Mass Effect
Massive Shock 2: Infinite Mass
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Mass Effect or the BioShock franchises or any characters or property that BioWare or Irrational Games has staked claim upon. However I do own copies of the games Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 and BioShock and BioShock Original Characters I come up with are MINE to use and distribute.
"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle."
~Lewis Carroll~
Ch. 9: Therum
Part 3- Teeth, Nine Steps from the Gates of Hell
?
"Something the matter?" The thing in the Darkness, whom I now call Teeth, asks.
I shake my head, trying to get these thoughts out of my head. All these cryptic answers, all these infuriating questions! Am I ever going to get a straight answer? EVER?!
"Yes!" I snap back at it. "Yes, something is the matter! Everything you fucking told me! It doesn't make any sense! And the things you did tell me… they're not good!"
"Like what?" Teeth asks curiously.
I frown at it. "How about the fact that I'm going to die?!"
Teeth shakes its shapeless, yet definite head. "You're not going to die… as long as your friends find you."
"Yeah, what if that doesn't happen? Am I going to stay here for all eternity, talking to you?" I ask infuriated.
"As if that's a bad thing." Teeth smiles its toothy smile. "I'm not being clever. I just know that there are things you want to know, that I can tell you."
"How do you know that?" I growl at it. "How can you know that?"
That's when I notice that I can't move. But I don't panic. Teeth won't attack me, I don't think.
"I know everything." Teeth responds instantly, without hesitation.
I'm silent in disbelieving frustration for a moment. "What're you? Some sort of God?"
Teeth tilts its head to the side. "Hardly. I can't create lightning. Or turn a man inside out. Or tear a hole in space."
"If you know everything, then what's the meaning of life?" I ask, challenging it.
Teeth tilts its head to the side again. "That depends."
"On what?" I ask, frowning.
Teeth is silent.
"Well?" I ask frustrated.
It continues not to saying anything.
"Oh, so I guess you want me to think that the meaning of life is 'That depends.'" I say, rolling my eyes.
Teeth nods. "Yes."
I'm about to snap back at him, but I pause. That actually sort of makes sense. It's a general response. It can apply to anything. Weird… Alright then I'll really test if this guy knows everything. "What is the answer to ultimate question, of life, the universe, and everything?"
Teeth is silent for a while. "How about… 42?"
"Of course that's what you say." I sigh. "So you know everything?"
Teeth nods. "Yes. Or at least you think I do."
"Well do you or don't you?" I ask, again getting frustrated.
"Well… How much do you know?" It asks.
I frown. "What?"
Teeth is silent.
"I don't know… Some? Enough? A lot? More than some, less than others." I respond, sounding dumb.
Teeth tilts its head to the side. "Well… If you don't know everything, then relative to your own knowledge, all you know is everything you know. To the undiscriminating mind, that's everything. I know as much as you do."
"Are you me or something?" I ask frowning.
"No." It responds. "Though that'd be something. I must say though that the paths you've taken are interesting."
"Have you been watching me?" I glare at it.
Teeth nods. "Yes."
"Why?" I ask angrily.
Teeth smiles again, revealing its horribly perfect Teeth. "Why not?"
I glare at it. "Stop it! Why can't you just give me a straight answer dammit!"
"Because!" It laughs at me. "You are asking questions that I can't answer specifically! It's against the rules! You have to find a question I can answer."
I think for a moment. "What is this place? The Darkness?"
"Good question!" Teeth smiles extraordinarily wide. "Good job! I can answer that now! The Darkness, or the Dark, or whatever you want to call it, it's a place outside of the realm of space-time, a place that the mind can't fathom, find, or touch, yet it can do all of those things at the same time. You see, it's the mind itself."
"The Dark is a figment of my imagination?" I ask confused.
Teeth shakes its head. "No… no, that's not right. How to explain? Hm… Oh, well, I guess you could call it Limbo, or Purgatory. But it's not really those things. There are only three things that transcend space and time: The mind, the Dark, and the Absolute Energy. Of those three things, the only thing that you can actually perceive physically is the Absolute Energy, but we're not there yet. The mind is the marvel of life, the apex of existence. It can fathom anything, touch anything, find everything and consume everything. It's the ultimate technology. The Dark is the… sort of storage place or energy well that the mind dips into. That's because the Dark is and isn't connected to the mind at the same time… It's hard to explain, but basically the Dark is a space between space and time, that acts as a well for the mind."
