Work Text:
“Tell Jack to stop chasing me.”
“I have, he wouldn’t listen.”
“Well isn’t that just like him.. ”
— — —
Soldier 76. Vigilante, a walking ghost, a criminal. Whatever the people called him, underneath it all Jack had stayed exactly the same.
The Jack who wanted peace and prosperity for the world, who cherished the team around him, who fought for something precious, the Jack who had it all.. He didn’t want to die. He lived on behind Soldier: 76’s visor.
Nevertheless, Switzerland had forced him into hiding for months now.
It all went to shit because of that damn explosion. Jack lost everything because of an unfortunate system malfunction, or at least that was the current non-conspiracy theory.. That cursed malfunction had changed his entire life.
So there he was, back in Switzerland, inside what was once an Overwatch Headquarters. The air was damp, and every single corner or wall brought back bitter memories.
He needed to retrieve some files and more ammo, and this exact base had been the best option. Despite still having valuable material deep inside it, the outside was almost reduced to shreds. Jack was surprised when the automated doors in the north side of the complex worked.
Once inside, he approached a light switch and attempted to flip it, but to no avail. Apparently nothing ever worked in that damn facility.
“Damn technology.” he mumbled. He moved forward into a familiar hallway, then used a nearby wrench-like piece of carcass to pry open the door to the central command room.
Here was where it all started. The malfunction couldn’t have come from anywhere but there.
That was what he was really here for. He needed ammo and some supplies, sure, but he also needed to know exactly how his life was ruined. It had been months that he spent aching for an answer or at least some form of clarity.
He made quick work of trying to relaunch the main computer. After three tries it miraculously gave in, starting up as bright lights displayed the Overwatch logo.
“Gotcha.” Jack whispered triumphantly. He opened the file paths, scouring through every single video recording and computer log from that time.
Hours went by, hours which Jack spent just digging and digging, continuously failing to find a single indication the explosion really was just a system error. Eventually, when it was presumably near midnight, he found a rather interesting surveillance recording.
It was taken approximately thirty minutes before the explosion, in the southwest corner, nearby where he and Gabriel got caught in it all.
A masked man snuck inside the complex, carrying what looked to be a huge backpack.
The logo on it was clearly Talon’s. Jack recognised the red-black colour scheme and familiar equipment models.
A talon agent was present in the complex that day..
A feeling of sickness started to creep into Jack’s chest. He searched for another surveillance video, one that would cover the area the agent had gone into. He found it in a minute.
It was all starting to add up. The agent kept dropping things around the base, specifically focusing on the south half of the complex, the same one that was completely destroyed now.
The video feed was showing the events fifteen minutes before the explosion now. Whenever Jack found another surveillance tape that traced the agent’s steps, he could see them drop more and more of what looked like remote detonated explosives.
Eventually, when the time indicated five minutes before the explosion, the agent simply left through one of the main exits.
He must’ve somehow been made familiar with the structure of the base...
Jack was no amateur, he had been trained to read his enemies demeanour and posture.
The movements he had seen were calculated and planned out, extraordinarily confident and efficient. The agent had managed to rig the entire south part of the facility in twenty-five minutes, make a smooth exit in five and blow the place up in just a second.
Jack felt nauseous all over again when he realised that that single second during which the agent triggered the explosives changed the entire course of his life. All it took for him to lose the love of his life, the organisation and simultaneous family he had built and himself was the press of one button.
It didn’t matter. Or it did, but he couldn’t focus on that now. What was far more important was the fact that the explosion never was an accident.
Additionally, Agent O’Deorain was present at the base at that time, yet her entrance was never logged.
From what Jack could tell on the news she worked for Talon now.
…
The realisation dawned on him quite slowly.
The explosion couldn’t have been an accident. Talon must’ve planned it, for whatever reason, and Moira O’Deorain was in on it the entire time.
The only question Jack couldn’t possibly extract from the Overwatch network was why? What did Talon need from these headquarters that required blowing it to shreds? Why had O’Deorain switched sides despite being allowed to carry on her unconventional research?!
He sat in silence for a moment, pondering.
And then another horrifying realisation dawned on him.
His and Gabriel’s conversation in the south part of the building was a planned meeting. At the very least, some people knew about it in advance. They had wanted to discuss the future of Blackwatch and Overwatch in the face of all the troubles.
It wasn’t just a planned explosion, it was a planned explosion meant to kill either him, or Gabe, or both of them.
They had wanted this all along.
