Chest Pains (Prologue)

It was one of them Escort the Payload missions the O.W. hired me to do. It was the usual five other hired guns and me. Sometimes, I'd thought it strange that Mako, Fawkes, hell even Amy (Amélie, seein' as how I can't pronounce her God-given name) would sometimes join our "side" of the battle. But, that's the normal gist of things I s'ppose now. I'd say we'd gotten over the unpleasentries that came alongside working with Reaper's ring of villainous friends. 'Sides, I tend t'think that Mako doesn't mind which side the big-pig is fightin' for. Just like me, I s'ppose we're jus' two feller's lookin' for some good coin.

This time 'round it was Route 66, an old hide-away for my used-to-be cohorts; The Deadlock Gang. I was dressed in my usual get-up that I wore from a time way back when I'd lost my arm. The now metallic limb that replaced it twitched in remembrance as I smirked, ashes from the cigar that was lit in my mouth tumbled down to the cold floor. I remember the day myself, the day I left the ol' crew. I tipped my belted hat, turning away from the empty wall. The red poncho I wore over the left side of my being was gettin' rather annoying, as it caught itself in my new arm, but I wore it out of sentimentality really. My old boss, my old friend was the man who'd given it to me... and taken my gamblin' limb in return. Tch, fair trade I guess.

As I turned away, the glimpse of a blonde angel befell me and I tried my best not to stare. Ziegler, the one person who'd never minded what I originally was, was glancing back and forth between this rag-tag group. It never ceased to amaze me really, the fact she always shared that damnable smile to everyone around her. Even the Ghost of Blackwatch got it from her. Personally, I'd never liked whenever she'd try and look in my eyes, my direction in general. I don't want my sinful past to infect her, nor anyone for the matter.

And I tried making up for it in the way I knew I could. By lettin' myself be hired by O.W., I was lettin' them guide my hand and my barrel in the direction they wanted to pull the trigger. I was their puppet, their weapon to use. I only let them do with me as they wanted; the ugly-mugged ape almost always sending me out with whatever group he so pleases, so that one day I might be a good man again.

That's what had led me here in the first place, Route 66. The "item" we just so happened to be escorting was some form of nuclear weapon. And we had to get it from Point A t'Point B, only problem I see with that? Let me reiterate on that, it's a God-forsaken Nuclear Weapon. Knowin' Reaper, he wanted his sickly, grubby hands on this thing for who-knows-what and wanted it badly enough to hire six other guns. We try and plant it, they try and relieve it from us.

Either way, some of us are going to die tonight. And I accepted that fact easily, one reason being? If I die doin' this, maybe I can be cleansed in the ways of battle, or whatever the giant tanking German was spoutin' about the other week. Maybe, if I die, I can be deemed good enough again to pass through the gates of Heaven and into God's mighty arms. Maybe I-

"Hey, McCree! Get a load of this, got a country-style mash up goin' just for you man." Lucio and his green amp weapon whatevers were blasting a form of sound, they alone wanted me to just rub my temples in annoyance. I'd never liked Lucio, not a racial dislike, no, just that he was rather annoying for my tastes. Always upbeat-

And before I could stop myself, I chuckled at my horrible pun. Lucio seemed to have taken it as appreciation for his disgusting new-age notes. "Aw-yeah, knew you'd like 'em man! Alright! Let's get it done, fellas!" He shouted out again, as he pressed a button on the side of his head-set, a visor rolling down over his eyes. It gleamed as he smirked back at me, a peace-sign thrown my way.

I could only grumble at the boy, surely, one of these days he would fall in this ongoing battle. And I'm going to be the one standing over him.

I blinked away that thought, my face contorting into a grimace. Sure, I've said I'd like to renew myself and free myself of these sins, but that doesn't mean they don't try and corrupt me again. It's just a fact. "Keep it to yerself, par'ner. Can't have the enemy knowin' we're here jus' yet." I growl back to him, my hand lowering to my side to unholster my beauty. My Peacekeeper. "Jus' got a couple minutes now 'till Winston arms the damned thing, then we can git on our merry way." My voice nearly croaked for some reason and one of my brows rose in confusion.

