"She cried when your jet took off. Thought her ami was abandoning her."
"Did she now?" Ana laughed softly, gazing at her daughter's image onscreen. Fareeha was sitting in Kamilah's lap with her bird plushie in hand, and stared back at Ana's fond expression. The child had been thrilled when Ana first appeared on the computer screen, and stood on Kamilah's knees just to touch her hand to Ana's face, seemingly content with the screen's static warmth on her palm. "Fareeha, you silly little girl, you."
"Ami's…gonna come back?" Fareeha tilted her head up to look at Kamilah, then turned back to Ana. "Fast."
"So young and already ordering your ami around, huh?" Ana clicked her tongue. "She's really taking after you, Milah."
"All the better for her." Kamilah wore an unabashed smile on her lips as she pressed a kiss to the top of Fareeha's head. "Ami's coming back soon, Fareeha."
"Soon!"
"Ah, try not to get her hopes too high…" Ana said uncertainly.
"I know," Kamilah sighed. "But she's been fine with it so far."
"Might be different this time."
Kamilah inclined her head, and a brief spell of silence fell over them – save for Fareeha's whispered babbles to her bird plushie, as if she was sharing a secret with the toy. Stroking her daughter's hair, Kamilah changed the subject, "So how's your first day there?"
"Nothing, so far. I've been on my own for nearly the entire day."
"Haven't met the others yet?"
"Nope. Most of them aren't here yet. Apparently the two Americans are around, but I couldn't find them." Ana shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter. I'll see them sooner or later."
"Any word on when you'll be deployed? See some action?"
"No. You know, I'm starting to think this is kind of a rush job. No schedules, no deadlines. I don't think the roster is even fixed yet."
"Wouldn't be surprised. It's hard enough gathering people from the same country. But from all over the world and at such a short notice? Makes sense that it'd take time." Kamilah paused briefly in thought. "You know, I've heard that the brass didn't even want to let you go in the first place. Maybe this is why."
"And if I knew…"
"Mama!" Fareeha cut off Ana's cynical chuckle, clambering to stand on Kamilah's lap again, prompting her mother to clutch at her sides so she wouldn't fall. "Wanna milk!"
"Wanna milk already? Are you hungry or sleepy?"
"Milky."
"Do you want some cheese with your milk?"
Fareeha whipped her head around, already-wide eyes growing bigger at Ana's suggestion. "Wanna cheese and milk!"
"Our little milk monster's evolved into a dairy monster." Kamilah commented, a quirk in the corner of her lips. "Now, say bye bye to ami before we get your milk."
"Bye bye ami." Fareeha waved at the screen, then hugged her mother about the neck.
"Stay safe, Ana."
"Honey, the whole point of my being here is to do just the opposite." She grinned when Kamilah rolled her eyes and sighed again.
"Then do whatever you have to do, and come home. Preferably in one piece."
"Anything for you, my dear wife."
Ana hadn't exaggerated when she told Kamilah that she had nothing to do. President Xie had been in her office to give Ana a welcome in the morning, before having to fly off on further business related to the strike team – recruitment, specifically. Xie had her hands full just convincing each individual army to 'volunteer' their best and brightest for what might be the highest cause, in light of the omnic crisis. She appeared strained and tired, but bid Ana a warm farewell nevertheless, before leaving the sniper to make herself comfortable around the headquarters. Xie's assistant had shown Ana around, then left the lone Egyptian soldier to her own devices. Ana wandered about the offices for a while, then got bored and strolled out into the city to occupy her time.
It was at once a relief and quite the heartbreak to experience the calm – if oddly subdued – atmosphere of Geneva. The clean, undamaged streets and infrastructure, and the people who bore no fear of a surprise attack, all served to build a serene picture that was so jarringly different from Egypt. If anything, it accentuated the fact that her home was suffering greatly – especially for its people. Ana had lived with the war long enough that the stillness put her on edge – like it was the calm before the storm. She knew for a fact that Geneva had separated its omnic population from the humans a long time ago, and that Switzerland had no omnium nor God Program to worry about. But she still scanned her surroundings studiously while she strolled along, as alert as the armed police patrolling the streets. It never hurt to be cautious, after all.
