#yes Amaris is the poster boy

[localgardenweed]

ONE MORE TIMEEE!! CAN I GET A ONE MORE TIME

SLOTS TAKEN: 0/5

Will NOT Do: NO COMPLICATED MECHS OR ARMORED CHARACTERS, NO NSFW I AM A MINOR AND NO PROSHIP

Will Do: OC’s,Furries, Simple Armor/Mechs, Ships, Artistic Nudity, Slight Suggestive Themes (We’ll Discuss) and Multiple Characters (Pay extra 10/Month of Nitro per added character)

If interested DM on Tumblr, we’ll discuss everything there, i’ll send a sketch for last minute critique and when it’s time for payment, you’ll send the nitro via discord dms and I send the final drawing there too

Under the cut it’s all the coloring styles from the gif

[nitewrighter]

Hey :) i kinda miss your prefall Gency fic... Do you think you can write some more ? Take care ♥

I’m still thinking about the canonical existence of Overwatch Propaganda Cartoons that we saw in that preview of Hero of Numbani.

...can you tell I watched old GI Joe opening theme songs specifically for this fic?

Also credit goes to @apocryphist for coming up with “underhand” which really should be the only name for villains in the Overwatch universe.

-----

Genji drummed his fingers on the conference room table as he rested his chin in his other hand. Mercy sat to his left, nonchalantly tapping out some correspondence on her tablet as they waited. On his other side, Tracer was bouncing her knee with her fingers interlaced on the table in front of her, doing her best to at least put forward the semblance of a strike team leader despite her fidgeting. Winston sat stiffly next to her, apparently trying to scroll through lab results on his own tablet but clearly too nervous to stay focused. It was a bright and slightly breezy afternoon in Zurich, and normally Genji would have been gracefully slashing his way through the training grounds at this time, but instead they were all here.

“I can’t stand it when they don’t say what the meetings are about,” mumbled Winston. 

“It’s probably a top secret mission!” said Tracer.

“’Secret?’” said Winston, sounding even more nervous, “I’m... I’m not exactly good at ‘secret.’”

“Is it unrealistic to hope we got more intel from Doomfist?” said Genji, glancing at Mercy.

“I wish,” huffed Mercy, “But from what debriefings I could get my hands on, he hasn’t given us anything useful.”

“How is that possible?” said Genji, “After all the internal damage he did to Talon’s internal power structure, shouldn’t they be scrambling without him? Shouldn’t there be a power vacuum?”

“I don’t know any more than you do...” said Winston, readjusting his glasses. 

“Honestly I thought you’d know more about it, what with the Blackwatch stuff,” said Tracer.

“Still benched,” said Genji, folding his arms.

“Officially,” said Mercy with a slight side-eye.

Genji gave her an amused “Hmph,” before saying, “Either way, Reyes pushed me out of the loop now that I’m on your strike team... not that I paid that much attention to the loop befo---”

The door opened and everyone perked up at the sight of Jack Morrison and Sojourn walking into the room. Jack seemed uneasy, but honestly Mercy couldn’t really recall the last time he seemed at ease.

“Okay, before we start, I want all of you to keep an open mind with this,” he said, looking across all of them.

“...Very encouraging, Strike Commander,” said Sojourn, with slightly sardonic amusement. She put her hands on her hips and turned to face Tracer’s strike team, “As you all know, when you’re recruited into Overwatch, you sign a waiver allowing us to use your image in... all sorts of stuff. Press releases, scientific publications, training videos for new recruits---”

“Posters,” said Mercy, already skeptical.

“Posters, too,” said Sojourn with a smile, “However, back during Omnic Crisis Reconstruction, we were using the images of heroes for a lot more.”

“Heroes?” Genji repeated quietly as Sojourn produced a remote control from the pocket of her jacket and hit a button. The venetian blinds tilted to shut out the sunlight and the lights of the room dimmed as the wallscreen lit up behind Sojourn. The screen lit up in bright colors and red and yellow explosions as a trumpeting fanfare started playing. Tracer’s face lit up as a young cartoon version of Jack Morrison appeared on the screen, pumping his fist in the air. 

“The world needs heroes!” said the cartoon Jack Morrison, “Are you with us?” 

Genji glanced at Jack who was very clearly cringing at his cartoon self.

“Oh yes!” said Tracer, her eyes bright, “It’s been years since I’ve watched this! You guys know the song, right?” she said looking at her teammates, “..No?”

The theme song was already playing, and Tracer was singing along with it eagerly.

There’s no need to fear

Overwatch is here!

Saving all we hold dear!

Mercy made a ‘I really hope this meeting isn’t going the way I think it’s going,’ face at Genji and Genji suppressed a chuckle, but Tracer seemed absolutely thrilled and even Winston was humming along with the theme song. The theme song kept playing and even introduced different members of the old Overwatch Strike team. One of the animators clearly had fun lavishing a lot of attention on Ana Amari’s hair whipping around from the force of an explosion behind her. A still-blonde cartoon Reinhardt brawled fist-to-fist with some kind of black and neon green robot. Cartoon Morrison jumped a motorcycle off of an aircraft carrier with cartoon Reyes wielding a missile launcher in the sidecar. Torbjörn and Liao were working side by side in a lab before the camera panned out to reveal they were in a bright blue tank-like vehicle Genji safely assumed was entirely made up to sell toys, firing off RPG’s with even more explosions. Sojourn chuckled watching her cartoon self fire two submachine guns at black and neon green helicopters while parachuting out of an exploding jet. There was, all in all, a frankly ridiculous amount of explosions. It finally ended with one last massive explosion and fanfare and cartoon versions of Sojourn and the entire original strike team all pumping their fists in the air with Morrison in the center. 

Sojourn hit another button on her remote, the wall screen blipped off, the venetian blinds opened and the lights came on, leaving everyone sitting at the conference table blankly.

“Ahh! Still just as good as when I was a kid!” said Tracer, excitedly.

“Now, I know what you’re going to say--” Morrison started.

“Propaganda,” said Mercy, “You want to put us in propaganda.”

“You’re already in propaganda,” said Sojourn, flatly.

“This is propaganda aimed at children!” said Mercy.

“Do you know how young Talon is recruiting?” said Sojourn.

“That doesn’t mean we should stoop to their level!” said Mercy.

“Wars aren’t just won by strategy and firepower, they’re also won by ideology, by public support,” Winston suggested.

Mercy remembered something Moira said and it sent a shiver down her spine. 

The true struggle is for the superiority of ideas.

“Thank you, Winston,” said Jack, “It’s not necessarily about convincing them to join, it’s about convincing people that we have their best interests in mind. Which...” Jack gestured, “We do.”

“Those bad guys didn’t look like Talon,” said Genji.

“Oh, it wasn’t Talon!” said Tracer excitedly, before dropping into a dramatic narrator voice, “Underhand is a Ruthless Criminal Organization determined to rule the world!”

“Uh--Underhand?” said Winston. Jack said nothing but somehow managed to look more dead inside.

“...Overwatch and Underhand...” Mercy repeated incredulously.

“So--we’re going to be in a cartoon?” said Genji. For some reason, his armor seemed to feel tighter, pinching, constricting around him.

“Well, we did some polling after the Doomfist fight and ran some algorithms through a handful of popular forums and social media,” Sojourn explained, “It turns out you’re all very popular with the younger crowd. Winston and Tracer pull the biggest numbers, but you, Genji, are incredibly popular with boys aged 6 to 14.”

“I...I am?” said Genji.

“Shining armor,” said Mercy, smiling at him, and steam vented from his shoulders.

“And Mercy has a death-grip on the ‘Girls aged 3 to 11′ demographic,” said Sojourn.

