STTA 18: Epilogue

[moonshadows]

“That was the most unpleasant experience I’ve ever had in a bathroom,” Gabriel said, looking at the tray of gleaming marble-sized spheres that used to be his nanite swarm. “Yes, worse than that time I did the vodka and hot wings dare – which I won, thank you very much – and I’m also counting the time I got cornered and stabbed with a dirty knife.”

Jack chuckled while Angela looked like she was trying to pretend she hadn’t heard any of that.

“I don’t anticipate any negative reactions from being separated from the swarm,” she said with a cautionary note, “but I’d like you to stay for a day or two just in case.”

“Of course.” Gabriel grinned at his husband. “I can show Jack the shitty motel I woke up in.”

“We’re not staying there, Gabe.”

“Trust me, once was enough. But the pizza place around the corner is pretty good.” He left a quick kiss on Jack’s cheek and turned back to Angela. “So, uh…what are you going to do with…them?”

Angela calmly poured the spheres into a container of some clear liquid. “I have been working with Sombra to understand how their programming changed in response to drastic environmental stimulus-”

“Sorry about your bathroom,” Gabriel interjected, wincing.

Jack looked at him sharply. “Wait. Are you saying that was worse than burning to death?”

“Considering I remember about two minutes of being loopy as balls and then some heat and then I woke up in a bathtub wearing the edgiest outfit known to man? Yes.”

“-and the process that let you return to your own body,” Angela continued forcefully. “This could mean an end to the need for prosthetics, depending on what the swarm was unable to replicate for itself.”

“You mean the things I had to eat people for.”

Angela winced. “Yes. Also, Sombra has expressed interest in following your lead, so we are…working with the Omnium to develop a process for that.”

“Yee-haw,” Jack muttered.

“We are also looking into using nanites as an alternative for sex reassignment surgery. Your experiences, Gabriel, may one day allow millions of people to live comfortably in their own bodies.”

He and Jack exchanged a wordless look. “That would make everything worth it,” he said quietly.

Jack cleared his throat. “So. ‘Fuck you Petras’ party for the big repeal in three months?”

Angela wrinkled her nose at him, but she was smiling. “And celebrating the return – both from the shadows and from the dead – of some very dear friends. You have been very secretive in Dorado with Jesse and Sombra, and we are all very eager to hear what you have been up to.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for the party.” Jack said blandly, sliding one arm around his sweetheart.

“Yeah.” Gabriel leaned into his husband’s embrace. “Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

---

The manager of the hotel was pretty sure they were being pranked. But whoever was behind it had deep pockets to reserve a block of their best rooms (including a couple of suites) and one of their event rooms, plus a generous deposit in case of damages and a “outside catering fee” that he could only assume was a bribe, since such a fee did not exist. It had to be a prank, staging the scene for a week-long Overwatch reunion starting the night before the public spectacle that would be the repeal of the Petras Act. But the caterers confirmed that they had been hired, and when he reached out to Dr. Ziegler on some spurious excuse, she confirmed that she would be there.

Still…the names the rooms were put under…

Yes, Reinhardt Wilhelm and Torbjörn Lindholm were still around, and it was possible the later would bring some of his adult children, but Winston? He was the gorilla scientist from the moon who’d gone missing, wasn’t he? And Amélie Lacroix – that was the famous dancer who’d been kidnapped and never found, the one who’s married that murdered Overwatch official. “Genji” could only be the Shimada cyborg from the Venice mess – there’s no way he would just show up at one of the finest hotels in Zurich, would he?

And then, of course, there were the three dead people.

No, it had to be a prank – and not a kind one, not with inviting Captain Amari’s daughter. But the payment had cleared, so it was out of his hands. He would simply make sure he was there to watch who checked in and see what sort of imposters tried to pass themselves off as Morrison, Reyes, and Amari.

---

“…sure this is our hotel?” an American man was saying as he stepped into the lobby.

The woman with exotic hair and even more exotic cranial augmentations huffed. “Yes, Jesse, this is the hotel. I am the one who made the reservations.”

They walked up to the desk, with two children running up to them dragging little suitcases and two older men following with the rest of the luggage. That wasn’t- they looked like- but they couldn’t-

“Jesse McCree,” the American said, and he sure looked like Jesse McCree. “I guess we got a reservation for a suite with three bedrooms?”

The omnic manning the desk checked, tilted her head, and held out four key cards. “You do indeed! Would you like assistance with your luggage?”

“Nah, that’s what my dad is for,” McCree grinned. “Thanks, though.”

He took the keys and the hand of the older child and strolled towards the elevator with the woman, the younger child, and the two men who could not be Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes following.

Fareeha Amari walked in a few minutes later, looking stern enough to make the manager consider quailing if she directed her ire in his direction. Dr. Ziegler arrived almost on her heels, and the two greeted each other warmly. They collected their keys and walked to the elevators together.

“Isn’t this exciting?” chirped Cynd33 once the elevators had closed.

The manager swallowed. “Yes. Exciting.”

