GU Character Intro [2/?] - Gunner Wolfe
Dan shot her a look. It said, I said what I said for a reason, Rox. Gunner hated that look. Hated the conversation in Dan’s eyes and the infallible rightness of Dan’s decisions. Out of all of them, Dan was the most functional, the most adult, the most likely to make something of himself. And here he was, lecturing Gunner on safety, as if he didn’t have better things to do.
Anger boiled in the pit of Gunner’s stomach. He bit it down; there was nothing productive in this anger. It was the anger of the wounded, and it was an anger Gunner knew far too well. He took a deep breath. Prepared to brace himself against the flame so that Dan could finish his lecture unmolested.
Dan didn’t lecture. Instead he said, “Put your hood down. You look ridiculous.”
Gunner blinked, confused, but his hands did as they were told. Dan sucked in a breath when the disaster that was Gunner’s face came into full focus. Rox was silent, unemotive.
Gunner hated himself for this, for the pain his injury caused others. It wasn’t that he meant to hurt himself (not anymore, not for years, he wouldn’t do that again, he’d promised Dan) but that he lacked the control to stay away from the GSA. Interference was in his blood; for as long as Gunner had been alive, he had felt the wrath of GSA operatives.
He didn’t want anyone else to suffer that pain.