#I need to write some Post Zen Chilled-The-Fuck-Out Genji though

[dabbledrabbleprose]

A Dragon Without Teeth

Genji gets some disagreeable news and overreacts, leaving Gabe as the only one to put him back in line. Or: sometimes showing love is beating the shit out of your idiot Blackwatch kids before they do something irreparably stupid.

Notes: This fic is inspired by this comic by @flaming-starfish

Read on AO3!

******

“Boss, you’re gonna want to get down here.”

Gabriel rolled over and fumbled for the clock. 04:36. Goddamn. Three hours of sleep was not going to be enough for the shit he had to get done today. He grabbed the little communicator from off his bedside dresser and put it in his ear.

“McCree,” he growled, voice low and rough with sleep. “If you don’t have a good reason for interrupting my beauty sleep, I am going to spend all day tomorrow finding creative ways to make you wish you’d never been born.”

He expected banter, sass, or any of the usual attitude McCree gave him, but it didn’t come.

“Genji found out about the Hanamura update,” McCree said, dead serious.

Shit.

Gabe kicked the covers off and launched himself out of bed, stuffed his feet into a pair of boots, snatched his beanie from off the dresser, and headed for the door, not wasting any time to change into anything more formal than the black sweatpants and the standard issue white tank top with Overwatch logo he was already wearing. He paused to look at the dual shotguns resting in their cases beside the door.

“How bad, McCree?”

“Bad.”

He grabbed one of the shotguns and headed out.

“Where is he?” Gabe asked, storming down the halls, keeping an eye out for anyone else still up at this hour. This was his problem to deal with, not Overwatch’s. Someone else getting in the way would only complicate things.

“Dunno, Boss. He knocked me on my ass and disappeared.”

“Commander Reyes,” Athena’s synthetic voice chirped to life on the communicator. “Agent Shimada is requesting access to Transport Hangar B.”

“Denied,” Gabe replied sharply, changing direction and heading for the transport hangar bays. There was a brief pause before Athena spoke up again.

“Agent Shimada is attempting to override my security protocols.”

“Well, don’t let him,” Gabe growled. “Lock down all transports, security clearance BW01. Agent Shimada doesn’t get to leave the compound until he’s dealt with me.”

“Yes, Commander.” Another pause. “Agent Shimada has elected to enter the hangar via the rooftop ventilation system.”

Of course he has. Fucking ninjas.

“Well, he can’t hotwire a jet. Keep all transports grounded, Athena.”

“Yes, Commander Reyes.”

Gabe cursed under his breath the whole way to the hangar, his vulgarity only intensifying as he got outside and the winter cold hit him like a brick wall. Goddammit. Fucking Shimada. Fucking January in fucking Zurich. Fucking Jack who had kept him up all goddamn night with yet another shitty argument. Fucking snow! God, growing up in Los Angeles hadn’t done him any favors when it came to temperatures that dropped below what a palm tree could handle.

The hangar was dark and quiet when Gabe finally reached it, which didn’t surprise him. Ninjas didn’t flick all the lights on when they were trying to steal a plane. He punched in his key code and submitted his bioprint, which overrode Athena’s lock, and stepped inside, the door hissing closed behind him. The hangar was a massive rectangular building, large enough to hold five of the mid-size aircraft Overwatch liked to use, though he could only make out outlines of three jets currently stored. The rest of the hangar was dark and featureless, though the moonlight and outdoor security lights steaming in through the high windows was enough to see by. It was also heated, thank God. Goddamn, winter was the absolute worst.

He’d only taken two steps when the feather-light touch of a blade against his throat stopped him.

Fucking ninjas.

“Drop your gun,” Genji’s mechanized voice hissed from behind Gabe’s left ear.

“I’m going to give you a chance to think really hard about what you’re doing and back off,” Gabe growled. “We can both pretend that you didn’t just massively fuck up and go about business as usual.”

