The Villain Wrangler | Overwatch

Chapter 38

Jack paused outside the door, head cocked as he heard voices. He slid the door open, huffing a laugh as he saw a laptop propped in front of the tank. He sauntered in, dropping into the free chair and watched the show on the screen.

"Ange brought M*A*S*H? I always liked it." He looked around, finally spotting her curled up on the hospital bed.

He rose and draped a blanket over her, brushing her hair off her cheek. She grumbled and burrowed under the blanket. He settled back down, recognizing the early scenes of "Abyssinia, Henry", and not wanting Gabe to watch that episode alone.

—

Angelica shut off the laptop after the end credits, studying the tank with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, the finale... There's technically a sequel, but I've heard it's not that great."

"It's not," Jack said, rubbing a hand down her back. "They undo all the character development for the ones who starred in it." He studied the glass. "You okay, Sweetheart?"

Gabe swirled in the tank while they laughed.

"Well, you could watch the movie, or I could find another one somewhere," Angelica started.

"Or, you could wait in the hall for a few minutes, and then decamp to your quarters together," Angela said.

Angelica grinned, then stabbed a finger at the tank. "Behave."

She shooed Jack out, leaving Angela to her work.

—

Angela nodded to herself, making a few adjustments.

"Very good. Try now."

Gabe sighed and pulled himself together. He staggered a step once he was done, surprised. He narrowed his eyes as he tensed and relaxed various muscles, confused. He was more solid than he'd been in a while.

"That'll take some getting used to," he muttered.

He looked down when he heard a noise. There were four inky blobs clustered at his feet.

"Ah. That... I don't know what those are," Angela said, watching them.

Gabe sighed and picked one up. It made a cheeping noise, and a swirl of white gathered, forming something similar to his mask. He looked down and saw the mask echoed on the other three.

"Think they might be the nanites," he said, turning the one he held to face Angela.

She furrowed her brow. "Well. That was unexpected. Leave them in the tube, and I'll study them."

He stepped out of the tube, setting the blob with its fellows as the door hissed closed. The blobs started fussing, an dhe thought the cheeping sounded like "Die, die, die". He grinned at them and made his way out to the waiting room.

Angelica was curled on Jack's lap, poking at a datapad as he walked in.

"Hey," He grinned as she shot to her feet. Jack just glared at him and stayed seated.

Angelica flung her arms around his neck. "Any problems?"

He hugged her, brushing his lips over her temple. "It's harder to do the whole smoke monster thing. And there's blobs."

There was a faint "Ange!" and he looked down. The blobs had escaped and were clustered around his ankles. They had formed tiny arms and were reaching out to Angelica insistently.

"What? Oh, they're cute!"

She picked one up, smiling as it cheeped "Ange!" at her. Jack rose, interested. One of the ignored ones began chanting "Jack! Jack!" until he scooped it up.

"Well, they seem to have your taste in companions," Angelica commented, bending over to scoop up another one. "Come on, cuties. Angela needs to check you out. I promise I'll come back for you, okay?"

She set the cheeping blobs on a table, giving them a few comforting pats. Jack silently set the other two next to hers and moved away.

"Now, you be good for Angela, understand?"

She grinned at them and turned to go.

"Right. I need to talk to the board of directors for Shooting Star in a bit, and-"

Jack kissed her temple. "Orca's ready to go, and we can hold down the fort here for a few hours."

She sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I just hate going to meetings that would be better as emails. Let me know what's going on with the bean things. And keep an eye on Gabe."

"I'm right here, you know," he drawled, draping an arm over her shoulders.

She arched a brow at him. "And you've made it abundantly clear you don't look after yourself. Neither of you do."

"We're doing better!" Jack exclaimed, offended.

She hummed, thinking. "Better than you were. Not as good as you could." She sighed and nuzzled closer to Gabe. "Sorry. This... I've been worried."

"You're allowed. Now, go and snap at your old boss. We'll figure out why Ana wasn't at Rialto."

—

Angelica grinned wolfishly at the Board of Directors.

"As my firing was unjustified, I see no reason why I should do anything to benefit Shooting Star. However, these children should not be punished for your shortcomings. Therefore, Overwatch will work with Shooting Star, on the condition that Richard Anderson has nothing to do with the team we work with."

Anderson sputtered as one of the directors inclined his head. "Agreed. We reviewed the termination, and will ensure that you receive your severance pay as well."

She smiled and filled out the necessary paperwork, recommending Sharona as Overwatch's point of contact and going through the minutiae of charity work. She made her way back to the Orca, ignoring Anderson's pleas for attention. He was following alongside her, apparently frantic to keep his position. She met the eye of one of the directors and shook her head before boarding.

She sat with a sigh as the doors slid closed.

"What's with him?" Lena asked as she prepped the jet for takeoff.

Angelica rolled her eyes. "He's lazy, and has figured out how to sound impressive on paper without actually doing his job. He's getting bumped down to what I did, and he'll be out on his ass in a month, tops." She stretched, glancing at the datapad beside her. "There's a slim chance he'll manage to pull his head out of his ass and actually become a decent agent, but that's unlikely."

She swore when her datapad pinged. "Well, they finally caught Ana. But-"

"You aren't going back."

She smiled fondly at Lena's back. "No. Hanzo's loaning us the hotel again, and since he and Genji are planning on reining in their family, we get to be support."