Save Him One More Time

Chapter 4

"Thanks, doc." Reyes put his shoulder through its range of motion, satisfied with the results. "That thing you have there is a real lifesaver. How long would that have taken if you hadn't done that?" She shrugged. "Three months, maybe, to heal completely. But there'd be scar tissue and possibly permanent damage." She yawned. "Now if you're ready to go back to your quarters, I've got a sniper to release." He nodded and left. "Thanks again, Angela."

Six-thirty AM. Angela flopped on her bed, her staff falling to the floor. She had thirty minutes before the debriefing. And she intended to make the most of them.
Far too soon someone pounded on her door and said, "Five minutes." She heard him continuing down the hall. She yawned probably the largest yawn she'd ever yawned, nearly throwing her jaw out, as she stood up and stretched. Far too early, it was. She was in the middle of fastening the back of her jumpsuit she wore under her armor when Jack pounded on the door and said, "Angela? Debriefing is now. You alright in there?" She called back, "Almost ready, Commander." She pulled on some shoes and opened the door. He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She knew she looked tired, and she was. They passed a break station. "Coffee?" Morrison offered. "Thank you, Commander," she said, getting herself a cup. It was long empty when they reached the debriefing room.

"Right. So does everyone know what they'll be doing? Reinhardt?" He received a nod. "Good. Tracer?" Ditto the nod, plus an eager smile. "Ana? Winston?" Morrison nodded to himself, satisfied with his team. "Mercy?" She nodded and sighed. "Late night," she responded to the several confused looks she got. "Angela, if you can't do this mission, then I understand. We'll be careful." She shook her head. "I'll be fine, Commander." Morrison didn't seem satisfied but didn't press the issue. "Alright then. Departure in T minus 30. Suit up, team."

Angela cursed under her breath. They were pinned down, just out of sight of the other group. Ana was working on getting to a vantage point, but she was barely able to move with all the bastion fire. Even Reinhardt's shield was starting to wear down. A bullet grazed her wing and she yelped. "Morrison, we're stuck here!" Reinhardt growled into the comms, his feet sliding a few inches with a barrage of bullets. A sudden flash blinded them all, and shots came from all around them. Angela cowered deeper into her dent in the rubble, yelling, "Call me if you need healing!" She couldn't see. She touched her finger to her nose and still couldn't see it. All she could see was light, from the flash. Something heavy hit the ground with a thud. "Reinhardt?" She groped her way toward the sound's origin, staying as low as possible to avoid getting shot herself and flinched when she touched metal, feeling her way to the helmet. She pulled it off, and felt for a pulse. A breathless moment followed. There it was. Strong but slow. She pulled her staff off her back and pulled the trigger. The sound of activating nanobots filled her ears and she heard Reinhardt sit up. "Reinhardt. Are you alright now?" He touched her face. "I'm fine, Mercy, but I'm worried about you. Your eyes look strange." She rubbed them. "I can't see a thing. They're probably very dilated." She heard him narrow his eyes. "I don't think so. Let's get you to a safe place and get Ana to look at them." He scooped her up and set her down with her back in a corner. "Just lean back and close your eyes. Any enemies coming this way will think you're dead." He stomped off, trying to find Ana. Angela decided her best chance of survival was to do as he said. She hadn't laid there very long before the battle stopped. Footsteps approached and stopped close to her. She held her breath. "Angela?" Reyes? What was he doing here? She heard him come closer and jumped when she felt his hand on her neck. He sighed. "You're alive. Thank God, I was worried there for a minute." She tried to look at him, but she still couldn't see. He noticed. "What happened to your eyes, doc?" She made an explosion motion with her hands, accidentally hitting him in the face. "Some kind of flash grenade went off, I couldn't see, everyone started shooting at once and then we nearly lost Reinhardt. He left me here, said he was going to find Ana so she could tell what's wrong with my eyes." She finished her short narrative with a question. "Can you tell me how my eyes look?"
"Uh... Kind of like a cat's. You know how cats' eyes get at night, all big and round? That's kind of what they look like." She shook her head. "Well, a good sleep will fix that. But right now I need to be in total darkness. Can you keep an eye out for anything?" and she covered her eyes with her hands.
Reyes pulled his hat off. Might work better. He pried her hands off her face and shoved his hat down over her eyes. "Maybe this will work better." She put her hands on top of it.
"Thanks." He nodded. "Not a problem."

Ana never got to see Angela before the mission flopped and they had to evacuate. On the ride back to the base Morrison growled something about how they had it under control and Reyes shouldn't have come in, he'd only made things worse, and how lucky they were only a flash grenade went off and how they could have lost someone. Reyes growled something back about how it didn't look that way. Jack opened his mouth to say more, but Ana smacked him on the arm and told him to shut up unless he had something nice to say. She moved over near Angela. "How are your eyes, Angela?" Angela pulled the beanie off, squinting, her eyes looking more normal. "I can see you now, but it's very dark in here and what I can see is very blurry." Ana nodded. "The blurriness is to be expected, if you put any pressure at all on your eyes. And the fact that you can see me at all is good. I'll check up on them when we get back, but for now you need to just keep them covered, alright?" Angela nodded, replacing the hat over her eyes.

The ride had seemingly lasted forever, but they were finally back at the base and Angela set about brightening the clinic as much as she could so she could see to patch people up. Morrison had a few surface wounds, and Winston had taken a bullet to the arm, but they were quickly healed. Angela didn't look up from paperwork when the door opened for the seventh time, expecting Ana to be there for her post-battle examination. She merely held out a clipboard and said, "Please state your name, any injuries and the nature of your visit here and I'll be right with you." Reyes' voice made her jump.
"I'm fine, Angela." She looked up, slightly flustered. "Why are you here then? Is your shoulder bothering you?" He shook his head. "No. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Also, I need my hat back, if you've still got it."Angela rummaged around in a drawer for a little bit before coming up with a black beanie. "Your hat." She put her clipboard down and stood up. "Ana says my eyes will be fine within the next day or so. It's all as if I'm working in candlelight but I can see now." She added, as an afterthought, "Thank you, Commander. Most of the others don't usually ask." He raised a finger. "It's Gabe." She sighed. "Gabe." He smiled and nodded. "Well then, if you're alright, I guess I'll be heading to my meeting with the boy scout himself." She raised an eyebrow and sat down, going back to her paperwork. "Alright, then. Goodbye, Gabe."

(Author's note: Okay y'all, I'm sorry for the shorter chapter. I'm crazy busy in real life and it's starting to give me writer's block. But in other news, thank you guys so much for all the reads and a special thanks to those who voted for the story. You guys mean the world to me.)