Holy shit!
I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last update! Work and the holidays had me super busy, but hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently again soon.
On the bright side, this chapter ended up being much longer than I thought, so it's kinda a lil extra treat.
Thank you all for sticking around~ Sarge UwU
III: Visitors
It was well past midnight when the autopsy had been completed. Angela had made sure to take meticulous notes on the state of the corpse. The strange nature of its decomposition was perplexing. Perhaps the soldiers had been right, maybe this was something other-worldly. Angela had since retired to her office to conduct some research. She knew she should probably try to sleep, but her curiosity wouldn't let her. She scrolled through medical databases, searching for something-anything-that could explain whatever had killed that Talon soldier. Many of the articles she found described necrosis, but had no further information on what could have caused the particular case in the soldier.
Angela groaned and rubbed her temples. She hated problems she couldn't solve. She leaned back in her office chair and closed her eyes. She took a few deep breaths and opened her eyes, pale blue light washing over her desk from the computer screen. Her eyes flicked to the empty coffee mug that sat on the edge of her desk. That's what she needed. Maybe some caffeine would help her think straight. She grabbed the mug off the desk and headed towards the edge of the room where a small coffee machine sat. Angela pulled the compartment that held the filter and dumped the soggy grounds and filter into the small waste bin at her feet. The smell of old coffee lingered in the air as she prepared a fresh coffee filter and began scooping whatever cheap brand of coffee she had into the machine. She poured some water into the machine and flipped the switch to turn on the burner. Angela began to pace as she waited for the coffee to brew.
Her mind was still racing over the implications of such a strange case. What could have possibly killed that soldier? What could cause such quick decay? There was something strangely familiar about the decay, she just couldn't place her finger on it. Angela turned on her heel and paced back across the office. Something was just not adding up. Angela hadn't faced a case this difficult since that insane "Dr." O'Deorian had reversed the effects of her healing technology. Dr. O'Deorian…That was it! This had to be that mad woman's work. Angela flew over to her desk, frantically searching her former colleagues name in the database. She scrolled through the results, skimming, searching, for any recent publications. Angela scowled as she saw the most recent publication was several years old.
"Verdammit," Angela groaned, slamming her fist against the keyboard. She snapped her attention to the coffee pot as a soft click signaled it was ready. She trudged over to the pot and filled her mug almost to the brim. In her Overwatch days, Angela had taken her coffee with enough cream to beg the question of if it should still qualify as a coffee. However, in the years following the fall, she had found that no amount of cream could dull the bitterness, so she didn't bother. Angela brought the piping hot liquid to her lips, ignoring the burning sensation as it traveled down her throat. While the sudden surge of caffeine had helped her drowsiness, she still found her nerves on edge. Angela sighed. She needed a cigarette.
She drained the rest of her scalding coffee before retrieving a half crumpled box of cigarettes from her desk drawer. She poked her head out of her office and glanced around, making sure the coast was clear before pulling her office door shut and locking the door. She walked over to her screen-less second story window and pushed it open. Her smoking habit was not something that she was particularly proud of. Angela had fallen into the habit when she was young. She knew how contradictory it was for a medical professional like herself to have such a nasty habit, so she kept it a secret, sneaking a cigarette when she could. Angela pulled her office chair to the window and took her seat. It was getting colder with each passing day. The frigid air made her shiver as she pulled a cigarette and her small lighter from the crumpled box. Angela placed the cigarette between her lips and cupped her hand around the end as she fiddled with the lighter. It took a few tries, but finally the lighter flicked to life, igniting the end of the cigarette. She dropped the lighter back inside the box and slipped the box into her coat pocket.
Angela took a long drag from her cigarette, enjoying the prickly sensation it left at the back of her throat. She exhaled through the window, watching the smoke dissipate in the air with her breath. She sighed heavily, resting her arm on the window sill. She would probably need to take a sample of the deceased soldier's decayed flesh to run an analysis on. Angela brought the cigarette back to her lips and began to take another long drag, lost in thought.
