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POV: Aedon Eyes
It's been just over two weeks since we took care of the Cerberus scouts on Omega. Nyreen had been using their own codes to send reports back to Cerberus so as to delay them. She gave them useless or completely false information that if they even suspected of being true would lead to a lot of their deaths. Something that would loose me absolutely zero sleep, whoever fights for Cerberus deserves to die.
As for these past two weeks the whole of Omega has was told that an attack was coming. We didn't know exactly when but we knew it would be soon which resulted in the bunkers being expanded for the people. Plus, drills for people to become accustomed to getting to the bunkers. Everyone was nervous for what was to come but we knew that we could do it. Hell, Aria was openly taking bets on how long it would take us to expel Cerberus from Omega. I bet on three days.
That may sound cocky and it was but we had two people with the complete controls to the entirety of Omega, Nyreen and myself. We had an entire mercenary company here along with parts of the Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack all frothing at the mouth for Cerberus blood. We knew they were coming and had set up traps practically everywhere they could enter. Plus, we took all the materials that they could possibly want and moved them from where they were and planted them in locations that only Nyreen and Aria knew about. In other words, they were as safe as they could possibly be.
The only thing that eluded me and the leaders of Omega as a whole was the 'why' to all of this. What was the point of attacking us and poking the bear that were the Mercenaries of the galaxy. If Cerberus had the balls to attack Omega then they would provoke the ire of all mercenaries and criminals alike. Not to mention all the people that my group has helped in the past two or so years. Cerberus would create an even bigger target on their backs then before.
For all the Leaders the only reason that we could come up with that made even a lick of sense to me was that Cerberus needed something. As for what that was though was up in the air and everyone had different opinions on what it could be. Nyreen believed that it was our information and possibly me, probably not that bad of a guess. Aria believed it was the people that we housed and that they were looking to experiment on them. I, personally, agreed with Aria but also believed that Cerberus was after the rather large Eezo reserves that Omega housed. We wouldn't know until we dealt with Cerberus.
That was something that we still hadn't fully decided upon. Aria was of the mind of facing them in space and as good of an idea as that was if they were indeed after our people neither Nyreen or myself agreed. Mostly because all of the ships that we had would stand no chance in a pitched battle against Cerberus war ships. If they were able to recreate the Normandy than they had to have a competent Navy at the very least.
Although that idea was thrown out the window when the Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse didn't agree and decided that they would face Cerberus in space. That was completely fine with me all things considered. At the very least they would slow down Cerberus and allow us to get all of our people to the bunkers. That being said, there was no doubt in my mind that they would all die, proabably take a few of the Cerberus ships with them but still would all die.
In the meantime as we waited for Cerberus to attack along with our civilian preparations our soldiers had been worked to the max in training. There has been only one day off and that was yesterday. Everyone took their free time to relax and prepare and I was no different. I was in the middle of my apartment doing stretches and about halfway through my stretches my omni-tool started ringing. Answering it Nyreen's voice came through.
"Cerberus just came through the Relay. The mercenaries are scrambling to their ships and our people are already in the process of getting to the bunkers. Same with those in Aria's territory."
"Where do you need me?" was my immediate question as I made my way to my room and started getting into my armor. Though this time, will all my weapons I had decided to keep the Locust smg, replacing the sawed off. My AR was just too big and heavy for close quarters if that were to happen and the sawed off didn't have that much viability.
"You'll be in command of Sections 1 through 8 but 1-4 will see the immediate fighting. I have Samuel, Ilok, Vrul and Kelli as your lieutenants; Samuel at 1, Vrul at 2, Ilok at 3 and Kelli at 4. However, I need you at Section 3. That Section looks like the one where they'll make their initial entry. I already have teams on the way there and Pequod is coming to get you now."
"Got it. I'll be outside my apartment in a minute or two. School evacuated?" Iris was there at the moment and I wanted to make sure she was okay.
"Almost done, she's safe," she knew exactly who I was talking about.
