"Anyone else worried that the pacifists are outclassing us?"
A small favor was that the husks didn't see them immediately. It was dampened by the apparent hostile takeover of the entire laboratory level by the monstrosities. Every room and hallway contained at least a half-dozen of them, and while the doors between rooms were soundproofed (to prevent screams from interfering with work, Garrus thought grimly), the odds were stacked heavily against them. And they hadn't even reached the main laboratory rooms yet. So far the infestation had only caught them in small bunk rooms or offices, but with these numbers, it was uncertain whether they could survive a full rush from a horde.
"We keep passing offices." Garrus muttered into his comm unit. "Any ideas as to what we should be looking for?"
"All the files we need will have been forwarded to whoever runs this facility." Miranda whispered back. "See if you can download a map to your omni-tool and find that office from there."
"Understood…but you didn't answer my question." He pointed out.
He heard a soft sigh on the other end. "I'm looking for hints at other Cerberus bases, unlikely as it may be. I don't even particularly care what they're up to in this one, as long as it's rubble when we're finished. As for you, I'm not the one who can answer that question."
"Right. Do you think they would have any Reaper data stored here?"
"Did you miss the husks?" She sounded annoyed, now. "If anything, I'm starting to think Reaper technology was their focus here."
"You think they might be trying to bring them back?" Garrus asked.
"If I didn't have a vendetta before…let's assume so and hope not."
Garrus' H.U.D. flashed in warning as they approached another door. "Hey, did anyone else's LADAR just turn re-?" Davisson began, confused, then deadpan. "You've gotta be kidding me."
The next room was so filled with hostiles that none of them could tell the bodies from the walls. It was times like this that biotics against enemies lacking shields were particularly useful. If anything, Garrus thought as he opened the door, this would be more of a temporary annoyance than a death sentence; they could retreat and let them come through the bottleneck while Jack blew them to bits.
Fortunately, it wasn't husks. Unfortunately, it was twenty Cerberus foot soldiers. Even worse, they had all apparently been on high alert (Garrus wondered why with a heavy dose of sarcasm) and opened fire as soon as they saw enemies. Jack threw biotic fields and waves into the center of the room, Davisson returned fire on fully automatic with his sniper rifle…they'd need to talk about that later…and Garrus tried desperately to simultaneously close the door and not die.
Cerberus built their systems for efficiency, and it showed. The door shut immediately, and only a few projectiles came through. Not enough to drain their shields by any sizeable amount.
"Now would be a great time to find better cover!" Davisson motioned back down the hallway. Their only options were small offices on either side, but they would do. They each dove into a different door, crouching behind the clear glass windows that allowed for a minor view of the hall.
"Miranda, come in." Garrus whispered urgently, glancing outside. "Can you divert some husks to our location?"
"…Excuse me?" She said flatly.
"Just do it!" He hissed.
"Fine. Miracle workers to the rescue. There are a few smaller labs near your location…there we go." Garrus ducked his head down when he saw the white boots approaching en masse, and almost immediately his door opened. Two troopers raced inside, aiming assault rifles and firing wildly. They made the attempt, anyway.
There was an orange flash, and only empty click sounds came from the Mattocks. Garrus' mandibles widened in a grin. He waved his omni-tool at them. What he wouldn't have given to see their faces just then. Not that they kept their faces for long. His own weapon, unaffected by the sabotage, saw to that.
The rest of the enemy group ceased their searching and he heard them all running towards him. A pistol peeked around the corner and several shots were reflected by his shields. He hit the door with a fist and it closed shut around the arm, leaving the room with a total of thirteen limbs. Despite his capacity for improvisation, he wouldn't last long against a complete assault, and hoped that his 'reinforcements' would arrive soon.
He waited, braced against the wall and weapon pointed at the entrance for the next wave. Then he continued waiting. And waited some more. He lifted his head to check the hall, and hit the floor with a start. They were having a civil war, all right, and it was clear why Cerberus was hiding. They had definitely not prepared to have to fight these things. It struck him as incredibly stupid. This was a slaughter in the way that fire was warm.
