(A/N: Here it is everybody chapter 22, just so you know this one is the longest chapter I've written for this story now, 11,499 words to be exact, also it's going to be a bit more action packed too so I hope you guys like it. Alright let's see how this pans out for everybody.)
Chapter 22: Phantoms of our past
I had to think of a way to save arlak company, but I was stumped and no one else had a brilliant idea either. "There has to be a way to get to them without surrendering, but how?" It may not have seemed like it but I was asking literally everyone and anyone around me.
"This isn't good, if they managed to catch arlak company then that can only mean one thing, the reaper and his honor guard are at the generator." Shakrimi theorized a very possible fact.
I stopped pacing for a second then looked up to her and asked. "Honor guard? Who are they?"
"His personal body guards that's who, and damn if they aren't tough to kill, he personally trains each and every single one of them in the art of killing, in all forms of combat too, melee weapons, guns, martial arts, you name it they've learned it. They're all dangerous even for me."
Oh great, their even a challenge for a speacture, what's next to happen today a god damn reaper popping out of nowhere and wiping out the galaxy like they did the first time? "But if we don't go save them they'll all die, and not to mention that if the ion cannon gets here then the colony is screwed too." I added feeling as though we were being backed into a corner, so much for my earlier speech.
"But how are we going to get the shield up again without being spotted or even caught?" Trevor asked a very good question, it's not like we could just walk right up to the shield generator and flip the switch, unless…
"I've got an idea…" I exclaimed with a bit of optimism. "We'll pull a trojan horse on them, they'll never see it coming until it's too late."
Shakrimi and Tslonna exchanged a look of confusion then looked back at me with the confusion still clearly written on their faces. "Uh…trojan horse?" Shakrimi asked rather confused.
I was quick to explain. "Back on earth there was a battle between the nations of Troy and Sparta, in order to take the trojans capital the Spartans built a giant wooden horse as a 'peace offering' because it was a family of horses who ruled over the nation at the time, but it was actually a trick as the Spartan army had hid some of their best men inside the damn thing and waited for the cover of night to come then they took them down with ease."
They both looked at me as if I had just said something so stupid that even they were questioning if I was in my right mind. It was around that point that Shakrimi asked. "So…your plan is to build a giant wooden horse and wait until night fall? That is the dumbest thing I've…"
I then felt as if they'd taken me too literal, so I interrupted her before she could finish. "No you dummy, we use the gunship and steal the armor off of the dead black hearts and get to the generator without getting shot at, they'll never see it coming." The two sisters simultaneously shared an 'oh' sound as they finally understood the plan.
"You know that actually might work. But I'd better go with you, if the reaper is there you'll need me and all the help you can get." I wasn't about to argue with her, she was right after all, in the files I'd read it said that bastard had taken down a whole platoon of asari commandos all by himself without breaking a sweat, and after that he'd taken down a bunch of heavy mecs as dessert, needless to say he was one tough son of a bitch.
But I just said with a new found level of confidence. "Wouldn't have it any other way, okay everyone change your armor and remember to switch out your shielding and install it into your new suits."
Shakrimi cocked an eyebrow before she asked. "Why do you guys…?"
"Long story short Kyle made us new shields that work just like the one we're trying to get to, and the best part is they really work better than we'd expected." I answered her as I cut her off.
"That sounds awesome, too bad I don't have one of those, but then again I usually just use my biotics as my shielding so I don't have to worry about getting shot." She said trying to sound like she had one over us and our shields.
I just looked up at her and asked back. "But can they reflect bullets off of you if you get hit and send them flying back at the enemy?"
She glared at me with mild hatred written all over her face. "I hate you." She said as she walked away to look for her disguise. My squad all got changed into the enemy's attire and we all loaded up in the gunship, I was the only one who was still in my armor as to make sure that the krogan wouldn't be killed by Crystal's dead line. "Alright here's the plan, since I'm the only one here who's had undercover experience with the black hearts I'll be the one to do all the talking, you just nod like you know what they're talking about." Shakrimi said as she dawned a suit of black heart armor and a helmet to cover her face from all who'd recognize her. It was a good thing these guys didn't discriminate when it came to recruits otherwise this would've been harder than it had to be.
"Were coming up on them now sis." Tslonna had taken the controls this time while wearing an enemy pilots jumpsuit to blend in, Alice pouted when they couldn't find a suit for her because as she'd mentioned before she didn't want anyone else to fly the gunship.
Shakrimi nodded her head then said. "Patch me through to anointed daughter."
"You got it sis, setting up the link now." It didn't take long for the link to be set up.
"Oh great and holy daughter of father reaper, I come with good tidings." Shakrimi spoke with her voice slightly deeper than usual.
"Speak this news then dear sister." Crystal replied, she seemed calm but alert to any possibility of deception, sadly she was smarter than she'd looked but hopefully she wouldn't figure this out until it was too late.
Shakrimi gave me a reassuring thumbs up as she continued. "By the grace of the enlightened one we have captured the son of the demon Joshua Blaze, he is bound and we bring him to you at the mercy of his holiness and our father."
I could just tell she was smiling so hard on her end of the com as she said in response. "Excellent, let me talk to him please." Shakrimi passed me the com and I spoke into it.
"Kiss my ass you snow white cunt, your little group of fanatics only got me because I let them take me." I said to sell the act, I could tell she bought it as I heard her chuckle on the other end of the line.
"If that's what you have to tell yourself, make sure he stays alive until he gets here, I want to see the look on his face when we tear his little bunker open like a fresh corpse." O…KAY…these people need a new hobby.
"As he will's it oh great anointed daughter." Shakrimi said as she finished.
Following her last words Crystal then said. "May he guide you on your path to salvation dear brothers and sisters."
Shakrimi grinned down at me and said with confidence. "That was…what's that expression you mammal say when something is too easy? Easy as pie right?"
"Yeah, that's the right expression. Here's another one, let's kick some ass." I said as I punched my fist into the center of my paw.
