The woman who currently referred to herself as Kerrigan turned the corner of the long, brick trimmed barracks building her residence was located in, and nearly ran directly into Gabriel Reyes. He didn't notice, or ever seem to see her, as he paced back and forth muttering to himself. Who was he talking to? Himself, or someone over his little earpiece radio? Ah, no, he was talking to himself. That was a new development.

"Gabe?" She took a few steps towards him, heels clicking audibly on the paved sidewalk.

She approached the little smoker's nook where he was pacing with caution. Four flower beds of red brick formed a hollow interior square. Smokers would improvise the outside of the beds into benches, she supposed. Kerrigan had rarely seen anyone who still picked up the habit, so the smoke pit behind the barracks was a nice, quiet spot usually. That was probably why Gabe was hiding out here.

"No, I don't care who you are!" He was holding his head in his hands. He still hadn't seen her, or rather, he couldn't see her. "NO! You're DEAD!" Gabriel was pacing, sweating, and agitated. He continued to walk back and forth, looking in several directions with unseeing eyes.

Clearly, the man Kerrigan was poisoning was beginning to slip. And he knew it. How long had he known, and hid the fact? "You aren't real! Go away!" He stopped and leaned his head against the side of the building, which was red brick to a certain height, just like the flower beds. Government installations were so boring in their uniformity.

Kerrigan watched as the man who had destroyed her family in the process of coming after her began to weep. His nails dug into the side of his face, and he sank down into a crouch. She almost felt a measure of remorse. Did Overwatch know she had little choice but to hide and eventually upload the files related to the biggest Omnic exploit to date? No. Did they show remorse after the disaster they'd caused in her home? Again, no. So why should she feel anything now?

So Kerrigan had grown up a little bit, and decided to get revenge on those who had robbed her of her future. A family, marriage, peace. That was all she had ever wanted. But it wasn't in the cards. She never officially joined with Talon, but she made use of their resources, just as they'd made use of her. And they had approached her with an offer, there was no compulsion. Simply hide the data until a certain day and time, and then upload it. Unfortunatley the night she was supposed to upload the file, Gabriel Reyes showed up with a cohort of soldiers.

She had agreed to help Talon, even if it was to get money to help her father out of debt. They never really forced her to do anything. The people who had threatened her father however…they wouldn't be bothering anyone, ever again. Truth be told, she never thought anyone would find out about the disc.

It was a shame they hadn't gotten to Reyes that very night, when they'd planted ordinance on the helicopters. She'd been told that they'd run out of time to sabotage both vehicles, and he'd lucked out and boarded the craft that wasn't loaded with explosives. They'd even pushed him out of the Hellicopter into shark infested, bloody waters. Somehow, like a cockroach, he'd managed to survive that too.

After an undercover group of Overwatch agents in Italy had nearly caught her, she'd been forced to change her face. But that made it easy to infiltrate the base as a civilian. She'd spent the last several months convincing Gabriel Reyes she was in charge of the managing the living quarters, while slowly poisoning him. It was easy enough. No one paid attention to people like Kerrigan. Well, the real Kerrigan, anyway. She was innocuous. She was also dead. Nobody had noticed when "Kerrigan" had become someone else entirely. It was the one thing Azaleea did regret.

Sleeping with him hadn't been part of the plan, of course. It certainly wasn't necessary to have a relationship with anyone, but she'd wanted to. He was entertaining. It was almost a shame. If his little team of UN worshipers hadn't come and murdered half her family…maybe things would be different. This was personal. So she would ruin him. From head to toe, mind and heart, Gabriel Reyes would suffer long for his sins. For the sin of living, too. Many people knew the price of surviving, these days.

Azaleea smiled to herself. The past wasn't worth thinking about. What mattered was revenge—a morally equitable outcome. And looking at the man who was tearing himself apart before her very eyes, that revenge was going quite well. She could never beat him in a contest of strength, he'd find a way to survive. So taking him down from within was satisfying. She'd simply started introducing trace amounts of mercury into his bath. It was easy, and crude. He'd never think of it; his ego was far to grandiose for those he deemed beneath himself…

The sound of him beating his head against the wall was as startling as it was sudden. The first time it was a hollow echo. The second time, a wet thump. The third time, he fell to his hands and knees. "Kerrigan" ran to his aid. He hadn't seen her before, but maybe he would see her now.