We were sending a Nuclear Weapon through a ghost-town, yet I had this itching feeling in the back of my head there was more to it than that. Usually we were flanked as soon as Winston finished armin' the bomb from wherever he sat on his gorilla ass. I knew somethin' similar was gonna happen as soon as we opened those doors, but I never voiced them thoughts. Instead, what had escaped my mouth was a large tuft of smoke that I'd inhaled from my glimmering cigar.

If I was gonna die, be it my smokin' habits that kill me.

A deeper, more constricted voice sounded to my right; Mako's, otherwise known as Roadhog, as he stood alone. His usually boisterous buddy wasn't seen next to him. "McCree. You take point." He grunted out his order to me, his black-soulless gas-mask gazing into my very being. I felt no need to complain, me generally being the one who goes up front anyhow.

My stetson still lowered, it looked as if I was glaring back at the bigger man as I turned my head to face his. With a single nod, I puff out another ploom of smoke. "You git my back, par'ner. I got yer front." And like that, I was facing the front of the group, the very doors we had yet to force open.

We didn't have to wait long.

A sort of static buzzed in each one o' our ears, mine being dulled out by the past sprays of bullets that had found themselves too close to my skull for my liking. "Listen up, Alpha. The timer is set to detonate in T-Minus Ten, the bomb itself is planted in an unsuspecting Limousine. It should be enough of a disguise so much so that Blackwatch and its troups shouldn't interfere for most of the time that bomb remains active. However, as soon as we breach their final wall, be prepared for a firefight." The very talkative ape's voice sounded in my ears. I could only shake my head as I turned to look back at the group.

"A'right gang, ya'll heard the monkey. Keep it calm an' steady until we hit their BOP." I said, barely catching Angela's gaze. The darker looking female that stood to her right, clad naught but in skin-tight purple leather, was giving me a look as well. Amy.

"And vat are our orders, monsieur?" Her expressionless face questioned me, the large rifle she had in her arms hung lowly as if she were bored.

"Git the job done. Simple as that." I wasn't in the mood for whatever the reason may be and I just wanted to get this over with. Hopefully, if tactical use (or whatever the word is) is brought upon us correctly, we might survive this little excursion. With that little thought in mind, I rose my boot-clad leg and kicked the door open.

Later

Just like Winston said, we saw no trouble escorting this planted vehicle. We passed the sights with ease and the tenseness of the situation drifted away over time. Now, however, with grim looks upon our faces, we stood before the large metallic wall that held the secrets of Blackwatch's impromptu base. I didn't know why, but the feeling of dread washed over me again like it had at the beginning of this lil' mission. Something wasn't right, yes, I know Winston had said there shouldn't be any resistance here, but it was never this quiet on similar escort missions.

I smelled the makings of a trap, but no one else seemed to have noticed. With a shake in my nerves, I turned back to the group again. Angela, Lucio, Amy, Mako and Hanzo (who had been silent all until this point) looked at me with expectations. What did they want me to say, I couldn't reckon I know. Surely, they don't want words of encouragement, mine at the time being only we might die. So why were they looking at me? With a sigh I didn't know was coming, I tilted my the edge of my hat upwards and glanced around them. "Look ya'll. Usually, Ah don't expect missions t'go like this. Bein' damn near battleborn an' all, I thought we might come across some kinda enemy line. With that said, Ah ain't expectin' it t'be silent in there either." I approached the side of the black vehicle and planted a hand on the hood. I was never good with encouraging people, but if that's what they wanted, I'll try my damn best. "But, that shouldn't deter us. The inside is all but unknown and could easily be booby trapped, but Ah trust none of us are gonna get too badly harmed." I was very bad at encouraging folks.

Lucio snickered at my attempt of a motivation speech and gave a nod. Boy, he really irked me, but I never let him know that. "Good one, boss man. It's like saying 'hope ya don't die!' but in a more friendly manner!" He threw his response at me; and like that, I lowered my stetson back down to cover the upper half of my face.

I wouldn't say he is, but if he were, he'd be the main reason why I still smoked.

Suddenly our ear-pieces picked up again, Winston's barely garbled voice sounded over them. "Alright, it's going to open in approximately 30 seconds, 25 seconds." He stopped speaking and I gave a frown, the butt of my cigar slowly becoming the only remaining bit. With that, I spat it out and turned away from the group who looked more-or-less inspired.

