This is bad.
It had been a gamble just getting to Horizon's surface, the Illusive man's intelligence had been good, almost too good in fact, since Michael's team had come upon the colony just as the Collectors had started to swarm over it.
They had managed to make two drops though, flying low enough to avoid being spotted by any Collector, and somehow avoid their sensors from detecting them. Michael had to grudgingly admit the later was mostly due to EDI's efforts.
So far the countermeasures Mordin had installed into their suits were working, the small drones the Collectors used were ignoring Michael and the two flanking him as they crouched upon the roof of a building.
And there were a lot of drones for the countermeasures to keep at bay...they flew through the air with a tiny clicking sound, thousands upon thousands of them, forming great clouds that as one moved like shoals of fish through the air.
The sky above was no better. The great ship in orbit was disturbing the weather pattern, making the elements turn into a crackling storm; dark grey clouds gathering over the colony as bolts of lightning tore through the cold air...and far ahead the Collector cruiser hung above the colony like a gnarled tree. The ugly ship somehow staying close to the planet without gravity pulling it down, a feat Michael had only seen Sovereign pull off. It was another hint of the Collector's allies...but not something solid, something that Michael would put his faith in.
Not that he was about to abandon the fight against the Collectors if he didn't find solid evidence. No...I wouldn't. Michael blinked, surprised, but knew it to be true. Because what he was seeing...it brought images of Eden Prime to his mind...but was in a way stronger...for here he was right among those that had fallen prey to the foe, feel the terror lingering in the air.
He, Mordin and Kasumi had been covertly dropped in among the residential area of the colony, the team deployed there to figure out just how the Collectors went about taking so many people...
It was obvious though, the pre-fabricated buildings around them were unmarked by weapon fire or any other damage save the odd piece of graffiti from some kid...as the people that had walked among the buildings stood frozen to the spot, many mid-flight, others bowled over, struggling people...frozen to the spot.
They had seen only a few Collectors so far though, the troops obviously a vanguard as they walked between the many frozen people. The Collectors had touched each victim in turn...and they had collapsed, limp like rag-dolls, ready to be put into the few pods Michael so far had spotted.
It was frightening in its calm. There were no shouted orders from the Collectors, no confusion or mocking of their foes. The creatures remained silent, doing their job, not looking in the least hurried. And why would they? There was none to resist them, none on the ground not paralysed, and none in space capable of fighting their massive cruiser. Well...the former might not be so true any more. Michael hefted his assault rifle with a scowl.
If the Collectors were aware of Miranda and the rest of the team moving down the main road of the colony, towards the turret controls of the colony's defences, they didn't show it. Which worried Michael, the assault of the rest of the team was as much an effort of reaching the controls as it was to distract the Collectors so Michael's team could do their work, not to mention to stall the Collectors long enough for the Alliance to come in.
So either they don't view her as a threat...or they're already dealing with her...why don't I like either of those options? Michael grimaced, suppressing the urge to call the woman, and therefore break radio-silence, before he waved the others to follow as in a crouch they proceeded forth atop the roof of the building they had climbed in order to avoid a small Collector patrol.
Wonder how many Collectors are in that ship? I know our team is good but there is a certain quality to quantity and I wouldn't like a full engagement against a foe we've yet to test our mettle against...
A sudden moan drew his attention, a familiar moan, making Michael stop mid-stride and cock his head.
Gesturing for the others to follow he moved towards the edge of the roof, the three carefully looking down.
Husks...
Michael was suddenly clenching his teeth, glaring at the two filthy creatures of black and blue as they stood there, their grey heads lolling back and forth as they waited, mindless...husks. I remember these...
More images of Eden Prime flickered before his vision...and Michael shook his head, clenching his teeth all the harder.
Only then did he see the Collectors standing there, four of them, standing a bit further away from the team's hiding place than the Husks. The creatures didn't seem the least bothered by the nearby Husks, in fact they were ignoring them as with lowered rifles they regarded a full thirty people frozen mid-flight, the group frozen still between the Collectors and the idle Husks.
Michael barely noticed Kasumi grimacing badly as they realised what they were looking at.
Children...
Two women, one sporting grey hair, were on either end of the group, both with faces twisted into horrified screams as they tried to shoo their charges forward... Charges that could be no more then four years old, their tiny faces twisted into grins of what would have been crying...if they had ever gotten that far. Their little legs frozen in a stumbling attempt to leave...a fruitless attempt.
A kindergarten class.
Michael found his hands tightening on his weapon, watching intently at what would happen as those at his sides glanced at him, waiting for the order.
No, the mission's too important to risk for... Michael closed his eyes, drawing a shuddering breath. ...for these children.
He turned to leave...
And then one of the Collectors stumbled, drawing his gaze.
It stumbled again, arms stretching out wide as the others calmly stepped back, watching as their companion suddenly rose up into the air, feet lifting from the ground as its brown shell began to crack...to glow.
An explosion of light...and the Collector dropped back onto its feet, smoke rising from its body as large cracks in its twisted form glowed amber, as if the entire creature was burning from the inside, yet still moving. The eyes, all four of them, once a dull yellow...now glowed with horrifying power, an eerie...familiar glow.
No...
Michael stood frozen, staring in horror into the eyes, remembering...
Sovereign...?
Next to him Mordin was muttering a low storm of words. "Fascinating, change treated as normal by fellow Collectors, therefore not uncommon occurrence. Perhaps natural development? Another stage in their life-cycle? My omni-tool detected several emissions of energy during change and even now, yet...decreasing at steady rate...last cycle of life perhaps?"
