CHAPTER FOUR:
War and Peace
"So…Saren let you go because your cousin saved his life, is that it?" Shepherd asked as he sat upon his new bed, rocking slightly back and forth, hands clasped as he continued to listen to Mr. McKay's story.
"Yes. After finding us something we COULD eat and drink, we were interrogated a bit about our culture, but then he sent us back to our platoon. He kept insisting that what Nick had done to save him was miraculous, he felt he owed him a great debt. But he was still Turian enough to remind us that we were at war until the Council sent diplomats to work out some kind of arrangement. Luckily, they did. And it wasn't long before a peace WAS brokered." Lucas admitted as he took a deep sip of some water, smacking his lips a bit, his throat parched as he glanced around the room. "Ahhh. It was one of the most trying periods of my life. A tenseness hung around us like a cloud of secondhand smoke in those days after our release. Neither side made a move. And all our fellow soldiers could do was ask us questions about the Turians."
"I bet they had a lot to ask." Shepherd admitted. "What, did they want to know how they slept, what they drank, why we couldn't eat their food?"
"No, it was more along the lines of "Why do they hate all humans"? "Why do they want to throw all humans into the sea"? "Why can't they leave us in peace"? Although one of them did manage to finally ask about measurements."
"…oh!" Shepherd said, eyes widening when he realized what Lucas was getting at. "So what did you say?"
"Nick COULDN'T say because he refused to take a shower. He insisted he had "seen enough movies to know how it goes down, I'm not stepping in the shower". And I decided that this was one of those things I didn't want to risk either. We started to smell pretty bad. I suppose that's ANOTHER reason they released us. We were only there for a few days, but…still…HOO." He waved his hand before his nose and scrunched it slightly up. "By the time we got back to camp, the flies that had been circling around us had dropped dead."
"SHEP!"
Shepherd turned his head in surprise, blinking slightly greyish eyes as Lewis stormed into the room, panting and heaving as he held up a small, tube-shaped thing and waved it in the air. "These are attached to every street corner outside!" He managed to get out, panting and heaving as he held his chest with one hand, the other holding the tube high, Shepherd taking it from him and unfolding it's contents, an electronic poster that displayed a simple message: Mr. Themis wished to conduct a "town hall" meeting for his little borough. Everybody should come post haste, be they from Tenth or Fifth Street or Twenty-Forth and Main.
"I think he might be seriously pissed at us." Lewis mumbled out.
"Ya think?" Shepherd said with a sarcastic bite to his tone, shaking his head back and forth. "We clearly can't go. At least, not like we are now. We'll need disguises if we want to find out what this is about. And frankly, I don't think we can miss this. We need to know what he's up to. If he's so mad he's willing to publically VENT about it, then…"
"When one gets angry, one gets SLOPPY." Mr. McKay admitted with a firm nod. "So, you'll need hologram inducers?"
"You have hologram inducers?"
"My boy…" McKay tapped the side of his head. "It pays to have friends in high places."
…
…
…
…the town hall was PACKED that morning, everybody milling about, speaking in slightly hushed tones about what Cadre's most infamous member had to say. What security breach had occurred? Was it a terrorist act? Was it a leaking of some disease to the populace? What was going on? Hundreds milled about inside and out of the town hall, Shepherd keeping his head low as he moved with Noah, Lewis and Finch onto the red rugged floor of the town hall, past the well-cut grass outside…in fact, the town hall was one of the few places in the city WITH actual, real grass, just like it was one of the few places with memorabilia from before the Mass Effects had been found, like the old podium that had been in the FIRST town hall, or the portraits of old mayors that now hung on the pearly walls…
And upon the stage, Themis paced back and forth, his masked face even more covered up by an enormous HOOD that obscured his visage utterly. He was shrouded in dark clothing, his arms over his chest, folded furiously, every single limb on his body tense and taut, as if barely suppressing rage. Worse still, he was muttering baleful things in a foul, soft voice that were just barely audible, and almost incomprehensible, though it was clear, without a doubt, that he…was…FURIOUS.
At long last, he stopped, taking a deep, deliberate breath as he slowly turned around to face the crowd, the rest of the Cadre standing off to the side of him with a large amount of guards as the human representative cleared his throat, holding a gloved hand up high. "In the words of old…hear ye, hear ye." He remarked with a wry smile, blond hair falling about his face "Themis has something he wishes to inform you of."
