Chapter Text
As the transport approached the warehouse, the ground split beneath them, slowly opening up to reveal a hidden hangar.
The aircraft slowly descended into the secret landing zone, traveling a good hundred feet before landing on a pad marked with a large number 4, with a solid thump .
Ashe peeked out through the transport's windshield and surveyed the area, scanning for any signs of a Talon presence in their immediate surroundings.
Besides a small number of landing pads, a few supply crates, and a small control tower set into the hangar wall, it didn't seem anyone was around. Or at least, anyone that Ashe could see.
She turned back to the pilot, who was busy shutting the transport down.
"You're sure that there's nobody here, right? You better not lie to me," she said menacingly.
"I'm positive nobody's here. This hangar is almost never used since this substation isn't exactly the center of Talon activity." The pilot flipped a few more switches and the cargo ramp hissed open. "As long as you move fast, nobody will see you, I swear!"
Ashe gave him a suspicious glare, but eventually decided he was telling the truth. "Just keep this engine warm and act all natural-like. If any of your buddies start askin' questions, make up something good, alright? Juan'll stay here to keep an eye on you."
Without waiting for a response, Ashe spun on her heel and marched out of the cockpit into the cargo hold.
She didn't have to worry about the pilot; Juan would keep him in line, and Juan had a few more brain cells than most of her crew. He'd know if something was up.
A few moments later Ashe peeked her head around the side of the transport, her eyes darting from one thing to the next.
No sign of Talon, so far so good.
She turned back to her crew, who were standing behind her on the transport's ramp.
"Come on," she whispered, creeping out into the hangar proper. "And make sure you stay quiet!"
The rest of her gang slowly crept out behind on, throwing furtive glances at their surroundings as they quietly made their way to the hangar's exit.
A few minutes of subpar stealth passed without incident, until about thirty feet from the hangar's exit, a massive rumbling noise filled the air around Ashe.
Panic flooded her as the sound invaded her ears, blocking out any other thought in her mind. She started looking around the space frantically for the source of the noise.
Was it an alarm? Had Talon found them out? Was another aircraft coming in to land? Ashe looked up and found the answer to her question.
The overhead hangar doors were slowly closing, making a horrible cacophony of metal in metal. She watched the doors close, her heart rate slowing as sweet relief took hold of her, until the doors shut with a loud clang, plunging the hangar into a thick darkness.
A few moments later, the lights flickered on, illuminating the entire space with a harsh white light. Ashe let out a sigh of relief, hearing the others behind her do the same.
"Hoo boy," Travis said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "That scared the sh-"
"Shh!" Ashe hissed, shooting him a glare. Travis immediately cut off, looking properly chagrined. They were so close to the hangar's exit now, the last thing they needed was to have their presence made known by a pair of loose lips.
The tension slowly grew, almost reaching a breaking point, as Ashe and her crew traversed the final dozen feet towards the hangar's exit.
Ashe carefully pressed the door's access panel, praying that it wouldn't be linked with an alarm of some sort. The door slid to the side, causing Ashe to jump a little.
I'm jumpier than a hare high on moonlight , she thought as she stepped through the doorway. She was greeted with a long, empty hallway that seemed to stretch for miles.
Still no sign of Talon, and from the looks of it, no signs of surveillance either. Security seemed to be pretty lax, but then again, nobody would be stupid enough to break into a Talon base, especially since Overwatch was disbanded.
"Alright, the coast looks clear for now," Ashe looked at the gang members behind her. "Remember, search the floors I told you to and meet back here in about minutes now. Find McCree, and get him back to the transport ASAP. Once that's done, we can grab whatever loot we can, and then get the hell out of here, understood?"
She fixed each and everyone with a hard stare, waiting for them to nod their agreement. There was conviction in their eyes, more than Ashe usually saw when they were pulling a job.
Then again, that could be due to the fact that this job would be involving a lot of high-tech advanced weapons and gadgetry.
But Ashe knew that the determination in Travis and Gianna's eyes was sincere; they genuinely wanted to save McCree. And so did she. If this entire op failed, then…Best not to think like that.
F ocus on one step at a time. And if something goes wrong, there's always room to improvise.
