Hello Comrades! I AM STILL ALIVE! First of all... I have no excuse. Well, I have quite a lot, a few of them are actually quite good reasons. So I can only apologize for the godawful wait you had to endure until I finally finished this thing.
First of all, I have my University session which lasted almost three weeks. Then I started my new job (11-hour workday, almost always 4-5 days a week with usually a single day off while I'm also getting paid less than what I earned on my last job. Yay. Being me is fun!) and then I took me a while to finally settle into my job and THEN I have this MASSIVE writer's block that took me ages to overcome and to top it all off, I started a NEW hobby which oddly enough, DIDN'T consume as much time as I thought it would. Basically saying... life was a bitch!
NOW AN IMPORTANT REQUEST! PLEASE READ!
Okay, my new hobby? I now have a Youtube channel! Yeah. Cool, I guess? If you want to hear this author's horribly accented voice you should totally check it out. A fair warning, I'm a MUCH better writer than I am a video maker. In case you're wondering, it's a gaming channel thingy. So I'd REALLY appreciate it if you could give it a look, like and subscribe and all that stuff and give me your honest opinion. I'd love to improve my skills in that too and I feel that you will definitely be able to help me with that! Here's the link (hopefully I put it in right. Just remove the spaces...)
www . youtube channel / UCjfp19WvOt806wkWfAD9s9Q or simply search the channel That Foreign Guy on youtube. It's simpler that way. Oh, and apparently I messed up the previous link as well :\ so I fixed it. It should work now.
The only good thing that came out of this monstrous delay is the fact that this chapter is actually quite long! So enjoy! I sure as hell enjoy the fact that it's finally done!
P.S: On an IMPORTANT side note! You should TOTALLY check out Mass Anomalies by Jamezy! It's a joint project (sort of. There's one main author) between Jamezy and several authors you might be familiar with! People like Herr Wozzeck, iNf3ctioNZ, TheRev28 and yours truly. Yes, you got it right. It's giant Mass Effect SI crossover. Yeah, it's as awesome as it sounds. I'm excited to work with the guy, so you totally should give it a read!
"Wow, you look awful," Garrus says while I casually take the seat in front of him. I remove the sunglasses I'm wearing and the turian's mandible twitches. "Really awful. What happened?" He asks with some worry.
Wow, this is refreshing. Someone actually worries about me. I guess I got used to everyone remarking me how shitty my appearance is and then dismissing it entirely.
I shrug at the question. "I got shot a couple of time, beaten up and punched too many times," I reply, mentally grumbling at all the bruises on my face. I'm trying to be presentable and it's rather hard when half of your face is made up from bruises. I think my left eye is also developing a black eye, which sucks. "What about you? I would've expected you to at least say something before you just ran to Omega, of all places."
After a quick message to Garrus and a surprisingly quicker reply, Garrus offered to meet up in some bar. When I finally arrived there – Joe was tailing me from behind, just in case – it turned out to be a rather small bar, but it was filled to the brim with people and loud music. It took me a couple of moments to locate him but I eventually found Garrus sitting in one of the corners of the establishment.
I can't describe how strange it is to see Garrus wearing casual civilian clothes. I'm too used to seeing him in that blue armor of his.
Garrus bristles at that, though he does look a bit regretful. "I just couldn't take it anymore. C-Sec doesn't do anything anymore, can't do anything anymore because of all the red tape. How they just dismissed everything we did... how can you stay there and see how they brush us aside, how they destroy everything Shepard did?" he asks, a notable amount of bitterness in his voice.
I hum in thought at that, feeling somewhat bitter myself. "A good dose of self-restraint and large amounts of ignoring everything," I reply after a few moment. "Don't get me wrong, I'm pissed off as hell, but what can we do?"
Garrus sighs at that, nodding in agreement. We're just not high enough on the food chain to actually do anything. If Anderson couldn't do anything in the two years he would be on the Council... what chance do we have? "Back on topic. What did you want to meet with me. For that matter, how did you even know I was here?"
Oh, I can't pass up on this opportunity. Time for some mystical and mysterious bullshit. "The galactic wind carries many things. Whispers of Archangels causing trouble on Omega..." I say vaguely trailing off from there, drawing some enjoyment from how Garrus' face went from suspicious to surprised and finally to freaked out.
"How do you even know about that? Don't even say it out loud!" he whispers, leaning forward on the table, his eyes scanning the crowd around us. It's noisy, so they didn't hear me, especially considering I said it rather quietly. Garrus still looks around to make sure no one us looking at us.
And here we go. Dropping the bomb. "I hear stuff," I say with a shrug, which is quickly becoming my most used excuse when I'm talking about things I normally shouldn't know about. I don't care, they can break their heads trying to figure it out. "Seriously though, it's not that hard to figure it out, at least for me. I hear there's a turian vigilante here who takes matters into his own hands... and not a while ago, a turian friend of mine, who was very frustrated by the rules, left to some place without telling me anything. Besides, you did confirm you were on Omega when I sent you a message today..."
Ah, the power of bullshit. You haven't failed me even once. You are the only thing I can always rely on.
"Alright," Garrus says at length, still looking at me suspiciously. He doesn't need to say that I shouldn't broadcast the information. If I'd take a guess, I'd say he already started working against the mercenary groups. A little fast, surprisingly, since he's barely been here for a month. "So what's this meeting about? This doesn't look like a social visit. If it is, you definitely picked a questionable place."
At that I sigh, remembering the mission. I wish we could've just chilled with some beer or something. That would've been so nice. Garrus is just hilarious if you get him drunk enough, which is a most difficult thing. "I need your help," I admit bluntly. "It's like this. My client got kidnapped, we tracked them down to a warehouse on this station, around twenty Blue Suns mercenaries are guarding the place, there's only five of us, not counting you. You in?" I say quickly with a small smile, keeping it short and to the point. Garrus simply stares at me blankly, as if he didn't understand what I said. "Come on man, it's going to be just like old times!" I add with a small chuckle.
