Disclaimer: I don't own Worm or Mass Effect. They belong to their respective creators, and/or copyright owners. This story is written with no commercial aim in mind. It is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 1: Wrex to the rescue
=KroganDragon=
Part 3
=KroganDragon=
10 April 2011
Brockton Bay
The grenade detonated in a bright flash of light, illuminating the dragon from the inside. Lung's long neck bulged and tore, liberally spraying the roof with liquid fire and steaming viscera. He let out a low whining sound and lost his grip on the roof. Lung's neck snapped back at a sharp angle, showing that while it had been almost completely severed, the spine itself still held, saving him from a proper decapitation. Anything mundane would have been dead from this wound.
A parahuman like Lung on the other hand? I wasn't about to take chances. I jogged through burning gravel until I got to the smoldering edge of the roof and looked at the inferno below.
The bastard was still alive. Credit where credit's due, he was a tough one. I chuckled in appreciation at the sight. Lung was on fire, shaking, still growing and healing at a rapid pace. Such dedication to survival deserved a proper reward, so I let loose with the grenade launcher, aiming at his head. Bursts of light announced every explosion. While there was no shrapnel to increase the range by scything through everyone nearby, the hard light detonating somehow twisted and mangled everything in range. Lung was silent now, yet he kept healing and trying to grow.
That wasn't good. I let the projected weapon dissipate and formed another one. This time, it was an anti-tank missile launcher. I wasn't familiar with that particular model, however, my chosen power was obliging enough to guide me.
Lung twisted in the fire and healed just well enough to let out a quiet growl.
I launched a missile at his mangled face. He tried to protect it with too many limbs. At least two weren't there before. The warhead detonated, cutting through a thin, scaled arm. The explosion slammed him into the ground and managed to extinguish some of the fires burning the alley. Without missing a beat, I sent a second missile at the wannabe Dragon, then a third.
He lost a second arm, then ate a missile to the face.
That should have been it. Just in case, I launched two more missiles at Lung, which should have fried and liquefied what passed for his organs. I could see the warheads penetrate his dark scales, and bite deep into the vulnerable flesh below.
He was dead now, right?
Lung's brutalized body barely twitched now. While it was still on fire, he wasn't growing any longer.
A buzzing swarm descended above the burning alley, indicating that Taylor hadn't done the smart thing and ran like a hungry dragon was at her heels. I wasn't sure if it was commendable or merely foolish. Nevertheless, the kid had my attention now.
With no more shooting and roaring, I could hear sirens in the distance. They were rapidly coming closer too. Either Taylor had the presence of mind to call the PRT, or someone who lived around called it in.
I wondered if it might be for the best to make sure that Lung was gone for good before the local law enforcement arrived. In my experience, usually, those in their line of work had issues with simply getting rid of criminals the old-fashioned way.
On the other hand, Lung's ridiculously small bounty was to bring him in alive. I let go of the power that allowed me to create hard light weapons and looked for something that could knock him out and keep him out. Dozens of options flashed through my mind. The only issue was that I had only a vague idea of what they were supposed to do, and no idea how effective they might be. The same went for any potential drawbacks.
In the end, I went for the familiar. It was cold-related power, or so my mind insisted. I slotted it, and immediately hoarfrost formed around my arms. I knew I could freeze, either solid or encase in ice anything I touched.
Of course, the power I picked would be less than ideal. I grumbled to myself and jumped off the roof, right on Lung's shrinking body. Scales cracked under my feet, and I wasted no time hammering him with a combination of punches that left sizable chunks of his scaled body as frozen lumps. Finally, I grabbed him, ignoring the flames, and willed my power to encase him in ice.
When Armsmaster arrived a few minutes later, he found me proudly standing on a Lung shaped ice statue.
I knew it was a very bad idea, however, I couldn't keep myself from wondering if my next encounter with a villain might result in a proper fight.
=KroganDragon=
Armsmaster felt particularly frustrated tonight. It didn't take a genius, or a thinker for that matter, to figure out that letting an alien warlord with centuries of experience walk around Brockton Bay without close supervision would end in tears. Or, as the case might be, fire.
