Author's Note: About the wait...sorry.
Chapter Sixty Nine: Snowflakes at the Beach
"Why the hell can't I drive?" Colt whined. He was looking desperately at the controls of the Tomkah. It felt so wrong not driving an unbreakable, yet unmaneuverable mechanical beast.
"Have you ever driven one of these things before?" The Krogan behind the wheel asked.
"Well...no, but I have tons of experience with a similar vehicle," Shepard couldn't wait to launch their vehicle off a cliff.
"Then you can't drive it," he said. Shepard almost started arguing with him until he got a look that said the Krogan would take no issue with using Shepard's femur as a toothpick. Colt practically ran to the back of the Tomkah.
"Are you pouting?" Liara asked while sitting next to him. He pushed his bottom lip out even further.
"Maybe," Colt stared at his feet in defeat, "I just don't understand why I can't drive."
"I think this demonstration will accurately show why that's a bad idea," Liara started swerving a gloved hand around dramatically. She proceeded to demonstrate a couple of flips, jumps, and rolls before ending the display in a flurry of motion clearly representing a gruesome crash. After a few seconds of everyone looking at her hands forlornly she said, "There were no survivors."
"I feel like that was a bit harsh," Colt grinned.
"A couple times I was convinced the Mako would become my grave," Liara said.
"EDI, make sure the record shows that Liara is jealous of my driving abilities."
"Jealous? Rosebud is a better driver."
Colt smirked, "She's a very capable varren."
Wrex's slightly nervous voice interrupted anymore exchanges between the two, "Sooo Shepard, I...ah...well, you see-," the screech of worn brakes cut him off and put the Tomkah into a full stop. The sudden change of momentum threw Colt into Liara's lap, which made them both giggle like little girls.
"Sorry 'bout that," Colt took his time detangling from her.
"I'm not complaining," the look Liara was giving him almost made Shepard cancel the mission. Treaty and Krogan be damned!
"Are you going to go check?" Wrex asked.
"What? Oh...riiight," Shepard's obvious display of distraction made Liara laugh again. Now he really didn't want to leave. He did though, somehow. "Come on guys," Shepard gestured to Liara and James. "You three stay here," this time he meant Eve, Wrex, and Mordin.
The first thing Shepard saw when he stepped out of the Tomkah was a poisoned sky. Streams of gray and light green poured out of the shroud into Tuchanka's atmosphere. The sky was one of the most disgusting colors Shepard had ever seen; it was a mix of piss yellow and grayish-black. Tuchanka was never a paradise, but it was always habitable...kind of.
Liara and Colt exchanged a look when they saw how things were deteriorating nicely. "Wrex, you and Mordin better stay with Eve. Things aren't looking too good," Shepard said.
"Fine, but hurry," Wrex sounded disappointed. Colt looked around the area for someone who looked like they knew what was happening.
"Hey! What's the hold up?" Shepard walked up towards a Krogan scout.
"The road is out. No way we're going any further," the Krogan pointed at missing bits of road.
"See, if I was allowed to drive then I could sail these Tomkahs right over that. No problem," Shepard nodded and rubbed his chin to appear he was very knowledgeable in this area of expertise.
"The sad part is that I believe you could do it," Liara was observing in a very scientific manner as well.
"Mhhhmm, mmmhhmm," James had joined in on the thoughtful beard stroking.
"Turian wing Artemic, this is Shepard. We've been delayed, you're gonna need to pull off your attack," Colt knew it was too late. He could hear the roar of the turian's fighters.
"We can't do that, Commander. Our approach is locked. We're here," the turian commander's last words were faded by the fighters flying over them. Shepard watched them for a second and felt a little envy. He always thought it would be cool to fly those little fighters.
"An airstrike won't be enough. They need us," Liara watched the turian unit with similar interest.
"Well...fuck," Colt thought about their options and turned towards the Krogan scout, "I don't care if we have to build a road out of the bodies of our enemies, we're getting down there."
He was about to get a response until the Krogan's eyes widened in surprise. "Shepard!" James yelled. Colt whipped around to see one of the fighters smoking and heading towards them. Why did things like this always happen? Why couldn't it be simple? For once, just once.
"I've lost control! I can't pull up!" Colt watched to make sure it's path was indeed headed towards the Krogan caravan. It was.
...
"I'm sure by now you've realized that biotics are a delicate art," Samara was supposed to be teaching him biotic fighting techniques, not mediating and occasionally throwing out wise words.
"I think biotics are pretty damn fun," Shepard said. This earned him a long, tired sigh.
"I see... Today, I'm going to show you how to summon powerful biotics in the blink of an eye. Really, it's just not a good idea to it at all, but seeing the career path you've chosen, you're probably going to have to," Samara was wrong. Shepard didn't choose this career.
