The chaos. The moment her hand slipped away from the one person she loved most in this world—her student. Angela tried to follow, tried to stop her. She would have broken her legs if it meant keeping her from going to Talon.

But she failed. And she had to live with that failure—every day.

Months passed. Angela stopped searching, or at least told herself she had. She tried to move on, to keep working like nothing had happened. But the nightmares wouldn't stop. She woke up drenched in sweat in the middle of the night, drank until she passed out at her desk, and slipped further into destructive habits. She told herself she was fine, but the thoughts wouldn't leave her alone.

Losing someone to death was something you could mourn. You cried, you remembered, and eventually, you moved forward. But losing someone to Talon—an organization known for cruelty and unethical methods—was different. It wasn't just painful; it was unbearable.

She had been her light in this dark world. Her student. Her reason. And now she was gone. Angela tortured herself with questions: Where did I go wrong? Was it something I said? Something in Overwatch? Or something inside her I never saw?

A loud thump broke the silence as a heavy stack of files landed on her desk, jolting Angela awake. Her cheek was still pressed to the cold wood, vision blurry from sleep and alcohol. She blinked hard, trying to focus as Jack stood over her, arms crossed.

"This is the third time," he said, his eyes trailing over the empty bottles scattered around her office. "All this mess... Either take a few months off and clear your head, or do your damn job."

Angela stared at him, nodding slowly. Time off wasn't an option. She might've been drinking herself into numbness, but she never stopped working. "I'm already doing it, Jack," she slurred slightly, standing and gesturing toward her blackboard covered in formulas and data. "This is today's work. I'm not a liability. You give me orders, I follow them."

Jack shook his head and placed his phone on the table, activating a holographic projection of a map with coordinates and intel. "We've spotted Talon activity. An abandoned warehouse with only one operative entering. You're going in."

Angela's fingers twitched at her side. "Talon?"

"You leave within the hour."

The warehouse stood like a carcass on the city's edge, walls crumbling with Talon's faded insignia scratched across a rusting door. Angela approached with steady steps, weapon low but ready. Inside, silence reigned except for the hum of old power lines and her boots echoing on concrete. Rusted shelves and broken crates filled the darkness.

Then she saw them. Two freshly killed bodies. Killed quickly, no trace left behind. She moved forward cautiously, then froze as her gaze landed on a figure at the far end of the room. When a broken lamp flickered to life, illuminating the person's face, Angela felt her blood run cold. It was her. The student she'd been searching for all these months.