She smiled down at me and replied. "I'm with you all the way kid." We landed at the shield generator station where about fifty or so black hearts were standing guard over the defeated krogan and the generator which appeared to still be intact but had been shut down, thankfully they didn't destroy it but one thing bothered me, where were the solarians who were supposed to be in charge of the shields' defense?
"Where are the STG agents?" I asked the burning question on everyone's mind. There were no sign of them, no bodies, no sign of a fight, something didn't smell right about this.
"I don't know, but I don't like this, everyone stay frosty, okay kid…" Shakrimi tossed me a pair of handcuffs. "Let's see how well you fake being a hostage." I put the cuffs on my wrists, I made sure that they were loose enough that I could slide my paws out so I could get into the fight quickly.
"Alice stay on the gunship, and DON'T do anything stupid." I emphasized on the word don't more than any other word with her.
"When have I ever?" She glared as she folded her arms. The squad all dawned their helmets and the bay door opened up, they all walked out single file and I was in the center of them all as they crowded around me.
"Let's hope they buy this." I whispered to Shakrimi who then whispered back.
"Be quiet or your gonna blow our cover." She forced me onto my knees to make it look more convincing that I was their prisoner, it kinda hurt and I let her know as I glared up at her with an angry look. "Sorry I had to sell it." She whispered as Crystal strutted over with an overly satisfied grin.
"Well-well-well, we meet again Mr. Blaze. Did you miss me?" I spat in her face, she then punched me in the face and spoke as she wiped off my saliva from her face. "Now that is just plain rude, sure the krogan don't like me much either but at least they have some manners around a lady."
I just glared up at her and said right back with a very confident tone. "I don't see a lady, just some stupid overly confident little slut who thinks she walks on water but really…she's just standing on a pile of steaming shit…because she knows that she's worthless…I mean after all…you did get your ass handed to you every time we fought…and even when you fought my girlfriend Alice back on that shuttle…you still lost and she'd never been in a fight in her life so what does that say about your so called anointed daughter now huh? Because from what I'm seeing…the reaper made a mistake when he anointed you…clearly…you weren't up to the job."
I saw the anger well up in her eyes as she grabbed my neck and pulled me onto my feet. "Shut the HELL UP HELL SPAWN!"
"Ooh…did I strike a nerve there?" I sassed back, loving the fact that I was getting under her skin so easily.
"Let's see how smug you are…when I BLIND YOU!" She drew a knife but was halted just before she made contact with my eye as a voice yelled out to her.
"MY GRACE…!" They had a deep voice and were clearly using a modulator to disguise their voice. "What is it that you think you are doing?" A large figure dressed in black armor wearing a helmet that resembled a sovereign class reaper came forward, his footsteps shook the ground as he walked over to us, there was no doubt in my mind that this was the reaper himself.
Crystal turned and kneeled before him letting go of my neck and letting me fall back to the ground. "My apologies father, I fell victim to my own rage." He knelt down and said in a chilling tone of voice to her.
"Rise, and meet my gaze my Grace…" She did as he asked and she stood, she seemed almost afraid of him. "My Grace…my sweet passionate young Grace…you have forgotten your patients again." She looked down at the ground almost sad.
She closed her eyes as she looked down. "Forgive me father…I offer no excuse for my behavior."
"My child look at me…" He tilted her chin up to see her face. "You must show restraint in the face of evil…do not fall to the temptation of simply striking down this…abomination, simply for harsh words…" He looked at me and just stared right at me for almost a minute until he said in a chilling tone. "For a demon such as this thrives off of your anger and will do anything he can to manipulate you…thus your anger growing out of control."
She shed a single tear before saying. "I know father…but I do not have your strength…nor your restraint. I am not the chosen of the enlightened one as you were…I…"
He began to shush her, he might've been a big scary guy but he acted more like a priest rather than a killer. "My child…you are stronger than you think you are…if you weren't I never would've anointed you with the blood of the enlightened one himself. You my Grace are the worthiest to bare this role…but you must not forsake your teachings…else you will lose your way from the Enlighted path just as it is the demons mission to guide you from his holy beacon of hope and order."
She wiped her nose before she said. "Yes father…I am sorry for my failure to see that."
"Oh my sweet Grace…you are already forgiven…for if it weren't for you we would not have breach this nest of hell in which we have been tasked to cleanse." I was getting bored of all of this cultist religious crap really quick, and I let them know that by fake snoring.
"How dare you…?!" Crystal shrieked as I just laid there intentionally trying to piss her off.
"Wake me when you have something interesting to talk about." I could see her getting mad again but she held back this time.
The reaper then locked his gaze onto me as if he were studying me. "You don't seem afraid of me; do you not know who I am?" He asked me directly.
"Oh I don't know, a guy with poor fashion sense? No wait I got a better one…a guy with poor fashion sense who thinks he's hot shit…but is about to find out he's not because I'm going to kick his ass myself." I said as I glared right into the eye holes of his mask, he raised a paw to me but instead of hitting me he just caressed my cheek and spoke softly, creepy.
"You have his fire in you boy this much is clear, and yet I sense something else in you…something…pure, something clean of evil." He said as he looked me in the eye.
"Yeah it's probably because I'M NOT A DEMON AND NEITHER IS MY FATHER YOU CRAZY FUCKER!" I shouted in his face plate right before Crystal kicked me in the head.
"You will show my father some respect demon!" She demanded as she stood over me.
The reaper just raised his paw and said. "My Grace please…the boy is just confused is all."
Then I added to the conversation with spite. "Confused as to which one of you actually believes that you bare a family resemblance to one another, but then again your probably wearing that mask to hide how much uglier you are compared to this slut."
This time the reaper did hit me, with an open pawed slap he hit me as hard as he could and I fell to the ground. "You will NOT SPEAK OF MY CHILD THIS WAY, or so help me I will rip out your soul and send you to hell where you belong rather than save you from damnation."
I just began to laugh, he exchanged a look with Crystal then she picked me up and held me by the scruff of my neck while I was still on my knees. "OW, hey if you want to get rough with me Cristy at least tell me the safe word. You know what I'll come up with the safe word…how's about fuck you and your salvation reaper!"
