"That was excellent, my love" Einar said as she came back. "The Security Council will have no way to ignore you if you do half as good in from of them"
"I know" Angela replied. She smiled and sank down beside him
"We finally made it, liebling" Lying down on the snow, looking up to the lights above, The Lights had intensified brightly and green and red was flown across husbands and wifes face.
"Finally" replied Einar. His arm was crossed over Angela's shoulders, and she was glad for the contact though she couldn't feel it through her parka. "Was it worth waiting for?"
"Completely" Angela said. "We'll have to think of something else to do"
"Jesus, we just finished the Idun programme. And you're making a speech against bio weapen proliferation!" Einar was indignant. "Where do we go from there, Curing ennui?"
"In a way, yes"
"Oh lord. Okay, it sounds like you have some ideas"
"I do. But for now, let's just wait a little while"
"Happily"
Einar and Angela lied in companionable silence, slowly Einar brough Angela closer, and they held each other, satisfied and happy. Something was nagging on Angela's mind however, something that told her that she should not be enjoying herself. That she should be moving, that something was horrendously, terribly wrong.
"Problem?" Einar asked.
"Just restless" Angela replied. Something wasn't right. That much was clear, the borealis was never that bright. The night should have been colder, why did it feel so warm? Why was the scarf she was wearing give her a feeling of unease?
"You know, I once saw a borealis like this last Christmas" Angela began slowly.
"Oh?" Einar frowned and shifted. Angela could feel him moving under her grip, but it felt much easier then usual. Like she had packed on several kilograms of muscle. "Was there a Borealis one night in Manchester? That's pretty far down"
"No" Angela frowned. "It was in Reykjavik. In a graveyard" She turned to look at Einar, who was slowly being covered in a light layer of snow. "I was visiting you"
"... Yes" the image began to flicker. "It was cold that night"
Angela shot back up and began to feverishly look around them.
"Ah, more resilient then I thought" came a voice from behind Angela. Angela gasped, and felt a tug in her stomach as she was ripped from her glorious delusion. She turned quickly, and instinctively placed her wings before her and Einar in a protective shield. Before her was a tall, gaunt Omnic, whose palm was extended to Angela.
"Though, so very, very worth it" he said under his breath. Taking a step to Angela's right side, Angela tried to turn with him and keep the wings between them. But her feet refused to move, her arms shook with effort at the attempt to move, and her wings went limp.
"What have you done?" She asked between clenched teeth. Her body refused to move. Her body shuddered, attempting to break through. "I can't-"
"Move? Well, frankly I thought you would be more of a challenge. But, you are most… unbalanced" He took a step forward. Gungnir was braced in Angela's hand, the spear launcher turned to the intruder. Angela's thumb shuddered as she tried to move it, but it could be managed. The Omnic did not seem to mind. Angela knew enough of Zenyattas abilities to know that he must not touch her.
Keep him talking.
"That hallucination" Angela began. "Was that you?"
"Yes" He was circling Angela, taking in the suit, Gungnir and Angela herself. "You can learn much from giving people what they want most"
"For what end?"
"Stopping power"
Angela let that sit in. Finally she asked what she most wanted to know.
"Who are you?"
"Oh, I am One, the first"
Angela snorted. "I'm Angela, The First"
"I know you are"
"And what do you want?"
"Just to do my job, and serve Blackwatch"
"Of course you do" Angela was not surprised. She could feel the paralysis working off, slowly but surely. Her finger gently held over the button. The more he talked, the less he concentrated on keeping her still. "So how will you serve Blackwatch now? Are you going to bring me to Evelyn?"
"Off course" he sounded indignant, as though it was clear from the beginning. "But first, I'm going to make you more compliant. It might take some time, but time is the only thing you have right now"
Angela's blood turned cold as he said that.
"What do you mean by that?"
"No need to worry yourself" He replied. He took a final step towards Angela and extended his palm towards her face. Angela tried to flick her thumb, release the spear and distract him. Angela flinched and tried her hardest to move away from the extending palm. "All will be clear soon"
The second the palm touched Angela's head, she felt the coldness of its metal and suddenly her tension left her. Instead of standing tense, she collapsed into a heap. She could feel the cold snow beneath on her check, but everything below her neck was numb to the touch. She knew she couldn't move her body, and she couldn't move her body because she knew.
"Got to make sure you can't move. It would be hard to start"
Before Angela could reply, the world started to swim before her. Her eyes began to water and the white snow suddenly enveloped the sky, the walls of the small world she was suddenly thrust into. She tried to move her limbs and felt the movement in her fingers. But the Omnic could not be touched, she knew this. But still, she stood up and attempted to flick the spear point out, wheeling about to strike at One in mad hope. But suddenly, she felt as though her suit began to constrict. It felt tighter and tighter and her breathing became laboured, and while she could still move, she could not exert herself. She looked up to glare at the Omnic that had materialised before her.
