Angela backed up as she felt the gun pressed against her. Her pulse quickened. "Please don't"

"Remember me?" The voice was harsh, muffled by the thick ski mask that covered the thugs mouth. The ski mask had a skull motif. The black frame nearly filled the entire doorway. "Just do as I say and you'll both get out of here alive"

Both of us? At that Angela saw a second figure, smaller then the one glaring down at her. It was holding a gun to someones head. Will.

"I wanted to use your husband of course" Angela's eyes shot back to the figure holding the gun up to her. "But my friend here wanted to use the Omnic, no waste of life here obviously, Now then, it should be pretty obvious what we are here for, go get it".

They want Gungmir. Angela felt blood rising in her face. They had made no secret about Gungmirs existence, they wanted to get as many backers as possible. "Do you have a right to it? We'll happily face you in court". That elicited a small laugh from the figure holding William. The one in the doorway grunted and then pulled the trigger on the shotgun.

Angela felt the pellets enter her and several flied through her back, she collapsed onto the floor. It had felt like a sudden sense of pressure on her chest followed by Numbness. Then came the pain.

"Angela!" The figure at the back released William and he ran too Angela's side, knocking the table as he went. He gently cradled her with one hand "Why did you do that?".

The black figure looked down at the two terrified scientists before him. "Revenge maybe? Because I wanted too? Or maybe" He stared mesmerized by the golden glow coming from the wounds the buck shot had made. "Maybe I wanted to see that. Well well well, some of the rumors were true. Tell me honestly, Is she fucking you behind the husband? I want to be able to tell the others that"

"You're talking to much". The smaller of the two stepped forward and grabbed William away from Angela. She helped pick her back up "See, your fine now. Most people would be dead from a shot like that. Now take us to the scepter". The mask this one wore was plain, and had its voice modulated.

"Why should I? You'll kill me either way won't you?"

"...If you give it to us quickly I can guarantee it will be a lot less painful"

Angela shifted her weight. In her pajama pocket she felt something. HL2, William snuck it into my pocket.

She looked the two intruders. "Fine, I'll take you too Gungmir"

Angela felt the shotgun pressed into her back, ready to cripple her the moment she made a bad move. William trailed behind the big one, a pistol pressed to his head. Angela made the familiar way up to the room and opened the storage room. She ignored the locker in the room and made for the unlocked freezer. "Gungmir's in here". She tossed a body pack out carelessly.

"You're fucking us about" Angela could tell behind the plain mask that whoever wore it was glaring.

Angela snorted and opened the locker. "Go on, have a look" With that she shoved the larger one. He yelled and struck Angela full in the face with the back of his hand.

"That wasn't smart!" screamed Skull. William ran too Angela's side again. She had fallen on her left where the small vial was held in a pocket. She shifted her weight so as to allow for the tip of the vial to stick out. Please understand, please, please, please. Angela felt a flush of relief momentarily relieve the fear she had. William had taken the flask and was holding it behind a metallic fold that would have been seen if he moved too much. Angela looked up. Up too you now. Angela looked down from the murderous glare of the skull and got to her feet, the swelling on her lip already fading in a golden bruise. She crossed to the large safe in the corner of the room. She could feel the cold of the freezer, the door was not closed Skull was watching Angela. She opened the safe with a key combination; deactivating the hard light shield, pressing her thumb to open the safe and finally extending her hand inside to take the staff. If your going to do it, do it now! Angela heard the sound of glass breaking, as one both her and skull turned to see a white liquid falling onto a body pack, a defiant Omnic standing over it shielding his face and Plain screaming at him.

And the room turned red. Angela took Gungmir and swung it hard into Skulls leg, took William by the hand and ran. Please be enough! Please! Angela felt a pressure in her leg followed by a searing pain, and was tackled to the ground by Plain, the mask dark and wet. Shots fired around her as she grappled with Plain. She kicked at it with all her strength, forcing her off. Skull appeared in the hallway, smoke coming out of the testing room, holding something in his hand. He threw it down the hallway and it landed between Angela and Plain. A flash of light and the corridor was on fire, searing heat blistering Angela's skin and burning holes in her clothes. She screamed and picked herself up, limping as fast as she could with a shot leg, William supporting her. That was how they planned on killing me. Whimpering she kept going, her leg had healed before she reached the stairs. They took the stairs three at a time and made it down quickly. Smoke was descending quickly from above. They ran past the open door to the common rooms and continued running.

