#not even like a proper snapping turtle that could do damage when he's older so his shift form would be bigger

[zedpercyfan]

Open Ocean Chaos

Open Ocean Chaos

 May Maple couldn’t have been giddier if she tried to as she swam eagerly in circles.  “Thank you! Thank you!  Thank you!” she kept on cheering before darting straight towards her Father.

 Norman felt the air leave his lungs as his daughter lunged at him. “May,” he chuckled, “easy now! Now remember, just because me and your Mother say it’s okay doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care when you’re out there. Who knows what danger –…”

 “I know Dad!  I know! I’m not a little girl anymore, you know?”

 Norman laughed.  “That you are certainly not!  But remember,” he said with a wink.  “Be home before curfew.”

 “Of course.”  And with that May swam happily away, “Come along, Squirtle!” she said to her partner Pokémon who immediately swam after her out of the foyer.

 She went eagerly to her room, but as she went through the massive foyer she passed a lone little figure, who flicked his dark green tail in annoyance as she passed.  “Real happy about that, aren’t you?” the boy asked.

 “Oh of course!” May exclaimed happily, turning to her younger brother Max.  Bubbles floating all around as she twirled, Max cringed at how ecstatic she looked.

 “Tch, course you would.”

 “Oh?  Jealous of me are we not?”

 “Grr…it’s just not fair, May!  How come you get to go out of town and explore the open ocean, a-and on your own at that, and not me?!  It isn’t fair!”

 “Max, I’m older than you by three years.  I’m fourteen now, you’re eleven, so you can’t go out on your own, mermaid law forbids it.”

 “Yeah, and you’re fourteen and only now you’re allowed by Mom and Dad to wander out to sea.”  Max had a point, under the rules of the sea mermaids would be officially allowed to go out alone at sea once they reached the age of thirteen, but only during daylight.

 “Oh yeah… you’re right.  It’s been one year since I could go out on my own… but only now I’m getting Mom and Dad’s blessing to do so…”

 “It must be because of how clumsy you are.”

 “Ha ha, very funny.”

 “So says the girl with a fresh bandage on her right cheek.  How did you cut yourself again?  Oh yes, I remember – it was yesterday and you got so excited over seeing Drew you swam into the path of a Floatzel using Razor Wind…”

 “Ugh!  You’re just jealous of me Max!” May yelled, furiously blushing.  Her Squirtle glanced nervously from one sibling to the other. Max smirked at her reaction, which only made May even angrier, she turned, flicked her fin at him – causing bubbles to crowd his face – before disappearing into her Clamperl bed, Squirtle hastily following after her.  Max rolled his eyes as he took his glasses off to clean them, and then went off to sulk in some kelp.  At least in there he could hide with his tail being the same color as the dark plants.

 “It’s not fair…” he mumbled to himself, “May gets to see all of Hoenn’s waters and I’m stuck here, unable to go anywhere on my own…”

 It wasn’t to say that Max was a rebel at all, but he often thought of himself as better than everyone else around him.  He judged all who didn’t train their Pokémon correctly or didn’t know how to act.  He’d judge Ash Ketchum for never paying attention, and for his lack of judgement when training his water-type Pokémon; he’d judge May for her clumsiness, cockiness, her forcefulness in making him listen to her because of their age difference, and her huge appetite; he’d judge Dawn Berlitz for always caring too much about her looks, or whether or not she was wearing a ‘different enough’ sea-shell bra compared to one she wore the previous day; he’d judge Brock Slate for flirting too much with the other mermaids; he’d judge Misty Waterflower for her obvious on her crush on Ash.

 Simply put, he was right, they were wrong.  Why was it so hard for everyone not to get that through their heads?  Either that or they all were born with a Quagsire’s brain, which certainly explained his sister’s clumsiness.  But apparently to May, all that mattered was age, not knowledge, and Max was tired of it, she and her Pokémon weren’t going to come out of their first ocean exploration without a scratch, which he was sure of.

 He couldn’t have been more wrong if he had tried.  A few days later May set out for her first day alone, and when she came home that evening, not a scratch was on her, or any her Squirtle.

 “Impossible!” Max spluttered.  He swam up to May and circled her a few times, trying to spot any damage, but every part of his sister’s body was okay.  He red tail was perfect condition, her fin was still in one piece, her torso was okay, her hair was the same as ever, and her face looked completely unharmed.

 “Oh sweetie, it’s so good that you can manage out there so well on your own,” their Mother Caroline cheered.  “You are turning out to be such a strong and independent young mermaid dear.”

 May blushed.  “Aw Mom stop, you’re embarrassing me!”

 “Aw, can’t a Mother be proud of her little mermaid, who’s growing up to be so pretty and independent?  You’re the apple of mine and your Father’s eyes.”

 Max meanwhile was gritting his teeth, no way was there wasn’t any damage to be seen, he was sure of that.

 “Come here, Squirtle!” he said, swimming quickly to catch the Tiny Turtle Pokémon.  Squirtle however panicked, and tried to run away.  “Hey!  I said get back here!”

 “Max!” May cried out.  “What are you doing to my Squirtle?”  Max ignored her and kept on chasing Squirtle, with an extra push of his fin however he caught up and grabbed it.

 “Ah hah!” he cheered, and began to fumble with Squirtle’s shell, looking the young Pokémon all over, Squirtle squirming all the while. But as he looked all over, not a scratch was found anywhere, Squirtle was harm free.  “No way…”

 “Yes way,” May said, hands on her hips, her blue eyes staring coldly at him, sending shivers down Max’s spine.  “And I’d appreciate if you would let go of my Pokémon.”

 “Sure,” Max said uncomfortably as his hands allowed Squirtle to swim away.  May opened her arms as the Tiny Turtle Pokémon rushed to her and gave it a big hug, she glared at her brother and with a flick of her hair stormed away.  Caroline swore she saw a slight tear leave one of her daughter’s eyes as she passed.

“You would think my own brother would be proud of me…” May said barely above a whisper.  Caroline saw her son’s expression and quickly turned to see her daughter’s figure slumped over, this wasn’t going to be easy to fix… Max was just about to swim off when he noticed his Mother swimming over to him.

 “Max,” Caroline began gently, “I know that you want to go out and explore yourself but—…”

 “But the law forbids you from doing so unless it’s under exceptional circumstances.”

 “Oh, um, well – it’s good to know you read up on the rules of our society Max.  But you see you’re just not ready to go out on your own yet.”

