The Citadel, location not recognised.
"No."
Shepard clutched his side, barely registering the glowing apparition in front of him. The one trying to stop him from doing what needed to be done. The ghostly display seemed to flicker in slight confusion. He swayed unsteadily.
"There is no other option Organic, there is not enough time for another solution, these are your only options."
Shepard's blue eyes narrowed, partly from pain, mostly from determination. "And I said no. You can't seriously expect me to do what you want. You say that there is no other option, that Synthetics will always rise to destroy Organics. That's not what I saw." His gaze settled on the suffering blue orb behind the AI. "On that little ball, for the first time, Organics and Synthetics are fighting together, against one threat, they are helping each other survive." He started to limp forward, heading down the metal walkway the pale blue ghost occupied.
For the first time, there was alarm in its voice. "No! This is the only way!", Shepard chuckled, groaning a bit as his ribs screamed at him in pain. He withdrew a white and black block from a storage compartment in his leg armour.
"There is always a choice."
"What is that device?"
"A remote control for our little friends out there." He gestured outside, referring to the absolutely gargantuan squid-like forms of the Reapers. He came to a junction, with three paths branching off. One lead straight ahead, ending at a sheer drop at which a brilliant pale green beam was being projected. Another led left, heading up a small flight of steps to a strange alcove, on which two blue black rods rested. The last one went the opposite direction, ending at a platform with a large brown machine resting at its edge. Synthesis, Control, and Destroy.
He grimaced as he climbed the stairs to the control relay, his vision swimming as he felt more and more blood seep out of him. A mechanical scream resonated all around him as the AI sparked and glowed furiously, it appeared in front of him, taking the guise of its oldest child, Harbinger.
"The cycle must be broken, you cannot do this, Synthetics will wipe out the Organics!"
He laughed again, the coppery taste of his blood the only thing he could fully register. "I recall a Reaper by the name of Soverign who wanted the cycle to continue. Guess he didn't get the memo from up top."
"You can't change the cycle, Organic, you will always be destined to fall!"
"Better on our terms rather than on your terms, Reaper."
"No, stop!" The AI seemed to be pleading with him, as he neared the control console. He bounced the black and white block in his free hand, thoughts heavy with memories of the dead.
They will be avenged.
His mouth set in a grim line, and jammed the control signal in between the two rods.
Several things happened at once. To his surprise, the AI warped in front of him, nodding sadly as the little kid.
"Our solution was wrong; I hope that yours… is correct." It disappeared, dissipating into the air with a scattering of white particles.
He watched as the calm blue glow from the control relay began to surge, pulsating as the signal transmitted to all Reapers in range.
Wiping excess blood from his mouth he hobbled down the stairs, heading back to the elevator that brought him to the heart of the Citadel. The edges of the tiny platform pulsed with a soft white glow, and descended downwards gracefully. He stared out at the view, paying attention to the Reapers in particular, a Soverign class was ripping through the flank of Sword fleet, destroying countless swaths of ships with burning red lasers scything at anything that moved. It roared mournfully as it went haywire, massive discharges of energy could be seen running through it. A wolf pack of Alliance and Turian frigates screamed towards it, their cannons blazing, sending round after round of slugs into the dying beast. An Alliance Dreadnought brought its main gun to bear at the abomination. Finally with a massive shudder, its frame violently tore apart, the shockwave spinning a careless Alliance cruiser out of control, luckily it regained control, and rejoined its comrades. He noticed that a trio of Reapers had changed course and was bearing down on the Citadel, seemingly gunning straight for him. In his mind he heard a guttural metallic growl. He noticed a small white blur bear down towards the machines, followed by several other grey and black blurs. A Wolfpack.
His armour's tortured coms suite crackled to life. "Commander?" a stern voice came through, barely audible above the static.
He raised his left arm gingerly, wincing as his joints protested loudly. He pushed down on a barely there button on his chest, obscured almost entirely by the melted and frayed lines of metal and ceramics.
"Admiral?"
"Whatever you did it up there seems to be working. The Reapers seemed to have weakend, some of the smaller ones are even tearing themselves apart!"
