Me: Ok, here's the next chapter. Also, Lazy Object, if you hate this so much, why do you keep coming back to it?
J. Keyes: What exactly are Miranda and I supposed to do?
Me: Sir, you and your daughter will be helping out in the mission, sir.
Trin: That's the first time I've ever heard you talk to someone like that.
Me: Well Keyes deserves the respect. On with-…
TIM: On with the story.
Me: Oh look, a dead man walking. +Pull out serrated blade knife as an extremely psychotic grin appears on face+
"Talking."
"Thinking."
"[Electronic communication.]"
The Justicar
Reality ME4, Dimension a2, Asari space, Illium:
"So how have you two been?" Johnson asks Miranda and Jacob as John goes and talks to the police detective.
"All things considered, we've been great Sergeant. How did you get off Halo is what I'm wondering," Captain Keyes asked.
"Which one?" Johnson asked as John came back out of the building.
"Ok, let's go get the Justicar," he said to them.
"Quick question, I told you that Ghost got it to where we could get through, why did you talk to the detective?" Johnson asked.
"Jane said not to disobey any laws, and those two have to receive permission from their superior in person," John replied with annoyance in his voice.
"[Well…can't say I was expecting that,]" Ghost said over the coms.
"Who's that?" Ash asked.
"Right you haven't met Ghost yet," John said as they went through the holographic tape.
John sent some data that was on a computer to its owner and then continued walking. He began explaining to Ash that Ghost was a UNSC AI. Ash had a lot of questions, most of which John could answer, but one of them Ghost had to.
"How did the UNSC create AIs that aren't hostile to organics?" she asked.
"[Well that depends on what organic you're talking about. The reason we don't attack humans is quite simple, in relative terms,]" Ghost began. "[UNSC AIs are made by using the remnants of brain waves from deceased humans. This, more or less, is why we act like humans so much.]"
"So your personalities depend on who you were…cloned, is that even the right word, from?"
"[Cloned is as close as you can get, and somewhat. The AI itself still creates its own personality, but it can go with the personality of who it was based off of.]"
"That is actually pretty simple when you think about it," Ash said as they stopped when they heard talking.
"[If you want, I can tell you more about the UNSC later.]"
"Sure," Ashley said as she, John, Avery, and both Keyes aimed their main weapons at the Eclipse troopers in front of them.
Johnson had brought a UNSC M45D shotgun, a Railgun, an MA5D, a M7S SMG, and a M6S Magnum pistol. Ashley had brought a UNSC BR85 and an MA5D. John had grabbed a UNSC MA5D, a M45D, an M7S, and an M6 Magnum. The MA5D he gave to Jacob, and the M45D he gave to Miranda.
John held up three fingers and slowly put them down. When all of his fingers were down, the team began firing at the Eclipse troopers. The first to go down was the unmasked Asari. Her barriers had been down and Johnson had taken advantage of that and fired the Railgun at her. Said gun had fired its explosive shell at lightning speed. The Asari didn't have time to blink before she was splattered against the walls. The explosion also hit some of the people near her. The only thing left after that single shot was a damaged LOKI mech.
"Thanks for taking all the fun Sergeant Slaughter," John said as he kicked the mech, deactivating it.
"'Sergeant Slaughter?'" Miranda asked as she holstered her shotgun.
"The nickname the men and women on the Normandy gave me."
"Matches you," Miranda said.
"I'll take that as a complement."
"Through here," John said as he opened a door.
Not even a second after they walked into the room and Eclipse commando was through across it. The team looked at the now dead Asari and back where she came from to see another commando talking to an Asari in a form fitting suit. Suddenly the Eclipse commando went flying across the room. Unlike the last one, she survived. The Asari in the suit used biotics to lower herself to where the commando was. She then used her boot to snap the commando's neck before walking over to the team.
"My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see five well armed people before me. Are you friend or foe?" the Asari asked.
"Are you Samara?" John asked.
"Yes."
"Then friend. I need you for a mission. It requires the best, and that's you."
"I would go, but I am after an extremely dangerous fugitive."
"I wish you would go with them Justicar," the police chief said as she walked into the room. "I've been ordered to take you in."
"You risk much with following your orders. Luckily I will be able to do as you ask for one day. After that I must return to my mission," Samara said.
"I can't release you that soon."
"You won't be able to stop me."
"Uh, the human is lost here. What just happened?" John asked as Johnson looked between the two aliens, also confused.
"The detective has been ordered to put me into custody," Samara said.
"I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, but Justicars and their code…," detective Anya [Haven't play ME2 in a while, did I spell that right?] said.
"And after one day, Samara leaves. Probably with a lot of collateral damage in her wake," Ash said.
