Angela popped open her umbrella, shielding herself from the driving rain as she left Harbor View Medical Center, the sun long gone from view. The fall storm battered her and her umbrella as she walked to the bus stop at the corner, watching the darkness that crept at the edges of the streetlights.

Angela was always a bit paranoid anymore. She had no one else to rely on here. She hadn't even told Lena or any of the others where she was. Fareeha had even set up a new identity for her through her military connections. She was now Anna Stenson.

A vicious gust roared through the streets, twisting the umbrella, rendering it useless.

Angela huffed to herself as she stumbled slightly, shoving her umbrella into the trashcan next to her and pulling her coat tighter around her to keep out the driving rain.

Angela hated being out after dark. It made her feel so much more vulnerable, knowing that at any second a black mist could sneak up on her, coalescing into Reyes.

There had been news of more attacks, and two more agents had been found dead. Winston had been sending her regular updates to keep her up to date on everything that was happening.

Angela sighed in relief as the bus pulled up and she stepped aboard to head home.

She was very glad that she had found an apartment near the hospital so she only had to go a few stops before she climbed off and hurried to her door. The power was off here and everything was plunged into darkness.

Angela used the light of her phone to unlock her door and quickly closed it behind her.

"Hello Ms. Stenton!" Chirped her baby sitter, Amy, who lived next door, "Bren is asleep. The power only went off about 20 minutes ago so everything's been fine here."

"Thank you Amy." Angela said, pulling money from her wallet to pay the girl, "Please be safe. It's really howling out there."

Amy nodded and pulled her coat tight as she zipped out the door. Angela quickly locked the door behind her before fetching her lamp and setting to check that the rest of the apartment was locked up before grabbing herself her peanut butter sandwich.

Angela went back to Bren's room with her food, making sure he was tucked in and safe. He was almost 10 months old and running riot around the apartment. He had physically surpassed any other child his age, able to overcome most barriers in his path. He was the same size as a two year old and was already beginning to use a few basic words. His progress was astonishing. She had started lying about his age when she put him into an early education program for 8 hours a week to avoid suspicion. He was so happy. He had friends now and had even been invited to a birthday party. Angela had politely declined, not wanting any pictures from the party ending up online, but it was still some semblance of a normal life for Bren.

Angela kissed his brow before grabbing her headlamp and book to relax. It had been a long day at work. With the storm, there had been several serious car accidents. She was working in the ED at Harbor View now and was kind of enjoying being on the front lines of trauma care again, falling into a grove that reminded her of the old days.

Angela about jumped out of her skin as the wind gusted again, blowing some piece of debris into her window. She climbed out of bed, slightly panicky, and checked the window. She heard Bren start crying in the other room, scared by the storm. She rushed to his room and lifted him from his bed.

"Hush now, meine leibe, it's ok." She shushed, bouncing him in her arms while walking back to her room.

Angela laid him down in her bed, climbing in next to him. She turned off the light and pulled him close, holding him while the storm continued to rage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lights in her apartment clicked back to life at about 4am, rousing Angela from her slumber. She left Bren in the bed, going through and turning off most of the lights. She decided that she might as well stay up and set to making a pot of coffee, flipping on the news.

Apparently the winds had reached 80 miles an hour during the night, knocking out power for the whole county. Surprisingly no one had died during the storm.

The news then switched over, the reporter talking about the recent rise in attacks by the anti omnic gang, Xhuuya. The police were actively asking for the public's help in identifying the attackers.

Angela sank down into her couch with her coffee, watching the rest of the segment before pulling out her phone to check for new messages.

Preschool was closed for the day for storm clean up. Bren would be sad at that. Lena had messaged her sometime in the night, letting her know that she was on her way to see Winston in Gibraltar.

Everything seemed to be quiet for the moment.

She padded back to her room, checking that her son was still fast asleep and grabbed her book, taking the time she had to herself to catch up.

It was almost an hour before Bren came toddling out of her room, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

Angela set down her book, opening her arms for her son to climb up and snuggle down in her arms.

"Alright, my beautiful boy, do you want to watch something with mommy?" She said, reaching for the remote.

He gave a small nod and she turned on his favorite show and held him close, making it a point to spend as many good times with him as she could, never knowing when it all may come crashing down again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The morning light was just peaking over the crest of the mountains as a man jumped off a car of a maglev train taking grain into the shipping terminals. The city looked a bit of a mess as a storm had come through the night before, huge swaths still without power.

The man hefted a duffel bag over his shoulder and started walking towards the south side of the city where he'd been hearing reports of increased gang activity. It shouldn't take him too long to find the ones who were attacking the peaceful omnics that had come to the city for safety. He'd clear them out and be off to the next place soon enough.