"You're leaving so early," Melody yawned.

"It's better this way," Kallista replied as she too yawned.

The two women stood in the nearly empty train station as they waited for the red-eye train to arrive.

"You know you could just fly…right?" Melody began. "I'm sure there's more than enough funds for you—"

"I'm actually paying for my travel by myself," Kallista replied. The woman next to her tilted her head in confusion. She had been under the impression that the mission that Kallista was on was sanctioned by Blackwatch since Commander Reyes had approved it but the sudden announcement left her with more questions than answers about Kallista's motives and movements.

"You know…you seem awfully shady when you say things like that," Melody commented, Kallista laughed. In the distance, the sound of the train's horn could be heard and soon followed by the announcement of the train's arrival.

"Once a hacker always a hacker?" Melody began and yawned.

"Let me tell you a secret as to why I seem shady," Kallista began as she watched as the train slowly came to a stop behind her. Although tired, Melody's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"The Cheshire cat is of the God Brigade's design…" Kallista began. "Now just imagine if that was traced back to me despite the fact that the God Brigade is inactive"

Melody watched as Kallista backed on to the train, her expression void of emotion as she stared back at her.

"I will not allow that type of disrespect on the God Brigade, myself or Gabriel,"

Melody watched as the door closed and the woman smile before the train began on its course to her next destination.

Twenty minutes into the train ride to her next destination, Washington state, Kallista took a brief respite and began to look at all the events that led up to this moment and her next steps. Her very small team, she reviewed the mission details she had given Thea and contacted the agent that she had managed to grab to help her in the area. Maxime Lavie, Kallista knew her by name and had only seen the woman's profile picture, and had only communicated with her through messaging.

Kallista knew that the woman was primarily with Overwatch but was occasionally lent to the Blackwatch divisions in the United States if needed and the fact that she was already assigned to observe one of Blackwatch's targets.

With a heavy sigh, Kallista glanced at her cellphone and grimaced a bit, she knew that she needed to check in with Gabriel but the message she received from Malik about Gabriel's condition worried her but at the same time pushed her away from him. She knew it was dumb to think that avoiding him would help alleviate some of the stress, work or other things he had to worry about.

But she knew. She knew that he was uneasy about her work in the United States. Let alone the situation with the Cheshire Cat.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

V. Nicolina —

Immediately Kallista answered the call.

"Verona. It's rare to get a phone call from you…I suppose something is terribly wrong," Kallista began.

{You're correct. I believe it is our second phone call, our first call in a more serious manner if you would like to be more technical}

The woman was right, Kallista had briefly spoken to the woman before and had seen the woman in various international news segments. Verona Nicolina was Overwatch's United Nations representative, their direct contact if they needed to speak to anyone in the UN they would go through her. In the short conversation, they did had Kallista did research on the woman-

A former Blackwatch field agent

Married, no children

Husband worked for Vishkar Corporation

{Director Kaines, I hear that you are on the field working on our most pressing mission}

"I am," Kallista replied simply.

{How much longer will it take you to complete your tasks?}

"I assume someone is pressuring you within the UN?" Kallista questioned. There was a soft sigh on the other side of the line.

{From all sides. Not only is this considered a cyberterrorist but you also have very worried countries that are looking to Overwatch to handle this as quickly as possible}

"I understand. I am working as fast as I can to take care of this," Kallista replied truthfully. She was working as fast as she could to stop all of this from fueling the anti-omnic hate and chaos that would follow if left unchecked.

She needed to stop it for the world and for her own sake.

{I also wanted you to know that I am trying my best to keep the United Nations from pulling Overwatch, well Blackwatch from this case. We're lucky that we had the case and the targets originally}

The woman trailed off and sighed.

{But that will only last so long if results aren't produced}

"Understandable. I will have results for you," Kallista replied confidently.

{Good. But be sure that you are able to follow through with your claim}

"You know my reputation, Verona. I am more than capable to back up my claims,"

{Ah. Yes. That did slip my mind for a moment}

"It was probably for the best," Kallista replied. " I will have your results shortly,"

{Thank you. Good Luck on the field}

"Thank you," Kallista ended the call and seemingly melted into her seat.

She could deal with pressure it wasn't foreign to her; she used pressure to fuel herself to push herself harder, faster towards her results even if she had run herself ragged in the process. There was more than just grades at stake—

Blackwatch's reputation, Overwatch's reputation, The God Brigade's reputation, her reputation, and Gabriel's reputation was on the line.

She couldn't fail.


"Congratulations Talli," Gabriel said as he gave the woman a hug.

