I still don't own Mass Effect. Any of it. At all.
Chapter 11: The Joker
Chacksin shifted his weight slightly, keeping his weapon more or less pointed at the wreckage that had once been my armor. For my part, all I could really do was wheeze in pain with each breath. The throbbing agony was making it difficult to think, and it was all i could do to grind my teeth and try to push it to the side.
"If any of you come closer I will kill this creature."
Nyn's voice carried the same strained patience she used when trying to instruct me on proper etiquette. "Obviously that is the only reason we have yet to open fire."
"Speak for yourself Shaaryak." Trena sounded like she was in agony, but managed to inflect wry amusement into her voice all the same. "I can make the shot."
"Not before I pulled the trigger." Chacksin snapped back, "If you want this creature to surive you'll do as I say."
"And that would be?" I could picture my Tarath'shan making a move it along gesture with one hand as she held a pistol up with the other. "Skip the theatrics if you would."
There was a quiet snarl, "Fine. You and your lowborn cretin will remain there. The defiler will be removed from his shell. I will shove my pistol into his mouth and we will enter the nearest shuttle. I will allow him to leave once it is airborne."
"No. You wouldn't." Nyn shot back.
Aethyta's voice was quiet, barely audible over my speakers. "Kid. Twitch your left fingers if you can hear me."
It hurt to shift them, especially without power, but I managed to barely tweak them a bit.
"Wounded?"
I did it again.
"I am not giving you a choice girl." Chacksin continued on above me, thankfully too wrapped in his conversation to hear Aethyta or wonder why my fingers were moving. "If you refuse I will kill this thing that you seem so fond of."
"Kill him and you will die hideously over the course of months." Nyn snapped back, any semblance of civility gone. "You will remove yourself from atop him. You will throw your weapons aside. You will order the remainder of your mercenaries to do the same."
"He's still got better than thirty people playing tag with the Eclipse in the hanger." The Matriarch's voice was rushed as she explained, "Vasir's jamming his comms so that he doesn't realize that. Nyn and her people double-backed and circled around. We need to keep him talking until Vasir can fight her way through from the other wing."
Fat chance of that happening. He'd picked up on me stalling in a matter of moments, anger or not. It wouldn't take him long to realize that Nyn and Trena, and how the hell had she gotten in here?, were doing the same. And as soon as he did that, he'd probably kill me just to make a point, or to at least take his wife's killer down with him.
"By the pillars Xerol did nothing to instill intelligence in you. You care about this thing. You won't fire while I have him at gunpoint."
"Your armor kid, your light shit. Are the barriers up?"
I had no idea. Linking that armor to the exoskeleton's computers hadn't been something I'd ever considered doing. Which now seemed to be a stupidly massive oversight on my part. Still.. it had been a minute or so since the grenade barrage and gunshot, so in theory they should be up.. in theory.
And he's only packing a standard issue pistol, not a hand cannon like Nyn's.. even at close range the armor should hold.. I hope.
Hesitantly I shifted my fingers again.
"Your exoskeleton's barriers?"
Weren't recharging. Whatever damage had been done when I'd fallen, or when the grenade barrage had happened, had apparently put paid to those systems. I didn't move.
There was a quiet pause before Nyn spoke, "Trena. Illyan. The front two."
Two sniper rifles barked in time with one another, followed almost instantaneously by the sound of two bodies dropping to the floor.
Chacksin didn't move, and more importantly didn't shoot me.
A fact that didn't escape Nyn's attention in the slightest. "You four. I believe it was just made clear how much your illustrious commander cares about your lives. Drop your weapons and walk away."
"If any of you move I will make sure that your and your families are hunted down and exterminated." Chacksin snarled, his arm shaking slightly with anger. "And do not for an instant believe that I will not."
"You'd have to survive this day for that to happen. And that will not occur." Nyn retorted, "You have ten seconds before I have them kill two more of you."
"You have five until I kill this defiler for your insolence."
"By Athame's fucking azure.." Trena's disgusted voice carried easily, "If you kill him we'll tear you apart slowly and you bloody well know it."
"Then perhaps I should..." his voice trailed off and I gulped down a deep breath, forcing myself not to wince at the waves of pain as I tensed myself, getting ready to move. "Oh. Oh I see. You retreated through the servant's ducts like the vermin you are. My people still hold the hanger, don't they?"