"'Old Times' broke you in half..." he deadpans, staring at my right eye. I wince slightly at that. It is sometimes easy to forget that my right eye is artificial. It sometimes itches – the most weird feeling I've ever had to be honest, to have an itch behind your eyeball and you can't scratch it – but other than that it feels relatively normal.
"Yeah, but this isn't a genocidal space squid ship this time, or an army of synthetics, now is it? It's regular organics, which barely qualifies to our level of badass. So what do you say? I'd love to have the best marksman in Citadel Space on my team."
He clicks his teeth, which is basically the turian equivalent of 'tsk'ing, and smiles a little. "Well, when you say it like that... alright, you convinced me," he says, somewhat smugly I must add. Maybe stroking his ego wasn't such a good idea... ah who cares!
"Great! This is going to be awesome!" I say with a grin and with a short moment of consideration raise up my fist and hold it in front of him. He looks at it oddly for a second – I give the fist a shake for emphasis – and with an eye-roll, he bumps his own fist against mine. "Hell yeah!" I cheer. Fuck you, Joe! Now I've got another turian who will give me fist bumps and high-fives, so I don't need you anymore!
"I don't trust you," is the first thing Sidonis says to me, oddly enough after about ten minutes of walking together with Garrus, Jorrun and me. Apparently, just like Jorrun was tailing me, Sidonis decided to tail Garrus and now that I was leading my former squadmate back to our temporary base of operations, he saw no reason to hide anymore.
And apparently, he didn't trust us. Well, considering who it is... yeah, I don't trust him either.
"I couldn't care any less about that," I reply without even looking at him. True enough I suppose. Him not trusting me doesn't change anything. In the end, I'm here for Garrus, not him.
"Feeling's mutual," Jorrun quips along.
"Sidonis..." Garrus starts, his tone carrying a warning.
"I understand that you worked together under Shepard, but this is Omega. You can't trust someone who just comes out of nowhere one day, especially with what we're doing!" Sidonis says, quite heatedly. "How can you be sure he's not preparing a trap for us?"
I openly snort at that, earning myself a small glare from the turian. "Good thing I'm not from Omega, isn't it?" I remark with a small grin.
"Look, Sidonis, I trust him. I know, he looks like some lowlife thug – and he really is one – has no sense of style with that hideous coat of his -"
"Hey, I can hear you," I interrupt him with a glare.
"- and I'm not even talking about those silly sunglasses of his..." he continues, completely ignoring me, "or that he associates himself with the completely wrong people. In fact, I'm the only decent person he knows! However, he's reliable and he won't stab us in the back. So give him a break," Garrus finishes, smiling widely.
I grumble to myself and turn to Joe. "Why aren't you defending yourself?" I ask him. Garrus did basically say that Joe is among the 'completely wrong people'.
"Because he's right?" Jorrun replies with a shrug. "I mean, we're not exactly the good guys, now are we?"
Ugh, Joe and his goddamn logic. I wait for him to continue but he doesn't. "Hey..." I say with a small glare. Bah! Turians and their lack of style! My sunglasses and coat are awesome! They're just jealous...
"Besides," Garrus continues. "From my experience with him, he's not someone who will set up traps, not that he even knows how to set up a half-decent ambush."
"Hmm, he's right again," Joe adds in.
I just sigh. Why do all my friends have such a shitty – not to mention wrong – opinion of me? Just... take the compliment. Garrus said I'm reliable, so go with that. Ignore everything else.
...and I definitely know how to lay ambushes and traps. Assholes.
Thankfully, further attacks on my person are delayed when we finally round the corner and our hotel is within sight. I'm not sure who to blame for this, either Johnson or Jorrun – most definitely not me! – decided to use 'that' kind of a hotel as our temporary base of operations. Considering the amount of human and asari females loitering about, most of them in quite scandalously revealing clothes of the like I'd see on the dancers in most of the clubs I frequent, I can easily say that business is good.
Huh, I just realized that the majority of my free time is spent in strip clubs. That's... awesome? I'm not sure what it actually says about me...
Either way, on one hand, I doubt anyone would actually look for an armed group planning to assault a merc group in of these places... on the other hand, all these people outside saw me going into one of these rooms with a bunch of guys. Yep, I don't think my reputation – or whatever reputation I might have on this station – can take anymore damage already.
We climb the stairs (elevator is not working) to the second floor and as we approach the door, I have to grimace to myself when I can already hear the rest of the team. More specifically, Johnson's roaring laughter and Zaeed telling something loudly to be heard over the laughter. Jesus, I asked them to avoid drawing attention. I heard them all the way from the first floor.
I flash the keycard I was given when we got the room in front of the lock and the door slides open. For a moment the laughter stops and I find Zaeed aiming his rifle at us but once he sees who it is he puts it back down and continues with his story. I just blink at that. It lasted just a moment but I can't help but be impressed with the reaction time. And how Johnson and Zaeed just continue as if we didn't almost get shot.
A nudge on my back made me realize that I'm blocking the doorway so I quickly move inside.
"...And so I tell him," Zaeed continues, ignoring the whole thing as if it's utterly normal. "'these are not my pants!'... and then I shot him dead," he finishes, which causes Johnson to erupt in laughter again.
I have to wonder what's so funny about it, but I guess it's one of those things where you need the whole story first in order to understand it. Still, it's weird. I look at Tilben, the only one in the room who might explain it to me and silently mouth 'what the fuck?' to him but then I notice the expression on his face.
If I could name it, I'd place it somewhere between utter confusion and complete fascination with a bit of horror mixed in. It's the expression you'd sometimes see on someone who just witnessed a car crash and is unable to look away. "Tilly?" I ask him quietly.
The sound of my voice jolts him – he actually jumps slightly as if surprised! – and looks at me in surprise, as if seeing me for the first time since I entered. "I apologize," he says, blinking a couple of times. "I was... lost in thought," he says after a short pause and blink again.
Wow, now I really want to hear the full story if it can do that to Tilben.
