A/N: Well, judging by the many reviews I have received, Threshy the Biotic Thresher Maw is now my most popular OC ever. I'll try to do the fight justice. Also I apologise to those who say I am jumping around a bit too much in the narrative - I'm just writing down these scenes as they occur to me and posting them in chronological order. If you guys would rather I had fewer longer sections in each chapter then please leave a feedback to let me know. Thanks for the birthday wishes also.
I've sort of decided to stick to Liara's story, the Krogan war and Miranda's misadventures with Cerberus. So I'll be letting the other characters lay (mostly) fallow for a while. Hopefully nobody will object too strenuously.
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FIVE YEARS AGO
What Liara was doing was highly unprofessional, she knew. But to be perfectly honest, when under attack by a Goddess-cursed biotic thresher maw professionalism came somewhere between clean teeth and admiring the nearest rainbow on her priority list.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!"
The Maw reared back, crackling with biotic energy as a ball of blue light materialised between its jaws.
"FUUUUCK!"
Liara had so far been fortunate in her Suns career in that she had never had to face a powerful biotic before. It seemed karma finally caught up to her in the most dramatic way possible. The ball of biotic energy flung out of the Maw's mouth, impacting on the spot Liara had been standing seconds before. She identified the attack as a Warp field with a radius of almost seven metres, scooping a hemisphere out of the ground and scattering the matter as a burst of fine powder that hung over the arena, reducing the visibility by the second. She could faintly hear Grunt's insane cackling and the barking of heavy weapons as she slid behind cover, more out of a force of habit than any real expectation it would protect her.
The wind tipped her off. A sudden gust blew away the dust, letting her catch a glimpse of the worm as it reared back for another attack.
"SHOCKWAVE!"
The wave of blue rushed towards the platform and Liara shouted the only order that made sense.
"Brace!"
That was as far as she got. The colossal chunk of rubble she had been crouched behind must have weighed as much as a fully laden Tomkah yet the coruscating energy pulse picked it up like flotsam before a hurricane. Throwing herself to the floor, Liara managed to slip under the sixty ton bulk only to be picked up a moment later by the Shockwave.
Reacting on instinct, she focused her biotics and did something incredibly stupid. She biotic charged the Thresher Maw. As expected it didn't really work. As she hit the barrier her breath exploded out in a sharp whoosh, rebounding off the nigh-impenetrable shield and crashing back down into the pile of rubble, groaning. This was going to be harder than she had expected.
A hand closed around her arm, yanking her off her feet and throwing her out of the way of another warp as her lungs finally recovered from the brutal smash. She was almost certain that if she had still been wholly Asari the impact would have broken bones.
"Thanks Zeus."
Her saviour didn't reply, too busy sighting a hand mortar she could have fit her head down the barrel of at the Thresher. Scrambling away to avoid giving the Maw a concentrated target, she flung a pull-warp at the thing's head. The pull had no effect whatsoever but the barrier around the worm, appearing as a bright orange in her biotic vision, dimmed slightly, something the weapon fire directed at the creature had failed to do.
"Biotics have more effect!"
She threw aside the assault rifle she had grabbed, ridding herself of the extra weight as Grunt, off to her left, dropped the LMG he had been wielding like a pistol, tugging at the buckles of his armour as he ran. It was a sound move - disposing of any extra weight would free up more energy for biotic attacks and it wasn't like the armour would do him any good if he took a hit. Hasok, being the only non-biotic in the team, contented himself with popping smoke grenades all over the platform, concealing themselves from their enraged assailant as Liara pulled on some infrared goggles, allowing her to see through the smoke.
The looming bulk of the Thresher Maw towered over them, seeking a target for another warp as Liara and her team ran in evasive patterns, charging up biotic energy.
"Now!"
Liara lashed out her hands, sending a pulse of dark energy that latched onto the Thresher. Water started pouring down its hide as the biotic Dark Channel leached the moisture out of its body. The Maw seemed to ignore Liara's attack, instead flinging a cluster of Warps at the point she had been standing moments before. Screaming incoherently, she biotic charged out of the way, slamming into a pillar before springing lightly to her feet.
The four Silver Krogan accompanying her had timed their attacks to perfection. Four simultaneous Throws hit the Maw, their blue biotics and her green ones briefly coexisting before the pressure became too much and the Dark Channel detonated in the most enormous biotic explosion Liara had ever seen. The rush of wind blew over the platform they were standing on with the force of a gale, dispersing the smoke and letting Liara see exactly what damage the attack, powerful enough to implode a heavy tank, had done to the Thresher Maw.
