( blackwatch verse. )
when new mexico’s resident arms smuggling ring, the deadlock gang, is disbanded in 2056, jesse mccree is seventeen. thanks to his talent with a gun, he’s presented with the opportunity to join the organization which destroyed deadlock from the inside-out or rot in a maximum security prison with the surviving members. he chooses to defect to overwatch, though he contends his options were the equivalent of the proverbial rock and a hard place:
by merely being extended the chance to join overwatch, mccree now appeared suspect in light of the sting operation which brought down the deadlock gang. he’d lost credibility among his already embittered peers as a special case. though the gang had offered the freedom and financial comfort mccree had been seeking most of his life, he would receive no more of these resources behind bars. the decision was obvious.
he joins blackwatch young, bold, and resentful. an incorrigible cynic with a smart mouth, he holds little respect for the rules and regulations and bureaucracy which bind the larger organization together, but does come to revere gabriel reyes after some time. under reyes’ supervision, he uses his talents for the ostensible good and begins to understand that blackwatch may become his avenue for redemption.
eventually, mccree adopts a handful of the values that provide overwatch’s moral backbone, and slowly becomes less pessimistic about the fate of the world and its inhabitants.
he leaves in 2069 at the age of thirty after thirteen years of service.