 “I am too!” Max huffed.  “I may not look like it but I could easily manage on my own.  I know enough about it to be able to handle myself.  Much better than what May could do—…”

 “Maximillian,” Caroline said firmly, Max flinched from the use of his proper name, “it’s one thing to read about it, but it’s another to actually experience what it’s like on the ocean, your sister has just had that experience and as you can tell she’s perfectly fine.  But you’re not helping her confidence in having her own independence when you’re constantly criticizing her.”

 “S-sorry, Mom…” Max murmured.  Caroline sighed and put a hand to head, her two kids could be very rambunctious and feisty, and by Kyogre’s wrath she often wondered if she did something in a previous life to deserve such difficulties.  But she always thought the best of it.

 “Max,” she rallied again, her son looked up.  “I know you can’t wait to start having some independence of your own, but you’re just going to have to be patient.”

 “I’ll try Mom,” Max said.  A frown on his face, not sure if he could handle such a task, so with a heavy mind he turned around and swam for his Clamperl shaped bed.

 Unfortunately the calm was before the storm.  Max and May’s beds were right beside each other, Max was still laying on his bed when May returned from wherever she had been.  She glared at him as she approached, Max opened to his mouth to say something but he stopped when he saw May’s hard expression, her eyes red and blood veins peeking out, evident that she had been crying for a while.  As she passed, she gave a sharp move of her tail, sending the force of the water movement into Max’s face, he gave a bit of a cry of shock.

 “Jeez, what a baby,” she mocked, “easily unsettled by a bit of current changing.  Oh, it’s not like the same thing happens out on the ocean with ferries passing you, and large Pokémon moving about.  But oh, I don’t know, Mr. Know-it-all here probably would be prepared for that!  Huh Max?!”  May’s eyes were angry and daring, Max was stunned.  He could follow what his superego was saying and apologize to May for his rudeness, or do what his id was suggesting, be cocky and rile her up more than she already is.

 His id won.  “Actually yes May.  I would be bettered prepared for going out onto the ocean better than you could ever be,” he said condescendingly.  “It’s a miracle you somehow didn’t get a scratch considering the dangers of rocks and large Pokémon.  I would’ve been away for twice as long and come back unharmed, you wouldn’t last half that.”

 “I-I… y-you…JERK!  I am your older sister, how dare you speak that way to me!  You couldn’t survive out on the coast for five minutes I bet!” May snapped, she turned and swam into her bed and shut the Clamperl with a resounding thud.  Her upset tears were very audible, even if they were muffled.  When he heard that, Max felt his heart sink, but even if he felt some degree of compassion for May, he grew angry at the thought of what she just said.  He would show her, she had no right to think she was better than he could be.

 OoOoO

 The sibling feud didn’t cool off easily.  For weeks they refused to talk to each other.  May complained openly with her friends about her brother, and Max did the same, only he didn’t really have anyone to sympathize with – the other children weren’t as stubborn as Max, so they didn’t see what the fuss was about.  Plus to them, Max was just the stubborn teacher’s pet or the nerd kid of the area, and when news of his latest grievance got around, the kids wasted no time spreading the news like electricity and making fun of him.

 “Hey look, there’s Max.”

 “I heard he got into a huge fight with his sister over going onto the ocean.”

 “What would he want to go out onto the ocean?  He wouldn’t actually last five minutes.”

 “I think the oceans overrated anyways.”

 Max seethed quietly as he swam past.  “Hey Max!” one kid shouted upon noticing him.  “Don’t go ticking your sister off any further ya runt!”

 “Or getting any silly ideas above your station!”  The kids laughed at their own wit.

 This made Max even angrier and he sped off.  “Aww, did we hurt poor little brother Max’s feelings? Is he gonna go and have a fit and hide under his kelp again?”

 “Stupid kids…they don’t understand at all!” he hissed under his breath.

 As he swam off, a little not that much older than he was watched. Curious as to what just happened she swam after Max.  “Hey,” she called out, getting close.

 Max turned around and blinked, not pleased to see her. “What do you want, Brianna?” he asked, recognizing a friend of May’s.

 “Well it’s just – um – I overheard what happened back there,” she began, “and I was wondering if you were…”

 “I’m fine,” Max answered, annoyed.

 “Well it’s just that I heard you’ve been feeling jealous of May and I just wanted to say…”

 “I don’t want to hear it!” Max bit back.

 “But don’t you want to…”

 “I have things to do,” Max rudely interrupted, “I can’t be floating around right now, waste of time.”  And before Brianna could say anything else, he turned and swam away.

 “Wait!” she called.  But Max didn’t hear her.  He swam in between rocks and through busy sections of the underwater city, trying to shake Brianna off his tail but the redhead was persistent.  Finally, he swam swiftly through a narrow space between two buildings, and came out just as a school of Chinchou came passing by, he barely avoided hitting the leading ones.  Brianna had to stop before she ran into the little Pokémon.

 “Heh,” Max smirked as he looked back over his shoulder and saw that Brianna was trapped.  “That’s good, no more interference…”

 “Hey,” Misty scolded at Brianna, having noticed the two kids racing about recklessly as she helped lead the Chinchou.  “Watch where you’re going, you could’ve hurt the Chinchou.”

 Brianna was too embarrassed to say anything and weakly offered an apology.  But as she waited for the Chinchou to pass, she couldn’t help but be worried about what Max was up to.  Because once that kid got something in his mind, he would persist…

 Ash meanwhile had just gotten back from his birth-water of the Kanto sea and was looking forward to being in the waters between Slateport City and Dewford Town again.  As he and his Oshawott went through the entrance to the city, he was surprised to see Max swimming around.  “Hello, what’re you doin’ out here all by yourself?” Ash asked as he approached.

 “Ash!” Max quickly said, stopping to stare at Ash.  “Tell me,” he paused a bit before launching in one breath, “tell me what it’s like being out there on the ocean?!”

 Ash was rather affronted by the sudden request.  “Um, well y’see it’s all big, and wide…lot’s a ferries and Trainer’s travelling on top of rafts or their Pokémon usually pass you by so you have to keep low to the ocean’s floor…you kinda got to be mindful of certain Pokémon…um, yeah, that’s all I got.”

 “I see,” Max said, “thanks Ash!”

 “Uh, okay,” Ash replied, rather confused.  He looked over awkwardly at his Oshawott who shrugged; Ash turned back to Max, a quizzical look on his face and narrowed his eyes at the younger merman.  “I hope you aren’t going to try something that you shouldn’t be doing.”

