The next week passes by slowly. Every day feels the same. Each week is on the rotating pattern, where you do the same drills every other day, but with increasing intensity. The heat only intensifies with each day, and you move more and more drills outside in order to add to the difficulty of each one.

You're running the last drill of the day as the sun sets. 

"Pick up the pace!" You yell as the recruits are running in full armor and carrying weaponry. Today is the last day of general training. The two middle weeks are dedicated to training for your specific role in a team, but everyone needs to be able to fend for themselves before learning more niche things. 

When people in more specialized fields such as Tank or Support return to Overwatch headquarters, they have a week of specialized training with an Upper Agent or Commander in the same field. Ginger took her training with Angela, and you remember that Aden took his training with Reinhardt during his first week. Of course, now the agents have to teach a few at a time, as there aren't enough Upper Agents to meet the needs of incoming recruits, but the more the merrier. 

McCree is jogging behind the stragglers, and you're waiting by the finish line. You hear him yell "Move, move! Come on!" At the girl falling the most behind. At his words you see her pace improve, as does the pace of those in front of her. But soon she lags behind further.

"Everyone else has to wait for you!" McCree shouts. The two of them are fairly far off by comparison to the rest. "Come on!" You see at this moment the recruit simply stop. You see the two of them have a conversation that you're too far off to understand. It lasts awhile, to the point where everyone else crosses the finish line, and is looking at the two of them. You see McCree place a hand on her shoulder, and say something. At his words, she adjusts her grip on her training rifle, and the two of them jog to the finish line. As they cross, you say, 

"Well done. That's a wrap for today. Tomorrow starts specialized training. Those who have specialized training will get briefings from me on the general things, and you will receive specific training when we get back to headquarters. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Everyone else will continue their training with Agent McCree. Good work today, I expect better tomorrow. Sleep well." You say, waiting for everyone to file inside before yourself heading in. McCree stands next to you and says, "They aren't bad."

"They're better than I was, so they can only do better."

McCree chuckles slightly and says, "I don't know if they have half the drive you had." 

"Drive isn't everything. You can want something more than anything in the world and still not get it."

"I suppose you're right. Well, I'll see you in the morning." He starts to head off. 

"Breaking tradition?" You call after him.

"I'm beat, I'm going to bed. Don't we get a break tomorrow?" He turns around and walks backward to call back at you.

"A little one-" You say as he enters the building. Your brow furrows as you think over the conversation. That was... cordial.

You go upstairs to get changed and head to bed when your phone rings. The number is familiar.

"Jo!" You say, "It's been too long, how are you?"

"I'm good." Your twin says on the other line, "Can you believe it, only three and a half weeks until I see you again?"

"I'm so excited. I hope Maggie's is still open? I'd die without donuts." You sit on your bed, pressing your phone to your shoulder as you use both hands to tug your shoes off.

"I'm sure it would've gone under long ago without Dad and Beth going every Saturday."

"Ah... Beth. How is she?"

"Good, I think." The tone of the conversation changes as you mention your father's girlfriend. Jo continues, saying, "Since I've been home to visit she hasn't really talked to me. She's more concerned with her 'honeybear'."

"Ew. I don't want to think about that, Jo."

He laughs on the line and says, "I won't mention it too much. But I still think that the fact that you don't like pet names is funny."

"It's a completely normal thing." You defend yourself.

Before you can argue more, Jo switches the subject. "Anyway, how's the recruit training going?"

"Good. This is a good batch. Though, I did get partnered with you-know-who."

"Oh no. Have the two of you killed each other yet?"

You laugh a bit before saying, "No, surprisingly. Today was nice. He was... nicer than normal."

"If I'm being honest, there's a lot of barrier to entry with you, too."

"Hey, I'm not the problem here."

"Right." Jo says sarcastically. "Well, I'd better let you go. Honeybear and I are watching baseball."

"Have fun, and tell Dad I said hi."

"Will do. Talk to you later."

"Alright. Bye Jo."

You hang up the phone and smile to yourself. Just a couple more weeks. You think, before watching the sun set and heading to bed.

_____________________________________

A few days later, you're about to finish breakfast when McCree comes and sits next to you.

"You look tired." You say as you spoon some gravy onto a biscuit.

"These kids tire me out." He chuckles slightly. "How have things been going with the specialized stuff?"

"Good. I'm obviously not Ange or Reinhardt, but I get the job done." You finish eating the biscuits and gravy, and say as you stand up, "Will I see you tonight?"

He pauses to think and then says, "Sure."

You nod at him and then head to give your plate to the cleaning bot behind a counter. 

Its odd. Your conversations with McCree have starting being completely friendly. They're short, but you've stopped sneering at him, and he's been less condescending. 