Wilhelm and the Lindholms were next – two singles and a suite, although who the second single was for, the manager couldn’t guess. Perhaps the dwarfed mechanic and his wife, and the suite was for the gaggle of adult children and grandchildren. Cynd33 handed over the keycards and away they went, chattering.

Half an hour later, someone who looked slightly too human-shaped to be an omnic fairly appeared at the front desk and claimed he was Genji. The Japanese accent was a nice touch.

Ten minutes after that, Lena Oxton checked in with a lovely young lady and that was the gorilla, this was really happening. The manager was starting to give serious thought to raiding the hotel bar before retiring for the night.

When the older woman with an eye patch walked in talking quietly with Amélie Lacroix and gave her name as Ana Amari, he decided that drinking was the only sane response. Amari smiled knowingly at him with kindness and pity in her eye, as if she understood how insane this all was.

Cynd33 was beside herself with excitement.

---

“Ready?” Jesse asked as they stood outside the event room. Everyone else had gathered inside.

Jason took his hand. “Yes, daddy.”

“Ready,” Jade said in her little voice, clinging to Sombra’s hand.

He nodded to Gabriel and Jack, who flung the doors open and strode in.

“Everyone,” Gabriel called, attracting every eye in the room and silencing all other conversation, “I am beyond pleased to introduce my adopted son’s adopted children: Jason and Jade!”

The silence erupted into cheerful cacophony, congratulations and greetings overlapping. Torbjörn could be heard growling, “About time you fuckers had grandkids. I thought I’d never see the day.” Then one voice cut through all the rest with the indignation only a mother could produce.

“Gabriel Reyes!” Ana chided. “How could you do this? How could you let Jesse adopt those poor kids?” she demanded, standing on a chair with her hands on her hips while Fareeha covered her face. “…Without telling me so I could spoil them?” Ana finished with a broad grin, hopping down to dart forward and scoop Jade into a hug.

Reinhardt leaped to his feet with an equally-outraged bellow. “There’s grandkids and I didn’t get to spoil them?”

By the time he’d edged around the chairs to charge Jason, the curly-haired child was already charging him and he caught the boy in a tight hug, spinning him around before setting him down again.

It was a few minutes before the grandchild hubbub died down, with many hugs and congratulations exchanged. Jason and Jade and the Lindholm grandkids formed a cluster off in one corner, leaving the adults to collectively demand details.

“Mexico doesn’t let omnics own property yet,” Jesse began with an arm around Sombra, “much less adopt. And with Jack and Dad still officially dead, that left me to be the name on papers. But we didn’t really want to wait, and money has a way of overcoming certain obstacles, so while Jack was out hunting for a nice house for me to buy, me’n Dad and Sombra went to find the poorest, most run-down orphanage in Dorado and see if we couldn’t bribe our way to parenthood.”

Emily murmured something to Lena, who raised her hand.

“Question,” she chirped. “Or…I guess two questions…”

Sombra grinned. “Yes, my body is omnic, but I used to be human.”

“Okay, one question. Where did you get the money?”

“All the corrupt politicians I killed,” Gabriel said smugly. “She drained their estates before anyone even knew they were dead. Redistributed most of the wealth, but pocketed some as a sort of finder’s fee.”

Lena’s expression clouded over. “So you were Reaper.”

“Only after everything went to hell.”

“And Sombra, you’re…Jesse’s girlfriend?”

“Yes, because we can’t really get married if I don’t legally exist.”

Lena shook her head with a chagrined smile. “I don’t know which is the bigger surprise, that Jesse’s got a girlfriend or that he adopted kids before us! Sorry for the interruption. Keep going.”

Jesse grinned. “Well, we walk in – Sombra called ahead and asked about, uh, monetarily expedited adoption so they got all the kids cleaned up and had ‘em there to meet their prospective parents, right? We walk in and this cute little local girl, couldn’t be older than six, hair up in two pigtails, comes running up and hugs my legs. Looks up at me with this biiiiiig smile and these sparkling dark eyes. Says her name is Sofia and runs off. And the matron’s introducing all these kids and notices one of ‘em was missing, so she shouts for…honeysuckle, what was the name?”

“Felicia,” Sombra says dryly. “Felicia Heather, who turned out to have been outside playing in the dirt, and while the matron was hunting down the missing kid, I broke it to Jesse that Sofia had picked his pocket and I wanted to adopt her.”

“Right,” Jesse chuckled, not even remotely embarrassed. “So the matron shoos this dirty little eight-year-old into the room, and the kid whips out a rubber-band gun and nails me right in the forehead. From half the room away! So obviously, these were the kids we wanted.”

Gabriel started laughing. “You can’t leave out the best part,” he wheezed. “Picture it: Jesse’s standing there like he’s been poleaxed, the matron’s ready to give the kid a spanking they’ll never forget, terrified that the man with lots of money is going to walk out, and Jesse shouts YOU GET THAT ONE, I'LL GET THIS ONE! and lunges for the kid with the rubber-band gun while Sombra grabs the pickpocket and holds her under one arm, wrists in her other hand.”

