:: Chapter Twenty Eight :: Novocaine ::
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A prayer unheard
Followed a shift
In sound
A moment
And a chance
Release
Revolve
Renew
A wound that grew from within
A rhythm and rhyme
Planting on borrowed time
Release
Revolve
Renew
Rebuild again
-Rosetta-
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Where could he be? And what in the world was going on?
Tali gripped the shotgun slung across her back as he looking over top of the people running and pushing past her, terror filling their eyes. Tali's instincts told her that she should be running with them and not against them, but a strange knot in the pit of her stomach told her otherwise.
Shepard had gone in that direction—was he there as well? Tali would have seen him if he had returned—the man was tall, even by human standards, and something about him was just simply difficult to miss.
Or was Shepard the cause of this chaos?
No—it couldn't be. He had been fine just minutes ago—he was just going to get medical supplies. It couldn't have been him.
But what if he was in danger too?
No, he was a trained soldier—he would be fine. In fact, Tali would be more of a burden than an asset if something was going on.
But Tali couldn't resist stepping forward.
"Out of the way!" a gruff turian voice shouted from behind her. Tali turned her head to catch sight of a squad of somewhere close to ten turian soldiers heavily equipped in silvery colored armor, each toting a long rifle and a pair of them even holding glassy shields as they marched through the crowd, not hesitating to shove the stunned civilians out of the way as they ran past.
C-Sec—if they were sending a fully armored squadron of soldiers, something terrible must have happened. What would warrant a full platoon of soldiers? A bomb? A group of rogue mercenaries? An assassination?
Or a broken Alliance soldier?
Tali ran forward without hesitation, her slender frame easily slipping through the crowd which pushed against her like a great wave.
"Get back!" one of the turians shouted—apparently at her, since she was the only one brave—or perhaps stupid—enough to fight the flow.
"It's dangerous!" the turian shouted again as he extended a hand and shoved it roughly into Tali's stomach, unexpectedly throwing her onto the ground.
Flaring with anger, Tali scrambled to her feet. "Bosh'tet!" she shouted as she bared her teeth at the man—a wasted expression, but she was sure the meaning would be transmitted easily enough.
Tali felt a hand on her shoulder gently pulling her backwards. She tried to shake the hand away, but when the offender wouldn't let go, she turned to face the human woman who watched her concernedly.
"Let me go!" Tali shouted at the woman, shaking her arm to get free again.
"Pirates are attacking the merchants!" the woman said—almost pleadingly. "It's too dangerous! C-Sec is going in! They'll protect whoever you're looking for!"
Pirates—so it wasn't Shepard?
"What did the pirates look like?" Tali said, allowing herself to be pushed back by the crowd, though still facing backwards.
"They were human—I only saw one of them, he was wearing some kind of red bandana," the woman explained, though she herself looked teary-eyed. "C-Sec will stop them—they have to," the woman said.
Tali nodded her thanks and headed back towards the hallway. She might not have had years of combat training or attendance to any military academies, but she wasn't useless. If Shepard was around, she was sure he was going to be in the fray—and if he was fighting, Tali would fight too.
"Stop!" the turian said, this time extending his hand before Tali got close enough for him to shove away. "Nobody's allowed in!"
"My… Commander is in there!" Tali shouted, trying to push past the stubborn turian.
"There aren't any quarians in there," the turian said calmly, his arm extended to stop Tali.
"He's a human, you bosh'tet! Let me go!"
"All clear!" another of the turian officers shouted from somewhere down the hallway.
The turian glanced backwards momentarily—still holding Tali in place—before he looked back at her. "The bandits are dealt with," he said reassuringly. "Whoever you're looking for can wait for a few minutes for us to account the situation."
Tali bit a lip and slowly backed away, crossing her arms over top of her chest as she looked down the hallway for some sight of Shepard coming out of the darkness.
The turian glanced apologetically at Tali every so often, but still held his post dutifully. Tali's initial anger at the officer had quickly faded, tempered by understanding and a strong faith that Shepard would be fine.
Tali nervously paced around for a few minutes, occasionally glancing down the dark stairwell.
"Shepard!" Tali found herself shouting as the familiar man—his blue uniform wrinkled and stained with splashes of blood—appeared from the stairwell, nodding to the turians on duty with a grin on his face.
