" NIGHTHAWK " genji shimada.

xv. destruction

KAILANI FLINCHED AS SHE felt a soft hand rest on her shoulder. She lifted her head from her hands to find Lena, Lucas, and Tigress standing before her. Lena was the one who had touched her, leaning down so that she was eye level with Kailani's sulking figure. Ever since her talk with Commander Morrison, she had been (quite-admittedly rather childishly) sulking beneath her favorite maple tree in the courtyard. She was surprised that anyone bothered to approach her, considering how absolutely distraught she knew she looked.

"Cheer up, love," Lena said with a soft smile. Kailani wanted to return the gesture, for Lena's smile was enough to light up even the darkest of rooms, though she couldn't bring herself to do so.

"I made a huge mistake," Kailani sighed, looking down at the mindless designs she had sketched into the dirt during her sulking. "I'm sorry I brought you guys into it."

"Don't do that," Lena scolded. "We said we'd have your back, no matter what. There is nothing to apologize for. If you're happy, so am I."

Kailani was more than thankful for her supportive friends. Still, there was a void in her chest that she was unable to fill. She got what she wanted: she confronted the man who took away her life when she was just a teenager. And yet, she still felt incomplete.

"I don't know if I am happy," she admitted after a moment. "I said that I was going to kill the Infiltrator, and I couldn't even do that."

"That isn't a bad thing, Kailani. It means that you're a better person than him," Lucas assured her. She wanted to believe him; she wanted to believe that she was a good person, but she couldn't. Not when she had the blood of countless innocent people on her hands, yet she couldn't bring herself to kill the man who turned her into that killer.

"But what if it was all for nothing?" Kailani fretted, frowning. "What if he ends up killing someone because I was a coward?"

"Then that is no one's fault but his own," Tigress said. The omnic seemed almost uninterested in the conversation, her robotic voice distant as though her mind was elsewhere. "If he kills again it is because he has no regard for anyone's life."

Kailani sighed. She knew they were right, and yet she couldn't stop blaming herself. If more people got hurt at the hands of the Infiltrator because she was unable to bring herself to forgive him, it would be as if she was signing their death sentence herself. She knew that her mind would never be at ease until the Infiltrator was dead. And part of her wished that she could fly back to Numbani and finish the job once and for all.

She looked up from the ground, gazing out across the courtyard towards two figures that seemed to be approaching the tree she was sitting under. As they neared she was able to make out their faces, though she didn't recognize either of them. They were dressed in Overwatch uniforms, and for a moment she wondered if they were simply visiting from another base, though the way they conversed under their breath, eyes flickering rather suspiciously around them, made her believe otherwise.

Kailani stood to her feet, watching the two figures closely as they made their way towards the headquarters building. She barely heard Lena ask her what was wrong, her voice echoing through her mind as though she was miles away.

"Do you recognize those men?" Kailani asked her quietly, gesturing towards the odd strangers. Lena studied them for a moment before shaking her head, glancing towards her worriedly.

Kailani scanned the courtyard. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as they landed on some more unfamiliar faces; this time, a group of three men lingering near the Overwatch dormitories. She glanced over her shoulder towards the first pair she saw, noticing them disappear inside the headquarters building. She frowned, an uneasy feeling embedding itself in her gut, and she took off at a brisk pace in the direction of Morrison's office.