"Good," and with that I hung up and finished putting on all my weapons and left my apartment. Sure enough Pequod was already there and waiting for me with the Shuttles door already open. This man deserves a raise too.
Hopping into the shuttle and closing the door I smacked the closed door twice and Pequod took off. It was by far the fastest he's ever flown on Omega with me as the passenger but for now it didn't matter to me. He had places to be and I was no doubt just one of the people he had to drive places. No doubt in my mind that he would be extremely busy for however long this invasion lasted.
A couple minutes later spent in silence Pequod lowered the shuttle down and parked it where Section 3 was located. It consisted of most of the shopping district in Aria's territory. A lot of corners and enclosed spaces to fight. Upon arriving Ilok was there already with about 30 of the people that were under my section of our group. All at attention and awaiting my orders.
"This is Section 3 sir," Ilok stated still at attention. "All present and accounted for, this is our comm code and the other is the code for Sections 1-4," he sent me the codes through a message on my omni-tool. Getting the codes I activated the one for all the Sections under my leadership. After that I motioned for the men in front of me to take off their radio's, they did so without a second thought. After they had done that I activated my radio and started talking.
"This is Aedon Wynne, your Commander; listen. I want traps on every entrance and door, and one a couple feet inside each door and entrance. After that try and find things that will slow down their soldiers in areas that will make them easy targets. Marbles, tick tacks, small things to make them loose their balance, anything that can get the job done. Make moving around your areas a god damn nightmare. After that set up ambushes at any place that will give you good sightlines.
Worse comes to worse fall back, we don't want to allow them a beach head but this is Omega, our home turf; we know this place better than they could ever hope to. We lose this area we proceed with asymmetrical warfare, hit and run; don't get bogged down no matter what. Make sure that every inch that they take, if they're even capable, will result in one of theirs dying each time.
Do not be a hero, do not sacrifice yourself unless you absolutely, positively, have to. You have loved ones here, families here. Omega houses all of them and we will protect all of them but you have to be there for them. This my one and only unconditional order to all of you; fight with everything that you have but do not sacrifice yourselves. With that, we fight."
At that I ended my impromptu speech and stared at each and every man and woman in front of me. For a moment they were silent and I could see the shock in some of their faces at my words. However, when that moment ended Ilok barked out 'Attention' and they all immediately went to it. Then they saluted me before I dismissed them and they went about doing what I had ordered them to do.
As they started working Ilok stood by my side and watched them work with me. After a couple minutes I started going over to each one I saw and talked to them. Got to know them better which wasn't exactly the best decision but I didn't care. They were my people and under my leadership, they deserved to be known by me and for them to know me.
While getting to know all the soldiers underneath me I made sure to help with all the preparations. Every trap, every little thing that could make the Cerberus soldiers trip; every single thing that we prepared I made sure to help them do so. For all of our actions I made sure as the commander to lend my own hand. It was only fitting and correct to do.
It was literally the moment that we had finished the traps, almost 45 minutes after we started, that a giant explosion went off. None of us knew the exact location but we all knew that it meant that Cerberus had made their way onto Omega. Looking at the people under my leadership I gave them a solid nod and everyone went to their positions. Linking up with the other sections under me I commanded them to let me know when they were in contact with Cerberus.
As we went to our positions and waited I couldn't help but be a excited. It disgusted me that I was but at the same time my blood was singing with the promise of a true challenge. Fighting with Shepard was always good but a true fight against an invading force was something that I hadn't felt since the Citadel with the Geth. Hunting everyone on Omega was the only thing that surpassed that feeling and that was when I was the Hunter. Now, we were the hunted and I'll be damned if we fail. Cerberus will fail.
Waiting at our positions for Cerberus to make it to us we didn't have to wait long as they opened the main door to the section. As soon as the door opened the trap triggered and exploded outwards towards the Cerberus soldiers. The first three in the front line were completely eviscerated and the three behind them went down with multiple shrapnel wounds on their chest and head. One lived but was instantly taken out by a well placed shot to the head by one of my soldiers.