"Man, this guy's a killer," Johnson breathes out, wiping a tear out of his eye. "You should hear some of his stories!"
"Hey kid, I realize something," Zaeed suddenly says and it takes me a moment to realize he's addressing me. I give him a questioning look, slightly annoyed with the fact he's calling me a kid. Then again, the guy's almost a fossil by now, so he's pretty much entitled to do that. Not that I like it. "When we first talked, I thought you looked a bit familiar. After talking with your pals I think finally remembered where I've heard about you before," the mercenary says, rubbing his chin while looking at me thoughtfully.
No way! I can't believe this! I feel a grin forming at the thought of Zaeed finally recognizing me as one of the heroes of the Citadel. We're all pretty famous on the Citadel, with it being the place we – publicly at least – saved. Well, we sort of saved the whole galaxy, temporarily at least, but I doubt they'd actually believe us now. Either way, I didn't expect someone like Zaeed, someone who usually stuck to the Terminus Systems (I'm not surprised about Aria knowing. It's Aria. Enough said) to hear about me, let alone recognize me.
Zaeed knows with a small grin. "Yeah, I know you!" he points a finger at me and I straighten my back in an attempt to look more impressive. "You're that deodorant guy! From that commercial!"
My grin drops from my face and I deflate.
I can hear Garrus laugh somewhere out of my sight.
Somehow... just somehow, I'm not even surprised. I sigh.
Garrus laughs harder. Oh, wait no. That's just Johnson joining in.
"Oh, fuck you," I snap at them, which just causes them to laugh harder and turn away from them to get my gear ready.
I'm pretty sure I pissed some deity or some other cosmic entity at some point. I'm more famous for my freaking deodorant commercial instead of being on of the people who stopped Saren-fucking-Arterius.
"So? Is that it?" Zaeed asks, eying Garrus and Sidonis. "Who are these two?" ah, apparently he's back in mission-mode. Well, better than further ruining my shitty reputation.
"The one in blue is Garrus. Best sniper I've seen. Can pop a flashlight head without even looking," I explain without looking, using the common Alliance jargon for Geth. I'm more interested in seeing what Johnson and Tilben actually got us for this mission. "The other one is Sidonis. He's... just some turian we picked up on the way here," I continue.
So far, it's pretty impressive, considering our time limit. A decent amount of rifles for all of us, though they're all old models. I've actually heard on the news about the upcoming upgrade to all firearm systems, which is the implementation of thermal clips. I'm... not actually sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I've gotten so used to the current system that I feel it will be hard to get used to the clips. I've spent ages learning how to properly manage heat levels in order to maximize my firing efficiency. On the other hand, the new system will make heat managing pointless and my firing speed will rely on how fast I can reload. Meh, decisions decisions. I'll deal with it when the time comes. Right now I'm kinda busy.
Sidonis growls at me, probably not enjoying how I casually brush him off. "What?" I reply, sending him an annoyed glance. "I don't know you. I have no idea what you can do. The only reason you're here is because you're with Garrus," I say, stopping him before he could say anything else. I turn my gaze to Garrus. "Is he the only one with you?" I ask. Garrus is supposed to have a whole team but I don't know how fast he actually recruited them. So far it's Sidonis, but he might've recruited someone else by now.
Sadly, Garrus shakes his head in the negative. "Only him. He's more of an infantry type. If it comes to a firefight, you can count on him. He's pretty good at stealth ops too," he adds the last bit as an afterthought. Hm, they probably ambushed some mercs or something where Sidonis showed off his stealth skills.
"That's good," Zaeed pipes in. "As much as I love a good firefight, I don't really want to storm that place head on. That's why while you were out there we came up with a plan," with that, he approaches the small table, which I now notice has some devices set up. I don't recognize what they are but when Zaeed touches them I instantly realize that they're holo-projectors. He taps a few buttons on his omni-tools – probably using the device as a sort of a remote control for the whole set up – and a moment later a holographic display of a large area appears. It takes me a moment to recognize it as the warehouse we're about to assault, along with a few buildings near it.
"You," Zaeed points at Garrus, "are a sniper, right? Then you and the Salarian will quietly get here and here," he highlights two separate buildings, more specifically their rooftops. "You will be on these rooftops, taking out any lookouts or patrolling guards that might be close to spotting us. I'm not stupid enough to think that we'll be able to get in quietly, but I'd like to at least get close enough to our target before they start shooting," the mercenary explains. "If you have suppressors, use them. The rooftops are far enough for some of them to miss the noise, but I'd like to be sure."
Garrus hums in thought as he looks at the hologram. "Those are good spots. Good visibility from two directions, far enough to make it hard for them to spot us and..." he moved the hologram around for a bit to take a closer look at the designated sniper spots. "...easy enough to reach and get back down in case we need to get out of the fast. I approve. I call dibs on the northern roof."
"I will take the other one," Tilben adds with a nod. "I can supply the suppressors, if needed. It would be easier if we decide on your entry plan, but patrol routes are unknown. Potential changes are too unpredictable to plan for."
"That's easy to deal with. With you two as our overwatch, you can warn us in advance, or if possible, take 'em out," Johnson intervenes, "of course, there still could be complications. We're basically winging it."
"Not the best of situations..." Jorrun remarks, eying the holographic representation thoughfully. "but I've seen worse. It's doable," he says, giving us his verdict.
Wow, so this is how a real operation planning goes. Everything is so... professional. It makes me realize how insanely under-prepared we were under Shepard's command. We always went in blind, without any real planning. Just a set of objectives. But as I think about it some more, I realize that we had nothing to work with. No information to make plans for. We really did went in blind every time. We just had some general information but nothing concrete. We just knew that we were up against geth, had a location and went there to complete the objective. It's nothing short of amazing that everything went as well as it did. Or it was just Shepard and everyone else being undeniably badass.
