Chapter 9: The Incident
Content Warning: Graphic Violence, Moderate Blood/Gore, Mild Sexual Content, Car Wreck Description, Implied Child Abuse(?). If this content disturbs you, do not proceed. Proceed with caution!
Old paint peeled off of the outer walls of the safe house as Reaper and Nano walked up to the front. Nano kept an eye out on the abandoned street behind them as Reaper opened the door, and they quickly made their way in.
"I'll check the rooms, if you want to check out here," Nano said, looking over the small kitchen and living area, to which he only got a nod in response.
He turned the corner by the front door, inspected the small laundry area behind a narrow wall, then peeked into the two doors down the short hallway, one for a bathroom and one for a bedroom, and he decided to check the bedroom first.
In the L shaped bedroom, he set his bag down on the bed before quickly searching the closet and the drawers of the furniture for anything out of the ordinary, only finding the place to be disgustingly unkempt. He unzipped his bag, and pulled toiletries out and onto the bed, absolutely essential for his high maintenance dyed hair, and turned his head when he heard heavy footsteps down the hallway before a knock on the door.
"The living area is clear," Reaper said as he sauntered in and surveyed the room.
Nano picked up his bath products and said, "I'll check the bathroom right now."
Nano entered the bathroom and first and foremost meticulously set his various bottles on the shelf in the shower, hung his loofah on the handle, then checked the various drawers in the room for wiretapping. Of course, right now he would run a network scan to check for any cameras or microphones transmitting data in the house, but a quick physical check never hurt, and he ran his hand along the edge of the mirror while holding a light to it to ensure that it was in fact real.
"Bathroom's clear." Nano raised his voice so his partner could hear. As he walked back into the living room, looking at the walls and ceiling, he felt only slightly eased knowing there at least wasn't a camera behind the bathroom mirror. Paranoia was a strength in this industry, and he had plenty of it when he left the base.
"Laptop's on the coffee table," Reaper called back.
Nano sat on the sofa and started to run his network scan, but for the most part it seemed they were safe to start talking. "Really giving us the five star treatment with only one bed and one shower, I'm going to scrub that bathroom later. Why couldn't Sombra come tech for you?" He asked, biting on his thumb nail as he tried to focus.
"I don't know. She's MIA, as she does. She won't respond to my texts." Reaper plopped himself down with remote in hand next to Nano, lounging himself across the already small sofa with a groan. Nano was hyper aware of the older man's arm resting across the couch, as Reaper's hand came to rest right behind the long haired man's neck, accidentally brushing against his flyaways. Nano simply leaned forward and continued on the laptop.
"And Widow is because of the uh, 'medical leave', I'm guessing?" Nano looked up over the laptop screen at the TV suddenly flicking to life.
"You saw her scream French gibberish at me and lock herself in her room. I took that as a no. I'm surprised you didn't ask any questions before we left." Reaper leaned on his other arm, paying no mind to the other.
"I just needed to get out of the house. Widow put a venom mine on my door after I bugged her too many times." Nano finished looking over his network scan after letting himself get distracted.
"Sounds about right."
"Ok, did the network scan, we should be clear. So, speaking of not asking questions, what is it that we are doing?" Nano asked.
"Don't worry about it. Your job is to handle the tech part. When we get there, I'll handle the rest."
"So, I don't get to have any of the fun? I thought you said you trusted me not to fuck up."
"I need you to hold the perimeter. I trust you not to fuck that up, right?"
And so Nano stood in his uniform on the outside of a warehouse that he still had no clue what was held inside, bored out of his mind. Tired of lapping the building, he started doing one armed pull ups on the fire escape to entertain himself. The sound of guns blazing had been going on since they arrived, and now it had slowed. Nano let go of the fire escape to speak to his teammate on his communicator, hoping something good was finally happening inside.
"Reaper, what's your status?"
"Handling it, quit bugging," Reaper replied. Val rolled his eyes, wishing he wasn't stuck outside without anything to do.
"Yeah, yeah, easy for you to say when you're not bored out of your mind," Val mumbled to himself off the communicator, however, the communicator crackling to life from Reaper's end interrupted his conversation with himself.
Shotgun blasts over the mic drowned out Reaper's voice, Val only catching the tail end of his sentence. "-east side." Val lifted his head to look over to his east.
