I ignored his stupid comment that pissed me off slightly as I focused on chasing down the red dot on the map.
I should have addressed his chaotic nature when he first was out of line, so I guess he takes my laziness for a weakness.
I was far too lenient with him for him to think this was ok for him to do.
While it was true that he got results and actually found the second reactor, he should have communicated his plan with me instead of going solo.
Whatever his plan was could have just as easily backfired and he would have been captured.
He would have then probably given valuable knowledge and weapons to Anubis.
I knew that he was a smart omnic, capable of calculating entire scenarios within seconds.
He knew the risks of what he was doing, knew what was at stake, and still did what he wanted.
I think it was time to show him the pecking order of things.
But first, I need to deal with whatever this was that was carrying the reactor so fast.
Looking at the map, I thought about how the ping would constantly maintain a distance away from us, regardless of me being in Galvanic form.
A thought occurred to me, and I call out to the radio to confirm.
"S3bastian how big was the second reactor?" I ask.
"Eh, it was roughly the size of about 250 steaks." He responds.
There's no way that they could be moving something of that size faster than we were traveling.
"Show me where it was originally."
A new blue ping appears on the map and it's the opposite direction from where we were heading.
"They found your tracker and are leading us away from the reactor." I conclude.
"You're smarter when you're like this too. You're just more fun in general like this." He says.
I ignore him and start heading towards the blue ping on the map.
After running for a couple of seconds, pings begin to appear on the hall in front of us.
"Bastions in front of us. Maybe they'll let us through if we ask them nicely?"
Bullets start pelt us from the hallway and I pull my electric shield and my pistol since I can't hold my assault rifle.
As I get near the first of the Bastions, from behind my shield, I take my time aiming for their head.
My pistol inches out from behind my shield and I fire five shots that hit five different Bastions eyes making them fall backwards.
Some of them pin the ones behind them to the ground as I continue firing at the bastions.
As I pass by the fallen Bastions, I easily shoot at their heads as they lack the mobility to turn while pinned like they are.
The hallway comes to an intersection, and I need to take a left while all the Bastions are more to the right and blocking my way.
Using my shield, I press it against a Bastion who start to punch at it.
At first its' punches knock me back a little, but I manage to stand my ground and push back against it.
It throws that Bastion off balance into the ones behind it.
Before they can fall to the ground, S3bastian slides past my left, cutting with his blade all that's in front of him.
Parts are flying everywhere, but I focus on the Bastions in the back, taking three shots.
The shots fly past S3bastian, nearly hitting him on his arm but continue past into the eyes of the Bastions.
As they fall to the ground dead, S3bastian turns to me and pretends to start crying.
"Oh, my Aurora! You almost shot me, and I was so scared cause I almost died." He drops to the floor and starts bawling like a kid.
I step over him and take the left, continuing on to the blue ping.
I look at the countdown till extraction and see that only three minutes have passed.
I hear footsteps behind me and know its S3bastian who quickly got up when he went ignored.
It takes us only a minute to get to the room where the reactor is, and a lot of pings come up from within the room.
Dropping my electric shield in front of the door, I say my plan to S3bastian.
"You open the door and I'll launch an EMP grenade and then you lead the charge with my shield."
He gives me a thumbs up and walks over to the keypad.
Just before he touches it, the door to the lab with the reactor opens up and a Ravager walks out.
I level my assault rifle at his face, as he quickly holds his hand up.
"Wait." He says in a robotic voice, and I pause for a second.
"Anubis would once again like to remind you of his offer. This time he's willing to let any humans you pick live in an area. All you have to do is betray the humans you're with and turn them over to us. How's that sound?"
His head jerks back as a shot rings out from down the hall, and his mask is damaged, revealing purple almost human like eyes beneath.
Looking back at me, they reflect anger, cunning and determination.
"So be it." I take another shot and the purple light fades from the Ravagers eyes.
The omnics in the room open fire and I look in to see the reactor sitting on a table, off.
Without hesitation, I launch an EMP grenade into the lab which stuns all the occupants.
S3bastian charges in, grabbing my shield along the way as his right hand turns into a submachine gun.
He begins to gun down any Bastion units as I also enter the lab.
Rolling forward, I land behind S3bastian and open fire on the Bastions to his left while he deals with the ones on the right.
Another Ravager is across the room, watching from behind the reactor.
As the last Bastion falls, he comes from around the reactor.
"You're different from before. More focused. Yes, I can see the energies from within you empowering you. You've given me an interesting idea Shawn. Enjoy your victory here while you can, because I'm only just getting started."
S3bastian puts his gun near the Ravagers head and blasts until there's nothing there anymore.
His submachine gun turns back into a hand as he hands me back my shield.
"That did feel good just doing that to them. But you did it better. He was like, "hOw DoEs ThAt SoUnD?" and you just shot him." S3bastian goes on.
I ignore him as I observe the reactor.
Its off for some reason and here for some reason.
They most likely were trying to take advantage of having a spare fusion reactor to study it to create their own.
"Destroy it." I say to S3bastain as I walk out the lab.
"With pleasure." And all I hear is excited screams and clanging as S3bastian goes to town on the fusion reactor.
While outside, the battery on my back starts to hum as I start to drain its energy to fuel my Galvanic state.
It was much easier to maintain the state rather than to cut it off and back on as my body wouldn't allow me to return to that state until it reset to how I normally am.
