Amman, Inner Medical District
Victory was a fragile thing. Though the omnics had been repelled, the wounded still screamed, the dead still lined the cots, and the air reeked of scorched blood and twisted steel. Medics moved with evident exhaustion. After three days with barely any rest, everyone was basically on autopilot. Their medical methods were at the bare minimum of efficient, mechanical, numb.
Shawn walked through it all like a ghost with little purpose. His body was wrapped in fresh gauze beneath a sweat-soaked shirt. Blackline kept his legs moving, but it did nothing for the deep fatigue behind his eyes. Before he didn't know the limits to Vital Synch, but now, it was all too familiar.
Virginia stepped up beside him, stims in hand. "Steve's stabilized. Leslie's concussion is clearing. Dwayne's off sedation."
"And Spencer?" Shawn asked.
"Talking again. Cracking bad jokes. Almost like normal."
Shawn gave the faintest nod. That meant he was alive.
She hesitated. "You saw the orders?"
He didn't answer. He turned and kept walking toward the command tent, where another battle already waited.
Overwatch Mobile Command
The command tent was tense. Only a few officers remained, poring over scorched maps and casualty reports. Ana stood stiffly, arms crossed, eyes on the blinking blue hologram in the center of the table. It wasn't Jack this time.
It was Gabriel Reyes.
"Rose," he said, voice as gravelly as ever. "You've got four hours to pack and move. I need your team in South America."
Shawn stood across from him, flanked by S3bastian, who already looked annoyed before a word had been said.
"What's the situation?" Shawn asked.
"Worse than we expected," Reyes said. "It's not about cities. It's about ecosystems."
He tapped something off-screen. The projection zoomed out over the Amazon, green turning to flickering red.
"They're burning it."
Everyone in the tent went still.
Reyes continued. "The omnics doesn't want to take South America. They appear to want to erase it. Jungle warfare doesn't favor them so as of three days ago, the omnics began wiping it out. Whole stretches of rainforest, set ablaze by omnic incendiary units. The smoke's already blanketing Peru and Ecuador. Civilians are choking before the fire ever reaches them."
"Jesus," Ana whispered.
Reyes looked at Shawn directly.
"I need your team in Medellín. That city's the choke point. If it falls, everything south of it burns uncontested. And I need medics who don't panic when the sky turns black."
S3bastian folded his arms. "So… no pressure."
Shawn inhaled slowly. "And if the jungle's gone by the time we get there?"
"Then humanity just lost its lungs."
Transport Bay
They moved like veterans now. Faster. Quieter. Everyone knew what they were carrying. Blackline packs were refilled and rationed. Emergency burn kits were added to every satchel. Rebreathers were double-checked.
Shawn stood before his team, watching as they helped each other strap on their equipment.
"This isn't like the cities," he said. "You're not just dodging bullets. You're walking into firestorms. Into smoke thick enough to suffocate a tank. And you're going to do it with wounded on your back."
Felix raised a hand. "You always give us motivational speeches, or is that a new thing?"
"Keep talking, and I'll promote you to flame wrangler," Shawn replied dryly. A few laughs broke the tension.
Then he held up a Blackline stim. "Administer it before treatment. Always. It'll buy you just enough time to save them. But remember that for us, it doesn't make you immortal. Just harder to kill."
He turned to the ramp. "Load up."
Over South American Airspace
The plane rocked from turbulence, hot wind and ash pushing at its hull.
Below, the jungle burned in streaks of crimson and orange, like veins of flame slashing across the green. Great clouds of smoke rose into the upper sky, choking out the moonlight. Cities on the edge were already half-abandoned. The rest were begging for help.
The comms crackled.
"Rose, this is Commander Reyes. Medellín is still holding, but barely. They've started firebreaks, but the omnic squads are targeting hospitals and water reserves. We've got people trapped in toxic zones. Bring everything you've got."
Shawn looked out the window. There was no horizon anymore. Just smoke and the red glow of death beneath it.
He clipped on his mask.
"Rose's Thorns," he said, turning to his team. "This isn't a rescue op. This is a race against extinction."
S3bastian checked his plasma cannon. "Let's see if we can delay the apocalypse."
The rear hatch hissed open. And they dropped into the fire.