Ever since I arrived here I was a welcomed sight. When my mother, Ana Amari, would bring me I'd have the time of my life. And, although things were more serious now and there were a few new faces, I'm glad to see that a lot of the members I once knew are still here. Winston always intimidated me, but now that I am not a child we get along better. Mercy was, and still is, the kindest person I know. Despite a decade of separation that was no doubt filled with many hardship she is still the same. Reinhardt looks no different! He just grew some more hair, but is still the same honorable, battle hardened knight that used to carry me on his shoulders. McCree is…well, McCree. He is very kind, yet seems to stay by himself a lot. Ah, I remember the fun we used to have. He would take me to the range and, since I wasn't allowed to fire a weapon, he would show off his abilities to me. Torbjorn and me haven't spoken much, since he recently left to another mission. But he seems just as friendly and interested in his work as ever.
But not everything is the same. Not everything is good. Commander Morrison passed away when the original headquarters, the place mother used to take me so I could see the heroes, was destroyed. My mother herself died before that could happen, apparently killed by Talon. Reaper says he is the responsible for it, but I don't believe him. Looking back on the situation it seemed he was trying to unnerve me, and it worked. Gabriel is gone, he and I never spent much time together but he was always kind to me. I'm having a theory of where he is now, something connected to Reaper. It seems quite obvious but I pray I am wrong.
And then there are the other changes. The new heroes. Dva doesn't impress me much, but I've heard that she used a powerful mech and has helped suppress the Omnic beast that has invaded South Korea several times now.. And then there is the boy…I don't know what to think of him. I haven't seen him in action at all and when we spoke, one brief conversation, he seemed more of a civilian than a soldier. And when he went to Egypt with the rest he was certainly not combat ready. Still, if the others put enough faith into him that they sent him to the fray, the middle of the Second Omnic Crisis, he must be stronger than meets the eye. And of course there is me. I am no longer here for fun and games, to admire the heroes I once knew. Now I am the hero. I am their partner. I should feel happy, this was my dream for the longest time, but there are holes in this family. There is an unfixable sadness to the original members, and a type of ignorance the new ones have. I have no doubts Overwatch will return to its former glory, but will its people find happiness? So far they have not. And it makes me wonder, what will happen if they rise back up? If we rise back up. Will we be forced to shut down? Will we fight those who try to split us apart again? I may not know what will happen, but I do know this. I am a part of this family now, I am a hero. And I will not let this family be torn apart again, I won't lose them for so long. Not again.
"Fareeha? Fareeha there you are." Angela's voice said from my door. I quickly scribbled the date on the page and closed my journal, turning to see her.
"Yes, you have been looking for me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, Jesse decided that he would try and lift our spirits up. He's made, how did he put it? A meal from the wild west. I can only imagine what he's made; I never took him to be a cook."
"That is kind of him." I answered, standing up. "I'm sure the food isn't that bad."
"Don't worry, if it gives anyone food poisoning I will be there." Angela joked, making me smile as we walked towards the dinning room.
"Can you heal yourself with that staff?" I asked, genuinely curious. I hadn't ever seen Angela require medical assistance. The worst she ever had was a headache, and that was simply because she had too much to drink the night before.
"I don't get sick." She replied. Her tone was kind, but it had an edge to it. As if I was crossing some sort of line. I couldn't imagine what it could be so I just kept quiet and decided to not push the subject. The two of us entered the room, which was huge and simple decorated, and are greeted brightly by Reinhardt, who is out of his armor and wearing jeans and a sleeveless denim shirt. He already had a cup of whiskey, which Jesse was refilling, and by the slur in his voice he must've already taken a few shots. Dva was poking some meat with a fork, looking hesitant. Winston, who didn't eat meet, was having banana with peanut butter. (That couldn't be very healthy.) Reinhardt's companion, Bridgette, was waiting patiently for everyone to sit down. I didn't know much about Bridgette, she mostly keeps to her own in the workshop. She met Reinhardt after Overwatch fell and turned into his partner.
"Sit down, we're all ready to eat." Jesse said with a smile, taking off his hat for once and taking a seat. Angela sat next to him and I took my seat opposite her, in between Bridgette and Dva.
"What is this supposed to be?" Dva asked.
"What do you kids eat nowadays?" Jesse asked surprised.
"American kids eat this?" Dva asked, just as surprised.
"I don't think there is one American here besides McCree. We can ask Alessandro when he gets back." Bridgette said. This was like a dark wave over the group. At the mention of him, they thought of where he was. Who he was with. And what they were in right now. This was something that happened even when I was a girl, and a feeling I knew well. No matter how skilled the people were, no matter if the mission was easy or hard, there would be worry. It was sweet to see, if I'm honest.
"Barbecue is something plenty of Americans do." Jesse answered. "And Koreans, I think. It's universal. Take a bite; I'm sure you'll like it." He grumbled something else about Korean kids not knowing a good meal when the see it, but my eyes were on Dva. She cut a piece with her knife and put it in her mouth.
