After the elevator stopped, we headed straight to the garage area where a guard was standing watch next to the door.
"Access to the garage is restricted," the guard told us as we walked towards her.
"I have authorization. Excuse me" Jane said before pushing the guard out of the way of the door.
'Well that could've gone better' I thought as we followed Jane into the garage with the guard glaring at us after checking the pass.
'501 pissed off people and counting' I added as we scanned the garage.
A lovely tank sat next to us while the familiar Mako sat further down, in front of the exit.
Stacks of corporate crates were packed around us, ready for shipment under the light of station lights decorating the ceiling.
It was what a normal service garage would look like.
I noticed a small scrunched up ball near a few crates. On closer inspection, I pulled out my rifle, as it began to uncurl, revealing it as a bouncing geth fighter. Suddenly, the crates were smashed open, showing more geth.
"This day just gets better and better" Wrex grinned as he pulled out his shotgun.
"You said it, Wrex" Jane agreed, copying him as she began charging the group.
'I swear she wants to get herself killed' I shook my head as Liara began using her biotics against them while I gave her covering fire. Suddenly, I was pushed to the ground from behind. I turned to see the bouncing geth jump away.
"You want some of this?" I yelled at it as I threw a sticky grenade at it. It landed on top of its head, which made me smile.
"Boom" I muttered as I watched it explode from the wall and land next to Jane. She glanced at me with a smile.
"He jumped on you, didn't he?" she yelled as she kicked a geth trooper down and shot it in the head.
"Do you even need to ask, sis?" I yelled back happily as I shot at a geth, which was trying to sneak behind Wrex.
Eventually, they all went down. Afterwards the last one hit the ground, Captain Matsuo from before came in with a small group of guards.
"What the- what are these things? Fan out and secure the area! No one gets in or out!" she ordered the group as they separated to opposite sides of the room.
'You couldn't have been here, I don't know, maybe 5 minutes ago?' I glared at the woman as she walked towards us.
"What were these things? Did you bring them here?" she questioned us.
"Oh, yes. We brought them here for target practice" I fake smiled at her before I dropped it, rolling my eyes.
"Hey, I'm supposed to be the snarky one here, sis" Jane lectured me, hiding a grin from Matsuo, before turning back to the woman with a deadpan look.
"If you didn't bring them here, then who did?" she continued to question us.
"Maybe you should ask the owner of these crates," Wrex said, pointing at the broken crate rubble, which used to contain geth destroyers, y'know the ones that continuously charge at you until you die. I love those.
"We believe Matriarch Benezia brought them with her" Liara added, sounding guilty for some reason.
"That's impossible. We scanned all of her crates; there were no signs of life on the scanner" Matsuo told her.
"The geth aren't a life form, Captain. They must have been deactivated," Liara argued.
"Were there any more crates?" Jane asked her.
"Benezia brought a few of the crates to Peak 15. The rest were left here" Matsuo told us.
"Then we better get going," I said. The others nodded as we turned and walked towards the transport truck.
"Be careful. There's a blizzard affecting the road to the facility" Matsuo cautioned behind us as we all entered the truck.
"Alright, can someone else drive? I'm not a very careful driver" I smiled sheepishly.
"I will if you need me, Lily" Liara offered. I nodded in thanks as she took the wheel and began to drive us out of the garage and into the blizzard.
We sat in silence before I asked Jane the question that's been bothering me since we landed on Noveria.
"Jane, I'm curious…when did Liara tell you about her mother?" I asked her.
"During one of our talks" Jane replied. That was a shock.
"So you actually talk to your crew. For a while, I thought they were just here to point and shoot" I joked. She rolled her eyes at that.
"Ha, Ha. Laugh it up, sis" Jane said as I felt the car turn sharply.
"Careful!" I shouted at Liara who turned a light shade of pink.
"Sorry. The roads are more slippery than they look," she told us as she carried on down the road.
"Well try not to kill us before we get there. The geth will be heartbroken" Wrex laughed at his own joke.
"Geth do not have hearts, Urdnot Wrex" Shiva told him matter-of-factly.
"Hey, Lily. You wouldn't mind if I broke your little toy, would you?" he said, glaring at Shiva for ruining his joke.
"Ignore him, Shiva," I told the flying ball as it floated around Wrex's head as he tried hitting her.
"Like I said before, Lieutenant. I take amusement at annoying others," she said before floating next to me.
"Noted" I smirked happily.
We went back into silence, the noise of the truck's engine the only thing breaking it. Eventually, I felt the car slow down as Liara began to lean forward as if trying to make out an object in the distance.
"What's wrong? Spot something?" Jane asked as she crouched next to Liara, peering out the window.
"There. In the distance" Liara said, pointing her finger at the window.
"Oh great" Jane muttered before turning to us with a smile.
"Well guys, we've found the welcoming committee," Jane told us before turning back to Liara.
"Head straight through the tunnel. Use the guns if you have to" Jane ordered before taking her place next to Wrex.
"I'd grab hold of something if I were you," she told us. Knowing my sister was serious, I grabbed hold of the metal bar above me; Wrex doing the same on his side while Jane held the one next to her since the bar above her opened the hatch for the truck.