"And that's why I never went into politics," Miranda said as Johnson nodded in agreement.
"So what will it take to get you to come with us?" John asked, annoyed that so far all but two people he and Jane had recruited needed something done for them.
"If you could discover the name of the ship the Eclipse smuggled the fugitive off world on, then I could go with you," Samara said to John before following the detective.
"Let's go talk to that Volus," John said as he cracked his knuckles.
The group then went back to the main area of the space port to find the Volus John had talked to earlier. Johnson and John walked straight up to him as Miranda, Jacob, and Ash kept watch. The Volus turned back around when John and Johnson got behind him.
"Hello again * Earth-clan. * Is-…" Johnson kicked the ball shaped alien like a beach ball as John laughed.
"Now normally this would be the 'good cop, bad cop' routine, but my sister isn't here," John said as he punched the Volus in the gut, "so it's 'bad cop, worse cop.'"
"Which * are * you?" the Volus asked as he tried to regain his breath.
"Bad cop. Now give me your way into the Eclipse base or we'll see how much more fun a game of volley-ball is when the ball screams," John said with a grin as Johnson cracked his neck.
"…Here," the Volus said quickly as he handed John a key card.
"Good choice," John said as he punched the Volus again.
"[A bit much don't you think?]" Ghost asked as Johnson and John walked back over to the group.
"Nope," John said as he told Miranda and Jacob to stay there while he, Ashley, and Johnson went to the Eclipse base.
John led the team to an elevator in the back of the space port. It began going down as Johnson checked his weapons. His shotgun was fully loaded, and assault rifle showing that it had a full mag. He double checked his pistol and SMG before holstering his weapons. He looked over at Ash who nodded that she was ready. Avery looked at John who also nodded.
"You sure you don't want me to check the guns?" he asked.
Both of the other humans shook their heads no and Johnson just shrugged and readied his AR. Ashley pulled out her BR as John's hands started glowing with energy. The elevator opened to reveal an Eclipse commando looking out a window. John pointed around her as Avery walked forward and pulled out his knife. The Asari turned around only to be killed by Johnson quickly slitting her throat. The alien died slowly and painfully from chocking on her own blood.
"There," Johnson said as he cleaned and sheathed his knife.
"That's one way to clear an area," Ashley commented as they started moving forward.
The next door they opened revealed an inactive LOKI mech. Unfortunately another Asari saw them and activated it before running off. As the mech got up, Johnson shoved the end of his rifle into its 'face' and pulled the trigger. The head exploded and as the body fell, it also exploded. Johnson stepped back as his shields dropped a quarter.
"Move out!" John said as he blinked into one of the commandos that were rounding the corner.
He then created a biotic explosion that hit each of the commandos. Ashley followed that by firing a few bursts from her BR. Johnson pulled his Railgun back out and looked past the commandos to see a gunship docked. He lined up the end of the gun with the unmoving vehicle and fired a shot. The hypersonic round punched straight through the hardened glass of the cockpit before exploding. Barely a second later, the gunship itself exploded.
"Nice shot Avery!" John shouted as he threw a warp at an Asari commando.
The two were in the middle of a biotic battle. Normally Asari could easily outclass humans in biotic combat, but John had trained himself to where he could go head to head against an Asari Matriarch and come out victorious. This Asari though, was young and not completely trained. He threw out warp and followed it with a shockwave and stasis field. The Asari was unable to dodge the warp blast and was sent back by its explosion. As she was getting up, the shockwave hit her and she was thrown over the edge of the walkway.
"Damn," was all Johnson could think to say.
"And I'm the only human whose that good with biotics," John said as he pulled out his M7S and started shooting at the remaining Asari.
"Yep," Ash said as she shot the last Eclipse trooper through the head.
"Ok, move up," John said as they went towards the door.
The next area they came to looked like it was going to be where the gunship would've been called in had Johnson not blown it up. John sent several shockwaves out to knock the LOKI mechs off the edge. They kept walking towards the door and opened it to find another hallway. The got to the other end and opened it to find yet another walkway.
"What is with the Asari and making walkways like this?" John questioned as another group of Eclipse troopers showed up and started firing at the team.
John saw a container of something. Assuming it was an explosive, he shot it causing a cloud of red to appear where the container had once been. John shook his head as he ran through it.
"[John, you can't stay in that to long its toxic. I'll put a toxicity level counter on your HUD,]" Ghost said as John started throwing warp blasts with higher power.
"Why can't drugs like this not have a 'killer' side effect?" John complained as he threw out a shockwave.
"Literally killer," Avery said as he put on his helmet before quickly sealing it.
