nysa

[gravemistake]

OOC

Handle: Whit
Contact: whitticus
Over 18? Yes
Characters Played: N/A

THE CHARACTER

Character Name: Gabriel Reyes
Series: Overwatch
Canon Point: Uprising, after the liberation of King’s Row.
Character Age: 51
Background: [Here!]

Additional references for optional extra content: [The Omnic Crisis] [Overwatch (organization)] [Blackwatch]

Personality: Gabriel Reyes is, more than most, a man shaped by his experiences, the product of three decades in covert ops, where duplicity and subterfuge is the name of the game. Hardened by war and difficult to impress, Reyes has spent a lifetime doing the dirty work required to keep the world safe and as such has about the attitude you’d expect—vaguely cynical, no-nonsense, and extremely serious about his high-stakes occupation. A complete hardass.

Having earned a reputation in the US military even before the whole “leading a hand-picked team to stop the robot apocalypse” thing, Reyes has a leadership style that can be described as “do whatever it takes”. He's seen immeasurable war and loss and is exceedingly pragmatic as a result, knowing intimately that the machinations of government and politics only serve to delay what needs to be done. Where his counterpart Jack Morrison exists largely in the public eye and therefore must adhere to protocol, Reyes sees no need for anything that might impede his work, which he views as absolutely vital. If there’s red tape (or say, a nation’s sovereignty) between point A and point B, well, he’ll just sneak around it. Everyone is better off sitting back and letting him do his job unobstructed.

Whether that’s true or not is debatable (and opens up a larger discussion regarding the ethics of secret black ops as part of international peacekeeping), but Reyes has been at this a long time, and likes to think he knows what's effective. He’s an intelligent, highly capable wartime commander with an eye for talent, but has difficulties translating those abilities to bureaucracy and politicking, likely the reason he was passed over for command of a peacetime Overwatch. That’s fine by him (mostly), as it affords him the opportunity to operate in the ways he sees fit, with little accountability and regard for broader repercussions. Those are for Jack to worry about.

Without the burdens of being a public figure, Reyes tends to act how he wants. Despite the sky-high expectations he has for his subordinates and the tight ship he runs, his general demeanor is almost overly-casual. He's got a sense of humor, though it tends to be on the sardonic side—even snide, when the occasion calls for it. This tends to give the impression that he just doesn’t care, however, the sarcasm is a mask for the toll his job is taking on him and the increasingly precarious situation in which he finds himself. When push comes to shove, he understands the gravity of what he does and knows that sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.

Given the decisions he’s been making for two decades, he's not above subverting orders, acting unsanctioned, or taking entire missions off the rails if he thinks it’s necessary. Reyes is arrogant, refusing to admit wrongdoing or admit to poor choices, even when his actions nearly get his team killed, betray the trust placed in him, and catalyze the decline of Overwatch. On some level, he might know he's making a mess by continuing to adhere to his methodology in a changing world, but as he grows paranoid, desperate, and isolated, all he can really do is double down.

Predictably, Reyes has a complicated relationship with his subordinates and colleagues. Jack Morrison and Ana Amari are ostensibly his closest friends—he commanded them in the Crisis and shares leadership of Overwatch with them in the years following. Their confidence in him speaks to his dependability and character, but he can just as easily be manipulative and duplicitous. He extends a “lifeline” to disgraced geneticist Moira O’Deorain but seeks her out largely to investigate his own genetic curiosities. He recruits a desperate Genji Shimada to capitalize on the cyborg’s desire for revenge against his crime syndicate family. He has no issue lying to or withholding information from Jack and Ana if he feels he needs to, taking advantage of their unconditional trust in him. Even his protegé Jesse McCree came to Blackwatch through coercion—work for Reyes, or spend a lifetime in prison. Though years later the two have developed a working relationship and rapport, there’s still residual bitterness between them. Still, when one of his agents is injured in the line of duty, Reyes is shown to be deeply troubled, implying an underlying devotion to his people, even if it manifests in less-than-healthy ways.

Ultimately, he understands that covert ops doesn’t accrue accolades, but Reyes is watching the organization he gave his life to at great personal cost and for little recognition start to crumble around him, partly due to his own actions. His friends are bound by bureaucracy and international law and won’t sanction what he believes are necessary preemptive strikes, despite the fact that they were more than willing to let him take decisive, off-the-books action when it was convenient for them. Gradually, he’s become embittered by this change in philosophy and willingness of his supposed allies to throw him under the bus, feeling cast aside by the organization he founded. Unable to take full responsibility for the mistakes he’s been making but still steadfast in his convictions, he’s finding himself in too deep, with his support system vanishes from underneath him.

If preventing total collapse this means getting in bed with the enemy, well. It certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing he’s ever done.

Powers/Abilities:
Gabriel was genetically augmented in his early twenties as part of an experimental soldier enhancement program, and as such has the following abilities:

💀 Enhanced strength - Shown to easily overpower (presumably) ordinary humans. The goal of the SEP was to create “perfect soldiers”, able to combat the omnics in ways that ordinary humans could not.
💀Enhanced speed/agility - He’s not the fastest product of the SEP, but he has augmented speed and reflexes all the same.
💀Enhanced durability/stamina - Gabriel can take punishment beyond what can be withstood by a normal human, bounces back from injury faster, and can keep going for longer.

In addition to these enhancements, Gabriel has a very particular set of skills:

💀 Combat Training - Advanced military, arms, and martial arts training. Combined with thirty+ years of combat experience, this makes him fairly lethal.
💀Command/Tactics - Extensive knowledge of tactics and experience as a military commander. Helped end the robot uprising by carrying out a series of highly technical and very dangerous asymmetrical operations.
💀 Covert Ops - Currently leads the black ops division of a global peacekeeping operation. Skilled in the delicate arts of espionage, infiltration, undercover work, interrogation, extraction, and sometimes assassination.

Power Nerfs (if applicable): He should be good to go as-is!

However, A NOTE. It’s heavily implied that Reyes is suffering from some kind of genetic issue or degenerative condition resulting from the enhancement program. At this point in canon, he’s been covertly working with a controversial geneticist to investigate the matter. This has escalated into outright experimentation on his person that will eventually result in wraith-like abilities and the constant decay and regeneration of his cells. Because canon is unclear as to exactly when he gains a usable version of these powers in the time before he fully becomes Reaper, and as he has not been shown to use them at the point I’m pulling him from, I will not be incorporating the abilities into play.

Inventory:

💀 The clothes he’s wearing, including hoodie, body armor, utility belts, and tactical beanie.
💀 The weapon of choice, a pair of shotguns.
💀 Ammo canisters—he appears to have ~8 on his person, but please limit as you see fit.

Incentives:
Well, if Earth is gone, that means he can’t be held accountable for all the repercussions of the bad decisions he’s made recently. So that’s fine.

Given the fact that at least three of his friends/colleagues are here (and from his future, no less!), he’s invested in cooperating as long as they will. Gabriel is also used to playing the long game, and without much leverage to act, he’s perfectly content to play along and learn what he can about the situation so that he can use it to his advantage later. When he finds out all the fun exciting things he’s going to do in his very near future, he might come to look at this as an opportunity—not necessarily to set things right, but to avoid what seems to be inevitable disaster.

Along those lines, there's nothing material he'd ask for, as he wouldn't necessarily trust anything the Orbiters would give him. The most he'd request is to be left to his own devices.

SAMPLES

[TDM top level]