The reaper just sighed then said. "Just as defiant as your father was when I first came to him." That caught me off guard by like…a lot.
"Well considering that my dad has been charged with taking you down as have all of the alliance admirals I think you can expect a little defiance from him." I pointed out to him.
The next thing he did was even creepier than before, he began to chuckle a little bit, it was so creepy with that modulator to mask his voice. "He didn't tell you did he?" He asked bluntly.
Then I added quickly. "That you're a psycho who gets off by killing and destroying everything in your path, yeah he told me about that."
"Oh you poor diluted foolish boy, it isn't that simple." He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a photo then held it in front of my face.
My jaw dropped as I looked upon the photograph. "What is this?" I was dumbstruck by what I'd seen, it was my dad along with a tiger, two ocelots and a grizzly bear…no…no this can't be right.
"Your father and I…we go way back my boy." He put the photo away then he proceeded to remove his helmet.
"Father no!" Crystal cried as she tried to stop him. "He is not worthy to see your excellence!"
"He has defeated some of our best trained forces, he has earned the right…" He paused his sentence as he began to remove his helmet following that was a series of pops and hisses from the hoses connecting from his suit to the back of it, then he put it under his arm, his face was scarred with claw marks and burns and his ear looked like someone had bitten a chunk out of it. Once his helmet was off he started up again. "…to see the face of his father's closest friend, and god father of course."
"Godfather? What are you talking about?" I asked not actually or fully believing anything he said. I was even more confused than I had been all day, there's no way this guy and my dad were friends let alone my godfather.
"Your father and I were very close once, he trusted me with his life and I did the same with him and mine, he even entrusted me as your guardian should the worst come to pass for you and your brother…but that was before he embraced the forces of evil and had me cast out of the alliance." His voice sounded kind of scratchy, like he had a sore throat almost. "Do you know how he earned the name Blazing arrow?"
"Yeah, he set his tail on fire on that mission on hawk falling, stupid name for a planet by the way." I replied still feeling a bit confused as to why any of this mattered.
"Well what you don't know is what we'd all discovered there that day, among the blue suns weapons and explosives we found a working prothian beacon, it held knowledge that we couldn't leave behind, knowledge that made me into the hero that this galaxy needs."
"Hero? HA! Don't make me laugh, your no more a hero than you are pretty pal." I sassed again. I was hoping to get under his skin as easily as I did Crystal but he was a little more collected than she was.
He rolled his eyes before he continued. "As I was saying, this beacon held knowledge that allowed me to learn how to control the most powerful substance in the galaxy, dark matter has always been the most powerful weapon in this galaxy and most likely it always will be, but I learned it was the key to bring about a new world order to this galaxy, but that's not all I discovered from that beacon, I learned of the enlightened path and his excellency the enlightened one, at first I had no intention of learning what he had to teach me, but once I chose to see the galaxy for what it was it became clear to me…he was trying to purify it of all the darkness that was housed inside of it and I was to be his herald of justice his driving force of good, and I wanted to bring your father into the fold."
I already had a feeling of where this was going so I said with a smirk. "Something tells me that dad said fuck you."
He sighed as he replied. "Something like that, as I've said before your father and I had become close friends back in those days, we were unstoppable together one mission after another we'd liberate those in need and destroy all evil we'd come across, but when I told your father of my plan to form the black hearts he wanted nothing to do with it, said that the method I'd chosen to go with was too dangerous and was insane, but I ignored him, once I'd found that you could merge biotics with dark matter and use them together I knew I was doing the right thing, I chose to act first by striking down our new admiral after the old one was executed, this one wasn't much better, he used his power and ship to smuggle illegal items from one place to the next, we all knew it but could do nothing about it without running the risk of being court-martialed for falsely accusing our commanding officer for such charges, so I used my new found powers and eliminated him, I was filled with such pride for delivering such justice, but your father…showed nothing but disgust once he'd seen what I'd done, he attempted to arrest me for treason, I didn't want to hurt your father at the time but I wouldn't allow him to cage me either, so we fought one another on the bridge of the ship we'd served on after what I'd done to the admiral, but in the end he defeated me and I was sent to prison for what I'd done and your father was hailed as a hero, it took me so long to figure out how I'd lost that fight with your father, that's when it hit me, your father was a demon sent from hell to impede my quest to bring peace and order in the name of the enlightened one and I'd fought him too soon, not only that but I'd overestimated my power, that's when I'd realized that I had to form my own army, my own fleet, and I had to build up the force in which I'd use to bring salvation to the galaxy and bring down my so called friend Joshua Blaze, and when I'd discovered he'd deceived your poor mother into birthing you and your brother I knew I had to act before it was too late, I had to send someone to turn you from the path your father had set you down, to turn you toward the light and save this galaxy from a future of evil in which you'd bring about, that's why I sent my daughter Crystal, my sweet Grace, for the enlightened one to turn you away, to seduce you if need be and bring you to salvation, but what I didn't count on was your…preferences toward that…disgusting rabbit." He spoke with venom in his voice.
I narrowed my eyes onto him and said sternly. "So you're the one who told Crystal to kill her!"
He turned toward me and just glared at Crystal. "What did he say?!" I heard the rage in his words as clear as day.
The look upon her face spoke volumes about her current situation, the biggest one being, I'm screwed. "I…I had to father…she was…"
He lifted her off the ground with his biotics and pulled her over to him then grabbed her by the throat. "You intentionally sent your thralls against an INNOCENT GIRL TO COMPLETE YOUR TASK?!"
She tried to speak with his paw wrapped firmly around her neck. "Please father…she was an obstacle…he made it very clear that she was the only one he was interested in…I had no choice."
He then countered by yelling. "You had a choice and you chose to fall to the darkness…" He raised a paw as if he was about to strike her but then he just stopped and began talking…to himself. "What? But she has committed great sins master I have to…yes, yes of course master, I understand master, very well." He dropped her and she hit her knees gasping for air. "He says that you acted out of desperation so I must spare you, but do not perform such an act ever again my child, or my kind paws will be cruel to you as they should've been today."