Only when Angela was sucking down clean cold air outside the lab did she stop and turned to see her laboratory, her place of work and focus for years, smoke rising from the windows. She turned and kept running, feeling a growing hole in her chest. Provided we have the Scepter and data, the research can be done anywhere, but watching flames lick the windows was still hard. She saw William flagging and slowed down. "What is it?"

"A bullet ricocheted, lodged in my leg. I can keep running, but its getting worse"

Angela looked at the leg, the metal had been ripped and oil was leaking. Each step made it slightly worse, soon it would be unusable. Omnics could only feel pain too a certain extent, a imitation of the human nervous system, Angela could tell it was deeply unpleasant. William looked up "Angela I need to tell you something"

Suddenly the windows of the building blew out and a prone figure flew out, landing not far from Angela and William. Angela ran over to the prone figure and flipped it onto its back. Plain. Angela could see it was a girl, slender arms burnt to the flesh and a compound fracture in a leg. She was still breathing, but barely. What could have thrown her that far?. Suddenly a black figure jumped from the building. Without thinking Angela picked up the prone figure and ran, William lagging behind her. Screams were coming from students from the nearby University still out, shots rung out and Angela kept running with the near dead girl draping her back, a soft snow had started.

"Angela, My leg..."

"Split up, i'll lure him away"

"You'll fucking what?! Angela if he gets your leg or spine-!"

"I picked her up for a reason! He'll come after her." And the extra bit of protection doesn't hurt either. "Besides, I also have Gungmir, Now Go!"

Police sirens were sounding in the distance, William took a final look at his friend and limped into the darkness. Angela sighed and turned to face the street behind her. Skull was coming up fast, running as fast as the cumbersome shotgun allowed him. Angela turned and ran and the person on her back spasmed as a pellet hit her shoulder. He doesn't care about her. He threw her. Angela kept running, ignoring the agonized groans of Plain on her back. If I run in a loop back to the lab, I can limit deaths by containing him to a small area. Angela grimaced and continued running. She ran the full length of the street and took a right and waited for the gunshots coming from behind. Nothing. The sirens were sounding much closer now. She kept running, hoping nothing would happen to William. Einar, have they attacked you too?. She turned a corner back to the Laboratory and slammed straight into Skull emerging from a side alley.

Skull grinned down at her and picked up a grenade from his belt, Angela knew that the last thing she would see would be the burning flames consuming her in a golden flash. He looked down the street to the oncoming lights and readied the grenade, not caring for the prone ally on Angela's back. Then, he yelled and turned to see a lithe man holding a bloody kitchen knife that he had just driven into Skulls back. Skull struck Einar, screaming like a wounded animal, Angela took her chance and charged Skull, Gungmir held like a spear to run him through, the grenade falling to the ground nearby. Einar kicked it as hard as he could down the street, where it burst into golden flames. Skull knocked away Gungmir and kicked Angela hard in the stomach, throwing the air from her lungs. The sirens sounded very close. Skull glared down at Angela and aimed the shotgun at her head. Then he stopped, turned too Einar and fired as Angelas scream ripped through the air. With that Skull ran, out of options down the same alley, leaving Angela with the body of her husband, Gungmir and a half dead girl, fire arcing on the street behind her. Angela stared at the body of her husband and sank into the street near him, cradling Gugnmir like a lover and sobbing.

There is a figure watching over the ashes. The fire burned well into the day and the building had been lost before the fire fighters had arrived on scene. whatever it was in the grenades, it had burnt through the floorboards into the rooms below, dooming the laboratory. Angela was dressed in a black longcoat over a red hoodie, the hood up against the white snow billowing around her. She watched at the front of the cordoned area as the wind picked up the ashes and threw her home into the sky. She had slept here, worked here, ate here, and met her friends everyday in the same building, seven of whom have been killed in connected attacks. It wasn't just her who was targeted. Too many funerals, too many explanations to bereaved relatives, too many dead friends. And of course, in that night, she had lost the one closest too her.

Angela"

Angela turned to see William walking unsteadily towards her on a new leg. He seemed slow, as though he did not wish to talk to Angela.

"Hello William."

William stopped just short of Angela, he did not meet her gaze. It felt like a decade before it returned to the ashes.

"What happened to the girl?" It felt required of him to ask.

"I healed her so she wouldn't die. You can't put a dead girl in prison" She said it with such anger. "I should have let her die. She got away." William continued staring at the snow.

"Angela, I'm so so-"

"Please don't, I appreciate it, but please" Her voice was brittle. "The in-laws never liked me. Guess they will blame me huh?" A bitter laugh burst from her lips. "Jesus! Pretty dumb of him wasn't it? Do you know what he was doing out? because I don't! Think he was on the way to wake me up? Maybe he was on the way to steal the research, I bet he was, thats the sort of fucking day we've had. One more twist of the knife why not?"

