Chapter 8: The Field Trip

Usually, the hallway to Doomfist's office was very quiet, but as Val made his way down, he could hear a couple of voices coming from the propped open door.

"You don't understand, I need to work," one voice growled, and Val thought he recognized it as Reaper's.

"I told you, we don't have any contracts to give out. I will let you know when I have something," Val recognized Doomfist's voice right away as he hovered out of sight for a minute, before deciding to enter the office anyway.

Reaper had both hands on the desk as he leaned over it towards Doomfist, strangely in a sweatshirt with the hood up rather than in his usual cloaked uniform. Doomfist stared down at Reaper, one arm across his chest, the other under his chin, seeming unfazed by the man looking about to have a meltdown in his office. As Val approached Reaper from behind he noticed small black tendrils of smoke drifting up from under his hood.

"Sorry, the door was open. I just came for those papers." Doomfist turned his attention away for a moment to find the papers Val was looking for. "Are you feeling ok?" Val asked Reaper, gently pulling back on Reaper's hood, which got the curious one a hard smack on the arm and led to Reaper pulling the hood down even further on his masked face.

Doomfist went to silently hand a stack of papers to Val, before Reaper decided to help himself and quickly snatched them out of the younger's hand.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"Those are for my mission, you can't just take them." Val put a hand on his hip and waited with a hand out and a tired expression for him to give them back.

"I rank higher than you or something. But you! You said that we didn't have any contracts!" Reaper said, focusing his attention on Doomfist, gesturing at him with the stack of papers.

Val and Doomfist shared a look before they said at the same time, "You don't want this contract."

Reaper threw the papers down on the desk. "The fuck I dont! I want money! Why him? Put me on instead." Val rolled his eyes and silently picked up the papers as Reaper made his demands.

"Val was better suited for the task at hand," Doomfist replied calmly.

"Unless it's playing dress up, I can do it better," Reaper said, in a low rough voice.

"It's babysitting a bunch of trainees on a security detail. You have zero patience." Val cut in. Reaper looked over at Val and squinted at him before looking back at Doomfist.

"Do I look like a rookie? How many years of leadership bullshit do I have under my belt? Put me on it," Reaper said to Doomfist.

"It's my contract already, thanks, and we don't need two people to watch three guys," Val said without letting Doomfist respond.

"Actually, you have nine trainees," Doomfist interjected, mildly entertained by the two in front of him going back and forth over the contract.

"Nine?" Val asked in shock, flipping through the stack of papers in his hand, "Never mind, put him on. I can't watch nine of these idiots by myself." Val looked up at Doomfist and waited for a reply.

"I can't pay you both the full amount, I only have the funds allocated for one contract," Doomfist replied flatly. Val looked over to Reaper, who was still looking at Doomfist, thinking.

"You want to chaperone a field trip? I'll give you 20 percent," Val asked.

"Give me half, greedy bastard!" Reaper demanded.

"I walk these trainees through their whole day from briefing to debrief. I just need you to sit in the back of the airship, so no one shoots themselves, or each other, in the foot on the way there and back." Reaper stared back displeased, before Val sighed and said, "Fine. 30."

"35 and a burrito."

"That sounds like a deal to me, I'll shake you on that mi amigo." Val held out his hand to the other.

"For only 35 percent don't call me your amigo, pretty boy," Reaper said, though choosing to push Val's hand away this time instead of smacking the daylights out of it like earlier. Just as the back of their hands touched, a flash went off, and the two of them turned and blinked as Doomfist held an instant camera that looked comically small in his hands.

"What beautiful teamwork. This one is going on the board," He said, and turned to a cork-board behind him, half filled with similar candid photos of Talon agents.

"Why would you do that, I thought I was getting flashbanged," Reaper said, rubbing his eyes.

"It's part of my job. Chaos, and paperwork," Doomfist replied, as he placed the picture on the board next to the others.

Val squinted at the board. "Hey, all of those are pictures I took."

"Delegation is also part of it. Now, go make yourselves useful, we are done here," Doomfist said, and shuffled the two out of his office.

The two walked down the hallway for a moment, and Val flipped through his papers.

