A/N:
I'll say this here, I'm going to spoil nearly every relevant Pop Culture plot twist that I've come to know in my lifetime.
So... Er... SPOILER ALERT!
Chapter 35:
September 17th, 2180
Jorra Niatsu felt tired, sore, and hungry. She'd spent the last two days straight searching for her Sinat, and due to the absolute lack of any clues or evidence, she was feeling distraught. Worse than that, she felt that heart-ache that was rumored to come when a Drell Bond was shattered, but she refused to believe that Chris could possibly be dead, there was no way, he was too tough.
Price had earned her respect this afternoon, he'd all but ordered her to stay home while he go out to search. She told him he need not, but he proceeded to say she should search Chris' terminal, and his messenger account, feeling that she'd find very interesting information. Upon doing so, she found a folder of contacts named 'People Who Owe Me', she immediately opened it and found a myriad of names she knew, and several she didn't.
Kasumi Goto she knew of, one target the Hanar had told her to eliminate had mentioned he'd been a victim of her pursuits. After some research, Jorra learned that she had to be the single most effective thief in the galaxy; Jorra would go so far as to say that she could be the single most effective assassin in the galaxy, if she applied herself. Jorra had sent Kasumi a message using Ghost's account, though she didn't lie about who she was. She all but demanded that Kasumi come to the Citadel to help her search for Chris. Kasumi responded by saying she was already en-route to the Citadel, and would be more than happy to help out Ghost. Jorra now officially hated that name, she loved the man behind it, but hated Ghost the figure, he was the reason she wasn't in Chris' arms right now. He was the reason she felt the unending ache in her heart, he was the reason she didn't know the location of the single person in this galaxy that she loved and trusted unconditionally.
She moved on to the next name, Aria T'loak. She knew this woman personally, but when she tried to call in Chris' favor, Aria replied by simply saying, "He may have saved my kid, but if he's fucking stupid enough to get kidnapped, he's not worth the trouble.", Jorra had to stop herself from grabbing her rifle and going to Omega to end the Asari.
Miranda Lawson, she had no idea who this woman, but Chris had marked this woman's name. The footnote said 'Only For Emergencies, subject is part of the ME2 Campaign.'. She knew not what the 'ME2 Campaign' was, but she contacted the woman anyways. She received a short, concise, and to-the-point response: "I'll be there in four hours.".
Urdnot Tyran was the Krogan she, Chris and Price had met during the Citadel Invasion, she contacted him and received a response that said, "HaHAA! Another mission with Ghost? I'M IN! I'll be there in ONE HOUR!" And true to his word, he had arrived an hour after she sent the message, and was currently sitting in the living room as per her instruction.
She now hovered over the final name in the list, this person she knew, but Chris had marked it with an asterisk. Simply put, the mark said 'Only for dire emergencies involving Jorra's safety. Is part of the ME2 Campaign.' The name was Thane Krios, and Jorra had the message typed and ready to send, but she knew not if she should send it. Finally, she just decided to flip the fifty-cent-coin Chris kept in his old-earth wallet, this was a trick Chris had taught her, and when it landed on 'send the message', she sent it.
Four minutes passed before she received a reply, "I am incredibly sorry for your loss, Miss Niatsu. I shall arrive at the Citadel by the night's end."
Jorra waited in Chris' room for several hours after sending the final message. She spent the time with tears streaming down her face, and her Omni-tool set to cycle through pictures Chris had taken of the two throughout their time together. There were pictures of their first dinner together, of the first time Chris had gotten a skin infection when the two had slept in the bed without shirts [His face was virtually unrecognizable, but his characteristic half-smile could still {Somehow} be seen], and the hundreds of photos Chris had taken on Rakhana. She only realized how much time had passed when she heard Price knock on her door.
"Eh… Lass, are you having a slumber party?" Asked the human, his voice muffled by the door, "Because we've got two women, another fish-lizard, and the frog thing all sitting on the couch wondering what's going on." Jorra had given up on teaching Price the names of the species of this galaxy, he simply called them as he saw them, [Humans were humans, Asari were octopus-women, Drell were fish-lizards, Krogan were frogs-things, Hanar were jellyfish, Turian were bird-men, and Salarians were Gecko-people.]
Jorra got up and wiped the tears from her eyes, before leaving the room and following Price into the living room. She was greeted by all the people she'd contacted, and despite the very low levels of light, she could see them all very clearly. One woman was wearing some sort of white, skin-tight, tiled suit, with an odd logo on it's right breast. Another woman was wearing a lightly-armored, black and dark grey cat-suit with it's hood pulled up. Price was wearing clothes he'd borrowed from Chris, and his 'boonie hat'. Tyran was wearing his armor, and Thane was wearing his favorite dark outfit.
In a flash, Thane was by her side, his right arm wrapped around her, "I am sorry for that which has happened to you, Miss Niatsu." He said, his voice helping to soothe her mind. "I shall help you with whatever you need." He assured her.
"Yes, I was wondering you could tell us what was going on? Why did who contact me? What does he or she need?" Asked a woman, her accent sounded not unlike Price's, but different in a way Jorra couldn't quite place.
