Cole started his engine and hit the road, he put on a classic rock station and made the speed limit look like a joke. "Damn it!" He thought "Ashe knows the kind of trouble breaking a deal with the Shimadas can cause, so why is she doing this!". He pulled off onto the exit and sped down until he arrived at an abandoned warehouse. He closed and locked his door, taking out his phone and texting Ashe. "Hey I'm here" he messaged, quickly a message came back, "Come on in, someone's going to open the door for you". The door to the warehouse opened, Cole was about to enter before a bad feeling spread through his body. He went to his trunk and opened it, he grabbed a revolver, some spare ammo, and three flashbangs. He also sent a text to Honzo, "Hey, this thing with Ashe seems sketchy, I'll let you know if things are alright" he also pinned his location. "Welp, as long as I don't die he won't need that" he joked to himself. He went through the door and entered the warehouse, the door closed behind him with a slam. He turned around to see Bob, Ashe's Omnic butler standing by the door. The room was filled with crates, along with various people besides Ashe, who was sitting on the carte in the center of the room.
"Cole Cassidy!" Ashe exclaimed, "It's been forever how have you been!". Cole paced a few steps "I'm fine Ashe, how are you and these. newbies?" he asked. There were four people in the room, three he recognized from the ability class he was in. Akande, Amelie, and an unnamed classmate, the other was a woman he's never seen before. "Oh, these are a few people who, let's just say, wanna collaborate.". Cole looked at them all, "I know you two so how about the rest." he demanded. "The name is Sombra, and that's all you need to know!" The girl had dyed purple hair and was wearing an alternative inspired outfit, her voice filled with sass. The other woman however walked up to Cole and stuck out her hand shaking his firmly. "My name is Moira O'Deorain, Ashe has told me you are quite the combatant". "Nice to meet you, miss" Cole responded, she was clearly in her early forties which was odd as the rest of this crew was in their teens. "So! Ashe let's address the elephant in the room" he said, "Why are you back in town, the Shimadas are already pissed I'm still on the ground here.". Ashe leaped off the crate, "Well Cole, it's simple" She started "Money!". Cole nearly rolled his eyes, "Of course." he thought to himself. "Cole, Our profits went down by 30% Because of this little deal!" She Growled, Cole sighed with frustration "Ashe, just because we're losing a little money doesn't mean we can start sending our guys into useless fights!" Cole exclaimed. Ashe chuckled "Cole, it isn't gonna be useless, if we take down the shimadas, then we'll be able to fill that void!" she protested. Ashe gestured to the other people in the warehouse, "Not only that we have some help!". Akande stepped forward "Talon and Deadlock have a common interest, the destruction of the Shimada crime family". Cole scowled at the idea of working with Talon "Why do you want it gone" Cole questioned, "They're bothersome to our operations" Akande answered upfront. Cole scoffed "Ashe do you even know their operations? They're into bad shit" He warned. "Like we aren't!" Ashe retorted, "Ashe I'm not gonna stand here and work with them" Cole exclaimed. Ashe's brow furrowed "Look Cole, we need their help for this operation, If you can't accept that then you can leave". Cole scoffed "Fine, Lose my number. I'm done with Deadlock". Ashe looked genuinely surprised as Cole headed towards the door, Before he was stopped by Akande
"The decision is yours to leave, but I'm afraid you know too much." Akande said standing in front of his door, Cole backed up a few paces realizing he was surrounded by the Talon students. Ashe whistled in a high pitch tone "Look! Cole can be trusted, even if he leaves he knows not to snitch" Ashe yelled at Akande, Moira chimed in as well, "I agree, resorting to violence will solve nothing". Akande took a glance at the crew, "Nah." He said, before winding up a fist and throwing a punch at Cole.
