Work Text:
Talon operated in the shadows for as long as it needed but open Null Sector attacks apparently removed all need for secrecy. The carrier he was on gleamed silver under the shiny, reflected sunlight as it sped through like a bullet to their destination.
It bumps along through an air pocket, making Gabriel’s legs almost shift into smoke to remove the shooting streaks of pain each movement of the carrier causes.
A memory from his Blackwatch days ripple into existence and he is thankful for the bone white mask donned on his face; it hides him well, giving him a visage of apathy that he guards fiercely.
If there is one thing Jack was good at all those years ago, it was never questioning Gabriel’s choices regarding his flight crafts.
Blackwatch crafts were sleek and the best on the market; global armies and private sectors of multiple countries vied for pieces of scraps from the renowned Overwatch engineers’ HQ, all patented designs that were meticulously guarded after the omnic crisis.
Lindholm’s complaints ring clear in his ear - his never ending grumbling about the customizations and enhancements were worth enduring when the sleek reflective Blackwatch carriers cut through the distance as silent as air and completely undetectable.
Jack’s habit of checking in on Gabriel during the oddest of times during the earlier Blackwatch mission also refuses to leave his mind now.
Their nascent organization was starting to yield results in ways the UN expected but it also glaringly highlighted their blind spots.
The earliest missions often strictly adhered to recon and surveillance but it still unnerved Jack enough to time his calls right as Gabriel was halfway into their flight time.
Regardless of how small of a flight time it was, Gabriel would answer his buzzing comm halfway into the flight and reply to Jack’s queries with returning gruff and brief answers.
It wasn't until a few months later when they were wrapped in the warmth of each other’s arms one night that he would finally figure out Jack’s incandescent need to keep track of his mission flight time.
They kept the windows open that night, the late fall chill spilling into their room making their breath fog in front of them. Their enhanced bodies ran hotter than usual and both of them opted to leech heat from each other under the double layers of blanket to stay warm.
“Been a while since we snuggled,” Jack had murmured into Gabriel’s neck back then, as his arm tightened around Gabriel’s waist.
Gabriel raised his head from his fluffed up pillow and glanced back at Jack. “Snuggled?” He remembers asking with an eye roll.
“We are grown men, Gabriel. Would you rather me use cuddling instead?” Jack asked with a snort.
“Better than snuggle,” Gabriel had grumbled while settling back on his pillow. He recalls resettling into their bed and squirming his ass into Jack’s crotch, the bigger part of him hoping for a reaction.
Despite the bone deep tiredness that drooped his eyelids, he remembers jolting himself awake just to keep feeling the entirety of his back pressed against Jack, feeling the rise and fall of his breaths. A reenactment of their earlier activities would simply add more to the closeness Gabriel remembers craving constantly.
“Gabriel, no.” Jack had grumbled, nuzzling into the short bristly hair at the back of Gabriel’s head as an apology. “I don’t have it in me for a third round. You need sleep - you got that flight to catch tomorrow.”
Gabriel can still feel the phantom brush of Jack’s lips as he pressed kisses as a second, unspoken apology all those years ago.
“You’re no fun.” Gabriel had replied back. He remembers the quiet around them almost feeling touch oppressive but it also amplified their synced breaths, a sound that he used to yearn for when opposite mission hours and distance kept them apart.
“Going to check in on me again?” He asked Jack after a few minutes of silence.
Jack’s returning “Hm?” took a few beats and he remembers chastising himself immediately for pulling Jack away from his sleep but he repeated himself nonetheless.
“Sure, I always do that anyway,” Jack’s sleep heavy voice mumbled back.
“You really don’t need to do that,” Gabriel said, “I am capable of flying a carrier just fine.”
“I am not questioning your capabilities - why on earth would you come to that conclusion?” Jack replied, all traces of sleep gone from his voice.
“Hard not to,” was all Gabriel said.
“Turn around.” Jack commanded and Gabriel remembers wanting to be a brat but curiosity had won over at the end.
The first thing Jack did was place his palms on each side of Gabriel’s face, the warmth of his skin making Gabriel sigh in peace. In the dark, the whites shone brighter than the cornflower blue of his eyes and it was just as mesmerizing.
“Remember the flight over the Appalachian wilderness? The one with no reports of omnic activity and base decided it was safe for the emergency flight?” Jack asked.
