[ Snake has also been forcing himself not to jump to conclusions. Angela is a busy person and there could have been any number of emergencies that she might have to deal with. Maybe she ran out of her house and forgot her phone because she was in a rush. There's all kinds of possibilities, but the urge to head over and check it out for himself is getting stronger by the minute.
Texting Jack instead had been an exercise in self control. ]
Might be. It's been a day. Usually she'd get back to me by now.
[What Jack doesn't say is the very real possibility that Reaper could have done who knows what while he was gone. None of this bodes well at all, and he can't help but jump to that conclusion. He'd always thought that Angela was the one person Reaper wouldn't touch, but he can't discount anything.]
Meet me at her place.
[Jack is closer. If Angela is still here, then maybe she'll be a little taken aback by his breaking and entering, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. By the time Snake arrives, he'll have already been through the house.]
[ While Snake had concerns about Reaper and how he might harm Angela in the past, it's not something that he's thought about in a long while, if only because he hasn't seen Reaper since they all settled down on Thisavrou.
That doesn't mean he isn't worried in general, though, and Jack's response leads him to believe that he's concerned too. ]
On my way.
[ Which is true. Snake makes his way to Angela's as quickly as he can, but he knows Jack will beat him there. As he approaches her cabin, nothing looks or seems amiss, but he can't shake the uneasy feeling, or the way that his stomach is twisting around on itself. If Jack had gotten there and found Angela safe and sound, he probably would have contacted him by now. The lack of news is unsettling.
Snake makes it to her front door and knocks sharply, then takes a breath and steps back to wait. ]
[It doesn't take Jack very long to walk to the next homestead over, and he's quick to let himself in when he doesn't receive an answer at the door. The good news is that there doesn't seem to be any signs of a struggle, but Jack is far too paranoid to write it off as a possibility. Reaper certainly could have taken her elsewhere, and he spends the time waiting for Snake combing through the kitchen and living room for clues.
He's not a detective, but he knows Angela. Knows she wouldn't have kept either of them waiting this long. When he opens the door for Snake, the look on his face says it all.]
[ It's not often that Snake sees Jack without the visor, even now, and yet his expression is still completely readable. She's not here. Everything in Snake, including his heart, seems to sink, even as his fists tighten at his sides. If someone did something to her, there are no good words to describe what he'll do to them.
The other option is that she's simply gone, as in back home, but she wouldn't have left without telling them.
Snake hears the click-clack of nails on the floor, and looks past Jack to see Eiger walking over. The dog gives a low whine and it's like a punch to the gut. ]
Any sign of where she could have gone? Could you find her phone?
[ He steps inside and closes the door behind him, doing what he can not to overreact for now. But it isn't looking good, and he can't do anything about the frantic beating of his heart. He reaches out to scratch Eiger behind the ears, but even that isn't doing much for his nerves. ]
[Jack isn't exactly a detective, but he's observant and knows how to piece together a suspect scene. This definitely is one, but not for any obvious reasons. Even Eiger is still here, though he seems anxious, like he's just confirming what the two of them already know.
Still, it doesn't make sense, and the lack of any evidence at all has his shoulders sagging.]
[ They're in agreement that Angela would never have left of her own volition without speaking to them (and everyone else she's become close to here), and if there's no evidence that she was taken by force, then... ]
What other explanation is there?
[ Snake doesn't expect Jack to have an answer, his resigned sigh making that clear enough as he straightens from giving Eiger attention to take a look around the living area.
Everything in its place. All of Angela's furniture, her decorations, even her dog, it's all here. But she isn't.
He drags a hand down his face and heaves out a breath as the possibility that he'll never see her again begins to settle over him. This is what he'd always told himself would happen. Something that good, it could never last. ]
[But he does have some ideas, though none of them are pleasant. Everything he’s heard recently about the Savrii—from the biohazard episode to mediation—isn’t exactly good. Could they have taken her? What would she have done to get their attention? To Jack’s knowledge, Angela was content to stay out of things and didn’t draw attention to herself.
And now she’s gone. He supposes he could still hold out hope that she’ll be home from work soon, but the sinking feeling in his gut wouldn’t lie to him. Snake seems to know it, too.]
