Chapter 125: Full Hold
General POV:
Without the Ravagers there, any remaining omnics were basically defeated. Through the second lieutenant's guidance, the city was held without any breaches. As the final Bastion fell, cheers of victory erupted from all the soldiers. On paper, they should have been wiped out within the first five minutes. However, save for the higher rankings that always doubted everything, most of the soldiers knew of their upcoming victory because of Shawn.
Taking a status report of the mission, the second lieutenant was surprised to find that they had only lost five men. As he was present on the front lines on this fight, he had seen a lot of men taking the ATW Huntsmen rockets or getting lethal shots. He was making a mental note, personally keeping names of those who he had to admit he thought were fallen. Although he never doubted them, his opinion of the Rose Rescue Specialist greatly rose. Especially in their efficiency.
As for Rose's team, they found that they didn't have to work as hard as the first mission. The Runners would report back news of whatever they heard from the fight, so they knew that they were doing well. But they knew that they couldn't slack off or Shawn would find out and no doubt punish them for it.
With the battle over, they were still providing care to the last of the soldiers with the Runners help. Imagine their surprise when a voice calls out. "We have one more!"
Their eyes dart to the entrance to find S3bastian carrying Shawn princess style. Their happiness turns to horror as they see Shawn's missing arm.
Shawn POV:
I didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed as S3bastian carried me into the medic building in his arms. After seeing my state, he decided it was appropriate no matter how much I insisted I was fine.
"I'll operate. I can't trust any of you rookies to handle this one." He says to them.
He throws me on a medical hammock roughly before grabbing an apron and a scalpel.
"If you touch me with that, we're going to have some problems." I warn him.
"Help me to help you. There's no need for you to look brave for the troops. You can cry if you want in front of us. We're family." He says, wrapping his arms around my head and pulling me to his chest.
I push him away. "I'm fine."
"Then why isn't it healing?" He asks.
'Why wasn't it healing?' I question to myself as I look at the stump. I've had way worse wounds than this and they've healed perfectly before. After a closer inspection, I could feel energy different from that of bioelectricity flowing throughout my arm. It was wilder and more vibrant. This was electricity.
Earlier in my life, I had long tried to wield electricity, but I faced numerous difficulties with it. First, I was unable to produce my own means of electricity, so I had to use batteries to supply me with a source. If I wanted more electricity, I would need bigger batteries, so efficiency became a problem. Second, I found that I lacked control. Bioelectricity was more than willing to heed my commands, but electricity had a mind of its own.
No matter how much I tried to train in controlling electricity, I couldn't safely apply it to my fighting style without risking others. But that fight with the Titan taught me something. When I was trained to be an assassin, I was taught to control my emotions at all costs. Ever since I gained Body Supremacy, it's been a struggle for me to contain my emotions.
But like, could you blame me? So far, in order to receive any actual damage, a Titan had to crush my arm with his foot. To even be at that point was fault of my own. I felt like a god among humans most days. Hell, some mornings I felt like taking over Anubis' place and taking over humanity. Maybe if I was raised differently, that would be an option to me. But I couldn't, because I owed it to Mamoru to never forget his teachings, even if his own family did.
Even as my thoughts were wandering, I still paid attention to my arm. No flesh attempted to grow past a certain point. Was I really about to just have one arm?
I silently despaired at the thought until I remembered that I was the son of a corporation that designed omnics. I had designed a type of prosthetics earlier in my life. Our goal was California, so I could produce my own arm replacement instead of asking Torbjorn.
Hopping out the medical bed and pushing past S3bastian, something caught my eye. I had almost missed this with all that was going on. "Virginia. I see you figured it out."
She looks sheepishly down. "Yeah. I guess I did."
Leslie looks at Virginia in disbelief, "What?! How?"
"I just really wanted to help someone and it just.... happened." She says struggling to find a way to describe it.
"Gee. Thanks for the explanation." Marco replies sarcastically.
I remembered back to when I first found out about it, back in London. It was a spur of the moment thing when I was helping patient after patient. If what Virginia said was true, then the secret to controlling it lied in the desire to assist someone under dire circumstances. Which gave me a reasonable idea on how to help the others unlock it as well.
The rest of the members shivered, as they turned to see my evil smirk and they knew I was cooking up something devious. "Well guys. Hope you all get some rest after this. You're going to need it."