"Howdy, cowboy." You meet Jesse in the hallway.

"Howdy." He tips his hat and grins. 

"What do you have going on today Jesse?" You ask. You've been having small conversations like this in between things. You're both very busy individuals, so you don't often get the chance to chat.

"I've got general training junk, but nothing much other than that. Meet me at lunch?" He asks. 

"Sure, I'm free." You smile, and give him awkward finger guns before heading down the hallway. You see Lena, standing there, gaping at you. She blinks over to you, and grabs you by the shoulders. "What on earth happened to the two of you?" She looks confused, but excited. 

"We talked."

"That's all it took? Three years, and all you had to do was have a chat?" She exclaims loudly. She gets a few strange looks from people in the hallway. "I will never understand the two of you." She says with a giant grin on her face. She gives you a hug, and says, "I've gotta go, but we seriously need to catch up." She walks backwards away from you, and you hear her mumble something to herself before she blinks away. 

It's only been a few days since your conversation with Jesse, and you already feel like a weight has been lifted off of you. You've been talking with Hunter too, more in detail about what happened. He encouraged you to come to him if you ever needed to vent, and the day after, you gladly took up his offer. You never expected your teasing, sibling-like friendship to become much more than that, but you really feel as if Hunter were your second brother. You have a meeting with Madison to discuss the annual Gold-Upper Agent training day that the two of you started. 

You enter the glass elevator to the upper level where some of the conference rooms are. You enter one, where Madison and Commander Ana Amari sit. 

You enter wordlessly and sit. "Commander, Haal." You say, in a faux-formal tone. 

"Hey, (Y/N)." Madison says. She's loosened up a bit after leaving her position as Primary. Her responsibilities are wildly different, and she doesn't always have to set an example. She would be just as formal as before in the presence of Morrison, but the two of you know Ana well enough that you can be more casual with her, and around her.

"The plan is," she continues, "to have a demonstration round of special abilities from the Upper Agents. We have the luxury of being fancy, because we know how not to get ourselves killed." She says.

"Right, I'm sure it'll get the Lowers invested in more advanced strategies. From there, will we just pair them up like usual?" You ask.

"Yes, just for an hour or so. You know the current Golds better than anyone, would you mind listing out their skills for me so I can match them to Uppers?"

"Would it be considered nepotism if your old team gets first pick of Upper partners?" You tease her, "You know there aren't enough Uppers to partner with the Lowers."

"Reds, Blues, and Bronzes should probably have first pick, huh?" She says.

"Probably. Though I'd love to pair up Hunter with someone."

"I'd pair him up with myself and then show him what's what." She jokes.

The two of you plan until lunchtime, and you figure out all of the details of the training day. You asked the remnants of Madison's Gold Team to volunteer to sit out, and Ginger, Hunter, Alta, and a few others volunteer to sit out with you. Your job is to oversee the whole ordeal, so you'll have some company and help while you just walk in between training pairs.

Madison walks with you to lunch, and Hunter joins your small procession as he makes his way to lunch. 

"Hey Mads." He pecks her on the cheek and you swear you see her go a bit red. 

"Hey Hunter." You say.

"How was the meeting?" He asks.

"It was good, though Commander Amari was a bit quiet today."

"I'm sure she had other things on her mind." Madison says, "Plus, Morrison just has her there in case we go off the rails crazy and plan something stupid, like what Hana and Lucio did last year when he left them in charge of something." 

Hunter chuckles and says, "I don't think I'm able to see pink or green anymore, those lights were crazy."

"It was Overwatch's anniversary," You say, "but I will never hear dance music the same way again." 

You enter the dining hall and go to get food. You see Lena and Jesse already sitting together, eating. You and Jesse make eye contact and he waves. You wave back.

"Hey, I'm going to sit with Jesse and Lena today, sorry to bail." You say to Hunter and Madison as you get food. 

"No problem," Hunter says, "That only means more PDA." He winks at Madison, who looks very close to slapping him. "She hates it!" He whispers.

"I know!" You whisper back. You wave to them as you head back to the table, where Jesse, Lena, and now Angela, sit. 

"Hey guys." You sit next to Lena and across from Jesse.

"How was that meeting of yours?" Jesse asks. You see Lena and Angela trying not to gawk at the two of you.

"It was good. Pretty boring though. The list of pairings will come out tomorrow." You say. 

"Good. I have a hope for who I get, but I can keep that to myself." He says. You tilt your head, immediately thinking of someone: Eliana Baines.

"Where did she get placed?" You ask, hoping he's talking about her.

"Silver. High up too." He says. 

"She has a lot of potential. What was she placed at, tertiary?"

"Yeah, they had an opening." 

Lena and Angela just keep exchanging odd looks and eating their food. 

"So, Ange," you say, "how have things been in the medical ward? Haven't you been training new people lately?" 