"Fine," Shepard said.
"The first thing you need to do is get into the correct stance. Summoning biotics with a lot of power in a short amount of time puts a strain on your body, a proper stance helps alleviate some stress," Samara remained seated and calm while going through all this. "The next is breathing. You need to take deep breaths, make sure your stomach is the one rising and falling. At this point there's only you and your opponent. Nothing and no one else matters in that moment. Your concentration can't be split between multiple things, that's how you get hurt. Only when you've gotten into the proper stance, are breathing correctly, and completely concentrated should you even think about using biotics. At this point you need to draw in as much energy as possible. Now just feel it flow through you when you've got it built up so you can be sure that you're in control. It's very easy to lose control with this kind of power."
"That sounds like a lot of steps for something that's supposed to take a few seconds," Shepard said.
"That's why you practice. After a little while, you will only need a few seconds," Samara never smiled.
…
"Shepard!" Liara yelled. There was a fighter heading straight for Krogan caravan. They were close enough to be caught in the resulting explosion. Liara thought that running for dear life would be a great option at this point, but Shepard was still. She couldn't just leave him behind. "Commander!"
He shifted his stance and stayed parallel with the fighter. "Shepard?" Liara asked. A horrendous screech emanated from Shepard, making Liara back away and put her hands over her ears. A massive amount of blue energy swirled around the Commander for a fraction of a second before his arms shot up and released it. The deadly mass headed towards the turian fighter and collided violently with it. Liara watched as the outer armor was ripped to shreds before the fuel tank exploded. Flaming pieces and twisted metal rained down on the Tomkahs but caused no real damage. Colt had just saved the entire caravan and the ground team, not to mention the whole mission. His emotions were a scary concoction of disbelief and soul crushing sadness.
"Wrex, this is Shepard. Get the hell out of here; it's too dangerous to stay here!" Shepard's voice had a concerning rough edge to it.
"What's happening?" Wrex's voice was slightly nervous.
"No time to explain, just get out," Shepard was staring at the burning wreckage like he couldn't believe he had done that. Liara had gotten hints here and there through melds and conversations that Colt had absolutely no idea how powerful his biotics were.
The Tomkahs roared to life and sped off. After watching the dust trail behind them, Liara made the discovery that the three were in fact not in the vehicles. Which, only naturally, led to the realization that they were in the middle of Tuchanka with a Reaper and possibly the mother of all Thresher Maws (Liara always did careful research on missions). Things couldn't get much worse.
"Commander, we have to abort. The Reaper is tearing us apart," the same turian voice said.
"Good, save your pilots. We'll find another way," Shepard picked up a few things on the ground while speaking. Despite appearing to be fully functioning, he wasn't. Colt was extremely talented at covering up emotions and carrying on. Liara would've had no idea that he wasn't doing too well if they weren't linked.
"Over there," James pointed to an opening in some scary-looking ruins.
Shepard sighed heavily, "Why can't we ever take routes through yellow fields filled with puppies and happiness?"
"That wouldn't be any fun," James said. The group had already reached the entrance. It was pitch black inside.
"I don't think you understand how fun puppies are. They're like a trillion times better than this," Shepard's light on his gun lit up a few feet in front of them.
"Shepard, where are you guys?" Wrex interrupted any rebuke from James.
"Underground...I don't suppose this would be a great time to reveal that I'm claustrophobic," Shepard shivered a little. It came as a shocker that everyone didn't know that. Liara sometimes forgot that not everyone knew Shepard so well. "Anyways, the turians had to abort. We'll have to figure out a new plan," he was panning his light against the walls. There were sections with collapsed walls. The bricks were very primitive.
When his light fell upon paintings, a familiar fire lit in Liara. Protheans were her true passion, but this was certainly interesting. "Hey Wrex, I had no idea Krogan were capable of self expression outside of violence," Shepard was looking closely at the paintings.
"Haha, Shepard," Wrex mumbled.
"I didn't know Krogan were able to do something like this. This is a side we've never seen of them. It implies...culture," Liara said, making Shepard laugh heartily. She actually was impressed with the complexities of the paintings.
"Commander, you're in the City of the Ancients," Eve said. Shepard turned and looked at the group. The look on his face told her that this meant nothing to him. She shrugged, she had never heard of this place before.
"How do we get out? Not that I don't enjoy your race's history or ruins, it's just that I don't enjoy dying underground. See what I'm saying?" Shepard was moving rapidly through ruins.
"You'll figure something out Shepard. We'll meet you on the other side," Wrex effectively threw them under the bus.
"Oh thanks guys. I think you're going to be receiving the most useful in a situation gone fubar award," Shepard said sarcastically.
"Do you really want Krogans acting as your navigators?" Wrex asked.
