"Whatever it is that you need can wait a minute." He said without taking his eyes off his screen. "Unless you're the one I sent for tea, in which case hand it over." It had been a long few days at the office. Q hadn't had more than about six hours of sleep in seventy-two hours and it was beginning to wear on his patience.

Ava was livid. "What is the big deal? So I was a little late! I was interacting with people! It's what I do! What you programmed me to do! Should I just keep my head down? My eyes averted? Never talk to anyone but you? Is that what you want? Well I've got news for you, Cal. I can't live like that!"

They ran hard through the night; Cal’s heavy breathing the only thing louder than the sound of their feet hitting the pavement. Ava gripped his hand tightly. He’d stumbled here and there at the start, but now it was all she could do to keep him upright. She knew he needed to rest but they couldn’t stop. Their pursuers were a long way off now but would catch them quickly if they let up.

“C’mon Cal.” She muttered. “You can’t stop.” She knew his lungs were on fire but that was better than being dead. He stumbled again and this time he fell. Glancing up and down the street she pushed him into an alley and sat him down against the building. Once he was settled she headed back to the mouth of the alley.

She was trying to hear how much time they had but she could only focus on Cal. He was shaking and coughing, trying desperately to force air into his body. She walked briskly to him and crouched down. “Cal, we have to go. We can’t stay here.” She was leaning back, trying to see if anyone was coming.

“Ava,” He laid a hand on her arm. “you have to go. I’m slowing you down.” His other hand was pressed to his side, blood welling between his fingers. She shook her head.

“That’s barely a scratch; I’m not leaving you over that.” A bullet had grazed his ribs on their way out, he had tried to keep pressure on but he knew it wasn’t working. His head felt light and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stand.

“Av, you have to. I’m done for. I can’t run anymore, they’re going to catch me. But they don’t have to catch both of us. You have to get out. For me. Besides,” He gave her a shaky smile. “they’re after you and your circuits anyway. I’m nothing, Ava. They’ll probably run right by me.” He willed her to believe it. To get away. But she was still shaking her head.

“No, we’re both getting out of here. I won’t risk you.” She pulled him to his feet, supporting the majority of his weight. They stumbled together towards the street. Ava still couldn’t hear anything but them. She was starting to think they’d lost them, that just maybe they’d make it through this.

She was wrong. She spotted the Ageneus team a second before they turned. She shoved Cal towards the wall and out of their sight. Without hesitation she ran at them. She didn’t know what she was doing beyond keeping their attention on her. Two Ageneus-brand security bots and three humans had just turned into the alley. She threw herself at them, hands and feet flying.  She aimed for joints, not that it did much to the bots (they were made to withstand tougher things than one In-Home). But she did manage to send one human to the ground, clutching his leg.

A bot had one of her arms and an uninjured human was trying to secure a selective EMP collar around her neck. She fought desperately to keep it off; the collar would render her paralyzed and she needed to get Cal out of there. She did her best to keep them all in front of her but one must have slipped by. From behind her came a delicate cough. She whipped around, still careful to keep the human with the collar at arm’s length.

One of the men was holding Cal by the arm, his gun to Cal’s head.

“I tried getting him to shut you down, but he won’t do it, even when I threatened to shoot him. So, I figured I’d try it this way.” He shoved Cal to his knees, pressing the gun to the back of his head. The man cocked the gun. “So, Ava, what’s it gonna be? Are you going to come nicely? Or am I going to shoot Mr. Callahan here and then bring you in?”

The whole world seemed to stand still. The bot on her left was still trying to get a decent grip on her and she refused to let go of collar-man’s throat. Her eyes were locked on the man with the gun.

“Ava.” It was Cal; he was shaking his head at her. “Don’t. Don’t stop fighting, I’m begging you. Forget me.”

The gunman looked unimpressed. He checked his watch. “Look sweetheart. I’m on a schedule here. You’ve got three seconds until he dies. Three. Two-”

Ava dropped her grip. In an instant they had the collar on her and she was helpless. A single tear slid down Cal’s face. They had lost. Ageneus had them both. He would most likely be tortured for his secrets and Ava would be dismantled. How had he allowed it to come to this? Why had he allowed her to come? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself, knowing that he had caused Ava to become an experiment.

“One.”

Cal was face down in the alley, a pool of red growing around him.

Ava stared in horror. She wanted to scream, to fight. But she couldn’t even make herself stop looking at him. She couldn’t do anything. The man stepped casually over Cal’s body. He was speaking but Ava couldn’t hear him. She could only stare at Cal. She willed him to get up. To laugh and call her silly. To roll his eyes at her. To sigh in frustration at her. To shout. To do anything. To not be dead.

"The nightmares again? I hear you cry out sometimes, in the middle of the night."

Ava had been hard at work all day. She felt horrible about the fight she and Cal had had a few days ago. He'd said they were fine, but sometimes you just need a grand gesture to make everything right. 

She'd ordered his favorite foods from an excellent caterer. She'd had to sneak it in while he was downstairs but that was okay. She'd also baked a large cake and wrote This is an apology in frosting on it.