Tali dashed over towards Shepard, a look of concern on her face as she scanned him and took note of all the bloodstains that covered him.
"What happened?" Tali said, glancing down at a particularly large stain across the left side of his stomach.
"Just a couple of bandits," Shepard said easily as he watched Tali with a grin on his face.
"What are you so smiley for?" Tali muttered as she reached in her armor and pulled out a packet of medigel that she had with her. "Here, take this."
Shepard's eyes widened slightly as he waved a hand in the air in front of him. "Oh, no, these aren't mine," Shepard said as he tugged on his uniform. "The bandits—my shields hadn't even dropped."
Tali chuckled slightly to herself as she released the pent up breath that she was holding in. Of course Shepard wouldn't have been injured—he ran into a group of pirates with only a uniform, and pistol and a knife, and came out without a single injury.
"Here, Tali, could you hold this for a moment?" Shepard said, pushing a small, brown colored box towards her that she hadn't really noticed with her attention focused on the bloodstains. Tali curiously took the box from him, holding it in the air between them.
"Can you open it up and make sure that everything inside is alright?" Shepard said with a sly grin on his face.
"Uhm… what is it?" Tali said, slightly confused.
"Supplies and whatnot," Shepard said with a shrug. Tali watched him for a moment, but relented as she tore the plastic seal and opened up the top of the box.
"Shepard—what is…" Tali lifted the elegant purple colored fabric out of the box, and she couldn't help but admire the complex designs that covered its surface.
"For—for wrapping something? Or for cleaning something on the ship?" Tali instantly said, not wanting to assume that the beautiful piece of fabric was perhaps for her.
"If you like," Shepard said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But I think it would look much nicer if you wore it."
Tali felt her cheeks flushing with color as the full impact of the gift hit her in one blow. Shepard had gone to buy supplies, fought off a group of bandits, and then come back with a new veil?
"I—uh—this is… it's beautiful," Tali said, stammering as she tried to thank him. "You… you didn't have to—I mean, not that I don't like it, but I mean—"
"You needed an upgrade," Shepard said with a smile. "I thought that it looked nice."
"It does," Tali said as her smile widened across her face. This was perhaps even more incredible than her old veil.
Tali's omni-tool lit up on her wrist and began to blink softly. Shepard's did as well, Tali noticed, in a very similar fashion.
"Crew of the Normandy," Kaidan's voice said through their omni-tools. "In honor of the great Commander Shepard, drinks are on me tonight!"
Tali glanced up at Shepard for a moment, but his only response was to shrug modestly.
"Head over to the Nova Lounge for drinks all night!"
Tali's omni-tool faded from existence as the transmission cut short, with Shepard giving Tali a strange look.
"Sounds like Kaidan's got quite the party planned," Shepard said with a smirk.
"Should we go?" Tali asked.
"I think so," Shepard said with a grin. "But, before we go, there's one more thing."
Shepard reached into one of the pockets of his navy uniform and pulled out a small metal rod which was flattened out on the bottom and had a button on the side.
Tali's was speechless as he handed it to her.
"I found it in one of the trash bins on the ship," Shepard began to explain somewhat sheepishly. "When I found out it was yours, I tried to fix it."
Tali gently pressed the button on the side of the bar and out of the side, a holographic image of a younger Tali appeared, snuggled up beside her mother and father who had their arms wrapped around her with smiles evident even through the masks that they wore.
"Shepard…" Tali said, taken aback by the sudden appearance of this piece of treasure which she had lost.
"I knew it meant a lot to you," Shepard said. "I had to tear apart an old frame of my own to replace the display chip and the memory card was so worn through that I needed to—"
Tali leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Shepard, causing him to jump slightly at the contact. After a few moments, Tali disengaged and shyly looked down at the holographic picture, embarrassed at her instinctive hug.
"Thank you so much," Tali said again as she looked into the hologram. "It means a lot to me."
"I'm glad that I could fix it," Shepard said with a warm smile. "But I thought that you were a quarian?"
"Psh," Tali said as she waved a hand in front of her. "It doesn't mean I can make display processors and memory modules appear out of thin air."
