I awakened.
The first thing I noticed upon awakening was that I was not in my bed. In fact, it felt an awful lot like I was lying on cold sheet metal, with a bolt sticking into my back.
I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was lying on a plate of metal, and there was an exposed bolt right where the small of my back had been.
Figures.
I looked around. I was in a corner, with walls of the same metal as the floor on two sides of me, and crates of a different grey metal on another. There was also a child squatting next to me, who had her finger out like she was intending to poke me.
"Are you alright, mister?" She asked, a gap visible in her teeth.
"I'm fine." I said, somewhat confused. "I think."
"Good." She said. "We've been here awhile. I don't know what happened since those mean women showed up and loaded us onto this spaceship."
"Spaceship." I said flatly. "Are you saying we've been abducted by aliens?"
"I don't know about that." The girl said. "It's probably slavers. There are a lot of them out here."
"... What do you mean, out here?" I said, a sinking feeling in my gut.
"The Terminus systems." The girl said.
I felt my stomach drop out of my chest. It had to be a coincidence. There was no way I could be on a Slaver ship in Mass Effect. It wasn't possible. There was simply no-
There was a jolt, and a hissing sound, and a sound of metal grinding on metal. Footsteps entering the room.
"We have to go!" The girl said, in a harsh whisper. "They said they'll shoot us if we don't."
I stood up and followed the girl out from behind the wall of crates. Three armed figures holding boxy rifles and wearing armor contoured to their feminine forms that could pass as Mass Effect hardsuits. The strangest part was that each of the women had a baggy black mask with only eyeholes visible over her head, obscuring their features.
"Alright, this is the drill." One of them said, in stragly accented English. "My girls are going to be coming around and checking you people for genetic compatibility. It's just a little test on our Omni-tools, nothing to worry about."
With that, glowing orange bracers appeared around the right arms of each of the women, with a long probe extending from the forward edge. With no warning, they began grabbing people and thrusting the probes toward people's eyes.
I winced as they began inflicting ocular trauma. However, it quickly became clear that they weren't stabbing people in the eyes, but rather holding up some kind of scanner to the eyes. There was a brief flash of light and they were done.
One of the woman came around to me. For a moment, I considered resisting, but decided not to. They had all the guns right now, and we we're in an environment they controlled. Not the best situation for a fight.
The woman held her probe up to by eye, and there was a brief flash of light. I began blinking rapidly, trying to dispel the dots swimming in my eye.
At this point, I was pretty sure I was in the Mass Effect universe. Terminus Systems, hardsuits, Omni-tools... it seemed like too much evidence to deny, much as I would like to. It was either that, or some kind of elaborate prank. However, that scenario seemed unlikely, given that I was never that big a Mass Effect fan in the first place.
"We're got one over here." The woman said, in here strangely accented English.
"Is that the last one?" The first woman to speak, probably the leader, said.
"Yes." The third woman said.
"Well, at least we got one." The leader replied. "Kill the extras."
The first gunshot, which didn't quite sound right, issued before I could react. One of my fellow abductees fell to the floor, a neat hole in his heat.
The woman who had scanned me stepped in front of me, almost protectively, then began gunning down the people in the compartment.
It was over almost before I could react. At least twenty people were dead on the floor, which was quickly becoming slick with blood, and only the three gunners were left standing.
"Why... why did you just do that?" I asked, shocked at what had just happened. They had killed all those people in cold blood.
"They were unnecessary." The leader said. "Now that we have you, there was no reason to have them waste our oxygen."
Despite the horror I had just witnessed, my mind was already turning. Oxygen. That confirmed that we were on a space station, or that these people were some kind of eco freaks. Either way, it was bad news.
"Anyway, now it time to get you to surgical prep." The woman said, pulling off her face mask.
And revealing a blue, almost human face. There were curling horns, which looked almost like tentacles, curving out from the back of her head, and darker blue marking where her eyebrows would have been.
An Asari. That tore it, this was definitely mass effect.
Oh wait, surgical prep? I don't like the sound of that.
"What do you mean, surgical prep?" I demanded. "What are you doing."
