Salvation: A Half-Life/Mass Effect Universe Fan Fiction
Disclaimer: This fan-fiction takes place after the events of both Half-Life 1 and 2 and its episodes, and jumps to the events after Mass Effect 1 and 2. If you have not played or beaten these games this fiction may not make much sense to you. Characters property of their respective companies, Half-Life created by Valve and Mass Effect created by Bioware.
Chapter 26: Battle for ExoGeni (Part II)
"Ughhh..." One of the black armored pirates moaned agonizingly, as a thermal round pierced his helmet's optic lens, before he dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Gordon swung himself, back out of sight behind the pillar that was giving him temporary protection, as he let a smoking thermal clip fall to floor, off his assault rifle, and slid in a new one. He had taken cover behind the left pillar, the one nearest to the restroom they had used to gain entry to the facility. Inside the restroom itself, Miranda was crouched down at the edge of the door, with her pistol in hand as she waited for a clean shot. On the opposite side, near the recreation room, Jacob had been using the second pillar, as he leaned up against it, pulling the hammer back on his pistol.
"Great..." Lezara uttered to herself, rolling her eyes as she looked down at her fallen associate. A large chunk of his helmet's faceplate smashed in, revealing a bloody mess underneath. "Nice shot!" She yelled out sarcastically. "Bonus points if you think you can hit me next time!"
Rounds ricocheted off the two pillars, barely wide enough to conceal Gordon and Jacob, as the pirates unleashed a torrent of gunfire.
Gordon closed his eyes, and turned away, pain stricken as one of the rounds shattered against the edge of the pillar, sparking inches away from his head, and sending miniscule pieces of searing metal onto side of his face, leaving small burns.
Not retracting himself from the questionable safety of the pillar, he raised his assault rifle over his shoulder, protruding the barrel out from behind it, and pulling the trigger, causing it to fire wildly, and aimlessly. If nothing else perhaps he could land a lucky blow. But there would be no such luck this time.
"They've got us pinned good, Freeman." Jacob called out, shaking his head with his back against the pillar. "If we move, we're caught in the crossfire. And its only a matter of time before they figure to flank us. Any ideas? An explosive maybe?"
"No." Gordon answered assertively. "No explosives. We could hurt the research team."
Suddenly a thought crept into his head, as his eyes fluttered back and forth rapidly, assessing the situation.
"But that does give me an idea." Gordon pulled one of his issued M-14 Grenades off his belt, and examined it in his hands. The small digital readout was blank, as it awaited to be armed; either for remote, impact, or timed detonation. He looked it over carefully, making sure its safety mechanism was engaged, and it was not armed for any of the aforementioned.
"Grenade out!" He shouted with authority. He wanted to make absolutely certain their aggressors heard him, as he turned the corner and flung the discus with force, doing his best to make sure it would land where he wanted it to. His shouting caused a momentary ceasefire, as the pirate squad watched the discus hurdle towards them, bouncing off the wall behind them, and coming to rest on the floor behind their defensive mound.
"Shit, look out!" One of them cried out in a panic, as the nine remaining pirates in black armor all dove and vaulted over the defensive mound, hitting the floor face down, and clutching the back of their heads beneath their hands to avoid the blast radius.
Lezara furrowed her brow, as she looked down at the grenade. It was face up, with a blank display, and it wasn't even magnetized.
"It's a bluff, you idiots!" She yelled out furiously, as she kept her position behind the mound. "Get back here!"
Before they could react, as they shot to their feet, from the wrong side of their defensive mound; Gordon, Miranda, and Jacob suddenly swung out from behind their respective covers and let loose a torrential maelstrom of gunfire. Nearly in unison, the pirate squad turned and ran to vault over the mound once more. Five of them made it, one catching a stray bullet in the shoulder. The other four, however, convulsed violently as their bodies were riddled with bullets; shredding through their ineffective armor, before they finally collapsed onto the floor – dead long before they would ever hit it.
"Morons! Idiots!" Lezara screamed at them in a rage, as Gordon's team took cover once more, likely to reload, and prepare for another attack. "Can't you see they're trying to flush you out!"
"Ahhh! Ughh!" One of her men writhed in pain, as he sat leaning back against the wall, clutching his shoulder, as blood spilled through his fingers, and ran down his armor.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" She demanded, looking down at her wounded human accomplice.
"They... They got me..." He said in a hushed voice, shaking his head, with a pained expression on his face. "I don't know how bad it is."
"Oh no!" She exclaimed with an evil cynicism. "You poor thing. Here... let me take a look."