 “What?  Me?  No way, I’ve been trying to get May to tell me about what she’s seen out on the ocean but she refuses to talk to me, she’d rather talk to Drew all day, so I decided to ask you as I was just curious, that’s all,” Max said, a fake smile adorning his face.  Ash shrugged having not heard anything about the recent sibling feud and decided that he had no reason to be suspicious of Max’s intentions, and went on his way.  Max watched him go, smirking.

 “He always was a clueless one,” he chuckled.  And after checking that the coast was clear, he set off down the ocean, into waters he wasn’t even supposed to be in.

Brianna had just caught up, and watched with horror as Max swam farther and farther away into the ocean.  She panicked, as Ash had just swam out of sight, she had to go get help from somewhere else.

 At first Max was a bit unnerved by his new surroundings, but soon was feeling relaxed as he came across schools of wild Pokémon some distance away.  He laughed as he was surrounded by happy wild Goldeens, Remoraids, the clusters of peaceful Clamperls, and a large floating Wailord.

 He was having fun.  “Pah,” he chortled, “May and the others say it’s too dangerous for a kid like me without a Pokémon coming out onto the ocean is too dangerous.  But I don’t see any danger – it’s just like back home!”  Max had no clue how long he was out there, but he was having the time of his life, so much so he closed his eyes and floated in a wave of contentedness.

 His eyes shot open when he heard a loud explosion, he quickly spun out of his daze and was surprised to be facing a cliff face instead of water.  He had somehow drifted from the open water and had been pushed towards the land.  No Pokémon could be seen, Max felt a bit scared.

 Unbeknownst to him, two Trainers were battling it out on the cliff top.  One of their Pokémon struck the ground with an attack, sending debris cascading down the side of the cliff and into the water.  Max had to swim quickly to avoid getting hit the rocks.  “Hey!” he shouted pointlessly.  “Watch what you’re doing, there are Pokémon and mermaids down here you know!”

 As he kept up with his tirade, Max failed to notice two glowing red eyes staring out at him…

 “…I mean really, you humans ought to know your place and…a-and…” Max froze when he noticed what was staring at him.  A Sharpedo, a renowned, infamous Pokémon among all Pokémon and mermaid kind, known to be so aggressive, human researchers took to calling their kind as the ‘Brutal Pokémon’, or just simply ‘bully Pokémon’. Max tensed under its eyes.  Normally his intelligence would tell him to stand totally still and wait for the Pokémon to scram, but with the sediment blocking the Brutal Pokémon’s view, to it, Max looked like a huge score of food…

 Max yelped and tried to swim away, but Sharpedo chased after him.  “Ah! Get away, get away!” Max yelled. He tried swimming as quick as he could through the rocks to loose Sharpedo, but unlike Brianna, Sharpedo was an incredibly fast resident of the sea.

 Max felt his eyes stinging, he was scared, his eyes wide as he tried to get away.  He ducked under rock structures and swam through kelp, but Sharpedo kept up the chase. Frightened, Max found himself losing stamina, and to his horror, had ran out of places to hide, he was stuck between an ridge of the coast, and the Pokémon.

 Sharpedo smirked, it was time to eat.  “Shar!” it yelled, and charged forward, Max shut his eyes, feeling his life flash before him.

 “Squirtle, use Hydro Pump, now!” yelled a familiar voice. Max looked up having heard the melodious voice.  Suddenly Sharpedo was stuck by some huge jets of water, rotating in circles.  He looked frantically around, and saw her.  Red tail kicking to keep her afloat, her brown hair wavering in the ocean’s current.  It was May.

 “Good job, Squitle, nice attack,” she complimented to her partner. She turned angrily towards the stunned Sharpedo.  “You leave my brother alone,” she said in a dangerously low voice.

 “Sis!” Max barely cried out, his voice caught in his throat.

 Sharpedo meanwhile recovered from the attack and directed its attention to the Tiny Turtle.  It gave a battle cry and charged with Crunch.  May’s eyes failed to waver in fear at the sight of the incoming attack.  “Brace yourself, now!”  Squirtle tucked into its shell and braced for impact.

 Sharpedo bit down on Squirtle’s shell, its jaw feeling sore at how hard it was.  It angrily chucked the shell away, Squirtle emerged, smirking.

 “Now use Tackle!”  Squirtle charged at Sharpedo and made contact.  The Brutal Pokémon wasn’t finished yet and tried to use Slash.  May quickly had Squirtle dodge it, and had the Tiny Turtle use Ice Beam, weakening Sharpedo further.

 “Shar!  Sharpedo!” Sharpedo yelled in annoyance, charging forward with an Aqua Jet.

 “Here it comes, Squirtle!” May called, she turned to Max and gave a confident grin, and winked at him, Max was unsure what to say, he had never seen May battle with such focus before.  Sharpedo was coming in close, but was slowed down due to being chilled.  “Use Skull Bash!”

 Squirtle tucked in its head, raising its defenses up and Sharpedo collided into its shell, sending it flying.  Squirtle emerged from the attack glowing white and charged full on at Sharpedo, striking it head on.  Sharpedo whimpered in pain and cried its name out pathetically as it swam away.

 “Yes!  Great job Squirtle,” May cheered, quickly hugging her partner.  She just was quickly however let it go and swam immediately over to Max.  

 “You have some nerve,” she scolded.  “You go behind mine, Mother and Father’s backs and decide to go off on your own thinking no one would see you?!  You’re a terrible little kid, Max, a real jerk for everything you’ve said to me.  You’re lucky Brianna saw what you were doing and came to get me to save your sorry tailfin.”

Max quivered from May’s harsh tone, his shoulders shaking and the tears were coming out – May saw this and her angry expression turned soft.

 “Are you all right?” she asked with a gentle tone.

 “I…I-I’m…s-s-so sorry,” Max said shakily between his sobs. “I’m sorry, I was so jealous, it’s my fault.  You were right I am just a kid, I t-thought I could handle myself b-but I c-c-couldn’t. I…” he couldn’t go any further, and broke down into tears.  “S-s-scary, th-that wa-was so scary,” he sobbed.  His fright was obvious to May as she saw her usually strong willed brother hug himself in fright.

“Max…” she soothed.  “I…”

 “No!” Max yelled, letting himself go to yell at her, eyes closed. “My fault, I’m stupid, I…I…” his emotions were too overwhelming and he just floated there with tears flowing down his face, stinging them.  May watched helplessly, Squirtle cooed awkwardly.  May sighed, she knew only one way to remedy this situation.

 Max kept on sniffling piteously, when suddenly he felt something soft and silky touch his chin.  He stopped, and along with the sounds of the current he heard a soft humming noise.  It was the old lullaby their Mom use to hum to him at night. 