This week you've spent teaching the bare basics of Tank and Support roles in Overwatch. A lot of it is showing pre-recorded safety or instructional videos by agents in the field, and not you actually teaching. McCree is running drills with the recruits outside, working on more advanced techniques in strategy, weapons, and sparring. You supervise some of his drills, but you trust him to do his job despite your rocky relationship. You may not like him, but you know that he does a good job.

Everyone at this point is living in a constant state of being tired. When you aren't training recruits, your eyelids droop and you have to fight the constant urge to take a nap. But like most days during the middle weeks, the hours pass quickly. It's lunch time when you sit down to look at the rest of the day's schedule. You have to watch more training videos, and run a few drills with your group in the simulator, and then run one long exercise with all of the recruits after dinner, McCree's team included. 

As McCree enters the room, you flag him down. 

"Hey, quick question, what's been the most successful thing with your group?" 

He considers this for awhile and says, "They've done the best with team drills."

"Okay... That means later today we're going to have them run solo tests in the simulator."

"Oh, that's fancy," McCree says, "What does that involve?"

"There should be a link to solo and group protocol next to the time slot in the schedule. Just read over that before you finish lunch and you should be okay. Everyone will be doing that, so you can mostly just watch me."

"Alright. See you then." He gives you a mini salute and walks over to the table with his recruits.

"See you." You finish your lunch and double check over which videos to run.

You gather up your recruits and bring them into the smaller room where you've been playing videos. 

"Ok, before we get started, we have to do some testing on terminology. Write down these three things, and I'll check them while you watch the video. These three questions are for healers. First, what is a clean bullet wound, and what would make a wound not clean? Second, what technology allows for the quickened healing process? Third, which Overwatch member developed this technology? 

"These three are for the Tanks. First, what is the maximum capacity of a standard Overwatch shield? Second, name two positions commonly found in protective strategy. Thirdly, which Overwatch member created the interlocked shield strategy?"

You wait for them to finish writing, and when everyone has passed up their papers to you, you turn on the videos and look over answers. There's only a few who get a question wrong, and no one gets all three wrong. The videos take awhile, and discuss general specialized tactics to keep the others safe. The reason that Tanks and Supports get lobbed together during preliminary training is because of their goal: protection. Soon enough, you take the recruits into a large indoor room that houses the simulator, and give them older models of Overwatch shields and healing equipment. You turn on the simulator, and have the tanks protect their healers.

"Healers are your priority. Don't forget that. Without them, you run the risk of everyone being killed. Healers, stick to your team, and if there's two of you in a fight, stick together."

You run this drill for awhile until dinnertime comes. After dinner, you gather everyone up. McCree's group is pretty chatty until he stands at the front of the room and says, "Listen up." He doesn't even have to shout, and the room goes quiet. "Gold Commander (L/N) is going to primarily run these drills. They're situational, based on prior performance, so give her your full attention. This will be unlike anything else you've done here."

"Thank you, Agent McCree. Like he said, this is going to be different. View it as a sort of midterm exam. You have all done well as a team. You care for each other, and in these few short weeks, I'm beginning to see which of you work best with the others. But, this will be different. You're going to have a solo performance evaluation. You'll be in there all alone, and need to think on your feet. No matter which position you play, you're going to have to overlap to another at some point. You'll receive your mission when you step into the simulator, and you must complete it to the best of your ability."

"Now," McCree places his hands on his hips and says, "Who wants to go first?" Silence hangs in the room before one of McCree's recruits, the younger girl from earlier, raises her hand. 

"Baines," McCree points at her, using the last name listed on her uniform, "come on up." 

She seems to have grown more confident over the last few days, and looks relaxed when she walks up. McCree hands her the simulator headgear and prop weapon. "Head in there, you'll get your mission soon." You say. You turn to McCree and say in a low tone, "What does she need work with?"

"Protecting herself. She doesn't want anyone to get hurt, and she forgets to care for herself. I'd throw her into the wolves, as much as she'd dislike it." He scans through scenarios on the screen by the entryway and picks one: "Shooting to Kill."

You hear the faint countdown from this base's version of Athena from inside the simulator. Purplish outlines of what she sees appear in the space in front of her. Heavy fire starts raining down almost immediately. She ducks behind a car, breathing heavily. She peers out, trying to get a good look at her surroundings. As she does, more purplish outlines show multiple enemies, maybe ten, all raining fire at her. The landscape she's in is familiar too, looks to be right here in Santa Fe. You cringe a bit. She closes her eyes and slows her breathing before peaking out from the car and shooting. Her aim is true, though not very effective. She hits one in the shoulder. She peaks out from the other side to see someone much closer to her. She shoots on sight, and this hit lands. It takes an agonizingly long time for her to pick off just three enemies. Everyone around is getting restless.

"I have an idea, but she isn't going to like it." McCree says. 

"She's your recruit, whatever you think will help." You say.

