A/N: Halloween is my favourite day of the year. I wrote this as a Halloween story :D It's late because life happened :P
Kralla's Song was not the most glamorous of bars but, as far as locales in Kadara Port went, it was the fanciest of establishments for miles. It was dark and moody, with plenty of shadowy corners for unsavoury types to lurk in, and lurk they did. The bar itself took up a corner of the room, scarred metal surface forming a block that the owner prowled behind. That owner was the husky asari Umi Henon. Currently she stood hunched with her palms braced against the bar surface, carefully watching the handful of people that lounged and slumped and leaned against tables, drinking hard liquor and cool beer or nursing empty cups and bottles. Sara had visited the bar only once before, earlier that morning, and already knew to be wary of Umi. She appeared as most asari did: blue skin, slim built. But Sara had witnessed even a krogan back down when threatened by the fearsome woman, who kept weapons as well as alcohol behind the bar. She was not to be crossed.
Sara's earlier visit to Kralla's had been to meet with the angaran resistance contact Shena, or rather, Reyes Vidal, a distractingly handsome and charming smuggler. She had turned down his offer of help in getting to the disgraced angara Vehn Terev, held in the prison cells beneath the port and awaiting execution for handing over Moshae Sjefer to the Archon. Sara intended to win over Sloane Kelly and going behind her back with whatever plan Reyes had come up with would not do her any favours on that front which meant that Sara was now waiting for an honest to God appointment to meet with Sloane. An appointment to meet with a criminal. The very thought made her bristle from the sheer arrogance.
That was when she had received a recorded audio message from a Rhea Petras, one of Sloane's Outcast minions, requesting Sara meet her at Kralla's (apparently a popular place to meet. Though, probably the only place to meet at the port). Rhea had hinted that if Sara helped her, she could help Sara. And so, for the second time that day Sara found herself in the bar, choosing a table near the door so that she could be easily identified by the Outcast who claimed she would recognize the Pathfinder on seeing her. Sara wasn't sure if she should be flattered or concerned and so settled for a healthy dose of both.
She shifted in her chair and cast yet another glance around the room, wondering if perhaps Rhea was already here and was merely watching the Pathfinder before approaching. It was relatively empty save for a handful of people she suspected were regulars; two Turians, a krogan and a human man, all of which were unlikely to be Rhea (though Sara was basing that assumption on the sound of Rhea's voice alone). None of them sat together. One, a turian, lay slumped across his table still holding his half empty glass. He hadn't moved since Sara had arrived and she was starting to wonder if he might actually be dead. She was just considering pointing this out to Umi when she heard the door of Kralla's rattle open and saw a tall human woman jog down the stairs. She wore cargo trousers and a tank top, showing strong arms inked with swirling black tattoo sleeves. Her skin was olive and a messy braid of thick dark hair snaked between her shoulder blades. A silver bar glinted in one eyebrow, dark eyes homing in on Sara immediately. The woman strode over, heavy boots thudding against the beaten steel floor panels, and dropped into the chair opposite Sara.
"Pathfinder." Not even a smile.
She folded her arms on the worn table top and watched for Sara's reaction. There was a tiny white scar on her chin that had Sara's fingers itching to reach for her own scar beneath her right eyebrow. She fought the urge and flicked her eyes up to meet the woman's gaze.
"Rhea?" She asked, though she already knew.
Rhea nodded once, dark eyes taking in Sara's appearance. "You're smaller than I thought you'd be."
"You're... Bigger," Sara admitted.
A faint smile took the edge off Rhea's serious expression, a flicker of amusement in her eyes, for the briefest of moments, and then she looked grave again. "I wanted to meet you because I think we have a problem out in the Badlands."
Sara was confused. "Why do you want me? Shouldn't Sloane be dealing with it?"
Rhea shook her head. "She has enough problems in the port, a bunch of missing exiles out there is of no concern to her. She won't devote the resources. I've asked."
"Because of the Charlatan?" Sara asked.
"Exactly," Rhea said, leaning forwards on her elbows, dark eyes never leaving Sara's. "I know you want to meet with Sloane, but she's brushing you off. A show of power, her word is law here. But, you help me, I'll convince her to see you sooner rather than later."
"I'm listening," Sara lowered her voice, sensing Rhea didn't want to be overheard. "You mentioned missing exiles?"
Rhea nodded. "I heard rumours in the port of people going missing in the Badlands. At first, I assumed they must just be fighting amongst themselves and getting rid of the bodies in the sulphur pools… I mean, they're exiled by exiles and there's no law out there," she waved a hand as though unchecked murder was of no consequence. "But I looked into it, went out and asked around and I keep hearing the same thing over and over," Rhea jabbed her finger into the table top with each 'over' to emphasize her point. "People are being abducted from their beds, gone without a trace and never heard from again. Always humans from dwellings and camps within the Haarfel area."
"That's not far out from the port," Sara said thoughtfully.
Rhea nodded her agreement before continuing, "one guy claims he saw something, but when I spoke to him, he insisted he saw a monster." It was clear from her expression she didn't believe whatever it was he had told her.
"Monsters are subjective," Sara replied. "Did he say what it looked like?"
"Oh yeah," Rhea lifted one eyebrow and her piercing glinted. "Pitch black skin, tall and spindly with glowing white eyes, claws, the works," she shrugged. "A drunk seeing shadows in the night. The people out there are getting scared. They think they're being hunted."
"Well, that doesn't sound like a disgruntled angara preying on outsiders," Sara muttered. That would have been too easy. "Sloane isn't bothered by this, so why are you?"
Rhea's eyes bored into Sara's, her jaw tensed, relaxed. "Because two days ago my brother, Kit, went missing out in the Haarfel region," she finally spoke. "He was scavenging for parts. There's a lot of mechanical debris out there from us taking on the kett and he finds it himself or trades with the locals, brings it back and sells it on the market here. I can give you his last known location," she was already calling up her omni-tool, not waiting for Sara to answer. "I couldn't find anything, but maybe you can?" She looked up at Sara hopefully.
"I'll do my best," Sara promised, nodding her head once. She could only imagine how she would feel in Rhea's position if Scott went missing and her superiors wouldn't sanction a rescue mission. The thought chilled her to the core. Unlike Rhea, though, Sara would flip them off while dashing to the rescue of her brother. And unlike Rhea, Sara didn't run the risk of potentially fatal repercussions once those same superiors caught up with her. Sara hadn't been in Kadara long but already she knew of Sloane's legendary temper, and her tendency to mount the heads of those who displeased her on pikes around the entrance to the port. She had seen the grisly remains of kett heads, skin sun-baked to taut leather, tongues grotesquely swollen, picked at by buzzing flies. In a matter of days Vehn Terev's head would be joining them.
"Thank you," Rhea said genuinely.
Sara looked down at her omni-tool cuff as it chimed the coordinates landing. "Whatever's hunting people is disabling the tracking on the victims' omni-tools. Monster or not, it's smart," Rhea continued.
"How many people am I looking for?"
Rhea sighed, shook her head and shrugged. "Nine, I think, over the past two months. Could be more, could be less. It's hard to tell out there. And it's already becoming a bit of a legend. I don't know how much of it has been fabricated or exaggerated. Just... Find my brother, please?"
"I'll do my best," Sara repeated sincerely. It was all she could promise. "Don't piss Sloane off too much before I get back to you."
Rhea flashed a smirk and pushed her chair back from the table. "I make no promises there," she said as she climbed to her feet. "Good luck, Pathfinder." She turned and crossed the room without looking back. Sara watched her go, wondering what she had gotten herself into now.
