It was a decent day in Zurich. It wasn't hot, but it the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in sight. With her tutor calling her mother, informing her of illness and saying that she would be unable to see her until Monday, Fareeha was ecstatic. A whole day to relax and play outside!
At least, she was ecstatic until her mother told her she had other plans.
"But I'm 12. I can be left home alone." Fareeha whined when her mother handed her her clothes for the day.
"Ah yes. Let me just leave my daughter home alone for an entire day. What could possibly go wrong?" Ana waved her hands as she spoke, placing her hands on her hips when her daughter didn't move. "Go and get dressed. You're coming to HQ with me, and you will like it and you will behave.".
Fareeha sighed in resignation. She knew fighting with her mother would just end with her either doing as she was told and/or being grounded for a week so she stomped off to her bedroom to put on the dress she'd been handed and just hoped that today went quickly.
Fareeha really didn't want to go to headquarters. She hated having to sit in the staff lounge or follow various members around like a lost puppy. There was absolutely nothing that could make her trip better short of her mother saying 'Fareeha, habibti. You can go home and spend the day by yourself,' but seeing as she was currently having an in-depth, yet hushed conversation with Jack, that seemed very unlikely.
At least, that was until she heard a gruff German voice greet her from behind.
"Reinhardt!" Fareeha ran at him and was met with open arms who immediately wrapped around her in a tight hug.
"Fareeha, it's good to see you." He spoke as he hugged her, letting go when the 12-year-old started to wriggle and laugh. She loved seeing him; he was arguably her favourite member at the headquarters and seeing him always brightened her day.
Ana chuckled as she walked up to them, having finished talking to Jack about whatever the pressing issue was. "Now, Reinhardt, I'd appreciate if you refrained from breaking my daughter.".
"I would never dream of it, Captain.". The large German said, laughing along with the slightly younger woman, patting Fareeha on the back as lightly as he could, the force still causing her to jolt forward slightly.
Fareeha herself tried to look incredulous at the assumption that Reinhardt could break her. "Reinhardt could never break me! I know how to fight!" She exclaimed, thinking back on all the training her mother had put her through and choosing an appropriate fighting stance to face Reinhardt with, who just feigned shock at the sudden challenge and begged for mercy, while everyone else in the room smiled at the small girl's antics.
Gabriel walked in, glanced around the room and shrugged. Fareeha didn't like him as much as the others, but he did sometimes childmind her alongside Jack, and she found him to be almost amusingly domestic when he was with the commander.
He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but the students from the University are going to be here in a few minutes, and we need to make sure we know who's going with who.".
Fareeha remembered her mother mentioning that some students from the University of Zurich were visiting, but she didn't realise it was today. It did, however, explain why her mother handed her her best dress for the day.
The adults in the room talked for a moment, clearly going over who was getting what group. Judging by the conversation, there were only 7 students in attendance from three different faculties. The faculty of Law students were to go with Jack, the faculty of medicine and science students were to go with Ana. Reinhardt, Gabriel and Torbjörn, wherever he was, were to provide assistance with the tour, whether that be show off certain areas specifically or prepare snacks and beverages.
Fareeha hoped she could just spend the day in the lounge, but her mother had other plans, dragging her off to the entrance where they were to meet the students.
When the students arrived, they were already in their groups, if they could really be called groups. Five of the students immediately made their way over to Jack when he called for the law students, while only two made their way over to Ana and Fareeha: a scruffy looking man who looked like he had been dragged kicking and screaming out of bed and a pretty, blonde girl who didn't quite look old enough to actually be a university student.
"Hello, my name is Ana Amari. I'm a captain here at Overwatch and perform rudimentary field medicine when on missions. This is my daughter, Fareeha. It's nice to meet you both.". Ana smiled with a grin that reached her eyes, while Fareeha pulled a face that she hoped resembled some sort of friendly expression.
"Likewise. I'm Angela. His name is Erik." The blonde woman -Angela- gestured at the scruffy guy who merely grunted a greeting, forcing his hands further into his pockets while looking completely uninterested otherwise.
Ana hummed and smiled before nodding her head towards the building, "Now we have the introductions out of the way, if you'd follow me, we can begin the tour.".
The tour was largely uneventful; Erik wandered along and hardly seemed to be listening to a word Ana said, whereas Angela seemed to hang off her every word and began talking her ear off when they made it to the infirmary. Fareeha couldn't understand a thing Angela was talking about, and judging by the look on her mother's face, neither could she.
They were about to leave the infirmary when Torbjörn stopped by and asked for Ana's assistance with something Fareeha couldn't understand; something about a rifle. The young girl tried to look for the comedy in the fact her mother wouldn't leave her home alone but trusted her to supervise two near adults while she left for a few moments, but the overwhelming awkwardness of the situation prevented her from doing so.
They stood in an overbearing silence for a moment, before Angela spoke up in an attempt to break it. "So, your name is Fareeha, ja? It's nice to meet you! I like your dress."
Fareeha smiled at the girl, who hadn't spoken a word to her since her and her friend arrived on the tour. "Yes. It's nice to meet you too. Thank you.".