“Sure,” Gabriel replied back, as he racked his brain trying to find the connection.
“An hour in, that rogue ravager unit shot us down,” Jack added. Recollection of that memory still shoots a tingle of fear along his spine decades later.
“We were the only survivors and we only scraped by because of our enhancements. Gabriel,” Jack paused and planted a gentle kiss on his nose before continuing, “every time you get on a craft without me, I can’t stop thinking of that.”
The swell of emotions that overtook him back then still threatens to choke him. It was an easier time to love Jack and feel his love be returned tenfold.
“We survived back then simply because we were together. Every time you get on a craft, I am reminded just how easily I could lose you.”
Gabriel loathes to admit it now but on his loneliest days, he craves to go back to that night - it held a particular band of simplicity that ended before it could even start.
Light and dark he used to think to himself about their relationship but that changed the longer he stayed with Jack. They were similar where both had the unflinching loyalty to each other that refused to bend to anything else; over time, like everything, the rot radiated outwards from the inside, their stubbornness to be vulnerable acting as the crutch that ruined them together.
Now here he was on a craft that made his body clench with unending pain with each jolt, surrounded by a scientist whose consciousness floats away from him at a moment's notice, and a hacker with questionable loyalties; no one to mourn him if he plummeted to his death.
Not that a mere crash could kill him but still, it was the thought that counts he agrees with himself.
“Do NOT agitate him, Gabriel,” Sombra warned him earlier that day as they transported the scientist onto the carrier and placed him opposite to Gabriel’s seat. “He is having a hard enough day already.”
Gabriel’s garbled growl of an unenthusiastic acknowledgement echoed around their craft and he was graced with Sombra’s impressive eye roll in return.
While Talon leaders pressed and preened about Overwatch not posing a threat, they all took their private countermeasures to better protect their assets against the newly reformed organization that held the world’s confidence and faith for years before its fall.
For his part, Gabriel oscillated between not sparing Overwatch a thought, then feeling intense hatred bubbling inside him at the televised clips of Reinhardt’s shield blocking the Null Sector titan’s blast.
For weeks afterwards, various global news channels replayed the footage with useless commentaries from people who had no right viewing themselves important enough to appear on interview segments.
Gabriel seethed and cracked fragile glass monitors in abundance after stumbling across clips after clips of the event until Sombra’s terse, “Will you stop that? They don’t repair itself,” forced him to reign in his impulses.
After viewing the now infamous footage at the emergency meeting at Talon headquarters for the first time, it took him a whole day’s worth of unwilling reminiscing to finally realize why the girl beside Reinhardt looked so familiar; little Brigette was not so little after all.
Apparently, Lindholm remained as naive as before if he was willing to let his daughter get tangled with Overwatch’s mess.
He vehemently swatted away the image of a toddler Fareeha in his arms, tugging on his beanie while Ana and Jack giggled and cooed around them every time it threatened to resurface from the depths of his repressed past in response to seeing Lindholm’s daughter all grown and strong.
Akande’s only major response so far was to secure Siebren, a mission that Gabriel and Sombra were graced and entrusted with. He sat opposite to Gabriel now, the seat belt slung across his chest rather loosely. He flitted between humming under his breath to stilted silence that radiated a quiet discomfort.
Gabriel sneers at the seemingly vacant mind of the scientist under his bone white skull mask as he tilts his head towards Siebren, taking in his closed eyes and furrowed brows.
While this was nothing unusual, it still was cause of concern as far as Akande’s instructions went; Siebren was to be relocated to a newly constructed underground facility with minimal agitation of his mind.
“Are you doing okay back there, Siebren?” Sombra asks, seemingly reading Gabriel’s mind.
“Why yes, this is much more comfortable that some of the other methods of travel I am accustomed to,” Siebren replies with a deep laugh as his features smooth out. “Researchers and scientists are rarely afforded comfortable modes of transportation. They might value our mind but the body, it’s merely a vessel to them.”
His words skirt uncomfortably close to his unassuming reality. Neither of them find the words to reply to that and silence creeps around them. The background whirring of the engines taking over as the most offensive noise.
“By the way, did the meds work? Or do you need a more tailored dose?” Sombra asks. “Not that she will be of much help,” she adds under her breath, the comm she and Gabriel share relaying it to him only between the three of them.
“There is no need for that, thank you,” Siebren says, his voice rich and warm. “Some changes to your health cannot be reversed unfortunately.”