Jack took a deep breath, moving to get up and get the ammo. Anything to prevent the screams threatening to escape his mouth.
He heard something. Footsteps then a suspiciously loud gush of wind. Jack jumped out of the chair he had been stuck in for the past four hours, stretching as quickly as possibly and running to a high vantage point.
“Show yourself!” he screamed only when he was backed against a wall with his visor on, able to survey the entirety of his surroundings.
Silence followed for only a minute.
“I guess it wouldn’t make sense to try and hide from you.” a dark ghastly voice swam through his ears. Jack flinched, turning around with a raised gun.
There was nothing there. All his visor could detect was an unusual heat signature in front of him. But when Jack fired into it, nothing caved.
A laugh echoed off the walls. “You cannot escape death.” the voice threatened.
Jack kept his gun trained on the area in front of him, following the heat signature as it moved and flew around the room.
“Who are you?!” Jack demanded, feeling his heart beat heavily.
He was not granted any answer. Instead, he was forced out of his position as shotguns began firing at him from the left.
Jack ran backwards, facing the direction where his attacker came from. But again, there was nothing but that creepy heat signature floating around.
The room was cool and dark. Jack snuck through it, trying to get to the other side for another vantage point.
He was stopped right in his tracks. The heat cloud materialised in front of him out of nowhere, revealing a hooded man in a mask.
Jack swiftly turned off the heat signature setting on his visor. He raised his gun, firing at the man and dropping a biotic field to replenish any shots he had already taken.
“ Reaper .” he sighed.
He recognised the mysterious assassin from a bitter encounter. Only another one of his worst memories coming to haunt him that day.
“Soldier 76.” Reaper replied matter-of-factly, never ceasing to shoot straight at Jack from a close range. “Took you long enough.”
Jack kept shooting back. Eventually his biotic field gave in, and he had to run away in desperate need of that vantage point. He managed to reach the other end of the room unscathed save for scratches on his arm.
“You scratched me?!” He huffed, turning on the heat signature vision to detect where Reaper would come from next. “Always knew you were a monster.”
An irritated grunt came from Reaper.
“The battlefield is not a place for games. ”
Something anchored deeply inside Jack stopped, for just a split-second, with recognition. Before he could identify it it passed, and he found himself shooting at Reaper once more.
The assassin turned to smoke again, circling around him and hiding again.
The battlefield is not a place for games..
Jack launched a bomb into the room, lighting it up enough for him to discover Reaper near the computer, hiding in the dark.
Being a vigilante for months had clearly improved his aim. Jack ran forward and started shooting, so fast that Reaper couldn’t disappear on him again. He hit Reaper’s mask, cracking it and sending it flying off into the ground.
Reaper screeched and turned around, but it was already too late. Jack had seen his face, and it was nothing like he had expected.
Perhaps someone whose eyes were evil and merciless, some guy with lots of scars and disfigured features, or better yet not a human at all. Just a monster he could shoot without hesitation.
But the face behind the mask was none of that.
It was..
It was him.
…
It was Gabriel. His features were unmistakable even in the short second, as they all came back to Jack as if by reflex.
The dark eyes, tan skin, the look on his face and his beard. It felt like nothing about him changed, even though it did . There were unfamiliar eyebags, and Jack could’ve sworn he had seen fangs.
His entire body lit on fire, because god fucking damnit it was Gabriel. His Gabriel. Gabe.
Blood started rushing wildly through his entire body, so intensely he could practically feel his entire being shaking from it. His soul started singing, he felt like he was flying and falling at the same time.
It’s him.
It’s him. It’s him.
Oh God no.
Oh God yes .
It’s him.
He was so sure he had lost him. He had fought for him all these months, done terrible things in his name, desperately trying to atone for and process what happened to them.
But.. he was right there. All this time he was still just there.
And now he was literally a couple inches away from him. Standing there, wielding the same godforsaken shotguns, fighting as aggressively as he always did.
“Gabe..” Jack choked out with a dry throat. The words were akin to gasp. Suddenly he couldn’t even breathe .
Reaper stared at him. His eyes lit up with something . A new emotion Jack didn’t know Gabriel was capable of.
Jack slowly moved to take off his visor, rendering himself blind and vulnerable to a ruthless assassin as if he was a young ignorant punk again.
Reaper was completely still and quiet for a while. All Jack could make out was a strange humming sound that he had previously attributed to the dark clouds that seemed to follow Reaper wherever he went.
“Jack..”
He had finally realised.