After what felt like an eternity, he lifted his head again and saw the husks milling around, alone. Then a flash of blue as they went flying in various directions. Jack spared a look at him when she walked by, clearly rolling her eyes behind the helmet. Davisson shrugged at him, and he opened the door for the third time.
"You know, I never credited Cerberus as being particularly smart, but this is over the top." He commented when Garrus stepped out. "They got torn apart by things that should only be slightly annoying? No security precautions? What gives?"
"I don't like it either." Garrus said, following the sinking feeling in his gut. He re-opened the comm channel. "Miranda, something doesn't add up here. Have you found anything?"
"Clear." Tali said shortly, shotgun out and aimed down one direction of the three-pronged split trail.
"No hostiles detected." EDI confirmed, aiming a pistol in the opposite direction.
"Keep watch. Eyesight, not tech." Miranda knelt down next to the felled Cerberus commando, activating her omni-tool for a medical analysis. Something was off with the readings…far more augmentations than should be normal, even for them. Carefully, she removed his helmet, and dropped it, jumping back with an intake of breath.
The facial profile, blue tracings, empty eyes…it was a husk. A full husk in Cerberus standard commission battle armor, not just a semi-aug like she'd seen during the War. She vaguely heard Garrus contact her with a question, something about things not adding up. No shit.
"You're damned right." She said, struggling to control her breathing. "The Cerberus troopers are husks."
There was a pause. Then five voices simultaneously answered over the shared connection. "That does not-"
"The hell you-"
"What are they-"
"How is that-"
"Who would order-"
"I don't know." She said, various thoughts and possibilities racing around her mind.. "But I intend to find out. Tali, EDI, form up." She spotted another office up ahead. The last few hadn't had any answers, but passing by the one helpful console because it might not have anything was worse than wasting a minute.
But she was in luck. A quick glance told her that this database belonged to the Head Scientist's second. Better yet, it was unlocked. An unopened audio message stood out immediately among the files. She set the rest of them to download to her omni-tool and opened the recent message.
A panicked voice sounded over the speakers, what was remarkably akin to gunfire blasting in the background. "This is Dr. Stevenson sounding a general alert! Code re- Oh, screw code red, this goes beyond code red! Purple, or something! The test subjects are off the leash, we need to evacuate to the tunnels, now! I'm sending a beacon to the Eletania base - then we're waiting for evac!"
Miranda saw Tali facemask-palm out of the corner of her eye, and concurred with the assessment. Mad scientists. They just don't learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. "It looks like we're going further in. Again." She sighed. "And I think there's only one entrance this time." A look-over of the map file from the computer confirmed this. She input locations data, and saw that the other three were already there. "Take a right down the next hallway, it'll be the third door on the left. Try checking the offices as you go, might pass the time."
"Roger, see you there."
X X X
It would have been easier to catch up if it hadn't been for the damned turrets.
There were three of them, and they only activated and started firing when EDI, Miranda and Tali were within five meters. If Tali hadn't been so quick to react, at least one of them would have gone down. As it was, that split-second moment of initiative turned the fight from terrifying to laughably easy. The sabotage left the weaponry useless, giving EDI all the time in the world to hack one of them, which proceeded to turn another into scrap when the systems reactivated. A second fell to Miranda overloading its motherboard.
As for their new swiveling friend, they simply left it to its work on the roof of the hall. At the least, anything behind them would have problems catching up.
They found Garrus, Jack and Dave (or was it Dick? Danielsson? Bah) waiting for them next to an elevator. There was always an elevator, Miranda thought darkly.
Of course, Dagwood and Garrus had found the least responsible way to wait.
"Uhh…" Garrus said, looking over his omni-tool display. "Go fish."
Darke reached to press a 'draw' button, then looked at the turian suspiciously. "Wait. You don't have aces, twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, eights, jacks, tens, queens, OR kings? Are you sure you know how to play this game?"
"I thought I was supposed to be bluffing." Garrus shrugged.
Damien hung his head and gave a long-suffering sigh. "That's…another game."
Jack turned to the other three approaching. "Please tell me we can go now. Watching the jarhead get his ass handed to him is hilarious, but we have work to do."
"As long as the elevator has enough room." Tali nodded.
Garrus hit the control, and in fact the elevator was quite wide, frankly roomy even for six people. "Well, that's convenient." Dakota commented, glancing at EDI. "Everyone watch out for giant space bears."