The wakizashi pressed tighter against his throat, and if Gabe had so much as swallowed too hard, it would have split skin. “Drop. Your. Gun.”

Gabe let the shotgun fall to the floor with a clatter and the blade relaxed a fraction, but didn’t leave the skin of his throat.

“Tell me the access codes to unlock the transport.”

“No.”

“Tell me!” Genji snarled.

“Why? So you can fly off to Hanamura and undo everything we’ve done in the last year?”

“You have stopped all Blackwatch missions in Japan! The Shimada Clan still exists! If you are too cowardly to end them, then I will!”

Gabe sighed, his voice somewhere between exasperated and bored. “Are you going to keep jumping to conclusions, or are you going to give me a chance to explain why-”

“NO!” Genji shouted, and Gabe felt a sharp sting as the wakizashi drew blood. “No, I will not hear your manipulative half-truths anymore! I am going to my home and slaughtering the last of the Shimada clan, as I should have done months ago. As we should have done months ago! I will take my revenge upon-”

Gabe snapped his arm back and drove his elbow hard into the exposed circuitry on Genji’s artificial abdomen. The cyborg choked on his own words and his grip faltered just long enough for Gabe to twist out of his grip and put some distance between them. Gabe put a hand to his neck, feeling the wetness there, then looked down at his fingers, able to make out the blood in the moonlight.

“Alright, Shimada,” he said calmly, wiping the blood off on his sweatpants. “You’ve got some balls, drawing blood on your CO. I’m giving you one last chance. Turn around. Walk out that door. Go cool your hot head, go to bed, and we’ll talk in the morning. I’ll sleep with a biotic emitter, and no one will ever need to know what happened here tonight.”

“No,” The red lights on Genji’s cybernetics flared to life. “The access codes, Reyes.”

“That’s Commander Reyes to you, kid.” Gabe took a casual step forward, unarmed.

Genji took a cautious step back and shifted into a defensive stance, wakizashi held out before him. “The access codes, Commander Reyes.”

Gabe continued to slowly advance, his steps slow, calm, easy, and so filled with absolute confidence that Genji, a man literally rebuilt to be a living weapon, still cautiously retreated as Gabe strode toward him.

“No,” Gabe said calmly, then bent to pick up his shotgun.

Genji tensed, his grip on his blade tightening.

“You gonna turn around and leave, Shimada?”

The cyborg’s eyes narrowed and his mechanical right arm hissed, producing three shuriken that slid easily into his fingers. “Not without those access codes. I’m getting to Hanamura, one way or another.”

Gabe let out a long sigh and rested his big shotgun over his shoulder. “Don’t do this, Genji. Stand down.”

“You think you can stop me, Reyes?” He flipped the wakizashi in his scarred left hand, shifting into an attack stance.

“Lower your weapons, boy. Or I’ll finish what your brother started.”

“Bastard!”

Genji hurled the shuriken at Gabe’s chest, all three in a perfect row, one after the other. Gabe dropped the shotgun from his shoulder to block across his chest, and the tiny steel stars bounced harmlessly off. Before the shuriken had even hit the ground, Genji was already on the move and charged at Gabe, sprinting toward him with hardly a sound and slashed out at his face. Again, Gabe brought the shotgun up to block, steel squealing as the blade dragged across the barrel, and Gabe punched out at Genji’s flesh arm, driving his knuckles into the pressure point just inside his elbow.

Genji let out a curse in Japanese as his grip weakened on the blade and Gabe’s hand slid down the scarred arm to jerk the blade out of Genji’s grasp. He threw the wakizashi behind him with a wide motion that tricked Genji into watching the flying blade instead of his opponent, leaving himself open as Gabe swung the shotgun like a club and smashed it into the side of Genji’s face.

Genji rolled with the blow, springing to his feet a good five paces away.

“Give it up, Shimada. Stand down before you do something you’ll regret.”

“Never!” Genji spat, and rolled a new trio of shuriken into his fingers.

