Chapter 9: Disaster
Mordin did not hesitate at all. Once the message vanished – and he discovered he's in full control of the emergent God Slow, he widened his stance while flexing his fingers experimentally, and charged. His decision to fight right away so swift that even the dôji – who expected him to be just as bewildered by this development as he – was taken aback.
Truthfully, a million and one questions had risen up in his mind – demanding answers. But he shook his head and decided that now's not the time for Q&A – there are enemies right in front of them that need to be destroyed if they are to live another day.
He balled his left hand into a fist and attempted to strike his opponent head-on, which was echoing his movements, bringing its own to counter him instead of dodging.
A thought came to mind though.. and acted upon it; lifting his arm a little further – avoiding the kurozu drill-punch, unfolded God Slow's elongated claws and grabbed the enemy's arm instead, hard enough for the claws to dig deeply into its armor.
Another howl from the enemy signaled the other arm being brought to bear.
Mordin did not bother to block, instead he brought up his free arm and slapped the creature across its face with enough force to send it flying into the wall behind it. The launch so forceful that the arm he held onto was torn off at the elbow. And promptly threw the amputated arm away without a further thought.
"You're so fast, Mordin.. Amazing." the orb hovering in front of him pulsed softly as Slow spoke up in astonishment.
"Not as incredible as this.." the doctor replied as he raised his limbs to look at the wires attached to them, which were immediately echoed by the mecha. As God Slow, the dôji's power had increased significantly – to a degree he could only guess at. "Why did you not suggest we do this sooner?"
"Full-body transformations have been nothing but theory among my people. Our highest leader has tried to research it for centuries without finding out how to do it..." the dôji half-mumbled thoughtfully, "So an organic's needed to do it, huh? Our creator sure was a nut case, coming up with such a requirement, considering Earth's current circumstances."
"Perhaps he anticipated this."
When Slow replied, he sounded quite understandably bewildered by that possibility; "How can anyone anticipate su- behind!"
An image popped up in the air next to his head, displaying lesser machines pouring from what was left of the elevator, hundreds of them – all bearing down on the other dôji and his remaining comrades, all who appeared unaware of the enemy approach. "Bunch of.." Mordin cursed as he turned, "Assist me." an additional image popped up with suggested weapon, which the salarian immediately clicked with the tap of a finger, initiating reconfiguration of the ICON's left gauntlet. Rapidly reconfiguring it into a visage of a large stylized deer's head with an open mouth sporting an impressive triple-Gatling gun array. A very old kind of design, but very fitting for countering the numbers they're up against.
"There's nothing I can't miss. Ergo, you can't." Slow assured his pilot, "Noh power. Fate manipulations, activate! Fire at will."
Mordin solidified his stance as he brought the massive gun to bear, and braced for a recoil as he aimed for the kurozu closest to the squad, with targeting dots appearing across the display to indicate his targets.. and with the tightening of a fist; fired. And the weapon did so with incredibly ferocity, speed and power, yet there was not much recoil at all.. it seemed like his prior preparation was a wasted one.
The salarian watched as the first dozen of machines were pulverized by the barrage, as they attempted to rush to and seize the wounded Sweeper along with some of the others – and subsequently obliterated the rest of the swarm as he raked them with gunfire all the way to the elevator. Not a single bullet wasted as Fate manipulation ensured that every bullet found a target.
But there was no time to admire the sight as the Deus ex Machina rose back up again, its lost arm replaced by one cobbled together by a number of minor machines. About to reenter the melee.
The last few minutes had been one shock after another. First, Ridge died.. then Slow – an aspect – was beaten around.. Then he transformed into this giant – apparently triggering the almost mythical full-body transformation with Mordin's help. And almost effortlessly put the Deus ex Machina on the defensive.
So captivated he and the others were by the sight that they barely even noticed the approaching swarm, not even when they were almost upon them. That is, until the ICON whipped around and opened fire, sending several thunderclaps through them as it utterly destroyed the large set of targets, the resulting noise striking them like fists to the ears. The organics either doubling over or crying out in pain as it nearly destroyed their eardrums, while the two dôji simply winced. The wounded Sweeper turning around to realize how close he was to death when the closest corpses of kurozu crash-landed practically by his feet. The optics of the closest one staring him in the eyes from mere inches away before they flickered and shut down. The shocked dôji stumbling away from the sight in near-shock.
"Everyone, fall back!" the giant boomed with Slow's voice as it turned back to face the kurozu avatar, even as more machines descended from the elevator.
Dirge took a step forward, "W-what about you?!"
"We will hold the line." this time it was Mordin's voice. His tone urgent.
The dôji shuddered, he did not want to leave them to fight this alone.. The organics were already retreating into the nearby passage, acting upon Benezia's orders. Only leaving himself and Sweeper – who came over and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the approaching enemy even as the ICON doubled back to fend them off. "Let's go..."
"B-but..."
Sweeper turned to shout at him; "Right now we're only in the way... This has gotten too big for us."
He did not want to admit it, but Sweeper was right. Between such a high-class Deus ex Machina and the thousands of other machines coming for them... they've become the soft package in the need of protection. Dirge's lips set into one thin line before he nodded with extreme reluctance, looking up to the giant, "S-sir, please don't die..."
"Don't dally, guys." Slow said gently far above them, "We'll live to see another sunrise. Now go."
Dirge and Sweeper both bowed awkwardly before they left to catch up with the organics.
