Disclaimer: I dont own Marvel or Mass Effect
In this chapter, we see a big change from the original game
Mass Effect Dimensions
Chapter 2: Incidents
Bad day, those were the two words MVP used to describe the situation he was in. Techno zombies, strange aliens and ships looked like they could make Thor cringe. The "husks" crept closer and closer towards him, groaning as electricity surged through the wires on their heads chests. Michael sniffed the air, he could smell horrid stenches and naturally he assumed the worst. Lots of people had been killed this day. Wherever he was he had just entered into a war zone. Although it may be the perfect place for him to use what he had been taught. As the husks got closer and closer towards him, Michael thought about the close quarter's combat training. These husks appeared to possess limited intelligence, which meant that they weren't likely to defend themselves. So he could forget the throws and holds Shang-Chi would teach the cadets and instead settled for fast brutal swings.
If it were possible, the Husks would have been astonished as MVP slammed his leg into a Husks face. He swung around; punching a Husk square in the jaw and kicking another round the head. Putting his weight into the jabs and kicks, MVP took his opponents down hard and fast. One of the Husks swung its arm out, but MVP ducked, axe kicking the Husks leg and knocking it to the floor. He then pressed his hands against the ground and thrust his legs into a Husks chest. Standing in a lazy fighting stance, MVP waited for the other Husks to attack. One began to glow with electricity. MVP immediately jumped back, rolling back slightly on the steel floor of the station. He got off the floor and watched as the Husk gave off an electric pulse.
Rushing forward, MVP grabbed the Husk, hammer throwing it into its Husk brethren. Then he scissor kicked a few more in the chest and dived to the side as they electrocuted one another. Rolling across the grass, MVP stopped his head inches from a small flame. He jumped onto his feet and looked at his surroundings again. His punches had dazed the Husks, but they weren't down for the count yet. Picking up a rock from the ground, MVP bashed a Husk across the head with it. The Husk went down, blue blood pouring from its head. Whatever those Husks are they clearly aren't sentient.
"Oh no" Michael said as the other Husks began to glow with electricity.
He ran back onto the platform as they released their electrical surges. Stopping at the body of alien, MVP looked down at the "creature". He was faintly coughing, signifying he was still clinging to life. Michael's ears perked again as he heard footsteps. More strange aliens, no they looked like a mixture of alien and robot. The two robots had black armour and heads that curved out with "flash light" eyes. They began firing blasts from their pulse rifles, sending beams flying past MVP's head.
"Ah Hell!" He said, jumping over a set of crates.
Michael leant back against the crates as the machines continued to fire at him. Looking to his side he saw much to his astonishment a human man. He was cowering behind the crates, with a bag at his side.
'Well at least I know I'm not the only human here' MVP thought.
He peeked his head out of the side of the crate, narrowing his eyes at the grounded alien. The alien was coughing weakly, spitting out blue blood. And the Husks were marching straight towards him.
"Damn it!" MVP muttered.
He looked inside the bag that the cowering human had. Inside there were small disc shaped devices.
"What the heck are these?" Michael wondered.
Conflicted by the situation, Michael grinded his teeth together. If he didn't move fast then the alien was dead. Oh well, people always did call him Captain America Junior.
Every scientific mind in Camp Hammond was officially baffled. Or at least they would be once Hank Pym was found.
"Where the hell is he?" Gauntlet asked as he and Stingray searched Pym's office.
Meanwhile, the miniature dimension Pym often entered at his shrunken size, Tigra and "Pym" were taking advantage of their newfound privacy. Pym dragged Tigra across the floor, tracing kisses along her neck and breast. She raked her claws across his back, purring with every thrust of her lover's hips. Their clothes had been thrown across the floor and their pleasured moans never left this world they took refuge in. Tigra licked Hank's face, throwing her head back as he reached his limit. She gasped in sensual pleasure, holding Hank's head tightly.
"We should probably get back to work at some point" She said.
"Yeah, first we'll need our clothes" Hank said.
"My panties are full size, back in your office" Tigra giggled.
