Chapter Text
Lena hummed to herself as she sped along the sleepy hallways. Winston had enlisted her help in waking up the late-rising members who inevitably forgot whenever an early morning meeting was scheduled. It was unusual for her to be streaking through the otherwise unoccupied wing that Jack resided in. Normally the man was up before anyone else, a byproduct of the SEP training and years of living on the run she supposed. She stopped before his door and lightly tapped it.
“Jack! Winston’s a tad peeved you forgot his meeting. Better get yourself up and down there before the big guy comes looking for you!”
There was no answer. Lena had expected grumbling, maybe something involving “punks”, but no response at all?
“Jack, luv?”
Still no answer. Lena anxiously adjusted her harness straps and keyed in the code to his door. She softly pushed it open and peered around the edge towards Jack’s bed. He was sprawled out fast asleep, thankfully covered by his blanket since what she could see of his chest was bare. Lena paused. This was the first time she had seen him this relaxed in a very long time. She decided to tell Winston that the old man was resting and that he should just brief him after he showed. She closed the door and was halfway down the hallway before she stopped in her tracks, her mind whirling.
Jacks blanket was green. She knew it was green, she had helped ready the room for him when he came back. So why was it black now? In an instant she was back at his door, knocking on it.
“Jack, you gotta wake up, luv! Winston needs you for his meeting!”
To her intense relief, she heard a vaguely irritated noise and the sound of someone shifting from inside the room. She hesitated and then threw open the door, deciding that if Jack was tired enough to sleep in she should make sure he doesn’t fall asleep again. “Jack-”
Lena froze. What she had thought was a blanket was moving , shifting higher until it faintly resembled a sitting man besides Jack’s still prone form. It turned its head to look at her and she stifled a scream, clapping a hand over her mouth and stumbling back until her back hit the doorframe. Two pockets of scarlet stared at her from the blackness of its face; just underneath, a jagged slash of razor teeth were a shining white against the dark. The teeth parted and it gave a gurgling, rumbling growl that filled her with utter panic. She backed up and slammed the door between them, her mind a whirlwind of indecision. I need to tell Winston. Oh Lord, was Jack okay? She turned on her heel and sprinted towards the meeting room, blinking there as quickly as she could.
Winston was in the middle of an informative paragraph on the benefits being on good terms with the E.U could bring when Lena burst through the door, nearly taking it off its hinges. She startled everyone so badly Hanzo spit out his tea and several others choked on their breakfast. “WinstontheresamonsterinJack’sroomanditmighthaveeatenhimandIjustlefthimtherewegottagohelp-” She was stopped by a heavy hand on her shoulder.
“Calm down, Lena. Could you repeat that?”
“Under Mach 4, please.” Hana piped from the end seat.
Lena took a steadying breath. “I was going around and waking up all the sleepyheads like you asked, Winston, and I noticed Jack wasn’t about so I went to check on him and theres a- a thing in his room, and it looked at me and- what if it killed him? What if he’s not there when we get back?- And i thought it was a blanket at first cause it was all over him but then i-it moved and it growled at me and-” Whatever she was going to say cut off as she choked on frightened tears. Reinhardt was instantly at her side and wrapping her in a hug. She sobbed into his chest for some time while Winston attempted to make sense of what she said.
“Angela, Reinhardt- no, no, I’ll go myself. There’s no need to leave her. Genji? Hanzo? Will you come with us and help subdue this… creature?” Both nodded from where Hanzo was mopping up his spilled tea. The three grabbed their weapons and followed Winston towards Jack’s hall. The leader glanced at Angela, missing her Valkyrie suit and gripping her staff so hard her knuckles turned white.
“You should probably wait outside until we determine the situation.”
“No.”
Winston stared at her in surprise. She knew she was virtually defenseless, and worked better behind a supportive barrier of capable fighters. He couldn’t fathom why she would refuse to follow this now. Angela glanced at his expression and explained.
“I don’t know what state Jack is going to be in when we get there. He could very well need me as soon as you engage whatever is with him.”