"Don't you know smoking is bad for your health?" A deep, gravelly voice startled her.
Angela began coughing violently as the sudden voice had caused her to choke on the smoke as she tried to exhale. She dropped the cigarette on the floor, which thankfully wasn't flammable material. Even in her coughing fit, her combat-trained reflexes kicked in as she whipped her Caduceus Blaster from the concealed spot on her hip. Through coughs and blurry vision, she pointed the weapon at the tall, black figure that stood mere feet away from her.
"Easy there Doc," the Reaper purred, holding up both his hands in a sign of truce, "No need to get so defensive."
"Gott verdammt, Gabriel," Angela said with one last cough. She scowled at the hooded, skull-clad figure in front of her. She sighed heavily and holdstered her blaster. She felt a small sense of satisfaction as he winced at the usage of his real name.
"I told you not to call me that," Reaper growled as he lowered his arms. Not that Angela was ever going to stop calling him by his actual name. She was stubborn like that. He wasn't entirely convinced that she didn't just call him that to watch him squirm.
"And I told you," she huffed in irritation, "To quit skulking around." She crossed her arms. "Now pray tell what the Reaper is doing in my office in the dead of night, again?"
.Any other doctor—no, any other person— would have been cowering at the sight of one of Talon's most feared assassins. Angela had been fearful of him five years ago when he had appeared in her Swiss apartment, presumably on orders to kill her. She had heard many warnings about him from her former Overwatch colleagues. The Reaper was a dangerous man, sent to eliminate ex- Overwatch agents and on that night so many years ago, she suspected she was next on his list. She had been on his list, but something had made him hesitate, shotgun pointed at her chest. Angela had gently pushed the weapon away, feeling in her gut that something was familiar about this supposed killer. The Reaper had let her disarm him, clearly having an internal debate. In his distraction, she had taken the opportunity to pistol whip the side of his mask, causing part of it to shatter and reveal the face of the man she once loved. It had been a somewhat emotional reunion that ended in a night of passion instead of murder. Angela had hardly seen Gabriel in the years that followed, only ever seeing him for short visits at a time before he drifted off into the night, taking her heart with him.
Angela scowled as she waited for the stubborn mountain of a man in front of her to answer her question. She hated that even now, years of ghosting later, she still felt a flutter at the sight of him. She hated that there was still some affection for the man that had abandoned her and let her believe he was dead. She hated that he played with her heart over and over again.
"I'm investigating something for Talon," Gabriel rumbled, crossing his arms himself.
"That didn't answer the question. I couldn't care less about your Talon agenda," Angela spat. She was still angry at him even though she desperately yearned to throw herself into his arms. "I don't see what your investigation could possibly gain from harassing me."
"Well," he growled, "Rumor has it a certain doctor killed one of my men." He stepped closer to Angela, taking some satisfaction from the way she bristled.
"I would never," Angela snapped, eyes now full of fury, "I am a doctor. I have an oath to uphold."
"Oh? Is that so?" Reaper barked out a harsh laugh, "'Do no harm', right?" He stalked toward her more, causing her to involuntarily take a few steps back. "The way I see it, Doc," he growled as he continued his approach, "You've always done more harm than good."
Angela had almost backed herself into the open window. She winced at his harsh words, gripping the sill of the gaping window behind her. Maybe he really had come to kill her after all, lulling her into a false sense of security. She should have known better than to think that she had meant anything to him. She glared at him, her icy blue eyes searching the battle-torn skull mask inches from her face.
"I mean, look at me," Reaper growled, "Much more harm than go-" His sentence was cut short by a harsh slap across his face that sent his skull mask flying.
"What the fuck, Angela?" He growled, clawed hand on his ashen cheek. He stared back at the doctor who's icy eyes were now ablaze with fury.
"You know damn well I never intended to harm you," Angela spat. Despite her stone-cold façade, her voice wavered.
