So… E3 2015 happened. (Hell, a lot happened in the two and a half months I've been utterly silent, but that's not the point.) This should go without saying, but until I'm confident I can clean up the mess Bioware made of Mass Effect 3's ending, I will not acknowledge the upcoming "Mass Effect: Andromeda" as part of my multiverse series. I might include it someday, but it damn well won't be anytime soon. As for some of the other trailers, there was some promising stuff, but I can't give any concrete answers just yet. So if you must ask, do so via PM and not review. Still leave a review, of course. I love reviews. Just save the questions like "are (insert people and places from E3) going to be in your stories?" for PM messages. Please and thank you.
POLL ON MY PROFILE! For those who haven't seen it, I'm leaving a rather important decision in the hands of the fans!
Also, I'm sorry to say that the really good flashbacks and references will have to wait until next time.
I know you want that story. But first, guest reviews:
To nameless guest: Oh, they'll get payback on Governor and everyone else who blacklisted them for trying to stop the Reapers. After three years worth of "I told you so," the Supernovas will proceed to go about their business and soldiers like Governor will actually fight the real enemy.
Zack: Sorry I missed your birthday dude. I really am. I had Supernovas of Thedas all ready when I suddenly realized that the story needed an overhaul. You'll get that tribute to your namesake, I promise. Just don't know when it'll happen. Summer wasn't exactly a vacation like I hoped. As for Wreav, he's not in this chapter, but you'll see him in this story arc. I think you'll enjoy the outcome immensely. *evil laugh*
Guest reviewer named "caught up": Oh you know that's gonna be fun.
Daz: Oh for the love of... *facepalm* Thank you so very much for pointing that out. Clearly I needed sleep when I wrote that.
Gallian Squad 7: You've probably noticed that there were delays in the (hopefully anticipated) Thedas story. One is my ongoing debate with an unofficial beta. We're trying to decide if characters like War and Death are overkill when we're already absolutely sending the Cursed friggin' Undead. I swear, Thedas will never be the same when I'm done with it. Just gotta start with it, lol. Also, let me guess: your name is a shout out to Valkyria Chronicles, right? I didn't look it up online so I don't know. You'll have to tell me if I'm right or not in your next review.
Okay, that's all of 'em! Let's get this party started!
Summary: Tuchanka has old friends, new foes, and plenty of fights waiting. Best get to it, Supernovas. It's good to be back in the Wasteland.
Spoilers: Usual. There would've been more, but you'll get those next time. Whenever that is.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I'm not just saying that so I don't get fed to a bunch of angry krogan. *runs from aforementioned angry krogan*
Rite of Passage
Normandy SR-2: Crew Deck
En Route to Tuchanka
Eleanor walked out of Miranda's office, smiling brightly. The two prodigal prodigies had spent the past hour talking about Oriana. How it all went down on Illium, what it had been like for Miranda to talk with her sister for the first time, what her long-term plans were for being a part of Oriana's life, those kinds of things. It was the most normal conversation they'd ever had, and definitely the least hostile. After the Supernovas had given their aid so willingly and so freely, Miranda's tone lost much of its former ice and edge. She'd destroyed the files on Solara of her own volition, earning their trust and respect for the first time. The Master Chief had even nodded to her without any trace of his usual faceless malice. That was a clear sign of approval. Personally, Eleanor thought Miranda had greatness in her, but she was insecure because she hadn't earned it, and she was afraid of failing because it meant she didn't even deserve it. As soon as she conquered those fears, nothing would stop the force that was Miranda Lawson.
Survivor instinct knocked Eleanor from her musings. There was someone directly behind her. She had no proof, but as a veteran of Rapture, she just knew when there was someone or something in her blind spot. Falling back on old habits, the Big Sister lashed out. Elbow strike first, aim for the likely position of the face. Then use the momentum to turn and go for the kill while they're staggered.
Except the elbow strike caught air, and when she turned, Thane Krios was standing there with his hands behind his back, perfectly calm as if she hadn't almost ripped his head off. Perhaps she hadn't. In all their encounters, she'd never once gotten close to the drell without him allowing it to happen. What the bloody hell was he made out of? Green smoke?
"Hello Thane," she stammered, trying to regain her composure after such an unwitting and unsuccessful attempt on his life. "This is absolute hypocrisy because the Supernovas do it all the time to everyone else on this ship, but please don't sneak up on me. As you just saw, I react… violently. An old habit from when I had to protect my blind spot just to stay alive."
The drell's lips twitched, almost in a smirk. An infuriating, and utterly charming, smirk. "You're right. That is hypocrisy. Regardless, I shall take my chances. Speaking of the past, you agreed to tell me more about Rapture?"
Eleanor couldn't help but give a melancholy smile. "It was hell, but it was home." Then her expression became thoughtful. "I suppose to be born in the realm that your people attribute to the afterlife is a bit of a curiosity." Realizing that she quite enjoyed her last talk with Thane, the Big Sister walked with him towards Life Support. "Alright, I'll tell you what I can, but I make no promises that you'll like what you hear."
That not-quite-smirk appeared on Thane's face again as he politely allowed the "lady" to go first. Such etiquette was refreshing on a ship full of alphas and lunatics in general. "I shall take my chances," he repeated. He almost added "siha" at the end, but caught himself. It was appropriate, though. That much could not be denied. The term siha referred to a warrior-goddess, fierce protectors of tenacious loyalty.
The perfect description of Eleanor Lamb. Literally. The woman came from an underwater city. She moved water with her mind. In the drell religion, the ocean was an unknowable concept associated with the afterlife. Those vast depth were her home, and by extension, Eleanor had come from across the sea. It was… intriguing.
As they entered Life Support and sat down, Eleanor chose to ignore the small part of her mind that was screaming at her not to get emotionally entangled on a job. This was just a friendly conversation, right? Totally harmless.
Yeah, she could just keep telling herself that.
Krogan DMZ: Aralakh System
Tuchanka: Urdnot Camp
If Omega had felt like home, then Tuchanka was a paradise. Like Retronuke, only the strong survived in this barren, radioactive wasteland. And nothing here was stronger than the Supernovas. The fact that krogan had the same "fight with honor" vibe as Mandalorians just made it that much more awesome.
