inkwreaths | call me out ver. 2!

[Of course she heard about Soldier 76. Though she's been out of the game for years, she still remembers how to sleuth about. The techniques of this mystery vigilante were familiar. The motive and behavior was not. Ana knows answers won't be gained through fuzzy security tapes or hearsay.

She'll have to track the man down herself.

And so she does. It's a long, long trek leading her to the gritty expanse of Route 66.

Looking back on it all, Ana knows her paths were limited. To become a protector demanded sacrifice. Forfeiture of a chance at ordinary civilian life, of the ability to keep her hands clean -- it was a heavy price to pay to defend those she cared about. Such was the way of the world. She'd become accustomed to giving her life to the mission, taking the lives of those that challenged it.

Things were different, now, for better and for worse. It looks like her friends were coming to grapple with the idea. Ana steps out of the shadows of some rocks.]

My, Jack.

[She smiles.]

You look good for a dead man.

[76 has known for some time that he's being tailed. He doesn't know who--they're fast, discreet, and they clearly know what they're doing, so even with all of his experience, he can't pin them down. It's more than frustrating, and it's had him on edge for days.

He assumes it's an ex-agent. The recall means a lot of things, but since he's a vigilante actively breaking into old Overwatch outposts, he's sure it's only a matter of time before someone comes after him to gauge his intent. Decide if he's a threat no worse than Talon, or an asset that could be recruited. That's what this must be, he tells himself.

When he camps out for the night, he makes sure it's defensible--not that he ever really sleeps. It's even worse now that he knows he's being followed, and he forgoes any kind of campfire in favor of trying to be discreet, but they catch up with him anyway.

As soon as he hears the footsteps, he's on his feet, rifle trained on the source of the noise, more than ready to pull the trigger. Nothing, however, could prepare him for who steps out of the shadows. It takes a moment--he has to put a name to a face and add years, and then he wonders if he's gone completely out of his mind.

They went back, but they never found her. He looked for as long as he could. They practically had to force him to stop.

And now she's here, and she knows, even facing him down in mask and visor. Of course she does. She probably knew the instant he hit the news. Either that, or she's just giving him her best guess, and he's not about to blow his own cover, even in the face of long-dead teammates.

He jerks his rifle, threatening to fire. He's not entirely convinced this isn't some sort of trick.]

Drop your weapon.

Edited 2016-07-15 05:01 (UTC)

[There's no mistaking it when they're this close. It's Jack. Grizzled, haggard, but still the same man Ana left behind when she was forced into hiding. She doesn't blame him for keeping his guard up. If she was in his shoes, she'd do the same. You can't trust people these days.

Ana complies. Moves slowly, so as not to alarm him. Kicks her rifle over to him as a show of peace. When she's finished, she puts her hands up to demonstrate there's nothing else up her sleeve.]

Satisfied?

[No, he's not satisfied. Of course he's not satisfied. He's angry--angry that she managed to get the jump on him, angry that she sees right through his mask and especially angry at the fact that she's alive, somehow. In a moment when he really thinks about this, he'll realize he has no room to talk, but for now the furious realization has him burning up inside.

He doesn't know what's worse--if it is her, or if it isn't. He doesn't want her to see him like this.]

Don't move.

[76 circles, as if more extensive observation is going to help him determine whether or not this is a trick. There's a very, very long moment, and a minute lowering of his rifle.]

I went back. I looked for you.

[He was, presumably, the last of them who spoke to her. He's angry all over again at the way she disobeyed him, and suddenly he's back on that drop ship, counting down from two minutes, hoping with everything that she makes it in time. Does she think he left her there?]

[If there was anyone who'd recognize him, it's her. The second-in-command, Mama Bear, the one who's kept an eye out for her team and those beyond it. Playing hero in the shadows was fine by her. But a hero who couldn't recognize when she was needed was a poor one.

Jack always was careful about his image. Maybe it was just what working with Overwatch did to a man. You helped people under their rules, the dirty parts cut out. Judging by how he's keeping his guard up, that hasn't changed.]

I thought you would. [Ana knows Jack has the right to be furious. When he lowers his rifle, she lowers her hands. She speaks softly.] I'm sorry. I had to be by myself for a while. Sort out my mess before I could come back to help you.

