Hey there friends! This chapter is for all those Mercy lovers out there, you get a nice chap with Angela. It's shorter than the rest but the next one'll be a bit longer probably... shame you'll have to wait, I'll be moving house next weekend *cackles*
Also I'm pretty sure you've all seen the new Sombra intro and holy shit does she look gay. and Widowmaker... I almost died when watching. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
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The next morning, Lena found herself sitting on one of two chairs in Angela's medic quarters. It was a lot more spacious than her own room, the doctor also had more windows lining the walls, bathing all her medical equipment in gold light and making them shine brightly. The walls were decorated with posters, showing anatomy, eye test charts and diagrams inside the human body. Angela also had a hobby of collecting various skulls- some intact while others sported cracks or missing teeth -to line her glass cabinet on the wall. Lena wasn't one to question that particular perk of hers, she just supposed Angela was fascinated by them. In the middle of the room was her station, the -thankfully empty- operating table and wheeled, steel side table took up most of the room. At the back behind a draped doorway, a much smaller room would be found which was Angela's own private space.
The medical supplies Lena had bought for her yesterday lay neatly on top of the side table. She'd used them as a sort of peace offering on her arrival.
"Run it by me again, one more time?"
Lena groaned, Here we go again, she thought.
She'd been through this with Angela about three times already this morning, deciding on telling her the whole truth about where she was the day before. Each time she'd told her the story, Angela's face would become more and more incredulous, enough that she'd started wishing she hadn't got into the story at all.
"Ange, I've told you three times already. Is it that good or are you trying to see if I'll slip up?"
The doctor sat opposite her in the other identical spare chair, mulling over Lena's words; same as ever in her white button down shirt and black slacks. A clean white lab coat hung from her slim frame, her hair tied up in its usual style. She looked thoughtful, a small frown line appeared on her forehead.
"I'm trying to process what you told me. It is… unexpected."
Course it wasn't expected, she'd probably expected Lena to come out and say that she had spent the entire day at the pub. Lena only wished she could've caught Angela's face on a camera, her expression had been absolutely priceless.
"Did you not listen to what Reinhardt said to us yesterday morning?"
Lena frowned. Did Angela seriously think she'd set out to actually look for a danger? Wasn't her fault if the danger found her. What she saw was a woman who needed help, it just so happened that she was the only one there to provide it.
She wasn't about to let Angela think otherwise.
"Course I did, but I wasn't gonna just stand by and let her get beat up!" Lena leant forward in her chair, leaning her elbows against her knees and linking her fingers together in front of her. "I heard her screaming, Ange… don't tell me you wouldn't have helped. Isn't that what being a doctor is all about? Helping people?"
Angela's features softened slightly, "But a sea witch, Leo? You couldn't have picked a less dangerous patient?"
Lena looked at her skeptically. "Ain't all patients a priority?"
Angela frowned. Of course she helped all those who needed it, but to engage a mermaid? She wasn't stupid enough to try.
To this day, there hadn't been any scripts on mermaids. No readings about them, nothing. Zilch. Angela would be lying if she said she wasn't at least a little bit curious of the engineer's run in, any new species always fascinated the doctor. There was a reason why there was only a slim amount of information on them however... Any who had tried hadn't lived long enough to share it.
And yet… this young kid in front of her had done it. Unknowingly, the engineer had achieved what was thought to be impossible.
Lena sighed, bringing Angela's attention back to her. "Look, Angie, I'm not gonna deny it was dangerous alright?" She looked down at her feet, scuffing the boots against each other. "I'm just saying I couldn't live with myself if I'd just left her."
A small silence followed, and then...
"Do you think she will seek you out?"
Lena opened her mouth to answer, frowned, then shut it soon after. She'd already thought about this the night before, the reason why she had been so knackered that morning. She wondered if the next time -if there was a next time- she crossed paths with the mysterious woman, would it be her death sentence? Judging from their last engagement, she'd already gathered that the mermaid was mistrustful of humans. The woman was suspicious enough about Lena's motives, which now she thought about it, she wasn't so surprised. Lena was probably the first human who had ever helped her.
She knew it wouldn't be enough to convince the mermaid that humans weren't all bad, but it could be a start, right?
Realising she'd got caught up in her thoughts, Lena quickly shook her head. "Nah, she didn't seem too interested in me t'be honest…"
Which was true, she wasn't. She remembered how the woman had started to walk away from her as soon as she cut herself loose from the fishing net. She hadn't even spared Lena a backwards glance until Lena had sped up to her, thinking her a threat.
That thought made her pause.
The many stories surrounding mermaids were horror filled; always told of them being dangerous, drowning humans that got too close. If that was the case, why hadn't this one tried to kill her? It didn't make any sense.
Apparently, Angela had the same string of thoughts, regarding Lena with a thoughtful expression. "It's a little odd, isn't it?"
"Depends how you look at it, love."
Angela quirked an eyebrow, "And how are you looking at it?"
She took a moment to think. Lena was usually the one to think outside the box, never wondering the obvious. Always with her head in the clouds, it kept her busy. It was part of the reason she got along with Winston so well, she'd helped him out a few times with her own tinkering ideas.
"I reckon we've got it all wrong. We don't know anything about them, we might'a misunderstood."
Angela scoffed softly, obviously not believing what she'd just heard. Lena rolled her eyes.
"Just… hear me out, yeah?"