We can check her work. Ask if anyone has seen her.
[ Snake almost seems distracted as he wanders the living room, moving in some kind of haze or fog as he reaches out for the mantle above the fireplace, hands drifting over every souvenir or knick-knack that Angela had chosen to put on display. Everything with its proper place, but if that sinking feeling was to be trusted, this all belonged to no one now.
He turns then, sharply, and shakes his head at Jack. ] When we first woke up on the Moira, it was like... blink and you'll miss it. There one second, here the next. There wasn't a struggle.
[ Maybe the Savrii took her, or maybe Ingress technology had whisked her away somewhere. What would they want with Angela? She had a useful skillset, but they could have asked her for help if they'd needed it. She would have offered it gladly. ]
I don't know. Everything about this stinks. [ He practically spits the words out as he goes to sit on the couch, elbows resting on his thighs as he stares at the floor. ]
[Jack already knows it's kind of a fruitless suggestion. None of this lines up with either what Angela would do or how disappearances worked in the past. He's still combing through the house, trying to see if maybe he's missed something, but all signs point to what he and Snake fear the most.
Of course it stinks. He has no idea what the Savrii might want with her, and that makes all of this even more frustrating. There's no assurance that she even went home.
He continues pacing around the perimeter of the room, coming to a stop at all the old pictures she was gifted. His fingers brush over the one of the whole group, and there's a pang in his chest as he lingers on it just a moment too long before putting it into his jacket pocket and turning back to Snake.]
Ana disappeared before. [It wasn't quite the same thing, because her number had come up, and they'd spoken about her departure--come to an agreement about it. Then when she returned, she had no memory of her first stay.] She came back.
[But Jack knows it's not very reassuring. Snake is agitated in a way he hasn't seen before, and he's at something of a loss. He takes a few tentative steps to close the distance and after a moment of hesitation reaches out, putting a hand on his shoulder. It's a poor attempt, but it's better than nothing.]
[ The idea that Angela might be prisoner in some facility somewhere, being forced to work on something against her will, or being mistreated in some way, is almost too much. Snake wishes he had something to take out all of his anger on, and a trip to one of the gyms to punch at a bag until his knuckles get raw will have to happen soon.
It's the not knowing that's the worst. If she's out there, relying on them to find her...
Snake's so distracted by his own thoughts that he almost misses Jack's pause by the photos. He says nothing when he pockets one of them. He's welcome to take them all, if he wants. Snake can't think of someone more suited to take them.
While Snake may not know the specifics of Ana's situation, he's pretty sure it wasn't anything like this, so the words still seem hollow. When Jack reaches out for him, Snake looks at the hand settled on his shoulder like it's a foreign object, but he doesn't shrug it off or shove Jack away either.
He looks up at him, his face lined with weariness and frustration. ] How can you be so sure? [ It comes out a little harsher and sharper than he means to, and he exhales again. ] Sorry, it's just... [ He lifts a hand and squeezes the bridge of his nose. ]
[Jack of course is hard-wired to anticipate the worst, and it’s difficult to tamp down his own paranoia in a situation like this. He’s already gone over all the possibilities in his head, already knows that everything is a dead end and that there’s nothing they’ll be able to do. That’s what makes it hurt.
What’s the most interesting here is Snake’s reaction. Jack knew they were close, of course, but this is betraying something else—a conclusion he doesn’t want to jump to, as it seems far too personal.
The hand on Snake’s shoulder is quickly getting awkward, but it seems just as inappropriate to remove it, especially since Snake is making no moves to. It makes him wish he were better at comfort—or, at the very least, making and keeping promises.]
I’ll do whatever it takes.
[He can’t be sure, of course he can’t, but if there’s one thing he still has, it’s dogged determination. Jack may have given up on himself a long time ago, but he’s still devoted to his people. If Angela is lost somewhere, then Jack won’t rest until he’s certain she’s safe, even if all that means is confirming she’s home.]
I know you don’t know me very well-- -- [And, therefore, has no real idea what Jack is capable of when he really puts his mind to it,] --so I ain't sure what it means to you, but I can tell you that much.