She began to grovel on her knees as tears began to fall from her face. "Forgive me father, I was a fool, I understand that now. Please find it in your heart to forgive me." She sobbed like a child who'd gotten in trouble in school and was about to get what was coming to them, he looked down at her and stated in a mellow tone of anger.
"Then you must never forget this lesson my Grace, for this lesson could have been avoided if you'd remembered that not all beings are tainted by the demon's influence." He began to put his helmet back on, snaps began to sound as he reattached his helmet signaling that it had connected once again to his suit. "Now then boy, I have a proposal for you…" He said with his voice once again masked by the modulator.
"Ooh sorry pal but I don't swing that way, flattered though I must admit." I spat onto his faceplate, Crystal was about to hit me again but the reaper just lifted his paw as if to say stop.
"Don't be a fool boy, you know the odds of your homes' survival is slim to none at this point. Help me bring down your demonic father and I will call off the attack on the bunker."
"Yeah right, you won't do that and you know it you lying sack of shit!" I knew better than to trust this guy, he was crazy, unpredictable and unstable, and now that I know he hears voices inside his head I know for sure he can't be trusted. There was no way a deal with this guy was in my best interest.
But he was very insistent as he replied. "I most certainly will, if you lure your father down here to us so we may finish him off together, you'd earn your place in my order as so many of my children have, you would earn the name, anointed son."
I just gave a small smile then said. "I must admit your offer is tempting…" I looked at the Krogan and gave a wink of reassurance, Chergg caught it right away and returned it. "But I have a counter proposal for you right here right now, leave my colony and take your boys with you and I promise that my dad and our allies won't destroy you when you retreat with your tails between your legs like the little bitches you are, refuse and we'll just have to hash this out the old fashion way, by trying to kill each other one soldier to another." I gave him a confident smirk, they all just started to laugh hysterically completely unaware of what was about to happen, the reaper then asked with a slight growl in his voice.
"And how do you propose you'll do this? You're in chains and unable to fight boy." I just grinned as I lifted up my paws and showed them I was free, I couldn't see his face but I knew he went slack jawed under that helmet.
"NOW!" I shouted to my squad who I knew had already lined up shots the whole time we were talking to one another, they began to fire on the unsuspecting black hearts picking them off one by one, most of them never had a chance to fire a shot. I kicked the reaper right in the faceplate of his helmet with both feet and summersaulted backward as Crystal threw a biotic sphere at where I was kneeling, then I pulled out my Z-77 Paladin and started shooting at both her and the reaper, both of which were blocking my shots with their biotics, I mean come on that's just not fair, sure I have a new type of shield to protect me but come on they could at least learn to fight without their creepy psychic powers to defend themselves like Shakrimi does usually, fucking cheaters.
"You take Crystal kid, I've got the big guy." Shakrimi grinned then ran right up to him and nailed him right in the face knocking off his helmet, he roared a loud bear like roar and swung his claws at her horizontally as she ducked under his attack and kicked him in the face with a high kick when she had a chance, he spat out a tooth then he threw a punch at her face but she ducked under it then did a hand stand and wrapped her legs around his arm and with an upside down judo throw like motion she threw him about five feet, she then hopped back up on her feet and said with confidence. "Been waiting for this moment for the last seven years you back stabbing son of a bitch."
He slowly rose to his feet then dusted himself off casually then said. "Believe me my dear, you're out of your league."
Shakrimi just grinned and waved her fingers at him and said. "Bring it on Samson!"
The reaper began to shout. "I am NOT SAMSON…!" He threw a biotic shockwave at her, as it bounced ever closer to her she simply leapt over it and threw a biotic warp at him in exchange, it hit him but it didn't faze him one bit. "SAMSON IS DEAD, he was WEAK, so I had to destroy him and all that he was known for."
"Well then, it seems I'll have to AVENGE HIM!" She charged him at normal speed, the reaper quickly charged up his fist for a biotic punch but before he could connect she slid under it in between his legs and out the other side then she hoped up and performed a donkey kick into his back with a full biotic powered kick and sending him flying about ten feet or so.
"Sorry sweetie, you just got the boot." Oh my god again with the cheesy one liners, that one was so cheesy I think I'm constipated.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you Blaze!" Crystal shouted as she kept throwing biotic warps at me each one missing me as I'd role out of the way, she eventually had to let her powers cool down and in that time I fired a few shots off at her, two shots just barely grazed her arm as another imbedded in her shoulder. "AH, you little son of a WHORE!" She spat with venom in her voice.
"First off; my mother is not a whore you self-righteous cunt, and second; I think it's safe to say you've had this beat down coming for a while bitch!" I fired again, she rolled out of the way then ducked behind cover then pulled out her own pistol and started shooting at me, she didn't realize that her bullets were just bouncing off of me until I just grinned a very devilish grin.
She looked at me with shock and fear at the sudden epiphany. "W-What? How is this possible?" She asked with shock.
"Let's just say that you're not the only one with a few tricks up your sleeves sister!" I pulled out my ion rifle and fired at her, the shot singed the fur on the top of her head and left a visible trail of where the shot had gone. "And there's still plenty more where that came from!"
She then threw a biotic throw at me knocking me to the ground and causing me to drop my gun, she then pulled it toward herself and prepared to use it, she took aim and pulled the trigger, but as I expected nothing happened. "What the…" She looked puzzled as she tried to figure out why the gun wasn't firing.
I just smirked and said. "Here, let me help you with that!" I charged her and tackled her to the ground fighting her for the gun, she rolled on top of me and tried to bash my face in with the butt of the rifle but I would dodge out of the way just in time, then out of nowhere the tail of the gunship swung around and hit her with both speed and momentum sending her flying about ten yards.