"This place is mental," Liam commented once Sara had finished relating the conversation with Rhea. She had found him in the Kadara market with Vetra and Peebee, presumably up to no good despite lack of evidence to suggest mischief. They had left the bustle of the market place, and returned to the port entrance, climbing a set of stairs to a balcony that gave them some privacy from the crowds while offering views of the Badlands below. It was strangely beautiful from that distance, with its hills and valleys, rugged mountains and bright blue pools of water edged in yellow sulphur.
"The Badlands are dangerous, people go missing all the time," Vetra pointed out.
"This sounds more like they're being preyed on than going regular missing," Peebee said.
"There's a regular missing?" Sara asked, looking sideways at her. Peebee just shrugged.
"You don't seriously think some monster is prowling out there?" Liam asked warily, brows creasing with a mix of confusion and concern.
"I don't know. Andromeda seems to have its fair share of horrors though," Sara said, turning away from the views below and folding her arms. She leaned back against the balcony railing and frowned at the floor.
"Oh, great," Liam threw up one arm and let it drop to his side. "That's me not sleeping tonight."
"So... What are we gonna do?" Peebee asked.
"Head out," Sara said, looking up at her colleagues.
"Now?" Vetra asked.
"Sure, why not?" Sara replied, bright blue eyes flicking from face to face, reading their expressions. They looked troubled. "There's enough daylight left to at least start an investigation."
"True enough," Liam agreed. "I'll ask Gil to get the Nomad ready."
"We really don't have enough intel on this to just go charging in," Vetra said. Sara watched her with one eyebrow raised, waiting. Vetra let the silence draw out, then nudged Sara's shoulder with her knuckles. "Obviously, I'm all in."
Sara grinned up at her. "I knew I could count on you."
Peebee coughed loudly into her fist.
"Yes, and you."
Liam looked at her pointedly and Sara rolled her eyes. "You guys are so needy!" She complained, pushing off from the railing and heading for the stairs that would take them back down into the main area of the port entrance. "Come on, we need to gear up."
A cloud of dust trailed the Nomad, marking its path through the Badlands as its six huge tires churned the earth and spat gravel and dirt into the air. The sky above them was clear and blue, the air warm. Sunlight dappled shadow across the mountains, and yellowing grass rippled in the wind like the surface of the multitude of sulphur-tainted pools and lakes that dotted Kadara's surface. It was hard to think of shadowy monsters hunting settlers in surroundings so…well, pleasant, Sara supposed, though 'Kadara' and 'pleasant' didn't really belong in the same sentence.
"What do you think we'll find out here?" Peebee asked from one of the back seats, leaning forward to speak to Sara and Liam in the front of the vehicle. "Rhea already spoke to everyone and poked around where her brother went missing..."
"Rhea doesn't have a SAM," Sara pointed out without looking back at her.
"True," Peebee agreed thoughtfully, her mind already hopping onto the next train of thought. "I wonder what kind of monster it is...?"
"Maybe a werewolf?" Liam suggested, twisting around in the front passenger seat to grin at her.
"I don't know, sounds more like a vampire to me..." Peebee replied. "Stalking people in the night, taking them away. A werewolf would leave more of a mess."
Vetra sighed loudly, sat beside Peebee. "Have you two been watching horror movies together again?" Her tone tinged with exasperation.
"Got to make our fun somehow!" Liam said cheerfully.
"You don't get enough horror with the kett?" Sara asked, only half joking.
"Surprisingly there's a difference between the fun of horror movies and the literal monsters of Andromeda," Liam told her, facing front once more.
"Tell me you haven't picked a horror movie for our movie night...?" Sara asked him warily. She was definitely up for watching scary movies, but knew it wouldn't be to the taste of some of the other members of her crew.
"I haven't picked a horror movie for our movie night," Liam promised her innocently.
Sara glanced sideways at him. "I don't believe you when you say it like that..."
"I'm wounded, Ryder," Liam said playfully, then shook his head. "No, I'm still figuring that out. Something that'll boost morale and appeal to everyone... It's hard."
"Well, I got your popcorn situation handled, so whenever you're ready let me know," Vetra said.
"Vetra, it's Tempest movie night, not Vetra movie night. He'll let us all know," Peebee spoke slowly, as though explaining to a child.
Vetra looked sideways at her in a way that suggested she was contemplating just how difficult it would be to throw her out of the Nomad while it was still moving.
"We're here!" Sara announced loudly, slowing the Nomad until it came to a graceful halt. They had been driving along a dirt road that followed the base of a hill that sloped sharply upwards until it joined one of several of Kadara's jagged mountains. Off to one side, away from the road and close to the foot of the hill, lay a cluster of brown porous boulders that had most likely come crashing down the mountainside in the distant past. They formed a natural shelter from the elements and beneath them was the remains of Kit's camp site, according to Rhea. It wasn't visible from the road, which had kept it safe from scavengers. Rhea claimed the only items she had taken and brought back to the port was her brother's pistol, and the bag of scrap he had gathered so far.
Sara hit a button on the dash in front of her, and the Nomad doors swung out and up either side of the front seats. She hoisted herself out of the pleasantly cool and clean interior of her transport and dropped down onto dusty ground, wrinkling her nose at the ever-present scent of sulphur carried on muggy air. Already her white-and-blue armour was covered with a thin film of dust. She reached back into the Nomad and retrieved her helmet as the others clambered out of the vehicle and joined her.
She saw Vetra scanning their surroundings with a practiced eye, searching for signs of enemies hidden amongst the crags and scraggly bushes.
Sara kept a hand close to the pistol at her hip as she walked across hard packed dirt and dry grass, heading for the campsite. Her assault rifle was within reach over one shoulder and she held her helmet in her other hand, ready to pull it on and draw a weapon at a moment's notice. She knew that Peebee, while appearing relaxed, was ready to bring up a biotic barrier to protect them, while Liam and Vetra would fall into formation at the first sign of danger. It always paid to be alert in Kadara.
As they neared the rock formation Sara could see there was a crawlspace created by an elongated boulder resting against a squat round boulder. The third boulder butted up against them both creating a space that had only one way in or out. It was big enough to allow Sara to crawl inside on her hands and knees if she so wished. She did not. Instead she crouched at the entrance and switched on the torch on her omni-tool, aiming it inside. White light revealed a crumpled dark blue thermal blanket, kicked aside perhaps in a scuffle, a lantern knocked onto one side, and a small pile of sealed rations. Nothing else.
"Well," Peebee said, crouched beside Sara. "That investigation took all of two seconds, now what?" She stood up and put her hands on her hips, looking at the ground around them as though she might find further clues that Rhea had somehow missed.
Sara turned off her torch and pushed herself to her feet. "SAM, scan for... Anything," she said, pulling on her helmet and swiping on her omni-tool to call up the scanner function.
The others began to fan out around her, glancing over the ground for potential clues and watching the area around themselves for trouble. Sara ignored them as she watched the readouts fed from her scanner to her visor display, information scrolling down the left side, keeping the right clear so that she could still see her surroundings.
She moved slowly, sweeping her arm left and right and watching the readouts, looking for anomalies though she wasn't entirely sure what they might be. She was relying on SAM to ping anything strange.
And he did not disappoint.
"Pathfinder, I detect minute traces of human blood," he announced suddenly, and Sara swept her arm back towards the entrance to Kit's spartan camp site. Sure enough, now highlighted on her display amongst the other jargon, was a line of text that presumably listed the various components of human blood. "Initiative records match it to Christopher Petras."
"Kit," Sara breathed. "Well done, SAM."
Liam heard her speak and made his way over to her, rifle held in front of him across his body, aimed at the ground. "You found something?"
"SAM did," Sara corrected, glancing at him. "Blood. Belongs to Kit."
"So he's wounded?" Liam asked. "Badly?"