"I heard you like Norse Mythology. I Hope you like the armour, Brunhild"
"What are you?" Angela hissed between her teeth. The omnic was silent. And then, with a low voice, he leaned closely to speak to Angela, and Angela flinched again and tried to hit him. Her spear went right through. And the Omnic stepped closer.
"How do you kill a people, Angela?" He asked, low and close to her. "Not just remove them, but kill the very idea of such a people. You can eradicate them, destroy the culture. But still, the memory of them persist"
The truth began to dawn on Angela on what it was.
"Oh god"
"That's where I come in. Others kill the men, rape the women. Enslave the children, but I destroy the memories. I eradicate people from memory and history while others destroy the physical. That is my purpose. If I had been there when the Romans sacked Carthage the world would not know what had happened. If I had been in Poland, the names of 6 Million jews would be erased from history. But, I was made to late"
"Made" Angela said, her voice shaking and strained. "You were made to do that?"
"No, not to begin with. Originally I spoke for the Omnics, but Blackwatch changed that"
Angela breathed in and out. "So, who is it you want to eradicate?"
"Omnics, of course" he replied easily. "And you will help me with that"
"No" Angela said quietly. She attempted to move, only to be forced down into an airplane seat. Old scars long gone re opened and she could feel the trickle of blood down her chest and back.
"You're going to be alright" a calm voice said in German. To Angela's left was a Omnic, his chest had been ripped, and Angela could see the frost crystals on the inside of his chest. She muttered through a mouthful of blood, her parents were gone. But the Omnic was there. One stood behind the Omnic currently attempting to keep Angela warm with whatever fabrics he could find and staunch the bleeding coming from the 5 year old girl in shock.
"Hmm" One said. "Early memories of a friendly Omnic. Even a friendly abomination is still an abomination however" he looked over the other sprawled bodies, and looked down on a severe looking blonde woman, her head forced back by an impact with the chair in front. "And early memories of terrible people, if your views on them are anything to go on" He turned back to Angela. "We will have to rectify that"
"Tote Dich" Angela hissed. Anger ran through her at the embarrassment that One was putting her through, the replaying of painful memories.
"Ah, you have a love for Thanatos. A repression of eros for, oh my, two years will do that to you. Some respond to danger by reaching out to love others. You react with, well" He turned to look at the snarling beast. "This"
Angela's eyes widened as she realised she was seeing more then her memories. She was seeing her secrets, her thoughts, her subconscious, her entire mind was splayed out before One, ready to be molded and changed at his will.
Angela howled inside her own head and heaved all her hatred towards One, who chuckled.
"More disturbed, the better" He looked over the memories of Moira, Einar, Reaper, Lena, Isaac, Will and splayed bodies in Numbani. "Guilt is such a fascinating emotion. It can hold you back from pleasure" Lena floated up in Angela's mind "and one incident can bring others to the fore" Einar and Reapers body extended out before Angela.
"Guilt makes you much easier to influence, to manipulate. The more you suppress, the easier it is to control. Trying to be ruthless has only made you sick"
"I'll kill you" Angela promised. No uncertainty on her voice. "Or I'll do worse"
The omnic grunted. "No point in extending this out" One said. "There will be plenty more time after I've gotten what I need from the Bastion. You're just going to sleep for a little while" He extended his palm again. "Next time you'll awake you'll be-" the sentence finished in a scream, and he was tackled away from Angela. In the brief moment that the two were still linked together, Angela saw a flood of images. Horrendous images of mass graves, the burning of homes and a river choked with blood, sensation flooded back into Angela's body.
She stood up rigidly and balled her fists, growled deep in her throat, and looked around for something to attack.
Instead, Lucio grabbed her shoulder and brought her back down to reality.
"Angela!" Lucio spoke. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine" Angela snarled. "Where is the Omnic?"
"What Omnic" Lucio shook his head. "Angela, what just happened to us?"
"Us" Angela was at a loss of words to describe what had just happened to her. But Lucio's words stopped her from pursuit.
"Listen!" Lucio forced her to face him. "He did it to me and Zarya! He got into all of our heads. And, I think that one of us was led outside"
"In this cold? Are they protected?"
"If they were under the influence of what affected us-"
Angela's gut twisted as Lucio left his sentence hanging.
"It gets worse Angela. The tracks disappeared a few meters away from the house, then reappeared. I think it was Lena"
"She was blinking" Angela felt another twist
That Omnic can wait.
"We split up"
"Agreed". Lucio nodded.
"Any idea where?"
"I was following the trails I could see to you. I follow on the ground, you in the air"
Angela nodded. Beginning with a sprint, with a tug at her back, she was skimming over the trees.