Her first day in Switzerland passed without incident or news from Xie, and much of the second day had elapsed when her boredom was finally broken by a chance meeting with the American soldiers. Ana was returning to the apartment she was put up in, when she noticed two figures walking up the street towards her, recognising them from the profiles that had been forwarded to her. And it seemed the two men recognised her too, because all three slowed their gaits until they came to a stop on the sidewalk, locked in quiet stares as they stood before one another.
"I recognise you," Ana broke the silence in English. "First Lieutenant Jack Morrison, of the SEP." She offered her hand to the blonde man first. To her amusement, blue eyes blinked at her action, his hand jerking up and stopping halfway before he grasped her hand.
She had cocked her head curiously when his companion nudged him aside and took her hand instead, shaking it firmly. "Captain Ana Amari, of the God Eye in Egypt. I've read your file and I must say, I'm very impressed."
"I could say the same to you, Captain Gabriel Reyes, also of the SEP." Ana smiled when Gabriel bowed his head smoothly at the acknowledgement. She looked the two men over – both were in casual attire with jeans and jackets, though Morrison's rigid posture made it seem as though he was still wearing his uniform.
Noticing her eyes on him, Gabriel spoke, "Don't mind him. He's usually pretty impressive too. Just had one too many cultural sensitivity classes on the way here."
A faint pink shade appeared on Jack's cheeks. He squinted briefly at Gabriel, then shook Ana's hand as well. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain."
"Now, now, Jack. It'll be even more of a pleasure if you relaxed a little." Ana grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll pull a muscle at the rate you're going."
"…Right," Jack muttered, as Gabriel let out an easy laugh.
"I like you," he said, wagging a finger at Ana. "Hey, where were you heading? We're just about to grab some dinner, would you like to join us?"
"Gladly. I was going stir-crazy by myself."
"Me too!" Gabriel slapped at Jack's chest, earning another squint from the blonde. "This guy's not much for company."
Ana bit on her lip instead of joining in Gabriel's laughter, peering at the pair as they shot a few verbal jabs at each other.
This should be interesting.
Jack and Gabriel had arrived in Geneva just two days before Ana, and were apparently just as in the dark of Xie's plans as Ana was. They discussed the omnic crisis briefly, but veered towards less heavy topics as the dinner went on – no doubt they'd spend much of their waking hours toiling over it soon, and they were happy enough to the leave that burden alone before having to bear it on their shoulders. Gabriel carried on his chatter with Ana, and Jack was able to warm up quickly, shedding his initially stiff demeanour to reveal a…slightly less stiff character underneath. Stoicism aside, Ana could appreciate his courtesy and attentiveness, and suspected his strength lay mostly in battle instead of social agility.
With Xie remaining abroad for the next few days, Ana still spent most of her days by herself – that was, when Gabriel didn't come knocking with Jack in tow. Their wandering about the city together was enjoyable enough, but they soon found time to understand one another better, in a much more practical fashion that Ana preferred. She went through her daily physical training with the two men, and had a first-hand experience with their enhancements from the SEP – they could think and run at blinding speed, lift much heavier weights than the average soldier, and were unbelievably nimble despite their bulk.
During one sparring session in the gym, Ana had invited Jack to hit her as hard as he could – without injuring her, of course. Though Ana wore the appropriate protective gear, he hesitated, before relenting with a hard punch to her gut which propelled her a few paces back. She was fully winded from that single hit, and had to bend over to catch her breath, but shot a grin at Jack when he came to fret over her.
"Tell me," Ana panted, straightening herself with difficulty. "You ever killed an omnic with that brute strength of yours?"
"Um, yes. Once."
"He laid an omnic flat on the ground," Gabriel supplied, knowing the blonde wouldn't elaborate without prodding. "Took all of us by surprise, honestly. Left a damned crater in the omnic's head."
"Well," Ana drawled, knocking a fist into Jack's sturdy chest. "Glad you're on our side, Captain America."
He scratched the back of his head, and shrugged with an uncertain smile. For all his stolid, straight-backed confidence, Ana noticed that Jack was quite susceptible to blushes when he was embarrassed. Maybe this man wouldn't be all that difficult to get along with after all.
They had to refrain from any weapons training during their idle time in Geneva, as they didn't have an armoury on hand to supply the ammunition they needed. But simple physical training was enough – or more than enough, as was Ana's experience in trying to keep up with the enhanced soldiers. They satisfied themselves with a basic daily routine until Xie finally made her return a week later, with what seemed to be the rest of the strike team. And it looked to be…disappointingly small, at first glance.
