Archive of Our Own

“ Today marks the nineteenth attack this year by the known terrorist organisation Talon, destroying another government building and reportedly injuring 300 while an early estimate has around 100 more dead or missing. This recent series of attacks follows the decline of the vigilante group known as Overwatch, who have been lacking since one of the first attacks back at the beginning of the year .”

Hanzo stared numbly at the screen, eyes reading the subtitles as they flicked by. It had been two months since he had gone AWOL from Overwatch, six months since he had begun his hunt for Akande, nine months since Talon took Cole while he was undercover.

He brought a hand up to pull Cole’s red and gold serape tighter around himself, feeling his heart shatter further. It had been two months with no leads, but at least he had been doing something, unlike Overwatch. How quickly they fell apart once Cole was gone, most of their morale going with the cowboy. A handful of them stuck around, trying to keep up the façade of competence, but Hanzo knew he wasn’t the only one to abandon the cause, merely the first.

“I thought I told you to wait for me,” Hanzo didn’t take his gaze off the screen of the tv behind the glass, watching Genji’s reflection stop beside him.

For the sake of keeping a lower profile, Genji had stowed away his face mask and helmet, attempting to actually appear closer to a cyborg than an omnic. It also helped that Shimada Genji no longer existed, killed by his brother’s own hands years ago. No one knew he was still alive, somehow being one of the few Blackwatch files that was kept sealed away.

“I didn’t go far.” Hanzo mumbled in Japanese, watching as the reporter cut away to video of the small, nondescript government building going up in flames.

He saw Genji’s face turn to look at the screen briefly before looking back to his brother. “Let’s go,” his younger brother replied in Japanese, “screens are bad for the eyes of an old man like you.” Hanzo wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t even bring himself to smirk, barely even letting out a rush of air from his nose.

“Did you meet with your contact?” Hanzo asked instead, managing to barely take his eyes off the tv to glance at his brother.

Genji gave a nod, producing a thumb drive with a white and purple sugar skull. “She was a lot nicer this time, but I think she was friends with Cass, no doubt she’s upset too.”

Hanzo ground his teeth together, barely holding back a scathing remark. “She works with them.” He managed to growl out instead, Genji letting out a small huff as he slipped their potential golden ticket back into an inner pocket of his jacket.

“I told you a million times; Sombra hates Talon as much as the rest of us, she’s just playing nice to get what she wants.”

“Whatever.” Hanzo mumbled, turning his attention back to the tv to see Cole’s face flash on the screen. Hanzo could feel himself lean forward slightly, his brown eyes instantly darting to the subtitles to see his number and alias appear under the picture, a sizable amount of money attached to the missing poster. Many had called, each and every one of them had been dead ends or fake.

Briefly, it hurt him to know others were as shallow as to fake a call just for the lump sum he was offering, but the hurt was quickly forgotten and replaced with anger as Akande’s face flashed on the screen. The dragons growled, unhappily racing up and down his arm, begging to be let loose. He could feel their energy course through him, their teeth become his; his gums aching, wanting to sink them in and rip and tear and kill—

A hand touched Hanzo’s right shoulder, pulling him from his rage and snapping his head to see Genji watching him with a careful expression. His face was perfectly stoic, hiding his concern and perhaps even pity from his elder brother.

“Are you okay?” Genji asked, and Hanzo was forced to give pause.

Normally, Genji wasn’t overly concerned about him. They were both grown men and, against all odds, had reconnected. They could handle themselves, and both knew as much. Two assassins didn’t need to ask one another of their feelings or mental state, so for Genji to openly voice concern made Hanzo wonder how bad he physically appeared.

Hanzo looked away for a moment, clenching his hands into fists as he stared at the tv once again, glaring at the man who had ruined his life.

“No, but I will be. Akande has gained the ire of the wrong man.”

.:.

Hanzo sat cross legged on the floor, hunched over as he used his datapad to project the files to the floor, flinging them this way and that as he tried to sort through the information. He was begrudgingly thankful for Sombra even giving them an ounce of help, but to give him files that were either not relevant to the situation or so outdated they were leads they had checked out months ago? It frustrated Hanzo to no end, but he supposed he should be thankful they had anything . At least that was what Genji had been saying, singing her praises for giving them what she had.

In Hanzo’s personal opinion, she could’ve cut the bullshit and just gave them what Hanzo wanted to know, but what could he possibly know. He was just a contract killer for most of his adult life, excelling when he was given as much relevant information.

Whatever, he had been given less before, at least this was something , he supposed.

He frowned to himself, clearly Genji’s optimism was rubbing off on himself.

Speak of the devil, a series of knocks came to the door then, Hanzo giving his head half a turn to listen.

Tap-tap… tap-tap-tap .

Silently, he rose to his feet and made his way over to the door, unlocking it to find his brother standing there with two bags, a grin on his scarred face. “You won’t believe the ramen shop I found.” He started, entering the motel room as Hanzo stood aside. “It’s no Rikimaru, but the locals were going on and on about how it’s spicier than anything they’ve had before.”

Hanzo let out a snort as he shut and locked the door again, turning and crossing his arms as he looked to his brother. “Nothing’s ever come close to Rikimaru, I highly doubt this will.”

Genji let out a chuckle as he set the bags on the little table by the door, pulling off his jacket as he draped it on the back of the chair. “Well, this was the spiciest they offered, hopefully it’s good enough for your picky tastes.” He teased, Hanzo letting out a muted chuckle as he went to investigate the bags.