"Thank you, Reyes! I'm glad that you were able to make it," Talli said her eyes full of tears that would fall at any moment.

"I hope those are tears of joy," Gabriel smirked, Talli nodded with a smile on her face.

"Of course they are," Talli laughed

"Good," Gabriel smiled

"Congratulations Talli. Your wedding ceremony was beautiful," Lyudmila said as she looked down at the smaller woman.

"Thank you Lyuda," Talli sighed and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'm glad you made it,"

"Of course, I was invited," Lyudmila smiled slightly.

"Talli! Come here we have to take a selfie!"

"All these pictures," Talli sighed with a smile. She looked to Gabriel and Lyudmila, the two nodded.

"Go on. You're the VIP today, it can't be helped," Gabriel shrugged.

Talli smiled and headed over to the group that had called for her. Lyudmila watched as the woman walked away, the memories she held close to her heart began to burn in her chest. Her memories of her past were too precious to share and served as a reminder to what she had and what she had lost.

"She's adorable," Gabriel commented. Lyudmila nodded and cleared her throat before she spoke.

"She is. It is her special day after all," Lyudmila replied.

"That is true. It's been a while since I've been to a wedding," Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his thick hair.

"It is a good change in pace…"Lyudmila trailed off.

"Of course," Gabriel trailed off. Lyudmila turned to Gabriel and gave him a crooked smirk.

"You have grandchildren now, you've walked one of your children down the aisle and watched them get married. Reyes, you're getting old," Lyudmila quipped.

"I don't look that old and they're not my kids," Gabriel scoffed before he chuckled a bit.

"You know they already call you dad, so you might as well accept the fact," Lyudmila suggested with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Gabriel trailed off. "I'm just happy they found their own happiness," Gabriel watched as the woman surrounded by her new husband and friends.

"A source of happiness huh…" Lyudmila trailed off, the heat in her chest grew at the thought of her happiness.

"Sometimes it can be a double-edged sword…but either way… it makes everything we do more meaningful," Gabriel crossed his arms casually.

Lyudmila remained silent as she looked at the blushing bride and groom. The nearly burning sensation was the memory of her former team, her husband. She was all that was left of her past and the ring on her finger.

"Yeah…I agree,"


Gabriel nodded and thanked the nurse that led him to his destination; slowly he opened the door to see Konrad on the edge of his bed fully dressed with a simple bag in the chair next to the bed.

"Reyes?" Konrad exclaimed, surprised at the man's sudden appearance.

"It looks like you're doing much better kid," Gabriel commented with a smirk

"Holy shit I didn't think I would see you so soon," Konrad smiled as he stood up and went to the man with his arms open. Gabriel chuckled as he gave the young man a brisk hug and a pat on the back.

"I've been busy…my bad," Gabriel replied as he quickly looked over Konrad. The young man had improved considerably than when he had first learned of what had happened to him.

Sickly pale skin, sweat-drenched clothing, blood mixed vomit. He was thankful that Konrad had survived the poison and the after-effects of it, though Konrad mostly worked with Angela and her team he was still considered an important member of Blackwatch.

"Ruben told me before they left. Everyone has been pretty busy. I'm also pissed that I missed Talli's wedding ceremony. I thought it was at least another month away," Konrad sighed heavily.

"They pushed it ahead because of Goldstein is heading out on a long-term escort mission," Gabriel replied. Konrad stopped for a moment as if to process the information, he scratched his head and gave Gabriel a confused look.

"He's not under my jurisdiction," Gabriel shrugged.

"I guess?" Konrad also shrugged, not entirely sure on how to question an Overwatch employee's orders. He knew the man wasn't an agent but relented on his questions

"Well in any case, the Doctor said I could leave tomorrow and I'm pumped…maybe a little bit earlier if my check-up goes well," Konrad began.

"How about leaving a little bit earlier?" Gabriel proposed. "Like now?" There was a split second of silence between the two before Konrad scrambled to put his shoes on.

"Well that answers that," Gabriel chuckled

"Let's get the hell outta here. I'm sick of this place,"


"How is she?"

Danica looked over her shoulder at the man came from behind her. Danica inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly before she began to speak.

"She's ok…" She replied and turned to the man next to her.

"How ya holding up?" Jesse asked all of his attention on her. He could see that she had cried at some point, her eyes were slightly red, cheeks were puffy and the corners of her eyes had some redness around them as well. She pursed her lips together and turned away from him.

