Dr. Ziegler couldn't help but be slightly annoyed at the lack of space in the tiny overwatch vehicle taking them through the Italian city. She loved Reinhardt, but he took up so much space. On top of that, she ended up sharing what space she did have with young Fareeha.
'Angela, I heard you and Reinhardt will be going to Genoa this weekend. Could you be a dear and watch Fareeha? I have an important assignment in Beijing and her father is still in Canada. Thank you.' It didn't matter how accomplished a surgeon or how many degrees she had, it was hard for some of Overwatch's senior staff to see her as anything but Angela the babysitter.
Still, she got the parameters for the simulation she needed from her professor and they were simple enough. After a dozen hours or so, the rest of the week will just be her, the beautiful Italian architecture, and a cozy little beach not too far from where they'd be staying. Fareeha was easy enough to pawn off on to Reinhardt to make this vacation worth it and the child wasn't so bad as to ruin it anyway
"Where's the base anyway?" Angela was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of her preteen companion.
"its just off the coast on a small man made island." Reinhardt answered.
"why is it on an island?"
"You see young Fareeha, early in the war, hostile omnics would attack our allies to the east by emerging from deep below the Pacific. To counter, we built these monitoring stations with super computers to look for the enemy in our own waters. They even had special holding cell to keep captured omnics to hook up to the super computer so that it could run countless simulations to predict where they would attack from next." As Reinhardt told the two women about their destination, their vehicle approached a much smaller building near the docks.
"Wait, if it's in the middle of the sea, why are we taking a car? Shouldn't we get their in some kind of cool aircraft?" Fareeha was full of questions today.
"Haha, I didn't want to spoil the surprise. One second please." The car stopped in front of what appeared to be a single car garage a few miles from the docks. Reinhardt got out and spoke with a man at the door. After showing his security clearance and orders from Commander Morrison, Reinhardt returned to the two waiting as patiently as a seventeen year old and a twelve year old could. "our air force at the time was no match for the omnics, so we had to fight them down on the ground face to face. Man to machine. Because of that, Gabriel had the idea to install this." As the car drove into the garage, it became apparent that the garage was not a garage, but the entrance to a tunnel that went along the sea floor. What caught the girls' eye about this particular tunnel was the windows that reached from the base of the walls to the center of the arched ceiling that showed the a well lit ocean floor. The tunnel was wide enough for an infantry company to pass through quickly with manned turrets every thirty meters. "The glass for the windows is one way, making it effectively invisible from the outside. LOOK FAREEHA! Do you see that pile of scrap just beyond those rocks? Let me tell you the tale of how ol' Reinhardt had to man the turrets on one crossing and downed nearly a hundred omnic sentries!"
The rest of the car ride went by with the German knight sharing what Angela assumed were greatly embellished tales of heroics that he and the rest of overwatch performed during the war. While politely indulging the two when addressed directly, she did block out most of the conversation in favor of going over her research notes again. Her calculations had to be flawless.
The car eventually resurface from the tunnel on to the base about a mile out to sea. It was much smaller than the Swiss base she was used to seeing and with much fewer men operating It.
"Excuse me, Reinhardt, but would be ok if I go prep the quantum processor for the simulator?" Angela asked as three exited the car. "I know you do have quite the task ahead of you, repurposing the whole base, so I would like to get out of your hair as soon as possible."
"OF COURSE! Right this way, ladies." Reinhardt lead them in through what looked to be some sort of aircraft hanger that was currently being used for Storage. Large boxes and shipping containers filled the area creating a labyrinth to navigate through. Some of the containers were newer that looked to be new environmental equipment to be installed once Reinhardt prepped the base. The older containers were marked with multiple warnings and caution tape identifying the content as dangerous. Overhead was a series of catwalks that lead to different terminals that correlated to different transmitters and receives near the top of the structure.
Angela wasn't so naive as to think that all weaponry was unnecessary, but she did feel better knowing that Commander Morrison was taking steps to demilitarize a few of Overwatch's resources. She did have to wonder why they're were so many dangerous materials and heavy weaponry on what she understood to be a primarily early warning system.
"Are these all the weapons from the base?" Angela asked he guide
"Weapons, experimental technology, as well as some hazardous material accumulated through experimentation on captured P.O.W.s . It does seem like a lot. The east hanger isn't nearly as full." The knight explained.
"Wow, what's in all these boxes?" Fareeha inquired.
"Mostly supplies for the soldiers that were stationed here. Three or four men could man the base on their own for several months without having an opportunity to be resupplied. So we made sure the base was always stocked. These containers are full of mostly food rations, medical supplies, and ammunition. Additionally, a few have specialized equipment for the soldiers with more unique skill sets. For example, I have an older version of my crusader armor stored away in a bright red container in the other hanger from when I was stationed here after taking one too many bullets in Prague. Now that's a story. It was just Lindholm, a few boys from Denmark, and myself who had to fend off a whole battalion of omnics. There we were…" Reinhardt went on to wow Fareeha with his tales of heroics as they made their way through the boxes to the computer room.
When they finally got through the hanger and past the barracks to the inner command center, Angela was beginning to get a little on edge. This was becoming much more of a hassle than she originally thought.
"Here it is Angela, right through this door is the main console for the quantum computer. Just use this clearance code and it should give you full access." Reinhardt handed the young doctor a folded sheet of paper that contained the security protocols Commander Morrison gave him to follow. "feel free to take as long as you need. Fareeha, would mind accompanying me to the see how well the anti aircraft cannon decommissioning is going? I hear lieutenant Thatcher was here last week and you know how she gets about her cannons."
"you bet. She probably left lipstick all over her 'babies'!" the Egyptian preteen giggled along with the knight's hardy laugh.
Angela smiled at her two friends as they walked towards the deconstructed artillery. "Thank you again, Reinhardt!" she called after them. Turning back to the door they left her by, she quickly found the key code on the paper Reinhardt had given her and punched it in. Finally, after months of designing and redesigning, calculating and recalculating, she could begin the next step on her nanite stream. The caduceus project.
When she opened the door she was greeted with the gleaming floor to ceiling sublight tower, the beautifully ergonomic user interface, and the pristine sensation of cutting edge technology.
She was also greeted with a scruffy looking cowboy with his feet up on the desk, his hand hovering over his gun, a game of solitaire on the monitor, and a quizzical look on his face.
"Doc? What are you doing here?"