Lena's eyes fluttered as she slowly awoke. She felt warm, not the warmth she felt in hypothermia, but true heat coming in waves from somewhere. The ground around her was wet, and She could hear strange sounds, a rustling and metallic clinks, followed by the occasional muttered German swear.

When she finally opened her eyes she found herself propped up against a tree, her legs lifted so as to keep as little of her from touching the snow.

The memories came back as fast as a flash, and she gasped as she remembered. Sitting up as fast as she could, she was about to call out Angela's name, when she saw something move a small distance away.

"Oh," said Angela, "I'm glad you're okay" she grimaced as she realised why Lena was staring. "This is not what it looks like"

"Really?" Lena asked. "Because it looks like you're desecrating a corpse" she put her head in her hands. "Why is this a common theme with you?"

Angela gave a soft laugh. "Okay, it is what it looks like". She was up to her wrist in the Omnics chest, rooting around in the heat from the cavity for as long as she could while sweat poured down her face. Even from a few metres away, Lena could feel the heat from the cavity, plied open with brute strength from with the Valkyrie suit.

"I was going to take you back to the house if you didn't wake up soon," Angela told her, still inside the Omnic.

"Oh, Jesus" Lena muttered. She stared at the Omnic with her hand over her mouth. "He's dead, and you're… did I do it?"

"No, Angela replied quickly. "I did"

"Oh"

"I thought you would be glad you didn't?" Angela got back to her dark work, rooting around to find the omnium that still burnt in his chest.

"No. I mean" Lena shook her head. "I had a chance to, I could have finished this off then and then. If I didn't, you could have- Everyone could have died"

Angela didn't reply. Instead, she dug in deeper. She figured that he must have modified himself so as to have it been placed in a more obscure place than a usual Omnic, behind several layers of armour plating, that Angela had to get through several times with simple strength, wishing she had Gungnir to pry open the cavities.

"It's okay" was her only reply, and Lena looked down at her feet in shame.

Finally. She had found the source of the heat, and it burnt much brighter than other omnium sources. With a grim face, she began to shovel snow into the chest cavity and watched as the snow melted inside the body.

"Oh, fuck" Moaned Lena. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'll explain on the way" Angela replied, watching the snow melt rapidly, and even then the water began to boil.

"Got to cool it, only way I have to rupture the Omnium without losing a foot" She began to shovel more snow, and when that the water wasn't boiling, she raised a wing. Forcefully bringing it down tip first on the Omnium, she had thought it would be a smaller blast. It hit her full in the face, and she dived backwards with a yell. The snow had melted in a hole around the body and Angela tried to blink her the light blindness out of her eyes.

"I should have waited a bit longer" She said to the forest in general, almost like she was apologising to it. Looking down on One, she nodded with satisfaction at the effect of the explosion, the body was completely charred and beyond all use. Angela stood back up, staring at the body with a critical eye. Once close and happy that it was cool enough to touch, she picked it up and draped it over her shoulders like a hunter hauling back their kill. She gave a look to Lena, and sighed.

"I'm sorry you had to see that"

"I've seen worse" she replied. And then swallowed. "But honestly-

"That doesn't make it easier. Yeah. Wish I could say the same" she stared down at the snow. "I'm… I wish you didn't see me like this"

"Oh, come off it" Lena stood up and dusted off the extra snow. "It's not pretty, but I can manage. But why did you go through all that?"

"To make sure that the body can't be used by Zen" She bridled. "He tricked me. He told me what to do inside his head, but didn't think it would be worth telling me it'll kill him"

"What!" Lena shouted. "He tricked you into killing him?"

"Sort of. Zen led me to a place where if I didn't kill him then… then One would have won. Well, Won more"

Lena stared at her. "As in he's won something now? How, He's dead"

"Follow me. I think the rest of the team are this way"

"Angela. How do you mean he would have won more?"

Angela bridled "It, well it wasn't justice. He should have been thrown up for the world to see. Shown to everyone who ever supported Blackwatch. "Here's what you wanted, now face it!" Her mouth was a thin line. "These sort of things shouldn't be done in the dark. The only way things change is if they're brought to the light"

Lena didn't look at her. "And if the proper way doesn't work? What would you have done if he was brought forward and everything broke down?"

Angela's grim face did not move a muscle. "Then I suppose he would have truly won"

Lena opened her mouth to reply, and found no words would come out. Then she looked down to the snow. "Don't think of it as people "Winning". Trust me, that's not a good mindset". She looked up to Angela. "But I'm glad you explained it. This was the lesser of two evils''

"Agreed"

"That I failed to do"

"You didn't fail"

"How did I help then?"

Angela didn't know how to respond to that. They continued to walk in silence until they came onto a trail of carnage and uprooted trees. Angela started to fill her in on what happened, minus Einars. She couldn't see or hear him anywhere and wasn't sure how to feel about it.

The pain doesn't go, but it changes. She forced the thought down for the time being.