"Nothing to it sir, it was a...gift, from the Illusive Man."
"Harbinger is headed towards your position Son, you need to get out of there."
"Gladly, Sir."
"What about Anderson? Is he still alive?"
"Barely sir, I'm heading back to him now."
"Alright, but you don't have much time, the Normandy and the Fifth will delay it as long as possible, Hackett out." Shepard released the button, only for another blast of noise to come out of it again.
"Commander? Shepard?"
As quick as he could, he brought his finger back onto the button again.
"Joker! That you?"
"Yes sir, just kicking the Reaper's collective asses!"
"Where's the ground team?"
"Onboard and safe, apart from Garrus and Javik though." he heard a sigh. "No one has seen them, sir."
Shepard hung his head, then nodded once.
"Don't do anything stupid, your my ticket out of here!"
He heard a chuckle. "Will do sir, Normandy out."
A metallic rumble echoed throughout the open interior of the Citadel.
Shepard.
He ignored it, focusing on the platform he was standing on minutes earlier.
A body lay near the platform, its vivid blue eyes staring out at the Earth. The Illusive Man. In the end he saved them all.
Shepard limped over to the still form, and closed his eyes. He heard a cough and cursing from behind him.
"Sir?" He turned around, Admiral Anderson was slumped against a console, his eyes barely open. He headed over to him. "Its okay sir, got some medigel."
"Shepard? You still kicking?"
Shepard chuckled, then coughed. "Yeah, hurts to laugh though." He knelt next to his old friend, he gave Anderson a canister with clear foul smelling stuff inside, Anderson grunted in pain as he shifted, injecting the bullet wound with the gel. He sighed as the substance calmed his raging insides, giving him a sense of relief as his vision stopped swimming briefly. Shepard wiggled his index finger, grunting slightly as the small movement hurt like hell. A orange construct of light sputtered into life, flickering unstably as he waved his left arm over Anderson, sending a signal to the gel to activate the nanites. Anderson shifted uncomfortable as his insides began to itch, a sign of the reconstruction going on inside him.
"There any left for you?"
"Nah. You're more important."
Anderson shook his head. But didn't say anything.
With considerable difficulty Shepard sat next to Anderson, his vision beginning to flutter and darken again. Time's up.
"Close call, huh John?"
"Don't know any other, Sir."
Anderson laughed, and sputtered. "Stop making me laugh, Son. Barely together as it is."
Shepard closed his eyes, thoughts going immediately to his friends on Earth. He didn't know what happened to Garrus and Javik after that beam hit. He hoped Joker managed to limp back to nearest repair station. Last time he heard, Normandy took a few hits from Harbinger evacuating the remnants of Hammer.
"Shepard! Stay with me!"
His eyes shot open, registering the look of concern on Anderson's face, he gave him a small smile. "Still here Sir, regrettably."
Anderson began to move, slowly getting up, using the console they rested against as a brace. "Got to get back down there Shepard, lets find a console."
Shepard nodded, feeling the taste of blood in his mouth again. He held out a hand, Shepard nodded, grabbing on weakly. Anderson grunted with the effort, and stopped Shepard from falling down.
Together they hobbled to the console. While Shepard held on to the console as hard as he could, Anderson activated the haptic interface, and was confronted with a almost incomphrehensible array of shapes, bars and graphs. He grimaced, using a sweeping gesture to select a small orange block in the corner of the interface. The block pulsed, and the whole thing shifted into a map of the Citadel control center.
"Huh. We're at the main junction for the Keeper tunnels. Checking for a conduit...here" the map shifted again, showing the the circular room they stood in, with a dot settled on the edge of the room, pulsing slightly. He moved his hand interface glowed green and a wall panel near them shifted into the ceiling, revealing another circular room, this time with a calm glow filling it.
Shepard's head began to loll, his eyes fluttered. Anderson swore and caught him. His grip slipped a bit because of the amount of blood covering Shepard. He ignored the pain as his palms touched the surface of the still smoldering armour. He gritted his teeth and half dragged his friend to the room with the light.
"You'll be alright Shepard."