I frown at Teeth. "So, the Dark is like a pathway to other minds?"
Teeth shakes its head again. "No! That's not it… No, the mind, isn't your mind, it isn't a sentient, human mind. You're not getting it… I'll just move on, since you asked about the Dark not the mind. Like I said… The Dark serves as a power well for the mind to dip into. It's like a blank canvas for the mind to paint with. It's sort of serves like a pathway, but not really. It's more like a gate or porthole into a plane of existence. See you're inside a place, outside existence. Consider yourself lucky!"
"Then how are you here? How is the Grim Reaper here? How can he have control over this place?" I ask confused.
"The Dark is a thing to be controlled. And again, the Dark is simply a well. You could even go so far as to call it a junction. The Dark is a place that connects existence. You can connect to another level of existence from the Dark. That's what you see when you dream, believe it or not. You're looking through the Dark, at another plane of existence, controlling it. That's because you created it, and you're using the Dark's energy to power the control of that dream. The difference between the Grim Reaper, the Kraken, you, and me is that we use the Dark differently. The Grim Reaper, the Kraken, and myself, all use the Dark and dip into its own energy to control itself. We do that by creating an existence to exist in, and then we use it as a proxy to strengthen our hold of the Dark, so we can have better control of the Dark itself. How the Grim Reaper and the Kraken have figured out how to do this… I don't know. They must have been trying for millennia to discover this secret and they finally have it and they're using the Dark and the mind to their advantage…" Teeth's smile disappears. "Oh! It appears he's found you. We'll talk again soon."
The man shaped distortion that constitutes Teeth's being disappears and in its place a red light appears.
Oh no. Not again.
Meanwhile…
"Do you think he survived that?" Tali asks, as Shepard helps her to the next level down.
Shepard grunts. "I don't see how he could have."
Tali swings onto the walkway, rolling as she lands. "I'm good. It's clear… Should we try to look for him?"
Shepard sighs and waits to answer and climbs off of the edge to lower himself down to the next level down. Suddenly there's a screaming in his head, and he screams back.
The pain is so intense that his body seizes and he blacks out, falling from the edge, toward the dark abyss of the elevator shaft.
"Shepard!" Tali shouts in alarm, diving to the edge, catching him by the arm.
He hits the wall but Tali keeps a hold on him, grunting with effort. "Ah! Keelah, you're heavy!"
Shepard responds only with a weak whimpering, his head lolled back and blood flowing from his nose. Tali takes a few deep breaths and pulls as hard as she can, bringing Shepard up a little. Her shields start taking hits and Tali snaps her head to look at a few geth troopers running down the walkway at her, assault rifles firing. Tali curses and draws her shotgun, returning a few shots.
She reacts quickly and pushes herself towards the edge, letting Shepard's added weight drag her off of the edge. She catches the edge and uses the momentum of the fall, to swing Shepard's limp body to the next level down. She lets go as he swings into the lower level. Tali lets go of the ledge just as she lets go of Shepard, letting his momentum and the momentum of his swing to drag herself after him.
Tali lands on top of him with a grunt. She breaths hard, her adrenaline pumping just as hard. She shakes her spinning head and looks around. She finds herself in a small alcove in the wall, with a dark narrow tunnel leading through the wall, not really a level.
Tali turns her attention back to Shepard, dragging him back from the edge. She takes his helmet off. Her first thought of why he went berserk and passed out was from heat stroke, despite the fact he said it was freezing down here. When in fact it was really freaking hot.
But upon removing his helmet and performing a quick diagnostic of his armor with her omni-tool she found that his armor functions were fine, including climate control. And her omni-tool told her that he had been drinking water regularly. She couldn't say the same for herself however, as she feels like she's sweat out her body's entire water supply and now she's swimming in it.
Tali frowns and tears a piece of cloth from the decoration of her suit. She uses Shepard's canteen to wet it and she flash cools it with a Cryo Blast from her omni-tool. Though it's frozen, it should melt pretty quickly, especially in heat like this. Tali places the already semi-melted cloth against Shepard's forehead, and she lays him flat on his back.