"...Good point. We'll figure it out," Colt searched the walls methodically, but this room was a dead end. The group turned around to head the direction they came from when a tremor rocked the ruins. It was just a tiny earthquake. Colt's stress level shot up, to the point where he was on the verge of fight or flight mode.
As they traveled around, there wasn't a noise besides Shepard's slightly labored breathing. He led them into a part of the ruins that were cleared of rubble. Every few minutes, another tremor would hit. Shepard was almost always clear-headed during missions, but a combination of being underground and the tremors made him panicky. Liara wasn't going to say anything, because he was a magnificent actor and probably appeared to be completely normal. No need to alert James to Shepard's terror or the entire Normandy for that matter.
Twenty minutes into stumbling around blindly, a massive quake hit. It lasted for a maximum of five seconds, but it did its damage. A couple bricks fell from the ceiling, unstable walls finally collapsed, and dust sprinkled down on them. However, the most devastating effect was Shepard's reaction. He stood frozen in the middle of the path, watching the ceiling. Liara walked to his side and put a hand on his armored shoulder. As soon as she did so, he jumped away from her with startling speed. Even though he was wearing a helmet with a tiny eye window, she could see how dilated his pupils were.
"I don't think that was just a quake," Liara said. Shepard was looking at her with uneasiness, like he wasn't quite sure who she was. "Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws is rumored to be in this area," she continued.
"Get moving, Shepard! The last place you wanna be in is underground," Wrex's superpower was making everyone feel even worse about the situation.
"The mother of all thresher maws is underground?" James looked very concerned. Liara would have to talk to Wrex about sensitivity later.
"Let's go," Colt said firmly. He started jogging down the path.
…
First they got to travel underground, then they got to to experience earthquakes/thresher maw tremors while risking a ceiling collapse, and then they found the body of a Rachni. He specifically told the Rachni queen that he never wanted to see her or another Rachni ever again. It was his only condition for setting her free, a rule that he thought would be easy to remember. The only good thing about the Tuchanka mission so far was the number of credits Shepard was finding.
Soon after that fun little Rachni find, Liara had to remind Shepard how he had messed up her life beyond repair. She had talked about how in her younger days she would've spent days, months, maybe even years going through these ruins. She shouldn't have been talking about archaeology in the past tense. It was because of Shepard that she was stuck in a job she disliked, kept from her true passion. He counted his lucky stars everyday that she didn't see her situation as a product of Colt Shepard. That was one reason why he loved her. Liara seemed to have special lenses that only saw the ideal Colt. He hoped that one day he could be the person Liara saw.
Colt took a moment to wonder what the Krogan could've been if they continued down this very cultured path. If they hadn't been uplifted so early, things would've been so different... All thoughts vanished from Shepard's mind when they emerged from the ruins to plant life. Shepard was starting to seriously doubt they would ever find a way out of those damn ruins and now they had not only just done that, but they had also found something previously thought dead in Tuchanka's ecosystem. Plants.
"You're looking at the last bits of hope left on Tuchanka. This was once a world of beauty and given another chance, it can be again," Eve said. She may be taking the most inspirational medal from Shepard's clutches very soon.
"Shepard, the Shroud is still poisoning Tuchanka and the Reaper is still here," Wrex's voice ripped Colt's gaze from the plant life.
"I know, just admiring your planet for once," Colt started running. They needed to meet up with the Krogans again. Reaper forces started to populate the area they were heading through. Shepard prepared his biotics for a charge.
...
"We're right below you," Wrex said. Shepard looked over the edge of the bridge to see the Tomkahs. Krogan statues adorned the stone bridge and made it a little difficult to see around.
"So we'll just toodle on down then," Shepard searched for a way down. Instead of keeping things simple, however, a major tremor made Colt fall straight on his ass.
"KALROS!" Wrex yelled. The roar of the Tomkahs speeding off was cut off by the noise of dirt erupting. Liara and James appeared next to Shepard and together they watched as Kalros ripped the bridge they standing on into two. Her scaly, spiky back ran into the concrete bridge a few feet in front of them. Somehow, the bridge stayed standing after the massive hit. The three watched with shocked eyes as the thresher maw chased the caravan.
Colt looked up at Liara who'd managed to stay upright through the ordeal, "I thought you were messin' with me when you talked about Kalros."
"I wish," Liara responded; she looked as shocked as he felt.
Shepard leaped his feet, "We've got to follow!" He leaped over the ruined part of the bridge and gave chase, careful to not go faster than Liara and James. "Wrex, talk to me," he said. The reply he got was grunt.
"Kalros territorial instinct confirmed. Also Kalros getting close," Mordin confirmed that the Tomkahs were still in one piece.
"Tell us something we don't know," Wrex said. Kalros was still in their view.
"Tomkah iron good for maw's diet," Mordin would never cease to be simultaneously hilarious and interesting.
