turns out omni-tool has a hyphen in it lmao
Liara fell to the ground with a dull thud, feeling the impact jar through her legs as she dropped from the hole in the ceiling. Quickly standing back up, she nervously glanced up to the tunnel she had just exited, listening for any hint of pursuing vorcha. Ten, then twenty seconds passed in silence as she caught her breath, trying to slow her heartbeat as she cocked her head to one side and listened intently. When the silence continued, Liara let out a deep sigh before turning to look around her new environment.
This new room seemed of similar construction to the chamber she had just escaped, with smooth stone walls curving around the room and a vaulted ceiling twenty feet above. To her right, a delicately carved archway stood as an exit to the chamber, exiting out into a darkened hallway. Continuing to spin in place to fully inspect her surroundings, Liara looked over her shoulder before stopping dumbstruck, mouth falling open and eyes widening in surprise.
Directly in front of her, only ten feet away and located in the very center of this chamber, were four large metal sculptures, each a good eight feet tall and spread out in a square roughly six feet across. Each of these sculptures resembled a spire of brushed steel accented by neon teal lines across each surface, simply constructed yet elegantly swooping up to their full height.
Between all of this, floating in midair at chest height and slowly rotating on its own volition, was what could only be a Prothean artifact. The artifact was similar in construction and shape to the sculptures around it, made of a single rectangular chunk of steel that halfway up it's length began to curve, ripple, and sweep around itself until it almost resembled a metal flame. This artifact was much smaller than the other four sculptures, only six inches in length, and threaded through the top of it was what appeared to be a thin chain that dangled freely towards the ground as the object hovered in place.
Realizing she had been standing in place for going on thirty seconds, Liara blinked and coughed awkwardly, before quickly moving towards the sculptures, omni-tool out to scan for any potential traps or data that could be found. When no information yielded itself on a first inspection, she deactivated the omni-tool and instead chose to examine each sculpture with her own critical eye.
Liara circled the four sculptures, looking for any signifying mark or variation between the four, but after a good five minutes spent checking each sculpture from every imaginable angle she stepped back and brought up her omni-tool again. While she was relatively sure of not only when they had been created but in what Prothean school of artistic thought they fell under, there were no visible variances between the four large sculptures. After photographing the entire room for later reference, Liara deactivated her omni-tool once again before cautiously beginning to step forwards towards the floating object.
As she slowly approached the square formed by the sculptures, she felt nervous energy manifest itself in slight biotic flares at her fingertips as she prepared to raise a barrier in an instant if necessary. Now standing with the tips of her boots toeing the very edge of the square, Liara rolled her shoulders back and took a deep breath, letting the air flow in and out, before in a single determined motion she strode into the square and grabbed the floating artifact out of the air.
Fingers wrapped firmly around the cool metal, she quickly stepped backwards out of the square and sank into a half-crouch, eyes up towards the ceiling apprehensively. Silence filled the deadened air of the ancient room as Liara counted away the seconds, until finally she rose up out of the squat, satisfied the room wasn't about to collapse around her or anything else of that unsavory nature.
Her gaze now riveted to the object in her hands, Liara began inspecting every inch of the small sculpture, flipping it this way and that as she ran her fingers delicately across it, searching for any trace of information or mark of the past. Her mind began to kick into overdrive, concocting theories of who could have created these sculptures or why they would have chosen to hide them away in such a difficult location to reach, or perhaps even if this chamber had even been this hidden back when it was built. Brow furrowing in concentration, Liara began to mentally cross-reference the catalogued ruins of Prothean society with her current location in the galaxy in the chance that perhaps this could point to more ruins in the area.
So deep was her focus on this metal sculpture that she didn't notice the gentle sound of shuffling across stone echoing from above her, or even the soft impact of feet on the ground soon after. She did notice, however, when a pair of ragged talons sprang up from behind her and wrapped around her throat.
The sound of metal wheels grinding over rails filled the air as Tali sighed dramatically. "You know, Shepard, when someone says that they're going to the beach that usually means that they're actually going to see the ocean."
Shepard turned her pistol over in her hand, checking to make sure nothing was out of place as she yelled back over the dull roar of air rushing past her, "We saw it for a good two minutes before we came in here, I don't know what you're complaining about." Satisfied with what she saw, she holstered the gun before looking back over towards her teammates. "Plus, Garrus can't even swim so it's not like we're missing out on much."
From behind her, Shepard heard a scoff. "Turians can swim, you know." Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Garrus in a similar process of checking over his various weapons meticulously. Stilling his hands for just a moment, he looked up towards Shepard. "We're really bad at it, sure, but we can if we have to."
To her side, Tali snorted as Shepard huffed out a short chuckle. "Well in that case, remind me to schedule us for a pool party after this one so you can show us how it's done."