Sara shook her head. "I don't think so, there's not much. I wouldn't have seen it if SAM hadn't pointed it out."
"Kadara has recorded no rainfall since Kit was reported missing," SAM spoke through their open comms network for the benefit of all present, "it is possible further samples could be detected at close proximity."
"It could lead us to Kit," Sara said, looking at Liam in surprise. She had taken on the task from Rhea but had never expected she would find anything.
"Like a trail of breadcrumbs," Liam added excitedly.
"It could lead us to whatever took Kit," Vetra corrected Sara as she approached them. "We don't know if he's still alive." She halted just in front of Liam and Sara, looking between them both. "Him, or any of the other missing people. Don't forget that we don't know exactly what we're hunting."
"We also don't know if Kit was taken by anything or left of his own accord," Liam pointed out.
"I really don't think he wandered off and hasn't been checking in just for a laugh," Sara replied drily.
"Hey, I'm not saying it's likely, I'm just... You know, saying," Liam shrugged.
"Less saying and more doing!" Peebee said, bounding over to join the group. "Come on, Ryder, get scanning." She motioned for Sara to hurry up.
Sara lifted one eyebrow, then realized Peebee probably couldn't see it through the tinted glass of her visor. "Right..." She said slowly, dodging around the asari and holding out her scanner once more. "You three keep an eye on our surroundings. I don't want to be jumped by scavengers."
They made slow progress with Sara carefully moving in a grid, following a trail of blood across the hard-packed dirt road towards the foothills of the mountains across the valley from the campsite. The daylight was fading fast, shadows beginning to stretch across the ground as the light took on a golden edge and the temperature steadily dropped.
"This would be so much easier if we knew any good trackers," Liam commented, looking over his shoulder back the way they had come. The Nomad glinted in the dying light, parked by the roadside in the distance, now the size of a toy after they had painstakingly crossed the valley.
"Well, we don't," Sara replied, carefully aiming her scanner at the ground and taking a step forwards.
"It'll be dark soon," Vetra announced, as though the others couldn't sense the rapidly dwindling light source.
"I know, I just... Ugh!" Sara gave a growl of frustration, dropping her arm and staring around herself, at the rocky hill side, at the towering cliff face they had been slowly approaching for the past couple of hours.
"What?" Peebee asked, eyeing her worriedly.
"I can't pick up the rest of the trail," Sara grumbled, reaching up and pulling off her helmet. Her long hair was damp with sweat and she lifted her ponytail to feel the cooling breeze across the back of her neck.
"Well, SAM did say it had been dwindling..." Vetra pointed out fairly. "Maybe the wound sealed? Stopped the blood flow."
"He can't have just disappeared," Sara muttered, ignoring Vetra's comment. She scrutinized the ground in front of herself, crouching down and running her gloved fingers through the grass.
"Unless the monster ate him whole," Peebee suggested.
Liam looked sideways at her, one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, it carried him this far, then unhinged its jaw and swallowed him."
Peebee shrugged. "You don't know, maybe that's exactly what happened!"
"You have got to stop watching those stupid vids," Vetra told them, barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes.
Sara stood up and faced her squad mates. "Spread out and search the area," she ordered. "If we don't find anything within half an hour we'll head back." And Kit and the other victims would remain lost. She didn't need to add that, the others knew already. "Look for anything out of the ordinary. And stay on your guard."
Sara pulled her helmet back on and fastened it as Liam, Peebee and Vetra spread out in a line either side of her with several meters distance between them. Since the last blood spot had pinged on the scanner they had crawled inch by inch in every direction searching for another spot but had found nothing. The trail had ended. It seemed Vetra was right and the wound had sealed, meaning no more blood. But perhaps they could find another trail to follow? Tracks of some kind, maybe. She didn't want to head back to the port empty handed, though at the back of her mind the thought had been there since she agreed to help Rhea. Really, what could they expect to find that Rhea hadn't already considered?
Sara was just bringing her scanner around for another futile sweep of the ground when Peebee called for her attention. "Ryder, over here!"
Sara looked up towards the shout to see Peebee had reached the base of the cliff and was motioning her over. She turned off her scanner and hurried over, followed by Vetra and Liam.
"What've you got?" Sara asked.
"Cave entrance!" Peebee announced excitedly, propping her hands on her hips and grinning. "Looks like it goes pretty deep into the mountain. Absolutely perfect for skulking beasties and their prey."
"Nice work," Sara murmured eyeing up Peebee's find. Viewed from the front it appeared to be a large crack in the rock, much higher than she was tall, but side on she could see it was actually an opening that turned into a long, narrow tunnel. The ground in front of the opening was disturbed. Sara ran the toe of one boot alongside one of the marks.
"Looks like something was dragged here," she remarked. Something heavy had scuffed through dry earth, creating a short trail that ended in the dust that coated the rock floor at the start of the cave entrance.
"Something, or someone?" Vetra asked pointedly.
"That's not even the best part," Peebee told them smugly. She turned on the torch on her omni-tool and aimed it at the ground just inside the opening, where mud gave way to brown rock. Sara crouched as she saw a smudge of discolouration on the ground.
"Blood?" She asked, activating her scanner again. "SAM?"
SAM was quiet for a moment, then, "it is a match for Petras."
Liam gave a low whistle. "Good spot, Peebee."
"I know, I'm thinking of becoming a detective once this whole Archon thing is over," the asari said casually. Sara looked back at her, not entirely sure she was joking.
"We should check this out," she said, rising to her feet.
Vetra heaved a sigh. "I had a feeling you were going to say that."
Peebee eagerly ducked inside first, followed by Liam and Vetra. Sara watched Vetra disappear into the darkness, then squeezed herself through the gap, turning sideways to get inside. Once through she found that, though the corridor was narrow, there was more than enough room either side of herself to walk unhindered, though they would have to move single file. She reached over her shoulder for her assault rifle and flicked on the torch mounted beneath the barrel, bathing the ground at her feet in a white glow.
"How far back does it go?" She asked, raising her voice only enough for Peebee to hear at the head of their line.
"I don't know," Peebee said, and Sara saw the asari's own torch light move as she shrugged. "I just stuck my head in when I saw the gap, I didn't have a proper look."
"And you think you're ready to be a detective?" Liam scoffed.
"Hey, I detected the entrance and the blood," Peebee shot back. "What did you do?"
"Point taken," Liam said.
Sara snorted loudly. "You deserved that."
"You two are like an old married couple at times," Vetra taunted.
"I'd say more like siblings," Sara chuckled, thinking of the way she and Scott mercilessly ribbed each other any chance they got. She felt a pang of sadness, missing her twin terribly.
"There's a drop here, guys," Peebee called back. Sara heard the scuff of boots on rock, then a thud that echoed through an empty space as Peebee's feet hit the floor. The others followed, hopping down from a narrow shelf of Kadara's brown crumbling rock and landing in a small cavern about the size of Sara's quarters back on Tempest. Beams of light danced across uneven rock walls as the group aimed their torches, searching for a way onwards.
"Is this it?" Peebee asked, disappointed.
"No, look," Sara said, torch beam aimed down at the ground across the cavern. There was a small crawlspace, pitch black beyond the cone of her light. She crossed the room and dropped to her knees, leaning down on one elbow and aiming the light through the hole. "There's a sort of corridor. It gets big enough to stand up."
"I really don't think Kit came all this way of his own accord," Peebee said, watching as Sara disappeared through the hole.
"Probably not," Liam agreed.
"Also, small hole at least means your monster is small too," Vetra told them both, before crouching down and wriggling through the hole after Sara.
"That is strangely comforting," Liam said.
"Or not," Peebee replied. "A small monster is kidnapping people and dragging them through a cave system. Maybe it's small enough that you can't see it coming until it's too late, and it must be strong too if it's carrying its prey all this way."