Unfortunately, their typical "skydiving" routine would have been seen by the krogan as either an invasion or a declaration of war. With no desire to be reduced to orbital debris, Cole and Alex swallowed their pride and rode the Kodiak down like normal people. Though with Garrus, Grunt, and Jack as their fireteam, "normal" was probably a relative term.
All this became irrelevant when they stepped inside the Urdnot camp, however. They had been instructed to speak with the clan leader by an Overcaptain, but he'd left out one minor detail.
"Is that?" Cole asked.
"It sure as hell is," Alex said with a massive grin.
"I'll be damned," Garrus muttered, his mandibles hanging limp from the shock.
Their old friend Urdnot Wrex was clan leader. Clan. Leader. He even had a throne!
Before the three members of the "old crew" could reach said throne, they were blocked by a pair of Dais Guards. "Halt! You must wait until the clan leader summons you. He is…" the guard looked over his shoulder, "in talks."
Some talks. Wrex was just kind of sitting there while the other guy paced back and forth, whining about… something. It was hard to follow the logic when he kept changing his argument every five seconds. It was fun to watch though.
"You know what tradition demands – Clan Urdnot must respond. Your reforms will not go unopposed. You risk appearing weak at a critical time."
In his peripheral vision, Wrex saw a familiar hooded figure. Completely ignoring Gatatog Uvenk now, he rose from his throne and bellowed a single, powerful name. "Alex!"
The virus smirked and effortlessly shoved the Dais Guards out of his way. Wrex did the same to Uvenk, much to the latter krogan's indignation. Then he gave Alex an enthusiastic, krogan style "bro hug" that just about ripped the sociopath's arm out of its socket. "Alex Mercer!" he roared, before turning to greet Cole and Garrus in the same manner. "MacGrath! Vakarian!" He stepped back as they nursed their newly bruised ribs and held his arms outstretched. "Welcome to Tuchanka, my friends!"
"Damn Wrex," Alex laughed. "I'd hate to see how you 'welcome' your enemies!" All kidding aside, he was touched that Wrex, a krogan, was calling them, two aliens and a turian, his friends.
Wrex chuckled darkly and pointed towards a very familiar skull mounted on a pike next to his concrete throne. "First I show them what happened to Saren. Then I ask if they still want to be my enemy. What happens next is up to them."
It was, indeed, the cybernetic skull of Saren Arterius, promised to Wrex on Virmire and delivered to the krogan at the end of the Battle of the Citadel. Their great nemesis had been reduced to nothing more than a battle trophy. Just to be safe, the Supernovas had quadruple checked for any Reaper signals before letting Wrex take the macabre souvenir back home with him. Results came back showing that the Avatar's skull was completely defunct after the beating they'd given it on the Citadel. They ran a higher risk of getting indoctrinated by a rock than this thing.
"Destroying Saren's alleged Genophage 'cure' freed us from his manipulation," Wrex explained, gesturing once more towards the cybernetic turian head. "I used that to spur the clans to unify under Urdnot."
"You abandoned many traditions to get your way," Uvenk grumbled with a shake of his head. "Dangerous."
Wrex silenced the moron with a brutal headbutt. "Speak when spoken to Uvenk," he growled. "I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not." Uvenk glared at Wrex but kept silent, for the moment at least.
As this was happening, Cole and Alex were crouched on either side of Reaper-Saren's skull, using the conduit's dataphone to take a group selfie. Then they sent it to the Council, hashtag: DismissThis.
Settling back into his throne Wrex grinned down at his companions. "So tell me. How's the Normandy? And where's the rest of the 'Power Four'?"
Alex sighed, took a deep breath he didn't need, and launched into a quick summary. "Collectors blew the old Normandy up two years ago, and Ryan in the process. Council and Alliance screwed us over, so we 'convinced' Cerberus to pay for everything. Ryan's sister literally came out of nowhere and helped bring him back from the dead, the Collectors were once Protheans, and now we're gonna fly to the galactic core and wreck their shit."
Wrex took a few moments to process a story that any sane person would've written off instantly as undiluted bullshit. Then he nodded. "So… same old, same old?"
"Pretty much," Cole said with a grin. "Except for the part where Ryan died and got brought back to life. That's weird even by our standards."
"Sounds like fun," Wrex admitted wistfully. "Like the old days. Killing the unknown with the big guns and storms and any other shit you guys could think to pull outta your mutant alien asses." He sighed. "Wish I could come along for the ride, but I'm needed here. There's progress on Tuchanka for the first time in centuries, and I have to keep it alive." Shaking off his melancholy, the battlemaster reclined on his throne of rubble and grinned. "Anyway, what can I do for you, my friends? I doubt even you freaks would come to Tuchanka for a social call."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "If the galaxy wasn't constantly falling apart, we'd come here for a fucking vacation, and you know it." The virus shook his head. "But you're right. We need your help. Or rather, your permission." He nodded towards Grunt. "See, it just didn't feel like the Normandy without a krogan on board, so I, uh, 'adopted' this big fella here." Alex coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, let's go with adopted."
Wrex leaned forward to inspect Grunt carefully. "Where were you from whelp? Was your clan destroyed before you could learn what is expected of you?"
Grunt, unaccustomed to the attention, averted his gaze while Uvenk paced around him and Wrex continued to look from his throne. "I have no clan. I was tank-bred by Warlord Okeer, my line distilled from Kredak, Moro, Shiagur…"
The speech was prepared, likely because the imprints had recited it for him in his head a thousand, if not a hundred thousand times. Uvenk was having none of it though, and he growled. "You recite warlords, but you are the offspring of a syringe!"
"Just keep talking jackass," Alex warned. Being the "offspring of a syringe" himself, that comment had justifiably insulted him. Still Wrex was his friend, so the virus wasn't going to leave bloodstains right in front of the throne… yet.
