Shawn's POV
The call connected with a faint crackle, Geneva's signal bouncing across a patchwork of half-repaired relays. The holo-display flickered to life on the comms table, painting Commander Adawe's face in sharp, cold light. Even thousands of miles away, her presence filled the room.
"Report, Specialist Rose," she said without preamble.
I straightened, though my chest still ached from the fight in the banquet hall. Behind me, Tesfaye slept fitfully in his chamber, surrounded by my medics. The air reeked of wine and blood and burned wiring.
"We stopped the attempt," I said. "Tesfaye is alive. One assassin captured. He confessed under questioning. Said it was because of Tesfaye's views on omnic rights, but I could see through his lies. He confessed that the hit was ordered by Talon."
Her eyes narrowed, dark and unreadable. "You used your ability?"
"Yes."
Silence stretched, taut as wire. Adawe exhaled slowly. "Then you know what that means."
I did. My stomach turned with it.
"That confession cannot be used," she continued. "Not in Geneva, not in Addis Ababa, not anywhere. Talon will cry coercion. Hell, any lawyer with a heartbeat and an online degree could make that defense as well. That you twisted a man's mind, forced him to say what you wished. And the world will believe it, because they fear what they don't understand."
The weight of her words pressed on my shoulders. I hated it, but she was right.
"So the truth dies in that room," I muttered.
"For now," Adawe said sharply. "We cannot afford to stumble with rumors. Not when Overwatch has just been entrusted with rebuilding the world."
Her tone softened, but only slightly. "Shawn, listen to me. Protect Tesfaye. That is your priority. His voice carries weight in Africa, and if he falls, others will scatter. But the fate of the prisoner…" She hesitated. "That will be up to the Ethiopians. It is their soil, their justice."
I bristled. "He's our only lead."
"And he is their captive," she said. "Do not forget that, Rose. You are a guest in that country. If you wish to keep Overwatch's presence welcome, you must respect it."
Her gaze sharpened. "Find the truth another way. If Talon is truly behind this, there will be more threads. Follow them."
The feed cut, leaving only static.
I leaned on the table, electricity crawling restless under my skin. Truth sealed in silence. A prisoner I couldn't keep. A leader I couldn't lose. And somewhere in the shadows, Talon pulling strings I couldn't yet see. Odds were always stacked against me. Nothing was ever simple.
"Fine," I whispered. "If the world won't give me the truth, I'll carve it out myself."
I gathered my team in the dim hall outside Tesfaye's chamber. Dwayne and Steve flanked the door, rifles across their knees. Inside, the politician slept, his chest rising and falling with wine-heavy breaths.
"Listen," I said quietly. "Adawe's orders are clear. Tesfaye doesn't move without you two. He so much as sneezes, you're at his side. Understand?"
Dwayne grinned, tapping his rifle. "Won't be easy to kill a man with us watching him."
Steve just nodded, eyes steady.
"Good," I said. "Keep it that way."
I turned to Virginia and Spencer. "You're with me. We're going into the city."
Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Going shopping, boss?"
"Something like that," I said. "The weapons the assassins used where good. Too good considering we just got out of a war. Since I can't use the prisoner, I went for the weapon. We've got names, a list of clients tied to shipments of advanced weapons. If Talon wanted Tesfaye silenced, there's a reason. We find the link, we find their play."
Virginia adjusted the strap on her rifle. "And if the names don't talk?"
I tightened my gloves. "Then we make them."
Addis Ababa's black market throbbed with life.
Tents sprawled across cracked streets, their canvas sagging under lantern-light. Smoke curled from braziers where meat sizzled, masking the stink of sweat and oil. Traders barked in a dozen languages, waving scraps of omnic plating, crates of bullets, sacks of grain. Survival had its own economy, and here, it thrived.
We moved through the crowd in plain coats, rifles hidden beneath. Spencer muttered curses under his breath every time someone brushed too close. Virginia's eyes scanned constantly, never still.
Our contacts came one by one. Five names from the shipment report; five supposed clients who'd brushed against weapons moving through Ethiopia's veins.
The first, a grizzled merchant with gold teeth, shook his head before I'd finished the question. "I trade food. Rice, beans. No rifles."
The second, a woman draped in silks, laughed outright. "Guns? In this famine? I'd sooner sell water to fish."
The third, fourth, fifth all the same denials, same confusion. A couple flinched at the questions, but none carried the scent of Talon. Either they were innocent or very, very good liars.
By the fifth dead end, my patience was fraying.
Spencer leaned against a post, flipping through the report again. "This is useless. We're chasing shadows."
"Of course we are." I respond thinking about what the next lead could be. He didn't bother asking the prisoner who the Talon contact was as he knew they weren't sloppy enough to leave their faces uncovered. They probably used a voice changer as well.
His eyes narrowed, lips moving silently as he scanned the lines. Then he froze. "Wait."
Virginia stepped closer. "What?"
Spencer jabbed a finger at the parchment. "Here. Look at this. The shipment wasn't just signed off by these clients, it was authorized by a supervising scientist. Ethiopian origin. Worked directly under Tesfaye's projects."
I frowned, the pieces grinding together. "So the shipments weren't random. They were tied to someone specific. A scientist."
Spencer nodded grimly. "And if Talon wanted Tesfaye out of the way… maybe it wasn't his politics they cared about. Maybe it was this man he was protecting."
We returned at a run, the city blurring around us. Lanterns streaked past, voices muffled under the pound of my boots. By the time we reached the government building, the air was already different. Heavy. Charged.
Guards bristled at the gates, rifles drawn, eyes wide. The compound hummed with panic.
"What happened?" I snapped, shoving past the line.
One of the guards swallowed hard. "Attack. Men dressed like the ones from last night."
My stomach dropped.
We burst inside, rushing the corridors, past overturned chairs and blood smeared across stone. Every room felt too small, too suffocating.
At Tesfaye's chamber, Dwayne and Steve stood ready, rifles tight in their hands. Tesfaye himself sat on his cot, pale but unharmed. Relief hit like a wave.
"Status?" I demanded.
"Quiet here," Steve said. "We didn't leave him."
Before I could breathe, another guard staggered in, blood staining his sleeve. His face was gray with shock.
"They… they killed the prisoner," he said. "Cut down the guards watching him. Left nothing but bodies."
My fists clenched, electricity sparking faint in the air.
"That's not all," he whispered. "They took someone. Kidnapped him on the way out. We tried to stop them, but..." His voice broke. "They moved too fast."
I stepped forward, my chest like iron. "Who?"
The guard swallowed, then spoke the name. The same name Spencer had pointed to in the report. The Ethiopian scientist.
Silence fell. Heavy. Final.
The prisoner was gone. Our only witness silenced. And Talon had taken the very man they'd come for all along.
I turned slowly, meeting my team's eyes. Virginia's jaw was tight, Spencer's knuckles white around his rifle. Tesfaye's gaze burned with shame and fury.
"Talon just told us their hand," I said. My voice was low, hard as stone. "It was never about killing you, Tesfaye. That was the cover. They wanted him. The scientist."
I looked at the blood on the guard's sleeve, the empty hall behind him.
"And now they have him."