"In due time, human." The lead Asari said. "Grab him."
Suddenly, a blue glow appeared around me, and I was floating in the air, trapped by a biotic lift. I struggled, but naturally, it did me absolutely no good. One of the Asari gestured, and I began floating out the still-open door.
I fell still as the trio of Asari floated me down the empty corridors. My mind was going in all kinds of directions, wondering why they were taking me to surgical prep. My present bet was that it was some kind of sick organ harvesting scheme, maybe for a rich person with some kind of rejection issues. That would explain the need for genetic compatibility.
As they opened a door and floated me through, I figured I was probably doomed. The Asari holding me in the air Threw me into what looked like a hospital bed, and the other two began restraining me.
A fourth Asari entered the room from outside my, now limited, field of view. She looked different than the others. She wore a remarkably human looking lab coat, and was carrying several bags filled with orange liquid.
That didn't look good.
"What are you doing to me?" I demanded again, struggling against my bonds. I was attached to the bed by my wrists and ankles, and the cuffs holding me down had no give to them.
"These are just a few gene mods." The doctor Asari said. "Nothing to worry about, okay?"
"What gene mods?" I said. "I doubt you're planning on turning me into Wolverine."
What can I say? I get snarky under pressure.
"Actually," the doctor Asari said, withdrawing a long, thick syringe from somewhere. "That's exactly what we plan on doing."
Then she injected me. For a moment, nothing happened. I was just about to ask after the doctor's previous comment when the pain hit.
I'm not embarrassed to say that I blacked out for a bit.
A Travesty of Piece
I don't know how much later I woke up, only that I was sore all over and felt like crap. I was still bound to the bed, and there appeared to be several bags of something connected to IV drips leading under by blankets. At least they had the decency to give me that, because I felt like they had removed my clothing at some point.
There was another Asari in the room, one that I hadn't seen before. She appeared to be doing something on her Omni-tool, but I couldn't tell what. I decided to name her Blue Space Bitch A, for ease of reference.
"Hey, BSBA!" I croaked. "What's the big deal?"
That was unfortunate. I intended that to be more James Bond interrogating his captors and less cancer patient. I suppose it was inevitable, given my situation.
"Oh! You're awake?" She said. She had a softer voice than the others. It sounded nicer, so it was probably a ruse to draw me in.
"Yeah. What did you do to me?"
"I can't tell you exactly what it was, but I believe that it was prep for some of the more radical surgeries coming up later."
"What do you mean?"
"Eezo node implantation."
My blood went cold. I'm pretty sure that wasn't possible. I had been a while since I had played Mass Effect, but I thought that Biotic Nodes were something that you had be born with.
"Is that even possible?" I asked.
"Yes." BSBA said. "The Krogan were the first to develop a technique for doing it, but it had a high mortality rate. We've refined the process, but it works best on humans due to your genetic malleability."
"What's the mortality rate?" I said. This probably wasn't going to be good.
BSBA paused.
"Tell me." I said.
"Sixty-six percent, technically." BSBA said. "Of the three humans we've tested it one, the one survivor went insane."
Well, that sucks.
"That's only the first stage of the augmentations." BSBA said. "The rest should be safer, though."
"What are the rest of the-"
The door to my room slid open, and the lab-coat Asari entered. She's now Doctor Blue Space Bitch.
Another Asari entered behind her, pushing a cart stacked high with various hardware.
"It's time for the next round of your surgery!" DBSB said. "I'm afraid that we can't put you out for this. We need you awake for neural connections to be made properly. I'll give you something for the pain and something to paralyze you, but no guarantees. Now, before I inject you, do you have any last words?"
I had some words for her. I won't repeat them.
"Now, with that out of the way, we can start." SBSB said. Several more Asari entered the room, dressed in their equivalent of surgical scrubs. They took up positions around me.
She injected me. I have no words for what followed.
It wasn't so bad for the first few minutes, while they were just disinfecting and preparing me. Just as I was starting to think that the pain meds might have been enough to dull the pain, they started cutting.
It was like an orchestra of pain playing across my entire body. I felt alternating waves of hot and cold run across my body, and waves of strange sensations as they sliced into me.
