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“Always the hero, huh, Gabe?”
“I’m not the one with the statue.”
There came a point where it was almost easier to be deaf to the gunshots. They split the air so often, they just became background noise. It was impossible to tell who was shooting- guns sounded the same when they were all you heard for hours on end.
Crouched behind the foundation of a broken building, Gabriel looked over at Jack before looking back to the other members of their squad, motioning them to start advancing to the next piece of cover. Another squad was providing distraction and cover fire so they could break into the Omnic stronghold and shut down the localized god program transmitter.
Hopefully, with that off, things would start turning back to normal. Hopefully, they’d figured out a way to start a path toward peace.
“Hey, Morrison. Can you take your crew around the side? I’m gonna see if we can slip past the main doors, but if not, we’re gonna need support. Keep an eye on our heat signatures, put that fancy eyepiece of yours to use.”
“‘Course, Reyes. Whatever you need, sir. We’ve got your back. Or side, in this case.” The little quip came with an amused laugh, a smirk on Jack’s face. The man always managed to put a bit of humour into things, even in the middle of chaos.
“Thanks. Catch you on the other side. Maybe they’ll finally give you that medal. The gold will look great against your hair.”
“Fuck off, Reyes.”
Gabe let out a little laugh in turn before waving Jack and his squad off, watching them head off to the side before gesturing his own men forward. They had to stay low- going in for main entrances was never a safe bet, but it was the quickest route to the control room, and there was only so long the other crew could keep the Omnics distracted.
One of the wonderful things about specializing in close-range arms was that any omnics that happened to cross in front of Gabriel hit the ground before they had a chance to lock onto him. Shotguns served their purpose, even if Jack did like to tease him for a lack of finesse and sharpshooting.
A bullet grazed across his cheek as he stopped to slam the door open with his shoulder, ushering everyone in. More shots followed after, and Gabriel ducked in, hiding behind the wall for cover.
Well. They either shut down the program and got out of here, or waited to be surrounded.
Gabriel gave a series of silent cues to the soldiers following after them, splitting them into groups to search for the control room. Taking his backup along, he followed a corridor down, opening doors and scanning for useful files as quickly as he could.
There was so much information here, so much research they could use, but they had no chance of collecting it all until they shut down the Omnics patrolling the area.
“Commander, I’ve got eyes on the control room. We’re gonna need a hand though- I’ve never seen door codes like this before.”
“Copy. I’ll meet you at your coordinates. Everyone else, rendezvous in the central entry area and wait for the signal to begin exit procedures. Once we’ve cut power to the god program, we’ll give you the all clear to leave and start scouring the wreckage for survivors. Understood?”
A chorus of agreement came in response and Reyes nodded to his soldiers, sending them off to join their comrades in the entryway. It wasn’t too far from his current location to the control room, and he’d rather have as many of his soldiers together as possible.
As quick and careful as he could, Reyes made his way over to the door, joining the three soldiers gathered in front of it. They were right- the locking mechanism was more advanced than anything they’d seen recently. It wasn’t in any of the default code books, that was certain. He stood in front of the panels, calculating in his mind.
“It’s probably a cipher, let me see if my decrypter can crack it. If not, we might have to brute force our way through it.”
The other soldiers stepped back to let their commander plug a device from his bag into the terminals, hacking into the firewalls. It was a tense couple of minutes that somehow simultaneously felt like too long and not enough all at once.
When the lights powered down and the door keypad flashed green, unlocking the door, Reyes let out a breath.
“Alright. Let’s get this done as fast as possible- the longer we take, the more casualties we risk out there.”
The two soldiers nodded and began transferring data from the smaller computers in the control room, leaving Reyes to datamine the central computer. It would take him longer to disable the defense protocols and shut down the god program, so he set to work as quickly as possible.
Once the other soldiers had finished their data collection, drives secured in their travel bags, Gabriel dismissed them. He wanted his whole squad checked in together so that once he was done, he didn’t have to worry about rounding them up or leaving any of them behind in the wreckage.
Distantly, Gabriel could hear the explosions still carrying on outside, mouth set into a frown. Hopefully, once this was finished, all of that could stop. And if it worked here, it could work everywhere else too.