Gabriel looked at the woman before him, her face twisted into a half furious-half sad expression. He wanted to point out that she had, in fact, just slapped him across the face, but he decided that doing so was a poor choice. Instead he sighed and retrieved his mask from the floor.
"Still as sensitive as ever," he grumbled, placing the mask back over his face.
"You're still as irritating," Angela responded with a huff, "Now, if you're done being a general nuisance, either tell me what this investigation is about or get out of my hospital."
"Fine," he grumbled, "I came to see what exactly killed that soldier. Something isn't adding up."
"Astute observation," Angela deadpanned to him as she smothered the still smoldering cigarette under her boot before picking it up and flicking it in the waste-bin.
"Drop the attitude," Reaper growled. Angela flipped him a rude hand gesture as she went about closing the window and replacing her desk chair to its proper position. This woman could be so irritating.
"I was going to go run some diagnostic tests on the soldiers skin tissue to try and figure out what actually killed him," Angela said, turning her attention back to her cloaked guest.
"What do you mean 'actually' killed him?" Gabriel cocked an eyebrow underneath the mask.
"Well," she replied, leaning against the edge of her desk, "On paper, the official cause of death is cardiac arrest. But I need to figure out what kind of toxin was in his system that caused that."
Reaper grunted in response. This could very well be related to the unusual silence from the Quantumix Project. He had a hunch that whatever had happened in Siberia was causing problems well outside the sphere of the project.
"Well," he said, "Let's go check out the body."
"Excuse me?" Angela let out a tiny laugh, "What makes you think I'll allow you to tag along?"
"My soldier, my problem," Gabriel deadpanned.
Angela's brow furrowed in further irritation. She knew he had a point, but she hated that she was, in part, helping Talon by allowing him to tag along. She studied the masked man in front of her. As much as she resented him, there was still a part of her that still cared about him—and he knew it. She sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Fine," she grumbled, "But I'm only allowing this because it may help people."
"Whatever you say, Doc," he responded. She could hear the smirk in voice.
"You're insufferable," she hissed as she stalked past him and through the door of her office.
Reaper chuckled quietly to himself as he followed her lead.
The walk to the morgue had passed in silence. Angela hadn't bothered to have the Reaper hide his identity, since she knew damn well that the facility was not equipped with any sort of security system; State-of-the-art medical equipment made up most of the budget. Angela's mind was distracted as they walked, wondering just what had made this case so important for Gabriel, The Reaper, to get involved. She'd suspected that whatever had caused this problem was related to Talon, the question was just how. She'd worry about the why later. She was acutely aware of the soft thuds coming from Gabriel's boots behind her. He hadn't said a word since they'd left her office and she couldn't help but wonder just what was going through his mind.
Gabriel followed closely behind Angela as they walked. He had an uneasy feeling that he couldn't put his finger on. There was something…off..about the atmosphere of the hospital. It was like the nanites inside his body were tingling, trying to warn him of something. It was getting worse the closer they were to the morgue, and he didn't like it. He tried to focus on Angela's bouncing ponytail and had become quite entranced with it when he bumped right into her.
"Scheisse," Angela yelped, "Watch where you're going, would you?" She shot him a glare over her shoulder.
"Sorry," Gabriel grumbled. The tingling sensation was getting worse.
Angela rolled her eyes as she slid a worn looking keycard through a reader. The door clicked open with a hiss as she pushed it inward. She gestured at Gabriel to enter.
"I remember being in a morgue," he mused as he entered, glancing around the dimly lit room.
"Not funny," Angela said with a scowl as she pushed past him, "Stay put. I don't want you meddling with anything."
"Me? Meddle?" Reaper scoffed, "Never." Angela shot him a glare that could have killed him. He grumbled and crossed his arms, leaning against the small row of freezers.
