I am so sorry this part has taken so long, getting into the right mindset for this has proven difficult and then of course Blizzard go and drop a Blackwatch Healer on us?! Well hold onto your hats and spurs folks because I couldn't pass that opportunity up. Hopefully I can do her justice!

- Jedders Out!

"Do you think you will go back to using your left hand for shooting again?"

The soft synthetic voice of the cyborg caused McCree to gently lift his hat off his face, glancing across the roof they had settled on for the evening. He contemplated the question for a moment, chewing on his lip before slowly sitting up. "I don't know, I guess I'd like te' but doc says my arm'll be outta action after surgery for a while. Gotta' let the swellin' go down and then there's learnin' how te' use it" he drew his legs up, resting his right arm across his knees and shrugged "Guess we'll see eh?" he flashed a smile at Genji, the cyborg nodding gently.

"I am happy for you McCree. Although…" he leaned back "you realise Reyes will stop going easy on you once you have both arms?" he shot the cowboy a smirk.

"Easy on me? Don't know where you've been but Reyes has been anythin' but easy on me since the incident"

Genji chuckled to himself, shaking his head "You keep telling yourself that cowboy" he began to get to his feet, stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Now hold up a sec, you name one-time Reyes has gone easy on me?" Jesse got to his feet also, facing his comrade with a stern glare, his eyebrow raising as Genji folded his arms gently.

"You're still here are you not?" Genji met the brown hues of the cowboy with his own steely gaze.

"An' what's that s'pose to mean?"

"Reyes dismissed Wyono and Ortega on the spot for their injuries. Yet you, are still here. I would hardly call that a coincidence, would you?"

Jesse frowned at the idea before straightening up "M'bbe he- I mean when he recruited me it was te'-"

"-to keep you from jail. However, enough time has passed for that to become irrelevant. Regardless of that, Reyes has always been ruthless when it comes to removing weak links from Blackwatch. Weakness is a risk and the commander does not like to take risks. You are an exception McCree"

Jesse scratched the back of his head, stumped by the ninja's counter argument before shaking his head "Nah, gotta' be s'min else…yer just makin' this stuff up" he grinned at the cyborg "'sides, he still kicks my ass as hard in trainin' sessions. If he had a soft spot fer me he wouldn't 'ave broken my nose that one time"

Genji chuckled and shook his head "Believe what you will. It is getting late and I believe Angela instructed you to have a full night's rest ahead of tomorrow's surgery, correct?" both men turned their attention to the full moon, its bright light gleaming down on them, the base eerily silent as agents slept the night away.

"Yer right. Tomorrow's a big day" Jesse adjusted his hat and shot the cyborg a sideward glance "I'm expectin' chocolates from ye' when I wake up partner. I hope ye know that"

"I guess I will have to return the whiskey I bought then" the cyborg turned to leave.

"Now hold on, I never said-"

The cyborg laughed loudly "-Goodnight McCree" A quick salute was given, the cyborg leaping down from the building and disappearing into the night, the cowboy chuckling to himself and looking back to the horizon with a gentle smile on his rugged features.

O O O O

"Alright, I have run all the necessary pre-checks and everything has been prepared in surgery" Angela was reading through the cowboys notes again as she spoke, her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a look of determination etched on her features as she thoughtfully tapped her pen against her lip "Do you have any questions Jesse?" she asked, lifting her sapphire blue hues from the paper to look at the gunslinger.

Jesse was sat up in bed, his dishevelled hair, allowed to roam free without his hat, was splayed out in all directions, the white of his gown an unusual contrast to the gentle sun kissed glow of his skin. Scratching at his jaw the cowboy shook his head "No questions from me doc, you've explained it plenty o'times" he smiled at her, watching her approach his IV lines and rummage around for the sedative she needed.

"Once I have administered the anaesthetic just count backwards from 10 for me" she set about filling the needle with the fluid, ensuring the measurement was exact before she flicked the end of the needle and turned her gaze back to him, smiling at the keen glint in his eyes. "You're excited?" she remarked.

"O'course, not every day a fella gets a new arm. Let alone a badass one like that" he said thumbing towards the box on the side "I said it before, im'a say it again, I'm real grateful to ye' fer doin' this doc." He held out his right arm for her when gestured, Angela tapping gently to raise some veins to the surface.