"Oh shit!"
Hank put his uniform back on and grew back to full size. He appeared before Gauntlet and Stingray, the Latter holding Tigra's pants.
"What seems to be the problem Sergeant?" Hank asked.
"I'll tell you the fucking problem, one of our best recruits has suddenly disappeared and your having fun with your fuck buddy" Gauntlet explained.
"Now now Gauntlet, let's not get too hasty, if there's anyone who can figure out what happened to MVP it's Doctor Pym" Stingray said.
"Of course, if you just give me a moment I'll be right with you"
"After all Dr Richards is out on some cosmic adventure"
Gauntlet laughed while Pym grinded his teeth together. After some shrinking, growing and awkward stares, Pym returned to the Baron's lab. Baron Von Bliztschlag was a former Nazi scientist with the ability to control electricity. Now he was one of the Initiative's brain boxes. The Camp director James Rhodes was also there. He was the heavily armed and armoured hero known as War machine. Joining him was Gauntlet and government agent Henry Gyrich. The red haired agent kept his sunglasses on, looking at Pym in disapproval.
"I still say we should let Justice in on this meeting" Hank said.
"No can do Hank, right now we need to keep this close to the chest" War Machine said.
"Very well, as you all know Herr Patrick walked in on a botched training session between Armoury and Trauma, Trauma had accessed his transformation abilities to turn himself into a giant spider, unfortunately Armoury's phobia was worse than we thought and from her panicked state she lost control of her weapon the Tactigon" The Baron explained.
"We've asked Armoury to join in on this briefing, the Baron is analysing her weapon while you can run tests on the training room" Gyrich said.
"Fascinating, my own scanners did pick up unusual energy in the training room but its gone now" Hank said.
"What I want to know is whether it's fatal or not?"
"We all want to know what happened not just you Gyrich" War Machine said.
"Please calm down, try to understand that what I've been scanning disappears and then reappears and random moments; Baron let me take a look at your results on the Tactigon"
"Yes Herr Pym, you see the Tactigon reacts to certain situations in order to change into any weapon or object needed, Armoury has used it for several months but she lacks full control" Baron explained.
Armoury let that one slide, knowing that given the situation she was in no position to say she could control the alien weapon. In fact they might use this to kick her off the Initiative.
"My theory is that energy from the Tactigon bonded with this rift that had formed in reality, now in normal circumstances this rift would be benign, but the energy from the Tactigon forced this rift open, creating a singularity of sorts that pulled in anything close to it"
"And poor Michael just so happens to be the only thing the portal has to pull in" War Machine said.
"Exactly, but these rifts have been appearing in random places at random times, you cant just wait for one to suddenly appear at the exact spot you want, and even if you know where it is opening a rift is extremely unlikely, the fact that the energy from the Tactigon literally tore open a crack in reality says something about its power" Hank continued to explain.
"So what are we going to do, let MVP rot in some Planet of the Apes world?" Gauntlet asked.
"Of course not, we can begin making steps to figure out a way to repeat the process, first I'd recommend we get Reed Richards in to help"
"Yes, Herr Richards can certainly offer us more detailed knowledge, although it may be difficult to reach him" The Baron said.
"As soon as Richards is back I want him told of the situation and bought over here so he can start researching a way to get MVP out of this other world he's trapped in" War Machine said.
Hank and the Baron nodded their heads while Gauntlet walked towards the exit.
"I'll have a talk with the other recruits, tell them to keep things close to the chest until MVP comes back, Armoury you come with me" Gauntlet said.
War Machine walked with Gauntlet Armoury, using the communicator in his helmet to call the director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Tony Stark. Gyrich however stayed, keeping his eyes on the two scientists as they talked over their notes. Once the doors had closed, Gyrich spoke to the scientists about why he was really here.
"Pym, you decide who gets put on the Initiative, but you also know that right now there's a shortage on super humans" Gyrich said.
"What are you getting at?" Hank asked.
"The Baron ran tests on Michael Van Patrick's blood, tell him what you found"
"Herr Patrick is a very impressive boy, are you aware of what his supernatural abilities are?" The Baron asked.
