The cable unraveled with a sickening snap, Kara and Ghost plummeting toward the flaming wreckage below, the tendril's grip on Kara's leg tightening like a noose. The chopper's engine screamed, smoke choking the air as Marcus fought the controls, his blood-streaked face grimacing in the cockpit. Lena's cannon blast roared past, the heat singeing Kara's hair, her cybernetic eye glinting with sadistic glee. The OmniCorp chopper loomed overhead, its machine guns chattering, bullets tearing through the cable's remnants. Time fractured—seconds stretched into eternity as the void rushed up to claim them.
Kara twisted mid-fall, her free hand clawing at a jagged beam protruding from the wreckage. Her fingers caught, skin tearing, but the impact wrenched her shoulder, a white-hot agony shooting through her. Ghost dangled below, her jacket slipping from Kara's grip, her scream lost in the chaos. The tendril yanked harder, dragging Kara's leg toward the inferno, flames licking at her boot. Above, the OmniCorp chopper's spotlight pinned them, a sniper's laser dot flickering across Ghost's chest—a heartbeat from death.
Marcus dove the chopper lower, the cable's frayed end swinging wildly, brushing Kara's outstretched hand. She lunged, catching it with her bleeding fingers, the jolt nearly dislocating her arm again. The tendril snapped taut, pulling in opposite directions—cable up, tendril down—stretching Kara's body to breaking. Ghost's fingers slipped, her augmented eyes wide with terror as she plummeted, only to snag a rusted pipe inches from the flames. Her cry was a dagger in Kara's heart, but she couldn't reach—her strength was fading.
Lena climbed the beam below, her cannon recharging with a high-pitched whine, her voice a venomous hiss: "I'll take your mind piece by piece." The OmniCorp chopper fired again, a bullet grazing Kara's side, blood soaking her jacket. The tendril pulsed, its mechanical limbs tightening, and a second tendril lashed out, wrapping around Ghost's waist, dragging her toward Lena. The dock's remnants groaned, a section collapsing into the churning water, the shockwave rocking the cable, sending Kara swinging precariously.
The comms crackled, Marcus's voice breaking through the static: "Hold… backup… ten seconds…"—a desperate lie, or salvation? The OmniCorp chopper descended, its rotors whipping the flames higher, a grappling hook deploying toward Lena. She smirked, securing it, but the tendril on Kara jerked violently, pulling her toward the edge. Ghost's pipe bent under her weight, metal screeching, and she clawed at the air, inches from Lena's grasp. Kara's vision blurred—blood loss, pain, exhaustion—her grip on the cable weakening as the last strand frayed.