“How much was it?” Hanzo asked as he began untying the bags, Genji moving across the room towards the bathroom.

“It cost me an arm, leg, eyes, another leg,” Hanzo paused his actions, rolling his eyes with a frown.

“You’re a child.”

“And you’re a sad old man.” There was a moment of silence before the brothers let out a shared chuckle, Hanzo continuing to get their meals ready. “Anyways, I got a nice little cheque from Winston before we left, so don’t worry about the cost of things.”

That piqued Hanzo’s interest, listening to the taps being turned on as Genji presumably washed his hands. “He offered you money? He didn’t offer me anything.”

Genji laughed from the bathroom, poking his head out the door with a shit eating grin on his face. “Bro, you left without telling anyone, of course he didn’t give you anything.” Hanzo rolled his eyes again, but Genji continued on as his head vanished back inside the small bathroom. “I’m sure if you asked him now he’d give you something.” Genji paused, his voice growing softer as he spoke again. “They’re upset about Cassidy too, you know, but Winston has his hands tied by the UN.”

Hanzo slowed to a stop, his hands desperately trying not to squeeze and break the containers holding their ramen. With shaking hands, he set the to-go containers down, his hands coming up to his chest as they clenched on their own. He slammed his eyes shut, taking a deep breath in and holding it, doing everything in his power to keep his ever shorter temper under control.

He would get his Cole back, one way or another, and he would make Akande pay.

“Hanzo,” he startled at how close Genji had gotten without him noticing, his little brother only setting a hand on his shoulder when Hanzo opened his eyes and turned his head towards him. “We’ll find him, with or without Overwatch.” Quietly, reluctantly, Hanzo felt himself relax, his hands unclenching, his brow unfurled. “Akande will pay for what he’s done to him, to you.” Hanzo gave a clipped nod, forcing himself to relax his jaw once he realised his mouth was beginning to ache from the tension.

“Of course, he deserves nothing less.”

.:.

Sombra’s information led them to an omnic named Maximilien, Genji quietly complaining, saying that ‘ it’s always Max ,’ much to Hanzo’s confusion. Genji ended up telling him all about Operation Storm Rising on their way to Monaco via hypertrain, and Hanzo had to admit, he was impressed Genji had let the diplomats talk it out instead of slicing first and asking questions later.

But that was an hour and a half ago, for now they had Maximilien cowered in a corner of one of the private rooms in his own casino, not too badly marked up. Genji held his wakizashi over where he knew Maximilien’s core was, his eyes neon green as Soba rested just on the cusp of being called out to assist her master.

“I will not ask again, Maximilien,” Hanzo said, acting disinterested as he stayed sitting in one of the chairs in the room, one leg crossed over the other and he lounged back slightly. Already, he was looking for the next lead on his datapad should Maximilien prove useless, and he was certain the omnic was quickly putting two and two together.

“I-I told you everything I know! I-I-I don’t know where Monsieur Cassidy is!”

“Unfortunate. Genji,” his little brother’s eyes seemed to glow brighter, and that was enough for Maximilien to let out something that sounded akin to a squeal.

“There’s a paper trail!” He suddenly blurted out, instantly gaining Hanzo’s attention.

The elder Shimada rose from his seat then, readjusting the serape around his shoulders before making his way over to crouch in front of the omnic. He gave Genji a two fingered wave and instantly the younger Shimada backed off, Maximilien seeming to sigh in relief. “And what would this paper trail be?”

Maximilien seemed to hesitate, but one glance at Genji clearly had him reconsidering. “I-I am a glorified accountant for Talon really, I-I just make sure the money looks good.”

“We know you launder money.” Genji growled out, clearly growing more impatient the longer Maximilien waffled about.

“Genji,” it was a simple warning, but Genji seemed to get the message as Hanzo gestured to the council member to continue. “As you were saying, Maximilien.”

The omnic sharply nodded, turning his red eyes to Hanzo. “I have a trail of where Doomfist h-has been, a-and I can even give you the login credentials! But—”

“We will not speak of what you have done here tonight. Doomfist will not know of your blatant betrayal twice over.”

Maximilien seemed to relax further as he suddenly reached into his breast pocket and fumbled out a small book. “T-this has everything, but the login info will reset in two days.”

“Two days?”

“Talon protocol.” Hanzo wanted to roll his eyes into the back of his skull but managed to keep his face stoic. Instead, he took the small book from the omnic, thumbing through to see credentials for, well, a lot more than just Talon business. The other info in here wasn’t something Hanzo cared about though, all he cared about was finding Akande.

Finding Cole.

Hanzo rose to his feet then, Genji following his lead as Maximilien was quick to sit up straighter and scoot back away from the brothers. “Thank you for your cooperation, we will see ourselves out.” Maximilien only nodded frantically, seemingly still trying to pull himself together.

The Shimada men left then, vanishing back onto the hypertrain to hide themselves a couple cities back.

As they sat quietly on the train, Hanzo busy booking a hotel for the night on his phone, Genji glanced over with a small smirk on his face. “Say Hanzo,” he started in Japanese, catching his brother’s attention. “Do you think he would’ve shit himself if he was human?”

Hanzo let out an ugly snort, holding up a hand to his mouth to keep his laugh in as Genji just gave him a wide grin. “If not shit then certainly piss.” He replied, Genji letting out his own laugh as he tossed his head back.