Grunt didn't understand. This wasn't the glory his foreign thoughts had conjured. It didn't make sense. "I am pure krogan. You should be in awe."
"Okeer is a very old name," Wrex said slowly. "A very hated name."
So that was it, Grunt realized. The glory that Okeer imprinted him with hadn't been mistaken. They'd been outright lies. There was no glory because the one who imagined it had given his "legacy" imprints of a Tuchanka that no longer existed, and possibly never did. Grunt scoffed and looked at the floor. "He is dead," he stated.
"Of course he's dead," Wrex said, almost amused. "You're with Alex. How could he still be alive?"
Alex chuckled bitterly at the obvious subtext. Wrex had just used their destruction of the cloning facility on Virmire as a backhanded insult for why Okeer couldn't possibly be alive. "For the record, I didn't even kill the bastard. His 'failed creations' did it for me." When Wrex didn't say anything, the virus continued. "Look, you and I both know he's becoming a full adult. From the krogan I've consumed, that means he has two choices: dishonor until death, or take the Rite of Passage and kill shit until he tempers his rage. I vote Rite of Passage."
Wrex sized up the tank-bred one last time, and then he nodded. "Agreed."
This apparently was the last straw for Uvenk, who stormed off in a rage. "Too far, Wrex! Your clan may rule, but this thing is not krogan."
When the Gatatog emissary was far enough away, Alex and Wrex muttered 'idiot' at the same time. Then the elder krogan got down from his throne to look Grunt in the eye as the virus backed away. "So, you willing to join Clan Urdnot?"
Grunt shifted his gaze to Alex for guidance, but the virus simply shrugged, indicating that he wasn't making the decision for his protégé. Only that he would support Grunt with whatever he chose. They discussed what the Rite meant, as well as the implications of accepting a tank-bred into Clan Urdnot. Wrex was showing just how beneficial his progressive methods would be. When there was nothing left to do but decide, Grunt slowly turned away from Wrex, looking out over the rest of the Urdnot camp. After staring into the distance for a moment, taking in the land that he'd either conquer or be conquered by, the pure krogan spun back around and growled.
"It is in my blood. It is what I am for."
Wrex gave the krogan equivalent of a smirk. "Good boy. Speak with the shaman. He's over on the second level. Give him a good show, and he'll set you on the path." As he returned to his throne, the clan leader looked down over his shoulder at Cole and Alex. "You too, boys. How many times have you freaks stepped in a mess for your crew, huh?"
The Supernovas both glared at him for the loaded question. He knew that stepping in messes like this was their job. They'd been doing in all across the multiverse. It was like Uniques actively befriended the most badass people that had the worst personal shit to deal with. Honestly, someone had a sick sense of humor.
Sounds of vehement arguing on the second floor snapped them from their musings. Garrus. "Looks like that jackass from earlier got a head start on talking with the shaman."
Alex peeked out at Wrex from beneath his hood. "The Rite of Passage, and krogan politics?" He waved goodbye to his old krogan friend and began walking off. "Sounds like fun."
Wrex smiled at his friends, knowing they would undoubtedly cause a stir on his homeworld. "Hunt well, Mercer, but watch yourself. Tuchanka isn't safe and 'homey like Feros and Ilos."
"Damn right!" Cole laughed as they left to see the Urdnot Shaman. "It's better!"
"What the hell?" Jack thought to herself. "Boy Scout likes it here?"It didn't make sense to her. Alex, she could understand. He had that whole, "ultimate predator" thing going. But Cole? How would he survive here, much less enjoy it? More importantly, since when did Jack even give a shit? She bit back a growl. "Perfect, now the fucker's messing with my head even when he's not doing anything."
While Jack was having a violent internal monologue, the others were already approaching the Urdnot Shaman. He was in the middle of a heated debate with Uvenk. Again, they wanted popcorn.
"You go beyond yourself, Gatatog Uvenk!" the Shaman warned. "The rites of Urdnot are dominant!"
Uvenk was less intimidated by the Shaman than by Wrex, however, and it showed in his more aggressive whining. "How do we know it will challenge him? He's unnatural! The beasts of the Rite could ignore him like a lump of plastic!"
"They know blood no matter the womb," the Shaman declared. "Your barking does not help your case."
"I'll speak for myself!" Grunt shouted indignantly. He wasn't going to let everyone simply pass judgement on his behalf. This was going to be his Rite. Not as a pure krogan, but as a real krogan.
Instantly, the Shaman turned his attention on the newcomer that was attracting such attention. He drew close to Grunt, studying him in more detail than Wrex had, or could. "This is the tank-bred? It is very lifelike." He sniffed at Grunt. "Smells correct as well." He looked over his shoulder. "Your protests ring hollow, Uvenk."
"Grunt can ring the rest of him hollow," Alex offered. "Just to show how 'authentic' he is."
Turning back around, The Shaman suddenly realized – or more accurately what – the tank-bred had brought with it. "Animal of Akuze?" he whispered in awe before looking at Cole. "Storm of Elysium? Hah! Your words carry the weight of a battlemaster each, and you speak for the tank-bred!" He looked over his shoulder again. "They back their words with fire and fury, Uvenk. Meanwhile, you whine like a newborn pup. The path forward seems quite clear to me."
Fed up with being bullied, Uvenk fell back on his best weapon: tradition. "If this is by Urdnot's rites, then I invoke a denial! My krantt stands against Grunt! He-"
"Has us," Alex interrupted. "We challenge your denial. We stand strong against you and your krantt."
Uvenk sputtered at this. The Animal of Akuze knew how to challenge a denial once invoked? "What would you know about strength, oh mighty legend? You're aliens among your own kind. My followers are true krogan. Everything about Grunt is a-"
WHAM!
Uvenk was silenced by a headbutt from one thoroughly pissed off Alex Mercer. It was downright gentle by the virus' standards, but his idea of "gentle" was more than enough to knock Uvenk on his ass.
The Gatatog warlord clutched his brow plate for the second time in less than an hour and slowly rose to his feet. "You… you dare?"