“So... more girls are getting into STEM?” said Mercy.

“I’m.. not sure about that, but they seem to really like the fact that you’re pretty and you can fly,” said Sojourn, flipping through the report on her own tablet. 

Mercy’s face dropped and she shook her head. She pursed her lips and thought for a few moments. “I’m not sure about this...”

“If we’re all over the news already, it could help to put stuff out there that gives us more control over our image,” said Winston, he scratched the side of his head, “It... would be nice to show people I’m more than just a gorilla...”

“Genji?” said Mercy, looking over at him. Genji was running his thumb over the knuckles of his prosthetic hand and he seemed to snap out of some particularly stressful train of thought.

“Oh...um... well... it would give you a chance to talk more about Overwatch as a peacekeeping organization?” said Genji, “And if you’re talking about it to children...” 

“They might be less inclined to carry on the conflicts of previous generations!” said Mercy, her eyes brightening.

“Like we said, ideologies,” said Jack.

Mercy inhaled thoughtfully. “If--if we’re going to do this, I want my likeness used responsibly. I don’t want to advocate for violence in any form.”

“...yeah I figured you’d say that,” said Jack.

“And, even if we’re going through fictional conflicts, I don’t want it... glamorized and sensationalized like the old cartoon. We don’t need all those explosions---”

“You did pull Genji out of that explosion a few weeks ago though,” said Tracer.

“Well that’s different--! That’s--!” Mercy huffed, “I think we should push more of Overwatch’s scientific and humanitarian efforts. Show that making the world a better place is more complicated than just.. shooting at bad guys.”

“We could have a science corner!” Winston chimed in, “’Winston’s Science Corner!’”

“Ooh! And maybe I should say something about friendship and teamwork at the end!” said Tracer.

Genji was shrinking a little where he was sitting, unconsciously sliding his wrist plate back and forth.

“What do you think? Edu-tainment?” said Sojourn, glancing back at Jack.

“Could go over easier than a purely fictionalized narrative,” murmured Jack.

“Aw, I wanna fight Underhand, though!” said Tracer.

“Well in any case, you can expect more correspondence from our PR department as we move forward in this project,” said Sojourn. 

“You might not be fighting Talon in some far-flung corner of the world, but make no mistake: this is an important part of the fight,” said Jack.

“And who knows,” said Sojourn as an assistant hurried in with a cardboard box and set it on the conference table, “You could end up some kid’s best friend.”

Tracer and her strike team all stood up from their seats to look into the box.

“Oh commander...!” Tracer looked about to burst with excitement as she reached into the box and pulled out an action figure of herself, “I love it!” She turned over the action figure in her hands and saw a button on the back. She pressed it.

“Cheers love! The Cavalry’s here!” said the Tracer action figure.

“That’s my line!” said Tracer, delighted.

“It’s quite a stunning likeness,” said Winston, taking his own action figure out of the box. He pressed a button on the back of his action figure. 

“Primal Punch!” declared the Winston action figure and Winston chuckled.

Mercy took both the Genji and the Mercy action figures out of the box and chuckled a little. 

“Yours is so pretty, Doc! They even got the wings!” said Tracer as Mercy fiddled around with the action figure’s wings.

“Yes, ‘pretty and flies’ indeed.’ I might be more inclined if she comes with a lab coat accessory,” said Mercy, giving a skeptical glance to her action figure’s bust size. She pressed a button between her action figure’s wings and scoffed a little as the action figure said, “Heroes never die!” 

She held Genji’s action figure out to him and he hesitantly took it. “What do you think?”

Genji turned the action figure over in his hand and looked at the button on the back. He pressed it, but the figure said nothing.

“Oh we um... didn’t really have a ‘catchphrase’ for you yet,” said Sojourn as Genji gingerly ran the finger of his prosthetic hand up the blade of the action figure’s sword clasped in his little plastic hand, “We were hoping you could put in a word for it. These are just mock-ups, really.” 

You’re incredibly popular with boys age 6 to 14...

Genji moved the arm of the action figure up and down, the figure striking downward with its sword, and he thought of young boys playing with this miniature him. Running with the action figure clutched in little hands with white knuckles, playing out battles, having the action figure swing its sword at all those foes, imitating his own swordsmanship, fighting their brothers with sticks, punching each other, kicking each other---

“No,” Genji said on reflex.

“What?” said Sojourn, glancing up from Tracer chattering about her own action figure.

“I--I said no. I shouldn’t have an action figure. I shouldn’t be in the show,” said Genji. His voice was tight.

“Genji...” Mercy started.

“...is it about how you look?” said Sojourn, “Because Genji, I can tell you, seeing people like us on the screen means the world to kids with prosthetics---”

“No--” Genji was stammering, “It’s not about that, it’s--”

“Genji, you’re a part of the team,” Tracer tried to reassure him, “It wouldn’t be the same without you--”

“Children shouldn’t want to be like me!” Genji blurted out, and there was a small plasticky snap. Genji glanced down and saw that he had unthinkingly broken the arm off of his own action figure. The entire room had gone silent, staring at him. He set both the action figure and its broken-off arm on the table and exhaled. “I’m-- I need to think about it,” he said, pushing up from the table and walking briskly out of the room.

“Genji, wait--” said Mercy, standing up. Her eyes flicked to the broken Genji action figure on the table and she picked it up, tucking both the figure and the broken off arm in the pocket of her lab coat. The door slid shut behind Genji but she quickly walked after him, leaving Morrison, Sojourn, Tracer, and Winston alone in the room. A long quiet pause passed between the four of them.

“Maybe just web shorts?” said Winston, “Just.. um... just the science corner?”

“Winston--” Tracer huffed.

“Right--sorry,” said Winston.

“...well, they did keep an open mind,” said Jack, “Mostly.”

“Don’t make me break out your action figure, Jack,” said Sojourn.

----

It was a known fact that if you broke visual contact on Genji, you had a pretty low probability of finding him again unless he wanted to be found. Still Mercy spent more of the remainder of the afternoon looking for him than she was readily willing to admit. The fact that he was able to disappear from the hallway that quickly made her assume he had taken the window (very mature, by the way, Genji, she thought with an eye roll) but she checked all of his usual spots and even went to his room before finally huffing and returning to her lab.

It was about 11 at night when the door slid open.

“Genji, we’re beholden to the UN. I know that was an uncomfortable situation, but... there are still protocols,” said Mercy, not even looking up from her screen.

“I know,” his cybernetically reverberative voice hummed from the other side of the room.

“I don’t know how... informally Reyes maintained his meetings, but we can’t--” Mercy looked up from her screen and read his posture and expression. Her shoulders slumped. She pushed up from her desk and walked across the lab over to him.

“I’m sorry, I know. I just shut down,” said Genji as she closed the distance between them, “I don’t even know where it came from, ever since I joined Tracer’s strike team, I thought I’ve been getting better but--” he cut himself off as she hugged him. He stood there for a few seconds before returning the embrace. A part of him wanted to take his faceplate off, breathe in the smell of her hair and the smell of coffee on her, but he tamped that down. They had embraced before, after Gérard Lacroix’s death, and had broken out of it, both of them muttering about it being inappropriate and messy, but after missions together on Tracer’s strike team, there was no such shame in taking comfort in each other like this. She loosened the hug slightly to look at him.

“What you said... about you and children...”  she trailed off.

“I...” Genji sighed, “I’m an assassin.”

“You’re an agent,” said Mercy.

“Whose skills all come from the fact that he was raised to be an assassin,” said Genji, “What I went through as a child---I don’t want another child to go through it. And I don’t want children to think that’s what they want because it’s not.”