He set his gaze on the light and entered, immediately feeling as light as a feather and just as solid. The light seemed to grow, eventually being the only thing he could see.
The acrid smell of burning wires and flesh assaulted Anderson as he found himself standing in front of the conduit beam, he wrinkled his nose in disgust. He limped forward, shifting his weight slightly as he carried his old friend towards a burning red flare in the distance. The silence was almost deafining here, he couldn't sounds of any kind, Reaper or Organic. Out in the distance he saw heavy fighting, with the towering four legged monstrositys that were destroyers lumber through the ruins of London. Flashes of light and biotic pulses betrayed massive firefights taking place. He had to get back to the FOB quickly, and retake command if they were going to bring this battle to a end. Shepard stirred, his eyes opening and closing. The bodies of the dead were everywhere, their faithful Mako's gnarled and broken, as he traversed the graven field, he noticed that Shepard's squad wasn't among the fallen. He continued on, heading past a cluster of bombed out apartment buildings, and back onto the street they made their assault from. He never noticed the glare of the red laser sight on his forehead.
A stern voice rang out across the broken street. "Hold your fire! Its the Admiral. And...Shepard?"
He raised his head, watching as human and turian soldiers came out of hiding. He heard curt orders and replies go back and forth as a medical squad ran out from a storefront to his right, a medic with freckles and blonde hair tied into a bun came to him first.
"Wounded coming in! Tyson, get the stretcher out, get the Commander to shelter ASAP! Powell, assist him!" She directed her team. The black skinned man next to her nodded and went to grab Shepard. Anderson nodded his thanks as Tyson wrapped a gentle arm around the Commander's limp body. He grabbed a dispenser from his belt, injecting the life saving gel into the Commander's left arm. As he headed towards a mostly intact bookstore, he called out to his superior. "Seargeant Lake! His armour's been melted onto his skin! We'll need to find him a transport back to the FOB quickly!", the blonde nodded curtly, directing her attention to the admiral. "Sir, come with me, we'll get you patched up."
Anderson gave her a weak smile. "Thank you Seargeant, but make Shepard the priority, I'm well enough. Could use some medi-gel and morphine though."
"Yessir." Anderson went to move forward but stumbled, grunting pain. Seargeant Lake quickly caught him, supporting him as they made their way to the bookstore, following Tyson.
Anderson raised his head. "Seargeant, are there any other survivors from the run to the conduit?"
"Barely. After the battle died down, we sent a S/R team to scour the area, searching for survivors or..." she paused. "...Corpses. Out of the two companies, barely a quarter of our men made it out of their, and Sir, their wounds are severe."
"What about Vakarian and the Prothean?"
"They made it out Sir. Although almost as soon as they were patched up, they immediately set out into the city, trying to link up with Aralakh company."
"You let them go?" He glanced at her.
"Sir, I wasn't going to argue with a Prothean warrior. I promised to kick their asses if they didn't come back here though."
"How long ago was that Seargeant?"
" 'Bout two four hours Sir."
"Alright." glass shards cracked and shattered as Lake's combat boots crushed them underfoot, they entered the bookstore, picking their way through the blackened remains of old fashioned paper books and modern tablets. After passing a trio of bookshelves standing side-by-side they came out into a large spacious part of the store, probably a reading area for customers and anyone else willing, there was even a coffee machine here. Now it was filled with a dozen cots, she withdrew her arm from Anderson, staying nearby in case he fell, with a sigh he came to rest on the tough surface of the fold-up cot. Anderson glanced at his protege, and Lake got the message. She left him, helping Tyson with setting up a IV drip and health monitor near Shepard. She examined him, watching his face, checking for signs of life or movement. Nothing. She checked his pulse, it was steady, but very faint. Not good. She sighed, Tyson gave her a quick I-got-this smile, she returned the gesture and slipped away, checking on her other patients.
After patching up a turian scout the old fashioned way, with some gauze and disinfectant, she came back to the Admiral's bed, hoping to ask him how Shepard got like that. Or she would have, if he wasn't fast asleep and practically drooling into the pillow. She smiled inwardly, realizing just how many days that Anderson went with almost no sleep at all. Too busy coordinating a world wide resistance movement.