Then the Collector spoke, and Mordin's mouth snapped shut.
The words weren't spoken, they reverberated through Michael's mind...an ominous voice of cruelty and hatred...a voice he knew.
"These humans will be ascended." The glowing Collector raised its arms...and the others moved towards the children, tapping them with their hands and making them drop limp onto the ground. "We will perfect them, as we have so many before."
It wasn't Sovereign, the voice was different, yet...
Michael found a growl escaping him, burning hatred suddenly surging through him as he saw his foe stand before him.
Reaper...
His arm shook, not with fear, but with rage, as he raised it and gestured for Mordin to flank left and Kasumi to go right.
Reaper...
"Except for this one." The burning Collector, the Reaper, strode towards one of the children, clawed finger pointing at him. "It is faulty, it is of no use." The arrogance, the calm, the utter disdain for life...Michael remembered it all too well...and straightened with another growl, weapon drawing a bead on the creature. "It is worthless."
Reaper...
The Collector raised its claw...and a fiery glow grew around it, fire dancing within its hand, ready to be turned upon the child, to immolate him.
Reaper!
Michael fired.
The burst struck the Collector square in the head, a flare of a biotic barrier stopping the bullets inches away from it...and the creature's head jerked up, the fire in its claw dying out as it looked up at Michael...
"Shepard..." The name was but a hiss in Michael's head...and he could feel its hatred.
Michael's retort was another burst of fire, the shots making the Collector's barrier flare even as the human jumped down from the roof. He landed on one of the Husks, his heavy frame crushing it into the ground with a crack of a snapping spine. The other Husk reached for him...only for Michael to slam his elbow into its face, making its skull crack open and felling the instantly limp creature.
But Michael didn't take his eyes off his true foe...eyes narrowing into slits as he fired a third burst, tearing the barrier of the creature apart.
To his foe's left, Kasumi appeared behind two of the flanking Collector's, her spike smashing through the head of the first while her submachine gun poured bullets into the other.
To his right his last ally fell face first onto the ground, Mordin landing atop it, wiry arms coming round the Collector's arms, his legs around its own, pinning it.
But all Michael saw was his foe, his nemesis.
He stalked forward...and the burning Collector raised its claw, fire aglow in it, the arrogance in its voice fuelled by aeons of vile evil. "Shepard, you will-"
Michael's shots interrupted it, the burst taking the Collector in the raised arm and making the fire flicker out as it stumbled backwards, flakes of ashes peeling from the injured limb.
"Shepard, you cannot-"
Shut up.
Michael barely recognised his own growl as he came close, foot flying up and catching his foe square in the chest, bowling it onto its back.
The uninjured arm reached up, fire forming around it, unperturbed by Michael's foot on its chest as he glared down at it. "Shepard, we cannot be beaten, we will-"
Shut up!
Michael fired, the shots tearing into the skull of the burning Collector, of the Reaper, with loud cracks as burning flakes of ash went flying.
Shut up!
He continued to fire. Large lumps of blackened Collector flesh coming off its skull, only to smoulder and turn to ash.
Shutup!
The rifle clicked, its rounds expended...even as the creature before him disintegrated, flesh smouldering and crumbling, crumpling into nothing but black ash.
Gone.
Michael stepped back, unable to lower his weapon or to reload as he stared at the black mark upon the grass before him, as if waiting for it to form back into a creature and attack him again.
Reaper...
The word formed on his lips...but he wouldn't utter it, wouldn't waste the air.
Silence.
Then he spat upon the mark, shaking off the worst of the anger as he forced himself to reload his weapon, to focus back to the present.
Kasumi was staring at him from under her hood, the thief looking a little awkward as she leant against a wall between her two kills, trying to look casual.
Michael ignored her, gaze moving to Mordin as he realised the Salarian was muttering something.
"Fascinating, limbs all pinned, was careful, yet creature died." The Salarian noted, arms and legs untangling from the limp Collector, the creature looking decidedly dead, despite no visible damage to it. "Tried to take captive for live analysis, interrogation, wouldn't let me, yet struggled only for a short time before it realised I was analysing it." A sniff. "Then suicide, fascinating, standard procedure? Willing to kill itself so quickly? A cultural leaning? Brainwashing?"
Michael shook his head, tired.
Reapers...it is the Reapers...
He wasn't sure if he was relieved to finally be on track...or afraid. They're still here...
Next to him Mordin was still babbling. "Suicide destroyed internal organs, no reliable tissue left to analyse, no doubt purpose of suicide, fascinating." Another sniff. "Poison? No, not volatile enough. Acid? No, would need large quantities released simultaneously. Perhaps some inorganic solution? Omni-tool registered spiked values, need to take a look when have the time, should perhaps-"
The comm crackled into life, instantly silencing the Salarian as all looked to Michael, who bowed his head as he tapped his receiver.
The reception was weak, making Miranda's voice a static-filled whisper, but the words still came through. "Repeat, under heavy assault, need reinforcement on our position, pulling back towards point three-oh-six-four. I repeat, under heavy assault..." The words faltered, a burst of fire and the gasp of a dying Collector filling the com-channel.
"This is team two." Michael said, knowing radio-silence would no longer be required. "Ten-four on that, we're moving to your position."
There was no answer, only a crump, an explosion and more gunfire.
Lowering his hand from his helmet Michael thumped his assault rifle for emphasis as he looked at the other two, a savage grimace on his face as the thought of killing more Reaper-serving Collectors surged through him. "You heard the lady, we move!"
And the three ran.
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson for her help.