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Finch whispered out, the rest of the gang now radically different in appearance due to the hologram inducers they were wearing, said inducers disguised as belt buckles. Their skin color had changed to resemble young African American youths with slightly frizzled clothes…a suggestion of Noah. Shepherd could guess why. At least he didn't have any of their disguises include cornrows or gold teeth.
"Some of you might be aware…that I've been missing for a few days." Themis started out, his voice saccharine sweet, yet with a foul, cold edge to it as he cracked his knuckles and gripped the podium before the assembled crowd. "Well." He laughed out, raising a hand up and pulling the hood away with a swift gesture. "That's because some people attacked me and my men and did THIS TO ME!" He roared out, pointing at his masked face.
Or rather, his BARELY masked face. The mask had been eaten through, and looked like inverted glass that had somehow FUSED onto half of his skull, for now Themis appeared to be a horrific mockery of the Quarian he'd once been. His voice was now corrupted, an odd metallic, biting ring to it, deep and foul like the almost eaten-away eye socket that was gazing out at the people before him, his mouth muscles exposed and even his teeth appeared to be eaten away. Normally Quarians had soft, faintly indigo skin that had a slightly dazzling glow to them, from what Shepherd had read of those that had SEEN Quarians without their masks. But the exposed skin beneath the fused mask was now a dark, bluish/purple, and veins could be seen throbbing freely as Themis gripped the podium again, people actually SCREAMING in horror and disgust, a few vomits ringing through the air.
"My LORD, he looks like if Leatherface had a kid with Emperor Palpatine!" Lewis gaped out as whispers and cries of terror filled the town hall, one of the Cadres whistling sharply with a whistle he had right around his neck, the Turian lowering it as he gestured at Themis, who waved his hand for silence. One person was actually laughing. Themis gave him a baleful look, and he shut up immediately as Finch immediately shrank, slightly hiding behind Noah.
"Now listen. I know EXACTLY what these miscreants look like." Themis went on, his eyes narrowing behind his mask. "Here's the thing. I only desire…ONE of them. Just one." He murmured, holding up an electronic poster of Filch, the youth gripping Noah's arm like hawk, terror ripping through his tendons. "And I will give 10,000 dollars to anybody who brings this would-be murdering filth's body in. 20,000 if he's ALIVE."
"Twenty…thousand?" Noah mumbled out as tiny little dollar signs popped up in his eye, he, Lewis and Shepherd looking to Filch, who immediately gaped at them in surprise.
"Really?!"
"If you've even word as to where he is, I'll give 100 dollars in tips should you know of his location or of information that could lead to his capture."
IMMEDIATELY hands shot up, people bouncing up and down, hands waving back and forth as cries of "I know where he is" and "Ooh, I know, I know" filled the hall, Themis holding his hands up for quiet once more as he waved a digit in the air. "To determine the truthfulness of such tips, you shall undergo a polygraph test. My associates will administer these tests at the security office on Tenth and Main."
"10,000…" Lewis murmured.
"20,000 if he's alive!" Noah added.
"Woah! Woah! No! Not here, let's talk about this back at home, alright?" Filch said quickly, shaking his head back and forth, arms held up before the rest of the group as they thoughtfully looked Filch over, heading out of the town hall and making their way back to their temporary headquarters in Mr. McKay's lodging as Filch sat down in a single chair in the living room, the others standing to the side and speaking in hushed tones. "HELLO!? Guys!?"
"20,000. That means he HAS 20,000. Wow. I mean…" Noah mumbled.
"That IS a lot of money." Shepherd added as he rubbed his chin, chewing slightly on his lip.
"HEY! You were all with me, remember?!" Filch yelled out, shaking his head back and forth.
"What if we KILLED him, then we…um…no, that wouldn't work." Noah said as he paced around on a small carpet, scratching his head. "Then they wouldn't know where to send the money."
"DUDE!" Filch screamed. "Gee, THANKS, guys. You're such great friends!"
"Dude. It's TWENTY THOUSAND BUCKS." Lewis said, rubbing his forehead as he slightly pursed his lips. "I mean…20,000. It's a freakin' lot of money."
"…yeaaaaah." Filch sighed as he held his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth. "But c'mon, think about it! There's no good way you can do this!"
"He's right. We can't trust Themis as far as we can throw him. And Filch IS our friend." Shepherd finally decided, folding his arms across his chest, shaking his head a bit. "And we're talking about his kidnapping and murder right in FRONT of him!"
