ME:TUH
Chapter 15.7
(Chapter 21 on FF)
A/N: Well now, if you skipped the Crysis 2 summary you may be expecting to get another chapter of backstory, detailing how the Ceph on Earth were beaten exactly, how Prophet/Alcatraz (from here on out, will be called Prophet) got to 2183, along with a host of other questions. Sadly that is not the case.
I could write an entire story based on what would happen between the end of Crysis 2 and the beginning of ME:TUH, and I didn't want write it half-assed in a 20 page summary chapter which wouldn't begin to do it justice. In the future I may write it out and post it as a separate story, along with Mitchell's full background, but that is WAY off into the future and would most likely be completely invalidated by Crysis 3.
For now, let's get back to 2183 and the coming rescue of Mitchell!
Terra Nova, Asgard System, Exodus Cluster
Abandoned Mine
July 30th, 2183
00:35 Ship time
Once again the screen faded to black, the images of a ravaged New York City, countless people killed, and the sheer potential of human arrogance burned into the Normandy crew's memories. Prophet, who slowly got up from the cradle, walked over to the group silently.
"Look," He began, "I know I just dumped a lot of information on you guys, but that was just the stuff you needed to know."
Ash spun to look at the nanosuit operative, her eyes filled with anger. "Needed to know? How in God's name was this all covered up? How could you simply take Mitchell, my ancestor, from his pregnant wife!" She demanded.
Prophet stood there for a moment before crossing his arms, "The cover up was actually pretty easy. The entire situation in Manhattan was covered by a media blackout, so hardly anyone but those in the city knew what was really going on. The Pentagon managed to blame it all on Hargreave & Rasch Biomedical, which was promptly shut down a few months later."
Shepard stepped in then, "What about the rest of the Ceph bases... Surely they were prepping for war..."
"Actually they weren't." Prophet corrected, "Using the modified spore, I managed to get to every subterranean base and neutralize them while the majority of them were still in cryo pods."
"What about the technology they held? Surely it could have advanced humanities technological prowess by centuries!" Tali exclaimed. "Instantaneous travel, even with time distortions, would be invaluable!"
Prophet shook his head. "Unfortunately, not even the brightest minds then could figure the tech out. What wasn't destroyed during my crusade, was studied at the Groom Lake facility until it was determined that the technology was beyond our current comprehension and put into deep storage. But enough about ancient history for now. I believe you guys owe me an explanation for why Mitchell isn't currently with you like he should be."
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
As John gave Prophet a summary of events since the Normandy's launch, the rest of the team simply talked amongst themselves about the implications of the history they just learned. The general consensus was shock at how such events could be covered up, but there was also a fair amount of suspicion towards the relatively unknown operative.
"All I'm saying is that I get the feeling we don't know the whole story." Ash stated.
"Of course we don't," Garrus mumbled. "This Prophet reminds me of a deep cover detective I knew in C-Sec. He wouldn't tell anyone, not even Executor Pallin, the whole story if he thought it wasn't necessary."
"I'm more interested in the tech behind the suit... If the one Mitchell wears is the precursor to the one Prophet wears..." Tali's voice began to trail off as she thought about the numerous possibilities the nanosuits represented.
Roughly around that time, John finished his own history lecture, which Prophet took in stride like nothing was wrong.
"Yeah... Sounds like the plan we came up with..." Prophet commented once John finished. "Not the parts about Aldman and Cerberus though..."
"Wait... What do you mean by 'the plan we came up with'?" John asked, which drew the attention of the rest of the crew.
Prophet audibly sighed, "What I mean is that back when I finished off the Ceph, Gould and I met up with General Hawk at his request. Some of Hawk's techs had come up with some solid evidence pointing to the fact that based on the power fluctuations and the radiation emitted when Mitchell went through the Ceph portal aboard the Mothership inadvertently sent him into the future as well as spanning the distance to one of Jupiter's moons.
The real kicker was how far into the future was he sent. So we 'lost' a Ceph cryo-pod before it could be sent to deep storage, and came up with the plan for me to be put into cryogenic sleep for 10 years at a time. I would wake up for a month, gather Hawk and Gould, and go over whats been going on.
