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The air smelled vaguely of burnt rubber. That was the only warning sign the Los Muertos member had before a flurry of pulse rounds slammed into his chest. As he slumped to the ground, a tarp fluttered down to cover his glowing body.
A figure dropped down from above, the sound of his boots hitting the ground echoing around the area outside the warehouse. He stepped into the patch of light in front of the door, and winced as his visor took a moment to compensate for the brightness.
The few Los Muertos boys that had been patrolling were not nearly enough defense considering what was held inside. Soldier: 76 was suspicious. He scanned for more heat signatures inside the warehouse, but found none. Still on guard, he opened the door and stepped inside.
The inside of the warehouse was pitch black. For a moment Soldier couldn’t see until his visor recalibrated and switched to night-vision. Now with everything painted a dark red, he carefully made his way down the rows of shelves, looking for the parts he needed. He had no idea what Lose Muertos wanted with boxes upon boxes of expensive electronics components, but he had plenty of ideas for what he himself could use them for.
And again the lack of guards concerned him. This warehouse was full of millions of dollars of materials, yet the only defense was a couple of low-ranking gangsters. Soldier: 76 had run enough missions to know something was still wrong about this. But his visor saw no warm bodies. He had even calibrated it so that it would detect the cold-blooded sniper responsible for assassinating the omnic leader Mondatta. Soldier refused to be caught unprepared.
He found the box right where it was supposed to be. He took one last look around him and slid the box off the shelf.
He almost fell over from how unexpectedly light it was. It was empty. Which could only mean things were about to become very, very bad.
The creak of leather was his first warning. It was all Soldier: 76 needed, and he dived to the floor. A powerful gunshot rang out, and the cardboard box fell to the floor beside him, holes riddling it. A moment too late, and he would have taken that shotgun blast to the back of his head, at point-blank range. Which would have been unfortunate.
Losing no time, Soldier rolled, his gun drawn, and fired a volley of helix rockets at his foe. He also got his first look at his adversary. The black leather and skull mask made Reaper instantly recognizable. His lack of any body heat was still a surprise. Soldier had heard the stories about Reaper’s supernatural abilities, but had really paid them no mind. It had almost cost him.
The rockets passed through Reaper effortlessly, and exploded against the far wall, bits of concrete flying everywhere. Black mist wrapped around Reaper, his form returning. He leveled a single handheld shotgun at Soldier’s head.
“Too easy,” he rasped
Soldier: 76 grabbed another box off the shelf and threw it. It hit Reaper square in his now-solid chest, and the shotgun blasted harmlessly in a random direction. And then Soldier ran.
The shelves offered an extraordinary amount of cover, but Reaper was unconcerned. He had all the time in the world. He had all the guns in the world as well. He began firing. Box after empty box was blown apart by shotgun blasts.
Los Muertos had been guarding a warehouse full of empty boxes. This entire mission had been an elaborate trap.
And yet, Soldier: 76 thought, Reaper was the only component of the trap. Whoever Talon was, they had sent a couple disposable gangsters and a single assassin to bait one of the most dangerous vigilantes in recent memory. Not only that, they surely knew who he really was. Which meant they knew he was capable of much, much more than anything they could imagine. And this is the trap they set? Something was still wrong.
The shooting stopped, and Soldier took a moment to breathe. And then all the lights in the warehouse came on. He shuddered as white light almost blinded him, his visor unable to adjust. He tore it off his face, its infrared targeting useless against a foe who was basically dead. He knew the control panel for the lights was at one end of the warehouse, and so he ran in the opposite direction.
Black mist swirled around the exit, but Soldier kept running. He had seen how the rockets had simply passed through. If he was fast enough, he could simply sprint through where Reaper was trying to materialize, and be gone before anyone could catch him. He saw the assassin beginning to take form, and gave one last push. It was a strange feeling, running through someone, but the mist offered no resistance.
But Soldier had underestimated Reaper’s capabilities. A very solid arm wrapped around Soldier: 76’s neck. The leather of Reaper’s outfit creaked as he brought the cold barrel of a shotgun to Soldier’s temple.
And then Soldier: 76 caught the scent of pine. He grabbed the hand holding the shotgun, and pulled hard. Reaper’s body flew over Soldier’s back and landed with a solid thud against the concrete. Soldier looked closely at the shotgun he was left holding. He had seen its kind before.
