Demoted || Genyatta

Chapter 20: We Fought The World With Hands Twice-tied

The hovercar hummed loudly as it floated down the narrow streets, and Genji looked round at the Overwatch members patrolling the area as they passed. Their blue uniforms stuck out plainly against the musty, grey buildings around them, and as the hovercar sped up, they became blurred in the corner of Genji's vision.

Eventually, the car slowed to a halt at the corner of a street somewhere. Genji mentally visualized the map they'd seen previously, and recognized where they were; they would simply have to follow these side alleys all the way north, and should stumble into the building eventually. The battlefield was to their right.

Genji hopped off the car, holding out his hand to help Zen off as well. The omnic accepted the help with a soft 'thank you', and it was the quietness of his voice that made Genji remember this was still Zen's first mission; he must be dying of nerves right about now. He opened his mouth to reassure him, but the driver of the hovercar spoke first.

"I'll be here when you get back with the civilians," he spoke as the car turned off, slowly gliding down towards the ground. "This car will fit 15 people, so if there are more civilians, comm it in, alright?"

"Got it," said Genji, giving him a nod. The driver shortly wished them luck on the mission, and then Genji and Zen were off, walking down the street north.

As Ana had predicted, the streets were completely abandoned apart from the occasional stray cat or dog rushing past them. It seemed a lot of pets had been left behind during the main evacuation. Somewhere to their right, although distant, were the distinctive sounds of a battle. Genji could hear the yelling of orders and, as they headed farther north, the gunshots became louder, drumming though the empty buildings. It felt as if they reverberated in Genji's chest, and when the enhanced hearing his visor provided picked up on a pained scream, he shuddered. He realized he hadn't missed these sounds at all.

"Are you alright, Genji?" Zen spoke up quietly, looking worried. Leave it to him to notice Genji's discomforts even while in the middle of his first mission.

Genji felt guilty for worrying Zen, as the omnic was probably anxious enough without his problems on top of it. Genji was the one here to offer support, to guide Zen safely through his first mission, yet he wasn't showing to be of much help yet.

"Yes, I'm fine," Genji said honestly, once he'd taken a deep breath to steady himself. "We should be there in a minute. Stay on your guard."

Genji's prediction was right; only a couple of minutes had passed before Zen pointed towards a building on the far end of the street, located in the middle of an intersection of two even smaller alleyways.

"That's the building," Zenyatta said, voice just above a whisper. "I saw a picture of it during the original briefing with Reyes."

The building looked like every other—it seemed abandoned and unsteady, and would probably collapse any minute. There wasn't any light behind the windows, nor any movement Genji could sense, yet if Zen said he recognized it the civilians had to be inside somewhere.

Genji fleetingly thought of McCree heading inside a building to save a civilian and losing his arm when it collapsed on him, but he pushed the thought to the back of his head as he strode forward, Zen sticking close to him. As he reached out to push open the front door, which hung loose on its hinges, he had his other hand on his wakizashi. Once he touched the surface of the door, Genji glanced at Zen, who gave a nod. Genji pushed forward on the door and it opened easily.

Inside, although it was dark, Genji could make out the clear signs of people having been here recently. There were empty cans of food spread all over the floor, and nearly burned up candles decorated every corner. With quiet strides, Genji walked up to the nearest candle and crouched down in front of it. The wax was still soggy, and the slightest bit of smoke rose from the wick.