She left his side, asking a dirt streaked recruit to keep an eye on him, and to call Tyson over if there was trouble. She sighed, and headed to a small corner of the book lounge, housing a single cot walled off by a thin curtain. She climbed onto it, releasing a deep breath as her head the tough material of the pillow. Within minutes she was dead to the world.
Even though Javik was the last of his people and their embodiment of vengeance, he could still chuckle to himself as he watched another Reaper destroyer fall to his handiwork. The massive quadraped loosed a mechanical wail, forcing a few of the Human soldiers near him to cover their ears in agony. Javik bared his teeth against the noise, and depressed the button on the detonator. The ruins the Reaper was now trapped in began to wink with many red lights, coalescing into a brilliant white flash as all of the 5th platoon's supply of RDX nullifiers went off at once, the light from the explosion reached them, painting the ruined neighborhood in a sharp white glow, the visors on their helmets struggled to keep up with the output. Javik merely blinked his four orange eyes, shaking his head slightly. The soldiers cheered, some raising their guns to the sky as the Reaper wailed once more, and fell silent, crushing a whole company's worth of Husks under it, a bonus. He barked a order to the twenty remaining members of 5th platoon.
"Soldiers! We must move forward, we cannot delay!"
The cheering died down, replaced by curt nods and shouted orders. He placed his particle rifle onto its holster, taking out his sidearm as he entered the dark reaches of a bombed out school. 5th Platoon followed, eyes focused and mouths grim as they silently followed the Prothean. He heard a chorus of clicking as the Human and Turians switched their nightvision on. Javik didn't need any of that, his pupils merely dilated in response to the suffocating darkness, his orange eyes being almost a solid black ten seconds later. He slowed as he came to a wide gap where the floor had broken away, cutting of easy access to the other half of the wrecked top floor. He held up a closed hand, signalling for a full stop. Two turians in light armour, Scouts, went to him. He motioned for them to jump across first, to scout the floor for the whole ragtag group.
They both nodded, stowing their shotguns on their hips as they leapt across, one after the other. A second later, Javik landed behind them with a soft thud, keeping a solid grip on his Carnifex. He blinked twice, and walked forwards, heading for a broken door that sputtered with electrical discharge. He craned his head, spying a hole in the wall that could get him into the room. A familiar and unwelcome sight greeted him, hunched over the corpse of...something, was a Asari, wrenched and elongated. It slowly turned its head, staring at him with cold blue discs of light. It opened its mouth farther then the Asari bone structure should allow, letting loose a nerve wracking scream, it wreathed itself in blue energy, suddenly appearing right in front of him, it raised a clawed hand, and slashed at him. Javik growled, ducking under the cleave with unnatural speed. In a well practiced motion he slid his knife out of a sheath hidden in his armour's pauldron, and sliced upwards, cutting off the claws of the Banshee. It howled once more, and sliced downwards with its remaining claws, he rolled forwards under its legs, using its size against it. He twisted, bracing a foot against the ground as he thrusted upwards, the knifes edge glowing a brilliant orange. It rended its way into the Banshee's stomach, cutting through circuitry and organic muscle as it found its target. With a spark, the central processor installed by Huskification was cleaved in two. The once-asari screamed and went into a berserk death rage, sweeping its claws around it at impossible speed, he could barely follow the path of destruction its passage wrought. Finally with a blood curdling scream it crumpled to the ground, leaking a glowing blue liquid from its many orifices. Javik sheathed his knife, trying not to look at its young victim as he went back through the hole.
He straightened, rolling his shoulders and brushing some dust off of his ornate armour. The two scouts stared at him in awe.
"Sir, are you alright?" The turian on the left said in a small voice.
"I am fine, I had to do that all the time in my cycle."
He heard muttering and whispers over the other side, a strange word was being repeated amongst the soldiers there. Badass.
He would look up the meaning of that word later he decided.
"Anything to report?"
"Nothing sir, the whole building is empty, apart from that Banshee."
