legionworld | (no subject)

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Who| 76, Reaper
What| a nice chat
Where| That part of the Hab deck that is the flaming wreckage of Overwatch's Swiss HQ because SOME OF US are just extra
When| Sometime after the whole Windowmaker kerfuffle
Warnings/Notes| mean old men who are not nice to each other

Jack has to take care of a few things before he can go after Reaper--mainly, making sure that Tracer gets out of her fight unscathed, stowing Widow's Kiss somewhere safe, and acting like he's none the wiser about the whole thing. Once that's done, he's free to comb the habitat deck in search of his nemesis, something he hasn't actually done before

It's not difficult to tell which one is Reaper's. He'd recognize the pieces of this particular building anywhere--Jack had pulled himself out of it, in a former life.

"I know you're here."

Because, really, who else would make this biome? Only one person could possibly be this petty.

He stalks out into the open clearing of rubble (stepping over the chalk art), pulse rifle in hand and at the ready in case Reaper thinks it's a good idea to try and sneak up on him. It's most certainly not safe, to expose himself in Reaper's territory like this, but Jack isn't in the mood for games, and he makes that abundantly clear right off the bat.

"We need to talk."

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It's no secret that Reaper values his brooding time. Helps pass the time. Reminds him not to get too attached to this vacation from his objectives on Earth. His Earth? Whatever. Aside from involving himself in a few major missions here and there, it's not like he's jumping at the chance to help people and better his image here. Nah, he'd rather spend it doing this.

That is, not waiting for 76 of all people, but there he is anyway. He can hear him approaching, and 76 is clearly not trying to sneak his way in if the sound of his footsteps is any indication. Then again, 76 was rarely subtle. At least the guy brought his weapon. It would've been a whole lot more insulting if he didn't. He's actually surprised it took 76 this long to wander into his biome.

"Right. What's it about this time?" The sound of his voice echoes from behind a wall of shadow, blocked off by a crumbling wall. A trickle of smoke comes into view, stopping a good ways from where 76 stands. It feels like a stand-off, his own gun clenched tight in his claws.

"Redundancy will be met with lead in your chest."

Non-fatally. Somehow.

"You know what it's about."

Considering the kerfuffle on the network, he finds it very hard to imagine that Reaper isn't aware of why he's here.

76 knows he needs to get to the point, but he'd feel a little remiss if he didn't at least address his choice of habitat. This can't be where he's really staying, and he makes a mental note to investigate further, once they have this discussion. He's not afraid of being shot, and will be quick to call Reaper's bluff in that particular department.

There is one thing he needs to address before he can get down to real business.

"You probably think this is funny."

He says, gesturing to the chalk outline on the ground.

Reaper lets out a quiet snort, shoulders shrugging at the effort. Yeah, he was following the train wreck of a network post involving Widowmaker, but honestly? He was stalling a bit to avoid talking about something that he and the rest of the team didn't get to discuss in depth. All he managed was a brief talk with Widowmaker before she had to meet with Kid Q.

Fortunately, 76 addresses the chalk outline on the ground between them and he can't help but sound a little smug.

"You don't like it? I can always add my corpse outline over here if it'll make you feel better."

By the end of it, his voice is lowered to a growl.

"I knew you were petty, but this is unnecessary."

Which, of course, makes it incredibly necessary in Reaper's mind--that much he's sure of. It occurs to Jack that with Widowmaker on Legion World now, he might have just walked into a trap. His only solace is that if they intended for him to get sniped, he'd be dead by now.

So it's more likely that he's alone. Alone, with Reaper and the chalk outline of his own dead body.

"Where's Widowmaker?"

Because he'll refuse to call her Amélie.

Absolutely necessary. Hell, he even has a logical reasoning for it in his own mind, but he doubts Jack is at all interested in that (nor can he be assed to explain it himself). So instead, he just lets out a chuckle, short but distinctly so.

"Don't know."

It's partially the truth. He doesn't know where she is this exact moment.

"Knew where she was heading, but who can say where she is right now?"

Reaper doesn't call her Amélie either, but that's probably just out of habit rather than some sort of complicated belief of Amélie being dead while a near-corpse of a woman now parades around in her stead.

The presence of more Talon--and the knowledge that Reyes is collaborating with them--just makes him angry all over again. After everything they took from him (Amélie included), he's in absolutely no mood to entertain them as part of the Legion. He doesn't need to tell Reaper that, of course, but this whole conversation is about the principle of the thing.

"How much longer do you think you can keep this up?"

The whole pretending to play nice with the Legion thing. He can't imagine Widowmaker is very interested in it.

Gabriel had never been a very animated person, usually expressing himself through flat stares, furrowing of eyebrows, and the most subtle of eyerolls. That being the case, currently, Reaper only seems to be staring at him in eerie silence.

His shoulder shifts, a half shrug.

"As long as it takes. There's no half-assing it."

Widowmaker will hate it, no doubt about it, but he'll make it painfully clear that they'll have no other choice. She'll be able to avoid severely antagonizing the Legionnaires, at the very least. He knows she'll do it if presented in such a manner.