Shifting her weight, Shepard took stock of their current situation. The three of them were all currently crammed together into what was essentially a single minecart, leaving barely enough space to move around each other. Tali currently stood at the control panel, which featured little more than a brake and a throttle, and was responsible for the rapid pace at which they moved forwards down the tracks laid into the stone floor.
To the left of the tracks, another set of rails had been set into the ground parallel to their own, making a dual pathway twisting through the underground mines they found themselves moving through. Up above the tracks, rotted catwalks and half-collapsed walkways were all that remained of whatever mining operation had been here at one point, and Shepard counted several places where construction had been forced to wrap around the many stone pillars and stalactites that were scattered across the mine.
A sudden sharp turn broke Shepard's concentration as she was thrown roughly into the side of the cart. She pushed herself back to her feet, rubbing her now sore hip and throwing a glare towards Tali, who made excellent use of her facial mask to pretend she hadn't noticed as the cart continued through the mine at full speed.
Several minutes later, the twisting mine straightened out into a final stretch as the rail line came to a stop a hundred feet ahead. The three felt themselves jerked forwards once again as Tali slapped on the brakes, each of them wincing at the shriek of metal as the cart ever so slowly ground to a halt.
Shepard immediately vaulted out of the cart, landing on the ground in a crouch with her pistol already drawn and eyes alert for danger. Snapping her gaze over to her left, she was met with another empty minecart parked on the second railway. Scanning quickly around the room, however, no other sign of previous occupants of the mine could be seen. As Garrus and Tali climbed out behind her, she straightened up and lowered her pistol before turning to face them. "Alright, listen up," she began, voice hardening with authority. "Somewhere in here is our client, one Doctor T'Soni. We don't know where she is or even who she is, beyond the fact that it's probably safe to assume we're looking for an asari. We also know that this is apparently a 'dangerous situation,' so keep your eyes peeled and guns up."
Tali and Garrus nodded smartly, Tali with her own pistol in hand and Garrus with his rifle already raised. Satisfied, Shepard turned back towards the open mine before them, raising her own pistol as they began to move forwards into the dark. She activated the flashlight on the side of her gun before pausing. "This is still a rescue mission, so make sure no one shoots the doctor, yeah?"
Garrus stepped past her on the right, voice laced with mischief as he replied, "If you're that worried about maiming the client, I'm sure Tali and I can handle it ourselves."
Rolling her eyes, Shepard resumed her movement forwards, grumbling, "Remind me to kick your ass when we get out of here, Vakarian," earning a low chuckle from the turian.
The path ahead continued straight on from the end of the tracks for a decent distance, with small side passages in various states of collapse appearing every couple minutes. Before too long, however, the main body of the mine began to curve and twist, snaking around and becoming more labyrinthine by the minute. Shepard nervously glanced up at the rotted wood beams holding up the rock ceiling above, noting the several cracks in the walls and the intricate patterns of termite damage in the wood. Stepping over a pile of rubble spilling out of a completely caved-in side passage, Shepard muttered darkly, "Well the good news is that this place is so close to collapsing that we might not have to remember the way out."
Moving ever deeper into the mine, Shepard began to feel the familiar rush of nerves start building as they moved through more and more abandoned space. The mines were absolutely silent save for the stomps of boots on stone, which echoed around the rock walls for an uncomfortably long time. Checking over her shoulder, Shepard found herself with a growing sensation that something was off. Theoretically there was at least one living thing in this place, yet absolutely no signs of life were to be found beyond the second minecart they had found abandoned.
Before she could stew too long, Shepard rounded another sharp turn in the tunnel to find herself facing a ten foot tall pile of boulders and rubble, completely blocking the way ahead. Up at the very top of this pile, a faint blue light shone through what appeared to be a gap between the ceiling and the rock pile, maybe a foot wide at most.
"Well, damn." Garrus lowered his rifle as on the other side of Shepard Tali brought up her omni-tool to scan the blockage. "You guys might be able to fit through that, but that is not a turian sized hole."
Turning towards him with a smirk, Shepard lightly elbowed him in the arm. "Shit, Garrus, you going soft on me? I can get you a good work-out routine going, just say the word." Garrus rolled his eyes with a snort before turning back to face the way they came, rifle raised once more. Shepard allowed herself a grin for a few more seconds before turning back towards Tali, her focus on the mission reestablishing itself. "Tali, what you got?"
"Well, we've got a couple options on this one, I think." Tali stepped back a couple feet to scan more of the tunnel as she continued, "If we wanted to be careful for once, we could pretty safely start removing rubble from the pile and work our way from the top down over the next four or five hours." Shepard stared at her silently, a single brow raised until Tali deactivated her omni-tool with a sigh. "Or we could try to remove the big chunks with some biotics and risk getting squished at best and a cave-in at worst."
