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So how's it going? Hope y'all are ready for today's chapter.
Pazaa!!!
"A criminal to the country and a backstabbing murderer to his own brother." Your uncle shook his head as his one hand patted the air behind him in an attempt to search for seating. "His ancestors should dismiss him as one of their own with his grave abominations--and to think that I once thought highly of him as though he were one who could never do any wrong!"
He slumped on the cushions of his seat and he pinched the bridge of his nose. The emperor shook his head, scowling at the floor with a trembling sigh as though it were your estranged lover himself. "...and to think that I was going to propose a union between the two of you--to let you marry him. What if this never happened? What if we never saw through his act? Would you have been the victim of this crime instead of his brother? Would he have bludgeoned you to death the moment you two are alone to yourselves?"
"Uncle..." You didn't know how it was possible to still have tears to shed, but there they were--hot beads of raw melancholy falling onto the hands folded on your lap. "I...he never tried to hurt me..."
You had no idea of what you were even suggesting to the emperor or what you were hoping to achieve by putting out this little act of defiance. Whatever your motives could be, your uncle failed to see any silver lining finding out about Hanzo and he turned his head to look you square in the eye.
"Well it didn't mean that he wasn't going to try!" The sleeves of the emperor's robes jerked haphazardly with the erratic flailing of his arms, an act all done for the emphasis of his distress. "If that criminal group managed to hide under the guise of a family for centuries, it is of no surprise that a descendant if theirs could feign emotion so expertly--it must have been as normal as breathing to them!"
You berated yourself for treading on the thought of telling your uncle about all the wonderful acts of kindness Hanzo has done in the past before he even became leader, not only for you but for the benefit of those living under the name of the clan; you bit your lip, holding back the impulse of telling your uncle that if it weren't for Hanzo, you would have lost your virtue long ago to some entitled noble who could mess up their clan even worse than Genji ever could the Shimadas.
It baffled you that the innermost consciousness of your being still fought to place Hanzo in a pedestal and shine him under the good light--it baffled you so much so that it was only much later when you realized that your tears have stopped their coursing, leaving behind only the dried up trails of your unbearable sorrow in their wake.
Your uncle still struggled getting himself back under composure and subdued himself down with a simple breathing exercise that had the red of his face simmering down back to its normal hue. Motionless on where he sat, he had one pale hand still loosely covering his resting eyes and wrinkled brow all the while he would mutter something incomprehensible from where you sat across him with thin lips chapping from the cold.
However your body might beg you for sleep or any sort of retirement from this entire quandary, your mind still had miles to race and it showed no interest in halting anytime soon.
It needed answers.
"Uncle..."
The man showed movement at last, and he regarded you with a warmer stare.
"Why...why did you proffer me to Hanzo for marriage so readily?" you inquired, fiddling with the smooth surface of your fingernails. "You barely met him enough times to know him as much as I do and yet you trusted him wholeheartedly with my safety and my future. Why?"
There was silence, a stretch of time for the emperor to calculate his words to ensure that this fragile situation couldn't be worse than it is. He then straightened his spine as certainty crossed his features, and with a sigh, closed his eyes once more in reminiscence.
"My dear..." he began with a whisper like wind, "I can't deny that I owe him your life, and I guess that was really all there was to it."
"So..." you paused with a furrow of your brows. "...I was payment?"
"No," the monarch clarified with a guilty purse of the lips. "I mean to say that he has done more for you than what I or anyone else for that matter would have expected. He had no obligation to do so--he could have just treated you as easily as a slave or cast you out when he had no more use for you, but instead you lived in relative comfort than most...and I...I wanted that to continue. I want you to have the best of everything, and when I saw that we shared the same sentiments regarding you--and that he was capable of carrying those out-- I thought who better to take care of you than he?
"I wanted to lock it in as soon as possible, lock in a happy future for you with the man you love. I thought I was doing what was best...giving you what you deserve and giving you my blessing early so that you wouldn't be so nervous when you finally tell me you desired to be wed. But it seemed as though I've stood corrected, and I would have lost you a second time. And maybe this time I wouldn't be so fortunate to have the chance to see you again."
"So what do I do now, uncle?" you whimpered, back hunched as you trembled in a grieving so crippling you felt like you were being reduced to ashes. "I...I don't know, I think I still love him-"
"No! Please, I implore you..." His voice cracked as he placed a tight hand over the loose fist on your lap. "Forget him. Look for someone better who will never betray your trust as he did. Look for a good man, (Y/N). Hanzo...he has no place in this family after what he has done. He's a monster-" His brows furrowed deeper. "-and we do not associate ourselves with demons. So please, I beg you...forget about what you had with him. It's for your own good."