I looked up and saw Alice in the cock pit and about to use the microphone and the loud speaker on the gunship to voice her frustrations she held on her face. "I told you once you little bitch, keep your paws OFF…MY…FOX!" She started shooting both the gun and rockets at Crystal while screaming like a mad man, I couldn't help but feel attracted to her even more for some reason, and that reason being I loved her when she was a little mad. She flew after Crystal as she used her biotics to try and get away from my girlfriend while she pursued her close behind. "Get BACK HERE SO I CAN FILL YOU WITH LED!" Allen and Trevor just looked on at Alice while she flew the gunship around the place trying to kill Crystal with obsessive force.
"Dude, your girlfriend is totally nuts right now." Allen stated with a bit of concern.
"I know, isn't she fantastic?" I said with obvious attraction in my voice, both my squad mates just looked at me with a look that basically said 'are you for real dude? "What? I like her a little crazy. It's hot."
"You would think that's hot." Trevor said shaking his head with a bit of disapproval.
I was quick to point out that he was being such a hypocrite. "Hey your girl basically did the same thing with her dad just a while ago and you kissed her in front of god and everyone so you don't have room to talk."
Trevor then rubbed his chin and said back. "Hmm, touché."
"Hey can we FOCUSE ON WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR AND GET THE SHIELD UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!" Allen yelled his suggestion, we both realized that the shield was finally unguarded and we had a chance to get it up and running so we made a mad dash for the generator pushing past black hearts and jumping over corpses of the enemy.
I didn't even look at my squad mates as I said to them. "Don't stop! Keep going!" I jumped onto the controls and found out why the shield was off line, the eezo dampener installed inside of the shield was turned up all the way as to drain all the power from the shield. "I found the problem, I think I can fix it but I need you two to cover me while I work." A black heart cheetah charged at us with a spear that matched the armor of the cult, Trevor shot at him with his shotgun but he just blocked the shot then leapt into the air with a flip and landed behind him, he turned around to face his opponent ready to shoot him again only to have his gun knocked out of his pads with the head of the spear, then he used the other end of his weapon to trip Trevor up and sending him to the ground, the black heart raised his spear and tried to stab him with it but just ended up shattering it's head against his shielding.
"I guess some people never learn." Trevor said as he kicked the guy backwards and pulled his pistol and started shooting him, three shots and he was dead.
"I'm guessing he was one of the honor guards." Allen stated as he helped Trevor onto his feet.
"You guessed right wolf." A voice stated as we heard the cocking of guns from behind us, we turned around and saw Dr. Matmosh and agent Zev pointing guns at us, I was so confused as to what was going on, but only briefly as it became clear that I'd found our mole, or moles.
"You sons of bitches." The doctor dropped something in front of us and a pulse of blue light flashed from the device and shorted out our shields, the doctor fired a shot and hit Allen in the face, he hit the ground howling in pain. "ALLEN!" I rushed over to him to check if he was okay, he was alive, barely. Trevor then rushed in at top speed only to be shot in the leg, he fell to the ground holding his leg as he winced in pain. Just as I turned to try and help him too I felt a gun barrel pressed into my forehead and looked up to see the face of the doctor smiling at me. "You little bitch, you're gonna regret this." I growled in anger.
"The only thing I regret doing is not shooting you the first time I saw you boy, but I was under orders to keep my cover from the anointed daughter as we phantoms often must do." She fired back as she stared daggers back at me.
"You're a phantom?" It all just clicked together so easily. "Am I to guess he's one too?"
"Who, Zev? Oh good heavens no. He's too loyal to those fools in the STG to ever be a true follower of the enlightened one." She said plainly.
"So you made him your thrall." I stated the obvious.
She smirked and said back. "Very observant my boy, yes I did make him my puppet for this fight, it's a shame that he'll just expire soon after this fight has been won, he would have made an excellent brother of the black hearts."
That's when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, or rather someone, who apparently had the best timing in the galaxy. I then smiled up at her and said with a smirk. "Yeah, well too bad for you this fights already won by us."
She began to laugh. "Oh really? And pray tell how you've made this assumption?"
"Turn around." The cocking of a shot gun and the sounding of a deep krogan like voice startled her, she turned around to see Vohmeg standing right behind her with his shotgun right in her face. "Does this answer your question doc?" He shot her in the face and she went down, there was nothing left of her head, her skull and brains were all over the place, the color of green blood stained the surrounding area.
"You are a sight for sore eyes man." I praised the krogan mercenary standing over me.
Vohmeg then extended his hand to me and helped me up. "Sorry I'm late, had to do a little bit of ass kicking on the way here."
I was about to thank him for the save when I heard Allen moan in pain, I had almost forgotten about him, I turned him over and saw that his eye was completely gone, he was still hanging on but just by a thread. "Dear god…" I exclaimed feeling sympathy for my injured comrade.
"Don't worry about me…just get the shield up…while we still can." Allen willed his words through the pain, he struggled so much as he spoke.
"Don't talk Allen, just stay still." I booted up my omni-tool and administered some meda-gel.
"This is bunker to militia, do you read me militia?" The voice of chief Bowman cracked over the radio. I responded as he sounded frantic, whatever it was he was calling for was important.
"This is Sargent Blaze we read you." I answered in a calm tone.
"Cody, please tell me you've got the shield up and running again." He pleaded, I was about to ask why he was asking but I didn't have to as I saw a large war ship slowly descending from the sky. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was on that ship, it had to be the J-97 phenix ion cannon.
"Oh…shit." I exclaimed with shock and fear.
"We need this shield back on now!" Trevor shouted as he applied some meda-gel and grabbed his shotgun.
"We've got another problem, look!" Vohmeg pointed at a large group of black hearts all holding melee weapons of various varieties.
"Shit, more honor guards." Trevor cried as he readied his gun.
"We'll need Arlak company untied if we're gonna win this fight." I said as I stood back up and readied my rifle.
"What about a gunship?" I heard Alice's voice over the radio as she came in firing her gun at the honor guard. They didn't even try to run, they just blocked her shots with their weapons and didn't even flinch as she fired her rockets, they just nocked those away and into the air as they exploded in midair. "Quick while she's got them covered you guys go get Arlak company and kick their asses from behind." I ordered to Trevor and Vohmeg.