Surveying their handiwork, she imagined that if it could, the fully intact and unharmed worm would be looking down disapprovingly as its barrier re-energised.
"Oh for fuck's ... Run!"
###
Miranda tugged at the hem if her dress, appearing for all the world like the shy fiancée of a wealthy Prothean enthusiast keen to make a substantial donation to the Temple of Enkindler Light orbiting Kahje's largest moon. The part of the enthusiast himself was Kai Leng, the assassin looking surprisingly dapper in a custom tailored suit. The two of them had spent the two day trip on a luxury passenger vessel bent over plans of the facility, planning the operation in excruciating detail and making contingencies for their contingency contingencies. Of course, Miranda knew the one thing they hadn't planned for would inevitably happen, but still it was nice going into a situation feeling prepared for anything.
Kai had noticed several things about Miranda. The first was how good she looked in that dress with her hair up. The second was that when she was focused on a problem her veneer of street thug dropped away. Her voice was smoother and more cultured, her posture was less hunched, her movements were smoother and her coarse vernacular was replaced by a surprisingly wide vocabulary. Of course, as soon as he made an observation to that effect, gangster Miranda was back in force. She seemed supremely unwilling to play the part of the trophy wife, requiring a good deal of tutelage from Kai to break down her coarser tendencies and expose the elegant, cultured side he knew was there. Now they were finally approaching the station and he had, after some convincing, got Miranda to conceal her tattoos with a set of elbow length gloves and a choker that matched her black figure-hugging dress. At her insistence he had removed the high heels, replacing them with flat soled boots, but other than that she looked every part the rich man's pet.
The Hanar standing? floating? whatever before them bobbed respectfully, speaking in the infuriatingly polite way that never failed to annoy Miranda.
"This one is pleased to welcome the esteemed Mr. Chung and Miss Adamson to the Temple of Enkindler Light. May this one be of any assistance?"
Kai bowed courteously, smiling at the jelly.
"It is a great honour to be here. I have been long fascinated by the Protheans and this temple is rumoured to be one of the most extensive collections in the galaxy."
Their guide drifted down the corridor and they followed, Kai continuing to exchange banalities with the jelly as Miranda surreptitiously activated the sensor embedded in the choker she was wearing. The sensor linked to micro-gyros in her boots and UV pads woven into the material of her dress, mapping the complex net of laser grids and pressure pads designed to detect anybody attempting to infiltrate the station using active camouflage, stealth shrouds or mass effect based tactical cloaks. Of course, even the most advanced such systems were rarely more than a minor annoyance to Cerberus Phantoms but they needed someone to map the system first. That was Miranda's role.
###
Fortack hummed appreciatively as his team laboured. His one true love was the creation of weapons, something he was highly accomplished in. It was rare for a Krogan clan to possess a weaponsmith of their own and Fortack's products were easily the equal of anything Turian, Salarian or Raachok weapon companies cranked out. With the introduction of the Earth races, especially the Seu'Seun, he had gained a plethora of new tech to play with. But this stone sliver of a ship, it was something else.
The task of reverse-engineering the ship into some tech Urdnot could use was one he relished. It had been two hundred years since he had faced a task purely cerebral in nature and he was enjoying the challenge it presented his brain cells.
The lab building had just finished construction, the building process massively accelerated by manufacturing nanotechnology supplied by the Suns. The ship's interface was surprisingly intuitive and Fortack had already powered the ship up, brought it to a hover in the cavernous space and then shut it down again. It was slow progress, and it would be years before anything workable came out of it. But give him a capable staff, a big budget and five years. He'd get it done.
###
The console stared back at her accusingly. She wanted to do nothing less, but she'd made a promise. The most recent mission hadn't gone so well. Theseus, Cronos and Hades were all in the medbay in critical conditions. The Batarians had somehow got their hands on a form of focused radiation beam weapon and the wounds it inflicted were stubbornly refusing to regenerate. Truth be told, she was worried sick. She told herself she had no emotional attachments, that if need be she could heartlessly sacrifice anyone for the greater good. General Massani, the closest thing to a father she had ever known, Shohon-Bchalxe, her quirky coffee-addict pilot and drinking buddy, even the two Asari she shared her bed and body with every night, so devoted to her they underwent life-altering surgery at her request. She could send them all to their deaths in a heartbeat, even if she was the one pulling the trigger. The one exception was her children.
