the shooting stars and i || genssidy

chapter 13 || liberation

notes: small mentions of SA

cassidy didn't know for sure if it was a good idea to head back to headquarters. especially since gabriel had been manipulating the two of them to get away from each other. all of his stuff was there however, so either way, he would have to head there eventually.

it was 7 in the morning. cassidy didn't bother to sleep on the train from how angry he was. he felt so guilty that he wasn't able to reach genji on time. if only he had broken that door. he would have helped him and they would've escaped.

he wondered how genji was doing. if he was dead or not. maybe being used to let out a few things for talon's behalf. he just hoped he was doing alright and was safe. though the chances of that were very slim.

carried away with his thoughts, cassidy didn't even realize that he had made it directly to the doors of the main office. he stared at the entry, hesitating if he should head inside or try to fight talon on his own. sighing, he pushed the door open to be greeted by a half asleep gabriel who was leaning at the wall.

"i was waiting for you to finally show up." he said, giving cassidy a shallow look.

"reyes, do you have any idea on what you've done?"

"i told that little cyborg boyfriend of yours that he shouldn't get too attached to you. look what happened; a disaster, that's what."

exasperated, cassidy shot a finger at the bearded man with his beanie.

"listen to me, that has NOTHING to do with what happened." he screeched. "if it wasn't for genji, i would be rotting on the streets. he saved my life from the talon ambush, and now we're going to exchange the favor."

"there is absolutely no way i'm going to be taking orders from you, cowboy." gabriel said, chuckling to wind up the tension to make cassidy lose it. it was all so he could prove how fond cassidy was for genji.

cassidy looked to the side, his eyes darting at an blackwatch flyer. in very tiny words, it stated 'agents for hire'. suddenly, it sparked up cassidy an idea, looking back at his boss.

"too bad for you, none of your replacements came back alive. so you're either stuck with doing this stupid shit, listening to me, and actually destroying talon once and for all... or, we can just sit here and complain all day over why we haven't proceeded in any way, other than my love for a wonderful man like genji being the only concern you have." cassidy put one hand on his hip, reaching out to get a lighter, giving gabriel a smirk.

"go on, keep on going with your yappin'." he urged, lighting the cigarette he had kept in his pocket, letting out a puff of smoke from his breath.

gabriel was stuck. cassidy had got him good with whatever he had used against him. it was all only silence, with cassidy smoking right next to him. cassidy knew what he was doing, and it was going well. he just needed to push gabriel's buttons a little bit more.

"imagine how jack would feel about the progress we've made, plus all the new agents dying. such a shame." he stated, his eyes widening as if he were about to pounce back on the man like a criminal.

"FINE." gabriel snapped. "we'll go save genji. but this is the first and last time i'll listen to your crap." he looked quite angry by his loss, but at least it wasn't worse.

"good to hear you aren't sassin' me over all this."

"just shut up before i change my mind." gabriel said, gritting his teeth.

. . .

the three of them, without their beloved ninja alongside them, set off. it took them a few days to prepare. luckily they were able to track genji's location before his watch was out of signal, giving them talon's new headquarters. it was a different one but once again, in rialto. they made it in no time, sneaking their way into the entrance by knocking the guards out, mostly moira's help.