notes: small mentions of SA
cassidy didn't know for sure if it was a good idea to head back to headquarters. especially since gabriel had been manipulating the two of them to get away from each other. all of his stuff was there however, so either way, he would have to head there eventually.
it was 7 in the morning. cassidy didn't bother to sleep on the train from how angry he was. he felt so guilty that he wasn't able to reach genji on time. if only he had broken that door. he would have helped him and they would've escaped.
he wondered how genji was doing. if he was dead or not. maybe being used to let out a few things for talon's behalf. he just hoped he was doing alright and was safe. though the chances of that were very slim.
carried away with his thoughts, cassidy didn't even realize that he had made it directly to the doors of the main office. he stared at the entry, hesitating if he should head inside or try to fight talon on his own. sighing, he pushed the door open to be greeted by a half asleep gabriel who was leaning at the wall.
"i was waiting for you to finally show up." he said, giving cassidy a shallow look.
"reyes, do you have any idea on what you've done?"
"i told that little cyborg boyfriend of yours that he shouldn't get too attached to you. look what happened; a disaster, that's what."
exasperated, cassidy shot a finger at the bearded man with his beanie.
"listen to me, that has NOTHING to do with what happened." he screeched. "if it wasn't for genji, i would be rotting on the streets. he saved my life from the talon ambush, and now we're going to exchange the favor."
"there is absolutely no way i'm going to be taking orders from you, cowboy." gabriel said, chuckling to wind up the tension to make cassidy lose it. it was all so he could prove how fond cassidy was for genji.
cassidy looked to the side, his eyes darting at an blackwatch flyer. in very tiny words, it stated 'agents for hire'. suddenly, it sparked up cassidy an idea, looking back at his boss.
"too bad for you, none of your replacements came back alive. so you're either stuck with doing this stupid shit, listening to me, and actually destroying talon once and for all... or, we can just sit here and complain all day over why we haven't proceeded in any way, other than my love for a wonderful man like genji being the only concern you have." cassidy put one hand on his hip, reaching out to get a lighter, giving gabriel a smirk.
"go on, keep on going with your yappin'." he urged, lighting the cigarette he had kept in his pocket, letting out a puff of smoke from his breath.
gabriel was stuck. cassidy had got him good with whatever he had used against him. it was all only silence, with cassidy smoking right next to him. cassidy knew what he was doing, and it was going well. he just needed to push gabriel's buttons a little bit more.
"imagine how jack would feel about the progress we've made, plus all the new agents dying. such a shame." he stated, his eyes widening as if he were about to pounce back on the man like a criminal.
"FINE." gabriel snapped. "we'll go save genji. but this is the first and last time i'll listen to your crap." he looked quite angry by his loss, but at least it wasn't worse.
"good to hear you aren't sassin' me over all this."
"just shut up before i change my mind." gabriel said, gritting his teeth.
. . .
the three of them, without their beloved ninja alongside them, set off. it took them a few days to prepare. luckily they were able to track genji's location before his watch was out of signal, giving them talon's new headquarters. it was a different one but once again, in rialto. they made it in no time, sneaking their way into the entrance by knocking the guards out, mostly moira's help.
they were now in the main room. it was quite large, with exits and doors on every other side they looked. but there was one right in the middle. it seemed to stand out from the rest, with a lock surrounding the main entry. there was noise coming from one of the rooms, but from how much the echoes went around, it was hard to point a finger of where it was coming from.
"genji is probably nearby. cole, do you know where we should head?" gabriel asked.
cassidy looked down on his watch. "we should go to the left. i think it may be that door—"
suddenly, the door swung right open, with a tall man who cassidy swore looked familiar. he was being escorted by talon agents with lots of strong weapons.
they knew they couldn't stay in the open for long. gabriel sidled near a wall, moira turned into a shadow and hid behind the agents walking out, and cassidy crouched down to a nearby table.
"so antonio, what do you plan to do next?" one of the agents asked, as the name stuck with cassidy. it was the same guy he had knocked out to his first mission prior.
so he was the main guy behind all this, he thought, gritting his teeth.