"Now we know," Colt said. If he was solo, he could've kept up with the caravan and Kalros.
Wrex laughed and said, "Shepard, we'll meet up somewhere ahead once we lose this thing. Let's see how fast this baby can go." Shepard had a slight flashback to when he used to say that while driving the Mako. The three slowed down once they accepted that they couldn't keep up.
"Where are we?" James thoughtfully looked at a Krogan statue. They were in an outdoor circular platform with about ten statues around.
"It appears that we are in an ancient Krogan memorial," Liara said.
"Will this curse us or something bad like that?" Colt was eager to leave.
"Why would it?" Liara wondered.
"Ancient memorials and burial grounds will mess with you for like...forever," he explained.
"Let's leave," James nervously eyeballed a statue.
"Shepard, Wrex driving. Holding up?" Mordin asked. Colt was about to respond positively until he saw a small army of Reaper troops approaching.
"Maybe, how about you?" Colt blew an approaching husk's head clean off.
"Concerned, yet highly entertained. Kalros surprisingly quick and agile. Wrex good driver, though," Mordin said.
"I'm a way better driver than Shepard, salarian," Wrex growled.
"Impossible. Does your driving change people's opinion on physics?" Shepard used a Nova that killed most of the husks around him.
…
"Hurry!" Shepard yelled. It was an awful idea to be in a Tomkah while Kalros was doing her thing; it was suicide to be standing unprotected in her territory. Shepard, Liara, and James were running unprotected in her territory, so maybe they had a chance.
Twenty feet to the Tomkah. Seventeen. Fourteen. Eleven. Shepard felt the vibrations from Kalros moving underground. Nine. Six. Everything was shaking. This was going to be Shepard's final resting place. With any luck, he'd be able to use biotics to save Liara and James. Three. One.
They got to the door. Liara went in first, always. Then James jumped in after. Colt's ears picked up Kalros' path underground. She would be surfacing in seconds, so Shepard leaped in a vain attempt to live. The thunderous movement of earth indicated that Kalros was about to make her appearance. "We're in! GO!" Colt yelled. He closed his eyes and waited for the thresher maw. Nothing happened, nothing except for the rapid acceleration from the Tomkah.
"Wreav possibly alive," Mordin's words momentarily confused Shepard. Then it dawned on him, the Tomkah behind theirs must've been Kalros' target...At least he wouldn't have to kill Wreav now.
"I hope Kalros got em'. He was a pain in the ass," Wrex said. Shepard always admired Wrex for his diplomatic skills, "Anyways, we've got a Reaper to defeat." The five minute ride to the buildings by the Reaper was completely silent. They all knew how pure luck had saved them from Kalros.
James and Liara stepped out first and Shepard jumped out after them. "Ready to kick some ass?" Shepard asked. He got silence as an answer. The two were watching the Reaper with wide eyes. "Commander, we don't have weaponry capable of defeating a Reaper," EDI interjected over the comm. system.
"Odds have never mattered to us much, if ever, but I don't think even we can make it to that tower," Liara turned her intelligent, yet worried gaze on Shepard. Her eyes pleaded with him to just abandon this mission. He grinned at her and shook his head a little.
"We have to cure it. Everything my people will ever be depends on it," Wrex turned his eyes on Colt. His gaze was mostly neutral, but worry and a silent plea were mixed in.
"A Reaper will not stop me, nor would a thousand armies…We are getting to that tower and we are going to cure the genophage," Colt meant every word he said. He was terrified of what it would cost, of what he was going into, of what everyone was going into. Colt had to push on though, he had to do this. He needed to do this for Liara and his friends. They needed a future. He wanted to do this. He could do this. Terror had coursed through his veins before every mission, but he had overcome that and succeeded. Experience told him that he could do it again.
"So how do we defeat it?" James asked the best question of the whole damn mission.
"Sovereign was defeated by an entire Alliance Fleet. We don't have those resources now. We do we have the Krogan, the Normandy, and the ground crew. Is there anything else?" Colt's head was down and he was talking to himself, too quiet for anyone else to hear. "There is always something else. Now let's run through a full li-," he stopped short. His mind had just come up with the solution. "Kalros," this was loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What?" Wrex looked at him like he had finally gone nuts.
"Kalros is our solution," Shepard made eye contact with everyone single one of his companions and smirked at them. They said nothing but they did shoot him incredulous looks. "If we can lure her to the Reaper, she'll distract the damn thing and we'll be able to get into the Shroud," Shepard mapped it out in his mind. The only blurry spot was the luring situation.
"Genius," Mordin blinked quickly at him. Colt thought that he had probably just received the highest honor one could achieve. Forget N7 designation and Spectre induction, being called a genius by one of the most brilliant minds the galaxy was where it was at.