"To think that you can transform to such an extent, dôji." the Deus ex Machina muttered, its synthetic voice dripping with exasperated disgust as it stomped towards its enemy, with a continuously growing swarm of squids forming up behind it.
"Is that jealousy I hear?" Slow giggled melodiously. Seemingly unaffected by the growing opposition, and knowing that what they've fought up till now is just the tip of the iceberg.
"Disgusting. To be piloted by an organic.."
But Slow – mentally, as he was not in control – waved it off, "Disgusting.. it's a word that should only apply to you and your murderous kind."
"Enough.." Mordin's voice surfaced as God Slow settled into a combative stance. "No amount of words can settle this. Fight. And see who's argument's the most convincing."
The Deus ex Machina snorted. Several pieces of its armor popped off to produce a series of emergency vents as it began releasing huge amounts of heat. Overclocking itself to the fullest.
Between the giants, the air blurred all of a sudden as the kurozu and the ICON exchanged blows at near-impossible speed. Mordin and Slow countering by having the dôji's Noh run continuously. Each opponent countering, parrying, dodging and blocking while delivering a barrage of punches, slashes and thrusts in return while circling around one another in a battle that more resembled a dance than an outright duel to the death.
However, such a fight is unsustainable. On one side, it's only a matter of time before it proves too taxing for the organic to keep up. While the kurozu's joints – due to overheating from the overclocking – will inevitably break or melt from the immense strain if it keeps going for too long.
The enemy got one additional weakness though, one arm's made out of what can roughly be called peasants. The lowest of the low in terms of combat hardware, against strong defenses only useful in large numbers. The arm gradually disintegrating as the fisticuffs continued, until a tiny chink appeared in the Deus ex Machina's defense.
Whether or not it was caused by the weak arm falling apart, or because a joint or two broke down – Mordin, with his sharp mind – honed by many missions for the STG – acted upon the tiny speck of advantage he managed to make out; slammed the kurozu's strong arm aside for long enough to apply a strong kick to its midsection, sending it crashing into the hangar doors – which buckled under the sudden stress put against the aging structure and fell apart, allowing the mass of sand and dirt outside – which had until now remained completely undisturbed for thousands of years – to pour in like a tidal wave.
Mordin knew that it wasn't the end though, and pushed God Slow to trudge quickly through the steadily spreading carpet of sand. The number of squids around it rendered inconsequential as the duel continued.
The AI cursed as it got back up again, despite the sand all around it. A couple of its emergency vents getting clogged as bucket-loads of sand got into them and were turned into glass by the intense heat.
The salarian upon arriving, lowered his stance and delivered a punch, and put all of his strength into it – copied and greatly amplified by the mecha he piloted – against the machine's chest.
What happened was much like sending a bullet through someone's body. A projectile produce one small hole upon entry, and leaves a huge exit-wound in its wake. In this case, God Slow was the triggering mechanism of the gun. The Deus ex Machina; the bullet.. And the mass of sand between them and the surface; the body.
The surface south of the Prothean archives exploded outwardly with cataclysmic force, throwing hundreds of tons of sand and dirt into the skies like a hurricane, tossing what was left of the base outside about like little toys and sent the tens of thousands of oily black kurozu still swarming the skies scattered to avoid the destruction. The remains of the Deus ex Machina soon crashing into the ground after having traveled an additional three hundred feet into the air with what remained of its kinetic energy. Its limbs had all had been torn off and its chest gutted through and through, unable to withstand what the avatar had just been put through.
The dust settling, God Slow was now shown standing atop the now-exposed prothean structure, its shiny armor making it glow like a star had been born amidst the continuing sandstorm. The posture low and its elongated arms held out wide, with claws arrayed, waiting for whatever the enemy planned to throw at the aspect and his organic pilot next.
The answer came soon enough, two thousand squids rushed at it from all sides, to keep it busy while all the rest gathered into groups and cobbled themselves together to form a twisted horde of several hundred minor Deus ex Machina – shaped like skeletons of many animals from apes to birds of prey. Their malevolent multitude of eyes glaring at the single target they were brought to bear against. If one S-class could not handle this heavily transformed dôji, then maybe hundreds of lowly D-class just might. "Such power." they all echoed as the lone AI that controlled the S-class spoke through them, "But no matter how much, you are just one. One measly dôji relying on a flawed existence. You will give in."
God Slow seemed to regard the encroaching distraction as little but an annoyance, both of its gauntlets transforming to form an array of what appeared to be speakers. "Howl!" it cried out in the aspect's voice, "Karakuri henge – Song of Fortuna!"
What came from the speakers was not the expected song, but powerful sonic waves; projecting a wall of pure sound that cleared a large area around the ICON – shaking apart one-third of the attackers in an instant. Effective enough to force the rest behind to break off the suicidal rush and retreat to a safe distance – if only to circle around their target like a flock of hungry vultures, just outside the sonic weapon's range of effect.
That wouldn't save them though. With such large numbers of Deus ex Machina forming up behind them, there is no room for any distractions. The speakers on the ICON's gauntlets were deconstructed and flipped around, forming a number of pods in their stead.. using chunks of the gauntlets to construct and launch a large volley of missiles at the surrounding carpet of targets. Each leaving an almost artistic trail as the guided munitions flew across the initial distance in erratic trajectories before finally achieving a target lock, split open, and launched each their own set of munitions at the closest set of targets – filling the surrounding view with light as the barrage explosively reduced the swarm of squids to bits and pieces.