[ Normally Snake wouldn't be allowing so many of his emotions to sit on his sleeve like this, but Angela had been one of the only good things about this screwed up situation. He should have known it would come to this, but the suddenness is unexpected. The lack of closure is going to drive him nuts unless he can get to the bottom of it.
It's awkward to have Jack standing over him like this, so Snake ultimately scoots to the side, away from his hand, but also making room for him to sit. He remembers when he'd shown up to find Jack passed out on this very couch, and it feels like that was ages ago now.
While Snake might not know Jack that well, he remembers how Angela had spoken of him, and he knows that he can take him at his word with this. So he nods, a quiet thank you. ] We'll figure it out. [ An echo to Jack's earlier statement. There are probably other people here who will care, other friends of Angela's, but Snake doesn't necessarily know them. So it's Jack who he'll trust to work with him on this. ]
I know you knew her way longer than I did. [ It seems worth acknowledging; he owes Jack an explanation for his reaction to all of this, if nothing else. ] But... we were...
[ He trails off, at a loss for words. Does he need to finish the sentence, or will Jack be able to fill in the blanks? Snake clenches his hands into fists and lets out a breath, eventually finding a way to get his meaning across as he glances over. ] She was way too good for me.
[Jack keeps his hand there just a second too long, the contact broken by Snake feeling it to, and shifting to the side. He pulls his hand away—he can recognize an invitation to sit, at least, and he finds himself taking it, even if they’re still in close quarters. Even if it’s still a little awkward.
It’s a little more awkward when Snake trails off right before he says that the two of them were together. Jack can guess by now, and doesn’t really need the confirmation. It all makes a little too much sense in hindsight, not that Jack is upset about this revelation. If anything, it just makes him more sympathetic.
He knows what it’s like to lose people that meant something to you. Snake’s self-deprecation isn’t anything he hasn’t told himself a million times.]
Her callsign is ‘Mercy’ and she wears angel wings onto the battlefield.
[He thinks that pretty much sums it all up, and Jack lets out an exasperated sigh. It’s fond, of course, but tired, too, like he doesn’t really want to be the one left behind.]
[ That's not a point that Snake is about to argue. Anyone could see the good in Angela after their first encounter with her. That resilience she'd possessed, that ability to offer help no matter what sort of strain she was under, implied a strength that Snake could never hope to match.
She'd wanted him anyway, and she definitely wouldn't have wanted it to end like this.
Snake doesn't miss Jack's use of present tense, though. They don't need to speak of her like she's dead. ]
Infiltration is my specialty. Might wanna start with the Ingress complex first. If there's anywhere they might keep her, it'd be there. Unless you have any other leads.
[ Down to business, for lack of knowing what else to do. Though as he takes a look around them, he realizes there are more immediate, practical concerns to deal with. ]
... We'll need to redistribute all of her belongings, too. [ Not just the photographs, but all of her other personal effects. ] At least until we find her.
[The use of present tense is intentional, of course. Jack is far too stubborn to let this be the end of it, or to talk like she’s dead. Maybe the both of them are worrying too much—the likeliest explanation is that she was just whisked home. It’s not going to stop him from looking, but for once in his life he knows he has to be a little less apocalyptic.]
Ingress complex makes the most sense. I’ll stop by her work, too. See if they can tell me anything.
[More direct than infiltration, but Jack doesn’t actually want to break and enter a Savrii building without any leads. Starting at her workplace seems like a safe bet, at least to gather a little more data.
Snake, however, directs his attention to a more immediate task, and he starts to survey the room they’re standing in, so full of her own personal touches after the better part of a year.]
I’ve got room if you need me to keep anything safe.
[ Snake nods as Jack suggests that they split their efforts as far as where to look. He doesn't have any intention of letting this go until he gets to the bottom of it, or until he determines that there are no solid answers. But he's already had to swallow down enough of that; he won't put up with it this time.
Either way, he has zero concerns about breaking and entering, though he will at least wait to hear what Jack learns before he does anything overly reckless. If it turns out they're overreacting and Angela is just fine, she probably wouldn't be pleased to hear he'd gotten himself into trouble on some wild search for her.