Then the others stormed through the door only to hit the second trap and be eviscerated themselves. The four of them had been his along with the six others behind them dying from both the shrapnel and the blastwave. When the smoke cleared more Cerberus soldiers came through and all of us opened fire. It was like shooting fish in a barrel; they lined up perfectly for all of us looking towards the main door.
As they came through the main entrance they were cut down in droves to the point that the bodies piled up almost waist high. With literally no cover for them to go anywhere they couldn't make it into the Section from the main door. Which lead to them pulling back and reassessing the situation. Knowing they were looking for an alternate entrance I ordered our people to do the same.
That main door was the only real door that they would've had access too so they would need to make their own entrance. We were a little beind on that arena though as while we looked the Cerberus soldiers breached into one of the stores and found cover inside of it. I wish I had my flamethrower as I would've been able to burn them out.
Luckily though the two of my soldiers who had been in the stall weren't as they were helping remake some traps. Still, Cerberus now had a clean entry into the area but the first wave died incredibly quick. Four grenades plus three Overloads and two Warps simultaneously ripped the eight soldiers into chuncky salsa. It also had the side effect of completely blowing out the stall reducing the cover it provided to an almost zero, still enough for Cerberus to pour through.
We held the line for a few minutes pining them in with our superior cover, biotics and firing lanes; not to mention all the small things in the walkways that made moving for them a bitch. Still, when soldiers with far more armor and shields started pouring in along with a several shield generators I saw the writing on the wall. It got worse too as one of my men in the stall over from me shouted out for help.
Snapping my head in his direction he was lying on his back with a woman in skin tight suit pressing a sword into my soldier's gun. The gun being the only thing that was stopping him from being impaled. Before I could move to help him though Ilok was there and showed exactly why he had been an STG agent. He tore the woman apart methodically and precisely as if he was taking out trash and ended it by disarming her and stabbing her through the chest with her own sword.
As soon as he finished her off I had Sam start hitting pulses every two seconds and the first one showed that one of those sword people was right above me. Rolling forwards immediately upon seeing that I was just fast enough to avoid being skewered from above as the assassin landing where I had just been.
Shooting to my feet I instantly sent a kick at her head and she ducked under it just in time to avoid it. Knowing I was in an vulnerable position with my leg forward like that I pulled it back, her sword scraping against my armor, and kicked out at her face with the same foot and this time it connected sending her flat onto her back. Shooting forward as she jumped back to her feet my fist was already careening towards her face and she had no chance to dodge. My augmetic, right, hand slammed into her mask and shattered it throwing her back onto the ground. I didn't hesitate and pointed my rifle at her face before unloading two shots straight into her face.
With that nusiance dealt this I opened up the frequency for Section three and ordered them to look for infiltrators and assassins. My pulses would help but it wouldn't be long before at least a few got successful and we needed everyone we could spare. Knowing that I ordered a collapsing retreat to the next Section back, 7 I believe. However, I also ordered them to booby trap every single thing that they could before turning off the radio and signalling for Ilok to come over to me. He did so immediately.
"Sir?"
"Take two and get into the vents or just hide, doesn't matter. I want you to set up traps every spot you can but make sure we know where they are and perform hit and run tactics when you can. Your priority though is those shield generators, when you've taken care of them radio me and we'll hit back
"Copy sir."
"Good, just remember. Don't be a hero; we need everyone," he nodded at my words before disappearing to grab two of my soldiers.
As Ilok chose the two that would go with him we slowly made our way to the next section making Cerberus pay for every single inch that they took. Either through the traps that had already been set up or the baubles in the walking lanes that either tripped them or slowed them down. Either way it made them easy targetes to kill and they couldn't exactly carry the shield generators the whole time. It was a bloodbath on their end and we only got three casualties, all none life threatening injuries but they would be out of the fight for a bit.