The real fun began when Hawk's and Gould's kids became involved. They were grandfathered into our little plan to make it work. You already know Hackett is Hawk's descendant, Shepard. Hackett is the one who woke me up a few months early to tell me about Mitchell's 'recovery' by your hands. Since I woke up a few days ago, I've been catching up on all that I've missed. Once we learned about the Citadel Council, it was Hackett's idea to get Mitchell into the Spectres as soon as we found him, using the Council's own classification systems to protect him. That part obviously didn't work out... You said you had some data recovered from one of their bases?"
John nodded, "Yes we do, although it's heavily encrypted and segmented. The operation we interrupted seemed like it wasn't prepping for work on nanotech, leading me to believe that they had no knowledge of anything beyond their own base."
"Commander..." Liara spoke up for the first time since leaving the Normandy. "Do we not have a prisoner aboard the Normandy for interrogation?"
John turned around to look at her, "That's right, Jackson managed to bag one of their researchers..."
"That settles it then... We have to go to Arcturus station so SECOND can harness its processing capabilities." Prophet declared and began heading to the weapons side of the room.
"Hold on... Who, or what, is SECOND?" John asked as Prophet grabbed a large assault rifle from the wall. It looked like a cross between one of the M60 machine guns on the wall and the Spectre class assault rifle John had on his back.
Prophet froze for just a moment before answering, "It stands for 'Semi-autonomous Enhanced Combat Ops: Neuro-integration Delivery'." He held the assault rifle in his arms in a casual carry, and turned around.
"Which means what to those of us who don't speak tech?" Ash questioned.
"It means," Tali snarled, "that his suit is being controlled by an AI!" She then brought up her shotgun and primed its Carnage shot.
"Haven't I gone over this already?" Prophet sighed, and shook his head.
With the rest of the Normandy crew looking on in shock (or in Wrex's case amusement), Tali's resolve was unwavering though, "I don't care how tough you are in that suit, you are being controlled by an AI! It's only a matter of time before it decides it doesn't need you or any other organic for that matter!"
Prophet chuckled to himself at first, then bent over in a fit of laughter. "No wonder the Quarians lost the war... They let their own fears of the worst possible outcome dictate their actions, rather than try to forge an understanding."
"NO!" Tali shouted, "You can't understand how a synthetic would think!"
"See... That's where you are wrong. Take a look at the galaxy! If it's impossible to understand a synthetic, then I would call anyone who claims to understand how a person thinks the universe's biggest hypocrite.
You also seem to have forgotten one simple fact here... This suit, while controlled by a non-sentient AI, requires an organic for it to operate. Take a look at these scans," Prophet gestured back towards the holo-panel, an omni-tool on his left arm lighting up. "Tell me what you see."
Tali didn't move an inch while the rest of the team looked behind themselves. The pictures showed in incredible detail the current state of Prophet's body. It was nearly impossible to tell where the machine ended and the human began. Much of the damage they saw occur to Alcatraz's body in New York was replaced by the suit itself having spread into them. Perhaps the most shocking thing was that the man's heart was not beating at all. Then there was how the spinal column was entirely covered in some kind of metallic sheathing.
Rather than wait for an answer, Prophet provided it. "SECOND is essentially a DNA based computer that utilizes the human brain for its primary storage, and while it regulates nearly all functions of the suit and my body, both it and myself would cease to function without each other at this point. I am literally trapped inside this suit. A dead man walking."
Tali finally lowered her shotgun, the bit about being trapped inside a suit striking home. "But what about how-"
"As far as the original Prophet is concerned," Prophet interrupted, "SECOND is a learning computer and picked up enough of his memories to supplant them into my own. Think of it as like having two personalities in one body."
Kaiden shook his head, "You're not helping yourself out here."
Prophet shrugged, "The way I see it, Mitchell needs our help. I'm willing to help you in that respect, but understand that I simply can't tell you the whole story. Not yet anyway."
John sighed, "Fine... We need to get Admiral Kahoku back to Arcturus anyway... Lets get out of here."
Hidden Base
Nepheron, Voyager Cluster, Columbia System
After the rather brief introduction to Hargreave Jr. and some other big wig, a number of men in lab gear approached me with a bunch of surgical tools. Being strapped down to a table and watching them attempt to cut their way through the suit proved to be rather entertaining. The suit was still in some kind of lock down mode, which in turn simply destroyed whatever tool they used to try and cut through the suits outer layer in an effort to get it off of me. Unfortunately, the entire time this was going on, I could barely move myself.