They quietly made their way into their hotel room an hour later, a small takeout bag in Hanzo’s hand. Genji instantly groaned as he flopped down face first onto one of the beds, his arms outstretched as he continued to groan into the comforter. Hanzo merely gave his brother a fond roll of his eyes before setting the bag on the desk by the door and moved to sit on the other bed, pulling out the little book of passcodes and usernames.

Barely flipping open the first page, Hanzo’s bed sank further as Genji climbed on it behind him, leaning over his shoulder to snoop the pages with Hanzo. “Maybe we should tip some of this off to the UN.” He suggested, Hanzo scoffing.

“As if they could do anything with it.”

Genji let out a hum and said nothing more as Hanzo began thumbing through the little book.

Thankfully, the information Hanzo wanted was within the first few pages. A username and passcode for an account linked to Akande through one of Maximilien’s offshore bank accounts, and for one desperately greedy moment, Hanzo wanted to take it all.

Of course, logically, Maximilien should have already alerted Akande of what occurred tonight, maybe perhaps not who had done it, but that it had been done all the same. He hardly doubted the omnic would keep his word. So if the accountant had already told Talon of what happened, then Hanzo may as well take the money and be on his way.

A smaller, less logical and more emotional part of him said that Maximilien had already kept his mouth shut once when Akande was arrested, that he would do it again to save himself. If all the money was to vanish, it would raise questions, all eyes would be on Maximilien. He of course didn’t want that, clearly pleased to just keep the books in order and scrub the money clean through his casino.

Hanzo moved to see what transactions had been made, huffing as he skimmed over withdrawals from one of the credit machines. It was rare to pay for things with physical chip coins these days, most people were content with just using the chip cards. They were safe and unhackable, well, the general public was unhackable; Sombra didn’t seem to care much in harming the innocents. Regardless, the evidence of the large, very large, withdrawals meant it was something Akande didn’t want tracked.

Considering he was the god forsaken leader of Talon, currently one of the most powerful terrorists in the world bar Ramattra, Hanzo was stumped on what he would be scared of leaving a trail for.

“Another dead end,” he growled out, leaning back to rub at the bridge of his nose. He felt so close to exploding but he needed to rein it in. He was loath to let his brother once again see him at one of his lower points.

Genji moved from crouching behind to sitting beside, sliding the interface in front of himself while Hanzo stood up to get his shitty treat out of the takeout bag. He hoped and prayed the shitty little chocolate cupcakes he got from the shitty vending machine at the platform he picked up would fix his shitty mood. Genji had just suggested going to either a bakery or order through delivery, but it had been a thing that was right there and impulse made Hanzo cave.

With the little shitty box in his hand, he made his way back to Genji and instead sat cross legged on the floor. His brother focused on him through the interface, snorted, before refocusing on the bank accounts and data they had gotten from Sombra.

“Want one?” Hanzo asked, lifting the box up towards Genji. He was nothing if not a generous brother, who would also let Genji take the first bite.

Genji seemed to see through Hanzo’s plan as he cast the elder Shimada a smirk. “Nah, I wouldn’t want to deprive my ancient brother of the sugar he needs to keep going.”

“I don’t need sugar.”

“I dunno,” Genji dragged out the ‘o’ in a sing-song voice, a shit-eating grin now on his face. “Your eyes were drooping on the train.” Hanzo rolled his eyes playfully.

“Only because your company is rather boring.”

“Ouch, that stings, especially since I was voted ‘second funniest’ at that team building meeting last year.”

“ Second being the operative word.”

Dramatically, Genji clutched at his chest, falling backwards on the bed with a pained sound. “Oh Hanzo! You wound me! You’re supposed to support my shitty jokes!”

Hanzo chuckled silently then, a small smile pulling at his lips as he opened the box of cupcakes. “Get some better material before asking for support.” With that, he picked up one of the two cupcakes and brought it to his mouth. He hesitated for only a second, but the strong scent of cocoa drove him to bite into the vending machine cupcake with little caution.

He was… pleasantly surprised it tasted decent. It was perhaps a touch too dry and they had skimped out on the chocolate frosting, but it was serviceable and more than enough to appease his sweet tooth.

Hanzo was already on the second cupcake when he realised that Genji had sat back up, a fond look on his face, as he idly scrolled through their data from both Maximilien and Sombra.

“Just curious, since you’ve now inhaled your sugar,” Hanzo rolled his eyes before pointedly taking a larger bite out of the cupcake. Genji just grinned. “Did you cross reference what we got from Max with Sombra? Or, rather, did you see if any of her intel lines up with when Akande made withdrawals?” Hanzo was silent for a long moment, rolling the words around his head and realising Genji was onto something.

Quickly shoving the last of the cupcake in his mouth, he stood and got back up on the bed beside Genji, taking the interface from him. He split the many windows in half, Sombra’s intel on the left and Maximilien’s on the right. It was then he started pulling locations out of Sombra’s files; anything that mentioned where Doomfist had gone was moved front and centre.

Genji was quick to catch on as he took another screen and started pulling the same information out and sent the window to the small pile they were collecting. “We only have two days—”

“I know, but we need to find out today.”

“What-- Hanzo, that just isn’t possible—”

“We only need the days he pulled chip coins from a machine, then we can scrub through any pictures and videos attached to that file.” Genji didn’t seem convinced, but Hanzo knew it would work, he would make it work.

.:.

And work it did, of course it did. It had only taken nine hours to get what they wanted, to figure out that Akande was at a shady little place in Greece that welcomed the criminal underworld with open arms.