"I think that's them," Lena said finally as they saw the rest of the Rescue Service. Lucio and Zarya stood around the mess of a Bastion, wrapped warmly by coats from the House while Zen was rooting around its motherboard in deep concentration. He didn't notice the new arrivals, but Zarya did.

"Oh, thank god" Zarya gasped as she saw them. Lucio ran forward and Angela thanked him as he handed back Gungnir.

"We sent Reinhardt out to find you," Zarya said as she looked at Lena's shocked face as she saw the Bastion, and placed a gentle hand the size of a catchers mitt on her shoulder. "It's okay. We got to it just in time. Zen is downloading the coding onto a data stick" She smiled. "It's still alive, and we can use it to eliminate the Anubis programme"

Angela's knees sagged as she heard it and threw the body off her shoulders. "Danke gott" she tried to keep her breathing under control. After all that, and all the worry and fear they had faced, they had done it. Populations around the world would be saved because of what they did, and it was all worth it. Finally, a lasting victory. Lucio and Lena were smiling like idiots, Lucio hugged Lena and filled them in on what had happened to them.

But for Angela, celebration would have to wait.

"Zarya," she said. "I need to tell you something" With that she told Zarya everything that happened inside the Mental duel, Lucio listened in grave silence, not speaking through his anger. Zarya listened as still as a statue and didn't express anything once Angela had finished.

"That is the last straw" She muttered darkly. "First he hides One from everyone, and then he does this."

"Are you sure he knew?"

"Of course he did" Zarya replied. "Ask any Omnic, they'll tell you. Hell, I could tell you"

"So he probably did trick me into killing One" Angela sighed. She gave a satisfied look to the burnt husk of a body. "And I think I know why"

"Is that why you put the body beyond use?"

"Yep" She gave it a satisfying kick. "Scrap. Executed in a dark forest… with no one around and…" Angela trailed off.

"Should I get a shovel?" She whimpered.

"I'll keep that little comment out of the report. We didn't do anything wrong. He attacked, we defended ourselves, he died"

Angela looked down as Zarya said that and Lena placed her hand on her shoulder. Zarya sighed.

"I'll schedule some counselling sessions for you, Angela. It's standard procedure following someone's first killing"

"... It's not my first"

"Angela!" Came Zenyatta's voice. Angela's face darkened as she turned to face him

"Zen"

"How are you feeling" his calm voice had the edge of hysteria to it he approached Angela, with a memory stick in his hand. "Is he incapacitated?" His foot caught on the body, and he fell into the snow. He looked back excitedly to see what he caught on his foot, but his excitement soon came to dull dread.

"You" he didn't finish the statement. He realised what this meant. "You…"

"Ja" Angela stared at the trembling Zen, still sprawled in the snow with no one to help him up. She took the memory stick before he could use it as a bargaining term. "I think it's an improvement. I tried to do what you said and it fried all his circuits. The Omnium overcharged" Angela crossed her arms. "Care to explain?"

Zenyatta stared hopelessly at Angela. Then he looked to Zarya and got the same interrogative look of malice. Lucio would not meet his eyes.

"So. He told you" he said finally.

"Told me what?" Angela replied.

"Don't condescend to me" Came the sharp reply. All tension left his body. "You know what I tried to do"

"Yes"

He stammered out his half baked excuses. "I thought that… I told you that" He choked on his excuse. "I just wanted to help people again"

Angela looked down on him in fierce contempt. He was a pathetic sight, small and weak but Angela understood, as much as she hated it. She resisted the urge to aim a vicious kick at his head.

"I see" was all that Angela said. She looked at Zarya. "I wish to activate the Member Eviction Cause"

"Seconded" Zarya replied. She looked at the members of the team gathered around her. Lena watched from a distance, and Reinhardt was pretending to inspect the Bastion so as to avoid the issue.

"All in favour?" Zarya asked.

"Aye," Said Angela.

Lucio remained quiet and downcast, but before Zenyatta could begin to hope, he raised his head.

"Aye"

Zarya nodded. "Aye," she said. "The ayes pass the ¾ threshold to remove a member. Once I get back to Numbani, I'll sort out the paperwork" She looked down on Zenyatta. "I'm sorry Zen, but you left us no choice"

"You had every choice" he replied, his voice bitter and angry.

"No. But you did" Zarya replied. She touched Angela on the shoulder. "Come. We'll return to the house. We told Reinhardt to meet us there if you two came back. I'll make the arrangements to return to Numbani" she snorted. "At this rate, it'll be a couple of days to arrange a return. We need the rest anyway if Reinhardt will allow us.

"Rest. Yes. That sounds good" came the exhausted, battered reply from Angela. Slowly, she felt triumph begin to flow through her. Despite everything, they had won. They had the bastion coding, they had stopped One, and Angela threaded her fingers through Lenas before they walked back. Lena jerked in surprise, to begin with, but let Angela hold her hand. Angela; despite herself, felt as though they had finally gotten a win. But before she celebrated, she wanted to think on what Einar had said.

Reinhardt picked up the corpse as snow began to fall. Zarya nodded. With the rest in tow, they left the empty husk of a machine behind.