Miranda (and Jack too, she imagined) gave him a bewildered look under her helmet, but EDI replied in deadpan with a totally straight face: "A joke. I am amused."
Tali groaned halfheartedly. "Oh great. Jeddah's habits are spreading."
"Like a virus." EDI confirmed. Then paused. "Aside from the obvious lack of any hostile data being transferred that interferes with my systems, or…"
"Oh god, kill me." Jack muttered as the doors closed.
It had been a long day for Bob. As if being a Cerberus Remnant foot soldier wasn't bad enough today, chance had picked his shift to be the one where the creepy-ass experiments went rampant. Most of his unit had been slaughtered by the damn things, and the three remaining scientists had pyjaks up their asses. Waiting for evac? Some damn plan. Five men left, even including him, was nowhere near a good enough security detail to-
A soft 'ding' sound brought him out of his reading and back to real life. He blinked under his helmet, and his thermal imaging implants alerted him that a group of six were coming down the elevator, straight towards him. That was impossible, unless either reinforcements had arrived early, or…
"Main office, this is Ground Operative Crazz." He said hastily into his radio connection. "Are reinforcements authorized presently?"
"Reinforcements?" Stevenson asked, angry. "What the hell are you talking about?"
That was all Bob needed. Before the elevator door opened, he sprinted to the end of the hallway. He bounced off the door at first, then opened it and ran to the right, narrowly avoiding a bullet to the shin.
"Get ready, Stevenson!" He panted. "Six intruders are heading towards you!"
"What the fu- Are you running?"
"Like the wind!" He said, then disconnected. He kept running, further away from the sounds of shouting, angry voices. But screw Cerberus. Those husks were one thing, but he sure as hell wasn't willing to die for the cause. Not this cause.
He had to hand it to his bosses, though; they made good implants. He was far outstripping all of the hostiles on foot, but he was fairly certain that at least one of them had a sniper rifle. He saw a door coming up, and remotely accessed it with his omni-tool, sliding it up just as he arrived. He didn't lose pace, but he leaped forward and twisted in midair, drawing his pistol with one hand and a bomb with the other. He got a good look at the leading three before he blew out the door controls, closing it.
Shit, they had a quarian. He landed hard, but rolled backwards. He made it halfway to the emergency contaminant disposal room when he heard the door behind him open. He didn't look back, just raised his hand and waved. Then he lowered the finger right on to the detonator. The bomb exploded right at the foot of the door. It was weak as all hell if they had any shields, but more important was the smokescreen.
At this point, he didn't care if the disposal room was a shark tank filled with acid. Anything was better than getting caught by whoever these people were. He sealed the exit behind him.
"Everyone alright?" Garrus asked, trying to pinpoint his target through the smoke. He couldn't believe he'd missed - twice! Hopefully no one had been paying attention…
"We're doing better than your aim." Davisson snarked. Damn it.
"Who was that?" Miranda peered through the haze at the closed door, trying to figure out like everyone else what just happened.
"Someone who's figured out that fear moves faster than anger, apparently." Tali remarked.
"Why'd he go into the contaminant disposal place?" Jack just sounded mildly annoyed that their quarry had escaped. "Isn't that a death sentence?"
"Given the alternative, his choice was logical." EDI said.
"He might have raised the alarm." Miranda checked behind them to ensure they wouldn't be caught off guard. "We should go and find this Dr. Stevenson."
X X X
Stevenson looked dispassionately down the barrel of the intruder's pistol. He really would have preferred to at least had the opportunity to chew out Operative Crazz beforehand, never mind the four augmented commandoes that were supposed to be his security detail. Seven minutes and twenty six seconds from the end of the transmission to this. He'd counted.
And already the interrogation was starting to get repetitive. "Go to hell."
A fist slammed into his face, knocking him back into a diagram of husk physiology. He tried to ignore the stinging nosebleed, but it wasn't easy. "We don't have time for your games!" One of the women in similar body armor shouted. He could make out an accent…Austrian? Was that what it was called? Damn, but he hadn't been to Earth in a while. "Tell us what you were working on, or you're going to end up with worse than a broken nose!"