During the resulting lull, Slow regarded his salarian pilot, "This..." the dôji nearly panted, "... is so~ exhilarating. I've never felt this much power before. Ever." so drunk on this feeling that he momentarily forgot to check up on how Mordin's feeling. And when he finally did, he noticed his pilot lurching slightly to the side; "Um, you alright?"
"No problem." Mordin sniffed as he forced himself back up to look at the orb squarely. "Salarians only require one hour of sleep per day... Short lifespan and high metabolism. Much to do, little time."
"Sounds pretty hard to me. For how long do salarians live?"
"Forty years."
"That short?" Slow asked, sounding incredulous. "How old are you?"
Mordin shrugged while keeping a lookout. The amount of noise in the background now steadily decreasing. The calm before a turbulent storm. "Close to retirement by salarian reckoning. Looking forward to collecting seashells."
The dôji's voice turned grim and solemn as he replied, "Let's make sure you get through this then in one piece." also watching as the horde of kurozu appeared from the veil of sand around them. Stomping, slithering and flying as they all moved in the direction of God Slow from every direction. Mordin about to launch an attack against the closest one when the ground in the far distance suddenly – and violently - exploded, scattering the existing sandstorm momentarily as the event sent shock waves throughout the region – destroying the kurozu closest to the blast, while the rest were knocked down. So fierce the shock was that even God Slow toppled and fell off the building... "W-what was that?!" Slow near-shouted as he stared at the skies above – barely able to make out a tiny projectile descending from far above the instant before it impacted the ground, destroying even more.
"Bombardment.." the salarian described it with one word as he looked over the images provided to him by Slow; "The fleet has arrived?"
"I'm all for some backup, but isn't this a little too intense?" the dôji inquired as surrounding region was carpeted by a rain of shells, causing enormous devastation of the area surrounding the prothean structure, "The tremors could be detrimental to those below us..."
"No time to think about that. Not right now." as Mordin fought to get the mecha back upright, a number of Deus ex Machina in the process of rushing them even as the bombardment continued. The situation turning into a melee as Mordin shoved the ICON's claws through the midsection of the closest one, tore it in half, seized the top half of the body and then swung it around overhead before bringing it down on the next one, smashing its head in.
Unfazed by the losses, two additional kurozu rushed in from up front, using this moment to try and strike at the transformed dôji and his pilot, who dropped the torso he was holding and leaped away from them – narrowly avoiding the blows. Mordin looked over his shoulder to see yet another one – attempting an attack from behind. In reaction, the salarian whipped around and sliced it apart with one absurdly quick slash, the separate pieces crashing into the ground. And that was just the beginning as more came closing in from all sides, bluntly ignoring the hail of bombardment occurring all around them. The AI focusing its attention fully on trying to dismantle the ICON.
It was fortunate that these Deus ex Machina are so low-class, it allowed Mordin to tear through them with little difficulty. Further fortunate because this battle was far more taxing than he would like to admit, his tired mind acting more and more like a machine as he continued to fight – as if someone had just put him on autopilot. Killing everything that got in his way.
The rampage continued, with the number of mechanical corpses piling up around God Slow until a final heavy round landed nearly on top of them – obliterating what remained of the enemy, and sent the ICON crashing across the area, away from the resulting blast.
It was only after the world had stopped spinning that Slow managed to let out a cry of agonizing pain as error messages scrolled across his vision. The strike so powerful that even he couldn't escape from it unharmed. Suffering from extensive structural damage... not to mention the power he gained as an ICON was draining away. "Am... am I dying...?" he asked before mentally slapping himself. No, he wasn't dying. He's just collapsing back to his normal form.
But that left him with a bit of a dilemma as he directed his attention to Mordin, who had been knocked unconscious – which is largely the reason why the ICON mode is currently unraveling. Those weren't the real issues though; returning to his normal form meant leaving the salarian completely exposed to the inhospitable atmosphere of this ball of dirt.
Unwilling to let him die, the moment they were disengaged from one another, Slow took what actions were necessary to protect the alien, only barely noticing the hum of engines amidst the storm as turian dropships approached the surface.
Once done securing Mordin, he closed his eyes and descended into a deep sleep. Unaware of what was going to happen.
Fifteen minutes later...
Location: Mars; Prothean archives; 13th floor.
Some time had passed since the violent tremors – caused by what was quickly recognized as a case of orbital bombardment – which signaled a swift end to the horrendous battle that had been raging up until that point between the synthetic belligerents, and the expedition's very own Doctor Mordin – backed up by Slow.
Deep inside the structure together with what few survivors remained, Matriarch Benezia sat, both sorrowful and livid at the series of events. Her expedition reduced to nothing, nearly everyone's dead. And the very reason they came here; the prothean structure, had taken serious damage from the tremors that the recent bombardment set in motion. Information and technology that had remained untouched for such a long time – had been undone by the actions of the one who ordered it... possibly even destroying their saviors in the process.
The walls and ceiling had collapsed across the corridor they were currently in, and killed several more of what remained until their escape route had been cut off.. in both directions. They could not move on, neither could they leave. Of the expedition, only four people remained.. including herself. Two of the others simply sat, staring blankly into the walls. The third however, happened to be the expedition's remaining quarian – who wept openly as she tried to clear away the rubble above her comrade, who has been crushed to death when the place collapsed. One could practically see her mind falling apart from deep sorrow and sheer exhaustion. Benezia wanted to supply comforting words, but none came.