“They won’t have to,” said Mercy, putting her hands on his shoulders, “The Shimada Clan’s practically collapsed! You get to decide who you are, not them! You get to choose what you do with your skills,” one of her hands trailed down his arm and clasped his organic hand, “And you choose good. You’ve been choosing to do good.”

“...kids shouldn’t want to be like me when I don’t even know what the hell I am,” muttered Genji.

Mercy gave a helpless chuckle, “Join the club. ‘Mercy’ is easier to be than Angela. People listen to ‘Mercy,’ except not really, because she’s just pretty and she flies and at the end of the day, she’s just a bloody idea, so no one actually listens to her because she’s not real---”  she caught herself, “God, they’re really going to turn us into cartoon characters, aren’t they?” she said, pushing her bangs back from her face, “As if things weren’t already weird enough.”

“Cyborg ninja. Angel doctor. Time traveler. Gorilla from the moon. It really makes no difference at this point,” said Genji with a shrug, looking over her shoulder, he noticed a small figure on her desk. “Is that---?” he broke out of the embrace and walked over to the desk to see his action figure standing there. The arm had been glued back on, the seam of the break barely visible. He picked up the action figure. “You fixed me? It--It-- I mean it. You fixed it?” he said glancing over his shoulder at her.

“Well I couldn’t just leave you like that,” said Mercy, chuckling a little. 

“’You’ve rescued me again, Doctor Ziegler!’” said Genji, making the action figure bob with his words. They both snickered. “Maybe that can be my catchphrase,” said Genji, a smirk in his voice.

“Absolutely not,” said Mercy, giggling.

[pafsplayground]

OKAY WELL I REALLY WANT TO RANT ABOUT MY OCS SO YEAH Y'ALL HAVE TO SIT THROUGH THIS FOR A BIT

Page is super self conscious, that's why he's literally the only one in his immediate family who wears a mask.

Lil Meg was found rummaging in the trash by Jiri, she immediately bit Jiri's wings upon being picked up.

The last time Twist had more than two airheads they almost broke their leg after forgetting that their hand isn't attached to their body and tried to dangle from a tree. They were not allowed candy since.

Claymore LOVES coffee. It doesn't have the same effect to him as it does to others (cuz hes an alien) but he likes it.

Kinda obvious but Claymore smells like clay.

Page has a strawberry garden in his and Twist's backyard.

Fluff brings Claymore coffee from the Cafe whenever she visits her brothers.

Jiri, who started as just my internet persona, is now considered a universe jumping being. This is why she plays a roll in Lil Meg meeting Page and Twist despite not technically belonging in their universe.

Tove and Fluff have been friends since 7th grade.

Draca likes all meat EXCEPT for turkey, for some reason. Nobody knows why but that's the ONLY meat she won't eat. She is why ham is present at family dinners during this universe's version of thanksgiving.

Yes, they have a different version of thanksgiving in this world.

Lee, Hunter's daughter, plays Smash Bros and mains Kirby.

She has also completed every run in Undertale. Including all the neutral endings.

Fluff likes musicals. Her current favourite is The Lightning Thief musical. Totally not just me projecting on my own characters

Draca struggled with her sexuality for a while because she was never introduced to the concept of sexuality (not her mom's fault, you can't expect a dragon to think it's important to specify. Her mom is very supportive.)

Probably cursed but in this universe the Cats musical is called Humans and Humans (2019) is just as cursed as Cats (2019).

Fluff makes great smoothies.

Hunter has a Reddit account SOLELY because he frequents r/roastme. He's very well known there.

Lee has TONS of Worms-on-strings. She sells them for two dollars a worm at school. She has multiple packs of thirty sitting in her closet.

Fluff loves buying succulents. She has three on her nightstand.

While Fluff has a green thumb, Draca has a black thumb of death. She can't even water a plant without killing it.

Draca is lactose intolerant.

Which is a real shame because she loves cheesecake.

Fluff's tail gets REALLY heavy after a shower and she spends 30 minutes after showering using a blow dryer on it.

Lee has Minecraft pajamas. Tons of them. More than just the Enderman onesie.

Amari has a tiktok account with 10k followers.

Hunter does his best to be a good dad to Lee. He goes all out on birthday decorations and themes.

The Boone-Kless family get together once a month for DnD. Draca's mom hosts for the atmosphere, she also roleplays the bbeg because it hits different when a 50 foot long dragon is the one monologuing.

Lee has ADHD and uses fidget toys and sensory stuff.

Page loves trail mix.

There is literally no reason for twist to not have an arm I just decided why not and gave them a floating hand and no arms. Their twin sister is perfectly normal.

Oh yeah they have a twin sister.

While uncle Alistair could have raised the Boone kids, he was already dealing with 2 year old Adya and Twist so he didn't want an infant and a six year old to worry about.

The Boone kids were raised by grandma and grandpa Uroe instead.

Fluff was 4 and Hunter was 9 when they found Claymore and his little crash site. (I'll talk about Claymore's story in a separate post.)

Lee WILL talk your ear off about her special interests.

Despite everyone in this universe being furries, pets do still exist. It's like a monkey-human situation.

Fluff wants a pet snake.

Both Fluff and Page are eggnog monsters. During the holidays, it's best to get your cup before they even know it's in the house or you won't get any.

Draca is a great cook. Fluff on the other hand, is better at baking.

Page and Fluff bond over baking.

As much as she loves the latte art Fluff can do, Lee is no longer allowed more than one (1) cup of coffee a week.

Nobody knows why Hunter and Fluff's parents had a hit on them. It's a cold case.

Hunter has nightmares about his parents.

Hunter made some mistakes as a teen and as a result, is a single dad. Lee's mom wasn't a nice person. He blames himself.

Draca can breathe fire but she doesn't use it often. When she gets tired, little puffs of smoke come out of her nose.

Switching universes for a sec, the largest age gap between the Test Subjects is 3 years (Sty 13, Carmen 16)

The youngest known subject was 9 but the "researchers" felt like they were too annoying and stubborn to deal with.

The current youngest known subject is 12. They are not central to the story. If it's any consolation, the Test Subjects do end up busting out the others eventually.

The Test Subjects were captive for 2 years. Adam was 13. Cam was 13. Sty was 10 (and a half!).

After busting out; Adam, Cam, and Sty helped Carmen out. As a result, freeing Julie as well.

Julie is an asshole and never gets redeemed in any way. She manipulated and took advantage of Carmen and deserves what she gets.

Not a single main character in The Test Subjects is straight. Not one.

Adam is aro ace.

Cam is an ace lesbian.

Sty is a demi boy (they/them and he/him) and gay.

Carmen is a lesbian.

Julie is.... Well.... She's Julie. She doesn't care. She's pan, I guess.

Cam spent MONTHS stumbling around before Adam and Sty just went "nope, we are GETTING you a cane"

The "researchers" didn't give two shits about the subjects comfort or pain. They'd regularly perform horrible stitching and this resulted in them just saying "if it bothers you so much, fix it yourself".

Basically the subjects performed surgery on each other to PROPERLY stitch up whatever transplants they had.

They also bandaged them poorly, so the subjects would have their "roommates" fix it.

The rooms they were kept in had one "bed" that they either fought over or took turns on.

They weren't kept in the best condition is what I'm saying.

Carmen is the mom friend of the group.

If I could draw it right, Carmen would have a lip piercing. We'll have to settle for earrings for now.

On the topic of piercings, Draca would definitely have an eyebrow piercing if her scales didn't get in the way.

Speaking of Draca, she was a very rebellious teenager. One time she graffitied a huge green dragon on the side of a building that cut down a ton of trees in front of her mom's cave.