"Still…20,000 dollars…" Noah said wistfully before Filch tossed his shoe at Noah, the sneaker bouncing off his head. "OW! The hell!?"
"Look, the only reason he's doing this is to get THIS reaction from you idiots! He WANTS us to turn against each other, WANTS the city to trip over its own shoelaces to get to me! He just wants to lure you out of hiding!" Filch insisted as he stood up from the chair, Noah rubbing his head and frowning.
"Dammit…I hate it when you make sense." Noah decided at last. "But he probably wouldn't pay us. And even if he did, he'd just have his men go after us immediately after, wouldn't he?"
"But there IS money to be made." Shepherd realized, snapping his fingers as a glint entered his eye and he ushered everybody over to the nearest table in the room, putting down a map onto the table and pointing down at the spot where the security center was located on Tenth and Main. "Look. WE know we can't trust Themis. Nobody else does. And we can't just break into the security center and get the money they're offering. Best case scenario: we break into the security center and get into a fight over the box of money they have at the center, which, of course, will be heavily guarded AND under camera surveillance."
"I sense a "but" coming. Please tell me there is a "but" coming. I need to hear these words." Filch begged, hands clasped together as he held them in the air.
"The people GIVING the money will be protected…but the people coming in for tips and being GIVEN the money?"
"Yesssssss…" Noah said as he began to rub his hands together, chuckling darkly. "THEY'RE not guarded. We'll just jump everyone who comes out with money and take it from them!"
…
…
…
… "So his name is Filch." The first tipster remarked to the Turian clerk that Themis had brought in to the deep blue-walled security center, human guards flanking him on all sides, circular cameras hovering around the inside of the center. There was a considerable mass of people within the center all speaking in hushed tones to each other about the five people that had been sent away already, since they'd failed the polygraph test, indicating they couldn't be trusted.
"This guy's name is MUD." Noah promised as Filch readied a vibro-blade, set on the "Heavy Stun" setting as they held a listening device to the wall of the security center via the alley they were within. "And you are so, totally, absolutely dead." He added as they finally got HOLD of him, Filch putting the knife to the man's throat as he gulped nervously.
"Woah, woah, I draw the line at KILLING people." Shepherd insisted firmly, grabbing hold of Filch's hand and gripping it harshly, slowly lowering it away from the man's throat.
"Alright, fine. But everything else is up for grabs, alright? These jerks were willing to let Filch get hung up by his toes and used as target practice." Noah insisted as Shepherd nodded, drawing his fist back.
THWACK!
"Yeah, he hangs out late Thursdays at the "Robot Unicorn" tavern, I've seen him hitting on this barmaid, I've got her number, you can call her if you'd like…"
"Time for me to do a different kind of hitting!" Filch promised the man as they readied a frying pan that Lewis had brought with him. What? Mr. McKay's lodgings didn't have THAT many weapons. It'd look suspicious for an octogenarian to order a high-caliber rifle and have it delivered to an address on Tenth and East Street!
THRA-KRAK!
"Who SAYS men can't use a skillet, am I RIGHT boys?" Filch laughed, giving everyone a high five as they bounced up and down, wooping a bit before toning it down, not wanting to be overheard as they quickly looted the unconscious man's body.
"He's always talking to this punk named Noah. Real snotty kid. He's got this big, dumb JEW nose too, lives on Tenth and Main at this ratty place…"
"The Jews? Really?" Noah asked as he rifled through the next tipster's pockets, shaking his head back and forth. "That's IT? C'mon. I'm an equal opportunity racist. I hate everybody equally. That's TRUE equality."
"Yes, one day perhaps the Jews can hate you as much as you hate them."
"Actually I AM Jewish." Noah admitted. "I hate myself for being a flagrant racist stereotype. But can you BELIEVE how much cash this guy had on him? Besides the 100 he's got, like, almost 1000 bucks in here! I can buy a waterbed!"
"And how about you spend the remaining 650 on THERAPY?" Shepherd wanted to know, raising an eyebrow up as he lifted the unconscious victim of their mugging up onto his shoulder, putting him by a nearby dumpster before they took off for their lodgings once again.
Pretty soon a pattern was beginning to emerge for the people of their city who wanted to give tips. The realization that…nobody COULD. Because if you went in wanting a tip and weren't speaking honestly, the guards would just beat you up and send you on your way. However those that truly did know anything of Filch or the Tenth Street Red gang he hung out with were getting beaten up…and straight-up jacked. It was essentially a no-win scenario. Within a week the tips utterly dried up…
And Themis was FURIOUS.
