Lena Oxton: Before Tracer
Overwatch's pilot recruitment facility. 11.47 hrs
Today seemed like it was gonna be a great day.
Marcus was able to sleep 8 hrs last night, a great achievement considering his two children back home. Seems that at their age no amount of exercise can tire out the yearning for fun. But yesterday his kids met their match, which would be church day, Sarah, his wife, wanted to start going to church every Wednesday. They weren't an overly devoted family, which meant a huge change in routine. It was so boring that it zapped the children's energy almost instantly. Marcus himself almost fell asleep, he even felt a little jealous of the Omnics, they could just power down or pretend to listen while they did other things. Not that they would go to church anyways, maybe to see that Tekharta guy. But it paid off when he woke up the next day and his children were still asleep, and he could just sneak out peacefully and let his wife deal with breakfast cooking.
Then, to top it off, nobody has shown up yet, this was called the Overwatch generation for a reason, there were a lot of teenagers wanting to pass for adults an enlist themselves. Overwatch's fame as the heroes of the Omnic Crisis certainly attracted the attention of impressionable youngsters, and generally the last day of recruitment was the most popular one. But none seem to come today, he had spent his last 2 hours reading magazines and eating chips. A good day all around, but before he could reach the reason number 33 of why Overwatch's heroines were so beautiful. A squeaky voice called for his attention, more belonging to a girl than a woman, with a British accent. He put the magazine down with a little groan, and looked down.
"Um, excuse me, is this the recruitment facility of Overwatch?" said a girl with messy brown hair, thin body and tad too high-pitched voice.
"What does the sign say?" said Marcus grumpily, before composing himself, she didn't intentionally interrupt him from his reading, so he asked, in a nicer tone. "Wanna join the flight program?"
She almost immediately responded "Yes sir!" doing a salute and staring purposefully at the background, like it was essayed. He has to stop himself from rolling his eyes, another kid over-hyped about the military. Anyways, it was the sergeant's job to weed the fools out, not his. So he started the routine questions.
"Full name?"
"Lena Oxton, at your service" she said with a little bow.
He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes again.
"Country of origin?" He was pretty sure she was British but just in case of emigration he asked anyways.
"The Great Britain sir!" again doing a little salute.
"Age?"
"Whatever age I need to be" she said with a sly grin.
"You need to be at least 18, sorry, but you look like 15 to me and if you are not willing to tell me your age…" he said, pretending to close the folder.
Lena jumped to the booth almost in panic "No wait! I'm 17, I turn 18 in three days! I just don't want to wait another year before enrolling! Surely you can make a 3 day exception on the age department. Right luv?" she said with a cute smile.
He chuckled an sat back down, Lena slowly backed away, as in fear that he may change his mind and make a run for it. He liked the passion on that kid, they could use that in the army.
"Okay fine, if you have all the other requirements, I will approve you" A bright smile appeared on her face and she look ready to hug him. Better get on with the questions before getting sued.
"Where did you get your bachelor's degree?" he asked.
"Local university, a degree in Aerospace Engineering" she said a little smugly, crossing her arms.
He had to admit to himself he was a little impressed, air force prefers scientific degrees, which the kid seemed to know. She must have decided to enlist years ago. And so young too.
"Okay on the interview you will need to…"
"Show the diploma with a score of 3.4 or above?" she said quickly with a smile.
"Yes, that and…" he continued
"Being an officer, commissioned at the rank of second lieutenant, passing with the pilot aptitude test with a score of a minimum of 25 in the pilot portion and a combined score of 50 in the pilot-navigator portion of the Air Force Qualifying test, passing a battery of physical, psychological tests including a Flying Class I physical. Am I missing something luv?" She said with her hands on her hips, a smug smile and a slightly tilted head, clearly she knew it all by heart.
He smiled at her, while closing the file. "Nope, that's all, wish you the best of lucks" he said "Your interview will be in 2 days at 12 pm, don't come late" he said offering his hand.
"Thank you so much luv!, when I fly the fastest plane ever, I will give you an autograph" she said with a wide grin and shaking with both hands.
With that she departed, in a half-walk, half-run outside the facility.
He smiled one more time, she was a nice kid, not as tedious to inform as many candidates who came knowing nothing.
It was still a great day.