I do not own Mass Effect or any of the characters.
Escort
David activated his Tech Armor and drew his Mattock, looking around carefully as they walked. Jack was holding the barrier just fine, but they couldn't contact the other team through the Seeker Swarms. It was also hard to see out through them with them bouncing off the barrier so rapidly. They worked their way through the chamber along the pathway, which wound and wove through the room. So far, they hadn't seen anyone.
As if on cue, David's omni-tool beeped several times. "Incoming."
Several Collectors flew by ahead of them, only for one to stop, eyes beginning to glow.
"Assuming direct control," Harbinger's deep voice said as the Collector's body cracked and began to burn.
It flew after the others and David groaned, shouldering his gun.
"I was enjoying a nice calm walk," David said.
"Too late now," Shepard said. "Jack, get into cover by that corner up ahead."
"On it," Jack said, speed-walking to a low metal block beside a corner that turned left.
David let Shepard have the corner and instead knelt beside Jack, Tali kneeling on his other side. Shepard stepped out, swearing and opening fire instantly. Just as bullets began to be returned, David and Tali both stood, both instantly realizing why Shepard swore. The path Shepard was shooting along was about a hundred feet long, then opened into a huge area filled with low metal and stone walls where more than a dozen Collectors were waiting, four shooting at Shepard, the other eight opening fire at David and Tali the moment they stood. David growled in annoyance.
"This will take too long," David said, typing on his omni-tool. "Shepard, can you kill the burning one?"
"Yeah, I'll get right on it!" Shepard snapped irritably, ducking down as a blast of the Burning Collector's corrupted biotics blasted the corner.
"Sorry," David said, turning invisible. "Didn't mean it like that."
He stood, hurling the half-dozen small balls of explosive gasses he'd formed inside a fragile containment field each, forming grenades. Then, as soon as he had, he dropped, one of the Burning Collector's bullets deflecting off his tech armor. He flickered for a moment before settling as visible just before the ground lurched with the explosions. Shepard stepped out instantly, launching an explosive round into the Burning Collector, getting its attention and allowing David and Tali to stand. The other Collectors were in chaos, three having been killed by the explosions, and two burned badly by them. David finished those two instantly while Tali took out three with her pistol. The other five turned to them, returning fire, only for David and Tali to drop. David formed another grenade and hurled it over the block they were on without looking. As soon as it exploded, Shepard leaned out, seeing the Burning Collector's ashes drifting through the air, then opened fire on two of the others, killing one. Three turned to them and Tali and David both stood, dropping the last of them. As soon as they were clear, Jack stood, beginning to follow the path. David glanced at her, seeing her jaw was set, trying to keep her face neutral, though he could tell she was struggling.
"Company!" Shepard called out as Husks began to climb over the edge directly ahead of them.
Everyone began to fire at them quickly, dropping them as quickly as they appeared. However, after a moment, a Husk shrieked from behind David, knocking him sideways into Tali, then both of them into the low wall to their left. It stumbled toward Jack, who looked back at it in surprise, but before it could reach her, David, flickering rapidly, shouldered into it, knocking it into the wall before driving an omni-blade into its head.
"Are you okay?" David asked, still flickering.
"I'm fine," Jack said, smiling reassuringly. "Fuck 'em up."
David nodded and turned back to the front just as several Husks charged, too close for Shepard to attack safely. David formed an omni-blade on each arm and stepped forward, stabbing two before ripping the blades back out as Shepard smashed the butt of his rifle into another's head. It staggered backward toward David and he slashed it across the side with his left hand, swinging his arm across his body, then up across the chest with his right, ending up with his arms crossed. Just as that Husk fell, then next reached him, only for him to slash its throat with both arms, decapitating it. It collapsed as Tali and Shepard shot the last of the Husks, allowing them to continue again.
"Nice work," Shepard said. "You're doing really well not running away."
"I have a compelling reason not to run away," David said, just as several Collectors flew over them. "Here we go again."
"Let me know when it's clear," Jack said, crouching down into cover.
They all opened fire on the Collectors before they'd even landed, killing a handful, but as soon as the others landed, one of the Collectors began to burn. This time, however, David was ready and instantly sent an omni-bow bolt into its face, the bolt exploding a moment later and covering the two Collectors to either side of it in flames, leaving the two Collectors too busy screaming in pain and trying to put the flames out to try and fight, making them easy targets. Then, once they were gone, the last handful went down fairly easily. They began to move again, making it a good distance this time before more Husks began to swarm them. However, as they were taking them down quickly, David noticed that Jack's face was twisted into a look of extreme strain. As they finished, he looked over at her. She was trembling, sweat was pouring down her face, and her feet were dragging as she walked, her pace having slowed considerably. Shepard and Tali both noticed as well.
"Keep it up, Jack," Shepard said. "We're almost there."
"I'm good," Jack said through gritted teeth just as more Husks began to swarm toward them from the front and back.
"Keep going!" Shepard said, moving to cover the front. "Don't stop!"