Both of the two dôji that joined them on the way down still lived, and looked like they'd hold together just fine. Except, Benezia had long since realized that their composure is nothing but a facade they forced on themselves. In truth, they are growing more unnerved every passing moment because of the lack of word from their leader. This silence had gone on for too long for them to handle, though it's only been fifteen minutes. Maybe the dôji perceived time differently.
Not able to take it anymore, the matriarch stood up with a groan upon her lips and made her way over to them; "You two, stop it. This reckless digging of yours are putting us all at risk."
Dirge ignored her, instead continuing to pluck rubble out of the way.. which were then given over for Sweeper to put aside.
"Answer me then, why do you insist on doing this?! It's safer to wait for help to arrive."
Sweeper responded with a piercing glare before putting it into words; "Because we can't afford to stay put. We agreed to retreat, but this has gone on for too long. If this battle's over, and he's too hurt to move... we need to go and help him."
"The fleet just bombarded the area. I'm sorry to say this, but if he was outside during it – then he's most likely dead."
Both of the dôji shivered at that, and made Dirge work all the harder. "We can't afford to think of it like that." Sweeper replied as he rose up to his full height, "Slow's one of the Aspects. One of the sixteen pillars of our society that must never be broken. His death may mean comparatively little to you, but to us... it's a wound that can't be healed."
Benezia blinked. If he's someone that important, why would anyone let them go out and fight? She opened her mouth to repeat that question verbally when the one remaining soldier, Corporal Tharus - who just recovered from his shock - let out a loud hush at them. Not pleased at the interruption, she turned around to face him. The turian was the only soldier remaining at this point, so dirty he almost resembled a statue, "Wha-?"
"Hush." the corporal insisted, "Did you hear that?" directing his gaze to the ceiling.
"Besides those of us actually working?" Dirge almost spat.
"Not that. Listen!"
The dôji stopped, resulting in a complete silence barring the low sobs coming from the lone quarian. "Is that...?" Benezia asked, she could faintly hear the sound of metallic thuds caused by a small army of mechs entering the structure.
"Too many to be that giant. And I doubt they're the other machines... If my memory doesn't fail me, those sounds like the footsteps of Vurtok mechs."
Vurtok... the matriarch recognized the name, though she wasn't all that fond of military matters. "Isn't that what the Turian-Batarian joint project created some fifty years ago?" she tried to ask, "Some kind of anti-synthetic mobile weapons platform?"
"Yep. Can't believe Desolas' fleet carried such armaments for ground engagements. But as the saying goes; It pays to be prepared for any eventuality. The weapons they carry are essentially mass accelerator harpoon launchers. They built those things in case of a war against the geth, to capture even the likes of Primes – for study."
"Who c-cares about all that technical stuff, e-eh?" the salarian in the group asked through clenched teeth, pained by the wounds he sported. "...A-all that matters, i-is that we're... saved. And just need to wait for them to d-dig us out of... here!"
The corporal raised his shoulders, "He's right. We're nearly out of the woods."
This knowledge put Benezia's heart at ease. Though she did not trust Desolas any further than she could throw him – it was a relief to know that there are rescue teams up there, searching for them. "You see.." she said, turning back to the dôji, "It'll be alright. Just wait for them to dig us out, and you'll be able to go out and search for your leader."
Dirge and Sweeper exchanged glances, and nodded with notable reluctance.. "Fine.." Sweeper replied, "We'll wait, just make it clear to them that we're not their enemy."
"The council is aware of your kind, and I'm certain Desolas has been appropriately briefed, and his soldiers in due turn. I'll handle things if something happens, you have my word on that."
With that, the group settled down to wait for the rescue teams to reach them. Benezia's eyes resting on the synthetics as they sat down with a measure of restlessness. Assured that they won't try anything reckless for the time being, she leaned against a collapsed fragment of the wall – and waited patiently.
Ten minutes later...
Location: Prothean archives; 11th floor.
Desolas looked over the interior of the hangar, which recently uncovered entrance had been discovered by the initial wave of troops he sent down to secure the area. The general promptly decided for it to serve as their HQ for the duration of their stay.. a much better place to organize salvaging efforts from than anywhere else within miles.
He looked up as yet another dropship eased its way into the hangar to drop off additional Vurtok mechs, which were immediately manned by their respective operators – and put to work.
Outside, his soldiers and salvage crews were already hard at work gathering what kurozu technology they could find in good condition, and unloading everything they find into containers brought in by the dropships now actively ferrying goods to and from the fleet in orbit.
Further away, he watched technicians attempting to dismantle what appeared to be a torn-off mechanical arm that by itself was larger than Vurtoks.. One could only guess at the size of the thing it used to be part of.
However, the big prize was the machine that he already codenamed; 'Silver giant'. A magnificent machine that fought like a honest to spirit one-man army. And looked like it stood a good chance of destroying the enemy force it faced off against all by its lonesome without difficulty. Lt. Arus' squad's already out there looking for it, or what's left of it in the wake of the bombardment.
Desolas expected the soldier to report back with his findings shortly.
This wasn't part of his orders of course. The salvage operation's being carried out incognito. He had already arranged for a deal with one of the corporations on Noveria – under the table. Once his men finish with the salvaging, everything would be packed up and sent to the frozen planet for study.
Most would never have been able to get away with business of this scale, but Desolas enjoyed the benefit of having handpicked his soldiers to the last. Everyone completely loyal to him, and supremacists to a man. A fact that is easy to hide with a few good words here and there.
"Sir!" the general turned to regard a soldier approaching him at great speed, stopping with a noticeable screech, "Sir, you need to come look at what we just found."
Desolas narrowed his eyes slightly, "Show me."