"Thanks Mordin," Colt smiled at him, "Does anyone have an idea on how to get her to the Reaper?"
"Yes," Eve said. "The Shroud is built in an arena devoted to Kalros. The salarians built it there hoping Kalros would protect it. Two Maw hammers are in this arena. If you activate those, she'll come."
"If Tuchanka has a crazy, raging temper, it's Kalros. No one has ever faced her and survived," Wrex sounded concerned for Colt's life for the first time.
"My career has been built on doing suicidal missions. This is just another one that'll turn out just fine," Shepard nodded at Wrex to reassure him more. He turned back to Eve, "How do you know she'll come for that?"
"She'll be attracted to the vibrations the Hammers send out and the Reaper. This is as much her home as ours," Eve said, "She'll defend it with her life."
Wrex chuckled and said, "Everything on this rock knows how to kill and kill well." Shepard couldn't agree more.
"There's a reason I call you Loco, but this just seems like pure insanity," James looked very alarmed at their forming plans. Colt wondered if his expression was similar.
"A Reaper won't stop me," Shepard's voice was a million more times more confident than he felt. He cracked his knuckles and surveyed his friends' faces. If one of them died... "Let's make sure we all get out of this alive, mmmkay? We need to be alive to tell this story. It's gonna be a helluva one."
"Wait," Wrex stepped towards him. "Shepard, you've been nothing but willing to do everything to help my people. And I should've realized that you were on the Krogans' side from the beginning. Doubting you is one of the stupidest things I have done or will ever do," Wrex was probably referring to the moment where he was about two seconds away from snapping Colt's neck back on the Normandy. "You've been a champion to the Krogan people, a friend to Clan Urdnot, and a brother to me. Every Krogan born from now on will know that Shepard means hero!" Colt and Wrex exchanged the manliest of bro handshakes.
A screech from a Rachni interrupted all this emotional stuff. Shepard really needed to figure out why they were on Tuchanka, considering they were supposed to never come back. "Show them what that means, my friend! I'll take care of this!" He upholstered a shotgun and ran towards the Rachni soldiers.
...
The ground team's head cam footage made Traynor sick. The way the cameras shook around made her feel dizzy and unsettled her stomach. For some reason, no else seemed to be affected by watching it... maybe they just didn't show it. She still sat in the Mess Hall with everyone else to watch how the mission was going; however, the majority of the time she looked away and just listened. Traynor only watched when things were getting really intense.
She looked towards the screen just as the Reaper beam hit.
The three's live video streams had come in black, pixilated, and shaky. They only thing they heard was a pretty creative swear word from Shepard, the sound of biotics being used in an explosive manner, and the mechanical noise indicating a Reaper was nearby. For a second they could see the red beam on Shepard's camera and the way it ripped through concrete and metal, throwing debris at the team. Then his screen went completely black. James and Liara's cameras were still functional but unhelpful. Traynor had always imagined that the roar of death would be a little more subtle.
The whole sequence lasted around ten seconds before eerie silence fell. The only noise in the Mess Hall was a whimper from Rosebud, who seemed to know exactly what had happened. Traynor stared at the blank screen wondering when Shepard was going to turn on his alternative camera. Dread started to hit her around the one minute mark of absolute nothingness. It was clear that everyone else felt similar by just looking at their faces. She was quite sure she'd never seen Chakwas look so bad. It didn't help that the poor doctor's omni-tool kept beeping at her.
"Re-routing the live stream to Commander Shepard's alternative camera," EDI's voice made everyone jump. It seemed like they had lived an eternity in this hushed nightmare.
Liara and Vega were starting to move around and trying to stand.
One of the blank screens suddenly flared to life with the image of a very badly damaged arm outlined by bits of concrete. Something had ripped along the Commander's arm revealing long, silver wires mixed in with organic tissue. There was almost no blood or clear oil coming out of the nasty wound. Traynor never realized up until this point how much of Shepard was cybernetics. Normally she would've been sickened by the sight and probably would've run to the bathroom at this point, but something compelled her to stay. A few seconds later, she found out why.
"Shepard, can you hear me?" Chakwas urgently barked out. There was no reply. She asked again with the same results.
Green code shimmered through his skin every few seconds. The severed pieces of wire stayed light green and started to regrow. Pieces that were torn from each other connected again and increased in size. His organic muscle followed suit, joining with cybernetic pieces and other organic tissue. His skin formed together above his healed muscles and closed the wound. There wouldn't be a scar. Traynor thought his healing process had taken around twenty seconds, but it could've been less.
"How much Ryncol did I drink?" Shepard's voice broke the terrified silence. That single sentence saved everyone from utter heartbreak.
"Oh thank God. Shepard it appears as if you got hit with some shrapnel. My omni-tool is also telling me that you have an injury to your left side," Chakwas said.