"Justice was very vague about him"
"He has none, unlike your Capitan, his strength and stamina is a result of blood und sweat, but above that his genetic structure is perfection itself" The German scientist explained.
"Perfection, that can't be right"
"Take a look Herr Pym" Blitschlag motioned to his microscope.
Hank walked over and looked under the microscope. The preserved blood sample showed the structure of MVP's DNA. DNA records were kept of all Initiative members and recruits, particularly those of "interest". Criti Noll hid a smirk and fought the urge to laugh. The human was correct; MVP's DNA was indeed perfect. No foreign substances like a super soldier serum, no additions to his genes like the mutants bared. His DNA was human; there was no doubt about that. Criti had seen Kree blood, human blood, Shiar blood and even the blood of his fellow Skrulls. Michael Van Patrick had gained his peak human abilities through exercise and diet. Criti knew exactly what Gyrich was thinking humans were so predictable. But he would play ignorant and innocent Hank Pym for the sake of his mission.
"This is all well and good Gyrich but what does this have to do with the Initiative?" "Hank" asked.
"We've got hair, skin and blood samples, I say we put them to use" Gyrich said.
"You mean…cloning?"
"Yes, Herr Patrick's DNA is perfect for cloning, and imagine the enhancements we could graft onto these clones" Baron said.
"Something like that…it isn't ethical" Hank said, mimicking conflict perfectly.
"Says the guy who created Ultron, face it Pym between Hydra, the X-men and the unregistered heroes we need all the advantages we can get, and what better advantage than an army of MVP's" Gyrich explained.
Hank put a hand to his chin. True, an army of MVP clones would be a huge advantage for the heroes. But in actual fact, the advantages that the heroes thought they had were actually the Skrull Empires. Criti Noll smiled beneath his disguise, nodding his head.
"Let me take care of the cloning, I'll also work with Dr Richards and find out how we're going to get MVP out" He said.
"Good, try to do so quickly, the last thing we need is this incident spreading into a PR loss" Gyrich said.
Pym huffed; the Initiative was already a public opinion nightmare. Humans were so opinionated; they could never unite as the Skrulls could. Outside of the camp, numerous protestors marched and yelled with their signs. Camp Hammond had been built over the remains of a school in Stamford Connecticut. This school was the one that had been blown up by the super human codenamed Nitro. The people of America blamed the New Warriors, the heroes that tried to stop Nitro. After little debate, the government implemented the super human registration act. Now all heroes needed to be registered with the government and trained to do their jobs.
Gauntlet was the drill sergeant of Camp Hammond, he taught all the new potential Avengers. Now his newest students included some former New Warriors. Ultra Girl was a young woman with super strength and the ability to fly; she was often seen with Thor Girl, a female version of the infamous founding Avenger. Rage, in Gauntlet's opinion was an incident waiting to happen; he had super strength and a temper to match it. Slapstick was a joke, he appeared to be shape shifter, although Gauntlet had seen him use hammers in his training. Some of the most promising trainees were heroes Gauntlet hadn't even known about till now.
He had gathered the five trainees in the training room where the event happened. Armoury seemed indifferent to the situation, thought Gauntlet could tell that she was starting to regret her decision to come to Hammond. The purple haired girl had spent her time on the bus trip over talking to her friends on her phone. In her combat fatigues and pink shirt she didn't look like a cheerleader, but that was exactly what she would be if she didn't learn full control of her weapon, the shape changing Tactigon. Beside her was Trauma, another cadet responsible for MVP's disappearance. He looked like an Emo and he had the attitude to boot. His abilities included a psychic ability to detect a person's deepest fears, then he could literally transform into that fear. Cloud 9 was deeply affected by the incident, the blonde haired girl tried to keep her feelings in check, but Gauntlet could see from her red eyes that she had been crying. She didn't have the build for obstacle courses, but according to War Machine she could use the vapour she summoned to fly. Komodo was an eager cadet; she had a lizard appearance with the claws and regenerative powers to match. Beside her stood Hardball, a cocky blonde guy with the power to create solid "hardballs" around his hands.