"Right this way, sir." the soldier said, leading the way across the hangar, past the sizable 'trail' of broken kurozu. Moving on until they arrived at where a body lay, surrounded by a bunch of technicians, "This is it."
He circled around the technicians to get a good look at the body they found.. or the top half of a body to be exact. The lower half could be seen further away. Grinning upon realizing what he's looking at; "A dôji. So there were more here than just the one in the recordings.."
"Indeed, and there just might be more of them around here." one of the technicians spoke up, brushing a hand across the corpse's dreadlocks, "That is, if there are."
Desolas nodded, "Pack this one away into a crate of its own, and make sure it's properly secured." he told them, looking over both the upper and lower body of the machine, "I'd prefer for the pieces to arrive at Noveria, no more damaged than they are now."
"Yes, sir." the same technician replied, getting his colleagues to collect both parts of the body – which they were quick to do before heading to the closest available container.
Further minutes passed by as the general overlooked the continuing operation without incident. Until, eventually, he was approached by his second in command, Sepinur; "General, we've found survivors of the expedition two floors below our position. Much of the 13th floor was destroyed during the bombardment apparently, and they're now trapped underneath a whole lot of debris."
"Did you ask if there are survivors elsewhere?" Desolas asked sternly.
"No, sir. But Benezia's among the ones down there.."
At that little piece of information, he let out a thoughtful hum; "Oh, is she now?"
"Shall we leave them?" Sepinur asked expectantly.
"No. Dig them out and ascertain if there are any other survivors out there.. And then..."
"What will you tell the council?"
"Only that we arrived with best speed, and annihilated the enemy force. Unfortunately, of the expedition; there were no survivors. And the precious ally they so advocated for, had – in the middle of it all – ruthlessly abandoned them to their deaths. Along with the recommendation that the local mass relay should be blockaded completely, effectively immediately."
Location: Prothean archives; 13th floor.
Down below, two floors beneath the hangar, said survivors were rejoicing and hollering at the ones in the process of digging them out from the other side until finally enough debris was removed to open a hole seemingly big enough to crawl out through. It was however quickly filled by one of the rescuers, a helmeted turian peering through at those inside – while his colleagues worked to expand the hole further, "Hey, you guys alright?" he asked.
"We're fine, or as much as can be hoped for.." Tharus coughed as he climbed towards the hole, though he was quickly bypassed by the wounded salarian worker. "Hey, careful." the soldier noted cautiously.
"Ah... I'm n-not so fond of such narrow spaces." the salarian replied apologetically, "So... um, please let me out of here. Please?"
But the turian up ahead did not budge an inch, completely ignoring the hapless salarian, "Matriarch Benezia, do you know if there are other survivors around here?"
Benezia did not like the soldier's tone very much, and felt like something's rather odd about this. But answer she did anyway, thinking she's just getting overly paranoid because of recent events, "We believe Doctor Solus and the dôji; Slow, might still be out there somewhere. Except that, I'm afraid we're all that's left." she said while watching the hole being forced wider. Her tongue nearly getting stuck in her throat at what she saw.. Not the friendlies coming in to help them all out of this place, but the sight of five of Desolas' soldiers brandishing their weapons at her and the others. "Thank you." the one she had spoken to replied with malicious glee, "That's all we needed to know."
The matriarch reacted almost instinctively as the soldiers opened fire. Both the salarian and Tharus dropped dead almost immediately with each their shocked expressions, refusing to believe what was happening even as the soldiers under Desolas' command filled them with holes. One bullet traveled across the somewhat cramped place and went right through the mourning quarian's head, who sat there swaying for a little moment with a faint short whimper before she slumped to the side and moved no longer.
Benezia threw up a biotic barrier – and stopped the bullets meant for her. Her voice laced with anger and despair as she expanded the barrier and threw it at the offending soldiers, knocking most of them away in one blow. One however managed to duck away from the mass effect field and raised his gun to kill the momentarily vulnerable asari – only for his view to be filled by the appearance of the two dôji that had until then remained out of sight, stunned by the act of betrayal before stepping in to retaliate on Benezia's behalf.
The soldier fired at Dirge, who was the closest target of opportunity – only to watch as every bullet bounced off the gauntlets the dôji brought up as a shield. Sweeper launching himself past his comrade – at the turian trying to fall back in realization that his end's near, uttering a crass curse just before the scarf-wearing dôji caved his helmet and face in with a single punch.
All the other soldiers laid scattered, knocked unconscious by the blow Benezia dealt to them. Except, as the elder asari and accompanying synthetics climbed out of the hole.. One of them budged and groaned a warning, "Alert.. We got two live dôji. I repeat.. live dôji!"
Benezia, cold with anger; plucked up a gun and kicked all of her peaceful principles in the crotc and shattered the offending soldier head with far more bullets than the target required. And shot at every other soldier in sight to make sure they stayed down, cursing with every breath, "Damn him. Desolas, that asshole, that bastard! Damn him all the way to the underworld!"
The woman's fury so great that the dôji were stunned by the display of her vented her frustrations on the now-defenseless soldiers.
She kept on shooting until the heat sink popped out of the weapon, and finally tossed the weapon itself away while sinking to her knees. Tearfully, she grabbed the helmet of the soldier closest to her and shouted at it.. "Did you go this far just because your brother's missing?! He went to the third planet willingly, by his own accord, by his own decision. So did my daughter. My only daughter! I'm suffering too, you opportunistic son of a whore! The same will the families of those who worked here will feel once they discover what happened!" and threw the helmet into the wall so hard it was nearly split in half on impact.