"THOSE LITTLE BOSH'TETS!" The quarian roared out, banging his fists on his desk, one eye slightly bulging as the veins throbbed across his face, the rest of the security cadre glancing around at each other. "How can we not have found them?! Where in blazes are they!?"
"Despite everything we've learned, nothing panned out. And whatever information might still be left to learn…nobody is willing to talk, sir. We tried, but…everyone's terrified of these "Tenth Street Reds". Worse still they do all their crimes disguised with hologram inducers." One of the Turian captain of the guards admitted nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head back and forth. "The only way we even found out that it was the Reds doing it was that they always wear the same CLOTHING in the inducer disguises…"
"Nothing?!" Themis held his head in his hands, his steely desk now a wreck, papers flung everywhere, little chotkches tossed to the ground as he grumbled darkly, muttering almost incoherently with rage. The wound was not getting better. If anything, it was getting WORSE because infection had set in. He had to fly in specialists to take care of this because no amount of medi-gel was curing what those "bratty little bosh'tets" had done. He'd practically bathed his FACE in it and it hadn't taken care of the scarring.
"Sir?" The turian captain of the guard asked. "We've informed the rest of the Cadre to continue looking for possible leads…"
"Good. But for now…keep it on the backburner. Let the Tenth Street Reds think they've finally outwitted me. I can shelve this…and I'll know when to act." Themis murmured softly as he steepled his hands, a smile spreading across his foul face. "I will wait…and we will see…see how long it takes before they slip up. And then…they're MINE."
…
…
…
…Shepherd, of course, had no knowledge any of this was going on. His only concern now was starting a new life for himself. Now he had money to pay for the paperwork he needed to enroll in the military…and a little extra for supplies. In fact, he was off for training within a week. So for now, he was just waiting for his new life to begin…
And also waiting for Mr. McKay to continue his story. "So what happened? The war ended, right?"
"Yes. And Nick tracked down Jack and Eva. He called in a favor from Mr. Arterius, said he wanted to get them back home, and Saren agreed. Turns out Jack had been unconscious for weeks and was being cared for in the medical bay of the main flagship of the Turian fleet's fourth platoon which had been guarding Shanxi's quadrant and the 314th Mass Relay we'd found." Lucas admitted with a nod of his wrinkled old head, and as he coughed, Shepherd was suddenly struck with how…
How very SMALL Mr. McKay seemed to be. How old and…how small. Why had he not noticed this before? Why had he never seemed to take notice of the many wrinkles stretching across Lucas's face like gorges? The slightly yellowish, caked skin on his cheeks, the slight coughing fits he'd tried to hide, the wheezing, rasping breaths that emitted from the old man after every story? Jesus, a mere STORY got the old man winded.
" , I…I just want you to know that…I never really had a grandpa that I ever knew, but…" Shepherd trailed off, hesitating, unsure of what to say. "I just…want to say this. You, that is, I think you…if I could choose a grandpa, I'd…I'd want one who did the stuff you did for me." He finally managed to get out, as if the words were trying to shove themselves back down his throat.
"I understand, Shep." Lucas said with a soft smile. "Will you promise me you'll write me?" He asked. "When you're away with your men in whatever foxhole you're within?" He wanted to know, a chuckle rising from his throat.
"I promise, sir." Shepherd said with a nod as Lucas rested his hands in his lap, rocking slightly back and forth in his chair as he cheerily tapped his own forehead.
"If I remember correctly, Nick said Saren was oddly…pleased to see him. He seemed to be eager to show something off. When Nick told me what it was about, I was surprised. It appeared that the artifact they'd found in that cave had been of surprising use to the Turians…"
"And Ms. Eva?"
"Well, Ms. Eva Core was still a prisoner, same as Jack…but really more of a guest in handcuffs than a genuine prisoner." Lucas said with a shrug.
"So why the handcuffs?" Nick inquired as he walked alongside of Saren Arterius and Dr. Eve Core in a long, steely hallway, looking over at Saren's solemn-faced form. He was sure that if the Turian just closed his eyes and spread his arms out along the wall, he'd blend in perfectly as part of the surroundings. "I assure you we're not gonna try anything. For one, I don't know how to fly anything worth a darn. And for two…"
"It's to make sure the crew feels you can't try anything." Saren said calmly. "Just a matter of…regulation, really." The deep-toned Turian insisted as Nick noticed the Turian was looking at him with intense, eyes. The palest of eyes, with a chilling hue of Trojan blue staring into hazel green. "Luckily your friend is evidently close to coming out of unconsciousness and-"
"What're you doing to me?!" Jack Harper roared out, struggling to get free of the metallic clamps that were pinning him down to an almost dentist-esque chair, complete with odd medical instruments atop a rotating tool table nearby. "Let me GO!"
