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Even though it was the apocalypse, there was a stillness in the Australian Outback, broken only by quiet noises made by the nocturnal animals. Deep darkness blanketed the land, making it perfect for viewing the stars as the moon was new. The tranquility was broken by the crackling of logs burning. Roadhog was sitting with his back against a red river gum tree close to the fire, making sure it wouldn’t go out as Junkrat laid curled up on a small blanket closeby. He was keeping watch so his travel companion could get some decent sleep. He had removed his mask, allowing his face to breathe after his tussle with Junkrat earlier. Mako nearly had to wrestle the younger man's prosthetic arm off, the wiry guy squirming and complaining the whole way. Eventually, Roadhog got it off of him. The last thing they needed right now was to have an infection while they were out in the wilderness. Junkrat whimpered in his sleep, kicking out his prosthetic leg, left arm grabbing where his right arm should have been. Suddenly, he shot up, left hand feeling the stump on his right arm. Roadhog quickly placed his mask over his face, he didn't fully trust the other quite yet. “Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do.” Junkrat shoved the blanket off of him, grabbed his prosthetic and attached it back to his arm. He winced momentarily, then moved his fingers around. Junkrat then turned to look at the man behind him.
“You still up, ya big lug? Thought you’d ‘ave slept by now.” The only answer he got was a grunt. “Was ya worried about me?” Junkrat cooed. “It’s not that dangerous out here ya know. The wildlife will get ya before someone else would. Gotta be crazy to be out here at night! Wait…” He looked deep in thought before shaking his head. “Nevermind. You should be good to sleep, no need to worry about me! I got the place around us rigged up to blow to kingdom come if someone happens to wander in too far.” Jamison let out a high pitched giggle, standing up momentarily only to flop down beside the larger man.
Mako couldn't control the rolling of his eyes; of course Junkrat would have the place rigged to explode. He was fairly certain playing with explosives was the reason behind the missing leg and arm. He hadn't asked about it yet, though he was sure the other would tell him eventually, Junkrat rarely shut up. Even in his sleep he talked.
“Without the smog and what-not, ya can see the stars out here. Kinda pretty.” The shorter man waved his hand towards the heavens. Roadhog grunted, and the two fell into silence. This only lasted a whole two minutes before Jamison rolled over and looked at the larger man. “Ain't much of a talker, are ya, big guy?” Mako sighed and looked to the other with a shake of his head. “Ya should tell me what ya did for a living before you came and rescued me from the bar! I mean, after we kicked their asses, and we hightailed it outta there.” He let out his high pitched giggle again, looking up at Mako with big eyes. “What did ya do before everything went straight to hell?”
“Farmer,” Mako gruffly replied.
“Farmer? Like you grew crops and raised animals? What did you grow? Corn? Nah, probably not, didn't see much cornfields outside Junkertown…” Junkrat tapped his chin, looking out at what they could see outside the fire’s glow. “Not that I ever went out much, preferred to stay inside…” He sighed wistfully, feeling homesickness starting to set in but he brushed it off, and continued on with his rambling. “Wheat? No probably not either… hmm, maybe you had animals! Cattle? Sheep?” He watched Roadhog shake his head with every suggestion. “Then what was it, big guy?”
Before Mako could even respond to the question, Jamison continued on. “I betcha had some pigs! A couple of them!” He exclaimed, sitting straight up. “Probably had names for them and the like.”
“Solar.”
“Solar? Funny name for a pig, would have called one Bacon.” Junkrat giggled, laughing at his own joke.
“Energy, if you'd quit talking long enough to let me finish.” Mako rubbed his face, being around Junkrat was going to be taxing on his patience.
“Energy, now that's not all that interesting ya know. Would have been better if you had animals. I can just see it now. Farmer… uh, what is your name again?”
Mako groaned at having to tell him again. “Mako.”
“Riiiiight!” He dragged out the word like he had known the other's name when he had really just forgotten it. “So, Farmer Mako, waking up early to feed the animals, you have let's say three pigs. Bacon, Porky and, uh…” Junkrat tapped his chin for a moment. “Wilbur! Yeah, those are their names. So, you go and feed the piggies their breakfast, and then you let them out in the pigpen to let them play in the mud and cool off.”
“Idiot, don't make up things.” Roadhog warned.
Jameson pouted at his travel companion. “Hey now, I'm trying to tell a story since you're not being very helpful and coming up with one.” He waved his finger accusingly before standing up and making his way over to the motorcycle, searching the storage compartment for food. “What did you do when things went down the hole?”
“Enforcer in the Australian Liberation Front.”
“Hmm… interesting,” Junkrat said offhandedly, not sounding very interested at all. “Well, let's not go down that route, don't need anything more depressing.” He pulled out a sack of peanuts and tossed a few in his mouth, chewing on them thoughtfully. “I got an idea, let's talk about what kind of treasures we're gonna steal to fool them into letting us back into Junkertown!” He cackled, throwing the peanuts back into the motorcycle storage and grabbing his own bag. He took a seat by the larger man as he rummaged through his belongings to pull out a grenade.