“Now Jack, listen closely,” Gabe’s voice whispered in his ear, “this hold is surprisingly easy to get out of if you know how.” Gabriel had his arm lightly around Jack’s neck, an empty shotgun pressed gently against his temple.
“You didn’t tell me the safeword, babe.” Jack murmured.
Gabriel gently bit his ear in response.
“Ok, fine, teach me what you know, Mr. Reyes.” Jack said, laughing.
“You’re incorrigible. Fine, grab my hand.”
“Aw, babe.”
“Shut up, Jack. Now, you pull forward and throw my body across your back.”
“Like this?” Jack heaved and Gabriel went flying, landing with a thud against the grass.
He laughed. “Yeah,” he wheezed, “just like that.” Gabriel took a moment to catch his breath. “Landing on their back like that should stun most people, so you’ll have a moment to either take a shot or run like hell.”
“What do I look like to you, Gabey-baby, a coward?”
Gabriel smiled up at Jack. “Yeah, a really adorable coward, too. I wish more cowards were as good at this shit as you.”
Jack sat down beside him. “You better stop teaching me all you know, babe, I’m gonna end up a better soldier than you.”
Sighing in contentment, Gabriel scooted over so his head was laying in Jack’s lap. “Jack Morrison, you can be as good as you want, but I still outrank you. I’m not worried.”
Jack rubbed Gabriel’s chest through his shirt. “Pretty sure I outranked you last night, babe,” he said, smirking.
“Yeah, don’t remind me” Gabriel grumbled, “I had just stopped feeling sore and then you went and threw me on my ass.”
Jack just laughed. But then he looked down at Gabriel, and frowned.
Gabriel was tense, staring off to the side at nothing, his jaw set.
“What's up, Gabe?” Jack asked, concerned.
“You think I'm a good leader, right?” Gabriel whispered.
“Of course, babe, you don't need to doubt yourself.” Jack put his hands on Gabriel's shoulders, rubbing gently.
But Gabriel shrugged Jack's hands away and sat up, pulling his knees to his chest.
Unperturbed, Jack slid up behind him and wrapped his arms around Gabriel's torso.
“I'm just afraid,” Gabriel began, “that you'll leave me behind. You're a better leader than me, Jack, everyone looks at you in ways they've never looked at me. You're gonna do great things, things I can never live up to. And you'll just go on without me.”
Jack buried his head in the crook of Gabriel's neck. “Gabriel Reyes, I don't care how much I succeed, I will always be yours.”
Soldier: 76 let the shotgun fall from his hand, and it clattered against the concrete. “Aren't you were supposed to be dead?” he growled.
“Didn't take,” Reaper rasped.
With inhuman strength, Soldier picked Reaper off the floor and slammed him against the shelving. “So you're the one killing all my people, huh? Should've known.”
“They never should've been your people, Jack.” Reaper snarled.
“Don't call me that, Reyes,” Soldier said, before punching Reaper square in the face.
Reaper glared at Soldier: 76, his mask cracked. “Reyes is dead, Soldier, you killed him, remember?” Reaper snarled. He dematerialized out of Soldier's grip and reformed across the room, still staring.
“Yeah, well, there ain't a headstone labeled 'Jack Morrison' for nothing, Reaper. What was this, anyway, did Talon send you?”
Reaper hesitated. Showing a surprising amount of humanity, he got quiet, looking at the floor. “No,” he mumbled, “I just had to know if the rumors were true. I wanted to see for myself. If you were anyone else, I would have eliminated a valuable target.”
“And now that you know it's me?”
Reaper looked up. “I'm not stupid enough to try to dance with you again. Not without backup.”
“But you're stupid enough to lure me here and try to take me on. You think I'm afraid to kill you again?”
“Calm your bravado, Soldier. We're done here.”
“You think you can walk away after all the agents you killed?”
Reaper turned to leave. “I'm not killing them because of you. Talon thinks I enjoy it but it's just their orders. I don't actually care.”
That gave Soldier pause. “I had assumed since you failed to kill me you were just going around killing everyone but me.”
Reaper laughed. “Whatever happened between us died with Overwatch." He turned his back on Soldier and walked towards one of the warehouse windows, but stopped for a moment. "The story of Jack and Gabe is over," he said, refusing to look back at Soldier: 76. "We're just the epilogues.” And with that, Reaper disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Soldier 76 stared at the trails of black fog winding their way out of the warehouse. “I'm not so sure, Gabe," he whispered, picking his visor up from the floor and slipping it back on. "I'm not so sure.”