Speaking of Draca's mom, she's bisexual and currently dating a Sapper named Trix.

Back to the dnd thing, here are their most played classes.

Draca tends to play barbarians or paladins. Real tank-y classes.

Fluff plays druid or sorcerer.

Claymore likes playing bard.

Hunter tends to go for rangers.

Twist likes playing a wild mage.

Page prefers wizards or warlocks.

When they let her play, Lee plays a Cleric.

Mipos, Draca's mom, never told Draca what kind of dragon they are.

Lee decorates her room with stickers and posters.

These are the Boone-Kless fam's current PCs

[babyloniastreasure]

Concerning Reyes, Moira, and Mercy...

I keep seeing misconceptions that Blizzard is retconning Mercy’s involvement in Reaper’s state of being. While nothing has been explicitly stated, we have more than enough canon information to confirm nothing is being retconned. And here is why.

Let’s begin with the three most obvious points of contrast in the lore, starting with the first evidence we had that Mercy had something to do with Reaper.

1) Reaper’s interactions with Mercy in-game.

This line, in the lack of context it’s always been in, implied Mercy had something to do with Reaper’s state of...being unalive. This interaction goes no further, however we have another voice line of Reaper’s that was datamined some time ago, spoken when he kills Mercy.

Now it was this one that really got all those theorists shouting their headcanons were confirmed.

If I recall, one of the biggest points of reasonable speculation for “Mercy created Reaper” was Mercy’s ability to Resurrect. While there’s not really any lore evidence that suggests she’s ever managed to bring someone back from a really terrible death outside of an in-game environment, people like to cite Genji, his cyborgification, and the fact that Mercy probably oversaw most of it (seeing as she was Overwatch’s chief of Medical staff) as evidence that she can bring people back from the dead.

The popular theory was that after the explosion at the Swiss HQ, Mercy tried to “resurrect” Reyes, but he was too dead for it to actually work. So he became some half-dead guy with ghost powers, since it was also popularly theorized that Reyes already had his Reaper-like ghost abilities (from the super soldier program Morrison also went through, only Reyes kept his powers a secret for thirty years? That makes sense). Another theory was that Talon ripped off Mercy’s ability to rez, tried it on Reyes, and it didn’t work. Ergo, it’s Mercy’s technology, it’s Mercy’s fault. But let’s get back on track.

Genji is popularly cited to have been brought back from the dead by Mercy.

However, not even on Genji’s hero biography does it state he ever died.

“[The tension between the brothers built to a violent confrontation that left Genji] on the verge of dying....[but] Genji was rescued by Overwatch and the intervention of Dr. Angela Ziegler.”

So Mercy healed him. Not brought him back from the dead. This disputes Angela’s ability to resurrect in reality, however slight. Fact of the matter is, she never resurrected Genji, and she never resurrected Reyes.

As for the, “You’re responsible for this” line, I first have to give additional information on my other points, then tie the line back in at the end.

2) Ana Amari discovering Reaper’s face, and Reaper’s direct blame towards Overwatch for it.

Ana: “What happened to you...?” Reaper: “He did this to me, Ana. They left me to become this thing.”

Ana: “Gabriel...” Reaper: “They left you to die. They left me to suffer.”

We already know Reaper is referring to his battle with Jack Morrison at the Swiss HQ. A nasty battle that supposedly killed both men. We know that’s not true, of course, but here we see Reaper openly blaming Overwatch for leaving him to “become this thing”.

Ana has killed, she’s seen her comrades die, some of them likely horrible deaths. So what on earth made her gasp so badly, after everything she’s seen? Ugly facial deformities, but...more dead, perhaps. Reaper isn’t necessarily alive.

But! He still blames Overwatch. Why? Could Overwatch have helped him? Did they help him? Or did they forget the idea of Blackwatch’s leader, fallen under intense speculation and investigation, in favor of the poster boy, Jack Morrison? Who knows, but it’s fun to think about.

Moving on.

3) Moira’s genetic experiments, and the reveal that she is responsible for Reyes developing ghost powers.

Finally! Some canon information about Reyes! Oh, how I’ve waited for this day!

So Moira’s experiments, not the experiments from the super soldier program, are what gave Gabriel Reyes the ability to go ghost. He looks amazed, but also impressed. It’s highly unlikely that he thinks of himself as a monster, or anything that ties into becoming a “thing”. If he wasn’t interested in modifications, he wouldn’t have allowed them. It’s to my understanding that Reyes wanted this.

Now.

Moira is a geneticist. And Reaper’s powers run to a deep, genetic level.

“[It is possible that] he is a byproduct of a failed genetic alteration which forced his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.”

These alterations are also the reason his cells decay/regenerate at the same time, and rapidly. That can’t be good for his health. And it isn’t, as the Swiss incident reminds us.

Now I’m no doctor, but if a person’s cells are constantly hyper-regenerating and hyper-decaying, there’s no state of cellular decay, because each cell that dies is replaced with a new, regenerated one. That might theoretically mean they don’t age. Skin cells, blood cells, brain cells-- if it’s all being hyper-regenerated, but also hyper-decaying, then what happens upon receiving an injury? Specifically, one of the magnitude of an explosion?

Injuries heal because our cells regenerate. We develop new cells, and eventually this cellular regeneration is what heals wounds. But what if those same “new” cells to heal the injury...were decaying?

What if the incredible injuries Reyes sustained from the HQ fight weren’t able to regenerate properly? What if, due to his cell decay rate, his injury just...simply didn’t heal? Yes, his cells are regenerating, too, but it’s simultaneous. One cell dies, another regenerates, another dies, another regenerates, etc. He gets stuck in some sort of horrible cycle in which his body can’t begin to actually heal itself, in the same way a pristine body can’t age because it can’t actually decay. It’s like cellular limbo.

And this hyper regen/decay doesn’t prevent him from being wounded, either. He’s still flesh and blood, he can get cut up. But a papercut is one matter, an explosion is another. If he takes a massive blast like that, it’s a lot of damage in one shot. But he’s in cellular limbo, potentially unable to age, or die at all.

So, he lives. Not very greatly, but Reyes does survive. And it’s thanks to Moira’s genetic experiments. So why would he blame Moira? She’s the reason he lives, not the reason he suffered.

The point/TLDR: Reaper blames Overwatch, so he believes they could have helped him survive, but for whatever reason, they didn’t. He doesn’t blame Moira for his condition. In fact, he probably thinks very highly of her, and her genetic intervention is a big reason he survived the fight at all. But, if Reyes could have been helped, who do you think the staff would have gone to to ensure he survived?

Who, again, is the Swiss doctor, the Chief of Medical staff, who, given the possibility she was present at the Swiss HQ, might have been able to save him? Who is the renowned surgeon, the best medical professional Overwatch has to offer? The one person anybody would trust to save such an important leader?

Dr. Angela Ziegler.

She could save Genji. Why couldn’t she save Reyes? Did she even try? Could she have brought Gabriel Reyes back from a state of perpetual suffering, his body unable to help itself? Or did she just leave him there, able but unwilling, or even ignorant? Whatever the case...

[fossadeileonixv]

Milan x Sassuolo: 4 Flick-Ons

These takes are so hot they will kill any and all bacteria on your keyboard or mobile device.

Hello friends, enemies, and casual visitors of the site. I ended up getting a little too caught up the other night pretending to watch the bone-crunching action between the Chicago Bears and Green Packers of the good ol' NF of L and got home a bit too late to do ratings. My gaffe! What can I say? It's so easy getting caught up in the 7 or so minutes of actual gameplay spread out over three-plus hours of America's favorite sport. But since I have the morning off I figured we'd jump straight into '4 Flick-Ons' which I haven't done in a grip.