"Whether or not they do is hardly germane to this situation." If Nyn was rattled that he'd leapt to the appropriate conclusion, she didn't' show it. "If any of your people approach the doors they will be shot. Which leaves us where we are."
"Indeed." Some of the fury bled out as he seemed to muse on that. "You cannot shoot me while I hold my weapon here, not with only a single of your whore snipers able to target me.. Yet I cannot leave without risking that he would survive my shot, waiting for your dread Spectre to arrive to kill me."
"Your point, Chacksin ul Shaaryak?"
His shoulders rose and fell, "That I will need my army, of course. Shoot the door."
"Do it and you'll-" Nyn didn't get to finish her threat. Apparently the Blue Suns were more terrified of their own leader's threats than they were of the people who'd just gunned down their comrades. All four survives unloaded at the sealed door, the metal ringing as the bullets struck it. Sniper rifles barked again, this time punctuated with the quieter snaps of Nyn's pistol and carbines.
The chaotic din lasted for a few moments, the gunfire falling off as the four Suns died messy, painful deaths. But the short silence that followed the last of them dropping had hardly begun before the massive doors began to slid apart, my cameras giving me a good view of Blue Suns glancing through the widening gap.
"Sir!"
"Get your asses out here and take care of them!" Chacksin snarled, half-turning to wave his other hand in Nyn and Trena's direction. "And someone destroy the defiler's weapon!"
It wasn't a perfect opening, but I'd take it.
Snarling in pain, I heaved myself up and to the left as if I was about to roll out of a bed. The suits eezo core and gyros felt the motion and translated it for the motors and artificial muscles within the exoskeleton. My right arm swung hard upwards as I began to roll, Chacksin's orders fading into a scream of fury as his gun fired again. Something like a sledgehammer swung by a fucking Krogan slammed into my side before he was hurled off of me, his scream of agony mirroring mine.
Nyn's shout of "Cieran!" mirrored Trena's of "Ape!" before the Suns began to pour into the hallway and the echoing roar of gunfire in an enclosed space made conversation impossible. My right arm shuddered as the mercs followed his orders, the gun's data on my hud snapping out as they tore it apart.
It hurts.. it hurts.. it fucking hurts.. get up... fucking hurts.. get up Cieran..
Finishing my roll, I tucked my legs under me, forcing the armor into a kneeling posture as my side furiously throbbed in pain.
There was too much going on around me to keep track of. The Suns had piled into the hallway, but seemed to have too much going on to be worried about me, even though I was in the center of their formation. Instead they were taking whatever cover they could, pouring fire in both directions.
There you are..
Chacksin had either hit the wall or rolled up against it when he'd gotten tossed off of me. He was cradling his bare right hand with his still armored left, still yowling and snarling in pain. His gauntlet and pistol must have gotten caught on some of the torn plating or machinery when he'd shoved it right into the exoskeleton, and they had both been ripped free when I'd rolled.
"Asshole." I snarled, pure fury and anger pushing the pain aside. My legs propelled me unsteadily upwards, my right hand dropping the remains of my gun before curling into a fist.
Speaking was probably a mistake. His head snapped up at the sound of my voice, and he ducked, barely avoiding the fist that left a small crater in the stone wall.
It took me a moment to realize that the snarl of frustration had come from me, but at that point it didn't matter. Still showing his unreal ability to move in heavy plate, he rolled under my arm as I wildly swung it back in the other direction. The stomp that I followed it up with did nothing but crush someone's weapon, his body smoothly rising to a crouch even with his right arm held tightly to his chest.
"My Claymore!" He snarled before neatly sidestepping another punch. "Where is it!?"
"Don't know sir!" A luckless merc shouted back, flinching into cover as a round left a deep scar on his shoulder plate.
"Then give me your weapon fool!" I clipped his right shoulder with my next swing, which made him snarl in pain as the heavy pauldron went flying, revealing the lighter armor beneath. "Now!"
The merc hesitated for a long moment before throwing his rifle in his commander's direction, following that up with curling up as tightly as he could in cover. A few of the others seemed to glance at me, before another set of barrages forced them to stay occupied fighting off whoever was still out there.