Gabriel shares a silent grin with himself at that, ignoring the splitting pain he is gifted with as a result of pulling his lips into a smile.
The initial SEP enhancements were a miracle, side effects be damned, and the high he felt at the daring display of his modifications during the omnic crisis is still clear in his mind.
He decidedly ignores the supposed enhancement Moira graced him with - his current abilities are extraordinary and deadly to most and he might’ve been inclined to agree along if the crippling agony was not a constant reminder of the dangers of tampering with experimental body modification.
“I am sure Dr. O’Deorain would be happy to be of assistance,” Sombra offers as an alternative to Siebren, making Gabriel gurgle out a laugh at the irony.
“There is absolutely no need for that, I assure you. I believe it’s called old age,” Siebren replies.
“Really? I suppose I really have to believe you now, being so young myself,” Sombra teased back.
“Ah, age does that to you. My research kept my gaze focused on the stars for a while. I rarely felt the need to pay attention to myself,” Siebren shares.
“You don’t say.” Gabriel intones.
“Why yes,” Siebren replies with a laugh. “Harold grounds me in that regard. It is wonderful to have a partner who truly understands the intricacies of my needs. I often don’t even know when my life lacks something.”
Gabriel glances at Siebren, catching the rising faraway look returning to his eyes. The sudden mention of Siebren’s dead husband immediately puts Gabriel on edge - not being able to predict Siebren’s thoughts makes the tactician in him itch out of his own skin.
“He hates it when I call him that.” Siebren glances out the window, his eyes shining in the sunlight. “Partner? We have been married husbands for years now, Siebren. Don’t tell me you keep forgetting that,” he quotes from memory.
“Well,” Gabriel lets out a barking laugh, “he really was not that far off.”
Siebren carries on, either choosing not to acknowledge Gabriel or simply not even recognizing the interruption.
“Husband,” he says with a smile. “It seems too minuscule of a word to capture what he means to me. Sure, we share a life together, we are legally bound together, after all. It still somehow feels not enough.”
“Husbands are overrated,” Gabriel interrupts with a scoff tainting his voice.
“He stood by my side for a decade even before he left for the moon. He is my guardian, the only peace that makes sense when my mind threatens to rip itself apart at the neverending complexity of my theoretical research.”
Gabriel itches to break his reminiscing to point out how close to the truth Siebren was as he strolled down the memory lane but the swirling storm of memories that he buried deep inside since the Overwatch HQ explosion held his tongue.
Siebren is a picture of peace and contentment - Harold’s memories playing out inside his mind was a balm apparently and despite the annoyance at his continued chatter, Gabriel gives in to the part of him that refuses to stop mourning the memories of his own husband.
He remains quiet and decides to wait it out.
“The days apart are never easy on us. It has been weeks since we last corresponded. I know he misses me, it is evident in just how much I miss him in return.” Siebren turns his head and faces Gabriel, the sheen of unshed tears giving away his loneliness.
The sudden change in his demeanor manages to slip past Gabriel’s self control. A thin thread of pity for the man in front of him taints his performative indifference.
Gabriel spent almost a decade ripping aside every instance of shared memories of Jack he carried around but they still continue to drag him down; the once anchor of comfort and acceptance now turned into a never ending pain and drowning.
Jack was everything and then nothing. He was stitched into every fiber of his being and then he is erased when Gabriel’s body slinks and slithers into a cloud of nanites.
Secret, shared kisses at every possible interval during the early Overwatch days devolved to having barely enough time to sleepily rut against one another every other month only to wake up and find the other side of the bed cold and wide empty.
“Do you think I could speak to Harold?” Siebren asks, pulling Gabriel away from his unpleasant thoughts. “I understand the importance of secrecy in our line of work but you must understand, a little break from the monotony surely will do good.”
Gabriel racks his brain to come up with a reply satisfactory enough to mollify the man but his mind comes to a screeching halt as he turns over Siebren’s words for a few seconds.
“Our line of work?” He asks, feeling somewhat stunned at the scientist's obliviousness. “What do you think I do ‘working’ with you?” he air quotes with clawed fingers.
“Gabriel,” he hears Sombra’s second warning from up ahead.
“Ah, well…” Siebren hesitates before continuing. “I cannot be one to judge. One’s work holds a deep, personal connection to one’s self. I wouldn’t presume that I know of all the complexities that play into making our reality. Though I must admit, I am curious regarding your research.”