...
Gradually Shepard became aware of a steady beating. It took him longer than it should've to realize that it was his own heartbeat. Heavy breathing also invaded this shocked moment. A gentle ringing in his ears made it impossible to hear anything else. Shepard allowed the sensations to roll over him comfortably, for this moment was far from uncomfortable. It was like that blissful peace before falling asleep.
He hadn't opened his eyes yet; the experience was too pleasant to ruin. Warmth ran up and down his body in waves. Whispers, nicer than the ones in his dreams, made their way through the ringing. They asked kindly for him to open his eyes, to say something, do anything to indicate he was okay. But he simply wasn't ready to do anything. So he waited there for a lifetime before getting back into the swing of things.
Chakwas's strained voice pulled Shepard out of his bliss. "How much Ryncol did I drink?"
"Oh thank God," she said. Shepard became aware of how everything felt sore. "Some shrapnel hit you, but you avoided the Reaper's beam. My omni-tool is telling me that your left side took the most damage."
"I am a bit sore but there's not much pain. I'm gonna keep going," Shepard started to sit up before letting out a strangled cry from the immense pain coming from his left side. He laid back down on the concrete and let his hand explore what was causing such pain.
Shepard could feel a piece of twisted rebar sticking out of his skin. The part had slid in between two pieces of his armor. Blood and oil made his glove slick and everything sticky. His side quivered from shock and blood loss, making it hard for his steady hand to check the injury further. When he brought his hand back into view, he could see that his glove dripped pale red. Shepard knew that he was in some deep shit.
He already felt cold and light headed from his life draining out on the broken concrete. At this point, he would bleed out very quickly. James and Liara had been separated from him when his biotics launched them back into the building and collapsed the nearest opening, so they couldn't help him for awhile. It would take the better part of an hour to navigate out of the building and Shepard couldn't wait nearly that long.
"I'm gonna take it out," Colt told Chakwas. She had been telling him that the Normandy's medical team would try to get there as fast as they could, again it wouldn't be fast enough.
"Commander, that will lead to more blood loss. Leave it in and be patient," Chakwas's words were reassuring but her voice was like ice. She meant it.
"I'm gonna take it out," he repeated.
"Don't. You. Dare," Chakwas was not playing games with that voice. Shepard gathered the courage to pull it out of him. He hated pulling splinters out and this was like the super splinter.
"It's," Shepard took a breath and wrapped his fingers around the slick metal, "happening." Colt pulled on the rebar and started screaming. He could hear the slurping noise his flesh made and the crackling of his skin being ripped over his screams. The grooves in the cold metal shrapnel made it easier to grip but his hand sometimes still slid off. Colt was aware of only pain, in that moment he experienced no emotions, remembered nothing, and felt no sense of duty.
The piece was finally freed from his side and all the pain just...disappeared. Colt felt completely normal. If not for the fact that his left hand was still hanging onto the rebar, Shepard wouldn't be entirely sure he had been wounded. Perhaps his brain was creating his feeling. He put down the shrapnel and explored his side again. It was slightly damp but there was no wound. There wasn't even scar tissue. Looking at the bloody and oily rebar confirmed that he had been hurt. The cybernetics were good for something after all. He was amazed to see that the rebar was around six inches long. No way had it avoided internal organs. Shepard didn't feel any pain, so he prayed that he had healed internally.
Shepard sat up and looked around for his gun and helmet. Chakwas and Liara were yelling at him, but he ignored them. He was going to finish this mission. His shotgun and helmet were a few feet away. Time to kick some Reaper ass.
"Did you just get hit by a Reaper?" Garrus sounded a little rough.
"Just barely," Shepard answered while putting his helmet back on. He loaded his shotgun and started running towards where this arena was located, unfortunately this was also where the Reaper was. Shepard was so grateful that Liara and James weren't with him. This time he was going solo.
He jumped over a slab of concrete and was suddenly on a battlefield consisting of two players. The Reaper noticed him immediately and turned to face him, its mechanics groaning and screeching. The metal pieces covering its turret came out a few feet and then slid back to reveal the Reaper's iconic laser. "Commander Shepard," its deep voice boomed over the distance between the two. Colt was almost positive that he would never get over these things talking to him.
Shepard took off for the Maw Hammers located under the Reaper. An advantage to being alone was the fact that he could go as fast as his legs would allow. The Reaper's beam hit feet from his location, making Shepard stumble sideways. He jumped behind a massive concrete pillar to rest for a second. He hadn't even considered that the Reaper's laser could rip through that like a hot knife through butter.
