"This is going to be fun!" Iron said with a cruel grin as he drew back my hand. Raptor caught it with her own, and pulled us away from Alenko. "Is this some sort of joke?"
He just smiled evily and sent her against the wall with a single biotic punch. "You tell me? Does it look like I'm kidding? Now then-" he turned back to Kaidan. "Where were we?"
But before he could do anything, he was surrounded by a blue energy field from Liara.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Raptor yelled, pistol drawn and aimed.
(Huh. Didn't expect a stasis field before I'd killed one of them.)
)You're awfully confident for a dead man.(
(You realize the only way for me to die right now is for you to go too?)
)If I get control of my body back, I'll put the bullet in myself to stop you.(
(Don't make promises you can't keep- especially to someone doing you a favor. Now you won't have to kill them yourself.)
He unleashed a warp field that tore right through the stasis, and the explosion radiated out from him, knocking Kaidan into the wall and stunning him.
He turned to the group instead of finishing him off. "I'd have thought you learned when Bourne managed to break out of that." He commented to Liara. "After all, I'm even better than he is."
Raptor shoved her gun in his face. "I don't know what's going on here, but you have ten seconds to calm down before I blow your head off."
He laughed as he put up a barrier. "Go ahead. It'll take at least two shots to get through the barrier, and I'll snap your neck before you can fire off a second."
He froze as something else pressed up against the back of his neck. "What about a shotgun." Wrex said flatly.
Iron caught movement in the corner of my eye and looked over to see Garrus had a sniper rifle aimed at our head as well.
"I'm only going to give you one warning Bourne." He said, flipping the safety off.
Ashley was right next to him, though her pistol was still aimed at the ground. "Don't make us do this."
He laughed. "Oh, this is better than Saw three!"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Raptor asked angrily.
His biotics flared around him as a Nova knocked both her and Wrex against the wall, and his head was moved just enough that Garrus's shot missed. He threw the Turian against the ceiling and as Raptor got back up, he slammed her against the wall with a biotic charge, hand at her throat, and my assassin pointed at her head. "Now then, which eye would you prefer to be shot through? I've heard the left is a quicker death, but the right is less painful. Or I could shoot you right in the middle."
Suddenly pain shot through my crotch, and he was sent stumbling back by the force of her kick. "Oh come on! That's cheating!" He said in a high-pitched voice as he doubled over.
I took advantage of his distraction, and threw myself at him in the landscape of my mind. The biotics went back to blue as I fell to my knees, trying to keep control.
"Get out of my head!" I screamed in my own voice- which was probably the only thing that kept them from shooting me then and there.
"Oh, you're putting up more of a fight than I thought." My own voiced rasped as they went back to his crimson red.
"Screw you!" I yelled, clutching my hands to my head.
"Your mother already took care of that!" He said with a maniacal laugh as he got control enough to stand. "You know, I'm amazed none of you have asked what's going on."
"You're not Bourne." Raptor breathed.
"Thanks for noticing." Iron deadpanned, looking at the alternate version of himself. (So, is this going to be suicide and murder?)
)The only one who's going to be murdered here is you.(
(Didn't you say a minute ago you'd put a bullet in your own head if that's what it took? Huh, it would be both in that case.)
I threw myself at him, and he stumbled back into a wall as I got control of a hand and raised it to his throat. He barely managed to keep me from strangling us both.
"What's the matter Bourne?" He asked as he struggled. "Having trouble keeping your Identity? Losing the fight for supremacy? Is this the Ultimatum? Are you worried about your Legac-" "I get it!" I managed to cut him off as I got control of my mouth again.
(Do you?) He suddenly let go of my hand, throwing Ashley towards the wall biotically. I managed to wrest control back before she hit and caught her with a singularity that whirled her around itself.
I let it go when she was in a spot to drop safely, and instantly created another one.
(Damn you!)
)I guess it's a good thing Hero's powers came along too, huh?( I said, the focus needed to maintain it also making it easier to keep control. And I was gambling that since he couldn't create singularities, he wouldn't be able to take control of the biotics while I was maintaining one. My face still was a mask of pain as I turned to Raptor. "I can't hold him off much longer. Either take me down or take me out."
He broke through my control with a laugh. "You seriously just asked her to knock you out? Doesn't she already have enough reason to want to do that?"
I wrestled control away from him enough that we dropped to our knees.
"Wrex, Garrus, hold him!" Raptor yelled.
The Krogan took two steps from where he'd landed before Iron threw his arm in the air and launched a shockwave that sent him flying into the wall.
Garrus activated his omni-tool, and Iron put up a barrier just a second before the overload hit. It hurt, but it didn't stun him like it should have.