"Repeat that." Nano summoned a pistol in his hand with his nanobots as he started to make his way over to that side of the building carefully.
Reaper commanded, "You've got a runner. East side. No witnesses, eliminate him."
Val took off in a sprint. Just as he turned the corner, tires squealed against the concrete, and the driver flew right past Nano as fast as he could through the tight corners in the alley. The driver stuck his arm out of the driver window, a pistol in hand, and Nano took aim, firing several times into the back of the car.
It seemed the driver didn't even have a chance to fire back, as the car swerved and crashed only a few blocks away. Quickly, his pistol shifted into an AR, and Nano started to make his way to the car.
"Nano, status. I heard a crash."
"Our runner just crashed a car, I don't know if he's alive. I'll investigate."
Nano slowed his pace as he approached the back of the vehicle, bullet holes in the back windshield making him curious as to why this wasn't bullet proofed. Glass shards around the car crunched under his boots as he stepped up to the driver door.
He leaned over to inspect the driver. Apparently incapacitated, it only took another second for a nauseating reality to fully register to Nano from the back seat, his senses now connecting to his mind.
"Reaper. I have a situation you need to see," Nano said over the communicator.
"What do you mean 'a situation'?" Reaper said impatiently, stepping over the man he just shot.
"I just need you to come to the crashed car." Nano spoke with a haste in his voice, aggravating Reaper. This is not why he asked him to come, he was usually level headed while on missions.
Reaper leaned over and picked up the black briefcase he was after off the floor. "Tell me or handle it."
"Reyes, I can't. Just come to the car, please," Nano pleaded. Reaper looked down at the body in front of him, head tilted in curiosity at his teammate's sudden flip in demeanor. He caught a hint of gasping for air in the body, and pulled the trigger on his shotgun.
"I'm on my way," he sighed, and left the building only leaving necrotic corpses in his wake.
Upon exit of the warehouse, it was easy to spot the car just down the alley, and even easier to spot Nano sitting on the ground a few feet away from the wreck. Reaper approached his teammate sitting with his legs to his chest, who refused to look up at him, forehead pressed against his knee.
Reaper used his boot to tap Nano on the thigh, finally getting a response from the other. Nano looked up and relaxed his position a bit, his hands, face, and the front of his body covered in blood.
"I can't do it, you have to do it," Nano said, weakly.
Reaper's blood started to boil, because if Nano meant what he thought he meant, they were about to have a very, very nasty time right now. Reaper crouched down, arms on his knees, still holding the briefcase.
"If I go over there and there's still a living person in that car, I'm killing you with my bare fucking hands. And don't ever call me by my last name on a mission again, got it?" Reaper threatened in a low voice,
"Go look then," Nano said hoarsely, his voice barely above a whisper. Reaper stood up, threw the briefcase into the other's lap, and angrily made his way over to the wrecked car, the front smashed in, bullet holes across the back.
As soon as he heard it, he stopped in his tracks, feeling his stomach sink.
He proceeded forward again, much more slowly this time, now understanding the reaction Val was having, and was begging for the noise to not be what he thought it was.
He had forgotten what fear had felt like until right now as he could hear his heart pounding in his ears, but still tried to maintain composure while he crushed the glass under his feet and reached for the back door, slowly pulling it open.
He felt his stomach turn and acid start to crawl up his throat, because the noise in the back of this dead gangster's car was indeed a screaming toddler, still strapped in their car seat.
Reaper stared for a second, as the screaming got louder after he opened the door, and as soon as he heard this child scream for their Daddy, a decision was made.
He slammed the door, turned, and stormed away, his shoes pounding against the ground. Nano had been watching him from a distance, and quickly stood up as soon as he saw Reaper stomp towards him.
"What are you doing?" Nano asked with confusion when he was simply passed right by, but followed behind.
"We are leaving," Reaper responded, ripping off his face mask, as his body started to steam with black tendrils.
"What happened to no witnesses?" Nano asked as he kept up. Reaper waited a good minute to respond, not wanting to speak in general in his current state.
"Did you get our runner?" Reaper turned around to face his partner as they approached the car.