And the pain! Really, there are no words for it. I felt like my nervous system was on fire which, from some perspectives, it might have been. I'm pretty sure I saw my ribcage at one point.
It was horrifying. I'm think they almost lost me at least once, and I know that I almost slipped into unconsciousness at least twice, but they injected me with something to keep me from the sweet embrace of oblivion.
It lasted for hours. The only thing I can say for it was that it was never boring. The constant chatter from DBSB as to what horrors she was inflicting on me kept me morbidly entertained. She was careful to tell me every time they implanted a biotic node, but I lost count somewhere after thirty. Besides and there was always some new and exquisite agony to focus my attention upon.
By the seventh hour, I was pretty sure that several of the surgical assistants had tagged out, and the surgery seemed to be winding down. I was pretty worn down from the surgery, and I could really understand why that one guy had gone crazy from the pain.
On that thought, maybe I was crazy. It would be a relief, in a way, given how much pain I was in. Still, there would be times it would probably suck, like the being locked in a mental hospital part. Then again, if I was able to question my own sanity, I probably wasn't crazy.
A few more hours passed. An hour of absolutely stupid pain. I had several more insights into myself during this time, and I'm pretty sure I figured out the meaning to life at one point. Unfortunately, the Asari chose to wrench my ribs back into position at that point, and I forget it in a sudden burst of unusual pain.
Eventually, they started unplugging me from the machines and grafting my skin back on. My God, I didn't even know they had taken it off. How is that even possible? After a few more minutes, the pain even stopped.
"If you can hear me," DBSB said, "you're done now. You can fall asleep, or whatever it is you pathetic humans do."
Too tired to take offence at the stub to my species, I did the sensible thing and passed out.
A Travesty of Piece
I woke up sometime later, once again sore all over. Strangely, I didn't have any lingering acute pains from the operation, but I chalked that up to the cubic meter of medi-gel I had undoubtedly been injected with.
Holy shit, medi-gel.
I really was in Mass Effect.
I hadn't had a lot of time to think about it, what with the operations and the medically induced comas, but I had been taken from my home, only to be medically tortured by a bunch of Asari. That was the weirdest part. If I remember correctly, Cerberus was into this sort of stuff, but I couldn't think of any Asari factions that would be willing to do this sort of thing.
Then again, it didn't help that it had been years since I had played the games. I think one had come out that I had missed, too. There could be a completely new faction that I had missed all mention of.
Frak.
With those choice words, the weight of what had happened crashed down on me. I would never see anyone again. I would never see mother, or father, or...
What was my sister's name?
What did my brother's face look like?
Who the hell was Austin, anyway?
My memory. It was damaged. That was great. I couldn't remember the specifics of my loved ones, but I could remember the details of a damned game! Only it wasn't a game, and now I was stuck in the intestines of it.
I started to laugh. There was really no alternative, given the sheer absurdity of it all.
After a few moments, the door cycled open, and BSBA entered.
"Are you okay?" She said.
I found it awfully convenient that the aliens went out of their way to speak English around me. It was nice of them, given that I didn't have any sort of translator yet.
Yet. What was I thinking? I would never get out of this cesspit.
"I'm fine." I said. "I was just..."
"I understand." BSBA said. "You're under a lot of pressure."
"What pressure?" I asked. "I sit around here all day eating through needles, and occasionally I'm subjected to abject torment. The best thing that could happen to me is a surgical mishap."
"Don't say that." BSBA gasped. "We've invested too much in you to see you fail now, and if you fail, you'll be disposed of? You don't want that, do you?"
I shook my head noncommittally.
She muttered some Asari expletive I didn't recognize under her breath, then said, "I'm here to let you out of here for exercise."
Exercise. That was good. It would be a chance to recover, raconteur the base, and perhaps find items that I could use as weapons.
Plus, I was sick of being chained down to the bed, and at this point just about anything would beat that.
"Alright, fine." I said. "I'll play along. You'll have to untie me first, though."
"Of course." BSBA said. She pressed a button on her Omni-tool, and the bonds holding me down retracted.