She slapped her hands on her knees to push herself up from the chair and started pacing around the room, back and forth in front of the doctor, looking around the room but at nothing in particular.
"Right, so she mentioned- or wait, no… She shouted at me more like, that us lot are at fault for a bunch of things," She continued pacing, coming to a stop directly in front of Angela; her forefinger and thumb resting against her lips. "She didn't go on much, but she went on about how we're the ones killing her species, and polluting the sea by the sound of it."
Lena frowned to herself, thinking back to the beach. Her brow creased slightly. "She said, and I quote, 'Your kind that pollute our home. Your kind that hunt ours to extinction'." Lena did her best at attempting to imitate a French accent. With some amusement, Angela had to hand it to the boy, his imitation wasn't half bad; most traces of the cockney accent lost under the thick French one.
The engineer grunted. A whirlwind of ideas and theories filtered through her brain.
I wonder...
There was nothing that said a mermaid had snatched any victims that hadn't been in connection to fishing companies. Whether it be because they were an easy target or because there was some truth to what the woman had told her, Lena wasn't sure. The blue woman claimed humans polluted the sea, which she wouldn't be surprised if it were true. Oil slicks were a common reoccurrence and rubbish often thrown on the beach would get washed away with the next tide.
No wonder they don't trust us...
Fishermen and their companies seemed to be the big problem for the sea witches, and with good reason, Lena thought. If it were true, these businesses were making life a living hell for the sea life. Fishermen or sailors were their targets, so that would mean-
"Leo?" Angela's snapped her fingers in front of Lena's face, bringing her back to the present.
Lena jerked out of her thoughts, not realising how long she'd left the doctor waiting. "Sorry, love… got lost in thought." She mumbled quietly, her mind still elsewhere.
"Something enlightening, I hope?"
Lena snorted. "All depends if I'm right," She took a deep breath before exhaling in a short puff of air. "I've got a theory."
Angela smiled. "When have you not?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hush, you! For once I'm actually being serious. Mark it in your diary 'cause it ain't happening often." That made the doctor laugh and in turn, making Lena crack a small smile, despite trying to keep a straight face.
After Angela's laughter had died down, Lena started with her questioning. "I was wondering about the victims of the attacks, I don't remember there being anyone who wasn't somehow linked to a fishing firm."
Angela thought for a moment before nodding. "You are not wrong, I have tended to several of the luckier victim's wounds myself. It is mostly fishermen that came to me."
Ding ding! We have a winner! Lena thought triumphantly.
"Exactly, which leads me to my theory… What if- and I'm speaking hypothetically of course- the sea dwellers are just protecting themselves?" She gave a small shrug, "Makes sense when you think about it. Sounds like they're pissed off with fishermen and with good reason, the bloody plonkers are ruining the sea with their rubbish."
Angela was silent as she let that idea sink in.
Could it be possible, what the engineer believed? The doctor's mind raced. If it were true, and these creatures were only protecting themselves, that would mean the stories revolving around them were false, to some extent. Of course that didn't mean they weren't dangerous, however.
Which meant...
Angela's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the boy in front of her. Surely he wasn't thinking...
"Leo, please don't tell me-"
"Come on, doc! Don't you want some better info?" Lena's expression was desperate as well as hopeful as she knelt down next to the sitting doctor, looking up at her. "I'm just as curious as you are!"
Of course Angela wanted more data on mermaids, she was hungry for new knowledge… but putting their ship's engineer in danger was out of the question.
"It's too dangerous! We don't even know-"
Lena rolled her eyes and cut her off. "We don't, but I'm up for finding out!" She felt excited at the prospect of getting to the bottom of this whole affair, something action packed, a little adventure to spice up her day to day life. Not that she didn't enjoy being the ship's engineer, just a bit of change would be welcome. "I reckon I've got a good shot at this, Ange. If I don't, who will?"
True. If Leo didn't take this opportunity, neither of them would get the intel they both desired. Angela's thoughts nagged at her. Is it worth it? She looked down at the engineer in front of her, the poor boy was so young… if anything happened to him, it would be on her head.
Angela's face contorted into a worrying look. "I don't like this…"
"Ange, when have I ever backed down from a challenge?" She gave the doctor what she hoped was her most charming smile. "Plus, I've got my recall if things get ugly."
True, she'd managed to get out of all kinds of different scrapes, all thanks to the glowing blue device that was built into her chest.
The doctor frowned. "You are willing to put yourself in danger, just on the off chance that you get answers?"
"That, and I'm well up for a bit of adventure!" Lena grinned up at her, eye crinkled at the corners. "She didn't attack me, Ange, I'm pretty confident."
"How can you be sure she didn't attack because she wasn't strong enough?"
She'd already thought about that, though judging from how the woman had taken a surprisingly quick swipe at her -which she neglected to tell Angela- she was inclined to believe that her weakness was all an act. "Trust me, she was fine. Mermaids are tough creatures, reckon it'd take a bit more than some goons to combat her strength."
Angela looked at her skeptically. "Let's say you succeed… then what are you planning to do? Win her over with your… charming personality?"
Lena pouted at the doctor's quip, rising from her kneeling position and crossing her arms. "I'll have you know I'm as charming as ever, she won't know what hit her!"
"You'll want to hope she doesn't hit you, Leo."
Lena's determination didn't waver as she raised both hands up to jerk her thumbs towards her own face. "Who would hit this face?" a playful grin lit up her features. "Before you say anything, that was a rhetorical question. Don't even think about it, doc."