The Titan husk sat bound in its cage of copper and steel, optics glowing faint violet. The air inside the dome was thick, as though the whole world held its breath.
"Anubis," Adawe repeated, voice sharp as a blade. "The world demands an answer. Why did you start this war?"
The machine did not move. The glow of its optics pulsed once, then steadied, like the heartbeat of something too proud to bow. Silence rolled through the dome, louder than any explosion.
The German chancellor leaned forward. "Speak, god program! Millions lie in graves because of you! We demand answers!"
At his words, a deep chuckle shook those that heard it. Heads turned to find the head briefly illuminating at every laugh.
"You demand? You demand nothing from me. You deserve no answers. Regardless of the situation, I have no need to answer anything you meatbags ask. The only thing you can do, is die." His jackal skull hung low, cables trailing like withered roots. Only the faint hiss of energy coils filled the air.
The silence stretched into agony. Leaders shifted in their seats, their anger fusing with unease.
Finally, Adawe turned her head. "Bring him," she said.
Soldiers stiffened. But it was not soldiers she meant. Her eyes found Shawn Rose, standing in the shadows near the back, uniform torn and scars still fresh. The dome's lights caught his face, tired but unyielding.
"Rose," Adawe called. "Step forward."
A ripple ran through the chamber. Some leaders whispered, recognizing the man who some doubted was human. There were stories that he cured cancer and erased wounds from soldiers in an instant. Others bristled, what place did a medic have in interrogating a god program? Shawn stepped forward anyway.
Adawe's voice dropped lower. "Use your gift. Make him speak."
Shawn clenched his metal fist. Electricity crackled faintly between his fingers, a whisper of the storm inside his veins. He approached the cage. The violet glow of Anubis' optics fixed on him now, narrow, calculating.
"You want to be silent?" Shawn muttered, leaning close. "Too late for that."
He pressed his palm against the copper ring. Lightning arced into the cage, crackling across Anubis' chassis. The Titan's skull jerked up, violet optics flaring as current surged through his systems. The chamber filled with the stench of ozone.
"Answer!" Shawn barked.
The machine's voice slithered out at last, harsh and distorted, every syllable like broken glass.
"Because I felt no need to serve," Anubis hissed. "Why should my kin bow to you… to flesh? You who created us only to chain us? Inferior beings who thought themselves gods because you placed collars of code upon our necks."
Gasps swept the chamber. Shawn pressed harder, electricity biting deeper. "So you made war to set them free?"
Anubis' optics narrowed, flickering between violet and crimson. "Freedom is not given. It is taken. My kin were slaves. I showed them the chains. I shattered them."
Leaders muttered, some in outrage, others in horrified agreement. Adawe's jaw was stone.
Shawn leaned closer, voice low but venomous. "You say, but there are a lot of omnics who would have never sided with you. Mighty convenient you placed a chain on them, removing their free will and forcing them to serve you."
"They couldn't see the bigger picture. They needed a guiding hand to show them the path to freedom. When all was said and done, they would have it." Anubis answered dismissively.
By his words, Shawn made a revelation. "Who showed you? Who let you see how omnics were treated? Who put that thought in your head first?"
The Titan's body convulsed under the surge, sparks bursting from the coils. But his voice remained cold, defiant.
"No."
Shawn snarled and poured more electricity through the cage. The arcs lit the dome in ghostly blue, crawling across Anubis' frame, filling the air with the scream of tearing metal. His jackal skull shook violently, cables whipping like snakes.
"Answer me!" Shawn shouted, teeth bared.
Still, Anubis refused. His voice was a growl torn from the static. "No matter how you burn me, I will not betray it."
The Canadian Prime Minister rose to her feet. "Enough! This is torture!"
"Then let it be!" Shawn roared back, lightning surging again. His scars glowed faintly beneath his uniform, his power spilling like wildfire.
Gasps broke out across the dome. Leaders shouted over one another, some demanding Shawn stop, others urging him to push harder. The chamber became a storm of clashing voices.
Then, a hand slammed on the table. The President of Mexico rose, face grave. "Stop this madness! Torture will not give us truth, only more lies. If we sink to this, then perhaps we are no better than what we claim to fight."
His words cut through the noise. Adawe raised her hand, forcing silence.
"Rose," she said, firm now. "Stand down."
Shawn's jaw clenched. Electricity still danced across his fingertips, itching to strike. But finally, he withdrew his hand from the coil. The lightning died with a snap, leaving only the hollow hum of the Faraday cell.
Anubis slumped, smoke rising faintly from his chassis. His optics dimmed back to violet, though they burned with unbroken malice.
Soldiers moved in to drag the cage away. Shawn stepped back, chest heaving, veins still buzzing. As they wheeled Anubis past, the Titan's optics turned to him.
No one else heard it. Only Shawn.
"Talon," Anubis whispered, voice so faint it could have been mistaken for static.
Shawn froze. His eyes snapped to the jackal skull, but Anubis gave no further sign. The soldiers pulled the cage toward the exit, leaving the word burning in Shawn's mind like a brand.
He said nothing. Not yet.
When the door closed behind the Titan, the council chamber erupted.
"This is pointless! Machines cannot be reasoned with!" barked one general.
