The battlefield stank of burned circuitry and blood. Steam rose off broken spider drones, mingling with the copper tang of human wounds. Shawn's chest heaved as he yanked his katana free from the torso of a tethered soldier, sparks flickering across the blade.
The man collapsed, groaning but not dead only freed. Shawn staggered back, the reality of the situation setting in. He pressed a palm to his ribs where fresh burns crawled up his side, courtesy of a hijacked militia soldier's plasma arm.
"Status?" Shawn croaked.
"Half the militia still compromised!" Spencer called out, visor flickering as he lined up another shot. His bullet cracked through a drone's skull before it could latch onto another augmented soldier.
The Marionette loomed above, half emerged from the cliffside, cables writhing like living veins. Its red slit eye scanned the caldera. Every sweep meant another wave of militia seizing up, bodies snapping under its control. Each lash buried into augments, hijacking men in a heartbeat. Whole squads snapped rigid, eyes glowing red as they turned their rifles on their own.
"Every second we delay, more are lost!" Adebayo roared, slamming his steel fist into the earth, rage barely holding his men together.
Shawn's jaw clenched. With so many of Adeboayo's soldiers taken control of, it was a losing fight. There had to be a way to cleanse all the soldiers all at once, then use that moment to take down the relay. An idea forms in his head. But it was a huge risk, as it could backfire tremendously. However, it was too highly rewarding for him not to attempt.
"Cover me," he ordered.
As if she knew what he was thinking, Virginia's eyes widened. "Shawn..."
But he was already sprinting.
Shawn vaulted into the thick of cables. His katana didn't cut this time, looking only to hook, pinning one serpent strand as he seized it with his bare hand.
Electricity screamed through him. Sparks bled from his skin as his bioelectric current surged into the relay's tether. His nerves lit like fire, every muscle locking in spasm.
He forced his power outward. Not to heal. Not to wound. To purge.
Across the battlefield, militia soldiers convulsed. Some collapsed, screaming as the control snapped. Others blinked through tears, eyes clearing as red light died in their implants. Shawn's body shook under the strain, but he pressed harder, every ounce of energy funneling through him into the cables.
The Marionette shrieked, voice like thunder ripping across the cliffs:
"INTRUSION DETECTED.
THE STRINGS… BREAK…
BUT THREADS CAN BE WOVEN AGAIN."
General Adebayo saw the moment. Shawn's disruption staggered the relay, its cables spasmed, its hulking body pulling free of the cliff in jerks instead of grace.
"Now!" he bellowed.
Militia rocketeers surged from the ridgeline. Guided by Adebayo's orders, a half-dozen launchers locked on. Their cybernetic eyes flared gold as targeting systems synced with their implants.
The first volley screamed upward. Explosions ripped into the Marionette's thorax, tearing cables from its body in sprays of molten steel. The second volley caved in the spire's abdomen, fire spilling out like blood.
Adebayo himself hefted a launcher with his good arm, his mechanical grip steady as stone. He fired the final shot, a warhead that struck the crimson slit in its head.
The explosion cracked the mountain. The Marionette wailed, cables thrashing wildly before seizing mid-air. Its voice faltered, breaking into static:
"REFLECTIONS… BROKEN…
THREADS… CUT…"
The cliffside gave way. With a final shudder, the spire collapsed into the caldera, its glow extinguished.
The silence that followed was deafening. Only the hiss of molten stone and the faint clatter of falling debris remained.
Militia soldiers staggered, freed from their strings, some weeping as they tore augment cables from their flesh. Rose's Thorns regrouped, bruised and battered but alive.
Shawn sagged to his knees, smoke rising from his scorched arm. Virginia caught him before he hit the dirt, her blade still humming.
"You idiot," she whispered. "You nearly fried yourself."
Shawn managed a weak grin. "This is nothing."
General Adebayo strode forward, launcher still smoking. His cybernetic eye burned in the dawn light as he looked from Shawn to the smoldering crater.
"The spire is no more," he said, voice hard, but there was respect in it now. He raised his fist high. "Turkana stands free!"
The militia roared.
Hours later, Overwatch transports carried the wounded back across the Rift. Adawe's voice filtered through comms:
"Relay Turkana confirmed destroyed. Well done, Rose. But Anubis will not stop here. Morrison and Reyes are engaged with their targets now. Once they take theirs down, Anubis falls as well."
Shawn sat slumped against a crate, bandages smoking faintly from burned skin that was slowly healing. S3bastian tilted his head at him.
"You lit yourself up like a beacon," the omnic muttered. "If I wanted an extra charge, I could plug you into the wall outlet."
Shawn exhaled, weary but resolute. "If it freed them, it was worth it."