"So we're just going to abandon one of our own?" Hardball asked.
"Of course not, our big brain guys are working on it right now, they'll deal with the situation" Gauntlet said.
"Like they dealt with the rebel Avengers during the Civil War, like how they put nanites into super villains?" Trauma asked.
"I'm not debating this, we've been ordered to keep quiet and that's what we're going to do"
"We aren't soldiers" Cloud 9 said.
"Maybe, maybe not but you still follow the orders you've been given, end of story kids, now get on the obstacle course and forget this whole incident ever happened"
The cadets hesitantly walked out of the training room. Gauntlet huffed and walked behind them, unbeknownst to who had listened in. He leant against the door that led to the control room. His costume was a blue and white colour and included a cloak and yellow star on his chest. He was Justice; the young super hero and the camps youth counsellor. But above all these things he had been the man to support MVP's entry into Camp Hammond. Now his friend was trapped in another world and the Initiative camp leaders were going to keep it quiet, hoping that Richards and Pym, the people whom made a murderous Thor clone could get MVP out. Justice knew that right now there was nothing he could do. Alls he could do was pray that his friend and student was surviving.
MVP had officially had enough of hiding. He ran out of his cover, throwing the strange discs devices that the man hiding had carried. The objects hit the robot's flash light heads, knocking them back slightly. MVP then kicked one of the husks away from the alien, pushing the undead creature into its "friends". He grabbed the assault rifle that the alien had been carrying and aimed it at the robots. Target practice sessions with Black Widow flashed before his eyes as he targeted the machines.
BLAM!
Several shots echoed in the air, hitting the two robots. A few more shots took out the Husks, but one got close to MVP. He slammed the barrel against the creature's chest and pulled the trigger. His arm shook as he unleashed several bullets into the Husk's chest. The Husk fell to the ground, oil flowing from its wounds. MVP turned to the open field behind him and breathed a sigh of relief. Three armoured men were walking towards him. MVP then blinked, noticing that the one in white armour was actually a woman.
'Now that's a hell of a costume' MVP thought, looking at the woman's chest area.
He then stopped and looked at the others. The one in front, the apparent leader wore grey armour that looked heavier than the armour the man beside him wore. Both of the men wore grey armour, but the Commander's had the symbol N7 on his chest and a red line travelling down his arm. MVP then looked down as the alien began to cough. Kneeling down to the alien's level, MVP thought back to his first aid training. He applied pressure to the gunshot wound, hoping to prevent some of the bleeding.
"Saren!" The alien breathed out.
"Stay with me…hey you three; do any of you have a first aid kit?" MVP asked the three soldiers.
The one in front raised his pistol.
"Step away from Nihlus kid" He said sternly.
"What, you know this guy, if that's the case then help him" MVP said.
"I'll take care of it Commander" The other man said.
An orange, holographic gauntlet appeared over his arm as he walked over to the alien. The man, possibly a few years older than the commander kneeled by "Nihlus's" side.
"Gun shot wound sir, scratched his heart it seems" The man said.
"But you can still help him right?" MVP asked.
"I don't know much about Turian physiology, and I don't often come across point blank wounds…you can take your hands off his chest now"
MVP removed his hands from the "Turian's" chest, standing up and looking at his shaking hands. They were soaked with alien blood. The Commander stepped closer towards him, keeping his pistol out.
"What happened here?" He asked.
"I…I don't know, alls I saw was him and another alien like him talking to one another, Nihlus notices me just a few feet away and this other guy in silver armour suddenly shoots him in the chest" Michael explained.
"Where did you come from, do you live around here?" The woman asked.
"I'm not even sure where here is"
'What's that supposed to mean?' Shepard wondered.