So that’s where Hanzo—dressed in a familiar suit from his youth with the clan’s seal both on his cufflinks and a pin on his lapel—and Genji—in a similar if not downplayed suit with both his helmet and visor on—found themselves late into the night the next day.

Together, they had debated waiting a day, enough time to make a cover and travel, but Hanzo decided against it. Instead, he retrieved the cufflinks and pin in his bag, much to Genji’s surprise, and the two immediately went out to get suits. Hanzo had even stopped at a local barber on the way to the hypertrain to get cleaned up.

Genji had made a little comment of how much he looked like their father, but Hanzo had elected to ignore the comment. He had no time to be sentimental right now, he could dread the implications of looking like Sojiro at a later day.

They walked into hell with heads held high, Hanzo easily slipping back into the person he had been groomed to be and Genji acting as an omnic bodyguard for the very important man leading the way. It felt easy enough, at least; this is what both of them had been raised to do. Hanzo the face, Genji the muscle. Though, these days, sometimes it felt like Genji was the face with his smooth talking and Hanzo the muscle with the bulk that archery had brought.

They received the odd look, clearly they were newcomers in the scene, but one look at the cufflinks, at the pin, had people minding their own business again. That was good, clearly they knew of the Shimada clan, that their rule was reinstated. Or, at least, the Hashimoto were chased out and Kiriko had an easier time protecting both Hanamura and Kanezaka while the bygone scions tried to rekindle their brotherhood. What these unsavoury individuals didn’t know wouldn’t kill them.

“Hanzo,” Genji suddenly hissed in Japanese, causing Hanzo to turn his head just enough to look in his general direction. “Three o’clock, it’s Reaper.”

Casually, Hanzo turned to survey the room, his heart rate increasing at Genji’s words. The last thing they needed was for Akande’s dog to be sniffing around.

Unfortunately, Genji was right; Reaper seemed to be wandering aimlessly amongst the crowd. The brothers weren’t naïve enough to believe they hadn’t been detected yet, but without a word, they drifted closer to the shadows.

Temporarily ignoring the giant elephant of death in the room, Hanzo turned to the nearest server and leaned in close. It was a young woman with short hair and downcast eyes, refusing to make eye contact with Hanzo, though it wasn’t for a lack of respect, but instead an overabundance of fear. “I would like to speak with Alphonso.”

“O-of course sir,” her voice was soft and timid, a hint of an accent that he thought came from the Americas though he couldn’t pinpoint where exactly. “W-would you like a private r-room?”

“Yes.”

Her head seemed to bow lower. “Follow m-me, sir.” She turned sharply then, thankfully leading the Shimada brothers away from where Reaper had wandered to.

Their walk to the private booths and rooms was uneventful, only catching the stray glance here or there, but otherwise the scion and his omnic guard were old news. With the doors opened and closed for them, they were left in silence within a decently sized room.

The walls were painted an off-white, deep red curtains held open with golden sashes. The floor was a black and white marble tile, not a single scuff mark in sight, but that was to be expected in a place like this. To the left was a black leather couch with a glass coffee table made with a black iron frame, a little holder of cork coasters waiting to be used. On the right were two leather chairs, a round glass end table with the same black iron frame sat between them.

At the back of the room, between the two tall rectangle windows, was a cabinet with six shelves filled with different types of alcohol. In the lower glass doors of the cabinet, Hanzo was able to see different styles of glasses, tumblers, and shot glasses.

“Well,” Genji started as he wandered in further into the room. “I think this is the nicest coffin we could’ve asked for.”

Hanzo scoffed as he headed towards a large portrait on the wall beside one of the leather chairs. “Don’t say such things, we’ll be fine.” Genji merely shrugged as he went to the liquor cabinet, leaving Hanzo alone with his thoughts in front of the painting who he assumed was Alphonso.

Of course, he was now considering the fact this was a trap. Obviously it had crossed his mind, but perhaps he let his former life’s arrogance cloud his judgement. Now though, as they waited for the man who would presumably give away Akande’s plans, the reality of their situation was finally setting in.

“Not that I think we may have gotten ourselves into trouble,” Hanzo started, keeping his eyes off Genji. “But if this was a trap—”

“If this was a trap, then we’d certainly be dead already, of course.”

“Of course,” Hanzo parroted, “but perhaps we should, ah, prepare ourselves for a fight.” Genji snorted, Hanzo able to clearly see the smirk on his face despite still wearing his mask, but silently made his way back to the door.

Hanzo followed suit, the brothers standing on either side of the door, Genji’s hand resting on his wakizashi at the small of his back while Hanzo held his hand over the pistol inside his vest. It pained him that he couldn’t bring Storm Bow or Peacekeeper, but neither were very easy to conceal and he couldn’t put a silencer on Cole’s gun without heavy modification.

Together, they waited in silence, their paranoia only growing until the handle of the door jiggled and moved down. With a click and a groan, the door slowly swung open to reveal… nothing…?

“What—” Genji didn’t get to finish his sentence as a wave of black smoke entered the room.

Like a well oiled machine, the door was shut and locked by Hanzo as he drew his silenced gun. Genji ripped the sleeve of his right arm to gain access to his shurikens, his wakizashi now drawn and at his side.

“Reaper,” Hanzo snarled, watching as the smoke came to a stop at the back of the room, suddenly swirling up and up until death himself stood in front of the brothers with his back to them. Foolish , Hanzo briefly thought as he took the safety off and pointed it to the masked man’s head.

