#I'm on the gabriel reyes defense squad

[pumpkinofthedale]

With the introduction of Moira, and the discussions and scandal a lot of people (especially those who want Reyes to be an in depth complex character with motivations besides being an evil wicked meaner all along) feel right now in the fandom, I’d like to take just a moment to add my two (or perhaps even five) cents to the conversation.

What we know:

1. The SEP program tampered with the DNA of participants, of which Gabriel Reyes was a pretty early test subject

2. A terrorist known as reaper has been active for decades

3. Blackwatch has been around for a long while, likely just as long as Overwatch (post crisis), and are known for their less than ethically clean tactics that are often needed to keep Overwatch afloat and pretty in the public eye

4. Gabriel Reyes recruited Dr Moira O.Deorain into blackwatch to advise him on matters of genetics that he had a prior interest in

5. Gabriel Reyes feels fear knowing that his body is smoking (and not just because he’s a damn beautiful human hoo boy)

6. Chu confirmed that Moira has a connection to Reaper’s genetics “How can I take this and make it better”; she has both lifesteal and teleportation powers, and he teleportation seems far more refined than reaper’s

 Under the cut because this shit got long

Reyes, soldier 24, first strike commander of overwatch had his powers manifest before Moira even entered the picture. He’s soldier 24 which implies that he was in an earlier batch of SEP subjects than Jack Morrison: soldier 76. As such his DNA enhancements were very likely less stable than Morrison’s. Super Soldiers were built to win what was essentially Armageddon, they weren’t necessarily built to last.

Now we must look at things like international patent laws and tightly held government kept secrets. All Super Soldiers belong to the United States government. They are essentially property. They are likely leased to Overwatch, but at the end of the day, their remains would not be allowed to rest on foreign soil. Their genes, their very DNA is highly classified. Very likely to the point where average doctors aren’t legally allowed to do more than put a simple bandage on, and no, I am not exaggerating.

 All Super Soldiers would be sterile. They would not be allowed to pass those highly classified government owned genes on. There is no way that the US government did not sterilize every single SEP subject in order to further keep a stranglehold on those highly classified government patented and owned genetics. 

Anyone who even wished to be able to work or operated on them medically would have to go through rigorous government screenings, and would likely not be able to perform many procedures especially if they were affiliated with a foreign government. Someone like dr zeigler would likely only be able to perform simple procedures that wouldn’t in any way affect or tamper with those genes, or be able to spread any information about them. It would be the sort of offense that would land her a cell in some sort of military facility used to house terrorists. It would be that big of a deal.

Now let’s take a moment to focus once more on how this would relate to Gabriel Reyes in ways that it might not for Jack Morrison. Gabriel Reyes, an earlier subject in the SEP program likely does have less stable genetics, things that are wrong with him. But when you’re fighting things like omnics, synthetic metal people, you’re a lot less likely to notice things like passively absorbing life force because he likely can’t from synthetic organisms despite in game mechanics. 

However, once you’re working on eliminating humans who are a threat, that passive life steal is a lot more noticeable as it leaves behind some sort of noticeably damaged “drained husk” corpse. So imagine you are Gabriel Reyes for a moment, a member of the British Parliament has ties to a major human trafficking ring but there is no definitive proof. You know that this person is evil, but that he is operating on a level where Overwatch and the law cannot reach him, so as a covert operation, you kill him. You leave behind a drained corpse of a politician that was perceived to be a good man by the public. When you do the same thing a few weeks later in Cambodia, you are labeled a terrorist. Overwatch doesn’t have to know that it’s you. No one can know that it was you. You can’t have this linked back to you and jeopardizing the good work you are doing for the world even though it might not seem like it from the outside.

You stop going on so many missions because your work is too noticeable. But your conditions are deteriorating, your organs might be failing... your body wasn’t built to last. Sometimes you almost think you might be falling apart. 

At this point, Gabriel Reyes would seek out professional help, likely from the brilliant Angela Zeigler. However Zeigler is an upstanding member of Overwatch who operates legally above the board, and because she cannot legally perform any sort of gene therapy or even give advice because she can’t even properly look at his DNA, she won’t. 

Enter Moira, a geneticist without any sort of ethical qualms about doing illegal tests in the name of science. Someone who very likely would have just gone to talon without overwatch funding. Gabriel Reyes recruits her before talon can. With Blackwatch resources, he can gain access to his classified files from the US government for Moira to analyze. 

He feels fear because he is falling apart genetically, his body literally turns to smoke at times. Moira isn’t injecting anything into him in the screenshot. In fact those look more like the sorts of things used to check vital signs and electrical signals within the body. Moira doesn’t seem shocked at all, this very likely is not an experiment but rather her monitoring his vital signs or inducing some sort of state to see just how far his body is going.

“To go beyond law and what’s forbidden by morality”, what if she suggested instead of just curing his condition, they weaponized it. His body sometimes begins to smoke? Make it so bullets, objects can pass through him. Give him mobility. Give him the strength he once had and control over some of what were once essentially handicaps. 