Liam paused as he mulled that over. "Brilliant. Thanks, Peebee. Now I'm creeped out again."
She flashed him an angelic smile.
"Are you two coming?" Vetra hissed from the other side of the hole.
Liam looked at Peebee then gestured to the gap. "After you."
She rolled her eyes and dropped to the floor. "You just wanna stare at my ass."
"Well, actually," Liam replied, getting down onto his knees and pausing to make sure Peebee had moved ahead before he began crawling on his belly after her, "logic says the monster is in the cave ahead of us, so if I go last I'll have a head start on escaping while it chows down on Ryder, then Vetra, then you."
"That's assuming it's already in here," Peebee pointed out. "It could be out hunting, in which case when it comes back it'll eat you first." She climbed to her feet and brushed dirt from her trousers, moving aside so Liam could wriggle free of the hole.
"No, see," he grunted, pulling himself forward on his elbows. "Monsters only come out at night, and it's still day out there."
"A fair point," Peebee conceded, reaching down a hand and helping Liam up.
Sara stared between them both, having been listening to their discussion. "You guys are just..." She paused, trying to find the words.
"Incredible," Vetra deadpanned.
Peebee and Liam turned to find Vetra and Sara stood almost side by side watching them. Beyond the Pathfinder and the turian another corridor of rock stretched away into the darkness, growing wider and higher. The floor was almost smooth, showing signs that water had once flowed through the corridor, but it was long since dry, perhaps had been for millennia.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Liam decided.
Sara and Vetra exchanged a glance, then wordlessly turned as one and began to slowly make their way along the corridor, torch beams fading into the shadows ahead.
"This system goes on forever..." Sara muttered.
"Just think, how many of the mountains in Kadara have similar cave systems?" Peebee mused. "And how many of those systems do you think kett and other nasties could hide in?"
"Oh, you're just a regular ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Sara said sarcastically over her shoulder.
Peebee shrugged and her torch light bobbed. "Thinking aloud."
"Ryder, has SAM found any more blood spots?" Vetra asked.
"No," Sara replied, shaking her head. "But there's only one way forward, so I'd say we're going in the right direction."
"Ah, but now you've jinxed us!" Peebee told her jokingly.
Sara looked back at her. "That's... not actually a thing, you realize?"
"It is," Liam spoke gravely. "It's written in the laws of the universe. Gravity, matter, light, jinxes..." He counted them off on his fingers.
"That's it!" Sara cried suddenly. "I'm officially banning Liam and Peebee from hanging out!"
"Noted..." Vetra commented drily.
"Can she do that?" Peebee asked Liam, faux nervously.
"I don't think so," he replied with a grin.
Vetra halted suddenly, torchbeam aimed high, light strafing slowly wall to wall, illuminating crags and cracks in the uneven surface of the brown rock.
"What is it?" Sara asked, muscles switching from relaxed to tense in a heartbeat as her finger strayed from the trigger guard of her rifle to the trigger itself, brushing it as though to remind herself where it was.
"I thought I saw something," the turian replied quietly, torchlight dancing across the rock walls and ceiling as she searched in vain for whatever had caught her attention.
The group was silent for a beat, staring along the length of the tunnel, then vetra shook her head and shrugged.
"Maybe it was a bat, or something?" Sara suggested, not quite relaxing as she started to move forwards again.
"Or something," Peebee murmured, eyes still roving the shadows.
"Do they even have bats in Andromeda?" Liam asked, and Peebee glanced down at him, shrugging her shoulders.
"Or I'm getting jumpy," Vetra said reasonably. She felt tense crawling through dark tunnels after some unidentified nefarious beasty that was abducting humans and dragging them through its lair to undoubtedly make a meal of them. She wasn't one to get claustrophobic, to feel nerves at the possibility of danger, but even so she was on edge. It was entirely possible someone else's torchlight had caused the shadows to 'move' and her overactive mind had interpreted it as a much more solid something moving.
"Unlikely!" Liam scoffed. "You're cool as a cucumber."
Vetra paused before asking, "What's a 'cucumber'?"
"It's a salad food," Sara explained.
Vetra looked back at Liam. "Really?" She asked, deadpan.
"Yes, but that's also a human saying," he answered, shooting Sara a dark stare, "for someone who is chill all the time."
"Watch out," Sara said, ignoring the look. "The floor's sloping down here." She leaned back into her heels to compensate for the sudden steep slope, grateful for the grip her heavy boots had on the dusty rock floor. She looked up as she reached the bottom and gave an exasperated sigh. The tunnel split in two several meters ahead. She moved forwards as the others slowly made their way down behind her, and swept her torch beam across the ground, searching for clues as to which way they needed to go. But the rock gave no tracks or signs of any kind.
"I did say you'd jinx us..." Peebee spoke from behind her.
Sara merely grunted in response, aiming her torch down first one corridor and then the other, hoping to see a dead end. The cone of white simply showed rock walls marching away into shadow. One seemed narrower with a lower ceiling, but both continued on for some way.
"We'll have to split up," Sara said, turning to face the others.
"I knew you'd say that," Liam grumbled. "Have you not seen many horror movies? That's the worst thing you can do."
"Aw, are you scared?" Sara teased him, flashing a grin that was lost within her helmet.
"Don't worry, I'll keep him safe," Peebee said with a smirk as she propped one hand on her hip.
"I'm a big boy, I can look after myself," Liam replied, squaring his shoulders.
Sara grinned at that. "Okay, you two take the right fork," she said, indicating one tunnel with a nod of her head. "If you find... Whatever it is we're looking for try and hold off on engaging until we can regroup and figure out what it is. Stay in contact."
"Yes ma'am!" Peebee replied, already moving off down the right-hand tunnel.
"Happy hunting," Liam told Sara and Vetra before following the asari. Sara tried not to view it as a prophecy as she turned away and began moving along the second tunnel. There was room enough to stand straight, but the walls were so narrow they had to walk single file. If it came to a fight, they wouldn't be able to manoeuvre at all. Sara hoped things didn't come to that.
"Pathfinder," SAM spoke through their omni-tools so everyone could hear, "the further into the cave system you move, the more interference I am detecting to your comms. Short range communications appear untouched, but connection to anything outside of the mountain is poor. Similarly, it is affecting my ability to detect your surroundings. I am 'blind' as you would put it." Brilliant. No scans available.
"Something is jamming us?" Sara asked, exchanging a look with Vetra.
"I believe so," SAM replied.
"I guess we're on our own, then," Liam's voice spoke into Sara's ear inside her helmet, tinny through the speakers.
"We definitely have company down here," Vetra replied, casting a suspicious look down the length of the tunnel past Sara. She felt watched and it was making her skin crawl.
"Well, there's a cheery thought," Peebee said.
"Let's just keep moving," Sara said with authority. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave."
"Got it," Liam said, and a burst of static announced him closing the channel.
"This place is giving me the creeps," Sara muttered to Vetra.
"You and me both," the turian replied grimly.
Sara hated her field of view being limited to the white beam of light thrown out by her torch, hated the way shadows shifted and rippled across the uneven walls and ceiling around her as she swept the light across the rock. A ceiling that was gradually creeping lower with each step, and walls that were slowly starting to grow narrower. It was making her feel claustrophobic. Her helmet felt stifling but she dare not remove it for fear of whatever cthonic beast might be lurking within the shadows with them. She would cling to whatever protection she could.
A sharp tapping sound made her freeze, and Vetra bumped into the back of her. Sara's torch flicked down towards the sound as a series of rattles echoed through the tunnel. A shard of rock skittered across the ground, having fallen from up high. Her torch jerked upwards, searching for some creature lurking amongst ancient stalactites along the ceiling, long dry. She saw nothing, finally released the breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding.