Alex met the krogan's incredulous stare with his own sadistic one. "I'll dare a hell of a lot more." He motioned to the doorway behind him. "Leave. Now." It wasn't a request.
"Hahaha!" the Shaman laughed. "The Animal understands!"
Uvenk hesitated a moment longer, but he knew better than to challenge the Animal and the Storm on his own. He also knew that this wasn't over. Not by a long shot. "I withdraw my denial," Uvenk grumbled. "But be careful, Grunt. The Rite of Passage can be… treacherous." Giving them all one final sneer, he stalked out of the room.
The Shaman laughed again. "You have shamed and angered him. One more reason for me to like you." Soon though, his expression turned grim once more. "Let me know when you are ready to begin your Rite of Passage, Grunt."
Grunt grinned in anticipation. "Immediately."
Cole and Alex bumped fists behind him. Oh hell yes.
Normandy SR-2: Orbiting Tuchanka
Crew Deck: Life Support
In exchange for regaling him with tales of Rapture, Eleanor made Thane answer a few of her own questions. Apparently, he became an assassin for the hanar under the Compact, a pledge of service to the race that saved them from complete extinction. Quoting Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, Thane made it quite clear how bad it had become on the drell homeworld, Rakhana. There was no hope for them, and the hanar saved as many as they could, and the survivors honored this debt with the Compact. Thane's skills were rather unsavory, but while the hanar regretted its necessity, they valued both the results and the man who provided them without fail.
Something occurred to Eleanor at that moment. "You weren't killing Nassana for the hanar though. You were doing that job for free, as well as several preceding jobs. Before that, you freelanced." She frowned and tilted her head to the side. "Did something happen to end the Compact?"
Thane twitched at this, and his gaze was suddenly a million lightyears away from Eleanor, and his words came fast and frantic. "Laser dot trembles on his skull. One finger twitch, he dies. The smell of spice on the spring wind. Sunset colored eyes defiant in the scope. The laser dances away." Thane flinched, gaze back in the present, and he looked down at the table. "My apologies. Drell slip into memories easily."
Eleanor nodded. "Solipsism. You recalled a vivid memory." She hesitated, then against her better judgment, she gently placed one of her hands on top of his, and when he didn't immediately pull away, she took it as a good sign. When he did not pull away, she said, "I can understand if you'd rather not talk about it, but I'm here if you-"
The door opened before she could finish, and Ryan barged into Life Support. Eleanor quickly withdrew her hand and pulled back, hopefully before the Splicer King saw anything. Oh, who was she kidding? Even if her brother had missed it, which was extremely unlikely, they all knew that Cortana saw and heard damn near everything that happened on and off the Normandy.
Taking half a second to acknowledge that he'd ruthlessly slaughtered a precious moment that was likely full of unresolved sexual tension, the Son of Rapture got down to business. "Hey, uh, Mordin wanted to talk to you. He said, 'Mercer on surface, but Eleanor acceptable. Urgent, must address quickly.'" Ryan sniffed exactly like the salarian would. "'Personal matter.'"
Sighing internally, Eleanor nodded. Standing up, she smiled down at Thane who was still sitting at the table as if nothing had happened. "Duty calls, it seems. I guess I'll talk to you later?"
"Of course," the drell said, almost eagerly to her ears. "However, until I am needed, I should return to my meditations."
The two siblings exited the room, leaving the assassin to his thoughts. They were barely out the door when Eleanor glared at Ryan. "Not one bloody word."
"I didn't say anything."
"Jack Ryan, I will kill you. Permanently."
"I didn't say anything!"
The Big Sister huffed and teleported for the combat lab to avoid further mortification. Ryan just grinned like a jackass before he followed suit and shattered out of existence, going down to engineering to visit his quarian mechanic.
Krogan DMZ: Tuchanka
Rite of Passage: The Keystone
"What will happen?" Grunt asked as they followed the Shaman to the newest "scar" that dotted Tuchanka's barren surface. It would serve as the proving grounds for Grunt's Rite of Passage.
"Who knows?" the Shaman replied cryptically. "You must adapt. You must thrive, no matter the situation. Any true krogan will." With that, the Urdnot Shaman departed. The Rite of Passage had begun.
"Any true Supernova too," Alex thought as he walked over towards the keystone. On the way, he noticed a krogan warhammer lying next to the mangled corpse of its last wielder. Picking it up, the virus noted the fine quality of the hammer and knew it would be a shame to let it go to waste. "Hey Grunt, try this on for size!" he yelled, tossing the weapon to his protégé.
Grunt caught the warhammer almost effortlessly, giving it a few practice swings. He wielded it as if he were literally born for the task, and perhaps he was, thanks to Okeer. "Heh, heh, heh."
Nodding in satisfaction, Alex finally hit the keystone. They all watched in mixed excitement and anticipation as a large mallet-like structure rose up off the ground. The booming voice of the Shaman came across loudspeakers as he gave a condensed dramatization of krogan history.
"First the krogan conquered Tuchanka, and mastered a natural world only we are fit to hold!"
Then the mallet came crashing back down.
BOOOOM
The ground shook from the force and the howling of countless savage beasts could be heard from miles out.
"What the fuck was that?!" Jack yelled.
Garrus tapped his visor. "I've got movement. Lots of movement. Spirits, it looks like the whole damn planet is coming to kill us!"
Alex grinned sadistically and shifted to claws. "The beasts of Tuchanka smell the 'big things' on us, same as Grunt. Now every predator in a fifty mile radius is coming for our blood."
"Oh this is gonna be fun," Cole said, laughing as he sparked up. "Alright, bring it on!"
Tuchanka gladly accepted the challenge, and countless varren spilled into the crumbling arena. They were all sizes, all colors, and all very hungry.
"Here they come!" Grunt snarled. "I'm ready!"
So was everyone else. With his trusty Mantis, Garrus was putting down as many varren as he could, hoping to thin the herd from long range where their teeth couldn't reach him. But even with all the custom modifications the turian had made to his beloved sniper, the Mantis still suffered from a very slow rate of fire. Too slow for him to scope and drop the hundred or so varren surging at them like a tidal wave.
