Flirting on the Battlefield (WidowReaper story)

Present

Here and now

A gift

Offered up on a platter

~

"Reaper, would you mind explaining to the board why you're refusing to participate in the man hunt?"

Akande's voice sounds highly amused, as if he's relishing every second of this meeting.

Reaper rolls his eyes from behind his mask. Not too shabby a job either. He always did love making costumes... not that he'd ever let anyone here know that...

"Your man hunt has members of my old team on it."

Akande chuckles, "I did not take you for a man of nostalgia." 

Reaper takes a menacing step forward, "And here it seems you're exactly the fool I took you for." He crosses his arms, and snarls, "They'll know it's me the second they see my shadows."

Moira, who had been standing in the corner quietly observing, clears her throat. "As much as it pains me to agree with my temperamental co-worker, he is correct. Genji is a cybernetic ninja trained his entire life by the Shimada clan. I need not remind you that we have been trying to recruit his elder brother ever since my recommendation. They are highly skilled, those brothers."

Maximilien shakes his head lightly, "So don't go after your team, go after the others."

Moira steps in, with one quick stride. "Most would recognize his shadows. A necessary evil to ensure the product be perfected."

Reaper hated that, how casual it was for that accursed woman to talk about him like a guinea pig. Did she have no qualms? No line she won't cross for the sake of science.

"However, the answer is staring us right in the face."

Moira gestures towards a darkened corner of the room, where out of the shadows steps Widowmaker, who had apparently been standing their all the while.

Moira fades over to her, moves her arms around Widowmaker's figure, as if presenting her to all in the room. "She's my latest accomplishment. Surely she could wipe out every Overwatch operative alone."

Suddenly hushed murmurs go through the room: Ana Amari's reported death, the assassination of over 60% of Talon's Black Book, as well as her ability to further along any espionage required.

Widowmaker was looking like a valid option.

Moira's eyes dart to the side, a sly grin on her face as she makes eye contact with Reaper, despite his masked face. "I would love to see how my latest creation fares against the younger Shimada."

"Ah, but what of the young western boy? Jesse, I believe?" Akande asks, his eyes still filled with mirth, his voice still warm with delight

"McCree..." Reaper corrects, a hard edge to his gravelly voice. 

Moira almost laughs, "He may be a sharpshooter, but he has a moral compass that was beaten into him by a superior playing house." Hands clenched into fists at his side immediately; Reaper couldn't believe the gall of this woman. "He wouldn't try to kill Widowmaker... not if she puts on a good act."

As if being given a cue, Widowmaker's face contorts into fear, her breathing becoming shallow, her body shaking. A small, quivering voice escapes her parted lips, "I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I can't do this, I can't kill you... You worked with my husband! You... Please Jesse... Please help me!"

Reaper's breath catches in his throat. She was Amelie... but... 

As quickly as the facade had come, it falls, her face once more expressionless. Moira gives a curt bow, and Widowmaker copies her. "I've taught her to use not only her gun as a weapon."

She was offering her up like a steak.

Reaper tries to imagine what would happen if Widowmaker behaved that way towards McCree...

That brat would fall for it in an instant.

"He'd never fall for that. He's more the shoot first, ask questions later, kind of cowboy," Reaper interjects, sarcasm dripping from his gritty voice.

Now Moira's smile has spread into a full grin. A terrifying sight.

"Perhaps you should partner together. I'm sure the results would prove rewarding." Her thick Irish accent practically purred out the words.

"I agree." And Akande's voice rings out, sealing their fate. "But let's alter this arrangement slightly."

Reaper's ears perk, and Akande gives out a sinister recommendation: "Let's capture those boys instead. Perhaps they'll follow in their role model's footsteps."

No no no no no ... Reaper thinks to himself, body rigid with panic. He specifically left them out of his plans, he didn't want this for them. He'd kept tabs on them all the while, and he knew they were finding themselves again, outside of Blackwatch and the identity a life like that creates for someone.

Talon would destroy what part of their souls they had regained.

But alas, all in the room agreed with the suggestion, and it was only then, as Moira and Akande shared a knowing glance, that Reaper realized it'd all be set up this way. The praises Moira had sung about them, even goading Reaper into talking up Jesse; this was a planned development, and he had once again fallen prey to that witch's manipulations.

All he could do was hope and prey that his old students knew better than to get caught.