Tali glanced up at Shepard and smiled a little bit more—even if he couldn't see it through the mask.
"Should we get going?" Tali said after a few quiet moments, pointing backwards to where she recalled the location of the bar.
"Sounds like a plan," Shepard said with a grin.
Tali led the way towards the bar which wasn't a very long trip away from the market district they were in. Shepard occasionally cast her strange glances as they arrived at splits in the path and Tali knew where to go inherently, but he didn't ask how she knew its location.
"So, you're the great Commander Shepard now?" Tali asked teasingly to Shepard as they stepped onto one of the fast moving, rectangular shaped cars which ran many times down the length of each of the wards, providing quick transportation between each of the major districts on the Citadel.
"Apparently," Shepard said with a shrug.
"So, what happened?" Tali asked curiously. "I never heard anything down in engineering."
"We found an old friend of Kaidan's," Shepard explained. "They were in a tight spot—we helped them get out."
"The great Hero of the Normandy," Tali said jokingly. Shepard rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"For all that I'm concerned about, just plain old "Shepard" is fine with me."
Tali toyed with the idea of asking why nobody ever called him by his first name—especially since almost everyone on the Normandy operated on a first name basis except for maybe Doctor Chakwas and Adams—who said that he had grown so used to "Adams" that he barely responded to "Greg". Perhaps it was a similar situation for Shepard—maybe he was just so used to the name that it felt wrong to be called something else?
Either way, John didn't sound like a horrible name. It was short, simple and rather nice.
"Do we get off here?" Shepard asked, having resigned to being the co-pilot for their journey to the bar.
"Yup," Tali said, continuing to lead the way as she stepped of the tram and back into the crowded buildings where the lights were dimmed to make it feel as late as it probably was.
"Right there," Tali pointed out to the same large establishment that she had visited a few days ago with Iroliseth.
"Wow," Shepard said. "You could probably give Garrus a run for his money with navigation."
Tali merely smiled silently as they stepped through the wide gates being illuminated by the bright blue and purple colored neon lights which proudly displayed "Nova Lounge" above the door.
"Welcome, associate Zorah," the turian bouncer—evidently the same one from the previous day—said, though how he had come to know her name was a mystery. Perhaps Iroliseth had told him?
As Tali and Shepard stepped past him and up the stairs, Shepard cast her a strange look.
"Associate Zorah?" he asked with some amusement on his face.
"I might have been here once before," Tali said with a sly glance over at Shepard.
The bar was different tonight than it was previously, though—whereas the last time she had come, she could recall pumping music, loud crowds and an overstuffed dance floor, this time the whole place was much more sparsely populated, with close to half the tables empty and a much less obnoxious tune playing in the background.
"Shepard!" Kaidan shouted from across the room, seated at a table beside Garrus, Wrex, and Ashley—who had a slight frown on her face and was idly sipping an amber colored drink.
"Late to the party," Garrus said, leaning back in his chair as he watched the two of them walking in.
Kaidan stood up from his chair and ran over to meet Shepard.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
"Shepard, I wanted to find some way to thank you for everything that you've done," Kaidan said with a wide smile on his face. "If it weren't for you… things wouldn't have turned out as great as they did."
"Anything for crew," Shepard said with a warm smile on his face.
"Come on, sit down!" Kaidan said as he walked back over to the table and plopped down in his seat, picking up his glass which was filled with a bluish tinted liquid and taking a swig out of it.
Shepard shrugged to himself and sat down in one of the empty chairs, letting Tali sit down beside him. Shepard glanced over at her momentarily, still trying to understand what series of events might have led her to this particular bar.
"So, what have you been up to, Shepard?" Kaidan asked casually as he leaned forward in his chair.
"Looks like something fun," Wrex said with a throaty chuckle. "You wear bloodstains well."
"Didn't think you could hurt yourself that badly on the Citadel," Garrus said jokingly.
"Bandits," Shepard said with a wry smile. "Though that they'd try to ruin my downtime—and these stains are what's left of them."
"To stopping bad people," Kaidan said, lifting his glass into the air in front of him while he simultaneously slid a glass of orange colored liquid over to him across the table.