He retracted his palm, and you were only left with the warmth of when it was still there. Your soul lamented, knowing very well that you will never feel love and companionship as strong as when you were with the Shimada. Despite the man's shortcomings and his obvious need for order and perfection, there was never a time when you desired to part from him. The butterflies in your stomach never ceased their flapping, no matter how long the two of you have remained by each other's side.
And you didn't think they ever will.
You loved him--you found to your dismay that you still actually loved him; even after knowing of what he had done to Genji, you still found yourself pining for him, throwing caution out into the wind just for the far chance of seeing him again. You were undaunted by the possibility of him stabbing you in the back when you least expected it--and it scared you.
You were still willing to give yourself up at the Shimada's disposal--wholeheartedly and without question. You knew there was no contest deep in your heart when it came to this--you would always want Hanzo and love him as though nothing went wrong along the way.
But you also had a duty to your family. Your uncle had your best interest at heart when he told you to forget Hanzo, and it was an unspoken rule to always follow your elders.
That meant forgetting all the memories you've built with him through the seasons.
That meant forgetting the warm, lingering touches you gave each other, or the tight embraces one would sneak in from behind.
That also meant forgetting the kisses that accompanied the fervent touches, kisses that always threatened to break out into much heated trysts, and kisses on the forehead that served to comfort a heavyhearted soul.
You have to forget the long nights spent talking about what lay ahead for the both of you in the future, discussions of a family, the desire to see the wonders of the world while being in each other's arms.
It was a bitter pill to swallow but it has to be done. You have to tell yourself that it didn't matter if you loved this man.
He was not coming into this chapter of your life.
***
Hanzo screamed, shattering the silence as raw pain seized his chest. He heaved, frantic slips of air just passing through his teeth as he ground them together to the point that they nearly cracked. The chains above him rattled, stretched to their fullest as the man they fettered fought for his freedom, or at the very moment, a chance to ease the agony by even just a little bit.
The screaming went on for a while, and in that tortuous span of time Shintaro would only stand right before his writhing nephew with about a dozen white-clad scientists hurriedly jutting down their observations onto their clipboards.
"Have you seen this before, Mister Akamine? Is it happening?" an omnic specialist inquired, glass eyes glowing brighter as the scene before him magnified in its virility.
"I've only seen it a handful of times," the elder answered without so much as a tint of interest lacing his voice. "The full effect of the curse will take place soon, calm yourselves. But...these chains are strong, yes?"
"They are--strongest metal we've produced here in the lab."
"Produce here?" There was finally a shift in Shintaro's voice as his eyes widened. "Fascinating."
"I'm glad you think so." The other scientists puffed their chests out in pride. "You've also brought us quite an interesting specimen yourself. If we could unlock the secrets of whatever is making this phenomenon do as it does, we could advance Talon as an organization that could finally stand up to the technology of Overwatch." His hands tightened upon the sides of his clip board. "Imagine the power we'll have with this weapon on our side--the possibilities are endless!"
"Aah!" Hanzo's racket was going over their heads. "M-Make it stop! Make it stop--it hurts!"
The accompanying clanking of the trembling chains went on for a while until a woman from the group gasped, pointing with a burst of her arm right onto a large patch of the Shimada's skin that began to ripple with a different hue. "The tattoo--something's happening with the tattoo!"
Suddenly reeled back into observation by the infectious enthusiasm of their colleague, all eyes trained themselves on the dragon snaking down the man's taut left arm as the once blue intricate lines dissolved seemingly like magic into much more prominent swirls of black, red, and purple, lines of varying thickness that resembled strips of smoke. The tail of the dragon that once curled to protect its master's beating heart morphed into the hideous red faces of fanged humanoids with empty white eyes and sharp horns protruding from their foreheads.
"What...is that?" an omnic scientist inquired with a shudder, half in fascination and the rest in unsettlement.
"It's always been there." Shintaro waved him off with a lazy sway of the hand and a roll of the eyes. "Don't be so squeamish."
Immediately after the complete transformation of the summoning mark, Hanzo's skin took on an ashen gradient before the faintest of purple hues colored his skin once more.
And then the chains shook one last time before they stilled, the Shimada having lost all of his strength as his weak body finally gave in to the exhaustion of the agonizing transmutation. With his head drooped low and his long black hair curtaining every side of his angular visage, the scientists thoughtlessly shuffled forward to try and get a reaction out of their so-called specimen.
Is he dead?
Shintaro, knowing better, only stood unmoving.
Then, as fast as they have come forth, the scientists all came scrambling back to where they started in a flurry, taken aback by the swift jerk of Hanzo's head that would have threatened to cut off the arm of a specialist had they been an inch too close for their own good.
