Fear the Reaper

"Gabriel."

"Jack."

"No-one calls me that anymore."

"And no-one calls me 'Gabriel' these days either. Though to be fair, a few people are already on to you aren't they?"

Jack Morrison, known to the world as Soldier: 76, winced. Gabriel was right about one thing – Jack Morrison was back from the dead, and a few people had realized it, no matter how much the UN might claim otherwise. A few, but with those few including journalist Olympia Shaw, those "few" would rapidly grow. Gabriel Reyes, on the other hand, was Reaper. The world knew of Reaper. And he hadn't seen anyone make the claim that Gabriel Reyes had not only survived that battle six years ago, but had returned from the grave as well.

"I like the mask," Gabriel said. "But mine is better."

Another snark. Another piece of truth. Jack hadn't hidden his entire body, or face. Gabriel was covered head to toe, with his black, billowing robes, and his skull-white mask. The hocky mask, Jack called it. He wouldn't give the bastard the gratification of naming it after the Angel of Death.

"So," Gabriel said. He paced across the road. One of many roads in Indiana, practically abandoned since its cornfields were harvested almost entirely by machines now – the kind that wouldn't turn on their creators and try to exterminate the human race. "What now? Both back from the dead, both known to the world in some form or another…"

"I heard about the museum incident," Jack sneered. "How you couldn't even kill two kids."

"If I wanted them dead, they'd already have met the true angel of death," Gabriel said, his voice a monotone. He chuckled. "Lena. Winston. Do they know you're alive?"

Jack didn't say anything. He had no doubt that those two were on the levels. They were trying to reform Overwatch for Christ's sake.

"Well, Jack?"

But he wanted nothing to do with them. Nothing to do with Overwatch. He'd put his ghosts to rest, and then he'd truly become a ghost himself.

"They don't, do they?" Gabriel sneered. "Oh, Jack. You always thought yourself the lone hero. The Captain America, here to save the world. The only one who could get the job done."

"I was."

"No!" Gabriel shouted, and for a moment, Jack could see behind the mask. The old Gabriel Reyes. The Gabriel Reyes who'd been willing to destroy everything, if only to see Jack Morrison fall. To let Overwatch burn, if that meant victory. To sacrifice anything for his own vendetta. The Gabriel Reyes who should have stayed dead. Because compared to that, what was this "Reaper?"

A man in a hocky mask.

"Here's what's going to happen," Gabriel said. "I'm going to kill you. Not slowly, because I know how good you are, even if you're old enough to be my grandfather. I'm going to kill you, and show your corpse to the world. I'm going to let the world know that I did it. I'm then going to get rid of anything with the name 'Overwatch' on it. That ape, that British tart, even that little Egyptian girl who thinks she's one of them."

"You always were good at venting your spleen."

Gabriel cocked his shotguns. "And you were always good at pretending the situation wasn't as screwed as it really was."

Screwed. Jack knew the feeling. He'd felt it during the Omnic Crisis, he'd felt it when he'd last fought Gabriel, and he was feeling it now. Gabriel had always been good. Despite his snark, the attack on the museum had taught him he was still good. He'd survived Lena and Winston, and that was no small feat. Maybe it was indeed time to die.

Well, as he activated his personal shield, as he strafed to the side and opened fire as Gabriel returned the favour, Jack could only resolve that if he was facing Death, he could at least meet him with a smile.

A/N

So, yeah, it's my guess that Reaper is indeed Gabriel Reyes, and that he's indeed one of the four characters glimpsed at in the upcoming graphic novel. Anyway, played around with the idea a bit.

Update (15/04/17): I've converted "John" to "Jack." At the time this was written (well before Overwatch was released), there was a promotion that I could swear called him "John," with the implication that "Jack" was more a nickname. That's since become clear to be not the case though.