Siebren turns his gaze to Gabriel, his eyes flitting from the cowl, down to his clawed finger tips, and then back to the skull covering the scarred, smokey mess of his face.
Gabriel’s lips curl into a snarl of their own accord behind the safety of his fitted mask - fractured mind aside, the shattered remains of his psyche still pooled together to create a brilliant scientist who could come to the right conclusions if he truly wanted to find out.
He feels his hackles rise, a barely suppressed growl vibrating behind his teeth, making Sombra glance back at them, annoyance clear in her eyes.
“He’s a hired bodyguard, Siebren. Does he look smart enough to be doing research?” Sombra concludes with a snicker at Gabriel’s expense.
“Why, thank you for your company then,” Siebren’s eyes crinkle along the smile he flashes at Gabriel.
“Whatever,” Gabriel mutters back, feeling a miniscule amount of stress leaving his clenched shoulders at having the scientist's attention being shifted away from him.
He shifts in his seat but a sudden, bright burst of plain blooms from his clavicle, making him clench his fists hard enough to draw oozing black blood that his nanites immediately reabsorb.
The urge to shift into a black, shifting cloud to ease the pain screamed into his consciousness but Akande’s demand to relocate the scientist's with minimum damage to the scientist forces him to hold it off.
Lifelong soldiers are no strangers to pain but feeling his body constantly rip itself apart was a level of agony that he never anticipated.
His frayed nerve endings were constantly alight with torment, and he often found himself robbed of a clear conscience when all his brain screeched about was the neverending pain.
He registers fingers wrapping around his wrist, making him jerk his hand away with a hiss of pain.
“Sorry, I am terribly sorry,” Siebren offers, his voice a hazy echo in his pain-addled mind.
Gabriel manages to spare the scientist a glance, registering the downward tilt of his lips. Siebren pulls his hand away back towards him, deciding to lean closer to Gabriel instead.
“Are you alright?” Siebren asks.
“Just peachy,” Gabriel grinds out through his clenched teeth.
“Well, your hands say otherwise,” Sieben replies back with an uncomfortable chuckle.
Gabriel brings himself into awareness and glances down, finally recognizing the shadowy tendrils outlining his clawed tips.
“Is that a form of genetic enhancement?” Siebren asks in wonder, his eyes tracking the smoking nanites that Gabriel doesn’t bother solidifying back into himself. They will hover around him anyway - he can’t find the energy to pull them in.
“Hardly,” he snorts back in disgust.
“It’s interesting nonetheless. Harold’s research involves genetic manipulation of primates…”
“Yes. I heard,” Gabriel interrupts, trying to minimize the rising overwhelming of senses inside him.
Siebren proves to be a man of his own and continues on as before, paying Gabriel’s interruption no mind.
“Such fascinating creatures, I must add. Though calling them creatures hardly seems appropriate. Harold’s tenacity never fails to fascinate me - to reach such heights with apes is more than a wonder of modern science. Though I must admit, the work being conducted is a reflection of the brilliance of the scientists themselves…”
“Sombra.” Gabriel growls low under his breath, knowing that their shared comm will relay it to her. “Make him stop.”
“Let him have this,” Sombra says with a soft sigh, the underlying pity making him grind his teeth. “Do you want to remind him of his dead husband?” Sombra adds with a mumble.
He is not quick enough to stop the image of Jack’s bloodied face buried under the rubble after the HQ explosion and the reminder stuns him for a beat.
He looks back at Siebren, not registering his words but taking in the wrinkles around his eyes, the hollowed cheeks, graying hair, and the stark widow’s peak insead - he was once a man who had a loving husband he holds incredible fond memories of.
A life shattering accident that wrenched him away from reality still wasn’t enough to blot out Harold’s presence from inside him. If anything, he clung on to them as a life raft in a never-ending ocean.
It also was a weakness that Talon took constant advantage of - they placated Siebren with an imaginary Harold who was alive, well, and breathing. He was the husband who, despite being a celestial body away, was still awaiting Siebren’s return eagerly.
Could Gabriel say that about himself? A chasm lay between him and Jack, one that only widened irreparably further back in Cairo when he shot the man he spent decades wanting and loving.
Gabriel’s mind registers Siebren’s continued speech and he forces himself to pay partial attention to the man’s rambling.