Gabe anticipated the next wave of flying shuriken before they left Genji’s hand, and hurled himself to the left in a roll. He heard the clatter of shuriken collide with something other than their intended target behind him. One, two little ‘tinks’ of metal. Odd. Where was the-

Gabe quickly discovered where the third shuriken had gone as it buried itself into his bicep.

“ARGH!” He sprang back to his feet and tore the shuriken out of his arm.

The patter of light footsteps was his only warning as Genji charged at him once again, one hand on the nodachi on his back. Gabe spun toward him, throwing the little star haphazardly at Genji’s face. Genji caught it with his artificial hand and threw it right back without missing a beat, the shuriken sinking into Gabe’s shoulder, but it had served its purpose of distracting Genji long enough for Gabe to aim his shotgun and fire just as Genji reached him.

The shotgun cracked like thunder, deafening as it echoed through the hangar, and Gabe took a step back and looked down at Genji. He’d managed to shoot him in the knee, point blank, and the result had blown the lower half of the cyborg’s leg clean off, leaving exposed wires and circuitry, smoking and leaking some kind of black liquid.

“Dammit...” Genji rolled himself over and stared at his leg lying beside him. A beat passed, and then he launched into one of the more colorful displays of language Gabe had ever heard, cursing in English, Japanese, and something that sounded like Russian. Gabe let him ride out his wave of rage, idly pulling the shuriken out of his shoulder and sinking down to the floor beside him, dropping onto his rear and resting his arms on his bent knees.

“Why?” Genji suddenly demanded, eyes burning in the dim light as they fixed accusingly on Gabe. “Why protect them?”

Gabe snorted. “Who, the Shimada Clan? Kid, if you think I’m trying to protect them, you’re more mixed up than I thought.”

“Why?” Genji clenched his hands into fists, and Gabe was almost worried that he was going to get more shuriken to the face. “Why stop the missions to Hanamura?”

“Because we’ve already won.”

“But the Shimada Clan-”

“Is a shell of what it used to be,” Gabe interrupted. “The Clan Elders are entirely gone, and they’re floundering without leadership. If we wipe them out completely, something else will rise to fill in the power gap. Something that we’re going to also have to take down. But if we let them keep limping on, let them keep thinking they’re big stuff when they’re a shadow of what they used to be, they’ll keep someone else from rising too quickly and become a threat we didn’t see coming. A dragon without teeth can’t bite, but it can still sit on a throne.”

Genji snorted and shot Gabe a venomous glare. “Did you find that in a fortune cookie? It does not matter. If the Elders are gone, that just means there is nothing to stop my brother from taking total undisputed control of the Shimada Clan, and you will not find him so easy to deal with.”

Gabe gave Genji an inscrutable look, and it was enough to make Genji pause.

“…What?”

“Did you read the entire report before you came charging down here with a hot head?”

“Why should that matter?” Despite his words, Genji’s tone was cautious, looking at Reyes closely.

“Genji…” Gabe chose his words very carefully and deliberately. “Your brother is gone.”

“…dead?” Genji stiffed and stared at Reyes with shock and…was that fear? Regret? Grief? Interesting. That all but confirmed his suspicion that the younger Shimada wasn’t as black-hearted as he pretended to be. Well, at least he wouldn’t be making fratricide into a Shimada family tradition.

“We don’t know,” Gabe replied. “The Elders had been trying to keep it secret, but it appears that Hanzo Shimada disappeared the night that he attempted to kill you. No one has seen him since, friend or foe.”

Genji looked away, his face a complex mixture of emotion, and Gabe gave him a few minutes to process the revelation, spending the time trying to get his shuriken wounds to stop bleeding.

“…So,” Genji said after a few minutes. “…What happens now?”

“That depends on you,” Gabe said. “You still planning on running off to Japan like an idiot the second you’re able?”

“No,” he said quickly, unable to hide all the shame he was trying to keep out of his voice. “No, I see why you made the decision you did. You’re right. Without my brother or the Elders, the Clan is done for.”