The power package the Krogan demonstrated during his testing, made it that more essential that he would become a part of the Protectorate or at least consent to their supervision and support. Of course, that same powers all but ensured that none of that would happen unless the alien wanted it to. There were already whispers about Eidolon's second coming, and those made Armsmaster even more frustrated. He felt he was losing his grip on his position, that everything he had been doing as of late was of no real consequences. Other tinkers and regular heroes were leaving him in the dust. That very idea was immensely hard to deal with for someone whose specialty was miniaturization and efficiency. He should have been able to optimize his actions and inventions to at least keep himself relevant, if not as one of the best heroes in the Protectorate. Yet, as of late, Armsmaster felt that all he could do was hang on, and despite his best efforts, lose ground.
The Protectorate hero grits his teeth and did his best to push through his feelings. As a distraction, he listened again to the call received from the alien's phone. A young and scared girl's voice was barely able to explain that she had engaged Lung because he was about to go out and kill kids. It was an inexperienced parahuman, and Armsmaster was ready to bet it was her first night out. She didn't even have a name to give the operator.
No one with even a bit of experience and common sense would engage Lung without a lot of back-ups and a solid plan if they had any choice. She should have called them first, instead of going off half-cocked and ensuring that Lung would escalate. As if that wasn't bad enough, the alien had to come to her rescue, and now, who knew how much of the city would burn!
"Console, I'm seeing the fires. They appear to be contained for the moment." Armsmaster paused. "I'm no longer hearing explosions." That either meant that the alien source of frustration had managed to evade Lung, was now dead, or succeeded where the whole Protectorate ENE failed years ago. Armsmaster wasn't proud that he couldn't decide which outcome he would prefer to find.
"I'm still five minutes out." Miss Militia announced.
"Puppy and I will be there in eight." Assault for once kept his quips to himself.
Less than a minute later, Armsmaster reached a burning alley and jumped off his motorcycle, leaving the vehicle to park itself. He approached the fires with his halberd at the ready and wondered if he had enough counter-measures in place. There was a lot of abnormal insect activity around. Either the Krogan was using a Master power, or more likely, this was because of the foolish kid who started this altercation.
Surprisingly enough, there was much less devastation than expected, especially compared to the last few of Lung's temper tantrums. As far as Armsmaster could see, it was only just this alley and the buildings facing it. And there it was. The hero grimaced and relaxed a fraction when he saw two of the reasons for his frustration. The alien appeared unharmed. The overgrown lizard stood on top of a large ice statue that had a vague resemblance to Lung and met him with a smug toothy grin.
The dark cloud hanging above the burning alley seemed to relax a fraction, and the ominous buzzing quieted.
Closer observation revealed several burned and mangled corpses. Most of them were unrecognizable. Collateral damage and one of the primary reasons, why the Protectorate avoided engaging Lung if at all feasible.
"Situation report." Armsmaster did his best to sound professional in front of the scaly menace.
"A kid engaged this fellow over here." A large foot stomped on the ice statue. "You'll have to ask her why when she decides to come out of the shadows." The alien spoke in a deep contemplative voice. "I decided that I couldn't just stand around and watch him burn the kid to a crisp."
Armsmaster dared to glance to the right. A quick command had his visor switch vision modes, and now he could see a tall, thin form hugging the shadows nearby. Her costume was dark and edgy, something either a villain or a teenager who didn't think things through would come with. Often, there was no much difference after a mistake or two.
His first instinct was to call her out and see if she was a new hero as she told the operator or a villain in the making. Partly due to the alien's presence and in part because of her declaration on record that she thought herself a hero, Armsmaster chose another track.
"That's not a particularly heroic costume." He stated the obvious.
"I know." The girl mumbled. "By the time I figured it out, I had been too far along to change it." She spoke quietly, staying slumped against a brick wall and still keeping to the shadows.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Armsmaster pressed.
"It was Lung." The kid continued in a dejected tone. "He told his minions that they were going to kill kids. Told them to shoot on sight. I couldn't just walk away!" She said that in a louder voice.
Above them, the swarm buzzed louder in agitation.
Armsmaster frowned at that. The girl was the master then.
"Then, instead of calling the PRT, you decided to go after Lung." The hero pointed his halberd at the still-burning street.
"I…" The girl stuttered. "I didn't have a phone…"
"I'll want mine back, thank you very much." The Alien rumbled. "You've got quad, girlie." He chuckled and jumped down from the statue.
"Is he still alive?" Armsmaster glared at the Krogan.