At Jack's offer, Snake looks at him sharply, surprised by the words. ]
If anything, you're the one who should keep all of it. [ Not just because of space, but because he'd known Angela for decades. ] I can take Eiger, my dog's used to him, but everything else... [ Who else would it go to? ]
[If it turns out Angela has been here all along, he’ll of course apologize for breaking and entering. He imagines, however, that she’ll understand. They’re worried, of course. This is a natural reaction given the way things tend to happen on Thisavrou.
Going through personal belongings, deciding what to do with things like furniture or household items seems almost funerary. Jack doesn’t want to buy into it, but what other choice do they have? He can pack all her things into his pac-disc, keep them on hand in case she comes back.]
I’ll pack it up.
[Even if he doesn’t really want to. The pictures are what’s most important to him, and he spends a long moment walking the perimeter of the room again, trying to think of something to fill the silence. Something encouraging, maybe, but all he really has to offer is an affirmation of Snake’s assessment. His voice is quiet, almost like he’s talking to himself.]
I met her when she was seventeen. Still in university.
[ The pac disc at least allows packing to become a simpler process, and if it turns out that they've read this situation wrong, it shouldn't be too difficult to put everything back. Surely Angela would just laugh at them for getting so worked up.
Snake would like to believe that could happen, but he trusts his instincts, and they're not telling him anything good right now.
He can see that Jack is also at a loss in this situation. This part is never easy, figuring out what to do with the things that someone has left behind, and Snake won't be bothered if they give it a few days before making any moves.
When Jack speaks up again, it's not to talk about the work they have ahead of them, but about Angela as a person. ]
That young, huh? [ Snake sits up on the couch and rubs at the back of his neck. ] I'm guessing she hasn't changed too much since then. [ Angela's character was something ingrained. Her principles were so solid, they must have been formed long ago. Even as a teenager, she would have known what she wanted to do with her life, she would have known the difference between right and wrong. She wouldn't have had the same sort of experience that she does now, but she would have been the same person.
Of course he's curious to hear more. If there's a chance he'll never get to learn anything more from the woman herself... ]
[Jack comes to a stop, trailing off almost wistfully. How do you sum up one of the truest relationships he's ever known? Angela hadn't been part of his life for as long as Ana or Gabriel or Reinhardt, but she was part of Overwatch for the large majority of his tenure just the same, a steadfast constant that always helped him be the best possible version of himself.
He sounds wistful, fond. Jack sinks onto the arm of the sofa, running his hand along the upholstery.]
I knew Overwatch could be more than just a military operation. Knew we could do real good if we put our funding into science and technology. She caught my attention because of her nanotech research, but she wasn't sure about joining us.
[Because they were a military operation, and Angela knows better than most what it means to suffer in war.]
She wanted to make sure we weren't going to use her tech to hurt people.
[His smile falters--he can't quite say he kept that promise.]
[ In all the time that Snake has known Jack, which admittedly isn't that long, he's never been the talkative type. So the fact that he is opening up now, even if it's for the sake of letting Snake learn more about Angela Ziegler, is more than enough to make him pay attention. There's a little bit more space between them now, with Jack on the arm of the couch, but Snake shifts to look at him and listen.
Snake doesn't know all that much about Overwatch or what it accomplished while it was active, save that their goal had been peace, but Angela's decision to be a part of it spoke for itself as far as he was concerned. Maybe he'd put her on a bit of a pedestal, but as Jack had said, she went into battle with a pair of angel wings and her call sign was Mercy.
He's quiet for a bit longer even after Jack is done speaking, his thumb running over the stubble on his chin. ]
How'd you convince her to join up? Seems like once she was there, she was in it for the long haul.
[ Something like fifteen years, probably. That's nothing to sneeze at. ]
[He says that with something of a wry grin. Angela had principles—they all had principles, of course, but money still talks. She’d had large, far-reaching ideas and needed the the resources to accomplish them. Jack was looking to give the UN something worth funding. They’d wanted to pour the resources into rebuilding efforts and assurance that if the omnics rose up again, humanity would be able to combat them. Jack had convinced them that investing in science, technology, and medicine was worth it.