"You should have been able to deduce that yourself." He said bitterly. "The Horizon Project."
"And without a steady supply of husks to keep the project afloat, you decided to make your own." She spat. "You people just don't learn from your mistakes, do you?"
"Guess not." He admitted. "But when the benefits so far outweigh the risks…"
"The benefits?" She demanded. "Your experiments are brutal and insane. Nothing could possibly justify-"
"We're doing this for the betterment of humanity." He cut her off angrily. "I'm not the insane one here if you can't see that."
"My father thought the same thing." She said coolly. "You might have heard of him. Headed the original Horizon project. Experimented with controlling reaper soldiers. I tossed him out a window. You're turning soldiers into malformed puppets and calling it a godsend. And you, I don't have any familial attachment to."
"Dying at the hands of some vigilante with a vendetta is part of the job, Operative Lawson." He shot back. "I don't have any illusions there. But I was part of something great. It's sad that you've lost sight-"
She simply punched him in the face again to shut him up. His morality lectures were starting to wear thin. "What's happening on Eletania?"
"Don't ask questions you know the answer to." He said defiantly.
"Fine." She sighed, sliding away her pistol. "I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not going to kill you. I don't think you're worth the tenth of a thermal clip." She motioned the other armored woman forward.
"Jack, here, has no such hangups."
The last thing Stevenson saw was a flash of blue.
X X X
"Well, I feel all warm and fuzzy." Davisson commented across the comm line to Miranda as their shuttles took off. "But did that actually get us any information?"
"It gave us another Cerberus base." Jack said. "That's enough for one day."
"We'd appreciate the backup if you want to come with us." Miranda informed them.
"I don't think we have anything more solid to follow up on." Garrus said ponderously. "But we'll have to check in aboard the ship first. See if there's anything in particular we should be on the lookout for."
"How well did we place that device, by the way?" Tali asked.
"…Wait." Garrus held up a hand. "What device?"
"One of Jack's signature B.F.B's." Miranda replied. "It'll go off when we're at minimum safe distance."
"Ehh..." Davisson sounded leery. "What?"
"Big friggin' bomb." Jack explained.
"...How big are we talking?" Davisson asked.
"Buckle up, buttercup." Jack cackled, then the line went dead.
"...Holy crap, they're insane."
"Ah, you're back!" Kerrin smiled at Garrus' entrance. Kaidan had awoken in one of the corner beds, and grimaced at the Admiral. His head was bandaged, but he didn't generally look the worse for wear. He started to lean up, but Dr. Chakwas forced his upper body back down with a stern look.
"I've come up with a few theories regarding possible resuscitation for the Commander," Kerrin continued. "And I thought you would like to know."
"By all means." Garrus said, not bothering to hide his rising hope at the prospect.
"The first option is the most dangerous. We'd need to allow the…well, 'shell' to fully wake up, first, then add external stimuli in the hopes of a psychological rejection of the pseudo-indoctrination. Sorry," He added when Garrus raised an uncomprehending eyeridge. "We wake her up, then see if she can throw it off herself by giving her a powerful emotional connection. Sufficient willpower does the rest."
"Risks?" Garrus asked.
"Er, well, the window for the reaction is short. And if it doesn't work, we may not have enough time to put her back under before the possessor goes berserk and kills us all."
"Sounds perfect." Garrus said sarcastically. "Next."
"A suitable host may be able to act as a recipient if we can force the possessor out. But we would need someone or something that we know for certain the possessor can, well, possess."
"And we don't have any Collectors on hand. Still, promising. Next."
"I-" Kerrin started to speak, then closed his mouth, looking concerned.
"Spit it out, Doctor."
"En…Enhanced Defense Intelligence?" Kerrin said nervously. EDI's traditional blue vaguely head-shaped hologram sprung into view on the medical comm terminal. "Does the Normandy have a working airlock?"
"Affirmative." EDI said. Though her voice sounded…colder than usual, somehow. Garrus' talons curled up, cutting into his scales. Was the salarian really suggesting what he thought he was suggesting?
"I'm sure you know where I'm going with this." Kerrin pinched between his eyebrows. "Chances of success?"