"no idea. the cowboy somehow escaped, so we should probably try and get something out of him instead. that scrap of metal is no use for us. he didn't give us anything." antonio said with a solid tone. "remember, we need that little overwatch organization shut down by the next month. otherwise, we'll all be done for."
"yes sir, we're still trying to track down their headquarter—"
"trying? i need it now!" he screeched, heading onto the next room, which seemed to be his office, while he slammed the door behind him.
"i think the coast is clear." cassidy whispered. he walked up to the unattended door they had left open. as he took a peek inside. he saw someone on the ground, a red ominous light coming from parts of his body from the dark. he was tied up onto a chair, which had fallen prior. genji's faceplate was taken off and replaced with a cloth that wrapped around his mouth for him not to speak.
genji, he thought, as he ran inside to check on his lover. his eyes were tired, not wanting to be open, staring at the ground with no remorse.
cassidy kneeled down to untie the ropes and the cloth placed on his lower face.
"it's me, i'm here," cassidy reassured. "we're gonna get you out of here."
"cassidy?" genji looked up, his eyes finally lighting up after being alone for so long. he finished untying the ropes by using a pocket knife to tear the pieces of rope apart. he helped genji up and hugged him.
"are you hurt? is everything alright?"
"i'm fine, i'm fine—" genji said out of breath. "but we need to get out of here. there are going to be more agents any second to guard the place. i know a quick way out." he urged for gabriel and moira to step inside as he pointed the way they could escape.
"we need to use those vents so they don't suspect you all showed up. it won't take long."
genji tried to reach the vent, but he was a little off balance, and wasn't tall enough to reach. he sighed, looking back at cassidy.
"can you...boost me up?" he asked awkwardly.
"without a doubt, darlin'." he kneeled down to genji's height, his hands open for genji to place his foot. he climbed up and was able to unscrew the vent door and made his way up.
"moira, i'll help you out."
"relax shimada, i can do it on my own." she jumped as her hands reached the vent, climbing up all by herself. cassidy shrugged it off and made his way up as well.
"is that everyone?"
"i think so," cassidy responded.
"where's gabriel?" moira asked.
they all looked down, but nobody was there. footsteps were approaching the room, but it didn't sound like the familiar stomping from their boss.
"i think they found him," moira whispered. "we should go."
and so, the three of them crawled to the other side of the vents, worried that any small noise they made would get them found for good. it was risky, but they didn't have much of a choice. if they escaped on lower ground, they wouldn't make it out alive. cassidy was behind both moira and genji, constantly looking behind him in case gabriel had catched up to them. he felt bad they just had to leave him like that. but none of them knew where he went.
at last, after half an hour of crawling to the other side of the base, they made their way outside, right next to the vehicle they had used prior to get here.
"are you sure we should just go without gabriel? he's our boss." cassidy questioned.
"don't worry, i'm sure gabriel can manage on his own." moira responded.
"don't you think it's wrong to leave him behind?" genji asked.
"like i said, he can manage." moira stated, placing her hand on the palm of her forehead.
"i don't have a good feeling about just leavin' one of us out like that."
"me neither. i think i'm going to head back." genji said, his movements describing that he was going to head on his way.
"what?" cassidy screeched, grabbing genji's arm. "we just got you out of there, almost getting caught. and now you want to go back?"
"we can't leave gabriel like that. he'd—"
"stop your boasting around," a voice appeared out of thin air. "i'm right here."
the 3 of them turned around to be greeted by a gabriel with a massive scar on his cheek.
"how did you—"
"i found an easier way out. i had to distract the guards since they were making their way back to the room."
nobody could bother to respond. gabriel's movements were odd to say the least. tense, as if he had been keeping something away. cassidy broke the silence that had been ringing throughout where they were.
"where did you escape from?" he questioned, crossing his arms.
"the back way. i breeched the door that you guys might have seen earlier, i used that to get the hell out."
it was awfully weird how gabriel could have breached the massive door all by himself. surely he would have gotten some help from it.
"what's the scar all about?" genji asked.