"To stopping bad people," Garrus reiterated as he lifted his glass. Wrex and Ashley silently lifted their glasses as well.
"And to being heroes," Tali added heartily. Shepard couldn't help but smile as he lifted his glass.
"And to having great friends."
Each of them took a long swig of their drinks. Shepard smiled slightly, the sight of Kaidan sitting beside the massive krogan so similar to Boyd sitting beside the Kurt—who might half been half-krogan based on size alone.
"Got anything stronger around here?" Wrex idly asked Kaidan.
Shepard smiled wryly. Wrex was rather like Kurt—the bear of a man had liked his ale both strong and plentiful.
"I'm going to get a drink," Tali said quietly as she stepped away from the table and headed towards the bar on the opposite side of the room.
"I think I need something else too," Shepard muttered as he stood up and followed her over.
"…something that won't get me drunk too badly," Shepard heard Tali saying as he walked up beside her.
"I'll try my best," the turian bartender said with a smirk as he turned around and began searching through the shelves inside of the full cooler. After a few moments, he spun back around with a pair of cylindrical tubes in hand, filled with a light purple colored liquid.
"Get me something too," Shepard said as Tali picked up the two tubes and leaned against the counter.
"Preferences?" the bartender asked.
"Something non-alcoholic that won't kill me," Shepard said with a smirk.
"Non-alcoholic?" the bartender asked incredulously. "What's the point of coming to a bar if you're not getting drunk?"
"I'd rather not get drunk," Shepard said with a simple shrug. It was a rather simple philosophy he had kept for most of his life—if alcohol could make you less aware, less adept, and less intelligent, why drink the stuff?
"Fair enough," the bartender said with a shrug as he turned around and ran a hand through his cooler. After a few moments, he returned with a metal container similar in shape to Tali's, though he couldn't see what was inside.
"Just carbonated sugar water," the turian said. "I see humans mixing the stuff with their drinks all the time—but I couldn't drink the stuff."
Shepard nodded his thanks as he turned around, his drink in hand as he and Tali sat back down at the table.
"So, what's next, Shepard?" Kaidan asked as he sat down.
"Next?"
"Who are we taking out?" Kaidan asked with a grin.
"I haven't gotten my orders yet," Shepard said with a shrug. "Anderson said that he'd contact me as soon as he figured out what he was planning on doing."
"So, it's a mystery," Kaidan said with a smirk. "Fair enough—it makes things more interesting, at least."
"Kaidan," Garrus interjected, a hand on his chin. "Sniper rifle or shotgun?"
"Biotics," Kaidan said with a chuckle. "Why shoot when you can throw?"
"Pick," Wrex grumbled from behind his glass.
"Fine," Kaidan said with a smirk. "I'd say sniper rifle."
"Ha," Garrus said, looking at Wrex.
"Means nothing," Wrex said with a shrug. "I still beat you twice."
"And I beat you twice," Garrus retorted. "Which means we're even—except for me, since Kaidan agrees."
"What about Shepard? And the quarian?" Wrex said.
"Tali," Shepard said pointedly.
"Yeah, yeah," Wrex said. "They both use shotguns—so I think that means I'm winning."
Garrus scoffed as he waved a hand in front of him. "We'll see about that."
"What's wrong, Shepard?" Kaidan asked from across the table. "Something wrong with the drink?"
"No," Shepard said. "I just don't drink."
"Why not?" Kaidan said. "It's nice."
Shepard glanced over at Tali—though why he did he didn't know—but she merely shrugged.
Shepard alternated between looking at Kaidan's intent stare and the tall glass of orange liquid for a few moments.
"To hell with it," he finally said, lifting the orange glass and downing half of it in one gulp, the burning and freezing strangely combining as the liquid flowed down his throat.
Alcohol simply wasn't to his tastes—the bitter liquids never appealed to him, even with the slight sweet aftertaste he felt now. That, coupled with the side effects made him immune to the drink's charms.
Shepard took another swig of his drink, finishing it up as he dropped the empty glass onto the table.
"To great friends," Shepard whispered to himself as he watched Wrex giving Garrus another playful shove.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
"And then… then—then the damn fool tripped down the stairs while he was running away!"