"He was when I froze him. This power shouldn't have killed him." The alien grinned wildly and waved his fingers, which were covered in hoarfrost. "The missiles and grenades should have, but he was a tough bastard. Almost as tough as a Thresher Maw! I haven't faced one on foot since my rite, and that's ancient history!" He boasted happily.
If that thing was tougher than Lung, then Armsmaster hoped it didn't exist in their dimension.
"I would require that you two stay for a proper debriefing. There's also the issue with the dead people." Armsmaster pointed at the bodies.
The Krogan frowned at that.
"That bastard lit up on fire his own Krant. It's not the done thing!"
"That's right." The girl mumbled. "When I attacked them with my insects, Lung eventually lit himself on fire, then exploded to burn them off. He didn't care that his own men were nearby!" In the end, the girl was nearly shrieking.
It was now Armsmaster's turn to frown. What they said sounded in character for Lung, and from what he could observe, the girl wasn't necessary for any state of mind to lie.
"Start from the beginning and tell me everything you recall." He looked at the bug-controlling master. "Begin with your name."
"I haven't decided on one…" The girl mumbled after a few moments of awkward silence. "This was my first night out. I wasn't expecting to run into Lung!"
"As I said, you've got quad. Now, you need some training and common sense, Queenie."
"What did you call me?" The girl turned her head to look at the alien.
"You're controlling insects, like their queen. So Queenie. Or perhaps Rachni? Rachni Queen? What say you?"
=KroganDragon=
Part 4
=KroganDragon=
10 April 2011
Brockton Bay
Taylor stared vacantly at the dinosaur, Cape 53, or whatever that overgrown gecko was. It, he, helped her. He, let's go with that because the toothy dinosaur most certainly sounded like a he, even helped her with Lung. Not only that, he took down Lung. With rockets, explosions, and now, an ice power too.
And all I get is insects, Taylor grumbled in the privacy of her mind. The Protectorate and Armsmaster, yay, apparently knew of the big lizard, and were on friendly enough terms.
Taylor didn't know what to feel. She was pretty sure that all the shaking was because of getting off adrenaline, or so something half-forgotten she had read insisted. It might have been nearly getting barbecued as well. Or the burned bodies she was extremely glad she couldn't see properly.
She was also very happy that she got to stop Lung from hurting kids. That was what heroes did, right?
Taylor glanced at Armsmaster and frowned in the safety of her mask. He didn't seem to think that what she did was right. And the talking gecko! Did he seem to approve of her actions, which should be a good thing, right? And what was quad anyway, and how did he know if she had it or not?
She was aggravated, confused, and all she wanted then and there was to crawl into her bed and forget that most of this night had ever happened.
No, that wasn't really true, was it? Taylor was proud of what she did tonight, even if she indeed needed help at the end.
"You mentioned something about a Rachni War to Dragon?" Armsmaster's words brought Taylor out of her funk, and she began to pay proper attention to her situation. She was very glad for the distraction, though she wasn't going to admit it!
Besides, she wanted to know what Rachni were and why the gecko compared her to one!
"They're complicated. Back in the day, they were the enemy of the Council. The Salarians uplifted my people to fight them, and…" The large lizard glanced at Taylor, "messed it up. It took more than a thousand years after the wars for someone to find and hatch another Rachni egg, a queen. Long story short, instead of killing her, Shepard actually talked to the huge bug! It turned out that her kind indoctrinated by the Reapers, which led to the Rachni Wars."
That large grin, filled with too many large teeth, was back.
"They were very useful during the Reaper Wars, even if they freaked out almost everyone who had to work with them. Imagine a truck-sized bug with powers, a large brood of all stripes, heavy armor, the works! It took only one of them to build and control a huge army!"
Taylor listened to the explanation and was torn. She both found herself hugely fascinated by the idea, and wondering what she could do with some Rachni under her control. Perhaps if she had them, she could have taken down Lung by herself! Then she could be an even better hero! On the other hand, she wasn't sure how to feel about being compared to a truck-sized insect… Either way, she wasn't going to be impolite to the big dinosaur who helped her with Lung. Mom didn't raise a dummy!
"I must say that if you get a bio-tinker power and recreate the Rachni on Earth Bet, the Protectorate and PRT will compel us to act." Armsmaster obviously didn't even want to entertain the idea of what Taylor could do with some of those Rachni.
That was mean!
Taylor caught herself before she could blurt out the sentiment, then frowned. How could you get yourself a bio-tinker power? If it was at all possible, she would like to make herself some Rachni! Wait, where did that come from? How could you get new powers in the first place?! Was the gecko like Eidolon or something? If that was the case, it would be so cool!
