The O.X.E. Vault wasn’t built to let anyone leave. Buried beneath layers of steel, secrecy, and moral rot, it was Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s graveyard—for inconvenient threats, experimental "failures," and evidence too damning to expose.

That’s why she sent them.

Yelena Belova, U.S. Agent, and Ghost under the guise of a mission, but it was a setup. They were all "evidence," and the Vault’s incinerator was the executioner.

Lock them in with one another and force them to eliminate each other—no mess, no witnesses. Just fire, confusion, and a countdown.

And it almost worked.

Inside the Vault’s incinerator core, chaos erupted. Just before the Incinerator erupted, they managed to escape just in time with Bob, whom they found before the flames could turn them to dust. Bob nearly didn’t make it. The heat began to unravel him, threatening to bring something darker to the surface. Bloodied, barely breathing, but still alive.

Just when they thought they escaped death, they saw her.

Untouched. Silent. Still. Her eyes glowed softly, red energy pulsing through her veins like starlight trapped beneath skin. Her hair flowed and shifted around her as if the air itself obeyed her presence, though no wind touched the corridor.

"Oh, great," John Walker muttered, raising his shield halfway. "Because we definitely needed another problem."

"She was... she’s not on any record," Yelena muttered, taking a step back. Even Ghost hesitated.

Bob hesitated before taking a step forward.

She didn’t move, didn’t speak. Her glowing eyes scanned the group like they were strangers—threats. And they were. She didn’t trust any of them.

But when her gaze landed on Bob.

Bob’s breath caught in his throat. He knew her instantly. His childhood best friend—the girl he’d spent countless summer nights laughing with, the one who knew him before he became something different.

She didn’t recognize him. Yelena readied her weapons, John stepped forward cautiously, and Ghost muttered about the energy levels being off the charts. But Bob... he didn’t back away.

For Bob, this was more than survival—it was a chance to bring her home, to help her heal, and maybe... to remember who they used to be together.