"Stop, human!" A red and white-dressed Turian medic insisted, shaking his head back and forth, he and another medic holding Jack down against the chair. "The restraints are for your OWN protection as much as ou-"
"Jack!" Eva cried out, Jack looking at the hallway to see her standing by Saren and the kid, who cheerily waved at him as Eva ran over to him, Saren giving the medics a firm nod.
"It's about time we removed the restraints. He shall no longer be needing them." The Turian insisted as Jack wrapped an arm around Eva, the blond-haired doctor breathing deep into his shoulder as she tightly embraced him in return.
"Eva, how long was I out? Where are we?"
"You're a prisoner, I'm afraid. Both of us. Mr. Grey here came to get us out. We've been on this ship since we left Shanxi, and you've been in a coma for weeks."
"I was lucky to get a shuttle that was so simple even an idiot like ME could drive it." Nick added with a nod. "But, um…listen, Mr. Harper, I…your friend, , he…" Nick chewed on his lip. "From what the reports said…"
"Ben's DEAD, Jack." Eva whispered tearfully as Jack blinked stupidly in surprise.
"He's…dead? How?"
"That thing in the cave, Jack! It electrocuted Ben, nearly killed you and Mr. Grey too! I'm amazed you and he weren't fried." Eva said, gritting her teeth as she helped Jack up from the chair and he held his head, shaking it back and forth as he struggled to remember what had happened.
"I didn't actually touch it, Ben did. I tried to help, I knew the risks, but…he…" He trailed off, biting his lip a bit as Nick walked forward, helping Jack up as well as he put an arm around Eva, Nick putting a hand on his shoulder. "Where's Ben? We should bury him."
"That bastard Desolas split us up when they came for the artifact, and for all I know they tossed his body in a ditch somewhere." Eva murmured.
"Jack, I just want you to know you did everything you could have." Nick said softly. "You did the right thing. That's a rare thing sometimes to see, especially in war."
"Heh." Saren chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Jack wanted to know, eyes narrowing at the turian. "And just who the hell are you?" The brown-haired human hissed out, practically spitting at the vaguely reptilian alien before him as the alien scanned him over with an odd remote-like object, an orangish/golden holo-pad unfolding before the remote as it examined his body.
"For one, you seem utterly unaffected, unlike your comrade. You're in perfect health, as far as we know. Two, that "bastard Desolas" is my brother, whom you should be grateful for considering he didn't leave your friend here to die. And three, in case you've forgotten, you're not going to a prison camp."
"You're not taking us to your home planet of Palaven, then?" Eva said with a slight frown on her features, arms folded before her chest.
"No. You see, we are now within mere miles of Arcturus Station." Saren remarked, waving a hand in the air. "Point three…you've been out for quite some time. Things have changed. In fact…the war is over."
"And I'm taking you home." Nick said with a cheery grin, wrapping his arms around Eva and Jack. "In fact, General Williams is waiting for us right now."
…
…
…
… "Well, well, WELL. We meet again Desolas…or should I say "General Arterius". It IS "general", now, isn't it?" Williams wished to know as Desolas approached him, flanked by two people in hooded cloaks utterly shrouded from view. You couldn't even tell what species they were as the blue-painted face of Desloas looked Williams over, taking notice of the scar.
"Quite a fine battle scar." Desolas said with a chuckle. "Sorry for not properly identifying myself when we first met upon Shanxi, General Williams. But to be fair, the rest of your people were fleeing for their lives, so I just assumed you were busy."
"Your memory is suffering from convient amnesia, because you seem to have forgotten we took the planet BACK." General Williams muttered, for he was also flanked by men as well.
"HOO-RAH!" The guards next to the general proclaimed, Desolas rolling his eyes slightly as Williams looked over the beings in cloaks.
"What's with the escort? Who are these…I assume PEOPLE?"
"Don't imagine you know everything about the Turian species, General Williams. There's more to us than you know, and had the Citadel Council not intervened, you would have found out." Desolas warned him with a cheery air of menace as Williams leaned in close to glare back in his face, electricity sparking in the air between the two as their bodies tensed.