Finally getting to the entrance of Section 7 after almost a full hour of the Collapsing retreat we all rushed through and I closed the doors behind us. Using the Omega controls the Geth had gifted me to lock down the door tight as hell. They weren't getting through unless they knew Omega's shortcuts or completely blasted their way through. Hoping they wouldn't blast their way through but recognizing that they probably will I ordered everyone to begin setting up traps and sightlines for a fight. The only ones not participating were the injured and the medics attending to them who had already called Pequod for a medivac.
As everyone did that I got in contact with the other Sections under my command. They were doing far better than we had; apparently we had gotten the bulk of the invading force in this area of Omega. With how everything was going in the other Sections too I didn't want them to get flanked from the side because of our failure but ordered them to hold the line for now. They were to set up extra traps though on the areas that could lead to their sections from the one we had failed to protect.
After finishing talking to the other sections I snarled at our failure but buried it. There was no point in getting angry at it, we had been overwhelmed by pure numbers alone and there wasn't a thing we could do about that. No matter how good you are there will be times when you just fail even when you did everything right, that's just life. Lord knows I've failed enough times in my life.
Still, for now while this Section started preparing for the inevitable push from Cerberus I left leaving the closest person I recognized in charge, Greg Sparks. Once he knew he was in charge I went over to Section 1 and helped them repel the token force of Cerberus soldiers who attacked them. Apparently they didn't view this place as a good spot to set up and I couldn't really blame them, it was the entrance to the vents and was a the definition of a chokepoint.
After finishing up there I split the force at Section 1 and sent half to Section seven and the other half stayed put. Once that was done I went to Section 2, there the fighting was a bit more intense but not overly so. Again, it seemed like we had gotten the bulk of the attack from Cerberus but I had no doubt they would send more this way.
The only thing of note that happened there was when an assassin managed to slip past everyone but I followed them the whole way with my pulses. Eventually they jumped out of the corner of a room at me with their sword raised intent on scewering me. I simply spun around, put the barrel of my AR against their helmet and pulled the trigger painting the wall with their brains and blood.
With my inspection of Section 2 done I went back to Section 7 and made my through it to Section 4. Even before I arrived there the shooting and shouting was audible and loud. Sprinting to get into visual with the fighting it ended up that Cerberus had pushed this way almost as hard as they had Section 3 but were fairing a lot better here. The disabled YMIR mechs probably being the reason for that. They were currently hemming in my people but had completely forgotten to check their flank from where I came believing their control of Section 3 prevented it.
Before engaging I radio'd to Section 3 ordering that 10 of the freshest join me in Section 4. Once my order was made I slinked into the shadows and my way to the back of the Cerberus troops in the area. The whole while keeping track of them with my pulses and looking for any soldiers that stood out as possible leaders.
Keeping to the sides of the area and the shadows none of the Cerberus troops noticed me but the few that did get close got dragged into the shadows. A single stab of my knife to the back of their neck silencing them. Leaving the bodies lying there if any other troops stumbled upon them they would just assume they had been killed in the fight until it was too late to realize I was here.
Continuing to slink around the Cerberus troops started to notice that they were loosing more of their soldiers that they should be in this fight and that's exactly what I wanted. When they did realize this one of the soldiers started barking out orders. Orders that I could now hear after hacking the radio of one of the soldiers I had killed. Either way the one who gave the orders was now my target and I sent the Cerberus Radio code to Kelli so she could make the adjustments with her people. As soon as that was done the reinforcements arrived and radio'd me to ask what they should do.
I simply told them to wait for the explosion and stalked closer to the Cerberus lines completely avoiding the six soldiers that had been sent out to hunt me down. Getting as close as possible to the one who had given the orders without getting out of cover I prepped two grenades and an Overload. He was standing right next to a shield generator and I would need to take that out.
Popping out of cover a moment after the Overload was ready I fired it at the generator and scored a direct hit with the grenade in my right hand flying at it and detonating right as it touched the generator destroying it and sending shrapnel into the one in charge. The grenade in my left was in my right a moment later and thrown at the soldier just as quickly detonating right at his feet blowing off his legs from the knees down.