Cole dodged at the right second, hitting the ground and rolling away. A shot rang out near his head, As Amelie manned a sniper slowly getting farther away until she was against the wall. Cole took out his Revolver, cocking the hammer he took aim and shot towards her. The bullet missed barely making her stumble, He took the opportunity to rush towards a stack of boxes for cover, Small pellets of bullets barraged Near him as Sombra emptied an SMG clip. He leaned against the boxes taking a breath, "Bob! Get in there and give Cole cover!" Ashe shouted. Cole took a look over to see Bob running over to Cole. "Sorry, Bob!" Sombra shouted before what looked like physical strings of code struck Bob causing him to fall over limp. "Ashe, if you stop now I'll forget you ever did that!" Akande shouted at her. Cole took his opportunity peaking from cover aiming at Akande and nailing a shot right into his shoulder. Akande didn't even yelp as he got shot, just a simple grunt before looking right back at Cole. Cole ducked, Dodging a shot from Amelie, he reached behind him and grabbed a flashbang, pulled the pin, and readied his throw. Suddenly he felt the flashbang get smacked out of his hand, he looked around and saw no one. He rushed away, getting tripped by what was seemingly thin air. He covered his ears and closed his eyes, the bang going off with minimal damage. He got up slowly only to feel a kick to his side, instinctively grabbed his gun, and shot in the direction. A loud cry arose and Sombra flashed into view before disappearing again in code. Cole heard her whales from afar. "A teleporting brat, a strong arm dipshit, and a sniper. Yeah seems fair to me" He thought to himself.
He threw a flashbang, the blast stunning them all except cole. He rushed out from his cover, crouched took aim, and shot three bullets towards Amelie, one landing in her gut, one in her shin, and the other missing. He pulled out his last flashbang, taking the pin, tossing it out, and retreating again. Cole reloaded his gun, he swung out again to be met with a strong strike to the chin, he hit the ground his gun being kicked away. Akande dragged Him to the center of the room, "You were good but not good enough Mcree" Akande scoffed, Cole coughed "It's Cole now" He muttered. Akande kicked him in the stomach. Moira got out of her hiding place from under the stairs of the overhang, "Akande this foolishness must stop." She announced. Akande rolled his eyes, "Stay out of this doctor" He growled, "Cole needs to pay" Akande gripped Cole's left arm, his grip tightening, slowly Akandes grip started crushing his wrist and forearm. Cole gritted his teeth, He wanted to scream out, the feeling of bone shards pierce his muscles and veins was immense.
A small thump came from the rafters above, and an arrow struck Akandes right shoulder. "What the hell!" Akande yelled out, dropping Cole, Sombra still clutching her stomach looked up "It's the Shimada Guy!" She screamed. Honzo jumped down to the main level, slowly approaching Akande. "What the hell are you doing here?" Akande yelled, Honzo stayed silent simply drawing his bowstring again and shooting Akande in the knee with a blue arrow. Akande fell to the ground, clutching his shattered knee, Honzo went over to Cole "Are you alright?" He asked. Cole was barely lucid, "I-I can't feel my hand" Cole muttered out. Honzo saw the damage, he knew for a fact Cole's left hand was done for. Furiously he stood up, gripping his bow so hard he thought it would snap, Honzo walked over to Akande. Honzo slowly rose his bow, pulling the string back, a blue energy formed an arrow, he shot it into his right shoulder. Honzo kept firing, Akande screamed as the arrows diced his muscles into mush. he must have put over 20 into Akande's shoulder. The blood pool was immense, Akande was breathing but unconscious from the pain. Honzo looked around, the other members either didn't want to fight or were out of commission. Moira took a step forward, "I'm a doctor, ill make sure they're fine.". Honzo nodded, He didn't care either way, he just wanted to make sure Cole got some medical treatment.
Cole slowly awoke in Honzo's car, "Hey what's going on?" Cole asked. Honzo looked over for a second before focusing on the road again, "Hey! Don't move too much" he warned "I gave you some painkillers but you'll still feel like hell" Honzo said. Cole took his advice and leaned back down "I'm sorry" He muttered, Hozo scoffed "For what? You did everything right" Honzo questioned. Cole sighed "I shouldn't have gone in there, I should have walked away." Honzo shook his head. "Babe, you built that gang with Ashe from the ground up, You know you couldn't have walked away." Cole knew deep down that he could never hang Ashe out to dry, they've been through too much. "Honzo, Talon wants to start War with you," Cole said. Honzo's face went dark. "Shit." He muttered, "What are you gonna do?" Cole asked. Honzo stayed silent, "I can only assume My father will attempt to annihilate all of them.". Cole wanted to scream, to go back and kick Ashe's teeth in. But he knew all he could do now is recover, "Where are we going?" Cole asked. "To get you a new hand," Honzo replied.