"You don't need to thank me Jesse, I am just doing my job" she smiled before inserting the needle into the vein on the back of his hand and gently injecting the anaesthetic "Ok, start counting for me" the needle was set on the side, arms folding gently as she watched and waited.

Jesse smirked at the doctor, nodding at her words and beginning to count backwards in his head from 10.

10…..9…8…..

The world around his began to grow foggy, his movements becoming sluggish, brown hues rolling to look at the clock before rolling back to look at Angela.

7….6…..5

The world began to grow dark, the cowboy keeping Angela in sight as the dark tendrils began to swarm towards the centre, engulfing her form and dragging the cowboy into the darkness.

O O O O

"There were a few complications with the procedure…"

"Complications?"

"Yes, the connection of the prosthesis could not be mapped exactly as we had planned. A little bit of improvisation though resolved the matter"

"So, everything is fine?"

"Indeed. I believe Jesse will make a full recovery"

The words faded in and out of Jesses mind as he struggled to regain consciousness, his lids felt heavy, struggling to allow him to see the world around him. His body felt like it was being pulled downwards into the bed and as unconsciousness washed over him again he could have sworn he felt someone take his hand. A large, calloused hand.

When he awoke again later the cowboy found himself wincing as the bright light of his hospital room reflected off the sterile walls and assaulted his eyeballs driving the headache that resided deeper into his skull. A pained groan escaped him, the noise scratching his throat and alerting him to just how dry his mouth was, the gunslinger awkwardly smacking his lips together desperate to form some moisture and remove the dry almost furry sensation from his tongue.

"Ah Jesse, you're awake"

Still squinting the cowboy grunted as Angela leaned closer, her figure blurring into focus before a bright light was shone into his brown hues causing him to recoil with a noise of protest.

"Sorry, I just need to check you are responding properly" Angela clicked off the torch and crossed the room, gently dimming the lights slightly so the cowboy could open his hues fully. "I can imagine you're feeling pretty rough right now" her words were spoken gently, arms folding across her chest.

"Worse hangover I've ever had" Jesse forced the words past his lips, every syllable catching on the roof of his mouth as his dry tongue scratched against the inside of his mouth "Can I get a drink?" he asked, exhaling feebly as Angela nodded and set about pouring him a glass of water, popping a straw in and holding the glass close so that the plastic tube poked against his cracked lips.

He sought the straw hungrily, sucking desperately at the cold water and downing the whole glass with ease. Exhaling in relief as the dryness faded he smirked at the medic and murmured a thank you before looking down to his left arm, surprised to see he was bandaged up to his shoulder instead of just past his elbow as originally planned, his brow furrowing curiously before he tried to move his arm, grunting as nothing happened. The limb was a complete dead weight, useless for now.

"We encountered some complications during surgery. Some of the nerves we had intended to connect the prosthetic to were too badly damaged or too weak to be stable enough to support the connection so we had to travel further up your arm to locate healthier nerves instead. It was that, or we wire into your spinal cord and I did not feel comfortable with that option" she took a moment to tuck some loose strands of blonde hair behind her ear before continuing "For now I have numbed the area and put you on the strongest pain medication Overwatch has available, which probably explains the headache. Once the swelling goes down we can see about testing some of your motor functions and from there plan accordingly" she noticed the look of unease cross the cowboys face and approached his bed, perching on the edge and placing her hand on his right one. "Everything went fine Jesse, you have nothing to worry about now except resting and your rehabilitation"

Jesse nodded slowly at her words, glancing down again to his left arm and licking his lips as he admired the metal limb attached to the end of his elbow. It was a bizarre experience, seeing something unnatural affixed to you and the conflict in the mind. It wasn't his arm, but he would have to learn that it was. The headache spiked behind his eyes again, drawing a wince from him before Angela stood up.

"Get some rest Jesse, it will do you a world of good" the words were spoken with a stern undertone, the cowboy fully aware that it was an order and not a suggestion. Nodding once he allowed himself to relax back into the pillow, dark hues closing slowly and sleep washing over him easily.

O O O O

"Hey Kid. Wake up"

The gruff voice that woke him drew a disoriented murmur of protest from the cowboy before his visitor flicked him square between his eyes. Jesse yelped, half slapping himself in the face as he tried to nurse the area with his right hand before scowling through the gaps in his fingers at the figure beside his bed.

