There was a whole lot of silence down here. Buried deep beneath the Earth, it was hard to believe the human race was being exterminated far above. Adrian closed his eyes and savored the darkness. His armor was still being bolted to his skin, the machines making no noise as they clamped the dark black plates to his forearms, chest, legs and throat. A helmet snapped shut over his skull, and finally sensory input flowed back into him as the helmet connected to his nervous system. Sound began to flood back into his consciousness as well as touch, as he felt the cold rivets bore through his body. He briefly considered the irony- he had given up so much, sacrificed so many, all for this.
The Cerberus symbol was emblazoned on his shoulder, now worn and battered from the amount of battle he had seen. How long ago was it since he had busted out of their damned lab? Six months? How many had died at his hands since then? Adrian had lost count. Their faces all obscured by helmets and masks while his biotics crushed their bodies into pieces. They wanted a war machine, they had gotten one. Jack was their trial run- Adrian was the result. They had skipped over the torture and pressure, instead twisting him from a fresh-faced recruit to.. whatever he was now.
It didn't matter any more. Nothing mattered. As the table Adrian lay on rotated up, his restraints were removed and he slid to the ground. Opening his eyes, the armored biotic saw a single elevator leading up. It was time to move. He was here to fight, and fight is what he was going to do. He stepped into the elevator and ascended to the fight above.
Adrian pieced together what he knew. Cerberus- before it had turned to Reaper tech- had locked Adrian away. Some splinter group saw what was coming, and made sure he was protected from any sort of hostile takeover. Adrian hadn't gone willingly, but was ultimately 'disassembled' and frozen underground. He looks at his hands, one of the last pieces of flesh and blood on his body. They glowed with a perpetual purple sheen, a side-effect of his supercharged biotic powers. If his eyes could narrow, he would be glaring at his own body.
The elevator rose for close to an hour, the temperature rising and falling as he passed through pockets of magma. By the time the door opened, Adrian had completed his system calibrations and was ready. A scene of utter devastation lay before him- Vancouver. Rubble, as far as the eye could see. Reapers strode amongst the ruins, tearing down buildings as they were encountered, clearing out the sparse resistance that remained. The yellow lights that formed Adrian's eyes swept across the field, searching for his first target.
Spotting what seemed to be the aftermath of an impressive fight, Adrian locked in on a large Reaper force cornering some human marines. They huddled within the cover of a downed school, firing around the corner periodically to keep the Cannibals from swarming in. As Adrian watched, a horde of Husks began shambling out of a nearby structure; the Reapers had been waiting for them to arrive. Kicking off the ground, Adrian's eezo field launched him at breakneck speeds, augmenting his sprint. His feet scarcely touched the ground as he hurled himself into the Husk group. They were completely taken off guard as he leaped into the air and came crashing down, slamming his fist into the first Husk he could lay hands on. A pulse of biotic energy swept out, knocking the ex-humans to the ground. Twisting around, Adrian's biotics sent out another, more powerful pulse that hurled the Husks into the air. They sailed several meters away before making long smears in the rubble. Turning towards the rest of the Reaper forces nearby, Adrian thrust his hands out and several biotic projectiles pulverized their cover, blasting it into pebbles. Several of the Cannibals were ripped apart, though the Marauders were only staggered. Running forward into their midst, Adrian grabbed an assimilated Turian and flung him like a puppet, straight into the wall of the nearby school. From within, the marines let out a rallying cry and looked out of cover. They fired a barrage at the remaining Marauder, tearing its shields- and body- to pieces. Without waiting to speak to the marines, Adrian's body glowed purple and he dashed towards the legs of an approaching Spider Reaper.
He could feel the machine's eye on him as he ran closer. A deep rumbling signalled the charging of its central laser. Adrian slid into a rocky crevice and threw up a barrier. When the beam hit, it lanced straight through the rock- and his barrier. Luckily, he was not hit. He heard the groaning of its massive limb as it rose up and began to descend on to Adrian's position. He rolled out of the crevice and detonated a biotic explosion beneath his own feet, hurling him out of range. The Reaper's appendage crashed down just meters away from where he landed. Adrian landed with a roll, and yanked his body back around. The Reaper began to move its other legs to catch up with the limb currently planted in the ground like a grotesque three-trunked tree. Taking the opportunity, Adrian charged forward and leaped up, landing on top of the Reaper's nearest 'toe'.