Angela was about to say something else when Erik began to talk in a thick, German accent. "Why do we have to wait here, Angie? That woman knows she already showed us the lounge, right?"
"Erik, bitte, I'm trying to talk to our new friend. Besides, she asked us to stay here and this place is basically a military headquarters. We can't just go wandering around, Liebling." Fareeha immediately picked up on the blonde's exasperation.
"Oh, come on, schatz. Why don't we go do some exploring ourselves?" Erik wrapped his arms around Angela's waist and rested his head on her shoulder, holding her in a tight embrace.
The embrace was short lived, however, as Angela twisted herself from it and turned to face him, her back to Fareeha. Instead of replying in English, she replied in German, a language that Fareeha only recognised because of how frequently she'd heard Reinhardt speak it, especially when he was speaking to her mother on the nights he'd spend over at their house.
Erik replied in the language too, and while Fareeha didn't have the first idea as to what they were saying, judging by the tone of voice and the redness creeping onto Angela's face, the conversation was not a happy one.
The argument was halted when Ana walked back into the room. "Sorry about that. Is everything okay?"
Both Angela and Erik looked at her like a pair of deer caught in headlights, the latter's expression dropping back to neutral before he muttered that he was leaving and pushed past Ana, who reached out to grab his sleeve and prevent him from going. All he did was yank his arm away from her and storm off, muttering something about calling his friend to come and pick him up from the 'bore-fest'.
Fareeha, Ana and Angela all watched him leave in shock. They stood in silence for a couple of seconds when Angela finally spoke up, her voice weak and eyes red with tears that she was struggling to hold back. "Sorry, he only came because I asked him to. He wanted to go do something different today…for our anniversary.".
For some reason, Fareeha felt a pang of disappointment when Angela said anniversary, especially given with how the two had interacted.
Ana appeared awkward for a moment, something that didn't go unnoticed by her daughter, before she patted Angela on the arm, offered her a tissue from the box on the table next to them and asked if she wanted to go after him or complete the tour.
After giving her some time to calm down, Angela agreed to finish the tour, the slight delay meaning the other group were already at the entrance and waiting for the bus to pick them up when they finally rounded back towards the foyer for the headquarters.
Being the only student still within the base gave Angela ample time to meet and talk to everyone, telling them that being shown the bases facility gave her the incentive to study hard and one day join the organisation so that she could use their facilities and help more people. She even sat and had a conversation with Fareeha, who couldn't help but think how pretty the 17-year-old was.
Just before the bus turned up, Fareeha's mother had the idea to take a team photo, grabbing Tori and Jason, two other Overwatch members who worked in R&D, to be in it as well. Fareeha tried her best to focus on the camera while she noticed Angela positioning her hand to give Torbjörn bunny ears out of the corner of her eye.
Over the years, Angela visited a few more times, but seldom when Fareeha was there. On the occasions where she did see Angela, she began to learn things about herself and her preferences.
Even when Angela joined Overwatch, Fareeha was out training with the Egyptian military. By the time Fareeha had been released from the military, Overwatch had been shut down and she assumed she'd never see Angela again.
When Fareeha heard of the recall from Reinhardt, she took an absence of leave from Helix Security and got on the first plane to Gibraltar. She knew the decision was incredibly irresponsible and while she had never been part of Overwatch while it was still legal, she jumped at the opportunity to join up with the reborn version now, both as a way to fulfil a lifelong dream as well as continue her mother's legacy.
When she arrived at the Watchpoint, she was greeted by Winston, who she had met not long before the shutdown of Overwatch, as well as Lena and, of course, Reinhardt. At first, she was a little bit taken aback by how few people were there, but Winston assured her that there were a few more people on the way.
The first night at the Watchpoint was strange, especially given that there were few enough members that they had their own individual rooms in the high-ranking officer's quarters, rather than have to pick a bed in the shared barracks.
Fareeha threw her kitbag unceremoniously into the corner and flopped on the bed. As happy as she was to be here, she'd just endured a five-hour flight which had been delayed by eight hours, and was beginning to feel the fatigue set in. She did contemplate putting some form of pyjamas on but decided against it; she was changing her clothes in the morning anyway.
It didn't take long for her to doze off once she got comfortable.
The next day, Fareeha was the second person in the kitchen, Winston already there making some pancakes for everyone.
"I didn't know you could cook." Fareeha said as she went to make her morning tea, a habit she had picked up from her mother years ago.
The gorilla didn't turn away from what he was doing, but acknowledged the comment anyway. "Of course I can! You don't think I eat peanut butter all the time, do you?"
"No…" Fareeha averted her gaze, finished making her tea and went to sit at the island in the middle of the room, waiting for Winston to finish making breakfast for the group, who were mostly still in bed.
Reinhardt made himself known before Winston finished cooking, greeting both of them and taking a seat next to Fareeha after he grabbed a comedically small glass of orange juice. The pancakes were nearly all gone by the time Lena stumbled into the kitchen, letting out a sleepy grunt as a way of greeting before filling a large thermos with coffee and grabbing an apple, forgoing the pancakes that Winston had slaved over for breakfast.