Strangely enough, Reaper didn’t acknowledge them as he walked with loud, heavy steps towards the liquor cabinet. The brothers shared a brief look before returning their attention to the masked man before them.

Reaper filled a tumbler of who-knows-what before he made his way over to one of the leather chairs, heaving out a heavy sigh as he all but collapsed into the chair. With a wave of a smokey hand, the mask was gone to reveal Reaper’s mutilated face. His eyes were pitch black, multiple smaller eyes littering his face with a large gaping hole along his jawline on the right. Smaller tears around his mouth on the other side were present, and his skin was an ashy brown and almost chalky looking.

Hanzo would be surprised if Reaper wasn’t a walking corpse at this point, he certainly looked the part.

“Are you going to keep pointing that thing at me Shimada?”

“Why are you here?” Hanzo deflected, trying his best to remain in control.

Reaper chuckled as he took a swig of his liquor, black eyes staring at the liquid. “Same reason you are; putting a stop to what Doom’s done to Cassidy.”

Hanzo faltered then, his hands shaking as his eyes went wide. How could-- but he was-- it didn’t make sense--

“Putting a stop-- you work for him! You have seen him in the flesh! Just kill him !”

Reaper’s black eyes met Hanzo’s then, a fire in them as he sat up straighter. “You think I haven’t thought of that?! God damn ingrate, no one can get near him except Cassidy and Moira.” Hanzo opened his mouth to snap back that smoke and shadows could surely get closer, but Reaper cut him off, his voice gone soft again. “I can’t stand to see what’s become of Cass, so whatever you need, it’s yours, on one condition.”

Hanzo scoffed. “And what condition would that be?” Unlike his brother, Hanzo held no love for Reaper or who he used to be. He never spent time with Gabriel Reyes, he didn’t know who he was before or after his transformation into the Reaper. Genji’s silence in all of this actually put Hanzo on edge, either his brother was shocked at his former commander’s appearance or he was waiting to hear what the man had to say.

“All I want is for Cassidy to have his mind back, that’s all I want. He…” Reaper looked down and away then, Hanzo feeling a pinch of pity for the old man. “Just get him back to his old self, Shimada.”

“Of course,” Genji agreed suddenly, moving forward as he sheathed his blade. “We care about him and wouldn’t settle for less, right Hanzo?”

All eyes were on him now, Hanzo let out a huff before reluctantly lowering the gun and putting the safety back on. “As if you need to ask.” He muttered out, not quite ready to trust the words of a decaying corpse.

Reaper seemed to relax and slouch further back into the seat, swirling his drink around the tumbler. “Doomfist has a new bodyguard courtesy of Moira, she broke Cass down, rubbed his mind and body raw, until he was a husk.” Hanzo had to suddenly hold in a wail, struggling with the thoughts of it’s my fault being screamed over and over in his head. He should have done something sooner, he should have searched harder, he should have— “Moira wanted me there the first few sessions.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t be in the same room anymore.” Reaper leaned forward, covering his face with his gloved hand. “I put him through hell in Blackwatch, Genji can attest to that, but not like this. Never like this.”

Hanzo had heard enough, feeling like he himself was suddenly being tortured to hear about his husband like that. His soul was aching, his heart breaking, and through it all, the dragons demanded to be released to ease his pain.

Perhaps their influence has seeped through the cracks as Hanzo suddenly and sharply grabbed Reaper’s tumbler and hurled it across the room, feeling some sort of pleasure in watching the glass shatter and the alcohol spill down the wall. “How dare you let them hurt him like that!” Hanzo roared, his own ears ringing as the twins struggled to free themselves, to soothe their master with blood. “You have killed for less, yet you let them break Cole!”

There was a sudden fire in Reaper’s eyes as he sat up, his mouth opening to presumably argue Hanzo’s claims, but instead the fire died out as swiftly as it had appeared. He watched as Reaper slumped back down, his shoulders relaxed and pity filled every eye. “You’re right,” Hanzo recoiled at the agreement, his own volatile anger and ire dwindling out alongside the twins. “I should’ve done something. I’ll go to my grave regretting it, but I’m trying to do something now, if you’ll let me.”

Hanzo stared down at Reaper until a soft touch came to his shoulder. He turned his head to find Genji there, giving a soft nod.

With a heavy heart, he knew he needed to accept Reaper’s help, it was the only way. “Tell us what you know.”

Reaper sat up a touch, nodding his head as his voice hardened once again. “You know that old building Vishkar was supposed to buy in Venice?”

“The one the omnics refused to let them have?”

“Right on the money. Well a private business man bought it and promised the omnics nothing would happen to it.” Reaper shrugged then. “The details don’t matter, but Doom was that business man and it’s been our base of operations for a few months now.”

“Is that what the money from Alphonso was for?” Genji asked, Hanzo wanting to argue that point was moot now, but Reaper only nodded.

“Yup, Max laundered the money Doom got from Al and turned around and bought the building.”

The three men were silent for a long moment, Hanzo himself trying to sort through his thoughts and feelings. On one hand, there were clearly more questions asked than answered, another lead to follow, like what was the collateral on the money? What did Alphonso get out of this? Hanzo promised himself he would see it through, but first, he needed to get his Cole back.

“Can you confirm Akande and Cole will still be there when we arrive?” Hanzo asked, feeling the twins squirm under his skin at the mention of his husband’s name.

Reaper nodded as he stood. “Yes, Doom thinks no one will find him there despite our headquarters essentially being down the street.” A snarl crawled across Reaper’s face then. “He thinks he’s untouchable now.”