"Extremely close to a negative percent." EDI said simply. "Theoretically impossible, but accurate. The entirety of the crew would kill you brutally at the suggestion. Including myself." Garrus felt his heart soaring with respect and affection for the AI at that simple statement.
"If I were so far gone, I wouldn't resist." Kerrin said darkly. "Nevertheless, those three are the theories I have compiled so far. More may come, of course, I'm not entirely out of ideas."
"I'm inclined towards number two." Garrus said. "It'll let me put a bullet in Harbinger's damn head for good, at least."
"I understand your hesitance, Kerrin." Chakwas said softly, looking at Garrus. "But you should really tell him."
"Tell me what?" Garrus found himself alarmed. "What's wrong now?"
"The…state of possession in Commander Shepard…" Kerrin began, clearly worried about the reaction to the news. "The alien control, plus the damage to mental functions, as well as the sheer power behind it…" He stopped, unwilling to go on.
Kaidan spoke up sorrowfully, locking eyes with the turian admiral. "The cells of her body are starting to deteriorate, Garrus. The possession's killing her."
"Spectre Alenko hasn't fully recovered yet, so I'll be leading our side of this next mission." Garrus informed the crew over the intercom as the ship approached Eletania. "Putting us through our paces. Jeddah, Dr. Solus, Corporal Vaya. Be on the shuttle in five."
There was a very good reason behind his choices, naturally. Solus would know what they were looking for, Jeddah would be an enormous asset on the field of hacking and if they encountered more husks, and Vaya…well, it never hurt to have more guns, and he wanted to see her in action. And damn, that sounded less dirty before he thought it.
As per usual, the away team was on the shuttle in three minutes, not five. Though, Tali had accompanied the geth. He could tell that she was giving him a severe look behind the mask, and sensed an argument. Possibly a threat. Maybe both.
However, when he approached, she seemed content with a simple phrase. "Not a scratch, Garrus. Not a scratch."
"I am capable of keeping myself operational, Creator Tali'Zorah." Was that embarrassment in the geth's tone?
"True," She conceded. "But people tend to get shot at a lot more than usual around the esteemed Admiral Vakarian, here."
"It-…He'll be fine, Tali. I'll be careful."
"Garrus." She said sharply. "EDI connected me directly to the med bay comm unit. I know you. You're going to be as careful as a charging krogan."
"I'll be careful about getting Jeddah shot, then." He amended gruffly, indicating the unit who had apparently decided that any resistance to this conversation was going to be futile.
"I'll take what I can get with you." Tali sighed. She reached out to grasp his shoulder softly, looking him in the eye. Of course, he couldn't but look her in the mask, so there were difficulties, but the effect was the same. "Keep safe."
"Or you'll turn the ship around, right?" He asked wryly.
"No…I'll have to come get you. I'll bring Liara and EDI. Then I'll tell the hierarchy that the great Admiral Vakarian had to be saved by three technical noncombatants half his size." Based on her tone, she seemed to enjoy the thought quite a bit.
"…Careful it is." He took a step back into the shuttle and put on his helmet. Vaya hadn't donned hers yet. She was grinning at him.
"Not a word, Corporal, not a word."
"I must admit…" Kerrin began hesitantly, shifting uncomfortably in his light salarian combat armor. "I am curious as to why more military personnel are not coming with us."
"Well, Jack, Miranda, and I are an army each. And the way I heard it, you're more than capable." Garrus indicated the doctor's left arm, where lay his omni-tool.
"I suppose that makes sense." Kerrin admitted, checking his supplies. "I hope I have enough here to deal with all the threats."
"You won't have to." Vaya slid a thermal clip into her Javelin. "Just clean up the stragglers."
"Admiral Vakarian." Jeddah said sharply. Garrus silently thanked the spirits that geth units had finally stopped using a name-then-rank method of address. "I have located a hostile distress signal."
"From the base?" Garrus checked his omni-tool, linking in to whatever the geth was trying to show him.
"Affirmative. The signal is the only form of communication from within."
"Looks like this facility has some problems of its own." Garrus opened the communications channel to the invisible ship beside them. "Miranda, did you get the signal?"
"Yes." She said shortly. "Looks like a general warning. Probably contaminants or a riot."