"Here, this is the only one you need." Val pulled a paper out and handed it to the other. "Don't be late, I'm gonna text you about it later-"

"I'm not one of your trainees." Reaper cut him off impatiently. Val squinted at him in reply.

"You know that's why he didn't give you the contract. You're not the most patient person."

"Trainees don't need patience, they need discipline."

"When you see how stupid they come? You'll need both."

"They can't be that bad, you're just doing it wrong."

"When's the last time you trained? I'd bet you on it."

Early the morning of the mission, before the sun even rose, Val stood outside the airship door, sipping on a can of Non Branded Energy Drink, staring into the middle distance as he waited for his teammate to arrive. His hair was pulled back in a bun, a gray baseball cap over, his skin tight sleeveless mock turtleneck, fingerless arm warmers, utility belt, cargo pants, and combat boots all came in black and mostly new. Reaper quickly manifested from behind next to Val, who was oblivious to his presence.

"Hey," Reaper said coolly, making the other jump.

"Oh sh—Don't do that! You're lucky I don't have my gun on me. I swear to god. I'm putting a bullet in you next time." Val went back to drinking from his can as he rubbed his eyes, the dark cloaked figure only responded to his threats with a low chuckle. "And, if you didn't ignore my texts you would know, I told the rookies the time to leave got moved up 30 minutes."

"It didn't get moved up 30 minutes early, genius." Reaper sneered, which Val gestured for him to come closer, and Reaper leaned in, Val putting a hand on the other's shoulder

Val whispered, "You see, if you had read my fucking text, you would know, I lied. Because, if you tell them to show 30 minutes early, even if someone shows up late, you're still on time. And there's always one jackass who shows up late, and right now that's you. Let's go." Val patted Reaper's shoulder and turned to walk onto the airship. Reaper groaned, and started to walk, but then his footsteps stopped as he took a second to follow Val.

"You got new pants?" Reaper asked quite suddenly.

Val stopped and turned his head back before looking down at his legs. "Yeah? Does my ass look especially good in these or what?"

Reaper stepped up and stopped at Val's side before reaching around his small waist, making Val blink at the sudden proximity, their faces just a few inches apart, before Val felt a tug on the back of his waistband and heard a small snap.

"You left the tag on," Reaper said quietly, then stepped back and held the tag out, which seeing the tag made his younger teammate turn red and filled him with more embarrassment than any of the preceding interaction. Val took the paper tag and shoved it in his pocket, then the two of them proceeded onto the airship.

"Where do you think you're going?" Val said, as Reaper stopped in his tracks on his way towards the cockpit. "I was serious about sitting in the back, I have to train pilots today too."

"Is there anything you don't have to do today?" Reaper walked back to Val with his arms crossed.

"Hand out peanuts maybe. They double my workload and watch, this is the stupidest part." Val pointed out a couple of the rookies talking amongst themselves. "I was talking to some of them while we were waiting, those two have piloting experience. You wanna know who they sent me for pilot training? Not someone with piloting experience."

Reaper turned his head towards V, expressionless behind his mask. "V, if you could see the look on my face right now."

"And that's why they have me do the training. I fix stupid bullshit like that. Since you're here now, you get to be in charge, and I get to go fly this thing." Val turned and raised his voice over the idle chatter in the airship. "Soap! Get over here! You're gonna learn to fly this thing."

"What the hell kind of name is Soap?" Reaper said, as the agent came up to the two of them standing next to each other. "Is that your call sign? Yeah I'm not calling you that, what's your last name."

"MacTavish."

"I can live with that. V, are all their code names like that?" Reaper leaned over to speak to Val.

"Well, we also have a Roach, a Gaz, some undecided, the best you're getting is the one guy named Ghost. Here's the list, good luck bud," Val said, and handed over a tablet to his cohort before directing his trainee to follow along to the cockpit.

"Phenomenal," Reaper said, and Val waved to him, as even from behind the mask, he stared a little helplessly through the cockpit door as it closed between them, leaving Reaper with the other eight trainees for the rest of the flight.

By the time they landed, the sun had risen, and Val put on a pair of aviator sunglasses to counteract the blinding light right in his eyes. Of course, as soon as they hit the ground, he had Reaper pound on the cockpit door and open it without waiting.

"How soon is too soon to start shooting them? Because I'm about to start shooting," Reaper asked, leaning in the cockpit doorway.