Angela walked to the furthest freezer door where the corpse of the soldier rested. She felt her stomach drop as she noticed the door was slightly ajar. She was positive that the door had been shut hours ago when she had concluded the autopsy. Angela yanked the door open to reveal…nothing. She gaped at the empty tray where the deceased soldier should have been. She shook her head. No. She must have just gotten confused and opened the wrong door. Right? She began frantically checking the other freezers, her skin going pale as each one turned up empty.
"Doc?" Reaper asked cautiously, "What's the problem?"
"Th-the body…" she stuttered out. Her eyes were wide and her face pale. "It's not there…"
"The hell you mean it isn't there?" Gabriel snorted, "It's a corpse. Corpses don't move on their own."
"You do," Angela hissed. Gabriel winced at her words. Is that how she saw him?
"I'm not a corpse," he growled, his clawed hands curling into fists, "I'm still alive…barely." Angela pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You're right," she sighed, "But that man was most definitely dead."
"Right," Gabriel grumbled, "So the body is missing. It's more likely that someone stole it than it reanimating."
"Who here would steal a Talon soldier's body?" Angela shot back.
She had begun pacing and fiddling with her sleeve- a nervous habit she had when she was extremely stressed out. Gabriel remembered how often he would return from missions to her having completely shredded the sleeves of her lab coat. He wanted to comfort her like he had in their Overwatch days, but that was then and this was now. She probably saw him as a stranger.
"Okay, you have a point," he sighed, "But what other explanation is th-"
Screeeaaaaaaaaa
Reaper was cut off by a shrill screech. He looked at Angela who was pale and wild-eyed.
"The fuck was that?" Reaper growled.
"I-I don't know," Angela stuttered out. She quickly pulled out her blaster, clicking the safety off. She was glancing around wildly.
"Get back to back with me," Gabriel ordered, "I'll watch your six." His years of military and command made the words flow out naturally. Angela nodded in agreement, whirling on her heel and pressing her back up against his. He didn't want to admit it, but he missed this-the two of them ready to fight anything.
Screeeeeaaaaaaaaa
Another screech pierced the morgue.
"Where the hell could it b-"
Angela's sentence was cut off as she was tackled to the floor by a raging, shadowy beast. She was able to fire off one shot-a miss-before her blaster skidded across the hard concrete floor of the morgue.
"Angela!" Gabriel shouted.
The beast on top of Angela was thrashing wildly as she struggled to keep its snapping maw from her face. Her eyes were wide with horror as she realized the ragged, shadow-like creature was the distorted and mangled corpse of the Talon Soldier. The man's face had become twisted, his mouth gaping from ear to ear. The eyes had become pitch black, little sparks of violet electricity emitting from where the pupils should have been. The man's torso had become more fluid like smoke, stretching in unnatural ways, fingers like claws. His body had become a black-purple hue, similar to the disturbing burn mark Angela had tried to treat earlier.
"Gabriel…help me!" Angela cried out, barely reaching her arm up to block her face as the creature swung.
Reaper produced one of his Hellfire shotguns aiming it at the beast as it tried to devour Angela. The creature seemed to sense the movement as a spindly-shadow limb shot from the creature. It collided with Gabriel, snagging him by the neck. He grunted in pain as he was slammed into the metal freezer door, the sound of a sickening crack as his head made contact. Gabriel's head was swimming. Despite the amount of nanites in his body that usually kept him healed, he was struggling to keep consciousness. The tendril gripped his neck tighter, making it harder to struggle.
"Gabriel!" Angela cried, watching him slam into the freezer.
She flicked her eyes back to the beast on top of her. She was struggling to keep the beast away from her neck where it was trying to rip out her throat. She knew she needed to do something and fast or it would be the end of her. She looked around wildly, hoping to find something-anything-that could help her. Scheiße. She was going to die here. Her arms were getting weak as she struggled under the weight of the beast. It lunged for her throat and in reflex she threw her arm in front of her face. The creature bit down on her arm, causing her to scream in pain.