"I contacted you." Jorra said, as she gestures for the woman to sit, Jorra does so herself in the seat Chris called his 'Mafia Boss' Arm-Chair'. "I called you all here today to discuss a matter of grave importance." She said, suddenly getting the feeling that Chris would be snickering at something, at this point. She ignored the feeling, "Ghost was taken, I know not by who, nor do I know to what ends, all I have is a vague image of the attackers." Jorra opened her Omni-tool and retrieved an image file, she pulled up an image of the abductors that she herself had retrieved and uncorrupted.
"I know those uniforms… Zoom in on the symbol on the right arm." Said the accented human, Jorra complied. The image - once she enhanced it and did minor corruption clearing - was of a human hand, made of lightning, clutching an atom with the numbers '935' in the middle of the atom. "That's the 935 cell." Stated the woman, as she sighed and placed her hand against her forehead.
"What is that?"
"Cerberus. Two hundred years ago we were a Nazi-German pseudo-government group known as 'Group 935', we nearly brought forth the end of humanity, but the actions of a small ragtag group consisting of a Nazi, a Soviet, a Japanese man, and a United States Marine managed to avoid it, but that's besides the point. We were known as Group 935, and there is a cell that traces back to Cerberus' original roots and goals: To improve the human condition." Explained the woman, "The 935 cell is where the best of the best are sent. I got the offer, but turned it down in lieu of serving directly under The Illusive man. The 935 cell is also home to many of our more… sensitive experiments, and due to the secretive structure of our cells, I don't know much more. I know that we've got bio-chemical and directed energy weapons in development there, as well as machines that would revolutionize modern transportation." She explained, "But I've no clue where it is located, who runs it, or how it's run. And I can't just go around and ask for the information, I'm already under investigation because… Never mind, any information regarding the 935 Cell is a closely guarded secret, it would take me a very long time to extract it."
"How long?" Asked Jorra.
"Three months, minimum. Two if we're lucky." Responded the woman. "My name's Miranda, by the way, nice to meet you."
"Jorra." Said Jorra, "Three months is unacceptable, they may kill him in that time."
Miranda looked at her in the eyes for a few moments, "I have to be smart about this, Jorra." She said, "If I just clumsily start hacking my way through our data servers, I could lose my job, or worse, get executed. That wouldn't be of much help to Chris, now wouldn't it?"
"You're going to value your job over a man's life?!" Demanded Price, "In my experience, we regularly jeopardized our jobs to rescue our men or repay our debts. You should be willing to do the same!" He said, struggling to keep his voice in check.
"I do owe Chris, that is true. But unlike some of you here, I don't -"
"He saved your life!" Jorra declared, "He told me everything about that mission! Everything he could remember! He saved your life Human! You owe him that which he saved!"
"Listen!" Said Miranda, "I owe Chris, yes. But my job is too important, if I make a mistake on this level I stand to lose a lot more than my life!"
"You married?" Demanded Price.
"No."
"Boyfriend? Girlfriend if you 'swing that way'?"
"No, and no."
"Family?"
"None I'm willing to associate with."
"Then what is more important than your life? You're working for what I understand to be a terrorist organization, so you won't have any reputation to lose." Price reasoned.
"It's personal." She stated, "I'll look for him, get his information, find out where he is... But that is all I'm willing to do! Anything more and I could be found out. Even looking for him runs the risk of me being found! You have no idea what Cerberus has protecting its files and data."
The silence in the room was thick; finally, Jorra relented, "How soon can you work on getting Chris' location?"
"The second I get back home."
"Would you be willing to help us retrieve him?"
Miranda sighed, "Re-wording the question won't change my answer. I'm sorry."
"I'll help you, Miss Jorra. Kasumi Goto, at your service." Said the other human woman, before she leapt to her feet and gave her a quick curtsey, Jorra nodded in thanks.
"I'll do anything for Ghost, the few things I did with him were the most fun missions I've ever had." Said Tyran, pounding his fists together.
"You are family to me, Miss Niatsu, I will give my life to find and protect Mister McGraw's. My arm is yours." Said Thane, nodding.
"I owe Chris much more than my life, he helped save mine several times, and nearly gave his the other day just to make sure I could save a woman he barely knew, I owe him more than can be paid, I'm with you, Jorra." Said Price, as he nodded.
"Well, would you look at that. The only one who won't put her feet to the fire is the Human bitch. Who would have thought..." Tyran grumbled, loud enough that he could be heard. Miranda scowled as chuckled resounded from most of the group, save for Thane, who merely gave a small smirk.
Jorra felt a great mixture of pride and joy well up in her heart as all these people pledged to help her find and save Chris.
"Thank you." She said, smiling.
"Please, Mister McGraw, we've been at this for five days now." Says Maxis, as I feel the indescribable pain flow away from my body, to be replaced with an odd numb feeling, like a painkiller drug times fifty. This has been pretty much the schedule each day, I wake up, the machine turns on and sets my nerves on fire. I'm fed through some sort of food-paste that gets injected directly into my stomach, and every few hours the room gets bathed in some sort of light. I remember Maxis muttering something about 'countering muscle atrophy', but I can't quite remember as he turned on the machine just a few seconds later.