Concrete chunks were ripped free and headed towards Shepard. He biotic charged from under the falling pillar and started rushing towards the Reaper again. Its beam was making a path straight for him, so he rolled into cover, waited three seconds, and started running again. This time the red laser came at him sideways and would've chopped him in half if he hadn't of combat rolled forward. Shepard slid behind a statue and concrete circle. The laser was easily ripping through this barrier as well, so Colt pushed forward. He zigzagged and rolled while statues, pillars, and concrete barriers exploded around him.
"I can't believe you're actually doing this," Garrus sounded like his mandible was on the floor.
"Commander, this is Artemic Wing. We'll try to give this thing something else to think about," about a dozen turian fighters flew overhead. The Reaper reared back and started shooting at the fighters. Shepard was all clear, so he bolted for the arena twenty feet ahead of him.
"The hammers will be on your left and right," Traynor said through his comm. She must've pulled up a map of the area. Colt started forward into the circular arena. He could see the paths presumably leading to the hammer. He was about to breath a sigh of relief that he was being ignored by the Reaper and nothing else seemed to be going wrong, until the Reaper's leg stepped inches from him. If he wasn't so efficient at stopping, then he would've been under it's mechanical leg. Seeing the leg so close reminded Shepard how tiny he was compared to the mechanical beast. Colt ran around the leg and continued on. Fiery asteroids starting raining from Tuchanka's polluted sky. Their yellowish tint meant that they were Reaper ground troops. Their sheer size told Shepard they were Brutes.
Clouds of ash and concrete dust rose up from where they crashed. Silence followed. Shepard crept forward slowly, wary of going into those clouds. He adjusted his grip on the shotgun and licked his lips, waiting for a brute. A moment later one charged out of the cloud towards him. Then another. Then another and another. He imagined about three, but in reality there were more than ten. Shepard's changed his tactics from killing them and then activating the Hammers to running from them and activating the hammers on the run.
Shepard flared his biotics and hit the four approaching him with a force meant to move them backwards. His blue wave moved the four back ten feet, allowing an exit to the left. His feet carried him through the opening in record-setting time. The Reaper stepped in front of him again, but Shepard rolled easily from the four-pronged foot. Two Brutes made their way to him and he unloaded on one of them. The first Brute fell in less than thirty seconds; its death let Colt skirt around the other Brute relatively easily.
He ran about ten feet before arriving at the first Hammer. He slammed his fist down on the consol's button. Shepard could feel the ground rumble underneath him. Colt was halfway there.
"How's it coming Mordin? I've activated the first Hammer," Shepard asked.
"Coming along," he answered. That was enough for Colt, so he continued on.
He turned around and found a Brute a few feet from him. The Brute was already at his position before Shepard could do anything. It slammed into Colt's body. Their collision cracked throughout the arena. Shepard's powerful biotic shields went down completely. He stumbled backwards, while cocking his shotgun. A second later he fired four shots into its head, which let him run around the reeling monster.
The last Hammer was one hundred feet across from where he was standing. One hundred feet of pure hell. Commander Shepard took a breath and charged into the fray. The Reaper's damn foot stepped a few feet from his right. Brutes were charging or heading towards him. So basically everything was going to shit. He ran like he never ran before. Everything that wasn't in his direct line of sight blurred. Brutes were tossed away with a biotic hit. Colt was so close to ending this. His heart thundered and blood roared in his ears. Adrenalin pounded through his veins and made him quicker. Ten feet from the Hammer.
The Reaper's red beam appeared right in front of Colt. He couldn't stop but he also didn't want to be decapitated, so he hit the deck. He was able to slide in between the Reaper beam and metal flooring. His feet went first, while the rest of him spread out flat. Shepard's previous momentum carried him all the way to the Hammer's console. Colt jumped up and pressed the button.
Huge, carved pieces of metal or wood pounded into drum-looking things. The Reaper moved restlessly and seemed to forget about Shepard. Colt could feel the ground tremble from the Hammers. The Reaper moved away and crouched low. Kalros's high pitched scream echoed through the arena and made Shepard's bones shake. Dirt moved and churned, indicating Kalros's position. The Reaper's beam followed her movements, but Tuchanka's earth created a shield for her. The Maw exploded out of the dirt and twisted towards her enemy. This was about the same time that Shepard realized he had to get out of this place.
Colt took off towards the Shroud and hopefully out of harm's way. Kalros's screech and the Reaper's mechanical noises battled for loudest as they fought each other. Shepard stumbled around and almost fell from the ground-shaking movements of the giants above him. The Reaper stepped quickly backwards, making Colt fly through the air. Kalros's body fell fifteen feet from where he landed. Shepard rolled onto his stomach and crawled to cover behind a small wall. When Kalros moved, Colt started to run again. Her body had crushed his path, but he improvised and crawled along a fallen pillar.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kalros get slammed against the Shroud. She retreated back into the earth after that devastating hit. Shit. Shit Shit. The Reaper would target Colt now that Kalros wasn't keeping it busy. His worries vanished as soon as he heard her screech. The noise coming from the battle made it clear that she had come up again and was winning. In a few minutes both of their screams went away. It was unclear to Shepard what the outcome was.