"It's doable, but I doubt we'd do this quietly. The whole plan is for us to get close enough to the warehouse itself before they lock down all the entries. If we're not fast enough, we'll never get inside. They'll just bunker down and wait for us to come to them. We don't need that," Zaeed then points at the map, two spots, both on the edge of the warehouse territory, light up. "Two teams. One gets inside here, and the other here," he points at the spots. "We get in as quietly as we can. Overwatch can easily see anything in front of us, so if need be, provide covering fire. The main building has three entries but the problem is that they're all easily defensible from the inside," this time the map zooms in to the warehouse itself and we can see how the inside looks. I have to wonder where he got the blueprints to the building, but decide not to ask. "If we alert them, whoever is inside can easily plan an ambush on the closest door. If they do that, it's over. We just don't have enough men for a full assault."
"Then why are we going in two teams? We're outnumbered as it is," Sidonis asks.
"That's what the plan's about," Zaeed explains, "Ideally, both teams will make it to these side doors and get inside. But if the worst case scenario happens, which I don't doubt will, the other team will start making some goddamn noise."
There's a long moment of silent at that declaration. "Wait..." I finally speak. "you're saying... that if one team gets discovered... they need to draw all attention to themselves?" I ask incredulously. "Isn't it a bit... suicidal?"
Zaeed barks a laugh. "Normally? Yes. But these are the Blue Suns. Regular troops. The only advantage they have on us is numbers. It's just a bunch of rookies with no impressive combat experience. We have two snipers, don't forget that. They won't be able to last long against us if we hunker down, try to keep them occupied and wait for the snipers to take them out one by one until they're either all dead or are forced to retreat."
"And that's not the point," Johnson adds in. "The point is, while the the team that was detected starts making noise, the other team gets inside. That's why we're attacking from two sides. Whichever side is detected, most of the guards will go there, leaving the other side with less guards. That team gets in, secures the objective and gets out."
"Do not forget that they can call for reinforcements," Tilben reminds. "We need to do this quick."
"That's true. Ideally, none of us get caught and we start making the noise while we're already inside. We clean everything inside and our snipers force those left outside to get inside... right to us. So that's the plan. We get in, get our objective and get out, hopefully with as much Blue Suns dead as possible," Zaeed finishes.
"Alright," Sidonis says and then looks at me. "Now, why should we do this? Why should we risk our lives for this? If they call for backup, half of the Omega Blue Suns will be on us and they will wipe us out."
Seriously? He's doing this now? Again? "Sidonis," Garrus sternly starts but Sidonis interrupts him again.
"No, Garrus. We have enough problems on our own. They're already starting to look for us. This might actually make them hunt us down, and we don't need that! Right now they don't really consider us threats and that's good. But after this, we just might piss them off!"
"Oh, so you're those two turians that's been messing around with the merc groups? I approve!" Zaeed says with a grin, managing to deduce what the two turians were doing in their free time. This earned him a sharp look from Garrus and a glance from me. I don't know about Zaeed... but he's a merc. At some point, the Omega merc groups might be offering ridiculous amounts of information on Archangel... "Don't worry," Zaeed continues. "you keep doing that and your secret's safe with me. This place needs someone other than Aria kicking them around."
Well, those words at least solve one problem...
Sidonis on the other hand quickly goes back to his argument. "What are we even doing this for? I'm all up for giving these bastards what they deserve but we usually have a good reason. What is this objective?"
Garrus didn't tell him? Oh, well, we didn't really have time to tell him the details when we met up with him after we left that bar. I guess it's kinda my fault? Easily fixed though. "The objective is Eva Fisher," I tell him. "She's been kidnapped and is now being held in this warehouse, possibly for ransom or in the worst case scenario, to be sold to some rich creep."
His mandibles part slightly, twitching slightly, a gesture that I came to recognize as the turian version of someone's mouth opening. Basically saying, his jaw dropped. He blinked a couple of times and his mandibles returned to their closed position. "Shit..." he mutters, "what are we waiting for? Let's go get her!" he then exclaims with unexpected vigor.
Err... what?
"What?" I say my thoughts out loud. This 180 is completely baffling.
"What," Sidonis says with a frown. "Have you seen Black Sun? She was awesome in that movie," he says and for once, I can actually agree with him. Not to mention it's kinda nice to finally being able to say that I've seen the same movies as other people. Black Sun was a pretty thrilling conspiracy theory (a turian conspiracy theory) movie with the lead cast being turian – which made it quite popular among turians – with a couple of human actors thrown into the mix, one of them being Eva. To be honest, that movie is awesome, and Eva and the main lead had amazing chemistry in that movie.
I scratch my head, not sure if I should be confused or worried at the sudden shift of his priorities but eventually I decide to wing it. "Okay. That's... good enough. Back to topic," I try to bring their attention back to the mission. "Does everyone understand our suicidal plan?" I say, flashing a small, albeit nervous grin.
I'm nervous with good reason. Say what you want to, but Sidonis is right. If they call for backup, they will bring down the shitstorm upon us. One warehouse of mercs is enough for me, thank you.
A chorus of agreeing noises and nods are my answer. "Awesome. So let's load up, get all our gear ready and then we meet there. Is that good with you?" Another set of nods. "Great, then let's head out!" I announce, attempting to make the exclamation dramatic. I get a couple of blank looks for that, then they decide to ignore me in favor of getting ready.
Oh well, I'm getting used to it.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Zaeed asks gruffly, looking at me with a look on his face that was somewhere between confusion and disapproval.
I'm feeling a little insulted by the reaction, to be honest. It's my brand new armor, but I can tell he's talking about the design. It all cost me quite a large sum of money and effort so I'm feeling a little bit vindictive with my response. "Oh, this? It's called a hard-suit. It might be a bit ahead of your time, but this thing went into production when kevlar stopped being useful," I say with an eye-roll, finishing attaching my helmet, barely hearing the 'click' that accompanied the action when it finally connected to the rest of the suit.
Zaeed is not impressed. He crosses his arms and frowns disapprovingly. "I can see that," he grunts. "What the fuck did you do with it?"