Chacksin tried to catch it as he stumbled, only to flinch as his right hand was struck by the flying weapon, dropping it to the ground... which distracted him long enough for me to simply barrel straight into him.
I expected the body slam to send him flying, but somehow he managed to grab a hold with his one good hand, clinging to my chest as I skidded to a halt. Neither of us payed more than the barest attention to the merc that I hit as I did so, crushing the Turian's ankle as I slid into him. He didn't have much time to complain about that though, he stumbled in front of one of the windows, allowing our unseen sniper to efficiently kill him with another shattering of glass.
"Get off me dammit!" My right arm flailed as I tried to grab at Chacskin, my fingers seizing his other pauldron only to yank it free instead of pulling his entire frame off of me.
"First you die!" He snarled back, his legs snapping up to plant his feet squarely against me. Somehow he managed to kick himself off of me, his left arm swiping something off of his belt and hurling it all in the same fucking motion.
Who the FUCK trained this guy!?
The tech mine slapped against my chest before exploding in the arced lightning of an overload, my HUD flickering madly as back-up systems kicked in to try and keep everything running.
My systems cleared in time to give me a good view of him ducking past me, falling into a soccer style slide to grab the merc's weapon as he reached it.
The pain was starting to come back as the anger faded, and I had to shake my head and blink to keep it clear.
Must be losing blood.. no. I'm killing this asshole...if it's the last fucking thing I do in this realm, it's killing him.
I doubted that my Visage on my back had survived the roll, and in either case I couldn't draw it properly without both hands. Twisting my upper half to my left to protect that side, I lumbered forwards, careful not to move too quickly and give him a chance to duck around me before I could recover.
His handling of the weapon was awkward, his right hand barely able to hold the front grip as he put a short burst into my right side, the rounds ricocheting into the floor and ceiling.
Not daring to risk the wild swings I'd thrown in my fury, I kept my arm tight and punched at him with a quick jab, which he neatly ducked. True to form, he did so to his right and my left, forcing me to shift my massive frame to keep him away from the gaping hole in my armor.
"You can't keep me at bay forever, defiler." A three-shot burst made my ears ring as he sent it off my armored head-box. "And your companions will be dead soon enough."
"I doubt it." It cost me a lot to get the words out, pain almost making me stumble. Throwing another jab I forced my legs to keep moving, trying to use my bulk to force him to move. If I could keep pressing him back, into the lines of his mercs fighting and dying just a few meters behind him, maybe Nyn or Trena could blast him in the back.
We kept up that awkward dance for over a minute. He'd put carefully timed shots off of my armor, trying to make me flinch. I'd throw controlled punches and swipes at him, trying to push him where I wanted. All the while it became harder to focus, the pain growing more intense with each movement. Worse, every time I started to get press him in the right direction, he'd duck under my arm and try and make a break for the hanger, forcing me to rapidly backpedal to stop him from trying to escape.
It was the classic fight. He, especially with the portions of his armor torn away, was light and fast. He could duck and dodge my strikes and try and chip away at me, but so long as I was cautious he couldn't end the fight quickly. My armor, in contrast, was massively strong and bulky, but it sure as hell wasn't quick. It might only take one or two direct hits for me to end his life, but I needed to be able to hit him first.
Can't keep this up Cieran.. My eyes tightened as a pair of shots left new scars on my chest plate. You need to find a way to lock him in place.. dammit. If my fucking left arm worked.. wait..
The arm itself was too heavy for my muscles to move on their own, effectively leaving me with a metal cast on. But the arm itself wasn't locked. It was shifting as I moved, and if I could use that at the right time..
"Hold on kid. Vasir will be here in a minute!" Aethyta sounded about as bad off as I was, but her custom rifle was still ripping the air apart as she fired on whoever she was fighting. "Just keep him busy a bit longer!"
I wasn't sure I had another minute. And.. there was an easy way to keep him locked in place for the long moment I needed.
Gulping down another deep breath, I threw my right arm out as I practically lunged forwards. As smoothly as ever, he ducked into a crouch and rolled to his right, neatly coming to one knee with his gun already snapping to aim at my most vulnerable spot.
Bracing myself for yet more pain, I planted my feet and spun hard to my right. My left arm, shoulder, ribs, everything on that side exploded in pain as I flexed, doing everything I could to left that arm up I twisted.