Fortunately, Cole wasn't as limited. He launched bolt after punishing electric bolt at the varren, frying most of them in one to two shots. The conduit was limited by his finite energy supply, however. Varren weren't the only dangerous animals on Tuchanka, just the most common. He couldn't waste all his power on them, and soon he'd have to get up close and personal.
The others were already doing just that. Jack wreathed herself in dark energy and ran straight at the pack, unleashing her destructive fury on them all. Grunt was close behind her, crushing at least two varren with every swing of his new warhammer. They were officially having a kill count competition.
And they were both losing to Alex. He swiped and slashed in a primal frenzy, carving up every varren stupid enough to think it could eat him. There were a lot of stupid varren. Eventually even the Blacklight Virus was having trouble keeping up with their sheer numbers. There was a silver-scale digging its teeth into his right leg, and a brown-stripe with its jaws clamped down on his left shoulder. "You think you can eat me?!" Alex roared before unleashing a tendril barrage devastator. The varren on him were reduced to wet chunks, as were several others in proximity. Thankfully, the virus was still aware of his surroundings, and he retracted the tendrils before they could impale any of his friends and allies. "That's what I thought."
Grunt was off killing on his own where nobody was getting in the way, leaving Cole alongside Jack, both surrounded by varren. The electric man swung his amp with less force than the krogan, but he had the added bonus of electricity behind each hit to make up for it. "Jackie!" the conduit yelled out before running straight at the convict. Letting the nickname slide, Jack deployed a lift field around Cole and hurled him up into the air. She waited until Boy Scout had found the perfect angle to bring him crashing back down to the ground in a biotically enhanced thunder drop.
CRACK
The resulting shockwave fried dozens of varren and sent many more floating into the air where they were easy pickings for Garrus. Those that remained had long since given up on Alex, only to be put down by Grunt. The tank bred smacked one with his hammer, let go with his off hand to backhand another, stomped on the head of a third, and then grabbed his hammer again with both hands to bash a fourth. A fifth tried to pounce on Grunt from the side, but the krogan whipped around and caught it by the throat in midair. With a simple squeeze, he crushed the life from the beast and turned to roar at its few surviving kin.
They got the message: they were outmatched. But when they tried to leave, the krogan just ran them down and smashed them into the dirt anyway. Not one varren got out alive.
"More," a blood-spattered Grunt demanded. "I. Want. More."
Alex smirked and walked back to the keystone. "More, coming right up."
The mallet rose again as the Shaman spoke again:
"Then the krogan were lifted to the stars to destroy the fears of a galaxy, an enemy only we could chase to their lair!"
Then the mallet came crashing back down again.
BOOOOM
But the ground did not shake this time. No. This time, earsplitting shrieks filled the sky as five massive wormnecks, all heavy with klixen, swooped down towards the arena.
Normandy SR-2: Engineering
Drive Core Room
"Please, Ryan?"
"Seriously? You wanna do this right here, right now?"
"Keelah, just show me already!"
Sighing, the Splicer King took his new recon hood out of his jacket pocket and pulled it over his head. (A/N: Had you going there, didn't I?). After that possessed Praetorian had carved his helmet apart, he needed a new one. Naturally, Ryan had given it his own aesthetic touch. A white skull-face design was built around the large "eyes" of the mask, and red streaks descended from the eyes to make it look like the skull was "crying" blood. All in all, it was quite intimidating.
After giving it another moment of consideration, Tali nodded in approval. "It suits you. One day though, you'll have to explain to me your need to be constantly wearing headgear." She folded her arms and leaned against the left wall in the drive core room. Since no bugs could be placed that close to the eezo core without getting fried, and because Gabby and Ken were in on the Solara Secret, they could speak relatively freely. "It's just so strange. You have the luxury of breathing the free air, smelling the world around you, seeing the real colors instead of the tint of a visor. Why would you willingly deny yourself that as often as you do?"
Ryan touched the recon hood covering his face, paused, and then sighed again before pulling it off. "It started as something I picked up in Rapture. All the splicers wore masks, so I figured, why the hell not join the club? Later on when I was doing… other work, the mask became a sort of protection. It felt like, I don't know, it wasn't me. Like I wasn't the one doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Soon I started hiding my face as often as possible, depersonalizing myself. It was easy," he looked straight at Tali's glowing eyes, "safe."
Tali was silent for a moment. Then she pointed at her opaque visor. "This is 'safe' Ryan. I wear it to stay alive. And I can never take it off. And nobody has ever needed to see my face to blame me for the geth."
The Splicer King remained silent for almost a minute. Tali was just starting to get uncomfortable when her Captain burst into laughter, almost causing her to jump out of her suit. "Hah! When you put it like that, my logic kinda sucks, doesn't it?"
Chuckling lightly, Tali's eyes gleamed with amusement. "I never said not to use the mask. You need something to protect that thick head of yours, or you'll end up looking like Garrus!"
"And that's a problem?" Ryan asked smugly. "Garrus said that women liked men with scars."
Behind her visor, Tali seemed to be raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps they do." As she brushed past Ryan and returned to her workstation, she looked over her shoulder and said in a suggestive tone, "But if you die on me a second time, you'll never find out."
Ryan gave a low whistle as she walked away. "I'll keep that in mind." With that, he shattered out of existence.
Tali just giggled and got back to her work, but it wasn't long before she was interrupted again. This time by a priority alert from her omni-tool. Tali checked it and frowned. "A message from the Migrant Fleet?" she muttered aloud. "What could they…" she trailed off when she saw the message's contents. "No," she whimpered, voice small and scared as she sank to her knees. "No, no, no. Keelah, this can't be happening."
Originally, Kasumi was just going to eavesdrop. She just thought Tali was so sweet, and she certainly brought out the better side of a certain Splicer King. But when she saw the quarian reduced to tears by whatever she'd seen, Kasumi knew that action was necessary. With catlike grace, she darted out of the drive core room in absolute silence and took off to find Ryan.