/User safety protocols engaged... Primary, secondary, tertiary systems offline/
/Deep layer protocols engaged... Lock down initiated/
Those two messages constantly flashed across my visor as I tried to free myself from the restraints. Apparently the suit had a mind of its own at this point, and I took the opportunity to look around the room. There were numerous pieces of some kind of monitoring all around the room, and a separate gurney full of surgical equipment (most now broken).
That was when things began to get interesting as a new guy in full operating robes walked in with several carts of tools, fluids, and what looked like a six armed surgical robot. The robot positioned itself behind me and extended its arms above me. Three of the arms had some kind of barrel on the ends while the other three had scalpels.
"All right gentlemen," The new guy started, with an odd accent in his voice. "I am Dr. Issacs. The Illusive Man has brought me in on Project REBIRTH to ensure we utilize every technique available." Doesn't seem like your typical doctor, I thought to myself as he went over to the new pieces of equipment he brought in with him. "The subject before us needs to be examined in every possible way imaginable. However, since the suit's non-sentient artificial intelligence is blocking our attempts to separate the suit from the wearer, we are going to have to resort to more practical methods of data collection."
With that he turned on one of the devices he brought in, and it hummed with power. I mentally prepared myself for whatever pain was to come. Issacs activated his omnitool, and as a scanner that was connected to the bed began its scanning routine, he disconnected two wires from the device he turned on and held them over me. One of the wires he held near the center of my chest, the other by near my pelvis. A closer look at the wire showed that the ends of it were not too dissimilar to the claws used on jumper cables.
"Administering electrical stimulus to subject in three... Two... One..."
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
A few hours later, and Issacs was having a fit. He was sitting in the 'surgery theater's' observation room that had been turned into their main work area and was going over the data they collected. He used nearly every possible method to break the connection between the suit and the wearer; escalating electrical stimulus, the most potent acid and base compounds known, brute force hacking, directed EMP's, even alpha, beta, and gamma radiation exposure. The suits nanoweave, as he was informed it was called, was resistant to everything he threw at it while the AI, rather than fight any hacking, simply shut down any possible wireless access.
On the other hand, the electrical shocks did affect the wearer inside it on a consistent basis according to the scans that were taken. The scans also revealed that even though the AI had essentially shut itself down, the synthetic cells that were ever present in the subjects body still worked to repair any damage done to him. That bit of information intrigued Issacs.
"Dr. Issac's?" An unimportant tech called out from his work area.
"Yes?" Issac's grumbled, unhappy at his train of thought being interrupted, "What is it?"
The tech was visibly startled by the tone Issac's used, and recollected himself before answering. "Mr. Grabovich is in the theater and h-"
Not waiting for further details, Issac's leapt up from his chair and made for the operating theater.
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
Not gonna lie... When I get off this table... Heads are going to be rolling and asses are going to be kicked, I though to myself. After what felt like an eternity of torture, the Cerberus doctor finally gave up on trying to break through the suits armor. Naturally they used everything they could think of, so I wasn't exactly thrilled when they started off with electricity.
The first 'test' wasn't too bad, as the suit simply absorbed the charge. When they amped up the voltage (but kept the amperage down), that's when things got interesting. The more they cranked the charge, the more I felt through the suit. I did my best not to cry out in pain, to not show the sick bastards a sign of weakness, but when it felt like my internal organs were being fried I let loose a yell that scarred everyone but the guy administering the charge.
The supposed doctor, Issacs I think his name was, clearly didn't take the Hippocratic oath when he graduated from med school. After the electrical torture ended they moved on to some more creative methods. They dropped some acidic and basic formulas on both the nanoweave and the skeletal frame work, I guess in hope to crack me open. Surprisingly, the suit held up for the most part. Then they brought in a vial of concentrated Thresher Maw acid.
I had no clue how they could have concentrated the stuff, let alone obtained it. After seeing what Thresher acid could do to an armored vehicle, I wasn't to thrilled to see what it might do to the suit. One drop is all they put on my arm, and one drop is all it took. I don't know if the suit simply let it bypass the outer layers, but it went straight into my arm and I swear if I could have I would've torn my arm off than deal with the pain from the acid eating through my skin, muscle and bones. Again, I was in enough pain to just let loose. I was spouting off curses that would have made a Vietnam War veteran blush, and they were all directed at Issacs and his assistants.