It was a moment of customary silence as the synthetics let the aging asari weep tearfully. Crying like she had never cried before, with a fiery inferno of hatred aimed at the hateful Desolas building up in her mind to the breaking point.
Eventually, Dirge approached and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry for your loss, but we should get going. Use what little momentum we got."
Acknowledging that there's still work ahead of them, the matriarch nodded, "Yes.." standing up to retrieve the rifle she threw away, while making sure to appropriate what heat sinks she could find on the bodies.. as many as she could carry, "You can go on and do whatever you like. I won't leave until Desolas' is dead."
The future looked bleak indeed, yet the diminished group moved on. Only slowed down momentarily by the broken elevator, a hurdle the dôji could surmount rather easily with their rocket thrusters – Dirge carrying the matriarch for as long as it took to advance to the 12th floor.
The immediate surroundings up here sported relatively little damage compared to the 13th, but it was still rather significant, with a few rooms having completely collapsed. But their way forward was eased by the lack of damage across the entire length of the curved corridor.. until they arrived at the large hall just before the elevator to the floor above.
What stopped them from heading to it was a loud stomp coming from across the room, at which Sweeper moved himself in front of Benezia, to act as a shield of sort with the knowledge that the standard firearms of these aliens couldn't hurt dôji much at all. Except, when the enemy opened fire.. what came was not a barrage of tiny bullets, but a harpoon that punched clean through both the gauntlet he raised to protect himself, and his chest. Barbed blades jutting out of the harpoon's head the moment it came out of the dôji's back.
"S-Sweeper!" Dirge called out as his impaled comrade was mercilessly pulled off his feet and dragged across the floor as a bulky Vurtok mech – appearing from behind a large crate at the other side of the room – reeled the poor dôji in.
Across the place, several more mechs stomped into view. All of their attention directed at the remaining two, while the elevator opened to reveal a mildly annoyed Desolas, who's eyes rested on the deathly wounded Sweeper shivering on the floor before addressing the one who shot the synthetic; "Now, now. Don't damage the merchandise too much. I'd like for at least one to be captured relatively intact."
"M-my apologies, sir." the Vurtok operator in question responded.
"And for your information." the general turned to Benezia, regarding her as if she's nothing but an annoying bug, "I did hear your little rant earlier. Would it put your mind more at ease to know that I did this for more than just the sweet little taste of revenge?"
The matriarch looked to Dirge, who was just about to explode in anger. "Go, I'll deal with him." she whispered to him.
The lone dôji needed no encouragement as he ignited his thrusters and launched himself at the closest enemy mech, forcing it on the defensive as the operator brought the machine's arm up to block Dirge's advance, only to see it get bent out of shape as the synthetic forced the arm aside and struck at the mech's canopy, attempting to break it apart in order to get to the operator inside. No matter what, if it's piloted, the organic component's always the weak spot.
Desolas however did not look troubled at all, "Capture it alive, no matter what the cost." ignoring the matriarch at first even as she brandished the gun she took from one of the soldiers earlier, and fired at him – only to see every round effortlessly stopped by the general's kinetic barrier. And even as she continued to shoot him, he calmly fished a pistol out of its holster and turned to approach the lone matriarch, "Now, where were we?"
Benezia refused to listen to his excuses, erecting a biotic barrier to protect herself from the barrage she expected would come.
But much to her surprise, he lifted the pistol and fired no more than a single shot, which passed through the barrier as if it wasn't even there, and subsequently passed through her chest, knocking all the air out of her as both of her lungs were violently punctured, followed by the severing of her spine. Rendered lame in her lower body, along with excruciating pain – she could do nothing but collapse like a doll with its strings cut.
I-impossible, where did that come from... all of a sudden? She inwardly asked about the weapon he brought to bear against her. In the end though, it did not matter anymore as Desolas came to stand above her, glancing down at the mortally wounded asari. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Dirge as he finished off the first mech, and tried to take on the rest.. only to get his gauntlets run through by multiple harpoons as the enemies ganged up on him. Dirge flailing helplessly between them as they reeled in the wires and suspended the captured dôji above the floor.
Desolas crouched down next to the asari, "Killing you, is just a little bonus to me." he chuckled, "Kurozu, dôji.. it's like a treasure hunt. Imagine all the secrets they might possess, secrets that I will discover and exploit to ensure turian supremacy over every other race in the galaxy."
Benezia coughed weakly, slowly drowning in her own blood. "Y-you're mad..."
"But of course..." he continued remorselessly, looking to the capture further away with approval; "... this has to be done without the council knowing. So, we can't leave any witnesses behind to throw their weight around."
"You're p-playing a dangerous game, Desolas..." the matriarch wheezed hoarsely. Attempting to chortle at the turian's foolishness, no matter how much it hurt.
The general merely chuckled, "Don't worry..." pointing his gun at Benezia's head almost casually, "I've got it all under control."
She thought all the events of her life would pass before her eyes over the course of her very last moment. Yet all she could think of was her only daughter, before the final shot put her out of her misery.
Liara...
Soon after...
Location: 11th floor.
"Get the specimen sealed away. No dallying about, especially regarding the live one. Those thrusters are still active." Sepinur shouting the order as he watched the crews work at it. The newly acquired dead one getting strapped down and packed away. The live one was much more difficult however, even with the help of mechs, the technicians fought hard to force the wriggling and cursing live dôji into the nearby container. Preparing all sorts of restraints and clamps to suppress its wild attempts to free itself and fight back.
