Chapter Text
Fareeha desperately tried to act like she was supposed to be there as she entered the Vishkar party.
She ran over her cover story in her mind over and over as she tried to ignore the uncanny perfection of Utopaean design.
Supposedly she was to be a representative from a non-existent Egyptian company named “H.O.R.U.S. Industries.” Name? Fahima Abadi. Her mother had laughed picking it out, giggling to herself that this was her knock off daughter who she is very proud of.
Of course, Fareeha was here on Overwatch business. Not a corporate woman looking for a deal. The organization had quietly put out feelers for new, exceptional people to join them. Someone had grabbed one of those tendrils and pulled.
Satya Vaswani of the Vishkar Corporation.
Initially the higher ups were suspicious. Given the background of the woman they had ample reason. In Vishkar her entire life, ranking so high, never putting a toe out of line.
Eventually it had been oddly enough Jesse McCree who stood up and offered up the winning point. It was weird for him to ever speak up in meetings, usually he was being batted at by Ana for falling asleep during them.
The rest listened though.
And they knew Jesse was right.
It had always been Overwatch’s mission to lift people up from the depths. Judge no one. Give people second chances. Was this “Satya” any different from him? From Genji? Why stop trying to help people now?
Ana and Reinhardt were quick to agree with him. The other followed their elders’ lead. Only Soldier seemed unconvinced as the meeting adjourned for now.
Later they’d reconvened with the plan to sneak Fareeha into an upcoming Vishkar party to connect with Satya and take her out to the roof, where they could pick up the two and whisk them away from the Vishkar. Satya had agreed to the plan and while she couldn’t give them pictures she told them exactly what she’d be wearing.
Fareeha scanned the crowd for a woman who matched the description. A blue and yellow sari with a flowered pattern. A golden headdress adorned with matching flowers. Even more of them stuck in a long braid over her right shoulder. Golden lipstick and eye shadow.
An oddly specific list but thankfully it looked like the woman was going to stand out in that get up. Everyone else was dressed in fairly demure colors, lots of black and dark warm colors. Vishkar fashion, Fareeha assumed.
The description of Fareeha Overwatch had given to Satya was much more simple. Tattoo under her right eye. Frankly, they didn’t really feel like they needed one beyond something so unusual as a facial tattoo.
Crowds always made Fareeha a bit nervous. She wasn’t uncharismatic by any stretch of the imagination but she’d always had a bit of a tough time pulling the super classy lady persona this’d require.
Scanning the crowd for a few minutes she caught a blue and yellow reflection in the mirror.
Carefully squeezing between two people, apologizing as she walked, she got her first real glance at Miss Satya Vaswani.
Absolutely stunned, Fareeha gaped like an idiot fish. She could see the full length of Satya in the reflection. The blue, yellow and gold outfit was the perfect frame for the veritable goddess standing there. Yellow eyes flashed brilliantly as Satya spoke to the man in front of her. Thick black hair braided perfectly, bright colors of the flowers only highlighting how gorgeously dark her hair was. Flawless face positively glowing in the soft light.
Feet stuck to the ground, Fareeha found herself plastered to the spot. Knowing she was supposed to approach this woman was suddenly terrifying.
Eventually she managed to move again but her brain couldn’t quite cooperate.
While part of her tried to move forwards towards Satya, the bigger, much more powerful half made her run towards a nearby bathroom in a panic.
Once inside she slammed her hands on the sink, staring at herself in the mirror. Trying to psyche herself up. She couldn’t fail the mission but why did the mission have to include talking to the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen in her entire life?
Sizing herself up in the mirror she Fareeha tried to get herself puffed up again. She looked good. Her hair needed to be smoothed a bit but the makeup Angela had helped put on her on the plane was holding up very nicely. Blue, her favorite color. Her dress was blue and yellow as well. Mother’s idea, have their colors match. Satya’s dress had been a bright blue though, Fareeha’s a deeper, almost navy blue.
Her dress wasn’t nearly as nice though. Serviceable, not ugly, but fashion was admittedly not one of her strong suits. Mei had helped her pick it out. Striped and very boxily cut but in a fashionable way. Right now the pencil skirt felt suffocating though.
Prying her hands off the counter Fareeha knew what she had to do.
Stomping awkwardly out in her heels she relocated Satya. Thankfully she wasn’t talking to the man anymore but off quietly in a corner by herself. Looking through the crowd, presumably for “Fahima Abadi” to take her away to join Overwatch.
Marching over and reaching out, Fareeha carefully touched her arm, ”Satya? Satya Vaswani?”
A fresh pang of panic burst in Fareeha’s heart as Satya looked at her with a polite smile, “Yes. Fahima Abadi?”
“Yeah, uh, I’m… I’m Fahima Abadi.”
The words felt foreign in her mouth. She knew Satya knew it wasn’t her real name too but she wasn’t fond of taking another’s name.
“I was wondering when you would show up.”
Her tone was nearly accusatory, making Fareeha shrink even more into her unfitting clothing.
Pressing on, Fareeha tried to shove her fears down, “Sorry. Big crowd here. You stand out though, you look… you look very beautiful tonight.”
The second the words tumbled out her mouth Fareeha immediately froze again, realizing how much that probably sounded like flirting. However, if it did, Satya certainly didn’t mind.
Smiling widely but averting her eyes, Satya hooked her arms around one of Fareeha’s, “Are we going to go now or are we going to stay? Time is not an issue. No one suspects a thing.”