“We’ll show him otherwise.” Hanzo could hear the smirk in Genji’s voice, Reaper sending his own grin back.

“Well, this has been fun but I do have a job I’m supposed to be doing here.” With a wave of his hand, his skeletal mask was covering his face once again. “Oh, by the way, did you two get my intel from Sombra?” Both Shimada’s pause then.

Hanzo had assumed the intel was what Sombra herself had gathered, not that she was the messenger. Though, Hanzo supposed, if they were caught, she could have plausible deniability.

Genji moved to block Reaper’s exit, concern laced in his voice despite trying to keep it even. “Commander, if Akande finds out what the two of you have done—”

Reaper’s chuckle cut Genji off, the cyborg falling silent. “I’d like to see him try and kill a ghost.”

.:.

Under the cover of night, the Shimada brothers made their way silently across the rooftops of Venice, Genji giving quiet directions as they followed the map Sombra had sent from Reaper through his interface in his helmet.

Hanzo was thankful for the quietness, it allowed him to clear his mind and further affirm his own resolve. Come hell or high water, Cole would be freed from Talon.

“So,” Genji started quietly as they came to a stop at a rather large intersection that they couldn’t just jump across. “What’s the plan?”

He was quiet for a moment, unwilling to divulge his plans completely just yet. He was worried of pushback, of Genji telling him he was crazy to think it would work, but as the silence grew between them, the faster Hanzo relented. “Something that I should’ve done years ago, when we were married.”

Hanzo didn’t elaborate as he began to crawl down the building. He hated that they needed to touch the ground at all, but it wasn’t like the brothers carried jetpacks around and could just fly to the next room. No, the sidewalk would have to do.

Genji was quick to catch up to Hanzo as they waited for the signal to cross the street, leaning in to harshly whisper in his ear. “You don’t mean—”

“Yes.” Hanzo answered simply as he readjusted Cole’s serape around his shoulders, leading them across the street swiftly once it was their turn and towards a back alley. He really shouldn’t have been so surprised Genji figured out his intentions so quickly. “I’ve heard of what training Cole went through; whatever they did would be worse than Widowmaker’s brainwashing.” He began to climb up the wall once the brothers were alone, only pausing once he was at the top and held out his hand to help Genji over the edge. “It’s the only way.”

Genji took the offered hand, Hanzo easily pulling him up onto the roof. “I don’t doubt that, but will he be okay with it?”

The thought had crossed Hanzo’s mind that there was a… lack of consent, but at this point, it was either this or remain a husk. He figured Cole would rather choose the former. “He’s expressed interest before, but I was worried about old souls coming back from the dead to hurt us.

“Now though, with all the elders dead and the Hashimoto dealt with, the choice is clear.” He gave himself a self assured nod as they continued onwards. “As it always should have been.”

Silence blanketed the brothers as they continued on their way. Hanzo was half worried that it was a judgemental silence, that Genji was displeased with this plan. But, as they stood before their target with a Talon goon dead between them, Genji quelled his worries.

With a hand on his shoulder and his faceplate in his free hand, their eyes met with a small smile on Genji’s face. “I’m sure it means nothing, but as one of two remaining Shimada’s left in our line; you have my blessing.”

Hanzo blinked in surprise, unable to believe Genji approved of such a ludicrous plan. In his arm, the dragons rumbled their gratitude. “I-- thank you, Genji. It means the world to me.”

.:.

He left Genji a floor below, the cyborg ninja promising to keep any reinforcements from getting up to the highest level. Genji was soaked in blood but seemed to revel in the chaos they created, but Hanzo had done his best to wipe his own face when they parted. While he didn’t care how Akande saw him, he didn’t want his husband to see him looking so animalistic. So deranged. His only saving grace was that the serape was mostly red and would hide the blood well enough.

He had ensured the floor was cleared before standing before Akande’s office, and thankfully the building seemed to be in a radio blackout. He was sure Genji would tell him later to thank Sombra, to thank Reaper , for ensuring Talon had radio silence. For now though, he had one goal and one goal only.

Without preamble, Hanzo burst the doors open to the office. A scowl instantly crossed his face as he saw Akande leisurely sitting at his desk, sipping a dark amber liquid, wearing an expensive looking white suit.

He barely sent a look Hanzo’s way as he continued to scroll through his datapad, only making Hanzo’s blood boil more. “Where is he?” Hanzo growled out, trying his hardest to keep some sort of control over his emotions. The twins weren’t helping, growling and rumbling their hatred and displeasure for the man.

Akande merely shrugged, swirling his drink to make the ice clink against the glass. “I don’t know who you are talking about.” Finally, their eyes met as Akande looked over with a smirk pulling at his lips. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

Storm Bow in his hand was instantly forgotten and dropped in favour of reaching into the holster on his hip, drawing and aiming Peacekeeper at Akande. The man barely flinched, his grin not faltering. “Where is my husband .”

“You know,” Akande started as he swung his chair around to the side, heavily leaning back into the seat as he crossed one leg over the other. “It was a shame he was trained so well by Blackwatch; he was immune to most of our tactics, we had to do it the old fashioned way.

“He was hard to break,” Akande let out a sadistic chuckle, “but when no one comes for you for months on end—”

“We saw the explosion and he failed to check in, they assumed he was KIA.” The bitterness threatened to swallow Hanzo then, he had demanded they search for a body, that there would be something left behind. Winston had gently agreed, but had claimed it was unsafe. Hanzo had volunteered, said he would go alone if need be. Winston had barred him from such things. Everyone did.