The Reaper's shell was smooth, but cratered with impacts and burns. It had seen a lot of combat recently. Using his biotic powers to assist him, Adrian began scrambling up the Destroyer's leg, sometimes having to magnetize his elbows and knees to stay attached. The Reaper tried to dislodge him by smashing itself into the structures that hadn't been levelled yet. Adrian simply scrambled to the other side of the machine's leg to avoid being splattered across the concrete. Slow, arduous progress was made as Adrian scaled up the first ten meters. Then twenty meters. At eighty meters, Adrian reached the top of its leg, and launched himself at the Destroyer's main carapace. He got in just as its plated shielding closed around it. Adrian was sealed inside of the Reaper.
Adrian had no mouth or throat to scream from, so he let his biotics yell for him. Waves and lances of fury shot out from his body, blasting parts of the Reaper's shell off. The singular red eye opened directly in front of Adrian and began to crackle with red electricity. Taking control of the moment, Adrian reared back a his fist, now alight with blue and purple rage. He slammed his fist forward, straight into the glassy eye of the Reaper, punishing the machine for existing. He felt it crack and buckle inside as it was crushed. The entire structure lurched in its death throes, but the laser continued to charge. Adrian kicked off just as its destructive power was unleashed. As Adrian fell, the Reaper fell with him.
Using his biotics to guide his descent, Adrian bucked side to side to avoid the Reaper's energy beam as it cut dangerously close to his metallic skin. As the ground rushed closer, the laser was cut short. The Reaper had hit the ground and died first. Adrian hit the brakes, his descent slowing as he flipped over so that he fell feet-first. As he touched the ground, he was greeted by another Reaper war party- a collection of Husks and Cannibals. Wasting no time, Adrian leaped into combat, throwing a Singularity to pull the creatures off their feet and float harmlessly through the air. The biotic thrust his arms out as two Warp projectiles slammed into the Singularity, causing a space-rending explosion, utterly disintegrating the enemies caught within and showering Adrian with a coat of dust.
There was no rest, no deliberation. Adrian continued on. In the distance, he saw an enemy that set off all of his internal alarms. Harbinger. It stood over a tri-pronged structure that emanated a blue beam into the sky. The sight of Harbinger awoke something that had been put in his head by his Cerberus captors. An overriding desire to see it destroyed, completely and utterly. The beam was still several kilometers away- he would need to start running.
Harbinger was eradicating a human force attempting to reach the beam. As the servos in Adrian's legs were pushed to their biotic-amplified limits, his optical cameras recognized another figure as he approached- Commander Shepard. Before his re-capture, Adrian had intended to contact Shepard and join his little gang. As Adrian watched, Shepard almost killed several times, and when Harbinger had him in his sights.. The Reaper had held back. Blasted the ground directly in front of Shepard, without vaporizing him on sight. That was beyond confusing, but Adrian had no time to think. He just had to run.
He was faced with an obstacle- he needed to cross a river, but the bridge had been blown. Still sprinting at full speed, Adrian jumped, hurling himself forward with a biotic surge. He sailed most of the way across the river before entering a controlled descent, landing on the far shore and scrambling up the back. Harbinger was still standing there, almost like he was standing guard. That's when he spotted something that struck a chord of fear into his half-machine mind.
What seemed like every Reaper foot soldier on the continent was converging on the beam, and Shepard. Husks, Cannibals, Marauders, Brutes, Banshees, Ravager- all were running towards the blue beacon. Adrian had to get there first. Harbinger swatted down a few helicopters that tried to swoop in and save the downed Commander. Adrian scaled the side of a building and began leaping rooftop to rooftop, desperately trying to outpace the Reaper horde below him. Flying monstrosities- Harvesters- swooped around him. One got too close, and Adrian clung to its underbelly. The creature didn't seem to notice him until he reared his fist back- as he had done with the Destroyer mere minutes ago- and slammed it into the creature's chest. This time the target was considerably softer, and a long jet of biotic power exploded out of the other side, blowing a massive hole in the creature's chest. It plummeted earthward, and Adrian again entered a controlled fall, using his biotics to accelerate himself into a gliding state. He was now ahead of the horde. He would reach Shepard first.
The approach run to the beam was littered with the corpses of soldiers and vehicles. Harbinger presided over the graveyard, its numerous yellow eyes surveying the field with cold detachment. It noticed Adrian's arrival immediately. Its laser charged, but then gradually faded. The horde was approaching, even as Adrian took up a defensive stance over Shepard's barely-breathing form. The first Husks began to spill into the rubble-strewn mess. Adrian crouched for a moment as his Omni-Tool materialized, applying a dose of medi-gel to Shepard's collapsed form. The Commander wouldn't be walking any time soon, but he sure has hell wouldn't bleed out.
