TWO AND A HALF MONTHS SINCE EPISODE 4x13

Now that Russ was back at phoenix Mac was forced to take a two week leave by all the other members of the phoenix, even though he kept insisting he was fine, but everyone could tell he was not he had black circles under his eyes and looked horrible, if he did not get sleep soon Matty was going to have medical knock him out. Fortunately, mac eventually gave in and decided to go to his grandfather's cabin by himself for two weeks.
Bozer was just cleaning up the lab when he wandered over to Macs workstation and saw that he had left his wallet and a bunch of papers strewn across his desk. Bozer could not help himself mac never let anyone even touch his wallet much less look in it him and riley had been trying to get their hands on it for forever, he quickly grabbed the wallet and made his way to the war room to show riley. When bozer made it to the war room he was pleasantly surprised to see that Riley Desi Russ and Matty were already there.

"hey guys. Look what I found" Bozer said as he walked into the war room interrupting the conversation that was taking place and they all turned to look at Bozer.

"Wait is that what I think it is? You finally got Macs wallet." Riley asked with excitement clear in her voice.

"Wait what do you mean finally got Macs wallet?" Russ asked.

"Me and Bozer have been trying to get Macs wallet for years. Now we finally have it." Riley stated.

"Guys if blondie didn't want you to see do you really think you should….." Matty trailed off once she realized that Bozer already had it on the table and was pulling stuff out of it along with riley and desi with Russ standing off to the side. Hoping her agents did not come across anything to personal she headed over to join them when Bozer exclaimed, "Mac is a member of MENSA! And he did not tell any of us. Matty did you know this?"

"I did not know that Bozer Mensa is not part of the government. As for why he did not tell anyone I do not know." With that Matty walked over to the table and picked up the Mensa card inspecting it when she noticed the date. "He has been a member since he was ten from the looks of it." Matty added.
With that statement she got looks of shock from everyone.

Russ added, "Riley let's find out what other secret or genius has been keeping do a thorough search."

Bozer said, "Check the military, and MIT. I think I heard him say something about getting a medal for something from the army."

While Riley was doing her thing, Desi who seemed to have been deep in thought said, "why do you think he did not tell anyone that he was a member of MENSA?"
Before anyone could answer though riley looked up from, he computer and said, "I found something guys. It turns out that Mac is not as much of a college dropout as we thought."

"Meaning?" Russ inquired.

"He has been doing MIT online since roughly a short time after he left the phoenix when he found out about his dad and he almost has his doctorate in Physics and Chemistry with a 4.0 GPA." Riley said. "Wait you guys have got to see this paper he came up with a way to get rid of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and cool the planet. Okay I printed copies for you guys."

Matty went over grabbed the copies then handed them around to everyone with exception of Riley who was now looking through the army database. Because of all the secrets they were discovering about there genius friend no one was quite sure what to say.

"Umm guys I am not sure you are going to believe this but come here and look at this." Riley said beckoning at her computer." Everyone gathered around her computer to read a single article.

MACGYVER AND ROBINSON SET COMPANY RECORD TAKING OUT 137 IEDS ON THE DAY OF 1000 IEDS BOTH WINNING MEDALS OF HONOR FOR THERE DEDICATION.
MacGyver and Robinson both went above and beyond on the day of 1000 IEDs, even when everyone else had gone to bed they both were still putting their lives on the line to keep searching the city, they broke the previous company record by over 75 IEDs. That fateful day before they even had overwatches and were still under supervising by Pena, they took out over 10% of the IEDs when they were only 2% of the EoDs there. When they were asked why they kept looking into the night they looked at each other and said, "Innocent lives were at stake." Three weeks later we have decided that both Robinson and MacGyver will be getting medals of honor which they requested not to have a ceremony for and to not make a big deal about it so if you even find this record congratulations. In another two weeks Robinson will be going back to the states and MacGyver will be getting an Overwatch. So, if you somehow find this top-secret government report you would have to be someone like ARTEMIS37.

"Okay well this is not odd at all, can the author tell the future." Russ said with his voice laced with sarcasm. "What is left for Mac to do write a book and win a Nobel Prize."

"Actually, Mac might have already written a book one time he said that if he ever wrote a book, he would do it under the name Harry Hayes." Bozer said.

"On it" Riley said as she typed on her computer, "I found something, okay let us see not one book but multiple books on science and the art of improvising, do you know why he didn't tell anyone anything Matty?"