"I swear," Sara said after a moment, "if I die down here because the ceiling caved in, I'm going to be so mad."
"We can haunt the Tempest together," Vetra said humorously. "Or Sloane, you know, as punishment for not seeing us sooner?" Sara shook her head with a smile and moved onwards, lifting one arm and activating her omni-tool. She opened the channel between herself and Liam and Peebee.
"Comms check!" Sara's voice announced from Peebee and Liam's omni-tools.
"Receiving, loud and clear," Peebee replied. Her torchlight pooled against the wall beside her as she lifted her arm to speak, omni-tool gauntlet filling the corridor with an orange glow, as though they walked through a lava tube. Her torch gleamed bright white, glaring against the rock.
"Nothing to report, yet," Liam added.
"Okay, we'll check in again soon. Ryder out."
"You know," Peebee said, holding out her arm again to illuminate the path ahead, "I'm starting to wonder if these tunnels just go right through the mountain and out the other side."
"If that's the case, we have a long walk ahead," Liam replied.
Peebee huffed out a frustrated sigh. She already felt as though they had been traipsing through the tunnels for days, with nothing to see except dusty brown rock above, below, and at each side. There were no tracks to follow, no sign of any kind of monster... She didn't want to admit it, considering she was on a rescue mission of sorts, but she was bored.
"I spy with my little eye-"
"That's not happening," Liam interrupted.
Peebee sighed again, throwing in a growl of frustration for good measure. They slipped into silence, the only sound their footsteps, echoing strangely in the dark. Chill air caressed Peebee's skin, faintly damp and smelling musty. The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, her torch never able to touch the edge of the shadows.
She was starting to feel hungry now, as well. How long had they been underground? Could have been minutes, or hours, or days already. And Liam had stopped talking to her, though she suspected that was through nerves. He was currently exuding an air of tension, most likely a result of thinking too deeply about their discussion on horror movies.
Peebee uttered yet another bored sigh and began swinging her torch from side to side as she walked until it made her dizzy and she was forced to stop.
"What was that?" Liam asked sharply, halting in his tracks behind her.
"What was what?" Peebee demanded, pausing to turn and look at him.
"I heard something..." Liam looked back the way they had come, torch beam aimed down the tunnel.
"I swear, Liam, if you're just trying to scare me..."
"I'm serious!" Liam insisted, not looking back at her.
Peebee glared at him but said nothing. They both stood staring down the corridor, ears and eyes straining in the darkness. Liam could feel his pulse throbbing in his throat, a feeling of trepidation crawling over him, oil slick and icy cold. He felt hunted, he realized, like he was being watched and could sense the presence of his hunter but couldn't see it.
"There's nothing there, Liam," Peebee grumbled. "Come on." She nudged him in the ribs with one elbow and turned away to continue their trek through the tunnel.
He heard Peebee's startled gasp behind him, but, before he even had time to turn, he felt pain explode inside his skull. Stars burst across his vision and Liam crumpled, one thought pushing through the pain and the encroaching darkness: it found us.
And then he thought of nothing.
"This is ridiculous," Vetra complained, crawling on her hands and knees behind Sara. Their tunnel had seemed to shrink on itself until they were forced to crawl.
"Yeah, but you get to stare at my butt," Sara replied. "I've been told I have a cute butt."
"It's cute that you think so highly of yourself," Vetra shot back.
"Ouch..." Sara chuckled, hearing the teasing tone in the turian's voice. "Okay, stop."
Vetra halted, head tilting inquisitively to one side as Sara stopped ahead of her and sat back on her heels as much as the low ceiling would allow. "What's wrong?"
"I doubt anyone would drag a fully grown man through here," Sara admitted. She had thought the tunnel would open up after a couple of meters, maybe even deposit them into a cavern, but no such luck. They had been crawling for a while with no sign of the end of the tiny tunnel. "And if they did, I'd expect to see signs. I'm not exactly bulky and my helmet's scraped marks along the rock."
"Yeah, and I think I left some skin back there too," Vetra added. Her head still smarted where she had cracked it against a bulge of rock. She rubbed a claw against the bony plating at the top of her head. She had hit it hard and Sara had laughed hysterically for a good minute.
"So, we should head back and meet up with the others." Sara managed to squash herself into a ball and shuffled awkwardly in a circle until she was facing the lanky turian. "Turn around."
Vetra stared at her as though she were mad. "I can't turn around, there's no room!"
"So go backwards," Sara rolled her eyes.
Vera's mandibles twitched in annoyance as she shoved herself backwards, scrambling along the tiny tunnel with as much dignity as she could while Sara stared at her the whole time, most probably with that damn cocky smirk of hers lifting one corner of her mouth. It was much harder going backwards and she was starting to feel out of breath by the time she was free of the confines of that ridiculous tube. Still, while she could finally stand up, she had to hunch her shoulders to avoid hitting her head on the rocky roof.
She watched Sara awkwardly wriggle out at her feet and couldn't help a snort. "Oh, if humanity could see their Pathfinder now..." She teased while stretching her arms out to either side of herself, a luxury after the cramped confines of the previous tunnel.
"Shuttit," Sara muttered, shoving herself up onto her knees and leaving her gun on the ground in front of herself, within easy reach, as she activated her omni-tool. "Comms check," she announced to Liam and Peebee. Orange light reflected off her helmet faceplate as they waited for the reply. And waited. Sara glanced up at vetra, feeling a sense of unease settle heavily in the pit of her stomach. "Comms check," she spoke again. Vetra shifted her weight, watching Sara worriedly.
Sara glanced down at the display on her gauntlet, tapping her finger against the glowing green light that insisted the signal was strong. "Peebee? Liam?" Her stomach tightened as she listened, hoping for a response. And then the green light vanished, to be replaced by the 'signal lost' icon. A chill ran through the Pathfinder. "SAM is something interfering with comms?"
"No, Pathfinder," SAM replied, "there is no response from either Peebee or Liam's omni-tools. They have either been deactivated or destroyed."
Sara snatched up her gun and bolted to her feet. There was no reason they would have turned off their omni-tools, unless they wanted to avoid comms traffic, or being tracked. She dare not consider SAM's second suggestion.
"We need to head back to the fork and go after them," Sara announced, pushing her way passed Vetra and hurrying back along the tunnel.
"I agree," Vetra said, heading after her, "but we're rushing headlong into the unknown."
"That's what we do," Sara replied without slowing. "It's like the Initiative's motto or something."
"Definitely. I just suggest we rush slightly more cautiously."
"Noted."
"There's the fork," Sara called back to Vetra, running now towards the 'end' of the tunnel, where it merged with the one Peebee and Liam had taken, branching off from the tunnel they had followed inside the mountain. She skidded out into the main tunnel, turning the corner too fast to try and maintain her momentum to run along Peebee and Liam's path. Her shoulder crashed into the wall and she stumbled forward a step, gritting her teeth as she felt the impact down her arm.
"So, I guess stealth isn't an option?" Vetra remarked drily, jogging after her.
Sara scowled. Oh, if the Nexus residents could see their precious Pathfinder now, the beacon of hope skulking through narrow tunnels after the missing members of her fireteam that she sent off into danger.
"You're glaring, aren't you?" Vetra chuckled, reading the sulky set of the human's shoulders.
"Come on," Sara muttered, stalking off along the corridor and only just suppressing the urge to rub her aching shoulder.
They continued in silence, a sense of unease falling over them both like a stifling blanket. The thing they had been attempting to follow had apparently been following them. Or, at least, it had been following Peebee and Liam and now they were MIA... Sara prayed to every deity she had ever heard of that she wasn't about to find her friends sprawled dead in the tunnel...