She draws her shotgun and sits down next to Shepard. "Lieutenant Alenko… Lieutenant Alenko come in, this is Tali'Zorah. Shepard is down and Splicer is MIA. I need support."
Kaiden's response comes as a barely intelligible mess of static interference. "K- … I ca- … G- … -is w- … Geth f- … too ma- … h- … to fall back … T- mu- … -omm interfe- … … … eismi- -ivity… -eth bombar- … -eturning to ru- … Geth conver- … -ocation. I don't know how many g- … … … Try to ge- … -ow's Shepar- … -oing?"
"He's unconscious. But he's alive. I don't know what's wrong with him, he's just passed out." Tali responds, only really able to make out the last statement. "I couldn't make out any of the other things you said, Kaiden."
"Wh- … -bout Splice- … ?" Kaiden asks, his transmission still garbled with static, but Tali can guess what he says.
"I lost him. He fell down an elevator shaft and it collapsed a bit after. I don't know how long of a fall it is… but I can't be sure if he's alive or not. Please advise, should I go look for Splicer, or hold position and protect Shepard?" Tali is torn. On one hand, Splicer may still be alive and in need of help. Shepard however is definitely in need of help, and he's completely defenseless at this point. And he takes priority over Splicer for the mission. But if Shepard was awake than he would want to look for Splicer. Right?
"Tr- … … -issio- … … -iara T'soni. Y- … … -ear me? … -inue the … … … … Geth incom- …!" The transmission cuts.
"Lieutenant Alenko?" Tali asks alarmed. "Kaiden! I didn't catch that, what should I do?"
Tali gets no response and sighs in frustration. "Great."
Meanwhile…
"… -lease advise, -ould I go lo- … -or Splicer, or –ld pos- and p- … -ect … –epard?" Tali asks, her radio call clouded with static.
Kaiden runs with the rest of the team, as the circle around to head back to the ruins, which they had to abandon because of another Geth aerial bombardment. "Try and do both!" Kaiden shouts into his comm. "Hide Shepard, continue the mission! Find Liara T'Soni! But keep Shepard safe! You hear me? Continue the mission. Once we get back to the ruins, I'll send Garrus in for support! … Shit! Geth incoming!"
Kaiden slides behind cover, throwing a biotic Throw as he slides into cover. The second he hits the rock he's using as cover, he spins around it and sprints out towards the geth, firing his pistol.
"Keep moving!" Kaiden shouts at his team. "Don't stop for anything!"
Wrex roars and barrels down a few geth, bashing them aside with the butt of his shotgun, making a path for the others to follow.
Ashley rushes forward, moving through the way Wrex cleared, shooting the downed geth with her assault rifle. Garrus sprints past next, moving exceptionally fast, faster than Kaiden could have guessed. And finally Kaiden brings up the rear, following the others as they get back to the ruins, which are… ruined even more by the geth bombardment.
"Fan out!" Kaiden shouts, signaling his team to spread out. "Secure the area! Dig in! Garrus, you're going into the ruins. Keep one eye out for Shepard and Tali, and keep another eye over your shoulder!"
"Lieutenant!" Ashley shouts, somewhat hotly. "Let me go in there. I'm better in close quarters and Garrus has more skills against synthetic enemies than I do."
"That a challenge Williams?" Garrus snaps back, clenching his fists, stopping halfway up the ramp.
Ashley just glares back.
"Garrus, go!" Kaiden shouts somewhat angrily, but still sounding cool headed. "Ashley, secure the perimeter. Now."
"Aye, aye, Lieutenant." Ashley responds, complying. If she was reluctant to, or disagreed with this order, it wasn't obvious.
Garrus proceeds into the ruins, alone.
"Geth! Incoming!" Wrex shouts, running back towards Kaiden. "We got geth!"
"Ashley! Snipe them!" Kaiden shouts at her, drawing his pistol.
He fires a few times into a large group of at least 20 geth, who fan out in separate directions.
"Wrex, cover our flank!" Kaiden barks at him, shutting a geth down with an Overload.