"Do not worry, Jesse. I had thought your speech was very motivational!" Came from behind me, the foreign source being none other than Angela. I simply grumbled and ticked the seconds off of the clock, waiting for the large sliding wall to open. I had come to resent the offer Blackwatch had given me back in the day, but I was soon starting to resent working with O.W. as well. Not for the same reasons, no, but for their sake of becoming corrupt like I once was. The medical angel reminded me seemingly every day that was not the case, but I've never believed her.

And I never get the chance to either.

Finally, a large whirring sound blasted us from the front, the giant metal wall rising slowly. Trepedition came over me, a cloud of sand and dust came up from it as it moved and I took several steps back. Finally, as it rose high enough to where we could see to the other side, we were left in shock.

Before anyone could comment, I raised my revolver up, waiting for the possible ambush. But none came, the empty room that lay in front of us was just that; empty. There was no one stationed, no one guarding, no one shooting at us. It was simply just empty. I took the first few steps forward, ushering for the group to stay still if anything were to happen. Passing by the large metallic door, it still pulling upwards, I glanced around. There was no one. Turning back around to face my crew, I took off my stetson with my cybernetic limb and cast a worried gaze to them. "This doesn' seem right, ya'll." I mentioned, walking back to the payload.

Mako was the first to recover, the big baddy held his junk-weapon with both of his large hands tightly. "This spells ambush all over." He stated, a large grunt coming from the pit of his belly. I shook my head in his direction, agreeing with him.

Why were there no one here? Winston himself had said their resistance would be cooped up in this area, but there was no one. That alone worried me, the ever increasing amount of dread began to swell from my stomach to the rest of my body. Turning back to the empty, void of life, room I motioned for the group to follow again. The payload moving on its own, as Winston had earlier installed an automated system within it. "Keep on yer guard, weapons up, no distractions." I said quietly, making sure it was only the group that could hear me. With my free hand, first placing my hat back atop my head, I reached down to my belt and grabbed hold of one of my trusty stun-grenades.

I had a deeply instilled feeling I might need it.

With the group being behind me, I had no way of making sure they did as I'd ordered, but that thought didn't bother me none. I was too busy keeping my own wits in check to care. Even as we moved along the drawn path Winston had set us on, there was no one. Not a single living soul could be seen as us six guarded the rigged vehicle. Why? Surely, Blackwatch was aware of what we were doing. Surely they'd planned against this. Surely, they'd-

"We made it, holy cra-hap! No scratches, nothing, new record us!" Lucio shouted out, just as my foot clanked against the designated placement area. I nearly turned and screamed at him for drawing attention to us, but then I'd remembered.

We were alone.

Biting my cheek so hard, it drew blood, I brought my revolver holding arm to my brow and wiped it. The built up sweat of worry going away. We had, we had made it with no injuries. Why was this mission so easy? There were no traps, no ambushes, nothing. Almost as if it were God's way of saying you're good to go. But it wasn't that easy, nothing is ever that easy, why would it be now? While I still didn't trust the situation, I knew I couldn't help but feel proud that we'd done away with it so soon. Glancing through the window of the limousine, I'd noticed the timer read 2:34 left. It didn't feel like it'd been eight minutes of walking in silence, but it was apparently. I gave a dry chuckle, for once agreeing with the D.J.

I chuckled too soon.

A loud PANG! sounded off in the distance and clipped me directly in the chest, I went flying back into a smooth metal crate. "Aghh!" I shouted out, my revolver landing several feet away from me. My chest was on fire, the gang in front of me turned to wherever the bullet came from. I couldn't breathe, it was so hard to.

"Ambush!" Angela shouted out, turning her attention to me as she raised her healing rod. Quickly, she lept in my direction and was just about to start the usual healing process before-

PANG!

All I saw at that moment was red, the blonde woman looking down to see floods of the color dripping from her neck. Whoever shot at her and me had great aim as I only heard two shots fired. Angela looked down to me in shock, dropping her healing rod as she brought her hands up to her neck. "Angela!" A shout came from our right, Lucio being the one who screamed as he tried to drop behind the vehicle.

