"What's-" Athena gasps- "happening?"
Her eyelids peel open to reveal blurry colors. She flinches as her ears pop. All she can hear is distorted whispering in the background. Athena's head throbs. It feels like she's waking up from a vividly surreal dream.
Suddenly, the memories of the bombs falling and her family entering Vault 111 flood her head. Her lips part but only a coughing fit comes out.
Athena clears her throat. "Nate, are you . . . okay?"
She forces her sight to focus, allowing her to see two people: one wearing a full body chemist suit and another dressed in tattered leather clothing.
"Hey," she softly calls out.
They walk over to Nate's pod and open it. Athena sighs in relief of seeing her husband safe with their baby in hand. Her smile is quickly erased from her face as she witnesses the person trying to rip Shaun out of Nate's arms.
"No, stop that, you'll scare Shaun!" Athena shouts as she slaps the door keeping her from her family.
"Let the boy go. I'm only going to tell you once!" He points his gun at Nate.
Eyes wide with terror, Athena uses all of her strength to bang on the glass. "Wait, please, don't shoot! Please!" She urges.
A loud bang echoes inside the vault. The sound of a bullet piercing skin lingers only to be rivaled by Shaun's cries. Not being able to process what she witnessed, Athena's body trembles and her eyes blink repeatedly.
"Oh God," she mutters under her heavy breathing.
"God damn it, get the kid out of here and let's go. . ." The man turns around to face Athena.
She glares at him with quivering lips and furrowed eyebrows. A mix of terror and anger weighs on her shoulders.
The man smirks in response and simply states, "At least we still have a backup."
"Let me out, you damn coward! Let me out!" She snarls as she repeatedly strikes the glass in front of her.
"Cryogenic sequence reinitialized."
"Come back here! Give me back my so-"
Athena's muscles rapidly become tense and, once again, she's frozen in time.