Winston watched the still half-asleep girl for a moment before he cleared his throat. "So today, Torbjörn and Dr Ziegler should arrive. McCree sent along a message informing me he's currently in Hanamura, but will come here as soon as he is able, and I have yet to hear from Genji.".
Lena, who had decided to rest her head in her arms on the table gave a thumb's up, while Reinhardt leaned back and said, "it will be good to work with those two again! I haven't worked with them properly since King's Row!"
Fareeha was just glad that there were more than just the four of them joining the recall, and was actually looking forward to seeing the two of them again, given how she had not really spoke to either of them since a few years before Overwatch shut down, what with all the Egyptian military and Helix Security work and everything.
Following breakfast, Fareeha decided to spend some time with Reinhardt, both discussing their choice of attire for missions.
"See, the armour is strong and durable, just like me!" Reinhardt patted the metal chest piece, looking at the full suit appreciatively while Fareeha cleaned out the many compartments on the Raptora suit that Helix had thankfully let her 'borrow'.
"Strong and durable? That's funny." She smirked as she cleaned out the particularly grimy knee joint. "I'm sure I remember Torbjörn threatening to hit you with a wrench after a mission more than once.".
"Actually, I threatened him with my hammer. His, when he brought it back in 23 different pieces." Came a voice from the doorway to the vehicle bay, causing both Fareeha and Reinhardt to spin around to face the new person in the conversation, both faces lighting up when they saw their short, Swedish friend.
They'd hardly finished greeting him properly when Reinhardt and Torbjörn started ribbing each other, Fareeha laughing along as they tried to outdo each other in terms of who had saved the others ass more valiantly, before deciding to challenge each other to a drinking contest to settle the playful argument once and for all. She decided not to stick around for that, just in case they tried to get her to join in. She didn't want to outdo the two of them.
It was early evening before Dr Ziegler arrived. Fareeha was walking around near the entrance when she saw her struggling towards the base, old Overwatch kitbag over her left shoulder while she strained to pull a metal case along with her right hand, with her glasses (those were new) threatening to fall off her face any second.
Fareeha jogged over to her and smiled. "Long time, no see, Dr Ziegler.".
Angela dropped the case for a moment, straightened her glasses and looked up at her in confusion for a moment, which was to be expected given she hadn't really seen her in over a decade, her face breaking into a smile when she recognised her. "Fareeha! You've changed so much, it's so good to see you."
The Egyptian bowed her head. "Likewise." She watched as the older woman attempted to pick up the metal case again. "Would you like some help, Dr Ziegler?"
Angela appeared thoughtful for a moment before she dropped the case and gestured to it. "Bitte, and you're more than welcome to call me Angela, Fareeha."
The younger woman smiled at her as she picked up the case…that was far heavier than she expected it to be. "What's even in this?"
Angela, who was readjusting her kitbag onto her other shoulder, glanced at Fareeha, then the case, then back to Fareeha. "The armour parts and wings from the Valkyrie suit.".
Fareeha's eyes widened as they made the same movement to the case that Angela's had done seconds earlier. "You wear this?" she said, incredulously.
Angela shrugged and began walking ahead towards the entrance to the Watchpoint. "It's not that heavy when it's on. If it's too heavy, you can carry the kitbag and I'll take that.".
Not one to step down from a challenge, Fareeha declined the offer. The case wasn't really that heavy to her, and it was just the unexpected weight of it that had caught her off guard. In reality, the case felt lighter than her Raptora suit did, and she knew from experience that the empty suit always appeared to weigh ten times more than what it did when she was inside of it.
She showed Angela to her room, and watched as the medic flopped on the bed as unceremoniously as she herself had done the previous night, mumbling a thank you into the bedding before she rolled over onto her front to face Fareeha, who was a little more than confused over the sight that Angela's vest top revealed prior to her rolling over.
"What are those things on your shoulders?"
Angela shared the same confused look for a moment as she reached back and felt where her shoulder blades were, looking down and smiling as she ran her fingers over the irregularity. "Those are nerve transmission plates. They use them for amputees so they can feel their prosthetic limb. We were testing to see whether they can be used to transmit synthetic nerve control to and from something that wasn't there originally, and I thought they may be helpful when it comes to giving me greater control over my wings, and they do. Before I had to use my- oh, sorry. I'm probably talking too much.". She trailed off, a slight blush creeping on to her face as she averted her gaze from the other woman in the room.
Fareeha quickly stepped in to reassure her. "Oh no, I was actually enjoying listening to you talk. It sounds very interesting and I'd love to know more.". She hoped that Angela would believe she was genuinely interested, because she was, and thankfully, she did.
They discussed Angela's wings for almost an hour before the subject shifted to Fareeha's Raptora suit, both of them thoroughly enjoying the other company as the night drew on and their focused conversation became idle chatter until the doctor fell asleep and Fareeha left for her own room.
As she fell asleep herself, she couldn't help but think about how lucky she was to be here, and how fortunate it was for fate to have brought her and Angela together again.