"Wasn't...planning on it!" Jack growled irritably.
David fired a ball of explosive gases backward into the leading Husk, blasting most of them with it, knocking a few others off the ledge on one side of their path. He shot the others quickly, just as Collectors began to fly down toward the path from behind them.
"Company!" David shouted, sending a blast of cryogenic fluids at them to slow them down. "Lots of company behind us!"
David switched sides instantly, Tali swapping her pistol for her shotgun, and David moved tot he front as they reached a long ramp leading to the door they needed to get through. It was in the center of a circular machine of some kind with two massive orange lights above it and off to the sides and three large pipes coming from above, two angled outward. However, just as he saw it, Jack stumbled, nearly falling.
"Almost...there!" Jack groaned. "Just...a little further!"
"Hang in there Jack!" David said, wrapping his arms around her to support her weight and speed-walking forward.
There was a low wall blocking the ramp, so David lifted her over it, setting her on the other side.
"Just go!" David said, turning and firing back past the others into the Collectors and Husks chasing them, allowing them both to go over the wall.
He spun as soon as they began to fire again, scrambling over it and ran to Jack. There was no cover anywhere along the ramp until the door. So, despite his body screaming at him to hide, he stood behind Jack, facing the Collectors, and walked backward while shooting. Between the three of them, they were able to keep them from getting any accurate shots, for a little while.
"They're pushing!" Shepard shouted over the gunfire as a fresh wave began to arrive, their bullets beginning to hit closer. "Keep it up!"
David sent a ball of explosive gas into them, taking out a few, only for several shots to crash into his tech armor.
"Hurry...Shepard!" Jack groaned.
They retreated to the door quickly, but just as it opened, several more shots slammed into David's tech armor, this time breaking through. His physical armor deflected most of them, but one hit his left bicep, making him shout in pain and stagger backward past Jack.
"Fuck off!" Jack shouted, her biotics flaring as she transformed the barrier into a massive blast of biotic energy that splattered the Seeker Swarms when it hit them, and launched the Collectors and Husks away, completely clearing the path as far as they could see. Then, she turned to David worriedly as the door closed behind them. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," David said, applying medi-gel already. "It only hit my arm, so I'll be fine. Are you okay?"
"Just a headache," Jack said. "Shepard, Tali, you two okay?"
"I'm good," Tali said.
"I'm fine," Shepard nodded.
"...repeat, Shepard, do you copy!?" Miranda's voice suddenly said, their comms finally working again.
"I copy, what's your position?" Shepard asked.
"We're at the door!" Miranda said. "We're pinned down!"
"On it!" David said, running to the door's controls and scanning it with his omni-tool.
He began to type rapidly, and after about a minute, the door opened. Instantly, the second team retreated back through the door and David began to type again as everyone fired back out through the door.
"Get this closed!" Shepard snapped as a shot glanced off his shoulder.
"Almost done!" David said. "Got it!"
The door hissed and slid shut, everyone firing through it for a moment before stepping out of the way just before several shoots flashed through it, missing everyone, fortunately, and the door sealed. Miranda bent forward at the waist, holding a hand to her side, but when Shepard went to check on her, she stood up and nodded, lowering her hand and showing she wasn't wounded.
"Good work, David," Shepard said.
David nodded and slipped her hand into Jack's.
"I'm taking a month off after this," Jack said.
"Just you, me, a beach, and unlimited alcohol?" David asked.
"Oh, now that sounds like a plan," Jack grinned.
"There should be some nearby platforms that will take you to the main control console," EDI was saying as they turned back to the others. "From there, you can overload the system and destroy the base."
"Commander, you got a problem!" Joker spoke up urgently. "Hostiles massing just outside the door. Won't be long until they bust through."
Shepard turned, climbing up onto the lift platform, then looked back at the two doors. His gaze fell to the others and gained a calculating light. "A rearguard could defend this position and keep the Collectors from overwhelming us."
"Pick a team to go with you, Shepard," Miranda said. "Everyone else can bunker down here and cover your back."
"Tali, Jack, and David, you're with me," Shepard said.
The three of them nodded and climbed onto the platform.
"Anything to say before we do this?" Miranda asked.
"The Collectors, the Reapers, they aren't a threat to us," Shepard said. "They're a threat to everything. Everyone. Those are the lives we're fighting for. That's the scale. It's been a long journey, and no one's coming out without scars, but it all comes down to this moment. We win or lose it all in the next few minutes. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud."
"Aye aye, Commander," Miranda nodded.
David activated the lift and they all fell silent, turning away from the others as the lift moved away from the doors. "Be ready. There are several more platforms coming to meet us."
"Got it," Shepard said, everyone using the low wall forming a "U" to get into cover and prepare.
The first platform arrived alone with three Collectors on it, and Jack sent two of them spinning off of it with a Shockwave just before Shepard hit the third with an explosive round, sending its body flying off of it as well. The next two platforms arrived together and David swallowed hard, winking out of sight.