Yep, he doesn't like the design. It's nothing complicated, and I like it. It's a rather expensive Hahne-Kedar medium armor, not yet on the same level as hard-suits are in the ME2 era, but getting there – I heard of the upcoming upgrades to weapon and armor systems in the next months, so I can't wait for automatic distribution of medi-gel. That's awesome – the kinetic barriers are top notch, so I they can take a few bursts of automatic fire without collapsing, not that I want to test that.
The design itself is rather simple. The whole armor is matte black and that's it. Nothing special about it. The real work of art is the helmet. It's of the same design as the last one, with the visor in the shape of two eyes only this time instead of just having a skull painted on the faceplate, the entire faceplate is shaped like a skull, with a pair of 'scars' engraved on the material, mirroring the scars on my own skull. Yeah, who knew Saren hit me hard enough to scratch my skull? My last helmet saved my life. Without it, according to the good doctor, my head would've cracked like a watermelon.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a work of art, a full level above the last helmet I used. Brand new HUD interface, new VI system – which I finally know how to use – and as a bonus, I look incredibly badass. Matte black plates covering the dark gray and black flexible suit underneath it, offering better protection while retaining good flexibility. It's a medium armor so it's more bulkier than I'm used to but it does have the bonus of making me look larger and more imposing. Not much taller though, which is a bit annoying. However, the best part is the helmet, which finishes the look I'm going for and standing out amidst the dark colors are the visors, a pair of eyes glowing red like some demonic glare out of the skull's eye-sockets... of course, I dim the lights immediately since we're on a stealth mission, but it's sure a nice effect.
"What, you don't like it?" I ask, now really offended.
"It's stupid," comes the simple reply. "You rookies and your need to look 'cool'."
"Whaaaat?" I laugh at that a little bit incredulously. "Look, I'll say it again. It's psychological warfare, it has nothing to do with being 'cool'," I explain with a small sigh.
...okay, I do look rather cool in my opinion, but that's not the point.
"And yes, I understand that there's nothing cooler than riding dinosaurs and throwing spears around," I continue, smirking slightly, though it goes unseen. "That's what you were doing when you were my age, no?"
Zaeed barks out a laugh. "Kid, if I got a credit every time I heard someone saying something about my age, I'd be a lot richer than I am now. It's also not a very smart thing to do, seeing as how most of the people who do that don't get to live up to my age."
Okay. Subtle threats is not his thing, huh? I shrug it off. "Well, don't diss the armor, will you? That's like my business card. Urdnot Wrex has crimson armor and his trademark scars. Shepard never wears a helmet and has her N7 armor, Saren Arterius was a prick, and I wear a skull helmet," I explain.
"And almost everyone you mentioned happens to be dead. Not to mention that they were known for their skill, not what they were wearing," someone says from behind me and I turn around to see Jorrun walking over to us, already in his armor and...
Son of a bitch, his armor totally looks more badass than mine. Definitely spec ops. Matte black like mine, but he has all these bandoliers which I can tell are grenades. His trusty shotgun is holstered on his back, along with an assault rifle and a pistol on his hip.
"Well, whatever. You'll regret laughing at me when everyone will know the guy with the scarred skull helmet. Trust me, they'll think twice before messing with me. Especially with this..." I say, maneuvering my HUD to launch my newest app.
I launch the program, it loads up and once it's finished, I laugh. Not my normal laugh, but my 'evil' laugh, boisterous and ridiculous, sounding like a 'muahaha'. However, instead of my voice, what comes out of my helmet's speakers is a distorted, deep and raspy laugh, a voice that should not come out of a human's mouth... but that's the whole point. Ahh, voice modulator. Why didn't I use you until now? I point at Jorrun – quite dramatically I must say – and announce in this awesome voice: "Your ass is mine!"
"Uhhuh, whatever you say," Jorrun says dismissively. "Trust me, I've been laughing at you since I met you. I'm not regretting it yet and I don't think I ever will. Especially when you keep giving me reasons like this to laugh at you."
Aarrgh, must resist punching him... "You prick," I grunt at him.
"Inexperienced punk," Joe counters.
"Are we making fun of Alex?" Garrus break our 'conversation' as he speaks through the comm. "Why wasn't I invited? I try not to miss these things. It's incredibly amusing how flustered he gets..."
"I know, right?" Joe replies with amusement.
Dear god. We're about to have our first casualty before our mission starts. Now I just need to decide who to kill first. Garrus or Jorrun? "Joe. Shut the fuck up. Garrus, what the fuck do you want?"
Garrus chuckles at my annoyance. "I'm in position. So is your salarian friend. We have visual."
"Great. I'm in position too. These are our teams? I'm with the other human here..." Sidonis speaks for the first time.
Once we were done with planning phase, we all decided that it was better to split up and reach our destination on our own. Armed people were not rare to see on Omega, in fact it was literally common but the same couldn't be said about groups. That attracted attention, so we all reached our positions individually. We all met up in different alleyways, all of them surrounding the warehouse and now the only thing we're waiting for is everyone to get ready.
"Great. I'll be joining the other team then. He should be able to handle a simple infiltration," he nudges his head in Joe's direction. "Just making sure you guys made it," Zaeed says and begins to walk away.
"Huh, that's a bit too much, no?" I ask Joe quietly after Zaeed leaves. "Why'd he come here first if he goes with the other team?"
"Well, we're paying him. I guess he wants to make sure the one who is paying him is ready and all that. Though it is a bit excessive if you ask me," Joe says with a small shrug. "Or maybe he's just making sure you're not getting... uh, cold sweat?" he finishes awkwardly.
"Aww, he does care," I say with a small laugh. "And why are you trying to add our stuff into your vocabulary again? You suck at it. What you said doesn't make any sense."
"Because then maybe my wife will make sense? Your idioms don't even make sense to begin with. Cold sweat? What does that even mean? Or the thing about a cat in a bag? Or why would anyone cry over spilling milk?"
I just sigh. "Just... just stick with what you have for now. I doubt I can even explain it properly," I say exasperatedly. "And is this really the time?"