“I..” Jack choked again. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. If Gabriel wanted to kill him then, he easily could’ve.
But he didn’t.
“Why are you here?” Jack heard him ask. His tone was moody and almost annoyed, as if he was having an awkward encounter with an ex at the fucking mall or something.
Jack began to feel just the slightest bit of anger.
“I was about to ask you that.” he retaliated.
After a moment of consideration, Reaper actually answered. “I am here for the files. About the incident.”
Despite everything, Jack let out a short laugh, only barely managing to stop himself from manically howling and crying right after. “Me too.”
“I.. needed to know what happened.” Reaper mumbled, his rough voice somehow sounding soft.
“Yeah.”
More silence. More shadow clouds humming softly. Jack put his visor on again, switching onto his normal vision aid, the one that made him see like any normal non-wounded person would.
“ Mierda.. ” Reaper mumbled.
Jack gave him a scrutinising look. “How are you even here?”
Gabriel finally turned to face him. For a brief moment he looked sad . His face quickly twisted into the expression of irritation he had usually worn.
Again, Jack recognised it by reflex. The same furrowed brows, the same dark eyes with the same glare and the same twitching lips.
“Dr. O’Deorain.” he explained vaguely.
Jack wanted to vomit, scream and punch his way through the walls.
Of course. They were after Gabe. The doctor’s position at Blackwatch was perfectly convenient.
I missed it. I let her operate close to him for weeks on end..
I missed it.
“I killed you..” he whispered out loud, his voice shook violently.
Reaper’s eyebrows furrowed even more. “It was a malfunction. That’s what the remaining Overwatch team concluded.”
Jack tried to explain, tried to respond, but his words failed him completely. A tear rolled down his eye, getting caught on where his visor touched his cheek.
Several more followed, rendering everything under his visor moist. It felt disgusting, but Jack just couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop crying.
“Save your tears.” Reaper said. His tone was angry but Jack could distinguish the subtle worry behind it. “It wasn’t your fault. I’m only here to confirm that.”
Jack stared directly at him. He opened his mouth, still couldn’t speak, and closed it again. He shook his head, trying to signal it somehow. He didn’t manage.
Reaper let out a long sigh, shaking his head back and suddenly turning to leave.
Jack opened his mouth again, tried to scream, couldn’t, closed it. He ran after Reaper, Gabriel , catching up just before he reached an exit.
The same one the agent had used. The same one that caused it all. The same-
“Stay.” Jack finally screamed, pleading, voice breaking on the last syllable.
Reaper, Gabriel, Gabe, paused.
“Why would I?”
Just then, Jack asked himself how the hell he didn’t recognise him. His voice for one. Even with the slight echo of it and the distorted tone, it was just as rough and steady as the one belonging to the man he loved.
And the banter, the way they had spoken to each other as Soldier: 76 and Reaper, it should’ve reminded him at least.
His frame too. God, how did he not realise?!
“I don’t know.” Jack said truthfully. “Maybe we can fix this shit somehow, change something.”
“Time has changed us.” Reaper replied simply. “You can’t reverse what happened.”
Despite his words, he turned around, hiding his shotguns in that mysterious void beneath his cape. He pierced Jack with a glare, his dark eyes crept their way right back into his soul.
“What if I could?” Jack felt his power return. Desperation replaced the shock, determination for a better future took the memories’ place. His tears began drying.
“What if I told you the explosion wasn’t a malfunction?!”
For once Gabriel looked like he was listening. Like he was fully submerged in the reality of their situation, that they were there, and that everything he had come to know about his life story was false.
“It wasn’t?” he turned around.
“No. And I should’ve seen it all coming, but I was too preoccupied with trying to keep the organisation over water. I was a fucking idiot .”
“Stop that.” Gabriel grumbled. “Just show me.”
It took another excruciating hour to show Gabriel all the footage, explain what it all meant and let the reality sink in.
When the last surveillance feed ended, he disappeared into thin air without another word. A dark cloud covered him, and he was submerged into a black hole in the ground.
Jack was left wondering what horrible things Gabriel had to have gone through to become like that.
A dead man walking. A ghost still fighting in the land of the living.
He also wondered why he hadn’t stayed, and why Jack himself could feel the same sense of want for him.
“..Fuck.”
The next time Jack heard from Gabriel was on the news. A talon facility was raided by what looked to be a strange re-invention of Overwatch and he was found alive and helping them.
It was no surprise, Talon had killed him just to make him into a weapon after all.