I'm starting to see the beauty in Drell eidetic memory. I remember that Jorra had slipped into memory when she got shot by Tor, and I remember in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC that Feron said that, when in intense pain, Drell could slip into memory. Me? Not entirely. I can try my damnedest to keep my mind off of... my mind, but I can't separate myself from the pain, because it's everywhere, all the time. I relish when they turn off the machine and my body gets a temporarily numb feeling.
My silence begs Maxis to continue speaking, "You've survived such pain that would have destroyed ordinary men, what makes you so resilient?!" He demands.
"I… Am an engineer, and I having good time now." I sing, "Physical, calculate? What it means? I don't know." I continue humming the tune, I can tell I'm getting on Maxis' nerves.
"Just tell us what we want to know! The pain will stop!" He rants.
"You ain't getting shit my friend." I say, in my best dumbass redneck impersonation, that coupled with my impromptu rendition of 'Trust me, I'm an engineer' took it out of me. As these pain sessions go on, I'm finding myself with a lot less stamina than usual, but I guess it's probably also due to the fact that I scream myself hoarse whenever they turn the damn thing on, so that probably has something to do with it.
"It seems I am wasting my time." He states, before he moves past my line of sight.
You know what? Let's fuck with him.
"Hey, Maxis." I say, my voice is hoarse from all the screaming, Maxis freezes and turns to me.
"Yes!?" His voice is practically dripping with anticipation.
"You want spoilers? Take your pick: Snape kills Dumbledore. Bruce Willis is a ghost. It was ALL a dream. Jack dies, because it's fucking impossible for them both to be on the damn door! They move the island again and that Jack dies too. Locke is dead, the smoke monster is just using his form. Wolverine kills Jean Grey, Jean kills Cyclops. The Avengers save New York by hijacking a nuke missile. Sherlock Holmes kills Lord Blackwood and Moriarty. Eli dies, he's also blind. Master Chief is put into stasis, Humanity wins the war, SPARTAN's all but die off, the Covenant start killing themselves in a huge civil war. Eddie Riggs' dad is Riggnarok, and his mommy is a demon. Ophelia drinks the black tears. General Shepherd kills Ghost and Roach, and Price and Soap kill him. Makarov gets hanged by Price. President John Henry Eden is a computer. The Courier never actually met Ulysses. Liara's dad is Aethyta. Cortana goes rampant, and dies. The Chief stays on Earth and we finally see his fucking face. Reach is lost, surviving forever on Lone Wolf won't change it. Noble Six dies. ET went home. Liara kills the Broker, It's either Ashley or Kaiden, you can't save 'em both. Shepard dies at the end. The fucking Collector homeworld isn't a world, but a station, and god damned endings sucked." I rant, I hear Maxis scoff as he moves to leave the room, "Oh… And Richtofen is an agent of the illuminati and he was going to kill you and your daughter by locking you in the room with Fluffy and the MDT, then he'd release the zombie hordes and fuck everyone's lives up." He freezes again, as I take in the world's biggest breath.
I win.
"…" Silence, I fucking WIN. "… What?"
Spoiler alert, mother fucker! "Then Sam gets teleported to the moon, and when she gets threatened by a bunch of guys with guns, she flees to that pyramid thing. Inside, she gets control of the zombies. When you get called in - I don't remember why or how, it's been a long damn time since I've played Black Ops - you tell her to kill them all, before she watches you get gunned down. She goes back to the aether and unleashes the zombie apocalypse on Earth. Richtofen eventually kills her by switching bodies with her and leaving her on the moon to die. You proceed to blow up the Earth in some sort of contingency plan to limit the damage he can do." I chuckle, "And the fact that 935 turns out to be Cerberus? Yeah, that makes too much fucking sense, it's not even funny." I add.
How's THAT for a mind-fuck? I just cheated him out of two games' worth of plot, that actually involves him!
...
Oh wait... Fuck, now I'm more important to him, and he'll want more information, fuck, I didn't think that through.
He steps in front of me, oh yeah he's pissed now. "How do you know about my daughter?! How do you know about her dog!?" Demands the ex-Nazi.
"You asked for spoilers. Not for how I got them." I tell him, he punches me in the face. I still win.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY DAUGHTER!?" He demands.
I spit some blood on his face, "A magician never reveals his secrets."
He punches me again, "TELL ME!" He screams.
"Maybe if I can get some of that antidote…"
Another punch, "YOU'LL GET NOTHING UNTIL YOU TELL ME!"
"Then I'll die without telling you, and you'll be wondering forever how I know about your satanic toddler's dog and your assistant's rampant insanity." Another punch, "I swear man, you're not getting anything out of me. You could shake realities with what I just told you." Another punch, I feel my nose break, and blood leak into my mouth, "I'm a little tea pot, short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout…" I spit blood onto Maxis' face, Maxis punches me one last time, before giving up, and turning on the machine again.
As it usually does, the indescribable, unending, bone-shaking, blood burning pain enters my body in an instant and forces me to remember that I haven't 'felt the worst of it'.