Angela was worth it.]
That was the exchange. I secured her funding, promised that she’d have say in how her tech got used, and she’d join up.
[ It does always come down to money, in the end. Scientific advancement, particularly in the medical field, isn't likely to be cheap. Snake hadn't fully realized how much of what Angela did with her nanites had been of her own design. She'd been impossibly humble about the whole thing.
Snake's quiet for a few seconds before he finds Jack's eyes. With him wearing the visor half the time, it isn't that often that Snake gets to stare him down like this. ]
I know that Overwatch had a messy end to it, but if you were able to facilitate that kind of progress, then it did plenty of good too. Both of you were out there trying to make the world better.
[ If there's something that Snake has learned, it's that people like Angela and Jack are the exception to the rule. To want to better things for selfless reasons isn't a trait he's found in many people during his lifetime. If Overwatch had existed in his world, he probably still would have been paranoid about its possible connections to the Patriots, but having met the man behind it, not to mention the sort of people he'd recruit (Angela, Lena), it's easier to acknowledge the good that was done. ]
[Jack isn’t quite in the mental position to talk at length about the good Overwatch did or didn’t do—he’s still of the mindset that they caused more damage in the end, but he knows that it is, on some level, a product of his own self-loathing. For as much as he wants to hate Strike Commander Jack Morrison, his role in rebuilding the world post-Crisis is undeniable. They secured peace for a generation.
It’s just too bad they couldn’t make it last.]
Well, there was nowhere to go but up.
[Where else was the world supposed to turn in the aftermath of something like the Crisis? They hadn’t exactly had a choice but to follow Overwatch into a new era, and he can’t deny that the problems came when individual countries wanted their sovereignty back. Wanted to handle things on their own.
He’s not so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn’t recognize a compliment, though he isn’t sure how to take it.]
[ Nowhere to go but up. After a war, it makes sense, but it's not as if Jack only did the bare minimum to make sure the the world recovered. From what Snake understands, he'd gone above and beyond.
It seems like Jack's uncomfortable with the attention to his past work, though, so Snake lets it drop there. Besides, there's something he's been meaning to ask him about, as he glances to the brace on his arm.
He nods toward it. ]
What happened?
[ What would force someone like Jack to have to wear something like that? Snake doubts that someone with his enhancements would suffer long from a sprain or tendinitis, but who knows. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Texting Jack instead had been an exercise in self control. ]
Might be. It's been a day. Usually she'd get back to me by now.
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Meet me at her place.
[Jack is closer. If Angela is still here, then maybe she'll be a little taken aback by his breaking and entering, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. By the time Snake arrives, he'll have already been through the house.]
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That doesn't mean he isn't worried in general, though, and Jack's response leads him to believe that he's concerned too. ]
On my way.
[ Which is true. Snake makes his way to Angela's as quickly as he can, but he knows Jack will beat him there. As he approaches her cabin, nothing looks or seems amiss, but he can't shake the uneasy feeling, or the way that his stomach is twisting around on itself. If Jack had gotten there and found Angela safe and sound, he probably would have contacted him by now. The lack of news is unsettling.
Snake makes it to her front door and knocks sharply, then takes a breath and steps back to wait. ]
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He's not a detective, but he knows Angela. Knows she wouldn't have kept either of them waiting this long. When he opens the door for Snake, the look on his face says it all.]
I'm not sure what happened.
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The other option is that she's simply gone, as in back home, but she wouldn't have left without telling them.
Snake hears the click-clack of nails on the floor, and looks past Jack to see Eiger walking over. The dog gives a low whine and it's like a punch to the gut. ]
Any sign of where she could have gone? Could you find her phone?
[ He steps inside and closes the door behind him, doing what he can not to overreact for now. But it isn't looking good, and he can't do anything about the frantic beating of his heart. He reaches out to scratch Eiger behind the ears, but even that isn't doing much for his nerves. ]
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[Jack isn't exactly a detective, but he's observant and knows how to piece together a suspect scene. This definitely is one, but not for any obvious reasons. Even Eiger is still here, though he seems anxious, like he's just confirming what the two of them already know.