Something glinted in the distance, causing Sara to freeze and bring her gun to her shoulder.
"What is it?" Vetra asked, adjusting her grip on her own weapon as Sara hesitated.
"Not sure..." The Pathfinder murmured, inching forwards. Her torch was reflecting off something metallic, something on the floor just on the edge of the beam of light. Her brain struggled to make sense of the shape at first, but then she understood. "I think it's a gun." Sara strode towards the object, jogging as she grew near and recognized it. She crouched down and picked up the rifle. "It's Liam's," She said grimly, checking the ammo count. "Doesn't look like he fired it." She lifted it over her shoulder, holstering it against her shoulder blade in place of her own gun. "And there, look," She reached forwards as she saw a second fallen weapon, fingers closing around the grip. "Peebee's pistol," she said as she lifted it and rose to her feet.
"They must have been taken by surprise," Vetra commented, taking the pistol from Sara and inspecting it.
"Right," Sara muttered in agreement, turning slowly on the spot and sweeping the floors and walls with her torch, searching for signs of... Anything. Any clue as to what had happened to her comrades.
Vetra pushed passed her suddenly, holstering Peebee's weapon at her hip before stretching up both hands and gripping something above her head.
"Uh... What're you doing...?" Sara asked in confusion, watching as Vetra hauled herself up and stuck her head in a gap in the rock close to the ceiling that Sara hadn't noticed before. "What is that?"
Vetra managed to jam her arm into the gap with her head, aiming her torch beam inside the hole. As the interior was illuminated, she let out a low whistle.
"What?" Sara demanded impatiently.
Vetra carefully freed herself and dropped back down, dusting off her palms on her trousers. "It's a tiny crawlspace carved out of the rock," she explained. "It runs parallel to this tunnel, heading both ways."
Sara stared at her in silence for a moment, thinking the statement through. "Carved like... Like by a giant worm?" God, were they being hunted by some kind of monstrous snake-beast?
Vetra shook her head. "Carved like by a machine, or tools." The turian paused. "Or maybe a giant worm, who knows in Andromeda?" She shrugged.
Sara glanced up at the hole near the ceiling, hidden by shadows and protruding rock, then along the length of the tunnel they were following. "Maybe whatever attacked Liam and Peebee came out of that," she jerked her head up at the hole, "but it didn't haul them up into it. I don't think Liam would even fit. So, let's keep following the tunnel." And maybe she would find her friends at the end of it. Alive.
They jogged onwards, saying nothing as they followed the path Peebee and Liam had to have been taken along. The ground sloped gradually upwards, arcing away to the left so that the end of the tunnel was out of sight.
"Do you hear that?" Vetra asked quietly after a while.
"Yeah," Sara replied, matching her soft tone. She could hear a quiet humming sound, just on the edge of hearing. Something strangely familiar. Something universal in any galaxy, or so it seemed. "It sounds like portable generators." Something about that didn't sit well with her.
The sound grew louder as they progressed through the tunnel and as they neared Sara noted a faint glow in the darkness ahead. "There's a light," she told Vetra.
"At the end of the tunnel?" The turian asked light heartedly. "Well, that's got to be a bad omen."
Sara made no response, slowing her pace until she was creeping along the tunnel. She turned out the torch mounted beneath her gun barrel, and a few seconds later Vetra killed her own torch, plunging them into semi-darkness. They had to be nearing the hunter now, and it would be expecting them.
They moved forwards painfully slowly, senses alert for any signs of danger. Sara strained her ears, trying to listen for sounds of Peebee and Liam's attacker, for signs that Vetra and herself were being hunted. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears and the sound of her breath, her helmet making it sound far louder than it really was. She stepped carefully, her boots moving near silently over the rocky ground. Her father had taught her how to move stealthily, forcing her to try again and again for days until she could finally sneak up on him. She had hated it at the time but had to admit it had proved itself a useful skill.
Behind her, Vetra moved as a ghost. Sara had to glance over her shoulder to make sure the turian was still following her. She faced forwards again and was forced to squint as she rounded the corner and the light source finally revealed itself to be a glaringly bright standing lamp, bathing a cavern in white light. A portable generator sat against the wall beside it, humming with power.
Sara blinked in the light, taking a step further into the cavern and staring around herself in confusion. It was like she had wandered into someone's campsite, deep within the mountain. One corner of the cavern had a low ceiling, where the rock had sloped down almost to the floor. Here she could see a mess of blankets and a pillow, where someone obviously slept. Several large metal boxes were stacked against one wall with various cooking utensils piled beside them. Heleus tech mixed with Nexus tech to create some sort of bizarre living space. There was an opening in the wall opposite, another tunnel, that had a ragged blanket hanging over it, strung up on a metal pole that had been driven into the walls, like a curtain dividing rooms.
"Someone lives here..." Sara stated needlessly.
Vetra said nothing as she moved passed her to investigate the room, finding her way over to the metal containers. She lifted a lid gingerly with one hand and peered curiously inside. Cool air spilled out, brushing passed her fingers and carrying a faintly coppery scent. She paused to survey the contents of the box, then carefully lowered the lid and turned to Sara, mandibles bunching then releasing as she fought to keep her expression neutral. "I think I found the missing colonists."
Sara glanced over, looking from Vetra to the boxes. They were large, but too small for a fully-grown adult human to fit inside, and so that meant...
She swallowed hard, feeling her stomach tremor with revulsion. "Oh." The puzzle was beginning to take shape, the picture starting to become clearer, though she wished it wouldn't. Her mind stubbornly pushed back against the answers. She looked back at Vetra and met the turian's grim stare. Vetra nodded towards the curtain and together they crossed the cavern towards it. They paused either side of the opening with their shoulders to the rock, Sara holding her gun at the ready, and Vetra reaching out, ready to rip the curtain aside. Sara nodded her head once. Vetra grabbed a fistful of rough, heavy fabric and yanked it sideways. Sara ducked through the opening and found herself in a low tunnel less than a metre long that sloped down into another cavern lit by a lamp like the room they had just left. She heard Vetra follow her through and so started down the slope.
The second cavern was wider and taller than the first, the single standing light barely able to illuminate it fully. Sara didn't notice that though, as she was focused on the large metal cage that dominated the far wall. Thick bars formed walls and a ceiling around four people. One was a tall, lean man unmistakably Rhea's brother, chained to the wall by steel manacles around his wrists. A deep cut somewhere in his hairline had bled freely, leaving a smear of dried blood streaking forehead to jaw. Long chains passed through a metal loop driven into the wall and linked the heavy cuffs about his wrists. Beside him, hugging her knees to her chest as much as she could with hands bound in front of her by rough rope, was a small, skinny, dark-haired woman, who bolted to her feet as she saw Sara and Vetra and stared wide-eyed at them. The other two were Sara's missing fireteam members. Peebee lay on her side, unconscious and hogtied with rope. Liam sat with his back to the wall, his hands tied tightly in front of himself. He scrambled to his feet, wincing at the flare of pain that caused in the back of his head, and lurched towards the bars that formed the cage door.
"You took your time!" He said playfully.
"Traditionally when staging a rescue you're not supposed to get captured yourself," Sara shot back with a smirk as she and Vetra crossed the cavern. "Is Peebee okay?"
"Unconscious," Liam replied. "I can't wake her. She got zapped with something."
"She could break us out if she was awake," Kit said, struggling to his feet. The chains rattled as he moved.
"Can you get us out?" The woman asked nervously, dark eyes darting from Sara, to the tunnel, to Vetra.