Almost immediately, I considered jumping up and going for a choke hold or a neck snap, but I didn't, because I was (a: stuck on a space station full of armed guards with no idea how to get off and (b: unsure how exactly to perform a neck snap or a choke hold, partially against a biotic.
So I got up out of the bed, arms and legs protesting slightly as I did so.
"Follow me." BSBA said.
She walked out of the room, and I followed.
"We can slow down if you want." She said. "You've been out for nearly two weeks; I wouldn't be surprised if your arms and legs aren't used to the strain of walking."
I grit my teeth. "I'm fine." I said.
We walked for a few minutes, then came to another door. BSBA waved her arm over the holographic interface next to the door and it slid open. I followed BSBA in.
It was a large room, particularly for a space station. There were a variety of exercise machines against one wall, and piles of large balls scattered throughout the room, along with other, more esoteric, devices.
"We'll start with basic physical capabilities." BSBA said. "Pick any of the machines, and work at your maximum sustainable pace."
I walked over to what looked like an elliptical machine build for humans, or maybe Asari. I climbed onto it, taped the interface to start it, and began to run.
I ran for a minute with no trace of tiredness sneaking into my system. Then another, and another. Still nothing.
Allow me to pause for a moment to say that this was definitely unusual for me. I was never a good runner, or elliptical-er, or whatever.
Now, however, I was running at a dead sprint on an exercise machine, without tiredness, while recovering from surgery.
Holy shit.
I ran for several more minutes before I began to feel worn out. I could have kept going, but I decided to stop after a minute more. Always good to hold something back, after all.
"Very good." BSBA said, as I was climbing down from the machine. "Would you like to try another?"
"Sure." I said. "I'll try the treadmill."
I paused for a moment, then climbed onto the treadmill. I seemed to be recovering from the exercise faster than I used to, which I suppose was to be expected.
As I began to run, I started to think about what had happened to me.
"How long have I been here?" I blurted out as I ran.
"About thirty of your days." BSBA said.
A month. I had been missing for a month. I had always been a detached person, but my parents had to be devastated. They'd probably assume I'd been kidnaped, which in a way I had. Still, I would never see them again.
And that bothered me way less than it should have, which was what really bothered me. The most I could remember about my father was a sort of vague outline, and my mother wasn't much better.
Had something happened to the memory centers of my brain during the surgery? I quickly ran through what I knew of neurology, and quickly came to the conclusion that I had no idea what might have happened to cause that kind of memory loss, but given that I could remember Councilor Udina better than my own mother, it had to have been weird.
Eventually, BSBA called for me to stop running. I complied, and got off the treadmill.
"We're moving on to biotics now." She said, gesturing to one of the piles of balls. "The first thing we'll do is try to summon a biotic aura. If that works, we'll move on to trying basic lifts."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "Why train me in biotics? Won't that make me dangerous? Do you really think I won't try to escape at the first possible moment?"
BSBA hesitated for a moment, then tapped something on her omnitool. "You're a weapon." She said plainly. "I'm not privy to the specifics myself, but you need to use biotics for the next stage of the project."
"A weapon?" I said, incredulous. "You aliens really think I'll fight for you?"
"Once the surgeon is done, you won't have a choice."
My blood went cold. This was probably worse than being an unwilling organ donor. I was going to be used as a weapon, possibly against humanity.
Needless to say, I was way too distracted to summon a biotic aura.
A Travesty of Piece
After a few hours of sitting around trying to create an aura, I found myself back in my cell, as I had decided to think of it. I was sitting on the edge of the bed I had spent the past month chained to, considering what to do with myself.
I could try suicide, but I doubt I'd have the guts to go through with it.
I could cooperate with my captors, but that idea left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't know what they wanted to use me for, but I did know that I didn't want to be used.
That left escape.
I didn't know how to do it. But I knew one thing. I would need to be as strong as possible to do it.
I closed my eyes and began to glow with a deep red light.
As I felt the truly unique feeling of the biotic aura flare up around me, I opened my eyes.
Wait. Red?
A Travesty of Piece
It came time for the next round of surgery about a week later.
"Don't worry, we can put you under this time." DBSB said.