He opened his eyes and looked up, and saw that the soft thing touching his chin was May’s tailfin, rubbing him gently as she floated in front, her back facing the sea floor, eying Max over her stomach as she continued to softly hum, her lips parting gently to let the melody out.  Max stared, speechless.

May stopped once Max made eye contact with her, and gently moved her tail away from him and floated forward.  “Been a while since I’ve had to comfort you like that, hasn’t it?” she asked, as she brought a hand gently to her brother’s shoulder.

“I…I’m sorry,” Max muttered.  “For everything, thanks for…s-saving me.”

 “You’re welcome, and don’t worry about it,” May soothed. “I’m sorry as well.”  Max stared, unsure, May giggled at her brother’s density. “I’m sorry about my part in this whole stupid argument.  I shouldn’t have said any of the mean things that I said to you, I didn’t mean any of it. You’re my little brother, I’m supposed to keep you safe and be a good sister and love you as a family member.” Max stared, awed and humbled by his sister’s words.  May held one of her hands out, “Come on, let’s go home.”

 As they swam along back for home, Max noted how scarred she was, cuts all over her arms and waist, whereas he didn’t have as much on him. She was probably going to tell their parents about everything that happened – he was going to be in big, big, trouble for sure.

 Caroline set her book down and swam over in shock when she saw the injuries her two kids had sustained, especially on May’s body.

 “Where have you two been?!” she shrieked as they came in. “And why do you both look as if a Rock Slide fell on to you?!  Oh goodness Kyogre knows, no time for explanations.  May,” she instructed, “on the couch, now.”  May did so.  As she laid down to rest, their Mother came over and began to examine her. “What happened?”

 Max froze and felt as if a Freeze-Dry had just been used on him. He was sure May would spill everything.

 “Oh you know me Mom, always running into things, often not paying attention and getting injured – and today I ended up taking Max into it with me, it was quite the rough up,” May said, keeping a straight face the whole time.  Caroline stared and looked at May’s tail.  Max meanwhile turned around and stared at May, who subtly winked at him when their Mother wasn’t looking and mouthed ‘Leave this to me’.

 “Well then,” Caroline huffed after figuring her daughter was telling the truth, “you young lady will not be out and about for a while if I can help it.  I’ll need the medical kit to patch your tail up – Max dear, go and wash up – I’ll tend to you later and don’t agitate your scratches or it’ll get worse.”

 “Okay Mom,” Max said, still feeling awed.  He left the area, stunned by his sister’s lie – May meanwhile just smiled as she watched her little brother go, they didn’t always get along.  But just this once, she was willing to let things rest between them.  It was the least she could do as a big sister.

 OoOoO

 Author’s Note: A little something I decided to conjure up as a gift for Mer-May month.  I actually kinda based this whole 4,335 word fic on an existing idea I had for the Maple twins because I thought it’d be cool to explore May and Max in a family dynamic.  Shout outs to @trainerashandred35 for the commissioned artwork.

#pokemon #AU #mermaid #mermay...? #may #haruka #max #pokeani #fanfic

[tunafishtime]

Hanging by a Thread

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Alcoholism, lots-a cursing, homicidal inclinations, major character death(?), PTSD, really bad decisions

Ship: Mercykill

Summary: When Jack returns from his mission bearing news of Ana’s death, Gabriel pins the blame on him, fanning a spark of dissent into a roaring flame.

(This will eventually be put on AO3 as well... had no idea it took so damn long to get an account. Anywho, enjoy my trash ship.)

“Dr. Ziegler, please report with medical team to hangar seven to receive drop ship. Dr. Ziegler, please report with medical team to hangar seven to receive drop ship.”

The urgent tone of the intercom ripped Angela’s thoughts away from the medical file she had been reviewing. Three days ago a strike team had left on a mission to Egypt to investigate Talon activity in the area. Whenever a mission involved Talon, Angela’s stomach churned, knowing that going up against the ruthless terrorist group meant that some of those agents would never return home. The thought of being helpless to those that had fallen caused her heart to sink, but, regardless, she stood from her desk. Now was the time to help those who had returned home.

“Mongelli, Haft, Lopez, grab the emergency response kit and come with me, quickly now,” she ordered, her voice firm with urgency. Angela strode across the room as three medical personnel scurried to gather the necessary equipment needed to stabilize and treat whatever wound the returning agents had sustained, until they got them back to the clinic, anyway. After snatching a handheld device from the charger, she glanced back at her team to make sure they were ready. Like true practiced professionals, everything was in perfect order. Feeling more than a humble swell of pride at her team, Dr. Angela Ziegler set out across Overwatch’s Swiss Headquarters.

Looking to her device as she walked briskly through the compound, her fingers tapped on the translucent blue glass in quick sequence, instantly summoning the medical files of each agent assigned to the mission. Any and all information she needed to treat any of them was at her fingertips. She began to skim over each of them, taking in any possibly relevant information. Of course, Strike Commander Jack Morrison was first on the list. If physical paper were still used, his medical history would take up an entire filing cabinet on its own. So, she did not waste much time going over it. As an enhanced super soldier, she doubted any of his wounds would be severe enough to require her in-depth attention.  Next was Ana Amari, Jack’s second in command with a substantially shorter medical history. Despite being in her fifties, the older woman was remarkably good at staying out of harm’s way. With a swipe of her finger, Angela moved to the next agent. She was not too worried about the imperceptible sniper either.

“Angela,” A smooth and familiar voice greeted her as she reviewed the file of Jonathan Bayless. She could not help the small smile that tugged at the corner of her lips when his heavy steps fell alongside hers.

“Good afternoon, Gabriel,” she responded with warmth, turning to gaze up at the man beside her. He did not return the gaze. With his ever present beanie pulled low over his forehead, he kept his heavy brown eyes, nearly hidden by his thick furrowed brows, focused forward. His stride was stiff and forceful. He looked like a man who was marching fearlessly into the waiting jaws of an angry Hydra. Angela’s smile faded to a soft frown. “Not looking forward to Jack’s return, I take it?”

“When am I ever?” He growled in response. Angela sighed, knowing that once he and the commander had been the best of friends. Ana had shown her pictures; Jack and Gabriel arm-in-arm with faces flushed from alcohol, laughing at some long forgotten joke. “With him here I can barely do my damn job, the way he peers over my shoulder, questioning every decision I make,” Gabriel continued, “As if he could make better choices, heh!”

