Chapter Text
The drop grew bigger on the end of the pipette until it fell into the transparent fluid in the test tube below.
Right! Now a little bit of this…
Angela reached for another pipette and dipped it into another transparent substance, her gaze behind her safety glasses highly concentrated. It was just another test session of her new project she has been working on the whole day and as usual, she was the only one in the laboratories working late into the night. She filled the pipette with just enough fluid to add a few drops to her test tube. A faint sizzling reached her ears, when the drops hit the surface but she did not worry about it. She put the pipette aside and carefully turned the tube as if she was turning a spoon in her coffee mug. The color of the fluid changed from transparent to a milky white and finally back transparent.
“Interesting…”, Angela muttered and added this to her notes.
The fluid seemed harmless like water, like mineral water as the sizzling became a permanent sound of it. Then a tiny bit of something that looked like very fine metal powder changed everything. The sizzling grew louder and threatening, faint smoke rose from the test tube and suddenly the contents splashed out like a geyser. It happened too fast for Angela to drop the tube safely in its holder, so she could just try to cover her face with her arm.
“Shit!”, she cursed, checking whether she or her notes took damage. “Great! So much to this combination…”
Gladly, she noticed no serious damage, except from partly wet spots on her lab coat, but they could have also been remains of former cleaning actions. She put her instruments aside and took off her safety glasses, yawning. It was already past midnight.
“Should get going, then. I should get at least some hours of sleep before the flight.“, she mumbled and rubbed her eyes unconsciously with her still gloved and still stained hand.
Throwing her gloves away, she strode to the door, not bothering to tidy up her workspace behind her. Nobody would enter anyway, when she was not in here, so she simply switched off the light and left. The hallways were empty and only lit by the emergency lamps. High pitched sounds and music blurted muffled through Hana’s closed door, a proof that the teen was still wide awake.
“Go to bed, Hana!”, Angela said, knocking on the door.
The sounds paused for a moment, only to give Hana the possibility to not yell back her answer.
“Yes, mommy!”, she teased.
“I’ll get you for that, young lady!”
“Not, if you go on talking like a mom.”
Angela bit down a biting answer, already hearing the sounds reviving behind the door. This girl just would not listen. She sighed and continued her way to her own room. Eventually, the door fell shut behind her. Gosh, was she tired all of the sudden. The lab coat slumped down on one of her chairs, shoes discarded somewhere. All she had in mind was sleep. She shuffled into her bedroom and let her fall face first into the softness of her pillows. Like that, Angela wiggled out of her pants just to have a bit more comfort. Within an instant, sleep found her.
Sunlight shone through the thin curtains of her room, tickling her nose. Angela stretched herself delicately, blinking sleep away.
What time is it?
She rolled onto her side to look at her alarm. 10:00 AM.
SHIT! I missed my flight!
Fighting with her blanket that had looped around her like a climbing plant, Angela fell out of her bed. She hurried back onto her feet, when she suddenly noted something odd. There was no need for her to hurry onto her feet. She already landed on them.
Since when do I have this kind of reflex?
She looked up. Her bedside table was incredibly tall, but she could not remember it being like that.
“Wha – Meow?”
Her eyes widened in shock. Unsure, if she really wanted to know what had happened to her, Angela slowly looked down at her hands. But there were no hands. There were paws. Fluffy little kitten paws, covered in cream coloured fur.
I must be dreaming!
She dashed to her bathroom, jumped onto the sink and stretched herself until she could look into the mirror. No doubt. She turned into a cat while she slept. From head to toe – well, tail tip – cream fur which was very similar to her former hair colour coated her, except for her chest. There she had a white heart shaped pattern. The only thing that had not changed much were her eyes. Despite their new pupils, they still had the same shade of blue.
Oh, no! What do I do? This must’ve been the result of yesterday’s experiment. I need to get to my labs.
Angela jumped out of the sink, crossing the living-room and halted in front of a hurdle, she would have never seen as one before. The door handle suddenly seemed miles away.
Oh, boy! I always sucked at high-jump… Hopefully this has changed, too.
She took a few steps back, pushed her rear out, wiggled it and jumped. Her paws reached for the handle, missing it for only millimeters. Then the movement stopped abruptly as her teeth clenched around the metal. The handle dropped, slowly swinging the door open for a bit and Angela slid down the metal with a squeal.
Well, that worked out somehow…, she thought, squeezing herself through the ajar door.
A small wind breeze that blew through an open window pushed the door shut with a loud bang. A cat-like hiss escaped Angela’s throat and her fur stood up straight as she arched her back.
Okay, back to what I need to do!
It was an usual sight to see a cat straying along Overwatch’s base, but apparently no one was noticing it. No one, except Lena.
“Aaaaw, now look at tha’! What do we have ‘ere?“, she cooed, kneeling down to the small animal. “Well, hello, little one. How did you get ‘ere?”
The cat looked at Lena with big blue eyes and meowed. A wide smile lit up the face of the Brit.
“I see. You got lost, right? Now, don’t worry, my luv. I’ll take good care of you!”
She looped her hands around the cat and lifted it above her head, twirling on her tip-toes with a gleeful chuckle. Obviously, the cat was not too pleased of it.
No, Lena! Let me down! I need to go to the labs to –
Lena wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tight.
You’re crushing me…!