"No, but I'm really curious whether human really cry when they spill some milk. That sounds awkward. I've never seen Lucy spill milk, so I can't know."
"Alright, now you're just fucking with me," I say with a snicker, imagining if every human would actually start crying when they spill milk. That's just stupid.
"Hey, I gotta lighten up the mood. Having... uh, the jitters before a battle is not good for your health..." he pauses. "Seriously. What in the spirits is 'jitters'?"
I sigh again.
"We're in position," I quietly say into our squad radio. I look around, scanning the area around us. It seems that the meer presence of the Blue Suns made sure that people stayed away from the place. The streets outside of the perimeter is outright deserted, which makes our job a lot easier.
"In position. We're ready to move. Overwatch, do you have a visual?" Johnson asks.
"We do. I have good news, and bad news," Garrus replies. "The good news is that there is no one around the walls and all the cameras, at least the ones we can see, are placed around the main building. The bad news is that the security is rather tight. They're all around the building. Getting in won't be easy."
"However, we will make it easier," Tilben adds in. "I have the majority of the patrols in my sight. We will be able to guide you inside and help you avoid some of them."
"Good. In that case, we're starting the operation. Good luck everyone, you know the plan," Jorrun announces and so the operation starts.
We move towards the wall surrounding the place. Its about four meters tall, high enough to stop most people, but still manageable if you really want to get in. I take the lead and lead my back against the wall, cupping my hands in front of me while Jorrun takes a few steps back to get some distance for a run. He cranes his head to the side, an obvious sign of confusion. I gesture my hands up in a lifting motion. "I'm going to give you a boost," I explain, confused by the hesitation.
Jorrun shakes his head and simply walks to the wall. A relatively silent whirring noise catches my attention. It sounds like... engines? Oh. Oh! That fucker, I totally forgot he has fucking jets installed in his armor!
With a leap that looked casual in nature, fire flares from his shoulder pads and legs in a short burst and he gains enough height to grab the ledge and heave himself up.
Showoff.
At least he has the decency to reach down and offer me a hand. I take a couple of steps back and with running start I make a couple of steps up the wall before I grab the offered hand. He silently helps me pull myself up and from there he hops down the wall into the warehouse area. I quickly follow him, managing to land quietly on the floor. "We're in," I report.
"I can see you. Sort of. I know where you are," Garrus replies. "your area is clear of hostiles for now. You can safely travel about halfway to the building. From there, it will be harder to stay undetected."
"Copy that," I say and survey the area.
I have one question on my mind. What is it with warehouses and the ridiculous amount of containers lying around everywhere? Not that I'm complaining about it, because it offers us plenty of hiding places and cover, but still, I'm curious! It's not a large place, unlike some of the places I've seen on the Citadel. By my estimation, I'd say that this place is big enough for a small, yet booming business, though it's quite apparent that said small business does no longer exist. The warehouse hasn't seen much use in quite a while, judging by the layers of dust and grime on the containers and how nearly all of them are almost entirely covered in rust. Either this is a genuinely abandoned warehouse that the Blue Suns use for business deals, or they simply left a bunch of containers outside for no apparent reason.
"Turn off your external speakers for now," Jorrun instructs and I do just that. Soon after, we open up a private comm. channel between us. "Alright. From what you told me, Shepard wasn't much for stealth. Before you say anything, I don't doubt your skills in a gunfight but in this situation, just follow my lead," he says to me and from what I understand, he basically said that I'm more of a frontline fighter than a stealth specialist.
Despite how much I want to say that I can be stealthy, I know he's right. I don't have a lot of experience with infiltration. "Okay. Take the lead," I pause and then decide to say it anyway. "Just so you know, I can be stealthy when I need to be. As a matter of fact, I was the freaking champion of hide and seek when I was younger."
"No offense, but I'll believe you when I see it," Jorrun calmly shoots back as we begin to move towards the main building. "and isn't that a human children game?" he then asks, somewhat confusedly.
Okay, he's got a point... "Yeah, but the fact still remains that I know how to hide and sneak around. You wouldn't believe some of psychological bullshit I pulled off while playing that game. If it was up to me, I'll have hide and seek be a mandatory lesson in school. It's really good for your imagination, not to mention being useful," I say, unable to resist smiling a bit at the fond memories this topic brings back to mind. Those were some awesome times. We're slowly moving further inside, sticking close to the container wall, making sure to stay in the shadows they cast down on us.
"You're not exactly filling me with confidence here," here Jorrun pauses to look back at me. "you're saying that all your 'stealth expertise' comes from a kids game?" he asks, not even bothering to hide the incredulity in his voice.
"Yeah. And video games," I admit somewhat awkwardly. Then I start really feeling bad for myself when he just keeps staring at me. "What?" I ask him, unnerved by the silent staring. "It's not like I've had army training or anything. I've been doing this for a living for like only a year."
Jorrun stares silently for a few moments before he sighs. "Just... stay close to me, will you? Don't... just don't do anything. And don't say anything. Just stay quiet. There's only so much stupid my brain can handle..." with that he continues to lead the way.
Okay, now I'm offended! Sure, I have no real infiltration or stealth experience, but that's no reason to call me stupid or anything. "I bet I would totally own you in hide and seek..." I say offhandedly. No way I'm letting him have the last word here.
Jorrun pauses for a second but then apparently decides to ignore me. Hah! I will consider it a victory.
Nevertheless, I do as he says and stay quiet. Even though we move slowly in order to avoid making unneeded noise, we're still making some good distance and so far, we've seen no one. Of course, that's not going to last. And unfortunately, the universe hates me for some reason because just as the thought crosses my mind we have our first encounter: voices talking and footsteps that are getting closer.
I'm actually starting to think that this universe really does hate me! I even developed a theory to justify it! Since I'm not originally from here and for all I know I don't have a parallel version of myself existing here, the universe sees me as an anomaly and tries to fix said anomaly by removing it via random events which might result in the anomaly's termination. So far, I managed to avoid termination, so that must piss reality off so it tries harder whilst at the same time developing a sense of irony and awful timing...