"Mother of--" one muttered under their breath, a shaking palm clasped over their frantic heart. "What the fuck?"
Shintaro laughed at the deterioration of their professional facade and approached his disoriented nephew without so much as a thought of warning or hesitation.
"This--" He referred to the Shimada with an enticing wave of the palm "--could be the ultimate weapon we could use against Overwatch, and to top it off, he could be at your disposal: All that has to be done is a little bit of training and he'll be as docile as a pet. After all, what is it that you people always say around these facilities? Mind over matter?"
"The curse disregarded the physical enervation of his body and seemingly supplied it with its own energy!" The woman from earlier gasped and tilted her glasses back in place. "He's invincible!"
"Of course he is," Shintaro agreed. "If you have read the accounts I gave you from the scientists back at the Shimada castle, couple it with their test results, you should have the mental image pretty clear in your mind by now."
"To be honest I thought it was all extravagant jargon, but this...if everything in those papers are true-'
"-which they are."
"-then this is finally our game changer. We'll need to review those files and then we can finally fully concentrate on making him our very first sleeper agent--one that will carry out our bidding through the highest ranks of any organization. He will be our very first enhanced biological weapon."
Women and men nodded amongst themselves, eyes boring into the subdued creature that thrashed before them, hands scraping the ground with sharp claws as angry growls bubbled from his throat and out through grinding fangs.
This was a creature that looked like it could bring people down to the depths of hell and back again two times over; taming the Shimada will surely prove to challenge even the most callous of minds.
But then again...who said anything about taming? Who said anything about reducing this creature's virility and bloodlust?
It wouldn't be so much of a weapon if they took all that away. All Hanzo needed was a new perspective in things: wherein they are on a pedestal, and him tied around their leash.
***
Green hair, a bright smile, and an undying devotion to their father.
Genji always loved making people laugh...even going as far as making himself the butt of jokes for the chance of brightening someone's dismal day.
Oh Genji, such a bright soul! And he was the one to end it.
Hanzo let off another cry and thrashed against his metal bindings, trying to hurt himself as a wave of regret and sorrow fell upon his already battered soul and shattered it to pieces.
The masked men would come in on random intervals and they'd tell him a barrage of things they knew the Shimada loathed himself for, and even assault him with punches and kicks if the man should have the nerve to ignore them and block out every hurtful thing that came out of their mouths.
And whenever Shintaro does come across their afflicting of abuse, he would only half-heartedly command them to stop, saying Talon couldn't benefit from "broken goods".
Then a few days later--Hanzo has lost track of just how few-- his uncle personally gave him the news that he would be the one managing what connections and assets were left of Hanzo's clan to further push the advancement of Talon.
It was then that the Shimada comprehended just how far he has fallen, with his clan in irreparable shambles, his whole sense of identity went down with it.
Who was he?
But in his state of defeat, one thought in particular has crawled out of whatever was left of the wreckage that was his consciousness and he found himself speaking with a voice that nearly didn't sound like his own.
"Will they let me out of these chains, uncle? How long will I be staying like this?" he said, throat dry from the numerous times sobs have wracked his body. "The curse is long over. They should free me by now."
The elder clicked his tongue in disapproval and flicked the front of his robe to the side to step forward where Hanzo was kneeling. "They can't be certain that you won't hurt them. You know even better than me how volatile your situation is."
"But you promised me a life without chains!" Hanzo cried out, snapping as he reached the peak of his frustration. "You told me they could help, you told me that Talon would take care of whatever this damning thing is! I trusted you, I've always listened to you. I've been following your every whim ever since I was little, too naïve to even suspect that you actually held real concern over me. I listened to you--" Hanzo snarled and tugged at his metal restraints in vain. "I killed my own brother because I listened to you! You only used me--just like everybody else at the palace, you just used me!"
"Hanzo," Shintaro cooed, trying to soothe the red-faced, agitated man as he knelt with him. "I was only guiding you-"
"You had me wrapped around your finger the whole time!" Hanzo pushed his weak and recovering body to the limit, his own pride goading him on to finally voice the repressed defiance he had carried for twenty eight years. His voice cracked in the middle, but he hardly cared.
What was left of him to even bother with a noble and collected facade?
"Well, it's rather harsh if you put it that way," his uncle said, unfazed by all the accusations volleyed his way. "But I had to-- you were still inexperienced and your father was not helping our declining situation in the slightest. What happened to Genji, you know he had it coming. The people can live in peace now, nephew."
"There is no one for me to go back to--not even a lowly servant. You said it yourself: The clan is gone, and only I am to be held responsible for it."