We felt the car beginning to move again as the sound of bullets ricocheting off the paneling of the truck echoed around us.
Suddenly, the sound of a missile hitting the side of the truck was confirmed by the large dent next to Wrex's seat.
"What was that," Wrex asked Liara.
"Turrets" Liara said, continuing to drive down the tunnel.
"Well that's reassuring, isn't it?" I sighed, as the idea of Liara driving us towards our deaths was ever constant in my mind.
The sound of missiles and bullets hitting the truck continuing for what seemed like half an hour but was actually a few minutes.
Suddenly, a loud groaning sound was heard.
"Please tell me that was someone's stomach?" I prayed as I looked through the window to see Liara drive around the corner to see more geth and a colossus.
"Oh, joy" I sighed as Liara began to speed towards it.
"Uh…Liara? Liara, what are you doing?" I asked her worriedly as she drove closer and closer to it as the truck's speed began to increase.
"I suggest we say our final wishes now" Jane managed to joke.
"I'm hungry" Wrex randomly spoke as I walked up to Liara.
"Liara, I don't know why you suddenly feel the need to kill us right now, but you really need to turn the truck" I tried to reason but it was too late. The colossus was only a few feet away.
"Bugger…" I muttered as I put my arms over my head as I tried to block the incoming geth. The impact never came.
I moved my arms just in time to see the colossus topple on top off us before rolling onto the floor. She finally turned the car to see the colossus collapse onto the floor in a heap, giving off a last groan before completely dying.
"Liara…even though that worked…don't do that again" I shook my head before sitting back on my seat again.
"I thought the idea was brilliant" Jane smiled at Liara.
"Never would've thought of it" Wrex added. Liara turned a pale pink, nodding in thanks before beginning to drive again.
'I'm working with a bunch of crazies' I realized in my head as Liara entered another tunnel filled with geth.
The pattern continued: tunnel, geth, ignore geth, path, turret, tunnel, geth, ignore geth, path, more geth, etc.
Finally, we'd reached the entrance of the facility with a flaming truck blocking the truck entrance.
"Well, let's hope the truck doesn't freeze up" I commented as we left the truck and walked towards the side entrance.
Jane was about to open the door but then realized something.
"Weapons" she said as we all took out our chosen weapons. As we were entering the facility, I turned to Liara.
"Nice driving by the way. I mean, when you're not driving into a geth colossus" I grinned at her.
"Thank you" she smiled in thanks as we entered the facility, shutting the door behind us.
We had entered a small room with a door at the side, along with more ice, which was slowly becoming an eyesore.
Seeing nothing of interest, we walked over to the door and opened it, revealing a room similar to the garage we were just in.
It even had geth inside.
'By the maker, how many geth did the quarians make anyway?' I moaned mentally as we used the same tactics as before.
Suddenly, an alarm started to go off as soon as we killed the last geth.
"Now what?" Jane said, irritated.
"User alert. All Peak 15 facilities have suffered a great deal of damage" the facility's VI spoke.
"It seems biohazard materials are present throughout the facility" Shiva informed us.
"A little present from Benezia perhaps?" Wrex suggested.
"Benezia plans to destroy us. I doubt she'd leave us a present," Shiva argued with him.
"I will shoot you" Wrex threatened.
"And you will miss" she stated, floating in front of us.
I noticed Wrex take aim and put a hand on his arm.
"Easy, big guy" I said, gently pushing his arm down.
"Fine. If you don't want me to shoot it, we better find some enemies soon" Wrex stated as we continued walking up the side ramp and towards a door leading to the rest of the facility.
'Note to self: Keep Shiva away from Wrex' I thought, cautiously keeping an eye on Wrex just in case he tried to shoot her again.
We entered a corridor with two turrets facing the door on the other side.
"Virtual intelligence user interface offline" the VI continued to speak.
"Why are these turrets facing the wrong way?" Liara questioned.
"They want to keep their people in as much as they want to keep others out," Jane explained, eyeing up the turrets.
"They seem to be deactivated" Jane said, walking past them.
"So that means someone's got out," I said.
"Or someone's got in" Wrex argued.
We continued in silence, entering the elevator outside of the corridor as I felt it lift us higher into the facility. During the ride, I could've sworn I heard something crawling outside of the elevator, maybe in the vents.
'Wonder what's in this place?' I thought curious and worried as the elevator stop and opened up to a snow-covered corridor.
'Damn, I think it's colder here than it worse at the ship docks' I thought grudgingly as we walked to the other side of the corridor and opened the door.
Inside was a similar looking facility to the one back at the main station, except it was larger, covered in snow filled and with, you guessed it, more geth.
'I'm getting a sense of déjà vu here' I thought as we shot down more geth.
"Y'know, I think we need to keep a tally," Jane said over the firing bullets.
"Oh yeah?" I smiled, getting a headshot.
"Who kills the most, maybe?" Jane suggested as Liara crushed the last geth with her biotics.
"Sure" I agreed, shaking her hand in a deal.