Eyeing the delicious looking treats nearby Fareeha spoke with a twinkle in her eye, “Well… I don’t see the harm in staying. Just a bit.”
Satya laughed, letting go of Fareeha’s arm to grab some plates for them, “Alright. Try the masala vada, it’s simple but one of the chef’s favorites.”
As they gathered their food they spoke quietly. Satya had many questions, “Where are we being picked up from?”
“The roof,” Fareeha answered, loading up on samosas, “We also have a medic on board if anything happens.”
“Do you think-” Satya started with a small note of panic.
She was cut off though, “Chances are low but it never hurts to be careful.”
Okay, maybe mentioning Angela being a doctor wasn’t the best idea she’d had.
“Where will we be going?”
“Gibraltar. It’s a small Watchpoint off the coast of Spain. A view to die for.”
Satya smiled a bit at that as they walked away with their plates of food, “Are there a lot of people there?”
“Not really. Well… more like not yet. We’re hoping that after the recall we can grow our numbers again. Lots of people came back though. I have my family again.”
At that word Satya’s face fell a little. Hiding it by shoving a morsel in her mouth and nodding politely. Family was… a touchy subject for her. Once upon a time she had people she considered family, members of Vishkar who had practically raised her.
Until reality came crashing down on her. The files, glowing in front of her, telling her of all the evil deeds they’d done. How they’d used her. Tears bit at her eyes even now, thinking back on the night she found out. She choked them back, not wanting to freak her new associate out.
Fareeha didn’t catch it, a bit childishly distracted by the food. Vishkar’s chef is a total five star cooking god, it was so good.
Satya distracted herself by eating as well, “Do you know what their plans for me are?”
“Well, I imagine they’re going to want to have you use your skills to help build new watchpoints and repair ones that got destroyed. Build houses for people in destitute areas. Temporary shelters for soldier on the battlefield. Stuff like that.”
Admittedly, Fareeha was talking out of her ass a bit. She’d read over the dossier on Satya but wasn’t the type to engage in the bureaucratic side of Overwatch. Much more hands on, planning the group’s overarching goals wasn’t really her speed.
But Satya accepted her answer, nodding as she took another bite, “What I was supposed to be doing in the first place. Helping the world.”
Looking around it started to hit Satya that this was the last time she would see any of these people probably. Forcing herself to focus on how they’d manipulated and used her she steeled her resolve. But friendly faces still tried to surface, silently begging her to stay.
Fareeha wasn’t completely oblivious, she started to notice that the woman clinging to her arm harder and harder was starting to look distressed. Downing the last of her plate she dropped it into the trash, allowing herself one more wistful stare at the delicious spread before her, “We should get going.”
Satya nodded, tossing what little remained on her plate, “Quickly, before someone comes and-”
Her sentence was cut off as a man approached them. Immediately, Fareeha didn’t trust him. Something radiated off him, an aura of malice and hunger. Satya’s grip on her arm tightened, cementing that her instincts were probably right.
“Oh ho ho, Miss Vaswani, have you found yourself a date?” he said, slime dripping off each word.
“This… this is Fahima Abadi. She’s from…”
Picking up from Satya’s stumbling, Fareeha extended a hand, “Fahima Abadi. H.O.R.U.S. Industries. Pleasure to meet you Mister…”
“Kumar. Dharma Kumar. President of Vishkar,” he answered, grabbing Fareeha’s hand painfully tight and shaking with a vigor. She matched his grip with ease.
“Lovely party,” Fareeha commented, trying her hardest to sound high class, “Food’s… lovely.”
He laughed, presumably at her obvious nerves, “But not as lovely as our Miss Vaswani, are they?”
Fareeha laughed nervously, “Nope.”
God she was making a damned fool of herself.
Thankfully Satya stepped in, “Did you see that the Lumerico representative showed up a while ago?”
Mr. Kumar stopped at that, immediately developing a disinterest in the two of them, “Really? They agreed to send someone? Where are they?”
Pointing at the opposite side of the room, “Over there, in the yellow, by the door.”
After half assedly thanking her he took off, searching for a person he wasn’t going to find.
Satya insistently started dragging Fareeha, “Time restraint now. We have to go. When he doesn’t find them he’ll come back and he’ll be suspicious.”
Nodding, Fareeha started moving towards the door her mother had shown her on the floor plans. Should lead right to the rooftops, no issue. Satya took one last look at the party before leaving, saying a silent and bittersweet goodbye to the life she once knew.
A thick blackness enveloped them as they marched up the stairs. Heels clicking ominously in the dead silence as they got further and further away from the din the of the party.
Looking forward, she could see a light in the darkness and a woman peering down from it.
For a second Satya thought she’d gone mad because she could have sworn she was looking at a real angel.
But as her eyes adjusted to the light of the rooftop she could see it was only a woman in an odd, angel-themed set of armor. Leaning forward she was already inspecting the two, as she spoke in a Germanic accent, “Did everything go as planned? Are you injured?”
“Relax, Angela, but we need to move,” Fareeha said, brushing off her friend’s concerns as she let go of Satya’s hand and started walking up the door to the plane.
Trotting after her, this “Angela” continued to stress that she intended to give their new member a physical regardless of how everything went.
For a second, Satya paused. Looking at the roof of a building she herself had helped build.
She didn’t like change but she also knew it was necessary.
Turning her head back to look at the plane she saw Fareeha’s hand extended.
Grabbing it, Satya let herself be pulled up into the plane and into the new and scary life of being an Overwatch agent.