“I know… but the UN is breathing down his neck too. Especially since… everything was leaked,” Angela said gently, glancing at the insignia embroidered on the sleeve of his uniform. Blackwatch, the covert-ops division of Overwatch that Gabriel was commander of. She remembered when the classified group and their actions had been unveiled to the public little over a year ago. The resulting anger sparked hundreds of protests against Overwatch. Even Angela felt sick thinking of what was in those records. It had lead to many heated arguments between the two of them.

“The UN can go fuck themselves for all I care,” He spat, waving one of his hands to the side dismissively. “They created us to keep the peace. You can't do that without making difficult decisions, decisions I’ve made. Jack and the UN would have us sit around here doing nothing while innocent people die.”

“Gabe-” Angela gently placed a hand on his arm, pressing on him and acting as an anchor, as she so often did when his temper began to flare. She could feel the tension in his muscles, but after a moment, he relaxed, letting out a controlled sigh.

“I know, Angie. But I’m sick of watching Jack lick the UN’s boots. I know those idiots have been crying for my dismissal for months now. It’s only a matter of time before their lapdog gives in.” Gabriel grumbled, voice lowered, but no less hateful. Angela gave his bicep another gentle squeeze.

“No, Jack would never dismiss you. Despite… recent events, you are still his friend and one of the founding members of Overwatch! Besides… you know Ana would never let him fire you,” She reassured him, smiling as she reminded him of the motherly second-in-command.

Gabriel caught a touch of her smile, lips tugging upward just enough to soften his dour expression. “Heh. Good point.” For just a moment, his fingers brushed over hers where they rested on his arm. Her hand reflexively twitched toward the contact, dying to lace their fingers together, but a stifled snicker from one of her medical team behind her snapped her mind back to reality and her hand away from his.

With a grumble, Gabriel’s head twisted around to study the three. “Something funny, Haft?” He growled, brows knitted together in a look that just dared the boy to say something clever. The Blackwatch commander was at least twice the size of the physician and looked more then able to pick the boy up with one hand and throw him down the hall like a javelin. Haft paled and turtled his head between his shoulders under Gabriel's gaze. “No sir…”

“Gabriel, leave him be,” Angela quickly interjected before his deadly glare could completely destroy her medical team, leaving nothing but crisp remains in their place. “We have work to do.” They had arrived at the hanger just as the large air ship was docking.

Machines hissed and whirred to life, holding out metal arms to embrace the ship before locking it into place with a loud clang. Mechanics rushed forward to assess any damage, shouting to each other using jargon that might as well have been in another language. However, Angela did not need to be an engineer to notice the massive stains of black that shadowed the back and underside of the ship, textured by the hundreds of dents riddling the same area. A pit of dread began to grow in her stomach, suddenly afraid to see the ship’s door fold open.

Yet, open they did, with Commander Morrison as the first to step onto the hanger floor. His overwatch coat hung limply on his broad shoulders, pierced and torn with fresh bullet holes. A tear on the upper sleeve caught her attention immediately, as the bright ocean blue fabric around the rip was stained with burgundy. With her team behind her, she rushed forward and grabbed his arm, beginning to remove his coat so she could better assess the damage. However, his other arm reached around to wave her away insistently.

“I’m fine, Angela. There are others that need more immediate attention.” Jack said, his hard voice like gravel being ground through a machine that was one loose bolt away from collapse. He merely waved in the direction of the agents exiting behind him, his blue eyes fixated on the floor in front of him. Angela stared up at him, face set.

“And that is why I brought a capable medical team.” Stealing a glance, she watched her team spring into action, examining each injury and prioritizing the worst. One man left the ship on a stretcher, his suit pant leg soaked in red. A civilian? He was obscured from her view as one of her team rushed to his side. “If they need me-” she looked back at him “- they'll call me.”

“What the hell happened out there, Jack?” Gabriel’s voice snapped behind her as he approached the commander. Several other Overwatch officials flanked him, waiting to hear the report from their commander. Angela felt Jack’s arm tense as she pulled the limb out of his sleeve.

“Verdammt! You didn't even try and patch this up, did you?” She muttered under her breath, examining where the bullet had grazed his bicep and took a hearty chunk of his skin and muscle out with it. Shaking her head in disapproval, she began cleaning off the dried blood and dirt that had caked around his wound. Jack ignored her.

“It was worse than we thought. They were after scientists-” He nodded his head back to the rather shell shocked group of civilians. “- working on a confidential project. When we went in to pull them out- Ah shit!” Jack exclaimed, jerking his arm back from the stinging saline solution Angela poured over the wound. Her grip tightened around his wrist, keeping him steady.

“Eh… The place was crawling with Talon when we came back out. There was a sniper… no, two. I-” Jack sucked in a breath as Angela filled the wound with a clear gel-like substance. He ran his hand through his blond hair, starting at the far wall. “Let’s do this later… I'll give you a proper debriefing in a few hours.”

As Angela wrapped the dressing around his arm, she looked up at Jack with concern. He didn't meet her gaze, nor anyone else's. The confidence of a leader he always tried to wear around others was just gone, as if something had sapped away all of his energy. The others noticed too, exchanging confused glances. What could upset their intrepid commander so much?

Gabriel was the first to notice.

“Where's Ana?”

The hard lump of dread jumped forcefully to Angela’s throat at Gabriel's question. She hadn't seen her exit the ship, but that didn't mean anything. She could have just missed her. Angela desperately scanned the grouped agents and civilians, hoping, praying to see that mischievous but motherly smile. The search did nothing to quell her growing fear. Her eyes turned back to Jack, longing for some explanation, but his head was bowed and eyes avoiding everyone's piercing gaze.

“Where is Ana, Jack?” Gabriel asked again, the pitch of his voice dangerously low in attempt to hide the slight quiver in his words. Jack covered his eyes with his hand, like a child trying to hide from their wrongs.

“I… she,” Jack paused to take a deep breath as Angela’s shaking hands pulled away from his bandaged arm. “She fell behind.”

Jack’s words were arrows that pierced all of them, shattering each heart they landed in. Angela’s hands covered her mouth to hide her gape, tears filling her eyes. She heard some breath “No” as if their denial would make his words untrue. Others slowly turned their heads down in mourning, accepting the words and the sorrows.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she turned to look at Gabriel. His head was down turned, his arms tense, and mouth a gape. In an instant, his face hardened, a mask of accusation to hide behind. His narrowed eyes shot up to stare Jack down, even if the commander would not return his gaze.

“What happened?” His voice rumbled, a quake in the region of an unstable volcano. Jack still did not look up.

