Work Text:
Torbjorn frowns when he's focused on his work. The lines on his face run deep, a life of joyous family and deep regret scripted in its valleys and folds.
Reaper watches the way they shift as he tinkers with a turret. Soot smeared hands fiddle and flex on hisbhammer's handle. They both know danger lurks. Shadows swarm at the edge of their vision, vaguely human though sketched with poor lines.
It's a strange place to be but Gabriel doesn't let it deter him. Head inclinded as he watch Torbjorn work, Gabriel raises a shotgun with grim determination. His finger moves to the trigger.
"Hmn."
Shrike's mask pierces him with its unwavering gaze from across the way. Gabriel grimaces. Between them, Torbjorn works none the wiser. Gabriel moves closer, steps muffled as he raises both shotguns again. He stares hard at the oblivious engineer, determined this time.
"Hmn." Another disapproving noise that scrapes against his ears.
Ana stands to his immediate right, staring so hard it feels like knuckles bearing down on his sternum. Gabriel's stomach flips, curdling with the pressure. It isn't right, this mission of his. He knows it. She knows it. But it is necessary. He buries the discomfort of her judgement. Refuses to acknowledge her in the corner of his vision. He'll do what he's always done. Do it because it's
Necessary.
Jack sweeps into the room, heavy pulse rifle clacking.
Gabriel recoils like a squid, inky trails swirling as he recedes to the jittery shadowscape around them. It takes him a moment to realize he's not the soldier's target. Instead the orange visor turns toward the horizon, tracking the ill defined humanoid shapes. They fall easily, slopping away like tar as they crash to the floor.
One after the other they fall and fall only for more to rise up. Never directly assaulting them, just circling the scene. Jack makes a bitten off noise behind his mask, turning to his left to mow down a few more.
"Jack?" Gabriel bends like a plant for the sun just as the man spins away.
Shooting in controlled bursts. On and on. Sweat beads on his forehead, clumps his thinning white hair. Torbjorn works. Ana stares.
"Jack," His hands are too full so he drops his weapons and floats after the harried soldier.
Jack whirls again, clack clack clack, runs and fires in a new direction. A whine builds in his throat as he reloads, visor flicking back and forth with an unbecoming nervousness. Gabriel raises a hand, hesitates as Jack turns. His gaze sweeps past Gabriel like he isn't there. It stings.
"Jack please," Gabriel grabs his shoulder and convinces himself he isn't pleading. Tossing his head like a panicked horse Jack tires to keep watch on the shadows. The visor shines in Gabriel's eyes as the soldier wrenches in his grip.
"Jack!" He's almost yelling now, ripping the damn visor from his face. Damn the necessary, he needs to be seen. He can be invisible again to anyone but him. "Jackie listen!"
His clawed hands grab the scarred face beneath. Jack's are are shut, his face curiously lax as he finally ceases to struggle.
He looks pale, cast in unflattering blues. A corpse in a cold lake that steals his breath and makes him stomach churn. Jack won't open his eyes.
"Jackie please," Desperation colors his voice as he cradles Jack's stubbled face in his hands. "Don't do this."
"Hmn." Ana exists somewhere behind him. Gabriel can't look away from the placid face before him. Worriless in a way only the dead can manage.
Wrong wrong wrong.
"Look at me!" He snaps, claws digging in hard enough to draw blood. Pinpricks of red slide down Jack's gaunt cheeks, rest in the cradle of his palm. Blue eyes snap open with a gasp, so bright under the cold light. As cold as the water they're drowning in.
And for a moment hmthere is victory. Jack's eyes meet his and the shock livens his face. The recognition in h-
Jack is yanked from his hands. Down into and endless dark he drops like a lead weight. Gabriel's name is on his lips as he sinks out of sight.
Reaching into the depths as his hand slips out of sight, the wounded noise that escapes Gabriel more beast than human. Ana makes a sound as he plummets after his Jack.
Gabriel screams, thrashing upward with his whole body. The covers fly away in tatters, feet slapping on the cold floor as he wheels upright, searching. Looking for Jack in the corners of the Talon safehouse he's haunting.
Black miasma pours from his form as he blinks away the sight of too blue eyes receding into the blackness. Gabriel slumps like a deflated balloon, listlessly falling back into the bed. He stares at the ceiling and tries to breathe. Jack's shocked face paints the inside of his eyelids.
Ugly emotions well up in his chest, constrict his throat until he rattles out a breath that is too many parts a sob. He shudders and pushes the feeling down, binds it with a will of iron that feels brittle and warped. Curling on his side Gabriel tries not to think of the feeling of fingers slipping from his grip.