"Jesse…what do you think? My first big job back and it all goes to shit," Danica murmured. "And Reira…"

Jesse nodded silently and wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders as he saw her shudder. The red-haired woman buried her head into the man's chest in an attempt to hide her tears.

"Let it out," Jesse loosely wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.

He knew how she felt better than anyone. His start at Blackwatch wasn't easy not only did it take time for him to adjust to his new life and come to terms with seeing his comrades come and go. The way that Danica spoke about Reira to him he could already tell that she was smitten with her. The idea of Reira being the much-needed support for Blackwatch was a noble idea but not fully thought out. He wasn't surprised when he learned that she had approached Reyes and Lyuda, he was more surprised at the fact that they agreed on letting the woman join and participate on missions.

He knew that they could see where she was lacking and yet they allowed it. The signs were clear, especially for the mission they were assigned.

"She's fine now…Angie and her team will fix her right up," Jesse assured her and made a note to speak to Gabriel. She's not too bad she'll be back up in no time," Jesse rubbed comforting circles on her back.

"Just be there to support her as she did for you," Jesse murmured as she silently cried.

This was always the difficult part of the job, how to comfort those who have lost someone or had been critically injured. He hoped to god that he would never experience something like that.

"She's gonna be fine…don't you worry about her,"


[It seems as if Overwatch is falling behind in every step taken, with every improvement or whatever progression underneath Overwatch's belt it is quickly stripped away.]

Ana, Morrison, Lyudmila, and Gabriel sat quietly on a conference call with the UN officials and additional Overwatch agents from around the world. These conference calls were a formality to provide all of those authorized on operations, missions, changes, etc within Overwatch

[Talon has been halted to some extent but there are other forces that rising from the darkness, the ashes of war to bring back what Overwatch has fought to dismantle and bring peace to the world]

All those in the room and on the conference call knew what was at stake and knew any mission failures would lead to the rise of Talon or to the rumor of a new sect – Null Sector. Gabriel and his team of agents had already begun to research this new sect but ran into dead ends but was well aware that Talon did have a hand in their sudden rise and rumors.

Gabriel made a note to connect with the Overwatch Intel and his own Intel crew to collaborate information; this sect was reaching a point where they needed to work with one another.

The tension from the conference call could be felt through the entire room, Gabriel knew that things were progressively worsening as Overwatch remained empty-handed – No Talon operatives, No new leads, nothing.

Lyudmila shifted in her seat slightly next to the man and stole a quick glance of their commander. He was stern, pensive as he listened to the call. She too could feel the tension, the pressure on Overwatch let alone Blackwatch, the division itself was small, no more than one hundred fifty agents around the world and the fact that the division was shrinking as they sat on the call.

Budget cuts, casualties, retirements, moving on and very rarely abandoned posts.

Blackwatch was in a silent crisis.

She was sure that Gabriel was aware of this crisis and had begun to craft a plan to counteract these shortfalls of Blackwatch and Overwatch as a whole.


Hours later everyone had been granted freedom from the confines of the conference room and call, Gabriel and Lyudmila retreated to the man's office.

"Nattie?" Lyudmila asked as Gabriel opened the door to his office. The petite woman was casually seated behind Gabriel's desk. Natalie looked up from her cell phone and smiled innocently.

"I didn't think you'd be here so soon," Gabriel commented. "Get out of my chair,"

"Awww I missed you too," Natalie said as she stood and went over to Lyudmila to give her a hug.

"Aren't you still on maternity leave?" Lyudmila asked as she gave the smaller woman a hug.

"I am but I wanted to see everyone here. It's been too long," Natalie replied. Gabriel sighed softly as he sat in his chair and leaned back, Natalie glanced at the man reclined in his seat.

The last time Natalie had seen the man he had seemed a bit sprier and rested but now the man looked worn and weathered. Natalie turned to Lyudmila and motioned to Gabriel, Lyudmila pursed her lips together and sighed as she took a seat on one of the chairs in front of Gabriel's desk.

"Don't tell me you've finally gotten your ass kicked by Morrison," Natalie began. Gabriel snorted as he focused on the petite woman.

"No. Never," Gabriel replied. "More like Petras,"

"Ouch. Now I understand," Natalie replied as she sat down in the second chair.

"How are your little ones?" Lyudmila questioned in a sly attempt to change the subject.

"It's still strange but they are growing so quickly," Natalie smiled to herself.

"Are you happy?" Lyudmila asked a small smile on her lips.

"Although I am always exhausted, but I am happy,"

"That's good. That's all that matters," Gabriel commented, Natalie nodded in agreement.

"Do you have any pictures of them?" Lyudmila asked timidly.