“Two of ours were shot down by snipers. Ana was searching for them, but they spotter her first. She relocated and spotted one of the snipers. She boomed the building and created enough of a distraction so that we had a clear path to the landing zone. I ordered her to pull out then… but she… she didn't listen. She never arrived at the rendezvous.” Jack’s voice had become a whisper by the end. Angela's eyes closed as she held back more tears.

“So… you're telling me that when she failed to report in, Jack,” Gabriel's words were laced with venom, spitting out the commander’s name as if it were a curse. “You just left her?” Jack looked up then, meeting Gabriel's accusing eyes with a hard glare.

“I had civilians in my charge and men in need of urgent medical care. The place was crawling with Talon! What would you expect me to do?” Jack shot back in defense, keeping his voice low. Gabriel did not bother.

“I expected you to get your golden ass off that transport and find her!” He roared. Every head in the hanger turned to stare, watching with the same morbid curiosity as bystanders at a crime scene. Jack’s face flushed red as he set his lips in a hard line.

“And endanger every other life under my supervision? Force another EVAC pilot to land in an area under heavy fire? Compromise this entire organization to search for someone who is most likely dead?”

“What the hell is wrong with you? You do not leave team members behind! No one gets left behind!”

“She was my friend too, Gabriel. I didn't want to, but I had to think of everyone!”

“She has pulled your sorry ass out of death’s arms countless times and this is how you repay that? By leaving her out there to die?”

“This isn't like it was during the crisis. There aren't just six of us anymore, there are hundreds! I am not going to prioritize the life of one over the lives of twenty!”

“But you'll prioritize your own over hers? Commander Jack Morrison everybody!” Gabriel threw his hands in the air, addressing the alarmed crowd. “He'll ask you to die for him, but won't risk a hair on his golden head for you!”

“Reyes! You are out of line!” Jack snapped with authority. Gabriel growled and began to pace restlessly. Two steps, then turn, two steps, turn; a spring being wound tighter and tighter. “I will not have you-”

“This is exactly why you never should have been made commander! You're all about teamwork until your own ass is compromised! It's Liao all over again!”

Jack’s voice lowered, breathing heavily. “That was an entirely different situation and you know it. We agreed not to mention-” Gabriel cut him off again, stopping mid-step to stare Jack down once more.

“I'm starting to sense a pattern here, Jack! Liao, Reinheart forced into retirement by you, and now Ana: abandoned and left for dead! Two to go!”

“Just what the hell are you implying, Reyes?”

“You tell me, Morrison.” Gabriel growled.

A moment of silence fell over the two as they stared each other down. It was toxic and thick with tension. No one dared to even breath, lest the sound snap the tightly wound spring. As much as Angela’s feet wanted to carry her Gabriel and calm him, she did not dare. The crossfire between the two was indiscriminate and deadly. Jack’s voice finally tore through the silence.

“I can and will suspend you if you don't get back in line, Reyes. Do not make me.” Jack growled. Angela did not doubt the threat for a second.

Gabriel’s response was a wordless shout of frustration as he threw his arms into the air. “I'm fucking done!” The tension and electricity clung to him as he turned and stormed out of the hanger. Mechanics and agents leapt out of his path, watching him leave with a questioning fear.

Jack let out a long sigh, relaxing his frame as he rubbed his forehead. Murmurs began to spread through the hanger, the fear that kept them quiet fading with Gabriel's departure. “As I said…” Jack breathed, exhaustion clear in his voice. “I will give you a full debriefing in an hour.” He left the officials and Angela standing there, briskly stepping out of the hanger with his torn coat billowing behind him.

Angela chewed her lip with concern. How could this have happened? She looked back at the rest of the agents that had returned from the mission. Only one of her team still remained, the other two having rushed the most unstable patients to the medical wing. Mongelli went to each agent, treating cuts and determining if they needed to report to medical, all with a calm doctor’s smile despite the alarming outburst she had just witnessed. Angela used to be able to do that with ease, but with each passing day, she found it harder and harder to pretend everything was not falling apart.

With a hurried stride, Angela moved beside the doctor, laying a hand on her shoulder. “If you need me, page me.” She said, looking down at Mongelli. She flashed Angela a knowing gaze before nodding gently. Her hand slid off her shoulder as Angela turned back to the direction Jack and Gabriel had exited, all but jogging into the hall.

God he needed a drink. The desire consumed his mind, growing louder and louder with each heavy step. It screamed into his ear, pounded on the walls of his head and begged, no, demanded to be fulfilled. Jack’s words only amplified the intense need, bouncing back and forth, fueling his anger. “The place was crawling with Talon!” and “I didn't want to, but I had to think of everyone” and every other word Jack spat out of his damned mouth, cut in occasionally with images. Vivid, imaginative images that could only be conjured by one who had seen every conceivable horror of the battle field. Images of Ana alone, shot down by a sniper and bleeding out over the filthy floor. Too weak to crawl out of the place she had stationed herself, waiting for help that would never come as the light faded from her eyes.

BANG! Gabriel slammed the door to the blackwatch commons open as he stormed through. The couches and tables were deserted, save for one. The disgraced, and presumed dead, Shimada boy lazed back on the sofa, watching the television with about as much fervor as he put into anything. Genji barely turned his head to acknowledge the commander, seemingly immune to the threatening aura surrounding Gabriel.

“McCree!” Gabriel roared, half expecting the kid’s ridiculous cowboy hat to meekly rise up from one of the sofas, “MCCREE! Where are you, you soggy pile of horse shit?”

“He is in the shooting range,” Genji’s heavily accented voice answered in the absence of a response from McCree as he raised a mechanical hand to change the station. Gabriel growled and snapped his head to the side, starring in the direction of the boy’s living quarters.

“I’ll find it myself then,” he muttered and stormed across the commons into the offshooting hall. He found the door to McCree’s room mercifully unlocked and, with no qualms about privacy, Gabriel pushed his way in. Every inch of the room was covered in junk, not unlike when the tides recede and leave piles of reeking sea trash in its absence. He made a mental note to flay the kid after all this shit was past. He was not living on the damned streets anymore.

With little more thought to the mess, Gabriel dove in, digging through the garbage with a narrow determination. A drawer was opened, majority of its contents flung to the floor, the drawer shoved closed when he failed to find his target, and another yanked open. Rinse and repeat, his temper growing with each failed search. He knew McCree had some in here. The kid was always testing the boundaries, sneaking it in at every opportunity, in spite of Gabriel’s fury when he eventually found the hidden stash. Now, however, he was more than grateful for the kid’s obstinance.