More hammer blows hit me, and a single sharp knife of pain lanced into my gut. I heard his bellow of success at finally having accomplished his goal... which cut off as my limp left arm, thrown up and outwards thanks to the centripetal force of my turn, slammed into his head.
The blow drove him sideways, his armored frame clattering to the floor with a loud yelp of pain.
Everything hurt. But the sight of him rolling slowly in pain, trying to gather his wits, galvanized me.
Staggering forwards, my throat tore from my howl of pain as I bent over. The metal fingers of my right hand wrapped around his helmet. Yanking my arm backwards to rip it free, I hurled the crumpled metal aside.
The Batarian face staring back at me was not dissimilar to Xerol's. A bit leaner perhaps, with smaller ridges around his mouth, but it was easy to tell that they had been brothers.
"You.." I wheezed out, my hand snapping down again to grab his head. His scream was muffled by the metal, and I continued on as if he wasn't. "Threatened... my Tarath'shan... that.. is.. not.. allowed.."
The gunfire around us slowly sputtered and cut out as I hefted him up, his arms and legs starting to kick as he tried to get free.
Not giving him the chance, I turned and slowly lumbered a handful of steps towards the wall nearest the hanger doors. The pair of Blue Suns using that alcove as cover scurried back as I staggered past them.
Hefting him up a bit more, I made myself meet his upper eyes, the lower set obscured by the hand that griped his skull. His dark eyes were wide with panic, his good hand trying to pry the exoskeleton's fingers loose as I held him tightly. I pulled him a bit closer, feeling as his legs began to pound at my chest in desperation..
Then I slammed him against the wall with every bit of enhanced strength my power armor had. Something cracked horribly and his body went limp at once, a quiet gasping noise seeming to echo from the mercs around me.
Relaxing my fingers, I let what was left of Nyn's father drop to the ground, a massive stain of red blood visible where the back of his head had been driven into the wall.
"Anyone else care to test my Harath'krem?" My Tarath'shan shouted into the sudden silence that followed, her voice smug beyond all reason.
I wanted to laugh at that, but could only gasp in pain.
Still, the remaining Blue Suns, perhaps twenty of them, started to throw down their guns. First just a few, then eight or so, then the rest, their weapons falling with clatters to the ground.
"All of you back away from him!" I turned enough to see her emerging from her own cover, quickly accelerating as what was left of her squad followed her. "Eclipse! If you could gather the prisoners for the Matriarch and Spectre to deal with?"
Eclipse?
Turning the other way, and fighting not to fall over as I did so, I caught sight of a dozen or so people in the Eclipse's yellow armor emerging from the blockade at the hall's other end. That certainly explained where the extra firepower had come from, and I idly wondered when they'd gotten here.
And.. when did I end up on the floor?
"Cieran?" Nyn was standing in front of me, frantically examining my armor. "Cieran!"
"Here.." I groaned out, shaking my head. I'd apparently sat down beside Chacksin's body, as best I could in the armor. My torso was leaning against the same wall I'd driven him into, leaving Nyn wobbling on my legs as she tried to figure out how to help me. "Sorry... lost..behind.. my eyes.."
If anything her motions grew faster, "Cieran, you need to shut this down. We have to get you out of it."
Out of the armor. Right.
Leaning my head forwards, I jabbed my chin into the appropriate button, the rumble of my engine dying as it cut out. The legs tightened as they locked up, and the hydraulics squealed as they pressed the torso open. Well, open on the right side at least. The left's sent sparks flying as the motors ground, the pistons moving in fits and starts.
Nyn actually had to haul on it to get it the rest of the way open, half-helped by Trena and Chen who'd managed to catch up.
"By the pillars," my Tarath'shan's voice was soft as she leaned into see me. "Illyan! We need a medic! Now!"
Strong hands grabbed at my shoulders, carefully pulling me forwards. I hissed in pain as the movement strained my stomach.. and gave me a good view of the blood in the armor with me.
"Cieran. Harath'krem!" Nyn's voice snapped, the pure authority in her voice making my eyes slide up to meet her helmet. "We have to pull you out. Take a deep breath, all right?"
I did so, clenching my eyes shut at the pain of doing so.