"Now you're speaking my language." Shepard grinned at the disgusted sound that emanated from Tali's mask as she stepped forwards and holstered her pistol. "Listen, you two just back up so if something goes wrong it'll just be on me."
Tali scoffed, but complied as she and Garrus both took several steps away from the blockage. "'If,' she says."
.Eyes still trained firmly on the empty hallway behind them, Garrus drawled, "I still have a scar from the last 'if' situation, Shepard."
Popping the knuckles across both hands, Shepard stepped up towards the pile of rubble, stopping about ten feet away. "You guys are no fun anymore, you know that?" Without waiting for a response, Shepard flared her biotics, feeling the electric rush of power flow out across her torso and down her arms, before flinging a globule of energy at the largest boulder she could see.
A bassy thwomp filled the air as the energy detonated on impact, infusing the boulder with biotic energy. The blast itself dislodged several rocks in the pile, filling the tunnel with the sound of rocks tumbling to the floor as Shepard stood with her own hands still glowing with power. She closed her eyes, feeling the energy seeping into the stone in front of her as she reached out with both hands, then in one flare of power yanked her hands towards herself.
The tunnel walls shuddered around them as the boulder grated slightly towards Shepard, shaking several more stones out of the pile as more cracks of blue light started to shine through. She took a breath and slid one foot behind her to brace herself as she pulled again, causing the stone to scrape a few more inches forwards as stones over a foot across began tumbling across the floor, narrowly avoiding Shepard as she stood unmoving.
A sudden crack rang out, and then another, and as she opened her eyes Shepard was met with multiple new fissures beginning to spread out across the tunnel walls. From behind her, Tali nervously called out, "Shepard, be careful." Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Tali standing fifteen feet back, nervously wringing her hands together. Behind her, Garrus had turned around to watch as his mandibles flared with apprehension.
Shepard turned back to face the blockage as she squared her stance once again. Biotic energy raced down her arms to pool in her hands once again, but as she prepared to pull she stopped, distracted by a sudden soft, blue glow starting to fill the hallway. Her hands fizzled out as she took a step backwards, moving away from the several points of light appearing across the entire tunnel.
"Tali, what's going on?" Hand rested on her holstered pistol, Shepard turned back towards her team, relieved to see no signs of blue lights further back into the tunnel.
Quickly bringing up her omni-tool, Tali's face lit up with orange light as she scanned the tunnel once again. Only a few seconds later, a sudden snort broke the silence, and as Shepard's brow rose skeptically Tali deactivated her omni-tool. "They're just some sort of fungus, Shepard, you can calm down."
Turning back towards the blocked tunnel ahead of her, Shepard frowned as the multiple points of light resolved into the familiar shape of mushroom caps, scattered all across the tunnel walls and floor. Behind her, Tali continued, "They're reacting to the presence of biotics, somehow. Maybe they're infused with eezo or something?"
Garrus barked out a laugh from the back of the group. "Hear that, Shepard? We can just start taking some fungus with us and leave you back on the ship."
Shepard chuckled as she relaxed her hand on the grip of her pistol. Just as she started to retort with a hilarious quip about biotics growing on cave walls, a choked scream shattered the silence of the mine.
The sound of guns being drawn quickly followed as all three mercenaries whipped around towards the blockage, weapons trained on any potential source of danger. For ten long seconds, absolutely no sound could be heard as Shepard strained her ears for any more screams or signs of life. When no such sound appeared, Shepard slammed her pistol back in it's holster and turned to her team. "We're out of time. You two step back, I'm getting that tunnel open now."
Garrus and Tali instantly complied, both keeping their weapons up as they moved, back to back, a good twenty feet further back into the tunnel. Shepard turned back to face the massive boulder in front of her, still infuriatingly blocking the whole tunnel by itself. Allowing her frustration to flow unchecked for a moment, the tunnel lit up bright blue once again as biotic energy surged and crackled across Shepard's entire body. For a brief moment, everything stood completely still as Shepard took a deep breath. With a sudden exhale, the quiet shattered as Shepard sprang into motion, taking two running steps before leaping into the air with both fists raised high above her. A raw yell tore itself from Shepard's throat as she crested the apex of her leap, and then with a blinding surge of power she slammed into the boulder with all her strength.
The resulting blast of biotic power shattered a good half of the stone on contact, and the following wave of force easily blasted away any smaller stones that surrounded it. Pale blue light flooded the tunnel as the passage beyond was revealed, and Shepard quickly stood to her feet, brushing off chunks of pulverized stone and dirt as she turned back to the rest of her team.
Waving her hand forwards, she yelled, "Alright, let's get moving-". A sudden thwomp rang out through the tunnel, cutting off the end of her sentence. Shepard froze, a sudden surge of apprehension flooding through her as she slowly looked down.