"I'm on it!" Wrex responds, glowing bright with biotics. He roars and collapses a bunch of pipes from a small fuel processing center to their right flank, crushing a number of geth and blocking the rest from circling around to hit their flank.
He turns around and hurls a grenade onto a fuel line to their left flank next. He detonates it and it explodes violently, destroying a large amount of geth moving to flank them, and causing a small rockslide to make flanking them much more difficult.
"Quick thinking!" Kaiden shouts in approval. "I like it! Let's push them back!"
Together the trio starts pushing the geth back to more defensible positions at the back of the ruins where they can be bottle necked. It looked like they might win this one.
But then the geth always have a backup plan.
"3 Geth drop ships, incoming!" Ashley shouts in alarm as they fly overhead, dropping 3 geth armatures at the mouth of the bottleneck.
"Fuck." Wrex grunts.
A Few Moments Earlier…
"… Geth omm.- …!"
Tali lowers her hand and gives up on trying to boost the signal with her omni-tool. There's too much metal in the crust, it's interfering with their transmissions. But Tali didn't catch any of what Kaiden had said.
So frowns and tries to weigh her options. On some level, she knows Splicer is still alive. But she needs to protect Shepard. And she doesn't know how many geth are in the ruins, what if she gets swarmed and trapped? She has no backup. And what if they capture Shepard? So many things could happen and it all limited her options.
She was left with one clear option, however: Continue the mission.
Tali had to find Dr. T'Soni, no matter the cost. But she couldn't leave Shepard behind. The problem now lies in finding a way to either bring him with her, or hide him so that the geth couldn't find him. There was a chance he might get up, but there's no telling what's wrong with him, or when he might wake up. Even if he did wake up now, Tali doesn't know if he'll be able to walk, let alone fight.
Tali looks down the narrow tunnel that is little more than a crack in the wall. It's pitch black, and she can't see the end, if there even is one. Tali hears a number of footsteps from up above. She quickly drags Shepard into the narrow tunnel, having to tip him over onto his side to fit him into the tunnel. Even she has to stand sideways slightly to fit in it.
She sees a light scan the area she was just in quickly before it disappears and the footsteps move on and die away quickly.
Tali lets out a breath she'd been holding. Shepard's pretty concealed in here, and the small outcrop that they were just on isn't very easy to get to. Tali decides to leave Shepard here and see what's at the end of the tunnel. Tali starts sidling her way down the tunnel in the opposite direction, her hand on her pistol.
She can't see anything, and she can't turn her omni-tool light because she can't reach it. And it's completely silent. All she can hear is her own breathing. Suddenly the ground gives way from underneath her and she falls.
Meanwhile…
Garrus walks down the walkway slowly, his steps slow and deliberate. He hears a small noise from below and he leans over it. He points his light down and sweeps it around the collapsed elevator shaft and into a small rock alcove in the wall of the shaft just a few feet below. He spots a small blue light under the rubble at the bottom of the shaft, and decides to investigate it. He runs down the walkway to the maintenance access shaft. He tugs open the small door and points his flashlight down towards the bottom.
He hops onto the ladder and slides down to the bottom.
Garrus kicks open the access door at the bottom and snaps his rifle up. After scanning the bottom of the elevator shaft and seeing that it's clear Garrus lowers his rifle and moves to the pile of rubble. He can still see the dull blue light. Garrus approaches the pile of rubble and starts digging.
What he finds isn't what he expected. "What the fuck?"
Garrus suddenly starts hearing a dull screaming, that crescendos and gets very clear. He snaps his rifle up at the wall from which it's coming and through a small hole in the wall, Tali comes flying out. She lands on the ground, rolling a few times before stopping on her back. She groans and shakes her head, sitting up.
"Tali?" Garrus says, confused. "What're you doing?"
"You know just… exploring." Tali says with a small sigh. "Glad you could make it."
"I just happened to be passing though." Garrus says as he helps her up and starts to examine her, rubbing her arms and pressing on her ribcage.
"What're you doing?" She asks, curiously watching him as he presses on her ribcage with the palm of his hand.
"Checking for broken bones." He responds, putting a hand on the back of her neck and shaking her gently. "Feel any pain?"
She shakes her head. "No."
"Good. I didn't want to have to carry anybody today." Garrus says with a sigh.
