Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, David Anderson, or any of that (yet). I do own Lucas Veryre, Rei Igarashi, and a neat N7 shirt, but that's another matter entirely... Or is it?
Another day, just like any other… That's all it was supposed to have been. So... How did this happen? Lucas Veryre couldn't stop that thought running in his head, distracting him from what he really needed to focus on: that voice in his headset, the one shouting orders at him.
"-mander Veryre? Come in, Lieutenant-Commander! Two shuttles have been dispatched to get the civilians out of there; we need you to extract Admiral Anderson ASAP. Sergeant Igarashi is on her way, but she will need backup."
Rei Igarashi. Another N7 Marine, like himself, although her talents were more focused on infiltration and sabotage tactics, he could see how she would be ill-suited for a search-and-rescue mission like that one. Still, she was an N7 Marine, and would be able to handle herself until reinforcements arrived. Which they won't in time, unless you get moving! With that thought, he nodded once – not that HQ would be able to see it – and tapped the headset command on his Omni-tool.
"Copy that, HQ, I'm moving to assist. What's the ETA on shuttle extraction?" They needed to get the Admiral back to a command center, after all, and a UT-47 would be the quickest and safest way to do that. A shockwave suddenly erupted in front of him and threw him to the ground like a discarded rag-doll as a beam of angry red energy blazed through the concrete building, gashing a weeping scar before moving on. Picking himself up, he stepped forwards, a single glance informing him that there was no way he would be able to jump that gap. But the Admiral still needed rescuing…
"I watched far too many of Rei's damned action movies," he muttered to himself, before looking down the gap. It wasn't as far as he had feared, but the drop would still be enough to break his legs. And then some. "Well, the Admiral's not going anywhere, more's the pity… Here goes nothing!" With a grunt, he allowed himself to drop down, wincing as some outlying spurs scraped against his armor hardsuit, but relieved to note that his Omni-tool registered no damage. Of course, that would not be true once he hit the rapidly-approaching floor…
Focusing himself, he drew on his L5v, a mass effect field quickly surrounding him to reduce his weight as much as he could – while not on par with that of, say, an Asari Commando, he hoped it would allow him to at least survive the impact. Hitting the ground with a roll, he straightened himself with a wince. It had hurt, yes, but he'd had worse at the Villa, and a little pain wasn't going to stop him now. Bringing up a small map on his visor HUD, he quickly noted the fastest route and started moving again. Aside from that explosion, this place is too quiet, he noted, instinctively preparing a Snap Freeze module in case he ran into any nasty surprises. As a group of Husks and cybernetic horrors swarmed out of a nearby building, he thanked his paranoid instincts, and fired off the module, a cone of super-cooled gases hissing out to encase the creatures in small crystals of ice, slowing them down and disorienting them. Drawing his pistol, a basic N7 Eagle, Veryre fired a volley of shots into the group, smashing through augment cables, ripping through putrid flesh, and rapidly destroying the creatures. At least, that was his plan. Even as he watched, the Batarian-like creatures dived for cover, while two or three Husks sprinted directly at him with eerie hisses from their dead mouths.
"What are those things!?" he snarled, unleashing a point-blank Incinerate module into the creatures, nodding as the plasma round did what simple bullets could not, searing the creatures to ashes. But his ears could not fail to hear the whir of some form of automatic weapon starting up, and with a jolt, he realized that the other type of thing must have some sort of ranged weapon. As the bullets began to track towards him and the first few began to spark off his shields, he crouched down and drove his fist towards the ground, grimacing as an Omni-shield shimmered to life between him and the hail of bullets. This won't last forever, he noted, as the intermittent storm of shots swarmed into his shield. There's a pattern to their movements, they must be following some rudimentary sort of program, he realized, before grinning and drawing his other weapon. At the next break in their fire, he pulled his hand back and stood up fully, the Omni-shield on his forearm forgotten as he took careful aim and retaliated, the rapid-fire Hurricane SMG depositing dozens of bullets in each of the creatures within seconds. I'm not even breathing hard,he smirked, before shipping the weapon and heading out again.
"With all due respect, sir, you should've gone with the Commander. We could've used someone like you asking for help!" With a slow breath outwards, Rei's finger tightened three times, and with a soft burst of sound, three of the Husks sprinting towards them collapsed. I'm not going to be able to reload my Valiant in time, which means… With a wicked grin, the woman stood up, shipping the sniper rifle and drawing a long, single-bladed, slightly curved sword, before flickering out of sight.
With a burst of visual interference, she appeared behind one of the remaining Husks, her katana flashing out in a smooth arc to slice it clean in half, spinning around her hand in a wide semi-circle before plunging behind her in a back-handed maneuver, stabbing another of the creatures in the throat. As the rest of the Husks surrounded the woman, she smirked widely, withdrawing the blade from the now-dead Husk and flourishing it, before launching herself forwards. Seemingly surprised – if such a term could be applied to the cybernetic entities – by this reckless assault, the Husks were unprepared for the woman's ferocious attack, and soon gave way, leaving her outside of the small cluster, her sword crackling with lightning as she prepared an electrical discharge. Heh. I love this thing, she grinned, spinning around and leveling her sword at the remaining Husks, firing a burst of electricity down the blade at the creatures, ripping them rapidly apart. Time to get back and reload… Dammit, I hope those reinforcements show up soon!
"I'm as much a Marine as you are, Sarge," came the confident reply, as Admiral Anderson slipped his pistol back into the holster at his side. "And if Earth has to fall, then I'll be damned if I give her up without a fight!" He frowned out at the dead Husks, easily picking out the signs of movement behind the corpses – signs that the Reaper forces were gearing up for a new offensive. And this one would be different, as well: he could see that some of the Husks were those bulky creatures with the guns, the ones that seemed to be formed from Batarians. And he could see what they were doing.
With an audible intake of breath, Rei glanced up from the sight of her Valiant sniper rifle, not believing what her eyes were telling her. "Are they… Fusing the dead ones onto their skins? I don't understand, why are they doing that? It's like they're cannibalizing them for… Oh, damn. Ablative armor, huh?" Her eyes returned to her scope, looking for a chink in the newly-fashioned armor of the nearest Batarian-Husk-thing, finding one and exploiting it. As the thing fell back, Anderson grunted.
"Cannibals. That makes as much sense as anything else the Reapers have thrown at us... Where are our God-damned reinforcements?" But even as he spoke, Rei shipped the sniper again, drawing her katana to point out across the impromptu battlefield.
"It looks like they finally got here, Admiral. Let's meet them in the middle."
Author's note: So this is my first-ever fanfic, I know it's going to be terrible, let the flames commence! Also, if you have any constructive criticism so that I can get better at this (tips on the site's formatting would be awesome, too), or even compliments (hah, as if) go ahead and leave a review. Also, I'm currently looking for a beta reader, so if you somehow liked this enough to read the rest of my sub-par attempts at writing before they get polished up, please let me know.
Just a warning, I have no idea yet how regular my updates will be (gotta love college) but rest assured, I do intend to see this through until the end.