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The Overwatch headquarters in Switzerland were huge, and McCree isn’t sure why he expected anything less.
Upon arrival he’d been promptly given an information packet, most likely containing the terms and conditions of his new contract and the specifics of when he could and couldn't do the most mundane things anymore like going to the bathroom, everything military wise ran on a strict schedule that might as well have been an entire galaxy away from Deadlock. In the eyes of the UN, he worked for Overwatch, nothing more than the newest member in their criminal reformation programme. In the eyes of Overwatch, however? He wasn’t worth the fancy blue coats and the medals. He’d been told that he’d be joining Blackwatch, the black ops division of the organisation and their best kept secret. Sure, they’d throw him in front of some cameras to represent Overwatch, the poor teenage boy being saved from a life of crime with the Deadlock Gang was a headline that the press would be sure to eat up eat up, but at the end of the day he was just another guy with another agent number.
Surprisingly, McCree learnt that Blackwatch wasn’t the only secret thing about Overwatch. The organisation was focused on saving the world, that’s what people knew them for, but there were still missions sent out for things beyond that, tests and experiments to measure the preservation of human life were their current focus, cryostasis to be exact. When broken down it did make sense to Jesse, if you're going to save humanity you'll also want to preserve it, specifically those of importance to the world. Omnics could get repairs and upgrades, essentially living on forever if they so desired, but humans didn't have anything like that, we live out our best years and if we’re lucky enough we’ll go peacefully in our sleep one night.
The cryostasis team was made up of some of the world’s best scientists, a couple of big names that Jesse had heard mentioned during news reports before were present on the team roster, however there were a few he didn't recognise, presumably the newer recruits like himself. Names from all over the world were present on the list, all split up into several smaller groups including one that caught Jesse’s eye, field researchers. He'd asked Commander Reyes about it and didn't come back with much information, the man genuinely didn't seem to know much about the project which meant that even while it was on the down low, it was still an Overwatch project. He couldn't help but silently wonder just how many secret projects overwatch had besides Blackwatch and the cryostasis team.
The project left his mind for a while, there was no need to be thinking about it when his days very quickly became full to the brim with training, physical examinations and missions. He barely had time to breathe, let alone wonder about the small project in the depths of the Swiss headquarters. That was until one day when McCree was told that he'd be part of a top secret mission to gather information that would be of use to the cryostasis team. The request shocked him, sure everything he did for Blackwatch was secret, but secret by Blackwatch’s standards was another thing altogether.
It was only going to be him on the mission, it wasn't particularly a high-risk mission unless he was to get caught, which he wasn't going to, something that Commander Reyes had drilled into his head from the moment he'd first handed Jesse the mission briefing. The only thing he had left to do was go down to the secret lab and talk to one Mei-Ling Zhou about what information he'd need to record exactly. Down to the lab, he thought to himself with a small chuckle, only an organisation as big as Overwatch could afford to build an entire lab three stories underground for the sake of keeping one project a secret from the public.
It wasn’t like the lab was disguised in terms of an entry to it, the first and second basement floors were used as supply stores and only senior authority were allowed into them, the elevator requiring an extra key to be used in order for the floor commands to register. With this information being so publicly available, all of the agents on the base just assumed that the third floor had the same purpose. Only a select few knew otherwise and if the information got out the higher ups of the organisation knew for sure who their snitch was. Jesse couldn’t help but feel somewhat important as he stepped into the elevator armed with his commander’s lanyard to gain access to the floor, this was something that out of everyone in Blackwatch he’d been trusted with. Sure, it may have a lot to do with the fact that Jesse’s training was still ongoing and he hadn’t been on many public missions and reports yet, therefore being able to pass as a normal civilian in areas of high government importance, such as the facility where the information he needed was being held, but Commander Reyes had still chosen him out of the newer recruits.
Which meant there was pressure on him. A lot of pressure on him. Jesse was sure he could manage it, but when the elevator doors opened to reveal the lab he decided that he may have been wrong.
The lab was huge, at least twice as big as the labs that Winston and Angela used when testing equipment like Lena’s chronal accelerator. But it wasn’t the size of the lab that was intimidating to Jesse. No, that would be the woman who greeted him from the elevator. He wasn’t one for over exaggerating, but the woman in front of him may have just been a walking definition of the word beauty.
“Hey, you’re McCree right?”
For a moment Jesse seemed to forget where he was and what his job was, realising he was staring however he soon snapped out of it, quickly raising a hand to run it through his hair, a nervous tick from his Deadlock days that he hadn’t been able to kick.
“That would be me, ma’am”
He prayed to whatever was up there that the slight shake in his voice wasn’t noticeable.
A small giggle sounded from the woman before him, and if Jesse didn’t believe in love at first sight beforehand, he certainly did now.
“I’m Mei, If you’d like to follow me I can grab the information that Commander Reyes requested for you.”
Jesse nodded at her and followed along behind her as she expertly made her way through the twists and turns of the seemingly never-ending lab. He was careful of where he was stepping, very conscious of the fact that there was likely some kind of chemical or device in the room that could kill him in an instant.
At some point along their walk, Mei had started talking about the mission and what his job was. Having heard it all already from Reyes, Jesse started to space out and bit and his mind instead focused Miss Zhou. mei eventually came to a stop and handed him a rather bulky file full of information, he wasn’t expecting the file to be that thick and the surprise must have been apparent on his face as Mei let out another small laugh and quickly waved her hands in front of her in a calming motion.
“It’s okay, there’s two packets in there and the bigger one is for Commander Reyes. Your job is exactly the same as what you were told it was, no need to panic.”
Jesse chuckled and let out a large breath that he didn’t know he was holding, looking up from the monstrous packet to meet Mei’s eyes. “Right, right. Thank you for the reassurance there, I was about to turn tail and run, tell Reyes to get someone else to do the mission, y’know?”
“I know the feeling,” a large smile came over Mei’s face as she began to usher them back towards the elevator again. She obviously has better things to do Jesse thought to himself, whatever sense was left in him quickly scaling himself for thinking that. She’s a busy scientist remember, McCree? Get it together, it’s nothing personal. Jesse was too caught up in his internal debate that he barely noticed that Mei had began talking again “I often get given files bigger than I’m used to, only to find that they contain multiple packets. I guess it’s part of being one of the younger ones around the base, I’m sure you know what I mean.”
“Yeah… can’t say this is the first scare I’ve had.”
“Well that’s a shame, you seem like a lovely man, I can’t imagine that you deserve to be loaded with that so often.”
Jesse had no idea where the sudden burst of confidence he was having came from, but he wasn’t about to complain.
“Same can be said for you, Miss Zhou. You seem like a delight to be around. How about when I get back from this mission we grab a coffee sometime and we can get to know each other a little bit?”
A small giggle sounded from the woman in question, a dusting of pink covering her cheeks as the reality of what McCree had just asked sunk in.
“Are you asking me out on a date, Mr McCree?”
“I may be.” he responded, a slight singsong tone evident in his voice.
“Well, it’d be rude of me to turn a nice man such as yourself down. You should return to base by Wednesday, so how does Thursday lunchtime sound?”
McCree couldn’t believe his luck, the beaming smile on his face was enough evidence of that.
“Yeah, that sounds perfect. I’ll see you then, Miss Zhou.”
As he pressed the button to go back to the ground floor of the base in the elevator, he raised his other hand in a slight wave, Mei returning her own as the doors slid shut. As soon as he was sure he was alone, Jesse slumped against the wall of the elevator staring up towards the ceiling, clearly a bit overwhelmed by the events of the last ten minutes.
“Damn Jesse, you’ve got it bad this time.”