"But with Talon's help, everything will go back to the way that it used to be. With your father and Genji in the way, there was simply no room for the clan to realize its full power. Now that they're both taken care of, all you have to do is concentrate on being leader without any more inconveniences dragging you back."
"Taken care of?" Hanzo's brows knitted in confusion before they furrowed altogether. "You better not have had anything to do with my father's death, uncle."
The threat beckoned a sort of mock hurt to paint across the elder's face and he clutched his heart with a solemn shake of the head. "What? How could you accuse me of such, nephew? You know that I was with you in the American base when he supposedly collapsed."
"I know how much of a snake you can really be." Hanzo growled. "I've watched you manipulate our associates in the dealings like it was just some easy feat; I've seen the support the other elders are willing to give you. Anyone of them could have done your bidding."
To both of their surprises, Shintaro responded with a loud laugh this time and wiped at a tear that gathered at the corner of his eye. "Oh, I always knew you had a sharp eye for these kinds of things. Well now that it's out, just think of it as a helping hand, Hanzo: Ever since I got rid of Sojiro, there has never been anything that stood between us and getting rid of your wyward brother in turn. They have both brought this upon themselves--remember it as such."
"So you did kill father!" Hanzo's rage was hell defined, and his bare hands would have split his uncle in half had it not been for the unbreakable chains holding him back. "You...! You-!"
"--and I are of the same blood!" Shintaro roared. "Call me whatever you like but remember that whatever you name me, you are much more despicable ten fold! Throwing away this opportunity, this power that comes with working with Talon. And the princess--she couldn't have picked a better time to be snooping about the palace and stumbling upon your duty--"
"(Y/N)." It was the first time he said your name in a long while. "What did you do to her? You better not have hurt her! Where is she, uncle?!"
"Calm yourself, Hanzo," Shintaro sighed impatiently with a roll of his eyes. "I was not able to lay a finger on her-"
"Did you send men to hurt her? To have her taken care of as well?" The Shimada gnashed his teeth until his jaw hurt from the force of it. "Don't you dare lie to my face when you unashamedly just admitted to the murder of my father! What have you done to her?!"
His matted brow broke out into a cold sweat.
Heaven help him. He did not know what he was going to be capable of doing if he even picks up on a breath of confirmation from the insufferable elder.
Before either of them could speak once more, the familiar panelled doors that Hanzo's tawny eyes have become more than acquainted with slid to their respective sides with a sharp whoosh, and two dull, uniformed men entered with one of them holding a purple vial in his gloved hand.
"We have orders to administer the concoction to the Shimada for testing purposes," one of them said. "If you won't mind, Sir Akamine?"
"I don't," Shintaro answered casually. "I'll watch even."
"What are you doing?" Hanzo muttered the words with the promise of a warning, the fire of indignance burning bright in his tired eyes. "No. Get away from me, don't touch me-!"
"Hold still." One masked staff was glaring through his tinted goggles as he attempted to steady the man's thrashing face with a death grip to the jaw.
"I got this," the other one replied readily. "Just give me a sec and hold this."
Appearing so suddenly in his hand like magic, a steely apparatus glinted against the Talon agent's fingers. From afar it looked like an irregular figure, a result of inexperienced and bad craftsmanship, but as they drew nearer, Hanzo registered what it actually was and backed himself out until his back collided with the smooth, cold wall behind him.
"Stop, don't you dare touch me-ngh--Arghh--!"
Cold metal pierced the sides of his face as the frame fit snugly around the figure of his defined head. Then there was an intrusion that tore past his full lips--metal as well--which to his horror, fit between his front teeth and have begun to separate the two rows of his teeth, moving one side up and the other one down low. They spread further apart until the two men decided that the degree of separation would suffice, and a sort of ratchet mechanism prevented Hanzo from clamping his mouth close shut.
With his resistance subjugated, the Talon agents were finally able to place the cold brim of the glass vial right against his bottom lip, and through the ringing of panic in his ears, the Shimada heard orders of this event to be recorded and monitored at all costs.
With an affirming nod of Shintaro's head, the man in charge finally tipped the vial up by the slender neck and the bitter fluid slid down Hanzo's throat, a final stab that told the disgraced man that his will was and will no longer be his own.
"Hanzo Shimada," the man in front of him announced with pride. "Talon's first sleeper agent. Test 1 commence."
Yo yo yo I'm tired but I love you si thank y'all for waiting and reading. It means a lot to me--your comments and votes give me joy so thank you again! T-T
See y'all in the next chapter, which is basically a bunch of:
*Turns tv on*
*Screams*
;) bye!!
~