The instant it happened the ten soldiers I had ordered here opened fire. The six soldiers who had been 'hunting' me falling immediately before the rest of the Cerberus soldiers realized they had been flanked. Another moment later Kelli used their moment of distraction to order a biotic bombardment on the middle of the Cerbus forces effectively splitting them off from each other.
Once that happened I did what I did best in a warzone, create chaos. Moving from cover to cover staying in the shadows as best as possible and attacking the ones not paying attention. Of the few times they bunched up too they got an Overload followed by a grenade using up three more grenades for that. The lucky ones died quickly and the unlucky ones died slowly bleeding out. Of the medics that tried to get to them we had no qualms about killing them.
This progressed until we started to completely expunge the invading force pushing them all the way back to the entrance of the Section. I was never idle either; a knife to the throat, a bullet to the brain, grenades, ax to the throat or side, or drained. Any soldier that landed themselves in my sights died quickly and efficiently as possible.
During our routing of the invading force Kelli found herself at my side as we fought like demons. Supporting me and distracting all the soldiers we fought them giving me openings to act that otherwise would've never been there. All of it done with either her gun or biotics and she tore into them almost as much as I did.
When we finally pushed them all the way to the entrance I used the control codes and closed the emergency. They would not be getting in that way without heavy ordinance. With that done I gave the soldiers 10 minutes to rest, recover, and treat any injuries they had and get more ammo. I scrounged the Cerberus soldiers for grenades, I had none left after that fight.
During that time Kelli gave me the rundown on how the men were fairing. Of the 30 they had four needed medivac and another seven were dead, the mechs did a number on them. Other than that they were good and the four that needed medivac would survive. With that information I ordered the ones that had come here with me to stay and reinforce them. After that I got a radio call from both Vrul and Samuel; the Cerberus forces in their areas had been squashed. Getting that update I radio'd Nyreen to give her the info and get an update on the fight overall.
"Nyreen, you copy?"
"Go ahead," there were some shots in the background but that was it.
"Sections 1,2, and 4 held. Section 3 fell but we lost no one. There was too many of them and I wasn't willing to sacrifice my men once they started bringing in their shield generators. We'll take it back soon enough, how goes the rest of the fight?"
"Aria's sections haven't been touched and she's keeping all the civilians safe. My Sections have taken a hit and I've lost 15 of my soldiers and three of my eight Sections. It works in our benefit however, my people are better at hit and run tactics and the others supplementing us are holding the line. Cerberus leadership in my Sections is in disarray from our hit and runs; we'll be taking back the lost Sections within the next couple hours."
"How about Space?"
"Almost a complete loss now but fared a lot better than expected. The mercs managed to scrounge up some of the old mining lasers and jerry rigged them to their ships. Never expected them to work in all honesty but they did and tore through the Cerberus vessels. Took out about a third of the Cerberus ships and from the boarding parties that survived it seems they took out most of the ships carrying their mechs."
The enormity of that statement was palpable over the radio. The mercs may have failed to stop Cerberus from being able to land on Omega but they had dealt one hell of a blow to them. Effectively crippling them in this fight, if Cerberus wanted to do anything they would need to push hard, fast and now. Something that we had stopped them from doing.
As those thoughts raced through my mind I simply told Nyreen that we would hold position for now until Ilok got back to me. When he did we would retake Section 3 and hold down the fort. Also, if she needed reinforcements to ask for them. After that we waited and made sure to set up an assortment of traps around the entrance and any other possible areas they could breach.
After that I made my rounds back to Sections 1, 2, and 7. Section 1 was all quiet with the exception of a group of assassins/infiltrators that had tried to get into the vents. Samuels group brutally took them down and even captured one who was currently knocked out and chained up. Upon seeing the soldier I ordered Samuel to get the prisoner to the brig when he could but that was it.
Section 2 still had some fighting going on but Cerberus had been completely pushed back and it essentially devolved into a stalemate. Each side popping out of cover occasionally to send potshots at the other. Vrul was not happy that he hadn't gotten a proper fight but I assured him that he would get one soon enough.