She had created thirty six unique minds in the bodies of mindless drones. She had poured identity, memory, emotion - each mind was as much a part of her as her heart or lung. She wouldn't ... She couldn't harm them, or let them come to harm. Whenever one was hurt, she felt it.
Banishing her feelings to the back of her head, she hit the record button.
"Resume recording. Have you ever seen a Thresher Maw, mother? They're unstoppable forces of destruction. Now imagine you're being chased by one that's flinging Warps big enough to dig a mineshaft at you."
FIVE YEARS AGO
Liara ran. Legs pumping, arms flailing, breath hitching, sweat running down her body in rivulets and still she ran. She ran for her life. Having succeeded in royally pissing off a biotic Thresher Maw, it seemed like a good idea.
Somewhere behind her the ground erupted into an angry worm, crackling with dark energy. An enormous buildup of biotic power formed around it, the corona concentrating in its head. Liara recognised the attack. There was no way they were going to outrun this one.
"FLARE!"
Acting on an unspoken command the six warriors surged together, each biotic combining their strengths to form a layered barrier bubble as the evilly fizzing biotic attack erupted from their assailant. Time seemed to slow as the ball of energy approached, the four blue barriers and one green one seeming remarkably pathetic when faced with the might of Antros's fury. Hasok grinned at them.
"If there's a greater enemy to fall against, I'd like to ..."
Then it hit.
The world went white.
When Liara opened her eyes again the first thing she saw was the iron bar protruding from her shoulder. Then the pain hit, making her scream and sob in agony. Hasok appeared from somewhere, stumbling on a leg that was leaving a trail of blood along the floor.
"Scarlet!"
He ran over to her, pulling a regeneration spray from a pocket on his armour. Her whimpers erupted into full blown screams again as he slid her off the bar, immediately using the entire can of medical nanogel on her wounded shoulder to staunch the bloodflow. Using a strip from the leg of her tattered armour undersuit, he fashioned a makeshift sling for her inoperable arm before hauling her to her feet, only to have her immediately collapse against him, eyes screwed shut and jaw clenched as the pain overwhelmed all rational thought. She felt Hasok scooping her up to carry her bridal style as she slipped back into the numb clutches of unconsciousness.
When her eyes fluttered open again she was dimly aware that she was lying on her back, her shoulder plate removed and her undersuit torn away over the wound, which was wrapped in a field bandage. Tilting her head, she saw Hasok and her four Silvers crouched around a distressingly small stack of supplies.
"We don't have enough supplies. If we're not out of here very soon we'll start to dehydrate and starve."
"We need all the medigel and regen sprays to keep Scarlet stable."
"She heals faster than most, but infection is still a real risk. She needs more water but less food than us as well."
She groaned weakly, drawing the attention of the five Krogan.
"Battlemaster, you need to rest."
"Wha ... Where ..."
Hasok gently rested a hand on her chest, preventing her from attempting to get up.
"The Maw's attack collapsed the entire area. We're in the City of the Ancients. The barriers saved our lives but only just and all five of you blew out your amps keeping them up long enough."
So that was the niggling discomfort at the back of her neck.
"What ..."
"Rest. You need time to heal."
Sleep dragged her down like a lead weight again.
"Battlemaster. Wake up!"
Her eyes opened once more. She was cradled in Grunt's arms, her form impossibly childlike next to his enormous frame.
"We've found a way out. Can you walk?"
She managed to croak out a word from her parched throat.
"Water ..."
A canteen was lifted to her lips and she drank deep, savouring the cool water as it hydrated her. She was gently set on her feet and stumbled briefly before finding her balance. Her limbs felt stiff but she forced herself to walk, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.
The roaring of Krogan voices met her ears. Looking up, she saw hundreds of Krogan, all roaring their approval as the six of them, bruised, bloodied and battered, exited the tunnels of the ancient city right in the middle of the Urdnot encampment. Grunt roared in triumph, holding a fist above his head as the roar was answered by what looked like the entirety of Clan Urdnot.
Urdnot Wrex approached them, his earlier animosity forgotten as he grinned at the returning warriors.
"Ha! Not since the Rebellions has Antros shown up at a Rite!"
Grunt pounded his fists together.
"My krannt gave me strength beyond my genes, which are damned good. We were worthy foes for Antros."
Wrex nodded his approval.
"That you were. To survive a Flare from the Maw - you must have unmatched power. I've seen that attack shoot down Turian frigates during the Rebellions. Come, you must be exhausted. Rest and eat."
Liara had never heard a better idea in her life.