"I need to grab my stuff and then I'll go handle it. Can you take Soap and start unloading?" Val looked over the back of his chair at the other, only to be met with a groan as Reaper pushed away from the door. Soap looked nervously over to Val, who nodded his head for him to go ahead and go, then the newer agent quickly got up out of his seat to follow, the door closing behind him.

Val took a deep breath in his seat, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually preparing himself for the chaos that was going to proceed. In a cabinet, his nanobot pack sat stored, safely charging. He pulled it out, slid it onto his shoulders, and secured the harness clip across his chest, then took out a pack of cigarettes from one of his pockets and tucked one behind his ear for later.

A bang vibrated through the walls of the airship, and he vaulted for his communication earpiece on the dashboard.

"Reaper, what the fuck was that?" Val asked, still fiddling with the earpiece as he spoke.

"Why aren't your comms on? I told you I was about to start shooting," Reaper answered rather bluntly for the situation at hand.

Val pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm-You're joking. I'll be right there."

Quickly having made his way out to the outside of the airship, Val found one of the new recruits about 10 feet away sitting on the ground in a puddle of blood, crying. Val put both hands on his hips in astonishment as he looked over at him, then looked at Reaper, who stood next to the airship door.

"What the fuck. Was this you? It hasn't even been five minutes! I thought we'd at least make it an hour after landing before we had an injury." Val looked back and forth between the two of them in shock.

"He was giving me attitude. In fact, I showed restraint, I usually aim for the head," Reaper said, cracking his neck.

"Really? Wow, I'm impressed. They should give you the Medal of Honor, throw a Grammy and an Oscar in there while we're at it. Do we have anyone with medic training? No, of course not." Val rubbed his face under his sunglasses. "Can you call them back to the airship so I can show them field medic training or whatever. I'm tired."

"Everyone, back to the airship. Now, or you're ending up like Sanderson." Reaper commanded over the comms, his attention still focused on Val rubbing his eyes. "Didn't you sleep?" He asked the tired lead.

"I kept waking up, I think it's the change in meds or something. I need another drink." A crowd quickly gathered around the leads, and the younger of the two inhaled and looked up, then guided them to the crying recruit on the ground nearby.

"Alright, Reaper, you said you had how many years of seniority on me? I'm gonna go check if we have a first aid kit, show them what to do if you don't have one. " Val said as he backed up, before turning and jogging back into the airship. "You shoot him, you fix him!'

"Oh my god," Reaper breathed into the comms he'd left on. "Does anyone know what a tourniquet is? No, it's not an instrument." Then the mic clicked off.

When Val returned with a med kit, and of course another energy drink, he found that girl from the other day crouched down helping to stop the bleeding on her teammate. He recalled Madelyn was her name.

"Alright, good enough Girard. V, did you find a med kit?"

"Yeah, only a small one, I threw some spare painkillers I was saving for a rainy day in there. Let's have a couple of them help him back on the ship." Val shouted as two of the others picked him up and carried him over their shoulders back to the airship, "And lift him right, don't hurt yourselves!" He handed the square blue kit to one of the guys as they passed before turning to speak to Reaper.

"Now we are down to 8, you plan on shooting more of my team today? Can I have my cigarette now? Giving me a migraine." Val rubbed his temples under his baseball cap. "Do me a favor, you got a knife? Can you put a hole in the side of this?" He held out his bright purple energy drink, and pointed at the side of the can.

"I don't have a knife, why do you need it?" His masked cohort tilted his head.

"I'm trying to shotgun this, help me out." Reaper looked down at the can, before grabbing it with one large clawed hand and stabbing into it with his thumb easily, liquid starting to drip out. Val quickly put his mouth over the hole and leaned his head back, then cracked open the top of the can with a hiss and chugged it in one go.

"Did you learn that trick from bartending too?" Reaper asked with displeasure. Val hung onto the empty can as he pulled a lighter out from his pants, and finally lit the cigarette from behind his ear.

"I learned that one from my parents, I used to race my dad while he was drinking beer and I was drinking soda," He said, which only got him a grunt in response from the masked agent. "Anyways, I'll go relieve the security team from the last contract, they're probably getting impatient by now. You stay here with the kids."