So far the mission had been a complete disaster. As soon as he, Alenko and Jenkins dropped onto the planet they were faced by enemy fire. Hover drones fired at Jenkin's, piercing the young man's shields and ripping off shreds of his chest. Moving on, Alenko and Shepard found the woman in white armour. She was part of the Eden Prime defence forces. Her name was Ashley Williams, a gunnery chief of the alliance. The ones attacking Eden Prime were the Geth; a race of synthetic's created millennia ago by a race called the Quarian's. They hadn't been outside of their controlled space for hundreds of years, but now they were attacking Eden Prime, obviously looking for the Prothean Beacon.
Now a boy wearing an odd shirt joined them. Shepard had never seen a shirt with its own symbol before. The boy definitely looked like a military recruit, or he at least had the build for it. Thinking back to his own youth, Shepard remembered that he never had muscles as big as the boy had. This kid was certainly a hard worker and he was always looking back at Nihlus in concern. The boys eyes widened as Nihlus spat out a blob of blood. Shepard noticed that Ashley was taken aback as well, more out of disgust than shock.
"You can save him right?" The boy asked Kaiden.
Kaiden rapidly touched the buttons on his Omni-tool, injecting medi gel into the wound.
"Shredder Round sir, point blank near his heart, whoever attacked Nihlus knew exactly what he was doing" Kaiden said.
"And it definitely wasn't a Geth, they use pulse rifle not bullets" Shepard added.
Michael knelt beside the alien Nihlus. He grabbed his hand, giving it a tight squeeze.
"Stay with us now, hold on no matter what…you guys must have a transport or something right?" Michael asked.
The commander shook his head.
"That's out of the question until we've confirmed that the Geth are gone"
"But one of your men is dying" Michael said.
"It's…all right!"
The group looked down at Nihlus as he coughed out more blood.
"You…have to stop…Saren!" Nihlus said weakly.
"Don't give up on us yet" Michael said.
Nihlus squeezed Michael's hand back and looked up at Shepard.
"Tell council…stop Saren…no matter what"
Michael widened his eyes as Nihlus's breathing stopped and the grip on his hand loosened. Getting up off the floor, Michael rubbed his forehead, Nihlus's blood soaking his hair. He swung his fist back and slammed it into the crates.
"DAMN IT!" He yelled.
Kaiden lowered his head while Ashley looked away. Shepard kept his eyes on the boy, watching as he walked behind the crate. He lifted a dockworker onto his feet, bringing him round to face the soldiers.
"YOU, what's your name?" Michael asked.
"Powell" The man said.
"What do you do here?" Shepard asked, walking into the interrogation.
"I'm just a dock worker"
"Powell…your Cole's contact here on the docks, you run the smuggling ring with him" Shepard said.
"Yeah…so I'm a smuggler, that doesn't matter, my supervisors dead the whole colonies dead, what does that matter?"
"Got anything smuggled nearby we could use against the Geth?" Shepard asked.
"A shipment of grenades came through, no body notices if a few go missing from the military orders" Powell said.
Ashley turned back to the men, gripping her rifle tightly.
"You son of a bitch, we're out here trying to protect your sorry ass and alls you can think about is how to rip us off" Ashley said.
Her voice was full of fury; understandable considering her entire unit had just been killed.
"A lot of people died here Powell, the soldier's needed those grenades" Shepard said coldly.
"The bag is just behind the crate, take em I didn't mean to cause anyone any harm" Powell said.
"What happened before Nihlus was shot?" Shepard asked.
"He and that Saren guy were talking, they seemed to know one another and your friend dropped his guard, Saren was going to shoot him right in the back" Powell explained.
"And you just stood and watched?" Michael asked.
"I didn't even have a gun, what I was supposed to do?"
"Just give us the grenades and tell us which way Saren went" Shepard said.
"Over towards the trams, I think he's heading towards the space port where the Beacon was taken"
Shepard grabbed the boy's shoulder, taking him off of Powel. He also took the back of grenades and gave them to Ashley. The Gunnery Chief began dividing the explosives between them. Crouching down to Nihlus's body, Shepard took the Spectre's rifle. Then he turned to the civilian.
"You handled yourself well against those husks, you know how to use this?" Shepard asked.