"Absolutely," Sara said with enough self-assurance to soothe the woman somewhat. "I'm Sara Ryder, Pathfinder with the Initiative," she introduced herself. Kit and the woman exchanged a look of surprise. "What's your name?" She asked quickly, before the usual questions could start about the Nexus suddenly finding one of its missing Pathfinders. They could ask their questions later. Outside. With the wide-open sky above them. Sara was not enjoying the sensation of being cooped up inside a cave system with some kind of killer/stalker combo on the loose with them.
"Alda," the woman answered anxiously. She seemed to do everything anxiously, though Sara really couldn't blame her considering the circumstances.
"And you must be Kit?" She asked the man, who nodded his head once.
Vetra moved away to investigate the rest of the cavern while Sara took care of the cage and its inhabitants.
Beside the cage, infuriatingly only just out of reach for those trapped behind the bars even if they had had their hands free, was a shelf carved out of the rock wall. On it was stuffed omni-tools, jewelry, small weapons.
"Trophies," Vetra muttered darkly, picking up a small knife and running a claw along the curved blade, testing the edge. She tossed it back amongst the pile in disgust and turned back towards the tunnel that joined the two caverns, guarding it while Sara went down on one knee in front of the cage door.
She left her gun on the ground beside her knee, within easy reach, and leaned forward to inspect the locking mechanism on the door, a rectangular keypad that glowed with a faint orange light.
"It's a mag lock," Kit told her. "You won't brute force it open until your friend wakes up." Sara looked up at him and met his dark gaze briefly, then to Peebee, still out cold in the corner.
"Maybe SAM can hack it?" Liam suggested.
"Whatever you do hurry," Alda begged frantically. "He's still here somewhere, and he knows you're here too!" Her eyes roved the cavern, as though He could be hiding amongst them even now.
"Who?" Sara asked, dialling up the scanner on her omni-tool to give SAM a go at the keypad.
"The bastard that's been eating us," Kit growled furiously. Sara's fingers stilled over her gauntlet. She had known, of course- it was obvious, viewing each piece of the puzzle as a whole- but to hear it said out loud sent a shiver crawling down the length of her spine, icy cold and lingering.
"Us...?" Sara queried, though she didn't want to. She knew there had been more people, more missing humans from the Badlands, and Vetra had found... Bits of them packed away in containers like meat bought at market. She looked up at Kit, who opened his mouth to elaborate, but before he could talk the cavern was plunged into darkness. Sara's gauntlet and the glow from the keypad were suddenly the only source of illumination. She heard a startled gasp from Alda, the scrape of feet scrambling backwards, the clink of chains as Kit moved uncertainly, the quiet sound of the generator still providing power in one corner.
Sara snatched up her gun as she rose to her feet and whirled around, thumbing the switch for the torch mounted under the barrel. Vetra squinted in the sudden blaze of white, midway through activating her own torch. A shadow detached itself from the ceiling and landed behind Vetra with an unnatural silence, eyes flaring silver briefly as it fell. Sara saw a flash of claws as it prepared to strike the turian. She had no time to shout, only act, and launched herself at Vetra. She aimed low, her shoulder connecting hard with Vetra's stomach and sending her sprawling backwards as the attacker's arm arced downward. Sara brought her own arm up to protect herself, felt something glance off the hard metal of her gauntlet and slash across the heavy fabric between armour plates. She hissed at the sudden burning pain of a blade biting through skin, felt the heat of blood welling. She retaliated instantly, swinging her gun around and slamming the butt blindly into the shadow. It grunted and stumbled sideways, and Sara followed it, lashing out with one foot, feeling her boot connect to a knee. The shadow crashed to the floor, landing on its back. Sara planted a foot on its chest and shone her torch into its face. The light flashed silver from the lenses of a pair of goggles and a very human man gave a yelp of pain and clawed them off, screwing his eyes shut against the light. He held his hands either side of his head in a universal sign of surrender.
Sara waited a moment, feeling the aftershock of adrenaline coursing through her; a racing pulse, breath coming short and sharp. "The light," she demanded, "where are the controls?" In her peripheral she saw Vetra climbing to her feet.
"My omni-tool," the man answered, gesturing with one finger to his wrist. Sara saw the silver flash of the knife he had dropped nearby during his fall, the blade horribly jagged. Vetra kicked it aside while training her pistol on the man.
"Bring it back," Sara growled. As he began to slowly reach for his omni-tool cuff, Sara jabbed her gun downwards, the barrel almost touching his face. The man flinched. "Don't try anything."
He hesitated at the dangerous tone, then carefully tapped the cuff to wake up his gauntlet, and swiped once. The light in the corner blazed to life. Sara felt her stomach clench as she found herself staring into the face of a man in his early thirties with eyes so dark they seemed almost black and a wolfish grin made all the more grotesque by a mouthful of teeth filed to points.
"Hello, Pathfinder," he said pleasantly.
Sara grit her teeth, and fought to keep her finger against her trigger guard. Her skin crawled and she struggled to keep her eyes on his. "If you so much as blink without my permission, I will not hesitate to shoot you," she said stiffly. "We clear?"
"Crystal," he told her, though didn't seem particularly threatened by her. She had felt his wiry strength while they fought, however briefly. He wore a sleek black jumpsuit, with a black scarf about his neck. The goggles he had been wearing when he attacked must have had some sort of night-vision function, and his weapon of choice, the knife, seemed almost claw-like. It was easy to see how people could mistake this figure for something supernatural in origin.
"So, you're the monster out stalking the Badlands, then," Sara stated.
"I suppose I am."
"Tell me the code to open the cage," she demanded.
The man leered at her. "You didn't say 'please'."
Sara leaned down on her foot until he gave a yelp of pain. "The code."
He grit his ruined teeth and hissed angrily up at her. "Did you try 1234?" He asked, expression patronizing.
Sara paused, wondering if he was teasing her or being serious. She decided to assume the latter first. "Vetra?" She said without looking away from him. She heard Vetra move forwards, then the muted beeping as she jabbed the buttons with one claw and entered the code. There was a buzz and then the door released.
"Seriously?" Vetra asked in disbelief. "And no one thought to try that?"
"No one had their hands free," Kit reminded her sourly.
Sara stepped back from the man on the floor. "On your knees," she ordered.
"Is this the part where the brilliant Pathfinder serves justice?" He asked with a sneer, folding his arms over his chest.
Sara was beginning to find his indifference unnerving. "This is the part where the brilliant Pathfinder ties you up and drags you off to see Sloane," she snapped. "If she can find rope."
Vetra had stepped inside the cage to help the others but seemed to think better of it as she made her way back to Sara, brushing a claw against the safety on her pistol but not taking it off. "I'll find rope," she offered.
"Wait, wait, wait," the man spoke quickly, looking suddenly anxious. Vetra halted beside Sara. "Please don't take me back to Sloane, she'll cut off my head, mount it on a pike!" Sara hesitated. She really didn't like Sloane's brand of 'justice'. It was brutal, uncivilized.
"Are you kidding?" Kit called out. "At least she won't fucking serve you up for supper!"
"I was exiled! I had to survive somehow!"
"You're the only one of us out in the Badlands that eats people!" Alda shot back in a rare moment of feistiness.
"I don't agree with Sloane's methods," Sara began loudly as the man opened his mouth to retort, "but I have no jurisdiction here. And maybe neither does Sloane. The Badlands are outside the port."
"Thank you, Pathfinder!" He reached gratefully for Sara's hand.
She jerked herself backwards with a look of disgust. "Don't touch me." But something was wrong. This display of gratitude was at odds with his earlier arrogance.
As he reached for her again Vetra rammed the barrel of her pistol into his temple, freezing him on the spot. "Drop it," her voice was cold iron.
His features distorted into a snarl and he lunged at Vetra, a jagged blade appearing in his hand. A single gunshot echoed throughout the cavern and he lurched sideways as a bullet drilled through his skull. He landed face down on the rocky ground and lay still.
