Chapter 6: Lonely Hearts Club
Seated on the sofa in the Talon base housing, Gabriel Reyes stared at the communal TV, wishing to be sent to work or to get sent home. It was more agonizing to be stuck here on the base waiting around than it was being sent home without work. At least if he got sent off base he could relax, take off his mask, and not worry about his aggravating teammates being able to bug him 24/7. Speaking of teammates, Sombra made her presence known behind Gabriel as she uncloaked behind the sofa.
"Hi Gabe." Sombra leaned over the back of the couch next to him, her arms crossed and supporting her head.
"I told you to stop that or I'm gonna put a bell on you. What do you want?" Gabriel rested his head on his hand, leaning his body against the arm of the couch.
"I can't say hi?" Sombra said sadly.
"You always want something, get on with it." Gabriel kept his eyes on the TV as they spoke. Sombra was quiet for a moment, the sound of a heavy pair of boots growing louder. Both of them waited, and there was the sound of the front door opening, then closing, and finally Sombra spoke.
"Sorry, did you ask around about him?" Sombra made her way around the couch and sat down cross-legged next to Gabriel.
"Yes, and I got a whole lot of crap. He tells a different story to everyone. Akande has known him the longest, said he found him in a bar, but he gave a cover story for him too so we're back at square one."
"Interesting. Anything else?" Sombra leaned forward eagerly.
"I'm not your minion to boss around, I'll tell you everything when I get my payment. Did you even bother doing any work yourself?" Gabriel gave her a sideways glance before turning his attention back to the TV.
"Yes. I just couldn't find anything." Gabriel slowly turned his head toward the young hacker, who sheepishly avoided eye contact.
"You made me get in the middle of your business just for you to have nothing?" The older mercenary growled.
"I looked compadre, but I couldn't find anything. Ok, look, before he comes back I can show you, but I have to do it fast." Sombra said, putting her legs down and sitting closer to the older man. She pulled up a holographic screen displaying Talon agent personnel files, medical files, and more he couldn't see, which of course she had access to.
"I already went through his files. You and I were talking about how we don't want to be on the field with a guy we don't know, let me show you how much we don't know. Here," She pointed at a line in his personnel file, "says he joined at 19.
That's already strange."
"We usually take them out of the military that young, yeah."
"I went back into the archives to see if they still had the original copy of his old file when he joined." She swiped at the screen before continuing. "The systems are a hot mess. I didn't find his original file, but I was able to restore a bunch of old versions from the current one, and I need you to look at this." A much older picture of Val with short dark hair stared back at them from the corner of his file.
"What am I looking at?" Gabriel said, not finding anything particularly unusual at a glance. Sombra pointed at the corner of the file, marking what page they were on.
"This is the oldest file I could find. Without reading the whole thing, look at how many pages it is. It wouldn't matter as much now that he's been here so long, but then, for agents with the same experience, their files are almost twice as long." Gabriel pondered her point for a moment. They did go through and purge old notes from their files from time to time, but his file should have been longer, at least this old one.
"So, he didn't have a lot of professional experience because he was young. You know ratón, we picked you up off the streets too."
"I was hacking grocery store self-checkouts when I was ten, I had an impressive resume. Look, this is why I had you helping, his personal history before joining at 19 is completely gone. Not redacted, just missing. You said Doomfist picked him up in a bar at 19? You can't just join as a regular civilian with no skills, when's the last time we did that?"
"Sombra. I know but I think we're at a dead end. Maybe you should just ask him, doesn't he like you?" Reaper skimmed over the files. She made a point, but he did have at least Doomfist and his file backing up his story at this point. Sombra hated liars, but she also hated owing people, so asking for help was not like her. And she was being horribly insistent on it.
"I went through his medical files too, he's been taking medication for PTSD and depression since before he was in Talon, which either he got it as a kid and still couldn't have just joined with no experience, or he's lying." Oh, lord.
"Sombra," Gabriel said, trying to get her to stop her rant for a second. Most of them have PTSD, but she should not be pissing him off if that's the case either way, the guy was twice her size.