Still, it doesn't make sense, and the lack of any evidence at all has his shoulders sagging.]
She wouldn't have left without saying anything.
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What other explanation is there?
[ Snake doesn't expect Jack to have an answer, his resigned sigh making that clear enough as he straightens from giving Eiger attention to take a look around the living area.
Everything in its place. All of Angela's furniture, her decorations, even her dog, it's all here. But she isn't.
He drags a hand down his face and heaves out a breath as the possibility that he'll never see her again begins to settle over him. This is what he'd always told himself would happen. Something that good, it could never last. ]
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[But he does have some ideas, though none of them are pleasant. Everything he’s heard recently about the Savrii—from the biohazard episode to mediation—isn’t exactly good. Could they have taken her? What would she have done to get their attention? To Jack’s knowledge, Angela was content to stay out of things and didn’t draw attention to herself.
And now she’s gone. He supposes he could still hold out hope that she’ll be home from work soon, but the sinking feeling in his gut wouldn’t lie to him. Snake seems to know it, too.]
We can check her work. Ask if anyone has seen her.
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[ Snake almost seems distracted as he wanders the living room, moving in some kind of haze or fog as he reaches out for the mantle above the fireplace, hands drifting over every souvenir or knick-knack that Angela had chosen to put on display. Everything with its proper place, but if that sinking feeling was to be trusted, this all belonged to no one now.
He turns then, sharply, and shakes his head at Jack. ] When we first woke up on the Moira, it was like... blink and you'll miss it. There one second, here the next. There wasn't a struggle.
[ Maybe the Savrii took her, or maybe Ingress technology had whisked her away somewhere. What would they want with Angela? She had a useful skillset, but they could have asked her for help if they'd needed it. She would have offered it gladly. ]
I don't know. Everything about this stinks. [ He practically spits the words out as he goes to sit on the couch, elbows resting on his thighs as he stares at the floor. ]
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Of course it stinks. He has no idea what the Savrii might want with her, and that makes all of this even more frustrating. There's no assurance that she even went home.
He continues pacing around the perimeter of the room, coming to a stop at all the old pictures she was gifted. His fingers brush over the one of the whole group, and there's a pang in his chest as he lingers on it just a moment too long before putting it into his jacket pocket and turning back to Snake.]
Ana disappeared before. [It wasn't quite the same thing, because her number had come up, and they'd spoken about her departure--come to an agreement about it. Then when she returned, she had no memory of her first stay.] She came back.
[But Jack knows it's not very reassuring. Snake is agitated in a way he hasn't seen before, and he's at something of a loss. He takes a few tentative steps to close the distance and after a moment of hesitation reaches out, putting a hand on his shoulder. It's a poor attempt, but it's better than nothing.]
We'll find her.
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It's the not knowing that's the worst. If she's out there, relying on them to find her...
Snake's so distracted by his own thoughts that he almost misses Jack's pause by the photos. He says nothing when he pockets one of them. He's welcome to take them all, if he wants. Snake can't think of someone more suited to take them.
While Snake may not know the specifics of Ana's situation, he's pretty sure it wasn't anything like this, so the words still seem hollow. When Jack reaches out for him, Snake looks at the hand settled on his shoulder like it's a foreign object, but he doesn't shrug it off or shove Jack away either.
He looks up at him, his face lined with weariness and frustration. ] How can you be so sure? [ It comes out a little harsher and sharper than he means to, and he exhales again. ] Sorry, it's just... [ He lifts a hand and squeezes the bridge of his nose. ]
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What’s the most interesting here is Snake’s reaction. Jack knew they were close, of course, but this is betraying something else—a conclusion he doesn’t want to jump to, as it seems far too personal.
The hand on Snake’s shoulder is quickly getting awkward, but it seems just as inappropriate to remove it, especially since Snake is making no moves to. It makes him wish he were better at comfort—or, at the very least, making and keeping promises.]
I’ll do whatever it takes.
[He can’t be sure, of course he can’t, but if there’s one thing he still has, it’s dogged determination. Jack may have given up on himself a long time ago, but he’s still devoted to his people. If Angela is lost somewhere, then Jack won’t rest until he’s certain she’s safe, even if all that means is confirming she’s home.]