Slowly, he removed his hand, believing her concern to be genuine. The moment he did, she brought her foot up, and slammed it down hard onto his wound, pressing him back against the wall as he wailed in agony.
"AHHHH!" He screamed, clenching his eyes tightly, and shaking his head from side to side violently, as he grabbed her ankle with his hand, trying desperately to pry it off his wound. "What... What are you doing?"
"You still got one good arm, right?" She demanded, putting extra pressure on his wound, forcing him to scream louder. "RIGHT?"
"Augh... Ahhh... Right..." He eventually responded, through his teeth, as sweat poured down his forehead in droves.
"Then get up, and use it." She ordered, as she pulled her foot of his wound, causing him to take gasps of deep breaths and almost fall forward. Nearly in tears, he trembled as he staggered to his feet.
"I grow tired of this..." Lezara affirmed angrily, as she turned back around to face the twin pillars. Just then, a shimmering blue glow overtook her entire body, as she put her rifle away and let her hands drop to her side. Her pupils disappeared, as an intense white light radiated from them.
Suddenly, Gordon popped out from behind the pillar once more, looking to take another shot, and hopefully put a few more aggressors out of commission. Seeing this, Lezara threw a hand up in Gordon's direction and unleashed a torrential wave of biotic force.
Before he pulled the trigger, he was shocked as his over confidence was greeted with some sort of energy tidal wave barreling towards him at a high velocity.
Not waiting to question what this hazardous looking wave of energy was, coming at him. He immediately took shelter once again, behind his befriended pillar, as the pulse passed by, accompanied by an immense gust of wind, shattering every window in the atrium area as it pushed by.
The force of the biotic wave was strong enough that it careened hard against the pillar, shaking it violently. The vibration nearly rattled the teeth out of Gordon's skull as it slammed him forward, against the floor.
"Uhh..." Gordon groaned, as he laid on his stomach, rubbing the back of his head and trying to get his bearings back. "What was that?" He questioned in bewilderment, staggering to his knees as quickly as he could.
"Are you alright?" Miranda asked, as he stood up, standing behind the pillar once more, but making sure to keep a few inches between him and it this time.
Still rubbing the back of his head, he turned to her and nodded reassuringly.
"I forgot to mention." Jacob added, bowing his head and shaking it. "She's also a powerful biotic.
"Legion!" Shepard called out, with his hand pressed to the side of his helmet, as he and Tali crouched down behind a steel container, while the gargantuan mech's footsteps pounded the ground as it searched for them. "What the hell's taking so long?"
"Attempting to bypass firewalls and override security lockouts." Legion's robotic voice answered, over Shepard's radio. "Decryption is proving difficult. We are tasked to capacity."
Shepard sighed, and shook his head in frustration. "Well, work as quickly as you can." He ordered, before closing the communication channel.
"Thermal scanning initiated." The massive mech declared to itself, as its optic sensors swept the area. Suddenly, its vision turned into a spectrum of bright reds and dull blues, as it engaged thermal scanning. In a far off corner, it detected an anomaly: Two bright red masses contrasting with their dark blue surroundings, behind a steel container.
"Alright." The Commander spoke out, looking over at Tali and gripping his rifle tight. "Here's what we'll do. I'll flank left, and try to get its attention. When it tr..."
The Commander's instructions were abruptly interrupted as a rapid battery of high capacity thermal slugs began firing in their direction, slowly tearing away at the container protecting them, as if it were made of cardboard.
Instinctively, both of them took off, in opposite directions, as the thermal slugs sliced through container. Tali took cover behind another container, near the edge of the wall, inadvertently cornering herself. While Shepard vaulted back over the conveyor system, that had sheltered them before.
"Now I wish I'd saved the Cain..." The Commander thought to himself, as he primed his rifle, expecting the monstrous machine to begin firing on him again at any second.
All of a sudden, he heard the expected gunfire, but it wasn't raining down in his direction. He stood up to see the YMIR unloading towards the corner that Tali had taken refuge in.
"Tali!" He shouted out, unable to see whether or not she was hurt, or even still alive. A sinking feeling fell into the pit of his stomach, as time seemed to slow down around him.
Bullets ricocheted off the YMIR's metallic chassis as Shepard began firing wildly at it, hoping desperately to grab its attention.
"I'm okay!" Tali's voice came in over his helmet's radio, causing him to let out a deep sigh of relieved despair. "But he's tearing through this box pretty fast."
"Hey, Hey! Over here!" He yelled out, jumping over the conveyor belt, and intrepidly walking towards the mech, firing all the while.