Tali chuckles. "Then you're not going to like this: Shepard's unconscious."
"Great…" Garrus sighs again. "Where is he?"
Tali looks up the elevator shaft. "Um… up there somewhere?"
Garrus sighs loudly and shakes his head.
"Well I could find it if I saw it! I don't know how far I fell just now!" She shouts, flabbergasted.
"Whatever, you got to see this." Garrus says walking over to the pile of rubble.
Tali walks up to it and gasps.
?
The Grim Reaper's arm plunges out of the Dark and seizes me. The second it touches me the Noise screams again and I grimace in pain.
"There you are, slave." The Grim Reaper growls. "Your resistance is pointless. Your fighting is useless. Give in to my will and you will know power like you've never felt. Order like you've never seen. Genius like you've never understood. Give in to my will, slave. Can't you see that you're nothing to me? Can't you see that your fighting is useless?"
I sneer at it. "I got away from you didn't I?"
The Grim Reaper laughs. "As a fly escapes death by human hands. But within a day they are dead by some other form. My control of you is inevitable you fool."
Behind the Grim Reaper, in the dark, I see a smile appear. A smile of perfect white teeth.
I smile back.
The Grim Reaper screams at me and squeezes and I howl in pain. It leans in close and makes a deep robotic noise like growling.
"You are about to die. I need you to live." The Grim Reaper makes the growling noise again. "Live, slave."
Live.
Meanwhile…
Tali and Garrus stare at a large glassy orb, about twice the size of a basketball with about a 2 foot diameter. The orb appears to be made of some glass-like material and filled with some sort of dark cloudy fluid that swirls around the inside. There's a strange blue glow inside that pulses like a heartbeat. It almost looks like lightning, flashing in the dark clouds of a storm.
"What is it?" Tali asks, with a frown.
Garrus shakes his head. "I don't know. But I haven't seen anything like it before."
"Do you think it's Prothean?" Tali asks, staring at it.
"Maybe. What's that glow?" Garrus lays his hand on the orb and runs a hand over its smooth surface. "It's… It's really cold. Like unnaturally cold."
Tali frowns and places her own hand on it. "Hm. You're right. It's freezing."
"You can feel that through your bucket?" Garrus asks.
Tali nods. "Yes. I might ask the same question about that tin can you're wearing."
Garrus frowns. "Are you referring to my armor? Speaking of which how does that suit even protect you from bullets? It's just like a second layer of skin."
"Are you suggesting something?" Tali asks giving him a look.
Garrus shakes his head. "Never mind. We should go back to get Shepard."
Tali nods. "What about the orb?"
Garrus shrugs. "Leave it. We can't do anything with it and I think it's stuck to the ground anyways."
Tali nods and starts to follow Garrus to the maintenance shaft but stops. "Wait… Did you hear that?"
Garrus stops too and listens. "The hell?"
Meanwhile…
Kaiden ducks behind cover again, waiting for his pistol to cool. It's a wonder Wrex and Ashley haven't been injured yet, over bumps, burns, scrapes, grazes and bruises. Kaiden took a clean hit to the mid-thigh and though he doesn't feel any pain and he hasn't examined it yet, the armor on his thigh is melted to hell.
Kaiden takes a deep breath and rises from cover again. He makes a small group of geth weightless with a powerful Biotic Lift. Wrex charges forward and smashes into the ground with his fist, blowing his Barrier out in a Nova, blowing the geth sky high.
Kaiden ducks down again and raises a hand to his ear. "Shepard! Commander! Can you hear me?!"
He pauses and waits for a response but none comes. Kaiden curses and pounds on the rock with his fist in frustration.
"Ground Team!" Joker's voice says coming in over Kaiden's omm.. "Ground Team come in! Commander are you there?!"
Kaiden raises a hand to his ear again. "Joker, this is Kaiden. Shepard's underground and the metal in the crust is interfering with our comms. You can talk to me, what's the situation."
"We're running out of time. The Normandy's starting to feel like a furnace. You guys need to finish the mission in the next hour or we're only going to have a only few options available to us." Joker says sounding stressed to hell.
"Which are?" Kaiden asks with a sigh.