Ashe gave her gang a nod, satisfied with what she saw. "Alright, get goin'. And remember, keep quiet and do your best not to let Talon know we're here."
One by one, her crew split off from one another, some going to where the higher floors were, and the others traveling further down the hallway to begin their search of the current level, leaving Ashe to find the lower floors by herself.
The hallway wasn't exactly marked with signs giving directions, but after a few minutes of scouting, Ashe was able to find stairs that led to the lower levels.
After a few flights of stairs, Ashe quietly pushed open the door that led out onto the lower level. The number of stairs wasn't exactly small, but taking an elevator would be too risky, given that she should run into Talon personnel in an elevator car at any time.
Praying that her crew had enough sense not to use the elevators, Ashe slowly crept out onto the landing, all her senses on alert.
The level she had arrived on appeared to be exactly what she was looking for; a long corridor lined with what appeared to be heavy-duty cell doors.
Spurred on by the fact that she was looking in the right place, Ashe snuck over to the nearest cell and opened it.
The heavy metal door slid open, revealing a dimly lit room lined with two sleeping benches, a sink, and a toilet.
Not the worst cell she'd seen, certainly better than the cell she met McCree in back in Bellerae, but unlike that cell, this one didn't have McCree in it.
Ashe stepped back and tried the cell across from it, jabbing the button on the door's access panel. Empty again.
"Damnit, where are you, McCree?" Ashe muttered under her breath, moving to the next cell. And the next cell. And the next cell.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty!
Ashe closed the current cell's door, anger boiling up inside of her. Where was he?! She didn't have the time to look through every single cell on this floor, not with the clock running down.
Ashe moved onto the next cell, seeing the same sight she'd previously seen so many times. Panic started rising in her.
Her prospects of finding McCree were growing smaller with each cell she checked, and she doubted that the rest of her crew had managed to find him either.
A horrible thought suddenly struck her. Maybe they moved McCree to a different location. Maybe he's already gone, and this is all for nothing! Ashe's insides gave a painful twist at that. If that happened, I'll never see him again. Ever.
Ashe suddenly stopped in her tracks, her heart pounding. She cocked her head to the side, listening with bated breath.
Was that…voices? Not daring to hope, for fear of the crushing disappointment, Ashe quickly crept towards the end of the hallway and slowly peeked around the corner.
Two soldiers, clad in red Talon armor, were standing in front of a cell, chatting amongst themselves. Wait, no. Not standing in front of a cell. Guarding a cell.
Ashe's heart leapt with excitement. It was McCree, it had to be. Ashe leaned back into her hallway and unslung the Viper rifle from her back.
After checking to make sure there was a bullet in the chamber, Ashe leaned back around the corner to get an angle on the guards.
Her rifle wasn't silenced; Ashe liked letting people know she was shooting at them. But, she figured that this far down in Talon's base, with nobody around as far as she knew, she wouldn't be raising any alarms with her shooting.
As quietly and slowly as she could, Ashe raised the rifle to eye level and took careful aim.
"... I'm still not used to the TSWs, the fire rate is too high despite the caliber."
"You've just got to get used to it. Try going to the practice range more oft-"
Bang!
The nearest guard dropped like a rock, a smoking hole in the side of his gleaming red helmet. The remaining guard instinctively raised his weapon, looking around in alarm.
"What the fu-!?"
Bang!
A second shot split the air and the remaining guard joined his comrade on the floor, dead.
Ashe gave a satisfied smile, resting her rifle on her shoulder. They barely knew what hit them, and from the sound of it, no alarm had been raised.
She made her way to where the bodies were, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. She was just seconds away from the moment she'd been planning for weeks.
All that hard work, all those sleepless nights, all that stress and anguish, were about to be worth it. Ashe's hand trembled as she reached out to the cell door's access panel.
After a brief moment of hesitation, filled with a million worried and fears, she pressed the button to open the door.
The cell door quietly hissed open, revealing a dimly lit room quite different from the others she had seen.
Tables filled with torture instruments lined one wall, a mirror occupied another, and in the middle of the room, strapped to a chair was…
"McCree," Ashe breathed.