Chapter 6: Hell Hath No Fury
It was only a few days and I was already teaching Grunt the glories of lifting. In my last life, not in this verse, I was a pudgy guy. I lost most of it when I was in the hospital. Now I'm making sure that I pump iron as much as possible. Grunt likes it, I made sure to get him Weights that would work on him. At the moment we are heading for Jack's Prison. I had EDI scour the Cerberus Data Banks for any info on her, just to make it as easy as possible. On us that is.
It'll be a few hours till we get there and we are making sure we take it easy. Let our muscles relax for a bit, he was looking at products for krogans. Skin care, underwear, bath products and strangely action figures. I was keeping an eye on him, he's my kid after all.
Rana is currently finishing up on my clone. Though I'm going to wait after we pick up Jack, to open him up. He'll need a name. I went over to him and Rana. "Can you give him a name to latch onto?" She looks tired but nods, "Yeah I can, you have one, I presume?"
I nod, "Garret. It was a favorite of mine when I was a kid." She nodded and went typing. "Hey when you're done with that bit. Go get some sleep, okay?" She nods, types a bit more and gets up. She walks over to the bed on the side of her station.
I shrugged and headed back over to Grunt. He looks up from his sitting spot. "I didn't think that Krogan would need to keep their skin clean. Seems useless.." I sat next to him, "Well it's important to keep a healthy look. The Females on Tuchanka love scars, but they also love a Male who can look good too."
He grunts a bit, "Why should I worry about any female now? I thought I was created to Fight?" I nodded, "You were but what comes after? You won't be fighting forever, and you'll need to look to the future." He grimaced at that, "I think fighting would be better."
"It's certainly easier, Point and shoot, grab and crush. Push button, nuke world." He gave a deep chuckle, "I think I would prefer the up close method." I nodded and continued to look at designs. Thanks to my Spectre status I can gain access to certain techs that wouldn't be available for a few years. Not to mention contacts with Spectre own companies and mercs. I sent messages to a bunch of them to ask for assistance for certain missions that may happen on the fly.
Most said that they'll need time. Others said that they can be there if they are nearby. And the few that don't need a time limit just need a destination. I got a message from the Tankborne, saying that they made it to Tuchanka. They've established themselves in a place called The Old Kiln.
It's a giant Canyon that used to hold the hardest of nuclear engagements. Though the Radiation has gone down by now. I asked several of the nearby groups to assist them in building them up. The Tankborne have made more of themselves.
They are now an even 600. Though they are not the largest of Clans. They are smart enough to make sure they have the armor and weapons. With the groups getting free stuff to not only build up the Tankborne, but also to establish themselves on the planet I gave them full access to every known weapon and new models of mech to help out.
"Captain, we are about to dock with the Prison Ship Purgatory. To docking bay 13-9." I nodded, I got up and changed into my new armor, the N7 Defender Experimental Armor. I managed to get a whole set of them. I haven't had time to change anything for them. But I got one of the new mechs into it.
I've come up with a new name for the mechs, ODIN. Not sure what the acronym is going to be, but who cares at the moment. "EDI get you and Miranda at the airlock." "Of course Shepard." A few minutes later we were waiting for the decom to end.
When it opens we walk to the guards. "Greetings Shepard, as this is a secured facility we can't let you pass without your weapons." I flare biotics, "You think I'm just a trigger?" The door opens behind them. "Men stand down. Shepard, your weapons will be returned to you upon your leaving."
I shook my head, "I'm afraid we're not entering without our weapons." We stare down each other for a good minute till he releants. "Very well, I'm sure we can handle three arm guests." He turns and we follow him. "This facility is made up of 20 levels of self-contained cells. Each one has its own life support system. I've sent a few out into space to prove that they are."
I nod, "How do you pay for all this?" He turns around but keeps walking, "We accept donations from the worlds that they come from." EDI speaks after that, "And if they can't pay?" Wow husky, "If a world can't pay then we will be forced to release the prisoner back to them. At an undisclosed location and time."
I nodded, "I suppose that is one way to make money. What about the worst offenders? Or the ones that the world doesn't want back." He nods, "The ones that pay for them to stay away, we sell to others. There are those who want some payback or another."
We stop at a junction. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm needed elsewhere. You'll find what you need at the end of the hallway." The moment he was out of earshot, I turned on the Squad Coms, "EDI can you hack them?" Her normal voice came on, "Not without a hardline connection. Though I can hack into their communications."
I nod, "I guarantee that shit will hit the fan, So prepare to cause some static." "Yes Shepard" We walked around and headed straight to the room. I didn't even stop to talk to the prisoners on the way. The moment we entered the technician nodded to us and stepped past.
"EDI can this console work?" "No Shepard, it has been severed by the technician that was here." I nod and we head to the door. It opens up and that's when he spoke up. "Sorry Shepard, you're too valuable to let you just walk away. Please enter the Cell."
I shake my head and turn around pulling my Revenant off my back. Soon the door we came in had blue suns filtering in, then they grabbed their heads. "Good job EDI! Move forward!"
The next few minutes was us mowing down any who came towards us. And thanks to EDI we now had control of any bots that came with them. We found the Techie too and shot him in the head. I turned to EDI, "Can you hack here?" She nods, "Yes Shepard, It'll only be a moment. What would you like me to do?"