MVP took the rifle, pressing the butt against his shoulder and looking down the sight. It was kind of like the guns they used at Camp Hammond, but he wouldn't tell the soldier's that until it was absolutely necessary. He had no idea whether this world knew about alternate realities but it was best to keep quiet, lest he be locked up in a crazy house.
"I'm a quick study" Michael said.
"Good, what's your name?" Shepard asked.
"Michael Van Patrick"
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliances SSV Normandy, this is Staff Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko also of the Normandy and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the two twelfth Alliance Marine Corp, you stay behind us and watch yourself, with no shields you're a sitting duck, Ashley give him some grenades" Shepard explained.
"But sir, he's a civilian" Ashley said.
"He's also a witness; now give him some grenades Chief"
Ashley removed her helmet and Michael got a better look at her. She had dark hair tied up in a bun and a tan to her skin. With her looks she could definitely give the female heroes back home a run for their money. But Michael could tell that she was a no nonsense soldier.
"I noticed you threw some of these at the Geth, word of advice kid, you push the button and then you throw them" Ashley said, smiling as she gave Michael some of the discs.
'These are grenades?' Michael wondered.
"I'll take point, Ashley, Kaiden, Michael stay behind me" Shepard said, drawing his sniper rifle.
Michael walked with the soldier's, hiding his nerves. He'd never been on any Initiative missions, but a lot of the instructors told him he'd do well. Now he was in a new world where he'd have to put all of his training to the test. It was easier said than done, because as soon as they reached the station Michael's heart skipped a beat. Standing between them as the train was a small squadron of Geth. But one of them was a giant with broad shoulder's to match. Shepard aimed his rifle, immediately firing a slug into a barrel of some kind. The barrel then exploded, throwing two Geth off of the platform and singeing the giant's armour.
"Take cover!" Shepard said as he took out his pistol.
He pressed his back against a railing, crouching low to avoid beam fire. The Geth marched forward and the marines fired back. Kaiden fired his pistol, while Ashley squeezed the trigger of her rifle, spraying bullets towards the Geth. Michael watched as several of the machines went down, white blood spraying out of their bullet holes. Then the giant began to rush forward, running as fast as he would on the track. He fired his assault rifle, hitting the giant with a storm of bullets. Suddenly, his rifle began to beep. He looked at the barrel and cursed, seeing an overheat warning.
"Deploying a lift field Commander" Kaiden said.
Shepard nodded his head and stepped out of cover. Kaiden threw his hand up, wrapping the giant in some kind of blue energy. The Geth floated off of the ground, its gun still blazing. Blue energy suddenly enveloped Shepard's hand and with a swing of his arm, the Geth was sent flying further into the air. The other Geth looked up at the sight of their "big brother" floating into the air. Ashley took this chance to fire a full burst of rifle fire into the Geth troopers. When the Geth giant finally fell to the ground the machine fell apart.
"Wow!" Michael said.
"Good shooting kid" Ashley teased.
"Stay behind us Michael and fire on my order only" Shepard said.
The man's voice was so disinterested, as if he didn't care for Michael's failure. They made their way to the tram, ignoring the wrecked Geth. Once they got onto the tram, Michael leant against the railing, looking out at the landscape as the tram sped across the track. He widened his eyes as he saw smoke rising from huts and houses. They looked like they were made from metallic alloys, but a lot of them had been melted into slag. The spikes had countless people impaled upon them; Michael could even see some people still twitching. Ashley was also visibly shocked by the scene, she had watched an unfortunate colonist be impaled by what Shepard had named the "dragon's teeth". Shepard seemingly remained indifferent to the carnage. He had a mission to carry out; the defence of the colony's population would be left up to its official defence corps.
"Where are we?" Michael asked.
"On a tram heading towards the space port" Shepard said.
"No…I mean where are we?"
"Eden Prime, a colony on the edge of the Terminus System" Kaiden said.
"Don't you know this?" Ashley asked.
"Its…difficult to explain, lets just focus on finding Saren" Michael said.
Shepard narrowed his eyes at the boy before pressing a hand against his ear. He established a communication link with Captain Anderson.