"One: We can a turn into French Fries up here and you guys get to get spiked down there by the geth. Two: We vent our heat up here and expose our position to the geth cruisers. But doing that allows us to have the option to EVAC you guys without a problem… other than the cruisers. Three: Normandy goes into passive mode, which will buy you guys a little time, but we won't be available for immediate EVAC or assistance. Four: Normandy leaves the system, vents heat, comes back and picks you guys up. That might be the best option, but it leaves a huge blind spot in which you guys have got to pull through until we come back to get you." Joker sighs. "In all of these situations you guys are left without support and we risk dying up here. There is the option of you guys getting the job done in the next hour, and then we get out of here ASAP. That one is probably the best. Oh. No pressure either. You don't have to pick those other plans until I tell you we have to. In like… 58 minutes? Oh… never mind 55 minutes. I didn't take into account the time I was talking… No pressure. Normandy out."
"Ah… Balls." Kaiden mumbles to himself. There's nothing he can do to speed up the guys down below, all he can do is hold his position and pray to the almighty lava deity that rules this hell planet that they hurry the crap up.
"Geth drop ships incoming!" Ashley shouts in alarm.
"Oh… Balls!" Kaiden shouts in frustration.
Wrex laughs to himself. "I'm starting to think this little trip of mine was worth it."
Meanwhile…
Garrus snaps his rifle up and points it at the orb after turning around to look at it. The orb is giving off a screeching noise, like a knife trying to cut through glass, and its glowing brighter and brighter.
"What's going on?" Tali asks, confused, her shotgun raised at it as well.
"I don't know." Garrus growls. "But I'm not waiting around to find out."
Garrus opens fire on the orb. Within the first few shots, the orb explodes and the tiny pieces disintegrate leaving no trace it was there in the first place.
The second the orb disappears, the screeching noise stops and is replaced by coughing. Garrus spins around and faces a pile of rubble in another part of the elevator shaft. Garrus nods at it and Tali moves forward slowly.
She starts moving the rubble and after a moment of heart squeezing tension, it reveals a human hand, bloody and twitching.
"Splicer?" Tali asks in surprise. "Splicer! Garrus help me out over here."
Meanwhile…
Shepard awakes with a start, and a sudden intake of breath. He looks around and finds only darkness, but a dull light to his right. He starts crawling towards it, finding it very difficult to move, and to breath. He feels like something is crushing him, like the darkness that envelops him has a weight, an actual tangible mass. Its thick like blood, to the point of suffocation, and heavy like sand. Shepard starts squirming his way forward faster, towards the light that feels like it's getting farther and farther away.
Finally he collapses out of the narrow tunnel, and instantly he feels a million times better. The air is fresher and not stuffy and hot, his chest isn't constricted anymore and he can breathe. Shepard rolls onto his back and breathes slowly and calmly, thankful to be out of the tunnel.
Shepard opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling above him. He wipes his forehead to get the sweat off of his brow, but it immediately replaces itself. He feels like he's swimming in a sauna suit or something. Shepard sits up and gets to his feet slowly, his legs shaking. He bends down and picks his helmet off of the ground near the corner of the small out crop he stands on. As he bends to pick it up, he notices a small damp torn piece of purple cloth. He picks it up and examines it, recognizing it as part of Tali's suit. He stuffs it into his belt and pulls his helmet back over his head.
How long was he out?
Where is everyone else?
Did they leave him behind? Again?
Shepard checks himself for injuries, finding none and takes an inventory of his equipment, finding it all there. He sniffs and stares over the edge of the outcrop, staring down the collapsed elevator shaft. He listens carefully and now notices noises coming from the bottom, muffled shouting and the sound rocks make when they hit other rocks.
Shepard looks around for a way down, finding none. He looks back at the narrow tunnel, leading into darkness. He's not going back in there. Shepard unclips the rappelling line from his belt and stares down at the bottom. He never liked rappelling back in training, and the last time he'd even done it was back in training. Shepard takes a deep breath and attaches the rappelling line to the ground, letting it automatically dig itself into the ground. Shepard climbs over the edge, keeping a tight grip on the rope. He lowers himself slowly towards the bottom.