Javik nodded, the shorter of the two scouts nodded and headed over to the gap, signalling for the rest of them to cross. The larger and taller scout kept a firm grip on his shotgun, and headed down a stairwell nearby. He followed closely, finger resting on the trigger at all times. His boots made a soft thud as he stepped down the stairwell cautiously. The stairwell connected to a short hall, its walls crammed with lockers, most of them were open, revealing their contents to the wrecked world. Abandoned books spilled out of them, and on those books were the personal possesions of each locker's owner. One in particurlarly seemed to hold items of religous significance, as it was adorned with pink crate paper and wilted flowers that hadn't been watered. A book with a soft pink cover seemed to be the focal point of the display. Javik left the locker alone, not wanting to intrude on a sacred altar of the Humans.
At the end of the hallway was a pair of doors, painted with a dizzying display of reds, blues and greens. Clearly Humans had a firm grasp of abstract art. The Turian scout took up position next to the door, waiting for Javiks signal. Javik shook his head, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive first. A minute later three Human soldiers came down the stairs, one was equipped with a katana shotgun, with a massive black blade attached to the undergrip. The other two wielded avenger riflers, with bayonets as well. Without a word they filed past him, taking up positions near the door. Javik nodded, prompting the Turian to push lightly on the door, his shotgun leading the way. Nothing seemed to tear his head off as he trudged into the area beyond the door. The others followed, streaming into the area behind him and veering left out of Javik's sight.
Javik kept his sidearm ready, and headed through the doors, a large rectangular room, illuminated with a dangerously flickering fluorescent light, most of its floor space was filled with long tables and chairs. And on the far side of the room, was a metal counter that ran the length of the room, rails were mounted on its surface. The area behind the counter was sparse and tidy, dust caked everything though. A eating area for the young of the Humans. Javik realized where he was. A school.
One of the senior human soldiers walked over to him, he saw behind his visor that he had green eyes, and a very strange strip of thick 'hair'. Javik decided that he didn't want to know the reason why humans named their fur. He took off his helmet, running a gloved hand through thin graying hair.
"Sir, the men are tired, we should spend the night here, link up with the Lizards tommorow."
Javik himself felt fine. But as he looked around the room, noticing the body language of the assorted soldiers, how loosely their weapons were held, and unsteadily they held themselves. He nodded his acceptance. The seargeant turned to tend to the troops, when he reached his hand to his shoulder.
"Seargeant, I will take first patrol." he stated simply.
He heard the barest of sighs from the Seargeant. "Alright, you need any backup-" he held up his handheld. "You know who to call."
Javik simply nodded, he took his rifle out, cradling it in his arms, he silently walked out of the room, into the dark corridors beyond.
He crept forward methodically, sweeping the dark corridor with his particle rifle, its firing chamber glowed a soft, pale green, throwing a soft light over the enclosed space. He passed a junction, where another corridor cut through his. Soon enough the hallway ended at at a pair of doors, broken and strewn across a pile of rubble where part of the building had collapsed. Javik turned and walked down the other corridor, keeping a vigilant gaze on the dark ahead of him. The corridor changed direction, going a sharp left once more, leading to another segment with a door set in the middle of both its walls.
The crash of a object being knocked to the ground alerted him, his gaze settled on the door on the left wall. He went over to the door, shuffling into a breach position to the left of its framework. He picked up the telltale signs of movement within, and quiet sobbing. His eyes narrowed suspicously. He craned his head to see into the room, and quickly whipped it back.
The room was filled with plastic single person tables, most of them overturned and tumbled all over the place, fragments of brightly coloured tablets littered the floor, pens and pencils were scattered everywhere, coloured grey from the dust, a pen, its tip changing hue every second, lay abandoned on a sturdy, squat desk at the front of the room, right across from the door he was hidden behind. A grey skeletal figure sat slumped in the chair behind it, its eyes glowing with a ghostly blue light, blue lines of active ciruitry criss-crossed its ashen skin, ending at its hands and feet. Javik scowled, and readied his knife, calculating a method of approach in dealing with it quietly. His focus was interrupted when the husk slowly swung its gaze towards a corner of the classroom, host to a pile of rubble which partially blocked a storage closet. A sniffing sound came from within, the husk screeched, and clumsily tumbled over the desk as it sighted its prey. Javik heard sobbing from the little space as the Husk drew out of his view. He rounded the corner,the edge of his knife vibrating slightly as a warm glow grew over it. The Husk, bestial in nature, was completely focused on the small storage compartment and the pitiful creature within.