Reyes, a tactical genius who at this point knows how much of a threat talon is, knows that if Overwatch continues down its current path it will fail. Knows that talon at this point must have pawns the UN. Blackwatch has been compromised. Anything that could make him more ready to face them would be needed even if it went against dozens of international laws.

At this point Reyes must know that Overwatch is a sinking ship; talon is too pervasive. They can’t fight them like they should. They need someone on the inside, someone who knows what to do... What better way for him to infiltrate them than to blow up Overwatch. Sure, hundreds, will die. His best friends may die by his own hand.... But won’t it be worth it to make sure another omnic crisis is averted? Isn’t killing 1000 innocents better than letting millions, hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of humans and omnics die in another crisis? Even if he has to go beyond morality to do what needs to be done... that’s his job.

He knows that Moira may even have connections to talon as well. Very likely even dropping hints about going beyond laws and morality, about how his relationships with the Overwatch cast are failing. Things that talon could sink their teeth into. He would spoonfeed the narrative they wanted and get what he needed out of it.

Reaper isn’t inherently a product of Moira’s tests, her powers come directly from observing his genetic code. “How can I make this better when I apply it to myself”. Her powers are more refined. She controls her life steal and giving of health, her teleportation is her version of going wraith; completely intangible and undetectable. 

It makes sense that she says that he was searching for a way to circumvent “their rules”. Reyes’ entire body, his genetic code, is completely classified, strangled in legal red tape. Even if he were sick and dying, he wouldn’t be able to get help from someone outside the US government, and we all know how long it would take for them to actually do anything to help him or his condition. 

I still don’t know what happened during the explosion, but I sure as heck still believe Reaper is deep cover, waiting to destroy talon from within.

My friends, I too am on the Gabriel Reyes defense squad and I too felt fear that the good and beautiful devs at blizzard would do him dirty and pull an Anakin with him. But I’ve been thinking long and hard about this, and now that I know that the first comic centered around the omnic crisis that originally portrayed Reyes as a heavily shadowed man had been cancelled, I don’t think that that’s the route they’re going to go down.

[soldseparately]

Im aware who Keith Ferguson is but he's a voice actor and makes conscious decisions about what his characters sound like accents and all. I was equivalating "White washing" to your straw man of lumping everyone who doesn't like Gabes voice as "fetishizing and racist", I mean like chill. But Tbh I was under the impression he was canonically Mexican and had at least spent some time there but now looking into it maybe I was wrong and that would explain the lack of an accent, so I was wrong.

Hey no worries my dude I’m chilling like a villain 😎

But that’s exactly my point too! Keith Ferguson is a voice actor and he has made a very conscious and purposeful decision in how he’s voicing Gabe/Reaper. He’s voiced both Bloo and Lord Hater and done “impressions” so to speak for characters like Han Solo and Lightning McQueen so obviously dude has some range. He’s chosen to voice Gabe more similar to his own speaking voice and like I said before that totally makes sense and fits within the character’s background. And I’m not saying you specifically are doing so but there are people within the fandom that seem to be disappointed Gabe doesn’t sound more “ethnic” or is “too white” and that’s real fucked up for numerous reasons but mainly because, wow, what a huge disrespect to Keith Ferguson. He’s a living, breathing human and beyond all the well earned fandom discourse I’d hate for him to have to catch wind of all this hateful and hurtful bullshit. Let the man do his job!!! Not to mention I personally think he sounds absolutely wonderful, clear, precise, and tactical but that’s neither here nor there.

And I did not say “all the people disappointed” I said “people trying to hide some thinly veiled racism”. If that doesn’t apply to you great! You can move on. You can be disappointed his voice doesn’t fit your head canon, that’s entirely fine! But there’s a difference between “oh that’s not how I’d thought he’d sound eh” and “this big, aggressive, SUPER MACHO latinooo man doesn’t sound big, aggressive, and MACHO enough!” which unfortunately quite a few people seem to be saying. Pretty much across the board fanon has seemed to given Gabe a really awful and fetishizing characterization. Can’t go read nearly any fic without seeing references to “the Latino” or his rich “chocolate/cocoa” skin or his “hot temperament”. And I’d say that yeah, some people’s disappointment in his voice is wrapped up in this (mad fucked up and racist) fanon characterization of him.

But seriously mixing up the lore is ENTIRELY understandable. Hell, Blizzard can’t even keep its fucking Overwatch lore straight. But for the most part the characters backgrounds and nationalities have stayed consistent. It does seem to be implied that Gabe is possibly Mexican-American but he’s never been implied to be any other nationality. But again that’s an understandable mix-up, just probably you don’t wanna go around using phrases like “the racist card” because that’s not a great look.

Also I did warn you that you came onto a ding-dong nonsense blog. I mainly lurk on here anymore which means given the opportunity/motivation to actually write, oh honey I will.

[thefloorisbalaclava]

Just ordered my Gabriel Reyes defense squad button! I'm so excited!!!