[It is her, and he's not crazy, and she knows it's him, too. He supposes he could take off his mask and lay it all out on the table but he's become far too accustomed to having it not only as a way to obscure his identity, but as protection. He likes having something between himself and everyone else. Makes him harder to read. Reminds him that the man he used to be is dead, and he's someone (something) else now.

But Ana right in front of him makes that hard. Forces him to retread the past. He thinks about the days following the mission, anger threatening to bubble over and out of him.]

I had to tell Fareeha.

[That's so, so, selfish to say. It's mean, meant to make her feel guilt with which she's most certainly burdened. Taking her relationship with her daughter and making it about him and his feelings and the way that mission hurt. It all feeds back into the greater betrayal that's the only thing that drives him.]

[Ana flinches. Her daughter was one of her weaknesses. Jack knew this. She's talked to him before everything went to hell, about how she wanted the best for her daughter, how she was afraid the job may somehow transform her into a worse mother. For him to bring it up is a low blow. She understands where his anger bubbles from, but seeing a blow coming doesn't make it hurt any less.]

I know.

[Curt. What else is there to say? There's many who'd see her retreat from the world as cowardice and selfishness. If she were in Jack's shoes, she'd see it that way. What sort of soldier abandons their comrades?

But times have changed. Neither of them are the good soldiers they were trained to be.]

I left her a letter, not long after I disappeared.

[Admitting it is cruel. To have reached out to her daughter, yes, that was understandable. Jack, Gabe? They would've expected it. Yet--]

Contacting you, however... you must understand. It was far too risky. You had many eyes watching you, Jack.

[Oh. A letter. That makes it all better, except it doesn't, because he's still the one who came back from that mission and had to break the news. Still selfish, the more rational part of him tries to say, but that side of himself wins less and less, nowadays.]

If you wanted to, you would've found a way.

[He has no doubts about that. Which means she didn't want to, for whatever reason. After everything they've been through. She'd allowed him to believe for so many years that he'd gotten her killed.]

I know you.

Would it have helped?

[If he's going to hit the heart of the issue, so will she.]

We both know how you can get. [Too heroic, too dedicated, all too at risk of crashing and burning.] And you put yourself off the grid long before I could.

Maybe.

[He shrugs, a little desperately, because he doesn't know. Maybe it would have helped. Maybe he'd have known from the start that he wouldn't have to do this alone, and things would have been different.

But it seems like she's hit on something that he admits is true, because he's raising his hand to his visor, releasing the clasps on his mask. When he lets his arm fall to his side, it's with his ~~big ol anime eyes~~ face exposed.]

I do know we couldn't hold it together without you.

[For as much of a pillar as he tried to be, he'd never really recovered from that mission, and Reyes hadn't either.]

[Now there's a face she missed. How long has it been since she's seen someone familiar? Most of their old platoon is gone--discharged, dead, missing. Finding their Overwatch teammates was impossible with the restrictions in place. It was good to have someone she could trust on her side once again.

With a small smile, Ana shakes her head and takes a step closer.]

Things were getting complicated. If I was there, my presence would've only been a temporary solution.

[A good sniper knows positioning is everything. You can't see your target if you're in the thick of the storm. However--]

I'm sorry. [For vanishing. For failing to carry out her duty as a protector.] But I must ask: where is Reyes?

[He feels exposed all at once, but he tries to resist the urge to snap his visor back in place. 76 has to remind himself that this is Ana, that he has nothing to be worried about, because she's had his back for thirty years--but things are different now. She's always been very good at scrutinizing, and he can't help but feel her eyes on him.

But he's taking a step with her, meeting her in the middle, and his fingers twitch, like he wants to reach out and touch to make sure that she's real. He wants to answer her, accept the apology and then offer his own, but he's struggling to even be this close.

It's only the mention of Reyes that brings him back to Earth. He frowns deeply, resisting the urge to turn away.]

He's a gun for hire. [As far as he can tell, anyway. 76 wants to think he's playing Talon by working with them, but he can't be sure.]

I'm sure you saw the museum footage. Running with Talon. But whatever he is now, he's not--

[Not right. Not human.]

Edited 2016-08-22 17:33 (UTC)

call me out ver. 2!

soulja boy

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