"Why do I have to end up stuck here watching them?"

"I'm making you work for your cut, boss man."

"No, I'm going, they're pissing me off."

"Take half of them at least, I'm serious about the migraine."

Reaper gestured for four of them to follow, leaving the other half of the group to stand and basically stare at Val anxiously until Reaper was out of earshot. The younger lead stood and rubbed his forehead again, cigarette in hand.

"Uh. Sir? Um, is it normal for us—or, I guess I mean—for him to shoot us?" Soap asked.

"No. Friendly fire will not be tolerated, but he's uh, y'all ever work at a grocery store? He's kinda like an assistant manager if Talon were a grocery store. A real shitty manager."

"Hey, training number two, turn off your fucking comms!" Reaper snarled over the open comms for everyone to hear, making Val smirk.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I meant to say Reaper is my favorite manager. Stop shooting my recruits, guey!" Val yelled back over the comms.

"Watch your mouth, pretty boy." Val rolled his eyes, and pulled his earpiece out.

"You four, if Reaper asks for any of you or me, yell at me, I'm checking on Roach." And with that, Val excused himself to the airship.

After he made sure their injured party was properly bandaged, and also took a second to catch his breath, he went back out to babysit not only his recruits but now his other lead. Though he hadn't noticed it due to the commotion at landing, the humidity outside made the air thick. As the sun rose in the sky, the temperature was growing uncomfortably warm for Val, and their detail unfortunately had them stuck outside.

An alarm started going off on Val's watch, which he quickly dismissed and drank water from the bottle hanging on his belt. Sat in a shady spot under a tree smoking, he watched a couple of the recruits from a distance, mildly entertained at them still having their communicator mics on while he listened in.

"Hey, dude, do you have a light?" If Val could recall, this one was Gaz.

"Bro, I forgot it. Just go ask V, he's smoking right there bro." That one was Ghost, and Val was so about to yell at them if they started walking towards him.

"No dude, he said not to bother him!" Val felt so proud at that moment.

"Sucks to suck then. Wait, bro. I have a crazy idea. What if I lit it…. With my rifle?"

"Dude… let's try it."

Val watched with his eyebrows raised as Ghost actually lifted his assault rifle, aiming it towards the head of Gaz.

"Wait. Bro, this seems kind of unsafe. I should probably do it from over there yeah? Yeah." Val tried to hold in his laugh as he watched Ghost step back.

"Are you sure about this, dude?"

"Yeah dude, I saw this in a video game once. She had a sniper rifle though, so like, this should be easier 'cause we are way closer." Ghost lifted his assault rifle, and took aim at his teammate sticking his head out with a cigarette in his mouth. Just as Val was about to yell at the two of them, Reaper turned a corner and spotted the two first.

He quickly appeared in a mist of black smoke next to Ghost, snatching the rifle out of his hand. "The fuck are you doing?" Reaper snapped at them loud enough to be heard over their mics.

"Oh, like dude, we we're gonna light his cigarette with that." Ghost pointed over at Gaz with the cigarette still hanging out of his mouth.

"Use a lighter dumbass! You're gonna blow someone's head off!"

"We didn't have one," said Gaz.

Reaper turned his head slowly towards Gaz. "And now, you won't have a gun, either. Hand it over. Now." He commanded, and held out his free hand, snatching the other recruit's gun too.

"But like, dude, what if something happens?" Gaz whined.

"You have a knife."

"What if they take our knives? What if they also have guns, bro?" Ghost asked.

"Then pick a god and pray to it, you fucking morons." Reaper spotted Val sitting on the ground as he stormed away, and started towards him while pointing at him. "You!" he shouted aggressively.

"Hey," Val snickered as Reaper held out one of the rifles to him, and he took it. "You having fun yet?" the younger asked, as he took a puff from his cigarette and casually started unloading the gun.

"You weren't going to stop them from trying to shoot each other in the face?" his standing teammate accused.

"Why? You were right there," Val smiled, smoke clouding around his mouth.

Reaper crouched down in front of Val as he spoke. "You are making me want to put a bullet in your head right now," he said in a low voice.

"Is that a promise?" Val purred, set the gun on the ground, and turned back to find himself staring down the barrel of the other assault rifle, still in the crouched Reaper's hand.