"Not all of those can be the truth." Sombra swiped away her screens and placed her hands at her sides, seeming determined, not hearing a damn thing Gabriel said.
"Sombra." Gabriel groaned, while he rubbed his forehead, growing annoyed at her little conspiracy theory spinning itself in circles.
"He doesn't even know how to fight, you kicked his ass the other day."
"Sombra!" Gabriel interrupted her train of thought. "Did you ask him?" He watched and waited for her reaction, trying to see how deep this grave she had dug herself was.
"Yeah, he got mad at me because I kept bugging him about it. That's why I asked you to help me, I know he's hiding something from me." Sombra admitted a little shyly.
"Is this really about him hiding something, or are you just being a brat because he's mad at you." Gabriel squinted at her.
"I just explained it to you! I just need a few hours to do a scan on the globe's computer systems and I can find a birth certificate for him, watch." He found this whole conspiracy harder to buy than her trying to get dirt on him the way she did everyone else.
"You know what, one of these days you're gonna get yourself killed with your stupid mean girls drama. Don't rope me into it."
"Fine, if he ends up being an Overwatch spy or something, I'm not warning you." Sombra crossed her arms and pouted like a little kid. He found her youthful spirit a little endearing usually, but right now he was irritated by her persistence.
"I hope he does at this point, an interrogation would be more enjoyable than this." Gabriel shook his head, turning back to the TV. This girl was lucky she could keep a secret, he wouldn't tolerate her conspiracy antics like this otherwise.
There was about two minutes of peace as the two watched TV together, before the front door opened and Val's heavy boots walked him into the living room, stopping right in front of them.
"Bad news guys, I just talked to Doomfist, we have an assignment, us three and Widow," Val said, holding out several sheets of paper, one for each of them, an official Talon letterhead at the top.
"A mission?" Sombra asked, taking a sheet of paper.
"Worse; a team building exercise," Val said. Reaper took a letter and scanned over it quickly, registering that this is why he had been waiting around on base without work all day. Looking at the bottom of the page, he noticed it was signed "Roamathan Roublé, Head Of Human Resources" and he scoffed.
"Since when did we have an HR department?" Gabriel said, looking up at the walking encyclopedia standing in front of him.
"I don't know, I just work here, but Akande said we had to go." Val said. The hacker and the stoic mercenary looked at each other, then looked up at Val.
"I have plans." Sombra said, looking at her nails.
"Me too." Gabriel said, moving so he could see the TV behind Val.
"Yeah, I'm sure you guys and the TV are really busy. Let me rephrase this, we're going." Val said, as he moved to turn off the TV.
"Hey!" Gabriel and Sombra yelled as the TV shut off.
"Why do all of us have to go?" Gabriel asked.
"Because all of us were fighting, and Doomfist said I had to take pictures that included all of us, anyone who doesn't go has to deal with him, and he said what's worse is they had to deal with HR." Val stood in front of the sofa with his hands on his hips, bending down and staring at Sombra.
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up," Sombra said, waving him away with her hand so she could go to her room.
"And don't try sneaking off, I'm giving you an hour to get ready." Val shouted after her. He turned to Gabriel, who sat firmly on the couch looking up at him, unphased. Val sighed, before he started speaking again.
"There's a karaoke bar that has unlimited drinks for $30 on Wednesdays. We go, get drunk, take pictures, and leave." Val said, still trying to get the older man up off the couch and out of his sweatpants. Gabriel pondered the temptation of cheap alcohol for a moment.
"You paying?" Gabriel asked, bartering his way up to a better deal.
"If it gets you to go, I will buy you a pony too." Val said, dejected. Gabriel smirked behind his face mask.
"You should have led with that then." Then Gabriel got up to go change, shaking his head at his helpless teammate.
Later that night, the Talon squad rolled up to the karaoke bar in their Wednesday best. Gabriel simply threw on a leather jacket and some black jeans and boots, while the girls of course had to go all out with their wardrobes, and he inspected them as they sat at their table, silently judging them.