Ana cast a glance at those gathered in the conference room, sitting straight in their chairs by the oval, polished oak table. Jack and Gabriel sat near the head of the table, with Ana beside them, similarly attired in dress uniform. On the opposite side sat a giant hulk of a man, who had a full head of luxurious blonde hair, and what seemed to be a fresh scar over his blinded left eye. In contrast, the man seated before him was of a much shorter stature, and had a thick beard to match the giant's hair. This one wasn't a soldier though – Ana spied the Ironclad Guild's logo on the sleeve of his suit. The last person sat in front of the two men, and was conversing in muted tones with Xie; she didn't look to be a soldier either – her glasses and round face added to her bookish appearance, though the hard edge in her countenance betrayed a sliver of inner steel.
The room was quiet until Xie straightened herself, and passed a sharp eye over the soldiers. She introduced Jack, Gabriel, and Ana first, then continued with Torbjörn Lindholm, weaponsmith and engineer – a silent tilt of the head was his greeting. Next was Reinhardt Wilhelm, a lieutenant in the German Crusaders, who gave them a bright smile and nod.
"Wait–, pardon the interruption, ma'am," Gabriel said, waiting for Xie to give him the go-ahead. "I was under the impression that Balderich von Adler is the Crusader who'd be joining us."
Reinhardt's face fell as Xie explained, "von Adler was killed in action last week."
"He gave his life to defend his comrades, and met an honourable death," Reinhardt explained, jaw high and gaze firm, as if squaring up to defend the late-Crusader's good name from any claim to the contrary. "Before he died, he recommended me to the strike team instead. Rest assured, I will protect and serve as well as Balderich would."
"I don't doubt it," Gabriel replied, and Reinhardt relaxed visibly. "And you have my condolences."
"Thank you."
"Last but not least, this is Liao Shuqi," Xie continued, gesturing to the woman sitting closest to her. "Former Omnica consultant and programmer, one of the few who created the very first omnic code."
"'Very first' omnic code?" Reinhardt asked.
"Yes." Liao swiveled around in her chair to face him. "The omnic code you see today and what existed years before – in Omnica databases – have nearly no similarities left between them."
"So it's true that they are evolving?" Ana asked. "Our engineers have been facing more and more difficulties trying to override omnic programming. They say that the omnic code is turning into something more foreign each time they see it."
"Correct. Their language – the code – is changing very rapidly under the current climate. I suspect that they are accelerating this evolution as a safeguard against any attempts to hack into their very consciousness."
"I assume this is the God Programs' doing," Torbjörn joined in. "Regular omnics aren't capable of such…sentience. Only an independent AI could give them such suggestions."
"Yes–"
"Omnica should've left well enough alone," the engineer continued. "This mess started because you weren't satisfied with mere robots to do your chores."
"We weren't satisfied with the mundane, Lindholm. You should know as well as anyone that innovation is the key to our future."
"And now, one such innovation threatens to destroy our future as we speak."
Liao's brows drew together in the severe frown as she clenched her jaw, but Xie stepped in before she could argue further.
"Enough. We are here to fight a war, to save the future that you speak of. Not get mired in useless arguments about the past." Xie looked over the table, but none of them showed any inclination to argue further. Satisfied, she continued, "Speaking of the war, I shall leave the…intricacies of warfare in the hands of capable soldiers such as yourself. But I wish to make clear the top priority of this strike team: which is the deactivation of the God Programs."
"So we strike right at the heart of the problem. Makes sense," Jack said, resting his hands on the table and looking at Liao. "I assume you will be the one to deactivate the Programs?"
"Yes. And given their potential to make changes to the code on the fly, I will have to disable them personally."
"Do you have any combat training?"
"No, which complicates things, I understand. My options are limited to performing a remote hack from the backlines and risk having my signal blocked, or to follow you into the A.I. facility myself and risk getting shot."
As Jack laced his fingers together in thought, Ana said, "Then we'll just have to make sure you don't get shot."
A smile cracks through Liao's icy expression. "I've heard stories about your 'all-seeing eye', Captain Amari. Seems we'll have to put it to the test."
"One that we'll pass with flying colours, no doubt," Ana replied with a smirk of her own.
"So," Gabriel said, leaning forward in his seat as he addressed Xie. "There's our goal. But what is our first target?"
"Your first target, Captain Reyes, should come as no surprise." Xie mirrored Gabriel's deliberately cool demeanour. "You will take down the very first A.I. that started this war – Triglav, the God Program in Russia."
