Hello again!
Been on a three-week long vacation to Italy, so that's why you haven't head from me for a very long time.
Anyway... GET TO DA CHAPTA!
Shepard's squad quickly slipped behind the protective barrier beside Kal'Reegar and Jun as gunfire peppered above them. Reegar quickly stood up and fired away a rocket towards a Geth trooper, blowing it apart. Ducking again as the other platform retaliated with furious fire, he turned his attention to Shepard.
"Squad leader Kal'Reegar!" He introduced himself loud enough to be heard over the sounds of battle. "We talked on the radio before the Geth arrived!"
"Are you and him over there the only ones left alive?" The commander asked, nodding towards the human sniper.
"Yeah, Geth killed the rest of my squad, and Tali is locked inside those ruins. Had her put to safety before retreating."
Shepard looked over his shoulder towards Emile, who was busy talking with Jun like they were familiar.
"You know him?"
Emile's head shot up. "Let's just say we've been through a lot together."
Just a regular family reunion.
While Shepard would have liked to know how these people knew each other so well, he had more, slightly urgent matters to attend to. He spoke to Kal'Reegar again.
"What can you tell me about the Colossus?"
"Standard strategy for dealing with Armature-class units is to wilter it's shields down, kill it with bug bites. But the repair protocol blows that plan to hell, it just huddles up and fixes itself. So if we're going to kill that thing, it probably means getting close to it, past that barrier."
Another shot from the Colossus shook their cover as to prove it's point. Shepard sunk into thought. He had killed an Armature before on foot when he was on Therum, with even lower odds; however, the amount of Geth had been significantly less back then. He turned to Reegar again.
"What can you tell me about the battlefield?"
"The right side's got gives you a good vantage point, but the sun will probably fry your shields and there's little cover. Middle's got cover, but there a swarm of Geth there, and your ass is hanging for the Colossus to fry. Left side gives you good cover from the sun, but you will be vulnerable to the Geth. That's were I got shot."
"How's your suit damage?" Shepard asked concerned.
"Combat seals are clamped down and I'm swimming in antibiotics. I might die here but not from a suit rupture, that's just insulting!"
Shepard sighed in relief that it wouldn't be a problem and cautiously looked over the edge to get a good view of the battlefield. The Colossus was dangerous, but it's cannon fired slowly, so his main problem until he actually reached the Armature was the other Geth in the courtyard. But with a solid plan, he could get rid of them easily and then turn his attention to the Colossus itself. He looked over to Jun.
"You're a sniper. Do you have any bullets left?"
"Not many, but enough to drop a few of them."
"Alright. I want you and Thane to provide covering fire while me and Emile go down the middle. When it is clear, you go to the ledge on the right while me and Emile continue left. We're taking it from both sides. Reegar, stay here and shoot the Colossus only when we are distracting it."
"You sure Shepard?" The quarian marine voiced his concern. "I don't want to see you risk your lives like that."
"You've already done enough Reegar. Stay here."
Albeit a bit reluctant, he decided to follow Shepard's orders; he seemed to know what he was doing. The commander turned to the snipers again and raised three fingers.
"Three... Two... One... MARK!"
At his command, Jun and Thane quickly sprang into action, firing away volley after volley of rifle shots into the Geth troopers. Shepard and Emile ran down the ramp, taking cover behind some pipes before an Armature shot hit Shepard's cover.
Emile was now in his element. A Geth Hunter decided to charge him; he sidestepped with Spartan reflexes, drew his knife, turned around and combined his momentum with his raw strengh to plunge the knife into the eye before quickly drawing his shotgun and blowing it apart. Popping the heat sink, he then focused his attention to three Geth troopers who had lingered too close and destroyed them all with a single, well-aimed buckshot. The rest of the Geth troopers changed their combat tactics and tried to put some distance between themselves and Emile, but were quickly finished of by either Shepard's assault rifle bursts or a sniper shot.
"All clear Shepard," Thane spoke. "You may proceed."
Shepard and Emile made their way towards the Colossus on their side while Jun and Thane quickly sprinted to cover behind it, not wanting to stay in the sun for long.
The lumbering Colossus was guarded by several Destroyers in addition to normal mobile platforms, but those were quickly eradicated by a combination of accurate fire and rocket launcher explosions from Kal'Reegar's vantage point. The machine fired away towards Shepard, but he managed to find cover before he was blasted. A rocket impacted the Armature, effectively downing it's shields.
That, unfortunately, earned the towering war machine's attention. It charged it's cannon while Shepard frantically shouted into the intercom.
"Reegar! Get to cover now!"
However, before the Colossus did have any chance of firing, a ton of metal crashed on it's back.
The programming inside the machine's mainframe made the Geth equivalent of a surprised jump as they attempted to remove the unknown intruder from their back, trashing around like a madman. Emile, however, had activated the magnetic soles to stay on the machine. Quickly before the Colossus threw itself around again, he jumped up to it's "head" and, to Shepard's disbelief, PUNCHED his way into the inner workings of the Armature while roaring with anger.
"Emile what the hell are you doing?"
The Spartan did not listen, however, as he finally tore away a piece of metal from the Colossus to reveal several cables and machinery parts. Still holding on from the beast's savage movements, he raised his shotgun and pumped it.
"FIRE IN THE FUCKING HOLE!"
He blasted three shots into the inner workings of the Colossus before it toppled over, sending Emile falling to the ground along with it. He barely had time to stand up before the machine overloaded with a loud beeping.
"AH, hell."
Shepard recoiled back in horror as the explosion engulfed Emile and he was pushed back by the shockwave.
"Shit!"
After the the sound from the blast had faded, he got up on his knees again and stared in amazement and shock towards what emereged from the dustcloud.
Emile was alive and unharmed, crouching with his fist hitting the ground, and a white forcefield engulfing him that dissipated in a EM pulse as he stood up. The Spartan evoked a short laugh before approaching Shepard again. While the commander was relieved tha he was alive, he was still a bit mad on him for pulling such a stunt.
"You mind telling me what the hell that was?"
Emile shrugged. "Armor Lock."
There ya go. A short, sweet chapter. The battle on Haestrom is over, and Shep got a little demonstration of the power of Armor Lock. (One of my favorite Armor Abilities WHEN IT'S NOT OVERUSED)
See you next time!