The sound of Angela's scream snapped Gabriel back to consciousness. He had to help her. If he could just get this damned tentacle off of himself. It was going to take all of his strength to try and wraith himself from its grasp. Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut and focused on dematerializing himself into smoke. The grip on his neck got tighter, pulling his concentration away from the shift. Fuck. They were going to die here.
"I'm..s..orry," he choked out, hoping that Angela could hear him. His vision was rapidly getting darker, his consciousness threatening to fade at any moment…
BANG!
The pressure around Gabriel's neck suddenly went slack as he slid to the floor. He greedily gulped in air, coughing. He was vaguely aware that Angela had cried out to him again. He didn't have time to react before a bullet ripped through his shoulder. He turned to see a copper-looking omnic in the doorway, an assault rifle trained on him. Gabriel didn't have time to react before another two bullets ripped through his torso. He growled in pain, slumping forward and clutching his wounds. He could feel that his nanites were still functioning, just not nearly as fast. His old body was having trouble keeping up. The last thing he saw was an angel above him, shouting his name, before everything went black.
Angela's ears rang from the shot that had sent the beast flying off of her. She'd only had a moment to scramble to her feet, cradling her bloodied right arm against her torso. She whirled around to see Uridi standing in the doorway, a smoldering rifle in her arms. She felt relief wash over her for only a moment before Uridi fired three shots into Gabriel.
"Uridi!" She shrieked, rushing towards the omnic, "He's not the enemy!"
"Dr. Ziegler," Uridi responded cooly, "Have you hit your head? That is The Reaper. He is no friend." The bot still had her firearm aimed at him.
"Verdammt," Angela hissed, "Just trust me! He is not the enemy right now! That is!" She swung her uninjured arm towards the humanoid-beast that was starting to regain its bearings.
"But Doctor-" Uridi tried.
"Just listen to me!" Angela shouted. She didn't realize that there were tears in her eyes.
"Very well," the robot responded. She pointed the weapon at the creature as it charged at them. The omnic fired another round, piercing the creature in its torso. It screeched in pain and writhed back. Uridi fired several more shots, each one taking chunks of flesh off the thing as it hissed.
Angela took the opportunity to rush towards where Gabriel was slumped, crying out his name. He wasn't responsive, but he still had a pulse. There was an ear-splitting screech amongst the omnic's gunfire. Angela turned in time to see the creature fall limp against the floor, twitching.
"Stay down," Uridi hissed in her robotic voice.
The pair watched as what was left of the beast disintegrated into a thick mist, leaving only small chunks of black-purple flesh behind. Angela felt a shiver run up her spin. What the fuck was that thing? She turned her attention to Uridi who had proceeded to grab her discarded blaster from across the room.
"How did you know something was wrong?" Angela asked her companion as she tried to get one of Gabriel's arms around her shoulders. She gestured at Uridi to help lift him up.
"I was worried about you being here late and alone," Uridi responded, reluctantly coming to help, "I didn't find you in your office, so I deduced you would be here."
"Great deduction," Angela huffed as they lifted Gabriel up. He was lighter than he looked, but it was still a struggle with her arm in its current state.
"On my way here, I heard your blaster discharge," Uridi said. She shooed Angela away and hoisted the unconscious Reaper onto her back. Angela often forgot just how strong Uridi could be.
Angela glanced at the shredded skin on the ground. Well, she had come down for a sample…
"One second," Angela said, hurrying about the morgue. She snatched a small tissue sample bag from a compartment and grabbed some tweezers. Uridi watched quietly as the doctor snagged a couple chunks of the flesh from the floor before stuffing them into the bag.
"Okay," Angela chirped, following Uridi, "We need to get Gab-er..the Reaper," she corrected, "To my lab."
"Very well," Uridi replied, heading towards the door, Gabriel still unconsciously slumped over her back.
Angela followed behind her, glancing back to look at the carnage of the attack. She'd have some explaining to do later, but for now it could wait.