Their lazy days in Geneva came to an abrupt end – the Strike Team was flown to Russia the very next day, and given a lay of the land in the Russian Army's command centre. But before they started forming a viable plan for an assault on the A.I. facility, they had agreed on engaging in a few skirmishes with the omnics first, to understand each member's strengths and mould them into a proper team.
For Ana, it was business as usual – she covered the team's heads, took down flanking squads and hidden snipers, and surveyed the field with her cybernetic eye, pointing out potential threats and advantages to her team beforehand. For the ground team, however, a little more time was needed to build smooth yet flexible coordination between the soldiers. Even though they had done well enough so far that Ana hadn't been forced to break cover yet, she could tell that they hadn't fully settled into their roles, and were still unsure about their comrades' capabilities, which threatened to stifle their ability to adapt to ever-changing battle conditions.
In most of their engagements, Reinhardt was the focal point of the team, protecting his comrades from enemy fire with his wide energy shield. Jack had no problem staying behind the Crusader, raining a constant hail of bullets into the omnic ranks, but there were times when he'd had to break away from Reinhardt for a better firing position. Gabriel had to break formation often as well, owing to the two heavy shotguns he wielded, which were practically useless if he were to stay behind Reinhardt's shield, at too far a distance from the omnics.
While the American soldiers had no problems charging off on their own, Reinhardt seemed to get a little panicked whenever his charges were not marching safely behind his shield. He would be torn between running after the wayward men, and staying by Torbjörn's side as the engineer set up turrets around the field. Ana often had to remind him to keep his focus, much to his obvious chagrin, but he eventually learnt to keep his shield up for the rest of the Russian soldiers, assured in the fact that Jack and Gabriel would always return to his side.
Liao was the ever-present voice in their ears, analysing omnic communications from the edge of the combat zone, tipping them off to incoming enemy reinforcements and changes in omnic tactics, and occasionally stepped into the field herself to disable omnic field factories and jam their communication devices. She was only equipped with her versatile datapad and a pistol, but she had suffered no injuries so far under Reinhardt's protection, and was kept safe from flanking attacks by well-aimed sniper shots, courtesy of one Captain Amari.
They fought hard together through a handful of weeks, and news started spreading through the Russian troops about a UN Strike Team who were claiming victory after victory, fighting by their side to bring an end to the long and bitter war raging in their homeland. With hopes rising among the soldiers and the end of the team's 'probation period', as Gabriel had called it, he gathered them in the war room for a proper discussion, to finally draw up a plan for their assault on Triglav.
It was a tricky situation – not unlike what Ana had faced back home, day after day. As capable as the Strike Team was, they couldn't mount an attack on the A.I. facility by themselves, and needed the Russian troops to support their endeavour. The problem was the lack of manpower – the army had stretched themselves dangerously thin throughout the country, and borrowing a large number of soldiers for the Strike Team's purposes would leave large gaps in their defenses.
And so they decided on the first step of the plan, one that the soldiers in the team were well-acquainted with: to wrench home territory back from the omnic control, shore up their defense lines in retaken cities, and push the omnics back as they advanced towards the omnium and A.I. facility.
They worked tirelessly, blazing a long and arduous trail from Moscow, carving through the omnics and inching ever closer towards the omnium in Krasnoyarsk, and the A.I. facility that was farther north of the city. Given the sheer size of the country, their plan wasn't to take back every piece of land before mounting their final assault – the amount of time and energy it'd take would drain the Russian Army of resources long before the fight's end. Instead, they would settle for control of Russia's western territories, and tackle both the God Program and omnium at the same time.
The Russian generals had agreed with their plan wholeheartedly, and some even took to the field with a zeal to match the Strike Team's hearty Crusader. Their renewed energy was encouraging, and buoyed the hopes of their soldiers ever higher. But in private, Ana couldn't help but feel a tinge of paranoia as she stared at the holographic map of Russia, watching the blue of retaken territories fight back against the red. More than a year ago, Ana had witnessed this very same progress back home, only to see it crushed in the end with the awakening of the Anubis A.I. What was to guarantee that something similar wouldn't happen back here–?
Ana had caught herself then, clenching her jaw as she switched her personal holo-projector off, feeling a lick of anger at herself for even asking such a stupid question.
She would be the guarantee. She, and the Strike Team.