He flipped the knife's blade outwards, preparing for a quick slash across its central circuit lane. The sobbing intensified into crying as the Husk roared, going in for the kill. Javik growled and slashed downwards. the blade carving a sparking gash down the creature's back, severing the thick blue cable in place of its spine. The Husk loosed a mechanical cry, and twisted over, twitching horribly as it crashed to the ground, the lights in its eyes went out.
Javik made a satisfying hmph sound, smoothly sliding the knife back into its sheath. He turned to scan the room for any traps, when a small weight barrelled into his legs. His eyes widened for a moment, expecting a surprise attack, but only heard a soft little voice.
"Thank you."
He craned his neck, looking down at a human child, its face glistening with wetness. small grey eyes looked up at him, with equal parts relief and uncertainty, with a bit of fear thrown in. He held his arms loosely at his sides, unsure of what to do. Reassurance sounded neccessary.
"You are safe, child." the little human quickly withdrew her arms from his leg, taking a step back.
"Ar-are you a Turian? Like Tius?" the little human fidgeted nervously, looking around the dark space, except for where the husk lay.
Javik made a annoyed noise in his throat. "I am not." the child looked away. He sighed. "Is Tius your friend?"
The child seemed to relax a little, a ghost of a smile hinting at her small lips. "My best friend, we played together all the time.", her eyes narrowed as she focused on him. "Are you a Drell?"
Javik resisted the pathological urge to roll his eyes. "No"
"Asari?"
"N-"
"Salarian?"
"Agai-"
"Elcor?"
Javik made a growling noise in his throat, causing the girl to jump a little. "I am Prothean."
Silence descended between them, the girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief and confusion. Then smiled. "Okay!"
Javik blinked twice. "Your reaction is unusual. Others I have met have either been in disbelief, or extreme excitement."
He was desperate for another topic. "What is your name?"
"Sarah."
"Sarah. What a strange name." he mused. He felt immediately uncomfortable when she glared at him in fury.
"Its a great name! I bet yours sounds worse!"
Javik fell for the trap. "I am Javik, embodiment of vengeance and the last voice of my people!"
Sarah wasn't impressed. "Hmph. Whatever."
The Prothean warrior whipped his head up, orange eyes alert. Something was moving in the corridors beyond. He had to get her back to the cafeteria.
"We must go." he grabbed her hand and headed towards the door, Sarah stumbled, quickly regaining her balance as she worked to match his pace.
He leant out of the doorway, looking left and right before going back into the wrecked corridor. Sarah held onto his hand tightly, nervously eyeing every shadow. Cautiously he stepped out, leaving the room behind with Sarah in tow. At the corner he drew his pistol, as he turned to Sarah he held a finger to his lips. She nodded, unable to repress a squeak of fear. Pistol first he rounded the corner, the whispers of movement almost deafening in the dead hallway. He felt the girl's grip on his leg tighten as they came to the junction. Javik looked around the corner, noticing that the collapsed entrance was being disturbed, by non-organic hands. The cafetaria was oddly silent, he couldn't hear any movement or sounds of life from within. He reaffirmed his grip on Sarah's hand, and guided them to the double doors. He knocked on the door with his pistol, and was presented with the barrel of a assault rifle. The owner of the weapon moved into view, immediately the weapon was lowered.
"Sir, we have a whole company of Reapers about to swarm into here. You got back just in time-"
He noticed the small hand wrapped around one of Javik's thick fingers. Sarah came into view.
"Who's that Sir?"
"A little girl I found in one of the classrooms. Her name is Sarah."
The Sergeant cursed very quietly. "Alright I'll get someone to take her upstairs, we'll need you down here sir."
"Agreed."
He walked past the sergeant, stopping at a table that was serving a purpose as cover. He turned to the little girl.
"Go and wait in the stairwell, it isn't safe to stay in this room."