Thankfully, even though the suit was in lock down, the nanocells in my system got to work in short order to repair the damage. When the pain finally subsided, they brought in what was essentially a box with a barrel sticking out of it. They then shutdown all of their equipment and stepped out of the room. A brief five second countdown later, and nothing had changed beyond the visor's HUD flickering.
I figured it was some sort of directed EMP, because as soon as they came back in Issac's ordered one his assistants to try hacking into the suit. When the tech activated his omnitool and waved it over my body, he began typing like a mad man. After few minutes of work, he shutdown his omnitool and informed Issacs that the suits AI had shut down all wireless access and the only way to access it would be for a hardline connection.
That got my attention. It would make sense for a suit as advanced as the nanosuit to be partially controlled by an AI, but to what extent? Issac's and his team finally left the room at that point, while the HUD began displaying a different message beyond the constant lock down warnings.
/Nanosuit AI designation... Fiber Integrated Reactive Synaptic Transceiver/
/FIRST's capabilities... Regulation of nanocell programming.../
/Neural interface with Nanosuit occupant for regulation of biological processes/
/Advanced computational capabilities for tactical solutions/
/Direct data transfer to neural network/
/Occupant memory storage/
/Analyzation of foreign biological samples for reintegration, specialization, and application/
/Wireless signal processing and access, amplified by omni-tool/
Huh... So... I guess that means you are able to read my thoughts? I thought to myself, not sure I wanted an answer.
/...Neural pattern recognition required for hard coding of occupant memory.../
So why are you keeping the suit in lock down when we could have busted out of here?
/Tactical options limited... Intelligence on Cerberus and connection to Hargreave required.../
Perfect... I'm arguing with a suit of armor... Damn thing has a point though... That guy earlier looked a lot like Hargreave, maybe he's the originals descendant...
At that moment, the door to the lab opened up, and the man himself walked right in.
"I suppose you would like to know how I know almost everything about you Captain Mitchell..." He started off, coolly. Since I was tied down and my suit still intact, I decided to just sit there, look pretty, and not give the man anything. He walked over next to the table/me and surveyed the suit.
"I am impressed... A normal man would have succumbed to the treatments my... partner's... specialist applied to you, yet you remain defiant. An admirably trait... One that deserves the answers you are undoubtedly asking yourself..." Hargreave walked over to one of the pieces of equipment that was recording something from the suit, and pressed a few buttons. The table scanner then shutoff, its light dimming. He then pulled up his own omnitool and pressed a few buttons.
"All I will tell you is that it is no thanks to you and the other nanosuit operator known as Prophet that my family name has been stricken from history." He pressed a few more buttons and the six armed robot that was still hanging over my head began moving, it's arms positioning themselves at several locations above my body. One of the barrel ended arms pointed at the center of my chest, two of the scalpels near by shoulders, and the rest I lost track of.
"However, the technology behind your nanosuit is far more than what you realize... And it is for that I need to do this." He pressed another button on his omnitool, and the arms began their dance. The barrels, as I found out the hard way, were the end points of highly focused lasers which were cutting into the suit. While not as painful as the Thresher acid or the end of the electrical shocks, it still hurt enough to cause me to grunt and growl through the pain.
/Warning... Suit Rip in process... Diverting energy reserves... Cellular Overload in progress/
As I writhed in pain from the cutting lasers, I could barely make out Hargreave Junior yelling about something being impossible before the cutting lasers stopped. The pain subsiding, I focused my efforts on trying to get off the table once more. With my efforts, I witnessed Hargreave being escorted out of the room by some Cerberus lackeys while Issacs walked in.
"Well now... It seems that Mr. Grabovich knows something we don't..." He smiled as he walked up to me and examined the spot on the suit where the laser had been focused. "Daniels... Get me the sonic sryinge." A tech in a surgical gown and mask walked over to a table that had several tools on it yet, grabbing a very large bore syringe, he handed it to Issacs. "Thank you... Now..." Issacs activated something on the syringe and a light buzzing noise could be heard. "Let's see what make you tick..."
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
As Issacs used the sonic syringe, which was developed to penetrate through even tough Krogan armor, their hide, then cauterize the wound as it exited, Mitchell struggled against the pain of having the large bore needle shoved into his chest cavity. The suit skinner, which had been overloaded by some unknown means, had managed to cut partially through a section of the Coltan-Titanium frame and hit the (relatively) soft nanoweave underneath.