"That the best you got?" He asked evilly as he pulled the gun from Garrus's hand. He didn't even look as he slapped Raptor's gun aside and punched her into the wall. "Come on Vakarian, let's do this. I'll even make it fun by not using the-"
He was cut off as the former C-sec agent let loose with one hell of a right hook. Not as powerful as Shepard's were, but he hit in just the right spot to make us see spots, even though the maniac rolled with the blow.
He was quick to respond in kind with a kick to the midsection. The armor kept any damage from being done, by the force behind it sent him stumbling back, and he swept Garrus' legs out from under him.
I felt horror as he pulled a knife from my pocket, intentions obvious. "You have no idea how hard it was to keep from tipping Bourne off when he responded to my subconscious suggestion to start carrying these."
He suddenly turned and hurled the knife, sending it clean through Raptor's gun. "I'll get to you in a second you impatient-" Garrus cut him off by shooting clean through the legs of my jeans, though it barely did more than scratch the actual flesh.
Iron was quick to play on it though, and dropped to one knee, pretending to have been severely injured.
As Garrus stepped closer, Iron suddenly shot up and caught him right in the jaw with a biotic punch that knocked him off his feet.
He pulled another knife. "Come on Vakarian, what's the matter? You've got reach, I've got toys. This should be fun."
)Come on, seriously? Reach? In reference to a fight? When talking to Garrus?(
(I also said toys.) He responded, slashing at Garrus and forcing him back until he was against the wall.
He raised the knife, ready to stab right through his head, and I fought for control.
He was suddenly knocked to the side by a shotgun blast the barrier barely managed to keep from injuring us.
He looked up to see Tali aiming at our head. "Don't make me do this."
He just grabbed it from her hands and swung it at Garrus like a club, knocking him to the ground and making sure it was unusable.
"You should have fled when you had the chance." He said, biotics blazing around him. "It would have been much smarter."
Wrex suddenly rushed him and slammed him against the wall, easily pinning him by the throat with one hand, another hand aiming a pistol at his head.
"Don't think I won't pull this trigger if I have to." He stated. "I don't know if this is Blood rage or just you being crazy, but it's getting old fa-"
Iron let the barrier's energy out in a Nova, knocking the gun off course as it went off, and followed it up by slamming Wrex into the wall with a biotic charge, then hitting him with another Nova. "Man, that just never gets old." He said as he brought his foot down on Wrex's pistol, crushing it.
He turned to the rest of the group. Garrus was still on the ground, and Wrex was down for at least a few minutes. Liara and Kaidan had their biotics ready but Raptor was unarmed.
(Look at this delicious bunch of victims strung up like fish. Now all this scene needs is some lemon salt.)
I somehow managed to make us gag.
(Oh, don't knock it till you've tried it. Recipes came highly recommended from Javik.) "So, who's first to die?" He asked, raising the Assassin, the only gun in the room that still worked.
He suddenly had to yank his arm to the side as Tali slashed at it with a knife, and ended up biotically charging across the room at Kaidan just to get away from her.
"You're better with that thing then I'd have guessed." He said as he tossed Liara against the wall without even looking at her, eyes fully on Tali.
Which proved to be a mistake as Raptor caught him in the jaw with a punch, and twisted the gun out of his hands.
He just snapped his fingers and a stasis field surrounded her. "As much as I'd love to try my skills against you in hand to hand- for various reasons you don't need to know-" He raised his knee to his chest and grabbed a knife from my boot. "I think this'll be even more fun."
He rushed in, and Tali's omni-tool glowed as she hit him with an overload, the electricity sending sparks along the knife as our hands opened on their own.
He dropped to the ground in a heap as our nerves failed him.
(This version of her has some moxy. Reroarror.) She turned her back to lock the door, obviously so Iron couldn't get out.
Raptor walked over, the biotics having been disrupted and the stasis field ended. "We should get him to Chakwas- and definitely get the biotic cuffs on him."
I felt Iron twitch, and swore over the link.
(What, you're surprised electricity doesn't affect us as easily either? Nothing else seems to.)
)A bullet will.(
(I've had worse odds than this and won. Like how I got through the collector base with only Miranda and Morinth still alive.)
I almost asked about that before refocusing, trying to get control of something, anything that would let them know they were still in danger.
Iron's hand shot out and clenched around Raptor's foot as he charged into Liara, slamming them both against the wall hard enough to leave them seeing stars. I was amazed either was still conscious as he turned back to Tali.
She raised her knife as Iron grabbed one of his own from my other boot. "Come on, let's see what you've got!" He yelled as he ran at her.
She stood her ground, and only a last minute roll to the side kept Iron from getting slashed apart. She pressed the attack as he got back up, and he was forced back.
)What's the matter? Not good enough to deal with someone who isn't a helpless victim?( I taunted over the link, hoping to break his concentration and let her get a hit in.
(I could deal with seven of her at once) He snapped back, and she nearly severed half the tendons in his arm as he back peddled, but found himself against the wall.