All across the tunnel, the fungus scattered across the floors and walls were glowing a now blinding blue, making the space almost painfully bright. Shepard raised a hand to shield her eyes when suddenly a single mushroom to her right exploded outward with a familiar low pulse of sound, throwing Shepard into the side of the tunnel. Pain jolted down her shoulder as she slammed into the wall with a grunt, and as she looked up the rest of the mushrooms began to flash.
Shepard blinked once numbly. "Ah, shit."
The entire tunnel exploded at once, giving Shepard a split second to be overwhelmed by a blinding flash of blue quickly followed by the loudest biotic bass drop she had ever heard. The rolling wave of force slammed into her, blasting her backwards into the stone so hard she felt it shatter behind her an instant before her head slammed into the stone.
A blinding wave of pain racked through her as her vision blurred out almost completely, every sound bouncing around her head now concerningly muffled. Barely even conscious, all Shepard could comprehend through the fog of pain for several seconds was a vague sense of embarrassment at having her shit thoroughly wrecked by some mushrooms. Faintly, the sound of her name echoed all around her, like some sort of live studio audience chanting the name of the biggest dumbass on the block.
A sudden hand gripped her face, squeezing her cheeks together uncomfortably as a muffled voice said, "Shepard, hold still." Something cold and sticky was spread across her forehead, causing her to wince. Almost immediately, the world sharpened back into focus and the fog in her head died away as she found herself looking up at Garrus, an open medigel container in one hand.
Shepard forced herself to sit up straight, groaning as another wave of pain spiked through her back. "Garrus," she choked out as she swiped the medigel out of his hand, "I will literally kill somebody for you if you never mention this again."
She applied another dose of medigel to the very tender spot at the base of her skull before looking back to Garrus, whose mandibles were quivering with suppressed laughter. He coughed once, then responded with a voice on the verge of cracking into laughter, "I wouldn't dream of it, Shepard. Well at least not for a week or two, maybe."
Behind Garrus, Shepard noticed a brand new conspicuously Shepard-shaped hole in the tunnel wall, through which Tali quickly appeared, almost tripping from how hard she was cackling. "Keelah, Shepard, you almost died to a fungus! A little mushroom in the wall! And not even a poisonous one!" Another wave of giggles racked her body, this time causing her to fully lose her balance on an upturned stone and fall onto her side, laughing all the way.
Shepard tiredly looked back to Garrus, who had started coughing again to poorly mask his own guffaws. Sighing, she looked up to the ceiling as if to ask why she had even hired these assholes in the first place before she slowly pulled herself to her feet.
With a shake of her head to try to clear her mind, she turned to start to take in this new space she had so rudely been blasted into. She blinked as neon blue strips of light came into view, and tilting her head up Shepard's mouth fell open in surprise.
Carved into the wall only five feet away was a large, curved alcove, recessed into the stone around it and just covered in neon blue runes. On either side of the alcove, the wall shot out for two feet before suddenly ending, and Shepard realized that she had accidentally perfectly aimed herself to be shot through the wall into this apparently undiscovered antechamber. She stepped over a piece of rubble and approached the alcove, leaning forwards to try to make out any details.
Shepard very quickly deduced that while the markings covering this wall looked, in her mind, objectively cool as hell, she absolutely had no idea what language they were supposed to be. Brow furrowing, she continued to examine the wall, fingers brushing over where the runes connected, forming sweeping circular lines of blue light. In several places, the markings seemed to be organized into almost spiralled lines of information, and as Shepard took a step back to try to take in the whole picture she realized that everything on the wall seemed to be emanating from a single point on the wall.
"Hey guys, come take a look at this." Behind her, she heard the scrape of stone as Tali and Garrus stood up, still chuckling as they came to stand by her side. "You guys got any idea what this is?"
The three of them stood together for a moment, just taking in the view before them, when another pained yell rang out. Adrenaline shot through Shepard's veins as turned on the spot, alcove completely forgotten. Fighting to keep the panic out of her voice, she took off in a sprint back towards the main tunnel, yelling over her shoulder, "Double time it!"
Shepard squeezed herself back out into the main passage of the mine, immediately leaping over the shattered remains of the pile of stone that had blocked the tunnel. Boots slamming into the ground, Shepard pushed herself to move as quickly as possible, thinking to herself No goddamn way are some mushrooms making me lose a client.
hey guys! guess i should apologize for that old tumblr meme in the last one but i simply will not be editing it out. anyways, this already got way more attention than i thought it was going to get, and everyone commenting about how interested they were in the idea really made my week! i'm personally really pumped to see how this story turns out, so i hope you guys have fun tagging along on the ride! also you might be able to tell from how i write that i think biotics are literally the coolest shit ever.