As for Section 7 when I arrived it was to find Ilok being attended to by one of the medics. He had definitely lost a lot a blood from how pale he was but he was at least alive. A simple look from me and he gestured with his head to the other two were were already patched up but would definitely need medivac.
"Report." I stated looking at Ilok.
"We got the job done and were about to exfil when Dashi showed up. Started cutting down anyone that she set her eyes on before kicking Cerberus out of the Section. We overstayed our welcome though and she came after us… She could have killed us but didn't. Said she wanted to impart another lesson to you and we were to be the messengers."
Just fucking great. Now, of all times Dashi decides to make an appearance while I'm currently dealing with other shit. Cerberus is annoying enough but Dashi showing up now just sets my blood on fire. I wanted to face her and murder her in the most heinous way I could possibly imagine. To make her suffer and hurt, to repay her a thousand fold for everything that she's done but I couldn't let those thoughts overcome me and take control. Reign it in Aedon. Reign i-
"Sir, your on fire," Ilok's voice broke me out of my thoughts and I looked down at my torse. Sure enough, biotic fire flowed around my torso and arms but I'd seen it enough at this point. Happened every time I meditated and I'm trying to learn how to control it better that way. Still, this wasn't an ideal situation at all.
"Dashi say anything else?"
"That you have one hour to come to her before she comes to you. That was 10 minutes ago sir." Sighing I opened my omni-tool and made a direct call to Kelli, Vrul, Samuel, Nyreen and Aria.
"Dashi is here and she wants me," were the first words out of my mouth as soon as the call connected.
"God Fucking Damn it!" "Christ." "Fucking Hell," were the various responses from everyonne as soon as they heard my words.
"We could use her?" Aria stated being the first to voice anything that wasn't swearing or silence.
"Push the fight towards Cerberus? Risky and I'd be in the crossfire too but it could work," I stated starting to think on it. The plan had merit and whenever we fought I always felt stronger so maybe it could work.
"A good Krogan plan if I ever heard one," Vrul stated openly agreeing with the proposed plan. Nyreen didn't look like she agreed but everyone else seemed to at the very least entertaining the idea.
"She'll get annoyed that the fight was interrupted. She'll attack them for sure," I stated and Nyreen finally seemed to accept it.
"You do this, I want backup for you no more than 10 seconds out," I nodded before looking at Kelli and Vrul on the screen.
"Section 3 now," I got stiff nods from both of them before cutting the call.
A couple minutes later both Vrul and Kelli showed up. When they did I informed them that they were to stay back as far as they could and not interfere in the fight at all. If they did, Dashi would take it as an insult and start attacking indiscrininately. Mostly with the intention of going after our people and we couldn't allow that to happen. After getting nods of acknowledgement from both I opened the emergency shutter to Section 3 and walked through.
As I did so I left behind my grenades, AR, det cord, med pack, and all but one extra heat sink for the Locust. Walking forward into the area the entire place was painted in blood and gore and decorated with dead Cerberus bodies. Kelli and Vrul found cover quickly to hide and I kept on walking forward. After a minute of walking I reached the closed doors of the entrance to Section 3 where Dashi was sitting on a crate.
As she saw me approach she stood up from the crate smiling manically at me as she walked towards me. Pulling out her sword on the way she stopped a few feet in front of me and simply stood there. Slowly I took off my helmet hooking it around my wasit and pulled out both my ax and knife holding them in my left and right hands respectively. Each of us stood there in silence and we studied each other, the silence that hung in the air becoming charged.
I do mean that literally as out of the corner of my eyes I saw flames start to appear on my chest and arms. As we stared at each other I noticed that sparks of biotic electricity started sparking and spreading over her arms and torso just like my fire. Guess it was something that happened for strong biotics. However, when she saw the flames on my chest and arms her smile seemed to widen even further. Becoming completely and utterly deranged in excitement.
The silence between us lasted for another second before we moved. Immediately I noticed that this fight was completely different from the others. Each of us were far faster and stronger than we had ever previously been the world around us literally disappearing in a blur as we attacked each other.