"Yeah but-"
Reaper cut him off. "We got what we came for. Now unlock the car." Nano stared at Reaper, eyebrows upturned and of course, the younger one turned back to look in the direction of the damn wreck. Reaper grabbed Nano's arm in response, and with black tendrils of smoke clouding out from his mouth, he pulled him close and whispered aggressively, "Leave it."
Nano stared back at Reaper, and swallowed. "I can't drive right now."
Less aggressively now, Reaper said, "Give me the keys, just get in the car."
The two got into the vehicle, Val leaned up against the window with his head in his hand, and it was a good several minutes of silence as they drove down the road, processing what just happened. Val rolled down the window, likely in part because Reaper's black vapor was filling the cabin, and the other part was because he was currently lighting a cigarette, which he usually waited to do outside. Val pulled the communicator out of his ear, frowned at it, and tossed it out the window. A few more minutes of silence passed, before one of them would speak.
"He wasn't dead when I found him, you know." Val broke the silence very suddenly, not helping to bring Gabriel's rage levels down. "He was still breathing. The kid watched me climb in there and shoot him," Val continued, rubbing his forehead.
"Val, I'm pulling this car over if you start having a shit on me." Gabriel fumed, and gripped the steering wheel harder, breathing heavily as he tried to not shout.
"Don't pretend like you're fucking happy about it," Val said, his voice cracked at the end of his sentence, giving way that he was clearly not holding up. Gabriel wasn't happy, but he needed to focus and this was not helping. Val tried to cover his face with his hand, but Reaper could hear small sniffles from the other still.
"I can't deal with myself, deal with you, and drive right now. I need you to pull it together, at least until we get to the safe house. Got it?" Gabriel said, trying his best to hold own shit together in the situation. He could still hear that baby crying, and tried desperately to not let his mind put his son in that car seat, while it went ahead and did it anyway.
Val sniffed a couple of times, then like a switch he said, "Okay," and sat up, staring out of the windshield again straight faced.
"What the fuck is wrong with this kid?" Gabriel thought. Lacroix couldn't feel much, she didn't have a choice in the matter, and Gabriel couldn't control that he felt way too much. This kid can control it, and Gabriel found it a little off-putting that it took someone simply telling him to cut it out, and his emotions turned off like a switch. Not that it mattered, right now he needed to drive.
As soon as they got in the door of the safe house, Val immediately stripped off the arm warmers and his boots, Gabriel closing the door behind them. Gabriel took off his shoes then went straight to the bathroom sink, but when he turned to close the door he instead found Val in the hallway by the open washer acting like this house is a strip club, pulling off his shirt from his chiseled waist, then unbuckling his pants and pulling them down to reveal his purple boxer briefs.
Gabriel stood eyes locked on Val, admittedly staring, a little afraid this man was going to get naked in front of the washer whether or not someone watched.
"Give me your clothes, I'll start washing," Val said, casually stepping to him and holding out a hand, thankfully having stopped at his boxers.
"'I'm going to shower," Reaper said, handing the nearly naked man his coat.
"You can leave your clothes on the sink and I'll wash them. Or just strip right now, I don't care. Just hurry up, I need to shower too, the blood soaked straight through my shirt," Val said flatly, pulling his long hair out of its bun before he turned around.
Reaper closed the door to the bathroom, and blinked a few times, way too many chemicals going to process anything right now. He stripped down, leaving his clothes in a pile on the sink, and climbed in the shower, turning the water on as hot as it could go. As soon as the water was on he heard the bathroom door open, which he assumed was Val grabbing his clothes and ignored it. He reached up to adjust the angle of the water, before placing his palms against the clammy tile wall.
He leaned forward and bent his head down, letting the hot water roll down his neck and back. Watching the water run across the tile, it carried a rust colored tint with it down the drain. He felt a twitch in his back as his muscles started to relax. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to stay focused on the cold tile instead of his aching body. It became difficult for him to stay present, a fog clouding his mind and making him feel light headed. He lifted his head and stared at the wall, listening to the water hit the shower floor for a few minutes.
The bathroom door opened, or maybe closed. It must have been Val, since he was the only other one here. Did Val even close the door right? The shower curtain shuffled open, and Gabriel groaned as he heard Val step into the shower water before the shower curtain shuffled back closed.