His hand traced over the scars from their battle in Switzerland as he sat in one of his bunkers, glued to the TV.
“Is Overwatch back? Will Gabriel Reyes be leading it this time? We do not have enough information to confirm anything yet.”
— — —
Gabriel didn’t know how to feel. He didn’t know why he found himself in Rialto the second there was a 76 sighting confirmed near an old Blackwatch bunker.
He didn’t know why he snuck his way into it, silently hoping to see him again.
He had tried to fight it, pacing around a dark street, tipsy from some alcohol, trying to find any reasons not to follow Jack.
Why was he chasing him? Why did he even want to chase him, when he had gotten over him and sealed all his scores?
He had attacked and left Talon, Sombra was off of his and Overwatch’s back, his old team knew he was alive and had respected his decision to stay in hiding.
So why, when he gathered it all and rebuilt everything, did he want to chase Jack?
Why did he still have to yearn for him like this?
Hadn’t time changed things? Gabriel had spent a considerable amount of it as Reaper, believing he was over him.
He snuck through the streets of Rialto, eventually reaching a dark alley. He pried open a gully-hole, climbing down into the sewers. If he remembered correctly, the entrance to the bunker was hidden to his left.
Surely enough it was still there, sitting right where he figured it would be. It was weakened by the years, probably enough to open by hand.
Gabriel paused.
Do I really want to do this?
He wasn’t sure. But despite that, his body moved on its own as he remembered what it felt like to see Jack before him, alive and seemingly blinded.
He found himself wondering what horrible pain he must’ve gone through.
And so he was inside the bunker.
There was an unimpressive total of three halls that the bunker consisted of, connecting a kitchen, a supply room and a living room area. It was a standard-issue bunker for solo missions, nothing too big or too small for that matter.
After scouring every square inch of the place, Gabriel found that Jack wasn’t there. He might’ve left, might’ve had to run, Gabriel wouldn’t know.
Perhaps he’d never know. He tried not to think about that too much.
“God fucking damn it.” he cussed, slumping against the kitchen wall. He glared at the kitchen counter across from him. “Why does it always have to be like this?”
As expected, the emptiness around him gave no answer.
“Estoy cansado .” (I’m tired.. ) he complained. The back of his mask dug into his head as he pressed himself against the wall, fists clenching in frustration.
…
“You never stopped complaining in Spanish, huh.” a familiar voice, a welcomed and desired voice, sounded into the kitchen.
Gabriel jumped up, almost tearing the cloth of his cape. “ Jack..” he breathed an involuntary sigh of relief.
If he were a normal man, the word would’ve been a pleased sigh, something that conveyed hope being fulfilled. But all that was heard was the typical dark growl.
Jack’s name on his lips sounded inappropriately resentful paired with the tone his new form provided. He was forced to rasp it out through his mask, as if he was making a threat .
It was one of the things he hated most about the Reaper. He could never truly express his emotions, no one could ever trust he was saying the truth from the sincerity of his voice. He couldn’t express, or even really indulge in, any passion.
He couldn’t say Jack’s name the same way anymore..
“You snuck up on me.” Gabriel didn’t mention how impressed he was by it.
“I still know your behavioural patterns by heart.” Jack explained simply. “What are you here for?..”
Gabriel didn’t like the question at all. It forced him to think about it. And the way Jack said it, with so much caution and hope..
“I don’t know.”
“We’ve been over that one already.”
Gabriel grumbled, annoyed. Time must’ve not changed much after all, if Jack still knew how to talk to him so damn well.
“I don’t know.” he insisted. He straightened himself up, standing firmly with his back against the wall. Jack approached him without hesitation, only contributing to how angry he was getting.
“You don’t know or can’t admit it?” something in Jack’s eyes changed, Gabriel could recognise it from their younger years.
He wanted to cuss him out and scream, but he didn’t have a good response. He couldn’t think of a single thing to say without admitting that he still loved Jack the same way he had when things were simpler.
Now that he thought back on it, he had loved him through it all.
It hurt. It made his chest tighten painfully and his heart feel like it was being dragged on the floor.
What hurt even more however, was that Jack was right there with him and he still couldn’t let himself have the one thing he really wanted.
“Gabe..” Jack sighed. “Talk to me.”
Gabriel shook his head, looking away. Jack stretched out a hand to try and hold his, but he didn’t let him. He swatted the hand away.
“I can’t.”
Jack smiled. The bastard smiled at him, quite fondly. “Yes you can.”
