence filled the night as most members had been incapacitated or even tied up and gagged to keep quiet. Our main target was still alive even if she was in pain. I made my way back to where it all started, right around the corner form the diner.

 

What I saw as I got back to the main battlefield was a mess, bodies scattered on the ground, people rolling in pain, some crying out to family. I couldn’t believe what I had done, what I had caused. It was meant to happen someday, that I saw the horrors of war. I was a soldier, this was what I had trained for, life or death, quick thinking and decision making, surviving when others didn’t. That still did not take away the pain I felt for those who were crying, to those that were non responsive.

 

I was a solider, but I was a medic first. Instincts kicked in and the battlefield became an ER to me. I sat the target aside, where McCree was able to see her. We made eye contact as I tossed my gun towards him, I would not carry my weapon while trying to save people’s lives. I backed up towards the critically injured. I knelt next to them and began my work; I felt a pulse and began to resuscitate them.

I sprouted roses all around, giving clear instructions to those who could help to take the petals and bring them to those who could not help themselves. “It’s over, you are all going to prison for what you had pulled here, but prison is better than a death sentence. Those who want to save their families, their friends, or their co members can step up, no questions asked, no consequences given.”, I tried to motivate some of the Deadlock members to show that they still had some good in their heart.

 

Some began to fight their restrains, begging to be freed to save loved ones, family, best friends. McCree was stunned about how many spoke up ready to run and help. I looked over at Jesse, giving him this pleading look, pleading that he should allow it. After what he saw that day, he agreed to trust me and those who were willing were freed if they stayed put and actually helped.

Soon we had a small army of people who ran between roses and people, placing petals, comforting and caring for those who they cherished. People started moving again, gasping for air as they awoke from their incapacitated state. People cheered and cried happy tears seeing how many survived. Not everyone helped, some wanted to rather see their mates die than show kindness but that was just a small percentage.

 

During all this, not one member came to help Ashe, her ankles were bleeding and muscles were torn, yet nobody came to hand her a rose and help her up. It was a brutal reality check that her tyranny had ended, and that her people had formed stronger bonds that overrode their loyalty to their cause. I saw McCree heading over and I cleaned my hands on my clothes to come with him confronting the gang leader.

While Jesse kept his now smug, confident superior image I knelt down to her and heal her. If the enemy was nicer to you than your own team, you had failed as a leader. “You’re goin’ away for a long time now Ashe.”, McCree started, “but I can put in a good word for ya’”, he started negotiating.

 

Ashe seemed uninterested at first, she knew her fate, and if she got five years less on a life sentence that wouldn’t make much of a difference. However, after she looked around once more, seeing how her entire team had survived, only because I allowed it to happen, she began to change her mind. “What do you want.”, he said absentmindedly, rather watching her team huddle together, uncuffed, but not leaving.

 

“Information, all of it. Who, When, Where and Why.”, Jesse took out his phone and started to record her statement. We needed every piece of evidence we could get if we were to uncover what had happened.

 

She began speaking slowly at first, explaining how the Deadlock Gang had gotten themselves in a bit of a situation and needed to accept help from Talon to survive. They wanted payment on form of a favour. The diner was linked to Talons latest plan, a storage for convince, for stock and supply. “But after that train wreck this area was under constant surveillance. They needed supplies, urgently, they told us to break in and take as much as we can. Then destroy everything else to hide their tracks.”, she continued to explain.

By the end of it we had a full sworn statement with several witnesses. That was enough for now, we still had a whole lot to do and she would repeat her full statement several times in the following months.

 

Jesse said he will handle things out here, I should go back and check on our trapped Commanders. Our mission was successful I could bring the good news to them. I immediately ran back inside, taking sharp corners and sprinting along the hallways. I slammed the door open to the staffroom loudly calling out to them “Gabe! Jack! Still alive in here”, I crossed the room to reach the storage area. Gabriel was still stuck under those heavy boxes; Jack had woken up but was in a daze from hitting his head.

 

 I could see Gabe nearly had a heart attack seeing me covered in blood, skin pale and breathing heavy. “We need to get you a medic”, his voice started to tremble and he tried all over again to pull himself free in slight panic believing I might be bleeding.

 

 I got to his side and took his hand, softly shushing him and stopping him from making his situation any worse. “It’s not mine. I’m okay.” I repeated on a loop while he began to check for injuries. The moment he was convinced he just laid back down not straining himself further, thanking God in Spanish that he brought me back safely. I brushed my fingers through his hair as I put something soft under his head so he would be a little more comfortable for the time being. He always was so careful with me, like I was some delicate flower. I could take a hit or two, and I could fix myself up If I needed to.

 

Jack was none responsive so I went to check on him too, he was mumbling things, went in and out of consciousness. I took the almost empty rose I kept from McCree’s incident and plucked the last remaining petal off to ease any discomfort the Commander had. The empty rose bud withered away in my hand, turning to dust. My palms were still raw and red from fighting and slamming against the hard ground. bHe seemed to relax, fell asleep before he returned back to us a moment later.

 

He as rubbed his head, looking at my bloodied self and his Co-Commander trapped. He began to remember what happened before he blacked out, and wanted to jump back into his feet. I stopped him and rather let him lean against me to get up “Take it easy. The mission was a success, there is no more danger.”, I assured him and helped him slowly back onto his feet, making sure he was steady on his feet before I let him take some steps by himself.

 

After Commander Morrison had gathered himself again, he began moving things around, broken shelves, other trash that fell as they got attacked. Together we managed to lift the boxes up enough for Gabriel to slip out from his trap. He had several bleeding scrapes from the wood his pant leg torn from ripping it open while he crawled out.