Blood poured down his face, where the skin had broken above his eyebrow in more than one place. It was a mess. Wounds on the face tended to bleed profusely.

"Gabe? Oh, goodness, Gabe! Are you okay? What happened? What's going on?" His eyes were tilting in and out of focus. He'd managed to give himself a concussion, the imbecile. It wasn't going to help. He'd still being losing his mind when he woke up. "Oh, we have to get you to the hospital. I'm taking your phone."

She pulled his phone off the hip holster he wore, and pretended to dial medical while she walked in the opposite direction.

*************************************************************************************
Lena Oxton saw everything.

She saw the woman smiling as Gabriel Reyes wept. She saw him bash his head against the wall. She saw every moment of it. As one of her favorite comic heroines once said, nobody ever looked up. It was true. Lena's observation of events wasn't exactly the material of clandestine spycraft.

She had called Medical, and Security. Why weren't they already here? With all the additional security, someone should be arriving any moment. Lena made a choice. She made sure her weapons were firmly in place on either hip, and jumped ten feet to land in the flower beds below. It hurt, but she bent her knees to absorb the shock. As much as she wanted to check on Gabriel Reyes, she knew someone would be there any moment. On the other hand, the woman who had been standing over him was getting away. Who was she, and where was she going?

Lena followed, this time, being careful not to be seen.

Angela Ziegler was working the afternoon shift. She didn't mind it. As the days rolled by, she found keeping herself busy with work kept her mind of certain things she didn't want to think about, and certain people she desperately did. Walking home at night had become considerably less fearful. Ever since the incident in the woods, she'd been learning self-defense. She still wasn't very good, but she had a little pistol that could incapacitate an assailant if necessary. Her aim had definitely improved since the first day. Jack hadn't been able to spare the time for her, so Lena had been helping. And she had an escort, usually someone Jack knew personally. She had regained a measure of peace of mind, that was for sure. It seemed like that was his goal, too. He was a good man. They seemed to have a lot in common. Except he was a lot stronger. Maybe one day she could be as tough as him. If only she could shake the feeling that he didn't want to see her.

A stretcher rolled by her in the hallway heading toward the CAT machine. She turned her head to spare a glance and felt her insides go cold. It was him. The man who had started her on the path to losing her peace of mind to begin with. Gabriel Reyes lie prone on the stretcher, his face a masked with blood. Angela swallowed. She wouldn't let what happened haunt her, or beat her down, or stop her from doing her job. She also wasn't going to be a victim again. What had happened to him? She headed down the hall in the opposite direction, and over to the nurse's station in the recovery wing where she was currently assigned. A familiar, matronly woman barely glanced up at her.

"Contact Gabriel Reyes' commander, please. You can tell them that for now his condition is stable, with an apparent head injury. I'll check on him, but tell security to send someone over to assist me. He's not a good patient."

The nurse nodded. "Do you need any help now?"

"Not right now. We'll operate as usual. When it comes time to do vitals, then yes. I'll let you know in a few minutes."

Clare picked up her handset, presumably to take care of the tasks Angela had asked of her, so Angela made her way back into the main hall and headed towards radiology. At a brisk walk, it took her about two minutes to make it to the administration desk. Angela wondered what had happened to the man. He was a formidable man, so it didn't seem possible that much could hurt him. Especially not on base. They hadn't been flying missions out of the annex that she was aware of for a couple of weeks. Gabriel Reyes was presumably still on medical leave anyway, or at least he was supposed to be. An orderly spared her a glance as she whisked through the waiting area. Her sneakers squeaked a few times on the ultra-shiny, buffed floor. She felt bad for leaving marks, making work for the poor person. But she had to know. Call it terminal curiosity.