The robotic colossus ceased fire, and turned to face Shepard, who had a burning rage gleaming in his eyes, beneath his visor.
A series of mechanical sounds resonated, as the mech reloaded its assault cannon, and prepared to fire at Shepard, who stood no more than ten feet away from it, with nothing between the two.
"I've had just about enough of this." Shepard asserted confidently. Unexpectedly, he turned his rifle upward and began firing. He aimed at a small clamp suspending a hefty crate directly above the spot the YMIR was standing. Moments before it could bring its arm into firing position, Shepard dove aside, as the clamp snapped and steel crate came slamming down hard onto the mech, leveling it underneath.
Shepard shot up, and rushed over to the corner Tali had been pinned down under. As he hopped over one of the crates to get to her, he saw her slowly begin to emerge. His steps slowed as he saw her get up, and dust herself off, appearing relatively unharmed.
"Are you alri..." He began to ask, when suddenly a loud rumbling caught his attention again, interrupting him.
"You've gotta be kidding..." Shepard uttered, exasperated, as he turned and looked over to see the crate on top of the massive mech, erupt to shred as the YMIR slowly stood up. "Well that's just perfect. Expensive mechs... Cheap crates..."
"You okay?" He called out to Tali, who was now standing firmly on two feet, holding her head.
Tali nodded, as she looked over at him, obviously a little shaken up, but no worse for ware.
"Good." Shepard answered, nodding before he turned back to face the colossal mech, drawing his pistol, and walking away casually. "I'll be right back."
"Malfunction. Catastrophic system damage detected." The mech stated to itself as sparks flew off of its crushed right arm, where its assault canon used to be. "Alternative pacification method required."
"Psst... Hey over here." The YMIR turned its optic sensors to find Commander Shepard standing before him once more, with a pistol in his hand.
Shepard was familiar with how these mechs worked. Their hardened titanium armor, and heavy armaments made them virtually indestructible. But every armor has chinks. Noticing that the mech's assault cannon, its primary weapon, had been destroyed; Shepard knew the only option the mechanical menace would have, would be to rely on its RPG launcher, on the opposite hand.
The damage from a single RPG was considerable. His shields and armor would have little to no chance of resisting a single blast, much less multiple ones. But its firing was slow, and clumsy. Only a single rocket could be fired at a time. And to fire a rocket, first it had to load it into the launching chamber, opening up the chassis around its forearm to do so.
"Target acquired." The mech declared in a robotic voice, as it rotated itself around, to come into firing position.
Slowly it raised its arm, as Shepard raised his pistol bearing hand, and the two aimed at one another.
"Target locked." It stated as its heads-up optic display locked onto Commander Shepard. The protective chassis, covering its forearm, then opened for a window of no more than a second, revealing a cache of rockets inside, as one was pushed up into the firing chamber.
A single round was fired from Shepard's gun, leaving the barrel smoking, before the protective chassis on the YMIR's forearm sealed up once more. Shepard turned, and stormed away as fast as he could. A loud, repeating, and steadily faster beeping noise came, as the mech powered its launcher, preparing to fire.
Out of nowhere, the YMIR exploded into a burst of fire, and scrap metal, as Shepard dove behind one of the many steel crates in the warehouse. Smoldering pieces of debris rained down on him, as he emerged to see two massive mechanical legs standing before him, without a body, before they collapsed onto the floor, twitching.
"Keelah..." Tali stated in shock, as she came to stand beside Shepard, looking on at the smoldering pile of wreckage. "Did you even break a sweat this time?"
"There's six left!" Jacob called out, as the bullets continued to ricochet off the pillars and walls. "They shouldn't be too tough to take out if we're smart about it. Syndell will be the real problem."
"Jacob." Miranda called out, to the opposite end of the atrium, as she suddenly got an idea. "Set 'em up, knock 'em down!"
A grin came over Jacob's face, followed by an eager, and confident nod. Obviously the two had some sort of understanding between each other.
"Dr. Freeman." She then called out to Gordon, who was standing nearby, behind the pillar. "See if you can put down some covering fire for us."
"What are you gonna do?" He asked, before agreeing.
"You'll see." Miranda assured. "Don't worry, it always works like a charm."
Gordon nodded in response, as he held up his assault rifle, and waited for a momentarily lapse in the onslaught. There was a nearly incessant beat of gunfire against the two pillars, but a window of a second or two always presented itself for that dire need to reload. Gordon tuned his hearing, and turned his head, with his rifle clenched tight as he waited for such a window.