"What are you doing?" Gabriel grunted, standing up but not turning around. He grabbed a bottle of soap off the shower shelf to look busy and started lathering his hair.
"Showering. I told you to hurry up. You're taking too long brooding. Let me wet my hair," Val responded, as if this was the dinner table at Christmas and not like he was interrupting his teammate's shower. While he looked down he noticed the water running orange with blood again, like it was when he first got in the shower. His mind grew foggy again.
"No, get out," Gabriel stated, too exhausted to yell at him right now.
"You've been in here for almost an hour! You get out!" Val shouted, demeanor completely changing.
Slightly taken aback by the younger's sudden attitude, he turned his head to look back at Val. "I haven't even had time to wash! You're being way too relaxed about climbing in the shower with me by the way!" Gabriel shouted back.
"Reyes, first, your clothes are clean and dry on the counter, yes you have." Val pulled the shower curtain back, pointed out his now clean clothes stacked on the counter, then shoved it back into place. "Second, I just blew a guy's brains out in front of his kid and left her there." Gabriel turned around to face Val now, dumbfounded by the events transpiring. "Third, I couldn't give less of a shit about you being in here, this isn't any less terrifying than a locker room to me." Val's voice grew louder as he stepped towards Gabriel, getting up in his face before he continued. "Fourth, you're lucky I've been holding it together this long, but if I don't get this guy's brains off me right now, I'm going to start screaming. Now shower, or get the fuck out! And let me wet my fucking hair!" Val snapped, with his fists clenched, breathing shakily.
Gabriel blinked as he processed, then stepped out of the way and let Val under the water. Had he really been in here an hour?
"God, are you trying to boil your skin off? Why is the water so hot?" Val, while facing the faucet, turned the water down to cold.
With his back turned, he stuck his long hair under the stream of water. Gabriel thought about getting out, but was also irritated about being interrupted and wanted to finish his shower. Staring at the other's toned shoulders, he also thought about the fact that he could just kill him right now if he wanted to, he wouldn't even see it coming.
"It got in my hair…" Val muttered to no one in particular, and moved his long dyed hair so it trailed down his back. The purple waves of hair led Gabriel's eye line down the other's muscular body, back down to the rust colored water swirling down the drain. He wanted to shower after the day he had, he was tired.
"I want it hot, turn it back up," Gabriel said, and watched Val bend forward a little too slowly to reach for a bottle of soap.
"That's bad for your skin, and it's terrible for my hair," Val said, starting to lather the soap into his hair. Gabriel stuck his hand out near the shower head to feel the water. It couldn't be any colder, in fact a hail storm might feel nicer to him.
"Are you insane? Turn up the damn water." Gabriel stood as far back as possible in the small shower. His body hair stood on end; partly from the cold air that was hitting him and partly from having the water temperature drop suddenly.
"I thought you'd be used to cold showers, G.I. Joe." Val scrubbed his hair quickly and leaned his head back under the water.
"Turn it up. Now." Gabriel lowered his voice, irritated and cold. Val pulled his hair over his left shoulder nonchalantly, revealing his broad shoulders, clearly not caring. Gabriel's face heated up, he stepped forward, and let out a deep breath from his nose.
"It's gonna ruin the dye, give me a second." Val stopped moving as he felt Gabriel lean over his other shoulder and, with the slightest amount of contact between their arms, reached around to move the faucet handle back closer to hot.
"Hey!" Val exclaimed while reaching for the handle again. Gabriel, still leaning over Val, grabbed his wrist just as he set his hand on the faucet. The older man could feel Val's arm hair standing on end from the cold water. Only centimeters from the other's ear, Gabriel didn't even realize he had let out a low growl in frustration before speaking.
"Leave it," Gabriel said through clenched teeth. The air grew warm as the water quickly changed temperature. Val relaxed his grip from the handle but Gabriel didn't let go.
"Alright, alright, I'll leave it," Val said, running his free hand through his hair. Gabriel let go and leaned away from Val's ear, but didn't step back, standing just behind the other under the water. He could smell the shampoo in Val's hair, a pleasant scent of mint and ocean, and Val reached for a different bottle on the shelf.
"This man has so many bottles of hair crap," Gabriel thought, as he waited patiently this whole time for the long haired man to be done washing his hair, and grew tired of it
"I need the soap," Gabriel said impatiently. Val poured the bottle's contents into one hand.