"That's a threat, pretty boy," Reaper growled and leaned in a bit.

Val looked up at the other's expressionless mask with curiosity, then leaned forward and took a big huff from his cigarette as he stared the other down, the tip of the gun pressing into his collarbone.

"Maybe don't don't unload it before you threaten me next time." He blew a cloud of smoke into the other's face with a smirk, and placed his hand on the gun. His masked aggressor released it in return.

"It won't be next time, watch the recruits," Reaper continued in a low voice, and Val could feel his glare through the mask.

"I am, like the one crawling around in a box right behind you that thinks I don't see him," he said, as he nodded in the direction of the cardboard box that was apparently able to move on its own.

"What are you talking about?" Reaper stood up, turned around, and spotted the box which had suddenly stopped moving.

Already aggravated by the day's events, Reaper marched over to the box and threw it to the side, a recruit with a bandana tied across his forehead curled up underneath.

"This is ridiculous. Get the fuck off the floor!" Reaper yelled. The recruit scrambled to his feet and scurried away. Reaper grabbed the box, carrying it back to Val's smoking spot by the tree. "Here, for the rifles."

"We can start up collections for children in need," Val said as he threw them in the box.

"Yeah, baby's first AR. Put the youngest Girard on the box, since she wants to keep asking me to take her on potty breaks."

"Why is she asking you so much, didn't you tell her no?"

"She said the other guys told her, and I quote, 'according to chapter 13, section two, paragraph three of the Talon employee handbook, all new field agents in their first 90 days must be accompanied by a lead to the restroom', which I had to tell her to hold it right now because I heard these two idiots about to kill each other."

"Right, but you told her no still." Val looked up at Reaper, to find a blank stare and no response. "You told her no, right?" Val stressed.

"I'm not answering that," Reaper said quickly, which Val found very amusing already, but their communicators crackling to life and Girard's shy voice made it even better.

"Um, Reaper, sir, I need to ask you a question. Can you come here?" she said, shyly. Val started cackling with his hand over his mouth at the older man, as little black tendrils started to rise off the other's body.

"Oh my god, they're fucking with you, there's no employee handbook. They got you good, hold on."

Val turned on his communicator so he could respond. "Girard, go piss on your own there's no handbook. And when I find out whoever told her that, we're playing apple juice roulette later."

Girard scoffed and whimpered, "You boys are so mean!"

Val pointed a finger gun at the other and winked. "See, don't worry. I got you."

"If that's what I think it is, you're disgusting."

"They won't fuck with you again though." After he put out his cigarette in his empty energy drink can, which was quickly starting to fill up with cigarette butts during this outdoor activity, Val got up off of the floor, dusted himself off, and wiped his face, the sun starting to grow warm now. "Ok, it's almost lunch, let me go make some rounds and actually work I guess, and then I can hand out MREs."

"Don't hurt yourself, you might break a nail."

"Ok, which of us has more of a manicure right now?" Val rolled his eyes, as he walked away, rubbing his eyes involuntarily as Reaper decided to check out the claws on his gloves at this particular moment.

After dutifully and painfully handing out lunches to their team, trying to get them to eat them like normal human beings and not like hungry Neanderthals, Val found Reaper standing under the shade against the building they were guarding, the afternoon sun beating down from overhead.

"It's hot, aren't you uncomfortable in that outfit?" Val approached while he pulled his arm warmers off.

Reaper didn't turn his head as he said, "No, it's not that warm, stop whining." The younger of the two placed his sunglasses on top of his hat and wiped his face.

"Have you not seen me? I've been sweating all day." Val lifted the bottom of his shirt, the humidity making it stick uncomfortably to his stomach, and wiped the sweat off his face with it. While his face was partially obscured, he noticed that his masked comrade had turned to look at him, and continued his task as he spoke, "Like what you see or what?"

"Just wondering how you're always eating like shit and still look like that." The older man turned his attention back to whatever middle distance he was staring into earlier. Val stopped his movements dead in their tracks, not sure how to take that sentence, only knowing it suddenly made his skin crawl to have his stomach and chest exposed like this now.

"Damn. You're always eating the same thing as me, but ok." Val said, putting his shirt down.