"Honestly, I have too many," Natalie began as she leaned over to the woman, cell phone in hand.

Gabriel watched silently as the two women indulged in the baby photos. A faint sense of warmth spread through him as to how happy the two women looked as they gushed over the two babies. He smiled to himself at the thought of him with his own children and how he would be the same with his children.

"Oh, Gabo! You have to look at this one," Natalie began, Gabriel leaned forward on to his desk to look at the photo.

"They are just so adorable, Emma and Miles," Lyudmila sighed as she looked at the photos.

"They're a handful but I love them to pieces," Natalie smiled as she switched to another photo.

"Is that them in the bath? They're adorable,"

"I didn't know you liked babies so much Lyuda," Gabriel commented with a smirk. He could see the woman's face flush for a moment and leaned back in her chair.

"I mean my kids are pretty fucking cute Reyes," Natalie said smugly, Gabriel rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair once again.

"I like all children...that's all I will say," Lyudmila replied quietly.

"Fair enough," Gabriel nodded.

"So when are you expecting Gabo?" Natalie asked innocently.

"I'm not," Gabriel replied. Lyudmila smirked at the woman's brazen question. Natalie's blunt and brazen personality was something she honestly missed in Blackwatch.

"Why not? You and Kallista would have some damn cute babies," Natalie began. "Unless you ran Kallista away? Where is she?"

"She's on a mission," Gabriel replied and completely bypassed her comment.

"Oh? Do tell," Natalie's eyes brightened at the mention of a mission.

"Maybe another time," Gabriel replied.

"O-k then," Natalie replied unsure. "Did something happen?"

"No...Not exactly," Lyudmila replied. "Things are just a bit more precarious compared to when you left,"

"So then things have taken a turn for the worse," Natalie said bluntly.

"No. Not yet at least," Gabriel replied.

"Way to be positive Gabo," Natalie commented. Gabriel shrugged.

Natalie studied the man again since she had departed he had changed, his demeanor seemed to be lax but not in the way she remembered him to be. She had been away from her rag-tag family that she felt disconnected from everything despite the fact that Kallista and others had given her some updates but seeing the man in person presented her with a different level of disconnect.

"Alright, you two. Lay it on me. Tell me what's been going on here and why Gabo looks like shit," Natalie shoved her phone into her pocket and leaned back in her chair.


{T-this is Van Gogh reporting in….}

"Van Gogh? We thought you were KIA...what happened to you?" Magnus replied as he quickly pulled up their location and voice scanner.

{I am alive but...I do not remember...my memory is hazy at best. My mission had no faults}

"What do you mean? You think you were drugged?" Magnus questioned as he began to log their conversation into Van Gogh's mission dossier.

{Also…I am missing a finger}

"Wait...what?" Magnus began. "Are you ok? Do you need help? Talk to me man,"

Bzzt! Bzzt!

"Aleks here-"

{Don't say anything}

Aleks glanced around the office; everyone seemed to be busy with their tasks and work. Aleks turned back to his computer screen as continued on as if it were a casual conversation with an Overwatch employee.

"Yes. What's up?"

{I didn't know you were so casual with everyone else}

"Sometimes it's like that," Aleks replied as he tried to be casual and unsuspecting as possible.

He knew that there was a reason why Kallista had contacted him via an encrypted call and spoke little about her mission abroad. He didn't know what was going on, but figured that it would come to light soon.

{I just wanted to check in to see how everything was going}

"Same old...nothing new," Aleks replied. "I'm thinking about going out for drinks later..."

{That's good. I can't say much about the secrecy…but you'll know when the time comes}

Aleks sighed softly as he listened to their director on the other side of the phone. He didn't know all of the details of her mission but knew that it was important enough for her to label it classified. No one could access the file except for Commander Reyes, Strike Commander Morrison and a select few United Nations official, namely Verona Nicolai.

{Did Malik return?}

"Yep, they showed up for a bit, I haven't seen them in two days or so?" Aleks began and leaned back in his chair.

{Figures, they will be back on the field in about two days or so}

"I thought as much," Aleks replied and nearly considered updating her on the things they had been up to.

{How is Elias?}

"Great," Aleks replied as he kept up his casual phone call.

{Wonderful. I believe I am returning next week}

"That's good…." Aleks trailed off. "Also you should check in on that one agent…what's his name…I forgot…"

{…oh! I guess he's not that great at hiding his emotions as usual}

"I guess?" Aleks replied relieved that the woman was able to pick on the fact that he spoke about their Commander.