"Reyes? Fuck'n hell..." Jesse winced and let his hand pull away from his head before noting the serious look on his commander's expression. Gently placing his hand against the bed, he slowly began to ease himself up, grimacing and dragging his metal limb awkwardly through the motions before he allowed his back to rest against the wall and tired hues to settle on Gabe "Y'need s'min?" he asked, his voice a rough mumble as he still tried to pull his consciousness together, briefly casting his gaze to the dim green clock on the side. 1am? Tired hues rolled back towards his commander, the cowboy about to reprimand the man for waking him but instead his lips formed a tight line and not a word passed them. The look in his commander's eyes unsettled him, the worry etched on the male's brow could not be hidden by his signature black beanie. Jesse blinked once, immediately on full alert "Boss?" he prompted, the steely gaze of his commander darting up from the metal limb to meet his own brown hues.

"Everything's fine…"

Jesse was unconvinced and raised an eyebrow "Well that's the biggest crocka-shit I ever heard …what's goin' on?" he moved to fold his arms across his chest to punctuate his point, only for his right arm to flop awkwardly across his chest while his robotic limb stayed unresponsive at his side . A pointless motion, the cowboy huffing in annoyance and abandoning the attempt.

Reyes looked back towards the door, almost as though he were expecting someone to bust into the room at any moment. His large hands rested on his thighs, fingers drumming rhythmically to keep the digits pre-occupied. The silence was unnerving, McCree letting his lips part to question his commander yet again, only to be cut off before a sound could escape him "Has anyone been to visit you?"

Jesse blinked. Rudely awoken with a slight air of panic to be asked about his visitors? "Naw, jus' you an' Angie" he paused for a moment "Why?" he added scowling when Reyes looked away and pushed himself to his feet. "Reyes?" Jesse rose his tone as much as he could, a heavy scowl on his features as he tried to sit forward a little more.

The commander froze at the door, glancing back over his shoulder slightly and drawing a slow inhale of breath before speaking "Just- Just remember who your doctor is alright?" there was a brief grunt of pain from the man following the sentence, the sound faint but the cowboy's keen ears caught it.

"Hey, y'alright?" trying to peer around the man from his bed proved difficult. Jesse scowled, watching the man look down at his hand before shoving it in his pocket with a grunt to his question before the door was tugged open and the man disappeared, offering no further information about the reason for his visit.

Perplexed, Jesse shook his head and slowly eased himself down the bed, grateful to nestle back beneath the warmth of the bedsheets again. He concluded that he would get an answer from Reyes when he saw him next or at the very least try and pry information from Genji when the cyborg inevitably visited to smuggle him some whisky as promised. Despite the increasing throbbing in his arm, now that his pain meds were starting to wear off, the Blackwatch agent found himself dozing off again almost instantly, a welcomed escape into the dark recesses of his mind. On reflection though, the gunslinger could have sworn he saw a brief trail of black smoke rise from his commander but that was impossible. Right?

O O O O

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The metallic clang of a pen against the metal frame of his bed drove a sharp pain through the Blackwatch agents skull the next morning, which coupled with his already disturbed sleep made for a very grumpy grumble of annoyance. His right arm slapped clumsily over his eyes before he dragged it up and pulled his hand through his unruly chestnut hair, heavy lids parting to allow the individual who'd woken him to blur into focus. What he didn't expect was the silhouette to be right in front of his face.

"Jesus H Christ!" Jesse jumped out of his skin, eyes flying open at the sudden invasion of space and jolting away, just catching himself before he fell off the bed and staring wide eyed at the female who was smirking at him from his bedside. Ginger hair was styled back, pointed at the ends in a way that would make Genji jealous at times. Their slim face was accented by sharp features, tight lips were curled and almost contorted into a smirk as long slender fingers gently tapped together, allowing nails to click together. "Moira?" Jesse shook his head before scowling at the woman and scooting himself back into the centre of the bed "The hell ya' doin' here?" his tone was unnecessarily hostile but he had been against the doctors presence ever since Reyes even mentioned hiring the scientist all those months ago.

Fingers ceased tapping together, fingertips gently pressed together as the scientist silently contemplated her answer simply shaking her head "I'm working" her reply was curt and sent a chill down McCree's spine which only seemed to cast a light in her eyes when she saw the man shudder every so briefly. Her hands parted, one gesturing gently to the robotic limb and a look which strongly resembled disgust flashed across her face "The state of you. Reyes should have allowed me to intervene sooner. Here allow me" willow branch fingers reached for the limb only to pause when Jesse reached across to yank his unresponsive metal limb away from her grasp slightly.