William hesitated "Angela I'm so sorry"

"I told you not to-"

"Not about that, it's something else"

"... Go on"

William still couldn't look at Angela.

"Our data was stolen" No reply. "It was stolen last night, before the fire. All backup data, all statistics, gone." William risked a glance at Angela and turned away quick. "That's what I'm apologizing for now. I'm sorry, I wish their was something that could be done, but-"

"...ten"

"What?"

"Only ten people had access to the backups. Seven died in their sleep. I was another, there was no way I could have done it. That only leaves one, someone who was still alive during the fire, you were kidnapped, it couldn't have been you. That leaves" Angela's gaze turned to William. It was a look William would have in his memory the rest of his life. The look was reptilian, snake like. Hungry, Ruthless and full of a cold fury. She walked stiffly alongside the burnt building, William following behind as close as he dared.

"Wait, he might not have done it willingly, they may have threatened him like what happened to us! They might have killed him"

"Then he should have died!"

"Angela that was your husband..."

"And he was a fucking coward! I was ready to give my life to save Gungmir if you recall, if it was a decision between us and Gungmir I would have, have" At that she sunk to her knees, her eyes on the pavement beneath her. She felt a pressure on her shoulder and placed her hand over Williams, thankful for whatever comfort could have been given, as the hot tears melted tiny pools into the snow beneath her.

"So you've reconsidered my proposal"

Angela stood before Zarya. Zarya had not been impressed with how she was holding herself even back at the lab, but her back when she was working there had been stiff and straight with defiance and pride. Now though she appeared deflated, like all the defiance and fire she had once was lost in the ashes. She didn't reply, merely nodded and took a sip of her drink. The cafe was full of people, many of them smiling at the thought of the holidays coming up, all happy to escape the bitter cold. Angela still wore her long coat inside, the white of the snow melting against the black. Zarya had been nearly back to London when she received intel on a attack on the laboratory, at which point she tried her best to get back and warn Angela. The phone she had used had now worked, which meant someone had blocked her personally. Angela nodded.

"I do not like these circumstances at all, I am sorry to hear about your husband. He seemed a nice man" Angela glared for a moment and then her eyes returned to her lap.

"Why are you still in Manchester Aleksandra?" Aleksandra told her about the intel she had received. Angela's gaze returned, cool and calculating. "The were good enough to block you personally, which meant they knew you were in the UK." The conspirational tone of the questioning made Zarya glad. It proved something still moved beneath the embers. She sighed and looked squarely at Angela's blue eyes and said in a hushed tone.

"There is something rotten in the UN. The only way someone could have blocked my number was someone in the UN told someone else it, but given how i change the phone umber every week, it seems more likely to have been someone in the UN itself. Naturally you can't do something like that without proof of what happened, unless your working off the books. That leaves only one group I think could have done it" Angela was still holding her gaze. Only now it had turned into a glare. Fire had returned to the blue eyes.

"Blackwatch?"

Zarya nodded.

"Do you still want to reform the UN Miss Aleksandra?"

"Yes I do, Doctor Ziegler"

Angela offered a hand across the table. There was no smile. There was none needed. Soon. This will not finish me.

Zarya shook the hand offered. "I need a month to get everything in place. We had hoped you would join, now we need the final pieces. You will fly from Heathrow airport at 9 AM at fly to Numbani, where we are headquarted. You will be taking the flight with another member who had just joined us. I think you'll like her." She paused for a moment. "Will a month be enough to get funeral arrangements sorted?"

"Maybe" Angela stood up. She knew the family had to be flown from all other the world, and that they would not want a small funeral. Angela had blotted out the anger of the in-laws at the time. She had already talked to her Uncle and Aunt, explaining everything. That being said, she was willing to skip the funeral. Some things she wanted to say made it so that she wasn't sure how she would act. In one fell swoop, that mild mannered idiot had ended the life Angela had built up over the years. It may be selfish, but Angela did not care. She was furious, and the fact that the betrayal came from someone she loved made it all the worse. "Anything else Miss Aleksandra?" Zarya looked at Angela with confusion and told her all the details would be sent to her. Angela buttoned up her Longcoat, concealing the red beneath the black. "See you in a month. I'm a nervous flier. Just thought I should tell you" Zarya watched with interest as Angela left, leaving the warm for the cold without a glance backwards and completely alone.