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Strike Commander Morrison stared out the window, watching the slow passage of clouds across the idyllic blue sky. For one moment, he allowed himself to drop the weight that dragged at his shoulders, the pain that squeezed his lungs until every breath hurt. His failures were damn near paralyzing, even after all these years.
Jack chuckled in the back of his throat, soft and humorless. He'd thought that joining the army and volunteering for the soldier enhancement program would allow him to help people. It helped me kill them mostly, Jack thought, refusing to look at the report lying open on his desk. He didn't need to read the names of agents lost during his tenure, he knew the faces well enough.
Overwatch had started to unravel, falling apart at the seams while Jack fought to hold it together through sheer willpower. He'd escaped to the Swiss headquarters as a final bastion against the questions and accusations, buying time until he could twist the lies and half truths into something that almost resembled reality. He had long since abandoned plausible deniability, standing squarely in the target that the U.N. painted on his chest. It was almost laughable. Almost.
Swallowing the bitterness that threatened to choke him, Jack wondered if it was too early for a drink. Noon had come and gone at least, that had to be close enough. He had never drank before joining the army. Just another slip into the darkness I wasn't willing to admit, Jack thought. Vincent had tried to warn him, warned that he was losing touch-No. Jack forced that thought to the back of his mind where it belonged. He couldn't allow himself to go down that road again. Vincent was better off without him, especially now.
Exhaling sharply through his nose, Jack opened the cabinet below the window and reached for the bottle of scotch he kept there. Except, it was missing. A snort echoed from behind him. "Predictable."
"Gabe." Jack turned toward the shadows, tipping his head as the form materialized in the sunlight. He had long since stopped wondering how the man absorbed shadows around him to blend into any canvas he chose.
A slight smirk curved across the dark lips. "Look at you, still playing the boy scout despite the hell raining down around you."
Gabriel sat the bottle on the desk, every movement reminding Jack of an overloaded spring ready to snap. He'd always been that way, unpredictable and volatile, dark as sin and twice as deadly. Gabe's laugh held even less amusement than Jack's had. "Those that bother calling me anything besides bastard these days prefer Reyes."
Jack knew that, as surely as he knew that nothing good could come from the man standing in his office. He should have felt anger, waves of fury that threatened to pull him under. While Jack hadn't been able to put his finger on the blood, he knew Reyes was the one destroying Overwatch. Blackwatch had become a law to its own; Jack scrambled to hide the worst as sanctions came down and funding dried up.
It didn't take a genius to put the pieces together. But, Jack didn't like the picture they formed, so he ignored it. His willing blindness had almost run its course, though. Placing two shot glasses on the polished surface of his desk, Jack jutted his chin toward the man. "Reyes."
The grin that crossed Gabe's face stretched the gaunt skin covering his skull, turning Jack's stomach. He remembered the easy smile that Gabriel had offered in training, the infectious laughter that could put anyone at ease. It wasn't a jump to recall that same throaty chuckle that had made his blood heat in a way that it hadn't since Vincent. But, the traces of that man were lost beneath whatever this was.
Jack filled the cups to the rim and pushed one toward his old friend. Gabe lifted it in his left hand, right falling near the shotgun on his hip. Running his tongue across dry lips, Jack followed the movement. Unbidden, his eyes flicked to the other side of the office where his pulse rifle leaned against the wall. "Come to kill me?"
"I haven't decided," Reyes answered, caressing his weapon like a lover.
Jack raised his glass, meeting the dark eyes he used to know so well. "No sense in wasting the alcohol then."
The burn made Jack's breath shudder, and he couldn't help but recall the first time that Gabriel had done that. They'd just gotten back to base from a "training mission" that left half of their team dead and dozens of civilians bleeding out in the sand. They'd been young and dumb, eager to change the world only to watch it shatter with every move they made. They had shared a room back then, when there were still enough soldiers alive to need bunkmates.
One minute, Jack and Gabriel had been sitting with their backs against the wall passing cheap vodka back and forth, then they were tangled together. Jack still didn't know who had moved first. Their defenses had crumbled to dust as they fought to rebuild each other. That had been the first of many dark nights where their only solace came from the lies they told themselves.
Jack swallowed, considering his options. There was a slim possibility that he could roll out of his chair and reach his rifle before Reyes raised his gun. He could throw down a biotic field and hope the man's aim had gotten worse over the years. But, even if that all went perfectly, Jack didn't know if he could shoot Gabe. He sighed, deep in his chest. "What did they do to you, Gabe?"
Gabriel threw back his alcohol, then tossed the glass, shattering it against the wall. "It wasn't all them."
The words were meant to sting, but they burned like a brand. Things had changed when Jack had been named Strike Commander. He'd thought Blackwatch would be enough for Gabriel, something to occupy him and provide an outlet for his rage. But, they'd started falling apart soon after, battle lines clearly drawn. The deeper into darkness Gabe descended, the muddier the distinction between right and wrong became.
"I did my best by you," Jack sighed, trying to find anger or fear beneath the bone numbing weariness he felt. "It isn't too late, you know? It doesn't have to end this way."
Alarms blared through the building as security warnings flashing across the wall of screens. In the distance, something exploded, but Jack only had eyes for Gabe. Reyes raised his weapon, pointing it at the center of Jack's chest. "Yes, it does."