"If it's all the same to ya, I'd rather let Ziegler take a look on account of she's the one to gimmie this" Jesse kept a firm grip on the unresponsive limb, his grizzle features settling into a stern expression before he raised an eyebrow slightly when the Irish woman's calm façade allowed a small twitch of her eye to escape. A break in the mask.

"Doctor Ziegler fails to see the wonders science has built. Allow me to repair the damage to your arm my way. All I need to do is regenerate your cellular structure and that will improve your condition almost immediately without the need for this…" she kissed at her teeth, her hand rotating a she tried to conjure a suitable word from the air "Unsightly substitute" her arms folded, Jesse quick to notice one of her arms was looking a rather unhealthy purple. Almost as though the circulation was being cut from it, he could almost imagine it's icy feel, like the grasp of a dead man.

"Just remember who your doctor is"

The words of his commander rung loudly in his head, brown hues widening. Moira was the Blackwatch doctor technically but Reyes knew what McCree thought of the medic, even arguing with him on an occasion about receiving some vaccinations from the woman. Brown hues cast themselves over the metallic limb that Moira had just referred to as an unsightly substitute and rage clawed at his gut, his gaze snapping up to the woman.

"I ain't lettin' ya within spittin' distance of me" his southern drawl emphasised the syllables of his retort "B'sides I'm rather attached to this unsightly substitute….quite literally as a matter o'fact" he lifted the limb with his other hand to prove a point "I already got a doc takin' real good care of me" the corner of his mouth curled into a smile to see Moira stiffen at the remarks,, her own brow furrowing before she lurched forward with the speed of a snake, her hands slapping down either side of him.

Jesse jolted back instinctively, banging the back of his head on the headboard before staring into the mismatched red and blue eyes of the Blackwatch medic.

"Stupidity is not a right you can afford to expend right now" the words were hissed, Jesse half expecting a forked tongue to poke out from between her thin lips. She didn't share Angela's code, the way she looked at the Blackwatch agents as though they were guinea pigs always put him on edge and right now Jesse felt like caged lab rat. "My role in Blackwatch is to take care of agents, enhance and improve my technological advances to serve your purpose." A quick glance to the door to ensure they were still alone broke up the confrontation briefly "We must all make sacrifices in the name of science and if my memory is correct you're quite the chancer. So, Agent McCree, why not drop this loyalty act and allow me to do the Job commander Reyes hired me for?"

Jesse narrowed his gaze at the woman "If yer tryin' to intimidate me then yer gunna have t'do better than that darlin'. You may be Blackwatch but ya ain't no doc o'mine. Angie's looked after me since Reyes dragged my sorry ass outta Deadlock, so if you don't mind im'a stick to who I trust" he leaned forward slightly to obtain some more of his space back "Now I suggest ya' leave me t'rest….doc"

The pair remained at a stalemate for a few seconds before Moira huffed and withdrew, arms folding across her chest and her gaze shifting to the door "Fine, stick to your primitive solution. I will locate agents willing to accept the enhancements my science can provide" Jesse watched as the woman near ghosted from the room, footsteps eerily silent. As the door closed he allowed a long exhale of relief to escape him, sinking back into his pillows and running his right hand through his hair.

Hiring Moira was a mistake. Unstable with somewhat questionable ethics regarding her infatuation with the need to enhance human genetics.

The door to his room opened again and the flash of the white coat he saw startled him for a moment before the familiar crop of blonde hair tied back allowed him to relax with a smile, the Swiss medic glancing up with a puzzled expression etched on her young features.

"Everything alright Jesse?"

The cowboy nodded "Couldn't be better doc" a pain flared in his left shoulder drawing a grimace "Then again, reck'n I could get some more'a those pain meds?"

Angela nodded with an amused smile "Of course Jesse, afterwards I would like to start analysing your new robotic limb to test the connections if that's alright with you?"

"Yer my doctor, ya do whatever ye need t'"

The cowboy knew he had made the right call on Gabriel's words. There was a new question that burned in the back of his mind now however.

If Gabriel has lost trust in Moira, then why hadn't he just kicked her to the curb? Why was he acting so cryptic?

Jesse let his brows tug together in thought. Something wasn't quite right.