Chapter 5 – Anniversary
"This is amazing!"
Chloé couldn't believe Mdme. Lacroix somehow managed to obtain an Angela "Mercy" Ziegler toy ("with real floating action!"). As a matter of fact, each one of the roving band received an action figure that happened to be one of their most idolized heroes in Overwatch.
Raphael beatboxed around the greenhouse, water can in hand, to Lúcio's "Maximum Tempo." More than once, he had to pick "Lúcio" off the ground as the computer's dance routines weren't intelligent enough to avoid falling off the narrow shelves of a greenhouse. That being said, there was a reason everyone wanted official figures—they were display-quality while still being durable enough to play with daily.
Lucie wouldn't stop pressing the "Locked On" button on the back of her Jack Morrison figure—"Tactical Visor activated!"
"No, Clement, you can't water my plants with that" scolded Amélie. "Put Zhou Mei-Ling away before I take her away!" She initially hesitated to give any of the children the Zhou toy; it could and did produce real icy mist. That meant part of it (mainly the backside) got very warm while it also consumed power cells at an extremely high rate. But Amélie was nothing if not fair, and if everyone else was getting one Clement would too.
At first, Nolan was disappointed that Lena "Tracer" Oxton couldn't zip around like the vids ("DOES NOT WARP TIME"). Then he realized it gave him an excuse to run around shouting "Cheers love, the cavalry's here!" after which his disappointment evaporated.
The five of them had settled into somewhat of a routine. Not only did they receive regular pocket money from "Mdme. Lacroix," she also managed to connect them to one of the few non-profit children's shelters still operating after Overwatch funding decimated government social-services budgets.
She smiled and sighed at the same time. If the only worry she had employing kids off the street was that they'd left the greenhouse door ajar (again), it wasn't really much to fret about at all. They'd even obeyed her command to stay away from the giant Himalayan lily without so much as a "But why?" About to shut the door, something caught her eye: brown. Brown in any garden meant death—but the humidity controls were working. Raphael had been extremely diligent about watering. So why would there be a whole section of dried-up plants?
"Ouch!" Whatever it was she'd picked up—something metallic—it was still hot. And something else. Her hand felt strange, like it had become slippery all of the sudden. Amélie quickly washed it off while snapping a few photos of twisted pieces where the giant lily used to be. She media-messaged them to her husband.
"Ick!" She stepped around something, not sure what it was in the fading dusk until she flipped on a light. A small, dead animal, maybe a squirrel of some kind. Her phone buzzed.
"GET OUT OF THERE. NOW!"
She couldn't breathe after returning to the house as Gérard would not stop squeezing her.
"Do you know what that was?" he demanded, the gravely, military-ish tone he only used professionally (never with her, not even jokingly) surfacing. "That was a proximity explosive used by enemies of Overwatch. From the looks of it, that animal you saw set it off. As to how it got there…"
The Colonel immediately reported the incident despite the late hour. Talon appeared to have it in for him, and possibly his family. It hadn't been that long ago that a Talon fighting vehicle loaded with troops tried to crash his handover of Raptora suits to the Egyptian Army—they likely resented his success in a dozen operations against them.
"Yes sir. I will install the cameras first thing next week!"
He turned back to his wife.
"We're installing cameras in the greenhouse. Full three-dimensional, holographic, high-definition color with low-light and night modes. This isn't something to take lightly. Neither you nor anyone else will ever notice they're there."
Amélie suppressed unpleasant memories of hearing the same thing about her museum after Overwatch reconstruction crews finished (surprisingly quickly) restoring it.
"It's for your own safety, miss. From Talon's point of view, anyone who is even seen in the company of Overwatch agents becomes a target."
Then, of course, she had to go marrying one, so she was always in the "company" of an agent—a rather important agent (if underpaid) at that.
She kissed him goodnight as Gérard sat down to work out camera placements.
"I'll put my security in your capable hands."