After a few seconds, it came. There was abrupt ceasefire from at least three of the opposing weapons, as they stopped to pull out fresh thermal clips and load them into their firearms. The window was all that Gordon needed, as he swung himself around from behind his pillar and started firing. His sights were on the asari, the obvious ringleader of the operation. However his shots just seemed to almost bounce off her, leaving blue glimmering ripples where ever they struck, like stones being tossed into water.
As ineffective as his attack may have been, it served its purpose; a distraction. A blue glow came over Jacob's hands as he swung himself around from behind his respective protective pillar, and aimed them towards the pirate squad.
"Gravity's one mean mother, huh?" He yelled out sarcastically, channeling a strange force through his hands, towards the aggressors.
"Whoa!" "Hey, what the fuck!" "Ahh! Put me down!" The black armored pirates all shouted out in a panic, as suddenly they were overcome with a shimmering blue radiance, and began to lift off the ground against their wills.
Lezara, still possessed with a glow of her own doing, anchored herself firmly to the ground as she watched her men float up, like a child's stray balloon. They flailed and waved around violently, feverishly... fruitlessly.
Just then, Miranda emerged from behind her cover in the women's facilities, her hands aglow as well. She walked forward with a purpose, as Lezara watched helplessly, but not with any sort of visible concern on her expression. Suddenly, Miranda threw her hands up, unleashing a forceful shock wave, similar to the one Lezara had tried to use on Gordon moments ago. The biotic wave came hurdling towards the men suspended in the air. As they watched it come, some closed there eyes hoping to shy away from the imminent pain. But they realized they were completely at her mercy.
Five, loud, pounding thuds were heard, as the men were slammed forcibly against the back wall. Thuds accompanied by grunts, and groans of agony and pain. As fast as it had come, the blue glow around them dissipated, as they crashed to the ground. Some of them groaned on contact with the floor, but not all. Perhaps the impact with the wall was successful in knocking them unconscious, or perhaps it had snapped their spines. It wasn't important. The important thing was none of them would be getting up anytime soon.
"What in the world..." Gordon asked, in complete astonishment as he watched the men get thrown about like rag dolls. "How... How did you do all that?" He figured what he had seen the blue woman do was simply an inherent ability of her species. But now... He wasn't sure what to think.
"I'll explain later." Jacob assured, not taking his eyes off Lezara. "Come on."
Gordon, Miranda, and Jacob slowly emerged from their cover, and cautiously began to descend on Lezara's position, their weapons drawn and aimed steadily. Lezara had her back to them, she heard them coming, but it didn't matter. She looked down, shaking her head with her arms crossed, as she looked over the contorted bodies of her lackeys. A deep sense of regret suddenly washed over her. Regret for hiring worthless, inexperienced, gutter trash mercenary rejects off of street corners in the slums of the galaxy.
"Good help is so hard to find..." Lezara said aloud, shaking her head as Gordon's team approached her.
"It's over Lezara..." Jacob asserted sternly, as they walked up to her, and stopped a few feet away from her mound. "We're taking you in."
Lezara shook her head, as she let out a long drawn out sigh. "Very well..." She replied, bowing her head in defeat. "If that's how it must be."
Just then, out of nowhere her brilliant blue glow reappeared dramatically, as her body suddenly lifted off the ground, radiating a powerful explosion of pure biotic energy in all directions. The shock wave threw the three backwards, knocking them onto the floor, and stunning them.
"Of course, I didn't say I would make it easy." She scorned angrily, with an evil glow in her eyes.
Gordon immediately scrambled to his feet, followed swiftly by Miranda and Jacob, a blinding light now radiating from the spot Lezara was standing in.
Suddenly, the materials making up the makeshift cover that Lezara and her team had been using floated up into the air, and began to orbit around her. Miranda glared angrily, as a blue glow overcame her body, a glowing rage identical to the one that had overcome the asari.
"Get to cover!" She demanded, as the two glowing entities stared each other down. "I can handle this bitch."
Gordon stood in awe, speechless with his mouth agape as he tried to make sense of what was going on before him. He watched as two brilliant blue burning beacons of radiance stood staring each other down. Just when he figured he had seen everything this futuristic reality had to throw at him, something newer, and stranger would present itself.
Suddenly, a metallic desk revolving around the asari shot out, on a collision course with the three. It was launched with the momentum of a ballistic projectile as it hurdled towards them. Miranda reeled her hand back, channeling an immense amount of energy directly into her palm. Just as the desk was inches away from her, she thrust her hand forward, releasing the focused energy at the oncoming desk. The ground trembled as the desk was torn asunder like tissue paper before them, raining shards of steel and splinters of wood around the atrium.
