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Before he joined Blackwatch, Jesse McCree was a criminal in every sense of the word. He robbed, he murdered, he drunk underage. If it was a crime, it was likely that Jesse McCree had committed it. He was a deep rooted member of the Deadlock Gang and he hadn’t got there just by shooting some smiles at the right people. The cowboy was headed down a path that ended in only two ways; with him rotting in a jail cell or six feet underground.
Jesse knew his life was going downhill fast but he couldn’t find the brake to pull. Every murder he committed pushed him further and further away from the path he wanted for himself and yet he was unable to stop. The buzz he got from pulling the trigger and watching someone’s life fade from their eyes was intoxicating and addictive. He enjoyed the feeling of killing, the satisfaction of knowing that he was so much better than someone else.
Besides, even if he wanted to stop, there was no way he could escape the Deadlock Gang without them busting a cap in his skull. They had their claws too deep in McCree for him to be able to just walk away and he had proven himself too valuable for them to lose. Jesse McCree had therefore resigned himself to spending the rest of his short life with the Deadlock Gang.
When Blackwatch captured him and the rest of his gang members, Jesse believed that was it. They’d either kill him or get him sent to a jail cell for the rest of his life. But then Gabriel Reyes swooped in like some kind of guardian angel and threw Jesse the first ever second chance that life had ever given him. Joining Blackwatch not only meant that he was free from the clutches of Deadlock and was able to escape prison but he could also turn his bloodlust into a force for good.
Of course Jesse was an absolute brat so he refused to ever thank Gabriel for the opportunity the commander had given him and he did nothing but make jokes and irritate the entirety of the organisation for the first few weeks he spent at Blackwatch. Deep down though, Jesse knew that Gabriel had saved his life and he thanked any god that was listening for bringing Gabriel Reyes into his life.
***
When Genji Shimada felt his brother’s blade dig into his back he felt the hot stab of betrayal alongside the agony of the blade itself. He fell to his knees and felt the whole world fade into nothingness around him.
When he awoke on Angela Ziegler’s operating table he felt nothing but unbridled fury. He was furious at his brother for listening to the clan and turning his back on years of love and friendship but more than that; he was furious at being alive. Not that what he was in that moment could qualify as alive. He was living sure but that was only due to the constant injections and operations he was being subjected to. He could breathe, in a sense, and his heart beat but the metal that covered places where skin once was served as a painful reminder of what he now was.
Genji Shimada had been a sarcastic, joyful, light hearted man. The creature that had Genji’s face was nothing like that. He was a ball of rage and vengefulness who hated everything around him and trusted nobody.
When he was told he was to join Blackwatch, Genji hadn’t reacted. It only made sense that the people who had brought him back from death wanted to put him to good use now that he was able to function without constantly being attached to wires and tubes. He didn’t care what he was doing, he just knew that if he sat quietly and did what was asked of him, he would one day be free to take revenge on his family who had turned him into the monster he was.
When Gabriel Reyes entered his life, Genji despised him at first. The man refused to stand by and let Genji mope for the rest of his life and instead dragged the cyborg along to Blackwatch events and attempt to befriend him. He took Genji along on almost every mission and insisted on painstakingly explaining what purpose the mission served and who exactly they were helping. Genji couldn’t care less and he made sure to tell Gabriel of this every time. Every single time though Gabriel would smile and shrug his shoulders, saying that one day Genji would care. He doubted that very much.
However, after weeks and weeks of Gabriel’s perseverance, Genji felt the stirring of emotions inside him. He began to become invested in missions and found himself going above and behind his basic orders in order to make sure the people they were protecting were completely safe. Genji still felt angry at his family but the rage he had harboured towards the rest of the world was almost completely gone. Although he may not have agreed with Angela’s actions, he understood why she had chosen to do what she had. He told her this one day with a brief hug and the woman had practically burst into tears then and there.
Gabriel had smirked at the younger man when he had found out and Genji punched him in the shoulder. Neither man missed how the punch lacked any of the strength and rage that Genji had previously used.
Overwatch may have brought Genji back to life but it was Gabriel Reyes who had saved him.
***
Gabriel sat in his office, perched on his uncomfortable chair, head buried in a pile of dull, tedious paperwork. This was the part of the job that he hated and it was one of the few moments where he didn’t envy Jack’s position. If being the commander of a secret ops organisation left him with this much paperwork he dreaded to think what leading the entirety of Overwatch would result in. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
“Come in.” Gabriel said, voice raised. The door creaked open and in walked a flustered looking Jesse followed by Genji who had both arms hidden behind his back. Gabriel didn’t miss how the man kicked the door shut rather than turn around and close it normally. He put his pen down and raised an eyebrow at the pair.
“What are you two doing here?” He asked, suspicion lacing his voice.
“Just- er- thought we’d… ya know… we just wanted-” Jesse trailed off, wringing his hands in clear discomfort. Genji rolled his eyes and took a few steps forward.
“Here.” He said as he pulled his arms in front of him and deposited what was in them on Gabriel’s desk. Gabriel blinked at it for a moment.
It was a cake. A messy, misshapen cake that had been destroyed with ten tonnes of icing but a cake nonetheless. Written on the top in blue icing were the words ‘thanks for saving us i guess’ in Jesse’s childish scrawl. Gabriel looked up at his agents.
“What?” Is all he could manage. Jesse and Genji both shifted uncomfortably.
“It’s just we were thinkin’ and without you and Blackwatch we’d both be dead in a ditch somewhere or in a jail cell or whatever.” Jesse said with a dismissive shrug.
“We just wanted to say thanks.” Genji finished for his friend, deliberately avoiding making eye contact with his commander.
“Thank you. You’re dismissed.” Gabriel told them and the pair sighed in relief before practically running out the room to avoid any further discomfort.
When the door slammed behind them, Gabriel turned his gaze back to the cake in front of him. God it was an awful looking cake. The lettering was appalling and the icing was already beginning to slide off the top, forming a mushy circle around the base of the cake. Jesse was the worst cook Gabriel knew and Genji didn’t even eat any more so it was almost certainly going to taste like absolute rubbish. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for Gabriel.
The commander sniffed and wiped at his eyes before any tears spilled onto the paperwork in front of him. He leaned back and opened one of the drawers at his desk. He rummaged through the folders and paperwork, found what he was looking for and pulled it out. The picture was pretty damn old, it had been taken when Genji and Jesse were still relatively new to the team which was clearly seen in Genji’s glare and Jesse’s mischievous glint in his eyes. The other agents of Blackwatch crowd around them, broad grins on their faces. Gabriel smiled down at the picture before propping it up on his desk.
“Welcome to the family, boys.”