My ax met her sword as she tried to cut my neck off and she counted with a punch with her left arm. I wasn't quick enough to intercept or stop it with my knife as she cracked me across the face but I used the momentum from the punch to slice across her leg. We disengaged after that brief exchange and her smile seemed to grow further. She nodded her head to me and shot towards me again.
Diving out of the way of her charge I didn't get out unscathed and felt her knife cut a shallow cut along my side. However, it resulted in exactly what I wanted and now my back was to the entrance of Section 3 and if she followed the pattern she exhibited in other fights it would get the desired result. Sure enough too, she followed the pattern from the previous fights; this was going to hurt.
She shot forward and sent a kick towards my chest and I didn't try to avoid it. Instead I crossed my arms over my chest and took the kick straight to my arms and chest. The power of the kick sent me through the Section 3 entrance door. Exploding out the other side I was immediately stared at by, at least, hundreds of Cerberus soldiers. Thank god for choke points or they would've already overwhelmed us.
However, in that moment as I landed and shot straight back up to my feet the smirk that came to my lips was vicious. Everything was going according to plan as Dashi shot out through the now open door. She stopped a few feet short of me her eyes widening for a second before she began to laugh. Her laugh was loud, deranged and surprisingly approving. It lasted for almost a full minute before she finally reigned herself in and looked directly at me.
"Ohoho, you clever, clever boy. I APPROVE!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth there was a giant explosion of pure biotic energy that emenated from her. The electricity that had once surrounded her torso and arms exploding into full on lightning. Her entire form was encased in that lightning as she seemed to stand up straighter and taller than ever before, her smile becoming far more deranged and manic.
The next moment the entire ground area was covered in cracks as lightning danced off her and even struck a closeby soldier disintigrating him. Feeding off her power I felt my fire grow around me and my smile seemed to almost match hers in excitement but I reigned it in, no point in enjoying this; it just needed to be done. The next moment after her power exploded she was moving at a speed that no one could ever hope to match… It was as if she was lightning. I was far faster than before but nowhere near her.
However, the difference in speed between us mattered little when dealing with the Cerberus troops. She moved like lightning cutting into the swaths of Cerberus troops that surrounded us and I was unstoppable. They screamed, some pleaded, a small few even threw down their weapons but neither of us cared. They had come between out fight, it was only ours, OURS! No, it was planned… reign it in, reign it in.
No matter, the Cerberus soldiers that surrounded us were now prey and we were the hunters. A pair of wolves caged in with nothing but sheep and we would have our fill. We attacked, slashed, stabbed, dismembered, ravaged and gutted everyone in our way… Then Lady Luck seemed to shine upon a random Cerberus trooper.
In my haze of murder I got sloppy and over extended with my knife. The soldier I had meant to skewer dodged out of the way and kneed my wrist. Even with my augmetic hands the power behind the blow forced me to either relinquish my knife or break the metal. That's what it felt like at least, I still needed to learn the exact durability of my metal arms. I was still learning the sensitivity and durability of my new arm.
Either way, the soldier was able to disarm my knife and in that moment he already had a knife in his hand and stabbed it towards my neck. My ax was far to short to get to the spot to protect me in time so I tried to toss my ax towards my neck to stop it. However, in that moment the Collector base repeated itself.
Instead of my normal hand ax being there the haft elongated itself into a polearm and the blade became exponentially bigger with a spear tip appearing at the top. Changing into something that could only be a Halberd. All facilitated by blue/purple biotic power that had golden highlights along it. Still, when it happened I was able to grab onto the elongated haft with both hands and block the attack from the Cerberus soldier who was almost as shocked as I was.
Shutting it out of my mind I smacked him across his mouth with my now elongatged shaft sending him sprawling to the ground. Lifting my newfound Halberd over my head I brought it down on the Cerberus soldier completely bisecting him from the hip. Lifting the new biotic weapon up I couldn't stop the manic grin that stretched across my face. Now, it was time for some new fun but not before picking up and sheathing my knife.