Ready? 

Essketit, or whatever the hell Lil Pump says.

Flick 1: Results Like This Aren't on Pioli. So in the heat of the game I, like many of you, comment on impulse, nitpicking and magnifying the minutiae of the match at hand. Most of our comments, even despite being unfiltered, are generally fair and sometimes even accurate observations of what we're seeing in real time. However, sometimes they're not. I may or may not have grumbled about Pioli during the match thread but with the match two days behind me, I'm having trouble placing blame ‘pon his shiny head. He stuck with the lineup that yielded two straight wins, his first two subs were very good switches (the Samu sub, in all honesty, was a kind of 'Well this is what I have' move), and we had spells of truly brilliant build-up play that we haven't seen in years from a Milan side. We took 19 shots, 7 on target (9 if you want to count Leao's rockets off the woodwork), a number of those on target from inside the 18, as well as 8 corners. I just can't in good conscience gripe about a coach who has his squad creating those kind of numbers. It's easy to play fantasy manager with the lineups, but we have a fraction of the experience or insight as a professional coach in the world's third best league and aside from Kessie, and maybe Cal and Bona swapping roles, there isn't an obvious upgrade to anyone on that XI. Which kinda leads me to point two…

Flick 2: The Calhanoglu hate is a bit unwarranted. This is the ‘hot take’ flick. Let me make this clear: this only pertains to this stretch with Pioli, and also doesn't extend beyond the pitch. He's still a slacker that smoke KB's with his boys, has posters or 'Babes in Bikinis' all over his room, smashes za, and talking shit to kids on his Call of Duty headset. And yes, despite all this you are all invited to our 'Big Fat Turkish Military Wedding' because we're in love and his ears are so cute. But for real, for real, as someone who along with Russu, burned effigies of this guy outside this past Summer's ICC tournament, I am having difficulty seeing where folk's beef with him is. Yes, he's slow. Yes, he often his one or two slips, shots that take out a cell-phone tower, or corners cleared before reaching the near post per game and these are all frustrating. But beside that, he's done really, really well in two areas in particular. One is build-up. Watch any sequence of build-up from this attack and Hakan usually has multiple touches, often from various areas on the pitch. The second is his positioning. He has a knack for being where he needs to be without sacrificing potential counterattacking space, and though this isn't a sexy element of someone's skills, just look over at the other wing to see the effect of that not being done. A lot of us clamor for Leao in his role, but a Theo/Jack/Leao flank would leave both sidelines of the pitch vulnerable. You absolutely need the balance Cal provides defensively. 

I don't like Cal. I would really have loved a replacement this past summer. But right now, I do understand and appreciate why he is holding down a starting spot. Someone else, however...

Flick 3: Kessie needs some time off. I have been Franck The Tanck's biggest fan here the past two years, so trust me Danny, this hurts, but man is awful. I can't recall a single Kessie performance this year where I even thought "Well that's passable". While the two things that made him so valuable over the years in his strength and positioning are fine, what good is it if you can't trap a pass or are constantly giving away possession? We always joke about counters going to die with Suso/Pia, or Cal, but so far Kessie has Ben where possession goes to die. The technical aspects of his play have been astonishingly atrocious and his inability to link-up with anyone in that right channel has him as a net negative right now. Krunic has his flaws, but I fully expect this week at Atalanta to be Kessie's last chance for a while to earn his spot. It kills me to say, but I really don't see how this kid stays on much longer here with these types of performances.

Flick 4: We need a seasoned veteran. This isn't a newsflash, nor is it directly contrived from this game, but during the dying embers of the match I remember thinking "Amari has another basketball game next weekend that you said you would go to, but it is all the way down in Braintree. Why did you commit to that?" Then I thought "It'd sure be nice to have someone on the pitch that positively gets in his teammates faces". The closest we have to that, really, is Don and he's still fourteen years old. It's both easy to overestimate (see Biglia) as well as underestimate (see a player such as Alex) what someone with significant mileage to add to a squad like this, but as a young team that has shown an improvement in form under a new coach that is still having trouble achieving results, someone who knows how to thread that final ball or find the back of the net, a field general so to speak --even one past his prime-- could be that missing cog that Pioli needs at his disposal. I think even more than the on-field appeal that someone Ibra would bring, is that no-nonsense veteran presence that could motivate asses both on the pitch and in the locker-room. This has been missing for years and while as I said above, it is one of those areas that is easy to miscalcuclate, with this team as close as we are to being… well, good… it might be that extra brick we need to tip the scale.

That's that! I'll try to have something up tomorrow. If not, remember, bright and early for our stateside, Central and South American, and (groans) Canadian Leoni (06:30 EST), on Sunday against Atalanta.

[macabrecabra]

Do you think you could write a Reaper76 story where the UN forcefully makes Jack the Strike Commander and tries to modify his memories and forget Gabe being his lover, but Fareeha overhears the plan and Jack shouting for help, and runs to her mom and Gabriel, and Jack gets rescued?

Can giveya something sure  but...had to keep it short. These prompts are notlong fics after all ; w ; I can only fit so much in! (Note:still not taking Overwatch writing prompts, trying to clear em out soI can focus on finishing longer fics, one-shot collections in otherfandom, and aquawatch asks c:)Title: Unnecessary ForceRating: PG-13Relationship: Reaper76; Jack Morrison/GabrielReyes He hadn't wanted this, not for a moment.

Fromthe second the proposal had been put before him by the UN that heshould be the strike commander of Overwatch he had declined. Morrisonhad known from the start he wasn't the man to lead the organization.True he had experience and had the skills to be a part of Overwtach,but he did not think he had yet the qualities of leadership need.Ithad always been Gabriel who held the team together and who was theone who got in and out of situations. It was Gabriel who was theheart of Overwatch, not him.Jack Morrison wasn't such a foolto know why they had picked him. He was the perfect poster boy forthem: the tall blond-haired, blue-eyed prince charming farmboy thathad come up from humble beginnings to fight evil and injustice in theworld. It was practically a marketing dream come true and everygovernment wanted a face to represent their peace keeping force. Hewasn't about to be anyone's figurehead though and he had turned themdown flat.It seems though, that they were not going to takeno for an answer.“This is bullshit!”“Now, nowcommander. Swearing like that is not going to get us anywhere, now isit?” Jack merely glared at the speaker, a tall oily man ina suit who looked like the kind of government toady that would beoverseeing something as shady as an abduction. He only gave Jack asmile in response, hands folded over his crossed legs. “Afterall,you are going to be striker commander. Swearing is ratherunbecoming of a commander is it not?” “Fuck you! Fuck allof you!” Jack snarled, struggling against his bindings. “OnceGabriel Reyes finds out about this-”“I wouldn't worry tomuch about commander Reyes finding out. After the procedure, youwon't even remember the two of you were ah, shall we say, an item?”The man quirked an eyebrow, that polite, fake smile never leaving hisfeatures. “I suggest you just relax and think about how all thiscould have been avoided if you simply said yes.”Jacksquirmed again in his bindings, feeling a panic seize his chest. Theidea of forgetting Gabriel was terrifying. The fact that they werewilling to go so far as to try and take away the man he loved byforce was enough to have him fighting harder to get free and to getaway. “This is- you can't be serious!” Jack protested,“This is far too extreme!”“Perhaps you may see it thatway, Morrison, but to us, it is a matter of, shall we say pride. Weneed a face for Overwatch that meets expectations. Someone we knowwho will follow orders. Mr. Reyes is just too much of a lose canon.He'll go off the leash and end up being more trouble than he's worthin the end.” The man sighed, shaking his head, giving an almostsympathetic look, “With you as commander, it would be protectinghim as much as you but since you can't see that, we will have to dowhat is best for both of you.”“By manipulating mymemories?” Jack asked incredulously.“Regrettable, but wemust do what we must to ensure world peace and and to conquer  theomnic threat.”