Now that Jamieson was close, Mako could smell the faint smell of sulfur from the powder the man obviously used to make his explosives, and a slight stench of singed hair. The distance between the two slowly closed as Junkrat pulled out a jar of yellow paint and started painting yellow ‘x’s on the red grenade. He did the same on the next and the next. Soon the ground became cluttered with red and yellow balls of explosives. The quiet was littered with the strange cries of the Australian nocturnal wildlife and after hearing the other man speak for so long, the quiet was an almost uneasy feeling. Mako cleared his throat. “Where to first?”
“Oy, yeah, right-o. Sorry, got distracted there, mate.” Jamison was so surprised by the question from the relatively quiet man he nearly dropped the grenade he was working on. “Ok, ok, how about…” Junkrat wracked his brain. “Ooh! How ‘bout India. I heard the organization Fishhard-”
“Vishkar.”
“Yea, yea, yea, what I said. Vishkar. It’s got all this fancy schmancy tech, right? What if we stole some of it and brought it back to ‘give’ to the Queen?” Junkrat giggled, knowing full well he wouldn’t be giving anything to the Queen ultimately. “We’ll get rid of the Queen and some suits shitty ol’ ray guns. It’s foolproof!”
It wasn’t foolproof. Not only was India a whole body of water away, Vishkar wasn’t exactly a beast Roadhog wanted to get himself involved with. He didn’t know much about it and that’s what concerned him. Not to mention their technology was completely foreign to him. Hardlight, it was called? It was something he was unfamiliar with. They’d need to learn more about what they were getting into before they did any sort of attempt at Vishkar. Roadhog shook his head.
“Maybe too risky? I gotcha, I gotcha.” Junkrat blew on one of the grenades, trying to dry the paint on it. “Maybe… Japan?” He was feeling a bit uncertain on whereabouts they could go in Japan, but the country was very technologically advanced there was bound to be valuables there. However, with valuables came with security the two Junkers had to go through. Roadhog thought for a moment. He knew that the Yakuza probably had something they might be interested in, but he didn’t know what. He stewed in his silence, unmoving.
“Yer right, yer right. We don’t know what we’d look for.” Junkrat stood up and walked over to the motorcycle. He dug through the storage compartment again. Pulling out a worn tote bag, Junkrat walked back over and sat down. One by one, he started plopping the grenades into the bag.
“Maybe Britain? We can try for the Queen’s jewels.” That was a bit more realistic. Roadhog had been to Britain a few times, though it had been over two decades ago. He was rusty, but he was familiar with the city to an extent. Not to mention there were ships that went from Australia to Britain and back all the time. They could stowaway on one. It’d be a miserable trip, Roadhog wasn’t sure if he could handle Junkrat bouncing around in a small compartment for up to a week.
It was a bad idea. But it was the best bad idea they had. Roadhog grunted.
“Ya like that one?”Junkrat asked. “Still a question of how we plan on getting to these places, not like anyone will let us on a plane ya know.” He gestured at the remaining pile of grenades he had been painting, many of them had gained faces when he grew bored of the simple ‘x’. He watched the bigger man eye them wearily. “They ain’t loaded yet mate. I ain’t that stupid.” Junkrat glanced at his prosthetic, before waving it cheerfully. “Well, not anymore at least. Learned me lesson after the first time.” The silence stretched on as the two stared at each other. Junkrat sat in though for a long as he could, which wasn’t very long at all. “Can’t rightly take a plane, and we can’t drive your hog over the ocean. I suppose we could steal a boat!”
“Can you even sail a boat?”
“Well, no… can’t be too hard, just steer and stay clear of rocks?” Jamison looked to Roadhog for some guidance, but he was stuck with just a stare. “What should we get… a barge? Tugboat? Speedboat? Ah, I got it! A yacht! Big enough to put your bike in and maybe big enough for all that treasure we’re gonna steal! It’s brilliant, I tell ya!” Once again he looked to the other, but this time he was greeted with a nod. Junkrat let out an excited gasp and stood so suddenly he knocked the bag over with the unloaded grenades, spilling them back onto the ground. He brought himself to his full height and proclaimed. “Captain Jamison Fawkes, sailing the seven seas in search for treasure to return them to his queen! Along with his first mate…” He faltered, almost shyly asking. “Oy, what is your name mate?”
“It’s Mako.” Came the exasperated reply.
“Riiiiight. Captain Jamison Fawkes and his First Mate Mako, sailin’ the seas in search of some booty to bring back, trick the Queen and take back our home! It’s the perfect plan, as long as no one screws it up.” He gave a glance to the other man before cleaning up the mess he made when he stood up.
Once he was finished and the bag was packed safely away in the motorcycle’s compartment, Junkrat grabbed his blanket and returned to his previous position by invading Mako’s space as he leaned against him. “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship, mate.” He settled in, enjoying the warmth the other had to offer. “We start first thing in the morning. So get yourself plenty of rest big guy, we got a long trip ahead of us.”
Roadhog replied with a grunt, settling in against the tree getting as comfortable as he could with Jamison already snoring against him. He allowed a smile as he stared into the dying embers of the fire. Mako had been hired on as Junkrat’s bodyguard for a share of the treasure they would find, there was a chance - as the other had said - eventually they could be friends.