"I think that we have to see him the way he sees himself, but it is getting late go home get to bed comeback in the morning and we will figure out why Mac did not tell us any of this. Riley keeps searching for anything else mac failed to mention. Bozer think of any odd comments he made over the years. I am going to try and get in touch with jack to try and figure out what Macs deal is. I am starting to think might have some very extreme self-confidence issues. Russ pull some strings to find anything and everything mac has ever done for the government all branches. Go home and meet up in the morning actually ignore everything I just said and we wait for him to talk to us."

Matty watched as the rest of her agents left the war room to go home for the night, she did not want to tell the others, but she was really concerned about Mac ever since Charlie died, he had been acting different. She knew the others did not keep tags on each other, but she kept tags on her best team of agents, after all she was not a master spy for nothing. In the eighteen months between the fall and reconstruction of the Phoenix she watched mac and Desis relationship fall apart along with everyone leaving Mac slowly one by one after ten months Mac was starting to draw into himself eleven moths Desi left, a month after that riley left along with Bozer although they had really stopped coming around ten months. Three of the most important people in Macs life all left him within two months of each other, jack had already left him at this point she was not sure that he knew people cared about him.
Matty honestly thought at this point Mac might be bordering on suicidal, because after people kept leaving him time after time, he probably could not see how much he was worth to them as a person. She knows he called Bozer and riley a couple times am month just to get voice mail, she did call each of her agents once a week for proof of life no matter where they are, hoping that it would be enough to keep mac alive at least until he could get a new purpose. She was pretty sure he almost killed himself one time about a month before the Phoenix reformed. How she knew this it was because she had Riley hack into everyone's dash cams awhile back and he went to the golden gate bridge and just stood there for the longest time she happened to be in the area so she drove over and just watched him so if worse came to worse she could do something, but he just stood there she tried to tell herself it was nothing but she could not get it out of his head she was almost to the point where she was going to break into his house.
Matty did not want to call jack right away so she decided to call Cage her and Mac always had this odd sort of bond where they relayed secrets and trusted each other she would probably be concerned after all mac had saved her life several times and never told anyone she is afraid of water. She decided to give her a call, so she pulled out her phone and dialed up Cages number.

Hi Matty, what is up?

Hey Cage when was the last time you talked to Mac

Sometime last week why

You talk that often? And when you guys last talked was mac acting weird, also did you know he is a member of Mensa went back to MIT for physics and chemistry, has a medal of honor?

Yeah, we talk that often. And yeah, did he not tell you guys that. Did something happen to him do I need to comeback; I have been trying to get him to come here my sister loves his ideas and wants to work with him. Whatever you need tell me.

Well, you know how bozer and riley have been trying to get Macs wallet forever well he left it in the lab so obviously Bozer opened and we found his Mensa card which led to a wild goose chase across the internet finding all those things, also has Mac seemed a bit off to you when you talk.

Ok and yeah, a little bit. And can you get the phoenix jet over here to pick me up I think that Mac needs a new overwatch keep desi as Riley's overwatch, but I think that since desi did not trust him when he went undercover, he is going to have a hard time knowing that the person watching his back does not trust him, but I trust him. So, what I am asking is rehire me take it up with Russ I know everything from the past few months. And from they way you are telling you sound concerned.

Not a bad idea Cage Mac trust you so maybe you can get him out of his funk I have not seen it this bad since he came back from Afghanistan. Also stay near your phone I am going to call Russ I think that you have worked with him.

Okay bye I will keep my phone on me.

After Matty hung up the phone with Cage she contemplated what she had learned and honestly, she was still concerned about Mac but at least he talked to someone, she also wondered why Cage had not called anyone else when she remembered that after the phoenix fell everyone had to get new numbers so unless someone called her, she could not get in touch with anyone else. Matty thought about what Cage had said and decided mac would never forgive them if they sent him to Australia to give him a break from field work. So, the best path would be to get Cage as macs overwatch a roll that Desi had filled after jack but with the tensions after codex, they had not really been the best team. Matty decided that she was going to call Russ she picked up her phone and dialed his number.

Hello, Matildia, whatever do you need on this fine evening.

I need to hire a new overwatch for Mac, Desi and him do not work well together anymore.
Well, I cannot fight you about that got anyone in mind, also we cannot just fire Desi.
Samantha Cage I believe you worked with her before, she was an employ until Murdoc shot her and then she went back to Australia to heal, she and Mac always worked well together. Also, we can put Desi as Riley's overwatch for when she is hacking out in the open.