Adrian's body glowed with the brilliance of a sun as the Reaper horde advanced, hundreds of screaming Husks leading the charge. Adrian threw out a series of punches and kicks, sending biotic projectiles into the fray. Singularities, Warps, waves of kinetic explosions, nothing was spared. The Husks pressed in closer, and Adrian could see their blood-flecked claws, indicating the fate of their previous victims.
The biotic surged forward, unleashing another biotic pulse that smashed the nearest Husks into pulp. The rest were merely knocked back. In the aftermath, Adrian felt the blast before he heard it. A Ravager's gun barrels smoked as its cannon slammed into his chest, crushing his dermal armor. Adrian was hurled back, rolling across the ground in an attempt to regain control. The horde took advantage of his disability, rushing in again. Cannibals fought their way forward, their many- faced corpse bodies each screaming individually. Adrian pushed himself up and launched a kick simultaneously, adopting a hand- to- hand style. He punched and kicked his foes, each one augmented with a biotic effect. As a Marauder drew too close, Adrian grabbed the Phaeston from its grip, bludgeoned its previous owner to death with it, and then unleashed a long barrage of fire across the advancing horde.
When the weapon was dry, Adrian hurled it into the skull of a nearby Husk. Behind him, Harbinger let out a loud, rumbling call. It seemed to be.. frustrated. Adrian didn't know why it hadn't vaporized him or Shepard yet, but something had been grabbing its attention. He was too busy fighting to figure out what was going on.
The main shock line had arrived- nearly a dozen brutes and Banshees began advancing on the biotic's position, with the hulking creatures charging forward while the assimilated Ardat-Yakshi warped forward, their high-pitched squeals getting louder with each jump. Their mistake was trying to match Adrian for sheer biotic power. As a Banshe moved within range, Adrian's hand sent out a pulse of biotic energy that ensnared the creature mid-jump, redirecting its teleportation- straight into a charging Brute. When the Banshee re-emerged, it was half-formed inside of the Brute. Both were crushed by Adrian's followup Warp.
As more Reapers closed on his position, even Adrian recognized the impossibility of holding this ground. He was killing Reapers as fast as they were arriving, but soon they would overwhelm him. Already they were pushing closer and closer, their eyes locked on the incapacitated Commander. Adrian's foot slammed into the ground, sending a series of Shockwave pulses into the fray, which obliterated the Husks and Cannibals who were approaching behind the Brute lines. An idea struck Adrian and he did the same thing, this time detonating the shockwaves below the ground. As each one exploded beneath the Brute's feet, hundreds of stone shards were propelled into their bodies, along with the concussive force of the blast. The Brutes were eviscerated by this innovation.
Harvesters began to circle the area, and Ravagers were pounding the area with their artillery cannons. Adrian threw up a barrier, but it was just to buy him time to come up with a plan. His gaze fell upon the numerous wrecked Makos and Mantises in the area. He dropped his barrier by directing its force outward, as Samara had done on the Collector base. The determined Husks who had made a break for his position were thrown back and it gave Adrian the opportunity to grab hold of a Mako- both of his hands were raised high as the wreck glowed blue and was flung up into the path of a Harvester- the flying abomination crashed into it, exploding violently. Adrian guided the vehicle's descend down on to the ridge where the Ravagers had been bombarding them- all four Rachni were crushed.
Adrian began to feel his body giving in. Even his augmented form had limits, and he was already well beyond them. A sudden rumbling behind him, coupled with a recoiling of the horde, made Adrian turn to see Harbinger. The Reaper's eyes were dyed a deep red, and it seemed to be staggering backwards, unable to keep its balance. He heard a noise from below him- looking down, Shepard was coughing and seeming to come around.
"What-" he gasped. Adrian knelt next to the man, his helmeted face placid and blank. He offered his hand to help Shepard stand, which was taken with gratitude.
"I'm still at the beam?" he said weakly, looking around. "But, the Crucible, Anderson.. That child." he looked bleakly towards the beam.
"It was all in my head." Shepard said incredulously.
"I don't know who you are, but thanks for standing guard." the Commander stooped over and picked up a fallen assault rifle. His face was a mask of pain, as several pieces of his armor were melted to his skin and everything else seemed to be lacerated and cut.
"Let's finish this fight."