Now, he was paying the price for not disobeying. It was the clan all over again. A lesson he would forever fail to learn.

“Clearly,” Akande started, pulling Hanzo back from his memories and what-if’s. “You were wrong.”

“Clearly,” Hanzo muttered bitterly, scowling. “But I have come to right my wrongs and bring my husband home.” Briefly, he shamed himself for not trying harder, but, admittedly, he had been devastated at the news. He had been unable to do much for months once Winston had dismissed him, had laid in bed and cried; cried until his throat hurt from screaming and wailing, cried until all he could feel was pins and needles, cried until there was nothing left. The dragons that once comforted him had even gone silent, like they had died with Cole that day.

It remained like that until he found out his Cole lived, then his agony turned to rage. The dragons roared back to life, furious and wanting blood. Today, one way or another, they would have it.

“I’m afraid that Deadeye is no longer your husband.” Akande chuckled. “I hardly think he even remembers your face.”

Hanzo was unable to stop the snarl from pulling at his lips, clicking the hammer back on Peacekeeper. “I will kill you, Akande.” Before he could even put his finger on the trigger, something tackled him from the side.

Hanzo let out a grunt, ears ringing as the impact of the gun falling set it off. Thankfully, there wasn’t immediate pain, so it likely didn’t hit him. As he rolled onto his back to get up, two burly hands, one flesh and one metal, were wrapped around his neck.

He let out a gasp as he stared up in shock at the love of his life.

Cole’s face was littered with new cuts, his eyes dilated and vacant looking. He could see implants similar to Sombra’s at Cole’s temples, but he was unsure where it led and was too overwhelmed with emotions to do much more than stare up at his face. So familiar and yet so much like a stranger.

“Cole,” he whispered, unable to stop his smile, until Cole reared back. He took his flesh hand from Hanzo’s neck, made a fist, and suddenly an aching pain bloomed across Hanzo’s nose as his fist connected with his face. The dragons cried out their agony in Hanzo’s mind, their own beings aching but unwilling to physically form and fight back.

“We broke him most of the way,” Akande explained, “but thankfully Sombra told us all about her cybernetic implants not too long ago.” A squeak came from the chair as presumably Akande got up, his shoes tapping on the floor as he walked. “Easier to scramble the mind once it’s broken enough. Bonus points for having it attached at the base of the neck.”

Hanzo quite literally did not care about what Talon’s leader had to say. What he needed to do was break through to Cole, to make him remember. At least he had to start there. “Please, Cole,” the words barely left Hanzo’s mouth when Cole’s fist met his face again.

“ Don’t call me that.” Cole growled out, making Hanzo’s heart melt with love despite the situation. He had missed hearing his voice so much.

Akande let out a chuckle then, Hanzo’s eyes darted to him long enough to see he was leaning against the front of his desk, staring down at Hanzo with a sadistic grin. “Since I have you here; Hanzo, join Talon. Let us help you rebuild the Shimada empire.”

He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh, turning his head just enough to spit out blood in Akande’s direction. “I would sooner die than join Talon.”

Akande was quiet for a moment before shrugging. “Very well. Deadeye,” Cole looked up at the name, “you heard him; finish the job.”

“Yessir.”

Instantly, both of Cole’s hands were back around Hanzo’s throat, and Hanzo threw his plan into motion.

Hanzo threw up one hand to claw at Cole as a distraction, his other pulling the broken arrowhead from his pocket. Thankfully, Akande had told him exactly what he needed to know and where the implant was.

With a staggering amount of energy, Hanzo reached up and stabbed the arrowhead into the back of Cole’s neck, able to hear the little device fizzle and crack. Akande only laughed. “Stupid little man, if you think—”

Akande was cut off as Hanzo’s tattoo began to glow, the dragons thrashing about, washing Hanzo in a calm rage as he spoke clearly for them to hear. For them to understand their mission. “Let the dragon unite us!”

His arm flared out a bright and blinding blue glow, throwing Akande across the room as every piece of technology exploded from the electrical energy coming from him. The two dragons pulled out of his arm then, keeping the room bathed in brilliant blue light as they circled one another around Hanzo and Cole.

.:.

She slowed to a stop as her brother continued on his journey alone around the room. There was a moment of sadness that she wouldn’t be with her brother anymore, but it was wiped from her mind as she moved to the conduit that had summoned them.

The arrowhead was sunk into the side of the implant, a decent hit considering Master hadn’t been able to see where he was aiming. The large brand right under the implant caused her to growl, despising how the black and red symbol of their enemy marred his skin.

She sank her teeth into the implant first, her head thrashed back and forth as she ripped the device from his neck. Her electric hot body pressed into his neck then as she tossed the implant aside, using her heat to sear the tattoo from his body as the smell of burning flesh filled the room.

Once the tattoo was gone, she dug her front claws deep into his shoulder blades, anchoring her mind to his with a snarl.

How dare you allow yourself to be tampered with. It is unbecoming of a Shimada.

Through her Master’s eyes, she could see their Intended’s eyes grow clear, coming back to himself in an instant as he released Master’s neck. “W-what, Y-Yumiko—”

She sank her teeth into the back of his neck again, unable to stop herself as she lapped at the sweat and blood there. Yumiko briefly lamented that Master’s habits had rubbed off on her and her brother, enjoying the taste of salt a touch too much, but she continued regardless. It would be a horrible, shameful act if she ever disobeyed Master.