Jack gave him a teasing look. “Didn’t you tell me that you stood in the background rubbing your hands together and muttering yeeeeesssss, those are excellent grandchildren, I will teach them all the bad habits, this will be great?”

A bark of laughter burst out of Ana, who pretended unconvincingly that it was a cough.

“So the matron is beside herself,” Jesse continues, grinning broadly. “We’ve just picked out the two most troublesome kids. Sofia was dumped on them after she was caught pickpocketing a rich tourist; if she had parents, they bailed. And Felicia had been abandoned there shortly after birth, probably by a local whore who got knocked up by some white tourist. But somewhere around four or five, Felicia started demanding to be called Jason and developed an allergy to all things girly. Acted out. Got dirty. Threw fits at being called Felicia. Chased away prospective parents. So the matron’s sure we’re gonna demand the money back. Doesn’t believe us that nah, these are the kids we want, but she lets me sign the papers and Dad carries our new struggling troublemaker out to the car.”

Sombra leaned in to kiss him. “And then he opens the passenger door and goes So, your name’s Jason, right? How’d you like to ride up here with me, Jason? and just like that Jason calms down. I’d buckled Sofia into the middle of the back seat, and she pipes up with If Jason gets to pick his name, can I pick my name, too?”

Jesse’s proud smile almost didn’t fit on his face. “And that’s when I learned I had a son.”

The hugs, tears, and exclamations of ‘that’s wonderful!’ went on for a couple of minutes.

“We’re still arguing over what school to send them to,” Jack said dryly when everyone had quieted back down. “Gabe wants to homeschool them-”

“None of the schools in Dorado allow brass knuckles or pocket knives! I’m not sending my grandkids to a school that doesn’t let them defend themselves in a fight!”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Gabe. Sweetheart. Kids aren’t supposed to fight in school.”

Gabriel crossed his arms stubbornly. “But then where are they going to learn it?”

“From us, babe.”

“We’re looking into martial arts lessons,” Sombra deadpanned.

Fareeha smiled at her mother. “It worked well for me.”

“Did you find a house?” Amélie asked Jack in a soft voice.

For a moment, he looked startled, as if he’d forgotten she was there – or that she was no longer blue-skinned. Then he shook his head and smiled. “I did. Absolutely gorgeous mansion in the middle of a quiet residential area. Walled property, gardens, pool, the works. But it wasn’t for sale.”

“A shame,” Genji murmured.

Jack grimaced. “The next week, the guy who owned the property put it up for sale, cheap, cash preferred. Apparently someone aired his dirty laundry and he had to flee the country. So it’s ours now, complete with appliances, furniture, artwork, and everything else he couldn’t stuff into a pair of suitcases and haul away.”

Angela pinned the hacker with a sharp look. “Sombra, did you have something to do with that?”

“Of course not!” False affront melted into a smug grin. “I had everything to do with it. What? It’s not like I lied. He did everything he was accused of.”

Winston scowled. “Jesse, you’re…okay…with your fiancé doing things like this?”

The cowboy shrugged. “'I joined Talon to keep an eye on my dad,” he pointed out. “I think we can all agree my morals are questionable at best.”

“Considering the fact that your joining Talon led to my mother returning from the dead,” Fareeha said, “I can find no fault in your actions.”

“England’s close to establishing some really sturdy Omnic rights,” Lena pointed out. “That’s Sombra’s work, Winston, didn’t you say?”

Jack nodded. “And the Petras Act being repealed, too.”

“That’s not the most important thing my cowboy son and hacker daughter-in-law managed to do through their questionably legal actions,” Gabriel declared, challenging everyone else to refute him.

Torbjörn grunted. “Okay, I’ll bite.”

Gabriel held his left hand out proudly, flame-stained titanium glinting from his ring finger. “Once we’re legally alive again, we’re going to Vegas to renew our vows.”

Ana’s eye fairly sparked. “Gabriel…”

“And you’re all invited,” he huffed. “Come on, Ana, you think I’m dumb enough to get myself killed when I have the rest of my life ahead of me to spend with my husband and my family?”

Lena frowned. “Your ring…aren’t you going to clean it?”

“No,” he said softly as Jack took his hand and kissed it. “It’s a reminder that what we have is all the more precious for having almost lost it.”

“We would have lost everything if not for Jesse and Sombra.” Jack’s voice was just as soft, and he pulled his sweetheart into a gentle embrace. “I wasted years trying to solve all the world’s problems and taking Gabe for granted. Well, the world’s on its own. That’s not my fight anymore.”

Ana gave him a slight smile. “Whatever happened to I’m a soldier; our war’s never over, Jack?”

“I retired,” Jack said with a shrug. “The only battle I want to fight is the battle to spoil this handsome bastard more than he spoils me.”

“And the battle to see who tops when we go to bed,” Gabriel murmured, smirking into his husband’s shoulder.

Jesse covered his eyes with a strangled sound. “Aw, Dad, we didn’t need to know that!”

“Yeah,” Sombra added, just a hair too dryly for genuine indignation. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Gabriel’s smirk widened. “Yee-haw.”

Jack grinned at Sombra and shook his head while everyone else groaned.