"The cease-fire wasn't MY idea, and if you want to fight it out, I'm happy to oblige. But otherwise do what I sent my associate to do…and give me my people."
"You should consider yourself lucky that that human was able to bring my brother safely back. Had he not, I would never be giving them back." Desolas remarked calmly as Saren, Eva, Jack and Nick descended the ramp from the ship they'd been brought in down to the "diplomatic negotiations" going on.
"Well it pays to have friends in high-" Williams began to say, Eva suddenly gritting her teeth and DIVING at Desolas.
"DESOLAS, YOU BASTARD!"
"Eva, don't-oh, there she goes!" Jack groaned as Nick smacked his face, pulling it slightly down with one hand as Eva slammed into Desolas and knocked him to the ground, Saren chuckling a bit at how quickly she'd knocked him down.
"You didn't even TRY to help Hislop, my friend is DEAD because of you!" She screamed in Desolas's face as Saren tugged her back with one hand.
"Easy with her, Saren. They might bark like varren, but they're quite fragile." Desolas said as he rubbed his sore, punched-out chin as Saren "harrumphed" slightly.
"Well I had to do SOMETHING, brother, those bodyguards of yours aren't really of much use." He said, looking over at the cloaked figures as they clasped their hands together, slightly turning to look at Saren as Desolas stood up.
"They have their purposes, my brother. You simply have to know how to…TALK to them." Desolas said as Jack helped Eva up, Nick's eyes narrowing as Desolas spoke to the figures in a strange tongue. "Sahlam behal jahlar, hasay firi mingahm dahnam…"
"We need to return to the device…" Nick mumbled, Jack finishing off as he rubbed his chin, his eyes faintly…glowing?
"As soon as possible, but we've got much to do, we need to get back to…HMMMM…" Jack frowned a bit. That word…that last word…
Desolas momentarily looked in their direction, as if he couldn't believe they'd understood it before waving a hand in the air, glaring slightly over at Eva. "Anyhow, General, your…WOMAN'S…attack is a total violation of treaty protocol! Under these circumstances it's only right I take these prisoners back-"
"Oh, I think you've had them long ENOUGH." General Williams said icily as Saren put a hand on his brother's shoulder, Nick smoothly moving in between Jack and Eva as he folded his arms across his chest, hands gripping tightly into said arms as the general's lips curled in disgust. "Now get. Off. My. STATION!"
…
…
…
… "Perfect bill of health my ASS. Ben wouldn't agree." Jack mumbled as he sat in the medical bay, Nick swishing around a thermometer in his mouth before taking it out and looking it over, the sterile walls of the medical bay glowing faintly like the light fixture above. "That thing wasn't "harmless", I'm sure of it."
"I know. I'm sorry about Ben Hislop, he was a damn good kid. There…there were a lot of good kids out there." General Williams mumbled softly. "We were on the edge of winning until the Alliance told us to suck face with the Turians. So now we're currying favor with this Citadel bunch."
"More aliens." Jack muttered.
"They united over the greatest of American principles, I assure you." Nick said.
"Money talks?"
"…that's the OTHER great principle." Nick mumbled out. "I was going with "The spirit of cooperation to bring about a brighter tomorrow."
"Money talks." General Williams said with a shrug. "And I can't even STOMACH that. I think I'm gonna resign."
"I know I CAN'T, sir, not with the things I've seen. And I overheard Desolas. He talked to those things. He said they needed to RETURN to the device. It's worth checking out." Jack said as he thoughtfully rubbed his chin, General Williams smiling wryly and giving him a nod.
"If the two of you together can understand what they say, then perhaps you can spy on them. If they ARE up to something behind the Alliance's back, well…I'm not going to shed any tears over finishing what we started." Williams insisted. "Take the shuttle I had given Mr. Grey. I think Ms. Core should drive, though, if you feel the need for speed."
"You're just GIVING it to us?" Nick asked.
"He's just giving it to us." Jack insisted to Eva as they sat in the cockpit of the ship, Jack holding his head as sweatbeads broke out over his forehead. "It was his to give, he got awarded it for this big rerouting back on Shanxi."
"I unfortunately missed that one because I was whacked over the head and left to die in a ditch." Nick sighed sadly, sitting in a passenger chair nearby, resting one head on his first as he chewed on his lip. "I'm just glad Lucas found me and brought me back. Williams is lucky he got a ship so user-friendly!"