This seems to snap her out of it, and she says, "Yes. It's been going well, I think. When, ah... did this happen?" She gestures between the two of you. You laugh a bit and say, "Recently."

"How recently?" She stares at you.

"The past few days. Recently." You say, and then take a bite of mashed potatoes. You glance over at Jesse, who has the same sort of crooked smile that you do. 

"(L/N), McCree, Ziegler, Oxton," Morrison walks up to your table and says, "I need to speak with the four of you in an hour. Clear your schedule. We have an emergency." He walks away without another word, and heads over to the table where Hunter and Madison are sitting.

"I wonder what's happening." You say, turning to look over at Hunter, who just shrugs when you meet his eyes. 

"Well, let's hope that no one's gonna die if we give it an hour to even brief." Lena says, mirroring you, and turning to look at Morrison. 

The four of you finish lunch and walk around the complex, chatting, as your schedules have now been unceremoniously cleared. Hunter and Ginger join you all after awhile, and you all stand and wait outside of Morrison's office. You look over to Jesse, who has a furrowed brow. 

"Do you have any idea what this is about?" You lean over and ask him. 

He shakes his head and replies, "No clue."

Morrison exits his office, and wordlessly motions for you all to follow him. He leads you to an elevator. When the door closes, he puts his watch up to the electronic panel and says, "Access Alpha." The elevator dings and begins to descend. Everyone looks around confusedly. The door opens to a darker hallway which snakes to the right and stretches for what seems like miles. 

"We've only had this building for four years... when did we have time to build this, Jack?" Angela asks.

"And what is it for?" Lena says. 

"All in due time. Keep moving." Morrison walks down the hallway. You all follow him for nearly ten minutes before he takes out a keycard and swipes it next to a door. 

Everything has been streamlined to the watches... how old is this stuff?

A light above the door turns green, and you hear a click. Morrison opens the door and gestures for you all to enter. There's a single screen at the end of the room and a projector on the ceiling above a large rectangular table. You all sit in the chairs provided, and wait for Morrison. He closes dusty blinds to cover the windows, and locks the door. 

"What you hear here today does not leave this room, do you understand me?" He says as he walks toward the head of the table. The room is silent, and everyone nods. Jesse nods, brows furrowed. 

"I've brought you all here for an important reason. We're received word that Talon and Null Sector have combined forces. The leader of Null sector is going to be in Detroit for a day to meet with high ranking Talon personnel for a meeting. I understand that the six of you aren't assassins, but I trust you to get the job done. I'm splitting you into two teams with two distinct tasks. Oxton, Prowe, and O'Connor are going to be Team A. I need you all to take out whatever Talon personnel shows up to that meeting. (L/N), Ziegler, and McCree, you are going to be Team B. You take out the Null Sector leader before he arrives. If all goes well, we won't even need Ziegler and Prowe. McCree, O'Connor, your job is to protect the other members of your team. Oxton and (L/N) are ultimately going to be up close and personal." 

Morrison takes two hours and runs you through the detailed plan of the operation, using the old projector and old looking maps and diagrams. Jesse is supposed to keep lookout for you while you enter the Null Sector leader's room and deal with him. Angela will be on standby, close to Jesse, but relatively far from you. You need to get in, and get out. If anything goes wrong, your team is supposed to stick together, and fight out whatever they throw at you. If you get separated, return to the checkpoint, and wait for the others. 

When Morrison is done, Jesse asks, "Where exactly did you receive this information?"

"This information does not leave this room. Overwatch has a Sector ran by the council called Project Illumination. They're a network of highly specialized agents who go into deep cover."

Jesse's brows furrow, and he begins to say something when Morrison interrupts him. "Trust me, they're a part of a check and balance system. This isn't Blackwatch. Don't you trust me to learn from my mistakes?"

"Do I really need to remind you what happened the last time Overwatch assassinated someone, Jack?"

"Rialto was the fault of a leader who made a wrong decision. I'm not going to argue with you on this McCree, not now."

Jesse sits back in his chair, respectfully backing down, though there's still fire in his eyes. 

"I understand that this isn't ideal, but it's necessary. Does anyone have questions?"

The room falls silent, and everyone looks between each other. 

"Good." Morrison says. "We leave tomorrow morning. Again, nothing said here leaves this room. If anyone asks where you're going, tell them that it's classified. If they push it, send them to me. Understand?"

Everyone nods. 

"You are dismissed."

The elevator ride is silent. Everyone seems conflicted with the idea, Jesse, especially. He doesn't look at anyone, just looks down. He's the first to leave when the elevator opens. You turn to go after him, but Lena puts a hand on your shoulder. 

"Give him his space. He doesn't like to think about the Blackwatch days. You should just check with him tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's probably fair." You reply, but you can't help being a bit nervous about him. 

The evening passes quickly, and as you're getting ready for bed, you try to prepare yourself for tomorrow. It's going to be one heck of a day.