She entered the private booth where the two on duty technicians stood examining the readout. They were…not what she expected. In addition to his present head injury there were markers of inflammation, and areas where blood flow looked improper. Could the man be suffering from a serious illness? Was that why he attacked her before? Was he hiding it for some reason? Angela went through a mental checklist of things that could cause inflammation, irritableness, delusion, and more in previously healthy adults. The thoughts were sobering. If Gabriel Reyes was not sick, was he being poisoned?
Angela left the room with a million more questions than answers, but ordered some additional labs on the way out. Who was this man, really? He was close with Jack, that much she knew. But he'd also been struggling with seeing people who were not there, aggression, and moodiness. Angela headed back towards to the nurse's station. There was a way to get an answer to her questions.

By the time she made it back to the recovery wing, a familiar man leaned against the counter. Warmth flooded through her. She wasn't expecting him. It'd been so long since they'd last seen each other. Replays of the hug they'd shared were all she had. Replays, replays, replays. Her sneakers squeaked when she entered the wing through the open double doors. He turned to see her, and straightened. He was fully dressed in what Angela had come to think of as his "soldier getup", minus the beret because he was indoors. His blond hair was ruffled, and his blue eyes hard with a touch of…something. Concern?

"Dr. Ziegler."

Ah, formal as always.

"Commander Morrison. What can I do for you?" When she returned his formality, he almost seemed to flinch. It was an infinitesimal movement, but it was there. But what could she do? She could only treat him professionally in the workplace. He was a high ranking man, after all. It would be to her detriment to behave otherwise. Plus, he started it.

"I'm here to check on my man."

"Ah." Angela gestured for him to move away from the Nurses' station and out of the hall. They stepped into a nearby unoccupied room, though Angela left the door cracked. Maintaining privacy was important for those who could not speak up for themselves. But she didn't want to seem as if she was being too secretive, either.

She relayed her thoughts and observations to Jack as soon as they entered the room. He listened politely. A passing nurse stuck her head in and informed her that the patient was on his way down from Radiology.

Angela, feeling a mix of things she couldn't put into words, decided it was best to part ways with the commander and get on about her business. Apparently, he felt the same way, as he reached for the door at the same time. Their hands bumped, but if that was all, the touch traveled through her entire body.

"Oh, excuse me. Sorry about that." She withdrew her hand, at the same time as he withdrew his.
"Well, I suppose we'll get out of here eventually." She smiled her embarrassed smile.

"Ang…" He whispered. She froze. He'd never called her that before. It took a moment for her blush to calm down, but when it did, she turned and faced him directly.

"How can I help you, Commander?" Her heart screamed it was wrong to be purposefully reticent, but her mind was against someone who couldn't be seen with her in public, or bother to call, or stop by, or…"

"I'm sorry."

Her little internal diatribe screeched to a halt.

"Sorry, sorry for what? You don't owe me anything, Commander, not a thing. On the other hand, I owe you my life. I know it had to be a lot on you. So, I guess I should be the one to apologize, if we're being fair." She peeked out the half-open doorway. Nobody was around that would notice their conversation. Besides them, only the nurses at the station going about their business a few feet away were anywhere nearby.

He sighed.

"No, no, that's really not the case at all."

He looked like he wanted to explain it. Explain his stoicism, his absence, his aloofness. Angela didn't have time for it. That's why she didn't get close to people in the first place. Besides it being beyond a bad idea to get emotionally attached to anyone in this world, she worked all the time. She got fulfillment from helping others. She didn't need the emotional rollercoaster that his interjection into her life represented.

The PA activated, summoning the resident doctor to the phlebology. That would likely be the blood test she had ordered before she'd left Radiology. Ah, the remote workstations were wonderfully convenient at times.

"I'm sorry, Commander Morrison, would you excuse me? I have to go get those results. It'll be about your friend. I'll have someone come talk to you when I've made my diagnosis."

"Ang, please wait."

She turned and exited, much like he had several weeks ago, without looking back.