Winston saw the look of steely determination in her eyes and realized that he wasn’t going to win this. He tapped his earpiece. “Athena, how many life signs are in room 210?”
“I’m picking up 1 set of vitals, Winston.”
The group exchanged glances. Either whatever it was had left, or it was still there and Jack…
Genji hurtled ahead, breaking into a dead sprint towards the distant door. He slammed it open and vanished into the room. There was a frozen pause, then a positively bone-chilling screech echoed down the hall to them.
Winston grabbed Hanzo and Angela and charged down the hall, rounding the corner into the room and nearly trampling Genji as he stood in the middle of the room.
“What on earth?” Angela murmured. Hanzo muttered something in his native language that sounded suspiciously like a prayer. Privately, Winston agreed. Jack was sitting on the bed opposite the door, staring at them in panicked confusion. He was swathed in blackness that extended over his right shoulder. Crimson eyes glared at them from its mass. It was clear that Genji’s sudden entrance had startled him awake; his legs were still tangled in the green blanket.
“What the fuck? Why the hell are you in my room? Why did you break down my door? Why is-”
Jack’s torrent of questions stopped as the blackness tugged at his arm. He turned his head to give it an incredulous look; it quickly morphed into something between mortal terror and murder.
“Why are you still here?”
What.
“You know this thing?” Genji questioned, gesturing to the blackness. It shrank under four shocked stares and one furious one and gave a disgruntled buzz. Jack sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, resigning himself to the interrogation to come.
“Yes, I know him. He’s friendly, don’t worry.”
“Friendly?” Winston squawked, “How can that thing be friendly? It looks like it could eat you alive!”
The crimson pits narrowed to slits as the creature glared at him, and suddenly something white hurtled out of the smoke and beaned Winston directly in the face. Jack went white as a sheet as Winston caught Reaper’s mask and turned it over, looking at it. He lifted his eyes to look at them.
“Jack.”
If possible, Jack paled even more.
“Why is there an internationally hunted terrorist in our base, on your bed, wrapped around you like an octopus. ”
He prepared to continue his tirade, but was interrupted by Angela shoving him aside and bustling towards the bed. She ignored his frantic “Angela!-”, only stopping when Reaper drew himself up and hissed at her with all he could muster. Jack groaned in irritation and batted at him.
“Jesus, just let her check on me won’t you? You’re the reason she’s so freaked out in the first place.”
Reaper’s only response was to drop and coil himself even tighter around Jack’s body possessively, squeezing him hard enough to elicit a pained grunt.
“Gabe get off of me-”
Angela dropped her staff with a gasp. She took a hesitant step forwards, staring at them in shock.
“Gabriel?”
It was barely above a whisper, but everyone heard it in the silence of the room. The shadow seemed frozen against Jack’s skin, perhaps hoping that if he didn’t move, they would leave. Finally, he gave a sigh and responded.
“You got me, Angie.”
“Six years.”
The look on Angela’s face made Winston and Hanzo both take a step back. Jack seemed determined to become one with the mattress as she stalked towards them.
“Six years everybody thought you were dead! And now I learn you’ve been fighting us? Hunting down old members and murdering them?”
“I am dead."
Gabe’s cold retort stopped her in her tracks. “What, did you think any normal man could do this? ” He tugged himself off of Jack and swirled in a pool on the sheets. Slowly, his form grew from the mist, solidifying into Reaper’s familiar ensemble. Angela stared at him in shock.
“Oh Gabriel, what happened to you?”
Gabe huffed. “You tell me. I’m not the one with a medical degree.”
Genji stepped forwards from his place by the door, peering at the man’s face. “It is you.” He paused, “I did not think I would ever see you again."
“Would someone please explain to me what is going on?”
Five pairs of eyes turned to Hanzo, crouching in a corner of the room, bow still at the ready. Winston sighed and turned towards the door. “We’ll explain everything to everyone in the meeting room. Come on.”
Gabe refused to move from his spot on the bed until Jack forcibly grabbed him and dragged him out the door. The others could hear their hushed argument behind them quite easily as they traveled down the hall.