He presses a button, and all of a sudden a form appears behind her, another recruit in similar uniform. This other recruit, also lined in purple, dashes from under cover to another place. This seems to spark something in Baines as she tries to cover the other recruit. The recruit, far more daring than her, takes a hit. Baines rushes immediately over to the recruit, and begins firing at the enemies. She looks down at the recruit, and when realizing she can't do much to help, pokes out from cover again and again, shooting at the enemies and hitting. It doesn't take her much longer to take out the rest of the enemies, and the simulation ends. She comes out, breathing heavily and shaking a bit. You glance at McCree. "I'll keep it going." He says. 

You pull her aside.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Eliana Baines."

"Eliana. Are you alright?"

"I think so." She doesn't make eye contact with you.

"That right there, is the hardest part of the job. But what you just did showed incredible bravery. You weren't ready to end a life to protect your own, but you were to protect others. That is what this job is about. You're selfless. Look at me." She does. You say, "It's all about protecting the people we love. That's the job. I have a feeling you're going to be one of the best." You pat her on the shoulder. "If you want to head to bed early, you're more than welcome to. You don't have to stick around for everyone else."

"Gold Commander?"

"Just call me (L/N)."

"(L/N), do you ever get used to it?" She meets your eyes again. You remember asking McCree the same question the day you first had to take another life. You couldn't then. You remember his response now. 

"No. It's not what humans were made to do, but if you focus on the people you can save, and the lives all around the world that you can make better, it helps."

She nods, before thanking you, and watching a few more simulations. After the third, you see her exit through the doors. 

You run the rest of the simulations, which takes awhile, and then head upstairs. 

You get changed for bed, but you hear a knock on the porch door.

It's McCree, holding a glass of whiskey, with a look on his face that says, "You coming?"

You roll your eyes and smile before heading into the cool evening. The sun has long set, and the stars are starting to come out. He hands you the glass of whiskey and said, "Told you I'd make it tonight."

"Thanks for this, but where did you get it?"

"Please, I know this area like the back of my hand. I know a guy. Got it cheap too." He makes the cheers motion before drinking his glass. You do the same, and just drink in silence for a moment.

"I'm not the biggest fan of whiskey, but this isn't bad."

"No ma'am." 

He takes out a cigar and lights it. As his room light is off, the only light around right now comes from his cigar and your room.

"What do you even like about smoking?"

He takes a puff and says, "I don't know. I just like it. Can't that be enough?" He looks over to you, tone beginning to slip back into icy territory.

"Sure. Just wondering. I never personally saw the appeal."

You gaze off into the distance and think to yourself for a moment. Eventually, you break the silence and say, "How long did you know Ashe for?"

This catches him off guard. He turns and stares at you with a confused look on his face and says, "You know about Ashe?"

"I met her. She gave me the charges to... blow up the place."

McCree releases a sort of bewildered chuckle and says, "I suppose I pity you then. We aren't on great terms anymore."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"The whole betrayal deal. To be fair, who wouldn't trade life in a maximum security prison for a job? I don't know. Did she ever mention me?" 

"No, but I knew that you probably knew her. With how willing she was to betray her own people, I don't think she liked the new management. I have a feeling that she'd do a better job."

"It was all she wanted for awhile, and you aren't wrong. She'd be good at it. Let's just hope that doesn't happen for while." 

There's a quiet moment where nothing but the sounds of breathing and crickets fills the space. You stand there for a moment, before reaching over and snatching away McCree's cigar.

"Hey! Give that back." He says, reaching over to grab it from you. You dart back, holding it above your head.

"Give me a chance to figure out why you like it!" You say back, holding it out of his reach. When he seems to give up a little bit, you take a puff, and immediately start coughing. You hand it back to him, doubled over, wheezing.

You hear McCree laugh. "It's not funny." You say between coughs. 

"It's funny as hell! You ever smoked before?"

"Like, once?" You cough again.

McCree just leans on the balcony railing and laughs some more. When you finish coughing, McCree asks, "So, how was Baines?"

"She was shaken."

"I can imagine. You were like that too, the first time it hit you." He locks eyes with you, his expression soft.

"Weighty stuff. Haven't had a good night's sleep in awhile."

"None of us have." His eyes don't waver from you. 

"Guess not." You return his gaze. Your stomach sinks as you remember, and you soon find yourself thinking of what you lost. Tears begin to form, as you say, "I should probably head to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sure, yeah. Goodnight, (Y/N)."

"Goodnight McCree." A habit at this point which clearly stings him as he looks away from you. 

You head to bed and let one tear fall as you lie down. It's been three years, and I still can't get over it?

You feel the guilt you once felt rise again. You haven't felt anything more than anger about this place for awhile, so the rising emotion startles you. You wipe the tear off of your cheek and turn the lights off.