“No, Jack, I can’t !” Gabriel finally screamed, lashing out with his entire body. “I can’t stand here and tell you why I came to find you, because I-”
He interrupted himself, choking on the words.
“Because?..” Jack gave him space, knowing precisely what he needed like he did every time.
“Because we lost everything. I lost you. I grieved you and dreamt about you. I lamented you, for fucks sake!” he tried to stop it, but he started sobbing uncontrollably. “I learned what it was like not having you by my side and I jus-”
He had to pause again. “Damn it, Jack..” he huffed, giving up. He moved to leave, heading toward the counter, but before he could get far Jack snatched his hand.
“Gabe.”
“Don’t.”
“ I love you .” Jack said softly.
Gabriel grit his teeth.
Time hadn’t changed shit.
Jack could still pierce his soul and soften him up from the inside. He could still break down any and all barricades that Gabriel set up. He could break through the shadow of death that surrounded him and get to the man underneath.
“Stop it.” Gabriel said, tone inevitably weak. It was more of a plea than a command. He almost didn’t realise he sounded close to normal.
Please, stop this.
“Gabe.” Jack breathed heavily. “I love you. That never changed.”
“Stop.” Gabriel turned to face him. He pulled his hand free and took a step back, shaking his head.
Jack followed him.
Gabriel backed off even more.
Jack followed him again.
“ Stop..” Gabriel heard himself sound weaker and weaker with every step they took. It was like a slow dance, and it felt like it went on forever.
Until eventually, the kitchen counter hit his back. Gabriel yelped, eyes widening in panic when he realised there was nowhere to run.
Jack looked at him. His visor glowed underneath the singular dim light in the kitchen.
Gabriel broke before he could help himself.
“If I have you again, I can lose you again.” he confessed. “Waking up in that hospital bed, in excruciating pain.. It was nothing compared to how I felt when the explosions all went off and I lost sight of you.”
Jack nodded slowly and reached out, gently removing Reaper’s mask.
“I hate you.” Gabriel hissed, suddenly becoming angrier than intended. “I hate that you’re my only weakness. If I didn’t care I wouldn’t know what Talon did. I’d still be there, just doing my job.”
“Ga-”
“NO.” Gabriel screamed so intensely shadows flew out of his mouth from under his mask. He wringed himself free from Jack, walking out of the kitchen into the nearby hall. “Don’t fucking call me Gabe. I’m not Gabriel, I can’t be Gabriel anymore, I’m The Reaper.”
Jack followed him again. “Not to me.”
“Stop doing that! You always fucking do that. Every single time shit goes wrong or I fuck up, you forgive me. You never just leave me the hell alone .”
“You still love me.” Jack pointed out confidently. He followed him into the hallway. “You haven’t said it yet, but I know you do. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have come to Switzerland if you didn’t.”
“I don’t anymore. I got over you. What don’t you understand?!” Gabriel felt a bizarre urge to scream for help. “Time changed-”
“Yeah?” Jack said, grabbing onto his arm. Gabriel hissed in irritation and turned toward him.
“Then why are you here?” he asked again. His voice was so unbearably confident.
“I told you, I-” Gabriel tried to retaliate, but his breath caught when Jack pulled him closer by his arm, letting his arms rest on his waist when he was close enough. Gabriel couldn’t stifle the content sigh he let out.
“Just say it.” Jack asked, ever so kind and patient. He removed his visor slowly, resting his hands on Gabriel’s chest for some sort of reassurance.
Gabriel could feel himself breaking again.
“Yes. I still love you.”
Jack smiled like he won the lottery.
“They tortured me for hours on end but I never..” Gabriel trailed off.
Jack sighed, coming close and wrapping his hand around the other man’s waist. “I know.” he smiled, putting his hands up to Gabriel’s mask.
Gabriel instantly refocused, watching his movements carefully. His chest started moving and his body shook. “What are you doing..?” he asked, stupidly.
Jack simply chuckled at him, shaking his head and removing the mask with a click.
Gabriel ducked his head and moved to the side, desperately trying to hide his face in one last attempt to keep his walls up.
Jack ignored it, knowing him as well as he did, tilted his head with a hand and then pressed their lips together.
The kiss was soft. It felt like a reunion, fulfilled longing, a dream. Jack embraced Gabriel, keeping him close like he was used to.
But when their lips parted, Gabriel had to go.
He realised he couldn’t do this to Jack all over again.
— — —
Ever since that day, Soldier: 76 has never stopped hunting the Reaper.