“Good,” Gabe said and got to his feet, brushing his pants off. “In that case, I’m carrying your stubborn ass up to the infirmary. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I guess now’s a good a time as any to tell you. Your Mark 2.0 body is ready.”

Genji looked up sharply. “What?”

“Your new body. Angela says it’s ready. She wanted to start the transition next week, but there’s no reason not to start earlier now that you know about it. She was saving it for your birthday. Ang is gonna kill me when she finds out I ruined the surprise.”

Genji’s eyes were wide and his respirator quickened. “You…you mean…this isn’t…” he looked down at himself.

“You think we were going to let you look like some half-built freak for the rest of your life?” Gabe asked. The anguished look in Genji’s expressive eyes gave him all the answer he needed, and he didn’t know if he wanted to slap the boy in exasperation or hug him in comfort. God, kids were dumb these days. “Hell no. This was just a temporary solution to get you off that damn life support machine and out of a hospital bed. The new one has been in the works ever since you got here. Be grateful. Ang has put her heart and soul into this thing.” Gabe offered him a hand to help him up.

Genji nodded numbly, at a loss for words, and accepted Gabriel’s hand, needing the help to get up on his remaining leg. Gabe helped him get situated, putting his arm over his shoulder, and started helping him slowly limp-hop to the door.

“Hey, McCree,” Gabe tapped his communicator.

“Here, Boss.”

“Get down to Transport Hangar B and clean up the mess. Don’t want people thinking there was some sort of a fight or anything.”

“And here I was thinking I might be able to get a little shut eye tonight.”

“You can sleep tomorrow.”

“It is tomorrow.”

“Now, McCree.”

The long, dramatic sigh was audible through the com. “Yes, Boss.”

Gabe opened the door to the hangar and a long stream of curses tore from his throat. “Fuck, I hate the cold. Goddamn. I’m too Californian for this bullshit. Fucking Switzerland.” He glanced at Genji as he led them to the main building. “Your new body will help with that, by the way. It’s got thermoregulation and full coverage, none of this ‘leaving half your torso hanging out in the open’ bullshit.”

“Have you seen it?” Genji asked once they’d made it back into the Watchpoint.

“Yeah. I think you’ll like it. It’s very sleek. Still has that weird-ass shuriken dispenser you wanted. Lightweight carbon steel, night vision in the visor, enhanced cybernetics in the artificial legs for climbing and jumping, and the shock absorbers will let you jump off a goddamn building without damaging anything. I hope you like green.”

“…It’s my favorite color,” he said quietly.

“Well, that’s a fortunate coincidence. Alright. Here we are.” He helped Genji down into an unoccupied bed. “I’ll message Angela and let her know you’re here. Tell her whatever excuse you want, but I’d recommend sticking to ‘Confidential Blackwatch Mission’ bullshit instead of ‘I skimmed a report, panicked, and tried to kill my commanding officer.’”

“I didn’t try to kill you,” Genji said defensively.

“Doesn’t matter,” Gabe said dismissively. “You couldn’t even if you were trying.” He finished getting Genji settled and headed for the door.

“Are you going to get yourself treated?”

“What, for this?” Gabe glanced down at himself, at the two shuriken punctures and the thin line of red across his throat, already starting to scab over. “Nah. I’ll just take a shower and slap a biotic emitter on tonight. Maybe I’ll have Moira look at it. I need to chat with her about something else anyway.”

“…I’m sorry, if it means anything. You were right.”

Gabe paused in the doorway. “…It does mean something. Just don’t do it again. Or maybe talk to me before you try to steal a goddamn jet next time.”

“Yes, Boss. And…thank you.”

Gabe glanced over his shoulder and nodded once, then vanished out the door. He glanced at a wall clock as he headed back for his rooms. 05:02. Maybe he’d be able to squeeze in another hour of sleep. He signed.

Just another night at Watchpoint: Zurich.