“I’ll name you Pepper. Ah, no! Whiskers! Tha‘ sounds nice, doesn’t it. You can sleep in my room and I’ll buy you a nice fluffy cat-bed and…“, she trailed off in a never ending list of things she would spoil the little fur-ball with. “Oh, Emily will love you, sweetie!”
She deliberately ignored the constant meow and wiggling as she kept on cuddling the little fellow and walking to her room.
I need air…
The moment Lena fished for her keys, Angela hastily climbed onto her back, leaving some scratches on her leather jacket and dashed away.
“Hey~! Come back ‘ere!“
I’m sorry Lena, but you bear hug me too much!
Not paying attention to where she was running, Angela ended up in a dead-end. A cold shudder ran down her spine when she heard Lena still behind her. She glanced around.
There!
Never was she happier seeing a louver and now that she was so small she easily fit through. Wasting no time, Angela squeezed through the slit into darkness. Lena whined on the other side, but she was relieved to be out of her reach. She carefully prowled along the funnel. Although she might now be a predator, she had no wish of walking into mice or even rats to fight with.
Suddenly the ground under her paws slid away and she fell into a big, soft something. Well, it was not completely soft. The bright light in the room blinded her for a moment.
“Mmmmmmm. Wha’ d’ya want? Leave me alone asshole!“, a deep voice rumbled below her.
Jesse! Thank god!
Angela meowed happily, although she struggled to keep her balance on top on the moving man. When he was done shifting, Jesse blinked down to her, once, twice.
“Hello kitty cat.”, he mumbled still half asleep.
Come on Jesse. Get up! I need your help. Can you escort me to the labs? Please, I promise you to not interrupt your naps anymore…
He yawned loudly and patted her head with his now giant hand. Drool drew a faint line in the corners of his mouth.
“Such a nice little, fur ball.”
As if nothing had happened, he snuggled back into his sheets. Silence stretched between them.
“CAT?!?”, Jesse jolted up and Angela jumped off him immediately.
Oh, dear… I completely forgot about that…
“Shhh, shhh, shhh! Out you bastard! Don’t come near me! I swear!“ He shouted and threw his shoes after her. “I will – atchoo! – Imma gonna – atchoo! – kill ya!”
Sneezing and swearing the tall man chased the threatened cat through his rooms. Lamps and chairs crashed to the ground either due to his doing or Angela’s. Finally he opened the door and she dashed out.
Why is everybody chasing me~?
She perked her ears, as she heard Jesse’s heavy steps behind her. Half-dressed he swung a bat over his head glaring at her through partly swollen eyes.
Shit!
Again she blindly ran down the hallway, furious Jesse in tow. Here and there the bat hit the wall accompanied by deep growls. The chase led them to Torbjörn’s workshop. Angela took cover under one of the workbenches with lighting speed.
“Where is that – atchoo! – cat?”, Jesse panted and Torbjörn looked at him puzzled.
“What?
“A cat! There’s a friggin‘ cat in your – atchoo!“
“A rat?”, Torbjörn asked.
Jesse palm fisted his face and grunted.
“No! A CAT!”
“Ah, don’t worry. Good timing to test my new gadget for getting rid of rats.”
Torbjörn reached for something that looked quite like a flame-thrower and chuckled.
“Come on baby light my fire!”, he sang.
Jesse rolled his eyes but did not seem to mind his help anyway, before he bursted into another sneeze. Angela on the other hand watched them with pure horror and pressed herself closer into the shadows of the bench. Her heart pounded in her throat.
“Hey, Torb.”, another voice echoed from the entrance. “Mind if I borrow a hammer from you? I –“
Fareeha stopped midsentence, frowning at the picture of the two men crouching on the floor. One holding a bat, the other holding the burning end of a small flame-thrower.
“What are you two doing there?”
They jolted up, heads spinning in her direction and Jesse cursed heavily as he hit his head while doing so. Like children caught with their hands in a cookie box, the men blinked at Fareeha guiltily.
“We’re hunting rats.”, Torbjörn said.
“A cat!”, Jesse corrected.
“I see…”, Fareeha said hesitantly, not sure whether they were drunk or not. “Let me see your crat.”
They made her some space to crouch down but before she could even think about it, a cream coloured cat scurried out of its hide-out and behind Fareeha’s legs.
“Don’t tell me you were hunting this little cat.”
“It’s not just a lil’ ca – atchoo! It’s a beast!”, Jesse growled but Fareeha ignored him.
She bent down to the cat and carefully picked it up, cradling it to her chest. The small furry thing shook like a leaf, blue eyes scared and wide. A tiny meow reached her ears that almost sounded as if the cat was about to cry. Fareeha soothingly tickled it under the chin, feeling the, oh, so soft and smooth fur.
“You scared her to death.”, she said calmly, but her gaze that hit the men could have killed.
“I don’t care if it’s a he or she.”, Jesse grunted. “Just keep that thing away from me!”
With that being said, he stomped out of the workshop, sneezing and mumbling to himself. Torbjörn and Fareeha looked after him, one annoyed the other visibly confused.
“I thought it was a rat…”
I’m not a rat!
Fareeha sighed as the small bundle in her arms wiggled restlessly and hissed.
“Well, then. I’ll take care of you now, you little whirlwind.”, she decided.
Check out this link for the final version too: Neferet Chapter 1