After they cleared the area, the team then went inside the building on the opposite end of the walkway. Inside they found a shotgun on a table and a room with someone in it. John motioned for the team to get ready to breach and clear the room. They entered and didn't see anyone. Johnson switched his visor to infrared and saw someone hiding behind the wall. Avery tapped John's shoulder and motioned there. John nodded and the team pretended to leave. The Asari got up and was about to leave when the team aimed their weapons at her.
"Wait don't shoot, I'm Elnora. I'm new. I only pretended to fire my gun because the other sisters were watching. I didn't mean any of it," Elnora said.
As Ashley started to lower her gun, Elnora tried to pull out hers. She never got it out of the holster before her corpse hit the floor.
"Let's get moving," Avery said as John relieved Elnora of the credits she had on her.
He then went to a terminal in the back of the room and stole every credit in that as well. Ashley shrugged and Johnson shook his head as the team left the room. They passed several other walkways and had to deal with more firefights. After several minutes they found a random Volus at a vending machine. It turned around and bumped into John.
"I am a biotic god!" the Volus said. "I think things, and they happen. Fear me lesser beings, for I am biotics made flesh!"
"You're a drugged idiot, not a god," Johnson said as he pushed the Volus out of the way.
"I shall destroy-…" Johnson silenced the Volus by shooting it in the face.
"Shut up," Johnson said as he kept going forward.
"That's one way to get rid of a nuisance," John said as he and Ash followed Johnson.
They stopped in front of a door at the end of the hallway. Johnson's helmet put up a translation of the words above the door. It read main cargo bay. Johnson looked at John and Ashley and saw them reloading their weapons. Johnson reloaded his and nodded to John before they entered the cargo bay. At the very end of it they saw an Asari in armor standing behind a desk. She put down the drink and data pad she had been holding and looked at the team.
"Everything's gone to hell since we smuggled that filthy creature off world," she said. "At least I'll get the pleasure of turning your head into a pulpy mess!" she shouted as she through a container of mitigen-x at them.
John and Johnson sidestepped it as Ash ducked under it. As more Asari entered the room Johnson pulled his Railgun back out. He only had one shot left for it on him and he decided that he might need it later. He holstered the Railgun and pulled out his AR. He started firing at the Asari commander and she threw warp blasts in response. As the blast neared him, John got in the way and deflected it. Ashley then started firing her BR, giving Johnson enough time to reload. He slammed a fresh clip in as Ashley fell back and Johnson took her place. The entire time, John kept a barrier up in front of them. They continued this for several minutes until the last of the Eclipse troopers were dead or dying.
"Think that data pad she put down has what we're looking for?" Avery asked as he kicked the dead Eclipse leader.
"Probably," John said as he checked it.
Ashley walked up and looked at the data pad also. As he was checking the dead, Avery found one Eclipse trooper still alive. He shot his Magnum once and the Asari had another hole in her head. He then walked over to one of the containers and read the data pad sitting on top.
"[Don't know what government uses this armor, but it's a hell of a lot better than anything I've seen. Keep it under wraps until I figure out how mush to sell it for,]" the data pad read.
Johnson opened the box to find a set of armor that disturbingly resembled a skinned human that was grey and black. The visor of the helmet was a dark red color and seemed to glow in the light. Johnson looked at it and saw something flashing on its wrist. He reached down and tapped it to have a message suddenly play.
"[Recovery beacon has been activated. Please stand by,]" a deep, synthetic voice said.
Barely a second later Johnson felt himself being lifted up and thrown. He slammed into the desk as Ash and John pulled out their weapons. Johnson got up to see someone wearing another suit of the armor in the box and he pulled out his Railgun. As he was aiming it, five more of the soldiers suddenly became visible. John readied a warp blast as the soldiers in suits did something unexpected by anyone. One of them held up their arm as the suit's armor extended and formed a blade.
"NANO SUIT 4.0 MOTHER FUCKERS!" the soldier shouted as he charged at John.
John threw his warp blast and the soldier just shrugged it off like it was a spitball. John stood their stupefied as the soldier grabbed him and head butted him. Ash fired her AR as another soldier jumped in the way and her armor had a strange glow to it. The bullets from Ash's gun literally bounced off the grey and black suit as the female soldier started punching Ash. Another soldier dropped in front of Johnson as he aimed his Railgun.
"Stand down," the soldier said in a voice Johnson recognized.
"Wait, Jenkins?" Johnson asked as he slowly lowered his Railgun.
"Sarge? That you?" the soldier asked in response.
Johnson removed his helmet and revealed his face to the armored trooper. The trooper's helmet started folding back and revealed the face of one of Johnson's oldest squad mates.