"Chen, take T'laria's place. All right.. now."
My world became pain as they pulled me up, only the exhaustion keeping any screams at bay. They did it as quickly as they could, heaving me out of the exoskeleton before guiding my limp body to the floor beside it. Someone, Nyn I thought, put something soft beneath my head, before hands started to pull at my armor and clothing.
"Goddess.." Trena's voice was hushed. "Ape.."
"T'laria."Nyn's voice was hard as the light chest plate was pulled off, making me shiver as cold air hit my sweat drenched shirt. "Shut up and get your medigel out."
My vision swam back into focus, letting me see Trena and Nyn both kneeling over me with their helmets off, Chen standing guard over them as they worked.
Can't be that bad.. I'd be dead already..
I started to lean upwards, trying to get my elbows under me so I could see for myself, but Nyn firmly grabbed my shoulders and held me still. "Cieran, no. Stay still."
"Sorry.." the words brought another gasp of pain as something throbbed. "Your kill.. stole it.."
Something in between a laugh and a sob came from her throat before she pressed her lips to mine, her earthy taste like heaven as I was able to focus on something besides the pain.
"It's all right, Harath'krem." She held me tightly as Trena started to apply the medigl, the cold gel making me shake briefly before it warmed up. It didn't take the anesthetics long to kick in, Nyn murmuring soothing words into my ear as I started to relax with a groan.
Without the pain.. I just felt tired. Laying there, with my Tarath'shan speaking quietly.. and really, I was just so exhausted.. what could a little sleep hurt..
Next up is Chapter 12: The Deck
So.. here we are. In the final bits of Act 3. This chapter is a bit shorter, but this was the right place to cut it. Chacksin ul Shaaryak is dead, Cieran is badly wounded, and the divergence point from canon has occurred.. even if what exactly that was won't become clear until the next chapter.
The next chapter will deal with the aftermath of this one, and will have a much longer Author's note at the end to go over some things. And yes, again no Zaeed, but he'll be making a definitive appearance next chapter and will be involved in the epilogues. At the moment, I'm planning a on a very short Epilogue arc to wrap up some loose ends and cover the weeks immediately following these events (probably 3 chapters). As far as the other people's points of view concept goes.. that's still in the works. Right now I'm leaning towards having it as a seperate fic as basically a collection of one-shots, or maybe also inserting them into this fic and the next as interludes.. still haven't decided, or even started to write them, so I'll keep you all updated.
Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."
Thanks, Kat
Author's Fun Fact; Power Armor
Power armor, in this slightly different take on ME, does exist even if it's not exactly common. It's relative rarity is due to a few factors: Initial cost, cost of maintenance/post-battle repairs, time to fit, inability to easily be fitted for several people, minimal size of ME anti-armor weapons, etc.
That being said, some organizations do make use of power armor. The Turian and Batarian militaries both field relatively large numbers. The Asari have very advanced models, far more so than the other species, but reserve them exclusively for the defense of specific locations (the temples of Athame, the Citadel Council, etc). Neither humanity nor the salarians utilize them in anything but proto-type and technology test beds. The Quarians once used them as commonly as the Turians, but discontinued their use after their exile .
So while Yi'ren may have had her own suit, she was likely one of a handful of Blue Suns to own such equipment (Santiago isn't exactly the kind of guy who'd sign off on that level of expense very often).
Review Responses:
SilverBladeStar → See Author's Fun Facts.
Blake Tourdner → Not exactly slow and painful, but did it work for you?
GreaterGoodIreland → He definitely does need to work on fighting outside of it, but he's made significant improvements as far as fighting inside of it goes. If someone else took control of it while he was inside it again, that would probably start some huge mental hurdles, but right now he's doing all right.
Tusken1602 → Thanks for the compliments :). All I'll say about Aria is that the next story is named Terminus ;).
Toothless is best → A bit better so far.. might depend on how this week goes, but I'll take a bit better so far. Thanks for the hopes and not prying.
Cmitts93 → See Toothless's. And canon will be changing slowly at first, more significantly as the stories go on. How much that will affect some 'core' events, I'm not sure yet. For example, Saren is probably already lost to Nazara at this point, but ME2 and beyond are far more mutable.
R3d0X → That will come up in the next chapter.