Cold sweat dripping down his neck, Reyes finally cracked through to the core processor, beginning the shutdown sequence. The instant he had the code input, however, alarms began to sound.
“Tch. Chingala.”
Guns drawn, he rushed out of the room, calling out over the comms, “The program is in its shutdown sequence- start exiting the building. The alarms will draw any guards in towards me, and I’ll hold them off until the god program shuts down and they come back to their senses. Get out, and help the soldiers outside.”
This time, there was more hesitation, the soldiers not wanting to abandon their commander in the center of the lion’s den.
“Go. Now. That’s an order.”
Reluctant assent came to follow and Reyes heard them begin filing out, giving each other orders and keeping each other in line. A weight off his chest- he didn’t have to worry about them on top of avoiding the guards himself.
Slinking from doorway to doorway, Gabriel froze when he heard the metallic clangs and clicks of Omnics down the corridor. There was no way forward with them blocking the way, and back would only put him further into the maze, with a greater chance of running into guards.
He checked his guns before whistling, trying to draw the Omnic’s attention- he needed them up close before he could start firing, or he’d wind up wasting ammo. But, the Omnics didn’t have any such concern, opening fire the second they could lock on.
Gabriel ducked to the floor, hissing in pain as a bullet grazed his shoulder. At least the office space left him a good amount of things to hide under and behind as he made his way closer, trying to get in a good shot that could clear him out of the area.
Ducking out of cover, Gabe pressed his gun to one of the omnics, firing through the metal and dropping it directly to the floor. But that moment of exposure was enough for another of the omnics to fire, catching him in the gut as he ran off down the hall.
Gabriel shouldered one of his guns, using his left hand to hold his stomach, trying to keep pressure on the wound to stem the bleeding. It wasn’t too far now. Down some stairs and through the main entryway and out the door. And the countdown on his watch only gave the omnics a few more minutes before they shut down and rebooted. He’d be fine. This was nothing.
The beeps and clicks of an aimbot locking on to him from a side hallway chilled him to the bone, and he ran faster, but the effort of that impeded his healing, causing the skin to split open again and again even as it tried to stitch itself back together.
Sliding into the stairwell, Gabriel slammed the door behind him, breathing out a sigh of relief. He took the stairs three at a time, anything to get out of here faster. But speed wasn’t on his side with the sheer number of traps and alarms engaged.
His foot caught on a tripwire, and the sounds of explosions suddenly became a lot more present, the staircase exploding and collapsing down each and every floor.
Eyes wide in terror, Gabriel hurried towards the staircase door, trying to break it open and get out before the bombs reached the bottom of the staircase. He shoved his shoulder against it, kicking it intermittently, and threw his weight into it. Flames liked down the stairs, beating the bombs down and causing him to sweat, the smell of smoke and fire uncomfortably close.
A final shove and the door fell open, taking him with it, a hard fall. Shoulder aching, stomach wound reopened, Gabriel struggled, trying to get back to his feet as a bomb sounded, so close to his ears it left him deaf, eyes closed against the light and heat.
The rest of them would have gotten out. That’s what mattered.
Letting himself collapse, Gabriel waited for the heat to wash over him, waited for searing pain and then blackness, the way everyone presumed death came.
But it never did.
Slowly, the ringing cleared out of his ears, leaving the sound of falling pieces of cement, and the flames enveloping the stairs behind him. His torso hurt, his shoulder hurt, and it was hard to breathe, a pressure on his back.
“Reyes. Reyes. Are you with me? Gabe? Can you hear me?”
The words filtered into his consciousness amidst the ringing and the pain, and Gabe opened his eyes, blinking confusedly.
“.... Jack?”
A laugh and a sigh of relief sounded from above him, the pressure moving up off his back. In an instant, hands were pulling him up, picking him up off the ground to wrap an arm around his shoulders and help him walk.
“Scared me. I thought I was gonna lose you there… I saw when you started reading distress signals, so I broke in, and then I heard the explosions and I saw you stumble out the door and. I wasn’t sure you were alive. But I. I had to cover you. Just in case…”
Looking to the side, Gabe squinted to get Jack into focus through the smoke in the air and the fuzzy feeling in his head- the blond was bleeding,hair and clothes singed, dirt and blood across his face. But he had a smile on his face, bright and warm. Like always.
