Wunderkind

1.14-Fish Scaler

WAR ROOM

JACK CAN'T SAY HE'S MISSED THE STARING CONTESTS

Jack's legs are aching from the crouch he's been holding. It's been too long since I've looked Matty Webber eye to eye. His eyes are getting dry, but he's not about to blink first.

This isn't about him. He already knows she's still holding a grudge from Panama. And Nepal. And Shanghai. She's made that abundantly clear already. His evaluation was a persistent onslaught of questions about his recent missions, whether he's been filing the proper reports in each case, whether he's waiting on clearance from command before making decisions. He knows it's all for show. Matty won't fire him, she knows he's a competent agent and that his penchant for going off-script in the field has saved a lot of lives. She just likes giving him hell for it. And she wants to remind him who's boss.

No, what's stressing Jack out isn't Matty's opinion of him. It's her opinion of Mac. When she shifted from asking about Jack's performance to asking about Mac's, he could tell her tone was different. This wasn't her slightly annoyed but mostly jerking-the-leash tone. It was a bitter, cold, angry one.

And the questions she asks have been worrying. A lot about Mac's field performance, specifically when he decides to break the rules or disobey direct orders. The questions are clearly phrased with an end goal in mind; to make Mac appear disobedient, reckless, and dangerous.

Jack lost his barely retained composure after just four questions. "Why don't you ask him to his face, Matty? He has an eval with you too, you know." Jack knows he's not the right person to explain Mac. He doesn't understand the kid's crazy side himself. But he does know Matty's wrong about him.

That's what brought on the current state of affairs. With both of them refusing to give an inch. And then Jack's left thigh cramps painfully, he gasps, and blinks. Matty smiles. "Looks like I win, Dalton. Again."

"Matty," Jack says quietly, "I know you and I have had our issues..."

"Issues, Jack?" The sarcastic tone cuts. "If you'd call the Chernobyl meltdown an 'issue' then yes, we have issues."

"I get that. We have a lot to work through. But please don't take it out on my team."

"If they can't take the way the real espionage world works, then they shouldn't be a part of it," Matty says sharply. "Thornton ran a loose ship. For all her stiffness and coldness, the 'Ice Queen' had too big a heart. Taking in strays and lost causes and trusting them so completely." It's typical Matty Webber, business before heart, seeing the big picture. It makes her a hell of a covert ops director. But it also makes it hard to get her to trust.

Jack knows Riley can take the heat. Jack was still partly under Matty's leadership when he was assigned to work with Riley, so both of them have had their share of brutal debriefs, before Matty got promoted and they got Carstairs as handler. He's not too worried about Cage, and Bozer...well, Bozer could probably charm anyone into liking him; if he really wants to. But Mac...the kid's traumatized and not technically a trained operative. He reacts to harsh criticism by believing it fully, because all he sees in himself is a failure and a disaster.

"Just...please don't let what you think of me influence what you think of Mac." He gives her the best pleading eyes he can muster. "Why are you doing this to him? He's already been cleared by a full CIA investigative team."

"I have my reasons for my actions regarding Angus MacGyver," Matty says coldly. "They have nothing to do with my assessment of you."

Jack sighs. It's all he's going to get from her. "Are we done here?"

"Yes." Jack goes to the door; he can see the others watching him from around a corner. He has to smile. Riley, Cage, Mac and Bozer look like the cover of a mystery novel, heads poked around the corner at all heights. The second Jack steps out they disappear.