Garrus' tale was met by a series of loud laughs and guffaws as their group sauntered along the Citadel, making their way back—hopefully, since Shepard wasn't really paying attention—to the Normandy.
"You're kidding," Kaidan said with a wide grin. "He tripped?"
"Talk about dumb criminals," Ashley even threw in with a laugh. She had been silent at first, but as the night grew on—and as she continued to drink, Shepard suspected—she had lost her grim persona and joined in with the laughter and jokes.
"You guys should have been there to see it," Kaidan began to say. "That last planet we went down on—there were a couple of guys there that we needed to get out safely, but then, this big and tough Alliance Captain showed up, trying to shoot down the guys we were getting out."
Shepard smiled slightly at the way that Kaidan's storytelling. He had been one of the more vocal speakers throughout the night—telling humorous tales of drunken bar fights and biotic scuffles in the evenings. He had a knack for storytelling—Shepard could give him that.
"Anyways, Shepard and I had to go and face up old "tough and rough", but when we tried to talk to him, he tossed a boot in my chest and knocked me down on the ground!"
"Down on the ground again?" Ashley threw in innocuously.
"Be quiet," Kaidan said as he shot her a sidelong smirk. "Anyways, the guy goes to do the same thing to Shepard, but then Shepard just tosses him straight down to the ground without even blinking an eye. Then he leans in up close and picks the guy up by the scruff and whispers into his ear…"
"I killed three hundred batarians on Elysium. I've beaten more people than you've ever seen. And I destroyed a three hundred year old mercenary guild. So don't even think for a moment that you have a chance."
Shepard smiled at Kaidan's impression—it wasn't too bad, but he had gotten a couple of the lines wrong.
"Then what did old "rough and tough" do next?" Garrus asked.
"You can see the blood rushing from the guy's face—he goes so pale that he would have been able to hide in a pile of snow. Then he slowly lifted himself out of the dust, staring at Shepard the whole time, as he dusts himself off and turns around to his crew, trying to stand up straight even though he just got his ass handed to him on a silver platter."
"Should have shot him," Wrex threw in.
"Wouldn't have been as fun," Shepard said with a smirk.
"I've got to tell you guys about the time I went looking for this guy called Victor Petrovnich," Wrex began to say. Shepard merely smiled and he turned to Tali, who had been trailing behind their party a little bit the whole time.
"Are you feeling alright?" Shepard asked. Even through the haze of alcohol in his mind, something seemed off.
Tali glanced up at him with what looked like a smirk on her face.
"Joker's going to ask about the damned burrs again."
Tali laughed quietly, and Shepard joined in as well—though he had no idea what she was talking about. Perhaps she had drunk more than he thought.
"I think I've had enough for one night," Shepard said as he motioned his head towards the hallway which would lead to the Normandy's docking bay. "I'm going to head back."
"Me too," Tali said. "I don't think I can take another of Wrex's 'battle stories'," Tali said with a chuckle.
The two silently made their way through the hallways—eerily silent compared to usual—admiring the sights of the Citadel surrounding them.
They reached the docking bay as usual, but as they climbed the stairs, an unfamiliar woman wearing a blue colored dress was waiting for them, casually leaning against the railing.
"Commander Shepard!" she called out, waving a hand in the air as if her voice wasn't enough.
"Yes?" Shepard asked, stiffening slightly so that he wouldn't look too much out of it.
"Khalisah Bint Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerlund News," the woman said, the floating camera which Shepard hadn't noticed coming to life behind her.
"I'm not available for interview at this point in time," Shepard said, putting a hand in front of him as he turned away from the woman.
"Is it true that you're back in action after suffering horrible trauma from losing your last squad?"
Shepard sighed and shook his head. "It wasn't trauma—and I was only off duty for a couple of months."
"So does that mean you don't care about the losses? Is this the kind of person who we should have in the military?"
Shepard turned around, unable to ignore the accusation.
"Those people meant more to me than anything else ever did," Shepard said, his tone low and ominous. "If I could have done anything to change what happened, do you really think I wouldn't have done it?"
"Why did you return to action so soon? Shouldn't you have been given the mandatory one-year discharge following post traumatic stress recognition?"
