Dr. Angela Ziegler had a problem.

Well, she actually had quite a few problems in her life, if she was being honest. Torbjorn kept bothering her about weaponizing her nanotech, Ana was being overbearing again, Jack was being a hardass and she had to deal with traumatized recruits who expect her to be consoling, McCree was… McCree, and omnics were trying to take over the world, the list goes on. But there was only one major problem that both needed her personal attention and could be solved in a timely manner.

Her lungs were failing, and not in a way that her biotech could fix.

It had taken a while for her to notice, the only early sign being a sudden increase in the automatic use of her nanotech when she used the Valkyrie suit. The first couple of times it happened she figured she had just caught a bug that her tech eliminated before symptoms started showing. But then it happened again, and again, and again.

A systematic increase in the use of vital resources wasn't something she could just ignore, so after the latest battle she looked into her suit's nanite usage history. Which was understandably not something she did very often, she typically knew exactly when and where she was being healed. Even after being in Overwatch for nine years, being shot was still somewhat notable for her.

The history showed a sudden surge of nanites to her lungs every time she put the suit on, and a slow but steady stream to them the entire time had the suit on. Which… wasn't encouraging.

The only thing that would do that was a slow but constant degradation to her lung tissue, it was as if perfectly healthy cells were just dying and decomposing. And considering that she was using more and more of her tech to repair the damage everytime she wore the suit, the degradation was getting faster.

And surprisingly enough, she couldn't even blame this problem on Overwatch; this one was entirely her own fault. Apparently using prototype versions of her own tech on herself after only a year of successful lab trials was unwise. And not sufficiently following up on the potential consequences when all of the lab rats she used that version of her tech on died of various degenerative illnesses was even more so.

She of course fixed that in the next version, and that experience put a damper on her self-experimentation after that.

She had always thought it weird that it had cured her asthma without any negative repercussions, at least now she knew.

Of course, just because she couldn't fix her lungs with her tech didn't mean she couldn't fix her problem. Lung transplants were entirely feasible. And artificially grown lungs made out of her own cells to lessen the chance of rejection had been in commercial use for years now.

But the recovery time before her lungs would be strong enough for her rather strenuous second job of being the world's most effective battle medic would be uncomfortably long. And while she could just do research in the meantime, her research necessitated long periods of waiting while the newest configuration of her tech was created in large enough quantities to be used in tests. Long periods of waiting that she typically filled with travel to war-torn locales to heal the resident Overwatch branches to alleviate her boredom.

Boredom had always been her greatest weakness.

Along with calculated recklessness. Like what she was planning now with the alternative to a lung transplant.

Her other option; an actually artificial set of lungs, not just artificial but mechanical. An idea that had been in development for decades before the omnic crisis made having mechanical components unappealing and the rise of grown organs made them obsolete.

Obsolete before Angela took the blueprints and tweaked them before implanting a set in a man named Genji after his body was injured too severely for a conventionally grown set of lungs to attach properly. Along with replacing all of his limbs, most of his digestive system, his throat, and almost all of his skin. But the lungs were the pertinent part of that story.

Inserted properly, the lungs would not require recovery time that her biotech couldn't limit. Merely a short adjustment period. And after that they would be more efficient, both in use and in space, than conventional ones. Genji was proof of that, he had much more endurance now that he had effectively lost his ability to lose his breath. She could even install small storage devices in the free space, so that she could operate in oxygen deficient environments for longer periods of time.

That solution presented an additional problem though. Namely a much more extensive surgery that would actually require altering more of herself than just replacing her lungs, the ones that she had implanted in Genji had also required an artificial ribcage and a mechanically enhanced spine. Not to mention the casing around the lungs to protect his more fleshy parts from his mechanical ones, like his heart.

So what was more important to her, her ability to perform her job effectively, or an irrational attachment to her own flesh and bones that would just be replaced by something better?

Angela thought that the answer was rather obvious. And frankly would never understand how people could think otherwise, even if she would respect their opinions. A mechanical set of lungs would just be better than the set nature provided. It would allow her to perform better, it would let her save more lives by limiting the time she needed to recover from strenuous exercise. Strenuous exercise like she would be doing on the battlefield, in moments where her prompt and precise actions saved lives.

Something that made her better, that made her more able to save lives? How could she justify not doing it?

From Angela's point of view, there was really no other option. But that presented a problem of it's own.

She knew that if she told her coworkers at Overwatch that they would say that downtime wouldn't be a problem. That they could pick up the slack while she recovered. That doing this to herself would be unnecessary. They would try to stop her out of some silly desire for her to not be artificial. To not be like an omnic, as if that were even possible. They would try and stop her, for no good reason.

They had tried to stop her research when it headed in that direction before, she had no doubts that they would try to stop her from doing this.

