In Moira’s Origin story, we see Moira testing on Gabriel Reyes. There is a look of fear, of terror in his eyes as smoke rises from his body… The very smoke that will drift off his skin non-stop in the future as he becomes “Reaper”
Gabe came to Moira in search of power…in search of gaining an advantage. As a previous subject to the Super Soldier Enhancement program, he was already powerful…but not quite as powerful as Jack Morrison, Overwatch’s “poster child.”
Moira, desperate to advance her technology at any cost, knew this would happen. While unsure of how her technology would react with the Super Soldier Enhancement, she did not tell Gabe everything. She would not just give him an advantage.
She would make him into an advantage.
Why Gabe?
Experimenting on Gabe would allow Moira to understand her technology better, as the only trials she’d conducted had been on animals, such as rabbits.
Did Moira test on herself? She was ready to…yet experimenting with death had no returns. Fearful for her own sake, she tested on Gabe to get a better grasp of her technology, so she could perfect it.
This led to Gabriel Reyes losing his form, possibly even dying. He went to Mercy to be healed, to be saved.
Yet Gabriel Reyes could not be saved. Instead, he became Reaper and was born anew with a passionate hatred for Overwatch, the very organization that pushed him to become what he was.
With the experiments on Gabriel complete, Moira finally gained a better understanding of her work. Seeing Reaper consume health from others, she learned how to perfect her own abilities to heal into a more concentrated stream while dealing damage.
With Reaper’s teleportation and drift, she learned how to concentrate her powers enough to allow her fade ability.
Moira used Gabe to advance herself.
And with Gabriel Reyes’s death and birth as Reaper, Moira was able to become who she was;
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 