Tuchanka: Rite of Passage
"Klixen explode when they die," Garrus muttered to nobody in particular. "Because obviously this wasn't hard enough already with five wormnecks trying to eat us." He exited cover, scored another headshot for another explosion, and dropped back down to pop the heat sink. "All the more reason to take them out safely at range like normal people!"
The emphasis was justified. Grunt was hitting the aforementioned exploding crabs with his warhammer. It pulped them easily, but they still exploded in his face. Luckily Grunt's armor fortification allowed him to tank the majority of each blast. Eventually, however, even this became monotonous for the krogan and he switched weapons. To his Claymore. Let it never be said that Grunt hadn't mastered the direct approach.
Cole opted for a more innovative solution. He fired cryo rockets at every klixen he saw to freeze them solid. Then when Alex or Jack smashed them to gory chunks of ice, they didn't explode at all. This would only work for so long, however. Powerful abilities drained his reserves more quickly, and the wormnecks just kept dropping more klixen to replace the ones he froze. "I'm running low!" the conduit warned the others. "My implant will keep me going if I can rest a while, but I can't keep this up much longer!"
"Then let's end it!" Alex yelled. With that, the virus leapt high above the arena. The klixen had no way to reach him, but the wormnecks certainly could. Seeing their would-be food rising up to their altitude was as insulting as it was appetizing. Prey shouldn't come to them, but they weren't going to turn down the easy meal.
Except the wormnecks made one enormous mistake: Alex Mercer wasn't the prey. They were. The virus shifted to whipfist and waited for the right moment. When a wormneck tried to snatch him out of the sky, Alex dodged with his air dash and then lashed out as it passed by. He didn't bother aiming for the body or even the head. Both locations were too heavily armored for whipfist strikes. Instead, he aimed for the wings, using the whipfist to tear right through the thin membrane. It worked easily, sending the wormneck falling out of the sky where if the fall didn't kill it, the rest of the ground team would finish the job. Spinning in midair, he lashed out again, this time hooking a wormneck and reeling himself in. Alex landed on its back and began to ride the creature like an aerial mount. "Hell yeah! Come and get me!" the apex predator yelled as he flew off, leading the other three wormnecks on a merry chase.
Cole gave a victory cheer at his friend's newest insane stunt. "Nice one Alex!" He turned to the squad with a grin. "Garrus, Grunt, concussive shots! Clip their wings!" Then
The turian and krogan obliged, both launching high impact shots at the wormnecks high above them. With Alex distracting the creatures, it was a simple matter to fill their wings with holes. It didn't knock them out of the sky completely, but it did force the wormnecks to stay at low altitude. They were also tiring out.
"Alright!" Cole laughed, running out to the middle of the arena. "Hey Jackie, ever play dodgeball?"
The hell is dodgeball?" she asked. "And don't call me Jackie!" It was more out of habit than actual desire for him to stop, especially since she knew he'd keep doing it anyway.
Cole rolled his eyes. "Just throw exploding crabs with your mind, dammit!"
Muttering obscenities under her breath, Jack biotically lifted several klixen off the ground and began throwing them at the wormnecks like makeshift bombs. Now the explosions were working in the squad's favor and putting serious hurt on the wormnecks that had originally dropped the klixen off. When her efforts paid off and she took down one of the wormnecks, Jack laughed like a maniac. The burnt and broken creature was dead before it hit the ground. "No fly zone bitch!"
Behind her, Cole gave a low chuckle and wreathed his arms in lightning. "Those four words could be my autobiography," he bragged. The sky darkened, thunder boomed, and with a simple gesture, the Prime Conduit brought a storm down on two of the wormnecks, as well as every remaining klixen in the arena. The dead predators fell from the sky as their klixen brood lit up then blew up.
Jack watched in awe and lust at the sight of such destruction. Sure, Boy Scout had taken down that gunship on Illium, and the shit he pulled while they were helping Cheerleader was impressive. But this? Was there anything that he couldn't blow up?
Now the only wormneck left was the one Alex was riding. The virus just grinned and shifted to his blade, sinking it deep into the wormneck's back. The creature tried to buck, but it was already too late. The Blacklight Virus had found its spinal column and the feast had begun, even as they both fell from the sky. No memories from a non-sentient life form, but plenty of biomass. Just before both predator and prey hit the ground, Alex finished consuming and leapt off the hollowed-out carcass. When the sociopath tried to glide, however, he failed completely and utterly. Pain gripped him as he crashed alongside the remains of his meal.
Every surviving klixen immediately converged on the virus, but Cole was faster. Using an ice launch, the conduit landed in front of his friend and gathered most of his remaining energy in an ionic charge. Connecting both hands to the ground in stalactite sheaths, Cole unleashed an ionic freeze that caught each klixen in a stalagmite, trapping them in solid ice. Garrus, Jack, and Grunt made short work of the frozen crabs once they couldn't explode before turning their attention to Alex.
"Alex?!" Grunt yelled out to his mentor. "You alive?" It was the tank-bred's way of showing concern.
"For a given definition of 'alive'," the virus groaned before slowly rising to his feet. "Must be another mutation. Guess I should lay off the foreign cuisine for a while, huh?" It was obvious that Alex was in a great deal of pain at the moment, but he refused to miss out on Grunt's Rite of Passage.
"You just can't help yourself," Cole sighed, both in frustration and exhaustion. They could tell from his heavy breathing that the conduit was running on fumes at this point, yet still he pushed himself further. Rolling his eyes, he trudged back towards the keystone. "Okay, final round, here we go."
The mallet rose one last time.
"Now all krogan bear the Genophage, our reward, our curse. It is a fight where the only goal is survival!"
BOOOOM
"Feel that?" Grunt asked in anticipation. "Everything's shaking!"
Cole paled when he saw a massive blue tendril emerge from the rubble outside the arena. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"
Garrus activated his tungsten ammo mod and ducked behind cover. "Never thought I'd miss the Mako!" he yelled.
The arena was shaking even more now, and it was getting hard to stand. Jack staggered against an old pillar before she'd finally had enough. "What the fuck is going on?!"