"What are you doing to me?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"We're implanting the control ports." DBSB responded. "We're grafting them to the bone, as well as adding some additional implants.
I had grown somewhat used to casually horrifying statements during my time at the Hospital California, so I think I can say it was to my credit that I didn't immediately freak out when she said 'control ports'. I know Miranda wanted to put a control chip in Shepard after she brought him back, so I know it was possible in the Mass Effect universe.
"What do you mean, control ports?" I said warily.
DBSB smiled. "You'll see."
Then she injected me, and I passed out. Again.
A Travesty of Piece
I awoke, with BSBA standing over me.
"You're awake. Good. You need to-"
"How long was I out?" I demanded.
"Two weeks. You were operated on twice during that period."
"Great." I muttered. That made seven weeks I had been here. Absolutely wonderful.
"As I was saying, you need to come with me." BSBA said. "It's time for your armor training."
"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Look at your arms." BSBA said.
I did. There were what appeared to be metal... things in my arms, one on each forearm and upper arm.
"What are these?" I asked, in my most pleasant, I'm-going-to-rip-your-head-off voice.
"Interface ports for your armor." BSBA said. "Look, I'll explain on the way. You need to come with me.
"Fine." I said. I got up, I wasn't restrained this time, and followed her out of the room. She led me to the gymnasium room I had used over the previous (subjective) week.
The door opened, and I fell in love.
A massive suit of armor was standing on the other side. I stood slightly taller than I was, and colored red, orange and silver. It was bulky, with a serious-looking wedge-shaped helmet with two eyes which appeared to be glowing slightly.
It was awesome.
"It's already been coded to your Biometrics." BSBA said. "You need to hurry up and put it on, or you will be punished."
There was no need to ask twice. As I stepped toward the suit, it opened up, plates sliding aside and the breastplate dropping forward to reveal the jet black interior.
I began to climb into the suit. It was a bit tight at first, but I got in. As my feet touched the soles of the armor and I extended my arms into the suit, I felt a strange sensation around the ports implanted in my arms, and a similar sensation in points on my legs and torso.
"Interface activated." A voice said, and it took me a moment to realize that it was in my head. "Sealing Mk. I Progressive Armor."
The breastplate slide up and the Pauldrons lowered, and in a few seconds, in was trapped in the armor.
I moved my arm.
The armor moved with me.
I took a step forward, and my foot landed with a dull thump.
A smile lit up on BSBA's face.
"Excellent." She said. Her voice sounded a little different transferred, I assume, through the audio systems of my armor.
I looked around the room. To my surprise, I spotted what looked like an elevated boxing ring set up in the middle of the area.
"Get in the ring." BSBA said. "Hurry."
I complied. As I moved, I noticed the same sensation as when my biotics were active. Were my biotic powers being used to power the armor?
"Yes, the Mark I Progressive Armor requires an implanted biotic wear to operate at peak efficiency." The voice in my head said.
That was weird.
I climbed into the boxing ring, and spotted a group of several Asari on the other side. I recognized DBSB and one of the surgical assistants, but several were new.
"Now, doctor." One of the Asari said. "Please demonstrate the efficacy of your project."
"Very well." DBSB said. "Activate the mech."
As soon as she finished speaking, what I recognized as a LOKI mech dropped from the ceiling.
And shot me in the face.
I began to reel backwards and cover my face, but I quickly realized that the attack completely failed to hurt me.
Oh, right. Kinetic barriers. I thought. That would have drained the kinetic energy from the attack, rendering it harmless.
That didn't mean I was safe, though. Barriers drained, and heavy pistols drained barriers fast at short range. I looked around my HUD, searching for the barrier readout. Nothing. The displays were all alien to me.
I was unarmed. I needed to end this fight quickly.
"-As you can see, the Kinetic Barriers of the Progressive Armor suit are strong enough to resist heavy pistol fire." DBSB said. "They provide considerable protection from-"
The LOKI mech shot again. Nothing happened. My barriers held, for now. "Suit, deploy weapons!" I commanded.
An Omni-tool on my right wrist activated, sheathing my armored hand in an orange hologram, four blades extended from the wrist portion of the hologram over my hand, like claws.