Just taking over western Russia cost them nearly six months of fighting, bleeding and – at times – arguing with one another over mission plans. But none ever held any grudges towards another, save for Liao and Torbjörn – though they had no issue with working together, until they finally made camp on the outskirts of Krasnoyarsk, looking upon the imposing silhouettes of the omnic facilities in the distance.
"Are you sure this attack is not premature?" Xie's holo-projection hovered over the table, gazing at them with a deep wrinkle between her brows.
"Yes, ma'am. We should strike fast, before the omnics get a handle on our tactics. Besides, the Russians cannot hold out at this pace for much longer. We have to press our advantage now," Gabriel said, standing with hands behind his back. The man had become the de-facto leader of the team quite naturally, having shown a penchant for conceiving inspired battle plans; though they were often risky and unconventional, he was able to adapt quickly in the field and rally the team, turning the tide when the odds seemed impossible. Ana herself had grown inclined to trust the man's judgment in the heat of battle, no matter how odd his orders could sometimes be.
Xie sighed. "I assume the rest of your team is in agreement?"
Gabriel looked back at them, and they nodded. His lips twitched into a smile when Reinhardt boomed his undying support.
"Gabriel is right, ma'am," Ana added when Xie still seemed concerned. "We've been dragging this out for too long, and we can't risk the omnics adapting again. If they do, we're in for another war of attrition."
"High risk, high reward. You do realise your chances of success are tenuous at best?"
"If we don't act now," Jack said. "Our chances at anything will be non-existent."
"Very well. I look forward to a report of your success, team. Good luck."
Xie's apprehension was understandable, for the final gambit in their Russian campaign was perhaps the most dangerous of all. They had to split the Russian forces in half – one large contingent to lay siege on the omnium, and hopefully keep the omnics' attention off the smaller battalion accompanying the Strike Team to the A.I. facility. Speed was of the essence – they had to shut the God Program down fast, or the troops would be overrun by the continuous outpouring of mechanical soldiers from the omnium.
Given the A.I. facility's proximity to a small abandoned town that had no cover nor elevation whatsoever, Ana was forced to stay with the Strike Team as they sped towards the facility in a huge armoured personnel carrier – specially gifted by the German army so they could transport the team's sole Crusader around.
She stayed behind Reinhardt's glowing blue shield, biting back a curse each time her vision was blocked by the warrior's gigantic armour, or when her cybernetic eye hurt from the brightness of his shield. Ana battled both the omnics and her growing irritation, picking off distant targets situated on the facility's roof as they marched onto the towering, featureless steel-grey walls of the building. The main entrance was locked tight, and they were forced to corner themselves against the doors, protecting Liao as she hacked her way through numerous security locks, her rapid typing over the datapad nearly imitating the rattle of gunfire.
Ana's heart felt like it would burst from the sheer tension and proximity of their metal foes, when the doors slid open with unexpected ease – like oil flowing over steel. Leaving the Russian soldiers to cover the entrance, the Strike Team ventured deeper into the facility, and that was when Ana split from the rest.
She activated her personal stealth unit and withdrew her sidearm, finding her way onto the upper levels of the facility, consulting her holo-map as she went along, and took down the omnics unfortunate enough to stray into her path. She kept tapped into their team's radio frequency as she sprinted up the stairs and reached the highest catwalks of the facility, listening to their progress while she provided cover fire with her sniper rifle. The resistance within the A.I. facility was less dense than it was outside, and Liao made a guess that Triglav didn't expect a direct assault on its grounds, much less an infiltration into the heart of the facility.
They came to a stop outside the core chambers housing the main body of the God Program, and were forced to wait again as Liao hacked her way through the security protocols to allow them entry. Silence enveloped them – all of the omnics inside had thrown themselves at the Strike Team during their advance towards the core chambers, and Ana suspected that the God Program had exhausted its resources in a desperate bid to protect itself. But none of them were careless enough to let their guard down, and stood around Liao in a semi-circle with guns hefted. Torbjörn had set his turret at the top of a ramp, and Reinhardt knelt in front of Liao, hammer gripped in one hand and shield alight on his left arm.
A few affirmative beeps came from Liao's datapad, and the chamber's doors slid open. Torbjörn and Reinhardt stayed outside the chamber to keep watch, while Jack and Gabriel accompanied Liao inside. Ana followed them in as well, entering Liao's transmitted code for the door at the end of the catwalk, and she had to force herself not to pause at the sight.