"What is it Shepard?" Anderson asked.
"I need you to do a background check on a Michael Van Patrick, brown haired kid about the age of 19, possibly twenty, see if he lives anywhere on Eden Prime" Shepard explained.
"What does this have to do with Eden Prime's attack commander?" Anderson asked.
"Just looking for suspects Captain, I'll call you once we've secured the Beacon"
The tram stopped and the group immediately stood ready. They heard the chatter of the Geth, they used some kind of digital growls to communicate. Kaiden narrowed his eyes as a cylinder device just inches from the tram.
"Demolition charges the Geth must have planted them" Kaiden said.
"We need to shut them off or they'll take out the whole colony" Ashley said.
Shepard folded out his rifle, taking point. He walked up a flight of stairs towards a bridge that connected the station to the space port. There were three more charges along the port.
"Ashley, Michael with me, Kaiden you stay behind us and disarm those bombs" Shepard said.
Kaiden nodded his head, bringing up his omni tool and slowly deactivating the bomb. Ashley rushed to Shepard's side, firing her rifle at the Geth on the bridge in front of them. Shepard fired a single slug from his rifle, hitting a Geth Sniper in the face. Ashley fired her assault rifle, batting the Geth Troopers with bullets. Michael ducked behind cover, dodging a volley of beam fire. Kaiden's omni tool chimed and he stepped away from the bomb.
"First charge deactivated" He said.
"Good, lets move onto the next, everyone on me!" Shepard said.
He put his sniper rifle away and drew his assault rifle. The others followed behind him, Ashley and Kaiden both fired their guns at the Geth on the bridge, forcing them to take cover. When Shepard reached the port he began firing his rifle at the Geth Trooper's blocking their path. He crouched behind cover, pointing his hand to a bomb behind the squad. Kaiden immediately ran for the bomb, ducking behind cover and beginning to disarm the bomb with his omni tool. Ashley took out her shotgun, firing bursts into the Geth Troopers. The Geth were smart enough to stay under cover, firing their beam rifles. Michael took a deep breath and popped out of cover, squeezing the trigger on his rifle. He fired short bursts into the Geth, knocking some of them down.
"Move!" Shepard commanded.
They moved forward as Kaiden deactivated the second bomb. He threw his arm forward, throwing some of the Geth Trooper's back before he slid towards the third bomb. Shepard removed his rifle and took out his pistol, firing a few shots into a Geth Shock Trooper. Michael moved forward as well, firing his rifle in short bursts, adapting to the rifle's heating system.
"Third ones down" Kaiden said.
Suddenly a beam flew into Kaiden's shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Michael immediately rushed to Kaiden's side, shooting the Geth that fired the shot. He grabbed the collar of Kaiden's uniform and began moving him towards cover. Shepard casually put his pistol away and pulled out his shotgun.
"Williams, take care of Alenko, Michael you provide me cover fire" Shepard said.
"M…me?" Michael asked.
Shepard cocked the shotgun and ran out of cover. He fired a slug into the chest of a Geth Trooper, ripping apart it's armour. Michael ran away from Kaiden, firing his rifle at the other troopers. Ashley rolled to Kaiden's side, checking his wound.
"Clean hit through the shoulder chief, just slap the medi-gel on" Kaiden said.
"No sweat there Lieutenant" She said.
Her Omni-tool lit up and she injected the medi-gel into Kaiden's injured shoulder. The gel began to cover the wound, disinfecting it and preventing any further blood loss. But Kaiden would still need to be checked out by a doctor. The two marines ran out of cover, watching their commander and the new kid lay waste to the Geth forces blocking them. Ashley widened her eyes in astonishment as Michael ran up to a Geth, kicking over the railing. Shepard casually and coldly blew a Geth's head off and began defusing the final bomb. Michael stayed behind Shepard, checking for any more enemies.
"That's the last one, now lets go secure the beacon" Shepard said.