When did things go so wrong? Oh, right. The moment we let our guards down in a faux-victory. It was very soon, Angela's body dropped directly in front of mine and all I could do was sit back and watch. Her blood-coated hand reaching out as if I could save her. Why didn't I feel bad? Was it because she was going to meet her maker, as with I? I struggled to breathe, my eyelids feeling very heavy as blood poured from my newly-opened chest. "Don't worry, give me a second. I got this!" A panicked shout came from Lucio, and he got up and started sprinting to me.

A gleam out of the corner of my eye warned me, and I tried to raise my voice to tell him to get down, but all that came out was a bloody garble of nonsense.

PANG!

And soon, his body followed Angela's.

PANG! Hanzo dropped in his position.

PANG! Mako, a large flopping sound as his meaty flesh came in contact with the ground.

PANG! And like the rest, Amy, the Black Widow herself, fell.

Whoever was firing upon us had not missed a single shot, each landing at their targets with brutal accuracy. A voice sounded, buzzing in my ear as I struggled to look up. "McCree?! What's going on?! Your entire teams' heart rates flat-lined. What's going on down there?!" Winston shouting in my ear didn't stop me from bleeding out, I could only grumble as I wheezed. Why hadn't I died yet? Was this a cruel joke from God himself? Or was it the Devil who decided to pay me a visit today?

Finish the mission. Was my only thought as I lazily strolled my eyes to look through the limousine's window.

1:02.

"Winston... Ambush... Team killed..." I couldn't hear myself speak, it sounded like a I was mashing up potatos with whatever came from my mouth. I was sure Winston understood what I meant as I heard the great ape's footsteps through the comm-link we shared. I glanced, some form of newfound invigoration filling me, back at Angela's new corpse and gave a frown. I struggled to move, but I finally did so with much discomfort. Somehow, whoever had gunned us all down hadn't noticed me move. Probably assumed I was already dead and was congratulating themselves.

Slowly, but surely, I pulled myself to the vehicle's door, a line of blood following in my path as my chest continued to pour out the stuff. "Ya'll better have mah seat reserved up there, you bastards." I grumbled angrily at the heavens, pulling myself up with the handle of the car door. In doing so, I pulled it open as well, my gun-arm feeling very weak at the moment.

With one final grunt of pain, I was inside the set-to-blow vehicle. Looking over to the explosive sitting in the driver's seat, I caught sight of a small pass-key required number pad. I shook my head in minor annoyance, a heavy sigh leaving my body as I shut the door. Knowing full well I was going to die just now, I brought my cybernetic arm up to the keypad and pressed the keys in the order I was told if it came down to it. Which it did, as one could clearly see. 1762. Why it had been those numbers in particular, I had no idea and I was never going to find out. I heard muffled footsteps outside of the vehicle, but those were drowned away as an automated voice came from my left. I pulled my hat down and rested it upon my knees as it made way into my ears.

"Automated Self Destruct, T-Minus 5-"

I tried to keep my eyes open, they were struggling to keep me awake. Now, I knew there was only one thing to do. Quickly, ignoring my open chest-wound, I pulled from my belt a small box and produced a cigar.

"Automated Self Destruct, T-Minus 4-"

Pulled up my robotic arm and sparked up my new cigar, soon placing it in my mouth. A bloodied cough came very soon after, but I enjoyed the smoke none the less.

"Automated Self Destruct, T-Minus 3-"

With a large sigh and drag of smoke, I lowered my arm again, now training my eyes on the car's internal clock. It read a certain time and I gave an ironic chuckle.

"Automated Self Destruct, T-Minus 2-"

Feeling there was no better time to say it, the footsteps closing in nearer on my position, I propped open my mouth, a large tuft of smoke leaving my lips-

Automated Self Destruct, T-Minus 1-"

The door had just been pulled open again, a tall black man looking down at me with distaste, but his eyes soon glued themselves to the timer. His blackened eyes widened, looking back to me as I gave a smug look in return.

"It's hiiigh noon."

A blinding flash came up suddenly from my left, searing pain in the entirety of my body filled me. I knew I'd been about to die, but something happened. Something I'd never expected to happen. The pain I'd suddenly felt vanished immediately and I couldn't understand as to why. I'd just been killed-

But then I woke up.