Send the phoenix jet for her if Mac trusts her then so do I and if I remember right her skillset complements macs.
Waits are you trusting Mac what happened?
Me and genius boy had a heart to heart when he checked on me one time when I was on leave, and we both realize we just misunderstood each other and we both had trust issues so we made a truce to trust each other's opinions because since we both want people we can trust.

Well in that surprising turn of events I am going to call Cage back bye see you in the war room tomorrow.

After Matty hung up with Russ she was pleasantly surprised, she had noticed that mac and Russ were trusting each other more but she could not believe they had a heart to heart. She called the pilot for the jet and had them on route to Australia, then she called Cage.

You are hired the jet should be there in ten hours roughly so say goodbye to your sister and I will see you soon.

Okay bye

Matty hung up and thought about whether to call jack or not eventually she decided against it because nobody was dying yet. Figuring she had done enough for the night she headed home knowing that at work tomorrow Cage was going to be there, Matty was thinking about what she had to do to get her team to trust each other again especially if Desi was going to be Riley's overwatch which they did not usually have for hackers.

8:00 am war room Phoenix foundation

Matty walked into the war room unsurprised to see Cage already there waiting to look a little tired but healthy.

"Hey, Matty, does this mean I get to meet the new members of the team?" Cage asked calmly not showing any emotion while sprawled out across the couch.

"Yes, you do." Matty answered she had call everyone including mac to tell them that they were getting a new member also told everyone excluding mac to not mention any of the stuff the found-out mac had been hiding. After Matty answered that Mac came in by himself early after all he had been gone for almost two weeks. Looking at him Cage noticed how tired he looked honestly, he was just out of it.

"Cage? Matty Cage is the new employee." Mac said with a smile on his face as he walked over to Cage and gave her a hug and sat down next to each other talking happily honestly Matty realized this was the happiest he has looked in months. While Matty was watching Cage and MacGyver Riley, Bozer, and Leanna came in Leanna had realized she was not made for deep cover ops over long amounts of time and had came back and had a long discussion with Bozer which resulted in them both realizing that without each other they did not feel complete, so they got back together. All three looked over and saw Mac smiling and Cage not wanting to interrupt since this was the happiest, they had seen him in a while. Leanna and Bozer went and sat on the other couch while riley turned to Matty.

"Matty, Cage is back? Why?" Riley asked while smiling.

"Yes, she is I will tell you why once Russ and Desi get here." Matty told riley then as if right on que Desi followed by Russ walked in but before they could say anything Matty decided to get right to the chase.

"Hello everyone, we are glad to have Cage and Leanna with us. Now we will also be rearranging things a little do not worry no one is getting fired. Desi you are no longer Macs overwatch since you guys can no longer watch each other's backs, you will now be Riley's overwatch so she can focus on doing her thing. I have brought Cage in as Macs new over watch. Leanna we are glad to have you back and you do not have a specific job like Bozer." Matty said sternly while glancing around the room to see people's reactions Riley and Desi looked unenthused but Matty was pretty sure they could sort things out. Mac and Cage looked extremely happy and everybody else was not biased.

"Now on to the second order of business everyone my self-included will be taking today from actual work to do fun things as a team, everyone has one choice. Let us start with Riley what do you want to do."

Riley grabbed her computer and pulled up the internet while smiling then glanced over to mac who seemed to know what his sister was thinking. "Skeeball." Riley stated.
Eight hours and seven activities later
Matty was pretty sure she was going to regret taking her whole team to an escape room. They pulled into the parking lot with Russ driving Matty in the passenger seat of the van, Matty turned around to address her team, "okay guys this is going to be a team building exercise me and Russ are teamed up, Mac and Cage, Desi and Riley, and Leanna and Bozer. Now before we go in Mac empty your pockets actually everyone cleans out all you pocket, Mac no improvising. Now let us go inside."
They went inside and payed before splitting up to go to separate rooms.

Mac and Cage 30:00 minutes left.

Mac was excited Cage was back and finally someone who actually trust him was his over watch, and today has just been a fun day not focusing on Codex. Him and Cage worked extremely well together and got out of the escape room in 2:39 seconds.
Cage was happy to be back to be honest she was getting bored in Australia she knew Russ was a good man he might like bribery, but he just thought that money could buy you anything, Desi was odd very closed off. Leanna seemed cool. Mac might be smiling now but at times it obviously was fake. Cage did not even have to worry about getting her own place right away because Riley had moved out of Macs house so mac told her she could have that room until she got a place.
After everyone finished, they all went home.