...
"Mordin is the cure ready?" Shepard jogged into the Shroud.
"Ready for dispersal," he confirmed. He was typing at some interface, "Eve okay. Back with Wrex."
"That's great news," Shepard said. This was all coming together nicely.
"Controls at top of tower. Must go up. Bad malfunction. Have to do it manually. Only manual control at the top," Mordin told him. Things were not coming together nicely.
"You're not going up there," Shepard grabbed Mordin's arm and pulled him away from the elevator's doors.
Suspicion crept into Mordin's gaze, "Why?"
Wrex mumbled angrily and incoherently in Shepard's communicator. Probably trying to remind Colt of the treaty he signed or to threaten him. "Cuz I'm going," Shepard announced loudly.
Immediately objections went off in his ear. "Shepard, think this through!", "Colt, please don't", "This is not a good idea", "Commander, we still need you. The galaxy needs you", "Think of the fish!", "We're counting on you to win, how is that supposed to happen if you're dead?", "Don't be stupid."
"Enough! This is the right choice... Believe me when I say this is much better than watching me waste away in some hospital bed," Colt's voice caught in his throat. "I-I don't want to spend my last few months being prodded by doctors and watching the galaxy go to hell. Choking down a million pills, getting needles prickled in my arm, and being kept alive with machines. Not...living. My death will be for something. I can go with honor. What more could I ask for?" Colt strode over to the elevator. He whispered to himself, "What more could I ask for?"
"Don't do this," Liara's voice pleaded into his comm. unit. "Please. This doesn't just affect you, Colt. What are we going to do without you? Don't do this to us."
"I am so sick of feeling sick," Shepard hadn't told a soul about how he was feeling, so this must've come as a shocker to them. Liara probably knew how bad he felt lately, but certainly not everyone else. "I feel like shit everyday. No more. This is will be a relief," Shepard adjusted his armor before stepping into the elevator.
Three fingers wrapped tightly around his bicep. "Cured you," Mordin said. Shepard didn't understand what he meant. "Figured out how to make organic tissue recognize cybernetics. Symptoms similar to receiving blood that isn't the correct blood type. Body attacks foreign substance or object. Constant attacks from your body produced harmful substances, damaging kidneys and other organs. Most of the organs in gastrointestinal system only working at seventy percent. Series of shots makes organic tissue accept cybernetics, combat poisons in organs and bloodstream, combine the two tissues. Sorry about not saying earlier. Had to make sure it'd work."
Colt stared at him, "What?"
"True. Too young. Thirty-two, no use throwing life away. Get back to the Normandy and get cured," Mordin stepped onto the elevator. How had things turned so suddenly?
"Wait, you don't have to go up there," Shepard had recovered slightly. "What about the seashells?"
"Do that one day. Live a good life, my friend. You deserve it. Proud to have known you and been a friend. Hope I was as good to you as you were to me," Mordin pressed some controls before Colt could do anything. Goddamn it, they needed to think this through! "Had to be me, someone else might've gotten it wrong," Mordin said before he rose in the elevator. No, this couldn't be happening. This was too fast. They needed to think, to plan. NO! But he couldn't do anything now, not one thing. So he let Mordin go.
...
"Wre-," Colt was cut off by an excited kiss from Wrex. The Krogan pounded Shepard on the back with his giant hand/paw after he pulled his reptilian lips away. "That was surprisingly thorough," he still felt dazed and confused from his Krogan kiss.
"So, do I kiss better an' Liara?" Wrex grinned at him. A new sparkle of hope for his people glinted in his eyes.
"Nothing good will come out of answering that," Shepard winked at Wrex and then Liara. He had made it back to the rendezvous point from the Shroud. He still felt completely dazed.
Eve made her way to Shepard. "Remember when I said that I'd tell you my real name one day? It's Urdnot Bakara," she placed a small crystal in his hand. "You also asked about how I got out of that cave. Well I dug out of it using this and now I'm giving it to you. So you'll always remember that even when things are dark, there's always a way out." Colt stared at the crystal for a minute before turning to the Shroud. He watched the cure disperse through the atmosphere. Mordin's sacrifice now had a face. It seemed like he would need the crystal's reminder now more than ever.
"Liara?" Shepard asked. His arm was stretched out ready to catch a genophage-cure snowflake. He was looking at the destroyed tower that had become Mordin's grave.
"Shepard?" Liara turned towards him.
"What color are these snowflakes?" Shepard caught one and watched it disintegrate on his glove.
"White," Liara answered confusedly. Shepard could've sworn they were red.