Alex already knew the answer. It was the one predator in this galaxy that could match him in lethality. Before he could tell that to Jack, however, an utterly gigantic worm burst through the ground in the center of the arena. By the time the virus' warning came, it was too late:
"THRESHER MAW!"
Normandy SR-2: Engineering
Drive Core Room
Ryan materialized directly behind Tali, concern hidden behind an arrogant smile. "I'm gone for five minutes and suddenly Kasumi is ordering me to come back. You miss me already?"
"Were it that simple," Tali said softly. She was trying for humor and failing, especially when she didn't even call out Kasumi for eavesdropping.
Now Ryan showed his concern. "Okay Zorah. You have my undivided attention. Now spill." He could easily see that Tali had been crying behind her visor. Whatever this was about, his quarian mechanic was hurting and damn if it wasn't breaking his spliced-up heart. Unfortunately, Ryan was colossally bad at being sensitive. His admittedly unsavory methods for solving problems likely wouldn't help her situation.
"I-" Tali began, only to pause. The quarian took a deep breath to get her thoughts together. "The Migrant Fleet is charging me… with treason!"
This caught Ryan off guard. "Who the hell would accuse the most loyal quarian in the galaxy of treason?!"
As he listened to Tali explain her situation, he realized something. This was exactly the kind of situation that his methods called for. If the Admiralty Board wanted to pick a fight, then he'd give it to them.
Unaware of her captain's internal monologue, Tali was trying to ask for the smallest amount of help possible, just like she always did. "I just need a few days to secure passage back to-"
"Secure passage?" Ryan interrupted. "Like hell. Give the coordinates to Joker and we'll get this sorted out as soon as possible." With that he started walking away.
"But Ryan!" Tali called out after him. "What about your mission to stop the Collectors? That has to take priority!"
The Splicer King halted and looked at Tali over his shoulder. "Did you not hear Cole back on Illium? On this ship, we take care of our own. You're not a burden to us, Tali. Asking for our help doesn't change that, and it never will."
Tuchanka: Rite of Passage
Garrus scrambled behind new cover as his old cover was melted by thresher maw acid. "You guys waiting for an invitation?" he called out to Cole and Alex. "We get bonus points with the shaman if we kill the maw right? Hurry up and kill that worm in some over-the-top fashion so we can call it a day!"
Neither Supernova did anything that indicated they were about to unleash hell on the thresher maw. In fact, they weren't using their powers at all. They were putting forth the effort it took to stay alive, no more no less.
"This is Grunt's Rite of Passage!" Cole yelled, blocking more acid spit with his frost shield. "Not ours!"
"If he wants the respect for killing the maw," Alex added while skirting the edge of the arena. "He'll have to do it himself!"
Jack paused and looked around. "Where the hell is Grunt anyway?" she asked.
They all suddenly realized it was much, much too quiet.
"Better question," Garrus asked, not taking his eyes off his visor's radar for a nanosecond. "Where the hell is the maw?!"
They got both their answers simultaneously when the thresher maw burst out of the ground once more less than five feet away from Grunt. Rising further and further out of its hole, the serpentine monster gave an infrasound screech that dropped Alex like a stone. Grunt's only response as the maw loomed over him was to slowly start jogging away. The thresher maw saw the krogan and cared not about its origins. The tank-bred was food like anything else on Tuchanka, and thus the maw would eat it. Coiling like a snake, the giant worm opened its eponymous maw and lunged down to swallow Grunt whole.
This was the absolute wrong thing to do, and it was exactly what Grunt wanted the maw to do. Turning around at the last possible moment, he allowed the thresher maw to fully engulf him before finally pulling the trigger.
SPLAT
One shot from the Claymore in the hands of a true krogan was all it took to completely decapitate the thresher maw. Pulped remains of its head and neck were sent flying everywhere. Everywhere, much to the other squadmates' dismay.
"Oh, this is fucked up!" Jack gagged. "I'm coughing up blood that ain't even mine!" With her tinted shades ruined beyond all hope, the psychotic biotic ditched them on the spot.
As usual, Garrus had avoided getting covered in blood. "The benefits of fighting at extreme long range. Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I'm arguing with Tali about the merits of a sniper rifle."
Tasting some of the blood splattered on his face, Alex gave a noncommittal grunt. "Not half bad," he declared before absorbing the rest of the viscera through his shapeshifting flesh.
Cole shuddered. In another life, that could have been his opinion on tasting blood. Elizabeth had once shown him a door that led to a "special" Pyre Night in New Marais. One where Cole wasn't just a conduit, but a vampire conduit. Terrifying as all hell, but some of the powers were… kinda cool.
Grunt walked up to the rest of the squad with a grin on his face. The tank-bred was covered from head to toe in gore, and he couldn't be happier. That is until a dropship flew overhead flying Gatatog colors. "Company," Grunt observed. "Good. I want more."
Alex couldn't suppress a grin of his own. "You've killed mindless beasts. Now let's see how you handle other krogan."
When the squad reached the dropship's landing zone, none of them were surprised to see Gatatog Uvenk come stomping up to greet them. They were even less surprised that the whining coward had brought a dozen hardened Gatatog warriors along for backup. They wouldn't be able to protect him, but he didn't need to know that just yet.
"You live," Uvenk stated, as if it wasn't obvious. "And you brought down the thresher maw. Nobody has done that in generations. Urdnot Wrex was the last."
"My krantt gave me strength beyond my genes," Grunt boasted, "which are damned good."
"This will cause discussion," Uvenk continued as if he hadn't even heard the tank-bred. "I wonder… you say that you are pure? No alien meddling in your construction. Just the Warlord Okeer?"
"What part of 'distilled from Kredak, Moro, and Shiagur' did you not hear earlier?" Alex asked. "Okeer was trying to design the perfect krogan and create the ultimate legacy. From everything I've seen, he's damn well succeeded on the first count."
"That he is designed is the problem," Uvenk retorted. "But… not made by aliens. And he is truly powerful. That is a tolerable loophole."
Now Grunt looked insulted. "A what?"