"Go!" Miranda turned, and ordered with a high sense of urgency.
"Come on, Freeman." Jacob shouted, grabbing Gordon's shoulder plate and pulling.
"No, wait..." Gordon rebutted as he was reluctantly dragged away. "Stop, we have to help her."
Jacob dragged Gordon backwards, pulling at his shoulder plate, as he guided him into the small nearby gym entrance, before Gordon finally turned and followed Jacob of his own volition.
"You wanna try and help her, be my guest." Jacob warned, as the two retreated to the shelter of the dim lit gym. Another burst of energy flooded through the atrium, sending a powerful gust of wind into the room, and shaking the walls. "But there isn't much either of us can do right now, Miranda has to try and handle it now. You go out there, you're likely to get cut in half."
"What the hell's going on?" Gordon demanded, angrily. "What is all this?"
"No one's told you about biotics?" Jacob questioned, a bit surprised.
"Biotics?" Gordon stated, questioningly. "I've heard it mentioned by some of the ship's computer files... Something about Element Zero nodules in the tissue... Ability to manipulate energy and mass effect fields...?" Gordon responded, as he turned to take a look outside, concerned for Miranda's safety.
"Right." Jacob acknowledged, nodding his head. "That's exactly what it is. Me and Miranda are biotics. That's what you see happening right now."
"Well, we can't just stay here. We have to help her." Gordon asserted, turning to face Jacob with a determined look on his face. "What about you? You say you can do it too."
"Yeah, I can." He replied, a forlorn expression on his face. "But I'm no where near as powerful as Miranda. I'm more of a combat specialist than anything else. Sorry Freeman, we gotta let her try and handle this one."
"Shepard Commander." Legion's voice came in over Shepard's radio as he and Tali were already making their way down the stairway towards him.
"We're here Legion." Shepard called out, not needing to utilize his radio, and causing Legion to turn around from a large console terminal he had been working at. "What's the status on those defense systems?"
"Facility defenses successfully disabled." Legion informed. "Mechanized patrols have been nullified, and all security blast doors have been retracted."
"Alright, good work." Shepard commended, sticking his fingers under his helmet's visor in order to wipe the sweat off his forehead. "I'd better check in with Dr. Freeman's unit."
"Shepard to extraction team." He called out, pressing his hand to the side of his helmet. "Status report."
He waited a few seconds for a response, but got nothing but silence.
"Extraction team, check in." He ordered once more. "Dr. Freeman, can you hear me?"
He released his communicator once more, to give his team a chance to answer. Suddenly, a loud crack of static resounded through his communicator, hurting his ears, and causing him to clench his eyes for a second.
"Yeah, this is Gordon." Freeman's voice replied, after the burst of static. "We ran into those pirates. Most of 'em are down, but one of them is being really problematic. We haven't been able to make it to the research team yet."
"It sounds like they could use some help." Tali suggested, clearly hearing concern in Gordon's voice. Shepard looked over at her, nodding in agreement.
"Just hang on, Dr. Freeman." The Commander directed, speaking into his helmet's receiver again. "We're headed to your position."
"You're pretty strong, bitch." Lezara yelled out, as she let forth a concentrated orb of energy towards Miranda. "For a human, that is."
"Thanks." Miranda replied sarcastically, as she put her hands out in front of her, forming a radiant blue shield around her, absorbing Lezara's orb. "It's how I was engineered."
Miranda threw her hand towards a nearby reclining seat, laying scattered among the other debris in the atrium. It lifted off the ground, as it was enveloped in a scintillating blue shine. Releasing a pulse of force from her palms, the seat suddenly cut through the air, hurdling towards Lezara, as she simply side stepped it to avoid it.
"Hmph..." Lezara scoffed at the ineffective attack. "Let's see if you were engineered to withstand this!" Lezara's eyes pulsated brightly, as she raised her hands once again, and pointed them at Miranda. Suddenly, Miranda's feet lifted off the ground, as she felt as if she was being ripped apart from the inside out.
"AHHHH!" Miranda screamed in agony, feeling as though her flesh was being torn apart.
"Miranda!" Gordon yelled out. He took a rapid look around, as sweat began to roll down his brow.
"Shit..." Jacob expressed, drawing his pistol, as Gordon drew his gravity gun.
"Biotics..." Gordon uttered angrily, with his gravity gun in hand. "We'll see about this..."
