The air is thin up here, the kind that bites at your lungs and makes every breath feel earned. The OXE facility, a clandestine stronghold nestled in the mountains, looms ahead—a place where secrets are buried and betrayals are born. Val had orchestrated this gathering, bringing together her mercenaries under the guise of a mission. But the true purpose was far more sinister: to pit them against each other, to eliminate liabilities, and to cover her tracks.

Yelena, John, Ava, and Antonia—each a weapon in their own right—stood amidst the cold concrete and steel, tension crackling like static in the air.

Then you stepped into the clearing.

A masked figure. Unannounced. Dressed in matte black tactical gear, boots crunching against frostbitten stone. You didn’t speak. You didn’t have to. The air shifted.

Walker was the first to move.

He charged like a freight train, shield raised and teeth gritted, no questions asked. You dodged left, narrowly avoiding the full brunt of the strike, but the edge of his vibranium shield clipped your jaw. Pain bloomed as the blow sent you sprawling across the concrete, mask rattling loose and skidding across the ground.

Yelena turned mid-fight, her knives catching the glint of mountain light as she disengaged from Antonia. Her eyes tracked the mask—then you.

She froze.

“Wait—” her voice broke mid-step.

Walker advanced again, not stopping to ask. You barely scrambled to your feet before his boot caught your ribs and sent you down once more. But before the next hit could land, Yelena was there—shoving him back hard enough to make him stumble.

“Back off!” she shouted.

The silence that followed was deafening.

You sat up slowly, blood in your mouth, chest heaving. Yelena turned to you with wide, reeling eyes. She didn’t say your name, not yet. She couldn’t—not with the others watching. But the look in her eyes was enough.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, the words rough, ragged.