Maybe she could talk them into it, Gabriel could be convinced if she played on his practicality but Ana and Jack would be hard sells. And Angela really did not want to waste time on convincing them when she could just do it herself without their input.

But there was a solution to that too. Just don't let them object in the first place. She could do the surgery on her own dime, she had enough money saved up to manufacture the parts and she could do the surgery herself with the right anaesthetic. And as for finding the time...

"Hey Jack, do you have a minute to talk?" Angela made sure to knock before she asked, Jack hated being surprised in his own office. Which of course meant Ana and Gabriel did it constantly. Which she supposed was the leeway being old comrades got them. She however saw no point in antagonizing the already stressed man.

Which was probably why he liked her.

"Is it important?" Jack asked, not even looking up from the paperwork on his desk.

As much as he liked anybody he worked with.

"It's about me taking some time off." Angela said, knowing that he probably wouldn't like that. Along with being head of the medical branch of Overwatch, she was head of Research and Development, purely because Torbjorn couldn't be bothered with bureaucracy. All of the experimental technology that Overwatch was developing landed on her desk at one point or the other, and most of it was classified enough that if she wasn't around to handle it, it could only go to Jack. They both knew that if she took time off, she was significantly increasing his workload.

He actually looked up at her this time, looking far too tired. He had been working far too much since he had taken command. Not that she had any room to talk. "So that would be a yes."

"I would like to take Monday through Wednesday off on the week of the 21st of August." Angela said apologetically. Enough time to make the implants and on a set of days when she would plausibly want to take time off.

Jack made a show of looking at the calendar on his wall, "Angela, it's May." When she only smiled and nodded he sighed, "So, I'm going to assume this isn't medical leave then."

"No, not medical leave."

"Alright, why?"

Here goes...

"August 23 will be the twentieth anniversary of my parent's death. And I thought… that I would like to visit them for that." Angela said, her insides squirmed as she used her parents' death to deceive her boss; it wasn't a lie, she did want to visit and this just gave her an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. An opportunity to get the surgery and visit her parents' graves. Still, she felt horrible about it. "And the two surrounding days for travel." That one was a lie. She would leave on Friday, perform surgery on Saturday and spend the rest of the time recuperating.

The harsh lines on Jack's face softened as he looked at Angela. It took all she had not to squirm under his compassionate stare as he set down his pen and gave her his full attention, "Angela, I've known you for over nine years now. In that time, you have never taken a day off that you weren't forced to. Of course you can have those days off. In fact, barring an emergency, you can take the whole week."

Angela shook her head as she said, "No, I only need those three days. Any more would be a waste."

"Well, you have them anyways. I'll tell security not to let you in if I have to. You might as well spend them at home."

"I couldn't." Angela said, more to stop herself from saying something else than because she meant it. She was sure neither she nor Jack wanted the conversation to get so sappy as her saying that this was her home now.

"You can and you will. Overwatch managed to survive for over a decade before you joined, we can manage for a week without you on call" he said with a smile, "You've got a week's vacation, enjoy it."

"Thank you," Angela said, smiling helplessly.

"You're welcome, now is there anything else? I unfortunately have to get back to, this," he said as he gestured disgustedly to his paperwork. Despite his obvious dismissal, he looked more the optimistic man who recruited her than he had when she walked in.

"No, nothing else," Angela said before she turned to leave. Standing in the doorway, she paused and turned back. "Except one thing. You're looking a little pale Jack, have you been getting enough sun lately?"

"Get back to work Doctor," Jack said flatly. The amused glare that he gave her made her smile even wider.

"Alright alright…" Angela said, laughing as she raised her hands placatingly. She made her way out the door, before peeking her head back into his office to say "At least move to an office with windows, it's dismal in here."

"Work!" She could hear the grin in his voice as she walked away.

That went well. She got what she wanted, and got Jack in a good mood. Which wasn't easy to do these days, he had too many responsibilities for one man, especially one who is losing his best friend.

It went well… So why did she feel so guilty?

She didn't lie really, she was planning on doing everything she said she was.

But... a lie of omission was still a lie. And lying to a man she respected left a bad taste in her mouth.

But it didn't matter, she was doing this for a reason. They would try to stop her. But she was doing this for them, their lives were in her hands far too often for her to perform sub-optimally. She would give anything to help her friends, her family.

Giving up her lungs? In exchange for something better? No question.

It would make her better, which would let her save more lives. How could she not do it?

It would make her better.

She would be better.

This is going to be in a weird format. 14 chapters with two of them being the Prologue and Epilogue, and the middle twelve being a rotating POV from Fareeha to Ana to Angela, with Angela's chapters being flashbacks. The separate sections are in chronological order internally.

It made sense when I started.