I know you don’t know me very well-- -- [And, therefore, has no real idea what Jack is capable of when he really puts his mind to it,] --so I ain't sure what it means to you, but I can tell you that much.
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It's awkward to have Jack standing over him like this, so Snake ultimately scoots to the side, away from his hand, but also making room for him to sit. He remembers when he'd shown up to find Jack passed out on this very couch, and it feels like that was ages ago now.
While Snake might not know Jack that well, he remembers how Angela had spoken of him, and he knows that he can take him at his word with this. So he nods, a quiet thank you. ] We'll figure it out. [ An echo to Jack's earlier statement. There are probably other people here who will care, other friends of Angela's, but Snake doesn't necessarily know them. So it's Jack who he'll trust to work with him on this. ]
I know you knew her way longer than I did. [ It seems worth acknowledging; he owes Jack an explanation for his reaction to all of this, if nothing else. ] But... we were...
[ He trails off, at a loss for words. Does he need to finish the sentence, or will Jack be able to fill in the blanks? Snake clenches his hands into fists and lets out a breath, eventually finding a way to get his meaning across as he glances over. ] She was way too good for me.
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It’s a little more awkward when Snake trails off right before he says that the two of them were together. Jack can guess by now, and doesn’t really need the confirmation. It all makes a little too much sense in hindsight, not that Jack is upset about this revelation. If anything, it just makes him more sympathetic.
He knows what it’s like to lose people that meant something to you. Snake’s self-deprecation isn’t anything he hasn’t told himself a million times.]
Her callsign is ‘Mercy’ and she wears angel wings onto the battlefield.
[He thinks that pretty much sums it all up, and Jack lets out an exasperated sigh. It’s fond, of course, but tired, too, like he doesn’t really want to be the one left behind.]
She’s too good for all of us.
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She'd wanted him anyway, and she definitely wouldn't have wanted it to end like this.
Snake doesn't miss Jack's use of present tense, though. They don't need to speak of her like she's dead. ]
Infiltration is my specialty. Might wanna start with the Ingress complex first. If there's anywhere they might keep her, it'd be there. Unless you have any other leads.
[ Down to business, for lack of knowing what else to do. Though as he takes a look around them, he realizes there are more immediate, practical concerns to deal with. ]
... We'll need to redistribute all of her belongings, too. [ Not just the photographs, but all of her other personal effects. ] At least until we find her.
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Ingress complex makes the most sense. I’ll stop by her work, too. See if they can tell me anything.
[More direct than infiltration, but Jack doesn’t actually want to break and enter a Savrii building without any leads. Starting at her workplace seems like a safe bet, at least to gather a little more data.
Snake, however, directs his attention to a more immediate task, and he starts to survey the room they’re standing in, so full of her own personal touches after the better part of a year.]
I’ve got room if you need me to keep anything safe.
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Either way, he has zero concerns about breaking and entering, though he will at least wait to hear what Jack learns before he does anything overly reckless. If it turns out they're overreacting and Angela is just fine, she probably wouldn't be pleased to hear he'd gotten himself into trouble on some wild search for her.
At Jack's offer, Snake looks at him sharply, surprised by the words. ]
If anything, you're the one who should keep all of it. [ Not just because of space, but because he'd known Angela for decades. ] I can take Eiger, my dog's used to him, but everything else... [ Who else would it go to? ]
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Going through personal belongings, deciding what to do with things like furniture or household items seems almost funerary. Jack doesn’t want to buy into it, but what other choice do they have? He can pack all her things into his pac-disc, keep them on hand in case she comes back.]
I’ll pack it up.
[Even if he doesn’t really want to. The pictures are what’s most important to him, and he spends a long moment walking the perimeter of the room again, trying to think of something to fill the silence. Something encouraging, maybe, but all he really has to offer is an affirmation of Snake’s assessment. His voice is quiet, almost like he’s talking to himself.]
I met her when she was seventeen. Still in university.
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Snake would like to believe that could happen, but he trusts his instincts, and they're not telling him anything good right now.