"You can tell that from one signal?"
"You have to check what isn't there. Cerberus has dozens of variations within each distress signal depending on what's going on, when, and how. This one looks rushed; essentially it just reads 'keep out'."
"So, two Cerberus bases, two distress-worthy situations." Jack commented. "Anyone else think…?"
"That this is really pathetic?" Garrus and Miranda responded in unison. "Yes."
"Hostile forces detected at entrance." Jeddah warned. "Semi-organic life forms." The shuttle rocked from a heavy impact. "They appear to have weapons."
"Thanks for the forewarning." Garrus deadpanned. "Cortez, evasive maneuvers!"
"Way ahead of you, sir!" The pilot spun the shuttle into a steep dive, barrel rolling to avoid further impacts. Beside them, Miranda's ship fired on the landing zone, sending Cerberus troops sprawling for cover.
"Jeddah, what are your combat capabilities?" Garrus asked. "Cliffnotes version!"
"Common vernacular: Defensive Drone, Overload, Sabotage, Energy Reroute." The geth replied.
Garrus was about to give him an order, then the oddity struck him. "What does that last do?"
"It resets shield polarity in nearby friendly units by violently disassembling major systems in synthetic targets."
Kerrin cut in before Garrus had a chance to ask what the hell that meant. "He recharges our shields by making mechs explode!"
"…You're taking point against their security systems."
"Affirmative."
A round ricocheted off of the opening shuttle door as they landed, throwing up a puff of dirt from the ground. Vaya returned fire, dropping the culprit. Another tried to run to better cover, but froze in mid step. Garrus took care of him.
To the side, he heard Kerrin muttering to himself. "It shuts down brain functions. He didn't feel anything. It shuts down brain functions…"
An arcing shockwave of biotic energy blew aside two more, one of whom stopped in midair and rose even further than his compatriots before slamming back down with crippling force. As if that wasn't bad enough, the biotic feedback exploded violently, and so did he.
The good news was that there was only one remaining soldier left. The bad news was that it was a Phantom.
A Phantom that immediately turned invisible.
"Damn it!" Garrus shouted, sliding out of the shuttle. "Does anyone have a thermal setting on their HUDs?"
"Who cares!" Jack stepped out of the other ship and began throwing biotic fields around at random. "I'll get her eventually!"
Jeddah hopped out of the shuttle and almost immediately a sword stuck out of its chassis. It looked down at the blade, then grabbed the rapidly-appearing Phantom by the throat.
"Warning: Geth possess no vital systems in that area. Scanning: Processing common terms. 'You fail assassination forever'." Then a metal fist came from the other side, sending the Phantom flying through the air seventeen meters into the hard, unforgiving wall of the Cerberus base entrance.
Vaya didn't waste a moment, and opened up a new hole in her dented head.
Garrus turned to the geth slowly. "Jeddah, what exactly happened to not harming sentient life?"
"I did not lethally affect the organic in an adverse manner. My intent was to render her unconscious, and it was successful." The geth pulled the sword free and tossed it aside without a glance.
"Now I want to piss this thing off even less than the last one." Jack commented.
"Hopefully you can continue using loose definitions as we go." Miranda motioned to the entrance of the base. "How well can you hack?"
"I opened the entrance console remotely during the conflict. I also improved cohesion in the inter-communications systems of our radios and accessed several key file storage areas within the base itself, including the extranet mail of one high-ranking scientist." The geth paused. "What is 'Fornax'?"
"Why wasn't he on the last team?" Jack asked Miranda incredulously, ignoring the last question.
"Because Tali did all that in half the time. And got the espresso machines working." Miranda said dryly. Jeddah bobbed its eye up and down.
"You need to get a bigger shuttle and start taking everyone." Jack told Garrus.
"I would, but we keep adding random people to the team." Garrus shrugged. "I half expect that one escaped Cerberus trooper to find us in a spaceport and ask to join."
"We should get going, sir." Vaya said. "That signal might attract reinforcements soon, and spirits only know what we'll find down there."
[Author's Note: Merry Christmas, all! This present is for all of you - three and a half extra pages of fighting, AND a relative cliffhanger. I may, of course, do a Christmas episode at some point, though obviously it'll be belated.]