"I chose to go back," Shepard explained, exasperated. "It's easier than sitting around—"
"What is? Fighting? Killing? Is this the attitude that we want from the people protecting us?"
"You know nothing about Commander Shepard," Tali said, stepping forward and speaking firmly. "He's risked his life countless times protecting people that he doesn't even know—have you already forgotten what he did on Elysium? If it weren't for the actions of him and his brave squad, that entire colony would be burned to the ground! If it weren't for him, the geth would have already destroyed humanity! And if it weren't for him, I would be dead right now!"
Khalisah paused momentarily, taken aback at Tali's sudden and forceful tirade. After a few moments, however, she regained her composure and quietly cleared her throat.
"Commander Shepard, is it true that you're fostering aliens on your ship while you should be focusing on matters of galactic importance?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," Shepard said, shaking his head disapprovingly. "You haven't met my crew—and you haven't met Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Can you hack a geth in under five seconds? Can you open a locked door as easily as you can clap your hands? Can you truly say that everything you've done was for the good of the galaxy? No—you can't, but Tali can. So many of you have these damned preconceived notions that quarians are thieves and beggars, but that's because you're all too ignorant to even look one in the eyes!"
Khalisah tried to interrupt him—probably with another stupid question—but Shepard cut her off before the words could leave her mouth.
"Quarians aren't criminals just because you're too stupid to think for yourselves instead of believing what everyone tells you—they're more honorable than turians, and they don't put prejudices on every damned person who looks different than they do!"
"C—Shepard!" Khalisah said, trying to get a word in.
"No more stupid questions!" Shepard said, stepping dangerously close to her. "Your prejudice and witlessness make the whole Alliance look like xenophobic assholes."
Without another word, Shepard spun around on his heel and marched back towards the Normandy, Tali quickly following suit. Khalisah stood in place, trying to sputter some response to Shepard's aggressive response.
"You just admitted that you have a quarian in your crew," Tali said quietly to him as they stepped into the airlock.
"And I'm damned proud of it," Shepard said as he smiled wryly at her. "Hopefully that will change somebody's mind."
Tali smirked slightly at him as the airlock finished its decontamination.
"And thanks for defending me," Shepard added as he glanced over at Tali.
"You deserve better," Tali said.
"Back already?" Joker said as the airlock door opened up. "As if zero-three-hundred wasn't late enough—pushed it 'till zero-five-hundred!"
"As if you weren't sleeping the whole time," Shepard retorted to the man.
"Oh—crap—uh, sorry, Commander," Joker stammered as he realized that it wasn't just Tali coming back in.
"Extra burrs tonight, Joker," Tali said offhandedly to him as they walked past. Joker burst in to laughter, bending over in his seat as he waved them away, while Shepard cast Tali another curious look.
"I'll explain someday," Tali said with a warm smile.
They made it back downstairs and to the elevator, where Tali stepped in and stared at Shepard for a few moments.
"Thank you for everything," Tali said quietly. "I had lots of fun."
"Me too," Shepard said with a small smile.
Tali stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him again, and this time, Shepard didn't almost jump away. Shepard gently embraced her, taking comfort from her small frame.
"Good night," Shepard said as she slowly backed away back into the elevator.
"Bye," Tali said as she waved a hand at Shepard and smiled as the elevator doors slid shut.
Shepard took a deep breath, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair as a wide smile spread across his face.
What a marvelous day.
Shepard made his way around the corner and to his cabin, closing the door behind him before he proceeded to unbutton his bloodied uniform and cast it to the side along with his weapons. Shepard quickly stepped into the shower, letting the warm water wash the dried blood away from his skin as he felt exhaustion overtaking him along with the buzzing in his head.
He dried himself off with a fuzzy towel that had been graciously left for him, and slipped into a simple t-shirt and sweatpants which he hadn't ever worn before. Yawning, he stepped over to the cabinets on the side of the room and pulled out a bottle filled with a glittering, clear liquid and placed it on his desk.
Just one more drink. Shepard poured a small amount of the liquid into a glass that he had also pulled out of the counter, and took a drink of it, letting the burning cold liquid flow down his throat as he involuntarily shuddered.