Suddenly, the sound of a grate lifting up was heard. We all slowly regrouped so that we were in a small circle with our backs facing inwards.
"Um…what was that?" I asked them.
"Animals? Wind? This place is in bad shape," Liara suggested.
"That didn't sound like wind…" Jane said, Wrex nodding in agreement.
Suddenly, something moved in the corner of my eye and I looked up to see…what the hell is that?!
"What the hell is that?" I yelled as I stared wide-eyed as some sort of gigantic bug crawled out from under the grates in the circular tunnel above us.
After it crawled out, a loud screech was heard around us.
"I don't think it's the wind…" Liara mumbled as I felt something latch onto my back.
I spun my head to see a smaller green bug clawing on my back.
I yelped as I threw it off of me while Wrex shot it with his shotgun, making it explode green gunk.
Immediately afterwards, the green bugs surrounded us as we struggled to keep them from jumping onto us.
You see, every time one got close enough it would explode as this green smoke rose from its body. I coughed every time I accidentally breathed it in. Whatever the stuff is, I wouldn't be surprised if it was toxic.
"I'm not going to die from a bunch of bugs!" Jane yelled as she stood on all of them that got close to her, keeping away from the smoke they released.
I noticed a blue glow out of the corner of my eye and turned mu head to see Liara surrounded in a blue light before pushing her arms out, releasing a large blue force field around her that pushed all the bugs into the walls and squished them.
We all took a few moments to relax before Jane turned to Liara.
"Nice work" she said bluntly, the corners of her mouth slightly raised.
"Thank you" she smiled appreciatively.
"It would have been useful a few minutes ago, but y'know, beggars can't be choosers" I said before looking back up at the bug above us to notice another on behind it.
"Well…aren't they going to move?' I thought as I stared up at the bugs facing the door into the tunnel, but that's all they did; they didn't move a muscle.
"Well then, let's go meet the welcoming committee" I joked with Jane as we walked towards the entrance.
We stopped in front of the door when I turned to look at Jane.
"Why don't you go first?" I asked her sweetly.
She looked at me questionably before rolling her eyes and unlocking the door. I looked back at the bugs behind the window to see they still hadn't moved.
'What are they waiting for?' I thought.
I knew the answer when Jane walked around the corner and the bugs spat a green bolt in Jane's face.
"Jane!" I shouted as Wrex and Liara began shooting at the bugs while I went to check on Jane.
"You okay, sis?" I asked her as I removed her hand from her eye to see it bright red.
"No…" she said as she looked up at me. As she did, I couldn't help but notice that while she did, she wasn't looking at me specifically.
"What's wrong, Jane?" I asked her.
"I…I think I'm blind" she said as she blinked up at me.
I froze stiff.
'No…No, she can't be blind, not now. We're nowhere near any kind of help and, to top it all off, we've got killer bugs attacking us' I thought panicked.
"Are you sure?" I asked her, worriedly.
She blinked a few more times, the redness beginning to lessen on her right eye.
"Well…yes and no" she said as Wrex and Liara walked towards us. Wrex kept his shotgun out, keeping an eye down the tunnel while Liara examined Jane's eyes.
"I'm no doctor, but…it appears she's blind in one eye" Liara said sadly as she stroked Jane's cheek, her finger tracing the edge of her now-blind left eye.
"Is there anything we can do for her?" I asked Liara dejectedly.
"Like I said, I'm no doctor. She may not even be blind," she said. Shiva floated in front of me.
"We need to get her to medical attention as soon as possible" she told me.
'Brilliant…bloody brilliant' I thought angrily.
"Can you still fight?" I asked Jane hopefully. She began looking around the room before shaking her head.
"No, my eyes are still blurry" Jane sighed. I groaned, rubbing my forehead in frustration.
"Can you at least walk?" I asked her breathlessly.
She took a few steps before managing to trip over a hole in the ground. Wrex caught her arm and pulled her up again.
I shook my head before looking up at Wrex.
"Can you carry her?" I asked him.
"Uh…" he hesitated.
"Do this and you can ask me for a favor anytime" I told him. He thought for a few seconds before nodding.
He knelt on the floor while I led Jane behind him and onto his back. She struggled to get comfortable with the guns sticking into her stomach.
"Thanks for the help, Wrex" I smiled at the krogan as he held his shotgun in front of him while Jane circled her arms around his neck and her thighs latched onto his sides.
"I'm going to call you on that favor, Lily" he said as we walked down the tunnel.
As we were walking, I couldn't help but think back to what happened at the entrance.
'Why don't you go first?' repeated itself in my head over and over. I shut my eyes tightly to block it out but it didn't work.
'Why didn't I go first? Why did my sister have to take the shot? Why not me?' I thought, sighing, though a little ray of hope was still there.
'Liara did say she might not be blind' I thought, but it just left me with one thought.
'So it's fifty: fifty then. She may or may not be blind because of me' I thought guiltily.
As we reached the end of the tunnel, I looked up at Jane's form clutching onto an awkwardly walking Wrex.
'May the maker have mercy'
Please let him have mercy…