“Why are we going with him?”
“Because you didn’t leave like you normally do and now you’ve thrown everybody into a panic. You deserve to sit there and explain yourself, not just slink away.”
“I’m already regretting this choice.”
“What choice?”
“Joining.”
“Join- Gabe you want to join Overwatch?”
It was at this point that the pair noticed the other four had stopped and were staring at them. Winston gave an obviously forced cough before gesturing towards the door. Gabe stared at it in trepidation.
“Can I at least have my mask back?”
“No.”
Gabe took a deep breath, puffing out smoke as he exhaled. He grabbed Jack’s hand and pushed forwards into the room after Genji and Angela.
Jack flopped onto his bed with an exhausted sigh. The day had been an absolute fiasco ever since Genji had practically broken down his door. The worst part was everybody’s reactions to Gabe’s entrance. Lena had broken down again, so had Reinhardt. Faheera had stalked up to him and slapped him across the face; several of the younger members had to restrain Jesse from actually attacking him. Ana hadn’t said anything, but he could feel her eyes on him and Gabe the entire time as they explained the situation. He knew she was going to have a serious talk with him before the end of the day.
Winston had grudgingly agreed to allow him to stay for now, but insisted that Angela run tests to see what had happened to him and if it could be reversed. Gabe had been dragged to her lab hours ago and there was no sign of either of them. Winston was holed up in his lab, trying to tinker with Athena’s sensors so she could actually detect him. As far as he could tell from the empty jars, it wasn’t going well.
The room grew several degrees colder, and Jack turned to look at the black smoke seeping through the wall and under the door. “She let you go?”
Gabe grumbled as he slunk over to the chair and settled into it. “You don’t have to act so surprised. She ran a bunch of tests and told me I could go as long as I didn’t ‘wander’.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “And this isn’t wandering?”
“Eh. As long as I don’t leave the building and she can find me I don’t care.” Gabe gave a raspy sigh, “I wonder if Winston will let me stay. I know I pissed him off.”
“I’m wondering why you chose to offer to join in the first place.”
Gabe shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “Well, Talon wasn’t happy that a certain hard-assed vigilante was destroying all their plans. I was told to hunt you down.”
“You already were hunting me down,” Jack replied. “why would this be anything different?”
“They told me to bring you back. Talon didn’t like that you kept escaping even me; they wanted to take care of you themselves.”
“Oh.”
The pair sat in silence for a moment.
“I suppose they don’t know you’re here?”
Gabe laughed. “I didn’t exactly hand in my resignation. Honestly, I only wanted to join Overwatch to spite those bullfrogs.”
Jack glanced at him in confusion.
“I would have been happier to hide away with you somewhere, but you won’t leave this.” He gestured around the room.
Jack grinned. “You’re such a softie, you know that? Leaving your employers and rejoining all our old friends just to be with me.” Gabe gave a rumble, but slipped across the room and settled against Jack’s chest. Tendrils wound through his fingers as Jack leaned against the wall, supporting them both. Gabe seemed particularly tired now, and Jack cocked his head to scrutinize him. “Are you already hungry?” He knew the wraith had likely eaten just before he came to visit him, and normally feeding would last him about a week.
“Not hungry yet, just tired. Those tests took a lot out of me.”
Jack frowned. “What are you going to do about feeding now? There aren’t a lot of heinous criminals this close to the base.” Gabe shifted, and a few more tendrils coiled around Jack.
“I hadn’t thought about that. I suppose- you get missions quite often, don’t you? If I eat enough on those, I can last until the next time.”
“The only problem is” Jack pointed out, “Winston won’t be sending you on missions any time soon.”
Gabe buzzed irritably and mumbled something about discussing it tomorrow. Sensing that he was on the verge of sleep, Jack fell silent and was content to sit there, Gabe’s weight in his lap. He gently brushed his fingers along the curves of Gabe’s form as they dozed. Both of them slowly drifted off to distant music and laughing from the other wing.