"I'll say. It's comfortable, sleek, and I haven't flown anything half as nice as…" Eva began before Jack began to cough, Eva looking over at him as he flopped slightly in his chair, Eva bounding out of hers and kneeling by him. "Jack! Oh, I KNEW it was too soon for you to go anywhere. You were in a coma for weeks! We can't do this right now!"
"We can't wait, Eva…I can't wait. I've been having headaches…visions…of darkness. Destruction. The future…all tied to that artifact. It called to the Turians from the cave. That's why we have to go. I know where they took it."
"Where? Palaven? There's no way we can go there!" Eva insisted, shaking her head back and forth as Jack held a hand up, wiping sweat from his brow with his other hand.
"No. Not Palaven…they call it ILLIUM."
…
…
…
… "This doesn't make a damn bit of sense." Eva muttered balefully as she typed quickly away at the pale orange control console to their ship. "I must have been out of my mind to let you come here. We're near the Terminus Systems, for God's sake. They're practically lawless. And from what I've read, you couldn't even start a freakin' garage band with the number of humans that have seen Illium!"
"Think of it as enlightening, as a scientific expedition, going where no human has gone before. Think of it as a far-reaching criminal investigation as we undercover suspicious activity. Think of it as an adventure, as FUN!" Nick reasoned.
"FUN?!"
"Well…if ya bought the first two…" Nick lamely finished, hanging his head as Jack shook his head back and forth, the two of them approaching the pale planet of Illium as Mr. Harper chuckled a bit in his passenger seat.
"I was practically dying a few hours ago, but now I'm feeling much better since we're here. Trust me, things are gonna start looking up. For one, you're going to get a shot at a certain Turian general over what happened to Ben. This is your big chance, Eva. I KNOW the artifact is here, and I can't imagine Desolas going anywhere without it."
"He might already be gone, but…" Eva trailed off as they touched down at a bustling, busy space port, getting out of the ship and looking around, awed at what was before them as hovercars passed overhead around towering skyscrapers of glass and steel. Lights lit up the towers in thick bars along with brightly glowing neon signs as tiny red lights flickered on and off atop the tallest of the skyscrapers, glistening windows reflecting the almost eternally-setting sun of Illium as it cast soft golden/red rays over the three, Eva taking in a long, deep breath of amazement, surprised at how…crisp and NEW everything felt. It was like taking in a new car smell, only…everywhere!
"Woooowwwwww." Nick whispered. "No matter how many times I see places like this…they never stop being so darn BEAUTIFUL."
"It's amazing. It must have taken forever to build all of this…" Dr. Eva Core murmured quietly. "And yet it all looks so new…" She sighed. "Look at it! How are we going to catch up to our "friends" here?"
"We'll have it all, soon. We humans are resilient. We adapt. Learn. You hit us with something we've not seen before and a week later we're mass-producing it and selling it back to you…new and improved!" Jack laughed as he clapped Eva on the back, the two making their way past blue-skinned feminine alien after blue-skinned feminine alien, all of them lacking any hair, possessing only tentacle-like appendages brushed down and slicked back, some with deep purple eyes, others with alluring blue, and all of them…well…buxom. Some weren't even trying to hide it, their outfits resembled something Barbie would wear…and not merely in how much skin was shown, but in how TINY it was!
"You will not look, you will not look, you will not look!" Nick snapped at himself, whacking his forehead repeatedly with the butt of his hand as Eva giggled. "Darn temptresses! It's like we're in Oz and there's beautiful Glindas everywhere!"
"Hold on, Dorothy. I know how impressive everything here is, but remember Arthur C. Clarke's third law."
"Who?"
"Arthur C. Clarke." Jack said, tapping the side of his head. "VERY old school science fiction writer. He wrote that sufficiently advanced technology shall always look like magic. If you remember that, you needn't fear it. But…" He trailed off. "…I think that some of this might actually BE magic."
"Oh, that's great!" Nick said, clasping his hands together and beaming broadly. "But you aren't going to really get what you want." He added quietly.
"What? What're you talking about?"
"Jack, if there's anything I've learned about the great beyond and the answers it gives, it's…that they're hard to see when you go LOOKING for them. You gotta kinda let them come to you." Nick reasoned as several asari approached them. "Case in point."