Sombra wore a iridescent oil slick colored crop top and matching short skirt, with black tights underneath that glittered under the lights, and a pair of black platform sneakers lined along the bottom with purple lights, earrings, bracelets, and make-up to match her outfit as well. All very sparkly and matching her personality.
Widow came with her usual ponytail in curls, a nice strapless, knee, length dress that she had lying around—because of course she did—a pair of heels, and wore Val's purple blazer across her shoulders after he complained that it was too cold for her to go without a jacket.
Val was wearing his hair in a ponytail as well, a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up only buttoned half-way, making his series of necklaces and arm bands visible, along with a pair of black jeans and combat boots.
So in all, not a single one of them looked like they were going to the same event. Yet here they were, sitting in the neon lit bar several drinks in, as a couple of drunkards were singing the Beatles on the small stage.
"Can we leave yet? I'm already getting a migraine," Widow said, gently placing her hand on her temple.
"No, I'm getting my money's worth. Take some ibuprofen," Gabriel said as Val walked up to the table holding a glass of a mysterious red liquid and a shot glass.
"Here, shot of Tequila, with lime, no salt. Get up and get your own next time." Val handed the shot glass to Gabriel before sitting next to Widow, leaning closer to her so he didn't have to yell. "Are you feeling ok? Do you need water?"
"I thought I was drinking water," she said, then picked up her glass of wine and inspected it. "Oh shit, I must be Jesus." She snarked, before taking a drink, which did prompt a laugh from Val.
Val asked while smiling, "You were holding your head, do you need painkillers?" Widow only nodded in response. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill case.
"You know what I hear cures migraines? Tequila. You want one?" Gabriel said dryly, tapping Widow on the arm.
"I only drink wine." She replied as Val placed a couple pills in her hand.
"Hey, guys, where's Sombra?" Val said, interrupting the other two as he looked around the room.
"She went with you to go get drinks, no?" Widow said.
"No. You guys weren't watching her? You can't leave her by herself, she's a different beast on liquor! Let me go find her before she starts climbing on tables or something." Val got up from the table and started looking for their tiny hacker friend.
"Bring me a shot!" Gabriel shouted as Val hurriedly walked away. Just as Val left line of sight, Sombra came to the table and sat herself down next to Gabriel. He looked at the drink in her hand, then stared at her with displeasure before speaking.
"That doesn't look like a shot of tequila. You had one job. How am I supposed to get drunk in these conditions?" Gabriel asked, leaning his head back and groaning dramatically.
"Ay, lo siento mi vieji-tito, I'm sorry. I forgot, I got distracted," Sombra said, leaning on Gabriel's shoulder and patting his cheek. Gabriel rolled his eyes.
"Don't tell me you're more drunk than me already." Gabriel leaned towards her so she would stop putting all of her body weight on him, and she started leaning on the table instead.
"I can't have fun with you? Aren't we supposed to be team building or something?" Sombra bent her head down and sipped on her drink through her straw.
"You and Val have been MIA since we got here, not much team building going on." Gabriel said.
"Maybe if you didn't keep making him bring you drinks." Widow said into her glass of wine, which Gabriel chose to ignore because she was doing the exact same thing.
"Speaking of Val, gotta go." Sombra got up in a rush and scurried away just as Val walked up to the table with more drinks.
"Sombra! Dude, what is with her today?" Val said, putting down two shot glasses in front of Gabriel, one of which he immediately downed and pulled the lime slice off his glass.
"Sit down, she can take care of herself, do a shot with us or something." Gabriel goaded, trying to get his makeshift server to bring him more liquor as he bit down on the lime, which burned more than whatever tequila Val was ordering for him. Val did sit down, but clearly didn't relax, stirring his bright red drink he hadn't even taken a sip from.
"I've seen her run around topless before dude, you have to watch her. She's gotten us kicked out before." Val said, rubbing his temple as he leaned on the table.