Desolas watched the fervent attempts of fighting back with a grin on his face, "Make sure keep it under watch, and arrange for the strengthening of security in the facilities we got waiting for them."
"Already done, sir."
"Good. Now we just need to wait for the silver giant to be found."
"About that, Lt. Arus sent in a report, a short minute ago. His team managed to find something, and are on their way here as we speak."
Gratified by the news, Desolas turned away and marched for the wide-open hangar doors that had been forced open during the same event that cleared such a great amount of sand and dirt away. The storm still raged outside, but that did not stop Vurtoks, sporting the capability to project sensitive kinetic barriers in a wide radius around themselves to provide extra protection for the more vulnerable foot soldiers that often operate alongside them. Just as a tank would, mechs also need some support.
It only took a few minutes of waiting before he saw the tell-tale signs of a pulsing crystal-blue dome – strained by the winds whipping against it incessantly. The dome slowly made its way down the slope until it crossed into the hangar.. at which point the light dimmed as the operator shut the barrier down.
"What do you have for me?" Desolas inquired as he approached the troop, but slowed down upon seeing what was being held up by the mech's claws. Not a piece of the silver giant, but a dôji. The very same one he saw in the recordings... recognizing it despite the extensive damage it has suffered.
"I'm sorry, sir." Lt. Arus approached him, wiping a hand across his forehead, "We found no sign of the silver giant. Instead, we found this."
"Is it dead?" the general asked as he approached the body. In the way it's being held, it looked as though it had been crucified.
"I don't think so, sir." the lieutenant answered. "According to energy readings, it's still very much alive. It's just dormant right now. Sleeping, inactive... I don't know." he went to stand next to the general, "But we are most curious about this." prodding a finger against the dôji's left-side gauntlet, which is for some reason much bigger than the other. Looking more like a cocoon than a set of claws. "Our scans can't penetrate deep enough to make sense of this. But we've at least detected what sounds like heartbeats."
"Heartbeats? Of what?"
"We don't know. But heartbeats per minute seem to indicate there's a salarian inside."
Now, why is that? Desolas could not initially fathom why a salarian's inside a dôji. That is, unless... "Where did you find this?"
"Right where the fallen silver giant was supposed to be.. why?"
The general sneered.. Could it be? No matter how absurd the thought may sound – is it possible that this dôji actually turned itself into a giant, using the salarian as a pilot... or some kind of fuel? In his head, the dots rapidly began to connect. "I believe we've found the greatest treasure here."
"Sir?"
"Have you made any attempts to kill the one inside it?" the chance of it being female was extremely little, as the vast majority of the salarian race is predominantly male.
"W-we've tried. But bullets are useless.. even the harpoon was deflected."
That only served to prove that this dôji and the silver giant's the one and the same in the general's mind, and he was largely correct in that assumption. Desolas spending a moment to pat a hand against the smooth surface of the 'cocoon' before turning back to the lieutenant, "Take it to the containers and have it stored away and secured. I want security tripled and all precautionary measures taken. In fact, triple everything. If there exist a core of diamonds in this mountain of gold we've found..." he prodded a finger hard against the dôji's chest for emphasis, "This one's it!"
For the first time in many years, he felt like he could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. The light of the glorious future that will be built for his people, using everything they'll eventually learn from studying the new technologies discovered on this day.
Location: Earth; Gobi factory interior; Uncovering Sight.
The stunned silence only lasted for the briefest moment as the party froze upon realizing what's upon them – just beyond the canopy, even though they could only see one of the monster's eyes.
First to overcome the fear that gripped them, Cole whirled away from the undead crew Garrus continued to gun down, and raised his left arm, reconfiguring the gauntlet into a cannon without much of a barrel to speak of, more a mortar than a cannon. Armed with an oversized bullet – which he sacrificed half the gauntlet to produce – larger than the turian's head, and fired it up without a second thought. The distance ensuring that accuracy's barely an issue worth thinking much about. The dôji launched the projectile with a resounding bang through the canopy, and into the pupil of the eye that hovered on the other side. The Deus ex Machina cursing lividly as it pulled itself out of sight. Followed by an explosion right after as the round embedded into its eye detonated.
"Hah, got it!" Cole guffawed, amazed that he managed to pull it off.
"Yeah, nice.." Nail groaned with much less enthusiasm, "We're knee-deep in rust, and you just had to piss off the only thing apparently content to just watch us wreck things. Except the glowing git right over there.." gesturing at the VI still going on with her sermon like the head of a death cult, consistently degrading both organics and synthetics alike – especially the former – for being alive.
"Stop the chatter and help!" Garrus growled at them. The former crew still trying to get to them.. even their severed limbs stubbornly attempting to advance, eager to squeeze the life out of the intruders. But his gunfire ended abruptly as the machine outside initiated an attack with a bladed weapon.
It was an impossibly thin and precise vertical cut. It passed through the bridge so quick that no one knew of the attack until it had passed. The turian staring, his mouth agape as the front half of his rifle dropped off. Just one inch closer, and the attack would have chopped off his trigger-finger as well. It was a miracle that no one was hurt by the attack.
The cut was so perfect, that it took the entire length of five seconds for reality to realize that the front of the ship had been sliced clean off and dropped into free fall. There was nothing dramatic about it. The front simply slid seamlessly off the rest of the ship, and crashed into the scaffolding below.
Tali shivered, afraid of where the next slice might land. "H-how about we call for that backup now?"