"What about this guy?" Trevor asked as he pointed his gun at Major Zev who was still standing there like a zombie.
"Eh, I say we just put him out of his misery." Vohmeg voiced his opinion, I was quick to object to his thoughts.
"NO! We can't just shoot him, he didn't ask for this." I said sternly as I pointed a finger at the krogan.
"Well than what do we do with him?" He asked sounding a bit annoyed. I thought about it for a second then I thought maybe we could use him to free the krogan.
"Okay, maybe it's as simple as this. Major Zev, I order you to help these two to save Arlak company at once, will you comply with your orders?" In that moment I hoped he would respond and do what I wanted him to do and not try to blow my head off.
The Major's eyes snapped toward me and he responded in that creepy zombie voice. "Orders received, I will obey my orders in the name of the enlightened one."
"O…KAY…good enough I guess." I said as I turned back to the control panel and started pushing buttons. While I worked on the shield Vohmeg, Trevor and the now phantom thrall Major Zev went on and untied Arlak company, and not a minute too soon either as the honor guard had taken notice of what they were doing and began to send a detachment of their men to deal with the now free krogan commandos.
"Rip 'em to shreds!" Chergg shouted as he and his men charged the honor guard and over powered them with their numbers. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure that no one was sneaking up on me as I had no one to watch my back. I kept typing like crazy on the key pad to try and get the eezo dampener back to the level it was supposed to be on. "Come on come on WORK you stupid piece of junk." I shouted as I worked on the key pad, I was running out of time. I wished that I'd brought Kyle with us but he was still in the bunker…OHHHH…boy am I stupid. "Kyle, do you read me?" I called him up on the com knowing that we had communications again.
"Yeah what's going on out there Cody?" He asked sounding a bit frantic and fearful for our safety.
"Never mind that, I need your help. I'm trying to get the shield back up but I can't get the power dampener to decrease in power, Dr. Matmosh did something to it."
"Wait Dr. Matmosh?" He asked confused.
"She was a phantom for the black hearts and she's the one behind the shield going down, you're the only one who can help me fix this Kyle so I need you to talk me through it button by button." I heard a loud gulp on his side of the call.
"O-okay, first you need to hit clear locked commands…" I searched for the button he described then I pushed it.
"Okay now what?" I asked awaiting his instructions.
"Next type in these commands, and don't spell them wrong or we'll have to start over from the beginning. Linda-Will-You-Marry-Me-Dimond-Ring-Wedding-Bells-Reception-Cake-Hawaiia-honeymoon." All the words he'd just said to me begged me to ask.
I paused for a moment and cocked my head back just before I asked. "UH…Kyle…what's with all of this wedding talk?"
He paused for a minute. "IIIIIII…was just…um…you know what I don't have to explain myself to you." He said defensively.
"Jeez dude I wasn't judging." I said as I finished typing in the command. "Okay that's done. Now what do I do?" I asked awaiting more information only to hear the cocking of a pistol from behind my head.
"Oh it's very simple…" I turned my head slightly and saw Crystal standing right behind me ready to shoot me in the back of the head. "You die." Before she pulled the trigger I spun around and pushed the gun away off the side of my head with my right paw and kicked her in the stomach away from me, I pulled my gun and started shooting at her, and once again she used her biotics to block my shots. "Don't you ever learn you stupid fool?" She asked with a smirk as she chuckled at me.
That's when I noticed she'd landed next to a black heart with a belt full of grenades, I smiled and said with confidence. "Actually, I learned plenty." I took aim at the belt and fired off a couple of shots, the grenades exploded and she went flying about twenty feet in the air from the blast as she burst into flame screaming in pain as she flew, she landed with a loud thud as she rolled around on the ground screaming in agony.
"MY GRACE!" I heard the thundering footsteps of the reaper coming right for me as I turned around and saw him coming right for me with rage in his eyes. I fired a few shots but they just bounced off of his armor, he knocked me out of the way as he made his way to Crystal, he booted up his omni-tool and hit her with a cryo blast to extinguish the flames. "My Grace…my sweet child…" He sounded like he was close to crying. He turned to me with fire in his eyes. "YOU!" He rose to his feet as he started towards me. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He bellowed as he threw a biotic warp at me sending me flying into the side of the generator. It hurt like hell too to say the least. He picked me up by my throat and just held me in a death grip. "I don't care about saving your soul anymore…I'm going to put an end to you…ONCE AND FOR ALL!"
I don't know why but I just felt the need to push my luck by making a joke. "Aw does this mean we're not gonna get married?" I based it off his earlier 'proposal', you know just to fuck with him. Naturally he didn't find this funny.
He used his biotics to pull a sword from the hands of one of his dead honor guard then he lifted it over his head ready to strike me down when a gunshot rang out slicing through the blade, I took a wild guess and thought it was my mystery sniper from before. I took this time while he was distracted and drew my knife and drove it threw his paw, he roared in pain as he dropped me, I scrambled to my feet and pulled out my rifle and started shooting at him but like before my shots just bounced off of his armor, I guess the good doctor had time to prep a special made suit that counters ion blasts. "Fool, your weapons are no match for my holy armor." He boasted as he readied his biotics for another blast, just then Vohmeg and Chergg tackled him from behind and pinned him down each of them putting his arms in a half nelson.
"Shoot 'em kid, shoot 'em!" Chergg bellowed as both krogan struggled to hold him down. I took aim but was blindsided by another blast of biotic power, this time from the now burnt Crystal Grace, she was covered head to toe with third degree burns, the majority of her fur completely gone and her face charred beyond recognition. She fell to the ground, exhausted and unable to move from the pain and her exhaustion.
"MY GRACE!" The reaper bellowed as he threw the krogan off of him and ran to Crystal's side, he rolled her over gently as she began to cough blood. "My Crystal…can you hear me my child?" He pleaded as she began to speak.
"F…f…father…" She could hardly speak with how weak she was.
"My child I'm so sorry." He croaked as his tears began to fall, I wasted no time as I went back to fixing the shield.
"Kyle I need to know what to do now!" I yelled hoping that he wasn't going to faint if I just yelled at him.