“You're insane. You all are!”Jack snarled. The merely chuckled as the door opened and apair of medical officers entered pushing a cart before them, “I'msure in time you''l eventually see things our way.”Jacktensed, eyes fixed on the cart and the array of needles and othertools arranged neatly on the tray. It was like something out of ahorror movie and Morrison could feel sweat breaking out on hisforehead as fear rose up in his throat as if to choke the air fromhis chest. In a few moments, he would lose so much of his life. Hewould no longer be Jack Morrison, but some constructed personality toserve a purpose. He would forget friends. He would be forcedto forget the man he loved so dearly just like that. They would takeaway the most precious thing in his life and all he could do was laythere and watch them do it. All because they needed a poster boy tobe the face of their new organization. Jack closed his eyes tight,teeth gritted as one of the medical officers raised a needle up,tapping it on the side, preparing to inject its contents into Jack.All it took was the door slamming open to have Jack jumpingsome, eyes opening as light from outside poured in. “Nowthis doesn't look fucking legal, now does it Amari?”

Never in all his life had Jack beenmore happy to hear Gabriel's voice. The man straightened some, eyeswide like a deer caught in headlights before he put on that fakesmile and rose to his feet, straightening his tie, “I think we havecome to a misunderstanding here. This isn't what it-”“Thisisn't what it looks like? Looks like some shady medical practices ifyou ask me,” Ana drawled as she entered the room. She movedto inspect the cart while Gabriel moved to untie Jack, “And tying aman down doesn't seem like he was a willing participant to whateveryou were about to do.”“I assure you, what we were goingto do was-”“You were going to hurt Jack!” A young voicepiped up. In the doorway Fareeha was peering around thecorner, glaring at the man like a cat eyeing an unwanted intruder, “Iheard the whole thing! You kidnapped him and brought him here becausehe didn't want to be the commander! I heard the whole thing!”Theman paled some as Gabriel shot him a glare. Jack was just glad he wasfree now of the bindings that held him down, quickly sitting up andleaning into the embrace of his lover. Ana scowled, moving to pick upa syringe, inspecting it, “And were going to manipulate hismemories I see. So, are we turning into a terrorist organization nowrather than one that is going to stand for peace?”“Ithink we are jumping to conclusions here-” The man began slowly,adjusting his tie nervously again. “Only conclusion I'mjumping to is this: tell the UN that if they want to try thisbullshit again, the whole of Overwatch is going to break of andhandle this crisis without them,” Gabriel snarled as he helped Jackto his feet. “If they want to talk about this civilly, then by allmeans we can but all of us will be there, understand? Can you takethat message to them, you fucking weasel?”“I'll speak tothem about this misunderstanding and we will be in touch soon,” theman murmured before darting off as fast as he could without actuallybreaking into a run. Jack watched him go before letting outasoft laugh, “Well, that was an adventure.” “If itwasn't for Fareeha overhearing them, might not have gotten to you intime,” Ana said, moving to place a hand on Jack's shoulder. “Areyou okay?”“My pride is a bit bruised as is my faith inhumanity but I'll be fine,” Jack responded, offering a smallsmile.He turned to Gabriel, raising a hand to cup the otherman's face, “Right now, I just want to go home.”Gabrielreturned the smile with a small one of his own, giving a nod, “Ithink we both need to get home and away from all this bullshit for awhile.”Jack smiled, giving a nod. At least itseemed there was still one angel looking out for him.

[ladyknight33]

First Encounters: Ana meets Young McCree

The welcome committee consisted of Jack Morrison, Ana Amari and a smattering of others to unload the transport. Ana stood beside her friend with a growing scowl on her face. Jack somehow kept his expression blank. He had always been better at maintaining a professional facade. Now they waited for Gabriel Reyes to disembark with his newest acquisition. From the bulbous gray airship came the imposing enhanced soldier hauling a duffle bag nearly the same size as him. He was followed by a teenager with a scowl nearly as deep as her own.

“That can’t be right,” Ana muttered. “When Gabriel reported that one man took out a good portion of his team, I was under the impression it was a highly experienced gunman. And he brings back a child?”

“We’ll at least hear him out. Regardless of his abilities, he is still part of Deadlock.” Jack maintained his calm well. Together they watch Gabriel approach. The soldier did grab the teenager by the elbow once they were free of the gangplank and steerd him towards the two commanding officers. Jack nodded in greeting. “Gabe. The report said you were bringing someone back. I was not expecting a kid.”

Gabriel shrugged carelessly and dropped the duffle bag. “Meet Jesse McCree. Sharpshooter.” The teen tugged at his oversized tattered hat and frowned up at them over the dusty red bandana around his neck.

Ana rubbed her forehead at the growing headache she felt coming on. “Gabriel, what are you thinking? He’s a child. We can’t be taking on minors.”

Jack turned his considerable attention towards his friend. “This is likely to be the worst decision you have ever made, Gabe.” Beside the dark soldier the teen’s scowl only deepened.

“Or the best asset we have gained since the war. You can’t judge skill by age, Jack.” Gabriel refused to back down. As expected.

“What are we supposed to do with him? He’s barely seventeen if your reports were correct.” Jack continued. This was news to Ana. She would have to get on to Morrison for keeping that bit from her.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” McCree spoke up with a thick drawl, blurring his words and barely opening his mouth.

Three resounding No!s were directed at him and he sullenly tugged his hat further down and crossed his arms. Ana repeated, “He’s just a child.”

“I’m not a child!” McCree interrupted petulantly.

“Hush, the adults are talking.” Ana dismissed him and turned back to Gabriel to chew him out for this decision. She heard a word of protest from the boy and gave him her undivided attention. “Do you talk back to your superiors where you are from? No? Probably for the best. If you talked back to those maniacs at Deadlock you would be dead. While we won’t kill you for such impertinence, we do expect similar respect to not interrupt our conversation. Understood?”

McCree bit his cheek and scowled at her. She barely understood the mumbled, “Yes, ma'am.”

Her ire was back on the Blackwatch Commander. “Now, Gabriel, there are laws about this sort of thing.”

“Don’t tell me about those laws, Ana. He’s seventeen by all accounts I can find. He’s been with Deadlock for as long as he can remember. Damn it, Ana, if this were anywhere other than America’s backyard we would be treating him like a child soldier. Instead the government has a price on his head equal to most of the Deadlock Officers. If we left him to their justice system, he would be locked away in prison with the other gang members. He’d be locked up with adults for the foreseeable future. No juvie. All because that gang had control over him. Yes he is a superb shot. Yes he has killed more people than we really want to think about. But you said it yourself, he is a child. What kind of decisions can he make when gang life is the only thing he knows?”

“What are we supposed to do with him then?” Ana felt the headache come on strong. The kid had already wandered off away from the officers. “We can’t take him on or we will be accused of housing child soldiers ourselves.”

“He’s part of Blackwatch. Won’t have anything to do with Overwatch for now. He doesn’t even exist outside of the wanted posters for Deadlock gang members. But we can teach him. At least give him a year where he isn’t expected to kill anyone. You can’t really be opposed to trying to change the options he currently has? Go to prison for life or remain a criminal with Deadlock. He’s not a bad kid. He just needs an opportunity.” Gabriel glanced over to find that the kid had meandered to the edge of the cliff and was now staring at the ocean. Ana caught a glimpse of innocent wonder on the boy’s face.