"What's it to you, Jack?"

Of course there's no half-assing whatever it is Reaper is trying to accomplish, but Jack likes to hope that having Widowmaker here is just going to make things more difficult for him long-term. She seems much less concerned with downplaying her status as Reaper is.

And then there's the fact that Jack is burned up inside by the fact that Reaper will run with Talon and work with her at all, knowing what they did. He knew Gérard. He knew Amélie, and surely he knows by now that Widowmaker was responsible for Ana's disappearance. Why would he ally himself that way unless he had something to do with it in the first place?

"I need to know what you're playing at."

Of course, he doesn't expect an answer.

Reaper knows all of this is just eating Jack up from the inside. He was there, they all were, when tragedy struck. That didn't stop him from tracking down and using assets as they're meant to be, as cruel as that might seem. The complications of merely being associated with Widowmaker at all is a whole different can of worms that he'd been wanting to avoid, but there's the bridge. Time to cross it...soon. Ana being left behind, presumed dead, he can still remember that— the slow boiling of his blood after the shock had dissipated, leaving them both aching with that missing piece in their hearts.

It obviously struck Jack harder than it had Gabriel, that much was certain. He still remembers how much they'd fought. They were both so completely, utterly miserable with it, the events snowballing so quickly and suddenly until it finally crashed.

"You're doing that thing again, Jack. Askin' the same things over and over, hoping for different results."

He scoffs, arms folded. There's a part of him that wants to indulge 76, just to make things interesting, to watch his paranoia grow. Not like they were doing or planning anything illegal. Yet.

"The Legionnaires suddenly became so deserving of your concern? Or are you just worried about that Oxton kid?"

The worst part is knowing that Reyes is likely more than aware of how all this is affecting him. How he's probably getting off on the knowledge that Jack is burning up inside about it, and there's nothing he can do. It's infuriating.

"Maybe one day you'll get bored."

Or tired, like he is. They can't do this forever. One of them is either going to die or give in, and Jack finds himself preferring the latter, but only as long as it's Reyes who does it.

"This isn't about Lena." Even if it is, sort of. "Don't change the subject."

Giving in is for chumps. Their resilience didn't just come from the SEP, after all. Something they were born with, stubborn until they draw their last (and not fake-last) breath. Maybe he hates Jack with every fiber of his being, but a rolling laughter erupts from behind the mask, a sound only a special few can draw from him. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing really depends on them. Sucking in a sharp breath, he cuts it short.

"I'll never get bored."

He unfurls his arms, ghosting smoothly around the perimeter of the age-old crime scene, inching closer towards 76 with seemingly casual intent. It doesn't seem threatening, but perhaps that's what makes it all the more suspicious.

"Fine, let's stick to the subject: The only thing I'm getting at is a survival plan, Jack," he growls, stopping a few yards away from where 76 stands. "Widowmaker just happens to be part of it. Again, can't see why you'd care unless you think it'll get any of your precious ex-agents caught up in it. Maybe it's not all about her, but I'll bet that's a great motivator."

"I doubt that."

Even though he knows they're both pathologically stubborn. It twists the knife again, to have such familiarity so close but to know they're on opposite sides now. It shouldn't have to be this way, but he's not sure what there is to be done about it, not when things ended the way they did.

He doesn't flinch when Reyes becomes incorporeal and ghosts his way to him. He won't give him the satisfaction.

"I don't care what the Legion says about it. I'll kill her if she touches my people."

Hopefully Reaper won't call that bluff, but it's not like Jack isn't unprepared to do it.

"You really think she's as stupid as you?"

Though he can't really say much for himself. He'd be the first to kill anyone out of the Talon Gang, if something or someone ever pushed him that far. There's only so many people that could get him to disrupt his focus that badly. Kinda like the guy standing in front of him.

"I think you'll be severely underwhelmed with the plan I have laid out for her."

He says its his plan when confronted, mostly to take the fall should it ever come to that. The suspicion cast on Sombra, and those who've already figured her out (Ugh, Wash) only make things trickier. 76 is free to assume whatever he wants, whether he thinks the plan will be extremely dangerous or will take Reaper's word for it (which he doubts).

"I'm not sure what she is."

Some kind of Talon experiment, though whether or not she subjected herself to it willingly is something Jack doesn't know--and isn't sure he wants to know, given the sheer hatred he harbors for the organization because of everything they (and Widowmaker, specifically) took from him.

For a moment, it looks like he's going to get angrier, but then there's the minute sag of his shoulders, a creeping exhaustion.

"Doesn't have to be like this, Reyes."

There's that slump in Jack's shoulders and this is normally where Reaper would pounce, use that opening to rip into him or say something scathing and hopeless to deter him. He'll probably do it anyway, but honestly? It does get exhausting. They had their differences and fought occasionally back in their hey-days, but there was usually some reprieve. Something else to distract them.