Cole stayed in the car, he rested his face against the cold window, his breath making the window fog up restricting his view. Honzo stepped out of the car, "Stay here I'll be right back" He called. He walked towards the strip mall, knocking on the door, Eric came from the back unlocking it. "Eric, thank you I-" Honzo started before being interrupted "Save it, help me with the stretcher." Eric replied coldly. Honzo silently agreed, helping Eric wheel a stretcher out to the car. Cole, half asleep was pretty easily moved onto the stretcher. The building was pretty empty, all of the supplies there seemed moved there on purpose. Eric Began to work, examining Coles's arm, "What happened?" He asked. "It was crushed, By a rivel thug." Honzo replied. Eric scoffed "Sure.", His voice was filled with disdain. Eric moved a machine over, attaching a tube from the machine to a mask, then putting the mask over Cole. Eric stood up and approached Honzo, "Look, I don't care how this happened, just make sure you keep your promise." Eric scoffed. Honzo nodded "I am, but any mentions of this Oliva has been wiped." He replied. Eric groaned, "Damn.". "If I may ask Eric" Honzo started "What did she do?". Eric thought for a second "She had blackmail on me. And to avoid her leaking it I had to give her a large batch of experimental metal.". Honzo nodded "I'm sorry about that" He replied, Eric, Scowled "Save it, I don't want your sympathy" His voice filled with disgust. Honzo kept his cool, he was the one in charge of Cole, so he had to keep it together, at least for now. "What did she blackmail you with? Documents, pictures?" Honzo asked. Eric picked up a clipboard and started to take notes about Cole's condition, "It was documents, they're pretty official-looking, you'll know they're mine cause of the signature." Honzo nodded, it would help if he knew more, but the tension is still high so he dropped the subject. "I'll let you get to work." Honzo said, leaving the room in silence.
November 15 Morning
Fareeha woke up, her alarm blaring for her to get up. She desperately wanted to back to sleep, not because she was tired, mainly because she didn't want to deal with the world today. Slowly she got up, turned off her alarm, and made her way to the kitchen. Her breakfast was simple: Bacon, Eggs, And a shake made from some Chocolate and protein powder. She sat down on the couch in the living room, the room was empty of much life, just a few pieces of wall decor and furniture. Turning on the tv she mindlessly watched the news. "Local police responded to the gunshots, but when they Arrived the warehouse was empty. And all of the potential DNA evidence was already contaminated." That's all Fareeha heard before zoning out while eating.
A quick look at the clock showed her that it was 7:50. She forced herself off of the couch and headed to her car. The apartment complex she lived in was pretty good, besides a drug problem nearby the Crime rate wasn't too high. Starting her car she drove out of the building and towards the school. Her music on her BlueTooth speaker blared through the car, before being interrupted by a phone call. "Who in the, hell- Hello?" Fareeha said while picking up the phone. "Hey, fareeha! It's Mei!" The speaker said. "Oh! Hey, what's up?" She asked. "Oh, Um. I missed my bus, could I get a ride? I have some gas money." Mei asked. Fareeha looked at the clock "Yeah sure, ill be there in 5".
Mei hopped in the car, "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed attempting to hand Fareeha 10 dollars. "Nah don't mention it keep your money" She replied, backing out of Mei's apartment and heading to the school, Fareeha let Mei have the Aux, her music taste was pretty good, mainly instrumental tracks, which gave the ride a chill vibe. Fareeha eventually made her way into the parking lot of the school. "Hey, thanks again Fareeha!" Mei said, getting her stuff ready to go inside, stopping when she noticed that Fareeha wasn't moving to get out. "Fareeha you ok?" She asked. Fareeha sighed "I...think I'm gonna skip class today." She replied blankly, "Hm why?" Mei asked. Fareeha looked out the window, "It's just. Well, my girlfriend got mad at me, And I don't know if we're gonna be ok". Mei nodded, "Oh I'm sorry" Mei thought for a moment and checked her phone for a second. "Well let me join you" Mei asked, Fareeha gave her a funny look "Don't you have like 3 AP classes?" Fareeha questioned. "Yeah, all the more reason to take a day off" she said, "I'll get the teachers to email me the work.". Fareeha was about to protest but, secretly she wanted someone just to chat with. Fareeha sighed "Alright where do you suggest we go?"