"But- why are you staying?"
"To make it safe. Now go."
One of the turian scouts came over to them. "Sir, my squad has been assigned for rearguard, we'll be covering the second floor, she's welcome to stick with us. Don't let any of the bastards through."
Javik nodded. "Acknowledged, lieutenant."
Reluctantly Sarah let go of his hand, and took the extended hand of the lieutenant, he watched them as they made their way up the stairs. He headed back to the Sergeant. He took his particle rifle, depressing a panel on the side to activate it. He took a position behind an overturned table near the sergeant.
Javik glanced at the sergeant. "Be ready."
Soldiers all over the room had their gaze fixed at the door, some of them swallowing nervously, others merely sighing, the turians were wholly proffesional, coordinating movements and orders for the men in the room.
A massive roar shook the cafetaria, filling the hearts of every soldier with dread. Javik merely scowled, keeping his finger on the trigger, and keeping a count of his grenades.
"Kranov! That thing set up yet?" the sergeant was directing his question at a large human soldier.
"Almost, sergeant. Just hooking up the thermal sinks. Would not want explosion, da?"
"Make it quick, company's coming."
The hulking trooper continued setting up a massive rifle on one of the overturned tables, it was affixed to the table's edge with a clamp. It looked like a bulky version of the Phaeston, with sharp angular lines making up its shape. He slid back a compartment on the top of the rifle, bending down, he grabbed a thin slab of grey metal, slipped it into the chamber, closed the compartment and slapped the gun to make sure it wouldn't jam. Although it was mostly a automated process, and the gun did have a VI handling most of the maintenance, he did it mostly as a force of habit. With a flick of a switch the gun made a barely audible hum, as its mass effect core came online. He crouched behind it, pressing the stock into his shoulder as he stared down the sights.
Another roar, this time much closer. door broke off its hinges as a massive metal claw smashed through it, a hulking behemoth lumbered through, its turian head staring and roaring at the assortment of soldiers.
The sergeant chucked a small disc with a red light on it, it flew towards the brute, lodging itself in its belly, with a beep it detonated, sending a billowing firestorm through the behemoth's innards, flash frying everything of the creature that was flesh and bone. It screamed, rivulets of dust fell from the ceiling as it charged, shattering chairs and tables under its wake. Everyone opened up, sending a withering storm of rounds into the reaper construct, it snarled as its insides caught fire, as its circuits sparked and fizzed out, and as patches of its grey skin froze almost instantaneously. The skin shattered violently, sending thousands of frozen spikes throughout its burning interior. It swung its massive claw down, the sergeant cursed and rolled out of its shadow. He prepped another disc, slipping it into the brute's ribcage.
Another detonation, and the creature fell over with a dying scream, its twisted burning husk providing some extra cover for the sergeant. Turian husks poured through the gap after it, only to have be vaporised into oblivion by a pale green lance of light swept across their ranks.
Javik barked an order. "Grenades!".
Several discs and balls were thrown into the gap among the horde of creatures waiting beyond. Roars and shrieks were heard as they detonated.
"Cover, everyone!" the sergeant yelled, he ducked his head behind the table, wincing at the amount of heat put out by the fireball, smoke filled the burnt aperture, hampering their view of the halls beyond. Silence swept over them for a few seconds, before the air rang again with the howls and wails of the husks.
"Here they come again! Check your ammo!"
The defensive line waited, some of them nervously swallowing as they stared at the blackened gap in front of them. A sizzling bolt of dark red lanced through, burning through the head of an unfortunate rifleman, he tipped backwards, a burning red hole visible in between his brown eyes.
"Stomper!"
Javik responded with a glowing blue grenade, with expert arm he threw it through the smoldering fissure, it bounced down the dark hall towards the source of the round, detonating into a iridescent sphere of biotic energy. Silence responded back. A heavy thud was heard, one after another. A spherical mass effect field parted the smoke cloud, revealing a massive four legged monstrosity in its center. It seemed to go up for forever, nearly touching the top of the gap with its massive back. What was a leathery hide was completely covered in a dark metal carapace, mounted on its back was a twin barrelled cannon, the barrels unsettingly resembled a pair of dessicated human arms, widened and elongated to form a crude fleshy shell for the metal barrel. It had no face, merely a smaller version of its metal carapace, two slits opened, revealing a pair of small, but ghastly blue discs. A rumble like thunder went through its frame, sending a very obvious signal.