Encounter after encounter, just dealing with this? Even Reaper has to admit that it gets draining. He doesn't let it show, though, arms folding defensively across his chest again. Perks of being mostly dead, he guesses. He found that closing himself off from Jack was the easiest way to deal with him.

"This is it," he says without missing a beat. Harking back to the good ol' interrogator days, he continues to slowly coil around 76. "Think I'm just going to drop everything I've done and go back to being pals? Nah. There's too much that needs to be resolved and accounted for, so there's none of this—"

(Convincing? Reconciliation?) He gestures with a claw, pointing back and forth at each other.

"—whatever this is. Don't hold your breath, boy scout. Endure the ride like everyone else."

Ghosting over the details, but he doubts 76 will even need a detailed explanation about what he means. Considering how busy they'd both been, information regarding each other's activities back on Earth probably wasn't too hard to dig up. They had their own resources, after all.

Even after the words leave his mouth, he can't help but think maybe even this is giving Jack too much hope. Too much of a reason to keep digging and pestering and meddling.

“I’m not here to be pals.”

They’re far beyond that point, and Jack holds no illusions in that department. But Reyes is also right—there’s too much to be resolved and accounted for, so maybe that’s what Jack is frustrated about. That they could figure out what’s been done to them and do it together.

But Reyes’ motives are inscrutable, and Jack isn’t even sure how much of his friend is left. He shouldn’t want this, not after what they did to each other.

“But I don’t want to do this—”Whatever this is “—Forever. I don’t think you do either.”

Even Reaper could agree to that much. Part of him still does marvel at 76's sheer willpower to even bother with him like this here on Legion World, after all they'd been through. There's a long, drawn out silence, the crackling ambiance of fire and ash filling in the void. It's almost ridiculous how over-dramatic it is; Just how he likes it.

"Yeah, nobody said anything about doing this shit forever."

He really should stop talking. Not that telling 76 this much would help him, he thinks, but still...

"Ideally, it'll all come to a head soon enough. Then we'll disappear, like we should have." Then gestures halfheartedly around him, suddenly sounding as somber as Jack did, some semblance of his old self showing through his voice.

Edited 2017-04-10 22:24 (UTC)

Jack is stubborn--it's about all he has left nowadays, after the rest of him burned up when Overwatch fell. Having Gabriel in such close proximity is more trouble than its worth, sure, but given how difficult it is to hunt Reaper down back home, well. Now that they're in forced company, Jack isn't going to let him go so easily. Even if he never gets his answers, he isn't going to let Reyes get away from him again.

And Gabriel has to be aware of that. How can he not, when they know each other so well? Jack finds himself hoping that it's eating him up inside the way it is for him, despite Reyes' blasé attitude.

"If you think you're gonna get away from me, you've got another thing coming."

In the end, there's no good way to say come home, not when there shouldn't be anything left between them to salvage.

"Not until I get my answers."

This is one of the main reasons he didn't like sticking around Jack after becoming Reaper. It made it that much easier to fall into step with their usual patterns, even if he didn't mean for it to happen. He definitely knew, the moment they 'teamed up' on Murderworld, or whatever that was, that this was going to be a reoccurring theme. It didn't bother him as much at first, he staved off the gnawing feeling inside with thoughts of simply killing him off the first chance he got. But when that option started seeming less likely and nigh impossible to pull off, he could feel it.

It's the start of something grating, not quite eating him up (yet), but persistent all the same. That nagging feeling that Jack is trying to cover up how hard he's trying to get him to confess— not just his plans, but everything else along with it.

"You'll get your answers one of these days, so how about you just get away from me?"

It's almost like a joke, the slight lilt of amusement mixed with his obvious disdain for this situation giving him away. But with that little jab, he turns to go should Jack have no other objections.

He can feel it—the way he gets under Reyes’ skin, the testiness to his voice. Reaper wants him to go, and hell, Jack wants to go too, but now that he knows he’s a nuisance, he’s not going to give in so easily. It’s petty, sure, but he thinks he’s allowed this much, after what Reyes did to him.

What they did to each other, maybe. He can’t sort it out because there are still too many missing pieces of the puzzle.

“That’d be giving you what you want.”

Jack has to keep digging, no matter how much it hurts them both in the end. He wonders if he doesn’t need to try a different approach, though he’s not sure he has anything to offer that Reyes doesn’t already know. For now, it seems like he’s pushed all he could.

“This isn’t over.”

He imagines it won’t be until one of them is dead.

A tired, hollow laugh follows, like he knew all of this already. He knows what Jack is going to say, that he'd never give him the satisfaction of being right, or satisfied— at least not until Jack is too, an equal exchange at the very least. He'll keep digging, and Reaper will have to keep dodging him or shrugging him off to avoid getting into a much more serious fight than just words being flung around.

It'll feel good to have a proper fight again.

"I know," he says, looking over his shoulder. "Looking forward to next time. Nice talk, Jack."

Said in a tone that's clearly not looking forward to next time. With that, ghosts off the premise, making sure not to head towards Sombra's biome anytime soon tonight.

Edited 2017-04-17 05:13 (UTC)

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