"Aw, what's the matter?" The asari questioned sacrastically, a sinister look in her glowing eyes, as Miranda writhed in pain, her arms spread wide apart, as she was slowly being crucified. "Does it hurt?"
"Let her go!" Gordon demanded, as he rushed out of the small gym, carrying something in his hands. When Lezara watched him come out, as best as she could tell, he looked like he was holding one of the large exercise dumbbells, although she couldn't make out his hands gripping it anywhere.
"Or what?" The asari beckoned confidently. No sooner had she asked, than she heard some sort of electric jolt, and watched as the dumbbell came flying directly at her at an incredibly high rate of speed.
Lezara immediately released Miranda from her biotic grip, in a desperate attempt to quickly shield herself from the impending impact. As she began to encase herself in a biotic shield, the dumbbell suddenly found its mark, its bar slamming across her chest, jerking her backwards, causing her to plow against the rear wall hard, and drop down.
"Is she okay?" Gordon beckoned pleadingly, remounting the gravity gun onto his back, and rushing over to the fallen Miranda.
"She's alright." Jacob confirmed. He was already kneeling by her side, checking for a pulse and any possible injuries. "She's unconscious, but alright. The strain was too much for her."
Gordon breathed a heavy sigh of relief, as he and Jacob convened over Miranda, unaware that the ex Asari Commando was already beginning to stir. Dragging herself on all fours staggeringly to one of her men's nearby assault rifles, coughing and gasping.
"She gave it her best shot, but Lezara was just too strong..." Jacob continued, confident that the threat had been dealt with.
Suddenly, Gordon heard what sounded like a piece of metal being scraped along the floor, coming from behind him, where the powerful asari had made her stand. Slowly turning to confirm his suspicions, he found Lezara pulling an assault rifle towards her, using it for leverage to pull herself to her feet.
A look of blustering rage burned on her expression, as a lavender trickle of blood flowed down her chin, from her mouth.
"Watch out!" Gordon exclaimed. As Lezara raised the assault rifle, Gordon bolted towards her, placing himself directly between the asari and the two Cerberus operatives. Just as she pulled the trigger, Gordon swung his arms out in front of him, placing his armored forearms in front of his face, using them to shield himself from the volley.
A dim blue energy field gleamed over him, contouring perfectly to the outline of his body, as a barrage of thermal rounds collided with his kinetic barriers. Each bullet leaving a small ripple in his shields, as it was deflected. Her aim was precise, placing every round on his person, as his shields withstood the abuse. That's when he noticed a small blue bar on his armor's wrist display showing a gauge labeled "shields" depleting rapidly.
As the gauge dwindled dangerously low, coming to read 4% he noticed the rounds suddenly stopped. Reluctantly, Gordon began to separate his locked forearms to try and uncover the reason she had ceased.
"Argh!" Lezara griped furiously, as she pulled back on the trigger repeatedly, achieving no effect, before tossing the ammo depleted assault rifle aside, in a fit of anger.
"Thanks, Freeman." Jacob said gratefully, as he came to stand beside Gordon, his pistol drawn once more. "Lets finish the bitch."
"Finish me?" She shouted in a rage, a burning indignation scorched onto her expression. Suddenly, a flash of light, a surge of energy. At a moments notice, her eyes burned once again with the same brilliant glow, as her entire body became a conduit of biotic energy. A massive pulse shot out from her, sending a powerful shock wave in all directions as Gordon and Jacob closed in on her.
Gordon immediately shielded his eyes at the blinding light. All of a sudden, he felt as though he had been hit by a freight train, as the massive pulse careened into his body, sending both him and Jacob flying back, neither of them prepared for her – mistakenly assuming whatever fight she had left, had been completely knocked out of her.
Jacob slammed, back first, against the pillar that had so faithfully been providing him cover moments ago. "Ugh..." He grunted, with a cough on impact, as his head whip lashed backwards, slamming hard against the steel pillar, before dropping down motionless, face first onto the floor.
Gordon was thrown between the two pillars, tossed further back, sliding across the floor as he landed on it, before coming to a rest on a pair of corpses belonging to some of the dead researchers.
Lezara wiped the blood away from her chin with her fingers, as she felt something warm running down her jaw, and noticing the taste of blood for the first time. She moved her hand away, noticing her lavender blood smeared onto her fingers, before turning her head and spitting out a large globule of it onto the floor angrily. "I'm just getting started..."
Gordon's ears were ringing, and all he could see was blurry blobs in the distance, as he sat up and feverishly tried to scramble to his feet. The ringing slowly faded, as his vision began to clear up. Before making it to his feet, he reached back, pulling out his shotgun, having lost his assault rifle as he was thrown back.