“What can it hurt to give him a chance?” Ana relented. “But no guns for now. We can at least get him the equivalent of a high school education.” She turned her attention to Jack. The Strike Commander still had final say.

“You sure about this, Gabe?” Jack was also studying the boy at the ledge.

“As sure as I am about anything.” Gabriel shrugged. “But I know he’s the best shot you’ve ever seen with a revolver.” Ana didn’t bother hiding her snort of disbelief.

“Alright. He’s your responsibility. Try to keep him out of trouble.” Jack agreed and gave the boy an appraising look before disappearing into the building.

Ana strode over to stand next to the teenager and watch the sunlight twinkle across the ocean waves. “You’ve never seen this before.”

McCree shook his head, eyes still glued to the water. “That’s what they call the Ocean, right? The bosses had these maps with oceans on ‘em.”

Nodding Ana motioned to their left. “That’s called the Mediterranean Sea and over there,” she pointed towards the setting sun. “That’s the Atlantic Ocean. We’re between the two. And in the right spot with a telescope you can see Africa that way.” She pointed across the rocky cliff. “This is called the Strait of Gibraltar. From here we can monitor all shipping traffic in and out of the Mediterranean.”

“Why?”

“Primarily to guard against piracy. Also it is a central location should we need to help people in Europe or Africa.”

“So, you’re like the international police.”

Ana chuckled, “In a way.”

“Is there a beach?”

“Not here.” Gabriel had come to join them.

“The guys used to talk about taking their girls to the beach. They had these postcards in the rec-rooms. Made it sound like a fun place.” McCree had not once looked away from the water. It seemed he had discovered that the world truly was larger than himself.

“I’ll take you to the beach one day,” Gabriel said, clapping a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “But we need to get to Switzerland.”

“Switzerland?” McCree tried out the strange word. “Where’s that?” A growling stomach paused any explanation, but McCree never said a word about it. He must be used to not eating on a regular schedule and complaining about it probably got him in trouble.

“I think the plane can wait until after dinner,” Ana interrupted. “I’m sure you two are famished. And I’m certain neither one of you want to spend another three hours cooped up on a plane after that trip halfway across the world.”

“That sounds like a fantastic idea.” Gabriel agreed and they steered the boy towards the commissary. Gabriel’s massive duffle bag keeping them company.

More at “Hello, Joel” And other First Encounters: Reyes; Ana; Soldier76; Hanzo(McCree POV); Tracer ; Sombra; Hanzo (Hanzo POV); D.Va

[the-kryomancer]

"I'm Your Huckleberry." Jesse McCree x Fem!Reader

Warning: Mentions of the death of reader’s parents.

(y/n)= your name

(n/n)= nick name

(l/n)= last name

(f/f)= favorite food

Chapter One

You gripped the strap of your bag tightly, your knuckles going white from tension. Biting your lip, you slowly made your way into the Watchpoint. It was your first assignment, and boy were you nervous. Your stomach felt empty and heavy at the same time; your knees were weak but your feet felt heavy.

You were sixteen; much too young to have enlisted. But you did anyway, because why the hell not.

“(L/n)?” a gruff, deep voice said. You looked up from your feet and saw a blond man, who you recognized as Strike Commander Jack Morrison. You had a poster of him in your room when you were little. You vividly remember having a crush on him, and boasting to your family members how you were going to marry him one day.

Boy, were you a stupid kid.

“Y-yes sir!” you saluted, straightening your posture automatically. Letting out a light chuckle, he nodded at you; a signal that you could relax, at least in his presence. And you did so. Your back hunched a bit, making you look shorter than you were, and you stuffed your hands into the pockets of your pants.

Your assignment was so last minute, you were still in civilian clothes. Then again, you had gotten the call just that morning. Four in the morning, of all things. And the ride in Overwatch’s private transport made the time differences even harder. Then there’s the jet lag.

“You’re a bit young to be enlisting, aren’t you?” asked the commander as he looked through your files on the holo-pad. Your cheeks heated up in embarrassment; you knew he was speaking before but you didn’t hear what he said and you never thought he’d actually think your age as a bad thing. “How hard was it to get your parents’ permission?” He smiled a bit, remembering what it was like when he first told his parents he was enlisting into the military.

Your face reddened more; but you weren’t sure if it was from the sudden wave of dread or the nervousness to answer the question. Either way, you took a shaky breath and answered with as even a voice as you could.

“M-my parents are dead, sir…” your answer quietly, barely above a whisper as you spoke. Jack was silent, and he felt ashamed he assumed and asked you that. He didn’t know until he suddenly glanced over it in your file.

Damn.

“I’m so sorry,” he quickly said to you. “I didn’t know.” You nodded at him, telling him it was okay and that you understood. You just silently hoped he didn’t open that wound up any more. Clearing his throat, he looked down at you once more.

He went over the basics: he was your superior and you had to report to him; you had training with other recruits and there was no holding back; your mission reports were due a week or less after said mission; and you were under no circumstance to disobey orders given by your superior.

It was straight forward in your opinion, and you had no problems with the rules set in place. Jack was about to escort you to your bunks when he got a call over coms.

“Commander Morrison here,” he said, pressing to his com piece. You stood there, awkwardly as he spoke to the individual rather harshly, you noticed. “Damn it, Reyes.” A sigh. “I’ll be right there.”

He looked at you sadly, and a pang of guilt eating at him. Out of the corner of Jack’s eye he caught the sight of one of his friends.

“Ana!” he called out. The Egyptian woman looked over and smiled at the sight of Jack. She walked over to the two of you. Jack gestured to you, “This is (y/n) (l/n); she’s a new recruit. (y/n), this is Captain Ana Amari; the best sniper in the world.”

Ana let out a chuckle, “Oh Jack, you flatter me.” She directed her attention to you. “It’s always good to have a fresh new face; welcome to Overwatch.”

Saluting her, you nodded. “It’s good to be here, ma'am.”

“No need for formalities, dear.”

“Ana,” Jack spoke up, “I need to help Reyes deal with McCree. He got into another fight with one of my recruits. I’ll need to know what happened so I can file a report. Can you take (l/n) to her bunk and show her the base?”

Ana nodded, “Of course, Jack. I’d be happy too. It also gives me an excuse to check on Fareeha.” You raised an eyebrow, wondering who this “Fareeha” was. Ana noticed your confusion. “My daughter. She’s a few years younger than you, actually.”

“I have to run.” Jack said walking away. He muttered something about “Damn delinquents.”

Ana gestured for you to follow and you did, hoping you could keep up with her quick pace. “Jesse never gets along with the recruits,” she muttered to herself. You assumed Jesse was the guy Morrison called McCree. “I blame Gabriel and Blackwatch for that.”

“Black…watch?” you questioned. You didn’t know there was such a thing; you only ever heard of Overwatch.

Ana nodded, glancing at you before grabbing your bicep to hurry you to her pace. She spoke quietly yet harshly.

“Blackwatch is an elite covert operations section of Overwatch. They handle all of the "dirty” jobs the United Nations won’t let us handle.“

"Ma'am, I didn’t know Blackwatch exsisted.” you responded a bit nervously.

“Civilians don’t. Only members of Overwatch and Blackwatch know it exsists; along with all political personnel it concerns. Like I said,” she looked at you, “civilians don’t know about Blackwatch.” She smiled. “But you’re not a civilian anymore, (y/n).”

“It’s going to be… hard to get used to,” you replied, hugging your waist with your free arm. “Not being a civilian, I mean.”

Ana nodded, knowing it was a hard transition for her at the beginning.

“So, what made you want to join Overwatch in the first place?”

You cleared your throat, “It’s a long story…” you scratched the back of your neck.