Shepard leapt on top of his bed, wrapping himself underneath the warm blankets as the alcohol blurred his thoughts a little bit further and dimmed his sight until he slowly slipped away into the darkness of sleep.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
The hunter knelt low, his slender frame hidden from view by the rocky ravine which he was perched precariously on. The drop below his feet stretched on for hundreds of meters, but the hunter did not know fear.
The facility was only minutes away. The next victim would fall.
As silent as the nighttime winds, the hunter scampered over the rocky cliff face and onto the thin strands of green grass which covered the surface of this planet.
At the edge of his view was the building—a large structure, with a grand domed room in the center of the expansive building with two arms extending out of either side. His victim would be somewhere in here—but the details could be figured out later.
The hunter dashed forward, stealing away the open terrain at an inhuman rate, simultaneously pulling his long rifle off his back with the ease that he had acquired since manufacturing the weapon.
Five guards. Two on the right, three on the left. The hunter knew innately that the loud crack from his rifle would set the whole facility on alert in a heartbeat—but he didn't need it to eliminate the poorly equipped guards. He silently stowed the heavy weapon onto his back, pulling out the smaller—but still as heavy as an assault rifle—handgun which he had come to favor as of late.
The hunter made his way to the left, knowing that eliminating three of his foes know would make the job easier as it proceeded. He silently noted the location of the vehicle bay at the far edge of the building.
The pieces were set. The hourglass was turned. The night exploded into action.
With his instinct and muscle memory guiding his movements, he lashed out with his pistol, the heavy sniper rounds from its barrel ringing out into the night as he took two of the soldiers with one bullets and swiftly took the third out before any of the guards could react. Shouts sounded from the opposite entrance—where the other guards would surely come rushing to examine their fallen comrades.
The hunter slinked into a darkened corner as he silently waited for a few moments before his next victims—predictably—stumbled around the corner and gasped at the sight of their fallen comrades.
They both died too.
The hunter silently refilled his pistol with the small pellets that he kept in a pocket on his left breast as he knelt down beside one of the guards, pulling a small card out of one of the men's pockets. Like he had the three times before this, he waved the card in front of the door and it slid open soundlessly.
The whole facility would be on alert—that much was undeniable. And, deep down inside, the hunter craved the challenge. To destroy your prey without giving it a chance to fight back defeated the purpose—it needed to fear, it needed to fight for its very life, and then it needed to die.
The hunter slowly walked through the barren hallways of the facility, the lights dim and his feet making barely a sound. He easily held his pistol in his right hand, scanning each of the rooms that he passed for any signs of life.
The facility must have been new—the only people here were a few guards and the people that needed to be here. The engineer must have been on duty constructing this encampment.
The hunter stepped out of the hallway and into the grand room he had seen from outside, with the giant glass domed roof, but the beauties of the stars above him held no meaning as long as his quarry still lived.
But nobody was here as well. The whole place was desolate, as if it had been abandoned. But the hunter had already seen the guards outside.
He quickly looked into an adjoining room, but the only thing that met him was a dim light hanging from the ceiling and a round table. He continued on his way down the next hallway, his eyes flitting from side to side as he scanned every inch around him.
The hunter's spine stiffened slightly as he passed through the doorway to the next hallway. Something was awry—that much had been evident, but taking the next few steps could be a fatal mistake. This encampment should have been populated—it shouldn't have been empty. They were never empty.
Without even thinking, the hunter spun around and extended his pistol and fired it behind him at the ever so slight scuffle that he had heard, his bullet landing home and striking one of five men who had the audacity to try and surprise him.
"Get him!" one of the men shouted, but his battle cry was quickly cut short as he caught a bullet to the throat. Each of the soldiers had their assault rifles ready at hand, but even in the miniscule period of time it took to point and shoot, the hunter had already disposed of three of the men.
The hunter dived to the side, catching a single bullet which slammed heavily into his hip, but the shields absorbing as much of the heavy projectile's energy as it could. As he rolled, another pair of bullets fired out and took the other two in the chest, sending them to the ground in a heap beside their friends.
The hunter spun around, the sound of footsteps loud in the hallway that he had been planning on going into. He lowered himself into a defensive crouch, quickly loading bullets into his pistol before the tide of enemies arrived.