"Then get it," Val said brusquely.
Gabriel clenched his jaw. He leaned forward, having to place a hand just barely on the other's shoulder blade to keep the space between them. Val turned to the side, unexpectedly moving to let Gabriel around him. As he slid by, Gabriel quickly moved his hand down to stabilize himself, finding it resting on the other's hip, then fingertips gliding gently across the small of the other's back, before disconnecting.
"Watch it," Gabriel hissed as he moved to officially switch places with Val. The water ran down Gabriel's back, warming his skin and relaxing his muscles as he made eye contact with a drop of water running down Val's spine.
"My bad," purred Val, faced away while running the product through his hair. Gabriel glared at Val's chiseled shoulders, frowning, and rinsed the soap he had lathered in his hair before he was interrupted, then grabbed a bottle of body wash off the shelf. He opened the bottle lid and the strong scent was already starting to waft into the air. Holding it up to his nose and pressing on the bottle. It smelled strongly of ocean and wood, but not unpleasant. Just as Gabriel was about to start to pour the soap into his hand he heard Val speak.
"Are you using my body wash?" Val asked with accusation in his voice, turning to look at Gabriel.
"Yeah," Gabriel said flatly, only moving his eyes to look up at the other through his brows.
"Why?" Val stepped closer, squinting.
"Smells good," Gabriel said, maybe a little bit too smugly.
"Get your own then," Val reached for the bottle, but Gabriel pulled away ever so slightly. This was not optimal fighting conditions, clearly he would not be putting much effort in for a bottle of soap. "Is that why my bottle is half empty now? That was new!" Val leaned in, placing a hand on Gabriel's shoulder for balance as he reached for the bottle, Gabriel pulling it away again.
"What do I wash my hair with then?" Gabriel asked, the steam in the bathroom becoming very visible and heavy in the air.
"You're using that on your hair too? Oh my god, give me my shower gel," Val sighed, nose scrunched up as he pinched it, hand sliding down Gabriel's bicep, hovering there for a moment, then to his elbow, then letting go and stepping back.
"Soap is soap, what difference does it make?" Gabriel could feel his arm hairs standing on end. Likely from the air suddenly hitting his skin where Val's hand was.
"You're senile old man. Just give me my damn soap." Val crossed an arm across his chest, holding his other hand out. Following Val's long trail of hair down with his eyes, Gabe noticed down his arms, his stomach, his thighs, Val's body hair stood on end. It was both of them getting cold then, right.
"Or what? I still have to wash," Gabriel said, quickly flicking his eyes back up to the other's face. The water must be too hot for the younger one, just a few seconds under the water and he was starting to turn red.
"I could choke you right now, you're infuriating," Val said, with a lot less anger than his words implied, and stood cross armed, waiting.
"I'd like to see you try," Gabriel said as he was about to turn away. Instead, Val stepped forward and wrapped his warm hands around the base of the other's neck. Gabriel maintained eye contact, knowing there's no way he was going to try it, not here at least, but did let out a small gasp. Val started to shake the older one gently by the shoulders while smiling. Gabriel smirked, anchored in place unmoving.
"Cute, I'm quaking in fear," Gabriel said flatly, Val got very close to his face, just an inch away, hands resting on Gabriel's shoulders, and while leaning in to whisper some sort of threat, Val pressed in just the right spot so a sharp pain shot up his collar bone.
Gabe winced, grabbed the other's wrist roughly, and lifted it. He hadn't even processed what Val said, just that the playful smile on the other's face fell very quickly. After he took a deep breath, eyes closed, he opened his eyes and loosened his grip on Val's wrist.
"Sorry. You ok?" Val asked, looking down at Gabriel's collarbone, gently skimming his fingers over the bruise.
"Mmm, yeah," Gabriel grunted, the other's long dark eyelashes pointed downward. Violet eyes inspected the area on his collarbone, following it down to his chest until they started to glaze over.
"That's from earlier, right?" Val asked with a slight pause, averting his gaze. Gabriel watched Val lose focus in his eyes, likely thinking back to earlier in the day. He couldn't tell if the fog was from the steam or the same brain fog he felt earlier, but Val looked like his balance had grown unsteady very quickly.
