Kara's fingers clung to the fraying cable, her body swaying as Ghost plummeted toward Lena's outstretched cybernetic arm, the pipe's snap echoing like a death knell. The east dock explosion's shockwave rocked the chopper, flames surging higher, singeing Kara's legs as the tendril's severed end whipped past, grazing her face with a metallic sting. The OmniCorp chopper tilted wildly, its grappling hook tangled with Lena's arm, pulling her off balance, but her cannon still glowed, aimed at Ghost. The sniper's laser danced across Kara's chest, a heartbeat from firing, while the unknown force—silhouettes in the smoke—closed in, their intentions shrouded in the chaos.
Kara's arm burned, muscles spasming as she swung the cable, desperation fueling a final lunge toward Ghost. Her free hand brushed Ghost's jacket, snagging it as Lena fired, the blast searing past, melting the pipe Ghost had clung to into slag. Ghost's weight yanked Kara downward, the cable's last strand groaning, threads popping like gunshots. Blood dripped from Kara's side, pooling on the wreckage below, her vision tunneling as exhaustion clawed at her. The comms sputtered: "Backup… now…"—but the voice was garbled, a cruel tease against the inferno's roar.
Lena regained her footing, her cybernetic eye whirring, locking onto Kara with a predator's focus. "You're out of moves," she snarled, yanking the grappling hook free, the OmniCorp chopper lurching upward. A second tendril lashed from the wreckage, wrapping around Kara's wrist, pulling against the cable, stretching her body in a torturous tug-of-war. Ghost's fingers slipped again, her augmented eyes dimming with defeat, her scream cut short as Lena's cannon charged for another shot. The sniper fired, a bullet ricocheting off the cable, sparking dangerously close to Kara's hand.
The silhouettes emerged—armed figures in black, their faces masked, wielding pulse rifles. One fired, the shot blasting the tendril on Kara's wrist, freeing her, but the recoil swung her wildly, the cable snapping another thread. The OmniCorp chopper retaliated, machine-gun fire raking the dock, forcing the masked figures to scatter, one falling into the flames with a guttural cry. Lena lunged, her cannon blast grazing Ghost's leg, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air as she dangled, unconscious. Kara's grip faltered, her blood-slick hand sliding, the cable unraveling completely.
She fell, the void rushing up, but a masked figure leaped from the smoke, catching Ghost mid-air, their pulse rifle clattering away. Kara hit a slanted beam, rolling toward the edge, her nails scraping metal as she stopped inches from the churning water. The OmniCorp chopper swooped, its hook snagging Lena, lifting her toward safety, but she twisted, firing one last shot. The blast struck the beam beneath Kara, cracking it, the structure groaning as it began to collapse. The masked leader shouted, "Move!"—their voice familiar, but the smoke hid their face.