The hunter had the innate advantage—the tight hallway would force them to come in twos, and he could simply pick them off as they arrived without a worry. The first few ran through the door, searching for their miniscule target in the dim light, but their fervor was quickly ended as blood poured from their chests.
A familiar black suit of armor pushed its way through the door, and in response, the hunter tossed his pistol into its holster and slid the long rifle off his back in one clean movement as he fired one of his heavy rounds right through the man's head, sending the titan falling backwards.
Another group of soldiers marched out of the room with the small table—how the hunter hadn't realized the possibility of a hidden chamber disappointed him as he turned his attention to the newcomers which threatened to trap him into the corner.
Firing bullets all the while, the hunter dashed back towards the hallway from where he had come, grimly sacrificing his chance at killing his desired prey at this moment. But his prey would wait—as long as he lived, there would be another day.
"Get 'im!"
The hunter stopped in his retreat and spun back around, sending another stream of bullets at his opponents as he searched for the source of the voice.
The hunter sighted his target, standing across the room along with the other soldiers that marched alongside him. It was him—his face hadn't changed in years.
The man wore a simple lightweight suit of armor—thin enough that the hunter could punch through it even with the pistol at his hip. But his instinct told him that one more shot would be risking far too much. Another of the soldiers, out of the corner of his eye, held a strange satchel in his hand.
The hunter whipped his pistol out of its holster, putting it at arms-length as he smiled wickedly as his target aligned himself in his sights.
The satchel flew through the air and landed on the ground, sliding towards him. The hunter tightened his fingers around the trigger.
And the hunter's shields burst as the satchel exploded, the heat and shrapnel shredding his right arm and side.
The hunter tried to pull the trigger on his pistol, but the effort was in vain as his hand would no longer listen to his commands. The pistol felt uselessly to the ground as the hunter spun and dashed away, back down the hallway that he should have followed when his instinct had told him to flee.
A hail of gunfire followed him down, the heavy bullets striking him in the stomach and leg, punching all the way through until they left out the other side, leaving shattered bones and bleeding tissues all through his body.
The hunter gritted his teeth as he embraced the crippling pain, understanding it as punishment for ignoring his instincts. The vehicle bay would be nearby—he could escape from there.
Running much faster than any of the soldiers who pursued him, even with his considerable injury, he arrived at the vehicle bay with only the sounds of marching and not bullets nipping at his heels. A lock was chained around the door—unexpectedly, as the hunter had planned on using the card he held in his hand to open the door.
He unslung the long rifle off his back—using his much less adept left hand—and aligned the end of the barrel to the lock, blowing it to pieces as he unravelled the chain and leapt through into the other side.
A shuttle. He could use the shuttle.
The hunter climbed into the shuttle at the opposite side of the room, simultaneously tapping on his omni-tool using the tattered remains of his right hand as he hacked the systems and overrode the securities on the vehicle and slipped in, jumping into the pilots seat and starting the vehicle up.
The hunter lifted the vehicle off the ground and turned it around, pointing towards the closed doors at the opposite end of the large room. Soldiers began to charge through the door, sending bullets skidding through the metal plating of the shuttle and leaving large cracks in the windshield.
The hunter turned the engines on as fast as they would go, dashing forward and crumbling the thin metal garage door without any resistance as he took to the skies.
The program on his omni-tool may have saved his life. It was ironic that the man the program came from was dead now.
The hunter leaned back in his seat, breathing heavily as he quickly typed into the coordinates for the Citadel. As he finished, he weakly lifted up his right arm, screaming in agony. A wide hole had been grazed right through, shattering the bones and splitting the tendons in his wrist and letting air through to the other side. Not to mention the wounds in his legs and stomach.
The hunter rummaged through a pocket as he found the medigel he had kept but never needed to use. With a shaking hand, he split it open and hastily poured it over his arm, barely stemming the flow of blood.
The dizziness came all at once, threatening to darken the hunter's eyes as he rapidly tried to stop the blood that poured from the multitude of wounds he carried and dripped onto the floor where it pooled at his feet. His vision flickered a few times more as he head drooped low, and he fell into the pool of his own blood as his eyes fell shut.
Thanks for reading!
As usual, special thanks to Azzorath!
Have to go now-see you later!