With my new biotic weapon in two hands the fight started to get exponentially more fun. The hand ax and knife combo felt like it was born for me but the Halberd that I now had in my hands felt purely natural. Not in the fact that it was born or made for me but for the fact that it was literally my creation. The halberd was me.
I skewered soldiers with the spear tip, some lighting on fire from my blade. Others I decapitated, multiple at times. Some got their torsos cut off diagonally from the shoulder to the hip dropping dead instantly. Broken necks from the halft cracking them across the chin. Mechs destroyed in one hit. Soldiers lit on fire and screaming; few drained of everything. It all melded together in a haze of violence and mania.
The only thing of any significance that I remembered through the haze was Dashi and what she did a few times. She would throw her sword in a random direction and just appear there a moment later with the sword in hand and taking a swing. Almost like she was teleporting around the area. It was terrifying and magnificent at the same time.
When the haze finally started to subside I was standing above a Cerberus soldier with their helmet off. Electric blue eyes and purple lines etched across their visage as they looked up to me pleadingly. There was no mercy for me to give though, I would recognize what they looked like anywhere; a husk. Whatever Cerberus was doing they were turning their soldiers into pseudo husks. Lifting my halberd I brought it down on their head and turned around.
The entire area was covered in blood, gore, biotic fire and marks that looked like lightning had struck it. There was no one else left alive besides Dashi and myself. Dashi was sitting on a crate resting her hands on top of her sword that's tip rested on the ground. With that she was resting her chin on her hands and giving me a smile. One of endearment and it disgusted me to see that.
"That felt good huh. To just let loose, haven't been able to do that in a while," she stated not moving as she stared me in the eyes.
"Fuck off Dashi," I growled out. My halberd shrinking back down to its hand ax form and I grabbed my knife in my other hand preparing to continue the fight. However, she shook her head and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture.
"I think I will actually. You did exactly what I wanted you to do," she stated standing up and stepping towards me.
As she did her biotic power slammed into me and forced me to a knee. Lightning danced off her at an increased rate until it became a storm of lightning around her slamming into the ground. Every step she took shaking the entirety of Omega and cracking the floor. Then something, an apparition, appeared behind her in the form of a Samurai before disappearing after a moment. She continued to walk towards me and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get up, lifting my head to look at her was hard enough. Stopping in front of me she got down to my level and put a finger on my chin.
"You are now perfect, you just need a little more power before you can truly achieve Essence," she pulled her finger away from my chin and stood up, her biotic power disappearing as soon as she did. "Don't disappoint me, our next meeting will be our last. It will be a battle that will be sung about for millenia and never be forgotten." I stared at her silently as she smiled before curiosity burned in my mind.
"How were you teleporting?" She widened her eyes for a moment before her endearing smile came back.
"Decades of practice and an unshakable bond with my weapon. I expect you to figure out the rest yourself."
Then she walked away disappearing after a minute. I just watched her the whole way thinking on her words and everything that happened. Fucking hell this was a mess, but at least Cerberus had been eliminated in this area. Almost completely eliminated, there were still pockets in the other Sections.
Sighing I pushed myself to my feet and heard footsteps coming towards me. Looking towards them Vrul and Kelli were walking towards me. Kelli looked fearful but relieved at the same time as she looked upon me. As for Vrul he looked to be about ready to worship the very ground I walked upon. A thought that was proven true once he got close to me and went straight to a knee.
"My Lord," he stated bowing his head. I just sighed.
"Get up Vrul," he did so instantly. "Any development on the other Sections?" I asked looking towards Kelli.
"No boss but it seems that I've been given a name. Picked it up from the Cerberus comms," I raised an eyebrow silently telling her to continue. "The Witch."
"A good name… Now, let's get back. We could use some rest and I'm sure Aria's mercs would be more than willing to see some action," they just nodded at my words and followed me as we made our way back to our soldiers.
Hope y'all enjoyed. Dashi is one crazy woman; I honestly can't wait to publish their final fight. Shit will be insane.