“Specimen 28 is brilliant in its own regard. Harold is particularly fond of him and I must admit, he truly is unique.”
“Ah, yes. The glorified scientist of a monkey,” Gabriel cuts in, recalling Winston’s peanut butter covered fingers the last time he dropped by Gibraltar base to preemptively stop the recall and nab the list of former members for himself.
As always, Talon grunts proved to be incompetent and Winston was smarter and more perceptive than ever.
“I know I am biased but I have to thank Harold for his tireless attention to detail,” Siebren smiles at the memory of his husband, making Gabe sneer at his memories of Jack.
“I once asked him why history. Specimen 28’s love for tales and history must’ve come from somewhere and my sneaking suspicion was Harold’s sentimentality.”
“Uh huh,” Gabe utters to maintain his facade of attention, prompting Siebren to continue on with his reminiscing.
“He said to me ‘think of how we reflect on the first time we met, our first date. Those events have a significance in our lives. Humanity has so much to offer Siebren, I just want him to understand that. We are streaked with a unique brand destruction that we can’t help but infect everything with but our wonders redeem us. He will experience the harsh reality of our world sooner than later but I hope humanity’s past tells him that wonders are possible. I want to be the past that was kind to him - so he can draw strength from it in the future.’ How can I not be in absolute awe of that man?”
“You tell me,” is all Gabriel manages to reply.
Siebren sighs, melancholy etched deep on his face. “My last visit to the Lunar Colony was briefer than I wanted it to be. We are both constrained by the demands of our work but I must admit that years apart with such little time together is starting to take a toll on me.”
“I am sure we can manage to arrange something,” Sombra adds, her fake cheer bright and clear.
“I cannot thank you enough for this.” Siebren's enthusiasm sinks inside Gabriel and for a moment, all he feels is a deep sense of despair.
He allotted his loyalty with Talon willingly enough, but he was their pawn just as much as Siebren was.
They dangled the bait of revenge in front of him - he betrayed everything he once stood for, trotted all over the globe for missions he increasingly felt that were beneath him, all for the possibility of retribution towards Jack for reducing him to an impulsive, incompetent commander.
A willing pawn was still a pawn and for a brief instant, Gabriel envied Siebren’s unfortunate ignorance of his reality.
Siebren’s Harold lay dead on the surface of the moon as a shrine, a reminder of a loving husband and caring partner for Siebren to someday discover.
Gabriel’s Jack hunted him down, taunting him with echoes of their good days while repeatedly failing him in every possible way.
Gabriel now saw that to him, they were husbands first, commanders second. He took on the responsibilities of keeping Jack safe in a world that was increasingly hostile towards him, consequences be damned but Jack sealed their fate with absolute betrayal when he refused to side with Gabriel’s command when the moment called for it.
Jack was a coward in the face of persistence and he stopped being worthy of Gabriel’s loyalty a long time ago.
He now uses the memories of their shared time as kindle to fuel the ever bright fire of hatred inside him all to aware that there would be a day when the kindle ran dry and brittle, no longer enough to keep the flame hot and ablaze.
He would face his own day of reckoning then, as he would stand at the crossroads of loyalty to Talon or loyalty to the memories of Jack.
There is no going back, his mind whispers at him.
Fucking watch me, he wheezes back.
“Fifteen minutes till arrival.” Sombra’s announcement pierces through the swirling tunnel of his thoughts.
He stares at Siebren to gauge the man’s state of mind, quickly coming to the conclusion that he truly didn’t care about the consequences.
He releases his iron grip on the nanites coursing through his body, immediately feeling the almost lightheadedness at the instant vanishing of the constant pain.
Siebren surprises him as flashes Gabriel a wide smile. “That’s it - you look much more relaxed.”
He almost snarks back at the scientist with you can’t possibly know that without seeing me but catches himself in time.
He nods once at the scientist in silent acknowledgement of his astuteness before returning to his thoughts, fiercely appreciating the absence of pain that always demanded the majority of his cognitive workings.
What he had with Jack was for him to guard and use; Talon might have their perceptions of what they could push Gabriel to do but it all rested on his shoulders after everything was said and done.
Try as he might, he never could truly sever their bond and when the time came, Gabriel would do as he saw fit.
For better or worse, Jack continues to be wedged deep into the crevices inside him and Gabriel would hold him there both in love and in hate.