"It is you," Private Wallace A. Jenkins said as he and Johnson shook hands. "Guys stand down; we're on the same side here." Jenkins said to his team.
The grey and black soldiers looked at each other before dropping Ash and John. Avery looked at them to see that Ash had a bruise on her right cheek, her left eye was now black, and she was clutching at her chest. John looked a bit worse but was doing the same things, though his left arm also dislocated.
"Sorry about that," Jenkins said he fixed John's arm. "Usual when a recovery beacon activates, the item is with someone who should never have it."
"If your suits do all that shit standard, then I can understand the needed security for a recovery," Johnson said as he looked at Jenkins' team.
"You haven't seen the best of it," the female soldier said in an Australian accent.
"Our suits can do a hell of a lot more," another soldier said in a deep voice.
"Well, if we're all done shooting at each other, I think we'll be taking our stuff and leaving," Jenkins said as he closed the box and easily lifted it over his shoulder.
"Hey, what is this stuff, and why is it so important?" John asked.
"Sorry LC, but that's classified. Oh, and we were never here, got it?" Jenkins said as his helmet unfolded and covered his face.
"Sure," Ash said as one of the soldiers handed her some ice for her face.
"Good," Jenkins said as his armor began to disappear.
The last part to disappear was his helmet's visor, giving it a kind of Cheshire cat impression. John Helped Ashley to who feet as the team started moving.
"Ow, watch the ribs," Ash said as she grabbed her chest again.
"Sorry Ash," John said as he put her arm over his shoulder.
Several minutes later, they were talking to Samara. Jacob and Miranda had asked what happened, but received 'don't ask' as a response. Samara did some sort of ritual to swear her loyalty to John and then left with them. John gave the detective both of the data pads they had found and left with the team and both Keyes. They got back to the dock to find Jane and her team, Kaiden and his team, and a Drell that John assumed was Thane.
"What happened to you?" Jane asked as Amber started scanning Ashley for other injuries besides the broken ribs. "And who are those two?"
"Don't ask, and these two are Captain Jacob Keyes, and Commander Miranda Keyes of the UNSC navy," Avery said as the Normandy appeared and started docking.
Once it was docked, Angel jumped out with a huge grin on her face and an exo-suit wearing alien quickly following her. Alice walked off after them with Garrus behind her.
"What happened to you?" Angel asked when she saw John and Ash.
Ashley was being helped onto the ship by Amber who was getting after her for not instantly going to some sort of doctor's office.
"Don't ask little sis," John said as he followed Amber and his girlfriend onto the Normandy. Angel shrugged and walked over to Jane as Avery turned his attention to the skyways behind the Normandy.
"You should have been there with us sis," Angel started to say as her grin returned. "Alice was unstoppable. It was like the Geth weren't even hitting her. The only things that did any damage were the Destroyers, Rocket Troopers, and Primes. And even then those didn't last for very long. She even charged straight into a Prime and ripped it to shreds."
"I only pulled on its head unit hard enough for it to pop off," Alice said, meaning to be modest, but to everyone else it sounded like bragging.
"Well I need to help Liara with little trouble she has and I need someone she knows she can trust. John won't be coming until Ash is ok, Kaiden said he was busy with something, and Ash is…well you know," Jane said to her sister.
"So I get to help my big sis and her alien girlfriend with some trouble…sure," Angel said with a smile. "Why wouldn't I help my future sister in law?"
"Wait…what….I didn't…," Jane said as her face turned red form embarrassment at her younger sister's comment. Johnson looked behind Jane to see another Asari, Liara T'Soni he assumed, standing behind her.
"Do you mean that you wouldn't want to marry me, Jane?" Liara asked.
"Of course not…I mean yes I would…I mean-…" Liara stopped Jane with a quick kiss.
Johnson smiled and shook his head before looking back at the skies behind the docked Normandy. As he was looking that way, he saw a ship with the exact same shape as the Normandy flying into space. As he watched it, the ship started to disappear from his sight. Avery shook his head before going onto the Normandy with Jacob and Miranda.
"When did Jenkins become a spook for some classified government team?" Johnson asked himself as the airlock closed behind him.
"[Next time, I'm staying on the ship. This place is getting to confusing for even me,]" Ghost said as Avery placed his data chip into a slot on one of the pedestals.
Me: +Covered in blood+ Well that's the end of chapter ten, and I have a nice new head mounted over the fireplace. The chapter took a bit longer than I thought it would, but I couldn't think of a way to introduce the COR on a small scale.
Trin: I thought how you did it was great.
Ash: I didn't.
Me: That's because you got the shit beat out of you from it. Read and review, VR Commando ATA out!