I sighed.
They really had turned me into Wolverine.
I leapt toward the LOKI mech and slashed with my blades. However, I underestimated my strength, and the power granted to me by my armor, and wound up leaping past the enemy, awkwardly slashing at the mech as I passed.
My attack scratched the armor of the LOKI mech and sent sparks flying, but that didn't deter it from shooting me in the back as I moved by it. The shot was deflected by my Kinetic Barriers.
I turned around and considered the machine in front of me. I seemed mostly invulnerable to its attacks, so I did the sensible head.
I stepped up to the machine and ripped off its head. Sparks flew as I grabbed the mech's head and twisted to the side, then the thing went limp as I separated its head from its body. I jammed by bladed hand into its chest just to be safe, ripped out a handful of circuity, and then threw the mech to the side. I turned back towards DBSB and the rest of the gaggle of Asari.
"And the Progressive Armor also provides a stable platform for the use of heavy weapons." DBSB said. She activated her Omni-tool and pressed a button. A shimmering appeared in the air around the ring, a sign of a powerful Kinetic Barrier. A hatch slid open in the floor, and a weapon rose up on a platform, a weapon I recognized as M-76 Revenant light machine gun.
No sooner than I grabbed it than five more LOKI Mechs dropped from the ceiling. I raised the machine gun and opened fire on the mechs.
Their shields shimmered as the rounds from the machine gun struck them. Undeterred, the mechs raised their pistols and opened fire.
A hail of pistol rounds struck my shields as the first of the Mechs dropped under my hail of fire. I began to strafe to the side, taking some of the pressure off my shields as the mechs adjusted their aim.
As I continued my fire, a second mech dropped. The barrel of my gun began to climb, but I knew enough about guns to expect that and compensate, if not professionally.
A third LOKI went down as I focused my fire on it. I still couldn't tell what the status of my Kinetic Barriers was, but it couldn't be good.
I charges the remaining mechs. A storm of pistol rounds bounced off my barriers as I did so. As I closed with the first mech, I stuffed my machine gun in its face and fired. At point blank range, I couldn't miss, and the brutal rain of fire tore through its shields and armor.
As the two remaining LOKIs repositioned, I swung my machine gun around and bludgeoned one with the barrel assembly of the weapon. It stopped firing but didn't go down, so I hit it a few more times.
That dropped it, and I turned to the remaining mech. I transferred the machine gun to my off hand and activated my Omni-blade.
I tore into the remaining mech, slashing with the blades of my Omni-tool. Sparks flew as my weapons sliced the machine into useless. I returned to a two-handed grip on the machine gun and turned back towards my captors.
"The Progressive Armor has one remaining capability that has not yet been demonstrated." DBSB said. "Using an advanced form of micro-fabrication technology and something similar to Omni-gel, the Progressive armor can adapt to a variety of situations. This will now be demonstrated."
Another hatch opened in the floor, and another machine gun emerged. This one, however, was on an automatic mount.
And pointed at me.
It opened fire with a series of bangs. The first few tore through my weakened Kinetic barriers, and then the rest began to strike my armor.
"Progressive Armor activating." The voice of the armor said.
An orange field appeared just over my armor in the path of the bullets, and I felt the slight strain of my biotics activating. Nothing happened for a fraction of a second, and for that brief time I felt the rain of what had to be low caliber projectiles impacting my armor.
And then it began to shimmer, and the bullets went careening off in every direction. Then the machine gun overheated, and the orange hologram disappears. A plate of ceramic dropped out of the air where the hologram had been, fell to the floor, and shattered.
"As you can see, the Progressive Armor System can withstand even a barrage from a light machine gun. It has crippling drawbacks and a high cost in the production and implementation stages, but it..."
I tuned her out as I began to listen. "Armor, do I have any sort of sensory amplification equipment on hand?"
"This system poses a full suite of audio, visual, and tactile feedback amplification suites. Would you like to activate a system?"
"Audio enhancement, please." I said.
All the sounds in the room seemed to snap into focus, becoming clear. The sound of the Asari conversation, the air circulation system, and the gunfire in the distance.