"Come on, whelp!" Gordon heard, as the sinister blue woman came into focus, at the opposite end of the atrium. "Get up! Give me your best shot."
From one knee, Gordon stood up, shotgun in hand and a resolute expression on his face. The room was spinning around him, as he wobbled on spaghetti legs. He took one quick look around. Miranda was still resting comfortably from her battle, but he didn't hear any sign of Jacob. That's when he saw him, or his arm anyway. Up ahead, the pillar on the right hand side that had been granting him cover was concealing most of Jacob's body from Gordon's point of view. It was impossible to tell from where he stood whether or not harm had come to the young Cerberus Operative.
Gordon squeezed his shotgun tightly, a familiar jade fire burning in his eyes as he slowly walked forward, towards the asari.
"That's it... come on!" She yelled out, a diabolical eagerness in her voice, and the most malicious of intentions in her head. She taunted him over, raising two fingers, and using them to wave Gordon over.
Two clacking sounds came as Gordon cocked the shotgun, and released the safety. He stopped walking, as he came up to the pillar, coming to stand beside the fallen Jacob. Looking down at him, out of the corner of his eyes, he was sure he could see Jacob's chest contracting and expanding as he took breaths. This was enough to give him some relief, but the more pressing matter still loomed before him.
Just then, Gordon turned the barrel of his shotgun towards the asari and began firing. A thunderous fusillade of gunfire came as dozens of small spherical pellets rained against her in droves. She was bathed in a shimmering blue glow, as the rounds simply seemed to disappear, leaving dozens of small glimmering ripples across the barrier surrounding her.
Gordon clenched his lips, as he suddenly stopped firing, realizing this was having absolutely no effect. Without wanting to, he swallowed a large gulp, as a sinking feeling settled into the pit of his stomach, and a chill ran down his spine.
"What?" Lezara questioned with a newfound confidence evident in her voice, being cautious however, not to lower her biotic barrier. "That's it...? That's the best you can do?"
Gordon remained completely silently, his eyes burning with resolve, as he assessed his dire situation. The thought of perhaps using an explosive crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. He was not about to endanger innocent lives to try and save his own. Besides, even if he had decided to use one, there was no guarantee that it would be any more effective than what he had already tried.
"Wait..." Lezara continued, a big smile now on her face. "Hang on a second... You're no biotic. Are you? And that means you weren't the one..." She stopped, and looked down towards the heavy piece of workout equipment laying beside her, pointing at it, before turning back to face Gordon. "Hahahaha!" She cackled hysterically, still careful not to lower her barrier. "Oh, this is just too good! It was Taylor, wasn't it? You were only the decoy."
Gordon furrowed his brow angrily, taking a deep breath, as he prepared for what was likely to be his demise. Soldiers, vortigaunts, Combine, gunships, striders... He'd survived it all – but never had he faced something or someone with such a versatile command of energy manipulation. This was one problem he wouldn't be able to solve with mere bullets.
"Hmhmhmhm!" Lezara continued to chuckle under her breath at the pleasant turn of events, before looking out and noticing the despondent expression on Gordon's face, as he clutched his weapon. "Aww... What's the matter?" She questioned sarcastically. "You mad cause I hurt your friends?"
Gordon sneered furiously, clenching his teeth behind his lips, as her snide comments enraged him further.
"Poor little human, so angry and alone..." She continued. "Tell you what. I'm not unreasonable. I'll give you a fighting chance before I crush your skull, and rip you apart. What's that charming phrase you humans are so fond of?" She stopped to think, tapping her chin with one finger, while keeping the barrier around her in tact, obviously toying with her prey. "Oh yes, I remember. I'll give you three strikes 'til you're out. Ready?"
Gordon took a deep breath, as he began to exhaust ideas in his mind. He couldn't use an explosive, that much he had already concluded. His conventional weaponry seemed to be having no effect whatsoever. And he couldn't just throw something at her again with his gravity gun, she'd see it coming this time for sure. He'd need to distract her somehow first, but how? He was running out of options, and he found himself in the dubious position of having to play along with this evil alien's sinister little game. Perhaps he would get lucky, and she would slip up or let her guard down. It was worth a shot.
Before waiting for her to give him any sort of clearance or permission to start, he gently loaded a new thermal clip into his shotgun, and pulled the trigger once again. Predictably, the pellets just rippled across her protective barrier, like pebbles tossed into a pond, having absolutely no effect. He tried to make a careful note of the areas in which he saw the ripples appear, hoping to spot some sort of gap, but to no avail.