“You could have died, Morrison. Should have. Should have just left with the others.”
“I could have, you’re right. But you would have if I hadn’t come back for you. And I’d take those odds every time.”
Gabe let out a little chuckle- maybe a mistake, if the blood that came up was any indicator- and leant more heavily on Jack as they began to walk outside, the timer on his watch going off.
“Thanks, Jackie. I owe you one.”
Outside, there was peace.
“Jack, why did you call me in to HQ? Haven’t you got a press conference in an hour? I’ve got boxes to pack, before they clear out Blackwatch’s base.”
“Gabriel, I called you here to talk. We need to talk. Everything that’s been going on, I don’t know who to trust anymore, except you.”
The anger and tension in Gabe’s posture faded out as he walked further in, wrapping his arms around Jack tightly. He could feel that same tension in his partner- the Strike Commander was wound like a bow.
“Lo siento, Jackie. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know this isn’t your decision.”
Strong arms came around to wrap around Gabe in turn, Jack resting his head against Gabriel’s and letting out a shaky sigh, “Of course it isn’t. I’d never do this- not to Jesse, not to Blackwatch, not to you. But I couldn’t stop them any longer. And they’re changing everything, and you won’t be by my side to advise me at work anymore and. I’m scared, Gabriel.”
Gabe rubbed Jack’s back, nodding and sighing before he pulled back, “I know. But it’ll be okay. I’ll still only be a phone call away, and I’ll be at home whenever our schedules match up. And they can try and stop me all they want, but I’ll still be running Blackwatch. Just under a different name, and without the legal defense. We’re not gonna let the UN throw you to the dogs, Jack. We’ll make this right.”
Seeming reassured, Jack pulled back too, placing a finger under Gabe’s chin to tug him up for a quick peck of a kiss, sighing, “Thank you, Gabe. I’m sorry for calling you in- I’ll let you get back to your packing. Will you be home tonight?”
“I’ll try my best to, Jackie. I’ll try my best.”
Pulling away fully, Gabe gave Jack one last kiss on the cheek before stepping away. A high-pitched noise paused him in his tracks, though, the Blackwatch commander looking around with his head on a swivel.
Red lights caught his eye, charges set around the room, and the high pitched whine gave way to a beeping, a countdown sequence. Gabe’s thoughts ran a mile a minute, looking at the door- there was no time for either of them to reach it, no matter how fast they ran.
“Jackie, get down!”
Jack looked to him in confusion, mouth open to question, but Gabe never caught the words. He ran at Jack, tackling him down and throwing himself over the Commander, trying to shield him from the blast.
The beeping rose to a fever pitch before the world went white hot, and then, all at once, everything stopped.
Here Lies Gabriel Reyes
Soldier. Father. Friend.
2020-2066
A leather glove traced the letters- they were still sharp, though not as fresh as when they’d first been cut. But he could still read them with his hands all the same.
Gabe’s wasn’t as fancy as his, or as public, but something told Jack that the other man would prefer it this way. And at least he could visit Gabriel’s grave without much chance of being seen. He could sit here as long as he wanted- so long as the groundskeeper never came by.
“I’m sorry, Gabriel. I’m sorry it had to be you. I’m sorry I made it through and you didn’t. I’m sorry. They didn’t. They couldn’t even. Find enough to bury. I’m sorry. God, Gabriel. I’m so sorry.”
There was a burning behind his eyes- the sensation that came before crying, but the tears never came. He wasn’t able to anymore- not with his eyes burned over. But he let the sobs wrack through his torso, let the phantom-crying take him for a moment. Let himself mourn the man he’d loved nearly his whole life.
Once the shaking had stopped, Jack locked his visor back into place and rose, all signs of the vulnerability falling off of him as he walked away from the grave, Soldier: 76 once more.
As the vigilante disappeared around a turn in the road, a particularly thick patch of fog darkened and solidified, boots touching the floor behind the grave. Clawed gauntlets rested where 76’s gloves had been minutes ago, imagining they could feel the warmth left behind.
“I owed you, Jackie. And it was a debt I was happy to pay to my oldest, dearest love.”