"Okay, type in the password now. You-May-Kiss-The-Bride." I didn't even want to know anymore. After I punched in the password the screen read 'do you wish to reset eezo dampener power draw?' I hit yes naturally and then I asked Kyle what to do next. He told me to set it at 60% Power draw for the hyper eezo to work. I did just that and then I primed the shield to start up, I heard the turbines powering up as I saw flashing lights all around the top of the generator.
"NO!" The reaper bellowed as he shot three shots into my back, I hit the ground and started to cough up blood, I booted up my omni-tool and administered some meda-gel to heal my wounds. I looked up and saw the reaper standing at the control panel trying to shut down the shield again.
"I don't think so fuzzy wuzzy's bitch!" I shouted as I picked up the first weapon I could see that was close enough to me. I looked around and saw right next to me was a mid-evil morning star mace used by a fallen honor guard, I picked it up and charged the larger mammal standing in front of me. I swung it into his knee and when he went down I swung it at his head, he just caught the top of the mace and with his paw he just crushed it into dust. "Oh crap." I uttered as I took a look at the remains of my weapon, then I looked back at the reaper who was growling a very bear like growl with in my face, I gave a very nervous smile and chuckle. "I don't suppose you feel like talking this out?" He picked me up by the throat again and just held me in a death grip. I started to speak as best I could while he held me in his death grip. "YEAH…THAT'S A NO."
He lifted me over his head and started to growl. "All these years I thought that I could save you child. And for WHAT? Just because you were innocent in the eyes of the enlightened one? I knew that you would be too far gone to save and yet I still tried to save your soul. I wasted my time on you, but as for your brother…that's a different story."
The mention of my brother just sent me in to rage and panic at the thought of him taking him away and brain washing him. "You're not…going…to TOUCH HIM!" I managed to grab hold of one of his fingers and bite down as hard as I could and with all of my jaw strength I bit off his finger. He dropped me and yelled in pain. I drew my knife and leapt at him with all my fury and slashed my knife right across his left eye, he roared in pain as he held his face, the next thing I did was tackle him to the ground, I began to drive my knife down at him trying to push it into his throat and kill him as quickly as possible. As strong as he was I was fueled by my rage which in this moment made me stronger than a god damn elephant. My knife was just inches from his throat as I used my weight to give myself a little extra push toward his jugular, all I wanted to do was slit his god damn throat and there wasn't a force on this rock that was going to stop me, until he used his free paw and grabbed the blade of my knife and snapped it off at the hilt then he proceeded to slash me across my face. "AH!" I fell back and just held on to my stinging face as he got back up, he then kicked me in the stomach and I rolled about five feet.
"I must admit boy…your every bit the fighter your father is. But you are nothing compared to me!" He walked slowly over to me as I struggled to get back up only to have him nock me down again. "You are nothing but demonic filth staining the galaxy with your very existence. Your very presence here…"
I interrupted him as I was sick and tired of his boasting. "Oh for FUCK SAKE do you EVER SHUT UP?! I mean seriously enough with your holier than thou shtick already you crazy fuck!"
Before he could respond something came charging in at high speed and knocked him back several feet, I looked up at what saved me…it was to my surprise…a geth shock trooper. It was gray from head to toe and had a slicked back head with mandible like flaps just below its eye lense which was glowing a bright blue color, it's torso had hoses sticking out of its back and it looked like there was some kind of liquid being pumped threw them, I'm guessing oil as it was unlikely to be blood or anything else.
The geth turned to me and spoke in a very robotic and crackly voice. "What is your status young vulpine?" I had no idea that it could talk, then again I'd never met a geth face to face until today.
"You…you can talk?" I asked puzzled by the mec standing before me.
The geth then answered just as fast. "Affirmative, this unit is more than capable of communication with organic beings." I was just even more confused by what was happening before me.
"Who are you?" I asked my savior who answered abruptly.
"Geth." Yeah no shit Sherlock.
"I mean you personally." I asked again.
"We are geth." We? That doesn't make any sense to me. Then I thought about it for a second and asked him…it? Again.
"How do I define the individual standing in front of me." It then responded by shooting me down again.
"There is no individual, only a platform, we are all geth." The fuck…is this guy…thing…whatever…for real with me right now? Just then the reaper started shooting at us again with an assault rifle, the geth shoved me down and charged at the grizzly like a freight train soaking up bullets like they were nothing to him…it…I don't know what to call these things. The geth grabbed the rifle out of the reapers paws and broke it over its knee like a tooth pick, then it deployed a couple of blades from its arms and said in the same robotic voice as before. "Terrorist designation reaper aka Samson Rockies former earth systems alliance, you are wanted for over three thousand counts of murder, two hundred counts of terrorism, and treason to the alliance. You are under arrest, will you comply?" Wow, he knew all that off the top of his head? Or did he just look it up on the extra net or something?
"Soulless machine, you have no chance to stand against my might." The reaper then threw a punch at the mec which performed a back flip just barely dodging the blow then the geth landed gracefully on its feet and charged the reaper while its arms started spinning in a spinning top like motion in the attempt to slice through him like paper. Hang on…sense when can a geth do that?
"Sense when do geth have freaking samurai swords hidden in their arms like a magician?" I asked aloud, out of nowhere Shakrimi came running up to me.
She looked pretty beaten up by the reaper and exhausted as well. "I see you've met your guardian angel." She said with a smirk.
"My what?" I asked even more confused than when I'd just met this thing a second ago.
"Oh yeah that's right, your dad didn't have time to tell you about it yet. Long story short your dad did something for the quarrians and the geth not too long ago so the geth agreed to lend two of their new model defenders to watch over you and your little brother." She stated with a cheerful look.
"New model? You mean these things come out with a new model of themselves every so often? Like their some kind of new car or something?" I asked trying to get a grasp of the situation.