"Well?" Angela asked, shaking her staff slightly and giving me a wink. Food poisoning. I almost laughed. Dva's face lit up and she gave a quick nod, not even bothering to speak. Now I did laugh, and the rest joined in.
"Barbecue, I meal fit for a warrior!" Reinhardt yelled, grabbing the ribs with his hands and taking a big bite. I turned to see Angela take a bite and she nodded at Jesse.
"Delicious, I didn't know you could cook." She said appreciatively.
"Just a few dishes. I don't do it often." He said as he took a sip of his whiskey. "Me and my gang used to make this in the old days after a heist. If things went well. If I remember correctly Gabriel and Jack were the ones who caught us with our pants down during a barbecue. Right after we robbed a bank."
"You were a criminal?" Bridgette asked surprised. I saw her confusion, I wore the same expression years ago when I learned this.
"For awhile. Overwatch caught the entire gang, but instead of jailing me they offered me a job with them because I was such a good gun." He spoke so casually about this I was a bit surprised. Seeing Bridgette's confused look he sighed. "Because I was skilled." He clarified.
"I remember Ana despised that." Reinhardt said. "She fought to have you jailed, my friend. And then what happened? She ended up turning into a great friend of yours!"
"If I remember correctly, captain Amari loved my cooking more than anyone." Jesse said with a chuckle. "One time I made barbecue just for her. I think that's what made us friends. The food."
Oh how jealous was I. If only I could speak of my mother so casually, or think of her without having an entire world of pain, grief and loneliness crash into me. Angela must have noticed my mood because, without looking at me, she took my hand and gave it a light squeeze. Just like she did when I was little and would have a scrape or cut.
"Who was Ana?" Dva asked, looking up from her plate for the first time since we began. I was surprised to see her plate was empty. "And can I have more?" Jesse and Reinhardt shared a laugh as he served her some more ribs.
"Ana was one of the founding members of Overwatch." I told Dva. "Captain Amari was an excellent sniper, the best. She was a highly decorated soldier. Sadly, she passed away. Although this was before Overwatch was disbanded." I kept my voice leveled and my eyes on my plate, taking a bite of my rib. But it must have been obvious how bitter I was because Reinhardt and Jesse went quiet.
"How do you know that?" Dva asked, clueless to everything. Of course she wouldn't know, and I doubt this appeared in much conversations. "You weren't a member of Overwatch."
"My name is Fareeha Amari." I replied simply. It took her a few seconds but she understood. Her face went from surprise, to pity.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said quietly. For once, I wasn't mad to hear those words. Coming from Dva…it was like listening to one of my partners from Helix Security. She understood, I can tell. She's been through something similar. If the mood hadn't dimmed before, now it was completely subdued. Even Reinhardt had stopped drinking his whiskey.
"But if she were here," I added. "she would probably scold us for having this without her. Jesse is right, she loved his barbecue." I took another bite and a sip of whiskey. "And so do I."
"Cheers to that!" Winston said, finally speaking since he had finished his peanut butter. We all laughed seeing peanut butter covering his face and we grabbed our glasses and clinked them together. Soon enough the conversation turned to happier moments of each others loves. Bridgette questioned the others a lot about the old days, but did her best not to pry. Dva was more than happy to explain to Reinhardt, who was much too old to understand, about twitch streaming and videogames. Angela kept quiet, eating her food and laughing at whatever joke Jesse whispered to her. We sat there for a few hours laughing, speaking and drinking. The barbecue finished quickly (I was to blame, but in my defense Dva had quite a lot) and after an hour it was clear we all had one glass too many of whiskey. Dva was having a hiccup attack and giggling every two seconds. Angela's face was red and she seemed a bit dizzy, Reinhardt was trying to convince Bridgette to try on his armor for some reason and Jesse couldn't stop laughing as Winston made bad impressions of people from the wild west. Even I was quite tipsy, trying in vain not laugh at Dva.
"Fareeha, do you plan to drink that by yourself?" Reinhardt roared. With surprise I noticed I had grabbed an entire bottle of whiskey and taken a sip from it. Reinhardt simply laughed. "You have the liver of your mother! She drank a lot, the few times she accepted a drink!"
"I wonder who could drink more." Dva said with a slur to her words. "Reinhardt, or Fareeha?"
"Me of course!" He roared, sounding offended. This led to the others pushing us two into a drinking contest. It took awhile but I finally relented and Jesse brought extra shot glasses and poured the whiskey into it.
"Whoever gets sick first loses. And I am not cleaning up any messes." Angela said, although she took one of the glasses and drank rapidly. "And I doubt I am in any shape to heal you, so you'll have to deal with any headaches by yourselves."
"In my day we didn't need magical healing! We took our drink like real men!" Reinhardt replied.
"Like real men? Then are you ready to get beat by a woman?" I asked with a smirk.
"Get wrecked!" Dva called to Reinhardt, giving me a fist bump and giggling. I didn't understand the term, but it was nice either way.