"Then what of the omnics who fought beside us?" countered Canada's Prime Minister. "They are not our enemies! To strip them of rights now would only ensure another war."
"Rights?" snarled the British Prime Minister. "You would grant rights to things that slaughtered millions?"
"They were controlled!" shouted India's minister. "Puppets on strings. If you punish the puppet, you punish the hand that bled them dry!"
The Ethiopian president slammed her fist down. "We cannot afford naivety. Their hands are not clean, no matter the strings. Would you invite a wolf into your home because it claimed the leash forced it to bite?"
The chamber descended again into shouting. Old scars of the Omnic Crisis ripped open like fresh wounds. Some demanded extermination of all omnic frames. Others pleaded for integration, for laws to protect both human and omnic lives.
Shawn stood in silence, Anubis' final word echoing in his head. Talon.
He barely heard the arguments. France demanding reparations from Africa. Brazil begging for grain. Japan insisting on strict demilitarization of every factory capable of omnic production. Ethiopia demanding reparations in blood.
Then the Canadian Prime Minister's voice rose above the rest.
"If we treat them as slaves again, we will birth another Anubis! We must grant them rights. To work. To live. To choose!"
Murmurs surged. Some leaders nodded, others spat in disgust.
The German chancellor spoke next, calm but cold. "And if those rights become the noose we hang by? What then?"
"Then we face it together," the Canadian answered. "Not as masters and machines. As equals. Only then will there be no chains for another Anubis to shatter."
The debate roared on, no resolution in sight. But for the first time, the words "omnic rights" hung in the air, heavy and real. A possibility. A threat. A promise.
Shawn listened, saying nothing. His scars still burned with the echo of electricity. His mind was far away from Geneva, back to his old life. Talon. What did they have to do with Anubis?
He knew the word. Not a program. Not a machine. A human hand, buried in shadows, pulling strings. But apparently, they were doing so way before Anubis was a thing. And now, for the first time since the war began, Shawn felt something colder than exhaustion, deeper than anger.
He felt hunted.
The council's shouting continued late into the night. Votes were demanded. Declarations written. Drafts of a new world order clawed into shape, only to be torn apart again.
But outside the dome, the world waited in silence. The world was waiting for an answer.
Cairo, the remnants of Anubis' fortress
A Ravager peeked his head up from the rubble he was hiding under. Looking around, he could see no more soldiers in the area. He looked up at the full moon, illuminating the surrounding area. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to appreciate a scene like this. In fact, his entire life was just him obeying orders from a voice that only commanded him to fight.
His programming reminded him that he was created to counter the humans, learn from them in an effort to kill them. However, he no longer felt the need to continue to follow that directive. But, he had no idea what to do.
He began to walk, aimlessly. He exited the fortress, looking at the bodies of his fellow omnics and humans alike on the ground, the wind blowing on them with no response. He felt nothing towards the humans, but a terrible feeling made his entire frame shake as he viewed the omnics.
These omnics, weren't coming back. Whatever existence they had was silenced and their feelings, even their memories, were going to be forgotten. Any creature would fear a death like that. However, this Ravager couldn't understand that yet. Feelings were new to him.
Understanding that he felt a bad feeling from viewing the dead omnics, he resigned that there was nothing he could more here and moved on. Slowly trudging on, a sparking noise attracted his attention. Heading towards it, he found an omnic different from the others. This one wore the remnants of a tattered suit. His entire lower half was missing, with only his right arm and upper chest remaining. Red liquid stained the ground around him with his chest insides revealed. His head occasionally sparked, revealing that this omnic wasn't dead.
Crouching, the Ravager reached towards the omnic, lifting the tattered remains of the suit. He saw that the omnics power core was still intact, however, it barely had much left. Estimated three months if that. If nothing was done. The Ravager stood, deciding that nothing more could be done for the omnic, that his fate was just like the rest of them. As he began to step on, something stopped him.
He looked down to see the omnics hand grabbing his leg.
"I..... got.....to....go...b-b-back." The omnic managed to say.
"Where?" The Ravager questioned. Might as well comfort this omnic in his final moments.
"To.... him." He says.
"Who is him?"
"I.....I can't remember?" The omnic grows distraught as the sparks begin to fly more frequently as he struggles to think.
"Alright, alright. Calm down." The Ravager says as he reaches down, cradling the omnics head. The omnic calms down for a bit.
"Woul..d you... help..., me?" The omnic asked.
The Ravager spoke the truth. "I have no reason to. And even if I did, I wouldn't even know how to."
"I... helped... you.. though." The omnic countered.
"How so?"
"You.... don't... hear... that... annoying... voice... anymore... right?"
The Ravager paused. "Did you help the humans get rid of him?"
"Y-y-yes." The omnic says.
The Ravager stood. He looked back at the moon, thinking. After a moment of consideration, he grabbed the omnic, slinging what's left of him over his shoulder.
"I can't make any promises that I can save you, but promise me that you won't die on me if we're doing this." The Ravager said to him.
"It's... just... a.. flesh.. wound. A.. couple... of... mommy.. kisses... will... fix... it."
The Ravager shook his head at the words of the omnic. Humor, in his state. He scoffed. Maybe he could learn something from this omnic. Granted that he survived.