…And I really have problems if I have time to come up with this shit when I'm bored.
Jorrun raises a talon into the air in a signal for me to stop – which I did before he actually told me to – and we both flatten ourselves against the container wall. Jorrun reaches for his hip and pulls out a long curved and serrated knife. Actually it's more of a dagger than a knife since it's definitely longer than any knife I've seen.
Following his cue I do the same thing, pulling out my combat knife and unfolding my now-suppressed pistol, just in case. We managed to get us some suppressor attachments but it's not that helpful to be honest. Unlike common belief, suppressors don't really silence a weapon all that much. You can still hear it if you're close enough. In these corridors of old containers sound might echo quite a bit.
"...place sucks. Why are we here again?" I hear one of them speak, a male, judging by the voice, using the external speakers of a helmet.
A frustrated sigh. "Will you ever stop whining? Can't you shut up for at least a minute?" another male voice, though it's not human. It sounds... batarian?
"Stow it you to. We got paid in advance. Now shut up and do your work," that's definitely a turian.
"I'm not complaining about that, but what are we doing here? We're just waiting! For what?" the first voice, one I definitely recognize as a human's now. All three voices are much closer now.
"Take that question to the boss. He knows. If he doesn't tell us, than there's a reason for it. All I know that we're waiting for a deal or something like that, maybe for our client to arrive. I don't know," the turian, voice now annoyed, replies.
Great! This means we're not late yet! If she's here, they haven't made the deal yet so we're not really on such a short time limit as I first thought.
"Vakarian," Jorrun speaks up through our squad channel. "we've got contacts."
"I see them," comes the quick reply. "by the looks of it, a Centurion and a pair of grunts. Heading your way, coming from your right..." a pause where I can just imagine Garrus looking through the scope, studying his prey. "You can take them out, or you can wait for them to pass by, though I can't really tell where they're heading. Looks like a random patrol."
Jorrun stays silent for a long moment. "We'll take them out. It's risky, but in the end it will leave us less people to deal with in case we get discovered. I'd rather not leave anyone behind us so they could flank us," he looks at me. "Think you can do this?"
I nod, switching my grip on the knife into a backhand grip.
"Acknowledged. Wait for them to pass by and get yourselves behind them. Attack on my mark."
We do just that. We stick to the shadows, staying crouched and relatively hidden. It's pretty good that our armor is dark and non-reflective. It makes hiding in dark places easier, but we'll still get detected if they just look at us. I prepare my pistol just in case. Thankfully, it seems that the patrol is a bit lax. I think they don't even expect anyone to start trouble tonight. Or is it day? I'm unsure. It's not like there's a real day-night cycle here.
Come to think of it, how do we even know that they'll keep going forward and not turn to where we are hiding? Aw, shit! This can go wrong in so many ways...
The footsteps got closer and closer and I ignored their mundane conversation. The only thing on my mind is the hope that they won't spot us. We're really out in the open here, so I have good reason to be worried.
Then they come into view. Blue and white armor and the Blue Suns insignia on their shoulders. The one in the lead is a turian Centurion, judging by his more reliable – and obviously more expensive – armor but the ones following him from behind are wearing the basic grunt uniform: basic armor in the same color scheme. I'm not sure which is which, since they both wear their helmets, but one's a human and the other a batarian. Not sure why it even matters though.
I freeze when I see them and my grip on my pistol tightens. Jorrun does nothing. In fact, he's completely immobile. Like a black statue, cloaked in shadows, unmoving. I hold my breathe in anticipation, even though there's no way they could hear me breathe with the helmet on, waiting for the worst to happen.
One of them, one of the grunts walking behind the Centurion, looks in our direction, just a quick glance, and at that moment it feels like my heart will explode out of my chest with how fast it's beating. Then, to my shock, he proceeds to ignore us and continue following the others.
Holy shit! He didn't see us! What the fuck?! We weren't' even hiding behind anything! Wow. These guys must be some rookies.
"Move," Joe urges and starts slowly following them. I quickly do the same, trying to copy the way he movies, or at least copy his speed. I succeed for the most part. Had these guys been walking quietly they might've been able to hear us but since they're occupied with conversations they don't. Slowly we catch up until we're just a couple of steps behind them. "In position..." Jorrun quietly reports.
"Good. On my mark," Garrus instructs. I brace myself for action, getting my knife ready. An odd and cold feeling washes over me as I prepare myself to silently kill someone. I've never done this before but it's a bit... unnerving how I know where to stab someone for a quiet kill. I calm my breathing and prepare myself to move. "Mark!"
With that word, the lead Centurion jerks forward, a spray of blue mist coming out of his head as he topples down to the ground, as if his kinetic barriers didn't even exist. The two grunts freeze in their place, staring at their fallen commander. At that moment we move.
I rush in, no longer caring about how loud my footsteps are. The main priority is to silence them before they make noise.
It's all surprisingly mechanical. I move all my thoughts to the back of my mind and simply concentrate on the task at hand, just the needed movements. And it's frighteningly easy. I grab the one on the right. I grab the top of his helmet and jerk his head back, exposing his throat. He manages to release a surprised yelp but it's immediately cut off and turns into a strained gurgle by the knife I stab into his throat. Since he's still not down – and because the wet gurgles he makes just make me unnerved – I twist the knife around and pull it out sideways, essentially cutting his throat. Dark red spills out – so much of it – while I slowly and quietly place the body to the floor, where a small puddle begins to form under him.
I stare at the body for what felt like an hour. He's still not dead, but I cut his vocal cords... actually I cut everything that was in there save for the spine and he's unable to actually make any sounds save for a weak, barely audible gurgle. His fingers grasp at the floor in futility and his body jerks a couple of times in spasms. After a short while he stops moving. I look at my hand, where my knife is held. It's completely covered in red.