As he rummaged beneath the dresser, his fingers brushed across something cold and smooth. Gabriel grinned and wrapped his hand around the glass, pulling it into the light. A nearly full bottle of whiskey gleamed up at him. Thank whatever sadistic god was out there for that headstrong, lame ass cowboy. He uncorked the top as he stood, bringing the cool bottle to his mouth.

The golden liquid barely touched his lips before he stopped. Was this really a hole he wanted to fall back into? He knew what would happen if he drank the sickeningly familiar smelling elixir. Since he had dug that dark hole in his youth, he had fallen back into it twice, and both times, Ana had helped him get out. This time though… this time she would not be there to pull him up. She was gone. Jack had left her in Egypt surrounded by Talon with no way out. His imagination flared to life, flooding his mind with her screams, visions of pain, her last shuddering breath. Gabriel tilted the bottle up, letting the whiskey pour past his lips.

The alcohol burned his throat, the familiar sting already working to chase away his haunting thoughts. He winced as he swallowed another mouthful, sending another wave of liquid fire through him. The aftertaste lingered on his tastebuds like a puff of cat exhaust. Squinting suspiciously, he examined the bottle to make sure it was, in fact, whiskey and not fermented goat piss. The label loudly insisted on the former, boldly stating the liquid within was aged in the highest quality casks. Gabriel snorted, but brought the bottle back to his lips anyway. Quality was not of the utmost importance.

Hosting little desire to have McCree find his commander standing red handed in his wreck of a room and not-so-slowly getting drunk off his contraband whiskey, Gabriel marched out of the room. He strode past Genji, ignoring the cyborg’s presence as the cyborg ignored his, and out of the commons. In the more work-oriented areas a few Blackwatch agents milled about, but none gave him more than a respectful nod and a murmured “Commander”. They all knew to keep their distance from Gabriel when he passed surrounded by dark, thundering clouds of fury that only appeared after a fight with Jack. However, none of them had heard the news yet. None of them knew how bad it was.

Gabriel wrenched open the door to his office and disappeared within, the door slamming shut behind him. The small, familiar room was bereft of any other life and the door was one no one, not even Jack, would dare open without his say. Gabriel allowed himself to relax, slouching back against the door and taking another swig of the disgusting whiskey. He stared into the bottle, watching the liquid slosh back and forth. It swirled around like the still vivid images in his mind’s eye. The alcohol was not working fast enough. He could feel the warmth growing in his belly and a flush rising to his cheeks, but wave after wave of grief and loathing continued to assault his mind.

Clenching his fist, he stood up from the door and began to pace, using every ounce of his willpower to beat down his thoughts, at least until the alcohol could dull them. Images of Ana, her eyes cold and lifeless, covered in blood, but with skin as pale as her hair. No. A twisted memory from the Omnic Crisis of a slaughter in Germany, the walls dripping with red and chunks of flesh flung about with the only identifiable piece being a scrap of blue cloth. Stop. Jack staring at him coldly as he defended his decision to leave Ana behind to die. Shut up. An overwhelming desire to drive his fist into Jack’s perfect farm-boy face, breaking his nose with the same hand he once used to caress his cheek. Don’t. Gabriel wanted to drag him off his high-horse and beat him into the ground. Stop it. He could smash Jack’s head against the wall, staining it with his blood, hissing into his ear if Jack thought anyone would go out of their way to save him. No… He would watch him sink weakly to his knees and Gabriel would press the end of his shotgun into that boy scout’s cheek, smiling as he pulled the trigger, just like he wanted to. Kill them.

“Damnit!” Gabriel’s fist hit the wall hard enough to crack the reinforced drywall. His knuckles throbbed from the impact, the pain in perfect synchronization with his pounding heart. Wispy black smoke rose off his skin, rippling in the air until he clenched his fist again. The myst reluctantly settled back onto his hand.  Grinding his teeth, he stared at the cracked wall for a long while before taking another deep swig of whiskey. He let out a healed breath as he felt his mind begin to slow, those loud sharp thoughts muddled and dulled by the fog finally beginning to build.

“Gabriel…” it took him a moment to realize the voice that called his name was real. Sluggishly, he turned his head to look as the muffled click of the door closing reached his ears. Angela stood there, looking up at him, eyes full of… sadness? Regret? Pity? Probably all of the above along with a healthy dose of disappointment. He tore his eyes away from her, feeling redness rise to his cheeks that could only partly be blamed on the alcohol.

“I’m fine Angie… just need… a moment” he breathed, acutely aware of how difficult it was to enunciate each word.

“No, you are not okay” she insisted, her tone and words gentle. The tap of her footsteps were just as soft as she moved closer. “It’s alright to be…” her words fell into nothing as she stopped. He tensed as he heard her sigh, waiting for the accusation he could just feel coming. It never did. Instead, her hand rested gently on his arm that hung at his side, weighed down by the nearly empty whiskey bottle. Her other arm wrapped around his middle in an embrace, leaning her head against his back.

“It’s alright to not be okay,” her words were soft, cracked with sadness, “She was your best friend… she was a mother to all of us. You don’t have to… pretend to be alright,” a choked laugh left her lips as she wrapped her arms tighter around him, “I know I’m not.”

Gabriel rose an arm to cover his eyes, taking a deep shuddering breath to attempt to steady himself. “This shouldn’t’ve… it should never’ve happened,” he croaked, feeling the warmth in his stomach condense into a heavy pit. “Fucking… there was no reason…”

“I know, Gabe, I know…” Angela shushed his stammering with her gentle voice. “But there’s… there’s nothing we can do, nothing anyone can do… these things happen and there’s no reason for it.”

“Jack’s the damn reason.” He spat, turning in her embrace to gaze down at Angela. Her watery eyes met his as she shook her head.

“Jack did what he could in the situation he was in,” she insisted cautiously.

“He didn’t, Angie, and you know it. He could’ve gone back, could’ve at least tried to find her. The bastard probably didn’t even wait more than half a minute at the rendezvous.”

“There were injured civilians in his charge. One of whom had lost a leg… I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of all the horrible things that could, would, go wrong if an amputation isn’t properly cared for.” She paused to let out a sigh. “He had to make a choice… please don’t blame him for that.”

Gabriel stiffened in her embrace, her soft words suddenly feeling like an attack. “You’re taking his side.” He spat. He moved to put a foot of space between them, but her arms tightened around him.

“No, I am not,” she huffed insistently, “I’m not saying he made the right call, but he did what he thought was right at the time.”