"Jettison the pods, and turn every mech against the Suns. But don't wake up Jack yet. We should wake her up when we have the place secured." She nods again. I got in contact with Normandy. "Garrus, Bring in the calverley. I want the rest of the squad on this to defend the ship and to make sure no one stops us."
"Got it Shepard, Grunt has been itching to get out." I chuckled and we heard screaming. Soon we were headed to the main yard. The suns were dying left and right. Every so often we would hear the Warden screaming about getting the mechs under control or getting the prisoners back.
Soon we fought the bastard. The Shielding system didn't work like the game. It didn't shield both sides, it only shielded their side. But we put the Warden down and dealt with the rest of the Suns. Pretty soon I was standing in front of Jack's thawing body.
I was alone, the Heavy Mechs were gone too. I took off the restraints, and she pushed me away. She fell to the floor. "Who.. The fuck are you?" I offered a hand, she smacked it away. I shook my head, "I'm Captain Shepard, I need you to kill stuff for me."
She got up and flared her biotics. "And if I say fuck you?" I rolled my eyes, "I say get in line. Look I'll be up front with you. I'm working with Cerberus." She literally snarled, "But I also know what they did to you. So as a bargaining chip, I had them gather every bit of information on you that they had."
She breathed in and let out a quiet fuck. I nodded to the door. She stomped forwards, and a few minutes later she was down in the Hold. I will have to talk to her in a few. But for now.. I'm going to my workshop. After an hour of optimizing my Defender armor.
I went down to the hold and she was there reading the one data pad that we made for her. "The fuck you do you want?" I roll my eyes, "I want you to get outfitted with armor. Something tells me that you think biotics will be enough. It won't."
She grunts, "Just 'cause you're a pussy, doesn't mean I have to be." I stare and she turns to stare back. We stayed like that till she looked away. "What kind of armor would work for me anyway? Every armor I wear is either too heavy or too weak to stand my power outages."
I chuckled, she growled at me, "Tell me did you get armor from a state of the art ship? Or did you get it off some asshole you killed?" She now looked at me curiously. "You're telling me you're willing to waste thousands on me?" I tilt my head, "Thousands?"
She scoffs, "Yeah thousands, I know that the good stuff ain't cheap. I'm not an idiot." I chuckled again. "You must think I'm some Cerberus stooge. I'm Captain John Shepard, Lion of Elysium, First Human Spectre, Hero of the Citadel. I died two years ago and now I'm back. If I want to arm you with the Galaxy's deadliest weapons. I'll make it happen. Now get your Tattooed Ass up to the Armory and get fitted."
I step aside and wait, she smirks and saunters up the stairs. I follow her to the armory, "This is Jacob and Tomas, they'll scan you and find what is best for you." Jacob gave Tom a look and they started to scan her. She stood there arms crossed.
After that they began to fit her out with light armor that will enhance her already powerful abilities. "Please tell me I don't have to wear this shit around the ship?" I shook my head, "You can walk around the ship naked for all I care. But when it's time for the mission, I expect you to be ready."
"Wow, I didn't expect you to be a perv." I sighed, "Jack?" She grinned at me, "Yes Shepard?" My biotics flared, with a hint of purple in them. "You are not the top dog here. You're free to go back to your hidey hole." She scoffs and walks out. I turned to Jacob and Tomas.
"Sorry you had to see that. But thank you for helping out." Jacob nods, "Don't worry about it Shep. I just hope she doesn't blow a hole in the ship. We just got everything working." I nodded and saw Tom thinking, "You okay there Tom?" He looked up, "Yeah, but I have a question?" I gesture for him to ask.
"Have your biotics always been that purple? With the little sparkles?" Jacob started to think too. "Yeah Shepard, has that been before? I don't remember you having that before." I flared up my biotics around my hand. It was a bright purple with said sparkles.
It reminds me of… Xcom. "I don't remember my biotics were like this before my death. Did the Project do anything else?" Jacob shrugged, Tom spoke though. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you were dead for two years."
I sighed, "I'll look into it later. Thanks anyways." I walked out and headed to my cabin. I took a shower and got into bed. I fell asleep a few minutes later. The Purple Sun was there again, The Sun Flares were reaching out. So close I could touch them.
I woke up and shook my head loose from the cobwebs. The cabin door slides open, with Miranda walking in. "Captain? Jacob mentioned that you wanted to talk. I didn't mean to wake you." I got out of bed and checked the time. A few hours, "It's fine Miranda. I just wanted to know did you add anything to the Project when bringing me back to life?"
She thinks for a moment as I gesture to her to sit. I sat on the other side. "I'm sure we didn't use anything beyond the 'normal' projected numbers. Though, bringing someone back to life is beyond anything we've tried before."
I nodded, "I figured, but I've been experiencing some weird dreams and my biotics are turning purple. Bright purple with sparkles." I raised my hand to create a sphere of biotic energy. At the core it was dark blue and it was surrounded by purple.
She pulled out her Tool and began scanning it. "This is very peculiar.. How long has this been going on?" I shrugged, "It wasn't there before, but after my resurrection it started to happen more often than not." She begins to read the data but shakes her head.
"We'll need to study this more but for now it doesn't seem to affect you adversely. I suggest limiting your biotic uses." She stood up, "I'll get this to Professor Solus." She smiled at me, I hope he doesn't die after all I put into him. I smiled back.
She turns and walks out while giving her hips a slight sway. The door slides shut, "Did I read her mind?" I went to the shower and got ready for the rest of the day.