S3bastian walks out the lab, rubbing his hands together. "That was relieving. You should try it sometime; it really gets the stress out."
I look at him for a brief second before punching him in the face.
He crashes into the wall in a heap, and I pick him up by the neck.
"Listen here you annoying shit. If you ever embarrass me while we're on a mission again, Ill beat you until you embrace the Iris. Do you understand?"
He mumbles, "Yes."
My hands fizz with electricity as I send currents through his body.
I stop after a couple of seconds and I can see the panic in his eyes to which I say, "What was that?"
"Yes... sir." He says louder.
I toss him away from me into wall. "Not a fucking word from you the entire way back."
He shakily stands and I don't spare him another glance.
From the headset Abigaile speaks up, "That was a little harsh don't you think?"
"I think I don't pay you to mind our business. Worry about yourself and not us." I counter back and she goes silent.
We travel the way back in silence and encounter no more Bastions or Ravagers.
I don't leave the Galvanic state until we're around the corner from the first reactor.
Walking back into the room, does the reality of what happened hits me.
Since training, I had control over what I did while in the Galvanic state, but this time was different.
It was almost like before when I was uncontrollable, and all my negative emotions dictated my choices while in that state.
I remembered that only through regular mediation of the Zazen did I have control of myself.
A hand comes in front of my face and snaps, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Did you handle the second reactor?" Gabriel asks.
"Yes, it's been dealt with." I respond almost in a daze.
"You finished just in time; we're done here as well."
The troops wrap up the sabotage of the reactor and we prepare to move out.
The plan was to fire the two EMP bombs back-to-back again to allow the stratoscopters enough time to come down and extract us.
As were about to leave, we can hear the tromping of the Bastion units from around the corner.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
We prepare for their assault but Gabriel steps forward.
"I'm ready to be gone of this place. Allow me."
He draws his two-signature shot guns and runs forward at insane speeds.
We watch as the Bastions round the corner only to be launched back as the shotgun shot knocks them off their feet.
They open fire on Gabriel, but he dances around their line of fire, using their limited mobility against them as he makes them constantly have to turn to get an angle on him.
Each shot he takes from his shotgun takes out a Bastion all the while he moves gracefully between them.
The final Bastion is close enough that it reaches out and tries to punch Gabriel instead of shooting.
He ducks under its swing and raises a shotgun and blasts its head leaving nothing there.
We stand amazed at his work as the bodies of Bastions are littered around him.
"Well?" He says as he tosses his shotguns away instead of reloading.
Coming out of stupor, we begin the charge back to the metal gates of the omnium.
Soundquake leads the charge, forming a barrier that blocks the bullets of the Bastions that come to block our exit.
With all our combined efforts, we easily deal with any Bastions that come our way.
Making it back to the room before the metal doors, I don't fail to notice that the massive rows of Bastions that once were here are gone.
I don't have time to dwell on it long, as the Bastions from outside begin to head towards us opening fire.
I open my shield and provide cover as the soldiers plant and prepare the EMP bombs along with Soundquake.
With them counting down, it's only a matter of defending for a full minute.
The soldiers concentrate most of their fire in front of us, while others watch our flank.
A call out comes from the soldiers watching behind us.
"Bastions six o clock."
I turn to see a row of Bastions coming out of the way we came and configure into turrets.
I go to block but get held back by Soundquake as he rushes towards them.
His speakers begin to him, and he slams them on the ground.
The ground beneath the Bastions lurches up sending the column into the air before they slam back down into the ground in a heap, which causes them to unconfigure.
The men with rockets don't hesitate for a second and launch their rockets at the stunned Bastions who are trying to repair themselves.
With an explosion, parts fly off everywhere.
With our attention momentarily on our flank, more Bastions make it through the metal doors on our front and their attacks intensifies.
Without the support of Soundquake also taking their fire, I become strained a bit.
S3bastian comes beside me, and his arms combine together to form the assault rifle, firing on the Bastions.
Finished with the Bastions on the flank, Soundquake also comes forward and the panels on his chest slide back as two rows of missiles come forward.
They launch from his chest, exploding the lines of Bastions in front of us.
S3bastian looks at him then at me, then goes to say something but stops himself as he continues to fire at the enemy.
The EMP bomb begins to rapidly beep, signaling that it's close to denotation and we call for the stratoscopters.
Seconds after the call is made, another light blue arcs around us in a huge radius, shorting out anything not immune to its effect.
The Bastions in front of us fall down without any light in their eyes as we rush forward.
In the distance, we hear the sound of the stratoscopter as it draws near.
I look around to see that it's not that many Bastion units here to contest our extraction.
To my right going over a hill, I spot a Ravager looking right back at me as a line of other Ravagers disappear with Bastions.
I blink for a second and the Ravager starts walking back with the others.
The second EMP bomb goes off with the stratoscopter out of range, further stunning the Bastions.
Our ride lands and we don't waste any time loading on and it quickly takes off before anything else happens.
I look at the omnium getting smaller in the distance as the soldiers start cheering at a successful mission, and S3bastian buckles Gunther up in the seat next to him.
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Due to the increase of powerstones without me having to beg for them, I decided to post chapters over the weekend.
But not Sunday as I'll be at a watch party for the new One Piece episode all that day.
For those who know, just know, but if you don't know, I promise the One Piece fans aren't going to stop talking about it for the next month.
Before you say anything, I myself am not a One Piece fan, I just watch it because I like watching the recent fights.