"Funny enough, I told the same thing to Shepard when she decided to spare the Rachni Queen and get her into custody. I made her promise that if the situation went to hell, she would be the one leading the clean-up effort."
"That sounds prudent. As long as you don't create self-replicating bio-tinker or tinker creations, the Protectorate and PRT might overlook some of your other actions." Armsmaster grit out and looked pointedly at the Lung-shaped statue.
Those words took Taylor aback. She thought that the dinosaur was a hero! What she just heard painted a somewhat different picture, adding to her confusion.
"You've grown silent girl. Do you like the name?"
"I'm not sure?" The Rachni sounded cool and all, but naming herself after their queens… It sounded both right, yet not necessarily heroic. After all, Armsmaster had a point. Her costume wasn't exactly bright and inspiring.
"Well, there are the harvesters. They're kind of a cross between insectoids and reptiles I think. However, they have some unpleasant connotations."
Taylor's eyes crossed while she was trying to think over the implications and wondered if she could control something like that. The idea of sicking such a thing on Lung was undoubtedly pleasing…
"Not a good name." Armsmaster put down his foot firmly at that.
"Yeah…" Taylor reluctantly agreed. "What he said." She nodded at the hero.
"I still need to take down your statements, and then we need to talk about who will take credit for capturing Lung." Armsmaster continued.
"Elaborate." With that single word, the dinosaur suddenly appeared to be orders of magnitude more threatening.
"Lung is the leader of the ABB. They won't take kindly to his capture and might decide to retaliate. Their only other parahuman is Oni-Lee. Do I need to elaborate, Wrex?" Armsmaster said while looking intently at the dinosaur.
Who had a name too? Taylor was sure she heard it once already! However, her mind had blanketed on it, while she felt relieved to have survived Lung.
"The serial suicide bomber?" If anything, Wrex sounded excited when speaking the name.
Was he looking forward to facing that psycho? What was wrong with the big lizard? Was he thick or something?!
"You're one of the few people who might be all right facing him if you have the right powers. Anyone else in your general vicinity won't be so fortunate. That goes the same for you, girl. If we mention you concerning Lung's capture, you'll become a target."
"While that's true, the mere fact that she is trying to be a hero in this city turns her into a target already. Having a reputation as being one of the people responsible for capturing Lung could help her. Such credentials can make people hesitate, even prevents fights." The toothy grin was back. "A big swarm would help too."
At that, Taylor glanced up at the swarm she had gathered to help Wrex after she called the PRT. On that note, she pulled his phone from the back compartment on her suit and warily walked forward.
"This is yours." Taylor gulped. From up close, the dinosaur looked much larger. All the scars she could see made him look that much scarier. She froze when the huge lizard moved with surprising agility and headed her way.
"That it is. You might think about getting yourself a phone and getting both the PRT and local law enforcement on quick dial. Emergency services as well." Wrex suggested.
Taylor winced again. It was good advice. It was just that, well, it was a phone! Further, you both had to pay for the device itself and its bills…
"Having a way to communicate with the authorities is among the most basic things a new hero or independent parahuman needs," Armsmaster added his wisdom too.
Taylor felt like wilting under their combined scrutiny.
"Phones can be kind of expensive…" She mumbled lamely.
Then the gecko was in front of her and carefully used his clawed fingers to close her hand around the phone she was trying to give back.
"You can keep this one. I'm sure that the PRT and Protectorate won't mind?" He was looking at Armsmaster who shook his head in the negative.
"In that case, I would request that you return with us to the PRT HQ for debriefing and to receive a new phone." The hero announced.
"That is acceptable." With those words, Wrex let go of her hand and took a few steps back.
Taylor blinked at the Case 53. She looked between him and the phone, lost for words. It was kind of nice. No one had done something nice for her in a long time. Including her father, who wasn't there most of the time even after the locker. Even briefly thinking about that, made her shudder.
Despite her swarm, she wasn't paying enough attention to notice the arrival of a couple of PRT vans and the disembarking troopers until they were almost upon them. Taylor jumped at than, almost dropping the phone. Above her, the swarm buzzed in agitation.
"Lesson one, Queenie, always keep an eye on your surroundings. You'll live longer that way." The overgrown gecko dispensed some wisdom.
=KroganDragon=
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