The chamber was built like a temple – fitting as it were, to house a 'God' Program. Rows of supercomputers lined the walls, lights blinking in time with those on the imposing statue standing proudly in the centre of the chamber, nearly reaching the ceiling. It was shaped in the likeness of a male warrior, but with three heads sitting upon his shoulders – a faithful depiction of its namesake, Triglav.
Liao made straight for the console by the statue's feet, swiping a hand over its surface to bring up a holo-interface – first blue in colour, before turning red along with the lights in the statues' six eyes.
"Liao?"Ana asked over the radio. "Is it coming alive?"
"Yes, but don't worry. It can't do much without any drones to do its bidding–"
There was a faintest shimmer in the empty space to Ana's right, and she threw herself backwards, feeling the catwalk's railings dig into her spine as bullets ripped the air where she had just stood. Ana leveled her rifle at the omnic materialising out of thin air, squeezing the trigger even as she noted two more omnics dropping their stealth fields to her left, blocking her path to the only exit. The first omnic to her right fell after taking five rounds in its chassis, and Ana had started to move when a solid weight rammed into the side of her head, her vision turning black as she fell to the grated flooring.
The rhythmic bursts of Gabriel's shotguns and the insistent rattle of Jack's pulse rifle jolted her back to her senses, just as a shadow fell over her. Panic flooded her being and she pushed herself off the ground, right into the omnic's legs. Her mind was working on pure instinct, and even as her senses told her it was impossible, Ana clamped her arms around the solid metal legs and heaved. The omnic's feet left the floor as Ana hauled it up, then quickly let go the moment she tipped it over the railing, sending it crashing to the ground below.
Her breathless, victorious laugh was cut short when hot lead punched into her left bicep and cut through the air right next to her head. Gritting her teeth, Ana pulled her sidearm out again. But as she took aim at the omnic, a stream of pulse rounds ripped through its chest, sending it to the catwalk's floor with a harsh metal clang.
"You alright, Amari?" Jack called up to her, from where he stood among a group of dead omnic bodies. Liao was safely crouched behind him, fingers still flying across the console's holo-interface as she worked to shut Triglav down. Ana had a feeling she never even paused when the firefight had broken out.
"Yeah. Took a bullet, but I'll live."
"Did you just fucking lift and throw an entire omnic soldier off the catwalk?" Gabriel asked incredulously, and she could hear his laughter just bubbling beneath the surface.
Ana chuckled, still feeling a little breathless from adrenaline as she picked her sniper rifle up from the floor. "Yup. Without the help of fancy genetic enhancements too."
"Ah, now that hurt."
Ignoring the pain lancing up her arm, Ana hefted her rifle again and scanned the core chamber, feeling on edge after the surprise attack. She padded subconsciously towards the end of the catwalk and faced her back to the wall, unwilling to leave herself exposed to an ambush again. Minutes ticked by, the heavy silence occasionally broken by muttered curses from Liao and a quiet hum from the statue, that seemed to grow in volume the longer Liao worked at the console.
Then, as if at the flick of a switch, the hum was gone. Ana looked around, and saw that the lights on the statue and supercomputers had gone dark.
"Liao," Gabriel said. "Did you do it?"
"This is Pitbull-Actual, calling Strike Team, over."
"This is Strike Team, Pitbull. Give me a sitrep."
"The omnics have been deactivated. Just…collapsed where they stood. Most of them. Whatever you did, I think it worked."
A grin broke through on Liao's face. "There you have it, Reyes."
"Mm-mm, Fareeha." Kamilah held onto the girl's hand, which had grabbed onto the nugget in her plate, and was halfway to her mouth. "Use your fork, remember?"
Fareeha's mouth puckered into a severe pout, fixing her mama with a pitiful, pleading stare until Kamilah couldn't help but give in. With a sigh, Kamilah let go of her hand, and Fareeha stuffed the chicken nugget into her mouth, kicking her legs in her high chair beside the table. She grinned when Kamilah nudged at her cheek fondly, and her mother wondered if Fareeha knew she had her parent wrapped tightly around her little finger. She probably did, given how often she broke out that pout just to get what she wanted – just like Ana would.
