Power Outtage [Open - Tom/Kat]

Word had made it back that George had been recovered before he himself made it back to Gary, and Kathryn was there waiting and pacing as soon as he'd arrived.

She tried to push herself in close, but the medical staff kept her at arm's length as they worked over her father, who only seemed half conscious, flailing and muttering to himself in his current state. "What happened, is he going to be alright?" She demanded.

She turned to Ansell, expression worried. He'd been there, he'd gone on the mission that had recovered George. "What happened?" She asked him next, voice softening for him, trying to be gentle because he seemed quite distressed as well. "Will he be okay?"

It had been a tense while, both him and Kathryn just barely managing to live and exist normally while their father was missing. Tom had been struck to silence for a few days after the fact, he'd only just gotten his father back, he still didn't fully know the man, only to have him taken away, it had hit him hard and it took a couple of days for his sister to pull him out of that.

So when they got word that George had been found, he didn't hesitate to accompany Kathryn back to the base, where they were waiting once again with the tense, nervous atmosphere to find out if he would be alright. He understood why the medical staff had to keep them away, their father seemed to be completely out of it and still trying to fight, but his skin still prickled with agitation at not being able to go see him,

He glanced towards Ansell and frowned, "hey Dad's gonna be fine...He is." He sounded sure of that, "he's stronger than anyone I've ever met. He'll be fine." He knew his reassurance probably meant little to either of him, but it was the best he could do, try and be strong for them, even if he wasn't particularly strong.

Ansell was pacing like an animal, he looked to Kat and Tom and furrowed his brow. They were already talking to him, and he hustled away from the Medical center, his hands on his head as he shuffled away. "Don't know..." he mumbled. "Don't know..." He tried to say it louder so he could be heard over the shouting.

"George...George please....help me..." Gasped the distressed man, who was finally sedated again. Even asleep he didn't seem to have any rest. "...please..." The mumbling was very confused and broken. Like it wasn't just one person talking.

"Don't know...mmmm" Ansell said as he kept walking down the hall away from all the activity. He pulled his rifle off his shoulder, and dropped it on the nearest counter. "Hephaestus...city...boom..." He made motions. "I...don't know how say." He shook his head. "Talon..." He growled and snorted. "Ahhhh..." He punched a wall and shook his head aggressively. "I...Mmmmm" He'd put a sizable hole in the concrete thanks to his metal arms.

Kathryn wanted to press for details, she wanted to demand answers. She wanted to shout and hit things and throw something and demand that someone finally tell her what was going on. She was tired of always having to be the reasonable one, she was worried and afraid and just...desperately wanted to be unreasonable for what felt like once in her life.

But...she couldn't. They all needed her, needed her to once again hold it all together for everyone else, so they didn't all fall apart. Dad wasn't okay, Ansell wasn't okay, Tom wasn't okay.

As Ansell turned to walk away she realized pressing him further wouldn't get answers, it would only agitate the man more. He showed this with a fist into the wall, she jumped at the impact and as a large chunk of concrete came away with it. She put out a hand, keeping Tom from going after him.

"Yeah...Dad'll be okay..." She said quietly to Tom, mostly to reassure him. "I...don't know about him though..." She looked pointedly and worriedly after Ansell. She wished she knew better how to help him.

Tom wanted to go to try and reassure Ansell, but thought better of it when he felt Kathryn's hand on his shoulder, sighing softly, "Ansell wont be fine until Dad is fine." He was feeling surprisingly together at the moment, more so than he expected to feel, there wasn't any panicking or shutting down, "Hmm." He pulled away from Kathryn after a moment to gently approach the man, keeping his hands to himself, "Ansell." He wasn't particularly afraid of the man, he was agitated, but he also trusted him, and he could mostly put together what he was saying.

"Talon took him, right? From...Wherever they found him...They did something to him...Made him destroy a city?" He frowned and looked back towards the medical bay where he could still hear him, "but we have him now. He's alive." He held out a hand and gave Ansell a sure look, "he's going to be fine...He...He's gonna need us when he comes around." He gave the man the best smile he could manage, given the situation, "but we'll get him through this together...Alright?" He chuckled weakly, "I can't...Translate for you as well as he probably can...But I can do my best?" He wasn't his father, but he could sure try for them both.

What was flowing from Ansells lips would make a sailor blush, if they understood German anyway. He ran his fingers through his hair again and again, just agitated beyond belief. He just kept going, down the hall, just walking and then when he got to a deadend he turned around and clenched his fists. "....Ahhhh, ahhhh....mmmm" he mumbled some more explicit language as he rubbed his temples. He saw Tom coming after him, despite Kat's gesture, it was strange...knowing George had kids, and they were here too. Weird. He supposed the thought had never crossed his mind, considering his orientation, and well the whole outback exploding. Any kind of domestic plan had been glassed just like the rest of home.

He nodded vaguely as Tom asked his questions. "Hephaestus...pain...destroy," he tried to convey as best he could. "Why this? Why he come?" Ansell tried to ask why George had bothered with the recall, he could have just gone on living without ever having to come here. They could have gone on. "Hate it." The aussie sighed and shook his head.

"Hate it. Overwatch. Stupid." Ansell started moving again, heading back towards the medical wing. "We leave. Should leave. Why stay?" He looked at Tom and scratched at his scalp. "Stupid."

Kathryn followed a few steps behind Tom, watching how the interaction went a bit cautiously. She looked between them both, Tom seemed to be able to get through to the other man in ways she really couldn't. She was glad Tom could talk to him at least, it helped that one of them could, at least a little, through all of this.

She paused, head tilted to one side as he talked about how he hated this. "Then...why don't you?" She asked, completely honestly. "Why stay here? If you hate it...if it's so bad for you...and I'll be honest, it doesn't seem great for anyone here really...why stay? Why not go someplace not this...insane and dangerous?"

Like most people she'd looked up to Overwatch, she looked up to her father and everything he'd done...but that was a long, long time ago. This was a world that had moved on years ago and this here, from what she'd seen...there was no glamour on this. It was hard and dangerous and they were living in a bunker in the middle of Indiana...why *did* any of them stay?