“Then his priorities need to be sorted better. Your team always comes first. You’re not going to save shit if half the team is down! If I were there, if you were there, she would still…” His words trailed off into nothing. “You know it’s true, Angie.”

A sigh left her lips as she leaned her head against his chest. His own arms wrapped slowly around her narrow shoulders, his free hand twisting to brush through her soft golden hair while the other held his empty bottle of indulgence as far away as possible. The liquor sloshed back and forth as he swung the bottle in slow circles, his eyes staring passed it while his fingers threaded through her ponytail. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he imagined how pissed she would be if he yanked her hair down and shoved her against the wall. Perhaps her anger would subside if he stole her lips away in a deep kiss, his hands tracing along her waist as this clever fingers of hers clutched at his chest…

“I know…” He barely even registered Angela’s whispered voice outside of his daydream. “But… we weren’t there… there isn’t anything we can do.” Reality hit him again, blowing away his fogged, but far more pleasant, visions. His expression hardened as he stared at his fist tightened around the neck of the bottle. He suddenly felt her lift her head off his chest and found his eyes pulled to gaze into hers. Soft hands cupped his cheeks as she looked up at him sadly. Despite the anger that still swarmed his mind, he felt his face relax as he leaned into her hand.

“Angie…” he heard himself whisper. Any words that were meant to follow were lost in the disorganized slurry his thoughts were quickly decaying into. He felt one of her hands move away from his cheek, sliding down his arm and wrapping gently around his hand that still clutched the bottle of whiskey. Her fingers threaded through his in an attempt to loosen his vice-like grip. He did not. A sigh escaped her lips as her other hand ran caressed his cheek and neck.

“Don’t do this to yourself, meine Liebe,” his eyes drifted closed as she spoke softly, “I know it hurts, but this… this will only make it worse.” The tips of her fingers traced around his knuckles with an agonizing gentleness. Slowly, hesitantly, his hold on the bottle loosened and her fingers replaced his seamlessly. She took the bottle from his hand, placing it on the desk beside them before turning back to him with a gentle smile. He felt his head fall forward to lightly rest his forehead on hers as she took his now empty and in hers. Inhaling deeply, he let his mind drift through her scent. The sweet tones of violet and sweet pea mixed with the bitter hint of coffee did more to calm his mind then any drink ever could.

“No one would say anything if we were to take the rest of the day off…” she suggested, running a hand over his chest. “We could go home, watch terrible old movies and then we could cook a nice dinner-“ she stopped as Gabriel’s chest shook with soft chuckles “or, well, I’ll stay out of the way while you cook a nice dinner. Hmm? What do you say?”

Gabriel’s arms wrapped tighter around Angela as he buried his face in her hair. His lips broke into a grin when she began to giggle as the bottom of his goatee tickled her ear. She pinched his side playfully and squirmed as he dragged his scratchy beard across her soft cheek and down her chin. Her giggle faded to a hum of content when he leaned into her neck, peppering her with gentle kisses.

“I say…” he whispered between kisses, “I say we go home,” he placed a long kiss just below her jaw, “forget the terrible movies,” kisses traced back up to her ear, his voice low, “and we find-“

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The noise drew a groan from both of them, forcing Gabriel to pull away and watch with a blank stare as Angela dug the small pager out of her pocket and examined it. The disappointed expression on her face as her eyes darted across the screen was all he needed to pull his arms away from her.

“Oh… Gabe, I’m so sorry. One of the patients is having complications, I have to go…” her hand reached out to grasp his again, squeezing his fingers together. He turned his head away to stare at the wall, drawing concern and hurt to her eyes. Then, he glanced back at her, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Guess you’ll have to make up for it tonight.”

She grinned at his words, standing on tiptoe to plant a light peck to his cheek. “I guess I will,” she hummed before leaning away and taking a step back. She jumped as Gabriel lunged forward to grab her neck and pull her into a proper kiss. He smiled as she melted into him, their lips moving together slowly and passionately. After what seemed like forever, but somehow not long enough, Angela pulled away, placing her hand on his cheek with a tender gaze.

“It will be alright…” she whispered against his lips, “I promise.” Placing one last lingering peck on his lips, she stepped away from his embrace. His hand reflexively reached for hers again, but she slipped away from his reach, sliding out the door with only one last look thrown over her shoulder. The door closed and silence smothered his office.

For just a moment, he almost believed her words: it will be alright. That would be nice to believe, to have that optimism, but he had been playing this game too long. He had seen too many people he cared about cut down by stupidity, bureaucracy, assholes in suits who have never even seen a battlefield, yet somehow think they know the best course of action. Now Ana was gone too.

Gabriel reached over to trace the rim of the bottle Angela had placed on his desk, tilting it on it’s corner as he traced the circle. Who would be the next victim of Jack’s stupidity or the UN’s chopping block? Him? Torbjorn? Angela? The bottle slipped away from his finger that held it into place, hitting the desk with a loud clunk. He would never let that happen. He would rip out his heart before he would lose her. Not that his heart would help her much if she had been in Ana’s situation.

The bottle wobbled unsteadily across the desk, what little remained of the liquid inside sloshing back and forth. He had no power to protect her, just as he had been helpless to save Ana. They were far out of his reach, held in Jack’s clumsy fingers along with Overwatch and, quite possibly, the world. How much longer before they all slipped right through?

With one last slow, shaky roll, the liquor bottle tumbled over the desk and smashed onto the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces that skidded across the tiles. Gabriel stared down at the broken glass, his expression set in a hard line. He was done watching the UN pull Jack’s strings like he was a fucking marionette at a children’s theater. They and the public thought they knew exactly what should be done, but they did not have a damn clue. However, Ana did. He did. He knew what needed to be done, and he was tired of not being heard.

Boots crunching against the broken glass, Gabriel moved to sit behind his desk. With a strange determination in his expression, he flipped on the electrical interface that hovered over his desk. His fingers moved quickly to summon a paging window.

“Moria, this is Commander Reyes. Report to my office. I wish to discuss... expediting your research.” The window clicked closed the moment his voice had been transmitted and he leaned back in his seat with a sigh. Angela would hate him for this, he knew, but he would rather she hate him then have her dead due to his inaction. Like Ana.

Overwatch, and everyone in it, was hanging by a thread over a black pit and he would be damned if he just sat and waited for the thread to snap.

#overwatch #mercykill #fanfiction #gaberiel reyes #angela ziegler #jack morrison #hot damn i actually wrote something #only took me three months #god it feels nice to have actually finished something lemme tell you #havent finished anything in years #not exaggerating