It's... so simple. A couple of movements and that's it. I have a dead body. I... I don't even know how to feel about it. It's... incredibly different from what I'm used to. The way I killed him is... messy. Painful. Very painful. I cut his throat out. In a firefight I doubt it was less painful, but it was at least faster... as far as I know. When I shot someone in the head, that was it. Here... he felt every single thing and I don't know how to feel about it.
Swift and rather painful. Just stab and cut. Just like in video games. That thought almost makes me cringe.
Huh. So this is my first stealth kill...
I think I'm going to throw up.
Not because how I killed the guy. No. My discomfort comes from the fact that I feel fucking satisfied.
Not because I killed the man, no, but because I succeeded in silently killing him. The fact that I killed the man barely matters to me at all and that's what makes me disgusted.
When the fuck did I become so desensitized to death? When did killing someone started to be something almost... normal?
"You okay?" Jorrun asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Huh?" I look at him, blinking a couple of times. I look down and see his own target, lying dead at his feet, much like mine. "Oh. It's... nothing. I just never killed someone like this," I admit, taking another glance at the body.
Jorrun looks at the body with a short glance. I can't tell his expression with his helmet, but I can almost bet that it's an appraising one. "Not bad. A bit sloppy but nothing practice wouldn't fix."
A shiver travels down my spine when he mentions practice and it makes me wonder how many more I'll have to take down this way. I physically shake my head to clear the thoughts away. "Let's just go. We don't have a lot of time to waste..." I say with a little sigh.
"Let's," Jorrun agrees and a quick nod and we start to move again.
I glance at the knife still held in my hand. It's still covered in blood and I don't have a rag or anything to wipe it with. With a dissatisfied frown I slide it back into the sheathe. I'll clean it up once we're done. I should probably start carrying a rag with me or something like that so I could wipe blood off my stuff... great, what a morbid thought.
"Good. You're going in the right direction. Keep heading this way and then turn right. There's a sentry there but I'll take care of him. I'll keep you updated," Garrus reports to us, guiding our way through the least occupied path.
It continues like this for several minutes. A couple of times Garrus ordered us to stop to let a patrol pass. One time he shot down a sentry and we had to drag the body out of sight. In the meantime, I listened closely to the other team's progress. From what I heard, so far they took down five of them in total, compared to our four. That makes it nine less guards we had to deal with. This fact alone calms me down greatly, in case we get discovered and we're forced to battle them. Soon enough, the main building is in our sight.
"You have to be very careful here," Garrus warns us. "there are a couple of security cameras I can see, and I don't doubt that there are more that I can't see from here. Other than that, I see several sentries on the ground and a pair of snipers on the roof. This will be difficult..."
"Wait, a pair? I thought they had only one," Johnson enters the conversation. "That's what the files said."
"Well, that's Murphy's Law for you. We can see the building too. Three more cameras on this end. Looks like there's a fucking meeting here. About... six of them here. I think they're finally getting suspicious. They look ready for a fight," Zaeed adds his own two cents.
I take the chance and peek around the container we're behind. The main building had all the containers around it cleared away, leave about ten meters or so of open ground. On this side of the building there's a side door – our target – but right now it looks like we won't be getting in quietly with the pair of guards standing near it, guns drawn and ready with a third one walking around.
"Well, with all the patrols we took down I doubt we'd stay hidden for long," I supply with a frown of my own.
"I'm surprised it took them this long," Zaeed agrees. "I don't see a way we'll be getting inside on this end."
"I agree. They look suspicious so far but if we wait much longer they might just decide to lock the place down..." Sidonis worriedly adds.
Shit... so it came down to this, huh? There is just no way we can continue going on stealthily. Well, at least I'll be more comfortable in this setting. I am more experienced in open warfare than then stealth variant.
"Shit," Zaeed voices my own thought. "Well, I wasn't expecting it last this long, so to hell with it. Get ready, kid. You and your Ghost friend will be going inside. Be quick about."
What the hell ghosts have to do with anything? I look questioningly at Jorrun wordlessly asking the question when a loud explosion from the other side of the building interrupts me. "What the fuck!" I hiss in surprise. I thought they'll wait for a mark or something! Not just fucking attack without warning! I look at the guards standing in our way. They both have their rifles raised and they look in the direction of the explosion. The third one is already running to the other side to join the battle.
Jorrun and I exchange a glance. "Let's move!" the turian barks and runs out of cover at the distracted guards.
"Aw, fuck!" I growl out and quickly move to follow him.
And there we go! This chapter is over. Funny fact? My original plan for this chapter had it about twice as long. You heard it right. I cut the chapter in half because the writer's block made it too damn hard for me to finish and I felt that I should REALLY get something published sooner or later. It's been like 3 fucking months for crying out loud! So yeah, you get this. It's long enough as it is. About 10K words. Which is acceptable in my opinion. Once again, I'm incredibly sorry for the delay! I will make sure to avoid such things in the future and hopefully the next chapter won't be stuck in writer's hell for the next three months again. I'll try to finish it super-sooner.
First of all, I've been getting a few reviews and PM's (Holy shit! My notification system works again! After almost a YEAR of not working! WTF) and it's honestly making me feel awesome! Thank you for all your support, even though I'm an ass for not updating for so long! But here I am, true to my word, I did!. I promised one of the reviewers that I'll have a chapter out by the end of the week, and lo and behold, I did just that. At least ONE promise fulfilled, eh? Either way... you guys are awesome. I can't say much more than that.
And so, thank you all for reading this story! Your support means a lot to me, so keep giving it to me (You guys are the reason I finally overcame the kaiju of blocks I had. I felt HORRIBLE for not writing this chapter!) because it totally makes me feel more awesome than I really am! So from the bottom of my heart, thank you all! Feel free to leave a review, a PM or whatever and tell me what you thought of this chapter, your opinions, you suggestions and so on! Constructive criticism is very appreciated! I will try to reply to your reviews in the end of the next chapter, since I feel I should reply more to reviews (I usually reply to PM's and so on) so look forward to that! Once again, thanks for reading!
Delvaro out!