"Yep that's the long and short of it. This guy is known as a guardian defender mark 7. Diamondized steel chassis with an array of onboard weapons and combat gear such as cloaking device, ballistic shield, thermal/night visioning, burst jets, mini gun, sniper rifle, and of course those swords that its currently using on the reaper right now. It's also downloaded a full study of jujitsu and judo for hand to hand combat when weapons aren't necessary to defend whoever they're tasked with keeping safe." When she'd told me about all the different features it had I then realized that this was my mystery sniper from before, but if it was meant to protect me then why did it see that poor asari girl as a threat to me? Maybe it saw something I didn't? Oh well, I guess I'll never know.
The geth's blades just kept spinning as fast as lightning making sparks fly as they just cut into the armor of the reaper as he blocked the attack with his arms. The reaper didn't really have any chance to counter attack while he was getting schooled in the art of ass kicking by my new bodyguard. "While he's busy with my new favorite robot let's get the shield back up and running shall we." I said as I started to get back to my feet but fell due to the pain of just getting the fuck beat out of me, Shakrimi helped me up and over to the panel as I once again started up the shield, and not a minute too soon because just as I started up the shield I heard a loud crack of thunder from above us. I looked up and saw the large ship with the cannon priming and ready to fire. "Oh SHIT!" I exclaimed with fear and worry because I saw where it was aiming for, it was the bunker. "NO!" I cried, knowing in my gut that I had failed and thinking there was no way that the shield would be ready int time to protect the bunker so I did something drastic.
I turned the dampener down to 20% eezo draw in hopes to speed things up a little, and thankfully it worked the shield popped up and started to form I knew this was going to be close, and just before the cannon fired the shield dropped in front of the bunker absorbing the shot just like before balling it up and sending it back to its point of origin and destroying the ship and the cannon. We'd done it, we saved the bunker from the black hearts cannon and just as importantly we saved the colony.
"NNNOOOO, you've ruined EVERYTHING!" The reaper bellowed as he turned toward me and readied a biotic throw and hurled it at me but before it could make contact my new geth protector ran in front of me and took the hit for me. It didn't even seem to faze it, not even by a little.
"This one will not allow any harm to come to Sargent Blaze of the Eden prime militia." It stated in what I think is an authoritative tone of voice for a machine.
The reaper just growled at the geth and said with an enraged voice. "Then let's see just how good you really are machine. Honor guard, KILL THE DEMON SPAWN!" Just then the honor guard came charging in at me and with their melee weapons.
A split second later my geth bodyguard then said. "Initiating defense protocol Zulu tango five, Gatling gun arming now." Just then the geth's arms came together and morphed into a Gatling gun, it aimed right for the black hearts coming for me. "Firing!" It blasted…I think, it's kinda hard to tell with these guys what their mood is. Bullets began to erupt from the gun and just mowed down any and all black hearts standing in front of us, some of them managed to block a few shots but not even the most skilled of them could block all of the incoming projectiles, within about a minute the hail of bullets was over and any and all of the honor guard was defeated as my squad, arlak company, and present company surrounded the reaper and Crystal who the reaper was holding close to him in his arms.
"It's over Samson, just make it easier for you and surrender." Shakrimi pleaded.
"I…am NOT…SAMSON!" He blasted as he dropped a smoke bomb and made his escape with Crystal.
"Searching for targets." The geth said out loud as it scanned the surrounding area for the reaper and Crystal, with thermal vision if I had to guess. "Readings negative, targets have escaped."
I walked up next to the geth and said sounding somewhat exhausted from the fight. "It's okay bud, all that matters is that we won the fight. Anyway, back to what I'm gonna start calling you."
"This one has already clarified what this one should be called, we are geth." It stated yet again.
"Well I'm not calling you that, it's not a respectable name for my guardian angel. Wait…angel…that's what I'm going to call you, from now on if I need you for anything or if I feel like talking to you or if someone is addressing you…" I said right before Shakrimi added.
"And by you he means the programs being housed inside this unit." Programs? As in plural? This is just getting more and more confusing by the minute.
"Uh…yeah what she said I guess. You will be referred to as angel." I said plainly.
"Examining terminology…done…angel…a term used to describe a spiritual being whose sole purpose is to protect the innocent and destroy evil, source found from Cristian bible, this is an acceptable metaphor, we are angel a terminal of the geth." It said as it finally accepted me calling it something other than what it simply is.
"Cody!" A familiar voice called out to me, I turned around and saw Alice coming in hot as she ran to me, I opened my arms and embraced her. "We did it, we actually did it." She then pulled back from the hug to kiss me but was halted when she saw my face. "Oh my god, Cody what happened to your face?" I'd completely forgotten about my knife wound on my face.
"What this? Just a battle scar the reaper gave me, something about my very existence is a stain on the galaxy and blah-blah-blah holy shit I got my ass kicked by a kid and a robot." I shrugged off playing it cool.
She just chuckled while shedding a tear. "Even when your face is fucked up your making jokes." She said as she kiss my scar, which hurt a little bit but I didn't mind.
"So how do I look? Does it look cool?" I asked as I gestured to my face.
"Let me put it to you this way kid…" Vohmeg said as he came up to me with a slight limp. "If you were on my home world, the females would be all over you like maggots on a fresh corpse."
"Uhhhhhh…what?" I asked with utter confusion.
"Krogan think battle scars are sexy, I however go for asses." Shakrimi added as she looked over at Alice and gave her a wink.
"Did she just wink at me?" Alice asked me with a whisper. Just then a voice cracked over the radio a voice that sounded in distress.
"Mayday-mayday, this is SSV Monarch, we are going down I repeat we are going down!" I recognized that voice and that ship all too well. It was my dad, and he was in trouble. I then looked up and saw the Monarch coming down in flames, I felt afraid, this was the last time I'd get to hear my father's voice, and I could do nothing to save him, I felt so helpless.
(A/N: DUH DUH DUH, well doesn't that just suck, one minute everybody is celebrating their victory and the next thing they know Cody's dad is in a whole heap of trouble, will they be able to save him or will he fall and meet his demise? You'll just have to wait and see soon enough. And once again no spoiler for this chapter everybody so sit tight and keep your fingers crossed.)