"Finally, I thought I would have to start throwing ones at you."

"Whatever." Val rolled his eyes, and reached down for his cooler, placing his sunglasses back on his face. "Are you not going to eat?" He hoped any embarrassment would be obscured by his sunglasses and changing the subject.

"No. We don't want to traumatize the rookies that bad on their first day." Val stood back up, holding a banana.

"What, your eating? I think I saw Price try to snort instant mashed potatoes, you're fine." Val scoffed and leaned up against the wall next to Reaper.

"That's disgusting. I meant my face. The mask stays on."

"Oh. Is that why you don't eat in the mess hall?"

"No, I just hate the food." Val tried to stare into the distance with the other as he ate, then turned his head and found Reaper entranced by watching him eat, rather than staring into the distance like before.

"Mask, no tone, I can't tell if you're being sarcastic," Val said with his mouth full, finding this conversation to become more and more puzzling as it went.

"I'm being sarcastic. Yes, it's the mask."

"Oh, oh my god, whatever." Val rolled his eyes again."You'll blind everyone with your beauty or what?" Val said, and looked away from his partner, starting to be over the older man's melodrama.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of old man Reyes." Reaper shook his head.

"I wasn't joking! Reyes, look at me, you're being dramatic." Val leaned over to look at Reaper with his eyebrows raised, taking a bite from his food, unsure how to get this stubborn old man to believe in his sincerity.

Reaper looked down at the younger man almost leaning onto his shoulder, then said, "Don't try to flatter me, I'm aware we can't all be young and beautiful like you."

"Oh, whatever. Quit talking to me like that, it's not funny." Val said with distaste, and quickly lifted himself off of Reaper's shoulder.

"What?" Reaper asked, his voice modulator still giving that same stupid growl.

"I know you're making fun of me when you call me, pretty boy. I'm stupid, but not that stupid. Not that I care, just don't call me beautiful, it's emasculating." Val stated very matter-of-factly, then went and put the rest of his banana away in his cooler, and Reaper scoffed at him. "What?" Val said with confusion now, looking back up at the other.

"You're a little stupid, that's for sure." Reaper said, his arms crossed over his chest, causing Val to throw his hands in the air.

"Dude, I get that's your thing, but can you not have a stick up your ass for five seconds and just take the fucking compliment. Why do you have to start making fun of me?" Val said, a little exasperated.

"I wasn't making fun of you, dimwit. Now quit yelling at me before you pop a blood vessel," Reaper hissed at him.

"Right, like you just hand out compliments," Val mumbled, walking back over to the shade, wanting this conversation to be over already.

"Most people scatter like rats in the plague from my presence. I'm not used to taking compliments. I wasn't making fun of you."

Val stared at Reaper with his hands on his hips for a few moments, processing his disbelief, then looked at the ground, kicking a pebble.

"Well great, now we're both embarrassed!" he said, then tried to look at Reaper, who wouldn't look back at him. Val sighed, and started pacing before he said, "Sorry. It's hot, it's making me irritated. I'll quit bugging you."

"You're fine. Eat." Reaper finally turned to look at Val, who only continued to pace in the shade.

Val shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

Reaper rolled his eyes hard enough he took his whole head with it as he said, "Look who's dramatic now."

Val stopped his pacing as he saw the other's reaction and frowned, a little irritated. "Yeah, yeah, it's because of the meds, don't flatter yourself." Val's alarm started going off on his watch again. Quickly he dismissed it.

"What is that grating alarm that keeps going off?"

"It's so I can remind everyone to drink water." Val pulled his water bottle off his belt and pointed at Reaper playfully. "Are you drinking water?"

"They know to drink water, quit mothering them," he said back, in his usual growl.

"Oh yeah? Hold on. Price," Val turned on his communicator, making eye contact with Reaper as he continued, "Quick question for you. Before this mission, when was the last time you drank water?"

"Thursday."

"Thursday. Remind me what today is."

"Saturday."

"Saturday. That's all, carry on."

Val raised his eyebrows at the other, and took a big sip of his water. Reaper stared back with the same blank expression he always had.

"Remind me how many hours we have left," the masked agent asked.

"About eight."

"Today is going to be a long day," Reaper sighed and Val smiled into his drink.