"Strike one." She asserted, as she crossed her arms, and began to pace around confidently in little circles. "Let me ask you. Have you ever faced an Asari Commando before?" She questioned, turning to face Gordon with a wicked smile on her face. "Few humans have... Fewer live to tell about it."
Gordon swung the shotgun behind his back, remounting it into place, and pulling out his issued M-98 Widow sniper rifle. If a weapon with this much force and penetrating power was not enough to break through, at this close range... nothing would.
She stopped pacing, and looked directly at him, her eyes unflinching in his scope, as his crosshair came to rest upon her forehead. Swallowing down another gulp, he slowly pulled back on the trigger. The force of the shot torqued his shoulder backwards, as the blast echoed through the atrium.
"Damn..." He whispered to himself, as he lowered his rifle to see the blue woman before him, nonchalantly polishing her fingernails on her clothing, completely unphased by his shot.
"Strike two." She informed casually, before beginning to pace around confidently once again. "You know, I once killed a Justicar? It was a few hundred years back." She continued. Gordon's gaze suddenly widened as he noticed something, allowing an idea to creep into his head. "They say the Justicars will do whatever it takes to get the job done. But even they will hesitate if you've got twenty pounds of thermal explosive strapped to a group of children... It's not good to hesitate around me."
"Goddess, would you hurry it up already?" She demanded, her patience wearing thin, as Gordon raised his rifle and looked down the scope once more. "I wanna hurry up and get outta here. Take the shot. Let me kill you. And we can both get on with our li..." She remarked cynically, interrupting herself, and placing her hand over her mouth, with an insincere look of concern on her face. "Oops... Well, one of us can at least."
Gordon could hear the asari rambling about something, as he peered through the scope, but it was of no consequence to him what she was saying. As she was pacing around, he had noticed a large red canister, with the make of a fire extinguisher, directly below the air conditioning unit he had taken note of earlier. It was enough to give him an idea.
"Would you just fuckin' take the shot!" She screamed at him frustratedly, as she grew tired of waiting. There was no need to ask a third time. The instant she yelled it, Gordon pulled back on the trigger, releasing a cracking echo throughout the atrium, and jerking Gordon's shoulder backwards.
"Heh..." She chuckled confidently, noticing that he had missed, as no ripple appeared on her barrier.
"Strike thr..." She was suddenly interrupted as she heard a strange hissing sound coming from behind her. "What the?"
She turned to find the source of the strange sound. As she turned, she was confronted by a sudden eruption, as the fire extinguisher burst into a white cloud of foam and mist. The impact was enough to knock Lezara off her feet, but little else.
The desired effect being achieved, he rapidly replaced his sniper rifle, pulling out his gravity gun in turn.
"Ah, you asshole!" Lezara shouted out furiously, as she stood up. She was almost completely covered from head to toe in white foam. Particularly on her face, and upper body. She popped up, wiping the foam away from her face and eyes, before her hands lit up with the familiar blue energy, as she prepared to channel something terrible towards him. "You'll fucking pay for that!"
She noticed Gordon pointing a strange type of weapon in her direction, a weapon the likes of which she hadn't seen before. It didn't matter – it didn't seem to be doing anything else other than letting out a strange hum, as a small electrical current pulsated from its tip.
She raised her hands up, as a vivid blue orb began to manifest itself in her palms. Suddenly, she heard something from behind her again. It was a strange sound, like steel being pried off of a surface forcibly.
His finger still pressed tightly on the gravity gun trigger, he started turning all the newfound dials that Dr. Solus had installed, when he upgraded the gravity gun, to their highest capacities. It hummed loudly, and vibrated in his hand, as it began to extricate its target.
"What... the... fuck..." Her curiosity getting the better of her, Luzera furrowed her brow, turning once more to evaluate just what was causing this disturbance. She turned only to find the inactive air conditioning unit mounted on the wall, being torn out, as it finally ripped away, plowing into her face on its way to Gordon's Zero Point Energy Manipulator.
The heavy ventilated unit glided over to Gordon, coming to stop inches before him, completely weightless, as he held it with the gravity gun.
"Prick!" She screamed out, in a raging fury, surprising Gordon as he watched her stagger to her feet yet again. Wobbling, struggling to stand, she looked up to find herself greeted one last time with the same air conditioning unit flying straight towards her face. Her eyes grew wide for a moment. A loud crash. A sharp pain. The sound of something cracking within. And then... Darkness.