"I've got more than you know you crazy Bosh'tet!" She yelled, coming in for a finishing strike. She was instead sent flying against the far wall.
"I can handle you almost severing all the important bits in my arm, but the name calling is just plain rude." Iron said as he stepped away from the wall, crimson biotics flaring around him.
A faint clank behind us was the only sound Raptor made, but it was enough to warn him so he could put her in stasis for the few moments it took him to run to Garrus as the Turian got back up and press the knife to his throat.
"Now then, obviously we got off on the wrong foot here." He said with a wicked chuckle. "So how about you sit down and we discuss this like calm rational corpses?"
"You're one sick bastard." Kaidan groaned as he got back to his feet.
"Flattery will get you nowhere…well, I guess I might mail your ashes somewhere nice if I'm in a good enough mood."
"Give it up!" Raptor said, voice holding authority earned from years of experience. "You can't beat all of us."
He pretended to consider that. "Weird. I could have sworn I just did. Like, fifty seconds ago. Rounded up."
The knife suddenly fell from my hand as I took control back, and pushed Garrus away from us. "You haven't beaten me yet!" I yelled, clutching at my head as he fought back.
"I'm infinitely your better!" He screamed back as a wave of red energy tore across the room, knocking everyone off their feet if they weren't already.
(I am a god you pathetic fool, and I won't be beaten by you!)
) You're a delusional maniac who's picked a fight he can't possibly win! (
(I don't have to beat them all to win.) He said raising a hand as red energy glowed around it, aiming it straight at Garrus. (I just need one of them to die.)
The biotics blazed purple as my own blue mixed in, neither of us giving the other any room to let up.
(Stop resisting! If I'm denied all of them, I'll still have one of them!)
)You seem to forget Iron: he can't die today. Nor can anyone else here.(
(I can kill Raptor!)
)No. You can't.( My biotics went back to blue as I finally regained some semblance of control. But then they went back to red as he pushed everything towards it, and a warp field shot forth that blasted a hole in the floor next to Garrus' head.
"Plan B then!" He yelled as the Assassin flew back into my right hand. "Let's see if this is so easy to miss with!"
The gun suddenly fell from nerveless fingers, and it was impossible to tell which of us moved my head and saw Tali's knife sticking out of the upper arm. Blood ran down my arm and onto the floor as ignored pain made itself known once more. It was again impossible to tell which of us let my knees give out as we fell to the floor.
Raptor grunted as she got back to his feet. "Tali, unlock the door and get Chakwas in here."
She nodded as she activated her omni-tool, while Raptor went over to help Liara up.
Which meant neither of them saw as Iron reached for my left hand with a devil's strength, managing to gain control of it despite my efforts.
(If I go down- Someone goes down with me!)
"Hey Tali-" He said in my voice.
She glanced just in time for him to see Iron pull her blade from my arm and hurl it at her, sticking her right in the gut and causing her to double over with a yell of pain.
"I think that's yours!" Iron's maniacal laugh filled the room as blood started rapidly spurting from the wound. His laughter was the last thing I heard before darkness filled my vision and I slumped to the ground, out cold.
Raptor looked over as Tali yelled, and felt cold dread grip her at the sight of the hilt protruding from her gut.
"I think that's yours!" The other Bourne said with a maniacal laugh as he fell unconscious.
Raptor rushed over to Tali's side as she fell, and the doors popped open as she approached them.
Garrus got unsteadily to his feet, and swore when he saw Tali. "We need to get her to Chakwas." Raptor nodded and stooped to pick Tali up, careful not to shift her too much and cause more damage. "I've got her- you grab Bourne."
"What, you want Chakwas to make sure he won't be sick?" He asked angrily.
"No. I want you to slap some medigel on that arm so he doesn't bleed out." She couldn't look at him, or at her partner as she said her next words. "Then…I want you to take him to the brig."
Somehow, despite all evidence to the contrary, Raptor knew in her gut that this wasn't truly Bourne's fault. But the refusal to talk about his past, the threats, the genemods…It's somebody's fault. And I'm going to find out who.
So, yeah. I was planning on making you all wait until the usual time, but...
Quick show of hands, anyone lately noticed that at the end of each chapter lately, I've been leaving a couple of letters just on their own? Well, if you put them together, it spells Coming Soon to Fa Yeah, I was planning on waiting a little longer to announce this, but since the other guy's ready, I figured YOLO. And let's face it, I am a horrible person for the last cliff hanger, so this is my way of making it up to you.
The next story I upload after this is complete isn't going to be a sequel. No, it's going to be a crossover with that fic I kept directing you to a while back- Users.
So, that completed message?
Coming Soon to : Users in a World of Fiction!
(BTW, I'll post the cover art on my Facebook page if you want to give it a look.)