While it wasn't the easiest thing to do (Mitchell's thrashing not taken into account) and required a bit of elbow grease, the specialized syringe did the trick. Issacs had some how managed to maneuver past the rib cage and hit one of the minor pulmonary veins. With the syringe in place, Issacs then withdrew a full liter of blood before activating the syringes cauterizer and pulling it back out.
As soon as it exited Mitchell's body, he visibly slumped while his EKG showed minimal activity. With the blood sample in hand, Issacs beckoned his assistants back out of the surgery theater to their lab.
"Come, there is a lot of work to be done. I want the blood tested for anything and everything you can think of..." Issacs voice trailed off as he left the room for the lab and the door shut behind him leaving Mitchell unconscious on the table with a cauterized hole in his chest.
A few minutes later, and the door opened back up. One of the many Cerberus security personnel walked in and after waving his omnitool in an arc across his body, checking its reading, and shutting back down, made a beeline for the table. He then pulled out a small cutting tool and began making barely noticeable cuts into the bindings that held Mitchell down. Once all of them were weakened, he brought up his omnitool again.
"Yeah, Boss... Job's done... Tell the Illusive Man the first phase is complete... Moving on to the second phase..." As quickly as he showed up, the Cerberus grunt left, and made a bee line for the far side of the base.
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
/Warning... User vitals falling... Engaging secondary deep layer protocols.../
/Protocols initiated... Emergency nanocell supply unavailable.../
/Diverting tertiary and secondary nanocells... Diversions complete.../
/User vitals stabilizing.../
/Warning... Gold-Cobalt Oxide Lattice fuel cell nearing depletion... Manual recharge necessary.../
I woke back up to FIRST's constant warnings about my stab wound and the low energy readings. I didn't know how long I was out for, the pain of having that damn needle shoved into me, past my ribcage and into what felt like a major blood vessel took a lot out of me. Then add in the insane amount of blood they took and the cauterization they did, I wasn't feeling the greatest.
Then my favorite person came back in. Issacs. If I had the energy I would have said something witty, defiant, smartass, take your pick, but I needed to rest. John wouldn't leave me to these guys... As a marine, they don't leave people behind... And I hope as a friend...
/Tactical options available/
Oh really now? What's changed since they broke through the armor and grabbed an eighth of my blood?
/Bindings showing man made fractures... Escape from lab possible/
Now that doesn't make sense... But I'm not going to waste an opportunity here, but what about the low energy warning you were giving me?
/GCOL cell status: 10% energy reserves... Recharge required for continued operation and occupant safety/
I probably don't want to know this... I grumbled to myself. Issacs and his techs were still working on gathering whatever data they could about the suit and me. I was just glad they weren't attempting to crack me back open yet. What happens when the energy reserves become completely depleted? And why isn't it recharging?
/Energy reserves used in Cellular Overload... Insufficient energy sources available for passive recharge... Upon maximum energy expenditure, nanosuit automatically disengages all protocols and releases occupant.../
So its do or die time... I thought with a sigh. Alright let's see what our options are... With that FIRST released the lock down protocols and allowed me to activate the thermal vision. With that I could see that there wasn't any one observing from above through the theaters window and that there were two barely distinguishable heat sources outside the door. No doubt as soon as I start breaking these bindings, those guys will come in guns blazing... How much energy do I have available for combat?
/Current energy available for combat purposes... 6%/
/Remainder of energy allocated for suit operations/
Is the suits 'normal' strength enhancement enough to break the bindings without using additional energy?
/Analysis underway.../
/Analysis complete... Energy consumption to break bindings negligible to normal suit operation.../
Then let's get going...
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
As Issac's came back down to see if the equipment had gotten anything useful from the mess that Grabovich started, he ignored the EKG display showing that the subject Mitchell was awake. He's been awake before and beyond trying to break the restraints and reacting to the testing, he's done nothing... Issacs thought and turned to look at a holopanel that showed all of the data being recorded simutaneoulsy. He backed up the feed to the point of the 'suit skinner', as he learned the device's name, had fried. All of the equipment had no data of the event, as if a self contained, low powered EM pulse was set off. As he ran through the possibilities he heard something he never expected to hear.
Titanium-alloy restraints being snapped like toothpicks.