"Ahh! Excuse me, ma'am…" Jack remarked, beginning to speak to the two as Eva scratched her head. She didn't understand a word he was saying, but clearly whatever he said was helpful, because he walked back to her, grinning from ear to ear. "Well, they DID in fact see some men in cloaks! Even gave me directions!"
"You…spoke Asari. You actually know Asari." Eva murmured, gaping in surprise as Jack shrugged.
"Just…CAME to me. Strange. But anyhow…" He gestured to one of several parked hover cars that were built for four people and which had a navy blue paint job, chuckling a bit as he opened up the top. "They also said we could use these cars, they're for public transporation. So…want to try a REAL "foreign model"?" he asked of the two as they climbed inside and he began typing away on it's control console.
"What're you doing?" She asked as music began to play on it's stereo system, Jack nodding his head to the rhythmic techno beat.
"I'm surfing the extranet nexus looking for information on the relic, or at least a device by its description, AND surfing the local radio stations AND I'm checking my personal mail!" He explained with a cheery grin. "This is positively amazing."
"Jack, I'm worried that thing has affected you far worse than it did Hilsop." Eva murmured nervously. "Anyhow, I feel I have to ask…why would they not just bring it back to their home city?"
"Maybe they don't know any more about it than we do and they're here to talk to some expert." Nick reasoned with a shrug.
"Or maybe it's a weapon and they don't want it going off near home. Anything is possible…" Jack added before a "ping" echoed through the car. "Ah-HA! Jackpot. Somebody just posted on the extranet they saw cloaked figures meeting in a storage area in the East section of the city, on one of it's lower levels…"
…
…
…
…the shadows danced softly in the pale light of the warehouse as Eva and Jack and Nick made their way past boxes and crates, glancing around nervously. Jack readied his pistol along with Eva as Nick tied several white bands around his wrists, evidently readying himself for a fistfight as Jack rolled his eyes. "You never heard of the phrase "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight"?"
"Look, you do your thing, I'll do mine and we'll see how well your thing works for you." Nick reasoned as the two whispered back and forth.
"Why would they want to meet HERE? This place doesn't look safe." Eva murmured out as she readied her own pistol, chewing on her lip as they slunk past one of many railing-covered hallways.
"A lot of this city is under surveillance from what I read on the extranet. It's got a high crime rate. I imagine that whomever's with those cloaked figures wanted to get clear of it. Keep your eyes peeled. They could have figured out I know more than I'm supposed to and might want to grab me." Jack admitted. "I'm pretty sure Desolas noticed I could tell what he was saying to his "little friends", and I wanna find out what all this is about, once and for all."
"OH CRAP, HIT THE DECK!" Nick yelled out as what he had assumed at first were shadows of cargo suddenly MOVED, turians appearing from the darkness, all cloaked…save for a very particular one at the head, who was readying a high-caliber assault rifle.
"I'll be damned. You found your way here just like my brother guessed. You were holding OUT on us, Mr. Harper! And evidently you were far more affected by the "Arca Monolith" we discovered than we believed. Looks like we've got some more tests to run." Saren Arterius said, chuckling a bit as he readied the assault rifle.
"RUN? Good idea. Let's bolt!" Nick yelled out as he grabbed hold of a nearby crate and tossed it through the air as it's contents spilled out, red sand flying through the air as Saren coughed slightly, shaking his head back and forth.
"Really? THAT old cliché? Now you're making me invoke another through your futile attempt to escape…SEIZE THEM!" Saren roared out, the cloaked figures racing after them as Jack and Eva fired back, Nick tossing more crates he could get his hands on.
One of them actually grabbed hold of a crate of its own, even larger than the ones Nick had, launching it like a fastball through the air as Eva managed to dive out of the way just in time, gasping in surprise as it panted slightly, it's pale blue eyes glittering beneath its hood as Eva cringed. "Jack what in hell ARE these things?!" She cried out.
"Let's guess later, let's just get outta-GAHK!" Jack was yanked up by the thing that had tossed the crate at them, the cloaked being growling in his face as Eva gasped in surprise.
"Jack! Let him go, you sonofa-" She cried out, bounding onto it and yanking it's hood back as Jack shook his head back and forth.
"Eva, don't! It's-"
The hood fell back…and though there were metallic veins bursting through his neck, and skin ripped open exposing what appeared to be synthetic muscle beneath the flesh…though his hair was slightly burnt and frayed and his fingers had become foul claws…without a doubt in any of their mind…
"IT'S BEN!"