Kamilah caught herself at the thought of her wife, and stuffed it into the back of her mind, busying herself instead with the soup she had ordered. The first two spoonfuls felt oddly dry on her tongue, and she reached for her iced tea instead, taking a long draught to soothe the accelerated beat in her chest. An insistent flailing to the side caught her attention, and Kamilah looked over at Fareeha, who was grasping at something in her direction. Cocking her head, she looked down at the lemon slice on the rim of her glass, which Fareeha seemed to be reaching for. Kamilah took it off and gazed at Fareeha curiously, the girl growing more excited when her mother held out the lemon to her.
"Oh, darling," Kamilah said, when Fareeha's fingers finally clutched onto the slice. "It's sour."
"Eat!"
"It's sour, my dear. Are you sure you want to eat it?"
"Yes! Wanna eat!"
Lips curling in a bemused smile, Kamilah held the lemon to Fareeha's mouth, making sure to keep a good grip on it while the girl chomped down on the slice. A few seconds went by as Fareha sucked on it, before her eyes widened and her entire face scrunched up, the sour tang finally spreading over her tongue. Kamilah chuckled when the girl jerked her head back from the lemon, smacking her lips loudly in a bid to get rid of the flavour.
"Told you it's sour, habibti," Kamilah crooned, setting the lemon down.
"Sowwer," Fareeha repeated. "Bleh!"
Laughing under her breath, Kamilah tweaked the tip of Fareeha's nose, getting a soft giggle from the girl. As Fareeha turned her attention back to the nuggets left on her plate, Kamilah cast her eyes over the sleepy café, nearly empty on a weekday afternoon. She liked coming here with Fareeha whenever she had a day free – it kept her mind from wallowing in the emptiness of the house, and Fareeha seemed to enjoy the outings with her mother. And it didn't hurt that the café's owner had taken a shine to the little one, often giving her sweets and tidbits for free.
Or, in this case, a small slice of cake which made Fareeha squeal in delight.
"Rafiq," Kamilah said, as the owner placed the plate on Fareeha's table, and handed her a large plastic fork, which she grasped immediately. "You don't have to."
"Nonsense! All children have to be pampered," Rafiq laughed, waving away her protestation.
"Fareeha, what do you say–?"
"Thank you!" Fareeha yelled, then stabbed her fork eagerly into the cake, miraculously bringing the first piece into her mouth without dropping it. Although, she did manage to smear a large portion of cream onto the corner of her lips, which Kamilah took to wiping off with a tissue. She glanced up briefly when she heard another diner call out to Rafiq, asking him to turn up the volume of the television affixed to the wall.
Kamilah had finished with Fareeha when the television's volume was cranked up to an audible level by a waiter, and she looked over to find a bold headline written across the screen: 'UN Strike Team deactivates Russian God Program'.
Her heart stopped, and she forgot to breathe for a moment as she stared at the presenter, listening to her report on a tentative end to the omnic crisis in Russia, before her image was replaced by video footage of soldiers – in what Kamilah assumed to be a Russian field camp. She stared at the television intently, ears going deaf to the reporter's voice as she scanned the figures onscreen.
Most noticeable was the huge Crusader walking tall with his team, wearing a dazzling grin as he waved at the soldiers gathered about them. At the head of the group were two men – a blonde standing beside his companion with wiry black hair, their heads tilted towards each other in a private conversation. Behind the pair stood just the one Kamilah was looking for: a woman with thick black hair tied in a ponytail and a sniper rifle slung across her back, her lips curved in a lop-sided smile. She reached up to sweep her stubborn fringe away from her eyes, and Kamilah was unsurprised to see the white bandage wrapped around her bicep. Why would she – it wouldn't be Ana Amari if the sniper came out of a climactic battle without a wound or two.
"Hey," Rafiq turned back to Kamilah, pointing at the screen. "Isn't that your–?"
"Yes," Kamilah said, suddenly feeling light in the head as a smile parted her own lips. "That's my wife."
About Liao: I've seen theories about Liao being either the man in the original Strike Team photo, or the woman on the cover of the cancelled graphic novel. I've gone with the latter, so in my mind's eye Liao kinda looks like her.
Also, I won't be going into too much detail about the Omnic Crisis and the politics of Overwatch after. My focus for this fic is the Amari family, how they grow through the years, and how they'll be affected by Ana's involvement in Overwatch. (Insert Blizz's line about leaving the Crisis's details up to the fans' imagination honhonsaltsalt) So yep, focus is on love instead of war.
Hope yall remembered to eat your vegetables