"almost got shot by someone, but i knocked them out in no time." he said, scratching his beard.
"right," cassidy said, rolling his eyes. "as if you would make it out of all those guards to the main entrance." he accused.
"i'm dead serious. now, why would i lie to my own recruits?" he said, putting an arm on cassidy's shoulder, chuckling. it was weird to see him this normal when he had been all pissed at his worker. seeing him shrug it off was, quite different.
"let's just head back for now." he said pausing, "unless you really want me to get seen."
"whatever, enough with the accusations," moira said in an annoyed manner, already entering the car. " i wanna sleep."
the car ride back was extremely quiet. genji and cassidy sat in the back, while gabriel took the wheel, moira sitting next to him. the two lovers wanted to speak, but were afraid gabriel would shut them down like he used to. every once in a while, they'd open their mouths to make a passing comment, but one glance from gabriel would be enough to shut them down. he held everybody else inside the vehicle at gunpoint with just a stare.
genji and cassidy headed back to their original dorm, not paying any mind to the dirty look reyes shot them when they left the car together.
finally finding the right opportunity to speak, cassidy locked the door and pressed a kiss to genji's forehead, covered in matted hair and slicked with sweat. "felt like he was suffocatin' us back there," he sighed from relief.
"remind me why he is our boss again," genji smiled, pulling himself into cassidy's embrace.
"if he lays a hand on ya—if he even looks at you like that again; he's dead." cassidy masked the threat behind a laugh, ruffling genji's hair. he missed how it felt to actually touch genji like this. to be in his presence and soak him in.
"speaking of gabriel," genji dropped his playful tone, going back to his more serious and usual self (though still buried in cassidy's chest), "did you notice how defensive he got when we asked where he was?"
"he's up to something." cassidy didn't hesitate to say it. "i don't like it."
"we have no way to prove that."
cassidy bit his lower lip, his mind growing restless. "i've got a bad feeling about him. about all of this, genji."
genji pulled cassidy's face down in his hands, bringing the taller man to eye level. "cole, i believe you," he stated, giving him a peck for reassurance.
"i'm glad." cassidy pressed his forehead against genji's. he closed his eyes, with genji following his actions.
"do you think moira knows?" genji asked.
"prolly' doesn't. though she got a big defensive for gabriel earlier."
"i think she just wanted to not deal with conflict," genji responded, cuddling closer to cassidy's chest. "god, i've missed your touch." he said, closing his eyes, breathing softly. "it feels like it's been years when it's only been a few days."
"it does feel like that—" cassidy responded, curdling his head closer to relax on genji's. he looked up to the ceiling. dark with no light as usual.
"what happened when talon...took you?"
a silence rose throughout the room. genji not knowing where to start.
"they um...tied me up like you saw. did a lot of things to get answers...i was touched a lot."
"in what ways?" cassidy looked down, deeply concerned.
"not in a lustful way. more of just...to scare me. and it kind of did. but they never got anything out of me though."
"oh genji..." cassidy leaned down to kiss the cyborgs lips, caressing his scarred cheek. there was probably a lot more, but getting into it would ruin the mood. he didn't want to force it on genji to tell him everything.
"i wish i got there sooner. it was hell to convince our boss to let me go and save ya'."
"it's okay, really..." genji responded, snuggling closer to cassidy's shoulder. "i'm just surprised gabriel went with it, saving me and all. did you do the drinking tactic?"
"i straight up told him he was actin' like a jackass."
genji and cassidy made eye contact for a quick moment, then burst into laughing.
"and he went with it?" genji said, trying to control his snickering.
"i got the real dig out of him." cassidy said in response, smiling.
"of course you did." genji rolled his eyes in sarcasm, playing along. he let out a soft yawn, his eyes tempting to close. he wanted to keep talking to cassidy, since it was his last night staying with him before he moved. he wondered if they would still be able to talk to him outside of gabriel's control.
"you should sleep." cassidy said, kissing his forehead.
"i will..." the ninja responded, his eyes slowly drifting off, his body cuddled close to cassidy's chest.