Hi! Seeing as I've become a fan of Dad 76, here's more. And I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed anonymously my previous Overwatch story.
They had been guarding the Omnium with nothing else to do for the past hour. To prevent the cold from setting in, each of them did something different: Lúcio and Tracer were running around, sometimes pausing to catch their breath when they deemed themselves warm enough, only to start again a few minutes later, D va hadn't left her mech and was playing something on its screen, Mei was at her second snowman, Reinhardt had retreated to their plane to sleep and 76 and Mercy were talking, catching up with each other.
It was so peaceful they had even dropped most of their equipment in a corner and hadn't taken a single look at them for the past half-hour.
Just as they completed another lap around the factory, Lúcio stopped in front of the truck.
"Tracer, can you help me carry something here? It's not really heavy, it's just that it's too big to carry alone." he asked her
"Sure, lead the way."
And they were off.
Lúcio was probably talking about the black bag he had brought when Winston explained they had to go in Russia again for this mission. Sure enough, he and Tracer were back with it a few minutes later, Reinhardt in tow.
"Everyone come here, please!" the Brazilian shouted
Curious as to what he wanted, everyone gathered around him.
"Do you remember the last time we were here? I said I wished I had brought my pads, right ?"
"So this bag..." began D va
"Exactly, I brought a few pads and sticks so we could play a game next time we would be here. Anyone up for it?"
"Sure." "Yes." "Why not?" "Count me in!" answered Tracer, D va, Mei and a particulary enthusiast Reinhardt.
"Doctor? Sir?" asked Lúcio, turning toward 76 and Mercy
"Sorry, I'm not into sports, I'll be the referee." "Likewise."
"No problem. So, for the teams..." Lúcio's voice trailed as he counted the players, "Wait, we need to be an even number if we want it to be fair. Please, we really need one of you to join us."
"Fine, I'll play too." grumbled the old soldier
"What are the rules?" asked the Korean girl
"First, we all takes our armors, backpacks, headphones... Everything that isn't our clothes goes off to avoid any unfair advantage. Then, there are six pairs of ice skates in the bag, along with pads, helmets, gloves and sticks. Everyone grab one of each and put them on. While you do that, Mei, can you use your ray to create ice where we're going to play?"
"Of course, show me the limits of the area."
Hana parked her mech next to Mercy and, as soon as she was out of it, started shivering and ran toward the bag, hurriedly putting the pads on. She had little trouble with the ice skates, but had to lean against the nearest wall to keep her balance.
Lena, by contrast, had little trouble putting them on and keeping her balance, even if she was visibly out of practice.
Jack had only to take his visor off, which was simple enough even if the cold suddenly hitting his face shocked him a bit. Putting the helmet, pads and gloves was also quickly done and, as long as he didn't have to do a too sharp turn or jump, he would remain standing.
As for Reinhardt, merely getting out of his armor was a sight to behold and, while he was still taller and bigger than them, the difference was still impressive. He also got the hang on the ice skates remarkably quickly.
By the time Mei had finished preparing the field, everyone was suited. She and Lùcio equipped themselves with an ease stemming from their experience of ice skating and the teams were established.
Lùcio, Hana and Reinhardt against Mei, Lena and Jack.
As soon as the game began, Jack rushed toward the German, set on preventing him from touching the puck for as long as he could. What followed was a brief battle in which both of them tried to get between the other and the puck, paying no particular attention to who had it, until...
"Goal! Point for Lùcio's team."announced Angela, amusement on her face when she looked toward the veterans who were almost wrestling with each other.
Stunned, Jack looked away from Reinhardt to the puck, now sitting into their goal, and to Hana, stick still in the air, a smile on her face that was becoming more and more smug by the second as she realized she had scored a goal in a game she had begun to play for the first time not five minutes ago.
The game began again but Jack had learned his lesson and when the puck passed near them, he broke away from Reinhardt, aimed for the other team's goal, swung his stick...
...and missed his mark by two meters. Still, the puck was now near the enemies' goal and Lena and Hana were both rushing toward it, Hana with a very small advance.
"Make her fall!" he shouted to Lena
While she didn't do that (and Angela shot him a death glare), the surprise of the shout still made Hana lose her balance and fall to the ground. Lena got to the puck and send it straight into Lùcio's team's net.
Jack rushed toward Hana and reached her right when Angela did.
"Hey, Hana! You're hurt?" he asked
"Yes. I didn't fall hard or on anything." she answered
"Good. Jack, what were you thinking?!" scolded the Swiss
"We need to win this round?" he answered
With one more angry looks at him, the three of them got up and Angela announced the new score: One-One.
As he returned to his position, he distinctly heard Tracer mutter: "That's such a 'Dad' thing to do."
The match continued until dusk and, while both teams were evenly matched. By the end of the match, Jack had scored a few points and had refrained from anymore "incitements to violent behavior" as Angela had put it, Reinhardt had show that his mastery of the hammer meant that when he was shooting, you ducked (even if his accuracy with the puck left to be desired), Lena had done quite well, Hana had fallen quite a few times and Mei and Lùcio showed that they were experts of the sport. The final score was Twenty-Two to Twenty with Lùcio's team winning the prize: not having to cook or do the dishes this night.
Since the plane had been restocked before they left, preparing a meal for seven people was easy enough and quick. While they were all eating and talking, Jack was in the Orca's pilot chair. The auto pilot was doing most of the job but he still wanted to be there, not really feeling at ease with the younger members.
He had failed them years ago, he was the reason they were outlaws and...
"Jack." said a soft voice
"Angela." she was carrying a plate of food, "Why aren't you with the others?"
"You didn't eat." was her simple answer as she offered him the plate
"Thanks."
She made no movement to leave, instead leaning against the wall.
"You should be with them. I'm not much fun." he told her
"Join us then. Being alone isn't good for you."
"You're right" he didn't want to fight her and, as he had learned long ago, going against her advices wasn't a good idea.
"So," asked Lùcio when he sat at the table and began eating, "did you like our match?"
He thought back on it. How he and Reinhardt had been constantly pushing each other, how proud he had been when Lena had managed to shoot between Lùcio and Hana to score, the speed at which Lùcio had been from in front of his goal to right in front of them,... Jack smiled.
"That was fun. Next time we're here, we're getting our revenge."
As an aside, I will go down with the Angela/Jack ship.