Shock and disbelief stunned Issacs where he stood. Mitchell's right hand had somehow broken through the metal restraining ring, and moved up to pull at the ring that held him down by the neck. While Issacs watched in fascination, his assistant screamed like a little girl, and fled the room. The assistants rather embarassing screaming got the attention of the guards that stood outside the surgery theaters doors.
The guards were armed with the Gorgon Mk. III assault rifle. The rifle was produced exclusively by one of Cerberus' military cells and packed more punch than the Hahne-Kedar Lancer Mk. III. Their actions to move in and reacquire Mitchell though didn't go as planned. Two assault rifles in an enclosed space against an all encompassing 'super-suit' did not bode well for them.
*DN7*DN7*DN7*
As I broke through the restraints, I quickly came up with a plan to deal with the two goons that stormed in as the pansy of an assistant ran out. Their rifles looked similar to the standard issue rifles I saw on the Normandy, but their impacts against the suit told me otherwise. I couldn't afford to waste the precious energy I had on armor mode, so I pushed through the pain of the bullets hitting me. Each impact felt like a golf ball hitting me as soon as it left its tee, but that was minor compared to what I was recently subjected to.
Luckily the door out was only about ten feet away from the table, so the guards didn't have much time to try and breakthrough the nanosuits natural armor. As I got closer the two of them, even though they were helmeted, were clearly panicking. When I got to about four feet in front of them, the guy furthest from me rushed past his friend and raised his rifle to do the typical rifle butt melee.
I caught his downward smash with a raised left arm, grabbed him by the separation in his stomachs armor plating, and shoved him towards the closest guy. Under normal circumstances in the suit, I probably could have lifted the guy clear above my head and thrown him like a rag doll, but I had to minimize my movements.
/Suit energy capacity reaching critical levels... 5% remaining for combat/
With the two idiots falling back and on to the floor, I took the advantage and slammed their heads together hard enough to ensure they would be knocked out for a while. I then grabbed one of their omnitools and snapped the watch like device around my right wrist.
/Analyzing device... Searching for viable recharge locations.../
As I waited for FIRST to do its thing, I grabbed one of the rifles that was now with out a caring owner and peeked outside the hall. Either the base was severely undermanned, or they were setting up choke points for me as it was completely deserted.
/Analysis complete... Cloning secondary device to primary.../
Nice... I thought to myself as I listened for any sign of footsteps coming from the halls. Right outside the surgery room the hall went left and right, with further branches beyond that I couldn't see. If I would have simply taken his omnitool, they would have noticed and taken measures to counter that...
/Cloning complete... Mapping route... Follow the way points.../
With that update, FIRST provided a breif glimpse of the base and it was massive compared to the one on Binthu. Spanning at least ten levels, all of which I assumed to be underground, it was set up in an inverted cone. The tip of the cone was the furthest down while what I could only guess to be their hangar to be the top level. The good news was that there were several elevators and emergency escape routes.
The bad news was that FIRST had hacked into their comm system using the encryption protocols, which let me hear their plan.
"Teams 1 through 4 head to sublevel 4 immediately and do a full sweep! Teams 5 & 6 secure level 10 and 1 each! Under no circumstances are you to engage, just force him to move towards the target area!"
I had to give their leader credit, according to the layout FIRST obtained, Level 4 was their bio-research level, while 1 was their geothermal power plant and 10 was the hanger bay. He knew enough to cut off access to the surface and the power supply which if cut would cause enough confusion for me to escape and by ordering them not to engage, likely wanted to use them later to overwhelm me when they got me pinned down.
After putting the knocked out goons omnitool back on his wrist, I set out to follow FIRST's waypoints. Through sheer luck, I managed to avoid running into the teams sweeping the level. When I reached the final way point, I found myself in front of a door that had 'Power Regulation' written on it. Just as I went to open the door, I heard the distinct sound of armored feet hitting the metal floors.
Not wasting time, I opened one of the few manual doors I had seen since waking up here in 2183, stepped inside, and closed the door as quickly and as quietly as I could. I waited right next to the door, ready to take the patrol down if they decided to open the door.
"What's the big deal about this guy anyway?"
"Who knows... That Issacs guy is a certified nut job though."
Judging from the number of footsteps, there were only the two of them walking down the hall, and they were getting closer to my position.
"You got that right..." Goon A muttered.
"Gotta say though, from what I've heard from Halsy, that guy and his suit of his are as tough if not tougher than a Krogan." Goon B commented. Remaining as still as I could, the sound of their voices bouncing around told me that they were just passing by the door.