"Yeah, I'm ok now," Gabriel replied quietly. The air was heavy, and only now did he notice there was barely a gap between the two of them, with Gabriel resting his hands on Val's waist to ensure the other didn't fall.
"Right," Val said. Maybe the shower was too hot, the pressure in Gabriel's chest combined with the steam was suffocating. He focused on Val's eyes, pointed keenly at the shower curtain, unsure if he was trying to ground the other or calm the pounding in his own chest.
The two stood in silence for a few seconds, only the sound of the water running. Val blinked a few times and leaned away, checking back into reality. Gabriel hadn't even realized until now the other had started leaning into him.
"Let's not think about that, gotta distract ourselves, right? Let me borrow that." Val took the bottle out of the other's hand and opened it, pouring the contents into his hand. He closed it back up and held it out for Gabriel to take, a small smile back on the younger man's face.
"Right," Gabriel said, took the bottle, and after receiving a once over from the other, turned away to finally finish his shower.
Val touched the other's shoulder while reaching for a sponge hanging on the handle of the shower, incidentally pressing his chest against Gabriel's back. The smell of the body wash filled the air, Gabriel pouring some in his hand before placing the bottle back on the shelf. As he lathered his body his mind clouded over again, unable to focus on the smell of the steam or the sound of the water.
"Hey, are you alright?" Val's voice broke the drone of the water hitting the tile. Gabriel grunted in response, staring at the wall. "Come on, let's come back to reality, I gotta rinse."
Gabriel rolled his eyes and raised his arms to stretch his back. As he lifted his arms Val slid one of his own arms underneath to hang his sponge back on the handle, pressing against Gabriel's back again. Then as Gabriel lowered his arms back down, and found both of the other's arms slid underneath his, wrapped around his chest, pulling him close. "Hey, come back to earth, spaceman." Val spoke softly, resting his head on the other's shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Gabriel asked in surprise, feeling the fog clear from his mind as warm hands pressed against his chest. He stared forward, not wanting to turn his head to meet the other's eyes.
"Rinsing. You're hogging the water," Val mumbled, not pulling away, then lowered his hands to around Gabriel's waist and locked them together. Gabriel shut his eyes, and if he could have furrowed his brow even more he would have.
"You know what I meant," Gabriel grumbled, and placed his hands over the other's, but didn't quite move them yet. Despite the heat and steam in the air, Val's arms felt warm against his skin. Gabriel then felt Val press his lips gently against his neck where his head had been resting. "What are you trying to do?"
"Distract you," Val breathed into Gabriel's ear, making the hair on his neck stand on end again. That one definitely wasn't the cold air.
"Why would you think I want that?" Gabriel asked, and turned his head away as he leaned back a bit into the warm embrace. Val rested against the other's shoulder blade, and moved his hands up to be locked around Gabriel's chest.
"I can tell you're thinking about it too, what happened earlier. I can distract you, if you want," Val said softly. Gabriel would've thought there was almost a sadness in the young man's voice, if he wasn't currently being seduced by him. "Don't think I don't notice you staring."
"I don't stare," Gabriel said reflexively,
"Oh, so in the hallway right now, you weren't watching me? You were making me blush, checking me out right now in the shower too, no shame." Val smiled into Gabriel's shoulder as he laughed, making Gabriel cover his face with his hand in embarrassment. "Don't be embarrassed, I like it."
"It's not like that," Gabriel said, somewhat grateful he hadn't noticed all the other times he had been staring with the mask on, and had to remind himself that Val was just as tall as him and he did in fact, have to make an effort to make eye contact.
"It's ok if it is," Val said, before brushing his lips against Gabriel's shoulder. Gabriel could feel their chests rising and falling in sync. The sound of his heart hammering in his ears drowned out the noise of the water, and he could smell the mint in Val's hair again with him so close.
"Do you want me to stop?" Val asked gently, and traced down the front of Gabriel's body with one hand, stopping at the waist, which sent a chill up the older man's spine. Gabriel's breathing got heavy in anticipation. Neither of them moved, waiting for a response.
"I'll stop if you want me to," Val said, then asked again, a bit more timid this time, "Do you want me to stop?"
"Don't."
