Chapter Text
When Genji stepped off the shuttle with two figures in tow, Cassidy wasn’t sure what to think. The first was a floating robot monk. The other… well there was only one person in the world Cassidy could think Genji would bring into the fold.
His brother.
Cole just tipped his hat and did his best not to say anything stupid. For starters there was a lot to say about the man having his whole left side out, tit and all. It left nothing to the imagination when it came to his broad shoulders and the curve of his muscles. His face was angular, handsome like a lord out of a feudal era tale Genji used to gush about. A dragon tattoo swept down his left shoulder all the way to his hand, twisting storm clouds and scales over pure muscle. His graying hair was pulled back with a yellow scarf, and his deep brown eyes were scanning them each one by one as Genji tentatively stepped forward. He was in traditional Japanese clothes too, which was also a dead giveaway. The large recurve bow strapped to his back looked positively deadly.
Genji had always said he was a heartbreaker before his cyborg transformation, so it really shouldn’t surprise Cole that his brother looked like… that.
Genji rubbed the back of his metal helm. “I know the call was for me but--”
Winston laughed, coming forward and clapping Genji on the shoulder. “If you vouch for them, they’re welcome. We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
Winston extended the other Shimada a hand. “Name’s Winston.”
“Hanzo.” The other man practically growled out. He still shook the scientist’s hand tentatively. Winston’s gorilla hands dwarfed Hanzo’s whole arm and Cassidy smirked as he watched the realization dawn on the other man’s face that this operation was run by a literal monkey.
Clear, immediate regret washed over the Shimada’s face.
Cassidy couldn’t help but come forward with swagger and his hand. “Howdy there. I’m Cassidy. Cole Cassidy. Cass to my friends.”
Hanzo peeled his eyes from the literal gorilla in front of him to look him in the eye and the regret quadrupled when Cassidy gave him a wink. Cassidy got that a lot. The cowboy getup always threw people off. But Cassidy believed in being true to his roots.
It turned out trying to befriend Hanzo Shimada was like trying to coerce a stray dog: approach slowly, offer small kindnesses, let it size you up and decide if it trusts you on its own, then don’t betray that trust.
See the thing Cassidy knew that most of the others didn’t was that Genji was a cyborg now because Hanzo had basically beaten him within an inch of his life, aiming to kill him because he rebelled against the family.
If he’d met Hanzo when he was with Blackwatch, he might not have let him off the shuttle.
Looking at the elder Shimada now though, he was all too familiar-- all growls and distance when you extended a helping hand, but begrudgingly he took it. Genji had been the same when Cassidy first met him. The ninja was angrier than a hornet swarm and just as prickly. Honestly, he had every right to be with what happened to him. These days, Genji was at peace and he had forgiven his brother completely for the whole nearly killing him thing. There was nothing Genji wanted more than for Hazno to feel a part of the group the same way he did. Thus Cassidy respected that the only way he knew how; being unfailingly welcoming.
Hanzo was suspicious the whole time. It was kind of hilarious.
“Why are you… like this?” Hanzo asked a couple weeks into his stay when Cassidy came to his quarters door and invited him to the team dinner for the tenth time.
Cassidy shrugged. “Can’t say for sure. Might be that I’ve seen your kind before. So wrapped up in his own head he didn’t know if he’d found his rope or lost his cow.”
Hanzo only looked more irritated. “What does that mean?”
“You tell me. What’d you come here to find?”
Hanzo sighed and began to shut the door.
“Let me offer some unsolicited advice.” Cassidy caught it with his metal hand, making the other man growl in irritation. “You ain’t foolin’ nobody. You were looking for Death and have been offered a chance to live. Really live. Maybe for the first time. It makes sense you don’t know what to do with that.”
“What do you know about it?”
Cassidy laughed as he removed his hand from the door. “You think you’re the only one whose done bad things they ain’t proud of? Things they thought no one could forgive them for? Sun don’t come up just to hear you crow, bow boy.” Hanzo didn’t say anything as he shut the door. But he was at dinner about fifteen minutes later.
After that they were… friendly. Sort of. As much as you could be friends with a dragon. Luckily, Cassidy knew a thing or two about that. Hanzo came to meals and made some polite small talk. Even said hi to him when he passed him coming out of the training room. He couldn’t convince Hanzo to train with him yet but it was progress.