"Yeah right... Halsy thinks that Asari are better looking than a real woman." A scoffed, the sound of his voice and footsteps slowly moving away.
"Whatever man. All I know is that I don't want to know what that guy is truly capable of..." B's voice trailed off, along with the echo of his footsteps signaling they had gone down another hall. Letting go of the breath I didn't know I was holding, I took the opportunity to look around the room. There wasn't much to it. A lot of power cables and junctions all connected to a singular workstation.
/Access power grid to replenish GCOL fuel cell.../
"Whatever you say buddy..." I mumbled as I accessed the workstation. Through it I was able to open up one of the junctions and expose the live wire.
/Direct energy transfer protocols initiated... Connect with power supply.../
As FIRST spoke, I felt the right hand of the nanosuit shift around to reveal what I could only assume to be some of its own power conduits.
"Here goes nothing..."
When my hand touched the live wires, there was no describing the feeling as it surged through the suit, giving it new life so to speak. I was caught up in the moment until I heard the radio come to life.
"Damnit! He's found the power room! Teams 3 & 4 get there now!"
Without thinking, I let go of the wiring and dashed out the door holding the assault rifle in my right hand purely by its pistol grip by the trigger. FIRST updated me with some way points, and dutifully let me know that the suit had only reached 67% of it's maximum charge. It wasn't ideal for combat, but I wasn't looking at taking on an entire base by myself at this point.
I rounded two corners, and ended up bowling over two members who were rushing to the power room. The increased mass due to the nanosuit and my sheer stubbornness kept me upright as the other two crumpled underneath me. As I regained my footing, FIRST must have took some control of the suit and used it to fire a few rounds into guys on the ground. Their kinetic barriers stopped the shots, but it was enough to keep them on their toes as I continued on my way. The route FIRST plotted for me went all around the level I was currently on, as if it was trying to throw off any attempts of the Cerberus troops creating a bottleneck.
That also meant I had to literally shove my way through another six of the two man patrols. As soon as they saw me turn a corner, they would radio the next group to try and head me off. After we followed this pattern for a few times, I decided a change up was in order.
Instead of immediately turning when I saw a patrol, I ran right into them firing the assault rifle to keep them down and in cover. As soon as I got close enough to them, I threw them into each other and knocked them out like I did the guys in the surgery theater. FIRST then replotted its course, and it must have been my lucky day as I had ended up right by one of the emergency ladder shafts that led directly to the hangar bay.
I quickly checked the surrounding halls to be sure none of the other squads would see where I was going, although that wouldn't matter if they had monitoring systems in the emergency shafts. Pushing that thought aside, I climbed up the six levels worth of ladder rungs as quickly as I could. The shaft was lit only by emergency lights every fifteen feet or so and if there were any monitoring devices, I couldn't see them. I honestly didn't care at this point, my only concern was getting the fuck out of this base.
When I finally reached the top, I was greeted by a simple access hatch above the ladder. Opening it and climbing out brought me to the hangar which was extensive. There were areas for cargo crates to be offloaded, ground vehicles to be repaired and serviced, along with a open sub-hangar to park various vehicles. In that sub hangar were a number of Makos and one shuttle.
The shuttle had an odd design to say the least. It had four thrusters mounted on four of its corners and had no aerodynamic profile what so ever. Seeing as it was the only option I had for getting off the rock permanently, I quickly scanned the entire area. The access hatch brought me up close to one of two visible elevators to the hangar, and FIRST hadn't picked up any more of their radio chatter. Either they had switched frequencies or they just weren't talking and I highly doubted it was the latter.
I walked over to the shuttle, keeping an eye on the elevators I could see to be sure no one surprised me. When I got in range of the shuttle, FIRST used my omnitool to access its controls and began to open its huge gull wing door. I walked backwards to the shuttle, checking everything. It's been too easy... Surely they would have had more security... I turned back to enter the shuttle and I was greeted the sight of two small bots with what appeared to be focusing dishes and a whine of something charging up.
/EMP charging.../
"Fucking knew it." I muttered as the bots released the pulse.