"I'll take the right platform," David said, trying to keep his voice from trembling.
"I'll be ready to cover you," Jack promised.
David smiled, giving her hand a light squeeze to thank her before moving off to the side as the others began to trade shots with the Collectors, Jack shooting at the right platform's Collectors just enough to keep them from advancing. After a moment of moving as quietly as he could, David reached the Collector at the back and stabbed it in the head with an omni-blade just as he deactivated his cloaking tech, shooting the other two with his pistol. Then, a shot slammed into his forehead and he crumpled, his head spinning and his ears ringing, though his tech armor helmet had deflected it.
"David!" Jack shrieked. "I'll kill you all!"
A massive shockwave, more than twice as strong as what she normally used, ripped across the platform, turning the two living Collectors into paste, along with the dead one's body, before Jack sprinted to David just as he was pushing himself up, shaking his head.
"Glad I had my helmet deployed," David said.
"Thank God!" Jack said, holding him tightly.
"I'm alright," David said, squeezing her for a moment before standing, looking around as more platforms began to close in, this time having a Burning Collector on one and two Scions on the other. "Oh boy. Take cover!"
Everyone dove behind something instantly, less than a second before the Scions cannons went of, blue plasma explosions ripping across the platform. David formed an omni-bow and leaned out, firing a bolt into one of the two, then dropped as the bolt exploded, killing it. However, just as it did, several Husks, who had been with the Scions, began to scramble over his and Jack's cover. He swore, forming an omni-shield like the Shadow Broker had used, and began to hold off three of them, flickering several times a second, while Jack blasted two away with a pair of balls of biotic energy. Then, she turned and charged her biotics into her foot and kicked one of the Husks, the biotic energy exploding outward from the kick and obliterating all three. David scrambled up against the wall again, still flickering rapidly.
"David, Burning Collector's dead!" Shepard shouted suddenly.
David winked out of sight instantly, waiting until the Scion's next shot passed before standing and looking around quickly. All that remained was the Scion and one Collector. He fired an omni-bow bolt into the Scion, then a second into the Collector, both exploding and killing them. David sighed as he reappeared and looked to Shepard, who was walking to the Scions' platform with Tali. Jack and David joined them before Jack reached up and deactivated David's helmet in order to kiss him for a moment before pulling back and turning it back on.
"What was that for?" David asked.
"For not dying and leaving me alone again earlier," Jack said.
David smiled. "I'll never leave you alone."
"Get a room you two," Shepard said as the platform detached from the others and drifted toward an opening in the wall around the massive chamber they were floating in.
"I'd say this chamber has plenty of room," Jack said. "Besides, getting a room is what you two do. Me and David are perfectly fine in our hole."
Shepard instantly cleared his throat uncomfortably as Tali groaned in embarrassment, holding her hands to her face.
"It's about time," David chuckled. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Tali said, still sounding uncomfortable and embarrassed. "We don't need to talk about this right now, though."
"EDI, any useful information about what the Collectors are doing?" Shepard asked.
"The tubes are feeding into some kind of super-structure," EDI replied. "It is emitting both organic and non-organic energy signatures. Given these readings, it must be massive."
Just then, they left the tunnel they were in and all stared up at the structure.
"Shepard...if my calculations are correct, the super-structure...is a Reaper," EDI said.
"Not just any Reaper," Shepard said. "A Human Reaper."
"Precisely," EDI said.
"No, he means literally," David said, staring at the massive, mechanical half-skeleton above them. "It's shaped like a human skeleton from about the waist up."
It had a massive sphere in its mouth, a mass effect core in its chest, its hands were rings of metal spikes around an opening, and it had four syringe-like glass tubes above it, Each with a metal plunger depressed inside of them, and each connected to a support cable and attached to the back of the Reaper's shoulders and arms. Just as they saw it, the metal filling the glass tubes retracted, a glowing orange fluid filling them before the metal depressed again, injecting the fluid into the Reaper.
"It appears the Collectors have processed tens of thousands of humans," EDI said. "Significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper."
"How many more?" Shepard asked.
"Millions," EDI said. "Perhaps more. Impossible to know for certain."
"This Reaper appears to be at a very early stage of development," EDI said. "An embryo, in human terms."
"So it's not alive yet?" Shepard asked. "We can still stop it from being...created?"
"The process can be stopped," EDI said, "though it is unclear exactly how much it has developed. I cannot, for example, tell you if it has awareness."
"So, we should expect it to try and kill us just like everything else does," David summarized.
"This thing is an abomination," Shepard said. "EDI, how do we destroy it?"
"The large tubes injecting the fluid area weak structural link," EDI said. "Destroying them should cause the supports to collapse and the Reaper to fall."
"Oh the Collectors are not going to like that," David said, just as several platforms began to approach. "And there they are now."
"Everyone get ready!" Shepard said, drawing his rifle as the others all prepared themselves again.
Then, the shooting began.
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