Ana sensed you were uncomfortable and stopped walking. She pulled you to face her. “It’s alright, dear. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. We all have our reasons for joining, and you choose to keep yours private. That’s perfectly fine.”

You smiled, “Thank you, Captain Amari.” Ana chuckled.

“Please, call me Ana.”

“Okay, Ana.”

Ana showed you to your bunks that you shared with a few other female recruits. There was one bed left, in the back against the wall. There was a chest on the front with a digital name tag on the front that read “(y/n) (l/n)”. She explained that is where your belongings go and where your uniform will be laid out every morning.

There was no one in the bunks since most of the recruits were training or they were in town for a much needed day off. She left you to get settled and promised to be back to take you to dinner.

You set up your little corner of your bunk. It was snug, but you expected nothing less since it was the military. You unpacked your civilian clothing and other personal items into the trunk. You pulled out a crumpled up poster from the bottom of the bag. It was torn and wrinkled, but you smoothed it out on the wall before pinning it above your bed. You smiled at it.

It was an Overwatch poster with “Join now” written in big letters with members of Overwatch on it. The members were Captain Amari, Commander Morrison, a man who you’d heard from news reports as Gabriel Reyes, and a man named Reinhardt Wilhelm, whom your best friend had told you about. Your best friend Jay had taken a few trips to Germany to visit her grandparents and they told her all the stories of the brave crusader. If she could, Jay would’ve joined with you. But her parents told her to wait until she finished high school. You remember how she talked you into joining.

It wasn’t a good day for you. You were running late that morning, and you forgot you had a history test that day. You were pretty sure you just bombed it, and to make it worse it was freezing outside. Your history class was in a portable outside but there was heat.

After you finished the test you got a text from Jay.

‘How are you?’

'I just finished my test. I’m going to the bathroom now.’

You replied to her before stuffing your phone into your back pocket and walked up to the teacher’s desk. You told him you needed to use the bathroom. He typed your name and the date and time into the holo-pass. He handed it to you and you nodded before slipping it into your pocket. It was a small card, see through except for the glowing blue letters.

You silently cursed to yourself for forgetting your jacket.

“Just get in and you’ll be warm, (y/n),” you whispered to yourself as you rubbed up and down your arms. You could faintly see your breath in the air as you spoke.

You got into the building and headed for the girl’s restroom. Before you could, though, you were yanked into a supply closet by a mystery person. They dragged you in and shut the door before pressing the light pad which lit up the room.

It was Jay.

“Jade Yvonne Dampf, I have to go to the bathroom and don’t have time for y-”

You were paused by her shoving something paper into your hands. You looked down at the object in your hands and unfolded it. It was an Overwatch recruitment poster that the school kept in the main foyer. You looked at her shocked. Jay just smiled at you.

“This is the recruitment poster. I thought you were going to wait until you gradu-”

“(n/n), I’m not letting you wait two years for me to graduate. I don’t care if we were supposed to do it together. This is your biggest dream. Live it,” she pulled you into a hug. “Your parents would be proud.”

“Thanks Jay,” you replied. Something finally clicked and you pulled away from her. “Wait, did you steal the poster from the school?”

She blushed a bit. “It’s not stealing if you don’t get caught.”

“You need to stop listening to Hailey and Brenna. They’re bad influences on you,” you chuckled.

You remember that well, especially because you had enlisted the next day.

“(l/n)?”

Ana’s voice caught you by surprise and you fell off your bunk. Groaning, you got back onto the bed and heard Ana laughing.

“S'not funny.” you pouted.

After her giggles faded, Ana gestured for you to come towards her. “I’m here to escort you to the infirmary for your mandatory physical.”

You walked over to her confused. “Physical? I already had one done after I enlisted.”

“Yes, but not by Overwatch.”

She took you to Doctor Ziegler, who you heard was not much older than yourself. You didn’t mind another physical. It was that instead of getting to learn your new home, you had to be in the infirmary. You were eager to meet everyone and learn the Watchpoint like the back of your hand.

You voiced this when you and Doctor Ziegler were alone- hoping she didn’t take it to heart.

She didn’t.

Laughing, she smiled at you. Her thick Swiss accent was prominent in every word she pronounced.

“I would be happy to accompany you to dinner. As well as give you a tour of the Watchpoint,” she said, typing a few things down into your file.

“Thank you,” you replied happily. “I’d enjoy that.”

After the physical, Angela did as promised. She accompanied you to dinner. She showed you the entire mess hall, which was bigger than you expected. But what did you expect? It had to fit hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people.

There was a buffet, of sorts. It was served by the cafeteria workers, and they all seemed rather grumpy when you and Angela walked up to them. Angela greeted each of them happily, calling them by their first name and making a bit of small talk. She explained to them that you were a new recruit and she was showing you the Watchpoint.

While she was talking, you noticed that they were serving (f/f). During a pause, you asked for it and one of the servers gave it to you. You thanked them before following Angela to get some side dishes.

As you stood there, trying to figure out what to get a man, no older than yourself, walked by. He had tan skin and shaggy brown hair. He dressed like a cowboy, hat and all, much to your surprise.

He tipped his hat you and Angela. “Ange,” he looked at you and winked. “Darlin’.” He smirked and walked over to a table where there were other men sitting.

“Jesse,” Angela said, almost distastefully. You looked back at the man and then to Angela.

“Jesse? As in Jesse McCree?” you asked.

She let out a small chuckle. “It’s only your first day and you already know who he is.”

She told you about his reputation in Blackwatch as the two of you walked over to a table where a few nurses and doctors were sitting. The two of you sat at the far end of the table, away from the medical professionals.

You noticed the agents in dark clothing didn’t sit with the other Overwatch agents and you brought this up to Angela.

“Oh, Blackwatch members don’t like to sit with Overwatch agents. I don’t know; it probably has something to do with familiar faces. That, and maybe the fact some of the Blackwatch members were transferred there from Overwatch.” She told you this as she took a bite of her salad.

You nibbled some of your meal before replying. “Did Commander Morrison send them there? Or was it voluntary?”

“Er…” she bit her tongue anxiously. “Maybe that is better left unsaid.” She took another bite of her salad. “But anyway… I think you’ll like it here. Just wait until you get your first mission!”

You listened to Angela talk about how many new recruits get injured on their first mission and how to avoid injury. You noticed Ana sitting with Commander Morrison and three other men. And… a little girl?

“Hey, uh, Angela. Who or those people sitting with Captain Amari?”

She looked over at the table that you were pointing to. “Oh, the man in the beanie next to Jack is Gabriel Reyes. He’s the head of Blackwatch.” You mentally made a note of that. “The biggest one is Reinhardt. He’s a crusader. And don’t let his size intimidate you; he’s a big sweetheart, really. And the last one is Torbjörn. He was my mentor when I first joined.”

You nodded. “Okay, but who’s the little girl?”

She chuckled. “Oh, that’s Fareeha, Ana’s daughter. She’s only a few years younger than you, actually. You two might get along.”

That night, it was hard for you to get to sleep. You finally got to meet your bunk mates, who were actually really nice women. But one in particular, Frankie, talked in her sleep and at the moment it was very annoying.

A million thoughts raced through your mind at the moment. You were nervous about your first official day tomorrow. But you also couldn’t get Jesse McCree out of your mind. He was really cute. Although his reputation was that he was a flirt, and one of your bunk mates even told you how he got involved with Blackwatch.

Either way, as you stared up at the poster beside your bed, you couldn’t help but wonder what was soon to be in store for you.

This chapter is dedicated to @animal-luver2102 @syntheticninjas​ and @infamousbeans who voted for this. And my friend @ukcatsgirl10​ who was my beta reader and loved it and couldn’t wait to read more.