Vetra glanced at Sara as she lowered her rifle, looking down at the man she had just killed, expression dark. "Guess I'm no better than Sloane," she muttered, not even feeling a flicker of remorse.
"Hey, he went for me, I'd rather you shot first than wait for him to stick me with that rusty thing." Vetra said,
jerking her head at the knife gripped loosely in his hand.
"He deserved far worse," Kit spat.
"Could someone untie us now?" Liam asked. "I can't feel my fingers..."
Sara reached over one shoulder to holster her rifle, then crossed the room towards the cage, calling up an omni-blade to deal with the rope binding three of the prisoners.
Peebee woke as Sara was cutting Liam free. The asari attempted to sit up but found herself unable to thanks to the coils of rope around her body. She surveyed first herself, then the cage she was in, and finally looked to Sara midway through sawing through Liam's bonds. She opened her mouth to speak, but halted as her eyes moved passed her colleagues to land on Kit, still chained to the wall. Vetra stood beside him inspecting the chains, while Alda had left the cage to rummage through the pile of trophies nearby, searching for her omni-tool cuff.
"Okay, what the Hell?" Peebee demanded.
"It's a long story," Sara said, pulling severed rope from Liam's wrists. "I'll fill you in later."
Liam gave a contented sigh as he began to massage the feeling back into his hands and Sara made her way over to Peebee to help free her.
"Some exiled exile went psycho and started abducting people and eating them. Ryder killed him," Kit told her.
"Apparently not that long," Peebee teased. Sara rolled the asari onto her front. "Ow! Hey, careful. He drugged me, ya know? Snuck up and shot a dart in my throat, sneaky bastard. I don't feel that great so some sympathy wouldn't go amiss."
Sara paused in cutting the rope to gently pat the top of Peebee's head. "There, there."
Peebee huffed into the ground, then coughed at the resultant puff of dust. "Brilliant, Ryder. Thanks."
"Think you're up to giving us a biotic barrier?" Vetra asked her. Peebee glanced up at her, lying still as Sara shredded the rope and the tension began to leave her straining shoulders and hips.
Vetra drew her pistol and motioned to Kit's bonds. "Gonna have to shoot out one of the links," she explained. "We'll have to wait until we're back at the port to cut the manacles off."
"No," Sara shook her head, helping Peebee to sit up. "I'll call Tempest when we're back outside, we can fly to Port. Gil will have something to get through the cuffs."
"What're you in chains for anyway?" Liam asked curiously. "Everyone else gets rope."
Kit gave a mischievous grin. "Caused too much trouble."
"Kit kept trying to overpower him," Alda shot the corpse in the centre of the cavern a distasteful look, "so He beat him and chained him." She snapped an omni-tool cuff around her wrist and turned to the group. "Could we leave? Please..." She crossed her arms over her chest, holding herself as she glanced about the cavern and shivered.
"Of course," Liam said, at once becoming Liam-the-crisis-specialist and making his way over to her.
"Peebee?" Vetra jerked her head at Kit, stepping back and taking aim at the chains.
SAM identified the man as one Elias Blackwood, exiled from the Nexus for violence during the Uprising, and, apparently, according to Kit, exiled from Kadara Port, though for what he couldn't say. Sara opted to leave Elias and the caverns as they had found them. Sloane could send a team to investigate and hopefully identify at least some of the victims. Sara would insist.
Outside the tunnels the sky was clear, dusted with stars that Sara couldn't yet recognize. She kept her torch on, aimed at the ground, as they walked back down the slope, through blessedly spongey dirt and grass instead of unyielding rock, heading for the Nomad still parked by the roadside.
Liam tipped his head back and closed his eyes, breathing deep through his nose with a grin. "Ah, fresh air and open skies!" He cried blissfully.
"There's nothing fresh about the air in this place," Peebee muttered, wrinkling her nose at the scent of Sulphur carried on wind from bubbling pools of water ringed with yellow, and natural chimneys spewing gas. She felt woozy from her time spent in a drug-induced sleep and the rotten-egg-scent set her stomach roiling.
"Don't relax just yet," Sara warned them. "We still have to wait for Tempest in the Badlands."
"Calling it in," Vetra said, dialling up her omni-tool and connecting to the Tempest.
"We should get you two into the Nomad while we wait," Sara spoke to Kit and Alda, as Vetra requested an extraction. She gestured to the hulking beast of a vehicle glinting in the light of so many stars. "It's still dangerous out here."
"You forget that you're the strangers out here," Kit told her good naturedly, trailing chains behind himself. Vetra had only risked firing one shot into the metal, severing the links at the midpoint to free him. He still had a good meter of metal swinging from the cuffs and dragging through the grass, but he didn't seem to mind. "We know how the Badlands work."
Alda caught Sara's eye and awkwardly lifted a hand, "I'll feel safer in the Nomad."
Sara nodded, moving ahead of the group as they neared the vehicle, to open the doors. She helped Alda climb inside and get settled in the rear passenger seat, then turned to Kit. "You should call your sister," she suggested. "She's worried about you."
"Of course she's worried," Peebee said, hoisting herself up onto the nose of the Nomad and sitting there cross legged. "He was abducted by a flesh-eating fake monster!"
Sara rolled her eyes at Peebee's comment, but Kit laughed. "She has a point..." He said fairly.
"Don't encourage her," Sara muttered.
"Tempest is on its way," Vetra informed them, keen eyes scanning their surroundings for scavengers or other beasties lurking in the shadow.
"I'll call Rhea," Kit nodded at Sara. "She'll probably want to meet me at the port."
He moved off to the side for some privacy, his newly returned omni-tool flaring orange in the dark. Liam had joined Alda inside the Nomad to keep her company, she could hear them talking quietly, Liam working miracles and keeping her calm. Vetra stood beside Sara, watching Kit briefly before looking sideways at the Pathfinder. "I've asked for Lexi to be ready when Tempest arrives," she said, and Sara grunted in response. "Alda and Kit will need a medical examination, and Peebee and Liam need to be checked out." Sara glanced up at the turian, sensing more. Vetra paused before saying, "you should have Lexi look at your arm."
And there it was.
Sara sighed and shook her head. "I'm fine, Vetra, it's just a scratch." The blue of her under-armour sleeve was torn and stained red with blood. The offending wound was throbbing, matching her pulse. She knew it had gone fairly deep, but it was nothing to worry about. She had had worse.
"With a dirty blade coated in who-knows-what?" Vetra countered.
Sara made no reply, turning her attention instead to Kit as he approached them.
"Rhea says she'll speak with Sloane in the morning," he said with a smile. "She'll make sure you get your meeting right away, Pathfinder. You can count on it." He clapped a hand to her shoulder, chains clanking against Sara's armour, causing him to give an awkward wince. "Oops, sorry..."
"Don't be," Sara replied genuinely. "We'll get them off you soon enough."
She could see in the distance, the pinprick white lights of her ship approaching. The sleek shape of Tempest glided towards them, hull plating gleaming as it flew in low.
"Peebee, off the Nomad," Sara ordered. "Vetra, get ready to drive it into the hold."
Vetra climbed into the driver seat and closed the doors as Peebee slid off the front and landed lightly on her feet, sauntering over to Sara's side and watching the ship come in.
Kit gave a low whistle of appreciation as the Tempest grew larger and clearer. "That is some ship..."
"It is," Sara smiled proudly, watching as it finally touched down nearby. No guidance, no landing platform. Kallo didn't need that. The cargo bay doors slid open, revealing a square of bright white light, almost blinding in the gloom. She could see Lexi waiting just inside. "Let's go, folks," Sara said, heading towards the landing ramp. "I officially declare this rescue mission a success!"