Gunfire in the distance?
The Asari began to look around in confusion. That was all the signal I needed. I raised my machine gun and opened fire on the Kinetic Barriers surrounding the ring. As my hail of sand grains bounced off the shields surrounding me, I bent down and picked up a heavy pistol from one of the slain mechs at my feet.
I fired with both weapons at the Kinetic Barrier surrounding me. As the machine gun overheated, I dropped it and picked up another heavy pistol. The pistols overheated, and I picked the machine gun back up, and returned to firing on the barrier.
Abruptly, it disappeared, and the rounds from my machine gun began streaking over the heads of the collected Asari.
Before the Kinetic Barriers could recharge, I ran forward and inexpertly vaulted over the wall of the ring, toward the Asari.
"Armor, deactivate all outside controls, and activate exterior speakers."
"Yes."
"And that, bitches, is why you don't give prisoners machine guns." I said, raising my weapon toward them.
Several of the Asari fumbled for weapons. I gave them no quarter. I lowered the machine gun and fired.
First, I shredded DBSB. She went down covering in holes leaking blue blood, and then I turned on the remaining Asari. The last one managed to produce a pistol and get a shot off, but it did about as much good as it did the LOKI mechs, and she went down like the rest of them.
I turned around and pressed myself against the base of the ring, holding my machine gun in what I hoped was a ready position. I burst around the corner, gun at the ready, and advanced down the side of the ring, sweeping my weapon from side to side.
As I did so, I heard more gunfire in the distance. It sounded like it was coming closer to me. I really hoped this was a rescue or breakout attempt, because I had just played all my cards.
I advanced around the next corner and spotted BSBA. I leveled my machine gun at her and was about to press the firing studs when she threw her hands, one of them holding a pistol in the air.
"Don't shoot me if you want to get out of here alive." She said. "I'm Alanna T'Mosava. Council
SPECTRE. I've infiltrated this group, and I've called in the cavalry to bust us out of here. There should be Alliance Marines storming this station right now."
"Good." I said, over my armor's exterior's speakers. "Let's go, then. You go first."
"You have the heavy armor." Alanna (Formerly BSBA) said. "Shouldn't you take the lead."
"I also have the machine gun." I said. "And frankly, I don't trust you. Plus you're the high-and-mighty SPECTRE."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll take the lead. Just give me covering fire, okay?"
"Fine." I said. "Where would the Marines have boarded?"
"The bottom deck." Alanna said. "Near the vehicle bay."
"Let's get moving." I said. "Can you do tech attacks?"
"Yes." She said.
"Plus you'd be a biotic. Nice power set." I said.
We moved to the door. I readied myself to fire my machine gun while Alanna hacked the lock on the door.
As it hissed open, we stormed out of the door, Alanna sweeping her pistols across the room while I covered high with my machine gun.
At the end of the hall, I spotted a flash of pink. Alliance Marines?
"Don't shoot! We're friendly. I've got a SPECTRE here." I shouted over my armor speakers.
"Are you one of the prisoners here?" A female marine responded.
"Umm... yes." I said. I decided not to explain the whole 'superweapon' part. That could get awkward.
"Walk out slowly. Put your hands where I can see them." The marine shouted.
I dropped my machine gun and raised my hands over my head.
"What are your doing?" Alanna spat.
"Playing along." I responded. "Your saw what this suit can do, even unarmed. Plus, these are friendlies."
"Alright, fine." Alanna said. "Your do that."
Gingerly, I stepped out of the door, hands over my head. I spotted the Alliance Marines taking cover behind the corner at the end of the hall, rifles pointed at me.
"Suit, can I remove my helmet but leave my Kinetic Barriers up?" I asked
"Yes. Would your like to?"
"Yes."
There was a hissing sound as the seals holding my helmet in place disengaged, and I slowly reached down with one hand and pulled my helmet off. As I removed it, I was somewhat surprised by how thick it was.
"I'm human." I said. "I'm not hostile."
"Then why are your wearing that suit of... power armor." The Marine responded.
"Err... It's sort of complicated.