"Just start drinking already!" Winston said, he and Jesse having been murmuring bets to each other for a bit now. Reinhardt took his first glass and I followed. His second and so did I. We continued like this for a few minutes until it was obvious neither of us should continue. I could barely see straight and the old warrior had fallen out of his chair twice already. But he was stubborn, and in my drunken state so was I. We both drank our last glasses and, since nobody had lost yet, Jesse refilled three more for each.
"Come on Fareeha you can beat him!" Dva cheered.
"You have your mother's liver." Angela reminded me with a giggle.
"You got this Reinhardt!' Bridgette cheered, smiling widely.
"I got twenty bucks on you." Jesse said, which wasn't very inspiring. Winston huffed, eyeing Reinhardt with worry. Reinhardt drank two of the three glasses with difficulty, but on the third he said something in German (probably a curse) and flicked the cup aside. His head landed on the table and he began snoring. Bridgette, who was the only to not get drunk, laughed loudly and pet his back.
"Well, Fareeha?" She asked. "Do we have a tie or can you drink the three?"
"Behold." I said with a stupid grin. "How an Egyptian drinks." I downed my first glass, and the second, and then after giving Bridgette and the sleeping Reinhardt a smirk I downed the third. Dva and Angela cheered, laughing while they did so. Jesse held out a hand and Winston gave him twenty dollars. Bridgette shook her head, although she was smiling, and asked Winston to help her drag Reinhardt to bed. The rest took that as the cue and, too drunk to properly clean up, we all began heading to our rooms. I found myself alone in the halls with Angela, having her support me with some difficulty.
"Fareeha, I'm not the strong one of us two. You're going to have to walk better." Angela complained with a smile. I laughed and instead of walking I let myself weigh her down. That ended up in a small, surprised yelp leaving her lips as we spun and fell to the ground. Angela now on top of me.
"Walking is second-rated." I joked, earning a laugh from the doctor. Her halo fell off her head and I put it back on her. "I never thought I would see a drunk angel."
"Me neither." Angela said with a cute grin, one hand going through my hair. After a few moments I felt my face flush and she laughed. "Come, Egyptian angel, it's time for bed." She stood up and offered her hand, which I took and got up. The two of us walked together until we reached Angela's room. She turned to me at the door.
"If this was how the members of Overwatch spent their nights, I wish I had joined sooner." I said to her, receiving another one of her beautiful laughs.
"I wished you had joined us sooner as well. Such fun." She murmured happily. She added something else, but it was in German. I was about to ask what she said but she leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek, closing the door and leaving me completely red-faced.
I frowned as I unzipped my Valkyrie swift-response suit. Or as Lena often called it, the angel suit. Normally I wouldn't wear it to these small events we had, but Jesse's offer caught my by surprise. I found it hard to focus as I slipped into my white shorts and white t-shirt with the Overwatch logo. The rug felt good beneath my feet, nice and plush. But the bed sounded more tempting. I was making my way there when I heard a ringing on my desk. What could that be? My cell phone didn't have that ringtone. The only other things I have that ring are my clock and the small device I had to contact Alessandro. I had given it to him a week before he left, in case he ever got in trouble somehow and needed help.
Why am I thinking about this? I thought to myself, and then shrugged. I need my sleep. Then I heard the ringing again, loud and insistent. Right, I was remembering how I gave Alessandro the twin to that device in case he needed help, and to keep in touch. Wait it's ringing! I cursed at myself in German and grabbed it from the desk, sitting down and pressing the one button on the device. Immediately Alessandro's face appeared, and a second later Lena was mushing against him with a silly grin, waving at me. He pushed her away with a laugh.
"Hi Mercy, did we wake you?" He asked.
"No, no I was just heading to bed." I murmured slowly. Curse my mind in this drunk, sluggish state!
"Well, just checking in. I know you wanted to maintain contact. But I just got free time now." He said, frowning. "You're face is red like a tomato, Mercy. What happened to you?"
"Nothing, it's nothing." I answered with a smile. "It's sweet that you worry."
"You're drunk." He asked in disbelief. "Oh my god you're drunk. Never thought I'd see that."
"I am an adult, Alessandro, this isn't my first time drinking with friends and it won't be my last." I answered with a shake of my head. "Is it that much of a surprise that I may have a drink or two?"
"Judging from how weird you sound, and how red your face is, I'd say you had more than a couple drinks." He said with a smile. "Anyway, I called to say that if things go correctly we should be back by tomorrow night. If we aren't back by then, or the day after, send someone to Russia."
"What are you four doing there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well we just finished defending a Russian town from a giant army of Omnic robots. And tomorrow we're going to end the Omnic Crisis, so I'd say we're making history. Although I wish I hadn't missed you guys this night, I bet it'd be funny to see you drunk."
'Ha ha, very funny." I agreed, trying to sound annoyed but failing. "What do you mean end the Omnic Crisis? We sent you four to recruit Aleksandra, what are you doing?"
"It's a long story, but we'll be back with her. Anyways, I got to go. Plenty of work to do here, see you soon Mercy."
"Angela is fine. Mercy is my codename." I said with a smile.
"Goodnight Angela." He said. I waved at him with my fingers and the device went dark. I immediately laid down on the bed, falling into a deep sleep.