"Cover!" the sergeant screamed.
Javik growled and stood up, unloading a barrage of burning energy into the flank of the massive beast. It roared, shaking small fragments from the cracked roof as its armour glowed white from the intense blaze of energy. As it turned to face the puny warrior, its twin cannon swung towards him, with a wet crunch of flesh being shifted and moved in impossible ways the barrels widened, their innards glowing with a baneful red light.
Javik merely snorted, he focused inwardly, shaping the very core of his being into a unbreakable sphere of iron will. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, calmy watching a massive storm of red bolts moving towards him at a snails pace. He shifted to the side, ripping off his whole belt of grenades. He ran his finger over the spheres, leaving a trail of slowly blinking red lights, he threw the belt under the belly of the hulking platform. He shook his head as reality began to fasten, and dived backwards, back behind his wreck of a table.
Time moved normally again, the volley of red slammed into the wall, absoluting pulverising the old concrete, shattering that section of the wall. Javik roared a warning at the other soldiers.
"Get down!"
They obliged, disappearing behind whatever cover they could find, a fair few managed to scramble into the kitchen area, taking refuge behind the sturdy metal counters and tables. Another volley of red was flung out, catching a unlucky soldier in the side as he made a mad dash for the kitchen. Most of his chest was ripped from him, flinging great gouts of blood and viscera into the air. He crumpled to the floor with a deathly sigh.
Javik glowed with a pale green light as he focused his energy on the Elcor husk. The green light roiled into a brilliant sphere in his hands, he splayed his hands, weaving a sphere of green energy around the doomed beast. His vision began to swim with the effort as the giant began to smash against the walls of the field, each impact causing the sphere to flare for a brief second. With a massive shout he held on, pouring more strength into the sphere as a miniature sun took shape in the shield. His vision was beginning to fail as the strain got to him. He fell to one knee, hands still splayed, glowing furiously with a energy like fire. The fireball raged within the green, until finally it began to die away.
The room was quiet as Javik struggled to keep upright, he fell backwards, throwing out a arm, grabbing the edge of a table with a weak grip. For the first time in weeks, he fell into the world of slumber. Two soldiers broke cover, running to pull the Prothean upstairs, currently the safest area.
"Get him up there, hurry up! We got husks to kill!"
A series of booms prompted a renewed focus on the gap. Almost like a pattern, the booms continued, punctuated by the screams of dead machines, the wailing growl of a brute, and the unmistakable death screech of a banshee. The halls outside rang with an eerie silence.
Footsteps were heard, coming closer and closer to the other side of the gap. A turian voice spoke.
"Anyone alive in there?"
while the question seemed to be directed at the beleagured occupants of the room, a gruff -definitely Krogan- voice answered him.
"Good job, Garrus, maybe I should let you handle breaching ops more often."
The other voice seemed to ignore this jibe.
The Sergeant spoke up first.
"I'm Sergeant Krieg, 5th Company Rifles. I'm in charge here."
"Sergeant, we only have twenty five heat sigs on scope here. Are you all thats left?"
"Yes, me and nineteen others are all thats left of the company. We also have a Turian scout squad with us. Scout captain Arius is their CO." he shook his head. "Would have been far less of us if the Prothean hadn't showed."
The voice on the other side sounded surprised. "Prothean? Hold on Sergeant we're coming in."
A turian walked through, followed by a towering Krogan.
Wrex looked around the room. With a characteristic bluntness he asked a simple question.
"Anybody got anything to eat?"
A/N
So there it is, the glorious beginning of this fanfic. Like many others, I was incredibly dissapointed when I saw the endings. So I decided I'd rectify that with a fanfic that would continue the war with the Reapers past Earth. I will be on this almost daily, so expect a new chapter around the beginning of each month, possibly more.
Please review, please criticize.