Uvenk made a sweeping gesture, clearly unconcerned with Grunt's feelings on the matter, or any matter. "A reason to accept you. You are a mistake, but your potential could tip the current balance of clans."
"You spit on my father's name," Grunt snarled. "On Mercer's name! But now you stop ranting because I'm strong?!"
"There would be restrictions!" Uvenk rambled on, unperturbed and unaware of the grave he was digging for himself. "You could not breed of course. Or serve on an alien ship. But you would be clan in name."
"That has to be the worst sales pitch I've ever heard," Garrus commented.
"Clan in name only," Cole growled with disgust, "is no clan at all. You don't want Grunt. Just the strength that he represents."
Uvenk sneered. "Of course I don't want that thing! I didn't want to make peace with Urdnot either, but what choice did I have? Gatatog is on the brink, either of greatness or of joining the dust." His arrogant gaze fell once more on Grunt. "I get traditionalist support if I oppose you and reformer support if I back you. Your Rite of Passage tipped that balance as well!"
When the truly far-reaching effects of Uvenk's machinations sank in for Alex, he was livid. "You son of a bitch, Uvenk!" he swore. "I'm gonna-"
"No Mercer!" Grunt roared. "This varren-humper's mine!"
Uvenk's face contorted into rage. "Your head is valuable to me whether you're dead or alive!"
"You're forgetting something, Uvenk!" Cole laughed. "Shaman said you were forbidden from interfering. He also said anything could happen during the Rite, so we brought a little surprise for you just in case!" With his flesh and blood hand, the conduit put two fingers in his mouth and generated a shrill whistle.
Heavy footfalls could be heard coming from the top of a nearby rocky outcropping. Uvenk barely had time to gawk before a mean, green behemoth leapt off the end of the rock formation and engaged a new and improved jetpack. The Gatatog warriors behind Uvenk had even less time to stand there in shock before the half-ton titan shifted gears, and instead of using the jetpack to ascend…
SMASH
The Master Chief used his thrusters to send himself down into the middle of Uvenk's krantt, scattering Gatatog's forces to the wind where they were easy prey for the rest of the squad. "Miss me?" he asked rhetorically. While Uvenk's lackeys were attempting to withdraw and regroup, the Spartan tossed a highly anachronistic sling bag to Cole. "Thought you could use this!"
Cole grabbed the sling bag out of the air and secured it on his shoulder as if he'd never stopped wearing it. "Anything good inside?!" the conduit yelled back as he drew his amp.
"Check for new toys later!" Cortana ordered. "Right now, let's just kill these bastards and get back to the Urdnot Camp. There's been a few developments on the ship while you boys – and Jack – have been playing gladiator!"
The AI had them at "kill these bastards" obviously. Jack biotically tossed four krogan into the air where she and Garrus used them for target practice. Alex consumed three more, piling their biomass on top of the unstable mutation his DNA was still incorporating from the wormneck. Cortana summoned a few of her "smart drones" to distract another three krogan while the Master Chief drew his M-22 Eviscerator and blew them each away with a single blast to the head.
By rights, Cole should have been too low on energy to put up a fight against the two Gatatog thugs charging for him. The amp was his saving grace. When executed properly, a takedown could restore some or even all of Cole's energy by draining it out of his foes through the amp. It was the weapon's ace in the hole for any Wasteland where power sources weren't always readily available. Jamming one krogan's head between the prongs of the amp, Cole leapt up while pulling down to forcibly introduce the Gatatog warrior's face to the floor. As the conduit trapped him there with arc restraints, the other krogan managed to get off a lucky shot that clipped Cole in the side just as he was getting his energy back. The Prime Conduit flinched, looked down at his wound, and then glared up at the krogan who gave it to him before unloading a salvo of precision bolts into the warrior' head.
Only after he'd won did Cole stagger from blood loss. Even if it wasn't a direct hit, the wound was severe enough to kill anyone normal. As a conduit, however, he'd survive thanks to his fast healing. Didn't change the fact that getting shot hurt like an absolute, unrepentant bitch.
Now it was down to Grunt and Uvenk. The warlord of Clan Gatatog had done a lot of talking, and Grunt was sick of hearing it. Now he was going to shut the worthless mutt up personally. It had taken until now, but Grunt had finished contemplating the keystone. No longer was he simply able to kill. Now the tank-bred wanted to kill, and he wanted a worthy reason to do it instead of using any excuse to start shooting. Right now, that reason was to rip Gatatog Uvenk to pieces!
Even with his biotics, Uvenk didn't have a chance. He unleashed his entire arsenal of guns and dark energy on the so-called "pure" krogan. It did almost nothing to Grunt. The abominable tank-bred shrugged off most attacks with his armor fortification and shields. By the time Grunt's active defenses were finally stripped away, he was practically on top of Uvenk. The warlord only managed to fire his shotgun once before Grunt ripped it away and smashed it on the ground. And what did that one shotgun blast do?
It sent Grunt into a fully matured Blood Rage!
This tank-bred, this… thing, pulled out an Urdnot warhammer and began to savagely bludgeon Uvenk across the face. There was no hope of survival, no resistance that could succeed. Uvenk could do nothing but cry out in agony and disbelief as he was pounded into meat by an unnatural, vat-grown, disgusting whelp. How could this affront to Tuchanka be so much stronger? No science could produce this! "What are you?! Uvenk gurgled through a broken jaw.
Grunt stomped on the chest of his beaten foe and raised his hammer high. The answer came with the killing blow, and both were heard across all of Tuchanka:
"I! AM! KROGAAAAAAN!"
Yes, Grunt. Yes you are. And I am tired. I finished this chapter a while ago, and then the internet crapped out and I had no way to post it until now. So the first thing I did after travelling a thousand miles was get this long-overdue chapter to all my readers. I swear, you guys are so patient and I really appreciate it. And more is coming. Don't know when, but more will come. It should come sooner too, especially since I've already started working on it while the internet was down. For now though, you've got this chapter, and you should all know the drill…
Read! Review! And Enjoy!
(Especially review if you want flashback awesomeness in the next chapter)
(And don't forget the poll!)