Yumiko’s clawed paws reached over their Intended’s shoulders, reaching as far as she could as her size grew ever so slightly.

With the blessing of the Shimada heirs, I bind our souls together. Let my spirit bring you a long and prosperous life, let my spirit protect you forever more, let my spirit be a sign of love and devotion from Master.

Accept the Shimada scion’s wish to bind my spirit to your soul.

Yumiko could feel their Intended shake, but that wouldn’t do. So she sunk her claws into his arms to ground him, to force him to acknowledge her.

“I-I accept.” She couldn’t stop the cat-like purr that rumbled through her body. Master had chosen well.

Then let the dragon swallow the sun.

.:.

Hanzo watched as the blue glow that had surrounded them suddenly morphed into a brilliant yellow as Yumiko grew larger, her body coiling around Cole as she sank into him.

He was breathless as he watched her golden light begin to crawl down his arms and across his chest, a darker golden-black shade made storm clouds that matched Hanzo’s own. Except, suddenly, the light was blinding as Cole’s shirt was burned through from the heat.

Cole had his torso on full display above Hanzo, his husband sitting back on his heels as he held up his arms to look at what was happening.

As Hanzo’s eyes adjusted to the light, he gasped as he watched straight lines slice through the storm clouds, searing themselves into Cole’s skin. Even his prosthetic wasn’t immune to Yumiko’s soul, the metal of his arm becoming engraved with the clouds and pillars of light.

At the centre of Cole’s chest was a perfectly circular orange sun, the rays started as that same orange before they ended with a golden yellow, a gradient in between. Hanzo thought that was it, his own clouds and Cole’s sunshine, but Yumiko seemingly wasn’t done.

The tattoo continued up and around Cole’s neck, undoubtedly covering where the implant and Talon tattoo had been, coming back down both arms down to his wrists, and finally the gathering clouds and sunrays covering his pecs with the sun in the middle. Yumiko pushed through Cole’s sun then, back down to her small size. She turned back, chittered something to Cole, before she began to crawl along the circle’s outline.

She kept going and going, chasing her own tail, before sinking back into Cole’s flesh. Hanzo let out a sharp gasp then, watching the tattoo finally still. Around the sun was Yumiko, swallowing her own tail in an ouroboros pose.

Cole suddenly fell forward, Hanzo barely catching him in time as he bolted upright. He was still able to feel the heat from Yumiko’s work, but Tetsuya was like a balm as his cooler form curled around Hanzo’s body.

Hanzo was quick to pull the red and gold serape from his own shoulders, draping it over his husband’s nude torso as Cole leaned heavily against him. “Are you alright?” He asked softly, barely restraining himself from smothering Cole in kisses.

“Err, head feels kinda full, and got the darn sweetest lil’ voice tellin’ me I’m dumb for gettin’ brainwashed.” Hanzo chuckled at that, raising a hand up to cup Cole’s cheek. The gunslinger easily leaned into his touch, turning his head automatically to press a kiss to Hanzo’s palm. “How long I been gone?” He asked as he mumbled through his soft kisses.

Hanzo gently grabbed Cole’s face between his hands, unable to stop the tears from falling. “Too long,” he whispered, his heart feeling full and unable to stop smiling as he brought their lips together.

Tetsuya purred in satisfaction as he circled Hanzo’s arm, no doubt Yumiko was doing the same in Cole’s chest. “This is a mighty strange feelin’, havin’ her.”

“Ah, yes, I apologise for not asking—”

“Nah, don’t, been interested in this for a while now. Didn’t right know how to bring it up without ya shootin’ it down.”

Their reunion was cut short as the sound of breaking glass shattered their illusion of privacy, both men sharply turned to find Akande was the source of the sound. His suit was scuffed, likely from being tossed back, and one of the lenses of his sunglasses had a large crack through it.

He was holding onto a black nylon rope with his gauntlet, scowling at the two men as he hovered in the air. Hanzo was sure he would say something, or at least one final attack, but instead Akande only looked up and gave a signal with his other hand.

Hanzo rose to his feet then, his lips pressed in a harsh line as he glared at Akande. Quickly, the large man was moved away, revealing that the rope was attached to a small ship not dissimilar to the Aurora.

Reaper stood at the main opening, ensuring the winch pulled Akande up, and while Hanzo didn’t have a great angle, the pilot having purple hair made him suspect them of being Sombra. Briefly, he wanted to be mad at them, that they would stick out their necks to help their enemy only to go back to Akande. That they would go to great lengths to keep their involvement a secret.

Though, Hanzo supposed, it would do neither of them any good to be found out today. No, this would likely remain an open wound for a long time. The last thing they needed was for Akande’s hurt to be targeted towards them.

“Shouldn’t we get after them?” Cole asked as he stood on shaky legs.

Instantly, Hanzo was by his husband’s side, wrapping an arm around his side as he pulled Cole’s other arm around his neck to act like a crutch. “You just got snapped out of being brainwashed and had a dragon imprint on your soul, what we need to ‘get after’ is sleep.”

Cole let out a weak chuckle, bashfully rubbing at the back on his neck with his free hand. “Right, guess yer little spitfire’s just got me riled up.” Cole suddenly tensed up, Hanzo only raising an eyebrow before his husband sent a sheepish look. “Err, I guess I meant my little spitfire.” Hanzo let out a snort then, unable to stop the smile from pulling at his lips.

“Come, let us go home.”

“I’d like that, darlin’.”