Hold the Line Part 3

General POV:

The soldiers began cheering as they realized that they actually did have something capable to handle the Titans. In the distance, metal screeches horribly as the Titan slowly rises to its feet. Sparks flew off of its exposed interior.

"Glad to see that you've gotten the hang of it." Shawn comments to S3bastian. Although they had built it, the government forbade them from using it causally, especially not to practice. That time in London was essentially the first time he'd used it. Therefore, he was firing shots that didn't have enough power to it at the cost of conserving his own power. After that day, they were given the greenlight to practice once a month as Titans were becoming a regular appearance now. 

"Well, as they say. Practice makes perfect, and I am the closest thing to perfect on this earth right now." 

"Sure. Finish off this one together and we take a Titan each?" Shawn suggests. 

"That's for the best. I swear to me that if you try to take my kill you won't ever hear the end of it."

Shawn simply nods, as he crouches down to one knee momentarily. S3bastian doesn't bother copying that action, but a distant whirling can be heard as if something was powering up. The soldiers watch in awe, as both suddenly sprint towards them at lightning speed. They duck as the duo passes them, only for the wind and sound pass them seconds later. 

They easily jump past all the omnics and continue onwards to the three Titans. The injured Titan lowers its turrets, taking a second to take aim. Both cannons fire off, sending shots to intercept the two incoming hostiles. 

Shawn draws his blade, jumping in the air as he swings deflecting the incoming missile to the waves of omnics to the right. S3bastian raises his hand, shooting out a smaller more focused plasma blast that collides with the missile, causing an explosion in front of them. 

They both jump through the aftermath of the explosion, continuing on to the Titan. Shawn pulls out his pistol, firing two shoots directed at the Titans sensors. With no way of seeing, the Titan begins firing blindly with its' mini guns at its chest. The duo easily avoid any bullets while they finish closing the distance. 

S3bastian stands before the Titan as he raises both his arms, sending out two bolts of plasma at the Titan. The attack lands on the Titan's midsection, destroying its under-turrets and exposing more of its insides, as it staggers. Shawn takes advantage of that moment, jumping inside the Titan as he slices anything he comes across as he heads to the center of the machine. 

Within seconds, Shawn makes it to the Titan's fusion reactor, where he fires a single shot at it, taking off running back the way he came. From the distance, the soldiers watch as the Titan shakes violently before exploding. Seeing such an enemy be defeated so easily, the soldiers erupt into cheers once more. 

However, their celebration is cut off as the omnics ignore the Titan situation and press their advance. The second lieutenant's voice can once again be heard across the battlefield to all soldiers. 

"See. We have hope! Press your attack! Don't give up!" On his words, the soldiers snap back into focus on the enemy in front of them, no longer having to worry about the behemoths in the distance. 

Meanwhile, the five-minute time limit is up for the Rose Rescue Specialist and it's time for the runners to do their part. All five designated runners give a slight nod to each other before rushing out of the building. Immediately on leaving, they can hear the intense sounds of battle of rockets and gunfire. 

They each separate, as they know from listening to the soldier's communication, that the front lines encompassed a massive area. Having enough experience from the previous time, the runners find it easier to get to the front lines as they don't have to scout out for any enemies this time. They make it in time to find many injured from stray bullets or those that took fire from the Huntsman rockets. 

Virginia, in particularly, comes across a man whose lower section is buried underneath the ruins of a destroyed building, who is crying for help. She kneels next to him, and almost makes the mistake of asking if he's alright. Recovering, she instead goes to calm him down. "I'm here for you, sir. Just take deep breaths, and I'll see what I can do to get you out of this." 

Hearing her voice, the soldier does calm down. "Thanks. I can feel something stabbing me in my side under this." Virginia looks around, trying to see if there's anything she can use as leverage. She spies a metal pipe that she sticks under the rubble and attempts to push down on it. She stops as nothing happens, and the rubble doesn't move. 

Getting a bit exasperated, Virginia starts to kick at it, but is stopped by the soldier, who grabs her, weakly. "It's no use. Here." After taking some effort, he snatches the dog tags from around his neck and hands it to her. "Just leave me, go save someone else." He says, clearly trying to hold back tears. 

Virginia takes the dog tags, as she too holds back her tears. Her mind plays back to when Rose had told them that there were those who you just couldn't save, no matter what you tried. She knew that he was bleeding out, and roughly had five minutes before he hit the point of no return. It was going to be next to impossible to find a soldier nearby who could make it back here and help her free him in time to successfully save him. She also knew that there was no way that she was going to leave him. 

She made up her mind that she was going to save this man. Her mind thinks back to when Rose was first training them and had told them that they would gain abilities, making them faster and even stronger than the normal human eventually. Although they had tried to unlock these abilities, apparently Leslie was the closest one out of all of them. 

However, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she crouched down and placed her hands under the slab of rubble pinning the man down. Seeing her struggle put his mind at ease, as he appreciated her staying with him in his final moments, rather than leaving him like he suggested and dying alone. 

She used all her strength, to no avail, as her knuckles turned pale from the sheer effort that she was putting in to lift it. Internally, she began to plead to herself for strength. With nothing still happening, she realized that she probably only had three minutes left, and her heart began to sink. Was she really about to watch this man die?

She steeled her resolve, letting all doubt leave her. No. He would not die here, not on her watch. She once again began to try to lift, putting even more strength behind it. Her fingernails began to bleed as the veins in her arms were clearly visible. But she didn't care, she still lifted. The man's eyes fly open as he can feel the rubble slowly start to move. He looks at her first in amazement, then in horror as he can see the intense effort that she was putting in to save him. 

Fighting through the pain, she can feel her very muscles tear, but she still persists. Blood vessels everywhere on her body were tensed to the extreme as she ignored the pain she was going through and continued to lift. Soon, blood begins to trickle down her eyes from torn muscles in her neck and she begins to shake from the strain. Her body senses the state she's in and instinctively reacts.

The man watches in awe, as he sees her body begin to radiate like the sun. Her muscles begin to repair themselves, as she tears them again in an unending process. He watches as she slowly but surely lifts the rubble over her head and cast it to the side like it was nothing. The glow fades, as she falls to her hands and knees, out of breath. 

Rising to her feet, she wipes the remnant blood from her eyes then she reaches out a hand to him, "No one gets left behind."