Save Him One More Time

Chapter 10

An entire year flew past without anyone noticing. Maybe Ana's hair gained a few strands of gray, but she disposed of those as they came and no one knew any different. Maybe Morrison's temper grew even shorter, maybe the fights between him and Reyes went from words to curses to blows, but who would have been surprised? Everyone shook their collective head somberly and knew it was only a matter of time before one of them killed the other. Maybe Dr. Ziegler and Commander Reyes spent nights together frequently, often holding each other after a nightmare, but who watches the agents' quarters at night, to say it was true? Everyone knew about them, but no one talked about it. For them it had been obvious from the start, and they were not surprised. The one thing that everyone noticed, though, and they could not help but to notice, was the amount of publicity they got, suddenly. They had barely gotten out alive of one mission and all of a sudden they had the UN down the backs of their necks, scrutinising every move they made, criticising and threatening. Threatening to disband the entire organisation. Overwatch was only a name now, they said. The world was at peace again, for the most part. Everyone knew that was a lie. The words, "at peace again," were what they had been fighting for over the past years and they were nowhere near that goal. They knew. They had eyes on the front lines. They knew for sure. But now, where would they go? If Overwatch was dissolved, what would they do? This was their life, had been since the Omnic Crisis, nearly twenty years ago. They had left everything for this. None of them really had a home outside of Overwatch. Almost none of them had any surviving family. So they followed every order they were given, in hopes of being allowed to remain as Overwatch, as the only family they'd known in a very long time.

And then the day came.
Location: Ilios.
The mission: Escort the payload through the city to a safe place, then guard the transfer of the cargo.

A simple enough command, they'd successfully pulled off similar missions in far worse places. They would leave at 0900 hours. Angela went to find Reyes after the debriefing. They'd made a habit of telling each other about their missions, joking to the other to stay alive and this one was no different.

He was surprised by the apparent ease of the mission.
"So you'll be back sometime this afternoon, if it's as easy as the UN says?"
"Yes. I'm rather surprised they called us in, since Ilios is one of the more peaceful locations."
He took her hands gently.
"Be careful, Angel. A mission this easy is bound to have an ambush, or be some kind of trap." She smiled and kissed him lightly. "I'm really not the one you should be telling that to, Gabe, but of course. I'm a doctor. Being careful is the first thing I learned." The five-minute warning rang out and he wrapped his arms around her protectively, and they kissed, not knowing if they would ever see each other alive again. She pulled away, and he kissed her hands as she backed up.
"Come back to me, Angel." She smiled as she turned around and called over her shoulder, "Heroes never die, Gabe. I'll come back."

The mission was a failure. The payload was a shipment of explosive compounds. They were ambushed by a couple of Junkers. Why the Junkers were in Ilios and not Australia was anybody's guess. But they managed to blow the payload sky-high, injuring nearly everyone. Ana had informed them of a sniper, gone to deal with it, and never returned. They searched for several hours but never found a trace of her. Angela's staff was broken, she was wounded and no one could wake her up. Morrison managed to get the bleeding stopped, but none of the remaining agents knew in the slightest how to fix her staff. Reinhardt was injured but conscious and coherent. Even Tracer, with her ability to rewind her own timeline, wasn't left untouched. The payload was gone, blown to pieces. Half the team was down. So they left, several teammates down and the city burning.

He heard the shuttle coming through the base, towards the clinic and ran outside. It had taken them several hours past estimation and he'd gotten worried about Angela. He saw Reinhardt limping out of the way, carrying Tracer, and someone he didn't want to recognise laying on a stretcher. But a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him exactly what had happened. No. She'd promised to be careful. What happened to them? Morrison climbed out behind the stretcher, a hand to his side, and started pushing the stretcher inside. He saw Gabe standing there and waved him over. Reyes hurried to the stretcher, afraid of what he would see.
"Look, Reyes. The mission was a failure. I don't think they're going to let us off the hook with this one." He sighed and winced, gripping his side a little tighter. "Ana's gone, Reyes. Mercy's down, Reinhardt's injured, Tracer's hurt, I got hit. None of us made it out okay." He looked down at the ground, and Gabe looked down at Angela. No, por la virgen Maria, no. His thoughts became screams. Angela, wake up, come on, ¡por favor, despierta! She was covered in soot and blood, and someone had tried field dressing several wounds. Morrison interrupted his thoughts.
"I never thought I'd have to do this, Reyes, but we're down both healers. You got any?" Gabe looked up at him. "Tal ve- uh, I might." Morrison stabbed aggressively at his chest with a bloody finger. "Look, Reyes. She-" he pointed at Angela- "is going to die if someone doesn't do something. They-" he pointed at Reinhardt and Tracer- "are going to die if someone doesn't do something. This isn't the time for ambiguous answers. What the $#&% does 'I might' even mean?"
Gabe sighed. "Look, I've got one. But whether or not she can do anything depends on whether or not she will do anything. I can't promise that she'll agree to tend all of you. She might decide to try some experimental tech on you and I don't think you want that. I'll get her to fix Angela up, and then Angela can fix you up. Deal?" He stuck out his hand. Morrison took it, but his eyes spat hatred. Reyes took the stretcher and started wheeling it to Moira's lab.

Please, hold on, Angela. Just a few more minutes. Come on, now, espera, solo unos minutos mas, come on, Angel.
He was almost running. The heart monitor built on the stretcher slowed down, from forty, to thirty, to twenty-five.
"¡Angela, no! Espera, vamos, espera, hold on, please, Angel, just a little longer!"
Twenty.
He burst through the doors to the wing with Moira's lab.
"Moira!!"
She materialised at the door, arms crossed over her chest.
"What?" She saw the unconscious medic. "I suppose you want me to heal her? Come on, then, carefully now. Don't want to move her too fast."
Fifteen.
"Can you hurry it up, Moira? $#&%, how long does it take?"
"Patience, Commander. She's got life in her yet." Moira swirled the contents of two beakers together and poured them into a small pile of black powder. The mixture fizzed.
Ten.
Gabe let out a frustrated roar.
"Moira!!! Va a morir, podrias tomar muchos tiempos-"
He trailed off to muttering under his breath in Spanish, pronouncing curses to the infinite degree on slow people like Moira.
Five.
A glowing yellow orb materialised in Moira's hand.
Four.
She dropped it lightly over the doctor's body.
Three.
It broke like a soap bubble, spreading the glow throughout her body, more intense in injured areas.
Two.
Gabe gripped the side of the stretcher, knuckles white, jaw set, a tear on his face.
The glow faded.
The heart monitor jumped to ninety.
And Angela's eyes fluttered open.

(Authors Notes:
There's a lot more Spanish in this chapter than there has been previously, due to the fact that I think people who speak multiple languages would revert to their first language under intense stress. For Gabriel Reyes, that would be Spanish. So here's a translation for the several expressions I used.
No, por la virgen Maria, no | No, by the Virgin Mary, no
Por favor, despierta | Please, wake up
Tal ve- | this is tal vez cut short. It just means "I might"
Espera, solos unos minutos mas | hold on, only a few more minutes
Espera, vamos, espera | hold on, come on, hold on
Va a morir, podrias tomar muchos tiempos | she's going to die, could you possibly take any longer

I apologise for my hiatus, I just had to set most of my extra things to the side for a little while to get stuff done, but now I'm back for at least another few weeks!
Also thank you all for all the reads and votes! You guys are the best!)