"Let her, she doesn't like you today anyways." Gabriel said, still biting on his lime, before immediately regretting opening his mouth. Maybe he should slow down on the shots. Val looked back at Gabriel with curiosity as he stirred his drink, then pulled out a bright red cherry from the ice as he drank from it.
"She's been avoiding you all night, and you're not her mother, leave her be. If she gets kicked out then we don't want to get kicked out with her." Widow said, and Gabriel let out a subtle sigh that her wisdom rescued him from getting in the middle of their drama, and also seemed to put him more at ease.
Val put the cherry from his drink in his mouth and chewed on it in contemplation. Unimpressed by the singers on the stage, Gabriel instead watched Val, who after eating the cherry, stuck the stem in his mouth and started chewing on it. Gabriel frowned in disgust before he leaned towards Widow and tapped on her thigh with the back of his hand.
"Look, he's eating the cherry stem." Gabriel said to Widow, and the two gave each other a side eye before watching Val, more entertained by their quirky teammate than whatever was happening on stage.
"You know you're supposed to eat just the cherry, not the stem, right?" Widow asked after a few moments. Val froze and looked out of the side of his eye at the other two chuckling at him. He opened his mouth, pulled a now knotted stem out, and wrapped it in a napkin.
"Sorry, bad habit. I used to do that for tips when I would bartend." Val said, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear.
"Yeah? I'm sure the girls were really impressed by a cherry stem." Gabriel sipped on his second shot, unamused.
"Well, it's not about the stem. You say that if you can tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue, it means you're a good kisser, then you tie it in a knot for them. That's how you get a lot of tips, and a lot of numbers you won't call." Val said, and sipped on his drink casually.
"How charming." Widow said, curling her mouth into a frown.
"Ladykiller, you're in the wrong business, you should've stuck to bartending." Gabriel said, biting on his sour slice of lime again.
"Bartending didn't pay as well, how do you think I can afford paying for you?" Val turned his attention back towards the stage, which was quiet for a moment between singers. Gabriel looked at the stage to see what was catching the younger man's attention so much.
Two girls were very slowly making their way up. One of the girls was clearly very drunk, practically being carried by the other. The two eventually did make it onto the stage, one microphone on a stand for the both of them. However, the drunk girl couldn't even hold her balance on her own, and as soon as her friend wasn't holding up her entire weight, she proceeded to tumble forward off the stage, face first. Gabriel chuckled a little bit at the embarrassing display. Val turned to the two of them at the table, and started standing up.
"Hold on guys, I gotta go be a hero." Val smirked, and then turned and quickly made his way up to the stage.
Widow rolled her eyes, only about half paying attention to what was happening on the stage. Of course, as soon as Val left, Sombra came back to the table, actually with a shot glass this time, and sat down staring at the commotion occurring at the stage with the other two at the table.
"What happened, what did I miss? Did he, like, attack someone?" Sombra asked, placing a shot glass in front of Gabriel. He shrugged in response, before tapping his glass against hers and proceeding to drink.
The three of them watched Val easily pick up the drunk girl off the floor by the underarms and place her on a chair. She was then swiftly tended to by a couple of other guests and a bartender. As they made sure the drunk girl sustained no injuries, her friend crouched at the edge of the stage, with her mouth covered in embarrassment.
The host came up behind the friend, placed a hand on her shoulder, and pulled the mic away as he spoke to her. Quietly, the girl stood up and was speaking with the host, with the girl visibly shaking her head, and wringing her hands together. Val turned to the host and the girl who remained on the stage, and while the trio at the table couldn't hear the conversation going on, apparently their audacious friend could as he joined the conversation.
A few moments passed of the three talking, and Val hopped onto the stage, prompting a groan from both Widow and Sombra.
"He said he wouldn't showboat this time." Sombra groaned over the host. Gabriel wasn't able to hear what he was announcing, and only noticed that as everyone was speaking at the same time, Val had placed his arm over the girl's stiff shoulders and was whispering in her ear. This prompted an eye-roll from Gabriel, wishing this kid would stop flirting for five seconds.