"Yes... now's a good time for that." Liara concurred.
"I will, just give me a moment.." Promina replied with similar fear as he initiated a henge, turning his right gauntlet into what resembled a peg. "Nail, cover me – will you?" before launching himself through the canopy, heading for the distant wall. Nail following suit with a grunt, acting very much as Promina's rearguard.
"And.. where are they going?!" Garrus asked, glancing at the departing synethetics.
"This here place is one huge Faraday cage." Cole told him, "Only communications' dôji got that henge. It's a resonator, sends a Morse code by initiating rhythmic tremors."
"Basically..." Tali started to ask in disbelief, she and the others hurrying to exit the sliced-off section of the ship as the unseen Deus ex Machina was about to initiate another attack, ".. people like him can send messages by initiating controlled earthquakes?!"
"Yes!" Cole shouted back, halting in his track as the enemy machine vaulted over the ship, landing on the ground a distance behind them.. The place was too dark to see it very clearly, except the sparks that indicated the gaping wound where its left eye used to be, "Yes, that's exactly it!" he and the rest preparing to fight as the blade-wielding machine approached them with thundering steps.
On the far side, Promina landed against the wall, and embedded the peg into it. Detaching the rest of his gauntlet from it once it's firmly set in place. "Okay, message put in. Initiating.. and brace yourself."
Nail braced himself alright, holding his ears as he watched Promina curl his other gauntlet into a fist and struck the butt-end of the peg. The entire chamber shaking almost violently as the initiation sent a sonic boom blasting through it.. and that was before the tremors started. "Augh, it's like listening to Eater when he's trying to sing..."
"He sings?"
"Fucking awfully! Made me seriously consider suicide in order to escape it, several times! He's surprisingly decent at yodeling though."
"Yodeling?"
"Yeah, which is the funny thing... Rage on the other hand can't yodel to save his life, but sings decently."
"Er, let's head back to the others. Okay?" Promina recommended.
Nail sighed, "Yeah, just don't tell either of those aspects what I've said – okay?"
"My lips are sealed.."
The group on the other side did not have much luck at all dealing with the Deus ex Machina trying to kill them all, alongside what remained of the undead crew as they – whole or not – climbed out of the ship and moved against the persistant intruders.
They had one advantage though, Tali made a fervent attempt to slow the giant down through cyberwarfare, while her comrades dealt with the walking corpses.. gunning them down two to three at a time while moving from cover to cover.
Disrupting the Deus ex Machina was a very difficult thing to do. Mostly she did it by blinding the machine's sensors, and sending over a lot of junk data. But the extent at which she could do this was steadily decreasing as the AI controlling the thing learned her tricks, and countered accordingly. It would not be long until it'd be completely immune to her hacking attempts. "Guys, I can't keep it at bay for much longer..."
"Keep trying." Garrus called out to her as he nimbly ducked when a number of the more armed corpses fired back at his position, "Only need to hold out until help gets here.."
The giant sprang forward, lifting its sword overhead as it directed all of its attention on the quarian – determined to cut the annoying alien down.
"Raven's scale!" Nail cried out as he thrust his Pilebunker henge into its left leg, causing the monster to stumble and halt its intended attack as the blow nearly broke the ankle-joint. Instead, it turned to the dôji below, trying to smash him flat with the butt of its blade, "Oh, for the love of tea and biscuits.." Promina's attempts at diverting the machine's attack vector by shooting at its weapon-bearing arm doing nothing to deter it.
Nail brought up his arms to defend himself from the imminent impact.. but was instead greeted by silence.
"Huh..?" Garrus muttered, looking as the remaining five bodies in front of them froze solid mid-step. The same thing had happened to the Deus ex Machina. One particular thing caught his attention even more so. A bullet close to his face was suspended in thin air. Unmoving, along with the mass effect field trailing in its wake, "What just... happened?"
Nail nervously peered past his shielding gauntlets at the butt of the machine's weapon.. which had been halted just a couple of feet away from him – and shrank away from its fiery remaining eye. "This is..."
Far above them, the wall where the peg had been placed previously shattered into a million fragments that flew through the chamber until they too slowed down and stopped.
"W-why is he the backup?" Promina asked breathlessly as he looked up at the dôji coming down towards them, walking on the suspended fragments like they're a fancy set of stairs.
Dôji and aliens alike peered up at the visage of Grand Aspect Ultimo himself, who scanned the view with sad eyes. Especially saddened by the sight of the aliens that had been subverted by the kurozu.
"Why are you here?" Liara called out her question, "I thought.."
Ultimo tilted his head, "Come." he said with a sense of finality, "The outer defenses has been demolished, but the other infiltration teams have reported that the kurozu are erasing all relevant data from this location. There's no longer any reason for you to stay here." distantly, the team below him could feel distant tremors as the army tore into the factory itself. Battles now ongoing inside the structure.
Liara sank to her knees, "... So this has all been for nothing?"
"I'm afraid so..." the grand aspect replied, preparing a spatial ball for the team to use.
"Wait!" Tali interjected.
The dôji stopped, directing his attention at the quarian curiously.
"Can you perform that transportation thing on large objects?"
"Yes, of course." Ultimo replied, raising a delicate eyebrow at the quarian, "Though it depends what you're referring to.."
"This.." Tali gestured to the sliced-off front section of the Uncovering Sight, "... and a few other parts. With the equipment on this ship, I may be able to open a line of communications to the expedition!"
The grand aspect's eyes widened, "Are you certain?"
"Yes, positive!"