Ashley knew of Shepard's reputation. He was a skilled soldier and a brutal tactician. But this boy certainly wasn't an alliance cadet and he fought as well as any marine. Shepard and Michael walked down another flight of stairs, noting the presence of the Beacon. They also noted the Geth Troopers and Husks defending it. Kaiden and Ashley quickly followed behind them, waiting for Shepard's signal. Shepard gave the signal by Biotically throwing a Geth Trooper over a railing. They fired their guns, hitting Geth and Husk alike. Michael clicked the button on a grenade and threw into the middle of a group of Husks. The explosion knocked two of the Husks back, while the other had its flesh ripped from its body.
Kaiden lifted a Geth trooper in the air, and then fired a few shots into its chest. Ashley was left in awe at Michael's show of accuracy, but quickly overcame the shock to pierce a Geth's flash light head with shots from her rifle. A husk threw its arms at Michael, but the boy ducked underneath the swing. He then smacked the husk with his rifle, flipping it around and firing a full burst into the Husks chest. His weapon overheated and threw it at a Geth trooper, knocking it back and giving Ashley and Kaiden an opening. They fired their pistol and rifle respectively, tearing holes through the final trooper's armour.
Michael sighed in relief as a silence reigned over the space port. The battle was over and the group could finally rest. Shepard was the first to put his gun away, looking towards the Beacon. It appeared to be in good condition, but Shepard wasn't an expert on Prothean technology. In fact he hadn't heard of many experts even amongst the alien population. Michael's eyes remained fixed on the carnage behind the beacon. He had seen pictures of the Stamford ruins; the sight of the near destroyed Eden Prime was just as shocking. Ashley and Kaiden however remained focused on the Beacon. Kaiden removed his helmet, revealing his gelled brown hair and only slightly shaved face. Shepard kept his helmet on, turning away from the Beacon and calling the ship.
"Normandy this is Shepard, the Beacon is secure, standby for coordinates for pickup…"
"I can't believe this, actual working Prothean technology, unbelievable" Kaiden said in amazement.
"It wasn't doing anything like that when the scientists dug it up" Ashley said, taking note of the lights of the Beacon glowing.
Michael rubbed his nose, trying to block out the stench of the burnt bodies on the field in front of him. He leant against the railing, coughing as he fought the urge to vomit. When he saw Stamford there had been no bodies, he decided that Stamford now paled in comparison to Eden Prime. Ashley looked over at the boy in sympathy, she remembered her reaction the first time she saw dead bodies. Now she had gotten used to it, or at least her stomach had. Kaiden walked over to check with Shepard while Ashley kept her eyes on the beacon. She narrowed her eyes at the beacon as it seemingly began to glow.
Suddenly the beacon flashed and Ashley felt her feet begin to slide. She flailed her arms, trying to get away from the beacon. But it was pulling her in, closer and closer. Shepard looked over Kaiden's shoulder, widening his eyes in shock. He pushed Kaiden aside and prepared to get the soldier under his command out of harms way. But, much to the Commander's shock, Michael tackled Ashley. He lifted her onto his shoulder and swung her round, throwing her into Shepard's arms.
"Chief are you okay?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah I'm…oh my god" Ashley said.
Shepard looked away from Ashley and cursed as Michael was lifted off the ground. This strange force seemed to emanate from the Beacon, swinging Michael's body round to face it. His eyes remained fixed on the Beacon and he lurched his head back, yelling in agony. He continued to scream, his hands squeezed into fists. The blood curdling yell echoed through the space port and Shepard kept a hold of Ashley's shoulder. There was no point in two of them falling victim to whatever security protocol Michael had set off. MVP grinded his teeth together, his eyes going wide as visions were forced into his mind. His screams matched the carnage of the visions.
Suddenly, the Beacon exploded and MVP was sent rolling across the ground. Shepard let Ashley go and they both looked over the boy's body. He was unconscious, but his heart was pounding. Shepard did his best to hold back any outward concern he had, but he knew that Michael's condition was bad. He stood up and called the Normandy. They already lost one soldier today; they weren't going to lose another.
Next Chapter 3: Nightmares
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next chapter we see what the Beacon contains and shed a little light on this Shepard's past