Then music started, and the two on stage began to sing.
"Laugh track on a TV show
Echoes in the dark alone."
Gabriel was half tempted to throw a napkin at his cocky teammate up on the stage, who was grinning way too big for his taste. However, the stiff manner of the unknown girl on the stage stopped him, mainly so he didn't get kicked out.
"I go to bed feeling bad
That I'm the reason that you're sad."
As the girl mouthed shy and almost inaudible to the song, Val took a second to lean over and whisper in her ear again, before going back to singing.
"January to December
Do you wanna be a member?"
The girl broke her eye contact with the audience, looking over at Val, and raised the volume of her voice, trying to match his volume. He looked back at her and smiled, his eyes flicking between her and the crowd as they sang through the chorus together.
"Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Oh,
Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Yeah.
I feel like if I'm too kind,"
Seeming transfixed on Val now, the girl he was singing with matched his volume, and now that the crowd could hear her, she was actually half decent at singing.
"Then you will only change your mind
Take advantage of my heart
And I'll go back into the dark."
Val danced to the beat and encouraged her to keep going, as the girl started to actually smile and to sway to the music, which the crowd was absolutely eating up.
"Love will never be forever
Feelings are just like the weather
January to December
Do you wanna be a member?"
Perhaps it was the bar patrons being insane amounts of drunk, or maybe it was the shy girl actually being kind of talented once she came out of her shell, but the energy in the bar only continued to ramp up as the two on stage went into the chorus.
"Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Oh,
Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Yeah.
Somebody like me
(Ooh-whoa) Somebody like me
(Ooh-whoa) Somebody like me
(Ooh-whoa) Somebody like me
(Ooh-whoa)"
With a break in the vocals, Val took the opportunity to take the girl's hand and dance with her. Widow and Sombra seemed completely unenthused by this entire endeavor, sitting on their phones the entire time, but the energy in the rest of the bar was ecstatic, cheering as he gave her a little spin.
The two stepped back up to the mic to sing again, and this time the girl who had been laughing with Val sang with her whole heart.
"Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Oh,
Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Yeah
Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me? Oh,"
Val glanced over at the girl, and steadily quieted his voice, until eventually he was silent, letting the girl sing by herself; her melodic voice was a nice change of pace from the rest of the drunks that were on the stage that night.
"Do you want to be with somebody like me? Oh
Lonely Hearts Club
Do you want to be with somebody like me?"
The girl was so caught up in singing she hadn't even realized he had stepped back for her, which made her turn bright red as the song ended with her standing at the mic by herself. Of course, the bar patrons clapped. Val took her hand, and the two of them bowed before he helped her off the stage. They walked away from the stage talking, he gave her a hug from the side, and Val finally rejoined his friends at the table taking his seat next to Widow.
"Thank you, thank you. I will be taking my Oscar now." Val smiled, leaning back in his seat, which prompted Sombra and Gabriel to throw a couple of napkins at him.
"Stop that, you're making a mess." Widow snapped at them, hitting Gabriel on his bicep.
"We're supposed to be team building, not mingling for some tail. And I'm dry, all of you have mission failed me tonight." Gabriel said, which Val responded to by furrowing his brow and tilting his head. Gabriel looked over at Sombra stirring her drink absentmindedly. "What are you drinking? Let me try it." Sombra pushed her drink over to Gabriel.
"What? What are you talking about mingling for tail?" Val asked, sitting up.
"Look what you've started." Widow sighed, rubbing her forehead gently.
"You and your new girlfriend on the stage." Gabriel took a drink from Sombra's glass casually, an overpoured margarita hitting his tongue.
"My new girlfriend? Dude, that's one of the rookies we just recruited, Madelyn? I barely even know her." Val gestured towards the girls as he frowned.
"That's not how you two were acting. Making out on stage would have been less x-rated." Gabriel was half joking, but continued to push the subject now that Val was getting defensive, then he passed Sombra her drink back, which she decided to take a long sip from as she watched the two argue back and forth.