{All right then…please let me know if you need anything. I may be out of the office but I can still access everything}

"Got it," Aleks said.

{Take care then}

"Do you need backup VG?" Magnus questioned.

{I think I will be ok for the most part…but I am returning back to base}

"Sounds good. Let me know if you need help"

"Parsing files, sending files to Overwatch base 1037," Linda began.

{Preparing to receive files…}

"Alright. I can provide assistance. Let me access your mission dossier…I may need to request additional assistance from our colleagues at the Overwatch base nearby…" Elias trailed off as he pulled up the agent's dossier.

Aleks watched and listened silently as he placed his phone onto his desk, the division he worked in was cloaked in secrecy but the mission which he was sure that the mission that Kallista had taken on was that of the Cheshire cat. It was the likely course, especially at how quickly the situation escalated.

With a sigh, Aleks leaned back in his chair already defeated from the unknown crisis that seemed to slowly descend on Overwatch.


{Director Kaines, I was able to get into Mendoza Pharm…}

"Ok, how did it go? Were you able to plant what I gave you?" Kallista asked.

{It was difficult, do you know how hard it is to blend into something I have no expertise in? Also, what the hell did you give me? I've never seen anything like that before}

"It's something that the team and I created for this specific mission, don't worry about it," Kallista smirked at the woman's dismay; they were steadily approaching the end to this mission and hopefully with that the end of the Cheshire cat. While Kallista made her way to Washington State, she had other pieces in motion as she made her way to Washington State.

One of those pieces in motion was Thea, she had the agent infiltrate Mendoza Pharmaceuticals and upload one of Malik's modified observation programs to monitor communications, funding, and travel of Carmelo Mendoza and the MacAllister twin.

When they first encountered the man in Italy and bugged his phone, they quickly realized that the man had indeed destroyed and ditched the phone. Without approval she knew that she couldn't directly hack into the company's systems and was heavily reprimanded from the last time she tried with experimental technology from the Overwatch R&D department. As she gathered more information is was quite clear that they needed a new way to observe the man and the twin since all information appeared to lead back to his assistant.

The first clue came with the first attack of the Cheshire cat, it stemmed from Mendoza's network and began to spread from that location to other networks that were directly connected to Mendoza - Cassius Park, Quinn Pavetti, and Sterling Black. Another clue was that both of the twins were at Sterling's company but only Carmelo, Sterling and his assistant were captured during the raid of the company, Carmelo's assistant was not included in those captured.

Another clue came from the God Brigade's dive into the remnant code that was left behind from the Cheshire cat and compared it to one to their older virus programs LOKI. They had determined the original code was taken from their designs and transformed into the Cheshire cat. Finally, Kallista had encountered Carmelo's assistant during her experimental network dive where she took on a different personality than she had seen before. That encounter solidified that the woman was the host of this errant virus.

{How much longer do I have to do this?}

"Not much longer. I am planning on making a move soon…so tomorrow,"

{So soon? Will you be ok?}

"Yes," Kallista replied.

{I don't know if that's reassuring or not…}

"I'll be fine. Don't worry,"


As if routine, Gabriel returned back to his darkened room and immediately collapsed onto his bed. His body fatigued from the menial tasks he has done earlier, he skipped his usual morning training, reviewed mission reports, sat in meetings, had meetings with his team and planned for his upcoming field mission. He kicked off his shoes, shrugged off his hoodie and slipped off his beanie. With a grunt he rolled over in his bed and covered himself, he knew he would be on the field again in less than 24 hours and considered asking to be sedated just to stop the pain even just for a couple of hours.

He also knew that Angela would lose her mind if she knew about the black blood but also knew that he was limited on options and time.

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzzt!

He slowly reached for his cellphone in his pocket and squinted at the message on the screen, it was from Kallista. In the depths of his mind, he knew that she was out on the field and that she should have sent him a message eight hours ago. He was worried but knew that he couldn't be overly protective of her, she was a Blackwatch agent just like everyone else in the division. Just because they were in a relationship with each other, they still had a job to do.

He was well aware of that.

[Camilla: I am thinking that I'll be back early next week]

[Reyes: That was fast]

[Camilla: I know. I am in my field of expertise]

[Reyes: Right]

[Camilla: Are doing ok? ]

[Reyes: Tired, cold but fine]

[Camilla: Are you really?]

[Reyes: I'm fine. You're for sure coming back next week]

[Camilla: Or earlier. Miss me? ;)]

[Reyes: Yes]

[Camilla: awh]

[Reyes: Come back in one piece…ok?]

[Camilla: I will…I promise]