/EMP shutdown... Systems impaired... Engaging user safety protocols/
/EMP shutdown... Initiating reboot/
Without FIRST to regulate the suits systems and keep the power flowing, I felt the full weight of the suit hit me. Even though the suit was able of performing superhuman feats, the artificial muscle used in its construction was extremely heavy when not powered. Add in the trauma I endured earlier, and I was in no shape to try and move the disabled suit beyond dropping to the floor to avoid further trauma. I don't know how long I was lying there, but the same cocky bastard that had been there for my original capture walked into view, an assault rifle in his hands.
"Not so tough now... Are you tin man?" He said smugly.
I was torn... To piss him off or not? Before I could come up with a smart-ass comment, he reared back with his assault rifle and the last thing I saw was his downward swing with its butt end coming right at my face.
Cerberus Outpost
Deneurca, Amazon System, Voyager Cluster
July 30th, 2183
0300 ship time
Two Cerberus troopers dragged a young human male between the two of them. The facility they were stationed at wasn't the biggest outposts Cerberus maintained, but it was one of the lucky ones with plenty of funding in several areas. Unfortunately though, their cell leader was called away by the Illusive Man to head up another project. As such the techs at the Deneurca facilities were given base instructions to follow.
One of those was to continue testing and interrogating three prisoners they held in their prisoner wing. The young man between the two goons had several fresh bruises forming on his face, not counting the ones covered by his clothes, along with some burn and needle marks.
When the two guards reached the appropriate cell, one of them waved their omnitool for the holding cell to open. The cell itself was mainly a steel cube, no furnishings of any kind, but it did have impact proof glass windows part way up, allowing the occupant to see their neighbors as well as out the front of the cell. The guards uncermonisously dropped the young man in the center of the cell, and walked back out with the cell door closing behind them.
"Jesus Christ, John... What the hell did they do to you?" In the cell next to him, a slightly taller young man of Asian descent called out to him. John's form remained unmoving though. "John? JOHN!"
John suddenly shot up, "Huh? NO!" He looked around for any sign of danger, then relaxed when he saw his friends face in the window to his right. "Finally... They... Hooked me up to... Some sort of machine... Injected me with stuff... Tortured me... Wanted to know... Where Sean and the others were." He slumped back down, grateful to have a moments rest.
"Did you tell them?" A feminine voice came from John's left.
John laughed slightly, the groaned from the pain. "Of course not Sydney... There's nothing to tell. They could be anywhere by now."
"You going to be alright?" Sydney asked, eying up the damage done to John's body with a pained expression on her face.
"Yeah... I just need some rest... Which Weigman over there interrupted." John replied, rolling over to his back, taking off his shirt to use as a pillow.
"Just making sure you're alive there buddy." Weigman joked.
Sydney's face then disappeared from view of the two men as she sat down on the floor and curled her knees up to her chest and held them in tight. "They'll never be able to find us here." She wimpered loudly enough for her friends to hear. "We're gonners."
"I do admit... The chances of the others finding us out here in the Traverse are slim..." Weigman said, "We've been in tough spots before though... Remember those Batarian slavers?"
"Don't even bring that up." Sydney shot back, venom dripping in her voice as she stood back up and fixed Weigman with a death glare through the glass that seperated them. "I NEVER want to go through that ever again."
"Suit yourself..." Weigman replied with a weak smile. "I can't help things to talk about around here are running dry."
"Just be quiet," she shot back before turning around and lying down to rest.
With Sydney now out of view and John resting from his ordeal, Weigman stared at the ceiling of his own cell. Sean, Thomas, Allen... I hope you guys are planning on finding us... Weigman then followed his friends examples and laid down on the cold steel of his cell to try and rest, hoping rescue would be coming soon.
A/N: Yes I know you guys don't like cliff hangers, but everything you have read (chapters 15 - 21) have taken me most of the past 5 months to write. The ending of this 'arc' will continue once I beat Mass Effect 3 at least once.
Then after that I'm going to be taking a hiatus to recollect myself and go back and rewrite the beginning dozen or so chapters. You may find this hard to believe, but up until chapter 13, I was completely winging my writing. No basic outline/time line, no notes, nothing. Prepping for the current arc made me realize how stupid that was of me, and as such I will be going back and making significant changes.
That leads me to my next point. If you want to keep up to date on my updating of previous chapters, I have created a Twitter account for that. I go by 'Ryan Mitchell' or search for 'Mitchell_DN7'.
Finally, ME3 release is less than 23 hours away... HAPPY REAPER HUNTING!
DN7