The room felt cold as Mercy accepted the AI's deal, hoping that she wouldn't regret such a thing too quickly. Her eyes flickered between Hana and Lena, the girl's frozen in place as Mercy felt something at the back of her neck. A dull throb, an ache that she had only been experiencing since the mission at the temple had ended. Her eyes widened a bit as she finally put the pieces together. She quickly remembered something smacking her in the back of the neck before Anubis had died. She swallowed a bit, curses filling her mind as she realized how stupid she had been for not recognizing it earlier.
'Oh come now Angela, no need to beat yourself up over it.' Mercy felt her heart skip a beat as the AI responded to what she had assumed was the private thoughts of her own mind. She clenched her jaw, was there no privacy now? Was everything she thought and said to herself up for review?
'Why yes, yes it is Angela. Though I won't pry too much after this point. Think of it as a thank you gift for being such a good little puppet and accepting your place so easily!' The AI chuckled darkly in the woman's head before continuing. 'Oh and before you ask who we will be meeting, it will have to remain a surprise. Just know that they are very excited to see you again!'
With that Mercy felt her head clear once more, a fog having been lifted from her mind. She blinked a few times as time began to flow normally once more, Hana finally making it into the kitchen and piping up angrily from beyond the door.
"HEY! I WANTED THAT LENA!" Mercy heard the two girls shuffling in what she assumed was a playful tug of war, her lips curling into a small smile. The audible scene gave her a momentary lapse in her grim new outlook. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad having Anubis in her head, as long as she did what he asked. At this point she didn't have much of a choice, but it was nice to have a slight sliver of light in the oncoming darkness.
The woman took a deep breath before making her way into the kitchen, the two girls finally settling down as she walked in. The smell of sweets hit Mercy's nose right away and it was quite obvious as to why Lena and Hana had been scuffling. There weren't too many good snacks readily available around the watch point, which led many of the agents to bring things back from their missions and hide them. Both of the young women had histories with eating all of their own snacks and raiding the community pantry.
"What have I told you two about this?" Mercy was stern, waving her finger at the girls as they both broke away from each other to stand up straight as if they hadn't just been fighting over the candy bar that was now opened on the floor. "You both know we have to supply ourselves with things we want. Without a government to back us, we only get funds from doing missions and those are not well paying considering the history of Overwatch." Mercy sighed and shook her head as she walked over and picked up the candy bar, looking over the two stiff girls. They were acting like they would if Jack...
The picture of the man came into Mercy's mind along with the mixed emotions of love and hate. She hadn't even considered telling him about the AI in her head. Would she even be able to? Even if Anubis somehow didn't stop her from telling the man, how would he even react? Mercy sighed softly before taking a bite of the candy, mulling it around in her mouth as she turned around to find Jack standing at the door. Of course he had his mask back on, his new identity still the one he wanted everyone to call him by. Now it made sense as to why Lena and Hana were so rigid.
"Good morning Ja-Sir..." Mercy stared at the man, doing her best to not speak his true name or show him how she was feeling at the moment. Then again he had never been able to tell one's emotion anyway, lest he would have known how the woman felt from the start.
"Good morning Angela, Lena and... Hana was it?" The vet hadn't had much contact with the youngest recruit as of late, to which he blamed his own busy schedule and Ana returning, though he seemed earnest in his wanting to get to know all of their recruits.
"Sir, yes sir!" Hana raised her arm to salute the man, Mercy looking over her in fear that the girl had caught some sort of bug. She was never this polite and heaven forbid she show anyone that much respect right off the bat.
"Heh... at ease soldier, we aren't the military here. No need for salutes and all that. Got plenty of it back in the day and look where that landed us." He took a few steps inside, letting the door close behind him before standing at Mercy's side, facing the girls as she faced away from them. He noted the candy bar and chuckled. "Breakfast of champions I see."
The air was tense as this wasn't how the man usually held himself. He wasn't light, he didn't make jokes. He was tactical, efficient, didn't waste words. Yet as Mercy faked a smile up at him, she could tell that something was different now. Her stomach dropped as the AI popped in with his own two cents.
'OOooHHHHH, he's in loooooooove!' The static crackle of his laughter made it hard for Mercy to keep a straight face, wanting to scowl and yell at the notion. She knew Anubis was right though.
'Sorry dear, but you saw it, I saw it and this man has seen it twice now. But honestly, if we are picking sides here? I'm totally Team Mercy76, or would it be Jarcy? Merck?' The AI's taunting was only testing Mercy's patience with the entire situation, her shoulder's getting stiff as she felt her breathing get slow and deep to try and keep herself calm.
"I was actually just about to make the two of them breakfast, I assume you were looking to check up on me? Well I'm fine, thanks." Mercy was short and to the point as she broke away from the man, her back to him as she walked over to the pots and pans, grabbing a few as she had planned to make pancakes for the girls. She could feel all three of the people behind her staring at the back of her head, the messy bun atop her head showing off a rather sore looking and red neck.
"Are you sure you're fine? Your neck..." Jack barely got the words out before Mercy pulled the tie holding her bun, letting her silky golden hair flow freely down her back, tucking it under her shirt as to keep it from getting free in the food as she grabbed the mix and other ingredients.
"I told you I'm fine. Just a little sore from the mission, plus those beds haven't been properly taken care of in ages..." Her deflection seemed to work well enough, as she wasn't questioned again. Of course Lena and Hana were simply staying quiet as they didn't want to get in either of the older hero's sights.
Jack sighed softly as he turned towards the two younger agents, his covered face not allowing him to try and comfort the girls. He swallowed a bit as he turned his look away from Mercy as she began to cook, clearing his throat a bit and finally getting to the reason he had come.
"I just wanted to let you all know that there will be a team meeting today around noon. I want to get a good feel for where we are at as a group, as well as introduce a few of our newer recruits." He put his hand on Hana's shoulder and nodded. "That and it has been a while since we have all gotten together to eat and be merry. I hear that's good for morale." He chuckled again, trying to make the stiffness in the room a bit less tense to little avail.
He removed his hand from Hana's shoulder and went to turn for the door. "Hopefully I will see all of you there, though I understand if not." He didn't look at Mercy as he said this, but merely made his way out after finishing. The room was left quiet except for the sizzling sounds of food cooking atop the oven.
Mercy bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying, knowing the words had been directed towards her. She had been waiting so long for a big meeting like that, to perhaps finally get the man to herself after a good day of fun. Yet she knew that Ana would be there... she knew that she was nothing to him except an old friend. She felt her hands clench as the thought of the woman filled her with rage once more.
Anubis watched this reaction to his messing with her mind and smiled to himself, the woman was rather easily to manipulate even after she knew that he had control over her. But he could use this, use her fear of seeing Ana and Jack together to drive Angela away from this group and towards whom he needed to meet with. Thankfully he had gotten into contact with his other half rather easily, the carrier of the piece seemingly being used solely to connect the two halves.
'How are things coming over on your end?' The AI spoke to itself, quite literally. He had made sure to keep this from Angela as she needed to be in the dark about whom the other piece was connected to.
'Not too shabby if I do say so myself, we are already prepped and making our way back home. We sure hope to see you soon.' The other part of him seemed just as eager to get back together, the yearning for being one causing a bit of a craving.
'Excellent. I've worked out a nice deal with my puppet and with a little more tweaking I am sure that she will be open to leaving as soon as possible.'
'Can't wait to see you once more, I have something lovely for you when you finally do arrive. Au Revoir Mon Cherie!'