"What the hell is your issue?" Val scoffed.
"Just take her home next time instead of coming back to the table." Gabriel leaned back in his chair. Maybe he was finding a little enjoyment in the younger one's flustered attitude.
"Oh, my god. Reyes," Val leaned over the table and pointed into his own eyes. "I need you to look me in the eyes when I say this, I'm gay. I do not swing that way. I like men."
Gabriel blinked a few times. He turned to look at Sombra, with her face in her hands giggling, then turned to Widow, who was also giving him a sly smile from behind her glass, then he pressed his lips into a line, defeated. Mildly embarrassed, Gabriel stole Sombra's drink before he spoke.
"Damn. You could've fooled me," he said, and chugged what was left of Sombra's drink while she was distracted. The girls continued to laugh at him while Val squinted from across the table.
"Has anyone ever told you you're an asshole? Sombra can you hit him for me? I can't reach."
Sombra lifted her head sharply from her laughing fit, "Wait, you're gay and you didn't tell me?" she said with feigned shock.
Val raised an eyebrow at her. "You've known longer than he has."
"After all we've been through?" She pretended to start to wail into her hands. "And three children? What will I tell the children?" Sombra leaned into Gabriel's shoulder, arm over her eyes. Val did laugh a little at Sombra's dramatic display.
"Now look at what you've done, torn apart a beautiful family." Widow said, shaking her head. "This is why we got divorced."
"Get off my back, woman." Gabriel rolled his eyes. He heard Sombra sniffle against his shoulder, then shook the drunk girl off of his arm as he yelled. "Are you actually crying?! How many drinks have you had?" Sombra was indeed, now actually crying.
"No sé. ¿Seis? ¿Doce? ¿Quince? I need like five more now that I'm getting divorced." Val leaned over a little concerned, and tried to pat her on the back until she yelled at him. "No, don't touch me carajo!"
Val then glared at Gabriel trying to blame him for this incident, which the older man couldn't help but chuckle. Well until their drunk teammate threw herself into Gabriel's arms, still inconsolable for no apparent reason, which led to him awkwardly patting her on the head a couple of times. Val must have taken great pleasure in this, smugly grinning at the two and waving his hand across his neck, signaling she was done.
Gabriel pushed her head off of him. "Sombra, we're leaving."
"I don't wanna walk."
"Val can carry you out."
"No, he's divorcing me!"
While Sombra was busy crying on him, Gabriel looked over at Val and Widow for some assistance, which was met with little sympathy. He sighed, and helped her to her feet, helping her walk to the door before eventually getting impatient in the parking lot and just throwing her over his shoulder, which only got a "Whee!" out of her.
When they got to the car, after he placed her into the back seat, Widow had already claimed the front passenger side, and Val was climbing into the driver's seat.
"Val, do not make me ride next to her."
"Them's the breaks, Widow called shotgun, and someone doesn't like me today, remember? Besides, I got the keys, I drive." Val shook the car keys at him with a slick smile. Gabriel gritted his teeth, his karmic justice continuing to bite him in the ass. He climbed in the car and Sombra immediately leaned over to lay on him, though she was still awake, luckily.
"Sombra, don't you dare fall asleep on me, I will throw you out the window." He growled at her laying on his shoulder.
"Pero, quiero mimis, papa. Porfa please?"
"Don't play with me right now. You're pissing me off."
"You're no fun." Sombra said, although this did not make her get off his shoulder.
"Wait, I forgot to take a picture, everyone lean in, hurry up!" Val said, then pulled out his phone, and promptly took several selfies without waiting for any of them to be ready. "Oh yeah, those are winners."
"I recall you taking pictures when we got here." Widow said.
"Yeah, and now we have evidence that a team was in fact built, great job guys, mission success." Val looked through the pictures smiling as he spoke, until the two in the back piped up.
"I think I'm gonna throw up."
"Do not throw up on my jacket, I will kill you!"