The dream he had, he can't get it out of his mind. Nor could he recall it exactly. It was one of those dreams, where you dreamt absolutely nothing, but you remember it. You remember not seeing anything. You remember not hearing anything. You remember being alone, in the darkness, listening to it because it's so tangible and infinite. It scared him.
Shepard continues rappelling until he can see the bottom clearly. What he finds pleases him, and make shim sigh in relief.
"Garrus. Tali." Shepard calls, as he descends, only a few feet left to go.
They look up at him and they both physically slack with relief.
"Shepard!" Tali says in relief. "Thank goodness you're alright."
"I'm fine." Shepard responds, unclipping the rope from his belt and approaching them. "What're you two doing?"
Garrus nods him over. "We think we found Splicer, but some of these rocks are too heavy to move."
"Stand back." Shepard says cracking his neck. He glows with a biotic aura, dark energy wafting off him like flames. He raises his arms, flexing every muscle in his body and focusing with his entire being. The rocks suddenly fly up into the air, hang in mid-air for a few seconds before crumpling together into one huge boulder. Shepard tosses the boulder to the side, with a breath of exertion.
"Splicer." Garrus says, rushing over to him, impaled in three places on a pile of warped metal.
Splicer coughs and looks over at him slowly. He tries to speak but just more ragged coughs come out.
"Get him off of that. Move it, let's go! We're running on borrowed time here!" Shepard commands rushing over to Splicer's side. They each lay hands on him, picking a spot near one of his impaled points. Shepard near his head and his impaled chest, Garrus at his side near his impaled stomach, and Tali at his other side next to his impaled leg.
"Ready? On three: One, two and three!" Shepard lifts with all his might, pulling Splicer off of the jagged piece of metal protruding from his chest, they all manage to lift him off of the elevator, carrying him over to the side, lowering him to the ground gently. Shepard rushes over to his side, switching spots with Tali, his omni-tool open and ready to apply medi-gel.
Tali removes Splicer's helmet and some blood spills out as she removes it. Once off, Splicer coughs, his face covered with blood, especially around the mouth and nose, but some dribbling out of wounds on his scalp.
"Commander, he's bad." Garrus mumbles. "I don't think he'll make it."
"Some of his wounds are arterial." Shepard mumbles applying medi-gel to his thigh, only to have to reapply it a moment later to try and stop the bleeding. "Medi-gel alone won't stop the bleeding."
"His vitals are dropping." Tali mumbles, her omni-tool scanning Splicer. "And his armor's emergency life support system is failing."
Garrus shakes his head. "We might have to leave him Commander."
"I don't know what the turian military's policy on fallen comrades is but humans don't leave a man behind. Ever." Shepard growls at him.
"Commander, he's a lost cause." Tali says with a shake of her head. "He's going to die if we don't get him out of here but we can't move him. We're out of options. We need to call for a medical EV-… What the hell?"
"What is it?" Garrus asks, sounding concerned.
"His vitals… they're going back up… fast." Tali mumbles.
Shepard looks down at Splicer and widens his eyes as he watches Splicer's wounds literally close themselves and heal before his eyes. Splicer coughs another mouthful of blood onto the ground before sitting up, grunting and clearing his throat. He wipes his mouth of blood and gives a small smirk and says…
…
"What did I miss?" I ask, smiling a little.
Shepard gives me an annoyed and confused look. "What do you mean 'what did I miss?' You were impaled on an elevator a few seconds ago, your vitals dropping past Critical condition to catastrophic and all you have to say is 'What did I miss?'"
Garrus shakes his head. "How did you do that?"
Tali crosses her arms. "Yes, Splicer. How?"
"Natural talent." I roll my eyes. "I told you guys earlier: I'll explain in depth on the Normandy."
"That'll be an interesting conversation." Shepard says with a sigh. "But for now, we need to get that asari. Let's move."
A/N: Hey guys, thanks for reading. I was in a rush last week so I forgot to mention, but I posted my custom Shepard's face on the Mass Effect Custom Faces database on masseffect2faces-dot-com. Just hit up my profile or go straight to their website and type Mockingbird79 into the search box. You should find it easy. If you want a good idea of what Shepard from my story looks like, it's that. Awesome? Awesome. Not much else to say, got to run.
Thanks for reading this week you guys, and I hope to see you again next week.