He can see that Jack is also at a loss in this situation. This part is never easy, figuring out what to do with the things that someone has left behind, and Snake won't be bothered if they give it a few days before making any moves.
When Jack speaks up again, it's not to talk about the work they have ahead of them, but about Angela as a person. ]
That young, huh? [ Snake sits up on the couch and rubs at the back of his neck. ] I'm guessing she hasn't changed too much since then. [ Angela's character was something ingrained. Her principles were so solid, they must have been formed long ago. Even as a teenager, she would have known what she wanted to do with her life, she would have known the difference between right and wrong. She wouldn't have had the same sort of experience that she does now, but she would have been the same person.
Of course he's curious to hear more. If there's a chance he'll never get to learn anything more from the woman herself... ]
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[Jack comes to a stop, trailing off almost wistfully. How do you sum up one of the truest relationships he's ever known? Angela hadn't been part of his life for as long as Ana or Gabriel or Reinhardt, but she was part of Overwatch for the large majority of his tenure just the same, a steadfast constant that always helped him be the best possible version of himself.
He sounds wistful, fond. Jack sinks onto the arm of the sofa, running his hand along the upholstery.]
I knew Overwatch could be more than just a military operation. Knew we could do real good if we put our funding into science and technology. She caught my attention because of her nanotech research, but she wasn't sure about joining us.
[Because they were a military operation, and Angela knows better than most what it means to suffer in war.]
She wanted to make sure we weren't going to use her tech to hurt people.
[His smile falters--he can't quite say he kept that promise.]
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Snake doesn't know all that much about Overwatch or what it accomplished while it was active, save that their goal had been peace, but Angela's decision to be a part of it spoke for itself as far as he was concerned. Maybe he'd put her on a bit of a pedestal, but as Jack had said, she went into battle with a pair of angel wings and her call sign was Mercy.
He's quiet for a bit longer even after Jack is done speaking, his thumb running over the stubble on his chin. ]
How'd you convince her to join up? Seems like once she was there, she was in it for the long haul.
[ Something like fifteen years, probably. That's nothing to sneeze at. ]
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[He says that with something of a wry grin. Angela had principles—they all had principles, of course, but money still talks. She’d had large, far-reaching ideas and needed the the resources to accomplish them. Jack was looking to give the UN something worth funding. They’d wanted to pour the resources into rebuilding efforts and assurance that if the omnics rose up again, humanity would be able to combat them. Jack had convinced them that investing in science, technology, and medicine was worth it.
Angela was worth it.]
That was the exchange. I secured her funding, promised that she’d have say in how her tech got used, and she’d join up.
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Snake's quiet for a few seconds before he finds Jack's eyes. With him wearing the visor half the time, it isn't that often that Snake gets to stare him down like this. ]
I know that Overwatch had a messy end to it, but if you were able to facilitate that kind of progress, then it did plenty of good too. Both of you were out there trying to make the world better.
[ If there's something that Snake has learned, it's that people like Angela and Jack are the exception to the rule. To want to better things for selfless reasons isn't a trait he's found in many people during his lifetime. If Overwatch had existed in his world, he probably still would have been paranoid about its possible connections to the Patriots, but having met the man behind it, not to mention the sort of people he'd recruit (Angela, Lena), it's easier to acknowledge the good that was done. ]
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It’s just too bad they couldn’t make it last.]
Well, there was nowhere to go but up.
[Where else was the world supposed to turn in the aftermath of something like the Crisis? They hadn’t exactly had a choice but to follow Overwatch into a new era, and he can’t deny that the problems came when individual countries wanted their sovereignty back. Wanted to handle things on their own.
He’s not so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn’t recognize a compliment, though he isn’t sure how to take it.]
But thanks, I guess.
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It seems like Jack's uncomfortable with the attention to his past work, though, so Snake lets it drop there. Besides, there's something he's been meaning to ask him about, as he glances to the brace on his arm.
He nods toward it. ]
What happened?
[ What would force someone like Jack to have to wear something like that? Snake doubts that someone with his enhancements would suffer long from a sprain or tendinitis, but who knows. ]
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